The Latest from Boing Boing

The physics of levitating street performers Even when you know how these guys float above the sidewalk, it still is fun to see them. I love their costumes and their quietness on the busy street. Read the rest... Listen to all ten albums from Brian Eno's Obscure Records label Brian Eno launched Obscure Records in 1975, and released 10 albums on the label, including his own, Discreet Music. The label closed in 1978. Read the rest... Vice reporter test drives a fellatio robot Alejandro Tauber tried out the Autoblow 2, the world’s most “realistic robotic oral sex stimulator for men." tldr; It make a mood-killing grinding noise, and didn't feel good. Read the rest... Music: "C'mon 'N Ride It (The Train)," Quad City DJs (1996) "My God, its full of stars!" Read the rest... Alabama cop body slams elderly man to ground, paralyzes him Sureshbhai Patel was taking his morning walk on the the street outside his son's home in Alabama when a concerned resident spotted him and called police to report a "skinny black guy" wearing a "toboggan" in his neighborhood. Read the rest... Use Facebook while in South Carolina jail, go to solitary for 37 years Prisons have a legitimate interest in controlling contraband, but in South Carolina, using social media from behind bars is a Class I offense, carrying stiffer penalties than murder, escape and hostage-taking. Read the rest... A $4 hose adapter for my kitchen faucet This $4 adapter allows me to attach a hose to my kitchen faucet. Now I can fill large pots while they sit on the stove, saving my back. Read the rest... Tiny Hamster's Tiny Date Valentine's is for hamsters. Read the rest... Video series: History of Superstitions Intrepid explorers of high weirdness Mitch Horowitz (author of Occult America) and Ronni Thomas (director of The Midnight Archive) created a fun 13 episode video series called "History of Superstitions." Above is the episode about the number 13. Read the rest... "God Hates Japan": the Douglas Coupland novel that may never appear in English Though I appreciate a well-made physical book, I don't collect the things aggressively as some do. Yet I can't suppress my desire to possess certain, highly specific volumes. Read the rest... Photographer Noé Montes shoots Los Angeles like you've never seen it Los Angeles is beautiful — there, I've stirred up a controversy already. But photographer Noé Montes has already out done me by making that claim not just in words but in images, and a series of striking ones, no less, with that very title. Read the rest... Seattle's possibly-haunted "Mystery Coke Machine" I've lamented the pathetic state of American vending machine culture versus the advanced state of Japan's, but as with anything else in this giant and often complacent country, you've got to look at the trees, not the forest. Read the rest... Rare Grand Canyon wolf killed by hunter This is Echo, the first gray wolf to be spotted near the Grand Canyon in decades. It's now been confirmed that in December, just a few months after Echo was first seen, a hunter killed the rare wolf, mistaking her for a coyote. Read the rest... Death Cab for Cutie: "Black Sun" music video Our friends in Death Cab for Cutie released the video for "Black Sun," the first single from their forthcoming album Kintsugi, arriving March 31. Read the rest... Sriracha doesn't need no stinking trademarks Techdirt on why Sriracha's CEO David Tran is thrilled to not have trademarked his famous hot sauce. From Techdirt: Well, because he's too busy being the "gold standard" of the thing you're trying to get it on using his brand's name. Read the rest... Glitch playing cards Glitch aesthetic meets sleight of hand -- or games of chance. Rather good glitch-aesthetic and varied across each card. ($14) GLITCH Playing Cards (Thanks, Pascal Hiltbrand!) Read the rest... Glow-in-the-dark Nissan Leaf Nissan demonstrates a new glow-in-the-dark auto paint in this ghostly video of a Leaf driving through the night. From a Nissan press release: The manufacturer worked with inventor, Hamish Scott, creator of STARPATH, which is a spray-applied coating that absorbs UV energy during the day so that it glows for between eight and 10 hours when the sun goes down. Read the rest... Listen: interviews with Scott McCloud and Jim Woodring On his RiYL podcast, Brian Heater interviewed two extraordinary comic book people: Jim Woodring and Scott McCloud. Read the rest... Kickstarting a next-gen steampunk nixie clock Kyle writes, "The first clock in my series of Steampunk Nixie timepieces was successfully funded on Kickstarter last year, and I've just released the next design! Read the rest... If dishwashers were Iphones My latest Guardian column is design fiction in the form of an open letter from a dishwasher company whose kitchenware marketplace and Dish Rights Management system is under fire. Read the rest... Buddhist monks punished for playing Quidditch "NOB Director Nopparat Benjawattananan said today (July 10) that the monks in the widely shared photo acted inappropriately and lack discipline." Read the rest... Dirty Needle tattoo art show opens tonight in Detroit Mitch O'Connell is curating the the "M.O'C" Dirty Needle, an erotic tattoo art show, that opens tonight in Detroit. Right smack dab inside the beloved giant annual Detroit den of depravity, The Dirty Show, will be a freestanding lil' "tattoo shop" displaying the hottest in nude, naughty and nasty tattoo flash. Read the rest... Generic YA dystopian novel (Twitter edition) The @Dystopianya account is tweeting an entire cliched YA dystopian novel in bite-sized chunks. "My name is Valentine Neverwoods," I said, my knees shaking. Read the rest... That "Holy Grail" Les Paul is "just a broken-down guitar," says Paul's son Geoff Edgers's Washington Post article about the controversy surrounding the upcoming auction of a Les Paul guitar, advertised as "the most important Les Paul guitar of all time," is a fun read. Read the rest... The totally awesome 3D illustrations of artist Victor Nunes These are so delightful. By Victor Nunes, [Facebook], via I Need a Guide. Read the rest... Gangster salmon wears Star of David bling to promote lox on store window A fine contribution to the Boing Boing Flickr pool, by Renee Rendler-Kaplan. “A shuttered caterer on Touhy Avenue in Lincolnwood.” [Photo link | contribute yours here] Read the rest... 9/11 defendant sodomized at CIA 'black site' still suffers injuries, lawyer says The Saudi man “continues to bleed now, at least eight years later,” his defense attorney said today. Read the rest... Excellent animated alphabet by the creator of Windosill Windosill is one of my favorite online puzzle games. It's quiet and wonderfully strange and comes with no instructions. Patrick, the creator of Windosill has just released an iOS app for kids called Metamorphabet, which contains the same whimsical quirkiness. It's not a game, instead, it's an app to teach kids the alphabet. Each time you touch a letter, it morphs into something different that starts with that letter. I just wish there were 1000 letters in the alphabet. Read the rest... Romance in NYC: Valentine's Day short shot entirely on iPhone 6 “The iPhone has limitations,” he says “but the limitations themselves spur creativity.” Couldn't agree more. Read the rest... EMI claims it owns copyright to videos of cats purring Hugh writes, "YouTube's automated takedown tool is known for its flaws, but this week it crossed a line by attacking a purring cat. Read the rest...