The Latest from Boing Boing

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• Energy-recycling artificial foot
• Jogger who gave the finger to South African presidential motorcade is hooded and detained
• 3D printing comes to ceramics
• Keynes and Hayek gangsta rap
• Reporter fired for trying to be objective
• Music industry to musicbloggers: there's no point in obeying the law
• Mechanical Sculpture by Aaron Ristau
• Trash-talking your high school teacher on Facebook is constitutionally protected speech
• Sherman Alexie reads "Ode to My Sharona"
• Obama announces federal loan to build 2 new nuclear reactors
• Sharona, immortalized in Knack's "My Sharona," now sells real estate
• Video: Katamari creator's Noby Boy iPhone app for kindergartners, businessmen alike
• Jabba the Cake
• Makedo: universal connectors that turn everything into tinkertoys
• Hollow spy coins for all your micro-smuggling needs
• Mardi Gras: Big Chief Bo Dollis, Wild Magnolias and Wild Red Flames
• Wolfie Blackheart
• Minimalist posters for TV shows
• Prince rehearsal tape from 1984
• First study of mummy DNA leads to all sorts of discoveries
• The photorealistic paintings of Glennray Tutor
• Trailer for actual proto-Lost TV series from 1969, The New People
• New Orleans Mardi Gras photo gallery: Mar Doré
• RIP Doug Fieger
• Sleep Talkin' Man shares his somniloquies
• Unusual anatomy in fashion magazine?
• Art installation scans plants and prints sculptures of growth
• Ebook checklist from EFF
• Opener for a 1967 version of Lost
• Yoga to reduce prison sentences

Energy-recycling artificial foot Posted: 17 Feb 2010 03:01 AM PST In a PLoS-One paper, Steven H. Collins (Department of Biomechanical Engineering, Delft University of Technology) and Arthur D. Kuo (Departments of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan) describe an ingenious new prosthetic foot that uses a microcontroller to guide a device that stores the energy of the downstep and releases it for the upstep, mimicking the natural functioning of unmodified human ankles. We developed a microprocessor-controlled artificial foot that captures some of the energy that is normally dissipated by the leg and "recycles" it as positive ankle work. In tests on subjects walking with an artificially-impaired ankle, a conventional prosthesis reduced ankle push-off work and increased net metabolic energy expenditure by 23% compared to normal walking. Energy recycling restored ankle push-off to normal and reduced the net metabolic energy penalty to 14%. Recycling Energy to Restore Impaired Ankle Function during Human Walking (via PhysOrg) Previously: Dean Kamen's prosthetic "Luke" arm - Boing Boing Boing Boing: Prosthetic mask makers of World War I Boing Boing: Prosthetic memory hardware Prosthetic leg stash found under floor - Boing Boing Oldest prosthetic - Boing Boing Boing Boing: Prosthetic rat-hippocampus goes into clinical tests Boing Boing: Prosthetic fin

Jogger who gave the finger to South African presidential motorcade is hooded and detained Posted: 17 Feb 2010 01:33 AM PST Lauren sez, "A 25 year old sociology student at the University of Cape Town gave the finger to the presidential motorcade as they drove past him while he was jogging. President Zuma's bodyguards pulled over, put bundled him into the car and put a bag over his head. Later he was questioned about his political affiliations (just so happens he's a card-carrying member of the ANC) and his house was searched. Democracy Fail." Constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos said yesterday he doubted that insulting the president "would ever constitute crimen injuria". He described crimen injuria as the criminal defamation of another person by saying something without a defence for what had been said. "The president is subject to the same laws as anyone else. The president is not more important merely because he happens to be in that position." Asked whether it was legal for one person to show another the middle finger, De Vos said: "Yes, it would be completely legal. You would have been rude. It might show a lack of respect. You would not have defamed me, at best you would have been rude. "If showing a middle finger was a criminal offence, half of South Africa would find themselves in prison." Zuma cops lock up jogger (Thanks, Lauren!) (Image: Smiley middle finger a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike image from quinn.anya's photostream) Previously: Canadian politician gives rival the finger, offers to "go outside ... Boing Boing: Giving the finger after the Hugos Giving the finger to an animal - Boing Boing

3D printing comes to ceramics Posted: 16 Feb 2010 10:35 PM PST The 3D printing folks at Unfold Fab have managed to get their 3D printer to extrude a complicated volumetric form using ceramic for goop: After some calibrating I decided to print a test design that would be hard to make using conventional techniques: a double walled vessel with fins connecting in- and outside. I was expecting mostly failure but it finished without to much trouble! Due to the restrictions of Skeinforge expecting 3d models, the walls are double filament (1.5mm total). As you can see on the Pleasant3d view there is an outer and inner shell and instead of a line connecting both there are o-loops. Testing a different design now that enables us to test a single filament double wall vessel. But in the end We will need a way to generate tool paths from single walled surfaces instead of solids Unfold Fab: The future's here baby! (first successfully printed ceramic vessel) (via Beyond the Beyond) Previously: The machine that can copy anything - Boing Boing Ponoko's Photomake Turns Your Drawings Into Objects - Boing Boing On making stovetop bioplastics Boing Boing Boing Boing: 3D printing comes to Sears Bruce Sterling interviewed by Shapeways Boing Boing Homebrew 3D candy printer - Boing Boing Print 3D models to cut-and-glue paper models - Boing Boing

Keynes and Hayek gangsta rap Posted: 16 Feb 2010 10:30 PM PST In "Fear the Boom and Bust," John Maynard Keynes and F. A. Hayek perform a gangsta rap about their competing economic theories: John Maynard Keynes, wrote the book on modern macro The man you need when the economy's off track, [whoa] Depression, recession now your question's in session Have a seat and I'll school you in one simple lesson BOOM, 1929 the big crash We didn't bounce back--economy's in the trash Persistent unemployment, the result of sticky wages Waiting for recovery? Seriously? That's outrageous! I had a real plan any fool can understand The advice, real simple--boost aggregate demand! C, I, G, all together gets to Y Make sure the total's growing, watch the economy fly "Fear the Boom and Bust" a Hayek vs. Keynes Rap Anthem (Thanks, Dmiff!) Previously: Keynes's rebuttal to the junk-mail-is-commerce hypothesis - Boing ... Washington Post's graphs of federal budget deficit Boing Boing Media helped create the financial meltdown - Boing Boing

Reporter fired for trying to be objective Posted: 16 Feb 2010 10:27 PM PST Jonathan Springston, a senior reporter for the Atlanta Progressive News, was fired from the online news service because, according to an email from the site's editor to Creative Loafing magazine, Springston "held on to the notion that there was an objective reality that could be reported objectively, despite the fact that that was not our editorial policy at Atlanta Progressive News." (Thanks, Jess Hemerly!)

Music industry to musicbloggers: there's no point in obeying the law Posted: 16 Feb 2010 10:26 PM PST Last week, several high-profile, much-loved music blogs disappeared from Google's Blogspot service, after they were targetted by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI -- the international version of the RIAA). IFPI defended its action by saying "Our top priority is to prevent the continued availability of the IFPI Represented Companies' content on the internet." But IFPI didn't target pirate websites here. Among the sites it took down was I Rock Cleveland, a site whose author, Bill Lipold, painstakingly sought and received explicit permission to post every single track and excerpt he put up (though in many cases, he could have relied on fair use rather than going to the effort). By using the law to annihilate labors of love like I Rock Cleveland, sites that obeyed all the rules and sought permission from the copyright holders at every turn, IFPI's message is simple: "Don't bother getting permission. Just take stuff. You're wasting your time trying to obey the law. It all comes out the same in the end -- we don't care whether you obey our rules or not." IFPI will argue that it was just trying to help artists, that everyone makes mistakes, that copyright is complicated. But these are exactly the same arguments that the musicbloggers whose sites were vanished by IFPI's abusive lawyering would have made, if they'd been given a chance. And the artists, the human shields in whose name IFPI is doing all of this? They don't want it, don't need it, and don't understand it. As one band's publicist wrote, "Just so you know, this is none of our doing...apparently, DMCA operate on their own set of odd rules, as they even requested that the (band's) official blog remove the song....What a headache..." Targeted bloggers need to know these details, not only so that they can remove the file if it's indeed infringing, but so that they can file a DMCA counter-notice in the event that the file is not infringing. Ordinarily, the party issueing the takedown notice would be required by US copyright law to specify which content is being accused. But, as an international organization headquartered in London, IFPI is arguing that it doesn't even need to play by the USA's rules. "We neither admit nor accept," they write, "...that Google is entitled to be served a notice in compliance with the DMCA." Translation: IFPI is essentially threatening to sue Google under some unspecified foreign law -- presumably one which lacks even the modest safe-harbor provisions available in the USA. It's no wonder Google felt the need to take drastic action to avoid liability, even at the expense of the resulting headaches and bad press. Music Journalism is the New Piracy Previously: Boing Boing: RIAA about to sue hundreds of uploaders, using DMCA Congresscritters blast RIAA - Boing Boing RIAA: CD ripping isn't fair use - Boing Boing Student group rallies against RIAA, MSFT - Boing Boing President of MTU's open letter to RIAA - Boing Boing The white-paper the RIAA doesn't - Boing Boing Hillary "RIAA" Rosen: iPod DRM is cruel and unfriendly! - Boing Boing

