Rio Tinto is a giant UK/Australian mining corporation that operates many facilities in Australia's remotest reaches, where there is no housing for workers, so the company ends up building "company towns" where their laborers live, closing the loop between home and worklife, and putting them both under control of a corporation; now the company is flirting with the kind of "smart city" technology that has been tried elsewhere, but generally in places where the residents are citizens, not employees, and the governing law is created by a legislature, not a non-negotiable employment contract. (more…)

Distractify has thirty mall santas to be on the lookout for. There's plenty of listicle filler here, but would you just look at those vintage masked bastards. There's even a website dedicated to creepy santas. [via MeFi, which has even more]

KINO demonstrates ways in which Tarantino's The Hateful Eight pays homage to John Carpenter's 1982 classic The Thing. (more…)

As part of her Ordinary Women series, Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency examines the impressive achievement of Ada Lovelace, the “mother” of computer programming. You can also watch the Ordinary Women profiles on Ching Shih and Ida B. Wells:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0U6Ol-38Twhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ip-SEYvRTA

Following the tragic fire in an Oakland warehouse space called Ghost Ship, engineer and designer Gui Cavalcanti put together a guide to help ensure that unconventional homes, studios, and galleries are as safe as possible. Cavalcanti’s article acknowledges that people generally use these types of spaces because they can’t afford more conventional real estate. And his guide centers on small, inexpensive changes that can save lives. Here's an excerpt:Make sure your exit infrastructure is fire-safe. News reports indicate that the Ghost Ship fire was exacerbated by the fact that an improvised stairwell was made of pallets. For the record, people often construct bonfires out of pallets. They are not sound building material, they are not fire-resistant in any way, and they should not have been serving as exit infrastructure between the first and second floor. I’ve seen many pieces of improvised infrastructure in the spaces I’ve visited; second floors that are served by home-built wooden ladders, wooden lofts that serve as mezzanines, catwalks made of old building materials, you name it. All of these examples can be extremely hazardous in a fire or other hazardous situation. They’re cool, they’re edgy, they’re creative, but they can also be fundamentally unsafe. Make sure you have safe exit paths (that are marked and made of fire-safe materials) to all of your spaces, even if you also have decorative walkways and paths. Ladders, poles, ropes and other features are not safe exits.You can read the full piece over on Medium.

BuzzFeed shared this awesome story about an Oregon artist named Crispin Young Wilson who created a stunning galaxy ceiling for a friend’s four-year-old son, Ben. Ben was anxious about having his own room for the first time so Wilson gave him something special to look at while falling asleep. The ceiling looks completely normal in bright light:https://twitter.com/crisp22/status/800716804213440513But in the dark it looks like this:Ben reportedly loves his new room. And really, who wouldn’t? You can see more of Wilson's work or commission a mural on her website.[Photos via @crisp22 on Twitter]

I recently stumbled across Dutch designer Rommy Kuperus’ work and I can’t get enough of it. Her purses and accessories look good enough to eat (literally), and there’s a really great sense of humor to her work:You can find more photos or make a purchase on her Etsy shop, Rommydebommy.

Annabel Lector of Conjuror's Kitchen makes rather spectacular, macabre chocolates: gilded crow's skulls, kitten's skulls, conjoined fetal skulls, barn owl skulls and even a chocolate life-mask of Vincent Price and doll head lollipops. (via Wil Wheaton) (more…)

In a thoughtful New York Times editorial, science fiction giant William Gibson mediates on the difference between the privacy that individuals have and deserve, the privacy that governments assert ("What does it mean, in an ostensible democracy, for the state to keep secrets from its citizens?"), and what this will mean for the historians of the future. (more…)

Yesterday morning, Matthias Kirschner opted out of the "voluntary" full-body scanners at Berlin's Schönefeld, and discovered that "voluntary" means that "if you don't do it, they will barrack you endlessly about your choice, punitively repeatedly perform the same searches over and over, and attempt to delay you so you almost miss your flight." (more…)

