Boing Boing

The mortally injured cat was later euthanized.

Geek.com has a nice gallery of Atari 2600 game cartridge boxes and screenshots of what the games actually looked like.Some might say that this practice “misleading”. While I agree that to a modern eye, this art misrepresents what you are going to be playing, but it makes total sense when you look at the art in the context of the time it was released and try to understand how it was useful to gamers during this period.Thanks, Sluggo! Read the rest

Turtle costumes, all the way down.“Finished costume chillin on my sofa,” says IMGURian and amazing costume creator tragopandemonium of the image above. “This guy took me three weeks to build.”And here is the finished piece, worn by the guy on the right.There are turtle costumes, and then there are turtle costumes. This one is amazing for many reasons, but one of them is the ingenuity of material choices here.“I made the shell from shock-absorbing floor mat stuff from Home Depot... the pattern for the curved form seriously threw me for a loop!! D: Ultimately I cut darts in the lines of the actual shell plates - this created the right 3D shape and also hid the seams.”You've gotta check out the whole gallery, for wonderful step by step on how this thing was built. I am so inspired, and so intimidated.My friend needed a Turtle costume for a party, so I made this... Read the rest

The inexpensive Uni Kuru Toga is my favorite mechanical pencil, because it automatically rotates the lead everytime you touch the tip to paper. This keeps the lead nicely rounded. It does this without making the pen feel clicky or clunky, which would render it useless. Instead the mechanical action is so smooth as to be unnoticable. Read the rest

Of all the shitty luck! Burglars stole a working 18-carat gold toilet from Blenheim Palace in Britain. The golden potty was part of an art installation, police said.Blenheim is the birthplace of Winston Churchill, and you can still go see the rest of the exhibition. The historic building was structurally damaged by the theft.“Due to the toilet being plumbed in to the building, this has caused significant damage and flooding,” Detective Inspector Jess Milne said in a public statement.Reuters:The toilet, valued at more than $5 million, was part of an exhibition of work by Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan which opened two days ago at the stately home 60 miles west of London, a major tourist attraction.The toilet, named “America”, was previously on display in a cubicle at New York’s Guggenheim Museum, where more than 100,000 visitors were able to use it.Thieves with at least two vehicles broke into the palace, the birthplace of World War Two leader Winston Churchill, and removed the toilet some time before 5 a.m. (0400 GMT), Thames Valley Police said.First, a 66-year-old man was arrested in connection with the theft, on the same day as the theft. He was held on suspicion of burglary and released on bail until October.Now, police have arrested a second man, 36 years old “from Cheltenham... on suspicion of conspiracy to burgle.” Suspect number two has been released under investigation.The valuable artwork, however, is still missing.Blenheim Palace says it is saddened by the loss of such a “precious” work of art. Read the rest

The Theremin, an electronic musical instrument that you play by not touching it, celebrates the 100th anniversary of its invention next year. Smithsonian looks at the history of the first successful electronic musical instrument that New York Times critic Harold C. Schonberg described as sounding like "(a) cello lost in a dense fog, crying because it does not know how to get home." From Smithsonian:Theremin was a radio engineer with the Soviet military in 1918 when, while building a powerful transmitter-receiver, he noticed odd feedback sounds coming from it. He said in a 1995 interview, “it turned out that when the capacity changes at a distance of the moving hand, the pitch of the sound also changes.”He had happened on heterodyning, a process that combines two frequencies to shift one frequency range into another, new frequency. It makes for a change in pitch and volume.Other radio engineers in Europe at the close of World War I had noticed the same effect but Theremin was the first to play with that feedback or heterodyning effect in a musical way. The new sound pleased the inventor. Fully committed to Soviet nationalism, (Metropolitan Museum of Art musical instrument curator Jayson) Dobney says, Theremin “tried to find a musical sound that was modern, forward looking.” Read the rest

“The workers had lit a bonfire and were sitting together when a drone targeted them,” says a tribal elder.

