How to watch Apple’s ‘Hello Again’ event

Roughly an hour from now, Tim Cook and pals will take to the stage at Apple’s "Hello Again" event. The redesigned MacBook Pro complete with OLED touch strip and fingerprint reader is already out of the bag, and we expect there could be more updates across the MacBook range. Other than a shoutout to the next iteration of macOS, though, who knows? New iPads maybe, or iMac refreshes? Perhaps even a surprise or two.

We’ll be on the ground liveblogging our hearts out, of course, but you too can follow along with the event livestream if you wish. All you need to do is point the Safari browser on your Mac or iOS device at this link, and you’ll be good to go. Macs running OS X 10.8.5 Mountain Lion or later and iThings running iOS 7 and up, that is. Anyone with a Windows 10 machine can also access the feed through Microsoft’s Edge browser, and Apple TV owners with at least a second-gen device will be able to find the livestream easily too. And, of course, we’ll be covering everything right here at engadgetdotcom.

Source: Apple

via Engadget
How to watch Apple’s ‘Hello Again’ event

Where to watch the live stream for today’s Apple MacBook Pro press conference

Apple is holding a press conference today on its campus in Cupertino, and the company is expected to unveil the new MacBook Pro (yes, the one with the insane mini display above the keyboard that already leaked) as well as an updated 13-inch MacBook Air. At 10 AM PT (1 PM in New York, 6 PM in London, 7 PM in Paris), you’ll be able to watch the event on all Apple devices.

Apple is likely to talk about the iMac as well, but you shouldn’t expect more than a performance update. And maybe we’ll even hear more about the upcoming new external retina display. If you like Macs, this one is going to be all about Macs.

If you have the latest Apple TV, you can download the Apple Events app in the App Store. It lets you stream today’s event and rewatch old events. Users with old Apple TVs can simply turn on their devices. Apple is pushing out the “Apple Events” channel so that you can watch the event.

And if you don’t have an Apple TV, the company also lets you live stream the event from the Apple Events section on its website. This video feed only works in Safari and Microsoft Edge; the good news is that it works on macOS, iOS and Windows 10 — chances are you have at least one device running Safari or Edge.

So to recap, here’s how you can watch today’s Apple event:

  • Safari on the Mac or iOS.
  • Microsoft Edge on Windows 10.
  • An Apple TV gen 4 with the Apple Events app in the App Store.
  • An Apple TV gen 2 or 3, with the Apple Events channel that arrives automatically right before the event.

Of course, you can also read TechCrunch’s live blog if you’re stuck at work and really need our entertaining commentary track to help you get through your day.

via TechCrunch
Where to watch the live stream for today’s Apple MacBook Pro press conference

Adam Savage Built a Perfect Replica of The Fifth Element’s Zorg ZF-1 Blaster


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The Fifth Element is one of those movies you can’t help but watch all the way through whenever it’s on TV. There are just too many wonderful moments to miss, but clearly Adam Savage’s favorite was the reveal of the Zorg ZF-1 blaste. Why else would he spend over 10 years building a replica of his own?

Over the years Adam actually recreated a few versions of this blaster, estimating its size based on a few of the props parts he was able to find in real life. But eventually someone on The RPF forums was able to get their hands on one of the original blasters used in the movie and take measurements, allowing Adam to finally build a perfect replica.

Everything from an Estes model rocket, to a butane torch, to parts from a Star Trek: Voyager spaceship model were used in its creation. Adam’s version even lights up like the countless versions used in The Fifth Element did. The only thing it doesn’t do, however, is actually fire, which is probably a good thing given how devastating a weapon it seemed. Now will someone just find Adam’s stones?!

[Tested]

via Gizmodo
Adam Savage Built a Perfect Replica of The Fifth Element’s Zorg ZF-1 Blaster

Trump campaign launches streaming Facebook show

We’ve seen Donald Trump alternatively use social media to issue everything from an "apology" to an almost unfathomable number of insults, and now it’s an avenue for video broadcasts. After a debate night livestream that some considered a pilot for a potential Trump TV video offering, the presidential candidate’s Facebook page is now hosting a nightly video show. Hosted by Trump advisers and supportive commentators, the campaign tells Wired it will go live at 6:30PM ET every day. Similar to the apology, using Facebook allows direct access to potential voters without any questions or interference, although I’m already expecting to hear about how the stats are rigged when its viewer numbers fail to surpass those of Chewbacca Mom.

Source: Wired, Donald Trump (Facebook)

via Engadget
Trump campaign launches streaming Facebook show

Learning to Run a Bolt-Action For Real – Chris Baker Goes Over Getting Started in Practical Rifle Shooting

x5NYMCDWhen it comes to my shooting hobbies, sometimes I feel like a bit of a black sheep. I am neither a race gun driver, nor a benchrest shooter. I don’t blast IDPA targets and Texas stars with an STI DVC Open, or break 200 rounds per minute cyclic smoking brown cardboard with my braked JP […]

Read More …

The post Learning to Run a Bolt-Action For Real – Chris Baker Goes Over Getting Started in Practical Rifle Shooting appeared first on The Firearm Blog.


via The Firearm Blog
Learning to Run a Bolt-Action For Real – Chris Baker Goes Over Getting Started in Practical Rifle Shooting

7 Things I Wish I’d Known About Concealed Carry

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Eric Hung writes:

What piqued your interest in getting your permit to concealed carry? Are you freaking out about riots springing up and want to have a fighting chance to defend yourself? Or are you traveling for work and want to protect yourself no matter where you are?

For me, I like to camp and backpack. Some of the areas where I camp are prone to bears and other big things that might try to eat me. My motivation to get my concealed carry permit was to carry my GLOCK 27 only when I was in God’s country and needed the protection.

But that changed when I actually took the course and had the permission of the great state of Wisconsin to concealed carry. Here are some situations you might not have thought of that you should definitely keep in mind if you are thinking about getting your concealed carry permit:

1. Feeling Like Everyone is Looking at You
When you legally carry your firearm for the first time, you’re going to feel like everyone is looking at you.  Remember that big zit you had in high school and everyone was looking at you? Yeah, it’s not that bad, but it’s the same sort of feeling.

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You’ll realize though, that virtually no one notices. However, you will have to modify some of the ways you do things depending on where on your body you like to carry.

For example, if you carry your gun at the 4:00 or 5:00 o’clock position on your hip, your gun may print (show the outline of your weapon) when you bend over to get something off the bottom shelf at the grocery store.

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To remedy this, you can either stop buying the cheap cereal in the bags the stock on the bottom shelf or you can squat with your back straighter to minimize the bulge.

2. The Responsibility
This may seem like a given, but now more situations require you to keep a zen-like calm about you.

Think about those times you’ve been cut off when driving and your blood pressure skyrocketed. If you get into an argument and someone sees you have a gun, they could feel threatened.

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You can’t flash your gun to win an argument. If you remove your gun from your holster, it has to be because you genuinely fear for your life. It needs to be a scenario where it’s a you-or-them outcome. If it’s not, there are legal consequences you may face like charges of assault with a deadly weapon, or at a minimum, brandishing a firearm.

That’s not something you want to deal with. Ever.

3. All of the Places That Are Off Limits When You are Carrying
When you aren’t carrying a weapon, you pretty much go anywhere you want. When you’re carrying, you need to be a little more cautious. Those no gun signs are your Kryptonite.

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You’ll learn pretty quickly there are a lot of places with no gun policies. Places like churches, state or federal buildings, pretty much any place that has anything that has to do with children, movie theaters, many stores, bars, and event venues are no-go zones when you’re armed.

4. What to Do With My Gun When I Can’t Take In a Store With Me
Unfortunately, this happens a lot. You’re out running errands and you come to a store with a no guns allowed sign on the door. What do you do?

You have a few options.

First, you can choose another establishment. As you can tell by watching the news, spineless bad guys love to target “gun-free zones.” Going in leaves you unable to protect yourself. Many uneducated business owners believe the sign on the door will keep the bad guys out.

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The second option is to lock your gun in the car. This is the most frequent go-to option, unless someone who wants to steal your gun knows you have it in the car.

Keeping your weapon secure while it’s in your vehicle isn’t as easy. Sure you can put it in your glove compartment or center console. More and more though, car manufacturers are removing the locks. And even when they’re there, the locks are easily popped with a screwdriver.

