Belzberg Architects built the magnificent "Skyline Residence" on a ridge in the Hollywood Hills. The 5,800 home consists of two separate structures, a main house and guest house, with a gathering space between them to watch a film outside.

Since 1993, Jake Phelps has been the top editor at legendary skateboarding magazine Thrasher. At 53, he's still a skate punk through and through. From Willy Staley's fantastic profile of Phelps in California Sunday, with photos by Andrew Paynter:

If you’ve never heard of it before, you might be picturing a large, terrifying snake. But those in the know, as in, everyone who’s ever used a computer like a boss, knows that python is the programming behind the internet’s all-stars. You can learn to use it too and start building incredible products and beautiful sites with the Ultimate Python Web Development Bundle that’s now 88% off. It’s called ultimate for a reason because no matter what your existing coding skill level is, this course pack will get you from beginner to master in no time.There are seven lessons here total with dozens of hours of content. You’ll first learn how to write reusable code that will create tools, automate software and distribute tasks across multiple processors. Using the CSS framework of bootstrap, you’ll build custom layout elements that make sites look good and easy to use. And learning Git will help you streamline and organize any development you’re working on. For more advanced techniques, you’ll employ D3.js for responsive data visualizations and even tackle multiple levels of Flask.With all these new skills, styles and expert techniques under your belt, you’ll be ready for a big raise or whole new tech career. Learning Python pretty much gives you keys to the programming kingdom. For 88% off, you can learn at your own pace, on your own time and you’ll be glad you did. Check out the link below for more details.Take 88% Off the Ultimate Python Web Development Bundle in the Boing Boing Store.

The Ideal Conceal is a double barreled .380 that folds up into a small package that resembles a smartphone. The manufacturer says it will be available this summer for $400.From the Firearm Blog:

George Reeves remains my fave.Previously: The Evolution of Batman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhY2JFISi2UWhen an unmarked police car drove very close to mailman Glenn Grays in Brooklyn, Grays shouted at the car. Four plainclothes officers got out of the car and started to handcuff him. Grays initially tried to resist, and one of the officers said “Stop resisting! You’re going to get hurt if you don’t give me your fucking hands.”From Uproxx:

https://youtu.be/_oraOhB_MigJames Meyers of Concord, North Carolina was driving his daughter to school when police pulled him over for a broken brake light. The police officer looked up Meyers' information and told Meyers he was under arrest for failing to return a VHS copy of Freddy Got Fingered that he'd rented from a now-closed video store in 2002. Meyers was handcuffed and formally charged with failure to return rental property, a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $200.From WSOC TV:

Brooklyn-based artist/designer Scott Albrecht has launched a new series of limited t-shirts designed in collaboration with a variety of other rad artists. Each shirt in the project, called Artifact, is only available for a week and a half. Above is the first offering, by the esteemed Nathaniel Russell."I was thinking about secret clubs and not-so-secret societies like the Masons, the Odd Fellows, Schriners, The Optimist Clubs, Book Clubs, Quilting Bees, etc. and was thinking of a new imaginary but as-real-as-we-want-it-to-be club, whose membership you could join just by wearing a shirt or button or waiving a flag or by writing "PEACE FRUITS INTERNATIONAL" under your name when writing checks or signing the electronic credit card machines," Russell says. "I want there to be a union of people that i know and am inspired by. A fellowship for peace and art and music and jokes and for keeping the spirit of weirdness and curiosity alive. This is the shirt for that."Buy one at Artifact until April 3.

Fecal transplants cured 93% of diarrhea cases in a pioneering study, reports Ars Technica's Beth Mole.

How hot is that steak? How hot is the grill it is sitting on? Is my bedroom heater vent actually warmer than the bathroom, just one a few feet away? These and many, many more mundane questions are being answered by this $12 IR thermometer.What started out as an easy way to deal with a stuck thermometer on my grill has become an addiction. How warm is Nemo's nose? Is that mug of tea across the room still warm enough to drink? Does my Kindle get warm if left on? Does raccoon in the driveway have a fever?Point the red dot at something, the read out on the back of this AAA powered, pistol inspired thermometer tells you how hot, or not, something is. You can turn that laser pointer on or off. You can also switch the readout from Fahrenheit to Celsius, and back, with the touch of a button. It does exactly what I needed, and has become a fun toy.My cat, Heart, also enjoys the laser pointer. Thermometer says the spot he just vacated, seconds ago, on my chair is around 101F.FOSHAN MINGZE Digital IR Infrared Thermometer,Non-contact LCD Instant Read Thermometer via Amazon

Bosian-Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was jailed for 40 years for war crimes today after being found guilty of genocide in the mid-1990s Balkan conflict.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cnv2ZhUqVRsJoey Muha is a heavy metal drummer of enormous skill and verve and long, beautiful flowing locks who has filled his Youtube channel with dozens and dozens of videos of him drumming along to songs that don't, at first blush, lend themselves to heavy metal percussion. But he proves conclusively that heavy metal drumming makes all music better. (more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qhzdxYnwhgSan Francisco's Office of Citizen Complaints found that the San Francisco cops who arrested public defender Jami Tillotson after she told them to stop photographing her client in a courthouse hallway were in the wrong, and that they engaged in "conduct reflecting discredit on the department." (more…)

CGI artist Jim Kazanjain's work is both surreal and hyper-real, looking for all the world like photos of true, improbable things. (more…)

Afrika Bambaataa concluded his inaugural three year term as the visiting scholar at Cornell's Hip Hop Collection by donating his personal library of 450 containers of 20,000 hand-annotated vinyl records, as well as other archival materials. (more…)

Back in 2014, RSA published a report documenting a new tactic by criminal gangs: they were hacking into the digital video recorders that stored the feeds from security cameras to gather intelligence on their targets prior to committing their robberies. (more…)

Early one morning in 1912, the residents of Villisca, Iowa, discovered a horrible scene: An entire family had been brutally murdered in their sleep. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe the gruesome crime, which has baffled investigators for a hundred years.We'll also follow the further adventures of German sea ace Felix von Luckner and puzzle over some fickle bodyguards.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon!Image: Flickr

[My friend Peter Sheridan is a Los Angeles-based correspondent for British national newspapers. He has covered revolutions, civil wars, riots, wildfires, and Hollywood celebrity misdeeds for longer than he cares to remember. As part of his job, he must read all the weekly tabloids. For the past couple of years, he's been posting terrific weekly tabloid recaps on Facebook and has graciously given us permission to run them on Boing Boing. Enjoy! - Mark]What’s in Lukensia’s lunch box?That’s the burning question on the lips of Us magazine’s crack investigative team. The hard-hitting reporters who week after week delve into the heart of Hollywood darkness to expose the handbag contents of a celebrity you’ve barely heard of, this week bring us an earth-shattering exclusive: the contents of TV fitness trainer Jillian Michaels' five-year-old daughter’s lunch box.“She just likes snacks,” says Jillian, in a revelation sure to break the Internet and push Isis bombers off the front page. “Crackers and popcorn, cheese sticks and beef jerky.”Lukensia - her name supposedly means “bringer of light,” and let’s face it, sounds better than calling your daughter “Bic Lighter” - carries it all in a Frozen lunchbox, with a Doc McStuffins thermos.Is this a new low in celebrity journalism? Perhaps, but I’m confident that with dedication, Us mag can stoop even lower. They tell us that Diane Kruger and Rita Ora wore it best, and the stars are still just like us: they dine out, stroll on the sand, they walk and talk - in other words: they’re boring.Fans of Us mag’s “25 Things You Never Knew About . . .” regular feature will delight in this week’s offering bringing us three celebrities: 75 things we didn’t know! Bryshere Y Gray reveals “I hate mushrooms,” Gabourey Sidibe confesses “I can’t ride a bike,” and Trai Byers drops the bombshell: “Christmas is my favorite time of year.” This has Pulitzer written all over it.With its cover devoted to Rob Kardashian’s romance with Blac Chyna - “Rescued By Love!” - and 14 pages dedicated to “celebrity makeovers” - stars who’ve finally woken up to the fact that they can’t just roll out of bed and expect the interwebs not to savage them - it’s shocking to realize that the only items in this week’s publication that aren’t complete fluff are the three staples punched through its spine.People magazine’s cover proclaims that Princess Kate is “following in Diana’s footsteps,” but closer inspection reveals that she’s not having an affair with a millionaire playboy and driving wildly through Paris streets, but is simply wearing wide-brimmed hats and holding small bouquets of flowers. You know it’s a quiet week in celebrityland when People’s best stories are its recipes for creamy tomato soup and honey-roasted chicken.The Globe gives Michael Douglas and Britain’s Queen a rest from their regular death-watch, and this week decides it’s Michael J Fox and Zsa Zsa Gabor who are facing “The End."The National Enquirer sticks with its trusted standby of celebrity sex scandals: singer Blake Shelton allegedly has “9 women he’s hiding” from lover Gwen Stefani, while Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz allegedly has “5 secret mistresses,” perhaps proving that 64 per cent of women prefer country music stars to creepy evangelical hypocrites.Cruz - branded “Pervy Ted” by the Enquirer, taking over the mantle formerly worn by Senator Edward Kennedy - allegedly has lovers described as “a foxy political consultant,” “a pretty 30-ish Washington, D.C. lawyer,” “a hot babe,” “a sexy Austin schoolteacher,” and “a $1,000-a-night Washington, D.C. call girl.” I’m not making this up. But someone might be. Any substantiation for these shocking claims? Of course. The Enquirer quotes former Donald Trump aide Roger Stone saying: “These stories have been swirling around Cruz for some time.” Well, a former Trump aide can’t be wrong, can he? Stories swirling? Can’t ask for more proof than that.Continuing its routine body-shaming, the Enquirer claims that singer Jessica Simpson had undergone “another boob job” bringing her to a 38EE, adding: “If she went any bigger, she’d fall over” - though regrettably I don’t think that quote came from a structural engineer; and posts a giant photo of Kim Kardashian’s derriere claiming that “her huge hips are due to her butt implants bursting last month,” under the headline: “Kim K’s Explosive Dis-Ass-Ter!” I’d love to see the Enquirer’s engineering stress analysis of Kim’s caboose, but alas, they opt not to make that public.We have to turn to the Examiner for real news: “Yeti Snapped In Spanish Alps!” screams the headline above a photo of a “mysterious creature” - a man wrapped in a white shag carpet, perhaps? - in the Pyrenees. “ And “It’s a Miracle! Bible Survives Car Fire!” Apparently a Jeep Laredo crashed and burned near Memphis, TN, last month, but the Bible in the passenger seat emerged unscathed. “That is God,” said “stunned witness” Eugene McNeil. “If you don’t believe it, I don’t know what to say.”A search of news photos of the crash clearly shows dozens of other paper documents strewn outside the car, equally undamaged by fire and also presumably saved by a Supreme Being who believed the driver’s notes and scribbles worth saving. Apparently god likes paperwork and his best-selling biography more than people, however: the flame-broiled driver was hospitalized with “non-life-threatening injuries."If there’s a god, I’ll bet that Lukensia’s lunch box wouldn’t have burned in that blaze either.Onwards and downwards . . .

