People in the Middle Ages—also called the "medieval period," which in Europe denotes the time period from roughly 476 CE to the beginning of the Renaissance in the 14th century—owned pets including dogs, cats, birds, monkeys, and more. Medievalists.net  — Read the rest

Based on long-debunked fables, the anti-vaccine movement has pets as their targets. Purportedly, 53% of dog owners no longer trust vaccines.

Vaccines for Rabies, Parvo, Leptospirosis, I do not want my dog to get any of these diseases. I once volunteered at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, CA; seals with Lepto are very sad. — Read the rest

The Simulation, Inc is not some Pynchonian plot deep cut, but rather, yet another new Silicon Valley startup making lofty promises about AI generated content. Here's their "About" page, which is definitely not just AI-generated text derived from a Philip K. — Read the rest

Texas and Florida grew fast as coastal cities emptied out during and after the Covid pandemic. But they've joined poorer states at the back end of liveability lists due to declining healthcare and education standards–and, of course, the culture wars. Texas, in CNBC's list, is now dead last, and even Florida has snuck in the bottom 10. — Read the rest

I've been a fan of Jonathan Hickman's labyrinthine storytelling style since he wrote and illustrated The Nightly News in 2008. Since then, he's established a reputation as a bit of a comics visionary, with pioneering runs on Fantastic Four, Avengers, the current "Krakoa-era" X-Men, as well as plenty of creator-owned works. — Read the rest

Other than sporting a more pronounced philtrum, the Van Beuren Studio's Milton and Mary Mouse were dead ringers for Disney's more famous Mickey and Minnie. Take a look at this 1930 cartoon, "The Office Boy," and you'll understand why sue-happy Disney went after Van Beuren. — Read the rest

Here are some of the games that have caught my fancy of late. As always, these are tabletop games that are new and interesting to me and may not necessarily be new to the marketplace.

What are you playing these days? — Read the rest

Rest of the World has a weirdly fascinating article on the growing werewolf erotica industry. Yes, really. There's apparently a huge market for app-based pulp serials from services such as Dreame, GoodNovel, Webnovel, and Fizzo. In China alone, these web-based novels are a $3.7B business. — Read the rest

During a debate on abortion rights, Kentucky Representative Danny Bently offered up what amounted to Holocaust fanfiction and a tirade about women's access to health care based on what appears to be largely imagined or derived from questionable sources fables about medicine and science. — Read the rest

I got on the Telltale Games train a little late. Well, let me rephrase that; by the time I played any of the brilliant Telltale Games, the company was already defunct. By emphasizing the narrative aspect of games through their distinctive point-and-click adventure style, Telltale Games vaulted to success and acclaim in the video game market. — Read the rest

The Panic Fables are visionary comics made by renowned filmmaker and artist Alejandro Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky made them early in his career before he worked on Dune and The Incal. The Panic Fables were published weekly from 1967 to 1973 in Mexico City's El Heraldo newspaper.  — Read the rest

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the US theatrical release of The Golem: How He Came Into the World, an exquisite early horror film adaptation of the Jewish supernatural myth of a clay creature brought to life through occult means to protect a 16th century Prague ghetto. — Read the rest

Iron Circus Comics is a great independent press that's been kicking around since 2007. Founded by artist/writer C. Spike Trotman — creator of comics like Templar, Arizona and Smut Peddler — the company has lead a renaissance of diverse independent graphic novels by diverse artists. — Read the rest

As a rare book dealer and specialist in the history of the book, I view printed texts as historical artifacts, holding material clues to the past. When it comes to children's books, we tend to see them as a reflection of their target readers, but they more often convey the hopes and anxieties of the adults who created them. — Read the rest

Spoken Word with Electronics is an audio series delivering to you a two side recording of unusual stories paired with vintage modular electronic sounds

Greetings, all. To make this more like a proper series, I've expanded these posts into a more traditional radio segment format. — Read the rest

My life-long work of performance art is to somehow maintain my original passport: notwithstanding the life and opportunities of a techno-nomad.

Daniel Beckwitt, a channer with a trust fund, began digging a bunker under his house after his mother died. Driven by survivalist paranoia and reinforced in adjacent ideologies by like-minded internet users, he hired another young man, Askia Khafra, to dig in the growing tunnel system while he blew the days on Reddit and 4chan. — Read the rest

Last month, I posted the first of what I hope will be a series of Boing Boing articles looking at the latest tabletop miniature, board, card, and roleplaying games, and some of what's going on in tabletop gaming culture. Here is some of what's been holding my attention this month. — Read the rest

I've been getting a lot of review copies of games sent to me lately, so I thought, periodically, I'd share some of what looks interesting and fun to me with Boing Boing readers.

Stuffed Fables
Plaid Hat Games, $60, 2-4 players, Ages 7+

Stuffed Fables, by Mice and Mystics designer, Jerry Hawthorne, is a cooperative story-telling miniatures game that literally takes place inside of an illustrated storybook. — Read the rest

Last year, I went on a bit of a quest. For years, as a tabletop gamer who played Warhammer 40K almost exclusively, I subscribed to White Dwarf (or "White Dork" as my late wife used to call it). This is the slick and expensive Games Workshop publication that exclusively covers WH40K and other GW games. — Read the rest