Part of an ongoing series by weird chart-maker Scott Bateman; link to today's edition.

Back in 2009, I found a rare, used copy of Shel Silverstein's raunchy, hilarious not-kid's book Uncle Shelby's ABZ Book: A Primer for Adults Only, after George RR Martin told me it was uproariously funny and a don't-miss. (more…)

James Bridle (previously) honors the The Cloud Index, "a tool for actionable weather forecasts" at London's Serpentine Gallery, with a lyrical longread about the history of clouds, science, war and computation. (more…)

Redditor ipee9932cd couldn't find a keyboard to their liking, so they built the casing of their dreams—out of cement. The brutal board weighs in at 12 pounds (yes, heavier than an IBM Model M) and "it takes some force to move it."

Ted Wiggin created stella nova, a beautiful demo of his Rose Engine, a tool for procedural compositing. (more…)

When you’ve had a long day and it’s time to unwind, there’s a lot you can do to relax: drink some tea, take a shower or even read a book. But there’s one thing that's essential to a comfortable night’s rest—and that’s investing in some really good sheets.Enter Bamboo Bed Sheets. These quality sheets retail for $120, but they're currently on sale for just $32.98 in the Boing Boing Store. They're made with a combination of bamboo yarns and microfiber, meaning they’re ridiculously soft and ultra-durable.One set includes 1 flat sheet, 1 fitted sheet, and 2 pillowcases that fit all types of mattresses. And since Bamboo Bed Sheets are designed to stay soft and wrinkle-free for years to come, the one set will last you a long time.

“We’ve secretly replaced the fine smartphones they usually serve with sticks of butter. Let’s see if anyone can tell the difference!”(more…)

You, too, can now have Donald Trump's hair. On a t-shirt. IMGURian Jakob Brask is crowdsourcing these Donald Trump 3D t-shirt with "natural windblown hair" effect.(more…)

One of the great political leaders of Israel, Nobel peace prize laureate Shimon Peres, has died. He was 93 years old. He suffered a stroke two weeks ago.(more…)

The fellow who posted this video said, "I wanted to get medicated, so I asked the driver if I could smoke. He clearly said 'yes,' so I did. In New Orleans, marijuana has been decriminalized, so I didn't see the problem. But he did, so I got ejected."

See sample pages from this book at Wink.The Coloring Book for Goths: The World's Most Depressing Book

Richard Williams, aka Prince Ea, is an amazing spoken word artist who helps make people aware of their lives and surroundings. With his videos, he reminds us that we can make a difference. He has a new video about the modern school system and how, in his opinion, it needs to be improved. It shows that the school curriculum may not be as perfect as we thought. Does it need to change? Well, we'll let you watch and decide for yourself.

Dan Colman of Open Culture says, "Watch Peter Pringle perform on the theremin “Over the Rainbow,” the song originally written for 1939’s The Wizard of Oz. (more…)

YouTuber kipkay repurposed a vintage 30-year-old Mac mouse in this how-to video. Turns out there are lots of little items inside that can be salvaged for other projects, too. (more…)

The Avantree Powerhouse 4 Port Fast USB Charging Station brings high quality, high power, and still keeps your work space or home looking neat and organized.The best part about this charger is its capacity. It comes packing 4 USB charging sockets and a powerful 4.5A/22.5W output.. Its smartport technology means you don’t have to worry about frying your battery, either—it automatically recognizes how many amps are needed to charge each device. Thanks to its smart compatibility, the Avantree auto-adapts to iPad, iPhone, Samsung, and all other iOS and Android devices so you always get the fastest charge for your device.But it's the design of this charger that really separates it from the competition. It comes with a velcro system that manages and hides cables, so you're not overwhelmed by a mess. Devices, big and small, will line up neatly on the charging dock, and the modern block-style buttons give it a clean, high-tech style.The Avantree Powerhouse is currently $35.99 plus free US shipping in the Boing Boing Store.

This video from 2011 inspired a 2015 documentary called Sam Klemke's Time Machine.

"I glit from one thing to another a lot," said David. "It's like flip, but it's the 70s' version. *sniff*" (Subsequently) (more…)

Eugene Pylinsky (aka Pylik) put together this outsized 3D modeling animation to be projected on a pillared facade. The result uses the space in creative and surprising ways. (more…)

Travel writer Ben Schlappig uses something called "mileage running" to accumulate lots of travel miles.

Jim Jones writes, "I have been playing The Warren, Marshall Miller's role playing game about being rabbits, with my three kids for a little over a month. We play in an area based on our suburban neighborhood. My second grade daughter chose to do a diorama of a suburb for school so she could talk about our game and we built it so that it appeared in the rule book for the role playing game itself." (more…)

I bought this illuminated handheld magnifier on Amazon for $3 (free shipping) last year and I use it a lot. It's a great splinter and lice checker. I've gotten my $3 of value from it just looking at tiny bugs and skin abnormalities. It has two built in LEDs and uses two AA batteries.

Dutch manufacturer Vanmoof started printing a photo of a TV set on the boxes it uses to ship bikes. Now the bikes arrive at their destination in perfect condition.From Cycling Weekly:“No matter who was doing the shipping, too many of our bikes arrived looking like they’d been through a metal-munching combine harvester. It was getting expensive for us, and bloody annoying for our customers,” creative director Bex Rad wrote on the company’s blog.“Earlier this year our co-founder Ties had a flash of genius. Our boxes are about the same size as a (really really reaaaally massive) flatscreen television. Flatscreen televisions always arrive in perfect condition. What if we just printed a flatscreen television on the side of our boxes?“And just like that, shipping damage to our bikes dropped by 70–80%.”[via]

Astronomers working with the NASA Hubble Space Telescope have captured images of what might be water vapor plumes erupting from the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa. “This finding bolsters other Hubble observations suggesting the icy moon erupts with high altitude water vapor plumes,” reports NASA. “ The observation increases the possibility that missions to Europa may be able to sample Europa’s ocean without having to drill through miles of ice.”(more…)

Shu Lam, a 25-year-old PhD student at the University of Melbourne's School of Engineering, has developed a polymer that rips apart the cell walls of superbug strain bacteria.From Science Alert:

In Neural Photo Editing With Introspective Adversarial Networks, a group of University of Edinburgh engineers and a private research colleague describe a method for using "introspective adversarial networks" to edit images in realtime, which they demonstrate in an open project called "Neural Photo Editor" that "enhances" photos by predicting what should be under your brush. (more…)

The October issue of Make is focused on making props and costume armor (natch!) and on the website, master propmaker Shawn Thorsson shares an elaborate and fearsome set of instructions for making your own gigantic, embossed battle-axe. (more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWuJbycGpTEWe went to our neighborhood Halloween store yesterday to find cool stuff with which to celebrate the best holiday of the year, and came home with one of these $30 animated, spooky eyeball doorbells, which I am now officially obsessed with. (more…)

A man attempting to take a selfie with a python was bitten by the python, reports the Reuters news agency. "It attacked me," said the victim, one of a group of people manhandling the massive snake in hopes of getting a photo with it. (more…)

The Australian state of Victoria, scandalized by the sight of bare buttocks, has banned the practice of displaying them. No buts! (more…)

As seen in this photo, taken by Pest Professionals of Northampton, England, there was a wasp nest in the attic of house in Pipewell.

Pumpkin is too watery and stringy to can, and the USDA has an exceptionally loosey-goosey definition of "pumpkin," which allows manufacturers to can various winter squash varieties (including one that Libby's specially bred to substitute for pumpkin) and call it "100% pumpkin." (more…)

Shigeki Matsuyama created Narcissism: Dazzle room, a trippy and disorienting painted pattern based on camouflage patterns used in World War I. (more…)

For nearly an hour, this steam train from Brienz to Rothorn ascends a steep mountain and navigates narrow tunnels amid spectacular Swiss scenery. In addition to driver POV, YouTuber Timsvideochannel1 also got footage of the views: (more…)

