The week, the US CBP published a notice in the Federal Register proposing a change to the Form I-94 Arrival/Departure Record paperwork that visitors to the US fill out when they cross the border, in which they announce plans to ask travellers to "please enter information associated with your online presence." (more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUdHSIGA4ToOld Etonian and former London Mayor Boris Johnson -- a kind of English Trump figure -- campaigned heavily for the Leave side in Brexit, making it a proxy war for his struggle to discredit his old school rival David Cameron and wrest control of the Tory party for his faction. (more…)

In the aftermath of the Ferguson uprising, much ink was spilled on the reliance of the predominantly black city on fines from its residents to pay its bills -- and on the use of what amounted to debtors' prisons that locked up those who wouldn't or couldn't pay the constant stream of fines and scared the rest into begging and borrowing to pay their own fines. (more…)

Epic copyfighter fashion snark from Techdirt: $20, cheap!

If you're a student journalist and want to attend HOPE XI, the Eleventh Hackers on Planet Earth conference (July 22-24, NYC) you can win free admission (and an interview with me!) by submitting an article about any of the topics come up at HOPE conferences! Get writing!

In recent weeks, several people have reported strange "men in black" standing on the side of roads in Muscatine County, Iowa. Some have witnessed the unusual trenchcoat-clad figures stepping into the roadway just as vehicles pass. In UFOlogy and conspiracy circles, Men In Black are thought to be threatening government agents or perhaps extraterrestrials.“My son has experienced this and it’s no joke,” said Beatrice Wilson Strong. “It was really a frightening experience to him.”The Muscatine County Sheriff's Office requests anyone who encounters these creepy characters to call 911.“We do take this seriously," says the Sheriff's Office on their Facebook page.(KWQC via The Anomalist)

(more…)

Mike Sutton is a meta-skeptic. He debunks skeptics who use myths to debunk myths.From a FiveThirtyEight article by Daniel Engber:

Metro Los Angeles created a series of fun and terrifyingly gruesome transit safety animations about how not to get killed!“Safety is our highest priority for Metro riders," said Metro Board Chair and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. "These videos are edgy by design because we want these messages to stick,” “A lapse of attention at a rail crossing or unsafe behavior at a station can have dire if not deadly consequences. Let’s all do our part to ensure a safe and enjoyable trip."Above, "Present or Pulverized?" Below, "Careful or Crushed?," "Dismount or Dismembered?," "Mindful or Mangled"," and the always fun "Heads-up or Headless?"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GOejWsV9LEhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMvbarb-Erkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEA4BdTGFeUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiz66gZDvuY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CkWjOvpZJwSince 2013, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has been working with the major browser companies, Netflix, the MPAA, and a few other stakeholders to standardize "Encrypted Media Extensions" (EME), which attempts to control web users' behavior by adding code to browsers that refuses to obey user instructions where they conflict with the instructions sent by video services. (more…)

You will never win the lottery, so you don't really need to read this interview with Jason Kurland, a self-described "go-to" attorney for lottery winners. It's still interesting, though.From Vice:OK, so what's the first thing you should do if you have a winning lottery ticket?First thing, you want to sign the back of it, because [a winning ticket] is what's called a bearer instrument—technically whoever hands it in is declared the winner. If you sign the back of it, you secure that it is yours. And I tell the big jackpot winners to sign the back, but to leave some room above it, because if we decide to claim it in a trust fund or an LLC or any other kind of entity, you will be able to write the name of that entity above it, and then sign as a trustee or something like that. So sign the back, make a copy of it, and preferably put it in a safety deposit box, or hide it somewhere in your house.Then what you want to do is start hiring your professionals. You want to call a lawyer for sure—I am talking about if you win $1 million or more, you should do this stuff. Call an attorney, a financial planner, an accountant––that's the team you're gonna need. Obviously the bigger the jackpot, the more necessary it is to get a team like that. Get your team in place, keep quiet, and don't tell anybody. You can tell your immediate family, but as soon as word gets out your life is gonna change, and you don't want your life to change unless you're ready for the change. That time between knowing you won and claiming to the whole world you won is like your last chance of keeping your old life the way it was.Then figure out how you want to do with the money, because everybody's first instinct is never what they actually want to do when they think about it. So you need that time to figure out what you want to do. Then at least nobody is banging on your door asking for handouts.

My pal Lawrence Azerrad, the hypertalented designer for bands like Wilco, Best Coast, and Beach Boys, created this wonderful "I LOVE L.A." pillow. When I rest my weary head on its soft cotton, it makes me miss Los Angeles. And when I doze off, I dream of living in the iconic John Lautner Chemosphere house. The pillow is $50 and also available as a mug and tote!LAD Design: I LOVE L.A. storePreviously on Boing Boing:• "Flight of the Concordes" by Lawrence Azerrad

"Even though the majority of my family voted to leave, we are actually regretting it today."[Note to Ed: Insert regret reaction GIF here]

https://youtu.be/MJ_cIFtqSP0Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) is one of the world's largest private jailers; it runs prisons and immigration detention centers across the USA (and is diversifying into halfway houses, mental health center, and surveillance for poor neighborhoods). Mother Jones's Shane Bauer went undercover at CCA's Winn Prison in Louisiana, the state with the highest incarceration rate in the world, and spent four months meticulously documenting the way that CCA destroys the lives of the prisoners in its care and its own employees, while paying its CEO $3.4M/year. (more…)

Ben Tedesco of the cybersecurity company Carbon Black found an ATM skimmer while he was on vacation in Vienna, Austria.A skimmer is a card reader that fits over an ATM card slot. It scans and records the information on the magnetic strip. Some skimmers have little built-in cameras to record card holders' pins as they enter it on the ATM keypad. If not, the sleazy criminal will mount a video camera nearby, or even install a counterfeit keypad.From YouTube description:

A California man rescued a man and his children trapped inside a van that rolled over. When first responders arrived, they checked his pulse and give him a bottle of water to rinse off a small cut on his hand. He was surprised when he received a bill from the Cosumnes California Fire Department for $143.

Bernie Sanders told MSNBC's Morning Joe that he will vote for Hillary Clinton, because "I'm gonna do everything I can to defeat Donald Trump." (more…)

YouTuber thepoultrypeople creates very crafty items like vape pen holders, with the added twist of burning Lichtenberg figures into them with electricity, then pouring in glow-in the dark pigments. (more…)

Charlie Stross is in excellent form this morning about the likely outcomes from last night's Brexit vote, hitting all the highlights: collapse of the finance sector when Euro-denominated derivatives trades relocate to an EU state; collapse of the London property market (a big deal as 40% of the UK's national wealth is property in the southeast); sucession risks for Scotland and Northern Ireland; the increased legitimacy of the reactionary right and xenophobia and racism as the "shy UKIPpers" realise (or claim) that they were more numerous than they had believed. (more…)

Some people say magic tricks are nerdy and best left to your 12-year-old asthmatic cousin. But others see value in perfecting the slight of hand and showmanship associated with a perfectly executed routine.We're firmly in the latter camp. And now, we're giving you the ability to put a few parlor tricks up your sleeve with the Penguin Magic Starter Pack, now $19.99 in the Boing Boing Store.This pack gives you the tools to perfect five classic tricks: the Pen Through the Finger, Stain Alive, Vuja De, the Ghost Clip and Drawn Again. The real value comes in the 10-25 hours of video content taught by professionals who will show how to pull off these tricks flawlessly.Whether you’re looking for a simple party icebreaker talent or have visions of putting together your own magic routine, this package will help you understand how to master simple tricks to either entertain or develop a layer of mystery for any performer.The Penguin Magic Starter Pack is available for almost 60% off, while the deal lasts.

A kiss goodbye. The votes are in, and Brexit wins. Britain has voted to leave the European Union.The historic decision will change Britain's place in the world, “rattle the Continent and rock political establishments throughout the West,” reports the New York Times.

Designer Art Donovan writes, "I'm always looking for new and unique inspiration for my lighting commissions and the latest, cutting edge scientific devices offer a boatload of great design inspiration. From the cool, new 'James Webb Space Telescope' to the myriad of complex details in the L.H.P.C. at Cern- it's a cornucopia of rich imagery." (more…)

For years, the NYPD and other police departments have justified the highly racialized practice of stop-and-frisk and zero-tolerance approaches to turnstyle hopping, etc, by citing the "broken windows" theory of policing -- the idea that if the police stop petty crime, major crime will follow. (more…)

Roky Erickson is the founder of pioneering Texan psychedelic band the 13th Floor Elevators, an outfit that emerged in mid-1960s from Austin's underground scene and influenced bands ranging from ZZ Top and Primal Scream to The Flaming Lips and Queens of the Stone Age.(more…)

Sid and Marty Krofft, two of the finest creators of television content of all time, are returning their epic hero Sigmund the Seamonster to the screen.Via Entertainment Weekly:

From the BBC series The Highlands, narrated by Ewan McGregor. From their site: (more…)

Design studio Kurzgesagt's latest fantastic "In a Nutshell" animation explores the origin of humanity and "What Happened Before History."

I love how this fantastic short film, by Stephen "Paynie" Payne, conveys the feel of an 1960s festival home movie.Paynie also curates Oddville, a fantastic gallery in Downtown LA.

His name is Gummi Ben. The BBC reports on a remarkable day for the 330,000-strong island nation.https://streamable.com/f6hj(Edit: sorry about the hinky Streamable embed; open video in a new window)

I'm pretty excited about these super convenient bento-style lunch jars.I was acting as a volunteer chaperone on my daughter's 3rd grade field trip to the sewage treatment plant, when I saw this most wonderful lunch box. All the eager learners had gathered on the foul smelling lawn, and were extracting their various meals from the usual selection of tupperware, brown paper, and pop culture lunch boxes when I saw a future world leader with her Zujiroshi Ms. Bento lunch jar.Oh, what a dream! Two large food storage containers fit snugly inside an insulated thermos. The containers are microwave safe, the lids screw down and keep food, and liquids in. You can wash them in the dish washer, if you like.The insulated jar is great. I hate having to predict tomorrows lunch for my daughter, and then making sure I have the right freezer packs, or insulating sleeves available to keep the food at the right temperature for her highness. With this 2 compartment system, the food will hold its temperature for hours, 6 says the marketing. Know thee well that the temperature will equalize between the two compartments inside the single insulated jar. Do not expect stew to stay hot, and ice cream to stay cold. There is, however, a model for that (kind of.)Clean up is simple. Generally, you can just wash the containers out in the sink and set them to dry, but if you wish they can also take a spin in the dishwasher. The jar you can just rinse off.The 2 compartment set up is perfect for a grade or middle schooler's backpack. If you feel the need for more compartment, you can buy a larger jar. The 4 compartment Mr. Bento with insulating divider, looks good but I'm eyeing the Classic Bento for hiking day trips, it seems plenty large for Nemo and I.Two Compartment Zojirushi Ms.Bento Stainless Lunch Jar, Aqua Blue, via AmazonThree Compartment Zojirushi Classic Bento Vacuum Lunch Jar, via Amazon

Texas's prison system must provide safe drinking water to its inmates, a judge in Houston federal court ruled Thursday.The Associated Press reports on a case that saw Texas fight all the way to court to continue supplying arsenic-laden water to prisoners— a position U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison wrote violates "contemporary standards of decency."

Three years ago, the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, a 50-year-old piece of civil rights legislation that ended the Jim Crow practices of poll taxes and other restrictions that disproportionately denied people of color and poor people the right to vote. (more…)

Creepy/cool robot shop Boston Dynamics introduced the new SpotMini, a 55 pound robot that seems perfect for indoor use.YouTube description:

Steven Levy is in characteristic excellent form in a long piece on Medium about the internal vogue for machine learning at Google; drawing on the contacts he made with In the Plex, his must-read 2012 biography of the company, Levy paints a picture of a company that's being utterly remade around newly ascendant machine learning techniques. (more…)

The Gryp is a keychain fob for people who want a barrier of silicone between them and the world. You can use it to open doors, flush toilets, push elevator buttons, hold bus handles, turn on lights, etc. I imagine is gets very dirty.

A 16-month-old black labrador named URL has been trained to sniff out electronic storage devices for the Weber County Sheriff’s Office in Utah. From Fox 13 Salt Lake:

If someone asks what it was like to grow up watching TV in the 1970s, send them these clips from The Gong Show. Chuck Barris and Gene Gene the Dancing Machine were about the only unexpected thing on daytime TV. (more…)

Taimane, backed by Jonathan and Jazzy, perform at a benefit on Hawai'i's north shore for Music in Elementary Schools -- Tamaine performs her signature flamenco uke style, which goes well beyond gimmick and into a badass, shredding marvel that is as fantastic to watch as it is to listen to. (more…)

15-year-old Darby Risner of Trussville, Alabama, got stuck in a giant Barney dinosaur head on Sunday night, when she found the purple prop at her friend's house.Young miss Risner told ABC News she wanted to scare her friends with it when they came downstairs, but the prank turned into something unexpected when she failed to remove herself from the dinosaur's fuzzy purple cranium.(more…)

Artist Casey Nocket, who painted faces on rocks in at least six national parks – including Death Valley, Colorado National Monument, Canyonlands, Zion, and Crater Lake – has been banned from all national parks and other federally administered land. Reddit users tracked her down after she posted photos of her vandalism on Instagram.Guardian:

Democratic lawmakers today staged a sit-in on the House floor, demanding a vote on gun control legislation. The lawmakers' dramatic action, which shut down the chamber, was a response to the June 12 mass shooting at an Orlando, Florida nightclub that killed 49 people and a response to Monday's vote that failed to advance four gun control amendments.(more…)

From the Now You See It YouTube channel: "What makes dialogue work? Let's explore the power of dialogue in film and take a look at the offensively named 'Dead Parent Test.'"

Fort Knox Army Drill Sergeant Shane Medders explains how to make a bed the right way, with hospital corners.Also, Core 77 interviewed NYC-based photographer, speaker and on-camera coach Michael Cinquino, who was a Petty Officer Third Class on the fast combat support ship U.S.S. Detroit:

https://youtu.be/dp6BIDCZRicCharlie Sheen went on a talk show and shared a story of the time Donald Trump gave him a pair of cufflinks, telling Sheen they were made from platinum and diamonds and were designed by Harry Winston.

Harvard Business Review sums up the research of quite a few recent studies. Seems the hope that each generation gets a little less awful is sadly not correct.Via HBR:

Show Kites Singapore flew this 200-foot custom-built octopus kite that requires six people to launch and control. (more…)

Sometimes, publicity and editorial photos don't quite match the tone and relationship of the show's characters. Case in point: the plethora of X-Files shots in which Scully and Mulder look like a couple instead of coworkers. (more…)

Illustrator Noah Stacey (Zen-Master on DeviantArt) created this fantastic burger alignment chart after nearly writing off his inspiration: (more…)

Nilay Patel's magnificent rant about Apple's rumored announcement that future phones won't have headphone jacks starts with the main event: "1. Digital audio means DRM audio." (more…)