posted by Xeni Jardin at 08:48:29 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

RIAA attacks 10-yr-old girl (7 at time of alleged download)

posted by Xeni Jardin at 08:21:17 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Space Mountain fansite recreates ride virtually

posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:44:47 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Buddha Machine: spiritual, generative transistor radio

It is the single most interesting gadget I've held all month. It doesn't feel like something manufactured this decade. It feels like something from the first blush of Walkman knockoffs, the JiLs and the like. And the sounds are really soothing and kind of haunting. There's nothing on the box that tells you how the sound is generated -- maybe it's analog, but I'm guessing digital.

At $35, it's a little steep, given that it has the hand-feel of a Happy Meal toy. But I bought one and I don't regret it. It's going in my keeper pile -- it will be no less anachronistic, weird and interesting in an age of nanocomputers than it is today.

The Buddha Machine is a modified version of a device used in Buddhist temples throughout Asia, which feature repeating loops of chanting monks or nuns. This particular incarnation is the brainchild of the musical duo FM3. It contains nine preset loops which which play individually and run continuously. The sounds can be played from the built in speaker, or by connecting headphones to the built in jack.

If you are aware of ambient music such as the works of Brian Eno (Music for Airports, Discreet Music) then this is of a similar vein. Whereas music on a CD, Record or tape inherrently has to end before being restarted, the loops of the Buddha Machine will continue for as long as the AA batteries work (or forever if you connect a 4.5v supply).

Update: Sonny sez, "GM3 is not a manufacturer but a group formed in 1999 consisting of Christiaan Virant and Zhang Jian. They have released full CDs under that band name and have also done some CDs for the excellent Sublime Frequencies record label which I suggest you check out. Also a album was released of remixes of all the loops by various artists called 'Jukebox Buddha.'"

See also: Musician releases songs in a $23 electronic gizmo

Update 2: FM3's Christiaan sez, "Here's the official English site. The Buddha machine is available in the USA for only $23 from our distributor Forced Exposure, and in the UK at Boomkat."

Update 3: Simon sez, "All nine Buddha Machine loops in uncompressed .WAV format are available for download."

Update 4: John sez, "Sonic musician Robert Henke, aka Monolake, has a great album of Buddha Machine remixes available." and Michael sez, "I live in Taiwan and have my own B-box that I bought at the NT$10 (33 cents) store down the road."

Update 5: Rob sez, "Your readers in toronto may want to head to a Buddha Machine gathering *today* in Toronto's Allen Gardens, also, Buddha Machine pool on Flickr."

Update 6: Mark sez, "I thought you might be interested in this (video) interview I conducted with FM3 for flasher.com at Montreal's MUTEK festival in 2005. We talked mostly about the conception and creation of the Buddha Machine and I think it's a pretty interesting look at their process. You can find it here."

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:34:12 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Vintage MAD-style Haunted Mansion sendup

Stephen Worth, Director of the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, very generously passed on scans of a wonderful vintage Disneyland document to post here at 2719 Hyperion. The Haunted Mansion Supplement appears to have been a supplemental publication to the internal newsletter Backstage Disneyland, and was produced to commemorate the 1969 opening of the Haunted Mansion. It is a tongue-in-cheek send-up of WED Enterprises, the company’s theme park design division that would ultimately evolve into Walt Disney Imagineering.

The highlight of the piece is a two-page Mad Magazine-inspired comic strip by William Barry.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:13:49 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Soupy Sales pranked

One time during the Los Angeles years, as Sales was ending the show, when he opened the door he saw a topless dancer gyrating with a balloon. Viewers saw only the balloon, although a second, non-broadcasting camera captured the uncensored version, and Sales was forced to try to keep the show going without revealing the risque events backstage.

posted by David Pescovitz at 04:21:33 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Vista error stickers for bus-shelter Vista ads

See also: Oil paintings inspired by video-game scenes

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:20:22 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Chinese MMO offers accounts to banned players who donate blood

An online game operator has demanded that banned players donate blood to be allowed back into the game. Moliyo, which runs a 3D massively multiplayer online game in China, made the demand after banning 120,000 players who attempted to hack the game.

More than 100 players had already signed up to exchange half a litre (1 pint) of blood for game accounts. The company has also offered free accounts to ordinary players who give blood...

Chinese hospitals have had increasing difficulty attracting blood donors in recent years after scandals in which thousands of donors and blood recipients contracted HIV, the virus which causes AIDS. Blood donors in China are usually paid about 12 dollars per donation.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:05:33 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Suspended tower office block

The 153 meter tall tower will be located at the intersection of Scotts Road and Cairnhill Road, in close proximity to Orchard Road, Singapore’s famous shopping and lifestyle street. With 20,000m² of built floor area, the building will provide 68 high-end apartment units with panoramic views. The design strategically maneuvers within the highly regulated building environment to maximize the full potential of the site: Four individual apartment towers are vertically offset from one another and suspended from a central core.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:01:33 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

DMCA's author says the DMCA is a failure, blames record industry

The most interesting - and surprising - presentation came from Bruce Lehman, who now heads the International Intellectual Property Institute. Lehman explained the U.S. perspective in the early 1990s that led to the DMCA (ie. greater control though TPMs), yet when reflecting on the success of the DMCA acknowledged that "our Clinton administration policies didn't work out very well" and "our attempts at copyright control have not been successful" (presentation starts around 11:00). Moreover, Lehman says that we are entering the "post-copyright" era for music, suggesting that a new form of patronage will emerge with support coming from industries that require music (webcasters, satellite radio) and government funding. While he says that teens have lost respect for copyright, he lays much of the blame at the feet of the recording industry for their failure to adapt to the online marketplace in the mid-1990s.

In a later afternoon discussion, Lehman went further, urging Canada to think outside the box on future copyright reform. While emphasizing the need to adhere to international copyright law (ie. Berne), he suggested that Canada was well placed to experiment with new approaches. He was not impressed with Bill C-60, seemingly because he does not believe that it went far enough in reshaping digital copyright issues. Given ongoing pressure from the U.S., I'm skeptical about Canada's ability to chart a new course on copyright, yet if the architect of the DMCA is willing to admit that change is needed, then surely our elected officials should take notice.

This Slashdot article also includes a link to some video of the event, with Lehman's talk at 11:00. In the video, Lehman reportedly blames the DMCA's failure on the record industry (McGill University's crazy media player won't play the video in my browser for some reason, and they don't have a direct download link -- someone rip/post this and send me the URL?)

Link, Link to video

Update: Here's the Windows stream -- still won't play for me, but maybe someone can transcode it to something less brain-damaged. -- Thanks, Whiteg!

Update 2: Thanks to Jason Turgeon for ripping this video to something easier to see. Here's the whole thing, and here's Bruce Lehman's bit.

Update 3: Carl Malamud has made the whole video available on the Internet Archive.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:57:37 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Bug-sting scale with funny definitions

* 1.0 Sweat bee: Light, ephemeral, almost fruity. A tiny spark has singed a single hair on your arm.
* 1.2 Fire ant: Sharp, sudden, mildly alarming. Like walking across a shag carpet & reaching for the light switch.
* 1.8 Bullhorn acacia ant: A rare, piercing, elevated sort of pain. Someone has fired a staple into your cheek.
* 2.0 Bald-faced hornet: Rich, hearty, slightly crunchy. Similar to getting your hand mashed in a revolving door.
* 2.0 Yellowjacket: Hot and smoky, almost irreverent. Imagine WC Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue.
* 2.x Honey bee and European hornet.
* 3.0 Red harvester ant: Bold and unrelenting. Somebody is using a drill to excavate your ingrown toenail.
* 3.0 Paper wasp: Caustic & burning. Distinctly bitter aftertaste. Like spilling a beaker of Hydrochloric acid on a paper cut.
* 4.0 Pepsis wasp: Blinding, fierce, shockingly electric. A running hair drier has been dropped into your bubble bath (if you get stung by one you might as well lie down and scream).
* 4.0+ Bullet ant: Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch nail in your heel.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:51:17 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Friday, March 23, 2007

Meet Sandy -- free email assistant

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 05:43:07 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

More photos from Rand Holme's posthumous art show

Thanks for your advance listing for the Rand Holmes art show. I helped to organize it. It was a unique experience in a wild and wooly place. My son Crispin and I spent six days shooting a documentary of the event. He posted some pictures on Flickr.

Previously on Boing Boing:
• Rand Holmes retrospective
• Account of Rand Holmes art show

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 04:37:10 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Cory signing at Mysterious Galaxy San Diego next Thursday

When: Thursday, March 29: 6:30-7PM
Where: Mysterious Galaxy Books, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Suite #302, San Diego, CA 92111, 858.268.4747

posted by Cory Doctorow at 04:15:12 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Most expensive Amazon items, by category

Toys: A city-park-size playground system for $32,229.59. The most expensive toy for a single child is an electric monster truck for $13,800. For that I bet the kid would have more fun with a real, yet not monster, truck.

Automotive: A JIC EK2D1-TI res Spartan DE Type 1 TI Exhaust System for a 2dr 1996-2000 Honda Civic for… $891,480. I don’t understand either. #2 is an actual physical auto parts store for sale for $750,000.

Gourmet Food: 4 lbs Russian Beluga Caviar for $10,560. I was expecting something even more ridiculous, but ok.

Grocery: Skin cream for $340, but that’s boring. How about 25 lbs of Altoids for $337? 22 lbs of chocolate powder for $313? (Gourmet Food and Grocery? Classist!)

Furniture & Décor: “Goddard replica“, $9,999,999. I’m not sure what it’s a replica of, but I’m betting it’s not the entire space research complex. If that seems a bit too much, then there’s a $999,999 space rock paperweight. Incidentally Amazon themselves put the accent on the “e” in “Décor”.

Outdoor Living: 10×18 Log Wedding Chapel with Wooden Roof,  $20,319.97. Now this is the kind of ridiculous-but-not-impossible thing I wanted to find on a list of Amazon’s most expensive things. But a wedding chapel really ought to cost twenty grand, right? So there’s also a $14,662 barbecue grill that you could use beside your $13,997 tiki hut.

Apparel: Space suit, $999,999. I think they’re pulling my leg, though, so skipping over the jewelry that is in the wrong category, we have a $40,000 fur coat from WEBFURS. You know, if you’d asked me what WEBFURS was, I wouldn’t have guessed “fur coat company”.

Sporting Goods: Football arcade game, with real football-throwing, for $88,550. #2 is an extremely dorky golf cart for $77,988.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 04:09:41 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Kids' chairs upholstered in cakes

posted by Cory Doctorow at 03:50:40 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Phone built into cigarette pack

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:41:47 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Fair use 1: James Joyce's grandson 0

Last June we sued the Estate of James Joyce to establish the right of Stanford Professor Carol Shloss to use copyrighted materials in connection with her scholarly biography of Lucia Joyce. Shloss suffered more than ten years of threats and intimidation by Stephen James Joyce, who purported to prohibit her from quoting from anything that James or Lucia Joyce ever wrote for any purpose. As a result of these threats, significant portions of source material were deleted from Shloss's book, Lucia Joyce: To Dance In The Wake.

In the lawsuits we filed against the Estate and against Stephen Joyce individually, we asked the Court to remove the threat of liability by declaring Shloss's right to publish those deleted materials on a website designed to supplement the book. After the trying to have the case dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, the Estate gave up the fight. Joyce and the Estate have now entered into a settlement agreement enforceable by the Court that prohibits them from enforcing any of their copyrights against Shloss in connection with the publication of the supplement, whether in electronic or printed form. (The Settlement Agreement is posted here.)

See also:
Stanford prof sues James Joyce estate for right to study Joyce
James Joyce's descendants are copyright jerks
Molly Bloom talks copyright

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:41:46 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

America needs Boing Boing economics

1) I would repeal the Digital Millennium Copyright Act so that it would once again be legal to create technology that competes directly with incumbent technology–for example, to make a device that plays all the songs on your iPod. It's presently illegal to do so, because you have to break Apple's copy prevention to get the songs to play on non-Apple hardware.

2) I would then create a black-letter law that repealed the "inducement" standard set out in the Grokster Supreme Court decision. That's the standard that says that if you designed your technology with the idea that some users might use it unlawfully, then your technology is illegal. The problem is that it's often impossible to know which uses will and won't be lawful until a court rules on them. Under this standard, the videocassette recorder would be illegal, since Sony advertised it as a machine for time-shifting (which the Supremes found legal) and for making libraries of shows (which they didn't find legal). It's inducement that's at the heart of Viacom's ridiculous lawsuit against YouTube.

3) Finally, I would regulate telcos to enforce a neutral Internet. These companies are creatures of enormous regulatory largess–without government handouts, like rights of way into every basement in the country, they wouldn't exist–and if they don't want to play fair, let's get someone else to run the phone network. Government monopolies aren't a right; they're a privilege.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:48:45 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Drinking and smoking worse than acid and X

Professor David Nutt from the University of Bristol, Professor Colin Blakemore, Chief Executive of the Medical Research Council, and colleagues, identified three main factors that together determine the harm associated with any drug of potential abuse:

1. the physical harm to the individual user caused by the drug
2. the tendency of the drug to induce dependence
3. the effect of drug use on families, communities, and society...

Professor Colin Blakemore added: “Drug policy is primarily aimed at reducing the harm to individual users, their families and society. But at present there is no rational, evidence-based method for assessing the harm of drugs. We have tried to develop such a method. We hope that policy makers will take note of the fact that the resulting ranking of drugs differs substantially from their classification in the Misuse of Drugs Act and that alcohol and tobacco are judged more harmful than many illegal substances.”

posted by David Pescovitz at 01:13:40 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

French government's UFO files online

The space agency, known by its French initials CNES, said it is making them public to draw the scientific community's attention to unexplained cases and because their secrecy generated suspicions that officials were hiding something.

"There's always this impression of plots, of secrets, of wanting to hide things," (said Jacques Patenet, head of the space agency's Group for Study and Information on Nonidentified Aerospace Phenomena.) "The great danger would be to leave the field open to sects and charlatans."

He said many cases were unexplained lights in the sky. "Only 20 to 30" could be classified as "Objet Volant Non Identifie" — UFOs that appeared to be physical objects, leaving "marks on the ground, radar images," he said...

Only 9 percent of France's strange phenomena have been fully explained, the agency said. Experts found likely reasons for another 33 percent, and 30 percent could not be identified for lack of information.

posted by David Pescovitz at 12:56:19 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

No broadcast flag for US digital radio

The FCC approved the rules for in-band, on-channel (IBOC) digital AM and FM yesterday, and didn't include a broadcast flag requirement. Digital radio has been broadcasting in the US under interim rules, mostly on the FM band and initially largely on public radio, for over three years. One company, iBiquity, controls this particular form of digital audio broadcasting (DAB). About 1,200 stations broadcast digital signals, 300 of them multicasting, or providing one or more additional digital-only broadcasts.

Part of what has held back DAB in the US has been uncertainty about the FCC's ultimate statement on IBOC would be, especially in regards to AM, and about a broadcast flag. Because IBOC's FM flavor has the dynamic range of a CD (albeit with somewhat less fidelity than a good MP3 or AAC), the RIAA and others have raised the same bugbears for terrestrial DAB as they have for Sirius and XM.

IBOC's particular difference from European DAB, by the way, is that it allows existing broadcasters to use their current frequencies and nestle digital signals alongside the stronger analog signals. (IBOC requires 1 percent of the power to reach a similar geographic area: 100,000 watt stations broadcast 1,000 watts of IBOC.)

There is a fair amount of opposition to IBOC particularly in the AM band, because of the concern of how AM signals propagate between dusk and dawn, with buzz from digital signals allegedly affecting reception far distance. Hobbyists DXers also hate IBOC because it interferes with their hobby (pun intended). The FCC dismissed all the petitions against IBOC as part of yesterday's order, and allowed 24-hour-a-day AM broadcasting, which was previously restricted.

With the FCC approving IBOC without a broadcast flag requirement, Congress would have to impose a regulatory requirement. Which seems unlikely with the current composition.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:13:12 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Cavalcade of homeowner holdouts

Here's a long interview with 40-year-old Mrs Wuping, the owner of the "nail house" (called that because it sticks out of the pit around it like a nail).

Wuping: until present I haven’t received a single bit of monetary compensation or a resettlement. According to the pertinent regulations, at the minimum they have to give us temporary housing, and you’ve seen in the picture there aren’t any, we can’t even get up to the building. This absolutely is the government and businessmen working together; there is nothing we can do. Jiulong Hills is completely managed by the district party committee and government. At the hearing yesterday I cited several laws and regulations, all are explicit, the city cannot force people to leave their homes for demolition.

Hey, there is another guy like this in Hamilton Ontario, whose house is surrounded by a mall parking lot. I've admired the guy for years every time I drive by for not giving up. I've always wondered what is going to happen to these sorts of places once the homeowner finally moves or dies. Sadly, I can't imagine that most of these holdout houses will survive their owners.

All these stories about companies building around homeowners who wouldn't sell out in the face of "progress," and no link to arguably the most famous example? I refer, of course, to the case of one Mr. B. Bunny, who successfully defended the sanctity of his American home against an *extremely* aggressive developer. His brave struggle was documented in this 1950 film by historian Charles M. Jones.

http:// In response to the article about the Chinese leaving a house standing in the midst of a construction site, I'd like to point out that this isn't the first time this has been done.

Around 100 years ago, in Seattle Washington, they undertook a project and washed away and entire large hill before this sort of thing would have been illegal for environmental reasons. Anyone who didn't sell their land and go along with the regrading was left on what is known as a "Spite Mound". There are various photos of these, including on the page linked.

I love the farmhouse at the end of the runway at the Glacier Park International Airport in Kalispell, Montana. There is a high barbwire security fence that runs along the highway, then cuts in and around the house, then back out along the highway. It's great.

Mark, I'm late to the party with my favorite homeowner holdout, but here she is.

The two houses on a quarter acre, surrounded by a parking lot, belong to the family of Adele Martinez, who, in the mid-1990s, fought efforts by the state to buy her property for $119k for its planned, $16.5 million National Hispanic Cultural Center. As you can see, she prevailed, and they built around her. Adele has since died, but her family still lives there, where they have a beautiful view of a parking lot.

Last May, the Washington Post profiled a man who refused to sell his hundred year old house to developers who had purchased the entire block. At the time of the article, the house jutted out into a 40 ft deep chasm buttressed by a rather precarious-looking system of boards constructed by the developers. Photo here.

Here is another holdout. (In Harrisburg, PA) Link

A similar case but with a twist. When my former company, Microsoft, was building their Redmond West campus, they purchased an old chicken farm a mile or so from the main campus. The owner didn't want to move his parents however, so part of the deal was that their house could stay intact at the same location until they died. It's circled in red in the attached pic. As far as I know, it's the only private residence on any MS property.

Here are two guys who won't sell to Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY.

This house not only borders a major artery in northern Delaware it actually sits on the entrance ramp besides a GM plant. Probably seemed like a good idea at the time.

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 11:57:56 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Playboy cartoonist Eldon Dedini gallery and video

Today at the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, we digitized a collection of cartoons by the great Playboy cartoonist, Eldon Dedini. Dedini is best known for his watercolor paintings of satyrs and nymphs, but most people don't know that he got his start as a story artist on Disney's Donald Duck cartoons. Along with our gallery of images, we have posted a video clip of an interview with Dedini in his studio where he discusses how he got his start, and his years at Disney. It's an amazing insight into an important cartoonist.

There are a lot of other great features on Playboy cartoons in the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive collection as well...

• Erich Sokol's Playboy Cartoons

• Kurtzman and Elder's Little Annie Fanny

• Doug Snyed and Phil Interlandi

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 11:24:33 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Food bank dump in the desert

Flickr user Troy Paiva of lostamerica.com found an interesting spot in the California desert. This is from the picture's description:

Joe and I woke late the next day and began exploring potential night-shooting locations near Helendale. We stumbled on an abandoned ranch just outside of town and immediately stopped to explore it. As soon as we opened the car door we were bowled over by the strong smell of organic decay. The place literally smelled like death.

Expecting to find a dead cow (or worse) we rounded a corner and came upon an unexpectedly appalling sight: Food, still in packages. By the case, and even pallet full. Just rotting in the hot desert sun. Tons of it. This forgotten corner of the desert appeared to be a dumping ground for expired donations for a SoCal foodbank. When we got close enough to take pictures the stench was overwhelming. We thought about shooting here at night, but after 15 minutes of walking around we were both nauseated beyond belief. Neither of us EVER want to go back.

I found it because I'm subscribed to a feed for the Infiltration pool. We can only wonder why someone thought this was a good idea. What a waste.

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 11:21:56 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

US Army bullies milblogger, invades YouTube, Flickr, del.icio.us

For years, the Pentagon has come under harsh criticism its brain-dead approach to handling the media, broadly defined.  From clamping down on bloggers to chucking out embedded reporters to  banning digital cameras to quaking in fear of web developments, the military's press operators seemed to miss no opportunity to shoot themselves in the collective foot, repeatedly. All this, while insurgents trained potential terrorists online, advertised their martial prowess on YouTube, even sold t-shirts over the 'net. 

But recently, things have begun to change.  The Defense Department's Pentagon Channel started posting YouTube-esque videos.   Bloggers have been called into more and more conference calls with senior leaders in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Multi-National Force-Iraq set up its own YouTube channel.   

Now, the Army has set up shop on content-sharing sites like Flickr, del.icio.us, and YouTube.  The material is pretty awful -- like the stilted, propaganda-like reports, straight from the Armed Forces Network.  It's a start, though. 

But the military is a huge organization.  And not everybody gets with the program, at an equal pace.  A general is threatening to boot Michael Yon, the special-forces-soldier- turned-milbogger-supreme, out of Iraq -- again.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 11:03:21 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Daily Show covers Viacom suit against Google/YouTube

Previously on BoingBoing:

posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:44:49 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Web zen: wordy zen

Web Zen Home and Archives, Store (Thanks Frank!).

posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:11:15 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Cutlery with wrenches on the end

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:32:04 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Just Do It -- sf podcast story of comic, corporate dystopia

See also:
Escape Pod -- great sf story podcast
Cory's Printcrime audio on Escape Pod
Paul Di Filippo's "Shadowboxer" - Twilight Zonesque story podcast
Di Filippo's story "Little Worker" as a podcast
Podcast of Cory's story, "Craphound"
Science fiction podcast: a modern Paul Bunyan story (funny!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:48:21 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

American Born Chinese, a graphic novel about identity

These three stories interact in truly unexpected ways, creating a wonderful effect by the story's end. This isn't just a story about kids coping with racism and young love. This is really a story about identity, and coming to grips with who you are. According to the cover, the book has already won a couple of prestigious awards for kid's lit, and they're well-deserved. There's a lot of subtlety and smarts in this story. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:53:31 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Elephant shit paper

We can make about 25 large sheets of paper from a single piece (or turd) of elephant poo poo!!! That translates into about 10 standard sized journals including the front and back covers! Neat, huh!?!?!?

Update: Henrik sez, "Swedish entrepreneur (and some other folks, too) Lars Cronquist makes paper out of moose shit. And old denim jeans... and different vegetables and stuff...."

Update 2: Ilja sez, "These people make paper from sheep droppings."

Update 3: Lorraine points us to this panda shit paper, too.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:43:27 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Clockpunk anthology self-assembling on blog

Now, the Da Vinci Automata blog -- a Clockpunk blog -- is putting together its own Clockpunk anthology, using stories solicited from readers, and voted on by readers. They've just gotten their first submission, “On Deep History” by Jim Rossignol. I haven't read it, but this is a pretty cool project -- I wish I had time to write something for it!

The disease collectors were famed for their lethargy. Belatedly, Stry realised he had not left himself enough time to deliver the bundles of infected wax, to claim a receipt from the collectors, and then still make it to the Lehmkuhl lectures on time. He could not afford to be late, since the tickets were issued only once a year, and then only through a lottery system controlled by the college.

Stry paced outside the clerk’s office in the Hall Of Ailment. The dark and lonely building was far from the central campus of the University. Deliberately isolated, as one might expect. Stry delivered garlic and disease samples for his wage, and was more familiar with the building than most other students. It troubled him less and less. The disease collectors were mostly ageing men of a certain disposition, and Stry gave them a wide birth as they shambled by, although he did not fear them. A few younger students had passed Stry in the hallway, but they too were pallid and exhausted, reeking of decomposition, weakness.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:39:41 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Bruce Sterling video explains the future of cities

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:34:12 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Geeky comic strip uses Cory as the punchline

See also:
Sarcastic comic about computational linguistics (and emo kids)
Nerd humor about Katamari Damacy
Ironic Internet malapropism grid
Pi joke

posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:18:31 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

EFF fundraiser/Pioneer Awards ceremony at ETECH in San Diego

The event features a debate between Mark Cuban, the owner of HDNet, and Fred von Lohmann, EFF's senior IP attorney, about "Copyright, YouTube, and the future of Web 2.0." Cuban has taken a vocal stand against copyright infringement on YouTube, while Fred argued the Grokster case to a victory in the Ninth Circuit on the grounds that hosting companies shouldn't have to assume the burden of policing their users' behavior.

Tickets are $35, with proceeds going to EFF -- the organization that legalized crypto, is fighting the NSA's secret wiretapping, and that is suing Viacom for censoring a political video off YouTube. Admission includes food, beer and wine.

Tuesday, March 27th, 2007 7:30 - 10:00PM

Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego, Douglas Room, 1 Market Place, San Diego, California

Honoring this year's winners: Yochai Benkler, Cory Doctorow, Bruce Schneier

and featuring a lively debate between HDNet Chairman and NBA Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban & Senior EFF Staff Attorney Fred von Lohmann on Copyright, YouTube, and the future of Web 2.0 Libations and hors d'oeuvres provided

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:50:01 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Rob Sato and Ako Castuera coming to LA's Secret Headquarters next Friday

Rob and Ako live up the street from Secret Headquarters in what some would call a shack. They like to refer to the place as a log or The Log. The sad part of this story is not the living conditions, but the possible non-living conditions as The Log has been sold. Or is going to be sold. Either way, Sato started to pack. All books are boxed you'll be happy to know. It might be safe to say that his Xeric award is tucked away in there as well. He won that prestigious grant a few years ago for his BURYING SANDWICHES graphic novel. Know this; he's been compared to Winsor McCay - Wha'! (Though that review was from his cousin.)

What can we say about Sato's partner in crime Ako Castuera? Actually, not much. We don't know a goddamn thing about her. Except that she lives in The Log with a bunch of boxes. We are really on top of our game here at SHQ.

Rob and Ako will attend the opening from 8pm to 10pm. Have a beer while discussing the finer points of packing.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:38:01 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Scopitone video of Les 5 Gentlemen

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 05:21:04 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Interview with artist Mitch O'Connell

Mitch, what is you first comic book experience?

My first experience professionally (kinda) drawing comics was around 1980. Charlton comics was accepting/looking for folks to do covers and stories. The only catch was- they weren’t paying anything. Of course the thrill of seeing my stuff published greatly outweighed the lack of financial rewards! I think I ended up doing about 5 covers and a couple one or two page stories.

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 03:55:13 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Five favorite podcasts

Radio Oh La La This is the only music podcast I subscribe to. It's dedicated to French pop music from the '50s and '60s and is hosted by a Dutch woman named Natasha who presents the show in English. I thank her for introducing me to the music of the German band, "Les 5 Gentlemen," who sing in French. Subscribe to podcast (Update: Natasha says: "By the way, I'm not Dutch, I'm French Canadian, although I live in Amsterdam" and Mark Bellis says Les 5 Gentlemen hail from Marseilles, France.)

MacBreak Weekly Leo Laporte, Merlin Mann, Scott Bourne, and Alex Lindsay team up with guests to jawbone about all things Mac related. My favorite part is the hosts weekly software picks. One recent program that I found out about on this podcast is CoverScout, a $20 utility that grabs music cover art for your digital music. Subscribe to podcast

Kasper Hauser Comedy Podcast The first thing I ever heard from this comedy sketch group was a parody of Star Trek, in which Captain Kirk has ingested a psychedelic plant and is freaking out. I immediately subscribed to the podcast and caught up with all the previous episodes. Their New York Times wedding announcements are awesome, as is their take on This American Life. They are also the creators of one of the funniest books I've read in years, SkyMaul: Happy Crap You Can Buy From a Plane. Subscribe to podcast

The Sound of Young America This "Public Radio Show About Things That Are Awesome" features interviews with authors, film makers, comedians, and artists. Host and producer Jesse Thorn is a wonderful interviewer who keeps things moving without getting in the way. I especially enjoyed Jesse's interview with magician Ricky Jay Subscribe to podcast

Moldawer in the Morning David Moldawer picks three topics in the news and discusses them with a special guest. As David explains at the beginning of each episode, "Expect a medium amount of bullshit." Subscribe to podcast

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 03:38:51 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Robot dances with rhythm

"Rhythm and synchrony are the foundations of social interactions," he told New Scientist. "So I think that for us to comfortably interact with a robot, it needs to be capable of that....

To get the robot to dance, the team then wrote software that converts the beat detected by Max/MSP into a motion. It varies Keepon's movements and changes the number of movements per beat to keep things interesting. The researchers also attached external cameras to Keepon and wrote software that picks out regular visual movements.

Michalowski's team displayed the Keepon at the annual open house of NICT in Japan, where over 200 children aged from 2 years old to their mid-teens were encouraged to dance with it while songs were played. Many children choose not to dance, perhaps because they were embarrassed, Michalowski says. However, the team noticed that children were more likely to dance if the robot was itself moving in time to music, rather than if it was moving randomly.

"This tells us there is something happening here," says Michalowski. "The robot's rhythmic ability is having some effect on the interaction."

posted by David Pescovitz at 02:17:14 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Supporters work to free Egypt blogger Kareem (NPR "Xeni Tech")

For today's edition of the NPR News program "Day to Day," I filed a report on Kareem Amer, the Egyptian blogger recently sentenced to four years in prison -- and the changing role of bloggers in Egypt. Voices you'll hear in this report:

- - - - - -
LISTEN:
(warning: contains brief audio of graphic violence) Link to archived audio (Real/Win). Or, listen to this report as an MP3 in the "Xeni Tech" podcast (subscribe via iTunes here). Here's an updated direct MP3 Link for today's episode. NPR "Xeni Tech" archives here.

- - - - - -

Synopsis follows. Elsewhere around the web: Global Voices has been doing some great, ongoing coverage of free speech issues on Egypt, here: Link. And Egypt is the #2 top recipient of US foreign aid, with $1.8 billion promised in 2007: Link.

- - - - - -

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice leaves for Egypt tomorrow. Free speech activists are hoping she'll speak to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak about a jailed Egyptian blogger named Kareem Amer. Exactly one month ago, the 22 year old law student was sentenced to four years in prison for what he wrote on his personal website.

The case of Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman, or “Kareem Amer,” as he’s known in the blogosphere, has shed a spotlight on a growing community of bloggers in Egypt, and on the country’s laws concerning online speech.

To give you an idea of what he did to get arrested, here is a translation from his final blog post last October:

The mere existence of legal provisions that criminalize freedom of thought, and threaten with imprisonment anyone who criticizes religion in any way, is a grave defect in the law.

A court convicted him of contempt of religion, specifically Islam, and defaming President Mubarak. Though this is the first time a blogger in Egypt has been convicted by a court for blogging, Egyptian bloggers say free speech and political activists are often arrested and detained.

Cairo-based Alaa Abdel Fattah spent a month and a half in jail last year for protesting injustice in Egypt's legal system. And just last week, Egyptian authorities targeted him again. Authorities produced a list of opposition activists that included him and other bloggers. At a protest days later, police arrested and jailed 20 people for two days, including some of the bloggers on that list.

One of the other bloggers targeted for spreading what the government called "false news" posted a video of alleged torture and rape in an Egyptian prison (Video Link, warning: contains extremely graphic violence).

Wael Abbas, the blogger who posted a copy of that torture video, reportedly also has a warrant out for his arrest.

Blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah says he wasn't tortured during his 47 days in jail last year, but knows others who have been.

Egyptian activist and blogger Mohammed el-Sharqawi, 24, was tortured and sodomized “using a rolled up piece of cardboard for nearly 15 minutes” according to his lawyer Gamal Eid. Human rights groups say Egyptian authorities have yet to investigate or prosecute the police officers accused.

Kareem Amer’s supporters are worried that similar abuses may await Kareem Amer, the blogger now just beginning his four year sentence.

Lawrence Wright documented the genesis of Al-Qaeda in his book The Looming Tower, and he says torture is rampant in Egypt's jails.

"We need to be much more universal in our condemnation of torture in Egypt," says Wright.

He argues that the US should also support due process and humane treatment for Islamist prisoners, not just reformist bloggers like Kareem.

"There's a greater risk in not advocating for those values for both sides. The Islamists in prison in Egypt pose a real threat when they get out," Wright says. "If we advocate for their rights, if not for their cause, we stand a better chance of having some kind of understanding."

Nabil Fahmy is the Egyptian Ambassador to the United States, and he believes much progress is being made on social and political reforms. But he admits that how Egypt’s government and society go forward in dealing with bloggers still remains a question mark.

Meanwhile, a coalition of Kareem’s supporters are campaigning for his release, including organizing protests at Egyptian embassies around the world. Coordinator Constantino Diaz-Duran in New York says because Kareem’s own family have disowned their son, the freekareem.org group plans to provide some of the necessities prisoners in Egypt generally depend on families to provide: medicine, clothing, food.

Kareem's father has said that he would like to see Islamic Sharia law applied. This would give Kareem three days to repent, or face execution. As dire that sounds, this may be one of his last remaining options. On Monday, an Egyptian court rejected an appeal for Kareem's release, a move the US State Department has condemned.

- - - - - - - - -

Image: supporters from RSF.org demonstrate for Kareem's freedom at the Egyptian government's booth at the world tourism trade fair in Paris (Courtesy Reporters Without Borders).

(Special thanks to Ethan Zuckerman, and NPR News producer Nihar Patel!)

Previously on BoingBoing:

posted by Xeni Jardin at 02:08:04 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Man dies from crab he was about to cook

Cooking destroys the bacteria, making the seafood safe for consumption. Doctors advised people preparing meals to use tongs or gloves when handling the live crabs. The claws should be brushed and washed with water before cooking, they added.

posted by David Pescovitz at 02:07:56 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Josh Wolf remains in jail, dad starts "nonstop" vigil (NPR News)

Previously:

posted by Xeni Jardin at 01:36:33 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sugar that looks like ants

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:24:52 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

U of Nebraska to RIAA: here's a bill for the time you're wasting

Meanwhile, the University of Nebraska has told the RIAA that it can't help them identify many of the students accused of file trading. The school's system changes a computer's IP address each time its turned on, and it only keeps this information for month. After that month, the school has no way of associating an IP address with a computer or its user. The RIAA is angry about this, and a spokesman for the group criticized the university for not understanding "the need to retain these records". This is a ridiculous complaint. The university doesn't have a need to retain these records, and there's no reason it should do so out of some obligation to the RIAA. If there were any doubt that the university is really irritated by the RIAA's requests, it has requested that the RIAA pay the university to reimburse its expenses from dealing with this (good luck with that).

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:19:17 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Child Online Protection Act nuked by federal judge

The Child Online Protection Act (COPA) was shot down by a federal judge today, deeming it more harmful to children in regards to freedom of speech than the porn sites it sought from which it protected the children.

Update: Declan McCullagh has a related item here.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 12:12:03 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Memphis barber cuts hair with fire

For years here in Memphis, there is a man who has cut people's hair with a butane torch. A friend of mine got a few pictures of him doing his work.

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:08:02 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

How's My Blogging? Call 1 888 STFU LOL: t-shirts now available

Link to t-shirt site. They're 18 bucks, only available through April 6. (Thanks, R. Stevens of Dieselsweeties)

Reader comment: anonymouscoworker says,

The number on the shirt (1 888 STFU LOL) is owned by a company called United Carriers Network and is available for sale, though their pricing information was locked behind an online submission form and subsequent "sales" email.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 11:40:40 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Journal of an American in Japanese prison (parts 3-5)

In Part 3, George describes the experience of the "classic good-cop, bad-cop routine," as two detectives work on him to confess. Part 4 covers George's day at the prosecutor's office in the Tokyo Metropolitan Courts. George describes the daily routine in Part 5.

Entertainment was one of only a few options for me. I was not allowed communication or any materials from the outside world, so I was able to spend my time by sleeping, reading, writing or talking. Once, while the Chinaman was there in the early days, he was struggling his way through a Su-Doku puzzle that came with the newspaper. I helped him through it, as it was a fairly low grade puzzle and he was mighty pleased with the help. He then in turn took the time to help me with some kanji, though his Japanese was not so good. Wajima would help me out also. Once I got my notebook and pen (pens were only allowed 1 per cell during the hours of 9am to 7pm), I was able to create a draughts/checkers board and we made some checkers out of tissue. We called them “tamagos” and “tadpoles," as when the checker made it to the opposite side and became able to jump forward and backward, we would twist out a tail from the rolled up tissue ball. We had to keep this game hidden from the guards as any such interaction was strictly forbidden. One of us would read his book near the caged wall and watch out for the guards who would occasionally patrol. A quick kick to one of the other two who would be engrossed in the battle of wits, and the guard would only see three chumps in a cell reading books. The game was hidden under my notepad.

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 11:34:58 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

NBC, Newscorp launch YouTube rival with AOL, MSN, MySpace, Yahoo

Update: Dylan Tweney has an analysis piece for Wired News. Snip:

My take: News Corp. and NBC are going to have a tough time posing a credible challenge. They've got to build a new site, develop an easily brandable embedded video player (one which accomodates the copy protection and advertising requirements of every distributor, by the way), fill it with content, and launch it -- all within a few months. Does anyone think that a rushed, top-down, corporate-driven project like this will pose a serious threat to YouTube? (...)

A phone press conference with Jeff Zucker, President & CEO of NBC Universal, and Peter Chernin, President and COO of News Corp., provides some additional information. Video will be copy protected, no question about that: "IP protection … is critically important to both companies," Chernin says.

However, users will be able to share video and even mash up videos, Chernin says. When I post videos (mashed up or not) on my own site, they'll appear with the new company's player, and with advertising from the joint ad network.

The new joint venture, which has yet to be given a name, aims to distribute its video content as widely as possible, subject to copy protections. In fact, Chernin says they had discussions with Google CEO Eric Schmidt this morning about the possibility of syndicating video content to YouTube.

Update 2: NYT coverage here.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 11:31:32 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Footbinding in China: photos

Description for the image at left: "Chinese author Yang Yang shows one of the smallest shoes worn by women with traditionally bound feet, in Liuyi village in China's southern Yunnan Province, February 2007. Villages in China where women with bound feet survive are increasingly rare but the millennium-old practice nevertheless took almost four decades to eradicate after it was initially banned in 1911.(AFP/File/Mark Ralston)."

Link.

Reader comments: monkey (small, terry cloth, has a nice personality) says:

thanks for the link on boingboing about foot binding in china today. it sparked my memory to go back and search for the feature i caught the end of on the world this past monday. very interesting feature by louisa lim about foot binding and interview with a survivor of this eastern form of body modification. Link.

Readers should be aware of Emily Praeger's poignant short story, "A Visit from the Footbinder", with its cover's shocking Western-equiv. illustration: (Amazon link)

Thanks for this article--since I taught human rights, I need to note one aspect of it.

The remark that "the millennium-old practice nevertheless took almost four decades to eradicate after it was initially banned in 1911" gives the impression that this took a long time. In fact, it is one of the great accomplishments in the history of human rights to transform this practice so quickly. People working on female genital cutting, for example, aspire to this success story as a model.

Further, while it was 40 years after the law passed, the actual transformation happened in only about a decade, an astonishingly brief time for an ingrained and widespread cultural practice. Laws alone don't generate transformations like this, social movements do.

Marie Vento posted One Thousand Years of Chinese Footbinding: Its Origins, Popularity and Demise, a paper which explains it in more detail:

"The work of the anti-footbinding reformers had three aspects. First, they carried out a modern education campaign, which explained that the rest of the world did not bind women's feet and that China was losing face in the world, making it subject to international ridicule. Second, their education campaign explained the advantages of natural feet and the disadvantages of bound feet. Third, they formed natural-foot societies, whose members pledged not to bind their daughter's feet nor to allow their sons to marry women with bound feet.[34] These three tactics effectively succeeded in bringing footbinding to a quick end, eradicating in a single generation a practice which had survived for a thousand years. Young girls were thereafter spared the tortures of footbinding, although older women with bound feet may still be seen in China and Taiwan."

posted by Xeni Jardin at 11:23:25 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Patti Smith's NYT op-ed: don't cry for CBGBs, we have the 'net

Should an artist working within the revolutionary landscape of rock accept laurels from an institution? Should laurels be offered? Am I a worthy recipient?

I have wrestled with these questions and my conscience leads me back to Fred and those like him — the maverick souls who may never be afforded such honors. Thus in his name I will accept with gratitude. Fred Sonic Smith was of the people, and I am none but him: one who has loved rock ’n’ roll and crawled from the ranks to the stage, to salute history and plant seeds for the erratic magic landscape of the new guard.

