Somewhere between "hard to believe" and "of course they do" lurks the music, played over massive PA systems in Pyongyang, by the North Korean regime. Here are two important points of comparison: the unsettling Lavender Town locale in Pokemon, which matches North Korea's oddly melodic eeriness...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNJJ-QkZ8cM... and Chicago's tornado siren, for sheer nightmare terror quotient. (via)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnkMSmLc6mM&feature=youtu.be

The Bragi Dash Truly Wireless Smart Earphones are far more than your run of the mill Bluetooth earbuds. While the earpiece design makes these earbuds ideal for exercise and activity, and passive noise cancelling is conducive to a more serene listening experience, these buds go well beyond just playing music.First of all, they can actually store up to 1,000 songs locally so you can leave your phone in the car when you head to the gym, and you can still enjoy your music in service dead zones. On top of that, they also act as a fitness tracker. The integrated sensor tracks heart rate, steps, cadence, strokes, duration, and more all in real-time so you can get live updates as you workout. You will need your phone for that, however. They’re even waterproof up to 1 meter so you can put your pump up playlist on while you're swimming.This remarkably high-tech and feature-rich design earned the Bragi Dash an IF Product Design Award and a Red Dot Design Award, and you can pick up a pair for $192 now, 35% off the retail price.

A group of 14 Japanese schoolchildren from Fuji Municipal Harada Elementary School earned the Guinness World Records title for "most skips over a single rope in one minute by a team."

Reporter Amos Chapple went on an expedition with Russians engaging in the illegal but lucrative "ethical ivory" trade: pulling long-buried mammoth tusks from the permafrost, often by illegally gouging out entire hillsides. (more…)

AaronsAnimals imagines a world of cat domination.

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Described by the BBC as "notoriously" reticent to be heard in public, Jared Kushner — President Trump's son-in-law and de facto factotum of his shambolic administration — was finally obliged to impress his voice upon others in a recorded setting at the MAGA Summer Palace in Washington, D.C. The subject was technology; the result was a better understanding of the fact Ivanka didn't marry him for his diction.Just take a look at the absolute savaging he's getting from the press.https://twitter.com/DavidSRudin/status/876868579349729281?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aol.com%2Farticle%2Fnews%2F2017%2F06%2F19%2Fjared-kushner-uses-his-vocal-chords-first-public-remarks-social-media-goes-wild%2F22490227%2FEven The Daily Mail, bastion of international Trumpkinism, merrily deployed the snarky headline "Sounds like he's giving an 8th grade valedictory."

Shocking footage, taken from a nearby aircraft, shows a jetliner spraying its appalling chemical payload into our skies.https://twitter.com/iLove_Aviation/status/876863897294295044

Hitesh Bhardwaj videoed a lady whose son required medical treatment, at a Mississuaga, Ontario clinic — but only from a white doctor.

SXSW has made good on its promises to walk the talk on supporting immigration rights, coming out in support of the city of Austin's lawsuit against the state of Texas over SB-4, the Texas law that bans "sanctuary cities" where law enforcement officers do not check or take action on arrestees' immigration status unless it is relevant to their alleged crimes. (more…)

Executives from Google, Apple, Intel, Adobe, and other Silicon Valley tech firms met with Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner today, to talk about reducing government waste and improving information technology services.Trump administration officials in attendance included Mike Pence, Steve Mnuchin andWilbur Ross.(more…)

Lev Grossman, author of the Magicians trilogy, reviews Brian Merchant's origin story of the iPhone, called The One Device, in the NY Times:Snip:

"Oh my god, this is beautiful!," "What IS this?; this is SO cool!" It's not often you get such reactions (especially from non-techies) for a nerdy computer hardware and electronics book filled with esoteric-looking diagrams. But that's what happened when Alberto Piganti sent me a prototype copy of his ABC: Basic Connections book and I left it out on my dining room table. Alberto sent the copy because he's currently crowdfunding the book on Kickstarter (now with only 14 hours left to go!).https://youtu.be/jHOFG4U6ayAAnyone who knows Alberto's work on his website PighiXXX knows that he creates gorgeous, free to download, and easy-to-understand circuit diagrams, pinouts, and other electronic schematics for the Arduino user community. His work is laudable for being exceptionally clean and clear, easy for non-techies to understand, and rendered in the most human-readable ways possible. And it's all just too dang purdy!His ABC: Basic Connections book is a small 2-ring binder collecting (and adding to) the best and most useful schematics from the site. The idea is that the schematics are printed on sturdy pages that you can remove from the binder to use on your workbench (and updates will be available). He describes the impetus for the project:

Johanna Quaas, 92, is the "world's oldest gymnast," according to Guinness World Records. Quaas literally wrote the book on gymnastics, a textbook titled Gerätturnen. She still competes regularly as evidenced by this incredible video.Here's Quaas's fan page.

