Artist and film student Roosa a.k.a. The Nameless Doll offers up a gruesome reimagining of the heroines from Tangled, Frozen, and Brave. The video was made in collaboration with 3D animator V. King a.k.a. OnlyOneKing_12.

After the DNC hack, security experts began playing close attention to the security of servers associated with the Trump campaign, on the assumption that if the Democrats had been targeted, the Republicans would be, too. (more…)

Average US inflation since 1995 has been 2.2%; in the same time, cable TV prices have increased by 5.8% per year on average. (more…)

The Atlantic's Andrew McGill set up a virtual server on Amazon's cloud that presented to the internet as a crappy, insecure Internet of Things toaster; 41 minutes later, a hacked IoT device connected to it and tried to hack it. Within a day, the "toaster" had been hacked more than 300 times. (more…)

Katrina Bookman was excited when her slot machine hit the jackpot: $42,949,672.76. Resorts World Casino in New York was happy to take her money while she was putting it into the machine, but weren't as happy about giving her the prize. MACHINE R BORKED, they told her. (more…)

Earlier this month, Planet Money aired an interview with a Wells Fargo whistleblower who was fired for trying to alert the bank to the millions of criminal frauds being committed against its customers, and we learned that the whistleblower had been added to a confidential blacklist used by the finance industry, preventing her from ever getting work in the industry again. (more…)

If you've got a Spotify account, you can tune into the classic Caedmon Poe recordings (also available on 5 CD), featuring classic tales like The Masque of the Read Death; The Pit and the Pendulum; The Black Cat; The Cask of Amontillado; The Imp of the Perverse and The Gold Bug. (via Diane Duane)

Pee-wee's sage trick-or-treating advice: "Don't eat any apples you can shave with."(/r/obscuremedia, thanks UPSO!)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8dHJrEig5k

Al Jourgensen may prefer to forget that he once cultivated an English accent and created this underground club hit, but on this day, we happily remember Ministry's "(Everyday Is) Halloween" from 1984. Above, a fan video cut up from horror films.

Folded Transformations just opened at The Huntington. The exhibit features 25 beautiful works by origami master Robert J. Lang. (more…)

Click to view the below full-size; or download as a a high-quality digital poster (4MB) for detailed scrutiny; or proceed for the plain text, abstract and analysis...The Candy Hierarchy (2016)TOP LAYERAny full-sized candy barCash, or other forms of legal tenderKit KatReese’s Peanut Butter CupsTwixSnickersTolberone something or otherLindt TrufflePeanut M&M’sMilky WayNestle CrunchPOST TERTIARY LAYERButterfingerRolosDove BarsRegular M&MsMarsHershey's Dark ChocolateReese's PiecesChardonnayYork Peppermint PattiesThree MusketeersHeath Bar100 Grand BarJunior MintsCaramellosSkittlesMr. GoodbarHershey’s Milk ChocolateHershey's KissesMint JulepsStarburstMilk DudsNerdsWhatchamacallit BarsSweet TartsJolly Ranchers (good flavor)Cadbury Creme EggsSmarties (American)Glow sticksSwedish FishGummy Bears straight upLemonHeadsSourpatch Kids (i.e. abominations of nature)Smarties (Commonwealth)Mint KissesVicodinLicorice (not black)Pixy StixMinibags of chipsLOWER TIERMike and IkeBottle CapsCoffee CrispLollipopsLaffyTaffyKinder Happy HippoGoo Goo ClustersCandy CornNow'n'LatersReggie Jackson BarLicorice (yes black)Good N' PlentyFuzzy PeachesMary JanesBonkers (the board game)Hard CandyDotsBonkers (the candy)Chick-o-Sticks (we don’t know what that is)Necco WafersLOWEST TIERHugs (actual physical hugs)Trail MixTic TacsHealthy FruitMaynardsChicletsSweetums (a friend to diabetes)Black JacksSenior MintsPerson of Interest Season 3 DVD Box Set (not including Disc 4 with hilarious outtakes)TIER SO LOW IT DOES NOT REGISTER ON OUR EQUIPMENTPencilsPeepsJoyJoy (Mit Iodine!)Generic AcetaminophenSpotted DickVials of pure high fructose corn syrup, for main-lining into your veinJolly Rancher (bad flavor)Box'o'RaisinsCreepy Religious comics/Chick TractsThose odd marshmallow circus peanut thingsAnonymous brown globs that come in black and orange wrappersWhole Wheat anythingDental paraphenaliaCandy that is clearly just the stuff given out for free at restaurantsKale smoothieGum from baseball cardsWhite BreadBroken glow stick“What’s going on with Kit Kats Dave?”ABSTRACTCandy candy candy. Co-principle investigators (PIs) Cohen and Ng again report on new findings. From 2006 to 2013, the PIs conducted a longitudinal study guided by PI expertise and cloaked pseudo-corporate sponsorship. Yet, lo, and thine PIs were so moved by the yearly outpouring of commentary that they opened up the study to additional data sources, namely people. The 2014 Candy Hierarchy resulted from survey data in the thousands; the 2015 Candy Hierarchy was based on 518,605 data points obtained from 5459 individuals. It also opened up a new flank in the survey beyond candy that the PIs continued this year. The secondary study sought to understand the character of the survey takers. It was also used to force an agenda that an area podcast won’t shut up about, like preferred days of the week and proper apple eating and now here we are with about 1275 respondents and 120,000 results and a real swell hierarchy. Just real swell.TRANSCRIPTION OF THIS MORNING’S CONFERENCE PROCEEDING DISCUSSION, WITH COHEN AND NG.BC: What’s going on with Kit Kats Dave?DN: I was about to ask you the same.BC: Something’s going on with Kit-Kats.DN: But what?BC: That’s what I asked you.DN: Something weird, that’s all I know.BC: Because we have to start accepting a consensus result. Not counting the full-sized candy bars or hard cash—which are gimmes, we don’t even need to ask that—the year-after-year consensus has a pretty stable top 4.DN: Kit Kat, Peanut Butter Cups, Twix, Snickers.BC: Huge news there—Kit Kats put Peanut Butter cups in their place, kicking them down a notch.DN: I’m sure that pleases you. So we can talk your peanut butter thing now.BC: My Big Peanut Butter thing. I see two problems with Big PB, neither of them acceptable to me.DN: You haven’t shut up about this for about five years. You’re about to go into your Mint ra—BC: CHOCOLATE-MINT COMBOS ARE SUPERIOR TO ALL OTHER CHOCOLATE COMBOS, PB included.DN: Thank you for screaming. And notice there is not one choc-mint combo in the top 20.BC: I wasn’t listening, what?DN:BC: Doesn’t matter. I have other concerns. Like allergies.DN: Medical science. You’ re trying to get us legitimacy?BC: Yeah. We’ve come up to speed in most public eating forums on peanut allergies. But not Halloween. What gives?DN: I have no reply to that.BC: What’s the other big news this year?DN: Yeah, let’s pivot.BC: We have some good health news. People prefer “whole wheat anything” to “white bread.”DN: Maybe. But people would also prefer Person of Interest Season 3 Box Set to a Box of Raisins.BC: It’s not even their best season.DN: You’re preaching to the choir.BC: Bonkers the Board Game is preferable to Bonkers the candy.DN: Most Just Born brand candies are mid-tier—BC: Your Mike and Ikes, your Hot Tamales, your Peeps, right.DN: Actually, Peeps didn’t fare well, and we forgot Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews (though someone wrote it in).BC: And I just realized we didn’t put Hot Tamales on there.DN: Political results were interesting.BC: Do tell.DN: I don’t think we’re telling tales out of school to announce that people prefer Blue M&Ms to Red M&Ms by a 2-to-1 margin. Although to be fair, most folks didn’t seem to care one way or another.BC: I don’t think we’re telling tales out of school to say that Red folks preferred Skittles more than Blue did.OUR POLITICAL PROXYIn this year’s Candy survey we included a politics proxy matrix, polling for JOY versus DESPAIR in Blue versus Red versus Third Party M&M’s. Although most respondents didn’t get it (or did they?), we devised an algorithm to parse out Democratic versus Republican leaning survey takers. For transparency’s sake, this algorithm looked a little like this:Notable observations include the following:1. Strongly leaning Republicans (red JOY versus blue DESPAIR) appear to prefer Skittles over strongly leaning Democrats (blue JOY versus red DESPAIR). Here Republicans had a +7 JOY rating (from n=11 respondents), and Democrats had a +6 JOY rating (from n=22 respondents).2. Democrat leaning participants had Cash at the number one rank, possibly supporting the view that Halloween hauls are a means of social support for “the 99%.” Cash did not make the top 10 for Red-state respondents. Coffers already full? 3. The statistics involved in this statement need to be fact checked (seriously).DN: You’re really extrapolating beyond statistical validity, I fear.BC: I like how now you act like that’s a concern.DN: Speaking more scientifically, people who chose the “Yahoo! Finance” headlines at the bottom preferred cash too. That makes sense.BC: Plus, BoingBoing readers are overwhelmingly scientifically curious (choice of “Science” in the last question, n=983 out of 1232). That’s hopeful.DN: Yeah, you don’t get that scientific anchoring in those off-brand polls, like the Influenster one I saw last week. Besides, I think they invalidate their own survey since Candy Corn was highest rated with their metrics.CANDY CORN AGAINWe wish to address the elephant in the room. That is, the “scientific survey” conducted by Influenster, reported on by ABC News. This apparently places Candy Corn at the top of their hierarchy. To be blunt, we found this to be statistically invalid, as Candy Corn in our total rankings, as well in every demographic (except one) consistently placed Candy corn in a MEH to slight DESPAIR rating. Furthermore, last year’s data would further support our findings, so basically LONGITUDINAL DATA BITCHES! Note that the one exception were those respondents who preferred the “YAHOO! Finance” choice in the last question – read into that as you will.BC: Speaking of scientific legitimacy, I can’t believe we haven’t talked about the results that are already shocking the world.DN: You’re talking about the Friday/Sunday question, I assume.BC: Of course, Dave, yes, I’m talking about the Friday/Sunday question. Last year we had a near perfect 67:33 ratio of a Friday-to-Sunday preference.DN: But something happened, because this year we had a sea change, to 65:35 Fri:Sun.BC: I don’t even know what’s real anymore. We’ve continued that survey at Various Breads and Butters for a year now, with lock-tight 2:1 results. The Platinum Ratio, as people call it now.DN: It could be bad data. Or campaign fatigue.BC: Would explain why people are definitely poll-weary, that’s something.OUTLIERSAlthough for the following observations we did not specifically calculate p-values, and we shuddered at idea of degrees of freedom, the most striking preferences exhibited in our demographic data appeared to surface in three places:1. The Betty versus Veronica divide. First, it should be noted that almost identical numbers of respondents chose Betty (n=509) versus Veronica (n=500, what is wrong with you people?). Although there are minor preferences shown in various candies, there was a very observable difference in preferences for Sour Patch Kids. Veronica folks strongly favored these candies, whereas Betty folks did not.2. Males have overall JOY for Vicodin, whereas Females have overall DESPAIR. 3. Those who see a White and Gold dress overwhelmingly exhibit more JOY for Licorice (that is not black), than Blue and Black folks (here, it is close to an overall MEH rating). We posit that this is a colour thing. Maybe folks see red licorice differently – next year, we will need to include CT scans in the proceedings. DN: Good point. We only had about a fourth the respondents as last year, at close to 1300. It’s the political season. People are done with it.BC: They’re done with apple questions too.DN: Yeah, I’m still struggling to figure out what that East-West apple-eating question is.BC: Most people are. It just shows that you eat apples from side to side, not bottom to top (core and all).DN: Why is that even a question?BC: There’s some freak in my hometown that does it that freak way, and then some guy in Northern Virginia. Outliers.DN: Tell them to eat apples 10,000 times, they’ll learn.BC: Donny P said “I hope they print my manifesto about the correct way to eat an apple,” but nimelennar knew the sticking point “I doubt they will. The apple lobby is dominated by in-ciders.” This entire line of reasoning has been redacted.BC: Any other insights to offer.DN: Not really, but how about lots of graphs.BC: And more footnotes?DN: Yes, footnotes galore.BC: I can’t go on like this.DN: Well? Shall we go?BC: What?DN: Shall we go?BC: Yes, let's go.They do not move. Cos of the candy? Sugar crash.FOR DATA GEEKSFor you viewing pleasure, we have released the raw data for this year’s candy hierarchy, which can be found here. Furthermore, don’t forget that last year’s raw data can also be obtained from this link. Finally, if you like graphs, there are lots to be found at the above link – mostly candy hierarchies of the various demographics. Seriously now, if anyone wants to do a proper statistical look at the data, then please contact the authors. This sort of stuff might be perfect for a predatory journal or two. Oh yes, and we’ll also leave the survey open for a while, in case people want to add to it, post-Halloween.FOOTNOTES1. As before, in which NF = |JC – DC| denotes the difference between the empirical measurement of joy versus despair. Hence the term: Net Feelies.2. Beschizza Bars, they call them (Beschizza, 2010)3. Look: Kit Kats. They’re up a spot. The Kit-Kat v. Peanut Butter Cup battle is the Yale v Harvard of candy. Or Kanye v. Taylor. Or Bojack Horseman v Mr. Peanutbutter.4. Two years in a row, we remembered to include Butterfinger (2015)5. People keep forgetting, but these may be rolled to a friend.6. Not to be confused with soap.7. Yes, God's Candy8. Like Peeps (lower on the tier), CCE’s are this weird seasonal dissonance as an Easter not Halloween candy. Appropriate ranking may depend entirely on date of purchase versus date of opening. Experts in this field often refer to this dichotomy as "fresh CCE" versus "stale CCE," or FCCE versus SCCE (Beschizza, 2011). Note that its interior has also been described as "pustulent." (Petersen, 2010)9. We now accept that these and chalk are one and the same (Gadgetgirl, 2010). Also known as Rockets in Canada and the UK. Though rockets are known as bookmarks in the US. And bookmarks are known as Drop Love licorice in The Netherlands, a popular sugar-free laxative.10. This does not refer to herring.11. So this is interesting. Folks who like reading ESPN seem to have a problem with mint kisses (Nf of -16, compared to Nf of +83 for Science readers). This trend doesn’t seem to happen with any other mint related candies, and so we are left to assume that folks that enjoy ESPN have a problem with kisses.12. Given the political season, it kind makes sense that Vicodin moved up a few spots in the rankings,13. In 2014, Joy and Despair mostly cancelled each other out. Hence the great “Licorice Root Beer Debate of 2014.” This year and last, however, we split it between black and non-black licorice. You all can fight this out. Note the NSFE, or Not Suitable for Europeans label (jhbadger, popobawa4u, chgoliz, SpunkyTWS, Donald_Petersen, Ambiguity, bobsyeruncle666, SuprWittySmitty, SteampunkBanana, SARSaparilla, SmashMartian, daneel 2014)14. Or did we mean bags of minichips? This may be a typo. We had copyediting outsourced.15. This is from EU pressure, known in diplomatic circles as the “Hornby Concession" (see his many footnotes from the 2012 version). Also cf. Mister44, 2016 [https://bbs.boingboing.net/t/tell-us-about-your-halloween-candy-preferences-and-other-things-besides/88024/5].16. Yeah, this candy corn thing. There was that one weird poll from Influenster that claimed candy corn was the top choice in all U.S. states. As dutiful readers know, Candy Corn remained unclassified in 2006, was tentatively placed in the Upper Chewy/Upper Devonian in 2007, fell away in 2008, regained its footing in 2009, found a spot somewhere in the middle in 2010, and has wavered just below the Petersen Influx ever since in the Marcellus Wallace Cusp. We’re waiting for D. Petersen to tell us how it sits near the Petersen Influx. We’re waiting. Tick tock.17. Thanks, Obama.18. No comment. Not even to Access Hollywood.19. But not erasers (N. Johnson, 1977).20. Placed solely to acknowledge, make fun of, and possibly undermine British opinions. Google it, but be careful (2012).21. These things keep coming up. Stop it.22. You’re welcome, America.23. Whoppers still blow. QED.24. Look at you, Helvetica, holding strong against Times New Roman as a top-tier font. We’ll hand those out next year with the Kit Kats.

