The move would close a loophole on an otherwise widespread practice.

The Amateur Traveler talks to Audrey Scott and Daniel Knoll of UncorneredMarket.com about Prague where they lived for 5 years. Audrey and Daniel are currently traveling around the world and talked to me from El Salvador. Audrey and Daniel talk about the touristy things to do in Prague like the Prague castle, the Charles bridge and Wenceslas Square. They also talk about the touristy things that they would recommend skipping like Karlova street and its souvenir stands (they even give us a shortcut through the university and the Karolinum to avoid it). They would not; however, skip drinking Czech beer in a beer garden like the Latna (but would pass on Czech wine). They tell us how to walk around the barkers in period costumes selling packaged concerts to tourists and find the real music scene in Prague from classical to Balkan. Since they have moved on you can’t crash on their couch but you can share in their expertise of how to cherish Prague.

I talk about my recent trip to Berlin and Prague in December. This trip was just after the 20 year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall and 20 years after my last trip to Berlin. We will look at a 3 hour free walking tour of Berlin and at a paid private tour of Prague (a gift from OurExplorer.com). We will talk about the history of World War II, Communism and even the Hussite Wars. We will talk about the Christmas markets which are everywhere in both cities in December with their booths, crafts, food and mulled wine. I will tell you of some of the sites of these cities including museums, castles, churches, memorials, and even an Art Nouveau stain glass window in a very old yet also very new cathedral.

The Amateur Traveler talks to Pamela Beck of the Department of Tourism for Prince Edward Island in Eastern Canada. Pamela describes Prince Edward Island (or PEI) as a get away from it all location that is easy to get to. Surrounded by beaches this 140 mile long island features wonderful seafood and champion oyster shuckers. It has miles of bike trails and relaxed helpful locals. Pamela also describes it as a wonderful golf vacation or a place where you can try your hand at lobster fishing (be ready to get up very early), oyster raking or chocolate making through one of their experience tourism programs.

The Amateur Traveler  talks to Roni Weiss about his visit to the divided country of Cyprus. Roni went to Cyprus in part to complete a quest to visit every country in Europe. Roni couchsurfed which gave him a chance to stay with Turkish and Greek Cypriots as well as a Turkish resident. T

The Amateur Traveler talks to Lee Moore again about China. Lee comes back on the show to talk about his time in the Yunnan Provence in the southwest corner of China. Yunnan is on the border with Laos, Myanmar and Tibet. 

Hear about travel to the Silk Road in China's Gansu Province as the Amateur Traveler talks again to Lee Moore from Silk Road Hitchhikers about his trip to this historic and remote part of China.

Hear about travel to Provence, France as the Amateur Traveler talks to Wendy Jaeger from blisstravels.com about her adopted home in the south of France.

Hear about travel to Providence, Rhode Island as the Amateur Traveler talks to Tamara Gruber from we3travel.com and the Vacation Mavens podcast about travel other home town.

Hear about travel to Central Europe (Prague, Krakow, Budapest) as the Amateur Traveler talks to 4 people who joined me on this year's Amateur Traveler trip: Darrell, Derrick, Loraine and Holly.

Newly appointed White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany continues to impress in her new position working for the White House. Two days after absolutely leveling members of the White House media corps, the 32-year-old former Trump campaign spokeswoman made waves Friday by warning Americans that they, like former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, could also…

The post New White House Press Sec Issues Dire Warning to Americans About the FBI appeared first on The Western Journal.

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

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

A 5-year-old Utah boy shocked family and law enforcement when he grabbed the keys to his parents’ car and drove himself through the neighborhood and onto a freeway. Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Rick Morgan spotted the vehicle swerving dangerously on the freeway and initiated a stop, fully expecting to find a driver under the influence…

The post Cop Gets Shocking Surprise When He Finds Age 5 Boy Behind Wheel of Car Who Had Plans To Go Buy Lamborghini appeared first on The Western Journal.

When jokes are so horrible, so obvious, so corny that they make your eyes roll, it’s a good chance that they’re what many call “dad jokes.” Bordering on lame, and all the more hilarious because of it, these jokes are so bad and yet fathers seem to get such joy from trotting out the perfect…

The post Man Posts Hilarious ‘Bad Dad Jokes’ Daily on Sign in Front Lawn To Spread Cheer to Neighbors appeared first on The Western Journal.

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

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

If you’re a big business and you abused the Small Business Association’s new Paycheck Protection Program, you’re getting very close to the deadline for you to pay the government back. If you don’t, that means the government is going to be coming after you — and you can definitely be ready for an audit. That’s…

The post Big Businesses That Abused Paycheck Protection Program Should Get Ready for an Audit appeared first on The Western Journal.

Disclosure: Some of the links below may contain affiliate links from Patriot Depot, a sister company of The Western Journal. By making purchases through these links, you’ll be helping to support The Western Journal. Being a conservative woman in a liberal world can be a daunting existence, but speaking isn’t always required to be heard.…

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This past year, I predicted the fall of both Zuck and Trump, not to mention the triumph of cannabis and rationale markets. But in 2019, the sociopaths won – bigly. Damn, was I wrong. One year ago this week, I sat down to write my annual list of ten or so predictions for the coming … Continue reading "Predictions Review: Trump, Zuck Crush My Optimism In 2019"

A new year brings another run at my annual predictions: For 17 years now, I’ve taken a few hours to imagine what might happen over the course of the coming twelve months. And my goodness did I swing for the fences last year — and I pretty much whiffed. Batting .300 is great in the majors, but it … Continue reading "Predictions 2020: Facebook Caves, Google Zags, Netflix Sells Out, and Data Policy Gets Sexy"

"We're writing off too many people," Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) says in "Immigration Battle," a feature film presentation from FRONTLINE and Independent Lens that airs tonight on PBS.

The Defense Department's Inspector General has opened an investigation into whether U.S. troops were discouraged from reporting the rape and sexual abuse of children by their Afghan allies.

Between the infamous Peloton commercial, the wild Boyhood wannabe that ended up being a Subway ad, and the endless #girlboss marketing reminding you that even women can be part of the capitalist machine, 2019 was a year for advertising. 

But nothing quite tops this one, which was released in September but resurfaced in a viral tweet on Friday.  

The ad starts off with a bleak statistic: women hold just 10 percent of all patented inventions. Then, it pans over to a delightful montage of ambitious young women. Each one is filmed preparing for their career goals, from mixing delicate chemicals in a laboratory to carefully testing the consistency of soil.  Read more...

TL;DR: A one-year subscription to Norton Secure VPN is on sale for £2.50 per month, saving you 50% on list price.

It feels like the world of VPNs is expanding, with more and more providers entering the market and increased demand from users. 

This market can be a daunting place, especially as you probably won't be familiar with most of the available providers. This doesn't mean you shouldn't consider these services, but we totally understand if you're reluctant to invest in an unknown provider.

Fortunately for those who would prefer to subscribe to an established provider, there are plenty of options from the leading names in securityNorton is one such brand, with a comprehensive VPN service on sale for just £2.50 per month. Read more...

Last year, when we felt interest in artificial intelligence (AI) was approaching a fever pitch, we created a survey to ask about AI adoption. When we analyzed the results, we determined the AI space was in a state of rapid change, so we eagerly commissioned a follow-up survey to help find out where AI stands […]

Even with a stellar crisis plan, the COVID-19 pandemic presents a set of challenges unprecedented in our lifetimes. We don’t know what’s going to happen, and we’re dealing with something growing exponentially, creating uncertainty on a global scale. I managed a team of 40 in Singapore during SARS. That crisis was different, hitting Singapore and […]

Rita J. King, co-director and EVP for business development at Science House, recently conducted a series of interviews with business leaders, exploring the challenges and hurdles companies face in evolving business landscapes. In this interview, King chats with Dana Codispoti, head of HR Transformation at AIG, about how to address the human factor in business […]

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

If you’re already a software product manager (PM), you have a head start on becoming a PM for artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML). You already know the game and how it is played: you’re the coordinator who ties everything together, from the developers and designers to the executives. You’re responsible for the design, […]

Replaying Traffic to Test Proprietary Systems — using Wiresham to replay traffic to test blackbox proprietary systems. Outlaw Innovations — This paper will explore how the often illegal activities of hackers (in the original usage of the term to refer to individuals who modify computer hardware and software) may produce valuable innovations. It will explore […]

Imperial College’s COVID19 Model — in github, in R, MIT-licensed. This repository has code for replication purposes. The bleeding edge code and advancements are done in a private repository. Readings on Time — I bumped on this idea while reading Alan Kay’s writing about making the difference between mutable and immutable data “moot” in the […]

The Zero Trust Learning Curve (Palo Alto Networks) — don’t learn with the Crown Jewels. The trouble with starting with the most sensitive protect surfaces is that they’re often too fragile and many people don’t know how they work. Starting there with Zero Trust frequently results in failures. Too often, when this happens, organizations blame […]

Rufus — Create bootable USB drives the easy way. Improving Audio Quality in Duo with WaveNetEQ — Google filling in missing packets in voice calls using deep learning. CRN++ — language for programming deterministic (mass-action) chemical kinetics to perform computation. Crafting Crafting Interpreters — story behind the writing of the Crafting Interpreters book.

