Friday, August 28, 2009

The Latest from Boing Boing

The Latest from Boing Boing

Link to Boing Boing

Entertainment industry stacks the speaker-list at Canadian copyright "town hall"

Posted: 28 Aug 2009 03:43 AM PDT

A reader writes, "The second of two Canadian copyright townhalls was held last night in Toronto and it was clear from the beginning that the recording industry stacked the deck. Four Warner Music executives spoke, two from Sony Music, one Universal Music, along with multiple music industry lawyers, spokespeople, and collectives. Given that there were a limited number of seats, packing the room meant that many alternative views were excluded from participating. Time to speak out now on copyright - two weeks left in the consultation and the industry is ready to overrun the process unless Canadians take the time to have their voice heard at sites like speakoutoncopyright.ca, digitalagenda.ca or ccer.ca."
With just over two weeks left in the consultation, there should be no doubt that the lobby groups will be engaging in a major effort to push for their DMCA-style reforms. The calls for three-strikes and you're out, notice and takedown, DMCA anti-circumvention legislation, and no flexible fair dealing will only get louder. Now is the time for Canadians - many of whom could not get a seat at the townhall since it was filled by industry reps just days after the consultation launch - to speak out. Don't wait - send in your comments today and encourage others to do the same.
The Toronto Music Industry Town Hall
Previously:


Annotated Walking Dead Google Map

Posted: 28 Aug 2009 03:39 AM PDT

HOWTO defeat the Klan with humor and bravery

Posted: 28 Aug 2009 02:38 AM PDT

The repentant former KKK leader Johnny Lee Clary explains how Reverend Wade Watts, an NAACP leader, disarmed him by being cool, funny and brave, engaging in some first-rate psy-ops. Be sure to listen through to the end for the chicken story.

Former Ku Klux Klan leader Johnny Lee Clary (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

Previously:


Sandman Slim audiobook: magical hardboiled revenge story

Posted: 28 Aug 2009 01:53 AM PDT

Last month I blogged about Richard Kadrey's Sandman Slim, a glorious, gritty revenge novel from hell, tinged with Aleister Crowley, Tom Waits and Raymond Chandler. Sandman Slim, AKA Stark, is one of Los Angeles's magicians, and 11 years ago, his fellow magicians sent him to hell because they were jealous of his power. He's spent the past 11 years fighting in Hell's gladiator pits and working as an assassin for one of Hell's Dukes, but now he has escaped to Earth and is on a quest to hunt down and execute his betrayers.

I've just finished listening to the unabridged, 10-hour audiobook of Sandman Slim, which is available on a single MP3 CD without DRM from Brilliance Audio. The reading is performed by Macleod Andrews, who does the narration in a perfect whiskey voice that's 80 percent Tom Waits, 20 percent Clint Eastwood. The performance and production are marvellous, a great interpretive reading that really brought the novel to life for me. I also love that I could get it without having to suffer through either DRM through one of the audiobook download stores or through ripping ten CDs' worth of material, which is how I normally get my audiobooks onto my computer.

Sandman Slim Audiobook MP3 CD

Previously:


Laughing, flywheel-driven mechanical bellows robot

Posted: 27 Aug 2009 10:29 PM PDT

WAHHA GO GO is a mechanical Japanese laughing robot that uses a flywheel and bellows; the accompanying text says something like, "Moving the bellows with the rotation of the flywheel energy in the wind 'artificial vocal'. Rashitsutsu the 'Pitch' 'formant' "amount of air flow' to control the machine like a human laugh."

WAHHA GO GO (via JWZ)

Steampunk science museum show at Oxford UK

Posted: 27 Aug 2009 10:25 PM PDT


Art Donovan from the Oxford University Museum of the History of Science sez, "I have been given the great honor of curating the world's very first Museum Exhibition of Steampunk Art. Seventeen artists from seven countries- The Steampunk creators that you know best. Opening October 13, 2009 and running continually through February 21, 2010. The Museum Director, Dr, Jim Bennett has scheduled events, art competitions and lectures through the exhibition."

Steampunk Art @ Oxford (Thanks, Art!)

