The Latest from Boing Boing

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• Stiglitz: America's double-standard on economic crises infuriates the poor world
• Science fiction moments from the Muppet Show
• Daily Show visits the New York Times
• Trademark wars: Edge vs Edge -- Boing Boing Offworld -- UPDATED
• Chinese censorware will expose every PC in the nation of malware, ID theft, botnetting
• Eliot Spitzer explains himself
• Vintage kitchen junk
• Rocket Making for Amateurs - Another Living Dangerously Art
• More Nerd Merit Badges
• Network neutrality advocated by...cable operators?
• Clever Interactive Forms
• Rushkoff on "The Great Facebook Land Grab of Aught-Nine"
• The Second Hundred Years of SOS Begins Today
• Today at Boing Boing Gadgets
• Open Video Conference in NYC June 19-20: Discount for BB Readers, Xeni Speaking
• Death Metal Cockatoo (Video)
• Polite Umbrella Contracts To Avoid Poking Others In The Eye
• Mugshot of Phil Spector Without His Spectacular Wig
• Florida Fisherman Accidentally Nets Sidewinder Missile, Regrets Catch and Release
• We Have Band: "You Came Out" (Stop Motion Music Video)
• Econoblogger explains why Batman villains shouldn't cooperate
• Army Orders Bases to Stop Blocking Twitter, Facebook, Flickr
• Paintings by White Supremacist and Alleged Murderer James von Brunn
• Led Zeppelin: "Kashmir" animation used as live performance backdrop
• Guatemala: White Crosses To Mark Murders
• Recently on Offworld

Stiglitz: America's double-standard on economic crises infuriates the poor world Posted: 11 Jun 2009 10:30 PM PDT Nobel-prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz contrasts the American response to its economic crisis with the measures it shoved down the throats of poor countries during their crises, and discusses why rich-world double-standards ("Buy American/European" provisions in bailouts that only discriminate against poor countries) contribute to a global disillusionment in the values that the rich world nominally espouses: democracy, transparency, and so on. Among critics of American-style capitalism in the Third World, the way that America has responded to the current economic crisis has been the last straw. During the East Asia crisis, just a decade ago, America and the I.M.F. demanded that the affected countries cut their deficits by cutting back expenditures--even if, as in Thailand, this contributed to a resurgence of the aids epidemic, or even if, as in Indonesia, this meant curtailing food subsidies for the starving. America and the I.M.F. forced countries to raise interest rates, in some cases to more than 50 percent. They lectured Indonesia about being tough on its banks--and demanded that the government not bail them out. What a terrible precedent this would set, they said, and what a terrible intervention in the Swiss-clock mechanisms of the free market. The contrast between the handling of the East Asia crisis and the American crisis is stark and has not gone unnoticed. To pull America out of the hole, we are now witnessing massive increases in spending and massive deficits, even as interest rates have been brought down to zero. Banks are being bailed out right and left. Some of the same officials in Washington who dealt with the East Asia crisis are now managing the response to the American crisis. Why, people in the Third World ask, is the United States administering different medicine to itself? Many in the developing world still smart from the hectoring they received for so many years: they should adopt American institutions, follow our policies, engage in deregulation, open up their markets to American banks so they could learn "good" banking practices, and (not coincidentally) sell their firms and banks to Americans, especially at fire-sale prices during crises. Yes, Washington said, it will be painful, but in the end you will be better for it. America sent its Treasury secretaries (from both parties) around the planet to spread the word. In the eyes of many throughout the developing world, the revolving door, which allows American financial leaders to move seamlessly from Wall Street to Washington and back to Wall Street, gave them even more credibility; these men seemed to combine the power of money and the power of politics. American financial leaders were correct in believing that what was good for America or the world was good for financial markets, but they were incorrect in thinking the converse, that what was good for Wall Street was good for America and the world. Wall Street's Toxic Message (via Memex 1.1)

Science fiction moments from the Muppet Show Posted: 11 Jun 2009 10:25 PM PDT io9's roundup of "7 Great Sci-Fi Moments From The Muppet Show" includes some absolute gems, including Alan Arkin, Jeckell-and-Hyded into monster-form, performing a stunning rendition of "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah." 7 Great Sci-Fi Moments From The Muppet Show Previously: Steve Martin and the Muppets - Boing Boing Muppets of Burlesque in L.A. - Boing Boing Buddy Rich vs. Animal on the Muppet Show - Boing Boing Rocky Horror Muppet Show - Boing Boing Muppet-themed art based on R. Crumb's "Cheap Thrills" cover ...

Daily Show visits the New York Times Posted: 11 Jun 2009 10:22 PM PDT The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c End Times thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Newt Gingrich Unedited Interview The Daily Show's segment on the decline of the New York Times ("reporting the news, making stuff up, getting us into war") is fantastic - and reaches its peak when Jason Jones asks an editor to describe the appeal of "aged news," and when the editor asks him to explain, he challenges the editor to find a single thing in the paper that happened that day. June 10, 2009: End Times

Trademark wars: Edge vs Edge -- Boing Boing Offworld -- UPDATED Posted: 11 Jun 2009 11:17 PM PDT Over on Offworld, our Brandon has the story of plucky indiegame publisher Mobigame and their battle with UK games magazine trademark holder who registered "Edge," who argues that releasing a platformer game also called "Edge" is a violation of his trademark [Thanks to Tom Armitage for setting me straight on this]. This is a neat illustration of the problem of lumping trademark and copyright together under the banner of "intellectual property." Copyright confers the exclusive right to control copying; trademark is the right to sue people who might mislead your customers, tricking them into thinking that a product that looks like yours came from you. It's not an exclusive right at all. Trademark holders don't "own" words -- they have the right to stop people from using words in a fraudulent manner. So here's the question: would the average punter off the streets in the UK who stumbled across a copy of Mobipocket's "Edge" think, "Oh look, that games magazine old company that used to also publish software in the 1980s has done a new game"? I'm pretty sure the answer is no. Our household's a good test case: I'm not much of a gamer, but I know about Edge. My wife, on the other hand, is a games professional who played Quake for England on the national team. Neither of us have any trouble distinguishing Mobipocket's "Edge" from "Edge," the magazine ancient software company. Edge Magazine The trademark holder for Edge has a long and shameful history of threatening companies over its trademark, treating the word "Edge" as its property. Finally, someone is standing up for the public's right to have products and services called "Edge" in the marketplace. Update: With apologies to Edge Magazine for confusing them with the trademark holder! A short list of the companies that have apparently settled with Langdell and licensed the name or otherwise stepped out of his way include UK magazine Edge, Namco -- whose Soul Edge game would be released in the west as Soul Blade, 1997 Anthony Hopkins movie The Edge, Malibu comics character Edge and any Marvel comic with the word in the title... the list goes on, but out of all the heavy hitters that have conceded, Langdell has finally met his angriest and noisiest match in the one place he probably least expected it: the indie game community. Langdell has, of course, maintained his right to the mark, and has further claimed that Mobigame has undertaken what amounts to a PR war against him, but since that late May day, the facts have been piling up against him. Chief, in my mind, is the allegation by Mobigame that after informing Langdell that they'd be happy to withdraw any claims and change the name of their game to Edgy, Langdell immediately filed a new trademark on exactly that name (and the name does appear in the trademark database, filed some days before the App Store removal). Edge of madness: the copyfight between Mobigame and Tim Langdell Discuss this on Offworld

Chinese censorware will expose every PC in the nation of malware, ID theft, botnetting Posted: 11 Jun 2009 10:06 PM PDT Green Dam, the mandatory censorware that will be installed on all Chinese PCs as of July 1, is remarkably insecure. J Alex Halderman from Freedom to Tinker and his colleagues Scott Wolchok and Randy Yao have released a paper, based on a mere 12 hours testing, detailing attacks that can be used to "steal private data, send spam, or enlist the computer in a botnet" and " install malicious code during the update process." They've released sample code demonstrating their findings. The Chinese government has mandated that all PCs sold in the country must soon include a censorship program called Green Dam. This software monitors web sites visited and other activity on the computer and blocks adult content as well as politically sensitive material. We examined the Green Dam software and found that it contains serious security vulnerabilities due to programming errors. Once Green Dam is installed, any web site the user visits can exploit these problems to take control of the computer. This could allow malicious sites to steal private data, send spam, or enlist the computer in a botnet. In addition, we found vulnerabilities in the way Green Dam processes blacklist updates that could allow the software makers or others to install malicious code during the update process. We found these problems with less than 12 hours of testing, and we believe they may be only the tip of the iceberg. Green Dam makes frequent use of unsafe and outdated programming practices that likely introduce numerous other vulnerabilities. Correcting these problems will require extensive changes to the software and careful retesting. In the meantime, we recommend that users protect themselves by uninstalling Green Dam immediately. Analysis of the Green Dam Censorware System Freedom to Tinker: China's New Mandatory Censorware Creates Big Security Flaws (Thanks to everyone who suggested this!) Previously: Mandatory censorware comes to Chinese PCs on Jul 1 - Boing Boing

Eliot Spitzer explains himself Posted: 11 Jun 2009 10:01 PM PDT In this brief but compelling Vanity Fair interview with Eliot Spitzer, the disgraced former governor and attorney general of New York, the reporter repeatedly presses Spitzer to explain why he was having sex with a prostitute while campaigning against prostitution. Spitzer's responses are fascinating: it sounds like he had divided his life into two pieces, the values he believed in and the things that he was compelled by. It reminds me of the scene in Stephenson's Diamond Age in which a neo-Victorian recounts, "Virtually all political discourse in the days of my youth was devoted to the ferreting out of hypocrisy... Because they were hypocrites, the Victorians were despised in the late twentieth century. Many of the persons who held such opinions were, of course, guilty of the most nefarious conduct themselves, and yet saw no paradox in holding such views because they were not hypocrites themselves-they took no moral stances and lived by none." "I'm not going to make excuses," he replied evenly. "Let me ask you a question: Is there a difference between politicians and anybody else? Or is it that the lives of politicians are so very public?" "There is a difference, Mr. Spitzer. You were elected to a position of public trust." "That's right," he conceded. "It's why I resigned without delay. Some said I could try to ride it out. But I didn't see it that way. What I did was heinous and wrong..." "You knew the risks. Either you felt you were above the law or you had some kind of death wish." His response was that neither was the case. "It's a story that has been repeated since our earliest days as a species. It's both obvious and not susceptible to an answer," he insisted. "Nonetheless, we are led down a certain path. It wasn't hubris or a death wish--but frailty, temptation, and common miscalculation." Lunch in the Park with Eliot (via Kottke) Previously: The data system that nailed Spitzer and prostitution ring - Boing ... Spitzer Won't Be Charged In Call Girl Scandal - Boing Boing Most excellent Spitzer-related media gaffe: CNN - Boing Boing Drug company gets pranked - Boing Boing Sex-trade clients speak - Boing Boing

Vintage kitchen junk Posted: 11 Jun 2009 10:01 PM PDT Channel 4's gallery of Victorian and Edwardian kitchenware has many outstanding glimpses into the fine bygone era (moustache protectors, anyone?), but nothing can top this original, gleaming Teasmade: "A flame was triggered by the alarm clock, which heated the kettle. Once at boiling point the steam would lift a hinged flap tilting the kettle and filling the tea pot. Simple. It's not known how much tea ended up on the sheets." Teasmade (via Making Light) Previously: Teasmade frankenkettles to make a comeback - Boing Boing

Rocket Making for Amateurs - Another Living Dangerously Art Posted: 11 Jun 2009 04:51 PM PDT (Bill Gurstelle is guest blogging here on Boing Boing. He is the author of several books including Backyard Ballistics, and the recently published Absinthe and Flamethrowers. Twitter: @wmgurst) Back in 1960, U.S. Army Captain Bertrand Brinley published the Rocket Manual for Amateurs, one of the greatest DIY books ever written. Its cover price reads 75 cents. Buying a copy today in a used bookstore could set you back more than $100. But it's that good. (I know, I have it.) There is a considerable amount of information on rocket motor making in RMFA. The line drawings are excellent and the writing clear and straightforward. A lot of people bought this book back in the 50s and 60s, because making rocket motors was a fashionable pastime, and there were lots of clubs and societies that would tinker around making rocket engines. But like any high energy hobby, things could and would go wrong and people got hurt. Rocket engines had a nasty habit of blowing up in the maker's face and causing injury. There is a part of the process where the propellant is rammed into a tube and that's pretty dangerous. (I personally know of a couple people who hurt themselves this way.) So, the activity changed, and rocket people were encouraged to buy commercial rocket motors instead of rolling their own. That is indeed much safer. But I think you lose something when you give up the core part of the activity. That's why in Absinthe and Flamethrowers I provide instructions for creating a small but powerful rocket motor wholly out of stuff available at Home Depot or SuperTarget. There's just something so ... satisfying about homebrewing a rocket with stuff you got at Walmart. Brinley's book contains instructions for making for "micrograin" rocket engines (pulverized zinc and sulfur ramrodded into a steel container.) I tried it and it burns like crazy. Whoa nelly, that's some hot stuff. Probably too dangerous for an amateur.

More Nerd Merit Badges Posted: 11 Jun 2009 01:59 PM PDT Dave sez, "Just a quick note to say that the Science Scout website has been completely revamped and ready to take in your anecdotes for why you deserve certain badges (Also a bunch of newish badges are now on display, including, The 'I'm a marine biologist but I kind of f***ing hate dolphins' badge). As well, we're talking to nerdmeritbadges about potentially supplying real badges. Maybe the badges with the most comments will get chosen?" Badges! Badges! Badges! (Thanks, Dave!) Previously: Nerd merit badges - Boing Boing New nerd merit badge: Inbox Zero - Boing Boing Boing Boing Nerd Merit Badge! - Boing Boing More Merit Badges for scientists - Boing Boing

Network neutrality advocated by...cable operators? Posted: 11 Jun 2009 12:25 PM PDT Cable operators -- representatives of the industry that has spent the last several years arguing that they should be able to charge net-video providers for the right to send data to their customers -- are now arguing that video companies should not be allowed to charge them for the right to send video to their customers. "Media giants are in the early stages of becoming Internet gatekeepers by requiring broadband providers to pay for their Web-based content and services and include them as part of basic Internet access for all subscribers," an ACA press release on the issue warns. "These content providers are also preventing subscribers who are interested in the content from independently accessing it on broadband networks of providers that have refused to pay." Cable group turns net neutrality around over ISP access fees

Clever Interactive Forms Posted: 11 Jun 2009 12:08 PM PDT (Bill Gurstelle is guest blogging here on Boing Boing. He is the author of several books including Backyard Ballistics, and the recently published Absinthe and Flamethrowers. Twitter: @wmgurst) Magnetism Studios is offering a selection of droll, stylish interactive forms, useful for a wide variety of everyday situations (apologies, invitations, unsolicited feedback, airing of grievances, etc.) From the www.BureauOfCommunications.com website: "Every day there are millions of thoughts that go unspoken. To promote better understanding between the peoples of the world, the Bureau of Communication is pleased to present a selection of fill-in-the-blank stationery for everyday correspondence....

Rushkoff on "The Great Facebook Land Grab of Aught-Nine" Posted: 11 Jun 2009 11:31 AM PDT At one minute past midnight Eastern Time this Saturday, Facebook users will be permitted to claim a unique user name, which may well spark a virtual vanity landgrab the likes of which we've never seen. Author and former BB guestblogger Douglas Rushkoff says this is the moment when Facebook becomes obsolete. This is more than 200 million users, already engaged, simultaneously scrambling in the greatest territory dash since the Oklahoma Territory's land run of 1889, albeit with fewer shotgun injuries. But Facebook's new page-naming scheme actually brings up other memories for me, ones that hold bigger stakes for the company itself. It reminds me of the moment that AOL, formerly a completely closed network with its own content, allowed its users onto the greater Internet for the first time. Internet USENET boards were filled with what we called "newbies" wandering around and asking anyone they could find how to download pornography. Formerly high-level conversations were quickly brought down to the lowest common denominator as a huge population of people uninitiated in basic Internet etiquette flooded the networks faster than we could educate them. The impact was far worse for AOL. By opening itself to the greater Internet, AOL revealed itself as something of a wading pool. A mini-Internet. Once people could use AOL as a portal to the true, unadulterated, global net, the company was reduced to an ISP. AOL became series of phone numbers you dial to get online, and little more. Steve Case knew his moment was over, and used his inflated stock price to purchase some real assets like Time Warner. We all know how that turned out. The Facebook Land Grab (Daily Beast) Previously: Doug Rushkoff interviewed by Richard Metzger: Dangerous Minds ... Rushkoff is Back - Boing Boing Guestblogger: Douglas Rushkoff! - Boing Boing Doug Rushkoff on DIY currencies - Boing Boing WFMU's The Media Squat with Douglas Rushkoff radio show - Boing Boing Life Inc: a book against corporatism, published by a corporation ... Rushkoff on the futility of artificial workplace fun - Boing Boing

The Second Hundred Years of SOS Begins Today Posted: 11 Jun 2009 11:54 AM PDT (Bill Gurstelle is guest blogging here on Boing Boing. He is the author of several books including Backyard Ballistics, and the recently published Absinthe and Flamethrowers. Twitter: @wmgurst) Back when I was a boy scout, you had to learn either semaphore or Morse code to earn First Class Scout rank. Most kids in my troop learned semaphore because it was easier to learn. I'm proud to say I learned Morse code. I still remember the code for "a," "e," "I" "n" "o" "s" and "t." So, if the chips were down, I could tap out "I eat no oats," or "Note, I see stones." The first ship to transmit an SOS distress call was the Cunard liner Slavonia on June 10, 1909, when it went aground on rocks off the Azores. Prior to that, ships used a variety of distress calls, such as: -.-. -.. --.- CDQ (subject to misunderstanding) ..- .... / --- .... / .-- . / .- .-. . / ... .. -. -.- .. -. --. UH OH WE ARE SINKING (much clearer) .. / - .... .. -. -.- / .. / .... .. - / .- / --. --- -.. -.. .- -- -. / .. -.-. . -... . .-. --. I THINK I HIT A GODDAMN ICEBERG (No doubt at all here) ... .... .. .--. / -.-. .- .--. - .- .. -. / -....- / ..-. .- .. .-.. SHIP CAPTAIN - FAIL! A while back, Jay Leno gave identical messages to the "world's fastest texter" and an old time Morse code expert and set a contest to see who could send it faster. The Morse code blew the texter away. Sort of like John Henry beating the steam drill. Video is here. .. / .-- .- -. - / - --- / -.. .. . / .--. . .- -.-. . ..-. ..- .-.. .-.. -.-- / .. -. / -- -.-- / ... .-.. . . .--. --..-- / .-.. .. -.- . / -- -.-- / --. .-. .- -. -.. ..-. .- - .... . .-. .-.-.- .-.-.- / -. --- - / ... -.-. .-. . .- -- .. -. --. / .- -. -.. / -.-- . .-.. .-.. .. -. --. / .-.. .. -.- . / - .... . / .--. .- ... ... . -. --. . .-. ... / .. -. / .... .. ... / -.-. .- .-. .-.-.-

Today at Boing Boing Gadgets Posted: 11 Jun 2009 10:40 AM PDT • Rob reviewed the Kindle DX. It's great, but... • We also ran a gallery of the Kindle DX compared with 10 everyday things (Box, Helmet, Puppy...) to give an idea of why its bigger size isn't at all troublesome. • Xeni spotted a cleverly designed umbrella that allows one to avoid poking other pedestrians, or from having to make eye contact with Ben Stein. • There's a charming stop-motion demo for an iPhone app. • Monster made a remote control, but it looks like it should be something else. • The Xperia X2's keyboard looks like typing may be possible on it. Typing. • Behold! Homeplug. • They finished building that massive Gundam statue. • What is real?

Open Video Conference in NYC June 19-20: Discount for BB Readers, Xeni Speaking Posted: 11 Jun 2009 09:51 AM PDT The Open Video Conference takes place June 19-20 in New York, and the event promises ample awesomeness. Speakers include, NYU's Clay Shirky, Harvard's Yochai Benkler, DVD Jon, Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman, EFF's Corynne McSherry, and many many more. I'll be delivering a keynote on Saturday afternoon. Check out the full agenda here. The organizers have kindly granted a discount for friends of Boing Boing: 15% off for regular/corporate attendees (you have to sign up before Monday 15th). Use this link. Entry includes access to the two-day event, lunch on both days, and a video remix dance party on Friday night! W00t. About the Open Video Conference: At this very moment, in 2009, we have a chance to ensure that internet video retains key characteristics of the internet at large. It's still early and things are looking good, but we need devices that play nice with each other, networks that aren't totally neutered, and playback and production tools that are low-cost (ideally free/open source) and easy to use. Developments like Hulu are interesting for the user, because they can watch what they want, when they want. But we don't want internet video to be a glorified TV on demand service. We want video to be a dynamic medium that invites clipping, archival, remix, collage, repurposing, and many other uses that are currently inhibited by law or by lack of tools. Hope you'll join me there! - XJ

Death Metal Cockatoo (Video) Posted: 11 Jun 2009 09:54 AM PDT I present to you the Death Metal Parrot (technically, a cockatoo). Related: Death Metal Dog. (Thanks, Dean Putney)

Polite Umbrella Contracts To Avoid Poking Others In The Eye Posted: 11 Jun 2009 09:28 AM PDT Video Link. This This cleverly-designed umbrella allows you shrink to fit the sidewalk.. (Thanks, Stephen Lenz)

Mugshot of Phil Spector Without His Spectacular Wig Posted: 11 Jun 2009 09:20 AM PDT I dare not publish the photo, for it is far too disturbing, but I will link to it. Previously: Phil Spector and his spectacular hair convicted of murder - Boing ... Phil Spector's spectacular hairdo - Boing Boing Somali Pirates Have a Livejournal - Boing Boing

Florida Fisherman Accidentally Nets Sidewinder Missile, Regrets Catch and Release Posted: 11 Jun 2009 09:31 AM PDT Rodney Salomon-Prudo (above), a fisherman from Madeira Beach, Florida, netted a rusty old supersonic AIM-9 Sidewinder heat-seeking missile while fishing in the Gulf of Mexico late last month. The missile was about 8 feet long. Such a catch is a rare occurrence, despite the fact that Air Force fighter jets test fire some 300 missiles each year in the area. In fact, Florida's share of the Gulf of Mexico is a military test range. And Captain Salomon said he pulled two missiles off the sea floor during his two-week trip. But he left the other missile behind -- "brand new and still beeping," the captain said -- which perhaps was for the best. After all, Tampa Bay barely handled the excitement of one missile turning up on its shores Monday, hauled in by a fisherman who had strapped it to his boat for 10 days in rolling seas, prompting a 500-foot evacuation around the Tom Stuart Causeway, a media circus and a military bomb squad's visit. But it was all for naught. At first authorities on Monday described the air-to-air missile as "live." But Tuesday the Air Force said it was actually "inert," the explosive warhead removed before it was test-fired. Fisherman laments losing Sidewinder 'souvenir'; Air Force says missile found Monday wasn't armed (Tampabay.com)

We Have Band: "You Came Out" (Stop Motion Music Video) Posted: 11 Jun 2009 09:41 AM PDT Above, a stop motion music video for the We Have Band track, "You Came Out". Created by the W+K creative team Ida Gronblom & Fabian Berglund and Blinkink director David Wilson. About the making of: The face paint animation film is made up of 4,816 separate stills. Each and every frame was hand-painted, shot, wiped off and redrawn, slightly differently for the next frame in order to create a seamless sequence. This time-consuming process involved the band members lying still for two consecutive days in a studio. In order to animate the singing bit, lip movement was created by animating a painted mouth on the singer Dede. This involved breaking the lyrics into phonetics and giving each sound a specific mouth shape. To make this as realistic as possible all the mouth shapes were painted on Dedes face individually and then shot. Flickr set with all 4,816 frames of the music video. Neat. (Thanks, Tara McGinley)

Econoblogger explains why Batman villains shouldn't cooperate Posted: 11 Jun 2009 09:01 AM PDT ShadowBanker, a comics-oriented econoblogger examines the economic rationality of the Batman villains depicted in Jeph Loeb comics like The Long Halloween and Dark Victory, which show the colorful villains acting in unlikely concert. From Batman Villains and Cooperation: A Utility Analysis: For not killing Batman, we can obviously assign the Joker a utility of 0. For capturing Batman on his own, let's assign the Joker a utility of 10. For capturing Batman with the help of x other villains, the utility would be 10/x. The last one is sort of tricky. This means that if the Joker cooperates with one other villain (say Two-Face) and together they manage to kill Batman, then the utility for each would be 5. In effect, this means that the villains "split" the utility of 10... Now, let's assign the probabilities. I'm going to assume that each Batman rogue has a 2% chance of killing Batman alone (and this is being very, very generous and neglecting the individual skills of each rogue for simplicity). You would then think that adding villains to the scheme would increase the probability of killing Batman by 2% with each new rogue. Except, this ignores the economics law of diminishing returns, which states that as you increase the factors of production, the marginal benefit of those factors decreases. Usually, this applies to outcomes which are continuous (such as production of goods) rather than binary (to kill or not to kill Batman), but we can apply diminishing returns in this case to the probabilities. The theory is that as you add villains, working together will prove more difficult and planning more arduous. Therefore, the probability of getting Batman will increase, but by a marginally smaller amount with each villain added. Thinking of probability as output, let's assume that in each state, p = 2*y^0.9, where p = probability of killing batman and y = number of villains involved in the scheme. From Should Batman Villains Betray Each Other? (Analysis using the Prisoner's Dilemma): This situation is a nice example of the Prisoner's Dilemma. So, let's do a really quick summation of this two-player (Two-Face, Mr. Freeze), two-choice (Cooperate, Betray) game in Batman terms to show that it would actually make sense for the two of them to continue to cooperate, even though neither will. We must again assign some utilities for each player. I have done so, as the following normal-form game matrix represents: Mr. Freeze -->> Two-Face ↓ Cooperate Betray Cooperate (5,5) (0,10) Betray (10,0) (3,3) In this matrix, Two-Face is the player on the left and Mr. Freeze is the player on the top. Each has the choice of either cooperating after capturing Batman or of betraying the other. In each cell, the numbers represent the utilities awarded to the respective players given their choice of action. Batman Villains and Cooperation: A Utility Analysis Should Batman Villains Betray Each Other? (Analysis using the Prisoner's Dilemma) (via io9)

Army Orders Bases to Stop Blocking Twitter, Facebook, Flickr Posted: 11 Jun 2009 09:00 AM PDT Over at Wired Danger Room, Noah Shachtman -- who has been following this story longer and more closely than any journalist I know -- writes: The Army has ordered its network managers to give soldiers access to social media sites like Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter, Danger Room has learned. That move reverses a years-long trend of blocking the web 2.0 locales on military networks. Army public affairs managers have worked hard to share the service's stories through social sites like Flickr, Delicious and Vimeo. Links to those sites featured prominently on the Army.mil homepage. The Army carefully nurtured a Facebook group tens of thousands strong, and posted more than 4,100 photos to a Flickr account. Yet the people presumably most interested in these sites -- the troops -- were prevented from seeing the material. Many Army bases banned access to the social networks. Read Noah's entire story, along with the full text of the operational order, here. Previously: Air Force Blocks Access to Many Blogs - Boing Boing Why is the US Army internet-blocking Time Warner? - Boing Boing More on the military's YouTube ban - Boing Boing Air Force Blocks Access to Many Blogs - Boing Boing Top US general says: let my soldiers blog. - Boing Boing US military censorware's barbed wire funnies - Boing Boing The Air Force's rules of engagement for blogging - Boing Boing New Army rules may kill milblogs and email from warzones - Boing Boing US Army: reporters are "threat," just like Al Qaeda; milblogs ... Army audits show official sites breach security, not milblogs ... US Army spamming students by phone, too - Boing Boing

Paintings by White Supremacist and Alleged Murderer James von Brunn Posted: 11 Jun 2009 09:01 AM PDT This art website listing says that white supremacist James W. von Brunn-- who also dabbled in painting -- lived in Maryland, and was "known for: [land]scapes, portrait, illustration, graphics." Well, not so much anymore. Related: A white supremacist pal says he started sending increasingly more violent emails in the weeks before he is reported to have opened fire at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in DC on Wednesday, killing a guard. He gave away his computer just before the attack. Here's a Salon article on why he tried to kidnap the Fed earlier. (Thanks, Richard Metzger)

Led Zeppelin: "Kashmir" animation used as live performance backdrop Posted: 11 Jun 2009 08:55 AM PDT Here's an animation for the song Kashmir, used as a performance backdrop by Led Zeppelin for their reunion concert. Animation by Steve Scott. (via Arthur mag / thanks Richard Metzger)

Guatemala: White Crosses To Mark Murders Posted: 11 Jun 2009 08:36 AM PDT Just got back from a few weeks in Guatemala, where some 20 murders a day take place, and about 98% of all violent crime typically goes unprosecuted, uninvestigated. Prensa Libre today, caption: "Today, the principle roads of the city appeared painted with white crosses, an action of the Civic National Movement to remember the victims of violence and impunity."(Photo: Prensa Libre: Óscar Estrada / via @morwac) Previously: Guatemala: Protests for Assassinated Lawyer Streamed Live from ... Guatemalan Twitter User Arrested for "Inciting Financial Panic ... Guatemala: Accidental Snapshot - Boing Boing Doctor Jesus (snapshot from the road in Guatemala) - Boing Boing Guatemala: Mayan Activists Protest Dirty Deeds of a Canadian ... Guatemala: "El Efecto Streisand," Update on Twitter User Arrested ... BB Video - Guatemala Protests: Eyewitness Cellphone Video from ... Guatemala: Twitterevolution, "YouTube Sedition," and Deepening ... Guatemala: Accidental Snapshot - Boing Boing Tech Forensics in Guatemala Results in Groundbreaking Arrest for ...

Recently on Offworld Posted: 11 Jun 2009 08:12 AM PDT Are living virtual people the future of videogames? In his latest Ragdoll Metaphysics column, Offworld's Jim Rossignol uses E3's appearance of Lionhead's Natal-enabled project Milo and Kate to content that the great games race of the future will be "one not of simulating worlds in more detail, but simulating humanity with greater fidelity," and creating "someone interesting enough to keep players engaged, and to keep them coming back." Elsewhere we showed off an achingly gorgeous gallery of hi-res screenshots of Team ICO's The Last Guardian (above), another game which rests its premise on the fidelity of companionship between a boy and his new-found giant baby gryphon friend, and went hands-on at WWDC with iPhone publisher ngmoco's upcoming lineup, including Rolando 2, more virtual friends with the Petz creator's Touch Pets: Dogs, and multiplayer first person shooter codenamed LiveFire. We also saw the latest best indie point and click adventure, Little Wheels, saw a homebrew NES game inspired by puzzle/RPG favorite PuzzleQuest, got a little retro arcade history lesson re: Konami's 'Morning Music', and got sucked into a post-it pixel world with music video DEADLINE. And the 'one shot's for the day: Edge Magazine shows off its brilliant games-reference jam-packed pixel poster, and Douglas Adams and Infocom's Steve Meretzky pose for a promo photo in celebration of their early 80's classic Hitchhiker's Guide text adventure.

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