Book collects the funniest Internet standards proposals

Cory Doctorow 12:50 pm Fri May 4, 2007

"The Complete April Fools' Day RFCs" is a nigh-perfect geek reader for the top of your favorite nerd's toilet tank. It collects the jokey proposed standards that are have been an annual tradition in in the Internet Engineering Task Force since 1969. This is engineer humor at its finest — geeks making up stuff to amuse other geeks, from IP-over-Carrier-Pigeon to the "Evil Bit" proposal (all malicious network traffic has to be tagged with a bit denoting that it's evil so that firewalls know to ignore it). This is the Internet at its finest — unlike the staid, boring International Telecommunications Union or ISO, the IETF is a kind of zany funhouse. You can download all of these for free, but it's nice to have them between covers for those times when you don't want to take your laptop into the can.

Link

How to remove ham from your disk drive

It's a few years old and I no longer have a computer with a CD tray, but I enjoyed this guide to removing ham from optical drives all the same. I might have to head up to the attic to find my old machine, as a large cotto salami is in its Blu-Ray player and… READ THE REST
Neuralink, Elon Musk's brain-computer biz, unveils pig with chip in brain

"This is increasingly sounding like a Black Mirror episode"—Elon Musk, introducing Neuralink. Elon Musk's brain-computer-interface venture today unveiled a prototype that involves a pig with a computer chip implanted inside their brain. The coin-sized device is implanted beneath the creature's skull. "It's like a Fitbit, but in your skull," says Musk, and it's implanted by… READ THE REST
UFO turns out to be balloon

A reported UFO in the Congo turned out to be a Loon Balloon, floated 20km up to provide cellular internet out in the sticks. The operators neglected to tell the relevant authorities what they were doing; two UFO hunters ended up in jail while Loon, a subsidiary of Google holding company Alphabet, smoothed things out.… READ THE REST
These 10 awesome upgrades for your car are all now an extra 20% off

With all this sticking close to home the past six months, let's face it — your vehicle is probably feeling…well, a little neglected. Hey, with all that time sitting around in the garage, yearning to get out and go…we get it. The Boing Boing Store's Three-Day VIP Annual Sale is a great opportunity to show… READ THE REST
This leather-adorned 3-in-1 wireless charging station will keep your Apple products eternally juiced

With more and more of our everyday carry items needing a steady supply of power, it's worth considering some easy daily solutions for keeping all of those devices charged up at a moment's notice. If you're an Apple acolyte, that could mean you've got an iPhone, AirPods and an Apple Watch on you at virtually… READ THE REST
This 1080p pocket-sized projector may just be your new media hub at home or on the road

Pocket-sized projectors have really grown up in the last few years. Previously under-powered and under-resourced, manufacturers have upped the game on these handheld projectors, with many now offering brighter, clearer images, increased functionality and connectivity as well as the ability to effectively become a portable home media center. And with movie theaters still mired in… READ THE REST