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Mount Pelée, on the Caribbean island of Martinique, erupted in 1902, killing 30,000 people in the scenic town of Saint-Pierre. But rescuers found one man alive -- a 27-year-old laborer in a dungeon-like jail cell. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll meet Ludger Sylbaris, who P.T. Barnum called "The Only Living Object That Survived in the Silent City of Death."We'll also address some Indian uncles and puzzle over a gruesome hike.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon!

Cars: New York City, 1974–1976 collects over 100 of Langdon Clay's creepy shots of cars parked overnight on the streets of New York at its lowest ebb. The scenes evoke Taxi Driver, The Warriors, even a little Snake Plisken. (more…)

In the late 19th century, travel times became a thing of fascination as modes of transportation improved by leaps and bounds (e.g., Around the World in 80 Days, published in 1873). Great thinkers of the day like Francis Galton even devised isochrone maps, which showed how long it would take to get from a central point to other points of interest. (more…)

In this new op-ed, L.A.-based writer, actor, and trans activist Jen Richards explores the tragic phenomenon of straight men who murder the trans women they love. As she puts it, “Bigotry is rarely as simple as we’d like to believe.” Richards starts by detailing a romantic encounter she once had with a man named Mark, who suddenly became agitated. She writes: I know what the story would be if my lifeless body were later found, and if Mark were arrested. He would say that I didn’t tell him I was trans. That I came to his hotel room and it was only when we were in bed that he discovered I was “really a man.” That he panicked and the next thing he knew I was no longer breathing. If the case went to court, his lawyers would argue “trans panic,” an admissible defense in 49 states. And the only person who could contradict his statement, me, would be unable to. I would be further proof of a stubbornly pervasive narrative: the man who dresses up as a woman to trick a man. We as a society have decided that such deception justifies murder. He might go to jail for involuntary manslaughter—maybe—but there’d undoubtedly be sympathy for him, too. How awful to think you’re with a woman and have it turn out to be a man. (The unspoken subtext being “the faggot had it coming.”)No one would know that Mark sought me out in a forum specifically for men looking for trans women. That he was one of many straight men who watch trans pornography, hire trans escorts, troll Craigslist for “discreet” hookups, go to clubs trans women are known to frequent, or look for trans sex workers on the “stroll” that every city has. No one would know I don’t trick men, that I don’t need to. I made it out unharmed that night, but many women like me don’t.Richards goes on to tell the story of 17-year-old Mercedes Williamson, a trans girl killed by her boyfriend. She ties both stories into broader issues of toxic masculinity, which can be fueled by things even as seemingly innocuous as a crude joke made by a Bachelorette contestant. The full article is well worth a read and is available on Logo’s New Now Next website.

This summer, the Barbican is mounting Into the Unknown: A Journey through Science Fiction. As part of that, they will be displaying some rare Soviet-era sci-fi collectibles from the seminal Tekhikia – Molodezhi magazine, according to a great overview by It's Nice That. (more…)

Dancer/choreographer Nick Young uses The Beatles’ “Come Together” as inspiration for this gorgeously shot tap dance number.

“Welcome to Chicago!”

Thanks to everyone who came out for last night's final London event on the UK Walkaway tour, at Pages of Hackney with Olivia Sudjic; today I'm heading to Waterstones Liverpool One for an event with Dr Chris Pak, followed by a stop tomorrow at Waterstones in Birmingham and then wrapping up in the UK with an event with Adam Rutherford at the Hay Festival. (more…)

Zachary Smith writes, "Almost 30 years before Hulu's take on Margaret Atwood's feminist classic, a less-successful adaptation was filmed in Durham, NC. Here's a well-researched look at the making of that film, and its strange parallels to the community." (more…)

Timothy writes, "Diego Gómez is a Colombian conservation biologist. When he was a college student, he shared a single research paper online so that others could read and learn from it, just as he did. Diego was criminally prosecuted for copyright infringement, and faced up to 8 years in prison." (more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQwu4wff7lIGreg Gianforte is a short-tempered, hyper-conservative Montana political hopeful who is standing for the GOP in a special election for a Congressional seat; he is also invested in Russian firms that are under US sanction. (more…)

One of UK Prime Minister Theresa May's government ministers told a reporter from The Sun that the government is planning on invoking the "Technical Capabilities Orders" section of the Snoopers Charter, a 2016 domestic spying bill; the "orders" allow the government to demand that companies cease using working cryptography in their products and services, substituting it with deliberately defective code that can be broken. (more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhoH4v8xYlUGreg Gianforte, the Republican candidate in Montana's congressional election, attacked a reporter from UK newspaper The Guardian, body-slamming him and breaking his glasses.In audio recorded by Ben Jacobs, who covers the U.S. political beat, you can hear Gianforte getting shirty, then, when pressed, the muffled sounds of what Jacobs said was "the strangest thing that has ever happened to him in politics."“I’m sick and tired of you guys,” Gianforte said. “The last guy who came here did the same thing. Get the hell out of here. Get the hell out of here. The last guy did the same thing. Are you with the Guardian?”“Yes! You just broke my glasses,” Jacobs replied.“The last guy did the same damn thing,” Gianforte said.“You just body slammed me and broke my glasses,” Jacob said.“Get the hell out of here,” Gianforte yelled.Jacobs was taken to hospital but is fine—except for his specs. A TV crew and a Buzzfeed reporter were nearby at the time, each apparently getting a partial look at the altercation. The Gallatin County sheriff, Brian Gootkin, says he's investigating.One interesting aspect to Gianforte: he's a tech entrepreneur, which would account both for his emotional inability to cope with conflict and his evidently slobbish and untutored combat technique.UPDATE: Gianforte's campaign released a statement suggesting that Jacobs got physical, not Gianforte. I'm not sure if it was released before or after The Guardian published its audio of the incident, but one doubts they were aware of it.UPDATE II: The Fox affiliate news crew in the room with them released a statement, and it's completely damning for Gianforte.Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him. Faith, Keith and I watched in disbelief as Gianforte then began punching the man, as he moved on top the reporter and began yelling something to the effect of "I'm sick and tired of this!"Jacobs scrambled to his knees and said something about his glasses being broken. He asked Faith, Keith and myself for our names. In shock, we did not answer. He then said he wanted the police called and went to leave. Gianforte looked at the three of us and repeatedly apologized. At that point, I told him and Scanlon, who was now present, that we needed a moment. The men then left.To be clear, at no point did any of us who witnessed this assault see Jacobs show any form of physical aggression toward Gianforte, who left the area after giving statements to local sheriff's deputies.

This is a good homebrew documentary about Little Rascals' Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer. He was born in 1929. As an adult he held a variety of odd jobs such as dog trainer, bartender, and hunting guide. He was shot to death in 1959 during a drunken confrontation over $50 at a movie cowboy's house in Mission Hills California. He was 31.

The plan Donald Trump and the GOP released to dismantle "Obamacare," the Affordable Care Act, will increase the projected number of people without health insurance by 14 million next year and by 23 million in 2026, the Congressional Budget Office reported Wednesday. The long-awaited "CBO report" you've been hearing about in the news was finally released today, weeks after The American Health Care Act, or "Trumpcare," narrowly passed the House. The 10-year figure of 23 million people losing their insurance coverage is slightly less than originally estimated, but still completely insane. (more…)

The first law of futurism is that there are no facts about the future, only fictions. (Blank on Blank)

But his intel.The Washington Post has a bombshell report out today on how the Russians may have hoaxed former FBI director James B. Comey into his public statement on the Hillary Clinton "but her emails" investigation, which helped swing the election in Donald Trump's favor. (more…)

The TSA will be testing out expanded screening for carry-on electronics larger than a phone and certain food items at selected airports around the country. The new rules come just two days after a major terrorist attack in Manchester, UK, and stepped-up security in response. The TSA says they're “testing security screening procedures for carry-on bags at 10 U.S. airports” only, and “There are no changes to nationwide procedures.” (more…)

The keyboardist for The Incredible Bongo Band likes his job. (There's also some seriously egregious cultural appropriation happening.)

I bought this small travel case in 2011 for $14 and use it whenever I travel. Here's an article I wrote for Cool Tools a few years ago about the stuff I carry in it. It's still in great condition. Amazon has a great sale on it right now for $9.

I've bought an awful lot of books just because I liked the cover. I don't regret it. It's like buying an art print that you can pull from your shelf an admire at any time. In this Magenta article, Belinda Lanks asks noted designers about their favorite book covers.If you ask me who my favorite book jacket designer of all time is, it’s Alvin Lustig. If you ask me which of his jacket designs is my favorite, it’s impossible. It’s most certainly one of the jackets he designed for New Directions’ New Classics. Lustig essentially branded the New Direction series with a modern look that was reminiscent of what was going on in the fine art world. It’s as if he translated a Calder sculpture or a Joan Miro painting into a book cover. Each book is reduced to color, line, shape, and type to reflect the feel of the book rather than the literal content. The geometric shapes, the bold color palettes, the freeform lines still feel modern today. -- Rex Bonomelli

Speed, synthetic cannabis, and alcohol top the list for the most dangerous drugs in the 2017 Global Drug Survey, while cannabis and magic mushrooms are the safest. The results are based on the percentage of people who sought emergency medical treatment after taking one of the drugs.From The Guardian:Both [Adam] Winstock [a consultant addiction psychiatrist and founder of the Global Drug Survey] and [Brad] Burge [from the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (Maps)] said that the findings indicate a need for drug policy reform, with a focus on shifting psychedelics off the schedule one list of the most dangerous controlled substances.“Drug laws need to balance the positives and problems they can create in society and well crafted laws should nudge people to find the right balance for themselves,” said Winstock.“People don’t tend to abuse psychedelics, they don’t get dependent, they don’t rot every organ from head to toe, and many would cite their impact upon their life as profound and positive. But you need to know how to use them.”

Ukrainian professional boxer Vasyl Lomachenko jabs with incredible precision at a tennis ball attached to his hat. It's a neat training technique! All that's missing, of course, is a soundtrack of "Gonna Fly Now/Theme from Rocky."

Maker William Osman from Ventura, CA shows us how to make a cotton candy machine with an angle grinder, small metal container, motor, coffee filter, and other household/workshop materials. He worries about being able to bring his contraption onto the Maker Faire grounds, but slips it in with no problem. He then huddles under bleachers to test the machine with friends, and by their reactions it looks like some pretty scrumptious cotton candy. For the grand finale Osman demos the machine to the public, giving out free samples to passersby. That's the Maker Faire spirit!

The USPS's new "Have a Ball!" stamp series include eight circular designs of sports balls I like the design of these stamps more than the sports they celebrate!Each of the 16 self-adhesive circular stamps showcases illustrations of one of eight sports balls: baseball, basketball, football, golf, kickball, soccer, tennis, and volleyball. A special coating applied to selected areas of the stamps during the printing process gives them a textured feel. The sheet features two of each design.Mike Ryan designed the stamps and Greg Breeding served as the art director of the project. Artist Daniel Nyari created the colorful, stylized stamp art.

And that's the way it is. (via Laughing Squid)

WeWantPlates is a subreddit featuring weird plates, plates made of weird materials, and food served on things which are not even plates. The interplay between amused detachment and seething contempt is a microcosm of something much larger.

From Clickhole: "This is absolutely devastating."

Taiwan will be the first place in Asia to legalize same-sex unions, reports the BBC, after a panel of judges in Taipei ruled(PDF) that equality rights guaranteed it. Legislators have two years to pass a bill that provides "equal protection of the freedom of marriage for two persons of the same sex" before the court extends current law to apply to same-sex unions. Two of the fourteen justices filed dissenting opinions, with a third recusing themselves.BBC analyst Cindy Sui:But it's still unclear how far parliament will go.The LGBT community hopes legislators will simply amend the existing marriage laws to include same-sex couples, which would grant them the same rights enjoyed by opposite-sex couples, including in cases of adoption, parenting and inheritance - and making decisions for each other in medical emergencies.However, they fear parliament won't do that and will instead pass a new law that recognises same-sex marriages but gives them only some rights, not equal treatment in all matters. Photo: Reuters.

Britain's Home Secretary is "irritated" that U.S. intelligence officials leaked "confidential" information about the Manchester terror attack to American media, allowing them to reveal key details before U.K. media were cleared to do so. The attacker's name, the high death toll, and the fact that it was a suicide bombing were among the facts finding their way to CBS and NBC before being disclosed to local outlets.Amber Rudd said US conduct had been "irritating" and said she had made clear to her American counterparts that such leaks "shouldn't happen again".The episode comes just a week after US president Donald Trump defended his right to leak classified intelligence to other countries' leaders. Mr Trump has also criticised leaking from the US intelligence establishment.Asked on BBC Radio 4's Today programme about the US leaks, Ms Rudd said: "The British police have been very clear that they want to control the flow of information in order to protect operational integrity, the element of surprise."So it is irritating when it gets released from other sources and I have been very clear with our friends that that should not happen again."There are so many interesting prongs here: echelons of the U.S. security apparatus that don't care about intelligence partners, sources in the White House and elsewhere leaking whatever they get their hands on, the futility of trying to manage what the media knows in the presence of all this, the presumed inability of America's intelligence partners (such as the UK) to extricate themselves...

The famed Yosemite Firefall (previously) is a rare phenomenon when the setting sun hits Horsetail Fall with its dying light. Rogelio Bernal Andreo just took it to next level, capturing the even more rare moonlight firefall. (more…)

My favorite witch, Pam Grossman, editor of the phantastic art and occult blog, Phantasmaphile, and author of What is a Witch, has recently released WitchEmoji, a new messaging sticker pack for iPhone.The set offers 80 stickers in all, including the typical tools of spellcraft, symbols and sigils, and male and female witches of various skin tones. Pam created the set, with the help of icon illustrator Julia Heffernan, because she wanted to invoke more witchy symbolism in her mobile missives and there weren't many existing stickers that fit the bill. The response to the set has been extremely positive and Pam says she'd like to expand to Android and elsewhere. Given the success of the Apple set, I imagine we'll be seeing emoji-based spellcasting coming to other phones sooner than later.

When Jamahl McMurran hosted Croatian artist Lana Mesic at his home, she faced a problem: she had 15,000 loose coins from an art project. They decided to dump them on a nearby path and document the reactions, which did not disappoint. (more…)

FOLLOW @RubenBolling on the Twitters and a Face Book.JOIN Tom the Dancing Bug's subscription club, the Proud & Mighty INNER HIVE, for exclusive early access to comics, extra comics, and much more. GET Ruben Bolling’s new hit book series for kids, The EMU Club Adventures. (”Filled with wild twists and funny dialogue” -Publishers Weekly) Book One here. Book Two here. More Tom the Dancing Bug comics on Boing Boing! (more…)

While the world was agog at the news that President Trump had leaked sensitive, classified information to a Russian diplomat, the rightosphere was going bonkers over an old, dumb conspiracy theory that Seth Rich, a young DNC staffer who was murdered in DC, had been assassinated in retaliation for leaking DNC emails to Wikileaks. (more…)

For four years, photographer Louis-Marie Preau would lie motionless underwater for hours at a time to get this perfect shot of a Eurasian beaver carrying a branch back to its lodge. (more…)

In this new video, YouTubers The Gregory Brothers—the group behind Auto-Tune The News—put a country music spin on Smash Mouth’s “All Star.” It’s pretty great, but not quite as great as their country music cover of Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7JgVqbh8nE

The Ticwatch 2 Active Smartwatch is a simpler take on an active wearable that raised over $2m dollars on Kickstarter and is currently offered in the Boing Boing Store.Somewhere in between the single-day battery life and platform-specificity of the Apple Watch and Android Wear devices, there exists the Ticwatch. Instead of trying to shoehorn another app platform into a tiny watch face, this smartwatch opts for a curated collection of functionality to avoid unnecessary bloat. It gets calls and text notifications from your phone, but it relies on internal GPS and movement sensors for the most critical smartwatch duty: activity monitoring. And It still syncs data with either iPhones or Android devices to give you a bigger screen for tracking exercise goals and biometrics.The Ticwatch has a battery life of up to 2 full days, and offers fast wireless charging. Usually $199.99, you can pick up the Ticwatch 2 Active Smartwatch for 15% off at $169.99.

Last night's sold-out Walkaway tour event with Laurie Penny at Waterstones Tottenham Court Road was spectacular (and not just because they had some really good whisky behind the bar), and the action continues today with a conversation with Olivia Sudjic tonight at Pages of Hackney, where we'll be discussing her novel Sympathy as well as Walkaway. (more…)

The good people at Fight for the Future established OPERATIONCOMCASTROTURF to help you figure out if your stolen identity was used to file fake anti-net-neutrality comments with the FCC, but Comcast wants them shut down, and it's prepared to commit barratry to get its way. (more…)

In the wake of the Manchester bombing, UK Prime Minister Theresa May has become the first Prime Minister to activate "Operation Temperer," a previously leaked, secret plan to put up to 5,000 armed soldiers into the streets of Britain, taking over daily security roles from police "such as concerts and sports matches." (more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81IKostVXZkTheresa May won't use the term "austerity" to describe her government's policies, preferring the misleading phrase, "living within our means" -- a term used to describe cuts to survival basics for millions of Britons, from housing to health to food to social care. (more…)

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The PBS FRONTLINE television documentary on Trump's alt-right consigliere Steve Bannon is required viewing. The film aired tonight for the first time on PBS. (more…)

Fox News and Reuters report that U.S. President Donald Trump has retained New York-based trial attorney Marc Kasowitz to defend him in the escalating federal investigations involving Russia, espionage suspicions, and possible criminal activities. (more…)

The Federal Communications Commission will not take any action in response to complaints over the May 1 broadcast of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” in which Colbert said in his opening monologue, “the only thing [Trump’s] mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin’s c— holster.” (more…)

Want to hear a president talk again? Talk Obama To Me accepts up to 180 characters of text and pieces together a speech by Barack Obama. [via]

Sometimes you win the super macho handshake power move game. Sometimes you lose. (more…)

1Password has taken Maciej Cegłowski's demand for a "travel mode" for our technology to heart, introducing a new feature that locks you out of your own accounts when you're in situations where you might lose control of your devices or be compelled to log into your accounts without your consent. (more…)

Crosby, Stills & Nash recorded this theme song for War Games, the seminal hacker film of 1983. The tune was heard in movie trailers and in this promotional video that aired on MTV but was apparently pulled from the film. The song, "War Games," was included on the band's album Allies. From the lyrics:I am not so sure What you want me for Either your machine Is a fool, or meNow there is no time to wait No time to think it over Take the path, believe the math You'll tell me when it's over