Wednesday, December 2, 2009

The Latest from Boing Boing

The Latest from Boing Boing

Link to Boing Boing

What Shall We Do With A Drunken Sailor?

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 07:07 PM PST



Paul Spinrad will be guest blogging here this week and next. 

If it's true that British Naval history is written in rum, sodomy, and the lash, one can't help but imagine what colorful fates have befallen drunken sailors early in the morning. Like many folk songs, "What Shall We Do With A Drunken Sailor," is a great template for verbal improvisation. For each verse, you just need four counts of lyrics, which you repeat between choruses. This provides ample time to set down your mug and gesture to your buddies, "Hey-- I've got a good one!" so they will give you the floor next time around.

I wish we could all be together now, singing sea chanties in some friendly tavern. That's not possible, but I think we can still have some fun coming up with and sharing new verses for What Shall We Do With A Drunken Sailor. I'll start, and if you have any, please post them in the comments:

Ream his bunghole with a rusty scupper (repeat)

Wring his sack in the starboard windlass (repeat)

Soak his cheeks in the Devil's bath, now (repeat)

Coat his mizzen-mast with tar and feathers (repeat)

(Obligatory Distancing Comment: Yes, this is totally immature.)

Photo: Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University  

admiralnelson-sm

Spanish activists issue manifesto on the rights of Internet users

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 01:57 AM PST

Javier "Barrapunto" Candeira writes, "Last Monday the Spanish Government sent the parliament the latest draft for the Ley de Economia Sostenible (Sustainable Economy Act), which contained riders modifying the current laws on copyright and interactive services. These amendments give the Spanish Ministy of Culture the administrative power to take down websites (or order ISPs to block those hosted overseas), all without a court order and in the name of 'safeguarding Intellectual Property Laws against Internet Piracy'. For this reason some of us have written a manifesto that is being published today all over Spanish weblogs and media."

A group of journalists, bloggers, professionals and creators want to express their firm opposition to the inclusion in a Draft Law of some changes to Spanish laws restricting the freedoms of expression, information and access to culture on the Internet. They also declare that:

1 .- Copyright should not be placed above citizens' fundamental rights to privacy, security, presumption of innocence, effective judicial protection and freedom of expression.

2 .- Suspension of fundamental rights is and must remain an exclusive competence of judges. This blueprint, contrary to the provisions of Article 20.5 of the Spanish Constitution, places in the hands of the executive the power to keep Spanish citizens from accessing certain websites.

3 .- The proposed laws would create legal uncertainty across Spanish IT companies, damaging one of the few areas of development and future of our economy, hindering the creation of startups, introducing barriers to competition and slowing down its international projection.

4 .- The proposed laws threaten creativity and hinder cultural development. The Internet and new technologies have democratized the creation and publication of all types of content, which no longer depends on an old small industry but on multiple and different sources.



5 .- Authors, like all workers, are entitled to live out of their creative ideas, business models and activities linked to their creations. Trying to hold an obsolete industry with legislative changes is neither fair nor realistic. If their business model was based on controlling copies of any creation and this is not possible any more on the Internet, they should look for a new business model.


6 .- We believe that cultural industries need modern, effective, credible and affordable alternatives to survive. They also need to adapt to new social practices.


7 .- The Internet should be free and not have any interference from groups that seek to perpetuate obsolete business models and stop the free flow of human knowledge.


8 .- We ask the Government to guarantee net neutrality in Spain, as it will act as a framework in which a sustainable economy may develop.


9 .- We propose a real reform of intellectual property rights in order to ensure a society of knowledge, promote the public domain and limit abuses from copyright organizations.


10 .- In a democracy, laws and their amendments should only be adopted after a timely public debate and consultation with all involved parties. Legislative changes affecting fundamental rights can only be made in a Constitutional law.


manifiesto en defensa de los derechos fundamentales en internet


(Thanks, Javier!)


