Otter cuddle puddle
-Shared on reddit/awwww by kilonad. "Asian small-claw otters cuddling at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington."
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'Lady Prisoners,' Anuwat Khaomanit
-'Lady Prisons,' a series of illustrations by Anuwat Khaomanit, an illustrator and Graphic Designer based in Bangkok, Thailand.
Read the restSummer reading list: nonfiction
- Some of my most popular nonfiction reviews from the past year, from 'Capital in the 21st Century' to 'The Divide.' Read the restBill allowing Americans to unlock smartphones passes, heads to Obama
- "The bill Congress passed today is another step toward giving ordinary Americans more flexibility and choice, so that they can find a cell phone carrier that meets their needs and their budget," the President said. Read the restThe 'profanity pop' paintings of Rodolfo Loaiza
-Artist José Rodolfo Loaiza Ontiveros is best known for his dirty remixes of Disney iconography.
Read the restKim Dotcom promises to 'abolish mass surveillance' with his NZ political party
-Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom tells the Guardian "governments want to engage in mass surveillance and have total citizen control." The political party he founded to contest New Zealand's September 20 elections, the Mana Internet party, promises to "abolish mass surveillance."
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Practicing life on Mars, on a Hawaiian volcano
- A team of researchers have been living in a simulated Mars habitat on a Hawaiian volcano for the past 4 months, to better understand what it would be like to live on Mars. Read the rest'Hawaii by Air' opens at Smithsonian Air and Space: history of air travel to the islands
-A new exhibition on the history and evolution of air travel to the Hawaiian Islands opens today at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
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First Ebola victim in Sierra Leone capital on the run, officials ask for help finding her
- The woman, 32, was forcibly removed from a hospital in Freetown by her family after she tested positive for one of world's deadliest viruses. Read the restMark Hamill on the new Star Wars
- "We are just there to lend our support and grow contractually obligated beards," says Mark Hamill on filming Star Wars: Episode 7. Read the restMystery solved: creepy dolls on suburban doorsteps
-Residents of Orange County, California were creeped out this week when eight porcelain dolls mysteriously turned up on doorsteps in suburban neighborhoods, leading to a police investigation.
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Video: computer hacking in 1980s movies
-"80s Computer Hacking: A Supercut." List of movies below:
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The new life of dead trees
- Dani Tinker, with the National Wildlife Federation, on the wonderful weird things growing in that felled log out back. Read the rest
Amazing optical illusion and Spirograph
-Phil "Bad Astronomy" Plait deconstructs Brusspup's "Crazy Circle Illusion" and ties it to the wonderful classic art/science/toy Spirograph.
Play videoRemembering 'the Barnaby Jack few knew' on anniversary of hacker's death
- Bloomberg has a profile of legendary hacker Barnaby Jack, who died a year ago. "Recent interviews with Jack's family and longtime friends portray a much different person" than the one publicly portrayed, "one who was uncomfortable with being in the spotlight at the annual Black Hat and DefCon conventions, events that will miss his showmanship when they begin next week in Las Vegas." DiscussDisenchanted by Robert Kroese
-I love a good sarcastic fantasy packed with sideways glances at the genre. Robert Kroese's Disenchanted kept me laughing and laughing.
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Fruit fly and zebrafish brains may help unlock secrets of our human minds
- At a facility considered a Nirvana for scientists, researchers pursue greater understanding of biomedical processes, using test subjects like dragonflies and zebrafish Play videoapps
Geometry Dash: jump, fly and flip your way through dangerous passages
- This episode of Apps for Kids is brought to you by Shoparoo - start earning for your school today. Read the restDoomed Russian lizard sex rocket full of bonking geckos produces week's best headlines
- Five geckos sent into space by Russia for a mating experiment may die, but they've left headline writers here on earth with at least one day's worth of sex jokes. Read the restOn Google campus, a dinosaur is forever in battle with hordes of flamingos
-Making the rounds online this week, but without identifying information: these two photos of a T-Rex dinosaur beset upon by flamingos.
Read the restHappy Sysadmin Day, Ken!
-It's Sysadmin Appreciation Day, and that means it's time, once again, to give our dear, tireless, essential administrator Ken Snider a sliver of the thanks that are his due.
Read the restSummer reading list: novels
- A compendium of some of my most popular novel reviews from the past year, from 'My Real Children' to 'Raising Steam.' Read the restSpock-hand business-card holder
-Thinkgeek's Bronze Spock Business Card Holder ($35) is a 1.3lb lump of high-grade, nerdy polystone desk-decor. The Starfleet uniform cuff is a nice touch! Also works for Klingons/Romulans who can explain that it's a grisly, amputated war-trophy.
DiscussJapanese artist Makoto Azuma launches beautiful plants into stratosphere
- For his project 'Exobiotanica,' Makoto Azuma launched a 50-year-old Japanese white pine bonsai and an otherworldly sculptural floral bouquet into the stratosphere. Read the restJournalist believes his phone was hacked by spooks at HOPE X, will upload image for forensics
-Douglas writes, "My rooted CyanogenMod phone got hacked at HOPE X. I'm planning to get it write-blocked and imaged to crowdsource forensics."
Read the restSteampunk/singularity mashup: Sun of Suns is now a graphic novel
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Karl Schroeder's 2006 novel (review) set a new bar for imaginative worldbuilding and exciting adventure sf.
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What's original? Cloning games versus making games
-Raph "Theory of Fun" Koster has a wonderful, readable, theory-rich article that helps unpick the discussion about when a game is a clone of another game, when it's a skin, when it's a variant, and when it's a new game.
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Great video explainer: Vint Cerf on ICANN and NTIA
-The "father of the Internet" explains why the Congressional posturing and global freakout about the US National Telecommunications and Information Administration stepping back from management of the Internet domain name system is misplaced.
Play videoKickstarting Coolest: a 21st century picnic cooler
-It's raised more than $7M so far, with promises of a cooler that charges your USB devices, crushes ice, plays music through a waterproof Bluetooth speaker, and supplies a cutting board.
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Comixology adds DRM-free option! Excelsior!
- Unlike some of its stablemates, the Amazon-owned comics platform is to allow authors and publishers to distribute their work without the shackles of proprietary rights-management, writes Cory Doctorow Read the restApollo 11's Michael Collins on the view from space
-From a classic FAQ by Michael Collins, command module pilot for Apollo 11, which splashed down 45 years ago today after carrying the first human beings to the moon:
Read the restWhat is public?
- Anil Dash on the fragile reality of what is and is not public, and how within it a reasonable expectation of privacy may remain, in some contexts. Discuss
EU wants Google to extend "right to be forgotten" to global users
-Right now, Google blocks "forgotten" articles on EU versions of its site.
Read the restIcons of animals in space
-Wonderful illustrations of "Animal Space Travellers" by Budapest designer/artist Norbert Mayer. (via Ariel Waldman)
Read the restMichigan sheriff issues inmates black-and-white striped uniforms
-He's worried that "Orange is the New Black" has made orange prisoner uniforms too cool.
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Microscope photographs of alcohol drinks
-Smithsonian writes about BevShots, a company that sells microscope photographs of the crystallized form of alcoholic beverages, like tequila, above, and white wine and scotch, seen below.
Read the restDie Gstettensaga coming to LA
-Johannes from Monochrom writes, "Award-winning post-apocalyptic hackploitation comedy 'Die Gstettensaga' is coming to a couple North American hacker conventions, film festivals and other cool locations."
Read the restDune author Franker Herbert on mushrooms
-The Daily Grail delves into Frank Herbert's passion for mycology and how psilocybin mushrooms helped inspire Dune.
Read the restDuran Duran suing its "fan club"
- Duran Duran is suing its fan club -- not the fans mind you, but the company that runs its fan club, Worldwide Fan Clubs -- for not paying the band its cut of membership fees. DiscussBlogging History: Hacked, Internet-hating MP goes mad; Dead goat video-game; Digging into the 9/11 report
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Sign Painters: book and documentary
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Sign Painters looks to be a fascinating book and documentary about the traditional art and craft of hand-drawn signage that is being lost to digital prints and die-cut vinyl. The film is playing at venues around the US right now, including this Sunday (7/27) at the Webb Gallery in Waxahachie, Texas!
