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by Mark Frauenfelder on (#1X636)
@marcoterenzi's Instragram of tiny handmade tools is a joy to browse. He sells his tools, too!(Thanks, Daniel!)
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Boing Boing
| Link | https://boingboing.net/ |
| Feed | http://feeds.boingboing.net/boingboing/iBag |
| Updated | 2026-07-03 09:47 |
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by Caroline Siede on (#1X5SH)
Comics artist Robot Hugs is a pro when it comes to boiling down complex social issues into easy to understand comics. And in this particular comic, they delve into the thorny issue of tone policing. [via Everyday Feminism]
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by Andrea James on (#1X5SK)
DCA has been presenting their concept for Optic, an AR bike helmet at conferences and competitions this year. It includes cameras, sensors, and a clear visor that displays alerts about obstacles, directions, and other data.Optic gives cyclists the visual information to make safer decisions on the road by integrating front and rear cameras with 360-degree proximity and collision detection. The visor doubles as a heads-up display where Optic live-streams the rear camera and highlights potential risks. This allows the user to focus on the road ahead with full awareness of their surroundings. The visor display can also show navigation and journey statistic interfaces, putting information directly in front of the cyclists without them having to take their eyes off the road.• DCA Optic website
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by Caroline Siede on (#1X5NT)
Chance The Rapper meets Chance The Wrapper. It’s hard to imagine anything more adorable.
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by Xeni Jardin on (#1X4DS)
Ferrofluid is so awesome. (more…)
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by Peter Sheridan on (#1X4DV)
The latest news - from decades past - seems to be the theme of this week’s tabloids.“Trump’s Tax Returns Revealed†screams the 'National Enquirer' cover, promising that “Hillary’s ugly smear campaign falls apart!†But The ‘Enquirer’ has only obtained the Republican presidential candidate’s tax returns for 1975 to 1977, almost three decades out of date. To learn that he paid an average of $23,977 in federal taxes over those three years is scarcely relevant to the questions hanging over Trump today. But for the ‘Enquirer,’ that’s good enough to exonerate Trump of any question of tax avoidance.The “sinister plot†behind the famed meeting between President Richard Nixon and Elvis Presley a staggering 46 years ago is “revealed†by the ‘Globe.’ If they had bothered to read Nixon aide Egil ‘Bud’ Krough’s 1994 book ‘The Day Elvis Met Nixon,’ however, they would have read the same story: that Elvis wanted the US government to condemn The Beatles. As Krough said: “Presley indicated that he thought the Beatles had been a real force for anti-American spirit.†It’s sweet to see a vaguely accurate story in the Globe for once, even if it’s four decades late.The ‘Globe' continues digging into history by declaring (for the umpteenth time) that it has “proof†that Prince Charles “murdered Diana!†Having already decided that the Queen ordered Diana’s body exhumed and demanded a new autopsy - demonstrably false - the publication now reports on details of the non-existent coroner’s report, allegedly proving that Charles had his wife assassinated. Of course, Diana died back in August 1997, so that’s a relatively recent story fas far as this week's tabloids are concerned.The ‘Globe’ goes even further back for its story about Ethel Kennedy being “stabbed in the back†by her sister-in-law Jean Kennedy Smith (Bobby’s wife), who penned a letter to Marilyn Monroe purportedly condoning the movie star’s fling with RFK, saying: “Understand that you and Bobby are the new item!" The letter is among Monroe’s personal correspondence being auctioned in Los Angeles next month, which would make it news, if not for the fact that this story appeared back in 1994 when the letter was previously auctioned. At that time Jean Kennedy Smith issued a statement: “The suggestion that the letter verifies an affair is utter nonsense. I am shocked that anyone would believe such innuendo about a letter obviously written in jest.