Kevin Parry gets on a treadmill and shows 100 ways of walking: angry, zombie, mad, sneaky, drunk, robot, on vacation, strut, old man, hippy, timid, mime, pushing, in the dark, and so on.

A guy buys an old knife for three bucks that's so rusty it looks like it's been dipped in mud. He then cleans and polishes it until it's as sparkly as a brand new knife. And sharpens it until it's sharper than most knives, new or old. Soooo pleasing to watch.

Chinese researchers demonstrated quantum entanglement at a record distance, between a satellite and ground stations 1,200 kilometers apart. When objects are quantum entangled, their quantum states are linked. Measuring the state of one affects the state of the other. It's weird shit. So weird that Einstein called it "spooky action at a distance."The experiment by physicists at Shanghai's University of Science and Technology of China could eventually lead to highly-secure communications technologies in space and back on Earth."I'm personally convinced that the internet of the future will be based on these quantum principles," says Anton Zeilinger, a physicist at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna who was not involved in the experiment. "China’s quantum satellite achieves ‘spooky action’ at record distance" (Science)

In Ohio is illegal to disrobe in front of a portrait of a man. In Texas it is illegal for children to have unusual haircuts. In Nevada it is illegal to put an American flag on a bar of soap. Photographer Olivia Locher broke these laws, and 40 others just as ridiculous, by taking photos depicting the illegal acts.

I have a deadly weakness for clothes from Volante Design, the "streetwear for superheroes" company in Chicago whose jackets, coats and vests I've been wearing since I found them at a Comic-Con in 2014. (more…)

In many, animal species are domesticated when humans bring them into their homes whether they want to be there or not. For example, it's mostly accepted that humans domesticated wolves, breeding them in captivity until they became the modern dogs we love today. Now, a new study of cat genetics reveals that cats just kind of hung around humans for thousands of years before they were domesticated. From Casey Smith's article in National Geographic:

$29 is a good price for this Koogeek wireless bathroom scale. It syncs to your smartphone through Bluetooth and updates an app that displays a graph of your weight over time.

Corie J Weaver writes to tell us that Dreaming Robot (previously is kickstarting its latest science fiction anthology for kids, The Young Explorer's Adventure Guide, "the fourth collection of science fiction stories for middle grade readers, with a focus on diversity and representation." (more…)

The NSO Group is an Israeli firm that describes itself as a "cyber warfare" company, dealing exclusively to governments, including the famously corrupt and dysfunctional government of Mexico. The NSO Group is presently for sale, with a $1 billion pricetag. (more…)

Fishermen in the North Sea near the Nethelands caught the first two-headed porpoises ever documented. The trawler crew found the animal already dead in its nets. From Deinsea, the journal of the Natural History Museum Rotterdam:

It's been called a Camping Chair, a Bog Chair, an X-Chair, a Stargazer Chair, a Viking Chair, an African Chair, but "no one can agree on where the design first came from or what it ought be called," says Rain Noe. In her article for Core 77 she looks at the many variations of this simple flat pack chair.Steve Ramsey shows how to make one:https://youtu.be/nQ0MaAJgLxo

Chris Rodley fed some pictures of dinosaurs to a "style transfer" machine-learning system that had been trained to draw flowers, and this was the gorgeous result. (via Kottke)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Etvk5CnqMWant to be really sure that your Internet of Things gadgets and laptops aren't being remotely controlled by malware? (more…)

This guy has a YouTube channel documenting his process of restoring old, banged-up Hot Wheels cars. He has a soothing voice, has very clean fingernails, uses good lighting, makes sure his video shots are focused, and doesn't use background music. In other words, his videos are superior to 95% of process videos in YouTube.