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Video: 10 bets you will always win
- "10 Amazing Bets You Will Always Win," from From Richard Wiseman, author of the delightful Quirkology: How We Discover the Big Truths in Small Things. Play videoadvertising
Alien Autopsy: William Barker on Schwa, two decades later
- Twenty years ago, William Barker's Schwa artwork revealed a world of alien abductions, stick figure insanity, conspiratorial crazy, and a hyper-branded surveillance state. It's now more relevant than ever. Read the restBack pain: Acetaminophen no better than placebos
-A large-scale, rigorous study published in the Lancet found that the go-to, front-line treatment for back pain was no better than a placebo.
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The new life of dead trees
Dani Tinker, with the National Wildlife Federation, on the wonderful weird things growing in that felled log out back. Read the rest
Alien Autopsy: William Barker on Schwa, two decades later
Twenty years ago, William Barker's Schwa artwork revealed a world of alien abductions, stick figure insanity, conspiratorial crazy, and a hyper-branded surveillance state. It's now more relevant than ever. Read the rest
Geometry Dash: jump, fly and flip your way through dangerous passages
This episode of Apps for Kids is brought to you by Shoparoo - start earning for your school today. Read the rest
Comixology adds DRM-free option! Excelsior!
Unlike some of its stablemates, the Amazon-owned comics platform is to allow authors and publishers to distribute their work without the shackles of proprietary rights-management, writes Cory Doctorow Read the rest
Threeways to Save Humanity
In episode 184 of the Sword and Laser, Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt talk of high fantasy, Neil Gaiman and saving humanity. Read the rest
Peter Kuper, cartoonist
In the latest episode of the RiYL podcast, Brian Heater interviews the author of multiple Kafka adaptations and a sketchbook diary chronicling his time in Mexico. Read the rest
Web Trackers Paint a Fresh Picture of You
Glenn Fleishman on the tricky new user-tracking method that sees through privacy controls. Read the rest
Super-Fun-Pak Comix
Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH Super-Fun-Pak Comix features Vampire Hunter, Zombie Slayer, or something like that. Read the rest
How Harry Potter shaped a generation
Seven years after the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Caroline Siede looks back on the book series that defined a generation. Read the rest
How WARPO makes the most bitchingest toys of forever
This episode of Gweek is brought to you by Bombfell, the glorious clothing service for men that sends handpicked outfits to your door. Go to bombfell.com/gweek to get $10 off your first purchase. And by Stamps.com -- get a $110 sign-up bonus with the offer code GWEEK! Read the rest
The Graffiti Rock TV Pilot
Part 1 of a strip detailing the infamous dance television show that never became a series. The latest from Ed Piskor's Hip Hop Family Tree. Read the rest
The limits of animal life on Tatooine
Maggie Koerth-Baker on why the megafauna of George Lucas' parched desert world makes no sense. It's not the dry heat that's the problem; it's the food supply. Read the rest
The Man Who Mailed Frying Pans
In the latest episode of the Futility Closet podcast, we follow postal enthusiast W. Reginald Bray as he sends bowler hats, seaweed, his dog and even himself through the British mail. Read the rest
An exclusive look at the new D&D Player’s Handbook—and The Warlock
Ethan Gilsdorf gets a first-look at some incredible high-res art from the latest edition of the classic pen-and-paper role-playing game. Read the rest
Misleading on Marriage: how gay marriage opponents twist history to suit their agenda
Much of what you hear about the purpose of marriage is ahistorical. Lisa L. Spangenberg on what the institution was traditionally fit for. Read the rest
Rebels seize MH17 plane crash black boxes and bodies, human remains shipped on train to unknown site
Xeni Jardin recaps the latest news from Ukraine, where securing the crash site of Flight MH17 remains an open question Read the rest
With 10 consoles in one, does the Retron 5 have what it takes?
The unstylish but ultra-compatible console promises a nostalgic treat for casual and committed gamers alike, writes Brian Easton. Read the rest
A visit to the basement where Dungeons & Dragons was born
Ethan Gilsdorf celebrates the origins of D&D and presents Jon Peterson's exclusive video tour of the place where E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson set out on their first adventures Read the rest