Boing Boing

I love the work that the Italian DIY ambient punk and dungeon drone label, Heimat Der Katastrophe, is doing. They release cassette tapes and digital albums via Bandcamp that are sonic-based old-school D&D adventures. Every cassette comes with a folded tray card with maps, dungeon and character descriptions, and background on the adventure depicted in the music and on the card. You can just listen and enjoy the music, or follow along with the action outlined in the adventure, or play an actual D&D adventure using the music and material provided. HDK's latest offering is artist Kobold's "The village in the frozen mountains." The music is described as "short dungeon-pop compositions in a 16-bit style with magic melodies that will transport you straight to when you were young and carefree."The limited edition cassettes sell out immediately. Today's release is already gone. But you can listen to the music free on Bandcamp or buy the digital album which comes with all of the adventure materials.Image: Promo photo Read the rest

NEW: After weeks of internal White House debate, finally the U.S. Centers for Disease control will 'recommend,' but not require, that people wear face coverings or improvised cloth masks if they go out in public. The CDC will soon advise the American people to wear masks in public to stem the spread of coronavirus. This is a complete reversal of policy change, well into an still-uncontrolled disease outbreak. Lives will be lost because of this policy bungling.President Donald Trump said on Friday that the Centers for Disease Control will soon officially begin recommending the public use of non-medical, non-surgical grade masks to slow the spread of COVID-19. "You don't have to do it. ... I don't think I am going to be doing it,” Trump said about wearing a face mask, during his announcement that the CDC now recommends people wear face masks. “We’re healing,” the president added, without evidence.President Trump says the CDC is officially recommending Americans wear simple cloth masks in public, though this is only voluntary — and he says he won't be doing it https://t.co/b9FtmY5sM4 pic.twitter.com/ZX5W6IWcxA— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 3, 2020CDC recommends people should wear simple cloth masks in public to reduce spread of coronavirus.Our story: https://t.co/yemiedkVrN— James Hohmann (@jameshohmann) April 3, 2020CDC recommends that people wear masks in public, and Trump immediately undermines them by stressing that the call is "voluntary" and saying "I don't think I am going to be doing it." https://t.co/b4V0iRYicD— David Lauter (@DavidLauter) April 3, 2020VIRUS UPDATE: CDC to recommend Americans cover faces when outside, but President Trump says he won't wear one. Read the rest

Today I made a Zoom background of myself accidentally walking in on myself in a Zoom meeting. pic.twitter.com/Rl2AsjfZ7V— Dan Crowd (@itsdancrowd) April 3, 2020Prankster creativity from video producer Dan Crowd (above) and motion graphics designer Metehan Korkmazel. I had the same like multiple instances of me hanging around. pic.twitter.com/05G4KDXNGY— Metehan Korkmazel (@korkmazelm) April 3, 2020 Read the rest

What a fantastic project.“I made a 'banned-book' bookshelf with a hidden compartment,” says IMGURian @honestworkdesigns.“Sliding dado door serves as hidden compartment at the back of bottom shelf.”Brilliant. I made a "banned-book" bookshelf with a hidden compartment Read the rest

Wow. That's all I can manage to get out of my keyboard, I'm so astonished by how gorgeous and dedicated this wonderful crafted popsicle stick house is. IMGURian @dawilah is taking this to a completely different level. I love it. The build video is glorious. I feel a real fondness for the medium, as a GenXer who was taught to do craft projects in the 1970s. Oh yeah we used popsicle sticks.Popsicle stick house Read the rest

The wonderful weird alt.folk noise pop band Thao & The Get Down Stay Down released a new music video today shot entirely using Zoom videoconferencing. It's a radically creative clip for an equally rad tune, "Phenom." Thao & The Get Down Stay Down's new album Temple is out next month. Read the rest

Is the coronavirus behind the fevered imaginations supplying the plots for this week’s tawdry tabloids?

Can't sit still during the pandemic? You're not alone. Many folks are using their social distancing time to decompress and zone out on Tiger King, some even pushing back against the idea of being productive. But plenty of others find themselves bored, restless, and in need of projects and goals, somewhere to direct their energy. If productivity is what you crave, there is surely no time like the present to make the most of that urge: You've got hours to fill and over 1000 premium online classes (and counting) are available now for only $59.Join over 550k satisfied students on the StackSkills platform where you'll get access to courses that will help you master today's most in-demand skills. Subject matter runs from beginner to advanced and covers IT, coding, graphic design, blockchain, growth hacking, iOS development, finance, business, marketing, and much more, with new classes added every month.Use StackSkills to teach yourself something that will make you first in line for a promotion or send your resume to the top of the pile when applying for jobs. Thanks to up-to-date information in courses most relevant to today's markets and excellent teachers leading the way (350+ of the web's top instructors, all experts in their fields), you can even leverage your StackSkills access into a side hustle in an area you currently know very little about.As you move through the platform and individual lessons, you'll find easy-to-use progress tracking, course certifications, quarterly instructor Q&A webinars, real-life applications and examples of theoretical skills, sample projects, and more. Read the rest

Photographer Lucas Zimmerman captured these dreamy long-exposure shots on foggy streets near Weimar, Germany. He followed up on the original 2013 series a few years later with Traffic Lights 2.0."...Photography shows us things we otherwise overlook, such as a simple traffic light on the street," Zimmerman says. "An all-known object, which produces a strong effect in an unnatural situation with a simple photographic setup."(via Kottke) Read the rest

Here's another musical round-up to keep you occupied while holed up in your pandemic command bunker. The Pitchfork title of this piece is "The 33 Best Industrial Albums of All Time," but homey don't play that horse race. Your mileage may vary. My mileage varies. What would you add to this list?27Chris and CoseyHeartbeat1981“Industrial music for us was about being industrious,” Cosey Fanni Tutti reflected of her time in the pioneering group Throbbing Gristle. “It wasn’t about industrial sounds.” Her point was proven when she and bandmate/partner Chris Carter formed a new duo after TG’s dissolution, veering away from the group’s harsh textures into lighter, more melodic territory. The music that comprises Heartbeat, their debut album, spans multiple genres—minimalist techno, spacey synth-pop, stretches of eerie ambience—while maintaining a rough, corroded edge. From the grinding pulse of opener “Put Yourself in Los Angeles” to the dazzling sci-fi title track, its vision and melding of textures influenced scores of electronic artists; it also provided a path for fellow industrial musicians to maintain their intensity while learning to lighten up and evolve. –Sam Sodomsky20SwansGreed/Holy Money1986Desecration, self-loathing, flesh, power: This is the scripture of Swans, the infamously loud and transgressive New York noise band led for decades by Michael Gira. By Greed/Holy Money, they had blown up their sound—two bassists, three drummers, the vocalist Jarboe—to become a chamber group of hulking, post-industrial aggression, marching against the bull market of New York’s cocaine decadence in the mid-’80s. Read the rest

If you care about The Simpsons with the same intensity that I don't care about the Simpsons, you'll be happy to hear that that Disney has finally sorted out how to stream the long-running cartoon sitcom in its proper 4:3 ratio. Disney+ will start kicking it old school, by the end of May.In a message posted to Disney+'s Twitter account yesterday, the company's reps stated:"We appreciate our fans’ patience and are working to make the first 19 Seasons (and part of 20) of The Simpsons available in 4:3 versions on DisneyPlus. We expect to accomplish this by the end of May."So that's nice.If you keep track of such things, you'll recall that, a few months ago, Simpsons fans lost their shit over Disney+'s streaming earlier seasons of the show, which were originally broadcast in a 4:3 aspect ratio, in 16:9. While this might fill up a modern wide screen television's display quite nicely, the forced 16:9 aspect ratio cut out a lot of what was going on, on screen. This left many elements of some of the series' best sight gags, unseen.I know that many films suffered from the pan-and-scan nonsense they were put through before televisions moved to a wider aspect ratio. While I'm not personally invested in The Simpsons being shown as each episode was intended to be seen, I have to wonder how many other television shows from the 1990's on back are currently being ruined by being shown in 16:9.Image via Wikipedia Read the rest

If humans ever hope to colonize Mars, the settlers will need to manufacture on-planet a huge range of organic compounds, from fuels to drugs, that are too expensive to ship from Earth.University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) chemists have a plan for that.For the past eight years, the researchers have been working on a hybrid system combining bacteria and nanowires that can capture the energy of sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into building blocks for organic molecules. Nanowires are thin silicon wires about one-hundredth the width of a human hair, used as electronic components, and also as sensors and solar cells.“On Mars, about 96% of the atmosphere is CO2. Basically, all you need is these silicon semiconductor nanowires to take in the solar energy and pass it on to these bugs to do the chemistry for you,” said project leader Peidong Yang, professor of chemistry and the S. K. and Angela Chan Distinguished Chair in Energy at UC Berkeley....Read the rest of the piece on Berkeley News.[H/t Alberto Gaitán]Image: UC Berkeley image by Peidong Yang Read the rest

