Boing Boing, April 03, 2025
All our posts from the past 24 hours
Happy Thursday, Premium Mutants! Today, a creepy AI dinosaur wants to spy on your kids for just $249, while Europe is finally breaking up with America (thanks for Martin Scorsese and Etta, but bye!). The stock market is having an existential crisis over Trump's latest tariff tantrum, and a fake doctor thought fleeing to Colombia was a solid career move after botching surgery in his apartment. Meanwhile, Brazilian sunglasses shopping apparently requires diplomatic negotiations, and scientists are one step closer to simulating a worm's brain—- which might come in handy for understanding JFK Jr’s health directives.
Dystopia for kids: this $249 stuffed dinosaur reports everything your child says back to you
Ellsworth Toohey / 11:35 am PT Thu Apr 3, 2025
Meet Dino, an ugly plush dinosaur that comes armed with a built-in AI chatbot that records your kid's every word. For just $249, your child can share their secrets with this knockoff Barney while you eavesdrop through an app.
Let's be clear about what this is: It's literally just a lumpy stuffed dinosaur with a speaker, microphone, and chatbot crammed inside. But the folks at Magical Toys want you to believe this fabric-covered surveillance device is "the most intelligent toy for your kid."
The company cheerfully advertises that parents can monitor all conversations through their handy app. They've included testimonials from parents thrilled about their digital peeping: "I love how Dino creates stories with Sophie," says one parent, presumably while scrolling through the transcript of Sophie's every private thought and fantasy.
Their website conveniently omits any details about data storage, privacy policies, or what happens to all those recorded conversations. Just imagine all those intimate childhood conversations being processed through servers somewhere, stored who-knows-where, for who-knows-how-long.
Here's hoping someone hacks the whole batch with a "Talky Tina" mod.
All aboard for the puke party on luxury cruise liner Queen Mary 2
Rob Beschizza / 11:30 am PT Thu Apr 3, 2025
Gastrointestinal mayhem struck the luxury Cunard Line ship Queen Mary 2, on which 224 passengers and 17 crew members are battling norovirus. The Centers for Disease Control reports that the ship is en route from Southampton, England to New York and on to the Caribbean.
In response to the outbreak, the ship and crew increased cleaning and disinfection procedures, collected stool specimens for testing and isolated people who had fallen ill, the CDC said.
Norovirus is a very contagious virus that causes vomiting and diarrhea and is commonly referred to as the "stomach flu" or the "stomach bug," according to the CDC.
Welcome once again to the Triangle of Sadness.
Unlicensed doctor tries to flee U.S. when surgery turns to nightmare — but he doesn't get very far
Carla Sinclair / 11:02 am PT Thu Apr 3, 2025
A 38-year-old gentleman posing as a doctor in New York tried to flee the country after one of his procedures left a woman in critical condition. But he didn't get very far when police arrested him at John F. Kennedy International airport with an unused ticket to Colombia in hand.
Felipe Hoyos-Foronda, who had set up a makeshift cosmetic surgery shop in his Astoria apartment, welcomed a 31-year-old patient on Friday who asked if he could remove her butt implants. But after he allegedly shot her up with lidocaine, she went into cardiac arrest. And rather than rush her to an emergency room, he called 911 and then rushed himself out of the "office" — heading straight towards the airport.
Hoyos-Foronda called EMS and then left, police say. The woman was unresponsive when officers arrived at his home. She was taken to Astoria General Hospital and is currently intubated without any brain activity, according to the criminal complaint. She's likely suffering from lidocane toxicity, her care team told police.
She likely won't survive.
Hoyos-Foronda was operating out of an apartment "as a medical office with medical exam table, cosmetic injectable syringes, exam lights," police say. Prosecutors say he applied botox and fillers, and even liposuction, inside his apartment on 35th Street in Astoria.
Hoyos-Foronda "was arraigned Sunday on charges of assault and unauthorized practice of a profession and was held without bail," according to ABC6 News.
Stocks plunge further as tariff news sinks in
Rob Beschizza / 11:00 am PT Thu Apr 3, 2025
Turmoil has engulfed the republic. Yesterday, President Trump announced worldwide tariffs on imports, described as reciprocal but in fact based on the balance of trade with each territory. The peculiar formula and other oddities, such as tariffs on trade from uninhabited islands, compounded the inevitable: a bad day at the stock market.