Because its members will be the guardians of our cultural voice. The Internet is their CBGB. Their territory is global. They will dictate how they want to create and disseminate their work. They will, in time, make breathless changes in our political process. They have the technology to unite and create a new party, to be vigilant in their choice of candidates, unfettered by corporate pressure. Their potential power to form and reform is unprecedented.

Human history abounds with idealistic movements that rise, then fall in disarray. The children of light. The journey to the East. The summer of love. The season of grunge. But just as we seem to repeat our follies, we also abide.

Previously on BoingBoing:

Reader comment: Chris Spurgeon says:

I'm right there with you when it comes to love and admiration for Patti Smith. I was very moved by her portion of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's induction ceremony... the firey introduction by Zach de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine, Patti's at-times tearful acceptance speech, and her (STILL!!!, AFTER ALL OF THESE YEARS!!!) blistering live performance. Link

posted by Xeni Jardin at 11:16:52 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Bloggers sift through late-night, 3,000-page DOJ newsdump

A time-honored Washington practice of trying to extinguish, pre-empt, or redirect news coverage by dumping stacks of previously secret government documents on the press may be in for some changes after a headlong collision with hundreds of liberal Web loggers in the wee hours of yesterday morning.

On Monday night, the Justice Department delivered to Congress more than 3,000 pages of e-mails, memos, and other records about the firing of eight U.S. attorneys. The handover came so late that many news organizations had to scramble to try to skim a few headlines from the files before latenight deadlines.

Despite the late hour, readers of a liberal Web site, tpmmuckraker.com, tackled the task with gusto. They quickly began grabbing 50-page chunks of the scanned documents from a House of Representatives Internet server, analyzing them and excerpting them. The first post about the Department of Justice records hit the left-leaning news and commentary site at 1:04 a.m. Within half an hour, there were 50 summaries posted by readers gleaning the documents. By 4:30 a.m., more than 220 postings were up detailing various aspects of the files.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 11:07:10 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Extreme zooms in Google Maps

BB reader Shannon Roberts says,

It looks like Google Maps is incorporating some very close zoomed-in images on their site. It makes me wonder if there will ever be a day that the whole world is captured at this level of detail, but live. Talk about the possibility for widespread surveillance!

If you look at these areas in Google Earth, you'll see that they're part of a series of National Geographic sites, and the result of flyovers, not satellites. They're all over Africa, and generally captivating images.

While Jason may be correct that the linked image is from National Geographic, it is possible to zoom further in on many areas of Google Maps. Just grab the permalink on Google Maps and then change the "z" value. The default highest zoom is 19, but all of NYC can be zoomed to 20, and a few areas to 21-23. Link.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 11:04:16 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Tiny, old life: 19th c. illos of magnified microorganisms

Snip from a post on the superb BibliOdyssey blog:

One of the sweetly sad pleasures of casually trawling the history of science literature is discovering works and characters of incredible depth and diversity that are not widely known. One of these prolific and brilliant pioneers is Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg who might otherwise be described as a microscopist extraordinaire.

He released 2 great monographs which basically divide between the living and non-living worlds examined under magnification during the 19th century. I have previously posted about the non-living: the microgeological and fossil samples Ehrenberg assiduously examined and recorded that gave rise to a new field within paleontology.

The wonderfully alien images above (and in the following post) come from his earlier 1838 treatise, 'Die Infusionsthierchen als Vollkomene Organismen', in which he identified a large number of unicellular organisms, particularly from the protist diatoms, and chief among them the radiolarians.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 11:00:13 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

FBI's illegal eavesdropping: not just national security letters

So we've all heard about the FBI's misuse of national security letters. The Justice Department's inspector general came out with a report on March 9 describing "serious misuse" of the letters, which are secret subpoena-like documents that can be sent to businesses including banks, telephone companies, and ISPs: (PDF Link)

I wrote about the inspector general's report here: (Link).

And in fact the inspector general, Glenn Fine, is going to be testifying about them in the Senate on Wednesday at 10am ET: (Link).

Fine showed up before a House committee on Tuesday and faced a hostile audience -- not that the FBI's illegal acts are his fault, mind you, but Bush administration officials seem oddly reluctant to testify in public under oath nowadays: (Link).

The odd thing is that everyone, or nearly everyone, seems to think this is entirely unexpected. In fact, it's a natural consequence of giving the federal government more and more power over the years (national security letters were made much more powerful by the Patriot Act). Incentives matter, and the FBI has plenty of incentives to expand its power and surveillance ability and precious few incentives to preserve Americans' constitutional liberties.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:38:17 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Hinode spacecraft reveals new details about the Sun

NASA has released never-before-seen photos showing the sun's magnetic field to be more turbulent and dynamic than previously known. Snip:

The international spacecraft Hinode, formerly known as Solar B, took the images. Hinode, Japanese for "sunrise," was launched Sept. 23, 2006, to study the sun's magnetic field and how its explosive energy propagates through the different layers of the solar atmosphere. The spacecraft's uninterrupted high-resolution observations of the sun will have an impact on solar physics comparable to the Hubble Space Telescope's impact on astronomy. (...)

Led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Hinode mission is a collaboration between the space agencies of Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:33:07 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Apple iPhone clone running Windows CE surfaces in China

posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:29:26 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

EFF sues Viacom over YouTube takedown of Colbert parody

The video, called "Stop the Falsiness," was created by MoveOn and Brave New Films as a tongue-in-cheek commentary on Colbert's portrayal of the right-wing media and parodying MoveOn's own reputation for earnest political activism. The short film, uploaded to YouTube in August 2006, includes clips from "The Colbert Report" as well as humorous original interviews about show host Stephen Colbert. In March of this year, Viacom -- the parent company of Comedy Central -- demanded that YouTube take "Stop the Falsiness" down, claiming the video infringed its copyrights.

"Our clients' video is an act of free speech and a fair use of 'Colbert Report' clips," said EFF Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry. "Viacom knows this -- it's the same kind of fair use that 'The Colbert Report' and 'The Daily Show' rely upon every night as they parody other channels' news coverage."

Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a mere allegation of copyright infringement on the Internet can result in content removal, silencing a creator before any misuse is proven. This "shoot first, ask questions later" system can silence online artists and critics, creating unfair hurdles to free speech.

Previously on BoingBoing:

posted by Xeni Jardin at 09:55:02 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Labyrinthine brownie pan is all edges

Update: Spencer sez, "Cooking for Engineers has an in-depth review of this:

Each of the brownies from the Baker's Edge did indeed have chewy edges - two of them (and sometimes three) in fact. It was almost like every piece was a corner piece from the standard pan. Therein laid a problem I hadn't considered. I had tasters that liked brownies with edges and tasters that liked brownies that didn't have any chewy edges but were soft and moist throughout. With the regular pan, I had corner pieces, edge pieces, and center pieces (although there are always more than four people who want corner pieces and not enough edge pieces). For the edge lovers, the brownies from the Baker's Edge were perfect - chewy edges surrounding a moist chocolate brownie. For the center lovers, the brownies were good, but they much preferred the texture of the brownies from the 9x13 pan.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:40:01 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

American Archivists' Council won't nuke its archives

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:11:41 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Meeting with Boston U's DMCA enforcer

I spend about an hour with him. Initially, he does not like me. He says that most of the people that come into his office normally “cave”, which I suppose means apologize and promise never to do it again. I think it makes him mad that I don’t do that and he gets pretty defensive. When I disagree with the things he says, he calls me “brain-dead” and a “smart-ass”. He writes a note in my BU account file in case I ever have to get a lawyer, which prevents him from getting in trouble if my lawyer tries to use the argument that I wasn’t properly informed about the situation. In that note he calls me “arrogant” and mentions something about my non-compliance and my not comprehending the gravity of the situation. While essentially holding hostage my ability to function as a BU student, he makes me answer a series of questions and promise to never violate copyright law again. When I tell him I promise not to do it on the BU network, he calls me a smart-ass again. He maintains that he’s not the bad guy and that he’s just the messenger and he’s really on my side, but really he makes it very clear that he has no interest in helping me personally. The only justification he has is that if enough students get sued and have to drop out due because of insanely high costs (as has happened numerous times in the past few years), then the school has less money and his paycheck goes down. He mentions this multiple times. Throughout the interview, he maintains an attitude of “I’m just doing my job,” or “If I didn’t do it, somebody else would.” He’s clearly never considered the philosophy of not participating in evil things.

Update: Matt sez, "If he really cares about freedom, he should install BU Linux, which includes GNU Octave. Using proprietary software and claiming to be the poor underdog fighting for our rights is just a cover-up for being too lazy to take the approach that really advances freedom."

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:09:36 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

The Well refuses membership to Mitnick, 12 years after intrusion

From: The WELL Help Desk

Date: Mar 2, 2007 11:36 AM
Subject: Your registration for membership in The WELL
To: mitnick@...

We have decided not to offer you membership in The WELL. Your payment will be refunded, and your application is denied.

The WELL staff

posted by Xeni Jardin at 08:30:51 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Ape Lad draws Jackhammer Jill as a hobo

Ape Lad will draw any hobo you care to name, in color, on a postcard, for $10. Is he crazy? They should be going for $1000 each, minimum. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 05:37:30 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

A glimpse at the weird weird world of the rich

Topsy Taylor is the great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Moses Taylor, born in 1805, the son of John Jacob Astor’s business manager.

...

Topsy has a bearing and accent which speaks “uppah-clahss” New York, one of the last mid-Atlantic accents, the result, no doubt, of upbringing and schooling.

...

She has a vice. It is ice cream – a special brand which is imported from Wisconsin and which comes in a variety of flavors often spiked with large (really large) chunks of chocolate. At the end of the day, she makes herself an ice cream cone with one of them. She once sent me a few pints of various flavors of this ice cream (shipped in dry ice fresh to my door). I am not an ice cream addict but this turned me into one. I thanked her for my gift and asked her not to send anymore.

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 05:30:03 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

LA Weekly on Heaven's Gate

I know you just linked to a Heaven's Gate story from SD. But I think you'll dig our cover story on it too. Joshuah Bearman interviewed "Rio," the sole survivor of the group. He actually joined Heaven's Gate after learning of them from an LA Weekly article we ran in '94 (also online here) .

But here's the kicker. We have several exit videos with group leader DO and other members shortly before they committed suicide -- or rather, before they left their vehicles for the spaceship behind the comet.

We're adding more videos now, and should have several up by this afternoon. We also have Rio's explanation of the suicides and why he still believes.

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 05:14:08 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Slideshow for hellish "Haven of Contentment"

Unfortunately, the cassettes which must have gone along with them to provide the narration weren't with the slides but I'd love to hear how they spun some of these images into a narrative called The Haven of Contentment. Let's just say this place looks a lot closer to Twin Peaks than to Shangri-La.

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 04:06:35 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Ron Turner's sci-fi pulp art

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 03:52:03 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Boy puts piss in teacher's coffee

The Wilson Middle School teacher noticed that the coffee had an unusual odor Friday and reported it to the principal, Muncie Community Schools officials said. A student who overheard classmates discussing it also reported the incident to officials.

Previously on Boing Boing:
• Man arrested for drinking urine
• How to make your urine blue
• US Army food designed to be rehydrated with urine
• Play the World Cup with a stream of urine
• Piss-powered battery
• Pee in an air sickness bag, get a flight voucher

posted by David Pescovitz at 03:33:25 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Table topped with giant post-its

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:17:23 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

McDonald's: take "McJob" out of the dictionary

McDonald's argues that jobs at McDonald's aren't crummy, so people are wrong to call crummy jobs McJobs. Let's stipulate for the sake of argument that working at McD's is great -- would it matter? Nope. When we say "McJob," we mean "An unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects, esp. one created by the expansion of the service sector."

Now, whenever I write about trademarks, I get a bunch of emails asserting the voodoo theory of trademark: every conceivable use of a trademark has to be policed aggressively or you'll lose your trademarks forever. It's just not true. A trademark isn't the right to tell people what words they can use when they talk, and it isn't the right to tell dictionaries which words they're allowed to define. Voodoo trademarkism is a fairy tale that trademark lawyers tell their kids at night to reassure them that they'll have a healthy college fund.

From the point of view of the fast-food proletariat, the reason for the McLanguage offensive is clear: The word McJob, as the OED definition makes clear, is "depreciative." It goes on to define the term as: "An unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects, esp. one created by the expansion of the service sector." It found its way into the dictionary in March 2001, 15 years after it was apparently coined by the Washington Post.

"Dictionaries are supposed to be paragons of accuracy. And it this case, they got it completely wrong," Walt Riker, a Mickey D's McSpokesman complained to the Associated Press. "It's a complete disservice and incredibly demeaning to a terrific work force and a company that's been a jobs and opportunity machine for 50 years."

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:14:54 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Mumbai's bleeding drinks-coasters

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:27:01 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Fold your own kids' furniture

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:24:56 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Berkeley's tool library

Update: F_D sez, "Burlington, Vermont's Fletcher Free Library has a similar program with garden tools etc."

Update 2: Lexica sez, "The Oakland Public Library also has a tool lending library, located at the Temescal branch."

Update 3: Thom sez, "There is a tool library in Portland, Oregon too.

Update 4: Corey sez, "I just became library administrator of the Thompson Public Library in Thompson, Manitoba, and we also have a tool library. The Tool Library has been used for over 2 years now, and has really come in handy."

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:22:36 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Daniel Tammet, amazing savant, on 60 Minutes

He can calculate huge sums in his head in seconds and instantaneously recognise prime numbers, but he finds emotions difficult to understand and has trouble telling left from right. One of fewer than fifty such people living worldwide, Daniel is unique in his ability to articulate his savant experience.

He describes his visual experience of numbers as complex synaesthetic shapes with colour, texture and motion. Thirty-seven is lumpy like porridge, while eighty-nine reminds him of falling snow. Sequences of digits form visual landscapes in his mind.

posted by David Pescovitz at 12:40:08 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Heaven's Gate, ten years later

“As we entered the house, we started seeing bodies that were covered up..." said sheriff's deputy Robert Brunk. "Every room that you went into, we found more. Some were in bunk beds.

“They were all in their running suits with their 'Heaven's Gate Away Team' patch on the sleeve. There was a computer flashing 'Red Alert,' sort of like 'Star Trek.' There was still a load of laundry in the machine. It was surreal.”

Purple shrouds covered all but two bodies. Brunk remembers lifting the shroud off only one person, among the youngest. He also remembers shaking a foot of every body to check for rigor mortis. All were wearing black Nike running shoes with the white swoosh on the side.

“The Nike symbol triggers my memory more than any one thing,” said Brunk, a 17-year veteran. “I remember their shoes, all 39 pairs.”

posted by David Pescovitz at 12:20:27 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Nikola Tesla profiled by Mark Pilkington

While it’s still possible to find modern histories of electricity that make no mention of Tesla, during his lifetime he was, alongside Thomas Edison and Guglielmo Marconi, the most celebrated inventor of the age. His polyphase system of Alternating Current (AC) remains the basis for transmitting electricity across power lines and drives induction motors – another Tesla design – in everything from CD players to submarines. Tesla is often credited with starting the "Second Industrial Revolution", but his genius touched on much more than just motors. His writings, patents and inventions included early models for radio, X-ray-emitting tubes, fluorescent lighting, robotics, radar, aircraft, missiles and, heading further out into the unknown, energy weapons, weather control and – his great dream – the wireless transmission of electricity...

After his death, Tesla’s name survived as a unit measuring the intensity of a magnetic field, as a crater on the far side of the Moon, and a small planetary object (2244 Tesla). Meanwhile, his ideas continued to inspire both respectable scientists of the sort you’d happily take back to the academy, and legions of backyard free-energy researchers...

While at Colorado Springs, Tesla realised that the Earth was "a conductor of limitless dimensions". He was convinced that he had sent ELF (Extremely Low Frequency) waves half way around the world, creating a column of energy in the Indian Ocean, which could be tapped for its power using simple equipment like a radio tuner. Outside the station, Tesla was able to power bulbs wirelessly, while inside he noted manifestations of ball lightning and, on one occasion, a dense fog, leading him to believe that he would one day be able to modify the weather and create moisture in arid climates. His most controversial claim, however, and one that probably marked the beginning of the end of his reputation as a serious scientist, was that he had received radio signals from outer space, most likely Mars or Venus. This makes Tesla, unwittingly, the first radio astronomer, though he himself assumed that the signals were directed by another intelligence.

posted by David Pescovitz at 11:22:33 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sandow Birk's fantasy paintings of the Iraq War

...Birk has made a number of paintings, including The Liberation of Baghdad, seen here. The paintings are more satirical and ironic, and many are based on paintings of the glories of war in Napoleon’s time and from Russian socialist images of battlefield glories.

The Liberation of Baghdad, says Birk, is about “what we were told would happen -- happy, joyfully liberated Iraqis welcoming American troops as we free them from the shackles of oppression.”

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:53:54 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

LA Weekly covers Mark Ryden art opening

"These pictures," [gallery owner Michael] Kohn remarks, "are just extraordinarily well painted. And they're weird enough to be interesting. I've noticed among my colleagues -- a lot of my colleagues out in New York, who deal with more conceptually based work -- that looking at Mark's work used to be a guilty pleasure. I saw them coming by my booth in the Miami Basel Art Fair and oohing and aahing over this extraordinarily seductive painting. This was not their normal fare but they liked it anyway. Now, little by little, it's shifting. A guy who bought one of the works in this show collects Diebenkorn and Thiebaud and John Currin and some contemporary photographers -- not just figurative work but mainstream contemporary work, and now that also includes Mark Ryden. Now people can finally do it guilt free."

That Ryden will get the attention of the art world is all but assured: He's simply too talented, too rigorous and -- more to the point -- too savvy an artist not to. More interesting, then, is the next question: What does it mean for a serious contemporary artist to be popular?

Previously on Boing Boing:
• Report from new Mark Ryden show
• New Mark Ryden print
• New Mark Ryden painting to be exhibited: "Rosie's Tea Party"
• Mark Ryden's book, Fushigi Circus
• New Mark Ryden show: The Tree Show
• Mark Ryden's Wondertoonel catalog on sale
• Mark Ryden's high school yearbook photos

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:50:24 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Supergirl drawing jam

Reader comment:

Dean Trippe says:

Thanks for plugging my little Draw Supergirl meme post. I appreciate the kind words and all the traffic!

However, I think there's some misunderstanding. I didn't write a comprehensive history of Supergirl's costuming. My good friend Jessica Plummer did over on her website here.

And last week one of my other websites, Project: Rooftop ran the best entries from the Draw Supergirl with roundtable criticism from industry professionals and fans here (scroll down for the Supergirls).

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:14:54 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Viacom censors Colbert Report machinima off YouTube

"Not good enough for Viacom, evidently-- or for YouTube to check. When you click on the YouTube video now, you get, 'This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Viacom International Inc.'

"The original video is still available on this page."

Link (Thanks, James!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:58:39 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

This American Life parody

Update:

Here's Ira Glass explaining to a comedy troupe called Shadenfreude how to sound like This American Life. (Thanks, Josh!)

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 09:55:08 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Google replies to reports of data-share with cops in Brazil, India

The reporting tool that was offered to authorities acts as a hotline to Google Inc., allowing the authorities to communicate requests for removal of content to us. The reporting tool does not give the police any privilege other than a speedier vehicle to notify Google Inc. about flagged users or communities.

Authorities have no access to user data and can not remove content themselves by using this tool. The tool is not used to provide authorities with user information such as IP addresses. Google investigates reports received by the authorities via the reporting tool to determine whether a user or community has in fact violated orkut's terms of use.

Authorities may use the reporting tool to ask Google to preserve user identifying information for a certain period of time (in anticipation of serving formal legal process for such information), and we will preserve the information accordingly. But no user data is turned over to the authorities absent valid legal process.

Previously on BoingBoing:

posted by Xeni Jardin at 09:52:35 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Detroit houses selling for less than cars

Folks, the ground underneath the house goes with it. You do know that, right?" he offered.

After selling house after house in the Motor City for less than the $29,000 it costs to buy the average new car, the auctioneer tried a new line: "The lumber in the house is worth more than that!"

posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:47:30 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

The Last Supper, with dogs, by Ron Burns

Link to full-size image, "Dinner and Drinks with the Son of Dog." I am rendered speechless, so I'll let the press release do the talking:

One gallery owner in a "Bible Belt" state has already refused to carry Ron Burns' latest work portraying a gathering of pooches around a well-known supper table. "Maybe the world isn't ready for this. Truth is, I wasn't trying to be controversial with this one," says Ron Burns. "I love Da Vinci, I love dogs and it seemed like a fun idea to bring the two together."

The result of this historic matchmaking enterprise? Burns Studio Publishing is pleased to announce the release of limited editions of "Dinner and Drinks with the Son of Dog," Burns' riff on Leonardo da Vinci's, "The Last Supper", which was also a central image in the book "The Da Vinci Code" by novelist Dan Brown.

The Burns version features his own beloved mutt, Rufus, in the center seat, a doggy bone with a halo-like glow floating behind his head. The table is set with tennis balls, dog food in bowls, chew toys and mixed drinks.

Reader comment: Miles says,

Ron Finley, who runs a gallery of dog art in LA, is similarly obsessed with DaVinci and dogs. Last year he published a goofy Photoshopped graphic novel further giving more weight to the dog-DaVinci connection. No Last Supper remix, but some engaging pictures of dogs using DaVinci's flying machines, like this one. Link to gallery, Link to "Shaggy Dogs Story" on Amazon.

P.S. Disclosure -- Ron Finley's my pop.

The Last Supper with Dogs pic reminded me of this decorative plate by Viz. I have one lying under my bed at home and, looking at it again, I'm thinking it's time to dust it off and give it the wall space it's due.

Reminded me of another, The Last Supplement to the Whole Earth Catalog cover by R. Crumb, which can be seen here: Link.

I have just read your post about that painting of the last supper with dogs instead of humans, and that really reminded me to another excellent work of a friend of mine. He's always been a fanatic of all kind of animals and his speciality is scientific painting, so his last year final project was the last supper with dinosaurs. When I was a kid, we were schoolmates and he made me a dinosaur-mad too. Now I've got that picture in my dinning-room (^_~)

cbmfive says,

Around the end of this January, Fark ran a Photoshop contest to gather material for Fark TV. The subject was adding dogs to Da Vinci paintings. One submission involved the Last Supper with dogs. Here's the link to the thread, and here's a direct link to the photo.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 09:40:22 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Call you later, hosen

Reader comments: Chris says,

The Canada.com blurb says that the cell phone lederhosen are actually "sporting a built-in interface for an MP3 player" which makes sense in the context of the picture, since two of the buttons are volume up and down and two others are track forward and back.

It is definitely a MP3 player. Trousers available in one store in Munich (Link).

Basicly it's not a 'real' mass market product. Bavaria is considered a bit 'rural' and 'backward' compared to more industrial federal states in Germany.

So a few years ago they started a campaign called "Laptop und Lederhosen" did a lot of funding for bio tech, IT and similar. Would be like if Texas started "CyberCowboys" and produced chaps with PDA pouch and GPS "So you can track your cattle!"

Tech inside the trouser comes from: Link. (No english website) specialized in clothig with 'addon' like heating, GPS, MP3, mobiles etc...

posted by Xeni Jardin at 09:36:43 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Video of Hendrix street art in the making

Reader comment: Jeremy Keyes says:

That Hendrix street art piece is from the D. A. Pennebaker film “Monterey Pop.”

posted by Xeni Jardin at 09:32:37 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Big book of Unamerican subversive stickers

The book is something I've never seen before: 400+ vinyl paper bumper stickers, in sheets, in alphabetical order, bound in a big trade paperback. You get hundreds of Unamerican stickers for $15, ready to peel and stick (along with the hilarious back-cover disclaimer: "Please don't sticker up public spaces or other people's property without permission. Use this book with respect for other people's property or you might get into trouble. We are not going to be held liable for your zany vandalism schemes and you are not a freak property damage robot. Use this book correctly for maximum effect. Thanks for reading, we're on your side.")

The Volume 1 in the title suggests that there are more editions to come -- I eagerly await them. However, I'd prefer if future editions contained some sheets of small stickers, appropriately sized for laptops, phones, etc -- how many bumpers does the average stickerer own? Link

See also: New book on kooky counterculture stickers by Srini Kumar

posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:04:28 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Farting doll wins copyright dispute

Fartman could be Fred's twin. Fartman, also a plush doll, is a white, middle-aged, overweight man with black hair and a receding hairline, sitting in an armchair wearing a white tank top and blue pants. Fartman (as his name suggests) also farts when one squeezes his extended finger; he too cracks jokes about the bodily function. Two of Fartman's seven jokes are the same as two of the 10 spoken by Fred. Needless to say, Tekky Toys, which manufactures Fred, was not happy when Novelty, Inc., began producing Fartman, nor about Novelty's production of a farting Santa doll sold under the name Pull-My- Finger Santa.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:50:28 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Iraqi vlog series: Hometown Baghdad

BoingBoing reader Mike says,

My company produced a web series about young people in Baghdad. It was shot entirely in Baghdad by a group of brave Iraqi filmmakers. It tells the stories of three young Iraqis trying to survive and get on with life while surrounded by constant danger. The first three are on youtube and more will follow every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. A group of Iraqis has taken to posting comments on our blog and engaging in dialogue with everyone else who posts there. After four years of war, it's an interesting and important window into the realities on the ground.

Here is the youtube playlist link.

Above, the episode Forbidden Salad. "Ausama introduces his family and their questionably heretical eating habits."

posted by Xeni Jardin at 08:46:46 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Asparagus: a horticultural ballet.

The Israeli duo who refer to themselves as the Pil and Galia Kollectiv, in particularly reverential Modernist mood, presented 'Asparagus: A Horticultural Ballet' on stage at the Conway Hall Humanist Centre, in Holborn last week. Well attended, the programme was a three act, asparagus costumed dance that moved methodically through a series of moves for different numbers of the vegetable cast. The programme makes claim to the ballets basis on 'Marx's Das Capital (as Lali Chetwynd did recently in her vegatable performances - something in the zeitgeist?).

posted by Xeni Jardin at 08:40:01 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Skywalk over Grand Canyon: world's highest man-made structure

Link to a series of photos shot Tuesday at a preview opening (at left, here, an artist's rendition from the original project plans). Link to a promo video, which claims it's the highest man-made structure in the world.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 08:23:39 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Shorpy.com, the 100-year-old photo blog

Not a hundred-year-old blog, but a blog with images of American life a hundred years ago:

How people looked and what they did for a living, back when not having a job usually meant not eating. We’re starting with a collection of photographs taken in the early 1900s by Lewis Wickes Hine as part of a decade-long field survey for the National Child Labor Committee, which lobbied Congress to end the practice. One of his subjects, a young coal miner named Shorpy Higginbotham, is the site’s namesake.

Above, "Shut This Door That Means You," a child working in a West Virginia coal mine in 1908. Notice the birds sketched on the door, and the words "Please don't scare the birds." Does that have something to do with canaries in coalmines? (via Heading East)

Reader comment: Anonymous says,

Shorpy has a picture of the guy on the front of Johnn Hodgman's book "The Areas Of My Expertise", only this time he has a string of dead rats instead of a ferret. Link.

BB readers wishing to do their own research and wanting more info on the images might like to know that the source of images for shorpy.com is the online catalog of the Library of Congress Prints and Photo Division.