We've posted previously about Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP), the weird sounds in electronic recordings that some paranormal researchers insist are actually voices of spirits. But I didn't realize that EVP is part of a larger genre of ghostly phenomena called Instrumental Transcommunication "said to occur on devices as varied as television sets, radios, computers, handheld devices such as ipods or iphones, and even fax machines," according to Mysterious Universe. In the 1970s and 1980s, one popular medium for these ghosts in the machine were television sets. (Remember Tobe Hooper's excellent 1982 film Poltergeist?) From Mysterious Universe:Throughout the 1970s and 80s the ITC phenomenon as it relates to TV really got its roots, becoming quite popular with researchers of the weird, and there were numerous supposed video and audio recordings of these TV bound ghosts at the time. The investigators in these cases claimed that this phenomenon had even been documented with TVs that were turned off or completely unplugged.One of the pioneers of using televisions to try and pick up signals from the dead was a German ITC researcher named Klaus Schreiber, who used an apparatus that he called the “Vidicomin,” which used a video camera aimed at a TV set that was switched on but not attached to an aerial, and the signal looped the output from the camera back into the TV. This loop was said to produce dramatic results, with various faces apparently blooming out from the white noise on sets, and on one occasion an actress from Austria named Romy Schneider supposedly clearly appeared on a TV in one such session years after her death. In 1986, another ITC researcher and physicist named Ernst Senkowski claimed to have attained a clear, unmistakable image of a spirit from a TV set. In this case, a brief feed of video was picked up depicting the spirit of a dead EVP researcher named Hanna Buschbeck, who had died in 1978. In the video, she allegedly appeared recognizable yet much younger than she had been when she had died."Ghosts in the Machine: The Strange World of Haunted TVs" (Mysterious Universe)

IDNYC is New York City's ID card program, and it has served as a critical means for undocumented migrants to get identity papers that they can use to establish utilities accounts, bank accounts, and so on. The city has announced a change to the program's data-retention policy, vowing to purge information that might be useful in the mass deportations promised by Donald Trump during his presidential campaign. (more…)

Emergency response times in Zalgo county are superlative! [via]

In the (soundless) video above, @thumb_tani demonstrates his masterful coin balancing. (via Laughing Squid)製作開始から二時間弱。時間を犠牲にした新作をご覧下さい。 pic.twitter.com/11TZp0IkBo— た　ぬ (@thumb_tani) December 3, 2016 こんな事に1時間も費やしてしまった。こんな事に。 pic.twitter.com/c5b29pi3tl— た　ぬ (@thumb_tani) November 23, 2016 コインタワー。久し振りにやると緊張しますね。 pic.twitter.com/Ui6kRct1JC— た　ぬ (@thumb_tani) October 22, 2016

I can't wait to finally see Gimme Danger, Jim Jarmusch's documentary about Iggy Pop and The Stooges!

It's not bad. In fact, this is a triumph: a Christmas song written entirely by an artificial intelligence at the University of Toronto. Yet it has that uncanny neural network je ne sais quoi in spades. I swear it’s Christmas EveI hope that’s what you sayThe best Christmas present in the world is a blessingI’ve always been there for the rest of our lives.

If you aren’t already watching The CW’s stellar musical comedy series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, you should definitely check it out. You'll be treated to plenty more slightly demented musical numbers like this one. As the song says, “When my friends and I stick together, there's nothing we can't do/And when I say that, I specifically mean, we're gonna stage a coup.”

Writer and animator Natalie Gray creates a lot of great fan art, but one of her coolest pieces is this Harry Potter-themed “What do wizards have in their pockets” collection. The four GIFs represent the four Marauders: James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew.

These bespoke tree-shaped ornaments by Forge Creative might look great hanging from a tree, but they would also be right at home on a mantlepiece or in a curio cabinet.Quoth Forge:These collectible tree ornaments are hand-turned on a lathe and each tree is unique. We use off-cuts form a wide variety of woods and turn a them into different shaped trees. This way each one ends up with its own unique character. These look great as a small collection on a mantlepiece. We will pick trees at random and If you buy more than one we try to send a mix of different wood types and shapes. If you wish to choose a specific wood or colour, let us know and we will see what we can do.They have 35 shapes to choose from and all kinds of wood.• Trees (Forge Creative via Behance)

Skier Mathieu Bijasson didn't think it was insane enough to ski down the steepest faces of the French Alps during the day, so he rigged up some skis and poles with LED lighting and did it at night. The result is visually beautiful and teeth-clenchingly terrifying all at once. (more…)

The 88kncorbett Instagram account is a treasure trove of amazing photos of the most patient animals in the world.https://www.instagram.com/p/BMkYR5PgjHU/https://www.instagram.com/p/BL4I5DLgvSZ/https://www.instagram.com/p/BKPJ645jZLO/https://www.instagram.com/p/BH6Ja-gjuej/

