In the course of trying to prove that it was actually Osama Bin Laden living in that compound outside Abbottabad, the CIA apparently set up a fake Hepatitis B vaccination campaign, which was actually aimed at collecting DNA samples from Bin Laden's children. — Read the rest
"Smells like 26/11 over again," writes a friend in India. There are reports of three or more explosions of improvised explosive devices in Mumbai. India's home secretary on TV now describing it as a terrorist attack, with 10 deaths, 54 injuries, and the caveat that both numbers could rise as more information becomes known. — Read the rest
Photo: Carlos Gutierrez with Reuters
Lightning flashes around the ash plume at above the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano chain near Entrelagos. The volcano in the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle chain, dormant for decades, erupted last month in south-central Chile, belching ash more than 6 miles into the sky. — Read the rest
As the British phone hacking scandal only gets deeper and crazier, Rupert Murdoch has dropped his bid to own all of the country's largest pay TV operator. [Bloomberg] Still a little confused about what's going on? The Daily Show explains. — Read the rest
There is very little known at this point, but at least 15 people have been injured by a series of explosions in Mumbai, India, today. Indian readers, our thoughts are with you. Hopefully, you and your families are safe.
Boing Boing thrilled to feature the premier of Cults' music video for "Go Outside", directed by Isaiah Seret. Cults is the Manhattan duo of Brian Oblivion and Madeline Follin who first gained notoriety last year on the strength of music they posted to their bandcamp page. The group's eponymous debut LP was just released on In The Name Of/Columbia Records. We think it was worth the wait.
When we were in Costa Rica we ate several of our meals at the hotel restaurant. Each table had a decorative bowl of coffee beans on it. The service was very friendly at the restaurant, but it was a little slow, so to pass the time, my family and I invented games to play with the coffee beans. — Read the rest
Here's a story to stimulate the "rules are rules" crowd — "A Michigan woman is looking at the prospect of 93 days in jail because she planted vegetables in planters in her front yard and refused to abide by the town elders' interpretation of the planning code." — Read the rest
Randy Regier's NuPenny Store in Wichita, KS is not opening today. In fact, it will never open.
More photos after the jump.
[Video Link] Todd Bieber made a fascinating short film about a self-styled snapping turtle expert who encounters a snapper that tries to bite him in the face. (The fellow could be a stand-in for Will Ferrel!) I learned many things from watching this, but two things stand out — 1. — Read the rest
Dangerous Minds recently did a nice image gallery of selected bubblegum trading cards of the 1960s and '70s, including some sci-fi classics, Bo Derek, What's Happening, and Dukes of Hazzard.
[Photo, top: the final Space Shuttle launch, STS-135, taking off from Kennedy Space Center. Shot by Joel Rosenstein, Sawyer's dad. Below, the podcast team "puts their hands together to show unity and harmony between the team of Talking Space," photo by Dr. — Read the rest
$24, Etsy (knitterkrys), via bookofjoe via Tara McGinley.
I spent the last week or so in and around Florida for the final Space Shuttle launch. During that time, I spent more time than I wanted to in a small town called Titusville, not far from the shuttle's home at Kennedy Space Center. — Read the rest
Major tech blog MineCrunch went live with a long-awaited redesign today. Naturally, the internet is angry and confused.
With radical features like black text typeset in Helvetica against a white background, a traditional blog river, bold headlines, faster load times and a fashionable 8-bit style logo, there are .. — Read the rest
"Father and Son: STS-1 and STS-135," a photo by Chris Bray, who is the younger of the two in these side-by-side captures from the very first shuttle launch thirty years ago, and the final one, last Friday. "The picture we waited 30 years to complete." — Read the rest
It's probably the level of concentration required, but these kids do not look nearly as excited about what they are doing as I think they should.
For the last two years, University of Illinois at Chicago graduate student Arthur Nishimoto has been working on this incredible-looking video game based around a multi-touch interface. — Read the rest
Scientists have found evidence of an "ancient buried landscape" that was once above North Atlantic waters, the temporary result–at least in geographical terms–of thermal turmoil beneath the planet's surface.
In "Transient convective uplift of an ancient buried landscape," Ross A. — Read the rest
Joel Johnson and Bill Barol have blogged here before about The Impossible Project, a group of Dutch Polaroid enthusiasts who bought an old Polaroid factory and recreated the company's instant film manufacturing process. General consensus: It's an impressive undertaking, but also kind of unnecessary and expensive. — Read the rest
[Video Link] via Sean Bonner. Contains swearing and alcohol, may not be work or child-safe.
