Nikola Tesla pitches some Silicon Valley venture capitalists. Perfect. (Thanks, Gabe Adiv!)

Thousands of Britons have reported seeing “beasts” in various places, usually described as a large, muscular black cat — possibly a melanistic leopard. Some have taken photos and found footprints, as well as animals torn apart on moors. However, the boring science people annoyingly keep pointing out that the photos could be housecats, the footprints [...]

This excerpt from neurologist-philosopher Daniel Dennett’s new book Intuition Pumps And Other Tools for Thinking lays out a set of rhetorical habits that I immediately aspired to attain: How to compose a successful critical commentary: 1. Attempt to re-express your target’s position so clearly, vividly and fairly that your target says: “Thanks, I wish I’d [...]

Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History of Metal is the shocking, insane, brutal, and fascinating story of heavy metal music told by those who lived it, from Black Sabbath (above), Anthrax, and Slayer, to Megadeth, Metallica, and Iron Maiden. Here’s a taste: ROGER MIRET (Agnostic Front): In the mid-’80s, there wasn’t much difference between [...]

House of Mirth asked dedicated vernacular photo collectors to share their favorite vintage snapshots with an insect theme. Above is Robert Jackson’s pick. Right is a snap from Pat Street’s archives. “Bugs – They fly, bite and pester & sometimes people take photos of them”

I think one of the most fascinating uses of augmented reality is to reveal the “secret histories” of neighborhoods, buildings, and other locations when you are actually in those spaces. Jewish Time Jump: New York is a new mobile AR game meant to teach young people about New York City’s rich cultural history of Jewish [...]

Danah boyd has a great summary of the new Pew report on Teens, Social Media, and Privacy. The whole thing is worth a read — especially her thoughts on race and social media use — but the most interesting stuff was about “social steganography” — smuggling meaning past grown-ups through the clever use of in-jokes [...]

A Tasmanian fellow set up a video camera in his kitchen to capture images of what he believed to be paranormal activity. When he later reviewed the video, he saw his common law wife making out with (drumroll) his 16-year-old son. The young man revealed that they had sex several times. From The Mercury: The [...]

Ríos Montt’s attorney, Francisco García Gudiel. Photo: El Periodico, Guatemala. “They must restart the trial,” he told the paper today. In Guatemala today, confusion and concern around what will become of the historic trial that found former US-backed military dictator Ríos Montt guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity. Just 10 days after that trial [...]

Magic Hat IP, LLC and Independent Brewers United Corporation filed a remarkably spurious trademark lawsuit against West Sixth Brewery in Lexington, KY. Ben sez: The suit alleges that West Sixth’s own logo, which is a “6″ within a circle, infringes upon its trademarked “#9″ mark and is “directing Defendant West Sixth to account for and [...]

Photo: Protest, Guatemala City, April 19, 2013. James Rodriguez/mimundo.org. Here’s info on two special events in NYC and DC with visiting speakers from Guatemala talking about human rights accountability in Guatemala, where the historic genocide trial of former US-backed military dictator Ríos Montt has just been overturned. Both events are free of charge, but you [...]

Margaret Killjoy sez, “Steampunk Magazine #9 is out and available for order. The pdf is up as well. New orders and pre-orders will be going out this weekend! 118 ad-free, Creative-Commons pages of steampunk mad science, lifestyle, fiction, and history. Including an interview with Cory Doctorow and how to make hydrogen airships out of condoms.” [...]

Bas writes, 3D printing is being condemned in the media because of the potential for printing guns. Engineers at Michigan Tech believe there is far more potential for 3D printers to make our lives better rather than killing one another. To encourage thinking about constructive uses of 3D printing technology Michigan Tech Open Sustainability Technology [...]

My new Guardian column, “Privacy, public health and the moral hazard of surveillance,” discusses the way that the governments’ reliance on social networks for intelligence purposes means that they can’t intervene to help their populations get better at trading their privacy for services. That’s a crisis. If online oversharing is a public health problem, then [...]

“Bath Time.” A photograph shared in the Boing Boing Flickr pool by Cody Pope.