Allison Meier at Hyperallergenic has a fascinating look at The American Folk Art Museum’s exhibit of classic secret society folk art. (more…)

Last week, FBI director James Comey released a vague letter saying the FBI was investigating more emails that had something to do with Hillary Clinton's personal server. The media largely ran with the GOP characterization of this as reopened investigation into Clinton herself, but things soon got muddy and even conservative commentators found the situation deeply unsettling. For starters, the emails were on disgraced politician Anthony Weiner's computer, impounded in his teen sext case, meaning Clinton's authorship or receipt of the emails is anyone's guess. Worse, it soon became clear the FBI had failed to get a warrant to read the emails before Comey's announcement, giving the impression of an attempt to tip the election, or of appeasement to political pressures. Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney General until last year, writes that Comey's made a "serious mistake." (more…)

In 1999, Shigetaka Kurita created 176 digital icons that fit in a 12x12 pixel grid. Pagers, then cell phones, then smartphones ran with the emoji concept. Now MoMA is acquiring the original set, and MoMA's Paul Galloway will be discussing the collection at Emojicon this week. (more…)

I've been into old-fashioned mechanical keyboards lately; Sonder's e-ink model promises to bring the fetish into the 21st century. Each key is both mechanical and a tiny e-Ink display that can change on a per-application basis.The Sonder Keyboard combines a sleek new design with a built-in rechargeable battery and enhanced key features. With an improved mechanical mechanism beneath each key for increased stability, as well as optimized key travel and a lower profile, the Sonder Keyboard provides a remarkably comfortable and precise typing experience. It pairs automatically with your Mac, so you can get to work right away. And the battery is incredibly long-lasting — it will power your keyboard for about a month or more between charges.The styling is minimal and Apple-oriented. Sonder's keyboard uses Bluetooth, but comes with USB and a lightning port too. It's $200, which seems reasonable for such a specialized device: compare to Art Lebedev's Optimus Popularis color LED model, still a pricey curiosity at $1500.

