Many airlines are charging for checked and carry-on baggage. The Airport Jacket was designed to get around those fees. It has lots of huge pockets for stashing clothes, shoes, toiletries, your laptop, and more. It folds up into a suitcase, and unfolds into a jacket.

What will happen to Milo Yiannopoulos now that he has 'resigned' from Breitbart.com, after tape resurfaced of the alt-right Nazi-lovin' bottle blonde hater making pro-pedophilia comments? He's launching his own media empire, bla bla bla. As soon as the Milo-pedo news cycle ends, he'll be fine. (more…)

This is an interesting Newsweek piece by Kurt Eichenwald that goes into detail about the NSA's wiretapping program as it relates to the phone call between Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.Assuming the Flynn recording involved RAGTIME-B, because of his position as a former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and being the incoming president’s national security advisor, the intercepted material would be immediately analyzed. If Flynn—as the White House first stated when the news of his contacts with Kislyak became public—had been engaged in pleasantries or planning meeting times for the Russians with Trump, the records of Flynn’s side of the conversation would no longer exist. Flynn would have been deemed an American person, and the intercepted recordings and transcripts would be “minimized”—the word used in the surveillance world for when portions or all of an intercepted communication is destroyed. In other words, if the conversation was no more than “How are you Ambassador Kislyak,” or “Let’s set up a meeting for you and a Russian delegation with the president-elect,” Flynn’s words would no longer exist in any American file.But that’s not what happened. Instead, something in the recording led the first-level analysts from RAGTIME to follow the next leg of the procedure and take the intercept to the head of the FBI’s National Security Division for another review. Again, if a conclusion was reached that there was nothing in the call to raise concerns, the reviews would have stopped there and the data would have been minimized. But the division head instead decided that the intercepted conversation merited bringing the raw transcript to James Comey, the director of the FBI, and his deputy. (At the time, this would have been Mark F. Giuliano, a veteran of the bureau. Giuliano has since retired and, as of this month, was replaced by Andrew G. McCabe, a former lawyer in private practice who joined the federal law enforcement agency in 1996.) The director and his deputy were then the final arbiters of whether the intercepted communications merited further investigation. And they decided it did.

From YouTube description for this Bozeman Science video: "In this video Paul Andersen explains how immune individuals in a population give the entire group a herd immunity. Concepts of immunity, vaccines, basic reproduction number, and herd immunity threshold are discussed."

https://vimeo.com/204845162Interviews with six employees who work in Silicon Valley about the ways Trump's recent actions against immigrants have affected them. Powerful stuff."Banned" features six interviews of Silicon Valley employees who are directly affected by immigration policies introduced by the Trump administration. The goal of this project is to provide an uninformed public a more comprehensive picture of who these policies will affect, to bring awareness to Silicon Valley about the issues facing members of their own community, and directly address ongoing stereotypes around immigration.

Fingerprint identification and lie detectors are well-known tools of law enforcement today, but both were quite revolutionary when they were introduced. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe the memorable cases where these innovations were first used. (more…)

The Science Fiction Writers of America has released the ballot for this year's Nebula awards, nominated for and voted upon by the organization's members; the ballot lists novellas, short stories, novelettes, YA novels (the Andre Norton award), dramatic presentations (the Bradbury award), and novels -- including two debut novels I reviewed in 2016: Nisi Shawl's Everfair and Charlie Jane Anders' All the Birds in the Sky.

Having successfully invented the paperclip-bending machine, engineer Elis F. Stenman set out to build a new summer home for himself in Rockport, Mass in 1922, entirely from paper. (more…)

An excellent excerpt from Aaron Perzanowski and Jason Schultz's The End of Ownership: Personal Property in the Digital Economy on Motherboard explains how Section 1201 of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act -- which bans tampering with or bypassing DRM, even for legal reasons -- has allowed corporations to design their products so that using them in unapproved ways is an actual felony. (more…)

Quartier Latin in Berlin. Rose Bonbon in Paris. Hammersmith Palais in London. Some of the most iconic punk and rock clubs of the 80s and 90s are remembered by patrons and musicians, juxtaposed with shots of what they became after closing.Bonus video: an edit of Last Man in Hammersmith Palais, outlining the venue's storied history.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NHH9aNfqkQ• Loud Places (Vimeo / Mathy & Fran)

AntsCanada's colony of Yellow Crazy Ants got infested with mites, so he had to transfer them to a new home in a beautiful terrarium he dubs Hacienda Del Dorado. Quite a production! (more…)

Peter Serafinowicz's sassy Donald Trump vocal impersonation videos continue, timeless and illuminating as always. All Trump's words. Peter's voice. That's all.Our pal Peter Serafinowicz has been in lots of TV and film projects we love. You can buy 'em here.

Norway has committed to join an international initiative that plans to raise millions of dollars to replace funding shortfalls from Donald Trump's ban on American-funded global NGOs that offer information about abortion. (more…)

Miscalculation. (more…)

Boop boop be doop! Makeup and cosplay YouTuber Jbunzie shows you how to pull off this iconic Betty Boop retro look by following her step-by-step tutorial. (more…)

Embattled President Donald Trump has chosen Army Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster as national security adviser, replacing the disgraced and resigned Michael Flynn, whose name is stained with the still murky Russia scandal.America's status, folks? It's complicated. (more…)

The guy in the cap doesn't get it, but the smart bald guy in glasses knows how it works. From the Bell Science Series film, "Gateways to the Mind" (1958).Watch the full film (complete with nostalgically warbly soundtrack):https://youtu.be/-cAdxvl1jys

Fun to see how visual effects have evolved over the years.

A handy guide from Chartlike Charts, whose return from its hiatus is both welcome and overdue.

Marketed to engineers and carpenters, Incra's rulers have tiny stenciled holes for every fraction to make it impossible to mess up length markings. I got one to make puzzle boxes, but it's now on my office desk as my daily driver and will probably outlive me. The standard 12" model comes in at $25 and I can vouch for it, but there's a knockoff by General Tools that's just $10. I assume it's basically the same thing, but if you look closely on the product photos, the holes are somewhat larger.

In & Of Itself is the fantastic brainchild of three-time Academy of Magical Arts Award winner Derek DelGuadio. Though it stopped running in Los Angeles a few months ago, the lucky folks in New York will have 10 weeks to catch it at Union Square's Daryl Roth Theatre from April 5 - June 18. A few months ago a good friend took me and the next block of 48 hours was filled with surges of amazement, fear, pride and relief - and I guarantee that my experience was different from the other attendees. (more…)

My sister came across this product, which promises all the fun of taking a shower with a goat with none of the usual hassles of renting a shower-goat.

Rev. Keith Ogden of Hill Street Baptist Church in Asheville, NC is afraid of a new boy doll announced by American Girl. "This is nothing more than a trick of the enemy to emasculate little boys and confuse their role to become men," he wrote in an e-mail to his congregation. It was titled, "KILLING THE MINDS OF MALE BABIES." "There are those in this world who want to alter God's creation of the male and female," he wrote. "The devil wants to kill, steal and destroy the minds of our children and grandchildren by perverting, distorting and twisting (the) truth of who God created them to be."I suspect Rev. Ogden described American Girl as an "enemy" because he's secretly telling his followers to obey the Lord's command to "love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back."

MythBusters' Adam Savage whipped up a perfect replica of Chewbacca's bandolier and satchel. I wonder what he keeps in that bag besides the obvious like a comb, perhaps some handtools, and, well, Wookie Treats. (Tested)

Lee Jae-yong is nominally "vice-chairman" of Samsung, but his father, Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee, is considered to be a mere figurehead, with Lee Jae-yong as the true boss of the company. (more…)

Anna Hezel just saved us from an inadvisable couch purchase with her horrifying article, Why Does This One Couch From West Elm Suck So Much? (more…)

The swift replacement of CRT screens with flat panels created tons of extremely toxic e-waste, with dangerous tubes and leaded glass posing unique environmental and safety hazards for disposal workers and sites. (more…)

Last Tuesday, all wing personnel on the US Spangdahlem Air Base received a warning: "MISSILE INBOUND. SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY!" The warning was recalled eight minutes later. (more…)

Shot here by Natalie Lowe sunbathing on the roof of its convertible, a fox relaxes before evening's activities come due. Below, a fox pop takes a trip on the London Underground, as observed by Stephen Ebert. Check out the full gallery at Londonist. A common sight in London, foxes moved in after World War II and have become a symbol of the city. They're mostly harmless, but the tabloids there love to run fox-ate-my-baby stories.

For its first five years, Make: magazine ran a column called "MakeShift," edited by Lee D. Zlotoff, creator of the TV show MacGyver. The idea was to present Make: readers with a MacGyver-esque challenge in each issue, collect all of the submitted solutions, and then publish an analysis, along with all of the top submitters' notes and sketches, on the Make: website. The "MakeShift" challenge asked readers to ponder such conundrums as how to contain a viral outbreak on a plane, how to charge your phone with nothing but camping gear and a propane torch, how to fend off a zombie attack, and how to get help after a very bad fall.The reader-responses were impressive. People really put a lot of thought into their solutions, sending copious notes and drawings. And in fully explaining the challenges and ranking the solutions in the follow-up website articles, Lee and Make: editor Bill Lidwell shared a lot of great MacGyvering tips and nutshell science and engineering. Sadly, years ago, the "MakeShift" columns disappeared when a dedicated magazine area of the Make: site was discontinued. So, a few weeks ago, Make: decided to bring back "MakeShift," now publishing re-constituted columns every Wednesday. Here are the first three posted.Dead Car BatteryYou're 50 miles into mountainous woods, your battery is dead, and there's a big snowstorm bearing down. How can you revive your dead battery? On, and it's a automatic transmission. Potable WaterYou're in a village in East Asia and the water has become dangerously contaminated. You have 48 hours to create a reliable source of potable water. Go!Crane-Mounting a Fiberglass Super CowA realtor wants to mount a giant fiberglass cow, made to look like Superman, on top of a 40-story-tall sky crane, during the summer and fall, in a city that's at high risk of hurricanes. An engineering firm says it will cost some $50,000 to safely deploy the Super Cow. You brag that you could easily do it for $20. The realtor accepts. Now what do you do?One of the ideas that Lee put forth in the columns was a MacGyver-worthy measure of intelligence that he called MQ (for "MakeShift Quotient"). MQ is one's ability to use knowledge of science and engineering, combined with chewing gum, bailing wire, and some Yankee ingenuity, to fashion workable solutions to problems on the fly. Reading through these challenges, reader solutions, and Lee and Bill's thoughtful commentary, is a surefire way to increase your own MQ.Disclosure: I have been involved with Make:, in one guise or another, since its inception. I am currently a regular contributor to the website and the magazine.

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) just launched an amazing 104 satellites in one mission, setting a new record. (more…)

Carlos Maza has a great breakdown of how Kellyanne Conway is so adept at deflecting questions. It's basically a form of journalistic jiu-jitsu that exploits journalistic civility and pivots by using their own words against them. (more…)

The Stower Candle Charger, in addition to being a basic emergency stove, powers USB gadgets with fire: put a fuel canister under it and it'll transmute heatrons into juicetrons as described in the Codex Ifritanimus. One canister will charge a smartphone twice; actual wax candles will presumably not stretch so far. When power outages hit, staying connected to family, friends, and emergency services is critical. But how to keep charged? - Batteries store power - they don't make it - We love solar, but it doesn't work at night or indoors - Hand cranks produce minimal power. 10 hours cranking to charge a phone? That's tough. We want a reliable solution, and the Candle Charger is the first indoor generator designed to charge smartphones and keep them charged.

The GPD Pocket is a wee laptop with a 7" high-dpi touchscreen display and an enticing $399 price tag. It'll be light on power, with an Intel Atom CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD, but promises about 12 hours on a charge and two USB ports, one of them type C. There's a ThinkBook-style tracknipple in lieu of a trackpad. It'll run Ubuntu or Windows 10 and, somehow, they managed to sneak a headphone jack on there. (more…)

Capping off Donald J. Trump's No Good Very Bad Horrible Day today, the Wall Street Journal reports that senior U.S. intelligence officials are deliberately withholding sensitive information from the President because they don't trust him. Today's report cites sources inside the White House, and underscores the deep mistrust between career spies and the imploding kakistocracy. (more…)

A growing number of restaurants and other businesses are closing in solidarity with Thursday's 'Day Without Immigrants' protests in cities throughout the United States. (more…)

J.L. Lawson & Co makes tops, spinner coins, and other hand-machined products.Their latest thing is the Tempus Spin Coin, and has been successfully funded on Kickstarter. It's still available in .999 silver, bronze, and copper.For those of you that are interested in spin times, my average time ranges from 7-9 minutes. Considering the art isn't balanced, the spin is fairly balanced but, keep in mind, this coin wasn't intended for perfect spinning. It's more to help keep you entertained at the local bar.

Here's a brain teaser from the Art of Play newsletter. I have not tried to solve it yet.A lazy electrician is hired to fix the wiring in a tall building. In the basement are three buttons labeled, “A, B & C.” On the top floor of the building there are three ceiling fans in three different apartments labeled, “1, 2 & 3.” The landlord tells the electrician that each button in the basement is connected to one of the three fans upstairs—press the button once, and the fan turns on. Press it twice, and that same fan turns off. The problem is, no one knows which button controls which fan.There is no elevator in the building and the electrician is very lazy so he will only climb up the stairs to the top floor once. It will take him nearly an hour to climb all the stairs and he refuses to use any assistance of any kind in order to complete this job. If it is impossible to see the fans from outside of their respective apartments, how does the electrician discover which button controls which fan once he climbs up the stairs for the first (and last) time?

I'm really enjoying Donald Bell's Maker Project Lab videos on YouTube. They are short reports on cool things happening in the world of making. This week, Donald talks about a circuit-bent voice recording intercom, a $500 laser engraver, a Raspberry Pi robot arm, Flick Face electronics project, Pi Cams compared, and a PocketCHIP review.

Though Steve Miller claims that Trump is "a president who has done more in three weeks than most presidents have done in an entire administration," the reality is that almost everything in his executive orders is either an inflammatory restatement of an existing policy; an unenforceable and meaningless intervention into domains where the administrative branch holds no sway; or (as in the case of the Muslim Ban), is an unconstitutional omnishambles destined to be swiftly undone by the courts. (more…)

Nick Douglas imagines Stephen Bannon, Trump's political brain, receiving a smarmy credit-issuer welcome letter from the Abyss in recognition of his services.Congratulations on your upgrade to Malebolge, the Eighth Circle of the Abyss. This tier of our eternal rewards program is reserved for customers of our Fraud department, including flatterers, adulterers, hypocrites, and thieves. And what a dedicated customer you have been.We thank you for your use of our offerings, including Graft, Pandering, Deceit, and the Promotion of Discord. You earned your Fraud points through a surprising variety of purchases, ranging from tax evasion to promoting white supremacy....While Malebolge is one of our highest membership tiers, there is one higher. If you fulfill certain requirements, we would be delighted to upgrade you to Cocytus, the Ninth Circle. This lake of ice is reserved for our most honored guests, the traitors.All others pay cash.

Instead of throwing out all the empties after your next party, why not transform them into some new DIY glassware? Cut back on waste and add some home ambiance with the Kinkajou Bottle Cutter and Candle Making Kit.The Kinkajou is designed as a clamp-on scoring blade to make precise cuts. Just slide a bottle in, tighten the grips, and rotate slowly to cut a straight lip line. Then, just carefully pour hot and cold water along your line to cleanly remove the bottleneck and prepare for finishing.With the included wicks and soy wax, you can easily turn the new glasses into charming candles that are perfect for gifts or sprucing up your home. For a limited time, get the Kinkajou Bottle Cutting and Candle Making Kit for just $59.99, 31% off the usual price.Explore other Best-Sellers in our store:Coding + DevelopmentLearn to Code 2017 Bundle (Pay What You Want)Award-Winning Writing ToolScrivener for Windows ($20)DIY ComputerRaspberry Pi (63% off)Project ManagementUltimate Project Management Certification ($69)

This is so much bigger than Watergate. America has not seen a political crisis of this magnitude for generations. The other shoe drops on #Flynngate tonight. Trump, Manafort, and Flynn's activities “raise a red flag.” The U.S. government is in "unbelievable turmoil." Who is in charge of America? (more…)

Brides Throwing Cats is a site dedicated to "photoshopping cats in place of bouquets" in shots of brides (and occasionally grooms) hurling bouquets. No cats were harmed in the making of this tumblr and we certainly don’t encourage anyone to throw a cat ever, let alone on their wedding day. Still reading? Well one last time, seriously, this is fake.

In Los Angeles, Lowell Farms offered a limited number of lovely cannabis floral bouquets for delivery today, Valentine's Day. The price was $400/ounce. The Lowell Farms site still shows the bouquet on their front page with an email address to place your order so perhaps this fine gift will continue to be available! (via LA Weekly)

Movie star and aviation buff Harrison Ford had another close call in one of his private planes. Landing his Husky at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, CA he mistakenly landed on a taxi way, and nearly missed a passenger plane. Via NBC:Ford, 74, was captured on air traffic control recordings asking, "Was that airliner meant to be underneath me?"Air traffic controllers then informed Ford that he had landed on a taxiway rather than the runway.Landing on a taxiway is a violation of Federal Aviation Administration safety rules.The FAA told NBC News that controllers gave Ford the proper landing instructions and that he read them back.The incident has prompted an FAA investigation — which could result in anything from a simple warning letter to a suspension of Ford's pilot's license.

Your Name is the highest-grossing anime feature ever, knocking Spirited Away to the number two spot. Tofugu has a feature story about Your Name, which includes an interview with director Makoto Shinkai.Without giving too much of the twist away, let's just say the film arcs from the careless fantasy of Freaky Friday to the sci-fi esoterica of Sense8 after Taki's impactful revelation. It's a surprising plus that Your Name invites comparisons to such a broad spread of body-swapping, mind-melding fiction at different turns. Even when venturing into stranger territory, it keeps a brisk pace and a spring in its step – exploring deep thoughts without brooding on them.

The amazing suckers on octopus arms aren't just for sucking. They also are used to smell and taste. To deal with all that sensory input, the vast majority of an octopus's brain cells are in its eight arms!“It’s more efficient to put the nervous cells in the arm,” neurobiologist Binyamin Hochner, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told KQED's Deep Look. “The arm is a brain of its own.”

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