Lily’s Garden is a variant of Candy Crush, a brainlessly addictive match-three smartphone game. The thing that makes Lily's Garden different, says Brian Feldman of New York's Intelligencer, is its bizarre ad campaign, which has Lily telling her friend about the penis size of men she knows, and magically erasing her pregnancy by swiping away the "positive" line on a home pregnancy test.#Lilysgarden ad follow-up... pic.twitter.com/lWpYp3KcjC— Irina Razzhivkina (@IraRazz) August 15, 2019From the article:The reality of Lily’s Garden is even more complicated. For one thing, the fake-pregnancy story line is not present in the game itself. According to Stella Sacco, the game’s writer, those ads were created by a separate team. “All of those are all totally fabricated for, I guess, virality,” she said “And to that degree, I would say that it worked.” Lily’s Garden has a similarly intricate story line, but fans hoping for more information about the Lily from the ads might be found wanting.Most mobile games are designed to appeal to every demographic on Earth simultaneously. Consider this: what is the narrative of Candy Crush? Nobody knows, it’s just bright colors and harmless shapes. Plus, most games have their narrative crafted to justify the mechanics of that game. For instance, if a developer makes a game where you can just hop into any car in the virtual world, the player’s character might be designated a car thief in the narrative, as in Grand Theft Auto. But according to Sacco, Lily’s Garden and its narrative structure is very deliberately targeted at what I’ll call (non-pejoratively!) “Facebook Moms,” women over 30 who make up the largest audience for these types of mobile games. Read the rest

In his Ars Technica review of the Nintendo Switch remake of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (available September 20), Sam Machkovech says the terrific music and visual upgrades are not enough to justify paying $60 for a game that "feels like 1993.... When the game isn't offering laughs or smiles via its quests and quirkiness, it's either serving up all-too-familiar challenges or making players fumble blindly in search of a single, buried clue."I'm getting it anyway. Read the rest

Cyril Borovsky purchased a 16-foot wide strip of property in Toronto. Then he built a 3 bedroom, 3 bath, four-story house. Borovsky says his design approach could be used to turn parking spaces into homes. You could also buy Borovsky's house for $3 million. More here: 154 Hamilton StreetAnd other impressively slender Toronto homes: "Three buyers who found narrow plots of prime real estate and made it work" (Toronto Life) Read the rest

Enjoy this 1983 television commercial advertising Centipede for the Atari 5200. The centipedes are comingGet your fingers moving fastThe spider's out to get youDo you think that you can last? Read the rest

Joshua Garnes of Huntington, West Virgina had an ongoing problem with porch pirates swiping boxes outside a house he's renovating. They even stole his "no trespassing" signs. So he rigged up a box with a tripwire that triggers a loud bang when someone grabs the package. Hilarity ensued. More clips below!"There's only so much you can do so why not have a little bit of fun with it," Garnes told ABC6. Read the rest

I haven't watched Saturday Night Live in years, but I might start again just because I like Chloe Fineman's impersonation of Elizabeth Holmes so much. View this post on InstagramA post shared by Chloe Fineman (@chloeiscrazy) on Mar 20, 2019 at 2:35pm PDT And here's Marianne Williamson: View this post on InstagramA post shared by Chloe Fineman (@chloeiscrazy) on Aug 13, 2019 at 6:36pm PDT Masie Williams: View this post on InstagramA post shared by Chloe Fineman (@chloeiscrazy) on May 18, 2019 at 7:06pm PDT [via Quartzy] Read the rest

A day after a photo emerged of Justin Trudeau in brownface, as an Aladdin-esque genie at a 2001 party, the other shoe dropped: video of him fully blacked-up in a minstrel wig. The video dates from the 1990s.CBC News:The video was shot in the early 1990s, however it’s not clear where it takes place.The video, obtained exclusively by Global News, shows Trudeau covered in what appears to be dark makeup and raising his hands in the air while laughing, sticking his tongue out and making faces. He’s wearing a white T-shirt, and his jeans are ripped at the knees. It appears as though his arms and legs are covered in makeup as well.You can't trickle-truth when you don't control the faucet. Read the rest

The world's first vagina museum will open November 16 in London. The Vagina Museum is the world’s first bricks and mortar museum dedicated to vaginas, vulvas and the gynaecological anatomy. The project launched in March 2017 and ran pop ups around the UK. The first premises is opening in Camden Market in 2019 with a view to open a permanent premises in a few years time. ... We have a vision of a world where no one is ashamed of their bodies, everyone has bodily autonomy and all of humanity works together to build a society that is free and equal.It'll be in the Stables Market in Camden. The first exhibit will be "Muff Busters: Vagina Myths and How to Fight Them". Photo courtesy of Vagina Museum. Read the rest

Spread over an area of 40 football fields, New Delhi's garbage mountain towers over nearby buildings. Ghazipur landfill in New Delhi is India's highest rubbish mountain, spreading over an area larger than 40 football pitches. It is predicted to grow taller than the Taj Mahal by 2020. Along with the smell, smoke and pollution from this mountain of trash are said to be the ‘cause of all diseases’ in the surrounding neighbourhoods. Here it is on Google Maps, next to a "dairy farm":It is, unquestionably, killing the locals."It was a flood of trash," says Kumar. "I saw heaps of garbage coming down the hill like a flood and suddenly, we were swept into the canal. For a moment, everything went dark," he told Al Jazeera. Kumar was lucky. A sudden thrust from within the canal pushed him on to the surface and he was rescued by the locals of Mullah Colony, only a few hundred meters away from the infamous landfill site.He searched for his cousin, but there was no trace of her. Read the rest

A man already awaiting trial on charges of auto theft was arrested again, this week. The new charge? Auto theft. The Gallup Independent, via the AP:Justin Villa was arrested Sunday after a witness reported seeing the 37-year-old driving a stolen Chevrolet pickup. According to a criminal complaint, Villa was spotting in the stolen truck around Gallup, New Mexico, before being confronted by a police officer. Court documents show Villa has two stolen vehicle cases pending in McKinley County and one pending in Cibola County. Read the rest

The Palace is displeased. In an interview, former U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron says that he asked the Queen to "raise an eyebrow" in the run-up to the Scottish Independence vote when it looked likely they would leave the union. She did as she was told, and so did they.Just as the first rule of Fight Club is that you do not talk about Fight Club, the first rule of the relationship between the prime minister and the Queen is that you never, ever talk about the relationship between the PM and the Queen.It is difficult to imagine anything other than horror in the Palace at David Cameron's revelations. Not just because he has broken the first rule. But because he has made it painfully clear that in 2014 he used the Queen for his own political purposes. And that she and her advisors thought that was OK.The Queen told Scots to "think carefully about the future" and it was an eyebrow-raiser at the time; the Prime Minister disclosing that he told her to tip the scales deprives her of the phrase's plausible ambiguity. On the Royals Meddling In Politics Threat Level Chart, this is above a Lip Purse but lower than an Audible Exhalation. But on the Politicans Fucking With the Monarchy Chart, it's an Actual Tut. It could not be worse-timed (or better, depending on your perpective) because the U.K. Supreme Court is currently deciding on the legality of current P.M. Boris Johnson shutting down Parliament in the run-up to Brexit. Read the rest

Sandy Hook Promise, an organization dedicated to protecting children from gun violence released a truly chilling Back to School PSA earlier today. Titled "Back to School Essentials," it's a graphic look at the ways children are expected to defend themselves at school because their government refuses to do anything to protect them. WATCH: Latest Sandy Hook Promise PSA gives nightmarish look at school shootings (USA Today) (Photo: YouTube screenshot) Read the rest

The lost seal pup in this photo, taken by tourist boat operator William McPhee is fine. It was floating unconscious in the water after being parted from its mother, writes the BBC, and was lucky someone chanced across it.She "would certainly have drowned" if not for their "quick thinking and efforts", a Tynemouth Seal Rescue Unit spokesman said. Read the rest

Wouldn't it be great if Trump were busy keeping his promises to America instead of making secret ones to foreign leaders?The Washington Post reports tonight the whistleblower complaint that triggered a showdown between the intelligence community and Congress has to do with President Donald Trump's communications with a foreign leader, and a “promise” Trump is said to have made to that leader.The Washington Post cites two former U.S. officials familiar with the matter as its source, and they told the paper Trump’s interaction with the foreign leader included a “promise” so troubling, “it prompted an official in the U.S. intelligence community to file a formal whistleblower complaint with the inspector general for the intelligence community.”As this story breaks, POTUS is on Air Force One flying back from California, where he held fundraisers for his 2020 re-election campaign.Excerpt:It was not immediately clear which foreign leader Trump was speaking with or what he pledged to deliver, but his direct involvement in the matter has not been previously disclosed. It raises new questions about the president’s handling of sensitive information and may further strain his relationship with U.S. spy agencies. One former official said the communication was a phone call.The White House did not respond to requests for comment. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and a lawyer representing the whistleblower declined to comment.Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson determined that the complaint was credible and troubling enough to be considered a matter of “urgent concern,” a legal threshold that requires notification of congressional oversight committees. Read the rest

