The Latest from Boing Boing

Alien: The Archive art and photo book See the true origins of the Alien xenomorphs through concept drawings along with plenty of other behind-the-scenes photos, designs, and illustrations in Alien: The Archive, a new hardcover art and photo book. Read the rest... Cybercrooks sell stolen rewards points at 99.9% discount Enough Hilton Hhonors points to cover $1200 worth of stays can be bought for $12, and the crooks who're inside your account can use your associated credit-card to buy more points and more hotel rooms for themselves. Read the rest... Vantage: gorgeous new photography publication Over at Medium, my colleague Keith Axline (former Wired photo editor) launched a magnificent photo publication called Vantage, with photo essays ranging from astonishing photo microscopy to a fascinating series on long-exposure photography to an aerial photo collection from Dronestagram. Read the rest... Tabletop Superheroes: remixable RPG The Parkes Library in NSW, Australia mashed up my Dungeons and Dragons variant for toddlerswith School for Supervillains, creating a superhero game for kids of all ages for its Fun Palace week, Events have a supervillainous theme this year because many of our activities were inspired by British author Louie Stowell’s book The School For Superheroes, so we’ll also be rolling out a superhero-themed tabletop roleplaying game. We helped local teens to devise, design, and test this game, which is quick to learn, easy to play, and inspired by the work of sci-fi writer, activist, and journalist Cory Doctorow. Parkes Library Tabletop Superheroes – Available for Download Read the rest... We Are Indie Toys – How vinyl character artists turn their ideas into one-of-a-kind collectibles Read the rest... Seth Godin recommends his favorite tools and magic tricks Author and entrepreneur Seth Godin was the guest of the Cool Tools show this week. He recommended a website development tool called Strikingly, his complete collection of Wired magazine, a health website called One Lucky Duck, and the Penguin Magic site. Read the rest... Kickstarting an open hardware SLR networking add-on Danny sez, "Lumera is an open-hardware, open source prototype that plugs into your fancy SLR camera, connects to your phone via WiFi or Bluetooth, and lets you automatically upload pictures to sites like Flickr or a USB backup, change your camera settings like focus or ISO settings, or run timelapsed photograph sessions." $170 gets you an earlybird deal (limited quantites); $190 gets you one at full-price. Read the rest... Olive Garden's secrets At Matter, Billy Domineau delves into the details of Olive Garden's "breadstick laws, sauce logic, and salt bans." From Matter: Apparently, there is an official Olive Garden policy that dictates the number of breadsticks provided at the start of each meal. Read the rest... Why are we drawn to storytelling? Cody C. Delistraty on the mysterious--and fundamental--psychological power of fiction: "Stories are a form of escapism, one that can sometimes make us better people while entertaining, but there seems to be something more at play." Read the rest... What happened to Virgin Galactic space plane Spaceflight Now's Stephen Clark reports that SpaceShipTwo disintegrated after its braking system prematurely extended, a reveal that shifts the investigation's focus away from the rocket motor. Previously. Read the rest... Gamergate's color scheme is a rape joke--but they might not know it Vivian James was created to represent charitable efforts and soften hearts. With her game obsession, flat affect and passive defiance, she's an antifeminist adolescent's perfect fantasy gal. Read the rest... Invader does Spock "Cheers from Vulcan!" says French street artist Invader of his latest Paris installation. (via@invaderwashere's Instagram) Read the rest... Wicked Witch is an 8-bit Flappy Bird demake with style Flappy Bird clones, including demakes, are old hat. But this old lady's hat is different: Wicked Witch, a finely-wrought artifact from a parallel universe where the early 80s never ended. Read the rest... Ferguson's no-fly zone created to ground news-choppers Freedom of Information Act requests from the Associated Press reveal that St Louis police requested the no-fly zone to prevent the press from getting overhead footage of the crackdown on demonstrations, and that the FAA was complicit in crafting an illegal ban that allowed commercial aircraft to land at the airport while still grounding the news-birds. Read the rest... Incredible super-slow motion surfing video Pitted. So pitted. (Directed by Chris Bryan.) Surfers, in order of appearance: Mark Matthews Matthew Meola, Jay Davies, Craig Anderson, Clay Marzo, Kelly Slater, Creed McTaggert x 2, Billy Kean, Mark Matthews, Taj Burrow, Random surfer underwater, John-John Florence, Kelly Slater, John-John Florence, Jack Freestone, Dean Morrison, John-John Florence, Mikey Brennan, John-John Florence, Taj Burrow x 2, Caio Ibelli, John-John Florence (again), Matthew Meola, Jay Davies Read the rest... What's the most cited research paper ever? You'll be surprised. Nature presents the top 100 papers cited by others, a "paper mountain" of science's greatest hits. The exercise revealed some surprises, not least that it takes a staggering 12,119 citations to rank in the top 100 — and that many of the world’s most famous papers do not make the cut. Read the rest... Teletubby breaks into home, steals food Hard times for the faded TV stars. Police said he went into the victims' refrigerator and dumped Chinese food into a "man purse" before leaving. Read the rest... The Trouble With Tribbles: Classic Star Trek in LOLtrek GIF form USS Enterprise, we haz a problem. A GIF made from this classic internet meme from 2007, which was in turn a reinterpretation in LOLCAT form of this Star Trek episode, one of the greatest of all time. (Thanks, BW Jones!) Read the rest... More Britons believe in aliens than God The Independent, citing a YouGov poll, found that a majority of Britons are hot for alien life, but only a minority now believe in the existence of "God." Do adults believe in… (Ripley’s poll) Ghosts (55 per cent) Aliens (51 per cent) UFOs (42 per cent) Angels (27 per cent) God (25 per cent) Well, of course. God doesn't exist, but ghosts and fairies are right there. Can't you see them? Read the rest... Cheeriosaurus As ferocious as this dinosaur may seem, he is most often consumed by human children. A photoshared in our Boing Boing Flickr Pool by Domenic Bahmann. Read the rest... Tim Cook just changed the world His discussion of being gay was often met by superficial support messages that actually conceal discomfort: it should be private, it isn't important, we should move on. Read the rest... Spider-Man #300 original cover art could bring $250,000+ at auction Why would anyone be willing to pay $250,000 for Todd McFarlane's original cover art for Spider-Man #300? Because only it's the only cover appearance of the web-slinger sporting the black Venom symbiote suit, silly! Read the rest... LISTEN: "Won't Go Out" by Holly Golightly "Won't Go Out" is a stomping track off English rockabilly garage queen Holly Golightly's 2005 record My First Holly Golightly Album. Read the rest... Tech projects vein maps during blood donations The Australian Red Cross Blood Service is testing a technology to project a vein map on the arms of blood donors during the phlebotomy. Read the rest... GeekDad speaks out about Gamergate An excellent five-point pledge from our friends at GeekDad: 1. We commit to support the development of video games with female characters that are at least as realistic and interesting as their male characters. Read the rest... Why The Spirit was the best movie of 2008 Zach Spound explains why everyone was wrong on the internet. Read the rest... Tears, Strength, and Ten Thousand Calories with Game of Thrones' Thor "The Mountain" Björnsson “I did not have experience with acting, and I did not have experience with crushing a man’s face with my hands.” This New York Times story on Game of Thrones' Thor Björnsson details the caloric intake, exercise routine, and national obsession that powers the Icelandic strongman turned actor's 6' 9", four hundred pound frame. Read the rest... The Man Who Loved Beer The Washington Post profiles C. Dean Metropoulos, the billionaire investor responsible for the nostalgia-driven returns of brands like Pabst Blue Ribbon and Twinkies, and the hard-partying sons he puts in charge. Read the rest... Weird inspiration: Horror fiction and the Rob Ford mayoralty David Nickle is a horror writer and a working journalist who covered Toronto City Hall during the Rob Ford years, an era in which the two professions effectively merged. Here, Nickle explains the events that led to his new short story collection Knife Fight and Other Struggles, which includes a tale of a larger-than-life mayor who settles interpersonal friction with, well, knife-fights. Read the rest... Why your brain loves rewards Why do we insist on "just one more level"? Nir Eyal explains in his book, Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products. Read the rest...