See sample pages from this book at Wink.A is for adorable and that’s just the beginning of the attributes you’ll want to ascribe to this sweet account of anthropomorphic animals and the alphabet. Teagan White has created a charming book filled with colors awash in the glow of nostalgia, where forest critters romp across a scenic woodland, bundled in impossibly cute sweaters and tiny, striped scarves.Adventures with Barefoot Creatures is characterized as an ABC book but its letter-themed, rhyming stanzas also follow the woodland flora and fauna through the seasons. A, B and C take place in deep winter as the critters clean out the attic and sniffle through colds. Spring arrives, with robin’s eggs and growing things twining their green vines and reaching across the pages in a riot of whimsy. Exuberant, the critters frolic in the summer’s sun, swimming in the lake and collecting ocean artifacts from the shores. As the end of the alphabet approaches, cable knit sweaters reappear and the illustrations become clotted with the changing colors of leaves and the warmth of campfires. Z arrives to find the barefoot critters snuggled together, exhausted from their delightful New Year’s festivities and tumbled together in a darling snoozefest on the couch.ABC books are a well-explored subgenre that usually offers little in the way of novelty. Adventures with Barefoot Critters is a title that steps outside the clichéd with playful, quaint artwork that beguiles. If you enjoy the fascinating world of the quirky, imaginative Ms. White and her cast of cheery woodland companions, keep your eyes peeled for her latest book arriving in late summer, Counting with Barefoot Critters. Be assured that it will contain enough anthropomorphic animals in adorable sweaters to warm your literary heart through another season of reading.– Kaz Weida

Cuepoint looks back at the storied career of Giorgio Moroder, the pioneering producer who paved the way for nearly all electronic dance music since the 1970s and is still pushing new beats. Below, my favorite Moroder track, "Chase," heard in the film Midnight Express. From Cuepoint:

Jason E. Kozan, 30, was charged by police in Euclid, Ohio with vandalizing his 85-year-old neighbor's house more than 100 times by pelting it with eggs.(more…)

Get your groove on with the incredible opening sequence to Tilt, a 1979 Italian disco TV show hosted by Stefania Rotolo. Can you dig it? I knew that you could.(via r/ObscureMedia, thanks UPSO!)

Emma Caresimo, 40, was surprised when a bailiff came to her home in Magor, Wales and put a clamp on her car. When she asked why, he told her she'd failed to pay a fine for dropping a cigarette butt in Wigan, 175 miles away."I said 'I have never been to Wigan and I don't smoke' but he wasn't having any of it," she told the BBC. "He didn't believe me and said he'd heard it all before. He said he would take the clamp off only if I paid the outstanding fines of £650."The woman called the police. When the police arrived, they told Caresimo that the bailiff was following the law. Caresimo ended up giving the bailiff £650 (US$940) to remove the clamp.It turns out the fine was originally given to an Emma Smith from Liverpool. Smith was Caresimo's maiden name.A spokeswoman for Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service issued the following heartfelt apology:

You'll a few more things -- some copper cotterpins, some zinc nails, insulated wire, and steel wool. You make a battery out of the lemon, short it against the steel wool, which makes it red hot, and that lights the tinder you've set on top of it.(via Kottke)

In 2001, a Mississippi chicken breeder claimed a lumber company inflicted $300,000 worth of damage to his pasture. The New York Times' Brett Weiner dramatized a bizarre deposition from the lawsuit, using dialogue completely verbatim to the official transcripts.From the original story:

Marko Rakar writes, "The TV show 'Montirani Proces' is a popular show very much like "The Daily Show" and the crew which creates it is very much like The Onion. They have produced six episodes of their show for Croatian National Television, seventh was supposed to air this Sunday." (more…)

More proof that all devices in the modern world are just computers in fancy cases: the FBI's joint warning issued with the DoT and the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration tells drivers that they're at risk of local and remote hack-attacks against their cars, and tells them they have to keep their cars' patch-levels current or they'll be in serious danger. (more…)

This video, taken by Kristina Shafer, seems to portray an arctic fox laughing. It is, in fact, asking if the room can be tidied up.

Kirkwood, Atlanta, looks like a standard-issue gentrified urban neighborhood, a mix of yuppies and old-timers. Josh Green moved there and found a community ambivalent about the changes in its fortunes. But the story of his neighbor's family illustrates it better than house prices or property tax records ever could.

