The Latest from Boing Boing

Time traveling through the post-war glory days of Cuba’s most exciting destination Until free-and-easy legal travel between the U.S. and Cuba becomes a reality, Havana Before Castro is your second best bet. It's pages offer a vicarious vacation to the city that the tourism industry once promoted as “So near…And Yet So Foreign,” right at your fingertips – all without having to board an overbooked plane or deal with surly TSA security agents. Read the rest... Strangely comforting gifs Some days are harder than others. This concludes my guest blogging spot for Boing Boing. Thanks for having me! Read the rest... February 27th: Happy Birthday John Steinbeck "And now that you do not have to be perfect, you can be good." --From East of Eden On this day, in 1902, American author John Steinbeck was born in Monterey County, California. Read the rest... The importance of glass, artificial cold and more If you're looking for a comprehensive explanation for modern life is how it is, there are probably other books to read. Read the rest... Dumpster dweller moves out after a year Jeff Wilson, a university professor in Austin, left his beautifully appointed dumpster this week. For a year, he lived in the 33-square-foot space, set in the school's parking lot. Read the rest... What I learned from Lumosity: fluid intelligence doesn't matter One of the controversies surrounding brain game site Lumosity has been its claim of building fluid intelligence. Critics argue that it doesn't build transferable brain capacity, but simply teaches users how to play better brain games. Read the rest... Schools with makerspaces rule. This librarian tells you how build them. Renowned expert on makerspaces in school libraries, Laura Fleming, has written a great postabout her experience embracing serendipity with curious students. Read the rest... This is the perfect work snack As a quick ASMR trigger in the middle of a work day, Justin's Honey Peanut Butter and any good dark chocolate can't be beat. Read the rest... Three steps to save ourselves from firmware attacks Following on the news that the (likely NSA-affiliated) Equation Group has developed a suite of firmware attacks that target the software embedded in your hard-drive and other subcomponents, it's time to expand the practice of information security to the realm of embedded software. Read the rest... Music: "Jack I'm Mellow," Kermit Ruffins (2001) Having fun with music. Read the rest... 10 more optical illusions better than The Dress Pull out your eyedropper tool -- the brown square on the top of the cube is the same as the orange square on the front. Read the rest... Mystery of strange Toronto tunnel finally solved Police have finally uncovered the truth about the mysterious and suspicious tunnel discovered last month in Toronto near the Pan Am Games location. Read the rest... The weirdly common co-occurrence of genius ideas "Are you having a big, breakthrough idea right now? A few hundred people around the world are probably having the exact same insight at the exact same time," writes Clive Thompson, author of Smarter Than You Think, over at Medium:This is what’s known as the principle of “multiples,” which posits that genius breakthroughs in innovation, science, and the arts aren’t rare at all. Read the rest... Spherical egg sold at auction This round egg, laid by a hen now named Ping Pong, sold on eBay for approximately $740 with the proceeds going to a Cystic Fibrosis charity. Read the rest... The midpoint of Better Call Saul's first season hinges on scenes without Jimmy The latest episode of the Breaking Bad spinoff, recapped for your further entertainment. Read the rest... Zombies in Disney World Mari Mancusi has brought "Razor Girl," her out-of-print, post-apocalyptic novel about zombies and Walt Disney World, back as a free ebook under a new title: Tomorrowland. Read the rest... Video: Hand-carving a sphere of ice This fellow hand-carves a wonderful ice sphere in less than 3 minutes. (via DIGG) Read the rest... 3DPL: a remix license for 3D printed things Joris Peels writes, "We've developed a license for sharing 3D printed things. We think it's important to have a good license that lets people remix, share and create in a 3D printed world. We'd like to ask the maker and 3D printing community to help us by giving us feedback on what about the 3DPL should be changed so we have a broadly accepted license for 3D printing." Read the rest... Hip Hop Family Tree: Odd Classics of 1984 This week's Hip Hop Family Tree covers some overlooked gems from rap music's past. By Ed Piskor Read the rest... Razorhurst: blood-drenched gang warfare and ghosts in Gilded Age Sydney Justine Larbalestier's Razorhurst is a young adult novel that's full of the violence and glamor of the real-world Razorwars that drenched Sydney's Surry Hills ghetto in the run up to World War II, an historical novel that skilfully weaves in a ghost story that puts the action of gang-warfare exactly where it belongs: in the relationship between the living and the dead. Read the rest... Incredible vintage camera collection on eBay This astounding collection of 600+ vintage cameras, from 1880 to 1980, is up for auction on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $34,900. Read the rest... Video: custom TIE Fighter drone The RC Tie Interceptor custom drone, from Olivier C, creator of the far out DIY Millennium Falcon drone. More info in his build thread at RCGroups. Read the rest... Meet The Inhumans They might not be as famous as the X-Men or The Avengers, but with an upcoming film, teases on ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and an increasing comic book presence, The Inhumans are about to cause a pop culture explosion, 50 years after they first appeared. Read the rest... Help the UK Pirate Party write its 2015 election manifesto A reader writes: "The UK Pirate Party is launching their 2015 crowdsourced policy platform for their manifesto leading to the 2015 general election." We've been proud to run on British politics' first crowd sourced manifesto. Read the rest... Hillary Clinton exclusively used private email while secretary of state Open government advocates blasted the Bush administration for using off-the-books email accounts, so it's only fair that Hilary Clinton finds herself in deep doodoo for doing the same.Read the rest... Silly pet ferret gets stuck behind a door, freaks out Ermagherd! Shot and shared by Holly Scott. [via 4GIFs] Read the rest... Of the many veggie peelers I owned, this is my favorite I've used this Zyliss vegetable peeler ($9) for years, and I've not yet had to sharpen it. It's more comfortable than an OXO Goodgrips model, and it makes quick work of carrots, potatoes, and yams, and even butternut squash. Read the rest... Britney Spears video (no music, plenty of PVC) Vocals and squeaky PVC. (Musicless Musicvideos) Previously: Musicless MacGyver Read the rest... How to #yolo in Latin From First Things Magazine, created by @matthewschmitz. Read the rest... Prague astronomical clock: a lovely photograph by a Boing Boing reader Andrea Sommaruga's “Prague Astronomical Clock,” a photo shared in our Boing Boing Flickr Pool. Read the rest...