(Image: ARTICLE 1, a Creative Commons Attribution image from art makes me smile's photostream)


Previously:

Mechanical flapping steampunk leather zeppelin

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 10:37 PM PST


The latest thing of beauty to emerge from the Ukrainian cave of wonders operated by Bob Basset, a collective of steampunk leatherworkers, is this "Flapping Push Toy": a leather steampunk airship with flapping bat-wings, brass portholes, and intricate gears within. Bravo!

Flapping Push Toy/Игрушка-толкалка, крыльями махалка

Previously:


Business Software Alliance asks Britons to become paid informants

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 10:32 PM PST

Here in the UK, the Business Software Alliance is running its annual paid informant "Nail Your Boss" program, in which they give big cash rewards to people who fink out their employers for running pirate software. This happens every year, but it reminded me of one of the funniest incidents in my life as a copyfighter:

I was guest-lecturing for a week at a master class on issues related to international copyright to grad students at Budapest's Central European University. The speaker following me was the lawyer who ran the Hungarian division of the Business Software Alliance. He described the many means by which the BSA tried to combat piracy, and then he mentioned this paid informant program.

There was an audible intake of breath, emanating primarily from the Eastern Europeans in the room. They'd lived through the Soviet era. They knew how corrosive it is to pay people to snitch on their neighbors. They know that it leads to score-settling, axe-grinding, and blackmail.

The BSA man instantly recognized his mistake and held his hands up placatingly.

"Oh, we don't use paid informants in Eastern Europe! That would be culturally inappropriate.

"No, we use paid informants in England."

I get the funniest looks when I tell that story here in London.

Narc on Your Boss, Get Cool Cash

Dane who ripped his DVDs demands to be arrested under DRM law

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 10:21 PM PST

In Denmark, it's legal to make copies of commercial videos for backup or other private purposes. It's also illegal to break the DRM that restricts copying of DVDs. Deciding to find out which law mattered, Henrik Anderson reported himself for 100 violations of the DRM-breaking law (he ripped his DVD collection to his computer) and demanded that the Danish anti-piracy Antipiratgruppen do something about. They promised him a response, then didn't respond. So now he's reporting himself to the police. He wants a trial, so that the legality of the DRM-breaking law can be tested in court.
However, in the period up to today, Henrik heard nothing from Antipiratgruppen, although their lawyer Thomas Schlüter did speak to the Danish press, saying that it was a political matter but had nevertheless reported the issue to the Association of Danish Videodistributors for consideration. In response, their chairman, Poul Dylov, said they would have a meeting to decide whether to report the matter to the police. Antipiratgruppen said it would reply to Henrik by they date he requested. It seems they have broken their promise and strangely are insisting that they never received the email that Henrik sent them on the issue...

Henrik told us: "But who should I follow? Those that determine the laws in this country? Or those who are lawyers for the companies that i'm committing a crime against?"

But Henrik has a solution to their inaction. "I decided to try to see if I can report myself directly to the police, for the case must be resolved," he told us.

Anti-Piracy Group Refuses Bait, DRM Breaker Goes To Police
Previously:


Somali pirate stock-market: "we've made piracy a community activity."

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 10:13 PM PST

Somali nautical pirates have established a stock-market where guns and cash are invested in upcoming hijackings, with shares of the proceeds returned to investors:

It is a lucrative business that has drawn financiers from the Somali diaspora and other nations -- and now the gangs in Haradheere have set up an exchange to manage their investments...

"Four months ago, during the monsoon rains, we decided to set up this stock exchange. We started with 15 'maritime companies' and now we are hosting 72. Ten of them have so far been successful at hijacking," Mohammed said.

"The shares are open to all and everybody can take part, whether personally at sea or on land by providing cash, weapons or useful materials ... we've made piracy a community activity."

Somali sea gangs lure investors at pirate lair (via /.)

(Image: File:MV-Faina-Pirates.jpg, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons)

Previously:


Your World of Warcraft toon on a poster

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 10:06 PM PST


Ted sez, "This website allows you to create posters of WoW characters. The company allows you to use a variety of backgrounds and designs, as well as inserting a character (in their currently loaded) armor into the poster, with pets and all (this is a big deal to hunters). Paper is high quality stuff."

PrintWarcraft Custom Prints (Thanks, Ted!)

Previously:


500 years of golden age magic between two covers: Magic, 1400s-1950s

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 10:02 PM PST


PeaceLove sez, "Cory's recent post mentioning the 'books as objects' phenomenon compels me to mention the extremely delectable new Taschen book, Magic, 1400s-1950s. It's gargantuan, classy, profusely illustrated and expensive but if you are a magician or magic fan, you've just found the perfect holiday gift (hint, hint). Authors Mike Caveney and Jim Steinmeyer, along with contributor Ricky Jay, are all professional magicians, scholars and historians of the first rank. This is a serious work, as well as a gigantic love letter to the 500+ 'golden years' of magic. It's available on deep discount right now at Amazon."

Magic 1400s-1950s (Amazon)

Magic, 1400s-1950s (Taschen, lots of interior images) (Thanks, PeaceLove!)

Previously:


Obama's Afghanistan escalation speech: now *here's* a response video

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 09:48 PM PST

Watch Rachel Maddow's superb post-speech comment on whether Obama is keeping the Bush Doctrine alive in Afghanistan. Spoiler: yeah. Follow Maddow on Twitter.

War Pigs

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 09:19 PM PST

Black Sabbath, 1970. Inspired by a fleeting tweet from Raymond Leon Roker. May or may not be a "response video" of sorts to the news of the evening.

Time in nature makes us more caring

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 10:14 PM PST

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(photo by Jason Weisberger)

Recent research suggests that spending time in nature actually makes people "more caring." The studies, by University of Rochester psychologists Netta Weinstein, Andrew Przybylski, and Richard Ryan, showed that people exposed to nature (well, mostly slideshows of nature) put a higher value on intrinsic aspirations, such as doing good in the world or having meaningful relationships, and lower value on extrinsic aspirations, like making a lot of cash or admired by many people. Now as I mentioned, the participants didn't actually live outdoors for a while or anything as part of the study. Rather, in three of the studies, they looked at images of either the built environment or landscapes and such. And in the fourth, some participants were assigned to work in a laboratory either with or without plants around them. Then they answered a series of questions or were given tests of generosity. "The result? People who were in contact with nature were more willing to open their wallets and share. As with aspirations, the higher the immersion in nature, the more likely subjects were to be generous with their winnings."

More info and a video interview with one of the researchers after the jump.







From the University of Rochester:

Why should nature make us more charitable and concerned about others? One answer, says coauthor Andrew Przybylski, is that nature helps to connect people to their authentic selves. For example, study participants who focused on landscapes and plants reported a greater sense of personal autonomy ("Right now, I feel like I can be myself"). For humans, says Przybylski, our authentic selves are inherently communal because humans evolved in hunter and gatherer societies that depended on mutuality for survival.


In addition, write the authors, the richness and complexity of natural environments may encourage introspection and the lack of man-made structures provide a safe haven from the man-made pressures of society. "Nature in a way strips away the artifices of society that alienate us from one another," says Przybylski.

"Nature Makes Us More Caring, Study Says" (University of Rochester)

"Can Nature Make Us More Caring? Effects of Immersion in Nature on Intrinsic Aspirations and Generosity" (paper abstract)

"The Moral Call of the Wild" (Scientific American, thanks Marina Gorbis!)

Energy Literacy 4. How to gauge whether your politicians are faking it on climate change commitments

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 08:56 PM PST

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Saul Griffith is an inventor and entrepreneur. He did his PhD at MIT in programmable matter, exploring the relationship between bits and atoms, or information and materials. Since leaving MIT, he has co-founded a number of technology companies including Optiopia, Squid Labs, Instructables, Potenco, and Makani Power.

