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horrorlitreddit_feedThis book blew me away and will likely stick with me for a long time. Anything similar out there?
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horrorlitreddit_feed submitted by /u/machansen2
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horrorlitreddit_feedHi everyone! I'll keep it quick, I usually read fantasy books and such, and I want to try out a horror book or two in an attempt to expand my horizons a bit. I don't think I'd like anything paranormal or spiritual, but something like a creature feature or an alien book sounds fun to me. I don't really know how to describe what I'm looking for but the whole "there's something in the woods/town/city" sounds good to me. If it helps, I prefer a male main character, and I don't mind if a book happens to be a long one. Bonus points if it takes place in a modern setting.
I've browsed around but like I said, there's just SO much out there and I'm sort of at a loss. Anyway, I'm open to suggestions!
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lifehacker_feedWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
If you’ve been eyeing workout-friendly earbuds that don’t flinch at sweat or bounce, the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 are a great way to go. Originally released in February as a long-awaited follow-up to the first-gen Powerbeats Pro, these earbuds normally cost $249.99, but right now you can get a near-mint, refurbished pair on sale for $174.99 through StackSocial. They ship in “Grade A” condition, which means they may have barely-there scuffs and should look and work pretty much like new.
These are workout-first earbuds. The new nickel-titanium alloy hooks are flexible, lighter, and less clunky than before, keeping the buds in place without pressing too hard. They’re also IPX4 water-resistant, which is good enough for sweat or light rain, and you get a physical button to manage playback—a small detail, but one you’ll appreciate if your hands are wet or gloved. Wireless charging is now included, and you get around 8–10 hours of playback on a single charge, depending on whether ANC is on. That’s nearly double what most in-ears in this category offer (handy for fitness-first users who’d rather skip mid-run charging anxiety).
As for the caveats, the headline heart rate sensor sounds great on paper, but it underdelivers, especially if you're hoping for smartwatch-level accuracy. And while the H2 chip (same as in AirPods Pro 2) helps with automatic pausing and connectivity, you're still locked into Beats’ signature bass-heavy sound with no real way to tweak it through the app. If that’s your jam, you’ll likely love them, but if you prefer dialing in your own sound profile, you may feel boxed in. That said, for gym-goers or runners who want a solid, sweat-resistant set with long battery life and physical media controls, this refurbished deal hits the right balance between value and performance.
earthobservatory_iod_feed
Much of the Goyder impact structure has eroded away, but there are remnants in Australia’s Northern Territory.
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lexinThere was one story I missed out about my hospital stay.
I think it was on the Friday, the quiet lady in the next bed was having seizures several times a day. They were not epileptic seizures - I didn’t know there were other types, but it seems there are.
She came out of a particularly bad one and her brother said something I didn’t catch. She started to cry. And when I say cry, we’re not talking quiet sobs, but loud howls of anguish which cut down to the soul. She went on to cry for two hours. I have never cried for two hours, even when my parents died. Maybe I’m just hard hearted.
Meanwhile, the five others in the bay, including me, were all on drips. IV lines run through a little machine which I think is both a pump and a measure. If the cannula gets blocked or the IV finishes the machine makes a burbling sound like a mobile phone to alert the nurse.
Just after the anguished lady started to cry and all the nurses were round her, every one of the machines started to burble their alarms. All five.
It was bedlam. I’ve never heard anything like it.
All five of us were looking at each other wondering if there was anything we could do, but obviously there wasn’t. So that was a stand-out moment. I still wonder what it was that the lady’s brother said that so upset her.
I think it was on the Friday, the quiet lady in the next bed was having seizures several times a day. They were not epileptic seizures - I didn’t know there were other types, but it seems there are.
She came out of a particularly bad one and her brother said something I didn’t catch. She started to cry. And when I say cry, we’re not talking quiet sobs, but loud howls of anguish which cut down to the soul. She went on to cry for two hours. I have never cried for two hours, even when my parents died. Maybe I’m just hard hearted.
Meanwhile, the five others in the bay, including me, were all on drips. IV lines run through a little machine which I think is both a pump and a measure. If the cannula gets blocked or the IV finishes the machine makes a burbling sound like a mobile phone to alert the nurse.
Just after the anguished lady started to cry and all the nurses were round her, every one of the machines started to burble their alarms. All five.
It was bedlam. I’ve never heard anything like it.
All five of us were looking at each other wondering if there was anything we could do, but obviously there wasn’t. So that was a stand-out moment. I still wonder what it was that the lady’s brother said that so upset her.
Tags:
horrorlitreddit_feedWhat types of themes, settings, elements, etc. are you hoping to see more of in horror fiction?
Recently, I've been into a- folk horror, agriculture-related cults, old gods, forest entities, and found old journal entries- kind of vibe.
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lifehacker_feedThe U.S. government has not yet made its official recommendations for who should be able to get COVID booster shots this fall, but FDA officials published a policy position in the New England Journal of Medicine announcing that it intends to make some drastic policy changes. The changes could result in healthy people under age 65 losing access to COVID vaccines, according to vaccine experts who have spoken about the policies. Here’s what we know so far, and why the announced policy could be a problem.
How COVID vaccines are currently approved
Scientists have changed the formulation of COVID vaccines a few times over the years, because the COVID virus itself tends to mutate. Vaccines are updated to better match the strains that are circulating, and this has happened roughly once a year—similar to how flu shots are updated each year.
Instead of designing new vaccine trials from scratch for each small change in the COVID vaccine, manufacturers conduct studies to show that the immunity people get from the new vaccine is equivalent to what people got from the old vaccine.
After approval from the FDA, the CDC then issues a recommendation for who should get the vaccine. Currently, everyone aged 6 months and up is recommended to get a COVID vaccine.
What might be changing
The new policy, according to the NEJM article, would be to accept those immunobridging studies only to approve vaccines for people aged 65 and up, and people above the age of 6 months who have one of the high-risk conditions on a list maintained by the CDC.
For healthy people under 65, the FDA’s policy wouldn’t approve new COVID vaccines unless they were tested against a placebo. (The type of placebo is phrased vaguely: “The control group could receive a saline placebo,” the authors write.)
The FDA doesn’t have the authority to change the recommendations on who should get vaccines that are already approved (that’s the CDC’s purview), but it is in charge of approving vaccines and can approve them only for specific populations.
Why placebo-controlled trials are an absolutely wild idea for COVID vaccines
Public health experts are, to put it mildly, not happy with this plan. That’s because we already have COVID vaccines that work. Doing a placebo-controlled trial would require withholding COVID vaccines from people in the control group; they would get saline instead of a functional vaccine.
The normal way to do this type of trial (if you do one at all, rather than relying on immunobridging) is to compare the new vaccine or medication against one that is already considered effective. To use an extreme analogy, you wouldn’t test a new design of seatbelt by randomizing people to ride around without using any seatbelts at all.
Vaccine scientist Peter Hotez told CNN that the FDA’s announced approach “essentially denies access to vaccines,” since such trials are not practical for companies to do. In a post on Bluesky, toxicologist Ryan Marino said that it amounts to “scientific misconduct.” Vaccine expert Paul Offit told NPR “I don't think it's ethical, given that we have a vaccine that works, given that we know that SARS-CoV2 [the COVID virus] continues to circulate and cause hospitalizations and death, and there's no group that has no risk.”
More vaccine chaos may be coming
The new policy isn’t official yet, but it’s hard to imagine the FDA and CDC being allowed to approve and recommend vaccines the way it always has in the current political climate. Biologics director Vinay Prasad and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, whose names appear on the FDA’s policy statement, have a history of arguing against COVID vaccine access for children.
And both agencies are under the umbrella of HHS, the department of Health and Human Services, which is headed by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr—the same person whose anti-vaccine organization financed the movie Plandemic. If you don’t recall the details of that movie circulating in the early pandemic days, it implied both that COVID wasn’t real and that it was a bioweapon created by the government; the logic didn’t hold together but ultimately the point was that we should be suspicious of vaccines. (I have more on Plandemic here.)
RFK, Jr has said a lot of bananas stuff about vaccines. He has compared childhood vaccines to the holocaust, claimed that Bill Gates put microchips in vaccines, and loudly questioned whether vaccines cause autism. How this man got put in charge of a health agency, I will never understand.
Recent and future vaccine approvals may be at risk in this environment. Moderna had planned to submit a combined flu/COVID vaccine for approval; it has since withdrawn its application. (It’s not clear whether recent FDA policy announcements are directly related.) Novavax’s recent vaccine was approved recently, but only after a delay and only for older adults and for people with high-risk health conditions. Kennedy released a report today that questions the childhood vaccine schedule and implies that vaccines are part of the “stark reality of American children's declining health.”
lifehacker_feedIf you use the internet, you've probably had at least some personal information go missing. It's just the nature of the web. But this latest discovery, as reported by Wired, is something different.
Security researcher Jeremiah Fowler found a public online database housing over 180 million records (184,162,718 to be exact) which amounted to more than 47GB of data. There were no indications about who owned the data or who placed it there, which Fowler says is atypical for these types of online databases. Fowler saw emails, usernames, passwords, and URLs linking to the sites where those credentials belonged. These accounts included major platforms like Microsoft, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Roblox, Apple, Discord, Nintendo, Spotify, Twitter, WordPress, Yahoo, and Amazon, as well as bank and financial accounts, health companies, and government accounts from at least 29 countries. That includes the U.S., Australia, Canada, China, India, Israel, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, and the UK.
Fowler sent a responsible disclosure notice to the hosting provider of the database, World Host Group. Fowler was able to detect signs that the credentials here were stolen with infostealer malware, which bad actors use to harvest sensitive information from a variety of platforms—think web browsers, email services, and chat apps.
Following Fowler's notice, World Host Group restricted the database from public access. The provider told Wired that the database was operated by a customer, a "fraudulent user" who uploaded illegal information to the server.
In order to ensure these credentials were real, and not just a bunch of bogus data, Fowler actually contacted some of the email addresses he found in the database. He got some bites, and those users were able to confirm the records that he found associated with their emails. That's no guarantee that all 184,162,718 records are accurate, but it's a good sign that most are. As such, it's entirely possible you and I both had credentials exposed in this database. What's worse, Fowler says there's no telling how long the database was open to the public before his notice shut it down.
There's a lot bad actors and hackers can do with this type of information. If they know the username and password combo to one of your accounts, they'll not only see if they can use it to break into that account, but they'll use it on other accounts of yours as well. If you reuse passwords, as many do, you could be facing a mass breach. It's bad enough when that concerns Facebook and Roblox accounts, but seeing as there were financial, health, and even government accounts here, the implications are huge.
How to protect yourself
If you don't have access to the database, you can't say for sure whether your credentials are listed there, or which credentials they have.
Still, if you haven't changed the passwords for your accounts in some time, now might be a good time to do so. You don't need to change your passwords as frequently as traditional security advice has taught us, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to give your accounts a quick security audit.
Make sure you're using a strong and unique password for each and every one of your accounts. If you repeat passwords, you run the risk of credential stuffing (hackers trying the same stolen password on multiple accounts). In order to keep tabs on those passwords, use a secure password manager.
Make sure you're using two-factor authentication (2FA) on all of the accounts that allow it. That way, even if a password is exposed, hackers won't be able to break into your account without the device containing the 2FA code. To boost your security, avoid SMS-based 2FA when possible, and opt for more secure 2FA options, like an authenticator app or physical security key. If your account offers it, try a passkey to combine the convenience of a password with the security of 2FA.
loweringthebar_feed
I think I’ve previously written about the fact, which I find highly amusing, that for years after it was created the U.S. Supreme Court basically had nothing to do.
This makes sense if you think about it: if you are creating a court system for the first time, like when Congress created the federal system in 1789, it’s going to be a while before new cases get to the top. And so, as the Supreme Court Historical Society tells us, the Court’s first session in 1790 featured “a crowded courtroom [but] an empty docket.” Because “[a]ppeals from lower tribunals came slowly, … for its first three years the Court had almost no business at all.” The law required it to meet twice a year anyway, so it did. Of course, most likely the crowds dwindled significantly after the novelty wore off, so there must have been at least five pretty boring sessions.
I like to imagine the justices sitting out front playing checkers or something and asking passersby whether they had any disputes that needed resolving. Within the Court’s original jurisdiction, of course. “Hail, good fellow, hath thee any Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers or Consuls, or to which a State be Party?” “None have arisen since you asked this morning, my Lord, but should that change I shall inform thee at once.”
What were they actually doing during these first few meetings, you may be asking? That is an excellent question that I am sure is answered in a book somewhere. But it would make sense for them to have started by drafting a set of court rules, and as you can see below, they did indeed do this. (If they did it in open court, the crowds would have dwindled even faster.)
The list below was published in 1803 (luckily, someone has stamped “Not Current” at the top so you don’t get confused) and contains the rules issued up to that time. Five of them date all the way back to February 1790. Among other things, they made John Tucker the first Clerk of the Supreme Court, established requirements for lawyers practicing before the Court (their professional character “shall appear to be fair”), and set forth the required oath. And apparently that was deemed enough work for the year, or at least enough rules to start with.
The Court issued two more rules in 1791, and they suggest to me that indeed the Court still had nothing significant to do. Rule VI rejiggered the oath, apparently just to allow an “affirmation” for those who did not wish to “swear”; and Rule VII, issued “in answer to the motion of the attorney-general, made yesterday,” informed everyone that the Court would generally practice in the same way as the English courts had, except when it didn’t want to, and then it wouldn’t. I have not researched whether the Attorney General, then Levi Lincoln, considered this a helpful answer to his question, but the question and answer themselves seem like pretty conclusive evidence that the Court at that time had not yet actually done anything.
But it looks like that had changed by 1795, when the Court issued the fateful Rule VIII:
The court gave notice to the gentlemen of the bar, that hereafter they will expect to be furnished with a statement of the material points of the case from the counsel on each side of the cause.
From which I can only surmise that when the Court actually heard its first case, some guys just walked in and started talking without having given the justices anything to review beforehand. But things had changed. “We’re not just sitting out front now shooting the breeze, Frank. You have to file papers.”
Yes, they had also stopped talking like Shakespeare. That happened in 1794.
horrorlitreddit_feedFor those of you who enjoy your horror in audiobook format, you know that the narrator can make or break the experience. I’d listen to Frank Muller read the phone book, and there are many other really great ones.
Right now, I’m sad to say, I’m listening to Devin Burgess narrate Jeremy Bates’ Helltown, and I’m considering not finishing the book because of him. Has anyone else listened to this? I’ve heard his demo reels, and they are good, but this is … awful. I am honestly questioning whether it’s his voice used by some crappy AI program to read the text. Strange, unnatural cadence, weird pauses, and inexplicable mispronunciations, among other things. The story takes place in the 80s, so there are lots of 80s references, and the chapters all begin with a quote from an 80s movie, so you’d think that the person chosen to read the book would know these pop culture references. He pronounced the band name INXS as “inks-iss.” He couldn’t sing “One, two, Freddy’s comin’ for you” in a way that remotely resembles the famous line, and he makes Pinhead sound dorky and chipper when talking about “a waste of good suffering.”
Anyone else find this book almost impossible to listen to?
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horrorlitreddit_feedWould love a take on Sleeping Beauty, only restriction is no kids getting hurt
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guardian_learning部首
儿 part 2
兄, older brother; 充, full, sufficient; 先, first ( pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=10
词汇
熟人, acquaintance; 成熟, mature ( pinyin )
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-3-word-list/
[this one drives me crazy because I can never remember when it's shú and when it's shóu]
Guardian:
那也就是说准备的越充分，对于他们越有利, that means the more thoroughly we prepare, the more of an advantage they have
现在在我面前没有熟人，只有仇人和挡我路的人, right now I see no acquaintances, only enemies and people in my way
Me:
谁要记仇啊，我们是兄弟。
我有跟他见过面，但是我们俩不算熟人。
儿 part 2
兄, older brother; 充, full, sufficient; 先, first ( pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=10
词汇
熟人, acquaintance; 成熟, mature ( pinyin )
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-3-word-list/
[this one drives me crazy because I can never remember when it's shú and when it's shóu]
Guardian:
那也就是说准备的越充分，对于他们越有利, that means the more thoroughly we prepare, the more of an advantage they have
现在在我面前没有熟人，只有仇人和挡我路的人, right now I see no acquaintances, only enemies and people in my way
Me:
谁要记仇啊，我们是兄弟。
我有跟他见过面，但是我们俩不算熟人。
musesfoolSo it turns out that all that rain and wind last night was due to a nor'easter. In late May. What the actual fuck. But climate change is a hoax.
Anyway, hit me with your favorite brownie recipes! I myself prefer them fudgy instead of cakey, but I am open to variations.
*
Anyway, hit me with your favorite brownie recipes! I myself prefer them fudgy instead of cakey, but I am open to variations.
*
lydamorehouse
Image: whaling ship in the grey, cold rain
Shawn and I have made this trip to Connecticut (and back again) five times. Once to move Mason in, and then four times now to move him out. We have never, ever been able to see anything more off the coast of Connecticut than mist. I was pretty sure that the whole fog-of-nothingness/evil was supposed to be a Stephen King thing for Maine, not Connecticut, but here we are, our fifth trip, and there is clearly NO OCEAN OFF THE COAST. It is all greyness and LIES.
But, we managed a fun sight seeing trip anyway.
We went to Mystic, CT, bringing along with us both Mason and his partner Jas.
Mason, our grad, (left) and Jas (right) at the Black Sheep in Nantic, CT.
The Seaport Museum was probably an interesting choice given the foul weather, and, honestly, I would have hoped that pouring rain would mean that we'd have the place to ourselves. No, every school group in the history of school groups were all there, making trying to get into the litttle faux village shops somewhat of a crapshoot. It was a lovely little space, though. Mason and I explored the whaling ship and I got inspired to do a better job explaining how cramped berths on sailing ships (in my case space ships) can be.
