Tomorrow, you can bid to own the earliest known stone tablet carved with the Ten Commandments. The two-foot-square, 115 pound marble stone was discovered in 1913 near Yavneh, Israel. The inscription is dated circa 300-830 CE and the tablet is in one piece, so unfortunately it's probably not the original Ten Commandments delivered by God on Mount Sinai and promptly smashed by Charleston Heston. Opening bid is $220,000. From Heritage Auctions:The details of the Yavneh Stone's discovery are related in an article by Y. Kaplan and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi in the 1947 Journal of the Jewish Palestine Exploration Society. According to Mr. Kaplan's account, this extraordinary artifact was rediscovered in 1913, during the excavation of a railroad line along the southern coastal plain of Palestine. The discovery was made near Yavneh, an historic city called Jabneel in the Hebrew Bible. The workmen who found it did not recognize its importance and either sold or gave it to a local Arab man of some means, who set the stone into the threshold of a room leading to his inner courtyard, with the inscription facing up. Due to foot traffic, several words on the center left side of the tablet were blurred over time.In 1943, thirty years after his father acquired it, the man's son sold the stone to Mr. Kaplan, who immediately recognized its importance as an extremely rare "Samaritan Decalogue," one of five such extant stone inscriptions dating to before the Muslim invasion of the seventh century CE...The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) granted export approval for this piece in perpetuity to the Living Torah Museum in a letter dated 20 March, 2005. By terms of the letter, the museum must receive permission from the IAA for any future sale of the artifact. In subsequent contacts, the IAA has confirmed that the agency will approve sale to a third party, provided the Stone is placed on public display "where all can view it and enjoy."From CNN:It lists nine of the 10 commonly known Biblical Commandments from the Book of Exodus, with an additional Commandment to worship on the sacred mountain of Mount Gerizim, near Nablus, which is a now a city in the West Bank."You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in Vain" was deliberately left off the list to keep the total number of Commandments to 10, according to scholars.

Workit is an Android app from OUR Walmart, a pro-labor/pro-union organization: it allows Walmart workers to ask questions about Walmart policy and employee rights, which are answered by a database compiled by using IBM's Watson to come up with answers to hundreds of frequently posed questions; questions can also be answered by other users. (more…)

From a 1984 episode of the fantastic USA Network series Night Flight, an interview with pioneering digital video artists John Sanborn and Dean Winkler about their latest pieces, "Act III," with music by Philip Glass, and their music video for Adrian Belew's "Big Electric Cat." Watch them both below.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS6S-JZs46Yhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_kk8mGqBj8(r/ObscureMedia, thanks, UPSO!)

Boing Boing deals week part two: the FRESHeBUDs Pro Magnetic Bluetooth Earbuds. With the iPhone 7's huge splash this year, Bluetooth headphones are definitely going to be an important gift this holiday season. The FRESHeBUDS Pro Magnetic Bluetooth Earbuds are available today for just $29.95 and are a very quality option.These earbuds are designed to be sweat and water resistant, so they can hold up during any outdoor activity or sweaty workout. They’re easy to use and simple to connect to your phone. All you have to do is pull the earbuds apart to automatically pair them to your phone, and snap them back together to turn them off.The FRESHeBUDS Pro are specifically designed to be comfortable and lightweight in your ears, so you can wear them for hours at a time. The battery lasts for up to 10 hours of playtime, and charges up in just 90 minutes. They are also compact, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t powerful. They feature a sound quality that’s really impressive for their size. Today only you can grab the FRESHeBUDS Pro for just $29.95, down from the normal sale price of $39.95 (MSRP $119.95). Also explore other Best-Sellers and Giveaways on our network right now: GiveawaysThe Google Pixel Phone GiveawayCodingLearn to Code 2016 Bundle (Pay What You Want)Apple6.5 Ft Apple Lightning Cables: 3-Pack (50% off) Music + EntertainmentBrain.fm: 3-Year Subscription ($29)Cord-CuttingGhost Indoor HDTV Antenna (57% off)

“I don’t feel any compulsion just to stand under the spotlight night after night unless I have something to say," --Leonard Cohen, December 1974(Blank on Blank)

David Manucso, the pioneering New York City DJ who launched the underground dance music scene with his in 1970 club The Loft, has died. He was 72. Mancuso's exquisite taste in music and his mission to host inclusive parties safe for GLBTQ people and other marginalized communities made him a beloved icon of club culture. From The Guardian:Unlike the commercial clubs that existed to make a profit, Mancuso and particularly his event Love Saves the Day, offered a space for its members, often an LGBTQ audience, to celebrate nightlife without police interference.“For me, the core [idea behind The Loft] is social progress,” he said in 2013. “How much social progress can there be when you’re in a situation that is repressive? You won’t get much social progress in a nightclub. In New York City they changed the law [for entry into clubs, from] 18 to 21 years old; where can this age group go to dance? In my zone, you can be any age, a drinker or non-drinker, a smoker or a non-smoker. And that’s where I like to be.” Playlist: David Mancuso presents The Loft:

Bruce Pascal's Hot Wheels collection is worth an estimated $1 million. Fifteen percent of the value though is in one car: a pink VW Beach Bomb Rear-Loader. (Barcroft TV)

Check out this incredible spacecraft made by IMGURian revmuun for their beautiful one-year-old baby boy. What a fantastic wondrous thing to build for your kiddo!About the image below, revmuun says, “You can see him playing with the control panel. You can also see the hinges that help detach the control section from the body for easier transportation.” (more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDmxocrjuOoDonald Trump on Charlie Rose in 1992 talks about how much he loves “getting even with people.” “Given the opportunity, I will get even with people who are disloyal to me.... I would define them as disloyal.” (more…)

Included for free with some Android phones: “a backdoor that sends all your text messages to China every 72 hours.” (more…)

In the wake of the Trump election -- a triumph of fake news -- both Google and Facebook have announced that they will take countermeasures to exclude "fake news" from their services, downranking them in the case of Facebook and cutting them off from ad payments in Google's case. (more…)

German sculptor Daniel Kühn created the "Light & Cigarette Machine," which plays Candide while lighting and extending a cigarette; it was later owned by Leonard Bernstein, and was auctioned off to a German collector after his death. (more…)

Brazilian Army Captain Willian Pina Botelho posed as Baltazar "Balta" Nunes in a fake Tinder profile and set out to seduce members of left wing anti-government protest movements in order to infiltrate them. (more…)

If you run the Shazam song identification app an Mac, the mic will never switch off, even when the program reports that it has. (more…)

A small houseboat, believed to be that of Canadian eco-adventurer Rick Small, has washed ashore in Ireland after apparently drifting across the Atlantic ocean. It was last spotted in September in Newfoundland, reports the BBC, and there's no sign of Small. (more…)

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It's easy to see why someone would want to emulate Instagram power couple Jack Morris' and Lauren Bullen's globetrotting adventures. One follower got a little carried away, though, matching locations and shots so meticulously that it started to feel pretty unsettling. (more…)

Elan Lee writes, "Bears vs Babies is a monster-building card game from the creators of Exploding Kittens, Elan Lee and Matthew Inman (The Oatmeal). Described as a game of 'strategic benevolent betrayal' it has already raised more than $2.5 million in funding on Kickstarter from 67,000 backers. Bears vs Babies completed the original $10,000 funding goal in less than 10 minutes after its launch. The game is set to join the ranks as one of the most successful crowdfunded gaming campaigns in history." (more…)

