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| Recently at Boing Boing Gadgets Posted: 06 May 2009 12:02 PM PDT  • Amazon unveils the big-screened Kindle DX. • Legendary audiophile Michael Fremer responds to BBG's suggestion he must have supernatural powers. • Q: How many Star Trek characters Twitter? A: Too many to follow. • Lisa loses her Star virginity to JJ Abrams prequel. • What will happen if Apple buys Twitter? • Star Trek creator's wife spends $4 million on her dogs! • BB Video: ARPANET turns 40! • Star Trek replicas that actually do something. • Apple censors Nine Inch Nails for iPhone app due to "objectionable content." • A lazy bookworm's lounge chair with a wheel and built-in storage. • Best worst Star Trek parodies. • Why some Trekkies aren't too happy with the new Star Trek. • A history of Star Trek porn [NSFW, but totally worth clicking]. |
| WoWPod: a self-contained hut for WoW players Posted: 07 May 2009 02:45 AM PDT Cati Vaucelle, Steve Shada and Marisa Jahn, three MIT students, created the WoWPod, a self-contained hut for WoW players to inhabit for very long stretches of time. Vaucelle is a "maxed out level warrior engineer" who thought he "should engineer a project based on this experience and environment." The Pod provides an environment for lengthy, distraction-free raiding. WoW Pod (via Make) |
| EU kills "3-strikes" Internet rule, affirms Internet is a fundamental right Posted: 07 May 2009 02:41 AM PDT After a last-minute scramble, the EU has been persuaded to kill the idea of forcing "3-strikes" copyright/internet legislation on European states. The "3-strikes" rule says that you can have your Internet connection taken away after a copyright holder accuses you of infringement three times -- but the rightsholder doesn't need to show any evidence that you've done anything wrong. The entertainment industry has been lobbying around the world for the right to decide who gets to use the internet. In New Zealand, they managed to get Bill 92A, a 3-strikes rule, adopted by Parliament, but sustained, noisy activism from local geeks and artists forced the government to reverse its decision and go back to the drawing board on copyright. In France, Sarkozy pushed hard for a 3-strikes rule (his wife is a pop-star who is demanding more sweeping powers for entertainers over the internet), but was defeated. 3-strikes is a feature of the secret Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which the US, Canada, Japan, the EU and other rich countries are conducting behind closed doors. The entertainment industry slipped 3-strikes into the EU through an amendment to the notorious "Telecoms Package," a huge, complex piece of legislation. To counter this, progressive MEPs wrote a set of "Citizens Rights" amendments that established that internet access was a fundamental right in Europe that cannot be taken away without judicial review and an actual finding of wrongdoing. Activists went down to the wire this week, phoning and emailing their MEPs to ask them to vote to defend due process and citizens' rights, and it paid off. Yesterday, the citizens' rights amendments passed 407/57 -- and the EU banned Sarkozy from reintroducing his failed copyright proposal. A formidable campaign from the citizens put the issues of freedoms on the Internet at the center of the debates of the Telecoms Package. This is a victory by itself. It started with the declaration of commissioner Viviane Reding considering access to Internet as a fundamental right1. The massive re-adoption of amendment 138/462 rather than the softer compromise negotiated by rapporteur Trautmann with the Council is an even stronger statement. These two elements alone confirm that the French 'three strikes' scheme, HADOPI, is dead already.Amendment 138/46 adopted again. Internet is a fundamental right in Europe. Previously:
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| Posted: 07 May 2009 02:30 AM PDT A group of Canadian copyfighters produced this mini-documentary, "C-61," about the proposed new Canadian copyright law, which the US government is pressuring Canada to pass (that's why the USA added Canada to a nonsensical list of pirate nations). Previous attempts to pass this bill have been a disgrace -- famously, former Industry Minister Jim Prentice refused to discuss the bill with Canadian record labels, artists, tech firms, or telcos, but did meet with American and multinational entertainment and software giants to allow them to give their input. In the bill's earlier incarnation as C-60, its sponsor, Sam Bulte, was caught taking campaign contributions from the same US and multinational entertainment companies, and went berserk at a town hall meeting when questioned about it, decrying "user-rights zealots and EFF members." "C-61" does a good job of explaining what passing American-style copyright in Canada would mean and why it's a bad idea. I contributed some narration to it, as well! Previously:
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| Texas police accused of highway robberies Posted: 07 May 2009 12:32 AM PDT CNN reports that police are accused of having robbed at least 150 drivers in Tenaha, Texas. The amount stolen is close to $3 million, says a lawyer who has filed a class action suit against the town and police department there. Some of the victims (who are mostly African American) said that when they complained to the police about the police, the police threatened to take the victims' children away. In one case, the district attorney sent a couple who'd been robbed a form letter to sign that said, in exchange for forfeiting the $6000 that had been stolen from them, "...no criminal charges shall be filed...and our children shall not be turned over to [child protective services]." The video is loaded with lots of other tragicomically sordid details. Police In Texas Accused of Committing Highway Robberies |
| Programmable color LED array from Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories Posted: 06 May 2009 04:39 PM PDT  Our evil pals over at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories have a neat demo video of their Peggy 2 Light Emitting Pegboard kit that they've populated with red, green, blue, and white LEDs. One thing worth noting (and that we demo in the video) is that you can diffuse the big RGBW pixels into one continuous full-color display by placing a thin diffusing plastic layer above the LEDs-- it really works well. (The Peggy 2 just so happens to be the cover star of MAKE Vol. 18.) |
| Posted: 06 May 2009 03:35 PM PDT  This morning, GOOD posted my piece about the consequences of Lake Mead in Nevada drying up in decade or so. Lake Mead stores water from the Colorado River. When full, it holds 9.3 trillion gallons, an amount equal to the water that flows through the Colorado River in two years. The water from Lake Mead is used for many things. It irrigates a million acres of crops in the United States and Mexico, and supplies water to tens of millions of people. Its mighty Hoover Dam generates enough electricity to power a half-million homes. Additionally, the power from Hoover Dam is used to carry water up and across the Sierra Nevada Mountains on its way to Southern California.Read the rest of the essay at GOOD |
| White Mischief steampunk variety night returns to London, May 23 Posted: 06 May 2009 03:32 PM PDT Toby Slater sez, WHITE MISCHIEF: "Journey To The Centre Of The Earth" (Thanks, Tobias!) Previously: |
| Ad for air purifier shows microobes marching into gaping nostrils Posted: 06 May 2009 03:29 PM PDT  From Street Anatomy: “Bacteria”, a creative campaign created by M&C Saatchi for a new series of high density Plasmacluster ion generator air purifiers, in time for the peak influenza season. |
| Posted: 06 May 2009 03:28 PM PDT  Sean Tevis -- the "candidate from the Internet" who caused an enormous stir when he financed a run at Kansas State Rep by soliciting micro-donations from people around the Internet who were inspired by an XKCD-style comic about his vision for the state -- is taking another run at the Kansas House and has the comic to prove it. I really like Tevis's approach, his platform, and his ideals. I can't give to his campaign -- I'm a dirty foreigner and I don't even live in the USA (though the IRS is happy to tax the hell out me!) -- but you can! Running for Office: Option 4 (Thanks, Danjite!) Previously: |
| Aurora Monster Model kits reborn Posted: 06 May 2009 03:19 PM PDT  I just happened on these Moebius Monster Models at Dreamhaven Books in Minneapolis -- they're faithful reproduction of the classic 1970s Aurora monster models, including the spectacular box-art. I remember buying these at the convenience store near my grandparents' place and working on them in the basement while the adults upstairs had after-dinner coffee, completely lost in their awesome monsterness. Can't wait to put some more together again now! |
| Posted: 06 May 2009 03:12 PM PDT  Lissette sends in these photos of her delicious-looking cakes based on Katamari Damacy characters. I love the staying power this game has -- it's definitely my favorite new game of the 2000s so far. Katamari Cakes (Thanks, Lissette |
| EFF sues Obama administration for promised access to secret copyright treaty documents Posted: 06 May 2009 03:05 PM PDT Rebecca from the Electronic Frontier Foundation sez, "The U.S. government is still blocking the release of information about a secret intellectual property trade agreement with broad implications for privacy and innovation around the world, despite the Obama administration's promises to run a more open government. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) could establish far-reaching customs regulations over Internet traffic in the guise of anti-counterfeiting measures, but no one knows for sure the state of this pact, as the government is hiding the details. EFF is calling on the feds to change their minds, and will keep fighting this in court." EFF and Public Knowledge filed suit in September of 2008, demanding that background documents on ACTA be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Initially, USTR released 159 pages of information about ACTA and withheld more than 1300 additional pages, claiming they implicate national security or reveal the USTR's "deliberative process." After reconsidering the release under the Obama administration's new transparency policies, the USTR disclosed the additional pages last week, most of which contain no substantive information.Government Still Blocking Information on Secret IP Enforcement Treaty Previously:
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| Haunting book-sculptures featuring Tlingit forms Posted: 06 May 2009 03:03 PM PDT  Artist Nicholas Galanin has created a wonderful collection of sculptures made from books, featuring reliefs of faces and traditional Tlingit forms. What Have We Become? (Thanks, Nicholas!) |
| Posted: 06 May 2009 03:00 PM PDT Walkthrough video of Steve Lambert's funny and beaustifully-executed sign-based show in Los Angeles. Steve Lambert solo exhibition (Via Make) |
| Lush Life art show at Seattle's Roq La Rue Posted: 06 May 2009 10:39 AM PDT  Seattle's Roq La Rue Gallery has a star-studded group show opening this Friday, May 8. Titled "Lush Life," the exhibition features Glenn Barr, Joe Sorren, Chris Berens, Travis Louie, Kukula, Femke Hiemstra, Brian Despain, and many other great painters. Top, Barr's "Summer"; Below left, Travis Louie's "Miss Cynthia." The whole show is viewable online too. From the show description: Lush Life preview |
| Posted: 06 May 2009 06:30 AM PDT (Douglas Rushkoff is a guest blogger. ) Fascinating video from C-Span of the Senate Hearings on healthcare reform. Senator Max Baucus tries to quell a stream of protesters. As Personal Democracy Forum's Micah Sifry, who alerted me to this video explains, "At about 1:45 Baucus is laughing, calling for the police, as a half-dozen peaceful and very articulate citizens speak out, one by one, demanding a seat at the table (where 15 witnesses wait to testify, not one representing the single-payer option)." |
| Travis Barker vs. teen band geek Posted: 06 May 2009 10:36 AM PDT My 3-year-old loves watching the YouTube video at the top of Blink-182's Travis Barker with his marching snare drum. Yesterday, I found a funny video response to that clip in which a teenage band geek demonstrates that Barker's marching snare playing isn't particularly impressive. I like the mocking eyeroll/hand-motion he does several times in the video. |
| Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities Posted: 06 May 2009 10:05 AM PDT  Amy Stewart's new book, Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities, has a fantastic cover. The book seems terrific, too! A tree that sheds poison daggers; a glistening red seed that stops the heart; a shrub that causes paralysis; a vine that strangles; and a leaf that triggered a war. In Wicked Plants, Stewart takes on over two hundred of Mother Nature's most appalling creations. It's an A to Z of plants that kill, maim, intoxicate, and otherwise offend. You'll learn which plants to avoid (like exploding shrubs), which plants make themselves exceedingly unwelcome (like the vine that ate the South), and which ones have been killing for centuries (like the weed that killed Abraham Lincoln's mother).Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities |
| Digital Warriors - The next MK Ultra? Posted: 05 May 2009 12:22 PM PDT (Douglas Rushkoff, the author of Life Inc., is a guest blogger.) The above piece about the "infantry immersion trainer" looks at the integration of virtual simulations into military training, as well as for treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder after tours of duty. The weird part for me - well, the two weird parts - were that this training was also developed, in part, to "desensitize" soldiers to certain aspects of war. They say it is to lessen the effects and reduce post-traumatic stress. But all of the psychologists I've spoken with since then say it doesn't work like that - that the stress simulations just compound the total stress. And, second, that I had nightmares for a good week after all this - less from the shooting of civilians part than the little driving simulation, which reminded me of a fatal car crash back in 1985. I guess the lesson for me was that the resolution of the simulation is a lot less important than the intention and mindset with which one approaches the experience. As with any hallucinatory experience, set and setting are everything. |
| Posted: 06 May 2009 09:32 AM PDT  This Grizzly Bear Chair is very odd and, of course, very sad. It was a gift from a hunter named Seth Kinman to US president Andrew Johnson in 1865. I could dig it if it was fake. Even more if it was faux Sasquatch. (Thanks, Vann Hall!) Previously: • "Weirdy-beardy frontiersman who gave Lincoln a mule-skull fiddle and turned a bear into a chair" |
| Thomas Allen’s book art collage photography Posted: 06 May 2009 09:30 AM PDT  Paintalicious has a gallery of artist Thomas Allen's book photography. Allen cuts the figures from vintage paperbacks and folds them up and out of the cover to create dioramas. Using salacious pulp art drawing’s of the ’40s and ’50s that covered books such as ” I Married a Dead Man” and ” Marihuana Girl’, Allen constructs one set of pictures up close while obscuring another, and in the process creates a different context. Thomas Allen’s Book Art Photography (Via Very Short List) Previously: |
| Boing Boing Video: The Throbbing Gristle Interview Posted: 06 May 2009 12:40 PM PDT So, what is it like to see industrial music legends Throbbing Gristle perform live? "Next closest thing to an internal organ massage standing next to [SRL's] V1 pulsejet engine," said BB pal Karen Marcelo, after one of the dates on the band's 2009 reunion tour. "It was like my diaphragm resonated until my lungs became a subwoofer while words once from a man's mouth sprung from the same woman's mouth," twittered TG trufan T.Bias.
"Oh, we got some frequencies," he laughed, "Yeah, we definitely got some frequencies ready for you people tonight." Those "frequencies" are part of what make TG's music so transcendental and disturbing, and in the BB interview with Chris Carter, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson, and Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, we explore their technical and creative underpinnings.  We learn about the hacked-together synth and sound modification machines built back in the early 1970s, like "Thee Gristleizer," shown below. We hear TG members talk about the sort of mind-meld trance they all fall in to while performing, and we learn about the early days of recording work like "Hamburger Lady" to cassette tapes, then walking down to have a hamburger together at a corner sandwich shop down the street from their old studio in what was then a really shitty part of London. Information on TG's remaining 2009 tour dates here. Industrial Records just released a special limited edition framed vinyl LP to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the release of Throbbing Gristle's debut album, "The Second Annual Report" -- more info here. More recordings (digital and otherwise), t-shirts, and other merch are 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. (Special thanks to Boing Boing's video hosting partner Episodic, and to Target Video, who shot some of the archival clips shown in this episode). Previously on Boing Boing: Throbbing Gristle: What A Day. (Boing Boing Video shoot notes)  |
| Posted: 06 May 2009 08:53 AM PDT  This handsome Bigfoot statue will be available in July from Entertainment Earth. It's 18-inches tall, plastic (polystone), and sells for $29.99.Bigfoot Statue Previously: |
| Noisy neighbors were musical card Posted: 06 May 2009 08:44 AM PDT An 82-year-old man from Goslar, Germany called police to complain about noisy neighbors playing the same song over and over again. From the Associated Press: Upon further investigation, police found the musical greeting card on his windowsill, where occasional breezes opened the card just enough to play an irritating tune."Elderly man mistakes card for noisy neighbors" |
| The wonderful world of the beetle on Fresh Air Posted: 06 May 2009 08:31 AM PDT  (An Oxysternon conspicillatum, a kind of scarab beetle. Photo by D. EMlen and J. M. Rowland) Douglas Emlen, a professor of biology at the University of Montana, is one of the foremost authorities on dung beetles. Terry Gross interviewed him earlier this week on Fresh Air, and it's a terrific, fascinating interview. Emlen's passion and curiosity about dung beetle anatomy and behavior shine through. Underneath the cow patties in the pasture — and the monkey dung in the jungle — there is a miniature world of sex and violence.The Fascinating World Of The Dung Beetle |
| Face Transplant Recipient Speaks Out Posted: 06 May 2009 07:48 AM PDT Connie Culp was shot in the face by her husband five years ago. Five months ago, doctors grafted the face of a dead woman on to her shattered face, and the operation worked. Ms. Culp is now the first face transplant recipient in America. Here is what Culp looked like before she was shot. As our former guestblogger Maggie Koerth-Baker pointed out on Twitter just now -- the thing I keep coming back to as I read these stories about Ms. Culp is that the man who shot her in the face got only seven years in jail for this crime. Huh? The man who did this to his wife could be out on the street again in as little as two years? Face-transplant patient reveals herself (Associated Press; image courtesy Associated Press) |
| Psiphon: critique from a crypto community member Posted: 06 May 2009 07:44 AM PDT Yesterday, I blogged about a new for-profit 'net censorship evasion tool called Psiphon. A member of the anonymity development community reached out with concerns. I'm blogging them here in the interest of presenting the full range of views on this subject from people in the community. I see that Boing Boing is discussing Psiphon. This greatly concerns me because of their lack of transparency and accountability. Psiphon imply (but refuse to state explicitly) that they are in the anonymity business, yet they do not even have a publicly stated privacy policy. They are vague about their security claims and, even assuming good faith, have not disclosed any useful information on their security model and implementation.(More after the jump). From a technical standpoint, I notice they claim to believe in Open Source software and the collaborative security it can deliver, yet the software on their website is the same outdated version as it was last year. This software is probably unrelated to the proxy service they are promoting, but it is difficult to know as they seem to keep these details secret.Previously: New Web Censor Evasion Toolkit Launches: Psiphon |
| Posted: 06 May 2009 07:47 AM PDT  Recently on Offworld new guest blogger Simon Parkin kicked off his new column, which looks at new blockbuster games from an Offworld perspective, by investigating X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and what it means to base a game on "a character that lacks the crucial tool in any action game hero's arsenal: a gun." We also saw Ashley Wood -- the comic artist behind the PSP's Metal Gear Solid digital comic -- teaming up with Chess with Friends iPhone studio (and former Age of Empires/Halo Wars devs) Newtoy to create a new game based on Wood's graphic novel series World War Robot. And: Namco shows off their DIY spirit with Noby Noby Boy sushi rolls, Rockstar creates official Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars papercraft, DS favorite Henry Hatsworth unveils their latest late-night TV campaign for guaranteed Villain Enhancement, and we look straight through game consoles with X-ray spex. Finally, the day's 'one shot's: NerdDad's PlayStation controller strikes a chord with every new father, Blade Runner in Crysis, and Andy 'komadesign' Miller (the illustrator behind the upcoming Indie Rock Coloring Book [!]) shows off his fantastic work for Sony with the PSP ad above. |
While many galleries in the "underground"/Pop Surrealism art scene have increasing turned towards street art, Roq la Rue has decided to instead focus on the more formal, Symbolist -inspired painters in the genre. "Lush Life" brings together painters in both the alt-art world as well as contemporary art scene, who all work within a guideline of tight technical craftsmanship as well the use of opulent and decadent imagery to convey higher inner truths and emotions. This take on "Neo-Symbolism" is different from it's predecessor in that while it still mines the unconscious for a sense of mythic gravitas, it incorporates American culture's pervasive pop culture-flavored and cartoony aesthetic.
Before we shot the 
Gen talks about her first time with Twitter, and we hear what it's like for the band once called "
Culp said she wanted to help foster acceptance of those who have suffered burns and other disfiguring injuries.| You are subscribed to email updates from Boing Boing To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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