Boing Boing

,The Fields medal, mathematic's most prized award for mathematics, was stolen from Cambridge Professor Caucher Birkar just moments after he received it.Via the Independent:

The spokeswoman for the president of the United States won't say whether the American press is or is not “the enemy of the people.” This phrase was used to similar effect by the Nazis and in the Soviet state under Stalin to designate who should be murdered. It's un-American, and so is she, and so is Trump. (more…)

Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, FBI Director Chris Wray, Secretary of State John Bolton, and NSA Director General Paul Nakasone spoke today as a group for the first time about “election meddling” -- the information warfare attacks being carried out against the United States right now, a little more than 90 days before the midterm elections, by the adversary we all know is Russia. (more…)

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Tots!: 50 Tot-ally Awesome Recipes from Totchos to Sweet Po-tot-o Pie is the tater tot recipe book to rule them all. (more…)

In 2002, Microsoft security researcher Peter Biddle (previously) published The Darknet and the Future of Content Distribution, a paper that argued that DRM would always fail and that traditional forms of censorship would be harder and harder to execute online (it also coined the term "Darknet"); today, in honor of America's mass freakout over 3D printed guns, he's published an updated version, which mostly consists of adding "this applies to guns, too" over and over again, for people who are unclear on the concept. (more…)

Like Linus Van Pelt searching the pumpkin patch for a really sincere pumpkin, Facebook has been scouring its political organizing pages for really sincere protesters, and loudly and performatively purging any activity it deems to be "inauthentic." (more…)

Less is more, especially when it comes to earbuds. While most manufacturers tend to pack their earbuds with excessive features that drive up their prices, Cresuer's Touchwave Bluetooth Earbuds focus on simply producing crisp, wireless audio without weighing you down. They're available in the Boing Boing Store for $44.99 today.Engineered with Bluetooth 4.1 and CVC Noise Cancellation, the Touchwave Earbuds let you enjoy your favorite playlists while filtering outside distractions. Their uncluttered, lightweight, and minimalistic design makes them easy to transport, and you can count on them to stay in place thanks to their secure-fitting ear tips. What's more, the Touchwaves boast a solid three-hour battery life that can be recharged up to four times with the included charging case.Upgrade your Bluetooth listening to a more convenient listening solution with Cresuer's Touchwave Bluetooth Earbuds, available in the Boing Boing Store for $44.99—55% off the usual price.

Enjoy this footage of a security guard frisking visitors without actually touching them, top of Reddit today after the site got hacked and its management learned that "SMS-based authentication is not nearly as secure as we would hope." [via]

Wagashi are traditional Japanese confections. Archivists have digitized a lovely multivolume illustrated catalog of the sweet treats, many of which still look the same as they did hundreds of years ago when the art form flourished in the Edo period. (more…)

They aren't for throwing, but an art gallery in Los Angeles is selling Molotov cocktails from a vending machine. Think Tank Gallery on Melrose Ave. writes:

Trump's former campaign boss Paul Manafort is on trial this week, on charges related to his political work in Eastern Europe. The most spectacular single item mentioned was a $15,000 "ostrich" jacket, bought using a foreign wire transfer and posed by prosecutors to insinuate the spendthrift ways of the grifter. But no-one had seen it. Was it feathery? There was a hint of fabulous possibility. Sadly, the official government exhibit reveals something best described as douchebag casual, plainly inappropriate for a man of Manafort's age and bearing, too bland to even be tacky, something that could stay on the Goodwill rack for months before anyone looked close enough at the tailoring to see it wasn't bought from Asos for $39.99. It is, in other words, very Manafortian. [via]

Reddit announced to users that the site had a "security incident."

The East Cut is a neighborhood in San Francisco invented by a branding agency. Such things usually wither on the local-business bullshit vine, but thanks to Google Maps, it's now the plain reality of that part of town. Another in Detroit is now known by a mispelling, made by the mysterious cartographers who run the service. And one LA community now there was cooked up by a realtor to make a hilly part of Silver Lake sound fancy, and somehow ended up enshrined on the service after he began using it in listings.