US Senate candidate Jason Kander was consistently trailing incumbent Roy Blunt in the Missouri race until this month. Many attribute the shift to a simple and memorable ad in response to criticism of Kander's position on gun background checks. (more…)

San Francisco-based artist Chris Bjerre created these gorgeous black-and-white forms that pulse between elemental shapes. (more…)

Cast iron skillets should be a part of everyone's kitchen, but some people feel intimidated by with the preparation, use and maintenance. This nicely-produced video by Tasty shows how even an old hand-me-down skillet can be transformed into the perfect tool for great stovetop results. (more…)

A decade ago, I made note of the fact that the iconic UK Teasmade alarm-clocks (which automatically brew a cup of tea using an improbable, Wallace-and-Grommity/Heath Robinson set of mechanical actions) were to be reissued, and today I come to find that they now exist and can be purchased in a model that runs on US electrical current. (more…)

Hillary Clinton's email woes won't die. Federal investigators today obtained a fiercely-sought warrant to begin searching a large cache of emails sent to or from Huma Abedin, longtime confidante and senior aide to Hillary Clinton. Federal law enforcement officials told reporters the warrant was in on Sunday, as prosecutors with the Justice Department and agents from the F.B.I. rushed to review as much of the emails as possible before Election Day, which is now only one week away. (more…)

By every measure, Minnesota governor Mark Dayton's five year run as governor has been a stellar success: while Tim Pawlenty, his tax-slashing, "fiscally-conservative" Republican predecessor presided over a $6.2B deficit and a 7% unemployment rate (the mere 6,200 jobs added under Pawlenty's 7-year run barely registered), Dayton added 172,000 new jobs to the Minnesota economy, brought Minnesota down to the fifth-lowest unemployment rate in the country, and brought the average Minnesotan income up to $8,000 more than the median US worker, while posting a $1B budget surplus. (more…)

In honor of Halloween, the Boing Boing Store is featuring an awesome Egg/Cookie Mold Set. Naturally, many have tried and many have failed to use egg molds in the past - and today we're celebrating those that have "Nailed It"! #1 One of these things is not like the other...#2 No kidding...#3 YUM#4 Nailed it!These molds are supposedly easy to use—just place the mold in your frying pan and crack two eggs into the rings. In the time it usually takes to cook your eggs, you’ll either have an awesome creation or a total fail. Either way, you're a winner in our book.For a limited time, the Skull & Owl Egg/Cookie Molds are 40% off retail, just $11.98—grab yours before they're bought up by internet meme enthusiasts everywhere.Also explore the Best-Sellers on our network right now:Cord-CuttingGhost Indoor HDTV Antenna (57% off)Self-ImprovementBamboo Bed Sheets: 4-Piece Set White (72% off)PythonPython Programming Bootcamp ($39) Music + EntertainmentBrain.fm: 3-Year Subscription ($29)CodingLearn to Code 2016 Bundle (Pay What You Want)

On October 25, thousands of Icelandic women went home at 2:38PM, after 86% of their work-days had passed, to protest the fact that they only earn 86% of their male counterparts' wages. (more…)

Earlier this year, companies like Silverpush were outed for sneaking ultrasonic communications channels into peoples' devices, so that advertisers could covertly link different devices to a single user in order to build deeper, more complete surveillance profiles of them. (more…)

The Icelandic Pirate Party did not score the overwhelming victory predicted by early polling, but with 14.5% of the total vote, they are still in position to be the senior party in a ruling coalition that could form the next government. (more…)

Vancouver makeup artist Mimi Choi has a Hallowe'en-themed series of confounding dazzle face makeup pics in her feed that will give you the best kind of headache, and possibly some very good last-minute costume ideas. (more…)

Uploaded by redditor Ins1der, who attributes it to Instagram user Cblimagery, an Indiana resident.

Soylent, makers of meal-replacement drinks, bars, slime and so forth, have recalled another product after consumers reported trouble down below after consumption.On Thursday evening, food replacement startup Soylent halted sales of its Soylent 1.6 powder amidst reports that it was making customers sick. Two weeks prior, the company paused sales of its latest product, the Food Bar, after Gizmodo reported that several customers had experienced nausea, vomiting, “uncontrollable diarrhea,” and severe dehydration after consuming the bars. Some customers were admitted to the emergency room due to their symptoms. In a blog post Thursday evening, Soylent revealed that while the company was reviewing what happened with Food Bars, it “noticed that a handful of consumers (less than 0.1%) who consumed Powder 1.6 over the past several months reported stomach-related symptoms that are consistent with what our Bar customers described.”Although the company wouldn’t say which ingredient is causing the illness, it has narrowed down its search, “given there are only a few ingredients that are specific to only [its] bars and Powder 1.6.”Soylent is a case study in engineers thinking they're smarter than everyone else, but aren't.