Now folks who fly fish have the opportunity to pay it forward, thanks to the Flybrary Project. Much like the little book lending libraries, at "flybraries" people can leave a fly to share, or take one if they need one. And they are encouraged to create their own flybrary which they can then add to the project's growing registry. From the backside of signs at boat ramps in South Florida to river-side signs in Alaska, The Flybrary Project connects fly fishers across the world with one another—educating visitors of the fisheries and promoting comradery amongst strangers who share the same passion. View this post on Instagram @hallmost_heaven just put up a new Flybrary in WV. Karma is good. #haveoneleaveone #needonetakeone #flyfishing #communityloveA post shared by The Flybrary Project (@flybraryproject) on Sep 10, 2019 at 3:54am PDT View this post on Instagram @flylife83 took a more organic route and cobbled together a fantastic Flybrary location. A breath of fresh air! #flybraryproject #haveoneleaveone #buildcommunity #diy #flyfishingA post shared by The Flybrary Project (@flybraryproject) on May 24, 2019 at 11:09am PDT(Thanks, Mark Krawczuk!)screenshot via the Flybrary Project Read the rest

Now, here's some wallpaper that is meant to get your attention. Tom Maryniak's "Farting Victorians" depicts flatulating turn-of-the-20th-century men, women, and critters, a digitization of a linoleum block he hand-carved. You can get rolls of it for £125.00 each at his website. A wallpaper for the loo, showing dogs, fish, cats, birds and people passing gas.(RED) Read the rest

Lex is a "wearable" chair, an apparatus that attaches to your thighs and waist. The legs are shaped to conform to your legs when you're walking around, but become stable struts when you sit back. The LEX is a bionic wearable that enhances posture, comfort, and life. It is designed to let you relax anywhere with a perfect sitting posture and protect your shoulders while on the move by making the backpack feels almost weightless.It was Kickstartered in 2018 and apparently went out, with follow-up rounds on Indiegogo. But I don't see any reviews or even testimonials. Anyone got one? Do you waddle around and suffer crippling back pain? Read the rest

Not only is the purported "healing" power of crystals total bullshit, but most of these "magical" talismans come from mines rife with exploitation, danger, environmental ruin, and shady business practices. Good vibes, eh? Tess McClure investigates for The Guardian:Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world, but beneath its soil is a well-stocked treasure chest. Rose quartz and amethyst, tourmaline and citrine, labradorite and carnelian: Madagascar has them all. Gems and precious metals were the country’s fastest-growing export in 2017 – up 170% from 2016, to $109m. This island country of 25 million people now stands alongside far larger nations, such as India, Brazil and China, as a key producer of crystals for the world. And in a country where infrastructure, capital and labour regulation are all in short supply, it is human bodies rather than machinery that pull crystals from the earth. While a few large mining companies operate in Madagascar, more than 80% of crystals are mined “artisanally” – meaning by small groups and families, without regulation, who are paid rock-bottom prices....Landslides are not the only danger for miners. Smashed rocks create fine dust and quartz particles can penetrate deep into the lungs. There, they fester, inflaming surrounding cells, increasing the risk of lung cancer and silicosis. Child labour is also widespread: the US Department of Labor and the International Labour Organization estimate that about 85,000 children work in Madagascar’s mines."Dark crystals: the brutal reality behind a booming wellness craze" (The Guardian)image: "Mineral Quartz Crystal" by Ken Hammond (Public Domain) Read the rest

I don't have this particular make of stovetop espresso maker, but they all work the same way. It quickly makes several cups of strong coffee. I wouldn't call it espresso - just strong coffee. No filter is needed. If you've never tried this kind of coffee maker before, now is your chance: Amazon is selling the 3-cup model for and the 6-cup model for . Read the rest

