Boing Boing

To be able to perform the feat of "floating into the sky with a cluster of balloons," David Blaine had to first gather a team of experts, jump out of a plane 500 times (to get a pro skydiver rating), earn a hot air balloon pilot's certificate, and earn another one that gives him the […]

American Cyanamid was a leading fertilizer company whose success broadened its horizons to a vast range of industrial and chemical products. It fell to pieces in the 1990s under the weight of patent lawsuits, corporate reorganizations and decades of environmental pollution. Here, a team of urban explorers takes a look at its huge abandoned research […]

On Thurday, a rally for Donald Trump was held in Fred Roger's hometown of Latrobe, Pennsylvania. His 92-year-old widow Joanne made it clear in an interview with The Daily Beast that she's not a fan. "Fred tried to stay pretty quiet about politics, basically because his program was for children," Joanne Rogers said. She is […]

On September 5, the Burning Man Project is hosting Burn Night: Live From Home, "a worldwide, around-the-clock Burn Night extravaganza." Pre-recorded and live burns will be live-streamed for a full 24 hours. To encourage participation, they've created a detailed blueprint so at-home Burners can build (and later burn) a simplified two-foot Mini Man. Timing Your Burn Night […]

I have not heard this in years. Packed with the best.

• Liberty University hires forensic accountants to investigate "all facets" of Falwell's tenure, including school's financial and real estate operations When you're in a whole lot of trouble, a dumb thing to do is threaten journalists. But Jerry Fallwell Jr. is not the smartest man. He was forced to resign from Liberty University, the Christian […]

The president has called fallen U.S. service members “losers."

Shouldn't surprise anyone at this point that Trump is just straight up repeating Vladimir Putin's talking points, and placing the interests of Russia before America. Impeached and manifestly unfit President Donald Trump said the United States must look "very seriously" into the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but that the White House has […]

Bishakh Som's artwork has been featured in solo shows at ArtLexis Gallery and at the Jaya Yoga Center, and in group shows at The Society of Illustrators in New York, the Bannister Gallery at Rhode Island College, Issyra Gallery, the Grady Alexis Gallery, and, most recently, at De Cacaofabriek in the Netherlands. Bishakh received the prestigious Xeric grant in 2003 for her comics […]

I have a few different LED headlamps, but this one is by far my favorite. It features a band of LEDs that throw light in a wide area in front of you. It lights up the entire area around you, as opposed to LED headlamps that illuminate just a spot. It uses 3 AAA batteries and […]

Earbuds can be supremely frustrating. The appearance of a $30 pair doesn't often differ noticeably from a $150 pair. And alarmingly enough, you can't always detect much audio difference between the two either. That often means buying a pair of wireless earbuds for commuting or working out can turn into a crapshoot without some trusty […]

National newspapers in Britain traditionally call August 'The Silly Season,' the month when news is so slow that even the most ludicrous of stories will sometimes be used to fill a hole on a page. It's the Silly Season that led to a dead carp in Northamptonshire being memorialized on the front page of The […]

Despite never having been invited to screen one of his films at the New York Film Festival, John Waters was happy to design the poster for this year's event. From Film at Lincoln Center: Of the design, John Waters said, "Since none of my films were ever chosen to be in the New York Film […]

Computer generated unicorns on demand, from @balpha. URL format: https://unicornify.pictures/avatar/$HASH?s=$SIZE $HASH is any hexadecimal number, up to 64 digits.$SIZE is the requested image size in pixels. It should be a power of 2 between 32 and 128 (inclusive). Example: https://unicornify.pictures/avatar/7daf6c79d4802916d83f6266e24850af?s=32 If you want bigger and/or higher-quality images, the avatar generation code (including a command-line app) […]

It took the LockPickingLawyer a fraction of a second to remove the anti-theft lock on a bottle of Grey Goose vodka.

Before internet treasure Tim from Grand Illusions started socially distancing, he had a great example of how fiberoptic cables work. Think of them as an extremely thin, extremely long camera lens or magnifying glass. When placed atop something such as text, the text is visible at the other end. As he shows, if the image […]

3Blue1Brown has a good two-part introduction to error correction codes, which are what make it possible to check the integrity of data and in some cases fix it.

The privately built border wall built by Fisher Sand and Gravel is in danger of failing during a flood, according to an engineering report. From The Texas Tribune: Company president Tommy Fisher, a frequent guest on Fox News, had called the Rio Grande fence the "Lamborghini" of border walls and bragged that his company's methods […]

Coby from 545 Lawn Care has a 1985 GMC Van modded to be driveable upside down while seated in the cargo area looking out the rear window. Worth watching just to hear an amazing American upper Midwest northwoods accent. Handles well in the snow, too! Image: YouTube / 545 Lawn Care

If you must have sex with someone outside of your household or social bubble, dispense with the kissing and consider wearing a mask, says Dr. Theresa Tam, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada. While it sounds silly, the suggestions are scientifically sound. From Dr. Tam's statement issued this week: The lowest risk sexual activity during […]

Michael Forest Reinoehl, the man suspected of shooting and killing Aaron "Jay" Danielson during a night of rowdy protests in Portland, Oregon, was himself shot dead last night by police moving to arrest him. A spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals service reports that Reinoehl, 48, drew a gun on federal officers when they confronted him […]

David Graeber hated being called "The Anarchist Anthropologist." But he was both those things — an anarchist activist, a figurehead of the Occupy movement, and a professor of anthropology at the London School of Economics. His wife reports that he has passed away at the age of 59. No cause of death is mentioned. Graeber […]

Perhaps in preparation for the Mid-Autumn Festival on October 1, this superhero harnesses all her superpowers to make some quite magical Mooncakes. (via Kottke)

You can't just wander out into the wilderness. Camping requires preparation. Whether you're only taking a sleeping bag and the clothes on your back or you're setting up a true home away from home, there is a checklist of items you should consider before you head out on a true outdoor getaway. To help you […]

The only way to navigate parts of Chile's Rio Claro is by kayak, which Dane Jackson and fellow adventurers hike in and tackle some of the narrowest and steepest sections of river in the world. And check out some of the crazy boulder gardens that navigate in California's own Kaweah River: Image: YouTube / Dane […]

Two great tastes that taste great together! Sylvan Esso's latest music video is set on what appears to be singer Amelia Meath's Animal Crossing: New Horizons island. I love everything about it and am really curious how they actually "filmed" it. The song is "Ferris Wheel" and is off their upcoming Free Love album, which […]

YouTuber BestAqua added two gorgeous white sand waterfalls to his tank. Turn on closed captioning for more details. Here's another setup by The Love Aquarium that is quite nice and just footage of the end results. Image: YouTube / BestAqua

One of the more difficult parts of trying to convince people about the seriousness of climate change is explaining how so many disparate elements and factors can collude and compound* and make everything worse. And it's even harder to predict how long those complications will take to manifest, whenever they do what they do. Just […]

A portrait of VP nominee Kamala Harris has "cropped up" in a Kansas field. It's the work of artist Stan Herd whose bio reads, "The earth, my canvas." He writes: Began an earthwork of Democratic nominee Joe Biden in early March, days before COVID-19 news and stay-at-home orders would sweep the nation. The ground swallowed […]

Photographer Jason Page takes viewers through the basics of creating interesting portraits with light painting. The long-exposure shots require a few extra steps, but the results can be worth the effort. Check out his Instagram for more examples: Image: YouTube / LightPaintingPhoto

Christmas has come early for Burners. Shalaco has released this 40-minute-long video of an on-playa Burn barrel doing its thing. screengrab via Shalaco/YouTube

Behold as James Jean curves two arrows at once, striking two balloons hidden behind two barrels. Curving or turning an arrow takes a lot of practice, but it has been known since at least medieval times that a skilled archer can place arrows on target even if the intended target is obstructed by a person, […]

Chicago-based artist Elliot O'Neal has been experimenting with infinity tables and cabinetry, and it is just remarkable. This Instagram post includes a video of what this one looks like in person: This pill-themed piece also includes a video: In addition to reflective art, he also does these cool layered plexiglass pieces: Image: Instagram / elliot.oneal

Sure, we call it a portable blender, but for all intents and purposes, these handheld choppers are effective smoothie makers. They have plenty of added utility and are capable of aiding an array of fun kitchen creations of course, but with so many people trying to stay healthy on the go, a portable smoothie maker […]

Hurricane Laura carved a swath through Gulf Coast, felling trees and destroying buildings. According to the Houston Chronicle there are 230,000 people in Louisiana and another 90,000 in East Texas who still don't have power. As of this writing, there are 15 reported deaths — but most of them weren't related to that physical destruction. […]

With many companies still mostly working from home these days, teamwork and collaboration haven't always been easy to come by. Well, maybe not the old-fashioned way, at least. While you can't sit around a conference table and spitball ideas or run into a co-worker in the break room and hammer out a problem, many organizations […]

We've been trained to think of multitools as nifty little gadgets that slip into your pocket and give you the option of choosing between attachments like a corkscrew or a nail file or a tiny pair of pliers. We don't typically think of a multitool as able to jumpstart a vehicle. Welcome to 2020 and […]

Because Trump's followers are members of a cult, they will either deny Trump described American war dead as "losers" and "suckers" or they will wait for Tucker Carlson to explain why it's a good thing Trump said it. From The Atlantic: Trump rejected the idea of the visit because he feared his hair would become […]

I hope your toenails aren't 15 millimeters thick, but if they are, these clippers will accommodate them. They have tons of leverage and reviewers on Amazon love them. The price is good, too.

First impressions matter. While ladies often catch that hint as early as the crib, it seems guys regularly take a very blaise approach to their appearance and the message that sends to the world. If you don't look good, what does that tell the world about you? And since your skin is an essential piece […]

Simon Berger just needs a hammer and a sheet of safety glass to make a fascinating shattered glass portrait. Here's a cool timelapse of how he does it, though it's interesting that in the other video he works with the glass in place, hammering it vertically. Image: YouTube / AFP News

The command of the United States Army that defends against internet-based threats celebrated its move into a new $366 million headquarters in Georgia on Thursday. "Created a decade ago, the Army Cyber Command had been spread across Army installations in three states before consolidating at Fortitude Hall, its new home at Fort Gordon in Augusta," […]

Adam Neely's remarkable analysis of one of the world's most-recognizable and most-recorded songs of all time outlines the confluence of events that led to its creation. He also explains why its strange music structure has become the stuff of legend. Strap in for 30 minutes on "The Girl From Ipanema." Here's a nice 1964 performance […]

A judge in Richmond, Virginia has ordered that Kanye West be removed from the state's ballot as a candidate for the 2020 presidential election. The judge ordered the Virginia State Board of Elections to not print Kanye West's name on the November presidential ballot, and said that 11 of the 13 required Elector Oaths obtained […]

Jeep plans to offer gas-electric hybrid vehicles, and eventually full electric powertrains. The company unveiled the first of their battery-powered vehicles for the U.S. on Thursday, a plug-in rechargeable Wrangler that is slated to go on sale in America, Europe and China in early 2021. From the Associated Press: The Wrangler 4xe can go 25 […]

With Python programming taking an increasingly large role in all forms of web development, including computer science, machine learning and artificial intelligence, it seems likely that Python's most critical support elements will also start becoming more common knowledge tools as well. One of the most prominent Python offshoots is Django. And while that name might […]

HofmanDujardin makes Bloomframe windows that work like a Murphy bed, opening up into a balcony. The only disconcerting part might be the pane of glass that doubles as a floor. That might trigger guests' vertigo, and walking around on it seeks it might scuff or scratch it. I would cut a piece of carpet for […]

Residents of Redding, California are reporting mysterious letters and numbers drawn in the dust on their automobiles. Some people are suggesting that the codes could be the work of sex traffickers. For example, "2F" could refer to two females and "1F1B" could mean one female and one boy. Police think the markings are weird but […]

Laser cleaning clips are almost as satisfying as powerwashing clips, but how to they work, especially on uneven surfaces? Via Tech Insider: P-laser develops and produces industrial laser cleaning equipment. The machines can be used for rust removal and cleaning statues or molds in a production line. They can remove contaminants or buildup without damaging […]

Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden issued a statement on the poisoning of Aleksei Navalny: "As president, I will do what Donald Trump refuses to do: work with our allies and partners to hold the Putin regime accountable for its crimes."