People often say they are enthusiastic about games because "they can tell stories", or because they enable narrative moments not possible in other media. But although there are numerous flashes of brilliance in games, this potential often feels like something they circle, but never attain. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/tDEkvWgb-nQ/why-are-the-stories-in-video-g.html

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh calls bullshit on the White House Story about how they found and killed Osama bin Laden. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/KlGSDhDixz8/seymour-hersh-white-house-lie.html

Tom Marks, who works at PC Gamer, interviewed a guy who bought 2,700 unopened packs of Hearthstone cards.

Why buy so many packs at once?

Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/0o1PtVdTyZU/meet-the-guy-who-spent-3200.html

It's like something out of Brazil.

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/beBTOjwDx6k/vending-machine-fails-to-dispe.html

A gorgeous interactive website shows where all the murders are. The US is mysteriously worse than the rest of the developed world—it's almost as if something lethal was just lying around everywhere waiting for someone to get angry.

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/v2Z9TIzrWsg/explore-the-worlds-most-dang.html

A lawsuit, filed by the Association of Flight Attendants claiming that the Federal Aviation Administration acted improperly in allowing passengers to use gadgets during takeoff and landing, was killed by a DC appeals court.

Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/VrYntfCQgdU/anti-gadget-flight-attendants.html

When a panel of federal judges from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the NSA's bulk-phone records spying program was illegal, it was a legal game-changer, but what, exactly, does it all mean? Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/yNQC9CVjaIw/what-did-the-courts-just-do-th.html

Archivist Rick Prelinger sez, "Ken Simon, a high school teacher and coach for 47 years near Kansas City was retired early and ushered from the school after he showed showed Boys Beware, an infamous 1961 movie about homosexuality, to his class as a way of illuminating how attitudes toward gay and lesbian people have changed." Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/rVRmlAViqdU/teacher-forced-into-retirement.html

A report (issued by a college savings business, caveat lector) says that the US graduating college class of 2015 has more debt than any other class in history. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/HkLoh4f2qRI/class-of-2015-most-indebted-i.html

A player of an online game was so good at cheating it became a problem for others in the online world of Guild Wars 2. So they gathered evidence of his exploits, made a case to the developers, and earned justice. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/NRX0I5xyAlc/neer-do-well-player-execut.html

We're all vaguely aware that the "identifiable decade" era of popular music is over and nothing ever changes now. And we're also aware that kids eventually get too old to notice evolving styles in music and think musical progress ended at about the time of their own graduation.

Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/92AIX5b-nqE/british-bands-often-drive-musi.html

Described by its creators as tiny and easy-to-use, C.H.I.P. is a straight-up computer that does "computer things" such as word processing, web surfing and video games.

Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/J-8CwsPo0vQ/c-h-i-p-is-a-9-personal-comp.html

Texas State Rep. David Simpson has introduced a bill to remove all references to marijuana from the state’s legal code. And he has the best argument I've heard: "Rattlesnakes are dangerous, but we eat ’em for meat. And some people, you know, they eat other rodents. But we don’t ban them."

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/NO2vvtepQOk/texas-tea-party-rep-wants-lega.html

We've run the stunning time-lapse videos of Ron Risman here before, and we never get tired of watching them. His latest is called Arroutada.

"The film was captured between March 31st and April 18th of this year while driving over 2000 miles and capturing over 26,000 still images for the film," he says. "It explores the American Southwest and takes viewers on a ride showcasing the incredible open landscape and vistas of Arizona, Utah, and Nevada."

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/RxhLhWj8Y6M/beautiful-time-lapse-of-the-am.html

Guardian: "An eight-year-old boy has been handed over to Spain’s child protection services after he was found curled up in a suitcase as a woman attempted to smuggle him across the border from Morocco."

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/F5eAiRriOd4/x-ray-scan-at-border-reveals-c.html

A few months ago I was contacted by Lily Wen, the producer at Figure & Ground Records in Brooklyn, about producing a vinyl record combining the words of my father, Alan Watts, and the music of Jas Walton. Vinyl seems to be enjoying a renaissance, so I invited her to come out to California to meet Henry-Sandy Jacobs, producer of the earliest Alan Watts LPs, Haiku and Haiku in the Morning, as well as the ever-wild This Is It!

A self described "vinyl-nerd", Lily jumped at the chance, and we set off down the path to producing Face the Facts, a ten-inch EP record complete with period graphics and interviews with Henry and myself. And of course these days a musical release requires a proper video, so enter Jacob Blumberg to create this delightful short film combining the title track with visual elements from the Fine Art Of Goofing Off and Why Not Now? a retro-media doc on my father's life and works. The result is this powerful little piece that offers a direct and playful way to get to know my father's wit and wisdom courtesy of a new generation of aficionados.

Pre-order Face the Facts Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/Eicpr-YRqb0/video-celebrates-new-alan-watt.html

"Police say a married Florida principal was caught in a car with a student and marijuana – and her shirt was unbuttoned."

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/S6h2PEOmN4w/florida-hs-principal-and-stude.html

If a "frank exchange of views" is good enough for Dick Cheney, it's good enough for this fellow. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/bDvnAm8em1I/man-dismisses-police-officer-w.html

For my bedtime story this week, my daughter Hannah read me Star Wars Rebels Chopper Saves the Day. This is an excellent book for 1st or 2nd grade Star Wars fans and their parents.

Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/0vXXVLbvTVA/star-wars-rebels-chopper-saves.html

The Dover Police Department refused to release a 2013 dashcam video that shows Cpl. Tom Webster kicking a man in the face and knocking him out, but a federal judge ordered the department to make it public.

Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/hT2bShD38Ug/delaware-cop-charged-for-kicki.html