†No doubt Jean Kennedy Smith, now aged 88, would be equally horrified that the antique letter is being treated as a news item.Just how ancient are the readers of the ‘Globe’? The editors this week treat us to the story of Eleanor Roosevelt’s “lesbian love†affair, which they claim is now “exposed!†How fresh is this revelation about the First Lady’s relationship with White House correspondent Lorena ‘Hick’ Hickok which first blossomed in 1932? Well, back in 1978 more than 3,500 letters between the two women, detailing their intimate friendship, were revealed. But it goes back decades beyond that. Hickok maintained a bedroom in the White House next to the First Lady’s bedroom for several years, and although the mainstream media would never report on such a liaison, it was an open secret in Washington D.C. that everyone knew about - except from ‘The Globe.’ All the news that’s unfit to print, only 84 years late.Jack Nicholson “couldn’t handle the truth†about his own family - the fact that his 'older sister' June was actually his mother - reports the ‘National Enquirer.' It’s a great story, or at least it was when first reported by Time magazine in 1975. Only 41 years late, guys - quite an improvement.‘People’ and ‘Us’ magazines both dutifully devote their covers to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s marital split, with ‘People’ promising “Family Secrets,†and ‘Us†offering a glimpse “Inside Brad’s Shattered World.†It’s all depressingly voyeuristic celebrity train-wreck reportage, sourced by unidentified “insiders,†“pals†and “friends†of the couple. Kim Kardashian’s “night of terror,†when she was “robbed at gunpoint†in Paris, also merits masturbatory indulgence from the reality TV-obsessed mags.Fortunately we have ‘Us’ magazine’s crack team of investigative reporters to tell us that George Clooney’s wife Amal wore it best, that Green Day rocker Billie Joe Armstrong “once thought I won the lottery, but I misread the scratcher,†that reality TV’s Monica Potter (Who she, Ed?) carries B12 hypodermic shots, Sea Buckthorn balm, and facial oil in her Henri Bendel tote, and that the stars are just like us: they drink, surf, and take pies to church events.But for real news you can use, the ‘National Examiner’ reports that “The number 9 . . . figures into your year ahead in amazing ways!†Explains respected numerologist (and star of TV’s ‘Empire') Terrence Howard: “All nature moves with the number 9. So every ninth year, something amazing happens.†Perhaps after nine years we’ll actually see a new story in the tabloids?Onwards and downwards . . .
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by Xeni Jardin on (#1X4AA)
“Day 15, they still haven't figured out I am a dog.†(more…)
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by Xeni Jardin on (#1X48S)
Welp, this does not sound good. Cooperation between the United States and Russia hit a serious new snag today when the government of Donald Trump's personal hero Vladimir Putin put the brakes on an agreement with the United States in nuclear energy. On Wednesday, Russian officials announced suspension of a nuclear research agreement, and the termination of a another agreement on uranium conversion. (more…)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#1X3RV)
Adam from Bold Progressives writes, "For the first time, questions from the internet will asked to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton at a presidential 'town hall' debate this Sunday. Even better, the wisdom of crowds can impact what gets asked!"The Atlantic reports, "Debate moderators confirmed they are embracing a format that a broad bipartisan cross-section of activist and civic groups known as the Open Debate Coalition have been pushing for years. Americans will be able to submit and then vote on questions online at PresidentialOpenQuestions.com, and ABC and CNN have agreed to consider the 30 most popular queries when they jointly plan the debate." Organizations across the political spectrum are taking this seriously and engaging their supporters, from the NAACP to NARAL to the NRA. Millions of votes have been cast so far. Add your voice to the mix -- vote today!What Would You Ask the Candidates?
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by Cory Doctorow on (#1X3JT)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NydXVl0eBaYDocumentary maker James H. Carter II is seeking about $4,000 to complete work on "Foolish Mortals," a documentary about Haunted Mansion fandom that includes a detailed 3D model of the Disneyland Mansion for you to VR in (or whatever!). (more…)
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by Richard Kaufman on (#1X3DQ)
There are geniuses in almost every creative field. In the world of magic and magicians, there is Lubor Fiedler. While many magicians create tricks, Lubor did something much more difficult: he created new principles on which tricks are based. Lubor lived in Czechoslovakia, escaped to the west and lived in Austria, then returned home after The Czech Republic was liberated. He was a brave and clever man; Lubor died two years ago at age 81 while sitting at his computer, still inventing. He was far and away the most creative person I’ve ever met, and he learned a lot in his years of working in a chemical factory. He would give lectures for groups of other magicians and fool them deeply because the principles underlying his tricks were always new. One of his most famous creations is “The Gozinta Boxes,†as in “one goes into the other.†What you see is amazing: a box is displayed and the lid removed. There is a small box inside it. The small box is removed, then the lid is replaced on the larger box. Next the small box’s lid is taken off. And here’s the part that hurts your brain: the large box is then inserted into the smaller box, and the lid of the smaller box put back on. It’s a work of mathematical and optical genius which seems utterly impossible when you see it. This shaky video was taken at a magic convention where Lubor lectured the year before he died, and it shows him performing his “Gozinta Boxes.â€https://youtu.be/VtEO_F3VofA Author Peter Prevos, on his website Magic Perspectives has put up a downloadable file which allows you to make your own set of “Gozinta Boxes†with a bit of arts and crafts. Here it is: You can also download the pdf or simply right click on the image above and save it to your computer. Print it out twice, on two different pieces of construction paper or cardstock, and cut it out. Fold per the instructions and tape or glue it together. You end up with a box and lid of one color, and a second box and lid of another color. Once you’ve got the four pieces (both boxes are the same size!), all you need to do is watch the video of Lubor, above, or this video of the late British magician Paul Daniels, and follow along. There are no instructions needed: just copy what you see. Here Paul is doing an enhanced version of the trick (called “Paradoxâ€) using a magician’s prop known as spongeballs. This version was created by Toru Suzuki, the director of the Creative Division for the Japanese company Tenyo. But you can just ignore the spongeballs and concentrate on the boxes. If you don’t want to print, cut, and paste, or just desire a more solid version made of plastic for only $3, you can buy one here. If you want a large fancy version (the best set made, though it’s expensive), you can get it here. This is the set you can see Lubor using in the first video, above, and it’s called “Perfect Package.†Have fun … it would have made Lubor very happy.
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by Jason Weisberger on (#1X3D8)
Chris Nicholls of the Camera StoreTV demonstrates what to do if you are lost in the woods with only your camera gear.Tying flies is boring.(h/t PetaPixel)
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by Jason Weisberger on (#1X3A1)
Halloween is here and it was time for some new face paint. These crayons are very easy to use.A bit less exact than a brush, these crayons are a fast and simple way to put paint on whomever is your canvas. The 12 colors are bright, and vibrant; showing well against the various skin colors in our household. Soap and warm water washes it right off. I suggest wearing latex gloves as you apply it, the paint doesn't dry and gets a bit slippery on my fingers. Great for use on your budding juggalo!Dress Up America 12 Color Face Paint Safe & Non-Toxic Face and Body Crayons
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by Futility Closet on (#1X3A3)
In 1971 a mysterious man hijacked an airliner in Portland, Oregon, demanding $200,000 and four parachutes. He bailed out somewhere over southwestern Washington and has never been seen again. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell the story of D.B. Cooper, the only unsolved hijacking in American history.We'll also hear some musical disk drives and puzzle over a bicyclist's narrow escape.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon!
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by Mark Frauenfelder on (#1X3A5)
Sam says, "Jack has discovered that by playing dead he can scare the shit out of Archie."
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by Mark Frauenfelder on (#1X37S)
A Reddit user says, "My English teacher has this posted outside her office."
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by Xeni Jardin on (#1X37X)
Sometime over the last few weeks, the FBI made a secret arrest of a Maryland man who worked as a Booz Allen Hamilton contractor for the National Security Agency. (more…)
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by Boing Boing's Store on (#1X33Z)
If you've felt intimidated by Raspberry Pi and Arduino - we get that. That's why we're excited to share the SAM Inventor Kit, an incredibly simple DIY kit that was made a reality by over 800 Kickstarter backers.The SAM Inventor Kit is a smart construction kit that's simple enough for kids to use. It doesn't incorporate any wires - all the parts are wirelessly activated so you can build without needing advanced electronic knowledge. The kit comes with 4 specially selected wireless blocks, which connect to your computer and can be linked to each other to create different combinations of inventions.You can link a button block to an LED light to create a flashlights, combine blocks to master Morse code, and even design alarm systems. Best of all, you can use SAM to prank your family and friends. Check this out:[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPp68MExnkw&w=560&h=315]This kit was created to help kids and adults of all ages discover their own inner inventors. Plus, you can even connect your SAM blocks to external services like Twitter and Facebook to add a social component to your creations.If you've shied away from DIY kits in the past, we highly suggest trying out this easy-to-use option. The SAM Inventor Kit is just $129 in the Boing Boing Store today.
