"May the shadow of the moon fall on a world at peace."

In Donald Bell's latest Maker Update video, he looks at acoustic levitation, an Arduino made by Sony, a new kit by Anouk Wipprecht, self-centering drill bits, and a turning old monitors into a video wall. See show notes here.

William Turton took note of the bizarre ads for inexplicable items — mysterious geometric forms, molded plastic thingies, confusing wooden components — and investigated. Thankfully, his investigation goes no-where, leaving us in the speculative realm of data-driven and maybe AI-curated advertising.I would have bet the item above was one of those marbled salt slabs you cook food on instead of a baking tray, but it turns out to be a foam mattress topper.P.S. I'm quite sure that the "bare image" aesthetic is part of the Amazon Interesting Finds thing, a frequently-updated grid of tchotchkes and oddities such as this $4 USB drive in the shape of a chocolate bar and these soup ladles in the shape of the Lock Ness Monster.

Robert Kuttner is a veteran left-wing reporter who writes for the left-leaning American Prospect; while he was on vacation, Steve Bannon's assistant tracked him down and asked him if he'd talk to Bannon. (more…)

Homeolab USA is a Canadian company that makes "homeopathic" remedies for kids; in a warning letter sent to the company earlier this month, the US FTC warned the company that it had discovered dangerous levels of belladonna (AKA deadly nightshade) in its infant teething products, and advised the company that its manufacturing process was putting its customers' safety at risk. (more…)

HB 214 signed into law by Texas Governor Greg Abbott [R], bans abortion coverage from all public and private health insurance plans, and mandates that abortion insurance be sold as a separate product to women who are concerned that they'll need an abortion in future due to risks to their lives, unplanned pregnancies, unviable pregnancies, or rape-related pregnancies. (more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnXBeQwmmrcCJ Hunt was at the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville when he spotted this young man in white supremacist uniform (white polo and khakis) running away from counterdemonstrators, then turning abruptly and stripping off while insisting that he was not really a Nazi and had just shown up for fun. (more…)

While it’s possible to cook a brilliant dish out in the woods with nothing more than some sharpened sticks and a roaring fire, most of us aren’t quite at that level of mastery yet. For some extra assistance in your food prep take a look at the following kitchen conveniences:Salad to Go Container - $11.99Bringing your own salad for lunch is usually a compromise in the name of frugality and healthiness, but it doesn’t have to be with this to go container. It keeps your ingredients separated and comes packed with its own silverware set, so you don’t have to suffer through another dressing-soaked mess with leftover takeout utensils. Get one here for just $11.99.Star Wars Ice Trays (Set of 8) - $16.99Whether you are throwing a cantina-themed house party and need the perfect finishing touch for your signature cocktail, or just like to feel the force with every cold drink, these Star Wars Ice Trays make a great addition to any geek’s freezer. And they’re microwave- and oven-safe for making galactic sweets. This set of eight molds is available for $16.99.Avocado Joy Slicer- $9.99Avocados are easily one of the most delicious savory fruits around, and the Avocado Joy Slicer makes it even easier to extract from their leathery skin. This multitool features a serrated knife, a pitter, and a row of blades to quickly cut uniform slices, all for just $9.99.Stovetop Popcorn Popper - $29Although mastering the timing of microwave popcorn is its own art, making it on the stove is always going to yield tastier and healthier results. The Stovetop Popcorn Popper won’t leave any unpopped kernels behind, and its stirring mechanism makes a full batch in just a few minutes. You can grab one of these movie-night companions here for $29.Blue Apron Plans - $25If you want to expand your cooking skills beyond instant ramen and scrambled eggs, Blue Apron’s meal planning and delivery service will have you taking over chef duties at your house in no time. Included in the box are all the ingredients needed to make three delicious home-cooked meals for two people. This curated one-week trial is just $25.Chefman Egg Cooker - $19.99Boiled eggs make a great to-go breakfast, but making them on the stove requires extra attention, and a lot of ice-bath preparation to keep the shells from sticking. For a perfect batch every time in just 15 minutes, take a look at the Chefman Egg Cooker. Pick one up for just $19.99.Stainless Steel Herb Scissors - $11.99Scissors are a surprisingly handy kitchen device, as they are the absolute quickest way to add freshly chopped herbs to your dishes. To multiply your usual chopping speed by at least five, get these Stainless Steel Herb Scissors for just $11.99. They’re totally dishwasher safe, and provide a strong grip with their silicon handles.7” Ceramic Non-Stick Frypan - $12.74A good skillet is probably the most important tool in any kitchen. This GreenPan offers a durable, non-stick ceramic cooking surface that’s easy to clean and won’t eventually flake tiny bits of teflon into your food. The 7” GreenPan Rio Frypan is just $12.74 when you order it here.Corn Stripper- $9.99Corn on the cob is great, but not every meal calls for a butter-smothered barbecue staple. The Corn Stripper makes it painless to cut off loose corn kernels, and the attached container catches them before they go flying. Say goodbye to bags of frozen corn with this clever gadget for only $9.99.Original SNAP’N STRAIN Clip-On Strainer - $12.99Dropping noodles in the sink is dinnertime tragedy, but you’ll never lose a single one again with the SNAP’N STRAIN Clip-On Strainer. It clamps on the side of your saucepan or skillets to easily drain water and excess oil, and features a helpful barrier to keep solids in place. Get one here for $12.99.

Nina Paley, the ridiculously-talented artist, cartoonist, and animator, has just posted her latest video, God-Mother, and it's another jaw-dropper. Nina is known for intense, highly arresting animations, like This Land is Mine, my vote for one of the greatest visual indictments of war, cycles of violence, and the horrors of human conquest. She's also done the feature-length trip through the Ramayana, Sita Sings the Blues, Death of the First Born Egyptians, and Copying is not Theft. Nina is also a free culture activist.God-Mother is Nina's ode to Mother Earth and goddess religions. Her haunting, mesmerizing animation is perfectly paired with the Bulgarian State Radio and Television Female Vocal Choir, singing the Bulgarian folk song, Godmother Denkou. The life-affirming spirit of the video ends with a sad and snarky grace note that is pure Paley. God-Mother is part of Seder-Masochism, an eventual animated feature for which Nina has been amassing content.

As eclipse mania grips the nation, Vox has created a nifty interactive eclipse map of what to expect in every American ZIP Code. (more…)

Master luthier Mark Erlewine takes us through the fascinating process of repairing Trigger, the same guitar Willie Nelson has played for nearly 50 years. (more…)

The South Carolina Emergency Management Division warned eclipse watchers to be on the lookout for lizard men during the astronomical event. https://twitter.com/SCEMD/status/895304118323040258?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wltx.com%2Fnews%2Feclipse%2Fsc-warns-of-possible-lizard-man-sightings%2F463155451%3Futm_content%3Dbuffer4808f%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dtwitter.com%26utm_campaign%3Dbuffer"Obviously this was done very tongue-in-cheek," the middle-aged co-anchor solemnly explained to his young female colleague, who was until that point having fun with the segment.

Thersa Matsuura was born and raised in the USA but spent the past 25 years -- more than half her life -- living in a small Japanese fishing village with her husband and son. (more…)

My friend John Park sent me the following:

We are all the cat hiding in the sink because an uninvited dog is visiting.(more…)

Tony Fadell is best known "one of the fathers of the iPod" at Apple, and as the former CEO of Nest. We've agreed to forget that he led the Google Glass division for a while, too. Today, news broke that the serial inventor and investor is now working with companies including Samsung Electronics and Foxconn's parent company, Hon Hai Precision Industry, to develop new technology that would allow mobile phone devices to “transfer large amounts of data without using wires or WiFi connections.”(more…)

Barcelona-based DJ and music producer Eclectic Method (aka Jonny Wilson) has brought back Mikey, Data, Mouth, Chunk, and the rest of The Goonies gang in his latest remix music video.(more…)

On The Late Late Show with James Corden, Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda said that, while on a recent vacation, he digitized all the VHS home movies he made in his childhood.(more…)

Writing in MIT Tech Review, Talking Heads frontman David Byrne points out the secret and, in retrospect, obvious driving force behind tech: it reduces the often awkward and unreliable process of dealing with people, so you can buy music without asking friends for recommendations, take a cab without talking to a dispatcher, buy your groceries without speaking with a clerk, and get your money out of the bank without seeing a teller. (more…)

Today, a U.S. appeals court reversed a previous ruling that barred the state of Arkansas from halting Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, after the release of setup videos secretly recorded by anti-abortion, hard-right media provocateurs.(more…)

Ohio governor and 2016 presidential candidate John Kasich was fired up on the Today Show this morning, speaking out against the way Trump handled the Charlottesville violence over the weekend that lead to the death of a 32-year-old woman and injured many others. Before he was even asked a question he began his criticism."Pathetic! Isn't it? Just pathetic...It's terrible. This is terrible.""The President of the United States needs to condemn these kinds of hate groups. Think about what you have seen!...reminiscent of what we saw in Germany in the 1930s. The president has to totally condemn this...This is a very serious matter""There is a bitterness setting in that may not be able to be removed...He's got to fix this and republicans have got to speak out, plain and simple. Who cares what party you're in?"Kasich was right on the mark with everything he said, until he was asked this: "Would you be willing to be the guy who goes around to republican leaders and say that 'this is our moment, we will tell our president we no longer support him, period."Unfortunately, Kasich couldn't follow all the way through. He choked. He looked a bit tongue-tied for a split second, and then back-pedaled. "Well Matt, look, he's our president, okay?...He's our president, but he needs to correct what he has said..."

Here is video of the full remarks by Susan Bro, mother of Charlottesville car attack victim Heather Heyer, at her daughter's memorial service.(more…)

CEOs on President Donald Trump's business advisory councils today jumped ship via hastily-issued statements condemning hatred and racism. A flood of resignations from Presidential advisory councils followed Trump's bizarrely candid support of the Nazis and white supremacists who marched with torches in Charlottesville this past weekend. As news of the CEO resignations spread, Trump tweeted that it was he who'd decided to disband, not the execs.(more…)

Here's a clip from a 1981 NAACP convention speech, where President Ronald Reagan addresses "a few remarks to those groups who still adhere to senseless racism and religious prejudice, to those individuals who persist in such hateful behavior.""If I were speaking to them instead of to you, I would say to them, 'You are the ones who are out of step with our society. You are the ones who willfully violate the meaning of the dream that is America. And this country, because of what it stands for, will not stand for your conduct.' My administration will vigorously investigate and prosecute those who, by violence or intimidation, would attempt to deny Americans their constitutional rights."

CNN's Chris Cizilla: Donald Trump's presidency is headed to a very dark place

Tiny micromotors about the width of a human hair traveled through a mouse's stomach delivering antibiotics to treat a stomach ulcer. The motors are powered by bubbles. According to the researchers from the University of California San Diego, the microrobot-based treatment proved more effective than regular doses of the medicine. From New Scientist:

Stanford's Center for Research on Education Outcomes released this study in 2015, comparing the outcomes for students enrolled in online charter schools with comparable students (controlled for grade level, gender, race/ethnicity, free lunch eligibility, English language status, special ed status and historical state achievement test scores) in brick-and-mortar classrooms. (more…)

Ben Stewart's Sword Shop is a minimalist buy-and-sell game. Every day, people come into your sword shop wanting to sell your their old gear. And, hopefully, more will come it to buy it.

In 1896, Adolf Beck found himself caught up in a senseless legal nightmare: Twelve women from around London insisted that he'd deceived them and stolen their cash and jewelry. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll follow Beck's incredible ordeal, which ignited a scandal and inspired historic reforms in the English justice system.We'll also covet some noble socks and puzzle over a numerical sacking.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon!

To appeal to the people of North Korea, Last Week Tonight host John Oliver enlisted the help of "Weird Al" Yankovic to write an accordion-based song about how Americans are not that bad (because North Koreans supposedly love accordion music). The brilliant ditty is called "The North Korea Polka" and the chorus is aptly, "Please don't nuke us, North Korea!"image via Al Yankovic

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will delay a decision on whether to fire missiles at the U.S. territory of Guam as he waits to see what the United States does, the North's state media reported on Tuesday. United States secretary of state Rex Tillerson says any dialogue is all up to Kim.(more…)

Health insurance premiums for many people who get their coverage on the ACA/Obamacare individual insurance markets will go up 20 percent next year if President Donald Trump executes on his repeated threats to halt billions of dollars in payments to health insurers.(more…)

In 1971, astronomer Frank Drake, the father of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, drew a map pinpointing Earth in our galaxy. That diagram, a "pulsar map," was etched on a plaque designed by Frank and Carl Sagan and first carried into space in 1972 by the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft. In 1977, the pulsar map would appear again etched on the covers of the golden records affixed to the the Voyager probes. These days, Frank's original pencil drawing of the map is stored in an old tomato box at his house. (In fact, Frank kindly allowed us to scan it for our book included in our new Voyager Golden Record vinyl box set!) Over at National Geographic, Nadia Drake, one of my favorite science journalists who also happens to be Frank's daughter, tells the fascinating story of this iconic piece of cosmic cartography. From National Geographic:

"Okay, what about the alt-left that came charging at us.”(more…)

After last week's threats from North Korea that it was planning to create an "enveloping fire" around the US territory of Guam, Guam's Office of Civil Defense issued a set of just-in-case guidelines – which you can also find here - on how to stay safe after a nuclear attack. There are a lot of interesting tips and warnings in these guidelines, but one that sticks out is:"Wash your hair with shampoo or soap and water. Do not use conditioner in your hair because it will bind radioactive material to your hair, keeping it from rinsing out easily." This is especially important if you haven't been able to immediately find inside shelter.According to NPR:

On one side is Americans. On the other side is Nazis. Trump told reporters there were "very fine people on both sides" at the Charlottesville white supremacist rally.More coverage from the same event here.

