Friday, June 26, 2009

The Latest from Boing Boing

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The Latest from Boing Boing

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Michael Jackson likes what he looks like and doesn't have to change at all.

Posted: 26 Jun 2009 02:47 AM PDT

Special Experimentation Zones to solve big problems?

Posted: 26 Jun 2009 01:46 AM PDT

Alex Steffen from WorldChanging sez, "We need lots of innovation, quickly, to solve the big problems we face. Right now, regulation, liability and social norms make certain kinds of innovation (in architecture, urban design, energy and water systems, gardening, product design and so on) extremely difficult. But what if we could set up experimentation areas to experiment with new solutions, the same way the Chinese set up special economic zones to try capitalism?"
Existence is the ultimate proof of the possible. Every time a bold new project is tried, and works, we advance our sense of the achievable. Given how much transformation we need in order to meet the challenges we face, we need many more attempts at innovation, and we're not getting them. The achievable is not advancing quickly enough. ...

In many ways, the Global North is as hamstrung in the face of bright green challenges as China was in the face of capitalism. What if the answer is a sustainability and social innovation equivalent of China's answers: a sort of "Special Innovation Zone"?

Imagine a place -- perhaps a shrinking city, or a badly savaged brownfield neighborhood -- where laws were set up to strip rules and regulations down to a do-no-harm minimum (maintaining criminal laws and protecting health, safety, workers' rights and civil liberties, but perhaps limiting liability and certainly slashing red tape and delays) allowing for wild deviations from existing patterns for buildings, systems and operations. Imagine a free-fire zone for sustainable innovations, where new approaches could be iterated and tested rapidly, and, when they work, sent to proliferate outside the Zone. Conversely, some of the freedom might paradoxically come from imposing boundary limitations that can't yet be made practical or survive politically outside the Zone, such as bans on broad classes of chemicals or strict greenhouse gas emissions limits.

Hmm, I dunno. Regulation is an impediment to innovation (for example, it's hard to play with cognitive radio when the FCC says that you can't talk in claimed bands, guard bands, etc). But SEZs are also places where countries have experimented with horrendous working conditions, human trafficking, rampant environmental degradation, and other subjects of regulatory "red tape." And it's not easy to say where one ends and the other begins -- take the cognitive radio example. If you've got a theory that you can use cooperative frequency-hopping, directional transmission with phased arrays, and other technologies to make more signal happen in the same spectrum, is the "safety" regulation that prohibits emitting in bands used by emergency services or radio astronomers "red tape" or "safety"?

Special Innovation Zone: Imagination Without Regulation (Thanks, Alex!)

Junk steampunk sculptures

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 10:50 PM PDT


Marque sez, "I've just posted a short video documenting some recent interactive and kinetic sculptures. Made using found objects (toys, trash and technology) collected over 20 years, these sculptures are influenced by pop culture visions of a dystopian future/history in which humanity and technology are mashed together - movies like 'City of Lost Children' and 'Brazil,' books like 'Diamond Age' and 'The Difference Engine' and video games like 'Fallout 3' and 'Bioshock.'"

Steampunk Transhuman Artifacts (Thanks, Marque!)

What the non-English-speaking world is doing with science fiction

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 10:48 PM PDT

SFSignal polled a number of leading, non-English-language science fiction writers, asking them what Anglo readers were missing out on; the answers are tantalizing and fascinating. Here's Hebrew writer Lavie Tidhar:
But to answer the question properly - what are we missing out on - my own regret is that I don't get to read French steampunk!

I know there's a lot of it - I did a panel on steampunk a few years ago in Nantes and it was horrible, being surrounded by steampunk writers telling me about their (very cool sounding) books and I can't read any of them! I'd also love to see some of the Chinese SF novels, and at least get a glimpse into the Arabic SF that's being published. I'd love to read some of the Cuban stuff... stop me when you've had enough. Israel has some very interesting home-grown YA fantasy at the moment. To be honest, the way I get to read non-Anglophone writers is mostly in the crime genre, which seems to be a lot more open to translating in the field - so the Cuban or Japanese or French writers I do read are crime writers - check out Detectives Beyond Borders, which is a great introduction. But I think things are changing in science fiction and fantasy a little, too. Certainly, since I started the World SF Blog I've been amazed by how much was out there - in English - translations from Korean and Spanish, writers who occasionally sell an English story but work predominantly in other languages, and a huge amount of articles, blog posts, online communities, a great deal of discussion, from people around the world who are simply passionate about the genre and want others to know about it, too. The problem with the old model of World SF was that it was Anglophone-led, but now it's not! The Internet's been a major catalyst in that regard. A few years ago, three German fans started InterNova, which was meant to be a magazine of international SF. They only managed to do one issue, and it was plagued with distribution problems, but the remarkable thing about it was that the initiative came from the outside, and the contributors, editors, proof-readers, translators - everyone involved - was likewise from the non-English world. And that was quite remarkable to me, this idea that you can do this, you don't need one of the old English writers or editors to do it for you. You can do it yourself. We're seeing more and more of this now, and the Internet's been great in allowing people from all around the world to communicate with each other, talk to each other, exchange ideas - there's a real cross-polination taking place, and it's very exciting and rewarding to be able to do that.

MIND MELD: Guide to International SF/F (Part I ) (via Beyond the Beyond
Previously:


Meet the former Time Warner exec the US govt has put in charge of writing a secret, restrictive copyright treaty

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 10:44 PM PDT

James Love from Knowledge Ecology International sez, "Kira Kira Alvarez is the Deputy Assistant USTR for Intellectual Property Enforcement, and the chief negotiator on ACTA. According to her Linkedin bio, Kira was previously Vice President, Global Public Policy at Time Warner, and Director, International Government Affairs at Eli Lilly. She also worked in the past for USTR and the Department of Commerce. This blog gives some further background details, including the reports from her 2006 lobbyists' reports from Eli Lilly. It is always useful to know something about the people who are doing these negotiations."

Meet the chief US ACTA negotiator: Kira Alvarez, the Deputy Assistant USTR for IP Enforcement (Thanks, Jamie!)

Previously:


Amid censorship outrage, China's state-run TV reports that "Google Porn" causes memory loss.

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 06:38 PM PDT

A "man on the street" who turned out to be a intern for China's state-run CCTV appeared on a CCTV newscast to testify about the evils of porn websites. China's controversial "Green Dam" censorship program is purportedly designed to block such memory-erasing evils for the protection of Chinese citizens.
gao-ye-cctv-interview.jpgGao (shown here during the broadcast) complained that the pornographic content on Google.cn was particularly harmful. He said in the interview, 'I have this fellow student and he's been curious about these kinds of things. He visited porn Web sites and ended up becoming absent-minded for a while.'

Which sounds pretty authentic. Viewing porn sites causes memory loss. Not a known syndrome but possible, possible.

Some viewers doubted the truth of Gao's comments and suspected that he had been coached beforehand. So an Internet search was carried out -- there is no place to hide -- and it appears that he is a current intern with CCTV. His page on the popular Chinese social networking site Xiaonei.com seemed to support the claim that he was working for the state broadcaster at the time of the interview.

Google China mess gets messier (China Economic Review, via @rmack)

Previously:


Puzzle Master Wei-Hwa Huang's Blog Account of "Day in the Clouds"

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 06:17 PM PDT

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"Day in the Clouds," The Virgin America + Google in-flight internet gaming competition we published a BB Video piece about today, netted yet another honor for multiple world puzzle championship Winner Wei-Hwa Huang. He's shown above, on our flight, using one of the tools of his win: a notebook. Not the notebook computer, a notebook. He has an extensive blog post about his experience at the event here, which includes the impossibly awesome phrase "Parallel slave processor friends," used to describe his seat-mates, off whom he bounced thoughts as he sorted out answers. My favorite part of his post? The lyrics he wrote as an answer for one of the puzzles. You should read the whole entry, because it's rare to read such a subjective, intimate account of how genius prepares for a competition in his field. But, I have to just blog the song he wrote, here: Enjoy the world with the day in the cloud Never be bored and say this aloud: Everything is connected when you live in the clouds Every line is expected when you live in the clouds Everyone can do it no matter your status have fun anywhere while flying through a stratus! Everything is awesome when you live in the clouds Everything and then some can be found in the clouds Don't worry so about problems in flight, Because you know Everything's going to be all right! Day in the Cloud -- Virgin America Flight 921 (Onigame livejournal; image via Virgin America)
Previously:


Lovecraft meets Atlas Obscura

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 05:51 PM PDT

Dylan Thuras is a guest blogger on Boing Boing. Dylan is a travel blogger and the co-founder of the Atlas Obscura: A Compendium of the World's Wonders, Curiosities, and Esoterica, with Joshua Foer.

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As one who answers the Call of Cthulhu, I have a special interest in locations that have to do with Lovecraft or the Cthulhu mythos. Risking my grasp on reality and sanity I have assembled three places that display the distinct geometry of evil that occurs when Lovecraft and the Atlas Obscura meet:

The Witch House, Salem

The home of Jonathan Corwin, one of the judges involved in the Salem Witch Trials, which sentenced nineteen "witches" to hang and crushed one man to death in an attempt to make him confess to witchery. It is the only structure left with direct ties to the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 and referenced in Lovecraft's "Dreams in the Witch House."

Danvers State Hospital for the Criminally Insane

The insane asylum was the basis for Arkham Sanatarium in H.P. Lovcraft's Horror stories and Batman's Arkham asylum but is now a horrifying condo. However a nearby cemetery where the residents of Danvers were buried went unmolested by the condo developers and is worth a visit. The hospital is referenced in "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" and "Pickman's Model."

Atlantic Ave. Tunnel

The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel was built in 1844, and is possibly the worlds oldest subway tunnel. The tunnel lay sealed and hidden under the busy Brooklyn street for almost 140 years until it was rediscovered by a twenty year old in 1980. One can take a tour of the site, which the discoverer of the tunnel still gives. Be prepared to enter via manhole in the middle of Atlantic Ave. Referenced (not by name, but Lovecraft was likely referring to it) as the location of devil worshippers in "The Horror at Redhook."

A much more detailed list of Lovecraftian sites can be found here at the HPLA , and great Lovecraftian travelogs here and here.

Supreme Court declares strip search of 13-year-old student unconstitutional

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 04:24 PM PDT


The ACLU reports that "the Supreme Court ruled today that school officials violated the constitutional rights of Savana Redding, a 13-year-old Arizona girl who was strip searched based on a classmate's uncorroborated accusation that she previously possessed ibuprofen. This is the biggest victory for students' rights in the last 20 years."

When Savana Redding was just 13 years old, she was strip-searched for allegedly possessing prescription-strength ibuprofen. This traumatizing search was based solely on the false and uncorroborated accusation of a classmate who was caught with similar pills.

Savana's case was argued before the Supreme Court by ACLU attorneys seeking to protect the privacy of all students -- and make it clear that such conduct has no place in America's schools. But this case would never have been heard if it weren't for the bravery of Savana.

Supreme Court declares strip search of 13-year-old student unconstitutional

RIP Michael Jackson

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 04:04 PM PDT

3164565126_fd62103ca8.jpgIt's all over the everywhere, but I just felt like it was worth mentioning here, too. Michael Jackson was a supreme talent and dealt with a tremendous amount of pain. He made many critically bad choices over the years, but it's impossible for me to not still respect his talent and imagination.
Previously:
Image: Bijioo Update: This is heartbreaking. And it's apparently a Pepsi commercial. (via Anil Dash)

Mysterious Youtube Videos of Famous Dancer

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 01:23 PM PDT

Dylan Thuras is a guest blogger on Boing Boing. Dylan is a travel blogger and the co-founder of the Atlas Obscura: A Compendium of the World's Wonders, Curiosities, and Esoterica, with Joshua Foer. This week's Talk of the Town section of the New Yorker had an amazing piece about a series of mysterious youtube videos of dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. Vaslav Nijinsky is known as the best male dancer of the twentieth century. Unfortunately Nijinsky died retired at 29, and left behind no known footage of his dancing. Yet about a year ago videos of Nijinsky dancing began appearing on youtube, such as a clip from "Afternoon of a faun" seen below. If there is no known footage of him, where was this archival footage coming from? From the New Yorker article:
"Because it turns out, these aren't films. They are computer-generated artifacts, made by Christian Comte, a French artist who has a studio in Cannes. Reached the other day, Comte acknowledged his authorship. "These films are animations of photographs, achieved thanks to a process that I invented," he said. "I work as an alchemist in animated cinema." He uses still photographs and, by employing a computer to alter them--tilt a head, move an arm--fills in the gaps between successive shots."
Link to the New Yorker Article, Comte's youtube account of the strangely mesmerizing videos.

