The Latest from Boing Boing

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• Pantsbomber psyche laid bare in messageboard archives (spoiler: he used sad-face emoticons)
• HOWTO make an Instructables restaurant
• Hamburger, or $115 seafood platter? How restaurants use marketing psychology to make the sale
• "The Internet may kill newspapers; And that might not matter"
• Fruit of the Boom
• Meet Oscar the Naked Cockatoo
• Star Wars/A-Team intro mashup

Pantsbomber psyche laid bare in messageboard archives (spoiler: he used sad-face emoticons) Posted: 29 Dec 2009 07:09 PM PST Now that we've gazed inside what is purported to be Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's explosives-laden underwear, let's look inside his mind, by way of an archive of postings he made to the Islamic discussion website gawaher.com. Would the prophet Muhammad have played soccer, were he alive today? Is it okay to eat meals with my parents, even though they're unclean? All this and more he asked, and we know this because Wired Danger Room dug up a slew of links. The following post credited to "Farouk1986" is to me the most chilling of all, because it is the most human. As was the response that followed, from another guy on the forum who'd been to the same emotional place—c'mon, haven't you? And yeah, that's a slightly enlarged version of the actual messageboard emoticon Farouk adorned his post with. No, I'm not joking. Basically, the problem I'm having is that I've been having extreme loneliness...for many years. I don't really know what to do because I'm not the type who likes to go out much, and I'm just shy and quiet. Even on the internet, I don't feel comfortable posting much because it exposes myself. Sometimes people are so mean. So I'm trying to figure out what to do. I just wish I had someone to give me attention and stuff. I wish I had someone who would be there to listen to me, and always be nice to me. It really hurts to have someone neglect me or be mean. Unfortunately, a weakness of mine is that I'm sensitive, but I think I became more sensitive after something bad happened some years ago. I wish I had at least one nice person to talk to, maybe over e-mail or Messenger. Of course, if I could find someone to marry, then Insha'Allah I would have someone in real life to give me all the attention and affection I wanted. So far, the families we've met aren't interested in me, though. Loneliness (Farouk1986, on gawaher.com) Wired Danger Room post Previously: Do new post-pantsbomber TSA security directives kill inflight WiFi ... Yo dawg, I heard you like TSA security restrictions, so I put some ... Fruit of the Boom

HOWTO make an Instructables restaurant Posted: 29 Dec 2009 01:57 PM PST Stone soup for online crowdsourcing DIYers! This month, the folks at Instructables.com launched a pilot for creating a working restaurant (or a fun dinner party) using crowdsourcing. The whole thing is a collection of other Instructables on the site. Arne Hendriks says: This means not only the food but also the lights, the furniture, the decoration etc. Of course everything in the place comes with full credits and instructions so people leave the restaurant knowing how to re-create all the things they used and ate. Make an Instructables Restaurant (Thanks, Arne!)

Hamburger, or $115 seafood platter? How restaurants use marketing psychology to make the sale Posted: 17 Dec 2009 05:52 PM PST New York magazine breaks down the menu at Balthazar, with help from author William Poundstone, to show you how tricks of typography make a difference in what you choose to eat (and pay for). Columns Are Killers According to Brandon O'Dell, one of the consultants Poundstone quotes in Priceless, it's a big mistake to list prices in a straight column. "Customers will go down and choose from the cheapest items," he says. At least the Balthazar menu doesn't use leader dots to connect the dish to the price; that draws the diner's gaze right to the numbers. Consultant Gregg Rapp tells clients to "omit dollar signs, decimal points, and cents ... It's not that customers can't check prices, but most will follow whatever subtle cues are provided." New York Magazine: Menu Mind Games

"The Internet may kill newspapers; And that might not matter" Posted: 17 Dec 2009 05:43 PM PST Can a world without newspapers survive? Sure, says The Economist. What matters is the availability and quality of the news, not the medium that delivers it.

Fruit of the Boom Posted: 29 Dec 2009 08:54 AM PST ABC News has published an "exclusive" series of photographs identified as the customized undergarments of a fellow who tried to blow up a Detroit-bound plane over the holidays with the explosive PETN. Above, an image identified on abcnews.com as "UNDERWEAR WITH EXPLOSIVE PACKET." I wonder how they obtained these images, and from whom? The photo series also includes separate detail shots of explosive powder packet, and the syringe which, according to reports, contained some sort of acid that was to aid in the detonation process—thankfully, it failed. A quick YouTube search yields several videos of questionable origin with titles like "PETN 40" and "PETN 50 UNDERWATER," presumably X grams of the explosive being detonated. If the videos and quantities are legit, it really is frightening to imagine what 80 grams in the dude's drawers could have done if he'd succeeded. This is the creepiest wide-distribution media image I can remember seeing for many years. What distasteful internet parodies and fetish riffs may yet come? What better way to round out this scorched and shitty decade than to gaze thoughtfully into the charred, soiled underpants of a stranger. A troubled young man who seems to have hated America only as much as he hated his own junk. EXCLUSIVE: Photos of the Northwest Airlines Flight 253 Bomb (ABC NEWS) Previously: Do new post-pantsbomber TSA security directives kill inflight WiFi ... Yo dawg, I heard you like TSA security restrictions, so I put some ...

Meet Oscar the Naked Cockatoo Posted: 17 Dec 2009 05:33 PM PST Oscar is a lady cockatoo who's had a hard life, but survived it to find happiness and love. Her life story is like a Hallmark movie for the Internet.

Star Wars/A-Team intro mashup Posted: 29 Dec 2009 06:10 AM PST It's giving me insane visions of a Star Wars starring Dirk Benedict and Mr. T. [via @mistercharlie] More: The creator's Star Wars-Airwolf mashups are even better: rebel and imperial.

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