Aug 01
The president is still isolating, but is feeling “well,” his physician said.
Aug 01
Who hasn’t dreamed of resting their rear on some soft green sprouts while they go about their bathroom business? Good news! YouTuber Ali Spagnola created the Sprouthouse: a toilet completely covered in chia seedlings. As far as good ideas go, I think we can all agree this one is Nobel Prize-worthy. Somebody get Ali one of those MacArthur Fellowship genius grants too.
First, Ali wrapped her entire toilet with gauze to hold the seeds while they spout, then carefully watered them every day for seven days until she had the world’s greenest toilet. She then takes a seat to test it, which she describes as “just a little moist, but in a satisfying way.” Wow, who knew sitting on a moist toilet could ever be satisfying?
Ali insists nobody should go their whole life without sitting on a Chia toilet, and I couldn’t agree more. I mean, is a life having never sat on a plant-covered crapper truly worth living? I, for one, don’t plan on risking it. Now I just need to convince my wife to not go into the guest bathroom for the next week.
Aug 01
Good news for anyone who’d prefer tapping into Apple Pay for an online transaction: it might become available to use within browsers besides Apple’s Safari. MacRumors contributor, Steve Moser, discovered an Apple Pay button in both Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge in the latest iOS 16 beta, leading us to believe it…
Aug 01
It’s that time of year when Spirit Halloween stores begin popping up in formerly empty retail spaces—and the one-stop shop for all things spooky has another way to announce its arrival this year, thanks to Spirit Halloween: The Movie. Christopher Lloyd stars, and the first trailer has arrived.
Aug 01
UN Secretary-General Says We're 'One Miscalculation Away' From Nuclear Annihilation
Posted in: Today's Chili
Everyday it appears that we’re spiraling closer to the apocalypse. Today, that future seems a little closer than we thought as United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned today that humanity is “one misunderstanding, one miscalculation” away from being wiped off the face of the planet by a nuclear…
Aug 01
Teens and young people do stupid things—you’ve done them, I’ve done them—but a new report from India is pushing the limits of our credulity. Allegedly, Indian youth are boiling flavored condoms and drinking the water to get high. If that sounds to you like a 2022 version of Tide Pods or “pharm parties,” you’re not…
Aug 01
A federal judge refused to remove Visa from a lawsuit that alleges it aided MindGeek — the parent company of Pornhub — in monetizing child porn. In a decision issued on July 29th, U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney accuses the payment processor of refusing to cut business ties with MindGeek, despite being aware that Pornhub and other MindGeek-owned pornography sites distributed child pornography. The lawsuit was filed by a woman whose underage videos were posted on Pornhub without her permission.
“If Visa was aware that there was a substantial amount of child porn on MindGeek’s sites, which the Court must accept as true at this stage of the proceedings, then it was aware that it was processing the monetization of child porn, moving money from advertisers to MindGeek for advertisements playing alongside child porn like Plaintiff’s videos,” wrote Judge Carney.
Visa has argued that it is an “improper defendant” in the case and does not tolerate illegal activity. “Visa condemns sex trafficking, sexual exploitation and child sexual abuse materials as repugnant to our values and purpose as a company. This pre-trial ruling is disappointing and mischaracterizes Visa’s role and its policies and practices. Visa will not tolerate the use of our network for illegal activity. We continue to believe that Visa is an improper defendant in this case,” a Visa spokesperson wrote in a statement to Variety.
Pornhub and other MindGeek-owned porn sites regularly feature nonconsensual or underage porn videos, according to recent reporting in both the New Yorker and the New York Times. MindGeek has maintained that it has protocols in place to prevent the posting and reposting of such illegal material on its site. In 2020, MindGeek banned all unverified users from posting on its sites and removed millions of uploaded videos in the aftermath. In order to post on any MindGeek properties, a user must submit their government ID to a third-party firm and verify their identity.
“When the court can actually consider the facts, we are confident the plaintiff’s claims will be dismissed for lack of merit. MindGeek has zero tolerance for the posting of illegal content on its platforms, and has instituted the most comprehensive safeguards in user-generated platform history,” a MindGeek spokesperson wrote to Variety.
The Montreal-based company has been in disarray following years of media attention over what critics believe is a flawed moderation process that allows illegal content to thrive on its porn sites. Both the CEO and COO of MindGeek abruptly resigned in June. The company also laid off an unspecified number of employees this summer.
Aug 01
New research measuring over 21 billion Facebook friendships seemingly confirms something you probably already inherently knew: having rich friends helps.
Aug 01
Guy Reffitt was found guilty of five felonies in March.
Aug 01
Here’s how to tell the difference between the Hawkeye, Bugeye, and Blobeye iterations of the Subaru WRX. The first place you look should be obvious.
Who's in charge here?
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.