A good alternative is a personal sized safe that installs in your vehicle. Nothing’s foolproof, but at least it’s a metal structure with a lock and provides a little peace of mind for the times you can’t take your gun with you.

The third choice option — and the least comfortable for most carriers — is to leave your gun at home if you know your destination is a no-go zone. If you’re taking your kids to the waterpark, it’s a pretty good bet you can’t carry there. It’s a decision each concealed carrier has to make for himself.

5. The Problem of Reciprocity
One thing I did look into before I took my CCW class was where my Wisconsin permit would be valid. I found that if I go to Minnesota, they don’t recognize my permit, and therefore I can’t carry there.

In this situation, you have a couple of choices. If you frequent another state that doesn’t have reciprocity with yours, you can get get a permit from that state. Some states offer non-resident CCW permits. The other option is to take the class for a state like Utah that has a widely accepted permit.

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If you decide to go the Utah route, keep an eye on which states accept still recognize the permit. In my case, Minnesota no longer accepts the Utah permit. There are many easy-to-use reciprocity maps out there to help you check which states accept your state’s permit.

6. How Much of a Pain It Is to Travel
Traveling while carrying adds inconvenience to your trip. Most states allow you to keep a weapon — some even allow you to carry it concealed, in your car while you drive as long as you’re in your vehicle. Others require you to keep it locked and unloaded as you drive through.

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Make sure you know the transportation rules of the states you’ll be traveling through. It will help you avoid an incident if you have an unexpected meeting with law enforcement. You don’t want to rely on the “I didn’t know that wasn’t legal here” plea.

Flying is another consideration. Take an already inconvenient process and make it more time complex and consuming… no thank you. That said, the TSA has gotten better in dealing with the firearms check-in process. If you’re going to fly with your gun, just be sure to know and follow the TSA rules for storage, locks, etc.

7. Training and Practice
While these aren’t mandatory, if you aren’t an accurate shot or freeze if and when you have to defend your life, there’s no real reason to carry a weapon.

Most cities have an area where you can shoot. You may need to drive 30 minutes to get there, but you should be able to find one.

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You want to create good habits and muscle memory. You need to be able to draw your gun from your holster and bring it to the exact same shooting position every time. You need to do this over and over again. Practicing your draw with an empty gun at home is a good idea, too.

Going to the range regularly will let you get a feel for your trigger, the recoil, reacquiring your target after you fire a round and more. There is no substitute for live fire training. You might be one hell of a shot in video games, but it’s very different squeezing the trigger on a real firearm. The more and better you practice, the less you’ll need to think about it in the heat of the moment.

Be A Responsible Gun Owner
Your life will change when you decide to exercise your right to bear arms and carry every day. You’ll find yourself being more observant and aware of your surroundings. You’ll also find yourself avoiding more potential drama than you did before you decided to carry. Know the four rules of gun safety and practice them. Be an example for other gun owners and — maybe more important — non-gunowners, demonstrating what responsible gun ownership looks like.

What were some things you found out after you started concealed carrying regularly?

(This article originally appeared at pewpewtactical.com and is reprinted here with permission.)

via The Truth About Guns
7 Things I Wish I’d Known About Concealed Carry

Noir Hits Politifact: “Everything They do is Skewed in Favor of Clinton”

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During Tuesday’s live-broadcast of NRATV’s CN Live, host Colion Noir tore apart Politifact’s deceitful article, “NRA weakly claims that Clinton said gun confiscation is ‘worth considering’”, which attempted to shield Hillary Clinton’s true contempt for the Second Amendment.

“I don’t think I can trust Politifact anymore,” said Noir. “Everything that they are doing is skewed in favor of Hillary Clinton.”

Noir did not shy away from the fact that Hillary Clinton has said that Australia’s gun confiscation program is worth considering. He also exposed the ridiculous idea of a mandatory gun buyback program that Australia implemented and Clinton now supports: “Just because they’re paying me money to get my guns back if I’m forced to do it and if I don’t do it, I’m going to be with a crime that’s not a buyback program. That is a confiscation,” said Noir. America’s leading millennial gun rights advocate also pointed out that many of the so-called “common sense” gun control measures Hillary Clinton advocates for, have actually been precursors to countries like Australia confiscating firearms.

Check out Colion’s takedown of Clinton’s phony attempt at concealing her true plans of gun confiscation if she gets into the White House:

Catch CN Live weekdays on NRA TV.

The post Noir Hits Politifact: “Everything They do is Skewed in Favor of Clinton” appeared first on Bearing Arms.

via Bearing Arms
Noir Hits Politifact: “Everything They do is Skewed in Favor of Clinton”

MySQL Workbench 6.3.8 GA has been released

The MySQL developer tools team announces 6.3.8 as our GA release for MySQL Workbench 6.3.

For the full list of changes in this revision, visit
http://ift.tt/1G0Irmq

For discussion, join the MySQL Workbench Forums:
http://ift.tt/1avx3nY

Download MySQL Workbench 6.3.8 GA now, for Windows, Mac OS X 10.9+,
Oracle Linux 6 and 7, Fedora 23 and Fedora 24, Ubuntu 16.04
or sources, from:

http://ift.tt/KHX9aU

Enjoy!

via Planet MySQL
MySQL Workbench 6.3.8 GA has been released

This Is Huge: New Project Releases All Current (Non-Confidential) Congressional Research Service Reports

Going back nearly a decade, we’ve been talking about the ridiculousness of Congress refusing to publicly release reports from the Congressional Research Service (CRS). As we’ve discussed many times, CRS is an in-house think tank for Congress that is both famously non-partisan and actually really good at what they do. CRS reports tend to be really useful and highly credible (which is part of the reason why Congress isn’t a fan of letting them out into the public). Of course, as works of the public domain, CRS reports are in the public domain, but the way it’s always worked is that the reports are released only to members of Congress. These include both general reports on topics that are released to every member of Congress, or specific research tasked by a member for the CRS to investigate and create a new report. The members who receive the reports are able to release them to the public, and some do, but the vast majority of CRS work remains hidden from public view. For the most part, both CRS and Congress have resisted any attempt to change this. Going back decades, they’ve put together a mostly ridiculous list of reasons opposing plans to more widely distribute CRS reports.

Some members of Congress keep introducing bills to make these public domain CRS reports actually available to the public. We’ve written about such attempts in 2011, 2012, 2015 and earlier this year. And each time they get shot down, often for completely ridiculous reasons, including the belief that making these reports public will somehow hurt CRS’s ability to continue to do good, non-partisan research.

At times, different organizations and groups have taken up the cause themselves. Back in 2009, Wikileaks hit the jackpot and released nearly 7,000 such CRS reports. Steve Aftergood at the Federation of American Scientists has been posting CRS reports to a public archive for quite some time. There’s also Antoine McGrath’s CRSReports.com and some other sites that all create archives of CRS reports that they’ve been able to collect from various sources.

But earlier this week, there was a new entrant: EveryCRSReport.com. Unlike basically all of the other aggregators of CRS reports that collect released reports and aggregate them, it appears that EveryCRSReport basically has teamed up with members of Congress who have access to a massive stash of CRS reports loaded onto the Congressional intranet, all of which have been released via the site — and it appears that the site is automatically updated, suggesting that the still nameless Congressional partners have set up a way to continually feed in new reports. To avoid public pressure or harassment (one of the core reasons used by Congress and CRS to reject proposals to open up the content), the site removes the names and contact info of the CRS staffers who create the reports. The reports that are available are not just in unsearchable PDFs, but they’re fully HTML and fully searchable.

Here are a few reports that folks around here might find interesting: an analysis of ACTA and a recent deep dive into the net neutrality debate. Here’s an interesting one on promoting internet freedom globally. Since the peaceful transition of presidential administrations has suddenly become a hot topic (not for good reasons), here’s a CRS report on that from just last month. It’s also good to see that they have a recently updated list of cybersecurity reports and research for Congressional staffers to dig into (though it’s unclear how many actually do so).

And, yes, of course, there’s one on the "going dark" encryption debate, in which the CRS report rightly notes that backdoors are a bad idea, according to basically all experts:


In considering future legislation on or regulation of encrypted systems and communications, the issue of exceptional access has been raised: is it possible to create a system with sufficiently narrow and protected access points that these points can only be entered by authorized entities and not exploited by others? Experts have generally responded, no. For instance, one group of computer scientists and security experts contends that requiring exceptional access "will open doors through which criminals and malicious nation-states can attack the very individuals law enforcement seeks to defend." As was the case during the crypto wars of the 1990s, new technology (the Clipper Chip) was introduced that was intended to only allow access to certain communications under specified conditions. Researchers were soon able to expose vulnerabilities in the proposed system, thus halting the implementation of the Clipper Chip.

This is a really awesome resource — it’s a goldmine of useful information, and very thorough, careful research. I’ve only just started digging in.

The whole thing was put together by Demand Progress* and the Congressional Data Coalition, which is a project created by Demand Progress and R Street (which our think tank, the Copia Institute, is a member of). It will be interesting to see how (if?) Congress and the CRS react to this. Hopefully, they don’t freak out, and seek to shut down the various sources of this material. This really is a fantastic resource of carefully done, thorough research on a variety of topics, all technically in the public domain. Check it out.

Hopefully it will help both the rest of Congress and CRS to recognize that actually making publicly funded research public is not such a bad thing. The site itself was put together by Dan Schuman, who used to work for CRS, and he’s actually written up a fascinating blog post about why he did it and why the internal culture at CRS, against such public releases, is wrong, but endemic to the organization (he didn’t begin questioning it himself until after he left):


Over time, I came to realize that the policy concerning public access to CRS reports was counterproductive. Members of Congress could get the reports. Lobbyists and special interests could get the reports from Congress or from private vendors for a fee. Former congressional staff could ask their friends on the hill for a copy. But the general public, unless they knew a report existed, really did not have access.

And that’s too bad. CRS reports are written for intelligent people who are not necessarily policy experts. In a world that’s awash with 5 second YouTube ads, horse race political coverage, and the endless screaming and preening of political figures, these reports are a good way to start to understand an issue.

But he also notes that there are problems with CRS — some of which CRS blames on the fact that reports are being released to the public — including the fact that the reports have become "even-handed to a fault" to avoid pissing off Congress itself in talking down a bad idea. While some of this may also be attributed to worries about reports going public, this seems kind of silly. This is good and credible taxpayer funded research that’s in the public domain. If Congress can learn from it, so can the public:


CRS used to be a very different agency. It used to provide unvarnished advice for members of Congress on the crucial issues of the day. But over time, and especially during the 1990s, the mode of analysis changed to a description of issues, moving away from an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of various courses of action. I don’t mean to overstate this, and there are many examples still of prescient analysis, but there was a real change in the way CRS did its work, in large part because of existential concerns. In short, CRS was concerned about irritating its congressional masters by attacking a pet project or cherished belief. The old-timers still had great latitude, but the agency became sclerotic.

Part of this calcification included a fear of public access to the reports. At one time, CRS had published a newsletter about its latest research. And now, while its employees still testify before Congress, they were discouraged and then generally prohibited from sharing their work even with their academic peers. Agency staff grew more insulated and isolated.

But on top of that, recognizing that there are benefits to this research being public, hopefully means that CRS can get beyond just giving out "even handed to a fault" research, and can actually get back to making real recommendations. Over the years, we’ve discussed the ridiculous move by Newt Gingrich a couple decades ago to kill off the Office of Technology Assessment, which actually helped Congress understand complex technological issues in a non-partisan way. A functioning CRS could do the same thing and help put an end to stupid technology debates that often feature clueless arguments on all sides. CRS shouldn’t fear this role, nor should it fear its research being public. It’s a great resource and having it public is great for everyone.

* I’m on the board of Demand Progress, but had no idea about this particular project from them, and, in fact, heard about it from someone else entirely…

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via Techdirt
This Is Huge: New Project Releases All Current (Non-Confidential) Congressional Research Service Reports

Learn Three Magic Tricks You Can Easily Do With a Pen


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Magic is mostly just how good you are with your hands. Here are three really easy magic tricks that you can pull with just a pen: making it disappear, making it appear out of nowhere, and making it look super small. Oscar Owen breaks down the techniques for each and they only involve super quick finger movements. The alternate angle reveals how easy it is.

Of course, it takes a lot more practice to make it look as fluid as Owen, but with a little bit of time and some finger exercises, you might even fool yourself into believing in magic.

[Oscar Owen via BoingBoing]

via Gizmodo
Learn Three Magic Tricks You Can Easily Do With a Pen