The Latest from Boing Boing

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• XKCD's eye-watering Geocities tribute
• Chess variant from 1934 that pitted agitators against engineers
• Demented woodsy woodcuts from Dan Hillier
• On the literary and scholarly awesomeness of the timezone file
• Dinosaur Arm tees
• Iraq: Open Thread, "Bloody Sunday"
• Super slomo fire breathing
• The $147.72 "audio grade" power socket

XKCD's eye-watering Geocities tribute Posted: 26 Oct 2009 12:05 AM PDT T sez, "I know you folks follow xkcd as good alpha-geeks should, so you won't have missed today's dose of nostalgically eyeball-searing brilliance [ed: a tribute to the soon-to-be-shut-down Geocities]. Just wanted to make sure you took an extra couple minutes to "view source" on the site's "redesign" though. Well worth poring over the lovingly crafted neolithic HTMLer in-jokes there. <FONT COLOR="#88FF88" STYLE="FORTHRIGHT">srsly.</FONT>" COMIC TITLE: Nachos (Thanks, T!) Previously: Internet Archaeology - Boing Boing What became of the earliest web aesthetic - Boing Boing XKCD v airport security - Boing Boing xkcd: volume 0 - Boing Boing XKCD: the limits of anti-static wrist-strap protection - Boing Boing XKCD explains how to be a tech-support guru - Boing Boing Stephenie Meyer vs. 4chan -- XKCD - Boing Boing Portland's Pedalpalooza includes an XKCD bike ride - Boing Boing Xkcd fans bring chess-sets on roller-coasters - Boing Boing

Chess variant from 1934 that pitted agitators against engineers Posted: 25 Oct 2009 11:07 PM PDT The March, 1934 issue of Modern Mechanix introduced this remarkable Depression-era chess-variant that pitted "agitators" against "engineers." Love how the entire historical zeitgeist appears to have been captured in 16 chessmen. MODERN as tomorrow morning's headlines, a newly simplified form of the game of chess has for its game board the Modern World, and for its pieces Farmers, Mechanics, Engineers and even Agitators struggling against forces symbolized by opposing Armies, Bankers, Radio, Press, Law and Middlemen trying to become Rankers. The play, which is solely a matter of skill, centers around opposing forces trying to dominate one neutral piece called Government while either the red or white side, as the antagonists are named, is in power. The game may be played by either two, three, or four persons and is substantially like chess. But gone are the Pawns, the Knights, and the Kings and Queens, Agitators, Engineers Are Chessmen (Mar, 1934) Previously: Zombies vs Villagers chess set Alice Chess Set -- chessmen vanish into opaque blocks when out of ... Edible chess cookie-cutters - Boing Boing Xkcd fans bring chess-sets on roller-coasters - Boing Boing Chess-playing automaton remembered - Boing Boing

Demented woodsy woodcuts from Dan Hillier Posted: 25 Oct 2009 10:24 AM PDT At the Brick Lane Upmarket in East London today, I was delighted to discover that Dan Hillier -- he of the wonderfully demented remixed Victorian woodcuts -- had two new ink drawings of a woodsy, autumnal nature. Caught in the Headlights At the Edge of the Woods Previously: Horned cyclops Victorian engraving tees from Dan Hillier - Boing Boing Dan Hillier's new tentacle horrors - Boing Boing Dan Hillier's altered engravings - Boing Boing Engraved Victorian tentacle-horrors from Dan Hillier - Boing Boing

On the literary and scholarly awesomeness of the timezone file Posted: 25 Oct 2009 12:44 PM PDT Jon Udell's "A literary appreciation of the Olson/Zoneinfo/tz database" points out the transcendentally complex nature of keeping track of every timezone and temporary change in times that exists today or has existed in the past. I've spent hours poring over this file and have to concur with John -- it's probably the most fascinating reading on your hard-drive. What I didn't appreciate, until I finally unzipped and untarred a copy of ftp://elsie.nci.nih.gov/pub/tzdata2009o.tar.gz, is the historical scholarship scribbled in the margins of this remarkable database, or document, or hybrid of the two. You can see a glimpse of that scholarship in the above example. The most recent two rules define the latest (2007) change to US daylight savings. The spring forward rule says: "On the second Sunday in March, at 2AM, save one hour, and use D to change EST to EDT." Likewise, on the fast-approaching first Sunday in November, spend one hour and go back to EST. But look at the rules for Feb 9 1942 and Aug 14 1945. The letters are W and P instead of D and S. And the comments tell us that during that period there were timezones like Eastern War Time (EWT) and Eastern Peace Time (EPT). Arthur David Olson elaborates: From Arthur David Olson (2000-09-25): Last night I heard part of a rebroadcast of a 1945 Arch Oboler radio drama. In the introduction, Oboler spoke of "Eastern Peace Time." An AltaVista search turned up :"When the time is announced over the radio now, it is 'Eastern Peace Time' instead of the old familiar 'Eastern War Time.' Peace is wonderful." Most of this Talmudic scholarship comes from founding contributor Arthur David Olson and editor Paul Eggert, both of whose Wikipedia pages, although referenced from the Zoneinfo page, strangely do not exist. A literary appreciation of the Olson/Zoneinfo/tz database Previously: Boing Boing: Aussie timezone switch borks Exchange Server Timezone warrior's watch with faces on inside & outside of wrist ... Daylight saving ends today - Boing Boing How to change your body's timezone - Boing Boing Extended iCal rant from a timezone warrior - Boing Boing

Dinosaur Arm tees Posted: 25 Oct 2009 10:14 AM PDT Today only, Teefury is selling these great Dinosaur Arm tees for your inner T.Rex. Or Tee-Rex. RAAAAAR!!! by Simon Sherry - $9 (via Geekologie!)

Iraq: Open Thread, "Bloody Sunday" Posted: 25 Oct 2009 08:18 AM PDT Two car bombs exploded in Baghdad today, killing at least 136 and wounding more than 520, according to news accounts: Al Jazeera, New York Times, CNN, WaPo. So far on this Sunday morning, American cable news networks aren't talking about it much, so why don't we do so here, in the comments. [Image: AFP]

Super slomo fire breathing Posted: 25 Oct 2009 08:12 AM PDT Napalm Dragon posted a gorgeous super slow motion video of fire breathing. (via @futuryst)

The $147.72 "audio grade" power socket Posted: 25 Oct 2009 07:12 AM PDT You can get another $7 off this cryogenically-treated, gold-plated "audio grade" power socket, but only if you buy four. The customer reviews are splendid: Finally something to go with my custom vacuum sputtered unobtainium circuit breaker contacts and calibrated studio grade Romex. Now if I can just get the power company to get rid of those pesky scalar waves in my zero point energy transmission system, I'll be all set. The vendor has also trademarked the phrase "Audio Grade." Wattgate 381 Audio Grade Duplex Socket [Parts Express] Thanks, Joel!

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