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A sharia court in Indonesia’s ultra-conservative Aceh province has sentenced two gay men to public caning. (more…)

Before Trump fired James B. Comey last week, he asked the FBI director to end its investigation into former Trump advisor Michael Flynn and Russia, reports the New York Times. This is big news, and has since been confirmed by a number of other news organizations. (more…)

Michael from Muckrock writes, "The 'friendly' rivalry between America's East and West Coasts extends from hip-hop feuds to pizza bagels, and recently unearthed memos regarding California champagne from the CIA's declassified archive shows that even the Agency isn't immune." (more…)

Between 1838 and 1841, an enterprising London teenager repeatedly broke into Buckingham Palace, sitting on the throne, eating from the kitchen, and generally causing headaches for Queen Victoria's attendants, who couldn't seem to keep him out. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe the exploits of Edward Jones -- who some have called the first celebrity stalker.We'll also salute some confusing flags and puzzle over an extraterrestrial musician.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon!

There's some remarkable craftsmanship at work in this step-by-step video of making a large brass fidget spinner shaped like the Batman logo. The best part is they are giving it away to a viewer. (more…)

Alberta’s Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology displays a nodosaur fossil that is so well-preserved that bumps and crevasses on its surface are clearly visible. National Geographic's Robert Clark captured amazing images. (more…)

A woman in the street interrupted a live BBC television interview and the reporter gently pushed her away with his hand. Did he know where he was pushing?

I've been interviewing a lot of people via Skype recently. I like to pace around while I talk so I bought this lightweight $20 Bluetooth headset on Amazon. It paired easily to my computer (a Macbook Pro) and the sound quality is fine. I've made a point of asking the people I've been interviewing me if they can hear me clearly and they've all said yes. The manufacturer promises "up to 12 hours continuous talking time and 200 hours standby time with single fully charged in just 2 hours." It charges through a micr-USB connection (cable included).

The best part of waking up...

National Security Sharer H.R. McMaster's overnight flip from denying the Washington Post story about Comrade President sharing classified data with the Russians during his job interview last week, to calling this blunder critical for national security is par for course.It is now far easier to trust just about anyone other than the White House.Slate tears into the logic of trusting the White House:The Post’s sources have made factual allegations that can be checked. The administration hasn’t.Contrast this record with the administration’s response. The White House has released three statements. McMaster says the Post story, “as reported, is false,” but he doesn’t debunk any specific claim in the story. He says “it didn’t happen,” but he doesn’t say what “it” is. The empirical claims he makes—for example, that “at no time were intelligence sources or methods discussed”—are compatible with the Post report, which alleges not that sources and methods were explicitly discussed, but that they were inadvertently exposed by Trump’s disclosures.The other two statements released by the White House are equally hollow. Dina Powell, the White House deputy national security adviser, says: “This story is false. The president only discussed the common threats that both countries faced.” Again, the factual claim fits the Post story, and the denial is too vague to check. A third statement, issued by Tillerson, doesn’t even say the Post story is false. It just says the people in the meeting “did not discuss sources, methods or military operations.”To be fair, that last claim by Tillerson is falsifiable. Indeed, it seems false. According to McMaster, Trump “did not disclose any military operations that were not already publicly known.” It’s hard to imagine why McMaster would add the caveat about “not already publicly known” unless Trump had, contra Tillerson, discussed military operations.On Tuesday morning, Trump himself weighed in. “As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety,” he tweeted. Trump’s tweets, like his subordinates’ statements, didn’t challenge the Post’s reporting.A few hours later, at a White House briefing, reporters asked McMaster what elements of the Post story were false. He ducked the question, instead disputing what he called the story’s “premise”: that what Trump had said in the meeting was “inappropriate.” He was then asked about four claims in the story: that Trump had shared classified information, that he had revealed the city where the crucial intelligence was obtained, that the information he shared came from a U.S. intelligence partner, and that Bossert had subsequently contacted the CIA and NSA. McMaster disputed none of these allegations.

https://youtu.be/3H-Y-D3-j-MIn this 1981 Nightline interview Ted Koppel asks 26 year old Steve Jobs "There is a sense that many of us have who really don't understand how computers work, or what they do for us or to us, that we are becoming controlled by the computers. Any danger of that happening?"Jobs said: "Well, as you know, the product we manufacture, many people see it for the first time and they don't think it's a computer it's about 12 pounds you can throw it out the window if the relationship isn't going so well."