Azerbaijani artist Tünzale Memmedzade spent three years writing out the Quran in gold ink on transparent black silk, and the effect is just beautiful. (more…)

“While my wife was at work today, I had some fun modding our daughter's Magic SleepSuit,” from imgurian Bruck. (more…)

John Glenn, a war hero and the first American to orbit planet Earth, has been hospitalized in Ohio for over a week. (more…)

Texas passed a new regulation requiring "cremation or burial" of fetal tissue after a miscarriage or medical abortion, and to hear the lawmakers who passed this idiotic rule, this requires grieving women to dress up minute scraps of tissue in little funeral suits and stand contrite over a tiny casket while a clergyman excoriates them for disappointing god with their selfish uteruses. (more…)

A Pittsburgh-area man was charged with disorderly conduct after telling Verizon store staff that he was "definitely part of ISIS" and talking about ISIS on the store's demo handsets. When asked to leave the store, Fleming said “he wouldn't leave the store and that he was definitely part of ISIS,” the complaint said. He also said that “he was calling to get his posse to get them” and other Verizon stores.Fleming eventually left the store, but was later arrested wearing a ski mask at a bar. Police said he made statements about ISIS to officers and had a block, which he said “I want people to believe it’s C-4 explosive,” the complaint said.They have all the handsets right there to play with, but make an international call on one and everyone loses their mind!

I bought this foldable step stool in January and we use it a few times a week to get out of reach stuff in the kitchen. It's 11 inches high, and is only 1.5 inches thick when folded up. It has replaced a non-folding plastic step stool that we'd kept in on the floor in the closet. It's on sale at Amazon for $11.

On Common Dreams, Paul Buchheit rounds up a ton of scholarly/economic papers on the ways that automation is coming to employment niches occupied by well-educated middle-class professionals, who face the same dilemma their "low-skilled" industrial colleagues have been living through for three decades and counting. (more…)

James Cawley is a 50 year old Elvis impersonator from Ticonderoga, NY; his friend William Ware Theiss was costume-designer for the original Star Trek series, and left Cawley the blueprints for the original Star Trek Enterprise sets in his will -- so Cawley rented out a 13,000 sqft shuttered supermarket and built an exquisite replica of the original there to use in elaborate fan-films, and now he gives one-hour tours. (more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAOj0H5c6YcLast year's Hello Barbie chatbot toy sent all your kid's speech to cloud servers operated by Mattel and its tech partner, but only when your kid held down Barbie's listen button -- new chatbot toys like My Friend Cayla and the i-Que Intelligent Robot are in constant listening mode -- as is your "OK Google" enabled phone, your Alexa-enabled home mic, and your Siri-enabled Ios device -- and everything that is uttered in mic range is transmitted to Nuance, a company that makes text-to-speech tech (you probably know them through their Dragon-branded tools), and contracts to the US military. (more…)

When you sign up for a Wells Fargo account, you're required to sign an arbitration "agreement" giving up your right to sue the company, and requiring you to have your case heard by an arbitrator paid for by -- and dependent on -- Wells Fargo instead. (more…)

Fun remix of Gerry and Silvia Anderson's supermarionation classic Thunderbirds.Thunderbird 4 would have been mine. MINE.

Environmental lawyer-turned-Portland City Commissioner Steve Novick has a cool use for the new SEC rules requiring companies to disclose executive pay starting in 2017: he's going to impose special taxes on businesses where the ratio of CEO pay to median worker pay exceeds 100:1 -- an increase of 10% for 100:1 companies, and 25% for 250:1 companies. (more…)

For the past week, Naked Capitalism has run a series of articles by transportation industry expert Hubert Horan on the economic shenanigans of Uber, which cooks the numbers it shows investors, drivers and the press to make it seem like something other than a black box that uses arrogance and lawlessness to make a bet on establishing a monopoly on transport in the world's major cities. (more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q85iELbijAk&feature=youtu.beDiguo's Luxury Royal Family Balance Syphon Coffee Maker is an amazingly elaborate coffee siphon, a brewing method dating to the 1830s which is said to produce "a delicate, tea-like cup of coffee," albeit with the caveat that it is "quite persnickety." (more…)

