The first season of True Detective was a sensation, arguably qualifying as some of the best television of all time. The show's second season? Not so much. While it wasn't bad, it wasn't particularly good either. Based on the trailer for the third season of the series, it looks like True Detective could be back on track. Staring Academy Award Winner Mahershala Ali, the third season of True Detective sill be hitting HBO, this January.

Someone opened fire at a Madden tournament in Jacksonville, Fla., killing two other attendees and hurting 10 more more. The shooter is also dead, said police, naming a 24-year-old Baltimore man as the only suspect. Horrific audio of the shooting (WARNING: it may autoplay at link) was captured on an internet stream of the tournament. At least twelve shots can be heard as panic spreads and victims shout for help. The video switches to gameplay footage before shots are fired, but a laser dot can clearly be seen moving across one of the two players moments beforehand.

Happy National Dog Day.Video: Nemo, Photo: Zuul.

Anyone can activate the shutter on a camera, but dialing that device to just the right settings for a picture-perfect shot takes skill. Whether you want to take better photos for the 'gram or earn some extra money with that fancy DSLR you just picked up, the Pay What You Want: Professional Photography Bundle can show you how for a price that you get to choose.Here's how the deal works: Pay whatever you want, and you'll unlock one of the collection's courses. Beat the average price paid, and you'll take all seven home instantly.Featuring more than 30 hours of training, this collection takes you from the basics of camera operation to the more nuanced elements of professional photography. You'll start by getting to know your camera and how to take better shots without relying on the automatic setting. Then, you'll move on to mastering exposure, posing models for better shots, and even wedding photography as you make your way through the courses.You can start taking better photos today with the Pay What You Want: Professional Photography Bundle, available for a price you pick.

Now photographer Cindy Sherman is getting in the weird pool float game.

Wait for the dolphins.

After announcing yesterday that the Arizona Senator and American war hero was discontinuing his treatment for glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, John Sidney McCain III has died. Senator McCain's office released this statement just moments ago. McCain served in Congress for 36 years and spent five years in the Hanoi Hilton as a POW in Vietnam. He was 81 years old.[Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0]

As spotted by @2020fight on Twitter. How is this even possible? You can barely move in the United States of America but for all the flags. Flags on the walls, on posters and books. Flags on poles outside schools, like the one he had to walk past to get to this classroom. https://twitter.com/2020fight/status/1033162713378127873The original photo was posted by Alex Alar, the health secretary:https://twitter.com/SecAzar/status/1033142676424679425?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwMaybe Trump should kneel before it a while, so he at least knows what it looks like.I've created a useful graphic of the Trumpamerica Flag:

Yeah, right. Sarcasm Analysis using Conversation Context. Whatever, Ghosh et al.

More companies are heading to the Cloud, and they're in dire need of capable IT professionals to keep them connected. With even entry-level positions offering high salaries, now is the ideal time to switch to this field, but you'll need the right certifications before you can get started. Packed with more than 200 hours of content, the Ultimate IT Certification Training Bundle can prepare you to ace several of the industry's top certification exams.Across 11 courses, this bundle covers the concepts and techniques you'll need to know in order to earn IT certifications in networking, cloud computing, and security specializations, including CompTIA's Cloud+ and Security+ certification, as well as the MCSA certification in Windows Server 2016. You'll grow your knowledge in project management, network security, and a host of other skills as you make your way through the collection.The Ultimate IT Certification Training Bundle retails for $3,289, but it's on sale in the Boing Boing store for $39.

It's been years since the first of Christopher Nolan's Batman movies hit theaters, bringing with it one of the coolest rides in movie history: this Batmobile. In this video, Jay Leno talks to some of the folks involved in bringing the beast to life on the silver screen. Watchin it bomb around town for expecting motorists to see? Very cool.

Here’s a word I learned in English today: hair whorl. Wikipedia defines it as “…a patch of hair growing in a circular direction around a visible center point. Hair whorls occur in most hairy animals, on the body as well as on the head.” It’s curious that I’ve known the word in Japanese for a very long time now, but I had to look it up in English. The reason I know it in Japanese is because people actually say the word. Friends actually talk about their children’s hair whorls in casual conversation. Also, it’s used in a common idiom and in an curious superstition. Let’s start off with how to say hair whorl in Japanese. It’s a cute word: tsumuji. I think it has a nicer ring than hair whorl.Next, the idiom you sometimes hear people use is tsumuji wo mageru, or you could call someone tsumuji magari. Literally, bending or twisting one’s hair whorl. If someone does this, it means they’re being contrary, unreasonable, or unaccommodating. “My little brother is a tsumuji magari. He disagrees with everything I say.” Something like that. The superstition, on the other hand, is one you'll hear Japanese children giggling about. That is, you should never press on your friend’s hair whorl. Why? Well, the jury is out on which of the following will happen, but neither sound good. It’s said if you push on a person’s hair whorl, they’ll either go bald or come down with a bad case of diarrhea. Again, this is a childhood superstition, still, you might not want to go pressing on your hair whorl to test it out. Just in case.On a side note: the Japanese language seems to have quite a few ways to say someone is being contrary or difficult or just a pain in the ass. I talk about a mythical heavenly demon (amanojaku) and how this creature’s name is also a label for contrariness here.Photo: Thersa Matsuura

Somehow, Lionel Lebron, the man behind the Qanon 'Democrat pedophile cult' conspiracy theory, managed to meet with Donald Trump on Thursday inside the office of the President of the United States at the White House. Yes, really. (more…)

British-Australian I.T. developer Nathan Hague was traveling through Australia's Sydney airport when authorities forcibly detained him and seized his devices, according to reports. Hague says his laptop password was cracked, and his digital files were accessed by Border Force officers. (more…)

Hoo boy. (more…)

Why does the Russian embassy want to visit accused hacker Yevgeniy Nikulin so very badly, lawyers ask. Good question. (more…)

Every year, summer brings a merry-go-round of global music festivals. For the past 15 years, I've been keenly surfing the international weirdo festival circuit, from small parties to mainstream mega events. The one place I keep coming back to—and attended again this year—is the EDM festival, a psychedelic tribal gathering, called OZORA. OZORA

Tesla's Fremont, California factory is said to be running normally again, after a fire broke out Thursday around 5:20PM. No flamethrowers involved. (more…)

Joe Strummer would have turned 66 years old this week, had he not passed away. I still think about his music and miss him, every single day.

I own 24 of these Japanese mesh zipper bags. A set of 8 (four 9" x 7" and four 8" x 5.5") cost just $9 on Amazon (with free Prime shipping). They are very well made and great for travel. I use one bag for tools, one for cables and batteries, one for medicine and first aid, one for small gadgets, one for eyeglasses, and one to store receipts. Then I just put them in my suitcase. I also use them at home to organize small parts. Amazon was sold out for a while but they are available once again.

Putin's army pushed our buttons over the anti-vax agenda during the 2016 US election, and likely beyond. The Russians do this to help spread distrust in the government, distrust in vaccines and to sow general discord.Vaccines are good. Do not be fooled.Via the BBC:

There are many ways to rip off tourists in Rome, Prague, Paris, and other beautiful European cities. Scammers have tried most of these cons on me. The best way to deal with them is to walk away without saying a word.The Friendship Bracelet scam is where some guy starts wrapping string around your finger or wrist, effectively trapping you until they finish braiding an ugly bracelet and demand money for it:https://youtu.be/ujbBxJtTGB4https://youtu.be/6BsqaEf0CZoIn the Gold Ring scam someone will pretend to find a ring on the ground, give it to you out of kindness then suddenly insist that you fork over some money to reward their selfless generosity:https://youtu.be/qw1ZMhV8kLIThe Donation scam is where people, often pretending to be deaf come up to you and ask you to sign some kind of petition and then ask for money after you sign it. As a bonus, their confederate will pick your pocket:https://youtu.be/gP1LrMljttwhttps://youtu.be/5NzIm0JxjOMIn the Worthless Clothes scam some guy will try to give you crappy clothes under the ruse that they are very valuable then attempt to extort you:https://youtu.be/n3IX-e7s4z4

A black bear opened the door to a Colorado hotel and moseyed on in. It climbed on furniture and inspected the lobby while 300 guests were sleeping in their rooms. It finally left without causing a scene. Rather than run for cover, the person at the front desk silently taped the bear.The Stanley Hotel, in Estes Park, is famous for inspiring Stephen King's The Shining.Via AP

Harvard grad student Zainab Merchant is detained and invasively searched every time she flies; she's tried extensively to end this harassment, applying for Global Entry and Precheck, writing to her members of Congress, and trying to run through the DHS's Redress procedure. (more…)

There's one thing that Democratic and Republican leaders agree on: that left-wing policies like Medicare for all are bad news for the Democratic policy -- the only people who disagrees with them are voters, who overwhelmingly support these policies. (more…)

I keep this Zippo Axe/Saw/Mallet in my camper van. It comes in really handy. (more…)

For the second time in two years, America's prisoners have staged a mass, coordinated strike, demanding an end to slave labor for incarcerated people, channels for redress of grievances, an end to racial discrimination in the American penal system, access to rehabilitation programs, the reinstatement of Pell grants, the right of ex-prisoners to vote, and the right of rehabilitated prisoners to be paroled. (more…)

https://youtu.be/zsabcIRTc0wA vintage Russian T34 tank flipped off a ramp and capsized during a military parade in Kursk, Russia yesterday. Fortunately, nobody was hurt.

My friend Dustin Hostetler emailed me the video above with the subject line of "Do you like Elvis?"No, I don't like Elvis. (more…)

Austin Kleon, explaining why artists and people who love them should be single-issue voters and why that issue should be Medicare for All: "Bad health care has killed more American artists than I could list here without my fingers falling off." (more…)

Mark David Chapman who murdered John Lennon outside Manhattan's Dakota Hotel on December 8, 1980 was denied parol for the 10th time. Good. From the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision's letter responding to Chapman's parole application:

Dr. Tom Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention between 2009 and 2017, was arrested today on charges of forcible touching, sex abuse, and harassment. Frieden allegedly groped a woman in October. She reported the assault in July. Frieden also served as New York City Health Commissioner.[via ABC]Image: Geoffrey Cowley/Wikipedia This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Paul Manafort's money-laundering conviction makes a convenient peg to hang Buzzfeed's investigation into shell companies in the UK off of; and what their excellent reporting reveals is a playground for money-launderers who operate in the most brazen way, using a complex system of shell companies all over the world, but using the UK as the the lynchpin for their schemes. (more…)

Fortnite players should login to their Epic Games account and activate Two Factor Authentication. Your account will be "more secure" and you'll get a free copy of the dance Boogie Down.I danced it after eliminating opponents last night!

A 38-year-old Montana man who assaulted his ex-girlfriend and killed his uncle is freed from prison after a judge says that second-degree murder and assault are not considered "crimes of violence."In 2003, Quinton Birdinground Jr. was arrested for killing his uncle with a firearm after a night of drinking. He found his uncle with his ex-girlfriend and was not pleased.U.S. District Judge Susan Watters told the murdered victim's family, "'How in the world could second-degree murder not be a crime of violence?' I get that...[but] I have to follow the law."According to AP:

Sarah Huckabee Sanders knows no shame.

This video of radio-controlled model trucks look like an autonomous Ford Bronco off-roading at the beach. It's actually a Traxxas TRX4 Sport radio-controlled truck that's just 21" in length. Excellent smartphone video shot on a Samsung Galaxy S9+.(Another RC Channel via Uncrate)

Windows 95, that most beautiful of operating systems, has been turned into an application. It's available to download for MacOS, Linux and, indeed, modern editions of Windows. Tom Warren writes:

As a teenager in the 1970s, hip hop pioneer Grandmaster Flash hacked together his own DJ mixer in his bedroom. At the time, he was attending a vocational high school in the Bronx where he had developed some electronics repair chops. Flash needed his Sony microphone mixer to have a cueing feature enabling him to preview the mix before crossfading the turntable's audio to the speakers. So he hit Radio Shack for the parts and made a new musical tool, and history.For more on the history of the DJ mixer, see this classic Cuepoint feature.(via Kottke)

Heading to Fox News for a softball interview about the alleged misuse of campaign funds on vacations, video games and other personal expenses, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Northrup Grumman) blamed his wife.The dizzying kettle logic and suddenly obvious lies are not just a Trump thing. It's some kind of bizarre shedding process the GOP is undergoing as it metamorphoses into a nakedly amoral totalitarian nightmare moth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdjbhXa-BgYMoses Lanham holds the Guinness World Record for "Fastest time to walk 20 m with feet facing backwards." He is known as "Mr. Elastic Man.""Contortionist Shows How He Can Walk Forward With His Feet Turned Completely Backwards" (Laughing Squid)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeumGImi1YQ

What would you say to someone if you were randomly connected to them by phone and had the opportunity to roleplay as their boss? A fun new app allows you to play the Michael Scott, Bill Lumbergh, or whatever boss of your dreams, and help them get stuff done too.Yesterday I sat down for lunch in San Francisco with Danielle Baskin, the app's co-founder. A mutual friend had recently introduced us in an email, using the subject line, "Rusty / Danielle - I can't believe you two DON'T know each other."Our conversation was lively and ended up being nearly three hours long. As I sat there chatting with her, I totally got why our mutual friend wanted us to meet. Danielle is a rabid creator of many weird and wonderful things, a true Happy Mutant. (You may remember her Drone Sweaters, for instance, or from her interview last month on the Cool Tools podcast.)She's got all kinds of neat irons in the fire and many of them seem to teeter on that line between art and something that is actually useful. Her latest project rides that line. It's a collaboration with programmer Max Hawkins and it started blowing up on Product Hunt this week. It's called Your Boss and she describes it as "an app that connects people working on solo projects in a call-based accountability buddy system."She writes:

I have no idea why teenage girls would be suddenly removed from certain roles at a Catholic high school in a Denver suburb. But now I'm wondering, like many others, because the school administrators removed an article about it from the school's low-circulation newspaper, suppressed publication of the newspaper itself, threatened and then removed a newspaper advisor from her post, and sent principal Matt Hauptly to go out in public and explain why this isn't technically censorship and to lecture curious reporters about proper journalism and to scream shut up SHUT UP SHUT UP. [Via Adam Steinbaugh]

In this Vox video, pinball legend Roger Sharpe explains that playing the game isn't random and shares how players can manipulate the balls to their advantage.Going into the video, I felt a little bit like, "What are things old people already knew, Alec?" but ended up learning some things. Never too old, I guess. Funny enough, I was just playing pinball last weekend (at the soon-to-be-closed Playland-Not-at-the-Beach... sniff) and totally could have used these pointers.

Crispy rice is one of those dishes you're eager to order at your favorite sushi place but terrified to try making on your own. However, that's soon to change with the Crispy Rice Cooker, which lets you make perfect crispy rice at the push of a button and without setting your kitchen on fire. It's on sale today for $69.99.The world's first rice cooker with a patented and adjustable crispy mode, the Crispy Rice Cooker guarantees perfect, crispy rice every time. Sidestepping the mess and hassle associated with the traditional cooking process, the Crispy Rice Cooker automatically switches to fry mode when your rice is cooked, serving up controlled portions faster and cleaner inside its BPA-free container.The Crispy Rice Cooker retails for $89.99, but you can get your own today for $69.99, 22% off the usual price.

Michael Young's an industrial designer. After over six years of tinkering, he came up with this frigging masterpiece of a prototype: a framing hammer that dispenses nails. If it ever makes it to market, having mashed my digits setting up a nail to be driven into boards an untold number of times, I will be the fist in line to buy this thing.

If Amazon itself unleashed this astroturf army of Twitter personae to defend its employment practices, it goes immediately into the pantheon of corporate-brain PR disasters. If it's someone else, it's a insightful ploy targeting Amazon's reputation and the expectations of those who might assume it's real. Devin Coldewey at TechCrunch:

Back in 2011, I bought a 27” Thunderbolt Display to use with my MacBook when I was at home, working at my desk. It was huge, heavy as hell and, with a full suite of ports baked into its butt, wicked useful. This year, after being shipped across the country four times and riding around North America in a motorhome for the past three years, it finally gave up the ghost. It sucked taking it to be recycled. But, in all honesty, I’ve been feeling it was out of place for the tiny amount of space in our RV that we’ve allocated to be my work space. After a few days of working in front of my laptop at my desk, I found that, from an ergonomic standpoint, life sucked without having a massive display to stare into while I typed. I have a neck injury that is very easily tweaked. Looking down for too long? That tweaks it. I decided that I needed to invest in a laptop stand. I chose Twelve South’s HiRise for MacBook, for a number of reasons. First, I’ve used their gear in the past. It’s rock solid. The Compass iPad stand that I bought from them back in 2012 still gets a lot of regular use around the house and when I travel. Their BackPack shelf for my Thunderbolt Display was great too… although it’s not really all that useful since I trashed the monitor. Second, the stand is adjustable. I don’t like buying accessories that will only serve me in one situation. There’s no guarantee that I’ll always be working at the same table or desk. I wanted to get my hands on a laptop stand that would work for me, for years to come. I made a good choice. The HiRise, although marketed for MacBooks, would work with pretty much any laptop out there. Constructed almost entirely out of brushed metal, the HiRise is study as hell. The rubber strips on its base keep it in one place, even when we’re traveling down the road at 80 miles per hour. The platform for resting your laptop on is covered in sticky rubber as well: it provides a slight slant to the laptop’s orientation, but keeps it from sliding around or moving in a way that’ll give you the ‘no’ feeling. I like that the platform consists of two slim, metal arms as it allows for better airflow. With my aging machine often chugging away, fans going full-tilt as I work in Photoshop, I need all of the help I can to keep my laptop from melting into a pile of silicon-scented slag. Now, the bad news: the HiRise for MacBook will set you back $70. That’s a lot of money to spend on something that performs a function that a short stack of books can ape. But books are easily knocked over and I’ve owned less expensive laptop stands in the past that weren’t nearly as well made as the HiRise is. They were relegated to the recycling center, long ago.I have a feeling that this one will be around for a while.Image via Twelve South

Next year around 250 million yen will be spent to insert AI robots into 500 classrooms across Japan in an effort to improve children's English skills. An unnamed official in charge of international education gave the example of having the robots check students' pronunciation, something Japanese teachers have trouble doing.