Our prolific punk pal Bob Mould (ex-Hüsker Dü and Sugar) just released a new video, "Voices in My Head," to whet our appetites for his new album, Patch the Sky, out March 25. Stereogum recently joined Bob on a walking tour of New York, and a conversational capsule history of his incredibly-influential career."Music can literally save your life,” Bob says. “I do this thing, I sort through my life, I show it to people, and it’s resonating. People at shows come up and they say, ‘Your music saved my fucking life,’ over and over, and I’m like, ‘Wait, that’s my line. You don’t know. You stole my line.'”Bob and his longtime band, Jason Narducy on bass and Jon Wurster on drums, hit the road February 6 for a series of UK, Canada, and US dates. Get some.Below, our special Boing Boing Interview/Performance video with Bob Mould, a collaboration with the good people at Remedy Editorial:https://vimeo.com/97585664

Call the sun in the dead of the night... And the sun's gonna rise in the sky!

https://youtu.be/ybY_wdQ5MScBrainiac75 made a pair of wooden tools that he uses to separate and stack large neodymium magnet discs. I've pinched my fingers quite a few times with tiny neodymium magnet discs and have learned to respect them. These big ones are very dangerous. You could easily lose a finger if these magnets were to smack into one another. Please get some thick gloves, Brainiac75!

https://youtu.be/7v-FlEx1_EMI don't think I'll make string from a plastic bottle, but I enjoyed watching how this guy made his PET bottle-cutting tool with some screws, washers, and a pencil sharpener blade.

The Object Lessons project, edited by game theory legend Ian Bogost and cultural studies academic Christopher Schaberg, commissions short essays and small, beautiful books about everyday objects from shipping containers to toast. (more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNzTEveUURAI can only hope they whistled the same jaunty tunes as their Ghanian counterparts while sorting the mail in Chaplainesque ballet. (more…)

Tor, the internet anonymity network you can use to hide your activity from prying eyes, is beautiful in blue. Torflow is a visualization of the vast amounts of traffic streaming between its many nodes, delineating a map of the internet as it can't otherwise be seen.You can add and remove activity associated with different components of the Tor network, and then watch as thousands of on-screen particles rapidly drain your mobile device's batteries.

The simple online questionnaire at bestprogramminglanguagefor.me will help starting-out programmers pick the right language for the job. It's not really for beginners who know absolutely nothing of code (start with javascript!) but more a guide to what tools are popular for what purposes and, hence, where all the free googlable help will be.

A scorching editorial by public education advocate Marion Brady describes the 30 year program of sneak-attacks on public education in America. It starts by whipping up fear that foreign workforces are "eating our lunch" because of education standards in the US (rather than, say, multinationals taking jobs to places with lower wages and fewer labor protections), then blaming "unaccountable" teachers and insisting on charters, de-unionization, standardized testing (which can be used to prove that teachers aren't "accountable") and standardized curriculum (so there's something to test on the standardized test). (more…)

A study from the notorious socialists at the Harvard Business Review analyzed data from the Gallup World Poll and the World Top Incomes Database and found that in countries with a large degree of wealth inequality, "levels of life satisfaction" go down, and "negative daily emotional experiences" go up, for all populations, including the richest. (more…)

President Barack Obama tonight gave the final State of the Union Address of his final presidential term. Here is the full text of those remarks.(more…)

This dude makes Norway looks cold, but also cool.(more…)

The mid-1980s' fantasy movie Labyrinth, starring David Bowie as the Goblin King, was something of a dud when it was released. Over the years, though, it's become a genuine classic. Tanya Pai explains.

Isolated vocal tracks from Bowie and Queen's "Under Pressure" (1981). Original below.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psYQMY69gLo

Jean Francois Painchaud, aka PHAZED, is Canadian animator/producer who works on the PBS kids show, Wild Kratts. He also makes trippy, NSFW Gifs and posts them to his accounts on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and Facebook. Shogofawafa recently interviewed PHAZED about his work, and how he deals with the censorious bluenoses at Facebook.

Ted Cruz is the Schrödinger's cat of politicians. He is both eligible and not eligible to be president.There's no argument – Ted Cruz is not eligible to be president because he was born in Canada. That's according to Mary Brigid McManamon, a constitutional law professor at Widener University’s Delaware Law School. She makes her argument in the Opinions section of The Washington Post.

"Son of a bitch, I'm sick of these dolphins."As it is cold out, I've taken to wearing my Team Zissou beanie most days, and nights. For $10, delivered, you too can emulate the greatest adventurer never to sail the 7 seas.The stop light symbol differentiates it from my Cousteau one.The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou Knit Hat Stoplight Red Beanie via Amazon

The residents of the small New York village of Whitesboro voted last night to keep this emblem that appears to show a man choking a Native American. From the Associated Press:

The voters of Whitesboro, New York, have declared, 157 to 55, that keeping a racist town logo is what they want. I guess they need to honor their long history of racism.

See sample pages from this book at Wink.A cute cat wearing a scarf on the front cover, ABAB rhyming schemes, an amusing title that rolls off the tongue ... yes, to the naked eye Amphigorey: Fifteen Books seems like the perfect book of books to calm a troubled mind before sleeping. But do not – I repeat, do not – make this mistake. Within its pages you’ll read of tortured authors, bedevilled nuns and regretful suicides. Better to take your chances with the nightmares.A key inspiration for John Kenn Mortensen’s Sticky Monsters and Tim Burton’s entire catalogue, Edward Gorey blends the childish and macabre to create tales that are by turns moody and hilarious, unnerving one moment, delightful the next. In The Gashlycrumb Tinies (a tale of “moral instruction”) we read of doomed children, with one for every letter of the alphabet: W is for Winnie embedded in ice, X is for Xerces devoured by mice. Things only get darker in The Fatal Lozenge: "The Journalist surveys the slaughter, the best in years without a doubt." Gorey is a coy storyteller. With ambiguous black and white sketches and suggestive prose, he makes sure that the real horror isn’t taking place on the page but in our mind’s eye.There are a handful of stories in this volume suitable for younger readers (The Bug Book and The Doubtful Guest are morose yet essentially harmless) but much of Amphigorey is aimed at an older audience, with rhyming couplets about Fetishists, Xenophobes and child-luring Proctors. And, of course, my favorite story title ever, The Curious Sofa: a Pornographic Work by Ogdred Weary. Although originally published in the 1950s and 60s, there are lines in these stories that are outrageous even by today’s standards. Perfect for Tim Burton fans, Lemony Snicket graduates, and Addams Family enthusiasts. Go on. Let the nightmares in.– Damien McLaughlinAmphigorey: Fifteen Stories

NY Magazine has a great collection of essays from a bunch of writers, performers, athletes, directors, and photographers about the incident or realization that made them answer their calling.

I finished listening to all six episodes from the first season of the new podcast, Home: Stories From L.A. It's reported, produced, hosted, and edited by Bill Barol, who has never done a podcast before, which is surprising because Home is so excellent. In the first six episodes, Bill told the stories about:

Last month I attended a lecture by David Ben, and became an instant fan. He's a fascinating Toronto-based magician and the co-founder of Magicana, a "not-for-profit organization dedicated to exploration and advancement of magic as a performing art." In this episode of the Face2Face podcast, Ben talks about his lifelong obsession with magic, creativity, paradox, and what if questions.

My glasses are always a mess, and I am always scrounging around in my car or pockets for a cloth to clean them. This 18 pack of excellent micro fiber cleaning cloths will last me for months.These are also just fine for cleaning camera lenses, my iPhone or laptop screens.I will, however, lose them all and need to buy another. Luckily, they are pretty cheap.18 Microfiber Cleaning Cloths - For Cell Phones, Laptops, Tablets, Glasses, Spectacles, Silverware, and Delicate Surfaces via Amazon

Artnet collects a set of interesting stock images of David Bowie you might not have seen before, hidden from the Google spiders (if not the ones from Mars).

Coming Out Like a Porn Star is genderqueer porn star Jiz Lee's new anthology collecting the personal stories of porn stars and other sex-trade workers, in which they describe "coming out" to their friends and family as workers in the trade. (more…)

https://youtu.be/AFXTxQPV79w

It must suck to have spent good money on an office or apartment in an upscale business with "TRUMP" on the front of it, only to wake up one morning and discover that your real estate investment has forever become synonymous with a crass, racist, sexist election campaign. (more…)

In 1977 radio astronomers at the Big Ear space telescope, searching for signs of extraterrestrial life, came across a signal that wasn't just odd, it was unbelievably strong! The signal, broadcast at at 1420.456 MHz, radiated from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, and lasted just seventy-two seconds. When researcher Jerry R. Ehman came across the signal he wrote "Wow!" on the print out.Antonio Paris, a professor of astronomy at Florida's St. Petersburg College, thinks he's figured out the source -- a pair of recently discovered comets!Everything about the Wow! signal created huge interest. The frequency it was found on correlates strongly with the 'hydrogen line' and was believed to be a most-likely frequency to for Aliens to use when communicating with us. The intensity and sharp build-up/fall off of the signal led researchers to believe it came from a fixed point in the sky. Antonio Paris believes the signal was a sign of two comets, unidentified at the time of the recording, passing in front of the Big Ear.Via New Scientist:

Cyber Squirrel 1 is a Google-powered map that tracks power outages caused by small animals. Occasionally buzzards cause some chaos, but it is mostly the fault of squirrels. Pictured above is the map for December, 2015. Previously on Boing Boing:Squirrels and raccoons attack, Northern California reels under onslaught

YUME is a simple musical experience where the songs change as you explore 3D floating islands—just click and drag them to move around. It's restful, easy to get lost, and the evolving tracks are great. The musician is Helios (AKA Keith Kenniff) and his albums are available for download at Bandcamp. [via]

After years of documenting instances in which parents and kids are terrorized by law enforcement and child welfare authorities because the kids were allowed to be on their own in public places, the Free Range Kids movement has gotten some justice: a new Federal law gives its official okey-doke to parents who let their kids get to school on their own. (more…)

The SF in SF reading series is back with a fantastic pair of readers: Kim Stanley Robinson (author of Aurora and interstellar colony skeptic) and historical novelist Cecelia Holland. (more…)

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This sleek, powerful, and portable controller is your ticket to crushing through games on any platform like you once did on the original Nintendo. Don’t let the retro design fool you: from its compatibility with iOS and Android games alike to its ergonomic construction and lightning-fast CPU, the NES30 packs quite the punch.

I spotted a kid wearing one of these yesterday and was disappointed that all he knew was that his dad got it somewhere; luckily it turned out to be a quick search away.

The University of Maryland's Maryland Industrial Partnerships program hooks up researchers with businesses: just before Christmas, MIPS sent out a press-release claiming that a local brand of chocolate milk aided in recovery from concussions sustained playing high school football. (more…)

UX and UI designers are some of the most in-demand positions in the tech world--and those positions could be yours. Dive into nine courses on everything from front-end coding to prototyping to designing for mobile--this bundle will fill your resume with valid skills that will definitely draw recruiters' eyes your way. It's a new year. Resolve to start something great.Get the Learn to Design 2016 bundle for only $39 in the Boing Boing store today.Here's a breakdown of the 9 courses you receive in the bundle:1Mobile App Design in Sketch 3: Learn UX/UI From Scratch$199 Value2Master Web Design in Photoshop$199 Value3Mobile App Design: Learn UX/UI and Start Freelancing Career$199 Value4Creating a Responsive Web Design$150 Value5Web Design: HTML & CSS For Rookies$147 Value6Rapid Prototyping for Entrepreneurs - Build a Demo in 2 Hours$97 Value7Bootstrap UI Development For Everyone$80 Value8Learn Web Designing & HTML5/CSS3 Essentials in 4-Hours$79 Value9Mobile First & Responsive Web Design: Build Modern Websites!$59 Value

Images from around the world today, as fans mourn the death of David Bowie. He died Sunday, January 10, 2016. He was 69, and had been receiving treatment for cancer for 18 months, according to reports.(more…)

If the history of North/South Korean loudspeaker aggression is any indication, we're looking at a high risk of bullets flying over the border soon. First comes the noise, then comes the artillery fire.North Korea is doubling down on its loudspeaker psy-ops along the inter-Korean border in retaliation for South Korea's amplified K-pop music and shade-throwing at Kim Jung Un.Reuters:

Today is the third anniversary of Aaron Swartz's death, and it was marked by the publication of an anthology of Aaron's writing, The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz with an introduction by Lawrence Lessig (I wrote an introduction to one of the sections). (more…)

Apple today unveiled a teaser of what's in store in the latest iOS release, 9.3. Among the “numerous innovations” promised: a blue light dimmer to “help you get a good night’s sleep.”(more…)

On the market for some time, the house of Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs has been cut in price by $50,000. More than an hour out of town, the four-bedroom home has another serious flaw: there's only one bathroom.If the hose doesn't even reach the basement, how do they expect to find a buyer?

Laurie Penny's new science fiction story "The House of Surrender" is a bittersweet little mindbomb about rape (trigger warning), coercion, prison, and what a society without locks would do with the people who hurt others. (more…)

Okay, this may not in fact be ALL of the classic movie references in animated films from Pixar, but it's a whole lot of 'em.(more…)

CES attendee Kusmeroglu archived the beautiful carpets to be found at the convention centers, halls and hotel walkways over which the electronics show sprawls. [via Dean Putney]https://twitter.com/Kusmeroglu/status/686651131385139200Previously: Carpets of CES, 2011 edition.

JWZ of San Francisco's DNA Lounge writes, "First, I reverse engineered an old payphone and turned it into a Linux computer. This was a ridiculous thing to do and my build log is ridiculous. Second: The reason I did this was to use it as a prop at our next HACKERS party." (more…)

Too late to stop the presses?(via @brianstetler)

Muhammad Zakir Khan, An assistant professor of speech communication at Broward College in Florida, was blocked from signing up for Epic Game's Paragon beta this weekend. When Khan entered his first and last name in the online form and hit the submit button, he was informed that he'd been blocked from registering because his name.The form said, in red letters: