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Hand powered drilling tools and machines is a fascinating jaunt through the history of drills, from the dawn of man until the age of electricity. Oddly, it omits Push Drills, which are by far the best type of hand drill for small (less than 1/4") projects in wood and other soft material. Check it out:https://youtu.be/up32TJt-w4w?t=1m28sIf you're just here looking to build houses off the grid or in the zombie apocalypse or after a Trump tweet triggers global nuclear catastrophe, get a decent metal geared drill; the cheap ones are glorified egg whisks.

Jonathan Harris shows you how to draw (and cut) your way to this floating cube illusion. His YouTube channel has many more drawing illusions like it.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAq2X-0FbGMPreviously in floating cube illusions: cool floating cube illusion.

Back in 2011, The New York Review of Books inducted Daniel Pinkwater's classic Lizard Music into its canon with a handsome little hardcover edition; today they follow that up with a stylish, jazzy paperback, priced to move at $10. (more…)

All words are Trump's own. (more…)

Self-described "shaman" Gawain MacGregor says that he was the creature that bigfoot investigators claim to have encountered last week in North Carolina's Pisgah National Park. MacGregor, 36, who believes in "the divine nature of sasquatch" was dressed in animal skins as part of a ritual involving his wandering around the woods reciting a "sasquatch prayer.""It feels like it brings me closer to nature," MacGregor told the BBC News.But Bigfoot 911's John Bruner insists that it wasn't MacGregor, or any human, that his team spotted:

Paige Russell used the free, easy-to-use 3D modeling program Tinkercad to make a 3D printed bobblehead based on a Rapa Nui moai. That's just one of the tools and projects that Donald Bell presented this week in Maker Update. Show notes here.

A group of researchers from Oxford and TU Berlin will present their paper, White-Stingray: Evaluating IMSI Catchers Detection Applications at the Usenix Workshop on Offensive Technologies, demonstrating countermeasures that Stingray vendors could use to beat Stingrays and other "cell-site simulators" (AKA IMSI catchers). (more…)

After white supremacist site The Daily Stormer published a nasty article about the woman killed by a Nazi in Charlottesville, domain registrar GoDaddy finally decided to boot them from its service. (more…)

The Hollywood Reporter's Paul Bond reports that a controversial street artist's Facebook page was taken down as "Hate Speech" after posting rude pictures mocking Mark Zuckerberg's apparent presidential ambitions. The work of a conservative street artist known for skewering the liberal politics of celebrities and corporations has been deemed "hate speech" by Facebook, which shut his page down on Sunday.The notice comes just days after the artist known as Sabo attacked Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg with posters disparaging his alleged presidential aspirations. "F*ck Zuck 2020" read the posters, the symbol after the "F" being a middle finger. They were hung in the dead of night last week in various California cities.However, there were also 'faux ads, made to look like a genuine movie poster for War for the Planet of the Apes, feature the image of a well-armed ape on horseback with the text: "BLM: Kill Whitey."'Sabo's page is full of garbage, from amusing photoshops of politicans to edgy N-word race war chum and inexplicable Ted Cruz fan posters. Facebook's refusal to explain its actions allows him to highlight the most broadly popular (no-one other than Mark Zuckerberg wants Mark Zuckerberg to be president) as the only hate it actually cares about. And you know what? Sabo's probably right, which is a great reminder of why you don't want Mark Zuckerberg to be president.