Jim Woodring Sublime Stitching embroidery patterns

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 11:36 AM PDT

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Our pal Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching says:

I am extremely proud to have Jim Woodring's patterns as part of the Sublime Stitching Artist Series. Growing up reading alternative comics (snuck from my brother's room), exposed me to Jim's work when I was a young teen and working with him has been a dream come true. Woodring's inimitable, dreamy imagery from his beloved, surreal comic, Frank will take you, and your embroidery, to another world.
Jim Woodring Sublime Stitching embroidery patterns

Previously:


Ghosts reacting violently to holy water

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 11:15 AM PDT


Ignore the gobbledegook text that runs for the first minute and eleven seconds. Just forward past it and enjoy the rest. (via Robert Popper)

Junkyard workers enshrine tree that grew to lift a car

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 10:33 AM PDT

Cartree

James of Japan Probe reports that a Japanese hackberry tree, which sprouted from a seed in a junkyard 25 years ago, has managed to lift a car in the air. "Workers at the junkyard have built a small fence around the tree, and are protecting it as it continues to grow," he writes. Video here.

Recently at BBG

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 10:32 AM PDT

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• HTC announced the Hero, the latest Android phone.

• But will the Hero be any good? Joel appeared on TechVi to discuss.

• Video on the iPhone 3GS is just ok. See for yourselves.

• A review of $250 desk chair that's an exercise ball (yes, $250!)

• Is using Virgin's in-flight wi-fi as glorious as it sounds?

• Video: "Buzz Aldrin is so gangsta..."

• Everything is turning into a pc. Exhibit A: Vizio's HDTV remote.

• Lightning's fingerprint encased in a $175 block of acrylic.

• A list of iPhone accessories that don't exist, that people WANT.

• Franz Liszt is the new black (again).

• Would you rather remove a tick with a lasso OR cryotherapy?

• The used iPhone market mirrors the used Mac market. Discuss...

ACLU sues TSA for illegally detaining and searching man carrying $4,700 in cash

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 10:28 AM PDT

The ACLU is suing the Transportation Security Administration for illegally searching and detaining Steve Bierfeldt, a US citizen who was detained, cursed at, and threatened by TSA agents for carrying $4700 in cash (which is legal and doesn't require disclosure in advance) at an airport in April.

The TSA agents surely would have gotten away with violating the Bierfeldt's Constitutional rights had Bierfeldt not recorded the half-hour interrogation on his cell phone.

"I do not believe I should give up my constitutional rights each time I choose to travel by plane. I was doing nothing illegal or suspicious, yet I was treated like a potential criminal and harassed for no reason," said Bierfeldt. "Most Americans would be surprised to learn that TSA considers simply carrying cash to be a basis for detention and questioning. I hope the court makes clear that my detention by TSA agents was unconstitutional and stops TSA from engaging in these unlawful searches and arrests. I do not want another innocent American to have to endure what I went through."

"Mr. Bierfeldt's experience represents a troubling pattern of TSA attempting to transform its valid but limited search authority into a license to invade people's privacy in a manner that would never be accepted outside the airport context," said Larry Schwartztol, a staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project. "Just as the Constitution prevents the police on the street from conducting freewheeling searches in the hopes of uncovering wrongdoing, it protects travelers from the kind of treatment Mr. Bierfeldt suffered."

TSA officials have the authority to conduct safety-related searches for weapons and explosives. According to the ACLU's lawsuit, TSA agents are using heightened security measures after 9/11 as an excuse to exceed their search authority and engage in unlawful searches that violate the privacy rights of passengers. The lawsuit also charges that unconstitutional searches and detention by TSA agents have become the norm.

ACLU Sues DHS Over Unlawful TSA Searches And Detention

Robot Babies in Smithsonian

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 10:24 AM PDT

Images Javier-Movellan-Develops-Robot-Loves-Human-520
Smithsonian published a fascinating article about "robot babies," examining several research efforts to build machines that have good social skills. Seen above is RUBI the robot with UC San Diego professor Javier Movellan, director of a research group that purchased a robotic Einstein head from Hanson Robotics, makers of the Philip K. Dick head. (The Smithsonian article features a great slideshow of robot photos by Timothy Archibald, familiar to BB readers as the photographer/author of Sex Machines.) From Smithsonian:
A turning point (for Movellan) came in 2002, when he was living with his family in Kyoto, Japan, and working in a government robotics lab to program a long-armed social robot named Robovie. He hadn't yet had much exposure to the latest social robots and initially found them somewhat annoying. "They would say things like, 'I'm lonely, please hug me,'" Movellan recalls. But the Japanese scientists warned him that Robovie was special. "They would say, 'you'll feel something.' Well, I dismissed it—until I felt something. The robot kept talking to me. The robot looked up at me and, for a moment, I swear this robot was alive."

Then Robovie enfolded him in a hug and suddenly—"magic," says Movellan. "This is something I was unprepared for from a scientific point of view. This intense feeling caught me off guard. I thought, Why is my brain put together so that this machine got me? Magic is when the robot is looking at things and you reflexively want to look in the same direction as the robot. When the robot is looking at you instead of through you. It's a feeling that comes and goes. We don't know how to make it happen. But we have all the ingredients to make it happen."

Eager to understand this curious reaction, Movellan introduced Robovie to his 2-year-old son's preschool class. But there the robot cast a different spell. "It was a big disaster," Movellan remembers, shaking his head. "It was horrible. It was one of the worst days of my life." The toddlers were terrified of Robovie, who was about the size of a 12-year-old. They ran away from it screaming.

That night, his son had a nightmare. Movellan heard him muttering Japanese in his sleep: "Kowai, kowai." Scary, scary.

Back in California, Movellan assembled, in consultation with his son, a kid-friendly robot named RUBI that was more appropriate for visits to toddler classrooms.
Robot Babies

Previously:


Real estate bubble bananas

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 09:51 AM PDT

Erik and Kelly of Homegrown Evolution (and authors of The Urban Homestead) shared the story of the delicious banana bounty discovered at a foreclosed and abandoned house in Los Angeles.
200906250944There's a house in our neighborhood that's been for sale for over a year. Two months ago the for sale signs disappeared, junk mail littered the front porch and the mow and blow guys stopped showing up, leaving the lawn to go wild. A busted sprinkler head creates a nightly fountain as the houses' infrastructure lapses into a timer operated zombification. We knew the nice young family that used to live here and I hope that they were able to sell somehow, but it doesn't look good.

I started picking up the junk mail to make the place looked lived in. I also remembered that the backyard had both figs and bananas, and ventured beyond the gate to see how the fruit was developing (fyi, picking up fallen fruit is important to keep down the rat population). The figs aren't quite ready but the bananas, the ones the squirrels didn't get, were the tastiest damn bananas I've ever eaten. It turns out that our national real estate bubble has a fruit filled silver lining. I imagine that all across America there are abandoned fruit trees yielding their bounty for a new generation of gleaners. Thank you Angelo Mozilo for creating a literal banana republic!

Real estate bubble bananas

Korin Faught oil painting show in Culver City, CA

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 09:53 AM PDT

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Indecretion500-1 Korin Faught, one of my favorite living oil painters, has a solo show of new work opening Saturday at Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City, California. I find Faught's portraits to be incredibly moody, sexy, and technically exquisite. Frequently, she features twins in her work, adding a surreal layer to the narratives. In fact, one of her twins paintings, "Adele Twice," hangs in my living room and I appreciate its beauty every day. In this new show, Faught has also painted triplets and quadruplets. Seen at top is "Echo," a 14-foot-triptych that is her largest work ever. Faught also kindly sent a sneak preview of several other pieces from the show. Click on the images to see them larger (some nudity). The exhibition, titled "Echo," runs until July 18.
Korin Faught

Previously:


(BB Video) Mile-High Gaming with Virgin America + Google

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 05:24 PM PDT


(Download / YouTube)

In today's Boing Boing Video episode: our mini-documentary of "Day in the Cloud," a mile-high frag-a-thon aboard two dueling Virgin America planes both eqipped with in-flight WiFi.

