My friend Ian Clarke of Uprizer and Freenet fame recently invested in a Jura Ena Micro 9, a swank, ultra-high-quality espresso machine in which many elements of the brew and milk steam processes are cleverly, thoughtfully automated. Ian was sharing something about how his new purchase was working out for him (he digs it), and I asked him to shoot a video of it so i could share it with our Boing Boing readers. Here it is. (more…)

Our friends at TRNDlabs, who sponsored our Weekend of Wonder, have announced the new SKEYE Nano Drone with Camera. (more…)

Xeni got me addicted to making my own kraut. Life has me addicted to specialized kitchen tools. Combine the two and I've decided I just love this cabbage slicer/shredder.The strong handled, wide stainless steel bladed tool easily converts a cabbage into kraut size slivers. Perfect for mashing and smashing in your kraut jar. Gone are the careful slicing and cutting down of a cabbage with my chef's knife. This feels a lot safer!Cleaning is as easy as rinsing the blade off and lightly wiping it down. The tool is also dishwasher safe.If you like making kraut, this shredder is a cheap and easy way to cut down the cabbage.Westmark Germany Cabbage Slicer with Stainless Steel Blade via Amazon

Bern the White House remixes classic punk tees to show support for the Bernie Sanders campaign -- the best is the Misfits one, with the Ramones one in close second place. (Thanks, Stuart!)

T-Mobile's "Binge On" service advertises itself as a "video optimization" service that publishers and customers opt into, but it's really just throttling for all video, something T-Mobile CEO John Legere vehemently denied, then admitted to. (more…)

https://youtu.be/EskFRVyfonsEoin Stephens calls it "When Hotpoint met Sally." Original washing machine video here. "When Harry Met Sally Scene" here.

Urban planning advocates like Jane Jacobs argued that people who live in neighborhoods should be active in the planning decisions around their homes. (more…)

SplashData's report on the most commonly-used passwords finds a number of traditional disastrously bad choices performing well: "123456" comes out on top, followed by "password".Other popular choices this year were sports, like "football" and "baseball." And "starwars," a newcomer to the list, ranked as the 25th most popular breached password, probably thanks to excitement over the release of the newest movie in the franchise.Passwords are the banes of our increasingly online lives: Nearly everything we sign up for needs a password, and creating a secure one can be a pain. Even when we come up with a good one, we always need more because reusing passwords can leave us exposed if a service we use gets breached.

Republican strategist Rick Wilson, appearing on MSNBC, spoke thusly last night of the online contingent of Trump's racist, sexist support base: "childless single men who masturbate to anime".https://twitter.com/cam_joseph/status/689622097765756928The growing association between the Alt Right and anime (previously: how anime avatars became a warning) is pretty weird, isn't it? The "sociology" seems obvious—a generation of angry, badly-socialized adolescent men letting their nerddom and sexuality curdle in public—but that's the too-easy answer.

This perfectly-edited mashup of 50 Shades of Gray and Mr. Bean has it all: lust, submission, and ill-fitting tweed.

Once you've got a human-shaped 3D model that you've imbued with a suitably squishy physics, what do you do? You could torture thousands of them in a virtual infernal device straight out of The Wasp Factory, but why bother when you can strip them naked and drop them in perfect columns? (via Kottke)

