In January 1933, five Bronx acquaintances — the press later called them "the Murder Trust" — took out life insurance policies on Michael Malloy, a homeless Irish former firefighter, and set out to collect the $3,500 (about $87,000 today) by getting him to drink himself to death. — Read the rest

The post When five men tried to murder "Iron Mike" with increasingly poisonous drinks appeared first on Boing Boing.

Camp Bonifas, the United Nations Command post 400 meters south of the Korean Demilitarized Zone, has a golf course. One hole, par 3, with an AstroTurf green — and minefields on three sides. Sports Illustrated called it "the most dangerous hole in golf," and there are reports that at least one shot detonated a land mine. — Read the rest

The post The world's most dangerous golf hole is surrounded by minefields appeared first on Boing Boing.

Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo said the name "Officer Abdelnabi." Trump supporters booed. Lombardo had to explain that Abdelnabi was the Las Vegas police officer killed the day before.

So much for "back the blue." Lombardo was paying tribute to Austin Abdelnabi when someone in the audience began booing loudly. — Read the rest

The post The thin blue line encounters an unfamiliar last name appeared first on Boing Boing.

A Circle K shopper posted a screenshot of an AI self-checkout screen that listed a few flavors of Gatorade at a few dollars apiece, then a line item of $8.5 billion for the American Red Cross, according to the New York Post. — Read the rest

The post AI self-checkout bills a snack run at $8.5 billion appeared first on Boing Boing.

In 2020 the New Bedford Whaling Museum in Massachusetts picked up a one-star review that read "worst aquarium ever." It is a museum about the history of whaling, and it keeps no live whales. Six years later, the museum has printed the line on hoodies, T-shirts, crew necks, and bags, according to Boston 25 News. — Read the rest

The post A whaling museum printed its worst review on a hoodie. It sold out appeared first on Boing Boing.

On February 4, 1982, Arizonan David Grundman shot a 27-foot saguaro with a shotgun. The saguaro dropped 23 feet of itself on him.

The story is Grundman and his roommate drove into the desert near Lake Pleasant on February 4, 1982. — Read the rest

The post In 1982, a 27-year-old man lost a gunfight with a cactus appeared first on Boing Boing.

Tesla told federal regulators that the headlights on 19,900 Model 3 and Model Y cars were up to nearly twice as bright as the law allows, then argued it shouldn't have to fix them because the defect was "inconsequential" to safety. — Read the rest

The post Tesla headlights were twice as bright as legal appeared first on Boing Boing.

The Glad av Gillberga is a Swedish replica of a warship pulled from Denmark's Roskilde fjord and dated to around 1040. In nearly 30 years it has crossed the North Sea and sailed to Canada. Universal borrowed it for six months for Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, where it played one of the escort ships in Odysseus's flotilla — the Greek boats are thought to have resembled Nordic longships. — Read the rest

The post Swedish shipowner says Odyssey filmmaker won't pay $6,000 damage bill appeared first on Boing Boing.

Grandpa Pudding Brains collected $166 billion in tariffs under a law the Supreme Court says does not authorize tariffs. The government has now returned $100 billion of it, but the refund doesn't reach the folks who paid higher prices.

The Orange Menace claimed tariffs are a machine for restoring factories, winning trade wars and shrinking the federal deficit. — Read the rest

The post Trump's $100 billion tariff refund skips the people who paid higher prices appeared first on Boing Boing.

A State Department slide that mislabeled every country on a map of Africa — Nigeria landlocked in the Sahara, Mozambique moved to the Horn — has drawn an apology, the Guardian reports. The department said it takes "full responsibility for the confusion and misrepresentation it caused for attendees, including our African partners." — Read the rest

The post Every country was wrong on the State Department's map of Africa appeared first on Boing Boing.

While Los Angeles burned, betting site Polymarket offered nearly 20 ways to bet on what the flames would do next, including whether the Palisades fire would reach Santa Monica. The potential for a bettor to help their wager along is horrifying. — Read the rest

The post Polymarket let gamblers bet on whether wildfire would reach Santa Monica appeared first on Boing Boing.

If you were moving diamonds across the Deccan Plateau in the 1830s, there were rules about when to set out. Leave on a Tuesday or a Thursday, on the 5th, 13th, or 28th day of the lunar month. Eat coriander seeds before a Tuesday departure and jaggery before a Thursday one. — Read the rest

The post An 1832 book explains how to pick a lucky day to travel appeared first on Boing Boing.

A gongoozler is someone who stands beside a canal and watches the boats. According to Wikipedia, the word may have begun as canal workers' slang for a person loitering on the towpath, and The Times has described it as meaning "someone who hung around bridges to laugh at the inept efforts of less experienced barge folk as they struggled to pass through locks." — Read the rest

The post Ever stood and watched boats work a lock? There's a job for you appeared first on Boing Boing.

In the year 937, Mount Fuji erupted and sent the Ken-Marubi lava flow down its northern slopes and over a stand of fallen trees. The lava hardened around the trunks while the wood inside burned away, leaving long hollow tubes in the ground. — Read the rest

The post A 937 eruption at Mount Fuji left a cave shaped like a womb appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Edit, convert, merge, split, rotate, crop, delete, and reorganize PDFs with ease with this lifetime subscription to PDF Expert's Premium Plan while it's on sale for 43% off. 

After forking out a pretty penny for a MacBook, the last thing you want to do is spend even more on software. — Read the rest

The post Own your PDF software outright with this $80 Mac tool appeared first on Boing Boing.

France's ban on unsolicited solicitations comes into effect next week, protecting consumers from telemarketers and other intrusive sales pitches. Acknowledging that its "opt-out" system (as found in other countries) had only served the hucksters, the Fourth Republic is trying something new: actually stopping them. — Read the rest

The post France bans cold-calling telemarketers appeared first on Boing Boing.

DuckDuckGo is well-known for its privacy-oriented search engine, but a pivot into fashion proved a big hit this week. Its "Normal Fucking Sunglasses," posted yesterday here at Boing Boing, sold out right away despite being otherwise unremarkable Paso Robles from Knockaround. — Read the rest

The post DuckDuckGo's "Normal F***ing Sunglasses" sell out in a day appeared first on Boing Boing.

For those who find the Squatty Potty gauche but want to spend less time in the bathroom, there is a new option: Sh*t Shoes.

The way people in most Western countries sit on the toilet isn't great. Squatting is common in non-Western countries and likely contributes to a lower incidence of hemorrhoids, which can be caused by straining. — Read the rest

The post There's now a $69 pair of shoes designed only for using the toilet appeared first on Boing Boing.

A spectacular complex is about to emerge in Rotterdam, and it looks like it belongs in Middle-earth or Thra instead of the Netherlands.

Award-winning international architectural firm MVRDV was declared the winner in a competition to design a mixed-use, eco-friendly Embassy for Shift. — Read the rest

The post This winning design looks like it wandered out of a fantasy film appeared first on Boing Boing.

It's suddenly a great time to be an X-Files fan. Just days after the release of the first LEGO X-Files set, a new X-Files movie trailer drops.

Sadly, it is not a trailer for the mythical third X-Files movie, but rather a director's cut of 2008's X-Files: I Want to Believe. — Read the rest

The post Trailer drops for X-Files: I Want to Believe's R-rated cut appeared first on Boing Boing.

When I head out for the day, my pack is heavy with EDC nonsense: my laptop or word processor, a CLS medical kit, phone, earphones — you get the idea. If I feel the urge to add anything to my load out, it needs to be lightweight, well-made and, most importantly, feel essential. — Read the rest

The post This phone keyboard attachment is well-made but still too heavy appeared first on Boing Boing.

Late-model BMW owners are starting up their cars to find a commercial for Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Responding to a request for information about the ad from The Autopian, BMW confirmed the animation is part of a broader partnership with the film:

"A few of our vehicles – including the BMW iX3 – were in the film, and a special edition iX3 was featured on the red carpet during last night's premiere in Los Angeles."

— Read the rest

The post BMWs are showing a commercial at startup appeared first on Boing Boing.

Do you recall the stunned feeling in your thinky bits the moment that you discovered that the holes in many pasta serving spoons are designed to measure portion size? Did that moment just come after reading that first sentence? Anyway, it could well be that I'm the last fella on the planet to realize this, but you can use a wireless battery pack to charge many models of true wireless earphones. — Read the rest

The post MagSafe battery packs can charge AirPods and other earbuds too appeared first on Boing Boing.

A man who stood on the roof of a hospital dressed like the Grim Reaper (or a crow, as he claims) has pleaded guilty to being a nuisance on NHS premises. Leon Gillespie, 26, of Deganwy, was fined £200 (~$270) over the stunt, writes Matthew Chandler with The North Wales Pioneer. — Read the rest

The post Grim Reaper fined £200 for standing on hospital roof staring at people appeared first on Boing Boing.

Testing smartphones as part of your living is a pain in the ass when you're a heavy Signal user. The secure messaging service has traditionally gotten pissy when you attempt to log into it on a new device, logging you out of the app on any other handset you've installed it on. — Read the rest

The post Signal now works on more than one phone at once appeared first on Boing Boing.

The Man sucks the joy out of everything. Just take a look at this crap in Wales a few months ago: 26-year-old Leon Gillespie was standing on the roof of Ysbyty Glan Clwyd hospital in St Asaph, Denbighshire, dressed as The Grim Reaper and minding his own business, when the police and fire department forced him to stop staring into patient room windows. — Read the rest

The post Man fined for dressing as Grim Reaper outside Welsh hospital appeared first on Boing Boing.

Tom the Dancing Bug: The Top-Secret Truth About Trump and the Reflecting Pool

-> 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, plus lots of other stuff. — Read the rest

The post Tom the Dancing Bug: The Top-Secret Truth about Trump and the Reflecting Pool appeared first on Boing Boing.

Netflix billed the January retreat as a "Vulnerability-Trust exercise," held at Sendero Ranch, a company property in Northern California. Kevin Baillie, then head of creative at Netflix's Eyeline Studios, used his turn to disclose that he'd taken supervised ketamine at a Santa Barbara clinic in late 2022 to treat clinical depression after his mother's death. — Read the rest

The post He disclosed ketamine therapy in a trust exercise. Netflix fired him. appeared first on Boing Boing.

DuckDuckGo, the search engine that built its whole pitch on not tracking you, now sells a pair of sunglasses. The $35 Paso Robles never needs charging, skips the smartphone app, and works with no internet connection. DuckDuckGo says that's by design, so the person standing next to you doesn't have to wonder if they're being filmed. — Read the rest

The post DuckDuckGo's answer to Meta's smart glasses is regular sunglasses appeared first on Boing Boing.

Your brain isn't showing you the world so much as guessing at it. That's the argument from psychologist Daniel Yon, who runs the Uncertainty Lab at Birkbeck, University of London. The brain, Yon writes, works "like a scientist," constantly forming hypotheses about what's out there rather than passively recording it — a habit that explains everything from mangled song lyrics to why you don't quite trust your own reflection. — Read the rest

The post Your brain guesses at reality instead of recording it appeared first on Boing Boing.