Sounds like the clinical trials programs we use to approve drugs may have room to improve.

BBC:

He had diabetes, and he had signed up for a study to see if taking a “statin” – a kind of cholesterol-lowering drug – might help. So far, so normal.

But soon after he began the treatment, his wife began to notice a sinister transformation. A previously reasonable man, he became explosively angry and – out of nowhere – developed a tendency for road rage. During one memorable episode, he warned his family to keep away, lest he put them in hospital.

Out of fear of what might happen, Patient Five stopped driving. Even as a passenger, his outbursts often forced his wife to abandon their journeys and turn back. Afterwards, she’d leave him alone to watch TV and calm down. She became increasingly fearful for her own safety.

Then one day, Patient Five had an epiphany. “He was like, ‘Wow, it really seems that these problems started when I enrolled in this study’,” says Beatrice Golomb, who leads a research group at the University of California, San Diego.

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/IB-YVzs0lrI/statins-might-make-you-a-big-j.html

“I think absurd is exactly the right word,” said Saudi Prince Faisal

A security forensics team working on the matter of Amazon chief Jeff Bezos's hacked phone and leaked dick pics reports that without a doubt, it all started when Bezos got a video over WhatsApp from Mohammad Bin Salman. The Amazon mogul met Prince Bone Saw, who is widely believed to have ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, at a dinner in 2018. Bezos got a weird message from MBS, who he trusted, and after that video attachment, Bezos's phone started pushing out tons of data.

Cory Doctorow blogged his take on the matter here earlier today.

So, today, the Saudi foreign minister has of course totally denied everything.

Because of course, just like they denied murdering Khashoggi.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said on Wednesday that an allegation MBS was involved in the plot to hack the phone of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was “absurd,” reports Reuters:

“I think absurd is exactly the right word,” Prince Faisal told Reuters in an interview at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos. “The idea that the crown prince would hack Jeff Bezos’ phone is absolutely silly.”

Two United Nations officials will report on Wednesday that there is enough evidence suggesting that Saudi Arabia had hacked Bezos’ phone and both the kingdom and the United States should investigate, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier on Wednesday.

Previously on Boing Boing: Forensics team accuses Prince Bone Saw of hacking Jeff Bezos's phone to obtain kompromat and force Washington Post silence on Khashoggi [Cory Doctorow]

Read more at Reuters: Saudi foreign minister calls claim that Crown Prince hacked Bezos phone 'absurd' Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/1Jeubc0AqS4/absurd-saudi-arabia-calls.html

The first amendment is one thing, but I would not piss off an HOA.

A gentleman, who may or may not have a mental illness, posted a number of very offensive signs on his condominium balcony. His HOA asked him to remove said signage and then fined him to no effect. The City of Calabasas apparently got involved, and the hateful symbology has been removed... for now.

ABC7:

A man who is believed to be the long-time owner of the condo was seen last week yelling and cursing at people from his balcony. No threats were made, according to the sheriff's department, but some neighbors say they feel unsafe and intimidated by the messages.

"I'm horrified, and I'm sad," resident Sheri Polk said. "Sad that people feel this way about Jews, about African Americans."

The city of Calabasas said the material was taken down Friday, the morning after a deadline was issued for the signs' removal. The resident initially refused to remove the posters, according to Calabasas Mayor Alicia Weintraub.

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/CbSNtdrso2s/calabasas-fan-of-nazism-forced.html

Lest you thought the "bulletproof" backpack trend wasn't heinous and exploitative enough, Wonder Hoodie is now selling a "bulletproof" hoodie.

I use "scare-quotes" here because, like most "bulletproof" products on the market, this hoodie claims to rate a IIIA on the National Institute of Justice's Body Armor Performance Standards. This means that the padding is "Tested to stop .357 SIG and .44 Magnum ammunition fired from longer barrel handguns. No rifle ammunition protection."

So it's not really bulletproof so much as it is bullet resistant for certain handguns. Which ain't gonna help in the occasion someone shows up with an AR-15 or similar semi-automatic rifle. Also, if we're being technical, it hasn't actually been tested and certified by the NIJ, but rather by an independent lab. But I digress.

If it does make you feel comfortable about the statistically likelihood situation of a mass shooting, then by all means, spend the $800 for the adult-sized hoodie, even though you're more likely to die in a boating or a spaceship incident. (To be fair, a deliberate assault by a gun is way more likely than either of these events, though still a lower risk than death from cancer, flu, or falling.) And to make it even more worth the exploitative emotional manipulation investment, the company also offers a "Limited Lifetime Warranty." Here's what that entails:

If you get shot (God forbid) with our hoodies on, we'll send you a replacement hoodie FREE of charge. Just include the police report or news clip.

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/EStYvqrHJf0/this-bulletproof-hoodie-co.html

Wow, really? So soon?

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun told reporters today the company expects to return to producing the 737 MAX months before the previously forecast mid-year return to service. The planemaker said it did not plan to suspend or cut its dividend.

It's not clear what if anything will change with the new design.

From Reuters:

The company announced a production halt in December, when the global grounding of the fast-selling 737 MAX following two deadly crashes in five months looked set to last into mid-2020.

Calhoun said the company is not considering scrapping the MAX and expects it will continue to fly for a generation. He also said it will not launch a marketing campaign to get customers to get back on 737 MAX planes. He also disclosed Boeing is starting with a “clean sheet of paper” on a New Midsize Airplane but it is not clear if the company is scrapping the existing design.

The company said on Tuesday it now expects regulators to approve the plane’s return to service in the middle of the year. Calhoun said he did not see recent issues raised about wiring or software as “serious problems.”

READ MORE: Boeing CEO says he expects to resume 737 MAX production before mid-year [reuters.com] Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/BUMLRFdKFxk/boeing-to-resume-737-max-produ.html

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/9MHvDo-v0gc/australia-wildfires-pizza.html

My daughter and I have a nice little home makerspace going, but we have been storing all of our components (resistors, capacitors, solder, arduinos, raspberry pis, etc) in plastic boxes stacked into a larger box, which makes it hard to find what we need. It was time to get a cabinet, and this one is perfect, with 44 clear sliding drawers. It's only about 6-inches deep, which is a good thing because it doesn't take up a lot of room on our worktable. It's on Amazon. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/GWObQdJZDO4/hardware-and-craft-cabinet-g.html

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is claiming damages of $50 million after Hillary Clinton called her a "Russian asset" in an interview, reports The Guardian.

From the filing: “Clinton’s false assertions were made in a deliberate attempt to derail Tulsi’s presidential campaign. The defamatory statements have caused Tulsi to lose potential donors and potential voters who heard the defamatory statements. Tulsi has suffered significant actual damages, personally and professionally, that are estimated to exceed $50m – and continue to this day.”

From the article:

Gabbard’s allegations stem from an interview Clinton conducted with the Democratic strategist, author and podcaster David Plouffe in October 2019. Discussing the 2020 primary field, Clinton said of one candidate: “She is a favourite of the Russians.

“They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far. And, that’s assuming Jill Stein [the Green Party nominee for president in 2016, who received favourable coverage from Russian state media] will give it up, which she might not because she’s also a Russian asset. Yeah, she’s a Russian asset.”

Image by United States Congress - Office of Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, Public Domain, Link Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/gsNY5mArx8g/presidential-candidate-tulsi-g.html

Artist Refik Anadol, who has appeared on Boing Boing before, designs dreamy installations using artificial intelligence. Some of them he calls 'data paintings.'

Anadol manipulates large collections of data and develops machine learning algorithms to create these trippy, immersive art installations. They're beautiful.

The video above is a new profile of Refik Anadol's work by WIRED.

If you haven't yet, go subscribe to Wired on YouTube. Good videos.

You can experience Anadol's work live, right now in New York City through February 2, 2020, at Artechouse NYC.

Go see Anadol's installations in person, or learn more about them online:

• Machine Hallucination at Artechouse NYC (now through February 2020)

• WDCH Dreams (Los Angeles, archived, performance took place in 2018)

• Winds of Boston (archived)

• Melting Memories (archived)

PREVIOUSLY ON BOING BOING: Watch Archive Dreaming, a mind-bending immersive dive into data visualization (By Andrea James, 2018)

[Thanks, Wonbo!] Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/rsx4q9lFIRE/how-artist-refik-anadol-uses-a.html

Nototo is a new note taking app that lets you build an imaginary map and populate it with plants, structures, and notes on any subject. It reminds me of a memory palace - a building full of rooms that exists in your mind into which you can store ideas for easy recall. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/y0IDnBmGnsI/nototo-memory-palace-style-n.html

The latest installment of the always-delightful McMansion Hell (previously) departs from the usual format of mercilessly skewering the tasteless custom homes of the contemporary super-rich and instead delves into their historic precedent, the 1970s-vintage "proto-McMansion," AKA the "Styled Ranch."

Posts like this are a peek behind the McMansion Hell curtain, giving us a glimpse into Kate Wagner's outstanding critical eye for architecture, its meanings, and its failings.

My grandparents had a not-quite-Styled-Ranch house -- smaller than these, and with better proportions -- but I instantly recognized the type of house on display here.

This 5,600 square-foot house features 6 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms and can be all yours for ~$1.8 million USD. You’ll notice a lot of things about this house that are not McMansion-like: its symmetry, its lack of a complex roofline, its unified exterior claddings and window styles. However, this is why the house is interesting - it is not as much a McMansion as it is a proto-McMansion. Many McMansion features are apparent in their nascent form, for example, the competing architectural styles of Tudor (windows) and Neoclassical (portico, front door, quoins), the tacked-on mass containing the three car garage, an ostentatious pediment with elaborate columns, and extruded double bay windows.

