"My company signed up for a $1000/year subscription-based water cooler. It was just so sketchy that I had to make a review," writes Redditor kibitzor on his office's ION Bottleless Water Cooler.

The video that follows is an amusing takedown of the machine as he tries to dispense a simple glass of "mildly carbonated" water from it.

Let your water system boot. Booting is fun to watch.

Wow.

Previously: $1000 smart teapot discontinued and RIP Juicero, the machine that squeezed juice from packets of juice Read the rest

This is deeply weird but also makes perfect sense. Wow. Read the rest

I missed this story when it was published last Labor Day, but hey: when Steve Bannon was you know, a regular joe working for a scrappy, much-loved, all-American firm called Goldman Sachs, he directed a $60m investment in a company called Internet Gaming Entertainment, which was a marketplace for buying and selling World of Warcraft gold, ground out of the game by botmasters and sweatshop gold-farmers. Read the rest

In the garden behind Tio's Tacos, the owner has created a phenomenal folk art installation.

Comic Book Resources gives our new “extravaganza” a thumbs-up. Come join us for the fun Sep. 18-20, at Southern California's historic Mission Inn Hotel and Spa.

Starting tomorrow the Oceanside Museum of Art plays host to Weekend of Wonder co-creator Baby Tattoo's Carnival of Astounding Art! Read the rest

The Weekend of Wonder will be held at Riverside, California's incredible Mission Inn. Often compared to the Winchester Mystery House, this amazing resort has everything a Happy Mutant could need, from engineering marvels to secret passageways! Read the rest

We are thrilled to announce that our friend Coop, famous rock poster illustrator and fine artist, is joining us at our Weekend of Wonder extravaganza, September 18-20 in Riverside, California.

Cute pictures of cats are such a big part of what makes the internet great, to Boing Boing anyways, that we couldn't possibly put on the Weekend of Wonder with out "kittehs" being involved. Luckily for us, we happen to be friends with Perre DiCarlo!

Perre’s book Kick Litter won nine design and comedy awards and was featured in HOW’s Design Annual. At Weekend of Wonder, he’ll present his 9 steps to convince your cat to give up the litter box and use the potty instead.

We couldn't be more excited, the Weekend of Wonder is packed with incredible presentations, workshops and group activities! For three days Happy Mutants are taking over a fantastic resort we have already visited and fallen in love with. You will too. So come play with us!

Register here to join us at Boing Boing's Weekend of Wonder.

Read the rest

Angelenos! On Tuesday, July 28th at 8pm 2 Headed Dog takes the stage! Their surreal, irreverent sketch and improvised comedy are a Boing Boing favorite!

Jim Turner, Mark Fite, Dave "Gruber" Allen, and Craig Anton are offensive, hilarious, and more than often brilliant! Their musical guest this month will be the fantastically talented Renee Albert, and I see that one of my favorite all-time improvisational actors Ken Campbell will also be joining them!

Mark and Jim will be joining us at Boing Boing's Weekend of Wonder in September.

Join me at the Steve Allen Theater, next week. You'll laugh your ass off.

2 Headed Dog

4773 Hollywood Blvd

LA CA 90027

(plenty of free parking in back)

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

8:00pm

$12

See Jim Turner and Mark Fite, incredible improvisational actors, at the Weekend of Wonder, running Sept. 18-20. A weekend of workshops, tech demons and wild performances, there'll be plenty of fun surprises! Read the rest

Titled “We See What We Seek,” the tale behind this work of art captures perfectly what was so special to me about this event.

Hugh Hancock writes, "'Death Knight Love Story,' is a World of Warcraft-based machinima fanfilm [ed: machinima is a form of animation made using video-game engines]. It was made using full 'Avatar'-style motion capture (using the same tech as X-Men First Class), with a score composed by a BAFTA nominated composer and voiced by Hollywood stars!" Read the rest

The leader of a clan of Chinese Warcraft fences has been sentenced to two years in prison and been fined $8,000 for buying stolen World of Warcraft logins, then logging into the accounts and selling off all their virtual gold and assets. They reportedly attacked 11,500 accounts and netted $10,800. Read the rest

Everything a dissection table should be, I suppose. I'm absolutely mesmerized by the utility of this tool, developed by Anatomage and Stanford University's Division of Clinical Anatomy. Particularly for its ability to give anatomy students unprecedented access to special cases. Instead of waiting for a body with just the right kind of brain malformation or liver damage to come in, you can just call up the desired images from the computer and use them whenever you want.

As for the creepy: Well, for some reason it's just a little more disturbing to see a perfectly healthy naked lady sprawled out on the anatomy table, as opposed to old, wrinkly naked people or people who have clearly recently been in poor health. (Also, potentially NSFW, natch.)

Video Link Read the rest

Now this is how you do multimedia.

At The New York Times, John Branch tells the amazing, terrifying story of 16 backcountry skiers and snowboarders caught in an avalanche in the Cascade mountains in February 2012. The article, by itself, is a must-read. But you should also take a look at the absolutely fantastic way that Branch and his editors put the online medium to good use — embedding interactive maps, photos that move like something out of Harry Potter, and more standard videos into a lovely, fluid design.

Alissa Walker, who pointed me toward this piece, said that she felt cold just reading it. And you really do get that feeling. All the elements of Branch's article are brought together in a way that enhances the urgency and amplifies your sense of experiencing somebody else's story. It's really, really, really fantastic.

Read the full story at The New York Times Read the rest

A group of English-speaking gamers have compiled a phrasebook for chatting online with Chinese gold farmers, including phrases like "Would you like to join my group?" and "please do not steal my mobs."

jia you - GO GO GO! (Use as a cheer) ni kan! - look! Pao! - Run! Deng yi xia. - Wait a moment. Ni xian zou. - You go first. bu yao sha ta - dont kill him/her/it bu yao sha wo - don't kill me

Farmer Speak

(Thanks, Nick!) Read the rest

Video Link. Eric Nash, aka @onelovecandyman, is from Pasadena, CA, and works as a stuntman and actor in and around LA. You can see him stunt-busking sometimes along the Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade. He's incredible. Post more videos, Eric!

(thanks, Joe Sabia) Read the rest