The Latest from Boing Boing |  |
- Science fiction as a predictor of the present
- Iraqi forces love this "magic wand" bomb detector; US thinks it's junk.
- Biopolitics of Popular Culture seminar, Irvine, CA, Dec 4
- Satellite photography alphabet
- Supreme Master Television
- Cable modem modder charged by FBI
- Rising Ocean Levels
- China: real-life fashion police crack down on public pajama-wearers
- Video about world's greatest soda pop store
- A blog (and book) about nothing
- AT&T Sues Verizon over 3G map
- Praying Mantis consumes grasshopper.
- James Gurney's art book: Imaginative Realism
- Harold Hedd creator Rand Holmes retrospective art show trailer
- RevolveR notebook turns inside out
- Secret copyright treaty leaks. It's bad. Very bad.
- GAMA-GO sale in San Francisco this weekend
- Bus-shelter made out of a bus
- Unfurling: Isabel Rucker's 400-foot-long graphic novel scroll
- iPhone-operated car
- Best bit from Harpers Weekly
- Map of threatened or arrested bloggers around the world
- Brand New discusses our logo
- Urban computing speech title generator
- Latest Nerd Merit Badge: "Full Stack Web Developer"
- Disposable laptop design
- Douchebag solidarity movement
- Man in breathalyzer costume charged with drunken driving
- Fun With the Minneapolis Mayoral Race
- Goldwag: Some thoughts about 9/11 Truth
| Science fiction as a predictor of the present Posted: 03 Nov 2009 09:51 PM PST Tin House, a literary magazine, asked me to introduce the current science fiction issue with an overview of the field. I wrote them an essay called "Radical Presentism," about the way that science fiction reflects the present more than the future. Mary Shelley wasn't worried about reanimated corpses stalking Europe, but by casting a technological innovation in the starring role of Frankenstein, she was able to tap into present-day fears about technology overpowering its masters and the hubris of the inventor. Orwell didn't worry about a future dominated by the view-screens from 1984, he worried about a present in which technology was changing the balance of power, creating opportunities for the state to enforce its power over individuals at ever-more-granular levels.CORY DOCTOROW: RADICAL PRESENTISM |
| Iraqi forces love this "magic wand" bomb detector; US thinks it's junk. Posted: 03 Nov 2009 09:53 PM PST This $60,000 "bomb detection wand" is much-loved by Iraqi security forces. American military representatives say it's about as useful for finding IEDs as a ouija board. [New York Times] |
| Biopolitics of Popular Culture seminar, Irvine, CA, Dec 4 Posted: 03 Nov 2009 09:35 PM PST James Hughes sez, "The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies is holding a seminar on the 'Biopolitics of Popular Culture' December 4, 2009 in Irvine, California. The seminar will explore the biopolitics that are implicit in depictions of the future, enhanced humans and emerging technology in literature, film, gaming and television. Speakers include Annalee Newitz, Richard Kadrey, Natasha Vita-More and Jamais Cascio, as well as writers for TV and film, game designers, artists and culture critics." Biopolitics of Popular Culture Seminar (Thanks, Jim!) Previously: |
| Satellite photography alphabet Posted: 03 Nov 2009 09:33 PM PST  The Google Earth Alphabet has upper and lower case and numbers and punctuation formed inadvertently by geographic features visible from space. (via Making Light) |
| Posted: 03 Nov 2009 08:09 PM PST
Supreme Master TV has a website, the cult behind it operates a chain of vegan restaurants, and they have offices in Southern California. Their leader is one Supreme Master Ching Hai, and Rick Ross says it's more like ka-ching. That's her, at left (click for large size), and here's a Wikipedia article. She sells hair extensions and stuff. She has opinions on global warming. She sings spiritual lounge music. She designs "celestial clothes and sleeping mattresses for dogs," which are spiritually themed costumes designed to bring your "blessed canine friend" closer to enlightenment. If you do one thing today, please: watch the dog video. |
| Cable modem modder charged by FBI Posted: 03 Nov 2009 07:58 PM PST The FBI has filed criminal charges against a hardware hacker in Oregon for modding cable modems. Unlocked cable modems can be used to steal service (or speed upgrades) from broadband providers, but they can be used for legal hackery, too. (Wired, thx @salimfadhley, via @bbsuggest) |
| Posted: 03 Nov 2009 06:42 PM PST Interactive webmap of the SF Bay Area that shows which 'hoods will drown first when the waters rise in GlobalWarmingGeddon. Here is a similar project I blogged earlier this year. (thanks, Dave Bullock) |
| China: real-life fashion police crack down on public pajama-wearers Posted: 03 Nov 2009 06:41 PM PST Shanghai will host the World Expo next year, and city officials are preparing for the influx of foreigners with a campaign to ban citizens from wearing their pajamas out in the streets. An article in the Chengdu Business Daily expresses outrage over the campaign as a civil rights abuse. Snip: What's wrong with a person in pajamas? [via Rebecca MacKinnon]
A quick Google of "shanghai" + "pajamas" reveals many articles in Western media over the past decade about Shanghai's pajama-wearing citizenry, and their government's fruitless attempts to mandate their fashion choices. Apparently, walking around in the street in your jammies is a familiar part of local culture in old neighborhoods there, in part because the realms of public and private space are so blurred in daily life. |
| Video about world's greatest soda pop store Posted: 03 Nov 2009 06:01 PM PST Mayor Mike says: "John Nese is the owner of Soda Pop Stop pop only store in LA. Listening to him rattle off what makes or breaks a good soft drink, makes me thirsty. Listening to his passion about supporting the little man in the face of large corporate pressure in the marketplace is just plain refreshing." |
| A blog (and book) about nothing Posted: 03 Nov 2009 05:56 PM PST Sara says:
The blog is a delight! I didn't know so much could be said about nothing. |
| Posted: 03 Nov 2009 05:00 PM PST A Verizon commercial depicts the dismal extent of AT&T's 3G coverage. AT&T is suing, claiming the map confuses customers. [Engadget] |
| Praying Mantis consumes grasshopper. Posted: 03 Nov 2009 04:15 PM PST After I posted my photo of a praying mantis in my back yard, Boing Boing reader The Black Sickle shared this terrific HD video he shot (with a Nikon D90) of a mantis eating a grasshopper. (Click the HQ button in the YouTube player for high quality.) |
| James Gurney's art book: Imaginative Realism Posted: 03 Nov 2009 04:19 PM PST  I was fortunate to meet artist James Gurney at Babytattooville last month. He's the creator of the gorgeous Dinotopia series of books, and is a very friendly guy. His work reminds me of old masters of book illustration like N.C. Wyeth and Howard Pyle. James has a new book out called Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist, in which he describes his creative process. It's a rare treat to learn how a talented artist creates his art. James has also made a couple of fun YouTube videos to promote the book: Gallery Flambeau Video and Unicycle Painter. |
| Harold Hedd creator Rand Holmes retrospective art show trailer Posted: 03 Nov 2009 02:40 PM PST Patrick Rosenkranz, author of a great history of underground comics called Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution, sent me this trailer for his Rand Holmes Retrospective film. Previously: |
| RevolveR notebook turns inside out Posted: 03 Nov 2009 02:38 PM PST The RevolveR notebook uses a design similar to a cloth Jacob's Ladder toy to create a journal with "floating" bindings, so that you can turn it inside-out. RevolveR (via Making Light) |
| Secret copyright treaty leaks. It's bad. Very bad. Posted: 03 Nov 2009 02:25 PM PST The internet chapter of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret copyright treaty whose text Obama's administration refused to disclose due to "national security" concerns, has leaked. It's bad. It says:
Previously:
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| GAMA-GO sale in San Francisco this weekend Posted: 03 Nov 2009 02:13 PM PST  Our pals at GAMA-GO are holding their annual holiday sale in San Francisco this Saturday, Novemeber 7. It's at the Rickshaw Stop at 155 Fell Street from 12-5pm. Plenty o' bargains to be had! GAMA-GO: San Francisco Holiday Sale |
| Posted: 03 Nov 2009 02:05 PM PST Here's a sweet bus-shelter made out of a bus -- the irony is that the bus that stops here is made out of a bus-shelter. Decomposed school buses resurrected for bus shelter (via Cribcandy) |
| Unfurling: Isabel Rucker's 400-foot-long graphic novel scroll Posted: 03 Nov 2009 02:03 PM PST  Rudy Rucker sez, "'Unfurling' is a graphic novel drawn on a scroll of paper by Isabel Rucker, going on display from November 5-27, at the SOMArts gallery in San Francisco. 'Unfurling' stretches over 400 feet long, is a foot high, and is drawn in black ink pen with watery washes. The comic panels vary in length (up to ten feet long) to mirror pauses, vast scenery, or thought patterns. The seven-year project began in 2002, when Isabel decided to free herself from the size of regular pieces of paper, canvas or sketchpad. The opening party for the 'Unfurling' show " is Thursday, November 5, 2009, 6 p.m.-11 p.m." "Unfurling" by Isabel Rucker (Thanks, Rudy!) |
| Posted: 03 Nov 2009 01:52 PM PST  The Spirit of Berlin is an iPhone-operated Dodge minivan. Researchers from the Freie Universität Berlin's Artificial Intelligence Group hacked the van to be semi-autonomous for DARPA's 2007 Urban Grand Challenge. Now Appirion UG, a mobile app development firm spun out of the AI Group, built an iPhone app to remote control the van. No idea why it's a Dodge and not, say, a Mercedes. You can see a slideshow of the project over at Life. Or watch a video after the jump! |
| Posted: 03 Nov 2009 02:01 PM PST "Parents and teachers in the Guangdong province of China were upset by a new sculpture in a city park of an eight-inch girl with giant 16-foot breasts." (Here's a photo.) |
| Map of threatened or arrested bloggers around the world Posted: 03 Nov 2009 01:51 PM PST  Global Voices has an interactive map showing bloggers who have been threatened, arrested, or killed for speaking out online. The United States has one — Elliot Madison was taken by the FBI for spreading word on Twitter on how to evade police arrest during the G20 protests in Pittsburgh on September 24th and released on bail shortly after. China has the most with 33 on record; Egypt is a close second with 29. Threatened Voices via Erin Biba on Twitter |
| Posted: 03 Nov 2009 01:19 PM PST  Here's Brand New's take on our old-is-new Boing Boing logo, which I spent all of 15 minutes thinking about and drawing back in 1999. Committed Boing Boing readers will quickly point out that the After logo is actually an old logo, and they would be right. It was designed by Boing Boing co-founder Mark Frauenfelder and was used from 1999 until 2007, when it was replaced by another pixelated wordmark designed by pixel-happy eBoy, and helped establish a look that would ooze into other Boing Boing ventures like Boing Boing Gadgets and Boing Boing Video. All of it, a kind of crude visual attitude — the pixelated equivalent of a zine no less. This past October, Boing Boing redesigned its web site, to a mixed review worth 285 comments, and brought back Mark's old logo, which I always preferred to the eBoy one. Gone too, for now at least, is Jackhammer Jill, who had stood by the logo for a long time.Brand New is taking a poll on which version of our logo is the best. So far "Both Suck, Actually" is winning by a factor of 2-to-1. If you have a better idea for a logo, link to your design in the comments. I'm not saying we are going to change it again, but I'm curious to see what others come up with. |
| Urban computing speech title generator Posted: 03 Nov 2009 01:11 PM PST  BB pal Molly Wright Steenson created a fun title generator for presentations at an imaginary urban informatics/urban computing conference. Molly says, "I combed a number of "urban computing" websites. Then I ranked the words in order of use, divided them into semantic categories and boom." Urban Informatics Speech Title Generator Previously: |
| Latest Nerd Merit Badge: "Full Stack Web Developer" Posted: 03 Nov 2009 12:48 PM PST  John Young says: Randy Schmidt and I just released our sixth Nerd Merit Badge: FULL STACK WEB DEVELOPER. Latest Nerd Merit Badge: "Full Stack Web Developer" |
| Posted: 03 Nov 2009 11:43 AM PST  Disposable cameras have been around for quite some time now. So why not disposable laptops? That's the question designer Je Sung Park is asking with the Recyclable Paper Laptop, which he imagines could be layers of materials and chips that can be easily replaced. It seems like a long shot (or does it?), but I'm digging its brown paper look. Yanko Design has a few more images of this proposed design. |
| Posted: 03 Nov 2009 11:22 AM PST "We Are Douchebags." From Wikipedia: A reclaimed word is a word in a language that was at one time a pejorative but has been brought back into acceptable usage—usually starting within the communities that experienced oppression under that word, but often also among the general populace as well.(Via Laughing Squid) |
| Man in breathalyzer costume charged with drunken driving Posted: 03 Nov 2009 11:11 AM PST  James N. P. Miller of Cincinnati was wearing a breathalyzer costume when he was arrested from drunk driving. Inside his car, officers allegedly found an open container of Bud Light in the center console.Man in breathalyzer costume charged with drunken driving |
| Fun With the Minneapolis Mayoral Race Posted: 03 Nov 2009 11:43 AM PST
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| Goldwag: Some thoughts about 9/11 Truth Posted: 03 Nov 2009 11:36 AM PST Guestblogger Arthur Goldwag is the author of "Cults, Conspiracies, and Secret Societies: The Straight Scoop on Freemasons, The Illuminati, Skull and Bones, Black Helicopters, The New World Order, and many, many more" and other books. 9/11 -- the sheer shock of it, the deaths, the sense of violation-still rouses incredible emotions. The seven years of international adventurism, state-sanctioned torture, domestic spying, rampant privatization, and upward redistribution of income that followed, all of it promoted by waving the bloody flag, have left us more polarized as a society than we've been since at least the 1960s. I recently heard from Daniel Edd III, a passionate and voluble member of the 9/11 Truth Community. "How do you feel about this guy's qualifications?" he asked, posting a link to the Wikipedia entry on Steven E. Jones. "Have you ever watched the documentary 9/11: Press for Truth?" he continued.
I'm sure I'm not the first to say this, but Yeats's words in "The Second Coming" seem strangely apt when it comes to 9/11 Truth: "The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity." Which isn't to say that 9/11 Truthers are all "bad." Many of them -- Daniel Edd Bland III, for one -- are absolutely sincere and well-intentioned. Part of the reason I try to avoid getting into arguments with them is because I don't want to seem to be impugning their intelligence or their characters. What's "worst" in them is their critical methodology-their emotionally-colored, conspiratorial, often magically deterministic view of the world. Consider David Ray Griffin, whose qualifications as a liberal theologian are sterling, whose political leanings are idealistic and enlightened, but whose writings about 9/11 are tendentious in the extreme. My own mind may not be first-rate but, to paraphrase F. Scott Fitzgerald, it's able to hold two seemingly contradictory ideas at the same time. Though I am no Truther, I believe that the Bush/Cheney administration lied to us, repeatedly and brazenly. They cynically exploited the attacks to promote a war that an unholy alliance of interests -- Israel-centric neo-conservatives; profit-hungry oilmen; evangelicals looking to hasten the advent of the End times; expatriate Iraqis seeking their return to power -- were certain would be a cake walk. But I have seen no credible evidence that Bush, Cheney or anyone else in the American government planned or abetted the attacks themselves--and my mind boggles at the sheer nastiness of some of the Truther scenarios that question whether the people on the planes really died. I was maybe a quarter of a mile away from the North Tower that morning; the jet was over mid-town when it popped into my field of view and I didn't take my eyes off it until it disappeared in the fireball. But an hour and a half later, when I was back in Brooklyn and someone told me that the tower had just collapsed (and indeed, there'd been all kinds of rumblings outside and the sky had darkened noticeably), I insisted that they were mistaken. "It couldn't have fallen," I said. "The damage was all at the top." I was practically there, but I didn't know what I was talking about. No big surprise-as any lawyer can tell you, eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable. The next afternoon, I met a hard-hat on the Brooklyn Bridge who'd been working on the Pile. "Was it a bomb?" I asked him. "I don't know," he answered, "But I'll tell you this: Yesterday this country was caught sitting on the crapper, with its pants around its ankles." He didn't know anything either, but it's hard to argue with what he said. As for Steven E. Jones, yes, he is a well-regarded physicist, but he's not a structural engineer. I've read articles by structural engineers that completely demolish his claim that the buildings collapsed at "free fall acceleration." I'm not able to follow their math, but I suspect that most members of the 9/11 Truth Community aren't either. And from what I've read about the trace quantities of chemicals associated with thermites that Jones detected on debris collected from Ground Zero, they don't remotely prove the presence of incendiary bombs--they can also be found in Freon and paint and computer equipment. I could point to websites like debunking911.com or AE911Truth.INFO or 911Myths, but most true believers would simply direct me to advocacy websites of their own. William of Occam said it best in the 14th century: Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate. "Plurality should not be assumed unnecessarily." Occam's Razor, also known as the Pinciple of Parsimony, suggests that the most credible theory is almost always the most economical--the one that involves the least number of moving parts. This blog post tallies up all the people who would have had to be involved in a conspiracy in which the government deliberately blew up those buildings, manipulated fake hijackers or suicide operatives into crashing jets (or holograms of jets) into them, and corrupted thousands of scientists, law enforcement authorities, insurance inspectors, construction workers, and firefighters to rubberstamp the official story. It's much easier for me to imagine a small, well-funded group of Arabs with box cutters pulling this off (whose leaders may have hid from US bombers in caves, but who are very far from troglodytes) than half a million silent collaborators, almost none of whom have anything to gain by it-and whose number includes almost every structural engineer in the world (Richard Gage, the founder of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth is NOT a structural engineer). I didn't watch the movie but I know it was well-reviewed. I salute the Jersey Girls for their courage and assiduousness. I don't believe that all of the political or public safety issues that 9/11 raises have been remotely resolved either (consider NORAD's and the FAA's torpid response to NWA's rogue Flight 188 two weeks ago, if you think that sufficiently-committed hijackers couldn't knock down another American building). I'm completely in favor of airing everything that can be aired in the full glare of the press. But I don't think it serves truth or justice to misuse science, to pretend that people who died didn't die, that jets didn't crash or that members of the Bush administration-which Lord knows is culpable for so many things-knowingly pulled any triggers. |
Many Shanghai residents are used to loitering around the streets in their pajamas. But now the municipal government is making every effort to stop them from doing so, because it would be a "loss of face" for city authorities if a foreigner sees people walking the streets in pajamas during the 2010 World Expo. (...) 
I'm an archival researcher--I work part-time at Princeton Architectural Press in the editorial department and the other half of the week freelance researching book projects. Last year I researched the subject of Nothing for the author Joan Konner (former Dean of Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism). Her book, 
I pulled up my sample ballot for Minneapolis elections today, and found something absolutely fabulous. Take a look at the second-from-last candidate. Specifically, his party affiliation. God, I love this town. The ballot just gets better when you know what an 
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