(via /r/)

Turn out the lights, put on some trippy tune, and have fun moving around in Zhouyuan Li's color-shifting 3D matrix of undulating ribbons. (more…)

Dungeons and Dragons Beyond is an official digital companion to D&D, with a free character-generator and a bunch of paid additions, from access to hyperlinked editions of the rulebooks ($30/each), and a $3/player, $6/DM subscription service that lets DMs share their books with players. (more…)

Brian W Aldiss died at his home in Oxford, England on Saturday morning at the age of 92. (more…)

In medical school, they tell you half of what you are about to learn won’t be true when you graduate — they just don’t know which half.In every field of knowledge, half of what is true today will one day be updated with better information, and it turns out that we actually know when that day will come for many academic pursuits.Download – iTunes – Stitcher – RSS – SoundcloudThis episode is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus. Get unlimited access to a huge library of The Great Courses lecture series on many fascinating subjects. Start FOR FREE with Your Deceptive Mind taught by neurologist Steven Novella. Learn about how your mind makes sense of the world by lying to itself and others. Click here for a FREE TRIAL.

New York chef Chuck George gathered up military MRE (meals ready to eat) rations from different countries, then tried to present them as gourmet meals. Videographer Jimmy Pham and photographer Henry Hargreaves recorded his efforts. (more…)

Googling "[your name] the hedgehog" is a classic trick revealing the abyssal depths of Sonic the Hedgehog fanart. More entertaining, I find, is searching YouTube for "[your favorite restaurant or shop] brawl".Hours of fun!Previously: Brawl at Chuck E. Cheese's set to hardcore metal

Hailing from near the Pennsylvania shores of Lake Erie, musician Jack Stauber has released a couple of trippy VHS-inspired videos to support his album Pop Food, and if you like interesting outsider music, check it out! (more…)

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the launch of Voyager 2, the first of the two spacecraft that carried the Golden Record on a grand tour of the solar system and into the mysteries of interstellar space. Science journalist Timothy Ferris produced this enchanting phonograph record that tells a story of our planet expressed in sounds, images, and science for any extraterrestrial intelligence that may encounter it. Tim wrote a beautiful essay telling the story behind the Voyager record for the Voyager Golden Record vinyl box set that I co-produced. And today you can read an adaptation of it over at The New Yorker. Happy anniversary to Voyager 2 and the Golden Record! From the New Yorker:

Looking for a tiny PC that still has space for a gaming-quality video card? SFF PC Cases is a remarkably detailed spreadsheet listing dozens of models, complete with cost, dimensions, volume and even important build tips. The very smallest are not practical for powerful builds, but the critical "Maximum GPU length" field is right there to help you out.The gold-standard NCase M1 turns out to be only the 27th smallest case that can accommodate a GPU, and even the ultrawee Dan Case A4 doesn't hit the top ten! But it's also true that many on the list require fat external power bricks (if you're happy with that, the Custom Mod and S4 Mini models are astoundingly tiny, though good luck finding them for sale) or impose other brutal compromises, such as proprietary power supplies, too-severe limitations on GPU size, or plain goofy design.The smallest case that's widely-available, attractive, and (relatively) inexpensive? And not so small that assembly will be a nightmare? Probably the Fractal Node 202.

Laurel Hope Roth, a former park ranger turned artist, has spent parts of the last decade creating intricate crocheted Biodiversity Reclamation Suits for Urban Pigeons. (more…)

On the toboggan run (rodelbahn) overlooking Oeschinen Lake near Kandersteg, Switzerland, some people go in summer for the breathtaking view. Others go for the speedy thrill. Either way it looks like fun! (more…)

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has announced the winners of the 2017 Pioneer Awards, "which recognize leaders who are extending freedom and innovation on the electronic frontier." They are whistleblower Chelsea Manning, Techdirt editor Mike Masnick and free expression defender Annie Game. (more…)

