Roger Anderson, a telephony expert, developed the Jolly Roger Telephone Company to block and madden robocallers. (more…)

I kept thinking it had something to do with the pigeon.[via]

https://youtu.be/slWLa82XdBsAll of us who've held mushrooms and microphones at the same time have done this. And it's funny every time we do it.[via]

Maryland attorney general Brian E Frosh has filed a brief appealing a decision in the case of Kerron Andrews, who was tracked by a Stingray cell-phone surveillance device. (more…)

See more photos at Wink Fun.It's exciting to get a new game in its pristine box, wrapped in cellophane, begging to be opened. Inside you find the game board, colorful game pieces, cards, and, of course, instructions. Instructions are the worst part of a new game. Reading and rereading the sheet of rules, digesting them, and teaching them to your friends so you can get your game on can be excruciating. And how many practice games do you have to play before you really get it?Instead of learning how to play someone else's game, how about inventing one of your own? Combine the elements of all those games you've played and loved into your own unique adventure using a board game inventors kit by Board Game Manufacturing. Don't be put off by their site's poor graphics and design. Their product is worth the slog through its eye-crossing pages.I purchased their Junior Game Inventors Kit. The kit includes everything you need to start building a game: a pre-cut box, a blank folds-to-square game board, paper to cover box and board, nine pawns, a pair of standard dice, a 12-sided numbered die, 56 blank cards, and a bundle of play money. You can also purchase a la carte from a long list of goodies. I added a money tray, a set of ten chipboard blanks, and ten stands to the basic kit. They offer an Advanced Game Board Inventors Kit as well, with a mind-boggling array of pieces.The components of the kit are sturdy and as good as those in a purchased game. There is only one set of instructions: how to assemble the box. Everything else is up to you (although Board Game Manufacturing does offer game development services). They also manufacture board games in large and small quantities.Perhaps your new game will be reserved for personal use. Perhaps you will create a limited edition game for gifting. Or perhaps you will invent the next Monopoly and make your fortune. It all begins with a game inventors kit.– Lane DevereuxJunior Game Inventors Kit

On February 1, Amy Rios tweeted: "Write the saddest story you can using only 4 words." Since then, the replies have poured in, and they are excellent. Most of them are darkly humorous or sarcastic, instead of just sad.

A huge crane toppled in New York City this morning, killing someone in a parked car and injuring several others. CBS reports that high winds were blamed for the collapse. (more…)

Civil rights activist DeRay McKeeson is running for mayor of Baltimore. He would get my vote if I lived there.

Iphone 6s that have been repaired by independent service centers are bricking themselves, seemingly permanently, with a cryptic message about "Error 53." (more…)

After years of fumbling, deference and mismanagement, Canada's telcoms regulator, the CRTC, laid down a landmark net neutrality rule and demanded that Bell, the nationally founded telcoms giant, would have to share its infrastructure with new entrants to the market. (more…)

Chelsea Manning appears in the current episode of Amnesty International's "In Their Own Words" podcast, voiced by actor Michelle Hendley.Chelsea tells us, "The awesome thing about this podcast is that Michelle Hendley speaks in myown voice, telling my story and memories in my own words and in my ownstyle. It's the closest thing to actually interviewing me as we couldpossibly get, given the rules of the prison. I was able to listen to it onthe phone by having it played from laptop speakers into a friend's cellphone, and I think she sounds like me." (more…)

The power of simple animation can be overwhelming. This film, I Will Always Remember You by Hugo Guinness, done for The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, is shattering.The technique used by artist Hugo Guinness appears to be a tribute to Windsor McKay’s Gertie the Dinosaur, the first animated character (in 1914) generally credited as having a personality. It is used here not for whimsy, but artfully to devastating effect. So many emotions conveyed by so few lines.

Many people have noticed that the female lead character Rey is notably underrepresented in the tsunami of Star Wars: The Force Awakens toys. (more…)

My favorite Vonnegut novel, Cat's Cradle (1963), is just $1.99 as a Kindle ebook today. I read it when I was about 12 or 13, and the idea of "Ice-nine" has intrigued me ever since. Ice-nine, as described in the novel, is a stable form of water that's solid at room temperature, and doesn't melt until it reaches 114.4 °F. If you drop a bit of Ice-nine into a glass of ordinary water, it will work like a seed crystal and turn all the water in the glass into a solid. If you toss an Ice-nine cube into a lake on a warm summer day, the whole lake will freeze over.From Wikipedia:

They started as "Millennials for Jeb" and now they're called "Millennials Rising," but since the beginning, the dark-money-spouting Super PAC has been 95% funded by rich white guys over the age of 60. (more…)

Smart bathroom mirrors with Internet connections and integrated displays have been fodder for futurists (including me) since the early 1990s at least. Google engineer Max Braun decided to build his own from a two-way mirror, display panel, and Amazon Fire TV Stick running an Android application package for the UI. He posted about the project on Medium:

The Trans Pacific Partnership is a secretly negotiated agreement between 12 countries, including the US, Canada and Japan, which establishes punishing regimes for censoring and controlling the Internet, as well as allowing corporations to nullify safety, environmental and labor laws that limit their profits. (more…)

Podcasters have largely mastered the art of setting up a great home recording setup, something that's gotten steadily easier over the years, but then they interview someone over Skype and suddenly they sound like Doctor Who conversing with a Dalek at the bottom of a well. (more…)

Frinkiac allows you to type in a quote from The Simpsons and it'll find the matching stills from a database of 3 million screen caps. I expect that its creators will be acquihired soon by Compu-Global-Hyper-Mega-Net.(Thanks, Brad Kreit!)

The design idea of "counter-constraint" is to create things in such a way as to get around some constraint -- for example, open source hardware works without patents or copyrights. (more…)

See sample pages from this book at Wink.They say that truth is stranger than fiction, so that may explain why The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities almost fooled me into believing it’s real. Were it not for the authors being well-known fiction writers – writers like Alan Moore, China Mieville, Cherie Priest, Helen Oyeyemi – I would have considered this a legitimate study of an eccentric, pseudoscientific collection of oddities. Even the introduction, which gives the history of Mr. Lambshead in a completely deadpan tone, in no way gives away the “joke” that everything is fiction.Essentially, this compendium of bizarre fictional Victoriana brings together more than 50 of the most talented writers and artists of modern fantasy and weird fiction in a collection of the odd, esoteric, and occasionally frightening. Some pieces are written like a museum catalog, while others are stories “inspired” by the collection. The creators have taken full advantage of a long history of eccentric Victorian collectors and unbelievable inventions to assemble a cabinet in book form, stuffed to the brim with curiosities that may only exist in the imagination, and yet feel strangely real.The stunning yet bizarre imagery sprinkled throughout the book mirrors the various styles of illustration, printmaking, and early photography that would have been found in the kind of 19th-century tome Cabinet takes as a model, reinforcing the otherworldly feeling of reading a history book from an alternate universe, where automatons educate our children and gorillas are raised by crocodiles in the sewer.– Amber TroskaThe Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities

This person has three problems with the new Uber logo. The first problem ("It can be recreated in under one minute using three of the standard shape tools) does not bother me. I actually think that's cool. But the uncentered square and the overhanging line really do suck!

A UN panel has concluded that Julian Assange is being "arbitrarily detained," reports the BBCAssange has been holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London since 2012, knowing that he will be arrested if he leaves. Originally detained in connection to rape and sexual assault claims out of Sweden, Assange says the claims are false and crafted to disrupt his whistleblowing work.

In December, Comedian Alison Leiby tweeted, "As a woman, I just hope that one day I have as many rights as a gun does." After a popular conservative Twitter account retweeted it, some people who disagreed with her thought the appropriate response was threatening to rape her.From Medium

Summoned to a congressional hearing into price-gouging, entrepreneur Martin Shkreli smirked, dodged and insulted those before him, even when all they wanted to talk about was Wu-Tang Clan.

Animal Creative in Stockholm created Trump Donald, an interactive website that lets you blast a virtual trumpet at a virtual Donald Trump.

On McSweeney's, Susan Harlan rounds up some less-objectionable alternatives we can use to describe so-called "Resting Bitch Face," such as "Yes I Really Do Just Want to Sit Here and Read My Book Unmolested Face." (more…)

The original Rollerball (1975) is a fantastic dystopian science fiction film in which corporations run the world and crowds go crazy for an ultraviolent sport called, you guessed it, Rollerball. (Watch the movie trailer below.) Just before shooting wrapped up, the movie teams played the game for real (apparently with less blood) for an audience of thousands at Munich's Olympic Basketball Stadium. Sports Illustrated covered the chaos for its April 21, 1975 issue:

CBS announced today that ailing and aging media mogul Sumner M. Redstone, who is 92, has resigned as the company's executive chairman. Leslie Moonves, CEO, has now taken the role of chairman.(more…)

Making the rounds online this week: this footage shot by a camera-equipped drone of the Syrian city of Homs. After 5 years of civil war, the city is largely reduced to abandoned rubble.(more…)

Racist cops in Inkster, MI., set out to pull over a black motorist and beat him up. One of them, William Melendez, was jailed for no less than 13 months today for his part in the attack, and Judge Vonda Evans's sentencing statement was a powerful and stirring moral condemnation of his behavior and that of his fellow officers, police culture, and the cynicism it leads to.Watch the footage at Fox 2 Detroit's website. Warning: racial slurs.

Our pals at surreal clothiers Imaginary Foundation bring us this fine enamel pin emblazoned with an essential insight of the ages, captured by a simple Venn diagram. Just $10!

The contents of this jar make me think of the old dinner table insult, "Do we eat it, or did we eat it?" Swell drawing, though. I wish I had hands twice the size of my head, too.[via 10 years ago on Boing Boing]

BB pal Mitch Horowitz, noted author of esoteric and downright weird books, writes:

Dennis Fechter is the creator of the Rock-afire Explosion, the animatronic band that made greasy memories at Showbiz Pizza throughout the 1980s. He also insists he's the inventor of Whac-A-Mole, based on a similar Japanese game that he saw in 1976, although the company that popularized it call bullshit on that claim. Now, Fechter has a new game in the works, Bashy Bug, and he's banking on its success to save his career, and his legacy. From Popular Mechanics:

Don Cheadle directed and stars in Miles Ahead, the film portrait of the jazz legend that opens in theaters April 1. How did Cheadle get the role? Well, he never auditioned or even talked to anyone about it before he was cast. Rather, Miles's nephew Vince Wilburn declared that Cheadle would play his uncle. Entertainment Weekly interviewed Cheadle:

Once the senators who oversee the science committee see this graph, they will pass a law forbidding Miss America to be over the age of 12.[via]

What surprised me about this map is how far north the UK and Portugal are. The UK is above the continental US, and I would have thought Portugal would be closer to Mexico's latitude.[via]

See sample pages from this book at Wink.A tangle of vines pushes its way across a trellis over two chairs. Dangling birdcages squeak in an imaginary wind as their inhabitants sing softly. Further in, a deer prepares to leap off a page filled with leaves and acorns falling to the ground, and a frog sits alone, perhaps contemplating jumping away. I have never been much good at drawing; my stick figures resemble sticks far more than they do figures. However, I do love to color, so you can imagine my delight at receiving a portable coloring book for the holidays.Published this past year, and first released in Sweden, the Flying Wonders coloring book contains both intricate and simplistic pictures ready for you to fill with colors and designs. Flowers and birds pervade many of the pages, with some of the images repeated for multiple attempts. One of the best parts of the book, however, is its size and construction. The book is smaller than many adult coloring books, the perfect size to be carried in a backpack or purse. Even better, the front and back covers are made of a stiff, thick cardboard to prevent designs from being bent or torn. The portability means I can slip it in my bag and work on any of the designs while I wait at a coffee shop or in the doctor’s office. Coloring is something so often put aside when adulthood is reached; it’s with great joy that I see it's made a comeback as a relaxing activity for adults, and with even greater joy that I can bring my coloring with me. Now, you’ll have to excuse me while I go color some more. – Julia PillardFlying Wonders: Portable Coloring for Creative Adults

A Delta flight that departed from Los Angeles and was bound for Minneapolis had to make an emergency landing in Salt Lake City after a fight broke out between two flight attendants.

The Bagel Store in Brooklyn has been making rainbow bagels for 20 years. They serve them filled with cotton candy and rainbow-sprinkle-cake-flavored cream cheese.

Fatboy's $250 "picnic lounge" is a 9'x 7', weather-resistant, picnic/beach blanket with a built-in pocket (inside the Fatboy logo-tag). (via Geekologie) (more…)

Have you ever tried to draw a brain? I find it hard to get the wrinkles to look right. Scientists at at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland made a solid model of a fetal brain out of gel that developed its own realistic furrows just by dunking it into a solvent.From BBC:

Take a deep breath. Now exhale. Wouldn’t that whole breathing thing be a lot better with an amazing vape in your hands? How about a vape that’s specifically engineered and designed for dry leaf and crazy easy to both use and clean? You can save 28% right now when you nab this new FEZ Vaporizer that’s all that and way more. It’s about to be your new best friend and never leave your hands. Keep it on the down low, but make it high tech, that’s their motto and it might be yours soon too.You can plug this baby into your laptop or any USB outlet to fully charge up fast. With one full battery you’ll get over two thousand puffs. That’s quite the lifespan after one plug-in. And speaking of speed, it heats right up in under sixty seconds. All those flavors you love are captured here plus that incredible aroma. The temperature controlled design is made for dry flower consumption with its wide range of heat options to match your preferences.It’s super easy to clean so you can keep everything ship shape and looking good. Just spray with the alcohol provided and wipe it down with the cute little brush. The alloy polycarbonate is strong but super lightweight so you can tote it anywhere you go, totally discreetly in your pocket or bag. With the long lasting battery life, you’re good to go for a while. Right now you can take 28% off and even get free shipping within the continental US. Check out the link below for more details.Right now you can get the FEZ Vaporizer for over 25% off in the Boing Boing Store.

(Thanks, Dimitrios!)

No one will look twice at your tiny knife hidden in a JFK 50-cent piece, assuming your deep cover identity is as a harmless numismatist. (via Red Ferret)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNoxKxphYBEKnights and Bikes is a fictionalised recreation of co-creator Rex Crowle's boyhood in Cornwall, riding around on his bike and pretending to be a medieval knight; Crowle and his partner Moo Yu are a powerhouse pair of game developers, part of the Little Big Planet core team, and they've tapped some fantastic artistic and musical talent to work on the game as well. (more…)

Americans spent more last year on legal marijuana than they did on Cheetos, Doritos and Funyuns combined. The Denver Post reports that the $5.4 billion total includes medical and recreational sales.