The LoC has a page for the National Child Labor Committee: Link. Here's Shorpy himself: Link.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 08:09:47 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Cryptozoological hooch: Chupacabra tequila spotted in wild

"Knowing BB readers are El Chupacabra fans I submit this photo of a Tequila bottle I spotted on a recent trip to the Yucatan around Tulum. Yes, I regret not having bought the bottle if only for its presence, but I wonder if El Chupacabra's visage on the bottle is an enticement to drink the brand or a consumer warning!"

Link to blog post with pix.

Reader comment: Gene says,

The "Cryptozoological hooch: Chupacabra tequila spotted in wild" story is referring to Chamucos, a cracking good tequila. A real smooth, sipping tequila that you won't want to shoot. Well, you shouldn't, anyway. The site linked is Flash-laden, and in Spanish.

Agreed...great sipping tequila. It's seriously like butter. Thought I'd pass along another picture I happen to have of the bottle since the referenced blog is down. Wish bar on Folsom near 11th in SF has this fine tequlia fyi.

In response to the post about the Chupacabra tequila, singer Maynard James Keenan of Tool in 2005 made a Chupacabra wine, of which is now sold out, but I was lucky enough to get a bottle. Pictures at caduceus.org, with ordering information for upcoming seasons.

I just wanted to send a quick clarification that the term “Chamuco” is not the same as “chupacabra”. A chupacabra is a fairly recently created (discovered?) creature that is said to pray on livestock. The term “Chamuco” is used for the devil or Satan. Saying “el Chamuco” in Spanish is somewhat similar to saying “the boogey-man” in English but with a slightly more pagan ring to it.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 07:57:49 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

FBI surveillance requests and telecom cooperation

posted by Xeni Jardin at 07:54:33 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Elephant landmine survivors on the Thai-Burma border

Here's a story about a baby elephant named Motala who stepped on a landmine in 1999 while working at a logging camp. A group called Friends of the Asian Elephant near Bangkok has been caring for her since then. She has a new prosthesis now, and it's helping her to walk:

The prosthesis, which looks like a boxing bag and is filled with wood shavings, has been fitted daily for more than two weeks.

CNN video: Link, BBC video and story here: Link. Image: Associated Press. (via the blog for landmine and bomb removal and victims' assistance organization Clear Path International, where you'll find many related stories)

Reader comment: Al Hunt says,

This story mentions that elephants that step on land mines often have to be killed by their trainers. I saw a show on this a couple of years ago. What the story doesn't make clear is what it means to that trainer.

Many of these trainers grew up with their elephants. They start training baby elephants as children, and develop a close relationship as they both grow older. As young adults, the trainers work with their elephants during the day and care for them at night. The elephant is bread-winner, protector, friend, and family member.

To put it in American terms, imaging being an early settler. You're in the middle of nowhere, and the horse you raised from a foal is now keeping you alive by helping you hunt, travel and farm. It hurts its leg, and you now have to shoot it. You have no prospects for ever getting another horse, and have no other skills. Can you imaging pulling that trigger?

posted by Xeni Jardin at 07:39:37 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Baghdad: interactive map of violence, 2003-2007

Here's an info-map of the increasing violence in Baghdad after the end of "major combat operations," four years into the Iraq War. You can click to see which areas are ethnically Sunni, Shia, or mixed. Link (Thanks, dallas)

Reader comment: Richard Podkolinski says,

I've been studying counterinsurgency operations in Iraq for the University of Leiden and the Clingendael Institute of International Relations in the Hague for roughly two years. The project is a geographical analysis comparing Coalition operations to attacks against civilians.

I'd like to point out a major problem with the BBC Interactive Baghdad map. While it looks pretty, with its points, the data they use, namely "Iraqi Body Count" doesn't contain sufficient information to create such a map. Less than 60% of the Iraqi Body Count data on Baghdad is at the neighborhood level. The remaining 40% is simply recorded as "Baghdad", and is non-descript as to where specifically in Baghdad an attack occured. Within that 60% the majority relates to neighborhoods not to specific places, meaning there is no way to place points.

Simply put, unless BBC went and checked each of the attacks in Baghdad and got a specific location, the map is incorrect. Since the data simply is not there to achieve it.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 07:23:08 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Understanding Games: short interactive videos on game design

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 (via Raph)

See also:
Theory of Fun: Understanding Comics for games
Theory of Fun PDF - UPDATED
Koster's amazing "What are the lessons of MMORPGs today?"

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:47:44 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Lousy pitches for MMOs

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:37:16 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Super Mario theme on three trombones

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:34:02 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Go Away/Come In doormat

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:32:58 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Make ready thy Easter Peeps art: Alien encounter tableau

Dan Paddock says,

In the aftermath of the Anna Nicole Smith Peeps sculpture, I thought you guys might enjoy the Peeps diorama that my wife and I put together for our local newspaper's easter contest. We call it "We Come In Peeps."

Previously on BoingBoing:

posted by Xeni Jardin at 08:41:29 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Posters from Black Panther newspaper covers: 1969-1971

posted by Cory Doctorow at 04:45:08 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Model contract clause for works in Creative Commons

Lots of people have asked me whether doing a non-commercial CC release makes it impossible to sell commercial rights to a traditional publisher. Here's how it can work:

The exclusive rights granted to Licensee hereunder are subject to a pre-existing Creative Commons license which grants members of the public the irrevocable and nonexclusive right to create their own adaptations of the Licensed Property, including comic books. Such Creative Commons-licensed works may not be sold or distributed for profit. Licensee acknowledges that under the terms of this Creative Commons license, members of the public may create comic book version of the Licensed Property for non-commercial distribution. Licensor agrees not to license the rights which are granted to Licensee hereunder to any competitor of Licensee or to any commercial enterprise intending to create adaptations of the Works for commercial distribution.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 04:28:37 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Curvy chaise/desk combo with flat screen

Imagine a furniture to wear... then dress it with an innovator design, intense colors, ergonomics and technology appeal. Like in fashion, the point is to unify beauty, comfort, and functionality. Whether your desire is to watch TV or DVD, listen to your favorite CD, read, talk on the phone, or even study, take a nap or browse the internet, you got it close, in a multifunctional chaise-longue. This concept is inspired by the values and personality of a today's teenager and the standards generated by a global hi-tech culture of facilities, where the access to technology is cheap and easy.

posted by David Pescovitz at 04:05:17 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Accidental hard drive erasure cost Alaska $220k

Nine months worth of information concerning the yearly payout from the Alaska Permanent Fund was gone: some 800,000 electronic images that had been painstakingly scanned into the system months earlier, the 2006 paper applications that people had either mailed in or filed over the counter, and supporting documentation such as birth certificates and proof of residence.

And the only backup was the paperwork itself -- stored in more than 300 cardboard boxes.

The Alaska Permanent Fund is Alaska's way of giving back to the residents of the state. Profits from oil money is put into a fund, 1% of which is then invested. Every October, the average earnings over the last five years is split among us 600,000 (or so) residents. As the article mentioned, each Alaska resident received about $1,100 from the state last year.

You mention that nobody was punished for the human error that resulted in the hard drive being wiped, but that's not exactly true. Note the last line of the article:

"The money would come from the permanent fund earnings, the money earmarked for the dividends. That means recipients could find their next check docked by about 37 cents."

As an Alaska resident, *I'm* being penalized 37 cents for the mistake. Granted, it's only the cost of a postage stamp, but still -- we're the ones bearing the cost of that technician's mistake.

posted by David Pescovitz at 03:41:24 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Giant snowflakes

Snow crystals, despite their legendary diversity, come in a relatively small number of general shapes, including prisms, columns, stars, cups, plates, bullets and needles. Technically, the big crystals that Dr. Libbrecht observed in Canada are known as dendrites, from the Greek word for tree, because their arms are quite elaborate, like branches thick with leaves or flower stems rich in petals. Dendrites are the largest snow crystals.

Scientists have found that dendrites have a tendency to join together faster than their simpler relatives. Their complicated arms, it appears, more easily form bonds. “As the branches interlock,” said Dr. Petersen of the University of Alabama, “you get these huge aggregates.”

Scientists have also found that particularly large dendrites, like the ones Dr. Libbrecht observed, can become the “seeds” or “nuclei” from which big flakes grow.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:30:54 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Starbucks: homeless people can't drink coffee in stores

"People shouldn't be told to leave after buying a cup of coffee," she said. "No one should be humiliated like that..."

Instead of sitting alone, she went to sit with a homeless man she knew from the Welcome Center.

The man immediately told her he wasn't staying - that he had been told to leave.

Kilborn was trying to ask the man why he had to go when a Starbucks employee tapped her on the shoulder and asked her to leave.

Update: Patrick sez, "I just wanted it to be known that the actions of that particular store and its employees are not practiced by all Starbucks stores. I don't intend to defend the company as a whole, or even pretend to like it. But I do work for it, and it has been my most enjoyable job yet. The store in which I work is located in a tourist-saturated, high class, and all around depressing locale. However, everyday we are visited by a gentleman who we know to be homeless, and we are glad to have him. We give him all the free coffee he can drink, and bag up the morning pastries for him to take back for his friends on the beach where he apparently lives. We even keep his special mug in the back, and wash it when he's finished. He tips us what he can. We all know him by name, and he knows us by name. The thing to understand is that each store is run very differently, depending on the crew, and more so on the manager. We've got the best of both. I don't love Starbucks, but I do love my store."

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:22:07 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Hard Day's Night of the Living Dead: Zombies vs the Beatles

Update: Greg sez, "More accurately the video (which is really fun!) is a mashup of Hard Day's Night with the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead (as well as some footage of the brilliant Shaun of the Dead)."

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:16:02 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Pelagic sea slug looks like Jim Woodring creature

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 02:14:14 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Kids' version of the conversation at the grown-up table

MOM: Pass the wine, please. I want to become crazy.
DAD: O.K.
GRANDMOTHER: Did you see the politics? It made me angry.
DAD: Me, too. When it was over, I had sex.
UNCLE: I’m having sex right now.
DAD: We all are.
MOM: Let’s talk about which kid I like the best.
DAD: (laughing) You know, but you won’t tell.
MOM: If they ask me again, I might tell.
FRIEND FROM WORK: Hey, guess what! My voice is pretty loud!
DAD: (laughing) There are actual monsters in the world, but when my kids ask I pretend like there aren’t.
MOM: I’m angry! I’m angry all of a sudden!
DAD: I’m angry, too! We’re angry at each other!
MOM: Now everything is fine.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:12:33 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Students: get paid to hack TOR this summer!

Working on Tor is rewarding because:

* You can work your own hours in your own locations. As long as you get the job done, we don't care about the process.

* We only write free (open source) software. The tools you make won't be locked down or rot on a shelf.

* You will work with a world-class team of anonymity experts and developers on what is already the largest and most active strong anonymity network ever.

* The work you do could contribute to academic publications -- Tor development raises many open questions and interesting problems in the field of [WWW] Privacy Enhancing Technologies.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 02:09:26 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Why we apes aren't hairy

If Stone Age people believed that hairless babies were more attractive than hairy ones, this could explain why humans are the only apes lacking a coat of fur. Harris suggests that Neanderthals must have been furry in order to survive the Ice Age. Our species would have seen them as "animals" and potential prey. Harris' hypothesis continues that Neanderthals went extinct because human ancestors ate them.

posted by David Pescovitz at 01:43:49 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Airport check-in kiosks reveal dedication to customer service

Here's airline #1...

----------------------
Touch screen to begin.
hi there
start
----------------------

...and here's airline #2...

----------------------
Self-Service Check-In
Check-in now available for domestic and INTERNATIONAL flights.
Check-In Without Bags (carry-on only)
Lost Boarding Pass?
Reprint Boarding Pass(es) ----------------------

There's certainly a difference online. If you had to guess, which airline makes a greater effort to provide a simple, easy experience for customers in its *offline* channels as well? (Airline #1 is JetBlue, and airline #2 is American Airlines.)

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 01:24:04 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Video made from scan of body parts

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 01:15:42 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Human chameleon thinks he is whoever he is with

When with doctors, AD assumes the role of a doctor; when with psychologists he says he is a psychologist; at the solicitors he claims to be a solicitor. AD doesn't just make these claims, he actually plays the roles and provides plausible stories for how he came to be in these roles.

To investigate further, Giovannina Conchiglia and colleagues used actors to contrive different scenarios. At a bar, an actor asked AD for a cocktail, prompting him to immediately fulfil the role of bar-tender, claiming that he was on a two-week trial hoping to gain a permanent position. Taken to the hospital kitchen for 40 minutes, AD quickly assumed the role of head chef, and claimed responsibility for preparing special menus for diabetic patients. He maintains these roles until the situation changes. However, he didn't adopt the role of laundry worker at the hospital laundry, perhaps because it was too far out of keeping with his real-life career as a politician.

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:59:07 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Steam powered toy robot

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:34:34 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Fortran developer John W. Backus dead at 82

The developer of Fortran, John W. Backus, has died. I remember programming with Fortran in junior high school in Winnipeg back in the '70s--when it was a big deal to have a computer in a school! While all we really did was simple math and ASCII photos, his work helped make computing and programming more accessible for a generation of geeky kids like me.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 12:16:59 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Chris Ware animation for This American Life TV show

Here's a preview of a segment from Showtime's upcoming This American Life show, animated by Chris Ware!

I got an advance DVD of the first four episodes of Showtime's This American Life, and I love it. They did a terrific job of making a TV show with the same feel as the radio program. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:30:38 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Amnesty International makes Guantanamo cell replica

Amnesty International has constructed a highly realistic life size replica of the Guantanamo cell where Australian David Hicks has been languishing for five years. There is a Quicktime virtual reality panorama of it on this Sydney panorama blog site.

Reader comment:

Cyril says:

It might be of interest that in Düsseldorf, Germany, where I work right now, there is a quite similar exhibition by artist Gregor Schneider called 'White Torture.'

From the website: The exhibition is a response to images circulating on the Internet of the United States’ maximum security facility Camp V at Guantánamo Bay on Cuba, a ‘no-man’s-land that is shielded as far as possible from the public gaze. The title of the exhibition also references the secret and the clandestine. ‘White torture’, also known as ‘clean torture’, is used of methods that are designed to destroy a person’s mind without leaving any external evidence and hence extremely hard to prove.

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:01:07 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Monday, March 19, 2007

Pee in an air sickness bag, get a flight voucher

No other passengers noticed Whipple using the bag, but a flight attendant asked him about it and told the captain, who called airport police.

Whipple was questioned and took a taxi home to Sandy, a Salt Lake City suburb.

The airline sent him a letter of apology and a flight voucher, SkyWest spokeswoman Sabrena Suite-Mangum said Friday.

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 11:00:43 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Iran: new BBC TV documentary on culture, media, tech now online

Hossein Derakhshan says,

This a documentary done by Rageh Omaar, BBC's former correspondent in Iraq. He has visited Iran and has made this fair and beautiful documentary on many aspects of life in Iran.

The full-length documentary, shown by BBC 4 recently, is now at Google Video.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 07:06:25 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sticker prototype for uppity bloggers (is there any other kind?)

(Thanks, R. Stevens of Dieselsweeties)

posted by Xeni Jardin at 07:00:09 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Michael Crook victory party/EFF fundraiser Mar 22 in San Fran

Related BB posts:
• Michael Crook apologizes to internet for DMCA abuse
• Michael Crook backs down on DMCA harassment
• Michael Crook sends bogus DMCA takedown notice to BB
• EFF Sues Michael Crook for Bogus DMCA Claims
• RU Sirius show about EFF suit against Michael Crook
• Ethan Ackerman schools us on DMCA and ISPs' obligations
• Troublemakers enjoy harassing sites with bogus DMCA
• EFF fights another DMCA abuser
• HOWTO protect yourself from "The Craigslist Experiment"
•The Seattle Craigslist sex scandal

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:01:39 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

FBI: terrorists might drive school-buses, but they probably won't

On the subject of "scary-story-but-nothing-to-worry-about," here are a couple from me:

* Osama bin Laden might recruit suicide bombers who fill their colons with Semtex and undetectable shards of broken glass. These anus-bombers might blow up airplanes with their explosive assholes, killing everyone on board. We should all get a thorough, deep rectal exam prior to boarding, starting right now.

* Terrorists might use rigged laptop batteries to trigger massive inflight lithium explosions. All laptops should henceforth travel in unpadded, unlocked bags. No battery-powered devices of any kind (digital watches, hearing aids, iPods, phones) should ever be allowed on airplanes. People with pacemakers should walk. Or stay put.

* Terrorists might start animal shelters and use them to recruit stray animals that can be trained to serve as superbug vectors, tearing through our cities, spreading weaponized Ebola. No living creatures -- other than (some) humans should be allowed within the city limits of any settlement bigger than 400 people.

* Terrorists could infiltrate the world's car companies and manufacture large, fuel-inefficient vehicles like Hummers. Once America has gone all SUV, the resulting carbon emissions would contribute to polar melting and global warming, causing devastating hurricanes through the southwest, killing and displacing millions of Americans. Ban car companies now, or the terrorists have won.

Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 04:52:04 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Time Warner Cable Internet sucks rocks

But Time Warner won't look into the problem -- instead, as before, they insist on waiting two days while they get a service van out to look at my modem, verify that yup, once again, it hasn't spontaneously stopped working, and then they'll investigate at their end.

When I called Time Warner, they offered to fix the problem faster if I'd pay for "business service," then when I balked at paying extra money for the privilege of getting the service I'm paying them for, they started telling lies, saying that cable modem is always faster than DSL (it isn't), and that Time Warner is the only company that doesn't charge for sending out technicians on service calls (they aren't).

Time Warner cable is like some kind of throwback to the early days of broadband, when it was rare and exotic and barely worked. They have a well-deserved reputation for buying out great ISPs and turning them to garbage, and that's just what they've done here. I'm sick of it.

Do you work at an LA-based ISP? I need broadband service -- something fast and reliable I can use from now until September when I go back to London. Drop me some email.

Update: Well, Time Warner got service running again this morning (surprise, surprise, the problem was at their end, not mine, AGAIN, knock me over with a feather, honestly), and I had a couple hundred emails suggesting alternate ISPs. Of these the ones that seem promising are:

Speakeasy
Sonic
LABridge

posted by Cory Doctorow at 04:22:34 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Haircut to fake being awake

posted by David Pescovitz at 03:29:15 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Headless cockroaches, alive!

...Cockroaches do not have blood pressure the way people do. "They don't have a huge network of blood vessels like that of humans, or tiny capillaries that you need a lot of pressure to flow blood through," (University of Massachusetts physiologist and biochemist Joseph) Kunkel says. "They have an open circulatory system, which there's much less pressure in."

"After you cut their heads off, very often their necks would seal off just by clotting," he adds. "There's no uncontrolled bleeding."

The hardy vermin breathe through spiracles, or little holes in each body segment. Plus, the roach brain does not control this breathing and blood does not carry oxygen throughout the body.

posted by David Pescovitz at 02:58:11 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

David Gill reviews Philip K. Dick's new old novel

Philip K Dick is in the midst of a cultural ascendancy. The science fiction writer long-championed by devoted genre fans, freaks, and druggies is finally being recognized as a serious literary talent. This May, four of Dick’s best science fiction novels from the 1960s will be released in a single volume by the Library of America. While Dick’s SF is finally getting the critical attention it so deeply deserves, only serious Dick-heads know that the Bay Area author spent his lifetime hoping for literary success outside of science fiction. In the 1950s, Dick wrote one mainstream novel every year or so (all except the truly remarkable “Confessions of a Crap Artist” were thoroughly rejected by publishers during his lifetime). In January Dick’s last unpublished novel, Voices From the Street, written in 1956, was released by Tor.

This mainstream novel, which chronicles the unfulfilling life of Oakland resident and radio electronics salesman Stuart Hadley as he searches for significance in the spiritually bankrupt wasteland of post-war, middle-class suburbia, once again reveals that Dick’s literary success owes more to his considerable ability to depict realistic characters than to his use of space-age gadgetry.

Philip K. Dick said of his writing in 1978, “I don’t write beautifully – I just write reports about our condition.” Indeed, it is Dick’s profound ability to chronicle the humanness of his characters (especially his androids) that pulls me into his books over and over again and this novel is no different. Stuart Hadley is immediately identifiable as a Dick character, wounded by the isolation and narcissism of society. In much of Dick’s science fiction, reality breaks down because his characters want it to, because they feel so defeated in many cases that waking up in a world where nobody knows them at least gives them a reason to get out of bed. Hadley is no different; he has made a good life for himself: he’s got a successful business, a beautiful wife, but he feels empty inside. Dick writes, “A dull, numbing tiredness crept through Hadley’s bones. Lazily, the miasma drifted up like grey cigarette smoke, into all parts of his body.”

In this novel, Dick masterfully portrays the paradox of the American dream: that the selfish drive for personal gain ultimately leaves people feeling isolated and unfulfilled. What Hadley learns over the course of the novel is that the peculiarly American tradition of desperately searching for meaning or significance (otherwise known as a mid-life crisis) is often undertaken out of a selfish desire for fulfillment and is therefore doomed to fail.

If this book is so good – which it is – why couldn’t Dick get it published? Dick’s simple, no-nonsense prose style is a bit understated for many serious readers’ literary tastes but his simple narrative voice efficiently conveys his character’s crushing existential angst. With common words and uncomplicated grammar Dick creates complicated worlds and deep characters who struggle in his fiction for meaning and significance. It may very well have been Dick’s simple style that failed to grab mainstream editors’ attention, but it is precisely this simple voice that Dick harnesses so brilliantly to capture a simple life in search of complication.

posted by David Pescovitz at 02:22:44 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Mad Gasser of Mattoon

Like the incidents reported from London and Aldershot over half a century before, the real events that unfolded in Mattoon underwent a fortean sea change to become items of myth and folklore, and a local lunatic, more to be pitied than censured, became a figure of legend: if 19th-century London hatched ‘Spring-heeled Jack’, then 1940s Illinois gave birth to ‘The Mad Gasser of Mattoon’.

One fascinating aspect of these stories is that they provide some clues towards the workings of that peculiar sociocultural mechanism whereby real events become myths, one particularly prevalent in my own field of cryptozoology (most notably, perhaps, in the case of the exotic cats which now roam the wilder parts of the United Kingdom; they too have undergone this process, becoming the ‘Surrey Puma’, the ‘Fen Tiger’ or the ‘Beast of Exmoor’). The other thing we shouldn’t forget is that tales like those of the Mad Gasser of Mattoon are, quite simply, irresistible fun.

posted by David Pescovitz at 01:15:57 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

James Randi vs James Hyrdick

The look on Hydrick's face when Randi sprinkles styrofoam around a phone book to show that Hydrick is blowing air through his mouth to psychically turn the page is priceless. And Hydrick's excuse as to why he can't do the stunt is even funnier.

From Wikipedia:

Hydrick's psychic powers were definitively exposed as being fraudulent by investigative journalist Dan Korem who discovered that Hydrick had developed an extraordinary talent for blowing almost undetectable but highly powerful and focussed jets of air from his mouth. Hydrick eventually confessed his fraud and admitted that he had developed his unique talent while he was in prison, and did not learn it from a Chinese master as he had originally claimed.

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 01:09:50 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

More nightmarish Russian playground art

Previously on Boing Boing:
• Children's playgrounds in Russia

Reader comment:

Gtron says: "you make snide comment about Russian playground pig, but he is just like your pantless pig.... Amerika is 'better'?"

Matt says: "In regards to Gtron's comment, at least our pantless pig doesn't look like he's just been caught 'playing with his pig-in-a-blanket' on a children's playground and is about to do horrible things to the person(s) who caught him in the act. In contrast, I know that I, personally, have never felt sexually threatened by Porky. Maybe I'm alone on that one."

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:46:11 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Volcanic crater for sale

"The ideal buyer would be another private owner who respects the history of the property or a public body such as the Manukau City Council or Auckland Regional Council, which could work with the marae committee and convert it into a public park.

He will consider offers on individual lots if the property cannot be sold as one lot.

posted by David Pescovitz at 12:38:27 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

1948 Fate magazine article about Charles Fort

Previously on Boing Boing:
• Mark Chorvinsky, founder of Strange magazine, RIP
• Charles Fort letter up for auction
• Old copies of Fate magazine
• R. Crumb's Bigfoot covers for Fate

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:31:33 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

SpaceX launches a rocket demo flight today at 4PM PT

In addition to this very impressive rocket system, they are now under contract with NASA to launch a space capsule called "Dragon", which can be used for cargo or up to 7 astronauts.

Reader comment: William G M Leslie III says,

Thank you for the mention on today's BoingBoing regarding the SpaceX Demo 2 launch! As you know, the launch was aborted at approximately T-minus 1 minute 20 seconds. However, I think it is a testament to the design of the vehicle and the ancillary systems that it didn't just go "boom," but that the rocket was shut down intact.

Even if the count had reached T-minus 0, the flight software holds the rocket on the pad until it determines that everything is "go." This is one of the very few space vehicles that can be shut-down on the pad safely. In contrast, once the Space Shuttle solid fuel boosters have ignited, it must leave the launch pad.

Mr. Musk has put a lot of effort into making this system the most reliable launcher in the world. I think he is very close to his goal. As for me, I have been a space junkie since the late Gemini era and I love the fact that a fellow software engineer is leading the way in private space flight development.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 11:03:21 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Flickr set of opening night of "R. Crumb's Underground"

A massive Robert Crumb retrospective curated by Todd Hignite just opened at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. It runs from Mar 16 - Jul 8, 2007.

The show includes over 200 of the best examples of Crumb's art, spanning his prolific and rich lifetime body of work.

I just posted a Flickr set of 81 photos taken on the opening day. It's a good thing we shot the photos early, as the opening drew more visitors than anyone at the museum could remember ever getting, There was a 30-45 minute wait for the line of people just to get into the show later in the night. Also spotted but not pictured: Paul Mavrides, Gary Baseman, S. Clay Wilson, John Dwyer, Terry Zwigoff, Caitlin Mitchell-Dayton, Eric Sack, Robert Armstrong, various McSweeney's staff and of course many others...

I usually don't enjoy art openings that much because it is so hard to look at the work. This was a nice and unexpected exception as YBCA was smart to limit the number of visitors into the large exhibition space to a comfortable number, while a line waited to be let in as people left.

I'm already planning to go back for a revisit to take the audio tour. I have never taken one of these, as typically I'd have no interest in hearing some scholar telling me what to look at. In this case it sounds interesting as the audio tour features commentary on several pieces in the show by the artist and his wife that were excerpted from an interview by Todd Hignite on his recent trip to their home in France. This sounds strange to me, but to take the tour you have to call a number on your mobile phone and as you walk through the gallery you can punch in a number assigned to the piece you are looking at to hear their words. I plan on bringing some headphones so I don't feel like I'm on the phone in the museum.

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 11:01:50 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Artists and designers take photos of their work areas

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:57:07 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Account of Rand Holmes art show

Since I started buying undergrounds as a young geek in the early 1980's, I was aware that the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers had a Canadian cousin, Harold Hedd. He was drawn by one of Canada’s finest comic artists, Rand Holmes. In the late 1960's and on into the early 70's, Rand drew for the Georgia Straight, a weekly underground newspaper in Vancouver, BC. Harold was featured in a tabloid-sized reprint as well as his own comics from Last Gasp. Rand also did covers and editorial cartoons for the Straight, commercial art and many short comic works.

For the last twenty years of his life, Rand lived and worked on Lasqueti Island {lah-SKEE-tee}, population 250. The same size and shape as Manhattan Island but with 1.4 million fewer people, it's accessible via a passenger ferry {which does not take vehicles} that departs from the nearby marina of French Creek on Vancouver Island. If the weather is cooperating.

Rand Holmes died March 17th, 2002 and his family and friends organized a retrospective art show at the community hall on the fifth anniversary of his untimely death. This is probably the last time this work will be together like this, it will likely go on tour and some will be sold.

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:52:15 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Giant crystal cave in Mexico

In April 2000, brothers Juan and Pedro Sanchez were drilling a new tunnel when they made a truly spectacular discovery. While Naica miners are accustomed to finding crystals, Juan and Pedro were absolutely amazed by the cavern that they found. The brothers immediately informed the engineer in charge, Roberto Gonzalez. Ing. Gonzalez realized that they had discovered a natural treasure and quickly rerouted the tunnel. During this phase some damage was done as several miners tried to remove pieces of the mega-crystals, so the mining company soon installed an iron door to protect the find. Later, one of the workers, with the intention of stealing crystals, managed to get in through a narrow hole. He tried to take some plastic bags filled with fresh air inside, but the strategy didn't work. He lost consciousness and later was found thoroughly baked.

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:38:33 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Yahoo readies a Chinese version of Flickr

Previous posts on BoingBoing:

posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:04:36 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Car dealer to customer: can't buy car without your fingerprint

Michael Herf and his wife Lorna I tried to buy a car at South Bay BMW (in the greater LA area) last week. "They refused to sell it to us without a thumbprint," Michael says, "Price was negotiated and we were even ready to pay cash. They weren't willing to budge, so we walked out." Lorna's account is here: Link. In related news, Consumerist reports that the practice of demanding thumbprints is showing up at banks: Link.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 09:50:03 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

NFL violates copyright law, YouTube collaborates with them

But instead, the NFL just sent another takedown notice -- something that is illegal, "knowingly materially misrepresent[ing] ... that material or activity is infringing." Of course, YouTube took the material down anyway (they have a pattern of sucking up to rightsholder groups instead of standing up for their users), showing that the weak, ineffectual user protections in the DMCA are routinely ignored by rightsholders and ISPs.

The DMCA way for NFL to challenge that, per 512(g)(2)(C), would be to "file[] an action seeking a court order to restrain the subscriber from engaging in infringing activity relating to the material," which they haven't. Sending a second notification that fails to acknowledge the fair use claims instead puts NFL into the 512(f)(1) category of "knowingly materially misrepresent[ing] ... that material or activity is infringing."

If the NFL deigned to respond, I expect they would argue something like "the volume of material is so high, we can't possibly keep track of all the claims of non-infringement. Our bots are entitled to a few mistakes." But if they're not able to keep track of the few counter-notifications they've received (the YouTube URL and page stayed the same at all times it's been up), how can they demand that YouTube respond accurately and expeditiously to all the DMCA notifications they send, or worse, filter all content as Viacom is demanding?

See also:
NFL says don't copy our copyright warning
Chilling Effects founder takes on DMCA and wins

posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:14:52 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Tied-up man cable-winder

posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:07:12 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

P2P is killing piracy

The music industry likes to lump P2P and hard-goods piracy together, but they're not the same thing at all -- in fact, they're dire enemies. Piracy's biggest competitor is P2P.

According to Tony, the first 2 hours of every Saturday and Sunday morning at the local flea market always proved the most exciting. “We’d take 60 cases of CDRs down in the van and as soon as we got there a crowd would swarm around us. We had no competition and it was obvious the punters had no other suppliers. Inside 30 minutes, 90% of the stock would be gone with some customers taking 2 or 3 cases each, presumably to sell on. After 3 hours we were cleared out and on our way home, always with huge amounts of money.”...

Tony is very clear about why his rags to riches story has gone back to rags again. “File-sharing, P2P - call it what you like. When you asked a customer why he wasn’t buying anything, 9 times out of 10 it was ‘BitTorrent this, LimeWire that’. Add that to the fact that huge numbers of PC users have burners and fast broadband and its obvious why I had to get out and earn a living another way. We had it good for a while but I don’t think those days are coming back.”

posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:04:24 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Tool kit opens most consoles and other proprietary boxen

This tool kit includes the tools you need for the:

· Microsoft products, including: Original Xbox, Xbox 360 and accessories like the Xbox 360 wired controller, and the Xbox 360 wireless controller. Special tools: the OneSnap, the only one-piece Xbox 360 case separator, and a special long neck tamper resistant Torx bit.

· Nintendo products, including: the Nintendo Wii, GameCube, GBA, DS, DS Lite, and most accessories like Nintendo Cartridges, Gamecube controllers, and power supplies. Special Tools: Triwing bits in two sizes and two sizes of rare Linehead Nut Setters in hardened steel. Also has the correct tools for most of the retired Nintendo game machines (those not currently for sale in the marketplace).

· Sony Products, including: PS3, PS2, PStwo, and PSP and many accessories (for example: Sony controllers).

· The Access Pro Tool Kit also has the correct tools to open most third party products.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:00:23 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

DRM causes 75 percent of tech support calls

Update: Martin sez, "Heise has all their news in English as well. Their text includes some stats on what happened to sales of a label that opted out of DRM."

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:01:13 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Anna Nicole sad stoned clown portrait in glitter

Holly says,

This image was just uploaded to San Francisco artist Rene Garcia, Jr.'s web site. It's a 4 foot by 5 foot glitter portrait of Anna Nicole in clown makeup.

Previously on BoingBoing:

posted by Xeni Jardin at 08:28:35 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Lovecraft's 70th death-a-versary, Cthulhu adoration everywhere

March 15th, 2007 marked the 70th year since HP Lovecraft's death. Necronomicon junkies and devotees of the Cthulhu mythos celebrated that day with online commemorations. La Petite Claudine has a thoughtful series of related posts on her blog here (mostly in Spanish): Link.

Image: "Azathoth is described as both blind and idiotic and is regarded as the head of the Cthulhu mythos pantheon." An illustration from this Lovecraft fan-page on MySpace (No artist credit given -- if anyone knows whose work this is, please let me know and I'll update this post accordingly).

(Thanks, Reverse Cowgirl)

Reader comment: Peetee sez, "A better term for death-a-versary is 'mortiversary'."

BoingBoing reader Rob sends the photo below, and says,

He has quite the boring headstone. It's in Providence, Rhode Island. I took the picture, it was midday and the lighting was all screwy, but you can get the gist of it.

BoingBoing reader Remus Shepherd says:

Xeni, I saw someone sent you a picture of HP Lovecraft's headstone...and called it 'boring'. Well, it is. But right behind it, they used to have a gigantic oak (?) tree, which was carved with various sayings from his stories.

I have some pictures of the Tree That Feeds On Him here: Link. I'd rather not mention who the people are in those photos -- but I swear we didn't carve anything!

Sadly, the Tree That Feeds On Him was cut down a few years ago. Either the cemetary owners found it too creepy, or they were tired of it being climbed by weirdos like...well, us.

Ambitious Wench says,

My friend Remus just sent a link to his website with pictures of Lovecraft's grave. While he didn't want to identify the people in the picture of the group at the Tree that Fed on Him, I can say that I am the woman in the dark red dress on the extreme right.

Regarding the old tree near H.P. Lovecraft's grave, it blew down in a windstorm not more than two years ago, I'd guess. Last October I left my beloved Yosemite to go back to RI to see friends and family. While there, I stopped at Swan Point Cemetery and snuck a few pictures.

The new Tree that Will Feed on Him is the same species as the old giant; I believe it was a beech.

Link

Just wanted to point out, since it's not obvious in the photograph- Howard's headstone reads "I am Providence." HP is buried in the lovely Swan Point Cemetery, where Rhode Island's finest families rest their bones.

Although the on-site "find a grave" computer kiosk at Swan Point (Link 1) will locate his grave for you, the cemetery's website lacks any mention of him. This is typical of the city itself- although many places mentioned in Lovecraft stories survive to this day, there are no memorials or markers (that I know of) at those sights. This AP story (Link) has a nice overview of some historic sites, but neglects to mention the most conspicuous- the Providence Art Club (Link), mentioned in the seminal "Call of Cthulu", which has a truly weird, cylopean facade.

Concerning Lovecraft and Providence - I believe there is a plaque marking the former location of the church that featured so prominently in "The Haunter of the Dark", despite the lack of markers at other Lovecraft-significant places. And not only does the John Hay Library have the world's largest Lovecraft collection, they also have an enormous vault in the basement in which they keep particularly rare and valuable books, including one bound in human skin. (I worked there one summer. I was not, however, permitted to enter the vault. Ahem.)

Am I the first reader to notice that if you squint a little bit, the illustration in your Lovecraft post looks eerily similar to the FSM?

It's clearly a sign.

Ramen.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 07:34:10 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Open air rotating pizza-oven

Update: -- Here's an American version -- thanks to everyone who pointed it out!

posted by Cory Doctorow at 03:19:04 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Guerilla RSS feeds for Daily Show and Colbert

posted by Cory Doctorow at 03:16:19 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Enormous Superbowl prank (hoax?): 2350 lights smuggled in

Incredibly, he supposedly did this days after the Boston lite-brite scare, despite the Superbowl's "Level 1" security.

Engadget says that this might be a hoax, and I'm skeptical myself. The thing is, the Zug people say that the reason you didn't hear about this at the time is that the media was scared of reporting on it because it would create fear about terrorists breaking future event security. That doesn't sound very plausible to me.

If it's a hoax, it's an entertaining work of fiction. If it's a prank, it was the most incredible stunt I've ever heard of. Either way, it's worth a click.

I hustled to the bathroom to towel off. As I walked in, two armed members of the National Guard stood at the sink, chatting casually. I gave them a smile and a nod, and went to the urinal. After they left, I readjusted my tie, and dried my hair with a paper towel. As I was finishing up, a sheriff from the Miami-Dade Police Force came into the bathroom to do a sweep.

"Hey, do you know where I can find a forklift?" I asked the sheriff.

"I think they stopped all forklifts at 10:30 this morning," he said, eyeing my badge closely.

"My team hasn't showed up yet," I explained, "and I need to get two pallets of boxes up to the 100 level of the stadium." I was taking a huge risk, but there was no way we were going to get two pallets of boxes through this army without some heavy equipment. "Do you guys have something I can use to get these boxes out?" I continued, talking quickly. "A motorized cart? Hand truck? Anything?"

"I think the bomb squad has a small flatbed," he said. "Maybe they'll let you use it. They're over near the E gate."

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:51:20 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Why ebooks' success has nothing to do with screen quality

"I don't like reading off a computer screen" — it's a cliché of the e-book world. It means "I don't read novels off of computer screens" (or phones, or PDAs, or dedicated e-book readers), and often as not the person who says it is someone who, in fact, spends every hour that Cthulhu sends reading off a computer screen. It's like watching someone shovel Mars Bars into his gob while telling you how much he hates chocolate...

The problem, then, isn't that screens aren't sharp enough to read novels off of. The problem is that novels aren't screeny enough to warrant protracted, regular reading on screens.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:20:56 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

BA straps corpse into first class seat, doesn't explain to other passengers

The body of a woman in her seventies, who died after the plane left Delhi for Heathrow, was carried by cabin staff from economy to first class, where there was more space. Her body was propped up in a seat, using pillows.

The woman’s daughter accompanied the corpse, and spent the rest of the journey wailing in grief.

Paul Trinder, who awoke to see the body at the end of his row, last week described the journey as “deeply disturbing”, and complained that the airline dismissed his concerns by telling him to “get over it”.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:58:07 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

New Howard Waldrop collection: sf's master of the short story

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:07:18 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Richard Dawkins reads Darwin's "Origin of Species"

See also: Darwin's "Origin of Species": free audiobook

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:00:00 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Infinity edge tub from Kohler: bath designed to overflow

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:53:55 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Artists' eyes rove over images

Stine Vogt and Svein Magnussen showed 16 pictures including these two to trained artists and non-artists (psychologists) enrolled in Norway's top graduate programs in their respective disciplines, using eye-tracking cameras and software to monitor where they looked. The viewers were unaware of the purpose of the test -- they were told the study was about pupil size and response to pictures. In the first phase of the experiment, viewers simply looked at each picture in random order, and in the second phase, they were asked to view the pictures again, but to concentrate in order to remember them.

Vogt and Magnussen defined key areas of each picture -- small regions around focal objects such as human bodies or faces. This graph shows how often artists and non-artists looked at these areas:

See also: Men stare at crotches

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:44:42 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

Pi gang hand symbol demonstrated by hot chick

Pi day (3.14etc) was celebrated by mathophiles around the world earlier this week. Above, Stanford hottie Lauren Elizabeth O'Neal throws down the intergalactic math posse sign. She's wearing a "Cherry Pi" t-shirt designed by dieselsweeties creator R. Stevens.

"My dorm room number is 314, so I really couldn't resist," she explained. "Plus I decided it would be prudent to invent a pi gang symbol."

Previously on BoingBoing:

posted by Xeni Jardin at 01:28:01 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

BoingBoing week in review: March 10-17

posted by Xeni Jardin at 11:28:01 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

RIAA explains why they're suing your children

Yet this is about far more than the size of a particular slice of the pie. This is about a generation of music fans. College students used to be the music industry’s best customers. Now, finding a record store still in business anywhere near a campus is a difficult assignment at best. It’s not just the loss of current sales that concerns us, but the habits formed in college that will stay with these students for a lifetime. This is a teachable moment — an opportunity to educate these particular students about the importance of music in their lives and the importance of respecting and valuing music as intellectual property.

Hilarious: the people who created sex, drugs and rock and roll, who glorified thug life and guns, are suddenly all concerned with the moral character of America's teens. That's about as credible as the idea that they're really worried about musicians' fortunes.

Link (Thanks, Kim!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:26:08 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

David Byrne: Who needs music labels?

Byrne is incredibly smart about this stuff -- and he's also the most talented versatile artist of his generation. About tho-thirds of my favorite music was written, performed or published by him.

While conceding the marketing costs in the digital era won't be cheap, Byrne noted that sites like YouTube off