The Latest from Boing Boing

I love Kindle Unlimited If you like self-published fiction or read more than a few books a month, and don't mind giving books up when you're done, Amazon's borrowing service is a great deal. Read the rest... Comcast ghost-wrote politicians' letters in support of Time Warner Cable merger Letters sent to the FCC in favor of Comcast's proposed Time Warner Cable merger came from Mayor Jere Wood of Roswell, GA; Councilor Todd Wodraska of Jupiter, FL; Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown and many other politicians -- all written in whole or part by Comcast's staffers and lobbyists. Read the rest... GIFs of great black and white photographs morphing into color Classic images we know in black and white, transforming into color before our eyes. From the Dutch design website NSMBL. [via Asylum Art] Read the rest... Drones based on birds Once again, engineers are taking cues from nature to build the next generation of robotics, in this case drones inspired by birds. Read the rest... This Horse Raised By Spheres A beautiful and weird interactive art site. thehorseraisedbyspheres.com. Read the rest... Barrett Brown: “If anyone needs me, I'll be in prison.” “In addition to improvising a few extra lines in the course of my allocution that were not present in the written version, I didn’t deliver the line 'I think your Honor can walk and chew bubble gum at the same time,” writes Barrett Brown in an open letter to an editor at Dallas Magazine. Read the rest... Relax! Calm app and website are here to reduce your stress Negativity-reducing website calm.com offers guided relaxation breaks of 2 to 20 minutes. They also have a free smartphone app to help you meditate, sleep, or relax wherever you are. Read the rest... Testing subliminal advertising (again) As part of a BBC Radio 4 documentary, producer Phil Tinline looks at the controversial and weird history of subliminal advertising, and with social psychologists devises an experiment to test its efficacy. Read the rest... Drone crashes at White House, exposing security weakness. This is why we can't have nice UAVs. A small hobby quadcopter flew over the White House lawn on Monday, then crashed. Read the rest... Jiz Lee on "Ethical Porn" "Ethical porn" starts with porn that you pay for, says Jiz Lee. From Medium:One of the most common questions I’m asked is, “How can I be sure what I’m watching was ethically produced?” Without getting to sidetracked by topics of fantasy and film, marketing transparency and performer interviews, or going right to the source via social media — all of which help discerning viewers better research their options — the simplest answer is that paying for porn is the most direct way to ensure key ethical production values. Read the rest... Watch this next-gen thermal camera attachment for smartphones Looking at the world in Predator-vision will get easier later this year thanks to consumer-grade forward-looking infrared (FLIR). The same tech used to find the Boston bombing suspect can be used to find a lost dog at night or to check your house for thermal leaks. Read the rest... Video proves this cat to be insane Insane, or insanely cute? 7 pounds of adorable. [Video Link, via Reddit] Read the rest... Video: How footballs are made I found this video about how footballs are made, and a woman who worked in the Wilson Sporting Goods factory for 50 years, to be more interesting than most football games I've watched. Read the rest... Beautiful black and red variegated 78 records from the 1920s Portland area archivist Cliff Bolling has curated and digitized thousands of 78 records. One prized addition is this variegated series from Pathé's Chanticleer line. Read the rest... Time's Edge (The Chronos Files Book 2) Rarely do I dive right into the second book in a series, but I couldn't wait to start Rysa Walker's second time travel adventure: Time's Edge. Read the rest... Watch a gentleman ride his craptacular gas-powered horse Is this the worst mechanical horse of all time? Chinese farmer Su Daocheng built it to plow his fields and also says he built a homemade helicopter. Read the rest... Schoolly D: Inventor of Gangster Rap This week's Hip Hop Family Tree covers Gangster Boogie by Schoolly D, an influential artist who inspired the west coast direction spearheaded by Ice T and NWA. Read the rest... From Page to Screen: Joseph Delaney on The Last Apprentice Series ADVERTISEMENT Some people think that being a writer is glamorous. I know that I once did. I dreamed of finally getting published and all the amazing fun that would follow. Read the rest... Scientific American and fansubbers help video spread in Hungary Dean from Amara writes, "Editors at Scientific American noticed they were getting a TON of hits on the video What Happens to Your Body after You Die? Read the rest... Photo: “Cyborgia“ From the Boing Boing Flickr Pool. Read the rest... Watch the awesome way one Rhode Island school told students it was closed for snow day Head of School Matt Glendinning is one totally awesome guy. Read the rest... America's war on leaks has gone way too far when journalists' emails spied upon The Justice Department got a warrant to seize contents and metadata on all emails received, sent, drafted or deleted for three WikiLeaks’ staffers' personal Gmail accounts. Read the rest... “You Shall Not Pass” area rug By designer Jeremy Bingham, a very funny area rug in various sizes, starting at $28. You Shall Not Pass. [society6.com] Read the rest... GHCQ and David Cameron hoaxed by prank caller high on "booze and cocaine" British officials acknowledged on Monday that a prank caller managed to social-engineer the private cell number for a top GHCQ intel chief, and phoned the prime minister in his name. Read the rest... Game of Thrones board game offers diplomacy, intrigue, and betrayal Fans looking to get their off-season fix could do worse than setting aside a snowy Saturday for A Game of Thrones: The Board Game Read the rest... Koch brothers raise 2016 election warchest that's on par with either party's spend The Kochs will raise $889M from conservative millionaires and billionaires to spend in the 2016 election, which, thanks to Citizens United, can be used to buy effectively unlimited political advertising to support policies that will make more money for the donors. Read the rest... Gitmo prisoner who published critically-acclaimed memoir won't be allowed to read his own book at Gitmo Neither will 121 of his fellow inmates. Read the rest... NSA-themed art This lovely piece of NSA-surveillance-themed art comes from Anthony Freda, previously featured here for his Normal Rockwell/Ferguson piece. (Thanks, Hugh and Anthony!) Read the rest... Tiny kitchen-knife sharpener does the trick The Kitchen IQ Edge Grip 2-Stage Knife Sharpener set me back $6 but it was worth it. I keep it next to my knife block and run a knife through the "Fine" slot almost every time I cut something. Read the rest... Hands-free workbench magnification This is a 5-inch diameter magnifying glass mounted on a swing arm, and the assembly has a vice clamp to mount itself to the edge of a table or desk. Read the rest...