The Latest from Boing Boing

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• Cookie tin guitar demo
• Surveillance sphere looks like Rover from The Prisoner
• Street-magic wedding proposal
• Dutch government tries to stop 13-year-old girl from sailing around world solo
• HOWTO make a vacuum fluorescent display clock
• Notes from the San Francisco Zine Fest: Hellen Jo and Calvin Wong
• Addicted to exercise?
• Prank: humans "on display" at zoo
• Patent for a 1932 device that injects ice-cream into bananas -- BBG
• Micronations around the world
• Piranha in Indiana
• Steve Lodefink's "Garage Surf Motivational" song
• Ariel: post-apocalyptic sword-and-sorcery adventure that rocked my world

Cookie tin guitar demo Posted: 25 Aug 2009 05:23 PM PDT Colin Webb, a semi-retired teacher in England, makes homegrown guitars. I like the reso-rific sound of his cookie tin 3-stringer. Cookie tin guitar demo Previously: Steve Lodefink's first cigar box guitar - Boing Boing My first cigar box guitar - Boing Boing Shane Speal plays "Blue Raga" on cigar box guitar - Boing Boing Shane Speal plays Guitar Rag played on cigar box guitar - Boing Boing Keni Lee Burgess plays ""Judge Harsh Blues" on cigar box guitar ... Shelley Rickey plays "Tonight, You Belong to Me" on her handmade ... Boing Boing: Out of Milk and Butter Blues played on cigar box guitar

Surveillance sphere looks like Rover from The Prisoner Posted: 25 Aug 2009 02:47 PM PDT Sierra Nevada Corporation built this prototype spherical airship to "monitor crowds or border crossings." It seems like they were inspired by Rover, the border patrol balloon from The Prisoner. Right now FAA regulations require that it be manned but in the future it may be operated by remote control.    [Sierra Nevada Corporation's Jim] McGinley says the airship could be valuable to anyone who desires a persistent surveillance presence in a remote location. It looks like it would be fun to pop. Giant sphere attracts attention in Stead (via TDG)

Street-magic wedding proposal Posted: 25 Aug 2009 01:10 PM PDT Dan Trommater sez, "I was recently asked to orchestrate a very cool marriage proposal on the streets of Toronto. I normally perform at corporate events, but I jumped at this chance to get back on the streets. Arvin Ross contacted me and asked that I set up a street magic performance in the Harbourfront area of Toronto. I had to gather a crowd and somehow get him on one knee, then magically produce the wedding ring. No one saw it coming - especially Cindy Sukhram, the would-be fiancee. I've been involved in some really creative weddings before, but this was the first time I've helped anyone pop the question." Dan performed the ceremony at my wedding -- reciting Jabberwocky in a Knights Templar robe, making gouts of fire appear from his fingers at "eyes of flame" and then again when he produced the rings (he also did some great thematic magic later in the evening!). Wedding Proposal with Toronto Magician Dan Trommater

Dutch government tries to stop 13-year-old girl from sailing around world solo Posted: 25 Aug 2009 12:19 PM PDT Laura Dekker, age 13, wants to sail around the world by herself in a 25-foot boat, and her parents support her. Social workers in the Netherlands have stepped in to try to make Laura a ward of the court, which would prevent the parents from allowing her to do it. Laura had a yacht by the age of six and began sailing solo when she was 10. "Since I was 10 years old, I've known that I would like to sail around the world," she told Dutch television. "I want simply to learn about the world and to live freely." Dutch bid to thwart young sailor

HOWTO make a vacuum fluorescent display clock Posted: 25 Aug 2009 11:39 AM PDT Phil Torrone writes: Ladyada has just published a complete how-to, with design document, on making your own open source Russian vacuum fluorescent clock. The vacuum fluorescent tubes aren't as dangerous as (high-voltage) Nixie tubes, and there seem to be more of them available in the world. If you're not interested in building a clock from scratch, you can also pick up a kit version. All the schematics, source code, and files are available on the project's page.

Notes from the San Francisco Zine Fest: Hellen Jo and Calvin Wong Posted: 25 Aug 2009 01:01 PM PDT Carla and I had a nice time at the 2009 San Francisco Zine Fest on Sunday. This week, I'll share some of the photos I took of the zinesters who came to sell their comics and zines. (Yesterday I wrote about Sean Logic and his zine, The Great MySpace Swindle.) This is Hellen Jo and Calvin Wong. Helen was working on this amazing watercolor while she was there (a commission, she said.) Click on the photo for a closer look. It's beautiful. Hellen and Calvin were selling their comic books. They're both very talented artists and storytellers. Calvin's comic book, Ramble On is a humorous heavy metal sci-fi fantasy story about a guitar playing beaked critter who battles a grumpy giant tree. Helen's comic, Jin & Jam #1 is about a couple of chain-smoking high school girls who pal up with another girl who gets in a fight with a pair stylish but nasty-tempered conjoined twins. Both comics are excellent. I see good things ahead for both of them. (Also, check out Calvin's interpretation of Cher's pre-Cher song "Ringo, I Love You")

Addicted to exercise? Posted: 25 Aug 2009 10:52 AM PDT Hooked on the runner's high? New research suggests that the body may release chemically "addictive" drugs during exercise. Tufts University psychology professor Robin Kanarek put rats through a training and diet regimen and also injected them with a drug used to treat addiction in humans. From National Geographic: When injected into human addicts, the drug (naloxone) induces withdrawal symptoms that include writhing, chattering teeth, and swallowing movements... They found that the most hardcore rat runners showed the greatest degree of withdrawal symptoms, while rats that did not have access to wheels displayed fewer withdrawal symptoms. Kanarek is not worried about mass exercise addiction in people. "While we saw naloxone-withdrawal symptoms in active rats, these symptoms were not as severe as those typically seen during morphine withdrawal—suggesting that exercise is not as addictive," she said. What's more, the addictive effects of exercise could be used in a positive way. "We think a bright side to our findings is that exercise may be one way to actually help [drug] addicts recover," she added. "Exercise Can Be Like Heroin, 'Gym Rats' Show"

Prank: humans "on display" at zoo Posted: 25 Aug 2009 11:48 AM PDT Wooster Collective spotted this fun prank at Bristol Zoo where an informational placard about Homo Sapiens was installed outside the zoo's cafe. Click the image to read the sign. A New Species at Bristol Zoo (Thanks, Lindsay Tiemeyer!) UPDATE: Of course, humans have previously been exhibited at zoos in decidedly not funny contexts.

Patent for a 1932 device that injects ice-cream into bananas -- BBG Posted: 25 Aug 2009 10:05 AM PDT On BBG, our Lisa's found the patent application for a 1932 invention that injected ice-cream into bananas. The device was never productized, but I believe at least one working model must have been made to accompany the patent application (working models were a requirement for patenting until recently). 1932 banana-ice cream injector patent Discuss on BBG

Micronations around the world Posted: 25 Aug 2009 10:03 AM PDT At BB, we've always admired the rulers of micronations, tiny sovereign states that are usually unrecognized by "official" governments and sometimes only recognized by the rulers themselves. The new issue of Smithsonian surveys a handful of these fascinating autonomous zones. From Smithsonian: Hundreds of micronations exist at any given time, says President Kevin Baugh of the Republic of Molossia, a 6.3-acre micronation established in 1998 within Nevada and California. "Most were started by teenage boys. When they contact me, it's obvious it's a kid in his bedroom with a computer; the abysmal spelling usually gives it away," he explains. "The average lifespan of a micronation is about 90 days, because that's the average attention span of a teenage boy." In this context, a place like Seborga is downright prehistoric. Established in 954 as a seignory of the Holy Roman Empire, the hilltop village near the Italian Riviera managed to maintain its independence largely because it was overlooked by the succession of rulers who took over this part of the world. Seborga issues its own stamps, currency (the luigino, valuable only as a collector's item), and has consuls in several European nations and Indonesia. The leader of this gorgeous micronation of slightly fewer than 400 people is Prince Giorgio I, first elected in 1963. As far as Italy is concerned, Seborgans are tax-paying residents of Imperia Province. "Micronations of the World" Previously: Boing Boing: Report: Sealand is for sale (or "transfer") Boing Boing: Pirate Bay trying to buy Sealand, offering citizenship Boing Boing: interview with Sealand designer Boing Boing: Sealand devastated by fire, sole human on site injured Boing Boing: Interview with Lonely Planet Micronations author Micronations: folly and grandeur - Boing Boing