Mechanical Sculpture by Aaron Ristau Posted: 16 Feb 2010 02:58 PM PST Aaron Ristau, who showed me his some of his amusingly rendered sculptures at the last Maker Faire held in Austin, Texas has a new webpage. His work is sort of a mash-up of the industrial precisionism of Charles Scheeler with dada-esque mechanical irony of Jean Tinguey. Those who find beauty within the geometry and textures of mechanical objects will enjoy his work. I least I do.

Trash-talking your high school teacher on Facebook is constitutionally protected speech Posted: 16 Feb 2010 02:00 PM PST A federal magistrate today ruled that a former Florida high school student suspended after creating a Facebook page to diss her teacher should receive constitutional protection under the First Amendment. The name of the page? "Ms. Sarah Phelps is the worst teacher I've ever met."

Sherman Alexie reads "Ode to My Sharona" Posted: 16 Feb 2010 01:26 PM PST I present this video partly in honor of the death of The Knack lead singer Doug Fieger, partly to commemorate the greatest one-hit-wonder song to ever hypnotically compel every single person in a bar to shake their ass on the dance floor, but mostly because I am a giant Sherman Alexie fan girl. Contrary Magazine: Sherman Alexie's "Ode to My Sharona" (Via ellembee)

Obama announces federal loan to build 2 new nuclear reactors Posted: 16 Feb 2010 01:10 PM PST President Obama today announced approval of an $8.3 billion federal loan guarantee to help the Southern Company build two nuclear reactors in Georgia. "Make no mistake: whether it is nuclear energy, or solar or wind energy," he said, "if we fail to invest in these technologies today, we'll be importing them tomorrow."

Sharona, immortalized in Knack's "My Sharona," now sells real estate Posted: 16 Feb 2010 01:17 PM PST Sharona Alperin, the woman immortalized at age 17 in the 1979 Knack song "My Sharona" now sells real estate. Related: Earlier today, Mark blogged the sad news that the lead singer of the Knack has died. And here's an interview with Ms. Alperin about the death of her friend. (via Peter Sagal)

Video: Katamari creator's Noby Boy iPhone app for kindergartners, businessmen alike Posted: 16 Feb 2010 10:16 PM PST What makes Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi so easy to love? It's got a lot to do with stuff like this: a series of videos to promote the iPhone version of his delightfully obscure PS3 downloadable Noby Noby Boy, first announced at GDC 2009 and due for release on the App Store in a matter of days. The videos surely depict exactly what the Noby team's whiteboard meetings must be like, with hand-crafted puppet and cardboard-cutout versions of Noby characters each insisting on new features for the App to attract more than five million users worldwide, targeting diverse demographics of kindergartners, party people, businessmen, planners, and music lovers alike. The first of twelve planned videos is above, with another five below -- keep watching the game's just-relaunched and wildly inventive new Web Web Boy page or iPhone YouTube channel for more as they appear, or join the official Noby Noby Boy Facebook page for new updates. Previously: Introducing our 'Games To Get' Page Boing Boing

Jabba the Cake Posted: 16 Feb 2010 01:20 PM PST "Jabba is made of chocolate cake, chocolate fudge, and fondant." Photo series, and more about the person whose birthday this cake celebrated. (via Bonnie Burton)

Makedo: universal connectors that turn everything into tinkertoys Posted: 16 Feb 2010 12:35 PM PST Makedo is a set of connectors (technically, a connector, a hinge and a construction tool) that allow you to piece together found objects of all description to make everything from art to functional items. Basically, it turns everything into a tinkertoy that you can attach to everything else -- How Katamari Damacy! Wouldn't you love to make play objects, kid's costumes, furniture, decorations for the home and well, just about anything you can think of from the materials around you? makedo makes it possible and impossibly fun. makedo is a connector system that enables materials including cardboard, plastic and fabric to easily join together to form new objects or structures. When you're done playing, simply pull it apart to reuse over and over again. Makedo (via Wonderland) Previously: Soba maker toy lets kids make Japanese noodles - Boing Boing Stuffed Toy From a Child's Drawing Boing Boing Rudy Rucker on Synthetic Biology - Boing Boing

Hollow spy coins for all your micro-smuggling needs Posted: 16 Feb 2010 10:17 PM PST When does a nickel cost $27? When it's a hollow spy coin made by Brian Dereu. The spy nickel that Dereu sells in our new Boing Boing Bazaar holds a microSD card, but his inspiration is strictly Cold War spy tech: During the Cold War, Spies from both the East and West used Hollow Coins to ferry secret messages, suicide poisons, and microfilms undetected. On May 1st, 1960 U2 Pilot Gary Francis Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union and taken captive. In his possession was a hollow silver dollar containing a poisoned needle that was to be used to take his own life in such a circumstance. For one reason or another, he did not use it and was held for 21 months by the Soviets. He was then exchanged for Soviet spy KGB Colonel Vilyam Fisher (aka Rudolf Abel) at the Glienicke Bridge, in Berlin, Germany. Colonel Fisher was also no stranger to hollow coins...his original capture by the United States FBI was directly related to a hollow nickel that was used to transport microfilm. Hollow Spy Coins (Boing Boing Bazaar)

Mardi Gras: Big Chief Bo Dollis, Wild Magnolias and Wild Red Flames Posted: 16 Feb 2010 12:00 PM PST Video above: "Big Chief Bo Dollis on Mardi Gras 2008: Wild Magnolias and Wild Red Flames," Mardi Gras Indians, via Clayton Cubitt. Here's a related song by Professor Longhair. And more on the tradition. Previously: Mardi Gras: "What is Ya Ka May?" Boing Boing New Orleans Mardi Gras photo gallery: Mar Doré Mardi Gras 1956: "Through my father's lens" (Boing Boing Video)

Wolfie Blackheart Posted: 16 Feb 2010 12:10 PM PST Meet Wolfie Blackheart: a non-neurotypical, animal-identified teen in Texas who finds herself at the center of controversy: allegations of animal torture, mental health, and the wrath of /b/. "I would never kill a canine," the self-described 'wolf woman' said, "I am a canine." (via Julian Dibbell)

Minimalist posters for TV shows Posted: 16 Feb 2010 12:01 PM PST Last week, I blogged about Justin Van Genderen's delightful series of minimalist Star Wars posters. In a similar vein are Austrian designer Albert Exergian's TV show posters "created out of a love for posters, modernism, and television." Prints are for sale at Blanka. Iconic TV (Thanks, Lisa Mumbach, via /Film)

Prince rehearsal tape from 1984 Posted: 16 Feb 2010 11:51 AM PST Video Link, via The Fader, where you can view 6 more videos from the same Prince and the Revolution 1984 rehearsal session. Dig 'em before The Man yanks 'em.

First study of mummy DNA leads to all sorts of discoveries Posted: 16 Feb 2010 11:26 AM PST King Tut—plus 10 other royal mummies—recently became the first ancient Egyptians to get their DNA analyzed. The results, published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, turned up a treasure trove of new information about the famous boy king, his family and Egyptian royalty in general. Among the discoveries: Tut had a bone disorder that would have forced him to walk with a cane, and which may have been a result of royal inbreeding. A mummy known as KV55 has turned out to be Tut's father, Akhenaten, a controversial pharaoh best known for his failed attempt at converting Egypt to monotheism. Based on sculptures and art that depict a feminized Akhenaten, researchers had long suspected that he suffered from a genetic hormone disorder called gynecomastia. But the DNA evidence says otherwise. Instead, Akhenaten's feminine features are likely to have been an artistic conceit, added for symbolic, religious reasons. Other previously unidentified mummies are now known to be Tut's grandfather, grandmother and mother. Contrary to speculation, Tut's mother probably wasn't his father's chief wife, Nefertiti. She and Akhenaten are never described as being related, and Tut is definitely the product of brother/sister incest. King Tut had malaria. He likely died from a combination of that disease and complications of his bone disorder. The malarial DNA found in Tut's body is the oldest genetic evidence of the disease ever found. National Geographic News: King Tut was disabled, malarial and inbred Image courtesy Flickr user jparise, via CC

The photorealistic paintings of Glennray Tutor Posted: 16 Feb 2010 11:19 AM PST Drawn! brought my attention to the paintings of Glennray Tutor. It's easy to dismiss photo-realist work as an exercise in surface obsession, but Glennray Tutor, a Jedi warrior of the style, has to be admired for his dedication to what Yeats called 'the fascination with what's difficult.' Glennray Tutor

Trailer for actual proto-Lost TV series from 1969, The New People Posted: 16 Feb 2010 11:00 AM PST In the comments for my post about the 1967 alternate-history version of Lost, Bill Streeter wrote: "They kinda did make Lost in the 1960's. There was a program in 1969 called The New People that looks a lot like Lost." Love the music! The New People

New Orleans Mardi Gras photo gallery: Mar Doré Posted: 16 Feb 2010 02:11 PM PST Happy Mardi Gras, y'all! Artist and gallerist Mar Doré, whose mid-century Mardi Gras photographic prints I've blogged before (and featured in this Boing Boing video episode), has been in New Orleans for the past week, for all the parades. She's there now, waiting for the Zulu King. Above and after the jump, snapshots she's sent us from the 2010 revelry. The photo-set includes images from the Thoth, Orpheus, Proteus, Babylon, Mid-City, and Okeanos parades. Enjoy. (All images ©2010, Mar Doré) Previously: (Boing Boing Video) Mardi Gras 1956: Through My Father's Lens Mardi Gras photos from 1956: "Cowboy and Belle," by John Mizenko

RIP Doug Fieger Posted: 16 Feb 2010 10:53 AM PST RIP, Doug Fieger. Douglas Lars Fieger, 57, lead singer of the rock group The Knack and composer of the 1979 #1 hit My Sharona passed away at his home in Woodland Hills, California on February 14, 2010--Valentine's Day. Doug had battled lung cancer for six years. He outlived, for many, many years, his doctors' prognoses. In person, Doug was brilliant, witty, with a wry and biting sense of humor. To those who loved him, his sometimes outspoken and argumentative nature (another Fieger Family trait) was recognized as a thin facade for a genuinely caring and gentle soul. Someone once remarked, tongue-in-cheek, that "Doug had more friends than he could shake a stick at, not that he didn't try." Doug Fieger, August 20, 1952 - February 14, 2010 Previously: Reminiscing about The Knack's "Good Girls Don't" - Boing Boing

Sleep Talkin' Man shares his somniloquies Posted: 16 Feb 2010 11:05 AM PST Sleep Talkin' Man is a blog that collects the night-time musings of an Englishman named Adam, as recorded by his wife. The quotes are absolutely priceless, and you can even listen to some of them on streaming audio—which is a very weird experience. A few delightful examples: From the night of Feb. 14/15: "Don't move a muscle. Bushbabies are everywhere... everywhere... Shoot the f***ing big-eyed wanky s**** f***s! Kick 'em. Stamp them. Poke 'em in their big eyes! Take that for scaring the crap out of me." From the night of Jan 31/Feb 1: "I made this picture using pasta... F*** you, it IS artistic!" From the night of Jan 19/20: "No, not the cats. Don't trust them. Their eyes. Their eyes. They know too much." The best part, none of this is related to dreaming. As the Sleep Talkin' Man FAQ explains, dreaming and sleep talking actually happen during completely different parts of the sleep cycle. So all that bush-baby paranoia is just a blip on Adam's subconscious. There really is no context to make it make sense.

Unusual anatomy in fashion magazine? Posted: 16 Feb 2010 10:40 AM PST Could it be an effect of the lighting that gives the impression of unusual anatomy on this model? (Via Photoshop Disasters)

Art installation scans plants and prints sculptures of growth Posted: 16 Feb 2010 10:47 AM PST David Bowen created a robotic art installation that laser scans an onion plant every 24 hours and uses a 3D printer to fabricate plastic models illustrating the plant's growth. After each sculpture is completed, it moves ahead on the conveyor belt to make way for the next one. The piece, titled growth modeling device, won a grand prize in the 13th Japan Media Arts Festival. From the artist's statement: growth modeling device is an installation based on the rate of growth and structure of an onion plant. The system plays the roles of observer and creator, providing a limited an mechanical perspective of a changing living object. It attempts to replicate nature through the eyes of a simple laser device into a base industrial material, turning what was once organically dynamic into a flat sterile reproduction. growth modeling device (Thanks, Mark Pescovitz)

Ebook checklist from EFF Posted: 16 Feb 2010 10:47 AM PST Hugh from the Electronic Frontier Foundation sez, "EFF has released a white paper to help readers of digital books answer questions about privacy, book licenses, DRM and other issues." 1. Does it (your e-book reader/service/tool, etc.) protect your privacy? * Does it limit the tracking of you and your reading? * Does it protect against disclosure of your reading habits? * Does it give you control over the information it collects about you? * Does it tell you what it's doing with the information it collects and can you enforce its commitments to you? 2. Does it tell you what it is doing? * How clear are the disclosures? Will they be updated and, if so, how? * Does it let you or others investigate to confirm that the product, device or service is actually functioning as promised? 3. What happens to additions you make to books you buy, like annotations, highlights, commentary? * Can you keep your additions? * Can you control who has access to your additions? 4. Do you own the book or just rent or license it? * Can you lend or resell? * Is it locked down or do you have the freedom to move it to other readers, services or uses? * Can the vendor take it away or edit it after you've purchased it? Digital Books and Your Rights: A Checklist for Readers (Thanks, Hugh!) Previously: David Pogue tries DRM-free ebooks, sells more books than with DRM ... New Primer to Help Businesses Build in Customer Privacy Protection ... DRM-free Kindle books: are they any free-er? Boing Boing Amazon and Macmillan go to war: readers and writers are the ... Scalzi and MacMillan v. Amazon Boing Boing

Opener for a 1967 version of Lost Posted: 16 Feb 2010 10:07 AM PST Here's a "What-if? opening from an alternate history where Lost was created and aired in 1967 as a campy sci-fi action series." LOST! Opening Credits (1967) (Thanks, Benjamin!)

Yoga to reduce prison sentences Posted: 16 Feb 2010 09:32 AM PST Convicts in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh can get out of jail early if they develop a regular yoga practice. For every three months that a prisoner practices, his prison sentence is reduced by two weeks. The state's inspector general of prisons, Sanjay Mane, said: "Yoga is good for maintaining fitness, calming the behaviour, controlling anger and reducing stress. "When a prisoner attends yoga sessions and fulfils some other conditions, he will be considered for a remission if his jail superintendent recommends his case." An inmate at Gwalior central jail, Narayan Sharma - who has now moved on to become an instructor - says it helps to banish the "angry thoughts" in his mind. "It was these thoughts that made me commit crimes," he said. "India inmates take yoga to reduce their jail sentences"

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