Pathé shot this cool documentary of British artisans turning gold blocks into gold leaf. There's clearly a lot of remarkable skill involved, but there's also a remarkable lack or hearing protection around some very noisy machines. (more…)

Not only does Rachel have excellent diction, she gives some interesting history about how the standard phonetic alphabet was developed. Watch and learn! (more…)

Matt Kason, a fungi researcher at West Virginia University, has discovered that cicadas whose bodies have been corrupted by the fungus Massospora keep flying around, have tons of energy and get really horny, because the fungus is doping them with meth and shrooms.Via the Atlantic:

Kevin Kelly and I interviewed Theodore Gray the co-founder of Wolfram Research, makers of Mathematica and Wolfram|Alpha. He’s also the founder of App publisher Touch Press and the author of many books that Kevin and I own and love, including The Elements, Molecules, Reactions, and Mad Science. He’s also the proprietor of periodictable.com.Subscribe to the Cool Tools Show on iTunes | RSS | Transcript | Download MP3 | See all the Cool Tools Show posts on a single pageShow notes:GU Eagle BF-1309 Laser Cutter"I used to have a lot of different tools that I really liked. I like tools. I'm kind of tool guy. But once I got this laser cutter, it's like everything else has fallen by the wayside, because this thing is just so much more fun and more enabling of things that any other tool I've ever had. ...Their smallest and cheapest model is a 130 watt CO2 tube with a 51 by 35 inch working area. I mean, this thing is the size of a grand piano. And it's like it's huge. It's way, way bigger than I had any intention of getting, and frankly more than I had planned to spend on a laser cutter. … . It's just huge, and it's very powerful, and it's very fast, and it can cut half-inch acrylic like butter. You can actually cut inch-thick acrylic if you're willing to go a little slow."Milwaukee M18 Fuel Deep Cut Band Saw"A handheld bandsaw. This was probably, I don't know, more than 20 years ago when I was building a house. I had just bought a farm, like a farmstead. And I was building stuff, big things out of wood. We built a greenhouse and docks, floating docks on a lake and a whole house. So I had every kind of tool there was. And then I saw this bandsaw. It's like, 'Oh my god. It's a bandsaw you can hold in your hand.’ … The bandsaw is like a precision surgical instrument compared to the demolition saw. You can just go up to the side of a building and just gently and calmly saw through whatever you want to saw through. And so I just love the concept of this saw. And it worked great. And what I love about it now is that it's over 20 years later, and I really don't take care of my tools, right? I'm not a tool care person. But this thing is perfect. It just runs. It's never given me the slightest trouble…. I abuse it, and the blades pop off, and they just go right back on again. It seems to be indestructible, and I still use it regularly whenever there's something that needs hack sawing but on a larger scale."LED photo lights“When I started photographing things, it was, I didn't go quite back as far as gas lights or arch lights or whatever. But incandescent photo lights, you know, 500 watt quartz halogen bulbs and even 1,500 watt halogen bulbs. That was what you used. They were just, the cliché is how hot they were which has been an issue forever. … And now there's LED lights. It's just a complete night and day because, well, you know, you get day you get really, really, really bright light with almost imperceptible heat. I did an experiment once where I set up every single one of the LED lights we have. And we've got some extra fresnel lenses to go on past the end of the regular focusing lenses, the light and sort of concentration everything down to a couple of inches across. Just blindingly bright concentrated light. And you stick your hand in there, and it feels very slightly like there's a bit of warmth coming on your hand. But basically no heat. And that's been revolutionary in our ability to do filming of particularly sort of delicate substances, like wax. Because in the case of Elements it was all elements. But now that we've moved on to Molecules, a lot of these things, they're sort of, they're delicate objects. They might catch fire. They might melt. There's all kinds of things that might happen.”Wolfram Language“Every day I'm using it for something. And I'll give you one example is quilting patterns. So this was actually a project I did a few years ago with a currently ex of mine making stitching patterns for elaborate art quilts. The problem with quilting is that you can't cut the thread. Like it's bad to, you want to make a continuous line to, you know, to stitch your pattern without stopping. And if you have to stop you can but it slows everything down and it's a pain. So you end up with a problem of, here is some line art. Here's a vector file and it's a illustrator with a very complicated pattern of lines that cross each other and that hit each other and T connections and things like that. And you want to find a single path, a single line path, that traces out all the lines that are in the original design in the optimal way … Like you have a city with streets in it and it snowed and you want to plow out all the streets, but you don't want to run over the same street twice anymore than necessary. So anyway, this is a mathematical optimization problem, and it turns out that the commercially available software for doing embroidery design and quilting designs … is mathematically unsophisticated, shall we say. So now I do it in [Wolfram Language]”Also mentioned:MechanicalGifs.comMechanical gifs are physical models you can hold in your hand“There are things like differentials, transmissions, rack and pinion steering, steam engine, and you get these beautiful laser cut acrylic parts and then assemble them, and then you have these, exactly what it says, they're mechanical gifs that show how these things work in action.” — MarkWe have hired professional editors to help create our weekly podcasts and video reviews. So far, Cool Tools listeners have pledged $337 a month. Please consider supporting us on Patreon.

Unhinged conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been leading a psychotic crusade against the Sandy Hook victims' families since before the crime scene tape was even removed from the building. For five years, Jones and his followers (insert drinking the Flavor-Aid reference here) have accused the government of conducting a false flag operation in Newton in order to overturn the Second Amendment. This, of course, is utter bullshit. But that hasn't stopped them from cyberstalking the families, accusing them of lying about their dead children, and in some cases, sending death threats. The harassment has been severe enough to cause some of the families to relocate.In Texas this week, a defamation claim by the family of Noah Pozner will be heard in court. The Pozners, whose 6-year-old son Noah was one of the victims, have been forced to move seven times due to the harassment of Jones and his Infowars infantry. The case is one of several related to Sandy Hook that has been filed against Jones. But it is the Pozner case that seems to have gotten under Jones' skin. He is suing the Pozners for $100,000 to cover his legal costs.

Last week, Nicaraguan president and dictator-in-training Daniel Ortega had the gall to declare that the violence and protests that have plagued his nation since April had come to an end. His nation's doing just fine! At the time that this bullshit dribbled out of his cakehole, protests against government corruption, cronyism and the government’s slow role into fascism were still ongoing. To date, approximately 300 people have died as elements of Nicaragua’s police and paramilitaries loyal to Ortega have attempted to put a bloody end to the growing voice of dissent and disgust for his administration. Not everyone in the South American country wants a piece of this action.According to Al Jazeera, upwards of 23,000 Nicaraguan citizens have fled to neighboring Costa Rica, seeking refugee status, due to the escalating violence surrounding the demand that Ortega step down from power and his refusal to do so.From Al Jazeera:

If you are getting started in electronics, or just want to refresh your component inventory, this $10 kit comes with a lot of good basic stuff. See everything it comes with on the Amazon description page.

Bloomberg has an interactive report that shows how America uses its land for different purposes. I was surprised by how much land is dedicated to livestock pasture: 41%. Also the 100 largest landowning families own land equal to the size of Florida.

In 2010 a Venezuelan bolívar was worth about US$0.50. Today it's worth US$0.0000058.Here's another way of looking at it. A satoshi is one one-hundred-millionth of a single bitcoin. At the current exchange rate, a bolívar is worth less than 1/8th of a satoshi.The Central Bank of Venezuela is getting ready to issue a new currency, called the bolívar soberano. The plan was to make 1,000 bolívar = 1 bolívar soberano in June, but the president decided to wait until later this month and make 100,000 bolívar = 1 bolívar soberano.

Worms in fish are not so uncommon. But rarely do we actually see them, especially alive, on a dinner plate, at a restaurant. That's what makes this video so fascinating. It's well-shot and captures a live wriggling worm on someone's plate of codfish.As a side note, after the customer posted the video on Facebook, the restaurant who served the pink appetizer, Stella Marina Bar & Restaurant, was none too pleased, and a social media feud between customer and restaurant ensued. You can read about it here if you're interested.