See sample pages from this book at Wink.In my other life as a board member of The Rock Poster Society, the phrase “rock art” just about always equals “rock posters.” For Michael Gillette, though, whose beautiful Drawn in Stereo was published last fall by AMMO Books, rock art encompasses a whole lot more than concert advertisements. Oh sure, Gillette has designed his share of rock posters for bands like Saint Etienne, Colorama, and MGMT, but he’s also created animations for the Beastie Boys and My Morning Jacket, as well as portraits of musicians as diverse as Paul McCartney, Madonna, Jay-Z, and Pink for music magazines and websites like Spin, Mojo, and The Fader. Beyond the music world, his work has even appeared in the hallowed pages of The New Yorker and Esquire (every illustrator’s dream), and he’s been hired by such marquee clients as Levi’s, Nokia, and Sony, for whom he created the cover art for the vinyl version of the “American Hustle” soundtrack.Drawn in Stereo delivers all of this prodigious output in a straightforward, unhurried manner, not unlike the artist’s work. Or so I thought until I read an anecdote in the book’s interview with Elastica’s former lead singer, Justine Frischmann. In that casual conversation between two friends, Gillette admits to having started and finished some of his deadline-driven assignments in only a day, a trick that requires finishing a wet acrylic-on-paper illustration with a hair dryer before delivering it to “a courier at the door.” That interview, as well as the organization of the images in the book, loosely tracks Gillette’s journey from England to California, where he now lives with his wife and their two daughters, but the lack of linearity is a plus. Instead, Gillette organizes Drawn in Stereo along the stylistic choices he’s made, a few of the people he’s known, and the media he’s experimented with – and usually mastered. There’s a section on his drawings, including several from Beck’s 2006 album, “The Information,” followed by a number of moody pieces composed in Photoshop and a smattering of movie posters.But it’s the portraits that really grab us, which shouldn’t be too surprising given the music industry’s preoccupation with personality. Foremost among these are the lovely and sad watercolors from his “Little Angels” series, which depicts fallen music idols such as Kurt Cobain, Biggie Smalls, and Amy Winehouse as children, their guileless faces seemingly lifted from nursery- or elementary-school photos taken on picture day. Later in Drawn in Stereo, we are treated to Brian Eno and David Bowie, each posing as a “Glam Songbird.” The humor of these sumptuously rendered images – Eno the “Art Rock Hopper” is perched on a microphone, Bowie the “Stardust Warbler” grips a mic stand in his talons – is as disarmingly dry as the children in “Little Angels” are tender. Who knew the world of massively commercial pop could inspire such subtlety? – Ben MarksDrawn in Stereoby Michael GilletteAMMO Books2015, 192 pages, 9.7 x 11.2 x 0.8 inches$30 Buy a copy on Amazon

<insert ¡Ay, caramba! joke here> (more…)

Michael from Muckrock writes, "When the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) announced the upcoming launch of their NROL-39 mission back in December 2013, they didn't get quite the response they hoped. That might have had something to do with the mission logo being a gigantic octopus devouring the Earth. Researcher Runa Sandvik wanted to know who approved this and why, so she filed a Freedom of Information Act with the NRO for the development materials that went into the logo. A few months later, the NRO delivered." (more…)

Gentleman juggler Mat Ricardo writes, "Last week I got booked to travel to China and appear on their big world records TV show to pull the biggest tablecloth ever. Here's how none of that happened and I ended up literally fleeing to the airport." (more…)

Evan writes, "Puerta Rican singer Taina Asili has released a new music video, 'Freedom,' that's a perfect anthem for the #BlackLivesMatter movement that illuminates the connections between police violence and mass incarceration. The scene opens as a black woman narrowly escapes arrest at a protest, and then follows her as she evades police, interspersed with images of the same actress portraying a runaway slave on the underground railroad." (more…)

A top list with a difference comes courtesy of physicist Stephen Hawking, who has helpfully enumerated some of the more likely ways humankind might wipe itself from existence. (more…)

Janna sez, "For as little as a dollar a day, you can help demoralize the Bundy Militants. Funds raised will support causes the Bundy Bunch hate; per the Oregonian, monies raised will be donated to a gun control campaign, a group that supports the wildlife refuge the occupiers want to privatize, an organization that has labeled Bundy and company as extremists, and the Native American tribe whose members claim the refuge as their ancestral land."

Corgy Orgy—the work of @labelmaker and @ebaynetflix—is the perfect way to recover from Blue Monday. Best of all, you can make your own GIF orgy! Here's a Jackhammer Jill one I just made for you.

Tarpaulins are critical supplies for disaster relief and humanitarian aid, serving as cover, shelter, carpet and all-round utility infielder. (more…)

Yasutaro Koide, at 112, was the oldest man alive before he died Monday in Nagoya, Japan.His death came only months after being confirmed by Guinness as such, and it leaves the situation of his successor unclear. Susannah Mushatt Jones, 116, of Brooklyn, however, remains the world's oldest person. France's Jeanne Calment, who was 122 years old at his death in 1997, is recognized as the longest-lived person on record.Born in 1903, Koide was born to a world without human flight, ice cream cones, or the Model T. According to USA Today, he said that his secret was "not to smoke, drink or overdo it."

