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The NYPD's chokehold problem
- The Atlantic's Conor Frierdersdorf looks at the historical context behind this police department's unceasing deployment of the lethal restraint. Read the restNorth Korea praises Sony hack
- Though North Korea denied involvement with the humungous hack that brought electronics giant Sony low, it described it as a 'righteous deed' that may be the work of sympathizers. Here is a fake press release. DiscussRalph Baer, 1922-2014
- Ralph Baer, the developer of the first commercial video game console, has died at 92. DiscussWhere to host history of Scandinavian right rescued from the Memory Hole?
-A Boing Boing reader has gotten ahold of a controversial Norwegian magazine article documenting the history of the Scandinavian right, tracing the connections between the Third Reich collaborators and the present-day anti-immigrant movement -- it's an article that was suppressed by Norway's new far-right government, which used threats against the publisher to get it withdrawn.
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Mashup of the entire Billboard Top 25 for 2014
-Mashup genius DJ Earworm continues his annual tradition of mashing up the whole Billboard chart for the previous year (previously, previously) with an awesome, mashed up video accompaniment. (Thanks, Rob W)
Play videoSpies can't make cyberspace secure AND vulnerable to their own attacks
-In his Sunday Observer column, John Naughton makes an important point that's hammered home by the escape of the NSA/GCHQ Regin cyberweapon into the wild: spies who make war on the Internet can't be trusted with its security.
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Music: "Radar Love," Ministry (2008)
-Quite a cover.
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Great polyhedral dice jewelry
-Polish jeweler Mage Studio offers a wide variety of extraordinary accessories made from polyhedral dice, a gamer's accessory that has become very ornamental in nature, perfectly complementing pieces like: the dragon/D20 necklace, the D12 cufflinks, and this pendant D20 necklace.
Read the restRobotech: the Macross Saga
-As a kid I'd wake up extra early in the mornings to watch Robotech, which remains my favorite Americanized mecha anime adventure.
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What if the new Star Wars was a Wes Anderson film?
-A fantastic spoof.
Play videoLISTEN: Systems thinking and medicine -- brilliant lecture on systemic problem-solving
-The lecturer for the BBC's 2014 Reith lectures is Dr Atul Gawande, a celebrated author and MD whose book The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right is a classic on how to think about systemic problem solving (which pays attention to how different people and activities come together to make and solve problems).
Read the restStats-based response to UK Tories' call for social media terrorism policing
-David Cameron wants social media companies to invent a terrorism-detection algorithm and send all the "bad guys" it detects to the police -- but this will fall prey to the well-known (to statisticians) "paradox of the false positive," producing tens of thousands of false leads that will drown the cops.
Read the restChinese government wants to ban puns
-Chinese media regulators have called on broadcasters to end the widespread, longstanding practice of using puns, idiom and wordplay in everyday communications, advertisement, jokes, and political speech.
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Dumping a huge bag of plastic balls onto an escalator
-It's almost a perpetual motion machine, and is absolutely a source of infinite amusement! (via JWZ)
Play videoDetoxing is bullshit
-It's true that people with substance abuse problems can "detox" when they get clean, but the kind of "detoxing" offered by stuff in the grocery store or pharmacy has no basis in science and is just a scammy way to scare you into opening your wallet (the companies that sell "detox" can't even say what "toxins" they're getting rid of).
Read the restSenator Jay Rockefeller singlehandedly kills Freedom of Information Act reform
-The House unanimously passed a bill that would bring much-needed improvements to the Freedom of Information Act; the Senate had bi-partisan support for it, too -- but outgoing Sen Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) singlehandedly killed the bill in a closed-door committee meeting.
Read the restNo charges for Seattle cop who punched unarmed handcuffed woman, broke her eye socket
- In Washington state, a King County prosecutor says his office will not seek state felony charges against a 9-year police department veteran. Read the rest
The Christmas Tree, a classic internet short film
- “Who wants Baileys?” It's from 2006, but never gets old. Play video“Rapist,” reads Bill Cosby's star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
- Someone wrote “rapist” all over the Hollywood star of a man whom many women have accused of being a rapist. Read the restPhotography: What If Girls Were Browsers? What if Guys Were Social Networks?