These clowns I know were having a yard sale Sunday, so I swung by. I picked up a sweet plumed marching band hat, a pair of tinted goggles for Burning Man, and a really cool long cloak, also for the desert. While shopping, I spotted this smiling clown face sweater in the rack of multi-colored clothes. I recognized it immediately.Wil Wheaton had once (famously) wore one just like it.That's a friend of mine in the lead picture (who wanted to remain anonymous, for reasons). At the sale, she tried the 100% acrylic monstrosity on with little to no intention of actually buying it. In fact, as she was pulling it over her head, she mumbled a couple times, "I'm no clown. I'm no clown." I took a photo of her not being a clown, because.When I got home, I posted the photo on Facebook and people wanted to know if I had bought it. I hadn't.One friend wondered if anyone we knew was involved in The Clownsweater Project which has many photos of people wearing a clown sweater, just like the one at the yard sale. Another friend, Valerie, piped in, "Me!" and shared this photo of herself. In fact, the sweater that she's wearing is the exact same one that Wil wore:I then started reading up on The Clownsweater Project. I was happy to discover that they've shared its entire history, including Wil Wheaton's part in it on their site: In 2002 at another EFF Fundraiser at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco, Barney (yes, the purple dinosaur) and Wil Wheaton were pitted against each other in a boxing match...This was where the Clownsweater and Wil Wheaton were introduced. Though that magical evening was the only time the two of them ever met, neither can deny the deep, enduring connection that persists to this day.(Cory actually blogged about that match here on Boing Boing.)All this got me wondering, who else has been touched by a clown sweater, identical to this one?How many of these sweaters are there? Do you have one? Where did you find it? How much did you pay for it? What size is it? People asked if the Clownsweater Project's one is the same sweater as the one at the yard sale. It isn't, I checked. That one is a Medium and the one at the yard sale is a Large.Ok, so what happened to this particular sweater, the one I spotted at the yard sale?Well, when I first posted the photo on Facebook, a friend in Ohio commented that she loved it and that she'd "wear the sh*t out of it." So, I did what anyone would do, I drove back to the yard sale and bought it for her for five bucks. She promises to take pictures.P.S. Check out this miniature version. And don't miss the t-shirt version.Lead image by Rusty Blazenhoff, Wil's photo by Loren Cox, Valerie's photo by the Clownsweater Project

"Don't Be a Sucker" is as timely now as it was back in 1947: Don't Be a Sucker! is a short educational film produced by the U.S. War Department in 1943 and re-released in 1947. The film depicts the rise of Nazism in Germany and warns Americans against repeating the mistakes of intolerance made in Nazi Germany. It emphasizes that Americans will lose their country if they let themselves be turned into "suckers" by the forces of fanaticism and hatred. The film was made to make the case for the desegregation of the United States armed forces by simply revealing the connection between prejudice and fascism.This film is not propaganda. To the contrary, it teaches how to recognize and reject propaganda, as was used by the Nazis to promote to bigotry and intimidation. It shows how prejudice can be used to divide the population to gain power. Far more significantly, it then shows how such tactics can be defanged by friendly persuasion; that protection of liberty is a unifying and practical way to live peacefully.(reddit)Previously: Donald Trump will not condemn the terrorist attacks on anti-Nazi protestors

When life hands you shit, make poop emoji brownies. YouTuber Rosanna Pansino shows you how. First you're going to need one (or more) of her 6-cavity poop swirl treat molds.Then you'll need to follow the recipe, which is here:"Ta-Doo-Doo! Poo never smelled so good!"

The Pry.Me Bottle Opener holds tens of thousands of times its own weight, and you can pick one up now from the Boing Boing Store.This remarkable keychain is considerably smaller than any of your keys, but don’t let that fool you: it can easily open any bottle, and could even tow a trailer full of bowling balls if you had a hitch small enough. It’s made from Grade 5 titanium — the same type that’s used in countless industrial and aerospace applications. Needless to say, this tiny piece of hardware will easily outlast you.Because of its unique shape and comically high tensile strength, this bottle opener can be so small that you’ll never notice it’s in your pocket. It also includes a heavy-duty key ring to replace the flimsy one that probably came with with your house keys. You can get one of them here for $10.99.

It's been a whole day since we learned about another example of systematic, widespread fraud by America's largest bank Wells Fargo (ripping off small merchants with credit card fees), so it's definitely time to learn about another one: scamming mortgage borrowers out of $43/month for an unrequested and pointless "home warranty service" from American Home Shield, a billion-dollar scam-factory that considers you a customer if you throw away its junk-mail instead of ticking the "no" box and sending it back. (more…)

"Cute Caique Parrot Bird Silly Walk" [via] is among the highlights from a YouTube channel dedicated largely to the adorable exploits of parrots. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMjwpiNfbVwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN0QvrTyqEY

In The Network Structure of Opioid Distribution on a Darknet Cryptomarket, (Sci-Hub mirror), a paper presented today at the American Sociological Association meeting in Montreal, social scientists Scott W. Duxbury and Dana L. Haynie lay out their findings on using fake bad reviews to disrupt the darknet drug-trade. (more…)

In the summer of 1972, the song "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl) by New Jersey bar band Looking Glass took the charts by surprise. Now considered a classic and one of the best songs ever written, it almost didn't get air time. Elliot Lurie wrote and composed the number one hit and tells its story in this 2016 interview. In it, he debunks the many rumors surrounding the song, including that it was inspired by the true story of a real spinster named Mary Ellis who had a hot romance with a sailor. It wasn't, Lurie claims. It's a complete work of fiction.Want to hear the song? Here ya go...https://youtu.be/DVx8L7a3MuE

Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla must open access to a public beach that he'd closed for private use, says a California court.From The Guardian:Khosla’s refusal to restore access has made him something of a symbol of the immense wealth in the tech industry and rising income inequality in the region.Last year, his attorneys claimed that he would open the gate to the beach only if the government paid him $30m, an amount that state officials said was unreasonably high. In October, Khosla also sued two state agencies, accusing the government of using “coercion and harassment” to infringe on his private property rights.The California coastal commission, established by voters in 1972 to protect public use of the coast, has reported that beachgoers have increasingly complained about private security guards telling them they are trespassing on private property and forcing them to leave the public beaches.Photograph of Martin's Beach: Marcin Wichary/Flickr

The hits keep on coming for the largest bank in America: in addition to stealing millions with fraudulent overdraft fees, creating 2,000,000 fraudulent accounts, blackballing whistleblowers, defrauding mortgage borrowers, and stealing tens of thousands of cars with fraudulent repos, they also grossly overcharged America's struggling small businesses for processing their credit-card fees, according to a new lawsuit. (more…)

This project management bundle will help you get organized and learn how to lead a team to success. You can pay what you want for these five courses when you pick them up from the Boing Boing Store.To help you become an invaluable asset for your company, this bundle includes a curated collection of professional resources. In the Six Sigma certification course, you’ll learn how to efficiently plan manufacturing processes that minimize waste and product variation. You can get the best out of your organization’s employees by learning how to set goals for your teammates and monitor their progress in the Performance Management section. This bundle also includes a crash-course in the fundamentals of project planning and cost estimation, as well as handy guides for decluttering your life and getting things done.You can pay what you want for this Project Management Bundle here.

This is not new news, it’s old news. But maybe you haven’t seen it, and it’s so nutty that I feel compelled, with a box of Williams Sonoma Peppermint Chocolate Bark sitting open in front of me, to share this with you.It’s a Japanese game show where a curtain is whisked open to reveal a room, and the contestants are shown items in that room, such as a shoe or a picture frame, or a table, or a plant, that are highly unlikely to be edible. They are asked to guess if it’s edible or not and then bite it. Oddly, some of the items turn out to be stunning edible versions of things you would never consider chomping on. The video will give you a chuckle … just don’t take a bite out of anyone sitting next to you. I take no responsibility if your significant other mistakes you for one of the walking dead.https://youtu.be/2ZDq_jIv4sMVia Kotaku

Tattoo artist Phil Berge's handiwork is old school, yes, but some of his tats more than that. They are animated! How does he do it? At the Tattoo Shack in Quebec where he works, he inks multiple people with one frame of an animation. For instance, to create that Bart Simpson "tattoo flipbook" (above), he had to ink 19 different people.This one was inspired by a 1950s Gallo wine commercial and took 11 inked people to animate:https://youtu.be/qWRcoWI6e_Y"Bad Mickey" took 13 (naturally):https://youtu.be/2IHdh0oyfn4This one was inspired by a Popeye cartoon short called, "Sock-a-Bye, Baby" and took 17 individual tattoos to complete:https://youtu.be/jckexfMgUyYPretty cool, isn't it? You can check out more of his (mostly non-animated) work at his Instagram.(Geekologie)

A petition has been posted on Change.org by a Maryland gamer, Brad Smoley, to try and convince Scandinavian stick furniture powerhouse IKEA that there's a significant-enough market for a dining room table that converts into a gaming table. He writes:The board gaming community is passionate and fickle about their gaming accessories. They are also a large group with disposable income. There have been many attempts in the community to develop a high-quality table appropriate for both dining and gaming, but few have been affordable enough for the community at large to enjoy. That is why this petition has been created. IKEA is an industry leader in creating multi-functional furniture at affordable prices. The tabletop gaming community is already a heavy user of IKEA's KALLAX product as it is an efficient way to store and display their gaming collections. An affordable multi-function gaming table designed by IKEA would be an incredible addition to not only IKEA's line up of products, but the board gaming community's list of essential gaming accessories.I believe the petition just launched within the past 24 hours and has already gathered over 5300 signatures (of the desired 7500). I signed. I'm one of those gamers who covets such a table but could never afford what handmade and small production models go for.

President Trump and his family own, operate, and profit bigly from the most expensive hotel in the nation's capital. Driving the inflated rates at the Trump International Hotel in Washington: favor-seekers from around the world know to stay there when they hope to curry favor with Trump's government. (more…)

Fascinating and detailed map of the eclipse path.

Our guest on the Cool Tools Show podcast this week is Adam Rubin. Adam is the New York Times best-selling author of Dragons Love Tacos, Robo-Sauce, and half a dozen other critically-acclaimed picture books. He is also a world-renowned inventor of illusions and was recently named Director of Puzzles and Games for ArtofPlay.com.Subscribe to the Cool Tools Show on iTunes | RSS | Transcript | Download MP3 | See all the Cool Tools Show posts on a single pageShow notes:Frixion Erasable Blue Gel Ink Pen ($13, 3 Pack)"So, this pen is not actually marketed as a disappearing ink pen. It’s marketed as a Frixion Pen, and its intention is to be an erasable pen — it’s a normal-looking pen and on the back of the pen is this sort of rubber or plastic nib. And if you write with the pen and you rub the nib over the ink, the ink goes away. But, the true nature of the pen is that it's heat activated. So, if you heat up the ink, it disappears. That could be with the nib that's on the back of the pen or that could be with the flame from a lighter or that could be in a microwave. So, basically, what you have, is you have a pen that writes with ink that you can make disappear with fire. And that is a pretty cool tool to me. … One of the cool things about it is that you can use it sort of as a fun science thing to do with kids because, you don’t necessarily need to use fire. If you draw on paper and you put it in the microwave for about 15 seconds, you can watch the ink visibly disappear with nothing touching it, which, is a really fun experiment with kids.”Ultra-Sil Day Pack ($33)"The Super Scrunch Backpack … It’s a rip-stop backpack. It's like 20 liters and it stuffs down into a pouch that's smaller than your fist. It's super strong. It's super reliable. And I keep one in all of my bags. My backpack, my carry-on, my duffle. I always have an extra backpack that takes up less room than a pair of socks. … So, when you’re on the road, you want to put some laundry in there or you want to put extra souvenirs or you just want something for hiking to stick into your larger backpack, it’s a totally awesome product.”Why Knot? ($11)“[Why Knot?] is an illustrated guide to knot tying that was written by Philippe Petit, he is the famous subject of the documentary, Man on Wire. Where, he, tight-rope walked between the Twin Towers before they were finished being built. … An amazing guy. Like a total Polymath. He illustrated and wrote this book himself, which is pretty amazing because he is definitely a guy who is very dependent on knots. So, he's super passionate about the history, and he's really good at explaining the different kinds of knots you might need to use for sailing or for camping or hiking. And he’s even got some magic trick-type of knots in there and there’s some really cool decorative knots as well. … I learned how to tie a monkey knot, or a monkey’s fist from the book.”Black Ergonomic Stool with Foot Ring ($51)“I was in the advertising industry for 10 years, and I quit my day job almost two years ago now to write full-time and work from home at design and I was worried that I would just spend the whole day sitting in a chair and just kind of slouched over. So, I was looking for something to help me overcome that problem and I found this stool. It’s an adjustable height, rotating, rolling, desk stool and it is so perfect for me. …I like it because it gives me a couple of options, like I can sit my feet flat on the floor and get that upright posture for a while and then sort of switch to more of a perched position like a little bit more on the edge of the stool with my heels up on the base ring.”

Two employees at the US embassy in Havana have been sent home after suffering hearing loss from a silent "acoustic attack." From http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/09/politics/us-cuba-acoustic-attack-embassy/index.html:The sophisticated device that operated outside the range of audible sound was deployed either inside or outside the residences of US diplomats living in Havana, according to three US officials.The Cuban government says it had nothing to do with the attack.From Time:Cuba employs a state security apparatus that keeps many people under surveillance and U.S. diplomats are among the most closely monitored people on the island. Like virtually all foreign diplomats in Cuba, the victims of the incidents lived in housing owned and maintained by the Cuban government.However, officials familiar with the probe said investigators were looking into the possibilities that the incidents were carried out by a third country such as Russia, possibly operating without the knowledge of Cuba's formal chain of command.

I'm not sure if this dog is looking for snacks in the rug or if it just found a new way to feel good. But it sure is cute!

What if Quentin Tarantino made a 1-minute video on how to make spaghetti and meatballs? This would be it! Self-described "freelance foodie-for-hire" David Ma has created a brilliant mini-series of recipe how-tos, reimagined in the style of movie directors. His other titles, all on YouTube, include What if Wes Anderson Made S'mores?, What if Michael Bay Made Waffles?, and What if Alfonso Cuaron Made Pancakes? You need to see them all!https://youtu.be/51sqHeClZ3s

My Walkaway book-tour is basically over, but I'm taking a little victory lap tonight at my local library, the Buena Vista Branch of the Burbank Public Library. Hope to see you there!

Listen: 'Nuclear War,' by space prophet Sun Ra and his mighty arkestra. (more…)

Russ writes, "Via a FOIA request I made, this is Ajit Pai's detailed schedule from January 20 to the end of June. Shows who he met with, where he traveled, etc."

Buzzfeed presents a long (and somewhat rambling) data-driven look at the recent history and current state of Facebook's hyper-partisan news (AKA "fake news") bubble, tracing the money, growth areas, declines and personalities behind what's possibly the cause or the effect (or both) of today's political chaos. (more…)

Why can a mouse survive a fall from a skyscraper, but not a dog or an elephant? This episode of Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell explores size differences in animals, and how it affects their anatomies and physiologies.

America's internet is sucks and the law obliges the FCC to "take immediate action to accelerate deployment of such capability by removing barriers to infrastructure investment and by promoting competition in the telecommunications market," but dingo-babysitter Ajit Pai (a former telcoms lobbyist that Donald Trump put in charge of the FCC) has a counterproposal: just declare fast internet unimportant to Americans, and hope that they'll put up with slow mobile broadband instead of blazing-fast wired connections. (more…)

That now-ex-Googler who published a memo explaining why it's a fact that women are biologically unable to be good tech workers had a point, but honestly, the problem isn't ovaries: it's organs. (more…)

