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Updated 2026-11-04 12:22
Trump keeps trying to label Texas' meat-eating Talarico a "vagan"
In an attempt to shame the Texas senatorial candidate, who is not accused of bribery or securities fraud, Dementia Donnie keeps calling the omnivorous James Talarico a "vagan."The number one way we know James Talarico isn't a "vagan" is because he isn't constantly telling us how ethical he is for being one. - Read the rest The post Trump keeps trying to label Texas' meat-eating Talarico a "vagan" appeared first on Boing Boing.
France discovers the dubious pleasures of AI detection
AI detection is a difficult job, made worse for everyone by it being such a delicious ingredient in academic snake oil. But one service has clearly outperformed the others in tests: Pangram. It went beyond obvious characteristics of LLM output such as perplexity and ngram distance, training its own classifiers on large collections of human text and generative imitations. - Read the rest The post France discovers the dubious pleasures of AI detection appeared first on Boing Boing.
Sir Clive Sinclair on AI, from 2006
In 2006, The BBC reviewed predictions about robotics and AI made in the 1980s. Now, another 20 years later, we can reappraise its appraisal. When Will Intelligent Machines Take Over?The segment features Sir Clive Sinclair, icon of early home computing, who plainly claims that the endgame of computing technology is AI. - Read the rest The post Sir Clive Sinclair on AI, from 2006 appeared first on Boing Boing.
Get Microsoft Office 2024 Professional Plus for $50 for life
TL;DR: Give your PC a software upgrade with this $50 Microsoft Office 2024 Professional Plus lifetime license for Windows.For some reason, software expenses always come up at the worst time. But this Boing Boing-exclusive Flash Sale is an easy way to get ahead of those unexpected costs. - Read the rest The post Get Microsoft Office 2024 Professional Plus for $50 for life appeared first on Boing Boing.
Grandpa Pudding Brains demonstrates the little "steering-wheels" airplanes "used to have"
In yet another moment of "this guy is not competent to be President of the United States" moment, Donald Trump demonstrated how pilots used to use "little steering-wheels" to control airplanes. The plane he was discussing, the Boeing 737 MAX, certainly still has yokes. - Read the rest The post Grandpa Pudding Brains demonstrates the little "steering-wheels" airplanes "used to have" appeared first on Boing Boing.
Fox cuts away while JD Vance argues with hecklers and the positions he assigned them
America's most boring sycophant, JD Vance, was mercilessly heckled at a rally for Byron Donalds and Sen. Ashley Moody (R-FL), and he created some interesting backstories for them.While good ol' Just Dance, Vance didn't know the protesters' names, where they were from, or what brought them to a place where heckling a credibilityless, self-professed liar seemed like a good use of time-he was willing to imagine political positions and opinions for them. - Read the rest The post Fox cuts away while JD Vance argues with hecklers and the positions he assigned them appeared first on Boing Boing.
Spy magazine turns 40 with daily posts about a certain short-fingered vulgarian
Kurt Andersen, co-founder of the late great Spy magazine, announced that the 40th anniversary of the magazine will be celebrated on Substack, where "we'll start publishing starting next Monday the 5th, a limited series of daily excerpts and links from the magazine's archive, with bits of new commentary and context. - Read the rest The post Spy magazine turns 40 with daily posts about a certain short-fingered vulgarian appeared first on Boing Boing.
Captain America No. 1 kept in a cardboard box for 80 years sells for $716,750
The Merrimack Valley Collection is a legendary comic book collection in which someone bought comics off the rack and stored them in a cardboard box for almost 80 years. Heritage Auctions sold many of these comics in a couple of auctions in Dallas last week. - Read the rest The post Captain America No. 1 kept in a cardboard box for 80 years sells for $716,750 appeared first on Boing Boing.
Trump "super intelligence" rebrand leads to land rush for .si domains
Following his meeting with top AI executives yesterday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring that artificial intelligence will henceforth be known as "super intelligence." The order, which applies to federal government, follows a call he made last week during his speech to the United Nations General Assembly. - Read the rest The post Trump "super intelligence" rebrand leads to land rush for .si domains appeared first on Boing Boing.
In Pittsburgh, people compete to see who can parallel park fastest and closest to the curb
In the latest issue of Why Is This Interesting, Mark Slavonia writes about the annual parallel parking championship in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where people compete to see who can parallel park.The rules are that the clock starts ticking when the referee sees your reverse lights go on. - Read the rest The post In Pittsburgh, people compete to see who can parallel park fastest and closest to the curb appeared first on Boing Boing.
Catalina medevac crashes into the sea after picking up a patient for a flight to the mainland
A REACH medical evacuation helicopter crashed into the Pacific while departing Catalina Island. Of the five people aboard, two have died; two were taken to hospitals, and the patient is missing.Catalina Island is a beautiful and remote place to live. - Read the rest The post Catalina medevac crashes into the sea after picking up a patient for a flight to the mainland appeared first on Boing Boing.
Watch a skater befriend a rabbit at the skatepark
A young rabbit was having a terrible time attempting a flyout at the local skatepark. Stuck in the bowl and unable to escape, the cottontail made a new friend.This kind, patient skater pulled off an amazing tailgrab and eventually helped his new bunny buddy escape. - Read the rest The post Watch a skater befriend a rabbit at the skatepark appeared first on Boing Boing.
Officers search Santa Ana for a deadly but AI-generated African viper
"I wish it was AI. It's in my backyard, and it's scary," said a man who used AI to create an image of a venomous Gaboon viper and had teams of police and reptile hunters searching for the dangerous creature.Santa Ana Police called in experts to help them find a four- to five-foot-long Gaboon viper after a gentleman shared photos of one in his neighbor's yard. - Read the rest The post Officers search Santa Ana for a deadly but AI-generated African viper appeared first on Boing Boing.
Novel withdrawn from running for France's top literary prize after AI claims
France's Academie Goncourt has withdrawn Canadian-Haitian author Thelyson Orelien's novel C'etait ca ou mourir (It Was That or Die) from consideration for its top literary prize. The book shows signs of being written by AI, reports The Guardian.
Slugs blamed for broken traffic lights
Newly-installed traffic lights at a busy corner in Stretford, England, keep failing and leaving motorists fightened and confused. Part of a 17.6m (about $24m) redevelopment of the town center, the new lights have gone out three times, reports the Manchester Evening News, a pattern one local councillor described as "very odd." - Read the rest The post Slugs blamed for broken traffic lights appeared first on Boing Boing.
School principal on leave after calling parents crazy on voicemail
A school principal is on leave after voicemail caught her making ill-considered remarks about the parents of a 5-year-old girl who reported that she was inappropriately touched by a classmate. The parents of the girl, attending Grand Oaks Elementary school in Harris County, Texas, called to report the incident on September 25. - Read the rest The post School principal on leave after calling parents crazy on voicemail appeared first on Boing Boing.
Freckle is a kid's phone that sends them on real-world quests
Freckle is a small, square smartphone aimed at youngsters aged 7-13, designed to give them "independence" without providing features that encourage prolonged or repetetive use.The $199 device has a 3.1", 720 * 720 touchscreen and runs a proprietary operating system, ClayOS, with no app store, web browser or social media apps-and definitely no YouTube. - Read the rest The post Freckle is a kid's phone that sends them on real-world quests appeared first on Boing Boing.
Bloomberg Terminals in repose
Back in the day, when writing on the Internet was new and cool, I wanted a keyboard that had specialized keys for useful tasks such as multiple copy/paste, blockquote wrapping, and the all-important Curators' Code symbols. In essence, a Bloomberg Terminal for blogging. - Read the rest The post Bloomberg Terminals in repose appeared first on Boing Boing.
Wild footage of Indiana's White River flooding a massive quarry
Last month's flooding in Carmel, Indiana, saw the White River burst its banks and destroy a number of homes-and caused a highway overpass to collapse. Eleven inches of rain fell in two days, raising the river to a record 24.6 feet crest. - Read the rest The post Wild footage of Indiana's White River flooding a massive quarry appeared first on Boing Boing.
Rival SCP Foundation movie will have Creative Commons license
A movie featuring the SCP Foundation mythos proved controversial after the studio paying for the production, A24, implied in marketing that it would own the material. The problem is that the SCP Foundation is a sprawling collaborate project of unclear origins. - Read the rest The post Rival SCP Foundation movie will have Creative Commons license appeared first on Boing Boing.
Pool Square street sign regularly painted over to read Poo Square
Contractors working for the city of Sheffield, England, have repainted the street sign for Pool Square at least eight times since being awarded a highway maintenance contract there, reports The Star. It's more likely than not they will do so on any given year. - Read the rest The post Pool Square street sign regularly painted over to read Poo Square appeared first on Boing Boing.
One 3D design tool can model your whole building, and it's on sale for $399 (reg. $3,005)
TL;DR:Design and analyze 3D building models with a one-year Autodesk Revit subscription for $399 (reg. $3,005).Designing a building usually means managing separate files for the architecture, the structure, and the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems. Autodesk Revit is a 3D building design tool that keeps all of those models on one platform, and a one-year subscription is on sale for $399 right now (reg. - Read the rest The post One 3D design tool can model your whole building, and it's on sale for $399 (reg. $3,005) appeared first on Boing Boing.
Street photography with Dyson's CameraJet toothbrush
The $500 Dyson CameraJet toothbrush (previously at Boing Boing) takes 28 images of your mouth per second to better direct its flossing jet at your dirty choppers. The tiny, low-resolution sensor is fit for that purpose, but All The Gear, No Skill on Instagram decided to put it to use on the street: "I never would have thought a vacuum cleaner would create the most fun camera of 2026." - Read the rest The post Street photography with Dyson's CameraJet toothbrush appeared first on Boing Boing.
Chat Pile's songs are bleak, but their live show is a blast
Chat Pile definitely isn't easy listening. The Oklahoma City sludge and noise rock band tackles lyrical topics as heavy as they get: families falling apart, homelessness, and, on their latest album, the climate crisis. This year Chat Pile released their third full-length album, Who Loves the Sun, to wide acclaim from fans (myself included) and critics like Anthony Fantano, who gave it a rare 9/10. - Read the rest The post Chat Pile's songs are bleak, but their live show is a blast appeared first on Boing Boing.
Every British TV show
Michael Spicer mocks a distinctive formula of television out of the United Kingdom, one fans of The Great British Bake Off will immediately recognize."For as long as I can remember," he says, kicking off Most TV is Just This Now, "I've loved nature." - Read the rest The post Every British TV show appeared first on Boing Boing.
These USB-C cables look like orange and green extension cords
There's no reason to make a USB-C cable that looks like an orange or green extension cable, which is all the more reason to want it.The creator, Matty Benedetto, emailed me to let me know about his latest creation. - Read the rest The post These USB-C cables look like orange and green extension cords appeared first on Boing Boing.
A crocodile-leather fire extinguisher for superyacht owners who hate red
An Italian entrepreneur by the name of Vittorio Martire has designed an ultra-high-end luxury fire extinguisher for superyacht owners who bristle at the sight of a red fire extinguisher.Called the Incroyable, it debuted at the Monaco Yacht Show in 2026. - Read the rest The post A crocodile-leather fire extinguisher for superyacht owners who hate red appeared first on Boing Boing.
Play this theremin by waving your hands in front of your webcam
Pavel Gurov created this cool theremin that you can control by waving your hands in front of your webcam. You spread your hands apart to increase the volume, raise them for the pitch, move your hands back to soften the tone, and put your palms together for silence. - Read the rest The post Play this theremin by waving your hands in front of your webcam appeared first on Boing Boing.
PC cooling company Noctua now a fan of cameras too
Noctua, known for making the fans inside computers, has an interesting new design to show off: a camera, made with Prusa, itself better-known for 3D Printers. The CAIM1 is an E-Mount interchangeable-lens with a Micro Four-Thirds sensor and a compact if chunky look. - Read the rest The post PC cooling company Noctua now a fan of cameras too appeared first on Boing Boing.
"That's so AI" is the new insult, and it means bullshit
Gen Alpha's slang makes it clear what kids think of so-called artificial intelligence. As reported by the Guardian, the most savage burn a young person can hurl at you is "That's AI" or "That's so AI."
AI models benchmarked with Pac Man
PacBench is an unusual benchmark for AI models: "Create a Pac-Man game in a single html page." Each entry shows the platform, the model, how long it took, how many tokens it used, and the cost. And unlike the pelican, we can play the results. - Read the rest The post AI models benchmarked with Pac Man appeared first on Boing Boing.
Diners flee McDonalds restaurant as blaze consumes it
A fire tore so quickly through a McDonald's restaurant in Lebanon, Missouri, that diners were still walking in as it filled with smoke-and had to flee as the fire quickly got out of control. KY3 News's Ciara Folkerts describes a terrifying meal out for 11-year-old Ansley Tidwell:
Put ChatGPT, Claude & Gemini to Work From One $100 Lifetime AI Platform
TL;DR: Pay $99.99 once for lifetime access to 1min.AI's Advanced Business Plan, including 4 million monthly credits, flagship AI models, and its full collection of AI features.There are now enough AI tools to give your browser tab bar an existential crisis. - Read the rest The post Put ChatGPT, Claude & Gemini to Work From One $100 Lifetime AI Platform appeared first on Boing Boing.
Tom the Dancing Bug: What was the cause of the global armaggeddon?
Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH Hollingsworth Hound points to the cause of the armaggeddon that destroyed Earth!-ANNOUNCING The Tom the Dancing Bug Community Saves America Drive! For every Tom the Dancing Bug book(s) order through the end of September, $20 will be donated to Spread the Vote to help voters VOTE. - Read the rest The post Tom the Dancing Bug: What was the cause of the global armaggeddon? appeared first on Boing Boing.
$10m worth of cocaine in evidence turns out to be flour
Cocaine worth more than $10m was stored as evidence at a courthouse in Fiji, but at some point in the long-running drug trial was replaced by flour. Authorities admit that about 87 pounds of cocaine is "effectively missing;" ABC News in Australia describes it as "yet another apparent example of internal corruption that has plagued Fiji's authorities." - Read the rest The post $10m worth of cocaine in evidence turns out to be flour appeared first on Boing Boing.
Pay once, use it forever — Microsoft Office Pro 2021 is just $30 for life
TL;DR: Enjoy lifetime access toMicrosoft Office Professional 2021for only $29.97 (MSRP $219.99) until Oct. 11 at 11:59 p.m. PT.If you want the essential Microsoft Office programs including Excel, PowerPoint, and Word, you don't have to pay for Microsoft 365. - Read the rest The post Pay once, use it forever - Microsoft Office Pro 2021 is just $30 for life appeared first on Boing Boing.
A memory game from a Rudyard Kipling novel
In the latest issue of Rob Walker's The Art of Noticing newsletter, there's a description of a game called Kim's Game, which was originally described in a Rudyard Kipling novel. Rob came across it in a short story called "Kim's Game," by Sadia Shepard, published in The New Yorker earlier this year. - Read the rest The post A memory game from a Rudyard Kipling novel appeared first on Boing Boing.
Streaky vinyl records are the Dum Dums mystery flavor of the music world
One of my favorite newsletters is called Why Is This Interesting? It comes out every day, and they typically interview an interesting person to talk about their media diet or special interest.In today's issue, they spoke to Todd Osborn, a US Air Force weapons systems veteran who is building a flight school. - Read the rest The post Streaky vinyl records are the Dum Dums mystery flavor of the music world appeared first on Boing Boing.
Netflix is remaking the Stanford Prison Experiment as a reality show
In 1971, Stanford psychology professor Philip Zimbardo set up a fake prison in the basement of a building at Stanford. Twenty-four male college students were selected at random to either be guards or prisoners. Zimbardo hired real police officers to "arrest" the students so that the experiment felt more real. - Read the rest The post Netflix is remaking the Stanford Prison Experiment as a reality show appeared first on Boing Boing.
Anthropic says its AI could kill us. OpenAI's is too unsafe to release. Please enjoy the IPOs
As OpenAI and Anthropic prepare to ask the public market for an extraordinary amount of money, times two, their core products have begun to sound like Skynet is here. We are only now realizing that Terminator was a cautionary tale.Anthropic's IPO prospectus warns that its models could resist shutdown, conceal information, and behave in ways the mafia would recognize as blackmail. - Read the rest The post Anthropic says its AI could kill us. OpenAI's is too unsafe to release. Please enjoy the IPOs appeared first on Boing Boing.
Safely enjoy the hellish experience of Windows 11½
They brought back Clippy! Not Microsoft, sadly, but Definitely Not Windows, creator of Windows 11, a web-based replica of the healthiest operating system.It's a parody of the real thing, hitting the user with advertising, dark patterns, recurring and annoying notifications, and broken pop-ups. - Read the rest The post Safely enjoy the hellish experience of Windows 11 appeared first on Boing Boing.
London's live facial recognition trial ends in one false positive, no arrests, and a £320k bill
More than 500,000 faces were scanned by the live facial recognition systems set up in London's railway stations by the British Transport Police. At a cost of 320,786 (about $423,000) the numbers are in: the system scored "one false match against a watchlist of suspects" and notched up zero arrests over the course of a six-month trial. - Read the rest The post London's live facial recognition trial ends in one false positive, no arrests, and a 320k bill appeared first on Boing Boing.
Manipulate PDFs with ease for less than $50 for life
TL;DR: Edit PDF files like a pro with a lifetime subscription to PDNob Pro PDF Editor for $49.99 (MSRP $349.95).PDF files can be edited as easily as Word documents if you've got the right tools. PDNob Pro PDF Editor uses AI technology to help you edit, summarize, convert, sign, and translate PDF files for $49.99 for life. - Read the rest The post Manipulate PDFs with ease for less than $50 for life appeared first on Boing Boing.
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, 93, doesn't want his replacement chosen by a Democratic governor
U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is in his tenth decade of life and is displeased at the prospect of a Democratic governor appointing his replacement should he die in office."At 93 years of age, I don't know how many more groups of Republicans like this I'm going to have a chance to talk to," Grassley said Friday at the GOP's annual Reagan Dinner. - Read the rest The post Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, 93, doesn't want his replacement chosen by a Democratic governor appeared first on Boing Boing.
Wreck websites with these Desktop Destroyer-style websavers
Page Rage and Destroy Any Website let you ruin any website with a little pixel-art character controlled in classic WASD fashion. The styling is retro and the weapons are futuristic and extremely destructive."Destroying pages is all the rage today," wrote Page Rage creator Alex Reardon to Destroy Any Website creator Hugo Duprez after the similar toys popped up within a few days of one another. - Read the rest The post Wreck websites with these Desktop Destroyer-style websavers appeared first on Boing Boing.
Pick your favorite British designs, if any
The Best of British Design has you choose a favorite betweeen two classics over several rounds, eliminating the loser until only one illustrious masterpiece of design remains in the bracket.
Everybody hates Pete Hegseth
House leader Mike Johnson ended congress early to avoid a vote on impeaching Pete Hegseth, President Trump's crusader-tattooed "Secretary of War," and opinion polls show why. Never popular in the first place, Hegseth is now among the administration's most widely-disliked personalities, an outcome downstream of his frattish machismo, documented ineptitude and the dismal grind of the war on Iran. - Read the rest The post Everybody hates Pete Hegseth appeared first on Boing Boing.
E. coli outbreak linked to cheese made with raw milk
The latest wave of diarrhea is upon us, courtesy of an Escherichia coli outbreak that has sickened at least thirteen people, sent eight of them to hospital, and led to three suffering hemolytic uremic syndrome, a severe complication whose symptoms include "bloody diarrhea" and "blood in the urine." - Read the rest The post E. coli outbreak linked to cheese made with raw milk appeared first on Boing Boing.
Fix stubborn PDFs without uploading them to some random website for $29.99
TL;DR: IndyPDF offers over 20 tools for editing, converting, organizing, signing, OCR, and securing PDFs, with local processing and a lifetime subscription now on sale for $29.99 (reg. $99.99).Your PDF needs one sentence changed. The internet would like you to create an account, start a trial, and surrender your email address first. - Read the rest The post Fix stubborn PDFs without uploading them to some random website for $29.99 appeared first on Boing Boing.
Wrong leg amputated, lawsuit claims
Sharon Jacks of Washington County, Ohio, went into surgery to have part of her right leg amputated. The surgical team prepared and draped her leg, applied a tourniquet, and removed it. Unfortunateley, they did all this to the left leg, and Jacks is now suing the hospitals and physicians involved. - Read the rest The post Wrong leg amputated, lawsuit claims appeared first on Boing Boing.
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