At the time of writing, the S&P 500 index is down 3.8% and the Nasdaq almost 5%, dragged down by tech giant Apple, down 8%. The iPhone maker is one of the companies most exposed to tariff risk, given China is a key manufacturing hub. In fact, the falls have been heaviest in companies whose supply chains are most dependent on overseas manufacturing – like Apple but also Amazon (7% down) and Nike (11%).
America's business class bent the knee hoping to stop this sort of thing. Many are even paying bribes. But that's not how it works with Trump.
Reacting to sharp drops in US stocks, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says: "To anyone on Wall Street this morning, I would say trust in President Trump."
Europe is faring a little better. The FTSE 100 index was down 1.6% in London, with France's CAC 40 down 3.3% and Germany's DAX posting a 3.1% loss on Thursday.
Buying sunglasses in Brazil requires a degree in psychological bargaining tactics
Ellsworth Toohey / 10:12 am PT Thu Apr 3, 2025
In Brazil buying a pair of children's sunglasses requires an elaborate bargaining ritual complete with coffee service and multiple sales staff, as London School of Economics professor Christopher Sandmann discovered during a family vacation.
Writing on The Holdup Problem, Sandmann describes entering a high-end optical shop with his two-year-old son, where they were greeted by no fewer than six employees. One held the door, another walked them to a table, a third shook hands, while others offered water, lemonade, and coffee. "By now, I had lost track of the total number of vendors present," Sandmann writes, "but I was on a first-name basis with three of them."
The real education came during price negotiations. The initial price tag of £100 (700 Reais) for toddlers' metal(!) sunglasses was the starting point for a series of offers and counteroffers. The key insight? Brazilian vendors have mastered a proven psychological tactic — they restore their bargaining power by deferring the final decision to an absent store owner via phone call. This transforms the adversarial negotiation into a collaborative effort, with buyer and seller suddenly allied in hoping for the owner's approval.
"Calling the owner is a clever tactic," Sandmann explains. "First, it ties their hands; they will not call their boss twice on my behalf. It is also psychologically astute in that it turns [the vendor] and me into allies. Previously, all the pampering with coffee and lemonade had glossed over the fact that we were engaged in a tug-of-war over the price."
[Via The Browser]
Howard Lutnick: Don't expect economic relief for a good long time (video)
Carla Sinclair / 9:32 am PT Thu Apr 3, 2025
If you're uncomfortable with grocery prices and the state of the U.S. economy in general, get used to it. Donald Trump's Commerce Secretary just predicted when things will turn around: not next week, not next month, not this summer…
"That's a whole lot of growth, and you're going to get that starting in the fourth quarter," said business tycoon Howard Lutnick, defending Trump's tariff "Liberation Day" while brushing off its catastrophic aftermath. (See video, posted by Aaron Rupar.)
In other words, if the economy ever starts to improve under Trump's watch, according to Lutnick, it won't even begin to look up until October — six months from now. And if true, that will wipe out most Americans. But for Lutnick, Trump, Musk, and all the other billionaires now in charge, it's just a matter of deciding which yacht to sell.
"Thank you and now goodbye" Europe's break-up letter to America
Ellsworth Toohey / 9:03 am PT Thu Apr 3, 2025
Here's the opening paragraph from Europe's break-up letter with its insufferably redpilled friend, USA:
"Thank you for Andy Warhol. Thank you for the Big Mac and the iPhone. Thank you, too, for Francis Ford Coppola, for Stanley Kubrick and Quentin Tarantino. Thank you for Angela Davis, Joan Mitchell and Susan Sontag. Thank you for F. Scott Fitzgerald, for Aretha Franklin, Edward Hopper and also for Levi's 501s. And now: Goodbye."
Writing on behalf of the European continent, German art historian Florian Illies says, "Yes, it was a grand American epoch, one that afforded us here in Europe with a hundred years of security, pleasure and stimulation. But every good thing must come to an end. Now, we can finally abandon our meek submission."
Explaining how a touchscreen works with a sausage (video)
Ellsworth Toohey / 8:43 am PT Thu Apr 3, 2025
During South Korea's brutal winter of 2010, frustrated glove-wearing smartphone users learned that they could use sausages instead of their finger. This hack became so popular that one sausage manufacturer reported a 40% spike in sales, as BBC's "The Secret Genius of Modern Life" reports.
The science behind this hack reveals how our everyday touchscreens work. Hidden beneath your phone's glass is an invisible mesh of indium tin oxide — a material that stores and conducts electricity. This creates an electrical field that your finger disrupts when it touches the screen.
