Speculative redivisions of the USA into equal-population states tend to discard the existing ones entirely in favor of the average. I thought it would be interesting to instead keep the most populous state, California, then combine other states to meet it in size. Since they're always complaining. (more…)

Reader Longname, via the Boing Boing BBS, suggested I try the TWSBI ECO. This $31 stainless steel nibbed fountain pen looks cool and is perfectly functional. (more…)

Best Coast are headlining a concert in Los Angeles on Saturday (3/4) to benefit Planned Parenthood. It's a killer lineup playing for a cause urgently in need of support. Along with Best Coast, the show at the El Rey Theatre will feature Grouplove, The Lovely Bad Things, The Side Eyes, MUNA, Nina & Louise of Veruca Salt, The Regrettes, Wavves (DJ Set), Lili Hayes (DJ Set), Jimmy Tamborello (DJ Set), and a special appearance by Liz Phair. Worth every penny. Tickets here.And in case you missed it, below is our exclusive Boing Boing Video performance/interview with Best Coast, produced with our friends at Remedy Editorial.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-51InX4MK0

Senator Ron Johnson [R-WI/Twitter/email/DC office (202) 224-5323] is one of the many Republican lawmakers who've chosen not to meet with their own constituents during the Congressional recess; Earl Good, a Vietnam veteran and Milwaukee constituent who called Johnson's office hundreds of times because the Senator won't meet with the people he represents has now been sent a cease-and-desist letter threatening legal retaliation if he doesn't stop contacting his elected official. (more…)

In 2016's Impact of the Berkeley Excise Tax onSugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption (Sci-Hub Onion mirror), UC Berkeley scientists showed that the imposition of a $0.01/ounce tax on sugary drinks led to a sharp decrease in the consumption of sodas in Berkeley. (more…)

Convenience stores and gas stations are not the only places that utilize security cameras. Security in the digital age has extended more and more to individuals, and the iON the Home HD WiFi camera is a budget-friendly option that can help you monitor your home or office for security purposes, or just to keep an eye on the pooch or baby when you're away. It's available for 69% off list price at $39.99.The iON the Home streams 720p HD video to your smartphone throughout the day via the free app. With built-in night vision and infrared sensors, as well as remote control viewing, you can get a complete view of a room even in the middle of the night.The free app also allows you to record and archive 24-hour chunks of time directly to the cloud for free, sends text notifications to keep you apprised of daily activity, and coordinates up to five cameras at once.One iON the Home camera is currently available for $39.99, while a 2-pack is $74.99.Explore other Best-Sellers in our store:

NRKbeta, the tech page of Norway's public broadcaster, ran a story about proposed internet surveillance laws. But to comment on it, you had to know what was in the story.

Update: Dupe!Internet-connected Cloud Pets stored recordings online and put associated data in an unprotected database for hackers to find.

"You have to be able to put yourself in a place to be able to see things." Alicia Keys' “The Gospel” juxtaposes gorgeous black and white footage of everyday New York with profound insights from those who live there. (more…)

Nintendo's Switch is the company's cool new console. Early reviews say they nailed the system design this time, but also that Nintendo just doesn't know how to do online services and is running out of time to figure it out. The triumphant return of the cartridge, however, comes with a bitter edge: their taste."Immediately upon touching a Nintendo Switch cartridge one’s tongue is assaulted by a harsh bitterness that spreads like a brush fire through the mouth," writes Kotaku's Mike Fahey. "Having a drink on hand helps, but not completely. The taste and how it spreads suggests some sort of oily residue left on the cartridge. If you’ve ever pinched an orange peel and tasted the oil that oozes from the rind, it’s like that, only without the citrus accents."https://twitter.com/jeffgerstmann/status/835304915220062208It turns out to be deliberate: Nintendo infuses the carts with a bittering agent.

Psychologist Gert Storms doesn't want to review scientific papers if their authors refuse to share with him the underlying data. The American Psychological Association (APA), which publishes the journal he edits, has asked him to resign.Nature.com's Gautam Naik reports that the effort to force him out is a test of The Peer Reviewer's Opennness Initiative, a move crafted to "increase transparency in a field beset by reports of fraud and dubious research."

