A gentleman in West Yorkshire, England, shelled out around $200,000 for a 20-minute drive in a Lamborghini. The new sports car owner then totaled it on a highway.

In all fairness, however, the car supposedly had "mechanical failure," according to the BBC, and suddenly stopped on the road. It was then hit from behind by a van, and crumpled up like a discarded aluminum can.

A brand new Lamborghini has been wrecked in a crash on the M1 near Wakefield, just '20 minutes' after it was purchasedhttps://t.co/BP0w49ppiz

 YorkshireEveningPost (@LeedsNews) June 24, 2020

Image: West Yorkshire Police Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/26/gentleman-crashes-his-lamborgh.html

The Kent District Library in Grand Rapids, Michigan is imploring its patrons to please not attempt to disinfect borrowed books by putting them in the microwave. The books contain metal RFID tags that will burn the pages and potentially cause a fire. From KIRO7:

“I don’t know if it was something that they saw on the news — that they thought maybe the heat would kill COVID-19,” Kozlowicz told The Detroit Free Press.

The library said it uses U.S. Centers for Disease Control guidelines to ensure safety for using library materials. It also keeps all materials in quarantine for at least 72 hours.

For more on libraries' sanitization practices: "Do libraries fumigate books to disinfect them?" (Boing Boing)

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/26/please-dont-microwave-your-l.html

Microsoft is to shut shop on the high streets and malls of America, permanently closing its 116 retail stores. Only 10 were overseas; flagship stores in New York City, London, Sydney, and Redmond will be remain as showrooms that do not sell the products. There will be no layoffs, Microsoft reports.

Alarm bells rang when Microsoft shied from reopening stores as states gave up on Covid lockdowns, but quitting for good wasn't expected. Chris Welch:

The decision partially explains why Microsoft had yet to reopen a single store after they were all closed in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week, Microsoft told The Verge that its “approach for re-opening Microsoft Store locations is measured and cautious, guided by monitoring global data, listening to public health and safety experts, and tracking local government restrictions.” The company declined to offer an update on when any stores might open again.

They were nice stores, but I have to admit that being able to check out a Microsoft Surface Studio in person showed how bad its pen latency was compared to iPad Pro and saved me from dropping thousands of dollars. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/26/microsoft-to-permanently-close.html

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/26/church-of-england-refuses-to-a.html

In 1985, Swiss synthpop duo Yello's quirky dance track "Oh Yeah" became ubiquitous on US radio after being used in the classic high school film "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Above, Great Big Story shares the story of Oh Yeah straight from the mouths of the musicians, Boris Blank and Dieter Meier. Hear the whole track below. Ch-ka ch-ka.

And for a little more Yello, here's "The Race" from 1988:

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/26/the-story-behind-yellos-oh.html

Armin K"upper offers up some Pipelinefunk: "Saxophone jam using a pipeline as natural delay and reverb" When I was preparing for my recording session on the tube, I got a visitor here and gave a little spontaneous concert."

Here's Somewhere Over The Rainbow:

And here with a guitar:

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/26/saxophone-played-into-an-empty.html

The Houston Association of Realtors is eliminating the phrases "master bedroom” and “master bathroom” from its real estate listings because of the slavery connotations of the word "master." Agents are still free to use the terms in their own marketing materials and descriptions but the Multiple Listings Services (MLS) will refer to "primary bedrooms" and "primary bathrooms." From Click2Houston:

“It was not a new suggestion to review the terminology,” according to the statement HAR sent its members. “The overarching message was that some members were concerned about how the terms might be perceived by some other agents and consumers. The consensus was that Primary describes the rooms equally as well as Master while avoiding any possible misperceptions.”

Related, the New York Times reports that the Court of Master Sommeliers will no longer refer to sommeliers who have passed the master's exam with the word "Master" before their surname.

image: Amazon Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/26/master-bedroom-and-maste.html

The Nigerian Prince Scam — also known as a "419 Fraud" — has a long, weird, and fascinating history. But the basics of it are pretty easy to understand: a random phishing message riddled with grammatical errors, from a stranger claiming to be Nigerian Prince (or representative of one), who needs help shifting some money around through US bank accounts. If you would be so kind as to help this Prince launder his inheritance or whatever it is, he will bequeath you with a substantial portion of his wealth as a token of his gratitude. All you need to do is provide him with all the information he would need to access your bank account, and in six months, you'll be tens of millions of dollars richer!

