Vlogger Casey Neistat used miles to fly Lufthansa on first class. "Everybody's so nice!"They have nice showers in the lounge and they even have a whole closet for his skateboard.

According to Kaspersky, the Petya ransomware that raced around the world this week wasn't ransomware at all, and there is no way to get back your files after it does its work (that's why it was so easy to shut down the email address the ransomware used to negotiate payments and decryption with victims whose computers had been taken over). (more…)

This month's US Copyright Office study on Section 1201 of the DMCA identified many problems with America's DRM laws, which ban bypassing DRM even when no copyright infringement takes place. (more…)

The Park Playground Tumblr features Kito Fujio's gorgeous, dramatically lit photos of Japan's whimsical playground equipment: climbers, slides and other fun stuff styled to look like animals, abstract modernist forms, world monuments, magical creatures, robots, gadgets, and whimsical beasts. (more…)

Facebook is not responsible for bad speech by its users -- section 230 of the US Telecommunications Act says that libel and other forms of prohibited speech are the responsibility of users, not those who provide forums for users to communicate in -- but it takes voluntary steps to try to keep its service from being a hostile environment for its users, paying 4,500 moderators to delete material the company deems unacceptable. (more…)

Dean Putney, software engineer, editor of his grandfather Walter Koessler's wartime photojournal and former Generalissimo of Development at Boing Boing, published a lovely zine of photos he's taken over the years from airplane window seats.Individually, each is just a well-framed shot of the ground from the sky. Collectively, a striking view of the world that puts other things in perspective.It came in a curious linotyped envelope featuring one of the landscapes. Perhaps Dean'll pop into the comments to explain how he made the stamp!

A Starbucks like no other is opening tomorrow in Kyoto. Unlike the other nearly 24,000 Starbucks cafes in the world, this one requires customers to take off their shoes before entering. It has tatami rooms with low tables and cushions on the floor for seating.The usual Starbucks sign outside is replaced with a simple dark sea green banner that displays the logo. And most fascinating of all, no lines are allowed. In other words, they will only allow a certain amount of customers in at a time and everyone else must scram in order to keep the cafe peaceful for those jacking up on caffeine.According to Japan Times:

Jason Leopold (previously -- Buzzfeed's public records activist, once branded a "FOIA terrorist" by the US government -- has secured records of an investigation into gross offenses by an unnamed employee of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, detailing the employee's incredible workplace conduct, from playing video games all day to moonlight for 15 separate employers while working for ODNI, to violating confidentiality rules to dig up dirt on Edward Snowden. (more…)

Matt Furie is the creator of Pepe the Frog, a "peaceful and chilled out" character that appeared in his 2006 zine, Boy's Club. Matt wants to reverse the "negative" branding Pepe's received of late and has launched a Kickstarter for a new zine "reclaiming Pepe's status as a universal symbol for peace, love, and acceptance."

https://vimeo.com/221674043Zach Coffin's amazing Temple of Gravity installations involve suspending enormous masses of stone and other heavy objects in exquisitely counterbalanced mechanisms that allow people to scramble over them, move them, swing them, and toss them around like playthings, moving tons of mass with pounds of force. (more…)

I never cease to be amazed at the how well the 4WD Vanagon Synchro works. I'm always shocked at how much they sell for.

Sony last pressed a vinyl record in 1989. And it'll be pressing them again by March 2018, reports The BBC, proof of the mainstream return of the ancient format—once again a billion-dollar business.Folks always argue about quality (will mainstream product mean mainstream mastering?) but the reasons for vinyl's resurgence are complex. It's a nice thing to own, it's a pleasing retail experience, it's nostalgic, it's a better gift, it's big enough to hang on a wall, you can fend off zombies with it, and so on.There are seriously lame aspects to vinyl, though: quality deteriorates with use; easily damaged even when stored; no metadata; no controls; fiddly hardware. So whenever I read a "vinyl returns" article I dream of a new HD physical media format that's backward compatible with it. An LP-sized optical disk with the grooves on a clear laminate layer, perhaps. Or maybe a vinyl with a hidden flash storage layer within and exposed metal rings to read it with near the spindle. Or some kind of bad-ass sharpened metal disk played the old-fashioned way but at nyquist-busting RPM.

Steve Boyett writes, "The NRA sells fear because fear sells guns, and selling guns is really what the NRA is all about. For decades they've insisted that the 2nd Amendment is the buffer against governmental tyranny. Now they're literally telling members to arm themselves against resistance to an authoritarian regime. I can't think of another organization that could air this ad without public censure. Every time I think America has hit bottom, it finds a shovel."

Aside from specific apps needed for work, the most casual Mac users can probably survive without anything more than the bundled software. iLife is a surprisingly capable office suite (Apple even promotes Keynote as a tool for interface design), and recent versions of Safari are more energy efficient than any other macOS-compatible browser. But if your needs go beyond basic document creation, or you have enough stuff to overwhelm the ridiculous ‘All My Files’ tab, you’ll want something more powerful.The World's Biggest Mac App Bundle is a curated selection of some of the best third-party utilities for the Mac. Here’s what you’ll be able to do with this software collection:

Most tech-media takes on the iPhone's 10th anniversary are bland and self-congratulatory, but I like Tom Warren's at The Verge. He laments how Apple's pocket computer killed his inner nerd. As a youngster, he'd be constantly tearing down and building computers, even in the sweltering heat of summer. But now...

"About five years ago, I was in my back yard entertaining a friend with my hands."

Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda has released a powerful music video for "Immigrants (We Get The Job Done)" from his late 2016 album, The Hamilton Mixtape. The track features a worldly mix of recording artists: Somali-Canadian K'naan, Mexican-American Snow Tha Product, British-Pakistani Riz MC and Puerto Rican Residente.Snow Tha Product raps some of the song's most evocative lyrics:

In this thoughtful TEDx talk, Mars rover engineer Abbie Hutty argues that rather than trying to entice young people to STEM fields with gregarious, genius role models like Elon Musk and Steve Jobs, we need hardworking, introverted role models who demonstrate what most STEM professionals are actually like.

With just a few keystrokes, you could be the proud owner of a few dozen wireless towers, thanks to a flaw in the FCC's Antenna Structure Registration (ASR) database. Aura Holdings of Wisconsin, Inc. is now being investigated for changing registrations for 40 towers without authorization. (more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG0x7f4BkQYThis short promo piece for 1992 arcade game Mortal Kombat introduces the actors and the techniques used to digitize their moves, a precursor to contemporary performance-capture technology. MK, though always second-fiddle to Street Fighter in the gameplay stakes, was a splendid parody of the stock characters and scenarios from 70s and 80s martial arts movies. (via @UnburntWitch)

The mobile game Monument Valley is known for its clean and pleasing aesthetic. Jeanette Hägglund captures that timeless beauty in her photo series S e c r e t s. (more…)

Sasha Trubetskoy always makes great maps, like this cool imagining of the Roman Empire road system in the style of a public transit system. (more…)

Piers Morgan is a British journalist, pundit and Trumpkin who blew his big break in America and now presents breakfast television when not being nasty to women on Twitter. Here he is on Good Morning Britain getting savagely owned by copresenter Susanna Reid.https://twitter.com/GMB/status/879931939507105792And here's a supercut of Reidian microexpressions, as she endures day after day of Morgan's vacuous, rambling bullshit:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVExq6zHOXA

Cardinal George Pell, former Archbishop of Sydney and Australia's most senior figure in the Catholic Church, was charged with child sex offenses Thursday by the state of Victoria.Pell currently resides in the Vatican, according to The Guardian, where he is the third-highest ranking church official.

This viral spectacular is presented as a gun safety ad with a difference. Perhaps you fail to understand the consequences of a child getting hold of your loaded firearm. But you certainly understand the consequences of them getting hold of your sex toy: personal embarrassment! The hope is that by watching this public service announcement, you will form a link between the innate shame of human sexuality and the inconceivable horror of your child blowing their or their friends' heads off.God bless America!

Mitch McConnell is the Republican leader who drafted the so-called "Trumpcare" bill in secrecy and hopes to ram it into law in a few days of arm-twisting, media feints and threats. As American lives hang in the balance, McConnell—as voiced by McSweeney's' Bob Vulfov—makes his pitch to the public.

When he was pulled over in Oviedo, Fla., professional handyman Karlos Cashe told cops that the white powder in the footwell was just drywall. As a probationer with a drug conviction, however, he got to wait 90 days until they bothered to complete the tests that would prove it.It was drywall.

Michael Bond, 91, died after a short illness at his home in Britain, reports his publisher Harper Collins. He was the creator of Peruvian immigrant Paddington Bear, beloved the world over in books, television and movies. Bond was described as "kindly, dignified and charming" by friend and fan Stephen Fry, traits to be found in abundance throughout an artistic life detailed in the BBC's obituary:

My cars and bikes have the batteries in hard to reach places. This 10mm battery terminal rachet helps out!In prepping the Vanagon Westy for a long roadtrip, I found I've killed my house battery. I ordered up a replacement but dreaded getting into the battery box. In a Vanagon, Volkswagen hides the batteries underneath the passenger and drivers seats. Getting at these battery terminals is a comedy of errors and blood. I'd go so far as to say the blood was compulsatory until I got this handy rachet at Harbor Freight.It is small. It fits where I need it to. It is a rachet, and as such I am not constantly trying to re-seat the fucker while zapping myself against a grounded battery box in a thoughtlessly engineered tight space. At least VW put a cover on the battery box, albiet a conductive metal one. My '78 Audi 5000, the model with occasional self-determination, had a passenger bench burnt with splashed battery acid from another VW/Audi underseat battery adventure.10mm Side-Terminal Battery Reversible Ratchet Wrench Chrome-Plated via Amazon

I'm keep saying I'm going to de-Google my digital life, quitting services such as Gmail and software such as Chrome. So Joel Lee's recent article, 9 Reasons to Switch From Chrome to Firefox, lights a bit of a fire under my feet. In précis: everything bad about Firefox from a few years back is fixed, and now it is Chrome that is bad.

Not today, fisherman, not today.(more…)

Disney has denied rumors that the Trumpbot in Disney World's Hall of the Presidents would not have a speaking role due to a combination of the president's toxic reputation, Disney employees' animus for him, and Trump's own unwillingness to schedule a recording session. (more…)

In development for several years, the Photonic Fence is an anti-mosquito laser weapon that's apparently now being tested in a real world situation. I hope when it hits the market it still looks like a crazy contraption from a 1960s science fiction film! From the company site:

What to do in a highly populated city when you've got too many cars and not enough streets? Build a two-lane public road on top of a 5-story building, of course.(more…)

This fellow had the good sense to buy a parachute before inviting his family to watch him jump from the balcony.

McMansion Hell is a hilarious blog where Johns Hopkins Peabody Institute graduate student Kate Wagner posts scorching critiques of the architecture of McMansions -- but this week, Wagner announced that she had shut down her blog after spurious legal threats from Zillow, which admits that it doesn't even hold the copyrights to the images it wants Wagner to stop using. (more…)

Jacques Mattheij hoped to make some cash buying cheap boxes of used, unsorted Lego that he'd organize into more valuable assortments for resale. After acquiring two metric tons of bricks, he was motivated to build a technological solution for sorting. He outfitted a conveyor belt with a cheap magnifying USB camera and employed air nozzles to blow the bricks into various bins. The bigger challenge though was how to get the PC to identify the bricks. From IEEE Spectrum:

University of Tulsa security researchers Jason Staggs and his colleagues will present Adventures in Attacking Wind Farm Control Networks at this year's Black Hat conference, detailing the work they did penetration-testing windfarms. (more…)

Did Tom Cruise buy babies on the black market? Did Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner have a secret Bahamas getaway? Has Queen Elizabeth refused to bless Prince Harry’s wedding?When have the tabloids ever been wrong?It's yet another week of fact-challenged stories in the dubious tabloids and celebrity magazines.Barbra Streisand has allegedly undergone $360,000-worth of cosmetic surgery to rebuild her face and “save her crumbling marriage” so that she is now “totally unrecognizable,” reports the ‘Globe.’ The mag unhelpfully includes a photo of the new-look Streisand who is unmistakably recognizable as the famed diva.Also allegedly rebuilding her face is “plastic surgery junkie” Melanie Griffith, who in a “desperate bid to live to 100” has returned to the ACQUA Klinik in Germany to receive stem cell treatments, reports the ’National Enquirer.' But even if the treatments succeed in making the actress look younger, they aren’t intended to prolong life - that’s pure tabloid fantasy - they’re supposed to make her appear younger.‘Us’ magazine devotes its cover and four inside pages to Affleck and Garner’s “Secret Bahamas Reunion!” So secret was their rendezvous that it’s also pictured extensively in the ‘Enquirer’ (“Ben & Jen’s Hookup in Paradise!”), which touts the story as an ‘Enquirer Exclusive.’ From the photos it’s plain that they’re not hiding from the paparazzi. No secrets to hide here.Did Tom Cruise, John Travolta and other celebrities adopt babies in “Scientology’s baby black market’ as the ‘Enquirer’ claims? Its breaking news about events 20 years ago claims that the stars adopted children through an unlicensed broker - but buried deep within the “ten-month investigation” report is an admission that the adoptions were ultimately handled by an attorney “to be done correctly” - completely undercutting the story. No black market, and nothing illegal.Has the Queen refused to give her blessing to Prince Harry’s wedding to American actress Meghan Markle, as the ‘Globe’ claims? It seems unlikely, since the couple are not even engaged yet. The ‘Globe’ explains that "the divorced TV actress ‘isn’t a good fit’ with the royal family." But since Prince Charles divorced and remarried divorcée Camilla Parker Bowles, surely Markle’s status as a divorcée is hardly an impediment?Fortunately we have the crack investigative team at ‘Us’ mag to tell us that Victoria Justice wore it best (do you really “wear” a clutch purse - and can one really be judged for carrying it best? Did Lauren Cohan really carry her clutch bag the worst? Sad), that La La Anthony totally hates mustard, former Bachelorette contestant Ashley Iaconetti (really scraping the bottom of the celebrity barrel here) carries almonds, mascara and a sewing kit in her Forever 21 tote, and that the stars are just like us: they ride bikes, make phone calls, and use umbrellas when it rains. Wow. I always thought celebrities walked everywhere, sent telegrams, and got wet when it rained.Bringing us truly important news we can use, ‘Us’ mag also brings us “Hollywood’s Hottest Hunks!” while ‘People’ magazine offers “Gorgeous Celebrity Weddings” and devotes its cover to John F Kennedy’s Jr’s wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy: “Her Untold Story.” It’s a tale that might have been more interesting when she died, rather than 18 years later when it just feels dated.Proving that rap stars are people too, Sean Combs, at home with his six children, tells ‘People’: “I’m the luckiest man alive,” and the mag explains why Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have hired a surrogate to have their third child: “Kim was told she couldn’t carry another baby - that it would be too dangerous,” says an unnamed source. Maybe she keeps dropping them? Maybe she can’t even carry a clutch bag? Enquiring minds want to know.In other up-to-the-minute news, the ‘National Examiner’ bring us the ‘Bizarre Secrets of ‘Men in Black,’” which will be great if they ever invent a time machine and take us back to 1997 when this article will appear more like breaking news.Failing to find any evidence of aliens, Bigfoot, Yeti or the Loch Ness Monster this week, the ‘Examiner’ tells us that the “mystical crane will bring you luck, love, prosperity and vitality.” But you don’t have to catch your own bird to have all that luck and the sort of long life that sends Melanie Griffith scurrying to mysterious German Kliniks - you simply have to “clip & save” the photo of an origami paper crane that the ‘Examiner’ has helpfully included in its article. “For a boost in prosperity, place the crane image just inside your front door,” advises the mag. Or put the image in your wallet to attract love, in a sunny window for healing energy, or in a bowl of fruit “to smooth family discord.” That’s news you can use.Onwards and downwards . . .

I recently started to re-read God is Disappointed in You, which I read for the first time a couple of years ago. It's an amazing piece of work. Here's my original review:I’m not religious, and I have not read the Old Testament or the New Testament (I did read R. Crumb’s graphic novel of the Book of Genesis and enjoyed it). I’ve tried to read the King James version a few times, but I got bored and stopped very early on. Recently, Top Shelf sent me a copy of God is Disappointed in You, a new version of the Bible written in contemporary, casual language. It’s bound in textured fake leather like a regular bible, with gold edged pages and a ribbon bookmark. It has illustrations by New Yorker and Too Much Coffee Man cartoonist Shannon Wheeler, which piqued my interest. As soon as I started reading it, I was hooked. The author, Mark Russell, was able to make the stories come alive by telling them as if they happened today, using language that a smart, funny, middle-school student might use to recount the story of an epic playground fight.I don’t know if people who take the Bible seriously will be offended by this book, but I suspect many of them will not. It is not a sarcastic put down of the Bible, but a fresh interpretation. I compared some of the stories in God is Disappointed in You with the stories in other traditional Bibles and Russell is not exaggerating or misrepresenting the content of the earlier versions. I asked my friend, a pastor and author who is a serious Bible scholar, what he thought of God is Disappointed in You, and said it was fantastic.The Bible is an incredibly weird book, and I thank Mark Russell for rewriting it in a way that made it understandable and interesting to me.

A China Southern Airlines Flight from Shanghai to Guangzhou was delayed for five hours while maintenance workers fished nine coins out of the engine, whence they had been flung "for blessings" by an "elderly passenger" from the boarding ramp, as she was brought onto the plane by her husband, daughter and son-in-law. (more…)

Researchers from Politecnico di Milano and Trend Micro conducted an audit of the information security design of commonly used industrial robots and found that these devices are extremely insecure: robots could be easily reprogrammed to violate their safety parameters, both by distorting the robots' ability to move accurately and by changing the movements the robots attempt to perform; hacked robots can also be made to perform movements with more force than is safe; normal safety measures that limit speed and force can be disabled; robots can be made to falsify their own telemetry, fooling human operators; emergency manual override switches can be disabled or hidden; robots can be silently switched from manual to automatic operation, making them move suddenly and forcefully while dangerously close to oblivious, trusting humans; and of course, robots can be caused to manufacture faulty goods that have to be remanufactured or scrapped. (more…)

Dave Rosser, an incredibly talented musician, exemplary human being, and pillar of the New Orleans music community, died last night surrounded by love in New Orleans. He was diagnosed last year with inoperable colon cancer. Rosser was a guitarist with the Afghan Whigs and also brought his sublime playing to the Twilight Singers, My Jerusalem, Gutter Twins, and Mark Lanegan's solo albums. Having grown up in north Alabama, a vintage southern sound subtly permeated his unique playing style. When I asked about this, he said he drew constant inspiration from the great pedal steel players like Buddy Emmons -- "the Eddie Van Halen of pedal steel," Dave said -- and tried to emulate that phrasing and tone on his electric guitar. Dave was a gentleman, funnyman, and guitar virtuoso. I feel fortunate to have known him even just a little bit.

Yesterday's massive ransomware outbreak of a mutant, NSA-supercharged strain of the Petya malware is still spreading, but the malware's author made a mere $10K off it and will likely not see a penny more, because Posteo, the German email provider the crook used for ransom payment negotiations, shut down their account. (more…)

Wranglerstar found the cheapest survival toolkit on Amazon, then took it into the wilds of the Pacific Northwest. There's a shovel, a saw, a magnetic LED flashlight with a tactical hitty thing and a USB outlet for charging gadgets, a pocket chainsaw, and a bag— all for $30. It's not awful, but the price didn't last.Reviewing "cheapest" gear, I've noticed that the sellers are watching and sometimes jack the prices when a site or YouTuber with any audience posts something, as appears to be the case with this particular viral video. This will probably force reviewers to post roundups of cheap gear, so readers can easily figure out the "cheapest decent thing" from a fair selection.Previously: The $7 Verical Ergonomic mouse is not awful.

Theresa May's national government -- Conservative party MPs who are also landlords, who scuttled housing safety rules as part of their declared war on "Safety Culture" -- found £1B to bribe the terrorist-affiliated Young Earth Creationists at the DUP to join them in coalition, but will not guarantee a single penny in funding to local British councils who are racing to remove the extremely flammable high-rise cladding that made the Grenfell Tower blaze into an unstoppable monster whose death toll may never be fully counted. (more…)

Shot on the first day of summer, this video shows northern Canadian Inuit Adami Sakiagak and Tiisi Qisiiq building an igloo. According to the video's accompanying article in the New York Times, Sakiagak grew up on the tundra and builds igloos to "teach younger generations the disappearing craft":

In case you haven't heard, there's a big punk music festival happening in Oakland, California this upcoming holiday weekend. It's called Burger Boogaloo and our highest-ranking "filth elder," Mr. John Waters himself, is emceeing it for the third year in a row. Burger Boogaloo is a popular event 'round these parts and this year will be no exception, as Iggy Pop headlines, along with the Buzzcocks and X.In a recent interview with Jeremy Tarr of Fodor's Travel, Mr. Waters shared his thoughts about the event. Here's what he said about seeing punks in the audience:

Jessica Vill of BehindTheBunzie uses 75- to 80-year-old makeup made in 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s to create a contemporary makeup look. And she shows off some cool vintage makeup ads along the way.