Illustrator Maxim Zhestkov demonstrates how simple shapes and gradients can convey a mood in his Future Noir series. The small silhouettes of humans give an eerie sensibility to the images. (more…)

Ukrainian concept artist Roman Chaliy created these cool mashups of zombies, skeletons, reanimated corpses and wild west outlaws. (more…)

This one goes out to Attorney General and volunteer Russia envoy Jeff Sessions.(more…)

Noted white supremacist and current United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions said under oath at his confirmation hearing that he'd had no contact with Russia during Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. That wasn't true, according to the Department of Justice.(more…)

Burb.(more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-9pkLwOjC4Philadelphia is a crimeware-as-a-service business that sells a highly customizable ransomware package for budding entrepreneurs who want to dabble in crime. (more…)

Wells Fargo admits that its employees opened more than 2,000,000 fake accounts in order to run up fraudulent charges against its customers (employees who balked at committing fraud were fired and blacklisted for life from the banking industry); it also says that the customers it stole from can't sue the company because fake account paperwork bearing their forged signatures includes a promise to enter into binding arbitration rather than suing. (more…)

Comedian and soothsayer Peter Serafinowicz brings us Three new 'Sassy Trump' episodes.(more…)

Iowa State Sen. Mark Chelgren wants to limit the number of Democrats the state university may hire.(more…)

Jamie Zawinski collected a good 20 different articles, each covering some nasty corner of Uber, a disgusting or illegal or plainly unethical thing someone there did, or some other reason why we should all stop giving it money. Here's a bonus one he didn't include: Tech and the Fake Market tactic, which points out that unlike other freelancer-based services, Uber treats drivers like employees and sets their prices. And guess what: Lyft is awful too!

https://youtu.be/IpDDGoyDxnMThe friendly folks at BioLite (makers of innovative battery-powered lighting, solar charging batteries, and other cool field gear) sent me a BioLite CookStove to try out. Imagine a tin can that holds burning sticks. And attached to that can is a battery pack with a fan that blows air into the can, which makes the sticks burn hot and bright. You can put a pot on top of the can to cook food or boil water. That's what the CookStove is.I tried it out by making some coffee in my backyard (see my video, above). First, I found a small branch that fell from a tree during the last torrential downpour here in LA. It was already dried out from a few days in the sun. I snapped it into 4-inch pieces. I also found some pieces of eucalyptus bark, which were thin and kind of rolled up like cigars. I put a few sticks and some bark into the can and lit it with a match. Once it was burning pretty good, I turned on the fan to the lowest setting (one of four levels) and slowly added more and thicker pieces of wood. The fire made a nice "jet engine" sound. But I got overzealous and stuffed too many pieces in at once and it started belching white smoke. After a minute, the fire inside the can was roaring again, and almost smokeless. I put my coffee maker on top and in a couple of minutes the coffee was finished. It took very little wood to boil the water.According to the literature, a single charge from the attached battery pack will provide about 20 hours of fan life. A camping gas canister runs for about an hour, so a fully charged battery is like taking 20 gas canisters with you, minus the weight and volume (It's up to you to find little sticks to feed it). If you get the BioLite solar panel you can charge it in the field. The CookStove weighs 1.6 lbs and has a packed size of 7.75 x 5 in (it comes with a bag and a USB charging cable).This is not a review, since I have not taken it camping or used it more than once. It's just my first impression of taking it out of the box and trying it out. It was fun and very easy to use, and I would definitely take it with me on a camping trip.

Award-winning children’s author, Davide Cali, teamed up with visual artist, Alice Lotti, to create When an Elephant Falls in Love, a book about the sweet and silly things one does for love. A no-named elephant works hard to impress the one he adores. He tries to eat healthy foods (no cheesecake!), he takes daily baths (and washes behind his ears), he tries on stylish neckties, and he leaves flowers on a doorstep (but runs away before the door is opened). He’s unsure, confused, gleeful and sometimes sad. He’s normal. He’s in love. But does he enchant his beloved?Charming pen and ink illustrations accompany text that is understandable to children and truly relatable to adults as well.Appropriate for ages 4-8.– Carole RosnerWhen an Elephant Falls in Love

Jigsaw is a "wildly ambitious" Google spin-off research unit that recently released Perspective, a machine-learning system designed to identify argumentative, belittling and meanspirited online conversation. Within days of its release, independent researchers have published a paper demonstrating a way of tricking Perspective into trusting ugly messages, just by introducing human-readable misspellings into their prose. (more…)

From Deep Look:

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, and much more.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…)

How adorable is this rescued earless seal hugging and playing with a seal plushy at the Okhotsk Tokkari Center in Monbetsu, Hokkaido, Japan!