It feels like an old joke at this point, but weirdly, it still works: in 2018, scammers managed to make nearly a million dollars off the ol' classic. There are other variations, of course, with wealthy orphans, lottery winners, et cetera. The trademark poor grammar is actually a deliberate mechanism used to help the victims self-select by weeding out false positives; basically, if you're smart enough to realize how poorly written it is, the scammers are better off not wasting their time with you. If you're gullible enough to fall for the fake bad grammar, then they know they have a sucker.

I share all of this, because of an email I received today:

TIRED: Nigerian Prince Scams

WIRED: Jeffrey Epstein's Financial Assistant Scams?

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/26/the-jeffrey-epsteins-finan.html

This video compares the scenery and airframes in Microsoft Flight Simulator X to the forthcoming Microsoft Flight Sim 2020. Everyone has their own reasons for liking new things, but I'm a huge fan of Allec Joshua Ibay and other people who recreate airplane crashes in fastidious and terrifying detail (as opposed to the explosive fantasies of cable-TV recreations). I can't rightly say that air disasters YouTube is the best YouTube but it's about to get a massive upgrade. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/26/eager-to-see-air-disasters-you.html

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/26/parks-and-rec-mashed-up-wi.html

There’s always been something romantic about train travel. Whether it’s the connection to a bygone age or just the slower pace of life on the rails, the reassuring click of those steel wheels gliding over mile after mile of track through both cities and countrysides offers a warm and true taste of the complete world around you.

Of course, the only thing better than riding on a train is actually driving that locomotive yourself. And the only thing better than life as a conductor is life as a railroad deity, controlling the layout, conditions, and the entire environment for one specific train or even an entire railway system all under your control.

Whether you’re a driver or a world-builder, the Trainz Railroad Simulator Platinum Edition Bundle offers you the chance to live out your locomotive fantasies. 

If you’ve never tried a Trainz game before, they’ve been a premier train simulator for nearly 20 years — and with the Trainz Railroad Simulator 2019 edition, they’ve continued to add to the realism of both train operations as well as crafting a photo-realistic world outside the train windows.

Once you get the controls down, you can drive one of nearly 200 different steam, diesel and electric powered locomotives along hundreds of miles of track laid out along six meticulously cultivated routes.

While there’s plenty to see and do while wearing the conductor’s hat, your true mettle as a railroad legend will be tested in the Surveyor world-building, where you can build literally any railway system you can dream up. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/26/the-trainz-railroad-simulator.html

I've owned every title in the XCOM franchise. I've played XCOM: Enemy Unknown on Windows rigs, my Mac, PS Vita, and, on my iPad. I won't relate the shameful number of hours that I've spent on these games: It makes me sad to think about it. But, for some reason, I can't tear myself away. I've been playing XCOM 2 since it was first released. When I got tired of the main storyline, I loaded up the Long War 2 mod. Perfection.

As it's been a few years now, I've been hoping/waiting for a portable version of the game to play on plane flights or on the couch with headphones when insomnia gets the best of me. I assumed that it'd come to iPadOS, first. I was wrong: it came to the Nintendo Switch. On the morning of May 29th, I downloaded it on my lunch hour and started playing it, that night. I'm still playing it, between hits of Kentucky Route Zero and Borderlands 2, and working on my novel. However, in close to a month, I haven't been able to finish the game on my Switch.

XCOM 2 keeps freezing up in the later stages of the game. Around the time that I'm equipped to take down a third Advent base, the software tells me to go and pound sand. If it crashed, I'd be less frustrated than I am. But no: instead, the game hangs up, mid-turn, leaving me to wonder whether or not it'll get through the crunch or leave me closing the game down once again. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/26/xcom-2-for-the-nintendo-switch.html

40,000 new Covid cases were reported yesterday in the United States, according to the Johns Hopkins data tracker, the worst yet in a pandemic that refused to go away and is once again surging.

There are 2.42m cases reported in total and 124,415 people are dead. Cases are climbing sharply in California, Texas and Florida. Alabama, Texas and Nevada report hospitals close to capacity.

The Washington Post reports more grim facts :

" The number of Americans who have been infected with the novel coronavirus is likely 10 times higher than the number of cases reported, according to the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a call with reporters Thursday, CDC Director Robert Redfield said, “Our best estimate right now is that for every case that’s reported, there actually are 10 other infections.” " A rush to reopen the nation’s economy without proper safety measures in place is behind this week’s spike in cases, Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, said Thursday on the “Today” show. " President Trump continued to push the discredited notion that coronavirus cases are increasing in the United States because of “GREAT TESTING” and complained that the news media was not spreading the word. While testing has increased, health experts say that in several states with rising caseloads, new cases are outpacing the spread of testing.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/26/39327-new-covid-cases-on-amer.html

This video from Ken Burns, featuring James Baldwin, will help you to call bullshit on anyone trying to tell you that tearing down a monument to racism is tearing down history.

Image via Wikipedia Commons Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/26/ken-burns-our-monuments-are-r.html

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/26/check-out-the-pogues-tour-ri.html

This is an outrage. No more Costco half-sheet cakes because coronavirus?!

“Costco’s half-sheet cakes, rectangular creations beloved by shoppers for their affordability and freshness, have long been a staple at birthday parties, graduations and other large events,” reports Marie Fazio at the New York Times, “But like handshakes and crowded bars, the cakes may have become another casualty of the coronavirus.”

Half-sheet cakes are not currently being sold at any location in the U.S., and the company has no immediate plans to bring them back, Costco said in a statement on Thursday. The bakeries instead will focus on round, 10-inch cakes that “seem to be resonating with our members,” the statement said.

While Costco would not elaborate on the specific reason for discontinuing sales of the half-sheet cake, the company indicated in a response to several customer comments on Facebook that it was related to the coronavirus pandemic. “To help limit personal contact and create more space for social distancing, Costco has reduced service in some departments,” the company wrote. “At this time, we are not making sheet cakes for special order.”

More at the New York Times: Costco Discontinues Half-Sheet Cake, an Apparent Casualty of Covid-19

[photo: COSTCO] Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/26/covid-19-killed-the-costco-hal.html

Former Vice President and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Thursday if he is elected president, he will require Americans to wear masks in public to fight coronavirus.

From the Washington Post:

In an interview with KDKA, the CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh, the presumptive Democratic nominee said he would attempt to leverage federal power to mandate mask wearing.

“The one thing we do know is these masks make a gigantic difference,” he said. “I would insist that everybody out in public be wearing that mask. Anyone to reopen would have to make sure that they walked into a business that had masks.”

When asked whether that meant using executive actions to try to require such actions, Biden said he would use the power of the office.

“Yes, I would,” he said. “From an executive standpoint, yes, I would.”

Here's the KDKA interview. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/26/biden-would-require-masks-in-p.html

If you don't get chills from the ASMR audio experience of Tingle Monsters, then you'll definitely get them from the looming tension and sheer overwhelming sexist dread that oozes throughout this ten-minute short film (especially in the expertly-created comments section that helps to drive the plot). It is weirdly kind of relaxing, until it's absolutely not. Here's the official synopsis:

An ASMR vlogger with a devoted fan base returns from an extended absence with a livestream that spirals out of control.

Writer/director/actress Alexandra Serio had this to say as well:

I was compelled to make "Tingle Monsters" because I believe that violence against women truly starts with words. With this in mind, I designed the film’s unconventional viewing experience to feel like a real ASMR livestream.

Shot in screenlife format with no extra score or sound design, the film is designed to transport viewers into a scenario they are already familiar with—the harassment of women on the internet—ultimately inviting the audience to examine the link between what we say and think about women affects their real-world treatment.

I firmly believe that through gender parity and telling women-driven narratives we can begin to change the world. But we must start by taking a sobering look at where we currently are. Tingle Monsters aims to do that.

Serio also did a great interview with Paste, offering a behind-the-scenes perspective on this creepy little capsule of awful internet intersections.

The movie is only ten-minutes long, and definitely unsettling. I haven't much followed the ASMR phenomenon, but Serio uses the genre conventions deftly here to create a creeping experience that — I suspect — accurately reflects the horrors that often accompany simply being a woman on the Internet. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/26/tingle-monsters-is-an-incr.html

CEC Entertainment, owners of Chuck E. Cheese and Peter Piper Pizza, has filed for bankruptcy. The company reported $29 million in losses for 2019. From Reuters:

Chuck E. Cheese’s bid to boost sales through delivery apps under the name “Pasqually’s Pizza & Wings” earlier this year only created more problems, as many customers thought they were ordering from a local business.

As of Wednesday, 266 Chuck E. Cheese and Peter Piper Pizza restaurant and arcade venues were re-opened. The company expects to keep them open throughout Chapter 11 proceedings.

image: Dan Harkless (CC BY-SA 4.0) Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/25/chuck-e-cheese-has-filed-for.html

Pakistan has 860 pilots working for Pakistan International Airlines and other carriers. Turns out, 30% of those people aren't actually qualified to fly and their licenses aren't legit.

"They don't have flying experience," said aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan.

According to CNN, the pilots paid others to take the required exam.

image: Airplane! Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/06/25/nearly-1-in-3-pilots-in-pakist.html