As someone who spent years needing the assistance of a wheel chair, seeing these miniatures made me very happy. It's wonderful to think of special needs kids (and adults) being able to see characters they can relate to, whether they choose to roleplay that way or not. I love the attention to detail in the […]
Regarding the coronavirus pandemic that has killed at least 160,000 Americans, possibly more like 200,000 Americans, and counting, President Donald J. Trump tweeted tonight, Tuesday August 18: 'Tell the Dems that we have more Cases because we do FAR more Testing than any other Country! Tell the Dems that we have more Cases because we […]
Following a virtual roll call that spanned 50 states and 7 territories, former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was formally nominated as the Democratic presidential candidate. It is the honor of my life to accept the Democratic Party's nomination for President of the United States of America. #DemConvention — Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 19, 2020 […]
We all know global data is growing exponentially. But when you sit back and really look at the numbers, you might still be surprised at exactly how fast all that data is piling up. By next year, the accumulated world data is expected to reach 44 zettabytes, a tenfold increase over the 4.4 zettabytes we've […]
A cop allegedly flashed the "OK" sign, appropriated lately as plausibly-deniable symbol by white supremacists and right-wing provocateurs, at protestors. This does not mean the officer, named as Ryan Olthaus in an official complaint, is either of those things, and he is suing several bloggers who suggested that he is. In addition to this, however, […]
Massive lava tubes under the surface of the Moon and Mars could be prime real estate for future offworld habitats. "With heights that dwarf Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, and 'skylights' as big as football fields," the formations could contain small cities protected from solar radiation, reports LiveScience. According to a new study […]
In 1991, four developers created the original Mortal Kombat, a fighting game that upset adults because of its ultraviolence before growing into a massive media franchise. The characters were digitized sprites (two-dimensional bitmaps) based on the above video recordings of live actors kicking, punching, jumping around, and walking on a treadmill. It wasn't until Mortal […]
Night one of the Democratic National Convention closed out with this highly stylized and dead-on-for-our times rendition of Buffalo Springfield's 1966 protest anthem For What It's Worth.
What if Solo: A Star Wars Story starred a young Harrison Ford? It would make perfect sense in a timeline where Ewan McGregor played Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope:
Hardly exciting news in 2020! Someone has been diagnosed with the plague in South Lake Tahoe, CA. Last seen in nearby Yosemite National Park, bubonic plague is spread by fleas that ride on rats and mice. LA Times: Health officials have confirmed a case of plague at South Lake Tahoe — the first in California […]
Yello's "Out Of Sight" will give you Max Headroom flashbacks if you're of a certain age. Or maybe Right Said Fred, or maybe, if you are a total 80s kid, you will know the Swiss duo by name for their immortal contribution to Ferris Bueller's Day Off and many other soundtracks. Ohhhh yeah! Image: YouTube […]
Again, everything old** is new again. Now we've got a remake of John Hughes' Plane, Trains, and Automobiles which will pair Will Smith and Kevin Hart. The original 1987 road-buddy comedy starred Steve Martin and John Candy. Variety: The remake will be a modern update of the original, with Smith and Hart playing characters who […]
Something exciting is happening at the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers. Its massive Amorphophallus titanum, aka corpse flower, is in bloom! Catch "Terra the Titan," as they've named it, on their livestream while you can. The flower, which is known to bloom every seven to 10 years or so, will only be open for roughly […]
American DJs Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight from Odesza teamed up with Australian DJ Golden Features (aka Thomas George Stell) to form Bronson, and they are coming out of the gate with "Keep Moving," complete with a fabulous video by StyleWar. The video takes dreadful corporate stock footage tropes and turns them even more nightmarish […]
Instagrammer mimles does some impressive optical illusions on her own face, but this is impressive even by her high standards: she turned her own head upside down. Scroll through her post to see how she did it. Another post includes a video that shows how real it looked live: Image: Instagram / mimles
Just a few months ago, walking into a supermarket or convenience store with your head and face completely covered would have seemed…strange. Now, wandering aisles full of masked and hidden fellow shoppers is entirely commonplace. We're all in a brave new world — and while mask life appears like it will be a part of […]
Former First Lady Michelle Obama's necklace during her Democratic National Convention speech reads: V-O-T-E If you look closely, Michelle Obama's necklace reads V-O-T-E pic.twitter.com/5V5LfujLnW — philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) August 18, 2020 Michelle Obama on Trump: 'Clearly in over his head'
The Financial Times reports that Larry Ellison's Oracle has entered the race to acquire TikTok. The short video sharing social media app is Chinese-owned, under attack by Donald Trump, and is also being pursued by Microsoft. A group is reportedly working with investors on behalf of Oracle in an effort to outbid Microsoft after the […]
Impeached U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he plans to pardon a "very, very important" person on Tuesday. He then added it would not be Edward Snowden or ex national security adviser Michael Flynn. "Doing a pardon tomorrow on someone who is very, very important," Trump told reporters on Air Force One. NEW: On the […]
For anyone with designs on understanding or even getting hired in a computer science field, instruction like the Discrete Mathematics Course offers a building block skill set that can be applied across all kinds of disciplines. In case you're worried that all sounds incredibly dry, you'll certainly feel better in the hands of instructor Miran […]
In the last few weeks, school administrators have sent letters to parents and guardians announcing their plans for starting school in the middle of a pandemic. In McSweeney's, Kara Baskin penned a perfect parody of those letters. As a very wise person once said, "it's funny 'cause it's true." Teachers, you have my sympathy and […]
In the 1980s, someone stashed some beer and gum behind books at the Walla Walla Library in Washington State. The library is closed due to COVID-19 and undergoing renovations. From CNN: During the demolition three weeks ago, five full cans of Hamm's beer and an opened pack of Godzilla Heads gum was found in a […]
The year 2020 has basically kicked down that door and dragged us all into the Zoom age, whether we like it or not. And now that we're basically inviting our boss, co-workers and other business associates into our homes via video, we've unwittingly stumbled into all kinds of new potential for embarrassment. Like when you're […]
#lackrackNeed a network rack in a pinch? £5. IKEA LACK Rack. pic.twitter.com/Wn257GEqWr — Paul Curry (@cr3) August 14, 2020 I recently saw a Lack Rack—an inexpensive Ikea Lack table put to use rackmounting servers—and now I keep running into them. Pictured above is Paul Curry's £5 example, replete with vinyl wood texture. They need little […]
On Monday, August 10, the White House released a fact sheet about "President Trump's Historic Coronavirus Response." It is — perhaps unsurprisingly — full of shit. While I suppose one could argue that any action taken during a 21st century pandemic is inherently "historic" inasmuch as it has no historical precedent due to the unstoppable […]
President Donald Trump requested a mail-in ballot for Florida's Tuesday primary election, despite weeks of spewing hot lying garbage all over the place about how voting by mail means cats and dogs and zombies will get the vote. On Wednesday, ballots for POTUS and for FLOTUS Melania Trump were sent to the Trump Mar-a-Lago resort. […]
Epic Games has rejected Apple's 30% app tax. In the past Epic has owned every single partner or vendor and managed to hold on to all the value. Anyone remember Twitch? Or the streamers? Or organized eSports? Epic took the whole pie. Epic may be close to winning the next round of the entertainment advertising […]
One million Americans use American Sign Language as their primary means of communication. But as you'd expect, even though ASL is the sixth-most used language in the US, it isn't just any old language like English or Spanish or French. According to Communication Service for the Deaf, 98 percent of Deaf people don't receive education […]
If I was at a drive-in movie in 1979 and this commercial for the snack bar played, I'd have secretly wished it was the actual film we were there to see. (via r/ObscureMedia)
The 'Good Ghost' is an amazing BMW R100 project currently being featured on BikeEXIF. DIRK OEHLERKING HAS a portfolio of incredible builds, but there are two machines that stand out. They are the White Phantom and Black Phantom—two classic BMW boxers, with exquisite hand-formed bodywork and an unusual art deco vibe. Dirk refers to his Phantoms as "two that […]
In Munich, Germany, the Circus Krone, closed due to the pandemic, is trying out a new revenue stream: They're selling jars of lion poop for use in gardens to fertilize and also deter other animals from nibbling. According to UPI, "the circus erected a large sculpture dubbed 'Mr. Poo' outside the business to celebrate the […]
Florida man, or in this case, Florida Sheriff Billy Woods announced a no-mask order to his staff on Tuesday. That's right – the deputies and staff of Marion County are forbidden to wear a mask on duty. If anyone complains, he told his staff to "politely and professionally tell them 'I am not required to […]
After a successful round of funding on Kickstarter, Fluster: The Social Card Game is now ready to help turn a party or game night into the engaging, surprising, and enlightening social affair you always hoped it would be. A deck of 100 cards, Fluster is chock full of unusual, funny, and thought-provoking questions inspired to […]
Apparently a man is duct-taped to a billboard in Hollywood, California, because I received a notification a few minutes ago on my phone that said: "Man Duct Taped to Billboard." Live video: Man Duct Taped to Billboard @CitizenApp 1747 N Cahuenga Blvd 9:12:38 AM PDT
Yesterday Kamala Harris made her first speech since becoming the 2020 vice presidential nominee, and in the blink of an eye came "Prosecute Trump," another delightful anti-Trump video by the progressive group Meidas Touch. Using parts of Harris's speech as the narration, the video presents an "open and shut" case as to why Trump is […]
"We are experiencing a crisis that we evaluate to be even worse than the Great Depression" of 1929, Thibaut Le Mailloux of the Champagne Committee, told AP. French wine producers in the Champagne region estimate they've lost $2 billion in reduced sales so far this year. To manage the loss the Champagne Committee plants to […]
This seal played with its meal while waddling in the Maribyrnong River in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on August 10.“This isn’t the first time a seal has made an appearance in Melbourne’s rivers, but it’s certainly the first time I’ve seen a seal in this river, which I have been frequenting daily for the past two years,” local woman Alicia Pavlis who filmed footage of the event, wrote in a blog post.“The cute critter splashed around and smacked it’s catch against the water’s surface over and over again,” she said.VIDEO: Alicia Pavlis via Storyful Read the rest
A baby boy born on an airplane that was taking mom to a hospital in Anchorage was named 'Sky' by mom.Chrystal Hicks was 35 weeks pregnant when she gave birth to Sky Airon Hicks on August 5 around 1 AM after mom boarded a plane to take her from the small community of Glennallen, Alaska to an Anchorage hospital, KTUU-TV reported.“It was shocking, it was really weird at first, I didn’t know what to think,” Hicks told a reporter. “But everybody kept talking about the baby on the plane.”Hicks and her son made it safely to the hospital. Sky was placed on a breathing machine when he arrived because he was born a month premature. The baby is expected to be discharged from the hospital next week.Hicks said filing out the birth certificate information was difficult because they were about 18,000 feet (5,500 meters) in the air.“I just put Anchorage,” Hicks said. “I didn’t want to put on a plane or in the sky.”Hicks has three other children — ages 3, 9 and 11.Read more at KTUU-TV. Read the rest
Jade Dodd of Tennessee renewed her license online, and when she received it last week, was surprised to discover that the photo wasn’t her, but rather an image of an empty chair.“The lady at the DMV did not really believe me when I was like ‘hey, I need my license fixed,’” Dodd told local news WKRN. “Then, she looked it up in the system and goes, ‘oh, I need my manager for this.’”Here's what authorities say happened: “When the customer visited the Driver Services Center a few years ago, during the transaction, an examiner made an error by capturing and saving the wrong photo (of an empty chair) to the customer’s profile. When the customer recently renewed her driver license online, she received an image of a chair because that was the last picture taken on file. When the Department was made aware of her situation, we immediately made things right with the customer and provided her with a license with her actual photo and have addressed this situation internally.” —- Wes Moster, Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security. More at WKRN. Read the rest
It's been six years since comic legend Robin Williams died. Robin's Wish is a new documentary that looks at his final days and the degenerative disease (Lewy Body Dementia) that is attributed to him ending his own life on August 11, 2014.An intimate portrait of Robin Williams and his invulnerable spirit, Robin's Wish is the story of what really happened to one of the greatest entertainers of all time - and what his mind was fighting.screengrab via Robin's Wish/YouTube(The Awesomer) Read the rest
The LA Prop Store is holding an auction of real Hollywood memorabilia at the end of the month:An incredible 870 lots of rare props, costumes and production material from over 350 titles will be going up for auction, with bidding available online, by phone or in absentee.If you have lots and lots of disposable income and would like to spend, say, $30,000 on an OG bust of Admiral Ackbar, this could be your chance! You'll also found some original props from Army of Darkness, Alien and Aliens (the original Xenomorph Queen puppet is expected to go for $50-70K), Ghostbusters, A New Hope, Back To The Future, plus a really, really depressing (and even more depressingly affordable) Michelangelo costume from Ninja Turtles III in case your childhood wasn't traumatizing enough.Can you use my HSA to pay for this, and use it as a healthcare write-off on my taxes to help cure my PTSD from childhood? pic.twitter.com/V9oqooMJd6— Listen to the Roland High Life on Spotify (@thomdunn) August 12, 2020The eyes of Jabba the Hutt are also available for the low, low price of $2,500, which seems fairly low for a body part once belonging to a notorious intergalactic mob boss. I imagine there are some parents who'd be willing to spend $8K on that full-size velociraptor cage from Jurassic Park though.You can view the whole 250-page auction brochure online. If you're the kind of person who can afford any of this ridiculous memorabilia, and you're feeling particularly generous with your money, please hit me up for a list of completely unnecessary things that I would happily display in my home. Read the rest
Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra is what happens when a band is fronted by a robot, named SPO-20, and is backed by a mad scientist (ie. a human). San Diego-based Professor B. Miller is that mad scientist and he is giving Happy Mutants the opportunity to view the music video for band's latest single first. "Sea Anemones (aka Shark Wigs)" is the title and this is what he shared with me about it:It's awfully weird... on the surface it's about sharks wearing another creature as a wig that underneath is really a criticism of our culture's obsession with image and beauty and how it's marketed. Definitely not for everyone.(Professor, this is Boing Boing. You must know that we were born for the "awfully weird.")Something cool to note: Because he couldn't film a traditional music video due of the pandemic, the good Professor designed what are essentially a series of screen-printed concert posters. He took the separated color layers and animated them independently which produced that trippy effect you saw in the video.Also, to coincide with Shark Week, the band is releasing its nautical-themed album, "Lost at Sea," this Friday, August 14th (pre-order now). Look at how the 12" EP is laser-etched! John K. Peck (McSweeney's) provides the liner notes (Dr. Demento has in the past). View this post on Instagram Laser-etched vinyl! Looks even cooler in person. Pre-order “Lost at Sea” now... vinyl is limited to just 42 copies and then it’s gone. Read the rest