"Would you jump? Or would you chicken out?" That's the question asked of 67 different people who were asked to jump off a 10-meter diving tower into a pool. None of them had done it before, and it took most people a while to work up the nerve. I could do it, as long as someone push me off while I wasn't looking.From the NYTimes:

Cinematographer Ali Kubba captured this cool footage of break dancers with smoke grenades. (more…)

Next week, Bonhams is auctioning Sammy Davis Jr.'s 1977 Rolls Royce Camargue. The sticker price was $148,000, approximately $600,000 in today's dollars. It's expected to sell for US$38,000-$46,000. From Bonhams:

From Jalopnik: "An 18 year-old driving a stolen Toyota Tacoma running from the police in Webster Parish, Louisiana hit a set of spike strips going 115 mph, subsequently barreled off of the road and into a drainage ditch, launched the truck into the air and landed on a car parked at a restaurant."

Primitive Technology is a YouTube video channel produced by an Australian guy who goes into the jungle with nothing but the clothes on his back, and makes things like shelters, tools, and weapons. There are no words or text in the video, only the sounds of nature for a soundtrack. Here's his latest video.

The chemists at the wonderful YouTube channel, Periodic Videos, explain what the deadly nerve agent VX is and why it is so good at making people drop dead. As you might recall, VX is the stuff used to assassinate the half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un at a Kuala Lumpur airport.From what I learned here, when VX comes in contact with your nervous system it won't allow your muscles to relax. It causes convulsions and asphyxiation.Here's an extra video:https://youtu.be/n7uJoi8DXiA

The New Yorker's Adam Gopnik considers whether the bizarre ending of the Oscars could have been another of many recent (ahem) glitches in the simulation we're living in. From the New Yorker:

Photographer John Platt took these astonishing shots of the picture cars from Mad Max: Fury Road. Even out of their dusty element, they look absolutely menacing. (more…)

Why does Who Framed Roger Rabbit seem so much more integrated with live action and animation than anything before it? "Bumping the lamp," slang that YouTuber kaptainkristian says originated from the film for animators who go above and beyond expectations. (more…)

The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee put out a public call for suggestions on subjects it should investigate and one of the three winning pitches came from Stephanie Mathisen, campaigns and policy officer at Sense about Science, who suggested an inquiry into transparency in algorithmic decision-making. (more…)

On January 17, 2017 -- yes, 2017 -- the USPTO granted Patent 9,547,842 to IBM: "Out-of-office electronic mail messaging system." (more…)

The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has run the numbers on Trump's childcare credit proposals and concluded that it is a massive gift to the richest American households, with little-to-no benefit for the poorest Americans who struggle most with childcare costs. (more…)

Here's a brief audio update on the immediate future of HOME: Stories From L.A. The TL;DR version is, I'm slowing down the production schedule to make the project more sustainable over the long term. Give a listen for a little more background on the hows and whys of it all. The show returns this spring for Season 5, and in the meantime, the archive is a great way to load up your podcatcher. (Oh, also: I'm looking for a social media/publicity ninja; if that's you, drop me a line.)HOME is a proud member of the Boing Boing Podcast Network.Subscribe: iTunes | Android | Email | Google Play | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSSIf you're already a subscriber, many thanks. And if you have a minute to leave the show a short review at the iTunes Store it'd be much appreciated.

Billionaire Wilbur Ross, 79, was sworn in today as secretary of commerce. According to DC Report, Ross' "role as Vice Chair and a leading investor in the Bank of Cyprus, the largest bank in Cyprus, one of the key offshore havens for illicit Russian finance," makes him a poor choice for this position. But the Senate voted 72-27 to confirm him anyway.

In Yokohama, Japan, there is a museum dedicated to Cup Noodles (カップヌードル), the iconic brand of instant ramen created in 1971 by Momofuku Ando. Just looking at photos of the place jacked up my sodium levels. From Sam Graham's trip report in Juxtapoz:

Nemo barely has to move to fend off Zuul's most powerful attacks.

Last week East India Comedy performed "The Trump Song" to the tune of The Village People's "YMCA." I'm not sure if I should laugh or cry!

When Nietzche suggested staring into the abyss, he meant an over-steeped cup of Barry's Gold Blend. (more…)