The Latest from Boing Boing

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• Ribcage bag
• British cops deliver Catch 22 to photographers: you're not allowed to know which areas you're not allowed to photograph
• Newspaper asks poets and novelists to cover the news for the day
• IT Crowd Season 2 DVD for sale in the US
• Wallet made from Atari cartridge
• More money-related posts at Credit.com
• Casey and Sommer's photoblog of Japan trip
• Project to make electronic communication network from raw materials in nature
• Goats enjoy living in their own tower
• BLAB! magazine's midwestern exhibition
• Attaboy art exhibition, "A Touch of Evil"
• BB Video: Maker Faire Selects - CandyFab, DIY Screen Printing, Electric Music.
• Web Zen: Grocery List Zen
• Tips for Photography in a Developing Country
• Tiny Alien Terrorizes Pakistan
• Why No Famous Scientists or Engineers?
• Recently on Offworld
• Growing the Poison Pepper

Ribcage bag Posted: 12 Jun 2009 11:54 PM PDT Marisa Ranalli's Ribcage Bag is felt on the outside, and has a change-purse screen-printed with a heart sewn into the interior. Ribcage Bag (via Street Anatomy)

British cops deliver Catch 22 to photographers: you're not allowed to know which areas you're not allowed to photograph Posted: 12 Jun 2009 11:50 PM PDT In Britain, cops have the power to search you if you take a picture of a "sensitive" area, but they won't tell you which areas are "sensitive," because they're so "sensitive." The British Journal of Photography is trying to use the UK Freedom of Information Act to find out which places in Britain have such precious photons that people who collect them without authorization can have their civil rights violated, but so far they've been unsuccessful. There's no evidence that terrorists use photographs to plan attacks. Indeed, if disclosing the visible features of notable, iconic buildings puts them in danger, we may as well tear them all down now and get it over with, since the whole point of a notable, iconic building is that everybody knows what they look like. The Home Office has rejected a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the BJP regarding the disclosure of the list of all areas where police officers are authorised to stop-and-search photographers under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000... While it is common knowledge that the entire City of London [ed: the City of London is a one-square-mile financial district], at the behest of the Metropolitan Police, is covered by the legislation, it remains unclear which other areas in England and Wales have requested the stop-and-search powers... The request asked for a 'full list of all areas - in England, Wales and Northern Ireland - subject to Section 44 Terrorism Act 2000 authorisations, which the Home Office has a statutory duty to be aware of.' The request was rejected in late May on grounds of national security. 'In relation to authorisations for England and Wales, I can confirm that the Home Office holds the information that you requested. I am, however, not obliged to disclose it to you,' writes J Fanshaw of the Direct Communications Unit at the Home Office. 'After careful consideration we have decided that this information is exempt from disclosure by virtue of Section 24(1) and Section 31(1)(a-c) of the Freedom of Information Act...' As part of its ongoing campaign for photographers' rights, BJP has appealed the decision, requesting an internal review of the request's handling. It has also filed 46 additional Freedom of Information Act requests to all Chief Constables in England and Wales, asking them to disclose whether they have asked for stop-and-search powers under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000. All quiet on the Westminster front (via Memex 1.1) Previously: UK Police seize amateur photographer's film - Boing Boing London cops declare war on photography - Boing Boing Police warn UK man that taking photos of "hooded teenagers" is ... Current TV on photo bans in UK - Boing Boing UK Home Secretary green-lights harassment of photographers in ... London cops mug tourist for his bus-station photos - Boing Boing UK man hassled by cop for not having a "camera license" - Boing Boing UK to punish "publishing police info" with 10 years in jail ...

Newspaper asks poets and novelists to cover the news for the day Posted: 12 Jun 2009 11:42 PM PDT The Israeli newspaper Haaretz gave its reporters the day off and asked novelists and poets to report the news for a special edition in honor of Hebrew Book Week. The results were lovely: Among those articles were gems like the stock market summary, by author Avri Herling. It went like this: "Everything's okay. Everything's like usual. Yesterday trading ended. Everything's okay. The economists went to their homes, the laundry is drying on the lines, dinners are waiting in place... Dow Jones traded steadily and closed with 8,761 points, Nasdaq added 0.9% to a level of 1,860 points.... The guy from the shakshuka [an Israeli egg-and-tomato dish] shop raised his prices again...." The TV review by Eshkol Nevo opened with these words: "I didn't watch TV yesterday." And the weather report was a poem by Roni Somek, titled "Summer Sonnet." ("Summer is the pencil/that is least sharp/in the seasons' pencil case.") News junkies might call this a postmodern farce, but considering that the stock market won't be soaring anytime soon, and that "hot" is really the only weather forecast there is during Israeli summers, who's to say these articles aren't factual? Literary Lesson: Authors, Poets Write the News (via Kottke)

IT Crowd Season 2 DVD for sale in the US Posted: 12 Jun 2009 11:37 PM PDT The IT Crowd, Channel 4 UK's brilliant sitcom about sysadmins, is coming out on DVD in the US (previous DVDs were region-free, but were only sold through UK retailers and importers to the US). It's only the season 2 disc (you can order season 3, where the show really hit its stride, from the UK). I love this show, plain and simple: it's funny, silly and relentlessly geeky, and pushes the envelope with every episode. The IT Crowd on DVD in the States Previously: IT Crowd Season 2, Episode 4 -- and DVD! - Boing Boing IT Crowd DVD has subtitles in leet - Boing Boing Cut scenes from The IT Crowd - Boing Boing IT Crowd to return for a third season! - Boing Boing

Wallet made from Atari cartridge Posted: 12 Jun 2009 11:22 PM PDT Niles sez, "Here's a video introducing the Atari wallet, a project I've just completed after almost five years in the making. I repurpose original Atari 2600 video games into wallets using every original piece inside except the screw." Atari wallet - Pac Man introduction (Thanks, Niles!)

More money-related posts at Credit.com Posted: 12 Jun 2009 03:44 PM PDT Here are some of my recent posts about money for credit.com. A Look at Amish Finances: Amanda Grossman was interested in finding out how it was possible that the Amish, who don't use electricity and shun many modern conveniences, are able to own large, well maintained houses surrounded by plenty of farmland. How to Prevent Your Waiter from Altering Your Credit Card Bill: Take a cell phone photo of your receipts and check them against your statement or use a geeky checksum method to alter-proof your receipt. Obama's Policy Advisors Are "Devotees" of Behavioral Economics: In Greensboro, NC, teenage mothers are paid $1 a day by the city if they don't get pregnant. That's not a lot of money, but the small incentive is enough to reduce the rate of teenage pregnancy in the town. 25 Traits of the Not-So-Well-To-Do: People who are in debt share 25 similar traits. Those include buying the latest consumer technology, eating out frequently, getting a new car every few years, and maintaining poor health habits. A Visual History of Credit Cards: Caitlin McDevitt of Slate's The Big Money site has written a fun, brief history of the credit card, starting with a photo of the very first credit card, The Diners' Club from 1951. Interview with "Nudge" Author Richard H. Thaler: Google invited Richard H. Thaler, author of the book Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, to come to the Google campus and talk about behavioral economics. His hour-long presentation is a fascinating trip through irrational human behavior, especially when it comes to how we make financial decisions. Interview with Predictably Irrational's Dan Ariely -- the Power of a T-Shirt Slogan In one experiment, Ariely gave a group of volunteers t-shirts with the word "generous" printed on them and gave another group shirts that said "stingy." It turned out the the people behaved according to the word on the shirts they were given, even when the word was printed inside the shirt so that no one else could see it.

Casey and Sommer's photoblog of Japan trip Posted: 12 Jun 2009 11:36 AM PDT I'm enjoying Casey and Sommer's blog of their trip to Japan, which includes photos and videos of claw machines, self driving cars, and a trip to the Railway Museum and Tokyo National Museum. Japanification

Project to make electronic communication network from raw materials in nature Posted: 12 Jun 2009 11:07 AM PDT Step 2: Making an Ax from Jamie O'Shea on Vimeo. Jamie O'Shea's Immaculate Telegraphy project: Could humans at any point in history, given the right information, construct an electronic communication network? To test this hypothesis, Substitute Materials will attempt to build a functional electric battery and telegraph switch from materials found in the wilderness, using no modern tools except information from the internet. The telegraph will be a first step towards an ahistorical internet. Full-scale construction of the artifacts is currently underway in Mineral county, Montana. Currently, Jamie is working on making an ax to cut wood to make tools to make a smelting furnace. Above, a basket that Jamie made to hold things he collects. I wish him luck! Immaculate Telegraphy

Goats enjoy living in their own tower Posted: 12 Jun 2009 10:57 AM PDT Jim Leftwich says: "I'm thinking the next step beyond raising chickens in the backyard is to have your own Goat Tower! "Currently there are only three Goat Towers in the world (which I think you'll agree is not nearly enough!). The original Goat Tower was built in 1981 by Charles Back at the Fairview Wine and Cheese Estate in Paarl, South Africa. The estate has 750 Saanen goats and some of these are allowed access to the tower. "The other two Goat Towers are the "Tower of Baaa" in Findlay, Illinois and one built in 2006 in Ekeby, Norway, both of which are modeled on the original. "Here's an interview with David Johnson, who built one in Illinois, and which is interesting because it contains a lot of great details about the Goat Tower's construction." "Goats love it and people driving by can't believe it," says David Johnson of Findlay, Ill., about his 31-ft. tall, 7-ft. dia. "goat tower" built with the help of the late Jack Cloe, Herrick, Ill. The tower was constructed with 5,000 hand-made bricks, each one a different size and shape. The tower has 276 concrete steps, arranged to form a spiral staircase, that allows Johnson's goats to climb up and down with ease. Johnson has 34 Saanen milk goats that use the tower. "Goats are the most curious animals in the world so they use the tower a lot. They come and go, passing each other on the ramp as needed." ... The roof is supported by wheels that ride on a circular steel rail along the upper edge of the tower wall. "I cut a door into the roof and plan to use a garage door opener to rotate the roof and use it as an observation tower. I might even bring a telescope up there to look at stars," says Johnson. Goat Tower Previously: Elevated goat pen - Boing Boing Six-horned goat - Boing Boing Nepal's airline sacrifices goat to fix jet - Boing Boing Sony sacrifices goat for Playstation game - Boing Boing Third goat elected mayor of Texas town, survives assassination ... Severed goat heads, satanic? - Boing Boing If you love that goat so much, why don't you marry it? - Boing Boing Afghan goat-mod: dead critter polo - Boing Boing

BLAB! magazine's midwestern exhibition Posted: 12 Jun 2009 10:42 AM PDT From Monte Beauchamp of BLAB!: Midwestern BLAB!, curated by Monte Beauchamp, the Chicago-based creator of BLAB!, focuses on the art work of five Midwestern artists (Don Colley, Tom Huck, Teresa James, CJ Pyle, and Fred Stonehouse) who have contributed significantly to BLAB! and are exemplars of the periodical’s core values. WHEN: June 18 – July 22, 2009 OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, June 18, from 5:00-8:00 Fred Stonehouse Lecture: Wednesday, June 17 at 6:30pm, 623 S. Wabash, Room 203. No reservations needed. WHERE: Columbia College Chicago’s Leviton A+D Gallery 619 S. Wabash Avenue Gallery hours: Tuesday – Saturday 11am – 5pm, Thursday 11 am – 8 pm COST: Free and Open to the Public BLAB! magazine's midwestern exhibition

