On New Year's Day 1963, two bodies were discovered on an Australian riverbank. Though their identities were quickly determined, weeks of intensive investigation failed to uncover a cause or motive for their deaths. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell the story of the Bogle-Chandler case, which riveted Australia for years.

We'll also revisit the Rosenhan study and puzzle over a revealing lighthouse.

Show notes

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https://boingboing.net/2020/03/17/a-bizarre-case-of-inexplicable.html

Behold Stella, exemplifying the canine propensity to barrel headlong into piles of leaves.

I’ll just leaf this right here... Stella’s BEST LEAF JUMPS OF ALL TIME!

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https://boingboing.net/2020/03/17/dog-enjoys-leaping-into-large.html

An old Mitchell and Webb skit, contra Voltaire; if you know them, you already know which one it is: "I'm not saying do it. I'm just saying to run it through the computer to see if it would work." Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/17/british-coronavirus-policy-exp.html

With no visitors coming into Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, some of the rockhopper penguins have been given free reign to roam and explore. While Wellington seems really into the Amazon fish tank, Edward and Annie have been using the opportunity to bond together more in anticipation of mating season, according to the Shedd's Facebook page.

Whatever they choose to do with their time, I say: fly free, my tuxedo'd comrades.

Penguins openly explore Chicago aquarium closed due to Covid-19 [The Guardian] Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/17/the-penguins-at-the-chicago-aq.html

Clearwater beach was packed to the waterline Tuesday, crowded by visitors hoping to make the most of the coronavirus pandemic by contracting it and spreading it to as many other people as possible.

Despite pleas from health and government officials asking people to practice social distancing in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, many are ignoring those requests.

On Monday, the beaches were still packed in Clearwater, Florida, with spring breakers electing to ignore the public health crisis. Spotlighted in pictures that have quickly gone viral, hundreds of people can be seen partying on the beach like it’s just another day. According to Tampa’s WFTS, Clearwater officials may not vote on whether to close down beaches until Thursday.

After all these years, Project Normandy finally has a beach head.

BUSY BEACH! This is what @MyClearwater Beach looks like right now as spring break crowds flock to the sand. #Clearwater leaders haven’t decided if they should add a curfew or close beaches but they may vote on measures related to the #coronavirus this Thursday. @abcactionnews pic.twitter.com/jGoxQdYJg5

 Sarah J. Hollenbeck (@SarahHollenbeck) March 16, 2020

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/17/dense-crowds-of-beachgoers-soa.html

If you’re a child of the 20th century, you grew up playing with blocks, dolls, action figures or some assortment of those traditional toys. But for a kid of the 2020s, they’ll be able to say, “When I was a kid, I built my own phone.” It’s a wonderful time to be alive, right?

As impossible as it might seem to believe, you can now actually buy your kid a kit to build their very own working mobile phone. With the CircuitMess Ringo DIY Mobile Phone Kit and Tools, you’ll literally have everything your kid needs to dive in and put together all the components to construct a mobile phone that supports calls and texts, plays games, shows the date and time and works with virtually any mobile network anywhere in the world.

It’s a project that raised over $300,000 on Kickstarter, probably because no one believed it was actually this doable. But give a kid around age 11 or older some basic electronics tools and the detailed build guide and tutorial along with this collection of pieces and in about five hours, they’ll have their own working phone.

The phone features a full-color LCD display screen that’ll play games, access apps and make calls or texts just like any smartphone.

But the project doesn’t end when the phone is assembled. Using Scratch, Python or Arduino code editing platforms, users can actually create their own games and apps, then share them via the included SD card. The games can be played using the phone’s own built-in gaming joystick, not to mention its own internal WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/17/the-ringo-is-a-build-it-yourse.html

Warning folks in the past about how spooky (and deadly) COVID-19 is making life for people all around the world would be the best use of a time machine right now if, you know, we actually had one. This video of Italians talking to the person they were, ten days ago, is likely the next best thing.

North America is juuuuuuuuust a little ways behind the level of COVID-19 clusterfuck that Italy is currently experiencing. It could get just as bad here as it is there. Wash your hands, constantly. Stay at home. Look after one another. It's going to be a long year.

Or two. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/17/video-italians-talk-to-their.html

Matt Ruff is one of science fiction and fantasy's most consistently brilliant and innovative authors, whose recent work includes The Mirage (an incredible alternate history in which the Global War on Terror is kicked off when Christian crusaders from the blighted, tribal USA fly a plane into the United States of Arabia's Twin Towers in Dubai, giving the hawkish CIA chief Osama bin Laden the chance to launch the all-out war he's been champing for), and Lovecraft Country (an anti-racist reimagining of Cthulhu set in Jim Crow America where the real horror is white supremacy -- now being adapted for TV by Jordan Peele). In his new novel, 88 Names, Ruff adds to the canon of MMORPG heist novels (Charlie Stross's Rule 34, Neal Stephenson's Reamde, and my For the Win, to name three) with a unique take that he dubbed "Snow Crash meets The King and I."

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/17/3d-gen-gold-farmers.html

There are few experiences that match the sheer raw power of being front and center for a huge rock concert. It can be exhilarating. But without sounding too much like your mom, it can also be far more dangerous than you realize.

Hearing damage often happens from exposure to prolonged loud noises over 85 decibels (dB). Rock concerts can hit 115 dB, depending on where you’re standing. And if you’ve ever come away from a show with that muffled ringing sound in your ears for a few hours or maybe even a few days after, that’s tinnitus. While it’s often temporary, it’s also auditory Russian roulette — because the effect can become permanent. And while we’re on the subject, exactly how high do you crank the music on those earbuds?

The World Health Organization estimates 1.1 billion 12 to 35-year-olds face irreversible hearing loss as a result of exposure to loud noise. You can avoid becoming a statistic with some foresight and protection like the Eartune Live U Universal Ear Plugs.

Eartunes are engineered to retain all the clarity of your music, just at levels about 20 decibels lower than the unfiltered sound. Their proprietary acoustic filters reduce the volume of the world around you, yet modulate the sound waves, maintaining the sound in the medium frequency spectrum while expertly filtering out high and low range noise and distortion that can damage the fine hairs of the ear.

In the event that fashion moves you more than preventing hearing loss, the Eartunes are actually so small and unobtrusive that others can hardly tell you’re wearing them. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/16/these-earplugs-are-engineered.html

In an effort to stave off boredom during the great quarantine of 2020, our pals over at Chaosium have made their award-winning Call of Cthulhu The Coloring Book available as a free download.

They've also announced a Call of Cthulhu The Coloring Book coloring competition. Share your colored handiwork on social media with the hashtag #homewithchaosium and they'll reshare and will be giving away prizes to their favorite entries.

Images: Chaosium, Inc. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/16/attention-shut-in-chaos-cultis.html

Maker icon and Boing Boing friend, Mister Jalopy, is one of my all-time favorite outside-the-box thinkers. David Letterman used to be fond of saying: "He (or she) ain't hooked up right." He always meant it as a compliment -- someone who marched to their own drummer, someone unvarnished, someone who didn't succumb to habituated thinking. Mister Jalopy ain't hooked up right.

In this Instagram video, he announces that his store, Coco's Variety, LA's most idiosyncratic bike shop, will remain open where so many other stores are closing. They are going old-timey and setting up a counter in the entrance to the store. Customers will approach the counter, request what they want, and the staff will bring purchases to them. They will also still work on your bike (if you're willing to have it washed in disinfectant first).

It will be interesting to see what other retailers do creatively to remain open. This is an inspiring start.

 

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Coco’s is trying to keep the doors open to keep the wheels turning. Unprecedented times in which cycling becomes more important, not less so.

A post shared by Coco's Variety (@cocosvariety) on Mar 16, 2020 at 12:51pm PDT

Image: Screengrab Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/16/mister-jalopy-offers-a-unique.html

Lithub has a wonderful piece on the classic Jimmy Webb composition, "Wichita Lineman," one of the most enduring pop songs ever written. Made famous by the late Glen Campbell, the author of piece describes the song as one that "defies the injustice of repetition."

And then, there's that amazing "I need you more than want you" couplet.

There is little ambiguity about the greatest couplet ever written. The punchline—the sucker punch—of “Wichita Lineman,” the line in the song that resonates so much, the line that contains one of the most exquisite romantic couplets in the history of song—“And I need you more than want you / and I want you for all time”—could be many people’s perfect summation of love, although some, including writer Michael Hann, think it’s something sadder and perhaps more profound. “It is need, more than want, that defines the narrator’s relationship; if they need their lover more than wanting them, then naturally they will want them for all time. The couplet encompasses the fear that those who have been in relationships do sometimes struggle with: good God, what happens to me if I am left alone?” Hann is certainly right when he says that it’s a heart-stopping line, and no matter how many hundreds of times you hear it, no matter what it means to you, it never loses its ability to shock and confound.

Read the rest here.

Here is Glen Campbell singing the track on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour in the late 60s. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/16/the-enduring-beauty-of-jimmy-w.html

The Flu (2013) is available as an Amazon Prime streaming movie.

From the YouTube description:

The Flu is the first ever South Korean disaster film about a viral pandemic. It has been garnering much attention after being voted first place in "Most Anticipated Film" survey conducted by Nate for August with a whopping 47%. The highly anticipated disaster film tells the story of panic, despair, and desperate struggle for survival of a hopeless city that has been quarantined and essentially left for dead after the outbreak of a deadly virus. With its realistic portrayal of the horror and chaos that follows a national scale disaster, "The Flu" may just be the film that will make history in the South Korean disaster film genre.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/16/this-2013-movie-about-a-viral.html

In Oregon, the Newport Police Department posted a message on Facebook (pasted below) urging citizens not to dial 911 when they run out of toilet paper. The reason they posted this is because, yes, people have been they expect stupid people will be calling 911 after running out of toilet paper. (Here's their update that spurred the correction.)

image: GorillaSushi (CC BY-SA 2.0) Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/16/police-no-more-calling-911-wh.html

As a parent, you likely start feeling a little guilty whenever you let your kid play video games for too long. Gaming is fun and most kids get completely enraptured, but you inevitably start thinking about all the more enriching and educational ways they could fill those hours spent rampaging through digital worlds and blasting enemies.

So how about a compromise? You’ll let them dig deep into cool games on a fun gaming console...but they have to build the whole thing first. And we don’t just mean plugging in controllers and making sure the AC cable is working.

The MAKERbuino Educational DIY Game Console is the perfect project for getting game-obsessed kids actually delving deeper into electronics and thinking about exactly how their games actually work. In fact, you may never find a more kid-friendly introduction to a STEM career than giving them the freedom to literally build their own gaming system.

Based on Arduino UNO electronics boards, this kit includes all the components and detailed instructions to help inquisitive youngsters or even curious oldsters assemble their very own working handheld gaming device with more than 30 preloaded games.

It does require some basic soldering and at least five hours to put together, so it’s best for kids who are tweens or older, but no kid will feel more rewarded than after they’ve actually constructed a gaming device all on their own.

Compatible with Arduino expansion modules and programmed in open-source Arduino IDE, the most popular programming environment for makers, the MAKERbuino is ultra-customizable. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/16/launch-a-kids-stem-career-w.html

The folks in Trump's loyalty cult were crowing with I-told-you-so glee when the stock market experienced a relatively puny uptick on Friday. Trump even added his signature to a misleadingly cropped chart of the short-lived rally and sent it to his most embarrassingly spittle-licking sycophants, like Fox News' Lou Dobbs, who could barely contain his excitement over the temporary blip.

 

At the end of Monday's trading day, the Dow had dropped nearly 3,000 points, making Trump's autographed rally look like statistical noise. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/16/trump-signed-his-name-to-dow-c.html

Get ready to sing. With thousands of other people. Alone at home. That's the idea behind the upcoming Choir! Choir! Choir! Facebook Live event, "Choir!ntine: EPIC Social Distan-Sing-Along!"

The experts have spoken and we’re seriously taking their advice that sticking close to home, and limiting exposure to other people will help reduce the spread of the corona virus. At the same time, it’s been sad to have to postpone gigs in Toronto and around the world. But just because we're now in a time of “social distancing”, doesn’t mean we can’t hang out, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do this Tuesday!

Presenting: "Choir!ntine" - An EPIC Social Distan-Sing-Along!

Starting at 8pm EST, DaBu will broadcast from their living room and everyone is invited to log on and sing with us. And just like our shows, we’ll hang out, share some laughs and hold our C!ommunity close. Whether you've ever come out to Choir! or not, you are invited to join us online.

Want to be part of it?

First, download the lyrics. You'll be belting out familiar songs like "Lean on Me," Bowie's "Space Oddity." and the Golden Girls' theme, "You've Got a Friend."

Second, head to the Choir! Choir! Choir! Facebook page on Tuesday, March 17 (8 p.m. Eastern/5 p.m. Pacific).

Third, SING YOUR LITTLE HEART OUT. (Again, home alone.)

This Tuesday from 8-9:30pm EST, you are invited to CHOIR!NTINE: AN EPIC SOCIAL DISTANCING SING-A-LONG

Where: https://t.co/m9cfdli0gr

Download lyrics here: https://t.co/yRMl7IzXdX

Then join our Livestream Tuesday at 8pm!

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/16/choir-choir-choir-to-host-o.html

Don't get me wrong — it's fun to be in the audience during a big, zany wrestling match, cheering on the drama both despite and to embrace the kayfabe. But this gloriously bizarre performance art satisfies a very different part of my brain.

  Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/16/wwe-smackdown-without-an-audie.html

My favorite thing about joke D&D alignment charts is that I am always, always Chaotic Good. I just can't avoid my nature, and everybody knows it.

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some friendly dos/donts

A post shared by Aiden :) (@aidenarata) on Mar 15, 2020 at 8:53pm PDT

Lawful Good: washing your hands, social distancing, and forwarding your mom's pandemic advice emails to your friends

Neutral Good: taking loong moody walks by yourself at weird hours of the day

Chaotic Good: having a facetime tinder hookup and venmoing your service industry friends what you would have spent at the bar

Lawful Neutral: writing a series of poems/personal essays on what "distance" means to you

True Neutral: putting aside your manuscript to watch all 543 episodes of chopped

Chaotic Neutral: adopting a lizard

Lawful Evil: hoarding hand sanitizer and toilet paper

Neutral Evil: exacerbating panic and yelling at people on the internet

Chaotic Evil: having the privilege and resources to be able to self-isolate and choosing not to because this is America and you feel fine

via Aiden Arata on Instagram

Top  image via Wikimedia Commons / CC 4.0 Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/16/tag-yourself-on-this-social-di.html

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/16/professional-sports-bettors-ar.html