Is repetition about a drive for perfection — or does it just mean you’ve run out of good ideas? While many experts study in awe the nuance, style, and mastery found in all 250 oil paintings of water lilies by French artist Claude Monet, others could wonder why a talent like that would spend 30 years painting a pond with some water plants over and over. 

Of course, repetition could just be the result of using the same tools over and over. So if you’re starting to find your digital design projects are recycling certain elements time and again, the Design From Home Creative Market Bundle may be able to help.

To your rescue comes a 25-item assortment of products, all designed to spark new life and inject new creativity into your work, no matter where you’re crafting it.

The package is a true collection, offering a touch of original offerings like nine new fonts and three full scene creator mockups for use with your Adobe Creative Cloud apps. If you’re a regular PowerPoint user, you’ll find three brand-new presentation styles for you to try. If your talents lean toward photography and social media, you’ve got five new Instagram grid templates to play with.

Meanwhile, those whose art includes literally digital brushes, the collection also features four new Procreate brushes to use with the Apple iPad’s popular Procreate app. Finally, an animated texture is also included to round out your collection of fun new artistic tricks.

Whether you’re updating your portfolio, making a new website, practicing your lettering skills, teaching your kids how to work creatively, or even learning something new, this bundle has something for everyone.  Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/30/from-adobe-cc-to-powerpoint-t.html

An armed protest by armed men who say they are opposed to coronavirus restrictions took place at the Michigan State House today.

Senator Dayna Polehanki [@SenPolehanki, a Michigan State Senator serving Michigan's 7th District] tweeted with the photograph at the top of this blog post:

Directly above me, men with rifles yelling at us. Some of my colleagues who own bullet proof vests are wearing them. I have never appreciated our Sergeants-at-Arms more than today. #mileg

More below.

Protest moves inside Michigan Capitol. Crowd attempts to get onto Hoise floor. Lots of Michigan State Police and House sergeants at arms blocking door. pic.twitter.com/4FNQpimP4W

 Rod Meloni (@RodMeloni) April 30, 2020

Directly above me, men with rifles yelling at us. Some of my colleagues who own bullet proof vests are wearing them. I have never appreciated our Sergeants-at-Arms more than today. #mileg pic.twitter.com/voOZpPYWOs

 Senator Dayna Polehanki (@SenPolehanki) April 30, 2020

Multiple armed gunmen storm Michigan’s State House, State police are protecting @GovWhitmer and blocking the gunmen from gaining access to the house floor.

This is America in the age of Trump. pic.twitter.com/tLWR2bvjtR

 Rob Gill (@vote4robgill) April 30, 2020

Michigan has the 9th most confirmed coronavirus cases per capita in the country (405 per 100k) and the 6th most deaths per capita (37 per 100k), per @COVID19Tracking data. https://t.co/JSDEqvYu14

 Jason Stern (@IbnLarry) April 30, 2020

This is Michigan. Home to the Blackest city in the US and the most visible Muslim population in the country.

I can’t help but imagine how different this scenario would be if these armed men were Black or Muslim.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/30/armed-gunmen-storm-michigan.html

Maybe this coalition of 1200 tech, business, and news organizations

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/30/save-the-usps.html

The astonishingly prolific author/scientist Clifford Pickover is a math enthusiast with a talent for ferreting out fascinating anecdotes about math, and writing them in a way that inspires wonder.

Accompanied by beautiful illustrations, Pickover’s The Math Book about cicada-generated prime numbers, magic squares, the Golden Mean, Penrose Tiles, Xeno’s Paradox, and the butterfly effect just might turn you into a lover of math. It worked for me.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/30/the-math-book-from-pythagoras.html

In a fitting follow-up to Carla's post of "The Liar Tweets Tonight," I bring you the spooky parodic vision of "Ghost Donald in the Sky." The track is part of the Parody Project and was written and performed by Freedom Toast. The vocalist is an old and dear friend of mine, the immensely-talented jazz composer and multi-instrumentalist, Rick Harris.

