The Latest from Boing Boing

Home Office official offered advice and "comfort" to Phorm spyware vendor Posted: 28 Apr 2009 02:17 AM PDT Newly released emails secured through a Freedom of Information request show that a UK Home Office official colluded with and offered guidance to Phorm, providers of illegal spyware that British Telecom infected its users' PCs with. BT deployed a secret test of Phorm that involved infecting its customers' PCs with the spyware, which then rewrote every web-page they viewed with BT's advertising, while gathering information on their browsing habits and delivering it to Phorm and its marketing partners. Subsequently, BT switched from running Phorm as client-side spyware and instead implemented it as a server-side spyware app that captured every web-page visited by affected BT subscribers and inserted BT ads and captured users' clickstreams for BT's marketing partners. The EU has initiated legal action against Phorm for violating European privacy and consumer-protection laws. Now it transpires that a UK Home Office official provided guidance to Phorm, offering advice on how to skirt British law with a minimum of fuss, tenderly asking if the Phorm executives and partners could be "comforted" by Home Office assurances. This is the same Home Office that has taken extraordinary measures to make Britain "secure," including inveigling UK ISPs into spying on their users' clicks, IMs, and emails, ordering them to retain all this personal information for years so that government snoops can consult it at will. They have also ushered in an unparalleled surveillance state characterized by CCTVs on every corner; illegal, indefinite DNA-logging of people who are exonerated of crimes (including children); they also attempted to exempt Members of Parliament from having to disclose the details of their expenses to the public. It's hard to imagine the Home Office failing worse at protecting the public. In an e-mail dated August 2007, an unnamed Home Office official wrote to Phorm's legal representative and said: "My personal view accords with yours, that even if it is "interception", which I am doubtful of, it is lawfully authorised under section 3 by virtue of the user's consent obtained in signing up to the ISPs terms and conditions..." The Home Office official wrote to Phorm: "If we agree this, and this becomes our position do you think your clients and their prospective partners will be comforted." Jim Killock, executive director of privacy campaigners, the Open Rights Group, said: "The Home Office's job is to uphold the law: not to reinterpret it for commercial interests. It's extraordinary, when you think of the blatant disregard Phorm showed towards UK laws in its secret trials, that this sort of lax attitude should be shown." Home Office 'colluded with Phorm' Previously: Open Rights Group to Downing Street: find out how Phorm works ... British Telecom's eavesdropping software crashed browsers - Boing ... AntiPhormLite confounds BT's spyware by simulating random browsing ... Can't see the video? Click here

HOWTO make edible circuit diagrams out of candy Posted: 28 Apr 2009 02:18 AM PDT Another gem from the Evil Mad Scientist lab: edible circuit diagrams that help you visualize the delicious results of your electronic experiments: "Any number of chocolate-bar-like foods can be made into edible versions of integrated circuits. Kit Kat, Twix, and Mini Charleston Chews are small components that make good models of integrated circuits in long, skinny packages. Chocolate covered graham crackers are another good option. The aspect ratio is good for doing large-scale models of (e.g.) 8-pin DIP packages; These are the ones that we made into 555s." Circuitry Snacks (via IZ Reloaded)

Papercraft "Illuminati" lampshades Posted: 28 Apr 2009 01:22 AM PDT Arash and Kelly say, "Being full of ideas to make things and with the current downturn being so turbulent, we are offering three of our lampshade designs for you to spend time making, hacking, modifying and improving free of charge! You download the plans and make the lightshades using an A1 sheet, scissors, stapler and ruler.... Trace the designs and make them in your own time, with your own hands for free for yourself, loved ones and friends." Illuminati (Thanks, Arash and Kelly!)

Bruce Sterling taking over Cool Tools Posted: 27 Apr 2009 11:24 PM PDT When we poached our Steven away from the editorship of Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools, it kicked off a global search for an editor -- and now it can be told. Over on Boing Boing Gadgets, Steven unveils the new mutant at the helm: I'm thrilled (and honored) to announce that I'll be handing over the editorial reigns at Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools blog to none other than writer, thinker, futurist, ranter Bruce Sterling!!! I couldn't be more eager to read Cool Tools. Bruce Sterling to edit Cool Tools Discuss this on Boing Boing Gadgets

Bruce Sterling explains swine flu Posted: 27 Apr 2009 11:20 PM PDT Bruce Sterling's got some pretty good advice for understanding swine flu in perspective: People freak out over "pandemics," even though we've got one of the worst pandemics in history, AIDS, raging through the carcass of the body-politic right now. Every once in a while you see a street demo or a charity show about AIDS. Carla Bruni is pretty big on fighting AIDS. Otherwise we just drop dead of AIDS in hecatombs, and the pandemic has become our business as usual. AIDS is an extremely fearsome disease, practically 100% lethal, yet it's hard work to get people to remain properly afraid of it. *There is always some flu around and flu is always killing some people. Even when a raw mutant flu manages to kill off more people than a shooting-war, flu has never ravaged whole cities as cholera or the Black Death can do. As awful pandemics go, flu is like the snotty-nosed little sister of awful pandemics. *So if you catch the new swine flu, you're very likely not gonna die. *But since it is a flu, you're gonna kinda WISH you could die. *You're not ACTUALLY gonna die unless your lips are turning blue, you have bad chest pains, you can't swallow water, you can't stand up, you're having seizures and you don't know where you are or what your name is. As this document suggests, you're gonna want to watch out for those symptoms. Practical Tips for Combatting Swine Flu In Your Home Previously: Swine Flu Fun Facts - Boing Boing Swine Influenza Update from a Nurse: Virus, Panic, Precautions ... Swine Influenza: Another Reasonable, Reasoned Discussion Thread ... Pandemic Flu Book Club - Boing Boing

Pictures of birds' nests in sign letters Posted: 27 Apr 2009 11:18 PM PDT The Type Nesting Tumblr blog is a big ole repository of birds' nests built in sign-lettering, asking the musical question, "Do birds have a favorite font?" Type Nesting (via Geisha Asobi) (Image: Nest Egg by moocatmoocat (away)) Can't see the video? Click here

Kevin Smith explains what happened to his Superman movie Posted: 27 Apr 2009 11:15 PM PDT Kevin Smith isn't just a great filmmaker, he's also a fantastic raconteur. Here he is telling the story of how he came not to make a Superman movie -- this is one of those classic Oh-My-God-Hollywood-Is-Full-of-Idiots stories, and Smith tells it like no one else. Kevin Smith on Superman Returns (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

Elaborate Ms Pac-Man cupcake tableau Posted: 27 Apr 2009 10:43 PM PDT Just when you thought the retro vIdeo-game cupcake thing had reached its zenith, along come Trophy cupcakes with this Ms Pac-Man cupcake tableau to take it to a whole new level! Ms. Pacman cupcakes from Trophy cupcakes (via Wonderland!) Previously: Cupcake waltz - Boing Boing Pac Man cake with cupcake ghosts - Boing Boing BBtv - Cupcake Cutthroats: muffin-shaped electric art cars gone ... Guinness cupcakes - Boing Boing Plastic container prevents damage to your cupcake. - Boing Boing Legend of Zelda's Link executed in cupcake pixel-art - Boing Boing HOWTO make a glowing punk cupcake - Boing Boing Pixel Mario cake made from cupcake squares - Boing Boing

Post-It inventor watching viral internet post-it-tricks video Posted: 27 Apr 2009 10:38 PM PDT David sez, "I recently photographed Art Fry, the inventor of the Post-it Note. After the shoot, I asked if he''d ever seen the Sticky Note Experiments video by Eepybird (the Mentos and Diet Coke guys). It turned out he hadn't. Well, I just happened to bring a copy of the video with me on my iPhone so I could show it to him. I filmed his reaction as he watched it." EepyBird's Sticky Note experiment from Eepybird on Vimeo. Post-it Note inventor watches Sticky Note Experiments (Thanks, David!)

San Francisco mint painted with 7 HD projectors Posted: 27 Apr 2009 10:35 PM PDT Rhett sez, "This is what happens when you point 7 HD projectors on a building for advertising. Make the real world look like a video game." The old mint in downtown SF painted by 7 perfectly mapped HD projectors. (Thanks, Rhett!)

Locus award for best sf of 2008 -- shortlist published Posted: 27 Apr 2009 10:19 PM PDT The Locus Award shortlist has been posted -- this is the list of the best science fiction books and stories of the year, as chosen by the general public. I'm immensely gratified to say that I'm on the list three times, for my young adult novel Little Brother, my collaborative novella True Names (with Ben Rosenbaum), and my novelette The Things that Make Me Weak and Strange Get Engineered Away. The whole list is a great jumping-off point for exploring the best written sf and fantasy of 2008! 2009 Locus Award Finalists Can't see the video? Click here

Funny prank by artist / cabinet maker Lucas Murgida Posted: 27 Apr 2009 08:02 PM PDT Lucas Murgida at 667 Shotwell from Chris Sollars on Vimeo. Wonderful short documentary about artist / cabinet maker Lucas Murgida. He talks about some of the fun things he's done with the furniture he's made. For instance, he once made a cabinet and placed it on the sidewalk and hid in it. His goal was to remain hidden until the cabinet was moved from the public space to a private space. He also set up a unique locksmithing class. Lucas Murgida at 667 Shotwell

Israeli Army Fan Remake of "What What (In The Butt)" Viral Video. Posted: 27 Apr 2009 03:53 PM PDT Bobby Ciraldo (Twitter), who co-directed the YouTube-famous music video "What What (In The Butt)," starring Samwell -- once famously parodied on South Park -- says: This video came our way and i found it really hard not to find neato. somehow. it's a group of soldiers from the israeli army spending their time wisely by making an ambitious "what what in the butt" homage video. what what (in the butt) - Israeli IDF army version. And you've probably already seen this one, but if not: it's a performance from what i believe is the swedish version of american idol. they actually dance to "what what" on national television! sweden must have a pretty advanced culture. (i've read that those modesty discs are crispbreads.) Knäckebröddansen Talang 2009.

Boing Boing Video: recent episodes, in case you missed. Posted: 27 Apr 2009 02:45 PM PDT Here's a recap of the past week in Boing Boing Video episodes. Above -- Digital Open: A Call for Entries. Boing Boing Video is teaming up with Institute for the Future and Sun Microsystems to launch The Digital Open, a global expo for youth innovation. (Download MP4) Above: War Dialer, an experimental animation by Bob Jaroc and Plaid. Best experienced with headphones -- the stereo is part of the fun. Download MP4. Boing Boing's Webby Award Nominations -- a highlights reel for our consideration in the "Online Film and Video Weird/Experimental" category. (Download MP4) Please consider voting for Boing Boing Video in the Webbys "People's Voice" awards, 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.) More video highlights reels for each the categories in which Boing Boing Video was nominated for the 13th annual Webby Awards, after the jump. Boing Boing Video - Webby Award Nomination: Variety (Download MP4) Boing Boing Video - Webby Award Nomination: Technology (Download MP4) Boing Boing Video - Webby Award Nomination: Best Host (Download MP4)

Pandemic Flu Book Club Posted: 27 Apr 2009 02:23 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. If you're interested in the dorky intricacies of pandemic flu, you might also like to know that the National Academies Press is offering Microbial Threats to Health: The Threat of Pandemic Influenza as a free download right now. This is a 2005 book, so it's not going to cover anything about this current variant of swine flu, but it should still be an interesting overview of the background science. Also, for the record, I am not an author on this book. I'm just planning on reading it tonight. Can't see the video? Click here

Michael Jackson's weirdest detritus, a photoset Posted: 27 Apr 2009 01:48 PM PDT Wil Wheaton sez, "Paul Sheer's photos of his favorite items from the Michael Jackson auction are amusing, puzzling, hilarious, surreal, disturbing, and have that "horrific car crash that I can't look away from" quality that we've come to expect from anything associated with Michael Jackson." Michael Jackson Auction: My Favorite Items (Thanks, Wil!) Previously: Wacko Jacko's wunderkammer for sale - Boing Boing Vintage Ram's Head Coffee Table - Boing Boing Tussaud's bad wax heads up for auction - Boing Boing Jacko's Neverland Ranch needs some TLC - Boing Boing

Swine Influenza: Another Reasonable, Reasoned Discussion Thread Posted: 27 Apr 2009 02:14 PM PDT Jim Macdonald is hosting a good, science-y, factually grounded thread about swine flu over at Making Light. Snip: You must know that proteins have shapes, and those shapes are how you can tell one protein from another. Your cells are covered with protein, viruses have protein capsules, it's all protein on the molecular level. Your immune system (when it's working right) recognizes self and non-self. It protects the self and attacks the non-self. It does this in a couple of ways. First, you have generalized reaction. When cells are distressed, they release cytokines, and those switch on a kind of white cell called the NK-cell. NK stands for Natural Killer (no, I'm not making this up). The NK cells find anything they don't recognize, and, using specialized proteins, destroy it. When you've got an infection, those are the first things that come on line. The next thing to arrive are the antibodies. These are specialized cells that are keyed to find one specific protein--the foreign invader protein--and destroy it. Before your body can produce antibodies, it has to have been exposed to the antigens (which is what you call non-self proteins), and be sensitized. Meanwhile, your body is releasing enzymes that act as chemical messengers to produce various effects. Fevers, swelling, sweating, headache ... all enzymes. The aching in your bones that you feel is the marrow pumping out white cells to fight the infection. Once your body has successfully fought off an invader, the antibodies remain. If they ever again encounter proteins of the same shape, they'll be on 'em fast. The infection won't have a chance to start. Flu Redux (Making Light, thanks Teresa Nielsen Hayden!) Previously: Swine Influenza Update from a Nurse: Virus, Panic, Precautions, and End of the World Websites.

Swine Flu Fun Facts Posted: 27 Apr 2009 01:54 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. You should probably know that I'm a giant infectious disease dork. Viruses are right up there with subways, as far as I am concerned. In fact, the main reason I'm writing this right now and not, say, working on a Ph.D. somewhere, is because nature saw fit to gift me with the math skills of a brain-damaged baboon. Do not pass calculus. Go directly to journalism school. Naturally, then, I have spent the weekend geeking the hell out over this whole looming-threat-to-civilization thing. In between obsessive reading and some interviews conducted for National Geographic News, I've come up with a few tidbits of information I thought y'all might find as fascinating as I did. Why It's Called "Swine Flu" By now, you've probably heard about the fact that this particular strain is basically a genetic tossed salad of pig, bird and human flu virus. So why is the pig part getting all the "glory"? According to Andrew Pekosz, over at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, it's because the two genes most important to determining whether humans are immune and what level of protection they have (that'd be the "H" and the "N" in H1N1, by the way) happen to be ones that came from porcine flu strains. We call this chimera "Swine Flu" because that's where it got the genes that really matter most to our health. On a related note, the AP is reporting that an Israeli Deputy Health Minister is vehemently opposed to the name, because he finds the pig reference religiously offensive. Yeah,I dunno, either. Swine Flu Was Genetically Manipulated to Target Conspiracy Theorists It's true: If you own a tin hat, you're ten times more likely to contract the virus. Seriously, though, could the Internets please stop forwarding those increasingly out-of-context videos of Dallas County medical director John Carlo? In some recent interviews, Carlo referred somewhat clunkily to culturing samples of H1N1 in the laboratory. This quote is now being used as "evidence" in a delightful meme claiming that H1N1 is a man-made virus, wholly created in the laboratory. As Carlo himself has pointed out, that is not remotely the case. In reality, those video quotes are actually Carlo referring to the common practice of taking samples of a virus and growing it in the lab until you get enough of the virus that you can analyze the thing. That's how researchers learn what makes a specific virus unique and how they figure out ways to combat it. Scientists studying cultured samples of a naturally-occurring virus =/= evil plot to create a man-made super-virus. Please, tell your friends. How Nature Makes a Chimeric Virus As frustrating as that whole Carlo debacle is to me, I can understand where some of the confusion is coming from. Everywhere, you're reading that H1N1 swine flu contains genes from human, avian and swine flu viruses and, for most people, the imagination immediately jumps to genetic engineering. But, let me assure you, nature can do this perfectly well on its own. No human tampering required. It works like this. Flu viruses have eight genes, each of which is on a separate piece of RNA and, each of which replicates independently of the others. Multiple types of flu virus can infect the same cell. If a cell is infected with two or three different viruses, genes from the "parent" generation can easily get shuffled around and randomly repackaged into chimeric "offspring". For a visual, think about taking two shakers of dice, tossing the dice out on the table, swirling them around and splitting them back up again into the shakers. Chances are, some of the dice that were originally in shaker 1 are now in shaker 2, and vice versa. And that's basically a simplified version of what's going on with flu virus genes when they create something like H1N1. Some Thoughts on Factory Farming So I know that Grist, and a couple of other places, are promoting the theory that the genesis of H1N1 swine flu can be tied directly to factory farming practices. I'm no fan of factory farming, and it definitely has some associated public health dangers, but I'm not yet convinced that this one of them. First, according to the experts I've spoken to, nobody currently knows specifically where H1N1 swine flu comes from. In fact, the information we're getting out of Mexico seems to have a lot of holes in it, to the point that (as of my writing this) nobody even knows how many supposed swine flu cases/deaths are actually caused by swine flu or what percentage of people infected with swine flu are dying in that country. As Pekosz told me, there's no evidence one way or the other. Second, while past pandemic viruses have had connections to farming, they haven't necessarily been connections to factory farming; but rather small-scale (and, particularly, subsistence level) farming, where animals of several species share close quarters. This is important for the H1N1 swine flu. Pigs seem to provide a particularly good environment for flu viruses to get their gene-reassorting watusi on. But to get that pig/avian/human mix, the most likely candidate would be a pig who'd had close contact with both people and poultry. As I understand it, it's less likely that a human who works with pigs and chickens separately could pass the avian virus to a pig. And, factory farms, which tend to be single-species outfits, aren't really great places for pigs and chickens to interact. Now, I can see some ways around that. Say, if the pigs were sleeping or wallowing in muck that was contaminated with chicken feces or something. I could also be interpreting the facts incorrectly here. But from what I've read, and from the researchers I've spoken with, it seems more likely that H1N1 would have been created in the communal barn of a small farm, than in a giant hog-only factory farm shed. I'm going to be enthralled with the swine flu story for weeks, I'd imagine. So if you've got questions about it, or rumors you'd like to hear the facts behind, I'm more than happy to put my nose to the research wheel on them. Best thing is to email, though.

Neuroscience of junk-food cravings, researched in a Chili's dumpster Posted: 27 Apr 2009 10:45 AM PDT David A Kessler, author of The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite, is a doctor and lawyer, med school dean and former FDA commissioner. He's also someone whose weight has yo-yoed back and forth all his life, someone who is plagued with insatiable junk-food cravings. His new book -- grounded in research that included dumpster-diving chain restaurants to read the ingredient labels on the foods whose makeup they wouldn't discuss, tries to answer the neurological question of why we crave shitty junk food: The labels showed the foods were bathed in salt, fat and sugars, beyond what a diner might expect by reading the menu, Kessler said. The ingredient list for Southwestern Eggrolls mentioned salt eight different times; sugars showed up five times. The "egg rolls," which are deep-fried in fat, contain chicken that has been chopped up like meatloaf to give it a "melt in the mouth" quality that also makes it faster to eat. By the time a diner has finished this appetizer, she has consumed 910 calories, 57 grams of fat and 1,960 milligrams of sodium. Instead of satisfying hunger, the salt-fat-sugar combination will stimulate that diner's brain to crave more, Kessler said. For many, the come-on offered by Lay's Potato Chips -- "Betcha can't eat just one" -- is scientifically accurate. And the food industry manipulates this neurological response, designing foods to induce people to eat more than they should or even want, Kessler found... "The food the industry is selling is much more powerful than we realized," he said. "I used to think I ate to feel full. Now I know, we have the science that shows, we're eating to stimulate ourselves. And so the question is what are we going to do about it?" Crave Man The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite (via Bioephemera)

Today at Boing Boing Gadgets Posted: 27 Apr 2009 10:06 AM PDT • Brando's "Spy Ear" is a tiny cellphone that always picks up. • Praxionoscope animation is a zoetrope on drugs. • The youngsters these days, with their U-238 Atomic Energy Labs. • General Electric invents Blu-Ray killer. • Behold! Mashamaro the MP3 Rabbit. • The Telos 5000 is an amplifier that costs more than a house. • The new Flip HD mini-camcorder is out. • Fujitsu didn't get the memo about expensive, high-tech pocket computers not selling well. • Motherboard mirror on the wall (obscures all.) • The networking card of the future never stop networking. • Seiko once made a drum machine watch. • Review: Seagate's Replica brings Time Machine-style no-brainer backups to Windows PCs. • Hacking drink vending machines is, evidently, great fun. • The Loltus offers a cracking drive. • Tears! There will probably be no new OQO, as the company is in trouble. • How much would you spend on a chair? Lisa reviews the best. • Video at 1000 fps. • Watch Joel make beer. • Terrorize your dearest with remote-controlled nerf artillery. • Trim-it-quick tree lights make for a festive April. • In the future, people will sit -- on chairs! • Remember the Computer Chronicles?

Geoengineering wishful thinking is the new climate denialism Posted: 27 Apr 2009 09:57 AM PDT Alex from Worldchanging sez, "I have a new piece up about how the right is spinning geoengineering to undermine climate action. No matter what our stance on geoengineering itself - pro, con, undecided -- we should all agree that the last thing we need are climate denialists manipulating the debate." Their new justifications for delay are simple. Taking advantage of the economic crisis, they call climate action a job killer. If the Right's anger and vehemence against the very idea of green jobs has shocked and confused you, well, understand that it's important that climate change be framed as a threat to the economy, and never an opportunity: the growing importance of clean tech industries and jobs to the American economy must be downplayed in order for this strategy to work (never mind that wind power already employs more Americans than coal mining). Look for this argument to increase in volume as Copenhagen draws near... But if we can be made to believe that megascale geoengineering can stop climate change, then delay begins to look not like the dangerous folly it actually is, but a sensible prudence. The prospect of geoegineering is the only thing that can make that delay seem at all morally acceptable. In other words, combining dire warnings about climate action's economic costs with exaggerated claims about geoengineering's potential is the new climate denialism. Geoengineering and the New Climate Denialism (Thanks, Alex!)

Teller and the neuroscience of magic Posted: 27 Apr 2009 09:54 AM PDT Writing in Wired, Jonah Lehrer talks to Teller (of Penn and Teller fame) about his contribution to a recent paper on the neurology of magic. Fascinating reading -- magic as applied neuroscience. Consider a technique used by the legendary pickpocket Apollo Robbins, another coauthor of the Nature article spearheaded by Macknik and Martinez-Conde. When the researchers asked him about his devious methods--how he could steal the wallet of a man who knew he was going to have his pocket picked--they learned something surprising: Robbins said the trick worked only when he moved his free hand in an arc instead of a straight line. According to the thief, these arcs distract the eyes of his victims for a matter of milliseconds, just enough time for his other hand to pilfer their belongings. At first, the scientists couldn't explain this phenomenon. Why would arcs keep us from looking at the right place? But then they began to think about saccades, movements of the eye that can precede conscious decisions about where to turn one's gaze. Saccades are among the fastest movements produced by the human body, which is why a pickpocket has to trick them: The eyes are in fact quicker than the hands. "This is an idea scientists had never contemplated before," Macknik says. "It turns out, though, that the pickpocket was onto something." When we see a hand moving in a straight line, we automatically look toward the end point--this is called the pursuit system. A hand moving in a semicircle, however, seems to short-circuit our saccades. The arc doesn't tell our eyes where the hand is going, so we fixate on the hand itself--and fail to notice the other hand reaching into our pocket. "The pickpocket has found a weakness in the way we perceive motion," Macknik says. "Show the eyes an arc and they move differently." While the magicians are educating the scientists, so far the scientists haven't offered much in return. Cowboy trick aside, Teller says, "this is an example of entertainers getting there first." And he wishes it weren't so. Teller hopes that laboratory insights will offer ways to break free of the stale tricks that have defined magic for decades--much as new technologies made possible the illusions of David Abbott in the early 20th century. A loan shark in Omaha, Nebraska, Abbott performed innovative, late-night shows in his living room. (Harry Houdini was one of many magicians who made the pilgrimage.) "Abbott used to say he wasn't satisfied with a trick unless people began to weep," Teller says. "He was that good." Magic and the Brain: Teller Reveals the Neuroscience of Illusion (via Kottke) Previously: Nature Neuroscience article on neurological basis for magic, co ... Neuroscience of gambling - Boing Boing Neuroscience of branding - Boing Boing Penn and Teller's debunker hour - Boing Boing A tour of magician Teller's house - Boing Boing Long-lost Penn and Teller videogame for download - Boing Boing Penn Jillette's video rant show - Boing Boing Penn Jillette's daughter is named "Moxie CrimeFighter" - Boing Boing Penn Jilette (of Penn and - Boing Boing

Swine Influenza Update from a Nurse: Virus, Panic, Precautions, and End of the World Websites. Posted: 27 Apr 2009 08:58 PM PDT Given the amount of attention and anxiety around "swine flu," the H1N1 virus, I thought it might be helpful to ask a health care professional with experience in this area to write a guest post for Boing Boing. My friend Stefanie Fletcher kindly obliged. She is a registered nurse who spends a fair amount of time in Mexico, and is involved with efforts to work with Mexican President Felipe Calderon's cabinet to import vaccines for H1N1 from the US. Stephanie wrote this guest essay with information about the spread of the disease, precautions to take (or not take), and some observations about nutball "ZOMG-WERE-ALL-GONNA-DIE-ITS-THE-END-OF-THE-WORLD" rapture websites. - XJ Swine Influenza Update Stefanie Fletcher, RN ( stefletcher AT earthlink DOT net) April 26, 2009 6:00 p.m. PST The outbreak of the H1N1 strain of swine influenza in Mexico calls for caution, but not alarm. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that, people in the U.S. infected with the virus have either traveled to Mexico recently or have been exposed to someone returning from the country. The CDC originally thought the virus was a straightforward swine flu virus. However after closer analysis determined it is a new virus containing a mixture of swine, human and avian viruses. The U.S. government to declare a public health emergency, reporting that there have been 20 confirmed cases of swine flu in the United States as of noon today. However, there have been no swine flu related deaths in the U.S. and only one patient has been hospitalized. U.S. outbreaks have occurred in Texas, California, New York, and Kansas. Dr. Jose A. Cordova, Mexico's health secretary, announced that as of Sunday, 81 deaths in Mexico had been deemed "likely linked" to swine flu. . Of the 1,324 patients who were hospitalized with flu-like symptoms, 929 have been treated and released according to Mexican President Felipé Calderon. Dr. Cordova has requested closure of bars, museums, theaters, and churches in Mexico City. The United States has not issued any travel warnings or restrictions. However, the Canadian government issued a warning to travelers because the public health agency was "tracking clusters of severe respiratory illness with deaths in Mexico." Meanwhile, American, United, and Continental Airlines have all declared they would waive change fees for travelers with tickets to effected areas in Mexico. What is unique is that the virus, having made the "jump" from animals to humans, is now being transmitted via direct human-to-human contact. Keep reading after the jump for more on how this has developed so far, who's at risk, how to protect yourself if you are at risk, and websites celebrating swine influenza's outbreak as a harbinger of the apocalypse. Stephanie continues: Keiji Fukuda, acting assistant general for health, security and environment at the World Health Organization, stated, "it's quite possible for this virus to evolve and become more dangerous to people." People infected with the H1N1 strain will initially suffer generalized flu like symptoms, such as: * Fever * Muscle and joint pain * Sore throat * Malaise * Cough * Difficulty breathing This strain of flu may progress to a serious respiratory illness within about five days. Traveling to Mexico? Make sure your vaccinations are up to date, pay special attention to hand washing especially after coughing or sneezing, covering coughs and sneezes and stay home if you're feeling sick. The CDC also suggests you pay attention to local government announcements and follow any issued public health guidelines on your trip. Watch for any signs and symptoms of the flu upon returning home. Reliable sources of information regarding the H1N1 influenza virus are: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and The World Health Organization. And in Spanish, Secretaria de Salud del gobierno de Mexico. Meanwhile, the UNRELIABLE sources are in full bloom. Rightwing and survivalist commentary ranges from decrying the swine flu as a bio-terror attack (Terror Pigs?) to celebrating this as the beginning of the Rapture. www.raptureready.com and www.sodahead.com are the two with pretty clear blogs/Q&A portions dealing with the swine flu and end of the world issues. UPDATE, April 27, 930am PT: First, per the CDC this morning - there is no reason to get a flu shot if you do not have symptoms. The current attenuated virus vaccines will not protect you - so the mask, hand washing, being aware of surroundings/people w/ symptoms is the only prevention - or not traveling (for now) to Mexico. There is a mid-to moderately high chance this will reach Guatemala this week - but it is really hard to tell - depends on the numbers of people coming/going from Mexico. Also, at least to Mexico - the State Dept. will be issuing a Travel Advisory for Mexico - all "non essential" travel to be halted.... -- STEFANIE FLETCHER email questions or comments to: stefletcher AT earthlink DOT net

How to Capture a Giant Squid Posted: 27 Apr 2009 08:06 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. Giant squid are carnivorous mollusks the size of a school bus with a beak-like mouth that can cut through steel cable. You think they'd be hard to miss. And yet, largely because the squid tend toward the deepest water, they're so seldom seen that most people thought they were a myth---right up until a French ship brought back a chunk of one in the 1860s. But while bringing home the giant squidy bacon isn't particularly simple, it's also not impossible. In this excerpt from Be Amazing, you'll find that there's more than one way to skin a sea monster. Method 1: Forget the Net You might have more luck "capturing" a squid on film. In September 2004, Japanese researchers took the first photos of a live giant squid in its natural habitat. The team sent cameras mounted to barbed bait hooks (the bait: smaller squids) nearly 3,000 feet below the Pacific Ocean. Before long, a 26-foot squid attempted to eat his scrawnier brethren and hooked himself on the line, allowing researchers to take some 500 photos before the squid escaped. Method 2: Offer Squid a Tasty Treat If your preferred squid looks hungry, try luring it with a delicious oil tanker. During the course of the 1930s, the Norwegian tanker Brunswick was attacked not once, not twice, but three times by giant squid. Metal boats don't sound especially appetizing, but scientists think squid mistake the large, gray objects for whales---a decidedly yummy entree giant squid have been known to dine upon. Unfortunately, it's more difficult to get a good grip on the steel hull of a tanker, than on the pliable hide of a whale. Whenever a squid tried to put the Brunswick in a choke hold, its tentacles would slip, and the squid would end up making a fatal slide into the ship's propellers. Method 3: Just Go Have a Beer and Wait for the Squid to Come to You Time-tested and infinitely more relaxing, this classic method is also responsible for catching one of the largest squid ever measured. In November, 1878, two Canadian fishermen from the delightfully named town of Timble Tickle, New Brunswick, found a giant squid washed ashore. Although technically on the lookout for smaller aquatic creatures, the fishermen gladly accepted the bounty the sea had given them, hauling the giant beast further onto land and tying it up to a tree. After it was dead (and, presumably, less feisty), the fishermen broke out the tape measure. From the tip of the its tail to the end of its tentacles, the squid was more than 50 feet long. Please direct praise and/or fawning donations to illustrator Michael Rogalski. Can't see the video? Click here

Crush All Hu-Mans: latest collection of angry robosexual webcomics from Diesel Sweeties Posted: 27 Apr 2009 07:25 AM PDT Crush All Hu-Mans is the latest collection of strips from the excellent robosexual webcomic Diesel Sweeties, a pixellated tribute to love, robots, and world domination. In Crush, Red Robot takes center stage: bent on the destruction of all humanity ("Destroy all that lives! Mutilate the corpses! Flay and tear and maim and pirate music!") he finds himself awkwardly between Clango Cyclotron (the human-loving bot) and Menace-11, the all-black nihilist-bot who's just back from a stint volunteering in Robotania. The slim volume is good for big, angry, bloody-spattered laughs, filled with the kind of robotic non-sequiturs that makes Diesel Sweeties such a charming strip. What's more, R. Stevens and co are selling a plush, knitted Red Robot with savage claws for all your self-loathing human robo-cuddling needs. CRUSH ALL HU-MANS! Book

Kids on boneshaker bikes -- photoset Posted: 27 Apr 2009 05:36 AM PDT Alex sez, "This is a Flickr set taken by me of a group of kids and their dad riding on their five Victorian bicycles with the one big wheel in the front and the small wheel in the rear, which are known as Penny Farthings, High Wheels, or Boneshakers." The Penny Farthing Bike Gang (Thanks, Alex!)

Recently on Offworld Posted: 27 Apr 2009 08:37 AM PDT Recently on Offworld, One More Go columnist Margaret Robertson explained why she couldn't stop returning to Psygnosis' original future racer Wipeout, particularly the version for the best games console we never bought, and Tom Armitage gave us Something For The Weekend, explaining why retro racer remake OutRun Online Arcade is "polished, joyous, arcade fun, and the perfect game to get you in the mood for a spring weekend in the sun." Elsewhere we watched vegetation valiantly stave off an undead attack in the first gameplay footage of PopCap's upcoming defense game Plants Vs. Zombies, watched a River City Ransom-inspired flier for an upcoming chiptune showcase created on a NES (with rom included), and saw the soul of a PS3 DualShock controller. Finally we saw the first hints of fluid dynamics in the latest teased images of Q-games' upcoming PS3 downloadable PixelJunk game, saw Noby Noby BOY's dream of new music about to come true, watched the unbelievable MegaMan inspired pixel wizardry of Myk Dawg's unofficial video for Kanye West's Robocop (with a cameo appearance by Boxxy Adriana Lima) (above), and, finally, saw Saturday Night Live mashed up with Legend of Zelda as Link lets us know that he's on a boat.

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