If you're one of the 60% of Pebble employees who didn't get a job offer from Fitbit, the company's new owner, you're probably not having a great Christmas season -- but that trepedation is shared by 100% of Pebble customers, who've just learned (via the fine print on an update on the Pebble Kickstarter page) that the company may soon "reduce functionality" on their watches. (more…)

Several years back, we posted about the wonderful site youarelistening.to, a strangely soothing mix of ambient music and police radio chatter (!) from various cities. Youarelistening.to isn't the only source of lovely and relaxing field recordings and ambient noise though. Here are a few of DIGG's favorites:CoffitivityIf your cup of coffee isn't giving you the kick you need, flipping on Coffitivity might be a good next step. Coffivity provides the cozy and comforting sounds of a cafe (which can help you focus according to scientific research) in six flavors, including Paris Paradise, Texas Teahouse, and Brazil Bistro. Virtual ShowerMimicking the sounds of the room in the house where everyone does their best thinking, Virtual Shower also boasts a temperature setting that changes the color of the page. You can't hear it, but you'll know it's there.Blazing LogsAnother simple one. Flip this year-round-yule log on to hear the crackle of a fire and not much else."The Most Relaxing Ambient Sound Sites On The Internet" (DIGG)

Mary (AKA @sapphicgeek) works in an Indiana comic shop, and Saturday, she met a customer, a distraught teen girl, looking for Supergirl. (more…)

My pals in Creeper Lagoon are reuniting for the 25th anniversary of San Francisco's Noise Pop Music and Arts Festival in February! The indie troupe emerged in the early 1990s from Cincinnati and San Francisco's underground music scene with a stream of influential indie releases and grew to alt.rock fame with their excellent 2001 album "Take Back the Universe and Give Me Yesterday" before disbanding. (Dig the video above for "Wrecking Ball" from that album. It'll be a joy to see Creeper on stage again February 26 at Bottom of the Hill. Other fine acts performing at Noise Pop include Rogue Wave, Ty Segall, Vince Staples, MSTRKRFT, Cloud Nothings, Dawes, Deafheaven, and dozens more.

Snow White: A Graphic Novel reads like a silent movie. Matt Phelan’s cinematic re-telling of the classic fairy tale, film noir style, uses watercolor to soften the edges of the film genre’s brash tropes, and blur the lines between grit and glitz in Depression-era Manhattan. I am easily overwhelmed by graphic novels and often feel as though I’ve been caught in a bombardment of text or images or both. Phelan employs text in much the same way he does color — sparsely, and to great effect — so that the movement of the story comes from the art. Color is used like mood lighting. Though the images are reminiscent of the gray scale of black and white movies, the flashbacks to Snow’s childhood after her mother’s death (her father’s subsequent spellbound love affair with the evil Queen, and Snow’s banishment to boarding school) are fittingly sepia-toned.A blue and white winter, perfect like Snow, shines out of the window at Macy’s. The stepmother’s scenes are often washed in greens and burgundies — the colors of witches and blood. And, though not a thatched cottage in the woods, the home of Snow’s seven street urchin devotees is warmed by an earthy brown glow.These subtle washes are balanced with startling red stains—flushed cheeks, blood, the infamous apple, and a smudge of green blush that bluntly confirms the femme fatale’s wickedness, and more deeply, and later literally, draws connections between this classic fairy tale and another beloved, cinematically transformed story — The Wizard of Oz.Film noir and fairy tales each offer their own unique escapes into worlds that dramatize our fears and fantasies. In Snow White: A Graphic Novel, Phelan draws from the best parts of each form to create both a hardcover hideout and an artful homage to be read and revisited panel by panel, frame by frame.Snow White: A Graphic Novel by Matt PhelanCandlewick2016, 216, 6.6 x 0.8 x 8.0 inches, Hardcover$12 Buy one on AmazonSee sample pages from this book at Wink.

It seems younger NSA employees are bummed out by the agency's lying and lawbreaking and are leaving for private sector jobs. Former NSA Director Keith Alexander is sad about it, and blames Edward Snowden and the media. From Cyberscoop:“What really bothers me is that the people of NSA, these folks who take paltry government salaries to protect this nation, are made to look like they are doing something wrong,” Alexander said Tuesday. “They are doing exactly what our nation has asked them to do to protect us. They are the heroes. They are the ones that deserve our praise. Not a guy who took this race to Hong Kong and to Moscow.”...In large part, Alexander blamed the press for propagating an image of the NSA that causes people to believe they are being spied on at all times by the U.S. government regardless of their independent actions.

