Someone brought a giant cake shaped like Donald Trump's head to the GOP presidential candidate's Election night headquarters in Manhattan. The cake has its own Twitter account, hashtag (#TrumpCake), and stream of memes. Enjoy.

One person has been shot dead and at least three others are reported wounded today, Election Day in the United States, at an active shooting near a polling place in Azusa, CA.Azusa police are telling residents to stay out of the area, and asked everyone nearby to shelter in place.(more…)

Trump's fans are having a tough time so far today. First, the realization struck many that one must be registered before election day to vote in all but 14 states. Second, the Trumpernet seems to be context-collapsing: they might yet win the night, but backstabbing and chaos is already upon it. A subreddit, r/the_meltdown, is collecting the most spectacular ragequits. Most are from /pol/, though, which is as much a performance venue as anything else.

Scott C. Waring, an expert "alien hunter," located the fossilized remains of a curly-haired grizzly bear in a recently released batch of NASA photos of Mars. The discovery is both "unusual and interesting," he told the Daily Star.

My wife, Carla, is the executive editor of Tofugu, a Japanese language and culture blog. Today she ran her review of the third and final installment of Lars Martinson's Tonoharu trilogy.

Heritage Auction is selling collector Eric Sack's massive collection of underground comic book art. The auction is called "Never Trust The Man: Largest Collection of Original Underground Comix Art." There are some great pieces in here, by Robert Crumb, S. Clay Wilson, Vaughan Bodé, Spain Rodriguez, Gilbert Shelton, Art Spiegelman, and Robert Williams.

Are you looking to build out your library of Ero Guro Nansensu, Asperger’s Realism, Bigfoot Erotica, and Flarf? It could get easier, thanks to a neural network developed by researchers at Kyushu University in Japan that looks at book covers and determines their genre.From MIT Technology Review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjnXWe-cDFoJohn Frost writes, "I know Boing Boing has covered Disney's patent to use flying drones in the parks. Here's the latest update, the FAA recently approved the use of drones in the parks at night. It's only a four-year permit and Disney isn't waiting around. The Mouse House just posted a teaser video for a new holiday show at Disney Springs, the dining and entertainment complex at Walt Disney World, that will begin later this month." (more…)

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation publishes several excellent podcasts, notably the As It Happens feed; like every podcast in the world, these podcasts are available via any podcast app in the same way that all web pages can be fetched with all web browsers -- this being the entire point of podcasts. (more…)

A DDoS attack that incidentally affected the internet connections for at least two housing blocks in Lappeenranta, Finland caused their heating systems to shut down, leaving their residents without heat in subzero weather. (more…)

They’re almost crazy enough to distract from the election. Almost.

Libby VanderPloeg’s delightful gif is titled “Lift Each Other Up.” You can find more of VanderPloeg’s work on her website.

NASA’s Tumblr breaks down the process:

...courtesy of the legendary Jenifer Lewis.

Oh, just the 7th largest gathering of humans in history happened last week.Five million of the most patient humans in the world -- Cubs fans -- descended on Chicago's lakefront last week to celebrate a victory that was against all odds. But win they did, ending the longest World Series drought in baseball history -- 108 years -- and the lifting of the Billy Goat Curse. Friday's event was the 7th largest get-together in human history, about a million shy of the 2015 papal visit to the Philippines. The rest of us can keep it simple and get a glimpse of the Cubs on The Tonight Show Monday. The event in Grant Park turned out to be a pretty tame party for Chicago, when you consider the things fans have done over the years to try to lift the curse.[caption id="attachment_492846" align="alignnone" width="600"] Billy Goat Tavern owner Billy Sianis' pet goat Murphy was lacking in hygiene and was thusly ejected from Wrigley Field in 1945.[/caption] But first, what is the Billy Goat Curse? In 1945, Billy Goat Tavern owner Billy Sianis and his goat were ejected from Wrigley Field during Game 4 of the Cubs first World Series since 1908. Apparently the goat's odor was offensive, Sianis was offended and enraged, and legend has it that he declared, "Them Cubs, they ain't gonna win no more." The Cubs lost the game that day and haven't even been a contender in another World Series, let alone champions, in the 108 years since. Until last week.Actual Things People Did -- and Ate -- To Lift the Curse As the century passed without a win, younger generations sought to "reverse the curse." Here's a few notable attempts from just the last ten years:

(found this hanging from my front door-knob)

Watch Vic Berger's horrifying remix of racist, sexist, homophobic, and generally awful person Ted Nugent grabbing his penis at a rally for GOP presidential nominee and noted crotch-grabber Donald Trump.(more…)

From Nick Sousanis, whose dissertation in comic-book form was accepted by Columbia University and published by Harvard Press. (more…)

House Speaker Paul Ryan admits that a Clinton victory in tomorrow's general election dooms efforts to overturn Obamacare. The battle moves on to preventing evolution toward a single-payer system; Republicans fear a public option may prove a more popular way to lower costs than feeding the poor to insurance companies.

