A multi-part investigation on how an increasingly broken mental health care system in the U.S. fails to protect the public from people too sick to not be institutionalized. People like convicted killer Bruce Williams. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/0D_5LR9p0Eg/how-americas-mental-health-s.html

"Touch is love. Now, close your eyes." Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/g3kslP9kzEA/lovely-animatronic-robot-dance.html

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/vqiWAe3P60g/hobby-lobby-boy.html

In 1906, the mathematician Francis Galton devised a way to keep cake fresh when serving only one piece a day.

Unfortunately, his method is an elaborate process requiring bizarrely-shaped slices and rubber bands, and is further dependent on the English horror-practice of coating cakes in fondant instead of actually-edible frosting. You don't have to do this, America, because you invented a way out of this problem decades ago:

How to keep cake fresh like a sane person

Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/Zrqf_zpcdSs/francis-galton-wrong-about-eu.html

Under the world's most boring headline, the New York Times published a bizarre scoop by reporter James Risen this weekend. Did you read it? Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/HvRTB_F0lq8/blackwater-threatened-to-murde.html

No, really, it is. This is what's lovingly referred to as 'outsider music,' and it's fabulous.

Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/wekkciOzBYw/this-is-definitely-the-worst-m.html

This video of a pet lovebird stripping off "feathers" of paper, then inserting them among her actual tailfeathers, is blowing my mind. The video appears to have first hit the internet in 2011, and isn't the only one of its kind--so it seems this may be something of a thing among this species. [Video Link]

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/rGO31IO2NUw/watch-this-lovebird-craft-new.html

Airshowfan writes, "Over the past several years, various citizen groups in Brazil have used the power of online crowdsourcing in creative ways to tackle social problems large and small." Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/pFyqZsGm3P8/brazils-internet-enabled-act.html

Temperatures rise. Scientists warn and study. Conspiracy theorists cry foul. Politicians scoff and wheedle and suppress, while their bureaucrats calmly plan ahead. In the meantime, life and death go onjust not in quite the same way we're used to. Posted by Rob Beschizza. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/ItCZyVUHhGQ/climate-change-is-life-and-dea.html

For what's basically insect poop vomited up by a bee, it's delicious, says Kelly Kittell. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/cAqLgpSNHr0/aphid-poo-is-a-taste-treat.html

Jim Rugg interviews Andrew Neal, who devised a plan to create a dozen variant-edition comic covers for popular series. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/-3yXQ-vjU4g/the-story-behind-ghost-variant.html

Demonstration of a DIY device to turn plastic bottles into plastic string/ribbon. (Thanks, Rick Pescovitz!)

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/qsUwYO6Lb7k/video-turning-plastic-bottles.html

It's been 20 years since the first major label experiment in putting music online: on Jun 27, 1994, Geffen Music put a WAV file of Aerosmith's "Head First" on Compuserve, which waived its hourly fee for people who wanted to download the track over their dial-up modems. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/L9jv6hsCNDc/aerosmith-debuted-a-single-on.html

Written by three science instructors, The Chemistry of Alchemy: From Dragon's Blood to Donkey Dung, How Chemistry Was Forged" is a combination weird science history and DIY projects book. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/xV1gUcF3eXI/diy-alchemy.html

Creepy entertainer Robin Thicke thought he would be able to establish #AskThicke as his personal Q&A hashtag. So it goes.

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/Hu8JAlzx2T0/thicke-trolled-mercilessly.html

In 1961 just a few days before a meeting of scientists interested in the search for ET, pioneering astronomer Frank Drake came up with a powerful provocation: an equation to estimate the number of worlds likely to harbor extraterrestrial civilizations; over at National Geographic, his science writer daughter Nadia looks at her dad's impact.

Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/YgD8DXsxVIE/nadia-drake-on-her-dads-equa.html

Prince Blackman's "Rockers Delight" (1980) "cover" of The Sugar Hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight," listenable below, is only one of the deep groovers on the new Tropical Disco Hustle compilation of 70s and 80s tracks recorded in the Caribbean, available on CD and a much-preferred 2LP gatefold vinyl edition. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/dknXh6oXCcs/reggae-disco-rappers-delig.html

I hate struggling to keep phones, camera and tablets charged while I travel. Inateck's high powered 4 port USB charger makes life a lot easier.

Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/dpR89ffXQnU/inateck-4-port-30w-usb-wall-ch.html

Here is your periodic reminder that Ann Coulter is a troll. [Gawker]

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/IplYAa0AhpM/on-ann-coulter.html

A poll found respondents expecting a more divided nation with diminished world standing. Some respondents, that is. [The Atlantic]

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/MDARxcb81kc/america-in-2024.html