Journalist and novelist Sally Quinn's bestselling 1991 novel of romance and intrigue, Happy Endings, is about fictional presidential widow Sadie Grey who falls for a sexy medical researcher working for the National Institutes of Health on a new AIDS treatment. Yes, the alluring government scientist with the "low, melodious, sexy, almost hypnotic” voice, as Quinn described the character, is none other than Dr. Anthony Fauci. From Benjamin Wofford's article in Washingtonian:

Part searing romance, part roman `a clef, “Happy Endings” made the bestseller list during a year when HIV-related deaths were then the highest ever recorded in the United States. By then, Fauci was the government scientist best known for combatting the virus’s spread as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

It was around this time that Quinn first encountered the real-life Fauci, at a Washington function where the two were paired as dinner partners. With his tie askew and from behind enormous glasses, Fauci left an impression of earnest brilliance, enough to inspire the main character of Quinn’s upcoming novel.

“I just fell in love with him,” Quinn told me recently, recalling their evening together. “Usually those dinners, you make polite conversation, and that’s it. But we had this intense conversation, personal conversation. I though, ‘Wow, this guy is amazing.'” [...] “He was so different from most Washington people, because he’s so self-effacing. He’s not in it for the glory or the name recognition,” Quinn recalled. She decided to have Grey “fall in love with this doctor who does this amazing work, and doesn’t get a lot of publicity.”

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/05/the-sexy-medical-researcher-in.html

“So many idiots.”

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/05/coronavirus-rudeness.html

My friend Joshua Glenn is a voracious reader of adventure novels. He's turned me onto tons of great books, and he recently compiled a list of 250 great adventure novels from the 20th century. Many of these books are available on project Gutenberg and other public domain book and audiobook websites. I really appreciate that josh found cover art from early editions of the books, rather than the usually terrible art found on contemporary editions. I want to read them all, starting with Black Magic: a Tale of the Rise and Fall of the Antichrist! (audiobook | e-book)

Marjorie Bowen’s supernatural fantasy adventure Black Magic (1909). In medieval Flanders, Dirk Renswoude, a lonely craftsman of noble birth, meets Thierry, a young scholar who shares Dirk’s fascination with the black arts. Against a background of violent storms, mysterious comets, and a Walpole-esque mood of gothic horror, the two experiment with mystic circles, arcane incantations, and the summoning of demonic visions. Although Thierry is afraid of blasphemy, Dirk is ambitious — and has sworn allegiance to the Devil in return for worldly power. In fact, Dirk aims to become the Antichrist and Satanic Pope! Nevertheless, Dirk is not entirely villainous — he risks everything for Thierry, with whom he has fallen in love… and his backstory reveals a surprise twist that makes us sympathetic to his desire for the agency and independence denied to him by his family. Ysabeau, a cold-blooded schemer and murderess character, also becomes a sympathetic and even heroic figure; and Jacobea, the novel’s tormented heroine, is also well-portrayed.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/05/the-best-250-adventure-novels.html

If you always thought you'd be, like, really good at making music as a producer or maybe even a DJ, you've probably wished you knew the ins and outs of Ableton software—and that you had the time to learn them. Well, lo and behold, here you are with all the quarantime in the world and a chance to check out this 6-part online Ableton Live 10 training.

Led by certified Ableton instructor J. Allen, these top-rated classes (none come in under 4.5 stars) offer all the techniques and tricks to producing and performing great music. Over 16.5 hours, the Complete Ableton Live 10 Music Production Bundle takes you on a musical journey that starts with the basics, making it perfect for beginners.

You'll learn how to work the Ableton Live interface and how to use it with some standard audio and MIDI recording, which is a great place to start. After that, lessons (220 in total!) cover things like hardware needs and setup—pretty key to getting this whole thing down—plus advanced recording techniques like warping; all kinds of producing and editing tips and tricks that you'll learn through the use of drum samples to edit, arrange, and create unique beats; a deep dive into all of the Ableton Live Instruments; how to incorporate synths and samplers; and more.

And if you're seriously into the idea of hosting your own DJ set (or, perhaps, battle) on Instagram live, you won't want to miss the final two courses that are dedicated to the art of the modern grandmaster. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/05/the-music-production-and-perfo.html

Police procedural novelist Michael Connelly is a connoisseur of jazz music so it's no surprise that his most famous character, LAPD detective Hieronymus 'Harry' Bosch, is also a deep enthusiast of the genre. (Connelly has a page on his personal Web site all about the "music in the novels.") Illustrator Russell Walks took those cues and his own penchant for Los Angeles noir and mid-century design to create a terrific series of imaginary Michael Connelly albums released by Blue Note Records.

"Most of these pieces were influenced or inspired by the work of Reid Miles, the designer who created somewhere around 500 covers for Blue Note Records in the mid-twentieth century," Russell writes. "I’m not breaking new ground here; Miles’ work has been the launching point for a thousand other designers and artists. Still, there’s something about the way these mid-century colors & typefaces just seem to fit Harry’s L.A., a place where shadows and sadness are as common as sunshine."

"The Bosch Series" (Russell Walks Illustration)

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/05/michael-connellys-imaginary.html

I tried to start Adobe Acrobat today, part of the Creative Cloud suite, and it wouldn't start unless I agreed to new Terms of Use. But to read the Terms of Use, I had to agree to the Terms of Use first. This video shows me haplessly clicking the "Terms of Use" link only to be prevented from reading them because, of course, I had not agreed to the Terms of Use.

Few people read these documents, but there's a difference betweeen didn't read the agreement and can't read the agreement. It's surely just sloppy work from the masters of rented software, but also seems to have disturbing implications. Can Adobe hold me to a contract I could not read before agreeing to it? After all, I have agreed not to sue them!

14.1 Process. If you have any concern or dispute, you agree to first try to resolve the dispute informally by contacting us. If a dispute is not resolved within 30 days of receipt by us, any resulting legal actions must be resolved through final and binding arbitration, including any question of whether arbitration is required, except that you may assert claims in small claims court if your claims qualify. Claims related to the Terms, Services, or Software are permanently barred if not brought within one year of the event resulting in the claim.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/05/adobe-to-read-the-terms-of-us.html

Walker, Louisiana police are on the lookout for an "aggressive chicken" that's been harassing customers of a bank. The bird is described as 18" tall and weighing 6-8 pounds. Apparently the chicken has been hassling people all week, chasing them and attempting to jump in vehicles. From CNN:

Officers responded to the bank on Walker South Road after receiving a call around 4 p.m. Friday regarding the suspect, which "apparently anticipated the imminent arrival of law enforcement and fled on foot from the scene," Walker police said in the [Facebook] post.

image: Muhammad Mahdi Karim (GFDL) Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/05/aggressive-chicken-terrori.html

My family and I have been playing more games lately, and one of our favories is Zombie Dice, a "press your luck" game in which you play a zombie who wants to eat as many human brains as possible without getting shot in the head. We also have the expansion pack, called Zombie Dice 2 Double Feature, which adds good complexity to the game.

You can add any one, any two, or all three dice to the game. The hunk dice adds greater risk and reward possibilities with the addition of a double-brain face and a double-shotgun blast face. The hottie evades capture more easily. Santa has three gifts: a double brain, an energy drink, and a football helmet that allows you to survive an extra shotgun blast to the head. These dice are a great addition to the game - we always include them whenever we play. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/05/zombie-dice-expansion-pack-th.html

America's ultrarich recently trotted out talking puppet Chris Christie to make the case that allowing as many people to die from coronavirus every day as were killed in the 9/11 attacks is a good bargain for United States economy.

From Complex:

[On CNN] Christie was also asked specifically about the fact that a Trump administration model is now projecting an estimated daily death count of up to 3,000 people by the start of June. Asked if the American people "would be able to accept" the reality of reopening following such news, Christie said, "They're gonna have to."

(Image: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, modified) Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/05/chris-christie-says-losing-30.html

On Sunday night Fox News interview Trump standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Trump pointed at the statue of President Lincoln and said, "I am greeted with a hostile press, the likes of which no president has ever seen. The closest would be that gentleman right up there. They always said Lincoln, nobody got treated worse than Lincoln. I believe I am treated worse.” (Worse than being assassinated? Trump is a strange person.)

Broadcasting from his living room, Stephen Colbert dedicated 10 minutes to his show talking about the Fox interview, and explaining why Trump actually isn't like President Lincoln. For one thing, Colbert said, Lincoln's admirers followers did not wave confederate flags.

 

  Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/05/stephen-colbert-explains-why-t.html

In 1996, the wonderful outsider musician and artist Daniel Johnston, who died last year, recorded this lovely and moving cover of Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend." Johnston's childhood friend Dale Dudgeon, drummer Dave Jungen, and the Butthole Surfers' Paul Leary played on the track, produced by Johnston's friend Brian Beattie. They recorded the song for If, a still-unreleased Johnston album.

According to a Vulture article from last year, Beattie said Johnston, who suffered from mental health issues and excessive fluid in the brain, "was an emotional wreck at the time and desperately wanted this reunion. A few days later, he was hospitalized."

(via r/ObscureMedia) Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/05/listen-to-daniel-johnstons-t.html

The Los Angeles Times has reported on a study out of Los Alamos National Laboratory that discovered a new strain of Covid-19 that is supposedly more contagious and spreads faster than the first version of Covid-19. It became dominant in the United States mid-march, and "may make people vulnerable to a second infection after a first bout with the disease."

According to the LA Times:

The new strain appeared in February in Europe, migrated quickly to the East Coast of the United States and has been the dominant strain across the world since mid-March, the scientists wrote.

In addition to spreading faster, it may make people vulnerable to a second infection after a first bout with the disease, the report warned...

Wherever the new strain appeared, it quickly infected far more people than the earlier strains that came out of Wuhan, China, and within weeks it was the only strain that was prevalent in some nations, according to the report. The new strain’s dominance over its predecessors demonstrates that it is more infectious, according to the report, though exactly why is not yet known...

“The story is worrying, as we see a mutated form of the virus very rapidly emerging, and over the month of March becoming the dominant pandemic form,” study leader Bette Korber, a computational biologist at Los Alamos, wrote on her Facebook page. “When viruses with this mutation enter a population, they rapidly begin to take over the local epidemic, thus they are more transmissible.”

Whether or not the new strain is actually more fatal wasn't determined in the study, "but it could still complicate efforts to bring the pandemic under control," says the Times. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/05/covid-19-has-mutated-into-a-mo.html

“I'm my own best friend,” she says.

A very cool cosplay by IMGURian @vudumommajuju.

Today is the 4th of May, a special day for Star Wars fans -- May the Fourth Be With You!

It's also a day when it's worth remembering the 1987 parody sci-fi film 'Spaceballs.'

'The Schwartz' was a play on 'The Force.'

'May the Schwartz be with you.'

May the Schwartz be with you.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/may-the-schwartz-be-with-you.html

Punk rock label of note, Dischord, has made their entire 40-year catalog of music available on Bandcamp for free. While free, they're hoping listeners will chip in to support the artists. Bandcamp has waived their sales fees for three months so that all of the money will go to the artists.

From the piece on Farout Magazine:

While the foundations of punk music have multiple different influencers, seminal Washington DC punk label Dischord have always had their say. The independent label, co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, founded the company in 1980 in order to release Minor Disturbance by The Teen Idles. From there, Dischord focused on a nationwide network of underground bands and continued to spearhead the punk movement with their uncompromising approach to the music industry.

“We don’t use contracts, lawyers, any of those kinds of things,” MacKaye once commented on the ethos of Dischord Records. “We are partners—they make the music, and we make the records.”

Nelson, echoing MacKaye’s sentiment, added: “From the beginning of this label, people have said that the way we do things is unsustainable, unrealistic, idealistic, and we were just dreaming,” he said. “Well, the dream is now 35 years old, so they can go fuck themselves.”

Read the rest here.

First Demo by Fugazi

First Demo Tape by Minor Threat

Update: Just to be clear, the catalog is free to listen to online. If you want to download the records, you still have to pay. But hey, do that. Support artists! Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/legendary-punk-label-dischord.html

This is the AmazonBasics Folding Bike Lock. It's $28. Don't buy it.

"Because this can be opened so quickly with low-skill attacks, it should go without saying that I see this as a product to avoid," says the LockPickingLawyer. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/the-amazonbasics-folding-bike.html

Wow. Voice actor Dee Bradley Baker is an incredibly talented man.

Great Big Story:

We are about to take you on an audio odyssey unlike any other. It’s kind of like ASMR for people who find the sounds of squealing pigs, angry squirrels and raging dinosaurs soothing. And it’s all from the mouth of Dee Bradley Baker, one of Hollywood’s top voice actors. Baker specializes in creatures and animals, and you know his voice. You’ve heard him as Perry the Platypus on “Phineas and Ferb,” Klaus the Fish on “American Dad” and Daffy Duck in “Space Jam.” A vocal genius, Baker invites us into his recording studio, where he improvises a series of sounds.

screengrab via Great Big Story Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/voice-actor-shows-off-his-skil.html

Spoken Word with Electronics is an audio series delivering to you a two side recording of unusual stories paired with vintage modular electronic sounds

Welcome back, everyone. This week this series concludes the six part tribute to Paul Krassner. You'll find all the previous tracks in episodes 2,3,4, and 5. I will be collecting all of these tracks into an album later on Bandcamp. A link to that, if interested.

Paul was a terrific human. In lieu of flowers, I recommend donating to his GoFundMe for his wife Nancy and other family.

This episode is on the importance of dishonesty, distortion, and rumor spreading as personal freedoms to challenge authority, and the fun involved in such practices. So, LET'S GET FAKE!

Spoken Word with Electronics · SPOKEN WORD WITH ELECTRONICS #8: Fake News Now

Spoken Word with Electronics · Episode 8, Introduction: "FAKE NEWS NOW"

Spoken Word with Electronics · Episode 8, Side A: Paul Krassner on "The Parts Left Out Of The 1967 LBJ Story"

Spoken Word with Electronics · Episode 8, Side B: "Optimism" (Everybody You Meet is Relevant) — A Good Bye to Paul

May all the change you want in the world be the kind where you fake it til you make it.

Talk with you next week, Continued Best - Ethan (Bandcamp/Soundcloud) Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/fake-news-now-fake-news-forev.html

From Paul Romer's website:

Imagine a world in which the only way to get a soda is to get your doctor to write a prescription. It costs $20 per can. Your insurance company pays. The economy produces about 100,000 sodas each day.

If you lived in this world, do you think you could get people to scale up the production of soda to a level of millions of cans per day? It would be a challenge, but not because it is hard to produce and distribute soda.

Because they have to keep total costs from running out of control, insurance companies, health care providers, and government regulators have cobbled together a system that limits access to soda. One part of this system is an expensive regulatory process that has to approve:

the ingredients in each particular brand of soda; the insert that comes with the soda informing patients about its risks and benefits; the delivery system used by the soda supplier, be it a glass bottle, an aluminum can, a paper cup, etc.

Then, everyone decides that they want more soda. Why, they ask, can’t the nation produce enough soda for everyone to have some each day?

[via The Browser]

Photo by Jonny Caspari on Unsplash Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/a-thought-experiment-if-virus.html

A few years ago I decided to piece together my own Peloton-compatible stationary bike, it has been a fantastic investment in me. Building your own is easy and significantly cheaper than buying the bike Peloton sells!

Ironically placed in a window overlooking the Pacific for its first few years of service, my Sunny Bike was in storage for the last 12 months and I ached to get it back. When I packed my life into storage last April I thought I would be living in a new home by the end of summer, and haphazardly packed stuff into boxes as labeled by a madman. I did not take my cycling shoes, shorts, heart-rate monitor with me.

Of the 11,000lbs of crap I had in storage, I spent a year missing 3 cardigans, my espresso machine, and the fakey-Peloton. I was thrilled when I saw the movers haul it out of the truck and bring it into my home. It took three days to find the espresso machine.

In the months before going into storage, my physical therapist told me I had to stop riding the Sunny Bike as often as I had been. I was riding 5-6x a week and he suggested some of my back problems might be alleviated by riding less and doing more core building strength exercises. I find that riding the bike not only helped me burn calories, and maintain a better level of cardio fitness than I had in years, it was a huge emotional release, and frequently as I pedaled my heart out, I would just start to laugh or cry. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/happiness-and-fitness-come-fro.html

The Trump White House today decided to ban Dr. Anthony Fauci and other members of the coronavirus task force from testifying before Congress for the next month, unless the chief of staff gives specific approval.

What are they trying to cover up about Trump's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, besides literally everything?

SCOOP: White House bars Fauci, members of the task force from testifying before Congress for the next month, except at the approval of the chief of staff.

 Philip Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) May 4, 2020

White House stopped Fauci from testifying last week. New guidance will apply to all members of the task force for May. The goal is to make sure "task force members have the time they need to focus on the task at hand." https://t.co/F0HsCAkymq

 Philip Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) May 4, 2020

Rep. DeLauro questions why White House is blocking Fauci from testifying before House panel https://t.co/9vZoWgETUJ pic.twitter.com/TsvF3GPp8u

 The Hill (@thehill) May 4, 2020

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/04/white-house-bars-fauci.html