Boing Boing

The broad outlines of the Lebanon blast's cause is known—3000 tons of impounded ammonium nitrate neglected in a warehouse for years after the unseaworthy ship transporting it docked in Beirut. But the details are harder to nail down. The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project traces the individuals, companies and connections behind the MV Rhosus […]

Portable projectors feel like a technology that should have died out in the 1990s. But even in an era of 4K resolution and 100-inch screens, a trusty projector is still the most effective means for delivering presentation-style video and graphics quickly and simply without hiring your own audiovisual team to set it up. As a […]

A reality hacker in the N. Spokane, Washington area used darkened pieces of cardboard to make several of the city's green traffic lights look like cannabis leaves. This person, who signed some of the pieces as the "Mad Signtist," appears to be taking a page out of the Pablo Rochat playbook. screengrab via KREM/YouTube Thanks, […]

In Central Massachusetts, in a town called Shrewsbury, in a body of water called Mill Pond, sits a small outcropping called Busta Rhymes Island. It is not known by any other name — and yet, due to byzantine naming laws in the United States, it is not formally recognized as Busta Rhymes Island either. Not […]

In today's "everything old is new again" news: The CW Network is developing a live-action Powerpuff Girls series — with a twist. Buttercup, Blossom, and Bubbles are now "disillusioned twentysomethings who resent having lost their childhood to crime fighting." Huh, ok. Deadline: The network has put in development The Powerpuff Girls, a live-action series based on the […]

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 […]

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 […]

"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 […]

• Trump reportedly dreamed up medieval plots "to pierce human flesh" of migrants. • Wanted to "maim" "gas" and "shoot" migrants. • On family separation, Trump said, "I want to make it ten times as bad." IN WHICH one Mr. Miles Taylor, the former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, tells The […]

German doctors' initial diagnosis of poisoning is not yet conclusive, the Kremlin says. Sure. In what is one of the least surprising news developments of 2020, the Kremlin is resisting calls to investigate the mysterious illness that befell noted Putin critic Aleksei Navalny, and why would you even think that it was a poisoning, that's […]

After the emergence of a racy photo and allegations of a racy lifestyle, Jerry Falwell Jr. quit his post as president of Liberty University late monday. Falwell made it official after flip-flopping back and forth all day, first promising to resign, then rescinding the offer, and finally making it official. Things have changed now, but […]

When the recent fires in Vacaville, California approached the home of Chad Little, he decided to stay and try to protect his house himself. Apparently though, Little's water supply was ultimately shut off so when the flames moved toward his welding workshop, he grabbed the only liquid source he could find: some cases of Bud […]

Jerry Falwell Jr. just confirmed that he has resigned as head of Liberty University. He did so in the most disgusting and dishonorable way possible, by smearing the name of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior in his resignation. Jerry Fallwell, Jr., people. What a guy.

Facebook plans to soon launch its Facebook News tab in countries beyond the U.S., to include Brazil, France, Germany, India, and the UK, the company announced on Tuesday. Facebook News will will launch in the coming months in those countries. Users in the United States got it last year. Sara Fischer [@sarafischer] at Axios tweeted […]

My friend Chris D'Amato is raising money to film a web-series adaptation of his play The Information War, which he co-wrote and performed in for a sold-out run in the 2018 New York Fringe Festival. Here's the official synopsis: America. Present Day- the age of misinformation. Madness has besieged the nation. What is fact? What […]

This rusty safe turned up on the edge of farmer Kirk Mathes's field in Barre, New York. Apparently a note pasted to the safe said the contents belong to whoever can crack it. While Mathes was traveling, words of the safe spread and a crowd attempted to pry it open to no avail. Apparently police […]

"Anime food is an escape for a lot of people. It has a very soothing effect," says Christina Song, curator of the anime feed Instagram @anime_food. Indeed, food is treated like a character in many anime films and TV shows, including the wondrous work of Studio Ghibli. For example, see My Neighbor Totoro (above) and […]

IKEA in Taiwan used the world of Animal Crossing: New Horizons to recreate some pages in its new 2021 catalog. As an avid player of the game, I am so tickled by this and appreciate how much effort went into doing it. Some of the substitutions they had to make for the recreations are really […]

No stranger to IP gaffes, Brewdog brewery reacted perfectly to Aldi's clearly humorous broadsides. How will Aldi respond? Takes a few weeks to brew a new beer… Techdirt: Yeah, this is actually happening. Consider the back and forth here for a moment. Brewdog makes a Punk IPA in a blue can. Aldi decides to release […]

A Michigan man transforms his grandparents' unassuming rural home into a module-stuffed control center dedicated to contacting alien life forms in the Netflix original, John Was Trying To Contact Aliens. Weighing in at under twenty minutes long, this short documentary nevertheless provides us with a powerful story of a life spent yearning for connection. Beginning […]

BLK SHP is a conspiracy of radically creative folks—successful entrepreneurs, authors, emerging artists, philanthropists, freaks, designers, musicians, social activists—working collaboratively on initiatives to make the world a better place. On the latest episode of the Black Sheep Podcast, my pal and BLK SHP founder Peter Sims and esteemed pianist/composer Harold O'Neal, years ago the first […]

A 20-year-old woman, declared dead at her Detroit home, was zipped up into a body bag and taken to a funeral home to be enbalmed. But she had other plans. "They were about to embalm her, which is most frightening, had she not had her eyes open … The funeral home unzipping the body bag, […]

With most summer travel cancelled this year, outdoor excursions like camping trips are on the short list of approved getaway alternatives. Since sleeping on the hard, cold ground is never a blast, air mattresses have become increasingly popular among outdoor types and adventurers. What still isn't popular is having to blow up those mattresses repeatedly […]

In 1939, as the shadow of war spread over Europe, British stockbroker Nicholas Winton helped to spirit hundreds of threatened children out of Czechoslovakia. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe Winton's struggle to save the children and the world's eventual recognition of his achievements. We'll also consider some ghostly marriages […]

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have lost one of their own. Jack Sherman, an early guitarist for the band, has passed away at the age of 64. The band made the announcement on Twitter, "We of the RHCP family would like to wish Jack Sherman smooth sailing into the worlds beyond, for he has passed. […]

Remember the Del Rubio Triplets? The three sisters who played guitars, dressed alike and wore too-short dresses…? You probably recognize their campy act from eighties shows like Pee-wee's Playhouse ("These Boots are Made for Walking" and "Winter Wonderland"), Full House ("Whip it!"), and Golden Girls ("Neutron Dance"). However, Milly, Eadie, and Elena didn't start performing […]

A gentleman saved his home from the Northern California wildfires by spraying them with Bud Light. The Mercury News: Last Wednesday morning was a very harrowing time for Chad Little and his family, but he was thankfully able to find a bit of light in the situation. Light beer, that is. As the LNU Lightning […]

KFC blurred the slogan on old billboards and signs in a cheeky YouTube video

Project managers have a lot of responsibility on their plate when they're hip-deep in a major project. They have to ride herd over the project, but they also need to constantly gather data, analyze the results, modify their processes, and report back on all of it to the various project stakeholders. This difficult position has […]

At the RNC tonight, Patricia McCloskey, who is the lady half of a notorious St. Louis couple who pointed guns at BLM protesters, says Democrats want to "abolish" the suburbs. She goes on to praise impeached U.S. President Donald Trump for pushing against "low quality apartments" and crime. They're talking about non-white people. They are […]

Dr. Stephen M. Hahn [@SteveFDA], is the 24th Commissioner of Food and Drugs for the @US_FDA under Donald Trump. Tonight, on Twitter, Hahn admitted he misled the public on the promise of convalescent plasma for COVID-19 patients. "I have been criticized for remarks I made Sunday night about the benefits of convalescent plasma," he tweeted […]

In a staged, pre-taped meeting with frontline workers for the RNC, President Trump calls coronavirus "the China virus." "Some people may get insulted, but that's the way it is." Of course no one is wearing masks. And he can't say "plasma" correctly.

