The Norwegian Consumer Council hired a security firm called Mnemonic to audit the security of four popular brands of kids' smart watches and found a ghastly array of security defects: the watches allow remote parties to seize control over them in order to monitor children's movements and see where they've gone, covertly listen in on them, and steal their personal information. The data the watches gather and transmit to offshore servers is copious and sent in the clear. The watches incorporate cameras and the photos children take are also easily plundered by hackers. (more…)

Tall ship sailor-turned-cartoonist Lucy Bellwood's gorgeous "The Art of the Sailor" is an informative guide to the meaning of sailor tattoos. It first appeared in Vancouver Maritime Museum's traveling exhibit, "Tattoos and Scrimshaw: the Art of the Sailor."It's available as a signed and numbered letterpress print for $40:Giclée art prints are available directly from the artist for $15 to $20.This site has vintage photos of some of these tats (and others). (RED)Previously: Buy a random permanent tattoo from this vending machine

In 2016, an Internet of Things worm called Mirai tore through the internet, building botnets of millions of badly designed CCTVs, PVRs, routers and other gadgets, sending unstoppable floods of traffic that took down major internet services from Paypal to Reddit to Dyn. (more…)

"Petting your dog," writes Blake Boege, "is the most relaxing thing you can possibly do."

Last year I bought this mailbox light. You stick it inside your mailbox (it's got peel-off sticky tape). Two sensors - light and motion - sense what's happening. If they sense darkness and no motion (door closed) nothing happens. If they sense light and motion (opening the box in the day) nothing happens. If they sense darkness and motion (opening the box at night) the light goes on for a couple of minutes, allowing you to see the mail. It runs on 3 AAA batteries, which last months. When it is time to change the batteries, just pull on the case to release it from the magnetic back cover (which is attached to the mailbox with the sticky tape).At 2 for $15 (give one to a friend or install in a cabinet) this is worthwhile convenience.

In 2008 and 2012, Wisconsin ranked second in the USA for voter turnout; in 2016, following the enactment of a series of racist voter-suppression tactics, the voter turnout was the worst it had been since 2000. (more…)

Video slot machines pull a lot of tricks to make it hard to tell how fair the game is; one of them is to ring up "wins" that are actually losses (you put in $1 and get $0.75 back, say), with a lot of fanfare and hoo-rah. These tricks are calculated to hook players into the game by stimulating their reward centers with intermittent stimulus, a powerfully addictive combination. (more…)

Cat Whitney's thread of her favorite spooky plants includes some of the plant kingdom's most horrifying denizens: Aristolochia Salvadorensis..."looks like a flayed skull, and reminds some of Darth Vader"; Hydnellum peckii..."The infamous bleeding tooth or Devil's tooth fungus"; Antirrhinum seed pods..."the seedpods of some species resemble human skulls"; Tacca chantrieri..."the Black Bat Flower"; Monkey Orchids..."as I'm personally terrified of primates & apes, I'm putting them on here". (via JWZ) (more…)

Ever since I read Michael Pollan's advice to avoid any food whose packaging makes any nutritional claims, I've been a happy man -- but never so much so as I realize that this rule means I would never fall prey to the latest shitty scam from the Quaker oats people.

Nemo, my Great Pyr, tends to not like chewing on fake stuff. He's loved this Galileo Nylabone for years, however.Nylabones cover the spectrum of dog-chew toughness. Puppy softchews are like plastic gel caps to my big dog, This hard bone is barely scored by his massive teeth.The flavoring seems to last a long time, or Nemo just got used to chewing this bad boy for comfort. Sometimes I'll put a bit of peanut butter on it, if I just want him to settle down and leave me be.Nemo is a 120lb chewing enthusiast. This bone, however, holds up.Nylabone Galileo Original Flavored Dog Chew Toy via Amazon

A leaked recording of Facebook security chief Alex Stamos (who refused to help with an illegal NSA spying program when he was CSO for Yahoo) has him describing the company's IT culture as being "like a college campus, almost" while the company has the "threat profile of a Northrop Grumman or a Raytheon or another defense contractor." (more…)

Keeping a stash of emergency supplies doesn’t make you a paranoid doomsday prepper. It makes you a responsible human being that doesn’t want to be totally SOL in a disaster situation. To help you prepare for the unpredictable, this Multi-Function Radio & Flashlight is now on offer in the Boing Boing Store.This versatile device combines a powerful LED torch with a radio tuner that includes AM, FM, and WB bands for weather updates. Its handheld size won’t take up much space in your backpack or car, and you won’t need to bring extra batteries — this emergency radio comes with a lithium-ion power bank that’s rechargeable via solar panel or built-in hand crank.Aside from providing power to its light and radio receiver, the battery pack can also be used to charge USB devices. When you’re off the grid, you’ll be able to keep your phone alive with just sunlight and elbow grease.You can get this Emergency Multi-Function Radio & Flashlight for $18.99 here.

Hawaii, the only market left for SPAM in the United States, is suffering a rash of SPAM heists. This isn't just folks needing to grab a can of SPAM to feed the family, it appears these are highly organized, tactical SPAM swipings.Via Grub Street:Hawaii is under siege by Spam bandits. Individuals in the state have pulled off a series of brazen canned-meat heists. The thefts have become so common, the Washington Post reports, that some shops are protecting the mystery-meat gold by locking it in plastic cases usually reserved for pricier items.At a Safeway on Oahu, a customer spotted a man who grabbed eight cases of Spam and made a beeline for the exit. In another instance, three women at a Longs drugstore filled shopping carts with 18 cases of Spam and bolted — but were thwarted by a customer no doubt compelled to defend Hawaii’s Spam supply. Meanwhile, the Honolulu Police Department has offered $1,000 for a Spam thief, and his alleged accomplice, who attacked a security guard that tried to protect his employer’s Spam. (Where’s America’s most badass service-industry professional when you need him?)These Spam-burglars aren’t part of some noble Robin Hood–like pursuit. Instead, officials say the thefts are due to the state’s thriving Spam black market. Tina Yamaki, president of the Retail Merchants of Hawaii, tells the Washington Post that the heists are “organized retail crime” and not driven by a need to eat or feed a family.

In the early 2010s, Quinn Norton (previously) was sexually assaulted by Robert Scoble (previously), a well-known technology exec and anti-privacy advocate while attending O'Reilly Media's FOO Camp, a private tech gathering that has a well-earned reputation as a safe and congenial space. (more…)

First responders laud drones for helping in rescues and negotiations, while some cities like Los Angeles are fighting calls to ground all police drones over privacy concerns. (more…)

Clients who still can't believe Trump is now the sitting Preisident are sharing revenge fantasies about Trump with their therapists. (more…)

DirecTV dished out a $184,530.67 satellite television bill to an Ohio woman, and no, it wasn't for a new HBO/Showtime package. Angela Mixon-Smith, an Army veteran, recently agreed to bundle her DirecTV service with a new AT&T cell phone plan, and has been receiving strange service bills ever since. Mixon-Smith said she opened the bill Monday and began to feel ill. According to KTLA:“I mean, my chest got heavy,” the Ohio, woman told KTLA sister station WJW in Cleveland on Wednesday. “I had to get some water. I don't drink. I was ready to drink." ...“I know I don't have that kind of money,” she said. “And, since April? There's no way.”AT&T, which merged with DirecTV in 2015, apologized for the error and recredited Mixon-Smith’s account. The spokesperson for AT&T who issued the apology did not give an explanation to KTLA for the mistake. Image: Dwight Burdette

Ethan Persoff will be speaking about the John Wilcock comic at The New School's Parsons School of Design, on November 7. Free and open to the public.Read Scott Marshall's adaptation of Nietzsche, An Illustrated Zarathustra.

With its impeccable military intelligence contacts and team of White House insiders, the National Enquirer has scooped the world by obtaining “ISIS’s Map of Terror!” – revealing the jihadist group's “top secret” targets across America. Then again, it could be the route map of any retired couple planning to tour the States in an RV: targets include Mount Rushmore, Hoover Dam, Disney World, Dollywood, The Grand Ole Opry, the Statue of Liberty, and Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It’s only surprising that they didn’t include Wrigley Field. Oh wait – they did.How the Enquirer gets such amazingly detailed inside information, I’ll never know. The Enquirer also “blows the lid off Hollywood’s casting couch scandal,” if “blowing the lid” means regurgitating actress’s allegations made over the past two weeks while adding nothing new. Comedy legend Jerry Lewis’s $75 million will was “forged,” claims a handwriting expert, who found that a dying 91-year-old’s signature doesn’t precisely match his signature when he was younger. Because at the age of 91 what could possibly make it harder to hold a pen or make one’s hand shake? Hard to imagine.Tom Cruise has obtained the level of Operating Thetan VI within the Church of Scientology, which the Enquirer claims means that he has the ability to heal with the touch of a finger. This could be good news for every starlet he beds in the future, who could wake up in the morning a born-again virgin.Would you consider yourself broke if you had $250,000 in cash? The Enquirer does just that to “broke” Bill Cosby, who allegedly “carries all his cash in a bag.” Not that the Enquirer has actually seen inside Cosby’s suitcase, but if he’s lugging it around with him it must be carrying a quarter mil in cash, because what else could he be hauling? Clothes? Fuller brushes? A headless torso? No, it must be $250,000 in walking money.The Enquirer also publishes details relayed by a prostitute who engaged in violent sex fantasies with Las Vegas massacre gunman Stephen Paddock – an "Enquirer World Exclusive" which first appeared in the UK's Sun newspaper almost two weeks earlier. She reveals Paddock’s text messages, with his desire to book a room on a high floor of the Mandalay hotel with a view over the concert grounds. Unlike the Sun, the Enquirer fails to mention that the prostitute’s last contact with Paddock was in June 2016.The Globe cover returns to its favorite sport of bashing Hillary Clinton, claiming that Caroline Kennedy hates Hillary because the former Secretary of State is supposedly behind rumors that John Kennedy Jr. was intoxicated when his plane crashed in 1999. Hillary's “evil lies" are repeated by the Enquirer at great length. Hugh Hefner died of lung cancer, report the Enquirer and the Globe, which seems at odds with last week’s claims that he died of toxic mold at the Playboy mansion.Fortunately we have the crack investigative team at Us magazine to tell us that Naomi Watts wore it best, that singer Kesha can only cook one thing – popcorn, that actress Rachel Bloom carries sunglasses, pepper spray and Prozac in her Prada purse (this feature never gets old!), and that the stars are just like us – they pump gas, eat lunch, and pick up their dry cleaning. Us devotes its cover to the “Secrets of the Royal baby!” which, despite the exclamation mark, are remarkably mundane: Duchess Kate suffered severe morning sickness; she and Prince William don’t want to know the baby’s sex; their ob-gyn postponed his retirement to deliver the infant; and the Lindo wing of St Mary's hospital has been reserved.People gives its cover to Harvey Weinstein’s victims, but adds nothing new to the exercise. "What did his wife know?” asks a side-bar story. After reading it, we’re none the wiser.We turn to the National Examiner to bring us the week’s real breaking news: The “Shocking Secrets” behind the 1990 romantic comedy Pretty Woman, the grammatically-challenged day “O.J. Attacked Own Daughter!” in 2003, and “Heartbreak killed Sandra Dee!” in 2005.Breaking news doesn’t get more broken than that.Onwards and downwards . . .

Denuvo is billed as the video game industry's "best in class" DRM, charging games publishers a premium to prevent people from playing their games without paying for them. In years gone by, Denuvo DRM would remain intact for as long as a month before cracks were widely disseminated. (more…)

In 1911, three British explorers made a perilous 70-mile journey in the dead of the Antarctic winter to gather eggs from a penguin rookery in McMurdo Sound. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll follow the three through perpetual darkness and bone-shattering cold on what one man called "the worst journey in the world."We'll also dazzle some computers and puzzle over some patriotic highways.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon!

Students at an elementary school in Jackson, Mississippi have elected to rename their institution in honor of the legitimately elected 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama.Via the Root:According to NBC News, the Davis Magnet International Baccalaureate Elementary School in Jackson, Miss., will now be called the Barack Obama Magnet International Baccalaureate Elementary starting the beginning of the next school year, the school’s PTA president, Janelle Jefferson, announced at a Jackson Public Schools Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday night.Jefferson said that the name change came up after the issue was raised by a student.“They know who [Davis] was and what he stood for,” she said. “This has a great impact on them because [Obama] is who they chose out of anybody else they could. This is the person that the whole school supported. He was their No. 1 choice.”Jefferson said that the students at Davis, 98 percent of whom are black, selected Obama because they were alive during his presidency and felt that he shared and represented their principles.There is no sense in honoring the men who attempted to split the United States so they could maintain the practice of slavery.