With some clever editing, YouTube user John C. Worsley helps the DS9 crew get into the holiday spirit with their rendition of “Wonderful Deep Space Nine.”

Indiewire critic David Ehrlich crafted this lovely video essay celebrating the best cinema of 2016.

On a brisk wintry day, this clever moose decided to use a car's exhaust to get a faceful of warm air. The best part is the car owner who keeps scraping his windshield. (more…)

The Boing Boing Store's Gift Guide is full of ideas for pretty much anyone in your life like hipster ice cub trays, Xbox controllers, Halo Boards, and even diamond necklaces. As always, all products in the Boing Boing Store come at great discounts, too. Shop by price bucket starting at under $20. Under $20:Bloxx Jumbo Ice Trays – $14.95Have you ever wondered where cocktail bars get those fancy giant ice cubes? Now you know. Dalton Dopp Kit – $19.99Carrying a toothbrush in a ziplock baggie isn’t the strongest marker of sophistication. Gift this understated, hangable toiletry bag for stowing toiletries.Under $30:10-Ft Samsung-Certified Micro-USB Cable: 3-Pack - $24.99Using and charging your phone don’t have to be mutually exclusive events. Stay comfy with these extra-long Samsung-certified Micro-USB cables. Dripo 2-in-1 Cold Brew Coffee Maker - $28.95Why is cold coffee always more expensive? This Boing Boing Store favorite makes delicious slow-drip cold brew anywhere in just 2 hours.Striiv Touch Activity Tracking & Notification-Enabled Smartwatch - $29.99The Striiv touch is a fitness-tracking smartwatch that receives notifications of incoming phone calls and texts. Boasting a week of battery life, it works with iOS and Android phones.Under $50:Nomad Leather MFi-Certified Charging Wallet – $49.95This leather bi-fold wallet hides an integrated 2,400mAh battery and an MFi-Certified lightning cable—enough to give an iPhone a full recharge. And its high crush strength aluminum casing is safe for a back pocket.Breda Valor Watch – $49.99The Breda Valor is a no-frills analog wristwatch inspired by standard-issue military equipment. The sturdy nylon strap and buckle clasp does its job in modern, utilitarian style.Under $100:Razer WildCat Premium Xbox One Controller – $97.99This tournament-grade Xbox One controller was designed with input from eSports pros to deliver best-in-class button and trigger response. It can be tailored to the user with optional rubber grips and customizable multi-function keys.Dewang X4 Low Temperature 3D Printer Pen – $99The Dewang 3D printer pen can easily draw solid objects in the air. With a low working temperature, it’s safe to sketch on skin and is a perfect gift for artists and inventors.Under $200:Bitlock Smart Bike Lock – $109Losing the key to a bike lock doesn’t have to necessitate a frustrating session with an angle grinder. This weatherproof smart bike lock unlocks from an app and can even share access with friends and family.Ockel Sirius B Windows 10 Pocket PC – $189With full desktop power in a tiny package, this Pocket PC from Ockel is perfect for remote presentations and media playback. HDMI, USB, and analog audio ports as well as WiFi and Bluetooth provide ample connectivity.For the lavish benefactor:Diamond Initial Necklace In 14K White Gold – $209Be an unforgettable gift giver with this personalized bling. Inlaid with 13 stunning diamonds and hung from an 18” white gold chain, this necklace is a Boing Boing Store favorite.Halo Board – $697This sleek electric skateboard offers fluid control with its gyroscopic self-balancing system. No pushing required—just lean forward and cruise at speeds up to 10 mph.

Adrien Mauduit captured these noctilucent clouds above Denmark on not just one night, but two consecutive nights. He explains how he documented the unusual weather phenomenon: (more…)

I knew I was going to love writing a book about Bill Murray -- but I didn't realize that my favorite part of the whole process would be my collaboration with a comics genius. (more…)

“To say that The Forever War is the best science fiction war novel ever written is to damn it with faint praise. It is, for all its techno-extrapolative brilliance, as fine and woundingly genuine a war story as any I’ve read.” — William GibsonI bought it, and added the audiobook version for $3.50.

Except you, you badass. Welcome. (Airport greeting in Helsinki, Finland.)