This New York Times article has good information about which foods are still safe to eat past their expiration date. One takeaway is that dry food that doesn't have much fat in it is probably safe to eat for years. For example white rice, which has been refined so that the fat is removed, will last a lot longer than brown rice, which will go rancid after several months. Dried beans and lentils will also last for years, but will "become tougher and take longer to cook as time goes on."

Canned fruits and vegetables also have very long shelf lives:

So long as there is no outward sign of spoilage (such as bulging or rust), or visible spoilage when you open it (such as cloudiness, moldiness or rotten smells), your canned fruits, vegetables and meats will remain as delicious and palatable as the day you bought them for years (or in the case of, say, Vienna sausages at least as good as they were to begin with). The little button on the top of jarred goods, which will bulge if there has been significant bacterial action inside the jar, is still the best way to tell if the contents are going to be all right to eat. Depending on storage, that could be a year or a decade. Similarly, cans of soda will keep their fizz for years, glass bottles for up to a year and plastic bottles for a few months. (Most plastics are gas-permeable.)

U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class China M. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/15/which-expiration-dates-on-food.html

Naomi Clark is on the faculty of New York University's game Center. In this video she talks about how Tom Nook, the leader of the island communities in Animal Crossing, is much like the leader of an 18th-century Japanese village, who is task with managing communal debt.

Image: Nintendo Read the rest

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From bandannas to jock straps, people are coming up with all kinds of clever ways to make homemade face masks. Hell knows, they have the time. And so here's another really simple mask project that uses any scrap of fabric you have lying around. No jock strap required. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/15/try-this-quick-diy-face-mask-t.html

“[U.S.] officials are seriously pursuing the possibility that a natural sample of the virus escaped a laboratory.”

The question was dismissed as a conspiracy theory in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak. But now, some intelligence experts admit they are seriously looking into the possibility that the COVID-19 pandemic might have been touched off by an accident at a research facility in China, various news outlets report.

“It’s definitely a real possibility being bandied about at the high levels of the administration,” says one of those quoted experts.

Business Insider also reports that intelligence services for the British government are reportedly considering the same possibility.

Obligatory reminder: Maybe, but maybe not. We just don't know yet.

“After extensive research, scientists in the U.S. and elsewhere have determined that the new strain of the coronavirus discovered in China in December is, as Chinese officials have maintained, of natural origin, but they are taking seriously that its route to human infection may have started in a lab in Wuhan,” writes Yahoo News' Jenna McLaughlin:

“It’s absolutely being looked at very closely at the highest levels,” said one intelligence source with knowledge of the investigations. One reason for the suspicion is the lack of information coming from China. Beijing’s quick denials of involvement, and the decision to immediately identify the Wuhan Seafood Market as the source, raised eyebrows among some U.S. intelligence officials.

“I find it very funny that China very quickly blamed the market,” said one recently retired intelligence official.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/14/maybe-coronavirus-resulted-fro.html

Wonder how much of the airlines' hides the government gets to own now.

Late on Tuesday, reports are circuating that the major U.S. airlines and impeached president Donald Trump's Republican Treasury Department have reached some sort of loose deal on government aid. A formal announcement and details are expected to come later today, report various news outlets.

BREAKING: Major U.S. airlines and Treasury Dept. reach deal in principle on government aid; announcement to come later today - sourceshttps://t.co/CxcP6Ql9O5

 CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) April 14, 2020

Read the rest

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The coronavirus has destroyed America's job market, and there is no immediate relief in sight. This interactive data project from NBC News shows just how devastating the sudden employment losses are, and which US states have been hit the hardest.

Excerpt:

“I compare it to a natural disaster, a terrorist attack and a financial shock all at once,” said Gregory Daco, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. “We've never had this in history.”

California was the first state to issue a stay-at-home order and has seen the greatest number of job losses. In a state with an estimated labor force of 19.5 million, 2.2 million Californians have filed unemployment applications since March 14.

But the torrent of claims is coming from everywhere. Twenty-one states and territories have seen more than one-in-10 eligible workers file for claims in the last month. Hawaii, Michigan, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania have seen the largest percentage of cuts, with 1-in-6 workers in each of those states losing their jobs.

Comparing the weekly claims reported by the Department of Labor to the same period a year ago shows that while job losses have hit every state and territory, the damage has been unique to each region.

Go play with the interactive chart and bum yourself out EVEN MORE while you look for a new job:

The coronavirus has destroyed the job market in every state

[NBC News, Nigel Chiwaya and Jiachuan Wu, April 14, 2020]

[via]

PHOTO: “Bowery men waiting for bread in bread line,” New York City, Bain Collection Public Domain. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/14/coronavirus-destroyed-u-s-job.html

“FACEBOOK already paid $238,000 in 2018 to resolve a previous dispute over political advertising in Washington state.”

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/14/washington-state-sues-facebook.html

Been noodling around with a podcast idea for...what, years now? Well, it’s time to get serious, people. There is no time like right now to work out all the logistics of turning your marinating idea into an actual real, profitable podcast.

And no, that isn’t a mistake. It could actually be a profitable enterprise. According to Bloomberg, several top podcasts make more than $1 million a year. In fact, The Daily, a podcast created by the New York Times, cleared more than $10 million in advertising in 2018.

Sure, you won’t be launching with the prestige and power of journalism’s foremost publication behind you, but with the training in The Start-to-Finish Guide to Launching a Successful Podcast Bundle, you’ll know just how to get your podcast idea off the ground and immediately headed toward a sustainable future.

With the nine classes and nearly 40 hours of instruction offered here, your vision can start falling into place. Start Your Own Podcast and The Podcast Masterclass start the conversation about where to begin to record, edit, publish, grow, and monetize a podcast. If you’re worried about the technical side, Podcasting in 24 Hours: Setup, Record & Podcast in 1 Day discusses which equipment you’ll need and Music Production in Logic Pro X: Audio Mixing for Podcasts examines the audio mixing and editing that will make your podcast sing.

But people aren’t listening for your technical skills. The Complete Presentation and  Public Speaking Course will help polish your delivery as a podcast host; Putting Yourself Out There focuses on ways to inject more of yourself and your authenticity into your shows; and Podcasting 101: How to Interview Your Heroes Online has some tried and true tips for how to land some top-level guests for your growing podcast. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/14/now-is-the-time-to-launch-your.html

The plant is “built around efficiency,” keeping workers in close quarters and making it impossible to social distance, Cargill says

Smithfield Foods, Inc. recently closed a major pork processing plant in South Dakota, after workers were sickened with coronavirus in what has since become an outbreak hotspot.

Now, U.S.-owned Cargill is cutting production at one of Canada's biggest beef-packing plants, after several dozen Cargill meat processing workers there were confirmed ill with the new coronavirus.

The workers' union says the Cargill plant, which produces patties for McDonald’s restaurants, is now slaughtering 1,500 head of cattle per day, down from around 4,500.

From Reuters:

The Canadian arm of U.S. agribusiness Cargill temporarily idled its second production shift at High River, Alberta, on Monday, spokesman Daniel Sullivan said.

It adds to the list of roughly one dozen North American meat plants that have closed temporarily or cut production due to the pandemic.

The move came after workers unsuccessfully asked the plant and two other meat-processing companies in Alberta to close for two weeks amid concerns about their safety, said Tom Hesse, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 401. Thirty-eight workers at the Cargill plant have tested positive for coronavirus, he said.

The plant is “built around efficiency,” keeping workers in close quarters and making it impossible to safely operate it under current conditions, Hesse said in an interview.

Read More:

Cargill reduces beef production at Alberta plant as virus spreads

[PHOTO SOURCE, by Gajda-13 at da.wikipedia Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/14/coronavirus-outbreak-leads-to.html

The Trump-aligned GOP governor of South Dakota resisted the urgent appeal by epidemiologists to issue a “stay-at-home” order. Now the state is home to a COVID-19 outbreak. Ignoring science has consequences.

“As governors across the country fell into line in recent weeks, South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem stood firm: There would be no statewide order to stay home,” the Washington Post reports today in a review of what went so wrong in the state.

Thanks to the governor's stupidity and science denialism, South Dakota is now home to one of the largest single coronavirus clusters anywhere in the United States, with more than 300 workers at a giant Smithfield ­pork-processing plant now confirmed to be sick with the virus.

"Edicts to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, Gov. Kristi Noem said, reflected a 'herd mentality.' It was up to individuals — not government — to decide whether 'to exercise their right to work, to worship and to play. Or to even stay at home.'" https://t.co/7iTQo5Uztp

 Griff Witte (@griffwitte) April 14, 2020

Remember, the *best case* scenario is the drug reduces the symptoms of the disease (and that is far from evident). It does nothing to slow the spread of the virus and can never be a substitute for prevention. https://t.co/JPzUCk3Gga pic.twitter.com/UlcHd57c4T

 Amanda Marcotte (@AmandaMarcotte) April 14, 2020

https://twitter.com/i/events/1250113407744978945 Read the rest

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It is the perfect time to revisit this classic from Jason Headley.