We have a new leader in America. Known for his distinct regional accent and often seen wearing a baseball cap at rallies, he starred in a show on NBC, and holds strong opinions about guns and the NRA. He may not be the leader you saw coming, but you're going to see a lot more of him: Michael Moore. The documentary filmmaker shuns the activist label he is often given. In a recent LA Times interview Moore asserted, "I'm not an activist, I'm a citizen. It's redundant to say I'm an activist. We all should be active." Moore has been very active, and has made films that take on some of America's most complex and controversial topics -- globalization, gun violence, 9/11, our healthcare system, the economy, war, and most recently, Donald Trump, someone he did see coming. Unlike the Democrats. Moore tried to warn the left in July, when he wrote a piece titled simply "5 Reasons Why Trump Will Win. In it, he did not mince words: "Go ahead and say the words, 'cause you'll be saying them for the next four years: 'PRESIDENT TRUMP.' Never in my life have I wanted to be proven wrong more than I do right now." With his midwestern directness and efficiency, Moore then proceeded to list how and why Donald Trump was going to win. A week after Trump's election, Democrats and progressives are still raw with shock and grief. The agony is acute. The mood of over half the country? Political satirist Barry Crimmins nailed it in a tweet, saying "We're now kids trapped in the back of our blowhard, road-raging, shitty-driver, dad's car for a 4-yr trip and he's issued a "No Talking" edict." Liberals feel aimless and powerless, falling all over each other trying to figure out what happened. Like teenagers at a party that went off the rails, some are locked in the bathroom crying, some are fighting amongst themselves, others are telling everyone it's going to be fine, and some are standing on the kitchen table yelling, trying to restore order in futility. The left needs a designated driver, and Michael Moore is already in the driveway with the car warmed up, waiting for Democrats to pull themselves together and get in. After the election, Moore posted another 5-point list, this time, a" Morning After To-Do List." Item number one? "Take over the Democratic Party and return it to the people. They have failed us miserably." It might sound like pointing fingers, or running for office, but it's not. It was statement of tough love telling us what was necessary to lay the groundwork for an effective movement against Trump. Two days later, in an interview with LA Times reporter Steven Zeitchik, he said he that he wanted to head that movement: You live in a country where a majority of its citizens have said they believe there's climate change, they believe women should be paid the same as men, they want a debt-free college education, the don't want us invading countries, they want a raise in the minimum wage, and they want a single-payer true universal health care system. None of that has changed. We live in a country where the majority agree with the "liberal" position. We just lack the liberal leadership to make that happen. Hillary Clinton won the widest margin of the popular vote in the history of presidential election defeats, but lost in electoral votes -- and her supporters are still losing their minds. Also, on the 100th anniversary of a woman's right to vote, electing the first female president seemed like it was meant to be. Now, Twitter reads like a manic-depressive's drunken journal, riddled with earnest hashtags desperately trying to unify the bloodied left, and gloating trolls on the right who were all absent from gym class the day the other kids learned what sportsmanship was. After appearing on CNN's "State of the Union" along with Rudy Giuliani and Paul Ryan yesterday morning, the in-demand Moore took time to answer questions from Boing Boing: ***Maureen Herman: Do you see yourself as a leader or what role do you see yourself in now?Michael Moore: I am doing my part to help lead the opposition, and will work with others to do so. Less meetings, more action. I tried to warn people about Trump winning -- I now have a responsibility to stop him from doing any harm. At least now people are listening to me.***He was right when he said Trump would win, but his article did not go particularly viral at the time, considering Moore's general popularity. It didn't get re-posted, re-tweeted, or shared the way the left, myself included, spread around self-soothing articles on our preferred candidate or editorials painting Trump as an impossible joke. Maybe Moore's perspective was not taken seriously, or it was ignored out of fear of facing the reality we are in now. Maybe we thought that embracing the possibility of a Trump presidency would jinx the election. Whatever the reason, we didn't listen, and we also didn't listen when he said back in 2015 that Trump was going to be the Republican Party's nominee. "That doesn't make me feel good, the fact that I was right. I never wanted to be more wrong," the outspoken liberal director said in an LA Times interview. "I just don't live in the bubble of New York and L.A. and I was worried with what I was witnessing in the Midwest, the Rust Belt, what I call the 'Brexit' states." Moore does not make his predictions based on algorithms, polls, and self-satisfied soothsaying. He pays attention to the root causes, he sees how systemic problems play out in individual lives -- it's what he has always done in his films. Michael Moore is as woke as they get. He kept his eye on the ball while the rest of us looked away, assuming it would land in our glove. Well, it got dropped and we lost the game. There's no Red Cross for losing an election, but that's the kind of thing people are looking for. Sure, there are existing Democratic organizations, and nonprofits that work for liberal concerns, like the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and NAACP, and donations are coming in. People want to do something. But they