On the day before Thanksgiving, while everyone was distracted buying (or pardoning) turkeys, the Obama team announced that the president will go to Copenhagen and promise to try to commit to a carbon reduction schedule for the United States.

(More links if you want to see the news repeat it over and over again: 1, 2, 3)

On one hand, I want to be excited about this because unless the US makes a commitment to CO2 reductions, it's exceedingly unlikely that the rest of the world will bother. On the other hand, no one should be jumping in the aisles till we look at the numbers more carefully.

It's probably useful to first update yourself on the climate science. Here's a well-written, critical, and objective summary of recent scientific results released a few months ago. It was prepared as an update between the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of 2007, and IPCC AR5, which will not to be completed until 2013. The PDF of the full report is well worth reading.


In summary, the science news isn't so good. Greenhouse gas emissions have increased nearly 40% between 1990 and 2008. The temperature has been increasing at a rate of 0.19 degrees C, (0.34 F) each decade for the past 25 years. Ice-sheets, glaciers, and ice-caps are exhibiting accelerated melting. The existing sea-level rise predictions look to be underestimates by at least a factor of 2. Delaying action risks irreversible damage and we must peak in emissions soon, preferably between 2015 and 2020, if not earlier.

Those who claim recent cooling trends are ignoring the fact that we are currently at a solar minimum, a period of low solar activity that is partially offsetting the long term global heating trend. This is a bit like saying you don't need to change your eating habits because you lost weight while having the flu.

So, in light of this science, how can we understand what Obama's pledge means?

For starters, any public dialogue that talks about "percentage reductions in emissions" by a certain date is misleading. Because of the long residence time of CO2 in the atmosphere, it makes far more sense to talk about the amount of CO2 remaining to be released before we hit a peak CO2 concentration. Let's call this the "remaining cumulative carbon emissions" method. After those emissions, we essentially need to emit zero carbon. This way of looking at the climate was first popularized by Krause, Bach, & Koomey, in an excellent book called "Energy Policy in the Greenhouse" (1992). It was revisited as a tool of understanding the climate challenge in two great Nature magazine articles this year. (Nature magazine is probably the most prestigious, and rigorous, of all the academic journals.) In one of those, Meinshausen et al., used this method of analysis to look at how you would limit the planet to 2 degrees C of warming.

Two degrees is what most industrialized nations see as the upper limit of tolerable climate change, and it has become something like the default target before we see "dangerous levels of climate change." (Incidentally, the least-developed nations and the 43 small island nations of AOSIS are calling for limiting warming to 1.5 degrees.) The Copenhagen Diagnosis Update referenced above summarizes: "Meinshausen found that if a total of 1000 Gigatons of CO2 is emitted for the period 2000-2050, the likelihood of exceeding the 2-degree warming limit is around 25%. Between 2000- 2009, about 350 Gigatons have already been emitted, leaving only 650 Gigatons as the emissions budget for 2010-2050. At current emission rates this budget would be used up within 20 years."

The remaining cumulative carbon emissions is a useful framework by which we can now assess the pseudo-commitment (meaning unratified by Congress) that Obama will present in Copenhagen. According to the New York Times, "Mr. Obama will tell the delegates that the United States intends to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 'in the range of' 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050, officials said."

The first problem here is that most nations, including Europe, are committing to reductions based on 1990 levels, but the US is basing its reductions on 2005 levels. Here's the historical US data.

And I've put it into a public spreadsheet for you to see. This spreadsheet assumes meeting these targets with a linear fit between 2010 & 2020, and the same from 2021-2050. That is very likely an optimistic assumption.

As you'll note, a 17% reduction over 2005 levels means only a 0.3% reduction over 1990 levels.

What you'll also see is that Obama is making a commitment to emit 59 Gigatons from the US alone from 2010-2020, and a further 88 Gigatons from 2020-2050, for a total of 147 Gigatons of CO2. This is 22.7% of the 650 Gigaton limit implied by Meinshausen. This helps to see why it's hard to get an agreement in Copenhagen. In order to avoid "dangerous levels of climate change" the US is committing to reduce its output to "only" 22.7% of global emissions, despite having only 4.5% of the global population. The other point to note is that even these reductions don't satisfy the "emissions go to zero" aspect of this CO2 budget, as the US would still be emitting a gigaton of CO2 per year in 2050 under this plan.

There are a few things we might hazard a guess at when we look at these numbers:

a) The US government doesn't think that we should bother aiming at even a 25% chance of staying below 2 degrees C.

b) The US government believes the rest of the world won't notice the disproportionality of its emissions based on population.

c) The US government believes that we'll invent a magic technology for sequestering atmospheric CO2 at some low cost powered by a magic new energy source.

d) The US government has lost its ability to make hard choices, and to rise to the urgencies of the moment in a way that is required of a great nation.

I like to think of the modern era as "the age of consequence." We are starting to understand the consequences of our individual and collective actions. Although it's early in the modeling revolution, we are learning to model the results of our actions now as the play out in the future. The upside of the age of consequence, and having the internet out there for lots of people to look ponder it (the age of transparency), is that the general public can analyze policy such as the announcements Obama is making in Copenhagen, and critique it. Perhaps we'll even be able to use this elegant framework of "total CO2 emissions" to quite frankly say, "this is not good enough, your words and commitments don't match up".

I don't think public policy alone, whether from individual government or the entire international community, will meet the climate challenge. Individuals will need to lead by example and make personal reductions by demanding products and services that will meet the real climate challenge. Fundamentally, that means massive installation of zero carbon energy generation technologies, and likely quite large reductions in personal energy use. It would be fantastic if we re-defined the climate challenge in terms of how we do both of those things while increasing the quality of our lives. Unless individuals do this, it is unlikely that governments will see the demand for action and act appropriately.

The main criticisms and resistance to climate action are often because we frame it as a challenge of denying ourselves and negatively impacting our lives and economy. By framing it instead as a "how do we improve our quality of life?" question, more people are engaged in the debate and the actions we need. It's no longer a purely technological fix; we can more accurately frame the problem for what it is: a challenge for us all, where we can win if we think clearly about what we are trying to achieve. That's a better quality of life for all.


ref: Meinshausen, M. et al., (2009) Greenhouse-gas emission targets for limiting global warming to 2°C. Nature 458, 1158-1162.

Hemant "The Friendly Atheist" Mehta Interviews Ray "The Banana Man" Comfort

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 03:28 PM PST

banana.jpg

Hemant Mehta does a fascinating interview with Ray Comfort, not about Creationism, but about Comfort's personal philosophy and the way he has gone about promoting Creationism and Christianity in general. Comfort, you'll recall, is the guy who tried to prove the existence of a benevolent interventionist God by appealing to the human-convenient shape of a banana--a plant that's been heavily modified by humans through controlled selection in agriculture. Kudos to Mehta for giving us a glimpse inside this particular head.

Hemant: The banana. Do you stand by the argument in your video? Do you regret saying what you did? Do you like when people associate that video with you? Was it a joke? Are you aware that the banana in your video is genetically modified while a "natural" banana would be virtually unrecognizable? (There are several other questions regarding the Banana, but these are the overall themes).

Ray: I deeply regret doing the banana routine on television without a live audience. I have been doing it for live audiences for more than 20 years, and it's never failed to get a lot of laughs. Regarding genetic modification. There isn't any evidence that the banana has changed its shape in the last 2,000 years. The anonymous creator of the well-publicized YouTube clip used a picture of a modern banana that was shaped like a potato, to make me look like a fool (and he did a pretty good job). To see evidence that the banana hasn't changed shape, go to the bottom of http://www.livingwaters.com/origin/presskit and click on the PDF of "The Banana Controversy." Humbling though it has been, the subject has worked in my favor. Being "The Banana Man" has left me with a very low bar to reach. People are quite amazed when I'm able to string a complete sentence together.

It's worth noting that, given Mehta's audience, this is pretty atheist-centric. However, I'm well aware that belief in the Christian God/Jesus (or any other deity) doesn't preclude acceptance of evolution and doesn't equate with scientific illiteracy. Mehta seems to be aware of that as well. Comfort, on the other hand, appears to be a little confused on the subject.

The Friendly Atheist: Interview With Ray Comfort

Image courtesy Flickr user ian_ransley, via CC

Beschizza's Law

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 01:58 PM PST

Beschizza's Law: "Any sufficiently advanced reality is indistinguishable from Photoshop."

Artist's amazing self-camouflage

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 01:50 PM PST

Images Blog 2009 11 Gh4
Images Blog 2009 11 Gh2 Images Blog 2009 11 Gh10
Above is the mindbending work of camouflage artist Liu Bolin. More images over at Hi-Fructose!

Previously:


Pink Floyd and seizure warning sign

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 01:29 PM PST

From the Journal of Emergency Medicine: "De Novo Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformation: Pink Floyd's Song "Brick in the Wall" as a Warning Sign." (via NCBI ROFL)

Photo of ghostly eye on ceiling

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 10:18 PM PST

Cimages Var Ezwebin Site Storage Images Coast-To-Coast Repository Photos Creepy-Eye-On-Ceiling 446290-1-Eng-Us Creepy-Eye-On-Ceiling
A Coast to Coast listener named Alan sent in this amazing photo of a creepy giant spectral eye staring down at he and his wife in their bedroom. Alan says the eye turned out to be "a bedside light reflecting off a stack of CDs." Too bad. "Creepy eye on ceiling"

Tonight on National Geographic Explorer: Your Nightmares

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 12:53 PM PST

Tonight, the National Geographic Channel visits a rural Brazilian town where "the 80 households in a one-square-mile area have reportedly some 38 pairs of twins. Blond, blue-eyed twins." Nat Geo then attempts to trace rumors connecting that creepy phenomenon to Nazi medical monster Joseph Mengele, who was on the lam in Brazil in the 1950s. I'm not sure I've seen a Nat Geo special that inspired this strong of a, "No, really, you're making this up, right?" response. I'm curious whether they turn up anything definitive, or whether this just ends up being a lot of speculation. Sadly, I don't have cable, so I probably won't find out. If anybody watches it, let me know what you think.

National Geographic Channel: Nazi Mystery: Twins From Brazil

Goldman Sachs bankers ready themselves to kill peasants in the inevitable uprising

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 08:46 PM PST

Bloomberg columnist Alice Schroeder reports that Goldman Sachs vampires are loading up on handguns to defend themselves against popular uprising:

"I just wrote my first reference for a gun permit," said a friend, who told me of swearing to the good character of a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker who applied to the local police for a permit to buy a pistol. The banker had told this friend of mine that senior Goldman people have loaded up on firearms and are now equipped to defend themselves if there is a populist uprising against the bank.

I called Goldman Sachs spokesman Lucas van Praag to ask whether it's true that Goldman partners feel they need handguns to protect themselves from the angry proletariat. He didn't call me back...

Plenty of Wall Streeters worry about the big discrepancies in wealth, and think the rise of a financial industry-led plutocracy is unjust. That doesn't mean any of them plan to move into a double-wide mobile home as a show of solidarity with the little people, though.

No, talk of Goldman and guns plays right into the way Wall- Streeters like to think of themselves. Even those who were bailed out believe they are tough, macho Clint Eastwoods of the financial frontier, protecting the fistful of dollars in one hand with the Glock in the other. The last thing they want is to be so reasonably paid that the peasants have no interest in lynching them.

Arming Goldman With Pistols Against Public: Alice Schroeder (via Making Light)

(Image: Eat the bankers, a Creative Commons Attribution photo from Iain Winfield's photostream)

Previously:


The Story Of "The Pink Lady of Malibu"

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 12:43 PM PST

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Wooster Collective ("a celebration of street art") has an article about "The Pink Lady of Malibu," which appeared over a tunnel in Malibu Canyon Road in 1966.

