If you’re a big fan of ink, but not such a big fan of the forever side to tattoo body art or the pain, the Prinker S Temporary Tattoo Printer might just be your favorite creation of the century.

Winner of 2020 Red Dot and If Design awards, the Prinker S is kind of like those temporary tattoos you used to get in a Crackerjack box...only even easier and much, much cooler.

With the Prinker app on your smartphone, you can choose from over 5,000 unique tattoo designs, including everything from shapes to cartoon characters to eye-catching designs of every kind. Or you can even upload or sketch your own individual tattoo art right into the database. 

Once you’ve sprayed a quick skin primer over the area and downloaded the chosen design to the printer, just sweep the printer over your body -- and within three seconds, your full-color tattoo is painlessly applied.

The FDA-compliant cosmetic ink is completely safe, non-toxic, waterproof, kid-friendly, and lasts up to two days, even though you can wash it off with a little soap and water.

From parties to sporting events to music festivals, from sleepovers to bridal showers and beyond, the Prinker S is a fun, non-invasive way of decorating yourself — without having to worry about work tomorrow or what your mom will say!

Right now, you can get a Prinker S Temporary Tattoo Printer with black ink only for $259.99, a $20 savings. Or you can get the complete set of colored ink for full-color tattoos for just $379.99, a savings of almost $70. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/07/this-temporary-tattoo-printer.html

If you want to understand what it takes to keep a company’s computer network happy and healthy in the cloud, the training found in The Complete AWS eBook and Video Course Bundle can go a long way toward making sure you know the ins and outs of the AWS environment.

This bundle brings together five ebooks and another five videos with more than 13 hours of content, all zeroed in on different aspects of planning, building, managing, and growing a thriving network using AWS tools.

The ebooks like Serverless Programming Cookbook and Implementing Cloud Design Patterns for AWS can help get any student started, explaining how the cloud model works and best practices for forging a rock-solid hub that is efficient, scalable and protected from everything the future holds. 

After a segue into machine learning and building an artificial intelligence workflow with Mastering Machine Learning on AWS, the remaining ebooks (AWS Certified SysOps Administrator: Associate Guide and AWS Certified Developer: Associate Guide) can get a user ready to take and pass the AWS SysOps and Developer exams, two must-have certifications to show mastery for working in the AWS environment.

As for the videos, they’re chock full of insightful AWS training as well. From building your own apps in the public cloud (Reliability & Resilience on AWS) to developing and deploying AWS Lambda functions (AWS Lambda & The Serverless Framework: Hands-On Learning!) to using AWS CloudFormation to keep your network running smoothly and intact (AWS CloudFormation Master Class), it’s all in-depth AWS instruction based on practical hands-on knowledge. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/06/this-ebook-and-video-collectio.html

“The Senate on Thursday unanimously passed legislation to ban the use of the social media app TikTok on federal devices, weeks after the House approved a similar measure,” reports The Hill:

The legislation, sponsored primarily by Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.), would ban the app’s use on all federal government devices, following bans on the app already put in place by the Army and the Transportation Security Administration due to potential security threats.

“In light of all we know, it is unthinkable to me that we should continue to permit federal employees, those workers entrusted with sensitive government data, to access this app on their work phones and computers,” Hawley said in a statement on Thursday. “I’m encouraged by the bipartisan support we have seen in this body to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable and that includes, by the way, holding accountable those corporations who would just do China’s bidding.”

He added that, “if I have anything to say about it, we won’t be stopping here.”

In addition to Hawley and Scott, Senate sponsors of the bill included Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), John Kennedy (R-La.), and Martha McSally (R-Ariz.).

‘Untrusted’ Chinese apps like TikTok and WeChat must be banned from U.S. app stores, says Pompeo promoting 'Clean Network'

China will not accept 'theft' of TikTok by Trump and the U.S, reports state-run China Daily

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/06/senate-to-ban-tiktok-on-federa.html

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/06/wombat-says-hello-on-snowy-mou.html

The Trump administration's plan to ban various Chinese technologies, and doing business with various Chinese tech entities, is a clear sign of “madness” in U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, wrote China’s state-run tabloid Global Times in an editorial on Thursday.

From Reuters:

“Pompeo has uttered anti-China remarks almost every day, and constantly played tricks to intensify conflicts between China and the U.S., and display Trump administration’s toughness toward China,” the editorial read.

The U.S. State Department on Wednesday published an expanded update of a plan called the “Clean Network” calling for telecom companies, cloud service providers, and mobile apps of Chinese origin to be kept out of the United States.

“From the long-term perspective, it’s incredible that the U.S. information industry could totally detach from the Chinese market,” the Global Times wrote.

“It would pose a severe test for U.S. companies if U.S. chips, software, and terminal equipment become irrelevant to the Chinese market.”

