The Latest from Boing Boing

Leading copyright scholar says DoJ gets it wrong in downloader lawsuits

Posted: 11 Apr 2009 05:11 AM PDT

Pamela Samuelson, one of America's leading copyright scholars, has published a working paper arguing that the DoJ's and RIAA's theory for calculating damages in downloader lawsuits is flawed:

A working paper coauthored by noted copyright law scholar Prof. Pamela Samuelson of the University of California Law School discusses, in depth, various issues regarding statutory damages under the Copyright Act.
Among other things, the paper concludes that the State Farm/Gore due process test is applicable to statutory damage awards under the Copyright Act, a position which is consistent with the position taken in the amicus curiae brief filed by the Free Software Foundation in SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum, and inconsistent with the positions taken by the Department of Justice in Tenenbaum and in SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Cloud

Working paper by Prof. Samuelson on Copyright Act statutory damages argues Gore due process test applicable to statutory damages (via /.)

Previously:

Indie Chinese art/music/culture site

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 02:19 PM PDT

My Institute for the Future colleague Lyn Jeffery, of the virtual China blog 88 Bar, turned me on to Neocha.com, an incredible hub of indie Chinese art/culture/music. For example, dig the beautiful music of experimental zither player Zeng Xiaogang.

Anthony Pontius painting show

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 02:08 PM PDT

Ieageb5Umeq Sde1 Bv Uji Aaaaaaaac3G Kpzcto9Y1Ym S1600 Hotterthanhell

Anthony Pontius is showing a new collection of his lovely, dark, phantasmagoric paintings at Seattle's Roq La Rue Gallery. Seen here, "Hotter Than Hell" (oil on panel, 18" x 24"). The show, titled "The Casual Calamity," opens tonight at Seattle's Roq La Rue gallery. Also showing at the Roq is Nathan Ota. Both exhibitions are up until May 2 and viewable online.

Anthony Pontius preview
Nathan Ota preview

Terrifying, Gory Workplace Safety PSA Horror-Video

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 01:41 PM PDT

This is not a parody of a workplace safety video. This is an actual workplace safety video. Will You Be Here Tomorrow? (Thanks, John Walsh!)

Can't see the video? Click here

Prom dress store changes photo of dress

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 12:11 PM PDT

Why did lightinthebox.com remove this photo of a prom dress and replace it with a different shot of the same model in the same dress?

Comic book of "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 03:10 PM PDT

Over at Total Dick-Head, David Gill has word on the forthcoming comic book adaptation of Philip K. Dick's iconic novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Of course, this is the 1968 book that the film Blade Runner was based on. The first issue will have four cover versions with art by Denis Calero, Bill Sienkiewicz and Scott Keating, and Moritat. Warren Ellis is writing the first issue's back-matter, and that concerns Gill. Not me though, I'm a huge fan of Ellis's fiction and comix, and look forward to see what he comes up with in this context. "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? to Become a Comic Book Series"

UPDATE: BOOM Studios' Chip Mosher says the 24 issue series is not an adaptation of the novel but the "full text, fully illustrated." More here!

Zipper dress

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 11:30 AM PDT

Designer Sebastian Errazuriz created this dress out of 120 zippers. I dig the idea of reconfigurable clothing that isn't ugly. Zipper Dress (Britannica.com, thanks Alex Pang!)

Can't see the video? Click here

Trippy illusion

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 10:29 AM PDT

From the TED blog (Via Jake von Slatt via speigl.org via verylowsodium):

Instructions:
1. Stare at the image for 10 seconds.
2. Look at something -- your hand, a book, your friend
3. Enjoy!

Art film made with satellites videos of solar wind and coronal mass ejections

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 10:24 AM PDT

Black Rain from Semiconductor on Vimeo.

Beautiful film from Semiconductor.

Here we see the HI (Heliospheric Imager) visual data as it tracks interplanetary space for solar wind and CME's (coronal mass ejections) heading towards Earth. Data courtesy of courtesy of the Heliospheric Imager on the NASA STEREO mission.
Working with STEREO scientists, Semiconductor collected all the HI image data to date, revealing the journey of the satellites from their initial orientation, to their current tracing of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Solar wind, CME's, passing planets and comets orbiting the sun can be seen as background stars and the milky way pass by.
As in Semiconductors previous work 'Brilliant Noise' which looked into the sun, they work with raw scientific satellite data which has not yet been cleaned and processed for public consumption. By embracing the artifacts, calibration and phenomena of the capturing process we are reminded of the presence of the human observer who endeavors to extend our perceptions and knowledge through technological innovation.

(via cgr)

BB Video: GDC Out-take - Radiohead Fan-Dance-Off with Giant Katamari Damacy Heads.

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 10:28 AM PDT

Download the MP4 here. Flash video above, click "fullscreen" icon inside player to view large. YouTube channel here, subscribe on iTunes here. Get Twitter updates every time there's a new ep by following @boingboingvideo, and here are blog post archives for Boing Boing Video.

Boing Boing Video wishes you a Happy Friday. And surely there can be no better way to celebrate the end of a work week than to put on a Katamari Damacy head, crank up a favorite song ("Bodysnatchers" by Radiohead), and rock out in front of a webcam. This is what happened with our esteemed interview guests Peter Kirn of Create Digital Music and Matt Ganucheau of Expression College, who participated in Boing Boing/offworld's marathon live coverage of the 2009 Game Developers Conference. The interview was over, the chat room was buzzing, the Katamari costumes were just sitting there. I asked our chat room participants what we should force our guests to dance to, and all agreed to Radiohead. You'll hear me shouting out commands from the chat room during this video, and eventually, at the end, obeying a final command myself: to join in.

This moment is also memorialized by paperdummy, whom we thank for the kind loan of the Katamari heads.

Previously:

* Music in Video Games, pt. 2, with Peter Kirn and Matt Ganucheau
* Music in Video Games, a conversation with Peter Kirn and Matt Ganucheau
* Social Games, and The Quest for Virtual Poo.
* Doctor Popular's Awesome Yo-Yo Stylings
* Hideo Kojima on Metal Gear Solid Touch (games)
* Jane McGonigal on Emotion, Gaming, and Dance.
* Jane McGonigal - Games Can Change the World.
* Jane McGonigal's Game Developers' Conference talk on Making Your Own Reality
* BBV @ GDC live stream archives, at Ustream.tv
* Boing Boing Video and Offworld.com Live at GDC09: offworld.com archive
* Boing Boing Video and Offworld.com Live at GDC09: boingboing.net archive

[ Special thanks to Joel Johnson for editorial help on this episode! BBV Live @GDC09 credits and thanks: Production Team -- Jolon Bankey, Derek Bledsoe, Daniela Calderon, Eddie Codel, Xeni Jardin, Allison Kingsley, Matty Kirsch, Alice Taylor, Wesly Varghese. Special thanks to Wayneco Heavy Industries (accommodation and studio facilities), Virgin America Airlines (air travel), Celsius (thermogenic energy beverage), Ustream.tv (streaming video host). Moral support, production assistance, additional talent, and good vibes provided by: Domini Anne, Scott Beale, T.Bias, Jeremy Bornstein, Brandon Boyer, Chris The Van Guy, Peter S. Conrad, Marque Cornblatt, Wayne, Bre, and the entire de Geere family, Marcy DeLuce, Cory Doctorow, Joel Johnson, Kourosh Karimkhany, Jim Louderback and the Revision 3 team, Karen Marcelo, Rocky Mullin, Alicia Pollak, Jackie Mogol, Taylor Peck, David Pescovitz, Micah Schaffer, and Teal. ]

British police medic uses nightstick to treat his involuntary patients

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 08:29 PM PDT

Justin McKeating asks: “Now, I’ve never had any medical training so can someone more knowledgeable please tell me what the above procedure is called and what it’s used for in a medical capacity?” (via, Why That's Delightful!)

Can't see the video? Click here

Woman has developed an imaginary, but useful, third arm

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 10:05 AM PDT

After having a stroke, a 64-year-old woman reports that she now has a "pale, milky-white and translucent third arm" that she can use to scratch itchy parts of her body. She also says the limb can't penetrate solid objects.

It is "the first case known to doctors of a person being able to feel, see and deliberately move a limb that doesn't exist." The woman underwent an MRI and when doctors asker her to move her imaginary third limb, her brain responded as if she really had the arm. Her visual cortex activity also indicated that she saw the arm. (Via Arbroath)

BB Video: Music in Video Games, pt. 2, with Peter Kirn and Matt Ganucheau

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 10:14 AM PDT

Today's Boing Boing Video episode is part 2 of a 2-part conversation with Peter Kirn of Create Digital Music and Matt Ganucheau of Expression College about generative music, experimental audio in video games, new tools for music composition, and how sound changes our experience of gaming.

We conducted this interview during Boing Boing/offworld's marathon live coverage of the 2009 Game Developers Conference. Peter Kirn shares a couple of urls that came up during the conversation:

Composer Troels Folmann came up as a source of inspiration - and himself the advocate of something he calls "micro-scoring." His GDC session, in which he boils a waterphone (seen at the tail end of the video!), is here on createdigitalmusic.com.
And here is a previous interview in which he discusses his approach to adaptive music.

Previously:

* Music in Video Games, a conversation with Peter Kirn and Matt Ganucheau
* Social Games, and The Quest for Virtual Poo.
* Doctor Popular's Awesome Yo-Yo Stylings
* Hideo Kojima on Metal Gear Solid Touch (games)
* Jane McGonigal on Emotion, Gaming, and Dance.
* Jane McGonigal - Games Can Change the World.
* Jane McGonigal's Game Developers' Conference talk on Making Your Own Reality
* BBV @ GDC live stream archives, at Ustream.tv
* Boing Boing Video and Offworld.com Live at GDC09: offworld.com archive
* Boing Boing Video and Offworld.com Live at GDC09: boingboing.net archive

Can't see the video? Click here

Ann Magnuson Art Show in Joshua Tree, CA

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 09:43 AM PDT

Artist, actress, and digital explorer Ann Magnuson has an art show opening up tomorrow night in the remote California desert town of Joshua Tree. The exhibition is titled "30 x 30," at Art Queen gallery, and chronicles Magnuson's adventures in creating 30 art works in 30 days. From the gallery owner's official blurb:

Ann Magnuson is an actress ("Making Mr. Right", "Clear and Present Danger", "Panic Room", series regular on the ABC-TV sitcom "Anything but Love"), writer, performance artist, former singer/lyricist for the psycho-psychedelic band Bongwater and a part-time resident of Joshua Tree. "I've been visiting JT regularly since the eighties" Ann told us. "My husband and I finally got a place out here 5 years ago and I love it." She loved our '30 in 30' exercise. "Making art is more fun than acting!" she told us. "The anything-goes approach gave me a sense of liberation I haven't felt since I was a kid. It's really helped me look at the creative process anew."
Although Ann had always enjoyed making craft projects or fake Jean Michel Basquiat paintings (which are fantastic!) she had never applied her talents to putting together a whole show of her artworks. Ann used materials from local thrift stores as well as organic and inorganic 'found objects' from her rustic desert environment in Joshua Tree. Please join us this Saturday, April 11, 7-10 pm for the opening party with live entertainment by the Plaids, Shari Elf, and maybe even Ann Magnuson!

More on the show here, and Black Book reviews another show she's in right here.

VIDEO: Ms. Magnuson is shown above in a video from 1983, a segment called "Girl Talk" from the Manhattan cable access television show "Your Program of Programs." She's a legend, and we love her.

IMAGE: Below, "Prince Charming is an Asshole," by Ann Magnuson, from the Joshua Tree show opening tomorrow night.

Vicodin Ring

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 09:43 AM PDT

Crafter Becky Stern says: "To go along with my Vicodin earrings, I made this Vicodin ring from sterling silver. I sanded one side of the pill flat (while wearing a dusk mask, of course!), and bezel set it.

US Postal Service to Release "Simpsons" Stamps

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 09:17 AM PDT

Scott Beale blogs,

¡Ay, caramba! On May 7th the US Postal Service will be releasing a series of postage stamps commemorating The Simpsons. As part of the pre-release preview you can vote on your favorite Simpsons character and pre-order sets of the stamps.

Sneak peek at the images over at Laughing Squid. (Congrats, Boing Boing pals Matt Groening + David Silverman!)

Previously:

Web Zen: TV Zen

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 09:13 AM PDT

bjork (above. seriously. this is. classic.)
salvador dali
on the set
as seen on tv
24: the 1994 pilot
pancake mountain
television obscurities
video home system
ernie kovacs show closing credits

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!)

World War I re-enacted by dogs

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 09:18 AM PDT

The Mayor of Mt. Holly posted this terrific movie about World War I starring dogs, "All Quiet on the Canine Front." Here's a bit of information about the Dogville Shorts series (1921-1931). (Wot, no Wikipedia entry?)

Can't see the video? Click here

Bike-powered businesses in Portland

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 08:11 AM PDT

Anna Brones of Wend magazine has an article about business that use bikes to deliver goods and provide services. One company profiled, Soupcycle, delivers organic soup. Another Q19, is a house cleaning service that uses petrochemical-free cleaning agents. The article also mentions bike-powered business in Florida (organic produce delivery), Boston (pick-up and delivery service), and Philadelphia (recycling and compost).

Lazar delivers soup to “Souplandistan,” an area that covers most of inner Portland, with an electrical assist trike. The battery assist helps pull him and his bike and trailer up some of Portland’s hillier streets. Fully loaded the trailer and bike weigh a total of about 200 pounds, but Lazar calculates that he only uses the battery assist about 20% of the time; for the rest, it’s all legs.

Pedaling to Profit: The Upswing of Bike Powered Business