“If you want to really drive them crazy, you say 12 more years.” — Trump

Yesterday in Southfield, Michigan, the parents of a 20-year-old woman found their daughter at home in cardiac arrest. They called 911 and paramedics performed CPR and attempted to save her life. After 30 minutes, they pronounced her dead. The Oakland County Medical Examiner's office had the young woman moved to the James H. Cole Funeral […]

As of May 2018, it's federal law that all new cars and trucks in the U.S. must be equipped with rearview monitoring technology. However, that still leaves millions and millions of vehicles produced before two years ago without rear-mounted sensors capable of telling you when you're about to back into a BMW while parking, for […]

According to current NASA data, there's a chance that a celestial immigrant dubbed Asteroid 2018VP1 will try to illegally cross our planetary border on or around Nov. 2, 2020 — the day before the next US election. The good news — or the bad news, depending on how apocalyptic you're feeling — is that this […]

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un is reportedly gravely ill or even dead again, according to the vague sources of South Korean defectors and the newspapers they feed. Last time Kim Jong-Un "died" it seemed to be a cunning ploy crafted to reveal disloyality in his administration, but his appearances since show him looking odd— failing […]

Back in June, the GOP released a working draft of their 2020 election platform that was literally the same as their 2016 agenda. This included passages like (emphasis added): The survival of the internet as we know it is at risk. Its gravest peril originates in the White House, the current occupant of which has […]

Prog-emo band Coheed and Cambria have always had a penchant for the dramatic, having built their career on a multi-generational 4th-wall-busting sci-fi rock opera spanning multiple albums. So it's only natural that the next stage in their musical growth would be … a sonic sequel to "Jessie's Girl" where Jessie gets the girl but she […]

My pal Brody Q just dropped off some unusual, but delicious, treats to my doorstep, a box of her homemade gourmet "s'mores." Unlike traditional s'mores these are made without a campfire, a sort of culinary response to the climate crisis. She writes: Lapsang souchong (smoky tea) marshmallows dipped in dark chocolate and gluten-free graham crackers. […]

The newly-released Microsoft Flight Simulator has been made fun of for some peculiar generative results of its world-spanning simulation of planet Earth, but it is a stunningly realistic experience all the same. This video compares the in-game graphics to footage shot from drones, and it's a very effective advertisement. And no, it does not let […]

The DC FanDome got a preview of next year's The Batman, and it is definitely in keeping with the dark and brooding aesthetic of recent iterations. Via IGN: Director Matt Reeves gave Batman fans the first trailer for his franchise reboot starring Robert Pattinson at DC FanDome. Reeves' detective film also stars Zoe Kravitz as […]

"I was trying to read outside on a lovely Summer day," wrote Robert Wilson, "but my two pet ducks, Quacker and Jack, wanted my attention."

This BBC report examines the "molka" phenomenon in South Korea (previously at BB): the proliferation of hidden wireless cameras in toilets and hotel rooms, and the culture of blackmail and revenge porn around it. "How many spycams can Stacey Dooley find in a love motel bedroom?" Pornography is illegal in South Korea, and molka has […]

From The Nation: From May to September 2017, the DOE's Office of Civil Rights partnered with National Coalition for Men Carolinas (NCFMC), Families Advocating for Campus Equality (FACE), and Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE) to develop regulations on campus sexual assault. E-mails make clear that staffers from these organizations participated in conference calls, offered […]

Top Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway announced tonight that she's leaving the White House at the end of the month. Minutes earlier, her husband George Conway tweeted that he's departing from anti-Trump political action committee The Lincoln Project. From Conway's statement: I will be transitioning from the White House at the end of this month. George […]

For years, you've heard the steady drumbeat. You need to have a VPN to protect yourself online. It's been drilled into all of us for more than a decade. But in the wake of VPN, KeepSolid, one of the world's most respected VPN providers, has jumped into the market with a new service called SmartDNS. […]

Impeached and manifestly unfit U.S. President Donald Trump has been demanding of late that armed federal law enforcement agents be placed at polling sites throughout the nation on voting day. The top homeland security official said on Sunday that his department does not have the authority to carry out any such demand by Trump. "That's […]

A comatose Alexei Navalny is being treated in a German hospital after what his allies say was a poison attack. He was flown from Siberia to Berlin when authorities finally released him, two days after the suspected poisoning. The prominent journalist and critic of Vladimir Putin "will survive," Jaka Bizilj, founder of the Cinema for […]

Where do you get your news? Actually, the better question is — who do you trust to bring you your news? And maybe the best question of all…should you trust them? In the age of "fake news" claims, flagrant political biases, and a proliferation of sources that make staying on top of news coverage all […]