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America's great stagnation includes a hardening of class divisions, with fewer and fewer poor and working class people raising children who rise to the middle class or even the one percent -- a fact that strikes at the heart of the cherished American notion of rags-to-riches meritocracy where you rise to prominence on the basis of your contributions to society, not the accident of your birth. (more…)

The European Commission has a well-deserved reputation for bizarre, destructive, ill-informed copyright plans for the internet, and the latest one is no exception: mandatory copyright filters for any site that allows the public to post material, which will algorithmically determine which words, pictures and videos are lawful to post, untouched by human hands. (more…)

Equifax CEO Richard Smith announced his voluntary retirement yesterday, two months after the catastrophic breach that permanently leaked 140,000,000 Americans' most compromising financial data. (more…)

"This rainy season not only play with paper boat but also a paper umbrella. How to fold an origami umbrella."Here's Priti Sharma using scissors, which technically makes it not origami, I believe.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdBtBeKWD3w• Origami Umbrella : That Open and Closes (new) (YouTube / Surprise Toys)

Cape Town's Zeith Museum of Contemporary Art Africa was built from an old grain silo complex. (more…)

This short documentary about Korean fashion is on its surface about the many looks cultivated by Korean designers, but it's especially interesting as an analysis of what late-stage capitalism looks like in a homogenous culture. (more…)

The American Geophysical Union reports that a long-term study of major shipping lanes indicates that ship exhaust is dramatically altering lightning patterns. It's not clear what the long-term effects might be. (more…)

What’s the next step in your career? If it’s landing a better job, you need to start growing your network to make sure that when the ideal position opens up, you're the first name that comes to mind. If you aspire to be your own boss or run a business, you need to meet the right people to help you, such as cofounders or marketing gurus. If you have no idea what your dream career path is, maybe it’s time to start meeting other interesting professionals and get inspired by their trajectories. No matter where you see yourself in five years, one thing is clear: you will need help and inspiration from other professionals to get there. Luckily for you, there is an easy way to start making the right connections for your career.Shapr is a free app that makes networking simple. It connects people based on their interests, skills, and professional goals, facilitating useful conversations with potential mentors, future colleagues, and collaborators.The way the app works is deceptively easy. Every day, members of the Shapr community are algorithmically matched with a few relevant people who share their interests or career paths. Then, you can swipe to either connect or pass. If you connect, Shapr will initiate a chat, encouraging you and your new connection to meet up for lunch or coffee. It’s simple, fast and efficient, and you can build a meaningful network in a few swipes a day.“This app is a game changer,” says Sarah Yuro, an entrepreneur based in Atlanta. Sarah has been trying to build her dream startup for three years, a video sharing service called MyIntro. However, she struggled with finding the right engineer for the product until she met Viraj Shah through Shapr.“I found someone to collaborate with in literally three days. I haven’t been able to find someone of his caliber to collaborate with in three years!” Shapr user Olakunle Oladehin says he found success in a different way after using Shapr to find mentors. Olakunle had recently made a career shift from medical research to working on the executive team of a nonprofit organization called Everybody Dance Now! Through Shapr, he met other arts administrators who helped him navigate his first three months in the job. “Set a goal for yourself to meet at least one new person a week, and every day if you can,” suggests Olakunle. “These conversations will inspire you and help you on your own path, whatever that may be.”Whether you’re exploring a career shift, searching for your next job, plotting a side hustle or just looking for friends in your city, this app is for you. With Shapr, a professional network is only a swipe away. Download Shapr and start building your network today. Free for iOS and Android.This feature was produced in collaboration between Digital Trends and Shapr. Boing Boing’s editorial staff was not involved in the creation or production of this content.

Last week, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates expressed his regret over Windows' Control-Alt-Delete function, stating, "If I could make one small edit, I'd make that a single key."Since he can't travel back in time, that three-key reboot function is here to stay. Enter Joy Complex's snazzy Ctrl+Alt+Del statement ring, a cast steel way to make your nerdier side known. These keyboard button "brass knuckles" are available in several different colors for $40+ each. (Technabob, Dude I Want That)

A somewhat-recent trend has had each of us questioning whether we are an extrovert or an introvert. If you've figured out you're an extrovert, good news, other people energize you. Functioning in society is a breeze, at least compared to an introvert. But, being that outgoing and expressive might mean that you need a little guidance in caring for the introverts in your life. That's where this cute instructional video by YouTuber exurb1a comes in. (Holy Kaw!)

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The British Library has scanned an anthology of herbal remedies published in the 11th century. It was translated to Old English and illustrated throughout from an original Latin document attributed to the 4th-century scholar Pseudo-Apuleius. (more…)

Who among us can say they have the self-control to go an hour without serving their vices? Or that their vice is not holding an ersatz cigarette in the corner of their mouth in the style of Burgess Meredith as The Penguin in the 1960s TV show Batman? Or that this is the closest to convincingly human that anyone will ever see them act on screen?Previously: Hannity does not gargle piss.

Sea Monster YouTube is the best YouTube. SPOILER: It's just a jellyfish. But is it gold or blue?

You've seen Primitive Technology; now see Even Primitiver Technology. A fine spoof of an excellent YouTube series.

In contrast to other speakers, the Unicorn Speaker's key qualities are 'ABS plastic' and 'imported.' It contains a built-in battery and boasts 4 hours of playback on a charge away from the tether. It is not wireless; there's a 3.5mm jack.Reviews are mixed. "WORKS GREAT", says one verified customer, though another offers some great accidental Shakespeare in "it works not well." Worse, "the horn doesn't even stay in place once it it attached," warns Froggy. Unicorn Speaker [Amazon]

Hugh Hefner, creator of Playboy and a cultural icon who changed the world thought about sex in the 1960s, is dead at the age of 91.From The Hollywood Reporter:Hefner became the unofficial spokesman for the sexual revolution that permeated the 1960s and '70s and he was both lauded and criticized by feminists of the era, with some accusing him of objectifying women while others said he liberated and empowered them. During a conversation with Gloria Steinem in 1970, Hefner dismissed feminism as “foolishness,” and Steinem told him: “What Playboy doesn’t know about women could fill a book … There are times when a woman reading a Playboy feels a little like a Jew reading a Nazi manual.”Hefner was a staunch supporter of abortion – including helping to finance the landmark Rowe v. Wade decision in 1973 — and more recently was an outspoken advocate of same-sex marriage, and his dedication to such issues (along with his distribution of pornography) made him a pariah in some religious circles. “By associating sex with sin, we have produced a society so guilt-ridden that it is almost impossible to view the subject objectively,” he wrote in 1963 in one of his many broadsides aimed at Christian leaders.[caption id="attachment_548361" align="alignnone" width="580"] Gloria Steinem as a Playboy Bunny[/caption]

In collaboration with Hans Zimmer, Radiohead reworked their track "Bloom" from The King of Limbs into an epic orchestral number that seems just perfect for its intended use, in the soundtrack for Sir David Attenborough's new BBC documentary Blue Planet II. According to Thom Yorke, "Bloom" was originally inspired by the first Blue Planet series in 2001. "It sort of seeped into my subconscious. I found myself dreaming of these creatures quite a lot," Yorke says in the below behind-the-scenes clip about the making of the new track.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3ia8mn8ITs

Doctors discovered a small plastic traffic cone in a 47-year-old British man’s chest he had received for his seventh birthday. A recent cough caused the patient to seek medical attention and doctors originally suspected scans were showing a tumor on his lung, according to the BBC. The man admitted to swallowing small toys during his childhood. The Playmobil cone is believed to have been lodged in his lungs for 40 years — possibly causing his airway to adapt around the German playset piece. The man’s cough has significantly improved since the cone’s removal, no thanks to the miniature Playmobil doctors he may have swallowed as a kid.

It’s a throw-back to the good ole days of aliens in the White House, Bat Boy and Sasquatch sightings in this week’s facts-be-damned tabloids.A “bloodthirsty devil boy intent on murder has crossed over into the land of the living – again,” reports the Globe. This “demon child’s ghost is trying to murder me!” claims New York designer Adam Ellis, who admits that the “evil entity” came to him in a dream, but left his arm bruised. Because nobody has ever knocked their arm during the day and woken the next morning to find a bruise that seemed to magically appear overnight. The ghost, which only appears in his dreams, is “wreaking havoc in his home” – meaning that his cats jump over something invisible. “I sort of feel like I’m losing my mind,” says Ellis. So are the editors of the Globe, apparently.“Selena Gomez Stole My Kidney!” claims a National Enquirer report claiming that patients on the transplant list are angered that the pop singer “used her celeb status to push her way to a life-saving kidney.” Except she didn’t jump any list – her close friend, actress Francia Raisa, donated a kidney to Gomez. Of course, no irate patients are identified, though the Enquirer attributes the story to “one righteously disgruntled angry person [who] posted on social media.” Right.The Enquirer also brings us “The Psychic Picasso,” a Brazilian “psychic painter” who channels dead artists including Renoir, Picasso, Manet and Modigliani to paint masterpieces with his eyes tightly closed – except the art looks like the work of an art school drop-out. And what are all these dead European artists doing in Brazil? Is the afterlife better on Copacabana beach?A Russian team is sending human corpses into space because it “wants aliens to bring dead back to life,” claims the National Examiner. While it’s true that Russian cryogenics company KrioRus recently announced an agreement with science consortium Space Technologies to develop cryonic storage of human remains in orbit – a move which itself makes little sense, since bodies can be stored for a fraction of the price on Earth – it’s a wild leap of the imagination to expect aliens to find the dead bodies and revive them. It makes as much sense as the Examiner story claiming there are “10 Elvis Love Children Grabbing His Fortune.” While it’s true that there have been numerous people claiming to be Presley’s illegitimate children, all have long since been either litigated and dismissed or settled out of court, so there’s nobody left to “threaten his legitimate daughter Lisa Marie’s legacy.”It’s as realistic as the Globe “world exclusive” claiming to reveal North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un’s plans for a $1 billion 15,000 sq ft bunker 250 feet underground, complete with swimming pool, gun range, gym, basketball court, ping pong and billiards room, home theatre, wine cellar, media suite and vintage car museum. Because when news is smuggled out of North Korea, the Globe is there first. Ignoring for one moment the fact that former North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il spent years building a massive underground bunker inside Mount Baekdusan designed to store helicopters and fighter jets, while allowing access to nearby China in the event that fleeing is the only option, it’s hard to imagine that the Globe plan is accurate and there is only one room for the “servant quarters.” Seriously, if “Rocket Boy” were actually constructing such a lavish underground mansion, servants quarters would occupy dozens of rooms. They can’t even make this stuff up properly.The Enquirer does little better in concocting its cover exclusive on a “Plot to Kidnap Prince George!” Inspired by the recent arrest of a Royal “superfan" who tried to gain entry to the Thomas’s Battersea School in London while no children were present, the Enquirer extrapolates on the possibilities to conclude “England’s four-year-old future king was targeted by terrorists who intended to hold him for a $50 million ransom!” The first clue that this is errant nonsense comes with the words: “Enquirer World Exclusive,” because there’s no way that a Royal exclusive or Scotland Yard exclusive would first break in an American tabloid. The second clue comes in the terrorists' proposed ransom of $50 million: It’s a nice round figure in America, but since this is happening in Britain, the terrorists would be demanding payment in pounds – and who asks for £37.35 million pounds?And of course the tabloids bring us their usual nonsense: The Enquirer tells us that actress Meg Ryan is suffering an “anorexia horror” because recent photos make her appear thin, Lindsay Lohan’s “face is a Halloween fright” thanks to “tons of filler and nonstop cosmetic work,” and Ben Affleck’s girlfriend Lindsay Shookus is allegedly pregnant, because she has the slightest stomach paunch in recent photos. The Globe piles in on Paula Abdul’s alleged “bulimia hell” because she has reportedly lost 30 lbs “in just a month.” As ever, it’s thanks to the miracle of spyware implanted in bathroom scales in every celebrity bathroom in Hollywood that the Globe can bring us such accurate reporting, and their experts can tell just by studying photographs whether a star is suffering from anorexia or bulimia. That’s something they just can’t teach you at the Columbia School of Journalism.Thankfully we have the crack investigative team at Us magazine to tell us that Jaimie Alexander wore it best, that Shania Twain’s "favorite place to listen to music is inside the horse barn,’” that TV’s Black-ish star Yara Shahidi carries an uncut amethyst, a Buddha statue and essential oils in her 3.1 Phillip Lin bucket bag (don’t we all?), and that the stars are just like us: they buy groceries, browse their laptops at coffeeshops, and play golf. Riveting stuff, as ever.Real Housewife of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice dominates the Us cover this week, explaining “Why I haven’t divorced Joe” despite her husband having been jailed for the past 18 months. So why hasn’t she filed for divorce? “I am giving him a chance,” she says. “That’s why I’m standing by him.” Wow. I never saw that coming.People magazine devotes its cover to “Pioneer woman Ree Drummond,” promising she will tell as about “food, fame and life on the ranch.” Yes, she’s a celebrity chef, who went from “ranch housewife to culinary superstar,” which is in keeping with the “19 pages of America’s favorite foods” that People also brings us this week. I can understand how pizza and pasta are among America’s favorite foods, but confetti biscotti? And what about Ayesha Curry? Oh, wait – that’s not a dish; she’s the wife of NBA star Stephen Curry, and she’s offering her recipe for pork chops with apples.For those seeking respite from such frippery, the Examiner offers the week’s real hard news: the piglet that comforts a sickly kitten; two albino giraffes found in Kenya; and a German shepherd and border collie mix that finds earthworms crawling across the road, gently picks them up in her mouth, and carries them to safety on the grass. No comment from the worms on how they feel about this.Onwards and downwards . . .

Remember the 1995 TV program Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction that we all wanted to believe was real? Of course, the ET autopsy turned out to be a hoax, or rather, according to producer Ray Santilli, a "reconstruction" of film shot in 1947 that he had seen. Now, one of the hoaxers, Spyros Melaris, has staged a one-man show in London's East End to tell the real (?) story behind the story of the autopsy that you can watch below. From Paul Seaburn's article at Mysterious Universe:(Melaris) claims he was the director of the film and the one responsible for creating the fake aliens and other special effects. Melaris says he met Ray Santilli, the producer and name most associated with the autopsy film, in 1995 at a music event in Cannes. Santilli later confided that he had the actual footage of an alien autopsy and wanted Melaris to make a documentary about it.However, when Santilli showed him a copy of the alleged ‘real’ film, Melaris determined it was a fake shot on video. He says he instead agreed to make a fake version of the autopsy on film, release it as the real thing and them make another documentary on how they pulled off the fake. He hired John Humphreys, a special effects expert who has worked on Dr. Who, to make the alien’s body using his 10-year-old son as a model. Melaris bought 1940s surgical outfits, used cow, sheep, pig and lamb organs (the local butcher must have loved them) for the alien’s internal parts and spliced in footage from a 1947 newsreel. He also claims he built the fake wreckage and hired all of the actors.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pukbzCC3cfQ

Jared Kushner's publicly available New York voter registration records show that the president's son-in-law ticked the "female" box when he signed up in 2009. (more…)

In the years since the 2008 financial crisis, Italy had seen European central bankers effect a regime-change in its national government in order to enforce a brutal austerity in the name of paying back its creditors, resulting in a 5% contraction in its national economy and unemployment soaring to 11.1%. (more…)

We need to get Donald Trump off Twitter before he gets us all killed.On September 23, 2017 he declared war on North Korea. (more…)

