Chris "The Crispiest Bacon" Hill made this perfectly-designed chart showing how long different brands of alkaline battery lasted in the same flashlight. The surprise would seem to be the Rite Aid and CVS store brands. [Via Data Is Beautiful]

"You scare me," he says. Then: "*sigh*"

Public records requests have revealed that on at least four occasions, the Raleigh-Durham police obtained warrants forcing Google to reveal the identities of every mobile user within acres of a crime scene, sweeping up the personal information of thousands of people in a quest to locate a single perp. (more…)

The lethal fire at Grenfell tower had many proximate causes, not least the defeat of a bill in Parliament that would have required landlords to render their properties safe and habitable, voted down by Tory MPs who are overwhelmingly landlords themselves. (more…)

Remember that rock song at the end of WKRP in Cincinnati? The one that ends with a kitten meowing? Well, today I learned that its lyrics are complete gibberish.Go ahead, listen to it, I'll wait.All gibberish!Here's its story, according to the last.fm wiki:

The Nintendo Switch is king when it comes to gaming on the go, but it's tough to lose yourself in Zelda: Breath of the Wild or Skyrim if your battery dies out. That's where this Nintendo Switch Battery Charger Case comes into play. Built exclusively for Nintendo Switch, this pack allows for uninterrupted charging while you play, delivering 10,000mAh of power via an integrated USB-C PD port, and it's on sale in the Boing Boing Shop.In addition to doubling your Switch's battery life, this case protects your console inside and out. Its high-density shell ensures a slip-proof grip and shock-resistant protection, while the built-in kickstand allows for cooling airflow, preventing your Switch from overheating. Plus, the charger even boasts a Quickchip chipset to provide steady power flow while protecting against over-charging.You can pick up the Nintendo Switch Battery Charger Case on sale today for $40.

This June, fast food chain Sonic Drive-In will rollout a pickle juice snow cone slush, according to Food & Wine (who's already taste-tested the new beverage):

Elements of the left say that antifa tactics -- direct, physical confrontations with fascists and racists -- are a "gift to the alt-right," letting them play victim and validating their paranoid fantasies about the persecution of white dudes -- but punched Nazi Richard Spencer says that antifa tactics have worked as intended, making it impossible for him to continue his on-campus recruitment tour for his forthcoming race-war. (more…)

Creative designers play a pivotal role in engaging target audiences and customers, and while companies are eager to bring more of these professionals on board, you'll have a hard time getting your foot in the door if you're not using the industry's best tools. From Adobe to Maya, the eduCBA Design & Multimedia Lifetime Subscription Bundle familiarizes you with the design tools of the trade, and it's on sale in the Boing Boing Store for $19.This collection delivers lifetime access to more than 700 hours of training spread across 200 courses. You'll learn animation from courses on Mocha, Keyshot, Maya, and Nuke and tap into other creative tools, like Adobe, Unity, and CAD. You can validate your training with online quizzes and tests, and certificates of completion are awarded for each course you finish.The eduCBA Design & Multimedia Lifetime Subscription Bundle is available today for $19 in the Boing Boing Store.

XOXO is the much-loved culture and tech conference in Portland, organized by Andy Baio and Andy McMillan; they took 2017 off and would not confirm when or if the conference would be back, but a year later, it's back!

When you look at the list of people that Wells Fargo stole from -- ordinary depositors, struggling mortgage borrowers, 800,000 car loan borrowers, mom and pop businesses, medium businesses and home owners -- a commonality emerges: they're all poor people, or middle-class people, or slightly rich people. (more…)

Ross Symons wanted to improve both his photography and origami skills, so he challenged himself to create a fun photo of one of his miniature origami each day, something he started for fun in 2014. (more…)

If I had a hit pop song that was fresh off a Grammy win, I would follow Portugal. The Man's lead and do all the things.First, I'd want to perform on Ellen like they just did. But that's not big enough, I'd also want to bring the USC Marching Band onstage with me, like they did Thursday. https://youtu.be/1vxfOvMZALsThen, just because I could, I would get "Weird Al" Yankovic to performing a rousing remix of my Grammy-winning song, like they just did with "Feel it Still."Then I'd continue touring with my new album, like they are with "Woodstock." 'Cause: "Go big or go home."(COS)

Irish music lost one of its legends this week, with the passing of Liam O'Flynn.A player of the Uilleann pipes, O'Flynn, or as he was known by the Gaeilge iteration of his name, Liam Óg Ó Floinn, was born in 1945 to a family of musicians. In his youth, his piping earned him prizes at county and national levels, but it wasn't until he was in his thirties that he really hit his stride. As one of the founding members of Irish trad super group Planxty, O'Flynn helped to breathe new life to traditional Irish music by showing that it could be every bit as exciting and full of life as rock and roll. Without Planxty, there may not have been a Dexy's Midnight Runners; No Waterboys, Pogues, or Dropkick Murphys. We'd all be poorer for it. Plantxy's music left me with the impression, as a kid, that the tunes I played on the instruments I grew up with were cool. I had the privilege of meeting Mr. O'Flynn at a musical festival I was covering for a magazine back in the 1990s. He was pleasant and seemed genuinely pleased to make my acquaintance. The encounter left me feeling giddy for days afterwards.One of my favorite songs by Planxty, Raggle Taggle Gypsy, has a tune lashed on to the end of it called Tabhair dom do laimh, which roughly translates as Give Me Your Hand. O'Flynn's rendition of the tune has been one of my happy places for decades. The Uilleann pipes are a difficult instrument to play competently. When he's in charge of the bellows, the music that comes out is emotional, and as full of love as the tune's title.It makes me sad that the world has to go on without him, but I've his music as consolation.

Looks like Terry Gilliam is one of those guys: “Harvey opened the door for a few people, a night with Harvey — that’s the price you pay.”

Greenbrier Public School in rural Arkansas didn't take too kindly to the national school walkout that took place on Tuesday to protest gun violence in response to last month's deadly Parkland shooting. In fact, when three students decided to go against the grain of their very conservative school and community and walk out, they were met with a tough choice: suspension or corporal punishment.(more…)

I've mentioned it online before, but here we go: Two years ago, my wife and I decided to leave our rented home behind and move into a 40-foot RV. We spend our spring and summer in Alberta, Canada where she has a job for six months of the year working as an addictions counselor. The other half of the year, we head south to Mexico and beyond so that she can work as a dive Instructor.This might be an excellent time to point out that my partner is far more interesting than I'll ever be.We love this life, but it's not without its difficulties. We have all the repairs that come along with home ownership and owning a semi-truck, rolled into one. Our paychecks can sometimes take weeks to catch up to us, leaving us eating rice and beans. Again. But perhaps the worst thing about living in a motorhome, for us, is that we had to get rid of our book collection. Between us, we owned hundreds of books. We looked upon them as shelves of old friends who we could turn to, no matter what life brought us. But, sometimes, you have to leave old friends behind in order to grow. A motorhome can only carry so much weight, not to mention the limited amount of space that you'll find inside of one. We packed them up and took them to our favorite used bookstore where they'll, hopefully, find new homes.When I'm not guest blogging here, part of my job is to review e-readers. I love it: I'm paid, albeit occasionally, to read books all day. There's a ton of e-readers out there. You've got your Kindles and your Kobos. Barnes & Noble just launched a new one too. There's also scores of shifty little companies in Asia and Eastern Europe that make slabs with E Ink displays which run Android--you can read almost anything on them. Too bad I have yet to find one that works well. Right now, my favorite e-reader is the 2017 Amazon Kindle Oasis. It's got a larger display than the rest of Amazon's recent e-reader lineup does. It's brightly lit display is easy on the eyes, no matter how long you read from it. It handles comic books pretty well, and reading texts on it is a joy. Once I finished reviewing it,I held on to it as a reference device to hold up against other luxury-priced e-readers. Before long, it became my daily driver when I needed something to read.Perhaps my favorite feature that the Oasis has to offer is that its waterproof. I have a lot of old injuries that see me spending a lot of time sitting in hot tubs and standing in trailer park shower stalls. Now, when I hit the water, my Kindle Oasis comes with me. It feels like such a privilege to have something to occupy myself with during the time I'm forced to spend on pain management. In the past, I've killed an e-reader by taking it in the water with me, wrapped up in a Ziploc bag. Kobo makes a couple of waterproof e-readers and they're pretty great. But if you get their displays wet, they think you're touching the screen to give their operating system input. These registered 'touches' can turn pages, add bookmarks and do all kinds of other crazy shit that you'd rather not have in your life. Thanks to a recent software update, it's possible to turn the Kindle Oasis's touchscreen off and navigate using the readers page turn buttons instead.In the time since we've moved into the RV, we've been able to replace a lot of the books we gave up. And now, I can read those books, anywhere. A digital device will never replace the experience of reading an actual book. At least not for me. But my Kindle Oasis provides me with enough happiness that I'm not bummed out about the absence of dead-tree editions of my favorite words in my life.

