https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIATKbSkYxw&feature=youtu.beBefore there were Nixie tubes, there were edge-lit displays: "Each digit panel has a tiny incandescent lamp associated with it that lights when that the numeral on the panel is to be displayed. When the tiny lamp corresponding to a given digit panel lights, the light is injected into the edge of the plastic panel. The engraved area in the plastic causes interference with the light as it travels through the plastic, and some light is refracted out through the plane of the panel, causing the engraved dots making up the digit to light up with a white glow. The resulting digits look much like the fully formed numerals in a Nixie tube, except rather than an orange glow, the Canon display digits give off a cool white glow like that of an incandescent light bulb." (more…)

Tor has produced a multitool to commemorate my forthcoming novel Walkaway, and if you pre-order the book, they'll send you one! Protip: pre-order from Barnes and Noble and you'll get a signed copy!(more…)

An unidentified woman flying from Beijing to Melbourne was sleeping on the plane, listening to music on her headphones, when she heard a loud explosion. Then her face began to burn, according to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

At SXSW, CIA Senior Collection Analyst David Clopper revealed a series of tabletop games developed as training materials for CIA internal training exercises: Collection, a Pandemic-style crisis-resolution game; Collection Deck, a Magic: The Gathering style intel-collection game; and Kingpin: The Hunt for El Chapo, designed "to train analysts who might work with law enforcement and other partners around world to find a well-armed, well-defended, well-protected bad guy." (more…)

The US Navy's Polar Manual from 1965 may come in handy during this week's blizzards. From the list of "Polar Do's And Don't's":

Wishbone is an online survey creation tool that's popular with teens, who use it to post quizzes, one of the top ten social Iphone apps in the USA. All of its records have leaked: millions of records, including millions of email addresses and full names, as well as hundreds of thousands of cellphone numbers. (more…)

Nimuno Loops are rolls of Lego-compatible adhesive tape. Genius idea and no surprise that they've blown wayyyyyy past their Indiegogo goal to manufacture the stuff.

https://youtu.be/McwReQqmZn4This guy jumped out of a London subway car as soon as it opened its doors, then ran up the stairs, through the station, across surface streets, into the next station, down the stairs, and jumped back into the same car before the train left.

https://vimeo.com/199131896Futaracha Pro is a typeface designed to take excessive advantage of alternatives, ligatures and other features of modern fonts, so much so that as you type, the words evolve into striking, but consistent new forms.[via Bored Panda]

FOLLOW @RubenBolling on the Twitters and a Face Book.JOIN Tom the Dancing Bug's subscription club, the Proud & Mighty INNER HIVE, for exclusive early access to comics, extra comics, other stuff, and other stuff still.GET Ruben Bolling’s new hit book series for kids, The EMU Club Adventures. (”A book for the curious and adventurous!” -Cory Doctorow) Book One here. Book Two here.More Tom the Dancing Bug comics on Boing Boing! (more…)

Kelly Herron stopped while jogging in a Seattle park to use a public restroom, where she was set upon by a sex offender. After a brutal fight, she managed to escape, thanks to a recent self-defense class. Her GPS fitness tracker captured the ordeal. (more…)

Photographer Andrius Burba went to great lengths to capture horses from below, and the result was worth the effort. Behold the Under-Horse series. (more…)

Corrine Miller was Michigan's director of epidemiology at the state Department of Health and Human Services and oversaw the mass-poisoning of the largely black population of Flint, Michigan; as punishment for her admitted role in the deaths and lifelong suffering caused by her negligence, she will have to write and publish an apology to the victims of her malfeasance. (more…)

There's been precious little litgation about the Customs and Border Protection Agency's far-reaching policy of invasively searching devices at the US border, so it's a legal greyzone (but you do have some rights). (more…)

The latest Intercepted podcast episode (MP3) was recorded live on stage at SXSW, where host Jeremy Scahill from The Intercept interviewed Edward Snowden by video link. (more…)

The Henn Na Hotel ("weird hotel") is staffed by robots: the Japanese-speaking check-in clerk is a vicious robot dinosaur, while the English-speaking one is humanoid; a robot arm stores and retrieves personal items from the guest lockers, and a chatbot serves as concierge. (more…)

Christopher Brown is a gonzo cyberpunk writer who delves into the real-world story of Saddam Hussein's Frank Frazetta collection, but by day he's a high-powered lawyer who's worked in government and the private sector (it's the intersection of these two Browns that penned his outstanding, forthcoming debut novel, Tropic of Kansas, which you should pre-order right now). (more…)

For newcomers to programming, deciding which language to learn first can be tough. Beginner-oriented languages can have limited power, making them hard to sustain long-term. Fortunately, one of the most popular languages around, Python, is both incredibly powerful and easy for novices to pick up.In this Python bundle, you will grow your programming skills by building real-world applications. Aside from programming fundamentals, you will explore subjects like big data analysis and using python to power dynamic websites.Growing your programming skills is easy with Python’s human-readable syntax and over 70 hours of instructional content. For a limited time, you can get The Python Power Coder BONUS Bundle for $44.

