The Latest from Boing Boing |  |
| London cop's Facebook: "Can't wait to bash" G20 protestors Posted: 25 Apr 2009 12:08 AM PDT One of the policemen who participated in the assaults on the London G20 protesters had earlier posted to his facebook that he couldn't "wait to bash some long haired hippys." The police officer's profile page on social networking site Facebook contained a message apparently written by Pc Ward at 2017 BST on 1 April.Pc 'eager to hit G20 protesters' Previously: |
| Lawyer podcast on "Everyone Hates DRM" Posted: 24 Apr 2009 10:32 PM PDT The Intellectual Property Colloquium, a podcast for lawyers, has a one-hour show up about the reasons that DRM is the most reviled consumer technology in the market today. It includes interviews with Ed Felten and Randy Picker, testimony from the FTC's DRM hearings, and is hosted by UCLA Law's Doug Lichtman. Fascinating listening that makes a good stab at unpicking the tech and the law of DRM. (via EFF Deep Links) |
| Handmade, effect-heavy feature film Posted: 24 Apr 2009 10:26 PM PDT Mary sez, "The Diamonds of Metro Valley is a DIY feature film, made almost entirely on green screen, with full scale people and small-scale, hand-made models, sets costumes, props etc. We completed special effects in After Effects shot-by-shot. The plot of DMV is inspired by diamond heist films of the 1970's, but with an added tinge of the retro-futuristic. Some exciting sequences include a twelve inch robot growing to the height of a three story building, numerous gun-battles and explosions, and a thirteen minute car chase created with model cars on a green screen conveyor belt, composited with live action. It's taken us almost 4 years from start to finish, as each scene in DMV has multiple design and digital effects elements, but we think this effectively contributes to the unique look of the project. We expect to be done in a couple months. The site has our trailer, a synopsis and some info on the main characters. " The Diamonds of Metro Valley (Thanks, Mary!) |
| Posted: 24 Apr 2009 04:56 PM PDT  I just received a curious and lovely new book, titled Mushroom Magick, by artist Arik Roper. It's a collection of Roper's paintings of various species of hallucinogenic mushrooms. BB pal Erik Davis contributed an essay and famed mycologist Gary Lincoff provided notes on the various kinds of 'shrooms pictured in the book. From the book description: Mushroom Magick (Amazon) Mushroom Magick sample pages (Abrams Books) Previously: |
| Applying behavioral economics to climate change Posted: 24 Apr 2009 04:40 PM PDT David Zax of Seed magazine wrote a piece about social scientist Ben Ho who is applying what he knows about behavioral economics to climate change, and how people might be "tricked" into reducing their carbon footprints. Residents of a community were shown how their energy use measured up against the communal average. If they consumed more than the average, most reduced energy in the months ahead. If households saw that they consumed less energy than their peers, however, their energy use actually rose, except when the frugal households were given the merest of rewards: a smiley face on their bill.Can we trick ourselves into saving ourselves? |
| Posted: 24 Apr 2009 05:21 PM PDT  I like this slideshow of a runaway bull in a china shop supermarket. Apparently, the animal was relatively well-behaved, demolishing just some produce displays before heading back out the door. "'On the hoof' shopping Irish style" (BBC News) |
| Posted: 24 Apr 2009 04:26 PM PDT Two men attempted to carjack Ted Mazetier, 84, of Tacoma, Washington. So he beat the crap out of them. Very Gran Torino. From KOMO NEWS: Mazetier was driving down South Proctor Street Wednesday night when he spotted a car on the curb and two guys standing nearby. He thought they needed help, so he stopped..."Don't you mess with grandpa, sonny" (Thanks, Carlo Longino!) |
| Painting of teens partying with Morrissey Posted: 24 Apr 2009 03:28 PM PDT  Derek Erdman made this fine painting titled "Fortunate Teens Party With Morrissey, 1994." Here's Erdman's background on the piece: There is a seldom told story that Morrissey's tour bus broke down in small town Ohio in the autumn of 1994. A full day was necessary for the repairs to be completed and Morrissey and his band delighted local teenaged fans by stopping by a house party to drink beer and smoke marijuana. "It was the time of my life," remarks Tamara Marshall, who was hosting the party. "My parents were out of town and I was told not to have a party, but once Morrissey showed up I knew I wasn't going to be a secret for long." When asked what she remembered most about Morrissey's visit, Tamara answered, "He didn't like Rolling Rock beer".Fortunate Teens Party With Morrissey, 1994 (Thanks, Richard Metzger!) |
| Posted: 24 Mar 2009 05:12 PM PDT |
| Neal Stephenson's researcher teaching "Research for Writers" seminar Posted: 24 Apr 2009 01:03 PM PDT Lisa Gold, the amazing researcher who helped Neal Stephenson get the details right in the Baroque Trilogy, is conducting a "Research for Writers" seminar in Seattle: Research is an important part of the creative process for writers of fiction and nonfiction. Research can help with inspiration, storytelling and world building whether you are writing about the past, present or future, about life on earth or an imaginary world. The instructor will share advice about research, discuss the kinds of research writers may need to do and help students find useful sources of information in print, on the Web, in libraries and in unexpected places.You can still register for my Research for Writers class Previously: |
| Posted: 24 Apr 2009 01:00 PM PDT  From the Bob Basset steampunk art collective in the Ukraine, their latest creation: a stunning black leather pilot mask. I own one of their masks and it is a goddamned thing of beauty. Black Pilot Leather Mask. Маска Чёрный Пилот. Previously: |
| Dangerous terrorists arrested in the UK weren't Posted: 24 Apr 2009 12:57 PM PDT Remember the urgent raids British cops conducted two weeks ago after the names of potential terrorists leaked when a top official got out of a cab, holding a top secret memo that the newspapers photographed and published? Remember how this publication had the potential to tip off these scary terrorists about their impending arrests? Turns out that the police didn't find any evidence, though they held the men for 13 days. Then they let them go. All of 12 men arrested over a suspected bomb plot in the UK have now been released without charge by police.No charges after anti-terror raid (via Schneier) |
| Your Day Can't Possibly Be as Bad as Richard Simmons' Day. Posted: 24 Apr 2009 12:46 PM PDT Richard Simmons flips out. Warning: this video contains cussin', and large doses of a sometimes-scantily-clad Richard Simmons (Thanks, Richard Metzger). |
| Make: Talk 006 -- Nathan Seidle of SparkFun Electronics, Friday, April 24, 2009 at noon PDT Posted: 24 Apr 2009 11:34 AM PDT  Below is the show player, where you can listen to the live program on Friday, and to past episodes.
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| The Twitter Book, by Tim O'Reilly and Sarah Milstein Posted: 24 Apr 2009 11:32 AM PDT  Tim O'Reilly and Sarah Milstein are two of my favorite tweeters, and they've just written The Twitter Book, a pleasingly-designed 240-page guide to making the most out of Twitter. The hard copy won't be out for a little while, but you can buy the PDF right now for $15.99. As Cory says on the cover blurb, "This book delivers a bunch of sensible, down-to-earth material on using and enjoying Twitter.: I couldn't agree more. This colorful guide will teach you everything you need to know to quickly become a Twitter power user, including strategies and tactics for using Twitter's 140-character messages as a serious--and effective--way to boost your business. Co-written by Tim O'Reilly and Sarah Milstein, widely followed and highly respected Twitterers, the practical information in The Twitter Book is presented in a fun, full-color format that's packed with helpful examples and clear explanations.The Twitter Book, by Tim O'Reilly and Sarah Milstein |
| Science Question From a Toddler: Insect Sex Posted: 24 Apr 2009 02:22 PM PDT Maggie Koerth-Baker is a guest blogger on Boing Boing. A freelance science and health journalist, Maggie lives in Minneapolis, brain dumps on Twitter, and writes quite often for mental_floss magazine. My friends' 3-year-old son, Will, asks, "Do cockroaches have a penis?" This turns out to be a surprisingly difficult question to answer.
First off, most basic sources will just try to give you some fluffy answer about how to tell a boy cockroach from a girl cockroach, which doesn't have anything to do with penises (or lack thereof) at all. In fact, apparently, the easiest way to sex your cockroach is to count the number of of segments on the underside of its abdomen, according to roach expert Joseph Kunkel, a biology professor at the University of Mass., Amherst. Girls have more segments. Boys have fewer Second, there appears to have been a lot more research done on female cockroach reproductive anatomy. And for good reason: It is more noticeably freaky. Female cockroaches carry their fertilized eggs around in these pod-like sacks called ootheca. Some cockroaches will tote the ootheca around attached to their bodies until the babies hatch. Other species, however, simply drop the ootheca off in some hidden corner, where the babies can incubate safely while you beat their mothers to death with a shoe. Stumble upon enough ootheca in the basement, and its liable to be the first thing you take to the lab. But, while useful, this information does not answer the young man's question. For that, I had to turn to Cockroaches, a 2007 book by William J. Bell, Louis Marcus Roth, Christine A. Nalepa, and (yes) Edward O. Wilson. Their description of the male cockroach junk helpfully explained why I'd been getting so much confusing (and conflicting) information from other sources. To wit: A number of intromittent structures in the male cockroach have been called a penis ... Although these structures may be associated with the ejaculatory duct ... penis-like organs function in some capacity other than to convey sperm directly So there you have it. Cockroaches: They have no penis. But they do have a lot of things that are frequently called a "penis". Many of these bits and pieces seem to actually be used for cockblocking, so to speak. Let me explain. Instead of the familiar-to-us method of copulation, male cockroaches produce a hard, little packet full of sperm, called a spermatophore, which they transfer into their favorite gal. But, unless it's her first time around the block, there's a decent chance that somebody else's spermatophore is already in there. A male cockroach has a better chance of passing on his genes if he can get rid of the competing sperm. Whether hooked, whip-like, barbed or spiny, those not!penis structures are likely used by male cockroaches to clear out rival spermatophores, according to the august authors of Cockroaches, the book. Beach-bunny cockroaches provided by kthypryn. |
| Posted: 24 Apr 2009 12:38 PM PDT  Here's the latest Klockwerks newsletter from mad sculptor Roger Wood, a clockmaker/assembage sculptor who's branching out into glorious lamps. Roger loaned me a hall full of his clocks for my wedding and they absolutely made the night. |
| Barnaby Ward uses Twitter to show his sketching process Posted: 24 Apr 2009 10:55 AM PDT  Barnaby Ward, illustrator of the excellent Sixteen Miles to Merricks, says: I recently started a Twitter feed to help document my work process. I'm very particular about what I put on my blog, so I figured a Twitter account would be a great way to post sketches, studies and work-in-progress shots from personal and non NDA projects. It's not quite at the tutorial stage, but if you're interested in seeing how I develop my work in photoshop, you can see the progress here. |
| Steve Lodefink's first cigar box guitar Posted: 24 Apr 2009 09:48 AM PDT  Steve Lodefink just shared with me the photos of his first cigar box guitar. What a beaut! Here's the headstock, here's the body.
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| Boing Boing Video: "War Dialer," an ambient animation by Bob Jaroc and Plaid Posted: 24 Apr 2009 12:21 PM PDT (MP4 Download here). Update: BB commenter Squeevy astutely suggests regarding this particular episode, "For best viewing (and association with what is going on) I suggest using stereo headphones and not laptop speakers or computer speakers." "War Dialer," which references phone phreaking and early proto-hackery through a non-narrative, droning flow of sound and speech-babble, was originally created as an 8-channel audio-only installation in a bandstand on Brighton seafront as part of the Sonic Sea Air project, ten years ago. Jaroc says, "Plaid and i began to use it as a visual piece around the time we started to play surround sound gigs, as it served as a good visual and sonic introduction to the idea that the images on screen were related to the spacial audio." I suggest replaying the piece in the background a few times, and droning out to it while you work. Music taken from Plaid's Greedy Baby album, which you can buy here. RSS feed for new episodes here, 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. |
| Bank ad from Argentina, about several kinds of "change." Posted: 24 Apr 2009 12:42 PM PDT A quote from the person who put this video up on YouTube: "This is a spot from Argentina which includes a transgender woman. It talks about tolerance and teaches us that all people are the same even if they are straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender." (Thanks, Tara McGinley and Richard Metzger). |
| Fantastic Scrabble commercials Posted: 24 Apr 2009 09:10 AM PDT |
| Posted: 24 Apr 2009 08:16 AM PDT  Recently Offworld has gone crafty with new guest blogger Tiff Chow digging up LucasArts inspired amigurumi for both Day of the Tentacle and Sam & Max, which also led us to home-stitched LittleBigPlanet Sack-people based on Space Channel 5 and 60s cereal mascot Fruit Brute (!), and Anna the Red debuts her most adorable bento yet making The Behemoth's Castle Crashers fully edible. We've also gone arty with Hellen Jo and Calvin Wong's faux-NES-manuals for their recent Giant Robot art show game, Ben Ross's delightful Yeti Knight adventure game tumblr, and an LA exhibition opening Saturday with 40 designers and illustrators showing Street Fighter inspired art. We also listened to (and downloaded sheet music for) the entirety of World of Goo's original soundtrack for solo piano and a chiptune sampler EP for an Ubuntu Linux release party. And we saw an attempt to bring CRT imperfections back into razor sharp Atari 2600 emulation, heard about the playful destruction coming to the newly announced Lego Rock Band, saw PopCap favorite Peggle officially integrated into World of Warcraft, and finally, played Effing Hail, a new indie browser game that makes a game of cleanly illustrated textbook infographics (pictured). |
| Llamas: Nature's Cute & Fluffy Crusaders Against Bioterrorism Posted: 24 Apr 2009 08:20 AM PDT Maggie Koerth-Baker is a guest blogger on Boing Boing. A freelance science and health journalist, Maggie lives in Minneapolis, brain dumps on Twitter, and writes quite often for mental_floss magazine. Push away those vile stereotypes. Llamas are more than mere walking sweaters or Internet meme fodder. For one thing, they jump high enough to warrant a competitive circuit. They also make excellent guard animals for smaller beasts, such as alpaca or sheep. (No, really. Guard llamas. My aunt and uncle have one on their highly productive alpaca farm*.) Plus, they're also supposed to make a pretty good meat source. Llama meat was the first jerky; or charqui, as the Inca called it. Back in 2006, scientists working with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory announced another area of llama expertise: Fighting in the War on Terror.
Llama blood may one day be able to help soldiers, scientists and city officials set up an early-warning system against the tiniest weapons of terror--biological agents like anthrax and smallpox. Authorities have long worried that, were these diseases to get loose, it would be difficult to know anything was wrong until innocent people started dying. Llama blood might provide a better detection method. How? Antibodies, the tiny molecules that float around in the bloodstreams of people and almost all animals. Antibodies keep a sort of "memory" of all the diseases, allergens and other foreign invaders your body has come into contact with. If the same infiltrator shows up again, the antibodies can match it up with their stored records and immediately know how to fight it. According to news stories about the research, llamas have extraordinarily tough and hardy antibodies, capable of sustaining exposure to temperatures as high as 200 degrees F. This discovery gave the researchers the idea to develop sensors, based on llama antibodies, that could be distributed to soldiers in a war, or around cities back home. Modified to be specifically on the lookout for likely-to-be-weaponized diseases, these sensors could pick up signs of a biochemical attack before victims started arriving at the hospital. I wrote about this research in Be Amazing, back in early 2007. Since then, I haven't seen much more on whether or not these efforts have been successful. If the Internet Hivemind has any input or updates, I'd love to hear about them. Michael Rogalski did not harm any llamas in the making of this illustration. *Production on alpaca farm measured in bales of cuteness. |
| Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack: twisted comedy that makes you laugh and look away Posted: 24 Apr 2009 02:56 AM PDT  I've you've never read The Perry Bible Fellowship webcomic, now's the time to start. Dark Horse recently published a giant omnibus of material from Nicholas Gurewitch's PBF, The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack, and it's a concentrated dose of the kind of dark, twisted humor that makes you bark with laughter and look away at the same time. |
For centuries hallucinogenic mushrooms have participated in a sublime relationship with humankind, thanks to their psychoactive chemicals that shift and modify the human mind. Arik Roper's exquisite painted portraits of magic mushrooms illustrate more than 90 of the known hallucinogenic species from around the world. He captures their powerful auras, adding to a tradition of Mushroom art that stretches back more than 400 years.
In this episode of Make: Talk, we'll be joined by Nathan Seidle, the founder of SparkFun, a hobbyist electronics company, which recently held an autonomous vehicle competition. We'll also present some news from the world of making, and our favorite tricks, tips, and tools of the week. Be sure to call in for prizes that we'll award during the program! The number is (646) 915-8698. 
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