The Grappler is a device that unfurls from a police car's front bumper during a car chase to snag the perp's tires and lock up their wheels. Of course, the fleeing suspect's car may be outfitted with its own James Bond-esque auto tech like a smoke screen or caltrop release mechanism.

In an upcoming episode of the Cool Tools Show podcast, I tell the story of how I wrecked my iMac by trying to replace the hard drive. Instead of buying a new iMac, I bought an Acer G257HU 25-inch (2560 x 1440) display and connected it to my MacBook Pro. I actually like this set up more than having two different computers. The display is gorgeous and the brightness can be cranked way up if you need it.For $260 I have no complaints about this monitor. I wouldn't complain if it had cost $500. I'm using a $10 Thunderbolt-to-DisplayPort cable to connect the laptop to the display.

Can not wait.

In 2009, illustrator Florent Chavouet decided to shrug off city life and get lost somewhere off the beaten path. Way off the beaten path. Stating, “The country [Japan] claims more than four thousand islands. But I only know two," as reason enough and taking pencils in hand, Chavouet traveled to the smallest, most isolated island he could find: the small fishing island of Manabeshima.A good travel diary is built on unfamiliar, sometimes incomprehensible scenes brought to life by the ability of its author to paint pictures in the readers' minds. He or she must make both the physical and cultural descriptions of a place and its people understandable, and relatable. In lovely, delicate colors, Chavouet does exactly that. Whether it is by detailing the furnishings and artifacts layered in a photographer’s home or in the odd and surprising detritus cluttering up the local post office, the author shows us all the minutia of daily life on this tiny island.Chavouet has a knack for finding the little details that define people and places in our minds. We meet Hironobu, whose “round belly fills him with joy.” We meet a nameless vagabond who seems to take delight in inserting himself into Chavouet’s personal space. We meet Reizo-san, an old man who taught English in Hiroshima after the war. And on and on until it seems that the entirety of the town must have come straight from central casting just to populate this charming locale.In between and alongside the descriptions and sketches of people and places are all the tiny things that make up daily life. There are sketches of fish and vegetables and maps of the local cat gangs’ territories. There are structured stories about spending a day crab fishing or attending the village festival. There is a glossary and an appendix and even a fold-out map of the island.I had never heard of Manabeshima before I picked up this book. I still have a hard time finding it on a map. But that’s not really all that important. What matters is Chavouet’s sense of earnest enthusiasm. It’s contagious. Which makes this a book worth reading again and again while you plot your next adventure. While watching a local production about gods and devils, Chavouet notes, “[It’s] A bit on the light side for a script but it makes you want to be in it.” I guess you could say that about Manabeshima, too.Manabeshima Island Japan: One Island, Two Months, One Minicar, Sixty Crabs, Eighty Bites, and Fifty Shots of Shochu

Meet Lucky, a two-faced calf who lives in Campbellsville, Kentucky. Lucky is just over a month old but may be the oldest animal of its kind to survive with the genetic abnormality, called diprosopus. From National Geographic:

Even though he was suffering from a head cold, Jonathan Mann powered through it to compose and perform his song, "Fuck You, James Comey." The song expresses his feelings for the director of an organization with a sordid history of corruption, paranoia, and racism.

Glenn Beck, well-known right wing conspiracy monger, seems to have changed his tune. President “Obama made me a better man,” he says. He said Michelle Obama’s recent speech was “the most effective political speech I have heard since Ronald Reagan.” He also says he is a supporter of Black Lives Matter, and considers Trump to to be "dangerously unhinged."From The New Yorker:

From Japan -- When you pull on a tab, this Coke bottle label becomes a bow.

When you logged into AOL in the 1990s, you were greeted with the voice of Elwood Edwards. Last night, Brandee Barker was headed to one of Hillary Clinton's Ohio campaign headquarters for canvassing when she happened to meet Edwards. He was her Uber driver!

