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Updated 2026-11-11 13:22
VHS is making a comeback
Free VHS rentals are part of the planned fun at Video Vortex, a new venture by Alamo Drafthouse. The first one is under contstruction in Raleigh, North Carolina. (more…)
The world's average flag
Technically, the flag you see here is the mode of the world's national flags, calculated by first reducing the amount of colors to match heraldic norms. The mean average flag is more subtly detailed, but also just a blur; the median average flag is a bland gray box. Check out the rest, for each continent. Means were calculated by first converting from sRGB to linear RGB. Modes were calculated by first quantizing to the following heraldic colors: Or, Argent, Azure, Gules, Purpure, Sable, Vert, Tenné, Orange and Bleu Celeste. Omitted heraldic colors include Murrey and Sanguine (as they are very similar to Gules and Purpure) and Cendrée and Carnation (as they are barely used). Medians were calculated by first converting to greyscale using BT.601 luma transform.
Bill Nye provides insight on science slang
Sporting a purple paisley bowtie, "Science Guy" Bill Nye breaks down the meaning of some science slang like "arsole," "hinny," and "jedi."Nye's new documentary film Bill Nye: Science Guy premieres Wednesday, April 18 on POV on PBS.
A recipe for the deliberately obscured task of changing your Facebook settings to opt out of "platform" sharing
With news that Facebook shows all your friends' data to companies when you interact with their Facebook apps, many people are interested in figuring out how to turn that setting off in their Facebook dashboards. (more…)
Married couple notice they're randomly both in a photo taken 11 years before they met
In 2011, a Mr. Ye and Ms. Xue met in Chengdu, China, fell in love, and married. Going through family photos earlier this month, Mr. Ye spotted a shot of his wife at a landmark in the city of Qingdao. Then he spotted himself in the background. The photo was snapped in 2000 when they were both teenagers. “When I saw the photo, I was taken by surprised and I got goosebumps all over my body… that was my pose for taking photos,” said Mr. Ye. “I also took a photo, it was the same posture (as captured in Ms Xue’s photo), just from a different angle.”From Petapixel:Ms. Xue had visited Qingdao to help her mother relax after undergoing an operation a few months earlier. Mr. Ye had been visiting May Fourth Square in Qingdao because his mother had taken ill after booking herself the trip and asked her son to go in her place.Qingdao and Chengdu, cities of 9 and 14 million people (respectively), are separated by over 1,100 miles and it takes over 20 hours to drive between the two cities.
The Cuban "sonic weapon" attacks may actually have been "bad engineering," not attacks
Last year, US and Canadian diplomats and their families in Cuba suffered from weird illnesses that led many to speculate about a "sonic weapon" of some kind. After analyzing a reported audio clip of the mysterious sound released by the AP (below), University of Michigan computer scientist Kevin Fu and his Zhejiang University colleagues Wenyuan Xu and Chen Yan suggest that the source may have been accidental interference between ultrasonic signals. From IEEE Spectrum:There are existing sources of ultrasound in office environments, such as room-occupancy sensors. “Maybe there was also an ultrasonic jammer in the room and an ultrasonic transmitter,” (Fu) suggests. “Each device might have been placed there by a different party, completely unaware of the other.”One thing the investigation didn’t explore was whether the AP audio could have produced the wide range of symptoms, including brain damage, that afflicted embassy workers. “We know that audible signals can cause pain, but we didn’t look at the physiological effects beyond that,” Fu says. At press time, the FBI had yet to announce the results of its investigation. A panel of Cuban scientists and medical doctors, meanwhile, concluded that a “collective psychogenic disorder” brought on by stress may have been at work.Fadel Adib, a professor at MIT who specializes in wireless technology for sensing and communications, calls the study by Fu and his colleagues “a creative take on what might have happened.” Adib, who wasn’t involved in the research but reviewed the results, adds that wireless signals can and do interact with one another. “And if that happens, you’ll hear signals you wouldn’t expect to hear,” he says. “Given all the possible explanations, this definitely seems the most plausible and the most technically feasible.”Fu is careful to offer a caveat: “Of course, we don’t know for certain this was the cause. But bad engineering just seems much more likely than a sonic weapon.”And for more: "How We Reverse Engineered the Cuban “Sonic Weapon” Attack"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgbnZG85IRo
Anti-vaxx spokesperson also paints fairly accurate portraits of politicians
An anti-vaxx spoksesperson best known for his comedic portrayal of a 'pet detective,' also enjoys painting portraits of people.
GPS routing increases city throughput by shifting traffic jams onto residential streets
A trio of engineering researchers from UC Berkeley modeled the effect of heavy reliance on GPS routing on municipal road efficiencies and found that people who are GPS-routed are likely to move to surface streets and secondary highways when the main highways are congested; though this increases overall throughput in a city and reduces overall drive-time, it also creates heavy traffic on residential streets, effectively transferring traffic jams from highways to neighborhoods. (more…)
First pedestrian killed by autonomous vehicle
KNXV in Arizona reports that a pedestrian died last night after being hit by an autonomous vehicle.The Uber had a human safety driver but was self-driving when it collided with the victim, according to KNXV. Early reports identified the victim as a bicyclist, but the latest updates say she walked into the street. It appears to be the first pedestrian killed by an autonomous vehicle.10 pedestrians were killed in the last week by cars driven by humans in Phoenix in what local officials described as a "major crisis."https://twitter.com/daiwaka/status/975771533745336320
Elite: The Musical turned the classic space-trading video game into a glorious epic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-hxWLoOjgwElite was the original 3D space-trading game, spinning a vast universe to explore from a few lines of code, birthing a series that's still going strong. It famously came boxed with a novella by Rob Holdstock to give literary life to its procecurally-generated expanse, but did you know there was also Elite: The Musical? By Aidan Bell, brother of Elite co-creator Ian Bell, the musical clocks in at 1 hour and 44 minutes and you can listen to the whole thing right here, right now in your browser. [via]The Elite Musical seems to have gone forgotten, which is a real shame because it's amazing even if it's a bit dated. So I took it into my own hands to stitch all the audio together to try and log to forgotten Musical. One problem is that the quality in audio changes scene to scene, it seems like some of the songs where recorded live while others where done in a studio setting. However I did my best to get the audio in chronological order. There is some missing audio at the start of scene 6 and some music has crowed cheers, i decided to leave them in as I felt it brought some life to the musical knowing that this was preformed in front of a live audience.
Materials science for goths: graphene hair-dye
A team of material scientists from Northwestern University figured out how to make hair dye in various shades of grey, all the way to a very, very black black, out of graphene sheets. (more…)
Steven Brust's "Good Guys," a hardboiled noir urban fantasy, with everything great about Brust on proud display
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Watch these test flights of Cora, an all-electric air taxi
According to their website, Cora is a fixed-wing craft powered by 12 independent lift fans, which enable it to take off and land vertically like a helicopter. Therefore, Cora has no need for a runway. (more…)
Pantone coffee mugs to match how you take it
Here's a little something for artsy wired types. Pantone has a number of colorful mugs, some of which may match how you take your favorite hot beverage. Note: they do not seem to have any dark enough for how many of our dear readers prefer. (more…)
Watch this whirlwind tour of a completely incompetent roofing job
Even if you don't own a home, this fascinating glimpse into the world of terrible roofing contractors is worth a watch. This inspector says it's the worst he's ever seen, then shows a dozen reasons why. (more…)
How to make those fancy geometric pies by lokokitchen
Seattle-based self-taught baker Lauren Ko of Loko Kitchen was inspired to start making her now-viral geometric pies after seeing some cool ones on Pinterest. For Pi Day, Tasty posted this video of Ko telling her story while showing us step-by-step how she does her thing. It's so satisfying to watch, esp. that sped-up crust-weaving part.Be sure to follow her pie-making adventures on Instagram. Since she started it in August 2017, she's gained over 150K followers, including Martha Stewart.Here's a taste:https://www.instagram.com/p/BcTfX67HPmD/?taken-by=lokokitchenhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BdvfGbUHBMT/?taken-by=lokokitchenhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BetGtVHnWvi/?taken-by=lokokitchenPreviously: These deliciously geometric pies are almost too pretty to eat
Comic book bouquets and boutonnieres
Ooo, betrothed comic book nerds, this one's for you. Mallory McKenney of Wisconsin makes wedding bouquets and boutonnieres by cutting up upcycled comics. From Batman to the Wolverine, and just about any character in between, the Milwaukee crafter can whip up something super for your big day. Before you get all up in arms about the comics she's chopping up, Mallory's husband Nick explains her source, "...she actually buys damaged comic books for super cheap from a couple comic book stores here in Milwaukee, so she’s definitely not using ones that anyone would want otherwise. The only real exceptions are if people request really specific comic books or characters that aren’t super popular and didn’t appear in too many issues."She sells her creations in her Etsy shop, glamMKE. Prices start at $10 (for a single flower) and go up to $200 (something for the entire wedding party).(reddit)
John Kelly boasts about firing Rex Tillerson while he was on the toilet
Meet John Kelly, the White House's "adult in the room":Reporters gathered at the White House on Friday were stunned when Chief of Staff John Kelly shared a very embarrassing story about outgoing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.Kelly recounted a very awkward conversation with Tillerson during which he informed the secretary that President Donald Trump would very likely soon fire him. ... Tillerson, Kelly told the room, was suffering from a stomach bug during a diplomatic swing through Africa, and was using a toilet when Kelly broke the news to him.Sources were stunned that, even in an off-record setting, Kelly would say this—to a room filled with White House officials and political reporters—about Tillerson, who does not officially leave the State Department until the end of the month.The idea that John Kelly is the "grown-up" is one of the saddest lies the press tells itself about Trump's White House. Kelly is a stone-faced moron in public and an adolescent boy in private, a Jessup-esque archetype of the military lifer made real. A perfect fit for Trump, not a foil.
Journalist charged with Criminal Harassment for attempting to set up an interview
Two of the largest parts of a journalist's job are waiting and making phone calls. When you're waiting, it's likely for someone to return a call. When you're making a phone call, it's likely to set up an interview, or interview someone over the phone, Skype or whatever.Antoine Trépanier is a reporter for Radio-Canada: it's the French language farm of the Canadian Broadcast Corporation. Think PBS, only Beyond the Wall. Recently Trépanier was covering a story about a manager from a high-profile NPO falsely representing herself as a lawyer. Just another day in the dry-as-a-popcorn-fart world of public broadcasting. He called this individual, Yvonne Dubé, the executive director of the Big Brothers Big Sisters chapter in Gatineau, Quebec, to see if she'd be interested in sitting for an interview. She was down with the idea, or so it seemed. She cancelled the interview at the last moment. Trépanier emailed her, explaining that Radio Canada was going to run the story on his investigation. He wanted her to have the opportunity to comment on the allegations being leveled against her.The next day, the Gatineau police dropped by to arrest Trépanier for criminal harassment.According to the CBC, The Crown (our Queen-loving version of a district attorney) hasn't decided whether the charges will make it into court. The story of Trépanier's arrest touches on the topic of where the right of a journalist to contact a source ends and the rights of a source begin. It's an important issue: How much does the public's right to know about a topic that could effect their lives matter versus an individual's right to privacy? Should the rules for this be different if the individual in question holds no public office? Where are the lines drawn? A great American example of this issue can be found in whether American citizens have the right to see President Trump's tax returns from before he took office.As a tech journalist, I don't have to worry too often about pissing in someone's cornflakes. More often than not, companies want to talk to me and show me all of their new toys. I've always felt that journalists reporting on hard news do a more important job than I do. That what they uncover matters more than my telling you whether a smartphone sucks or not. It's my feeling that they deserve the highest levels of access possible, where the public trust is concerned.What's your take on it?Image: Evan-Amos - Own work, Public Domain, Link
Little kid works hard at jumping onto stool
This reminds of the saying that goes something like, "A mistake is when you fall. Failure is when you don't get back up." This little kid is the opposite of failure.no *you’re* crying pic.twitter.com/gR4HUqU3cW— A. Rascal (@rascality) March 15, 2018
Video: How the Red Arrow Aerobatic Team does their thing
I used to go to a lot of air shows when I was a kid growing up in Canada. I used to love seeing the American, British and French air forces show off their aircraft. It was always a thrill to see Canada's Snowbird aerobatic team show up to strut their stuff. Now, thanks to this video, I have a little insight into how they and other elite flying teams do what they do.
Mlem chorus performs Moscow Nights
Enjoy this unusual performance of Vasily Solovyov-Sedoi and Mikhail Matusovsky's Moscow Nights. Then enjoy the video again, muted. Then enjoy a nice, hot, cleansing shower.
Bruce Sterling's 2018 SXSW keynote: Disrupting Dystopia, or what the tech arts scene could and should be
Since the first days of SXSW Interactive, Bruce Sterling has closed the festivities with a haranguing, funny, provocative keynote and nearly every year (2017, 2016, 2014, 2013, 2012 etc) we link to it. (more…)
Killer gets 180-day sentence for YouTube stunt gone wrong
Lifehack: Killing someone in cold blood, passion or even accidentally can land a person in jail for years, if not decades. But, if you film it, you could get off with a significantly less stringent sentence.If you're big into Darwinism, you might remember Monalisa Perez. Last year, she and her boyfriend, Pedro Ruiz III, parted ways, permanently, after a YouTube video they were filming went horribly, predictably wrong. This wasn't the pair's first doing-dumb-things-on-camera rodeo. They'd posted questionable stunts to YouTube before. This time around, they planned on taking the Internet by storm with footage of Perez firing a gun at Ruiz, who believed that he could stop a bullet with nothing more than a hardcover book. There were a couple of issues with this plan. First, trusting a book to protect you from death, unless you're boning up on how to make an anti-venom, is insane. Second, the pistol that Perez fired at her beau was a .50 caliber Desert Eagle. For the uninitiated, this is an insanely powerful handgun. With the right load, a round fired from it can bop through a bulletproof vest or pierce light ceramic or steel armor. In short, there was a very high probability that a book wasn't going to cut it.Despite this, Perez stood a foot away from her man and fired a single round. It went through the book! It went into him! He was killed! She got it all on tape, with not one, but two cameras. When Ruiz went down, she called 911 and told the operator what had happened. In December, Perez plead guilty to second-degree manslaughter. According to The Star Tribune, this past week, as the result of a plea bargain, she was sentenced to 180-days in jail for the crime:Monalisa Perez’s punishment, as outlined in an agreement to plead guilty to second-degree manslaughter, is a 180-day jail term, and lifetime bans on possessing a firearm or receiving payment for telling the story of the June shooting of 22-year-old Pedro Ruiz III outside their home in the northwestern Minnesota town of Halstad.The sentence falls below state sentencing guidelines that would have sent her to prison. Norman County Attorney James Brue said that was proper under the circumstances for the 20-year-old mother of two.What do you folks think? Is the sentence too lenient, given the circumstances? Or, taking her intentions into account, does it seem fair?Image via Wikipedia Commons
How to use an eierschalensollbruchstellenverursacher
For those who want to know how to use their eierschalensollbruchstellenverursacher properly, here is a tutorial that explains it in simple steps.And for the rest of you who just want to know what the heck an eierschalensollbruchstellenverursacher is, it literally means "eggshell predetermined breaking point causer." According to Wiktionary, it's "a device used to create breaking points in egg shells in order to allow one to easily remove the top part of an egg using a knife without causing the shell to splinter; used for the humorous effect of its overly-formal construction."And yes, they do sell them on Amazon.
Miami pedestrian bridge collapses, 'several dead,' multiple vehicles trapped beneath
Several people died when a 950-ton pedestrian bridge collapsed over a roadway near Florida International University (FIU). Live video footage of the incident shows 5 or 6 cars flattened beneath, pinned down by enormous concrete slabs. It is hard to imagine any of the people inside having survived, but some have. (more…)
Snapchat removes ad that asks people if they would like to "Slap Rihanna"
Rihanna criticized Snap for running an ad on its platform that asked users if they would rather "Slap Rihanna" or "Punch Chris Brown." In 2009 Chris Brown beat Rihanna so badly that she was hospitalized.From BBC News:Snap told Newsbeat the advert, which was only published in the US, was published "in error" and had been removed immediately.Ads on the social media platform are subject to a review process, while it also has a list of banned content.Snap said: "The advert was reviewed and approved in error, as it violates our advertising guidelines. We immediately removed the ad last weekend, once we became aware."Is it just me, or is this ad that popped up on my Snapchat extremely tone deaf? Like what were they thinking with this? pic.twitter.com/7kP9RHcgNG— Royce Mann (@TheRoyceMann) March 12, 2018pic.twitter.com/VE4AT8zmYe— Roc Nation (@RocNation) March 15, 2018Just awful. Awful that anyone thinks this is funny. Awful that anyone thinks this is appropriate. Awful that any company would approve this. Thank you Brittany for calling this out.— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) March 12, 2018[via Digg]
Funny collection of combined gifs
Combined gifs - the art of taking clips from two or more different videos and mixing them together to create a funny little story - are hitting a new high water mark. Here's a collection of some good ones. Please share your favorites in the comments.https://imgur.com/a/yny3l?ref=hvper.com&utm_source=hvper.com&utm_medium=website
Dog has been stopped too many times by hard air to accept treat from owner
This dog has bumped his snout into the sliding glass door enough times to know that taking a treat offered by its human companion could have painful consequences.Good Boye Ran Into Glass Door Too Many Times from r/aww
NYPD Commissioner "troubled" by news of cop arrested for running an international heroin ring
New York Police Department Officer Yessenia Jimenez was arrested by Drug Enforcement Administration agents on weapons and drug trafficking charges following a month long investigation. According to AP, Jimenez "helped her boyfriend run a heroin trafficking ring that spanned from Mexico to New York."NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill is so troubled by the arrest that he suspended Jimenez without pay. "Cops are charged with enforcing the law, not breaking it," he said in a statement. "Today’s arrest — for serious allegations of trafficking heroin — are troubling.”Did it really take this long for O’Neill to become troubled about crimes committed by his officers? Here are are a few recent stories about serious misdeeds conducted on his watch:Lawyer says nine NYPD officers bullied teen girl who accused two detectives of cuffing and raping herSecret NYPD files show hundreds of cops committed serious crimes and kept jobs and pensionsNYPD cops charged with felonies after beating up mailman
OK Go explains the incredible math behind their "The One Moment" music video
As brilliant as OK Go's "The One Moment" music video is from their Hungry Ghosts album, the math that went behind it is even more genius. Using spreadsheets and an incredible amount of math, you'll see why this meticulous and gorgeous video took years to make. If you haven't yet seen the "The One Moment" music video, you should watch it first (below) before seeing how it all added up. https://youtu.be/QvW61K2s0tA
Hugo nominations close tomorrow!
If you attended either of the past two World Science Fiction Conventions or are registered for the next one in San Jose, California, you're eligible to nominate for the Hugo Awards, which you can do here -- you've only got until midnight tomorrow! (more…)
The Jamstik+ Smart Guitar is your personal music teacher
Learning how to play the guitar is no easy feat, and plenty of aspiring rock stars wash out due to either lost interest or simply lousy teaching. The Jamstik+ aims to remedy both of these issues with a 21st-century approach. This smart guitar teaches you about chords, scales, and the like via an app on your smartphone. This week only, Boing Boing readers can get it on sale for $269.99 (normal: $279.99, MSRP: $299.99).Combining real strings and frets with an accessible tutoring program, the Jamstik+ teaches you how to play the guitar quickly in a simulated, encouraging environment. You'll follow along interactive videos and games and get real-time, onscreen feedback from sensors on the device. Plus, the guitar's compact size makes it easy to take your lessons on the move.The Jamstik+ Portable Smart Guitar can get you started learning the guitar, and it's on sale for $269.99.
Syndicated strip or graphic novel? Lynn Johnston on doing For Better or For Worse in the internet age
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Tiny finger hands for your finger hands
First there were Finger Hands, little vinyl hands that fit on your finger, much like finger puppets. Now, there are Finger Hands for Finger Hands, even smaller hands that fit on the fingers of your Finger Hands (or pens/pencils). Of course, I love them because they're so perfectly bizarre.For $5 you get 10 of them and they come in light and dark skin tones. If you need A LOT of them, they are available in bulk too (144 mixed skin tones/left and right hands for $59.95). They're from Archie McPhee, of course.
Drummer documents 13 years of skill improvement
Adam Tuminaro gathered clips from his earliest days of drumming to the present, and comments on what he learned at each point. It's a great motivational template for any creative endeavor. Nobody starts out perfect, and staying focused on improving along with putting in the hours will eventually yield rewards. (more…)
Disneyland announces a date for removal of sex-slave trafficking scene from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride
The Pirates of the Caribbean was the last ride Walt Disney personally supervised; it has undergone many replications and revisions over the years, but last year Disneyland Paris removed the "Buy a Bride" scene, in which we are treated to a lighthearted human trafficking auction in which captured women are auctioned to pirates as "brides." (more…)
Facebook bans British bigots
Hey, remember when that dangerous orange toddler that runs America retweeted the online blather of a bunch of English facists? Good times. Today, a company that's made some hilariously poor choices in the area of user privacy, curbing spam and stomping out hate speech proved that they've got more of their shit together than the – God help us – leader of the free world.According to The Verge, Facebook has banned U.K.-based far-right racist shit heels Britain First from their social network for "inciting hatred against minorities."In a statement made earlier today, Facebook explained that in the past, they've tried to find a balance between free speech and decency that would allow a variety of opinions to be voiced and considered on their social network. But their patience for hateful bullshit only goes so far:There are times though when legitimate political speech crosses the line and becomes hate speech designed to stir up hatred against groups in our society. This is an important issue which we take very seriously and we have written about how we define hate speech and take action against it in our Hard Questions series. We have Community Standards that clearly state this sort of speech is not acceptable on Facebook and, when we become aware of it, we remove it as quickly as we can. Political parties, like individuals and all other organizations on Facebook, must abide by these standards and where a Page or person repeatedly breaks our Community Standards we remove them.Content posted on the Britain First Facebook Page and the Pages of party leaders Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen has repeatedly broken our Community Standards. We recently gave the administrators of the Pages a written final warning, and they have continued to post content that violates our Community Standards. As a result, in accordance with our policies, we have now removed the official Britain First Facebook Page and the Pages of the two leaders with immediate effect. We do not do this lightly, but they have repeatedly posted content designed to incite animosity and hatred against minority groups, which disqualifies the Pages from our service.Nice.Of course, banning a single, high-profile group from using their service won't put a stop to the sort of hate speech that finds its way on to Facebook each and every day, but lopping off Britain First's social media head is a strong, symbolic action that could start the wheels turning towards the dawning of an online world where fascists, racists and other hateful wastes of flesh will be afraid to show their faces.Image by Petr Kratochvil/PublicDomainPictures.net
Facebook once boasted of its ability to sway elections, now it has buried those pages
Facebook maintains a repository of success stories trumpeting the advertisers who have attained greatness by buying Facebook ads; most of these are businesses, but until recently, Facebook also trumpeted Florida Governor Rick Scott's use of Facebook ads to "boost Hispanic voter turnout in their candidate’s successful bid for a second term, resulting in a 22% increase in Hispanic support and the majority of the Cuban vote." (more…)
Huge air bubble discovered in otherwise healthy dude's head
Brains are so overrated. Sure, they let us know when it's time to poop and help us to find our car keys, but that's not very impressive for an organ that takes up just about all of the space in a skull. You could totally get away with a smaller brain just fine. Check it out: according to The Washington Post, a seemingly healthy fella was found to have a 3.5" air bubble in his skull where a good chunk of his grey matter should be and he was still walking around, eating sandwiches and everything.The 84-year-old gentleman's missing brains were discovered after he complained of taking frequent falls and a loss of sensation on one side of his body – symptoms commonly associated with a stroke. When he reported to the emergency room to get checked out, the ER doctors were gobsmacked to discover that their patient had a massive, pressurized air bubble – called a pneumatocoele – in his skull where brains should have been. The empty head space was particularly surprising because the man arrived in the emergency department with afflictions otherwise common for his age. He had been complaining to his regular doctor about repeated falls and feeling unsteady in recent months. When the man added left-sided arm and leg weakness to the list of complaints, his doctor advised him to go to the emergency room, fearing a possible stroke.But aside from the weakness and unsteadiness, the man was in good shape. In the case report, doctors noted that “there was no confusion, facial weakness, visual or speech disturbance… He was otherwise fit and well, independent with physical activities of daily living (PADLs) and lived at home with his wife and two sons. He was a non-smoker and drank alcohol rarely."It took a while, but the man's medical team managed to figure out how the air bubble had been formed inside of his skull. A small hole in the bone between his sinus and brain cavity had been made by a benign bone tumor. Whenever the man coughed or sneezed, a smidgen of pressurized air was forced into the brain cavity. Over time, the 3.5" bubble was formed.So, go ahead: hop on your bike without wearing a helmet – take a spill for fun! You've likely got more brains than you need.Image via Pexels
European Parliament ambushed by doctored version of pending internet censorship rules that sneaks filtering into all online services
For months, the European Parliament has been negotiating over a new copyright rule, with rightsholder organizations demanding that some online services implement censoring filters that prevent anyone from uploading text, sounds or images if they have been claimed by a copyright holder. (more…)
Study finds that for-pay scholarly journals contribute virtually nothing to the papers they publish
In the open access debate, advocates for traditional, for-profit scholarly journals often claim that these journals add value to the papers they publish in the form of editorial services that improve their readability and clarity. (more…)
Badass Army: revenge-porn survivors teach each other digital and legal self-defense
Battling Against Demeaning & Abusive Selfie Sharing (AKA the Badass Army) is an activist group founded by revenge porn survivor Katelyn Bowden to offer self-defense training against the tactics of traffickers in "involuntary pornography," particularly the loathsome denizens of Anon-IB. (more…)
Happy 20th, Kottke!
Jason Kottke's blog turns 20 today (our online incarnation is a mere 18.3 years old, though we go back in print by another decade-plus); he celebrates with a lovely essay that recalls some of his thoughts in 2008, when he celebrated his tenth by speculating on whether he'd still be going in 2018, 2028 or 2038: "I had a personal realization recently: kottke.org isn’t so much a thing I’m making but a process I’m going through. A journey. A journey towards knowledge, discovery, empathy, connection, and a better way of seeing the world. Along the way, I’ve found myself and all of you. I feel so so so lucky to have had this opportunity."
This Volvo's door chime plays Toto's 'Africa' in 8 bit
It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from the door chime in this Volvo 240. Why? Because it plays an 8-bit version of Toto's "Africa." This sweet mod was created by Chris NG, a fan of the YouTube channel 8 bit Universe. NG's currently got a Kickstarter going for custom vehicle door chimes.Need more Toto?:-- Toto's "Africa" playing in an abandoned mall-- Toto's 'Africa,' as performed by a computer hardware orchestra-- The story behind Toto's 'Africa'-- Pop music genres illustrated with Toto's Africa on a lightweight portable keyboard"I seek to cure what's deep inside, frightened of this thing that I've become"(reddit)
Hypnotic animation of how a star-forming galaxy forms
IllustrisTNG, a next-gen simulator for cosmological events, created this beautiful animation of a "late-type" star-forming galaxy. It's fascinating to watch how mind-boggling mass and energy on a mind-boggling time scale looks familiar to observable phenomena on earth. (more…)
A Bad Lip Reading of Star Wars
Anything A Bad Lip Reading does is a-ok with me. Their latest video is a musical one where Grand Moff Tarkin sings delightful nonsense with Princess Leia.It's called, "It's Not a Moon."Previously: Bad Lip Reading Rap of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back's Battle of Hoth
Puppy dies on flight after United Airlines forces owner to stuff it in overhead bin
A puppy died on a United Airlines flight Monday after "an attendant forced the animal’s owner to put the pet in the cabin’s overhead bin." (more…)
The Kids in the Hall: An Oral History
The Kids in the Hall are Canada's greatest national export. (more…)
Graph of best-case/worst-case scenarios for smart home security, by xkcd
The Mirai and Reaper botnets were just the beginning. xkcd's graph on the fragility of IoT systems is a warning of things to come.
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