Neglected public payphones in New York City are being turned into "GuyFi" stations: a place where one can rub one out for the sake of "stress relief." Annalee Newitz reports on the wank booths from a company named "Hot Octopus"…The company reported that at least 100 men used the booth on its opening day last week. Of course, public masturbation is illegal—and a rep from Hot Octopuss told Mashable, "We may be insinuating that these booths could be used in whichever way anyone would like to 'self soothe,' [but] the brand is not actively encouraging people to masturbate in public as that is an illegal offense." No word on how fast the Internet connection was, or whether there would be any efforts to help women "self soothe" at a rate equal to men in the workplace.An armed society is a polite society.In NYC, pay phones become free Wi-Fi hotspots—and masturbation stations

Remember how, back in September 2015, researchers revealed that virtually every "smart" baby-monitor they tested was riddled with security vulnerabilities that let strangers seize control over it, spying on you and your family? (more…)

At a Television Critics Association event this weekend, the tension between Netflix and traditional television networks ratcheted up a few notches. TV executives expressed the growing frustration they share over the fat that Netflix refuses to disclose ratings. (more…)

Amazon is advancing its drone program with great speed. This is not a joke. Say goodbye to the brown trucks. (more…)

In a blog post, Netflix says it will vigorously block you from using internet proxies to view shows or movies you're blocked from viewing in your home country. (more…)

It's not always easy to get a Swiss person to laugh, but putting them next to a tree-breaking avalanche sometimes does the trick.

Even after the secret is revealed, I am still fooled!Make your own by downloading this PDF template.

From 1989, Fingers Inc.'s beautiful mix of "Can You Feel It" with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech.

Embrace Pangaea, a "holistic company that provides high-quality herbal detoxes and information to educate clients about natural living" wants you to buy its Herbal Womb Detox Pearls at costs ranging from $85 and $480 and stuff them up your vagina to flush out "toxins" and, depending on which ball you buy, to promote "vaginal tightening" by "tightening the womb" after which your "vaginal canal will shrink." (more…)

In the great tradition of political heroes, Martin Luther King's legacy has been sanitized and purged of its most radical and urgent notions, watered down to a kind of meek pacifism that omits his beliefs in radical political change as a necessary condition of attaining real justice. (more…)

Penthouse, the long-running men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione in 1969, is to cease publication in print. The Wall Street Journal reports that it would be "reimagined" as an online-only affair.“Reimagined for the preferred consumption of content today by consumers, the digital version of Penthouse Magazine will combine and convert everything readers know and love about the print magazine experience to the power of a digital experience,” publisher FriendFinder Network said in a statement.It once sold 5m copies a month, went under in 2004, and was bought by online hookups 'n' porn network FriendFinder—which itself went under in 2013. Its circulation figures aren't known, but was shifting about 200k last time figures were released in the 2000s.

You like zoning out in front of fractals, right? Of course you do!FractalJS is the easiest fractal zoomer yet: just pinch-zoom or scrollwheel and watch it go. There are several sets to choose from, a smoothing option, lots of color schemes, and it's all open-source.Alternatives: Calvin Metcalf's Leaflet has Google Maps-style controls and Alson Kemp's WebFract3D renders sets in three dimensions for an especially bizarre experience.Bonus: Here's a Mandelbrot set being generated on a 50-year-old IBM mainframe. Found any cool fractal stuff on the web lately?

Just 62 people own as much wealth as the poorest half of the world together. Of this elite, 52 are men. Moreover, the richest 1 percent now own more than the other 99 percent.The numbers come from UK-based anti-poverty charity Oxfam, which reports rising inequality worldwide just in time for this year's Davos.But the divisions go far beyond those that exist between the haves and have-nots. In the Middle East, the divide between Shi'ites and Sunnis has reached crisis point, with Iran and Saudi Arabia jostling openly for influence in a region reeling from war and the barbarism of Islamic extremists.The conflicts there have spilled over into Europe, causing deep ideological rifts over how to handle the worst refugee crisis since World War Two and - with Britain threatening to leave the European Union - raising doubts about the future of Europe's six-decade push towards ever closer integration.The shock emergence of Donald Trump as the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination has exposed a gaping political divide in the United States, stirring anxiety among Washington's allies at a time of global turmoil.

Allison Gallagher spotted this helpful tip on how to wash very large dogs, posted by an Amazon user reviewing the OptiSex Romantic Fantasy Swing Kit.https://twitter.com/bornhowling/status/687384827687927808

Explore the world of photography with this amazing two-course bundle. In just 30 hours of video instruction, you'll absorb both beginner and advanced techniques that'll take your skills on the fast road to a professional level!Become an expert photographer today with this bundle now only $29 in the Boing Boing Store.Below is a breakdown of the 2 courses included: 1Intro to Digital Photography$129 Value2Advanced Digital Photography Techniques$129 Value

One of the men occupying the Malheur wildlife preserve building in Oregon has, finally, been arrested. Why? Because he drove off in one of the feds' trucks.The Oregonian reports: "Kenneth Medenbach, 62, of Crescent, was arrested on suspicion of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, a class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison. He was to be booked into the Deschutes County Jail in Bend with bail set at $10,000, officials said."Two trucks were impounded, and it's not clear if they know who was in the other one or what that person's fate is. Evidently, the two had decided to go shopping at Safeway, having become tired of the diet of candy cock that Americans are mailing in response to their pleas for groceries.

This incredible photo, shot from a plane at 30,000 feet, captures what looks like a silhouette of the Iron Giant strutting across a cloud. When passenger Nick O’Donoghue, who was on his way back to Ireland from Austria, first saw the image, he thought he was hallucinating. But his two colleagues, sitting next to him, saw it too, so he whipped out his camera and caught these cool images.Unfortunately, it wasn’t really the Iron Giant (damn!), but more likely an optical illusion known as Fata Morgana, or a mirage, according to weather experts. Thanks Daily Mail!

The Bernie Sanders campaign has sent an abusive DMCA notice to Wikimedia, the foundation that administers Wikipedia, over their hosting of Sanders campaign logos. (more…)

Copyright shakedown company Rightscorp, which threatens suspected music sharers with lawsuits unless they give Rightscorp money, has agreed to pay $450,000 to settle claims it illegally targeted thousands of people with recorded messages. Morgan Pietz, an attorney who played a key role in bringing down Prenda Law, sued Rightscorp in 2014, saying that the company's efforts to get settlements from alleged pirates went too far. Rightscorp's illegal "robocalls" violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), a 1991 law that limits how automated calling devices are used. The class-action lawsuit claimed that some Rightscorp targets were receiving one robocall on their cell phone per day. It's generally illegal to have automated devices call cell phones.Earlier this week, Pietz and his co-counsel filed court papers outlining the settlement. Rightscorp will pay $450,000 into a settlement fund, which will be paid out to the 2,059 identified class members who received the allegedly illegal calls. Each class member who fills out an "affidavit of noninfringement" will receive up to $100. The rest of the fund will pay for costs of notice and claim administration (about $25,000) and attorneys' fees and costs, which cannot exceed $330,000. Rightscorp will also "release any and all alleged claims" against the class members. The company had accused the 2,059 class members of committing 126,409 acts of copyright infringement.

If so, please contact me. You have been blocking my mail server for years, and have not responded to dozens of requests through this form. Thanks in advance.

79-year-old Robert Saunders was birdwatching at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge -- checking on some owl chicks -- when a "red-faced pudgy man with a big gun" demanded he identify himself and get down on the ground. (more…)

The Tokyo Zentai Club brings welcome relief to the pressures of living in a stressful urban environment where citizens are expected to conform to rigid social norms. By wearing skin-tight lycra outfits that conceal their identity, club members feel like have removed the behavioral costumes placed upon them by society.From Oddity CentralMy family is conservative,” said university student Yukinko, a member of the Zentai club. “They like me to be quiet and feminine, but in secret I wear all over tights and let loose. I’m a different person wearing this. I can be friendly to anyone and feel as if I can do anything.”The anonymity that the stretchy suits provide is another factor that pulls many people towards the trend. “People can’t see us and it’s difficult to see them,” explained Zentai leader Seiwa Tamura. “So whether one is a teacher or public servant, we become without identity and our true self emerges.”According to Wikipedia, zentai outfits do not conform with the French ban on face covering, and "a fine of up to €150 is issued to those who wear them publicly in France." (Images: Tokyo Zentai Club)

I'm extremely excited about SF Sketchfest's 30th "Hammerversary", a celebration of the prescient television comedy Sledge Hammer! this Sunday, January 17th at 2pm!A few weeks ago I wrote about revisiting Sledge Hammer! Somehow, Alan Spencer, the show's creator, ran across the post and dropped me a note. We've been chatting a bit about the show, how he managed to come up with something that was so hilarious on-target in 1986, and how today's political climate and current events have brought it back into the limelight. While I'm sadly amazed by the turns America's police climate have taken, since the mid-80s, Alan has been able to predict it,"This bizarre, fantasy law enforcement and iron clad vigilante justice has its seeds planted in the Reagan Era." At a time when we had a President quoting Dirty Harry, the ends seemed to always justify the means, and thus Detective Sledge Hammer was born. https://youtu.be/mMW9G6x2OlgSledge was always intended to be very smart political satire, far more a comedic take on the attitudes that made movies like Lethal Weapon, and tv shows like Hunter or the A-Team so popular. Too often, for Alan, Sledge is grouped with Police Squad, which relied on word-play and sight gags, and didn't have the same satirical edge. I think I'm most likely to compare it to the late 70's sitcom Soap, which humorously, and brilliantly, dealt with so many social issues of the time.Sledge Hammer! has frequently been ripped off. TBS's new Angie Tribeca sounds to have liberally borrowed from it. Until recently, Alan didn't think Sledge was worth revisiting, but in the last few years as our country has been desperately struggling with its police culture, he feels the American public might want to see him again. "If you heard about a police officer talking to their gun, today, you probably wouldn't bat an eye." Alan said. This Sunday Alan will be joined by cast members Anne-Marie Martin, who played Detective Dori Doreau, Harrison Page, the awesome Captain Trunk, and the amazing David Rasche, who brilliantly played the titular Detective Sledge Hammer. If you are in the San Francisco area and a fan, do not miss it!'Sledge Hammer!' 30th Hammerversary with stars David Rasche, Anne-Marie Martin and Harrison Page and creator Alan Spencer, Moderated by Cole StrattonSunday January 17, 2016 2:00pm - 3:30pm Eureka Theatre (215 Jackson Street, San Francisco, CA 94111)

Aliaksei Zholner makes itty bitty engines with paper and “some scotch tape on valves to eliminate friction.” They run on compressed air delivered via a papercraft throttle.https://youtu.be/Pf3jnP6AbM0https://youtu.be/fT_hTHl4wWk[via]

From David Michalek's "Portraits in Dramatic Time." RIP, Alan Rickman.

Quarterly.com is launching a brand new Maker Box subscription. This new Maker box features DIY kits and hands-on projects perfect for makers of all ages. You’ll receive kits to build your own gadgets, electronics, quirky tools, and more. Each quarter will feature a new curator, new ideas and new projects. The first curator is Boing Boing! Each box will contain at least 3 kits and will cost $100. The box ships in February.

When artist and pop star David Bowie launched an Internet service provider firm in the heady dot-com runup days of 1998, a guy named Ron Roy helped Bowie run the ISP. Days after the music icon's death from cancer at age 69, Ars Technica interviews Roy about how "BowieNet" came to life, and why Bowie wanted to be in the ISP business in the first place. (more…)

Adieu, Al Jazeera America, and all the DNA it absorbed from Al Gore's once massively-hyped Current TV. The network's closure is particularly sad news for all the great TV news journalists they recruited since Al Jazeera America debuted in 2013. Al Jazeera America will shut down by April 30, 2016, many media outlets report today. The New York Times reports that its imminent death was announced at a companywide meeting on Wednesday. The Times previously reported last year about network staff complaining bitterly of a “culture of fear.” “There was an exodus of top executives, along with a pair of lawsuits from former employees that included complaints about sexism and anti-Semitism at the news channel.”[caption id="attachment_443546" align="aligncenter" width="601"] A woman passes by the Al Jazeera America broadcast center in NYC Jan. 13, 2016. REUTERS[/caption]Snip:In a memo to the staff, Al Jazeera America’s chief executive, Al Anstey, said the “decision by Al Jazeera America’s board is driven by the fact that our business model is simply not sustainable in light of the economic challenges in the U.S. media marketplace.”“I know the closure of AJAM will be a massive disappointment for everyone here who has worked tirelessly for our long-term future,” he continued. “The decision that has been made is in no way because AJAM has done anything but a great job. Our commitment to great journalism is unrivaled.”Al Jazeera America went on the air in August 2013 after it bought Al Gore’s Current TV for $500 million. It promised to be thoughtful and smart, free of the shouting arguments that have defined cable news in the United States over the last decade. But meaningful viewership never came, with prime-time ratings sometimes struggling to exceed 30,000 viewers."Al Jazeera America to Shut Down by April" [John Koblin, NYT][caption id="attachment_443547" align="aligncenter" width="599"] An employee enters the Al Jazeera America broadcast center NYC Jan 13, 2016. REUTERS[/caption]