Boing Boing » help

Another rainy day fun project: Hurricane Hackers

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 12:19:45 +0000

Hurricane Hackers is a hashtag on Twitter (i.e., #hurricanehackers) and a crowdsource hub to create tech and social projects related to Hurricane Sandy. Proposed projects include an ad-hoc food and water delivery system for after the storm and live maps that show which businesses in a given area are actually open. You can propose projects or start working on projects other people have proposed. Check out the official Google Doc, or the IRC channel. (Via Shasha Costanza-Chock)

National Cancer Institute help line provides unbiased, useful information

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:35:58 +0000

If you or a loved one has recently been diagnosed with cancer, consider calling the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service at 1-800-422-6237. You'll find The operators can tell you about their personal cancer stories, answer your questions, help you find financial help for medical bills, put you in touch with medical specialists and local support groups, direct you toward clinical trials, and more. It's a valuable, but underutilized service that everyone should be aware of. (Side note: Yes, this is actually useful medical information that appeared on the Huffington Post. Written by an actual medical scientist. It's a Festivus miracle!) Via Mark Kleiman on Submitterator.

What's the difference between a honey bee and a bumble bee?

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:45:04 +0000

Because I have, in the past, illustrated a story about honey bees with a picture of a bumble bee, I am posting this handy chart, put together by biologist Alex Wild, as a form of penance.