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Blade Runner 2099 lands on Prime Video November 25. It's a TV series, but all 8 episodes drop at once.
Blade Runner 2099 trailerBlade Runner 2099, sequel to 1981's Blade Runner and 2017's Blade Runner 2049, lands on Prime Video November 25. Though it's a TV series, all 8 episodes will drop at…boingboing.netThe Amiga Freeware Archive is online — the kind of software that used to live on hand-labeled floppies in an acrylic case.
Amiga Freeware ArchiveIn my acrylic case were maybe a hundred Amiga floppies, the contents of each neatly inscribed on the 3.3mm label edge with a Pilot V5. Now I have the rest…boingboing.netEuropean police targeted thousands of websites hosting "nihilistic" material this summer, in a crackdown run by investigators from nine countries.
Online nihilist networks targeted in international crackdownEuropean police targeted thousands of websites hosting "nihilistic" material this summer, part of an international crackdown on violent content by investigators from nine countries. The Com, a decentralized network of…boingboing.netThe FDA has added more states to its Cyclospora outbreak list. The Taylor Farms recall keeps spreading.
Taylor Farms explosive diarrhea recall spreadsMayhem proceeds apace in the bathrooms of America, with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration today adding more states to its list of those affected by the Cyclospora outbreak, as…boingboing.netAsked when Venezuela would hold elections, he assessed the country's readiness by way of pageant results.
Grandpa Pudding Brains cites pageant experience as Venezuela expertiseAmerica's most stable genius assessed Venezuela's readiness for elections using the diplomatic framework he knows best: pageant results. Asked when Venezuela would hold elections, The Orange Menace said the country…boingboing.netCop City protester Samuel Tunick handed border agents his duress password during a warrantless search. The phone wiped itself. Prosecutors are charging him with a felony.
Border agents entered his password. His phone erased itself. Now he faces a felonyCop City protester Samuel Tunick was forced to turn over his password during a warrantless search. Tunick gave them his duress password, and Federal agents unknowingly wiped his phone. Prosecutors…boingboing.netHis script handed him a number while he was honoring the Dodgers: 229 days. He read it out, called it a strange fact, and disclaimed responsibility for it.
Grandpa Pudding Brains encounters the concept of elapsed timeThe confused old man was honoring the Dodgers when his script handed him a number: 229 days. Donnie Two-Pencils read it, called it a strange fact, disclaimed responsibility for it,…boingboing.netBook Corners maps more than 37,000 neighborhood libraries — mostly little free libraries, plus indoor book exchanges in cafés and elsewhere.
Book Corners is a growing map of places to leave or grab a free bookBook Corners maps more than 37,000 neighborhood libraries, mostly of the little free kind but also indoor book exchanges at cafés and the like: "The goal is simple: help people…boingboing.netHalf the sea lion pups born at La Jolla Cove this season have died, according to the Sierra Club Seal Society. In the nearby area closed to people, it was 10%.
Half the sea lion pups died at La Jolla Cove. People are arguing about conesHalf the sea lion pups born this season at La Jolla Cove have died, according to the Sierra Club Seal Society, compared with 10% in the nearby area closed to…boingboing.netByron Donalds has more than $5 million behind him from a pro-AI super PAC. He is also losing Republican voters who don't want a data center next door.
The newest bipartisan issue: not wanting an AI data center next doorFlorida gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds has attracted more than $5 million in support from a pro-AI super PAC. He is also losing Republican voters who do not want the industry's…boingboing.netBill Oliver, a Progressive Conservative legislator in New Brunswick, read his speech aloud in the legislature. He read the AI prompt along with it.
Canadian politician mindlessly reads AI-generated speech, prompt and allBill Oliver, a Progressive Conservative Party legislator in New Brunswick, Canada, delivered a rousing speech last week. "One of the dangers associated with creating advocacy offices is that citizens often…boingboing.netThe belief that a particular kind of weather — hot, still and heavy — arrives just before an earthquake is old and stubborn.
The stubborn old belief that certain weather precedes earthquakesThe idea that a particular kind of weather — hot, still, and heavy — arrives just before an earthquake is old and stubborn. One geologist has called earthquake weather one of the…boingboing.netIn 1971 two Northrop-trained engineers in Van Nuys set out to build a flying car. Their approach was to bolt a Ford Pinto to a Cessna.
The time two guys bolted a Ford Pinto to a Cessna and called it a flying carIn 1971 two Northrop-trained engineers in Van Nuys set out to build a flying car called the AVE Mizar, and the design was about as literal as it sounds: they…boingboing.netJohn I of France was born on November 15, 1316 and died on November 19. He was king for all four days of his life, and he is the youngest person ever to hold the throne.
France once had a king who reigned for four days — his entire lifeJohn I of France, called the Posthumous, was born on November 15, 1316, and died on November 19, 1316. He's the youngest person ever to be king of France, the…boingboing.netLook closely at 15th- and 16th-century European portraits and you keep finding a housefly, on the frame, the sitter's sleeve, or an open page. Painted at life size, on purpose.
Renaissance painters kept adding a realistic fly to their portraitsLook closely at a lot of 15th- and 16th-century European portraits and you'll find a housefly sitting on the frame, the sitter's sleeve, or a page of an open book…boingboing.netClever Hans could apparently do arithmetic, and a 13-member commission found no trick. Then a psychologist put blinders on him: watching his questioner he got 50 of 56 right, blinded, 2 of 35.
The math-solving horse who fooled scientists still haunts AI researchIn early 1900s Germany, a math teacher named Wilhelm von Osten toured the country with Clever Hans, a horse who could apparently add, subtract, multiply, divide, tell time, and answer questions…boingboing.netEveryone assumed "I am Error" was broken English from a rushed NES translation. The character's name is Error, and Nintendo UK later ran the line on its 404 page.
"I am Error" was never a mistranslation — it was a programmer's jokeEarly in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (1987), the player walks into a house in the town of Ruto, where a bearded man in a purple tunic announces: "I…boingboing.netA single called "Ready 'n' Steady" by an artist credited only as "D.A." spent three weeks on Billboard's Bubbling Under chart in 1979. It was never released.
A song charted on Billboard in 1979 without ever being releasedIn June 1979, a single called "Ready 'n' Steady" by an artist listed only as "D.A." spent three weeks on Billboard's Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart, peaking at number…boingboing.netFour bytes, F0 0F C7 C8, would halt any original Pentium so completely that only physically rebooting brought it back. Any program, any user, no special privileges needed.
Four bytes could freeze any Pentium in 1997In November 1997, the world learned that the byte sequence F0 0F C7 C8 would stop any original Pentium, Pentium MMX, or Pentium OverDrive. The Pentium F00F bug made it so that any…boingboing.netA 1,700-year-old papyrus fragment gives the Number of the Beast as 616. Later manuscripts say 666. Both add up to Nero in Hebrew numerals; the Latin spelling of his name drops a letter worth 50.
The oldest surviving Book of Revelation says the beast's number is 616In 2005, scholars revealed a fragment of papyrus 115 containing the earliest known copy of the passage in the Book of Revelation that names the Number of the Beast. It…boingboing.net