need to do something different. Well, yesterday, Michael Moore posted a handy to do list on Twitter: #1. A massive nationwide opposition movement has exploded. It must continue. I am part of this. You are, too.Must quickly and decisively form an opposition movement, the likes of which hasn't been seen since the 1960s. I will do my part to help lead this, as I'm sure many others (Bernie, Elizabeth Warren, MoveOn, the hip-hop community, DFA, etc.) will, too. The core of this opposition force will be fueled by young people who, as with Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter, don't tolerate B.S. and are relentless in their resistance to authority. They have no interest in compromising with racists and misogynists. #2. Prepare for Trump's Impeachment now. Narcissism and greed and the fact he's a sociopath will lead to him breaking the law. Prepare to impeach Trump. Just as the Republicans were already planning to do with President Hillary from Day One, we must organize the apparatus that will bring charges against him when he violates his oath and breaks the law -- and then we must remove him from office. #3. Plan now to join millions in civil disobedience when Trump nominates his first Supreme Court Justice.Must commit right now to a vigorous fight (including civil disobedience, if necessary) which will block any and all Donald Trump Supreme Court nominees who do not meet our approval. We demand the Democrats in the Senate aggressively filibuster any nominees who support Citizens United or who oppose the rights of women, immigrants and the poor. This is non-negotiable. #4. The DNC must apologize to Bernie Sanders for trying to rig the fight against him, for defaming him, for cheating.Demand the DNC apologize to Bernie Sanders for trying to fix the primaries against him, for spinning the press to ignore his historic campaign, for giving Clinton the questions in advance at the Flint debate, for its latent ageism and anti-Semitism in trying to turn voters against him because of his age or religious beliefs, and for its anti-democracy system of "super-delegates" who are elected by no one. We all know now had Bernie been given a fair shot, he probably would have been the nominee and he -- as the true outsider and "change" candidate -- would have inspired and fired up the base and soundly defeated Donald Trump. If no apology is soon forthcoming from the DNC, that's ok -- when we take over the Democratic Party (see yesterday's To-Do List, #1), we will issue the apology in person. #5. Obama must appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the FBI Director's illegal interference in the election.Demand that President Obama establish a Special Prosecutor to investigate who and what was behind FBI Director James Comey's illegal interference into the Presidential election 11 days before the vote was held. #6. Abolish electoral college and electronic voting; Election Day held on the weekend, restore voting rights of former prisonersBegin a national push while it's fresh in everyone's mind for a constitutional amendment to fix our broken electoral system: 1. Eliminate the Electoral College -- popular vote only. 2. Paper ballots only -- no electronic voting. 3. Election Day must be made a holiday for all -- or held on a weekend so more people vote. 4. All citizens, regardless of any run-ins with the criminal "justice" system, must have the right to vote. (In swing states like Florida and Virginia, 30-40% of all Black men are prohibited by law from voting.) #7. President Obama: send the Army Corps of Engineers to Flint to replace the water pipes. The water is still unusable. Convince President Obama to immediately do what he should have done a year ago: Send in the Army Corps of Engineers to Flint to dig up and replace all the poisoned pipes. NOTHING HAS CHANGED; the water in Flint is still unusable. Will try to get these done by sundown. More To-Do tomorrow... --Michael Moore It is not just Moore's accurate political predictions or successful films that make him the right person to lead the left out of the darkness, and it's not his common presence on major talk shows that inspired me to write this article. It was my personal experience with Michael Moore during the 2000 presidential campaign that revealed the kind of guy he was, his core values, and what he thought was possible for America. Sustained, passionate and authentic concern for the welfare of others is hard to find, and even harder to fake. That is what I learned that Michael was all about. We met the night of the 2000 MTV Video Awards, when a video he directed for Rage Against the Machine was nominated for Best Video. I became friendly with him and his wife, was invited to see him speak at a Ralph Nader for President rally, and a few weeks later, out to dinner. It was at dinner that he spoke eloquently and personally about his hopes and dreams for America, always peppering his points with the stories and struggles of real people. He was so full of belief in the promise of real change, and most importantly, in the ability of everyday people to come together to make it happen. He was supporting Nader's campaign with gusto, and in fact, that nights, he inspired me to vote third party for the first time. Moore left New York not long afterwards to work on what would become the Oscar-winning documentary, Bowling for Columbine. We all know what happened in the 2000 election, when votes for Ralph Nader ate up Al Gore's margin and won George Bush the presidency. I plead guilty. For as right as he's been, Moore is just as able to admit past mistakes, which he demonstrated famously on Bill Maher's Real Time, when he and Maher literally begged Ralph Nader not to run for president again in 2004. It was not a stunt. He learned the hard way something very profound and critical from the 2000 election: that real change only happens from the bottom up. In a 2010 interview with Amy Goodman for Democracy Now, Moore reflected on his changed stance about third parties: I have this basic position about Ralph. I've known him for many, many years. He has done so much good for this country. I also believe that he doesn't really have a handle on what the proper strategy is to get this country in our hands. I don't see him ever working with the grassroots or with the people or being in touch with the people in any way, shape or form. if we really want to try and get this power in our hands, in the people's hands, in the hands of the working people of this country, then we should, on a very grassroots level, from the bottom up, be doing things -- whether it's running for local office, or taking over the local Democratic Party." The game is rigged in America when it comes to third parties. There's no way that that's ever going to work. And so, then how, instead of letting the game, I guess, rig us, what can we do to the game itself? And if the game is, well, we have these two political parties which are really very much like one party, why don't we make sure that one of those parties actually is a second party and start locally and do that? And that's what I encourage people to do. That's my approach." If earnest optimism and the belief in significant change were Moore's greatest flaws in 2000, they are now an asset that over a half of the country desperately needs. What he learned from that election and every one since, is reflected in his to do list. This is not just wild revolutionary posturing. This came from being in the trenches. It came from losing and understanding what it takes to win. It came from seeing the impact of an election on the working folks who have inspired his life's work, and wanting sincerely to stop the suffering. So the morning after the 2016 election, when MSNBC's Rachel Maddow very accurately posted the very real impact of third party votes, it echoed the frustration of 2000. So if anyone was wondering why Moore and others who initially supported Bernie Sanders didn't go "Bernie or Bust," like our younger counterparts, it comes from what voters like myself experienced firsthand, having lived through eight years of a Bush presidency. https://t.co/DeYriwyUZv pic.twitter.com/n4U5NmrmGy— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) November 9, 2016Moore is not afraid to call the Democratic party out on its mistake with Bernie Sanders, and the role that played in the election, and he makes that clear on his to do list. He doesn't blame third party voters for Trump -- He holds the Democratic party responsible for leading them there. He knows there are other factors, like the impact of prisoners without voting rights -- people who are subject to punishment under the law, but not allowed to participate in the system of government. He recognizes that even if Hillary had won, things are still very broken, just by virtue of what happened to Sanders. Moore's razor sharp focus is on changing, the Democratic party from the inside. Just catching up on all the economic anxiety in my inbox pic.twitter.com/wo2BlkcBV8— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) November 13, 2016Moore is also careful not to blame racism for the election results. He is very aware of and concerned about the racial tension in the country, but he stresses that it should not keep us from looking at the very real economic issues that put Trump in the White House, as he told the LA Times: The Democratic Party doesn't seem to get it. Working people that are both African American and white -- don't make it a racial thing -- have suffered at the hands of both Republicans and Democrats," Moore said. He grew more fiery. "The DNC has to resign. They all have to resign." ***Maureen Herman: People would love to see Trump ousted from office, but most think it's unrealistic. What do you say to that?Michael Moore: We must work every path that leads to stopping Trump -- legal, popular opinion, mass protest, forcing elected officials to obstruct his every negative move. ***In his "Morning After" list, Moore warned that Democrats in Congress who were not ready to fight "must step out of the way and let those of us who know the score lead the way in stopping the meanness and the madness that's about to begin." In the LA Times interview, Moore doubled down on the goal of removing Trump. "I don't believe anyone in the media who says we're going to have four years of Trump. This is a man who doesn't have any ideology; the only thing he believes in is Donald Trump. And that's usually a one-way ticket out of office." Love the fact that the small groups of protesters last night have passion for our great country. We will all come together and be proud!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2016***Maureen Herman: What can people do immediately to get involved with this movement? Michael Moore: Find the protests in your area and show up. If there are none, start one. Post photos and video on social media. Stay aware of other things going on and get involved! ***Another documentary filmmaker, comedian Bobcat Goldthwait, posted a text message to his daughter, in answer to her asking how he was doing after the election. It sums up where a lot of us are, or need to be right now: Numb, but it's just put the fire back in me. It's time for me to make a big noise. Protect your rights, protect the gays, protect minorities. This will wake up the strength and good people. I know it sounds crazy, but a lot of good will come from this. Too many good people just got a huge wake up call. It's OK to be sad and scared, but love, the real beautiful kind of love, comes out of times like these. We're the new 60s. Time to love and kick ass, and stand up to sexism and racism.The dumbest thing anyone does at any protest, rally etc will be the first thing seized upon by the media and/or your enemies.— Barry Crimmins (@crimmins) November 14, 2016So all hands on deck. Get in the car with Uncle Mike. And yes, we can stop at Denny's on the way home. You're going to need your energy. With additional reporting by Katie Schwartz

