The Latest from Boing Boing |  |
- The peculiar challenges of Chinese Braille
- Amazon and Macmillan go to war: readers and writers are the civilian casualties
- Read Houdini's books via Google Books and Library of Congress
- La Pequeña Gigante
- Happy mural in Los Angeles threatened with removal
- Man asks volunteers to carry him up Manhattan for 9.4 miles
- Make: Electronics e-book on sale for $9.95
- Danny Choo's call for entries for his Otacool 2 cosplayer convention book
- The iPad: Get used to blue Lego tiles
- 1975 Artists' Soapbox Derby
- Moog Modular: a synthetic synthesizer
- Small publisher recalls book deal with J.D. Salinger that went sour
- Catch a cold for the holidays: a history of The Common Cold Unit
- Philippine island qualifies its way to a "World's Largest" title
- Taste Test: dragon fruit
- Skin contact between performers creates a positive social environment
- Secret copyright treaty: what you can do
- Anvil! the Story of Anvil, a real-world Spinal Tap documentary that will have you laughing, crying and rocking out
- Introducing our 'Games To Get' Page
| The peculiar challenges of Chinese Braille Posted: 28 Jan 2010 09:49 AM PST  The Braille system, in which the characters of a language are represented via the position of dots in a six-dot cell, is called "the world's first binary encoding scheme" for the characters of a language. Though text-to-speech technology enables many blind people to read via computer, Braille is still considered an integral part of literacy for blind people. Most languages use one cell to represent one language phoneme. All Braille encodings employ the left-to-right evenly spaced cell patterns. Japanese Braille, Korean Braille, and Tibetan Braille (developed in 1992) have reassigned all the Braille blocks to sounds in their own languages. Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese Braille, based on pin-yin, use three characters per syllable: onset, rime and tone. The tone characters are frequently disregarded, creating ambiguity and problems for Chinese Braille students. See also: Chinese-designed super cool Braille embossing printer/labeler, DotlessBraille for info on open source LaTeX and XML to Braille translation software and a terrific Braille FAQ, Moon Code and an early Braille book burning. |
| Amazon and Macmillan go to war: readers and writers are the civilian casualties Posted: 30 Jan 2010 01:42 AM PST  When I woke this morning at 5AM UK time, I discovered an in-box full of emails from people asking if I knew what was going on with Amazon. My books -- and all books from Macmillan and its many divisions, including Tor, my publisher -- had disappeared from the Amazon webstore in both physical and electronic editions. The New York Times quotes an industry insider as saying that Amazon pulled these books in retaliation for a demand from Macmillan to raise the price of Kindle books from $10 to $15. Presumably, Amazon perceives the $10 price-tag as a way of encouraging people to buy its Kindle platform, which itself is a kind of roach-motel for books: the license terms and DRM on the books in the Kindle store prohibit you from reading your Kindle books on competing devices. So books check in, but they don't check out. (I believe that Amazon's terms, patents and trade-secrets also prohibit its rivals from making software that converts or renders Kindle books for that purpose. I have asked Amazon whether this was true on more than ten occasions over the past several years, in my capacity as a writer, publisher, and columnist for the Guardian and Publishers Weekly, but they refuse to answer.) If the NYT's report is true, then this is a case of two corporate giants illustrating neatly exactly why market concentration is bad for the arts:
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| Read Houdini's books via Google Books and Library of Congress Posted: 29 Jan 2010 09:08 AM PST  Read titles such as The right way to do wrong: an exposé of successful criminals and Ventriloquism explained: and juggler's tricks, or legerdemain exposed: with remarks on vulgar superstitions. Also at the Library of Congress: Houdini a Biographical Chronology and the Variety Stage: Harry Houdini collection. [via more or less bunk] |
| Posted: 29 Jan 2010 03:10 PM PST (Video: live Chilean television coverage, shot off TV set on iPhone so pardon quality). "La Pequeña Gigante" is what the Chilean TV announcers are calling her. Turns out she's the creation of French mechanical marionette street theatre company Royal de Lux. She, and they, have been blogged here on Boing Boing a number of times. They've performed in Chile before (and many other cities), and the troupe is headed to NYC later this year. I may be the last to know about the takeover of earth by our giant-doll-girl overlords, but I, for one, welcome them.
