The Latest from Boing Boing

Leonard Nimoy, 1931-2015 The New York Times: "The sonorous, gaunt-faced actor who won a worshipful global following as Mr. Spock, the resolutely logical human-alien first officer of the Starship Enterprise in the television and movie juggernaut “Star Trek,” died on Friday morning at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles. He was 83."His final posting: "A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. [Live Long and Prosper.]" Read the rest... Upcoming film, Reality, puts Jon Heder in a rat suit Reality by French filmmaker Quentin Dupieux (better known as the DJ Mr. Oizo) looks good. Philip Glass on the score, all color corrected in 70s browns and yellows, and Jon Heder in a rat suit for the entire thing. Read the rest... Mass surveillance hip-hop from the director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee Shahid Buttar -- the rapper who created the amazing NSA vs USA track/video -- is also a constitutional lawyer who serves as executive director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee. Read the rest... The makeup artist who turns faces into superhero drawings Makeup artist Lianna Moseley doesn't make people look like superheroes—she makes them look like superhero drawings, complete with thick-lined cheekbones and larger-than-life snarls. Read the rest... Fingers with feet and other abnormal anatomical artworks Sculptor Alessandro Boezio recombines and reforms human body parts into strange monstrosities that you'd imagine crawling around a David Cronenberg movie set. Read the rest... 16 optical illusions more fun than that damn dress Mashable has collected a gallery of 16 optical illusions more interesting than the dress photo that caused celebrities to argue with one another last night. Read the rest... The sad reality of "Pimp My Ride" Many of the mods seen on Pimp My Ride were faked or crap that fell apart weeks after filming. And that wasn't the worst of it. Read the rest... Cookie Monster ponders the mysteries of the universe Are you ready for some mind-altering, existential truth? Then by all means, behold: Cookie Monster. Not afraid to ask the difficult questions, his inquiring mind is like a tour guide for the hungry. Read the rest... The trippy Polaroids of photographer Marianna Rothen Her series "Alien Camp" uses gel filters to help create a dreamy, painterly aesthetic as beautiful as it is strange. (via) Read the rest... Harvey Keitel's 1985 sci-fi epic Star Knight on YouTube Harvey Keitel, Klaus Kinski and underwater boobs star in this low-budget b-movie from 1985. And there's probably no better way to celebrate the 30th birthday of something this weird than just to watch it. Above is a clip starring a flying goat. Below is the rest. Read the rest... Snail eats lunch There's something really unnerving about this little snail eating lunch. It's too gross to be adorable, but too adorable to be gross. Are his little antennae an emotional reaction? Read the rest... Street sign: "Heads up! Cross the street, then update Facebook" The City of Hayward, California posted a new series of snarky signs, including this one.(Laughing Squid) Read the rest... Snail and slug tape is great for electronics projects Whether you're trying to quiet the hum on your old single coil Strat or Telecaster, or create a DIYwireless charging station for your phone, the copper tape sold to repel pests from the garden is an inexpensive and easy-to-manipulate material for the job. Read the rest... Avant garde pianist and great 20th century commuications nerd This week, ABC Australia is running a radio documentary about George Antheil, with extensive audio excerpts and an essay online. Originally from New Jersey, the composer was obsessed with machines, player pianos, the technology of music reproduction, modernity. Read the rest... What it was like to be Monica Lewinsky in 2001 She worked hard to overcome the ignominy of the 1995 scandal involving Bill Clinton, writing aVanity Fair article on public humiliation and a moving speech about cyber-bullying. Read the rest... What it's like to see 100 times the colors you see New York Magazine interviewed Concetta Antico, the artist who is a tetrachromat, meaning a genetic difference in her eyes enables her to see approximately 100 times more colors than an average person. Read the rest... Catwoman is bisexual In the new issue of the comic, Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman) kisses a woman. Her bisexuality is now canon. Writer Genevieve Valentine posted about the (non)revelation:She’s flirted around it – often quite literally – for years now; for me, this wasn’t a revelation so much as a confirmation. Read the rest... Climate change denying senator throws snowball on Senate floor Climate change denier Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) tossed a snowball on the Senate floor yesterday to illustrate his "point." “We hear the perpetual headline that 2014 has been the warmest year on record but now the script has flipped and I think it's important since we hear it over and over and over,” he said. Read the rest... Video: The Making of a Beer Can Specifically, cans that will be filled with Wellington, New Zealand's Garage Project Hops on Pointe brew. Read the rest... Kathy Sierra's BADASS: how to make your users into successes Kathy Sierra, the brilliant and storied user experience expert, has a new book, Badass: Making Users Awesome, which is aimed at teaching you to "craft a strategy for creating successful users." Sierra gained regrettable notoriety for being the target of years of repeated misogynist harassment, but her true claim to fame is a nuanced and highly practical expertise in technology design and implementation. Read the rest... Comic: The Life of Sitting Bull, as told by a 10-year-old The story of the Hunkpapa Lakota holy man who united the Lakota tribes against betrayals by the US government Read the rest... Internet-fired elections and the politics of business as usual I've got a new Guardian column, Internet-era politics means safe seats are a thing of the past, which analyzes the trajectory of Internet-fuelled election campaigning since Howard Dean, and takes hope in the launch of I'll Vote Green If You Do. Read the rest... Cuddly log-pillows Just in time for the Twin Peaks revival, a microbead-filled, photorealistic plush log pillow, which comes in "birch," "log" and "platanus" (and is glowingly reviewed by hundreds of satisfied customers). (via Canopy) Read the rest... A deaf sound artist Christine Sun Kim, deaf from birth, creates art at the intersection of sound, language, and music.From Medium: Can you tell me about the various ways that you experience sound without hearing it? Read the rest... Turn zucchini into noodles with a veggie peeler I use a Natizo julienne / vegetable peeler to turn zucchini into flat "noodles" and spaghetti noodles. I like them more than pasta. Read the rest... Adorable tiny kitten uses giant dog as fluffy pillow AHHHHHHHHHHHH [Thanks, Heather! HT: reddit/NotMyRealName14] Read the rest... The history of the New York City subway retold in a single GIF A historical chronology of NYC's subway system. [via WNYC] Read the rest... Slurpee Waves in Nantucket, photographed by Jonathan Nimerfroh The photographer who describes himself as "obsessed" with the ocean shot these amazing images of slushy winter waves near his Nantucket home. Read the rest... Furr Division: Love Will Tear Up Your Couch (again) There have been many visual riffs on the classic Joy Division album cover, but this is the most kitteh of them all. Read the rest... New NASA Earth Science missions expand our understanding of the home planet Four new NASA Earth-observing missions are collecting data from space, with a fifth set to begin orbit soon, after the busiest year of NASA Earth science launches in more than a decade. Read the rest...