The 75-issue Sandman comic book series was of course Neil Gaiman's first big foray into fame. What began as a story in the DC Comics Universe about Morpheus, the Avatar of Dreams, eventually spawned its own separate interconnected comic book universe, as well as DC's adult imprints like Vertigo (RIP). It's a sprawling story about dreams, passion, and stories that's absolutely worth reading (if you somehow haven't already).

Audible will be releasing an audio drama adaptation of the first 3 graphic novel collections — Preludes & Nocturnes, The Doll's House, and Dream Country — on July 15. And the casting so far looks pretty phenomenal, including Neil Gaiman himself as the narrator.

The US @Audible preorder link is https://t.co/N2k9dhF60gThe UK link ishttps://t.co/478Sfuu1z7And there's James McAvoy, @OfficialKat, @michaelsheen, @BebeNeuwirth, @rizwanahmed, @josielawrence1, @andyserkis and so many more... pic.twitter.com/yyzGhyfvP8

 Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) May 13, 2020

Here's the official synopsis from Amazon:

When The Sandman, also known as Lord Morpheus—the immortal king of dreams, stories and the imagination—is pulled from his realm and imprisoned on Earth by a nefarious cult, he languishes for decades before finally escaping. Once free, he must retrieve the three "tools" that will restore his power and help him to rebuild his dominion, which has deteriorated in his absence. As the multi-threaded story unspools, The Sandman descends into Hell to confront Lucifer (Michael Sheen), chases rogue nightmares who have escaped his realm, and crosses paths with an array of characters from DC comic books, ancient myths, and real-world history, including: Inmates of Gotham City's Arkham Asylum, Doctor Destiny, the muse Calliope, the three Fates, William Shakespeare (Arthur Darvill), and many more.

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/13/casting-announced-for-the-upco.html

"Lumen in the Land of Nanite" is a real-time Unreal Engine 5 demonstration running live on PlayStation. The new UE5 has two technologies: "Nanite virtualized micropolygon geometry, which frees artists to create as much geometric detail as the eye can see, and Lumen, a fully dynamic global illumination solution that immediately reacts to scene and light changes." Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/13/demo-of-new-unreal-game-engine.html

Tomorrow, Thursday (5/14), I'm honored to be moderating a free online conversation with two brilliant women whose work is a light in the darkness during these uncertain times. My friend Ann Druyan is the executive producer, writer, and director of Cosmos, the iconic TV show she co-created with her late husband and collaborator, astronomer and science communicator Carl Sagan. From her work as creative director of the Voyager Golden Record to her numerous books, most recently Cosmos: Possible Worlds, Ann has spent her life sparking curiosity and wonder about the universe and our place in it.

Ann and Carl's daughter, Sasha Sagan, is the author of the new book For Small Creatures Such As We, a lovely, inspiring memoir exploring the intersection of science and spirituality in a secular home. The title is from a quote found in the pages of Contact, a novel written by Ann and Carl: "For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love." Like her parents, Sasha has the passion, wisdom, and talent to simultaneously instill awe, hope, and skepticism through her creative work.

The conversation, hosted by the Jewish arts and culture organization Reboot, takes place at 2:30pm PT / 5:30pm PT. Pre-register on Zoom and Facebook Live. From the event description:

The Interplay of Science and Ritual in a Time of Flux

Over the eons, our relationship to science and ritual has been inextricably linked to our understanding of our place in the universe. Join Emmy Award-winning writer, director, producer Ann Druyan and her daughter, author Sasha Sagan, in conversation with Boing Boing co-founder David Pescovitz to talk about emerging philosophies that can provide hope as we struggle to adjust to our new normal on Earth.

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/13/tomorrow-thursday-sasha-sag.html

200 goats escaped from an enclosure in East San Jose and quickly conquered its East Foothills neighborhood Tuesday evening, according to reports from the street. A local resident, Terry Roelands, told reporters that he regularly employs the goats to clear brush behind his house, but this time they broke free and descended upon the city.

"When I got back from the store all the goats had broken through the fence and were recking havoc on our street," wrote Zach Roelands on Twitter. "This is the craziest thing to happen all quarantine."

Tag yourself; I'm the goat grabbing a quick snack 41s in. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/13/goat-army-roams-east-san-jose.html

The sun has a core temperature of 27 million degrees Fahrenheit. So if your oven only needs to reach 425 degrees to cook a chicken or some potatoes and veggies, why can’t the sun just handle your kitchen duties when an oven isn’t viable?

It can. And solar ovens that channel the sun’s rays into solar energy for backyard barbecues, weekend camping trip feasts or just to boil water in an emergency are easier than ever to use. That goes double for the Go Portable Solar Oven, which maker GoSun bills as the most portable solar oven ever. 

And considering the Go clocks in at just over a foot long and only weighs about two pounds, that’s a hard claim to argue. Yet despite its size, the Go is a beast, capable of generating temperatures up to 550 degrees, all from the power of the sun, to bake, roast, steam, or boil virtually anywhere.

In case you’re worried, this is actually an all-weather oven, meaning you can reach cooking temperatures even with rain, clouds, and snow in the forecast. Basically, if you can see a shadow, the Go has even rays to cook.

Just dice and prepare your food on to the foot-long cooking tube, slide it into the heart of the Go, adjust your cooking reflective surface “wings” to capture the best sun angle and 20 to 45 minutes later, you’ll have fully cooked delicious meals, all without toting any gases, fuels or other heating elements around. 

The Go is also a winner for beverages, brewing coffee or tea; or for sterilizing water for cooking or drinking.  Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/13/the-worlds-most-portable-so.html

What’s the biggest website in the world?  Wait, let’s amend that question...what’s the biggest website in the world other than the site that helps you find all the other sites?

Once you take Google out of the equation, the biggest site on the entire interwebs is the Google-owned home for all manner of video, YouTube. In fact, YouTube has more monthly traffic than Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon combined.

Therefore, if you’re going to create content, specifically video content, it only makes sense to put it in front of the largest audience on the web anywhere. However, if you’re unclear about exactly how to wrangle all those eyeballs to your product video or promotional work, the training in The Complete Content Creator Bundle for YouTube package can help you carve out a right path to viewer riches.

With this 10-course, 50-plus hour package of instruction, expert trainers will help you understand YouTube, what drives its metrics, and ultimately how to bring hundreds, hundreds of thousands, or even millions to your online door.

Of course, you can’t bring people to videos that don’t exist, so three of the courses in this bundle focus on some of the world’s most popular video editing software. Coursework here will get you up to speed on how to edit videos like a pro using Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects, Final Cut Pro X, and Camtasia. 

Now that you’ve got content, the lion’s share of the training in this bundle focuses on tips for optimizing your YouTube channel and utilizing all the battle-tested methods for bringing interested viewers to your videos. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/12/learn-how-to-create-engaging-c.html

Boing Boing pals, magician Ferdinando Buscema and writer Erik Davis (High Weirdness), have created a really lovely and provocative little four-minute “visual meditation” based on the PK Dick essay, How To Build A Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later

Ferdinando says he put the piece together "to alchemize the anxiety and distill something magical from unhappy times."

Image: YouTube Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/12/ferdinando-buscema-and-erik-da.html

When Little Richard died a few days ago, everyone was quick to rightfully hail him as the true king of rock and roll (which he was always quick to crown himself). But he was also the queen (which he would also sometimes declare).

David Bowie is often identified as the great leopard messiah who made unapologetic gender fluidity acceptable in rock and roll, but he (and countless others) got their inspiration --and costume and makeup tips-- from Little Richard. James Brown, Bowie, Prince, Elton John, Marc Bolan, Jagger, Plant, Rundgren, Alice Cooper, and all the rest of them, even John Waters' mustache, owe an immense debt to Little Richard (who...um...owes his own great debt to Esquerita). Richard had nearly as much of an impact on the style, preen and swagger, and the transgressive posturings of rock and roll as did his music.

Hail the Queen!

Read a bit more on the subject (and see some cool pictures) in this article in The Guardian.

Image: Anna Bleker, Public Domain Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/12/little-richard-gender-bender.html

The cartoonist Richard Sala passed away this week at the age of 61. I always loved his work and own many of his comic books.

Cartoonist Daniel Clowes wrote a beautiful tribute to his friend, Richard Sala:

Richard was a very complicated guy, totally unlike anyone I've ever met. He could be gregarious and charming, always energetic and animated in conversation, but also crippled by terrible anxiety and profoundly agoraphobic. Over the years, it got harder and harder to get him out of the house. I basically forced him to meet me for lunch every Friday, and we did that right up until the COVID quarantine, but toward the end, that was the extent of his social life (except for the vast hours he spent online — a true lifeline). He would always show up five minutes late, furious about traffic, wearing a thick, black work shirt and his famous bucket hat, which curiously covered a full head of thick hair. He would close his eyes tight while ordering, as though trying to solve a complicated math equation, and then chop his ham and eggs into weird goulash, which he never finished.

It is with great sadness that we share the news that our dear friend, the cartoonist Richard Sala, has passed away at the age of 61. We are still processing, and will say more soon, but our hearts are with his close friends and family who are grieving this insurmountable loss. pic.twitter.com/19p2GuUUn6

 Fantagraphics Books (@fantagraphics) May 9, 2020

Daniel Clowes wrote a loving tribute to his best friend, cartoonist Richard Sala, who passed away on May 1st.

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/12/cartoonist-richard-sala-1955.html

Here's a cool 1971 performance of Kraftwerk on Beat Club. This short-lived long-haired lineup included Florian Schneider, who passed away last week, the late Klaus Dinger (Neu!), and Michael Rother (Neu! and Harmonia).

And here is Michael Rother's eulogy to Schneider in Uncut.

“Florian had a unique metal construction onstage on which he assembled his effect units and a mixer. He played an electrified violin which he ran through a fuzz box and a wah-wah pedal, and a flute which he treated with delay and a unit that changed the pitch to one octave down. Especially this flute, and the way Florian played it like a crazy fast-forward bass, was thoroughly exciting and unheard before. Unfortunately, the sound engineers who did the recordings at Beat Club (TV) and Radio Bremen didn’t understand that Florian’s contributions to our sound were much more interesting and vital than my guitar playing, and so they put Florian too low in the audio mix.

“The trio with Florian, Klaus Dinger on drums and myself on guitar only lasted for 5 or 6 months but I remember some truly exciting concerts, and everything that followed in my musical life had a connection to this beginning with Ralf and Florian. After we separated in July 1971, Klaus and I continued as a duo (Neu!) and Florian got back together with Ralf H"utter.

Read the rest

And here's an even earlier 1970 lineup with Schneider, Dinger, and Ralf H"utter.

Image:YouTube Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/12/rare-early-kraftwerk-performan.html

Nintendo staffer Rob Heiret and his colleagues worked on the localization of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, translating its Japanese dialogue and culture for an English-speaking audience. Well, on Sunday, in a long and insightful Twitter thread, Rob shared some thoughts about their work on the game, and the story behind its sea bass joke... which he wrote. If you're not familiar, when you catch a sea bass fishing in the game (and it's a common catch), this joke appears in a pop-up,

"I caught a sea bass! No, wait — it's at least a C+!"

Cute for a few yuks, but can grow tiresome, as he admits:

If you've played the game, you're tired of the sea bass joke. I get it. *I'M* tired of the sea bass joke, and I wrote it. But here's a secret about the sea bass joke:

It was originally "I caught a sea bass! Well...maybe a C- bass...)

He goes on to explain:

And when we were workshopping the fish jokes, someone pointed out that, as a joke people were going to see many, many times, generally along with disappointment they didn't catch something better, maybe it would be better to spin it positive. Make it a C+ instead.

He furthers:

From a comedy-mechanics perspective, it's the same joke, relying on the homophones "sea" and "C" to change how you perceive the description of the animal (and, let's be honest, it would work better as a verbal joke than it does in print, but that fish has sailed).

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/12/guy-behind-that-animal-crossin.html

Back in the 3rd millennia BC, Mesopotamians measured by cubit, which was approximately the 18-inch length of the forearm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. A few hundred years later, we got to the measuring tape...and those, ladies and gentlemen, are the big highlights in the evolution of human measurement.

Oh sure, we figured out feet and yards and things — and somebody eventually patented a spring return tape measure that truly changed the game. But when you get right down to it, the art of measuring stuff hasn’t advanced a whole lot over the course of human civilization.

Of course, we’ve now entered the third epoch of measurement enlightenment with the birth of the Rollova 2.0 Digital Ruler, a handy little device that’s as big a jump in measuring from here to there as that old cubit method.

The Rollova removes the need for a tape measure or that wooden ruler you used in grade school. Instead, it’s a pocket-friendly, slyly smart gadget that measures...well, virtually anything.

Just fire up the Rollova, then roll it along the length you want to measure. Whether it’s a flat surface, curved, or a textured object with all kinds of weird angles, the Rollova doesn’t get thrown. Its stainless steel body and 10,000-to-1 high-contrast ratio OLED screen spring to life, showing you the exact length of your measurement in any method you choose.

Whether you cling to the old Imperial system of inches, feet, and yards, or ride for the new and improved metric system of meters, the Rollova digitally tracks your distance and shows it to you. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/12/this-digital-ruler-is-the-gadg.html

It was an unparalled thrill to have Boing Boing's own Rob Beschizza on the Cool Tools podcast! Read the show notes at the Cool Tools website. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/12/rob-beschizza-on-the-cool-tool.html

I worked as an engineering intern for a couple of summers when I was in college. I shared a cubicle with a draftsperson named Laura. She was obsessed with two things -- being a member in good standing of an outlaw motorcycle gang, and her drafting materials, especially her mechanical pencil. I liked her very much, but one time I made the mistake of borrowing her pencil while she was on a cigarette break. When she came back and discovered me using it she was so mad I thought she was going to stab me with it. I remember her describing the pencil as her "bread and butter." I promised I wouldn't use it again and we got along wonderfully for the rest of the summer.

I'm 99% percent sure the pencil she owned was an Alvin Draft-Matic 5mm. They are available on Amazon, and reviewers love them. I bought one a few years ago and is a pleasure to use and not get hollered at.

If you want to be truly-bad ass, you can get a set of 3 in various lead thicknesses, stored in a "leather-look" pocket pouch. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/12/the-time-i-risked-my-life-borr.html

OMG pic.twitter.com/S3Y2mpnDYd

 Greg Hogben (@MyDaughtersArmy) May 12, 2020

As a wise man once said, it's funny cause it's true.

See below for the full clip from Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Now THIS video has been doctored... @RealDonaldTrump #JimmyKimmelLiveFromHisHouse #StayHome @DrFakenstein pic.twitter.com/ue10HBjmj9

 Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) May 12, 2020

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/12/watch-this-incredible-and-dis.html

On Jalopnik my friend Jason Torchinsky is writing about his experience ordering a $900 electric car from China using Alibaba. It has been an incredibly long and complicated process, involving lots of red tape. Including extra charges and document filing fees the price of the car is now close to $3500. Nevertheless, it's a really cool looking a little electric car. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/12/what-its-like-to-buy-a-900.html

Jalopnik's Jason Torchinsky bought his first new car on Alibaba. He paid $930 for the electric Changli NEMECA, batteries not included. The batteries, likely lead-acid, were an additional $350. Then came all the fees to bring the car from China to the USA and get it through customs. The final total for the car is closer to $3,300 which is still less expensive than the comparison vehicle: a golf cart. From Jalopnik:

What’s frustrating and amazing about all of this is just how difficult it is to find any accurate information about the total cost of shipping something like this from China to America. There’s more information out there for “real” cars, which, legally, the Changli is not, at least in America.

Even though for many elderly rural Chinese people this car—and many other ones very much like it—are absolutely used like real, usable cars, the truth is it’s far closer to a golf cart. It’s only got a 1.1 hp (possibly 1.6? I’ll try to dyno it when it arrives) motor and is much smaller and lighter than even the smallest and lightest of cars you can imagine.

It’s about 800 pounds, about half the weight of my Nissan Pao, which is about half the weight of almost everything else out there. It’s small.

In fact, on official documentation, it’s described, bafflingly, [as a four-wheel electric tricycle.]

Yes, a four-wheel electric tricycle. You know, like a biped with a third leg, or a five-legged quadrupedal dog.

"This Is How Much Buying The Cheapest New Car In The World Really Costs" (Jalopnik) Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/12/i-bought-the-cheapest-new-ca.html

A smart-thinking Boston police officer played a recording of a peacock meeting call on his phone to coax an escaped peacock into a backyard where it was easily picked up by animal control.

From the Boston police department official website:

At about 6:00 AM on Monday, May 11, 2020, while on patrol in the area of the Franklin Park Zoo, District B-2 (Roxbury) officers were approached by a concerned citizen that an animal had escaped from the zoo. Additional officers arrived at the scene and were met by an extremely large, slightly intimidating, and quite beautiful, male peacock.

An officer on scene relied on his quick wit to track down a peacock mating call on his cell phone, successfully luring the bird into a fenced-in yard where he waited patiently for the arrival of Boston Animal Control.

Image: courtesy of the Boston Police Department Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/12/cop-plays-recorded-peacock-mat.html

Island in the Zoom is Weezer singer/guitarist Rivers Cuomo's online hangout during the COVID-19 lockdown. Above is his Saturday piano performance of Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box." Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/12/watch-weezers-rivers-cuomo-p.html

Nananana Naaaa:))

In this short video we see a man in the back of a police car singing James Brown's "I Feel Good". The police officer driving the car turns around and asks, "Hey, what are you so happy about? I'm taking you to jail." The arrestee explains that being in jail gives him a 24-hour reprieve from his wife. The snappy answer elicits a chuckle from the officer. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/05/12/this-man-is-so-happy-he-is-goi.html