Attaboy art exhibition, "A Touch of Evil" Posted: 12 Jun 2009 10:18 AM PDT Our friend Attaboy has an art exhibition opening this week in LA. He new work looks amazing. Daniel Seifert, better known as Attaboy, presents his first solo show in two years at LA's POV Evolving Gallery in LA's Chinatown. Atta presents an onslaught of meticulously handcut shadow casting spray varnish stenciled plastic pieces, elaborate "exploded view" drawings, and a Gooberry Patch in the back room, where visitors can pick an unripened talking pull string Gooberry Plush and take one home to abuse. After 5 years of waiting, they've finally arrived, and they're still not ripe. Music in the Gooberry Patch will be by toy piano mash-up genius Twink. There will also been a fantastic sculpture installation of Atta's Brine Queen as interpreted by artist J.Shea. The show has been generously sponsored by Hi-Fructose Magazine and Gelaskins. If you come out to the show early enough you will be able to snag some iphone, ipod and laptop skins of Atta’s recent work to embellish your electronic life... Attaboy @ POVevolving Gallery ~ June 13th to July 8th, 2009 Join us for the opening reception on Saturday June 13th from 6 - 10 pm. The gallery is located at: 939 Chung King Road Los Angeles, CA 90012 Attaboy art exhibition, "A Touch of Evil"

BB Video: Maker Faire Selects - CandyFab, DIY Screen Printing, Electric Music. Posted: 12 Jun 2009 12:34 PM PDT (Download / YouTube) In today's edition of Boing Boing Video, Mark Frauenfelder and Boing Boing Gadgets editor Lisa Katayama profile three cool things found at the recent Bay Area Maker Faire: The Yudu personal screen printer, an interactive, collaborative, musical Tesla Coil, and a candy-fabbing device from Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories. Below, one of the freaky, free-form sugar creations produced (photo courtesy Windell of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories) Previously: Maker Faire 2009 time lapse Maker Faire videos by Scott Beale Youth Radio remixes Maker Faire Maker Faire Africa Where to Find Boing Boing Video: 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 Wayneco Heavy Industries!). Sponsor shout-out: This week's Boing Boing Video episodes are brought to you in part by WEPC.com, in partnership with Intel and Asus. WePC.com is a site where users come together to "share ideas, images and inspiration about the ideal PC." Participants' designs, feature ideas and community feedback will be evaluated by ASUS and "will influence the blueprint for an actual notebook PC built by ASUS with Intel inside."

Web Zen: Grocery List Zen Posted: 12 Jun 2009 09:48 AM PDT supermarket checker vintage supermarkets konbini life grocery cart sculpture bread ties buying organic foodzie hard to find grocer laughing banana and the classics... trader joe's ad Illeanarama Permalink for this edition. Web Zen is created and curated by Frank Davis, and re-posted here on Boing Boing with his kind permission. Web Zen Home and Archives, Store, Twitter. (Thanks Frank!)

Tips for Photography in a Developing Country Posted: 12 Jun 2009 09:24 AM PDT Canadian blogger and world traveler Brendan, aka "Cashewman" (who took the amazing photo above) has a great list of tips -- some aesthetic, some technical, some social -- about how to take great photographs when you're on the road in someplace like, say, rural Africa, where he's apparently spent a lot of time. One of the 13 tips he lists: ask if it's okay. This is an important one for me. There are larger debates about photography etiquette and our responsibilities as visitors and photographers. I'll leave that for another time, but a golden rule is: if you're unsure whether to take a picture of somebody, then ask. In some areas, it's considerate to leave a small gift or amount of money as a thank you. Your call. I missed one of the best shots I have ever come across, because I asked whether it was okay to shoot. Picture an old Senegalese grandmother, piercing green eyes within a face etched with thin white contours. Headscarf, clutched just below the chin with a flowing, boney hand. She was sitting in front of an earth wall with soft evening side lighting. When I asked if I could take a picture, she said no, with a subtle smile. I still wish I could have taken the shot. But she didn't want me to, so I'll just have to remember it instead. 13 Tips for Great Photography in a Developing Country (via @whiteafrican/ photo: Cashewman)

Tiny Alien Terrorizes Pakistan Posted: 12 Jun 2009 09:25 AM PDT Why I am I always the last to hear about these things? (thanks, Richard Metzger).

Why No Famous Scientists or Engineers? Posted: 12 Jun 2009 09:06 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) In the blog Notes from the Technology Underground, I present reasons for the relative paucity of famous engineers and scientists. Back in the 1970's, there were not many famous scientists or engineers, and now, there are almost none. If you disagree, try and name one, right now. Go ahead, try it. Who did you come up with? Carl Sagan? No he's dead. Try again. Stehpen Jay Gould, the Harvard dinosaur guy? No, he's dead too. Hawking? Sure, Stephen Hawking is alive, but he's far more well known for overcoming his disabilities to do great scientific stuff, than for his scientific stuff itself (does anybody really understand "A Brief History of Time?). Perhaps, on odd occasion a autograph seeker stalks MIT's Old Main in hopes of obtaining Marvin Minsky's or Noam Chomsky's signature, but really, very few scientists need bodyguards to keep away the star struck rabble. On the "Q-Scale" of modern fame where Albert Einstein stars with a 54 and George Takai rates a 1, no living scientist or engineer even makes a blip on the Sulu's radar screen. It's pitiful, but the truth is that no technology related individual, with the exception of Bill Gates, pulls a higher Q score higher than Count Chocula. The point is there are many, many excellent engineers although the majority of them are not well known outside of their own companies. In fact, the term "famous engineer" is an oxymoron on par with "nondairy creamer", "dry martini", or "jumbo . . . . (continues here.) By what percentage do you think Sulu is more well known than the other guy?

Recently on Offworld Posted: 12 Jun 2009 08:36 AM PDT Recently on Offworld, we watched the network TV debut of Microsoft's motion-controller Natal, took a TV trip back even further to see the original members of The State selling Game Boy Pockets, and saw both the start-stop unveiling of ngmoco's next iPhone first person shooter and the last look at the latest from Minotaur China Shop creators Flashbang: Crane Wars, due for release on Monday. Elsewhere we saw Reset Generation -- Nokia's fantastic flagship retro-referencing multiplayer strategy game for PC and their N-Gage service -- come to Mac, Linux and web portal Kongregate, took a new look at Apple's beautiful App Store data-viz Hyperwall, and saw a nice piece on the design process behind rebranding EA's Redwood Shores studios as 'Visceral Games'. And the day's 'one shot's: Platinum Games on designing guns to "look hot in a girl's hand", and Media Molecule offer a replacement for the default iPhone wallpaper (above) for a stitched-up felt LittleBigPlanet of your own.

Growing the Poison Pepper Posted: 12 Jun 2009 07:50 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) I ordered naga jolokia pepper seeds from the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University. The naga jolokia, sometimes called the bhut jolokia, the ghost pepper, or the poison pepper, is the world's hottest chile pepper. My brother, the expert gardener, is growing them right now. These are pretty difficult to grow in Minnesota; they take forever to germinate and the drop flowers at the slightest provocation. The scale used to measure chile pepper piquancy is called the Scoville scale. At the low end is a green bell pepper and at the high end is 100% capsicum pepper spray. In 2001, an academic visiting India and sent back seeds of a pepper he found growing there to NMSU. Shades of hades, the fruit of the naga jolokia were hot! How hot? The peppers were analyzed and found to be 4 times hotter than the previously known hottest pepper, the Red Savina. Can eating a chile pepper be dangerous? Judge for yourself. In Absinthe and Flamethrowers, I devote a chapter to "Thrill Eating" which is practicing the art of living dangerously by eating "dangerous" foods. So name your poison: fugu, ackee, pokeweed, casu marzu, Amanita mushrooms, naga jolokia, or Los Angeles danger dogs. As Nietzsche said, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

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