- The concept fashion photo shoot attempts to answer the question, "What would popular social networks or web browsers look like if they were human?" Read the restHow to make a NASA Orion crew vehicle paper model
- A fun project for kids, and for adults with a childlike curiosity about space. Read the restCCC website censored in the UK
-The Great Firewall of Cameron is supposed to block "extremist" websites, and somehow, the website of the respected, excellent Chaos Computer Club, one of Germany's foremost centers for technology research and political analysis, has been blocked.
Read the restFellowships available in security usability
-The Open Technology Fund and Simply Secure are offering fellowships to researchers who seek funding to work on usability in privacy and security technology.
Read the restStar Trek red shirted crewman dog toy
-The red shirts never get a break on Star Trek. Now you, and your dog, can play fetch with one.
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Museums and the future history of the information age
-Last spring, I gave the keynote address at the Museums and the Web conference in Florence, Italy, speaking in the glorious confines of the big room at the Palazzo Vecchio; the organizers were kind enough to put my talk online. It was very well-received at the time and lots of people have since asked where they could get it -- and here it is!
Play videoBuy your own TSA-surplus pornoscanner for $8K
-Remember when the TSA spent $113K on Rapiscan pornoscanners that turned out not to work? Now they're selling them off for $8,000.
Read the restwilcock
JOHN WILCOCK: The Day I Turned Down The Beatles
- An early opportunity at publishing the first American magazine on The Beatles is thwarted by a moment of bad judgement. From the John Wilcock comic (see previous installments here and here.) Read the restfiction
Launch
- Jane Harrison tells the story of man's voyage to Mars—and the dating troubles that ensue. Read the restHigh court rules that English/Welsh prisoners should be allowed to read books
-Tory justice secretary Chris Grayling enacted a ban on sending reading material for prisoners as a way of throwing red meat to his base, who bay for maximum cruelty to "bad people" -- but a high court judge agreed with English PEN and the John Howard society and struck down the ban.
Read the restIrish government retroactively legalizes GCHQ surveillance revealed in Snowden docs
-As reported by The Irish Times on Saturday, 6th December; "Foreign law enforcement agencies will be allowed to tap Irish phone calls and intercept emails under a statutory instrument signed into law by Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald."
Read the restJewelry made from fake food
-It's an idea whose time has come: combine the hyper-realistic plastic molded food you see out front of some Japanese and Korean restaurants with jewelry to make it look like you're wearing glistening, perfect meals.
Read the restSF Bay Area: Sunday December 7th, 2014's final Give Me Fiction prose reading show
-This Sunday, come down to Lost Weekend Video for the year's last Give Me Fiction, the prose reading series hosted by Ivan Hernandez.
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Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins play Crisco Twister
-"In which Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic strips down to briefs and gets a full body Crisco massage from Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl, before playing slippery Twister with Smashing Pumpkins." (Thanks, Gil Kaufman!)
Play videoMassive Millennium Falcon rug
-It's 79" x 59", made from polyester, and runs $100 at Thinkgeek, where they guarantee that it will "instantly makes any room 1138% more awesome." (via Oh Gizmo)
Read the restMexican auto insurance for tourists
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If you are driving from the United States of America into the United Mexican States, you need Mexican auto insurance. Regardless what you think, your USA based policy will not be accepted if you are involved in an accident in Mexico.
Read the restMan flies from London to Australia to meet toddler who shares his rare genetic syndrome
- When Jono Lancaster, 30, heard about a 2 year old boy in Australia who also has Treacher-Collins syndrome, he flew to Australia to meet the kid. Read the rest
Adventure Time's BMO coffee mug
-I love this BMO coffee mug!
"Bow to your sensei." -- BMO
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Cat loves Slayer
- “This is my cat Buddy. I was watching Slayer perform from the Big 4 concert and caught this little guy chillin' and watching as well.” Play video
Orion spacecraft's sweet splashdown, as seen from the U.S. Navy recovery ship
-“NASA, the U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin recovery crews aboard the USS Anchorage witnessed the Orion spacecraft as it splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.”
Play videoRestaurant wants you to also tip its kitchen staff
-If other restaurants follow Alimento's lead, you'll soon start tipping the servers and the kitchen staff. Next time I dine at Alimento, I'll just fill in the TOTAL amount and then let the servers and kitchen staff fight it out.
Read the restAngela Merkel calls for end to net neutrality
-The German Chancellor -- whose party is closely aligned with the telcoms sector -- says she wants a two-tier Internet; on the "fast" Internet, carriers will be allowed to slow down access to services that haven't paid bribes for "premium" carriage; on the "regular" Internet, ISPs will just give you the data you ask for.
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Interview with Queen
-Over at Cuepoint, Alan Light talks to Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen about their signature operatic rock sound, the band's chemistry, and the final days of Freddie Mercury.
Read the restThe big book of big of psychedelic fantasy posters
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There's a new book out about Big O Posters, which grew out of the graphic design vision of Peter Ledeboer, the charismatic art director of the U.K.
Read the restFeatures
Launch
Jane Harrison tells the story of man's voyage to Mars—and the dating troubles that ensue. Read the rest
Shopping in Harajuku, Tokyo
Having been to Tokyo three times previous to our recent vacation, I was excited to take my daughters to Harajuku, a popular teen shopping area in the city. By Mark Frauenfelder Read the rest
JOHN WILCOCK: The Day I Turned Down The Beatles
An early opportunity at publishing the first American magazine on The Beatles is thwarted by a moment of bad judgement. From the John Wilcock comic (see previous installments here and here.) Read the rest
NASA's Orion launch a success: "There's your new spacecraft, America!"
Xeni Jardin collects news, videos and images of the new Nasa launcher that will take humankind to Mars. Read the rest
LISTEN: Interview with Jeff Atwood of Coding Horror
Gweek is brought to you by Crunchyroll, offering 1080p streaming anime with English subtitles. Try it free for a month by signing up at Crunchyroll.com/gweek Read the rest
Amazon mails conveyor belt roller instead of gift
Glenn Fleishman reports that a goat dairy farmer was not expecting to receive a mysterious green cylinder. Read the rest
Brian Krebs's "Spam Nation"
In Spam Nation: The Inside Story of Organized Cybercrime-from Global Epidemic to Your Front Door, Brian Krebs offers a fascinating look at the mass-scale cybercrime that underpins the spam in your inbox and provides an inside peek at a violent fight among its principle players. Cory Doctorow reviews. Read the rest
The 10 best adventure novels from 1965
Joshua Glenn shows why 1965 was a very good year for science fiction, comic books, and spy novels. Read the rest
Go, Orion! NASA set to launch spacecraft on first step toward manned flights to Mars [Update: Delayed! Launched!]
Final preparations are under way for NASA's Dec. 4 launch of the Orion spacecraft. Not since the final Space Shuttle mission in 2011 has there been so much excitement around American space flight. Sawyer Rosenstein reports from Cape Canaveral. Read the rest
A look at the new Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master’s Guide
Ethan Gilsdorf gets a sneak peak inside the definitive nerd Bible Read the rest
Survival Strategies for Purchasing a Soft Drink
Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH Cap and his African American friend purchase soft drinks in very different worlds Read the rest
In Wayzata, Minnesota, a school spies on its students
Nathan Ringo writes that school administrators freaked out when he found ways around the district's flawed censorware--and when he warned his fellow students about the spyware and creepy small-print that came with their school iPads. Read the rest
An Introduction to Hand Saws
Steve Hoefer offers another tutorial in basic skills that everyone should know. Read the rest
Twitter takes aim at trolls—and promises more
Glenn Fleishman explains Twitter's blocking system and its freshly-fortified abuse-reporting tools. Read the rest
I Need A Beat, by LL Cool J
The recording debut of young LL Cool J starts off the infamous Def Jam label. A new Hip Hop Family Tree strip by Ed Piskor. Read the rest
Searching for Krampus
AL Cacophony reports on the christmas devils' growing popularity in America, and the old-worlders drafted in to help keep it real. Read the rest
One Year, $80 Billion, Enough is Enough
A message from The Innovation Movement [Advertiser] Read the rest
LISTEN: Native Jefferson shoes, Fit Flops and Bell Bullitt Motorcycle Helmet
This week, Mark, Xeni and Jason talk about their favorite wearables, Native Jefferson shoes, Fit Flops and the Bell Bullitt Motorcycle Helmet. Read the rest