Boing Boing

I had reason to search for the nearest penny press and found to my delight that there exist several websites dedicated to mapping the locations of these fabulous machines. The Pressed Penny Machine Map works exactly as you'd expect it to, and sells a handy printed map so that you are never in any doubt as to the whereabouts of a device that can turn a penny into a charming souvenir. - Read the rest The post Maps of penny press machines appeared first on Boing Boing.

Relativity Park is a 3D environment to wander around, with a Ferris wheel, a roundabout, and various sculptures to be enjoyed amid lowpoly pillars and primitive shapes. The catch is that the speed of light is only 5 kilometers per hour, meaning that the world appears to stretch and warp as you move around. - Read the rest The post Explore a world where the speed of light is only 5 km/h appeared first on Boing Boing.

"Vermin infestation" is awfully rough for an act nobody got to see. The mythical Hollywood bikini bar reopened Aug. 31. Despite social posts confidently promoting the culprits as "rats," SFGate reports that health officials did not specify whether the offending vermin had fur or considerably more legs to show off. - Read the rest The post LA's legendary Jumbo's Clown Room briefly closed over a "vermin infestation" appeared first on Boing Boing.

In 1943, the OSS, the predecessor to the CIA, hired Ernest Crocker, a chemical engineer with an expertise in smell.They hired him to build a stink bomb. The code name was "Who, Me?" They wanted to create a spray that the French resistance could use against German officers that made them smell so much like feces that they became humiliated and the target of contempt by fellow officers. - Read the rest The post In 1943 the OSS hired a smell expert to build a stink bomb called "Who, Me?" to humiliate Nazi officers appeared first on Boing Boing.

In 1653, Sir Thomas Urquhart, a Scottish writer and translator, published a book called Logopandecteision, an introduction to an artificial language that he had created.The end of the book had two lines with 32 numbers on each line. People assumed it was some kind of a cipher and have been trying to crack it ever since. - Read the rest The post An AI cracked a 373-year-old cipher by noticing the key was hiding in the book itself appeared first on Boing Boing.

This is my last Charlie Kirk post for a while, I promise. It's not my fault that it's been, in the words of a friend, a Kirked-up weekend!Upon hearing the news that the newly unveiled eight-foot-tall bronze statue of Charlie Kirk was vandalized last night at Turning Point USA's Phoenix headquarters, I once again decided I needed to see for myself. - Read the rest The post Charlie Kirk statue scrubbed clean of red paint, back on display appeared first on Boing Boing.

It only took a couple of days for vandals to target a newly unveiled eight-foot-tall bronze statue of Charlie Kirk. The statue was on display over the weekend at Turning Point USA's Phoenix headquarters, after its debut on September 10, 2026, the one-year anniversary of Kirk's assassination. - Read the rest The post New Charlie Kirk memorial statue vandalized days after unveiling appeared first on Boing Boing.

Ikea is coming to the rescue of overencumbered Skyrim players, with a sentient Kallax shelving unit.All video games with an inventory eventually become inventory management games. With the rare exception of Backpack Hero, which manages to turn it into a solid game, inventory management is generally tedious and can kill the fun in an otherwise enjoyable game. - Read the rest The post Ikea comes to Skyrim appeared first on Boing Boing.

A year ago, conservative activist and Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk was shot while speaking to students at Utah Valley University, during a Q&A session that was part of "The American Comeback Tour," hosted by Utah Valley's TPUSA chapter. Just last week, Tyler Robinson, the man accused of Kirk's murder, appeared at a Provo, Utah court and pled not guilty to aggravated murder. - Read the rest The post TPUSA unveils bronze Charlie Kirk statue on death's anniversary appeared first on Boing Boing.

There are now so many quirky daily challenges out there it might take you your entire day to do them. Daily word-guessing game Wordle was one thing, but the wave of imitators and inspired projects it's left behind is another entirely. - Read the rest The post Wordle clones have finally reached their apex with RNGdle appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR:Get five years of flowkey for $79.99 (MSRP $899), withguided piano lessons, real-time feedback, sheet music practice, and a huge library of songs to learn at your own pace.Learning pianodoesn't have to mean committing to weekly lessons or working through a rigid practice routine. - Read the rest The post From Chopin to pop songs, learn to play piano without leaving your house with flowkey for $80 appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Get professional-looking results sans the steep learning curve withlifetime access to this Luminar Neo Bundlefor just $69.97 (reg. $332).These days, taking your own pictures is easy enough. Mobile cameras are almost as good as normal cameras; but we all know that making "simple edits" can easily turn into days trying to figure out how to use complicated software. - Read the rest The post Give your photos a professional edge with this $70 award-winning AI editor for life appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Manage, edit, sign, and organize your PDFs from a single workspace with thislifetime subscription to PDF Expert Premium Planfor just $79.99 (reg. $139.99).Instead of collecting multiple subscriptions to manage your PDFs, why not invest in a single, all-in-one PDF editor? - Read the rest The post Manage your PDFs from one workspace with this $80 lifetime deal appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Turn complex processes, data, and workflows into professional diagrams with thislifetime license to Microsoft Visio Professional 2024 for Windowsfor just $48.97 (reg. $579.99).While well-made diagrams are an easy way to represent complex datasets, outline business processes, and visualize projects, crafting them can take time. - Read the rest The post Simplify complex data into clear diagrams for $49 with Microsoft Visio 2024 for life appeared first on Boing Boing.

This clip is from a Japanese TV show called Masquerade, a variety show that first aired in 1979. The premise of the show was that people would turn themselves into everyday objects without any use of special effects. Forget CGI or AI: these folks used art and optical illusions to make people question their own eyeballs. - Read the rest The post This Japanese game show turned people into human pool balls appeared first on Boing Boing.

This ethereal clip shared by AccuWeather shows thousands of birds swarming around a church steeple at dusk. The birds put on quite a show, circling around and around like a scene from a scary movie, until they finally decided to settle down for the night inside the chimney. - Read the rest The post Watch thousands of swifts swarm into a chimney at dusk appeared first on Boing Boing.

I've seen lots of amazing photos of people doing funny or interesting things inside art museums over the years, but this one takes the cake. Herb Slodounik took this photo in 1963. The photo shows a fancy art museum filled with paintings, but two children are captivated by something most adults would overlook: an air vent in the wall. - Read the rest The post In 1963, two kids found the most interesting thing in an art museum appeared first on Boing Boing.

Shiladitya Banerjee, a computational biophysicist at Georgia Tech's School of Physics, ran an experiment with thousands of individual E. coli cells. He varied their food supply and noticed that the bacteria behaved differently depending on the previous food scenario they had experienced. - Read the rest The post A single bacterium can learn - and it works like an AI neural network appeared first on Boing Boing.

Grumpy and tired, as he was not invited to speak at the Ground Zero ceremony, Grandpa Pudding Brains decided to nap at the Pentagon remembrance event instead.The Pentagon began its 9/11 ceremony by reading the names of all 184 people killed there, tolling a bell for each. - Read the rest The post Droopy Don shows his respect for 9/11 victims by apparently dozing through their names appeared first on Boing Boing.

Years ago I spent a couple of months in Malaysia. In the capital, Kuala Lumpur, I noticed little stalls selling betel nut. It's a psychoactive stimulant. I bought some from a vendor to try it. He gave me a kit with some sliced betel nuts, fresh betel nut leaves, and a dollop of lime (not the fruit, a white, moist powder made from burnt shells). - Read the rest The post Researchers found evidence of drug use 25,000 years ago appeared first on Boing Boing.

Tired of people noticing the racism, JD Vance leaned into some racist rhetoric. At the Republican "midterm convention" in Dallas, Trump's lackey complained that "Americans" have been unfairly labeled for noticing that the country was becoming "dirtier and poorer and less safe and less prosperous." - Read the rest The post JD Vance answers accusations of racism with more racism appeared first on Boing Boing.

I once visited the Museum of Failure when it was in Los Angeles, and they had an entire wall of terrible Oreo flavors. I felt the wall was too easy, and the museum was taking an easy way out to fill up a lot of space. - Read the rest The post Yet another Oreo flavor no one could have been asking for appeared first on Boing Boing.

The numbers are simple. The Sierra Club Seal Society estimates the infant mortality rate at La Jolla Cove to be 43%, while nearby, protected Point La Jolla only loses 6% of its pups. Local, County, state, and federal governments stand by as stupid individuals attempt to impress the marine mammals with kung fu moves or simply harass them. - Read the rest The post Watching humanity fail the sea lions of La Jolla Cove in real time appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR:ChatPlayground AIlets you compare outputs from 20+ AI models side by side, and a lifetime subscription to the Unlimited Plan is now $79 (MSRP $619).Running the same prompt through ChatGPT, then Gemini, then DeepSeek, then comparing tabs is a slow, tedious loop. - Read the rest The post Save hundreds on unlimited, lifetime access to 20+ AI models appeared first on Boing Boing.

Elle Cordova is a fantastic Instagram / YouTube follow, creating videos that manage to be both smart and funny. In the past week, she released two new videos that are well worth a play.First was this short pitting a Rough Draft against a Final Draft. - Read the rest The post Elle Cordova adds two great new comedy videos appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR:1min.AI's Advanced Business Plan bundles GPT-5.5 Pro, Claude 4.6 Sonnet, Gemini 3.1 Pro, Llama 3, and more into one account for $69.97, along with tools for writing, images, audio, and video.Every major AI lab wants you subscribed to its own chatbot, and paying for the best one for each job gets expensive fast. - Read the rest The post Stop picking one AI when $69.97 gets you GPT, Claude, and Gemini together appeared first on Boing Boing.

This mock ad for the iPhone Duo may be the most compelling yet, but it still doesn't make me want to spend $ 2,000 to own one.We do not even need to bring the Apple "hand size" controversy into this. - Read the rest The post Truly showing off its power, the iPhone Duo still isn't worth $2,000 appeared first on Boing Boing.

During a midterm election, as Republican candidates appear poised to lose the House of Representatives and perhaps the Senate, Grandpa Pudding Brains has a woefully uncomplicated campaign promise: keep the Republicans in office, and there will be a $5000 "dividend."This is one of those times where what this offer/promise is legally vs what it is ethically leaves us with a large gap. - Read the rest The post Midterm desperation: Trump offers every American adult $5,000 if Republicans win appeared first on Boing Boing.

A drinks vendor in Cologne, Germany, spent about 5,000 rigging his own bottle-recycling machine so it would give him unlimited money. According to Oddity Central, these machines shred each plastic bottle fed into them and print a receipt you can cash in. - Read the rest The post Man ran the same bottle through a recycling machine 177,451 times and collected $47k appeared first on Boing Boing.

Don't assume a spider in your house wants to go outside. According to Study Finds, most indoor spiders - the common house spider among them - evolved for life indoors: stable temperatures, low airflow, and a steady trickle of small insects. - Read the rest The post Why releasing a house spider outdoors can kill it appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR:Lifetime access tothis productivity bundle of Mac apps from enSiliis $24.97 (MSRP $390) with codeTAKE5until Sept. 10 at 11:59 p.m. PT.Master your Mac computer with this27-App Lifetime Mac Bundlecrafted to enhance your entire Mac experience. - Read the rest The post Give your Mac a lifetime of productivity and design upgrades for $25 appeared first on Boing Boing.

This incredible photo shows what chalk looks like close-up under a microscope. I thought chalk would just look like a bunch of white powder when examined close up. Instead, when looking at natural chalk under a microscope, you see these amazing spherical shapes with wild patterns, and they look kind of like alien spacecraft. - Read the rest The post This close-up photo of chalk looks like tiny alien spacecraft appeared first on Boing Boing.

This amazing collection of photos shared by Merch Motel on Instagram features the iconic Jack Rabbit Trading Post in Joseph City, Arizona. There is a nostalgic charm to the design of all the bunny-themed signs leading up to the store. If I were driving down Route 66 and saw them, there is no way that I wouldn't stop here. - Read the rest The post These vintage rabbit billboards kept promising 'HERE IT IS' for miles down Route 66 appeared first on Boing Boing.

In this video, an adorable armadillo named Roswell plays with a shiny red apple. Roswell's owners roll the apple across the floor so he can chase after it for fun. Once Roswell catches up with the apple, he wraps his body around it and rolls away with a sense of victory. - Read the rest The post Watch this armadillo roll after an apple like a furry bowling ball appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Get Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and Access on one Windows PC with a lifetimeMicrosoft Office 2024 Professional Pluslicense for $49.97 (reg. $249.99).You can still buy software the old-fashioned way: once.Microsoft Office 2024 Professional Plusputs Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more on one Windows PC for $49.97 (reg. - Read the rest The post You can still buy Microsoft Office outright, and it's only $50 appeared first on Boing Boing.

Malone Lam, a 22-year-old from Singapore now living in the United States, pleaded guilty yesterday to stealing $240 million worth of bitcoin from a man in Washington, D.C. Lam led a group of young men who posed as a security team from Google and the Gemini crypto exchange. - Read the rest The post 22-year-old bitcoin thief who stole $240 million in bitcoin pleads guilty, faces 20-years in prison appeared first on Boing Boing.

I recently learned that Macs have a neat little utility to get the color number of any color on the display. It's called Digital Color Meter. When you open it, a window pops up showing the color value at your cursor's location. - Read the rest The post I lifted this yellow-green from a 1933 painting using a hidden Mac tool appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR:SwifDoo PDFcombines editing, conversion, OCR, compression, signatures, batch processing, and other document tools in one Windows app, with a lifetime license on sale for $27.97 (reg. $129).You shouldn't need three websites and a minor crisis just to fix a PDF. - Read the rest The post This $28 PDF editor handles the jobs you usually need 3 websites for appeared first on Boing Boing.

Whatever you think you might find at catfishing.net, you are incorrect. It is - thankfully - none of the things listed on Urban Dictionary. It is a superbly executed once-a-day game, the object of which is to guess the title of a Wikipedia entry based on its categories. - Read the rest The post Catfishing.net turns Wikipedia categories into a daily guessing game appeared first on Boing Boing.

Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH we meet the People in Our Neighborhood - This week: Mr. ICE Officer!-Announcing new packages of Tom the Dancing Bug books for sale, now that The Complete Tom the Dancing Bug Libraryis finally completely complete, with the brand new Volumes 1 and 2! - Read the rest The post Tom the Dancing Bug: These are the people in your neighborhood - Mr. ICE Officer! appeared first on Boing Boing.

A hero in Victoria, British Columbia, knew that what Grandpa Pudding Brains loves most is his name on things. Toilets around the municipality have been emblazoned with "Donald J. Trump Memorial," most notably one along the Gorge Waterway near the Selkirk Trestle. - Read the rest The post "Donald J. Trump Memorial" appears above a Canadian public toilet appeared first on Boing Boing.

I can't believe Nintendo finally hired this man.For the uninitiated, "Nintendo, hire this man!" was a serious rallying cry that eventually became an ironic meme. Every time someone who'd just discovered Unreal Engine uploaded a "This is what Ocarina of Time would look like in 2014!!1" - Read the rest The post Ocarina of Time's remake finally shows gameplay, and it's a mess appeared first on Boing Boing.

There's a pretend country called Bookland. If you're an avid reader, there's a good chance that you have a book on your shelf that has been labeled as being from this pretend land. Bookland was created to serve as a unique prefix within the European Article Number barcode system. - Read the rest The post There's a pretend country hiding in every book's barcode appeared first on Boing Boing.

These photos by David Hurn, shared here by Anonymous Works on Instagram, show a room full of Dolly Parton look-alikes in a 1979 competition in Phoenix, Arizona. Some of the women are wearing fancy dresses while others appear in more casual apparel. - Read the rest The post This 1979 photo shows a room full of Dolly Parton lookalikes appeared first on Boing Boing.

This Instagram post from dieselsugar shows photos of people's cars with stuffed animals attached to them. The stuffed animals all look weathered and worn down in a way that shows they've survived many drives. I wonder what all of the stuffed animals have seen, where they've been, and how long they've survived attached to the vehicles. - Read the rest The post Photos of stuffed animals stuffed in car grilles appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR:GetWindows 11 Prowhile it's on sale for $9.97 (reg. $199).Windows 10 is over a decade old, and it shows. Between the outdated interface and rusty security features, it's a small wonder more people are finally upgrading toWindows 11. - Read the rest The post Normally $199, it's only $10 to get Windows 11 Pro right now appeared first on Boing Boing.

Conspiracy theorist RFK Jr suggested that two deaths attributed to measles were "fabricated." A coroner made it abundantly clear that measles was indeed responsible for at least one.Regardless of actual medical professionals decrying Kennedy's message, the toilet seat cocaine enthusiast storms forward, insisting officials not report the deaths as measles. - Read the rest The post RFK Jr. suggested Pennsylvania fabricated measles deaths. A coroner just confirmed one appeared first on Boing Boing.

In today's edition of Dan Lewis's excellent Now I Know newsletter, there's a photo of a red plastic whistle that used to come in boxes of Cap'n Crunch cereal in the 1960s. Besides being a cool-looking whistle, it had a unique property that made it popular among phone hackers. - Read the rest The post A cereal-box whistle that could trick the phone system into free calls appeared first on Boing Boing.

The rest of us have been clear about her for a very long time.Silicon Valley grifting superstar Elizabeth Holmes has been investigated, prosecuted, convicted, podcasted, documented, and dramatized. Somehow Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim decided there might still be an Elizabeth Holmes nobody had seen. - Read the rest The post Nathan Fielder spent three years trying to figure out Elizabeth Holmes appeared first on Boing Boing.

Texas health officials set a schedule, then realized when the election was. The state's maternal mortality committee documented that its next biennial report would be published by September 1, 2026. They've moved that date, without giving a reason, to December.Publicly available data is already worth examining. - Read the rest The post Texas won't show voters its post-ban maternal death report until after they vote appeared first on Boing Boing.