A baby step toward federal decriminalization, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) today introduced a bill to conduct medical marijuana research. The text of his announcement is posted below. I have highlighted several phrases.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation and American Civil Liberties just filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeladn Security on behalf of 11 travellers whose devices were searched at the US border; they assert that warrantless device searches violate the constitutional restriction on searches without probable cause. (more…)

Boxers are one of the derpy-est dog breeds. And that's why we love them so.(more…)

Zerodium is a cyber-arms dealer that produces hacking tools for governments by buying up newly discovered defects in widely used systems, weaponizing them and then selling them to be used against criminals, activists, journalists and other targets of state surveillance. (more…)

Allergan has disclosed that it transferred title to six of its contested eye drug patents to the St Regis Mohawk band in upstate New York, in a bid to use the band's sovereign immunity to prevent generic pharma companies from dragging the company into court to show that its patents are invalid. -

Civil asset forfeiture allows police departments to confiscate and keep property they claim results from criminal activity, without having to prove that any criminal activity took place -- this turned into a national scourge, until cops were stealing more from Americans than burglars, until the Obama administration shut down the DoJ's enabling program in 2015. (more…)

The Cassini spacecraft is on final approach to Saturn, following confirmation by mission navigators that it is on course to dive into the planet’s atmosphere on Friday, Sept. 15.(more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUx95m9Ahn0The Philippines is ruled by an admitted murderer, President Rodrigo Duterte (previously), whose death squads have operated with impunity since he took office last year (Trump loves him). (more…)

It's "single payer" and not "universal health care" and there some potential structural pitfalls in this incarnation, but Sanders, Warren and the two dozen progressive and health activist groups who've backed this proposal are planting a flag and declaring that healthcare is not something that markets can provide -- it's the duty and right of civilized states to protect the health of the people who live in their borders. (more…)

If you're looking to make digital backups of your DVD collection that will play anywhere, this software combo from MacX makes it easy. Here's what it includes:MacX DVD Ripper ProSince not all DVD releases survived the jump to streaming, ripping is sometimes the only way to keep your video library accessible. This optical media extractor works around annoying copyright protections and DRM to turn your media into digital files. It lets you trim and adjust video to edit out menus and other unwanted content, and even upload to YouTube if you’re feeling courageous.MacX Video Converter ProHeaps of raw video rips won’t do much good when all of your devices need different formats. This app lets you decode HD video and prepare it for mobile devices and smart TVs with 350 device-specific preset profiles. Additionally, you can record video directly from online streams as well as external webcams.You can get a lifetime of updates to MacX DVD Ripper Pro and Video Converter Pro from the Boing Boing Store for $19.99.

For me, it's often the little things at Burning Man that touch me the most. It's the understated art quietly sitting all alone on the playa that can really wow me.Like this piece I stumbled upon on one of my early morning bike rides. It immediately made me think of one of those emergency highway call boxes.Etched on one door is "IN CASE:" and the other is "A UKE.""IN CASE: A UKE"... It is an emergency call box but instead of a phone, it had three ukuleles inside!Check out that logo. It might be hard to see, but the little ukulele has a tiny "emergency cross." Love it!I did a little digging and learned the artist is Justin Lange, a creative technologist from Brooklyn. He received a grant from Burning Man to produce it. He writes:

Now that eclipse mania has settled down a bit, were seeing a round of work by editors and artists who needed a little time to shape their images and video into something even more transcendent. Erick Oh's Totality is among the best of these. (more…)

In 1953, the National Cathedral in Washington DC installed two stained glass windows depicting Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee. A task force recommended removal, which started this month. (more…)

Poe's law in action! What could be more white than posting a selection of unopened and unused supermarket condiments as sardonic proof that white people do in fact season food?Mind you, Bertolli extra virgin olive oil is the good stuff. This is a well-layered classic meme, inviting the same reply every time, a parody of interaction found elsewhere in the wilds under forbidden names. In its 9/11/2017 form, it's maybe the tweet of the year, or of every year until the annihilation begins.https://twitter.com/BeyCapital/status/907384762670637057

Oh, Denny's.How many meetings did you have before you decided on using an anthropomorphic poop-like sausage for one of your Grand Slam breakfast mascots?https://twitter.com/ArmyStrang/status/906564611700350976https://twitter.com/SeanGallimore/status/907012753390395392Not enough, clearly. I feel a little sad for you right now.Good job on the tiny fedora though.photo by Mike Mozart(Mashable)

Ships need a reliable way to know their exact location at sea -- and for centuries, the lack of a dependable method caused shipwrecks and economic havoc for every seafaring nation. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll meet John Harrison, the self-taught English clockmaker who dedicated his life to crafting a reliable solution to this crucial problem.We'll also admire a dentist and puzzle over a magic bus stop.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon!

“When you look at your phone it'll shoot thousands of lasers straight into your pores, then it sucks your soul like Dementor. Thank you for your life juice.”(more…)

“And that is what we call a GOOD DOG.” So super excited, this lil guy is.(more…)

Yes.(more…)

Amazon sells this arcade button switch plate cover and a rocker switch for $13.