More and more people are using dashcams to record the road as they drive, and insurance companies are beginning to take the footage more seriously, too. At just $24.99, the Dash-Cam Hi-Res Car Video Camera is one of the cheapest options I've seen, and turns out it does everything I want it to do.It attaches directly to your car’s dashboard and records high-quality video (1920x1080p) of your time on the road. For the most part, you won't ever look at this footage. But if you get into a fender bender or even a serious accident, this camera could pay for itself thousands of times over. It's built to perform well under stress. Even if you get into an accident or experience a sudden bump in the road, its G-Sensor technology will keep filming the whole way through. It also includes a substantial 8GB microSD card.The fact is that at just $24.99, this camera is well worth the purchase. It could turn out to be a lifesaver if something unexpected happens on the road, and I always have a little more piece of mind knowing that it's there. Click here to get yours in the Boing Boing Store today.Also explore the Best-Sellers on our network right now:Music + EntertainmentBrain.fm: 3-Year Subscription ($29)Cord-CuttingGhost Indoor HDTV Antenna (57% off)PythonPython Programming Bootcamp ($39) Self-ImprovementBamboo Bed Sheets: 4-Piece Set White (72% off)CodingLearn to Code 2016 Bundle (Pay What You Want)

Boing Boing-beloved artist Chris Locke (previously) writes, "World-famous artist and middle-school art teacher Christopher Locke has published a new drawing tutorial book, packed with lessons from his own classroom. Whether you're a 10-year-old aspiring artist, or an octogenarian with an art degree, you'll find exercises and activities that will help you build your skill and refine the way you see the world." (more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=190&v=3GSwl21-ZwIDave from Imperial College sez, "We've taken observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background from the Planck mission and turned them into a 3D printed map of the temperature of the universe when it was just a few hundred thousand years old. Download the files and print your own baby universe!" (more…)

FBI Director James Comey writes in a letter sent Friday to congress that the bureau is investigating more emails related to Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email server.In previous congressional testimony, I referred to the fact that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had completed its investigation of former Secretary Clinton's personal email server. Due to recent developments, I am writing to supplement my previous testimonyIn connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation. I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday, and I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.Although the FBI cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant, and I cannot predict how long it will take us to complete this additional work, I believe it is important to update your Committees about our efforts in light of my previous testimony. The letter's vague. Everyone is losing their shit over it, either thinking it's saying more than it is (there's no suggestion that it's her email), or finding its lack of detail suggestive of a partisan effort to spread fear and doubt days before an election.https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/792062966879444992The earlier investigation led to Comey announcing that Clinton's use of personal email was inappropriate but not worthy of charges.UPDATE: Get this: it's apparently got something to do with Anthony Weiner's teen sext stuff.Federal law enforcement officials said Friday that the new emails uncovered in the closed investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server were discovered after the F.B.I. seized electronic devices belonging to Huma Abedin, a top aide to Mrs. Clinton, and her husband, Anthony Weiner.The F.B.I. is investigating illicit text messages that Mr. Weiner sent to a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina.The implication is that Huma Abedin's device has email to or from Hillary on it, and therefore vanishingly unlikely to make a difference to anything.https://twitter.com/kurteichenwald/status/792075393515724800Here's Newsweek on why Comey might have been forced to turn this into an October surprise. UPDATE: Looks like a dead dud.https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/792080910464065536

I just bought this ten-pack of 16-ounce pub beer glasses on Amazon for $12. They have great reviews on Amazon. I don't know how long they will be at this price. They been as high as $25 recently. UPDATE: Price is now $26!

I'd like for you to meet one of my favorite people in the whole world. He's a private guy and though he's okay with my writing this post, he'd rather I kept his identity a secret for now. He calls himself The Toadman. But I should warn you, what you are about to read isn't what you'd expect. He doesn't lick toads for fun, eat amphibians or live under a bridge. He simply loves toads more than anything in the world and what he does in his free time proves it.If you ever meet The Toadman, he'll seem just like anyone else in the Motor City. He'll probably talk about Michigan State University, the Detroit Tigers and how great it is to live in his hometown of Clawson. But what you won't get right out of the gate is what I call his "green side". That's the side of him that's comfortable discussing his life-long passion.Since we were kids, The Toadman has been obsessed with frogs and toads. The day I got my drivers license he talked me into traveling 20 miles north to a swampy area because "that's where they have the best ones". I know it sounds strange, but just as a bird watcher is able to detect the presence of certain birds by how they chirp, The Toadman is able to do the same with toads. It's uncanny really.Did I mention that for the past 2 decades he's lived with toads and sometimes sets up professional photo shoots with them? Just look at the size of his favorite googly eyed friend, Toad Ramsey. That portrait is ridiculously huge!Sadly, Toad Ramsey is no longer with us (God rest his frog soul). He was named after a baseball player from the 1880's who became famous for inventing the knuckle curve ball. It seemed that Thomas H. "Toad" Ramsey had severed the tendon in the index finger of his pitching hand and there was no way for it to apply pressure to the ball from that finger when thrown. When other pitchers saw his throws curve the way they did, they deconstructed his grip and the technique lives on to this very day. The Youngstown Vindicator described his pitches on January 6, 1923:“The ball would leave the hand and go on a straight line to the plate, then suddenly shoot down. Ramsey’s curve was pronounced by experts to be the perfect demonstration of rotating a sphere."In 1888 the Toad Ramsey baseball card became available and my friend has built a little house for the one that he owns. He explained that the card isn't especially valuable and though he did it to protect it from direct sunlight, it was also because toads are mostly nocturnal.As you can see, Toad Ramsey will live safe and sound forever under a gigantic portrait of himself. We should all be so lucky.Earlier this year, The Toadman attempted to contact the spirit of Toad Ramsey through a Ouija board. What he found was that Mr. Ramsey doesn't like being called "Toad" at all. He'd rather be called by his given name, Tom. I'm sure you're glad that's straightened out.In 2003, The Toadman's Fantasy baseball team (named The Clawson Toads) won the World Championship title besting more than 200,000 teams in the ESPN's Baseball Challenge. That year everyone in town got a Clawson Toads baseball shirt to celebrate.The Toadman followed CNN trucks around town while wearing his shirt in hopes of getting some well deserved airtime. And at 3:28 PM, on December, 12th 2003, my friend hit 4.5 seconds of pay dirt. This footage became especially important when he found himself in a battle with editors of Wikipedia. It seemed they didn't think the Clawson Toads were important enough to have their own article. After 2 years of tireless battling, The Toadman's wikipedia page was taken down and the sleepy city of Clawson, Michigan has never been the same. But life goes on for The Toadman and he is currently working on his will that states, "Upon my death, I leave everything I own to the Clawson City school district as long as Clawson High School changes their mascot from whatever it is to a toad".And that seems fair to me.Go Toads!

This'll save you a lot time going forward.

In 1896 two New Jersey clam diggers made a bold bid for fame: They set out to cross the North Atlantic in a rowboat, a feat that had never been accomplished before. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll follow the adventure of George Harbo and Frank Samuelsen, which one newspaper called “the most remarkable event in the way of ocean navigation that ever transpired.”We'll also meet some military mammals and puzzle over a thwarted burglar.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon!

It’s a big world we live in, full of fortune-telling fox-woman hybrids, libraries where books are chained to the shelves, rusting shipwrecks, and amusement parks at the bottom of salt mines. The website Atlas Obscura collects the most intriguing of them, and now Atlas Obscura is in book form, perfect for flipping through while waiting for water to boil. It’s plentifully illustrated, with photographs or drawings on every page.This is not The Book of Lists, and it is not for young children. Many of the entries concern war or atrocities, and some photos are gruesome; the world is full of mummified limbs. The authors treat the subjects respectfully, and have done their research. The story of the Bicycle Tree in Washington State, for example, has both the glurgy and the factual versions.Some entries are not location based, such as the two pages of entheogens from around the world, or the list of abandoned nuclear power plants. But most entries have the latitude and longitude for each attraction, and sometimes street addresses; you could use this as a guidebook for a particularly unconventional wanderjahr.Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders by Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras, and Ella MortonWorkman Publishing Company2016, 480 pages, 7 x 10.5 x 2.1 inches (hardcover)$21 Buy a copy on Amazon

I don't know the source of this hip glossary that translates beatnik slang into the King's Jive but it would be such a gas if tuned-in cats spoke like this (even if they never really did). (via Weird Universe)

If you're like me, you get frequent calls from scammers based in India pretending to be from the IRS. They threaten to come to my house or place of work to arrest and jail me unless I pay them alleged back taxes in the form of gift cards(!). They are laughably bad at trying to con money (see my post "An IRS scammer called me and I made him mad"), but they do well with seniors and immigrants. According to an article on Vox, "IRS Inspector General Russell George said his department heard from about 2 million people who said they received these calls — about 10,000 of whom admitted to paying the scammers, to a tune of about $50 million. And that’s just the people who contacted them."In order for these scams to work, the Indian scammers need to employ criminals in the US to deal with the gift cards. On Thursday 20 people in the US were arrested for allegedly participating in a fake IRS ring.This flowchart describes how the IRS scam works.Previously: Indian call center employees posing as the IRS may have bilked Americans out of millionsA tech support scammer explains his trade