This crazy, groovy flick from the US Army was made in 1970 and features a Army Captain giving great fashion advice to a young soldier. Army Captain: Say, that's a beautiful dress. Where did you get it?Soldier: Where did I? Oh... I, uh, bought it at Lorman's last Thursday. Army Captain: You know, I wish I could wear one of those. They're really cute, but... well, I guess they're a little young for me.Soldier: But I thought, that, well, you didn't dig -- oh, excuse me ma'am, that you didn't like miniskirts and clothes like that.Army Captain: No, now that's not exactly right. We do have certain ideas about how you should look in your uniform... and I guess sometimes we do express these feelings rather strongly. How you dress in your off-duty hours is another matter… Now we do expect a girl to show good taste… but that shouldn't keep you from expressing your own individuality… take miniskirts, I think they're great, and you look good in them…If you aren't in the mood to watch all 20 minutes, here's the 3 minute highlights reel:https://youtu.be/Ow4feuNaKTI[via]

We are introducing Evezor, a robot that can carve, draw, engrave, pour, pick, place, cut, weld, print, grab, mill, assemble and create your next project or business. Powered by Raspberry Pi, open source software and hardware, Evezor is the most hackable robotic arm there is. Evezor can share and automate the hand tools you already own and with open toolhead platform, anyone can make tools for this machine. (more…)

FaceApp is a smartphone app that can add a smile to an unsmiling person's face. Olly Gibbs, the digital and print designer at Empire Magazine, used the app at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum to improve the paintings on display there.Went to a museum armed with Face App to brighten up a lot of the sombre looks on the paintings and sculptures. The results... pic.twitter.com/N0zYGAFgKW— Olly Gibbs (@ollyog) May 11, 2017And some more Face App museum creations... pic.twitter.com/0mBRgiLgCb— Olly Gibbs (@ollyog) May 12, 2017I hear your calls for more #MuseumFaceApp art! Again all from the brilliant @rijksmuseum... pic.twitter.com/xXHNTu86eW— Olly Gibbs (@ollyog) May 12, 2017

A man wearing a bright orange Home Depot apron loaded some air conditioners into a truck. No one noticed he was actually a thief until he got greedy and went into the store for more. That's when the store manager saw his name tag that said "Shannon" with flowers drawn around it. The observant manager knew the store didn't employ anybody with the name of Shannon, so he called the police.Shannon turned out to be 53-year-old Bernardo Calana from Massachusetts. The gentleman tried to tell the police he had nothing to do with the air conditioners, but the orange apron stuffed in his back pocket gave him away. This is something straight out of an I Love Lucy episode, minus the jovial laugh track to make it all good in the end.Thanks Seattle Times!Image: Enriquecornejo

Thanks to everyone (especially Neal Stephenson) who came out to last night's Walkaway event in Seattle: if you're in the area and couldn't make it, you get another chance tonight when I'll be at Bellingham's Village Books at 7PM. (more…)

A UK weapons company called Drone Defence has sold an anti-drone product to Les Nicolles prison on Guernsey that will use 20 nonspecific "disruptors" to do something to drones that will stop them from overflying the prison and smuggling in contraband. (more…)

"Willpower" began as an element of philosophical/theological arguments, used to explain riddles like how humans could commit sin even though they were created by a perfect, all-powerful god -- but it took on new meanings through the Enlightenment and then the Victorians imbued it with mystical, all-important significance, as a kind of synonym for morality and goodness. (more…)

Chris Notap used a small, cheap vacuum pump to suck the air out of a variety of plastic containers ranging from bread bags to 55 gallon drums.