locust — open source load testing tool: define user behaviour with Python code, and swarm your system with millions of simultaneous users. (via @nzigel) Background Matting — a method for creating a matte – the per-pixel foreground color and alpha – of a person by taking photos or videos in an everyday setting with a […]

System Design for Advanced Beginners — a friendly explanation of the what and why of systems, with acknowledgement of the real world like There are many tools out there, each with different strengths and weaknesses, and many ways to build a technology company. The real, honest reasons that we will make many of our technological […]

The Fuzzy Edges of Character Encoding — the history, politics, and computational basics of text-based character encoding and digital representations of text, from Morse Code to ASCII to Unicode (and emoji), as well as alternative text encoding schemes. (via Everest Pipkin) AutoHotkey — an automation scripting language for Windows. The Electronic Nose and its Applications: […]

FairMOT — one-shot multi-object tracking that remarkably outperforms the state-of-the-arts on the MOT challenge datasets at 30 FPS. pipedream — IFTTT for coders. Compiler Explorer — an interactive tool that lets you type code in one window and see the results of its compilation in another window. Using the site should be pretty self-explanatory: by […]

Introduction to COBOL — a 1999 web site (!) with slides from a University of Limerick course. IBM will offer free (presumably more modern) training. zoombot — a highly advanced AI to handle Zoom calls. storybook.js — open source toolkit and sandbox to build UI components in isolation so you can develop hard-to-reach states and […]

Since early in March, technology news has been all Coronavirus, all the time. That’s a trend we expect to continue through April and probably beyond. So let’s start with Coronavirus news, and hope that we have something different for next month. Coronavirus The Coronavirus pandemic is forcing reconsideration of how private data is used.  Maciej […]

The Science of Happiness — free enrolment in Berkeley’s MOOC to teach positive psychology. Learn science-based principles and practices for a happy, meaningful life. The New Business of AI (A16Z) — many AI companies have: Lower gross margins due to heavy cloud infrastructure usage and ongoing human support; Scaling challenges due to the thorny problem […]

Coding vs Programming (John Gruber) — I’d noticed this linguistic change too. See also Engineering vs Programming vs Computer Science. Coding is shorter so it’s probably gaining in popularity because shorter is easier to say and thus more convenient. micrograd (Andre Karpathy) — A tiny Autograd engine (with a bite! :D). Implements backpropagation (reverse-mode autodiff) […]

Kanboard — free and open source Trello-like Kanban boards. Remote Work Playbook — really useful advice on the actual mechanics of working remotely, not just which tools to use but how to use them. E.g., As an individual contributor, is there something you just did that you think a colleague would have to do at […]

Nebula —open source distributed, scalable, lightning-fast graph database. COBOL Programming Course — from the Open Mainframe Project. Serverless Handbook — a resource teaching frontend engineers everything they need to know to dive into backend. Novel Annealing Processor Is the Best Ever at Solving Combinatorial Optimization Problems (IEEE Spectrum) — Dubbed STATICA (Stochastic Cellular Automata Annealer […]

CastleDB — a structured static database […]. CastleDB looks like any spreadsheet editor, except that each sheet has a data model. […] stores both its data model and the data contained in the rows into an easily readable JSON file. […] allows efficient collaboration on data editing. Mainframes Are Having a Moment (IEEE Spectrum) — […]

It’s Time to Learn (Scott Berkun) — a strong response to Marc Andreessen’s It’s Time to Build. It feels like we are in a disrupted time when anything is possible, and folks are wondering where the levers are to pull. pygraphistry — a library to extract, transform, and visually explore big graphs. Desert Island Devops […]

Posthog — open source product analytics. Into the Mainframe (Recurse) — the interviews with two mainframe programmers are a great reminder of how much things have changed. And how they haven’t. For instance, later in my career I kept a weighted punching clown in my office. As programmers, we liked our users, but we also […]

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

Moloch — Large scale, open source, indexed packet capture and search. 3Dify Instagram Photos — open source toolset for adding a 3d effect to photos on Instagram’s web site. It uses 3d-photo-inpainting running in Colab (free GPU) and Cloud pubsub/storage for communication. A glimpse of the future: we could augment all our apps with deep […]

The Suddenly Remote Playbook — I just want to note that if you have to look after kids when you’re supposed to be working, you’re not working from home. Not everyone’s getting a glorious introduction to the delights of working from home. taichi — a programming language designed for high-performance computer graphics. It is deeply […]

Teleforking a Process onto a Different Computer — a working proof of concept (I just don’t replicate tricky things so that I could keep it simple, meaning it’s just a fun tech demo you probably shouldn’t use for anything real) of a telefork() function call that spawns a process on another machine and returns the […]