I'm going to say, however, that my favorite thing was seeing a family of geese and their three little goslings.
And getting to see Mason hanging out with the person he calls "love."
We did not get any packing done today, but the four of us got very moist and a little cross, so it's back to the AirBnB for us. Clothes are in the dryer and my wet toeies are tucked under the covers. We are giving up for the day, with only dinner out for plans. I wish we'd had better weather, but we had excellent company and that's what it's all about.
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There are certain limitations that I tolerate with apartment living. One of these that I begrudgingly accept is the lack of an outdoor grill set up. Apparently building owners don’t want flames spitting and embers glowing within 10 feet of their precious buildings—fine. But what if I could smoke meat with real wood pellets and also not set my apartment on fire? Well the Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Grill and Smoker is offering this opportunity. I’ve had my eye on it for a while now, and it’s finally on sale for Memorial Day.
The Ninja Woodfire Grill and Smoker is an electric grill. I know, I know, many electric grills are basically glorified waffle irons, but the Ninja uses a combination of convection fan heating and an attached pellet smoke box to give you a lot more flavor than what a Foreman might. Unlike other air fryers masquerading as grills or smokers, the Woodfire Grill and Smoker is made to be used outdoors. It’s weather resistant, so you can build a permanent grill set-up with a stand and cover to keep it in tip-top shape.
The regular Ninja Woodfire Grill and Smoker is on sale for $249.99, 32% off of its normal retail price of $369.99—this is the one I’ve been looking at because it has the smoke box, and that’s all I’ve coveted this whole time. However, the Ninja Woodfire Pro Connect Premium XL is also on sale right now for $399.99, 20% off its usual retail price of $499.99. This one has two attached probe thermometers and Bluetooth connectivity so you can monitor your smoked duck from the living room with the Ninja Woodfire Pro Connect app.
It’s a question of whether you’d like a few more inches of real estate and app monitoring. If you are cooking for a smaller household and you don’t mind checking the temperature yourself, go for the original. Bigger households or those hosting frequent backyard barbecue parties might get better usage out of the Pro Connect Premium XL model. Either choice is a great one for this weekend's festivities, not to mention the entire summer ahead.
horrorlitreddit_feedone of the recent posts in this sub made me realize how badly i wanted to read something set in my city! the only novels i’ve read that are in the general area are The Paleontologist by Luke Dumas (central PA area) and most works by Rachel Harrison (NJ area) but i think the philadelphia area would be a great backdrop for horror! does anyone have any recs?
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horrorlitreddit_feedHello my fine horror freaks! I'm going to spend about 10-12 days in the Cotswolds and Stratford-upon-Avon in July and naturally I need some good ol English horror books to spook me. Or at least books that involve the countryside in general.
High high preference towards the supernatural, because I know how awful humans can be and want to read about monsters, ghosts, demons, foul unearthly things etc
I've read The Reddening (decent, could've been a lot shorter and I'd have enjoyed it more), The Ritual and Wylding Hall. Idk if he's written anything set outside of the US but NO Stephen King please!
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lifehacker_feedThe beloved read-it-later app Pocket is shutting down, and Mozilla is giving current users until Oct. 8 to download saved items from their lists, archives, favorites, notes, and highlights.
As of today, Pocket is no longer available in app stores or as a browser add-on, and all sign-ups and renewals have been disabled. The app will shut down for good on July 8, and transition to export-only mode. Users will have until Oct. 8 to export their saves, after which all accounts and data will be deleted.
How to export your saved items from Pocket
To initiate an export from Pocket, go to https://getpocket.com/export. You'll first want to ensure your account is connected to a valid email address—shown at the top left of the page when logged in—you can access, as your saves will be sent to your inbox. (If needed, you can change the primary address on your Mozilla account.)
Next, click the Export HTML file button. You'll see a message confirming your request and will receive a link via email to download a CSV with URLs of your saves.
Mozilla says this can take 24 hours and up to 7 days in some cases. The link expires after 48 hours, so check your spam if you don't see an export email. You can request a new link by repeating the same steps.
You don't need to delete your account or data, as Mozilla will do so after October 8. You will, however, have to manually remove the app and browser extension once you've exported your saves. Monthly renewals for Pocket Premium are ceasing immediately, and annual subscribers will automatically receive a prorated refund after July 8.
While Pocket is one of the most popular read-it-later apps, it isn't the only one. We've compiled a list of alternatives you can switch to.