They keep dressing and undressing her on TV. She's done more outfit changes in the past half hour than Cher during a live show. They're saying it took 80 horse-tails to create her eyelashes and hair. Her blinking eyes and jointed neck are creepy. The live coverage has been going on for like 2 hours now. I can't stop watching.
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| Happy mural in Los Angeles threatened with removal Posted: 29 Jan 2010 02:56 PM PST  My Backwards Beekeeping buddy, Amy Seidenwurm says: We are being ordered by the city of LA to paint over our mural by March 1st. You posted Russell's time-lapse video of Philip Lumbang painting it back in the spring and it has become quite beloved in our neighborhood. Sadly, one of our neighbors hates it and complained to the city that he felt it would bring crime to the neighborhood.Here's a post about this on Eastsider LA. |
| Man asks volunteers to carry him up Manhattan for 9.4 miles Posted: 29 Jan 2010 01:13 PM PST Mark Malkoff says: "I just released a new video entitled, "Man Carried 9.4 Miles by Strangers in NYC". In it I set out to disprove the myth that New York is unfriendly by attempting to transport myself from the southern most end of Manhattan as far north possible only by having people on the street physically carry me along the way. I ended up being carried 9.4 miles from the entrance of the Staten Island Ferry to 141st St & Broadway by 155 different people. The footage is quite incredible!" |
| Make: Electronics e-book on sale for $9.95 Posted: 29 Jan 2010 12:54 PM PST  The O'Reilly Media Ebook Deal of the Day: Make: Electronics -- Only $9.99! (Regular price: $27.99) Use discount code ME999. |
| Danny Choo's call for entries for his Otacool 2 cosplayer convention book Posted: 29 Jan 2010 12:23 PM PST  Boing Boing guest blogger alum Danny Choo posted a call for entries for his book about the Otacool Worldwide Cosplayers covention. He's posted a bunch of cosplayers from around the world on his blog. Shown here: Alodia Gosiengfiao from the Philippines as The Baroness from GI Joe. Kotobukiya is pleased to announce the arrival of OTACOOL 2: WORLDWIDE COSPLAYERS in April 2010! In collaboration with Danny Choo and the Internet's largest cosplay destination Cure, OTACOOL 2 promises even more stimulating and groundbreaking content. In keeping with the same concept of "OTAKU is COOL", the next volume of OTACOOL will focus on cosplayers from around the world!Otacool Worldwide Cosplayers Previously:
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| The iPad: Get used to blue Lego tiles Posted: 29 Jan 2010 11:29 AM PST |
| Posted: 29 Jan 2010 11:00 AM PST Gopod bless Mayor Mike Haeg for uploading this incredible video of a 1975 artists' soapbox derby in San Francisco. It's like Maker Faire 35 years ago! I stumbled across and purchased an actual print of this film back in SF while working on a project for the SF MOMA. Amanda Pope did a great job capturing the spirit of creativity and the event itself. I wonder where all of these cars are today?1975 Artists' Soapbox Derby |
| Moog Modular: a synthetic synthesizer Posted: 29 Jan 2010 10:37 AM PST  In Cool Tools, Jeff Bragg reviews Arturia Moog Modular V2 Software Synthesizer, a $190 application that emulates the Moog Modular. Then a company called Arturia released a virtual software version of my childhood Holy Grail, the Moog Modular V. And there were nine--count 'em, nine!--oscillators. Filters, envelope generators. A fixed filter bank. A sample and hold module. A bank of configurable mixers. And with enough computer firepower, I could finally make the sounds I'd heard Wendy Carlos make. The software even has stereo chorus and delay lines, a very neat addition to the package to fatten up your sound without having to use any outboard effects. And did I mention polyphony? Yes, unlike its hardware predecessor, the Moog Modular V offers up to 32 voices, if you have the processor power to deliver them.Arturia Moog Modular V2 Software Synthesizer |
| Small publisher recalls book deal with J.D. Salinger that went sour Posted: 29 Jan 2010 10:36 AM PST Ian Shapira of The Washington Post has a great article about how Roger Lathbury, owner of a tiny book publishing company, almost published a 24,000 word J.D. Salinger story. In 1988 Lathbury wrote a letter to Salinger expressing interest in publishing "Hapworth 16, 1924," which had run in The New Yorker in 1965, and which was Salinger's last published work." To Lathbury's great surprise, Salinger wrote back, saying "I'll think about it." Eight years later Salinger called Lathbury and the two began a correspondence, which led to a face-to-face meeting at the National Gallery of Art's cafeteria. Salinger "recommended the Parmesan soup, or a soup with Parmesan flavoring. I said, 'I am a vegetarian' and he said, 'I am largely a vegetarian.' I didn't know what that meant -- sort of like saying, 'I am a little bit pregnant.' "The story has a sad ending. Publisher Roger Lathbury recalls book deal with J.D. Salinger that went sour |
| Catch a cold for the holidays: a history of The Common Cold Unit Posted: 29 Jan 2010 10:10 AM PST  The Common Cold Unit was formed in 1946, "a collection of huts" in Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK. Volunteers were recruited to come and get infected with cold germs in an effort to understand how the rhinovirus incubates and spreads. Created by David Tyrrell who, in the course of his work "discovered almost everything we know about cold viruses" and published extensively worked at the CCU until its closure after which he published this book. Its aim was to undertake laboratory and epidemiological research on the common cold, with a view to reducing its human and economic costs... Thirty volunteers were required every fortnight during trial periods. The unit advertised in newspapers and magazines for volunteers, who were paid a small amount. A stay at the unit was presented in these advertisements as an unusual holiday opportunity. The volunteers were infected with preparations of cold viruses and typically stayed for ten days. They were housed in small groups of two or three, with each group strictly isolated from the others during the course of the stay. Volunteers were allowed to go out for walks in the countryside south of Salisbury, but residential areas were out of bounds.The unit was closed in 1989 after failing to find a cure. The British Library has archived a series of interviews with doctors and other CCU staff, part of their Archival Sound Recordings collections. Wonky sniffling details can be read in this PDF "The Common Cold--My Favourite Infection" written by a CCU researcher. A few recruiting articles from the archives of The London Times.
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| Philippine island qualifies its way to a "World's Largest" title Posted: 29 Jan 2010 08:47 AM PST  Qualifiers are a lot of fun. Example: Greenland is the world's largest island. The world's largest lake is the Caspian Sea. But the world's largest island on a lake, on an island, on a lake, on an island? Then the title goes to Volcan Point in the Philippines. Treehugger has a great series of zoom-in photos that show you how that complicated geological title was won. |
| Posted: 29 Jan 2010 09:44 PM PST  What a beautiful specimen this thing called the dragon fruit is! Its skin looks like the feathers of an exotic bird or the petals of a tropical flower. Cut it in half and you get the most simple black-and-white interior imaginable. It's so... interesting. I have to admit that I didn't know anything about it until I got a serving of crappy fruit salad on my Hong Kong-Tokyo flight earlier this week. Maybe it was just the airplane food thing, but I found it to be pretty bland-tasting. Many of us associate dragon fruit with Southeast Asia because of its prevalence in the region and the use of dragon fruit in some Thai recipes, but it actually has its origins in South America. The fruit is mostly made of water and makes for a great low-calorie snack; it's also a great source of fiber and vitamin C. I have yet to experiment with dragon fruit in my own kitchen, but my instincts tell me it would be great in a martini glass. Try mixing the mashed-up pulp of a dragon fruit with a spoonful of sugar and some vodka in a cocktail shaker and let me know how it tastes! By the way, Febreze announced yesterday that they've just added the fragrance Thai Dragon Fruit to their lineup. I'm assuming that it's made based on the smell of the white dragon fruit flower, not the actual fruit part. Image via John Loo's Flickr |
| Skin contact between performers creates a positive social environment Posted: 28 Jan 2010 02:50 PM PST Luke Fishbeck aka Lucky Dragons demonstrates his Make A Baby project. [more] [W]hen you hold one of the wires in your hand and someone else holds one and you touch each other, it makes noises. If you have ever touched someone and had them make noise, you know it's nice. And when that's shifted by a computer and a tall, soft spoken, half halo-haired man from California it's extra exaggerated.[via Fader] |
| Secret copyright treaty: what you can do Posted: 29 Jan 2010 07:51 AM PST Michael Geist sez, The 7th round of ACTA [ed: The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret and punishing Internet treaty under negotiation in Guadalajara] negotiations will conclude around lunch time today in Mexico. If past meetings are any indication, a few hours later the participating countries will issue a bland statement thanking the host Mexican government, discussing the progress on civil enforcement, border measures, and the Internet as well as noting the transparency discussions and the continued desire to address the issue. The release will then conclude by looking forward to the next meeting in Wellington, New Zealand in April.ACTA Guide, Part Five: Speaking Out (Thanks, Michael!) Previously:
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| Posted: 29 Jan 2010 07:52 AM PST  The 2007 documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil is one of the most wonderful movies I've seen in years. It tells the true story of heavy-metal semi-legends Anvil, a band formed by two Jewish kids from Toronto's suburbs when they were 14, and which they've kept going to this day, as both men edge up on 60. Anvil: The Story of Anvil has a very weird relationship with This is Spinal Tap (for starters, Anvil's drummer is named Robb Reiner!): the movie is shot through with scenes that are almost line-for-line remakes of Tap, as when the boys sit around a deli recounting their early song "Thumbscrew," composed after a history class about the Spanish Inquisition. And the Anvil boys are very likeable heavy-metal doofuses: they play suburban Toronto venues for die-hard fans -- other middle-aged rockers who can drink a bottle of beer through one nostril while throwing devil-horns and chanting Satanic metal lyrics. But there's lots of pathos and heart here too: Lips, the lead singer, is an artist who's given up everything to pursue his dreams. Instead of getting an education and a good job -- like his brother and sister, both middle-class, respectable types -- he drives a truck for a catering company that provides school lunches. He's a heavy metal god in a hairnet, pulling minimum wage delivering bananas and tuna casserole. But Anvil was nearly great in their heyday. The movie opens with them playing the 1984 Super Rock in Japan, sharing a stage with The Scorpions, Whitesnake, and Bon Jovi (the movie also features interviews with successful metalheads like Slash, Lars Ulrich and Lemmy, singing the praises of Anvil). These bands go on to greatness. Anvil -- plagued by bad management and crappy label support -- have been stuck in the snowy Toronto suburbs, the children of holocaust survivors, doing all that they can to reassure their doubtful (but loving) families that they aren't wasting their lives. And Anvil's members aren't willing to give up on their dreams. They go on a European tour booked by an insane (but clearly dedicated) fan who appoints herself their manager. Their gigs are often disastrous, and they go home with nothing in their pockets and go back to work at their day-jobs. But they preservere. They sacrifice everything, they risk their friendships and their families, they risk homelessness, and they never, ever stop. Lips spends a lot of the movie in tears, or feuding with Robb, and it's clear that he's half-mad with this boyhood dream that's grown to take over his life. Somehow, the bathos and pathos add up to a moving tribute to the human spirit. For every scene in which Lips rocking out on stage with his flying-vee (he uses a dildo as a slide and wears a bondage harness), there's a matching scene, like the one in which his loving, bourgeois older sister fronts him the money to record the band's next album. It's a wonderful movie, one that'll have you laughing with a tear in your eye. And you know what? Anvil's music is pretty badass. That thirteenth album they're recording in the second act is wicked (my wife texted me from bed, as I was watching it late last night: TOO LOUD. BED TIME NOW. THAT SONG'S QUITE GOOD). (Thanks, Danny!) Previously:
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| Introducing our 'Games To Get' Page Posted: 29 Jan 2010 11:50 AM PST  Over the past few months, I've made more than a handful of scattered game recommendations, whether in the form of yearly wrap-up lists of indie/iPhone and console/handheld games, sketchbook/concept art gallery posts, or more simple compiled reminders of the best releases of the week. And for just as long, there wasn't an easy way to keep all those games straight, especially if you'd just managed to get your hands on an iPhone or PS3 or DS for the first time. And so now, we present, the official Games To Get page. For now, then, it's a compiled list of 2009's top games across all platforms (along with a few extras), with quick descriptions and links to each game's original mention, and a download link that'll take you to the App Store, Amazon, or simply to the freeware/indie download page. In the future, every recommendation will also come with an update to the list, keeping it a dynamic and growing guide to the best the indies and industry proper have to offer, and also, if nothing else, proof positive (as became clear when the page was finished) that there's still, thankfully, a healthy cross-section of developers that believe games can be more than muddied washes of brown and gunmetal grey. Boing Boing: Games To Get |
I'm in Guatemala for a brief personal trip. I was just now sitting here in the family home after lunch, with the TV on. Suddenly, regular programming was interrupted by a live feed from Chile: a giant mechanical doll-girl has taken over the streets of Santiago. There are a bunch of dudes in red velvet suits yanking her cables. WTF. 
(Via 
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