"If you find your mind wandering to other thoughts, don't let it concern you. Just acknowledge that all that shit is fucking bullshit."

(Thanks, Kelly Sparks!) Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/14/lose-yourself-in-fuck-that.html

deMilked posted a fine selection of the "50 Weirdest Stock Photos You Won’t Be Able To Unsee." Many more at Bored Panda's archival post "177 Completely WTF Stock Photos You Won’t Be Able To Unsee." And for a constant stream, there's always r/WTFStockPhotos!

(via Kottke) Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/14/some-very-weird-stock-photos.html

The RetroFlag GPi Case, which uses a Raspberry Pi Zero, looks very nice. In this video, MakeUseOf gives it a 9/10 score.

If the idea of making retro game players using Raspberry Pis appeals to you, I invite you to check out  a book I co-wrote this year, called Raspberry Pi Retro Gaming: Build Consoles and Arcade Cabinets to Play Your Favorite Classic Games.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/14/heres-raspberry-pi-zero-case.html

Idiots outside of cars? Poor guy from r/IdiotsInCars

With Amazon's near-impossible push for speediness, it's no wonder this driver didn't take the extra second to put on the emergency brake. Still, while horrible for the worker, the end of this Ring video looks like a live-action version of a scene from an old Looney Tunes cartoon. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/14/watch-this-poor-amazon-delive.html

Make: founder Dale Dougherty and executive editor Mike Senese talked with a number of people about "the state of open source ventilator options, and propose a modular system to allow for more effective community support in addressing ventilator shortages." Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/14/tracking-and-ranking-open-sour.html

Researchers piloting a robotic probe 2,000 feet underwater off Australia's western edge captured this astounding footage of a siphonophore. At an estimated 150-feet long, it may be the longest organism in the ocean. The scientists aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute's Falkor research vessel also identified more than two dozen new species, collected environmental DNA samples, and retrieved sea creatures that live three miles down in deep sea canyons. From the New York Times:

Each siphonophore is a colony of individual zooids, clusters of cells that clone themselves thousands of times to produce an extended, stringlike body. While some of her colleagues compared the siphonophore to silly string, [Western Australian Museum senior research scientist Nerida] Wilson said the organism is much more organized than that[...]

“What’s fascinating about this particular part of the world is that it has not been explored,” said Jyotika Virmani, executive director of the Schmidt Ocean Institute. “Any time people go down into the deep sea, it’s so vast and yet so unexplored that it’s very easy to make new discoveries and to see something we’ve never seen before. It is like being on a new planet.”

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/14/new-footage-of-a-bizarre-sea-c.html

"Hi everybody!" Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/14/obama-endorses-biden.html

As part of Rolling Stone's "In My Room" series, the legendary UK singer-songwriter, Nick Lowe, and his son, Roy, play a number of Lowe's recent compositions and his classic "(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding." He ends the 14-minute set doing a beautiful rendition of “I Read a Lot,” the title track to his 2011 album, The Old Magic.

Image: YouTube Read the rest

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Aphids are related to bedbugs. But instead of sucking blood from people, they suck sweet sap out of plants. Their poop contains so much sugar it's called honeydew. Ants love honeydew and herd aphids like livestock. Humans have also used honeydew as a cake ingredient. Some bees use honeydew to make honey, so if you eat honey you may have eaten aphid poop yourself. These are just a few of the many interesting facts you will learn when you watch this animated TED-Ed video about aphids. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/14/explainer-video-about-aphids.html

The coronavirus pandemic is being seen as a get-out-of-jail free card for imprisoned creeps. Bill Cosby is trying it. So is Michael Cohen and Lee Baca. If Jeffrey Epstein was still alive you know his swarm of lawyers would be trying to spring him, too.

The latest imprisoned creep who thinks he's too special to be locked up is Paul Manafort, who is serving 7 1/2 -years for "tax evasion, failing to report foreign bank accounts, witness tampering, and engaging in unregistered lobbying for foreign interests," as reported by Politico.

“Mr. Manafort is at a high risk of contracting COVID-19 at FCI Loretto due to his age and pre-existing health conditions, and it is imperative that Mr. Manafort be transferred to home confinement immediately in order to minimize the likelihood of Mr. Manafort contracting or spreading the potentially fatal disease,” [Manafort lawyer Kevin] Downing wrote in a letter obtained by Politico.

According to The Washington Post, "Federal prosecutors declined to comment on Manafort’s request."

Image: By Alexandria Sheriff’s Office - Alexandria, Virginia Detention Center, Public Domain, Link Read the rest

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