If you're one of the few engineers at Apple qualified to code up the backdoor that the FBI is seeking in its court order, and if your employer loses its case, and if you think you have a solemn duty as a security engineer to only produce code that makes users more secure, not less, what do you do? (more…)

Powers' latest (and, to my mind, best) novel is Medusa's Web, a meticulously researched novel about an extended, dysfunctional family whose secret history is bound up with "spiders" -- eight-legged drawings that allow you to travel out of your body and into other places and times, when other spiders were taken.The spiders have been with us for centuries; Medusa's eight-snaked head was a spider, and the reality is that looking into her eyes didn't turn men to stone, it merely transfixed them as they imbibed the experiences of thousands of other people, including, possibly, people from other planes of experience. The spiders are alive, two-dimensional beings for whom all times are the same time, and when you notice them, they notice you and take you into their world, where all objects appear infinitely tall, where depth vanishes. Taking spiders means letting strangers through all history enter your body, or sometimes, future versions of yourself, and their use of your limbs and mouth can leave you injured, or even dead.But the spider-users crave them, because there's that moment, that moment of dislocation when you're in no body and every body, when your self is blissfully obliterated. This is a story about drugs and addiction, in the phildickian style, but Powers far surpasses Dick.Powers's story is set in Los Angeles, in the huge, decrepit mansion of the old lady who served as matriarch to the family -- a house that recalls the House of Usher in more ways than one -- a mansion that has played a key role in the history of spiders and Hollywood, involving a cast of characters that includes Rudy Valentino and many of silent film's most debauched leading lights. The Powers method for constructing secret histories is to line up seemingly unrelated historical events that share a place or time and then invent a connection to explain the coincidence, and it works brilliantly here, as the very geography of LA and the history of film are recruited to give a plausible footing to the story Powers tells. (more…)

Bloomberg reporter Dune Lawrence relates her two-year online ordeal at the hands of Benjamin Wey, a disgraced financier and harasser who posts crudely libelous "news" stories about her (and other targets) on a fake tabloid news site established for that purpose.

Marcus Sakey's Brilliance trilogy takes us to an alternate United States crippled with bigotry, and being torn apart at the seams by self-serving politicians. I could barely put it down, I almost thought I was reading the news.America and the world were transformed in the 1980s by the next step in our genetic future: One percent of all children born are born intellectual savants. They have enhanced skills, and senses, new ways to access the underused portions of their human brain. How America spends the next 30 years mistreating, misunderstanding and alienating this small percentage of the populace, while exploiting their skills is predictable, and sad. By current day, things are ready to boil over and a fantastic story explodes.Sakey creates a wonderful world, where the balance between politics, characters, and action are very well done. No one is lovable, no one is without blame, and while some of the technology, and science, may be fantastic, the outcomes are all too believable. The giant showdown, a building-to-building battle against American redneck militia dudes, and a bunch of parents who want to protect their 'brilliant' kids, is wonderful.I got all three novels via Kindle Unlimited.Brilliance (Book One in The Brilliance Trilogy) via Amazon

Hugh sends us this "beautifully made mashup video of the Republican candidates as Munsters."

Egyptian Antiquities Minister Mamdouh El Damati announced today that there are almost certainly two hidden chambers in King Tutankhamun's tomb. A recent radar scan that indicates the existence of the secret rooms also "revealed metallic and organic material," according to CNN.El Damati doesn't think that the body of Queen Nefertiti lies in those chambers, more likely other female royalty, but British archaeologist Nicolas Reeves, who has been surveying the site for hidden chambers, thinks it's a distinct possibility.From CNN:

By the time Carla Squitieri of Chesterfield, Missouri realized she had accidentally dropped her $400,000 wedding ring in the trash, the garbage collectors had already come and gone. She and her husband convinced the trash company to diver the truck from its intended destination -- a radioactive (!?) dump -- to another dump where they could sort through the heap from 900 houses.After just thirty minutes, Meridian Waste Services operations manager Joe Evans, who volunteered to help with the search, found the 12.5 karat ring in a garbage bag from Squitieri's home."That’s the lotto for me,” Squitieri told KMOV.

Google is already selling Boston Dynamics, the robotics startup whose nightmarish-yet-adorable battlefield deathbots are already the stuff of internet lore. It acquired the company three years ago.

https://youtu.be/dm8Q4fgv8QoIt's hard to tell if this baboon is astonished or angry about the behavior of the tailless primate on the other side of the glass.

See sample pages from this book at Wink.As someone who spent many misguided years of my youth drinking poorly-eyeballed gin and tonics out of coffee mugs, I never really understood: How exactly can you make cocktails "well" or "poorly"? Isn't it a simple matter of ratios – of pouring the right amount of the right things into a glass, chucking in an ice cube or two and calling it a day? Where is the mysterious opportunity in that simple process to either mess it up or do it exceptionally well? Jeffrey Morgenthaler's The Bar Book is a masterclass on that very subject.The Bar Book is not a recipe book. Instead, it is a techniques book. Morgenthaler elevates making cocktails into a craft, focusing on finding the right recipe, using the best ingredients, and executing it all using effective techniques. While the author does include expertly curated recipes for some must-know cocktails, instead of focusing on what to mix (which can always be found with a quick Google of "how to make a Cosmopolitan"), it focuses on how, why, and when to mix it. He gives you a 360-degree education in barcraft, from what shapes cocktail shakers come in and what the differences mean to why the shape and size of your ice is important and how to make it so that it comes out of the tray clear and beautiful. He’s a big proponent of making things like mixers, garnishes and even liqueurs from scratch, so the book offers up recipes for making things like flavored syrups, infusions, and even tonic water. Even if you're not the type who relishes taking the time to create something you can easily buy from a store, seeing and understanding the DIY processes behind these ingredients is fascinating and demystifying.The book is peppered with stories, some steeped in niche-y barcraft history and delightful tradition, some from Morgenthaler's own bartending days. Striking, minimalist photography guides you from the easiest recipes to the most hardcore. A perfect blend of science, theory, philosophy, history, and personality, The Bar Book is a must-read material for anyone who wants a deeper look at what exactly it means to be a good bartender. – Michelle Kaatz

Alicia Tan reports on an online "challenge" trend in China in which women prove that the have a thin waist by covering it completely with a sheet of office paper.

"Spider in a Bitter 18-day Fight Against Time." This headline reads like Upworthy clickbait, but it's from a 1932 newspaper article about a tiny arachnid in Ohio that became famous for repeatedly attempting to weave a web between the minute hand and the hour hand inside a clock. The web tore every time the hands separated, but the spider would try again. After a little girl named Louise Thompson noticed the Sisyphean spider and told her family about it, word spread around the neighborhood and eventually reached the media.From Nag on the Lake:

SeaWorld, battered by criticism over its captive orcas, has promised to acquire no more of them. The decision comes after years of fading business fortunes in the wake of a disturbing documentary about the animals' psychological condition and associated human deaths. (more…)

Researchers at Duo Labs bought a "stack" of OEM laptops and audited the preinstalled shovelware they came with, looking specifically at the security implications of the default settings. (more…)

The police in Charlton, Massachusetts (one of the fifty safest towns in America) have issued a warning to the citizenry that they've heard tell of young men in a black SUV who are driving around town, challenging teenagers to rap battles. (more…)

The UK government has passed rules banning academics who receive public funding from "lobbying" ministers and MPs about their research, meaning that the people whom the government pays to acquire expertise in matters of public policy aren't allowed to speak to policy-makers anymore. (more…)

Russian soldiers who screw up are made to carry gigantic wooden props that illustrate their sins: for example, if you're caught looking at your phone, you have to run around with a massive fake wooden cellphone strapped to your back until you've learned your lesson.Other punishments include carrying massive guns made out of logs (showing up without your weapon), carrying huge logs painted to look like cigarettes (caught smoking on duty), and carrying massive log-swords (forgetting your bayonet).Russian Army Punishments [Semper Annoying](via Super Punch)

The Cancer of Superstition, a non-fiction treatise commissioned from author H.P. Lovecraft, was found in a memorabilia collection in a defunct magic shop.Magician Harry Houdini asked Lovecraft to ghostwrite the text for a book project, but died shortly thereafter. Now it goes to auction.

Watch to the left on this Sportcenter interview in an airport. One of the women by the carousel walks in front of another, and the the woman behind just disappears. Did she duck and shuffle off at the exact time to remain hidden by the other traveler, or was she kidnapped by luggage fairies?

