My Lyft driver had these on his Toyota Camry today. I laughed.Objects in Mirror Are on the Dark Side - Decals Stickers via Amazon

Since 2013, when the W3C decided to standardize DRM for web videos, activists, security researchers and disabled rights advocates have been asking the organization what it plans on doing about the laws that make it illegal to bypass DRM, even to add features to help blind people, or to improve on browsers, or just to point out the defects in browsers that put billions of web users at risk. (more…)

Earlier this week the president revealed that he supports civil asset forfeiture (of course he does) when he told a sheriff that he would "destroy" a state senator fighting to rein in civil asset forfeiture. Another state senator who opposes civil asset forfeiture, Daylin Leach of Pennsylvania, dared the president to try to destroy him, by tweeting: "Hey @realDonaldTrump I oppose civil asset forfeiture too! Why don't you try to destroy my career you fascist, loofa-faced, shit-gibbon!"

Civil asset forfeiture is a perfectly foreseeable outcome of the overbroad War on Drugs: it allows the cops to seize your belongings and charge them -- not you! -- with being the proceeds of a crime. Then it's up to you to figure out how to prove that your cash, car, house, or other belongings are innocent, otherwise the cops get to keep your stuff and use it to fund their operations. (more…)

https://youtu.be/7eKv4BEujFU"Hot Dad" made a music video using a Facebook conversation about a photo of a hedgehog. It's is a wonderful thing.

Shame that this never made it to prime time. Ralf And Florian sure beats Bosom Buddies. (Paul Thorpe)(Yes, it's a parody.)

Do you like dials, knobs, levers, gauges, toggles, dip-switches, knife-switches, blinking peanut bulbs, faders, patch-panels, big red buttons, keyboards, breakers, fuses, stops, fascia, takeup reels, wheels, yokes, tachyometers, odometers, speedometers, emergency handsets, mics, valves, periscopes, oscilloscopes, brush-switches, paper tapes, manufacturer's instructions engraved in acrylic signs, and other control apparatus? I know you do! You will therefore love the Control Panel Flickr group. (more…)

Aaron McAvoy and his unbalanced washer perform a rousing rendition of The Charlie Daniels Band's "The Devil Went Down To Georgia." That driving mechanical rhythm delivers an industrial dance feel, as if it was a 1980s cover by the Revolting Cocks. (via Laughing Squid)

Japanese researchers demonstrated how a tiny remote-controlled drone could help bees pollinate flowers in areas where bees populations have been reduced due to pesticides, climate change, and other factors. Eijiro Myako and his colleagues at the Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology hope that eventually robotic bees could handle their share of the work autonomously. From New Scientist:

A prepaid debit card company's lobbying efforts in Washington are paying off. Congressional Republicans are seeking to repeal limits to the amount banks can charge customers in overdraft fees. The company is Total System Services, and it stands to make tens of millions of dollars when the GOP starts letting it charge exorbitant overdraft fees. And Total System Services only had to spend $270,000 to make the GOP do its bidding. What a great investment!Via Buzzfeed:

Geoff Marshall is making entertaining videos of his visits to the least used rail station in each county of the UK. In this episode, Geoff takes a ride in a cute little old old heritage train at Little Kimble - the least used station in Buckinghamshire.

When zookeepers at the Toronto Zoo euthanized Betty, the zoo's 16-year-old baboon-troop matriarch, it touched off a vicious war of succession among the troops female members that saw them mutilating one another in savage combat -- the war was finally settled when zookeepers implanted the warring baboons with estrogen-releasing implants that reduced the viciousness of the fighting. (more…)

Black American wage disparity can be offset by education; but even though black American families -- one parent, two parent, educated, uneducated, employed, unemployed -- save more and spend less than their white counterparts, white families have substantially more wealth than black families -- college-educated white adults have 7.2 times the wealth of their black counterparts. (more…)

"More than 40 percent of all children live in low-income families -- including 5.2 million infants and toddlers under 3," reports the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.These families are not poor because they are lazy. From EurekAlert:

The nonvoilent, nationwide National General Strike has been called for one week from tomorrow, with rallies up and down the country. The strikers have two demands for elected lawmakers: 1. Reaffirm your oath of office and unbounded compliance with the Constitution of the United States of America; and 2. Actively oppose any governmental language or action that violates any tenent of our Constitution.

Paul Kaye plays Pratchett in Back in Black, based on Pratchett's unfinished autobiography; it will air on Saturday. (more…)

The notorious, Hitler-endorsing, Brexit-backing, anti-vaxx, cancer-scare-promoting, compulsively lying, photoshop failing, plagiarizing, M15-creating, hateful, lethally transphobic, Creative Commons misunderstanding, evil, teacher-demonizing, royal-wedding-lying, Melania Trump distressing, racist, grandstanding, pig-fuckery-promoting tabloid will no longer qualify as a "reliable source" for the purposes of Wikipedia citation. (more…)

It's from 2014, but it still works: Nicolas Cage Losing His Shit. Warning: salty language. For reference: Jack Nicholson Losing His Shit.

The New Mac Candle is a hand-poured, 100% soy 9-ounce candle offering 45-hours of burn time with notes of mint, peach, basil, lavender, mandarin and sage. It's $24.Here it is reviewed by staff at The Verge, who all have different opinions on what it smells like, until they're told what it's supposed to be, whereupon they agree it smells nothing like a new Mac.https://twitter.com/verge/status/829612326726692864I remember distinctly the scent in question: notes of adhesives and hot-pressed cardboard with a delicious aftertaste of styrene. Maybe the candle smells like a New Mac if you poured an artisanal cocktail on one?

Baseball player Blake McFarland makes cool stuff in the off season, including these sculptures made of old tires: (more…)

"Luck is a four-letter word." Watch how this clever film by Atul Taishete unfolds entirely in reverse. (more…)

Executives from the U.S. aviation industry will meet with so-called President Donald Trump on Thursday to talk about the declining infrastructure at airports around the country, maybe reforming our air traffic control system, how to destroy labor unions, trade agreements with foreign-owned airlines, and whatever other crazy shit pops into Trump's head while his lips are moving.(more…)

China's Ministry of Public Security said today that starting on Friday--tomorrow--at one airport then at others, the government will begin recording fingerprints of each foreign visitor upon arrival. China is ramping up security along its borders, according to reports in state media.(more…)

World's largest computer chip maker INTEL today said it will invest $7 billion to complete the construction of a factory in Arizona which they claim will create 3,000 new American jobs for Americans. Intel's CEO made the remarks earlier today after meeting with so-called President Donald Trump at the White House.(more…)

A leaked draft presidential memo from the Trump administration would suspend the provisions in Dodd-Frank that limit US firms in sourcing their "conflict minerals" from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the trade in these minerals provides funding to warlords who target civilian populations for campaigns of terror. (more…)

A Globe and Mail poll of Canadians shows that 58% of the country wants PM Justin Trudeau's government to stand strong on NAFTA's terms, even if it means a trade war with the USA. (more…)

Thanks, Trump.(more…)

I bought this knife set in May 2014 for $80 and use it many times a day. It's held up well and will last many more years. The knives are one-piece, with hollow steel handles. It comes with kitchen shears, a honer, and a heavy duty block. Right now Amazon is selling it for $46, which is a great deal. Also, after trying many sharpeners, this one is my favorite.

There are many admirable things about this 1937 video that explains how a car's differential works, but my favorite thing is the way they use a very simple model, and add complexity in stages. All explainer videos should be so clear!

The Cromwell Town Hall has been livestreaming this room since Sep 14, 2016.Someone on Reddit said, "I've caught 2 full room meetings in progress since it was posted. Like an unfunny Parks and Recreation."

Office workers try to feed a wild crow, which wants something other than food.

When asked if I was interested in reviewing a picture book about the making of the atomic bomb, I told the publicist that a lot was going to depend on how the book ended. I had seen some of the interior art and text at that point, and I was intrigued by the way the tone of both Jeanette Winter’s illustrations and her son Jonah Winter’s text so thoroughly conveyed the almost frenzied, kinetic energy of the inventors and the eerily quiet secrecy of the The Secret Project. After reading the book, I realized that I had greatly underestimated the importance of the telling in its entirety, which is done so masterfully by the Winters.The Secret Project is a quiet book. It takes place, of course, in the New Mexico desert. There is almost no dialogue, nor description of sound. And yet, we can hear the echo of the children in the desert, “cleared out” of their school to make way for scientists and workers. In the paintings of the “faraway nearby” outside the laboratory, we see the light and colors of the natural landscape, hear the soft, slow sounds of a coyote howling, of a woman’s paintbrush on canvas, of a Hopi man’s knife carving wood. Life outside the laboratory continues to create and sustain more life, while inside the secret lab, “the shadowy figures” are hurriedly working, crowded together under dim light. The pace of both word and image is markedly different in the closed up world and work of the men inside the lab than in the desert outside. Even when they are outside, the scientists are separate. The men are shown only in the dark shadows of places of their own making — a car, a bunker.I won’t ruin the end of this book for you. It was not what I expected, but, upon reaching the end the way you’re supposed to (that is, after reading and being transported by the beginning and the middle), it was exactly as it should be.See sample pages from this book at Wink.The Secret Project

Michael Whelan's artwork is some of the most instantly recognizable, and iconic in the world of science fiction and fantasy. He is practically his own genre. The Riverside Art Museum is featuring Whelan in a new show, opening this Friday, February 11th.Whelan's paintings have graced the covers of literally hundreds of record albums, books and magazines. Stephen King, Issac Asimov, Piers Anthony, Michael Moorcock, The Jacksons, and Meatloaf have all employed his imagery.Please go and heck out this fantastic collection of his work, curated by my good friend Bob Self of Baby Tattoo. There will be an opening reception this Saturday, February 11th from 7-9pm.Beyond Science Fiction: the Alternative Realism of Michael WhelanRiverside Art MuseumRiverside, CaliforniaFebruary 11th - May 25th, 2017

Sculptor Ann Carrington's 2016 Pop Goes the Weasel show at the Royal College of Art included her "Bouquets and Butterflies", an amazing series of floral arrangements made from kitchen utensils. (via Colossal) (more…)

After the chaos of the Muslim ban, EFF activists are worried that the TSA's existing policy of invasive data-collection at the border may be getting even worse. They're looking for stories from everyone, but especially citizens and green card holders. (more…)

The Met's collection contains over 375,000 images of art in the public domain; they've made these directly searchable and browseable, there's a Github repo of metadata, integration with the Creative Commons search tool, and extensive collaboration with Wikimedia and GLAM Wiki. (more…)

Yet another opinion piece, this one in the New York Times, detailing how incredibly cavalier folks who decline to vaccinate their children are.

Dan Colman of Open Culture came across this video featuring an hour of excellent music from the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon.

As Mac users, we know the joys of a simple yet powerful operating system, free from bloatware and constant security checkups. But sometimes I need some functionality beyond the included apps. Here are 12 apps that helped to maximize my productivity and simplify my workflow. They are all available in this Pay What You Want Mac Superstar Bundle.This bundle includes 12 Mac apps from a variety of reputable publishers. Wordpress bloggers will love Wilde’s native writing environment. Commander One PRO offers a robust alternative to Finder, and helpful utilities like LaunchBar, Archiver, Renamer, and Unclutter will help sort through the chaos.Mac Screen Recorder makes screen capture easy, and when it’s time to take a breather, Look Up reminds you to take your eyes of the screen every so often to let your eyes rest.For a limited time, these handy apps and more are available starting at just $1. Beat the average price and you’ll take them all home.Explore other Best-Sellers on our network:

Every second, 15,000 aluminum beverage cans are manufactured. This is a terrific video about how beverage cans are made, and why they look the way they do.

In 2014, Daniel Trochta of the small town of Vranov nad Dyji in the Czech Republic heard screaming coming from the Roman Catholic Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. He peeped through the keyhole and watch an exorcism unfold, and caught a couple minutes of it on his mobile phone camera. Sadly, Trochta seems to have missed any projectile vomiting, levitation, or head-spinning that may have occurred. From Mysterious Universe:

If Raymond Chandler was writing for the Brothers Quay, it might feel like The Agitated, a fantastic new short film directed by Preston Maybank. The stop-motion animated film tells the dark, witty, and weird story of Guy, a creepy clown puppet who breaks free from the literal and figurative strings controlling his life and embarks on a nightmarish journey through his own tortured soul. This is cartoon noir at its finest. And if the voice of Foxy sounds familiar, that's because the character is played by John Billingsley, Doctor Phlox on Star Trek: Enterprise! The Agitated is making the film festival rounds or you can rent it for a couple bucks on Vimeo On Demand.

John Collins holds the Guinness World Record for designing the farthest flying paper airplane. The plane, folded from a single piece of A4 paper, flew 69.14 meters in 2012. Harvard University made this video of Collins folding his masterpiece during a recent visit with Harvard's design engineering graduate students. More designs at The Paper Airplane Guy.

In 1913, English mathematician G.H. Hardy received a package from an unknown accounting clerk in India, with nine pages of mathematical results that he found "scarcely possible to believe." In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast, we'll follow the unlikely friendship that sprang up between Hardy and Srinivasa Ramanujan, whom Hardy called "the most romantic figure in the recent history of mathematics."We'll also probe Carson McCullers' heart and puzzle over a well-proportioned amputee.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon!

The Italian snail-farming industry has grown by more than 325% over 20 years, driven by a boom in eating snail-egg "caviar" and snail-slime-based cosmetics (which have little-to-no scientific basis) -- slime sales are up 46% over the past ten months. (more…)

Artist Darren Cullen (previously) created the posters, which read, "The crew of our nuclear submarines are on a suicide mission. To launch their missiles means death is certain, not just for them, but for the millions of innocent people those bombs will obliterate, and for the rest of us too." (more…)

Steve Lambert made these LIES stickers which you can download and make yourself, or buy from him. (via We Make Money Not Art)