Author Archives: Carol Edwards

Comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan shared on Instagram Wednesday that he had contracted COVID and, during the recovery process, took a “kitchen sink” of drugs, including the bogus horse dewormer Ivermectin.

Rogan posted a video about his COVID experience, saying he began to feel feverish and chills over the weekend before testing positive. Rogan tested positive after performing a series of shows in Florida.

“So we immediately threw the kitchen sink at it,” Rogan said. “All kinds of meds. Monoclonal antibodies. Ivermectin. Z-pack. Prednisone. Everything.”

That’s right, Ivermectin. A horse dewormer the FDA says you should not take to treat COVID-19.

Rogan — who hosts a wildly popular podcast for which Spotify paid more than $100 million — said he felt great Wednesday and that Sunday was the only day he felt really sick. He alerted his fans that he had to postpone a planned show in Nashville before concluding the video.

“Obviously it was nothing that I could control. It is what it is, crazy times we’re living in,” Rogan said. “A wonderful, heartfelt thank you to modern medicine for pulling me out of this so quickly and easily.”

It’s interesting Rogan would thank modern medicine, considering Ivermectin is a drug typically employed as an animal dewormer. Small amounts of the drug are sometimes approved for human use to combat head lice and other parasites, but it is not an effective treatment for COVID.

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Still, because it was promoted as a miracle cure by anti-vaxxers online, some folks began taking highly concentrated amounts of Ivermectin meant for horses or livestock. Yes, people began ingesting weird horse goo instead of getting a simple, safe, effective vaccine. What a world.

So, not the most ideal thing for Rogan to promote especially considering his podcast reaches millions of people. But he’s had lots of sketchy things to say during the pandemic. Rogan has, for instance, said he doesn’t think young, healthy people need to get vaccinated and falsely claimed vaccinated people helped increase dangerous mutations of the virus.

It’s not clear, however, if Rogan — who has been traveling and doing shows — has been vaccinated.

“I’m not an antivax person,” Rogan said in an April in an apparent attempt to walk back his vaccine skepticism. “I believe they’re safe and encourage many people to take them.”

Still, even Rogan himself might tell you not to take his medical advice. He cleared up his credentials in those April comments.

“I’m not a doctor, I’m a fucking moron,” he said.

The “Prince Family Paper” episode of The Office proves that not all of Jim Halpert’s pranks got the praise they deserved.

In the latest episode of the Office Ladies podcast, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey chatted all about the Season 5 episode, which kicks off with Dwight finding a new, mysterious red wire hooked up to his computer.

Dwight, who becomes deeply concerned after noticing no other office computers have similar wires, attempts to follow the wire’s trail and locate its source. He makes his way around the office, through the building, and across the parking lot, while it’s revealed in a talking head that Jim bought 500 feet of wire for $20 at a flea market and planted it as a prank.

While Jim’s explaining his great deal on the wire to the cameras, we see Dwight outside, still following the wire and scaling a telephone pole.

“Oh. He’ll be fine. I made it up there,” Jim says. That’s dedication.

As far as all time great Jim pranks go, the red wire prank is low on the list. But perhaps it’s time to reevaluate. I mean, he taped 500 feet of wire and then scaled a telephone pole? That’s some serious effort. Not to mention, the scene took quite a bit of work to shoot.

“I reached out to Randy [Cordray, line producer] to find out how we did this stunt of Rainn up on this telephone pole,” Fischer said.

“Right. He can’t climb a telephone pole. That’s not safe,” Kinsey said about Wilson. (Readers: Don’t be like Dwight. Please do not climb telephone poles, it’s very dangerous!)

“No, because what [Cordray] told me was that the pole over Jim’s shoulder really is an actual working utility pole that’s embedded in our sidewalk. You know, right out there,” Fischer said. “It carried high voltage electricity. They couldn’t even have a stunt person dressed as Dwight climb that pole. So our production designer, Michael Gallenberg, and his construction team rented a matching utility pole. You can do that, I guess.” 