"This is not me pushing these balls around," explains the host, using statically-charged polystyrene balls to demonstrate how the electrical field responds to touch. "It's the interaction between the stored charges of these two conductors, your finger and the grid inside your phone, that makes this touchscreen work."
The key ingredient that makes fingers, sausages, and even pickles work as styluses is salt water. "Like the pickle, we are mostly made from salty water, and that's what allows us to store charge and conduct electricity," the host explains. Regular gloves and metal utensils fail because they can't conduct electricity the same way.
Fox humor? As Trumper praises tariff move, live screen shows stocks tanking (video)
Carla Sinclair / 8:01 am PT Thu Apr 3, 2025
Intentional or not, Fox News had a sense of grim humor today when the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture tried to paint a rosy picture of Donald Trump's unpopular new tariffs.
"It's a whole new world based on Liberation Day yesterday," Brooke Rollins told Fox host Maria Bartiromo, nodding and smiling as if the Trump tariffs are a win.
Meanwhile, the huge graphic next to her head displayed a ticker showing the stock market tank before our very eyes, with Dow Jones down 1,216, Nasdaq down 769, and S&P 500 down 191. (See video, posted by Aaron Rupar.)
But more than just a whole new world, it's also a whole new hour — as of this writing, shortly after Rollins appeared on Fox, the Dow is now down more than 1,500, while Nasdaq is down 983 and the S&P 500 down 247. Welcome to the chaos of Trump 2.0.
Supporting ongoing Los Angeles wildfire recovery efforts
Hannah Patterson / 7:35 am PT Thu Apr 3, 2025
Entire lives are still uprooted, and a simple donation can go a long way toward helping with the relief efforts for the Los Angeles wildfires.
Yesterday, while doing some paperwork at the DMV, my father, who lives in LA, talked with a gentleman who had lost his home in the wildfire of the Pacific Palisades. The gentleman had finally found a car to replace the one he lost in the fire, and his family has been living miles away from their schools. They were lucky, had savings and insurance, and were able to find a place to stay quickly, but they are still struggling as a family of five who lost everything. While my Dad and grandparents live in Los Angeles, they were fortunate. My grandparents were evacuated, but their home was undamaged. Watching other people's trauma, however, has broken my heart.
I live and attend high school in San Francisco, and while I tried to find some opportunities to volunteer in some fire relief efforts, finding a meaningful way to help wasn't easy. I couldn't rush down to Los Angeles to volunteer; my school expected me to graduate. One organization I came across that was making a real difference for folks was Good360. Good360 is one of Forbes' "Top Charities" and works directly partnering with corporations to get goods and services to the people impacted by a disaster. They've already managed to get over $11,000,000 in essential items, including diapers, hygiene products, and PPE, to affected communities. They're also working directly with JCPenney and Amazon to get a lot of clothing, shoes, housewares, and cosmetics into folks' hands. Good360's work with Habitat for Humanity and World Vision will supply furniture and help with rebuilding efforts.
Donating to Good360 has given me a small outlet to feel I am contributing. I'm sharing this QR code out to friends and family, hoping to raise $1250 for them.
Mario Kart World: new Nintendo racer is open-world for some reason
Grant St. Clair / 5:23 am PT Thu Apr 3, 2025
If Need 4 Speed can do it, I guess Nintendo can too. Mario Kart 9 was finally properly revealed as a launch title for the Nintendo Switch 2, albeit rebranded to Mario Kart World. That change in name aligns with a change in design policy: Mario Kart World will be an open-world game, unleashing you and your chosen kart on a vast world of interconnected courses.
Does it make a lot of sense, considering the series' previous insistence on linearity? No. But Grand Theft Mario has a certain appeal all the same, and the series' most expansive roster yet makes me excited to traverse the world as a Goomba. This is somewhat tempered, however, by Mario Kart World's $80 price tag, marking yet another step up in triple-A game prices. Hopefully, this is just a one-off, but knowing Nintendo it's hard to say for sure.
Super Mario Odyssey followup stars Donkey Kong
Grant St. Clair / 5:16 am PT Thu Apr 3, 2025
Super Mario Odyssey is one of the best 3D platformers of all time – I'm not sure I'd find anyone who disagrees with that opinion if I tried. Naturally, with the advent of the Switch 2 fast approaching, fans were eager to see what Nintendo had cooking with the next 3D Mario game, though I'm not sure anyone expected this answer. The next flagship Mario title is Donkey Kong Bananza, an open-world collectathon where everything – yes, everything – is destructible under DK's fists. No wonder they needed to wait for a hardware upgrade.