Brianna Rennix wants to know why the major current in "space utopianism" is right wing -- Elon Musk floating a "creepy private colony on Mars for ultra-rich survivalists who can shell out $200,000 for their spot" and punched Nazi Richard Spencer bloviating, "We weren’t put on this earth to be nice to minorities, or to be a multiculti fun nation. Why are we not exploring Jupiter at this moment? Why are we trying to equalize black and white test scores? I think our destiny is in the stars. Why aren’t we trying for the stars?" (more…)

Coming to the American Bookbinders Museum this Saturday: Last Unicorn author Peter S Beagle and up-and-coming prolific short story writer Effie Seiberg, in conversation with Terry Bisson: tickets are $10, bring cash for the bar and the bookseller!

Lorica is a fully-funded Kickstarter campaign that started with the promise of making leggings inspired by medieval armor, with rigorous and accurate depictions -- now that the campaign has reached its stretch goals, it has grown to incorporate a range of armor-inspired clothes. (more…)

Donald Trump's 2005 tax returns have made it into journalists' hands. “They came in the mail, over the transom,” reports David Cay Johnston. “It's entirely possible that Trump himself sent them to me,” he added, noting that “Donald has a long history of leaking material on himself when it's in his interest.”(more…)

Raph Koster is one of the world's most celebrated game designers, responsible for the design of Ultima Online, CCO of Sony during the Star Wars Galaxies era, and author of the classic Theory of Fun. Ever year, Raph gives a barn-raising/barn-burning speech at the Game Developer's Conference, one of the don't-miss moments of the conference. This year's speech is no exception. (more…)

With the user-friendliness of MacOS X and its suite of capable built-in apps, it’s not always easy to see the allure of third party apps. Sometimes, however, the defaults just don’t jive well with power users looking for more functionality and configuration.With an array of apps for media creation, file management, and personal security, this Mac Bundle has something for anyone that needs more than a web browser and FaceTime.Now, we know people tend to get tripped up and irked by "lifetime" deals that expire well before you do. Well first, that's because "lifetime" refers to the lifetime of the specific product, not you, unfortunately. Second, that often typically means just the minor upgrades; iOS 9.1 to iOS 9.2 for example. What's different about this bundle is that it truly does mean lifetime - the first of its kind on the web. No tricks or technicalities, you'll get access to every single minor update and major version upgrade to every single app included as long as upgrades are still happening. That's like iOS 9 to iOS infinity, all for free.Here's a taste of what you'll get:

London, city of slow trains and fleet foxes. [Via Pepo Jiménez]

Triangle is a rascally shape with a trick up his sleeve. Well, it would be, if he had any arms. Mac Barnett’s wily story and Jon Klassen’s eyes-tell-all illustrations make Triangle a really fun read-aloud for preschoolers, early elementary kids, and their adults. Both the grown-ups and the kid in my house were eagerly awaiting this book — the latest collaboration between Barnett and Klassen. Both are crazy talented picture book makers who have consistently put out silly, thoughtful, beautiful books over the past few years, together and apart. This is the third book they’ve done as a duo (the previous two are Sam and Dave Dig a Hole, 2014, and Extra Yarn, 2012) and it feels a little different. Aesthetically, in the tone of the text and the images, Triangle is much more reminiscent of Klassen’s Hat books than of Extra Yarn and Sam and Dave Dig a Hole. The main characters are shapes (keeping with Klassen’s typical non-human subjects) and the setting ranges from sparse snapshots to a simple yet stunning landscape of “shapes with no names.” (The brief traipse and chase through this land that lies between the neat, pointed places made of triangles and squares adds something magical to the book. That feeling is made even nicer when realizing that the magical place is the one most like our own.)Amidst Klassen’s illustrations, Barnett’s voice is still quite present, especially in the dialogue. The reader can’t help but deliver Triangle's lines with a mischievous sneer and Square’s with a tight-throated hand wringing, and that despite the characters’ lack of mouths or hands. This book clearly could have only been made by this particular author/illustrator team, and it makes me wonder if the story itself reflects some of the playfulness of their own relationship.Triangle

It was a happy day when, several years ago, we retired our color inkjet printer and bought a laser printer. It doesn't make color prints, but we rarely need them. It's fast and best of all, 3rd-party toner cartridges are dirt cheap. Amazon sells a 2-pack of the TN450 compatible high yield toner cartridge for most Brother printers for $14, or $7 each. The genuine cartridges sell for $45 each. I've never has a problem with any of the knockoff cartridges.

The reason people like to complain about municipalities' slow response to pothole complaints is because municipalities are slow to respond to pothole complaints. But group that calls itself Portland Anarchist Road Care is taking matters into its own hands by illegally repairing potholes around town.Snip:

Back in 1989, you could purchase these fine garments at JCPenney inside their incredible Pee-wee Herman Store .