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by Mark Frauenfelder on (#1X341)
In this entrancing video Olga Podluzhnaya Uutai from the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic of Russia howls like a wold, warbles like a bird, whinnies like a horse, chirps like a monkey, and plays a jaw harp. (more…)
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by Jason Weisberger on (#1X343)
No office sounds busy without a dot matrix printer ripping in the background.Also: The HALO theme on 8 floppy disk drives.
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by Cory Doctorow on (#1X345)
The old Canadian Conservative government of Stephen Harper had many controversial policies (cough climate denial cough), with mass surveillance powers very near the top of the charts. (more…)
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by Mark Frauenfelder on (#1X30J)
This magnetic phone mount is $4 on Amazon when you use code MHE52LAQ. It's usually $9, but occasionally the price drops to $4.I started using a magnetic phone mount for my car over a year ago, and I think it is the best way to secure my phone to the dashboard. I've tried lots of other kinds of mounts, and this is the most convenient. The only downside is that you have to apply a thin metal plate to the back of your phone or phone case so it will stick to the the magnet on the mount. But the plate is very thin and it's not a bother.The magnetic mount attaches to an air vent on your car. This could be another downside, but since I live in Los Angeles, I'm almost always running the air conditioning so it keeps my phone from overheating when the sun is on it. That makes the air vent mount an upside for me. (With other mounts, the phone would get so hot that the safety shutdown would sometimes activate to prevent damage to the phone.)
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by Rob Beschizza on (#1X30M)
"My husband freaking out over a potential road rage fight," writes Em Spiers.
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by Rob Beschizza on (#1X2YE)
John McAfee observed something unusual running on a fridge at the local Home Depot: porn.https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/782724362034118656Previously.
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by Gareth Branwyn on (#1X2V5)
Cheap Novelties: The Pleasures of Urban Decay by Ben KatchorDrawn and Quarterly2016, 112 pages, 8.8 x 10.9 x 0.7 inches (hardcover)$23 Buy a copy on AmazonLike a lot of bourgeois bohemians in the 1990s, I was a huge fan of the RAW comics anthologies which, among other incredible discoveries, introduced me to the work of Ben Katchor. One might not think that a comic strip about urban architecture, culture, city development and decay, real estate photography, memory, and loss would make very compelling comics, but then you probably haven’t met Katchor’s beloved comic strip character, Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer.Cheap Novelties: The Pleasures of Urban Decay, a collection of Katchor’s Knipl strips, was originally published in 1991 by RAW/Penguin as a cheap paperback. Twenty-five years later and Drawn & Quarterly finally gives Katchor and Knipl their due in a lovely hardbound, landscape edition of the original RAW strips.If you’ve ever stared in wonder at the decades-old, sun-bleached product boxes inside of the display window of the only original hardware store left in town, or smelled an old typewriter repair shop, or purused gag gifts and tricks in a magic shop that’s been in the same city location for generations, then you’ll understand some of the lost urban culture that Cheap Novelties so deftly and melancholically evokes. As Julius Knipl is called out on building photography assignements, we see these vanishing haunts through his lens, momenents before they leave the city landscape forever, and we hear Knipl’s thoughts on the loss, reflections on his own rather homely life, and urban trivia – all rendered in a very confident and characterful hand in ink-and-gray marker washes. Cheap Novelties was one of the series that launched the whole “graphic novel†revolution in comics. After touring the city disappearing beyond Julius Knipl’s lens, you will understand why.– Gareth Branwyn
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by Cory Doctorow on (#1X2V7)
Author Sean Williams writes, "Last weekend I was MC of a small con in Canberra, Conflux 12. To keep people limber, psychically as well as physically, I devised a form Sci-fi form of Tai Chi, which GOH Alan Baxter helped me demonstrate over the course of the weekend." (more…)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#1X2V9)
Doges are done; sneks are so September. What's next? @Hay_Man's Peasant Memes! (more…)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#1X2TQ)
Runestone's Interactive Python project has adapted 2012's classic How to Think Like a Computer Scientist textbook, updating it to cover recent programming advances, and creating a fully interactive version with quizzes, code examples, and coding challenges. (more…)
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by Rob Beschizza on (#1X2SE)
A week after his dreadful debate performance with Hillary Clinton, polls have headed south for Donald Trump.Clinton is currently a 72 percent favorite in our polls-only forecast, up from 55 percent just before the debate. That corresponds to a roughly 4-percentage-point national lead for Clinton, about where the race was as of Labor Day — before a series of mishaps for her in mid-September. Our polls-plus model, which blends polls with an economic index and generally produces a more conservative forecast, has Clinton with a 69 percent chance instead.But don’t take our model’s word for it: Take a look at the polls for yourself. UK paper The Independent tries to understand the nature and depth of the cycle:The bigger question for Trump is how and if he can actually pass Clinton. In the RealClearPolitics average, Trump has led Clinton for only eight days this year. There have been three days this year that Trump's polling average has been above 45 percent compared with 196 days this year that Clinton has topped that mark. Trump often disparages talk about his having a ceiling, pointing to similar arguments in the primary. But in the general, he hasn't been able to manage a polling average of 46 percent in the head-to-head contest even once. In recent weeks, he has crept upward — but now Clinton's creeping along ahead of him.Two faint lights for Trump: despite polls worsening badly elsewhere, he seems to have extended his lead in key battleground state Ohio, at least among some pollsters. Also, last night's Vice Presidential debate saw Tim Kaine in shabby, blustering form next to a calm and unruffled Mike Pence. These men were both strategic picks with mirroring objectives in mind: to win hard conservatives to Trump's side and GOP moderates to Clinton's. The consolation for Clinton is that suburban whites have gone to Trump anyway, so there wasn't much for Kaine to lose by this point.
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by Cory Doctorow on (#1X2SG)
Vancouver has been wracked by a white-hot property bubble driven primarily by offshore speculators, mostly Chinese, who have driven up the price of housing beyond the means of working Vancouverites, crippling the city's daily life as workers, students and families struggle to find somewhere -- anywhere -- to live. (more…)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#1X2RX)
Mass protests in Poland and across the world have led Poland's far-right government to drop its Vatican-pleasing total ban on abortion, which was so sloppily overbroad that it potentially criminalized miscarriage and surgeries to save foetuses' lives. (more…)
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by Ruben Bolling on (#1X2ND)
FOLLOW @RubenBolling on the Twitters and a Face Book.JOIN Tom the Dancing Bug's subscription club, the Proud & Mighty INNER HIVE, for exclusive early access to comics, extra comics, and oh, so much more. GET Ruben Bolling’s new hit book series for kids, The EMU Club Adventures. (â€A book for the curious and adventurous!†-Cory Doctorow) Book One here. Book Two here. More Tom the Dancing Bug comics on Boing Boing! (more…)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#1X2NF)
September is a new website launched by left-wing groups in Ukraine, Belarus, and other former Soviet states, devoted to finding common cause among activists across the region (the name is a bit of an inside joke about the October, 1917 revolution, embodied in the site's strapline, "It’s not October yet, but it’s close"). (more…)
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by Rob Beschizza on (#1X2NH)
Kody Keplinger's young-adult book, Run, has a queer character in it. In its review, the trade publication Voices of Youth Advocates (Voya) suggested this was inappropriate for younger readers: “The story contains many references to Bo being bisexual and an abundance of bad language, so it is recommended for mature junior and senior high readers.â€Asked why it thought a bisexual character made it inappropriate for young readers, Voya's editors went defensive in record time:Since this is Bi Visibiliy Week, I understand your need to find and destroy your enemies in a public forum, however, Voya magazine and I are not your enemies."The complaint referred to was privately emailed; it was Voya's decision to publish it, without permission, along with this response. In another response, it doubled down on the notion that sexuality is inherently inappropriate for exposure to younger readers:Sexuality (the act or the discussion or the mention, in some cases) and language generally reserved for adults are two issues that are legitimate concerns when addressing the maturity of a teen reader. ... This does not have anything to with with whether the sexuality was homo, hetero, bit or other – sexuality is sexuality. It just happened to be that the sexuality in this particular title (Why does that upset you?)