The FBI today reported that hate attacks on Muslims in America are surging, as “a wave of racially charged assaults, graffiti attacks and other episodes” sweeps the country in the days since Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential elections. Trump finally said something about the spike in racist attacks by whites on people of color during a “60 Minutes” interview broadcast on Sunday night. (more…)

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Math problems are more interesting when they are posed as horror stories.The Josephus Problem gets its name from Titus Flavius Josephus, a first-century Jewish scholar.The story goes that he was with 40 other soldiers when they were surrounded by conquering Romans - imagine that scene in Games of Thrones, where Ramsay Bolton's men trap Jon Snow's army in a tight circle and start moving in.Rather than give themselves up, the soldiers decided to commit suicide en mass, but by killing each other rather than themselves, to avoid any last-minute changes of heart. Sitting in a circle, the first soldier would kill the man to the left of him, the next living soldier would kill the man to his left, and so on around the circle.When the circle of slaughter got back to the start, the process would repeat with the smaller group of people. Finally, the last man alive would fall on his sword.Josephus' problem was that he was much keener on living than dying - but he didn't want to let his fellow soldiers in on that secret. So, where should he position himself in the circle to be the last man standing?

Zoologist and artist Ernst Haeckel (1834 - 1919) had some odd ideas about the origins and evolution of life forms. That’s understandable, because at the time, scientists were just beginning to accept Darwinism. (Haeckel himself was a champion of Darwinism, but he added Lamarckism and some unpleasant conjectures about race into his philosophical worldview.)This remarkable page of expressive bat face drawings was posted last week on Open Culture. It can also be found in the book, Art Forms in Nature, which was originally published as a series of portfolios between 1899-1904. This book of the same name compiles 100 color plates of Haeckel’s meticulously composed, obsessively detailed drawings of plants and animals arranged to show the similarity of different species. Haeckel’s lifeforms radiate vitality from the page and the peculiar way they are drawn seems to stimulate the same part of the brain that’s affected by psychedelic drugs.The plates were intended to illustrate Haeckle’s ideas about life and evolution, but they ended up being more important to artists than scientists. His blend of crystalline geometric patterns and swooping organic curves feels very Art Nouveau, and in fact many Art Nouveau artists were influenced by Haeckel’s drawings. His work continues to inspire and amaze people today.

Anthropologist Emma Tarlo just published a new book, Hair: A Human History, investigating the weird culture and business surrounding hair, from Jewish wig parlors to its use in Hindu temples to hair loss clinics. In an excerpt at Smithsonian, Tarlo tells of the hair trade, tracing the path from the growers to the sellers to the buyers:An Ohio woman who goes by the pseudonym Shelly-Rapunzel sold 38 inches of her ankle-length brown hair on BuyandSellHair.com for $1,800. “All money is going to doctor appointments that have to be paid upfront,” she says. She is not alone. The website is full of women auctioning their hair to the highest bidder. Not all have tales of hardship: some simply want a change of hairstyle; others do it to raise money for specific purposes such as education or charity; others are regulars who use the hair on their heads to bring in some extra cash every few years.As a hair seller whose identity is at least somewhat known, Shelly-Rapunzel is an anomaly in a largely anonymous world. The gathering of human hair is on the whole a backstage business about which little is known to those outside the trade. Transactions of this sort where named individuals negotiate good deals for their hair make up only a tiny fragment of the billion-dollar trade in human hair...Much of the hair procured for wigs and extensions on the global market today is collected in bulk by intermediaries in contexts where hair sellers and buyers occupy different social and economic worlds. Most of it is gathered in Asian countries in exchange for modest sums of money. By the time the hair reaches the marketplace, it is usually divorced from not only the head of the woman who sold it, but from its place of origin. Even many of the shopkeepers and traders who sell hair extensions and wigs know very little about how it has been gathered unless they go to the considerable trouble of collecting it themselves or work for a major hair-manufacturing company with a department dedicated to hair procurement. Labels such as “Brazilian”, “Peruvian”, “Indian”, “European”, “Euro-Asian” and “Mongolian” adorn packets of hair, but they often operate more as exotic promises of variety than indicators of hair origin.Hair: A Human History by Emma Tarlo (Amazon)

John Oliver talked HBO into letting him release his whole 29-minute, must-watch show on resisting the normalization of Trumpism, with its endorsement of rape; torture; mass-deportations; elimination of environmental, health and safety safeguards; and Islamophobia. (more…)

Tom Adams, a lawyer and 20-year veteran of the securitization business, compares a map of America's largest foreclosure inventories with a map of key battleground states. (more…)

Beware the Slenderman is a forthcoming HBO documentary about the latest incarnation of the bogeyman, including the 2014 story of the two 12-year-old girls who attempted to stab their friend to death as proxies of the faceless, lanky humanoid monster. First manifested on the Internet (and memetically spread into young peoples' nightmares) around 2011, Slendy is also set to star in his own horror film produced by Sony's Screen Gems division. (via The Daily Grail)

Anish Kapoor -- last seen in these parts when he apparently insisted that it was illegal for people in Chicago to take pictures in their public park if they captured a sculpture that had been donated to the city -- got a nanotech company called Nanosystems to promise him the exclusive right to paint with their Vantablack pigment, which uses carbon nanotubes to absorb 99.96% of visible light. (more…)

Magician David Blaine does a number of fantastic card tricks for Jimmy Fallon and the Roots. He's doing an incredible amount of sneaky stuff right before everyone's eyes and doing it so well that no one sees it. He ends with a non-card trick that freaks out the audience."David Blaine, your magic is real and I believe in you." -- Michael Jackson

