What Boing Boing readers are doing

Inspired by John Scalzi's open promo thread, herewith is a place for you to plug your own personal projects, products, and proclivities. Be sure and upvote your faves and I'll come back to this over the weekend when I get a sec and promote the best stuff to the front door.

• [joncro]

  I made a short documentary about the sculptor David Begbie:

  http://www.jonathancronin.co.uk/2013/01/28/mostly-empty-space/

  Hope you like it!

  • [millie fink]

    Good work, on your part and his. I’d love to see his works in a gallery.

• [avoision]

  // Edit: Weird, I made this post earlier but didn’t see it show up… so I re-submitted below. Hours later, this comment reappeared. I don’t want to look like I’m spamming, so please see below for my project.

• [shutz]

  I write a blog where I post my own 50-word stories.  The majority are science fiction, fantasy or horror, but some aren’t in any particular genre.  Many feature atrociously bad puns (the best kind).

  No ads, so I make no money off of this.

  If you like any of it, please leave a comment, or rate one or more of the stories.

• [Egypt Urnash]

  I’m waist-deep in a graphic novel. It’s about a robot lady who’s dragged outside of reality by her ex-boyfriend.

  You can read the whole thing online, yay webcomics!

  http://egypt.urnash.com/rita/

  Also folks might enjoy my Tarot deck. It’s chock full of modern imagery and pretty colors; it’s also the only Tarot deck to include a type-in program in the book!

  http://egypt.urnash.com/tarot/

  • [Clifton]

    Oh hey, I bookmarked ‘Decrypting Rita’ and started reading it a while ago.  (I haven’t finished it yet, only been reading off and on.)

    It’s excellent!  The graphic style is outstanding.

    (Not a paid ad, folks. Go check it out.)

• [Bok]

  Our comic strip documentary (featuring Bill Watterson and more) is almost done! We’re Kickstarting the licensing fees to help make it awesome :)

  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sequential/stripped-the-final-push

• [Geoff Cole]

  I published a novella. Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/251822
  Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Eversong-ebook/dp/B00A8A6UNI

  Here is the blurb:  In the science fiction novella Eversong, two men struggle against the forces of greed. Henry Todd faces his captain’s obsession on the cold waters of the North Pacific, while Father Barosso struggles against slavery and oppression on a mountain-top mine in ancient Peru. Beneath the dark water flows the eversong that will connect their struggles.

  CC licensed, only $3, and it has whales!

• [tone_milazzo]

  Still selling the first book http://pickinguptheghost.tonemilazzo.com/ while writing the next one.

• [Josh Zisson]

  I’ve made “the safest bike on the road.” It’s painted with a patented retroreflective coating, so the entire bike is reflective at night.  When headlights hit it, it glows bright white.  Check it out on my website:

  http://bikesafeboston.com/post/37594964359/safestbike

  We’re currently working with manufacturers to make this coating available on commuter bikes (and much more).

  • [Sxe]

    This is SO front-pageworthy.

  • [SamSam]

    Cool! Will you be able to apply it to existing bikes? It looks like I’m your neighbor, if you’re at Hub Bicycle, but I have no plans to give away my Bikes Not Bombs bike anytime soon…

    • [Josh Zisson]

      Hah! I’m actually at Hub Bicycle RIGHT NOW, come on by for a cannoli and check out my bike.

  • [awjt]

     Dude, this is AWESOME!  Get some built-in LEDs, and this thing will be fully decked.  I agree- front-page worthy!

  • [capl]

    Front page for sure! Thanks for posting.. great job.

  • [yikesbikes]

    Bu-bubu-bump it up!

  • [Blunt Farce]

     Front-page worthy.

• [Anthony Fink]

  I just draw pictures every day, or as close to every day as I can, and put them up so people can see them. :)

  http://weaselsgonarf.blogspot.com/

• [capl]

  Free language learning picture match games using *authentic images* from the source culture: http://www.pictolang.com

• [Matthew W Seniff]

  I am a musician I write, record, mix and master my solo music under the name W.T. Fits (acronym for What The Fuck Is This Shit?). My most recent CD Boredroom Sessions is free to hear and download (as long as I have free downloads left) at::

  http://wtfits.bandcamp.com/album/boredroom-sessions

  I hope you might find it interesting. I am working on my next CD and hope to complete it by the end of the year.

• [604republic]

  I make t-shirts and accessories for people in love with geek and pop culture: 

  http://www.604republic.com/

• [fragmentalist]

  I’ve started a series of interviews with Canadian visual artists on my blog.

  The latest interview is with a scrap metal sculptor who built a bleeding mechanical heart: http://www.fragmentalist.com/2013/03/tick-tock-tom/

  The one before it is with a marine geophysist printmaker: http://www.fragmentalist.com/2013/02/ele-willoughby-minouette/

• [Pip_R_Lagenta]

   My friend, Steven Strauss, likes to play the ukulele, both the electric ukulele and the acoustic ukulele.  I go to his regular Saturday morning gig at a bakery in Berkeley, California, and video his music.  I make little videos of his playing, and put them up on the YouTube machine.  http://www.youtube.com/user/PipLagenta

  I am closing in on seven hundred videos.  Which is to say, I will have 700 videos up at my YouTube channel before the end of the year.

• [Egypt Urnash]

  I also did a very nerdy Tarot deck. Lots of bright, animated imagery, cool spot gloss effects so that some cards have extra images that only appear when the light hits them just right, and a type-in program in the book!

  http://egypt.urnash.com/tarot/

• [Gareth Stack]

  I’m launching my new radio comedy series, here in Ireland. It’s on Dublin radio from next week. Here’s a sample episode - http://dbspin.com/featured/been-there-seen-there 

  To celebrate, I just uploaded all my old comedy series to bandcamp for free - http://garethstack.bandcamp.com/

• [Nash Rambler]

  This weekend I’m collecting entries for the homebrew beer contest I am helping to organize; Barley Legal 3 - http://www.wootown.org/comp/

  After that, probably brewing up a batch of marzen.

• [Sekino]

  I recently made an alphabet book for my 2 year-old daughter and published it on Lulu.

  I made an illustration of a natural element (either a mineral, plant or animal source) for each letter and paired them with a short definition: http://www.lulu.com/shop/celeste-agnes/acorn-bur-conch/paperback/product-20513151.html

  It took me about 6 months from drawing the first letter to finishing the book, so I was really glad to see it done. The preview on Lulu is pretty short but all of the letters/ illustrations can be viewed in my Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LaPetiteMascarade

• [Montgomery Kane]

  Professor Gum: fingerstyle guitar and weird/humorous novelty songs.  One part Puff, The Magic Dragon to two parts Poisoning Pigeons In The Park.

  http://www.professorgum.com

  • [Blunt Farce]

     I like anything Tom Lehrer-esque.

• [avoision]

  I recently launched a project that helps facilitate silly bets/wagers between friends, via customizable contracts:

  http://spitshake.com/

  The site started after a friend of mine attempted to eat six Arby’s roast beef sandwiches in an hour (without getting sick). Halfway through, he got into an argument with another friend about the bet logistics. 

  We thought it would have been great to have had a formal-looking contract, with all the details spelled out… and that’s basically what this site does. Seems to be pretty ideal for food and eating related challenges.

• [crumbledcookie]

  I know BB isn’t exactly chock-full-o sports fans, but most people who play NCAA bracket pools aren’t exactly sports fans, either. I made a thing that lets you fill brackets by both serious and silly stats. Will be up and running with finalized teams next week, just in time to lose 5 bucks like everyone else.

  http://brackomatic.com

• [Christopher]

  Since 1995 I’ve been writing a weekly (with some breaks) humorous (mostly) essay. It started with me forwarding amusing things that had been forwarded to me. Then I started writing introductions, and then I just stopped forwarding stuff.

  All but this week’s (which will be added shortly) can be found here:

  http://www.freethinkersanonymous.com/

  I’ve also done some videos. This one documents the demise of a 1929 building which had been home to a Nashville, Tennessee music store:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwlt4A1lRoI&list=UUhLjZbstKeQdEiYuxVBulAg&index=1

  This is an audio version of a poem I wrote with illustrations by me:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt9Ys10i6Ew

• [mmmmdave]

  In June, SkyHorse Publishing will release my book, Delirious Delhi. Long-time readers will remember when BoingBoing linked to my photo essay about Delhi’s IT marketplace. The book is like that, but the whole city.

• [Andy]

  I have a science-fiction/fantasy adventure serial about a young man exploring the ruins of planet Earth when it is one big, abandoned city. Read it from the start at:  http://lithicbee.wordpress.com/2012/02/26/the-only-city-left-part-one/

• [Adam Koford]

  I’m trying to get people to vote for this ridiculous clown shirt design over on woot.
  Also, I’ll be self publishing another collection of comics soon.

• [John Mount]

  Not my project, but something that is really cool: The Non Stop Bhangra Documentary Kickstarter:  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nonstopbhangra/non-stop-bhangra-documentary

• [Emojk]

  I’ve been managing a website for 6 years now, where I post pictures, letters and other stuff that I and my friends (and whoever wants to forward them) have found on the streets: http://www.finderskeepers.fr

  The findings are mostly French, as is the website, though there are quite a few letters in English, and photos are international, obviously.I hope to make it into a book quite soon, so if you know anyone interested… Meanwhile, don’t hesitate to send your treasures!

• [PlutoniumX]

  I make chainmaille jewelry, dice bags, wallet chains, and other accessories.  Plus whatever else pops into my head.  It’s armor for your every day life.

  I love to make custom items as well.

  http://www.fatesknight.com

• [Joel Emmett]

  Wrote a book about literary patterns and metaphors in, of all things, Twilight.  Got some good reviews.

  http://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Life-Finding-Stephenie-ebook/dp/B0087EHGOO

  Tl;dr: Lots of hero’s journey points, some spiritual metaphors, advice on life for young people.  As one would expect.

• [Daniel_Wallace]

  I write Star Wars books. My books The Jedi Path and Book of Sith are fun, in-universe guides to the light side and dark sides of the Force.

• [Robin Nettelhorst]

  A friend of mine, Kathy Newman, has started a blog where she showcases photographs she has taken. She recently got some nice photos of the comet PanSTARRS, and her nature photos are beautiful: http://kcnewmanphotography.blogspot.com/

• [Robin Nettelhorst]

  Self promotion, now. I have several traditionally published nonfiction books and I’ve put up several science fiction ebooks after Sarah A. Hoyt encouraged me to do so (she did a guest post on my blog recently). Here’s my author page at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/R.P.-Nettelhorst/e/B001JSAA20/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

• [Sxe]

  I’m doing a few things:

  1) I make music as a solo act called Undone For. Once I get a song idea, I write, perform, arrange, record, mix, master, and publish it to SoundCloud in a single session. https://soundcloud.com/undonefor

  2) This March I started an anti-consumption movement in the name of getting sh*t done: except for directly work-related reasons, no video/TV/YouTube, no gaming, no fiction reading, no Facebook browsing. #MarchOn on Twitter. https://twitter.com/MarchOnWS

  3) With my roommate I also bought a meat grinder and we’ve begun making our own mad-scientist, gourmet, artisanal sausages. No major web presence as this project’s only a week old! https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/542581_10151402206360674_190936206_n.jpg

  4) Oh yeah, I also run an eco-friendly professional painting business in Ontario called New Approach Painting. http://professionalhousepainterskw.com/

• [Alison Jardine]

  I am using traditional oil-on-canvas techniques to render digitally distorted and filtered images of nature. Trees with pixel leaves, forests in infrared, pixel snowstorms across fractal branches…

  I sometimes think of my process of creating art as scavenging from nature, a kind of ‘found art’ but where the object found is visual. I begin with a photograph that I take on my digital camera, and manipulate that image (now just a collection of pixels, after all) until I have a work on which I can base an oil painting.

  When this painting is completed, I take a photograph of the painting, and digitally alter and manipulate it until, by both chance and planning, I create an image that will form the basis of the next painting.  This feedback loop continues towards a gradual, entropic dispersal of color and light.

  As part of this process, I explore the properties of the paint, and I allow this change of medium from pixel to paint to add its own character to the work, to alter the possibilities of the kind of image I create.

  This parallels the change that occurs when our perception of an event becomes a memory. Whether stored in our biological memories, or stored as a photograph on a computer, our memory is changed by a complex interaction of our physical biology, as well as our emotional reaction and our personal narrative. In addition, the method of storage enacts its own changes, whether pixelated and compressed, or made hazy and indistinct by time.

  http://www.alisonjardine.com

  • [Andrea]

    I read through the part about your process and couldn’t help being reminded of that Babelfish game where you translate a phrase over and over again to get gibberish. Except in this case, you get lovely abstract art.

    Seriously, though, your work is beautiful.

    • [Alison Jardine]

       That’s pretty much the idea. Entropy strips the content away, one artwork at a time.

      Glad you like it.

  • [Clifton]

    These are really good. 

    I really like the other two series you have there also, Natural Abstractions – leaves as pixels, pixels as leaves! – and Paintings From the Hedge.

    • [Alison Jardine]

       Thanks Clifton. With Paintings From the Hedge, I’ve now started to experiment with adding dimensions to the works… so many are now cut into odd-shaped pieces…

• [Scott Schaefer]

  In script development for a short film called The Maury Island Incident – set to shoot this summer around Burien/Tacoma – while Publishing/Editing a network of six local blogs for an area south of Seattle, along with an internet radio station called SoKing Internet Radio.

  In a past life I was a three-time National Emmy winning Senior Writer for “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” and have 25+ years experience in TV/video, marketing, advertising and most recently…the interwebs.

• [Randy Philipp]

  I am currently working on promo material (photos and trailers) for a Gender swap version of Macbeth for DC Fringe.

  Show Website: http://kingsplayers.biz/

  IndieGoGo For the Show: http://igg.me/p/290323

• [Maurice Cherry]

  I recently launched Revision Path, a showcase of the world’s black web designers and web developers. My goal is to showcase the diversity of black talent in the tech and design community.

  http://www.revisionpath.com

• [grandmapucker]

  A webcomic about punk rock cats who like libraries: http://www.catsinthealley.com

• [atomo]

  I’m a toy inventor.
  ( Really.  It’s pretty much as fun as it sounds. )I gave a talk about it here:  http://uxweek.com/2012/speakers/bill-mcintyre/#video

• [Michael Harrison]

  Since St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner, this is timely.  I’ve been working on a site where Irish, Scottish and Contra dancers can go for dance notes in several forms.  These can be used for learning and teaching dances as well as on the dance floor when you can’t quite remember how the next part of the dance goes.  Once it matures a bit more i’ll be adding mobile apps to make it even easier to get at the notes while out and about.
  http://www.danceminder.com/

• [Julie Karasik]

  Well, I’ve recently set up a FB page for my digital art and photography: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Createsomething/525178464171185?ref=hl

• [Gary Robbins]

  I procured and taught myself how to use a small offset press, which I use as the main production tool for an arts press called Container Corps.

  A recent project is a book called Clouds by Ben Young. It is based on the famous but unusually inaccessible International Cloud Atlas. For the book, the artist  sculpted each scientifically defined cloud type from common materials. The sculptures were then photographed, and then destroyed. It is an art book in the guise of a usable field guide to clouds, or maybe vice versa.

• [Andy Lange]

  I’m booking bands and writing the schedule for the Steam Punk Worlds Fair, this May in Piscataway, NJ.  

  Will I see any Boing-Boing’ers at the show?

• [Andrea]

  I have a blog, where I write about theology, philosophy, and what goes on in my head. My updates haven’t come as often as I’d like! The entries are essays, each on its own subject. Some are very personal. The most recent one picked up on something that’s probably a bigger deal for Christians than people outside the church, but I try to write in such a way that you don’t need background to understand, or to get something from it.
  http://beautifulsynthesis.com

  Another thing I’m doing is turning wire into calligraphy. Wire as in baling wire: dark annealed steel (though I’m also experimenting with galvanized steel) bent into lettering inspired by copperplate, cursive, and modern calligraphic hands. There are a few examples on my deviantArt page (once you get past all the My Little Pony fanart!) It’s fun to do, and I’ve already started selling pieces.
  http://syncallio.deviantart.com/gallery/41511975

• [Laura Packer]

  I am a storyteller, a stand-up-in-front-of-people-and-talk kind of storyteller. I recently moved to the MidWest and am working to build a storytelling scene here (and beyond) that promotes imagination, free speech and good listening. 
  I teach adults and kids, from technologists to the backwoods, for- and non-profits how to listen better and how to tell their stories in compelling, meaningful ways.

  I blog about storytelling and other stuff at truestorieshonestlies.blogspot.com. You can learn more about my work in general at laurapacker.com

• [Jim Nelson]

  I’m the lead developer for, among other things, http://recordstoreday.com, the big indie music retail push. We get hundreds of special releases that can only be sold in brick-and-mortar stores. It’s coming up April 20th.

• [tomwood]

  I’m posting some 3D animated web-cartoons, readings from some sci-fi that I’m writing, and videos of inline street skating in DC:

  http://tomwood.us

• [Rowan_Bristol]

  Two things!

  The first, is my theatre company and I are producing Tery Pratchett’s ‘Wyrd Sisters’ for the stage. Our theatre will be the Side Project theatre in the northside of Chicago, and will be directed by John Morrison of ‘Geeks Vs Zombies’ fame. The play will be in the 2nd half of july. Here’s the info on the show:

  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/osheamobile/stage-production-of-terry-pratchetts-wyrd-sisters

  The second is my podcast, ‘The Burnham Society’, which chronicles the magical goings on within the Second City. It’s a backdoor fantasy inspired by Charlie Brooker and John Hodgman. We’re over a year in, with 14 episodes, and daily facebook posts. Check it out on itunes and

  burnhamsociety.madeoffail.net

• [Jason Pitzl-Waters]

  I’m the founder and editor of a Pagan/religious news site called The Wild Hunt. We’ll be ten years old in 2014. 

  http://wildhunt.org/

  When I’m not doing that, I work for the people who put on the festival Faerieworlds in Eugene (among other things), coming up this Summer. 

  http://faerieworlds.com/

  When I’m not doing that, I draw and paint, write about music, and host a podcast/streaming radio show.

  http://epimetheusstudio.com/

  http://theskysgoneout.org/

  So I try to keep busy!

• [Michael Cote]

  I’m a climate adaptation consultant (think disasters and cities) based in Massachusetts. Just put an expert team together and we’re working to help the Tanzanian government protect natural resources and build capacity of decision makers to understand climate impacts.

  Tanzania is about the size of Texas and its diversity is head-spinning. It has one of the highest mountains in the world (Mt. Kilimanjaro) to the west, incredible savannas and wildlife galore in the middle, and to the east is a beautiful limestone coastline just across from Madagascar Island. This country’s beauty has brought me to tears on more than one occasion and I’m trying to help protect its natural resources as the country rapidly develops.

• [erikpkraft]

  I do a podcast within a podcast about my experiences raising chickens. The main podcast is about organic gardening http://www.garden-guys.com/blogtalk.html and then after my segment I post the text at http://www.toomanychickens.net. It “airs” on the internet Fridays at 3 (right now!)

• [Alex Schoenfeldt]

  Oh, I’ve got a great one. I’m a professional photographer. I do events and portraits.

  Recently I shot photos at an author’s book tour. You may recognize him.

  http://schoenfeldt.com/blog/1610/author-cory-doctorow-speaking-at-the-booksmith-in-san-francisco/

• [jamessw]

  I just finished a free iOS App that maps out the 140k structurally deficient and functionally obsolete bridges in the US. I’m expecting it to be released early next week, but in the meantime you can see screen shots of it here - http://jamessw.com/chinstrapps/bridge-alert/

  • [Grant Hamilton]

    Although I’m Cdn, this tickles my like-button. I would love it if you could integrate it into Google Maps routing, so you could see how far out of the way any “safe” routes would take you.

    • [jamessw]

      Haha! That’s a great idea, although depressingly, it would be almost impossible with any route over say 5 miles.

      • [Grant Hamilton]

        Hmmm, new idea — from any start point, a radius of how far you can get without crossing any unsafe bridge?

• [OtherMichael]

  I’ve been doing some digital-poetry “sketches” since last October. None of them are necessarily “finished” works — they’re sketches, playing around with ideas, code, output from some custom text manipulators and other sources. My productivity has slowed in 2013 with an overload on the day-job.

• [Ken Wheaton]

  My second novel, Bacon and Egg Man, was just released. Set 50 years in the future, the main character is a bacon and egg dealer in the Northeast Federation of States, which is ruled with a dietary iron fist by the descendants of King Mike. It’s a political, media and culinary satire with just a smattering of scifi. (Available ebook and print, from Amazon, B&N, iBook, etc)

  http://www.amazon.com/Bacon-Egg-Man-Ken-Wheaton/dp/162467111X/ref=la_B003W4VVZY_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361390209&sr=1-1

• [Stefan Jones]

  After a few years’ drought, I’m writing RPG material again. Currently, I’m writing a solitaire adventure for the venerable Tunnels & Trolls game system. Nothing to see; it is a text file right now.

  I’m making my own maker space, a back corner of my new garage:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefan_e_jones/8522310691/in/set-72157631814658425

  I build model rockets. Shiny, shiny model rockets: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefan_e_jones/8059864792/in/set-72157623884892426

• [Matthew Heberger]

  Mali, in West Africa only has about 1,000 physicians for 14 million people, and has among the world’s highest rates of infant mortality and lowest life expectancy. So we got together a group of volunteers to help coordinate the translation of the book “Where There is No Doctor” into Bambara, the country’s most widely-spoken language. It is an amazing resource that can literally save lives! http://dokotoro.org/

• [Dave Evans]

  I’m a painter and I paint movies, mainly in monochrome
  http://www.thepicturepalace.co.uk

• [Emrick Fyste]

  http://www.BitsOfWrite.com – By Emrick Fyste – I a Prose Engineer, building worlds with my words!
  I have posted serialized stories, though currently I am working on a couple of new stories and major revisions on dusted-off old manuscripts, so have not put up new content in a while. Please feel free to follow on twitter @EmrickFyste where I will announce when new content is put up.
  Eventually, a short story/novellete anthology is headed for an E-Book.

• [bruceburbank]

  I produce (ie record, mix, master) live albums for bands and artists (mostly club, art gallery and warehouse type venues), and primarily in Southern California (SD, LA, OC, occasionally SF or Arizona or farther, and I made a bunch of European recordings when I was living in Austria in 2005 and 2009-2010), and primarily of noisy electonic artists (breakcore, experimental, idm, industrial…, but occasionally other artists which are a bit more palatable). I see myself as a combination of the King Biscuit Flower Hour and John Peel Show. Exclusive live recordings from Venetian Snares, Xanopticon, Zola Jesus, Merzbow, Tearist, Ladyscraper, Richard Devine, Daedelus, FFF, KK Null, lots more.

  Also at this site is a sound design/foley project I did a few years ago where I took the original War of the Worlds radio broadcast and added a bunch of sound effects and music and gave it a much more updated/contemporary sound.

  Evidence here http://www.mixcloud.com/humorlessproductions/

  I’ve just started my own Mixlr internet radio show/shoutcast on Sunday afternoons where I play back some of the live recordings I’ve made over the years. Last week was Bestial Mouths from LA that I’d recorded the week before, this week is Enduser from Berghain Berlin 2010.

  http://mixlr.com/humorless-productions/

  I compose my own music using the name Đancu, gloomy, heavy, slow, poundy industrial, but heavy on the orchestrated bits, so the end result is that it sounds very soundtracky or appropriate for video games.

  https://soundcloud.com/humorlessproductions/ancu-thecion

  https://soundcloud.com/humorlessproductions/ancu-colom

  https://soundcloud.com/humorlessproductions/ancu-tyros

  I can’t say I’m too interested in heavy metal at all, but to challenge myself, I grabbed Jason Newsted’s master bass tracks from the …And Justice for All album (5 songs from the album are available on some Rock Band video game thing, where you can isolate and export the individual tracks apparently) and doing a full restoration/remix of those songs.

  Rough mix of Shortest Straw here-

  https://soundcloud.com/humorlessproductions/the-shortest-straw-with-jasons

  And in the meantime, I’m looking for a job (hint).

• [tristan eldritch]

  A few years in the absolute elsewhere, a blog devoted to psychedelia, weird fiction, and so forth: http://2012diaries.blogspot.ie/

• [Julian Smith]

  I followed a lovestuck 19th-century British explorer from one end of Africa to another, for the same reason: an amazing woman waiting back home.

  And I wrote a book about it: http://juliansmith.com/books/crossing-the-heart-of-africa/ 

• [phogan]

   I swallowed a bug. But it was an accident. I didn’t mean to.

• [Chad Wattler]

  I write indie table top RPGs and release them for free under the Creative Commons license with the hopes that someone will dig it enough to fork the ideas into their own games. 

  My 1st game is dice-less and uses a Jenga tower like in the game Dread. Instead of making a character up at the start you being the game with no memories or any idea of who you are. As the game goes on you make pulls from the Jegna tower making actions more difficult and dangerous the longer the game goes but with each pull you are given a slip of paper with a random memory that resurfaces. Perhaps you will learn something about who you are and what is going on or you might learn that the friends you have been relying on to survive are not as good and trusting as you thought. 

  http://www.morningskye.com/

  My second game is being edited now and should be coming out soon and I have a 3rd game in the works. 

  I’m also on two table top RPG podcasts:

  http://www.feartheboot.com

  http://www.kickedinthedicebags.libsyn.com/

• [James Hotelling]

  I have a webchart series! It lives at:

  http://www.truth-tables.com

• [bo1n6bo1n6]

  I blow glass pipes and marbles and I’m addicted to Ableton.

• [Eric Hart]

  My book about building props for theatre, film and TV just came out: http://www.propbuildingguidebook.com

  It’s pretty exciting. I’ve been working on it roughly the last 4 years. Besides all my own props I’ve built, I’ve also talked to prop makers in Hollywood, Broadway, and all over to really flesh the whole thing out.

  And it has a contest. Send in a picture of a prop you built, and you can win the book and a bunch of prop-making supplies and materials! http://www.focalpress.com/propbuildingcontest/

• [Grant Hamilton]

  Wow, great stuff in this thread! Here’s mine: I’m trying to turn a derelict firehall in my hometown into a co-op brewpub.

  The building was used continuously for 100 years as a firehall — from horse-drawn days to modern ladder and pumper trucks. Now the firefighters have moved on to a new building, and I’m trying to give the old one a fresh lease on life.

  It’ll be the first brewpub in the province of Manitoba, and one of the few co-op brewpubs on the continent. We are trying to arrange the financing Kickstarter style, with different rewards at different membership levels.

  The site’s a little out of date as we are knee- (neck?) deep in crunching numbers for an official submission to the city, which currently owns the building, but check it out at http://www.brewtinerie.ca/

  Questions? Drop me a line! info(at)brewtinerie.ca

  Cheers!
  Grant

  • [Kate Hoffmann]

    You might find the new, Canadian crowd sourcing tool for social innovation projects useful… http://www.csicatalyst.org/

    • [Grant Hamilton]

      That is fantastic! thank-you!

      But how have I missed this? I thought I was, as the kids say, “plugged in” …

• [CEC]

  Hello!  I acted in a retro sci-fi film called “Max Neptune and the Menacing Squid”, which came out for free today on Youtube. John Garside and Colin Fleming Co-Directed and shot loosely over a year, then another 5 years for Colin to create/render all the visual effects. It was inspired by the old “Flash Gordon” and “Commando Cody” serials and funded with dayjobs ! We’ve always dreamt of screening it at San Diego Comic-Con or seeing it as a series on Syfy.

  When John Taylor was recently in Los Angeles for his book signing at Cinescape, Jake LeBon and “Click” Rhodes (me) from RIO The Duran Duran Tribute Band, decided to mingle with the Duranies and promote upcoming shows. JT (the New American) eventually met us, then almost immediately got tickets for driving through two stopsigns!!! Rumors say he was very excited about meeting with his ol’ bandmates!

  Recently while cleaning my room, a bunch of sketchbooks emerged. I scanned the first one and published CEC Sketchbook Vol 1 through Lulu in case I ever lose the original! The next one will be out in a few months. While substitute-teaching for LAUSD, I’ve been showing it as an example to the Middleschoolers of what they themselves can do with their own art and/or writings. The Walter Reed Library is now carrying a copy and more kids are showing me their own sketchbooks!

  Thank you for existing BoingBoing. I’m constantly referencing the news/information I read on your site with my friends, family and students, sort of like Johnny Appleseed.

  • [CEC]

     I also wanted to point something out for any Orson Welles aficionado, its a trailer for “Max Neptune and the Menacing Squid” ,done in the style of the old original “Citizen Kane” trailer!

  • [Sekino]

    Way back when I was a die-hard duranie, my favourite was Rhodes, big time. So, cheers :)

• [Tyrone Rattle]

  I make quote/unquote records. From scratch, beginning to end-of-process and all by lonesome (aww…).  Listen to them if you like, after all that’s what they were made for- listening. Not the Eno or Satie kind of thing, that’s for sure.

  http://moxnoy.bandcamp.com

• [lava]

  I’m an architect, and I’ve created a catalog of house designs in a modern style so that people who love modern design would have a source for plans to build modern houses. 

  I did this because I found that the majority of builder’s in the US did not offer any modern designs, and that house plan catalogs rarely offered modern designs, and if they did it was something left over from years ago. And so people who liked modern design had no choice. They would either have to hire an architect at significant expense, or settle for an old fashioned looking house.

  So although the diversity of taste for modern design is too broad for me to cover everything, people now have at least some basic and affordable options to take to a builder, and finally get the modern house they always dreamed of. My catalog page is here:

  http://www.lamidesign.com/plans/planspg.html

  –

  The next endeavor is to tackle energy efficiency in a similar manner. My colleague Scott Hedges and myself have conducted a detailed study of house building practices in Sweden, where they long ago figured out how to build energy efficient houses affordably. On average Swedish homes use half the energy of American homes, yet they build houses of wood studs and live in suburbs just like we do. We’ve begun presenting this research at academic conferences, and have taken the first steps to adapt this technology to American building practices. We have published prototype Wall Assemblies, and Framing Strategies that produce high performance walls with same the basic materials we already use to build houses.

  We have a video series about these starting here:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ0WlbT4flE
  And web pages explaining these systems here:
  http://blog.lamidesign.com/p/usa-new-wall-info.html
  http://blog.lamidesign.com/p/swedish-platform-framing-info.html
  These have been published with a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA US) license to promote sharing of this tech.

  Its time to change the way we build homes in the US. We lag embarrassingly behind first world nations on this. We could do so much better with a little effort.

  Greg La Vardera

• [Library of Justice]

  I’ve built and currently curate a little free library for our neighborhood in Saint Paul, MN, dedicated to comics and graphic novels. It’s built to look like the Hall of Justice. I believe it’s the first of it’s kind with this specific focus.
  http://www.libraryofjustice.org
  http://www.facebook.com/libraryofjustice
  http://www.twitter.com/libraryojustice

• [Dylan Gordon]

  I study the hidden society of commercial pickers that harvest wild food products, such as mushrooms, berries and wild leeks (ramps), part of my PhD research. They’re basically the postmodern forest people of North America, and despite all the buzz about “foraging” and “foragers” hardly anyone knows this deeper reality.

  You can find posts based on my wild food research on my blog, and I amagamate interesting wild food articles on Twitter (@KnowWildFood).

• [TheDigits]

  Would fellow happy mutants be interested in our web series and mobile app that teaches kids math?

  http://youtube.com/user/fundawatch
  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-digits-fraction-blast/id566678406?ls=1&mt=8

  The app is a video with mini games embedded that change the outcome of the story.  We’ve had cool guest stars like Cara Santa Maria and Jonathan Coulton and the in-game achievements were designed by some awesome comics artists like Shannon Wheeler and Ron Chan. 

• [MurasakiMadness]

  I love lamp.

  • [UnderachievingSheep]

    I misread it as “I lava lamp” and was initially excited by the prospect of someone having a blog that documents the experience.

    (I live in Amsterdam but I am not stoned, it must be the city’s air).

• [tiredofit]

  I run a non-profit in New Jersey that is working to build a children’s respite home to provide breaks for parents providing 24/7 medical care in their homes for children suffering from life-shortening conditions, and providing those kids with a fun experience at the same time.  Mom and Dad can recharge their batteries with a short vacation or chance to sleep in so they can better care for their child again, while their child is given the same level of care at Connor’s House by our skilled nurses, art and music therapists, and volunteers.

  http://connorshouse.org

• [Bill Roundy]

  I draw a non-fiction weekly comic strip for the Brooklyn Paper – I go to bars and draw my reviews! The easiest way to view them is over at my site: http://comics.billroundy.com/?cat=6, but you can also view it at the paper’s site: http://brooklynpaper.com/sections/perspective/cartoons/bar_scrawl/

• [angelbomb]

  Hello BB’ers, I’m a graphic designer and letterpress printer. Last year I received a Jerome Book Arts grant to produce The Airship, a digitally enhanced letterpress graphic novel that used QR codes to heighten the readers experience. The story centered on a character who traveled to another  universe within the multiverse to prevent the State’s military industrial complex from taking over their dimension-traveling zeppelin. It’s the first of a planned trilogy. You can learn more at http://www.theairship.net or purchase at http://www.angelbomb.com. The digital aspect of the story was used to create an anology of the process used to create the book which was designed on high tech modern computers and printed on a vintage hand-cranked letterpress.
  This year I’ve received a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board to produce a letterpress book in the vein of Thomas Paine’s ‘Common Sense.’ As our country flounders in the depths of financial woes and societal divisiveness, I seek to create a modern pamphlet that, without political affiliation or agenda, encourages readers to engage in discussion of current issues. The working title is American Manifesto.Many of the freedoms we enjoy today come from ideas initially published by early activist printers. With my vintage printing presses, I seek to carryon this time-honored tradition. I feel our society has lost its ability to think critically and the topics of my book would promote discussion of this through use of humor. We are approaching a critical point in the human species where we have the technology and knowledge to extend our longevity and better humankind as a whole, but yet we remain short-sighted and think generally in terms of self-service.Thank you,Todd

• [Jon Protas]

  Our site SepiaTown allows people to map historical photos. The goal is to build the equivalent of a photographic time machine.

  http://sepiatown.com/index

  It’s user created, so you can share your own (or legal-to-share) photos or browse those posted by others and see the history of the world.

• [gsilas]

  Testing crazy anti-cancer ideas.  I’m trying to develop a wild new angle on combating hormone responsive (prostate, ovarian, breast) at the epigenetic level.  Also, many other cancers in another wild idea at the genetic level.

  http://www.mskcc.org

  I used to have hobbies.  Now I work all day and night.  Want to send me food?  I want to develop a website “Sponsor a starving post-doc”, anyone know how to interweb the programming html?

• [Crashproof]

  I make weird music with computer, occasional hand drums, and rarer bits of other instruments and field recordings.

  http://fallsastar.com

  (I’ve also just begun to do a bit of metalsmithing, but I’m just in the experimenting and practicing stage now.)

• [Nyc Hp Meetup]

  I am the head organizer of the NYC Harry Potter Meetup. The largest HP fan club in the world. Currently I am working on a convention we are hosting in Laconia, New Hampshire called MISTI-Con. Running from May 9th-13th, we have exclusive access to the con hotel. If you are an adult Harry Potter fan and want to have a blast with 500 other fans check us out. Our programming schedule is now online http://www.misti-con.org

• [embl33]

   I play in a comedy folk cabaret band called the Dirty Old Folkers. We write and sing silly and satirical songs about life in the UK (and our home town Birmingham), performing on stage with the grim reaper and a dancing panda.

  Here’s our video poking fun at bankers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRGnEUKffHg

  Cheers

  MikeB

• [jpr1012]

  Although this probably isn’t going to be anything close to as impressive as the works other people are doing on the site, I am working on creating a FPS RPG game using Roblox. It’s a site where kids, like me, can learn to program and create their own games. I’ve only been coding on it for about a year and I’m finally creating a game. Wish me luck!

  • [Buddy Bradley]

     Don’t put yourself down, it sounds cool

• [Brian Macken]

  I’m the co-writer of Action Science Theatre – an audio-drama podcast. Every episode is free-standing, so every episode is a jumping on point. Our latest episode, for example, is the story of a group of thieves who are hired to steal the International Prototype Kilogram; the previous episode was about an inept time-traveller. It’s pretty fun!

  http://www.actionsciencetheatre.com

• [Darren J. Gendron]

  I’m currently promoting The Monster Numbers, a book that teaches kids the numbers 1-10 through legendary monsters like the Cyclops, Kyuubi no Kitsune and Three-legged Crow.
  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dernjg/the-monster-numbers-book
  It’s also the sequel to the Monster Alphabet, which you might remember showing up on BB right before Christmas of 2011.

• [C.D. Hermelin]

  My friend takes very beautiful pictures and I write a story that’s exactly 1,000 words, based on that picture, over at http://astoryandapicture.com.

  We lost momentum because we couldn’t find readership, but this could be the kick in the pants the project needs! 

• [Brad Sucks]

  I put out a new Brad Sucks record recently: http://www.bradsucks.net/albums/guess-whos-a-mess/

• [Dave Pritchard]

  Helping high school computer science teachers teach Python: http://cscircles.cemc.uwaterloo.ca/

• [Bobby Martin]

  I’m writing Friendly Backup, a free tool to back up your data from your laptop, desktop, or phone.

  * no need to pay for the software or the service
  * it uses a “shared storage” model – you donate 120 mb of drive space on your computer and get 80 mb of storage for your data
  * it encrypts all data before it leaves your computer
  * you can restore your data as long as 2/3 of the people backing up your data are online
  * automatically migrates your data to other drives if one of your storers is consistently offline
  * free as in beer
  * free as in freedom (released under GPL)

  Future plans:
  * trivial to share any of your backed up files with friends
  * serverless web services – anyone who can write javascript can build a web service, with no server to maintain
  * next generation web – any static web content can be retrieved without load on the server, and is tamper-proof

  It is alpha software right now. 10% of the time, restoring your backup fails for no good reason, but you can try again. Installing is a pain in the ass; we haven’t optimized that yet.

  I am an engineer at Amazon, but Amazon has nothing to do with this software.

  https://github.com/wurp/Friendly-Backup/wiki

• [Michelle Lanter]

  I create Curious Collages and sell them in my Etsy shop:

  https://www.etsy.com/shop/dadadreams

• [Buddy Bradley]

  My friend and all-around great guy Wesley Julian has a fantastic-looking project on Kickstarter titled “Tohoku Tomo,” a documentary about the efforts of foreigners to rebuild Japan after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. (“Tohoku” is the name of the region and “Tomo” is short for “friend.”)

  It’s close to being fully-funded and it would be wonderful if this post put them over the top!
  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1283108911/tohoku-tomo

• [nixiebunny]

  I make Nixie tube wristwatches… I gave a talk on the subject at the Exploratorium last year.

  But I’ve been spending a lot of time lately volunteering with a high school robotics club, the Bit Buckets, that my wife and I run out of our house.

• [FrancesTheMute]

  I am a biology grad student and an amateur musician and my specialty is parody music videos about lab life.

  My favorite (and an award winner :)):
  Grad School I Love You, But You’re Bring Me Down featuring Beaker the muppet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrSL8hV5N8A

  My most recent:
  (The Lab Is) Where It’s At http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVSfriBZBM8

  My first attempt:
  Bright Scope/ Long Lab Coat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSFsUF67rCQ&feature=relmfu

  Enjoy!

• [Sean Hyde-Moyer]

  We just published our first iOS game, a fun one-button physics-puzzler called Stick-To-It:  http://www.magicpixelgames.com/stick-to-it/

  It’s a great game for happy mutants of all ages.

• [Sean Bohan]

  I am working on launching H(app)athon next week, which is a project at the intersection of happiness, quantified self, big data and people. It is a series of conferences, hackathons, data, sharing, a book, a documentary and a whole lot of  learning about wellness.

  On Thurs March 20 the project will kick off with in-person events in multiple cities around the world including
  New York City
  Bogota, Columbia
  London, England
  Oslo, Norway
  Tokyo, Japan

  and follows with a series of events, discussions, working groups and hackathons

  http://www.happathon.com/

• [jornin]

  I am an editor at a small arts and education television station in Saint Louis. My producer does stories about interesting and unique things that happen in Saint Louis.  Our current story was about The Twist and Shout balloon twisters convention. Look for the Millenium Falcon and a life size Tardis made out of balloons.

  http://www.hectv.org/video/11148/999999999999999-luftballoons/

• [brucearthurs]

  I’ve been able to write and complete several short stories in the last few months, after a long dry spell.

  But what I’m actually most pleased with today is being able to raise my right arm past shoulder height again.  Not by much, but after the spectacularly broken arm and general shoulder wreckitude of December, I only had about 45 degrees of motion, so the physical therapy (ouch!) is working.  So 90 degrees plus a bit is a big improvement.

  I’ve been blogging about the broken arm and the recovery therefrom, along with an eclectic mix of other posts, at my blog Undulant Fever.

• [Jay Converse]

  For my new silver sousaphone, I’m building an 8-node ring for the front of the bell. The input is 9V, it’s controlled by an Arduino and a throat mike.  When I play a note, depending on the valves that I’m pressing, different parts of the nodes are powered.  In the summer, the nodes power various motors that spin stuff.  In the winter and indoors, it powers LED lights.  In the fall and spring, it’s a mix of lights and motors.

  • [Blunt Farce]

     Pictures/video please.

• [dickyadams]

  I write post-singularity science fiction based on big data, smart systems, loss of privacy. The latest one is a story about a big data semantic dating system that goes wrong.  I  am turning book one in the series into a film this year. Look here for my books, they are short stories in a serial. Change .co.uk to .com for the US http://www.amazon.co.uk/Richard-F-Adams/e/B009WTMKDK/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

• [Dead Homer Society]

  Nuts, there is a ton of better stuff than mine in here (dude with the world’s safest bicycle: damn), but I recently started a Kindle magazine/website with some other writers called The Ann Arbor Review of Books.  We’ve had the site for a few months and we just published our second issue today:

  http://www.a2review.net/current-issue/

  We critique movies, TV, books, you name it, everything is CC licensed, and I recycle old public domain cartoons for the covers.  Happy mutanting to everyone.  

• [eljefe900]

  I’m trying to get everyone using their iPhones to understand and interact with nature instead of ignore it.

  Launched Birdeez as a way to start https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhSokInMo9A

  Free for iPhone right now: http://www.GetBirdeez.com/

• [bfarn]

  I’m finishing up a children’s book about a young inventor who builds a series of machines to pet her cat, Cheddar.  It’s called The Better Cheddar Petter!
  (spoiler: in the end she discovers that she is The Better Cheddar Petter)

  A couple of preview images here:
  http://appliedesoterics.com/ched/ChedPreview1.jpg
  and here:
  http://appliedesoterics.com/ched/ChedPreview2.jpg
  and finally here:
  http://appliedesoterics.com/ched/ChedPreview3.jpg

  A .pdf of the whole thing is available by request, cheddar at appliedesoterics.com

  Thanks for setting up this open promo,
  –David

  • [fordsbasement]

     Looks great, David!

• [fordsbasement]

  Looking forward to the release of my book, By the Balls: The Complete Collection, a retro pulp bowling alley murder mystery (and other assorted noir writings) in a little more than two weeks from Akashic Books.

  http://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/by-the-balls-the-complete-collection/

• [Terry Frost]

  For five years now I have been publishing a podcast about old forgotten movies: Paleo-Cinema Podcast http://paleo-cinema.blogspot.com – enjoy!

• [cjearner]

  I make digital art from portraits and found photos.

  You can see a mass quantities of it at http://luxeterna.enigmatic.com/artwork.html

  I’ve attached a sample of what’s there. Come visit if it’s your cup of tea

• [Chris Cummings]

  I’m working on my fifth album of melancholy, wurlitzer electric piano-based music under my band name Marker Starling. Here’s a video for my new song Husbands, inspired by John Cassavetes’ 1970 film of the same name:  

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b91CkriLDYk&list=PL5FDFC80E918BD260&feature=mh_lolz

• [Gabby Francis]

  Awesome, very cool of you to do this Cory!

  I do Pet Photography in Portland, OR. I love animals and it’s really fun to photograph them, but I also think it’s very meaningful to document the bond between humans and their pets. Our time with them is just too short so I want to provide lasting artwork of their lives. Anyway, if you like cute dogs you should totally check out Blinker Photography!

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    FYI – masked links don’t work unless you include http://

    • [Gabby Francis]

      You must have fixed it for me, thanks! You don’t want to know how much legwork has gone into setting myself up to make one comment…internets fail. 

• [Andrew Kay]

  I make music: electronic/industrial/rock -ish, Creative Commons. Some albums what I did:

  Theory of Everything (2012), instrumental ambient downtempo breaks
  http://warfreak2.org.uk/greenlightgo/Theory_of_Everything

  Abort, Retry, Fail? (2011), “laptop rock”
  http://warfreak2.org.uk/Abort_Retry_Fail

  Finishing Touches (2010), a bit of a mix
  http://warfreak2.org.uk/Finishing_Touches

  Modern Chiptunes (2005), made using a text editor and a C compiler
  http://warfreak2.org.uk/Modern_Chiptunes

  Oh, also I am currently the British Go Champion, so there’s that.

• [David L. Cooper]

  I make music:
  http://dropsy.bandcamp.com

  Also some animation, like this recent collaboration:
  http://youtu.be/KqD6nt6lMew

  This thread inspires me to do more of everything!

• [Michael Thorner]

  The ehMTee Show is a homegrown, cross-platform, webcast variety program of original songs by its host, Michael Thorner and the Must We Wait Forever Band, as well as music interpretations and light comedy. In this pilot episode, guests include the composer Mantler, as well as Gemini award-winning comic writer Paul Bellini (This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Fab Magazine, Kids In The Hall) and Canadian comedy legend, Scott Thompson (Kids In The Hall, The Larry Sanders Show, Hannibal), performing together for the first time in 12 years!

  We’re looking for help to complete final post-production for the pilot episode, obtain music clearances, and develop our audience plan. Contributions have associated perks! Thanks for this forum Cory. Here’s the link:

  http://www.indiegogo.com/theehmteeshow

• [Meg Favreau]

  I collect old books, and I started a blog where I post one joke (or other bit of humor) from a pre-1950 joke book every weekday: http://someoldjokes.tumblr.com/

  My favorites are the ones with the needlessly sad endings, like this one:  http://someoldjokes.tumblr.com/post/45290775842/from-rare-bits-of-humor-after-dinner-stories

  • [Clifton]

     You’re right, that’s a really odd and needless ending. How strange…

• [Fred Hatt]

  Today is the fourth anniversary of my blog, Drawing Life, an exploration of transforming perception to experience the world as a manifestation of energies in dynamic relation, through my practice of art, photography, and figure drawing. Posts are extensive visual essays, and vary a lot – look at several to get a sense of it. http://fredhatt.com/blog

  • [niktemadur]

    At first glance – wow, Balla and Muybridge.
    Your sketches have a very Baconesque feel to them, but your finished works are all your own.
    Your classy, thoughtful blog has been bookmarked.

    Here’s a late Picabia nude, for fun and the bulldog.  Cheers, sir!
    http://francispicabia.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/francis-picabia-nudes.jpg

• [ravenlunatick]

  Check out my SF flash fiction archive. Robot Apocalypses, Teletubbies, and a holiday story that ends with the phrase, “Put your pants back on.”
  http://ravenlunatick.wordpress.com/flash-fiction-archive/
  Edited to add: any and all feedback is welcome! Tell me what’s good so I can do more of it. Tell me what’s crap so I’ll know better next time.
  Also I make Sock Monsters, microwave Ivory Soap, and knit a Doctor Who Scarf:
   http://ravenlunatick.wordpress.com/
  I read 50 Shades of Grey so you don’t have to. Sarcasm ensues: http://iread50shades.wordpress.com/

• [David Shanks]

  Site-managing one of the most complex pieces of domestic architecture there is: http://kewhouse.info

• [taugust]

  I blog about science at http://TMaugust.com/blog

  The last post examined the ramifications of the Higgs Boson’s possible discovery;
  before that I answered the age-old XKCD question “Why isn’t the Sky Violet”?

  • [niktemadur]

    If one only read the first part of the question

    Did we find the Higgs?

    and skipped the second part,

    Is particle physics finished now?

    the answer is very funny:

    maybe [UPDATE: Yes, yes we did.], and absolutely not.

    • [taugust]

      Maybe it’s a superposition! There needs to be a 1/sqrt(3) multiplying each state to normalize it, though.

• [knitterbee]

  I design knitting patterns that are either self published or available through the wonderful online magazine Twist Collective. So far the owl mittens are most popular, but many people have knitted the dragons and the raccoons.

  http://barbaragregory.com/Barbara_Gregory/Knitting.html

• [koanhead]

  freegeekseattle.org is a non-profit organization similar but not indentical to the original freegeek.org – we recycle and refurbish old hardware, grant it out to other nonprofits, provide training in Free Software and related technologies, and offer programs for volunteers to earn a free computer.
  Within the context of freegeekseattle.org I’m also beginning a project to develop and deploy meshnets like the ones developed by commotionwireless.net

• [Nick Wedig]

  I create small scale, story focused tabletop roleplaying games, playtest them a few times and then release them as free, Creative Commons licensed PDFs.

  I also spent the last year making a cartoon a day based on every monster in the D&D Monstrous Manual.

• [Kenna W]

  I swapped out Link for Zelda in Legend of Zelda nes.

  I did all of the sprite animations and my boyfriend wrote up some python code to replace the opening and closing scrolls. There’s video and the patch is up on the blog.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXLx8x0ZQe8

• [Clifton]

  My current main side thing isn’t going to be of much interest to others – I’ve been helping some with budgeting and forecasting for the Zen group I belong to, the Honolulu Diamond Sangha. Not much to show there.

  But my daughter Ellery Royston just announced a music/performance project, “This Jewel House”; its full title is our songs are strewn in THIS JEWEL HOUSE, beached on the tidal wound.

  It includes live electro-acoustic music, video, theatrical performance, and web elements, and will be performed in late April for 168 hours consecutively – that’s 7 days continuously, 24 hours a day.*  New Yorkers can check it out in person; it will also be streamed live. The artists say, “We were inspired by Aztec poetry, Victorian ghost stories, and our exploration of web art to create a piece to explore the ephemerality of our life on earth.”

  She has an IndieGogo fundraiser going to help cover [a portion of] the production costs – you can find that, with still more info, here: This Jewel House: IndieGogo

  The music might especially appeal to those who like ambient; a trailer can be found here (IndieGogo) or here (Vimeo) for those who want to check it out.  Ellery previously composed music for an award-winning production called Initium:Finis, and has had a number of personal bands/projects; you can find download links for several of them at her personal website.

  * That’s the unusual part.

• [Stewart Berntson]

  Diaspora* — familiarizing myself with the codebase so I can start contributing.

• [nyya]

  What a cool thread. So many wonderful and creative things going on here. Thanks for this, boingboing.
  I’m slowly working on a photo project in NY similar to one I did when I lived in San Francisco (which can be seen at http://www.streetartsanfrancisco.com). I don’t have a site for the NY project as yet, but some of the early pictures for it can be found on my largely unused flickr page.

• [Muscato]

  Just an old-fashioned blogger, musing idly on camp and gay culture more generally, life as an expatriate in Arabia, and all the things that go on while one is making other plans.  The Café Muscato has been going on for four years now, and no one could be more surprised than I.

  I’m also part of the motley crew having a good time over at The Hair Hall of Fame, a fab destination for all your bouffant needs…

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    You’re not big on pagination, are you?

• [Candy Critic]

  I’m working on a few art projects:

  http://www.bewarethecheese.com/senses/

  http://www.bewarethecheese.com/fromstone/

  and I’m always working on my candy website:

  http://www.candycritic.org/

• [niktemadur]

  Perfect thread for my latest, greatest escapade.

  After having smoked for almost 30 years, just last December I discovered the electronic cigarette (e-cig), with a coil that vaporizes a syrup (e-liquid) of glycol, nicotine and flavor.  Instead of inhaling smoke, one inhales vapor, which supposedly reduces toxins by 99% or more.

  After almost 3 months of completely substituting smoke for vapor, I have to tell all fellow BB smokers three key things:
  • I’m puffing away and getting my nicotine, throat hit, vapor clouds and everything.  I have not smoked a single cigarette.  Zilch.  Not a sausage.
  • My sense of taste and smell have increased (reawakened).
  • At this point in flu/allergy season, I should have already suffered 6-8 colds.  This time around I’ve gotten ONE.

  I’m still experimenting, buying equipment and peripherals, a pricey process, but also so far I’ve not smoked approximately 1300 cigarettes, I’m around breaking even so far.  Once I find my ideal setup, it’s gonna be way less expensive than cigarettes.  Saving money and health, while not climbing up the walls with anxiety, this can and will save lives.

  This is not my photo, but somebody else out there has my exact same setup, a top of the line Provari Mini.
  http://i974.photobucket.com/albums/ae226/TD-Kyle/IMG_20120831_010537.jpg

• [Laura Antoniou]

  After 20+ years of writing erotica and attending sex/BDSM/kinky events and teaching classes, judging contests and issuing snark thereof, I just wrote my first comedy/murder mystery, The Killer Wore Leather. http://www.amazon.com/The-Killer-Wore-Leather-Mystery/dp/157344930X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363423243&sr=8-1&keywords=killer+wore+leather

  • [niktemadur]

    Bravo, Laura, for holding up a fun house mirror to the Leather Community

    Sounds like something out of the Harry Crews playbook.  I love Harry Crews, at least his early nineties stuff, I kinda lost track after that.

• [Alys Sterling]

  I play bass guitar in a band called Witching Hour. Our latest video is here: http://vimeo.com/41179649 and you can find out more here: http://www.witchinghouruk.com/ . 

• [KP Webster]

  Hello. I’ve written a novel which is free to download in any e-format until April 15th. Here’s a little blurb: ‘Part contemporary love story, part historical biography, The Lives and Loves of Hana Lee is an extraordinary story of female love, rage and empowerment against the backdrop of two hundred years of male prejudice. By turns explicit, shocking, darkly funny and deeply moving, its cast of characters includes Parisian courtesans, ailing Samurai, sadistic gynaecologists and Sicilian sulphur miners. It also features walk-on parts for Toulouse Lautrec, Frank Sinatra, Ernest Hemingway and Sarah Palin.’ Here is the link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/287639

• [Alen Ontl]

  I’m working on a PhD in comparative literature – a study of social commentary in the trilogy USA by John Dos Passos and Cairo trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz.

  I play 8-ball tournaments and league online at the best pool gaming site: http://www.king.com/

  I localize and translate Microsoft’s software into Croatian, but I do it on a Mac, lol.

• [niktemadur]

  Punk ages well.

  Here’s Gang Of Four’s “I Found That Essence Rare”, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ibmNGpqU_Q

  Then 30 years later there’s Patti Smiths “Amerigo”.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAC6UZI2YjQ

• [nousnet]

  I quit working at an I.B. last summer to found https://nous.net. It's a pretty big experiment in equal opportunity.

  The basic idea is that you play our free game of prediction, we use everyone’s predictions to trade in our Hedge Fund, and then share the profits back with the players who helped us most. As you get better, your share of the prize pot increases – and you are also learning a valuable, marketable, skill.

  We’ve just released a beta version web-app but native apps and prizes should be available around this summer.

  Check it out! We think we’re the first to try this kind of virtuous-cycle business model and we would appreciate the support!

  PS. Long-time fan of boingboing – read every post since about 2003..

• [Marence]

  If you have questions you wish you could ask your mother, but can’t for whatever reason, Ask Mama Mary!
  Mama Mary answers questions, gives advice, and occasionally shares anecdotes.
  Ask any question at http://www.askmamamary.com

• [Remus Shepherd]

  I write and draw the webcomic Genocide Man, a hilarious look at mass murder.

  And of course I’m working on getting traditional publication for my sci-fi novels.  You might hear something more substantial about that soon.

• [Jeremy Wilker]

  I’m about 97% done with my 2nd indie feature film, a gay teen romantic promedy called DEATH TO PROM. Kickstarter was instrumental in making this movie and the script recently won the 2012 McKnight Screenwriting award. http://deathtoprom.com/
  And right now I’d LOVE to see your best (or worst) prom photos – we may even feature them in the credits of the film if you submit them to our FB contest.

• [Fred Robel]

  I wrote a book of collected aviation maintenance themed verse and short story called:

  “Tales of the Wrench”  It’s 99 cents on Amazon Kindle.  

  http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Wrench-Inspired-Maintenance-ebook/dp/B009MXSWME/ref=la_B007B1JLBA_1_1_title_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1363445951&sr=1-1

  Chase a runaway tire across an airport, survive a mid-air collision, drop an engine into a lake, press through boredom, travel around the world, and reflect upon the important things. These things and more, explored in story and verse.Come with me if you will, upon a short trip into the reality, fantasy, and downright lies; that are aviation, and it’s less glamorous sibling: Aviation Maintenance.

• [WilliamMacfarlane]

  I co-run a youth hackerspace/democratic school-alternative/informal group of hackish/makeish educators called the Parts and Crafts Collective — http://www.partsandcrafts.org

  Currently our main project is trying to find a new space, but in the recent past we ran, and in the hopefully-near-future we’ll be back to running school vacation camps, a non-coercive school-alternative,  afterschool programs, community game nights and movie nights, and weekend and evening drop-in “open-shop” time for youth and their friends. 

  It’s pretty rad because kids are super-ambitious so they’re always pushing me to help them do or learn something new and exciting and different.

• [elix]

  When I can fight through my depression and get that creative spark lit, I’m writing a novel that I’d love to share with the BoingBoing community, but I don’t have anything ready to show yet. I hope that there’ll be more of these in the future so that I can show it around when I’ve got something worth sharing.

  It involves numbers stations and the greater implications of viable human cloning (beyond eugenics/playing god).

• [albojeavons]

  Philadelphia, PA. USA is home to a unique institution: The ArtJail. Located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway – Philadelphia’s Museum Mile – The ArtJail elevates urban hybridization to a new level; combining a state-of-the-art detention center for pre-adults with an art museum showcasing one of the world’s finest collections of Impressionist art, and an integrated Shopping and Casino Experience.

  Visit us at: http://artjail.org

• [Alana Farley]

  I’m working on my actual site, so I don’t have a link for that right now. But, I have a FB for the interim! https://www.facebook.com/jboxfarley

  I’m an artist, doing a lot of weird art. I am happy to do commissions if you are in the market for something weird lookin’. :) I have also been into pixel art lately, so there’s a bit of that there as well.

• [smonkey]

  I/We made/are making/trying to finish a pilot/trailer/pitch for a kids show!  And it is AWESOME!  Do you like Cardboard?  I love cardboard!  Do you like invisible Mayonnaise that blows your mind?  I LOVE invisible Mayonnaise TBYM.

  Puppets.  Pirates.  Madness ensues.

  And natch.  Kickstarter.

  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adventuresandwich/adventure-sandwich-the-pilot

• [Andy Hill]

  I wrote a travel novel about Southeast Asia. And alchemy. Its one of the best books you’ll read today.
  http://www.mysticfool.com

• [Deborah Causton]

  Anikibo, my latest project, is a marketplace helping independent publishers of magazines, zines and comics with a new avenue of distribution.

  Just starting out, and looking for more independent publishers to stock.

  Check out http://www.anikibo.com if you LOVE PRINT. Hope you find something you like.

• [Andy Warner]

  I make a lot of nonfiction and journalistic comics (I’ve been in Symbolia magazine, which Xeni wrote about earlier, as well as bunch of other places).

  Right now, I’m doing a funny non-fiction comic called Brief Histories of Everyday Objects.

  So far I’ve covered toothbrushes, cinnamon, ballpoint pens, yo-yos and kitty litter. It’s really fun work! You can see ‘em here: tapastic.com/series/303

• [pauldrye]

  I’m about 3/4 of the way through writing a book about manned spacecraft and space stations that were seriously proposed by NASA/ESA/USSR and Russia/Japan, but that never quite made it. Russian moon rockets, alternatives considered to the Space Shuttle, a manned Apollo Venus flyby, a tiny monkey space station (really!), that sort of thing.

  Sections are going on-line as I write them, and people are welcome to come and read any and all of it at their leisure:

  http://falsesteps.wordpress.com

• [Chris Cummings]

  My Swedish friend Tintin Törncrantz writes incredible (and incredibly under-appreciated, in my opinion) long-form non-fiction pieces  – like this one on the David Bowie exhibition currently showing at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London: http://blogs.colette.fr/tintintorncrantz/2013/03/05/these-fires-never-stop/

• [Dan Wilson]

  My current play “Just One More Game”, a romantic comedy about video gamers in their 40′s, is playing at the Exit Theatre in downtown San Francisco. In the midst of the renewed national dialog about specious connections between video games and violence, I’m delighted to offer a story about video games and love.
  http://www.theexit.org/web/just/

• [magneticwheels]

  My 15-piece psychedelic-jungle-dance big band is getting ready to release a couple of albums.

  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/400845409/d-town-brass-1st-album

• [Boris Betteroff]

  I am welding container lifts. It doesn’t sound like very much, comparing to what You guys are posting here, but still I am a BB reader and a metal worker and I weld a lot. Maybe my intellect suffers form it, maybe it gains, but You know, it’s really hot.

• [Little Red Reviewer]

  my current project is this baby:

  Bookstore Bookblogger Connection:
  http://bookstorebloggerconxn.com/

  Bookbloggers submit their “blurbs” out of their book reviews, and we make ‘em pretty and send them to indie bookstores so help booksellers sell more of our favorite things: books.

• [Santiago Casares]

  I make a webcomic called Chili’s World about a hoplessly romantic penguin, a philosophical lemming, a black/white cartoon cat in exile and Alice (sans Wonderland), that you can check out at:

  http://www.chilisworld.com

• [tflemons]

  I’m an inventor/tinkerer who has worked with the concept of tensegrity to make stuff for over 30 years. You may know my tensegrity toy Skwish for example.

  For the last 14 years I’ve been building ever more precise models of human anatomy using biotensegrity principles. (the claim that biology is organized structurally as nested hierarchies of self assembling tensegrity systems). 

  What is the point? Well an overhaul of structural anatomy and biomechanics is long overdue. We’re still thinking about bones and muscles as levers and pulleys like they did in the renaissance. But researchers around the world have a new understanding of myofascial behavior they base upon a tensegrity paradigm and I’m exploring how this new biomechanics might work. Better description equals better prescription and new clinical treatments to manage joint and muscle pain is the result. Other applications include lighter, and cheaper prosthetic devices, exo-skeletons and Biomimetic robotic structures that are more robust, dexterous, and resilient.  Checkout my site for progress and many links to key researchers in this new field.
  http://www.intensiondesigns.com/

• [Jay Bushman]

  I’m the Transmedia Producer and a writer for “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries,” a multiplatform web series modernization of Pride and Prejudice.  

  We’ve recently won Streamy and IAWTV awards for Best Interactive Show of the Year, and the series is coming to the end of it’s year-long run, with over 150 episodes across multiple YouTube channels and dozens of characters spread across Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, LinkedIn, Get Glue, This Is My Jam and other social platforms. 

  The main YouTube channel is at http://www.youtube.com/lizziebennet
  And you can start watching from the beginning at http://www.lizziebennet.com/story/

• [Nathaniel]

  I write 140-character programs that generate music and post them (and the results) on twitter: https://twitter.com/headcube

  Some of my earlier pieces were included in the album “SC140″, which was blogged on Boing Boing previously: http://boingboing.net/2009/12/09/computer-music-from.html

• [Cyn Leach]

  My partner and I create a webcomic called A Long Exquisite Darkness, aka ALED.  It’s a futuristic story exploring the lives and interactions of an asexual/antisocial gun-for-hire, a bi male courtesan who moonlights as a contract assassin, an overly optimistic tech-head, and an overworked personal assistant with OCD.  

  Full-color. Updates at least weekly. Contains violence, sexual themes, adult language, and drug references.  Probably not safe for most workplaces.

  The artwork started out pretty rough when we first posted the comic online over a year ago, but it’s made huge improvements since.

  Since I spend about 8 hours a week reading/viewing Boing Boing articles for inspiration, it would be great to get some new viewers for the comic!

  http://aledcomic.com/ALED/Home.html

• [deraldart]

  I make note cards, videos and music. Thanks for looking
               !http://picturelawrence.com/

• [License Farm]

  I’m in NYC’s premiere (& very probably only) nerdy a cappella group Choirfly (http://choirfly.com). We cover songs from various corners of geek culture, as well as adapt less overtly dorky songs into quite a bit more pointdextrous material. We’re booked for April 3rd at NYC’s premiere (though possibly not only) nerd bar, The Way Station http://waystationbk.blogspot.com/ and, should that be well-attended, we may be in residence there on the odd Sundays before nerd karaoke.

• [zoic]

  I started, and run, http://CampHacker.tv because of something that happened to me when I was 11 years old.

  I was a REALLY nerdy kid. My whole life was wrapped up in reading books, but for one thing.

  From the time I was 7 years old I was sent to a summer camp on the shores of Lake Huron. It was called Camp Kintail. Kintail was one place in my life where I felt like I could be myself and try out lots of new things. When I was 11 years old, my counselor said to me the thing that forever changed how I look at life. He pulled me aside during a quiet time in the day and said to me “Travis you would make a great camp counselor”.

  That moment changed everything.

  I worked for 6 summers as a counselor and then 15 years as a full-time camp director. Now I run a business (and blog and podcast) that helps make the process of running summer camp easier.

  Summer camp used to be something that lots of kids did. Now with tons of competition from other summer activities, and parents’ increasing fear of letting go of their children, not as high percentage of kids go to camp. 

  I think that’s wrong. 

  I think every child should have the same experience that I did: an adult who saw my potential, a place to try new things, and encouragement to be creative, and a job with incredible responsibilities.

  What makes my work worth it is helping camp directors find easier ways to do their job.

  People in this industry are so passionate about what they do because it impacted each of us. 

  That is my great passion.

• [Annie Paladino]

  Currently rehearsing for a new play about time, modernity, melting glaciers, skyscrapers, and the Ouroborus (the snake of time that eats its tail). TIME SENSITIVE runs April 18-May 18 in Oakland, CA. More here: http://raggedwing.org/show/show_detail/28

  It’s fast-paced, extremely physical, and weaves together several storylines into one epic performance. I’m extremely excited about it. Bay Area mutants, come check it out!

• [4midori]

  I released an album of art-pop for sophisticates and fans of Peter Gabriel, Duran Duran, Rush, Dream Theater, Sondre Lerche, Soda Stereo and Jump.
  http://welcometoflyovercountry.com

• [Leela Rae Hein]

  Hello! I am an artist who makes unique gifts. I hand paint coffee mugs, sculpt unique light switch plates, make custom name paintings for you and those you love, wings you wear, jewelry, and fingerprint trees for weddings. I always love custom orders. Please check out my work, feel free to contact me with any ideas or requests, or just to say hello.

  Thanks,

  Leela Hein

  My Online Art portfolio- http://rmdart.webs.com/

  My Etsy- https://www.etsy.com/shop/RileyMicaDesigns

• [Scott Bartlett]

  I’m promoting my self-published humour novel, Royal Flush, which is a recipient of the H. R. (Bill) Percy Prize.

  To do so, I’ve held an ‘open-source’ book launch, created a free audiobook of the first part, held a blog tour, held a Goodreads giveaway, promoted on Twitter, sold at my local farmers’ market, and more. I’ve had what I’d call middling success with it.

  The book is a medieval comedy that asks the question: can a King who throws his dates in the dungeon find a girlfriend?

  More info can be found here: http://batshite.com/royalflush

• [Blunt Farce]

  I write, animate & create the music and SFX for a surreal little stoner-cartoon for the cannabis-achiever generation… using not much more than online tools (such as ‘GoAnimate’ – which I discovered by reading BoingBoing and Audacity/Garageband etc) – 5 episodes so far, over 100,000 total views.  Ep. 2 is our most-watched so far: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2k2ISz8jpQ&feature=share&list=SPF22950F1821B8D60

• [cameron37]

  I just published my first book, a sci fi novel called Clare-5

  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/272516

• [Alex Fitch]

  I present a weekly radio show about comics, with every episode featuring ten to forty min interviews with comic book creators. Recent guests have included Phil and Kaja Foglio (Girl Genius), James Moran (Torchwood – now doing an online vampire comic), Mike Carey (The Unwritten), Matt Fraction (Fantastic Four), Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay), Denise Mina (Hellblazer) and Steve Bissette (Swamp Thing).

  You can find uncut podcasts of all 300+ previous episodes here: http://panelborders.wordpress.com
  (A-Z index here: http://panelborders.wordpress.com/category/index
  or listen live to the 30 min edit, Sundays at 6pm / Tuesdays at 4.30pm (GMT) on 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at http://www.resonancefm.com

• [Robert Morris]

  Operating on the assumption that every think tank is biased due to its funders, I am trying to start my own solely through the sale of short broadsheets on the Kindle.  Its fun. http://www.morefreedomfoundation.com

• [jrishel]

  I’m working with a startup developing 3D weaving to make nearly complete garments directly on the loom, our first product is soon launching at http://helixiabra.com

• [Jim Stewart]

  I have a webcomic called “The Road to Xibalba.” It’s a contemporary urban fantasy based on the events in the Quiche Mayan creation epic, with graffiti, video games and street basketball mixed in. It updates every Sunday.

  http://www.theroadtoxibalba.com/ 

• [Metrophors]

  I build a snowclone twitter mashup that plots “x is the y of z” tweets:

  http://metropho.rs