Brian Feldman explains why Twitter's decision to kill the Vine looping video service makes the internet worse.The point of Vine was never to generate the next Fellini. It was to have dumb, stupid free play on an internet increasingly hostile to that kind of freedom, whether because of surveillance or heavy-handed advertiser presence or trolls. The lack of adult supervision or corporate culture may have made it somewhat impenetrable, but it also made it feel free in a way no other social network really does.Vine also had what Silicon Valley types describe as a poor "culture fit."Vine wasn’t just dominated by teenagers — it was dominated by teenagers of color. Especially black teens, who created a disproportionate number of popular Vines and used the social network to demonstrate wit, intelligence, creativity, and comic timing that was rarely given a spotlight elsewhere. Twitter's decision to kill it is being felt as deep pain on the web. Twitter itself is worse than unpleasant: it's the oxygen keeping the internet on fire, feeding trolls, harassers and white supremacists. Vine, on the other hand, was adorable, funny, impervious to the hate and great because "there were no brands or grown ups or neonazis to ruin it." But business is interested in at least two of those three things.People often wonder why Twitter, more than other major social networks, is having so much difficulty figuring out ways to combat abuse. It is already far from a free-speech environment, after all, offering private intellectual property enforcement and (at least in a few cases) region-specific political censorship. I don't know much about business, but I always get the impression that Twitter sees its flatness and the abuse it engenders as an energy efficiency problem. A reaction to be brought under control, not vented. What if we could create an environment where bigotry and abuse are harmless? This is the sort of thinking that "trolls" are eager to exploit. Twitter doesn't realize that one of the constants in its formula—the social acceptability of bigotry and abuse—is a variable.https://twitter.com/AdrianChen/status/792005729481785344My favorite vine:https://vine.co/v/eKqtW7Z6nEX

With Xamarin, coders can develop native apps for both iOS and Android without learning two different programming languages. Obviously, hiring one programmer rather than two is beneficial for companies and makes Xamarin experts highly in demand.You can easily learn Xamarin online with this Xamarin Cross-Platform Development Bundle. It will teach you to use Xamarin and code in C#, the programming language you'll use.The bundle includes 5.5 hours of video content and 48 lessons designed to take you through the basics of understanding Xamarin and the mechanics of actually building cross-platform apps.Right now you can get the Xamarin Cross Platform Development Bundle for 96% off retail, just $35 in the Boing Boing store.Also explore the Best-Sellers on our network right now:CodingThe Python Power Coder Bonus Bundle ($44)Cord-CuttingSelectTV: 1-Year Subscription (33% off)

Seth Everman distills a certain video game musical score down to 80 seconds of sheer brilliance. Somewhere in the space between Link To the Past and Secret of Mana, the perfect Nintendo role-playing game. Previously: It is with great regret...

This fellow cobbled together an AC motor and some weed-eater filament, and attached it to a long pole. He then used it to get rid of a bunch of wasps that had taken residence near the top of his house. Those clunking sounds are from wasps flying into the spinning filament.And here's a guy who set up a shop-vac and sucked out hundreds of yellowjackets living inside the walls of his house:https://youtu.be/ZpgovFhV_ho

Duterte has vowed to stop using "epithets" (for example, he called Pope Francis a "son of a bitch" and told Obama to "go to hell") because God threatened to crash the airplane he was flying home from Japan in if he didn't cut it out. (more…)

A resident student paid $41 (not sure if that's a year or semester). Adjusted for inflation, it's $340.[via]

I want to thank Boing Boing for allowing me to introduce my music collection titled The Triumph of the Will Not. (more…)

Gollancz have announced a gorgeous set of new editions of William Gibson's seminal Sprawl books, which began with 1984's Hugo, Nebula and Philip K Dick award-winning novel Neuromancer, designed by Daniel Brown (previously), using software that created fractals based on 1970s apartment buildings. (more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHp-mc4JFVkRecent Trump rallies have prominently featured an African-American guy holding a "Blacks for Trump" sign, standing behind Trump himself. That guy is Michael Symonette, and he used to be a prominent member of the Yahweh ben Yahweh murder cult, support for whom led him to stand trial for 14 murders as well as multiple indictments for arson and extortion. (more…)

Donald Trump’s grandfather Friedrich Trump operated a wild and crazy restaurant/bar/brothel in British Columbia during Canada's gold rush era. (more…)