The Latest from Boing Boing

Stross's Merchant Princes books in omnibus editions Charlie Stross's "Merchant Princes" series-- a sly, action-packed romp that blends heroic fantasy, military science fiction, economics, politics, and alternate worlds -- originally published as six mass-market paperbacks, is now available in three handy trade-paperbacks. Read the rest... WATCH: What Is Life? Is Death Real? What Is Life? Is Death Real? Neither of this questions are answered in this video, but the narrator has an appealing authoritave voice, and the animation is fantastic. Read the rest... Christian birdsong album Enjoy this genuinely nightmarish visit with Ralph Platt in God's great outdoors, where he joins the birds of the forest in giving song to the pipe organ music of Lorin Whitney. Read the rest... WATCH: Dog frightened by pineapple [via] Read the rest... Humane interrogation works 4 times better than torture Terrorism suspects were four times more likely to confess "when interrogators struck a neutral and respectful stance," according to a study published this year. Read the rest... Toronto's public library under threat from Rob Ford's Library Board The Toronto Library Board appointed by the disgraced former mayor Rob Ford has continued its programme of cutting library budgets, cutting way past the bone and threatening the Toronto public library system altogether. Read the rest... Cheney insists rectal feeding was for medical reasons, not torture The former US vice president was on TV this weekend to defend the Bush administration torture program that he oversaw. His argument was that the 9/11 terrorists were the real torturers and therefore how dare anyone say the US's “enhanced interrogation techniques” were wrong? Read the rest... The magazines in doctors' offices are old because you keep stealing the new ones The British Medical Journal has published a paper investigating the lack of up to date magazines in the waiting rooms of medical practices. Read the rest... Mall life, 1989 In 1989, Michael Galinsky, then 20, photographed mall culture around the United States. This time capsule of consumerism, fashion, video walls, and retail hell can be relived in Galinsky's monograph, Malls Across America, or this image gallery at Rumur. (via Juxtapoz) Read the rest... Interview with Elfquest's Wendy and Richard Pini In my spare time, when I'm not protecting wildlife with the National Wildlife Federation or guest-blogging for Animal Planet and here at Boing Boing, I'm also the co-host of a podcast called The Elfquest Show, about one of America's longest-running fantasy series, with my fellow uber-geek Ryan Browne. Read the rest... Tour photos by Spencer Tweedy (son of Wilco's Jeff Tweedy) Over at Medium, Spencer Tweedy, 18, posted lovely black-and-white film camera shots and personal recollections of his recent musical tour with his dad, Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, in support of their debut album Sukierae. Read the rest... David Nickle and Karl Schroeder's "The Toy Mill" "His hair was whiter than his flesh. Thick whorls of ice embedded his beard in icicles like a January cataract; more separated the thick hairs of his eyebrows into individual daggers, pushed back by the yuletide winds of the stratosphere so that they swept down to meet at the bridge of his narrow, blue-tinged nose." "Wisps of pale hair scattered from beneath his red cap, over his small pink ears. Read the rest... Artist Gallery: Zack Giallongo Zack Giallongo is an illustrator and comics artist. His graphic novel Broxo is full of adventure, and his original comic Ewoks: Shadow of Endor is a must-read for Star Wars fans. Read the rest... Reminding white allies that it's not about them right now Photo: Reuters Jetta Rae Robertson brings us the view from the front line of recent Berkeley protests on recent police violence against black people. Read the rest... Methodically train your child to be an arcade whiz Photo: Andy Baio When writer and technologist Andy Baio had a son, he thought it would be a good opportunity for an experiment (as you do): I love games, and I genuinely wanted Eliot to love and appreciate them too. Read the rest... Play thousands of 48-hour game jam entries The Ludum Dare international game jam is probably the largest event of its kind -- and the longest running, at over 12 years. Read the rest... Giant underwater plug This humongous power-plug is a MacArtney Wet Mate Connector that allows undersea cables for floating windmills to be connected below the water's surface. Read the rest... Parallel universe where time travels in reverse? Could we be living in the past of a parallel universe? University of Oxford physicist Julian Barbour delivers this headspinner: “This two-futures situation would exhibit a single, chaotic past in both directions, meaning that there would be essentially two universes, one on either side of this central state,” Barbour tellsScientific American. Read the rest... Skinny Puppy invoices US military for using its music for torture Industrial band Skinny Puppy sent a $666,000 invoice to US Department of Defense for allegedly using its music to torture prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. Read the rest... Spain's Xnet: leak-publishing corruption-fighters Xnet is a Spanish collective that invites the public to leak evidence of corruption using the Tor anonymizer, then uses those leaks to bring private criminal complaints against officials and corporations. Read the rest... Animation: "Why aliens probably exist" The truth is far out there. Read the rest... Art of the Simon and Kirby Studio The names Joe Simon and Jack Kirby are synony­mous with comic books, and their partnership ush­ered in the Golden Age of comics starting in the 1940s. Together they created memorable characters such as Captain America and Sandman, invented romance com­ics, and raised the standard for the genres of western, crime, and horror comic books. Read the rest... Make a Christmas Krampus! Just in time for the Christmas season, Bob Knetzger has instructions to build your own tiny child-nabber. Read the rest... Why it matters whether or not torture works Part of the debate about the CIA Torture Report is whether torture works as a means of gathering useful intelligence; scholarly work has long held that it doesn't. Read the rest... Charitable Giving Guide Here's a guide to the charities the Boingers support in our own annual giving. As always, please add the causes and charities you give to in the forums! Read the rest...