Crashing through your enemies and the landscape alike looks delightful, and exactly the kind of gameplay I'd expect from a 500-pound gorilla. One does wonder how anything in the game will actually pose a challenge to the massive furry wrecking ball you're in control of, but if anyone can figure that out, it's Nintendo.
"Conservative girl makeup" tutorials mock the "brutal aesthetics of MAGA"
Jennifer Sandlin / 5:11 am PT Thu Apr 3, 2025
Being ugly on the inside correlates with what Mother Jones calls the "brutal aesthetics of MAGA," which include "Mar-a-Lago face" (described succinctly in The Guardian as consisting largely of "fillers and aggressive fake tan") along with other makeup choices seemingly preferred by the MAGA crowd. As a reaction to these MAGA and Republican style choices, folks are taking to social media to provide tutorials mocking "conservative girl makeup." The Guardian explains:
So what sort of cosmetics does TikTok reckon you should use if you want to cosplay as someone desperate to deport people and roll back your own reproductive rights? Well, according to the conservative girl makeup experts, you should be applying a foundation that doesn't match your skin tone, thick eyeliner and clumpy mascara. "We really want our makeup to cling to any dry spots," the originator of the trend jokes. "It's giving drained, it's giving dusty."
I typically do not condone critiquing or even commenting on people's appearance, but I'm making an exception for MAGA folks, because their hateful rhetoric, actions, and policies have harmed countless numbers of people and definitely require some clapback. And the best makeup tutorial I've seen in this genre is this one from Frederic Chen, who, according to OPI, is "known for their beauty and skincare videos that aim to make self-care accessible to everyone." OPI continues: "As a non-binary creator blurring the lines between menswear and womenswear, Frederic's platform is a safe space for self-expression in the LGBTQIA+ community."
Chen's "A Republican Makeup Tutorial" is inspired by Congressperson from South Carolina Nancy Mace, who is a rabidly anti-LGBTQ asshole, a notorious bathroom cop, and a total clown.
In the video Chen states that Nancy Mace is a "hot piece of garbage," and explains that she and other MAGA Republicans tend to look like rotting corpses or background characters in The Walking Dead and The Purge. Chen adds that "they would do great in horror movies," and quips that "sometimes life does imitate art." The rest of the video is chock-full of funny makeup tips infused with biting critiques of MAGA ideologies, such as this commentary on blending and transition shades:
You see this brush? We're not using that. Those are meant for blending. We want something that packs color on. And we're going in with the deepest shade first. I guess the term "transition shades" are scary to them, because of the word trans in there…but also they don't have time to blend, they're too busy making a difference in the world…
If you need a laugh today, definitely check it out. And go follow Frederic Chen on their Instagram for some terrific beauty content!
Bichon Frise Lufy has likely found his furever home
Jennifer Sandlin / 5:05 am PT Thu Apr 3, 2025
An adorable Bichon Frise doggo named Lufy, who became a viral obsession after he was recently featured on the social media account of the Sahara Kennel Rescue—an animal rescue shelter in Dubai, United Arab Emirates—has now entered a trial adoption process and may have found his furever home!
Lufy, who is just a few months shy of two years old, is partially paralyzed, and uses a wheelchair for mobility. That doesn't stop him from also being the cutest dog you've ever seen, with a fluffy coat, sweet eyes, and the most ridiculously silly smile.
USA Today provides more details about his trial adoption:
If the trial goes well, the family will finalize the adoption. "We are so grateful for the outpour of love that Lufy has received," Sahara Kennel Rescue shared in a social media post. "We hope all this attention helps our rescues find their forever homes, where they can live happily as part of the family."
This portrait of Lufy by Olan Meows Retro Pet Portraits is currently giving me life (seriously, click through to see it, you will NOT be disappointed). You can get it on a t-shirt for $30.00 from Olan Meows, and 50% of all profits will be donated to an animal rescue in Sahara Kennel Rescue's name. Please don't tell my son, but I think I've found his birthday present.
Congrats to Lufy and his new family! And to the new fam: Please, oh, please start a social media account for Lufy. I NEED to see more photos and videos of this absolute angel.
New research: Shingles vaccine reduces risk of developing dementia by 20%
Jennifer Sandlin / 4:59 am PT Thu Apr 3, 2025
New research reveals that the shingles vaccine might play a role in reducing the risk of developing dementia. The study was led by a team of scientists at Stanford Medicine and involved analyzing a vaccination program in Wales. Researchers found that the shingles vaccine lowered new dementia diagnoses by 20%, which is more than any other currently known prevention or intervention.
Stanford Medicine provides more details:
Researchers analyzing the health records of Welsh older adults discovered that those who received the shingles vaccine were 20% less likely to develop dementia over the next seven years than those who did not receive the vaccine.
The remarkable findings, published April 2 in Nature, support an emerging theory that viruses that affect the nervous system can increase the risk of dementia. If further confirmed, the new findings suggest that a preventive intervention for dementia is already close at hand.
Since the Welsh study, the Stanford Medicine research team has examined health records from England, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, and has found similar results indicating that the shingles vaccine provides protection from developing dementia. The researchers are currently planning to conduct a large randomized controlled trial, which "would provide the strongest proof of cause and effect."
Here's the study's full abstract, from Nature:
Neurotropic herpesviruses may be implicated in the development of dementia1,2,3,4,5. Moreover, vaccines may have important off-target immunological effects6,7,8,9. Here we aim to determine the effect of live-attenuated herpes zoster vaccination on the occurrence of dementia diagnoses. To provide causal as opposed to correlational evidence, we take advantage of the fact that, in Wales, eligibility for the zoster vaccine was determined on the basis of an individual's exact date of birth. Those born before 2 September 1933 were ineligible and remained ineligible for life, whereas those born on or after 2 September 1933 were eligible for at least 1 year to receive the vaccine. Using large-scale electronic health record data, we first show that the percentage of adults who received the vaccine increased from 0.01% among patients who were merely 1 week too old to be eligible, to 47.2% among those who were just 1 week younger. Apart from this large difference in the probability of ever receiving the zoster vaccine, individuals born just 1 week before 2 September 1933 are unlikely to differ systematically from those born 1 week later. Using these comparison groups in a regression discontinuity design, we show that receiving the zoster vaccine reduced the probability of a new dementia diagnosis over a follow-up period of 7 years by 3.5 percentage points (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.6–7.1, P = 0.019), corresponding to a 20.0% (95% CI = 6.5–33.4) relative reduction. This protective effect was stronger among women than men. We successfully confirm our findings in a different population (England and Wales's combined population), with a different type of data (death certificates) and using an outcome (deaths with dementia as primary cause) that is closely related to dementia, but less reliant on a timely diagnosis of dementia by the healthcare system10. Through the use of a unique natural experiment, this study provides evidence of a dementia-preventing or dementia-delaying effect from zoster vaccination that is less vulnerable to confounding and bias than the existing associational evidence.
Sadly, this exciting research comes on the heels of the Trump administration slashing budgets and firing thousands of scientists from the National Institutes of Health who were conducting research into cancer, Alzheimer's, HIV, and other devastating diseases.
To read more about the study, here's a great overview of the research on the Stanford Medicine website, or read the full study in Nature here. And go get your shingles vaccines if you're due!
Bloodborne successor finally in development as Switch 2 exclusive
Grant St. Clair / 4:00 am PT Thu Apr 3, 2025
What kind of monkey's paw is responsible for this? After more than a decade of asking, Bloodborne developer FromSoftware has returned to that dark gothic setting – or at least one heavily inspired by it. The only caveat? It's a multiplayer-only game developed exclusively for Switch 2 of all consoles. The Duskbloods is Bloodborne in everything but name, given that Sony still technically owns the IP, and tasks you with hunting down rival vampires through not-Yharnam to claim whatever "moontears" are.
Per FromSoft's website, it seems the game will be an eight-person battle royale, where you're able to either cooperate with or compete against your fellow vampires – a somewhat unique take on the genre, though I can already feel the pain of being backstabbed at the last second. If this holding pattern continues, I expect Bloodborne 3 to be a kart racer exclusive to the next Xbox.
Switch 2 release date finally revealed
Grant St. Clair / 3:00 am PT Thu Apr 3, 2025
After what feels like endless speculation, it's here and it's real. The Switch 2 was debuted and explained in excruciating detail today, with Nintendo covering everything from the new controllers (each of which can be used like a computer mouse) to the new 1080p screen. The question on everyone's lips, though, is when the thing will actually be in our hands.