Wow. Breakfast burritos are WAY better when working and cooking from home.Now I am hungry.So THIS is how you make a perfect breakfast burrito. The technique is not something that ever would have occurred to me, but now it seems so obvious. This looks so much more delicious than anything I've ever grabbed from a shack or a truck while on the way to the office.IMGURian and pandemic stay-at-homer @jelzic tried one of those “YOU'VE BEEN COOKING IT WRONG” Facebook video tip recipe video thingies out and it worked great. Breakfast is better at the home officeMore: Breakfast is better at the home office [IMGUR] Read the rest

This is a very funny short story, told in a crappy overly compressed GIF and some doodle overlays. It's brilliant. Wait for it.Bird with Arms'Bird with Arms' Read the rest

Amazon will delay its annual marketing and money-making Prime Day due to the coronavirus pandemic.Citing 'internal meeting notes,' Reuters reports that Amazon.com will postpone its major summer shopping event Prime Day at least until August, and expects up to a $100 million hit from excess items it may now have to sell at a discount. Excerpt:Amazon declined to comment. Prime Day, a marketing event Amazon started in 2015 to drum up sales during the summer shopping lulls, typically occurs in July, though the company never publishes the date far in advance. Read more:Exclusive: Amazon to delay marketing event Prime Day due to coronavirus Read the rest

Impeached president and serial liar Donald John Trump said on Thursday that he has been tested for COVID-19 for a second time, and again received negative results. Trump this time took the newer, rapid point-of-care test and called it "more pleasant" than the first.Seems legit.President Trump says he tested negative for coronavirus using a rapid diagnostic that produced a result in less than 15 minutes https://t.co/p55evbARs2 pic.twitter.com/YRBhhz5LUs— Reuters (@Reuters) April 3, 2020"I think I took it really out of curiosity to see how quickly it worked." President Donald Trump said he tested negative for Covid-19 for the second time yesterday. He used a rapid test that gave a result in less than 15 minutes. pic.twitter.com/FhafxC5TYI— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) April 3, 2020More at NBC News. Read the rest

Canada's prime minister Justin Trudeau says the country has signed an agreement with Amazon.com for the distribution of critical emergency medical supplies such as masks, face shields, gowns, ventilators, and test kits in the COVID-19 crisis.Prime Minister Trudeau says the federal government has a deal with Amazon Canada to distribute personal protective equipment to the provinces and territories. More here: https://t.co/FWDEyCnScw pic.twitter.com/CzOKGpZVJ5— CTV News (@CTVNews) April 3, 2020Alicja Siekierska at Yahoo Finance:The federal government has tapped the online behemoth to manage the distribution of medical supplies, including masks, face shields, gowns, ventilators, and test kits.“For the past few weeks, our government has been working closely with industry to produce the supplies our healthcare workers need like masks, face shields, gowns, ventilators, and test kits,” Trudeau said at his daily press conference on Friday.“Today, I can announce that our government has signed an agreement with Amazon Canada to manage the distribution of this equipment to the provinces and territories.”Earlier this week, Trudeau announced that the federal government will spend $2 billion on protective personal equipment, including masks, face shields, gowns, along with ventilators, test kits and swabs and hand sanitizer as the country fights the COVID-19 pandemic.READ MORE:Canada signs deal with Amazon to distribute medical suppliesAlicja SiekierskaApril 3, 2020[via techmeme]Justin Trudeau says Canada has signed an agreement with Amazon to distribute critical medical supplies across the country (@alicjawithaj / Yahoo Finance)https://t.co/enZWXyRYH4https://t.co/MO6iwzlSfU— Techmeme (@Techmeme) April 3, 2020 Read the rest

“Researchers conclude that Zoom uses non-industry-standard cryptographic techniques with identifiable weaknesses and is not suitable for sensitive communications.”

Here's a new ad, from the GOP anti-Trump group Republicans for Law, showing GOP voters who no longer support Trump because of his incompetent response to the coronavirus. Summed up: “Even though I’ve been a Republican all my life, I can’t support Trump and his response to the coronavirus is exactly why...He says he puts America first, but it’s clear he only knows how to put Trump first...This is a crisis, and we need real leadership. Donald Trump is incapable of it.”The ad will air during Fox & Friends on Tuesday in the D.C. area, according to HuffPost. Republicans for Law is the group who also put this ad out less than three weeks ago:Via HuffPost Read the rest

The suddenly popular videoconferencing app Zoom has issued a patch for a vulnerability in its Windows client that allowed attackers to steal the user's Windows login credentials from malicious chat links.Hi @zoom_us & @NCSC - here is an example of exploiting the Zoom Windows client using UNC path injection to expose credentials for use in SMBRelay attacks. The screen shot below shows an example UNC path link and the credentials being exposed (redacted). pic.twitter.com/gjWXas7TMO— Hacker Fantastic (@hackerfantastic) March 31, 2020I made a simple demo of the latest Zoom UNC Path Injection Vulnerability, Take care and don't click on ANY UNC Path hyperlinks!P.S. I used putty as a payload.exe which could be ANY_THING_ELSE.exePoC: https://t.co/fatA6R7Kuq— Mohamed A. Baset (@SymbianSyMoh) April 1, 2020“Zoom issued a fix for this and other bugs, promising better transparency going forward,” reports Mark Hachman at PCWorld:An unpatched vulnerability within Zoom allows an attacker to drop a malicious link into a chat window and use it to steal a Windows password, according to reports.A hacker could use an attack called a UNC path injection to expose credentials, according to an attack posted on Twitter and subsequently followed up with an additional video. According to The Hacker News, that's because Windows exposes a user's login name and password to a remote server when attempting to connect to it and download a file.----Update: After this story and others went live April 1, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan addressed Zoom security and other issues in a blog post. Read the rest

Everyone is using Zoom for everything from pandemic family gatherings to A.A. meetings to therapy sessions to teaching college classes, but the app has newly revealed and very concerning security vulnerabilities.The contents of thousands of video calls made on the app Zoom were exposed on the open web, and easily available via common web search tools. The Washington Post reports that many of the videos, which callers assumed were private, include personally identifiable information and deeply intimate conversations, recorded in people’s homes.Drew Harwell for the Washington Post:Many of the videos appear to have been recorded through Zoom’s software and saved onto separate online storage space without a password. But because Zoom names every video recording in an identical way, a simple online search can reveal a long stream of videos that anyone can download and watch.Zoom videos are not recorded by default, though call hosts can choose to save them to Zoom servers or their own computers. There’s no indication that live-streamed videos or videos saved onto Zoom’s servers are publicly visible.But many participants in Zoom calls may be surprised to find their faces, voices and personal information exposed because a call host can record a large group call without participants’ consent. (Call participants are given a notification when a host starts to record.) The Washington Post is not revealing the naming convention that Zoom uses, and Zoom was alerted to the issue before this story was published.Read more:Thousands of Zoom video calls left exposed on open WebAnd here was another previously-revealed and purportedly-now-fixed security vulnerability with Zoom:Zoom shares your information with Facebook, lawsuit says Read the rest

Mavis Staples (most famously of the Staples Singers) and Jeff Tweedy (most famously of Jeff Tweedy of Wilco) have a new song out — the latest in their decade-long collaboration together.Staples explained the origins of the song in a press release:The song speaks to what we’re going through now—everyone is in this together, whether you like it or not. It doesn’t matter how much money you have, what race or sex you are, where you live... it can still touch you. It’s hit so many people in our country and around the world in such a horrible way and I just hope this song can bring a little light to the darkness. We will get through this but we're going to have to do it together. If this song is able to bring any happiness or relief to anyone out there in even the smallest way, I wanted to make sure that I helped to do that.I'll be honest: it's a little hokier than the usual output by Staples or Tweedy. But Tweedy's honky-tonk production under Staples' smooth-as-ever vocals makes the saccharine message go down with a smooth, steady, folksy groove. And that was enough to pick me up in these strange times.Proceeds from the song My Block, My Hood, My City, a Chicago-based organization that helps senior citizens with supplies and care during the coronavirus quarantine.All In It Together [Mavis Staples] Read the rest

Since its launch three years ago, Donald Bell's Maker Update has been one of my favorite weekly YouTube...well, maker updates. I always find inspiring projects, tool reviews, and tips of interest.As you can imagine, more COVID-19 maker response content has been showing up on the show. This week, almost all of the episode is dedicated to maker responses to the pandemic. There's a project for building a Raspberry Pi-powered soap dispenser that plays 20 seconds of Spotify to time proper hand washing, the MIT's $100 open source ventilator, face shield design improvements, and a ventilator mask made from snorkeling gear. There is also news of a virus pom pom tutorial (to make COVID-19 more warm and fuzzy for the kids?), a timely video on safe tools for kids, and two virtual event calendars (one from MIT, one from Hackaday).Image: YouTube Read the rest

No, it won't ensure you don't catch covid-19, but some face coverage is better than none when making a trip out of the house. Tora Smart's a how-to vid walks us through a quick and easy way to create a face mask with materials you already have at hand:"Let’s all make our own masks and let front line health workers get first dibs on the real ones. If we all wear our own when we leave the house, there will be less spread. New information is revealing that some face coverage is better than no face coverage. BUT, please allow care workers to get the real ones first!" Read the rest

To keep active through this, let’s dance together. pic.twitter.com/oLy7RgKogE— Joe Tracini (@joetracini) March 24, 2020Joe Trancini is the dance instructor the world needs right now: "if you were one of the 2 million people across the internet that chose to watch this in a day, thank you from the bottom of my leotard. " Read the rest

Watching these videos got me thinking about the hazmat suits and heavy-duty disinfections you see in footage of victim transports. It makes me suspect that the 6ft/2m social distancing benchmark and "masks do nothing" policies are forms of epidemiology theater that we will soon come to regret. A single cough generates thousands of microdroplets that remain suspended in air for hours, reports Esquire. It "doesn't meant we're doomed," writes Sharon Begley. Read the rest

Even if you don’t miss much else about the office right now, there's a good chance your home laptop is making you nostalgic for the added efficiency of that pair of monitors on your desk at work to spread out your workflow.There’s no telling how long the new normal may continue to be the new normal, so it’s worth considering who to best replicate some of your favorite productivity aids in your new, more mobile setting. You can start with the Mobile Pixels DUEX Pro Portable Dual Monitor, which offers up the complete second screen experience for a laptop in a way that feels 100 percent organic and compatible with how most of us work.Created by a pair of MIT students and launched with $1 million in IndieGoGo funding, the DUEX uses magnetic adhesives to clip seamlessly to the back of your laptop monitor. With a sliding, 270-degree rotation and a simple USB connection, users just shift the screen to the side and they have a working dual-screen desktop.With studies showing the dual monitor format boosting productivity by over 40 percent, the DUEX can be an absolute game-changer for those whose fingers routinely outpace their computer’s ability to keep up.When not in use, the lightweight and durable DUEX slides back into position behind your primary monitor, so it always remains protected, even during transport.In addition to adding a second full HD-capable 1080p monitor to your work environment, the screen can also be turned 180 degrees into presentation mode. Read the rest

According to studies in the early 1990s, up to 40% of police officer families experienced domestic violence, a figure that includes officers themselves. Recent studies focusing on officers' behavior suggest a far higher rate of abuse than the general population, exacerbated by underrporting and favorable treatment by colleagues in law enforcement.Officer Jeffrey Wharton, however, is out of uniform--literally removed from him with scissors. He arrived at work to find there was a felony warrant issued out for his arrest after his girlfriend was hospitalized earlier that day.When Officer Wharton arrived for his shift at an area substation Rio Rancho Police officers were waiting for him armed with a felony warrant. At one point you'll see they removed his duty belt and searched him. After the search they are seen on lapel video cutting off his fully marked uniform shirt. Wharton was lead out of the substation to a waiting cruiser. He was booked into the Sandoval County Detention Center on charges of Kidnapping (First Degree) (NO Intent to Commit Sex Offense), Aggravated Battery (great bodily harm) (household member), Aggravated Battery Against a Household Member (Strangulation or Suffocation), Aggravated Battery (great bodily harm) (household member), Tampering with Evidence (Highest Crime a Capital, First or Second Degree and Negligent Use of a Deadly Weapon (Unsafe Handling).In the video, the deshirting commences 3 minutes in.Wharton didn't get bailed and awaits his trial in the slammer. Read the rest

After a tipoff, police raided a house in Brooklyn and carted off boxes said to contain close to a million N95 masks. CBS News: "Authorities remove close to one million N95 respirator masks, gloves, gowns and other medical supplies after a Brooklyn man was caught allegedly hoarding the equipment."I've seen a few articles saying he was arrested for the hoarding, but the report says he was arrested for lying to the FBI and coughing on them. Read the rest

A UK man from Stevenage, Herts was spotted making his way around his neighborhood dressed as a bush. The couple next door caught the man on video and assumed that he was trying to avoid lockdown in a most ridiculous fashion. Turns out, it was all just a prank, the man trying to bring a laugh to neighbors stuck indoors. It's unclear whether the next door neighbors were in on the gag.Later he returned with his two kids disguised as garbage bags.[H/t Kaine Delay]Image: Screengrab Read the rest

NIH 3D Print Exchange was developed to allow for the distributed design, testing, approval, and sharing of scientifically-accurate models related to the biomedical sciences. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, they have created a COVID-19 supply chain response section on their website. Here, designers of PPE (personal protection equipment) and other necessary equipment related to the pandemic can upload their designs for testing, and if approved, for clinical use. You can scan and download the approved 3D print designs and you can do the same with the prototype designs under review. A section called "Designs Optimized for Community Use" is for things that anyone can make use of, like contactless door openers. There is also a section with designs with serious safety implications. As you might imagine, most of these are for ventilator components.Image: Prototype N95 respirator design Read the rest

If you're looking to become a software engineer or it's an idea you've tossed around half-seriously, there may be no better time than now to take the leap. It's one of the fastest-growing, most in-demand roles already. And in the midst of the pandemic, between the extra hours you likely have in your day, and the added value of possessing a skill that can be utilized from anywhere in the world, remotely, it's not hard to see the benefit of diving in.The Complete Introduction to Software Engineering Bundle is beginner-friendly, yet comprehensive. Over 24 hours, 13 courses, and 219 lessons, you'll learn the basics of programming, app development, electronics, and SEO to name a few.Areas covered include Java, Ruby, Perl, Rust, the powerful JavaScript engine NodeJS, JavaScript framework library AngularJS, Google Go (the open-source language developed at Google to simplify programming tasks), an introduction to electronics for makers, building Private Blog Networks, making your first mobile app with PhoneGap dev framework, Lua programming for game modding, scripting, or library writing, building user interfaces with React Native, developing interactive sites that adapt to any device, and more.Each course is created by an expert developer and a trained mentor in that area of expertise. And the entire bundle is produced by EDUmobile Academy, which was founded by Vishal Lamba, a mathematics and computer science graduate with experience in multiple areas of digital design, mobile development and design, web technologies and digital marketing. These are high-quality video training courses that offer real education. Read the rest

Danny DeVito is having a moment. Break out the gel pens and ride the wave with this "Mermanny DeVito" coloring sheet by Oakland Illustrator Shannon Taylor. It's available to download for free on her website. Read the rest

Boredom sparked creativity for Florida-based Tech Strategist and new mom Lucy Smalls. While at home sheltered in place, inspiration struck and now she is feeding squirrels from little hanging picnic tables she built. She's not selling the tiny tables, or patterns to make your own, but has pointed the internet to Squirrelly Treasure Co. on Etsy which is selling both ($25 for a finished table).2 weeks of isolation and we're out here making picnic tables for squirrels because we're insane pic.twitter.com/8WfHwyJQA4— Lucy Small (@lucyleid) March 31, 2020(Neatorama)screengrab via Lucy Smalls, photo by Squirrelly Treasure Co. Read the rest

When the much-panned "musical fantasy" movie Cats came out last year, there was a rumor that somewhere a cut of the film existed that showed CGI cat "buttholes." Well, that cut has been made public, sort of. On Tuesday, Chicago-based YouTubers XVP Comedy released a hilarious video that imagines what this rumored butthole cut would look like. It's terrific. Read the rest

The Syfy Network is making all fours seasons of Battlestar Galactica available for streaming online. No registration is required.The network has also made the two BG films, Battlestar Galactica: Razor and Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, available for streaming. But wait! There's more! The Battlestar Galactica mini-series (which I've never seen) is also now available for free streaming.This is welcome news for all of us who are fans of the critically-acclaimed 2004 reboot of the original 1979 Glen A. Larson series.Image: Publicity photo Read the rest

Posted on askreddit: "What's a really awkward situation that everyone can relate with?"A small sampling:Sex scene when watching a movie with your parentsSitting there when everyone’s singing happy birthday to youSaying hi to someone you know and they don’t notice you, or thinking someone was waving at you but it was for someone behind you.That awkward moment when you and a stranger are walking opposite directions and you both go the same side multiple times to pass each other lol.Going in the wrong direction so you take out your phone and pretend something changed so you can turn around and walk in the right direction.saying goodbye to someone only to keep walking in the same direction.When you need to talk to someone and they’re in the middle of conversation already. Even worse if they’re with laughing or deeply engaged with the other personSending a text to the wrong person talking bad about the person you sent it to Read the rest

I'll be showing and telling one of my projects in today's SHOW and TELL, hosted by John Edgar Park. The fun starts at 5:30pm ET / 2:30pm PT today.We (Adafruit) are mixing things up and running a show and tell after John Park’s Workshop on Thursdays! All are welcome, show your 3D printing project, Arduino project, CircuitPython project, Raspberry Pi project, work bench, your work from home desk set up, your cat, your dog, the things your kids made over the last week while home from school.To show and share a project, view the chat or in discord and look for the JOIN link to join. Read the rest

For 50 years, Billy Barr has been the only resident of Gothic, Colorado, an abandoned silver mining town. He's not a hermit though. According to NPR, Barr says he "occasionally interacts with skiers who pass through, he talks to his sister on the phone, and he works for the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory nearby, which gets flooded with scientists in the summer." Below are a few of Bill Barr's tips on social distancing. You should read the rest though because Barr is very funny. From NPR: 1. Keep track of something.Each day, Barr tracks the weather for a number of groups including the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. He started measuring snow levels in the 1970s, mostly because he was bored [...]2. Keep a routine.Barr starts early. He wakes up around 3:30 a.m. or 4 a.m., and stays in bed until about 5 a.m."Up until a week or two ago, I would listen to the news every morning so that I could start every day either totally depressed or furious. That's always a good way to start the day," he said [...]4. Embrace the grumpiness.Sometimes, Barr said, it's kind of satisfying to be grumpy about something."Tips From Someone With Nearly 50 Years Of Social Distancing Experience" by Rae Ellen Bichell (NPR)image: courtesy of Billy Barr Read the rest

CNN reports that the oil supply glut is "so epic" the world is running out of places to store it. If it costs more to store oil than its worth (currently $20 a barrel), then it will have a negative value.This oil glut is creating a scenario where some obscure grades of oil already have actually dropped below zero. For instance, a Wyoming crude grade was recently bid at negative 19 cents a barrel, Bloomberg News reported last week.Shrinking storage capacity means that oil producers in some cases have to pay someone just to take the barrels off their hands."The price is trying to go to a level to force companies to keep the oil in the ground. If it has to go negative to incentivize that behavior, then it will," said Neuberger's Wyll. Read the rest

Autodesk's former CEO Carl Bass is a deeply talented artist and maker with his own fab lab in Berkeley. Now, Carl along with his pal Chris Taggart and their families have been cranking out a unique kind of plastic face shield to help protect nurses and doctors on the front lines of COVID-19. In some cases, they've had to be discreet in their donations due to health regulations. “There are a huge number of people around the country who make stuff and are trying to figure out how to help out,” says Bass who is also a member of BLK SHP, a conspiracy of radically creative folks working to make the world a better place. The shields which cost around $1.50/each to manufacture are free for healthcare providers and financial donations are welcome. You can contact them at peoplesprotectiveequipment@gmail.com. Go Carl and Chris! From Berkeleyside:Over the weekend, working on a design put together by Taggart, the men manufactured 500 pieces of personal protective gear. The design involves snapping a long piece of plastic into a baseball cap....By Sunday, the 500 shields were gone, handed out for free in plastic-covered packs of 25 to people who had heard through word of mouth about the project. Now the men are gearing up to make tens of thousands more...The Alameda Health System issued an internal memo on Monday expanding where staff can wear masks and pledging to provide respiratory masks to workers in the ER, labor and delivery, urgent care and psychiatry emergency services. Read the rest

A group of skydivers jump at the same time, when one is accidentally kicked in the head by his buddy. He goes unconscious, but is miraculously saved when one of his partners is able to catch him and activate his chute.From Digg:The terrifying footage was shared recently by Ben Pigeon, the unfortunate diver who took a fellow diver's "femur [to the] head at 200 plus mph." Pigeon writes that he lost 3 days of memory due to the concussion, but it could have been a lot worse — luckily, another diver was able to reach Pigeon and activate his chute and he was not further injured upon landing.From another camera: Read the rest

There's a lot of back-and-forth about the effectiveness of facemasks to prevent the spread of Covid-19, and I can't vouch for this one, called the ragmask. But the design is tastefully understated and elegant, as are the PDF instructions for making your own.Image: ragmask Read the rest

Designer Yuri Suzuki of Pentagram and killer Japanese killer electronic kit maker Gakken collaborated on this fantastic-looking Easy Record Maker. The US$81 (!) device enables you to cut and play your own (very) lo-fi 5" albums! Susuki will demo the device on his Instagram tomorrow. From DesignWeek:The machine comes with ten blank five-inch discs [with more available for purchase]. You can plug in the audio source from any device, such as a computer or phone and then “engrave sound directly from the recording stylus,” Suzuki tells Design Week. You can then instantly playback sound using the tone arm and in-built speaker...“When I was a high school student, I was in a punk band – my friends and I always dreamed of pressing a record, but we knew how expensive it was,” he explains. “Personally this device is my teenage dream machine!”You can also design your own label and sleeves, which is another “platform to express yourself”, Suzuki adds. Read the rest

It turns out Zoom is super useful in these trying times. You can use it to fire 406 people at once! From Dot.la:Then, after five minutes of dead air that seemed like an eternity, a robotic-sounding, disembodied voice came on the line.The woman began by acknowledging "this is a suboptimal way to deliver this message." Then she cut to the chase: "COVID-19 has also had a massive impact on our business, one that has forced our leadership team and our board of directors to make extremely difficult and painful decisions. One of those decisions is to eliminate a number of roles at the company. Unfortunately your role is impacted by this decision."The meeting was scheduled to last half an hour but ended up going for only two minutes. Towards the end of the monologue, as the woman started talking about the future of Bird, she sounded like she was getting choked up and was trying to hold back tears."It felt like a Black Mirror episode," Alvauaje said. "This ominous voice came over and told us we were losing our jobs."While we sympathize with the workers who were laid off, we are not surprised. Bird is, after all, the company that sent Boing Boing an intimidating, bizarre, and baseless legal threat last year, which they retracted after our lawyers at the Electronic Frontier Foundation told them how wrong they were.Image: Mark Frauenfelder Read the rest

In the late 1980s, Nancye Ferguson, then-wife of DEVO's Mark Mothersbaugh along with Bob Mothersbaugh, his daughter Alex, and then-DEVO drummer David Kendrick, formed Visiting Kids. Mark Mothersbaugh wrote some of the tunes and he and Bob Casale (Bob 2) produced their self-titled sole LP. Above is Visiting Kids' wonderfully weird music video for the track "Trilobites" and below is the band's TV appearance on The Late Show. (Thanks, UPSO!) Read the rest

Reddit:Chandra Oppenheim’s story is one of the most innocent but interesting stories to come out of post-punk NYC.After glam moved into punk and punk moved into post-punk/new wave/no wave/noise/outsider disco/mutant disco/art punk/etc/etc, it was a musical free for all. So it makes sense that an unassuming 12-year-old from Brooklyn would enter the scene backed by a post-punk, outsider disco group under the name Chandra.Chandra Oppenheim was just twelve years old when her debut album ‘Transportation’ was released. Musically encouraged by her father from a young age Chandra was writing songs by age nine.Her father was conceptual artist, Dennis Oppenheim, who caroused with the artists and musicians of the late '70s Lower East Side. Dennis was friends with Eugenie Diserio and Steven Alexander, who had been playing the NYC post-punk circuit with the Model Citizens.The Model Citizens signed to John Cale’s Spy Label and then broke up to take things in another direction with their new band, The Dance, featuring drummer Fred Maher (who later joined Material)Chandra Oppenheim had been writing music and performing for some time, often doing songs and performances at her father’s parties. Having met Chandra when she was 11, Diserio, Alexander and Maher formed a band with Chandra and started to rehearse in a studio in Hell’s Kitchen. The result of these rehearsals was their debut EP ‘Transportation’ on the band’s own record label GOGO/ON; a mix of dissonant weird disco, bass-heavy dance grooves and Chandra’s unmistakable chant-singing. Read the rest

Revenger, a fast-paced space opera by Alastair Reynolds with strong women as protagonists and few surprises certainly took my mind off things for a bit.Worldbuilding galore takes place in Revenger's galaxy, a place littered with the detritus of humanity and other species. Kind of steam-punky and certainly the baubles offer a lot of 'Roadside Picnic'-style Zones which I find ironic as I, and other Boing Boing editors, have been reading the Strugatsky Brothers this month.Revenger is 400 pages of good solid sci-fi fun.Revenger (The Revenger Series Book 1) by Alastair Reynolds via Amazon Read the rest

Parasite director Bong Joon-ho drew out beautiful storyboards before rolling film. He's combined his drawings and all of the movie's dialogue into Parasite: A Graphic Novel in Storyboards coming out in May. In the videos above and below, Through the Viewfinder compared the storyboards and the scenes from the actual film. (via Kottke) Read the rest