Read more: Chinese state media slams 'madness' of U.S. tech purge

Doing business with TikTok's Chinese owner is banned under new Trump order

‘Untrusted’ Chinese apps like TikTok and WeChat must be banned from U.S. app stores, says Pompeo promoting 'Clean Network'

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/06/china-accuses-trump-and-pompeo.html

Facebook is banning the pro-Trump Republican PAC “The Committee to Defend the President” from advertising, after the PAC repeatedly posted content identified as false by third-party fact-checkers.

“As a result of the Committee to Defend the President’s repeated sharing of content determined by third-party fact-checkers to be false, they will not be permitted to advertise for a period of time on our platform,” said Facebook spokesman Andy Stone Thursday.

From Reuters:

The company declined to specify the length of the advertising ban or which posts prompted it.

Politicians’ ads and posts are not subject to Facebook fact-checking, a policy that has drawn heat from lawmakers, but content from political groups like PACs can be fact-checked.

The committee’s Facebook page, which has almost 1 million “likes,” has had four “false” or “partly false” fact-checking labels attached to content since the start of July.

More at Reuters:Facebook bars pro-Trump PAC from advertising, citing repeated false posts Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/06/trump-pac-banned-by-facebook-f.html

Donald Trump on Thursday issued an executive order that bans doing business with ByteDance, the China-based company that owns TikTok. The ban takes effect in 45 days.

From Reuters:

The app may be used for disinformation campaigns that benefit the Chinese Communist Party and the United States “must take aggressive action against the owners of TikTok to protect our national security,” Trump said in the order.

More at Reuters. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/06/doing-business-with-tiktoks.html

Twitter will label the accounts of state-controlled media entities, as well as their senior staff and government officials, said the company in a blog post Thursday.

There are no U.S. media outlets on the list.

From the Twitter blog post:

Twitter provides an unmatched way to connect with, and directly speak to public officials and representatives. This direct line of communication with leaders and officials has helped to democratize political discourse and increase transparency and accountability. We also took steps to protect that discourse because we believe political reach should be earned not bought. In 2019, we banned all state-backed media advertising and political advertising from Twitter. Today we’re expanding the types of political accounts we label.

We will add new labels to the following categories of Twitter accounts:

• Accounts of key government officials, including foreign ministers, institutional entities, ambassadors, official spokespeople, and key diplomatic leaders. At this time, our focus is on senior officials and entities who are the official voice of the state abroad

• Accounts belonging to state-affiliated media entities, their editors-in-chief, and/or their senior staff

Russia was not happy about the move.

Tweeted Russia’s deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy, “They think they can set the rules of the game! This is an illusion. Such clear double standards backfire and undermine credibility of Western media, with ‘state-affiliate’ labels or without. People can’t find truth and facts there anymore.”

From Reuters:

The accounts of Russia’s Sputnik, RT, and China’s Xinhua News are among the media organizations that will be labeled, according to a Twitter spokesman.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/06/twitter-to-label-russian-and-o.html

Part of the reason WordPress is the undisputed king of website creation is its open-source framework, allowing anyone to create plugins offering levels of functionality to WordPress sites that were unprecedented. 

So where do you find all the great ideas that are pushing WordPress forward? You can sample a heaping spoonful of that innovation with The Mega 2020 WordPress Plugin Bundle.

This package collects five volumes containing more than 80 different plugins categorized for use doing almost anything you’d want a website to accomplish. Once you start picking through this bundle’s content, you’ll quickly find a dozen different ways to optimize and elevate your WordPress site.

The needs of commerce and marketers drive the contents of two volumes in this collection, allowing site creators to include sticky navigation bars, opt-in popups, integration with email services like Mailchimp as well as social communication like WhatsApp and Skype, Facebook list builders, and more.

Meanwhile, another selection of plugins focuses in on social media and audience engagement features. Plugins like Social Boost bring the same social sharing features that drive clicks on sites like Buzzfeed and UpWorthy to your posts, while others like FB GFX Pro, Mobile Plugin, and Uber Optin can help you create professional-level Facebook fan pages, lead-generating pages, streamlined mobile integration and beyond.

In addition to other plugs that can help you increase social conversions, build social credibility, showcase YouTube videos with cool sliders, and even build video aggregators and 3-D landing pages, you’ll also find plugins dedicated to upping your site’s performance metrics. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/06/this-plugin-treasure-trove-can.html

In a speech today ahead of his rally in Ohio, Trump noted that production has been shifted to Thigh Land.

Previously: Watch President Trump attempt to say "Yosemite" Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/06/watch-president-trump-attempt-2.html

The Washington Post interviewed Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla about a Covid-19 vaccine that could be ready this year:

In a Washington Post Live interview, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, DVM, PhD said the company could seek regulatory approval for their coronavirus vaccine as soon as October. Bourla said patients’ progress would be tracked for over two years. According to Bourla, the company could have approximately 100 million doses this year, which Americans would receive from the government for free. Pfizer’s contract with the United States government is priced at $19.50 per dose.

In response to President Trump saying a vaccine could be ready as early as November, Bourla said Pfizer could begin seeking regulatory approval for their coronavirus vaccine as soon as October, allowing for potential distribution in November. Bourla said Pfizer would have “approximately 100 million doses” manufactured this year globally and “a big chunk of that will come to the U.S.”

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla says his company could begin seeking regulatory approval for their #coronavirus vaccine as soon as October, and they would have 100 million doses manufactured this year. https://t.co/hOumc3xZgC pic.twitter.com/uYgnJNjBJA

 Washington Post Live (@postlive) August 6, 2020

“If the product works, we have already started manufacturing so that we will have available quantities that would be readily available…We expect, given how fast the regulatory agencies all over the world are reviewing those applications, that we’ll do it very quickly.”

Bourla said as part of Pfizer’s contract with the U.S. government, Americans will receive the first doses of the vaccine allotted to the United States for free: “We took that into consideration, that’s why we provided [the U.S.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/06/pfizer-ceo-says-could-be-seeki.html

Ode to Desolation is Lindsey Hagen's thoughtful and intimate short documentary on Jim Henterly, an illustrator who mans of one the 60 remaining US fire lookout posts, down from 9,000 at the start of the 20th century.

Like lighthouses, fire lookout posts are being replaced with satellite-based technologies.

In a lovely interview, Lindsey talks about how hard it was to get her subject to agree to be in the film, explaining why it was so important to convince him to agree:

The story of Jim Henterly and his role at Desolation Peak came to me from a photographer, Kellen Mohr. I was intrigued to know more about the man on the mountain with the eye and lexicon made to appreciate, indulge, and share the beauty of the natural world. I gave Jim a call and he made it well known that he had no interest in being the subject of a film. That inspired me even further. Here was a man with a heart of gold and the purest intentions in preserving our wild places. Just as Jim sought to keep our wild untainted, he too was untainted in a way. I wanted to share part of what it means to exist today ‘untainted.’ In doing so, we tribute this film to the effects of wilderness on the human soul and psyche. Jim’s way of observing and engaging with the world around him inspires me immensely.

Image: Vimeo / Chris Naum Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/06/pensive-short-film-on-one-of-a.html

I've been accused of being partial to Kewpie Mayonnaise because of its retro packaging, but that's only somewhat true. It's the best mayo I've ever had. Chalk it up to extra egg yolks and the MSG. It's made in Japan,  but you can buy a 3-pack on Amazon. If you are making okonomiyaki (crepes with noodles, cabbage, pork, egg, etc.), it's essential.

I also 3D printed a stand so that the bottle can be stored upside down. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/06/best-mayo-japanese-kewpie-may.html

Curious George unboxing a water bottle. from r/funny

George the monkey is curious about his new water bottle.  In this video you can see George remove a large metal water bottle from a cardboard box, unsuccessfully attempt to unscrew the lid, refer to the user manual (upside down), successfully unscrew the lid, peer into the bottle and sniff it, screw the lid back onto the bottle and immediately unscrew, and consult the user manual again.

Image: Reddit Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/06/monkey-unboxes-a-new-water-bot.html

This is a bit of a wormhole, so bear with me. But I think it illuminates some deeply concerning stuff about the right-wing Boomer propaganda machine.

I saw a link on Twitter with the headline, "Colorado to strip its police force of qualified immunity: Countless officers discussing resigning." Naturally, I was intrigued at the suggestion of police officers throwing public tantrums over having the slightest accountability in their supposed duties to serve and protect their communities. So I saved the link to read later. When I opened it, I found a terribly cheap right-wing propaganda website called Law Enforcement Today, with a poorly written article that linked to a Denver Post article from a few weeks back about Colorado SB-217, which is supposed to restrict the use of tear gas and projectiles on civilians and introduce criminal charges for cops who don't intervene when they witness another officer exercising excessive force. The Law Enforcement Today coverage is long and meandering and doesn't even have an author listed; at the top of the article, however, there is an editor's note saying:

Law Enforcement Today has received countless messages over the past few days from officers in Colorado.  Many have asked for resources finding police jobs out of Colorado – many others have said they plan on leaving the field altogether.

This is just the beginning.  Here’s why.

And that is the extent of information available at police threatening to resign over losing qualified immunity. So what was supposedly the main focus of the article — based on the headline — was just some hearsay tacked onto the top of it. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/06/this-shady-police-news-website.html

A whistleblowing student at a Georgia high school was suspended after he posted a video of fellow students crammed into a hallway between classes, many of them without masks. After he was suspended, North Paulding County high school principal Gabe Carmona made an announcement over the school intercom, warning that "Anything that is going on on social media that is negative on our light... there will be consequences for both students or anyone who sends out those pictures, so please be careful."

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/06/georgia-school-principal-suspe.html

For the last few years, artist Mitch O'Connell (not Mitch McConnell) has been erecting billboards depicting Trump as one of the aliens in the classic science fiction movie They Live. Whenever he post an announcement to Facebook, angry people weigh in with their opinion, which Mitch happily uses to promote his projects. I laugh every time I read them.

View this post on Instagram

 

Only $250 away from another They Live billboard (see the 10th pic)! Contribute at https://gf.me/u/ymbyf6 And for your reading pleasure, here are some fan letters from lovers of the very first billboard, way back in 2016... #trumpbillboard #theylive #gofundme #obey #vote #election2020

A post shared by Mitch O'Connell (@mitchoconnellart) on Aug 6, 2020 at 5:09am PDT

 

View this post on Instagram

 

As we fundraiser for another They Live billboard (see last image), let’s revisit the thoughts and prayers of previous billboard fans. These are the folks you’re going to thrill with every new billboard we put up, so contribute today! :-) #trump #theylive #trumpbillboard #gofundme #obey #2020election #vote

A post shared by Mitch O'Connell (@mitchoconnellart) on Aug 5, 2020 at 9:43am PDT

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/06/the-reviews-are-in-for-artist.html

Ohio governor Mike DeWine tested positive for coronavirus today, the latest high-profile politician to catch the bug. He has no symptoms, reports NBC News. DeWine ordered a statewide mask mandate two days ago, including in schools, as Covid surged in the state.

"As part of the standard protocol to greet President Trump on the tarmac in Cleveland, I took a COVID test," DeWine wrote on the popular microblogging website Twitter. "I tested positive. I have no symptoms at this time. I’m following protocol and will quarantine at home for the next 14 days."

Early in the pandemic, DeWine was quick to reverse his early attempt to get Ohioans to mask up.

“It's really been made clear to me that a mandatory mask requirement for people who are shopping, going into a retail business, is offensive to some of our fellow Ohioans,” DeWine said in April. “I’ve also heard, for some people, this is a difficult thing to do.” Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/06/ohio-governor-mike-dewine-test.html

QAnon is like an alternate reality game (ARG), says ARG designer Adrian Hon. Charlie Warzel of The New York Times interviewed Hon about the parallels between a conspiracy theory and alternate reality games. Hon had a number of interesting insights about QAnon:

"It’s a collaborative fiction built on wild speculation that hardens into reality." "Many people feel alienated and left behind by the world. There’s something about QAnon like ARGs that reward and involve people for being who they are. They create a community that lets people show off their “research” skills and those people become incredibly valuable to the community." "A lot of it is about a lack of trust. But also a lack of comfort with ambiguity. In reality, the answer to most hard questions is, ‘It’s complicated.’ But people want definitive answers. Many of these theories provide that feeling for people. When really everyone needs to be a bit more comfortable with ambiguity." "What concerns me is that right now it is quite easy for bad actors to see what has worked with QAnon and try to copy it. There’s a playbook now. Any groups can hijack it. It wouldn’t take a lot to try and replicate it." "You can make projects and build community that harnesses that positively. The same way bad actors can look at QAnon and find a playbook, so can good actors. We can find similar ways to motivate alienated people in a more constructive way. At least I hope so." Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/06/qanon-as-a-collaborative-inve.html

Seventy five years ago today, the United States detonated an atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan, killing an estimated 140,000 people. A year later, John Hersey, a pioneer of "new journalism," visited the city to report an incredible feature for the New Yorker about the experiences of six people who survived the blast. The US had attempted to cover up the true devastation but Hersey expressed it so the world could know. (It was such a groundbreaking undertaking and achievement that there's a new book, Fallout by Lesley M. M. Blume, to tell the story behind Hersey's story.) From Hersey's "Hiroshima" (1946), available in full at The New Yorker:

he former head of the Nobori-cho Neighborhood Association, to which the Catholic priests belonged, was an energetic man named Yoshida. He had boasted, when he was in charge of the district air-raid defenses, that fire might eat away all of Hiroshima but it would never come to Nobori-cho. The bomb blew down his house, and a joist pinned him by the legs, in full view of the Jesuit mission house across the way and of the people hurrying along the street. In their confusion as they hurried past, Mrs. Nakamura, with her children, and Father Kleinsorge, with Mr. Fukai on his back, hardly saw him; he was just part of the general blur of misery through which they moved. His cries for help brought no response from them; there were so many people shouting for help that they could not hear him separately.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/06/read-john-herseys-incredible.html