Thousands of credit card numbers have once again fallen into the wrong hands. The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) appears to be the latest target of a credit card breach, according to a report out today from security blogger Brian Krebs. MasterCard has confirmed that it has warned a number of banks about fraudulent charges on cards that have one thing in common: the accounts were all previously used for purchases at the DMV. If you used your card for a DMV charge form August 2nd, 2013 to January 31st of this year, your number might be in danger.
The nature of the attack isn't yet clear, but Krebs' sources say that the internal MasterCard notice says that credit card numbers, expiration dates, and three-digit verification codes were compromised. It's not yet known if other sensitive information in the DMV's systems, like driver's license numbers, addresses, phone numbers, and social security numbers were also breached. In addition, the scope of the attack is unknown. If all transactions from that six-month time period were compromised, this could be a major attack affecting millions of charges. In 2012, the California DMV reported that it conducted 11.9 million online transactions.
The news comes just months after one of the largest breaches in history rocked Target, which affected millions who shopped at the big box store. In the wake of that breach, credit card issuers and retailers are working to transition the US over to safer "chip-and-signature" and "chip-and-PIN" cards. If the California DMV attack involves online transactions, the latter could have helped prevent hackers from gaining useful information.
The burger joint is adding the boozy concoction to its menu with the hopes of standing out -- for better or worse -- among suffering casual dining restaurants.
It's been years since researchers overseeing NASA's sample-return Stardust missionfirst reported that the spacecraft had retrieved traces of cosmic dust – the tiny, interstellar particles that make up stars and planets. This week, they announced the net haul of their cosmic catch: Seven particles. SEVEN.
This week's Community was a sequel of sorts to one of our favorite episodes in the series . And while "Advanced Advanced Dungeons and Dragons" wasn't as good as "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons," the showrunners at least had the good sense to release the full map from the episode.
Shelfie is a crowdfunded one-piece shelf designed to hold a bicycle. It seems rather steep at $125, but certainly looks more attractive and useful than a big old hook on the wall. [via Uncrate]
The Internet can be a scary place full of hate speech and poorly drawn anime porn. But it can also be a magical tool that allows people to find friends that share even their most esoteric interests. First there were the Bronies, and now cat-loving anarchists are having their day in the digital sun thanks to a Facebook group called “group for anarchists to post pictures of their cats in,” or, more succinctly, “Catarchy.”
Despite the fact that Facebook is basically Big Brother, in the absence of a worker-owned social media alternative Catarchy is thriving. The group currently has over 1,500 members; most of the posts are pictures of members’ cats with cute captions about “the proletaricat resistance” and seizing the means of cat food production. They’ve even got a pig in a sweater, which is not a cat but, you know, anarchy. To its credit, unlike a ...
I always wondered if I could actually hire her, since so much of her client work seems to be people hiring her to make their houses look how she wants them to look anyway but, uh...yeah, I think if I could ever afford her, I could hire her. Amazing eye + intensely admirable ability to take client feedback. And somehow the actual space does NOT look hideous in photos? H-how?
Despite being a blonde chick raised mormon in Coos Bay, Oregon, I did my senior college history thesis on the racial appropriation of music via Hip Hop. Actually shocking, I know. I used to be a massive fan of hip hop and its not that i’m not anymore, but i’m just way behind in music in general. So when Airbnb told me that Snoop might be one of the artist I would work with I was PSYCHED because I’ve always loved him. Snoop? He’s legit, not a young wanna be gangsta; he’s classic and current, old school and new school and crazy talented. Plus PSYCHED. Snoop? He’s legit and he has style.You would be shocked at how generic some famous people’s style can be but Snoop’s never is and I knew that we could do something interesting together. We were made for eachother, Snoop and I.
Here’s a bit of background for the project: Airbnb wanted do an experiential marketing campaign where we designed design these three Kithaus‘ with three musicians at SXSW. These musicians filled out a questionnaire that helped Ginny and I come up with an initial design plan. We presented it, they approved it and then we installed it where it remained live for 5 days in Austin last week during SXSW. And the whole event turned out pretty awesome. (Check out the first one we did HEREand look atMoby’s, Lake Bell’s, Molly Sims‘, Anjelica Huston’s and James Franco’s).
For Snoop his questionnaire revealed that he loves the following: Versace (which he says you can’t say just once, you have to say ‘Versace, Versace, Versace’), Jamaica, WEED, prohibition era style, the ’70′s, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, the movie ‘The MACK’, and, again … pot. (FYI it is legal in LA, he has a card, and I will withhold my opinion of the substance even though it was hilarious to have to incorporate it into a design project).
So before we met with him we came up with a rough mood board to show him based on his likes:
We wanted it to be comfy and lounge-y, with a 70′s club feel, some stoner references but in a luxe (and non-tacky) way. The wallpaper in the upper left hand corner of the board would be a custom cannibus inspired paper in navy and gold – using the word ‘cannibus’ is far more hilarious than pot, btw. with navy and gold. He requested blue, and remember he loves Versace so naturally gold was going to be in our color story. But we wanted to give him the option of also having a wallpaper full of quotes of the people that he loves – James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, Bob Marley and some Snoop quotes in there too which is what is running along the bottom. We would have done do it where the font is small enough that it would just look like a texture until you got close enough and then you’d realize it was sentences and quotes. We figured it would be a fun stoner party game. The furniture was vintage Danish 70′s which was super loungey and there were some wood, peacock chair and plants to reference Jamaica.
But a few hours before the presentation we got a note from his people that he wanted it to feel more ‘Deco’ and ‘Speakeasy’ like. So we whipped this up real quick – making a few alterations.
We loved how this looked but it wasn’t feeling very Snoop to us. Then we met him and that pretty much changed everything, anyway. He loved both plans, but preferred the luxe high end/Deco end one more. He loved that velvet sofa saying that the black leather danish 1970′s piece could have been ‘found on the streets on Inglewood’. Of course I wanted to assure him that no, he couldn’t get that piece on the side of the street but I understood what he was saying – he wanted something more rich and luxurious expensive looking.
But the problem with that is that we just didn’t feel like that would look like him, either. After meeting him we realized that he is an insanely funny, interesting, smart in a way I can’t compete with and yet a totally crazy person. and totally crazy person – with one-liner after one-liner. He free-styled constantly and threw out amazing, quotable one-liners every 2 minutes. And while, yes, while of course he was stoned at the time, it was clear that his pod needed to feel way more colorful and interesting, and definitely have a sense of humor about it.
Also he had a few requests: He wanted the lights to constantly change colors – red to blue to yellow to green, all day long and he definitely wanted red or blue light bulbs in the lamps. He asked if our custom pot wallpaper could change colors and while I feel like in LA you can do almost everything, that seemed pretty much impossible on our budget. impossible. And you should have seen the look on my face – I mean, I’ve never gotten i’ve never got such a weird and terrifying request before … but the point was he wanted the mood to be exiting with lights.
So riddle me this, friends, how do you create a space that has both vintage crystal chandeliers and flashing red/blue/purple LED lights in it? How do you make it look both luxe and kinda gangsta at the same time? Classy and yet, as Snoop says, ballin’? It was HARD, HARD, but such a fun challenge. So after days of us looking at each other like we might be designing the ugliest space on the earth we finally finished the mood board that got approved:
And here was my pitch:
“Snoop Dogg’s man cave will be a mix of laid back stoner comfort and Versace luxe… in Jamaica. He loves the 1970’s (and films like The Mack) so some of the furniture will be from that era and be super lounge-y and yet totally stylish. He loves blue, red and purple and wears a lot of black, so the cave will be predominantly these colors with gold (to bring in the Versace) as an accent and wood and natural fibers (to reference Jamaica) as textures.
There will be a stoner inspired custom wallpaper treatment with a deco weed design in navy blue on a mirrored gold back. Snoop loves red and wants a throne so there’ll be a red leather egg chair which is super loungy yet masculine and weird. There’ll be lots of crystal chandeliers with a deco vibe but the white bulbs will be replaced by red and blue bulbs. There is a custom illuminated sign that will read BOSS and have color spectrum flashing lights alla Snoop’s style and request. It will be exciting, interesting, inviting and totally Snoop”.