Take a gander at this huge poster from 1962 for Thunderball, starring Sean Connery as Agent 007 (in my book, Connery will always be the only 007, just as Shatner and Jeffrey Hunter will always be the only captains of any starship in the entire Star Trek franchise). The image in the upper right is definitely the work of paperback cover maestro Robert McGinnis. I'm not sure about the other three.From Heritage Auctions:

My daughter and I are building a portable device to play the 1981 RPG computer game, Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord. We're running it on a Raspberry Pi using a a DOS operating system emulator called DOSBox. Here's what we've got so far:Next, we have to design a case using TinkerCad, and then print it out on our Prusa 3D printer.I've been looking for a small wireless keyboard and it looks like the one shown in the above photo will fit the bill. It's on sale on Amazon for $10 if you use the promo code BQZZXVBB. It also has a trackpad, which is not needed for Wizardry but will come in handy when using the Raspberry Pi's GUI.

The wonderful Rufus Thomas and friends do the "Funky Robot" on Black Omnibus, a short-lived 1973 TV interview/performance show hosted by James Earl Jones and featuring African-American artists and cultural figures.(via Weird Universe)

Master Replicas Group will soon sell a limited edition Hal 9000 interface that integrates an Amazon Fire tablet and Echo. Sadly, Alexa doesn't sound anything like Douglas Rain.Hal 9000 Replica (via Uncrate)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWL8CjzoBTw

In 1973, the National Association Of Progressive Radio Announcers released "Get Off," a 1973 vinyl record featuring dozens of musicians delivering anti-hard drug warnings. Along with personal warnings from Grateful Dead, Alice Cooper, the Doobie Bros., BB King, Ravi Shankar, the Staple Singers, and Frank Zappa, the crew of the starship Enterprise visits a planet ravaged by hard drugs. Just say know.

Washington State was the first to pass a true Net Neutrality law that restored all the public protections the FCC withdrew when it killed Net Neutrality late last year; the move is symbolically awesome but legally fraught, seeking to redefine the line where the FCC's authority stops and the states' authorities start. (more…)

Every year we invite a bunch of friends over for Christmas dinner. We always have oven roasted turkey. But for 2017, I was given a loaner unit of the Lynx Sonoma Propane Gas Smoker, so I decided to smoke the turkey this time. The smoker sells for about $3200. It arrived on a truck. It's made of stainless steel and looks beautiful. It weighs 250 pounds, and wasn't easy to roll across the lawn because gophers have turned it into Swiss cheese. After I got the metal beast settled on the back porch, I opened the instruction manual.The first step (after buying a tank of propane) was to download an app for my smartphone and connect it to the wifi radio in the smoker. This took a long time. The app needed the smoker's serial number. I couldn't find it. I had to call Lynx to find out where the PIN code on the smoker was. It turns out it's under a little drawer that contains the control panel. I had to get on my hands and knees and crane my neck to see the tiny numbers printed on a sticker, which doesn't peel off. I took a photo of the sticker and zoomed to see the numbers (note to Lynx - please move the sticker, or better yet, let people use the app without requiring a serial number). It also took several attempts to connect to the smoker, but once I got it, the app worked fine. The main purpose of the app is to let you see a temperature graph on your phone. I love this feature, because it takes a long time to smoke meat, and it let me do other things in the house and check on the progress remotely.In the weeks leading up to Christmas, I practiced with chickens. The Sonoma has a tray to fill with wood chips, which get heated by the propane heater to produce smoke. The chickens were smoked to perfection, giving me confidence that the 25 pound turkey I was going to smoke wouldn't be a half-charred/half-frozen disaster. I told Cory about my plans, and he suggested I tell the butcher to spatchcock the turkey. Spatchcock is a fun word for cutting the turkey's backbone and butterflying it. When a bird is prepared this way, it cooks more evenly, because it increases the surface-area-to-volume ratio.Carla picked up our turkey at Whole Foods a couple of days before Christmas. When she asked the butcher to spatchcock it, he looked at her as if she'd asked him to do something obscene to the turkey. Another customer overheard and told the butcher what spatchcocking was. The butcher found a co-worker who knew how to perform the operation, and he did it, albeit reluctantly, since there were a lot of customers clamoring for their turkeys.Prep was easy. I just used the app to select the "smoked turkey" recipe and it heated the smoker and alerted me when it was time to put the turkey in. There was plenty of room in the gigantic smoker. I went inside and set up my iPad to monitor the temperature. It took a long time to smoke a big turkey - about 5 hours.Cory snapped the above photo of the turkey when it was ready. Fortunately, he'd brought along some out-of-town guests, one of whom was a professional chef, and she sliced the turkey masterfully (thanks, Pheobe!).If I had $3000 to spare, this is something I would consider buying, because it does a great job, and smoking is a fun way to make delicious food. For now, I'm thinking about making the "Nellie Bly Smoker" that Bill Gurstelle wrote about in MAKE.I also learned that Lynx carries nifty smoker box that you can include in your existing grill. It’s just $60, and is from Lynx Grills:

No Man's Sky is a beautiful game of interstellar exploration: something about its epic psychedelic wonder stays with you even after you've internalized its procedural patterns. Blake Patterson wanted to see how well a classic Amiga 1000 would render some of its scenery. Granted, an Amiga isn't going to counting frames by the second, but it was the first machine to offer thousands of colors on-screen at once and its peculiar pallete trickery gives NMS an even weirder look.

“What if we told you we could back up your mind?” asks start-up Netcome. According to MIT grad and co-founder Robert McIntyre, he has state-of-the-art technology to preserve your brain in a near-perfect state for scanning in the future once that technology is invented. Thing is, they have to start the preservation process while you're still alive. They're pitching the company at Y-Combinator's "demo daysnext week. Already 25 people have signed up on the waiting list. From Antonio Regalado's feature in Technology Review:

Looks great, but honestly it could use more Hawkguy.

When it comes to killing Net Neutrality, Big Telco's major talking point is that "government regulation" has no place in telcoms; but the reality is that the nation's telecommunications providers are the recipients of regulatory gifts that run to $5B/year, and are expected to do very little in return for this corporate welfare. (more…)

Deep-sky photographer Rogelio Bernal Andreo did the calculations, then managed to catch footage of Starman and the Tesla Roadster that were launched via the Falcon Heavy rocket. (more…)

Remember when Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to make Americans safe, and promised an end to "American carnage" at his inauguration? Yeah, neither does he. (more…)

Eating an entire swab of cotton candy in three seconds flat is a fascinating thing to watch, and this woman does it like a champ. Actually, she is a champ. This GIF, by @DelightDestiny, shows how the woman swiftly and meticulously beats her opponent on a Chinese TV show after he challenges her to a cotton candy eating contest:

Here's part six of my reading (MP3) (part five, part four, part three, part two, part one) of The Man Who Sold the Moon, my award-winning novella first published in 2015's Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future, edited by Ed Finn and Kathryn Cramer. It's my Burning Man/maker/first days of a better nation story and was a kind of practice run for my 2017 novel Walkaway.MP3

Scientists analyzed almost a quarter million DNA samples in the UK Biobank and found 538 new genes that appear to have a role in intellectual capabilities. (more…)

A ski lift in Georgia (the country, not US state) went haywire went it lost its brakes and sent passengers downhill, picking up speed and flinging skiers off the lift. The stuff of nightmares.Snowboarder Alena Pakhomova posted this footage on her Instagram page:

LEGO invited YouTuber Andrew Huang to make a song using only instruments he constructed from the colorful plastic bricks. Some very creative instruments were the result. (more…)

Remember when Tommy Wiseau dressed up as The Joker and delivered some iconic lines from The Dark Knight in his most-imitable style? The fine folks at Bup cut Tommy into the movie, and it's as hilariously horrifying as expected. (more…)

Meat master Eli Cairo explains how to spot good meat from the not-so-great.

Great Barrier Reef Legacy is one of a number of organizations racing to collect and study coral colonies that miraculously survive major bleaching events. The hope is that these "super corals" can help restore reefs decimated by environmental change. (more…)

As I've written, the demise of newsmedia can't be blamed on tech -- rather, it was the combination of technology and deregulated, neoliberal capitalism, which saw media companies merged and acquired, vertically and horizontally integrated, with quality lowered, staff outsourced and assets stripped, leaving them vulnerable to technological shocks, after all their in-house experts were turned into contractors who drifted away, their physical plant sold and leased back, their war-chests drained by vulture capitalists who loaded them up with debt that acted like a millstone around their necks as they strove to maneuver their way out of their economic conundrum. (more…)