In this video, Robert Reich gives a clear explanation of what Putin has gained from putting Trump in the White House as his puppet president.Trump has already delivered on or is in the process of delivering on many of Putin's demands: repudiate Nato, USA antagonizes Europe, USA leaves Paris Climate Accord, USA embarks on a new era of protectionism, USA ends sanctions on Russia.

Cause people are talking about bionics, and I think the young kids don't understand.

The latest fatberg (a hardened mass of condoms, nappies, wet wipes, fat, and other things that people insist on flushing down their toilets) (previously) to clog London's sewers is the Whitechapel whale, measuring 820 feet long, weighing 130 metric tonnes (as much as 11 double-decker buses) (this is a standard measure of fatbergs). (more…)

The $35 Bleeding Hand Candle from Etsy seller Creepy Candles is a life-sized candle whose fingers blaze, melt red wax blood, and leave behind a full-sized metal skeleton hand when they've burned up. (more…)

A recurring outrage theme on the internet is hard-working restaurant servers whose "tips" turn out to be fake US currency printed with Bible verses, bearing the reassurance that these are "more valuable than money." (more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTTuggZ2APkFilmmaker/writer/games developer Jim "Ghosts With Shit Jobs" Munroe (previously) has just launched his first VR venture. Manimal Sanctuary is a "lurking simulator" that "leverages low-end VR technology to enable every player’s ultimate fantasy: to play a creature part coral reef, part Cthulhu, who consumes human emotions. Set after the rest of the city is consumed by gibbering monstrosities, you eavesdrop on the survivors and their dramas involving things like bad potato crops and graffiti tags. And if those everyday emotions aren’t filling enough, you can always uncover some devastating secrets…" (more…)

A man in Connecticut was flying a single-engine Cessna 172 to get breakfast when he crashed into a tree, his plane then cartwheeling before landing on the ground of a parking lot. The 80-year-old pilot, Manfred Forst, was rushed to the hospital but miraculously had only minor injuries.Via USA Today

Attendees at a silent candlelight vigil in honor of Prabagaran Srivijayan -- a Mayasian migrant worker who was executed for drug trafficking on July 14 -- have been notified that they are the subjects of a police investigation. (more…)

"Lift" is one of the three previously unreleased tracks from Radiohead's 20th anniversary reissue of OK Computer, titled OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997-2017. Video directed by Oscar Hudson.

China's "economic miracle" has been accompanied by mass-scale looting, creating a class of super-rich, corrupt millionaires and billionaires to rival the US or Russia; these 1%ers know that their wealth is subject to the whims of the Politburo, which is why they are so anxious to acquire second passports, and to exfiltrate their cash through baroque schemes, anodyne scams, and runaway property speculation. (more…)

If the novelty of holding an elaborate bearing (possibly connected to some motion-sensitive LEDs) is wearing thin, have no fear: with a 3D printer and a little ingenuity, you can make your own double-pendulum fidget spinner, a chaotic system that is intensely sensitive to initial conditions, such that it becomes very hard to predict the motion of the pendulum when you set it to swinging. (more…)

When it comes to the responsibility of making mediocre pizza, risking one’s life is the only suitable option. That could have very well been the thinking of a Florida Pizza Hut manager who threatened to punish employees for evacuating the Jacksonville location before Hurricane Irma hit the city."You cannot evacuate Friday for a Tuesday storm event!" a memo from the manager read. "Failure to show for these shifts, regardless of reason, will be considered a no call / no show and documentation will be issued."“In the event of an evacuation, you MUST return within 72 HOURS,” the memo continued after it initially began by stating concerns for worker’s safety.Evacuation orders were given by authorities to parts of Jacksonville Friday, according to CNN. Pizza Hut says it contacted the manager who did not follow company guidelines.Via CNN:

A monkey in Indonesia will now be enjoying 25% of future profits from a selfie he took with a photographer's camera, following a settlement announced Monday.Photographer David Slater agreed to donate the future profits to organizations responsible for protecting Indonesian habitats of crested macaques, according to CNN. The 2011 selfie of a then 7-year-old Naruto started a legal endeavor by PETA four years later over publishing of the photo and his rights under the Copyright Act.The small success for the cheeky primate is more likely a larger victory for the inevitable simian overthrow soon to follow.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz may be having too much fun with himself on Twitter after he liked a two-minute porn clip early Tuesday morning. Cruz, or whoever could have possibly been in charge of his official account, stated the senator’s approval of a video featuring a woman secretly stimulating herself once she stumbles upon some hardcore sexual acts within her own home.A spokeswoman for Cruz said the “offensive” clip that was “posted” had been removed and reported, although her statement mistakenly suggests the tweet was posted instead of liked, according to the New York Daily News.The account @SexuallPosts currently has a pinned tweet thanking the former Texas solicitor general – who in 2007 tried to ban the purchase of sex toys – for watching the video on their account.Here is a younger Cruz talking about how he wants to be in a "teen tit film." Wonderful.https://youtu.be/vt-vG_TdOT4

Francis Xavier "X" Atencio was a key Imagineer on such Disney parks classics as the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, serving as an illustrator, sculptor, scriptwriter, and lyricist (he's co-credited on both "A Pirate's Life For Me" and "Grim, Grinning Ghosts" and was "credited" with a tombstone at the Haunted Mansion). He died on Sept 10 at the age of 98. (more…)

Ants are cultural signifiers of busy industriousness, but a new paper in Plos One reveals that, across species, about 40% of "worker" ants spend most of their days doing nothing. (more…)

Miami-Dade's hurricane shelters experienced "chaos" during Irma, and the Miami-Dade schools chief Alberto Carvalho says that's because the Red Cross was missing in action. (more…)

Makeup artist Dain Yoon likes to push the envelope with her work, and her new nail portraits complete with real hair are definitely doing that. (more…)

London's Victoria and Albert Museum recently posted a 7-minute assembly of footage from plywood manufacturing "then and now." The result, aided by some nice sleazy electronica, is a mesmerizing adventure in composite laminates.

Photographer Pablo Iglesias Maurer found idyllic promotional photos of now-abandoned resorts in the Poconos, painstakingly found the exact spot where the shot was taken, and matched them flawlessly a series of gifs. (more…)

For a hobbyist, photographer Tzvika Stein captures some remarkable images around the world. It's hard to top his cool drone photos of the Dead Sea, which look like another planet. (more…)

Just as I was getting back from Burning Man, a super-funny video of an Irish family dealing with a bat flying around their kitchen, was going viral.Tadhg Fleming, the family's son, captured the chaotic moment in a video he's calling "Bat Dad." Tadhg makes comedy videos but this one wasn't staged. He noticed his dad, Derry, trying to catch the flying mammal with a small towel and started filming. It's Tadhg's yelling and screaming "commentary" that really makes the clip.Now the newly-famous Fleming family of Kerry, Ireland has been interviewed by Jimmy Kimmel, in the kitchen where it all went down.(Be sure to watch to the end for a special surprise.)

In an emergency situation, it's important to get life-saving information out to the people. Deaf residents of Manatee County, Florida may not have received this message clearly, as a man with limited sign language skills was put in front of the camera to translate a televised briefing about Hurricane Irma.To show just how embarrassingly bad the translation really was, YouTuber Jane Smith added captions to the briefing.As an example, "We need you to be safe," became "Need be bear monster" to this under-qualified interpreter.One YouTube commenter defended the man, writing:

I've known since I was fourteen that one day I'd write a novel entitled Madness Treads Lightly. What it would be about, I had no idea. It was a one-of-a-kind event: a title popping up all by itself, before any plan, plot, or heroes, and long before I could bring myself to write fiction.For years, that mysterious combination of words -- "Madness Treads Lightly" -- would give me no rest. It became a kind of piggybank where I tossed coins, especially small change: brief street scenes, snatches of conversation. Sometimes I would divine the features of my future characters in friends and strangers.Poline Dashkova's Madness Treads Lightly is available from Amazon. (more…)

This owl shaped Echo Dot holder lives in my bathroom.I'm addicted to Echo Dot. I keep one in my office, one in the kitchen, and now one in my bathroom. I treat the Dots like radios and listen to the news briefing and podcasts.This is my kitchen owl.Zehui Owl Shape Smart Home Guard Owl Statue Crafted Guard Station for Echo Dot via Amazon

In case you're the type who doesn't notice your own bad foot odor, help has come in the form of a cute robot dog named Hana-chan (Hana means "nose" in English). Hana, who has a sensor in its nose, is trained to sniff your feet. If your feet smell fresh and dandy, Hana will wag its tail in delight. If your foot is bordering on stinky, it will sound a warning bark. If, however, your feet kick up a stench, Hana will fall over.The above video is a prototype from 2015, when Hana used to be called Shun-Taro, and according to Oddity Central, Hana's company, Next Technology, "is ready to launch a commercial version of the feet-smelling robot." But don't whip out your checkbook just yet – first take a look at the faint-inducing price tag: ¥100,000 ($9,280). In Japan, where shoes are taken off before entering buildings and foot odor is highly offensive, the price might seem reasonable to some folks. But elsewhere? Not sure, but I think I'll pass!

On the newly relaunched Mondo 2000 website, R.U. Sirius interviewed Wired founder Louis Rossetto about the origins of Wired and about his new novel, Change is Good. I was an editor at Wired from 1993-1998 and I learned a lot about Wired and Louis that I didn't know. One thing was that Louis wanted to base Wired in my hometown, Boulder, CO, but his partner and co-founder Jane Metcalfe thought San Francisco was a better headquarters. Smart choice!

Two influential members of the U.S. Senate today demanded answers from Equifax on the recent massive data breach that affected 143 million Americans. (more…)