At the Los Angeles Times, David Pierson unties the story of why doughnut boxes are so frequently pink, particularly in southern California. It's a story of Cambodian refugees who emigrated to the US in the 1970s and built the donut market. But why pink? From the LA Times:

I still love these Archangels. 90% of the time, this is the deck of cards I have in my pocket.I buy a lot of decks of cards, and this remains my go-to favorite. The beautiful black on white back design is mesmerizing to watch go by as I practice flourishes, and I think helps distract people from clumsy sleights. The Ace of Spades and Joker designs are some of the best I've seen, and the gold foil used on the face cards adds a touch of class.No blank card or double backer is included. There is one Theory11 advertisement card that can be used for "write on this card" tricks and still preserve the decks 52 card integrity.Bicycle Archangels Playing Cards via Amazon

https://youtu.be/NZ4BF0WdY1sBikram Choudhury, the founder of Bikram yoga, is out of money, even though he claims in the video above that women are clamoring to pay him $1,000,000 for a single drop of his sperm. To make matters worse for Mr. Choudhury, who was ordered to pay millions for sexually harassing women, there's now a warrant for his arrest.Via SF Gate:

People across England observed a minute of silence Thursday in remembrance of the 22 victims killed in the Manchester concert bombing. After the minute of silence in this Manchester city center, a woman suddenly starts singing "Don't Look Back in Anger" by Oasis, and the crowd joins in.

Excellent deal on Amazon right now on this 13-piece Tekton metric hex key wrench set for $7.62. The ball end means you can fit the key into a bolt at an angle. When there's an obstruction between you and the bolt, these come in handy.

GordieLaChance says: "In 1990 a supermarket bagger named Bill English appeared on ABC's 20/20 claiming to be 'Buckwheat' from the classic 'Our Gang"/"Little Rascals' shorts. Problem? The actual Buckwheat had died 10 years prior. Watch as Bill's O'tay-ness is called into question."

Bad taste. And I'm not just talking about the drink. Crushed has just deleted the Tweet.(via Reddit and @CrushedUK)

I love hearing Marc Newson talk about why his hourglass is worth $12,000. Hurry, it's limited to 100 units![via]

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Buckets hanging on maple trees may have worked great 200 years ago, but modern producers use a system like the internet: a series of tubes! (more…)

Yulia Brodskaya (previously) creates beautiful textured portraits by tightly folding and quilling colorful paper and affixing it upright on a flat surface. Here's a timelapse of her piece Girl with peacock earrings. (more…)

♫ Enemies to the west of me, enemies to the east, here I am, stuck in the middle with you ♪The seventh and final season of Game of Thrones starts July 16.

Who knew a slo-mo car crash could look so celestial? Of course it helps that the car, going about 29 mph, was made of Lego pieces.From YouTube:

Neil Gaiman has just agreed to do a dramatic reading of the Cheesecake Factory menu, which is nearly the size of a Bible. But there's a catch – the Coraline author will only do the reading if $500,000 has been raised for a charity of his choice, which happens to be the United Nations Refugee Agency.It all started with a tweet from comedian and author Sara Benincasa:"Dear @neilhimself: for $500K to the charity of your choice would you read the Cheesecake Factory menu in its entirety onstage pls advise."To which Gaiman replied a few hours later:I have said Yes. If she makes it happen, for charity, I will do this thing.According to Los Angeles Times:

Sometimes, in the course of his work, University of Florida molecular geneticist Martin Cohn must travel with unusual items like a 3D-printed mouse penis. Similarly, University of Massachusetts biologist Diane Kelly totes around anatomical models like a mold of a dolphin vagina. They're not alone in the odd science-related items they must fly with, from bottles of monkey piss to a stash of 5,000-year-old human bones. At The Atlantic, Ed Yong explores what happens when objects of science meet airport security:

This week on Cool Tools' Maker Update: Kitty Grabs Gold, a beer cooler that follows you, the Circuit Playground Express, Adafruit and Microsoft, Other Machine Co. and Bre Pettis, Tinkercad Lego export, a great kit for gadget and toy hacking, and Maker Faires. Our featured Cool Tool is the iFixit Electronics Tool Kit.Check out the show notes.

Boing Boing proudly welcomes our new sponsor, LIWTS!One of the positive trends sweeping the nation appears to be marijuana legalization! Regardless how you feel about the state of the world, it is nice that marijuana is becoming more and more available to help you cope with whatever ails you.Marijuana, THC and CBD are fast becoming recognized as very effective in treating pain, appetite, anxiety, insomnia and even cancer, but there is a lot of quackery out there. Where do you look? Who do you trust? Who really knows what is what in the world of weed?LIWTS is looking to become your source for news, reviews and stories about this budding new world!Full of reviews of the latest, and greatest, vaporizers, strains, oils, edibles and awesome snacks, Legalize It We Think So has dedicated itself to being the go-to site for your marijuana and THCrelated content. There are forums for discussion and advice, a head shop full of toys and tools, and news about legalization efforts around the world. A quick glance at the entertainment sections shows everything from specialty weed to enhance female orgasms, to which cheese grants you a pot-like high. LIWTS covers all the bases.You can also use their strain database to find out more about that flower you wanted to grow, or if that indication will put you out instead of just make the couch really comfortable.Unlike myriad other MMJ/THC sites, LIWTS treats their audience as marijuana enthusiasts who want to be informed, rather than raging stoners thrilled every time someone flies a cannabis leaf flag! A little bit of respect goes a long way, their product and strain reviews are amongst the most entertaining, and useful, we've seen!If you are looking for a marijuana portal that takes you, and your weed smoking seriously Legalize It We Think So is the site for you!

My friend Robert Dowling has turned snarking about art into, well, an art. On his Instagram Art Slut, he re-imagines the context for famous paintings, giving each one a distinctly modern flair. The posts all start with “TFW” for “That feeling when.” Here are some of my favorites:https://www.instagram.com/p/BUHUr2xgfDL/https://www.instagram.com/p/BT4QU2VgU9_/https://www.instagram.com/p/BUZZdV8g-nK/https://www.instagram.com/p/BTuANwEAgRZ/https://www.instagram.com/p/BR8_E8_AhY8/https://www.instagram.com/p/BUE-VYGAgst/https://www.instagram.com/p/BS8puK2ggQC/https://www.instagram.com/p/BTJYcs2goHP/https://www.instagram.com/p/BTeaO8uAo4w/https://www.instagram.com/p/BSOU3xFgJmx/https://www.instagram.com/p/BSwmX7vAfCq/https://www.instagram.com/p/BSyUkH3g9cp/You can find more photos on Art Slut, and you can also follow Dowling on his personal Instagram right here.

Ecuadorean pilot Santiago Borja Lopez makes the most of his downtime at work, taking stunning photos of dramatic storms, often lit by the moon. (more…)

President Trump’s recent phone call with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte wasn't released in detail by the Trump White House, but someone else leaked it. Trump praises Duterte on the call for doing an “unbelievable job on the drug problem,” which consists of Duterte literally murdering people in extrajudicial street executions.(more…)

David sends us "My in-depth (and lengthy) conversation (MP3) with Jeff Vandermeer about Borne, about storytelling in the age of climate change, about biotech and personhood, and about why weird fiction is so well-equipped to address the crises we find ourselves in as a species, just went live "

I was directed to the Instagram account of svetlanko69, and was not disappointed. It's nothing but photos and videos of bears (both cubs and full-grown giants) often interacting with humans.Fake bear/human fight:

https://youtu.be/fUkFKO69xK0The Chopstick Master costs $195. It makes perfectly tapered chopsticks and puts a diamond-shaped finial on the end. It includes a bottle of "food grade chopstick oil."Rain Noe of Core 77 says: "If that sounds pricey to you, consider that if you brought it to any kind of fair or festival and set up a make-your-own-chopsticks booth at $10 a pop, I bet you'd pay the thing off in a single day easy."

Yesterday, when Trump tried to hold Melania's hand on the tarmac in Israel, she was quick to swat it away.(more…)

This brass compass is so plain, it is elegant.I lost my old flat Silva map compass. I decided I'd rather have something with a bit more character, and a bit less plastic. I also didn't want to spend any money on something I really rarely use. This lovely compass should do the job nicely.Over time the cheap brass housing will tarnish up just right. Like any compass, it'll generally indicate magnetic north when I'm hiking, camping, or just wandering around my living room.1.75" Classic Pocket Antique Style Camping Brass Compass via Amazon

This is the Yangtze giant softshell turtle, one of the most endangered species on Earth. There are two at China's Suzhou Zoo and one in the wild in Vietnam's lake Dong Mo. Conservationists really need to find a fourth to aid their efforts to rebuild the species. National Geographic spoke with Aimin Wang, director of the China division of the Wildlife Conservation Society, about the group's efforts to find another elusive Yangtze turtle:

Acidic solutions can help neutralize the toxins from a jellyfish sting so why shouldn't you try to piss the pain away? (Reactions)

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation recently funded a Virginia Tech study on why motorcyclists crash. Hundreds of cameras were placed on bikes, recording a wide variety of riders every move.We drop our bikes more than we'd like to admit.The folks at Revzilla read the 20 page report and summed it up nicely.Via Revzilla:

There's lots of juicy, behind-the-scenes details in this New York Times expose about the Fyre Festival - a promised lavish music event in the Bahamas that was cancelled after people who paid thousand of dollars arrived by plane and discovered crappy tents on a gravely beach with little food or security and no performers. Fyre Festival co-founder Billy McFarland, 25, is accused of not paying workers and contractors. McFarland and his partner, Ja Rule, are blaming others for the calamity. Aggrieved parties are serving lawsuits by the dozen. And federal authorities are "looking into possible mail, wire and securities fraud," according to the Times.Snip:

It sure feels flat, right? (Life Noggin)

https://youtu.be/xdTaSgOIh9oIllustrator Greg Condon uses a Smith Corona Galaxie Deluxe typewriter to give metaphorical shape and movement to words in this awesome short, "disillusionment of ten point font."Thanks Colossal!

A few weeks ago, this five-year-old albino orangutan was rescued from a remote village on Borneo where it was kept in a cage. The animal is now under the care of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation. Orangutans are critically endangered and the foundation says they aren't aware of any albino orangutans reported anywhere else, ever. From National Geographic:

In this photo from the Saudi Press Agency, U.S. President Donald Trump is joined by Egyptian dictator Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and Saudi king Salman bin Abdulaziz at the opening of the so-called "Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology." The three men ceremonially "activated" the building by placing their hands upon a mysterious glowing orb and making wishes, or something. The internet is perplexed and fascinated by the event's perfect strangeness.

The YouTube channel RealLifeLore uses the unusual thought experiment, “What if every human ever born came back to life today?” as a springboard for examining world populations, historical life expectancy, and much, much more.

Vox’s Carlos Maza breaks down the ways in which Fox News spins Trump scandals and misleads millions of Americans in the process.

Before the FCC stopped taking comments on its plans to destroy Net Neutrality (but after so many people rallied to tell it not to that its site crashed and the agency manufactured a fake denial of service attack to avoid admitting how much America hated its plans), the FCC's comment form was flooded with 128,000 identical comments sent by bots that used an alphabetical series of stolen names and addresses, possibly taken from an old voter registration data breach. (more…)

Learning to code is a perfect way to grow your technical sophistication, and open up a host of new career options. But since most “learn to code” initiatives focus heavily on web development, it can be tough to find good resources for general-purpose computer science outside of a 4-year degree program. To get a broad overview of programming topics in a variety of widely-used languages, take a look at the Crash Course Coding Bundle, offered in our Boing Boing store.You’ll get familiar with low-level systems by learning how to write code for internet-of-things devices, as well as high-level language features offered in languages like Python and Java.This bundle includes the following courses:

Strategically placed to survive any natural disaster, this winter's rains flooded the arctic seed bank. The bank wasn't destroyed, but it shows how fast things are a changing.The Guardian:

I took great advantage of my 36 hour hiatus from the Walkaway tour, but I'm back at it today, with a 2PM appearance at Burbank's Dark Delicacies, before I go straight to the airport to fly to the UK for my British tour. (more…)

"The intensity of the probe is expected to accelerate in the coming weeks."(more…)

Marta Chudolinska is Learning Zone Librarian at the Ontario College of Art and Design University, which hosts a huge zine collection founded in 2007 Alicia Nauta, then a student. (more…)

The best way to fight gerrymandering is to prove to courts that electoral districts have been unfairly formed, a tactic that's been used successfully in places like North Carolina; but for this to work, you need good demographic data to show that the district is unfair, and for that, you need an accurate census. (more…)

Via Myoshka. This is a lovely collection.

Live Home 3D Pro for Mac gives you powerful modeling tools to create floor plans and renderings for interior and exterior design projects.Whether you’re a contractor planning an extension on a client’s house, or just need to visualize how a new couch will fit in your living room, Live Home 3D helps you clarify your design vision with its intuitive editor. This app simplifies the drafting process to give you accurate architectural layouts quickly, for any size building. It provides a variety of structural angles, to help you account for elevation and window views.Additionally, it imports furniture models from SketchUp and simulates a variety of lighting, materials, and textures.Live Home 3D Pro for Mac is currently available in the Boing Boing Store, and includes all minor updates.

We can't be far off a time where we can order buckets of paint by punching in RGB color values. The big paint companies could obviously do this, but right now all they seem to offer are elaborate, bloated interfaces wrapping their own marketing-driven color schemes. And I'll grant that the paint pigment gamut might have some very weakly-covered areas, lightfastedness issues, and so on. I hope whoever eventually does this (brand suggestion: LATHEX) also creates a robust API for it and a affiliate program, so that Paint Colors Invented By Neural Network can be tested and refined against thousands of actual purchases.

DJ Cummerbund noticed that the world needed a mashup of "Crazy Train" and "September," and the world became a better place. The mashed up video is icing on the cake. (more…)

Depths of Antiquity is Julius Horsthuis' hypnotic slow-motion dive into fractals generated from images of churches, castles and other imposing edifices of yesteryear. It's perfectly complemented by Beethoven. (more…)

Berlin-based artist Mo Ganji creates deceptively simple tattoos using a continuous line. (more…)