It's annoying when videos and audio clips start playing by themselves when you visit a web site. Here are a few ways to squelch them, via Kirkville:

Strong winds in Cape Town, South Africa disrupted the recent Cape Town Cycle Tour. If the cyclists had just turned around, the following would be their theme song:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur8ftRFb2Ac

Mormonleaks is a whistleblower site dedicated to revealing corruption and hypocrisy in the Church of Latter Day Saints; over four months, it has published many documents that did just that, but when it published a leaked Powerpoint revealing the Church's view on "the roots of apostasy, such as pornography, campaigns to ordain women, challenges to church history and general 'lack of righteousness,'" the Church turned to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and a bogus claim of copyright infringement to get the document taken down. (more…)

The "rotary desk" went out of style with the advent of filing cabinets, but in their heyday, they were marvels of rotating cabinetry, tiny clever drawers and cubbies, and roll-down secretary tops. (more…)

The Five Invitations shares Frank Ostaseski's decades of experience helping hospice patients and their loved ones turn their grief and loss towards a fuller life. Written from the heart, Frank's experiences and observations are invaluable. (more…)

The 2016 winners of the James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award have been announced, top honors went to When the Moon was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore, with further honors going to some of my favorite books of 2016: Seanan McGuire's Every Heart a Doorway, Ada Palmer's Too Like the Lightning, and Charlie Jane Anders' All the Birds in the Sky.

We-Vibe agreed to pay up to $10,000 each to customers after tracking use of their "smart vibrators" without permission. The total hit is for $4m.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFkl_SoThnYInformation security's biggest obstacle isn't the mere insecurity of so many of our tools and services: it's the widespread lack of general knowledge about fundamental security concepts, which allows scammers to trick people into turning off or ignoring security red flags. (more…)

Patrolman Edwin A. Abbott is keeping Dubai's freeways safe.

More satire that is indistinguishable from reality: Paul Bibeau, writing as Trump, says, "Making a phony Donald Trump say or do things that might embarrass our movement and stop us from making America great again… That wouldn’t be hard at all." (more…)

A car buying consultant named Tom McParland shows how car dealers sneak in bogus and questionable fees to pad the price. He compared invoices for the same car from two different California car dealers. One dealer charged $10,000 more for the same car.'From Jalopnik:

Posted on /r/nonononoyes with the headline "Press button 12 times to delete house." The location is Stamford Street, Ashton-under-Lyne, England.

The Girl Guides of Canada -- Canada's largest organisation for girls and women -- have a long tradition of visiting other scouts in the USA, to the benefit of both American and Canadian scouts, but that's come to an end, because Canada's Girl Guides are worried that Muslim girls, brown girls, and girls whose families come from countries singled out for discrimination by the Trump regime will face discrimination at the border. (more…)

Media Matters presents a supercut of Alex Jones not bragging about things.

Amy O'Connor asked every member of the Dáil Éireann the following questions:

In a press conference, Donald Trump spokesman Sean Spicer walked back the president's tweeted claims that former president Barack Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower during the 2016 election campaign. By "wire tapping" Trump just meant "surveillance and other activities", and by "President Obama" and "a bad (or sick) guy" he was referring the entirety of the administration, not to Obama personally.

Miso Robotics' Flippy is a "kitchen assistant" robot that can grill, flip, prep, fry, and plate food.“We focus on using AI and automation to solve the high pain points in restaurants and food prep," says Flippy CEO David Zito. "That’s the dull, dirty and dangerous work around the grill, the fryer, and other prep work like chopping onions. The idea is to help restaurants improve food quality and safety without requiring a major kitchen redesign.”And what of those millions of people who flip burgers to make ends meet?“Tasting food and creating recipes will always be the purview of a chef," says Flippy CEO David Zito. "And restaurants are gathering places where we go to interact with each other. Humans will always play a very critical role in the hospitality side of the business given the social aspects of food. We just don’t know what the new roles will be yet in the industry.”(TechCrunch via Laughing Squid)

The Streets of San Francisco was a well loved police detective show starring Karl Malden and Michael Douglass, but the themesong was the real star!This themesong is holds up, and is still amazing for late night hooning around the city that always smells like pee!

Here's another shoutout to the Flexisnake drain-unclogger, which I used this morning to remove a greasy bolus of hair and muck from the bathroom sink.I keep Flexisnakes in all of our bathrooms, and use them frequently to pull out gross blobs of matted hair clogging the sink drains. It's kind of like a long pipe cleaner with a crank. You insert it in the drain and twist the handle. The hair wraps around it. It's $6 on Amazon.

Meet Haruo Nakajima, the 87-year-old fellow who wore a Godzilla suit for the classic Japanese monster films from the 1950s through Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972).