Sunday, December 13, 2009

The Latest from Boing Boing

The Latest from Boing Boing

Link to Boing Boing

FDIC sends a big F-U: completely blacked out documents in response to WaMu takeover freedom of information requests

Posted: 12 Dec 2009 10:55 PM PST

Tim Ellis sez, "Completely inexcusable 'transparency' from the FDIC, releasing hundreds of totally blacked-out docs in response to a Freedom of Information Act request about the closure of Washington Mutual. 'An unprecedented level of openness in Government' indeed."

On the plus side, at least one agency in the Administrative branch knows how to redact a document.

Both agencies have declined repeated requests to answer questions about how they decided to close WaMu. WaMu is just one of 155 financial institutions closed since the housing crisis got under way in 2008, including six closed so far this month.

Under FOIA, agencies are required by law to provide information within 20 days.

The FDIC has offered several explanations for the delay, most often citing its workload. A lot of banks have failed since the onset of the financial crisis, they said. "We're drowning in paperwork," one of the agency's FOIA officers said.


The fight for WaMu documents (Thanks, Tim!)

Pizza made from a whole pig

Posted: 12 Dec 2009 10:42 PM PST

Realms of Fantasy magazine website now has PDF of current ish

Posted: 12 Dec 2009 10:37 PM PST

Douglas sez, "Realms of Fantasy Magazine has just launched its brand-new website. It includes a .pdf of our latest issue (February 2010), available for free download. We have also created Readers Awards for fiction & art, we have brought back longtime fiction editor Shawna McCarthy's editorial column, and there are a host of other reading and visual goodies for fans of speculative literature. Lots more contents and features will be added in the coming days and weeks."

It's great to see the print sf/f magazines really starting to explore the web. I really enjoy RoF!

Realms of Fantasy Magazine (Thanks, Douglas!)

Make's 2009 Open Source Hardware Guide

Posted: 12 Dec 2009 10:52 PM PST

Gareth Branwyn from Make Magazine sez, "Phil Torrone has posted his monstrously magnificent annual open source hardware guide for 2009. It includes over 125 projects in 19 categories." Wa-hey -- electric open source menorah!
MakerBot is an affordable, open source 3D printer. It makes almost anything up to 4" x 4" x 6" using ABD plastic. Price: $750 and up
Open source hardware 2009 - The definitive guide to open source hardware projects in 2009 (Thanks, Gareth!)
Previously:


Raver killed by bass

Posted: 12 Dec 2009 10:16 PM PST

A 19-year old university student at a dance party was apparently killed by bass, after being pushed up close to speakers blasting very loud techno. Doctors say he died of sudden arrhythmic death syndrome (SADS), a heart disorder which kills 12 young people a week. (via Doug Lussenhop)

Mugshots of people arrested while wearing unfortunate ironic t-shirts

Posted: 12 Dec 2009 10:05 PM PST

trouble.jpg One wonders if they might have been arrested for the crime of wearing these shirts. What Not to Wear (via Jesse Dylan)

Update: Weird, the site is suddenly unavailable, as of 10pm PT, Dec. 12. Maybe it'll be available again. Sorry!

Is this Facebook's "Microsoft Moment"?

Posted: 12 Dec 2009 10:14 PM PST

Danny Sullivan's observations on Facebook's collossal privacy/public relations flustercluck: "Is this Facebook's Microsoft Moment?" In other words, the moment people see it as having gone from benign to pretty much evil. Required background reading: the EFF's Kevin Bankston breaks down Facebook's privacy changes.

Men in Iran don hijab drag on Facebook to support a political prisoner

Posted: 12 Dec 2009 04:32 PM PST

In Iran, hundreds of men are presenting themselves as women in Hijab on their Facebook profiles to support Majid Tavakoli, a student activist who was arrested earlier this month. Authorities claim Tavakoli disguised himself as a woman to escape after delivering a speech in Tehran on Student Day.

Maybe Goldman's bankers are getting guns after all (and even if they aren't, man, this shadowy carry-permits-for-the-rich thing is scary) - UPDATED

Posted: 12 Dec 2009 10:51 PM PST

Perhaps you've followed the great armed Goldman-Sachs Banker story here, but if not, a quick recap: first, a Bloomberg columnist wrote an unsourced report alleging that Goldman Sachs bankers in New York were arming up, getting permits to carry handguns in the event of a peasant uprising fuelled by outrage over their government-subsidized profiteering on the econopocalypse's human misery. The story had legs, and got widely reported.

Then, a Wall Street Journal reporter filed an article in which New York law enforcement repudiated the armed Goldman Sachs story, saying that there was no record of Goldman Sachs bankers getting NYC carry-permits. On this basis, the WSJ called the story a myth.

Now, a third salvo: an anonymous tipster writes in with word of a secretive, undocumented parallel handgun permitting system available to the wealthy. Essentially, a would-be gunslinger just pays a small-town sheriff somewhere in the USA to make him a "reserve" or "honorary" officer. Now he is entitled to carry all through the USA, without being subject to normal regulations, even as they pertain to ammo, or even carrying guns onto commercial, scheduled airplanes.

The anonymous tipster's point seems to be, "If you disbelieve the armed Goldman banker story because the NYPD doesn't have a record of carry permit applications, then perhaps you should reconsider, because these vampires could be legally arming up without having to go through the NYPD." Click through the jump to read the whole story.

Update: In the comments, Phanatic cites the applicable law and makes a compelling case that this theory isn't true -- or that, at least, it's overstated.

Update 2: William Gibson writes, "Ran the story past a friend at LAPD. Smart guy, and usually very clear and accurate on this sort of thing. His reaction:

'In 2004, President Bush signed into Federal LAW, the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act, formerly known as HR 218. LEOSA does empower full time sworn law enforcement officers to carry in all 50 states. This law extends to retired law enforcement officers provided certain provisos are met (i.e. regular qualification). However, with respect to "reserves" and "honorary" titles. In order for a reserve to qualify under LEOSA, they must undergo the same rigorous training and certification as a full-time sworn officer. Simply being bestowed a badge and title by some hick Sheriff will not cut it. You must then be certified by the state by undergoing hundreds of hours of training and required field time. I highly doubt most of these "gifted" individuals have done so. On the other hand, it is true that certain wealthy patrons have obtained CCWs by heavily supporting certain regimes. That is true... As a matter of fact, any hick sheriff can give out a CCW that is good for his county and state. However, the CCW holder will not be able to cross state boundaries unless there is a reciprocity agreement with the other states.'
Well, they are the ones who are bogus because they don't understand how CCWs (pistol permits) operate. Let me give you some insight into CCW in restrictive places like NYC and California. The key fact is there are *two* parallel CCW systems. There's the official system, and there is a whole parallel "stealth" system which I will explain after explaining the official system. I hope you will indulge my long email to understand the ugliness of this particular area of law in the US.

In the ten "may-issue" states, which include NY, CA and 8 others, permits are handled by a local official, usually the chief of police or the county sheriff. These officials decide who gets permits, usually based on power, money and status. These permits are public records.

When the police chief of NY says, "Goldman Sachs execs aren't getting permits!" he means, they are not applying to NYPD for permits. That's not a surprise to me, because the VIP status threshold for permits in NYC (and LA and SF) is very very high, above the status of most corporate executives.

(Note that in NYC, unlike most of the US, a permit is needed to merely possess a gun, so the chief knows about all those applications. In California, no permit is needed to possess, but a permit is needed to carry, and that permit is highly restricted in urban areas.)

That's the "official" permit system.

There's also a little-known parallel permit system in place, which has substantial advantages over the "official" system.

Permits in this parallel system are not public records. They may be issued from other states. The permits themselves are *fantastic* because they let the holder possess and carry guns in all 50 states and in DC (state-issued permits are much more restricted). They also let the permit holder disregard a lot of state gun laws (things like magazine limitations, assault weapons bans, etc, which are present in California, NY and a few other states). Also, permits within this parallel system are available at lower status / dollar thresholds than within the official systems in places like NYC. In short, this parallel, stealth system is the smart way to go, with numerous advantages.

This parallel system is the result of the intersection between the various "reserve" or "honorary" officer statutes which exist in every state, and a 2004 Federal law called the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act. It's often referred to as the LEOSA, or even more commonly, HR218. In fact this parallel system was (intentionally or not) created by HR218, so it's necessary to understand this little-known law to understand the parallel permit system.

HR218 says that a law enforcement officer (as defined by the statute) can carry his gun in all 50 states and in DC, and generally is not bound by nutty state- level restrictions, like magazine capacity laws, hollow point ammo bans in NJ, that kind of thing.

Put HR218 together with all the states that have "reserve" officer programs, and you have a stealth permit-for-dollars system.

In short, what happens is this: a wealthy New Yorker, with a need to carry a gun in NY (and other states, such as when he visits NJ or DC, two places where permits are impossible) finds a financially-strapped small-town police department in some other state, like Alaska for example. The wealthy New Yorker buys the town's PD a new Crown Vic, or makes a donation of some kind.

The police chief then gives the wealthy New Yorker credentials as a "reserve" officer, which do not have any powers of arrest, or any duties, but do qualify as a "law enforcement officer" under HR218. (Remember, every state has various "reserve" officer statutes, and many states have no training requirements at all for those "reserve" officers.) At that point, the chief is happy to have a new Crown Vic, and the New Yorker is happy that he has a permit which lets him possess and carry in every state and exempts him from NY's asinine restrictions (magazine capacity and so on). And it's all "stealth": his reserve officer status is not a public record anywhere.

Given that many people can afford to donate a Crown Vic, but very few people have the VIP status and "juice" to get an official NYPD carry permit, and given that a NYPD permit is actually much more restricted than HR218-carry, you can imagine that the "official" permits in NY may be just the tip of the iceberg. The NYPD chief would have *no way* of knowing how many people are (legally) owning and carrying pistols in NYC using HR218. There is *no* central registry or database of such information. "Reserve" officer status is something which exists only in the private files of the issuing police department, which may well be a small town in Montana or Alaska or somewhere like that.

I have no idea of the actual scope of these "stealth" HR218 "permits" because they are, in fact, stealth.

So the NYPD chief's statements that Goldman Sachs execs aren't getting gun permits is baseless and probably incorrect.

There are a few other neato aspects of these HR218 permits. Because these people are "officers" they can also get letters, on department letterhead, authorizing even cooler things. Want to carry a machine pistol (like a Glock 18 or mini-Uzi) in NYC? If you can get officer status, and the right letter of authorization, from a police chief in a small town in a rural state, you probably can do it legally. Want to carry your piece *on commercial flights*? Again, get an "armed 24x7" letter from a small-town police chief, and you can carry your pistol onto commercial flights. I have no idea how common these practices may or may not be, but the legal framework is in place and it's a win-win for both parties involved.

Here in California we have a big problem with sheriffs such as Sheriff Baca operating extremely corrupt, financially-motivated CCW programs, and so some Californians have explored the idea of bypassing California's CCW law using HR218, and have posted a lot more research about this legal framework. They also want to bypass California's weird handgun restrictions ("not unsafe" handgun roster and magazine limitations). Here is the discussion thread.

Previously:


Ideo's Human Centered Design Toolkit, free download

Posted: 12 Dec 2009 07:57 AM PST

Avi sez, "The design firm IDEO has made it's 'Human-Centered Design Toolkit' available for free download. This is essentially a complete methodology to power millions of garage innovation factories and should be the necessary component of any high-school kid's education."

Work - Human Centered Design Toolkit - IDEO (Thanks, Avi!)

Previously:


Saturday Morning Science Experiment: Flour On Fire

Posted: 12 Dec 2009 04:29 PM PST

Flour is not as innocuous as it may seem. Like other carbohydrates, it's really just a tiny chain of sugars at heart. And (as anyone who's ever made s'mores knows) sugar can light up like a dried-out Christmas Tree that's been exposed to an electrical spark. In fact, flour dust is highly explosive. Today's experiment takes advantage of the burnability of flour to create a cool fire-breathing trick.

Thumbnail image courtesy Flickr user pinkmoose, via CC
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