During the one-hour flights, bloggers and game dorks played games that required internet connections, to compete for netbooks and pure ultimate leetness over their foes.

Competing on the plane from Los Angeles to San Francisco (named "YouTube Air"): me (Xeni), Rob Beschizza from Boing Boing Gadgets, legendary internet hilarity farmer Ze Frank, web personality Shira Lazar, and Wei-Hwa Huang, former Googler and world puzzle champion.

On the plane from San Francisco to Los Angeles (named "Superfly"): Kid Beyond, singer, beatboxer, and game nerd.

Lessons learned: Google makes it easier to cheat. Absinthe makes it harder to win. WiFi makes flying less boring. Kid Beyond and Ze Frank are very funny. Wei-Hwa Huang is the guy you want on your team in a puzzle competition. And finally, Rob and I should stick to blogging/vlogging, and forget about competitive puzzle-solving.

Photos and more about the fragathon after the jump. Here are some photos from Eddie Codel, and more from Virgin.

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Where to Find Boing Boing Video: boingboingvideo.com, and on-board Virgin America planes.

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. (Disclosure: Virgin American provided free travel services for Boing Boing Video crew and on-camera guests, and covered some production costs associated with this episode. Special thanks to Eddie Codel).

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."

Previously:


Stoned wallabies make crop circles

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 03:48 PM PDT

Stonedwalllll
BBC News had me with the headline on this one. Apparently, Tasmanian wallabies are getting high in fields of poppy grown for medicinal purposes.
"The one interesting bit that I found recently in one of my briefs on the poppy industry was that we have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles," (Tasmania attorney general) Lara Giddings told the hearing (on poppy crop security).

"Then they crash," she added. "We see crop circles in the poppy industry from wallabies that are high."
"Stoned wallabies make crop circles"

The pfeilstorch of Mecklenburg, or how we came to know that birds migrate

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 09:03 AM PDT

Joshua Foer is a guest blogger on Boing Boing. Joshua is a freelance science journalist and the co-founder of the Atlas Obscura: A Compendium of the World's Wonders, Curiosities, and Esoterica, with Dylan Thuras.

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The arrow-stork of Mecklenburg might be my favorite object in the Atlas Obscura:

Until the 19th century, the sudden annual disappearance of white storks each fall had been a profound mystery to European bird-watchers. Aristotle thought the storks went into hibernation with the other disappearing avian species, perhaps at the bottom of the sea. According to some fanciful accounts, "flocks of swallows were allegedly seen congregating in marshes until their accumulated weight bent the reeds into the water, submerging the birds, which apparently then settled down for a long winter's nap." A 1703 pamphlet titled "An Essay toward the Probable Solution of this Question: Whence come the Stork and the Turtledove, the Crane, and the Swallow, when they Know and Observe the Appointed Time of their Coming," argued that the disappearing birds flew to the moon for the winter.

On May 21, 1822, a stunning piece of evidence came to light, which suggested a less extra-terrestrial, if no less wondrous, solution to the quandary of the disappearing birds. A white stork, shot on the Bothmer Estate near Mecklenburg, was discovered with an 80-cm-long Central African spear embedded in its neck. The stork had flown the entire migratory journey from its equatorial wintering grounds in this impaled state. The arrow-stork, or pfeilstorch, can now be found, stuffed, in the Zoological Collection of the University of Rostock. It is not alone. Since 1822, some 25 separate cases of pfeilstorches have been recorded.

Zoological Collection of the University of Rostock

Man's pond mysteriously drained

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 08:56 AM PDT

When George Terry Dinnie of Lower Macungie Township, Pennsylvania returned from a 90-minute walk on Monday, he was surprised to find that his 2,500 gallon koi pond had mysteriously been emptied. Police are investigating. Foul play is suspected. From the Morning Call:
(Dinnie) said his first guess was that the pond leaked, but he decided a leak couldn't work that fast. The other alternatives are hard to imagine, too, he said.

"How … can somebody exhaust water that fast?" he asked. "They pumped the water out faster than I can fill it up again. It's as weird as weird can be."

A swale in his lot seemed wetter than it should have been when he returned from the walk, he said, and "the ladies on both sides of me said they saw water spraying out" while he was on his walk.
"Pond disappears while owner walks" (via Fortean Times)

Volcanic eruption seen from space

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 08:48 AM PDT

Images Imagerecords 38000 38985 Iss020-E-09048 Lrg
Above is a photo taken from the International Space Station of Sarychev Volcano, Kuril Islands, northeast of Japan, erupting earlier this month. From NASA:
Prior to June 12, the last explosive eruption occurred in 1989, with eruptions in 1986, 1976, 1954, and 1946 also producing lava flows. Ash from the multi-day eruption has been detected 2,407 kilometers east-southeast and 926 kilometers west-northwest of the volcano, and commercial airline flights are being diverted away from the region to minimize the danger of engine failures from ash intake.

This detailed astronaut photograph is exciting to volcanologists because it captures several phenomena that occur during the earliest stages of an explosive volcanic eruption.
Sarychev Peak Eruption, Kuril Islands

Recently on Offworld: is the Xbox 360 the last console you'll ever buy?

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 08:54 AM PDT

JamesBarnett_Megaton.jpgRagdoll Metaphysics columnist Jim Rossignol wonders if Microsoft has already basically won the battle for our living rooms, with the E3-announced convergence of upcoming Facebook, Twitter, Last.FM, and current Netflix integration in the Xbox 360, and whether, in the future, "rather than having to release a new console, the 360 just gets cheaper, and makes more sense to more people, because it does something that it didn't do before." Elsewhere we released a new hi-res Offworld Gallery featuring the paintings of James Barnett, who's coined the term 'fauxvism' for his Matisse-ian takes on in-game panoramic landscapes from Half Life, Team Fortress and Fallout 3's Megaton (above), and got even more neo-classical with indie devs Tale of Tales intend to take on Oscar Wilde's Salome in interactive form. We also got a double dose of Tetris developments with a wicked video on how Tetris blocks are made, and saw the game get its first pair of designer toys courtesy BE@RBRICK makers Medicom, saw new pets for your custom-printed World of Warcraft figurine, and, finally, were as surprised as anyone to find one indie iPhone developer release a clone of one of the original indie hits: thatgamecompany's flOw. Finally, our 'one shot's for the day: LittleSoundDJ, the keyboard, and the worst Wario image you'll never be able to unsee.

HOWTO disassemble a banana

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 08:32 AM PDT

iFixIt's awesome teardown site (which contains instructions for skinning and gutting many devices) has this fascinating HOWTO for disassembling a banana:

Step 4
* Insert your thumbs into the split of the peel and pull the two sides apart.
* Expose the top of the banana. It may be slightly squished from pulling on the stem, but this will not affect the flavor.

Step 5
* Pull open the peel, starting from your original split, and opening it along the length of the banana.

Banana Teardown (via Lessig)
Previously:


Illegal e-waste dumped in Ghana includes unencrypted hard drives full of US security secrets

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 08:28 AM PDT

The much-vaunted anti-terror eagles at the TSA have subcontractors whose hard-drives turn up in Ghanain junk-markets in heaps of illegally disposed-of e-waste. The drives are stuffed full of unencrypted, sensitive documents:
A team of journalists investigating the global electronic waste business has unearthed a security problem too. In a Ghana market, they bought a computer hard drive containing sensitive documents belonging to U.S. government contractor Northrop Grumman.

The drive had belonged to a Fairfax, Virginia, employee who still works for the company and contained "hundreds and hundreds of documents about government contracts," said Peter Klein, an associate professor with the University of British Columbia, who led the investigation for the Public Broadcasting Service show Frontline. He would not disclose details of the documents, but he said that they were marked "competitive sensitive" and covered company contracts with the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Transportation Security Agency.

The data was unencrypted, Klein said in an interview. The cost? US$40..."It was a wonderful, ironic twist," Klein said. "Here were these contracts being awarded based on their ability to keep the data safe."

Off-camera, sources in Ghana told the reporters that data thieves routinely scour these hard drives for sensitive information, Klein said.

Reporters find Northrop Grumman data in Ghana market (via /.)

True Blood: WSJ publisher calls Google a "digital vampire" with "fangs," "sucking blood" out of publishing biz

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 08:39 AM PDT

In a recent discussion of why his newspaper business is failing, Dow Jones Chief Executive Les Hinton called Google a 'digital vampire." Presumably, this makes the Wall Street Journal and other Dow Jones publications zombies, because their antiquated business models amount to a dead man walking.

Snip:

Orlock.jpg"[Google] didn't actually begin life in a cave as a digital vampire per se. The charitable view of Google is that the news business itself fed Google's taste for this kind of blood."

By offering its content free on the Web, the newspaper industry "gave Google's fangs a great place to bite," he continued. "We will never know what might have happened had newspapers taken a different approach."

Boy I'm gonna be pissed if this is just another stealth marketing campaign for True Blood.

WSJ publisher calls Google "Digital Vampire" (Crains NY, via Siva V.)

@BBVBOX: guest-tweeted web video picks on boingboingvideo.com

Posted: 24 Jun 2009 11:10 PM PDT


(Ed. Note: We just gave the Boing Boing Video website a makeover that includes a new, guest-curated microblog: the "BBVBOX." Here, folks whose taste in web video we admire tweet the latest clips they find. I'll be posting periodic roundups here on the motherBoing.)

  • Xeni Jardin: (shown above) Hard Times. Ze Frank sez: "I humped your finger and now it's all pregnant." Link
  • Richard Metzger: Early Pink Floyd interview 1967 Link
  • Richard Metzger: Kung Fu Hillbilly on Jerry Springer Link
  • Andrea James: My favorite computer-animated-cardboard music video: Point of View by DB Boulevard Link
  • Jesse Thorn: This baseball swing blew my mind, as was promised to me by @yingling: Link
  • Richard Metzger: The Murry Wilson Show by Peter Bagge. The Beach Boys psychotic dad gets his own show Link
  • Xeni Jardin: Great VBS.tv ep w/artist Stelarc, his work involves extending human body through tech Link (via laughingsquid)
  • Susannah Breslin: Take a funky, red-infused trip with Dead Soul Brothers in "Over Time" for seizure-inducing good time: Link
  • Andrea James (shown below): Classic live reference animation from 1981: "Commuter" by Mike Patterson Link

    • More @BBVBOX: boingboingvideo.com

    Guards are the worst prison-rapists

    Posted: 25 Jun 2009 05:43 AM PDT

    The National Prison Rape Elimination Commission final report is grim reading, especially the finding that prisoners report more rape committed by guards than by other prisoners.
    More than 7.3 million Americans are confined in U.S. correctional facilities or supervised in the community, at a cost of more than $68 billion annually. Given our country's enormous investment in corrections, we should ensure that these environments are as safe and productive as they can be. Sexual abuse undermines those goals. It makes correctional environments more dangerous for staff as well as prisoners, consumes scarce resources, and undermines rehabilitation. It also carries the potential to devastate the lives of victims. The many interrelated consequences of sexual abuse for individuals and society are difficult to pinpoint and nearly impossible to quantify, but they are powerfully captured in individual accounts of abuse and its impact.

    Former prisoner Necole Brown told the Commission, "I continue to contend with flashbacks of what this correctional officer did to me and the guilt, shame, and rage that comes with having been sexually violated for so many years. I felt lost for a very long time struggling with this. . . . I still struggle with the memories of this ordeal and take it out on friends and family who are trying to be there for me now."

    Air Force veteran Tom Cahill, who was arrested and detained for just a single night in a San Antonio jail, recalled the lasting effects of being gang-raped and beaten by other inmates. "I've been hospitalized more times than I can count and I didn't pay for those hospitalizations, the tax payers paid. My career as a journalist and photographer was completely derailed. . . . For the past two decades, I've received a non-service connected security pension from the Veteran's Administration at the cost of about $200,000 in connection with the only major trauma I've ever suffered, the rape." ...

    Victims and witnesses often are bullied into silence and harmed if they speak out. In a letter to the advocacy organization Just Detention International, one prisoner conveyed a chilling threat she received from the male officer who was abusing her: "Remember if you tell anyone anything, you'll have to look over your shoulder for the rest of your life." Efforts to promote reporting must be accompanied by policies and protocols to protect victims and witnesses from retaliation. And because some incarcerated individuals will never be comfortable reporting abuse internally, facilities must give prisoners the option of speaking confidentially with a crisis center or other outside agency.

    National Prison Rape Elimination Commission - Publication - Report - Executive Summary (via MeFi)
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