When I was a kid, home alone in 1993, I turned on the TV to find one of those live call-in shows. "Ghostwatch" was presented as light-hearted Halloween fun from the BBC, jumping between phone calls from the public, panel discussion and an on-location "real life" paranormal investigation.In the studio was the trusted greybeard and sceptic Michael Parkinson, talking to an expert on the paranormal. In the house, engaging with a mother and two young girls, was the Children’s BBC darling Sarah Greene. Greene’s husband, Mike Smith, manned a bank of phones in a Crimewatch-style set up, with a number flashing at the bottom of the screen. If you called the number, as thousands of people did, you got through to a bank of real parapsychologists. ... Craig Charles, then at the height of his fame with Red Dwarf, was the reporter on the ground, mocking the entire enterprise...But it was really a movie, a novel and realistic hoax. Ghostwatch (available now on DVD) headed an inch at a time from its convincing, deliberately boring reality show framing into a demonic nightmare. This was stunningly original work in 1993 and the nation was savaged by it. The over-the-top ending, intended to make it all look like hokey fun, seemed to have the opposite effect: they killed the key presenter of Children's BBC on "live" television, at the hands of a dead child molester's spirit, while knowing that the children would be watching! Or, worse, sent to bed by their parents as they realized where the show was going.The budget for Ghostwatch was huge. The team was given about £900,000 and gave a third of it back. It would be shot on video, to make it look like news. They hired Winston Ryder, the sound designer for David Lean’s Great Expectations, who created the sound of screaming cats by rubbing balloons.Greene had to go on TV the next day to reassure the nation she had not been lost to the darkness -- an ending uncannily similar to that depicted in The Blair Witch Project a few years later.In November 1993, a year after the programme’s one-off airing, two doctors from a child psychiatry unit in Coventry, Dawn Simons and Walter Silveira, submitted an article to the British Medical Journal (BMJ) recording the first cases of post-traumatic stress disorder caused by a television programme.It was full of stone-cold manipulations of the audience, from the ace casting of starchy, straight-laced Parkinson to a scene where the on-location film crew appears to catch a teenage girl hoaxing them by knocking pipes -- a particularly adept validation of the audience's skepticism as a prelude to ruthlessly violating it. I don't want to watch it again because I worry that its bag of tricks will be so hackneyed and dated now as to be ridiculous from the outset, even to a child. But it was a lightning bolt of postmodern television craft, emerging from the haunted timeless calm that followed the cold war, an early warning of what was to come.The odd coda: the British tabloids tried to use the Ghostwatch controversy to get the BBC shut down, but their fake outrage shouted down the real outrage. This inoculated the show against any genuine public anger while investing it with such an aura of mystery and power the BBC would never rebroadcast it. And so legends are born.Essential reading: Ghostwatch: the Halloween hoax that changed the language of television [New Statesman]

My latest Twitter follow is @jakelikesonions, whose bi-weekly cartoon of the same name has been going since 2015, and represents a very deep set of funny stuff to lose yourself in. Some recent gooduns below: (more…)

In High intelligence: A risk factor for psychological and physiological overexcitabilities, a group of academic and industry neuroscientists survey a self-selected group of 3,715 MENSA members about their mental health history and find a correlation between high IQ and clinical anxiety and depression disorders, an effect they attribute to "overexitabilities" -- "the same heightened awareness that inspires an intellectually gifted artist to create can also potentially drive that same individual to withdraw into a deep depression." (more…)

Instructables member Tye Rannosaurus has baked something special for Halloween, blood-red-on-the-inside and black-as-soot-on-the-outside Brimstone Bread:Rumor has it, when demons in Hell make this bread, they roll the dough in the deep pits of sulfur and soul dust and cook them in the hot brimstone vents. Unfortunately, as you are mortal and have neither access to soul dust or brimstone vents, I’ve had to make a few adjustments to the recipe for you.While these rolls aren’t actually “Hell Authentic,” they’re close enough to get the job done.More of Tye's horrible Halloween recipes can be found at Necro Nom-nom-nomicon.

An Arizona man channeled his inner Ellen Ripley after he was suspected of using a propane torch to burn alien creatures known as spiders from his mobile home Sunday night. Fire officials suspect the man used the torch to kill spiders and burn their webs underneath his Tucson home, according to KVOA. The brave attempt was a rare challenge against our arachnid overlords, but left 22 firefighters battling an eleven-minute blaze that destroyed the home and left two residents in the care of the Red Cross. Image: pxhere

Do a Google search on Javier Ortiz and Miami and you'll read about a cop who has gotten in trouble numerous times for things that would get most people fired or jailed. But Lt. Ortiz, president of the Miami Police Union, just got promoted to Captain.From The Week:In March, City of Miami Police Lt. Javier Ortiz was stripped of his gun, temporarily suspended, and forced to do desk work after a county judge granted a restraining order against him by a woman he'd harassed on Facebook. Over the last few years, Ortiz had also posted racially inflammatory content on social media, allegedly written improper police reports, and received several use-of-force lawsuits.On Wednesday, he was promoted to the role of captain, the Miami New Times reports.From Miami New Times:MPD Chief Rodolfo Llanes did not respond to a message from New Times asking why he signed off on promoting the most controversial cop in Miami-Dade. But Ortiz's promotion is simply a sign that the most rudimentary police-accountability protocols at MPD don't work at all. Ortiz garners so much bad press that many cops in his own union are sick of his conduct, anonymous police forums such as LEO Affairs are full of complaints about Ortiz, and other officers have anonymously complained to New Times over the years about how poorly he paints the force in the media.Image: BBC

I'm not sure why Google translate thinks a magnet (磁石) is a "masturbation stone" but this is a good tip, nevertheless. Simply tape paper clips to the wall and then secure your poster with small masturbation stones.[via Lifehacker]

When I first saw Will Stahle's cover art for my novel Walkaway, I was pleased beyond all reason (and not least because I am an unabashed Stahle fanboy, as he is behind some of the greatest covers of our era, from Yiddish Policeman's Union to Autonomous to A Darker Shade of Magic to All the Birds in the Sky). (more…)

"This man is a sick man. He is cold hearted and he feels no pity or sympathy for anyone." said Florida Congressperson Frederica Wilson of US President Donald Trump.Wilson was with her constituent, the widow of fallen Sgt. La David Johnson, as US President Donald Trump called her to "sympathize." Rep. Wilson found the President's message bewildering. Sgt. Johnson was ambushed and killed in Niger for undisclosed reasons.Donald Trump referred to his call with the six-month pregnant widow Johnson as "very nice" and Representative Wilson as a liar.

This video and the photos below reportedly depict a 60-foot dragon skeleton unearthed in the city of Zhangjiakou in Northern China's Hebei province. Some observers insist it's a hoax, but we know better. From Mysterious Universe:A translation of the story at wukong.com says the skeleton measured about 60 feet long with a horned skull and two tiny arms at the neck-body joint. The long thin serpentine body matches the Chinese version of dragons rather than the Game of Thrones or flying lizard types.However, the skull seems more like an antelope and some witnesses thought the bones looked like they were from multiple cows and pieced together to fool the public or be used in a movie or TV show.

I cut back the vegetation around my home, as it had grown up too high over the wild rainy season and hot summer. Rats had taken over the brush and ivy. My landscaping left them nowhere to go. Nowhere but my woodshed... (more…)

In September, we learned that the pharma giant Allergan had sold key patents to the St Regis Mohawk band in upstate New York, in a bid to avoid a streamlined patent-challenge process called inter partes review (IPR). (more…)

The amazing Dawn Wells turns 79 today.(Thanks, Rob Bronstein!)