A few years back I wrote about Dave, one of the hosts of Dopey podcast. It was before Dopey though. Back then, he was working on another project that caught my fancy. It was good but can't tell you about it because he's gone anonymous for this one.I can tell you about Dopey though, in Dave's words:

So, Mattel recently caught some slack after announcing a Frida Kahlo Barbie. Kahlo's estate is saying that the toy manufacturer didn't get permission from them to use her image and likeness. Mattel disputes the claim.They did, however, get the blessing of "geriatric starlet" Iris Apfel to make a single Barbie doll in her likeness. Yes, just one.The Cut reports:

Easter is on April Fools Day this year but what I'm about to share is not a joke.A brewery in Texas, The Collective Brewing Project in Fort Worth, has crafted a Peeps-filled ale that will be ready for the holiday. It's a collaboration with local bar Lone Star Taps and Caps, according to Dallas Morning News' Guide Live:

As more companies aim to reel in costs and boost productivity, project managers are becoming an essential part of many operations, and they're paid handsomely for their expertise. But, while demand is high, you'll have a hard time getting your foot in the door if you're not toting the right certifications. The Official Lean Six Sigma Training and Certification Bundle will prepare you to ace three of the leading project management certification exams, and it's on sale for $49.99 in the Boing Boing Store.Lean Six Sigma is a business management methodology that combines Lean and Six Sigma, two methodologies intended to improve performance by systematically removing waste. This collection is designed to familiarize you with all three levels of Lean Six Sigma's certification exams: yellow belt, green belt, and black belt. Make your way through the entire training, and you'll gain the knowledge necessary to certify your skills and break into the field as a project manager.The Official Lean Six Sigma Training and Certification Bundle is on sale for $49.99 in the Boing Boing Store today.

Vanessa Trump once told The New York Times that Donald Trump introduced her to Donald Trump Jr. (one of Trump's dumb and dumber boys) during a fashion show in 2003. They chatted during a break at the show. Five minutes later Trump introduced his son to her again, as if the first time had never happened. When she ran into Junior six weeks later, she said they talked for an hour before she realized who he was, and then blurted out, Hey, "you're the one with the retarded dad!"Yep, she had that one right, and the apple obviously didn't fall far.But Vanessa didn't connect the dots, and married Junior in 2005. After 13 years and five children, however, she finally got the picture and filed for divorce.According to Business Insider:

By stacking layers of multi-colored, hand-carved cheese, Tastemade created this meatless "CHEESEburger."Now watch it melt, creating the world's priciest cheese fries:https://www.facebook.com/tastemade/videos/1771297842957375/(Geekologie)

In this Wired video, Columbia University general surgery resident Annie Onishi watches ER and operating room scenes from some film and TV scenes, including Uma Thurman's adrenaline-to-the-heart one in Pulp Fiction, and gives her professional opinion on their accuracy. Although it's 20 minutes long, it's entertaining, so give it a watch... STAT.Wired notes:

A lot of terrible things go on inside of your average porta potty. This is one of them.

This is a good price for self-adjusting wire strippers - just $11 when you apply promo code YM3I4WHC. It will strip wires between 10-24 AWG. I've used them before, but didn't own a pair, so I bought some. Here's how they work:https://youtu.be/o9EdPiEoXM0?t=58s"It really is a clever bit of kit."

Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation has issued a subpoena to the Trump Organization for an array of documents, including those related to contact with Russia.(more…)

My Grandfather used to say that Ford stood for "Found Off Road, Dead." It was funny to a kid growing up, but it isn't true: Ford makes some damn fine vehicles.Mostly.According to The Washington Post, Ford announced, earlier this week, that they were recalling 1.4 million vehicles for what's really just a minor defec--OH MY GOD STEERING WHEELS ARE FALLING OFF. If you're behind the wheel of a Ford Fusion or Lincoln MKZ made between 2014 and 2018 sold in the U.S., Canada or Mexico, you might want to swing by your local Ford dealership, provided you can steer, and have them sort it out.The problem with the faulty steering wheel stems from a simple source: some of the bolts that they used to attach the steering wheels to the steering column were shit. Ford's solution to the problem is to replace these bolts with ones that aren't shit. Why they didn't use ones that weren't shit in the first place is anyone's guess, but here we are.If reading about Ford's concerns that you could die in a slap-stick-inspired, fiery death isn't enough to drive you into action, you'll be happy to hear that USA Today has a compelling list of 10 instances where Ford drivers have had their steering wheel separate from their car's steering column while driving. My personal favorite from the collection: