https://youtu.be/PXHclOZ0pzQHere's video of “7-year-old Suzuki School of Newton cellist Ryan anticipating The Force Awakens,” says Ryan's dad.

NOAA just released this awesome NASA image of a volcanic eruption in action. (more…)

A round of synchronized applause for Vlad Gapanovich, Maxim Golovchenko, and Evgeniy Pahalovich! I haven't seen a multi-person juggling routine this captivating since The Flying Karamazov Brothers. The video, titled, um, "Drugs," was directed by Taras Pozdnyakov, founder of [Raw Art], a "post-circus" of graduates from the Kiev Circus Academy.

See more photos at Wink Fun.Confession time: I’ve never read Moby Dick. I’ve meant to. I’ve tried to. I’ve even made significant headway. But I have yet to actually finish the novel. You might say that completing it is my white whale. Ahem. Apologies.The point remains though, that even though I’ve never read the book, I know the story. I know the characters and I can make (most likely incorrect) references to elements from the book. Which is why, when I came across the Kickstarter campaign for Moby Dick, or The Card Game from King Post, I opted to back the project.The delivered and currently available-for-purchase game is beautiful. 107 cards, 2 dice, and 40 oil tokens, plus rules make up the core set. The quality put into the components is outstanding – my set has been through numerous play throughs and still looks as clean and pretty as the day I got it. In fact, just in terms of art, this is one of the prettiest games I own.But, how does the game play? This game will take some time and effort to play. Initial set-up is fairly easy and mainly involves putting a few key cards on the table. From there, crew selections are made. This is a longer process and where experience will come into play. Once the crews have been chosen, cards from The Sea deck are brought into play, putting the assembled crews through events pulled directly from the novel. If a whale card is pulled, the third part of the game, The Hunt, is brought into play. It is (for me) the most fun as it involves Ahabing around trying to get the whale before it gets you. Assuming you survive, you go back to choosing and optimising your crew and set off onto the open seas once again.But the real question is, did playing the game make me more interested in the novel? Yes and no. I often play the (officially unofficial) solo rules because I enjoy the art and the story quite a bit. I like this concept of taking works of literature and turning them into games (the same company has also done Beowulf), but I haven’t made any more progress with Moby Dick, or The Whale. But I will. One day. Even if it kills me.– Joel NeffMoby Dick, or The Card Game

In the charming platform game Crowtel, you're a crow running a seedy hotel, and you're not very good at it. Well, really you're just lazy—not living up to your potential, as your crow teachers doubtless used to say—and as a result your not-so-fine establishment is looking pretty crusty indeed when the feline health inspectors show up.Unless you want to get shut down, it's time to get your crow butt in gear and run through six levels of rapid cleanup, contending with giant balls of garbage, deadly bugs and broken toilets you can fix with your melodious birdsong. Also maybe there are ghosts?Developed by Sink with a soundtrack by Captain Beard, Crowtel is pay-what-you-what over on Itch.io, so technically you can get it for free if you want. But after you see how delightful it is, chances are you'll wish you'd dropped a few dollars in the jar.https://youtu.be/jLSWJVyWyHw

Strata-East Records was a pioneering record label founded in 1971 that went deep down the post-bop, spiritual jazz path most famously explored by John Coltrane on his iconic 1964 work "A Love Supreme." Strata-East was a radical label, featuring radical sounds by the likes of Gil Scott-Heron, label founders Charles Tolliver and Stanley Cowell, Clifford Jordan, Pharaoh Sanders, Cecil McBee, Sonny Fortune, Shirley Scott, and other greats.I'm just beginning to explore the history, edges, and intersections of the jazz genre(s) and I had never heard of Strata-East until I visited San Francisco's legendary Groove Merchant record store several weeks ago. I told proprietor Chris Veltri that I love "A Love Supreme," Alice Coltrane, and Pharaoh Sanders, and asked where I should go next. Without missing a beat, he told me Strata-East. And now I can't get enough. My primers are Andy Thomas's excellent article "A Guide to Strata East," the killer compilation Soul Jazz Loves Strata East (from phenomenal reissue label Soul Jazz), and DJ Gilles Peterson's incredible Strata East Mix, celebrating a Strata-East Live event that took place in London earlier this year. Listen to Peterson's mix below:(illustration above from Peterson's event poster)

"Earlier this year, the surviving members of the Grateful Dead played sold-out 'Fare Thee Well' concerts in Santa Clara and Chicago to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of their band," says Ben Mark of Collectors Weekly. "But Jerry Garcia and company did not start using the name Grateful Dead until December of 1965. The exact date is surprisingly hard to pin down, as my story for Collectors Weekly reveals, but we do know that the Grateful Dead's sound grew out of its experiences as the house band at the Acid Tests of 1965 and 1966, which were organized (if that's even the right word...) by Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. And where did Kesey get the idea to conduct experiments on human beings with LSD? In 1959, he was an LSD guinea pig himself in tests conducted by the CIA.

"Alice Through the Looking Glass" is director James Bobin's sequel to Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" (2010). Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carte, Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, and Timothy Spall are once again down the K hole, I mean the rabbit hole.

This video, which was released last year, was produced by the city of Amsterdam to warn tourists that heroin was being sold by street dealers as cocaine. The city set up signs and offered inexpensive drug test kits so people could test the street drugs they'd purchased and find out if it contained heroin. The video ends with the promise that drug users will not be arrested for using drugs or for reporting the discovery of white heroin, or for seeking medical help in an emergency. Could you imagine something this sensible happening in the U.S.?

He speaks for himself. A second spot employs a narrator, promising that Mexico will pay for the wall America will build.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=561CdWwpTeMI had a dream last night that there was a British version of Donald Trump, running to be King at some point in the future. His name was Marmaduke Arseclive and he produced.

https://youtu.be/-9OjD-ge7-E"Progress to 100" doesn't sound like the most exciting name for a game, but this clean, two-toned series of iOS puzzles is a real crowd pleaser. It might offer you just a single word, and using the functions of your device—tilt it in a certain pattern, lift it up, touch it as suggested—you satisfy the puzzle.(more…)

big_mac_heart_attack posted this gorgeous example of a "fallstreak hole" with a rainbow in a cloud formation over eastern Victoria, Australia. They are rare enough that some people think they are evidence of UFOs. Unfortunately, that isn't usually the case. From Weather Underground:

Hey, the second book in my kids' book series is out today! It's Ghostly Thief of Time: The EMU Club Adventures, Book Two.In this thrilling installment, the kids stop arguing about who is the leader of the club long enough to solve a mystery we've all wondered about: Why does time move so slowly at certain times, like right at the end of a school day?But, as in Book One (Alien Invasion in My Backyard), the answer to this ordinary, mundane mystery is anything but ordinary and mundane. The kids discover ghostly apparitions, time-space conundrums and mysterious technology that force them to try to save themselves, their school, and maybe the world.Wow, what a nice reaction I got to the first book. It got some wonderful reviews , and kids really seem to love these stories. As Cory said, these books are "for the curious and adventurous," and I hope you have the good fortune to know a kid who is both.I also hope you'll enjoy a piece Boing Boing will run this week about the differences, and similariites, I've found between creating for adults (Tom the Dancing Bug) and for kids.Ghostly,RubenYou can order Ghostly Thief of Time: The EMU Club Adventures, Book Two on Amazon. Also, for a limited time, you can order both books, signed, sketched & delivered, as a set.P.S. Here's Ruben on the kidlit inspirations for The EMU Club Adventures. — Ed.

Kill Screen is one of my favorite game magazines, unafraid of going deep into the murky waters around the mainstream of gaming culture. They're launching a revamp on Kickstarter, with a plan to focus on "kinfolk for videogames" instead of technology and media, which sounds just perfect to me.

There's a reason that 8 runs of Dan and Dave’s Smoke and Mirrors decks have been produced. They're amazingly elegant and people just want to get their hands on them. They remind me of girls I dated in school who were just too darned classy for me. They never judge my clumsiness and always make me look better just by being with me.There’s no visual storyline hidden in these decks because their design isn’t about that - they're more about beauty in simplicity. From what I can see, the decks were created for collectors, cardists and magicians who love weaving tales with their hands. Below is a great link of The Icarus Sequence which is a series of flourishes that references one of my favorite stories.[embed]https://youtu.be/2YugD4A-bws[/embed]The performer's name is Huron Low and to me, his technique is somehow both inspiring and sickening at the same time.You can pick up loose Smoke and Mirrors decks of your favorite colors on EBAY or get them ganged in a box set. Each set is an instant collector’s item and comes with a serial number on velum.The truth is, I’m not interested in saving these decks for a re-sell. I’m interested in fumbling with them now and even though I stink at card manipulation, these cards behave as nicely as any I've ever touched.It’s clear that these decks are a labor of love to Dan & Dave. In fact, they almost seem to be like their children – each one even has a special name.I would like to introduce you to Denim -He’s a flashy deck with metallic blue ink on the ace of spades, the Joker and anything that would normally be red.And then there’s the lovable Carbon -This deck is treated similarly to Denim but with grey metallic ink instead. The thing that sets Carbon apart from the others is its dark and mysterious printing on the inside of the case.But don’t forget about Smoke –This deck is void of metallic inks all together, but the off-white card-stock makes it my favorite.And then there’s Rouge –This is the hussy of the set. It teases you with a red accent color that can only be found on the Ace of Spades and The Joker.And of course there is Eco –Eco is the hip, green one and sports appropriate metallic ink throughout the deck.And lastly we have Mirror -Just like the others, Mirror is very elegant but the thing that makes it unique is the reflective finish on the inside and outside of the box.I think it’s safe to say that there’s something for everyone when it comes to the Smoke & Mirrors collection.And it’s clear that Dan and Dave really care about their craft – there are subtle touches of awesomeness that seem to pop up just about everywhere.But the real star of the show is a designer named Si Scott. He’s the illustrator that came up with the ridiculous illustrations on the boxes, the jokers, the ace of spades and the card backs.Mr. Scott is a UK based Graphic designer who graduated form Leeds College of Art & Design.I’ve only just recently been introduced to his artwork but it’s clear that I’ll be a fan for life.If you want to see more of his art you should check out his website. He's a pretty busy guy but I hope that one day I'll get the chance to sit in one of his graphic design lectures.But for now, I like that I can have a mini-printed portfolio of his in my back pocket.

Passive resistance in a nutshell (or an occupied dogfort.)

Courtesy of governments around the world, from the White House to New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.With 30 chapters and more than 2000 pages, it'll be a long weekend read.Quick highlights dug out by first responders on Twitter and Reddit: Copyright is lifetime plus 75 years; Internet service providers must give your name if requested by copyright holders; ISPs must remove material upon receipt of a copyright claim; and you can't sue if the claim was bogus.The Hill on what comes next:

When the climate-change denier/evil billionaire bought National Geographic, National Geographic Society CEO Greg Knell promised that "there won’t be an [editorial] turn in a direction that is different form the National Geographic heritage." This week, the company fired some of its most senior, decorated staff. (more…)

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A Colombian HIV-positive man who'd gone off his meds died when a tapeworm in his body developed cancer and spread tumors to his lungs. It's the first known case of a person dying of a disease that had infected their parasite. (more…)

The US Patent and Trademark Office and the Washington Redskins are embroiled in a fight over whether the Redskins name is too offensive to qualify as a trademark. The Redskins have tried various tacks, including invoking the First Amendment, arguing that the Constitution guarantees them the right to be offensive and to then have the government stop other people from copying their offensiveness, but now they've taken a new -- and surprisingly compelling -- direction. (more…)

The latest Humble Books Bundle features more than 11 Peanuts collections and storybooks, including "Waiting for the Great Pumpkin," "Snoopy vs the Red Baron," "Snoopy's Thanksgiving," "The Complete Peanuts 1950-52 v1" and volumes 1-6 of the Peanuts collections. Name your price, support two great charities (The Freedom of the Press Foundation and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund) and get $171 worth of DRM-free comics to treasure on any device you own, now and forever! (more…)

In 1913, George Julius installed a building-sized, all mechanical odds-calculating computer at Auckland, NZ's Ellerslie racetrack, powered by huge iron weights that slowly pulled down bike chains over sprockets, driving the clockwork device as it "totalised" all the bets laid on horses at the track, keeping the odds in constant balance so that all the bettors were effectively betting against one another, in a system called "pari-mutuel" betting. (more…)

Police in Mexico say they found 84 pounds (38 one-kilogram packets) of cocaine inside the luggage of a guy who claimed to be a cancer patient, as he boarded a Learjet “air ambulance’ from Tijuana to New York City.The “cancer patient” arrived at the Tijuana airport in an ambulance, and was accompanied by two female paramedics.Drug-sniffing dogs found 38 packages of cocaine inside the man's three suitcases.The supposed cancer patient, the supposed paramedics, and four others aboard the jet were all detained pending investigation.

Mexico's supreme court today ruled that some parts of the country’s health law are not valid, and that growing, possessing, or using marijuana for recreational purposes is perfectly legal under existing Mexican law.(more…)

https://youtu.be/h8NAyLjVzwANic De Houwer is from Belgium, and it looks like he can sound like just about anybody. Amazing!

One attack took place at the University of California Merced campus: 5 stabbed, suspect commits suicide by cop. Another attack in San Diego, in a mixed residential and business area north of the city core known as Banker's Hill. The San Diego shooting is an "active situation" at the time of this blog post. (more…)

[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]Weighty topics fill this week’s fact-lite tabloids, dedicated to bringing you a healthier, happier life - unless you’re a celebrity. (more…)

JavaScript for Kids is for kids, but also for adults who don't know anything about coding and want to learn. The author, Nick Morgan, is a front-end programmer at Twitter, and he does a great job of clearly presenting programming concepts like data types, control structures, functions strings, arrays, loops. Nothing is dumbed down. You'll also learn jQuery to make interactive web pages, and Canvas to create graphics. Along the way you'll write several computer games.

See sample pages from this book at Wink.Being a fan of wordless graphic novels like Shaun Tan’s The Arrival and Thomas Ott’s The Number, I was eager to experience Chinese artist Daishu Ma’s Leaf. Like those previous efforts, Leaf is rendered in meticulous black and white pencil sketches. Unlike those others, spot colors, namely blue and yellow, are used as a narrative device.Leaf is about a single tree leaf that unexpectedly blows into the life of the book’s young, unnamed protagonist. Where thousands of similar leaves have surely blown by this young man before, unnoticed, this one has an inner yellow glow like no leaf he’s ever experienced. A fascination with his discovery sends him on a journey through the rather dystopian, labyrinthian world in which he lives as he tries to learn more about his pet leaf and then to try and recover it after it gets lost.You’re never quite sure exactly what is going on in Leaf and the meaning of the story is definitely open to interpretation. Some may find this “openess” in the wordless narrative annoying, but I really enjoy this aspect of such books. Leaf is filled with hundreds of soft pencil illustrations and many of them have a very touching, lyrical quality that effectively captures human emotion, community, memory, and the innocence of youth (as well as the dreariness of the world of Leaf). The artwork and book production are really beautiful and there is a gentle quiet at the center of this work that perfectly mirrors the muffled quiet of fall.Leaf

Of course you remember the 5th of November! Thursday night, around 6pm, the folks from the Pelican Inn will start their fire.Join our former colonist oppressors as they descend on Muir Beach to burn a freedom fighter in effigy! I saw a movie about it, the gentleman wears a very distinctive cape.Dress for the freezing cold of Northern California. There will be food and beverages available for you at the pub, before or after the bonfire, but bring your own whatever to enjoy while on the beach.

If you have $650,000 you can buy a nice one-car spot at Boston's Brimmer Street Garage. The garage is heated and has valet service. When the garage opened in 1979, spots sold for $7,900. Last month, a spot sold for $390,000. It's a better investment than bitcoin![via]

Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny's long-lost, long-eared ancestor has been discovered in the National archive of the British Film Institute.(more…)

I don't know anything about this giant wave that crashed over a barrier. If you do, please post about it in the comments.

The classic Mac screensaver Flying Toasters (from the "After Dark" suite) is yours to enjoy again, complete with Toast Controls and optional monochrome. And, thanks to the glory of modern web technology, it works on any computer. [masswerk.at]You can even share specific settings as a link. Here is the most existential setting: a single piece of toast in black and white.Previously: recreating Flying Toasters with CSS.

"Cavern" by groove based punk masters Liquid Liquid served as backing track for Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel's "White Lines."There is also an animated video, but the sound quality was meh enough I suggest listening to the above.

These are some of the best examples of adult artists' re-imagining of kids' monster drawing. Behance has a large gallery of Monster Project art.[caption id="attachment_432324" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Art by AJ Jefferies

onesecond.designly.com visualizes one second on the internet. A lot happens in designer Steve Lewis's depiction of the digital world, and most of it is on Facebook and Google properties, as you would expect. But a lot of that is trivial behavior; Dropbox and Skype are the meat of the medium, the infrastructure, the dark matter.

According to a survey by Pew Research, 40 percent of the adults report that their home contains a videogame console: 42 percent of women and 37 percent of men.

One day, rich people will visit these worlds! This spectacular poster is the work of Martin Vargic: buy prints at his site.P.S. latest doppler inferences indicate that planets depicted with of earthlike oceans and atmospheres may contain enormous quantities of halite.[via]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkoCWUJt10wHave you ever wondered why the riveted metal tab that holds the end hook on a tape measure has slop in it? It's not because it was manufactured by a shoddy company. Gareth Branwyn at Make explains the reason:

The case at hand is Instagram, where gentlemen often realize too late that their friends and family know when they like pictures of scantily-clad barely-legals.

Immerse yourself in the virtual environment of your dreams with just your smartphone and the impressive, high-quality Homido Virtual Reality Headset. This futuristic gadget transforms videos and games on your screen into full interactive experiences. Watch 360° spherical videos to see in any direction, enjoy 3D movies, and full freedom of movement thanks to the wireless connectivity. You can take down the bad guy in your favorite game with your own hands, or sit in the center of the crowd for a live concert. Never play games or watch movies from afar again, live the experience with Homido.

Mozilla has shipped a new version of Firefox whose private mode also blocks tracking beacons for ad networks, which will make private Web usage much harder to track. (more…)

Google bans ads by predatory lenders who promise foreclosure prevention and high-rate short-term loans, but they do allow payday loan ads; when you search for "need rent money fast," the predatory lenders target you with payday loan ads that collect your information and turn it into a lead for a high-pressure sales-call from one of Google's shitlisted usurers. (more…)

As Mark Andreessen noted, software is eating the world because once it's developed, it scales to infinity. That means that once a worker's co-op of drivers clones Uber's platform in free/open code, drivers in every city in the world can disrupt the company, throw off its rent-seeking, and fill their pockets with the money the company siphons off for providing very little at the margins. (more…)

The Koch brothers have done a lot to rehabilitate their reputation as Immortan Joe climate-destroyer/plutocrats by talking about criminal justice reform, a cause dear to the hearts of the libertarian right as well as the left. But when push comes to shove, the Brothers Koch would rather fund get-tough-on-crime politicians if it means attacking judges who give big awards to class action suits against giant corporations. (more…)