The artist whose iconic Obama/HOPE posters were the subject of a bitter legal dispute while simultaneously defining the 2008 campaign has produced a poster for Trump, entitled "Demagogue." (more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8GDbEvonKIElected representatives of Hong Kong's Youngspiration party deliberately mangled their oaths of office, refusing to swear loyalty to China (instead swearing to Hong Kong) and pronouncing China as "Shina," a term dating from the Japanese occupation of China (they also held up a banner that said "Hong Kong is not China"). (more…)

Interspecies friends.[via]

When the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, it meant that the 2016 presidential race would be the first one in 50 years without the fundamental protections the act promised, as a check against racist voter suppression. (more…)

Oliver's 30+ minute investigative piece on Mary Kay, Amway, Herbalife, Avon, Rodan and Fields and the rest of the MLM basket of deplorables shows how the Facebook era has supercharged these semi-criminal enterprises, entrapping thousands of people in a cycle of debt and deception that is fuelled by celebrity endorsers, including Madeline Albright. (more…)

With more than a hundred positive reviews, Amurleopard's $4.23 Cthulhu ski mask seems to represent a kind of triumph in a narrow but important niche. Order now and get it in time to wear to the post-election unrest! (via Interesting Finds)

This exploitable clip of El Risitas telling a story is the new "Hitler Reacts," and the clear winner to date is Jason Skidmore's "Apple Engineer Talks About New 2016 Macbook Pro." Warning: you may pee yourself a little laughing. (more…)

Slack key legend Ledward Kaapana not only nails the Dick Dale surfing standard, but he even breaks into "Ghost Riders in the Sky" for good measure. (more…)

The asteroid belt holds untold wealth for the prospectors who can reach and mine them. Wired UK just published an interesting chart of select asteroids valued between 1 and 27 quintillion dollars each. (more…)

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s Rachel Bloom leads a chorus of celebrities in the most foul-mouthed voter PSA of the year.

The 12-year-old Brit stars in the video for “Find Me (ft. Birdy),” the latest single from Sigma.

There has been much anguish over Apple's new MacBook Pros. In lieu of specifications more impressive than a 2 year-old HP Elite, Apple offered up the Touchbar, a touchscreen mini LED display where the function keys are supposed to be.Though classic Apple—pursue clever innovations at the cost of appealing to the pepperbeards who still think they're Apple's customer base—the backlash was more pronounced than usual. But the Touchbar is just an easy scapegoat for the new model's 16GB RAM limit, an unsexy but more serious problem.And guess what: that Touchbar is completely justified. If you object to it, your argument is now invalid. Criticism of the Touchbar is no longer permissible in civilized milieux.

A St. Louis-area police officer was photographed posing with a murder victim's corpse, and a police lawyer threatened the newsroom to whom the image was leaked. KMOV, far from being impressed by the attempt to intimidate it, posted Lauren Trager's article wondering what on Earth a cops was doing giving the thumbs up while fooling around with Omar Rahman's dead body — and also Lynette M. Petruska's threatening letter.

Mattthew Luckhurst, a 5-year veteran of San Antionio Police Department, was fired after feeding shit to a homeless person. Josh Baugh reports that he "placed fecal matter between two pieces of bread" and placed it in a styrofoam container next to his victim. It's not clear if they ate it.

Copyright trolls like LA-based CEG TEK are exploiting Canada's "notice-and-notice" copyright system to force ISPs to pass on extortion letters to their customers, threatening them with dire consequences unless they pay hundreds of dollars to settle unsubstantiated accusations of copyright infringement. (more…)

This one from the A side with Michael Bloomfield on guitar.

Ships in the Arctic Ocean report that an odd pinging sound emanating from the bottom of the sea can be heard through their hulls. The Canadian military, fortified with Scooby snacks, is on the case.From The Guardian:

There are a lot of solar chargers out there, but the Water-Resistant Dual-USB Solar Charger is one of the best deals I've seen. It's much more compact than your typical solar chargers, which tend to be very brick-like. And yet it still packs an impressive 5000mAh of power.The charger itself can be powered via solar energy or USB depending on where you find yourself needing it. From there, you can charge any two USB-compatible devices simultaneously with its dual high-speed 2.1A outputs.The best feature is that this charger is water and dust resistant, so you can truly take advantage of solar power outdoors without worrying about it breaking.If you've been looking for a solar charger, this one comes at a great discount. The Water-Resistant Dual-USB Solar Charger is just $19.99 in the Boing Boing Store.Also explore the Best-Sellers on our network right now:

(more…)

An imminently forthcoming version of Google's Chrome browser will flip the way that browsers convey information about privacy and security to users: instead of discreetly informing users that the HTTPS-enabled sites they're browsing are more secure, they'll flag any non-HTTPS site as insecure, with a series of escalating alerts that will end -- at some unspecified date -- by displaying an exclamation point inside red triangle and the letters HTTP next to the web addresses of non-HTTPS sites. (more…)