Month: December 2021

Corona virus

@justice.dodson

Reply to @user646472910474810 Corona or Corona? ##foryou ##microscope ##science ##TargetHalloween ##MakeItCinematic

♬ Pink Soldiers – 23

It’s probably no surprise that many, many, many people ask to see the coronavirus up close and personal. Although Dodson does a bit of a bait-and-switch here.

He starts the video by letting us know, “I have Corona, so I can finally show you what it looks like under a microscope”

… and then proceeds to pull out a Corona beer bottle.

This was still a teachable moment, because we learned that the virus is way too small and would need a much more powerful device to be visible. Something called an electron microscope. Sounds like something from a Marvel movie.

As one person commented, “I was excited, disappointed, and informed all in the span of 30 seconds,” and that accurately sums it all up.

Pepperoni

@justice.dodson

Reply to @that_trippy_chick22 Cow + Pig = Pepperoni ##foryou ##microscope ##velabco ##wehavethemeats ##CurameChoreo

♬ #3 – Aphex Twin

It looks like pimply skin, then a gaseous planet. Don’t watch before pizza.

Octopus sucker

@justice.dodson

Davy Jones vibes 🐙 ##foryou ##microscope ##velabco ##ocotpus ##NissanShowUp

♬ Davy Jones Theme (Pirates of the Caribbean) – Je Suis Parte

First off, an octopus is already fun to look at. But Dodson took a piece of an octopus arm (I’m guessing from a market?) and under the microscope it looks even more like an alien creature.

Bonus points for creativity, as he used the “Davy Jones Theme” from “Pirates of the Caribbean” for his audio. I giggled at that.

It’s also great to see that Dodson is inspiring other scientists-in-training, as many share their appreciation, knowledge and enthusiasm in the comments.

One person wrote, “hoping to be a medical lab scientist one day, love your videos.”

Bug squishing

@justice.dodson

Reply to @defender2090 I found it like this all shriveled up 🙁 ##foryou ##microscope ##velabco ##123PandoraME ##TakeTheDayOffChallenge

♬ The Banjo Beat, Pt. 1 – Ricky Desktop

People really, really, really like the squishing ones.

Halloween pumpkin

@justice.dodson

Reply to @user646472910474810 Happy Halloween! 🎃 ##foryou ##microscope ##pumpkin ##velabco ##science ##PUBGMOBILE

♬ Halloween Theme – John Carpenter & Cody Carpenter & Daniel Davies

Holy moly, that crazy transformation from 100x to 400x. I will never think of jack-o-lanterns the same way again.

Blood + wine

@justice.dodson

Reply to @hnnh.cstr Red wine, extra red 🩸🔬 ##velabco ##microscope ##science ##wine ##JifRapChallenge

♬ Je te laisserai des mots – Patrick Watson

In a beautiful cascade, the red blood cells meet their demise, due to the alcohol.

So yeah, in case you were considering it, don’t inject red wine!

Dollar bill

@justice.dodson

Reply to @.seanm RIP George ##foryou ##CowboyBebop ##MunchiesWithTubi ##microscope ##velabco ##science

♬ where is my mind – jewel :*

I was half hoping for some kind of hidden clue-like message that “National Treasure” always promised us. But still quite cool to see.

Especially toward the end where you see how money is a bunch of fibers seemingly sewn together. There’s a metaphor for capitalism somewhere in there.

Mold … from a water bottle

@justice.dodson

##stitch with @noelmulk0 Do you have mold in your water bottle? 🔬🔬 ##foryou ##microscope ##velabco ##mold ##k18hairflip

♬ original sound – Justice Dodson

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Dodson’s TikToks, it’s that nowhere is safe.

Water bear

@justice.dodson

Reply to @nikki_smiht LOOK AT THOSE LITTLE CLAWS 🥺 ##foryou ##microscope ##velabco ##MyBrawlSuper ##waterbear ##tardigrade

♬ Elf – Main Theme – Geek Music

Found inside a little puddle on moss and dirt, and with a bonus tardigrade egg!

This is one of the cuter ones, most definitely.

Espresso cream

@justice.dodson

Reply to @user646472910474810 lil bubbles ##foryou ##microscope ##CustomersMostLoved ##velabco ##DoTheJuJu

♬ original sound – джузель

It basically looks like a bubble bath, making me love coffee even more.

Banana

@justice.dodson

Bananas making bananas 🍌 ##foryou ##didyouknow ##microscope ##velabco ##SaveIt4TheEndZone ##banana ##cells

♬ Eleanor Rigby – Cody Fry

Why no, Dodson, I did not know that banana cells look just like little bananas. But I certainly can’t un-know it moving forward.

We all have a science nerd inside, an inner curiosity that wants to know how things work, both big and small.

That’s what makes TikTok truly amazing for its bite-sized glimpses into subjects we might not otherwise be aware of.

Trust me, I did not wake up thinking I’d go down a rabbit hole like this one, but I’m so glad I did. Thanks Justice Dodson for sharing your passion and for helping us see the world in a whole new way.

You know how sometimes you see something come through your social media feed and you think, “There’s no way that’s real,” only to then have your mind blown when you find out it actually is real?

This is one of those times.

Twitter user @litcapital shared a post that appeared to be a screenshot from the IRS website with two entries on it:

“Illegal activities. Income from illegal activities, such as money from dealing illegal drugs, must be included in your income on Schedule 1 (Form 1040), line 8z, or on Schedule C (Form 1040) if from your self-employment activity.

Stolen property. If you steal property, you must report its fair market value in your income in the year you steal it unless you return it to its rightful owner in the same year.”

Yes, you read that right. Dealing illegal drugs? Gotta pay taxes on that income. Stealing property? Gotta report that as income.

Tax szn is around the corner. Remember to report your income from illegal activities and stolen property to the IRSpic.twitter.com/c4S1yMZJLz

— litquidity (@litquidity)
1640623591

Surely this is made up, right?

Nope. Go here: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17. Do a “Find” search with your browser and enter the word “illegal.” Then put in “stolen.” You’ll find the entries listed under “Other Income,” worded just like this.

We can all agree that taxes are overly complicated, and few of us have the time to read through every single IRS publication to figure them out. But requiring criminals to report illegal activity and stolen goods on their taxes? Really?

Someone had to actually come up with this policy. Someone had to say, “Hey, I think we should tell criminals that they have to report their criminal profits on their taxes,” and someone else had to say, “Yeah, that’s a good idea.” Someone had to approve it. Someone had to type it up and publish it, too.

Did they all do this with a straight face? Was it a serious conversation? Did any brave soul say, “Um, that’s stupid. No one is going to do that,” because it’s obviously stupid and clearly no one is going to do that?

That was my first thought upon seeing these tax requirements.

Add seven zeros to your example and youu2019ve just explained how corporate accounting works.

— Jimmy (@Jimmy)
1640647896

However, as it turns out, there actually is a good reason these policies exist. Illegal income does get reported sometimes, namely when someone has been caught (or thinks they’re about to be caught) in some illegal activity and they don’t want to get hit with a tax evasion charge in addition to whatever financial or property theft crime they’ve committed.

According to CNN Money, New England accountant Tom Hughes paid taxes on money he stole from his clients in 1999, 2001 and 2004. “I knew the money was taxable, there was no doubt about that,” Hughes told the outlet. “I had already been caught, and I didn’t want to face federal tax charges.”

He now gives speeches on financial crime and professional responsibility. Go figure.

However, Hughes is the exception, as tax experts told CNN that most criminals don’t report their illegal incomes. Duh. According to San Francisco tax attorney Stephen Moskowitz, most of those who do are facing embezzlement charges and are trying to avoid Al Capone-ing themselves. He has helped some of those clients document their illegal gains to avoid doubling their legal trouble due to illegal tax activity.

I see this ridiculed a lot, and it is funny on the face of it, but it’s not a ridiculous thing. In order to bust someone for evading taxes on income from illicit activity, you have to have a rule against it. Anti-murder laws also seem funny from a certain angle.

— Dan Mitchell (@Dan Mitchell)
1640627136

So basically, we have to have official tax requirements for illegal income in order for criminals to not be able to get away with tax evasion for that income. Still seems like a bizarre policy to actually write out in words, though, even if it makes sense from a legal perspective.

Humans are weird and money is weird and both things just seem to keep getting weirder. Yay us.

The recent surge of Covid-19 cases in America due to the Omicron variant has led to a string of cancellations and adjustments. First, Saturday Night Live canceled Charli XCX’s scheduled appearance, and then The Strokes canceled their New Year’s Eve performance, followed quickly by The Flaming Lips postponing their shows. Although those three were just precautions, another New Year’s Eve cancelation from rap legend LL Cool J is due to the artist testing positive for the virus.

Deadline reported that LL Cool J will no longer perform at Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest and shared a statement from the rapper, who had an optimistic outlook, despite his current status. “I know it’s disappointing to the millions of fans but my test came back positive for COVID, which means I’ll no longer be able to perform as scheduled at NYRE,” he said in a statement. “We were ready and I was really looking forward to ringing in 2022 in my hometown in a special way, but for now I wish everyone a healthy and happy New Year. The best is yet to come!”

LL was schedule for a pre-midnight set in Times Square, but that will have to wait until another year.