These AI agents played millions of games of hide-and-seek to learn the best strategies for using different tools (ramps and barricades).From OpenAI:We’ve observed agents discovering progressively more complex tool suse while playing a simple game of hide-and-seek. Through training in our new simulated hide-and-seek environment, agents build a series of six distinct strategies and counterstrategies, some of which we did not know our environment supported. The self-supervised emergent complexity in this simple environment further suggests that multi-agent co-adaptation may one day produce extremely complex and intelligent behavior. Read the rest

The first part of this video is hard to watch, but it has a happy ending. via Gfycat Read the rest

The plaintiff's attorneys have informed Spacey that the massage therapist accusing him of sexual assault has passed away. It is unclear if the case will proceed.Hollywood Reporter:An anonymous massage therapist who claims to have been sexually assaulted by Kevin Spacey has died, according to a notice filed in court by the actor's attorneys.The individual, suing as a "John Doe," filed claims in September 2018 with the allegation of being forced to grab the actor's genitals twice during a massage two years earlier at a private residence in Malibu. In May, a federal judge in California allowed the case to move forward despite Spacey's objection that the plaintiff's identity was being shielded.Now, just a month after the parties came to a plan for proceeding in the suit that detailed prospective discovery and envisioned a seven- to 11-day trial, the plaintiff's attorney has informed Spacey that the client "recently passed."No further detail is provided, and a request to the plaintiff's attorney for more information has not been answered. Read the rest

If you take him at his word, Trump just said he wants to nuke Iran. The man is nuts, the man is also President. Are we going to start another war? No one knows. Speaking to reporters in Los Angeles today with his new national security adviser Robert O'Brien, Donald Trump said some weird and disjointed things about U.S. mideast policy including the statement that he is considering the 'ultimate option' for Iran.Trump tells reporters the "ultimate option" is among the options he is considering for Iran.— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) September 18, 2019"It's very easy to attack," Trump, in California, said when asked about Iran, but "how did going into Iraq work out?"“If we have to do something, we’ll do it without hesitation.”“There are many options. There’s the ultimate option,” he said. https://t.co/1abmVr4EdJ— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) September 18, 2019Trump speaks to reporters on LAX tarmac with newly minted national security adviser Robert O’Brien. POTUS says he’s actively considering a military strike on Iran. pic.twitter.com/6gUNY1KOrt— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) September 18, 2019On new US sanctions he ordered imposed on Iran, Pres says he'll announce details in next day or two. Says there are many options including the "ultimate option," but then made clear he's not talking about war. But says US is in "a very powerful position" re: Iran. pic.twitter.com/G4iPQcpKFo— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) September 18, 2019.⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩, with his new national security adviser, says the ultimate option with Iran is war, but that there are other options. Read the rest

What Shane Gillis and his supporters seem to not understand is that free speech means others can respond to what you say in ways that might not make you happy. From comic Maeve Higgins essay in The New York Times:Comedy, like so many of our cultural institutions, remains dominated by men, usually straight and white men. I’ve seen countless versions of Shane Gillis and his material truly spread all over the world, and I’m not about to wrestle the mic from them. I have no problem with anybody speaking their piece, even when it’s lazy and xenophobic. I’m not going to listen, but please, get that off your chest, son! If the most absorbing and insightful thing Mr. Gillis and his buddies have to sound off on is that they find Chinatown to be ugly, then by all means, go right on ahead.The problem is when Mr. Gillis — and the others like him — frame their words as bold and boundary pushing and brave. What would really be shocking, what would really be exciting and edgy to watch, would be a person climbing down from their safe height and fighting the powerful in a situation where there’s a chance they will lose more than a role on a show. I’m not saying comics need to get into fistfights. We’re too out of shape and anxiety-ridden for that. But a little real bravery wouldn’t hurt.When anyone disagrees with something a comic says, or there are repercussions for their behavior, the comic too often seems genuinely shocked. Read the rest