“I mean, seriously, how do they know these things? This is the crazy part of Hollywood magic,” Kinsey said. “‘Oh, you know what I’m going to do today? I’m going to rent a fakey telephone pole.’ That’s huge!”

“Huge. Well, they put it up in our parking lot between the two sound stages, and they put like a green padded platform around it [to catch people who fell]” Fischer said. “And they put up a big green screen behind the whole thing. And then they brought Rainn out along with like a stunt coordinator and a safety officer, and they had Rainn climb up. It was only a few feet that he had to climb. And then in post-production, they had their visual effects team digitally add Rainn to the real pole over Jim’s shoulder.”

Damn. What a process.

“Even though Rainn was really only a little bit off the ground, they could, like, hike it up so it looked like he was like halfway up the pole,” Fischer said. “Yeah, that’s movie magic, folks.”

“That is some good movie magic,” Kinsey replied.

“But here’s the thing that gets me about that,” Fischer continued. “That’s like real special effects, kind of like stunty stuff for our little TV show about a paper company. Like I never really thought hard about how much work it took to do that gag until we went to break it down. Right? Like, it’s such a quick little blip. And you’re like that was like two weeks of figuring that out.”

“I feel like every week we are learning how much Michael Gallenberg, Kyle Alexander, Phil Shea, our wardrobe department and set designers, how they all made these little moments happen and made it seamless,” Kinsey said. “It’s amazing.” 

Be sure to listen to the full podcast to learn more behind-the-scenes stories from filming “Prince Family Paper.”

You can stream episodes of The Office on Peacock and follow along with the podcast every week on Earwolf, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher.

Fuse is a 3D MIDI controller that lets you control the sound similar to a theremin.

It may not be surprising that an Instagram user going by the handle @AntiVaxMomma is an anti-vaccination conspiracy theorist.

What may shock you, however, is that this person was raking in good money selling fake COVID-19 vaccination cards on the Facebook-owned social media platform.

Jasmine Clifford, a 31-year-old woman from New Jersey, was charged in a Manhattan court on Tuesday with felonies related to a scheme to sell fraudulent versions of authentic CDC COVID-19 vaccine documents to unvaccinated people.

@AntiVaxMomma’s personal Instagram page advertised her fake vaccination card business right in her bio.
Credit: mashable screenshot

Some U.S. cities, such as New York City, will soon require that individuals be vaccinated for COVID-19 in order to enter restaurants, movie theaters, and other businesses. Many employers are also requiring vaccines for their workers as well.

In order to avoid taking the jab, anti-vaxxers and other COVID-19 deniers have resorted to buying fake vaccination cards, creating a new lucrative blackmarket for the fraudulent documents.

Fifteen other people who were involved in the scheme were charged as well, including people who purchased the cards.

Just last week, @AntiVaxMomma received public attention on social media after a TikTok video by user @tizzyent unveiling her vaccination card scheme went viral.

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Clifford openly advertised the fake vaccination cards for $200 on her @AntiVaxMomma Instagram page. When that page was shut down in May, she quickly got her business back up and running using a new handle: @AntiVaxMomma2.

Prosecutors say Clifford sold around 250 cards through Instagram. Buyers paid using CashApp or Zelle.

In her Instagram post advertisements, the New Jersey woman offered unvaccinated individuals “real cards, real lot numbers, real vaccination sites” according to an Instagram Story post. Lot numbers are a combination of letters and numbers used to track individuals to the specific vaccination batch they received.

Having this information helps add legitimacy to the fake cards. Unvaccinated people trying to pass off cheap knockoff vaccination cards have recently been caught due to their obvious illegitimacy. For example, a woman was arrested for traveling to Hawaii using a fake vaccination card with the Moderna vaccine misspelled as “Maderna.”

Clifford also advertised that she could get their names added to the New York immunization database for an extra $250.

But Clifford was able to offer this particular service thanks to Nadayza Barkley, a 27-year-old medical clinic worker in New York, who has also been charged. Barkley aided in the vaccination card scheme by entering at least 10 names of unvaccinated individuals into the New York immunization database.

