A US citizen had government-grade spyware placed on his laptop by the Ethiopian government, who proceeded to monitor his Skype calls, instant messages, and his whole family's Internet use. Finspy,… Read the rest of the article: American citizen and EFF sue Ethiopian government for installing British spyware on laptop

An airline passenger with a medical condition requiring small amounts of food at regular intervals was stymied when the LHA TSA declared his peanut butter to be a "liquid." But… Read the rest of the article: Hungry man defeats TSA's war on peanut butter by spreading it on crackers

In Frequency, the latest XKCD cartoon, Randall Munroe has assembled a grid of animated GIFs representing various events in the universe, each keyed to blink in the frequency in which… Read the rest of the article: XKCD's "Frequency" – using blinking GIFs to visualize the relative frequency of the momentous and trivial

Noah sez, "My dear friend Sam Strick of Laboratory and Scroll Down to Riker, is currently running a Kickstarter for an awesome board game that he designed, originally, to fit… Read the rest of the article: Kickstarting a pocket-sized board-game

As mentioned, I'm in Florence, Italy with my daughter for a speaking gig. We toured the Palazzo Vecchio on the first day, and happened on a bust of Dante, and… Read the rest of the article: Dante for fun: kids books that retell the Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso

Shubham Banerjee, a seventh grader in Santa Clara, California, invented a Lego Mindstorms-based Braille printer called the Braigo. He's declared his intention to release his printer — which costs about… Read the rest of the article: Seventh grader's Lego-based Braille printer

Nigel, a Scottish forensic artist, did this facial reconstruction job on a bottle of Crystal Head Vodka, yielding up a glimpse of how the grotesque crystalline monsters whose skulls are… Read the rest of the article: Forensic reconstruction of a Crystal Head Vodka skull

Makeup artist Psycho Sandra created an amazing, gross-out effect for her Hallowe'en costume last year: she created the illusion that she had made a domino mask of her own flayed… Read the rest of the article: Gross-out makeup: flayed-skin domino mask

One year ago today Maryland landlord used tiny cameras to sexually spy on tenants: A landlord will go on trial in Montgomery County District Court, Maryland, over charges he secretly… Read the rest of the article: This Day in Blogging History: Landlord spied on tenants' sex-lives; Coping with collapse-anxiety; Moving to London – going-away party

John Henson, son of Muppets creator Jim Henson, has died at 48 from a heart-attack. Henson, who had no history of heart problems, was a board member of the Jim… Read the rest of the article: RIP, John Henson, son of Jim Henson

Artist Rachelliles352's Deviantart profile is full of gorgeous hand-painted shoes. Of course, my favorite set are these custom-painted Haunted Mansion high-tops — there's a wonderful line there, and some sweet… Read the rest of the article: Hand-painted Haunted Mansion shoes

I ran into Mario Cesari at a market in Florence, Italy today (I'm in town to speak at the Museums and the Web conference). He's a metalworker who produces beautiful… Read the rest of the article: Fine metalworking: tiny knives and batlike brooches from Mario Cesari

One year ago today Slave Leo, A Genderbent Slave Leia Costume: Hobbyist armorsmith Ryan spent the winter creating a version of the iconic "Slave Leia" costume fit for a man.… Read the rest of the article: This Day in Blogging History: Genderbent Slave Leia; NZ Netizens go dark in protest of 3 strikes rule; Dmitry Sklyarov's DRM-cracking book

Keyan sez, "FOGcon is a literary speculative fiction convention in the San Francisco Bay Area. Now in its 4th year, it's big enough to be fun, still small enough not… Read the rest of the article: Fogcon: cozy, Wiscon-style San Francisco science fiction convention

A new Snowden leak, "SUSLOC (Special US Liaison Office Canberra) Facilitates Sensitive DSD Reporting on Trade Talks," details how the NSA mentored and oversaw Australian spies, and sanctioned their surveillance… Read the rest of the article: NSA authorized Australian wiretapping of US law firms in trade-dispute

NBC's Sochi headquarters includes a secret, prohibited Starbucks with a crew of 15 imported baristas that keeps the NBC crew fuelled and in good spirits. NBC and Starbucks say that… Read the rest of the article: Sochi's black-market Starbucks, courtesy of NBC

Myles Power, a debunker who goes after junk science and conspiracy theorists, has gone after AIDS denialists and a terrible, falsehood-ridden, dangerous documentary called "House of Numbers," which holds that… Read the rest of the article: AIDS deniers use bogus copyright claims to censor critical Youtube videos

One year ago today The flags really make this sign: USA USA USA Five years ago today European Commission demands a single, standard phone charger: The European Commission is getting… Read the rest of the article: This Day in Blogging History: Flags on an airport sign; EC demands unified phone-charger; James Joyce's descendants are copyright jerks

Mass-murderer Anders Breivik has issued a second letter of complaint about the conditions he's endured in a Norwegian prison since killing 77 teenagers attending a conference for the youth wing… Read the rest of the article: Anders Breivik threatens hunger strike over "torture" of only getting a PS2

Chris Locke writes, "Why should kids have all the fun? '99 Ways To Die: a Coloring Book for ADULTS' is for mature audiences who love to color, but are tired… Read the rest of the article: Kickstarting an adult coloring book: 99 Ways to Die