The McMansion Hell Yearbook: 1970 [Kate Wagner/McMansion Hell] Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/6PUtoLYMyMk/styled-ranches.html

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/TutzxH4R7ZE/kids-find-a-cool-unintended-us.html

I love watching Nippon Wandering TV (NWT), where a guy straps on a GoPro and walks and bikes around Japan. I often run the videos on a second screen while I work just to listen to the ambient sounds of traffic, footsteps, and pedestrian chatter. In this video, NWT hops on a bike and pedals around Shinjuku, a lively ward in Tokyo.

Image: YouTube Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/Z8KyI7nMG8Y/first-person-video-of-a-bike-r.html

Twelve days ago, a Beijing pulmonary expert traveled to Wuhan, the epicenter of China's coronavirus, and declared on China Central Television that the outbreak was "under control" and a "mild condition." Eleven days later, according to The New York Times, he himself became infected with the virus.

From The Japan Times:

Wang Guangfa, who heads the Department of Pulmonary Medicine at Beijing’s Peking University First Hospital, was part of a team of experts that earlier this month visited Wuhan, where the virus emerged...

Wang, who conducted research on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003, said he was receiving treatment and would receive an injection soon. He did not give details on how he may have been infected.

"I was diagnosed and my condition is fine,” Wang said on Cable TV yesterday. "I don’t want everyone to put too much attention on my condition.”

This SARS-like coronavirus has mostly infected people in Wuhan, but has also spread to other regions of the country, as well as Japan, Thailand, Korea, Taiwan, the United States, Hong Kong, and Macau. When blogged about on Boing Boing just yesterday, the virus had infected almost 300 people and caused six deaths. And then last night when blogged again, the number changed to 440 people with nine deaths. As of right now, so far, the numbers have changed again to 540 and 17.

Image: By Hwangxiheng - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/h7s4lo8-59A/after-health-expert-in-china-s.html

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are linked to cancer and liver damage, were used in a number of products, including Teflon and Scotchgard. PFAS take such a long time to break down in the environment that they are described as "forever chemicals."

David Andrews, a senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group (EWG), which just issued a report about widespread PFAS pollution in the United States water supply, told Reuters, “It’s nearly impossible to avoid contaminated drinking water from these chemicals.” From the article:

Of tap water samples taken by EWG from 44 sites in 31 states and Washington D.C., only one location, Meridian, Mississippi, which relies on 700 foot (215 m) deep wells, had no detectable PFAS. Only Seattle and Tuscaloosa, Alabama had levels below 1 part per trillion (PPT), the limit EWG recommends.

In addition, EWG found that on average six to seven PFAS compounds were found at the tested sites, and the effects on health of the mixtures are little understood. “Everyone’s really exposed to a toxic soup of these PFAS chemicals,” Andrews said.

Image: by trozzolo - Own work, Public Domain, Link Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/UsUTSch-WAM/us-drinking-water-is-a-toxic.html

This is the bringing-tears to my eyes type Star Wars stuff we need!

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is arguably the best storytelling in the Star Wars canon universe.

Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/TWAtqO7mYD8/a-powerful-trailer-for-the-fin.html

From Reddit's popular r/AmItheAsshole subreddit, in which people describe a recent action they took and ask readers to decide whether or not they behaved in an assholelike manner: a man says he saw a poster offering a $500 reward for a cat, found the cat, and returned it to claim the reward. The cat owner was surprised that the cat finder wanted the reward, and only reluctantly gave him a portion of it.

AITA for asking for the $500 reward money after I returned a lost cat? from r/AmItheAsshole

Reddit's judgement: not an asshole.

Photo by Ludemeula Fernandes on Unsplash

  Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/D9oID0RyCAE/person-who-offered-500-for-lo.html

The disgraceful, shady plan to sell control over the .ORG domains to a private equity fund controlled by Republican billionaires is on the ropes, with tens of thousands of people and thousands of .org registrants having signed a petition calling for a halt to the deal. This Friday, we're converging on the ICANN offices in Playa Vista to deliver that petition. I'll be there. Will you? Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/FE7Hyn6DQJQ/friday-9am.html

Monty Python star Terry Jones, master of countless characters such as Mr. Creosote and Cardinal Biggles, director of Life of Brian , is dead at 77. The BBC reports he was suffering from dementia.

Life of Brian was viewed as controversial for its comedic depiction of a young Jewish man who is born on the same day as and next door to Jesus Christ, and is subsequently mistaken for the Messiah.

"I think we'll get into a lot of trouble," explained Jones at the time. "I think there'll be a lot of hackles raised, but it isn't a spoof on the life of Christ, in fact. It started off as, 'Let's do a life of Christ' and we thought, 'That's a very outrageous thing to do'.

He added: "So in fact, we did the life of someone who was born in the stable next to Christ and who wasn't Christ and didn't have quite such a glamorous life."

Photo: BBC / Monty Python Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/ZwoFM2LY4Nk/terry-jones-of-monty-python-f.html

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/ZzGy84hgbGE/boing-boing-is-20-or-33-year.html