A 1986 bulletin board system has brought the old Web back to life in 2017 | Ars Technica

EnlargeChris Wilkinson132Limited to an anachronistic 1200 bits per second, it took several moments for the green-phosphor ASCII art to scroll from the bottom to the top of the screen. A login prompt and a blinking cursor invited me to continue deeper:Enter GUEST for a quick look around.)Enter your ID#, HANDLE, NEW or ‘?’:_What would David Lightman think? I found myself at the guarded gates of an online community that had been disconnected for decades. This was mid-2016, but for all intents and purposes, it might as well have been 1986.Today, many can be forgiven for thinking that the digital communications revolution kicked off during the mid-1990s, when there was simply an explosion of media and consumer interest in the World Wide Web. Just a decade earlier, however, the future was now for the hundreds of thousands of users already using home computers to communicate with others over the telephone network. The online culture of the 1980s was defined by the pervasiveness of bulletin board systems (BBS), expensive telephone bills, and the dulcet tones of a 1200 baud connection (or 2400, if you were very lucky). While many Ars readers certainly recall bulletin board systems with pixelated reverence, just as many are likely left scratching their heads in confusion (“what exactly is a BBS, anyway?”).

Source: A 1986 bulletin board system has brought the old Web back to life in 2017 | Ars Technica

DEA Approves Synthetic THC Drug

The Drug Enforcement Administration has just recently approved Syndros, a cannabis based medication developed by Insys Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company. Syndros is a synthetic formulation of THC. It is used to treat nausea and vomiting, two of the most common symptoms of chemotherapy. The drug was pre-approved by the FDA last summer as a treatment for nausea, vomiting, and weightloss in cancer and AIDS patients. The DEA approval places Syndros and its generic formulations in Schedule II of the Controlled Substance Act, indicating a “high potential for abuse”. Other Schedule II drugs include cocaine, morphine, and many prescription painkillers. Insys donated $500,000 last September to help defeat Arizona’s cannabis legalization campaign. Yet now the company has received DEA approval for its own cannabis based drug. During the campaign, the company claimed to oppose the legalization measure because it would fail to protect the safety of Arizona’s citizens and children. Now, non-medical cannabis users in Arizona must still face felony charges for possessing even small amounts of the plant. While Insys may insist that safety is their biggest concern, their aggressive marketing strategies for Subsys, a medication containing fentanyl, a dangerously powerful and addictive opiate that can be 50-100 times more powerful than Morphine, say otherwise.

Source: DEA Approves Synthetic THC Drug – REALfarmacy.com

Man In Drunk Lives Matter Shirt Charged With Drunken Driving

NEWVILLE, Pa. (KDKA/AP) – Police in Pennsylvania say they arrested a man wearing a Drunk Lives Matter shirt for drunken driving.Police say 44-year-old Elwood Gutshall III’s blood-alcohol content was .217, which is about two and a half times the state’s legal limit for drivers when he was pulled over early on March 19 in Newville.He was wearing a green St. Patrick’s Day shirt with the saying on it.Online court records don’t list an attorney for Gutshall, who faces a preliminary hearing May 26.He is facing a list of charges including, DUI Highest Rate, driving under DUI suspension, and traffic violations.

Source: Man In Drunk Lives Matter Shirt Charged With Drunken Driving « CBS Pittsburgh

Selfie-Taker Survives 60-Foot Fall

A woman taking a selfie survived a 60-foot fall off California’s highest bridge in what cops say is a distressing trend. The unidentified woman was walking on the Foresthill Bridge’s steel girders with a group of six friends on Tuesday when tried to snap a shot and tumbled backward to the trail below, CNN reports. She was airlifted to a Sacramento-area hospital and is miraculously expected to survive. A friend told KOVR the woman was knocked unconscious, her arm was deeply gashed, and she will need surgery on bones that were fractured. “This young lady is very lucky to be alive,” the Placer County Sheriff’s Department wrote on Facebook. They note that the catwalk underneath the bridge’s pedestrian walkway is closed to the public “for the protection of our residents and our community.”

Source: Selfie-Taker Survives 60-Foot Fall

PETA Protests Nintendo’s Cow Milking Minigame on Nintendo Switch

PETA has a penchant for preposterous protests. Ingrid Newkirk, the president of the animal rights group, released an outraged statement deploring Nintendo for taking up the Billings Farm & Museum’s recent challenge to compete against them in the 1-2-Switch video game, which has a cow milking minigame.The new complaint follows the release of a video calling milk the white supremacist drink of choice.Last month, the Woodstock, Vt.-based educational dairy farm invited the Japanese video game company to learn about milking cows and to do battle against two of its employees to see whether the video game makers or the farmers could milk cows the fastest. Not one to turn down a challenge, Nintendo took them up on the offer.

Source: PETA Protests Nintendo’s Cow Milking Minigame on Nintendo Switch | Heat Street

The Mystery of Lucian Freud’s Missing ‘Bacon’

In 1988, the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin debuted an exhibition of Lucian Freud paintings. By all accounts, the show was a success, with the Germans warmly embracing the work of the famed British painter…maybe a little too warmly.

On May 27, the gallery filled with students on a trip to see the exhibit. It was just another day at the show with visitors milling around examining Freud’s paintings under the watchful eye of art guards when someone noticed something alarming—one of the works was missing.

 

In broad daylight, in the middle of a crowded show, someone had absconded with Lucian Freud’s relatively small painting of his one-time friend Francis Bacon.

The painting in question was a 7-by-5-inch oil painting on a sheet of copper that had been completed in 1952, the same year the Tate in London acquired it for their permanent collection.

continue http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/04/02/the-mystery-of-lucian-freud-s-missing-bacon.html

How To Add A Signature To Google Docs

Have you found yourself in a position where you needed to add a signature to a digital document? Perhaps you’re signing a contract, or you’re adding a professional flare to a letter. If you’re printing the document off, it’s a simple case of signing after it’s printed. Of course, things are a little trickier if you want to email the document, or you’re printing lots of copies of one document.Ads by GoogleFortunately, if you do find yourself in a position where you need a signature on a Google Doc and want something a little more professional than just typing your name, there are a few ways you can add one.Using the Built-in Drawing ToolsThis is a good option if you have a drawing tablet or a touchscreen. It’s also quite usable if you only have a mouse but may not look as good as a regular signature would.To use the drawing tools for a signature, go into the Google document you want to insert a signature into. Click “Insert” at the top of the document, then click “Drawing…”

Source: How To Add A Signature To Google Docs – Make Tech Easier