GOP Presidential nominee Donald Trump made a grotesque little cameo appearance in a Playboy softcore porn video released back in 2000. Do not worry, the appearance was very brief and he kept his clothes on. Because Jesus loves you.
“Beauty is beauty, and let's see what happens with New York,” Trump says in the Playboy video.
You can watch it right here.
Former Escambia County, Florida deputy Michael Wohlers visited Stephanie Byron in June 2015 at the apartment building where she worked, where he stole her glass of sweet tea and refused to return it. When Byron approached Wohlers to get her drink back, he tased her in the chest and throat, then jumped on her supine body, knelt on her chest, and removed the taser prods, apparently to try to cover up his wrongdoing.
(more…)
If you thought soccer's world cup being awarded to baking-hot Qatar marked the zenith of sporting corruption, give FIDE a chance: the international chess federation's forthcoming world championship is headed to Iran, and women players must wear the hijab to compete. UK tabloids quote leading women chess players as threatening to quit the tournament rather than obey.
US women's champion Nazi Paikidze said: 'It is absolutely unacceptable to host one of the most important women's tournaments in a venue where, to this day, women are forced to cover up with a hijab.
'I understand and respect cultural differences. But, failing to comply can lead to imprisonment and women's rights are being severely restricted in general. It does not feel safe for women from around the world to play here.'
She added: 'If the situation remains unchanged, I will most certainly not participate in this event.'
It's insane, but entirely in keeping with FIDE's brainier-than-thou shiftiness, to think that Tehran is a good place to host the key event on their highly-politicized mind game's calendar. For starters, there's a current U.S. government travel warning telling citizens not to go there at all.
(I would go, but wear a Burka)
The world's greatest living tennis player wrote something on Facebook today about police killings of unarmed black Americans.
A friend in France sent me an email one day and wrote, "You have to watch this Japanese movie 'Ring.' It's very special." Since he likes horror films as much as I do, his words carried weight. But in 1998 it wasn't easy to find a copy, and I had to nose around a bit before finally locating a DVD on amazon.co.uk.
As you can see from the photo above, it's one creepy-ass film. There's a moment at the end which, if watched in blissful ignorance of what's going to happen, and in a dark room, the hair on the back of your neck will stand up. If for some reason you haven't seen the movie, then watch it without reading anything about it in advance.
Like all good horror in the past few decades, it was recently turned into a parody where Sadako (the creepy lady with pale skin and long black hair in Ring ) eventually faces off against the Kayako (the creepy lady with pale skin and long black hair from another excellent Japanese horror film, Ju-on [The Grudge]) and her son, who is seen below. The new film is supposedly funny (in a good way), though I haven't see it yet, so who knows.
The new film is supposedly funny (in a good way), though I haven't see it yet, so who knows. I guess it's the Japanese version of Freddie vs. Jason, which sucked. Or Alien vs. Predator, which sucked even more. (Frankenstin Meets The Wolfman still remains good fun.) But those films weren't supposedly to be intentionally funny. Shall we next see Michael Myers as a stand-up comedian?
But if you're into that sort of thing, then this self-referential Japanese TV commercial has Sadako doing battle with a Snickers candy bar! I prefer Milky Way Dark, but if Sadako insists I eat a Snickers bar, who am I to say no?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KgUUBFJgQc
Via Rocket News
One of the great political leaders of Israel, Nobel peace prize laureate Shimon Peres, has died. He was 93 years old. He suffered a stroke two weeks ago.
You, too, can now have Donald Trump's hair. On a t-shirt. IMGURian Jakob Brask is crowdsourcing these Donald Trump 3D t-shirt with "natural windblown hair" effect.
As with each and every episode of his genius 'Sassy Trump' voicedub series, actor-director-comedienne Peter Serafinowicz is using 100% actual Donald Trump's own words here. He's just voicing them differently. More authentically, perhaps.
“We've secretly replaced the fine smartphones they usually serve with sticks of butter. Let's see if anyone can tell the difference!”
The fellow who posted this video said, "I wanted to get medicated, so I asked the driver if I could smoke. He clearly said 'yes,' so I did. In New Orleans, marijuana has been decriminalized, so I didn't see the problem. But he did, so I got ejected."
Travel writer Ben Schlappig uses something called "mileage running" to accumulate lots of travel miles.
Mileage running works by collecting miles on cheap flights and spending them on expensive ones. Over a week, Ben might take over 30 discounted flights. They only cost him $800 and he'll earn over 62500 air miles. He then uses those miles to buy a first class ticket to Japan, which would have cost him $13,000.
[via]
Want to get Cool Tools' Recomendo a week early in your inbox? Sign up for the Sunday newsletter here.
Game:
Google Feud is a game that challenges you to guess the top ten Google autocompletes for a particular word or term. For instance, the game might prompt you with “my friend is addicted to” and you have to fill in the rest of the query. (FYI, the top ten autocompletes for this example are weed, her phone, drugs, coke, pills, drama, oxycodone, crack, anime, and alcohol.) - Mark Frauenfelder
Stuff:
Over the years, I've had to buy a variety of bras for different types of dresses and tops (racerback, backless, strapless, etc.), but the most useful purchase I've made has been Nippies. I've had these for a couple years now. They are washable, reusable and so comfortable I forget I have them on. - Claudia Lamar
Tip:
Before buying something on Amazon, enter the URL for the product at fakespot.com. This free service will analyze how many shill reviewers have rated a product, and award a “Fakespot Grade” from A to F. A low grade doesn't necessarily mean a product is bad, it just means you shouldn't take the reviews and user ratings into consideration when making your decision to buy something. - MF
Tool:
I'm trying out Splash, a cool free experimental photo search engine from 500Pixels. You sketch the rough contours of a photo you seek in color, and it will display two dozen images that “match” your sketch. The match is mostly in color, mood, and rough shapes, but it does present you with some interesting images, all licensable. - Kevin Kelly
Readables:
A long time ago, after a bad breakup I read If the Buddha Dated by Charlotte Kasi. By the time I had finished the book, it was covered in notes and dog-eared pages, and I felt healed and ready to move on. Now, as a newlywed, I am enjoying listening to If the Buddha Married on Audible. So many great insights and communication tips. - CL
Stuff:
All my dress shirts are now “Non-Iron” cotton material. I don't know how this stuff works, but the ones I clumsily fold into my luggage, will unwrinkle shortly after I put them on. I use Non-Iron Oxford shirts from Land's End and L.L. Bean, but most clothing brands seem to carry them. Eagle brand Non-Iron shirts are popular on Amazon. - KK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8os-nKuoM3o&feature=youtu.be
Robbo sez, "Jonathan Pie, preeminent UK political satirist, takes on British media and their role in declaring newly re-elected Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn 'unelectable'. Pie destroys the outrageous un-democratic media bias that has hounded Corbyn throughout his time as Labour leader and does so with his usual outstanding, hilarious, enraged and profane style."
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Economic Council convened a symposium at NYU's Information Law Institute in July, and they've released their report: 25 crisp (if slightly wonky) pages on how AI could increase inequality, erode accountability, and lead us into temptation -- along with recommendations for how to prevent this, from involving marginalized and displaced people in AI oversight; to increasing the diversity of AI researchers; to modifying the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and Digital Millennium Copyright Act to clarify that neither stands in the way of independent auditing of AI systems.
(more…)
Everyone thought it was some kind of mass kid-hysteria inspired by marketing for the new version of Stephen King's IT, but guess what! There was an evil clown after all!
Kentucky police have arrested a man dressed as a clown lurking in a wooded area amid a wave of clown reports in at least six US states.
Jonathan Martin, 20, was charged with wearing a mask in a public place and disorderly conduct in Middlesboro.
He was found at about 0100 EST (0600 GMT) on Friday in "full clown costume" and mask crouching among trees by an apartment complex, according to police.
"Wearing a mask" is a crime, eh?
"I'm going to do something I haven't done the entire campaign. I'm going to tell you what I really think of Donald Trump. This man is a pathological liar. He doesn't know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth. And in a pattern that I think is straight out of a psychology text book, his response is to accuse everybody else of lying. ... Donald Trump is such a narcissist that Barack Obama looks at him and says, 'Dude, what's your problem?' The man is utterlly amoral. ... Whatever lie he's telling, in that minute he believes it. But the man is utterly amoral. Morality does not exist for him. It's why he went after Heidi [Cruz] directly, attacked her and smeared her. Heidi isn't pretty enough for him. ... Donald is a bully. ... Bullies don't come from strength, they come from weakness. ... There's a reason Donald builds giant buildings and puts his name on them everywhere he goes. ...Donald has a real problem with women"
Ted Cruz plans to back Donald Trump for the presidency as early as Friday, according to multiple sources familiar with the Texas senator's decision
Then, no-one felt Trump could win. Now, though, things are looking likely. Cruz was always the biggest coward in team #NeverTrump, and now he hears the guillotines being sharpened. God does love a cheerful giver.
The World Wide Web Consortium has embarked upon an ill-advised project to standardize Digital Rights Management (DRM) for video at the behest of companies like Netflix; in so doing, they are, for the first time, making a standard whose implementations will be covered under anti-circumvention laws like Section 1201 of the DMCA, which makes it a potential felony to reveal defects in products without the manufacturer's permission.
The governor of North Carolina has declared a State of Emergency after violence erupted on the second night of protests in Charlotte, over the police killing of a black man. The governor called for support from the U.S. National Guard, and Highway Patrol officers.
The protest tonight escalated into chaos, and what was at first reported as a death of a man in the crowds.
An employee of the Royal Canadian Mint stands accused of smuggling $180,000-worth of gold out of the institution in his rectum, reports Kelley Egan of the Ottawa Citizen, "evading multiple levels of detection with a time-honoured prison trick."
“Appalling,” was the conclusion of defence lawyer Gary Barnes, who described the Crown's case as an underwhelming collection of circumstantial evidence.
“This is the Royal Canadian Mint, your Honour, and one would think they should have the highest security measures imaginable,” Barnes said in his closing submission.
“And here the gold is left sitting around in open buckets.”
Some crimes have a smoking gun. But this one had a coating gunge.
Investigators also found a container of vaseline in his locker and the trial was presented with the prospect that a puck could be concealed in an anal cavity and not be detected by the wand. In preparation for these proceedings, in fact, a security employee actually tested the idea, Barnes said. Lawrence did not take the stand - as is his legal right - and the Crown was not able to definitively establish how the gold pucks made their way out of the facility.
Share this inspiring video with every kid or teen you know who dreams of space. John Streeter of NASA Television has sent us some wonderful NASA TV videos over the years. I love this new one with Vermont-born rock and roll star Grace Potter, about some of the amazing women in the history of the American space program. I hope it inspires a little girl out there to become an astronaut.
In 2013, Mike Zuckerman, a self-described culture hacker, attended the White House's National Day of Civic Hacking. Inspired by what he'd learned there, Mike returned to San Francisco and founded [freespace], an organization that focuses on sustainability and urban tactical development. In the spring of 2016, Mike went to Greece where he spent four months rehabilitating an abandoned clothing factory in the industrial sector of Thessaloniki, turning it into a humane shelter that he and his colleagues named Elpida. Unlike the official migrant camps in Greece, where refugees have little say in the day-to-day operations of the camp, Elpida put its 140 residents in charge, and the results were remarkable. Not only is Elpida much less expensive to run on a per person basis than official camps in Greece, the residents don't suffer from boredom, restlessness, and disengagement like they do at NGO-run camps.
As a pilot model, Elpida offers hope and improved living conditions for refugees in a place where no other NGO was able to provide in this kind of support.
Mike has been working with Institute for the Future (where I'm on staff) as an affiliate since 2014 and recently accepted an IFTF fellowship to help uncover and study new paradigms for restoring vulnerable places and space, such as post-disaster sites, informal refugee settlements, and decaying urban neighborhoods.
I spoke to Mike about his work at Elpida in August, 2016, just days after he returned from Greece.
Listen to the audio podcast interview with Mike Zuckerman here. Subscribe to the IFTF podcast on iTunes | RSS | Soundcloud | Download MP3
I spent a few days in beautiful Victoria, Canada last week. What a fantastic city! One of the highlights of my trip was spending some time with Andrew and Christina, two of the principles at Robazzo, a one-stop-shop eco design studio. They do everything from logos to large architectural installations:
On the flight home, the guy sitting next to me had a small pouch in his lap. Before the plane took off, he unfolded it and blew on a valve a few times to inflate what turned out to be a travel pillow. He slept the entire time. I have a travel pillow, but it is bulky so I don't usually bring it with me. This inflatable pillow looks perfect. After looking around I think I found the one the guy was using. It's $6 if you use coupon code QZJWYQLF. I bought two (one for my wife), and the discount worked for just one pillow.
You'll never miss Cool Tools Lab's Recomendo newsletter if you sign up for the newsletter here.
Readables:
Books related to my new book The Inevitable that I have found useful:
Magic and Loss by Virginia Heffernan: Treats the digital world as a great work of art. The Master Algorithm by Pedro Domingos: Best book to date on artificial intelligence. Machines of Loving Grace by John Markoff: Best book to date on robots. Superforecasting by Philip Tetlock: Why predicting is hard and how to get better at it. Pogue's Basics by David Pogue: Extremely practical tips for techno-literacy. - Kevin Kelly
Follow:
I'm a big Welcome to Night Vale fan, a community news podcast about a fictional town plagued by paranormal and spooky events. Besides listening to the podcast, I prioritized my Facebook feed to see their absurd status updates first. They always make me smile. Example: “Scientists discover a new species of spider on the back of your shirt. 'Oh wow. It's crazy big. Good luck,' their press release reads.” - Claudia Lamar
Edible:
When it comes to airplane food, I agree with Anthony Bourdain: it's better to go hungry. But I don't like going hungry so I pack snacks with me. One of my favorites is the Graze Bar. It's a tasty, chewy stick of grass fed beef containing no sugar, gluten, or MSG. - Mark Frauenfelder
Travel tip:
Hopper is a smartphone app that predicts when airfare to a desired destination will be the cheapest. I've set up an alert for Chiang Mai, Thailand. About once a month Hopper sends me a message with the best price it can find, telling me to “wait” or “buy.” The price recently dropped from the $900s to the $500s and Hopper said “buy.” - MF
Stuff:
We bought this heated Shiatsu Massager more than a year ago, and it has definitely been put to good use. We keep it plugged in right next to the couch and use it every night. The arm handles allows you to adjust and place the massage nodes directly on hard to reach muscles. - CL
Things:
Amazon now has a section where they sell originally Kickstarted projects. Bottom up retailing. - KK
The Chelsea Manning Support Network contacted us by email to inform us that:
1) The date of Chelsea's disciplinary board hearing has been changed to Thursday, September 22 at 9:30 am CST.
(more…)
Jasmina Tesanovic (previously) and Bruce Sterling did a residency at The Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at UCSD, working with the students on design fiction and futurism.
(more…)
Noah writes, "This weekend a group of roguelike enthusiasts and developers are getting together for the first ever Roguelike Celebration. It'll feature talks from developers of the game that spawned the genre - rogue - as well as the creators of Dwarf Fortress, Kingdom of Loathing, ADOM, Tracery and lots more.
It'll take place all day on the 17th and will be streamed live on Twitch.tv for those who can't make it in person." (Image: Deon-23, Mike Mayday, public domain)
It is fun to watch a bullet shot from a 44 go through a block of ballistic gel.
"Sonoluminescence is a a phenomenon that occurs when gas bubbles are suspended and driven in a liquid at ultrasonic frequencies. This results in bubble collapse, cavitation, and light emission." -- Guns.com
Are we alone in the universe? Is time travel possible? If you have sex with a robot, does it count as cheating?
The European Commission's "copyright modernisation" plan is an unmitigated disaster, but there's one particularly insane section of it that I want to call your attention to: the "link tax," which entitles publishers to payment when people link to them on the internet.
(more…)
An all-new episode of the spectacular SASSY TRUMP voicedub series, from British male actor and comedienne Peter Serafinowicz.
A giant model moon, part of the Mid-Autumn Festival decorations in Fuzhou, China was blown from its display by Super Typhoon Meranti winds and rolled through traffic today.
BB pal Ariel "Spacehack" Waldman has curated a stellar program for the big DENT: SPACE conference next week (9/21-9/22) in San Francisco! I'm honored to be on the schedule with such amazing people as SETI Institute's Seth Shostak, science writer Mary Roach, The Planetary Society's Emily Lakdawalla, Ars Technica's Annalee Newitz, UC Berkeley planet hunter Alex Filippenko, and so many more fascinating folks! I'll be joining Ariel on stage Thursday at 2:50pm to talk about space history and the intersection of science and art to instill a sense of wonder about the universe, and a far out new project that I'll announce soon. See below on how to get a free ticket! Ariel writes:
On September 21-22, 2016, Dent:Space takes place at the Innovation Hangar at the Palace of Fine Arts (formerly the Exploratorium museum) with two stages of fascinating speakers spanning the technological, artistic, commercial, scientific, educational, and DIY aspects of space exploration. We're also putting together an exhibit hall for the conference - kind of a World's Fair-like set of interactive demos that illustrate the future of space exploration and its many possibilities. We were able to give away 3,000 free tickets to the talks and exhibits, but we've run out of room for that. In the interest of keeping it all accessible for as many as possible, tickets are still only $49. But, as a (Boing Boing reader), you can still grab a free ticket here
Dent:Space is a celebration of humans breaking the status quo of who can be involved and what can be achieved in space exploration. This event is for anyone interested in the future of space exploration and how they might be able to contribute their skills to it through software, design, hardware, entrepreneurship and collaborative efforts. The event is tailored for people from all backgrounds/industries to attend (if you work with space stuff already, great! but not needed to enjoy the event). We promise to fill you with ideas and send you home and back to work with a take-out box full of inspiration.
Space colony painting above by Rick Guidice courtesy of NASA.
This chain reaction kit is on sale at Amazon for just $10 right now. It has parts and instructions to build a bunch of different Rube Goldbergian machines.
Design and build 10 amazing moving machines - teach your bricks new tricks. Comes with 80 page instructions, 33 LEGO pieces, instructions for 10 modules, 6 plastic balls, string, paper ramps and other components.
Cocolab created this cool music-synched array of spotlights that visitors can walk through, sit in, and lose themselves in. It is part of this summer's TagCDMX event in Mexico, the theme of which was #BeMoreNerd. (more…)
From clay to handI don't know anything about the sculptor, but it is fascinating to watch them make a block of clay look like a human hand.
Obama's inaugural White House staff was drawn from his campaign staff, who were mostly dudes, and the women among the newcomers felt that they were getting ignored or talked over in meetings.
(more…)
See sample pages from this book at Wink.
Nimona
by Noelle Stevenson
HarperTeen
2015, 272 pages, 6 x 9 x 0.7 inches (softcover)
From $8 Buy a copy on Amazon
A few years ago, I had the good fortune of discovering Noelle Stevenson's comics through an interview she did with Danielle Coresetto of the webcomic Girls with Slingshots. I read Nimona when it was available in full online and fell absolutely head over heels in love with the comic, blasting through it from start to finish in one sitting. When I revisited the site a few months later to show it to a friend, I was delighted to find out that it had been picked up by HarperTeen and was to be published later that year – no one deserved a publishing deal more than this incredibly talented illustrator and writer.
The graphic novel is set in a fresh fictional world of Stevenson's imagining, inspired by the medieval fantasy scene but infused with science and technology. The titular character, Nimona, is a shape-shifting young girl who has foisted herself upon her favorite super-villain, Ballister Blackheart, as his sidekick and general mischief-maker. In a Despicable Me-esque fashion, the moral and big-hearted Blackheart has dedicated his life to grand (and mostly failed) schemes against the Institution of Law Enforcement & Heroics, a shadowy corporation with shadowy motives that ousted Blackheart years before. Nimona herself is brash, mischievous, and reckless – and in a split second, can turn into a rhino to smash through a steel door, or into a dragon to fly off with a massive chest of gold.
The characters are clever, snarky and lovable; the plot is filled with adventure and, at turns, heartbreak. Stevenson's art is wonderfully stylized, colorful and expressive with charming and memorable character design. It's a tricky thing to make a cast of characters this likable without it feeling cheap or like pandering, but don't worry, there are no Mary Sues here. Every character has depth and pain and plenty of flaws, but they wiggle into your heart a little deeper for it. Their bickering and bantering give them a real family feel.
What I love most about Nimona is the delightful subverting of expectations and conventions: the collision of the modern and the medieval; a world where science and magic and technology all work side by side. The bad guys are good guys and the good guys often aren't. Our hero is a super-villain, and the strongest characters are the most vulnerable. The contrasts don't feel like stark juxtapositions – they feel like a harmonious blend of swords and science in the loveliest way possible.
– Michelle Kaatz
I have been taking a lot of flights of late, and so I have garnered a few tips to offer re: how to make things *slightly* less horrid when doing so. But holy horses, this one changed my life on this last go-round. When I tried it - and it worked! - it was all I could do to keep from leaping to my feet and crowing about it to my fellow passengers like some sort of zealous banshee.
Oh, not secrets. Just silly little tips. Here are a few more: 1. TSA Pre-Check is highly worth it and makes everything so much better. 2. Buying a carry-on wheelie bag with 4 wheels that go in all directions is worth it 3. Wear the same outfit every time you travel, and it should have multiple layers, and a hood 4. Order the tomato juice, no ice (with a squeeze of lime if possible) and pretzels for a free meal 5. Buy the Tapas Snack Box on Delta. It has good hummus and enough snacks you can take with you for future meals 6. Though if they have 2 services, space them out. So snack box during 1st service, tomato juice during 2nd service or vice-versa 7. If, when you board, the overhead bins are getting full, put your bag on as soon as you find a spot before your seat, not after, otherwise it's a pain to have to swim upstream and get your stuff when you deplane 8. If the airline messes up (and they often do), definitely send a firm but polite note to them about it and tell them you want to be compensated somehow, which in my experience usually results in bonus mileage points. OH MAN, so much more, but that's a good start.