This summer, ABC News made a historically large payout to settle a defamation lawsuit over 'pink slime,' or what the meat industry likes to call 'lean finely textured beef.'No, that's not referring to Hulk Hogan, but there is a worrisome connection between this media lawsuit and the one backed by Peter Thiel against Gawker, which silenced that publication. (more…)

Today at the Usenix Security conference, a group of University of Washington researchers will present a paper showing how they wrote a piece of malware that attacks common gene-sequencing devices and encoded it into a strand of DNA: gene sequencers that read the malware are corrupted by it, giving control to the attackers. (more…)

Why we secretly love our cords. Tamara Warren: There’s a certain security in the cord. It’s the idea of connection, perhaps even dating back to our days in the womb. ... A battery, no matter how sophisticated, is fleeting. When we have our cords with us, we are in constant pursuit of power, even when we are fully charged, as a form of security. We often discover our misfortune — the loss of power — when it’s too late. The opposite of being fully charged is dead. Cords, and our attachment to them, have taken on a metaphor weighted in existentialism. There is anxiety in being too far removed. We are in a relationship with our cords.Allow me to retort!The cord is a chain. It's the imposition of place, perhaps even dating back to our days in the mire. ... A cord, no matter how comforting, is invariable. When we wander, we are in pursuit of freedom; we often discover our misfortune — the tether — too late. The opposite of mobility is stasis. Honestly, I hate cords so much! The first trillionaire will be put there by batteries.

In an age of ubiquitous, self-synchronizing phones, timepieces are increasingly a form of kinetic sculpture. (more…)

Rick "Tinyworlds" Hoppmann has released all of his wonderful forest photos under a non-commercial Creative Commons license. You can use it, remix it and share it yourself so long as you credit him and so long as you don't profit from it.If you want to use my photos for commercial use (e.g. album covers), please send me an email: rick.kelgar(at)web.dehttps://twitter.com/Mezaka_/status/739439204883697664

To show its new football field is sitting on one big earthquake fault line -- the Hayward Fault -- UC Berkeley made a crooked line in the north end zone's grass.This is what it looks like up close:https://twitter.com/RGBearTerritory/status/894039327763603456Here's what SBNation: California Golden Bears thinks about the unusual addition:On one hand, the fault line isn’t too prominently sticking out, so you really have to look for it to find it. On the other, it’s probably best not to draw that too much attention to an active earthquake fault line that forced the university to enact millions in overdue athletic renovations and have left the athletic department mired in debt. Always compromises to be made in the football life.Thanks, Sara!lead image via Cal FB Recruiting

If you're on Facebook, no doubt you've seen celebrities peddling their MasterClass online courses. If you're not familiar, for 90 bucks you get lifetime access to a course where masters teach their craft.For instance, Steve Martin teaches comedy, Serena Williams teaches tennis, and Dr. Jane Goodall teaches conservation.That's where this parody by Bellpond Films steps in. It imagines intergalactic gangster Jabba the Hutt as a stand-up comedian whose teaching a Masterclass on comedy. I especially appreciate the way he deals with hecklers.Thanks, Hart Perez!

Photographer Amy Lombard teamed up with nail artist Sonya Meesh to create toenail art that you won't be able to unsee. Whether that's good or bad is in the eye of the beholder. (more…)

Rolling shutters and algorithmic stabilization created an interesting effect on this racing footage. (more…)

Despite the push towards USB-C as the one connector to rule them all, most peripherals in the wild are still largely USB-A. Since there’s little reason to upgrade all of your old flash drives, wired keyboards, and game controllers, you’ll need a decent hub to keep them all talking to your new computer.The MondoHub Master USB Hub features 24 USB 2.0 ports to connect all of your legacy gear, with hardware on/off switches for each one. To quickly charge phones and tablets, and take advantage of external storage with high-speed data transfer capabilities, it also includes four USB 3.0 ports. And to keep your devices safe, it has automatic over-current protection.Reduce cable clutter and extend your desktop’s connectivity options with a MondoHub Master USB Hub. You can pick one up in the Boing Boing Store for $54.99.

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