Boing Boing

These No-Hide chews have been popular with my most aggressive chewers and spare me some worry. There are good and bad things about rawhide, and I have had two very aggressive chewers in my life. My dogs can vouch for the deliciousness of these No-Hide chews but are not a statistically significant sample of safety. […]

Only a single survivor was pulled from the water after a ship loaded with thousands of cattle capsized off the coast of Japan on wednesday. The Guardian reports that Sareno Edvarodo, 45, was spotted waving in the water by a plane likewise risking the seas and skies during Typhoon Maysak. According to Edvarodo, the ship […]

Successful people typically attribute their success to skill and hard work, but as Veritasium points out, luck is a factor, too. For instance, in many years, 40% of hockey players selected into top-tier leagues are born in the first quarter of the year, while only 10% are born in the fourth quarter. Call that coincidence, […]

My new favorite website is Asbestorama, dedicated to the wonderful world of fibrillous silicate minerals. My favorite entries are asbestos snow, a fluffy mix that you can use to decorate christmas trees in your home; the asbestos filters formerly offered on Kent-brand cigarettes; and

In recent years, the state of the art in highspeed reveals has gone high tech. So-called sniffer effects where a curtain quickly disappears used to be done with ropes, pulleys, and sandbags. Now it's done with programmable mechanics and high-power engines. A kabuki effect is where a curtain is released from the top and drops […]

Fans of Pee-wee's Big Adventure are going to have a field day looking for all the details in the art for this just-announced deck of cards. I spy Francis as the Joker. I spy a broken bike chain link. I spy an Abraham Lincoln hand puppet à la the Breakfast Machine. I spy the cut […]

Troubled chipmaker Intel has unveiled a new logo. To quote Raymond Wong, it "now looks like the store brand of Windex".

You've visited Windows 95's Hall of Tortured Souls, but here's a far more charming easter egg revealed by one of the people who worked on Microsoft's all-conquering operating system nearly thirty years ago. The procedure to find it is simple but blatantly unlikely—renaming a New Folder three times with what are essentially uncrackably-long passphrases—but it's […]

If you have a medium-sized metal can, flour, corn starch, powdered sugar, baking soda, and maybe some borax, you can make a small forge that will work with a standard soft flame torch found at any hardware store. NightHawkInLight was able to place a small crucible inside and melt aluminum scraps in just five minutes. […]

The administration of impeached President Donald Trump has told U.S. states to prepare to distribute a coronavirus vaccine that will be made ready by November 1, coincidentally just two days before Election Day. So weird, huh? Could a rushed, unsafe, but much-hyped vaccine be the 'October Surprise' from Trump's campaign and administration? CDC planning documents […]

When Tod Kurt of ThingM recommended these reversible Micro USB cables, I bought a 3-pack. They work! Both the USB A plug and the micro plug can be inserted without regard to the orientation, like a USB C plug. There is no "right side up." I bought another 3-pack. Why aren't all USB cables made […]

I carved and gifted the "Terminator pipe" to Arnold birthday and he sent me a photo. from r/nextfuckinglevel Master carver u/RadonLab made a cool Terminator pipe for Arnold Schwarzenegger, who thanked him by sending him a signed photo.

Step right up to see Chico, the singing parrot that lives at the Lincolnshire Wildlife Park in Lincolnshire, England. The 9-year-old, Yellow-crowned Amazon made headlines singing Beyonce's "If I Were a Boy" but also covers Katy Perry, Gnarls Barkley, and Lady Gaga. Follow @chicoparrot (Instagram)

Sandie Crisp (AKA The Goddess Bunny) is a Los Angeles drag queen, actress, and model. Transgender and born with polio, she labels herself as the last glamor star of Hollywood and has been an inspiration to many to never give up no matter the odds. In 2020 Crisp announced her candidacy for President of the […]

German artist Katharina Grosse has a current exhibition called "It Wasn't Us" that turned the Historic Hall of Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart in Berlin into a giant colorful form that spills outside. Turn on CC for English subtitles. Via Art at Berlin: The artist's latest in situ painting disregards the boundaries of the […]

Art Insider profiled Adam Fu, aka Adam Fukujita, a spray paint muralist who has really figured out the trick to spray paint that looks like neon. Check out his Instagram for more recent projects. Image: YouTube / Art Insider

Adding a few autonomous vehicles into traffic can reduce traffic jams and create safer, greener driving conditions, according to a study conducted Dr. Amir Goldental and Prof. Ido Kanter, from the Department of Physics at Bar-Ilan University. The researchers suggest guidelines for efficient regulations, such that AVs can cooperate and significantly enhance traffic flow even […]

This robot, named Model-T, is now stocking shelves at a FamilyMart convenience store in Japan. For this trial use, the alien-looking robot is controlled by an operator in a remote location. According to robot firm Telexistence, Model-T will enable stores to "operate with less number of workers and enable them to recruit employees regardless of […]

Sheets of paper and cardboard boxes can become electronic user interfaces thanks to the work of researchers at Purdue University. "This is the first time a self-powered paper-based electronic device is demonstrated," said Ramses Martinez, an assistant professor in Purdue's School of Industrial Engineering and in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering in Purdue's College […]

Insect photographer Andreas Kay shot this remarkable golden tortoise beetle. They are not only beautiful, but they also have a number of impressive evolutionary traits. Their feet are really good at gripping leaves, so they can seal their elytra (their hard wing coverings) so they are flush to the leaf's surface, making it hard for […]

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. "Ruben Bolling's craft and commentary are as powerful and as pointed, as capable of making you laugh while breaking your heart as they were […]

Barely a year-on from the award-winning "de-aged" Robert DeNiro of The Irishman, it seems clear that deepfaking it creates a superior result—one so good it not only shows how the original effort fell short, but what it is about age that simply cannot be smoothed away. Deepfake the whole thing release it on pirate bay! […]

You can't make this stuff up. These are real promotions from Target. Go ahead, complete your virtual statement look: Thanks, Phil! screengrab via Target

Mario Lopez appeared on Golden Magic to demonstrate some nice sleight of hand work with a cigarette and other props. Whoever in the control booth decided to cut away to the inattentive and generally unimpressed audience is probably rethinking that choice. Image: YouTube / Nam Anh Nguyễn

14 years after unleashing the internet classic Shoes (described in Vice as the "First Great Viral Music Video"), LiamKyleSullivan yesterday posted a sequel called Masks. Footwear-obsessive Kelly has moved on.

This video is a funny and quite disturbing masterpiece of applied fakery (but not deepfakery), showing how adeptly computers can not only animate faces from a single photographic source but fall into a sweet spot between realism and animation's squash and stretch. As amusing as it is, the trivializing charm of it will please far-right […]

This is no time to just assume that everything will be fine. This is a time for plans…and backup plans. We all want to think that our employers are looking out for us and our interests. And maybe they are. But maybe, they aren't. Your company or even your career could be impacted and irrevocably […]

Lycopodium spores repel water so strongly that you can dip your spore-covered hand into water and it will stay completely dry. The hydrophobic spores are highly flammable, too, so they are often used to make fireballs in theatrical performances. Steve Spangler does some pretty good pyrotechnics with it here: Image: YouTube / Phil Cook

And now for some good news: Facebook says it is going to make less money when Apple releases iOS 14. I have no idea what "Audience Network publisher revenue" is but can only hope it represents a major part of Facebook's revenue. From MacRumors: Facebook warns that ‌iOS 14‌ could render Audience Network ineffective in […]

The Action Lab looks deeper into why strange-shaped objects like this octohedron can roll. A lot of it is about friction, or lack of slipping. Part of the issue is probably materials as well, as an object has to be sufficiently dense for the rolling to continue. These heavier objects just need a shove of […]

Most people will recognize actor/musician/writer Daveed Diggs from his fast-rapping turns as Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton. But Diggs' resume doesn't stop there. Among other things, he's also part of the experimental sci-fi-tinged hip-hop group clipping., along with producers William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes. The group received a Hugo Award nomination for […]

Teslas have UV coating on the roof, and when condensation or other moisture builds up, it turns an iridescent orange tint. Here's a closeup of how pretty it is: Image: YouTube / Dave M.

A Taiwanese Medtech company called Brain Navi has a new plan to speed up COVID-19 tests around the world: automated sinus swabs, adapted from a robot originally designed to prep patients for brain surgery. Here's how The Verge explains the roboprocess: To begin the procedure, a patient dons a nasal clip that the machine uses […]

The Natural History Museum, London, has released a selection of gorgeous "Highly Commended" images from their Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. Seen here are some of my favorites. The overall winners will be revealed in October. Above: "Amazon burning" by Charlie Hamilton James, UK. Below: Large male gharial and its offspring by Dhritiman Mukherjee, […]

RADVAC, the Rapid Deployment Vaccine Collaborative, is a group of scientists who first got together in early March to experiment with potential coronavirus solutions … on their own bodies. From their website: Beginning early in the 2020 pandemic, we designed, produced, and self-administered several progressive generations of nasal vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. As of August 2020, […]

Visionaries Mark Mothersbaugh and Beatie Wolfe have a request: Please send hand-decorated postcards STAT. Their mail-art challenge, Postcards for Democracy, is described as "a demonstration to support the 225 yr old U.S. Postal Service & the right to VOTE." It's easy to play: Just make & mail your original postcard creations (you can also recycle […]

Oecophylla weaver ants create nests from up to 300 leaves, then expand their colony with far-reaching outposts on the borders. To hold their homes together, they affix the leaves with the sticky silk produced by their larvae, then use more silk inside the leafy nests to create chambers. This is the third in Kurzgesagt's ant […]

Jez Burrows edited this "supercut of video game characters taking a break from solving crime or shooting people to enjoy a meditative minute of miserable weather." "It's Rain in Games, Part I" (via Waxy)

On Sunday, an American Airlines pilot reported "a guy in a jetpack" flying beside them above LAX. The sighting was confirmed by another commercial pilot. From the air traffic control discussion you can hear over at Fox11: American Flight 1997: "Tower, American 1997, we just passed a guy in a jetpack." Tower: "American 1997, OK, […]

A man returned to his home in Brisbane to find two carpet pythons, measuring 9.5 feet and 8.2 feet, falling through the kitchen ceiling. CNN reports that snake catcher Steven Brown, of Brisbane North Snake Catchers and Relocation, removed them from the property. Received a call to Laceys Creek after customer found 2 very large […]

In this video, Mike Augustine demonstrates a fun effect: get a pair of refractive glasses and look at fireworks. His had a heart shape in the refraction, which caused an amazing burst of hearts with each explosion. You can get them with any kind of refraction. Legoland offers them with a LEGO brick lens: Here's […]

Eddy Grant filed a lawsuit against the Trump campaign for using his song "Electric Avenue" (1983) in a "bizarre animated ad posted on Twitter by Trump's campaign on Aug. 12 which depicts a cartoon version of Trump's White House rival, former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden, driving an old-fashioned train car while a speeding train […]

By way of our friend Rachel Barry (Science Communication Strategist at ISS Research) comes this announcement: In celebration of 20 years of continuous human presence aboard the International Space Station, STEM on Station will fund five payloads to the station, including return, through the Student Payload Opportunity with Citizen Science (SPOCS). Teams of collegiate students […]

Dichroic and trichroic prisms have interesting qualities that make them useful in certain kinds of image capture systems. They are also cool to play around with in the dark. Here's another nice demo: This one even includes the unboxing: If you'd like your own, I used this set of three to nice effect in a […]

Reuben Wu of English band Ladytron is also a photographer, and his Aeroglyphs blew me away: "an ongoing series of large temporary geometries traced by light carrying drones in space. " Prints are available in his online shop, and he's just been profiled by National Geographic. The idea was born from a mistake. One night […]

8bitdo makes the only game controllers I like, and they just announced a proper six-button Arcade Stick [Amazon] for October release. It works on Nintendo Switch and Windows, connects via Bluetooth or USB Type-C, and supports custom mapping and macros. The list price is $90, it's 30x20cm, and they make a point of its mounting […]

Sometimes in our research we come across stories that are regarded as true but that we can't fully verify. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll share two such stories from the 1920s, about a pair of New York fruit dealers and a mythologized bank robber, and discuss the strength of the […]

In the latest issue of my newsletter, The Magnet, (subscribe here), I wrote about a book I bought in 1984 — Forrest Mims' Getting Started in Electronics, which he hand-lettered. It remains one of my favorite books. The instructional content is excellent, but the main reason I like it is because of its stupendous design. […]

Earth has changed quite a bit in the past 750 million years or so. Due to plate tectonics—the shifting of the Earth's surface—the location of your city is likely far from where it is today. Computer scientist Ian Webster created this stunning interactive "Ancient Earth Globe" that pinpoints your city where it was located at […]

I wasn't sure I'd enjoy an animated short featuring Bearded Sky Man controlling a flat Earth inhabited simultaneously by humans and dinosaurs. But Tales From The Multiverse was funnier than I expected.