The Latest from Boing Boing

BBC airs its first Creative Commons licensed TV show

Posted: 15 Apr 2009 04:45 AM PDT

The BBC has finally produced and aired a TV show that can be released under Creative Commons, along with the "asset bundle" of associated media that went into the final cut. The show is a pilot for a broader strategy of giving Britons the freedom to re-use the material they pay for through the "license fee," which all television owners are obliged to pay, and which funds the vast majority of the BBC's operations.

The BBC announced the move on Thursday through its Backstage Blog. For now, the experiment is extremely limited. A single program, called R&D TV, will be released for download to anyone, regardless of whether they're located in the UK or not. So far, only one episode is done, and a second is in the works; more may be made if these prove to be reasonably popular.
Episode one can be downloaded from a BBC FTP server, where Flash, Quicktime, and Ogg versions are available, either as a five minute series of excerpts or in its full, half hour glory. The blog post suggests that Windows Media versions should be made available as well but, so far, these have not materialized. The files will also be made available through YouTube and Blip.TV.
But it's not so much the ready availability of this material that makes it a bold step forward, but the license under which it's released: the Creative Commons non-commercial attribution license, v2. As the accompanying Read Me file (complete with the old-school ASCII BBC logo) says, "you can watch, rip, redistribute and remix all the contents of this package." As long as you don't try making money from the videos, you're set.

BBC airs, releases program under Creative Commons license

R&DTV: a collaborative project between BBC Backstage & RAD (Thanks, Marilyn!)

Today on Offworld

Posted: 15 Apr 2009 12:03 AM PDT

Today on Offworld, we played Scarygirl, the just-released new platformer game based on illustrator and designer toy maker Nathan J's exquisitely designed world and characters, which, pleasantly enough, turned out to be one of the richest web-game experiences in recent memory. We also learned that Through the Looking Glass -- the first and only game ever first-party Apple developed and published for the Mac -- had been brought to the iPhone as AliceX by its original developer, Steve Capps (who would go on to help develop the first version of the Finder). Elsewhere we saw Sony taking on a new strategy of selling digital-download-only PSP games at retail by providing little more than a box and a download code, read how game developers and porn stars are alike, saw the 13 oddest developments in the history of the Game Boy, and found out that the new PC release of Xbox Live Arcade favorite Braid comes with a full level editor. We also learned more about the "feverish bad crazy" at the heart of EVE Online, took a longer look at iPhone space combat game Galaxy on Fire, listened to our favorite loopy lonely computer song, wondered if a game based on the attack in Fallujah was "too soon," started reading a new blog dedicated to the art of the pixel, and, wonderfully, found an 8-bit heart meter T-shirt that only refills when it's close to its mate.

CW-11 news claims clip of them airing YouTube prank infringes copyright

Posted: 14 Apr 2009 11:27 PM PDT

For April Fool's Day this year, ImprovEverywhere pretended they'd done a flashmob at a funeral, posting a staged video of the prank to YouTube. The Tribune's CW11 news-team presented the prank as fact that night on their evening newscast, so ImprovEverywhere put a little clip on YouTube of the CW11 broadcast of their gag -- CW11 simply aired their own video with the words "YouTube" superimposed on it.

So, naturally, CW11 sent a copyright notice to YouTube saying that the video infringed their copyright.

CW 11 News Falls for Fake Improv Everywhere April Fool's Mission - video powered by Metacafe
Tonight I got a copyright notice from YouTube informing me that Tribune (the parent company of the CW 11) had filed a copyright claim against the video and that it had been removed. Clearly they want this embarrassment off of the Internets. What's more interesting is the fact that their original broadcast used our content without permission. They simply put "YOUTUBE" on the screen to indicate that's where they found the video. So it's OK for them to air content that we shot and own, but it's not OK for me to upload their footage of the content they took from me? It's "fair use" for the news to take a video off of YouTube and broadcast it, but it's not "fair use" for a citizen to expose their poor reporting on his own content? CW 11 Files Copyright Claim (Thanks, Jim!)

Tetris furniture

Posted: 14 Apr 2009 10:35 PM PDT

Brazilian designers Diego Silvério and Helder Filipov created this stacking Tetris furniture -- the tricky part is getting your spouse to slowly lower it, piece by piece, from the ceiling.

Tetris Furniture (via Neatorama)

Previously:

Wanted: Wolfman to holler at tourists on a New Hampshire steam train

Posted: 15 Apr 2009 12:10 AM PDT

Bill Farrand, the longstanding "wolfman" of Clark's Trading Post in Lincoln, NH, is retiring after fifteen years. Now the company needs to find a new geek to scream from the woods at passing steam trains for 48 hours a week:

The new Wolfie, as he is affectionately known, must be over 18, be willing to grow a beard and eschew soap, and work up to 48 hours a week for $12 an hour.
The Wolfman, for the uninitiated, is one of Clark's Trading Posts most unique attractions, aside from, of course, the trained bear shows, which celebrate their 60th anniversary this summer.
During the daily steam train rides aboard the White Mountain Central Railroad, it's the Wolfman's job to scare the beejeebees out of the passengers, whom he believes are trying to jump his precious Unobtainium claim. He bursts out of the woods driving an ancient automobile, sets off firecrackers and yells at passengers to go home.
On the return journey, passengers have learned that to send the Wolfman back into the woods, they have to shout back "Scram you old goat!"

Wanted: A new Wolfman at Clark's (via Making Light)

New ACTA copyright treaty dodges the UN, poor countries and activists

Posted: 14 Apr 2009 10:17 PM PDT

Michael Geist sez, "The World Intellectual Property Organization may be best known for the Internet treaties that led to the DMCA, but in recent years groups like EFF, KEI, and Public Knowledge has helped to open things up and move toward a Development Agenda that better balances international intellectual property policy. That progress may be threatened by the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which officials now acknowledge is designed to exclude WIPO, developing countries, and NGOs."

Moreover, the criminal provisions go well beyond clear cases of commercial infringement by including criminal sanctions such as potential imprisonment for "significant wilful copyright and trademark infringement even where there is no direct or indirect motivation of financial gain."
Jail time for non-commercial infringement will generate considerable opposition, but it is the internet provisions that are likely to prove to be the most controversial. At the December meeting in Paris, the US submitted a "non-paper" that discussed internet copyright provisions, liability for internet service providers, and legal protection for digital locks.
While the substance of the treaty will remain fodder for much debate, Canadian officials recently hosted a public consultation during which they acknowledged the true motivation behind the ACTA. Senior officials stated that there were really two reasons for the treaty. The first, unsurprisingly, was concerns over counterfeiting. The second was the perceived stalemate at WIPO, where the growing emphasis on the Development Agenda and the heightened participation of developing countries and non-governmental organisations have stymied attempts by countries such as the United States to bull their way toward new treaties with little resistance.
Given the challenge of obtaining multilateral consensus at WIPO, the ACTA negotiating partners have instead opted for a plurilateral approach that circumvents possible opposition from developing countries such as Brazil, Argentina, India, Russia, or China. There have been hints of this in the past - an EU FAQ [frequently asked questions] document noted that "the membership and priorities of those organisations [G8, WTO, WIPO] simply are not the most conducive" to an ACTA-like initiative - yet the willingness to now state publicly what has been only speculated privately sends a shot across the bow for WIPO and the countries that support its commitment to multilateral policymaking.

The ACTA Threat To The Future Of WIPO

Repo Man with LARPers: "Unhand Thine Prius!" (ridiculous video)

Posted: 14 Apr 2009 05:13 PM PDT

BB pal Alex Ringis says, "A sign of the financial times: Live action roleplaying geeks in full costume with fake weapons and in a reality vortex. Repo-bounty hunters, there to repossess the 'Wizard's' Toyota Prius. BIZARRE video ensues."

It's an episode of the TruTV show Operation Repo, titled "Unhand Thine Prius."

Caveat view-or: as one commenter noted, it's very likely that this "reality" show is presenting a staged or highly modified version of "reality." So, take it as seriously as one might take a friendly fellow in a wizard costume, casting spells in the park.

