Fake News In The Near Future Will Be Scarier Than You Thought

Researchers have made convincing videos of Barack Obama
saying things he said years ago and inserting them into new
clips. It's a matter of time before fake news people can
make it look like people are saying things they never did. 

Donald Trump always yells about fake news when there's coverage that doesn't flatter him.

Maybe he's got a thin skin. But maybe he's ahead of his time.

In a scary story, Gizmodo had a report on research that uses machines to learn the facial movements of people and then render real looking lip movements for any piece of audio.

In other words, people with this program can make videos of anyone saying anything they want. You can see how easy it would be to make a convincing fake news clip of somebody saying something they really didn't.

How will we really know what's true and what's not.

According to the Gizmodo report,  researchers at the University of Washington developed the method to study the facial movements - in this case of Barack Obama. They were able to make it look like things he said when he was a law student were just said recently.

From there, it's easy to insert words and sentences into a video of Obama, or anybody else talking, and literally put words in their mouths.

What's worse, this techology is getting better and better, less and less expensive and easier and easier to use.

Which makes it a matter of time that anybody, even some teenager in a basement, can make a sophisticated fake news clip.

 Of course, this technology would not only be applied to news clips, to make it look like politicians and candidates were saying things they really didn't.  This could be applied to any video clip.

As Gizmodo put it: 

"If you thought fake-looking news websites were a problem, just imagine what a completely fake police body cam could do."

Scary indeed.

Install A New Roof, Get An AR-15

This guy owns a roofing company and, if you live
in Alabama, will give you a free AR-15 if you
let his company replace your roof.

My house needs a new roof and we've been talking with roofers about styles, costs, bids, etc.

Strangely, not one of these roofers has offered us an AR-15 if we go with them.

It would be different, apparently, if we lived in Alabama.

A strange ad has gone batshit viral in which a hot looking redneck guy who owns Digital Roofing Innovations offers up the gun in his ad.

Undercutting his macho, hillbilly image is the tiny star-patterened short shorts he's wearing. I'll admit that though the ad is painful to watch,  the guy in the ad, Zack Blenkinsopp has a physique that's easy on the eyes.

You can watch the ad at the bottom of this post. In it, he gets out of a car, demands a beer, he opens the can and it suds all over his face. Then he gives back the can to someone off camera and demands the empty not be recycled because "recycling's stupid."

Then he calls "rifle" and catches the AR-15, and offers his pitch for the free rifle if you get a roof job from his outfit.

"Some of you might be sittng there saying, 'Man this sounds like a gimmick.' A gimmick, you say? Well, I'm a gosh darn Navy veteran, active duty eight and a half years. My roofing company's not a gimmick and this baby's not either. It's here to protect you and your family."

"Donald Trump says make America great again. I say make America gun again. MAGA!" 

Well, OK. I guess it would be fine to have the AR-15 to, I don't know, prevent someone from stealing your brand new roof.

Everybody is rolling their eyes at this ad, but I'm sure Blenkinsopp is having the last laugh. According to Al.com,  Blenkinsopp has a digital marketing background. He put the ad on Facebook, and pretty soon the thing went totally viral, so it seems he knew what he was doing.

Blenkinsopp assured Al.com that although he's all rednecky in the ad, but he and his business partner are are well-traveled, educated guys who have open minds.

For those of you just dying for an AR-15 if you get a roof job, the promotion is only available to Alabama residents. But if you don't want an AR-15, they'll instead give you a pistol, a hunting rifle, or a gift card to an indoor range.

And by the way, you have to go through all the hoops to get the guns legally. The roofing company will give you a voucher, then you take the voucher and go to a gun store. That way you get your AR-15 legally.

Here's the ad:

Macklemore's Grandma Makes The Best Music Video

Macklemore, and his grandmother, age 100, live it up
in the video for his new song "Glorious."

I'm not crazy about Macklemore's new song, "Glorious."  

It's not a diss on Macklemore and his funny, odd brand of music. Just not my cup of tea.

Although his most famous song, "Thrift Shop" was pretty fun. And Macklemore's gay friendly and kind "One Love" was pretty inspiring.

This new Macklemore song is good, but not my favorite of the year. Just my personal taste.

However, the music video for the new song is just glorious. Which is lucky, since the name of the song is "Glorious."

In the music video, Macklemore surprises his grandmother with a visit on her 100th birthday. (She's really his grandmother, and she's really 100.)

BoingBoing describes the video as follows:

"He then drives the new centenarian (in a badass gold Cadillac El Dorado convertible, no less) to a karaoke bar, a thrift store (naturally) the local grocery store (where they race motorized shopping carts) and other stops along the way. All over town, they have good old-fashioned fun, and cause a bit of trouble.

When they get back to her house, he's got more surprises waiting for her, including strippers and a giant birthday cake."

So yeah, this is a feel good video. Macklemore really seems like a decent guy. And good for Macklemore for finding the right person - his centenarian grandma - to make the perfect music video.

Watch:

NPR Unwittingly Provides More Proof Some Trump Supporters Are Really Stupid

NPR tweeted out the Declaration of Independence on
the Fourth of July and some Trumpsters got confused

On the Fourth of July, NPR thought it would be a cool idea to tweet out the Declaration of Independence.

Actually not a bad idea. If 1776 had Twitter, I'm guessing the Founding Fathers might have tweeted out the declaration.

Turns out some easily confused Trump supporters didn't get what NPR was doing. But of course.

One person decided NPR had been "hacked like crazy." Another person reacted to the NPR tweets this way: "So NPR is calling for revolution. Interesting way to condone the violence while trying to sound "patriotic."

Here's the part of the Declaration of Independence that seemed to irk some Trump supporters: "A Prince whose character is thus marked by ever act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the rule of a free people."

Hmmm.

"This is why you're going to get defunded," a Trumpster named Darren Mills tweeted in response to NPR.

Yet another confused person dismissed NPR's Declaration of Independence as this: "Propaganda. Is that all you know how? Try supporting a man who wants to do something about the injustice in this country."

I suppose we could all support the country if we figured out what the Declaration of Independence actually is.

Product Safety Commission Blows Up Mannequins In Disturbing 4th of July Video

Mean girls? Nope, just the Consumer Products Safety
Commission using mannequins to demonstrate
the risks of 4th of July fireworks. 

The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission wants you to have a safe 4th of July.

Fireworks are part of the celebration, and too many people blow off their hands or worse during celebrations.

By the way, you could have guessed this but the vast majority of people who are injured by fireworks are teenage boys.

Go figure.

The CPSC put out a video that I can't decide whether is disturbing or funny. Or maybe both.

They blew up mannequins to show how dangerous fireworks can be.

Be safer than these mannequins!

Neil Young's Call For Resistance

Just in time for the Fourth of July, Neil Young has brought us an anthem for the times.

It's called "Children of Destiny" and gives us a timely reminder about patriotism, freedom and resisting those who would take it all away.

Cool song

Watch and listen:

NASA Is Kidnapping Children, Taking Them To Mars

Alex Jones informs us that NASA is kidnapping children
and turning them into slaves on Mars

Lost amid the hubbub over Donald Trump's insulting tweets to Mika Brzezinski was the breaking news that NASA is kidnapping children, taking them to Mars and making them slaves there. 

Yeah, that story sounds just a wee bit unbelievable, but Alex Jones says it's happening, so it must be true.

You might remember Alex Jones, who is fast becoming one of my favorite punching bags.

He's the blowhard from the conspiracy web site InfoWars who tells us the government is putting something in the water to make frogs gay, the Sandy Hook massacre never happened, and Hillary Clinton was running a child sex ring out of the basement of a Washington DC pizzeria.

You might think none of these things are true, but our Dear President is a big fan and even wants to give Alex Jones press credentials, so I guess we got to believe this stuff.

On his show Thursday, Jones welcomed "CIA insider" Robert David Steele who informed us, "We actually believe that there is a colony on Mars that is populated by children who were kidnapped and sent into space on a 20-year ride.... So that once they get to Mars they have no alternative but to be slaves on the Mars colony."

It was unclear from Jones' show why NASA is kidnapping children and sending them to Mars, but Jones, naturally is a believer. Jones said every time a probe is pointed in the direction of Mars, NASA shuts if off. Or something like that.

It gets worse. NASA is killing some of the children and using their blood and bone marrow as a sort of growth hormone. Again, we're not sure why.

As you might expect, NASA denies the allegations.  A NASA spokesman said, "There's only one stupid rumor on the internet? Now that's news."