By doing this, an unvaccinated individual would add an extra layer of legitimacy to their fraudulent document. For example, this information is checked when a person attempts to set up their digital vaccination card on the NY State Excelsior Pass mobile app.

According to @tizzyent, he exchanged messages with @AntiVaxMomma on her personal Instagram account, @5StarJazziii, after she posted that she was looking to “expand her team.” She specifically mentioned that she was looking to work with people who had access to computer access at hospitals or major pharmacies.

@TizzyEnt’s text message conversation with @AntiVaxMomma
Credit: mashable screenshot

In a series of screenshots in @tizzyent’s TikTok video, Clifford offers up details of her deal with Barkley under the belief that he would help her expand her services to Florida. Clifford claims she paid Barkley $100 per person and that she was making up to $10,000 per week.

While @tizzyent’s TikTok video was an eye-opening investigation for the public, the Manhattan DA’s office claims that it did not aid in the case as Clifford had been under investigation for her scheme since June.

But just as worrying as those who are profiting off of these fake COVID-19 vaccination cards is who is buying them.

Prosecutors have charged 13 people who bought fake vaccination cards from @AntiVaxMomma with “criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree.” These individuals all appear to be frontline healthcare workers at hospitals and nursing homes.

In a statement provided to BuzzFeed, Facebook said it took action against Clifford’s Instagram account, removing it early last month.

The social media giant says the sale of vaccination cards, real or fake, on its platforms are prohibited.

The Department of Justice has recently started to amp up its crackdown on fake vaccination card schemes. A Chicago pharmacist was arrested and charged last month as well for selling 125 vaccination cards on eBay. More than 3,000 fake vaccination cards were confiscated by federal authorities last month in Alaska as well.

Attention can be a blessing and a curse, especially on Twitter.

The social media platform announced a new feature Wednesday seemingly designed to mitigate the sometimes troubling and often all-encompassing effects of going viral. Dubbed Safety Mode, the setting allows Twitter users who suddenly find themselves on the receiving end of unwanted attention the chance to chill things out — even if just for a bit.

“Safety Mode is a feature that temporarily blocks accounts for seven days for using potentially harmful language — such as insults or hateful remarks — or sending repetitive and uninvited replies or mentions,” explains Jarrod Doherty, a senior product manager at Twitter, in a blog post.

Notably, the feature isn’t available to everyone yet. According to Doherty, as of Sept. 1, only a “small feedback group” using iOS, Android, and Twitter.com will have the option to enable Safety Mode.

Once that feedback group starts turning it on, Safety Mode will begin proactively blocking accounts at Twitter’s discretion.

“Authors of Tweets found by our technology to be harmful or uninvited will be autoblocked, meaning they’ll temporarily be unable to follow your account, see your Tweets, or send you Direct Messages,” continues Doherty.

Various Twitter account features.

Credit: Twitter

Twitter’s Safety Mode.

Credit: twitter

Of course, there’s always the chance that the algorithm powering this feature will be too enthusiastic in its blocking, leading to false positives and claims of shadow banning. Or, even worse, that it will disproportionately affect certain types of accounts over others.

Doherty admits as much, writing that “we won’t always get this right and may make mistakes[.]”

As such, Twitter intends to “observe how Safety Mode is working and incorporate improvements and adjustments before bringing it to everyone on Twitter.”

We imagine that everyone will want it, kinks ironed out or no.

Twitter sees both daily main characters piled on for increasingly absurd takes, and regular people finding momentary fame for bon mots of pure joy. Sometimes, that attention is very much desired. Other times, not so much.

SEE ALSO: Twitter adds an edit tweet feature, but it’s not what you think

Whether you’re a medical expert desperately trying to share much-needed vaccine information, or a scientist explaining the devastating effects of climate change, a well-functioning Safety Mode promises a world with less online abuse.

It sounds nice.

Let the dollar signs flow.

Twitter announced Wednesday that it has finally, officially, started the rollout of Super Follows. The feature, first revealed back in February, allows users to charge a monthly fee in exchange for access to additional content. Twitter will take a cut of the earnings.

“With Super Follows, people can monetize bonus, ‘behind-the-scenes’ content for their most engaged followers on Twitter,” a spokesperson explained in an emailed press release. “And in exchange, these followers get special access to more of their favorite authentic Twitter content and conversations.” 

This newfound ability, as of now still limited to a select number of U.S. Twitter accounts, allows users to generate revenue for creators in the form of a $2.99, $4.99, or $9.99 monthly subscription. It comes at an interesting time in the world of online content creation, following on an August debacle from OnlyFans, in which the platform threatened to ban sexually explicit content only to later walk the threat back.

While Twitter’s plan for Super Follows was in the works long before OnlyFans’ August announcement, it’s perhaps difficult to overlook the fact that it has come so soon after OnlyFans alienated its sex worker user base.

But will sex workers find success with Super Follows? We reached out to Twitter in an attempt to determine what type of moderation it will apply to Super Follow content, but didn’t get any specifics.

“Super Follows is being gradually rolled out to a limited group of people,” wrote a Twitter spokesperson in response. “As this feature becomes more widely available and we continue to learn and make iterations, we’ll be expanding it to more people and will share relevant policy details.”

Presumably, at a minimum, when it comes to content paywalled via Super Follows, Twitter will use the same standards it applies to other content on its platform.

Twitter defines “adult content” as “any consensually produced and distributed media that is pornographic or intended to cause sexual arousal.” The company writes that users “can share graphic violence and consensually produced adult content within your Tweets, provided that you mark this media as sensitive.”

Exclusive Super Follow content accessible behind a paywall.
Credit: twitter

In other words, Super Follows could — at least in theory — represent an alternative income source for sex workers wary of putting all their eggs in the OnlyFans basket. However, it’s worth noting that sex worker advocacy groups like Hacking//Hustling have accused Twitter of “shadowbanning,” suggesting Twitter might not be a welcoming home after all.

That fact is compounded by Twitter’s Super Follow payout provider, Stripe, an online payment processor used by companies like Instacart and Lyft. Stripe lists entire categories of restricted businesses, one of which is “Adult content and services,” which require prior written approval from the company to use its service.

Even without official word from Twitter, we’ll likely soon know the company’s position on sex workers using Super Follows to earn income.

That’s because starting Wednesday, iOS users in both the U.S. and Canada can Super Follow certain accounts. Twitter says that it will expand beyond those countries (but still iOS only) over the next few weeks, and that support for Android and the Twitter website will come “soon.”

SEE ALSO: OnlyFans realizes the whole purpose of the site was explicit content and backtracks

Whether Super Follows is ultimately a success, or goes the way of Fleets, will likely depend on whether or not the feature is embraced by content creators of all types. When it comes to who can and cannot use the platform to earn income, Twitter very much has a say in that.

Between the anti-vaxxers taking horse medicine to fight COVID-19 and Trump supporters still pushing The Big Lie, the fight to curb online misinformation may feel hopeless at times.

A new study by researchers at MIT may be a small ray of light we can really use right now: Many people actually do have a pretty good bullshit detector when it comes to online misinformation.

The study, titled “Scaling up Fact-Checking Using the Wisdom of Crowds,” has found that crowdsourced fact-checking for accuracy from regular, everyday news readers stacks up to the work performed by professional fact-checkers.

Or, as MIT is putting it, crowds can “wise up” to fake news.

For the study, MIT researchers hired 1,128 U.S. residents using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, which is the ecommerce giant’s marketplace platform where users can hire online gig workers for odd jobs and menial tasks.

Researchers then presented the participants with 20 headlines and lead sentences from 207 news articles that Facebook had flagged for fact-checking via its algorithm. Participants were asked questions in order to create an accuracy score for each story, related to how much of the news item was
“accurate,” “true,” “reliable,” “trustworthy,” “objective,” “unbiased,” and “describing an event that actually happened.”

The stories were picked out by Facebook for a variety of reasons. Some were flagged for possible misinformation, others popped on the radar because they were receiving lots of shares, or they were about sensitive health topics.

Researchers also game the same flagged stories to three professional fact-checkers.

The pro fact-checkers didn’t even always align with each other. All three fact-checkers agreed on the accuracy of a news story in 49 percent of cases. Two fact-checkers agreed on around 42 percent. In 9 percent of the cases, all three had disagreed on the ratings.

However, the study found that when they broke the normal readers into groups of 12 to 20 news readers and adjusted the makeup to even out the number of Democrats and Republicans in each, the laypeople’s accuracy ratings correlated with the fact-checkers.

“One problem with fact-checking is that there is just way too much content for professional fact-checkers to be able to cover,” says the co-author of a paper detailing the study, Jennifer Allen, who is also a PhD student at the MIT Sloan School of Management. “The average rating of a crowd of 10 to 15 people correlated as well with the fact-checkers’ judgments as the fact-checkers correlated with each other. This helps with the scalability problem because these raters were regular people without fact-checking training, and they just read the headlines and lead sentences without spending the time to do any research.”

“We found it to be encouraging,” she said.

According to the study, the estimated cost of readers evaluating news in this manner around $0.90 per story.

People who took part in the study also participated in “a political knowledge test and a test of their tendency to think analytically.” Those who scored well in those tests placed most alongside the fact-checkers’ accuracy scores. Overall, the ratings of people who were better informed about civic issues and engaged in more analytical thinking were more closely aligned with the fact-checkers.

Mainstream social media platforms have recently dabbled in crowdsourced fact-checking. Twitter, for example, launched Birdwatch at the beginning of the year. The program allows users to add contextual information to tweets that could be misleading or potentially spread misinformation.

The study is positive news in the sense that everyday newsreaders appear to be able to, mostly, suss out misinformation. However, at scale, one would have to certainly consider bad actors deliberately trying to confirm or perpetuate misleading information.

“There’s no one thing that solves the problem of false news online,” says MIT Sloan profession and senior co-author of the study, David Rand. “But we’re working to add promising approaches to the anti-misinformation tool kit.”

Did it hurt? Trying to find a way to start this blog?

If you’ve been online in the past day or so, you understand what I’m getting at here. Memes playing off the phrase “Did it hurt” have taken over the internet. These memes riff on that old, corny pickup line: Did it hurt?…When you fell from heaven?

The memes are however, typically speaking, much better than that old pickup line and pretty varied in their execution. They are some mix of funny and well, kind of painful. Here were a few of our favorites.

1. Mr. Brightside

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2. This one actually does hurt me to read, to be honest

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3. Chiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiill. No.

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4. Probably did, to be honest

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5. At least it’s Wednesday though, am I right?

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6. NEVER make me realize anything ever. I do not want to realize even one more thing. I am tired.

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7. Ah the Milk Crate Challenge, it was short-lived and incredibly dangerous

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8. Remember Survivor being a huge cultural thing?

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9. Frankly, this is a wonderful Sopranos joke

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10. That’s amore, baby

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11. Dang

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Thanks to Apple, the digital wallet is one step closer to replacing its bulky predecessor.

On Wednesday, Apple announced that in participating states, driver’s licenses or state IDs can now be added to Apple Wallet on an iPhone or Apple Watch.

Arizona and Georgia will be the first states to adopt the feature, followed by Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Utah.

In a press release, Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, called it “an important step in our vision of replacing the physical wallet with a secure and easy-to-use mobile wallet.”

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will accept the stored IDs as valid forms of identification in participating airports.

In a press release from Apple, TSA Administrator David Pekoske said the move would “enable a more seamless airport security screening experience for travelers.”

Adding a driver’s license or photo ID to Apple Wallet will be a similar process to adding a credit card. To present the identity information, customers will be prompted for authorization through Face or Touch ID.

News about when this goes into effect will be shared “at a later date” by participating states and the TSA.

Not all laptops are created equal, and if you’re in the market for a new one, doing a solid bit of research beforehand is required. Even if you’re not buying one yet, it’ll make it that much easier for you to make a smart purchase once the shopping holidays roll around.

We all pretty much live our lives around our computers — from work in the morning to Netflix and Zoom calls with friends at night. While finding a new laptop can seem like a big task, that’s why we’re here (our top picks are all below — you’re welcome!). As is the case with any big tech purchase, there are a few basic things you’ll definitely want to consider before you look through our curated list. Of course, everyone’s got their own needs (gamers are going to be looking for a dazzling 4K display, for example), but it’s good for anyone to keep the following in mind:

How do I go about shopping for a new laptop?

Choosing a laptop is mostly dependent on what you’ll be using it for. Beginner laptop owners need something user-friendly and straightforward, frequent travelers need something light with a long battery life, designers and gamers need top-notch 4K graphics and quick central processors, and everyone needs something that will last. Take stock of what you need and what you’d like your new computer to accomplish. Do you want to be able to zip between browser tabs at lightning speed? Do you want to able to run video games? Do you need to be able to switch from a laptop to a tablet at a moment’s notice? Answering these questions will help you narrow down exactly what type of laptop you need, and in turn, what brands you should be directing your attention to.

What size laptop should I be looking for?

This will ultimately be decided by two factors: Personal preference and lifestyle. On the personal preference front, you really just need to figure out if you want a huge display, or something more portable that you can chuck into your backpack. Lifestyle is where practicality comes into play. If you travel often and usually have your computer on your person in some way, you’re going to want to go with something more light and compact. On the other hand, if you’re a huge movie buff or graphic designer who doesn’t normally take their laptop on the road with them, spring for a 15-inch (or bigger) screen.

Keep an eye out for battery life

The whole point of a laptop is that it’s meant to be portable, so having a battery that keeps you ticking along for several hours without needing a recharge is pretty much a must. And there’s more to it than that, too: In terms of the larger-picture battery life, you’ll want to look for a battery that’s meant to last for charge after charge and (hopefully) one that you can replace once it does give out.

Be mindful of weight

The lighter, the better should be your motto when shopping for a laptop. If you have to carry your computer with you — whether it’s to summer classes or for travel — you don’t want something that’s going to make your back hurt by the end of the day. Luckily, laptops are lighter than ever these days, but it’s still worth keeping an eye on the ounces so you don’t wind up with a machine you have to lug around.

How much should I spend on a new laptop?

It’s really going to come down to your budget.

While we’d all like an unlimited budget for tech purchases, realistically speaking you probably have a general range in mind for what you want to spend on this. If you rely on the machine day in and day out — and it’s not something you only occasionally spend time on — then getting the computer that’ll get the job done and is built to last is super-important. And while yes, the cost of the latest MacBook Pro might make some people balk, there are plenty of other players in the game these days that bring great-quality machines at less hair-raising prices, like Huawei and Lenovo.

You should think hard about what you’re going to use your laptop for. If you need a device with lots of power under the hood and ample storage space, aim for something in the $800 and beyond range. If you’re only using your laptop to edit the occasional Google Doc or Excel spreadsheet, then you can probably get away with spending below the $500 mark.

Is a cheaper laptop even worth it?

When it comes to tech in general, you really do get what you pay for. But, thanks to the bar-raising devices that have come out in the last few years, a cheap laptop can actually take you pretty far. It’s all about knowing which one to select — depending on what you use your laptop for the most, staying stingy might be your best option. (Here are our favorite budget-friendly laptop models under $500, and the best under $300, for reference.)

We’ve put together a definitive guide (based on hours of research) to the best laptops on the market. We compare top brands that you probably have in mind like Apple, Dell, and Acer, as well as other huge players you may not have even seen coming like Huawei and Lenovo. Trust us, you’re in good hands.

Now, read on for our top laptop picks for 2021.