Digital devices still have a long way to go before they can match the instant feedback and flexibility of paper. Even the low-latency touch screens found on the Microsoft Surface or iPad Pro still need expensive stylus peripherals to take advantage of handwritten notes and drawing features, and can be difficult to see in direct sunlight. If you are a visual thinker with a preference for physical touch over indirect manipulation, a paper notebook is still the preferred computing device: infinite battery life, and tangible, persistent storage.The Rocketbook Reusable Smart Notebook aims to bridge the gap between the immediacy of paper, and the convenience of cloud storage, with a clever twist that helps you cut down on personal paper waste. It’s available in our Boing Boing store for $22.99.At its core, the Rocketbook is just a bound bundle of acid-free dot-grid paper. But when paired with the your phone’s camera and the Rocketbook app’s computer vision tricks, it instantly digitizes and sorts your notebook pages. The bottom of each page features a row of printed icons that act as user-configurable visual links to folders in various cloud vaults like Dropbox, Evernote, and Google Drive. You can set up to 7 custom locations in any compatible storage services. All you have to do is quickly mark the icon that’s associated with a particular cloud location, point your phone at the page, and all of your work is backed up remotely.Why should you use their notebook over any old legal pad laying around? Because it is specifically made to be microwave-safe, and thus compatible with Pilot FriXion pens. These clever markers have ink that disappears at high temperatures, so you can completely erase your notebook when it’s all filled up (and backed up to the cloud) by putting in the microwave for a few minutes. These pens are readily available at most office supply stores, but you get one for free with your Rocketbook. When used with a FriXion, each book can be erased up to 5 times — perfect for even the most furious of notetakers. The Rocketbook Wave comes in two different paper sizes, 8.5” x 9” and 6”x 8.9”. And if you don’t have consistent access to a microwave, Rocketbook’s Everlast offerings feature pages that are repeatedly erasable with a damp cloth.If you hate the thought of losing old notes, drawings, and grocery lists but also can’t stand to have excess clutter in your life, this notebook system reclaims your used paper and makes it easy to archive everything digitally. Pick up a Rocketbook Reusable Smart Notebook from our store for $22.99, 14% off the sticker price.

Why simply work the pole when you can work the pole in a T-rex costume? Well, one unnamed Gong Show contestant did just that.Previously: Watch this Jewish surf band rock the new 'Gong Show'

No need to get a pair of protective eclipse glasses for your dog or cat, experts say they don't normally look at the sun. In today's NASA briefing about Monday's solar eclipse, co-chair of the National Solar Eclipse Task Force Angela Speck remarked, "It’s no different than any other day. On a normal day your pets don’t try to look at the sun and therefore don’t damage their eyes, so on this day they’re not going to do it either."https://youtu.be/SI9AovFNVUQ?t=52m36sVeterinarian Dr. Tom Reaping of Youngstown, Ohio says, "Pets have a built-in ability to not look at the sun anyways so they are not going to be looking at that area."If you're still worried, simply keep your pets inside --with the shades drawn-- during the eclipse.photo by Tom Shockey

This is your regularly scheduled important reminder that carpet is bad.I have it in just one room of my house and no matter how often I clean it, the rinsewater looks like this. Carpet: Mattress of Filth.I won't even recommend a steam cleaner. It's just so nasty, all of it. Don't buy one. Instead, destroy all carpet.

CJ Hendry creates large pencil sketches that mix hyperrealism with fantasy. After working mainly in black and white, she jumped to color in a big way with her series of colorful paint smears. (more…)

Rolly Crump: It's Kind of a Cute Story will be at the Oceanside Museum of Art, August 26, 2017–February 18, 2018. It's a must-see for fans of Disney art and design.

The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End by Ken Follet's are two lenghthy novels about a fictional medieval English town called Kingsbridge. When I read them years ago I became immersed in a world of conflict, betrayal, and scheming. In a way, the novels are like Game of Thrones (at least the TV series; I have not read the books) without magic. I did expect Follet to write a third book about Kingsbridge, but he did. and it's coming on September 12. It's called A Column of Fire. They sent me an advance copy, so as soon as I finish the book I'm currently reading (Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters)

Michael "Rands" Lopp spotted something beautiful about this White House photo: everyone in it who doesn't have the word "president" in their job title has been fired.Only the best people.Here's the season 1 winner of the blunder games, as shot by Jonathan Ernst with Reuters.

Yay, a brave (if not foolish) Domino's Pizza employee, Harish Karan, who had never seen a gun before, tackled a gunman Wednesday night at a Toronto location who was trying to steal cash from the register. And then three other employees joined in, holding him down, yanking off the burglar's cap, and even hitting him a couple of times. Police warn that fighting an armed robber is not usually the best thing to do.According to CBC News:

This gentleman answers the age-old question -- what do you do when Lamborghini catches fire? The small fire extinguisher he borrowed only seemed to make the fire grow. It took a team of firefighters to put out the blaze.[via Bits and Pieces]

Homebrew ant killer made from sugar, borax, and water is very effective in keeping ants out of the house. Dissolve a half cup of sugar with 1.5 tablespoons of borax into 1.5 cups of warm water. Then dip a cotton ball into the solution and set it on a countertop (where kids and pets won't eat it). The ants will flock to it and 12 hour later, you won't see any more ants for a long time. Get a one-pound bag of borax on Amazon for $8.50 (which you can also use to make slime).Image: Balaram Mahalder/Wikipedia

Some argue that this army of robots might scare the living bejeezus out of you, but the talented dancers just broke a Guinness World Record in Guangzhou, Guangdong China, for most robots dancing simultaneously. They were created by WL Intelligent Technology Co, Ltd., and according to YouTube, "The robots were Dobi models who, along with being programmed to dance, can also sing, box, play football and execute kung fu moves. The robot display broke the previous record of 1,007, achieved by Ever Win Company & Ltd. in 2017." Yeah, they're a little creepy, but with a cute name like Dobi, they're also kind of adorable.

On Monday, anti-racist protesters in Durham, North Carolina pulled down a statue dedicated to the "unknown soldiers" who fought to defend slavery, which was adorned with "a seal engraved with ‘The Confederate States of America’" and the words, "In memory of the boys who wore gray." (more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRvsFiCJwDAOn the one hand, if you let an untrusted stranger install hardware in your electronic device, you're opening yourself up to all kinds of potential mischief; on the other hand, an estimated one in five smartphones has a cracked screen and the easiest, most efficient and cheapest way to get that fixed is to go to your corner repair-shop. (more…)

Benji Edwards's guide to preserving vintage electronics is a fascinating look into all the ways that even solid-state gear can go off in long-term storage: a lot of stuff (batteries, capacitors and even rubber) can leak viscous, electronics-destroying liquids; plastics break down in UV light; mold and corrosion eat your gear from within; spiders, crickets and roaches make their nests in old gear; and of course, dust gets everywhere. (more…)

https://youtu.be/RZVdo6iFtgY?t=30sThe animatronic band at Chuck E. Cheese's, supposedly a beloved institution but clearly the stuff of nightmares, is to be disbanded in a modernization drive. CBS says it's because of the Millennials.

It's easy to imagine this quadruped robot with a prehensile proboscis is a living creature with awareness.

The UK is one of the easiest places in the world to set up a shady company, which is why accused Mafia money-launderer Antonio "Tonino the Blond" Righi set up his shell company Magnolia Fundaction UK with Britain's Companies House, giving an address in Soho. (more…)

"So Much for So Little" is a 1949 Warner Brothers cartoon promoting universal health care. It was funded by the federal government and directed by Chuck Jones, with music by Carl Stallings, and narrated by Frank Graham. It won the Academy Award in 1950 for Documentary Short Subject.From Open Culture:

The Faro Shuffle is a way to shuffle the cards where you split the deck into two piles of 26 cards and push the decks together so that the cards are perfectly interwoven. If you can execute eight Faro Shuffles in a row, the cards will be returned to the original order. Here's a tutorial.

Italian sculptor Daniela Forti makes gorgeous jellyfish tables from colored glass. Here's a photo of how she creates the dramatic pieces, drawing out individual globs of glass into long tendrils: (more…)

When people hear voices others can't, the prevailing scientific model describes this as psychosis due to brain abnormality, chemical imbalance, or other affliction. But scientists have now reliably induced auditory hallucinations in some people not diagnosed with psychosis. (more…)

Talia Rappa and Skyler Ashworth spotted a nondescript box at a Florida thrift store's going-out-of-business sale. They found five NASA flight suits, worth tens of thousands of dollars, and paid just $1.20 for the lot. (more…)

I think that anthropomorphizing objects just makes them better which is why I'm digging this Spaghetti Monster Colander by Ototo.I mean, just look at this thing... looking back at you. It's a real life Flying Spaghetti Monster and Pastafarians around the globe are undoubtedly rejoicing.(Foodiggity)

Bathe with one eye open because 80s and 90s horror film icon Chucky is now a bath bomb.Its scent? Orange soda.This Chuckie Bath Bomb is a recent creation of California-based beauty brand Loquita Bath and Body who has already sold out of the fizzy Child's Play doll head.Loquita's founder Mira Perez told HelloGiggles:

Arnold Schwarzenegger delivers the speech Trump should have made in response to the Charlottesville violence. He also has a few choice things to say about white supremacists and neo-Nazis; in short they are a cancer and are losers.

J. Edgar Hoover killed President Kennedy, O.J. Simpson aims to murder Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner, and JonBenet Ramsey’s babysitter tells all, in this week’s reality-divorced tabloids.JonBenet’s babysitter Kristine Griffin tells the ‘Globe': “The parents didn’t do it - but I know who did.” But she refuses to identify the killer. So much for telling all.O.J., weeks from going free on parole, is “hell-bent on revenge,” claims the ‘National Enquirer,’ which is a step back from recent tabloid stories that claimed Simpson plans to murder everyone who ever doubted his innocence. Incapable of inventing a motive for O.J.’s murderous rage, a dubiously unnamed source muses: “O.J. blames Kris for everything. Whether it’s right or wrong, it’s all her fault.”Why would FBI director Hoover put a hit out on JFK? “He was being fired for blackmailing prez,” reports the ‘Globe,’ helpfully adding: “Lee Harvey Oswald was on his payroll!” How did they slip that conspiracy past the Warren Commission? Hoover blackmailed the Commissioners with dirt on every one of the investigators. It sounds obvious once it’s explained, doesn’t it?You have to admire the ‘National Examiner’ for its story on actress Betty White explaining why, at 95, “I’ll never get plastic surgery.” Presumably it’s because the chance to look 20 years younger doesn’t sound that appealing. Why would she want to compete with a bunch of 75-year-old actors when she has the 95-year-old market locked up?The ‘Examiner’ has come late to the tabloid realization that the British Royal family rarely sue, no matter how egregious the story, and this week devotes its cover to “William Catches Camilla Cheating!” Naturally, the Queen “has demanded Charles get an immediate divorce from his power-hungry wife - and banish her from the kingdom forever.” As if it’s an episode of 'Game of Thrones.’ It’s a shame that this same affair claim appeared in May, 2015, in the ‘Globe,’ which alleged that Charles and Camilla had an explosive fight over her fling with an unnamed British actor. Except the affair didn’t exist then, and it doesn’t exist now, much as the British Royal press pack would love it.The ‘Enquirer’ stays with the Royals, revealing Prince William’s “Secret American Lover” - a woman who may or may not have been his girlfriend 13 years ago, before he met his bride, Kate Middleton.“Taylor Swift Child Abuse Shocker!” is a great headline, though the story has little to do with Tay Tay - her former “high school crush” supposedly admitted assaulting a child. Does everyone in her life only exist to provide inspiration for her songs? Look out for her next hit: ‘I Loved You Once, But Now You’re Choking Kids.'For the first time in months the tabloids are Trump-free this week - perhaps because President Trump’s Tweets and public rants are more surreal than anything the tabloids can invent? The 'Enquirer,’ however, could not resist reporting on President Obama’s “Girls Gone Wild!” claiming that “sex-crazed Malia and Sasha get down and dirty.” No political motivation behind that report, I’m sure.In the celebrity magazines everything old is new again. ‘Us’ mag reaches back 20 years with Princess Diana to bring us “Her Untold Story.” Heard it all before. ‘People’ reaches back even further, to offer “The Secret Life of Aubrey Hepburn.” Not secret, and it doesn’t seem new; just long-forgotten.Fortunately we have the crack investigative team at ‘Us’ mag to inform us that Jessie James Decker wore it best (or at least, she showed the most cleavage), that Spice Girl Emma Bunton “can tap and say the alphabet backward,” that fashion designer Olivia Palmero carries four phone chargers, a spare cashmere sweater and bobby pins in her Meli Melo bucket bag, and that the stars are just like us: they ride bikes, haul groceries and pay for parking (at least, when their chauffeurs aren’t driving them around, feeding their meters, and taking their personal assistants to shop for them.)Once again, we rely on the ‘Examiner’ to bring us back to reality with its report that ‘Earth Faces Comet Catastrophe!” Evidently a “vast number of giant rogue bodies could wipe out humanity.” Apparently that’s not a reference to Donald Trump and Steve Bannon in Speedos, but to NASA research showing there are "seven times as many large comets ripping through the outer edge of the solar system than previously believed.” Yet again, this story is mostly accurately reported - though the comets in question aren’t exactly heading Earthwards any time soon. What is becoming of this tawdry tabloid? If it keeps reporting true stories, I’m going to have to stop buying it.Onwards and downwards . . .Image: Wikipedia/Ben Crowder

Below you’ll find a wide-ranging interview with Cindy Cohn, who runs the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).It’s the third episode of my podcast, which launched here on Boing Boing two weeks back and which is co-hosted by Tom Merritt. The podcast series goes deep into the science, tech, and sociological issues explored in my present-day science fiction novel After On – but no familiarity with the novel is necessary to listen to it.Issues of privacy and government hacking in are central to After On’s storyline. And no organization is more deeply concerned with these matters than EFF, which positions itself as “the leading nonprofit defending digital privacy, free speech, and innovation.”Cindy has been working with EFF for most of its history, and running it since 2015. In our interview we discuss several chilling developments EFF is fighting. One is the legal campaign against Mike Masnick and his long-running blog TechDirt. This is widely viewed as a SLAPP, or strategic lawsuit against public participation.Moneyed plaintiffs use SLAPP suits to arbitrarily silence opinions that displease them – a power none are granted in free societies, but which is readily accessible through cynical abuse of the legal system. Just last week, Masnick accepted $250,000 from donors ranging across the political spectrum to fight this odious practice, and just yesterday EFF named him a winner of its 2017 Pioneer Award, making this a timely conversation.Cindy and I also discuss how Cisco helped China censor its Internet and oppress religious minorities; the controversy surrounding Facebook’s attempt to roll out a free but stripped-down Internet in India; the morality of tools that protect good people from evil governments but can also protect evil people from good governments; EFF’s own storied history, and much more.You can subscribe to the podcast within any podcast app. Simply use your app's search function (type in "After On") to find and subscribe. To subscribe via your computer on iTunes, just click here, then click the blue “View on iTunes” button (on the left side of the page), then click “Subscribe” (in a similar location) in the iTunes window. Or follow the feed http://afteron.libsyn.com/rssImage of Cindy Cohn: Moizsyed/Wikipedia

“This is what you get when you iron a Slinky,” said one commenter.So soothing and gorgeous.(more…)

No expression of far-right idiocy is complete without a macho misreading of Nietzsche. So frequently miscast as the godfather of everything from the Master Race to Mens' Rights, his name alone is something of a shibboleth. Which is sad, because he wouldn't have thought much of them, writes Sean Illing.

It probably won't last long, but the Nintendo Switch with gray Joy-Con is in the Amazon store right now for $299. We got one a few weeks ago and haven't touched our Wii-U since.

Shu Takada, 20, is the 2017 2A (Two Handed Looping style) World Yo-Yo Champion. He took the title last week at the global tournament in Reykjavic, Iceland.

A staffer as the Thredbo ski resort in New South Wales, Australia reported that Chewbacca beat him with a snowboard after insisting the Wookie remove his "costume."“He lost consciousness and some teeth,” Chewbacca wrote on social media, according to the Daily Telegraph. "Been ordered not to have any contact with Thredbo staff (even if i know them) about what happened and must stay 15km away from Thredbo.”Chewie was charged with "using an offensive weapon to commit an indictable act."As Greg commented at the Daily Grail, "Dude was lucky he didn't get his arms torn off their sockets."(Evening Standard)

Before being convicted of felony securities fraud, smirking cartoon villain pharma-douche-bro Martin Shkreli had to be tried in front of a jury and this presented a unique problem because everyone hates Martin Shkreli, and thus more than 100 jurors were dismissed from the pool during pre-trial questioning. Here are some of the statements that led to those dismissals. (more…)

Gary D Cohn is director of Trump's National Economic Council; Steven Mnuchin is Secretary of the Treasury; Jared Kushner is Trump's son-in-law and Ivanka Trump is Trump's daughter, who converted to Judiasm: not one of them has said anything in public about Trump's bizarre rant in which he said that not all the Nazi marchers in Charlottesville were bad and some were "very fine people." (more…)

A woman from Alberta lost her diamond engagement ring while gardening 13 years ago, but her grandaughter found it in the middle of a carrot growing on the family farm.

I'm the son of a physician and inherited his poor penmanship. I wish I had the invaluable but dying life skill demonstrated in this video. (via Uncrate)