The Latest from Boing Boing |  |
- Haagen Dazs opens no-Indians-allowed store in Delhi
- Limited edition, slipcased LITTLE BROTHER with CC licensed original art and endpapers
- Vintage Listerine decanter
- Papercraft Theo Jansen walker
- Unplugged: the best sf published on the Web in 2008
- Hidden sensory apparatus discovered in human skin
- IO9's best sf of the noughties
- Somewhat Surprised Kitten is just kind of like, meh
- When Shepard Fairey sours on "HOPE," you know we're screwed
- Missing Bush administration emails (22 million of 'em) found
- Femke Hiemstra art at Roq La Rue
- Rewriting "fear" memories
- Mathematics of slicing pizza
- Google search for "i don't read boing boing"
- Epic Disney/Marvel mashup
- Tool-using animals: Now with 100% more invertebrates!
- Change blindness experiment
- The Forgery of Venus, by Michael Gruber
- Flame thrower and potato cannon project posters
- NajMeTender plays "Pokerface" on ukulele
- Biographies
- How a Japanese scientist made the first artificial snowflake
- Woman, 98, charged with murdering 100-year-old roommate
- Dark-skinned nativity scene angers conservatives in Verona
- Identity of synth-playing chicken man in subway revealed
- Hollywood teaches geography
- But will they end up being paid more?
- Transformers-themed customized car in Guatemala
- Farmer toilet-trains pigs
- Malamud's "By the People" - stirring history of the Government Printing Office
| Haagen Dazs opens no-Indians-allowed store in Delhi Posted: 15 Dec 2009 04:36 AM PST The inaugural Delhi outlet of Haagen Dazs (A Danish phrase that means, "Made in New Jersey," apparently) opened with a "no Indians allowed" policy. The sign on the door read, "Access restricted only to holders of international passports." After a public hue and cry, the franchise operator (who is Indian) dropped the policy and claimed it had never existed. Sorry, Indians not allowed (Image: Times of India) |
| Limited edition, slipcased LITTLE BROTHER with CC licensed original art and endpapers Posted: 15 Dec 2009 02:55 AM PST   HarperCollins have just brought out a beautiful limited deluxe edition of my novel Little Brother. It's a slipcased hardcover, in a limited run of 500 signed copies, and it sports eight spectacular original illustrations by Richard Wilkinson (along with some really snazzy endpapers: a map of San Francisco's Mission district redrawn as a circuit-diagram). All the art is Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licensed, too, and ready for your fan Little Brother remixes. Now the bad news: it's only available outside of the US and Canada, due to a really silly bit of lawyerly risk-aversion about territorial rights. I'm working on seeing if there's a way to arrange to do a grey-market export to US/Canada, and earmarking, say, 100 of them for this purpose, but I can't make any guarantees. But the good news for Britons is that HarperCollins will guarantee delivery before Xmas if you buy before Friday! Get 'em while they last! Little Brother - Cory Doctorow Limited Edition Deluxe Version High rez, Creative Commons licensed art by Richard Wilkinson |
| Posted: 15 Dec 2009 12:30 AM PST  Love this vintage Listerine "decanter" - packaging used to be so sweet. Vintage Packaging Design (via The Dieline) Previously:
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| Posted: 14 Dec 2009 10:48 PM PST This papercraft walker, inspired by the genius kinetic sculptor Theo Jansen, uses nothing but paper and a single bamboo crank-shaft to accomplish its magic. Papercraft Theo Jansen (via Make)
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| Unplugged: the best sf published on the Web in 2008 Posted: 14 Dec 2009 10:45 PM PST  Just released: Unplugged: The Web's Best Sci-Fi & Fantasy - 2008 Download, edited by Rich Horton and published by Wyrm Publishing, who also bring you the excellent Clarkesworld sf magazine. Unplugged is a collection of short stories that were originally published on the Web, a kind of yearly best-of-the-Internet-sf. The first edition is all stories published in 2008, including work by Nancy Kress, Peter S Beagle, Catherynne M. Valente, and me! I love the model of adding value to free material by curating and packaging it -- this has been the model of the O'Reilly tech books ever since Tim O'Reilly wrote the first user manual for Unix -- and this certainly is a handsome package. Unplugged: The Web's Best Sci-Fi & Fantasy - 2008 Download (via Futurismic) |
| Hidden sensory apparatus discovered in human skin Posted: 14 Dec 2009 10:25 PM PST A transatlantic team of scientists have discovered a secondary sensory system, independent of the well-understood nervous system, hidden in the skin. These may be at the root of inexplicable chronic pain syndromes like fibromyalgia. Hidden Sensory System Discovered in the Skin (Image: Nothing But Skin, a Creative Commons Attribution photo from kevindooley's photostream) Previously: |
| IO9's best sf of the noughties Posted: 14 Dec 2009 10:18 PM PST IO9 has picked its 20 Best Science Fiction Books Of The Decade. It's a good an eclectic list (and I'm honored to be on it for my first novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom). (Thanks, William!) |
| Somewhat Surprised Kitten is just kind of like, meh Posted: 14 Dec 2009 08:26 PM PST Not to be confused with Surprised Kitten, or Surprised Kitten Guy, or Surprised Kitten Girl, or Two Girls One Surprised Kitten. Somewhat Surprised Kitten (created by some dude named Mark Day with a "pretend Scottish accent") |
| When Shepard Fairey sours on "HOPE," you know we're screwed Posted: 14 Dec 2009 06:15 PM PST |
| Missing Bush administration emails (22 million of 'em) found Posted: 14 Dec 2009 06:12 PM PST "The dog apparently mislabeled my homework." That's the bogus excuse I'll be using next, now that we know some 22 million emails which vanished during the George W. Bush administration were just "apparently mislabeled." Don't expect to eyeball their contents until 2014. More: Wired News, AP, Wonkette. |
| Femke Hiemstra art at Roq La Rue Posted: 14 Dec 2009 03:23 PM PST  Amsterdam-based painter Femke Hiemstra has a new show of paintings at Seattle's Roq La Rue Gallery. Seen above, "Death Of A Ghost." The show, titled "Bonjour, Dachshund!," is hanging alongside work by Junko Mizuno. From Roq La Rue: Femke Hiemstra's meticulously tight, jewel like mixed media paintings and exquisitely rendered black and white drawings are homes to a dark fairytale land where inanimate objects come to life and frolic with animal neighbors. Lollipops become ship captains, strawberries become giant wrestlers, and vegetables become Halloween gods with lantern eyes. Femke occasionally uses typography in her work, using words from various languages and letters in her paintings to further enhance the narrative while still retaining a playful sense of mystery, or as a visual device to frame in the scenery, as if you were looking at her world through a secret window. She also uses found objects to paint on, such as boxes and wrappers, to create imaginary products with magical properties.Femke Hiemstra and Junko Mizuno at Roq La Rue Previously: |
| Posted: 14 Dec 2009 03:25 PM PST We've posted previously about new drugs on the horizon that could enable bad memories to be selectively "erased." Now, researchers at New York University have developed a non-invasive method to take the pain out of fearful memories. The scientists determined that fear memories can be reactivated and updated with "safe" information. Later, those memories can be recalled without a fear response. The team reported their results in the new issue of the journal Nature. From NYU: "NYU Researchers Develop Non-Invasive Technique to Rewrite Fear Memories" Previously: |
| Posted: 14 Dec 2009 05:43 PM PST  (photo by Randy Son Of Robert) For almost twenty years, mathematicians Rick Mabry and Paul Deiermann have attempted to figure out the perfect way to slice a pizza for sharing. Turns out, mathematicians have been pondering pizza slicing problems since at least the 1960s. Mabry and Diermann have recently proved their pizza theorem and are now considering other related problems, like what happens if the pizza is square or, say, a 3D pizza, aka a calzone? From New Scientist: Suppose the harried waiter cuts the pizza off-centre, but with all the edge-to-edge cuts crossing at a single point, and with the same angle between adjacent cuts. The off-centre cuts mean the slices will not all be the same size, so if two people take turns to take neighbouring slices, will they get equal shares by the time they have gone right round the pizza - and if not, who will get more?"The perfect way to slice a pizza" |
| Google search for "i don't read boing boing" Posted: 14 Dec 2009 02:21 PM PST I am informed that exactly four years has passed since the brilliant Kottke wrote: 'Google search for "i don't read kottke" versus a search for "i don't read boing boing". Nottke** wins, 39 to 37! Sit on it, Cory!' Well, it would now appear that Kottke is the one who must be seated! |
| Posted: 14 Dec 2009 01:25 PM PST  T Campbell sez, "The last word in Marvel/Disney satirical mashups. 50+ characters attempt corporate synergy, with hilarious results." "Epic Misney" by T Campbell and John Waltrip (Thanks, T!) Previously: |
| Tool-using animals: Now with 100% more invertebrates! Posted: 14 Dec 2009 02:51 PM PST Warning: This video contains footage of an octopus hiding under a coconut shell that it has carried around just in case it needed to hide from something. Watching this footage may contradict your previous assumptions about animal tool use, and may be too adorable for some viewers. National Geographic: Octopuses Carry Coconut Shells as Instant Shelters |
| Posted: 14 Dec 2009 12:53 PM PST Dinotopia artist James Gurney posted this video about a "change blindness" experiment. 75% of the participants didn't notice that the experimenter who bent under a counter was replaced by a different person. Says Gurney: "Here's proof that most of the time we look but don't see." I think Matisse said something to the effect that he didn't really see things unless he was painting them. |
| The Forgery of Venus, by Michael Gruber Posted: 14 Dec 2009 12:43 PM PST  Michael Gruber's The Forgery of Venus combines art history, criminal mischief, and the sleaziness of the contemporary art gallery business to deliver a terrifically fun thriller-esque novel. The main character, Chaz Wilmot, is an extremely talented but frustrated and depressed magazine illustrator. For no special reason, he volunteers as a human guinea pig in a medical research study to test the effects of Salvia divinorum, a powerful, short-duration psychedelic drug that causes him to imagine he's living the life of Velásquez, the famous 17th century Spanish painter. These episodes cause all sorts of problems in his real life, and when he wakes up one morning in a strange apartment and discovers that he is actually a successful gallery artist, he flips out and lands in a mental ward. When he's released (and learns that he's back to being the hack illustrator he started out as) Wilmot is eager to clear his head by taking on a lucrative commission to restore the fresco on the ceiling of an Italian mobster's palazzo. Here, he meets a sleazy German art dealer who specializes in paintings plundered by the Nazis in World War II. The dealer gives him an offer he can't refuse: to forge an "undiscovered" Velásquez painting. When he accepts, the strange events that have been happening to him intensify, and he finds himself wonder whether he's completely crazy or if powerful characters behind the curtain are pulling strings. This is the kind of book that could easily become ludicrous and boring if it had been written by an author less talented than Gruber. His richly developed characters and engaging prose keep the story crisp and believable. The ending is satisfying, too, which is important to me. As soon as I finished the The Forgery of Venus I got started on another one of his novels, The Book of Air and Shadows, which is great so far, as well. The Forgery of Venus, by Michael Gruber |
| Flame thrower and potato cannon project posters Posted: 14 Dec 2009 04:17 PM PST  William Gurstelle, a contributing editor at MAKE, has produced a series of project posters, measuring 36" x 24". The first two in the series are available on his web site, Ballisticom. Potato Cannon: This device fires a potato at speeds approaching 100 mph. The poster includes information on a variety of ignition options including taser, piezo, and flint/steel systems. Clear and concise directions; outstanding performance!Flame thrower and potato cannon project posters |
| NajMeTender plays "Pokerface" on ukulele Posted: 14 Dec 2009 12:55 PM PST Here's NajMeTender playing ukulele version of "Pokerface." She says, "In my head I'm constantly thinking that the song is called Pokéface and honestly it'd be much better if it was." (Thanks, Gever!) Previously:
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| Posted: 14 Dec 2009 12:48 PM PST A quick housekeeping note: We have improved the biography field in your profile, which now permits biographies to be longer than 30 words or so. We have also taken the liberty of accidentally wiping your old bios. Sorry about that. No, profile pictures do not yet work. Shut up. |
| How a Japanese scientist made the first artificial snowflake Posted: 14 Dec 2009 12:24 PM PST This short BBC video explains how Ukichiro Nakaya, a mid-20th century scientist in Hokkaido, Japan, created the first artificial snowflake in his lab. It was 1933, and he did it by building a chamber with adjustable temperature, air pressure, and humidity that could mimic the weather condition in clouds that produce snow. [via Neatorama] |
| Woman, 98, charged with murdering 100-year-old roommate Posted: 14 Dec 2009 01:00 PM PST Laura Lundquist, 98, was indicted on a murder charge for allegedly suffocating and killing her nursing home roommate, Elizabeth Barrow, age 100. Lundquist, who apparently has dementia, was angry because Barrow was "taking over the room." From The Telegraph: She is believed to be the oldest murder defendant in the history of Massachusetts but might never go to trial because of her mental health issues..."Woman, 98, accused of killing 100-year-old room-mate" (via Fortean Times) |
| Dark-skinned nativity scene angers conservatives in Verona Posted: 14 Dec 2009 12:17 PM PST  Some people in Verona, Italy are up in arms about a nativity scene at their local courthouse in which Jesus, Mary, and Joseph are depicted as dark-skinned people. Interestingly, it was chief public prosecutor Mario Giulio Schinaia's idea to do this based on historical evidence that baby Jesus was in fact likely to have had darker skin. Verona has strong links to the Northern League party, a political entity allied with PM Silvio Burlusconi that is strongly anti-immigration — the League is in the midst of a two-month initiative, called White Christmas, in which they hope to "ferret out foreigners without proper permits in Coccaglio, a small League-led town east of Milan". They've also advocated for separate buses and trains for immigrants, banning new mosques, and getting rid of all Chinese and kebab restaurants in the towns where they have the most influence. Image via howieluvzus' Flickr |
| Identity of synth-playing chicken man in subway revealed Posted: 14 Dec 2009 12:09 PM PST Remember the "chicken man" cover of the cheesy 90s anthem What is Love which was blogged here last week? We now know his name: James Bowers, from the Melbourne-based group, "Dudes With Trowels." More at Synthtube. |
| Posted: 14 Dec 2009 12:00 PM PST Another crazy cut-up video creation from Joe Sabia. "Featuring over 100 countries in 100 Movies with YouTube subtitles." Tip: you have to click the little "CC" (closed captioned) button in the embedded player to see the subtitles. |
| But will they end up being paid more? Posted: 14 Dec 2009 11:30 AM PST Prostitution has long been legal in some parts of Nevada. But, until recently, that freedom only applied to sex workers who had the right parts themselves: Language in health codes required all prostitutes to have regular cervical exams, effectively making male prostitution illegal. Last Friday, that changed. Nevada brothels can now employ both men and women. (Via Salon.com's Broadsheet.) |
| Transformers-themed customized car in Guatemala Posted: 14 Dec 2009 10:10 AM PST  Michael Bay himself would have been proud of this customized boy racer I spotted last night, here in Guatemala. I counted a dozen Transformers logos pasted all over this cheesy masterpiece! The piece de resistance has gotta be that additional tiny Decepticon decal on the fake intake. Truly a thing of lowbrow beauty, que no? More iPhone snaps after the jump. |
| Posted: 14 Dec 2009 09:21 AM PST A farmer in Taiwan has found a way to keep water cleaner by training his pigs to poo in small litter boxes. From Treehugger.com: The litter boxes have wire mesh so the urine seeps through, and the fecal matter is vacuumed by a special machine so the area is kept waste-free. The farmer has realized a 50% savings in water use. But possibly even more importantly, the success of his efforts has not only helped him avoid fines for pollution by environmental authorities, but the authorities are encouraging other farmers to follow his lead and start training their own piglets.The farmer, Chang Chung-tou, has been doing this for six years now. The video above is not of one of Chang's pigs, but it's pretty amazing. |
| Malamud's "By the People" - stirring history of the Government Printing Office Posted: 14 Dec 2009 09:12 AM PST By the People is an inspirational and education piece on the history of the US Government Printing Office and the radical ethic that said that the governments documents belonged to the citizens who footed the bill for their production. Today, with the Internet making it more possible than ever for all of us to inspect the workings of our governments and benefit from their creations, that ethic is more important (and more endangered) than ever. Previously:
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I immediately called Ramit. "You are an international traveler, and you have a passport, so you can go in", I said. Ramit's response was instant: I tried to enter but they said you are not allowed for you don't have an international passport. 
"It's almost like hearing the subtle sound of a single instrument in the midst of a symphony," said senior author Frank Rice, PhD, a Neuroscience Professor at Albany Medical College (AMC), who is a leading authority on the nerve supply to the skin. "It is only when we shift focus away from the nerve endings associated with normal skin sensation that we can appreciate the sensation hidden in the background." 
The experiment was conducted over three days: the memory was formed in the first day, rewritten on the second day, and tested for fear on the third day. However, to examine how enduring this effect is, a portion of the participants was tested again about a year later. Even after this period of time, the fear memory did not return in those subjects who had extinction during the reconsolidation window. These results suggest that the old fear memory was changed from its original form and that this change persists over time...
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