Bonus Tracks:

Laurie Fox sent me this link to her friend Tom O'Connor's "Talkin' Trump Blues." The song was recorded live at the Tuba Czar show with Mark Beltzan on tuba and a surprise guest, Laurence Juber, on guitar (he of Wings and the Paul McCartney Band).

And, last but not least, is a pretty spot-on Nitzer Ebb parody.

Stay Inside Your Home (Nitzer Ebb parody) by Not-So Ebb

Image: YouTube Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/30/more-fun-trump-era-parodies-wi.html

When I was young, the first thing I'd do when visiting someone's apartment for the first time was to browse their bookshelf and record (or tape or CD) collection. That was a great way to find connection with others and spark conversation. These days, most people's musical tastes aren't reflected in any tangible way. Same mostly holds true for books but I do think many avid readers still like having some printed matter around. These days, lots of celebrities are streaming appearances from their homes where a full bookshelf makes a nice backdrop. So what are we seeing in their home libraries? In the New York Times, Gal Beckerman looks at the books in the background at the homes of Cate Blanchett, Stacey Abrams, Prince Charles, Anna Wintour, Jane Goodall, and others. From the New York Times:

Jane Goodall On “PBS NewsHour,” April 22

1. “The Hidden Target,” by Helen MacInnes: This 1980 spy novel tells the story of an American college student on a world tour who becomes entangled with secret agents looking to stop a terrorist plot.

2. “The End of Food,” by Thomas F. Pawlick: Danger abounds at the grocery store in this 2006 expose of our current method of food production. Pawlick reveals that the vitamin, mineral and nutritional content of food is in shocking decline.

[...] Paul Rudd On “Saturday Night Live,” April 25

1. “Code of Conduct,” by Brad Thor: The 15th installment in Thor’s thriller series has counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath uncovering the inner workings of a secretive committee of elites running the world.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/30/the-rise-in-videoconferences-l.html

Jeffrey Ladish, an independent researcher and security consultant, wrote about a sophisticated credit card phishing scam he encountered while looking for a place to rent in Berkeley, California.

I was recently the (unsuccessful) target of a very well-crafted phishing scam. As part of a housing search a few weeks ago, I was trawling craigslist and zillow for rental opportunities in the SF bay area. I reached out to a beautiful looking rental place to inquire about a tour. Despite my experience as a security professional, I didn’t realize this was a scam until about the third email! Below I will account the story in excessive detail including screenshots.

I’m writing this to illustrate that the best phishing attacks will look very convincing. Often people are told to watch out for poor grammar and formatting to protect against phishing. This will work in some cases, but not in cases like the one I’m about to show. Sophisticated scammers use good English and pattern-match with legitimacy.

[via Evil Mad Scientist] Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/30/anatomy-of-a-rental-phishing-s.html

Stuck on VHS is a book that has over 1000 photos of stickers that video rental stores of the 1980s and 1990s would stick onto the cassettes. These stickers would be used to let people know about a video's genre and rating, and also to remind them that they could be fined if they neglected to rewind the tape before returning it. I don't have a copy, but it looks like a true delight for anyone interested in design.

For a taste of what's inside, check out their Instagram account.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

You know it must be one HELL of a video! STUCK ON VHS is sold out online, but copies are available at all @drafthouse theater locations and VHStival Tour stops! We’re hoping for a repress sometime later this year, and will keep everyone updated! Thanks to everyone who picked up a copy! Let us know what you think when they arrive, dudes! Can’t wait to share it with you! #vhs #vhstapes #videostore #videostores #videorental #vhscollector #vhscollecting #vhsstickers #vhsculture #vhsforever #vhsishappiness #stuckonvhs #devil

A post shared by STUCK ON VHS (@stuckonvhs) on Jan 22, 2020 at 6:57am PST

 

View this post on Instagram

 

And a doggone good deal, too!! Gotta love those animal mascots with human teeth! #vhs #vhstapes #videostore #videostores #videorental #vhscollector #vhscollecting #vhsstickers #previouslyviewed #fullyguaranteed #vhsculture #vhsforever #vhsishappiness #stuckonvhs

A post shared by STUCK ON VHS (@stuckonvhs) on Oct 1, 2019 at 8:16am PDT

 

View this post on Instagram

 

It’s not a bad question, Burt!