Running your social media profiles with a razor-sharp focus has proven to be a viable way to keep your brand above the ever-increasing noise of the internet. If you are looking to drive more traffic to your freelance hustle, almost-famous dog, meme account, or score a job as a social media manager, take a look at the Social Media Management Pro Bundle, available now in the Boing Boing Store for $34.Not positive you want to dive all the way in? We've also broken the bundle into individual courses so you can pick exactly what you want. Here’s what’s included:Blogging For Business: 3x Traffic Without AdsInstead of spending money on sponsored posts, you can increase your digital presence by writing about your niche. Blogging For Business shows you how to author compelling posts and curate other related content. You’ll learn how to promote your blog on social media and email, and measure impact with Google Analytics. This course is available standalone for $21.Become A Freelance Social Media ManagerIf you’re savvy and already live on social media, you could be putting your your talents to work as a consultant. In this guide to freelance social media management, you’ll get introduced to the nuts and bolts of professional social strategy — including crafting business plans, writing proposals, and setting up simple websites. After you know how to handle the business side, you’ll discover the best places to find clients and grow your operation. You can get Become A Freelance Social Media Manager for $25 now.The Complete Facebook Ads 2017 TrainingWith over 2 billion active users, Facebook provides ample opportunity for digital marketers. The Complete Facebook Ads 2017 Training offers 4 hours of material to help you get the most out of their ad program. You’ll find out how to avoid common mistakes with hands-on experience building an audience, boosting posts, and tracking conversion rates. Pick up this course for $25.The Complete Twitter Marketing Bootcamp 2017Harnessing the potential of Twitter’s network can be tough for newbies — you need to commit to a consistent schedule, find the right kind of followers, and treat your interactions carefully. For a complete guide on turning tweets and ads into actual business leads, pick up this Twitter Marketing Bootcamp here for $24.The Complete Instagram Marketing 2017 TrainingInstagram’s visually-focused platform is great for showing off products and events, but beautiful images aren’t the only aspect to a successful campaign. You can learn how to schedule appropriately, engage with communities, and build lasting relationships with the Complete Instagram Marketing 2017 Training. You can grab this course for $25 today.Email List Building: 4 Systems To Grow Your ListEven though email lacks some of the dynamic interactivity of social media, it’s still a viable, ad-free way to communicate with potential customers. Email List Building will teach you how to be an effective email marketer by crafting a compelling message and leveraging social media traffic. You can get this expert training for $22.

Two of the four Chicago Department of Aviation Security officers who beat United Airlines passenger Dr David Dao until he was unconscious, concussing him, breaking his nose and then dragging him off the plane, have been fired -- but not for administering the beating. Rather, they were fired for lying about it. One of the other two officers involved has quit and the final one got a two-day paid holiday ("suspension"). (more…)

Oh boy! A working Dick Tracy Wrist Watch is probably second only to a working Class B9 Model M3 General Utility Non-Theorizing Environmental Control Robot on my wishlist!These guys don't tell you much, but if this lovely watch sounds similar to an Apple Watch on speakerphone-mode I'm probably in. CLOSE ENOUGH.They already sell watches that look like a Dick Tracy watch, now, but only tell the time. While I am tempted, I'll wait for the real deal.I'd also like the Shadow's pneumatic network of tubes.

Hypothesis: "Where's my fucking iPad prop? I need m...Just give me some fucking paper or something! Wait, not that, oh for FUCK'S SAgood morning and welcome to BBC News."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=31&v=J-gf_bxV00sThe Week catches up on a few years' worth of "minor to major" edits to well-known sad or dark songs, upsetting the mood to happy or humorous effect. Embedded here is The Godfather theme, which when modified sounds rather like the theme tune to the arcadian British show Last of the Summer Wine, about old Yorkshiremen enjoying their endless retirements.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyVq85xrTCYSomeone should make that sound tragic and sinister instead, a sort of "Last of the Middlesborough Vodka."Also:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ppoRHBtwCY&feature=youtu.be&t=2m27s

Joey deVilla says of this sign found in a Thailand boba tea bar, "I can’t tell if they’re trying to be edgy or just got a bad translation."

Jeremy Kun, a mathematics PhD from UI Chicago, created this portrait of computer science pioneer Alan Turing using ellipses.I made an art thing. It's Alan Turing algorithmically approximated by ellipses, in six panels. pic.twitter.com/VlzhIeZEGK— Jeremy Kun (@jeremyjkun) October 16, 2017

In 1869, two men were digging a well on the farm of William Newell in Cardiff, New York when they discovered the body of a ten-foot-tall man buried in the earth. Unfortunately, the famed Cardiff Giant was actually just a statue that Newell's cousin had buried in a hoax meant to provoke discussions around religion while bringing in a ton of cash from people who desperately wanted to believe that biblical stories of giant humans were true, or were simply jonesing for a dose of wonder. From Smithsonian:Hull was an atheist, a controversial stance for that time in American history, and “though he lacked any formal education, greatly admired science.” He wasn’t wealthy, either, and his plan for the Cardiff giant included both striking it rich and proving a point about the relationship between science and faith.The giant was sold to a group of businessmen and went on tour. Eventually, its popularity attracted the attention of the age’s greatest huckster, P.T. Barnum. After the businessmen wouldn’t sell him their stony cash cow, Barnum created a replica and began showing it as the real thing. The owners of the authentic “giant” tried to sue Barnum, but according to Rose, the judge hearing the case just said “Bring your giant here, and if he swears to his own genuineness as a bona fide petrification, you shall have the injunction you ask for.” In other words: You can’t really have a fake of a fake. "The Cardiff Giant Was Just a Big Hoax"

Contrary to Jeff Session's alternative fact that pot is a gateway to hard drugs, a study reveals that Colorado has had a drop in opioid deaths since it legalized marijuana for recreational use in 2014.From Reason:Since legal recreational marijuana sales began in Colorado in January 2014, the state has seen a 6 percent drop in opioid deaths, according to research published in the American Journal of Public Health. The drop follows 14 years of rising opioid deaths, going back to the first year for which the esearchers had data.That suggests yet another argument for marijuana legalization: Pot might stem and even reverse some of the trends unleashed by America's decades-long drug war....A [different] 2014 study found that from 1999 to 2010, states that had medical cannabis laws had a nearly 25 percent lower "mean annual opioid overdose mortality rate" than states that prohibited medical cannabis."Because chronic pain is a major indication for medical cannabis," those researchers wrote, "laws that establish access to medical cannabis may change overdose mortality related to opioid analgesics in states that have enacted them."

You will never be as cool as Steve McQueen, but for around $500,000, you could win the actual Hinchman race suit and Bell helmet he sported in Le Mans, the classic 1971 auto racing film. It's up for bid at Sotheby's on December 6 as part of the New York - Icons auction. Of course you'll still need to save your pennies for the blue #20 Gulf-Porsche 917K that last sold at auction for $14 million.(via Uncrate)

(drumroll) Ok, so here's a special message as we wrap production! #starwars A post shared by RealRonHoward (@realronhoward) on Oct 17, 2017 at 9:04am PDT

