The Latest from Boing Boing

Death and Robert Todd Lincoln Abraham Lincoln's eldest son, Robert, is the subject of a grim coincidence in American history: He's the only person known to have been present or nearby at the assassinations of three American presidents. Read the rest... How poker players’ language gives them away Verbal Poker Tells reveals how players use words to bluff, intimidate, and probe the minds of their opponents. While watching 100 hours of poker videos to write “Verbal Poker Tells,” his 2014 book aimed mostly at recreational players, Zachary Elwood saw players dropping linguistic clues left and right. Read the rest... Urban druid From the Secure, Contain, Protect dystopian collaborative fiction project, an image of an "urban druid" from The Victory Society, "believed to be Reverend Michael Hawshore." SCP-1936 (via Bruce Sterling) Read the rest... Yang Yongliang: astonishing dystopian landscape photos Over at Vantage, Yang Yongliang's breathtaking dystopian landscapes, each composited from hundreds of his own photos and video stills of the region around Shanghai, China. "Visions of the Future, Drawn From the Past" Read the rest... Obama's "Plan for a Free and Open Internet" From President Obama's post at Medium: “'Net neutrality'” has been built into the fabric of the Internet since its creation — but it is also a principle that we cannot take for granted. Read the rest... Telly Savalas talk-sings to a giant head Telly Savalas's stirring rendition of "If" made it to the top spot on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in 1975. Read the rest... I didn't carve my pumpkin, so a squirrel carved it for me And it did a decent job! Read the rest... Pregnant in Handcuffs In this op-ed from the New York Times, Lynne Paltrow and Jeanne Flavin of the National Advocates for Pregnant Women state the evidence for how anti-abortion laws in America have incarcerated, wrongfully detained, and even killed pregnant women. Read the rest... Obama tells the FCC to class the Internet (including mobile!) as a "utility" It's a surprise move in the net neutrality debate, coming on the heels of a sellout proposal from cable-lobbyist-turned-cable-regulator Chairman Tom Wheeler that would have let the carriers continue to screw Americans out of access to the services they want to use if those services hadn't paid large-enough bribes for "premium carriage." It's great to see Obama coming out on the right side of this debate. Read the rest... Cut-Ups: William S. Burroughs exhibit in NYC Boo-Hooray gallery/publisher has installed an exhibition titled Cut-Ups: William S. Burroughs 1914-2014, a collaboration with Emory University celebrating the deeply powerful creative technique leveraged by Burroughs and his best friend Brion Gysin to transform their literary, audio, visual, performance, and magical works. Read the rest... WATCH: The first two episodes of Natasha Allegri's Bee and PuppyCat After successfully kickstarting the series, Adventure Time storyboard artist and Fionna & Cake designer Natasha Allegri has released the first two adventures of a multi-dimensional temp and her adorable hybrid animal friend, Bee and Puppycat. Read the rest... The Postal Service: "Nothing Better" live video Above, a spectacular live performance of "Nothing Better" by The Postal Service -- BB pal Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie) and Jimmy Tamborello (Dntel) with Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley) -- who released one phenomenal album in 2003, Give Up, and reunited for a tour last year. Read the rest... Skull facemask/kerchiefs Florida's Ecologics makes a wide variety of skull-mask face-kerchiefs, some with metallic grills. Read the rest... WATCH: Sleater-Kinney play "Wipers," an unreleased song Here's live footage of riot grrl legends Sleater-Kinney circa 1999 playing a thus far unreleased song called "Wipers." It's a shame they never put it on tape, cause it is a straight-up raucous jam.Read the rest... A Conversation with John Cleese Ethan Gilsdorf talks to the Monty Python's Flying Circus alum about his career, his new autobiography, and his limbs. Read the rest... Tim Minchin's Storm, a magnificent rant about woo and the miracle of reality (the book) The classic 2011 animated poem about a party where Minchin unloads the full weight of his love of science and reality to refute homeopathy and psychic phenomena is now a beautiful book, which Cory Doctorow read over the weekend. Read the rest... The Autobiography of Deanna Troi Robin Higgins presents a series of excerpts from the life of one of science fiction's most beloved half-Betazoids. Read the rest... Go Brain! encourages a growth mindset for children Carol Reiley is a surgical roboticist who's previously spoken at the Boing Boing Ingenuity conference. Now, she's kickstarting Go Brain!, a children's book to inspire a growth mindset.Read the rest... Echolocating bats jam each other's sonar Mexican free-tailed bats emit a special "sweep jamming" sound to interfere with prey localization in  other bats competing for food. Read the rest... LEGO Octopus Tote Bag The LEGO Octopus is one of the most elegant and mysterious creatures of the LEGO ocean, and now you can celebrate the cephalopod with this $22 tote bag from Society6. Read the rest... Replica bone-blade from Supernatural Danielle and Kate, in Ridgefield, NJ, make and sell replica game and movie props, like this resin-cast, hand-painted, leather-wrapped bone blade from Supernatural (13.75", $120) -- also noteworthy is the Iron Man EVA Foam Gloves ($50). (via Geeky Merch) Read the rest... Suspect dresses the part Can you guess what Deborah Delane Asher, seen in this mugshot, was arrested for? Last week, Laurel County, Kentucky cops reportedly busted Asher, 37, and Richard Jeffrey Rice, 57, with meth and digital scales and charged them with "first degree, first offense of trafficking in a controlled substance." The Laurel County Sheriff Department posted the photo and information to their Facebook page.(WTVR) Read the rest... PSA: UK small businesses, don't get ripped off by BT's "PC Security" scam I cancelled my small business BT account last year when they endorsed the Tory Internet censorship plan -- and to my surprise, they kept sending me bills, but that wasn't nearly so surprising as what I discovered next: a seven-year-long overbilling ripoff that took most of a year to untangle. Read the rest... Pirate Bay and Flattr founder Peter "brokep" Sunde released from prison He spent more than five months inside, having his reading material censored and having been denied adequate food, losing more than 15kg. Read the rest... Coyotes would massacre zombies, especially up east Another reminder from National Wildlife Federation naturalist David Mizejewski that the zombie apocalypse would be an effortless breeze for mankind, thanks to animals just ripping them right up for us: "These intelligent canids would quickly learn that they could take down zombies one by one, especially the eastern populations of coyote, which are larger and bolder due to past interbreeding with wolves and domestic dogs." Check back next week to see how another type of beast would deal with The Walking Dead. Animals eating the zombies is contingent upon the continued existence of animals. Support the National Wildlife Federation to make sure they're around when the next major outbreak occurs. Read the rest...