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/30/stuck-on-vhs-is-a-visual-histo.html

Rocky Bergen says: "Construct the computer from your childhood or build an entire computer museum at home with these paper models, free to download and share. Print, Cut, Score, Fold and Glue."

They look amazing.

Image: Rocky Bergen

[via Evil Mad Scientist] Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/30/have-fun-building-these-paperc.html

A fatal Tesla Model X crash involving a "dozing driver" is blamed on the car's autopilot feature in a new lawsuit against the electric vehicle company led by Elon Musk.

Surviving family members of a 44-year-old Japanese man who was struck and killed by one of its electric cars in April 2018 filed the lawsuit in San Jose federal court on Tuesday.

Yoshihiro Umeda, who was 44 when killed in the auto crash, is described in the complaint as the first "Tesla Autopilot-related death involving a pedestrian," and claims the tragedy illustrates a "patent defect" in Tesla's technology.

From Newsweek:

Tesla, led by Elon Musk, is based in Palo Alto, California, and sells cars with automated driver assistance systems. The court motion, submitted by the victim's spouse Tomomi Umeda and daughter Miyu Umeda, was first reported by Bloomberg.

Yoshihiro Umeda was killed on April 29, 2018, after being hit by a Tesla Model X that "suddenly accelerated" when a car in front of it switched lanes, the filing says.

It adds that the Tesla vehicle crashed into a van, motorcycles and pedestrians that had stopped at the side of an expressway near Tokyo following an accident.

The documents allege the Tesla car, which had its Traffic Aware Cruise Control (TACC) feature engaged, sped up after the car in front moved, "rapidly accelerating from about 15 km/h to approximately 38 km/h" before striking the motorcycles and Umeda.

The driver was "found to have been dozing shortly before the crash," the filings note, adding plaintiffs expect the firm to "lay all of the blame" on that person.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/30/tesla-faces-lawsuit-over-anoth.html

Nicole Stott is a talented artist and retired astronaut who spent more than 100 days living in space on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. Stott is one of several astronauts who in recent days has been asked to share their advice on isolation and social distancing.

"Nothing beats that first hug after landing," Stott says.

From the New York Times:

[In the video above, Stott] reflects on the three months she spent on the International Space Station, far from her husband and 7-year-old son. Living on the space station, being alone on a spacewalk, watching lightning storms crisscross the planet — all these experiences taught her that we’re all inherently connected, even when we’re physically far away.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/30/astronaut-and-artist-nicole-st.html

There’s nothing worse than being trapped in a bad system when you can’t see the way out. And while the world loves its smartphones, many already feel like they’re stuck in a now repeating pattern.

Smartphones tend to last only 2 to 3 years. We all realize they’re basically designed that way. Under those conditions, users are all but forced to remain part of the upgrade cycle, dropping several hundred dollars, even a grand or more to get a desperately needed new phone to replace their dying model every year or so.

It’s a racket. We all know it. Worst of all, those smartphones get thrown away and contribute to the staggering amounts of e-waste generated worldwide.

Teracube wants to smash that system, so they’re putting their money where their mouth is. Their new Teracube Smartphone is designed to last you four years. If your phone breaks down, that warranty covers all parts, performance, labor and two-way shipping with no out of pocket cost. 

And even if it was something you did? Repairs are only $39. Cracked screen? $39. Accidentally drop it in a lake? $39. That’s your all-in price to get the phone back in your pocket ASAP.

With their revolutionary business model, it’s easy to assume Teracube might not measure up in the features department, but that's not true. Powered by a Mediatek P60 octa-core processor with AI accelerated technology, this Android phone has a 6.2-inch Full HD display, 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, a 12-megapixel rear camera, an 8-megapixel front-facing camera, and even NFC. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/29/teracube-is-the-gutsy-new-smar.html

“The Silicon Valley engineer, who had no background in medical supplies but was recommended by the White House, never delivered the ventilators.”

So much shadiness going on during the COVID-19 pandemic. This report by Rosalind Adams and Ken Bensinger of BuzzFeed News on what seems to be a massive coronavirus medical equipment scam is bananas.

Excerpt:

On March 27, as emergency rooms in New York and across the country began filling with coronavirus patients struggling to breathe, President Donald Trump posted on Twitter to urge Ford and General Motors to “START MAKING VENTILATORS, NOW!”

One of the thousands of replies that the tweet attracted struck an equally urgent tone: “We can supply ICU Ventilators, invasive and noninvasive. Have someone call me URGENT.”

Its author was Yaron Oren-Pines, an electrical engineer in Silicon Valley. A specialist in mobile phone technology, he currently has just 75 followers on Twitter and no apparent experience in government contracting or medical devices.

Not a single ventilator ever arrived.

A state official, speaking on background because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the terms of the deal, said New York entered into the contract with Oren-Pines at the direct recommendation of the White House coronavirus task force.

Nearly a month later, New York has terminated the contract, and the state is now trying to recover all of the money it paid the Silicon Valley electrical engineer. Officials refused to say how much the state had been able to claw back. “We are in discussions on a few remaining issues,” said Heather Groll, a spokesperson for the New York Office of General Services, part of the interagency effort to help New York get supplies.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/29/he-tweeted-once-at-trump-then.html

Most of us would like to see our homes powered entirely by renewable energy. Most of us would like to reduce our carbon footprint. Most of us want to pay less for our electric bill each month. And most of us would like to see all those things happen without making each individual homeowner go through a ridiculous maze of bureaucracy, half-truths, and confusion to get it done.

Arcadia is fighting that good fight. Their platform will help you make a difference in the global push for clean power while making your house a paragon of renewable resources. There’s also a good chance you can save a decent chunk of change each month in the process — and you don’t even have to change energy providers or jump through hoops to do it.

By spending two minutes setting up an Arcadia account and linking it to your current energy company, you can get underway. Arcadia purchases renewable energy certificates on your behalf to match your power usage with renewable energy at no cost to you. And as a residential energy broker, Arcadia also leverages the might of their growing member base in states with open energy markets to negotiate better energy rates.

There are no guarantees in the ever-volatile energy markets, but some Arcadia customers save about 20 percent over their previous contract rates. Since there are no cancellation fees with Arcadia, you can give it a try and check out the savings for yourself.

And with the Arcadia dashboard, that's easy to do — users can track their savings as well as the direct impact they’re making in the fight for renewable energy in every household on Earth. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/29/arcadia-brings-more-clean-ener.html

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/29/what-the-fck-elon-mus.html

My friend Rodney Orpheus (he of the legendary darkwave electronica band, The Cassandra Complex) has been doing a terrific weekly streaming show, called Desert Island Nerds. The premise is that we're all on our own little desert islands in isolation now, so we might as well play the Desert Island game.

Each week, Rodney has on a "nerd hero" and asks them random questions from a list of 20 (chosen, natch, by rolling a d20). Questions are the typical (what album would you take to a desert island? what book? movie?), but also unusual things like companion animal? luxury item? Outfit?

The show, done from Rodney's own little nerd island in the UK, is surprisingly well-produced and great fun to watch. He's done three episodes so far and each one has been tasty nerd candy. The first episode was with Brian Freisinger, visual FX guy who worked on The Matrix Reloaded, Constantine, and Serenity, Antony Johnston, the man behind the video game Dead Space and writer of the movie Atomic Blonde, and Christina Z, the most successful female comic book writer of all time, creator of Witchblade and Tigra and writer for the Powerpuff Girls comic. The Desert Island conceit is really just an excuse for two uber nerds to enthusiastically yammer on about the novels, comic books, RPGs, video games, music, movies, etc. that they adore.

Next week, Rodney's guest is [reads cue card] Holy shit... ME! We'll be talking about some of my desert island picks and some of the high weirdness and nerd-worthy things I've gotten myself up to over the decades, including writing for this Directory of Wonderful Things. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/29/rodney-orpheus-pandemic-oasi.html

Late last night, an unidentified clip of some free-spirited dude in Birk's playing a pan flute cover of Snow's "Informer" popped into my feed. Well, I had to know where it came from, I mean, what was its story? After a short Internet dig, I discovered that it's actually an ad. An ad for a rolled Doritos chile limon-flavored product called Dinamita, "Flavor you can hear." The pan flute itself? As you'll see it's made OF these Dinamitas! This is really a work of art and I hope you appreciate it as much as I do.

P.S. Someone looped the ad to play for an hour. Dying! Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/29/enjoy-this-dynamite-pan-flute.html

• Amazon's new Chinese thermal spycam vendor was blacklisted by U.S. over allegations it helped China detain and monitor Uighurs and other Muslim minorities

At Reuters, reporting by Krystal Hu and Jeffrey Dastin found that Amazon and Jeff Bezos went to a Chinese technology company on the United States' national security blacklist for its thermal camera needs -- to monitor Amazon warehouse workers for fever, a sign of COVID-19.

Amazon is buying thermal cameras and other surveillance equipment from a variety of vendors, and one of them is Zhejiang Dahua Technology.

Dahua was blacklisted by U.S. over allegations it helped China detain and monitor Uighurs and other Muslim minorities, “three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.”

Excerpt:

China’s Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co Ltd shipped 1,500 cameras to Amazon this month in a deal valued close to $10 million, one of the people said. At least 500 systems from Dahua - the blacklisted firm - are for Amazon’s use in the United States, another person said.

The Amazon procurement, which has not been previously reported, is legal because the rules control U.S. government contract awards and exports to blacklisted firms, but they do not stop sales to the private sector.

However, the United States "considers that transactions of any nature with listed entities carry a 'red flag' and recommends that U.S. companies proceed with caution," according to the Bureau of Industry and Security's here website. Dahua has disputed the designation, and Beijing has denied mistreatment of the minority groups.

The deal comes as the U.S.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/29/amazon-used-a-china-firm-on-u.html

The United States just passed 60,000 confirmed deaths from the novel coronavirus, a benchmark that previous projections said the country would not likely reach until August.

Just two weeks after impeached and manifestly unfit President Donald Trump said the U.S. would “probably” suffer a total of 60 to 65 thousand coronavirus related deaths in total, the country has already exceeded 60,000 deaths, according to data from John Hopkins University.

The outbreak is not over.

Here are the daily United States COVID-19 numbers for the United States, from @The COVID Tracking Project:

Newly reported deaths: Today: 2,700* Yesterday: 2,198 1 week ago (4/22): 2,037

Newly reported cases: Today: 28,000 Yesterday: 24,000 4/22: 28,000

Newly reported tests: Today: 230,000 Yesterday: 202,000 4/22: 314,000

Share of tests positive: Today: 12% Yesterday: 12% 4/22: 9%

* New high

Our daily update is published. We’ve now tracked 6 million tests, up 230k from yesterday. A very strong testing day!

Note that we can only track tests that a state reports.

For details, see: https://t.co/PZrmH4bl5Y pic.twitter.com/unud8dTHIU

 The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) April 29, 2020

However, the death toll also reached a new daily high of 2,700. The cumulative number of deaths in our dataset have reached over 55,000.

That does not include 5,302 probable COVID-19 deaths reported by New York City but not New York State. pic.twitter.com/mhQucj2n7V

 The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) April 29, 2020

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/29/u-s-coronavirus-death-toll-pa.html

DeSantis announced Florida reopening same day as 350 new COVID-19 cases and 47 new deaths confirmed

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/29/florida-governor-desantis-says.html