Boing Boing

This summer, I am working as an intern at the company Switch Science in Tokyo, Japan. Switch Science creates electronics kits for people to build and learn from. They produce products that are enjoyable for kids in elementary school all the way up to adults interested in electronics. (more…)

Donald Trump's flip-flop routine around Russia's information warfare campaign against the U.S. is based on a lie.(more…)

I had to have the Mr. Rogers Funko. (more…)

This is the story that may unravel the presidency of Donald Trump. (more…)

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CBC reporters have verified health record files provided by hackers who say they acquired them by breaking into the computers of CarePartners, a company that contracts with the Ontario government. (more…)

Election Systems and Software is America's leading voting machine vendor, a category notorious for buggy, insecure software and rampant manufacturer misconduct. As the 2018 elections loom, voting machine companies are coming under scrutiny, and when veteran security reporter Kim Zetter asked them, on behalf of the New York Times, if their products shipped with backdoors allowing remote parties to access and alter them over the internet, they told her unequivocally that they did not engage in this practice. (more…)

Rep. Mike Coffman [R-CO] -- one of the signatories to the Democrat-led bid to overrule the FCC and restore Net Neutrality -- has introduced The 21st Century Internet Act, which amends the 1934 Telecommunications Act to add a new category of regulated service that ISPs will fit into, sidestepping the legal wrangles over earlier Net Neutrality efforts, which hung up on trying to squeeze the internet into categories that were set in the Marconi era. (more…)

A quirk of British rail history left 4,555 railway arches in public ownership through National Rail, and these commercial spaces are that most rare of British commodities: publicly owned, reasonably priced commercial spaces that welcome quirky industries and small businesses that are the nation's only respite from endlessly homogenised high-streets sporting the same fast food chains, betting shops and chain grocers. (more…)

Facebook claims it is trying to limit fake news and hate speech. Facebook is not.

Last month, the legendary hardware hacker and entrepreneur Andrew "bunnie" Huang (who is also a talented science communicator) published a great explainer on the quirks of the Trump China tariff plan, which exempts finished goods (like TVs), but imposes stiff taxes on components that are shipped from China to US factories for final assembly, a tactic common to the most innovative, cutting edge companies who fear having their trade secrets stolen by Chinese manufacturing contractors. (more…)

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of Jurassic Park, a 25-foot-tall statue of Jeff Goldblum (as his character in the film, the sexy and shirtless Dr. Ian Malcolm) has been placed at the base of London's Tower Bridge. The piece is called Jurassic Jeff and it will be on display through July 26.Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.https://twitter.com/NOWTV/status/1019526810697191425https://twitter.com/BruceMcLachlan/status/1019515567143833600https://twitter.com/NineDaves/status/1019567919334903808

In Their Own Words is a new project that gives voice to the growing movement to do away with gender labels and restrictive expectations. As an example, here's an eye-opening comment from a participant named Jen: (more…)

Sinclair Lewis novel It Can't Happen Here, published in 1935, is about fascism coming to America. It has never been more relevant.The novel is available free via Goodreads.

Supermodel Elle Macpherson has embarked on a second career as a supervillain in the mold of Gwyneth Paltrow, hawking a Goop-ish line of useless-to-harmful "elixers" and other "remedies" from her Welleco emporium of woo. (more…)

Tater tots might as well their own food group. I have mastered the art of simple, no mess, delicious tater tots. I use an air fryer. Also, my simple seasoning combination will make the most delicious tater tots you've ever had from a bag.(more…)

Autonomous racing company Roborace demonstrated their latest technology for the crowd at the 2018 Festival of Speed. (more…)

Back when I was a teen Car Wars player, one of my great pleasures was kit-bashing toy cars together with arms and armor from tank models to make Mad Max-ish battlewagons to use in our autoduels (a friend with family in the USA used to help us blow up our cars with smuggled in firecrackers to make "battle-damaged" models -- pretty much the perfect dangerous, stupid teen boy activity) (sorry, Mom). (more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3tRuaMhqQsKansas is an Ayn Randian dystopia of voter suppression, measles epidemics, Handmaid's Tale fanfic masquerading as law, Isalmophobic terrorist cells, voting machine shenanigans, and economic collapse, all thanks to the far-right ideologues who paid for and control the state's legislature. (more…)

Years ago, a hairdresser noticed that spilled oil stuck to bird feathers and marine mammal fur, so he started playing around with making oil booms from nylons and hair from his salon. It worked well and is in small-scale use already. (more…)

Elly Blue (previously) writes, "Will toilet paper be a valuable commodity after society collapses? Who will help you with your reproductive rights in the coming patriarchal dystopia? Why are humans so obsessed with gender? Are bots human? These questions and many more are answered with bicycles (and feminism!) in the eleven stories found in Bikes Not Rockets, the fifth volume in the Bikes in Space series. More relevant than ever, stories in this genre inspire visions of a future beyond the narrow status quo."

Dutch project Recycled Park is a riverside area with 28 plastic planters made from debris skimmed from the river. Watch how they built it.

Le Morne Brabant on the southwest coast of Mauritius has a cool optical illusion offshore: water flowing between two reefs pulls sand out to sea, giving the appearance of an underwater waterfall.YouTuber RubenMRU says:

Tukoi is a Melbourne-based tattoo artist who specializes in fluorescent tattoos. (more…)

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…)

Imperial War Museums and 14-18 Now commissioned Peter Jackson to use the latest technology to restore archival footage of World War I, and the results are remarkable. (more…)

In the NYT, Hayley Phelan recommends disengagement from the information rat race.

Here's something unusual. Product and experience designer Berk Ilhan's Smile Mirror becomes reflective when someone smiles into it.

In 1883 fisherman Howard Blackburn was caught in a blizzard off the coast of Newfoundland. Facing bitter cold in an 18-foot boat, he passed through a series of harrowing adventures in a desperate struggle to stay alive and find help. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll follow Blackburn's dramatic story, which made him famous around the world.We'll also admire a runaway chicken and puzzle over a growing circle of dust.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon!

It's the only mainlined injection of capitalism worth your time this week.

Streaming is the new blogging, some say, where total committment to doing something interesting or offbeat in public attracts vast (and monetizable) audiences. But the long tail is still a dream: most people who attempt it have no audience whatsoever. And yet many persist, that 0 slowly burning a soul hole. Patricia Hernandez:

In an age before Microsoft Word, even before Corel WordPerfect, WordStar ruled the DOS word processing world. Beloved to this day for its simplicity, power and wealth of keystroke commands, some writers never gave it up: G.R.R. Martin maintains a DOS machine just to run WordStar 4. Enter WordTsar, a clone cut to run on modern machinery, brings the classic into the 21st century.

While you're waiting for the even darker season three of Stranger Things, relax to Sunday Moon's Eleven, which involves the corruption of Elmo and other notable muppets. (more…)

DNA tests on remains thought to be of Russia's last royals prove their authenticity, reports Deutsche Welle. Killed by Bolsheviks after the October revolution, probably at Lenin's command, they were shot, knifed and clubbed to death, then mutilated and dumped in the Koptyaki forest. Remains were found in the 1970s and first identified through DNA analysis in the 1990s, but...

Beat Saber is a VR version of music rhythm games like Guitar Hero. This cool demo plays in Darth Maul mode while taking the "Harder Better Faster Stronger" challenge. (more…)

$22 is the lowest price I've seen for an Aeropress coffee maker. (Just click the the little coupon checkbox on the Amazon page.) It's a lot of fun to make coffee with the Aeropress -- you pour a little water in the piston and put it in the microwave for about 40 seconds. Then you put a microfilter in the cylinder (you get a "years supply" with the Aeropress) and a scoop of ground coffee. The you put the cylinder on top of a cup (the company recommends using a clear mug to make the process even more fun), pour the heated (not boiling -- it'll make the coffee bitter and sour, they say) water, stir for 10 seconds, and press the piston down. A few seconds later, you have a wonderful cup of silky smooth coffee.https://youtu.be/dLyQKHLCD_k

In an interview with CBS News' Jeff Glor on Sunday, President Donald Trump was asked which nations he considered to be foes of the United States.(more…)

Alabama college student Walter Carr, 20, got a job at a moving company in a nearby town. The night before his new job started, his 2003 Nissan Altima broke down.(more…)

Sarah Palin is doing a great job promoting Sacha Baron Cohen's Showtime series, Who is America?, by going on TV and complaining that she had been tricked and embarrassed by Cohen when he interviewed her under false pretenses. Gee, who wants that?Interestingly, the is one of the first times that Palin didn't speak in the kind of nonsensical word salad she is famous for. She is articulate and directly answers the pandering softball questions that the Good Morning America host gently tosses her.And here's former GOP Illinois congressman / radio host Joe Walsh making similar complaints about being tricked into supporting the proposal to give guns to preschoolers:https://youtu.be/Z9LjwRRO9fk

You've probably seen the video clip from Who Is America? in which comedian provocateur Sacha Baron Cohen easily convinces right wing politicians and lobbyists to express their support for giving guns to four-year-olds. Here's another clip with Cohen's character trying to explain a mathematically unsound proposal to Bernie Sanders, who patiently explains why the proposal move the 99% into the 1% won't work. (more…)

The Facebook data set on tens of millions of Americans that was gathered for Cambridge Analytica was accessed from within Russia, British MP Damian Collins today told CNN.(more…)

Fathom Information Design created an interactive website called Fakebook that presents a bunch of Facebook ads purchased by Russia-linked agents, showing the intended audiences for the ads. Is their any reason to doubt that the Russians are still buying Facebook ads designed to divide and anger Americans?

There have been a lot of iconic images offering the FEELING of a NYC subway ride.The goth woman and her raven, and the Ramones and their guitars are the first to come to mind. Taking photos of people riding the subway is likely on par with photographers crapping out another image of San Franciaco's Golden Gate Bridge. Once in a while tho, we get art.I have an MTA card in my wallet.

I bought PG Tips for a taste off with my favorite black tea Barry's Gold Blend. I decided to finish the box, rather than just throw it out, and ended up depressed.When I first started drinking Barry's folks told me it was "a builder's blend" and that I would "taste the bag." Folks insisted I try PG Tips. A woman I'd been seeing who claimed deep knowledge of tea was an aficionado of the triangular PF Tips bag. I ignored them as I didn't care, and liked Barry's. After enough pressure, I tried PG Tips and wrote a review. I didn't like it much. The box got put away.A few weeks ago I put my box of Barry's in my camper and headed north up the West Coast of the United States of America. When I got home I realized the box must have been left someplace along the way. I was about to re-order when I realized the PG Tips was just sitting there. I'd finish it before reordering and reclaim that tiny bit of cabinet space.PG Tips tastes like cardboard. Rather than the 3-5 cups of Barry's I'll drink in a day, I was having one or less. Unfinished mugs of tea were gently evaporating around my kitchen and office. I was getting less done than I wanted to and felt pretty tired all day. Then I realized what was up!Quickly I ordered a few boxes of Barry's Gold Blend. This morning I made my first cup in a few weeks. I was thrilled to look into my cup of Barry's to see the abyss staring right back!Americans can find Barry's Gold Blend readily available via Amazon.

San Francisco's new mayor, London Breed, blames homeless people for the piles of poop and ever present scent of urine that characterize the city. There is also awesome avocado toast.Via the Modesto Bee: