Amanda Palmer provides vocals on this 10+-minute Purple Rain cover, backed by Jherek Bischoff and a string quartet consisting of Serena McKinney (violin), Ben Ullery (viola), Alma Fernandez (viola) and Jacob Braun (cello).It's $1 to download from Bandcamp, with proceeds to the Elevate Hope Foundation, founded by Prince protege Sheila E to provide music therapy to abused and abandoned kids. Prince himself was a supporter of the foundation.Purple Rain [Amanda Palmer & Jherek Bischoff/Bandcamp](via Metafilter)

A law enforcement official told the Associated Press today that tests show Prince died of an opioid overdose. The iconic musician was found dead at Paisley Park, his home and studio in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on the morning of April 21, 2016. He was 57.(more…)

The United States International Trade Commission, "an independent, bipartisan, quasi-judicial, federal agency of the United States that provides trade expertise to both the legislative and executive branches," has just tabled a deep, 792-page report on the likely economic benefits to the USA from the secretly negotiated, anti-democratic Trans-Pacific Partnership, and they predict that the agreement will deliver 0.01% growth to the US economy between now and 2032, when it will level off altogether. (more…)

Mary Meeker, a venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, has released the 230-page slideshow for her annual "Internet Trends" report. I've just started going through it and it's fascinating. What learned in the first 30 slides or so: Population growth is slowing, household debt is increasing, people are living longer, GDPs have been below average in recent years, smartphone sales are slowing, and user-generated video is the new big thing.From Washington Post:

In this video, a broken tap is removed from a heavy cast-iron machine part: "A Metal Disintegration Machine (MDM) or Electric Discharge Machine (EDM) was used to successfully disintegrate the broken tap saving the customer thousands of dollars. The broken tap didn't have a chance!" [via] (more…)

London's Daniel Brown created a generative design system that designs beautiful, brutalist cityscapes that are part Blade Runner Hong Kong, part Inception; he then manually sorts through the results, picks the best, and publishes them in a series called "Travelling by Numbers." (more…)

Caleb Kraft used overlapping graham crackers and icing/glue to piece together a functional, edible Google Cardboard viewer whose only inedible components were the lenses (which Kraft says he could have made from edible material -- sugar? -- but lacked the time for). (more…)

Steampunk pioneer Jake von Slatt sez, "Unbelievably, The Steampunk Workshop will be ten years old in just a few months so it's kind of fitting that I've just completed my biggest and probably my last steampunk mod of my steampunk career. It's a car and it's for sale." (more…)

In this video from the Recode conference, an interesting reveal of what Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos thinks of the legal battle between Peter Thiel and Gawker, with Hulk Hogan as a most unfortunate proxy. Bezos is full of surprising insights here, and offers Thiel some tough love.The only effective defense public figures like Thiel have against their critics, says Bezos: “Develop a thick skin.”(more…)

Lost and found.

A Middle East investor is now Uber's single largest source of cash. On Wednesday, the global ride-sharing startup said it had raised $3.5 billion from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the main investment fund of the kingdom.(more…)

An analysis from USA Today finds that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is currently involved in 3,500 legal actions. Who else is involved? Everyone from the government to vodka makers. This number is unprecedented in scope for any presidential candidate in U.S. history, and likely far too many for the entire American press corps to really get down to the bottom of, in time for voters to determine what that means for their choice in November.(more…)

Cable One CEO Thomas Might boasted to investors that his company pulled down prospective customers' FICO scores and used them to determine the kind of service they'd extend to them, with "hollow value" customers (those with poor credit) getting less service. (more…)

Jon writes, "Austin, Texas theater maven Heather Barfield energizes the discussion of personal privacy with her highly interactive play 'Privacy Settings: A Promethean Tale,' running through June 18 at the Vortex Theatre in Austin (and streaming June 10)." (more…)

Tampa, Florida company SynDaver Labs, makers of fake body parts for clinical training and studies (as seen on Mythbusters), has developed a synthetic canine to be operated on by veterinary students learning surgery."It bleeds, it breathes, it can even die,” veterinarian David Danielson told MyNews13.From SynDaver Labs:

This system was designed to combat car jacking by shooting a jet of flames at anyone standing next to either side of the car.From the YouTube description:

See sample pages from this book at Wink.Encyclopedia of Electronic Components Volume 3: Sensors

Andrei Bubeyev, a 40-year-old electrician from Russia, was sent to prison for sharing a picture of a toothpaste tube with the words: "Squeeze Russia out of yourself!" with 12 friends.From ABC News:

This is one of the most alarming videos about global warming I've seen.From the YouTube description:

From the YouTube description:

Tiny houses have always appealed to me. This is likely because my childhood room was quite terribly tiny. Twin bed; desk at the foot of the bed; narrow space by the bed to walk to the bathroom; door. Much the same as a room in a Japanese businessman’s hotel.Thus I find myself attracted to this new product from the Cozy Room company of Japan. It is essentially a room in a box with a fancy chair that slides in and out. When the chair is in, you are totally contained and, one hopes, “cozy.” Rocket News helpfully breaks down the name of this little getaway (“Kakureya”) as “a cross between the Japanese words kakureru (‘to hide’) and heya (‘room’).” I cannot help but be reminded of a space capsule, though it lacks the interplanetary scenery.There are shelves for your collectibles or library, a desk on which to work, a slide out drawer under the desk for your computer keyboard, convenient ventilation and aromatherapy, a place to hang a flat screen TV, various drawers (small, of course). No kitchenette, I’m afraid.I can envision many peaceful naps in there … shouldn’t the fancy chair really be one of those Japanese massage chairs?I would modify mine with a pet flap for my cats — no room for the kitty box inside.Of course, you must have a very large room in which to place this tiny room — somewhat of a paradox. And what would the neighbors think when they come over to watch a football game?https://youtu.be/t3Q8m61orKMIf you’ve got a hankering to spend the rest of your life living in less space than a jail bird, Cozy Room’s website will sell you your very own cell of solitary confinement for a mere $7,900. Not sure how you can get one back to the U.S., but I have the feeling that this is a kind of Ikea deal where it comes flat and you have to assemble it yourself.If that’s beyond your budget, then they will also sell you a box for $2,000; for many people, this might be sufficient.Via Rocket News

I have a new op-ed in today's Privacy Tech, the in-house organ of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, about the risks to security and privacy from the World Wide Web Consortium's DRM project, and how privacy and security pros can help protect people who discover vulnerabilities in browsers from legal aggression. (more…)

Released in 1957, Co*Star: The Record Acting Game was a series of 15 vinyl LPs with recordings of actors and other celebrities like Vincent Price, Talulah Bankhead, and Don Ameche performing one role in two-character scenes from movies, plays, and novels. Each record contained a script and you were supposed to act opposite the recordings! In 1977, the game's original label Roulette Records reissued the series. They're available used on Discogs for around $4 - $50, depending on the star and, of course, condition.You can experience the Vincent Price edition right here.And below is one person's demonstration of the George Raft edition!https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=85&v=PP0URcvU86k(via Weird Universe)

New analysis of the dagger buried with King Tut confirms that the weapon was made from an iron meteorite. They used X-ray fluorescence spectrometry to study the dagger, found on Tut's mummified body by Howard Carter in 1925. Daniela Comelli of Milan Polytechnic's department of physics and her colleagues have even identified the most likely meteorite used to forge the dagger."We took into consideration all meteorites found within an area of 2,000 km in radius centered in the Red Sea, and we ended up with 20 iron meteorites," Comelli told Space.com. "Only one, named Kharga, turned out to have nickel and cobalt contents which are possibly consistent with the composition of the blade."From Space.com:

Today we go to a future where all pop stars use avatars, clones, robots or cartoons instead of their real bodies and faces. What does that do to music? Can everybody pull off an avatar? And why would any pop star even want that?Flash Forward:RSS|iTunes|Twitter| Facebook|Web|Patreon |RedditIn this episode we talk about Beyonce clone conspiracy theories, how pop stars currently construct personas, and how fans might use their favorite star’s avatars. Plus, I go to a concert for a cartoon character.

DIY boosted board made with a power drill, brass wire wheel brush, extension bit holder, right angle drill attachment, flexible bit holder, and of course a skateboard and wheels.

Cold brew is the easiest, most foolproof way to make amazing coffee (seriously, all you need to do is fill a $6 cloth bag with coarse-ground coffee, put it in a pitcher of water overnight, squeeze it out in the morning and discard the grinds). (more…)

Something that baffles laypeople about copyright is what is, and is not, copyrightable; US law and international treaties protect the creative part of copyright, but not the labor part of copyright: merely working hard ("the sweat of the brow") on something isn't enough to give rise to a new copyright, but even a trivial amount of creative work is. So copying out the phone book gives you no copyright, even if it takes you all year, doesn't make it copyrightable. But writing a single haiku does. (more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=ZPoqNeR3_UASpike Snell is a Star Trek fan whose thing is the ambient noise that the series' sound-designers created for the fictional spaceships, sounds that are never meant to be in the foreground, but which are always informing the viewer about both the ship's architecture and layout and its current status. (more…)

The New York Times' feature about ice cream trucks in the city is packed with fantastic details and quotes from those who operate "bell-jingling fleets of pleasure craft festooned with pictures of perfectly swirled desserts and beaming children." It's brutal out there, and Mister Softee has just been muscled out of Midtown.

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General Mills today announced it will voluntarily recall various batches of its Gold Medal, Gold Medal Wondra and Signature flours that federal officials say may be linked to 38 people getting sick in 20 states from a strain of E. coli.(more…)

https://player.vimeo.com/video/166135261Chloe from Portland's Reading Frenzy writes, "Mike King has made more concert posters than any designer in America. This book contains more than 1000 of them. Spanning three decades of music, Maximum Plunder gathers together Mike's work into a comprehensive retrospective. A five-year project, the book presents nearly 1,100 of his remarkable posters from every period in nearly every musical genre, from country to death metal, jazz to punk. You'll see striking examples of Mike's work for both internationally famous bands to barely-known local artists." (more…)

Move over, Mittens! David French is the man to lead true conservatism to vict--wait, who? Daily Beast explains a pick so offbeat one almost assumes he must be the rumor's source.

"Hollywood" Howard Berman, former-Congressman-turned-MPAA-lobbyist is one of the 15-member panel selected by the Democratic Party establishment to draft the party's platform for this summer's convention. (more…)

Last year my friends and I formed a club for (as Cory puts it) "people who aren't good at magic tricks." (Actually, Cory, John Edgar Park, and I are the only ones in the group who aren't good at magic tricks. The others are pretty accomplished magicians and passed the audition to become members of the Magic Castle.)At our last meeting Michael Borys introduced me to the FriXion pen. It's an erasable pen made by Pilot. It comes with a small eraser, but you can buy a large eraser, which is a smooth brick of plastic. When you rub a mark made with the pen, the friction creates heat to erase the mark. The cool thing (or bug, depending on your use case) is that the writing will vanish instantly when you apply heat. It's a heat-activated disappearing ink. I read that if you apply ice to the erased writing, the writing will reappear (it will be faded, however).Amazon sells a 3-pack of the FrXion pen for $4, and a 4-pack of erasers for $6.

See sample pages from this book at Wink.Beautiful Birds

Vaping continues to become increasingly popular, meaning there is a growing selection of premium vaping products on the market. Here's one that should get your attention: the AtmosRX Combo Vaporizer Bundle.This top-notch bundle includes the Rx Dry Herb Vaporizer, plus a bundle of accessories and flavors. Grab it now: it's currently 73% off in the Boing Boing Store.The Atmos Rx, which has garnered strong positive reviews, is a pen-style vaporizer that burns both waxes and herbs, offering a variety of options not often found in a portable pen.The durable, compact Rx’s ample ceramic heating chamber fires up within 10 seconds and produces huge vapor clouds, allowing you to customize your vaping experience.In case you’re already a fan of e-liquids, no worries: you’ll also get an e-liquid adapter for your Rx and two e-liquid flavors to try as well.Find out why everyone’s jumping on the vaping train with the AtmosRx Combo Vaporizer Bundle, now just $59.99, while the deal lasts.

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Rock Breaks Scissors, by William Poundstone, is a "practical Guide to outguessing and outwitting almost everybody." Here are some some strategies for multiple choice tests and Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Ammon Bundy, the jailed leader of the armed militia that took over a federal wildlife reserve in Oregon last January, says he needs Internet access. His brother Ryan, also in jail, is upset that he can't bear arms while he is in jail awaiting trial.(more…)

The TSA Instagram account is such a trove of high weirdness that I am now thinking of the TSA as a publicly-funded arts organization that I contribute to with taxes and time spent in line as it scans travelers for items to add to this gallery.(more…)

California Governor Jerry Brown today announced that he is endorsing Hillary Clinton for President of the United States. Brown, known for his 1992 populist run for the presidency, offers Clinton's competitor Bernie Sanders high praise, but feels Clinton is best positioned to end the national nightmare that is Donald Trump's presidential campaign.Via JerryBrown.org:

Well turn it up, man!While Freedom Rock (1987) is best enjoyed on cassette, the CD is now a collector's item going for $50 on Amazon.

p>Released today, a new explainer video by In a Nutshell that asks the question "What are you?" How much of your body can you remove (and replace with cyborg parts) before you stop being you? If you donate an organ, do you become part of the organ recipient? And what makes your cells "you?"

https://youtu.be/wfYbgdo8e-8The narrator uses a near-parody of the "youtube voice" to explain what happens when the bundle of neural fibers (corpus callosum) connecting the left and right hemispheres of a person's brain is severed. The hemispheres will operate independently of each other, sometimes in an adversarial way. For example, when the right brain (which is less verbal than the left brain) is given a written instruction, the person reacts appropriately, but the left brain won't know why the person followed the instruction, and will make up a reason for performing the action.Here's a video about a man who had his corpus callosum severed to treat his epilepsy. He said he doesn't feel different but experiments reveal unusual behavior.https://youtu.be/ZMLzP1VCANo

Last week, around 70 people participated in a "Space-out Competition" by the Han River in Seoul, Korea. According to Korea Bizwire, "The contestant who remained in the most stable, spaced-out position without falling asleep would be declared the winner."“I get most stressed when I’m waiting for my boss’s approval or listening to his never-ending lectures,” said one contestant. “I’ll get in trouble if I’m spaced out like this at work, but here, apparently, I’ll get a prize."From Korea Bizwire:

XL-Muse designed this new bookstore in Hangzhou's Star Avenue commercial center, using mirrors and clever perspective to make its many rooms seem infinite and mind-meltingly weird. (more…)

Xian'er is a robotic Buddhist monk that lives at the 1,700 year-old Longquan Temple in Beijing, China. Video below. The temple is host to an animation and maker studio meant to blend technology, science, and spirituality. From CNN: