Friday, January 31, 2020

"Nike Vaporfly shoes are not banned but Eliud Kipchoge's are"

BBC:
Any new shoe technology developed after 30 April will have to be available on the open market for four months before an athlete can use it in competition.

World Athletics has also introduced an immediate indefinite ban on any shoes that have a sole thicker than 40mm.

...

An immediate indefinite ban has also been introduced on any shoe that contains more than one "rigid embedded plate or blade".
*Buy Vaporfly running shoes at Amazon.

"Opera singer danced on an SUV, then crashed through Mar-a-Lago barricades. Cops opened fire"

Miami Herald:
approached Mar-a-Lago, about three miles south of the Breakers, driving the SUV through a staffed security barricade on a public road outside the club. Then she crashed through a second staffed checkpoint.

“The deputies and Secret Service agents that were there got out of the way just in time,” Bradshaw said.

As she continued toward the club’s main entrance, Secret Service agents and PBSO deputies opened fire, said Brian Swain, the Secret Service’s special agent in charge for Miami. Her vehicle was hit several times.

...

managed to get away, driving her vehicle over the Southern Boulevard bridge and into West Palm Beach. Authorities lost her, although PBSO scrambled a helicopter into the air.

...

“This is not a terrorist thing,” Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said at a Friday afternoon news conference. “This is somebody that obviously was impaired somehow.”

"At CVS, a form for staff members to report errors asks whether the patient is a 'media threat'"

Prosper's Demon book cover



By Sam Weber, for a book by KJ Parker.

Tiny Tribute to Brexit

Ten funny tweets















































*More funny posts.

"My journey into the Tech Deck underground"

Outline:
I became a fan of YouTube fingerboard personalities Kelsey Barker and Jeremy “ChubyMuffin” Pastor, and I kept finding references to something called “BRTs,” which I soon discovered was shorthand for a product called Blackriver Trucks. These tiny, immensely popular trucks are made by a company called Blackriver, based out of a small town in the German state of Bavaria. They cost $65 for a pair, more expensive than actual skateboard trucks (the company also makes fingerboard decks, wheels, grip tape, and “obstacles” to do tricks on). In pictures online, they glisten in colors of black, chrome, and gold. Many fingerboarders seem mystified by these coveted pieces of hardware. Reddit is full of posts asking if they’re worth the price compared to other types of fingerboard trucks; generally, the consensus seems to be yes.

...

On retail sites like Big Cartel and in the back alleys of Instagram DMs, fingerboard craftsmen like Vlad Ivanenko of Catfishbbq, John Cowart of Cowply, and Kalye Decks owners Christian Gonzales and Jude Lugtu sell handmade, five-ply wooden decks built to exacting specifications. Usually they feature original artwork applied to the board using heat-transfer techniques that allow for signs of skateboarding-style wear and tear. Other premiere brands like Joycult and Oak Wheels offer up urethane wheels with tiny bearings in them, while Blackriver, Dynamic Fingerboards, and Yellowood sell high-precision trucks that allow you to swerve and turn.

Cute thread about young love









(The thread continues)

Thursday, January 30, 2020

Where can I buy the Romulan space tunic?




Another good detail:

Instagram feed dedicated to vintage military advertising










"Dallas County attorney agrees to drop charges against men contracted by judicial branch to test courthouse security"

Des Moines Register:
were charged with third-degree burglary and possession of burglary tools after they tripped the alarm at the Dallas County Courthouse early on the morning of Sept. 11. It was later revealed they also performed physical penetration tests on the Polk County Courthouse and Judicial Building.
From November, "How a turf war and a botched contract landed 2 pentesters in Iowa jail"
Equally important, [the Dallas County Sheriff] said, is what he believed to be the overstepping of Iowa officials who retained Coalfire. When the sheriff confronted the men that night, he said: "The State of Iowa has no authority to allow you to break into a county building. You’re going to jail.”

Fin Fang Foom tiki mug by Mondo

Cloud Hugging a Mountain pin



Available here.

William Gibson novel or real life Japanese company?

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Soccer team's logo is an Icelandic volcanic eruption; Tunnel with an artificial sunrise; Fans paint hockey team's ice





"I'm reading William Gibson's new novel, Agency, and had to try my hand at making a 'McWolven'"



Related:

Ten funny tweets















































*More funny posts.

Ten funny tweets





















































*More funny posts.

The three types of video games; Turning a train ride into a platformer; A charming encounter in Sea of Thieves; Some violent motion capture





Tuesday, January 28, 2020

I really enjoyed Gris on iOS

A forgiving 2D-platformer with straightforward puzzles, plus the occasional terrifying flight from a Venom symbiote-like creature.

"Federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged a top Harvard University scientist with lying to the Department of Defense about his work for a Chinese-run talent recruitment program"

NBC:
The charging documents, unsealed Tuesday, allege that under the Thousand Talents contract [the Harvard scientist] was paid $50,000 in monthly salary by China's Wuhan University of Technology and another $158,000 in living expenses. He was also awarded some $1.74 million to set up a research lab there.

[The Harvard scientist] additionally made false statements to the National Institutes of Health about his involvement in the recruitment plan and his affiliation with the Chinese university.
Meanwhile in San Francisco:
Feds charge SF Public Works Director . . . with fraud in alleged public corruption schemes

...

As head of the Department of Public Works, [his] Twitter handle is @MrCleanSF

IG-11 before the FX




And speaking of FX in the Mandalorian:




Militarized names in this catalog for bull semen

Ten funny tweets
















































*More funny tweets.

Floral surveillance camera wallpaper; Giant hands; A shrine in the woods






Monday, January 27, 2020

"Practice Fusion, backed by top VCs before selling in 2018, pushed doctors to prescribe opioids in kickback scheme"

TechCrunch:
Specifically, according to court documents released earlier today by federal prosecutors in Vermont, Practice Fusion solicited a nearly $1 million payment from the opioid company, promising that in exchange it would create alerts in its software that would cause physicians to write more prescriptions for extended release opioids than were needed.

Practice Fusion has agreed to pay $145 million to resolve the DOJ’s criminal and civil investigations, including a $26 million criminal fine and a $118.6 million civil settlement

...

“During the height of the opioid crisis, the company took a million-dollar kickback to allow an opioid company to inject itself in the sacred doctor-patient relationship so that it could peddle even more of its highly addictive and dangerous opioids.

This cake looks like it will digest you




And speaking of creepy cakes:


"Model house tour offers men a 'wife' and 'child' played by actors"

Asahi Shimbun:
The model house tour was free of charge. Most of the applicants were single men aged between their 20s and 40s, but some were married or were planning to get married.

...

The model house tours, which come complete with a family played by an actress as a wife and a child actor for the daughter, were held for men in Tokyo’s Koganei in November.

...

Actors trained since the summer to respond quickly to unexpected situations that could have developed during the virtual experience.

The scenario included the husband relaxing with his wife on the balcony and helping his daughter with her homework.

The tour guests were allowed to spend about 15 minutes each with their make-believe family.


Louis Vuitton pulp novel inspired look book