The Arizona primary was a mess. Photos and videos of would-be voters standing in lines hundreds of people long circulated throughout the afternoon and evening, and the media called the results for Clinton and Trump well before all votes were in. Lines were more than five hours long in some spots.(more…)

A new report says anti-vaxxers are responsible for the rise in two infectious diseases we'd nearly eliminated from the United States. (more…)

Jaime Gilt, an obviously Floridian, gun-regulation-hating, 31-year-old mother, was shot in the back while driving. Her 4-year-old son whom she'd been training as a child marksman is reported to have shot her. Ms. Gilt's pistol--which was apparently ready to fire live ammunition--slid out of her purse and into her son's hands, where he put it to immediate use.(more…)

The Obama administration will formally charge Iranian hackers for a coordinated campaign of digital attacks in 2012 and 2013 on several U.S. banks and a New York dam, Reuters reported today. The charges are expected to be announced Thursday.(more…)

Sure hope this isn't a stealth viral ad campaign. On Florida's Interstate 95 today, one truck carrying beer and another truck carrying Frito-Lay chips crashed and littered the highway with the state's official meal: alcohol and bagged snack foods with a side of sad, hopeless destruction. (more…)

Officials shut down Denver International Airport on Wednesday, canceling over 1,000 flights after a mega snowstorm temporarily knocked out power and created conditions unsafe for plane takeoffs and landings unsafe.(more…)

In what the Los Angeles Times reports was a 'freak event' at a Fresno home last Sunday, sunlight bouncing off of a mirrored headboard discarded in the back of a home magnified the sun's rays and started a fire that burned down the family carport.(more…)

Boing Boing pal Isabel Lara writes to give us a heads up about a new NPR series, “Changing Minds.” NPR launched the project this week and it looks at stories of people who’ve changed their positions in what has become a cultural moment of partisan polarization and extremism. The stories so far focus on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.(more…)

https://youtu.be/nhH0EDPSNhI“Gender Bender.”(more…)

We've been making tacos a lot lately, and I was getting tired of my tacos tipping over and dumping the contents on my plate. I bought a set of these stainless steel taco stands. You will burn a couple tacos' worth of calories scraping the sticker off the metal the first time you use them. After that, it's easy taco eating.American Metalcraft Taco Holders2 tacos ($3.89)3 tacos ($6.50)You really like tacos, don't you ($9.01)

See sample pages from this book at Wink.There are only five “pages” in each of these books despite their 3-inch thickness. That is because each page is stuffed with layers and layers of ingenious interacting bits of printed paper, which magically assemble themselves into an alternate reality when each page is opened. Yes, it is a pop-up book, but a pop-up raised to an exponential level. A pop-up on steroids, or acid. Pop-up as extreme sport. The engineering is astounding. As a page is opened a 3D apparition appears, often with its own narrative, first one part and then another. The resulting paper sculpture is the story made real. The textual story is minimal; all the action is in the structures. Kids love to see how they work. The only downside to these books that belong on paper is not letting children paws tear the mechanics. These two books feature all kinds of pre-historic dinosaurs, and sharks of all types. But the artist behind them, Robert Sabuda, has half a dozen other books with the same kind of extreme pop-up-ness.Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Sharks and Other Sea Monsters

On the terrific Song Exploder podcast, Iggy Pop and Joshua Homme tell the story of their song, “American Valhalla”, which appears on Iggy's 23rd album, Post Pop Depression.(more…)

Civil Comments - How It Works from Civil Co. on Vimeo.I'm glad the comments on Boing Boing are civil for the most part. Our readers are intelligent and polite, and it shows. Other websites aren't so lucky. A startup called Civil Comments has designed a commenting platform intended to encourage polite conversation. Before commenters are allowed to post, they must first rate the quality and civility of other posts, and rate their own post, too. Civil Comments uses the ratings to decide what to keep and what to get rid of.I'm not sure how Civil Comments will deal with the issue of users "punishing" someone who has a minority opinion, even if it is polite and well-expressed. How does Civil Comments keep this from become a "you suck because I don't agree with you" button?Civil Comments — How to Build a Great Community from Civil Co. on Vimeo.

Georgia has become very friendly to entertainment companies looking to create media there, however the state is far less friendly to folks not identifying as heteronormative. If Georgia's Governor Nathan Deal signs a new "religious liberty" bill into law, Disney and Marvel will boycott the state.The bill allows faith-based businesses, and religion practitioners, to reject customers who violate their "sincerely held religious beliefs."Via Variety:

Shon Arieh-Lerer goes public with his love for the industrial food-processing videos on YouTube. (Slate)

ESPN SportsCenter tweeted this photo of a poor urban area next to the Havana stadium where Obama attended a baseball game. The photo was accompanied by the caption, “Meanwhile, next to the stadium in Havana...”People responded by sending a barrage of photos of areas next to stadiums in US cities:[via]

Former US Navy frogman Mike Nelson led a life of adventure, and Sea Hunt inspired generations to explore beneath the sea. Last weekend a group of Sea Hunt reenactors took to the water in Florida to live the dream.This via The Ledger:

For $20 I really like this new Matone dual USB battery pack! I haven't found anything better at this price.The Matone battery is a great combo. I've tried water and damage resistant batteries, and solar charging units -- but this is the Bartles and James of outdoor USB power banks.At 10000 mAh advertised, I can get around 1 3/4ths full charges on my iPhone 6 with this battery. It seems a bit low, but is certainly enough juice for my needs. Keeping a cellphone running Waze going on an all day motorcycle trip. Charging with the solar panel is slow as there isn't a lot of surface area. I'd consider solar to be an emergency only kinda thing, and not to rely on it for regular charging.This'll certainly be the battery I use for this Spring's road trips.Matone® Portable 10000mAh Solar Battery Charger Shockproof, Dual USB output via Amazon

The Marxophone is a 1912 toy instrument that combines a zither with a keyboard linked to flexible hammers that repeatedly strike the strings. The resulting sound, over the years, has earned a strange place in folk music. It's often used to evoke a mysterious carnie atmosphere, but Katherine Rhoda shows here how beautiful it can be.Named for its inventor, Henry Charles Marx, they were sold new until the 1950s and can be found on eBay for about $300. You've heard it in many popular songs, such as The Doors' cover of Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar) and Portishead's Sour Times.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQJFWhn1R_whttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niIcxMuORcoMarx also created the Celestaphone, a similar instrument with a more refined sound.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t02JlwXf9oY

Tens of thousands of rape kits remain untested. Samantha Bee wonders why the time is taken to complete the kits, a lengthy and unpleasant process, but authorities and politicians are so enthusiastic to avoid the results—even after it's been shown how effective they are in tracking down suspects, and even after being given the resources to do so.

It's a good time to be a US airline: the 10 listed US carriers made $24.2B in profits last year, up from $7.3B the year before. (more…)

O'Reilly's venerable, essential OSCON is in Austin, Texas this year, meaning that you'll get to combine brain-thumpingly good talks and workshops on free/open source tools and techniques with some of the world's best BBQ, millions of bats, my favorite toy store anywhere, and one of the best indie bookstores you could hope to visit. (more…)

Andy from The Jerx points out that the traditional conjurer's technique of tapping once, twice, thrice-and-VANISH is a fundamentally unsound way to do a vanish, because you're showing the audience what the tap looks like when you're doing doing the move, and no matter how much you practice that move, you'll do something a little different that third time. (more…)

Just look at it.

These 12" x 16" microfiber cloths are going to break me of my paper towel addiction. You can get 24 for $9.88 on Amazon. If you use Subscribe and Save, you can get them for $8.40.

Today’s episode is a minipod, a smattering of time travel, future travel, and news about the show.Flash Forward:RSS|iTunes|Twitter| Facebook|Web|PatreonIn this episode we hear a bunch of messages from listeners: what folks think about past futures we’ve been to, and future futures we should travel to. We also do a little bit of time travel to the past, to talk about the first season of the show and hear some of the best bits from those futures. We do some announcements, and reveal a few of the hidden references from earlier episodes. A lot of people have asked me what they should be looking for, so this should help in your search.

In my kitchen, or in my camper, this single burner cast iron griddle is a huge boon. Recommended by a friend when I complained about clean up when cooking for one, this griddle is pretty sweet.The things I love about cast iron are many, and easy of clean up is probably at the very top of the list. I have quite a few cleaning tools for my collection of cast iron cookware, but none are as simple as using rock salt. This pre-seasoned griddle has rounded corners and the area between the bars on the grill side leave plenty of room rub the pan down with a simple paper towel and salt.Not only is this griddle easy to clean, its pretty easy to cook on. The size of the platter roughly covers one burner perfectly on my home stove. It is a little larger than the burner in my VW Westy. The grill side is excellent for burgers and steaks, and with the use of a simple pot holder can be easily transferred into a pre-heated oven for finishing. The griddle side is a griddle, and simply will allow me to carry one less frying pan in my camping kit.I've only had this griddle/grill for a week or two, but the pre-seasoning the Lodge applied works pretty well. It isn't as great as a well used pan, but it'll get there. The surface is fairly non-stick, right out of the box.Lodge LSRG3 Single-Burner Reversible Grill/Griddle, 10.5-inch via AmazonPreviously on Boing Boing:Is antique cast iron cookware really better than new?Chain mail scrubber for cast iron pots and pans

Since April of 2013, Cory has posted frequently about Scarfolk for Boing Boing. Now, Hunter Oatman-Stanford has interviewed Richard Littler, the creator of this fictional 1970s dystopia. Even in the three years since Cory's first post, the line between Littler's fiction and our contemporary reality has gotten disturbingly blurry.Here's a snip from Littler:

A gentleman was evidently outraged that fellow diners wanted him to take his snake and leave a sushi restaurant. He did leave, and returned with a very large snake. After throwing the snake into the restaurant and shouting obscenities, the snake enthusiast left, forcing the restauranteurs to call police and animal control for assistance.Via CBS LA:

See sample pages from this book at Wink.Shaped like a hexagon to mimic the dimensions of a cube, Minecraft: Blockopedia is designed for full-on Minecraft geeks, although those of us who have only watched the game over the shoulders of children and loved ones will find plenty to admire here too. After the briefest of introductions and a quick glossary to help noobs make sense of the stats that accompany each block’s name, it’s off to the races, with page after page devoted to blocks made from rocks, blocks made from plants, blocks that serve particular functions (a ladder), and blocks that do particular things (acting as a switch).One of the coolest characteristics about Minecraft is how it chooses to observe the laws of nature and physics, or ignore them. Sand, we are told, can be a cave-in hazard, but when it’s smelted in a furnace, it turns to glass. Both statements are true, but don’t go looking for glowstone the next time you’re spelunking – it is only found in a sinister dimension of Minecraft called the Nether. And while sugar cane in both the real world and the Overworld of Minecraft can be used to make sugar, guess where it can also be used to block flowing lava?Though the format and illustrations in Minecraft: Blockopedia are the book’s most prominent features, it’s still a book filled with lots and lots of, you know, words. Writer Alex Wiltshire mostly plays it straight (“Water is incredibly useful.”), but often he lets the language and logic of Minecraft add color, as in “Sticky pistons are made by crafting a piston with a slimeball…” and “If you dig podzol without the silk touch enhancement it drops dirt.” Got that?