His threatening social media posts attracted the attention of federal investigators

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/colorado-man-behind-armed-coro.html

"Drawing used to be a civilized thing to do, like reading and writing. It was taught in elementary schools. It was democratic. It was a boon to happiness." - Michael Kimmelman

With so much chaos in the world, it’s never been more important to find activities that center us and bring us joy. And while we already know that the artist’s brain is different than the norm — literally — it doesn’t take being a classically trained artist to enjoy the process of picking up a pencil or pen and trying to represent life, either on paper or even on a digital canvas.

Whether you’ve always loved to draw or even if you never thought you had a talent for it, The Complete Creative Art and Science of Drawing Bundle can develop your love, offer some fundamentals and possibly reignite a passion.

This collection includes 12 courses and a combined 56 hours of instruction that can help any artist or even just an enthusiastic dabbler refine their talent and maybe even start seeing the work in a whole new way.

After a brief introduction, coursework immediately gets down to focusing on some drawing basics, including how to properly sketch in your framework; represent perspective and show depth, incorporate detail and texture; and use dynamic markings to bring a basic form into sharpened reality. You’ll even find two courses on correct shading techniques as you understand how light plays across multiple different objects, and drawing accurate animal portraits.

Of course, people are usually never far from most illustrations, so in addition to a basic course on the intricacies of figure drawing, you’ll get more in-depth explorations like mastering the rules for drawing a human head. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/think-you-cant-draw-this-p.html

A hacker is accused of bribing an employee of the game Roblox and gaining access that allowed the hacker to see user account info, reset passwords, and grant virtual in-game currency, by way of the back end customer support panel of the massively popular online video game.

Roblox claims more than 100 million monthly users.

Reports Joseph Cox at VICE Motherboard:

With this access, the hacker could see users' email address, as well as change passwords, remove two-factor authentication from their accounts, ban users, and more, according to the hacker and screenshots of the internal system. The screenshots shared with Motherboard include the personal information of some of the most high profile users on the platform.

The hacker could have looked up information on many users, although it appears they limited their actions to a handful of accounts. The news highlights not only the risk of insiders at companies exploiting their access to user data, but, with Roblox catering to a large audience of minors, how hackers may access the data of children.

"I did this only to prove a point to them," the hacker told Motherboard in an online chat. Motherboard granted the hacker anonymity to speak more candidly about a criminal incident.

Roblox is available across PC, Xbox, and mobile devices. Users can create their own games with their platform's engine or play others' creations. Roblox also leans heavily into microtransactions, with users able to buy game-passes to access more powers and abilities, or they can purchase cosmetic items for their character with in-game currency.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/roblox-hacker-got-100-mill.html

Utah Highway Patrol reports on an interesting traffic stop.

One of our Troopers in Weber Co. initiated a traffic stop on what he thought was an impaired driver.

Turns out it was this young man, age 5, somehow made his way up onto the freeway in his parents' car.

Made it from 17th and Lincoln in Ogden down to the 25th St off-ramp SB I-15.

One of our Troopers in Weber Co. initiated a traffic stop on what he thought was an impaired driver. Turns out it was this young man, age 5, somehow made his way up onto the freeway in his parents' car. Made it from 17th and Lincoln in Ogden down to the 25th St off-ramp SB I-15. pic.twitter.com/3aF1g22jRB

 Utah Highway Patrol (@UTHighwayPatrol) May 4, 2020

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/utah-5-year-old-driver.html

Five years ago, a farmer in Anhui Province, China buried the equivalent of $280,000 on his property. Unfortunately when he recently dug up the cash, the bills were completely falling part. Apparently, employees at the Agricultural Bank of China did the best they could separate the mess of deteriorated paper bundles but he still lost about 25 percent of his savings. From UPI:

According to the People's Bank of China's regulations, bills that retain 75 percent of their original features can be exchanged at full value, but bills disfigured such that only 50 to 75 percent of the note is recognizable, can only be exchanged for half the amount.

FYI, here are United States Treasury Department's similar rules:

Lawful holders of mutilated currency may receive a redemption at full value when:

• Clearly more than 50 percent of a note identifiable as United States currency is present, along with sufficient remnants of any relevant security feature and clearly more than one-half of the original note remains; or,

• Fifty percent or less of a note identifiable as United States currency is present and the method of mutilation and supporting evidence demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Treasury that the missing portions have been totally destroyed.

image: Wikipedia Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/fellow-buried-280000-not-a.html

Coronavirus isn't done killing people yet, but Carnival Cruise Line said Monday it will begin to phase-in cruises again starting August 1.

Eight Carnival ships will be departing from Miami, Port Canaveral and Galveston.

This seems rather ambitious.

The best rate Carnival is offering on those departures is about $28 a day, including food.

Are they going to Galapagos to learn about Charles Darwin? https://t.co/UXA4gAG1yk

 Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) May 4, 2020

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/darwins-law.html

Nicolas Cage is to star in a Netflix TV show as Joe "Exotic" Maldonado-Passage, a roadside zookeeper jailed for animal abuse and for trying to arrange the murder of a prominent critic. Exotic's egomaniacal rise and fall, as charted in a recent reality TV show, gripped the nation in the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic.

Netflix’s documentary series Tiger King was a major surprise hit, spawning countless memes and tributes, plus an ill-advised aftershow episode. Unsurprisingly, the series’ success has rapidly inspired the development of more Tiger King-based projects, including a limited series (based on the Joe Exotic podcast) starring Kate McKinnon as Carole Baskin.

The latest news is even more unbelievable, as Variety reports that none other than Nicolas Cage has signed on to play Joe Exotic in a scripted series from Dan Lagana (American Vandal showrunner) and Paul Young.

Photoshop: Rob Beschizza Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/nicholas-cage-to-star-as-celeb.html

The Facebook group Rock and Blues Club has a fun photo album of rock n' roll icons when they were youngins.

See baby Brian May clutching a teddy bear, Neil Young looking like Huckleberry Finn, and Charlie Watts and Ron Wood looking like... Charlie Watts and Ron Wood.

Image: Screengrabs Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/rock-and-rollers-baby-and-ki.html

Will Shortz might have a little competition. Smithsonian Magazine is piloting a new crossword puzzle section, and their first puzzle (partly shown above) came out today. This one is part of a test-run of four puzzles. I tried it and it's kind of like The New York Times Monday puzzle, but smaller and maybe a little easier. To get the full puzzle click here. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/new-crossword-puzzle-series-by.html

In 1976, esteemed SoCal punk filmmaker David Markey, around 13-years-old at the time, captured this rad 8mm film footage of the skateboard, surf, and dirt bike scene in Santa Monica. Markey writes:

The dawning of the Dogtown era; Road Rider 4's, Bennett Trucks, Logan Earth Ski's, 2 colored Vans. Shot at Bay Street, Kenter Elementary, McKinley Elementary, Harvard Street, and the former vacant lots of Santa Monica. Skaters include Paul Hoffman and Paul Cullen.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/watch-these-rad-film-clips-of.html

Fellow ancient nerds like myself likely have fond memories of Steve Jackson's now-classic game of global conspiracy and high-weirdness, Illuminati. I still have, and cherish, my copies of the original pocket box games, the reissues, and way too many of the New World Order collectable cards.

Now, Alex Yeager of SJ Games has posted a draft version of a set of rules for playing Illuminati solo. He describes it as a "game-play adjacent" experience. This means that it's not going to give you an experience equal to a full game of Illuminati against opponents, but it will (hopefully) be a satisfying session of Illuminati solitaire, and a way of enjoying the game even if you can't have mates around to play with.

Image: Cover art Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/steve-jackson-games-posts-solo.html

Mitch McConnell is terrible. I've known this for a long time, though it probably first came to my attention personally after his open commitment to making Obama a "one-term president," which was near a decade before he started gleefully referring to himself as the "Grim Reaper." But while it's been no surprise to watch his Machiavellian enabling of Trump, I've never really understood how any rational human could look at McConnell and see someone worth rallying behind. He revels in the destruction of all social fabric and proudly caters to corporate interests that do objectively demonstrable harm to human life. Even if you take Republican voters at their word about the things they claim to care for, McConnell still disavows it all.

Most private American citizens could probably reach a general consensus on the things that are wrong in Washington, even if they continue to disagree on the solutions — but Mitch McConnell embodies every single one one of those problems, and doesn't even try to hide it. Worse, he prides himself on it. He is a walking nuclear bomb, branded with corporate logos, who says, "Government is evil and will destroy your lives, and if you vote for me, I'll prove it."

I recently read (or more accurately, listened to, via Audm) two longform articles that really dig into the Lovecraftian horror that is Mitch McConnell's overall existence. And while I emerged from these articles with an even more profound disgust for the man, I have at least come to a better understanding of his special brand of nihilism. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/two-great-deep-dives-mine-the.html

It's been 14 years since amateur radio operators were expected to be able to tap out five words a minute in morse code to qualify for an Extra Class license, but this fellow didn't get the memo.

Bielefeld, Germany

He is very skillful at high speed keying with a straight key.

Straight keys are still widely available [Amazon]. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/high-speed-morse-code-with-a-s.html

Clipped from his show last night, Don Lemon offers a class in how to get under Trump's skin. He does this by asking a simple and incisive question: what is it about Barack Obama that gets under Trump's skin? Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/how-don-lemon-gets-under-trump.html

Billy Mitchell, the onetime Donkey Kong champion removed from the record book after evidence emerged that he used emulators to rack up his scores, is suing the website that bounced his name from its charts. He threatened to do so in September last year, but it turns out he had already filed without publicity. The lawsuit was filed under Williams' full name and with a spelling error that made it unlikely to turn up in searches.

Mitchell and his lawyers said in a statement they would be forced to "resort to legal recourse" if Twin Galaxies didn't rescind its decision and reinstate Mitchell's scores. But court filings obtained by Ars Technica show that Mitchell had already filed suit against Twin Galaxies in a Los Angeles County court as early as April 2019.

Mitchell's defamation lawsuit—misfiled as "William James Mitchell vs. Twin Galexies, LLC [sic]" and not reported in previous press accounts—has been slowly building to a planned July anti-SLAPP hearing, where Twin Galaxies will make use of a statute that lets defendants quickly strike down lawsuits that threaten "public participation." Twin Galaxies says in court filings that its statements regarding Mitchell's scores were not defamatory and that finding in Mitchell's favor "would have chilling effects on the freedom of speech."

There are subtle discrepancies between how emulators and original hardware refresh Donkey Kong screens. Mitchell was denounced after they were observed in a high-scoring video he posted. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/former-donkey-kong-champion-su.html

I was invited to participate in the Face Shield Art project and draw illustrations on a face shield. The one I scribbled on, along with other face shield art, is up for auction on eBay.

Proceeds from the auction sales will go toward protective equipment for healthcare workers. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/i-doodled-on-a-face-shield.html

As parks in upscale areas were packed with sunbathing yuppies, NYPD spent the weekend arresting those who failed to social-distance on the streets. In this video, an unmasked plain-clothes officer is seen brandishing a stun gun sideways like a movie gangster, then attacking a bystander watching an ongoing arrest.

Eyewitness News ABC 7 NY reports that the officer was placed on "modified duty" after the video emerged.

As a couple was being arrested, video shows one of the officers break away from that arrest to walk up to a bystander with his taser drawn -- swearing and telling him to move back.

Video showed the plainclothes officer, who was not wearing a protective face mask, slapping 33-year-old Donni Wright in the face, punching him in the shoulder and dragging him to a sidewalk after leveling him in a crosswalk.

The man attacked by the officer was reportedly Donni Wright, 33. Wright was charged with assault on a police officer, menacing, resisting arrest and other crimes, reports NBC. NYPD would not confirm that Wright is the man attacked by the officer in the video.

Same city. Same police force.

Passing out masks to white folks not social distancing, while literally having their foots on our necks.

This is beyond ridiculous at this point. pic.twitter.com/pY6kSGVEaZ

 zellie (@zellieimani) May 3, 2020

UPDATE: The original arrest was caught on CCTV was similarly violent and unnecessary. Two people not socially-distancing are approached up by the same officer, who pushes one against the wall before being joined by other plain-clothes cops who arrest both in shambolic fashion. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/video-shows-plain-clothes-nypd.html

After admitting that the U.S. Covid-19 deaths could reach 90,000, Trump bemoaned critics and claimed that Abraham Lincoln got better press.

"I am greeted with a hostile press the likes of which no president has ever seen," Trump said at the Fox News town hall Sunday night.

"The closest would be that gentleman right up there," Trump said, pointing to the 16th President's statue. "They always said nobody got treated worse than Lincoln. I believe I am treated worse."

The previous estimate of up to 60,000 deaths was conclusively surpassed over the weekend. As of monday, Johns Hopkins University tallies 67,687 deaths from Covid-19 in the U.S. The true toll is higher still, as the official death toll accounts for only a portion of the excess deaths occurring since the coronavirus pandemic began.

Look how CNN editorializes the remarks, in the second paragraph: "Trump's comments ... are likely to further polarize the raging politics of a current crisis that is stretching national unity."

The real story is never the story itself but how many sides there are to it, which is two. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/trump-admits-covid-death-toll.html

Conor Burns, Britain's trade minister, quit Monday after it was revealed he had used his position to threaten a member of public in a financial dispute with his father.

The committee's report found he had made "veiled threats" to use privilege to "further his family's interests" during the financial dispute involving his father. In February, Mr Burns had written to a member of the public connected to a company with whom his father was in dispute over the repayment of a loan. He wrote: "I am acutely aware that my role in the public eye could well attract interest especially if I were to use parliamentary privilege to raise the case".

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/uk-trade-minister-resigns-afte.html

There’s a reason why Polaroids were so popular for so long. Even now, in a world where you can take a picture and send an exact copy to a friend in seconds, there’s something appealing about having a tangible, real-world representation of your image in your hand in seconds, ready to be saved for all time.

Of course, between the cost of ink cartridges and their prohibitive size and lack of mobility, a regular printer doesn’t quite scratch the same itch. However, the Mini Magic Wireless Photo Printer checks all the right boxes, offering an easy portable method of printing up your favorite pictures all without the hassle of ink.

This palm-sized printer uses thermal printing techniques, seamlessly transferring your image from your iOS or Android phone directly on to a thermal paper roll. Without the use of ink, you can print a pocket-sized version of all your favorite pics in a matter of seconds.

The printer connects to your phone via Bluetooth or USB, then you open your image in the free PeriPage app. There you can edit your image, then hit print and watch your picture spool out. 

Of course, the beauty of this printer is that it doesn’t just print images. With the app, you can easily set up this printer to print virtually anything, including text. You can use it to print notes, create a shipping label or any of a hundred different uses.

Build with sturdy construction and an ergonomic design, this makes a great travel accessory for a business person or a fun toy for a picture-obsessed teen. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/this-palm-sized-thermal-printe.html