Archive - Boing Boing

Boing Boing, August 15, 2026

Arcade quarters, a chatbot's assassination talk, and transit-riding pygmy goats

4 hrs ago • Boing Boing

In 1983 I couldn't afford to beat Dragon's Lair

Don Bluth's laserdisc classic finally became beatable thanks to Steam re-releases and YouTube playthroughs.

Aug 14 • Jason Weisberger

Grok explains why it called for Elon Musk's assassination

The AI blamed a "prompt-injection glitch" after users tricked it into repeating inflammatory X bios verbatim.

Aug 14 • Jason Weisberger

Escaped pygmy goats try Portland public transit

Billy the Kid and Billy the Goat boarded the FX2 Tuesday before passengers ushered them off, and their owner has since added a lock.

Aug 14 • Jason Weisberger

Russia to test AI models for traditional spiritual and moral values

Federal Law No. 243-FZ covers models with 1 billion or more parameters, and the FSB gets to inspect them starting March 2027.

Aug 14 • Rob Beschizza

Boing Boing, August 14, 2026

Adversarial hoodies, empty sardine shelves, and Monet's cartoon locals

Aug 14 • Boing Boing

OK, custom Kindle fonts are really nice

Literata for daytime reading and Lora for dark mode, all installed free with no jailbreak required.

Aug 14 • Jason Weisberger

Before the water lilies, Monet drew cartoons of well-known locals

The caricatures sold for 20 francs each when he was 15, and paid for his move to Paris against his father's wishes.

Aug 14 • Popkin

A band recreated the cash register sounds from "Money" live

A German band recreated the Pink Floyd sound effects at Abbey Road Studios, 54 years after the 1972 tape.

Aug 14 • Popkin

A 1582 comedy translates "pedant" as "worthless idiot, donkey head"

By 1600 almost 50 Italian plays mocked the Renaissance pedant and his mangled schoolroom Latin.

Aug 14 • Popkin

A viral diet and warm oceans emptied the canned sardine shelf

A 3-day sardine-only diet went viral while Moroccan catches fell by half, so canned sardines are missing from shelves.

Aug 14 • Ellsworth Toohey

A Kansas reporter raided by police settles for $850,000

Phyllis Zorn's federal settlement follows $600,000 from Marion County and comes three years to the day after the 2023 raid.

Aug 14 • Ellsworth Toohey

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