In this video Delaware Senator Chris Coons reads the U.S. code that plainly says it is unlawful for a person to accept anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a federal, state, or local election.Trump and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who have both declared that "collusion is not a crime," are either lying or dazed and confused. Probably both.

It’s the summer silly season, and this week’s dubious tabloids are more fact-free than ever.“Drew Peterson’s Wife’s Body Found!” screams the cover of the National Enquirer.No, it wasn’t. A sonar scan has supposedly spotted a body-shaped object in an Illinois canal. After 11 years, “killer cop” Peterson’s missing wife Stacy’s corpse would most likely have suffered extensive decomposition. It could be anyone who recently fell into the canal, but is more likely an abandoned store mannequin, which is why authorities haven’t dredged it up yet.Jennifer Aniston is having secret “sleepovers” with estranged husband Justin Theroux, claims the Enquirer, noting several of his cars parked in her garage. How does that work? Every time Theroux comes over for some break-up sex he brings three cars with him? Or could it be he’s just parking them at her home because she has the garage space?"Natalie Wood Death Yacht Ransacked,” reports the Enquirer, citing “multiple sources” who claim that Robert Wagner “is behind it,” deliberately “destroying critical evidence.” That only makes sense if Wagner believes that the boat's lanterns, a ladder and bilge pump somehow miraculously hold incriminating evidence 36 years after Wood’s death on the yacht she was aboard before her drowning death in 1981. Or could it perhaps just be vandals and thieves stripping the old yacht Splendour?And when the Enquirer reports that Justin Bieber is planning an all-nude wedding to his fiancé, well, it feels as if they’ve just decided the weather’s too good to be stuck in the office and are making it up so they can flee their desks and rush out to the beach. I look forward to photos of this naked wedding in People magazine. Sure, that’ll happen."Prince Philip: The End!” yells the Globe cover. "Docs tell him he has 90 days to live.” He’s 97 years old, for crying out loud. Isn’t this like shooting fish in a barrel? If he lives beyond three months, the Globe will just write a story about his “miracle recovery.” The Globe claims that the Queen’s husband is suffering pancreatic cancer, which comes as news to the legion of the British Royal press corps.As a summer two-for-one special the Globe throws in a “world exclusive” reporting that The Queen “collapses after hearing hubby’s cancer diagnosis,” and illustrates it with a photo of Her Majesty collapsing in public. Or maybe she’s just picking up something from the ground, which could explain why no other photographer has pictured her "collapse” in from of a legion of paparazzi.The Globe also brings us singer Tom Jones’ “brave goodbye” as he battles illness in his “fight for life.” Or, as his representatives say, he hopes to be back performing “very soon.”Us magazine is more vacuous than usual, if that’s possible to imagine, devoting its cover to Katie Holmes and Jamie Foxx’s “Twisted Romance” as the love-birds reunite after a bust-up. “Katie forgives Jamie’s wild ways with an unprecedented public display of affection,” reports the mag, adding a voice of parental caution: “Is she headed for new heartbreak?” Yes, that’s how news-free this week has been in tabloid land.Equally air-headed is celebrity clan “momager" Kris Kardashian’s interview in Us mag explaining “How I raised billionaire daughters.” Filthy rich, yes, but not billionaires yet. And seriously, what was her career advice to daughter Kim? Ride the coat-tails of Paris Hilton, and make a sex tape to become famous? If so, then she can proudly take credit for Kim’s success.Fortunately we have the crack investigative team at Us mag to tell us that Margot Robbie wore it best, that Rosario Dawson is allergic to cats and dogs so she’s “probably getting a fish,” and that the stars are just like us: they shop, drink, eat and ride bikes. How did we ever live without this information?The shocking news from this week’s Us magazine is that there’s no look inside the purse of a celebrity you’ve never heard of! Have they run out of minor celebrities? Did they finally realize that every actress and singer carries the same lipstick, keys and phone inside their purse, along with a book they planted there to make readers think they’re actually literate? Or is it just the summer vacation for the team of experts who delve into celebrity bags, and they’ll be back with us next week? We can only hope.In the meantime, Us gives us something for its impressionable school-age readers who hope to one day graduate to peering into stars’ purses, with a look at “What’s in My Lunch Box?” This gripping exposé takes readers deep into the heart of darkness that is the lunchbox of actress Sarah Michelle Gellar’s two children: hand-rolled sushi, home-made granola bars and mini-pancake muffins. The horror! The horror!Onwards and downwards . . .

Facebook's longtime Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos is quitting, as announced earlier this year. The company seems to think it doesn't need a new CSO, despite having just acknowledged Tuesday it is the subject of ongoing, sustained, coordinated information warfare attacks just ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. (more…)

Documents obtained by CNN outline a plan to eliminate TSA security screenings at more than 150 small and medium sized airports that mostly service planes with 60 seats or fewer. (more…)

This relaxing video shows a miniature chess set being made with rotary tools, lathes, saws and other equipment. It's not quite a DIY guide, unless you already have a fabulous shop, but it definitely makes me want a nice chess set.

Robbo Mills writes, "Speaking at a press conference at the Provincial Parliament in Queen’s Park on Monday, Toronto Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti said Premier Doug Ford’s plan to gut Toronto City Council is a good move because it would silence 'left-leaning' voices on council. (more…)

You know what's worse than shopping for your ISP in a market served by a cable/teclo duopoly? Getting your internet from a cable monopolist who faces no competition at all. (more…)

When Lin-Manuel Miranda left the cast of Hamilton in 2016, the production created an archival video of the original cast performance, saying that he had "no idea" what they'd do with the footage, "Throwing it in a vault at Gringotts for a bit probly." (more…)

Mazie Hirono, the Democratic senator from Hawaii, was questioning the head of removal operations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Matthew Albence, over the administrations family reunification efforts. The folks at Fox & Friends, a well-known Trump Administration propaganda tool, selectively edited, and then intentionally presented the falsified video as proof the US Senator was "confused" over immigration law.Via Media Matters:

Project Dragonfly is a secret Google plan to create an Android-based search tool (early versions were called "Maotai" and "Longfei") for use in China (where Google is currently blocked), in collaboration with the Chinese government, where search results related to human rights, democracy, protest, religion and other "sensitive" topics will be censored. (more…)

Fortnite Battle Royale's new Fly Explosives Limited Time Mode is a BLAST!The absolute best way to finish out challenges relating to explosives kills, and a fantastic way to laugh until your sides ache, is the new Fly Explosives LTM. The game mode features explosive weapons and insane maneuverability. You'll be 'sploding fools left and right.The much debated jetpack is back. I am a huge fan, but people who can build like mad hate how it levels the playing field. People who can build and fly become near unstoppable!Once far over-powered, the guided missile changed the entire meta the last time it was out of the vault. People would build small boxes, hide and fire missiles out a window. Hunting players down from relative safety made the game kinda boring and lame. This revision of the guided missile seems to be under-powered and seems to relegate the weapon to teamwork related kills. It is slower, turns wider, and does far less damage to buildings and people.I was able to complete a "Get Three Explosive Weapons Kills" challenge in my first game. I was able to rack up a "Kill 10 opponents" challenge in two more. Normally I'd have worked all night to get 10 kills and maybe 1 would have been with explosives. Game play certainly changes when you don't have to worry about being sniped or lasered from across the map. My squad mates and I were whooping it up dying of laughter just as often as grenades.

FOR THE KIDS IN YOUR LIFE, AND THEIR SUMMER READING: Get Ruben Bolling’s hit book series for kids, The EMU Club Adventures."The EMU Club inhabits exactly the world I always hoped to live in when I was 12, when the answer to questions like 'Where did I put my toy' led inevitably to alien conspiracies and secret underground tunnels. A book for the curious and adventurous!" -Cory Doctorow, author of "For the Win" and "Little Brother""The type of non-stop action and improbably hilarious fun that only a kid could dream up. ... The EMU Club's adventures perfectly capture the intersection of imagination and wonder - the crossroad that's so often found in cardboard boxes, pillow forts and backyards everywhere." -GeekDadGet Book the First, "Alien Invasion in My Backyard," here.Get Book the Second, "Ghostly Thief of Time," here.—RESIST!! The temptation to not join Tom the Dancing Bug's INNER HIVE!More Tom the Dancing Bug comics on Boing Boing! (more…)

The film industry is notoriously competitive, so you're going to need every edge you can get if you're hoping to see success in Hollywood. Thankfully, you won't have to go at it alone. You can align yourself with four industry professionals and get a comprehensive look at directing, casting, cinematography, and more with the Film Director Essentials Bundle, on sale for $19 in the Boing Boing Store.Following along a veteran cinematographer, actor-turned-casting-director, and other industry professionals, you'll come to grips with several elements of film production as you make your way through four comprehensive courses. You'll follow along a real production situation, learn how to host auditions, and familiarize yourself with industry lingo, tools, and techniques as you progress through the training.Make yourself stand out from the rest of the competition with insight from bona fide Hollywood experts. You can pick up the Film Director Essentials Bundle in the Boing Boing Store for $19 today.

California's housing bubble has pushed prices so high (the median Californian home sells for double the national average) that, in some cities, 48% of first-time buyers could only afford to purchase their homes because their parents gave them the downpayment. (more…)

Unlike neighboring LA, the city of Long Beach has no restrictions on evicting tenants from old buildings by doubling or tripling the rent and then booting them out. (more…)

Steam's anything-goes policy toward what it will host hasn't helped: the game platform suffered a 17% drop in active users so far this year, according to data posted by SteamDB.The fading of fad hit PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds appears to be responsible for about half of the decline. Whether its its rise and "fall" hides continued steady growth elsewhere should become quickly apparent, as that game's player base reached equilibrium over the summer.https://twitter.com/Steam_Spy/status/1024291642436734982The anything-goes policy was seen as a capitulation to (or even an investment in) a rising tide of low-quality and often racist, sexist and plagiarized software, or at least an attempt to avoid the angry culture wars surrounding such material. The emergence of malware posing as games is the sort of obvious result of hands-off moderation they were nonetheless unable to see coming.

Is it me or is there something off about these t-shirts?Haha, just kidding. That's the point of the slightlywrong tees, that they aren't quite right. For example, in their brilliant misquoted t-shirt world, Spock's motto "Live long and prosper" becomes "Live long and proper."Their tagline? "T-shirts with slightly wrong quotes on them to annoy the pedants in your life."And their pro-tip: "Insist the quote is 100% accurate."Shut up and take my money.(i09)

Tom Hardy continues his tradition of playing comic book characters whose main power is mumbling in the latest trailer for Venom. It's a fun-filled 3:14 that extols the virtues of teamwork, appreciating one another's differences and making the best of a bad situation. I'm betting the movie'll be just like the Odd Couple, but with more eviscerations.

Nowadays, chances are you associate Cherry with the clickety switches on fancy keyboards. But it's been a global company for decades: if it's boring business-to-business hardware and it clicks, it might well be a Cherry.

Attaching a helicopter blade to a boat-pulled dinghy sounds like a great idea on paper, but can it fly? Behold the Giro Boat. (more…)

These backpacks, handmade by Los Angeles' thingsbuilt, are just the thing if you love the style of vintage cars but don't want to be in the shop all the time. Owner Steve Roche used real vehicle emblems and upholstery on each and every one (in the past, he's had ones that incorporated the car's ashtray on the front pocket). Prices range from $60 to $85.Thanks, Jenny!

Librarian Thomas Guignard (a.k.a. timtom) has a wonderful collection of Creative Commons photographs of libraries he's taken over the years. (more…)

Photographer Brandon Burton's This Must Be the Place series examines abandoned buildings, often framed within a sweeping rural vista. (more…)

John Oliver handily obliterates Facebook's desperate propaganda campaign to rehabilitate itself.

A one-pound bolt dropped from 20 feet will easily impale a watermelon. From 30 feet it obliterates the watermelon. Lesson learned: protect your watermelon when you take it to work.

Ralph Teetor, a mechanical engineer who was blind since childhood, invented cruise control because his lawyer's driving nauseated him. Great Big Story has a short video about him and his other inventions.