If you want to produce video content but don’t have time to get caught in the weeds with feature-heavy pro editors, Filmora gives you everything you need to cut together beautiful videos easily. The Windows version is currently available in the Boing Boing Store for half off.To get you up and running quickly, Filmora’s easy mode takes a handful of clips and stitches them together automatically with preset title themes and music. It’s great for making short clip montages and getting familiar with the interface. For more advanced users, the full-featured mode provides you with a conventional timeline editing interface for precise sequencing that doesn’t overwhelm with options. There’s even a dedicated mode for action cams that corrects fisheye lens distortion, removes unnecessary camera movement from footage shot on a GoPro.It also lets you upload to YouTube or Vimeo from within the interface, and even has options for creating hard copies on DVD. For a video editing experience that helps you get things done instead of endlessly tweaking keyframes, take a look at Filmora. You can pick up the Windows version here for $49.More Deals from the Boing Boing Store:1080p HD Waterproof WiFi Wireless Endoscopic Camera: $39.99 Pay What You Want: Learn to Code 2017 BundleThe MacX Media Conversion Lifetime License Bundle: $19.99

A man in Wales clings to a rock for dear life in river rapids until another man maneuvers his way over in his own kayak and saves the guy. A third person happened to catch it all on his camera.

"Antiquated technology, safety concerns, crumbling infrastructure, and nonexistence -- it’s not hard to argue that the US public transportation network is just not good. Vast swaths of the US have no option but to drive because the alternative just is not there. This has consequences on the environment, on economic mobility, on where people live, the consequences of America’s lack of solid public transportation almost defines American culture." Wendover Productions explores the reasons why the US is so far behind every other developed country. It started with the advent of affordable cars and the Great Depression, which caused a decline in railed street cars, and then buses became cheaper than street cars and wiped them out almost entirely. One thing I didn't know before watching this video is that zoning laws in Europe are more relaxed than in the US, allowing for a mix of business and residential properties that encourages public transportation. New US cities like Denver are zoned in a way that forces people to drive.

Nelson A Denis is the author of War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America's Colony, a highly regarded, bestselling 2016 history of the injustices perpetrated against Puerto Rico by successive American governments starting in 1898 and continuing literally to this present day. (more…)

Bassel Khartabil was a Syrian free software, free speech and Creative Commons activist who was jailed and tortured by the Assad regime, which eventually secretly sentenced him to death, then executed him in 2015, but kept it a secret until 2017. (more…)

From the Vienna Bienalle: 1. Intelligent robots must serve the common good of humanity and help us humans to lead an ecologically, socially, culturally and economically sustainable life. (more…)

Undercover is a World War II training film from the OSS, precursor to the CIA, would be enough to dissuade most people from a career in espionage. They enact numerous examples of tiny slip-ups that ended up blowing the covers of various spies and secret agents. (more…)

In the 1860s, San Francisco's most popular tourist attraction was not a place but a person: Joshua Norton, an eccentric resident who had declared himself emperor of the United States. Rather than shun him, the city took him to its heart, affectionately indulging his foibles for 21 years. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll consider the reign of Norton I and the meaning of madness.We'll also keep time with the Romans and puzzle over some rising temperatures.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon!

Catacomb Culture's Human Skull Bowl is great as Halloween decor, but it's perfect for eating cereal like a savage cannibal all year-round. Each bowl is $100 and made to order by artist Jeremy Ciliberto. Added bonus: spells or blessings can be cast on your skull bowl by a certified & experienced shaman minister.(Nerdcore)

Artists are creating experiences in virtual reality, and it's especially exciting to hear that multimedia pioneer Laurie Anderson has entered this space. With Taiwanese new media artist Hsin-Chien Huang, she has created "Chalkroom" (aka "La Camera Insabbiata"), an immersive virtual reality experience that lets its viewers to fly through words and stories. Prompted by this interview with the Louisiana Museum, Open Culture writes:The piece allows viewers the opportunity to travel not only into the space of imagination a story creates, but into the very architecture of story itself—to walk, or rather float, through its passageways as words and letters drift by like tufts of dandelion, stars, or, as Anderson puts it, like snow. “They’re there to define the space and to show you a little bit about what it is,” says the artist in the interview above, “But they’re actually fractured languages, so it’s kind of exploded things.” She explains the “chalkroom” concept as resisting the “perfect, slick and shiny” aesthetic that characterizes most computer-generated images. “It has a certain tactility and made-by-hand kind of thing… this is gritty and drippy and filled with dust and dirt.”Chalkroom, she says, "is a library of stories, and no one will ever find them all.” It sounds to me, at least, more intriguing than the premise of most video games, but the audience for this piece will be limited, not only to those willing to give it a chance, but to those who can experience the piece firsthand, as it were, by visiting the physical space of one of Anderson’s exhibitions and strapping on the VR goggles. Once they do, she says, they will be able to fly, a disorienting experience that sends some people falling out of their chair..."Field trip: "Chalkroom" can currently be experienced at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts. Thanks, Whitney!