One Saturday morning, on October 29, 1966, a massive 60-foot-tall painting of a nude pink lady holding flowers suddenly appeared as you headed into the tunnel on Malibu Canyon Road.

As word of the massive pink lady spread, and the traffic on the highway grew to a halt, city officials decided "The Pink Lady" had to be removed. Firefighters were called to hosing her off the rocks. It didn't work. Buckets of paint thinner were thrown on the rocks. It only made her pink skin pinker.

As county officials worked on figuring out a way to remove The Pink Lady, a 31-year-old paralegal from Northridge, a woman named Lynne Seemayer, suddenly showed up on the road and admitted that she was the artist who did the piece.

Seemayer said that she was annoyed by the graffiti that was all over the canyon wall ("Valley Go Home" was a memorable slogan) and so, over a 10 month period, she started to secretly climb up under the moonlight and suspended herself by ropes to remove the graffiti.

At 8 P. M. on October 28 Seemayer painted the Pink Lady using ordinary house paint. By dawn it was done.

Snopes has more about the story.

The Story Of "The Pink Lady of Malibu" (Via Little Hokum Rag)

Ingenious Pac Man ring-set

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 12:27 PM PST


Rachel sez, "I just made these rings today, and think you might like them! They are handmade from sterling silver with black onyx "food points." As the saying goes, 'om nom nom!'

Yes, Rachel, I do like 'em! I like 'em a lot!

Pacman Ring Series- Sterling Silver and Black Onyx (Thanks, Rachel!)

Previously:


Core77's holiday gift guide

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 12:16 PM PST

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The design blog Core77 has some great ideas in their 2009 holiday gift guide.

Solvate Customer Service Haggling, $25/hour

Consider the gift of time, in $25 increments, from Solvate Customer Service Haggling. This startup VC-backed company takes on numerous phone-related haggling challenges, with impressive case study results. 90 minutes saved in planning a last minute business trip. 30 minutes reducing DMV headaches. 45 minutes haggling down a four-figure iPhone abroad data charge. This holiday season, give the gift of delegation.

Core77's holiday gift guide

Child-tasering officer fired

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 11:52 AM PST

The mayor of Ozark, Arkansas, has fired the policeman who tased a 10-year-old girl. He apparently had to exploit the same technicality previously used to suspend him: failure to use the built-in camera. [KATV]

Tim Biskup special edition wallet by Poketo

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 12:28 PM PST

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Tim Biskup designed a wallet made by Poketo, which will be offered at his upcoming show, "Art-Snob Eat Shit" at All Tomorrow's Parties' "Nightmare Before Christmas," December 4-6, 2009 at Butlin's Holiday Centre, Minehead, UK.

Tim Biskup not only designed the poster, tee shirts and other graphics for the upcoming My Bloody Valentine-curated "Nightmare Before Christmas" event for All Tomorrow's Parties, but will also be showing an exhibition of his own work at the on-site gallery, "Art-Snob Eat Shit". To add icing to the cake, Tim Biskup will be releasing an exclusive Poketo wallet, only available at the show, in addition to two new Poketo wallets available at Poketo.com.

Curated by My Bloody Valentine, "Nightmare Before Christmas" takes place during All Tomorrows Parties in the UK. The festival showcases world-renowned artists, and musicians ranging in style from post-rock, avant-garde, and underground hip-hop, with a more intimate feel than a mainstream music festival.  More information available at www.atpfestival.com.

Nightmare Before Christmas curated by My Bloody Valentine

Classic Meme Celebrates Its 40th Anniversary

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 11:23 AM PST

2010 will mark the 40th anniversary of one of the Internet's oldest memes: That Video Where They Blow Up a Beached Whale. To mark this momentous occasion, Asylum recently interviewed Paul Linnman, the TV reporter who recorded the footage that went on to become the the fifth-most-viewed viral video of all time.