When the original Nuggets collection came out in 1972 on Elektra Records….it was a BIG thing. Collecting some of the greatest garage and psych recordings from the 60s, the record took a period of music that was only, at most, seven years old and celebrated it as if it were straight from Tut’s tomb (with a third eye hovering above) holding it up as a pantheon of one of recorded sound’s greatest (drippiest?) evolutionary eras. Found within the grooves were not songs from the mega bands of the time, like the Rolling Stones, The Beatles, or The Jimi Hendrix Experience, but instead bands that emerged from the garage…bands with no-hits, regional hits and the occasional national hit. Bands with names like The Chocolate Watchband, The Blues Magoos and The Magic Mushrooms. Dig it, man? Bands that were making music that realized, musically and lyrically, the free, rebellious, acid visions that bled from the streets and the clubs of both the big cities and the small rural lands across America. Nuggets made the music accessible, influencing the tastes of the next generation of music freaks (and influencing musicians as well). With the success of Nuggets came more volumes. A box set. Another box set featuring European Nuggets. All releases killer. ll presenting the drooling enthusiast with wonderful psychedelic sounds excavated from oblivion. And there were other great compilation series adding to the conversation: Pebbles (VOLUME 3!), Back From The Grave, Acid Visions, Psychedelic Pstones, anon. With each release, a feeling of amazement that there was still quality music to be mined from a relatively brief era.Flash forward to this past Summer….the 50th anniversary of the Summer Of Love. Celebrations of flower power everywhere and with them, a slew of music reissues and compilations. None of them very good, most mere embarrassing marketing ploys (the Monkees comp, which does not even include their psychedelic masterpiece Porpoise Song, needs to be avoided).Which makes it that much more amazing that the Summer saw the release of yet another volume of Nuggets, one that continues the genius of the past volumes. Transparent Days: West Coast Nuggets (Rhino Records) was compiled by friend and musicologist premier Alec Palao. It is hard to believe Palao pulled off what is another four sides of amazing nuggets from the 60s, many that have been completely lost in time. And in classic Nuggets fashion, it features both bands unknown and bands that have become celebrated over the years by the now-playing crowd.For this set, Palao plays archeologist with the Warner Brothers “family of catalogs” including Valiant Records, Reprise, Autumn, Elektra and York Records. He breaks his compilation up into four thematic sides: Folk Rock, Garage Punk, Pop-Psych, and Psychedelia, providing thoroughly researched liner notes that properly frame each side and each song. The comp comes in a strange-yet compelling gatefold package with a dada-esque cover, sleek clear vinyl and a pull-out Acid Test-inspired poster showcasing the editorial content. Like the best Nuggets releases, it is hard not to mention so many stand-out tracks. So let’s take a few. The title track comes from the enigmatic ensemble The West Coast Pop Art Experimental band. It is a wistful groovy little number, opening the record by asking the listener “Tell me what to do. Tell me how high to go.” OK—let’s go really high. Let’s go high with the Peanut Butter Conspiracy and their build-up groover "Time Is After You" where the beat-poetic driving chorus is followed by a mysterious sound…of someone taking a hit? No. no way….not here. But then the lyrics start blending into each other… things begin to change… maybe there is something to this wacky tabbacky they were espousing back then. There is the sing-song jingle-jangle of the Dover’s "I Could Be Happy" and the also catchy "Bye Bye Bye" by the Tikis, featuring harmonies by Harper’s Bizarre vocalist and future Van Halen producer Ted Templeman. The Association, one of the most well-known bands of the era present here, breaks its squeaky clean image with a dark, journeying number wonderfully titled "Pandora’s Golden Heebie Jeebies": “And I will see the sparrow/That need no longer fly/And all that will be left for me to do/Is die.” Yes, even popsters can ride a bummer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B7sV8uyhwwThe Garage Punk side blasts off with the sizzle guitar driven you-really-got-me-now feel of "Make It Easy" by the Collectors followed by the For-Your-Love vibed "I'll Sell My Soul" by the Mohave Dessert’s sun-warped Allies. Oh yeah. The side also features an instant garage rock classic, Art Guy’s "Where You Gonna Go." Fuzz. Fuzz everywhere. Fuzz all over "She's My Baby" from The Mojo Men, fuzz taking hostage The Ballroom’s cover of "Baby Please Don't Go," which ends in a cacophony of amped-up nonsense.Are you getting the picture? The compilation is filled to the brim.The psychedelic side is the e-ticket ride however, starting out with the driving "Come Alive" from the collector-scum-bag embraced "Things to Come." It is followed by The Glass House’s haunted "House of Glass," driving rhythms and organ that reminds us that there is “No need to hide/in a house of glass/Love can be seen/ And it’s such a gas.” The Bonniwell Music Machine (really the same The Music Machine that had the hit with "Talk Talk") Captain Beefhearts its way through the barrage that is "The Eagle Never Hunts the Fly" followed by the Electric Prunes rarity "Shadows," in its original Mono splendor, featuring the growls of James Lowe and the heavy electric guitar sounds of Ken Williams, together defining the band and in some ways the sound of whole era. The instrumental liquidation of The Ceyleib People’s Changes paves the way for the often forgot fragile epic "Your Mind and We Belong Together" from Los Angeles’ favorite sons Love, finishing the side and the comp.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QqV07fNq9UThere is no denying that this Nuggets is very much like the final Game Of Thrones novel that we did not even know to look forward to. It is thoroughly satisfying. And while we live in an age where musicologists rule and new lost collections of bygone day recordings are commonplace in the racks of your local record store, there is something extra special about a new Nuggets compilation, one that courageously continues the mind bending tradition, started so many years ago, of saluting the lysergic laminations of a tripping period of time that was like no other.Transparent Days: West Coast Nuggets (Amazon)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEEi2FvptSw

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