Derek Khanna, who spearheaded the legislative initiative that made phone unlocking legal, has published a report on patent reform with the libertarian-leaning Lincoln Labs that sets out the case for patent reform being necessary for economic liberty. Read the rest

A Golden Age shipwreck, the rarest of finds, lay waiting in the deep to be found. But even after hundreds of years, time can run out… Read the rest

Wired's Brian Barrett reports on a new feature of Google Trends that lets us see "stories in real time, giving unfettered access to what the Internet wants to know in the moment." Looks like the big news this morning is Justin Rose at the US Open. (more…)

Piled neatly by road markings in Eisenhower State Park, Texas, a vast number of gently writhing worms grace the asphalt. At first mistaken for spaghetti by rangers baffled at their regularity, it soon became clear something stranger was afoot. Read the rest

Amanda Taub and Johnny Harris analyze the bizarrely-staged photo ops in which the Russian president is seen to enjoy a "Walter Mitty-esque fantasy life" where he "subdues tigers, rides horses, and communes with dolphins:" this is politics in Russia. Read the rest

After a houseboat sank in the English channel, its contents bobbed off into the waves, allowing rescuers to capture this remarkable shot of a floating bathtub. Read the rest

When Neil Young objected to the bizarre use of his music during Donald Trump's presidential campaign announcement, it wasn't anyone's first rodeo. Read the rest

Game Of Thrones is full of horrendous characters, but sadistic rapist and torturer Ramsay Bolton may be the worst of them all. (more…)

The aptly-named YouTube channel We Have A Dinosaur has a simple mission: Release "short films about the joys and perils of dinosaur ownership." Read the rest

Patent reform, though limited, has been enough to hurt the market for certain types of patent, reports Ina Fried. Read the rest

thatonekid100 captures the essence of the genre: "this is a typical sandwich format." [via r/videos]

Bravo! Sysadmin Ricky Ramirez wrote that come June 29, all site traffic to be over HTTPS and HTTP will no longer be available. (We're working on it, too) [painting by linanddani]

We talk with author Beth Cato, author of The Clockwork Dagger, about why healers are never the hero in genre fiction and how she decided to change that. Read the rest

Vlogger Franchesca Ramsey weighs in on Rachel Dolezal in a new video for MTV News’ Decoded. (more…)

Illustrator James Chapman decided to add “-ing” to movie titles and then draw an image to represent these new and improved films. Read the rest

As highlighted in pretty much every trailer for the film, a big part of Jurassic World involves Chris Pratt training a "raptor squad." Now real-life zookeepers and trainers across the country are recreating that scene with their own animals Read the rest

A yet-to-be-determined woman will replace Alexander Hamilton's mug on the US $10 bill, according to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. Read the rest

Ogilvy & Mather HK's Pizza Hut Blockbuster Box converts into a low-powered projector for your phone. Read the rest

Worms have a specific antenna-shaped neuron that senses the Earth's magnetic field, enabling the transparent nematode to know up from down when it's in the ground. Read the rest

The $70 Nitecore MH2C outputs 800 lumens and gets outstanding reviews, and even though it uses those pain-in-the-ass CR123A batteries; you can also use 18650s which you can recharge over USB. Read the rest

Our pals at Quantified Self are hosting a big expo in San Francisco on Saturday and they're offering BB readers a $10 discount off the $20 ticket price! Get hip to the self-tracking scene and see your life through the lens of data! Event details here. Read the rest

It's called the Booboo. Read the rest

“No VFX used, this is magical nature,” says Alex Soloviev, who created this short film. “It's like a live cosmos, unbelievable smooth moves, eternity and meditation.” Read the rest

This grid of rubberized woven elastic straps stores cables, batteries, pens, card decks, earbud sets, flashlights, and other small items. Things will not slip out because the straps are rubbery. It's 9.5 inches by 7.5 inches and will fit in a laptop case or carry-on bag.Cocoon GRID-IT! Organizer Case ($7) on Amazon

GQ looks at the last four centuries of fashion in men's hats. And yes, it includes the porkpie hat from Breaking Bad. (more…)

This bicyclist is saving lives in Hampton Court by exposing one illegal cereal eater at a time. (more…)

The Japanese word "furoshiki" refers to wrapping something in cloth. In this case, it's your feet. Read the rest

A search engine that doesn't track user data is growing like crazy, with three billion searches a year. Read the rest

Shared with us by Brian Forham, via twitter, this cute video shows that given a chance and some video surveillance, people are wonderful!

Helium is the second most abundant element in the entire Universe, but we are running out of helium here on Earth. Read the rest

Tonight at the PianoFight theater in San Francisco, Imran G and Red Scott present their new monthly comedy show #PhotobombSF, which combines today's best comics, a theater with San Francisco's best bar, and the stupid and silly fun of a photo booth! Read the rest

Should your self-driving car be programmed to kill you in order to save others? Matt Windsor asked Ameen Bargh, a bioethicist at University of Alabama at Birmingham, this soon-to-be-real-life version of the classic Trolley Question. Read the rest

Jeremy Daw is a lawyer and author of Weed the People: From Founding Fiber to Forbidden Fruit. Recently his home was raided by the Berkeley Police Department Drug Task Force, after they'd received a tip from a neighbor that he was growing marijuana in his backyard. Read the rest

"Here’s the difference between fighting in hockey and heckling in stand-up comedy," writes Lary Wallace at Aeon, "…the former is all about the players, while the latter is all about the fans trying to be the players." Read the rest

This slow-motion video, explained in detail by creator Ben Krasnow, is literally groovy. [via @bradleyland and Kottke]

”Defendants hold themselves out as nothing more than a neutral technological platform, designed simply to enable drivers and passengers to transact the business of transportation,” the ruling states. “The reality, however, is that defendants are involved in every aspect of the operation.” (via NYT)

Amazon's upgraded the $119 Kindle Paperwhite to have the same screen resolution (300ppi) as the $199 Kindle Voyage—a good deal if you've been waiting on a cheaper option for non-jaggy text. Read the rest

Humanity is nearly extinct, what few survivors that remain are enslaved to murderous aliens and used as cannon fodder. Can humanity possibly outwit the aliens and win its freedom? Duh.Read the rest

These guys are actors, it appears. Is this par for the course for such events, and Trump unfairly maligned for it? Read the rest

Stephanie Pakrul created a flowchart for getting what you want delivered, like food, drink, clothes, drugs, and things that "cannot be categorized." (more…)

"Anyone who listens to the Isaac Hayes song, “Shaft,” wants to be black—for a little while anyway," writes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in a terrific essay about Dolezal, race, and personal identity. Read the rest