Boing Boing

The Walkaway tour is in its literary festival phase now, and my next stop is an appearance this Sunday at the Printers Row Lit Fest in Chicago, where I'll be talking Walkaway with the incredible Mary Robinette Kowal at 11:30 (free tickets here). (more…)

My daughter and I have set up a small maker space in our house and we are stocking it with components. Our latest acquisition: this 37-piece Arduino sensor and effector kit. It's a great deal at $24.Here's what's inside:Joystick ModuleRelay ModuleRotary Encoder ModuleDS-3231 RTC ModuleUltrasonic Sensor ModuleHC-SR501 PIR sensor Module Flame Sensor ModuleLinear Hall ModuleMetal Touch ModuleDigital Temperature ModuleBig Sound ModuleSmall Sound ModuleRGB LED ModuleSMD RGB ModuleTwo-tone Color Module7 Color Flash ModuleLaser Emit ModuleShack ModuleIR Receiver ModuleIR Emission ModuleTilt Switch ModuleButton ModuleActive Buzzer ModulePassive Buzzer Module18B20 temp ModulePhoto-resistor ModuleTemperature and Humidity ModuleGY-521 ModulePhoto-interrupter ModuleTap Module Membrane Switch ModuleAvoidance ModuleTracking ModuleMagnetic Spring ModuleWater Lever Sensor Power Supply ModuleLCD1602 Module (with pin header)

On Saturday, Alex Honnold became the first person to free solo climb the 3,000-foot wall of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, California. Look ma, no rope! "Honestly, I think this is the most satisfied I’ve ever been," he said afterwards. "It was exactly what I hoped for. I felt so good. It went pretty much perfectly.""Climber Completes the Most Dangerous Rope-Free Ascent Ever" (via @nadiamdrake)"First Interview With the Climber Who Scaled El Capitan Without a Rope" (Nat Geo)(photo by Jimmy Chin)

Ginsberg's HOWL isn't merely a masterwork of poetry, nor is it merely a classic; it is also an indelible part of American free speech jurisprudence: when US Customs seized copies of the poem on their way into New York from the British printer's presses, the resulting obscenity trial made history. (more…)

This can't be good for Fyre Media co-founders Billy McFarland and Ja Rule: leaked emails and documents show that organizers were not only grossly incompetent, they didn't seem to particularly care that the Fyre Festival was doomed.From Mic:In an urgent April 3 email with the subject line, "RED FLAG- BATHROOMS/ SHOWER SHIPPING," a mid-level Fyre Festival worker alerted senior staff, including 25-year-old co-founder Billy McFarland and Fyre Media president Conall Arora, of a growing crisis: the unexpectedly high costs (estimated to be at least $400,000) of shipping enough toilets and showers to the Bahamas to accommodate an anticipated 2,500 people on the island.This followed the news that its caterer, Starr Catering Group, had just pulled out of the festival. Those two events prompted one assistant on the email thread to joke, "No one is eating so therefore no ones pooping."Here's another snapshot from the train wreck:But there was one problem with Weinstein's plan: Those luxury villas — which Fyre Media marketed on its website and sold for thousands of dollars to attendees — don't seem to have existed.Two days later, on April 22, Weinstein sent an email to staff strongly suggesting a campaign begin to reach out to the influencers planning to attend — and prepare them for seriously reduced accommodations."It is my opinion based on conversations with influencers, that the majority of them are not going to receive what they were promised," Weinstein said in a note urging Fyre staff to be more transparent. "In speaking to even low level influencers, it was clear they expected their own rooms at private villas on the beach. Of course, these villas don't exist."After reading this, it's clear that the only way McFarland could avoid being sent to prison is if Trump appoints him to Secretary of HUD.Image of Mr. McFarland by Ian Moran. Image of Mr. Rule by Digo 015

Last month, a dozen young cows in Levron, Switzerland mysteriously leapt off a cliff and plummeted to their deaths 165 feet below. A thirteenth cow survived the jump by landing on the others. From Mysterious Universe:The calves, 13 Hérens aged 6-8 months, were found at the bottom of a 50 meter (165 foot) drop and all were dead except for the one on top, which was taken to an animal hospital in nearby Cern where it was treated for a broken jaw. The rest were cremated at a meat waste facility, to the dismay of a local animal warden who wanted to inspect them to help determine why they leaped to their deaths...Norbert Terrettaz, president of a local farming insurance company, suspects the cows were chased or spooked by a wolf, a lynx or a dog. However, that doesn’t explain the fact that there were no scratches or bites on the corpses, no tracks or spores on top of the cliff and no explanation for why the yaks didn’t run too – either off the cliff or, after hearing the splats, in the opposite direction.

Various sources this morning report that Uber had an all-hands meeting in which staff were told more than 20 employees are being fired as the result of a company investigation into claims of discrimination and sexual harassment. (more…)

It's been two years since the net came together to raise funds to support Werner Koch, who maintains the absolutely vital GnuPG email encryption system, used daily by millions to protect the privacy and integrity of their email. (more…)

What we already know is bad. But it's worse than we know.Senator Mark Warner, ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, says Russia's attacks on our election systems were more broad in scope, and targeted more states, than what the leaked NSA documents published yesterday by The Intercept indicate. (more…)

Watch as this bulldog is fascinated by this horror flick (does anyone know the name of the movie?), jumping up and barking at the scariest parts – especially when the girl seems to be in danger. I don't have a dog but this makes me want one!

And if you don't know, now you know. (The Hood Internet)Featuring:2 Pac, 50 Cent, A Tribe Called Quest, Afrika Bambaataa, Audio Two, AZ, Beastie Boys, BG, Big Pun, Biz Markie, Black Rob, Black Sheep, Blackstreet, Bobby Shmurda, Boogie Down Productions, Busta Rhymes, Cali Swag District, Cam'ron, Chamillionaire, Chance The Rapper, Clipse, Common, Craig Mack, Cypress Hill, David Banner, De La Soul, Dead Prez, Digable Planets, Digital Underground, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, DJ Kool, DJ Quik & Kurrupt, DMX, Doug E Fresh, Dr. Dre, Drake, Eazy-E, Eminem, Eric B. & Rakim, Funky 4+1, Gang Starr, Geto Boys, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, GZA, House of Pain, Ice Cube, J-Kwon, Jadakiss, Jay Electronica, Jay-Z, JJ Fad, Juvenile, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Kid Cudi, KRS-One, Lauryn Hill, Lil Jon & The Eastside Boys, Lil Kim, Lil Troy, Lil Wayne, LL Cool J, Ludacris, Madvillain, MC Shan, Meek Mill, MF DOOM, Missy Elliott, Mobb Deep, Montell Jordan, MOP, Nas, Naughty By Nature, Nelly, Nicki Minaj, Notorious BIG, NWA, Ol Dirty Bastard, Outakst, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, Petey Pablo, Pharaohe Monch, Public Enemy, Puff Daddy, Quad City DJs, Rich Boy, Rick Ross, Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock, Run-DMC, Salt N Pepa, Scarface, Schoolly D, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Skee-Lo, Slick Rick, Snoop Dogg, Soulja Boy, Sugarhill Gang, T La Rock, T-Wayne, T.I., Terror Squad, The Fat Boys, The Fatback Band, The Fugees, The Game, The Pack, The Pharcyde, The Roots, Three 6 Mafia, Tone Loc, Tyga, UGK, Usher, UTFO, Warren G, Whodini, Wreckx-N-Effect, Wu-Tang Clan, Ying Yang Twins, Young Gunz

The Nobel Foundation has the audio of Bob Dylan's Nobel Lecture.And somebody – somebody I’d never seen before – handed me a Leadbelly record with the song “Cottonfields” on it. And that record changed my life right then and there. Transported me into a world I’d never known. It was like an explosion went off. Like I’d been walking in darkness and all of the sudden the darkness was illuminated. It was like somebody laid hands on me. I must have played that record a hundred times.It was on a label I’d never heard of with a booklet inside with advertisements for other artists on the label: Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, the New Lost City Ramblers, Jean Ritchie, string bands. I’d never heard of any of them. But I reckoned if they were on this label with Leadbelly, they had to be good, so I needed to hear them. I wanted to know all about it and play that kind of music. I still had a feeling for the music I’d grown up with, but for right now, I forgot about it. Didn’t even think about it. For the time being, it was long gone.

We already know Uber's been investing millions of dollars in the future of self-driving. Now Lyft is making similar moves, including a partnership with Boston-based nuTonomy, a self-driving car startup founded by an MIT guy. (more…)

I once saw a driver in front of me whose body started shaking, but by the time I computed what was going on (noticing that the driver's car was starting to veer into oncoming traffic) a good samaritan jumped into the moving car, put it into park, and helped the person having the seizure. That was years ago, but yesterday another hero in Illinois was quick on his feet and helped out this driver in need.

