Republican lawmakers dumped the problem in the White House's lap and left the Capitol as a midnight deadline for DHS funding looms. Their weeklong recess abandons the standoff over ICE and leaves it to White House negotiators and Democratic lawmakers to solve. — Read the rest

The post Republicans jet off as DHS runs out of money appeared first on Boing Boing.

The International Olympic Committee is under fire for selling a men's T-shirt commemorating the 1936 Berlin Olympics, hosted by Hitler.

The shirt, featuring the original Berlin 1936 poster art, showed up on the Olympics website with the kind of bland "celebrate humanity" framing that only works if you aggressively forget what a celebration of humanity Berlin 1936 was. — Read the rest

The post IOC adds Nazi-era Berlin Games to "Heritage Collection" appeared first on Boing Boing.

This Star Wars racing game looks like it has the right amount of sound effects, visuals, and dirty deeds to be a good time.

While slightly generic and not focused on the timeframe I enjoy most in Star Wars, this looks like it has enough Star Wars elements to be fun as a racing game, and fun as Star Wars. — Read the rest

The post "Now this is pod racing!" Star Wars: Galactic Racer coming soon appeared first on Boing Boing.

I have become obsessed with Solvej Balle's story of a woman trapped on a single day.

On the Calculation of Volume introduces us to Tara Selter, a woman living the classic Bill Murray Movie "Groundhog Day" but with no explanation or idea of how or why. — Read the rest

The post A phenomenal time travel story: On the Calculation of Volume (Book I) appeared first on Boing Boing.

Stay calm, the ground has risen an inch across a 20-mile area around the northern edge of Yellowstone's caldera since last July.

This isn't the precursor to a massive cinematic moment. Yellowstone hasn't erupted for 70,000 years, and it seems unlikely to pop off any time soon. — Read the rest

The post Uplift being tracked at Yellowstone's caldera appeared first on Boing Boing.

The Wall Street Journal reports staff beratings, polygraph tests, showboat raids, and a Coast Guard pilot allegedly fired because someone didn't pack the secretary's favorite blanket.

The Department of Homeland Security under Noem and Lewandowski is apparently run like a YouTube influencer's channel. — Read the rest

The post Noem and Lewandowski turned Homeland Security into a reality show with poor trigger discipline appeared first on Boing Boing.

Congressperson Jamie Raskin (D-MD) paid the ICE facility in Baltimore a surprise visit. What he found was "disgraceful. "

Raskin found 60 men packed into a single room, with only one toilet and no showers. The inhuman conditions also involved sleeping with a simple aluminum foil survival blanket. — Read the rest

The post 60 Men, one toilet: Lawmaker describes conditions inside ICE facility appeared first on Boing Boing.

The City of Los Angeles lost a court case over the improper seizure and disposal of property from unhoused people without it ever going to trial. Forensic analysis showed the city had "modified or fabricated" 90% of the reports filed over 144 "cleanups." — Read the rest

The post Los Angeles caught covering up huge rights violations appeared first on Boing Boing.

People with the richest intellectual lives didn't develop Alzheimer's until age 94, on average. Those with the least enrichment got it at 88. That six-year gap stems from a study of 1,939 people, published in the journal Neurology, which followed participants for roughly eight years and measured what "enrichment" entailed across three stages of life. — Read the rest

The post A lifetime of reading may delay Alzheimer's by six years appeared first on Boing Boing.

In 2008, someone stole an entire beach in Jamaica. Five hundred truckloads of white sand vanished from Coral Springs, Trelawny, derailing a $110 million resort development. Charges were eventually dropped after death threats against the key witness. Nobody was ever convicted. — Read the rest

The post Sand thieves stole an entire Jamaican beach and got away with it in 2008 appeared first on Boing Boing.

For 24 years, Suzanne McArthur sold an odd little utensil from Martha Washington's coffee shop in Sydney — a single piece of cutlery that could scoop soup, spear a prawn, and cut a piece of chicken. Her husband William had patented it in 1943 after seeing a magazine photo of women at a Roman buffet dinner, struggling to balance plates, glasses, and full sets of silverware on their knees. — Read the rest

The post Meet the Splayd, the spork's sharper Australian cousin appeared first on Boing Boing.

Goldman Sachs chief legal officer Kathryn Ruemmler announced her resignation Thursday night, the latest career to fall apart because of the Epstein files. She'd received luxury handbags and a fur coat from Epstein after his 2008 sex crimes conviction and offered him advice on managing his reputation. — Read the rest

The post JPMorgan flagged $1 billion in suspicious Epstein transactions and kept banking him appeared first on Boing Boing.

A federal grand jury on Tuesday unanimously rejected the DOJ's attempt to indict six Democratic lawmakers who posted a 90-second video reminding military personnel they can refuse unlawful orders. Trump had responded to the video on social media by writing, "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!" — Read the rest

The post Grand jury unanimously refuses to indict six lawmakers Trump wanted executed for telling troops to follow the law appeared first on Boing Boing.

Someone found Jeffrey Epstein's YouTube handle and a Fortnite account linked to his name, and from this concluded that the dead sex trafficker is alive and playing video games in Israel. That's the caliber of theorizing now swirling around the DOJ's release of over 3 million pages, 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images from the Epstein investigation, reports The New York Times. — Read the rest

The post Epstein's Fortnite account discovered, theorists decide he's alive appeared first on Boing Boing.

The Trump administration paid Palau — a Pacific island nation of 18,000 people — between $4.7 million and $7.5 million to accept deportees. So far, it has sent zero.

That's one detail from a Senate Foreign Relations Committee report, which tallied at least $40 million in spending on shipping roughly 300 migrants to countries other than their own, according to the AP. — Read the rest

The post Trump's third-country deportations cost $133K per person appeared first on Boing Boing.

Summer Worden falsely claimed that her astronaut wife, Ann McClain, illegally accessed her bank account from the International Space Station. This technically implausible story suffered rapid unscheduled dissassembly and she's off to jail for three months, having pleaded guilty to making false statements to NASA and the authorities. — Read the rest

The post Three months' prison for woman who claimed her astronaut wife accessed bank account from space appeared first on Boing Boing.

"I loved the torture video," read the subject line of an email sent to Jeffrey Epstein. The sender was identified by a U.S. lawmaker as Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, the 71-year-old chairman of DP World, one of the planet's largest port and logistics companies. — Read the rest

The post DP World ousts Trump-connnected Sultan after Epstein files reveal "torture video" email appeared first on Boing Boing.

According to a study comprising 43 years of data on over 130,000 patients, drinking caffeinated coffee was associated with a lower risk of dementia. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that drinking two to three cups of coffee or one to two cups of tea—approximately 300mg of caffeine—reduced dementia risk by 18% and 14%, respectively. — Read the rest

The post Caffeinated coffee may stave off dementia appeared first on Boing Boing.

There is a Match Museum in Jönköping, Sweden, dedicated to matchsticks and matchboxes. It's one of only a handful of match museums worldwide.

I love looking at vintage matchbox art, and this museum sounds like a great place to see some. — Read the rest

The post Sweden's match museum celebrates the lost art of matchbox design appeared first on Boing Boing.

Rays of light beam from a mass of dust, glancing off banks of cloud 1,000 light years from Earth. The nebula glows not because its gases ionize but because the sun-like star at its center is nearing the end of its life. — Read the rest

The post Hubble captures death of a sun-like star appeared first on Boing Boing.

This painting by Louis Wain depicts a wonderfully playful scene of cats sledding down a hill. Some look thrilled, while others look absolutely terrified. A few have even gone flying off their sleds and landed upside down in the snow. I need to find a print of this for my wall. — Read the rest

The post This delightfully chaotic Louis Wain painting shows cats sledding downhill with pure joy and terror appeared first on Boing Boing.

This hypnotic timelapse shows a sand dollar trundling in circles on the ocean floor, leaving a precise circular trail in the sand — its very own sand art.

Sand dollars may look like simple beach treasures, but they're living sea urchins with a surprisingly elegant design. — Read the rest

The post Watch a living sand dollar spin like a tiny Roomba, etching circular sand art appeared first on Boing Boing.

A special exhibition, "Universal Theme Parks: The Exhibition," will open on February 14 at The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia's museum of science and technology. The exhibition celebrates and explains the technology and artistry behind the Universal theme parks. It is planned to be in Philadelphia until September, and then go on a national tour of science museums for five years. — Read the rest

The post Program an animatronic, design a coaster at this new Philly exhibit appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Windows 11 Pro for Microsoft is available for $12.97 (reg. $199), offering upgraded security, multitasking tools, and built-in Copilot features for compatible PCs, through March 22 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

If your PC is still rocking that 2016 energy, it's time for an upgrade that won't cause existential dread. — Read the rest

The post Windows 11 Pro is $12.97 and your aging PC might thank you appeared first on Boing Boing.

Today, the President of the United States had trouble pronouncing simple words, got bored, let us know by closing his eyes for a little "me-time" while waiting for the speech to end, and told the EPA Administrator that his speech was too long. — Read the rest

The post Grandpa Pudding Brains is bored and sleepy appeared first on Boing Boing.

Through negotiations between the owner of Britannic's wreck and the Greek government, which controls it, divers have finally been allowed to enter the well-preserved hulk.

In the first video, Sam from Historic Travels does a great job of explaining how Britannic was de-designated as a war grave and how its current owner obtained permission to have divers document the interior. — Read the rest

The post What can Britannic teach us about her sister ship, Titanic? appeared first on Boing Boing.

The nation's top health official offered this explanation for many of his policies: "I'm not scared of a germ. I used to snort cocaine off of toilet seats." This clears up an awful lot, but shouldn't make you feel any better. — Read the rest

The post RFK Jr. cites toilet-seat cocaine habit as proof germs aren't real problem appeared first on Boing Boing.

Games Where a Person in Front of a Greenscreen Talks Directly to You is a directory of games where chroma-keyed actors address the player. A trope of the CD-ROM era of "full-motion" video, early standouts include Myst and Westwood realtime strategy games. — Read the rest

The post List of games with chroma-keyed actors addressing the player appeared first on Boing Boing.

Healthy and Human Services brainworm RFK Jr's new "Real Food" website features his upside-down food pyramid, recommending more fat, butter, and red meat. The site also redirects to Elon Musk's dubious chatbot, Grok, which quickly explains that Kennedy's guidance isn't based on scientific evidence and that you shouldn't trust Kennedy himself. — Read the rest

The post Even Grok thinks RFK Jr.'s diet is a bad idea appeared first on Boing Boing.

In the Retable de la Passion, an oil-on-wood altarpiece from around 1500, a small dog sits among the crowd at Christ's trial. It has grey stubble, a weak chin, and an expression that's unsettlingly human. The dog is Pontius Pilate. — Read the rest

The post Medieval painters gave dogs human faces to symbolize cowardice appeared first on Boing Boing.

Randy Rainbow declares Trump's second term the worst sequel since "Wicked for Good."

I particularly enjoy that Mr. Rainbow gives us a few moments after the interview to discuss the source material before he breaks into song. Randy has consistently documented Trump's evil, and done it in tune. — Read the rest

The post "Lyin' and Spinnin' (and Cheatin' and Hidin')" a Valentine's release by Randy Rainbow appeared first on Boing Boing.

In body-camera footage released by the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, 42-year-old ICE goon Scott Thomas Deiseroth repeatedly fails to offer the deputy the respect his agency continuously demands law enforcement merits, displays his racism, and fails a field sobriety test. — Read the rest

The post ICE agent fails sobriety test, questions deputy's nationality appeared first on Boing Boing.

Before California's start-up culture gave us its own quasi-corporate pidgin, full of "circling back" and "thinking outside the box," a tiny town in Mendocino County decided to "shark" us all. If you don't get it, you're a "brightlighter."

Logging and farming town Boonville, in California's Anderson Valley, has its own language, "Boontling," a dense and private vocabulary of Pomo words, Spanish, Irish brogue, and pure inside jokes. — Read the rest

The post Northern California has its own regional language, and they are making fun of you appeared first on Boing Boing.

Every architect knows what a blueprint is. Fewer know the process behind it — cyanotype printing — was first used not for buildings but for algae.

In 1843, English botanist Anna Atkins began producing Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, now considered the first book illustrated entirely with photographs. — Read the rest

The post Anna Atkins' blue algae and the dawn of photography appeared first on Boing Boing.

Trump's "Border Czar" Tom Homan announced that, after months of mass arrests, slain citizens, and huge high-profile protests, ICE is already quietly slinking out of Minnesota.

Prepare for ol' Grandpa Puddin' Brains to declare he has reduced crime in Minneapolis by 1 billion percent. — Read the rest

The post ICE retreats from Minnesota after weeks of backlash appeared first on Boing Boing.

Gouache applied by airbrush — that was the secret behind the impossibly smooth, vivid covers Robert Tinney produced for Byte magazine across 80-plus issues from 1975 into the late 1980s. Each one took roughly a week to finish after phone calls with the editors about that month's theme. — Read the rest

The post Robert Tinney, who painted iconic Byte magazine covers, RIP appeared first on Boing Boing.

I've always loved these decorative indentations on book page edges but never knew what they were called. They're gauffered edges — gilt edges decorated by a finisher using heated tools to indent small repeating patterns into them. The style was popular in the 16th and 17th centuries, though it also appeared in medieval manuscripts and devotional books. — Read the rest

The post What are those decorative patterns on old book edges? appeared first on Boing Boing.

A herd of llamas assisted law enforcement in the UK, making a "citizen's arrest" of a fleeing suspect. The hapless thief hopped a fence to escape police, but found himself chased and surrounded by llamas.

After stealing some tobacco, a would-be thief fled into Heidi Price and Graham Oliver's Derbyshire field. — Read the rest

The post British crime-fighting llamas nab tobacco thief appeared first on Boing Boing.

Scott Shambaugh maintains matplotlib, a Python plotting library downloaded about 130 million times a month. Like many open source projects, matplotlib now requires human review of all submissions after a surge in low-quality AI-generated code. When an autonomous agent called MJ Rathbun submitted a pull request, Shambaugh closed it — standard procedure. — Read the rest

The post An AI agent published a hit piece on the developer who rejected it appeared first on Boing Boing.

This month, DinoLand USA, the dinosaur-themed land in Disney World's (Orlando) Animal Kingdom ceased all operations, to be torn down to make way for the construction of a Tropical Americas land.

It's been running since the Animal Kingdom park opened in 1998, and the lead designer of the park Joe Rohde took the occasion to write some interesting inside stories on Instagram about its creation. — Read the rest

The post DinoLand U.S.A., R.I.P. appeared first on Boing Boing.

Oni Press has just released a graphic biography on the origin story of Juneteenth, as told through the life of the woman most responsible for making it a national reality.

First Freedom: The Story of Opal Lee and Juneteenth tells the story of Opal Lee, who has come to be known as the "Grandmother of Juneteenth." — Read the rest

The post A graphic history of Juneteenth and the woman who refused to let it go appeared first on Boing Boing.

We don't have a cure for cancer, or personal jetpacks to use on our commute to work, and if they can actually get AI to work, millions will lose their jobs. But hey, at least one thing from the future is panning out: self-driving vehicles. — Read the rest

The post Those Waymo robotaxis? Humans in other countries drive them appeared first on Boing Boing.

She's thirteen, wears her hair long (forbidden by her peers), and has been standing taller than her father in state photos lately. Kim Ju Ae, the only publicly acknowledged child of Kim Jong Un, has been designated as his successor, South Korea's National Intelligence Service told lawmakers Thursday. — Read the rest

The post Kim Jong Un picks his 13-year-old daughter as successor appeared first on Boing Boing.

Whatsapp and Telegram were among the last encrypted communications platforms permitted in Russia, but that ended yesterday: the two apps are now blocked there, authorities confirmed. They encouraged people to use unencrypted domestic alternatives instead. Here's CNN on the Telegram block:

On Tuesday, the government said it was restricting access to Telegram for the "protection of Russian citizens," accusing the app of refusing to block content authorities consider "criminal and terrorist."

— Read the rest

The post Russia blocks Telegram and Whatsapp appeared first on Boing Boing.

David Nephi Johnson, 54, is the chairman of Wasatch County Republican Party in Utah. His teenage daughter, police say, failed to tidy her room "to his standards." Police are interested in this because Johnson allegedly punished his child by waterboarding her, and was charged with aggravated child abuse, a first-degree felony. — Read the rest

The post Republican county chairman accused of torturing own daughter for not cleaning room appeared first on Boing Boing.

Thanks largely to Roger Corman's craptacular 1976 movie Piranha and its sequels, flesh-eating fish were top of mind for many Generation X kids. They featured in pulp literature, Far Side cartoons, and on TV right into the mid-1990s. Then they kinda disappeared from the zeitgeist. — Read the rest

The post 46 swimmers hospitalized after piranha attack in Argentina appeared first on Boing Boing.

California Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA) was clearly exhausted by Attorney General Pam Bondi's evasive, non-answers to questions, but he wouldn't stand for her lies.

The Attorney General evaded nearly every question and used her time as a campaign pitch for Donald Trump. — Read the rest

The post Congressperson tells Pam Bondi he believes she is lying to Congress appeared first on Boing Boing.

As the world boos US government officials at the Olympics, and our athletes decry government abuse at home, Immigration and Customs Enforcement wants the world to know they'll be at the FIFA World Cup.

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons told a congressional committee Tuesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, through its Homeland Security Investigations unit, will remain "a key part of the overall security apparatus" for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, as the tournament faces mounting controversy over immigration enforcement and travel restrictions.

— Read the rest

The post ICE gives the world another reason to skip the U.S. World Cup appeared first on Boing Boing.

While masked government thugs slay citizens legally observing their over-zealous and perhaps extra-judicial immigration enforcement, Tennessee Republican congressperson Andy Ogles has found the real National emergency: Bad Bunny's hips.

The gentleman from Tennessee has formally demanded that the House Energy and Commerce Committee examine whether the NFL and NBC properly vetted what he calls "widespread twerking, grinding, pelvic thrusts, and other sexually suggestive content" during the NFL Superbowl half time show. — Read the rest

The post Congressman demands a federal probe into 13 minutes of televised twerking appeared first on Boing Boing.

In another glaring contradiction, the oft-repeated insistence by convicted felon Donald Trump and Amazon film star Melania that Jeffrey Epstein didn't introduce the two lovebirds has taken a shot across the bow.

FBI documents in the Epstein files show a sworn statement by one of Epstein's former assistants, who insists Trump's longtime pal, Jeffrey, "introduced MELANIA TRUMP to DONALD TRUMP," in files reviewed by The Daily Beast. — Read the rest

The post FBI file claims Epstein introduced Melania to Trump, contradicting the fairy tale appeared first on Boing Boing.