This is neat: "A free, one-hour online class anyone can take to learn everything they need to know about the eclipse. It’s part of a real college course at University of Colorado, Boulder taught by Prof. Douglas Duncan, a professional astronomer and director of the Fiske Planetarium."

I just pre-ordered my copy of Wired founder Louis Rossetto's forthcoming novel, Change Is Good, on Kickstarter. I was at Wired in the early years (1993-1998) and every day was a thrilling adventure.

Sen. John Cornyn [R-TX, @JohnCornyn, +1 202-224-2934] introduced the Building America's Trust Act as a "long-term border security and interior enforcement strategy" but refused to release the bill's text, which has now leaked. (more…)

Psych scholars from San Diego State and U Georgia used Google Books to systematically explore the growth of swear-words in published American literature: they conclude that books are getting swearier and that this is a bellwether for a growth in the value of individualism: "Due to the greater valuation of the rights of the individual self, individualistic cultures favor more self-expression in general (Kim & Sherman, 2007) and allow more expression of personal anger in particular (Safdar et al., 2009). Thus, a more individualistic culture should be one with a higher frequency of swear word use." (more…)

During the heyday of the Standing Rock demonstrations, Republican state lawmakers across America introduced laws that would legalize murdering protesters with your car; now that a white supremacist terrorist has murdered an anti-Nazi protester with his car, these lawmakers are letting it be known that they won't back down from their proposals. (more…)

Silly Putty has an interesting property. It's soft when you squeeze it slowly, but rock hard if you hit it with a hammer. Someone came up with the good idea of making speed bumps (or "sleeping policemen," as they cleverly call them in the UK) out of a Silly Putty like substance. That way, slow drivers get a smooth ride, but the faster you go, the more the bump punishes you. It would be fun to design the speed bump in such a way that it rips the undercarriage out of any car going twice the speed limit.[via Clive Thompson]

US court records are not copyrighted, but the US court system operates a paywall called "PACER" that is supposed to recoup the costs of serving text files on the internet; charging $0.10/page for access to the public domain, and illegally profiting to the tune of $80,000,000/year. (more…)

Kottke says: "This is perhaps the best on-the-ground view of what went down in Charlottesville over the weekend. It’s graphic in spots. Prepare to get angry and sad and frustrated and scared."

Parents of students enrolled in Lawton Chiles Middle Academy in Polk County, Florida got an orientation package offering their kids the right to skip to the front of the lunch line in exchange for a $100 donation to the Parent-Teacher-Student Alliance. (more…)

America's hedge-fund driven eviction epidemic is most keenly felt in New York City, where deep-pocketed corporate landlords use dirty tricks to evict families from rent-controlled apartments, creating an epidemic of homeless working families with children. (more…)

“I am seriously considering a pardon for Sheriff Arpaio," Trump told Fox News on Sunday. "He has done a lot in the fight against illegal immigration. He’s a great American patriot and I hate to see what has happened to him.”(more…)

This snazzy looking bipedal robot is off to a good start, but things go haywire in short order. It has trouble setting a package on a cart. Then it knocks things off the shelf, drops the package on the floor, knocks over the cart, and falls down. As one Reddit user said, "I would watch Gordon Ramsay yelling at a group of these things for hours."

Somali pirates attempt to take over a ship under protection of the Russian Navy. It doesn't go well for the pirates. This video is from one of my favorite YouTube channels, Humans at Sea.Why would anyone in Somalia turn to piracy? In this 2014 article from The Telegraph a former kidnap victim named Colin Freeman explains:

You can get two years of access to this one-stop-shop for all things professional development from the Boing Boing store for over 90% off the regular price.Cudoo features extensive video resources for over 160 languages, all of which are structured around the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) — perfect for anyone looking to learn a new language (or become multilingual as fast as possible) for business or fun. You can brush up on workplace skills like body language recognition, or prepare for a new job with an expert business writing course. Cudoo also has an extensive library of technology resources, from basic office training to advanced lessons in database design and management.Unlike other course libraries, Cudoo provides access to new content as it becomes available, so you can learn as much as you want. A 2-year subscription to the Cudoo Online Language & Professional Development Library is just $29 if you order it here.