On the eve of the Stuxnet attacks, half a decade ago, I found myself discussing what it all meant with William Gibson (I'd just interviewed him on stage in London), and I said, "I think the most significant thing about any of these sophisticated, government-backed attacks is that they will eventually turn into a cheap and easy weapon that technically unskilled people can deploy for petty grievances." We haven't quite got there yet with Stuxnet, but there's a whole class of "advanced persistent threat" techniques that are now in the hands of fringey criminals who deploy them at the smallest provocation. (more…)

It's been just over a year since Jeremy Corbyn won the UK Labour Party leadership race with the biggest margin in history -- an avowed socialist who would reverse the party's years of special gifts to the UK's legendarily corrupt finance sector, fight mass surveillance, pull out of secretive trade deals -- a frugal man who walked his talk. (more…)

Everyone thought it was some kind of mass kid-hysteria inspired by marketing for the new version of Stephen King's IT, but guess what! There was an evil clown after all!

Salesforce.com and Google are two of the technology giants who have expressed interest in a possible buyout of the struggling social media firm Twitter, according to various reports.Reuters describes today's news leak as “the start of what is likely to be a slow-rolling auction of the high-profile but money-losing social media company.”CNBC reported the Twitter sale talks rumors, citing anonymous sources. Twitter is in talks with companies including Google/Alphabet, and may receive a formal bid from them soon. Citing an anonymous source, Reuters says Salesforce.com is also pursuing Twitter.Reuters:

Just look at it. (Thanks, Sandro)

A FEW WEEKS AGO:

Glenn Reynolds, blogger, USA Today contributor and law professor, had an answer for drivers who found themselves surrounded during protests in Charlotte over the police killing of a black person: "Run Them Down." It was not a very good answer: he was temporarily suspended from Twitter, got in hot water with his editors at USA Today, and his university made clear they considered it an embarassment to the faculty. And so apologies are born.

The new issue of American Bystander Comedy Quarterly is on Kickstarter. It features talent from SNL, Letterman, The Simpsons, The Onion & National Lampoon. Issue 3 has a cover by the great Drew Friedman!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvbJb8Oi_igHoly federalism, I love every single thing about this. And Peggy! (via Kottke)

“Trump either committed perjury or conned his fans by lying in their faces. there is no third option.”That's a bombshell, and not the first that Kurt Eichenwald has unloaded during this insane 2016 presidential campaign.(more…)

The reverse Oreo doesn't belong here.

Normally, companies that give "performance pay" to their execs can only write off the first $1M: but when Wells Fargo gave $125M to Carrie Tolstedt (shown above receiving American Banker's 2010 award for being "the most powerful woman in banking") as she "retired" after overseeing a 5-year period in which Wells Fargo's top brass were aware that their employees were opening 2 million fake accounts in their customers' names, Wells structured the payment as a "bonus," meaning that the company took a $78 million off its taxes, pocketing $27m in savings. (more…)

With the iPhone headphone jack having gone by the wayside, we're excited about the addition of the FRANKLIN Bluetooth Headphones in our store. These headphones are foldable so they're easy to carry around, but most importantly, they pack impressive sound.[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU9KlnhCCeI&feature=youtu.be[/embed]Our biggest struggle with Bluetooth headphones is the worry of them dying at the worst moment. This pair lasts an impressive 8-10 hours on a single charge, which is one of the best we've tried. And the fact that they are wireless is well worth the inconvenience of charging them up once in a while. They also feature a built-in microphone and controls that let you answer, end, reject, and redial.So if you’re ready to upgrade your listening experience in addition to your iPhone, check out the FRANKLIN Bluetooth headphones - just $39.99 in our store.

This powerful statement from the New York Times editorial board captures the cries of many people on the streets of Charlotte, North Carolina tonight.(more…)

Palmer Luckey is the founder of virtual reality tech firm Oculus, which was bought by Facebook for $2 billion. With a portion of his huge pile of Oculus cash, Luckey is funding a pro-Donald Trump “shitposting” tactical team that churns out racist, sexist, hatey anti-Hillary Clinton memes and works to make them go viral.(more…)

No one saw this coming, except everyone who works in online video. The Wall Street Journal reports that social media giant Facebook over-reported video ad view time on its platform for two whole years, citing unnamed sources. (more…)

Part of an ongoing series by weird chart-maker Scott Bateman; link to today's edition.