(posted to /r/funny by EarthToKepler)

Michèle B. Nuijten and co's statcheck program re-examines the datasets in peer-reviewed science and flags anomalies that are associated with fakery, from duplication of data to internal inconsistencies. (more…)

This week is deals week in the Boing Boing store, and first up is the G-TUBE Adventure Ready Bluetooth Speaker. It may be super compact, but you wouldn't know it from the powerful sound it projects. It's known as one of the best-performing portable outdoor Bluetooth speakers, and it's on sale today only.At first glance, I noticed that it's super lightweight as advertised, and can definitely be easily carried around. It's also water resistant and comes with a durable exterior that makes it perfect for outdoor use. It really can survive water splashes from any angle so you'll feel safe bringing it to the beach or lake.The steel grill with protective elastomer guards the G-TUBE from everyday wear and tear, and its metal loop can be used to hang it from your bike or shower. But the highlight of the G-TUBE is definitely its sound quality, which easily rivals more expensive and larger speakers. The G-TUBE has been really well reviewed all around, and has received 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon. This speaker rarely goes on sale, but today you can bring it home for 20% off, just $31.99.You only have one day to buy the G-TUBE wireless speaker at this discounted price, so grab it now in the Boing Boing Store for just $31.99.Also explore other Best-Sellers and Giveaways on our network right now: GiveawaysThe Google Pixel Phone GiveawayCodingLearn to Code 2016 Bundle (Pay What You Want)Apple6.5 Ft Apple Lightning Cables: 3-Pack (50% off) Music + EntertainmentBrain.fm: 3-Year Subscription ($29)Cord-CuttingGhost Indoor HDTV Antenna (57% off)

If the Democrats continue to front establishment candidates while the establishment's cherished beliefs continue to crumble, they will continue to lose. (more…)

Bruce Sterling's characteristically acerbic remarks on the US election gets to a really important point: internet-based movements have been amazing at tearing down corrupt establishment system, but have failed (so far) to create the kinds of stable governance structures that build up something better from the ruins. (more…)

The massive talent shortage in tech has all kinds of weird effects: the inability to outbid tech giants means that badly secured hospitals get devoured by ransomware; it means that companies that value diversity get to outmaneuver much better-resourced competitors; it means that companies that pledge to be ethical can edge out their competition (and that unethical conduct can have real costs); and it means that companies get so desperate that they form industry-wide criminal conspiracies to try to short circuit the seller's market for tech skills. (more…)

The UK Conservative government is pressing on with their insane plan to block all adult sites (including ones that are legal for adults to access) for all UK internet users. (more…)

I have a feeling that Hedgehog art Though the Ages might not be entirely legitimate from a classical historiological standpoint; I suspect photoshop may even have been involved. But this is, it seems, an entire book of hedgehog art that doesn't involve the blue one, which makes it unique in the annals of modern hedgehog-related ekphrasis.Hedgehog Art Though the Ages is a humorous and lovely book. This amusing work of fictional art history features various inspiring works of art with hedgehogs as the key theme. The book includes over forty amazing, adorable, and delightful works from the Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassical, Romantic and Modern periods, as well as sections on Americana and Japanese art.Let me tell you, this has been tearing up Hedgehog internet.

Disney, through the Jim Henson Company, is the owner of the domain name muppetfucker.net. There is nothing at the address, but... why? io9's Beth Elderkin investigates and finds the answer to be the obvious one: a guy registered the domain long ago and the muppet people made him give it up on pain of expensive legal action.https://twitter.com/noahphex/status/797289825984462848Austin resident Noah Lee started going by the DJ name Muppetfucker in 1995, after he and a friend of his came up with it and thought it was funny. He used the name for six years, and owned several MuppetFucker domain names, including MuppetFucker.net. Lee told io9 the Jim Henson Company likely found out about Muppetfucker after he performed at SXSW in March 2001 and got a review in a local weekly magazine. A few days after the review came out, Lee got a cease-and-desist letter from the Jim Henson Company, which demanded he stop using the name Muppetfucker and hand over all domain rights.“The day the letter showed up, I walked to my mailbox and opened it up, and when I pulled out that Kermit letterhead I knew right then it was over,” Lee told io9. Whatever trademark registrations surround the word "muppet" must be quite shopworn by now: in the UK, the word is a common euphemism for "idiot". Good news, though! Fragglebugger.com is still available.UPDATE: After my writing about this and posting it to twitter, someone purchased fragglebugger.com and redirected it here. Thank you, internet hero! May Disney's lawyers be as stupid as Jim Henson's.

The scientists commenting on the E/V Nautilus live stream just can’t contain themselves when it comes to this adorable Flapjack Octopus.[via The Dodo]

The American Museum of Natural History's hockey stick graph of explosive human population growth in the last 200 years is projected to increase in the short term, tapering off around 11 billion, give or take several billion depending on a few variables. (more…)

Three cows were spotted huddled on a column of earth this weekend after a 7.5-magnitude quake struck New Zealand. Two people and many animals were killed in the disaster and its aftershocks.

My friend Tyler Feder (whose Hamilton tribute I recently celebrated), decided to turn her post-election sadness into something productive. So she posted this simple message on Instagram on Wednesday: https://www.instagram.com/p/BMl6b4cAaSD/?taken-by=tylerfeder&hl=enAs the hashtag began to fill-up, Feder set to work drawing free portraits and uploading them on her Instagram and Tumblr.https://www.instagram.com/p/BMvCoPwAndm/?taken-by=tylerfeder&hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BMqAT3TgnfQ/?taken-by=tylerfeder&hl=enFeder explained to me:"When I woke up on Wednesday, I knew I needed an outlet for all the heartbreak I was feeling. As an illustrator, drawing portraits of marginalized people felt like the best way to extend kindness to those feeling the same heartbreak. I want everyone I'm drawing to know that they are valuable and seen."She initially envisioned #DrawMeTyler as a one-day project, but she found that she didn't want to stop when the day was over. She told me the portraits are therapeutic for her and she's hoping to keep the project up for as long as it will fit into her freelance schedule. Here are just some of the dozens of portraits she's uploaded over the past few days:https://www.instagram.com/p/BMqafIvAz_Z/?taken-by=tylerfeder&hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BMsu97FgARO/?taken-by=tylerfeder&hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BMujYw-ApTe/?taken-by=tylerfeder&hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BMm3IH2AEof/?taken-by=tylerfeder&hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BMu1ZWMghwM/?taken-by=tylerfeder&hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BMmhGAtgaNJ/?taken-by=tylerfeder&hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BMm6aYTgvLp/?taken-by=tylerfeder&hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BMpWIQggRZy/?taken-by=tylerfeder&hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BMmFjmyAclz/?taken-by=tylerfeder&hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BMpE5VOA2NE/?taken-by=tylerfeder&hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BMmm8_3As_Z/?taken-by=tylerfeder&hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BMmtOVLAK3k/?taken-by=tylerfeder&hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BMnZdwWAaaI/?taken-by=tylerfeder&hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BMnSR-qAi0S/?taken-by=tylerfeder&hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BMvUNVejjtV/?taken-by=tylerfeder&hl=enOther artists have since joined in on the project too. Danielle Veit (#drawmebubbsy) is drawing portraits in her own style while Raye Glass is crocheting hats and sending them to people for free.If you want to be a part of the project, you can upload your Instagram selfie under the hashtag #DrawMeTyler—Feder selects photos at random to draw. You can also purchase her work in her Etsy shop and follow her on Twitter.

Researchers at UT Austin have analyzed a deep depression on Mars that differs from a typical crater. The Hellas depression may in fact be an ancient ice cauldron, where a glacier forms over an active volcano, creating a chemical-rich environment that could support life forms. (more…)

"Keming" is a nickname for bad kerning, and the fine folks at F**kYeahKeming have gathered some of the world's finest examples. Lots of "flick" and "click" kerning disasters, but some novel ones, too. The veracity and provenance of these have not been verified, but as long as we want to believe they're real, that's all that matters online. (more…)

Doubling as a tribute to both Leonard Cohen and Hillary Clinton, Kate McKinnon’s somber Saturday Night Live cold open perfectly encapsulates what so many have been feeling this week.

By Penultimate Straw (full B3ta thread)

New Years Rulins: (more…)

Laurie Penny says we've done enough listening to "real people" -- that the working-class whites who deplore racism and were not duped by Trump are done no favors by lumping them in with their neighbors who voted for a confessed rapist and white supremacist who believes in torture and mass deportations. (more…)

Ontario Judge Bernd Zabel displayed contempt for his position and its political impartiality by showing up for work the day after the US election in a Donald Trump "Make America Great Again" hat, which he wore, and then perched on his bench. (more…)

Adultfriendfinder, "the world's largest sex & swinger community," has suffered a major breach, leaking 300,000,000 accounts' worth of personal information, namely email addresses, passwords, usernames, IP addresses and browser information. (more…)