Hear about travel to the Northeastern region of the Netherlands as the Amateur Traveler talks to Rachel Heller from rachelheller.org about her adopted country.

Hear about travel to the state of Washington as the Amateur Traveler talks to Anne and Mike Howard from HoneyTrek.com about their recent road trip from the ocean to the mountains to the wine region.

Hear about travel to Madagascar as the Amateur Traveler talks to Corinne Vale from reflectionsenroute.com about her travel to this island nation off southern Africa.

Hear about travel to the Basque Region of Spain as the Amateur Traveler talks to David Bumstead about his adopted country and region.

Hear about travel to the Crystal Coast of North Carolina as the Amateur Traveler talks to Kit Parks from the Active Travel Adventures Podcast about the area.

Hear about travel to Minas Gerais, Brazil as the Amateur Traveler talks to Juergen Keller from southamerica.travel about the colonial heart of Brazil.

Hear about travel to Boston, Massachusetts as the Amateur Traveler talks to Lillie Marshall from AroundTheWorldL.com about her hometown.

Hear about travel to the northern India state of Rajasthan as the Amateur Traveler talks to Dr Pankaj Jain about his native region.

Hear about travel to Alaska's National Parks as the Amateur Traveler talks once again to Gary Arndt about his visits to each of the 8 National Parks in Alaska.

Hear about National Parks in Washington D.C. and the vicinity as the Amateur Traveler talks to Erik Smith about monuments, memorials, mansions, battlefields, gardens and more.

Hear about travel to Saskatchewan as the Amateur Traveler talks to Ashlyn George from thelostgirlsguide.com about her home province of Canada. 

Hear about a road trip in Kansas as the Amateur Traveler talks to John McKenzie of johnthetraveler.com about the state of his birth. 

Hear about travel to the Mississippi Gulf Coast as the Amateur Traveler talks to Charles McCool from McCoolTravel.com about this tasty area with great beaches.

Hear about an Oregon Coast road trip as the Amateur Traveler talks to Jessica Baker from BoundlessBakers.com about a portion of their year and a half long road trip.

Hear about things to do in Asheville, NC as the Amateur Traveler talks to music journalist and cocktail aficionado Bill Kopp about his adopted hometown.

Hear about travel to Tbilisi and the eastern part of the Republic of Georgia as the Amateur Traveler talks to Tommo & Megsy from FoodFunTravel.com who have settled in Georgia.

A newly released Reuters/Ipsos poll evaluating President Donald Trump and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in a head-to-head matchup shows troubling news for Biden. According to the poll, a lead once enjoyed by Biden has completely “evaporated,” while Trump’s numbers continue to ascend. Reuters/Ipsos said that “Joe Biden’s advantage over President Donald Trump in…

The post Biden’s Lead in Poll Tumbles as Trump Gains Support for Pandemic Response appeared first on The Western Journal.

If you’ve been holding on to the presumption that gun confiscation will never take place in the United States, it’s time for you to wake up. Gun confiscation is already here, and it’s not slowing down anytime soon. As a result of the passage of red flag laws, 412 guns have been confiscated in Broward…

The post Op-Ed: The Case Against Red Flag Laws appeared first on The Western Journal.

The World Health Organization is once again facing increased scrutiny and outrage. The renewed public outcry is not, however, directed at the shoddy initial response to the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic, instead coming as a result of unsettling details recently discovered in the organization’s child and adolescent sexual education guidelines. Set forth by global health…

The post WHO Comes Under Fire for Saying Kids Under 4 Should Be Taught About ‘Early Childhood Masturbation’ appeared first on The Western Journal.

In 1971, a man named Gregory Harris was murdered. Richard Phillips, an autoworker, was convicted of the crime and spent the next 45 years in prison. The problem? Phillips was innocent. Instead, it was the star witness during the trial who framed Phillips, and it took his alleged partner-in-crime, Richard Polombo, decades to admit that…

The post He Spent 45 Years in Prison for Crime He Didn’t Commit, Turned to Art as His Escape appeared first on The Western Journal.

The mainstream media is still a powerful entity in America, even as its influence wanes in favor of social media. The evidence of this has come again in recent polls that show Republican Gov. Rob DeSantis’ slipping poll numbers in Florida versus Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s rising numbers in New York. And the curious part…

The post Media Lies at Work: As NY Deaths Go Up, So Do Cuomo’s Polls – As FL Deaths Go Down, So Do DeSantis’ Polls appeared first on The Western Journal.

At a cost of $7.5 million a patient, they were 16 very expensive field hospitals. Yet, according to NPR, those hospitals are now “stand[ing] down.” You probably remember them from headlines early in the pandemic: makeshift medical centers being assembled at breakneck speed by companies contracted by the Army Corps of Engineers in anticipation of…

The post After Treating Barely Any Patients for a Massive $7.5 Million Each, 16 Emergency COVID Hospitals Are Standing Down appeared first on The Western Journal.

What one expert called “something out a monster cartoon” has now arrived in the United States. The Asian giant hornet, which can decimate bee colonies and is responsible for 50 deaths a year in Japan, is now in Washington state, according to The New York Times. A new threat reaches the United States: A massive…

The post Giant Asian ‘Murder Hornets’ Spotted in US for First Time appeared first on The Western Journal.

Celebrity Deaths in April 2020 Here’s a look at some of the famous faces we lost in the month of April. Ellis Marsalis Jr. Ellis Marsalis, 1934 – 2020 He went out the way he lived: embracing reality pic.twitter.com/sPyYUuBoIG — Wynton Marsalis (@wyntonmarsalis) April 2, 2020 New Orleans jazz legend Ellis Marsalis Jr., 85, died on…

The post Famous Faces Who Passed Away in April 2020 appeared first on The Western Journal.

Eleven members of the Secret Service have tested positive for COVID-19, according a new report. Yahoo News reported Friday it has seen Department of Homeland Security documents which show that 11 individuals currently have the virus and that 23 members of the Secret Service have recovered from the disease. Another 60 employees of the agency…

The post Report: Secret Service Discovers Nearly a Dozen Coronavirus Cases in Its Own Ranks appeared first on The Western Journal.

Google’s (and now Alphabet’s) CEO opines in the FT (sub required) on why AI needs to be regulated, joining the chorus of tech leaders who have taken the apparent high road when it comes to regulation, even as governments around the world have shown next to no ability to actually regulate anything (well, I guess … Continue reading "Sundar Pichai in the FT: Please Regulate Us (And Good Luck with All That)"

By easing distancing measures, the Greater Montreal area could experience a substantial increase in the number of deaths per day due to the coronavirus, according to a new document published by the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) in collaboration with experts from Laval University.

South Korea's capital closed down more than 2,100 bars and other nightspots Saturday because of a new cluster of coronavirus infections, and Germany scrambled to contain fresh outbreaks at slaughterhouses, underscoring the dangers authorities face as they try to reopen their economies.

A year after the Obama administration changed its policy on which undocumented immigrants it would target for deportation, it's not clear who is being sent back.

The Assad government sought to promote regime-sponsored cultural events through a marketing campaign called "Summer in Syria," but the effort didn't exactly go as planned.

By the time Martin Smith reached Syria this past summer, the war was already in its fifth year, but life in regime-controlled areas was still largely a mystery.

As ISIS expands its reach into Afghanistan, it is training children and teenagers to become the next generation of jihadis.

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If Instagram is to be believed, then self care for women basically amounts to face masks and daily affirmation apps.

Hot take: Sex toys are the ultimate self-care purchase.

Orgasms release oxytocin, the anti-stress hormone that gets you warm and fuzzy when cuddling, while dopamine, a neurotransmitter that regulates sleep, also makes an appearance. It stands to reason, then, that "I need to get laid" is a thing that actually makes sense to say when you're having a rough week. Read more...

Americans have been receiving contradictory information about the coronavirus pandemic, so much so that it's become a joke. One example is face masks: In March, the World Health Organization advised people to not wear masks if they aren't sick or caretakers of the sick. 

But given that some coronavirus patients are asymptomatic, opinions of masks from top officials have shifted. The CDC and the media now advise you to wear a damn mask. And a new study may provide more evidence that masks can help beat the outbreak.

