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Monday, August 14th, 2017
| Time | Event |
| 7:01a | Florida man in liquor store forklift rampage
A 32-year old man from Freeport, Florida, is in custody after a weekend rampage at the liquor store. But this was a liquor store rampage with a difference, reports WKRG: it was under construction, and he inflicted $100,000 damage with a forklift left on-site.
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| 12:07p | Poop emoji brownies 
When life hands you shit, make poop emoji brownies. YouTuber Rosanna Pansino shows you how. First you're going to need one (or more) of her 6-cavity poop swirl treat molds. Then you'll need to follow the recipe, which is here: "Ta-Doo-Doo! Poo never smelled so good!" |
| 12:07p | Anti-fascist film from 1947: 'Don't Be a Sucker' 
"Don't Be a Sucker" is as timely now as it was back in 1947: (reddit) Previously: Donald Trump will not condemn the terrorist attacks on anti-Nazi protestors |
| 12:08p | Have you seen this ugly clown sweater?
These clowns I know were having a yard sale Sunday, so I swung by. I picked up a sweet plumed marching band hat, a pair of tinted goggles for Burning Man, and a really cool long cloak, also for the desert. While shopping, I spotted this smiling clown face sweater in the rack of multi-colored clothes. I recognized it immediately. Wil Wheaton had once (famously) wore one just like it.
That's a friend of mine in the lead picture (who wanted to remain anonymous, for reasons). At the sale, she tried the 100% acrylic monstrosity on with little to no intention of actually buying it. In fact, as she was pulling it over her head, she mumbled a couple times, "I'm no clown. I'm no clown." I took a photo of her not being a clown, because. When I got home, I posted the photo on Facebook and people wanted to know if I had bought it. I hadn't. One friend wondered if anyone we knew was involved in The Clownsweater Project which has many photos of people wearing a clown sweater, just like the one at the yard sale. Another friend, Valerie, piped in, "Me!" and shared this photo of herself. In fact, the sweater that she's wearing is the exact same one that Wil wore:
I then started reading up on The Clownsweater Project. I was happy to discover that they've shared its entire history, including Wil Wheaton's part in it on their site: In 2002 at another EFF Fundraiser at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco, Barney (yes, the purple dinosaur) and Wil Wheaton were pitted against each other in a boxing match... (Cory actually blogged about that match here on Boing Boing.) All this got me wondering, who else has been touched by a clown sweater, identical to this one? How many of these sweaters are there? Do you have one? Where did you find it? How much did you pay for it? What size is it? People asked if the Clownsweater Project's one is the same sweater as the one at the yard sale. It isn't, I checked. That one is a Medium and the one at the yard sale is a Large. Ok, so what happened to this particular sweater, the one I spotted at the yard sale? Well, when I first posted the photo on Facebook, a friend in Ohio commented that she loved it and that she'd "wear the sh*t out of it." So, I did what anyone would do, I drove back to the yard sale and bought it for her for five bucks. She promises to take pictures. P.S. Check out this miniature version. And don't miss the t-shirt version.
Lead image by Rusty Blazenhoff, Wil's photo by Loren Cox, Valerie's photo by the Clownsweater Project |
| 12:33p | Film of U.S. Army destroying Nuremberg swastika violates YouTube's policy on hate speech
It was there yesterday, but it isn't there today — the best YouTube cut of the U.S. Army demolishing symbols of Nazi oppression went viral following the Charlottesville white supremacist rally, then went into the memory hole. Perhaps some algorithmic process took it down, triggered by complaints. Fortunately, there are other copies on the service, though the quality is poor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFdoGlUm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CYTcQUK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzEBp9EV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzEBp9EV Hopefully this will be rectified. If you can fire a sexist human, Google, you can fix a Nazi algorithm. |
| 1:15p | Conservative artist says Facebook took down his page to punish him for mocking Zuckerberg, but maybe
However, there were also 'faux ads, made to look like a genuine movie poster for War for the Planet of the Apes, feature the image of a well-armed ape on horseback with the text: "BLM: Kill Whitey."' Sabo's page is full of garbage, from amusing photoshops of politicans to edgy N-word race war chum and inexplicable Ted Cruz fan posters. Facebook's refusal to explain its actions allows him to highlight the most broadly popular (no-one other than Mark Zuckerberg wants Mark Zuckerberg to be president) as the only hate it actually cares about. And you know what? Sabo's probably right, which is a great reminder of why you don't want Mark Zuckerberg to be president. |
| 1:38p | GoDaddy kicks white supremacist site in the URLs
After white supremacist site The Daily Stormer published a nasty article about the woman killed by a Nazi in Charlottesville, domain registrar GoDaddy finally decided to boot them from its service. (more…) |
| 1:41p | Airbnb's preferred smart lock vendor accidentally bricks 500 door-locks
The $469 LockState RemoteLock 6i is a "smart lock" that is sold to Airbnb operators through a partnership with the company, allowing Airbnb hosts to generate and expire unique, per-tenant unlock codes. (more…) |
| 1:51p | Merck CEO resigns from presidential council over Trump's refusal to condemn white supremacists
Ken Frazier, CEO of pharma giant Merck, figured out that Trump is bad for business.
https://twitter.com/Merck/status/8970653 Trump immediately took to Twitter to insult him and accuse him of ripping American patients off.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/stat The full text of Frazier's statement:
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| 1:57p | It's not hard to think of ways to outsmart Stingray-detector apps
A group of researchers from Oxford and TU Berlin will present their paper, White-Stingray: Evaluating IMSI Catchers Detection Applications at the Usenix Workshop on Offensive Technologies, demonstrating countermeasures that Stingray vendors could use to beat Stingrays and other "cell-site simulators" (AKA IMSI catchers). (more…) |
| 2:13p | Real people don't (just) need encryption
Earlier this month, UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd idiotically insisted that "real people" don't need encrypted messaging apps; but as foolish a statement as that was, there was a kernel of truth to it. (more…) |
| 2:18p | Walt Disney World has permanently shuttered The Great Movie Ride and the Universe of Energy 
Ricky from Inside the Magic writes, "Two classic Walt Disney World attractions closed permanently this weekend: The Great Movie Ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios and the Universe of Energy/Ellen's Energy Adventure at Epcot. The Great Movie Ride had a bittersweet finale, as enthusiastic cast members received a thunderous round of applause as the experience ended its 28 year run. The Universe of Energy, unfortunately, suffered a few technical difficulties on its final day of operation and unexpectedly shut down early." (more…) |
| 2:51p | So the Alt-Right is coming to your campus
The Southern Poverty Law Center's guide, The Alt-Right on Campus: What Students Need to Know basically advises you to network with everyone on your campus who isn't a closet Nazi, meet with the Young Republicans (or whatever) and remind them that they're inviting Nazis to come speak, and then to throw a big, fun event far from whatever Nazi is addressing your school and starve them of publicity and attention. (more…) |
| 3:18p | For sale: giant lab "gantries," slightly used, FOB Indiana
Indiana U is selling off a huge lot of lab equipment, including these space-pod-looking gantries. Winning bidder is responsible for dismantling and shipping. "To give someone an idea of how large these are, there are two pits that they sit in. Each of the pits are 28'x35'x10' deep." (more…) |
| 3:27p | Ikeahacking turned pro: the aftermarket cabinet-doors of Semihandmade
Semihandmade started out as a Los Angeles cabinetmaker called "Handmade," but when they got a commission to design aftermarket doors for a cheap and surprisingly robust set of Ikea kitchen cabinets, they realized that they could supply excellent-looking, high-spec kitchens at a tiny price by just manufacturing replacement doors for Ikea's ubiquitous cabinetry. (more…) |
| 3:36p | Maker Update #46: Make an Rapa Nui 3D printed bobblehead 
Paige Russell used the free, easy-to-use 3D modeling program Tinkercad to make a 3D printed bobblehead based on a Rapa Nui moai. That's just one of the tools and projects that Donald Bell presented this week in Maker Update. Show notes here.
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| 3:58p | Here's what a clown learned about male violence by face-painting kids at a picnic
Sanduhruh is a clown who wrote a twitter thread about her experience painting faces at a picnic. When little boys wanted butterflies painted on their faces, the parents objected. When girls wanted skulls and sharks "the parents shrug and laugh like 'haha she's a kooky kid!"' Because maleness and masculinity isn't a sin." |
| 5:10p | Chimpanzees learn to play rock-paper-scissors
Chimpanzees at Kyoto University's Primate Research Institute have learned to play the game rock-paper-scissors. From Phys.org:
"This suggests that children acquire the ability to learn a circular relationship and to solve a transverse patterning problem around the age of four years," says lead researcher Jie Gao. "The chimpanzees' performance during the mixed-pair sessions was similar to that of four-year-old children." "Learning the rules of the rockpaperscissors game: chimpanzees versus children" (Primates) |
| 5:13p | Unite the Right Jason Kessler was punched, attacked and chased at press conference  Unite the Right organizer Jason Kessler tried to hold a press conference yesterday in Charlottesville, VA but chaos broke out. He was punched, swarmed, and then chased down the street by an angry mob who was shouting "shame" and "murderer." This follows the violent protest on Saturday, organized by Unite the Right, that led to the death of 32-year-old protestor Heather Heyer and two helicopter pilots. https://youtu.be/HLXcrad-qHU https://youtu.be/DwcfvNP3jOg |
| 5:15p | Trump denounces KKK, racism, white supremacists, "and other groups"
It's fun seeing him forced to denounce his base after taking so long to get to it that no-one (least of all them) will be fooled. He didn't enjoy it one bit, slinking off immediately without taking questions. |
| 5:20p | Self-described "shaman" dressed as bigfoot mistaken for bigfoot, or not
Self-described "shaman" Gawain MacGregor says that he was the creature that bigfoot investigators claim to have encountered last week in North Carolina's Pisgah National Park. MacGregor, 36, who believes in "the divine nature of sasquatch" was dressed in animal skins as part of a ritual involving his wandering around the woods reciting a "sasquatch prayer." "It feels like it brings me closer to nature," MacGregor told the BBC News. But Bigfoot 911's John Bruner insists that it wasn't MacGregor, or any human, that his team spotted:
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| 5:28p | This animation shows you what the eclipse will look like in your zip code
Enter a zipcode into Time's animated doohickey to find out how much of the sun will be blocked by the moon on August 21. |
| 5:48p | Adam Savage made a good drafting compass out of coat hanger wire and a paper clip
Yesterday Adam Savage tweeted: "Doing some mechanical drawing in the house, but I didn't have a compass. So I made my own using a coat hanger in a paperclip!" |
| 6:00p | Scientists finally discover how to synthesize magic mushrooms' active ingredient, psilocybin
In 1943 Sandoz chemist Albert Hofmann became the first person to synthesize (and take) LSD. He was also the first person to isolate and identify psilocybin, the main psychedelic component in magic mushrooms, almost 60 years ago. "Yet no one has been able to unravel the enzymatic pathway the mushrooms use to make psilocybin, until now," reports Stephen K. Ritter of Chemical and Engineering News. |
| 6:01p | Hitler delivers Trump's Boy Scout speech  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TR3Se4X Jose writes, "I was offended by Trump's speech to the Boy Scouts. It's a slippery slope and seemed so reminiscent of the past. I synchronized Adolf to deliver Trump's remarks to show how close we are to repeating the past. It's an ode to Chaplin's City Lights and The Great Dictator." (more…) |
| 6:03p | The Voyager Golden Record on NBC Nightly News
Last night, NBC Nightly News aired the wonderful video below about the Voyager Golden Record vinyl box set I produced with my friends Tim Daly and Lawrence Azerrad! Forty years ago this month, NASA launched two spacecraft, Voyager 1 and 2, on a grand tour of the solar system and beyond, into the mysteries of interstellar space. Mounted to each spacecraft is a golden phonograph record, a message to introduce our civilization to extraterrestrials, perhaps billions of years from now. The Voyager Golden Record tells a story of our planet expressed in sounds, images, and science. As Lawrence said in the video, "it's a lovely reminder of what it means to be a human." Thank you to NBC Nightly News!
(GIF via Electric Space Kool-Aid)
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| 6:13p | Accepting unhappiness makes you happier, feeling bad about feeling bad makes you feel worse
"We found that people who habitually accept their negative emotions experience fewer negative emotions, which adds up to better psychological health," says Iris Mauss, associate professor of psychology at UC Berkeley. |
| 6:17p | Funny video of fellow trying to speak without his southern accent 
"My husband learning to speak without a southern accent," wrote Stephanie Shadrick on YouTube a couple years ago. "Absolutely hilarious!" The fun they're having is infectious.
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| 6:30p | Tom Cruise injures himself while doing stunt for Mission Impossible 6  Tom Cruise, who does his own stunts, means to jump from one building to another, but misses his mark and slams into the side of a building, twice. This is during the shooting of Mission Impossible 6. The extent of his injuries are unknown as of Monday morning, according to The Los Angeles Times. |
| 6:41p | A fond look back at the scariest 25 minutes on television 
Twilight Zone veteran Richard Matheson wrote the screenplay for Trilogy of Terror, a 1975 NBC network Movie of the Week that was a lot creepier than TV audiences were used to watching. The third story in the 40-year-old trilogy, "Amelia," is still profoundly terrifying. Mental Floss has a remembrance:
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| 6:46p | REM: watch very early live footage from 1982 concert 
REM performed on October 10, 1982 at North Carolina's Raleigh Underground less than two months after releasing their debut EP, Chronic Town. This is thought to be the first pro footage of R.E.M. playing live. Posted by zararity on YouTube:
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| 6:52p | This small digital scale I like is on sale for $7.64
This 0.01g division digital scale is on sale for $7.64 if you use code GEMBEN15. I used it to weigh supplement powders, loose leaf tea, and coffee beans. It's about the size of an iPhone. It measures up to a limit of 100 grams in 0.01 gram increments. (more…) |
| 9:46p |
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