On a stretch of Route 66 between Albuquerque and Tijeras, New Mexico, engineers at Sand Bar Construction, the New Mexico Department of Transportation, and the National Geographic Channel installed a series of rumble strips that play “America the Beautiful" as you traverse them at 45 miles per hour. Apparently, the jingle of corporate sponsor Nationwide was originally included in the road's repertoire but it has since been removed. Watch the video above about the installation, meant keep to drivers at a safe speed.(via TIL)

Michael from Muckrock writes, "Watch what you say: That next taxi you hail could be driven by New York's Finest. A MuckRock FOIA request has found that the NYPD has at least three undercover cop cars posing as taxis ... and quite possibly many more." (more…)

Rogue archivist Carl Malamud writes, "There's been a lot of talk about computer-assisted medicine, but in most cases these are tools to help you talk to a doctor. For a year, I've been tracking a remarkable new service that actually dispenses medical advice about toxicology andpoisoning using software algorithms. (more…)

Teen hacker Gibson Vaughn embarrasses a US Senator, and is made an example of. Now, ten years later, the same folks who turned him into a pariah need his help solving one of the greatest abduction stories in US history. Part political thriller, part who done it, The Short Drop is a fantastic read.This novel has it all. A teen hacker unfairly made an example of by the government and struggling to make his way, the establishment's front-running presidential candidate being overtaken by an upstart US Senator, and a 10 year old missing persons case to tie them together. This is one heck of a fun novel to read this primary season!While some of the plot twists and turns may be a little more obvious to the reader than the characters in the novel, the pacing and story line are a lot of fun. I really enjoy the small details FitzSimmons colors his story with, and his representation of the Internet as a personality. I think he gets is right.The Short Drop by Matthew FitzSimmons via Amazon

Alec Smecher built a wireless electronmechanical system that enables him to robotically raise and waggle his eyebrows via remote control. Because, you know, he could. From MAKE:

A feel-good film for the whole family. (Mashable)

I bought a book about rock painting in 2001, and posted about it here. I still have the book, and more importantly, we still have some of the rocks my family painted 15 years ago. The book has lots of inspiring examples of the kinds of things you can paint on rocks. The book is out of print, but you can buy used copies on Amazon starting at just 24 cents, plus shipping.

Fill in the registration form and agree to the code of conduct and you can participate in San Francisco's annual Bring Your Own Bigwheel race. (more…)

Jo Edkins' online design a tessellation widget makes it easy to create tessellating patterns in a style similar to that of M.C. Escher… albeit without the fastidious pencilwork. There's also a simpler grid tessellation widget and one for triangles too.

Linify Me accepts JPG uploads and redraws the images using only straight lines. The effect is ghostly yet technical, resembling something human-drawn but not enough to be confused as such. Watching the picture emerge over time is strangely meditative. Unless you've uploaded a picture of Trump, that is, in which case it's just another example of something slowly going wrong on a computer.

Maddscientist39110 is a sculptor and electronic artist who creates beautiful, functional, and, above all, improbable synthesizers and lamps (and such) out of shiny metal and found objects. (more…)

I'm away from the office this week on a top secret mission, so instead of posting new stuff, I've scheduled a few vintage Boing Boing posts. I don't remember posting most of these, and I hope you don't remember reading them.[This is from October 2, 2006]Excellent 1994 anti-normal rant from "Nenslo" will appear in the forthcoming book The SubGenius Psychlopaedia of Slack:

The above clip from a U.K. television show compiles dashcam footage of turkeys attacking police officers. It continues below:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEgvAzHVvk8The following video of a terrified reporter being pursued by a turkey is even better.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2doG1XmR4w

I feel well-informed and educated by Chris Wheatley of Hot Tub University and will therefore not be purchasing a 12-person hot tub from Costco after all.

Where are our petabyte drives? Brian Hayes takes us through the reasons storage is "stuck" in the low terabytes. The tl;dr is that we got such exceptional capacity growth in the late 90s and early 00s we don't need much more right now, so the focus since then has been on SSDs, networking, interfaces, etc, which address performance bottlenecks. A great line: "Maybe in a decade or two the spinning disk will make a comeback, the way vinyl LPs and vacuum tube amplifiers have. Data that comes off a mechanical disk has a subtle warmth and presence that no solid-state drive can match."Odd memory: my first story at Wired involved interviewing Mark Kryder.

It’s been a long time since you saw your first drone. That flying black magic up in the sky that snaps incredible photos and videos that you can’t get enough of. And it was love at first sight, but until now you haven’t wanted to spend the money to get one. Well, hang onto your wallet because we’re giving away one of the coolest, fastest most talented drones on the market: the DJI Phantom 4 and everyone in your life is about to look up in the sky and get really jealous.This drone races at speeds up to 44 miles per hour with a range of over 3 miles. On a full charge it can fly nearly half an hour which gives you plenty of time to capture awesome footage. Speaking of pictures and videos, the integrated gimbal here gives this baby extra stability so none of your pics will come out blurry. Its special optimized vision positioning system even takes the altitude ability up to 10 meters. And the smart return home feature lets the drone avoid physical obstacles on its path back to you.The Active Track functionality allows this flying technological marvel to automatically track moving objects. There’s pretty much nothing this stellar drone can’t do and it can be yours for free when you enter this giveaway. The white sleek design looks fresh and if you’re going to get in the drone game, this is absolutely the one to have. Check out the link below for more details.Enter the DJI Phantom 4 Giveaway in the Boing Boing Store.

Catholic Church Insurance, Ltd, owned by the Australian Diocese, assembled thousands of pages of dossiers on rapes committed by paedophile priests in the 1990s when survivors of the assaults started coming forward with compensation claims. (more…)

Jennifer Null is impossible: her name can't be entered into most modern databases (plane reservations, wedding registries) because "null" is used to separate fields in databases themselves. (more…)

This 'Trump Deep Nightmare' video is insane. Insanely accurate, that is. Don't watch while using psychedelic drugs, unless highly experienced.(more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_hywFWkjUoThree officers from the Caldwell County, Texas Sheriff's Department -- Sgt. Dustin Yost, Deputy Michael Taylor and Deputy Houseston -- beat the shit out of Larry Faulkenberry in his driveway and lied about it, a fact that only came to light when Faulkenberry produced footage from a CCTV that (ironically) the same police department had advised him to install after a burglary. (more…)

Summer is around the corner, and that’s what we like to call Road Trip Season. When you’re ready to hit the open highway, you’re going to need all the essentials with you in the car, and that means more than just road snacks. Here are the five must-haves to make your car a one-stop, no-need-to-stop shop.ExoMount Touch Air Vent Car MountThe last thing you need on a trip is to get lost. While you’re navigating, don’t be dangerously holding your phone or worse, looking around for it to check the map. The ExoMount is now 31% off and pops right onto your dashboard for perfect smartphone visibility. Use it to keep your music, maps and messages close while you keep your eyes on the road.DashCam Hi-Res Car Video Recorder and CameraWorst case scenario, you get into a little fender bender. Don’t let your memory be your only ally, use the DashCam that’s 71% off here that records your car’s every move, so that you’ll know exactly what happened - and who is responsible - should a problem go down. Its HD footage could be a life-saver.Exocharge 3-Port USB ChargerWhen you’re riding with your friends, everyone needs to charge their devices and you don’t want to start fighting over USB’s. You can get a 3-port charger for 25% off and rest assured that everyone can keep their batteries happy with this super-fast charger.Car Plug-in Air PurifierRoad trips get long and let’s be honest, the air in the car isn’t always the freshest. Luckily this plug-in air purifier is 80% off and will clean up the air you’re breathing no matter how long the trip lasts or what you’ve been eating. The built-in ionizer removes odors, toxins and even bacteria from the air so you can breathe easy.Kinkoo 10,000mAh Car Jump Starter Power BankFinally, these are the cables that will keep your trip going no matter what happens. The Kinkoo jumper cables are 24% off and can restart your car’s engine fast in case of any trouble. No matter how far away from a mechanic you ride, you’ll be safe and sound with these battery revivers that last to up to 500 uses. Rock on.All these essentials will have you hitting the road with peace of mind, knowing you’re ready for anything. Check out the links for more details.

Cool Tools reader Joe Stirt recommended the Durascoop cat litter scoop. I bought one, because the little plastic scoop I’d been using for a couple of years had gotten flimsy from use and would often buckle at the handle. This one is made from cast aluminum and will never bend. It easily shaves hardened clumps of litter from that litter box that would cause a plastic scoop to fold in half. It’s actually a beautiful looking tool, too. If Raymond Loewy designed a scoop, it would look like this (maybe the handle wouldn’t be covered with textured plastic). Cleaning cat litter is an unpleasant daily chore for me, but the DuraScoop makes it much less unpleasant. I’m surprised it is only $13. It’s easily worth three times the price.

Adam "Ruins Everything" Conover was asked to give a keynote to a conference on marketing to millennials, and he brought the house down with an amazing speech about the absurdity of generalizations about generations, and about how all of the generalizations hurled at millennials have been slimed over every other generation, too. (more…)

Since the 12th century -- and up to this very day -- tourists venture to Somerset's Glastonbury Abbey to see the grave of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere, allegedly buried in the churchyard by 12th century monks who discovered their skeletons in an underground tree-trunk. (more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJmCUSb-ZVoGothamist sent a video crew out with dumpster diving comedian Jeff Seal on a trip through NYC's nighttime streets, in which he raided the trashbags of the priciest, most upscale grocers and packaged-food restaurants in Manhattan. (more…)

Forty-seven years ago today, John Lennon and Yoko Ono celebrated their honeymoon with a weeklong Bed-In For Peace at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel. Was it a prank or a protest? Yes."It's part of our policy not to be taken seriously," Lennon said. "Our opposition, whoever they may be, in all manifest forms, don't know how to handle humour. And we are humorous."Above is the short documentary of the events, titled Bed Peace.War is over! (If you want it).More at Imagine Peace.Below, the song "Give Peace A Chance," recorded June 1, 1969 during the second Bed-In, at Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel. (Bonus appearance by bOING bOING patron saint Dr. Timothy Leary!)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yU0JuE1jTk

A man wearing a mask takes part in a parade marking the Jewish holiday of Purim outside the Bialik Rogozin school in Tel Aviv, Israel March 22, 2016. (more…)

“Learning from Tay’s introduction,” a blog post dated March 25, 2016 by Microsoft Research Corporate VP Peter Lee:(more…)

Just days after bloody attacks blamed on ISIS claimed scores of lives in Brussels, today dozens more people were killed by an ISIS-claimed terrorist at a soccer stadium near Baghdad.(more…)

See sample pages from this book at Wink.I’m a gigantic snoop. I love to peruse people’s bookshelves, rifle through the magazines on their toilet tank, look at their media Likes on Facebook, etc. I am endlessly fascinated by people and the media, tools, and ideas that inspire them. I also like workshops and the unique way in which people set up and use their spaces. These interests converge to great effect in artist and author Joe Fig’s Inside the Artist’s Studio.Given my nosey proclivities, I have read a number of similar collections of artist studio tour books. This book has a slightly more satisfying weight to it. The questions Fig asks are more interesting and far ranging, from childhood memories to working techniques to each artist’s working “creed.” And the photographs he takes are especially lovely, artful, and create a distinct mood that reflects each artist.The really special dimension to this book is Joe Fig’s artwork. Fig is known for being an artist whose subjects are often art, artists, and art spaces. In this book, after interviewing and photographing such artists as Ellen Altfest, Byron Kim, Laurie Simmons, Adam Cvijanovic, Tara Donovan, and Roxy Paine (24 artists in all), Fig creates a piece of art inspired by that artist, their studio, and their work. The subject of each piece is the artist’s studio. All of this works to create a surprisingly rich, intimate, and informative collection.

For several years, The National's Bryce and Aaron Dessner have been collecting musical tributes to the Grateful Dead by a variety of their fave artists, from Sharon Van Etten to the Flaming Lips to Real Estate. Finally, the long-anticipated set, Day of the Dead, will be out May 20.(more…)

Previously on Boing Boing:Easter Bunny hates you

The Pentagon says U.S. forces have killed a top Islamic State commander in Syria, as part of a series of military actions targeting ISIS leadership and its storage sites for explosives. U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter delivered the news on Friday.(more…)

Concetta Antico, who made the paintings above and below, is an artist known for being a tetrachromat, meaning a genetic difference in her eyes enables her to see approximately 100 times more colors than an average person. "I see colors you cannot perceive or imagine," Antico says. (Previous BB posts about Antico here and here.)While the vast majority of peoples' eyes contain three kinds of cone sensitive to different wavelengths of light, tetrachromats have four. Apparently the genetic difference isn't very rare, but only a tiny fraction of those who have it actually develop unique perception. Why? UC Irvine researcher Kimberly Jameson and University of Nevada's Alissa Winkler studied Antico, another tetrachromat, and an artist with regular vision. From David Robson's article at BBC Future:

https://youtu.be/kDno-4eqFWU?t=7s(I've started the above video at 7 seconds so you don't have to watch a woman get hit and run over by a van.)From CCTV News in China, a video about the rescue of a woman who was trapped under a van after it ran her over. Passersby ran to her aid, tilting the van so she could be removed. According to the CCTV, the woman escaped with minor injuries, which is remarkable because the first 7 seconds of this video are brutal.

The BBC reports on China's use of a "digital camo"—a pixelated look believed to offer superior concealment than traditional patterns—so exaggerated it resembles the video game Minecraft. (The United States deployed a less aggressive digital camo, but is phasing it out.)

London is a ghost of all the things that were once there, and The Lost London Tube Map shows off some of the most famous forgotten landmarks. Biscuit Town and Bedlam are long gone, but others (like Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens) are still around to be rediscovered.

The Monarch butterfly is headed to rapid extinction in the eastern US, reports Scott K. Johnson, because its complex ecosystem continues to collapse.

Seemingly safe in northern New England, the residents of St. Albans, Vermont, were astonished in October 1864 when a group of Confederate soldiers appeared in their midst, terrorizing residents, robbing banks, and stealing horses. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell the story of the St. Albans raid, the northernmost land action of the Civil War.We'll also learn about Charles Darwin's misadventures at the equator and puzzle over a groundskeeper's strange method of tending grass.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon!

A month after a hospital in Hollywood was shut down by a ransomware infection that encrypted all the files on its computers and computer-controlled instruments and systems, another hospital, this one in Kentucky, has suffered a similar fate. (more…)

You can't walk up to the Treasures in the Trash collection in the New York City Sanitation Department's east Harlem warehouse, but if you're lucky enough to get an in, you'll find retired sanitation worker Nelson Molina's meticulously organized displays of the wonders he rescued from the landfill. (more…)

Disappointingly, these heatmaps of human bodies whose owners are experiencing various emotional states were not produced with infrared cameras, but rather with self-reporting by subjects being asked to say where they were experiencing more and less sensation while watching videos and seeing words intended to trigger those emotions. (more…)

Comedy legend Garry Shandling passed away in Los Angeles, today, according to the Los Angeles Police.Shandling was well respected and loved. E! Online shares a long collection of goodbyes from his colleagues.

They’ve been very busy at the far corner of Universal’s Orlando theme park Islands of Adventure constructing an enormous building to house their latest attraction, Skull Island: Reign of Kong.Those with a good memory will recall that Universal Studios, the company’s first park in Orlando, had a huge King Kong ride. In fact, it was one of the signature rides on opening day in June, 1990, along with Earthquake, Jaws, and E.T.The Universal theme parks have been sold and resold over the years, and they finally got their act together with their latest owner, Comcast, which has been pouring money into creating new attractions at the parks, including Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Japan.At Disney, Walt used to say it all started with a mouse, but at Universal it all really started with Harry Potter. Obtaining the rights from J.K. Rowling was the coup of the century for Universal, and gave them the momentum against Walt Disney World they’ve been looking for. Attendance has risen by 40 percent. They’ve been building new attractions at both Orlando parks almost continuously and show no signs of slowing down.The original King Kong attraction was fun but goofy, with riders stuck in a tramway vehicle and encountering what was at that time the largest audio animatronic figure in theme park history. He had banana breath and broke down quite a bit.Once you watch the three videos below, you will know as much as most about what’s coming this summer when the attraction opens. Based on everything Universal has built within recent memory, we can surmise that the attraction will be screen based, with some robotic elements, possibly in 3D, and will likely feature the version of King Kong from Peter Jackson’s film.This looks like it’s going to be lots of fun.https://youtu.be/D1doThTLJmYhttps://youtu.be/90FNSm92GhIhttps://youtu.be/wHo_ee-5FUA

@kirin_nico has created a large robotic die that, when rolled—if any side other than six comes up—it unfolds and then refolds itself so the six side is upward.It does this slowly and spastically, reveling in its homemade awkwardness and making clunky sounds like a kid’s toy having a stroke. In other words, it’s not pretending to be anything other than what it is, which is why it’s cool. https://youtu.be/m7A9c6jhswEOriginal Source: Rocket News

57% of New Zealand voters prefer the current design (r) to the proposed replacement (l), reports the BBC. One can't help but think of it more as a judgment on the new design than an explicit preference for the colonial original (which is almost identical to Australia's flag.)

Familiarize yourself with the underside of myriad animals, from turtles and birds to bats and cats. (Wakaleo Animal Channel via Laughing Squid)

A group of NOAA scientists stumbled upon an interesting find while cataloging wrecks near the Farallon Islands, off the coast of Northern California near San Francisco. Reading Julie Prodis Sulek's Mercury News story I'd hoped for more science and excitement, but what an incredible story. The USS Conestoga went missing in 1921, and a massive search operation followed but turned up nothing. The boat was presumed to be lost thousands of miles away from San Francisco, where its trip began. But the boat just turned up just a few miles outside the Golden Gate. The scientists did a wonderful job respectfully informing the families of the lost officers and crew.From the Mercury News:

See sample pages from this book at Wink.When an author who writes books for grown-ups is successful at translating his voice into books for kids it’s a win-win. Jeffrey Brown, author of graphic novels such as Clumsy and Funny Misshapen Body has done just that with his series Star Wars Jedi Academy. These graphic novels follow Roan, a young Jedi fumbling his way through middle school’s version of the Jedi Arts. This latest installation, Attack of the Journal, is part activity book part sketchbook and a great accompaniment to the series. It features familiar characters from the books, but you don’t need to have read the actual novels to enjoy the journal. Unlike many character-based activity books for children, Attack of the Journal gives the reins over to the reader. Instead of preprinted mazes and simple seek and finds, Brown’s activities are open-ended and challenge readers to try drawing new things and to write their own stories.The book is great for elementary-aged kids, but even younger can have fun with the “Draw Your Friends As Aliens” page or attempt a self-portrait. I found it’s a great way to practice letters and words with kids in a way that is fun for everyone. Even the fact that it’s a hardback makes whatever you create inside feel more important. Jeffrey Brown’s sense of humor and kind encouragement are felt in the journal activities, helping young authors and illustrators not take it too seriously if their “Create your own Lightsaber” page looks more like a Wookie. And be prepared to grab some extra paper – because I guarantee big kids (aka grown-ups) will want to take a crack at drawing the “Ewok pilot.” – Amy Lackpour

A Southwest Airlines passenger is allowed to check two pieces of luggage weighing up to 50lbs each for free. It's a generous allowance. But if one bag weighs 55 lbs and the other weighs 45 lbs, you'll get charged $75 for the heavier bag.Other airlines have similar pricing arrangement. I bought this illuminated $9 luggage scale last year to weigh checked and carry-on luggage and it's really easy to use -- much easier than standing on a bathroom scale while holding the luggage and subtracting my weight. You just loop the strap around the luggage handle and lift it. It has a built in digital thermometer (because why?). You can switch between pounds and kilograms, too.