Piranha in Indiana Posted: 25 Aug 2009 09:29 AM PDT A young man fishing in Lafayette, Indiana hooked himself a piranha. It was a big one too: 13 inches long and weighing in at 2.5 pounds. The 21-year-old Lafayette man said he had no idea what kind of fish it was at first. "My dad actually stuck his thumb in its mouth, because we didn't know what it was," Asbury said. "It bit down on him and he said, 'It's got teeth...' " (Indiana Department of Natural Resources biologist Dean Zimmerman) expects this is an isolated case, probably of someone dumping their pet in the river. "Lafayette man catches piranha in Wabash" Previously: Displaced Piranha attack - Boing Boing Piranha-shaped floss dispensers - Boing Boing When pet piranha attack - Boing Boing

Steve Lodefink's "Garage Surf Motivational" song Posted: 24 Aug 2009 11:17 PM PDT I love this garage surf song that Steve Lodefink, a broad-spectrum DIYer, recorded. The vocals are unwittingly provided by Paul J. Meyer of the Success Motivation Institute, Inc. "Garage Surf Motivational"

Ariel: post-apocalyptic sword-and-sorcery adventure that rocked my world Posted: 01 May 2009 02:45 AM PDT I first read Steven R Boyett's novel Ariel in 1983: I was twelve years old, and I was absolutely, totally hooked. Here's the premise: one day at 4:30 PM, the world Changes. Complex technology (anything beyond a simple machine) stops working. Magic starts working. Planes fall out of the sky, dragons take wing. Chaos wracks the world. Riots. Starvation. Murder. Pete Garey was an adolescent when the Change hit, and he found himself on the road when his family disappeared in the chaos. He's been wandering ever since, joined now by a unicorn named Ariel whom he met and befriended while bathing in a pool. He and Ariel are more than friends: she's his familiar, his companion as he wanders the by-ways of Changed America, looting sporting goods stores for equipment, fighting off marauders, befriending other loners. That's the setup. An adolescent hero and a unicorn and their retinue (a failed ingénue, a little boy whose father has sent him to slay a dragon, a martial artist who has figured out how to put his Society for Creative Anachronisms skills to work) get embroiled in a series of adventures, culminating on a raid against a black magician who has ensconced himself in the Empire State Building and is set to destroy the world. The telling is flat-out brilliant. It never lets up. The characters are likable and vivid, the storytelling fast and non-stop, the tale filled with adventure, bravery, betrayal, swordplay, magic, and eleven kinds of coming of age. I've read Ariel a good 20 times since 1983, and it's one of the few books I brought with me across the ocean when I moved from Toronto to London -- even though my copy was broken-spined and stained, I couldn't bear to part with it. For one thing, I wanted to read it to my daughter in eight or nine years. Today, an expanded reissue of Ariel hits stores, and this is some goddamned great news. Boyett (who's been more focused on being a DJ and a podcaster of late) has added in some new material and (mirabile dictu) has written a sequel, Elegy Beach, which will be released in November. There's a whole generation that's grown up since Ariel left print, and another generation besides, and it's good news for the future that this book is once again available to them. It's got swords and sorcery, it's got road-tripping, it's got post-apocalyptic adventures, it's got gang-war, bravery, the Smithsonian, hang-gliders, martial arts, romance, sailing and seacraft -- what more could you ask for? Ariel

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