Look, with everything going on right now, there's a good chance you might have missed some of the cool products offered up over the past few days, all at healthy savings off their original price.

We’d feel like we were doing you a disservice if we didn’t give you one last shot at ‘em. To help us all sleep at night, they’re all assembled below. Jump in...the water’s fine!

Home Improvement Check Clipboard - $20.99; originally $24

Sure, it looks like an average clipboard...and yeah, it’s a clipboard. However, it does have a tight clip for holding thick stacks of paper, even up to beefy memo pads. And hey...whose desk or workspace doesn’t look for efficient and organized with a clipboard on it?

TP-Link Kasa Smart Home WiFi Plug (2-Pack) - $48.95; originally $68.53

This smart power plug lets you control electrical devices anywhere, all with the power of your smartphone. Plug it in and light up your house even when there’s nobody home — or fire up the space heater before you get back to make the house nice and toasty warm when you get there.

The possibilities are endless.

JASHEN V16 Cordless Vacuum Cleaner - $164.99; originally $299.99

Powered by a 350-watt digital brushless motor and sporting a built-in filter sensor, the V16 provides strong suction to lift embedded dirt and stain with ease and zero noise. With the dust brush, you can modify to clean hard floors too. And it’s all powered by a rechargeable 2,500mAh battery that delivers up to 40 minutes of runtime on a single charge. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/07/this-is-your-chance-get-in-on.html

When you think of the single program that seems to absolutely epitomize business in all its forms, you probably think of Microsoft Excel. It’s been around for three decades, it’s the cornerstone of the ubiquitous Microsoft Office suite and that neat, ordered grid of a spreadsheet is synonymous with 21st-century commerce.

While many have Excel on their resumes, far fewer actually know how to use this valuable business tool to the full extent of its power. Now, users can get the in-depth user knowledge to take your spreadsheet projects to their heights with the training in The 2020 Master Microsoft Excel and Power BI Certification Bundle.

This collection brings together eight courses aimed at demystifying this venerable app, laying out the full scope of Excel’s spreadsheet-loving, data-manipulating power.

Everything kicks off with Microsoft Excel - Excel with Excel Pivot Tables Bootcamp, the most comprehensive Excel Pivot Table online course ever created, packed with over 200 short targeted tutorials. Whether you’re a first-timer or an experienced user, this course will offer the guidelines for analyzing data, formulating conclusions, and presenting findings in insightful, interactive ways. In fact, this course promises to turn users into advanced Excel experts within a week.

With the Bootcamp setting your baseline knowledge, the other seven courses cover major Excel topics, all in timeframes of two hours or less. Want to know how to use Power Query to bring data sets together for analysis? In 120 minutes, you will. How about integrating SQL Database Queries with your Excel sheets? Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/06/youll-master-microsoft-exce.html

You’d think the biggest complaint that can be leveled about a pair of earbuds is that they just don’t sound all that great. Granted, there are plenty of cut-rate headphones that fall under that category, but we’d wager the pet peeve that makes most users throw away earbuds in frustration is when they just don’t fit in your ears comfortably.

Sometimes, they’re too small. Other times, they’re too large. They’re either too loose, too plastic-y or just feel like you’re wearing weights in your ears. Even with many earbuds coming with extra sets of randomly sized ear tips to supposedly fit any ear, there are lots of instances where that just doesn’t happen. 

That won’t be a problem with the Decibullz wireless earphones, the first DIY custom-molded headphones that will actually stay in your ears no matter what.

They were designed by former gymnastics coach Kyle Kirkpatrick, who got tired of dealing with headphones that constantly fell out, sounded awful or hurt his ears. After consulting with audio engineers, material specialists and high-level athletes, he came up with the Decibullz system that contours earbuds to the unique shape of each person’s ears.

All you have to do is heat the Decibullz thermoplastic molds in boiling water, then let them cool for a minute before shaping them to your ears. That’s it. Once they’ve settled, you’ve got earbuds that won’t be a constant struggle. And if you somehow botch the process, it’s no problem. Decibullz custom earbuds are completely re-moldable, so you can go through the process again -- and get it right this time. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/06/save-over-30-on-these-truly-w.html

Cole Carini, a 23-year-old Virginia man who turned up at hospital missing his hands and peppered with shrapnel, claims he was hurt in a lawnmower accident. the FBI, however, says he's a misogynist who fantasized about blowing up hot cheerleaders and was trying to assemble a bomb.

On June 2, Cole Carini of Richlands, Virginia, showed up at the Clinch Valley Medical Center with a missing hand. Several fingers on Carini’s other hand were also gone, and he had shrapnel wounds to the neck and throat. ... When investigators got to the residence, they found a trail of blood leading from a red minivan parked in the driveway to the front door of the house, and up the stairs to a second-floor bedroom, according to the affidavit. After stepping over a “flesh colored substance that...looked like a piece of human skin,” cops found a plastic bottle filled with triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, a “substance used in the creation of improvised explosive devices,” inside a footlocker. Beside the footlocker was a box filled with rusty nails, and a plastic container, the top of which had been “peeled back in a manner consistent with an explosion,” the affidavit says. The blinds in the room were damaged, and a chunk of flesh was stuck to the ceiling.

And here's the penned fantasy they claim is relevant:

“He casually walked through the shopping mall, his jacket concealed deadly objects,” the letter read, parts of which were illegible. “He was doing it and was assured it must be done.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/06/incel-blows-off-own-hands-tryi.html

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/06/engineering-screwup-turns-gold.html

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/06/indie-game-bundle-for-racial-j.html

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/06/fox-news-graphic-police-killi.html

Father’s Day is June 21st, otherwise known as the roughest shopping day of the year. Don’t get us wrong, Dad deserves an awesome gift for all the great things he gave you. But let’s be honest — buying for your father is often a chore. 

Your gift has to take into account what he already has, what he wants, what he’ll use, and what will actually elicit a smile. And if it also sends the message that he was a pretty great Dad and you feel lucky to have him...well, that’s bonus points.

To help streamline the process, we’ve assembled 40 cool Father’s Day ideas into this handy gift guide. And on top of that, you can also get an additional 15 percent off when you use the code GIFTFORDAD15 during checkout. On top of the fun gift, he’ll also give you props for being smart.

And a hint to all you dads out there — send this link to your kids with a couple of helpful suggestions. They’ll appreciate your usual well-reasoned guidance. As always.

For the well-groomed Dad Popeye Shaving Gift Set - $42.49 after discount; originally $61.99

 

It’s a collection worthy of The Sailor Man himself, a three-step shave regimen of pre-shave oil, shave cream, and a post-shave lotion that’ll clean up the scruffiest of sea dogs. Well, blow me down!

Brutus Beard Company 3-Piece Gift Set - $33.99 after discount; originally $50.99

The beard deserves all the treatment Dad gives the hair on his head, so this all-natural, chemical-free assortment featuring a 3-in-1 beard wash cleaner, a beard balm conditioner and some beard oil to maintain a manly mane that holds, feels soft and looks well-groomed. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/06/heres-your-fathers-day-g.html

Even in horrible economic times, a few simple rules hold unshakably true. And one of those rules is that if you possess an in-demand skill, you’ll always find work — and often, at a top market salary, to boot.

If you understand Big Data and how to find order from the chaos of massive stockpiles of raw information, you can land a six-figure salary. Even now. And if you know how to program machines to think and respond for themselves, you’re in an even better position to make a very comfortable living.

If you’re unsure about your career future or just want to change your tax bracket, the training in The Complete 2020 Big Data and Machine Learning Bundle can hand you everything you need to start down the path toward life as a Big Data analyst or machine learning engineer.

Across 10 courses hosting almost 70 hours of content, this instruction explains the ins and outs of these exploding job fields, even for those who have no experience with statistics or advanced technology.

Half of the courses here look deeply into the process of using big data, the vast amounts of structured and unstructured information that most businesses collect on a daily basis. Of course, you’ll never get on top of that tidal wave with your eyes and a ream of spreadsheets, so these courses examine the key analytical tools and language data experts use to organize findings and extract mining for all that unprocessed data. 

The training covers industry-leading processes and software like Scala, Hadoop, Elasticsearch, MapReduce and Apache Spark, all valuable means to unlock the secrets hidden inside that mountain of numbers. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/05/get-over-65-hours-of-big-data.html

“We, the National Football League, believe Black Lives Matter.”

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/05/roger-goodell-admits-nfl-was-w.html

This is sure an interesting Friday, with Reddit and Facebook and now Amazon CEOs and founders speaking about Black Lives Matter and the protests surrounding the police killing of George Floyd.

“I got this email from a customer and wanted to share my response,” writes Bezos on Instagram.

He's responding to an Amazon customer who is upset the company is selling “Black Lives Matter” themed items.

“I have to disagree with you. 'Black Lives Matter' doesn't mean that other lives don't matter. Black Lives Matter speaks to racism and the disproportionate risk that Black people face in our law enforcement and justice system,” writes Jeff Bezos in the post.

View this post on Instagram

I got this email from a customer and wanted to share my response.

A post shared by Jeff Bezos (@jeffbezos) on Jun 5, 2020 at 3:05pm PDT

Reddit to honor Ohanian's request to appoint Black director, and address anti-Black hate

'Black lives matter' —Mark Zuckerberg, who says Facebook may change policy on state violence, voter suppression

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/05/amazons-jeff-bezos-proclaims.html

Roger Stone was convicted of witness intimidation and lying to Congress.

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/05/roger-stone-proclaims-support.html

Yes, we regret to inform you that Large Adult President Donald Trump said something stupid again on the Twitters.

Tweeted the impeached Donald:

...We should be standing up straight and tall, ideally with a salute, or a hand on heart. There are other things you can protest, but not our Great American Flag - NO KNEELING!

NO KNEELING. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/05/no-kneeling-donald-tr.html

"Black lives matter," said Mark Zuckerberg today.

"We're building a voter hub to double down on our previous get-out-the-vote efforts,” wrote the Facebook founder and CEO in a lengthy blog post on Friday after a week of protests throughout the U.S.

“In 2016, we ran one of the largest get out the vote efforts in history. I expect us to do even better in 2020."

Huge if true.

Skeptical, based on all we know.

From the Facebook blog post:

Mark Zuckerberg

I just shared the following note with our employees, and I want to share it with all of you as well.

---

As we continue to process this difficult moment, I want to acknowledge the real pain expressed by members of our community. I also want to acknowledge that the decision I made last week has left many of you angry, disappointed and hurt. So I am especially grateful that, despite your heartfelt disagreement, you remain focused on taking positive steps to move forward. That can't be easy, so I just want to say I hear you and I'm grateful.

I believe our platforms can play a positive role in helping to heal the divisions in our society, and I'm committed to making sure our work pulls in this direction. To all of you who have already worked tirelessly on ideas to improve, I thank you. You're making a difference, and together we'll make a difference. And while we will continue to stand for giving everyone a voice and erring on the side of free expression in these difficult decisions -- even when it's speech we strongly and viscerally disagree with -- I'm committed to making sure we also fight for voter engagement and racial justice too.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/05/black-lives-matter-mark.html

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/05/reddit-to-honor-ohanians-req.html

This interview presents a conversation with Xeric Award-winning Canadian cartoonist Kevin Mutch about The Rough Pearl (Fantagraphics, 2020), his new graphic novel which addresses issues surrounding the intersection of class and race privilege in the “precariat” creative communities in and around New York City.

Jeffery Klaehn: Thanks for the interview, Kevin!!  Please tell me about The Rough Pearl.

Kevin Mutch: The Rough Pearl is an autobiographical fantasy — a mixture of truth and fiction in roughly equal parts — about a would-be artist named Adam in New York City in the 1990s. He has a crappy adjunct teaching job, a wife who makes a lot more money than him, and an ill-advised crush on a student. And he seems to be losing his mind — he keeps seeing zombies and aliens and ghosts!

Adam is someone who grew up being told that the world was full of possibilities, but he’s come to see that it isn’t that way anymore (if it ever was). He had all these romantic ideas about being an artist, living in New York, being with beautiful women, and now he realizes all of those dreams have become impossible — until suddenly they all become possible again, all at once.

Unfortunately, he’s been having a harder and harder time determining what’s “real” and what isn’t — either he’s going crazy or he’s bleeding into parallel universes, the book is sort of ambiguous about that, heh — so he has a very difficult time navigating all of this. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/05/talking-the-rough-pearl-with-x.html

We live in a disposable era. If you can’t fix a broken item with a wrap of duct tape, there’s a very strong likelihood that its next destination is the trashcan. However, that probably leads to a trigger-finger death sentence for many household items that could be saved with just a bit more ingenuity. 

Before you toss broken sunglasses, ceramics, splintered wood, or anything that’s taken some minor damage, the sneaky resourceful Sugru Moldable Glue might just be able to bring it back from the dead.

Sugru comes out of the package soft and malleable like Play-Doh, but after a little molding, it can be shaped to stick permanently to all kinds of materials, including ceramics, glass, metal, wood, rubber, and most plastics and fabrics. With its versatility, Sugru can be pressed into service to fix all kinds of broken, torn, or frayed items or used in a host of creative DIY projects. 

Sugru is freezer-proof, heatproof, dishwasher-proof, weatherproof, waterproof, UV-resistant, and electrically insulating, so its applications are as vast as your imagination.

Once you expose it to air, you’ve got 30 minutes to mold the Sugru into its desired shape. Just wrap it or contour it the way you want, let it set for 24 hours, then it’s ready to go. Sugru doesn’t dry like a rock, retaining some flexibility while preserving the bond to the item, so it won’t crack or get brittle.

You can use this high-tech putty to fix a refrigerator shelf, earbuds, leaky hoses, or even torn shoes or clothing. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/05/sugru-is-the-duct-tape-of-the.html

I live in a house with three other people, who have long hair. A lot of it ends up going down the bathroom sink and clogging the drain.

I used to use Zip-It drain cleaners, but I recently tried a Drain Weasel and found it to be much better at getting all the gunky hair out of the pipe.

The business end of the Drain Weasel has a tip of velcro-like fabric. You stick it down the drain and then turn the crank. It will grab all the hair.

The drain cleaning wands are meant to be replaced after each use but the Drain Weasel people said you can clean off the tip, if you dare, and re-use it. As a cheapskate, I cleaned off the tip and it looks good as new, ready for the next clogged sink. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/05/drain-weasel-a-solution-for-h.html

A psychedelic pharmaceutical company is asking the FDA to allow it to run a commercial LSD trial to treat people with anxiety, reports Vice. MindMed's CEO is hopeful that his company will get permission to run the trial (dubbed "Project Lucy"), since the FDA has already approved trials with psilocybin and MDMA.

From Vice:

MindMed is proposing a high-dose LSD treatment (200mcg or about two tabs) for people with anxiety. Currently that can’t happen anywhere in the world due to LSD’s Schedule I status, except for Switzerland, where Dr. Peter Gasser has been doing this research for over 10 years.

LSD is still a banned Schedule I substance in Switzerland, but in part because of its unique history as the birthplace of LSD, the ministry of health granted Gasser special permission to use it in his research. In 2007, he began the first controlled trial of LSD.

“When the patient takes the substance, he or she is supervised by a therapist the entire time. They come to the office at 8:30 a.m., they get the drug, and then they stay until 8:30 p.m. That’s 12 hours in our facility in which they are supervised. We watch them, and we guide them through the experience,” Gasser told VICE News.

Image: Jumpstory / CC0 Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/05/psychedelic-pharmaceutical-com.html

Brandon E. McCormick says he brought a hunting bow and a large knife to a Salt Lake City protest because he wanted to protect the police. Instead of protecting cops, he was beaten by protestors when he drew his weapon on them and has been charged with three felonies. If he gets convicted and sent to prison, he won't have to acclimate to life as an inmate.

From The Salt Lake Tribune:

Now the 57-year-old Taylorsville man, who has spent nearly two decades of his life behind bars in California and once was convicted of battery against a public safety officer, faces three felony counts for, widely shared video has shown, aiming his weapon at protesters.

...

McCormick, whose Facebook page says he is originally from Barstow, Calif., has shared his views before on the social media website, posting racist memes and talking about wanting to go back in time to “take out” former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when they were “in the crib.”

In a May 21 post, McCormick shared with his followers that "if you didn’t grow up during the cold war and or you and or your anaesters [ancestors] are here ileagely [illegally]. You shouldn’t be alloud [allowed] to vote!!!!” (Bracketed spellings have been corrected.)

Image: YouTube Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/05/man-who-aimed-bow-and-arrow-at.html