It was a hot windy day in Omaha, Nebraska last week, with winds gusting 40 mph. And one of those gusts apparently slammed a car door shut while an aunt – who had just taken her niece home after a day of swimming – was about to get the child out of the back seat. The aunt's keys were still inside the SUV, and the door was locked. She and the mother, who was home, along with two other relatives, tried to break into the car with a screwdriver and a coat hanger, but when the doors wouldn't opened, they called 9-1-1 for help.The police helped – breaking a window with a hammer and saving the child, but then ticketed the mother for suspicion of child abuse by neglect. Nice.According to Omaha World Herald:

The Slo Mo Guys wanted to find out what would happen if you went inside a big balloon and filled it with water until it pops. There is probably a rule 34 subreddit for this.[via]

Australia's Sampling the Abyss project went 2.5 miles underwater 62 miles off the east coast of the continent, netting a treasure trove of delightful creatures, including a peanut worm that in Rob Zugaro's photo looks a lot like a... (more…)

British YouTuber Colin Furze shows off his custom-made beach house, which has not one but two floors buried beneath it. Here’s how he built the whole thing by hand:https://youtu.be/yox9CKYh7EU

We have little free libraries where I live in California but none as are half as cool as this one in Detroit, Michigan. Dan Zemke spotted an empty lot across the street from his house on Detroit's Warren Ave. and thought it needed something. He decided it would be the perfect spot for a life-size replica of a TARDIS that would double as a little library.

The cube-shaped fidget spinner is the only cool fidget spinner, but they could and should be even better: whoever is responsible for Hellraiser merchandise is missing a trick. (Though you can get a Lemarchand's Rubik's Cube)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy5ZX5DL3ZIhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHyFLEMDXDQ

My daughter has long hair. This cheap drain snake has cleared a number of plugged bathroom sinks, and our tub. The snake drags out a lot of hair. Perhaps because it is so "supple."When it is the kitchen sink, and dishwasher, that aren't clearing however, you may need to call a plumber. :(Vastar 3 Pack 19.6 Inch Drain Snake Hair Drain Clog Remover Cleaning Tool via Amazon

Lauralot points out that the Jesus of the Bible doesn't have much in common with the right-wing, evangelical Christ -- canon Jesus was "a brown Jew in the Middle East, conceived out of wedlock in an arguably interracial if not interspecies (deity and human) relationship, raised by his mother and stepfather in place of his absent father. He may not have had a Y chromosome. He spent his early youth as a refugee in Egypt, where his family no doubt survived initially on handouts from the wealthy." (more…)

In 2008, Starbucks publicly acknowledged that the plastic coatings it used on its paper cups made them impossible to recycle using the kinds of equipment deployed by municipalities around the world, and kicked off an annual competition to improve the cup design -- but five years later, it shut the competition down, went on using the unrecyclable cups, and adopted the line that the world's taxpayers should foot the bill for upgrading recycling plants to accommodate its cups. (more…)

baremetalHW collects, revives and customizes Hot Wheels toys. Above, a 1968 Deora is restored to its original glory; he shows the paints and techniques required to get it right. Below, a contemporary model is turned into a Mad Max monster.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzK_yo1qx2M

The cheapest and easiest way I know of to make cold brew coffee is with an almond-milk bag and a water jug, but if you favor the drip method over the steeping method, you can spare yourself the expense of a fancy Kyoto dripper and just use a disposable 500ml water bottle with a pinprick in its lid, suspended over an Aeropress. (more…)

Funny Or Die follows “Manfred” as he tries to survive in a world where women expect to be treated like human beings.

The always hilarious Laura Benanti returns to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to share how Melania Trump is feeling about moving into the White House.

In London, an attacker drove a van into pedestrians outside a mosque in London, killing one person and injuring ten or more others.(more…)

In this video, UK-based YouTuber and bassist Davie504 plays a solo on a $100 bass, a $700 bass, and a TEN-THOUSAND-DOLLAR bass* to compare them. I watched the video five times and still can't hear that much of a difference. Admittedly, I'm not the best judge of these kinds of things.*"Lindo" P-Bass ($100), Fender Jazz Bass ($700) and a Fodera Emperor Deluxe ($10,000)(digg)

Summer BBQ season is nearly here. Oh sure, you could pull out the ol' grill again. But, why be boring when a perfectly fine piece of office furniture is ready to be transformed into a multi-level meat-smoking machine?Last July, Joshua McIntyre of Mississippi showed off his four-drawer metal filing cabinet that he made into a smoker in this video that went viral.And, it's not just Joshua who's figured out the beauty of barbecuing with office furniture. Apparently, this grilling-inside-an-office-filing-cabinet is a thing.https://youtu.be/6bPF1hAE1zIhttps://youtu.be/kFT8ONIsTZ8Ok, so I can't quite put my finger on it, but I sense this is a bad idea. I mean, for one, isn't the filing cabinet's paint toxic?Thanks, Mimi!(VSB)

COGZ is a game where up to six players compete to see who can fix a mad scientist’s color-coded machine, and it’s currently available in the Boing Boing Store.In this Mensa-endorsed tabletop game, players take turns laying gear tiles to connect like-colored segments. Points are scored when complex paths are finished, but your unfinished arrangements are constantly vulnerable to sabotage by your opponents. It’s great for all ages, but still takes plenty of strategy to master. COGZ rounds typically clock in under 30 minutes, and the game is fully accessible for colorblind players.Usually $42, you can get the COGZ board game here for just $33.99.

At last week's Burning Man Desert Arts Preview in San Francisco, I learned that artist Josh Zubkoff and his crew are bringing an enormous piece of hot pink pop kitsch to the playa this summer. Twenty times the size of a store-bought pink flamingo lawn ornament, his Phoenicopterus Rex will stand over Black Rock City at 40-feet tall!Brigid Hughes, a witty cohort of the artist, described the installation to the event's audience. She said that Zubkoff designed the massive pink flamingo with four legs. instead of the traditional two, to give it additional stability. She quipped, "It's evolved!" (To get an feel for how huge this thing really is, 750 lbs. of steel are used per leg.)Hughes said the installation will have a ladder so Black Rock citizens can go inside, and on top of, the iconic bird because, "Who doesn't want to ride a pink flamingo?"The piece will be complete with a white picket fence and a fake green grass lawn (a repurposed high school football field).Hughes closed out the presentation with, "If the playa is our home, then let us decorate the lawn," and, a beat later, "Shipping it is gonna be a thing."I can't wait to see it.

For those who can't get enough balloon art (previously), here are some classic comic book covers reimagined with balloon art by Phileas Flash. Some impressive detail! (more…)

Thanks to a big row of west-facing windows, my apartment can get really hot in the afternoon. And since I don’t have a ceiling fan, I was looking for a tower fan that would help me cool down without needing to run my air conditioner all the time. I randomly bought a Vornado tower fan at Target and I’m so glad I did. The basic idea of the Vornado brand is that their fans circulate air throughout the room rather than just blowing it in one direction (like a traditional fan) or providing intermittent bursts of air in different directions (like an oscillating fan). I was worried that was all just marketing jargon, but I’ve found the design actually works really well. In fact, the fan creates a far wider range of air circulation than I was expecting.I wound up purchasing two different models, the NGT335 33” Whole Room Tower Circulator ($99.99) and the Model 143 29” Tower Circulator ($79.99). The NGT335 has a wider range and a bit more power and, in my opinion, is absolutely worth the extra $20. The Model 143, however, also gets the job done just fine. Both fans come with remotes and have timer features in case you don’t want to leave them running all day/night.As far as tower fans go, both models are pretty elegant and discrete. They aren’t invisible by any means, but they also don’t look out of place sitting in a corner of my living room. And since they don’t rotate, neither draws the eye the way an oscillating fan might. The NGT335 is a little bigger and bulkier while the Model 143 is slightly sleeker. However, because the Model 143 works on a curved pattern, you might have to get a little creative in terms of where you place it in your room in order to ensure the air blows where you want it to.Really the only downside I’ve found so far is that the fans can be a bit noisy on their highest settings. On their lowest settings, however, they’re both essentially silent. And, to be honest, when it’s sweltering outside I don’t mind a little extra noise so long as I can stay cool. Admittedly, I’ve only been using these fans for a few weeks so I can’t speak to their longevity. But so far I’ve been absolutely thrilled with the purchase. If you’re looking to stay cool this summer, the Vornado brand is definitely an option to consider. And a few years ago Boing Boing also praised the company’s small air circulators as well.[Note: This is not a sponsored post. I purchased both of these Vornado fans with my own money and just happened to really like them.]

Harvey Kurtzman is a hero of satire, the guy who convinced Bill Gaines's mother to bankroll a comic book called MAD, then doubled down by turning MAD into a magazine -- only to jump ship five issues later after a bizarre fight with the Gaineses, finding refuge with Playboy founder Hugh Hefner who gave him an unlimited budget to start an all-star, high-quality satire magazine called TRUMP, which lasted for two legendary, prized issues, now collected in a gorgeous hardcover from Dark Horse. (more…)