Previously:


Where the Wild Things Are cupcakes

Posted: 27 Aug 2009 10:20 PM PDT


Flickr user Claire_issa uploaded pictures of these stupendous Where the Wild Things Are cupcakes that she made for her roommate, noting, "These are texas-sized snickerdoodle cupcakes. For frosting and decorations I used chocolate ganache (Moishe), canned vanilla frosting (Max), sprinkles, store-bought gumpaste eyes, and fondant colored tinted by hand."

Now that is love.

Where the Wild Things Are cupcakes (via Neatorama)

Previously:


Depression as a pro-survival adaptation that solves hard problems

Posted: 27 Aug 2009 10:31 PM PDT

In Scientific American, Paul W. Andrews and J. Anderson Thomson, Jr. sum up a paper they've recently published in Psychological Review that argues for depression as a pro-survival adaptation that allows for a kind of intense, isolated problem-solving introspection that, when combined with analytical techniques similar to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, resolves complex troubles:
Analysis requires a lot of uninterrupted thought, and depression coordinates many changes in the body to help people analyze their problems without getting distracted. In a region of the brain known as the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC), neurons must fire continuously for people to avoid being distracted. But this is very energetically demanding for VLPFC neurons, just as a car's engine eats up fuel when going up a mountain road. Moreover, continuous firing can cause neurons to break down, just as the car's engine is more likely to break down when stressed. Studies of depression in rats show that the 5HT1A receptor is involved in supplying neurons with the fuel they need to fire, as well as preventing them from breaking down. These important processes allow depressive rumination to continue uninterrupted with minimal neuronal damage, which may explain why the 5HT1A receptor is so evolutionarily important.

Many other symptoms of depression make sense in light of the idea that analysis must be uninterrupted. The desire for social isolation, for instance, helps the depressed person avoid situations that would require thinking about other things. Similarly, the inability to derive pleasure from sex or other activities prevents the depressed person from engaging in activities that could distract him or her from the problem. Even the loss of appetite often seen in depression could be viewed as promoting analysis because chewing and other oral activity interferes with the brain's ability to process information.

But is there any evidence that depression is useful in analyzing complex problems? For one thing, if depressive rumination were harmful, as most clinicians and researchers assume, then bouts of depression should be slower to resolve when people are given interventions that encourage rumination, such as having them write about their strongest thoughts and feelings. However, the opposite appears to be true. Several studies have found that expressive writing promotes quicker resolution of depression, and they suggest that this is because depressed people gain insight into their problems.

Depression's Evolutionary Roots (via Neatorama)
Previously:


Preview audio from Scott Westerfeld's steampunk YA novel Leviathan

Posted: 27 Aug 2009 10:32 PM PDT

YA author Scott Westerfeld's next novel is Leviathan, a remarkable YA steampunk adventure story that pits Darwinists (the English side, with their evolved war-machines created by splicing and dicing various animals' genomes to make zeppelins) against the Machinists (the German side, who use enormous, precision-made, steam-driven mecha and the like) in an alternate WWI.

The book is fantastic -- I read an early galley some months ago, and my full review is going up on Oct 6 when the book comes out -- but even better is the unabridged audiobook, read aloud by Alan Cumming. Simon and Shuster audio have just released the first chapter as a free stream, and I'm enjoying it immensely.

Chapter 1 of Leviathan, Read Aloud!

Previously:


Video: giant carnivorous plants

Posted: 27 Aug 2009 08:40 PM PDT



Here is an interesting video documentary about the carnivorous pitcher plant. Of course, a new species of pitcher plant recently discovered on Mount Victoria in the Philippines made headlines as a "rat-eating plant," but that was apparently bullshit. While pitcher plants do sometimes nab small rodents, as in this other delightful clip, the researchers who found the new species in the Philippines have never observed any rodents inside its pitchers. The giant pitcher plant, Nepenthes attenboroughii, was named in honor of celebrity naturalist Sir David Attenborough, narrator of the above video. (Thanks, Mark Pescovitz!)

