With Amazon Web Services, anyone can harness the power of a cloud cluster to deliver services and process data without needing to manage their own data center. To learn how to administer your slice of the cloud, this AWS Solution Architect Certification Training Bundle is being offered in the Boing Boing Store.Throughout 22 hours of content, you’ll get an overview of the tools at your disposal, including Elastic Compute Cluster (EC2) for on-demand scalability, Simple Storage Service (S3) for durable data object storage, Relational Database Service (RDS) for efficient data retrieval, and emulated block-device storage with Elastic Block Store (EBS). In addition to familiarizing yourself with the Management Console, you’ll learn how to design large-scale information infrastructure, deploy fault-tolerant applications, and even migrate existing systems to AWS.You can pick up the AWS Solution Architect Certification Training Bundle for $49.More Deals from the Boing Boing store:1080p HD Waterproof WiFi Wireless Endoscopic Camera: $39.99Pay What You Want: Learn to Code 2017 BundleThe MacX Media Conversion Lifetime License Bundle: $19.99

Massive infusions of cash by way of the central bank, combined with runaway mass panic-buying has stampeded Chinese people into buying into the property markets in boomtowns like Shenzhen, despite the insane prices that almost guarantee that they will default on their mortgages -- because they fear that rising property prices will shut them out forever if they don't buy now, and the new rentiers who've speculated on all that property are cranking up rents so fast that renting is worse than buying. (more…)

Oklahoma Senator James Lankford (@SenatorLankford; (405) 231-4941) sounded the alarm about Russian trolls spreading discord about NFL athletes kneeling for the national anthem, citing as evidence a Twitter account called "Boston Antifa" whose "location" field had been filled in "Vladivostok, Russia." (more…)

After "a man’s bodily fluids" were observed on a batch of flutes issued to elementary schoolchildren in California, the instruments were recalled and an apology issued. The tainted flutes are variously described as "stained" with or "containing" the mystery fluid, which media does not identify.

Cedric Ingram-Lewis and Larry McCullough were removed from Victory & Praise Christian Academy's football team after protesting during the national anthem this week. Ingram-Lewis raised his fist, recalling the salute of John Carlos and Tommie Smith at the 1968 Olympics, while McCullough kneeled. Head coach Ronnie Mitchem immediately removed them from the team, declaring their actions "offensive to veterans and others."

Exhibit A: When American cyclists get in one another's way.https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=39&v=DqgU062DCEQExhibit B: When British cyclists get in one another's way.https://youtu.be/d9_-MnEVsw4?t=49sExhibit C: When Canadian cyclists get in one another's way.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WAEuABIGd0&feature=youtu.be&t=23

Elon Musk is going to colonize Mars and has produced a science-fiction extravaganza to prove it.

From Roger Wood's Klockwerks mailing list.

After history's worst president briefly paused his golf game to go on record to blame Puerto Ricans for failing to bootstrap themselves out of the aftermath of a devastating hurricane, Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda took to Twitter to speak for America: (more…)