Nice country you got there, America. It'd be a shame if something bad happened to it. Noted soothsayer and shitbag Donald Trump can see into the future, and he promises 'riots' and other very 'bad things' if he doesn't end up being the GOP nominee for the 2016 U.S. Presidential elections.(more…)

The government of Iran claims to have obtained “thousands of pages of information” from devices used by the U.S. Navy sailors briefly detained in January.(more…)

On YouTube, a gentleman with an unplaceable but heavy European accent crushes things with his hydraulic press. Above, he crushes Barbie. ("Beautiful… but for how long?") (more…)

The MIT Media Lab's "Flying Pantograph" is a pen-wielding tele-robot controlled by a drawing interface. From MIT's Fluid Interfaces research group:

Library workers at Western University's Graduate Resource Centre in London, Ontario, had a workshop from Alison Macrina, the library organiser whose Library Freedom Project won a battle with the US DHS over a library in New Hampshire that was offering a Tor exit node as part of a global network that delivers privacy, censorship resistance, and anonymity to all comers. (more…)

After Gene Wilder saw early sketches of his costume for the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, he had some strong opinions to share with director Mel Stuart. From Letters of Note (via Dangerous Minds):

If you're like me, you've learned a few "everyday magic" tricks that you can do with things normal humans carry around in their pockets, and if you're like me, you've discovered that it's hard to casually do an awesome, perfectly practiced trick without being kind of socially awkward and dorky. (more…)

Bingham County, Idaho Sheriff Craig Rowland told a TV interviewer that he opposes a bill to centrally collect and track rape kits because "the majority of our rapes that are called in are actually consensual sex." (more…)

I much prefer this 1950s Egyptian television commercial for Coca-Cola to the brand's much better known 1971 jingle "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)." Interestingly, in the early 20th century, there was apparently debate in Egypt over "whether Muslims were permitted to drink Coca-Cola and Pepsi cola." According to a source cited by Wikipedia, the eventual fatwa was in favor of the sodas:

There are so many ploys and scams out there that promise to teach you just enough Japanese to enjoy your big once-in-a-lifetime trip that even contemplating which one to choose is impossible.My trips to Japan generally involve a trip to The Tokyo Disney Resort (surprise! … not) and I’m always scouring websites for the latest little titbit of new information. One of the few accessible ones (since most are in Japanese) is TDR Explorer. All the latest news, free, with good photography.I like that the webmaster is actually thinking about things which would be of real practical value for a traveler not just to the Disney Resort, but often anywhere in Japan. And thus we come to his list of 17 basic phrases that you might find helpful.The problem is that if you look at the center column of the list, you won’t have any idea how to pronounce these Japanese words. They are written in what is called “romaji,” or the Romanization of Japanese characters into western characters. This makes them extremely simple to say if they are broken down phonetically.For example, “Yes” is pronounced “hi,” even though the romaji spelling is “hai.” If you didn’t know better you might say “hi-ee,” or “ha-i” or whatever.So here is a simple tip: every syllable in Japanese is given the same emphasis. My friend Satoshi’s name is not pronounced “Sa-TOE-shi,” but “Sa-tō-she.” Equal emphasis on all syllables.Here, then is my own version of a list of Japanese words, all spelled out phonetically so you can pronounce them properly (or at least closely) with some ease. Note that my spellings have nothing to do with the true romaji spellings of the actual Japanese word: my only goal is so that the sounds comes out of your mouth in a way that is understood by a Japanese person and easy for you to remember. The only letter I’ve noticed that is often silent is “u.” I should add that the following phonetic pronunciations are highly eccentric and will draw guffaws from knowledgeable folks, but they work.Yes = hi (but don’t say it slowly the way Americans do, like “hiiiiii, or hi-eee”); you sort of bark it out)Hello or Good Afternoon = kō-knee-chee-wăGood Morning = ō-hī-yō gō-zī-mă-sueGood Evening = cone-băn-wă (though when you hear it said, it sounds like “cōm-bă-wă)Thank You = dōugh-mō ăh-ree-gă-tō gō-zī-măsPlease = koo-dĕ-sīExcuse Me (or for calling a waiter or waitress) = sue-mee-mă-sĕn (in actual use, the “u” is almost silent and the first two parts combine for “smee mă-sĕn)Sorry/Excuse me = gō-mĕn-ō-sīI Don’t Understand = wă-kă-ree-mă-sĕnI Understand = wă-kă-ree-mă-sh-tă (said, “wakarimashta”)No Thank You = kay-kō-dĕsGreat = Sŏ-gŏy! (Apologies to my non-Jewish friends)It’s Cold = Să-mŭy dĕsIt’s Hot = At-soo-ee dĕs (Like “Chop Suey” des)Where is the toilet? ō-tay-ŭh-rye dō-kō dĕs-kă? (A little shout out to Buckwheat there, Otay?) Or more simply, just say “toiletō” and act confused.That’s Delicious = Oy-shē, dĕs (while eating) Yes, there is Yiddish in there.That Was Delicious = Oysh-kă-tă dĕs (after eating) (“Oysh” is like “Moishe” without the final “e”)Beer = bee-roo (rhymes with moo) (“A beer please” = “bee-roo- koo-dĕ-sī”)Coffee = co-hee (“A coffee please” = “co-hee koo-dĕ-sī”)And for those of you in trying to find Tokyo Disneyland, just say, “Disney-lănd-ō” and you’ll be in like Flint.Sean Pavone / Shutterstock.com

But can he chew gum at the same time? (RuboCubo, via Brad Kreit)

Since 2014, Suckfly, a hacker group apparently based in Chengdu, China, has used at least 9 signing certs to make their malware indistinguishable from official updates from the vendor. (more…)

Jeff Greenspan and Andrew Tider are two artists who spent more than a year working with prisoners to identify CEOs who presided over terrible crimes without any personal penalties, and paired convicts with CEOs, commissioning portraits of the rich people whose impunity protected them from the inmates' fate. (more…)

2.6 million people die in the United States each year.Stroke is the fifth leading killer in the United States.795,000 people have a stroke each year.I had a friend who had a massive bleeding stroke and froze in mid-stride and mid-sentence, like a statue. He later died after life support was turned off.The ways for folks like you and me to detect a stroke (aside from the person keeling over) were these until a decade or so ago:S: Smile — If one side of the face droops or doesn’t move, call 911.T: Talk — Speak a simple sentence. If it comes out garbled, call 911.R: Raise — Raise both arms. If the person can’t, call 911.About a decade ago it was discovered that there is a fourth sign that a stroke is taking place: the behavior of the tongue. Ask the person to stick out his or her tongue: if it doesn’t come out straight, but points off to the side in an odd way, call 911. Oddly this hasn’t received the publicity it should.If you can get a person having a stroke to a hospital and into treatment within a few hours, there are drugs which, if administered rapidly enough, can mitigate the effects. Who knows … you might save a life.Image: Shutterstock/wavebreakmedia

So much to do, so little time. You’re super busy and when you’re in the zone, working on something you love or simply have to crush out, you need the right tools. The last thing you want to do is deal with old and inefficient software or apps when you’re just trying to wrap everything up. The Spring 2016 Mac Bundle is now 90% off and offers you the keys to the productivity kingdom. No matter what kind of project you’re tackling, these apps are essential.There are eleven top rated Mac apps here to rocket your productivity to sky-high levels. Whether you’re scheduling your next day, month or year there’s BusyCal 2 to keep you on track. Easily transfer all your files, big and small, with both Yummy FTP and Mac NTFS. Light Paper helps you write faster and and perhaps even better with its structured layout. Missing something? Use Find Any File. Want to watch something later? Use Downie 2 to download video to watch offline.And the list goes on. QuickRes allows you to switch screen resolutions for the perfect view and Screenie lets you easily access your screenshots and photos. Use one or all of these to up your work game now for 90% off. Stay organized and on top of your career or personal projects and don’t waste a minute of your precious time fooling around with sub-par apps. The right tools can be yours now so check out the link for more details.Save 90% on the Spring 2016 Mac Bundle in the Boing Boing Store.

[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]The stars are just like us - they ride bikes, pump gasoline and shop for kitchenware.It’s a perennial conceit at Us magazine: celebrities are just regular folk like you and I/It’s why Us mag says in this week’s cover story that Britain’s Prince William and wife Kate are giving their two children “a normal childhood.”Because what could be more “normal” than escaping from your ten-bedroom English country mansion to vacation in the French Alps in a six-story, seven-bedroom rental home with a nanny, ski instructor and security squad? Nothing says “normal childhood” more than a holiday home’s indoor pool, game room and movie theatre. If Prince George behaves well on outings with his mother, “Kate will usually buy him a small, inexpensive toy,” because nothing is more “normal” than parental bribery. And when William and Kate travel to India next month, what could be more normal than dumping the kids on his in-laws, while the Prince and his Duchess tour the Taj Mahal and Mumbai?What’s “normal” for the stars?As Us mag demonstrates, celebrities also go to jail (reality TV’s Joe Giudice), come out as transexual (director Lilly Wachowski), and deny they are being held prisoner against their will (fitness guru Richard Simmons.)People magazine devotes its cover to TV’s polyamorous Bachelor star Ben Higgins, who dated 27 women simultaneously, slept with three of them, said “I love you” to two, and now says of new fiancé Lauren Bushnell “She was always the one” - which makes one wonder if the entire show wasn’t just a giant waste of everyone’s time.Fortunately we have this week’s tabloids to show us what life is really like for the stars.“Cancer ravaged” Michael Douglas is “close to death,” claims the National Enquirer, based on the expert opinion of “a host of medical experts” who haven’t actually treated the actor . . . or seen him . . . but have been shown photos of the 71-year-old. Says oncologist Dr Jerome Spunberg: “He looks gaunt and weak.” Well, that certainly sounds like a recurrence of cancer to me, and I should know - like any good reporter I’ve watched several episodes of Grey’s Anatomy and House.The Enquirer’s “medical team” has a field day with post-pregnancy Kim Kardashian, who is reportedly at risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, “and 63 other diseases” - more varieties than Heinz! - because she hasn’t yet lost her baby weight. The Enquirer helpfully diagrams a photo of Mrs West with arrows pointing out her “saggy and baggy” stomach, “bulging backside,” “bustin’ out” chest, “thunder thighs” and “cankle cursed” ankles. All technical medical terms, I assume.The Globe devotes a staggering 12-page hagiography to the death of Nancy Reagan, and the “inspiring untold story” of her love for Ron, mostly drawn from her memoir My Turn - which hardly makes it an “untold story.” I expect to see future stories dedicated to the miracles performed in her name - perhaps prayers to Nancy will give Donald Trump a new head of hair - followed by demands for her canonization.“Brain-eating cannibal going free!” is a great headline in the Examiner, but let’s face it, David Allen Chapin has already served 38 years behind bars for his indiscretion - and he only ate “portions of his buddy’s brain,” the Examiner notes. In recent years society has grown to love Hannibal Lecter and brain-eating zombies, so perhaps the parole board will look kindly upon Chapin’s bid for release. He could always pray to Saint Nancy, the patron saint of ignoring viral epidemics.Speaking of epidemics, the Examiner also warns us about the “shocking global epidemic” of heavy drinkers spontaneously combusting, or as it neatly puts it: “Boozers Bursting Into Flames.” There have allegedly been 200 cases worldwide in recent years, which may not exactly qualify as an epidemic, and may conceivably afflict known alcoholics simply because they have greater difficulties playing with matches. About a quarter of all burning deaths in the U.S. evidently result from cigarettes, cigars, crack pipes and joints not being safely extinguished - yet another good reason why you’re better off shooting up, perhaps?Thankfully we have Us magazine to tell us the real news: that Jessica Biel wore it best, actor John Goodman reveals his secret to losing 100 pounds - “I decided to stop stuffing food in my mouth every five minutes” - and actress Cecily Strong (Who she, Ed?) carries lip balm, perfume, candy, heartburn pills, cough drops, Aleve, an iPhone, pencil, makeup, a “lucky” necklace, Kind bars, deodorant, crossword puzzles, mints, and way, way too much crap in her handbag.And Ted Cruz tells Us mag “25 things you don’t know about me,” including such gems as “I’m on level 350 of Candy Crush,” “I wear cowboy boots almost every day,” “I was once bitten by an octopus” (it was not in his boots, apparently) and “My favorite movie is The Princess Bride." Inconceivable.Onwards and downwards . . .

In 1975, Playboy had a circulation of 5.6 million copies a month, and copies could be found in 18% of households. Over the next four decades, circulation eroded. As of June 2106, worldwide circulation was just 800,000. Here's a chart from Statista that shows the decline:Flashbak has a couple of galleries of Playboy house ads from the 60s - 80s designed to entice advertisers to reach it millions of readers. Every photo is basically the same: a guy doing something that costs a lot of money and who is surrounded by adoring women.Gallery 1 | Gallery 2

When Obama appointed Tom Wheeler, formerly the top lobbyist for both the cable industry and the mobile phone industry to run the FCC, many people (including me) were outraged at the idea of putting such an insider in charge of keeping his own former employers honest (it didn't help that AT&T and Comcast both issued triumphant press releases at the news). (more…)

In 1921, the Custer Wolf -- a predator so prolific and terrifying that it rated its own documentary and biography -- was finally killed. (more…)

Chris writes, "I bought my first e-book in 1998, before my e-reading hardware had even arrived yet. Yesterday I discovered that Barnes & Noble has effectively stolen that book from me, mistakenly replacing it it in my Nook library with another title I never bought." (more…)