The Latest from Boing Boing |
- At the edges of libraries
- Scalzi explains Amazon's tactical mistakes
- Clay Shirky on information overload versus filter failure
- Barefoot runners' gait protects them from hard heel-strikes
- San Francisco's secret public spaces that are privately owned
- Free Culture conference, Washington DC, Feb 13/14
- Liveblogging the 2010 Grammy Awards
- Amazon: we'll agree to Macmillan's terms
- What's really on bittorrent anyway?
- Vogue, Jan. 1990
- Phil Agre located, search not quite over
- About those blue lego tiles
Posted: 31 Jan 2010 06:57 PM PST Here's an annotated list of things that are not quite libraries, not just books. Thanks for hosting me as a guestblogger this week as I've scooted around the country with a bag full of books and a laptop. - Shelf and ownership marks at the Princeton University library including a list of ownership marks of collections and libraries absorbed into the main collections (highlights). - Library of Dust - BLDGBLOG's review of a book of photography and essays. an Oregon state psychiatric institution began to cremate the remains of its unclaimed patients. Their ashes were then stored inside individual copper canisters and moved into a small room, where they were stacked onto pine shelves.... Over time, however, the canisters have begun to react chemically with the human ashes held inside them; this has thus created mold-like mineral outgrowths on the exterior surfaces of these otherwise gleaming cylinders."- Publishing Food #2 - Edible Geography looks at miniature cookbooks and chocolate letters and robotic food chefs. - Fore-Edge book painting comes in classic and modern forms - Brian Dettmer's book art - American Woodworker shows people how to make a Lumber Library to show off fancy woods. Another Wood Book. - Typo of the Day for Librarians - a compilation of common library catalog typos. - The International Edible Books festival album pages always make me hungry, for words and snacks - A few more library mash-ups from an old MetaFilter post. And BibliOdyssey is always good for more biblioporn. In memory of Steve Cisler, Apple's digital librarian and all-around awesome guy. |
Scalzi explains Amazon's tactical mistakes Posted: 31 Jan 2010 10:16 PM PST John Scalzi brings the sarcasm and the smarts in this cogent analysis of why it was strategically foolish for Amazon to delist Macmillan's titles over the weekend, without any announcement, and for reasons that the authors and readers of those books had no control over. 3. Amazon Lost the Author's Fans. The interesting thing about the fans of authors: They feel somewhat connected to their favorite authors. So when their favorite authors kvetched on their blogs and Facebook pages and Twitter feeds about the screwing Amazon was giving them, what did many of these fans do? They also kvetched on their blogs and Facebook pages and Twitter feeds. So in pissing off a myriad of authors, Amazon also pissed off an exponential number of book readers, many of whom followed their favorite authors' leads in complaining about Amazon, and who themselves were read and followed by an exponential number of others. Even on a weekend, the traditional slow time for the Internets, that's a lot of pissed-off people.All The Many Ways Amazon So Very Failed the Weekend Previously: |
Clay Shirky on information overload versus filter failure Posted: 31 Jan 2010 09:57 PM PST This Clay Shirky talk from Web 2.0 Expo NY ("It's Not Information Overload. It's Filter Failure") challenges the idea that we've got information overload problems (we've had more books than any human could read for hundreds of years), what we have is a series of filter failures, as our systems for managing information abundance are swamped by the growth of information. Web 2.0 Expo NY: Clay Shirky (shirky.com) It's Not Information Overload. It's Filter Failure. (via Joho the Blog) Previously:
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Barefoot runners' gait protects them from hard heel-strikes Posted: 31 Jan 2010 10:16 PM PST A Harvard study published in this week's Nature confirms what barefooters have been saying for years: shoes teach you bad walking and running habits, while barefooters have a different gait that protects them from shocks when they run, even without the padding. I have flat feet and associated back problems, and I've worn orthotic inserts since I was 17. Stick me in shoes without these inserts for 48 hours, and I'm in agony. Unless I'm wearing a pair of Vibram "barefooting" shoes on holiday, in which case, I'm fine. (Only one data point: remember, the plural of "anecdote" isn't "fact.") "People who don't wear shoes when they run have an astonishingly different strike," says Daniel E. Lieberman, professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and co-author of a paper appearing this week in the journal Nature. "By landing on the middle or front of the foot, barefoot runners have almost no impact collision, much less than most shod runners generate when they heel-strike. Most people today think barefoot running is dangerous and hurts, but actually you can run barefoot on the world's hardest surfaces without the slightest discomfort and pain. All you need is a few calluses to avoid roughing up the skin of the foot. Further, it might be less injurious than the way some people run in shoes."Barefoot Running: How Humans Ran Comfortably and Safely Before the Invention of Shoes (Image: barefoot, a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike image from kisocci's photostream) Previously: |
San Francisco's secret public spaces that are privately owned Posted: 31 Jan 2010 09:45 PM PST Marylin sez, "Even people living in San Francisco may not know there are 68 semi-secret privately owned public spaces in the city, and that's why the concerned citizens of SPUR (San Francisco Planning & Urban Research Association)has made a map that shows the locations of 45 of them, with short descriptions. A POPOS can be indoors or outdoors, on rooftops, past security guards, or beyond unmarked doors; some have been around since 1959; some are barren but others feature public art, fountains, and seating. These public spaces are (perhaps deliberately) not well marked, but the work of SPUR, recently published on Strange Maps, should help people find them." 441 - Sense of POPOS: Secret Spaces of San Francisco (Thanks, Marilyn!) Previously:
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Free Culture conference, Washington DC, Feb 13/14 Posted: 31 Jan 2010 09:41 PM PST Fred sez, "Students for Free Culture has organized another awesome Free Culture conference on February 13th and 14th in Washington D.C. and registration is open. Public Knowledge's Gigi Sohn and cyberscholar Jonathan Zittrain will be keynoting on the first day, and the second day will be an unconference tackling all the cutting edge issues of the free culture movement. Everyone is welcome to register and pay whatever they like (though last conference's median fee was $26) so signup today and see in two weeks!" Man, I wish I could get to this! Free Culture Conference 2010 (Thanks, Fred!) Previously:
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Liveblogging the 2010 Grammy Awards Posted: 01 Feb 2010 12:48 AM PST (Xeni's in LA at the Grammy Awards, armed with a tactical blogging apparatus. Read the winners, losers and bad fashion in real-time starting after 5 p.m./8 p.m. Update: Thanks for reading! Tweets archived after the jump. - Rob) I'll end with a repeattweet: sign at entrance, earlier; All That You Must Not Do While Attending the Grammys. http://yfrog.com/4adflgj - about 1 hour ago from Tweetie
I'm gonna hand my afterparty pass to that street busker. We share an affinity for Funkadelic. And he could use some food. Goodnight, all. - about 1 hour ago from Tweetie @k0re you remember when we dunked the SRL guys in Fig jacuzzi? Years ago! Hot tub looked like Valdez spill, as fuel left their skin. - about 1 hour ago from Tweetie in reply to k0re Second-tier spectacle surrounding Staples Center feels not unlike a prom. Someone's offering to pay me in coke for my afterparty tickets. - about 2 hours ago from Tweetie Stretch limos line Figueroa as far as the iPhone can see. Drunk girls teeter in mock Louboutins. Fans crane necks around barricades. - about 2 hours ago from Tweetie Wandering off to find Elton & Gaga, give em both a big highdef kiss: light as the touch of an iPad, sweet as Lil Wayne's cherished sizzurp. - about 2 hours ago from Tweetie Nothing here tonight says dinosaurs running the show have learned anything. But no matter. Let us jack up the bass & jig on their grave. - about 2 hours ago from Tweetie
The spectacle here tonight has little to do with the lives of working musicians, those on my playlists anyway. Still fun to observe. - about 2 hours ago from Tweetie Hollywood is best appreciated with equal parts awe and antibodies. I love the promise, even though it's empty. - about 2 hours ago from Tweetie This is the house the MAFIAA built. Like the man said, music industry is alive n well, but labels are dead. The dinosaur days are numbered. - about 2 hours ago from Tweetie No irony tag needed for last Grammys tweets: I love spectacle. I love music. I love witnessing big live media moments. This is what it is. - about 2 hours ago from Tweetie Memorable Grammys moments won't see at home include various ladies losing their phones, crawling ass-in-air in gowns to find under seats. - about 2 hours ago from Tweetie Outside Grammys afterparty, on Figueroa, best performance of evening: Street busker in white gloves jerkin it to FLASHLIGHT on junk beatbox - about 2 hours ago from Tweetie Wandering through afterparty briefly, but my jetlag's kicking in. I hear the siren song of my own bed, calling sweetly. - about 2 hours ago from Tweetie "That last one caps it. We've paid our penitence for The Kanye Incident. She can shut up now." - about 2 hours ago from Tweetie "We in this biz don't handle guilt well," anon NARAS informant tells me re: Swift's multiple wins. "But that's the last she's gonna get." - about 2 hours ago from Tweetie
Here's Jenny, one of many be-tuxed laborers selling candies inside Grammys. I asked her fave. "I don't eat candy." http://yfrog.com/at3m1j - about 2 hours ago from Tweetie Just literally brushed shoulders with Mr. Wyclef. - about 2 hours ago from Tweetie FIN. http://yfrog.com/3nzoanj - about 2 hours ago from Tweetie They announce Taylor Swift's win, and I swear, everyone gets up and walks out of the venue. My serious face here. - about 2 hours ago from Tweetie They were just creating blank spaces so you can do Creative Commons remixes.RT @wjbova audio of (rap) performance kept dropping on broadcast - about 2 hours ago from Tweetie RT @Jaysmooth somewhere Harry Reid is shaking his head at Quentin Tarantino's Negro dialect - about 3 hours ago from web
If you have not seen the newish documentary - about Lil Wayne (The Carter), I cannot recommend it strongly enough. Also: sizzurp. - about 3 hours ago from Tweetie LILWAYYYYYNE - about 3 hours ago from Tweetie Tarantino's shirt hates your HDTV. - about 3 hours ago from Tweetie Pro tip: seats at the Grammys have less legroom than the flight I took back from Guatemala 36 hrs ago. Should have booked exit row. - about 3 hours ago from Tweetie During commercial break now I see a guy fondling Gaga's silver-glitter headgear. Is she dressed as a unicorn?He's masturbating her horn. - about 3 hours ago from Tweetie Wow. Now Lebowski is on stage. Looking for something with which to tie together this rather large room. - about 3 hours ago from Tweetie {Cavalcade of Dead People montage} - about 3 hours ago from Tweetie @bvanmacman but some have also snuck in some jabs. Wyclef's philosophical aside certainly seemed to fit in that category. - about 3 hours ago from Tweetie in reply to bvanmacman @bvanmacman if you're onstage and part of the show, I think it's fair to say that you effectively do. And many explicitly do. - about 3 hours ago from Tweetie in reply to bvanmacman RT @xenijardin is it your sense that most of the artists there support the riaa? or is that idea just riaa propaganda? - about 3 hours ago from Tweetie in reply to xenijardin Lady Gaga in spiky silver glitter outfit, escorted to seat while LL intros Maxwell. Silhouette of outfit looks like statue of liberty. - about 3 hours ago from Tweetie Gentleman sitting next to me produced LL Kool J records. LL will soon take stage. Should be interesting moment to ask our new friend q's. - about 3 hours ago from Tweetie Why am I here? Because Li'l Wayne will soon perform. In this very house. Yes, @serafinowicz & @robertpopper, you heard me. - about 3 hours ago from Tweetie Very lukewarm applause here in the live house for Neil Portnow, as he takes stage. Not all academy members psyched - about his leadership. - about 3 hours ago from Tweetie How do they ensure that the grafix on those stage-wide displays don't screw up? The redundancy and failure planning must be intense. - about 3 hours ago from Tweetie A moment of silence just now during commercial break for a stage hand who died yesterday. - about 3 hours ago from Tweetie While you guys are watching TV commercials, we in the event audience see replays of Great Moments of Grammys Past. And housekeeping notes. - about 3 hours ago from Tweetie An apology for egregious use of auto-tune. The first of many due this evening. - about 3 hours ago from Tweetie Wyclef: "there are no more record labels." #grammys - about 3 hours ago from Tweetie Wow, well fuck me. Those were actually Shepard Fairey gfx! RT @shanenickerson They might be actual Fairey gfx: http://bit.ly/auzlML - about 3 hours ago from Tweetie RT @xenijardin They might be actual Fairey gfx: http://bit.ly/auzlML - about 4 hours ago from Brizzly in reply to xenijardin @xenijardin maybe the AP should sue Bon Jovi too. - about 4 hours ago from Tweetie in reply to xenijardin "Vote for what song Bon Jovi should play last" crashes CBS.com http://bit.ly/1I8tDZ #grammys - about 4 hours ago from TweetDeck and 8 others "to download songs from tonight's performance, go to bittorrent." - about 4 hours ago from Tweetie "This is pretty crazy," says seatmate, noting women in front of us. "middle aged black ladies rocking out to Bon Jovi. The power of music." - about 4 hours ago from Whoah. Bon Jovi background grafx are Shepard Fairey ripoff. - about 4 hours ago from Tweetie .@andrewbaron says the 3D glasses did nothing for him. I didn't wear mine, but the graphics were neat. - about 4 hours ago from Tweetie RT @xenijardin GAYCON 1 is when we launch all the minutemen at each other, yes? - about 4 hours ago from twidroid in reply to xenijardin Michael Jacksons kids on stage addressing audience. Creepy live moment here in the flesh. - about 4 hours ago from Tweetie Dying to twitpic all these NARAS suits watching w red/blue funnyglasses, but the gestapo might yank my iPhone if i do. An amazing sight. - about 4 hours ago from Tweetie RT @bonniegrrl: Sounds like the only thing the Grammys needs to take it to GayCon-1 is for C-3PO to present an award to Adam Lambert. - about 4 hours ago from Tweetie Elbowing over mirror space in ladies room at awards show: not unlike battle over soylent gruel powder I expect we'll have in The Last Days. - about 4 hours ago from Tweetie 3D zombie Michael jackson's anaglyph rainforest ressurection. - about 4 hours ago from Tweetie I'm now witnessing thousands of Grammys audience members put 3d glasses on their faces. - about 4 hours ago from Tweetie Just now witnessed 3 trophy wives lay phones at sink while pawing their faces desperately in mirror. One muttered monologue to her lone zit. - about 4 hours ago from Tweetie The womens room at a Hollywood awards show is a Darwinian, Botox-stained battle of bleached tooth and acrylic claw. Grammys no exception. - about 4 hours ago from Tweetie Stevie Nicks. I'll take this Grammys Moment to share obvervations from the ladies' toilet. - about 4 hours ago from Tweetie RT @xenijardin sounds like you're hitting GAYCON-1, Liberace resurrection imminent. - about 4 hours ago from web
All star 3d tribute to Michael Jackson by Celine Dion? Lord, y'all. Didnt believe it was possible, but this just got gayer. - about 4 hours ago from Tweetie .@andrewbaron & I hacked the LED sign over the Grammys stage. When U2 goes on, it'll read RIAA <3s THE PIRATE BAY 4 EVAR!!!1 - about 4 hours ago from Tweetie Best Artist, Album, whatever. Can't wait for Best Ginormous RIAA Settlement Paid By Single Mom Who Cant Afford Health Insurance. Fuck yeah! - about 4 hours ago from Tweetie Alice Cooper: Men Who Look Like Old Lesbians. Conveniently, presenting with Katy "Kissed a Girl" Perry. - about 4 hours ago from Tweetie Serious-face here. Id bet money that Colberts iPad was an Apple-approved prop, not fully functional. - about 4 hours ago from Tweetie The adorable 13yo daughter of our seatmate signs her texts like this. http://yfrog.com/1dqsuqj - about 4 hours ago from Tweetie Ah, that's Imogen Heap's Twitter outfit! Everyones been talking - about it all night. She looks texty! - about 5 hours ago from Tweetie I see a lady a few rows down wearing Elizabethan collar you give dogs so they can't chew on their balls? It glows moving LED text message. - about 5 hours ago from Tweetie I'm learning that there are Seat Fillers whose job it is to find and place their asses in empty seats. They get free tix but must dress up. - about 5 hours ago from Tweetie @garethb2 yeah Colbert just did! - about 5 hours ago from Tweetie in reply to garethb2 RT @garethb2 @xenijardin Has anybody thanked the Lord for their award yet (over all those other, obviously heathen, nominees)? - about 5 hours ago from web in reply to xenijardin White folks in S Africa wouldn't let them in some places still, back then, in 1989 (Mr. Henry is black). - about 5 hours ago from Tweetie Our seatmate sharing amazing memories of what it was like to record with Mama Africa. Tears coming to his eyes. - about 5 hours ago from Tweetie Jay Henry's Grammy winnning work was great Miriam Makeba's albm recorded in S Africa before apartheid ended. "she cooked for us every day." - about 5 hours ago from Tweetie Those seated near me, all vets, say staging & production values are notably higher than before. New dude running the show. Some spectacle. - about 5 hours ago from Tweetie Black Eyes Peas are performing with some third rate robot dancers in Tron guy getups. Pretty sure this could not get any gayer. - about 5 hours ago from Tweetie I ask him how it would be like to try & produce those records now, all the sample clearances. "Everythings different now," he says, smiles. - about 5 hours ago from Tweetie Jay Henry sharing remembrances with us of early days of hiphop. "I have all the original sample tracks we used to make all those records." - about 5 hours ago from Tweetie Say hello to Jay Henry, tweeps. He's sitting next to @andrewbaron & me. produced Public Enemy's "A Nation of Millions," LLkoolJ, Heavy D... - about 5 hours ago from Tweetie Hipsters weep. Ting Tings, Mgmt, Silversun summarily defeated by bearded honkies who don't know where Brooklyn is, but who thank the RIAA. - about 5 hours ago from Tweetie Pink takes a drink in the sink. She's dripping all over the people in the really fancy seats. 30x vet next to me: "okay that topped Beyoncé" - about 5 hours ago from Tweetie Pink sings. Gold bodypainted tittypeople descend from a purple sky-diaper. Jesus, the Grammys sure are gay. I need ecstasy & poppers, stat. - about 5 hours ago from Tweetie RT: @DamienMcKenna How - about a shout-out to the @lullabot geniuses who built the Grammy's new website around the awesome GPL'd #Drupal? - about 5 hours ago from Tweetie The announcer sternly demands that all attendees clear the aisle for the next performance. Acrobats in gold bodypaint hang from ceiling. - about 5 hours ago from Tweetie I introduce myself to music-biz vet next to me. "Youre not twittering this whole thing, are you?" (Yes. He gives dismayed look). Him: "We used to use morse code." - about 5 hours ago from Tweetie Beyonce really is a sight to behold. Chills. I can sling no mud at the force of her stage presence. - about 5 hours ago from Tweetie The Beyonce staging is not unlike high-budget Trekkie cosplay. - about 5 hours ago from Tweetie Beyonce arrives, flanked by some leftover troops from Afghanistan. - about 5 hours ago from Tweetie Where is the part when the artists ask how that Secret Copyright Treaty is going to benefit the world? Maybe that's after Rihanna. - about 6 hours ago from Tweetie The only thing weaker than a Green Day song is a soft rock remix of a Green Day song. - about 6 hours ago from Tweetie Little-known fact: 10% of earnings from RIAA lawsuits against schoolteacher single moms go into carbon offset fund to aid Haitian orphans. - about 6 hours ago from Tweetie Colbert, you bastard, how'd you get your paws on an iTablet before me? - about 6 hours ago from Tweetie Á la Basterds! RT @capnmarrrrk If you could somehow rescue the artists & lock in executives, you should figure how to burn the place down. - about 6 hours ago from Tweetie JayZ glares at Stephen Colbert. - about 6 hours ago from Tweetie RT @xenijardin Are we going to get hit with RIAA lawsuits for retweeting you? - about 6 hours ago from TweetDeck
Elton John: "how wonnndefful laff is / with GaGa in the wulllld" - about 6 hours ago from Tweetie A million homoangels in heaven doth sing. Elton John and Gaga duet, in matching glitter specs. Try as I may, I cannot hate on this. - about 6 hours ago from Tweetie RT @xenijardin the thoughts that go through my head whilst reading your Grammy tweets are intellectual property of RIAA/Staples - about 6 hours ago from Echofon
Lady Gaga unveils a steampunk gay opera. I got nothin to add here. - about 6 hours ago from Tweetie RT @andrewbaron: Outside the Grammys with @xenijardin and @petecashmore http://twitpic.com/10s5ot - about 6 hours ago from Tweetie
She was doing an emergency costume change, as she'd shown up wearing a Balenciaga tribute gown comprised entirely of medicinal hemp brooms. - about 6 hours ago from Tweetie The ban on brooms specifically cited on the sign outside #Grammys is an outrage. I interviewed Lady Gaga - about it inside the ladies room. - about 6 hours ago from Tweetie Something - about Green Day saving New Orleans, Haiti, and Bangladesh. - about 6 hours ago from Tweetie Hustled into our seats in the mafiadome. Despite ban on mobile devices, *everyone* in here is tweeting or texting. http://yfrog.com/3ncjzrj - about 6 hours ago from Tweetie A proverbial shoutout to @prontosphere, aka Mikael Jorgensen of the great band Wilco. I disclose bias: guys, I hope you win. - about 6 hours ago from Tweetie What do you think of this experience so far, @andrewbaron? (answer unintelligible, wrapped in DRM) http://yfrog.com/4euzzxj - about 6 hours ago from Tweetie Entering the slaughterhouse. #Grammys http://yfrog.com/33kt4fj - about 6 hours ago from Tweetie No! #Grammys http://yfrog.com/3i58cufj - about 6 hours ago from Tweetie Spotted: @mostlylisa, @petecashmore/@mashable. Oh wait there's Lady Gaga, @drdrew, Dave Grohl. - about 6 hours ago from Tweetie @VeniceRiley I will keep an eye out! - about 8 hours ago from Tweetie in reply to VeniceRiley We are at a party at the Fig right now. Lots of helicopters overhead. - about 8 hours ago from Tweetie Fine print says no cellphones. I'll have to be even stealthier than when rudely tweeting from under table at restauraunt during boring date. - about 8 hours ago from Tweetie Here we go. #Grammys http://yfrog.com/3lcooxj - about 8 hours ago from Tweetie |
Amazon: we'll agree to Macmillan's terms Posted: 31 Jan 2010 03:35 PM PST Amazon says that it will accept publisher Macmillan's preferred publishing and distribution model. We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan's terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books.The battle over pricing conceals a more intricate and important one over Amazon's place in the book-buying ecosystem [Charles Stross]. Announcement: Macmillan E-books [Amazon] Previously: Amazon and Macmillan go to war: readers and writers are the civilian casualties; Macmillan CEO on Amazon deletepocalypse; Scalzi and MacMillan v. Amazon |
What's really on bittorrent anyway? Posted: 31 Jan 2010 10:51 AM PST Ed Felten from the Freedom to Tinker blog has written a post with Princeton senior Sauhard Sahi called Census of Files Available via BitTorrent. The survey takes a random sample of files available on a trackerless BitTorrent system. The article is full of caveats--discussion happening in the comments--but does dig into the likely copyright status of the works they found. "[A]ll files that were available were equally likely to appear in the sample -- the sample was not weighted by number of downloads, and it probably contains files that were never downloaded at all. So we can't say anything about the characteristics of BitTorrent downloads, or even of files that are downloaded via BitTorrent, only about files that are available on BitTorrent." The final breakdown? File types 46% movies and shows (non-pornographic) |
Posted: 31 Jan 2010 02:10 PM PST Behold the January 1990 issue of Vogue. The devil may wear Prada, but she evidently wanted you to wear pastel acrylics and then set fire to your hair. [Double D Blog] |
Phil Agre located, search not quite over Posted: 31 Jan 2010 06:51 PM PST Follow-up on an earlier post. Phil Agre has been found and is safe according to the |
Posted: 31 Jan 2010 10:15 AM PST John Gruber (and Rob Scoble) explain why the iPad's lack of Flash is a bigger problem for Adobe than it is for Apple. Just one example: some of the sites featured in the already-infamous 'blue legos' image already had Flash-free editions. |
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