Artist and animator Katsuhiro Otomo of Akira fame, with collage artist Kōsuke Kawamura, painted this view of the inside of the Tower of Babel, a perfectly fascinating pastiche of Bruegel's original, below.Eric Stimson reports:... Kawamura, who colored the painting to closely match the original. Kawamura says that he used over 25,000 layers in his editing software, "the most I've ever done in my life." He also had to carefully set the correct perspective for each brick. In the end, he doesn't even recognize his own work.Otomo visited the original painting in Rotterdam's Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen so he could study it carefully in detail. He even stumped the resident curators with his questions. For instance, they weren't sure where the tower's entrance was, but Otomo thinks he found it. He also noticed a river flowing into the tower and in the background, so he included it in his cutaway.Modeling the Library of Babel in Sketchup.

The Wall Street Journal reports that human error is still a factor in potential cockpit door breaches. (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 BONUS comics, and much more. GET Ruben Bolling’s new hit book series for kids, The EMU Club Adventures. Book One here. Book Two here. More Tom the Dancing Bug comics on Boing Boing! (more…)

Arc Symphony is a text-only game about being a fan of an elaborate Japanese Playstation RPG in the 1990s. Designed to evoke an old-timey USENET group and the ancient DOS PC used to connect to it, it's a perfect and mysterious capturing of a long-gone moment. To promote it, the creators commissioned designed jewel cases, complete with glossy booklet (no disk, of course), in perfect imitiation of a PSX game that never existed.At shows, people spot the clever mockup and say, hey, I remember that game. People tell them they remember playing it. People insist they remember. There are fansites. Arc Symphony works because of Park and Evan’s marketing of it—it becomes easier to pretend to be a fan of the game when they’ve managed to slip a little nostalgia for it into your drink. Both Park and Evans were very surprised by the success of their campaign, and how quickly it got away from them.“It’s actually really unsettling when it stops just being indie game devs having fun with each other,” Park said, “and starts being, well, rewriting cultural memory…”Previously: Nomen Ludi, the game you can't quite remember.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Social media apps have conditioned humans to accept vertical video in the way we now accept microplastics in our sea salt. Mashable is the latest to embrace the vertical video genre with Reels, a series of vertical format stories that were designed for viewing on a phone held vertically. (more…)

If otters experience the uncanny valley, this otter-like spycam seems just enough like an otter for them to accept, but not enough like an otter for them to consider a threat. (more…)

Donald Trump's white supremacist peanut gallery is scrambling to deny the reality of today's bombshell revelation the President shared highly classified information with Russian officials during a bizarrely timed White House visit the day after Trump fired FBI director James Comey. (more…)

https://youtu.be/RW7W-OKZBswThe original name for The Beverly Hillbillies was The Hillbillies of Beverly Hillbillies. The core cast in this unaired pilot from 1962 didn't change with the new name, and it also features the amazing customized 1921 Oldsmobile Model 43-A touring car built by car customizer George Barris (who created Black Beauty from Green Hornet, the Batmobile from the 1966 Batman TV series, and the Munster's Koach).

Mainstays Single Burner is a portable electric coil hotplate you can buy for $9 at Walmart (and Amazon). It has a 1m two-prong cord, an adjustable power control (temperatures are not marked) and rubber feet.I tested it with a steel stock pot with 8 quarts of water.After turning up the heat I watched it for a while. It got the water to about 160 degrees but it was only slowly rising and I doubt it would have gotten to a boil. Touching the steel to observe the element, I felt a strange tingling, rippling sensation in my arm.“That’s odd,” I thought, lifting the pot up to look at the element. The sensation left me. Part of the element glowed red but mostly it remained dark. I placed the pot back on the element and the moment it touched it that weird tingle shot up my arm again.“Oh, I’m being electrified,” I said, “because I bought a $9 electric burner from fucking Walmart.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClR9tcpKZecIn movies and television, Hitler's speaking voice is usually depicted as a dialed-back version of his public speaking performances: even in private he's either shrieking or muttering. The reality, captured only once in a secret recording made in Finland, is unnerving. It's deep and commanding, yet with the same maniacal rhythms. You almost forget that he's admitting, in 1942, that he underestimated Soviet productive capability and would have ignored anyone who told him.

We had a fabulous time last night at Portland's Powell's City of Books and now I'm on the runway to fly up to Seattle for tonight's event at the Neptune Theater with Neal Stephenson (it's not too late to get tickets!) -- then tomorrow I'll be at Bellingham's Village Books before heading to the Vancouver Writers' Festival. (more…)

The Press Democrat posted this video, shot by Tom Bond, of a crash on Highway 101 near Cloverdale, California: a car sheared clean in two lengthwise, the stunned driver still seated, unhurt, inches from the tear. The other driver was ejected but only suffered moderate injuries.According to the CHP, Apol Lansang, 26, of Sonoma, was driving her Malibu south on Highway 101, near Geysers Road when she was struck by the northbound Sequoia being driven by Kevin Fenty, 27, of Huntington Beach, that drifted across the highway into Lansang’s lane.The impact sliced Lansang’s car down the middle, sending the car’s entire passenger side onto the embankment. Fenty was ejected by the impact. Both drivers were taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital — Lansang with minor injuries and Fenty with moderate injuries, according to the CHP.“The scene was, it was pretty intense,” said Sgt. Jason Bahlman, who has been with the CHP for 16 years. “It was definitely one of the most severely damaged cars I’ve ever seen.”

Danah Boyd from Data & Society writes, "The report examines why the media was vulnerable to manipulation from radicalized groups that have emerged from a variety of internet subcultures. We're seeing an intentional and systematic attack on institutions and information intermediaries and most folks are unaware of the degree to which they are a pawn in others' gameplay. As a result, we are watching good intentions get twisted around and used to harm people, organizations, and democracy." (more…)

Akal Security Inc is the TSA contractor that screens passengers at Kansas City International Airport under a $108m/5 year contract; earlier this month they began abruptly scanning all paper products in carry on luggage, requiring passengers to pull out their books, papers, even post-it notes for secondary inspection. (more…)

Noncompete agreements have historically been the provision of highly-placed execs and critical "knowledge workers" (and even then, fast-growing economies like California have banned them in the interests of encouraging competition and growth) but now employers are routinely making the "agreements" a condition of unskilled waged labor, from making sandwiches to digging holes for $10/hour. (more…)

Louisiana has always been a backward place for criminal justice, the only state in the union that funds its public defenders' office with conviction fees, leaving a public defender's office that averages $238 spent on each accused. (more…)

Americans who know where North Korea is are more like to favor diplomacy over war in dealing with its regime. Unfortunately, few Americans know where North Korea is.

Keep your desktop clean and free of excess cables with a Charge & Sync dock, available now in the Boing Boing Store. This unassuming design features an s-shaped profile for maximum stability, non-slip feet, and a sturdy mounting point for your phone. With this dock, you can keep an eye on notifications while preventing damage from accidental drops and coffee spills. It comes in both USB-C Android and MFi-Certified iOS variations, ensuring safe charging and syncing for your devices.This charge & sync dock puts a rest to the phantom vibrations in your pocket, keeps lint out of your earpiece speaker, and conveniently charges your phone. You can get one here in the Boing Boing Store for 42% off retail at $19.99.

If you drive daily, especially to new destinations, it's wise to have a smartphone car mount. Aside from making map directions considerably easier to follow, they also keeps your phone in a central location so you can keep an eye on notifications without taking your eyes off the road. While most mounts attach to your dashboard via suction cup, the ExoMount CD inserts into your CD player which you probably aren't using all that much these days.Plugging into the CD drive assures a sturdy mount while the grip is compatible with any kind of smartphone. It can even be rotated 360 degrees, letting you orient your screen however you like.Until automakers start integrating smartphone mounts directly into the dashboard, this ExoMount CD is one of your best bets. You can get one here in the Boing Boing Store.

Yesterday's Walkaway event at San Diego's Mysterious Galaxy was terrific (there was birthday cake) and now I'm flying to Portland for an event at Powell's City of Books tonight with Andy "Waxy" Baio before heading to Seattle for an event with Neal Stephenson at the Neptune Theater, then a stop in Bellingham's Village Books. (more…)

Yesterday, the world got a temporary respite from the virulent Wcry ransomware worm, which used a leaked NSA cyberweapon to spread itself to computers all over the world, shutting down hospitals, financial institutions, power companies, business, and private individuals' computers, demanding $300 to reactivate them. (more…)

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating a tip-off from a current or ex-London police officer that the London Metropolitan Police's National Domestic Extremism and Disorder Intelligence Unit asked Indian police to use their hacker contacts to break into the private communications of hundreds of British people and groups, from journalists to Greenpeace. (more…)

...is the wide range of choice it provides.

We had a great Walkaway tour stop last night in Scottsdale, AZ, and now I'm headed to San Diego to help the legendary Mysterious Galaxy store celebrate its birthday, closing out a fantastic day of speakers, readers and signings at 4PM. (more…)

As Donald Trump's FCC gets set to kill Net Neutrality, lobbyists for the country's telcos and cable operators are tucking in their napkins and picking up their cutlery, getting ready to feast. (more…)

Pay $7,500/year and $2,700/flight and you can use can use the new "private terminal" at LAX where you are waited on hand-and-foot, including a personal sit-down with the TSA guard who "searches" you before you're put in a BMW and driven across the tarmac to your flight -- best of all, you can watch a live video-feed of normal humans in the public terminal, captioned "Here is a glimpse of what you’re missing over at the main terminal right now," and featuring "travellers hauling bags through packed terminals, queuing in long lines, looking harassed and being swallowed into pushing, shoving paparazzi scrums – routine hazards for the 80 million people who pass through LAX each year." (more…)

Today, activists will gather in Cambridge, Mass to march to the offices of W3C Director Tim Berners-Lee to urge him to keep DRM out of the standards for the open web. (more…)

Ever since he became leader of the UK Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn has faced bitter attacks from the "left-wing" establishment, the press, and his own party, despite his repeated, unprecedented landslide victories in party leadership races. (more…)

Looking to break into the rapidly growing world of drone racing? Maybe? Just looking for a solid remote-controlled camera quadcopter to shoot aerial footage? Either way, the Aerix Black Talon 2.0's friendly controls and stable flight make it a great option for novice and intermediate flyers.The Aerix Black Talon drone is able to fly at 15 mph for up to 7 minutes straight. It streams real-time POV flight footage to its companion phone app in 720p HD, and is compatible with Google Cardboard to give you an immersive pilot experience. Operating the Aerix is easy with the included joypad controller; it provides a selection of pre-set maneuvers and an automatic return-to-pilot function.This drone includes a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and a 4GB SD card for saving footage and still shots. You can get the Aerix Black Talon 2.0 Micro FPV Beginner Racing Drone here in the Boing Boing Store.

I bought a pair of these magnetic clip lights a few years and they've proven to be incredibly useful when I have to do repair work. The light has 8 LEDs and it throws a pretty wide beam of bright light. It sticks securely to any ferrous metal surface and has a clip so you can attach it to your pocket. I used it when I was installing a new safety switch in a washing machine. I stuck it on the side of the washing machine cabinet and it gave me plenty of light to attach the ground wire and route the cable. I haven't had to change the batteries yet, either.I keep one on our fridge and the other in my toolbox.The price is right, too. A set of 2 costs $9 on Amazon.

The Loop-a-Lot is described by this YouTuber as a "crummy toy." Is it really crummy? Well, it probably didn't keep kids amused for more that 45 seconds. So, it probably is crummy. The purpose of the toy is to balance pennies on points inside cutouts of a paddle while you spin it around your finger. You could make one out of a piece of cardboard in a couple of minutes. The manufacturers knew this toy would be a hard sell, so they resorted to the desperate ploy of incorporating a suit-wearing, roller skating monkey into the commercial.