Woman publishes book full of text messages sent to her dead husband's cell phone

Posted: 14 Apr 2009 04:15 PM PDT

Over at BBGadgets, our Lisa Katayama has an incredible post up about a widow in Japan who is publishing an anthology of text messages she sent to her loved one, after his death.

Her husband, Motoo, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2006, probably from the steel pipe factory he worked at. He got worker's comp, but the disease ultimately destroyed his lungs and left him with hallucinations for the remainder of his life. Shocked, the widowed Fukuda started sending text messages to her dead husband every time she thought of something she wanted to say to him. Things like: "I couldn't live if I didn't think you were still beside me. I can't live [without you]. I'm crying every day" and "I want to call you 'Otosan' to my heart's content. Why do you have to be inside such a small urn?" Every time she sent a message, the phone by his home shrine vibrated (she made sure it was always charged).

Woman publishes book full of text messages sent to her dead husband's cell phone (BBG)

Moment of Bladerunner Fanperson-ism: Props

Posted: 14 Apr 2009 04:34 PM PDT

Joel at Boing Boing Gadgets has an awesome post up with props from Blade Runner and other great sci-fi movies. Deckard's gun is amazing, but my favorite is the manual for the Voight-Kampff machine, used to evaluate replicant/human status in test subjects. Props (BB Gadgets, via MeFi)

Previously:

Simulated crime-scene bathroom accessories

Posted: 14 Apr 2009 02:12 PM PDT

Worried about not making a good impression on the date you've just brought over to your place for a nightcap? Spice up the bathroom with these matching bloody bathmats and shower curtains!

Blood Bath Mat

Blood Bath Shower Curtain

(via Street Anatomy)

Multi-level marketing spam for child-fingerprinting operation

Posted: 14 Apr 2009 02:09 PM PDT

This may be the creepiest spam I've ever received. In this multi-level marketing scam, you terrorize local parents into coming to your business to have their children fingerprinted (Why fingerprinted? Presumably to ease identification of their mutilated remains -- don't you feel safer already?) by the local cops. This, in turn, gets you a bunch of potential customers to buy whatever junk your business sells.

Introducing Operation Kidsafe
Operation Kidsafe is a completely turnkey program designed by child safety expert - Mark J. Bott- that will deliver a huge number of parents and potential new customers. Parents will bring their children to your location to have their children fingerprinted and photographed using the same technology and equipment that is used by the U.S. Secret Service and FBI. In the event their child ever goes missing, they will have this information to provide to their local police department to assist in the safe return of their child.
Completely Turnkey- Operation Kidsafe coordinates the entire event. Local Police and Fire Departments attend. 10,000 flyers are distributed throughout the community to Churches, Schools, Day cares and other civic organizations. A full court press is put on media to help get the word out.
Market Exclusivity- Once you enroll, no one else within a 50-mile radius of your location can host another Operation Kidsafe Event. You have first right of refusal for the following year.
Free Sales Training- The Operation Kidsafe staff will teach your salespeople a system that allows a comfortable transition to reviewing your products and services while the children are being fingerprinted. They will help you focus your team by holding a training and prep meeting with you prior to your event.
No limit to # of Children Fingerprinted- Spread the word! You have the ability to make this event as big as you would like. You can advertise it, send out letters to your own customer database, host a live radio remote etc. The possibilities are endless!
If you would like more information and a full sponsor package with references, please fill out the request and fax to us at

Can't see the video? Click here

Boing Boing Video: recent episodes, in case you missed 'em.

Posted: 14 Apr 2009 03:40 PM PDT

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.

Here's a recap of recent Boing Boing Video episodes over the past week -- check 'em out!

* "Super Ed," by Subatomic Nixons (dir. Bill Barminski and Walter Robot / music video). A new work from our favorite director and animator Bill Barminski, and Walter Robot. The song is a reimagining of Ed Sullivan with robots and superheroes. The band, Subatomic Nixons, is Barminski's music side project. Download an MP4 here.

* Peter Kirn of Create Digital Music and Matt Ganucheau of Expression College joined us for Boing Boing Video's marathon live coverage of the 2009 Game Developers Conference. Above, part one, below, part two of an interview we did about the future of music in games -- how will the tech tools change? Are developers thinking about sound and scores as a more fundamental building block of the gaming experience? What about iterative/automatically generated music tools?

Blog posts:
Music in Video Games, pt. 2, with Peter Kirn and Matt Ganucheau (MP4 download)
Music in Video Games, pt. 1, with Peter Kirn and Matt Ganucheau (MP4 download here)

* And below, finally -- GDC Out-take - Radiohead Fan-Dance-Off with Giant Katamari Damacy Heads. Peter, Matt, and Xeni don Katamari Damacy head, crank up a favorite song ("Bodysnatchers" by Radiohead), and rock out in front of a webcam. Download MP4.

Trying to save orphan works from the Authors Guild monopoly control

Posted: 14 Apr 2009 01:10 PM PDT

AH sez,

The Author's Guild v Google suit recently produced a settlement agreement. The agreement has been lauded widely, but what hasn't gotten as much press is what the agreement says about orphan works -- copyrighted works whose author cannot be found, or where it is not clear if the copyright is valid.
Interestingly, the agreement describes a scheme where money is collected for the use of these works, but if it goes unclaimed for five years, is then disbursed to the book registry, as well as to all participating authors! That is to say, Google and the Author's Guild will be asserting (monopoly) control and the right to profit from works that might otherwise be in the public domain.
Lewis Hyde (author of The Gift), Harry Lewis, (former Dean Of Harvard College) and the Open Access Trust are seeking permission to file a motion to intervene in the suit (and settlement agreement) on behalf of the public domain. This is a letter written to Judge Danny Chin, the judge presiding over the Author's Guild v Google suit, requesting a conference with respect to a motion to intervene in the suit.
The moving parties seek to intervene in order to "represent the community of readers, scholars, and teachers who use orphaned works" and "defend our interest in orphaned works to defend the public domain's claim to free, fair use." The moving parties " think that this case and the constitutional issues of national moment that it presents will be better resolved if the public domain has a seat at the table."
It's a exciting development, and will ideally lead to an even better resolution of the issues surrounding the digital archiving project.

Letter to Request Intervention in Author's Guild v Google (Thanks, AH!)

Previously:

Time-Warner bandwidth cap protest this Saturday in Rochester NY

Posted: 14 Apr 2009 01:05 PM PDT

Adam sez, "There's going to be a large protest in Rochester, NY on Saturday to fight the upcoming "tired pricing" aka absurdly-low bandwidth caps. This is not only anti-competitive, but it will cost local residents significantly more, in an economy that is already hurting. Not to mention deaf folks who rely on video chat for ASL, etc... It'd be great if people would come and show their support to convince Time Warner (RoadRunner) to abandon the plan. If we successfully fight this here, perhaps other communities across the country won't have to."

Date: Saturday, April 18, 2009
Time: 11:00am - 5:00pm
Location: Time Warner Cable Store
Street: 71 Mt. Hope Avenue
City/Town: Rochester, NY

Join the Time Warner broadband capping protest!

Protest RoadRunner's new pricing scheme

Stop the Cap!

Evil Somali Pirates Attacked by Thousands of Dolphins (caveat: possibly totally bogus)

Posted: 14 Apr 2009 12:31 PM PDT

It's Xinhuanet, so take it with a grain of salt. But even if this is phony PRC naval propaganda, the headline and the story are too good not to re-blurb, and here's the "official" Xinhuanet photo, which I can't repost here because they're jerks about re-use.

Thousands of dolphins blocked the suspected Somali pirate ships when they were trying to attack Chinese merchant ships passing the Gulf of Aden, the China Radio International reported on Monday. The Chinese merchant ships escorted by a China's fleet sailed on the Gulf of Aden when they met some suspected pirate ships. Thousands of dolphins suddenly leaped out of water between pirates and merchants when the pirate ships headed for the China's.

Thousands of dolphins block Somali pirates (via @hi_im_monkey)

Photo: "Dolphin Song," from the Flickr photo stream of the wonderful world-adventurer Steve Jurvetson, who could probably vanquish Somali pirates with his bare hands.

Mad Science: Experiments You Can Do at Home, But Probably Shouldn't (Book)

Posted: 14 Apr 2009 10:52 AM PDT

The short version: This is an awesome book.

I've been a fan of Theodore Gray's work in odd science for some time now -- his amazing Periodic Table of Elements posters and puzzles are the subject of previous Boing Boing blog posts, and he contributes a monthly column about "chemistry, elements, and blowing things up" for Popular Science . I just received a copy of his beautiful new book, Mad Science, and the richness and eccentricity of its contents are just what I'd expect from him.

This thing is like an anarchist cookbook for happy mutants -- page after page of recipes, hazard warnings, beautiful photographs, and quirky personal observations. Want to know how to turn ore into homemade titanium in a flowerpot? Copper-plate your iPod? Craft a "hillbilly hot tub"? Brew ethanol in your bathtub? All here.

The attention to detail will delight "makers" and nerd readers of all ages. I love the little skull and crossbones death-icons on pages where experiments could lead to loss of life.

Gray has a degree in chemistry, but I believe he is an "amateur scientist" in the true and honored meaning of the term. His work fosters the culture of tinkering and experimentation, which, as he says in the introduction, is the true source of all great scientific achievements.

Science is not something practiced only in labs and universities. It's a way of looking at the world and seeing truth and beauty everywhere. It's something you can do whether you are employed as a professional scientist or not. While I have a degree in chemistry from a fine university, I've never worked as a professional chemist. I do these demonstrations in my shop on a rural farmstead a half a mile from the nearest neighbor.

Theo Gray's Mad Science: Experiments You Can Do At Home - But Probably Shouldn't (Amazon).

More about the projects here.

Previously:

Thomas Doyle's marvelous diorama art

Posted: 14 Apr 2009 09:50 AM PDT

Thomas Doyle creates mind-bogglingly beautiful dioramas with exquisite detail. These pieces just ooze mood and wonder. Doyle is profiled in the next issue of Hi-Fructose, previewed here. From his artist statement:

My work mines the debris of memory through the creation of intricate worlds sculpted in 1:43 scale and smaller. Often sealed under glass, the works depict the remnants of things past—whether major, transformational experiences, or the quieter moments that resonate loudly throughout a life. In much the way the mind recalls events through the fog of time, the works distort reality through a warped and dreamlike lens.

The pieces' radically reduced scales evoke feelings of omnipotence—as well as the visceral sensation of unbidden memory recall. Hovering above the glass, the viewer approaches these worlds as an all-seeing eye, looking down upon landscapes that dwarf and threaten the figures within.

Conversely, the private intensity of moments rendered in such a small scale draws the viewer in, allowing for the intimacy one might feel peering into a museum display case or dollhouse. Though surrounded by chaos, hazard, and longing, the figures' faces betray little emotion, inviting viewers to lose themselves in these crucibles—and in the jumble of feelings and memories they elicit.

The glass itself contains and compresses the world within it, seeming to suspend time itself—with all its accompanying anguish, fear, and bliss. By sealing the works in this fashion, I hope to distill the debris of human experience down to single, fragile moments. Like blackboxes bobbing in the flotsam, these works wait for discovery, each an indelible record of human memory.

Thomas Doyle's Dioramas (Thanks, Miss Heather Sparks!)

Fart fight

Posted: 14 Apr 2009 09:35 AM PDT

A simple fart in a Waco, Texas hotel room led a man to throw a knife at his flatulent friend, who then responded by stabbing the guy in the chest. The stabber was arrested. From the Associated Press:

Police said they were called to a motel on Wednesday (local time) where several men from the Houston area were sharing a room. Police said a 35-year-old man allegedly passed gas in the room on Tuesday night.

Police said one of the other men became upset, picked up a knife and threw it at the 35-year-old man, who was cut in the leg. The suspect was accused of then stabbing the man in the chest.

"Fart fight gets nasty"

Echolocation to "see" with sound

Posted: 14 Apr 2009 09:29 AM PDT

Daniel Kish is a blind psychologist who uses echolocation to "see." In New Scientist, Kish writes about his experience of "echo vision" and how he teaches others to do it:

Although our programme has many facets, we are best known for teaching FlashSonar. Its ability to give blind people a way to perceive their environment far beyond the reach of an arm or a cane is fast being recognised by people who work with blind people and in other disciplines. We are the first to develop a systematic, comprehensive way of teaching it.

We start by sensitising students to echoes, usually by having them detect and locate easy targets, such as large plastic panels or bowls. Once they can do this, we move on to learning to recognise more complex echoes by comparing them to familiar ones.

For example, when facing a hedge, a student might say, "It sounds solid?" I might reply, "As solid as the wall to your house?" "No, not that solid," she might say. "As sparse as the fence of your yard?" "No, more solid than that," she might answer. Now we have a range of relativity to work with. "Does it remind you of anything else near your house, maybe in the side yard?" "Bushes?" she might query. "But what seems different from those bushes?" "These are sort of flat like a fence." Ultimately, students verify what they hear by touching.

"Echo vision: The man who sees with sound"

Previously:

Boy uses sound to see - Boing Boing

Outside Lands Festival Lineup Announced

Posted: 14 Apr 2009 09:23 AM PDT

The artist lineup for the 2009 Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in San Francisco has been announced. Boing Boing bloggers and Boing Boing Video were there last year, and we produced a number of video episodes with artist interviews and "bus sessions" (where bands joined us on a friend's rockstar tourbus to play acoustic jam sessions for the show). We'll be returning this year, with more fun and hijinks planned.

This year's roster includes Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, Beastie Boys, Incubus, Black Eyed Peas, Jason Mraz, Thievery Corporation, Ween, The Mars Volta, TV on the Radio, Tom Jones, Built To Spill, Calexico, The National, Q-Tip, Deerhunter, Heartless Bastards, Blind Pilot, Mastodon, Trombone Shorty and Dengue Fever.

The lineup looks amazing, and above, a promotional puppet video with more.

The event takes place in Golden Gate Park, August 28-30. Tickets go on sale this Sunday, April 19, at 10am PST, at sfoutsidelands.com. (Thanks, Rick Farman!)

Previously:

Can't see the video? Click here

Secret bible of the paleo-steampunks: Mayhew's "London Labour and the London Poor"

Posted: 13 Apr 2009 09:09 AM PDT

On Sunday, I was on a panel about steampunk at the Eastercon in Bradford with Tim Powers, one of the original creators of steampunk literature (see his Anubis Gate). Halfway through, Powers mentioned casually that he came to write a science-fictional book influenced by Victorian England after reading, London Labour and the London Poor , a classic text by Henry Mayhew. Powers said that the book was KW Jeter's (Jeter coined the term "steampunk") and that it was passed around to both Powers and James Blaylock, three friends whose works were, arguably, the first steampunk novels ever written.

Powers said words to the effect of, "After reading this book, I realized that I had a whole novel's worth of research right there." It struck me that I'd never heard this story before, and that here, in this book, there was an important origin story about one of the major ways that an entire genre of literature, making, film and comics came into being.

I've just ordered my copy. Can't wait to read it.

London Labour and the London Poor

Anatomical drawing on a cast

Posted: 14 Apr 2009 05:47 AM PDT

Heather Tomkins drew this lovely anatomical illustration on the casted arm of her friend, the illustrator Taylor White: "I was thusly wrangled into making this old school plaster cast (they do things funky in Norway apparently) into an awesome work of art."

CAST, AWAY!!!! (via Street Anatomy)

James Boyle's "Public Domain" lecture podcast

Posted: 14 Apr 2009 05:11 AM PDT

Salim sez, "Princeton's UChannel's Podcast amalgamates public lectures from some of the world's best public lectures. They just put out an excellent item which serves as a great primer to anybody who is just becoming interested in issues related to copyright law."

Professor James Boyle describes how our culture, science and economic welfare all depend on the delicate balance between those ideas that are controlled and those that are free, between intellectual property and the public domain â€"the realm of material that everyone is free to use and share without permission or fee
Intellectual property laws have a significant impact on many important areas of human endeavour, including scientific innovation, digital creativity, cultural access and free speech. And so Boyle argues that, just as every informed citizen needs to know at least something about the environment or civil rights, every citizen in the information age should also have an understanding of intellectual property law.