For the outside we would bring in some peacock chairs chair (inspired by that awesome photo of Snoop and the requested additionally requested by him) with some plants that looked like weed and other tropical plants. So Tajima, Tajima, the creative agency we work with who coordinated with the Kithaus’ took our mood board and with our direction created this rendering:
It took us probably 15 edits to get to that point where we were happy with it. And then still we were secretly ‘is this awesome or hideous???????’ (The exterior color is part of a greater Edward Scissorhand inspired exterior design plan which i’ll explain in tomorrows post).
Let me tell you about the sign. Snoop said ‘Boss’ twice in his questionaire. When asked how he would describe himself he said ‘Boss’ and ‘The Mack’. We figured that a custom sign (with LED color changing lights) could bring in the feeling that he wanted it was just a matter of coming up with the right word or phrase. Snoop said ‘Boss’ twice in his questionaire. When asked how he would describe himself he said ‘Boss’ and ‘The Mack’. We thought about ‘Dope’ because that has a double meaning, too, but then ‘Boss’ but then Boss just seemed funnier. Its both an adjective and a noun – he’s super Boss and he’s the Boss. Its just funny. And then at the last minute, while following him on instagram, minute we realized that obviously BOSS should be BO$$ , as he spells it, so we called the sign company and made the change. When we picked it up from the sign company and turned it on, I was totally speechless – either we were genius’ or we had totally lost our minds.
Once we started styling the space it really started coming together. That wallpaper was insane in a good way. insane. The sofa from ShopClass was beautiful in a lounge-y deco way. The Boss sign was just so BO$$.
There she is. Is this pop-up very ‘ME’? Uh, no…. And yet I love it – that wallpaper, sofa, coffee table, side table and most of the accessories actually are me in a weird way, too. accessories. But more importantly it is totally Snoop. He loved is so much you wouldn’t believe.
Obviously I didnt hire a photographer (clearly). There were a bunch of professional photographer floating around but its been hard to get my hands on the photos so this is me, using my iphone photos. Not my best work but I figured it was just important to really see what was in the space. That weird box on the upper left is an air conditioner. its mounted almost like a flat screen TV, but we faced it out with wallpaper so it could go away even more.
Resources: Rug from Z Gallerie (and yes, its slightly too small), Coffee table from Organic Modernism, Side table from Target, Tray from Target by Nate Berkus, navy/gold pillows and faux fur throw from Z Gallerie. Marble lamp and geode stash box from West Elm.
Please notice the red lightbulb in the lamp. pod. I’m telling you, if you spend a few hours in a room with only red lightbulbs new white bulbs will make you feel like you are living in an episode of Orange is the New Black. Black. Those things really are warm and inviting, if not totally insane.
Yes, that is a brick of gold and some gin and juice there in the corner. It’s all about the details. We had his favorite movies, books, games and even installed that flat screen TV and X BOX 360.
After we were done Ginny and I were 100% sure that Snoop would like it. We actually LOVED it and strangely so did all of our friends. Brian walked into it and loved it, even Charlie lit up and stared at that sign for minutes. I know it’s really hard to get a sense of it from my stupid iphone photos but trust me that when you were inside of it, you wanted to party and never leave.
So Snoop arrived, checked his custom rhinestone encrusted mailbox (that only took Ginny 9 hours to glue bedazzle) where he was greeted with an issue of high times – I told you .. the details.
And then …. yea … he was into it. He called me in, passed all the paparazzi who had booked interviews with him, him in the pod and gave me a massive hug with a lot of generous words about how he wants to transport it all to his house in LA and how we should go there and design it, etc. He was shocked – over and over about all the details and how much it felt like him. Very satisfying indeed.
So there we are: Me, Snoop and Ginny. One of my favorite projects to date.
Watch this video where you get a way better sense of the space and hear him speak about the pod, Airbnb and probably weed.
And then this is the video of Snoop and chatting about design where I presented him the ideas. It was 11pm and 80 degrees – it’s not my best work, but it’s not about me, anyway. Snoop carries the video.
So what do you all think about Snoop’s pod? Would you say its BO$$? Was this shocking? Do you think we pulled it off? Tell me everything …
(Disclaimer: I/we do not condone or promote any drug use but its also not my job to judge my client on liking a legal hobby. It was his request. Had he wanted me to design a heroine or pornographic themed house, I would not have.)
I was on safari in the Seronera area of the Serengeti when I came across a mother cheetah and her two juvenile offspring. All of a sudden the two juvenile cheetah started coming towards the safari vehicle that I was in. One of the cats walked straight past the driver’s door and then loitered around the front of the vehicle. The young male then started to relax and made himself quite at home. He rested his front paws through the car roof, they were actually dangling in front of my face. At one point he put his whole head into the car and smelt my head. The cheetah stayed there for another five minutes before his mother started to call to him. He then jumped off our car and headed back to his family
It’s Friday and the sun is shining in Chicago, so it seems appropriate to share this information published by The Village Voice earlier today: Party expert, rocker, all things to all people Andrew W.K. once tried his hand at modeling. The Voice publishes W.K.’s advice column (this week’s question: “How do I get my girlfriend to play with my butt?”), and they asked his permission to run these photos—make-up, high cheekbones, and all. There are many more over at their site. The lesson here? The blood-soaked, white-jeans-wearing animal at your party might clean up nice. Happy Friday.
Just to make sure all board game aficionados know about the cool-looking new The X-Files board game that looks like it will be landing in July. I'm super psyched!!! :D
Who Killed the Archmage? Was it Tordek in the Dragon's Lair with the Flaming Battle Axe? The Dungeons and Dragons Clue board game is sitting close to its lowest price ever today, an unavoidably good time with the right group of friends that deserves a spot in your board game collection. [Amazon]
'the company has published a list of the “Top 10 Google Glass Myths” on Google+, the social network website that has taken Friendster by storm'
Now that Google has provided a “how not to be an asshole” guide for its Google Glass users, the company is turning its attention to the unassimilated, and it has stern words for them. Apparently, the unwashed troglodytes of the world have been spreading lies about Glass, and these falsehoods have the potential to interfere with Google’s plan for eternal global harmony and/or cyber-enslavement. Thus the company has published a list of the “Top 10 Google Glass Myths” on Google+, the social network website that has taken Friendster by storm.
The myth-busting list is clearly written by someone who has read one too many half-baked Google Glass “think pieces,” and many of the items on the list are simple matters of fact. For instance, Glass is not always on and recording everything, and it doesn’t possess creepy facial-recognition technology. Some of the debunking efforts are less convincing ...
Or as my coworker put it "man sony just is determined to die on Mt Glass with Google huh?"
Sam Byford, The Verge:
The VR system is currently codenamed Project Morpheus, and will
work with PlayStation 4. While still in prototype form, Yoshida
says that Morpheus is the “culmination of our work over the last
three years to realize our vision of VR for games, and to push the
boundaries of play.” The headset uses a 1080p LCD, offers a
90-degree field of view, and will integrate with the PlayStation
Camera for tracking and PlayStation Move for motion control. It
connects via HDMI and USB; while the current prototype uses a
5-meter cable, Sony would like to make it wireless. The company
says the headset doesn’t put weight on your nose or cheeks, and
its design allows for airflow without the lenses fogging up.
The race is on — there’s strong consensus that VR headsets are the future of gaming.
'Inmates in Ad Seg have, of course, committed serious crimes. But I don’t believe that justifies the use of solitary confinement. My predecessor, Tom Clements, who was as courageous a reformer as they come, felt the same way. Mr. Clements had already gone a long way to reining in the overuse of solitary confinement in Colorado. In little more than two years, he and his staff cut it by more than half: from 1,505 inmates (among the highest rates in the country) to 726. As of January, the number was down to 593. (We have also gotten the number of severely mentally ill inmates in Ad Seg down to the single digits.)
But Mr. Clements had barely begun his work when he was assassinated last March. In a tragic irony, he was murdered in his home by a gang member who had been recently released directly from Ad Seg. This former inmate murdered a pizza delivery person, allegedly for the purpose of wearing his uniform to lure Mr. Clements to open his front door. A few days later, the man was killed in a shootout with the Texas police after he had shot an officer during a traffic stop. Whatever solitary confinement did to that former inmate and murderer, it was not for the better.'
COLORADO SPRINGS — AT 6:45 p.m. on Jan. 23, I was delivered to a Colorado state penitentiary, where I was issued an inmate uniform and a mesh bag with my toiletries and bedding. My arms were handcuffed behind my back, my legs were shackled and I was deposited in Administrative Segregation — solitary confinement.
I hadn’t committed a crime. Instead, as the new head of the state’s corrections department, I wanted to learn more about what we call Ad Seg.
Most states now agree that solitary confinement is overused, and many — like New York, which just agreed to a powerful set of reforms this week — are beginning to act. When I was appointed, Gov. John Hickenlooper charged me with three goals: limiting or eliminating the use of solitary confinement for mentally ill inmates; addressing the needs of those who have been in solitary for long periods; and reducing the number of offenders released directly from solitary back into their communities. If I was going to accomplish these, I needed a better sense of what solitary confinement was like, and what it did to the prisoners who were housed there, sometimes for years.
My cell, No. 22, was on the second floor, at the end of what seemed like a very long walk. At the cell, the officers removed my shackles. The door closed and the feed tray door opened. I was told to put my hands through it so the cuffs could be removed. And then I was alone — classified as an R.F.P., or “Removed From Population.”
In regular Ad Seg, inmates can have books or TVs. But in R.F.P. Ad Seg, no personal property is allowed. The room is about 7 by 13 feet. What little there is inside — bed, toilet, sink — is steel and screwed to the floor.
First thing you notice is that it’s anything but quiet. You’re immersed in a drone of garbled noise — other inmates’ blaring TVs, distant conversations, shouted arguments. I couldn’t make sense of any of it, and was left feeling twitchy and paranoid. I kept waiting for the lights to turn off, to signal the end of the day. But the lights did not shut off. I began to count the small holes carved in the walls. Tiny grooves made by inmates who’d chipped away at the cell as the cell chipped away at them.
For a sound mind, those are daunting circumstances. But every prison in America has become a dumping ground for the mentally ill, and often the “worst of the worst” — some of society’s most unsound minds — are dumped in Ad Seg.
If an inmate acts up, we slam a steel door on him. Ad Seg allows a prison to run more efficiently for a period of time, but by placing a difficult offender in isolation you have not solved the problem — only delayed or more likely exacerbated it, not only for the prison, but ultimately for the public. Our job in corrections is to protect the community, not to release people who are worse than they were when they came in.
Terry Kupers, a psychiatrist and expert on confinement, described in a paper published last year the many psychological effects of solitary. Inmates reported nightmares, heart palpitations and “fear of impending nervous breakdowns.” He pointed to research from the 1980s that found that a third of those studied had experienced “paranoia, aggressive fantasies, and impulse control problems ... In almost all instances the prisoners had not previously experienced any of these psychiatric reactions.”
Too often, these prisoners are “maxed out,” meaning they are released from solitary directly into society. In Colorado, in 2012, 140 people were released into the public from Ad Seg; last year, 70; so far in 2014, two.
The main light in my cellblock eventually turned off, and I fell into a fitful sleep, awakening every time a toilet flushed or an officer yanked on the doors to determine they were secure. Then there were the counts. According to the Ad Seg rules, within every 24-hour period there are five scheduled counts and at least two random ones. They are announced over the intercom and prisoners must stand with their feet visible to the officer as he looks through the door’s small window. As executive director, I praise the dedication, but as someone trying to sleep and rest my mind — forget it. I learned later that a number of inmates make earplugs out of toilet paper.
When 6:15 a.m. and breakfast finally came, I brushed my teeth, washed my face, did two sets of push-ups, and made my bed. I looked out my small window, saw that it was still dark outside, and thought, now what?
