The Latest from Boing Boing

United Airlines leaves caged dog in rain Remember: to airlines, your pet is nothing more than luggage Read the rest... Microsoft developing new lightweight browser It's called "Spartan," alleges ZDNet. "Microsoft may show off Spartan on January 21... But my sources also aren't sure if Spartan will be functional enough for inclusion in the Windows 10 January Technical Preview." Read the rest... Hilarious kid totally owns WGN weather forecast segment Be yourself forever, young man, you are excellent. [Video link, via Reddit] Read the rest... Shredding Christmas Trees, and 7 more oddly satisfying Shredder Porn videos Why are these videos of shredder machines so comforting and hypnotic? Ask me later after I'm finished watching them. I need some alone time right now. Read the rest... Watch: Cornstarch flamethrower is awesome "A flamethrower that burns dry ingredients found in almost any kitchen in the USA. Toasty!"Watch it scorch a horde of paper zombies. Read the rest... A gorgeous piece of 'psychoactive art' from a Boing Boing reader Trippy fractal goodness. Read the rest... After calling Mike Brown memorial 'pile of trash,' Ferguson police spokesman let go Breaking news: unacceptable behavior by police continues in the town where a police officer shot an unarmed black kid dead, and was not charged with any crime for the killing. Read the rest... Confessions of shoplifters At Matter, Mary Mann talked to (mostly) law-abiding people who have a secret penchant for shoplifting. Here's Miriam, 29: I never bought anything in high school. Read the rest... China blocks Gmail It looks like the Chinese government is blocking user access to Google’s Gmail through third-party email clients, which many people had been using as a work-around to bypass earlier blocking of Google services via web browser. Read the rest... 'The Interview' is now available in more places than anyone actually needs Thanks, North Korea. Or whoever. Read the rest... Busting Sex Workers Increases Demand Economist Charles Hill argues attempting to reduce the demand for sex services will backfire, increasing its supply and harming sex workers, free agents and coerced alike. Read the rest... Video: "Best News Bloopers 2014" Keep fucking that chicken. Read the rest... Lauren Ipsum: The Phantom Tollbooth meets Young Ladies' Illustrated Primer Lauren Ipsum is an absolutely brilliant kids' book about computer science, and it never mentions computer science—it's a series of witty, charming, and educational parables about the fundamentals that underpin the discipline. Read the rest... Video: smart people ponder "What Scientific Idea Is Ready for Retirement?" Every year, BB pal, legendary book agent, and Edge.org founder John Brockman asks very smart people like Daniel C. Dennett, David Gelernter, Alison Gopnik, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, and Kevin Kelly a big question at the intersection of science and culture. Read the rest... 13 things police have mistaken for guns "Triggered" is Youth Radio's interactive story about 13 objects, from a hair brush to a Wii remote, that police officers mistook for guns, resulting in someone getting shot. Read the rest... Fingerprints can be reproduced from photos of your hands A presentation by Starbug at the 31st Chaos Communications Congress (previously) demonstrated a technique for deriving fingerprints from a couple of photographs of your hands. Read the rest... Embroidered anatomical notebooks Chara from Athens, Greece operates an amazing Etsy store full of hand-embroidered notebooks featuring anatomical, natural and historical themes: the circulatory system, the heart, a spider,Leonardo da Vinci's Apostle James, blood circulation of the head and many more. (via Geeky Merch) Read the rest... Listen: Musical trip down '80s memory lane with Xeni and her brother Carl Hamm We are going to play songs from this mixtape I gave my brother 30 years ago. Read the rest...