California's popular ski resort, Squaw Valley will change its name to something else. LA Times: "While we love our local history and the memories we all associate with this place as it has been named for so long, we are confronted with the overwhelming evidence that the term 'squaw' is considered offensive," Ron Cohen, the [&]

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/26/ski-resort-drops-their-offensi.html

The American Bystander is a superb humor magazine now in its 15th issue (buy a copy here or subscribe via Patreon). The latest issue has a story by Jennifer Finney Boylan, a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times and the author of 16 books. The story is called "The Assassin" and all I [&]

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/26/new-american-bystander-short-s.html

There are those who wear their masks properly, those who don't wear them at all, and then the strange category of folks who sport a mask with their entire snout hanging out. Apparently they missed Poppy's video back in 2017, and should take 32 seconds out of their day to study it now.

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/26/learn-how-to-properly-wear-you.html

Back in January, Mark wondered if the new coronavirus would wipe out Corona beer in the same way AIDS killed the anti-suppressant candy Ayds in the 1980s. After all, days before Mark's post, David posted about a Google Trends graph that showed a spike on "the words corona, beer, and virus." And memes about "corona [&]

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/26/how-is-corona-beer-doing-7-mon.html

In the latest issue of my newsletter, The Magnet, I wrote about my interest in nontransitive dice: Jack Vance's Tales of the Dying Earth trilogy is set billions of years in the future when our sun is a red orb on the verge of blinking out. Earth's few thousand remaining inhabitants practice different kinds of magic, including [&]

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/26/my-fascination-with-these-conf.html

On October 30, 1961, the USSR detonated RDS-220, aka the Tsar Bomba, the most powerful nuclear bomb ever tested. The hydrogen bomb blast yielded the explosive force of around 50 megatons of TNT. That's more than 3,000 times more destructive than the US bomb dropped on Hiroshima. From the New York Times: In an interview, Alex [&]

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/26/russia-just-declassified-this.html

Cory Doctorow's new short book, How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism, was just published in its entirety on OneZero. Below is Cory's Twitter thread that summarizes his argument that the problem with surveillance capitalism isn't that it big tech has AI-enhanced power to brainwash people, the problem is that big tech uses its monopoly power in [&]

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/26/cory-doctorow-describes-what.html

Ethan Rosenthal is "particularly fond of peanut butter and banana sandwiches." As a data scientist, he wondered if he could "maximize the packing fraction of the banana slices," the amount of banana coverage, using computer vision and machine learning. Months later, he succeeded. Now, Rosenthal has written a deep description of the project and released the code [&]

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/26/optimizing-a-peanut-butter-and.html

The two Tom the Dancing Bug books, Tom the Dancing Bug: Into the Trumpverse, and The Super-Fun-Pak Comix Reader, are now available. Information about the books, including how to order, and special offers here. "I am a HUGE fan of Tom the Dancing Bug! It makes me laugh and think of course but it makes [&]

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/26/news-of-the-times-trump-caugh.html

The massive swimming pool at the Aveda Resort and Spa in Kumarakom, Kerala, India is busy with guests these days. The resort is still closed due to COVID-19 and the swimmers are actually pearl spot fish, a delicacy in India and the Middle East. From The National: "We have had zero revenue, so in June, we [&]

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/26/luxury-resort-turns-magnificen.html

Joel Johnson once edited the gadgets blog here at Boing Boing, but now he's a Vice President at Dashlane and a "comms veteran" with some useful working-from-home tips to share with PR Daily's Ted Kitterman. 4. What's a tool you couldn't live without right now? Johnson: I know you mean a digital tool. But those [&]

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/26/comms-veteran-joel-johnson.html

For one week in 1992, video and performance artist Christian Jankowski visited supermarkets to hunt down his groceries with a bow and arrow. From the description of "Die Jagd / The Hunt": To rebel against modern society, to return to nature: in pursuit of these primeval instincts, for one week, Jankowski lived off goods he [&]

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/26/watch-man-at-supermarket-hun.html

"This is sports rather than music," says Hayato Sumino (aka Cateen). From the video description: BPM160: Easy BPM190: OK, I can play BPM220: My fingers will cramp& BPM250: I don't understand why my fingers are moving so fast

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/26/man-plays-flight-of-the-bumb.html

For those looking for muscle pain relief, you may have to get crafty about the type of equipment you buy to get the specific help you seek. While pieces like foam rollers and massage balls have their uses to speed up muscle recovery from workouts and even improve muscle performance, they may not be able [&]

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/25/the-vibrating-peanut-massage-b.html

In this video, you will meet the TET-100, a tractor of Soviet design that can transform into a different kind of tractor. Calum G. describes "one of the most unusual vehicles I have ever encounted," able to switch between wheels and tracks so that it would be both roadworthy and fieldworthy. Major props to the [&]

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/25/weird-soviet-tractor-transform.html

Years ago, my wife bought me a gorgeous anodized green Zippo lighter. Though it's one of my favorite things, I don't smoke anymore and only rarely have a use for it. Unfortunately, the lighter fuel in it evaporates within weeks, so when I want to set fire to something it fails and I end up [&]

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/25/zippo-lighter-always-drying-ou.html

Charging cables seem like they're made of tissue paper. It doesn't take over a few weeks of use before most new cables are already showing signs of significant wear. All it takes are a couple of bad bends or an accidental yank at the wrong angle to immediately kill some of these flimsy connectors. And [&]

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/25/this-magnetically-tipped-usb-c.html

Watch this cute cat go on a nice walk in the sunshine. I adore HosicoCats, and this fun video from the Japanese kitty-blog is a nice little escape from behind the computer. About that cat: Hosico — Scottish fluffy cat. Hosico is a gold scottish cat, boy. He was born on August 4, 2014 in [&]

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/25/watch-this-cute-chonker-cat-go.html

Boeing said Tuesday it plans a do-over of its unmanned Starliner crew capsule flight test to the International Space Station (ISS) in December or January, and that if it's successful, a crewed mission may follow as early as summer 2021. A post-certification mission would then follow, in winter, the company added. Above, video from that [&]

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/25/boeings-first-crewed-starlin.html

"I want to put my hand on my son's cheek and kiss him on his forehead, and then I'll be OK. I'll kiss him with my mask. The first thing I want to do is touch my son." — Jacob Blake, Sr. Jacob Blake, a Black man who was shot multiple times by police in [&]

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/25/jacob-blake-has-8-holes-in.html