Peter Serafinowicz does another hilariously femme Donald Trump dub. Remember, these are always Trump's own words.(more…)

The Perseid meteor shower originates from the Swift-Tuttle comet, and is visible now through until August 24, 2016. The show is seen viewed from a northeastern direction in the northern hemisphere.(more…)

The next SF in SF event features Cecil Castellucci (previously), author of books as varied as Odd Duck and Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure and Ben Loory, author of The Baseball Player and the Walrus and many other titles. (more…)

The new issue of Recomendo, Cool Tool's newsletter of things and experiences personally recommended by the editors (Kevin Kelly, Claudia Lamar, and me) is out. Want to get our next Recomendo a week early in your inbox? Sign up for next Sunday newsletter here.TIP: Any bones or skulls you collect can be whitened up without using chlorine bleach, which can weaken the bone. Use concentration hydrogen peroxide, which will fizz and brighten bone to a brilliant white very quickly. You need stronger stuff than the dilute peroxide found in drug stores. Head to the hair care aisle or hair product stores, and look for bottles of concentrated H2O2 in bottles labeled as Clairoxide or the like. — KKSERVICE: Amazon’s Interesting Finds will give you pages of really cool, surprising stuff. Like this Milk Drop Bowl. I don’t know how they are curating it, but I particularly like the Fun option. — KKLEARN: Dr. Moku’s Hiragana and Katakana apps use mnemonics to help you memorize the Japanese syllabaries. Within 60 minutes I had all the syllables memorized (roughly 100). — MFTOOL: Because of the Tangle Teezer, I actually like brushing my hair after I shower. Just a few, quick strokes and my hair is super smooth and detangled. I’ve used the Tangle Teezer on my 10-year-old niece, who has 26-inch long hair and hates getting it brushed, and there was not one complaint. A tip for brushing long hair painlessly: gather all hair in a fist and brush in sections from the bottom up. — CLTOY: Leave it to the Japanese to sell toy models of prehistoric invertebrates. Not fierce dinosaurs, or ancient predators, but spineless slugs and amorphous marine creatures extinct millions of years ago. The Favorite Store offers two of my favorites, inexpensive anatomically accurate soft casts of Opabinia and Anomalocaris. — KKENTERTAINMENT: When I get a call from a fraudster (like a “Microsoft tech support” scammer or an IRS impersonator), I merge their call with the Jolly Roger bot ($6/yr). This is software that has canned voice responses designed to confuse and waste the time of the criminal who calls you. Listen to funny recordings of the bot in action here. — MF

See sample pages from this book at Wink.Print Workshop: Hand-Printing Techniques and Truly Original Projects

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEnNCB233eoY Nakajima's "Skull Walker 2.0" used the skull off an older sculpture and a HEXBUG Strand Beast Toy Figure (inspired by Theo Jansen's Strandbeest walkers) to create this brilliant piece of nightmare fuel. (via Laughing Squid)

As a longtime fan of sparkling, zero-carb flavored water beverages, I thought I'd check out the new offerings from Dasani, whose own unsweetened slim-can drinks come in a range of popular flavors—and a lighter price tag than Perrier and La Croix.I decided to try Dasani's Sparkling Bread Mold flavor first, and I must say that I'm delighted with the results.Floral, moldy and yet delicately balanced, it only hints at a full taste of unseen mycobiomes, with crisp fungal notes hitting the nose moreso than the tongue. These mildew whispers gather to a full-throated sporal experience as the flavor settles in.If at first it seems a slow way to acquire a taste for gulping clumps of algae in polluted lakes, or standing rainwater from brownfield reclamation sites, remember that the key to these fashionable sparkling waters is subtlety, a careful naturalism that's hard to crack without the crutches of sugar or lead-acid battery slime.Complex notes of penicillin and petrichor are augmented by tertiary aromas of flower petals and basement dust, leading to a satisfying, sustained mildew finish.All in all, I can't recommend Dasani Sparkling Bread Mold water enough, especially to fans of organic matter that has putrefied then dried out to leave only a vaguely acrid scent of death.Garnish with an old crouton and enjoy over ice on an oppressively humid day, in a swamp-cooled shed with wet carpet.Note: Oddly, the cans I tested were subject to a misprint whereby each was stamped "Raspberry Lemonade" instead of "Bread Mold." This had no effect on the flavor whatsoever.Dasani Sparkling Bread Mold Water [Amazon link]

When the baby gets older, she'll learn to politely smile like the grownups around her while something terrifying is happening.(more…)

Vintage Works built this fantastic motorcycle that is exactly like a Star Wars Speeder Bike. Only it doesn't fly. Sadly.

Researchers from German's Max Planck Institute and Johannes Gutenberg University have published a paper in Nature documenting the phenomenon whereby the volatile organic compounds exhaled by cinema audiences change in synchrony while the movie plays, with specific cocktails of chemicals exhaled in response to comedy and suspense. (more…)

When Philando Castile was killed by a Minneapolis cop after a traffic stop, we learned that he had been stopped 46 times before and had been fined for driving without a license. (more…)

Here's a fun way on the checker shadow illusion. I don't know where the image file for this is. If anyone knows, please let me know in the comments.

Hours after an important man's sister won an Olympic medal, the feat was repeated by another important man's sister—twice! "Sister of Stars defenseman wins Olympic medals," reports NHL.com, complete with a picture of him.

Anthony Rose, an electrical engineer, was able to hack 12 out of 16 Bluetooth Low Energy smart locks as part of his research into their vulnerabilities. He presented his findings at the DEF CON hacker conference in Las Vegas on Saturday.Via Tom's Guide:

Everything short of a ticket to Canada is here. Read on for the top 3 things you need to do to survive if 'President Trump' becomes real life.

Since WWI, doctors have speculated that PTSD's underlying cause was some sort of physical damage caused by blast-waves from bombs, which literally shook loose something important in the brains of sufferers. (more…)

The Chicago Independent Police Review Authority has released a video showing the aftermath of the July 28 police shooting of an unarmed black man, in which the officers checked to ensure that their body-cameras were switched off and then gave each other high fives. (more…)

This summer, DoJ Cybercrime Lab director Ovie Carroll presented at a Federal Judicial Seminar in San Diego, attended by over 100 US federal judges, where he recommended that the judges should use Tor -- The Onion Router, subject of much handwringing and serious technological assaults from the US government, but which is also primarily funded by the USG -- to protect their personal information while using their home and work computers. (more…)

KIC 8462862, a distant star, flickers erratically. Among the possibilities: occlusion by an alien "megastructure" surrounding it in space.Though it sounds far-fetched, and there's no other evidence of intelligence emanating from the system, the flickering's gotten weirder. The star's total output has diminished continuously over the course of four years.

Donald Trump, sinking lately in the polls, is to "reboot" his campaign, writes the Wall Street Journal.

In Wire Wire: A West African Cyber Threat, researchers from Secureworks reveal their findings from monitoring a Nigerian bank-fraud ring whose members had unwittingly infected themselves with their own malware, which captured their keystrokes and files and uploaded them to a file-server from which the researchers were able to monitor their activities and methodologies. (more…)

Malia Litman of Dallas TX describes herself as a stay-at-home mom. Unlike most moms (or dads, or anyone for that matter) she has spent $100,000 suing the U.S. government to turn over 3,900 pages of secret records about widespread sexual abuse and misbehavior by the U.S. Secret Service.From Dallas News:

Here's cobrakiller2000's homemade Levitron-style magnetic top. He says:

Particle is a company makes low-cost Wi-Fi and cellular connected microcontrollers for prototyping the Internet of Things stuff. TJ Hunter used a Particle Electron and a GPS chip to make a Pokéball that wiggles when a rare Pokémon is nearby.Here are Hunter's build instructions.

This tiny computer isn't just cutest thing we ever did see, it's actually incredibly powerful too. If you play your cards right, you can program Raspberry Pi (no relation to actual, delicious pie) to control physical objects on your command.You'll just need a Raspberry Pi (duh) and a few courses to learn how to use it - all conveniently included in the Complete Raspberry Pi 3 Starter Kit.So what exactly will you be able to do with your Raspberry Pi? We asked the same question and were pretty blown away by the possibilities. Our fellow Raspberry Pi hobbyists have created everything from robots, to RC cars, to Pi-operated mobile phones.One musical Pi-est even constructed a drum set made of vegetables. One simply hits a beet to hear a drumbeat. Seriously.Whether you're super techie or just looking to build a beer can keyboard, you'll enjoy the newly improved, speedy Pi Version 3 included in this pack. Using version 2 is practically equivalent to using an iPhone 4, and you're not 80 years old so c'mon!Snag this new version and six online courses together for 55% off the usual price - at just $119.99.

A team led by Ang Cui (previously) -- the guy who showed how he could take over your LAN by sending a print-job to your printer -- have presented research at Defcon, showing that malware on your computer can poison your monitor's firmware, creating nearly undetectable malware implants that can trick users by displaying fake information, and spy on the information being sent to the screen. (more…)

In Online tracking: A 1-million-site measurement and analysis, eminent Princeton security researchers Steven Englehardt and Arvind Narayanan document the use of device battery levels -- accessible both through mobile platform APIs and HTML5 calls -- to track and identify users who are blocking cookies and other methods of tracking. (more…)

Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has resigned from the Panamanian committee set up to probe the country's money-laundering industry in the wake of the Panama Papers leak, because the Panamanian government has reneged on its promise to publish the committee's findings and now says it will keep them secret. (more…)

If you live in the UK and watch live TV or use the Iplayer video-on-demand service, you have to pay a "license fee" that directly supports public media in the UK (in other countries, public media is funded out of the tax-coffers, but in the UK, it's a direct transfer from viewers to the media, which is meant to make the BBC independent of the whims of government and thus more able to hold it to account). (more…)

Uber's $62.5B valuation is an utterly speculative bet on a company that can only pay out if many sub-bets pay off: the timely arrival of self-driving cars, widespread adoption of car-sharing (rather than private self-driving car ownership), no effective competition from other hailing companies (including those backed by the car manufactuers), regulatory reform to legalize its practices, and smooth sailing for its massive subprime lending program for its drivers. (more…)

Tomorrow night, the Boogeyman descends on Los Angeles's Nicodim Gallery for an eerily compelling group art show, titled Omul Negro ("The man in black"). The theme is an exploration of evil, madmen, monsters, darkness, and the faceless (and multi-faceted) "Boogeyman" as a cultural archetype.Above is Los Angeles artist/filmmaker/occultist Brian Butler with his "Circle and Triangle of Art for the Evocation of Bartzabel, the Daemon of Mars" that's included in the show. Brian says that the artwork was designed "in the tradition of the late British occultist Aleister Crowley" and first used in a ritual performance in 2012, of which you can enjoy the video evidence below. Brian promises that he has "activated the Work, and the demon Bartzabel will be in full effect for the opening reception tomorrow - Saturday, August 6th." The show will be on view until August 20.Curated by Aaron Moulton, Omul Negro also includes work by:

Sarah Safi of Gary, Indiana was kicked out of a Family Dollar store by an assistant store manager who cited the woman's traditional Muslim dress, a niqab and hijab, as being threatening. Ms. Safi, 32, recorded part of the manager's tirade on video.(more…)

When Lillian Cunningham, host of the podcast Presidential, offhandedly mentioned that Alec Baldwin resembles 13th President of the United States, Millard Fillmore, it didn't prepare me to find a photograph that looked like Jack from 30 Rock had been subjected to an old-west photo booth.(more…)

2014's Umbrella Revolution in Hong Kong was an uprising over the Chinese government's announcement that it would exercise a veto over who could stand for election to the Hong Kong legislature (as Boss Tweed said, "I don't care who does the electing, so long as I get to do the nominating."). (more…)

In 2011 a crested macaque in Indonesia took a selfie using photographer David J. Slater's camera. After Slater claimed copyright of the photo, PETA sued on behalf of the monkey, claiming it was the copyright holder. But in January a federal judge tossed out the lawsuit, ruling that non-human animals are not allowed to own a copyright.(more…)

This is as cool as the DIY parking garage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8spm2Qh60U4In a series of easily digested, 2-minute videos, Vlogbrothers Hank and John Green explain how to vote -- from registration to voter ID laws to absentee ballots to casting your vote. (more…)

183 Mexicans are stranded at Madrid-Barajas airport, some for up to two weeks. They are sleeping on the floor and are running out of money to buy food.They are grounded because the kind of tickets they are holding are honored only on non-full Aeromexico flights, and since it is tourist season, all the flights have been full.From BBC

At Defcon, researchers from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, First Look Media and Amnesty International, revealed their findings on a major phishing attack through which the government of Kazakhstan was able to hack opposition journalists and arrange for an opposition politician's extradition from exile in Italy to Kazakhstan. (more…)

When internet laymen suggest that Trump is manifestly mentally ill—the abusive narcissism, the total absence of empathy, the 400-word sentences tracing random paths through the vaporwave fractal landscape of his paranoid obsessions—there are yet fair grounds for concern. You're not a doctor. You haven't examined him. His theatrics are dangerous, but so are yours. This stigmatizes the mentally ill. Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's quiet time: give a warm welcome to David Brooks!

Interesting video about the most poisonous (not venomous) animals, from the Cane Toad to the Striated Surgeonfish.From the YouTube description (which includes references):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeKaQP7m-msRyan Stock and AmberLynn Walker, a pair of folks with no common sense at all, appeared on America’s Got Talent recently. He is a sword swallower, magician, and “daredevil,” while the woman is a bad shot.She's got a crossbow with a laser sight and as you can see is pretty darn close to him, certainly not far enough to miss the target he's holding in his mouth.Yet she manages to shoot her flaming arrow into his throat!File this under: do not try at home.

Brand New Subway is an online toy/game that lets you redesign, from scratch, New York City's mass transit system. The UI is complex and broken and slow to react to decisions (presumably in honor of the real subway), but once I gave up trying to actually make a better subway system the results were fun.

We often mock the Dear Abby column for its surrealistically backwards advice. But things have gotten worse lately, with the author (supposedly Jeanne Phillips, daughter of the original) describing rape as a "breakdown in communication" and now suggesting 12-step sex addiction program to a finally-legal 18 year old fed up with her 10-year relationship. A fine troll, assuming it's fake! Otherwise, it's maybe time to retire.

Every issue of Nintendo Power published between 1988 and 2001 is available at the Internet Archive. With all the tips, tricks and maps, one can "behold crudely drawn comics of Battletoads," writes Rob Dean.

https://vimeo.com/172525165Lou Cabron writes, "Finally, after five years of work, Rhombus Tech has gone from a free/libre/open source "spec" to their first actual modular devices!The video is amazing. (more…)

“It's a mineral, Marie!” (more…)

A British woman of Muslim descent was detained and questioned by police under terror laws after a flight crew member noticed she was reading a book about Syrian art while flying to Turkey.The Thomson Airways attendant reported her for “suspicious behavior,” which amounted to reading a book.(more…)

They've "expressly prohibited" turning anything from the Olympics into "animated formats such as animated GIFs (i.e. GIFV), GFY, WebM, or short video formats such as Vines." (more…)