Flickr exists, in part, because I needed a photo-sharing tool to help me woo my long-distance girlfriend, who later became my wife, and whom I've been with now for 15 years -- so I have watched the service's long decline and neglect at the hands of Yahoo, and then its sale to the loathsome telco Verizon, with sorrow. (more…)

Our world is a colorful one, and when it comes time to repaint the house or create a new design, many of us look to our surroundings for inspiration. However, matching colors from the outside world to our canvas isn't the most precise process when we're just eyeballing it. The Nix Pro Color Sensor removes the guesswork involved, determining an exact match of any color you put it on, and it's on sale for over 25% off in the Boing Boing Store.The key to the Nix's precision is its ability to block out ambient light when you're matching a surface. Simply scan any color critical surface and save it to your smartphone or tablet, and the Nix will match it to a huge range of existing color libraries. You can match with over 38,000 paint colors and even grab CMYK, HEX, sRGB, CIELAB, LCH, and LRV values. Plus, the Nix lets you discover and save color harmonies to build your creative library.Now, you can get the Nix Pro Color Sensor on sale today for $249 in the Boing Boing Store.

A draft of the World Bank's annual flagship World Development Report says that its creditor-states (the poorest countries in the world) should eliminate their minimum wage rules, allow employers to fire workers without cause, and repeal laws limiting abusive employment contract terms. (more…)

I was a teenaged page at the North York Central Library in suburban Toronto, working in the Business and Urban Affairs section, shelving books, taping together newspapers while we waited for their microfilm versions to arrive, and fiddling around with the newly installed (and poorly documented) computerised catalogue/lending system -- I worked there with many other would-be writers, like Nalo Hopkinson, who was a public service clerk a few floors down. (more…)

An overwhelming stench of poop and urine led authorities to check out what was going on in an unassuming two-story house in Toliara, Madagascar. When they opened the front door, they were shocked to find the house full of endangered tortoises--10,068, to be exact. According to Soary Randrianjafizanaka, a representative from Madagascar's environmental protection agency, so many of the poor little critters were jammed into the house that they literally had no room to move.From National Geographic:

This is amazing.(more…)

Raggae-scorched Led Zeppelin covers churned out by a tight band fronted by an Elvis Presley impersonator? Yes, there is a God, and Dread Zeppelin is proof that she loves us.These guys were the musical snow leopard of my early teenage years: on rare occasions, I'd catch the tail end of one of their videos on Much Music or a piece of a song on college radio. It was years before I learned who they were or bought one of their CDs. Scoff if you will, but at its height, the band was so damn good at what it did that Robert Plant kept their music in his car.On this 4.20, or as Xeni calls it, amateur day, they are my gift to you.

In November, 1970, just outside the Norwegian town of Bergen, two kids found the partially burnt remains of a woman's body. Surrounding the woman's remains were a number of objects: some bottles of water, a rubber boot and a burnt newspaper. All of the labels had been removed from the woman's clothing. Why the woman – known in Norway as the Isdal Woman, named for the remote valley that she was found in – died or who she was has been a mystery for close to 50 years.Norwegian journalist Marit Higraff and BBC documentary maker Neil McCarthy are working to shed light on the Isdal Woman's very, very cold case. Working together, they've produced a new podcast called Death in Ice Valley. The first episode is available to download or stream, right now.During the course of the podcast, Higraff and McCarthy will talk to those that investigated the crime back in the day, as well as forensic experts and anyone else they feel might propel them towards the answer of who the Isdal Woman was and why she died. But they're not stopping there. Listeners of the podcast are invited to talk to one another and the podcast's producers about the case on social media, in the hope that a breakthrough for the case could be crowdsourced.I listened to the first episode yesterday. It starts slow, as many BBC radio productions often do. But the questions that the pair of journalists raise surrounding the Isdal Woman's death and what they uncovered, even in the first episode, has compelled me to continue with the series to see how things turn out. If you're looking for something new to occupy your ears with, you might just want to include it on your list of downloads.Reinhardheydt - Own work, Public Domain, Link

Stanford neuroscientist David Eagleman invented the Versatile Extra-Sensory Transducer (VEST), a wearable tactile display that translates myriad kinds of information, from speech to sounds to digital data, into patterns of vibrations on the skin. The device was inspired by Eagleman's study of synesthesia, the fascinating neurological phenomenon whereby stimulation of one sense involuntarily triggers another sensory pathway. From Smithsonian:

My friend Craig Yoe, who is one of the most-knowledgeable comic book historians alive, edited an anthology of old comic book stories about the dangers of marijuana, called Reefer Madness. It came out today! These were the kind of sensationalists comic books Jeff Sessions would have read as young elf, if he'd had the sophistication and good taste to read comic books.Here are a few sample pages:

In 1907, pharmacist and photography buff Dr. Julius Neubronner invented the "pigeon camera." Neubronner attached his cameras, with a built-in shutter timer, to his own homing pigeons and let them fly. For most people, the birds' photos provided a previously unseen view on the world. The images are collected in a new book, The Pigeon Photographer. From the New Yorker:

Kindle Unlimited reminds me of Netflix. You get tons of all-you-can-eat content to choose from for a monthly fee, and the overall quality keeps getting better every year. I've been using Kindle Unlimited for a few years, and one of the best things about it is being able to download lots of non-fiction books and use them for research (I got a bunch of bitcoin and blockchain books that way). They also have lots of audio books. You can even get two of my books through Kindle Unlimited: Maker Dad and Trick Decks.You can try it free for a month here. After that it's $9.99 a month.

Kronos Quartet, my favorite avant-garde classical group, is holding its Kronos Festival 2018 at San Francisco's SF JAZZ Center next week, April 26-28. I've attended multiple Kronos Festivals and they are always wonderful performances, each one an enchanting introduction to global (and local) sounds that are wonderfully unfamiliar to me yet open my ears and mind to new artists and perspectives. This year, the festival features artist-in-residence David Coulter and guests San Francisco Girls Chorus, Vân-Ánh Võ, Zakir Hussain, Mahsa Vahdat, Trio Da Kali, Jolie Holland, and avant-folk duo CocoRosie!Special note: The Saturday matinee concert, "Around the World with Kronos," is meant for families with children ages 3 and up!Here's the full schedule: Kronos Festival 2018

Chinese authorities hate jaywalkers and they've decided to use technology to end the practice; in Shenzhen, jaywalkers are identified with facial recognition and sent threatening texts while their faces are displayed on oversized nearby LED screens; in Daye, Hubei province, shouting robotic squirt-guns target and soak anyone who attempts to walk into an intersection against the lights. (more…)

Homophobic climate change denier Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.) "has made a career out of ignoring scientific expertise" says Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii). Naturally, Bridenstine was approved 50-49, along party lines, to be our next NASA administrator.From Huffington Post:

Medical device security very, very, very, very, very, very, very bad. (more…)

I have a friend who used to always put "Mark" and only "Mark" in the subject line of emails to me. It vaguely bugged me but I never told him to stop. Then I found out he did it to a mutual friend and she told me it really freaked her out and she told him to stop. She said having email with nothing but her first name as the subject made it seem like the message was going to have ominous news and she was loathe to open it.In as essay for The Outline, Casey Johnston shares a similar experience: a boss who slacked "hi!" and only "hi!" Johnstone thought this meant she was about to be fired.

In 2009, JP Morgan Chase's "special ops" guy was an ex-Secret Service agent called Peter Cavicchia III, and he retained Palantir to spy on everyone in the company to find "insider threats"; even getting the bank to invest in Palantir. (more…)

These hand boilers are a hell of a lot of fun, even if you aren't stoned.Not just fun, this is science! Use your body heat to teach a child about distillation! Every child needs to know how to create the water of life.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8wNTb27yT0Honestly, I love my little hand boiler. I keep it next to an arm chair that friends seem to like to space out in.Westminster Hand Boilers (Colors May Vary) via AmazonImage via Amazon

This week, Southwest flight 1380 lost an engine in midair when one of its fan-blades cracked; it was the second time in recent years that this happened to one of Southwest's Boeing 737s. (more…)

The contagion is spreading: Arizona is the latest red state where teachers -- backed by immense public sympathy -- are staging first-of-its-kind state walkout, protesting against the very idea of neoliberal austerity, recognizing that with the GOP running their state and their nation, that the problem is Republicanism, not some local phenomenon. (more…)

There's the Museum of Ice Cream, and more recently, The Museum of Selfies. Now there's an Instagram-friendly pop-up museum dedicated to California's most iconic fruit, the avocado. It's called The CADO and it opens in June in San Diego. Tickets are available now.

The Democratic National Committee today filed a lawsuit against the Russian government, Donald Trump's presidential campaign, and WikiLeaks, alleging the Trump campaign 'gleefully welcomed Russia's help.' Court papers describe a far-reaching conspiracy to disrupt the 2016 presidential campaign, and throw the election for Donald Trump through a complex and well-funded global disinformation campaign.(more…)

Get Out director Jordan Peele and Buzzfeed CEO Jonah Peretti got together to make ObamaPeele -- a faked video of Obama, using Peele's voice.It's a PSA aimed at getting people to be more wary of possibly-faked videos online. They created this one using FakeApp, a relatively easy-to-use iteration of "DeepFakes" technology that lets you swap faces in videos (previously here, here and here). Thus far, it's most infamously been used to put the faces of famous actors into porn videos, but it's painfully easy to see how this will get used in producing political disinfo in the months and years to come, too.So, in addition to shooting the video, Buzzfeed composed a five-step guide offering pointers on how to spot a deepfaked video. It's a great list, including suggestions like these:

I got a contact high just from watching these people who are high as fuck being interviewed on TV.

Last week, Wells Fargo defiantly announced that it would not follow its competitors' examples and cease lending to gun manufacturers; this week, the American Federation of Teachers dropped Wells Fargo as the preferred mortgage lender for its 1.7 million members. (more…)

Wells Fargo defrauded 800,000 car loan borrowers, forcing 274,000 of them into bankruptcy and stealing ("wrongfully repossessing") 25,000 cars; they also ripped off mortgage borrowers by failing to send them their paperwork until after the deadline for filing it and then fining them for not filing it on time. (more…)

The Zlant keyboard -- a compromise between tiny "ortholinear" grid keyboards and a traditional staggered layout -- will be available soon.

The Association of Independent Festivals plans to take a step in the right direction on single-use plastic items with their Drastic on Plastic initiative. (more…)

You probably remember the Twisty Glass Blunt since we love to write about it. And you may also remember its little buddy, the Twisty Glass Mini. Well, today we've got a fun surprise that isn't so little. Less isn't always more, and on those days when you need to decompress with a good smoke, the Twisty XL Glass Blunt lets you enjoy up to four grams of your favorite herb with a simple pack and twist. That's twice the size of the original Twisty, and you can get it today for $71.99 in the Boing Boing Store.https://www.youtube.com/embed/pU6_F4gwCOcLike the other Twisty blunts, you simply pack and twist the screw with your herb of choice before you light up. And, you'll only have to light once thanks to its infini-cherry technology that minimizes the need to relight. What's more, the Twisty XL produces a 30% cooler hit as the eight chambers cooldown smoke by doubling the length of its path, making for an even more enjoyable toke.You can get smarter about your smoking setup with the Twisty XL Glass Blunt, on sale for $71.99. Happy 4/20.

Sega made nice jewel cases for its video games, providing ample space for manuals and a nice thick spine for shelf display. But they cracked easily, and Sega's departure from the console business meant fans went for many years without an easy replacement source. But then there were two – in competition.

From the 1920s to the 1980s, the United States was the most smoking country in the developed world. In the 1960s, consumption peaked over 10 a day, per capita. But now it's near the bottom of the chart—only Britain smokes less, among rich western countries.Don't fret for the health of the Tobacco business, though: China's taking up the slack.

This video synchronizes every Rod Serling opening monologue from The Twilight Zone so that they converge upon him saying "The Twilight Zone." It's surprisingly weird and uncanny as the cacophony builds, only for the words to suddenly emerge at the end.

The guys from Waterjet Channel took a request from a Minecraft fan who wanted to see them cut an obsidian cube, even supplying the obsidian. They also made some super-thin batarangs that could almost be used as sunglass lenses. (more…)

Sex communication expert, and co-founder of the groundbreaking Cuddle Party, Marcia Baczynski has bravely taken on the task of teaching folks -- primarily women -- how to handle consent in a post-#MeToo world with her newly-published Field Guide to Consent.In her words:

On Saturday, it'll be two years since we lost Prince.In remembrance of the "Purple One," his estate has released a video of long-lost footage of him rehearsing with his band in his Minnesota studio in 1984, coupled with his original recording of "Nothing Compares 2 U."It's magnificent.The Prince Estate writes:

Since its launch in 1999, Neopets has enjoyed a pretty colorful history. The game offers users the ability to create a virtual pet to take on adventures and, using virtual and real-world currency, feed and trick out their digital pets with swag, homes and other online sundries. It was originally aimed at kids, but grew a cult-following of oldsters, too.Oh, and it used to be run by Scientologists.According to The Outline, the company that originally owned the Neopets brand employed business practices deeply rooted in Scientology. Up until the point where NeoPets was sold to Viacom in 2005, Neopet's CEO and practicing Scientologist Doug Dohring rocked L. Ron Hubbard’s Org Board business model in order to keep things running smoothly – provided you considered turning your employees against one another smooth.From The Outline:

Is it possible that modern humans aren't the first civilization on Earth?This is the insanely interesting question probed by "The Silurian Hypothesis", a new paper authored by Gavin A. Schmidt and Adam Frank, two NASA scientists.As they point out, if an industrialized civilization existed in the deep past, it's not clear there'd be easily recognizable traces of it. Our geologic record doesn't go back any further than the Quaternary period of about 2.6 million years ago. "Go back much farther than the Quaternary," as Frank writes in an essay about the paper in the Atlantic, "and everything has been turned over and crushed to dust."It's not even clear we'd find fossilized remains of a previous civilization, because while museumgoers might think that fossils are reasonably common, they're actually incredibly rare. A near-zero percentage of life on earth has ever been fossilized. A civilization could last what seems -- to us -- like a super-long time and still not produce any fossils, as Frank notes:

Stéphane Pigeon has created Purrli, a web site that generates audio of a cat purring.It's customizable; I found setting it for "sleepy" and "relaxed" produced my particular fave timbre of cat-purr.As Pigeon notes:

He's doing God's work. Which God that might be, however, is open for debate.

I don't want to alarm anyone, but it sounds like maybe some ICE agents are, I dunno, a shower of bastards.According to Syracuse.com, New York state dairy farmer John Collins was doing his thing when he heard screaming. When he ran out to see what was happening, he found that his hired hand, Marcial de Leon Aguilar, was being pinned to the side of his farm's milk house by armed men. Aguilar is from Guatemala, and had all of the paperwork required to work in the United States. He'd been employed by Collins for just under a year.When Collins confronted the armed men about what they were doing with his employee, they stated that they were ICE agents. As the goons slapped a set of handcuffs on Aguilar, Collins demanded to see the warrant that allowed ICE to come on to his property. You'll be shocked to know, I'm sure, that the agents stated that they had none.It gets better. As the agents dragged Aguilar across the road to their waiting vehicle, Collins continued to demand that they produce paperwork on why they were taking his employee or show the authority that allowed them onto his land. As he did so, he began filming the exchange with his smartphone. Collins alleges that, at this point, one the agents grabbed the phone out of his hand, handcuffed him and threatened to arrest him for hindering a federal investigation. In the end, Collins was released, but Aguilar was carted away.Oh, did I mention that Aguilar's kids saw the whole damn thing? Because they totally did – the Aguilar's family was living in a house on Collins' spread as a partial payment for his gig.From Syracuse.com:

Rudolph W. Giuliani, the once moderate former New York mayor who morphed into an angry spittle-flecked screamer, says he is joining Trump's legal team with the goal of getting Special Counsel Robert Mueller to cease his investigation. Good luck with that.From The Washington Post:

https://youtu.be/ImYEAYYlBJkPepsico is the low-key -- some might say deliberately hidden -- backer of the Drinkfinity system. As Jaiksmith says, "it's a proprietary bottle that uses proprietary "pods" that are a mix of dry and liquid ingredients, no artificial sweeteners. For $35 you can get a bottle and 16 pods...about twice the cost (per oz) of their other product, Tropicana Orange Juice."

A copy of Action Comics #1 (1938), featuring the first appearance of Superman, is on the auction block. The current bid is $300k and Heritage Auctions says it could go up to $600k or more.

These flush-cut micro soft-wire cutters are made by Hakko. I use them to cut wire, zip-ties, and stray pieces of 3D printer filament. I have one in my toolbox and another on my workbench. At $4.43 (with free shipping on Amazn prime), they are a great deal.

I tried the popular Irish brand Odlum's Irish Brown Soda Bread mix to see if it was better or easier than my standby recipe. (more…)

White evangelicals love Trump more than ever.From PRI:

https://youtu.be/kxMC7g_sKjwJeff Daniels was just finishing up answering Conan's question about Dumb and Dumber when Jim Carrey walked on stage to surprise him. Their genuine pleasure of meeting up again is a joy to watch.

Universal Love is a new compilation of wedding songs reimagined for same-sex couples. It includes the likes of Kesha doing "I Need a Woman to Love," Bob Dylan playing "He's Funny That Way," and my pal Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie singing "And I Love Him." Check out Ben's lovely performance on Conan last night!More about Universal Love in this New York Times article.

Remember Mason Ramsey, the 11-year-old yodeler who was discovered in an Illinois Walmart? Well, now thanks to artist Dano Brown, the "Walmart yodeling kid" has become an action figure. You won't find this "Walmart Legend" being sold at the chain though, because it's not mass produced. It's a one-of-a-kind piece of art. There is just this one single Mason Ramsey action figure available and you can go to eBay to bid on it (currently at $410).If these one-up action figures are your thing, be sure to check out Dano's other works on his Instagram feed.