Somehow having a 10-year-old around makes pens evaporate! These erasable gel ink pens are favorites.We seem to lose a lot of pens. These fine point Pilot gel pens have become the ones to order for replacement. The ink really does erase, even after a trip through the washing machine. Very cool for anyone who folks who make mistakes. Trust me, mistakes are made.Pilot FriXion Clicker Retractable Erasable Gel Pens, Fine Point, Assorted Color Inks, 7-Pack (31472) via Amazon

The US aviation industry is highly concentrated, with only four major airlines left in the country; for years, they've been lobbying to get rid of the FAA and take over their own safety oversight. (more…)

Beaker is a project from Dat, a "grant-funded, open-source, decentralized data sharing tool." It's a browser that lets you easily create websites using Markdown, or fork any existing website to make it suit your needs, and then share those sites peer-to-peer, without the need for servers in the middle. (more…)

Choi + Shine Architects created these beautiful knitted sea urchin sculptures for an outdoor installation in Singapore. (more…)

On his YouTube channel, filmmaker Peter McKinnon shares some simple but helpful tips on how to get smoother handheld footage without any special equipment. He also recorded a follow-up video on the basic tools amateur filmmakers can use to get a more cinematic look:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYBRfQY1Wqg

Food photographer Michael Zee uses his Instagram SymmetryBreakfast to document the beautifully symmetrical meals he makes for himself and his husband every morning. You can see some of my favorites below and even more gorgeous photos on Instagram.https://www.instagram.com/p/BUV69LYgltf/https://www.instagram.com/p/BU8EpOjgJaE/https://www.instagram.com/p/BUtFB_sAUJz/https://www.instagram.com/p/BR1x9PdgsWK/https://www.instagram.com/p/BUNvoSTgMKR/https://www.instagram.com/p/BTh94Q1ACN1/https://www.instagram.com/p/BTKw6S2Aw2e/https://www.instagram.com/p/BULJ7d3ABkW/https://www.instagram.com/p/BU5lIqpgyhC/[via My Modern Met]

This wonderful and freaky GIF comes from a competition hosted by B3ta. You can see the original GIF created by the user ? and you can also follow B3ta on Facebook. Here are the two Donalds for comparison:

Hank Green of the Vlogbrothers offers a simple intro to the Paris climate accord and why it matters that Donald Trump has withdrawn the U.S. from it.

Every time I imagine that Richard Kadrey has run out of ends-of-all-creation to torture his long-running, hard-boiled supernatural antihero Sandman Slim with, he surprises me with a bigger, badder, meaner, scarier end-of-days than the last, and with the eighth volume in the series, The Kill Society, Kadrey pulls out all the stops. (more…)

Disney fans here have been much preoccupied with the retheming of “Tower of Terror” to “Guardians of the Galaxy—Mission Breakout” at Disney California Adventure, and the opening of Pandora at Animal Kingdom in Walt Disney World. On the other side of the planet at Tokyo DisneySea (one of the best Disney parks in the world—ask anyone who’s been there, or just look at a photo below) the latest attraction to open is “Nemo and Friends SeaRider.” The new ride, which opened on May 12, replaces one of the park’s 2001 opening day attractions, “Stormrider.” That ride was kind of like a bigger version of “Star Tours,” but not nearly as good. You could see the seams all over the large screen, thus destroying the illusion that you were supposed to be looking out a large observation window at the front of a new type of plane. Said aircraft was designed to drop a “fuse” into the center of a hurricane which immediately dissipates it. The ride was not the best thing Walt Disney Imagineering has done, and it usually had the shortest line in Tokyo DisneySea, about 20 to 40 minutes in a park where two- and three-hour lines are the norm.They just fixed it by redoing the entire thing with an overlay from the film Finding Dory. There are many Disney park enthusiasts who bemoan the conversion of a ride with an original storyline and characters to that of an Intellectual Property (“IP”) which Disney owns. Personally, I don’t care as long as the ride is good. And from all reports “Nemo and Friends SeaRider” is good. As in the film Fantastic Voyage (or Disney’s own ride “Body Wars” which had a propensity to make its riders barf), you enter a vehicle, in this case the SeaRider, which is then magically reduced in size. Thus you are able to participate in the frolics with Nemo, Dory, and the other anthropomorphized undersea critters.What surprised everyone on opening day is that there are at least two, and likely more, different films and ride sequences, making subsequent visits a necessity (at least for the Disney-infected, such as myself),So take a looksee! https://youtu.be/oWyFr4jSBZ0https://youtu.be/U4zNQCDiSeUVia Disney and More.

Etsy seller Kooj of Northfield, NJ (everything is legal in New Jersey!) makes beautiful, well-reviewed handmade bathing suits, including a timely range of Wonder Woman suits: with skirts, bikinis, one-piece (closed back or peek-a-boo) and kids' sizes, handwash cold water, XS to XXL, made to your measurements. (See also: Captain America) (more…)

Reality Leigh Winner, 25, has been arrested over charges she leaked top secret National Security Agency documents referenced in this Intercept story about Russia's cyberwar on U.S. voting infrastructure. She is identified as an NSA contractor. (more…)

The Trump Organization is set to launch a budget-minded “three-star hotel chain with a patriotic flair, echoing President Trump’s campaign slogan about putting America first and reflecting the organization’s promise to enter into new deals only in the United States,” the New York Times reports: (more…)

Dad said he'd mow the lawn. A tornado was coming. Nevertheless, he persisted. Thenius Wessels of Three Hills Canada was photographed in this amazing, now-viral shot, mowing the damn lawn in the shadow of a looming tornado. (more…)

An anonymously leaked Top Secret NSA report on Russian state hackers interfering with the US elections has been published by The Intercept, which had the documents independently analyzed by a who's-who of America's leading security experts. (more…)

Please join me, Brewster Kahle and our special guests for a big AccessTo Knowledge event about India on June 14th at the Internet Archive.Here's why you should come if you're in town: (more…)

"Oh Lord yeah."

The U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to hear an important digital privacy rights case that will determine if police have to get a warrant to access your cellphone location data, which is archived by wireless carriers. (more…)

After two years of not tweeting, George Conway – Kellyanne Conway's husband – took to Twitter today to respond to Trump's whiny tweets this morning about his attempted travel ban.Trump's tweets went like this:“People, the lawyers and the courts can call it whatever they want, but I am calling it what we need and what it is, a TRAVEL BAN!” “The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to S.C.”“The Justice Dept. should ask for an expedited hearing of the watered down Travel Ban before the Supreme Court - & seek much tougher version!”George Conway, who was considered for various positions in the Trump administration, according to Politico, and "was a candidate for the solicitor general post and the front-runner to head DOJ’s Civil Division until he withdrew his name from consideration last week," pulled out his rusty Twitter account to mock Trump.“These tweets may make some ppl feel better, but they certainly won't help OSG get 5 votes in SCOTUS, which is what actually matters. Sad,” Conway wrote, referring to the Office of the Solicitor General, which argues before the Supreme Court on behalf of the Trump administration...In subsequent tweets Monday, Conway made clear: “I still VERY, VERY STRONGLY support POTUS, his Admin, policies, the executive order and of course, my wonderful wife.”That’s why, he continued, “I said what I said this morning. Every sensible lawyer in WHCO and every political appointee at DOJ wd agree with me (as some have already told me). The pt cannot be stressed enough that tweets on legal matters seriously undermine Admin agenda and POTUS--and those who support him, as I do, need to reinforce that pt and not be shy about it.”https://youtu.be/8YzEUnzmH6g

Two people were arrested today on charges related to the Ghost Ship fire that killed 36 people inside a live-work artists' warehouse in Oakland last year. One of the people arrested was the promoter of the underground music performance for which those killed were gathered. (more…)

I'm skeptical of the project to keep Trump "not normal" -- not because he's not abnormal, but because the human psyche is a relentless normalizer, able to make everything from extermination camps to death row to slavery "normal" and trying not to adapt to stimulus is a hard target to shoot for. (more…)

Jonathan Odom -- aka Jon-a-Tron -- worked out that the fidget-spinner fad has created a world where we're all holding spinny things all the time, and that means we could all be holding amazing, awesome zoetropes! (more…)