Previously:


@BBVBOX: recent guest-tweeted web video picks (boingboingvideo.com)

Posted: 27 Aug 2009 03:19 PM PDT


(Ed. Note: The Boing Boing Video site includes a guest-curated microblog: the "BBVBOX." Here, folks whose taste in web video we admire tweet the latest clips they find. We'll post roundups here on the motherBoing.)

  • Jesse Thorn: Patton Oswalt does some great material from his new comedy album on Letterman. Link
  • Sean Bonner: Yokai and Yurei on NHK part 1 - Link
  • Jesse Thorn: New York Public TV of the 1970s: "Soul!" featuring Earth Wind & Fire, Ron Carter, Max Roach & more... Link
  • Richard Metzger: Sesso Matto: Greatest Seventies Italian Sex Comedy Soundtrack of All? Link
  • Jesse Thorn: A few beautiful videos of the Chicago (and Detroit) partner dance style known as "Steppin'" Link
  • Jesse Thorn: Albert Brooks presents "Comedy School" (via @lonelysandwich): Link
  • Andrea James: "Flowers" by Emilie Simon: Link
  • Richard Metzger: Uninsured US Citizen Posts Video About Health Care on Sarah Palin's FB Page Link
  • Andrea James: Boing Boing cultural exchange. Brazil's Sabrina Boing Boing primarily covers Silicone Valley: Link
  • Andrea James: 'American Psycho' meets Talking Heads. Miles Fisher covers "This Must Be The Place": Link
  • Andrea James: You know you're culturally significant when... 30 Rock, the porno (some language, no n00dz): Link
  • Richard Metzger: Sex Crazy Cop Link
  • Xeni Jardin: The Porpoise Driven Life. Link (thanks, Mark Kleiman)
More @BBVBOX: boingboingvideo.com



Alan Moore on Robert Anton Wilson

Posted: 27 Aug 2009 08:59 PM PDT

Notes from the San Francisco Zine Fest: Doctor Popular

Posted: 27 Aug 2009 01:59 PM PDT

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Carla and I had a nice time at the 2009 San Francisco Zine Fest on Sunday. This week and next, I'm sharing some of the photos I took of the zinesters who came to sell their comics and zines. I'll post a new photo each day.

This is Doctor Popular, a professional yo-yoist and cartoonist. I bought a couple of "24-hour" comic books from him, which are 24-page comic books that were created in 24 consecutive hours. My favorite is Robots Don't Know Anything about Twitter. Doc Pop made the comic by tweeting "Robots don't know anything about..." and used the answers that his friends tweeted back as the panels for the comic. Fun!

I don't know if he sold out of the print version of Robots Don't Know Anything about Twitter, as it had a print run of 100 copies (each cover was hand colored!), but he is giving it away as a free PDF. What a swell guy that Doc is.

Previous San Francisco Zine Fest photos:

Sean Logic and his zine, The Great MySpace Swindle

Hellen Jo and Calvin Wong

Amy Martin

Meet the Hon. James David Manning, PhD.

Posted: 27 Aug 2009 01:52 PM PDT

OMFG. So, over at Dangerous Minds, Richard Metzger has a very scary/funny post about an extreme right-wing African-American media personality many are calling "the Black Glenn Beck." In the clip above, he seems to be inciting white people to start a race war, using talking points from white supremacist organizations. "White people are being kicked around, having their rights kicked to the curb, having their tax dollars fund prostitution... y'all gonna push these white folk 'til they can't take it no more?"

Richard says:

His favorite thing to call the President, however, is “the long-legged Mack Daddy.” Manning also hates Michelle Obama, has called her ugly, a slut and has even suggested she visit the same plastic surgeon as Michael Jackson. Manning’s Trinity of Hell is comprised of Obama, Oprah Winfrey and the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. It should probably come as no surprise that he’s been a guest on Sean Hannity’s Fox News and radio shows.

Manning is proud to call himself an extreme right winger and is beloved of birthers, survivalists, Obama haters, the NRA and other assorted wingnuts. On his five days a week, three hours per day talk show, which he co-produces with his wife, he does bizarre and extremely unfunny “mock interviews” with Fidel Castro, prays fervently for Bristol Palin and he even had “author” Lawrence W Sinclair (“Brother Lawrence” as Manning calls him) of Barack Obama & Larry Sinclair: Cocaine, Sex, Lies & Murder? infamy on as a guest.

