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Sharp-eyed ornithologists noticed that some specimens of Vogelkop Superb Bird-of-Paradise that they observed looked different enough that they may be a separate species. They captured video of the other kind for comparison. (more…)

Brett writes, "As a critique of the IoT buzz, I hacked a portable karaoke machine, stuffed a Raspberry Pi in it, connected it to the internet, and installed Docker on it." (tl;dr: he needed a portable CRT for an installation, found one embedded in a thrift-store karaoke machine, and got it wired up to the Raspi on the first try and discovered it made a perfect and delightful casemod).

The damage done by domestic violence doesn't stop when a victim finds the strength and support system needed to escape physical or emotional abuse at home. Breaking the cycle of abuse inflicted by the hands of someone you once trusted can send shock waves into every facet of your life: shared friends may turn against you, individuals you called family may disbelieve your claims of abuse and the time and energy it takes to break ties with an abuser can take a toll on your professional life. Happily, with a piece of policy that every nation on the planet should copy, New Zealand is taking steps to ensure that the latter won't be something that those looking to escape domestic violence will have to worry about any longer.According to The New York Times, members of New Zealand's parliament have voted to approve a bill which states that individuals feeling domestic violence in their country must be given a 10-day leave of absence from their jobs--time to care for children, seek out assistance in setting up a new life and find shelter--in addition to whatever paid vacation days the victim's job comes with. The Domestic Violence Victims’ Protection Bill will go into effect in 2019. From The New York Times:

Blackstone is the largest private equity fund in the world; when the 2008 crash hit and banks used the trillions in taxpayer bailouts to fund mass evictions of working people who'd been tricked into taking out predatory mortgages, Blackstone started bulk-buying them, creating rent-backed bonds (called Single-Family Rental Securities or SERS) that are the even-shittier successors to the mortgage-backed securities that detonated the world economy in 2008. (more…)

Earlier this month, the United Nations Relief and Works agency for Palestinian refugees in the near-east (UNRWA) warned that it’d have no choice but to make deep cuts to its programs, due to a funding freeze enacted by the United States Government. Last week, in light of a 217 million dollar funding shortfall, UNRWA lowered the boom: employees for a number of vital programs, including housing assistance, medical and mental health support, education and employment programs have either been given drastic pay cuts or told that they no longer have jobs. According to The Washington Post, UNRWA dismissed 154 of its employees, 125 of which are located in Gaza, and downgraded another 580 to contract workers. The head of UNRWA’s Palestinian employees union, Amir al-Miss’hal stated that in addition to this, UNRWA has also canceled an additional 1,000 jobs by ordering a hiring freeze of employees destined to fill in for UNRWA workers approaching retirement. Unsurprisingly, shit is now going down: hundreds of UNRWA declared a sit-in, this past Monday, with threats from the UNRWA employee’s union of a strike that could throw Gaza into chaos. One UNRWA was so unhinged by losing his to job that he attempted to set himself on fire, this past Wednesday. From The Washington Post:

Samsung's new QLED TV comes with configuration option: take a picture of the wall behind it before you hang it up and it will use it as a background wallpaper, drawing UI widgets (like weather display, etc) overtop of it, creating the hi-rez illusion that your TV has disappeared, leaving nothing behind but the bezel. Hard to get it aligned properly, and probably a config option on most TVs (but buried 11 menus deep and just advertised as "set wallpaper" rather than "make TV vanish"). (via Red Ferret)

Many of the world's most iconic movies have problematic themes or plots, but the romanticization of kidnapping and false imprisonment ranks among the worst. (more…)

Former Air Force spy Denver Riggleman is the GOP Congressional candidate for Virginia's 5th district, and he's caught flack for campaigning with the notorious white supremacist Isaac Smith, co-founder of Unity & Security for America. (more…)

What the hell, Scotland? Why would you ruin perfectly good ice cream by putting the devil's condiment -- mayonnaise -- into it?!Artisanal ice cream shop ICE Falkirk, the creators of Mayonnaise Ice Cream, have some 'splaining to do.https://www.facebook.com/LADbible/videos/4820513294662489/UzpfSTg0ODIzNDU0ODYxOTgyNDoxNTM4NzcyODk5NTY1OTgy/image via ICEFalkirk, used with permission(Delish)

The human brain is a funny thing. You can give it plenty of sleep, but when you're hours away from the weekend, it's virtually impossible to stay focused. Unfortunately, the world doesn't stop just because your brain has checked out, but you can still ensure you don't miss any important details thanks to the Uqique USB Recorder With Playback, available in the Boing Boing store for $21.99.Smaller than most flash drives, this pocket-sized recorder gives you the ability to capture important details at a moment's notice. Whether you're stuck in an afternoon lecture or a meeting at work, you can whip this device out, record what you need, and play it back when you're ready to focus. It's engineered with intelligent noise cut filtering and voice amplification to ensure you get a clear recording from any angle, and it's rated to last 10 hours on a single charge.Of course, there has to be more to this device for it to merit a spot in your pocket's shrinking real estate. In addition to capturing audio, the recorder doubles as an 8GB flash drive, so you can move important files in a pinch. Plus, it can even play music, letting you enjoy your favorite tunes without having to kill your phone's battery.The Uqique USB Recorder With Playback normally retails for $26.99, but you can get it in the Boing Boing store today for $21.99, saving nearly 20 percent off the usual price.

Small towns are the new (insert hip city neighborhood). It's all about "creatives" and money, isn't it? Sort of.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbNv9MP27xEApparently Facebook is running TV ads apologizing for being a creepy stalker optimized for organizing Nazi hate-mobs and genocidal pogroms (also apparently: now that all the young people are leaving Facebook, TV is how you reach the company's core user-base). (more…)

Given the crushing strength of this machine and the way large chunks of concrete balance atop distressed rebar, this worker might want to consider goggles and not turning his back on the machine. (more…)

On July 24, off the coast of Indonesia, onlookers cheered as a boat rode (and eventually capsized to) some crazy waves. (It's ok to hit 'play,' the boat was unmanned.)Ryan “Chachi” Craig of Surfer.com reports:

I eagerly await our new AI masters' world of ultraoptimized, uncannily organic, evolving foorplans. Joel Simon:

Non-photorealistic Quake takes the classic game and applies particularly well-crafted filtering effect to give it the appearance of a hand-drawn pencil sketch. Or blueprints. Or ink. [via]

Jacobo Prisco at CNN returns to 1958, when a new symbol appeared at protests against nuclear weapons in the UK.

In the July 30 issue of The New Yorker, Joan Blake of Southern Pines, North Carolina shares the story of how Wednesday Addams got her name:

Deep below a mile of ice at the Martian south pole lies a lake of liquid water, according to a team of Italian scientists led by Roberto Orosei. (more…)

"Black & McDonald is an integrated, multi-trade prime contractor serving government, institutions, industry and commerce across Canada, the US and overseas." Also, our drivers are huge assholes. [UPDATE 7/29/2018 - Driver got fired.)

Jerry of the excellent JerryRigEverything YouTube channel put the new Oppo Find X Android phone ($1000) to his custom stress test. Jerry's tested the durability of over 100 phones by scratching, burning, and bending them. When he tried bending this phone with his hands, Jerry discovered that it was very easy to bend, unlike 90% of the other phones he's tested. He has added the Oppo Find X to his shelf of shame.

I am quite fond of this $29 Apple watch band. (more…)

In select locations, Canadian restaurant chain Boston Pizza has started adding 3D-printed chairs to surround that little plastic pizza-saver, aka the pizza table. They call it the Pizza Patio Set.Adweek:

Evidently the Orange Menace is unimpressed by son-in-law Jared Kushner's attempts to bilk dollars out of his White House job, and longs for his daughter's purported ex-boyfriend.Via Talking Points Memorandum:

Spoiler alert: to steal from prisoners and their families. (more…)

Domestic workers -- overwhelming female, overwhelmingly racialized -- have historically been exempted from traditional labor protections, from the minimum wage to workplace safety to recourse for harassment and worse. (more…)

Winner of 15 E3 Awards, including Best PC Game and Best Strategy Game, Sid Meier's Civilization VI is a game that needs no introduction. But, in case you've been out of the loop for the last two decades, this franchise has consistently set the standard for addictive strategy gaming since its debut in 1991. Its latest installment continues to raise the bar, and you can get it, as well as the Rise and Fall expansion, on sale for more than 30% off today.Putting you in charge of your own civilization, Sid Meier's Civilization VI tasks you with guiding your empire through the eras by waging war, conducting diplomacy, advancing your culture, and going head to head with history's greatest leaders. The Rise and Fall expansion takes the challenge further by adding more weight to your choices, as the right decisions can catapult your civilization into a Golden Age, while the wrong ones can send you back into a harrowing Dark Age.You can get the Sid Meier's Civilization VI Bundle on sale today for $56.99, saving more than 30% off its usual price.

The Game Changers is a new documentary about the vegan movement within sports and physically demanding occupations. It's by Louie Psihoyos (director of The Cove) and executive produced by James Cameron. (more…)

Last week, I sent an SMS to our babysitter that said, "Hey, are you free to sit on," and rather than offering autocomplete suggestions like "Saturday" or "Friday," the default Android keyboard suggested "on my face and." (more…)

Calgary's Chinook Centre and Market Mall -- operated by Cadillac Fairview -- have been caught running background software that analysed the footage from the CCTVs in the malls' electronic directories to guess at the age and gender of visitors, without consent or notification. (more…)

I hate using a dirty pipe or bong. Randy's Black Label gets glassware clean as new, with very little effort. (more…)

A small but vital genre of homebrew portable computers is the "cyberspace deck," in which hackers create DIY, special-purpose computers inspired by the ICE-breaking console-cowboy decks of William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy (Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive). (more…)

Photographer Tom Hegen has gotten quite good at capturing lovely overhead shots of human altered landscapes, like his Tulip Series. He's doing a Kickstarter for his first book, so check it out. (more…)

Doug Ford, AKA Laughable Bumblefuck II, won the Ontario provincial elections with a cowardly, trumpian campaign that kicked off with a bitter leadership race within his own party, whose top spot was up for grabs because the previous leader was accused of getting young party activists drunk and then having sex with them. (more…)

The Clickhole is in incredible form with Step Right Up And Feast Your Eyes On The Unfathomable Comey, The Man Who Is Both Good And Bad! The Beautiful Monster Who Makes Resisters’ Minds Spin! Betrayer Of Hillary! Enemy Of Trump! Behold This Freak Of Nature! It's a timely reminder that the FBI is a domestic surveillance agency with a long, dishonorable history of antidemocratic suppression of justice movements, and that nice guys with a commitment to decency and shared prosperity do not get appointed to head such institutions. (more…)

A buugeng is an S-shaped staff that looks like an ancient weapon but is a recent invention for jugglers and performers, often used in pairs. YouTuber Silent Awareness gives a lovely demonstration with an LED-embedded set. (more…)

Ambigrams are words or symbols styled so they still have meaning when viewed from another perspective. This video is a great overview of some of the best artists and books on the craft. (more…)

Want to take your modelmaking to the next level? here's a cool way to make dynamic bases with lit-up explosions. (more…)

Six weeks after Bernie Sanders rallied Disneyland employees to call for a $15/hour minimum wage, the company has announced that the minimum wage will rise from $11/h to $13.25 today, and again to $15 on Jan 1, and again to $15.45/h in June 2020 -- homelessness is rampant among Disneyland employees, and Disney had engineered a longrunning complete takeover of the local government, raking in hundreds of millions in breaks and subsidies, until, finally, anti-Disney candidates attained a majority in 2018.

ProPublica's Michael Grabell and Topher Sanders obtained police reports and call logs from more than 70 of the 100 shelters housing immigrant children. What the documents reveal: “If you're a predator, it's a gold mine.” (more…)

A 6-year old girl separated from her mom under Trump's "zero tolerance" policy was sexually abused inside a Southwest Key shelter in Arizona, reports The Nation. (more…)

Twitter's stock closed 20.5% on Friday after the company announced it lost 1 million active users. More user loss is predicted. (more…)

Unused footage of Carrie Fisher from The Last Jedi will be put to use in Episode IX, reports Hollywood Reporter. Mark Hamill will return as Luke Skywalker, as will Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian.

Awoo. [Obscuritory.com]

For at least a couple of years, Twitter has allowed one porn spam bot to clog up search results for common women's names, as well as for names of young female celebrities. It would not take a lot to create an algorithm to block this specific spam, but it's still here, because Twitter can't seem to address the platform's pervasive hostility to women. (more…)

Members of the Ghanaian lost their composure in fits of giggles and guffaws when MP John Frimpong Osei listed out the names of towns in his district that were awaiting electrification. (more…)

There is a conspiracy theory that Pepsico's Kurkure corn puffs -- developed and sold in India -- contain plastic; there's a much wider discussion in which people are making fun of this dumb theory (while simultaneously pointing out that Kurkure might as well be made of plastic, given their nutritional value and flavor). (more…)

I'd seen videos where workers cut and bleached new jeans (and the laser-toting robots that will replace them) but this one shows a much more convincing method: lumpy artificial "legs" inflated under the jeans, which are then sanded for a more realistic impression of age and use.

Facebook's down 20% and Twitter's down 14%, for reasons that everyone now says are obvious. But the same pundit class was boosting them until reality bit:One of the funny things about news aggregators, and filtered feeds in general (as opposed to chronological ones) is how they hide time and change and make everything seem immediate. Yesterday's confident bullshit gets posed against today's naked truth, competing with it until no-one's left who believes anything there.