According to a zany new profile in the Wall Street Journal today, WeWork (We Co) CEO Adam Neumann has told people...• He'd like to be Israel's Prime Minister• Interested in being “president of the world”• Wants to be the world's first trillionaire• He hopes to live forever. “This account is based on interviews with current and former employees, investors and friends who interacted with Mr. Neumann as he built We.”The Wall Street Journal today published this exhaustive (exhausting, even!) profile of Adam Neumann, the wacky bro CEO who founded office-rental giant WeWork, which filed its S-1 as We Co. You must read it.Adam Neumann, ladies and gentlemen, a story told in excerpts from this WSJ piece:• He told at least one person directly that his ambitions included becoming Israel’s prime minister. More recently, he said that if he ran for anything, it would be president of the world, according to another person who spoke with him.• Mr. Neumann has told several people over the past two years that a personal goal is to become the world’s first trillionaire.• In a 2015 investment round, Mr. Neumann sold tens of millions of dollars of shares. Soon after, the company launched a buyback program offering to purchase employees’ shares too. But the company gave employees a different arrangement, giving them a payout per share worth substantially less than what Mr. Neumann was paid, people familiar with the sale said. Mr. Neumann’s sale wasn’t publicized within the company. Read the rest

They unbent the staple.As one YouTuber put it, "Geez you would think a cure to all cancer was just unveiled."Stick around for the executive's statement that reveals the deep meaning behind this earth-shattering new logo. Read the rest

Donald explains to his son-in-law how to make money the Trump way and stay out of prison.This makes it clear that if a "pee tape" ever does surface, it will be dismissed as a deepfake.Image: YouTube Read the rest

First it was vinyl, then it was cassette tapes -- now the latest old media that's being praised for offering warmer, richer, higher-quality experiences? Cathode-ray-tube displays, for video games.To be fair, the arguments in this article seem pretty solid. For example, because a CRT is a light gun painting a screen, the computer doesn't need to engage in as much processing to produce bigger image -- so you can lower the resolution in the game settings, still have a good-looking game, and enjoy the knock-on boost in game responsiveness.As Richard Leadbetter writes at Eurogamer: The advantages of CRT technology over modern flat panels are well-documented. CRTs do not operate from a fixed pixel grid in the way an LCD does - instead three 'guns' beam light directly onto the tube. So there's no upscaling blur and no need to run at any specific native resolution as such. On lower resolutions, you may notice 'scan lines' more readily, but the fact is that even lower resolution game outputs like 1024x768 or 1280x960 can look wonderful. Of course, higher-end CRTs can input and process higher resolutions, but the main takeaway here is that liberation from a set native resolution is a gamechanger - why spend so many GPU resources on the amount of pixels drawn when you can concentrate on quality instead without having to worry about upscale blurring?The second advantage is motion resolution. LCD technologies all use a technique known as 'sample and hold' which results in motion rendering at a significantly lower resolution than static imagery. Read the rest

Documents on an unprotected, network-connected drive owned by an employee of Nokia shed light on the inner workings of Russia's networked surveillance system known as SORM (Russian: COPM). SORM (COPM) is an acronym for the government's “system for operative investigative activities,” The network was first developed in 1995 as a way for the Federal Security Services (FSB, formerly KGB) to access any communications data it wanted on Russian citizens. The data leak exposes SORM surveillance activity inside Russia's top telco, and illustrates clearly how Russian authorities get access to phone calls, text messages, and internet browsing data of people who are customers of Russia's top phone carrier, Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) .The documents Techcrunch published today were discovered on an unprotected backup drive owned by an employee of Nokia Networks (formerly Nokia Siemens Networks), “which through a decade-long relationship maintains and upgrades MTS’s network — and ensures its compliance with SORM,” reports Techcrunch:The documents show that between 2016 and 2017, Nokia planned and proposed changes to MTS’s network as part of the telecom giant’s “modernization” effort.Nokia planned to improve a number of local MTS-owned phone exchanges in several Russian cities — including Belgorod, Kursk and Voronezh — to comply with the latest changes to the country’s surveillance laws.TechCrunch reviewed the documents, which included several floor plans and network diagrams for the local exchanges. The documents also show that the installed SORM device on each phone network has direct access to the data that passes through each phone exchange, including calls, messages and data. Read the rest

Rep. Jaime Andrade (D-Chicago) was giving a TV interview about the pigeon poop problem at a train station when a pigeon promptly illustrate the lawmaker's point. "I'll just have to go clean up," Andrade said. "That's what happens to my constituents. They get [expletive] on all time."(UPI) Read the rest