"We're hearing this noise around us and we realize it is pieces of whale blubber hitting the ground around us (from) 1,000 yards away. A piece of blubber the size of a fingernail could kill you if it hit you in the right part of the head, so we ran away from the blast scene, down the dune and toward the parking lot. Then we heard a second explosion ahead of us, and we just kept going until we saw what it was: A car had been hit by this coffee-table-size piece of blubber and had its windows flattened all the way down to the seats."

The footage and Linnman's report made the evening news and eventually found its way into the national media, something that only earned him $90 extra bucks and $110 for Brazil "because he had a better union than I did apparently."

Asylum.com: Exploding Whale Video Reporter Looks Back Four Decades Later

Court vs. cops stalemate in Maricopa County

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 12:06 PM PST

Radley Balko wonders what will happen to the court-document stealing deputy of Maricopa County: "I can't think of another case where a judge has ordered someone jailed for contempt and the police department has refused to carry out the order. I'm not sure what would happen next. A duel? Arm wrestling?"

Hammerhead sharks may have human-grade vision with one major blind spot

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 09:54 AM PST

2935553971_b4c86cf410.jpgA new study conducted in Florida has given scientists reason to believe that hammerhead sharks may have vision comparable to that of humans. The researchers measured electrical activity in the eyes of half a dozen sharks from three different hammerhead species. They then put electrodes under the sharks' corneas and recorded electrical activity while shining lights in horizontal and vertical arcs around each eye. Compared to normal-headed sharks, the hammerheads had three times the visual overlap — that's what creates stereo vision and depth perception in animals with eyes that face forward. This, of course, helps them be faster and more efficient at hunting prey. But there's a catch: because their eyes are so far apart, hammerheads have these giant blind spots right in the middle of their head. As study leader Michelle McComb put it in an interview with National Geographic:
There's actually been anecdotal claims by divers that they see little fish schooling right in front of the hammerheads' heads. It's like the fish are swimming by and saying, Ha, ha, ha, you can't see me!
Hammerhead sharks have "human" vision [National Geographic] Image via Eric Charlton's Flickr

Guest Blogger: Paul Spinrad!

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 09:25 AM PST

Pauls-Books

I'm very happy to welcome my friend Paul Spinrad back as a guest blogger. If you missed him the first time around, do yourself a favor and check out his previous posts on Boing Boing.

Paul is one of the most original thinkers I know, and a warm, friendly person. He's a freelance writer/editor with catholic interests, and is the Projects Editor for MAKE magazine and the author of The VJ Book and The Re/Search Guide to Bodily Fluids. He was also an early contributor to bOING bOING when it was an online zine. He lives in San Francisco. Please give him a warm welcome!

Former beauty queen dies from plastic surgery

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 09:09 AM PST

Former beauty queen Solange Magnano died from plastic surgery complications on Sunday. She was Miss Argentina in 1994, and is the mother of 7-year old twins. 1 in 30 Argentines have had plastic surgery, according to CNN.

FTC solves all other problems, decides to fix news

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 08:17 PM PST

Dan Gillmor sez,
As everyone knows, the nation's scam artists, monopolists and market-riggers have all gone into hibernation during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. This has given the Federal Trade Commission the breathing room it needs to intercede in an arena where its role is, at best, unclear.

This week, the commission is holding a two-day workshop entitled How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age? -- the purpose of which is 'to explore how the Internet has affected journalism.'

The commission has discovered that the advertising model which once supported many kinds of journalism has eroded. Quoting several economists, the workshop notice says 'public affairs reporting may indeed be particularly subject to market failure.'

Market failure? What about the market failure -- which as far as I can tell never got any attention from a succession of FTC people during the past half-century -- of the monopolies and oligopolies created by media organizations during that period? The public affairs journalism was, for the most part, a modest spinoff of the extortionate advertising prices they charged when they had near-absolute market power to charge anything they wished. Only when there's real competition does the FTC get interested.

FTC's Shallow Dive into Journalism's Future (Thanks, Dan!)
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