My friend Donald Bell produces and hosts a weekly video show called Maker Update.Each week in Maker Update, Donald will take a closer look at one of the tools the Cool Tools archive. This week, Donald checks out a plastic razor blade. It’s in the video above.Full show notes available on the Maker Project Lab blog.

Perhaps it's a rather dangerous idea but it is still creative and entertaining.(Gianco Whatever via Digg)

The MVP of last night's Miami Marlins-Atlanta Braves game was the cat who ran around the outfield before climbing a wall and watching the game from an animatronic home run sculpture. "He stayed up there for four innings," said (Marcell), the Marlins' left fielder. "Every time I went on defense, I looked up there and the cat was hiding its head. I said, `What are you doing up there?' In the last inning I didn't see it. I don't know where he went."(CBS News)

For years we've had silverfish darting around our guest bathroom. I bought some silverfish traps (little cardboard boxes with sticky goo to ensnare them) and they helped, but didn't stop them. A few weeks ago I read that lavender oil is a good silverfish repellent. It's only $5.59 for a small bottle on Amazon, so I decided to give it a try. I wetted the end of a Q-Tip with the oil and ran it around the perimeter of the bathroom floor, adding a little extra to a seam between the floor and the wall. It smelled nice and we have not seen a single silverfish since. I'm going to wait and see how long it takes for them to come back, and then create a maintenance schedule.Image: ACC1/Flickr

Tested visits sculptor Andrew Freeman who made these wonderfully creepy and hyperreal Ren and Stimpy masks!

Inmates in Ohio's Marion Correctional Institution smuggled computer parts out of an ewaste recycling workshop and built two working computers out of them, hiding them in the ceiling of a training room closet ceiling and covertly patching them into the prison's network. (more…)

Wordfence, a security research company, discovered that the reason Algeria is the country most often seen in attacks on Wordpress blogs is that the country's largest ISP distributes home routers that are locked in an insecure state, with an open port that lets attackers seize control of them and use them to stage attacks on higher-value targets. (more…)

As the scandal over a United passenger who was beaten unconscious and dragged off a plane when he refused to give up his seat for a deadheading crewmember unspools, there's a predictable torrent of bullshit about how United was in the right because something something private property, and let us not forget the great American sport of victim-blaming. (more…)

General the Great Pyreness decided he didn't want to stay in the Aquia-Garrisonville Animal Hospital, so he left. Opening serveral doors, all caught on security camera, on his way out. His family has him again.Via InsideNova:The dog’s amazing escape from the Garrisonville Road facility — opening several doors before exiting the building — screens like a jailbreak from the best Hollywood blockbusters.And the story has a Hollywood ending, too. The hospital reported late Monday that General was found safe and sound, resting in a neighbor’s yard.Hospital staff discovered Monday that the dog was missing, but how? Security video from the 4 a.m. escape was shared by WJLA.My Great Pyr, Nemo, does this an awful lot too.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations asked for and received a secret court order last summer to eavesdrop on communications between Carter Page, then a campaign adviser to candidate Donald Trump, as part of the FBI's investigation into connections between Team Trump and Russia. (more…)

Behold, Godzilla, King of the Monsters!https://youtu.be/EJp7tFGGRAwI was reading <a href="http://en.rocketnews24.com/2017/04/12/godzilla-speaks-interview-with-12-movie-veteran-kaiju-actor-haruo-nakajima%E3%80%90video%E3%80%91/">Rocket News</a> today and found a fascinating video from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCajXeitgFL-rb5-gXI-aG8Q">Great Big Stories</a> about the man who was inside the Godzilla suit for the first 12 films. Two things you might not know: the monster’s name was actually Gojira before it was Anglicized, and there are 29 (!) Godzilla movies.The video of actor Haruo Nakajima, now 87, is interesting and artfully done. I had never seen him before, and he looks back fondly on playing the monster.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oBNEG8kLfQThe original Japanese version of the film, Gojira (which few Americans saw until a decade and a half ago when it appeared on DVD), was produced in 1954, a mere nine years after the atomic bombs were dropped, and the Americanized version came out in 1956 titled, Godzilla, King of the Monsters!About the Japanese version, Gojira, film scholar Tim Lucas wrote [the film is a] “dark, melancholy, crushing, and relentless” rumination on the horrors of the atomic age, in his late lamented magazine <a href="http://www.videowatchdog.com/home/home.html">Video Watchdog</a> (Special Issue 2, 1995/96). Godzilla is a creature who comes to exist only because of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. From Wikipedia: “Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka stated that, ‘The theme of the film, from the beginning, was the terror of the bomb. Mankind had created the bomb, and now nature was going to take revenge on mankind’.”The destruction Godzilla causes, though the special effects are primitive by today’s standards, is genuinely horrific. You might be one of those folks who chuckle at the marvelously-crafted miniature cities being destroyed, but if you think about what it really means, your laughter should catch in your throat. The film has a prominent anti-nuclear message and is one of the earlier films to shout it out loud.When an American distributor bought the rights to release the film in the U.S., the anti-nuclear message was mostly deleted and film was dubbed into English with dialogue being changed in the process. The original Japanese version runs 96 minutes; the American version approximately 81 minutes and is padded with scenes of Raymond Burr as a reporter filing dispatches throughout the film. So, if you remove all the scenes of Raymond Burr (many of them quite cleverly worked into the film with the use of doubles for the Japanese actors) even less of the original film exists in the English version.Both versions are worth experiencing, and quite different. The segments with Raymond Burr are surprisingly well integrated in the U.S. film, and his narration adds much. But it is the original Japanese film that fully reveals the insanity of using nuclear arms. If you haven’t seen the original Japanese film you’re in for a surprise, and as a warning against the use of nuclear weapons, it ranks with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_After">The Day After</a>, a 1983 telefilm from which scared the hell out of most of America—43 million people watched its original broadcast.The best way to watch both versions of Godzilla is the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Godzilla-Criterion-Collection-Blu-ray-Takashi/dp/B005VU9LKE/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1491938022&sr=8-4&keywords=godzilla+blu+ray">Criterion blu-ray</a>, which has both versions and ample extra features.With North Korea engaged in a race to build and launch nuclear-armed Intercontinental Ballistic Misses, and world leaders with few ideas how to effectively prevent it, Godzilla is more timely than ever.

In her latest video, Luna Lee, master of the gayageum, plays a stunning version of the David Bowie classic.

German Member of the European Parliament Julia Reda (previously) has published an open-letter signed by UK MEP Lucy Anderson, raising alarm at the fact that the W3C is on the brink of finalising a DRM standard for web video, which -- thanks to crazy laws protecting DRM -- will leave users at risk of unreported security vulnerabilities, and also prevent third parties from adapting browsers for the needs of disabled people, archivists, and the wider public. (more…)

In a new meta-analysis published in PLOS One, researchers from Purdue, Stanford and the Canadian Council on Animal Care look at the different techniques used to induce laughter in rats in order to improve their wellbeing and capture their laughter, which is delightful. (more…)

Victor Pelevin's Omon Ra is an absurdist adventure in the Soviet space program. (more…)

The Kentucky Coal Museum in Benham, KY, spends $2,100 a month on electricity; to save money, they're putting in 80 solar panels, which will save them $8,000/year. (more…)

I bought the Dover edition The Moscow Puzzles in 2014, and it's still one of my all-time favorite puzzle books. Here are a few samples:Book description:This is, quite simply, the best and most popular puzzle book ever published in the Soviet Union. Since its first appearance in 1956 there have been eight editions as well as translations from the original Russian into Ukrainian, Estonian, Lettish, and Lithuanian. Almost a million copies of the Russian version alone have been sold.Part of the reason for the book's success is its marvelously varied assortment of brainteasers ranging from simple "catch" riddles to difficult problems (none, however, requiring advanced mathematics). Many of the puzzles will be new to Western readers, while some familiar problems have been clothed in new forms. Often the puzzles are presented in the form of charming stories that provide non-Russian readers with valuable insights into contemporary Russian life and customs. In addition, Martin Gardner, former editor of the Mathematical Games Department, Scientific American, has clarified and simplified the book to make it as easy as possible for an English-reading public to understand and enjoy. He has been careful, moreover, to retain nearly all the freshness, warmth, and humor of the original.Lavishly illustrated with over 400 clear diagrams and amusing sketches, this inexpensive edition of the first English translation will offer weeks or even months of stimulating entertainment. It belongs in the library of every puzzlist or lover of recreational mathematics.

Here's a good puzzle that Clifford Pickover found at CTK Insights:Is it possible to wrap the cube with a 3×3 piece of paper below it? Handling of the paper is subject to two conditions:1. The paper may be only cut or folded along the crease lines.2. The cutting should not cause pieces to separate.

An all-star cast, brave writers, and a catchy theme made St. Eleswhere a phenomenal medical drama. In the final moments of the series finale, however, a twist was introduced wherein a minor character, the autistic son of one of the lead doctors, imagined the events of the entire series.https://youtu.be/ZdNXBgces1QStarting with a cross-over on Homicide, it turns out Tommy Westphall likely imagined vast amounts of our television landscape. As of August 2016 there were 49 shows airing with connections to St. Elsewhere.The folks at Tommy Westphall Universe track it all.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is now the most unpopular governor in America, according to a new poll by Morning Consult. Since September, when he was still Donald Trump's toady, Christie has picked up 3 percentage points in the unpopularity department. His disapproval rating now stands at 71%, with only a 25% approval rating. According to Business Insider:It's the continuation of a dismal polling trend for Christie, who found himself embroiled in the Bridgegate scandal during his second term in office, which ends early next year. In June, a Monmouth University poll found Christie's approval rating reaching an all-time low, standing at a dreadful 27%. A total of 63% of respondents disapproved of the job the governor is performing... After Christie, Brownback, and Malloy, the list of the top five most unpopular governors is rounded out by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Alaska Gov. Bill Walker. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker is the most liked in the country, followed by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, and South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard.Morning Consult polled more than 85,000 registered voters between January and March for the survey. Photo by Gage Skidmore

https://youtu.be/_QndP_PCRSwThe dumb robots fall into the holes, while the smarter ones survive and breed.From the YouTube description:Chinese delivery firm is moving to embrace automation.Orange robots at the company's sorting stations are able to identify the destination of a package through a code-scan, virtually eliminating sorting mistakes.Shentong's army of robots can sort up to 200,000 packages a day, and are self-charging, meaning they are operational 24/7.The company estimates its robotic sorting system is saving around 70-percent of the costs a human-based sorting line would require.

I love these videos of color-blind people who become overwhelmed to see new colors when they put on EnChroma glasses.Previously:Man with colorblindness becomes overwhelmed when he tries on special glassesNew high-tech glasses promise to bring color to the colorblindColor for the Colorblind

Bioluminescence is a very cool natural phenomenon, but you're probably not going to fill a fish tank with those creepy, giant-toothed monsters with the headlamps and then just live in complete darkness. Dinoflagellates, on the other hand, are a type of marine plankton that emit a bright light when agitated, and are way easier to care for. In fact, they even come with their own bowl. The Dino Sphere contains a host of dinoflagellate microbes that absorb sunlight and nutrients from the included, specialized seawater to power their natural illumination.This microscopic, self-sustaining ecosystem is contained in a 4” glass vessel. Just give it a shake, and you’ll see a brilliant light show put on by the same organisms that cause red tide in certain coastal areas. You’ll never need to add anything or change out the water inside, just leave the Dino Sphere out in the sun to let the dinoflagellates do their photosynthetic duty.You can hold this glowing natural phenomenon in your hands and lure that cute coworker to your desk. The Dino Sphere is available in the Boing Boing Store.Explore more best-sellers in the Boing Boing Store:Protect Your Internet PrivacyTigerVPN ($29)Burn That Old Disney VHS Collection Onto Your ComputerVHS Digitization Software ($21)Jumpstart A New CareerLearn to Code: 2017 Bundle (Average Price~$23)

This biker starts off at the end of the line, until he puts himself into an acrobatic pose. He then zips ahead without even pedaling, and as he passes his fellow bikers you can see one guy's jaws drop. The funniest bit is at the end, when he passes a guy on a motorbike who decides to try the same stunt.

I recently completed an time-consuming project that was close to my heart, before which other endeavors took a back seat. Once done, though, I returned to my labyrinth of text files, PSDs and design documents, all now bearing a thick layer of psychic dust. (more…)

https://youtu.be/KPOkL2AH3IAJeremy Messersmith writes, "I have a new record coming out on Friday and I've released it early as a songbook over at my website (free with an email). It's called '11 Obscenely Optimistic Songs For Ukulele: A Micro-Folk Record For The 21st Century And Beyond.' It has songs about kittens, unicorns, wealth redistribution, critical thinking, and the power of love. I wrote it to be an antidote to all the toxic news as of late; a musical unicorn chaser. I'm also embarking on a 50 show, Atlas Obscura inspired sing-along tour; all free and in scenic public spaces. I've compiled a collection of songs that fans have covered so far into a YouTube playlist over at my website. Thanks for considering!https://youtu.be/8giXKykpelM?list=PL_DytgMcL6Vrli31E8CR34PxJ2vJ5HL8H

I used my grease splatter screen last night while frying tomatoes and garlic in oil. The food was sizzling and popping, but the screen kept my shirt, range, and countertop splatter-free. This screen also comes with a couple of pan scrapers as a free bonus. Available from Amazon for $12.

Between the officers in face masks and the sheriff's message to heroin dealers that "we're coming for you," there's something really creepy about this PSA, put out by the Lake County Sheriff's Office in Florida. In a message that reminds me of George Orwell's novel 1984, about a totalitarian regime that has constant surveillance on every citizen's actions and thoughts, Sheriff Peyton Grinell has this to say:“So, to the dealers, I say, enjoy looking over your shoulder, constantly wondering if today is the day we come for you. Enjoy trying to sleep tonight, wondering if tonight is the night our SWAT team blows your front door off the hinges. We are coming for you... We are coming for you. Run.”According to Miami Herald, Lake County "had 101 overdose deaths per 100,000 people in 2016, or around 300 deaths, according to County Health Rankings."Reactions to the PSA are mixed. Several people compared it to a terrorist video.“America’s Taliban,” one Facebook user wrote.“Christian ISIS,” wrote another.“Looks like an ISIS video,” said a third.Others said the issue of heroin is serious and therefore deserves the intense treatment, and they were glad to see the sheriff cared so much about getting drugs off the streets.Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article143718184.html#storylink=cpy

Walmart is recalling a product described as "Organic Marketside Spring Mix salad" after decomposing vegetable matter was found around a dead bat it sold to a Florida customer.The company said it worked quickly with officials to remove the entire batch of salads from store shelves, and only one line of its products had been affected."Fresh Express takes matters of food safety very seriously and rigorously complies with all food safety regulations including the proscribed Good Agricultural Practices," a company statement said.

Joe writes, "Hungarians rose up in one of the largest protests against the seven-year rule of right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Sunday, protesting against new legislation that could force out of the country one of its top international universities." (more…)

A passenger at the Foire du Trone, an annual fair in Paris, somehow falls out of the bungee jump swing, but remains attached by her feet. As she rapidly swings back and forth, her head comes just inches from the platform. Bystanders try to grab her as she swings by, and finally help her as she slows down. Ugh, this is the kind of amusement park accident that usually only occurs in nightmares.

With companies like Uber betting billions on self-driving cars, amid competition from Apple, Google, Tesla and the major automakers, the shortage of qualified engineers is sparking vicious legal battles. (more…)

As Brexit shambles on, UK Tory Parliamentarians and Theresa May are spoiling for a re-run of the Falklands Island debacle, this time over Gibraltar, a British outpost at the tip of Spain. (more…)

[NSFW: violence] This man's suffering is not a joke. United customer service is a joke. Background.(United parody logo by @skolanach)

John Deere says that farmers don't really own their tractors -- even the ones they buy used! -- because the copyrighted software necessary to run those tractors is licensed, not sold. (more…)

Every dollar that the Trump administration takes away from Planned Parenthood in Maryland will be replaced by state funds (about $2.7M), which will save about $6 for every dollar it puts in, because when women are in charge of their own fertility, they don't end up raising kids they can't afford. (more…)

United Airlines had a passenger knocked unconscious and dragged violently from a full plane for refusing to yield his ticketed seat to an employee who wanted it. This is CEO Oscar Munoz's public apology, to those who needed to be re-accommodated.https://twitter.com/united/status/851471781827420160Hopefully they'll never have an overbooked plane again. (more…)

On FT's Alphaville, Izabella Kaminska takes note of the excellent, deep series on Uber's Ponzi-economics that Hubert Horan published last year on Naked Capitalism and calls out some juicy highlights. (more…)

What happens when you offer Reddit users a large digital canvas and allow each participant to place one pixel, every few minutes, on it? You'd think it would be a mess. But somehow, in 72 hours, the canvas turned into a complex mosaic of flags, symbols, messages, and even a sepia Mona Lisa. This article from sudoscript examines this marvel of massive, remote collaboration.Three kinds of participants emerged: Creators, Protectors, and DestroyersSnip:The rules were simple. Each user could choose one pixel from 16 colors to place anywhere on the canvas. They could place as many pixels of as many colors as they wanted, but they had to wait a few minutes between placing each one.Over the following 72 hours, what emerged was nothing short of miraculous. A collaborative artwork that shocked even its inventors.From a single blank canvas, a couple simple rules and no plan, came this.Snip:When Place was launched, with no warning, the first users started placing pixels willy-nilly, just to see what they could do. Within minutes, the first sketches appeared on Place. Crude and immature, they resembled cavemen paintings, the work of artists just stretching their wings.Even from that humble beginning, the Creators quickly saw that the pixels held power, and lots of potential. But working alone, they could only place one pixel every 5 or 10 minutes. Making anything more meaningful would take forever -- if someone didn't mess up their work as they were doing it. To make something bigger, they would have to work together.That's when someone hit on the brilliant notion of a gridmap. They took a simple idea -- a drawing overlaid on a grid, that showed where each of the pixels should go -- and combined it with an image that resonated with the adolescent humor of Redditors. They proposed drawing Dickbutt.

If there's one thing humans are good at, it's gaming systems. John Oliver goes after the dirty political practice of gerrymandering.In Pennsylvania, forty-four percent of the voters chose Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives in 2014, but 13 of the 18 districts, more than two-thirds, are represented by Republicans. In Ohio, about forty percent of the voters chose Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives, but 12 out of 16 seats, three-quarters of them, are represented by Republicans. Those numbers are way out of proportion to what people should expect. You wouldn't accept Neapolitan ice cream that was seventy-five percent strawberry. How is that okay? What perverts voted for this?

Move over, Florida! Oregon may supplant you as America's best source of mesmerizingly bizarre violent confrontations, if voters there overturn a constitutional ban on duels.Should ongoing discussions in Salem materialize, voters would see a question on their general-election ballots asking if a 172-year-old ban on dueling by public officials — as in, the old-fashioned way of resolving fights — should be erased from the Oregon Constitution. The constitutional ban in question is Article II, Section 9, which says anyone who offers, accepts, knowingly participates in a “challenge to fight a duel … or who shall agree to go out of the State to fight a duel, shall be ineligible to any office of trust, or profit.” (this is exact language from the constitution) ... Democratic Sen. Ginny Burdick, who chairs the Senate Rules Committee, kicked off the discussion by jokingly calling it “the bill I’ve been waiting all session for.”This wouldn't make consensual homicide legal, but it might make it fun.

The amazing advocacy of the DRM-PT movement has resulted in the country's Parliament passing a bill that legalizes breaking DRM to accomplish lawful ends, such as exercising the private copying right, or making uses of public domain works or works produced at public expense. (more…)

Spotted doing the viral rounds and unattributed (though watermarked with a URL that redirects to Elbe Spurling's website) this wall of Dr. Pepper knockoffs is a magnificent lesson in branding magic and semiotics and all that fancy jazz. I transcribed the names:Dr. ChoiceDr. BoldDr. PerfectDr. BobDr. WowReal Dr. Dr. ThunderDr. RightDr. KDr. ShawDr. A+Dr. StripesDr. ChillDr. SkipperThe Dr. Dr. TremorDr. SnapDr. PerkyDr. ShastaDr. SpiceDr. FineDr. ZeviaDr. DynamiteNot included, tragically, is Kroger's recently-marketed "The Fizzicist", photographed here by Brent Nashville.If I made one, it would be 'Not really a Dr." Update: One ~bmasmith compiled a big list of Dr. Pepper clones.

United Airlines offered passengers $800 to skip an overbooked flight: there were enough seats for the paying ticketholders, but not for several United employees who wanted to travel with the plane. With no takers, they started picking people at random to eject.One, reportedly a doctor, didn't want to go. So they summoned guards to the plane, knocked him unconscious, then dragged his comatose body off the flight in front of screaming passengers. According to the Courier-Journal, the security guard "threw the passenger against the armrest." Passengers had to disboard so they could clean up they mess they made.But not before the man somehow got back on board, confused and bloodied, chanting "I have to go home, I have to go home, I have to go home," before being removed again."Everyone was shocked and appalled," Bridges said. "There were several children on the flight as well that were very upset."The videos taken by passengers are startling. https://twitter.com/Tyler_Bridges/status/851228695360663552https://twitter.com/JayseDavid/status/851223662976004096Here's the airline's response, given by an anonymous spokesperson:"Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville was overbooked," the spokesperson said. "After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate."We apologize for the overbook situation. Further details on the removed customer should be directed to authorities."Was he wearing leggings? That might explain everything.

In this video from The Package Boy, he explains (and demonstrates) how avoiding using filler words and umming noises will make you appear smarter to others. Counterpoint: talking to someone slowly, conspicuously avoiding filler noise is uncanny. If they're watching what they say, they're on the record, and if they're on the record, you're on the record. It's like haggling over customer service, or being talked to by a cop.Tip! if you are confident of your intelligence, use filler words and umming noises and uptalk to take advantage of people's prejudices about stupidity.

If you've ever witnessed an emergency siren test, you know how terrifying these things are: engineered to be bowel-looseningly urgent, to pierce through any sense that it's probably just a misfire, to motivate you to drop everything and rush for the emergency shelters, equally useful for tornadoes and incoming ICBMs. (more…)

In this new video, Seriously.TV’s Dylan Marron speaks with four multiracial people about stereotypes, microaggressions, and life as someone who doesn't fit into an easy-to-define racial group.

It's not there anymore, obviously, but here's an archived copy of Ben McCurry's review of Pac-Man 256, into which is cunningly interpolated a review of Brash Games, the non-paying website it is posted on. [via Metafilter]The idea of Pac-Man 256 is derived from what happens in the original Pac-Man when you clear 256 levels; on level 257, the game becomes a garbled mess that becomes unplayable. A good example of a garbled mess is Brash Games; this very website that strips authors of their writing credits when they leave the site, later attributing them to the sole owner and editor, Paul Ryan, making your work completely pointless, just as Pac-Man is completely pointless after level 256. ...Namco Bandai haven’t changed too much of the winning formula, and why should they? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Everything that we grew to love in the original iterations is still present; the classic sound effects, the musical stings, and even ghosts. Speaking of ghosts, did you know that Brash Games deliberately ghosted themselves from Metacritic, GameRankings, and OpenCritic (marking themselves as “out of business on Meta and GR, which is an outrageous and egregious lie – it’s here right now) to avoid having any sort of public record of reviews available which would have attributed work to the proper authors? It’s true! In fact, when reviewers leave, work gets automatically attributed to “Brash Games”, which is solely operated by Paul Ryan, thus making it seem like he did all the work....Complementing the brilliant reimagined gameplay is a fantastic soundtrack. Namco Bandai shy away from the sound of silence, which is, at the time of writing, exactly what I received when I announced my resignation to the editor Paul Ryan and clarified I would leave Brash as soon as possible. No email, no apology, no “I wish you the best in your future endeavours”, nothing. Pure radio silence; the only acknowledgement I received was that my name was pulled from the contributors list quietly. Some might call that cowardly – I’ll leave it to your interpretation. Rather, the game exploits low-key techno beats to gracefully update the beloved musical stings and background tracksThe phenomenon of generic-looking game review mills seems tied to Metacritic, the game review aggregation site. Though seemingly loathed by game creators and many readers, its averaged-out scores influence much in the business: most conspicuously dev bonuses, but presumably game site traffic too. It seems an issue of ethics in game journalism has finally occurred to unite players from across the spectrum of opinion! Don't work but for money or love, kids.Kotaku's Kate Gray:Brash Games is not a good site to write for, it seems.This is because of several reasons, according to the Twitter storm going on currently:They don't pay their writers They don't offer feedback, or seemingly, edit pieces at all They remove writers' bylines from the site if they quit They retcon scores from the writers who have left, changing them to the editor's preference They break embargoes They block anyone who criticises them