A new Russian law requires companies to store Russians' data within Russia's borders, out of reach of the NSA, and in reach of Russia's own secret police. It's China all over again, writes Cory Doctorow. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/jkgn-pc10ao/kremlin-offers-silicon-valley.html

One year ago today North American Lake Monsters: short fiction with every delicate flavor of sorrow: Some of Ballingrud's very best work has been collected in a moving, sorrowful volume called North American Lake Monsters.

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http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/2sBZwCGHEPk/blogging-history-north-americ.html

For the first time in his long and storied career, Terry Pratchett has canceled a UK appearance, due to his failing health. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/CiFJJVDY3I0/terry-pratchett-cant-attend.html

@Cnnyourmom is admittedly immature, but works surprisingly well: "Your Mom Forms In Atlantic, Threatens North Carolina" (via JWZ)

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/pwHOCNUNAlg/cnnyourmom-inserting-your.html

I don't see why it's so controversial, frankly.

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/bdqhKr-hd0k/prince-william-portrait.html

This is the last day for the second Mayday.US fundraiser, where you can help Larry Lessig raise $5M to elect Congressmen who will fight for campaign finance reform and against the corrupting influence of money in politics. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/pARulqI75xo/mayday-us-is-down-to-the-wire.html

"Fireworks," a classic by PES. Happy Independence Day!

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/NYajtEt3Fnk/fireworks-animation-by-pes.html

This week in Gadgets, Drew Curtis of Fark joins Xeni, Jason, and Mark to discuss a laser temperature probe, an app for wine enthusiasts, an RFID blocking wallet, a Wifi scale, the best online walking cane store, and a two-piece smartphone charger. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/RFE4zGBvToc/cool-canes-hot-probes-rfid-b.html

A 31 year old employee of BND, the German foreign intelligence agency, has been arrested on suspicion of espionage on behalf of the NSA. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/ps3RU-OS_MU/germany-spy-arrested-on-suspic.html

Daniel DeFabio visits the new set of Star Trek: Phase II, a fan-production so perfect that its episodes seem warped straight out of 1968. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/zCV21UQ3PZQ/startrekphaseii.html

The terrible writing and design of spook memos and Powerpoint slides have come to the fore since June 2013. However, that doesn't mean that there's not some pretty good style guides available for America's brave spooks. USA USA USA. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/z4V8VyE89Lg/elements-of-spook-style.html

I love my dogs, but Florida man is making me look bad. In this video his teen rescuers recount the tale.

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http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/t6TSvDRZ9ME/vengeance-in-his-heart-florid.html

Police Squad!, which hit the air in the fall of 1982, was a thirty-minute comedy on ABC created by Zucker Abrahams and Zucker, who’d had enormous success two years earlier with Airplane!

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http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/E3-6SxUbnbA/police-squad-was-cancelled-be.html

Freedom looks an awful lot like watching a brat pack movie on acid.

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http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/xScxxE6vOAs/im-free-the-soup-dragons.html

Emerald Ash Borer will likely kill 99% of the ash trees in North America. We can't stop it. So what happens next?

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http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/efcOBTe2is8/what-happens-to-forests-when-i.html

Fascinating history at Nature, about the way war began the still-unfinished process of integrating female minds into the scientific world.

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/2GtDN2QcMpY/how-world-war-i-brought-women.html

Fulgurites are glass tubes formed when lightning strikes a desert or beach. Artificial fulgurites are made by running a high-voltage arc through a tub of sand.

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http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/TW4fFjdtD4E/making-petrified-lightning.html

Speedtalking math-vlogger Vi Hart isn't just a math wizard: she's also a brilliant songstress. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/k4xqoI_W04c/songs-for-the-carpool-lane.html

One year ago today Arpanet map, March 1977: This was once the entire expanse of the Internet.

Five years ago today Dead Gnomes: idiotically grinning ghastly garden gnomes: Out of the Blue's "Dead Gnome" line features garden gnomes with pistols in their mouths, or holding up the dripping heads of decapitated brethren, industriously sawing their own hands off, hanging from a gibbet, grinning glassily at the arrow that's pierced their heads, and so on. It's the wet, happy grins that get me.

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http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/DuFY6XzsZZ8/blogging-history-1977-arpanet.html

The National Literacy Trust has dotted London with painted benches that celebrate classic works of literature from Paddington to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/HRjHYbQ-6vg/painted-bookbenches-spring.html