Comments filed with the FCC by AT&T, Frontier, Windstream and Ustelcom (an industry group representing telcoms companies) have asked the FCC to change the rules for its next, $20.4 billion/10 year rural broadband subsidy fund to allow them to offer slower service than the (already low) speeds the FCC has proposed.The FCC wants the carriers to build out two new tiers of service: an "above-baseline" service of 100Mbps down/20Mbps up; and a "gigabit performance" tier of 1Gbps down/500Mbps up. Under the industry's proposals, they will receive billions to offer only 10Mbps up in the above-baseline tier. The carriers have also proposed that they be subsidized to offer a 50Mbps down/5Mbps up service. As Jon Brodkin notes at Ars Technica, smaller ISPs already serving rural communities have taken a different approach, advocating for rural users' right to fast broadband with high upload speeds. The providers and USTelecom claimed that 20Mbps upload speeds wouldn't benefit rural consumers much: [W]hen considering network build-out using fixed wireless technologies, an upload target of 20Mbps likely drives significant additional deployment costs—up to two to three times as high—compared to a 10Mbps upload target. At the same time, a 20Mbps upload target provides little to no additional benefits to the end user customer as all key upload use cases, including HD streaming, video conferencing, and gaming can similarly be accomplished with 10Mbps. By adjusting the upload deployment target from 20Mbps to 10Mbps, the Commission can promote competition at the 100Mbps tier, incentivize additional broadband deployment, and make limited Rural Digital Opportunity Fund dollars reach further.AT&T et al. Read the rest

In November, we posted that mysterious rolls of cash were showing up on sidewalks in the small English village of Blackhall Colliery, on the North Sea coast of County Durham. In the last 5 years, around US$30,000 had been found in twelve rolls. Now, the mystery has been solved. Two anonymous individuals have been placing the bundles on the sidewalk as random acts of kindness. From CNN:The generous pair voluntarily came forward to the police after residents were left puzzled by the regular appearance of cash bundles, which have been found 12 times in Blackhall Colliery since 2014.The couple, who have asked to remain anonymous, received unexpected windfalls and wanted to leave the money to help people, Durham Constabulary said in a statement.They chose Blackhall Colliery as they had an "emotional connection" to the village after being helped by a resident, police added.The pair would often stay to make sure the cash had been picked up, police said.It is not clear whether the pair will continue to leave cash, but police said that any money handed in will be returned to the finder. Read the rest

A Kansas gentleman has asked a court in Iowa for a legal sword fight – or trial by combat – with his ex-wife. According to the Des Moines Register, 40-year-old David Ostrom claims that she has legally destroyed him, and after hearing that duals have never actually been banned in the United States, thought it would be a good way to settle things once and for all. "To this day, trial by combat has never been explicitly banned or restricted as a right in these United States," he told the court. But he made it clear he would need 12 weeks "lead time" to get the Japanese katanas he has in mind. He also kindly invited his wife's attorney Matthew Hudson to the dual, who could either be a spectator or stand in for the lady.According the Des Moines Register, "Hudson argued that because a duel could end in death, such ramifications likely outweigh those of property tax and custody issues." Image: CC0 – pxfuel Read the rest

A bird rescue group in Las Vegas says one of three hat-wearing pigeons which gained popularity on social media has died.Lofty Hopes pigeon rescue of Las Vegas tweeted the sad news this past Sunday.Staff at the animal rescue organization say it's possible that fumes from the glue someone used to stick a hat on Bille the Pidge could have poisoned the little birb. Photos of Cluck Norris and Billie the Pidge's hats. They were extensively handled before this photograph so no gloves were used. Given the age and type of material fingerprints were not taken. pic.twitter.com/tSieB0jOJF— Lofty Hopes Pigeon Rescue (@Loftyhopespidge) December 18, 2019We are saddened to announce that Billie the Pidge has passed away. She was weak when we caught her and had lost toes to stringfoot in addition to the hat being glued onto her head. pic.twitter.com/FR3vXGlMe1— Lofty Hopes Pigeon Rescue (@Loftyhopespidge) January 13, 2020The three pigeons were discovered last month in Las Vegas, with these miniature red cowboy hats glued on to their heads by who knows what jerk for who knows what nutty reasons. Why do people do cruel and stupid things to animals?From the Associated Press:It wasn’t certain if the bird’s death was connected to the hat. It is still unknown who put the hats on the birds.Billie is survived by two other former cowboy pigeons — Cluck Norris and Coolamity Jane.Read more:Las Vegas animal rescue: Cowboy hat-wearing pigeon dies [associated press] Read the rest

I’ve started whittling spoons again and I recently discovered flexible sanding sheets made by 3M. I’ll never use sandpaper again. These sheets are made from some kind of semi-stretchy plastic that makes it very easy to get the grit into tight spots (like the hollow of a spoon). They last much longer than sandpaper, too. Read the rest

A Georgia man is accused of mailing a holiday card stuffed with illegal drugs to a lady friend in jail. The gentleman who mailed the card ended up getting a surprise all-expenses-paid holiday for himself in jail, officials in Georgia say. Timothy Lee Snow, who is 40, is reported to have mailed an incarcerated woman a Christmas card that contained meth. Clever, and yet, not very bright. From the Associated Press:Bibb County Jail inmate Mary Beth Odum, 40, had told Snow over the phone how to put meth and other drugs into a card to send to her in jail, county sheriff’s officials said Monday.Deputies intercepted a contraband-filled card filled with methamphetamine and Suboxone and began investigating Snow. On Jan. 9, deputies followed Snow as he left his residence and found him with meth, Xanax and a revolver. When they searched his home, deputies found more meth, Suboxone, marijuana, steroids, packing materials, a shotgun and a rifle.Snow was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm, possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and giving an inmate drugs, news outlets reported. Read the rest

The FBI is seeking help from the public to catch the appropriately nicknamed “bad wig bandit” who is blamed for a series of bank robberies in North Carolina.The individual is identified as male in the FBI statement last Thursday, which says the suspect sported a different bedraggled wig during for each heist committed in the area of Charlotte, NC.From AP:One wig was blonde. Another was black. The third was red.The FBI said he robbed a BB&T in Huntersville on Dec. 13. He then robbed two banks on Jan. 7. The first was a New Horizon Bank in Belmont. The second was a Wells Fargo in Gastonia. Images courtesy of the FBI. Read the rest

“Old lady night gown, rubber boots, lampshade, red sunglasses.”Oh, this is wonderful. Extreme frugal thrift store shopping for maximum mayhem and fabulousness. I am here for this content. “I go to thrift stores with $20 and try to make the weirdest outfits I can,” says IMGURian @FaustandKluster, aka Hayden Pedigo -- an ambient musician, Immature politician, and bad comedian, according to Instagram.Here are some of the wildest twenty dollar outfits this very creative person has managed to assemble -- and if you love this as much as I did, definitely follow the Instagram account. Read the rest

The r/StarWarsLeaks Subreddit is erupting with the leak of what is reportedly an early draft of the Star Wars Episode IX script, as penned by the original director and writer Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly. The commenters are responding to the script breakdown below posted by Reddit user Lollifroll based upon Robert Meyer Burnett's talkthrough on his video blog. From Lollifroll's summary of "Star Wars Episode IX: Duel of the Fates":CRAWL:The iron grip of the FIRST ORDER has spread to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. Only a few scattered planets remain unoccupied. Traitorous acts are punishable by death.Determined to suffocate a growing unrest, Supreme Leader KYLO REN has silenced all communication between neighboring systems.Led by GENERAL LEIA ORGANA, the Resistance has planned a secret mission to prevent their annihilation and forge a path to freedom...Opens at the Kuat Shipyards (man on a mission-style)BB-8 and Rose Tico (allegedly a key character in script) are infiltrating Kuat Moon where First Order build their ships (workers are oppressed). There is an orbital ring and moon below it. Finn and Poe are there. No R2/3PO. Rey arrives.The plan: Send explosive into the power shaft that delivers raw ore into the ring.Plan goes wrong. (RBM loves dialogue at this moment.) First Order is able to contain blast. Admiral Vaughn says Resistance tactics are "pitful."Rey disguised as a Tusken Raider is revealed to have created her own weapon (a double-blade lightsaber hybrid of her staff and Luke's cracked saber).They battle and Poe, Finn, Rose, Rey, and BB-8 STEAL A STAR DESTROYER (Eclipse-class) and escape.The Knife 9 a ship containing the Knights of Ren arrives a Kuat. Read the rest

As people were boarding a bus in Xining, China, a large sinkhole opened up, causing the bus to nosedive into the deep pit. Tragically, six people died and at least 16 others were injured. According to BBC:The incident occurred on Monday evening outside a hospital in Xining, the capital of Qinghai province.CCTV footage showed an explosion inside the sinkhole shortly after the bus and bystanders fell inside on Monday evening...The footage from the latest incident shows the moment people waiting at a bus stop are forced to flee as the ground underneath the bus starts to cave in.A number of people gather to try to rescue the bus passengers, but are engulfed by the sinkhole as it suddenly widens.The sinkhole was 32 feet in diameter. Read the rest

Jerry Holliman received Bronze Stars for his military service in Iraq and Vietnam, where he was dosed with Agent Orange. Now 69, Hollman has survived multiple cancers, but lost both his legs to complications from diabetes.The VA would not cover the artificial legs he received from Hanger, a med-tech company. Hanger told him to try to get Medicare to pay for them, but Holliman refused because no one would tell him how large the co-pay he'd be liable for would be.While Holliman was in a VA nursing home learning to use his new legs, Hanger sent a technician to service his legs. When Holliman refused to sign paperwork that said he would use Medicare to pay for them, the technician took his legs and left the facility.After being investigated by the Mississippi Clarion Ledger, Hanger returned his legs, but refuse to service them until they are paid for them. Without service, they are unusable, so Holliman is now legless.The legs are basically useless if Hanger won't make any more adjustments, Holliman said, and without those adjustments, he's stuck at the Veterans Home. Depression and anxiety are setting in, he said.At 69, Holliman said he's one of the youngest residents at the home. He said his roommate died last month.“I was here for one thing — to get my prosthetic legs, learn how to walk in ‘em, and go home," Holliman said. "...I’ve been here over a year. I wanna go home. This place is not for me. Read the rest

It's hard to think of any reason other than racism for the way the British press looks for every opportunity to lambaste Meghan Markle. Buzzfeed News compiled a bunch of side-by-side headlines to contrast the way the two princesses are treated. Read the rest

In 2006 New York photographer Noah Kalina became well known for his video of daily selfies he'd been taking for six years, called Everyday (Wikipedia). He hasn't stop taking selfies and a couple of days ago he uploaded an eight-minute video with 20 years of selfies.[via Kottke]Image: YouTube Read the rest

When Brits were asked by YouGov if they'd be willing to take a trip to the Moon (with safe return assured) half said no. Top reasons cited: not interested (23%), not enough to do or see (11%), would rather visit other places on Earth (10%), no point (9%), and (most British of all) reject premise that safe return could be guaranteed (9%). Read the rest

Do you know Python? If you're interested in any aspect of web development, data analytics or the Internet of Things, you should. Python is the computer language used to drive everything from that voice recognition software on your phone to the gaming apps you use to kill time.So yes, there's a market for those who know it. There are a lot of worse places for beginning programmers to start than by learning Python. And the Python Programming Bootcamp 2.0 is just the place to start.This online course package is suitable for anyone, even if they've never written a single line of code. But in more than 35 hours of training, users will dive into almost every marketplace application for this ubiquitous tool.A "fast track" intro gets you going right away with some simple programming, and even gamifies the process so these foundational lessons stick. From there, you get deep dives into Python's uses in the world of finance, data analytics, IoT and more. You'll learn not just how to comb websites for data with Python, but how to present it effectively. You'll even be able to create your own, functioning smart camera for home security.The full course pack is now available for $19, a price drop over the previous sale price of $39. That makes the package more than 98% off for Boing Boing readers. Read the rest

Jambajim writes: In 1992, the El Paso police department fancied themselves rappers in this cautionary tale about gangbangers. The song's called "Think Twice" (words & music by Greg Brickey) and it's pretty awesome. I bet a lot of gang members saw this and were like "Woah, I should stop being a gang member!"Even now, watching this has forced me to reconsider my life of crime. Read the rest

The Kindle Oasis is lovely, but $200 is too pricey for an e-reader. The Kindle Paperwhite is the one I recommend and 35% off today at Amazon, bringing the price down to $85. This is a great deal and maybe signals imminent new products, but it's not as if "basic decent e-reader" is a category vulnerable to disruptive innovation in 2020. The Paperwhite has high-dpi text, subtle backlighting and weeks of battery life, and that's probably all you need.35% off Kindle Paperwhite [Amazon] Read the rest

Watching the Big Bear Bald Eagle Cam is really quite a thrill! It's pointed at a nest near Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino National Forest (Southern California) occupied by Jackie and Shadow, a bald eagle couple waiting for their two eaglets to arrive. One of their eggs was laid on January 8 and the other just on Saturday. Jackie sits on the eggs the most, typical for paired eagles because the females are bigger and heavier. They simply provide more warmth and protection. But Shadow is doing his share, feeding Jackie, fluffing the nest, and, as in the past years, sitting on the eggs for stints in the daytime hours when it's not as cold. The incubation period for eagle eggs is 35 days, so the first eaglet is expected to hatch around Valentine's Day. My friend Heather was the one who showed me the cam and told me to gird my loins because (spoiler alert!) for the last two years, "the second / smaller chick always dies." Arggggghhhhh!Here's a peek at the mother's first peek. You can always tune in to the live webcam here, thanks to the Friends of the Big Bear Valley: https://t.co/CxVUU6yVf9 pic.twitter.com/SanBnsi6i7— San Bernardino National Forest (@SanBernardinoNF) January 12, 2020The Friends of the Big Bear Valley are doing a bang-up job on Facebook of narrating the day-to-day activities of these majestic raptors. screengrab via Big Bear Bald Eagle Cam Read the rest

"My whole existence is flawed / You get me closer to God."In 2009, Zach3333 assembled a star cast on YouTube: "Obviously I did not produce this song or any of the video, merely re-arranged and combined some readily available content on the internet in a new pattern. Featuring The Muppets, Harry Belafonte, Cloris Leachman, Rita Moreno Alice Cooper, and Dudley Moore." Read the rest

North Ronaldsay, a remote island in the Orkney archipelago off Scotland's northern shore, long ago built a flint wall to keep sheep close to the shore and away from the cows' grazing land. Since then, the sheep have adapted so well to beach life they only eat seaweed, and scientists have found they belch less methane as a result. In a year, a cow produces about the same greenhouse effect as a car that burns 1,000 litres of petrol, so it's fairly evident how beneficial it would be to reduce livestock's carbon hoof-print simply by altering their diet. Experiments have shown that carbon dioxide as well as methane emissions are lowered when seaweed is introduced into feed. And if he succeeds in creating a nutritious seaweed blend that's palatable to ordinary livestock there would be other environmental benefits too, including being able to source more animal feed locally and sustainably. The seaweed business was once big on North Ronaldsay and elsewhere in Scotland, so its use as food could be a commercial boon to islanders. Read the rest

Japan's Game Urara was a magazine about hacking, porn, piracy, mods, and underground gaming culture. It lasted only a few issues in the mid-1990s, but its extraordinary contents distinguished it from all others. A quarter of a century later, it lives on as a set of high-quality scans at the Internet Archive. Senn writes at Gaming Alexandria about the most NSFW game mag of them all.One could say that this magazine is also a preservation of the shady side of the 90s internet in Japan, and this is reflected by the very informal and laid back articles. From game strategies to cheats, doujin (self-published) games, and even internet guides, it’s an interesting read on how Japanese gamers used to pull all of this off before a wider-scale version of the internet went on to make it all obsolete. Of course, all of this is the more normal side of Game Urara, and it’s not exactly hard to stumble upon the weirder stuff it has to offer either.The magazine quickly transitions from casual discussions of video games and guides, to borderline illegal practices of suspicious “drug” dealings, piracy, hacking, and whatever of illegal interest found in the communities back then. It’s genuinely a bizarre sight as among the innocent video game content lies disturbing articles and ads, such as Mr. Kurosawa’s (of Hong Kong 97 infamy) shock value section, and advertisements for an extremely bizarre “do it at home” foreskin removal tool. (Yes, you read that right) This magazine did not attempt to sugar-coat gore, scat, and other bizarre paraphilia, and neither did it try to filter its advertisements. Read the rest

As these videos so dramatically demonstrate, there is a reason why lumberjacking is one of the most dangerous jobs on the planet -- and why an amateur tree-feller with a chainsaw is an accident (and maybe a crushed car or cleaved roof) waiting to happen. Sadly, there are 22 of these videos in the series. Read the rest

The Knight's tour is a traditional chess problem where a lone knight is placed on a chess board and must visit each square only once. You can play this perfectly simple free implementation created by u/psrwo on Reddit. The source code is at github. The knight is randomly placed at the outset.I can't visit more than fifty-something squares, because I'm terrible at stuff like this. Read the rest

Eating pancakes and omelets? Super fun. Cleaning up afterward? Almost more trouble than its worth. Nothing makes us appreciate our mothers more than having to scrape the batter off those well-worn skillets and griddles, just like we never had to do after those magical Saturday morning breakfasts.Now, making those breakfast treats might just be as fun as eating them thanks to the Gotham Steel Pancake Bonanza.Be assured this company does not use the word "bonanza" lightly. Their stainless steel, specially coated twin skillet has a "double-dome" design that's particularly great at making pancakes, omelets or any number of fluffy cookie treats. Simply pour in the batter or eggs, wait a bit, then flip it over. The extra dose of radiant heat cooks your dish faster, and you've saved yourself the use of a spatula.And possibly the use of a scrub brush, too. Thanks to the non-stick coating, you can just slide dishes right off onto your plate.Right now, you can pick up the Gothamâ„¢ Steel Pancake Bonanza for more than 35% off the MSRP. While you're at it, get your mom one, too. Read the rest

In Sacramento today, a woman who is accused of tossing menstrual blood at California lawmakers was ordered by a judge to not go anywhere near the state Capitol while she waits for her trial.Rebecca Dalelio, 43, did not enter a plea on Monday. She is scheduled to return to Sacramento County Superior Court in February to face charges of vandalism and assault on public officials.From AP:Senators had just finished taking a vote Sept. 13 when Dalelio allegedly tossed the blood onto the floor of the Senate from the public gallery, saying: “That’s for the dead babies.”At least six state senators were hit by the cup or the blood and red splatters were visible on some desks and the carpeting. Tests showed the blood did not contain pathogens or infections. Senators had to move their proceedings to a committee room.The Santa Cruz County resident was among a group protesting vaccination legislation.Suspect in blood throwing banned from California Capitol [via Adam Beam of the Associated Press] Read the rest

I did not know how much joy ice fishing in Kazakhstan could possibly bring me until I watched this video of an amazing and talented fisherman in the icy-cold former Soviet republic fish through the ice like a damn boss. Two goats follow him along on the ice fishing adventure. I am so here for this I cannot even tell you. I am such a fan of this dude. I know absolutely nothing about the video, other than the fact that it came from the Twitter account @Starshina73. Зимняя рыбалка говоришь? Да что ты знаешь о ней?)) pic.twitter.com/BI2G5FY3mG— Габит Рахимберлин (@Starshina73) January 12, 2020 Read the rest

[IMAGE: @markknoller]This is some real propaganda bullshit right here. Who thought it was okay?During the LSU vs CLEM playoffs tonight, they brought President Trump and his wife Melania on the field for the singing of the national anthem.So, keeping politics out of sports is the thing, huh.Got it.sure, man pic.twitter.com/31MAseoMlK— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) January 14, 2020pic.twitter.com/ayZ24BRyqo— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) January 14, 2020As when Trump attended 2017 college championship game, he stands on field for National Anthem. In ‘17, he did so amid controversy of his criticism of Colin Kaepernick’s protest; Trump left at halftime of that game and missed dramatic Tua-led comeback win for Alabama. pic.twitter.com/QwsE2pgtuP— David Nakamura (@DavidNakamura) January 14, 2020How is producing a campaign ad for Donald Trump consistent with ESPN 'sticking to sports'?— David Gardner (@byDavidGardner) January 14, 2020Trump and Melania on the football field. He knows what he's doing.— James Oliphant (@jamesoliphant) January 14, 2020We sticking to sports or nah?— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) January 14, 2020Pres and Mrs Trump announced onto the field of the Superdome in New Orleans for the singing of the National Anthem pic.twitter.com/zdLYPUrvhG— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) January 14, 2020Pres and Mrs Trump arrive in New Orleans for tonight's Clemson/LSU championship game. pic.twitter.com/wByjA5jzLQ— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) January 14, 2020Chants of “USA!” as the President and First Lady take the field for the National Anthem at #CFBNationalChampionship. pic.twitter.com/QR5klNx0Fm— Errin 2020 (@emarvelous) January 14, 2020Trump emerges at college football championship game to big cheers of “USA!!” Read the rest

If my vagina smelled like "geranium, citrusy bergamot, and cedar absolutes juxtaposed with Damask rose and ambrette seed," I'd go see my doctor. But, then again, I'm also no Gwyneth Paltrow. Her shop Goop recently introduced a $75 candle named "This Smells Like My Vagina." Described as having a "funny, gorgeous, sexy, and beautifully unexpected scent," the overpriced candle is not meant to actually smell like Paltrow's private parts (thank goodness). The original description, now removed, explains, "This candle started as a joke between perfumer Douglas Little and GP. The two were working on a fragrance, and she blurted out, 'Uhhh..this smells like a vagina'..." The rest is votive history.If you were hoping to get a whiff of (this) vagina (candle), sorry weirdo, it's already sold out. image via Goop Read the rest

In my latest podcast (MP3), I read my latest Locus column, Inaction is a Form of Action,, where I I discuss how the US government's unwillingness to enforce its own anti-monopoly laws has resulted in the dominance of a handful of giant tech companies who get to decide what kind of speech is and isn't allowed -- that is, how the USG's complicity in the creation of monopolies allows for a kind of government censorship that somehow does not violate the First Amendment.We're often told that "it's not censorship when a private actor tells you to shut up on their own private platform" -- but when the government decides not to create any public spaces (say, by declining to create publicly owned internet infrastructure) and then allows a handful of private companies to dominate the privately owned world of online communications, then those companies' decisions about who may speak and what they may say become a form of government speech regulation -- albeit one at arm's length.I don't think that the solution to this is regulating the tech platforms so they have better speech rules -- I think it's breaking them up and forcing them to allow interoperability, so that their speech rules no longer dictate what kind of discourse we're allowed to have. Imagine two different restaurants: one prohibits any discussion of any subject the management deems “political” and the other has no such restriction. It’s easy to see that we’d say that you have more right to freely express yourself in the Anything Goes Bistro than in the No Politics at the Table Diner across the street. Read the rest

1930 saw the quiet conclusion of a remarkable era. The tiny population of St. Kilda, an isolated Scottish archipelago, decided to end their thousand-year tenure as the most remote community in Britain and move to the mainland. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe the remarkable life they'd shared on the island and the reasons they chose to leave.We'll also track a stork to Sudan and puzzle over the uses of tea trays.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon! Read the rest

When it comes to safes, there's typically not a lot of features beyond extra security. Keypads, fingerprint or retina IDs are all in the service of keeping things under lock and key (even if there's no physical key).Of course, that's the main concern. But what about those times you might need to open it for a guest or family member and you're not around?The Motorola Smart Safe solves that problem elegantly, and it certainly doesn't sacrifice security to do it.This rock-solid safe is perfect for holding passports, money, important documents, pills and more. It's equipped with a water-resistant keypad and an odor-controlled interior and comes with a mounting kit if you need to install it inside a wall or on one.But what really sets it apart is the wireless connection to your smartphone. With the included app, you'll be able to tell if your safe has been opened or give yourself reminders about what to do with the contents. And most importantly, you'll be able to open it remotely in case of family emergencies while you're away.The Motorola Smart Safe is now on sale for almost 10% off the original price. Read the rest

Dear Boing Boing readers --Around 11:30 EST on January 10th, An unknown party logged into Boing Boing's CMS using the credentials of a member of the Boing Boing team. They proceeded to install a widget into our theme that allowed them to redirect users to a malware page hosted at a third party.Because of the nature of programmatic advertising, we first assumed this was a malicious adscript, and asked initial reporters to report this activity via our Ad Partner's "bad ad" reporting page. While in this case, the malicious code did not originate from an ad, it *did* allow our ad partner to eventually notify us of the specifics of the attack. Once this was confirmed, we removed the offending code immediately from our servers and our CDN partners.The BB team then proceeded to change passwords, access tokens, confirm access rights, and perform log analysis of the behavior of the user. As stated in our privacy policy, we only keep 72 hours worth of logs, but this was sufficient to track down the malicious activity and user account in question and react accordingly. We also took steps to modify our CMS to ensure a separate audit log (outside our 72-hour access logs) will be maintained in the future to help us track down administrative actions within our publishing software in the event of future breaches, so we are able to take action and determine the scope of a breach more thoroughly in the future.From a systems security perspective, this is an excellent cautionary tale of the importance of individual user security. Read the rest

A water main went haywire in New York around 5am this morning, creating this wet scene in the Upper West Side.According to CNN:It caused significant delays on the 1, 2 and 3 subway lines and street closures on Broadway from 72nd Street to 61st Street.Emergency crews are on the scene working to repair the problem, officials said, and the water was shut off around 8 a.m.It likely will take days to complete work and restore streets, said Vincent Sapienza, Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection. Read the rest

Way before Steve Carell was a 40-Year-Old Virgin or a huge star as Michael Scott on The Office, he was a working actor just like everyone else, doing children's theater as well as this Brown's Chicken TV commercial. More surprising than how young he looked at age 27 is how olive and brown this commercial was – colors expected from 1970s television but not so much in 1989. Read the rest

Aestetix writes, "HOPE 2020 [ed: Hackers on Planet Earth, the triennial, astoundingly great hacker con put on by 2600 Magazine] is in a brand new location and will be bigger and better than ever with lots more activities and space - all without leaving New York City! It will be held from July 31st to August 2nd at St. John's University in Queens. Get your tickets now for only $200, while supplies lasts. Read the rest

Property of the People (previously) used Freedom of Information Act requests to force the Department of Homeland Security to reveal that it tracks members of the Valve Turners -- a nonviolent environmental group that practices civil disobedience against oil pipelines -- alongside of white nationalist mass-murderers and killers like Dylan Roof (the mass murderer behind the 2015 shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston) and James Fields, who murdered Heather Heyer when he drove his car into an anti-Nazi counterprotest in Charlottesvilla.The DHS classes "environmental themed ideologies" with "racial ideologies" as drivers of domestic terror attacks, despite the fact that white nationalist violence has resulted in repeated mass murders, while environmental direct action is generally nonviolent and does not harm people.Sam Jessup, one of the activists named in the document, said the bulletin sheds light on the role law enforcement and intelligence agencies have played in suppressing dissent.“Equating mass murder by white supremacists with what Michael and I did is totally obscene,” Jessup said in an email. “This whole infrastructure of so-called security has done little more than secure the future of the fossil fuel industry by terrorizing people into silence.”Jessup, a 34-year-old who had served as a driver and videographer live-streaming the action in North Dakota. Michael Foster, a former family therapist who lives in Seattle, turned the valve. Revealed: US listed climate activist group as ‘extremists’ alongside mass killers [Adam Federman/The Guardian](Thanks, Ryan!) Read the rest

Prior to being acquired by Charter, the cable company Spectrum aggressively marketed home security systems to its customers, inducing them to spend hundreds of dollars on proprietary cameras and other equipment that integrated with their cable networks and offered them remote monitoring and other services.Now, with only a few months' notice, Charter has announced that it will no longer support the cameras, touchscreens and other equipment its customers purchase. They will largely cease to operate (though some vestigial functionality will remain). Customers are not being offered refunds or credits on the equipment they purchased from the company.Though Charter hasn't marketed the service since shortly after the 2016 merger, customers were never warned that the service would be discontinued and their equipment rendered useless.Charter typically operates as a monopoly provider of cable and internet service. It has received tremendous regulatory gifts, courtesy of the Trump administration, including a fraudulent repeal of Net Neutrality and massive tax cuts; it has responded by slashing billions from its infrastructure budget, raising prices, and nickle-and-diming customers who cancel their service. The company has also received record fines for defrauding New Yorkers.Charter told Gizmodo it plans to offer customers discounts on Ring and Nest surveillance equipment, should they wish to spend hundreds of dollars extra to replace the equipment that Charter has bricked.Charter/Spectrum is the monopoly provider of internet service in Burbank, where I live. The service is terrible, subject to frequent outages and slowdowns, and the customer service is even worse. Read the rest

Fifty one years ago today, the first incarnation of the prog rock band, King Crimson, gathered in a cramped basement space below the Fulham Palace Cafe in London. One of the instruments the band would use that would come to distinguish their early sound was that strange, iconic 60s instrument, the Mellotron. Keyboardist Ian McDonald was taken by the sound of this instrument as it was employed by the Moody Blues (and on The Beatles' Strawberry Fields) and thought it would work well with the type of lush and orchestral sound the band was looking to create. Later in the year, in the summer of 1969, the instrument would again appear on David Bowie's Space Oddity (played by future Yes man, Rick Wakeman).Of all of the strange instruments that've worked the edges of popular music (the Theremin also comes to mind), the Mellotron is probably the oddest. Basically an upright organ cabinet filled the tape heads and recorded tape strips that you trigger through the keyboard, the Mellotron is like some crazy one-off contraption that caught on and actually got manufactured. In this video, Allison Stout, of Bell Tone Synth Works, a synthesizer repair shop in Philadelphia, PA, takes us under the hood of a Mellotron MK1 and how it works. One can only imagine how finicky and prone to breakage touring versions of these things must have been.And here's one of King Crimson's Mellotrons in action during a performance in 1974 at the ORTFTV Studios in Paris. Read the rest

The International Olympic Committee -- long a swirling cesspool of corruption, censorship, and reputation-laundering for repressive regimes -- has attained a new low, issuing guidance to athletes competing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics that no political protests will be tolerated, specifically banning kneeling or raising fists.Protests by Olympians -- particularly Black Americans -- have made political history, from John Carlos and Tommie Smith's raised fists at the 1968 Mexico City Games (with Peter Norman standing in solidarity) to Jesse Owens' thwarting of Hitler's propaganda dreams for the 1936 Berlin Olympics.Last year, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee censured and suspended Race Imboden and Gwen Berry for protesting racial injustice during the Pan Am games, warning that any athletes that followed in their footsteps in the future would face worse punishments.“So the IOC is doubling down on the disgraceful treatment of athletes in 1968?” askedSherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Ifill was referring to the iconic moment at the Mexico City Olympics when black Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos, as they were awarded their gold and bronze medals, respectively, wore black gloves, took off their shoes, and held their fists high to protest poverty and racism. The IOC responded by expelling Smith and Carlos.The IOC announced the guidelines for Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter Thursday. Among the specific actions (pdf) now banned are:* Displaying any political messaging, including signs or armbands* Gestures of a political nature, like a hand gesture or kneeling* Refusal to follow the Ceremonies protocol. ‘Cowardice’: Olympics Committee Slammed for New Guidelines Barring Athletes From Kneeling, Raising Fists [Jerri-Lynn Scofield/Naked Capitalism] Read the rest

The Uganda Revenue Authority recently nabbed a smuggler attempting to bring banned cosmetics into the country from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The cosmetics were stuffed inside footie pajamas to resemble a child. The cosmetics are illegal because they apparently contain hydroquinone and mercury. Police caught the smuggler on a bus at the Mpondwe border crossing. (UPI)Smugglers will do anything. This is a concealment of contraband cosmetics containing hydroquinone & mercury from DRC. The dummy baby with a human mum aboard a bus with dangerous cosmetics intercepted at Mpondwe Kasese border. Prosecution of offender next#TeamNoSleep @URAuganda pic.twitter.com/9FMwWjtKSh— Ian Rumanyika (@irumanyika) January 8, 2020 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Read the rest

Tashonna Ward (25) was a day care teacher from Milwaukee. She went to the emergency room at Froedtert Hospital with chest pains and tightness of breath, reports USA Today. More than two hours later no one at the hospital had helped her so she left to seek help somewhere else. But she soon collapsed and died.From USA Today:Ward's family says she was kept in the waiting room and was not under any monitoring when she decided to leave.A spokesperson for Froedtert Hospital provided a statement: "The family is in our thoughts and has our deepest sympathy. We cannot comment further at this time." Officials did not answer questions from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about the death or general emergency department procedures.Image: Fort Belvoir Community Hospital Emergency Room (U.S. Army photo by Reese Brown)[via Fark] Read the rest

Sam Makovech of Ars Technica reviews the 8Bitdo Zero 2 ( on Amazon), an adorable gamepad controller you can use with a Switch, PC, or Mac. His overall impression of the meant-for-travel gamepad is favorable.From Ars Technica:To my pleasant surprise, 8BitDo starts this gamepad off with a crucial emphasis on its D-pad. At roughly the size of an American dime, this small D-pad is comparable to some of Nintendo's smallest takes, like you'd find on a GameCube controller or a Nintendo 3DS console. But unlike those offerings, 8BitDo allows its Zero 2's D-pad to protrude ever so slightly farther from its body. Pressing down on any edge of the D-pad offers a full 2mm of action, and this has a satisfying sense of travel when a thumb is in its depressed, rounded center—built for the sake of neatly rocking from left to right or up to down.The D-pad's quality was borne out by my own feverish Tetris testing, which worked whether I rapidly tap-tap-tapped in one direction or pivoted to a crucial "up to fast-drop" maneuver in newer Tetris games. When I imagine various times that I might rely on the Zero 2 as a controlling option, I think about how a good D-pad is the primary differentiator from other on-the-go options, whether that's a spare Joy-Con turned sideways, a weak laptop's keyboard, or a phone's on-screen buttons. I'd rather play Tetris or Super Mario Bros. with my thumb on this D-pad than relying on those other options. Read the rest

About five years ago, I was trying to get a bunch of Big Tech companies to take the right side of an urgent online civil rights fight, and I called an old friend who was very senior at one of the biggest tech companies in the world; they told me that it wasn't going to work, in part because the kinds of people who were coming to tech were there because they wanted to get as rich as possible, no matter what they had to do. My friend contrasted this with earlier eras -- even the dotcom bubble -- when the financial motive was blended with a genuine excitement for the transformative potential of tech to make a fairer, more equitable world. Now, my friend said, the kind of kid who would have gotten an MBA was instead getting an electrical engineering or computer science degree -- not out of any innate love for the subject, but because that was a path to untold riches.But things are changing. Not only are young people far more skeptical of capitalism and concerned that it will annihilate the human race, but the tech companies' masks have slipped, revealing their willingness to supply ICE and the Chinese government alike, to help the oil industry torch the planet, and to divert their fortunes to supporting white nationalist causes. Companies that tout their ethical center have harbored and even rewarded serial sexual predators and busted nascent union movements.The tech worker uprisings of recent years have caught the attention of the best and brightest grads of America's elite universities. Read the rest

There's a reason why most people do their jogging in the morning. Even though it might be muggy, foggy or warmer, there's a certain amount of safety that comes with daylight. I mean, it's not like you can just take a flashlight on your run.Or can you? With a simple but innovative design tweak, the H2 Belt Light might have just changed the game for night runners, hikers or anyone who needs to move around in the dark.After seeing it once, you kind of wonder why miners weren't wearing these instead of helmet lamps decades ago. Instead of a single, thin beam, the H2 casts a broad spectrum of light in front of you, right where you need it most: A 180-degree halo that lets you use your peripheral vision, even on the run.The belt and lamp are light, with an IPX7 waterproof rating that keeps it safe even in heavy rain. There's high and low-intensity brightness modes or even a flash mode for extra safety. Even on the highest setting, you'll get three hours of life from the rechargeable battery.Get your H2 Belt Light now from the Boing Boing shop for a full 25% off the retail price. Read the rest

Yesterday's column by John Naughton in the Observer revisited Nathan Myhrvold's 1997 prediction that when Moore's Law runs out -- that is, when processors stop doubling in speed every 18 months through an unbroken string of fundamental breakthroughs -- that programmers would have to return to the old disciplines of writing incredibly efficient code whose main consideration was the limits of the computer that runs on it.I'd encountered this idea several times over the years, whenever it seemed that Moore's Law was petering out, and it reminded me of a prediction I'd made 15 years ago: that as computers ceased to get faster, they would continue to get wider -- that is, that the price of existing processors would continue to drop, even if the speed gains petered out -- and that this would lead programmers towards an instinctual preference for solving the kinds of problems that could be solved in parallel (where the computing could be done on several processors at once, because each phase of the solution was independent of the others) and an instinctual aversion for problems that had to be solved in serial (where each phase of the solution too the output of the previous phase as its input, meaning all the steps had to be solved in order).That's because making existing processors more cheaply only requires minor, incremental improvements in manufacturing techniques, while designing new processors that are significantly faster requires major breakthroughs in material science, chip design, etc. These breakthroughs aren't just unpredictable in terms of when they'll arrive, they're also unpredictable in terms of how they will play out. Read the rest

Over the weekend my friend Bonnie Burton (a writer who was a recent guest on my Cool Tools podcast) asked on Twitter, "What is your favorite book that you're currently reading? I'm always curious what folks like to read!"What is your favorite book that you're currently reading? I'm always curious what folks like to read! pic.twitter.com/d7Z8GgIMen— Bonnie Burton (@bonniegrrl) January 12, 2020She got tons of responses, and I think Boing Boing readers would be interested.(My contribution to the thread is Let It Come Down, by Paul Bowles) Read the rest

Enjoy this footage of hurricane force winds blasting waterfalls skyward in the Faroe Islands. It was recorded Sept 14th, 2019, by Marko Korosec.A powerful North Atlantic windstorm that delivers violent hurricane-force winds and major waves, smashing the huge cliffs on the Faroe Islands. Winds are so intense, waterfall and going in the opposite direction - upwards!The vertical waterfalls are seen from 1:20 in. Read the rest

Matt Haughey moved into a new home with a lot of deadbolts. Rather than carry around a jangling morning star of keys, he decided to re-key everything. It took less than a day.I researched getting a locksmith to come out, but it would run hundreds of dollars in their time plus you can only re-key locks to a key made by the same manufacturer, and by my count we had at least three different brands of locks spread among all the doors. I could save money by bringing the locks to a locksmith’s store, replacing off brands with a single brand and re-installing myself, or I could teach myself how to rekey locks using a ~$100 set from amazon that takes a few hours of practice to master.He replaced three of the locks so all could use the Kwikset Smart Key [Amazon] system, the hero of the piece -- about $100 all in. Read the rest

Matthew Luckhurst, the San Antonio police officer fired after giving a homeless man a shit sandwich, has won his appeal. KSAT reports that he won the appeal because of a government rule that "prevents law enforcement from disciplining an officer for conduct that occurred more than 180 days before they are disciplined."The arbitrator's report (which you can read online) says the firing was reasonable whether Luckhurst's actions were "intentionally or grossly inappropriate" – Luckhurst claims he was was helping homeless people clean up their camp and handed the man the bread-and-shit to be disposed of, not eaten – but didn't come soon enough. Luckhurst was subsequently notified of his dismissal on Oct. 28, 2016 -- within the 180-day window if the incident occurred May 6, 2016, as initially thought.Arbitration documents state that later, Luckhurst reviewed his medical records and found that the incident could not have occurred on May 6, 2016, because he had injured himself during a martial arts class and was on light duty from April 6, 2016, to June 14, 2016, preventing him from riding a bike, as his peers had testified.The paperwork states that after interviewing witnesses and others who had heard about the incident -- all of whom gave varying dates -- it was determined that the incident may have occurred outside the 180-day window to discipline Luckhurst, effectively voiding his dismissal.Luckhurst isn't back on the beat, though, as he was also fired over another incident and an arbitration hearing on that is yet to be held. Read the rest

A housing development project hopes to put people underground in the cavernous depths of San Francisco's Mission neighborhood. SFGate reports:Developer Chris Elsey of Elsey Partners in Manhattan, Kansas, has plans to build two apartment buildings in San Francisco's Mission District that would each include two basement-level floors with 88 so-called "sleeping pods," measuring about 50 square feet each, just a little bigger than a king-size bed..."The contentious part is these below-grade sleeping pods," said Elsey... "When you’re building something, the plans have to be approved by the Planning Department and the Building Department. These below-grade sleeping pods meet the building codes, but there’s this perception from the Planning Department that it’s not something any human being should be exposed to or allowed to do."...With close living quarters, the underground spaces would likely have "house rules" that residents would need to obey."Obviously people don’t like it when people come home drunk and belligerent," he said. "And no pod sex. I think anyone who has been in college or a dormitory, you’ve had experiences where you prefer that people do those things in private."The project has not yet been approved by the city and it could take years for that to happen. But, if it gets the go-ahead, it's estimated that the individual, windowless sleeping pods would rent for $1,000 to $1,375 each. Head to SFGate for images of the proposed apartment building, including plans for the sleeping pods.screenshot via The Mole People/YouTube Read the rest