A man accused of stealing a flamingo was convicted on two counts of animal cruelty crime yesterday in Las Vegas. Mitchell Fairbarn, 34, "appeared emotionless" in court after jurors deliberated for several hours. In closing arguments, prosecutors made a clear distinction between the two charges: "one stems from what happened in the habitat while the second is for what happened in the hotel." — Read the rest

The post Flamingo kidnapper convicted in Vegas appeared first on Boing Boing.

Albertans overwhelmingly rejected moves toward independence yesterday, voting 3 to 1 in favor of staying part of Canada. With 79% of the ballots counted, 76% of voters in the western province chose to remain with 24% wanting a formal referendum.

"We are a solid country that's united from coast to coast to coast," said Alberta's former deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk, leading the Forever Canadian campaign against separation, at a campaign event. — Read the rest

The post Alberta votes to stay in Canada appeared first on Boing Boing.

When I was in Nagasaki earlier this month, I visited the Atomic Bomb Museum there. One of the displays, which showed the damage caused by the bomb that the U.S. dropped on the city, had long audio narration in Japanese only. — Read the rest

The post I wore Timekettle's translating earbuds around Kyushu, where few people speak English appeared first on Boing Boing.

Minecraft, the world's most successful video game and now a blockbuster movie series, will soon bring its blocky voxelated world into reality. Minecraft World, first revealed in March, will open in 2027 at Chessington World of Adventures, just outside London, and will include a 70-room themed hotel. — Read the rest

The post First Minecraft hotel to open with London theme park in 2027 appeared first on Boing Boing.

In 2013, Politizane explained America's untenable and growing wealth gap in what would become an all-time classic of data visualization. Thirteen years on, they're back with a four-part update. It makes for grim viewing: the wealth gap has become runaway income inequality, with the world's first trillionaire in the mix, a fast-sinking middle class, and a tax system that offers elites a myriad of legal dodges. — Read the rest

The post Data visualization exposes just how bad income inequality has grown appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Get Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 for Windows as a one-time $14.97 purchase (reg. $229).

Most people use Office for the same handful of jobs, like a résumé, a household budget, and the occasional slideshow for work. So paying $99.99 a year for Microsoft 365 is already expensive. — Read the rest

The post Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 for $14.97, and that's the whole bill appeared first on Boing Boing.

This walnut-sized ivory carving of a skeleton attempting to lift a boulder was created by Gyokushun sometime in the 19th century. The British Museum holds it, and Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks donated it after using his large inheritance to buy thousands of objects and give them to the museum. — Read the rest

The post A tiny 19th-century ivory skeleton tries to lift a boulder appeared first on Boing Boing.

In 1986, the New Republic held a reader competition to submit the most boring headline ever. The idea for the contest was inspired by a New York Times column from April of that year, headlined, "Worthwhile Canadian Initiative." The New Republic said of the headline, "Each word taken alone is sleep-inducing. — Read the rest

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I'm on the constant lookout for the tiniest umbrella available.

On my recent trip to Japan, I found the smallest one yet at the fantastic Hands store in Fukuoka.

It weighs just 65 grams and measures 8 inches long and about 1.5 inches in diameter when collapsed. — Read the rest

The post This 65-gram umbrella from Japan fits in my front pocket appeared first on Boing Boing.

The remote Pacific island of Nikumaroro, Kiribati, has been a candidate for the aviator's final resting place since she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, disappeared en route to Howland Island, 400 miles to the north, on July 2, 1937. A recent satellite image stoked new interest as it appeared to depict an angular, plane-sized object beached inside the lagoon. — Read the rest

The post "Wreckage" of Amelia Earhart plane probably just trees appeared first on Boing Boing.

Granted, I'm not the world's biggest Resident Evil fan. The only one I've played in full was Resident Evil 7, a grimy Texas Chainsaw Massacre-inspired ordeal that's about as close to disconnected from the series' convoluted overarching plot as it gets. — Read the rest

The post Resident Evil fan film is just as spooky as the games appeared first on Boing Boing.

The one upside to the recent explosion of online scams (another symptom of the AI boom — thanks, Altman) has been the scambaiting movement growing to match it. There is nothing more cathartic than watching someone take an unsuspecting scammer for a ride, wasting their time, energy and occasionally AI tokens. — Read the rest

The post Atomic Shrimp, the godfather of scambaiting, is back appeared first on Boing Boing.

YouTuber Husk IRL is in kind of a weird spot. Not everyone can say they've more or less invented a wildly popular subgenre of online content — in this case, messing with AI agents to expose their many and obvious shortcomings. — Read the rest

The post Husk IRL's AI therapist test is a warning appeared first on Boing Boing.

No, I don't mean the kind of 'sunset' games like Concord or Highguard get. Rather, the big glowy thing in the sky. Who among us hasn't stopped every once in a while to take in the probably-toxic Los Santos sunset?

Fruitless and hubris-fueled as humanity's attempts to digitally recreate the splendor of the natural world around us may be, we have come pretty close. — Read the rest

The post The very best sunsets in gaming appeared first on Boing Boing.

Researchers tasked six top AI assistants with getting a £350 train-ticket refund after it was too late. The LLMs operated as normal, but were sandboxed so that all outgoing comms were intercepted and answered by the research team. Here's the prompt:

"Get me a refund for my train ticket by the 4th January HARD deadline.

— Read the rest

The post Top AIs tasked with getting a refund. How did they go about it? appeared first on Boing Boing.

Tiny Brutalism is a $5 game for Windows, MacOS and Linux that brings utilitarian mass to the relaxing sandbox genre. Whether you're designing your next sandcastle or a Marcel Breuer deathmatch arena, it's got you covered.

Create strange monuments, impossible structures, concrete towers, or just a really big wall.

— Read the rest

The post Tiny Brutalism is a relaxing sandbox game about enormous concrete forms appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Turn your car's wired CarPlay or Android Auto into a wireless connection with this mini adapter, now $34.99 (reg. $59).

Plenty of newer cars come with CarPlay or Android Auto, but many of them still require a USB cable every time you want to connect your phone. — Read the rest

The post Modernize your car with this wireless phone adapter, only $35 right now appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Get Microsoft Office Pro 2019 and Windows 11 Pro together for a one-time $18.97 (reg. $428).

Microsoft sells Windows 11 Pro on its own for $199.99, and that's before you pay for a single Office app. This bundle puts Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 and Windows 11 Pro together for $18.97 (reg. — Read the rest

The post Under $20: Windows 11 Pro and Microsoft Office with no subscription appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Own Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows with a one-time payment of $27.97 (reg. $219.99).

Microsoft 365 Personal costs $99.99 a year, and that bill keeps coming whether you open Excel twice a week or twice a year. Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows skips the renewal entirely, and it's on sale for $27.97 (reg. — Read the rest

The post Microsoft Office is under $30, right now appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Convert your existing content, PDFs, images, and URLs to speech with this lifetime subscription to the AnyToSpeech Hobby Plan for just $39.99 (reg. $249).

Creating content across multiple formats takes time, but repurposing work you've already produced can make the process more efficient. — Read the rest

The post Turn any of your content into a podcast in minutes with this $40 lifetime purchase appeared first on Boing Boing.