(Bonus points were not awarded for the parenthetical suggestion of emotional fragility.)When scrutinized, Voya's archives were found to have covered many books "CHOCK-A-BLOCK with heterosexual sex". Only queer moments were subject to such "legitimate concerns."To readers (and many authors) this wasn't just the usual media practice of hiding queerness from the young while slyly showering them with heterosexual titillation. Voya's responses cut deeper: the pompous and sarcastic gatekeeping, the infuriating suggestion that minorities wanting representation are the real censors, the clenched-teeth insinuations that you do not belong here.The Guardian quotes Daniel José Older nailing it. Most of the iceberg is still underwater:Daniel José Older, a YA novelist and Guardian contributor, told me by phone that Voya’s response was familiar to those pushing for greater diversity in children’s literature – though usually such responses are not aired in public. “Every so often a Shriver will come out and let her defensiveness and feelings out, and then we get something to critique,†Older said. “But in general, the folks that don’t want the industry to change don’t have to say anything, because they have the luxury of keeping quiet and getting their way. So then we’re very public in trying to get ourselves seen on the page, and we become the aggressors because we’re the ones making noise.â€The apologies soon commenced, but Voya's first attempts were not very good, going for the sort of "sorry that you were offended" PR-judo that has become a media cliché in its own right: Voya reviews editor Lisa Kurdyala posted, then deleted, another tin-eared (but slightly better!) apology to Facebook, accepting that the lumping together of bisexuality and bad language was inappropriate, but rather missing the point on everything else.Finally, in response to Bustle magazine, came the real deal:On Friday, September 23, 2016, Voya began what has become a terrible example of bad social media and customer relations. Voya failed dreadfully in response to a legitimate concern about an error in a review. To compound the problem, Voya responded in exactly the wrong ways to further legitimate complaints regarding the original response. This egregious series of interactions was Voya’s fault from beginning to end, and represents the company at its worst moment.We apologize unconditionally to our colleagues and supporters for the damage, pain, and confusion the mistakes have caused. Not only have we caused tremendous insult to commenters online, we have potentially put our supporters in the uncomfortable position of being criticized for supporting us. We are taking steps to ensure that these mistakes are never made again.The "sincerity curve" of Voya's responses and apologies is noteworthy. It's rare to feel one's reservoir of cynicism so completely refilled to the brim! Sneering and groveling, it all comes from the same place.
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by Mark Frauenfelder on (#1X2CG)
The Trumpettes explain why Donald Trump is well-suited to be president of the United States.
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by Mark Frauenfelder on (#1X2AX)
Christopher Jobson of Colossal says, "This quick video demonstrates how to use a long elastic string anchored at the horizon of a canvas to sketch a drawing with two point perspective. "
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by Mark Frauenfelder on (#1X2AZ)
Author Clive Thompson once wrote an essay about the experience of reading War and Peace on his iPhone. On his blog, he writes about how Sarah Boxer read Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu, all 1.2-million words.From Boxer's essay:Soon you will see that the smallness of your cellphone (my screen was about two by three inches) and the length of Proust’s sentences are not the shocking mismatch you might think. Your cellphone screen is like a tiny glass-bottomed boat moving slowly over a vast and glowing ocean of words in the night. There is no shore. There is nothing beyond the words in front of you. It’s a voyage for one in the nighttime. Pure romance.In a curious way, I think reading Proust on your cellphone brings out the fathomless something in the novel that Shattuck calls “the most oceanic—and the least read†of 20th-century classics. It makes you feel like Jules Verne’s Captain Nemo in his submarine, which is just right.
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by Caroline Siede on (#1X22K)
As part of CrashCourse’s philosophy unit, Hank Green asks, “Is it possible to make true assertions about things that aren’t real?†Turns out the answer is pretty complicated.
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by Caroline Siede on (#1X22N)
YouTuber Tommy Edison—who aims to highlight “the funny side of being blind"—takes us through the experience of finding and reading braille signs in public places.
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by Caroline Siede on (#1X22P)
The first teaser trailer for Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events features Patrick Warburton as Lemony Snicket himself. All eight episodes of the highly anticipated upcoming series drop on Netflix on January 13. Enjoy the cruel whimsy and whimsical cruelty of what’s to come.
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by Caroline Siede on (#1X22R)
Using four of the American covers as her inspiration, artist Lena of Illustory has created these portraits that perfectly capture the essence of each Hogwarts house.You can purchase prints over at Redbubble.[via Nerdist]
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by Caroline Siede on (#1X22T)
The folks at Sneaky Zebra are back at it again with another sleek celebration of cosplay. This one was filmed at Dragon Con in Atlanta, Georgia.
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by Rob Beschizza on (#1X00H)
Yahoo email accounts were scanned by the company on behalf of U.S. intelligence services from last year. This represents the first example of a U.S. service provider providing complete access to "all arriving messages," reports Reuters.It is not known what information intelligence officials were looking for, only that they wanted Yahoo to search for a set of characters. That could mean a phrase in an email or an attachment, said the sources, who did not want to be identified.Reuters was unable to determine what data Yahoo may have handed over, if any, and if intelligence officials had approached other email providers besides Yahoo with this kind of request.According to the two former employees, Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer's decision to obey the directive roiled some senior executives and led to the June 2015 departure of Chief Information Security Officer Alex Stamos, who now holds the top security job at Facebook Inc.It might not seem terribly meaningful to users, given the revelation that 500m Yahoo accounts (surely all of its users, or close to it) were hacked anyway, but there's a difference between a one-off break-in and a standing invitation. Over four years of Mayer's leadership, Yahoo suffered a "stunning collapse in valuation" and was sold to Verizon for $4.83bn. Completion of the deal is reportedly threatened by the recent stories about Yahoo's security failings.
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by Cory Doctorow on (#1WZX0)
In 2015, Yahoo CEO Marissa Meyer ordered the company's engineers to build a tool that scanned Yahoo Mail messages in realtime for "characters" of interest to a US security agency, either the FBI or the NSA. (more…)
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by Boars, Gore, and Swords on (#1WZX2)
The Boars, Gore, and Swords book club reading of the Boiled Leather chapter order combining George R.R. Martin's A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons continues with this week's "Captain Davos: Civil War." Ivan and Red covered Bran II (ADwD) in a previous episode, and continue with Tyrion IV and Davos II. They discuss their civil war over Civil War, Book Tyrion and saying one of the worst things you can say to a woman, and Davos's series of info dumps. You can also head over to their Patreon for their latest episode of Great British Bake Off coverage. To catch up on previous television seasons, the A Song of Ice And Fire books, and other TV and movies, check out the BGaS archive. You can find them on Twitter @boarsgoreswords, like their Facebook fanpage, and email them. If you want access to extra episodes and content, you can donate to the Patreon.
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by Cory Doctorow on (#1WZX4)
Sara writes, "This new report from the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University explores the current state of technology criticism and argues to recognize a wider range of contributors and approaches to the popular critical discourse about technology. The report also advocates for a more constructive approach to technology criticism that fosters conversation and poses alternative visions for a more inclusive technological society. Following this constructive approach, the project offers resources including an extensive reading list and a practical style guide for better technology writing." (more…)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#1WZM3)
Cards Against Humanity raised funds to create a Super-PAC devoted to "driving Trump nuts." (more…)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#1WZC5)
Though Twitter brings in a hell of a lot of money, it's not enough to satisfy the company's investors, who are said to be contemplating a sale to Google or Salesforce; in The Guardian, Nathan Schneider moots the possibility of turning Twitter into a co-operative platform. (more…)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#1WZBN)
Rapid7 security researcher Jay Radcliffe (previously) has Type I diabetes, and has taken a personal interest in rooting out vulnerabilities in the networked, wireless-equipped blood-sugar monitors and insulin-pumps marketed to people with diabetes, repeatedly discovering potentially lethal defects in these devices. (more…)
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