As Japanese musician Masami Akita (aka Merzbow) performs live in Taipei in 2013, one concertgoer demonstrates that enjoying noise music does not preclude you from practicing good dental hygiene. Full clip below.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/30/fellow-brushes-his-teeth-durin.html

Call it retro. Call it a throwback. Even call it kitsch. But the 80s are still a singular time in pop culture history.  From Ghostbusters and Back to the Future to your neighborhood arcade and the Atari 2600, artifacts of that seminal decade still resonate, evoking audible excitement and sighs of pleasant yesteryear remembrance.

But out of that neon-saturated, spandex-infused, go-go-decade, there may be no more symbolically fitting encapsulation of the entire era than the device that revolutionized music back in the day: the Sony Walkman and the dawn of personal audio players.

Even if you weren’t around to see that revolution firsthand in 1980, getting your hands on the Replitronics Hotline 16000 Power Bank will convince everybody that you were — even though it serves a very 2020 function.

It’s designed to look exactly like an early 80s vintage personal cassette player, right down to the old-school buttons and that plastic cover window that lets you watch your tape spin round and round. 

But beyond being a cool conversation piece, the Replitronics Hotline 16000 is a modern-day beast, offering enough juice to power up to three devices back to full strength all at once. 

With a mighty 16,000 mAh battery inside, this unit can feed power via USB 3.0, USB-C, and even wireless Qi charging all at the same time. Just plug in your iPhone and the Hotline will get you from dead to fully powered in just over an hour or in just under three if you’re charging wirelessly. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/30/get-the-wireless-recharging-po.html

At Reddit, mtietje posted this remarkable photo of their lockdown project: an iPad stand made using an old Macintosh SE/30. The display size is perfect for the 9.7" iPad, and now that iPadOS can use mice they work much better as "normal" computers.

Se/30 shells turn up on eBay now and again. One's there now with bidding at $15. Shipping tends to really bloat the price of even a broken model with the bits still inside. I doubt you could reasonably shave down the SE/30 display housing to fit an iPad Pro, unfortunately: you'd lose all the beveling.

Now, the iMac G4 (below) came with a 15" screen that a 12.7" iPad Pro might hack into without looking too small. Maybe you could even just remove the display entirely and magnet the iPad on the arm?

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/30/ipad-looks-great-in-an-se-30-c.html

In the footage below, broadcast live by an NBC affiliate and posted to Twitter by Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, a news crew moves into the street near a line of riot police. Protestors are not nearby in significant numbers and the police are not engaging them. A cop steps forward from the line and opens fire on the news crew with what appear to be pepper rounds.

Police firing pepper bullets at our local NBC affiliate news crew live on TV. pic.twitter.com/aGBzl4WAA4

 Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons (@GuthrieGF) May 30, 2020

Video of the encounter shows Kaitlin Rust, a reporter for CBS affiliate WAVE 3 News, narrating as she walks around the area of the protest before suddenly screaming: "I'm getting shot!" Rust appears shocked but continues reporting, explaining what's happening as the camera focuses in on an officer pointing a gun with pepper bullets at the cameraman. ... The incident took place as police were reportedly trying to clear the area of large groups of protesters. It is unclear why the police chose to open fire on the reporters.

When policing is this violent and contemptuous of constitutional rights, it seems pointless to single out specific aspects of the problem. The shooter's immediate goal for opening fire on the news crew is stop the filming. He didn't get what he wanted, but he won't face any consequences, either. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/30/footage-shows-louisville-polic.html

The Supreme Court ruled friday that lockdown rules during the Covid-19 pandemic do not place an unconstitutional burden on free speech. The court's four liberals were joined by chief justice John Roberts to form a 5-4 majority over the other conservative justices; the case concerned a church's right to fill the pews after California governor Gavin Newsome imposed a 25%-or-100-person occupancy limit.

Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the court's liberals in rejecting a San Diego church's request for relief from Gov. Gavin Newsom's most recent directive limiting churches to 25% of their normal maximum capacity, with an absolute maximum of 100 people at any service.

In a three-page opinion issued just before the stroke of midnight Washington time, Roberts said it would be unwise for the court to intervene on an emergency basis as state officials try to grapple with the ebb and flow of a pandemic caused by a highly infectious and sometimes deadly virus.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/30/supreme-court-rejects-church-l.html

Jarkan deepfaked Leonard Nimoy into the 2009 Star Trek movie, replacing Zachary Quinto in the scene where he meets an older version of himself from a parallel universe. This is surely going to be entering the regular toolkit of cinema soon enough, resurrecting the dead for new films. It's already more natural and convincing than CG--compare to digital Moff Tarkin, for example, which just looked like a videogame cutscene to me. But it also fails more completely; it's still Quinto at odd angles. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/30/deep-spock.html

With millions out of work, the global economy in a sharp recession, and legitimate fears for the future abound, you might think this is absolutely the worst time to strike out on your own and be your own boss as a work-for-hire freelancer.

But according to numbers compiled by financial services company Payoneer, the current state of the freelance market might not be as dire as you think. While some freelancers have reported a downturn in demand, almost 40 percent said they’ve seen no change or even an increase in business over the past three months. A resounding 75 percent said their rates were still unchanged by the pandemic; and the average 2020 freelance hourly rate remained higher than it was just two years ago.

If you can get past the fear, the opportunity is still there for those looking to make it on their own. 

And the training in the Kickstart Your Freelance Career Course Bundle can help you chart your path toward independence and prosperity working remotely as a skilled freelancer.

Over these eight courses, students earn a thorough understanding of what it takes to carve out a profitable living working for yourself as well as step-by-step guides and tips on launching a fulfilling freelance career.

The Freelance Kickstart: Start a Successful Business You Love and Sales and Marketing for Freelancers courses cut right to the heart of the matter by laying out how to achieve the twin pillars of a successful freelance lifestyle: handling assignments and clients like a true business, and forging the right mindset to succeed in that often competitive space. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/29/kickstart-your-freelance-caree.html

Protests over the police killing of George Floyd continue in Minneapolis tonight, in defiance of a curfew imposed by the mayor. Protesters have now overtaken the westbound interstate 35 freeway in Minneapolis.

Protest disrupts traffic on I-35W at University in Minneapolis https://t.co/5GeqUKKadr

 FOX 9 (@FOX9) May 29, 2020

Protesters are shutting down interstate 35 in Minneapolis #Minneapolis #GeorgeFloydProtests pic.twitter.com/v7evgaVmfj

 Zach Boyden-Holmes (@Boydenphoto) May 29, 2020

BREAKING: A group of protesters in downtown Minneapolis have now started marching north down southbound 35W lane. | WATCH LIVE: https://t.co/VeTHVZ0EuO pic.twitter.com/7GzZfYo8RX

 WCCO - CBS Minnesota (@WCCO) May 29, 2020

Protest is blocking all of I35W in Minneapolis, crossing the Mississippi. pic.twitter.com/YTiepwYWrB

 robertklemko (@RobertKlemko) May 29, 2020

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/29/protesters-shut-down-i-35-free.html

• One Trump fundraising event in Dallas next month has a price tag of $580,600 per couple.

Impeached president Donald Trump is scheduled to headline in-person fundraisers as early as June, which would be his first since the coronavirus outbreak stopped campaign events in March.

Alex Isenstadt at Politico was first to break the news late on Friday.

NEWS: Trump is resuming in-person fundraising events — the most concrete move yet by the president to restart typical election-year activities halted by the coronavirus. https://t.co/y7tAryCZA9

 Alex Isenstadt (@politicoalex) May 29, 2020

“Trump plans to headline a gathering at a private home in Dallas on June 11, and an outdoor event at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., on June 13,” reports Michelle Ye Hee Lee at the Washington Post:

Both events will be geared toward wealthy donors, charging $580,600 per couple for the Dallas event and $250,000 per person for the New Jersey event. The money will go to Trump Victory, a committee that raises money for the Trump campaign, the Republican Party and 22 state parties.

Party officials said they plan to take safety measures to ensure the health of the president and attendees. About 25 people are expected to attend each event, which is a smaller gathering than many other Trump Victory fundraisers. The events were first reported Friday by Politico.

The White House Medical Unit and U.S. Secret Service will evaluate all attendees to decide whether they can attend the event, according to a party official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss security measures.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/29/donald-trump-campaign-doing-in.html

Buzzfeed News reporters obtained the explanation offered by United States Department of Homeland Security's CBP to congressional staffers who asked why it decided to fly a Predator Drone over Minneapolis during the protests over the killing of George Floyd.

The drone flown over Minneapolis today is reported to be an unarmed version of the unmanned Predator aircraft.

Excerpt:

Minneapolis could also be subject to surveillance at the federal level as the protests unfold. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) flew a Predator drone over the city on Friday, according to Jason Paladino, an investigative reporter at the Project on Government Oversight.

In a statement given to congressional staffers on Friday that was obtained by BuzzFeed News, CBP officials said the agency's Air and Marine Operations was "preparing to provide live video to aid in situational awareness at the request of our federal law enforcement partners in Minneapolis." The agency said drones are often deployed around the country to "augment law enforcement and humanitarian relief efforts."

"After arriving into the Minneapolis airspace, the requesting agency determined that the aircraft was no longer needed for operational awareness and departed back to Grand Forks," the statement read.

Scary times. Read more:

Here Are The Minneapolis Police's Tools To Identify Protesters

[ Caroline Haskins, Ryan Mac, Hamed Aleaziz, May 29, 2020, at 6:02 p.m. ET, IMAGE: US Air Force, public domain ]

More from observers and reporters on Twitter, below.

correction: the Customs and Border Protection Predator B drone that flew over Minneapolis today actually appears to have been outside of the 100 air mile zone where CBP craft are allowed to operate.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/29/why-is-customs-and-border-prot.html

Donald Trump on Friday afternoon claimed to be completely ignorant of the racist history of the phrase 'when the looting starts, the shooting starts,' which he tweeted, and the White House retweeted, and which was also posted on the Presidential Facebook account.

The phrase was made famous by a Miami police chief in 1967.

JUST IN: President Trump addresses tweet (and WH retweet) that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts”....claims he didn’t know the racially charged history. @CBSNews pic.twitter.com/hrByVLXgsS

 Paula Reid (@PaulaReidCBS) May 29, 2020

Trump on Friday told reporters he believed the phrase means "when there's looting, people get shot and they die."

He says that's very accurate and "we don't want that to happen."

Trump denied knowing the origins of the phrase “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” saying he has heard the phrase “for a long time.”When a reporter noted it was said by Miami police chief in 1967, Trump said he “has also heard from many other places.”@JasonHoffman93

 Manu Raju (@mkraju) May 29, 2020

"That's the way that was meant, and that's the way I think it was supposed to be meant, but I don't know where it came from."

President Trump says he didn't know where the term "when the looting starts, the shooting starts."

It originates from a Miami police chief whose aggressive policies in black neighborhoods led to violence in the late 1960s.https://t.co/QoVGt6ce5Y

 Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) May 29, 2020

"I've heard that phrase for a long time.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/29/trump-claims-he-didnt-know-r.html

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has had it with Donald Trump's bullshit threats of violence against Americans.

"Being black in America should not be a death sentence," she said at a press conference today, regarding the police killing in Minneapolis of George Floyd.

“I will encode what I really want to say to Donald Trump,” Lightfoot said.

“It's two words: It begins with F and it ends with U."

For those looking for the clip of @chicagosmayor Lori Lightfoot telling President @realDonaldTrump "f--- you," here ya go. pic.twitter.com/bbGCxXZ09U

 Kelly Bauer (@BauerJournalism) May 29, 2020

The mayor was addressing Trump's "When the looting starts, the shooting starts" social media posts.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot censors herself but says "fuck you" to President @realDonaldTrump over his comments implying people will be shot in Minneapolis. https://t.co/hjDlIjc0Kz

 Kelly Bauer (@BauerJournalism) May 29, 2020

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has two words for Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/kBNlsJi84s

 BallerAlert (@balleralert) May 29, 2020

"I pray for the day we can eradicate two plagues in our face; COVID19 and racism," the Mayor continued.

Here's what Facebook employees are saying about Zuckerberg's decision not to take action against Trump's threatening posts

Cop who killed George Floyd arrested

Twitter hides Trump tweet calling for "THUGS" to be shot

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/29/chicago-mayor-lori-lightfoot-h.html

• You'll never guess how much the computer originally cost.

“Scratch build, no 3D printing allowed here!”

Amazing work by IMGURian 6502b, a painstakingly accurate scale model of an IBM 1401 computer, in teeny-tiny size.

This is an IBM 1401 scaled model I am working on, part of a diorama. It is a scratch build made of polystyrene mostly. I make everything by hand, no 3D printing involved.

The IBM 1401 is a computer from 1959, considered to be the first successful mass produced computer. I have been working on this miniature diorama since December last year, to celebrate its 60th anniversary.

Here is a close-up of the mini CPU unit SMS transistor card.

The IBM 1401, build in 1959, didn't have a dedicated processor like in modern computers, it was made up of thousands of single transistors build on what they called SMS card that were all wire wrapped by hand. The whole unit was what consist of the processor.

About the original upon which this miniature is based, from Wikipedia:

The IBM 1401 is a variable-wordlength decimal computer that was announced by IBM on October 5, 1959. The first member of the highly successful IBM 1400 series, it was aimed at replacing unit record equipment for processing data stored on punched cards and at providing peripheral services for larger computers.

Here's the full gallery!

I am making a miniature IBM 1401 scale model. Scratch build, no 3D printing allowed here! OC

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/29/ibm-miniature-model.html

“If we fail the test case here, history will not judge us kindly.”

Leaked internal Facebook posts reveal that Facebook employees are horrified that Mark Zuckerberg and C-suite executives refuse to remove impeached president Donald Trump’s threats of violence.

Casey Newton at The Verge:

“I have to say I am finding the contortions we have to go through incredibly hard to stomach,” one employee wrote in a comment about the shooting post. “All this points to a very high risk of a violent escalation and civil unrest in November and if we fail the test case here, history will not judge us kindly.”

On Tuesday Twitter labeled two tweets about mail-in voting as “potentially misleading” for suggesting the practice would lead to a rigged election. Early Friday morning, Twitter placed another tweet behind an interstitial warning for “glorifying violence” because it included the sentence “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” In all cases, the tweets were cross-posted to Facebook. (...)

But then Trump cross-posted to Facebook a tweet that seemed to suggest that violent action be taken against people protesting the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minnesota police. “Would it be possible to explain in more detail the interpretation of our community standards?” one employee asked. “Does this post violate them but get an exemption, or is it not violating?”

But by mid-afternoon Pacific time on Friday, employees had not received a response — and they were beginning to grow frustrated. “It’s egregious that nobody from policy has chimed in or provided any sort of context here,” one employee said.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/29/heres-what-facebook-employee.html

The Mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, has declared a curfew for the city following protests over impunity in the killing of George Floyd.

An 8 p.m. curfew imposed by the mayor late Friday will extend through the weekend.

Mayor Frey has issued Emergency Regulation No. 2020-2-1 which imposes a curfew throughout the City of Minneapolis beginning at 8 p.m. tonight (Fri., May 29) and extends through the weekend.See the posted regulation for details at: https://t.co/iebgleKnyx pic.twitter.com/7l61oURPtc

 Minneapolis Clerk (@mplsclerk) May 29, 2020

Minneapolis mayor announces a curfew beginning 8 p.m. tonight until 6 a.m. tomorrow and another 8 p.m. Saturday through 6 a.m. Sunday. People are banned from public streets + public places in Minneapolis with some exceptions (police, fire, National Guard, the homeless) pic.twitter.com/yuTD0QmCqm

 Mark Berman (@markberman) May 29, 2020

PREVIOUSLY ON BOING BOING:

• Cop who killed George Floyd arrested

• Minneapolis ablaze after prosecutor suggests no crime was committed by cops who killed George Floyd

• The cop who killed George Floyd has a long record of police brutality Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/29/minneapolis-mayor-declares-cur.html

Impeached President Donald Trump announced on a Friday afternoon in the middle of a pandemic that has killed more than 100,000 that he is terminating the relationship between the United States and the World Health Organization.

President Trump: We will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization.

 Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) May 29, 2020

The President announces he’s terminating the relationship with the WHO pic.twitter.com/FDLwv9VVE9

 Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) May 29, 2020

In responding to Trump's reckless attacks on public health, the American Medical Association did not mince words.

The American Medical Association is not mincing words about Trump quitting the World Health Organization. pic.twitter.com/Vqq1sllVRQ

 Jeffrey Young (@JeffYoung) May 29, 2020

Nor did medical professionals on Twitter, like Jeremy Konyndyk of the Center for Global Development and Georgetown University.

The bottom line is that none of this is about WHO's performance. It's purely about deflecting accountability for 100k dead Americans, and counting, on Trump's watch. I dove into the merits along with @TomBollyky here: https://t.co/4dNEgob7iU

 Jeremy TEST/TRACE/ISOLATE Konyndyk (@JeremyKonyndyk) May 29, 2020

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/29/trump-says-hes-ending-u-s-r.html

The letter from 4 senators was addressed to Zhang Yiming, founder and CEO of TikTok owner ByteDance.

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/29/investigation-into-tiktok-as-r.html

For years, dirty countertops, appliances, or bathroom fixtures were just kind of gross. But unkempt corners of your kitchen and bathroom aren’t just a sign of laziness anymore. Now, they’re a potential breeding ground for infectious disease. 

You can’t just limp through cleaning these days. You’ve gotta get rigorous about it, which means it’s no longer acceptable to bring a knife to a gunfight. The Drill Brush Cleaning Supply Kit not only ups the ante on your household cleaning regimen, but it handles the task by repurposing one of your toolkit favorites, your trusty power drill.

This set included four different brush heads, each designed with unique shapes and bristle stiffnesses to attach to your cordless drill for specific cleaning jobs. 

Snap on the 5-inch medium stiffness brush for getting stubborn dirt off your kitchen countertops or bathroom flat surfaces. Or switch out to the 5-inch soft brush to apply a lighter touch for items like carpet, upholstery, glass, leather, wheels, and more.

However, if you need to go big, this kit comes prepared. The 4-inch stiff brush really digs in, attacking dirt and other built-up filth on areas like tile walls and floors or even linoleum. Finally, the 4-inch scrub pad stands ready to step in when you need to clean stainless steel, porcelain, or composites like fiberglass or carbon fiber. The brushes are all even color-coded to help avoid the threat of any cross-contamination.

You’ll also get a backer attachment to connect your scrub pads as well as a 4-ounce bottle of Drill-Tergent, a non-toxic clean solution that obliterates 99 percent of germs on all of your household surfaces. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/29/this-brush-set-enlists-your-po.html

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/29/watch-spacex-prototype-starsh.html

The Hood Internet cut up bits of 50+ music videos from 1988 and mashed them into a four minute video. It would make the perfect soundtrack to a montage of 80s movie montages.

(via Laughing Squid) Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/29/impressive-four-minute-mash-up.html