One of the year’s many high-profile court cases came to a conclusion on Wednesday. Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite accused of helping her late ex-boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein sexual assault minors, was found guilty of five of the six counts filed against her.

Maxwell had been accused of recruiting and grooming four underage girls for Epstein between 1994 and 2004. (Epstein died in prison in 2019, reportedly of suicide.) During the trial’s closing arguments, Manhattan prosecutor Allison Moe referred to her as Epstein’s “partner-in-crime.” She added, “Ghislaine Maxwell made her own choices. She committed crimes hand in hand with Jeffrey Epstein. She was a grown woman who knew exactly what she was doing,”

Maxwell’s attorneys tried to argue that their client was being used as a scapegoat for Epstein’s crimes.

Epstein and Maxwell dated for several years in the ‘90s. Shortly after Epstein’s death, Maxwell bought home in New Hampshire for $1 million in cash. She remained out of the public eye until she was arrested in July of 2020. She made much out of what she claimed were unfair and “onerous” treatment in prison.

The trial itself didn’t have the melodramatic turns of the ones for Kyle Rittenhouse (who was acquitted) and Jussie Smollett (who was not). Among the more shocking revelations were the names of people who fraternized with Epstein, including Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker. There was also grim testimony from the four women Maxwell helped groom, two of whom said they were 14 when Epstein’s abuse began. Three of them said Maxwell had inappropriately touched them.

Maxwell could face up to 70 years in prison. It was reported over the summer that another Epstein associate, Donald Trump, once considering pardoning her before his single term ended.

(Via Reuters)

Ricky Rubio‘s latest stop in his long and winding NBA career is Cleveland, where the veteran point guard has provided a steady hand in the backcourt for the upstart Cavaliers. Unfortunately, Rubio suffered a nasty looking injury on Tuesday night during the team’s 108-104 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans in which he appeared to slip while driving to the lane and his left knee buckled, which led to him getting helped off the floor.

It was reported that Rubio would undergo an MRI on his knee to learn the extent of the injury, and on Wednesday afternoon, the unfortunate news that Rubio’s season was over after tearing his ACL was announced by the team.

Losing Rubio is a gigantic loss for the Cavaliers, as Collin Sexton is already slated to miss the remainder of the year following surgery to repair a torn meniscus. In the short-term, the team has to figure out its point guard rotation while Darius Garland is sidelined due to his insertion into the league’s health and safety protocols. The team has, over the last month, given more minutes to journeyman guard Kevin Pangos.

On the year, Rubio is putting forth averages of 13.1 points, 6.6 assists, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.4 steals in 28.5 minutes per game.

Jadakiss has been back on the forefront of the rap world recently, after The Lox had one of the most successful resurgence during their Verzuz battle with Cam’ron and Dipset this past summer. It was to the point that even LeBron James was talking about his legendary status after the battle.

Now, on his new show on Facebook Watch, The Pull Up, Jada has the chance to share some of his views on life as a veteran. The show features different guests coming through on different episodes to chop it up with Jada, and during his fifth episode, with guest rapper Lil Cease, he began to pontificate on the virtues of being healthy and taking care of yourself. He even went so far as to call the process “gangsta” and noted that he helped make working out a cool part of the rap world.

“I think healthy is gangsta,” Kiss said around the 2:20 mark during the show. “Everybody want to be tough guys and this and that, and rich. If you not healthy, you can’t be alive to spend your money. If you not healthy, you can’t enjoy the party, you can’t enjoy the perks of life, you won’t be here to see your kids graduate, to see ’em score they first touchdown, to see things like that. So health is more important than anything.”

Check out the full episode below.

It might be a slow week for the rest of the music industry, but Nicki Minaj is apparently keeping her focus on business. Despite being a relatively new mother, Minaj has something major in the works for 2022 — and it’s not just a follow-up to her latest album Queen. In a new Instagram post, director Deon Taylor of Meet The Blacks, Fatale, and the soon-to-be-released, Fear, made it clear that his next project is going to involve the Pinkprint rapper.

“Wait, everything just got different !!” Taylor captioned a group selfie on his Instagram grid, which features Nicki, philanthropist Robert F. Smith, producer Roxanne Avent, Quality Control president Brian Sher (who branched out into Quality Control film and television earlier this year), and himself. “Wait till I tell you….. I’m gone,” he continued, tagging each of the celebrities and using a bevy of flame emojis to indicate his… excitement?

Sher also posted the selfie with similar sentiments, but focused his attention on Nicki in the caption: “Here goes…” he wrote, tagging Nicki in the post.

Fans are assuming that the project will be a new documentary/HBO docuseries focused on Nicki and her career, as the project was announced back in 2020. Nothing official from Onika yet, but keep your eyes peeled for an announcement hopefully coming soon.

CRSSD Festival, which took a year off in light of… well… you know, is returning to San Diego’s Waterfront Park in spring 2022, announcing its lineup and event dates, March 5 and 6. While the festival was originally held semi-annually showcasing the latest and greatest in electronic and house music, the coming year’s lineup has expanded to include acts like Glass Animals, a rock band, and R&B singer Cautious Clay. However, it’ll also stick close to its roots with the addition of electronic duo Sofi Tukker, among others.

With three stages and dozens of artists, the festival will offer a wide selection of experiences, from London house stapes Four Tet and Ben UFO b2b Joy Orbison to global techno favorites. Pre-sale for past ticket buyers begins Tuesday, January 4 at 11 am PT, while general sale opens on January 5. You can find more information here. Check out the flyer and full lineup below.

CRSSD Spring 2022 Lineup (ABC):
070 Shake
Absolute.
Adam Beyer
Ben UFO b2b Joy Orbison
Blu DeTiger
Cautious Clay
Chet Faker
Dan Shake
Eli Brown
Felix Da Housecat
Four Tet
Franc Moody
Get Real
Glass Animals
Gorgon City
Ilario Alicante
Jeff Mills
Joris Voorn
Kyle Watson
Lastlings
Maxinne
Danilo Plessow (MCDE)
Miane
Nina Kraviz b2b Helena Hauff
Parcels
PAX
Sam Paganini
SG Lewis
SOFI TUKKER live
+ More To Be Announced

Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer (Netflix series) — The first installment (The Vanishing At The Cecil Hotel) in this series arrived through the game changing ways of director Joe Berlinger, who’s navigating from within the true crime genre. In this new installment, the Times Square Killer gets the spotlight, along with the the social and systemic forces that facilitated this serial murderer. In the process, all the danger and depravity of 1970s and early 1980s midtown Manhattan will make those few blocks a spectacle of their own. Here, the location is as much of a character as those who perpetrate the crimes, and the central focus is on an elusive killer who takes advantage of the virtually lawless nature of the venue’s perfect storm of a sexual playground. The first responders are shocked by what they find here, and you will feel that way, too.

Anxious People (Netflix limited series series) — This dramedy revolved around a failed bank robber who tries to heist a bank, except the catch here is that it’s a cashless institution. In the process, he takes a group of people hostage, and the whole joint ends up falling to pieces because a pair of dysfunctional cops can’t get it together. In the aftermath, the hostages tell the tale, and everyone’s got a different version. It’s a trippy puzzle, overall, especially when it comes to the hostages’ secret.

In case you missed these streaming picks from last Wednesday:

The Matrix Resurrections (HBO Max film) — Keanu Reeves can still do kung fu as Neo, and Carrie-Anne Moss can still kick ass, and much mystery still swirls about the actual plot of this franchise revival. Lana Wachowski wrote and directed, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II channels Morpheus, and Neo (for whatever reason) has a rubber duck in his head during a bath. Here’s who is joining these forces of cinematic nature: Jessica Henwick, Neil Patrick Harris, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Christina Ricci, and Jada Pinkett Smith. Oh, and Jonathan Groff portrays an apparent upgrade on Agent Smith, all while things stay as trippy and action packed as always. Whoa to the max.

During the holidays, some movie theaters don’t only show the latest blockbusters. Some will show older Christmas movies; this year, Regal charged $5 for Elf and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. But a new viral TikTok video shows one audience receiving a cinematic lump of coal: Those who went to see the Benedict Cumberbatch version of The Grinch, from 2018, instead watched as the projectionist tried to stream it over Amazon Prime — and ran into a technical glitch.

The video shows an audience loudly groaning as the silver screen shows not the CGI animated take on the Dr. Seuss classic but someone navigating through Amazon’s streaming video service. When whoever’s in charge tries to play the movie, they’re greeted with a message saying the account had reached the maximum number of videos streaming at once, implying that other theaters at the location were also playing movies off Amazon.

It’s not clear where the theater is located, if it’s a massive chain or a locally-owned business, or what the audience was charged, if anything.

In the TikTok video, @rachel.m00re wrote “actual footage from our local movie theatre.” The crowd can be heard mocking the attempts to stream off a streamer, launching into derisive laughter when they’re blocked from showing the movie. The caption on the video reads, “Apparently our movie theatre runs off fire tv & renting Amazon prime movies.”

As of this writing, the video has been viewed over two million times. The comments were savage. “Movie theatres splitting one subscription like the rest of us,” one person wrote. “This is extremely illegal and against Amazon ToS and copyright in general,” another pointed out, adding, “This is hilarious.”

(Via Newsweek)