The Hermetic PhilosophyThere is an underground current of thought beneath Western culture, running quietly like a vein of quicksilver: The Hermetic Philosophy. This ancient and multifaceted phenomenon is often found rising up from the shadows during times of intense cultural transition and upheaval.The words hermetic, occult and esoteric are used interchangeably to refer to ideas and beliefs associated with the mystical “Perennial Philosophy” that infused every major religion, and diverse cultural streams, over the past millennia. Rooted in ancient Egyptian and Judeo-Christian traditions, these secret beliefs went mainstream during the Renaissance, a revival that continued through the Enlightenment to modern interpretations in the New Thought and New Age movements and the secular Self-help movement of recent years.However protean and multifaceted the phenomenon, the essence of most esoteric teachings is that we go about our daily lives asleep, unaware of the true nature of reality and our place in it. This state of affairs engenders numbness, inner disconnection and lack of meaning, with a desolate question lingering in the backs of our heads: Is this all there is? Maybe, there is more than meets the eye. Unlike modern materialism, the Hermetic Philosophy pictures the cosmos as a living entity, the Anima Mundi experiencing itself subjectively. Every thing – fragments of The All – are linked together in a web of correspondences and resonances between microcosm and macrocosm. The ultimate goal of the “Way of Hermes” is to wake up to a divine reality: the actualization of the spiritual nature of man.The Ritman LibraryFor those of us enthralled by such ideas – and the wondrous, precious tomes expressing them – the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica (BPH) is a must-see. Also known as The Ritman Library, it is aptly located in Amsterdam, a city historically known for freedom of religion, freedom of expression and freedom of printing.One of the largest collections of hermetic books, The Ritman Library is a true temple of secret knowledge and awareness, containing more than 23,000 volumes, including many rare and invaluable first editions; a wealth of manuscripts and engravings on hermetica, alchemy, mysticism, gnosticism, esotericism and comparative religion, by legendary heroes of the imagination such as Marsilio Ficino, Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus, Giordano Bruno, Jacob Böhme and Robert Fludd.The library was founded by Joost Ritman, a successful Dutch businessman who, at age 16, had “a sudden and deep experience (...) that everything is One. In a single moment I realized that there is a profound connection between origin and creation, between God – Cosmos – Man.” This mystical emergence steered the man's life, who instead of filling his parking lot with Ferraris, decided to create a “treasure house of the human spirit.”A documentaryThe ultimate documentary, The Ritman Library: Amsterdam, is finally available, a joy for bibliophiles and hermetic aficionados alike. Shot by talented Italy-based creative team Sara Ferro and Chris Weil of Artoldo Media, the 90-minute feature film is a magic portal into the library, guided by the founder Joost Ritman, the library’s director Esther Ritman, the bibliographical team, as well as Dr. Marco Pasi, Professor of the History of Hermetic Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam.A charming tour into the history of Western Esotericism, the documentary celebrates the library’s historic volumes as poetic maps to the divine essence, as charts to inner landscapes and to outer hyperspace, as fruits of man's never-ending quest for meaning and beauty beyond the mundane. Moreover, it's a reminder of how books have always been powerful engines of cultural revolution and carriers of important intellectual heritage, hard-fought theories and ideas often deemed as dangerous and heretical when first published.You are in for an Hermetic treat!

Pornhub is the world's largest pornography site and they're now the world's most accessible, with a new, extensive suite of accessibility features for users with visual disabilities: alternative descriptive text for videos, a high-contrast mode for navigation, and custom color-gamut shifting for colorblind people. (more…)

Video game company Atlus just sent a copyright takedown over the Patreon page for open source Playstation 3 emulator RPCS3, by invoking section 1201 of the DMCA, which makes it a felony punishable by 5 years in prison and a $500,000 fine to bypass DRM. (more…)

I've tried all sorts of bacon-preserving polyhedra, but this one's especially great as you can hang it in a sunny spot and see your bacon being preserved, day in and day out. I put one just outside my office window and have enjoyed watching all the little bacon angels come and dance flavor into it.Amazon suggests the alternate uses of "planter" and "tea light candle holder" but frankly the notion that plants would grow in it strikes me as nonsensical pseudoscience, and the latter purpose is clearly unsanitary.Hanging Clear Glass Pyramid [Amazon Link]

The video embed here depicts exactly what you already suspect it will: a somewhat frustrated young boy, having swallowed part of a squeaky toy, being made to squeak by a person presumably intending to remove it (but not yet).

President Trump lashed out Saturday, attacking Puerto Rican leaders critical of his administration's relief efforts following storms that devastated the U.S. territory.

From last year's G7 protests in Munich, photographed by Tim Lüdemann.

In 2015, animal rights activist James Aspey of Australia took a vow of silence for an entire year as a publicity stunt to "raise awareness for animals and promote peace over violence." After not speaking for 365 days, James went on the Australian morning show Sunrise to share with viewers why he sacrificed his voice for critters.Here's his story:

Autumn is here. It's a fine season for pulling out your favorite sweaters, downing PSLs, and huddling in the corner fearing nuclear war.With this comic, illustrator Jessica Robinson of Columbus, Ohio really captures our current "climate," doesn't she?

Contrary to the product description, these Rainbow-Shitting Unicorn Socks [Amazon] are not "womens" socks. They're my socks.

Maybe some of us are destined to live our lives in a perpetual state of loveless isolation.Laura Mesi, a 41-year-old Italian fitness trainer, took the next logical step and married herself in a full-fledged, egotistical wedding ceremony. Mesi gave herself a four-decade benchmark to find her soulmate, until she finally put on a $12,000 wedding gown and vowed to love herself till the end in front of nearly 70 guests, according to The New York Times.“You can have a fairytale even without the prince,” Mesi said.The Italian government does not legally recognize the self-marriage trend known as “sologomy.”Image: Alicia Zinn

This tablet stand was just what we needed for our kitchen iPad, which we use for recipes and streaming video. It's easily adjusted to any angle, and feels solid. It also folds to a compact size for travel. At $9, it's a good deal.

In Geographic and demographic correlates of autism-related anti-vaccine beliefs on Twitter, 2009-15 (Sci-Hub mirror), social scientists from U Alabama, U Colorado and the NIH take a data-driven approach to understanding the surge in vaccine denying tweets that blame vaccinations for autism, a totally discredited idea espoused by the President of the USA. (more…)

Gary Cohn is Trump's chief economic advisor. He's a former Goldman-Sachs banker with a net worth of more than $250,000,000. In his latest appearance, the quarter-billionaire explained to the press that Trump's tax-plan (which will transfer billions to the wealthiest 1%, e.g., Gary Cohn) will save two-child families earning $100,000/year about $1,000 and that they can use this money to buy "a new car." (more…)

“No, I don’t like that at all. I don’t even know what that means”Bo Gardiner:

Bruce Bartlett served in Reagan's White House as domestic policy adviser and was an aide to Rep. Jack Kemp [R-NY], co-sponsor of the Kemp-Roth bill, which turned Reagan's campaign tax promises into law in 1981. (more…)

The austerity-crazed central government of Spain in Madrid is determined to prevent the citizens of Catalonia from voting on independence on October 1: they sent thousands of militarized national guards into the region (transporting them via a commandeered cruise ship) to seize ballot boxes and ballot papers, arrest members of the Catalonian government, and they've attempted to seize control over the Catalonian internet to prevent planning and discussion of Catalan independence, citing a Spanish court ruling that banned the referendum. (more…)

I hope that this video, demonstrating an archer's unusual talent, was made with special effects. Somebody's gonna get killed.

Casa Jasmina (previously) is a groundbreaking experiment in human-centered, open source home automation, the birthplace of the Internet of Women's Things -- built in Torino, Italy by Boing Boing pals Jasmina Tesanovic and Bruce Sterling with the help of the Arduino organization, Casa Jasmina pushed the boundaries of what a home-automation system would be like if it were designed to make peoples' lives better without extracting revenue from them. (more…)

Update: The news-source has retracted this report after Vinci corrected them: the company is switching to an electronic payment system but affirms that it will continue to comp the fire department. Vinci operates a network of private highways in France; according to the chairman of the Department of Fire and Rescue of the Var (SDIS 83), the company has rescinded the toll-free status of fire-engines en route to emergencies and will henceforth have to pay when they are risking their lives to prevent fires.

Ifixit's Pro Tech Toolkit comes with 64 specialized screw bits that help my wife and I get into many restricted areas of technology.The carrying case rolls out like a sleeping bag, with the goodies neatly tucked into tiny canvas holders, and the clever container that holds the bits is held to the carrying case by a magnet – easily detached when needed.The set is intelligently designed; one flexible extender allows you to unscrew at 90 degree angles, perfect for working in the tight confines of a PC case.

In 2013, San Francisco artist Jason Mecier (pronounced: "Mess-Ear") was commissioned by Hugh Hefner's third wife Crystal to create this portrait for her hubby's 87th birthday. The mosaic likeness of the Playboy's recently-deceased head honcho is created with his own "junk," items like swatches of his retired red silk pajamas, baby oil, select covers, words and headlines grabbed from Playboy magazines, unopened sleeves of condoms, a tin of Velvet pipe tobacco, small bottles of Jack Daniels whiskey, and various Playboy Bunny ephemera.The piece is part of Mecier's ongoing and much-lauded "Celebrity Junk Drawer" series and it's currently hanging in the dining room at the Playboy Mansion. In 2014, it landed a cameo in this Pitbull video. images via Jason MecierPreviously: Hugh Hefner 1926-2017

Spoiler alert: they liked it.Roger Ebert starts the review with, "That showdown interrupts a stickup in a scene from 'Pulp Fiction,' Quentin Tarantino's amazingly entertaining, outrageous, challenging, bizarre new movie. This is filmmaking of a high order."Here's Roger's full written review.(LAist, RED)

Robert Penney created a pixel-perfect animation of Stranger Things as a turn-of-the-1990s adventure game a la Secret of Monkey Island. Turns out that he's got a knack for these displaced artifacts, each pulled from a parallel universe where 20th century game systems still received rushed, sloppy games based on inappropriate movies and shows.Here, for example, is an 8-bit game of Stephen King's IT made by a team that perhaps got to watch one trailer, on mute, before getting cracking in time for Christmas...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr3yfy6zz6QAnd here's Alejandro González Iñárritu's Gravity as a dismally bad genre platformer. Watch out for snakes!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEwNGPUw270Here's Scarif Resort Simulator, a Sim City clone crudely tied-in to the Star Wars universe.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1orB7PlKehsPenney's Fictional Bad Games YouTube channel looks like a good one to follow. It's such incredible work I wondered if he had to code quasi-games to get such a convincing replica of bad, glitchy gameplay, but Penney writes that he makes each animation in Photoshop:

For people who want to believe the NFL protests are against the National Anthem, this video of Fox Sports 1 and First Things First host Nick Wright's explanation won't mean anything. For everyone else, it's worth watching.

Ethical hackers are a critical part of cybersecurity. By actively probing their own (or clients') systems for exploitable vulnerabilities, they can help minimize the potential attack surface and patch holes before malicious actors can get inside. To help you learn to think like a cybercriminal, this White Hat Hacker Bundle is currently being offered in the Boing Boing Store for a price of your choosing.This collection includes eight courses to introduce you to the tools and techniques of ethical hacking. Aside from learning about IT system architecture and common security equipment, you’ll discover how to perform penetration tests on networks, inspect websites for known weaknesses, and administer a Linux environment.Here’s the full course list:

Jia Tolentino describes The Repressive, Authoritarian Soul of “Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends”, that most cosy and all-conquering example of English bullshit for children.

Researcher Melanie Barboni studies geology for a living, but as a side gig, she is known as The Hummingbird Whisperer (more…)

Oh sure, you could buy something cute from their regular ol' baby registry but what do most new moms really want? Time. Real quality time with their new baby. Time to recover from pregnancy and childbirth.And that time is money.Few U.S. employers offer a full 12 weeks of paid maternity leave, simply because it isn't mandated in this country. That too-often forces working moms to become separated from their newborns and shuffled back into the office prematurely.That's where the Take 12 maternity leave registry service comes in. It provides a way for expecting women to crowdsource their maternity leave. Friends and family can sign up to cover the costs of quality time.Margi Scott, a mom of four, founded Take 12 as a way to address the problem. She writes:

If there's one thing I know about Detroit-born multimedia artist Allee Willis, it's that she's unstoppable. And not knowing how to do something hasn't keep her from pursuing her dreams and becoming incredibly successful.For example, by her own admission, she has "no idea how to play, read, or notate music." Yet, she's received multiple accolades for her music including two Grammy awards.In fact, her big break came after co-writing the 1978 hit "September" by Earth, Wind, & Fire. She also co-wrote their "Boogie Wonderland."But she didn't stop there. You know the Friends theme? She co-wrote that.She also co-authored The Color Purple for Broadway. Earlier this year, she got her second Grammy for that.In her multi-decade career, she's worked with musical artists such as The Pointer Sisters, the Pet Shop Boys, Bob Dylan, Patti LaBelle, James Brown, Herbie Hancock and many more.Again, she has zero musical training.Now she's written "The D," which she calls a "love song to Detroit." This is her biggest project to date.She had never done anything like this before, no one has (or could).The entire project includes not only a song but a music video, record, and party which all-in-all took nearly four years to complete. She pulled in her born-in-Detroit celebrity pals such as Lily Tomlin and Ray Parker Jr., as well as Motown names like Mary Wilson (Supremes) and Martha Reeves. She also invited thousands of everyday folks to participate and they did. "The D" features the vocals of over 5,000 Detroiters, which is the most people on a record together ever.Like I said, Allee Willis is unstoppable."The D's" music video has just dropped. If you're in Detroit, get yourself to her party for "The D" on September 28. It's free and guaranteed to be fabulous.Previously: Ba-de-ya, the 21st of September will always be special to songwriter Allee Willis

The Guggenheim Museum in New York City decided to remove three pieces of art from a future exhibit heavily protested by animal rights groups and people who say the works show graphic and cruel depictions of animals.Museum officials say recent threats of violence and fear for their visitors and staff forced them to reach the decision, according to NPR. The three pieces removed from the exhibition "Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World” include: video footage of Sun Yuan and Peng Yu’s 2003 Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other, which shows pit bulls running toward each other face to face while strapped onto non-motorized treadmills; Huang Yong Ping’s 1993 Theater of the World — a large wooden and steel dome housing living insects and lizards that sometimes feed on one another; and a video of two pigs covered in Roman and Chinese characters porking each other in front of a human audience from Xu Bing’s 1994 A Case Study of Transference.The museum originally defended the works against online petitions demanding their removal, protests outside the museum, and pressure from PETA.Via NPR:"These animals experience every emotion that you, I, and our beloved dogs and cats do," wrote PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. "They're emotionally complex and highly intelligent living beings, not props. The animals in these exhibits are not willing participants, and no one should force sentient beings into stressful situations for 'art' or 'sport.' "The museum did not respond to NPR's request for detail on the nature of the threats it received. But its statement conveys a palpable sense of frustration."Although these works have been exhibited in museums in Asia, Europe, and the United States, the Guggenheim regrets that explicit and repeated threats of violence have made our decision necessary," it said. "As an arts institution committed to presenting a multiplicity of voices, we are dismayed that we must withhold works of art. Freedom of expression has always been and will remain a paramount value of the Guggenheim."

After Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem to protest police violence against black Americans, between 61 and 72 percent of Americans disapproved, depending on how the question was posed. That was 2016. Now the number's down to 48 percent, with President Trump's stupid, nasty twittering on the matter earning a dimmer view (57 disapproval) from poll respondents.Best of all, only 12 percent are fooled by attempts to claim they're protesting the flag itself. American media like to portray Americans as politically ignorant to the bone, but as a Brit I'm often struck by American civic literacy, and that's number's a fair reflection of it.

Burger King Russia has filed a complaint with the country's anti-monopoly agency to have the film It banned because, they say, Pennywise the killer clown is free marketing for McDonald's. From Newsweek:In the complaint, filed last week and obtained by Russian financial publication Vedomosti, Burger King bemoaned unfair competition, claiming the “protagonist of the movie,” Pennywise, “is an exact copy” of Ronald McDonald, "including the color range and the [balloons] with which the clown lures children.” The company believes that this violates Russia’s advertising laws.A spokesperson for Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) said Monday that the board would need to examine It and determine whether there was any undue product placement or advertising of McDonald’s that would fall foul of the country’s legislation.

I dropped our little Ikea battery-powered milk frother and it broke. We needed a replacement ASAP, because everyone in the family uses it every day - to froth milk, make cocoa, make matcha, mix butter into coffee, and blend foul-tasting powdered herbs and supplements into water. Amazon recently started selling Ikea stuff, so I bought a replacement for $5.49 and all is right in our household now.

Siddharth Mandala, 18, of Hyderabad, India, is developing the Electroshoe as a defensive weapon for women. The idea is that a woman could kick an attacker to deliver a jolt of electricity, similar to a taser, giving her time to escape. From the Deccan Chronicle:

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The BitTorrent search engine The Pirate Bay and the video site Showtime were found to be infecting users' computers with cryptocurrency mining code. This is a sneaky way to use people's computers and electricity to make money.From The Guardian:

When Trump gripes that there is rampant voter fraud, the proof is in the family pudding. His son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has been voting as a woman for the last eight years. Why? Who knows!But the gender mix-up could simply be Kushner's confusion with forms. According to Wired, he's got a "chronic inability to correctly fill out boxes." And yet he is the senior advisor to Trump. Yay.

The Essential Phone, a $700 premium Android handset launched to much fanfare, has sold only 5,000 handsets.

This large yellow stress ball seems to contain an infinite supply of oozing gelatinous beads.

Ben Hatke -- the living superhero who wrote such wonderful illustrated kids' books as Zita the Spacegirl, Little Robot and Mighty Jack is touring his new graphic novel, Mighty Jack and the Goblin King, and tonight's stop is 7PM at Once Upon A Time Bookstore in Montrose (near Pasadena), where I'll be serving as interlocutor. (more…)