According to this study, if 80 percent of Americans wore masks, coronavirus infections would plummet, Vanity Fair reports. The title of the study makes the researchers' view clear: Universal Masking is Urgent in the COVID-19 Pandemic. Read more...

Guy Fieri — one of the most popular celebrity chefs— has spent nearly 15 years starring in and hosting entertaining culinary shows. But one of Fieri's favorite things to watch on television isn't food-focused. It's the workplace comedy, The Office.

That's right, the Mayor of Flavortown is obsessed with the employees of Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch. And much to his delight, he recently got to team up with one of the show's former stars, John Krasinski, to help lift spirits and raise money for restaurant workers in need.

Fieri guest starred on the potluck episode of Some Good News, in which Krasinski invited famous chefs to cook viewer-submitted recipes on video chat. Fieri made a "Dynamite," which has Big Sloppy Joe Energy. And then Krasnski surprised him by announcing a $3 million PepsiCo donation to his Restaurant Employee Relief Fund, which provides financial assistance to restaurant workers impacted coronavirus. Read more...

Work(out) From Home is a weekly column where we review smart fitness machines and apps in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Thanks to technology, there are still plenty of ways to exercise if your gym is closed. Read more...

With all the stress in the world — you know, a deadly, terrifying global pandemic — Spotify dropped a new service: a daily, personalized aimed at wellness. Fittingly, it's called Daily Wellness and I gave it a try. 

OK, first, let me drop my biases: I can be a cynical person and I'm pretty high energy — like hyper hyper — which has made meditation difficult for me. I can get both mentally and physically uncomfortable while trying anything resembling meditation or therapy or sincere reflection.

That being said, amid the pandemic — and battling some, let's say, serious anxiety — I've been taking active steps to try to improve my mental health. Therapy, meditation, exercise, whatever else, it all seemed like a good idea to help me get through the day. Read more...

What happens when memers meet the subject of their memes? In the case of the BA Test Kitchen meeting the brains behind @meme_appetit, pure gold. Harry Kersh and Will Martin started the accounts when they discovered their shared love of BA videos, and the Instagram and Twitter accounts have since taken off. 

Now with almost 400,000 followers on Instagram, the account has a lot of fans — including some members of the test kitchen. In this video, the BA cooks explain why they love (or dislike) some of the account's memes, whether it's accurate, and whether they even "get it." Watch them react to various memes and Kersh and Martin attempt to explain their reasoning behind them. Read more...

In a world focused on buzzword-driven models and algorithms, you’d be forgiven for forgetting about the unreasonable importance of data preparation and quality: your models are only as good as the data you feed them. This is the garbage in, garbage out principle: flawed data going in leads to flawed results, algorithms, and business decisions. […]

Three months ago, Apple released a new credit card in partnership with Goldman Sachs that aimed to disrupt the highly regulated world of consumer finance. However, a well-known software developer tweeted that he was given 20x the credit line offered to his wife, despite the fact that they have been filing joint tax returns and […]

Nicholas Love's Penguin Classics cover generator lets you upload an image and set type in humorous imitation of the label. It can also do the similar but inverted Oxford World Classics look. But sadly not the classic classics look.

Many excellent designs in this twitter thread; embedded here is my contribution. Read the rest

A couple of days ago, Thomas Dolby posted this video to Twitter and YouTube of a track called "Corona and the Pirate Twins," a spoof of his 1982 hit, "Europa and the Pirate Twins." The song is credited to Dolby Kids. Thomas included the following note:

"This is what my mischievous offspring have been getting up to during the Lockdown."

Here is the original video for "Europa..."

Bonus track:

And here is Thomas Dolby doing a touching home solo version of his achingly beautiful "Screen Kiss" from 1984's Flat Earth. He did it as a tribute to Matthew Seligman, the celebrated bassist who recently died of COVID-19. Seligman played bass on Dolby's recordings, including Flat Earth, and also played for Bowie, Robyn Hitchcock, Peter Murphy, and countless others. He was also a member of the Soft Boys.

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The Gothamist is reporting the sad news that Gem Spa, the iconic NY corner store that has been a fixture at St. Marks Place and Second Avenue for around 100 years is being forced to shutter its doors and windows for the last time. The Spa has been struggling to keep up with increasing rent prices and COVID-19 has apparently proven to be the final nail in its coffin.

"It’s where Robert Mapplethorpe bought Patti Smith an egg cream on the day they met. It’s on the back cover of the New York Dolls’ 1973 debut (and where, according to lore, Johnny Thunders and others went for post-heroin sugar fixes between sets at CBGB). Before that, it was where Abbie Hoffman gathered Yippies to rain money on the New York Stock Exchange. It’s where Allen Ginsberg, Ted Berrigan, and other neighborhood poets went to pick up the Sunday New York Times on Saturday nights (and which was inevitably commemorated in their poems)."

Read the rest.

Image: Alex Lozupone, CC BY-SA 4.0 Read the rest

A massive boom heard Wednesday night over Puget Sound on the northwestern coast of Washington was most likely an exploding meteor. Or that's what They want us to believe anyway. The American Meteor Society registered a dozen reports. Video above. Keep your eyes on the upper left of the frame.

"The more I read the more inclined I am to believe this was a fireball (which is a meteor that is larger and brighter than normal)," the American Meteor Society's Bob Lunsford said. "I'm certain now that this was a meteoric event."

From KOMONews:

Most meteors' explosions are heard about a minute or two after they explode due to the time it takes the sound to reach the Earth's surface, Lunsford said. Sound travels at 767 mph in standard atmosphere conditions, indicating this fireball exploded some 35 miles away.

"If this was larger than normal then the sound could have originated from a higher altitude. So a delay of 3 minutes is entirely possible," Lunsford said. "Meteors become visible at a height of around 50 miles so your estimate is well within that range."

Lunsford said because there was a boom, it’s very likely there are small, rock-sized pieces of the meteor somewhere on the ground. When a meteor causes a boom, it’s “pretty far down” in the atmosphere.

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One positive upside of the past two months is how sheltering at home has all but emptied area animal shelters. It’s tough to get solid numbers nationally, but shelters in cities and regions all across America are reporting massive surges in animal adoptions. 

Even the steep increase in Google searches for “adopt a pet,” up a whopping 335 percent in April, proves what we probably all knew anyway — that in times of stress, having a furry friend is a huge comfort for millions.

Unfortunately, one of the downsides of the past two months is there are no trainers available to help whip some of these new family pets, particularly puppies, into shape. From barking and jumping to house training and scratching, The Complete Guide to Puppy and Dog Training Bundle is a full plan for getting the newest member of your family integrated into the house safely and sanely all by yourself.

The collection includes eight courses all geared toward getting a new dog or puppy behaving the right way. And if you’ve ever had any thoughts about starting a dog training business of your own, this coursework is a perfect starting spot.

Puppies: A-Z Guide to Puppy & Dog Training kicks off the learning, explaining the best way to train, teach and socialize your puppy so they grow into a joyful, well balanced, and well-behaved dog. 

Of course, most puppies each have their particular issues, so a handful of courses look more closely at some of the tactics for helping your puppy overcome certain challenging behaviors. Read the rest

I have a love/hate relationship with musical reaction videos. There are kids reacting to heavy metal (or The Beatles), vocal teachers and opera singers reacting to rock vocalists, millennials reacting to classic rock, and on and on. Some of these are quite moving, for instance, a 20-something hearing Zep's "Since I've Been Loving You" for the first time or a vocal teacher reacting to a Black Metal vocalist's cookie monster growl.

In these two videos, Heline, a classical flutist and music teacher, listens to Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson performing "Bouree" at a 1969 concert and then she listens and reacts to a performance from 1976.

I didn't realize that Anderson had only been playing the flute for a year and had no formal training at the time of the 69 video (their first tour). Heline can appreciate his chutzpah in the first performance and the fact that he's only been playing for a year(!), but is perhaps predictably critical of his playing. She is more impressed with what she sees and hears in the 76 performance.

Personally, I always thought his playing was inspired and his playing, vocalizing, singing and playing, and his other stage antics (the goofy one-legged stance) were a perfect example of "the street finding its own uses for things," using technology in ways in which it was never intended. As with all things artistic, your mileage may vary.

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Dr. Deena Hinshaw, who reported 81 new cases of the disease in her daily update, says there are 4,020 recovered and 1,963 active cases.