THE BLACK GLENN BECK: THE HON. JAMES DAVID MANNING, PHD (Dangerous Minds)

Atheists who'll take in your pets after the Rapture

Posted: 27 Aug 2009 12:10 PM PDT

Will sends us "a site of avowed atheists who will, for a nominal fee, look after your pet when you have taken in the rapture."
We are a group of dedicated animal lovers, and atheists. Each Eternal Earth-Bound Pet representative is a confirmed atheist, and as such will still be here on Earth after you've received your reward. Our network of animal activists are committed to step in when you step up to Jesus.

We are currently active in 20 states and growing. Our representatives have been screened to ensure that they are atheists, animal lovers, are moral / ethical with no criminal background, have the ability and desire to rescue your pet and the means to retrieve them and ensure their care for your pet's natural life.

Eternal Earth-Bound Pets, USA (Thanks, Will!)
Previously:


Waxahachie, Texas: "Art of the Secret Society" exhibit

Posted: 27 Aug 2009 11:09 AM PDT

Art-Of-Secret-Society Images Masonicwall3 L
Art-Of-Secret-Society Images Masonicwall4 L I recently purchased a signed William S. Burroughs art print on eBay. Turns out, the seller, Bruce Webb, is a researcher, collector, and dealer of art and artifacts related to fraternal organizations and secret societies! He also has a gallery in Waxahachie, Texas, where Burroughs exhibited before he died. Webb has a deep interest in "old handmade items such as painted or repaired objects, fraternal lodge items, carnival banners, tramp art, memory jugs, quilts, and just killer oddball stuff." In fact, the current Webb Gallery show is "Art of the Secret Society," which runs until November 8. I love when a simple eBay purchase opens up a portal into another weird micro-universe of fascinating people and things.
Webb Gallery

Guide to N Dimensions

Posted: 27 Aug 2009 10:34 AM PDT

Wikipedia Commons 2 22 Spacetime Curvature
Thinking about dimensions other than the three we're used to can rattle one's mind. That's why it's usually left to stoned conversationalists and theoretical physicists. To help the rest of us navigate flatland, fractal landscapes, and hyperspace, New Scientist put together a concise and fun tour titled "Beyond Space and Time." From New Scientist (spacetime curvature illustration from Wikimedia Commons):
What is a dimension?

The most intuitive description is the oldest one: the number of dimensions a system possesses is the number of independent directions you or anything else can move in. Up and down count as only one dimension because up-ness and down-ness are two sides of the same coin: the further up you go, the less down you are. The same connection exists between left and right, and forwards and backwards, but not between up and right, down and backwards, and so on. Thus, the geometers of Ancient Greece recognised, we live in a three-dimensional world.

So far, so simple, but then things start to unravel. Our place in the cosmos is defined as much by time as it is by space. As long ago as the late 18th century, the Frenchmen Jean le Rond d'Alembert and Joseph-Louis Lagrange recognised that the mathematical language needed to address time was very similar to that which described space. Time, the mathematicians of the day rapidly came to agree, was a fourth dimension.

That opened the floodgates. Once untethered from its origins in physical space, the concept of a dimension began to lose its focus. It came to be used as a general term to describe the number of independent coordinates or variables needed to determine the state of any object.
"Beyond space and time: Fractals, hyperspace and more"

Previously:


Photos from trip to Falklands & South Georgia Islands and Antarctica

Posted: 27 Aug 2009 10:21 AM PDT

Sealsandcamera

Alek O. Komarnitsky says

My wife works at an Adventure Travel company, and due to a very fortunate set of circumstances (plus her encouragement and willingness to watch the kids), I was able to go on a 19-day expedition voyage to the Falklands, South Georgia, and Antarctica.

The amazing wildlife and spectacular scenery provides a "target rich environment" that is a photographer's ultimate fantasy.

In addition to that summary page, there are sub-pages for each day with pictures of (literally) millions of penguins and other wildlife, more icebergs than you can imagine, a Google Map of our voyage, and more.

I was incredibly lucky to be able to do this phenomenal experience and am back to being a boring middle-aged suburban Dad, making school lunches for the kids, playing baseball with 'em, etc. 

Photos from trip to Falklands & South Georgia Islands and Antarctica

Previously:


Museum's "moon rock" is just a rock

Posted: 27 Aug 2009 10:08 AM PDT

A prized moon rock belonging to the Dutch national museum has turned out to be, er, petrified wood. The rock's provenance goes back to 1969, when William Drees, the late prime minister of the Netherlands, received it as a gift from former US ambassador J. William Middendorf. The precious stone worthless rock was presented to the prime minister during a visit by the Apollo 11 astronauts shortly after the first moon landing. From the Associated Press:
Middendorf, who lives in Rhode Island, told Dutch NOS news that he had gotten it from the U.S. State Department, but couldn't recall the exact details.

The U.S. Embassy in the Hague said it was investigating the matter.

The museum had vetted the moon rock early on by checking with NASA, (Rijksmuseum spokeswoman Xandra) van Gelder said.

She said the space agency told the museum then that it was possible the country had received a rock: NASA gave moon rocks to more than 100 countries in the early 1970s, but those were from later missions.

Researchers from Amsterdam's Free University said they could see at a glance the rock was not from the moon.

"It's a nondescript, pretty-much-worthless stone," Geologist Frank Beunk said in an article published by the museum.
"Prized 'moon rock' in Dutch national museum is a fake"

Father blames others for his own misinterpretation of candy wrappers as "pornographic"

Posted: 27 Aug 2009 09:51 AM PDT

Images News Maoam Lemon
Images News Maoam Cherry

Simon Simpkins of Pontefract, West Yorkshire became angry with a shop manager who sold him "pornographic" candy.

"The lemon and lime are locked in what appears to be a carnal encounter," Mr. Simpkins told a reporter for The Daily Mail. "The lime, whom I assume to be the gentleman in this coupling, has a particularly lurid expression on his face."

The green gentleman appears on other flavors of Haribo MAOAM sour candies, too, including cherry, as shown here.

Father's fury over children's 'pornographic' sweet wrappers

Chimp enjoys magic show

Posted: 27 Aug 2009 08:32 PM PDT


A young chimp is impressed by magic tricks. (Via Bits and Pieces)

The last days of Aleister Crowley

Posted: 27 Aug 2009 09:19 AM PDT

In 1975 Rodney Davies met Kathleen "Johnny" Symonds, who had been Aleister Crowley's (AKA "The Great Beast 666" and "The Wickedest Man on Earth") landlady during the last months of his life in 1947. Here's his entertaining piece about it.
200908270919 Crowley brought with him some special gold coins, which he claimed had magic powers and was anxious about keeping safe, and a 'box of (I Ching) sticks'. He made frequent use of the latter. 'When he had an appointment for the dentist, for instance, he threw the sticks in the air. And once he called me and said, "Phone the dentist immediately! The sticks have told me not to go." The dentist was very amazed.'

The Great Beast soon settled into a regular daily routine. At nine each morning the housekeeper Miss Clarke took him his breakfast, and at ten, if the weather was fine, he would take a stroll in the garden, where Johnny kept some beautiful plump white rabbits, which he nicknamed 'The Chrysanthemums' and would love to watch. When the sun shone he would often sit with his hands held heavenwards.

Crowley then spent most of the rest of the day sleeping in his room, where he also took his other meals. His favourite snack was sardines sprinkled with curry powder. He roused himself as darkness fell, and sat up all night either writing letters, reading or indulging in his heroin drug habit.

'He had a ration of heroin which was allowed him,' Mrs Symonds said. 'It used to come down from a chemist called Heppel's in London. But the police knew about it. I've often watched him stick a needle in his arm. He didn't mind.'

...

According to Johnny, Aleister Crowley was an easy-going, trouble-free resident, who not only spent much of his time in his room, but who rubbed along well with the other visitors and with her and her husband. Indeed, her feelings about him were entirely positive: 'I liked him,' she said. 'He was great fun.'

The last days of Aleister Crowley (Via Further: Strange Attractor & beyond)

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