I would spend a total of 20 hours in that cell. Which, compared with the typical stay, is practically a blink. On average, inmates who are sent to solitary in Colorado spend an average of 23 months there. Some spend 20 years.
Eventually, I broke a promise to myself and asked an officer what time it was. 11:10 a.m. I felt as if I’d been there for days. I sat with my mind. How long would it take before Ad Seg chipped that away? I don’t know, but I’m confident that it would be a battle I would lose.
Inmates in Ad Seg have, of course, committed serious crimes. But I don’t believe that justifies the use of solitary confinement. My predecessor, Tom Clements, who was as courageous a reformer as they come, felt the same way. Mr. Clements had already gone a long way to reining in the overuse of solitary confinement in Colorado. In little more than two years, he and his staff cut it by more than half: from 1,505 inmates (among the highest rates in the country) to 726. As of January, the number was down to 593. (We have also gotten the number of severely mentally ill inmates in Ad Seg down to the single digits.)
But Mr. Clements had barely begun his work when he was assassinated last March. In a tragic irony, he was murdered in his home by a gang member who had been recently released directly from Ad Seg. This former inmate murdered a pizza delivery person, allegedly for the purpose of wearing his uniform to lure Mr. Clements to open his front door. A few days later, the man was killed in a shootout with the Texas police after he had shot an officer during a traffic stop. Whatever solitary confinement did to that former inmate and murderer, it was not for the better.
When I finally left my cell at 3 p.m., I felt even more urgency for reform. If we can’t eliminate solitary confinement, at least we can strive to greatly reduce its use. Knowing that 97 percent of inmates are ultimately returned to their communities, doing anything less would be both counterproductive and inhumane.
followup: the owners of the cat who blockaded them in their bedroom after scratching a toddler that pulled its tail--the dad has a tendency to kick the cat when it's misbehaving--called animal control to take the cat to a shelter. the cat is now back with the family.
'Now, a local cat behavior specialist has offered to help Lux’s owners, Oswald said.
Lux also is set to be featured on an episode of the new season of “My Cat from Hell” on Animal Planet.'
I am a long time redditor and also co-founded a search engine Wanderu.com to make it easier to find and book inter-city buses and trains (Megabus, Amtrak, Boltbus and many other brands). I've even done a bus trip from Boston to Austin before to promote the service.
It's been a big hit in the northeast in the past few months and we the launched Southeast service which has been very popular. We just recently launched West Coast service from Vancouver all the way south through CA. We have a LOT more coverage we will be adding in in the coming few weeks, but we already have great comparison shopping on most major routes.
I really want to connect to folks that love to travel to learn how we can make the service better for your needs. Faster, better coverage, more features, fix anything currently confusing in the search, would love to know it all. I want to give away some free bus tickets for some of our partner carriers in the area in exchange for your feedback. What I really care is to make sure that I can help people travel easier and get a good deal.
'Tres Shannon, Voodoo’s founder and CEO, isn’t so keen on the moves City Hall has made in recent years to transform Portland. He’s been in Old Town Chinatown in some regard since 1990, and he's nostalgic for a time before Portland was the self-proclaimed “City That Works.”
“I liked it more in the 90s. It was sketchier and more dangerous,” he told me.
Even though Tres can testify to finding human poop in alleyways around Voodoo Doughnut, the vagrancy issue is way down on his lists of troubles in the area.
A much more glaring problem, he said, is the people who come to Old Town Chinatown on the weekends. Axe-soaked dudes and spray-tanned women file in from outlying suburbs like Gresham, Vancouver, and Beaverton, and pile into the douchey weekend nightclubs. With the weekend crowds come drunken rowdiness, fighting, and arrests.
“I’m way more scared of the Girls Gone Wild fight-and-fuck crowds spilling out of bars now. I avoid going downtown on weekends,” Tres said.'
Boing Boing:
Emily Henderson:
![Dungeons and Dragons Clue, Mohu Antennas, Nest Protect [Deals]](http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-xlarge2/xuwcxh8y7th01afvvlax.jpg)
Daring Fireball:
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