Not a half-step away from yesterday's Dwarf Fortress mega-construction — but somehow with a much darker core — TheImperar's over-meticulously constructed Sim City 3000 island paradise/hell is "inspired by the… Read the rest of the article: God game: SimCity urban planning taken to terrifying extreme

Our friend Jenny Hart, who owns the Sublime Stitching embroidery kit business, has a solo art show of amazing drawings that opens on May 1 at Domy Books in Austin,… Read the rest of the article: Jenny Hart's art show opens May 1 in Austin

While pruning a tree on the grounds of a hotel where he worked, Peter Aspinall, 64, sawed off the branch that his ladder was leaning on. He fell and suffered… Read the rest of the article: Maintenance man chops off tree branch his ladder is leaning on, sues employer

Michael Geist sez, The New Zealand round of ACTA [ed: the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret copyright treaty being negotiated outside of the United Nations] negotiations concluded earlier today with… Read the rest of the article: ACTA goes public

Researchers have discovered a species of leech that has a "particularly unpleasant habit of infesting humans," most notably in people's noses. The team of scientists published their study of this… Read the rest of the article: Nose-dwelling leech

Willie Nelson tells Larry King he is stoned as they speak. It reminds me of the time Timothy Leary was at a press conference and a reporter asked him: "When… Read the rest of the article: Willie Nelson is high while on Larry King show

Nick Clegg, leader of the UK Liberal Democrats party, has pledged to repeal the odious Digital Economy Act, which was rushed through without substantial debate before Parliament adjourned for the… Read the rest of the article: UK LibDems pledge to repeal the Digital Economy Bill

New in the Boing Boing Bazaar: Rubygirl makes these interlocking sterling silver rings by sandcasting Lego bricks. One Lego brick set rightside-up and one Lego brick set upside-down are the… Read the rest of the article: Interlocking Lego rings in Boing Boing Bazaar

As Cory Doctorow has pointed out here on Boing Boing, Brett and Kate McKay's The Art of Manliness is an essential resource for all things manly. Cory blogged the site's… Read the rest of the article: Talk like Sinatra

Superbrothers takes a surprising turn and remasters his upcoming iPhone adventure Sword & Sworcery EP with "detailed surfacing, complex lighting & credible 3D". (Actually, obviously, a wicked lovingly modeled and… Read the rest of the article: Superbrothers' Sword & Sworcery EP goes full HD

Once in a while we must report on serious news. (Via Lileks. Thanks, Coop!)

Photo: Deney Terrio USC Professor Henry Jenkins is a hard-core fan with hard-core fans. I should know. I'm one of the audience members who stalked him at a conference a… Read the rest of the article: Reducing the World's Suck with Henry Jenkins

The OPC guitar amplifier from Orange comes with a built-in computer. It'll be released in June. As a fully fledged computer it has 4GB DDR2 RAM, 500GB Hard Drive, Intel… Read the rest of the article: Computer built into a guitar amp

My latest Guardian column, "Digital Economy Act: This means war," explains how the latest round of dirty tricks from the entertainment industry — perverting British law, proposing an American police… Read the rest of the article: This means war: Big Content's war on democracy

On April Fool's day, the online game store Gamestation.co.uk added language to its clickthrough license that asked customers to surrender their immortal souls, though it offered a checkbox to opt… Read the rest of the article: Video-game shoppers surrender their immortal souls

San Franciscans, rejoice! The SF in SF science fiction reading series continues tomorrow, April 17, with Gail Carriger & Blake Charlton. Festivities begin at 6PM at the The Variety Preview… Read the rest of the article: Gail Carriger & Blake Charlton at the SF in SF reading series

I just spoke to Mari Kuraishi, founder of GlobalGiving.org, about how the recent surge in natural disasters has affected donor behavior. The vast majority of people are moved to give… Read the rest of the article: GlobalGiving.org's Mari Kuraishi on personalized philanthropy driven by natural disasters

A 13-year old Croatian girl woke up from a coma speaking no Croatian and perfect German. The girl, who had been studying basic German in school, is communicating with her… Read the rest of the article: Croatian girl wakes up from coma speaking fluent German

20-year old Laura Hall of Bromsgrove, Worcestershire is thought to be the first person to be banned from all pubs, bars, and clubs across England and Wales. She is also… Read the rest of the article: 20yo woman banned from drinking

The secret to printing from the iPad has been revealed. [PC World] Thanks, Arkizzle!