https://boingboing.net/2020/07/16/weird-fish-with-human-mouth.html

A new online art project launched today and I've had a lot of fun browsing around the online video exhibition. It's called Decameron Row and when you go to the site you'll see eight multi-story buildings, each with a bunch of windows in them. When you click on a window, it starts a 1 or 2-minute video from one of 100 artists in the series.

I was kindly invited to participate, and next week my video will be available.

For now, check out the first 27 videos.

The launch features contributions in music by the short form masters Ok Go; Chilean bard Nano Stern; songwriter David Poe; violinist Sumire Hirotsuru in Japan; the writer of the title song to the movie Harriet, Joshua Brian Campbell; and Nortec Collective in Tijuana, Mexico. Dance is represented by the inventive Pilobolus, Big Dance Theater, Ohad Naharin, and Mike Tyus. Theater and TV performers include Aasif Mandvi, Natalie Palamides, Geoff Sobelle, Sophie Bortolussi, and the inimitable Christeene. The site features writers from numerous genres including novelists Nicole Krauss, Claire Messud, Nell Freudenberger, Ben Schott, Etgar Keret, and PEN Open Book Award winner Nafissa Thompson-Spires; and poet Douglas Kearney. Visual artists include Boris Torres, Som Sutthirat Supaparinya, and Elinor Carrucci; filmmakers include Ira Sachs, Gabriela Amaral Almeida in Brazil, and Palme d’Or winning Apichatpong Weerasethakul in Thailand.

New videos will continue to launch one building each week throughout the summer until all 100 windows on Decameron Row are illuminated as a testament to this year. Come back each week to discover more surprises from artists in Africa, Asia, North and South America, Europe, and the MIddle East

Decameron Row is inspired by Boccaccio’s Decameron, where a group of friends in 14th century Italy avert the loneliness of a 10-day quarantine from the Black Death by squatting in an abandoned villa outside of Florence and telling each other stories — 10 people, 10 days, 100 tales.

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/16/cool-online-art-project-100-a.html

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/16/just-a-ninja-master-practicing.html

If you routinely lament the loss of truly educational television...well, join the club. There are only so many hours of Real Housewives and Forensic Files you can watch before your brain turns to mush and you’re convinced the final days of mankind must be counting down.

Don’t lose faith just yet, however. There are actually some interesting and enlightening viewing options out there more invested in expanding your mind than watching it disintegrate at the Jersey Shore.

History Hit TV is a standalone streaming video service housing hundreds of history documentaries, interviews and short films, all dedicated to bringing viewers the most extraordinary, dramatic, tragic, and fascinating stories of our planet’s shared past.

 Since no one wants to read anymore, History Hit TV is reinventing how history is told for the digital viewer, through video, podcasts and more.

If you’re interested in the Ancient and Classical World, you can dive into shows and discussions about the history of the world’s oceans, the Roman empire, the ancient Greeks, Arthurian legend, and more. If your tastes veer more contemporary, you can get up-to-the-minute offerings about the coronavirus pandemic, current elections or even something as fun as the complete history of video games.

And of course, there are also centuries worth of compelling content in-between. In addition to documentaries and shows, there’s also a huge library of podcasts you can devour anytime, anywhere. In fact, it’s the home to hundreds of episodes of the no. 1 most listened to history podcast on iTunes, the popular Dan Snow’s History Hit. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/16/history-hit-tv-lets-you-explor.html

When it comes to packing kids into underfunded classrooms with at-risk teachers White House spokesfraud Kayleigh McEnany says: "The science should not stand in the way of this."

Kayleigh McEnany: Pres. Trump wants schools to open, "and when he says open, he means open and full, kids being able to attend each and every day at their school. The science should not stand in the way of this." https://t.co/USdmss0Ygu pic.twitter.com/XTowM3TKIx

 Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) July 16, 2020

Perhaps they see children as a good way to get the disease to their grandparents? Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/16/white-house-decries-science.html

I am pre-ordering Star Wars The Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark because Cad Bane.

Cad Bane was my favorite of the very many excellent characters to come out of Star Wars Clone Wars. His brief near-cameo in Star Wars Rebels delighted me. I had hoped he'd be a character used like Hondo Ohnaka or that we'd see him in The Mandolorian.

Polygon has an excerpt of the Cad Bane story included in this new Star Wars book. It tells a fantastic Clone Wars arc from Bane's POV instead of the Obi-Wan centric one we got in the cartoons. Not only are the non-Jedi characters fascinating in this arc, but it is one wherein Anakin learns the Jedi Order will lie and cause him great emotional pain to reach their ends, and that Obi-Wan is more than complicit.

Star Wars The Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark via Amazon Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/16/a-cad-bane-short-story-has.html

For good measure:

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/16/fun-with-alex-trebek.html

Please express your preference in the comments.

To be used as a measuring stick:

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/16/disco-vs-macho.html

I know Sarah Cooper from her hilarious lip-syncs of Trump's incoherent babbling. I did not know that she was also the author of the hilarious 2016 book 100 Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings. Cooper announced that she has a new calendar based on the book. Here are some sample pages:

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/16/get-sarah-coopers-tricks-t.html

These two guys went to Huntington Beach, California, and offered masks to people who weren't wearing them. One of the no-maskers said they didn't need a mask because only their god could decide their fate, another asked the two men if they were mentally incapacitated from smoking marijuana, another said the saltwater from the ocean would kill the virus, another said they didn't need a mask because they lived in Huntington Beach, another said coronavirus is a "bullshit lie," another said "It's all fake, dude," another said "that shit's a fraud, I like freedom, dawg."

Before the pandemic, I had no idea that there were so many idiots and sociopaths in the population.

Image: YouTube Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/16/heres-the-full-video-of-covi.html

Here is an example of the fake crowd noise the Mets are experimenting with at Citi Field.

A low murmur, then a cheer when Fargas connects, then a louder cheer when Nimmo makes a nice catch. pic.twitter.com/otLZbFTXBk

 Tim Healey (@timbhealey) July 15, 2020

The Mets are shown here experimenting with simulated crowd noise, filling their empty stands with the cheering ghosts of the pandemic. Reporter Tim Healey adds...

New info on the fake crowd noise:

* Every team is using it

* MLB is giving clubs the sounds (but teams can have their own) & a touchpad device to use it

* There are 75 effects/reactions

* MLB-provided sound is derived from audio recorded for "MLB The Show" at real MLB games

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the entertainment-baudrillardian complex. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/16/baseball-teams-to-fill-empty-s.html

Eighty-four hotdogs is the "maximum possible limit" a human being can consume in 10 minutes, says a researcher at High Point University in North Carolina. James Smoliga, a sports medicine specialist, based his research on 39 years of historical data from Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, reports The Guardian. The current world record was set this month by Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, who walked down 75 hot dogs in 10 minutes.

From The Guardian:

The 84 theoretical maximum comes from fitting a curve to the data and also factoring in the possibility of outliers whose performance lies within a certain error margin of the curve.

The prediction should hold true, Smoliga said, unless a “new kind of competitor” shows up – someone with gigantism or a metabolic condition that placed them well outside the normal parameters of human biology.

The limiting factor is likely to be chewing and swallowing rather than gastric capacity, based on the observation that at the end of the 10 minutes many competitors are still trying to gobble down more sausages and buns.

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/16/scientists-say-human-hotdog-ea.html

This simple game uses six playing card (1 through  6). Each player blindly draws one card and peeks at it. Then one player can ask the other if they would like to trade cards. The other player can accept or reject the offer. Then they turn over the cards. High card wins. What is the best strategy? Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/16/can-you-solve-the-6-cards-game.html

Florida Governor Ron "Rona Ronnie" DeSantis's insistence on "reopening" his state's economy has resulted in a new surge of deaths from COVID-19. On Thursday 156 people were reported dead from COVID-19 in Florida, a horrific new record for the state.

DeSantis can also brag about today's record for the highest ever reported number of hospitalizations in the Sunshine State. From Trust.org:

Hospitalizations of patients with COVID-19 was the highest ever reported at 8,626 currently hospitalized, up 321 in the past 24 hours, according to a state agency. (Writing by Lisa Shumaker, Editing by Franklin Paul)

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/16/its-only-930am-and-florida.html

Sha Na Na was a strangely popular TV variety show that aired in the 1970s. Featuring a 1950s tribute band of the same name, the program featured comedy skits and and performance from contemporary musical acts. Every episode ended with "Bowzer" Bauman's sign-off "Good night and grease for peace!" Notably, Sha Na Na had previously played Woodstock (at Jimi Hendrix's urging) and later appeared in the film Grease as the National Dance-Off band.

This odd TV simulacra of 1950s cartoon rock-and-roll culture was at its weirdest when The Ramones—who themselves were inspired by 50s and 60s bubblegum pop—appeared on Sha Na Na in 1979.

(via Obscure Media) Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/16/watch-the-ramones-on-the-sha-n.html

Last week, street artist Banksy, disguised as a London Underground cleaner, painted an excellent artwork inside a train car urging people to wear face coverings due to COVID-19. Video below. Turns out though, an actual cleaning crew wiped away the work shortly after it was created. From CNN:

The work was removed "some days ago" because it was in violation of [Transport for London]'s "strict anti-graffiti policy," a spokesperson for the transportation agency said in a statement.

Even though it was erased, the spokesperson said that TfL appreciated "the sentiment of encouraging people to wear face coverings" and that it would like to "offer Banksy the chance to do a new version of his message for our customers in a suitable location."

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/16/banksys-pro-mask-graffiti-in.html

Brian Kemp, the governor of Georgia, has voided local government rules mandating that people wear face masks in public to prevent the spread of covid.

Today I issued Executive Order 07.15.20.01, which extends the gatherings ban of more than 50 people, renews business restrictions, protects the medically fragile, and strongly encourages Georgians to wear masks in public.https://t.co/CKFdrW4C3M

 Governor Brian P. Kemp (@GovKemp) July 16, 2020

As summarized by Twitter:

Local governments in the state will not be able to order people to wear masks in public places, according to a new executive order issued by Kemp on Wednesday, which also extended many COVID-19 provisions. The Republican governor's previous COVID-19 orders have for months banned cities and counties from taking more restrictive steps than the state but the new rules explicitly specify for the first time that the state's local governments can’t enforce mask mandates.

He's willing to risk the lives of everyone in Georgia to show fealty to Trump. It's a death cult.

Kemp kissed Trump's bloated flesh and let it slip away, running his fingers through his master's hair one last time. He looked up at the gathered crowd and tears welled in his bloodshot eyes.

"Die with us" he croaked, his lips parting in a wan smile. pic.twitter.com/8XcNy4YtEc

 Rob Beschizza (@Beschizza) July 16, 2020

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/16/governor-brian-kemp-bans-georg.html

Around 2007, a child made a simple terrarium inside a glass bottle. Today, the bottle, unopened for more than a decade, is teeming with a lush ecosystem of algae, moss, fungi, and isopods. From Jartopia:

I found this terrarium very fascinating as it's almost as if there are two separate worlds within the same glass demijohn. The algae underground creates a unique habitat, which couldn't possibly exist in nature due to the fact the glass ensured that light could reach the soil underground. This allowed algaes, moss and fungi to flourish, alongside any of the smaller invertebrates that lived among them.

Adult isopods seem to inhabit the surface and rarely venture below ground. I believe this is due to the hardness of the clay and rock substrate. The babies do seem to venture underground though, likely using tunnels left behind by earthworms many years ago.

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/16/this-12-year-old-bottle-terrar.html

The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter satellite took this incredible image of the Sun, the closest photo ever taken of our star. It reveals tiny solar flares dotting the surface. The image above was captured at a distance of 77 million kilometers. From Nature:

“When the first images came in, my first thought was this is not possible, it can’t be that good,” David Berghmans, principal investigator for the orbiter’s Extreme Ultraviolet Imager instrument, told a press briefing on 16 July. “It was much better than we dared to hope for.”

“The Sun might look quiet at the first glance, but when we look in detail, we can see those miniature flares everywhere we look,” said Berghams, a solar physicist at the Royal Observatory of Belgium, in a statement.

The fires are millions or billions of times smaller than solar flares that can be seen from Earth, which are energetic eruptions thought to be caused by interactions within the Sun's magnetic fields. The mission team has yet to figure out whether the two phenomena are driven by the same process, but they speculate that the combined effect of the many campfires could contribute to the searing heat of the Sun’s outer atmosphere, known as the corona. Why the corona is hundreds of times hotter than its surface is a longstanding mystery.

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/16/this-is-the-closest-photo-ever.html

Audible · The Sandman | "Death Isn't Happy with Dream"

Eventually, Neil Gaiman's The Sandman will make its way to Netflix as the TV series announced last year. Meanwhile though, we can listen to a new audio adaptation of the classic comic. Released this week on Audible, the audio drama features the voices of Gaiman as narrator, James McAvoy as Morpheus, and Kat Dennings as Death. Listen to a clip above. From an interview with Gaiman in Entertainment Weekly:

You’ve previously done audio adaptations of your novels Neverwhere and Good Omens. What was the difference translating a comic book into that format?

NEIL GAIMAN: The biggest difference is they are made up of words, while comics have pictures. Having said that, comics are weirdly close to audio drama. They sort of work in very similar ways. One of the first adaptations of my stuff I ever did was taking the graphic novel Signal to Noise, which I did with Dave McKean, and doing it for BBC in the mid-’90s. We’re proud of what we’ve done. One of the things I was able to do was give Dirk Maggs, who did all of the heavy lifting on this, the original scripts for Sandman. I had to go into long-forgotten parts of my computer and wander down dusty corridors with cyber cobwebs to find files in Word Perfect 4.1 format, and translate them out of Word Perfect and send them over to Dirk. What was great about that was Dirk got to take instructions I had written 30 years ago for artists to tell them what to draw, and take lines from that to me as the narrator.

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/16/neil-gaiman-interviewed-about.html