From Toby's "Tibees" YouTube channel:"A math lesson about logarithms inspired by the legendary painter Bob Ross." Read the rest

The Tony Martini Variety Hour returns to The Three Clubs this Saturday night! I'm going!Mark Fite, Renee Albert, Jim Turner and a cast of vaudevillians, burlesque dancers and god knows what are getting together to put on a couple of hours of good old fashioned variety! A form of entertainment largely thought dead by the early 1980s!Tony Martini, your host, and titular lounge singer-y guy is portrayed by Los Angeles' comedic hurricane Mark Fite. Mark sings, jokes, and frequently falls flat on his face. Luckily, Martini is accompanied by his super talented wife, Bananas Foster. Foster could only be played by rock and roll accordion grand master Renee Albert. Boing Boing favorite Jim Turner plays their less than kind and understanding manager.Produced by Steven Espinosa, the cast is joined by a veritable mob of Los Angeles finest variety acts: Michael Rayner, Pam Severns, Karl Herlinger, April Showers, Hannah Beavers, Sarah Elizabeth Pace and the always mindbending contortionist Bonnie Morgan.Live music will be performed by Ben Jaffe.Bar opens at 7:30, show starts sometime thereafter. Tickets and more info here.I'll be drinking heavily in the back. Read the rest

At 1AM last Sunday two men were enjoying a ride in their Amish buggy with a banging stereo and enjoying a 12-pack of Michelob Ultra when the cops showed up! Rather than discuss their apparently aberrant behavior with representatives of local law enforcement, the two revel-seeking reportedly Amish gents took to the woods! Leaving their horse, beer and stereo laden buggy ambling on down the road.Mlive:The men were drinking a 12-pack of Michelob Ultra that was settled atop the buggy while blasting music and riding through North Bloomfield, Ohio, deputies said. There were several open bottles in the buggy.The Amish community is generally known for shunning high technology and typically avoids alcohol.While the men ran into the trees, the horse continued down the road, police said. The horse and buggy were eventually caught. The buggy was towed while the horse was turned over to someone who can take care of it until the owners come forward. Read the rest

For this funny advertisement, CleanMyMac dressed up a fellow as a public pile of trash and when people dropped their litter on his back, he sprung up to surprise them. Read the rest

The FBI are seeking help in their search for the "Mummy Marauder" who robbed First Convenience Bank in Harris County, Texas on Friday the 13th. From CNN:The suspect wrapped white gauze around his face and arms, the FBI said. He also wore a wig and baseball cap.No other information about the robbery was released.He then fled the bank before getting into a black Mitsubishi Montero SUV with an undisclosed sum of money.Of course the real problem is that without the gauze, he's invisible. Read the rest

Move over, Popeyes and Chick-fil-A! Fast-food giant KFC is trialing a new menu item in Pittsburgh and Richmond. The Chicken Donut is a slab of deep-fried chicken sandwiched between two glazed donuts. Consumers are increasingly seeking novel, crave-able flavor combinations that give them the best of both sweet and savory worlds to create a unique taste experience. Through this test market, KFC is evaluating consumer appetite for bringing this growing food trend to its customers on a national scale.Business Insider reports on the carb bomb. The chicken-and-doughnut meal will cost $5.50 for one doughnut and $7.50 for two doughnuts. The sandwich is priced at $6, or as a combo meal for $8. KFC said customers can also add a doughnut — served hot — to any meal for $1.KFC said in a press release that it was using the test to evaluate whether customers are craving chicken and doughnuts on a national scale.According to a representative, the doughnuts will arrive at stores already cooked, and when a customer orders them, the doughnuts will be dipped in the fryers and glazed with a vanilla icing to ensure they are hot and fresh. Read the rest

The life of reviled Hollywood sex pest and alleged rapist Harvey Weinstein is "ruined".An attorney for Harvey Weinstein lamented that “his whole life has been ruined” and defended the accused serial sexual abuser and disgraced movie mogul against the more than 70 women — including former employees and Hollywood stars — who have accused him of sexual assault by blaming them instead.“No matter what happens to Harvey Weinstein, he will pay the biggest price there is. Even if he wins, Gayle, his whole life has been ruined, toppled, damaged,” Donna Rotunno told “CBS This Morning” host Gayle King in an interview that aired Tuesday. “And whether it’s by his own doing or others, that’s the fact. And the fact is that no matter what we do ― and we can walk out of that courtroom with a ‘not guilty’ and walk him out onto those courtroom steps, and he never gets to be Harvey Weinstein ever again.”Such a shame. Read the rest

The Bridge Inn in Middleton-in-Teesdale, England, has not only been closed since 2011, it's been demolished and replaced by housing. So who was giving it bad reviews on TripAdvisor? "We were looking for old photos of the pub on Google and the reviews came up. We found it quite funny," Mr Goodall, managing director of New Era Regeneration, told the BBC."I did contact TripAdvisor on their website and advised them that the reviews were impossible as the pub wasn't trading and they were slow to respond."The reviews are still on the TripAdvisor websiteIt's easy and cheap to be cynical, but armies of accounts with names like 634JimJones and Charl3s, stock art avatars and brief positive or negative remarks that could apply to anything? TripAdvisor is a derelict mannequin factory.Which UK:The travel website TripAdvisor is failing to stop fake reviews boosting the rankings of top-rated hotels, Which? has claimed.The consumer organisation analysed almost 250,000 reviews for the 10 top-ranked hotels in 10 popular tourist destinations around the world, finding one in seven had “blatant hallmarks” of fake reviews.Which? Travel reported 15 cases to TripAdvisor and claimed that the site admitted 14 of the hotels had already been caught with fake positive reviews in the last year.User-generated content sites with frictionless signup and a paragraph-long content model are an easy target for fakery. The rot spreads faster than the pain, so when it gets so bad they have to clean it up, it's already too late. Read the rest

Your smartphone's GPS is a modern necessity for some trips, but how do you use it safely? It's been a problem ever since phones went mobile. A certain phone mount even shelled out the money for a commercial during the Big Game, so clearly there's a market for the solution.Turns out there are a lot more solutions than that one, in fact. Here are 10 products that let you mount your phone in the car safely and easily (not to mention cheaply).U-Grip Cup Holder Car Mount for Phones and TabletsHere's a holder that's big enough to fit your phone or even your tablet, if you need a bigger picture. What's more, it fits neatly into any standard or large-size cup holder. The U-Grip Cup Holder Car Mount for Phones and Tablets is now $12.99, down 78% from the retail price.ExoMount Magnet Air Universal Smartphone Car MountPrefer a more close-up view? This holder anchors onto any type of air vent and latches onto your phone magnetically. For there, you can rotate and swivel your phone 360 degrees, locking it in place exactly where you need. Right now, you can get the ExoMount for 23% off at just $22.95.Universal Dash Smartphone Clip MountThis simple, secure mount stretches to fit most smartphones or digital cameras, and its silicone pad keeps your device of choice steady and accessible on top of the dash. Easy to use, easy to remove. Pick up the Universal Dash Smartphone Clip Mount for $11.99, a full 69% off the list price. Read the rest

After researching dozens of Nicolas Cage-themed pillows, we found that the DoubleUSA Nicolas Cage Rainbow pillow [Amazon] is the best option for most users. Featuring two-sided high-definition printing, a hidden zipper and a contemplative yet intense Nicolas Cage, it offers a whimsical 20x30" dose of hypoallergenic polyester.HIGH DEFINITION – The Most Advanced Printing Technology Ensures The Best Definition Image Of The Pillowcase.ZIPPER – Hidden Zipper Closure At The Side To Keep Pillow From Sliding Out, And For Style, Comfort And Better Fit.100% Polyester – Hypoallergenic, Long Staple Yarns Woven in a Sateen Weave Make These Pillowcases Incredibly Soft and Luxurious. Read the rest

In the 19th century, an enormous hedge ran for more than a thousand miles across India, installed by the British to enforce a tax on salt. Though it took a Herculean effort to build, today it's been almost completely forgotten. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe this strange project and reflect on its disappearance from history.We'll also exonerate a rooster and puzzle over a racing murderer.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon! Read the rest

Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH we run a fun an experiment to find out if environmental catastrophe is inevitable