"The greatest diplomatic troll of all time"

Grandpa Pudding Brains signed a peace deal at Versailles, because apparently nobody in the room had a history teacher, a calendar, or access to the phrase "ominous symbolism."

Versailles remains a bold venue for anyone announcing a peace deal with reparations. — Read the rest

The post Grandpa Pudding Brains announces another Treaty of Versailles appeared first on Boing Boing.

MAD Magazine published its 600th issue this week, and celebrated with a gorgeous cover (and back cover) by the reigning champ of MAD cartooning, Sergio Aragonés. Aragonés's first appearance in the magazine was in issue #76, published in 1963.

It's quite a milestone for a publication that started in 1952 as a comic book, and as a way for Harvey Kurtzman to write humor for EC Comics, instead of the research-heavy, time-consuming war comics he'd been writing. — Read the rest

The post MAD hits 600 issues; still, thankfully, hilariously juvenile appeared first on Boing Boing.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Max Fosh is the only YouTube prankster out there worth a damn. He's not obnoxious, he isn't self-centered, and most rare of all, he doesn't hurt anyone. His workflow begins with isolating a ridiculously silly idea, like hiring stuntmen to throw a fight so he can look cool in front of his friends, and doing everything possible to realize it. — Read the rest

The post Becoming a British royal with nothing more than confidence and an accent appeared first on Boing Boing.

How many times do you think I can get away with saying Spider-Man in this post? You know, for maximum SEO points? Let's give it a shot:

The upcoming Avengers: Doomsday is rumored to be a sort of soft reset for the MCU. — Read the rest

The post Spider-Man continues to do the things only a spider can in the new trailer for the latest "Spider-Man" movie appeared first on Boing Boing.

Meta laid off thousands of workers, started monitoring employees' computers, assigned people to train the AI that may replace them, and then discovered the real missing ingredient: snacks.

Meta CTO Andrew "Boz" Bosworth told employees morale is "probably one of the worst it's ever been" and that the "vibes are off." — Read the rest

The post Meta lays off thousands, monitors workers, increases the snack budget appeared first on Boing Boing.

Grandpa Pudding Brains tried to sound tough about America and somehow wandered into saying that strength is based on stolen elections.

"Nobody plays rougher than the United States," Trump said. "Look, our elections are totally rigged. We have rigged elections." It is the usual election-denial poison, but with an extra little Freudian garnish: he says "we" right after bragging about how rough the United States plays. — Read the rest

The post Grandpa Pudding Brains brags about how rigged U.S. elections are appeared first on Boing Boing.

The HP 16c Collector's Edition [HP via Adafruit] revives a mundane but well-loved tool. In 1982, the original 16c was designed specifically for programmers and engineers; after three decades, only modest refinements were called for in an otherwise fully-retro recreation. — Read the rest

The post HP 16c programmer's calculator returns in collectible form appeared first on Boing Boing.

Sycophant JD Vance took the stage in New York and managed to cram "anti-Semitic," "anti-Christian," and "anti-white" into one sentence, like a man speed-running the Republican grievance menu.

"They've become anti-Semitic in the Democratic Party," Vance said. "They've become anti-Christian in the Democratic Party. — Read the rest

The post JD Vance turns dog whistles into a brass section appeared first on Boing Boing.

Forget the pet-shop fluffball on a squeaky wheel. Europe's wild hamsters are out in Vienna's graveyards stuffing their faces, throwing hands, and living like tiny cemetery goblins.

Not a Biologist shares wildlife filmmaker Yaz Ellis' look at the surprisingly dramatic lives of wild hamsters in Vienna's cemeteries. — Read the rest

The post Vienna's graveyards are full of hardcore hamsters appeared first on Boing Boing.

Grandpa Pudding Brains' Lincoln Memorial Algae Farm may be ugly, expensive, and very funny, but Swimming Pool Steve says it is not especially mysterious.

After two CNN appearances about the green water situation, Swimming Pool Steve posted a longer explanation of what he thinks happens next. — Read the rest

The post Pool expert explains Grandpa Pudding Brains' Lincoln Memorial Algae Farm appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: ChatOn Premium is $99.99 for 5 years, giving you access to GPT, Claude, Gemini, Sonar, real-time web search with sources, image generation, cross-platform sync, and a dedicated mobile app for less than $2 per month.

The AI arms race has created a weird new problem: everybody wants access to GPT, Claude, Gemini, and all the other popular models. — Read the rest

The post The math is wild: ChatGPT Plus is $240/year—5 years of ChatGPT, Claude & Gemini is just $99.99 appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Get Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2026 plus 15 lifetime coding courses for $44.97 (reg. $1,999.99) through Deal Days — our answer to Prime Day.

Professional developers pay $499.99 for Visual Studio Pro alone. Right now, during Deal Days, you can grab Microsoft's newest IDE plus a full coding education bundle for $44.97 until June 28 at 11:59 PM. — Read the rest

The post This $45 Deal Days bundle gets you Visual Studio Pro 2026 plus free coding courses appeared first on Boing Boing.

A ballet performance of Romeo and Juliet in Izmir, Turkey, was nearing its tragic conclusion when an uninvited cast member wandered onstage and quietly took over the production. This mischievous cat appeared during the final scene and began acting like it had been rehearsing with the company for weeks. — Read the rest

The post Cat crashes Romeo and Juliet ballet in Turkey, bites Romeo mid-death scene, steals entire show appeared first on Boing Boing.

The massive consulting firm KPMG had to pull a lengthy report on the use of Agentic AI after it was found to be riddled with AI-generated fabrications and mangled citations. AI detection company GPTZero analyzed the report, Total Experience: Redefining Excellence in the Age of Agentic AI, which was released in October, 2025. — Read the rest

The post Report on AI use in business rife with AI hallucinations appeared first on Boing Boing.

I really, really loved Dragon's Dogma 2. Yes, even after its meme-filled moment in the sun was over. Yes, even in spite of the wholly unnecessary microtransactions that marred its reputation at release. (Incidentally, literally every Capcom game has those. — Read the rest

The post One of my favorite games is finally getting DLC, which means I can recommend it again guilt-free appeared first on Boing Boing.

Asked whether anyone would be held accountable for a strike on an elementary school that killed more than 100 children, Grandpa Pudding Brains said no, called it "a strange question," and shrugged: "Mistakes are made."

The children were killed in the active voice. — Read the rest

The post "Mistakes are made": Grandpa Pudding Brains shrugs at school strike that killed over 100 appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Get a lifetime license to Microsoft Windows 11 Pro for just $9.97 (reg. $199). 

Deal Days, Stack Social's Prime Day equivalent, is an excellent time to get the software you've always wanted at a great bargain; and this Microsoft Windows 11 Pro license is a great example of why. — Read the rest

The post Get Windows 11 Pro for life for just $10 during Deal Days appeared first on Boing Boing.

It should come as no surprise by now that I enjoy a good scambait. Scambaiting, or the art of deliberately wasting scammers' time, has become a bit of a flourishing practice of late. All the better for people who love both being entertained and watching criminal activity get foiled. — Read the rest

The post Watching a middle-aged English woman enrage romance scammers is my new favorite pastime appeared first on Boing Boing.

Well, this is a sweet bonus: if you own an Android foldable like a Samsung Z Series foldable, OnePlus Open or Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold, you may soon have access to a customizable, virtual gamepad baked into Android 17, which is set to start rolling out to Android hardware today. — Read the rest

The post Android 17 brings a customizable virtual gamepad to foldables appeared first on Boing Boing.

Back when Shrek 5 was officially confirmed as a project that was, indeed, happening, I thought it was overdue. Now that an actual trailer has dropped, though, I think I'm officially upgrading that to "too late." Maybe my expectations were too high after spinoff Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, which was a genuine masterpiece of a family movie. — Read the rest

The post Shrek 5 sure looks like another Shrek movie appeared first on Boing Boing.

In the department of Yoro, Honduras, fish turn up on the ground after large storms. The lluvia de peces — literally "rain of fish" — has been reported for over a hundred years and is said by residents to happen every year during the mid-year rainy season. — Read the rest

The post In a Honduran town, fish appear on the ground after every major rainstorm appeared first on Boing Boing.

A toast sandwich is exactly what it sounds like: a thin slice of toasted bread, placed between two slices of untoasted bread. Season with salt and pepper. The recipe appears in Isabella Beeton's 1861 Book of Household Management, in the section for invalid cookery. — Read the rest

The post The toast sandwich is a piece of toast between two slices of untoasted bread appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: A 1-year Rosetta Stone subscription is $127.20 (reg. $159) through June 28 as part of Deal Days — new users only.

Google Translate will get you through a crisis. Rosetta Stone will get you through a dinner party, a day trip, and the kind of off-menu conversation that actually makes a trip memorable. — Read the rest

The post Stop relying on Google Translate — Rosseta Stone can help you learn for real appeared first on Boing Boing.

Tom the Dancing Bug: The Dementia Donnie TV Room

-> Please join the team that makes it possible for your friendly neighborhood comic strip Tom the Dancing Bug to exist in this hostile Trumpverse! JOIN US IN THE INNER HIVE, and be the first kid on your block to get each week's Tom the Dancing Bug comic – before it's published anywhere. — Read the rest

The post Tom the Dancing Bug: The Dementia Donnie Center for TV Watching appeared first on Boing Boing.

Apple added a feature called Vehicle Motion Cues in 2024 that places small dots around the edge of your screen. The dots move in sync with your car — sweeping left when you turn right, sliding forward when you brake. Your inner ear detects motion while your eyes see a static screen, and the mismatch causes nausea. — Read the rest

The post The obscure iPhone setting that eliminates car sickness appeared first on Boing Boing.

When a former prosecutor got a new case, the first thing he asked was whether the suspect talked. "Nothing lights up a prosecutor's face when he is faced with a difficult case and finds out the suspect talked," writes the Campola Law Firm. — Read the rest

The post Former prosecutor says talking to police always hurts you appeared first on Boing Boing.

The UNSW team that used ultrasound to speed up cold brew to three minutes has pushed the technique further — producing espresso-strength shots with room-temperature water. A transducer pressed against a coffee filter basket generates sound waves that create acoustic cavitation, collapsing microscopic bubbles that fracture the grounds and pull out flavor compounds far faster than cold water alone. — Read the rest

The post Cold-water espresso cuts energy use 75% and tastes identical appeared first on Boing Boing.

Grandpa Pudding Brains wanted the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool painted "American flag blue," and nature responded with algae bloom green.

The newly refurbished Reflecting Pool was supposed to transform Washington's look. Success: the giant painted blue basin turned green, and crews are now reportedly fighting the bloom with hydrogen peroxide, vacuums, skimmers, and ozone nanobubbles. — Read the rest

The post Grandpa Pudding Brains pours peroxide into the Lincoln Memorial Algae Farm appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: One payment, no renewals, no subscription drama — this lifetime Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 license is just $19.97 (reg. $229) through June 28.

There is a reality where Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are fully unlocked and live permanently on your PC for less than twenty bucks. — Read the rest

The post Microsoft Office is somehow only $20 during Deal Days appeared first on Boing Boing.

Connect to an open WiFi network, and a captive portal opens a shelf of banned ebooks. The access point is a smart light bulb. Rick Osgood reflashed the ESP32 chip inside with custom firmware, rewrote the partition table to carve out 2MB of the 4MB flash for storage, and built a web server that runs entirely off the bulb's power. — Read the rest

The post Screw this light bulb in and it serves banned books appeared first on Boing Boing.