Emily Seilhamer upcycled old Starburst wrappers into a woven dress, as well as purse and shoes. (more…)

Mick Kalber of Paradise Helicopters takes tourists and photographers up over Pu'u 'O'o's lava lake and other remarkable lava flows each week. For those of us who can go up each week with him, he shares a weekly diary of his favorite moments. (more…)

Poopy is a national treasure of Madagascar. Here she belts out Tahak'izay, which reached number two on the local pop charts. (more…)

Electronics manufacturer Xiaomi commissioned designer Rik Oostenbroek to create these cool abstract wallpapers. (more…)

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gcz3oyxnzFw...and the LA Times thinks it's swell, singing the praises of semiconductor baron Henry Samueli, a true believer in homeopathy and "integrative medicine," whose gift to the UC system comes with the stipulation that it only be used to study discredited garbage...forever. (more…)

Artist David Jablow has created another series of great illustrations using a "doodle pad" printed with a partially completed drawing of a naked woman.I've posted about David's work in 2013, 2014, and 2015.

Judith Duportail got privacy activist Paul-Olivier Dehaye and human rights lawyer Ravi Naik to help her force Tinder to turn over 800 pages of records the company had saved during the four years she'd used the app, and discovered that the company was indefinitely retaining "information such as my Facebook “likes”, my photos from Instagram (even after I deleted the associated account), my education, the age-rank of men I was interested in, how many times I connected, when and where every online conversation with every single one of my matches happened." (more…)

Recomendo is a weekly newsletter with 6 brief personal recommendations of cool stuff, written by Kevin Kelly, Claudia Dawson, and myself. Get the Recomendo weekly newsletter a week early by email.Text-only CNNThis no-graphics version of CNN’s website looks like the web circa 1993, and I love it. I think they should run a couple of text ads to monetize it, because I don’t want them to stop. —Mark FrauenfelderCheap mobile homeFor generations hipsters have been retro-fitting vans into mobile homes. Once they were VW vans; today they are Dodge Sprinter vans. The best source I’ve come across for tutorials on how to remodel a used cargo van into a roaming house is a YouTube channel by Dylan Maga. Maga collects diverse videos of hundreds of regular folks building their vans and tiny homes in great and satisfying detail. — Kevin KellyYoutube shortcutsI can’t believe I didn’t know these Youtube shortcuts before! To pause a video press K. To fast forward press L. To rewind press J. To watch frame by frame forward or backward, press the period or comma key. — Claudia DawsonGarage parking aidThere’s probably a simple DIY substitute for the AccuPark Vehicle Parking Aid, but I was happy to pay $11 for it. I adhered this yellow plastic mini speed bump to the garage floor using the attached double-side tape. We can now drive our electric car right up to the optimum spot to plug in the charger port. — MFSwedish funnyDeep in the basement of Netflix is a very funny Swedish movie called “The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared.” Subtitled in English, I found the humor translated well into American. It’s sort of a Swedish version of Forrest Gump meets Mr. Bean. This big hit in Sweden was playing on Netflix streaming but now is on Netflix DVD only. However, last year they made a sequel that is almost as good, “The 101-Year-Old Man Who Skipped Out on the Bill and Disappeared,” and this one is currently streaming on Netflix. — KKLaundry organizerMy husband and I bought these mesh bags to organize our laundry. We use black sharpie to write washing instructions on them like “no fabric softener, dryer ok” or “cold wash, hang dry.” This has cleared up a lot of confusion. — CD

https://youtu.be/TZ0qN-_b8e4This movie got made.

The Ataribox looks great but $300?????Looks like this proposed box that could have been a complete Atari 2600 library with paddles and blocky joysticks is instead an Atari inspired set-top streaming box!!?Via Gizmodo:According to Mac, the Ataribox will cost somewhere between $250 and $300. It’ll run Linux and have an AMD processor with Radeon graphics, facilitating a more open, PC-like experience than standard set-top boxes. But if that sounds intriguing to you, you’ll have to wait a little while because Atari needs to crowdfund it through IndieGoGo first. Mac said that a campaign to raise cash will launch in the Fall of 2018.“People are used to the flexibility of a PC, but most connected TV devices have closed systems and content stores,” Mac told VentureBeat. “We wanted to create a killer TV product where people can game, stream, and browse with as much freedom as possible, including accessing pre-owned games from other content providers.”That all sounds fine. Powerful and customizable tech has its audience. But the big idea of releasing a retro-console is offering a bunch of classic content. Putting out a sleek, wood-paneled box with the name Atari slapped on it creates an expectation that you’ll get all the Atari gaming money can buy. Unfortunately the company is still being cagey about what will come with the Ataribox when you fire it up.I just want to play Star Raiders.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUp7GnrGsow

Even though a vast majority of internet users have made it clear that they don’t want their personal information to be used for targeted advertising and online surveillance, powerful lobbyists in the pocket of Internet Service Providers have made it increasingly difficult to guarantee privacy. Instead of trusting companies that have a vested interest in selling user data, consider investing in a VPN to obscure your browser traffic. Private Internet Access is one of the best VPN services around, and right now you can get two years of their powerful protection for $59.95.Private Internet Access VPN provides you with a fully encrypted internet connection whether you’re browsing from password-protected home WiFi, or a public network at the airport. They have thousands of servers in over 25 countries, so you can maintain a fast, secure connection almost anywhere in the developed world. They offer unlimited bandwidth for up to five devices simultaneously, and their MACE feature blocks intrusive advertising trackers and malware.For fans of file sharing, Private Internet Access VPN supports a variety of peer-to-peer protocols, and makes it possible to torrent at home without getting throttled by your ISP. They have apps for all major smartphone and desktop platforms, including Android and ChromeOS, as well as a wealth of resources for getting your VPN running on a wireless router to cover your entire household.To further reduce the risk of unauthorized data mining, this VPN doesn’t collect user data. And if you care at all about privacy activism, digital rights, and an open web, Private Internet Access actively supports organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Creative Commons, and Fight for the Future. In addition to locking down your connection, you can be sure that your subscription fee is going to a company that has your best interests in mind.Private Internet Access VPN is a solid all-around choice for most people. It’s easy to get up and running quickly, but provides plenty of features for power users. You can pick up a 2-year subscription from the Boing Boing Store today for $59.95.More Deals from the Boing Boing store:1080p HD Waterproof WiFi Wireless Endoscopic Camera $39.99Pay What You Want: Learn to Code 2017 Bundle The MacX Media Conversion Lifetime License Bundle $19.99

Alba is the only known albino orangutan. She was rescued by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation after being held in captivity, where she suffered from dehydration and parasites. Now BOSF plans to build a special sanctuary just for her and two orangutans with whom she's bonded. (more…)

Mahshid Mazooji missed her connecting flight and was stuck at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport overnight. Instead of being angry about it, she made of a fun, impromptu video of herself dancing in the airport to Lionel Richie's 1983 hit song, "All Night Long." She even pulled in some new friends, airport workers and other late-night passengers, to join her.She writes, "I made some really great friends along the way! Thank you for dancing your troubles away with me!!! :)"There was even some moonwalking.(reddit)

Jon Adler is Trump's nominee for the Department of Justice's director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the former criminal investigator is also president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, and is proud to serve on the advisory board of Heroes Health Fund, which is the latest incarnation of Narcanon, the Church of Scientology's baseless "detox" program that involves taking huge doses of niacin and sitting for hours in a sauna, a practice with no health benefits that has killed some of its practitioners. (more…)