I feel like I should care that a bazillion dollar sports car, a Zyrus Lamborghini Hurac'an, almost got messed up but I do not.

Glad no one got hurt.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/11/super-expensive-race-car-blows.html

Eastchesterjester took Trump's disastrous Axios interview and cut it into a short Curb Your Enthusiasm style comedy short. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/11/trumps-laughably-bad-axios-i.html

Even though the United States Constitution gives citizens the right not to incriminate themselves, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that police can force you to unlock your iPhone.

From Ars Technica:

On Monday, the New Jersey Supreme Court rejected that Fifth Amendment claim. The Fifth Amendment only protects defendants against self-incriminating testimony, not the production of incriminating documents. While "testimony" usually refers to speech, that's not always the case. Sometimes, a defendant can reveal information by his or her actions. For example, if the government doesn't already know who owns a phone, then forcing a defendant to unlock it amounts to forced testimony that the defendant is the owner.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/11/nj-supreme-court-rules-you-don.html

Anti-masker in Tucson, AZ throws a tantrum and has to be carried out by his own son pic.twitter.com/ggo4I968aL

 Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) August 11, 2020

Watch this Arizona man get so worked up because others are wearing masks that he has to be carried out of the supermarket like a crying toddler. Yet another anti-masker breakdown. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/11/watch-arizona-man-so-outraged.html

This video shows you how to multiply any two numbers by drawing lines. It's known as the Japanese multiplication method.

The University of Waterloo Faculty of Mathematics published this PDF that describes the Japanese multiplication method along with the lattice multiplication method, which dates back to the 13th century.

Image: YouTube Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/11/watch-this-cool-way-to-multipl.html

George Conway's satirical piece in The Washington Post, "I (Still) Believe the President, and in the President," is like a Lincoln Project video in prose form. Playing the part of a moron, Conway puts a mirror up to Trump — and his supporters — by listing Trump's outrageous lies, hateful remarks, and sheer idiocy as things he believes in.

Some of my favorite lines:

"I believe it’s normal for the president to say 'Yo Semites' and 'Yo Seminites,' 'Thigh Land,' 'Minne-a-napolis,' 'toe-tally-taria-tism,' 'Thomas Jeffers' and 'Ulyss-eus S. Grant.'"

"I believe the president 'aced' a 'very hard' impairment test, and that his 'very surprised' doctors found this 'unbelievable.'"

"I believe the president and the doctor who believes in demon sperm and the medical use of space alien DNA, and not Anthony S. Fauci, who’s an 'alarmist' and 'wrong.'"

"I believe the president’s suggestions that physicians should try injecting patients with household disinfectants, and shining ultraviolet light inside their bodies, make perfect sense."

"I believe that the president has done a tremendous job fighting the virus — and that he shouldn’t 'take responsibility at all' — even though about 160,000 Americans have died. I believe the virus “is what it is.”

"I believe it isn’t racist to call the coronavirus 'kung flu' or 'the China Virus.' It isn’t racially divisive to say Black Lives Matter is a “symbol of hate,” to celebrate Confederate generals as part of our 'Great American Heritage,' or to share video of someone shouting 'white power,' which, like displaying the Confederate flag, is 'freedom of speech.'" Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/11/george-conways-biting-column.html

An eagerly-awaited national poll by Monmouth University puts Joe Biden 10 points ahead of President Donald Trump. Biden's 51%-41% lead gives him both a double-digit advantage and more than half the total, obviating the issue of undecided voters, but Biden's support has slackened since last month's 53%-41% lead. The poll was the first to feature Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgensen, who scored 2%. Another question showed that an overwhelming number of voters, 72%, are now worried that election meddling will taint the result.

Biden is currently supported by 51% of registered voters and Trump by 41%. The remaining vote is scattered across third-party candidates, including Libertarian Jo Jorgensen (2%), the Green Party’s Howie Hawkins (1%), and other candidates (1%), while 4% of voters are undecided. This is similar to the Democrat’s late June lead of 52% to 39% with third-party candidates named and 53% to 41% without third-party candidates named. Biden’s edge stood at 52% to 41% in early June, 50% to 41% in May, 48% to 44% in April, and 48% to 45% in March.

Slightly more voters say they are certain about their support for Biden (39%) than say the same about Trump (35%). This is similar to the “firm support” gap in late June, when it was 40% Biden to 34% Trump. Fully half (50%) of registered voters continue to say they are not at all likely to support the incumbent (identical 50% in late June), while 40% say the same about the challenger (39% in late June).

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/11/biden-holds-double-digit-lead.html

Working hard vs working smart from r/funny

The master at the far end of the table is in complete control, never wavering from his spot, making his opponent fight for every return of the ball until he exhausts himself.

Image: Reddit Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/11/the-smart-way-to-play-ping-pon.html

The wireless internet on Eurostar trains was briefly turned off for passengers unless they were in premium seating, reports the BBC. Challenged by passengers, the company claims this was because of Coronavirus, but turned it back on again.

Mark Jackson, founder of the internet service provider site ISPreview, said ... the wi-fi is provided by a track-side network of mobile broadband cells and it was unclear how additional safety measures introduced as a result of coronavirus would impact its delivery to standard seats.

I'm glad this too-obvious attempt to use Covid to push customers to upgrades was brought quickly to a halt, but the fact it happened at all is alarming. This is a bellwether for what happens to the consumer economy under a continuing pandemic: the airlinification of all things. Two levels of service, "expensive" and "exorbitant", with the former made increasingly uncomfortable and hostile until it serves only captive markets and the first-class service is the only one involving willing users. It's easy to roll your eyes now; but this is how public transport and education will end up. It's how access to food ends up. It's how everything ends up. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/11/train-operator-blames-covid-fo.html

In 1829 a group of convicts commandeered a brig in Tasmania and set off across the Pacific, hoping to elude their pursuers and win their freedom. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe the mutineers of the Cyprus and a striking new perspective on their adventure.

We'll also consider a Flemish dog and puzzle over a multiplied Oscar.

Show notes

Please support us on Patreon! Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/11/in-1829-a-group-of-convicts-st.html

"All the Difference" is a 20-minute educational film from Kodak featuring the unique comedy stylings of Mike Nichols and Elaine May, an influential improv duo of the era. Shot in 16mm, it's a tragicomic documentary about America's natural beauty and its environmental deterioration. Oh, how things have changed, right?

From "Enviro-Films," a 1973 survey of environmental education movies:

From many distinguished American poets comes the connecting narrative for this, gorgeously photographed treatise on America the Beautiful and America the Increasingly Ugly. The ugliness is off-set by the tragicomic patter of Mike Nicholsand Elaine May, but juxtaposed against Emerson and Whitman, the viewer initially feels very much like stifling a laugh dufing a worship service. The point-in-time of the narrative switches from what our country is in our literature to what our country is someplaces in the present and will be in the future. Whether or not acceptance of increasing air and water pollution becomes so thoroughly a part of our way of life in the future depends on which road America takes now -- the common path or the one less traveled by; that will make all the difference."'. This film requires at least high school or older audiences to appreciate the long sections of poetry and the sharp wit of Nichols and May.

(via r/ObscureMedia) Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/11/all-the-difference-a-kodak-sh.html

It's been a good summer for metal detectorists! In June, a fellow scanning a field in Rossett, Wales, UK found a 2,000-year-old Roman ingot. Around the same time, Mariusz Stepien turned up a hoard of Bronze Age artifacts in a field near Peebles, Scotland. The hoard, dating back to c.1000 BCE, is now at Edinburgh's National Museums Collection Center for further research. From CNN:

Stepien discovered a bronze object buried 1.5 feet under the ground, and reported his discovery to the Treasure Trove Unit after getting strong signals from the earth around the object.

Archeologists worked on the site for 22 days, and discovered a sword still in its scabbard, decorated straps, buckles, rings, ornaments and chariot wheel axle caps, as well as evidence of a decorative "rattle pendant" that would have been attached to the harness -- the first to be found in Scotland.

"I thought I've never seen anything like this before and felt from the very beginning that this might be something spectacular and I've just discovered a big part of Scottish history," Stepien, who has been detecting for almost nine years, said in a statement.

Stepien and his friends camped in the field for the duration of the 22-day dig, determined to witness the excavation from beginning to end.

image: Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/11/man-with-metal-detector-discov.html

In 2018, BP refinery worker Scott Tracey posted a Downfall parody on Facebook to mock the company's salary negotiations. So it fired him, claiming it was "highly offensive and inappropriate". Two years later he has emerged victorious from an unfair dismissal case filed against BP in Australia, forcing the company to reinstate him and pay him $200,000 in lost wages, bonuses, pension contributions and tax contributions.

Downfall parodies, taken from the 2004 movie of the same name, show Hitler's final rant with bizarre English subtitles, to give the impression that the Fuhrer is ranting about a trivial issue such as getting banned from XBox Live or running out of toilet paper.

Tracey posted his version in a closed group to amuse colleagues during wage negotiations with BP. Though it did not name BP or individual managers, the company did not get the joke and claimed the meme insiniated a comparison to Nazis. An industrial tribunal didn't understand the context either, agreeing with BP lawyers' claim it was "a direct representation of [BP managers] as Nazis".

But real courts did get the joke, ruling that it was "unreasonable to say the meme had likened BP managers to Nazis," giving him his job back and ultimately awarding Tracey the full amount asked for when BP sought to reduce it.

"We hope this marks the end of a truly unedifying chapter for BP management," Australian Workers Union West Australian secretary Brad Gandy told The Syndey Morning Herald. "To dig in and drag an honest worker through nearly two years of stress and uncertainty, all because a few stuffed shirts didn't get a joke, is poor corporate behaviour." Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/11/worker-fired-for-mocking-compa.html

"There I Ruined It" remakes Michael Jackson's "Bad" as a foot-stompin' bluegrass ditty.

I'm giving you On count of three To show your stuff Or let it be

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/11/michael-jacksons-bad-as.html

Amaze, an illuminating and informative guide to designing magical experiences, has finally been published in English! Written by my pal and Boing Boing contributor Ferdinando Buscema and inventive designer/writer Mariano Tomatis, Amaze ("L'arte Di Stupire" in Italian) is not a book of tricks but rather a primer on "thinking like a magician." Here is what I said about Amaze when I first read the translation:

Buscema and Tomatis are modern day mystics who move seamlessly between the realms of science, art, and magic, seeking wonder at every turn. They delight in inspiring us all to cultivate curiosity and embrace astonishment in our daily lives. This brilliant book is an empowering grimoire for hacking reality and giving the gift of magical experiences to others.

Congratulations Ferdinando and Mariano! Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/11/amaze-a-book-about-how-to-thi.html

Judas and the Black Messiah examines Black Panther Fred Hampton's betrayal by William O'Neal, Hampton's bodyguard turned FBI informant. Hampton was a rising star in the revolutionary arm of the Civil Rights movement when he was killed in a police raid at age 21.

Forensic evidence suggested that Hampton and others had been drugged by O'Neal the night before the deadly raid. According to Newsweek, O'Neal was placed in federal witness protection after his involvement with the FBI came to light. O'Neal allegedly died at age 40 by suicide in 1990.

The film stars Daniel Kaluuya as Hampton and Lakeith Stanfield as O’Neal. Not everyone is happy with a British actor once again cast as an American civil rights icon: "But the casting of Kaluuya, a British-born actor, as an American civil rights has elicited some criticisms, a la Brits Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman and David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King, Jr." Director Shaka King dismissed these criticisms as a "diasporic way of thinking."

This story is perfect to present as a political thriller film. The press for the film has a great summary of Hampton's work and legacy:

Though his life was cut short, Fred Hampton’s impact has continued to reverberate. The government saw the Black Panthers as a militant threat to the status quo and sold that lie to a frightened public in a time of growing civil unrest. But the perception of the Panthers was not reality. In inner cities across America, they were providing free breakfasts for children, legal services, medical clinics and research into sickle cell anemia, and political education.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/11/timely-trailer-for-fred-hampto.html

Holy smokes! There is a reissued Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle available and it looks awesome!

GenX had a lot of cool toys that were slightly-to-moderately dangerous. Dart guns that shot darts, lawn darts, Stretch Armstrong filled with evil goo, but even better than a slip and slide was the Evel Knievel stunt cycle.

Evel was the best! I am giddy waiting for this thing.

I used to make Evel fly down the long hallway at my parent's house AND NOW I WILL AGAIN!

California Creations The Amazing Wind-up and go Extreme Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle with Energizer Launcher and Stunt Trail Bike - The 1970's Sensation is Back via Amazon Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/11/the-greatest-toy-ever-made-is.html

Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra is what happens when a band is fronted by a robot, named SPO-20, and is backed by a mad scientist (ie. a human). San Diego-based Professor B. Miller is that mad scientist and he is giving Happy Mutants the opportunity to view the music video for band's latest single first.

"Sea Anemones (aka Shark Wigs)" is the title and this is what he shared with me about it:

It's awfully weird... on the surface it's about sharks wearing another creature as a wig that underneath is really a criticism of our culture's obsession with image and beauty and how it's marketed. Definitely not for everyone.

(Professor, this is Boing Boing. You must know that we were born for the "awfully weird.")

Something cool to note: Because he couldn't film a traditional music video due of the pandemic, the good Professor designed what are essentially a series of screen-printed concert posters. He took the separated color layers and animated them independently which produced that trippy effect you saw in the video.

Also, to coincide with Shark Week, the band is releasing its nautical-themed album, "Lost at Sea," this Friday, August 14th (pre-order now). Look at how the 12" EP is laser-etched! John K. Peck (McSweeney's) provides the liner notes (Dr. Demento has in the past).

View this post on Instagram

Laser-etched vinyl! Looks even cooler in person. Pre-order “Lost at Sea” now... vinyl is limited to just 42 copies and then it’s gone.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/11/robot-fronted-band-satanic-pup.html

The North American Museum of Jewish History's been selling its Yo Semite tee shirts for about a decade. After Trump pronounced "Yosemite" thusly last week, however, sales went through the roof—or through the sequioa canopy, if you prefer.

"When we first started tracking sales last week, we had sold enough shirts in the first 30 hours to equal almost our entire July sales," August said. "And now, less than a week later, our total shirt sales have exceeded the prior three months of sales combined."

Created by artist Sarah Lefton, the shirt was inspired by her day job at a Jewish summer camp near Yosemite National Park, according to the museum's website.

Above the words "Yo Semite" are two trees that resemble sequoia trees. Three groves in Yosemite National Park are home to giant ancient sequoias trees, with the oldest being 3,266 years old, according to the National Parks Service website.

A rare viral-news victory for high-quality inventory over print-on-demand. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/11/sales-of-classic-yo-semite.html

If you've bought a premium smartphone handset over the past few years,  it's a safe bet that it came equipped with wireless charging technology baked into it. Wireless charging is wicked cool! In the Long, Long Ago, we had to carry one of the many USB cables most of us had kicking around our home if we wanted to charge our phone. Said cable needed to be plugged into a USB port and damn, they were really hard to find.  Such a nightmare. Today, praise the gods, we have the privilege of having to rely on a wireless charging pad plugged into a wall at home. Or the office—they're not terribly portable and you pretty much can only use them on a flat surface like a desk or the top of a casket. And, unlike the horror of using your phone while it's connected to a USB cable, your phone will stop charging as soon as you remove it from it's charging pad. But hey, wireless!

I kid, I kid. Wireless charging's actually pretty great becau—oh shit.

From OneZero:

On paper, wireless charging sounds appealing. Just drop a phone down on a charger and it will start charging. There’s no wear and tear on charging ports, and chargers can even be built into furniture. Not all of the energy that comes out of a wall outlet, however, ends up in a phone’s battery. Some of it gets lost in the process as heat.

While this is true of all forms of charging to a certain extent, wireless chargers lose a lot of energy compared to cables.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/11/report-wireless-phone-chargin.html