The Switch 2 will launch on June 5, 2024 for $450 USD. That's just shy of the PS5's price of $500, but given that the console is now apparently beefy enough to run Cyberpunk 2077, it seems downright reasonable. The fact that the new baseline price of each game seems to be $80 absolutely is not.
Hooters is bankrupt
Rob Beschizza / 5:47 pm PT Wed Apr 2, 2025
Hooters, the restaurant chain named for the prominently-posed busts of its servers, is going tits up. The company filed for bankruptcy today and announced plans to sell its remaining locations to franchisees, thereby guaranteeing continuity of service for those still dining there.
Hooters said it will continue to operate its business as usual, although it said it is "evaluating the Company's operational footprint" for its company-owned locations. That means it may end up closing some locations during its bankruptcy process. Private equity firms Nord Bay Capital and TriArtisan Capital Advisors bought Hooters in 2019.
The buyer group includes the original Hooters founders, including Neil Kiefer, CEO of franchisee group Hooters Inc.
"For many years now, the Hooters brand has been owned by private equity firms and other groups with no history or experience with the Hooters brand," Kiefer said in a press release Monday. In an interview with Bloomberg News last week, he said that the turnaround plan includes making the chain more family friendly.
Here's their "first commercial," according to their YouTube account.
Here's the scientific truth about squirting. Yes, that kind of squirting.
Allan Rose Hill / 3:27 pm PT Wed Apr 2, 2025
When some people with a vagina are highly aroused or having an orgasm, a rush of fluid will squirt out. It is a real thing. It does happen. But what exactly is this liquid? Is it urine? Some kind of ejaculate? A heady blend of both?
On Scientific American's Science Quickly podcast,, host Rachel Feltman and science journalist Wendy Zukerman explore this slippery subject.
Among other fascinating info, they share a 2015 study conducted by French gynecologist Samuel Salama. He recruited a small group of women who could consistently squirt during arousal and used ultrasound to monitor what was happening inside their bodies. First, the women emptied their bladders, confirmed by the ultrasound, and then at the peak of their arousal, Salama observed that their bladders had refilled. Of course, this suggests that the fluid released during squirting comes from the bladder. And after they squirted, their bladders were empty again.
Analysis of the fluid showed compounds typically found in urine, like urea and uric acid. Mystery solved? Not quite.
"Although the bulk of the fluid is coming from urine, in some cases there is a little bit of this sort of other substance that ends up in squirt, which comes from the female prostate." Zukerman explains.
As for the squirters, "for those who tend to think it's pee, they generally feel more negative about squirting which makes perfect sense. If you feel like you have just peed all over your partner or peed all over your bed, that's not necessarily a great thing, whereas if you feel like you have just ejaculated over your partner, well, you just had a sexy time[…]
"This is a normal physiological process… And I think you could feel good about it no matter what that substance is."
Watch: Doggy daycare separates chill doggos from hyper pups in comical video
Carla Sinclair / 3:22 pm PT Wed Apr 2, 2025
The Red Rover doggy daycare in South Carolina separates its canine guests into two groups depending on the dogs' energy levels: Side A is for the chillaxed, introverted doggos, while Side B is for the more active, extroverted pups.
And there's no denying which group is which! Just one glance at the dogs in action and it's a dead giveaway — no guesswork needed. Until the end of the day, that is, when the hyper Side B dogs run out of batteries and morph into Side A dogs for a good long nap.
(See clip, posted by redroverhhi.)
Via Newsweek
Previously: Video of tuckered-out bus-riding dogs after a day of adventure
Turns out Mike Waltz held at least 20 other sensitive group chats on Signal
Carla Sinclair / 2:37 pm PT Wed Apr 2, 2025
When Mike Waltz carelessly added an Atlantic editor to his classified military group chat on the Signal app last month, the Trump Administration brushed it off as a one-time blunder that wouldn't happen again. But as it turns out, the sloppy national security advisor has used the same texting app for at least 20 other sensitive discussions, according to new reports.
"It was commonplace to stand up chats on any given national security topic," said one of four people who spoke to Politico, while another added, "Waltz built the entire NSC communications process on Signal."
The four anonymous sources who spoke to Politico had all been added to Signal group chats with Trump's national security team in which sensitive, if not classified, information was discussed. From Politico:
National security adviser Mike Waltz's team regularly set up chats on Signal to coordinate official work on issues including Ukraine, China, Gaza, Middle East policy, Africa and Europe, according to four people who have been personally added to Signal chats.
It's a more extensive use of the app than previously reported and sheds new light on how commonly the Trump administration's national security team relies on Signal, a publicly available messaging app, to conduct its work. …
Veteran national security officials have warned the practice potentially violates regulations on protecting sensitive national security information from foreign adversaries, and federal recordkeeping laws if the chats are automatically deleted. …
Waltz and incoming NSC staff first started using Signal prolifically during the transition period before the inauguration and never stopped, according to another one of the four people who participated in the chats.
"This is a bunch of folks who have never been here before and couldn't switch from campaign mode," a former Trump official told Politico, referring to Waltz, Fox host-turned-Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and the rest of the inexperienced Trump 2.0 yes-men now running the U.S. military.
Using Signal as a military communication tool "raises immediate and deeply alarming concerns about the misuse of unsecured communication platforms," said Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly, calling Waltz's group chats "the reckless dissemination of potentially classified material."
Previously: The Atlantic posts details of attack plans shared on Signal
U.S. Government demands new internal passport for citizens and it's giving off major dystopian vibes
Ellsworth Toohey / 2:07 pm PT Wed Apr 2, 2025
Starting May 7, 2025, I'll need a REAL ID to fly from Houston to New Orleans. Apparently, my current driver's license — you know, the one issued by my state government — isn't "real" enough anymore.
Remember when we used to mock totalitarian regimes for requiring "internal passports?" Now we get to mock ourselves! Thanks to bipartisan enthusiasm for trampling fundamental rights, this bureaucratic nightmare sailed through the House in 2005 with a 261-161 vote. After 20 years of delays, the federal government is finally ready to roll out this masterpiece of bureaucratic overreach.
To get one of you own, you'll have to prove your existence with an entertaining scavenger hunt of documents: original birth certificate, social security card, marriage license, and two proofs that you actually live where you say you live. I guess the gubmint thinks we're all just making up our addresses for fun or that we're all terrists.
Of course, all this personal information gets dumped into linked databases — "hacker bait," as security experts cheerfully call it. So your data will be available not just to Elon Musk, but to any teenager in Kyrgyzstan with dark web access.
As Zócalo Public Square warned in 2020, "REAL ID will make it easier for hackers and terrorists to steal our identities, and for governments and corporations to discriminate against us."
Of course, while every American needs this new super-ID for a domestic flight to Vegas, international travelers can breeze through with just their passports. Nothing says "national security" like making it harder for citizens to travel in their own country.
Proud moment for American freedom, isn't it?
Timex's latest retro watch gets the font right
Rob Beschizza / 1:43 pm PT Wed Apr 2, 2025
The END. x Timex T80 (compare to the normal model) is a collaboration between the watchmaker and cool shop End which shows the company digging into specifics of the 80s look. Unlike some of the recent Casio offerings—with them I'm never sure if they simply never stopped selling them— there are no modern features at all, but I love its sleeker style.
Building on previous collaborations, this END. x Timex T80 Watch is inspired by a timeless '80s aesthetic. Reworked for the modern day, here there is a classic silver tone 34mm stainless steel. Equipped with a bracelet strap and a clasp closure, an INDIGLO® Light-Up watch dial lights up in darkness to reveal E by END. branding
If you're wondering at the differences, take a look at the type on each edition. Poking around Timex's retro range, I find this lurid beauty modeled on an early-70s classic.
75% of US scientists considering leaving the country, says new Nature poll
Allan Rose Hill / 1:07 pm PT Wed Apr 2, 2025
Leading scientific journal Nature surveyed scientists about whether the Trump administration's massive slashing of federal science funding is causing them to consider leaving the United States. More than 1,200 scientists responded. A shocking 75% said they were seriously considering moving out of the U.S.
Where? Top countries mentioned were Europe and Canada, or "anywhere that supports science," as one respondent put it.
From Nature:
The trend was particularly pronounced among early-career researchers. Of the 690 postgraduate researchers who responded, 548 were considering leaving; 255 of 340 PhD students said the same.
Trump's administration has slashed research funding and halted broad swathes of federally funded science, under a government-wide cost-cutting initiative led by billionaire Elon Musk. Tens of thousands of federal employees, including many scientists, have been fired and rehired following a court order, with threats of more mass firings to come. Immigration crackdowns and battles over academic freedom have left researchers reeling as uncertainty and disruption permeate all aspects of the US research enterprise.
Original E.T. puppet looks like Dollar Tree bootleg, Sotheby's wants $900,000
Ellsworth Toohey / 1:05 pm PT Wed Apr 2, 2025
Look, we get why Spielberg's beloved alien puppet is a piece of cinema history heading to Sotheby's auction block for an eye-watering $900,000. But holy mother of Reese's Pieces, have you seen this thing?
The three-foot nightmare fuel was used in that famous scene where E.T. hides in Elliott's closet, and honestly, if we found this lurking among our stuffed animals, we'd toss it in the Goodwill bin.
Created by special effects wizard Carlo Rambaldi, it's basically an aluminum skeleton wrapped in latex, foam, and straw — looking less like a lovable space friend and more like something you'd find in a Roswell gift shop marked "Authentic Alien Artifact! Only $29.99!"
According to Sotheby's (who are trying their damnedest to class this thing up), Spielberg wanted E.T. to have eyes reminiscent of Einstein, Hemingway, and Carl Sandburg. They also threw in some inspiration from Rambaldi's pet cat, which explains why this thing looks like it would murder you in your sleep.
"This model embodies the artistry of an era before CGI," says Sotheby's vice chairman Cassandra Hatton, with what we assume was a straight face.
Listen, we're not saying this piece of movie history isn't important, we're just saying that for $900,000, you could probably pay some rogue biohacker with CRISPR tech to make you an actual alien that would look less disturbing than this Zune-toned prop.
Tesla sales "unexpectedly" plunge
Rob Beschizza / 12:56 pm PT Wed Apr 2, 2025
The BBC's story about Tesla's sales figures doesn't mince words. They have "plummeted," writes Lily Jamali, to the level they were at three years ago, even as sales of electric vehicles from other automakers are growing. The funny part is that the BBC put the word "unexpectedly" in its title, as if there were anything suprising about it. I guess the increasing competition from Chinese firm BYD is making all the difference!
On Wednesday, Politico reported that Trump had told his inner circle Musk would be stepping back from the administration in the coming weeks.
Shortly after the report was published, Tesla's share price turned positive.
The White House shot down the report as "garbage". Because he is considered a special government employee, Musk by law can only serve 130 days in the administration this year, which would put his departure closer to June.
In other respects, the story is a good overview of the protests and general disgust at Tesla resulting from Musk's behavior. 58 percent of Americans disapprove of Musk and his work in government, according to a new poll, and nowhere is he more popular than there.
Silica gel's secret history and path to worldwide ubiquity
Allan Rose Hill / 12:13 pm PT Wed Apr 2, 2025
"DO NOT EAT." No matter how tempting you may find that little white packet at the bottom of your beef jerky package, it is not for human consumption. Silica gel packets are filled with tiny beads of silicon dioxide, which is the same basic material found in sand—just processed into a highly porous, granular form.
Each bead is full of microscopic pores that absorb and hold water vapor, kind of like a sponge, but on a molecular level. They don't dissolve or swell up—instead, they trap moisture inside their structure, keeping the surrounding environment dry. That's why you'll find them in packages with electronics, shoes, seaweed snacks, psychedelic mushrooms, vitamins—anything that could be damaged by humidity. They're simple but super effective little moisture magnets.
Silica gel itself was invented way back in 1919 by a chemistry professor named Walter A. Patrick at Johns Hopkins University. He originally developed it as a desiccant—a material that absorbs moisture—for use in scientific and industrial settings. But it wasn't until World War II that silica gel packets really took off, when the U.S. military used them to keep moisture out of equipment, medicines, and supplies. From there, they became a go-to solution for protecting all kinds of goods from humidity.
Writing in Scope of Work, Spencer Wright reveals the history of the stuff and "How Silica Gel Took Over the World":
…A couple decades ago there were hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs on a single mile of road, a half-hour from my house. If I lived in Brooklyn then, I could have purchased goods from those factories. They would experience few, if any, swings in temperature and pressure on their short journey from factory to home, and even if they did, their packaging probably would have let excess humidity ventilate off.
The farther you ship a product—the longer it takes to go from the factory to the customer's hands, and the more temperature and pressure cycles it experiences during that time—the more you need to control humidity inside of its airtight packaging. Silica gel is a cheap, easy, and reliable way to do so. In this sense silica gel sits alongside containerized shipping, and stretch wrap, and bills of lading: It is a technology without which we'd have a much harder time maintaining global supply chains.