So they were right. Oh, and pssst: I am wearing nothing but a glazed kaffiyeh at this very moment!

(Thanks, R. Stevens)

Update: Palestinian journalist Daoud Kuttab, who, btw, is not a terrorist, has a most informative editorial up today about the history and the cultural significance of the garment for which Ms. Ray's unfortunate paisley scarf was mistaken. Snip:

For the record, the keffiya is not a symbol of either Islam or terrorism and predates Yasser Arafat. The head dress (which comes in white, checkered black or checkered red) came into importance in the early 20th century as part of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans who ruled the Middle East for over four hundred years left a two class system of landlords and peasants. The landlords generally wore a red high hat regularly referred to as a tarbouch or fez. Peasants wore the keffiya as a practical head cover to protect from the hot sun in the daytime and the cold winds at nights.

David P Nickle's brilliant, deeply creepy, awful and suspenseful short story The Sloan Men has just been released in audio form in Pseudopod, the horror podcast. This is a fantastic reading of a really wonderful story.

Mrs. Sloan had only three fingers on her left hand, but when she drummed them against the countertop, the tiny polished bones at the end of the fourth and fifth stumps clattered like fingernails. If Judith hadn't been looking, she wouldn't have noticed anything strange about Mrs. Sloan's hand.

"Tell me how you met Herman," said Mrs. Sloan. She turned away from Judith as she spoke, to look out the kitchen window where Herman and his father were getting into Mr. Sloan's black pickup truck. Seeing Herman and Mr. Sloan together was a welcome distraction for Judith. She was afraid Herman's stepmother would catch her staring at the hand. Judith didn't know how she would explain that with any grace: Things are off to a bad enough start as it is.

Outside, Herman wiped his sleeve across his pale, hairless scalp and, seeing Judith watching from the window, turned the gesture into an exaggerated wave. He grinned wetly through the late afternoon sun. Judith felt a little grin of her own growing and waved back, fingers waggling an infantile bye-bye. Hurry home, she mouthed through the glass. Herman stared back blandly, not understanding.

Link to MP3 of Sloan Men, Link to text of The Sloan Men, Link to David Nickle's blog Link to podcast feed for Pseudopod

Etsy seller OctopusMe makes jewelry out of octopus tentacles, recast in sterling silver -- rings, earrings, and assorted pieces in handsome sucker style.

This ring is made from a REAL Octopus tentacle which has drilled, carved, shaped and cast in Sterling Silver! This ring is definitely one of my favorites. I like it because it's versatile. It looks different from all angles when you spin it around your finger! It has a nice sexy flowing curve to it. The texture on it is amazing! And, it has all of those cute little suction cups flowing all around the ring! There is a nice weight and chunkiness to the piece. Oh, and the best part is that it's Sushi Grade! Ha ha ha! It looks great on both guys and gals!! Make sure to get yours at this special price!!

Link (via Neatorama)

Remember Kieffe & Sons, the California Ford dealership that ran a radio ad saying that they were Christians, and non-believers could therefore "sit down and shut up" and stop demanding separation of church and state?

Remember how they apologized for saying this really dumb thing?

They take it back.

The owner of the dealership says that he was forced to issue the apology by Ford, and he doesn't stand behind it, and he only issued it to appease "blog-lo-dites."

“I don’t regret the sentiment at all,” said Kieffe, who bought the 48-year-old dealership from his father in 1974. “It’s what we believe.”

Kieffe & Sons has sites in Mojave and Rosamond.

The dealer’s Web site Thursday bore a statement about the ad that included an apology “to all who were offended.”

Kieffe said he’d been contacted by Ford Motor Co. after the manufacturer heard complaints from numerous “blog-lo-dites.”

Remember, this guy doesn't actually attend church. Link

See also:
Sit-down-and-shut-up "Christian" Ford dealership is run by a non-church attendee who is sorry about the ad
Ford dealership uses bigoted radio ads to sell cars

I have an inordinate fondness for Alice in Wonderland stuff -- it was the first book I ever read on my own -- and I'm really delighted by this sweet little Alice journal/blank book I just picked up. It features a nice mix of the Tenniel art as well as other classic public domain versions of Alice, and some great quotations from the book. It's got a nice moleskine-style elastic in Alice Blue, too. Link

Bonnie Burton of Lucasfilm has posted an homage to comedian Harvey Korman, who died this week at 81 years of age:

I can still remember being on the edge of my seat in the movie theater watching Korman as Captain Blythe in Herbie Goes Bananas. Heck, I even liked him during my full-blown Goth days when he played Dr. Jack Seward in Dracula: Dead and Loving It.

So it really shouldn’t be a surprise when years later, I was brave enough to admit in a crowded Lucasfilm marketing meeting that I was a big fan of the “Star Wars Holiday Special.”

I justified my adoration of the hardly-seen TV show by saying that, in addition to Bea Arthur as the Cantina barkeep Ackmena, it was Korman’s three bizarre characters that made me want to watch the cult classic over and over again. Korman portrayed the Ackmena-smitten Cantina patron Krelman, the multi-armed Julia Child-in-outer-space Chef Gormaanda, and an Amorphian instructor that practically drives Chewie’s son Lumpy to tears.

I was devastated to hear of his passing this week. Not only did an iconic comedian leave our galaxy, but sadly I’ll never get the chance to interview him about those roles he played in “The Star Wars Holiday Special.” I had so many questions for him!

Link to Bonnie's post on the Official Star Wars Blog. Here's the LA Times obituary for Korman.

shocking cats
stunt kitty
kitten and his box
plague of kittens
kitten or spider
unagi reviews
chat noir
katnip kollege
catface
talking cats
hugo, cat of 1000 faces
mr. lee cat cam
kitty wigs
lasagna cat
ian the cat
i like cake

and the classics...
going to a gay bar
smoking in paris

and for a limited time...
something for cat
(this will disappear on 06.06.08)

Permalink for this edition. Web Zen is created and curated by Frank Davis, and re-posted here on Boing Boing with his kind permission. Web Zen Home and Archives, Store (Thanks Frank!)

Underland Press is publishing a "wovel" -- a web-novel -- in which the author publishes a cubicle-reading-length installment, along with several possibilities as to where the story could go next. The readers vote on the direction the book should take, and the author writes the next installment to their spec.

The first Wovel is "The Living," a horror/detective novel by Brian Evenson.

The night was a symphony of whistles and gunshots.

Inside the dimly lit apartment, the old man stood by the door. He was not old enough to have lived through a war, and didn't expect to live through this one. Though he didn't count courage among his virtues, he had accepted the notion of his imminent death with curious calm. For what was there to fear? This was not a world he recognized. It hadn't been for some time. Instead it had mutated into a kind of hellish garden in which neither God nor nature prevailed. When the time came, he would be glad to leave it.

Footsteps on the stairs.

Whines and pained whimpers from the bed behind him.

In the dim glow from the lantern the man's face was a thousand years old, appearing to be more rock than flesh. The thin shadows on his sunken cheeks were like spilled ink running from his eyes. He turned and said, "Hush, Maddy."

Behind him, the keening faded to a whisper.

Link

Daniel Pink, author of many well-regarded business books, wrote his first manga business book, Johnny Bunko, after receiving a fellowship to live in Japan and study manga. Bunko is a quick, funny, and extremely, inspiringly sensible book on career-planning that throws out all the traditional bullshit about getting a straight job to fall back on if your creative gig fails on you. Instead, Bunko makes a convincing case for pursuing your dreams, working to your strengths, throwing out the idea of planning, and persevering rather than relying on talent to make it.

I spent a lot of my life ignoring (with some difficulty), the advice of well-meaning people who wanted me to know that I'd never, ever be able to live on what I made from writing. Instead, I took on a series of careers in fields that hadn't even existed when I was a student, each one bringing me closer to my dream of being a full-time scribbler. If I'd listened to the software aptitude test my high-school guidance counsellor gave me, I'd be a "geriatric nutritionist" (cook in a senior's home) today.

Johnny Bunko is a miserable accounting drone who finds a bundle of magic chopsticks. Every time he separates a pair, a genie emerges to help him navigate his way to career freedom. It's a great little device, and the manga artwork -- from the award-winning Rob Ten Pas -- is simple and clean and often very funny.

Bunko is a refreshingly frank and optimistic (but clear-eyed) story about the perils of choosing a safe, lucrative and hateful job that you'll never be able to afford to leave, and the joys of failing in interesting ways, learning from your mistakes, and making more of yourself. I wish someone had given me a copy when I was 16 or so, and forced me to re-read it every year until I was in my mid-twenties. Link

See also: Johnny Bunko Book Trailer

This poor guy tried to board a BA flight at Heathrow terminal 5 but was turned back and told to change out of his t-shirt, which featured a Transformer robot carrying a gun -- a robot with a gun that apparently posed a threat to flight safety.

Go through security, get pulled to the side. I'm wearing a French Connection Transformers t-shirt. Bloke starts joking with me is that Megatron. Then he explains that since Megatron is holding a gun, I'm not allowed to fly. WTF? It's a 40 foot tall cartoon robot with a gun as an arm. There is no way this shirt is offensive in any way, and what I'm going to use the shirt to pretend I have a gun?

Link (Thanks, PT!)

The phenomenal Camille Rose Garcia has a show of new paintings at the Merry Karnowsky Gallery - Berlin. The pieces in this exhibition, titled The Grand Illusion, are insanely beautiful. Seen here, "You'll Be Better Soon I Promise" (acrylic, glitter, and gold mica on wood). Based in Los Angeles, Garcia says her creative influences include Philip K. Dick, William Burroughs, Henry Darger, Walt Disney, and The Clash. I'm a big fan of all of them. And Garcia too. Link (Thanks, Kirsten Anderson!)

Previously on BB:
• Camille Rose Garcia at the San Jose Museum of Art Link
• Camille Rose Garcia: Tragic Kingdom sneak preview Link

Today on Boing Boing Gadgets we looked at this perfectly silly motorcycle helmet covers; the most ancient phone book, 130-years-old and up for auction; a new fleet of buses with free Wi-Fi and power on the East Coast ($20 from New York to Boston); the Aga Four Oven, made of cast-iron and lauded by commentors; virtual worlds to visit before you die, which prompted me to mention what a bang-up job was done in Grand Theft Auto IV's Liberty City; Cricket, a folding laptop stand for travelers; Bushnell's Sasquatch bounty, but more importantly, a raccoon riding a wild boar (that's cryptozootainment!); a lovely outdoor shower; more video on DEKA's bionic "Luke" prosthetic arm; handmade keyboards; tiny, knife-missile-sized ornithopter UAVs; the claim that Intelius people search is a scam; multiplayer Pong and Turbografx emulation for the iPhone; the Sony Rolly review (it didn't fare so well; personally I think they're neat, but about $350 too much); a portable digital scale for people, not drugs; the tragic increase in deaths for telephone tower technicians last month; a gallery of vintage transistor radios; a hands-on of the MSI Wind, the heir not-quite-apparent of the Asus Eee mini-laptop; a place to store your porno DVDs...if you owned any; the mysterious captivation of the paper towel dispenser; and a look at the upcoming Google Android smartphone operating system, which really does look like it's going to be a great platform.

Bushnell Outdoor Products is launching a contest where the first person to snap a "verificable" photo of Bigfoot with a trail camera will win a million bucks. Details on the contest are "coming soon" but Loren Coleman has more at Cryptomundo including a slew of great trailcam shots. As Loren asks about this 2007 photo taken in the Mt. Hood National Forest, "What is it? Sasquatch? Bear? A person?" How do we know for sure?
Link to Cryptomundo, Link to Bushnell's Trail Cam page

On Kiku's Tumblr page, this photo of Stormtroopers and London cops uneasily eyeing up one another. Link (via Wonderland)

This photo released yesterday depicts members of a tribe in the Amazon rain forest firing arrows at an airplane. Apparently, the tribe has never had any contact with humans outside of their own group. And there are likely many other "uncontacted" tribes in the region too. From National Geographic:

"We are very confident the photos are genuine," said Miriam Ross, a spokesperson for Survival International, which estimates that half of the hundred or so uncontacted tribes in the world live in the rain forests of Brazil and Peru.

Some experts say few, if any, tribes have had no outside contact. It's more likely is that previous generations had negative encounters, prompting social taboos that continue to drive clans deeper into isolation.

Due to their vulnerable immune systems, these groups are highly susceptible to diseases borne by outsiders such as missionaries, loggers, or oil workers.

Link