Harvard rescinded admissions offers to at least 10 prospective students in April who were part of a private Facebook messaging group called “Harvard memes for horny bourgeois teens.” The students in the group exchanged obscene images and memes "mocking sexual assault, the Holocaust, and the deaths of children," according to The Harvard Crimson.Some of the messages joked that abusing children was sexually arousing, while others had punchlines directed at specific ethnic or racial groups. One called the hypothetical hanging of a Mexican child “piñata time.”The chat grew out of a roughly 100-member messaging group that members of the Class of 2021 set up in early December to share memes about popular culture. Admitted students found and contacted each other using the official Harvard College Class of 2021 Facebook group...Messages shared in the original group were mostly “lighthearted,” wrote Zhang, who said she did not post in the splitoff meme group and that her admission offer was not rescinded. But some members soon suggested forming “a more R-rated” meme chat, according to Cassandra Luca ’21, who joined the first meme group but not the second, and who also said her offer was not revoked.The official Facebook group for Harvard's class of 2021 says they have the right to revoke a student's acceptance if "an admitted student engages in behavior that brings into question his or her honesty, maturity, or moral character." Only 5.2 percent of applicants were accepted into Harvard this year (2,056 out of 40,000 applicants), and Harvard states that once a person's acceptance is rescinded, it's final.Image: Bostonian13

Palmer Luckey, the guy who founded Oculus, sold it to Facebook, and then used the money to fund racist, far-right meme creation in the 2016 election cycle is now running a Peter-Thiel-backed startup to build surveillance technology that could be part of Donald Trump's border wall. (more…)

Australian regulators are taking legal action against Apple after investigators posing as customers claim that the company wrongly refused to repair devices that had been serviced by third-party providers.Australian authorities lodged a high-profile case against Apple this year, after iPhone and iPad customers experienced a malfunction that rendered phones useless if it detects that a repair has been carried out by a non-Apple technician. The fault occurred between late 2014 until early last year.The case, set to go to trial in mid-December, accuses Apple of wrongly telling customers they were not entitled to free replacements or repair if they had taken their devices to an unauthorised third-party repairer... That advice was allegedly given even where the repair – a screen replacement, for example – was not related to the fault.This is fallout from the legendary Error 53 kiln.

Here's Maple, pup of mesmerizing looping Vines fame, getting treated to more complete renditions of songs by instrumentalist Trench. The YouTube channel also includes the 6-second classics. Maple is uncharacteristically pensive in the attached screenshot because Maple is listening to the Johnny Cash version of Hurt. (more…)

The new Wonder Woman movie is easily the best thing in the DC Extended Universe so far. And it turns out it fits quite nicely with the vibe of the 1970s TV show too.

According to Susan B. Anthony, bicycles did “more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.” In this new video, Vox explains why.

The Shed of the Year contest had a number of worthy entries in 2017, but Paul Foden got my vote just before voting closed. SWNS TV took a tour. (more…)

The average person probably assumes that mathematics is a complete system in which all mathematical statements can be proved or disproved. The fine folks at Numberphile are ready to disabuse folks of this notion with a nice overview of Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem. (more…)

“I hope you trip and fall and break your penis.”

I finally got around to checking out Tiszta Szívvel (Kills on Wheels), the Hungarian film about a paralyzed hit man. The opening titles really set the tone. (more…)

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Few things are as relaxing than an afternoon laying around in the sun. But no matter how careful you are, wet towels always seem to track some sand back home with you. The Quicksand Mat eliminates this beach-going annoyance by letting sand easily pass through.Whether you use it as a blanket or a buffer to protect your towel, any sand kicked your way falls right through this mat’s unique weave pattern. It’s completely waterproof, so you can wash off any lingering particles before stowing it in the trunk.This mesh mat helps to keep sand out of shoes, phones, and anything else you bring along. You can pick up a Quicksand Mat here in our store for 61% off—just $49.99.

Multiple attacks in London tonight are being described as a coordinated 'potential act of terrorism' by British Prime Minister Theresa May. London police confirm that more than one person was killed as a van plowed into a crowd of people at the London Bridge. One man was seen leaving the van, then running toward Borough Market, carrying a large knife. Reports of stabbings followed soon after. (more…)

Drones are the perfect way to cheaply shoot aerial video, but it can be difficult to accurately point its camera when your view is limited to a tiny smartphone screen. This quadcopter offers a first-person view of the action in immersive 3D, so you can frame your shots as if you were flying.The Micro Drone 3.0 can reach speeds of up to 45 mph, letting you capture wide swaths of landscape for up to 8 minutes straight. It captures 720p HD footage, and can be piloted up to 500 feet away with its handheld controller.This drone kit is usually $215.00, but you can pick one up for just $145.