Friday, February 26, 2010

The Latest from Boing Boing

The Latest from Boing Boing

Link to Boing Boing

Bruce Sterling explains "atemporality for artists"

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 02:38 AM PST

Here's Bruce Sterling's speech at Transmediale, a talk on "atemporality for the creative artist," which explains what the net and technology have done to the idea of the history and the future. It's chunky stuff, exciting, and weird:

Now let me tell you how the atemporal Richard Feynman approaches this. The atemporal Richard Feynman is not very paper-friendly, because he lives in a network culture. So it occurs to the atemporal Feynman that he may, or may not, have a problem.

'Step one - write problem in a search engine, see if somebody else has solved it already. Step two - write problem in my blog; study the commentory cross-linked to other guys. Step three - write my problem in Twitter in a hundred and forty characters. See if I can get it that small. See if it gets retweeted. Step four - open source the problem; supply some instructables to get me as far as I've been able to get, see if the community takes it any further. Step five - start a Ning social network about my problem, name the network after my problem, see if anybody accumulates around my problem. Step six - make a video of my problem. Youtube my video, see if it spreads virally, see if any media convergence accumulates around my problem. Step seven - create a design fiction that pretends that my problem has already been solved. Create some gadget or application or product that has some relevance to my problem and see if anybody builds it. Step eight - exacerbate or intensify my problem with a work of interventionist tactical media. And step nine - find some kind of pretty illustrations from the Flickr 'Looking into the Past' photo pool.'

Atemporality for the Creative Artist (Thanks, p0dde)
Previously:


Australia's chief censor redacts official website to downplay his role in censorship

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 11:37 PM PST

Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy -- who has been responsible for pushing through Australia's national Internet censorship program -- has been caught censoring his own website: the script that creates a tag cloud of topics covered on his site had been modified to ignore any references to his censorship initiatives. This means that visitors to his site would not have an easy means of reading the Minister's statements in support of censorship, and anyone who relied on the tag-cloud to understand the Minister's agenda would have no way of knowing he'd been involved in the censorship initiative.
It was revealed today a script within the minister's homepage deliberately removes references to internet filtering from the list.

In the function that creates the list, or "tag cloud", there is a condition that if the words "ISP filtering" appear they should be skipped and not displayed.

The discovery is unlikely to do any favours for Senator Conroy's web filtering policy, which has been criticised for its secrecy.

Conroy's website removes references to filter (via /.)
Previously:


Pentagon fesses up to 800 pages' worth of potentially illegal spying, including peace groups and Planned Parenthood

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 11:27 PM PST

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has forced the Pentagon to release over 800 pages of classified material documenting "possibly illegal" spying during the Bush administration. The heavily redacted documents include details of a spying program against Planned Parenthood and white supremacist groups in the runup to the Atlanta Olympics, as well as spying on Alaskans for Peace and Justice, an anti-recruiting group, civilian cell phone conversations, and other breaches of spying laws.

The rubric of spying is that it needs to take place to stop people who are acting illegally or may act illegally. When spies break the law, they commit the infraction that they claim to have dedicated themselves to preventing.

Pertaining to the Planned Parenthood members, for example, the oversight report provides no explanation about how the information was collected. Nor does it indicate why the information was collected and notes only that military intelligence is not allowed to collect and disseminate information on U.S. persons unless the information constitutes "foreign intelligence." The report indicates that the collection was therefore "clearly outside the purview of military intelligence" and should have been handled by law enforcement.

Another oversight document discusses an incident involving the interception of civilian cellphone conversations of U.S. persons in April 2007. During a field exercise at Fort Polk, Louisiana, a Signals Intelligence noncommissioned officer operating a SIGINT collection system intercepted the cell phone calls, though the document doesn't indicate if they were intercepted on U.S. soil or outside U.S. borders.

Initial reports indicated that the officer listened to the conversations for entertainment purposes, and the incident was reported to the National Security Agency. But the inspector-general document indicates that the officer never admitted to this and indicates only that he may have listened to some conversations "longer than necessary to do his job."

Military Monitored Planned Parenthood, Supremacists

Pentagon Discloses Hundreds of Reports of Possibly Illegal Intelligence Activities

(Image: Planned Parenthood Fan Page Profile Photo, a Creative Commons Attribution photo from cambodia4kidsorg's photostream)

Previously:


Bollywood music video set in Walt Disney World, 1977

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 10:45 PM PST

Avi sez, "The 1977 Bollywood hit 'Dreamgirl' featured a song shot in Walt Disney World. Hema Malini plays the surreal scenes with stately aplomb."

Z.O.M.F.G. What a video! Vintage WDW footage (my first visit was in 1977), including lost loves like the Skybuckets, along with beautiful Bollywood crooning. Heaven.

Dream Girl - Duniya Ke Log (Thanks, Avi!)

Previously:


Massive Arduino-and-solenoid percussion array controlled by a Wiimote

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 10:39 PM PST

Patrick Flanagan is a one-man band who performs under the name "Jazari," with a giant, elaborate, solenoid-and-Arduino-driven percussion range that's controlled by Wiimote, letting him conduct it like a mad wizard as it whirls and thunders. And the music is fully rockin'.

JAZARI (via Beyond the Beyond)

Previously:


School administrator boasts to PBS about his laptop spying

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 10:34 PM PST

Scott sez,

A few weeks ago, Frontline premiered a documentary called "Digital Nation". In one segment, the vice-principle of Intermediate School 339, Bronx, NY, Dan Ackerman, demonstrates how he "remotely monitors" the students' laptops for "inappropriate use". (his demonstration begins at 4:36)

He says "They don't even realize we are watching," "I always like to mess with them and take a picture," and "9 times out of 10, THEY DUCK OUT OF THE WAY."

He says the students "use it like it's a mirror" and he watches. He says 6th and 7th graders have their cameras activated. It looks like the same software used by the Pennsylvania school that is being investigated for covertly spying on students through their webcams.

The shocking thing about this is that the privacy concerns were not even mentioned in the Frontline documentary!

This is pretty amazing footage -- especially (as Scott notes) the absence of any questions about student privacy from the interviewer. I keep trying to imagine what my education would have been like if all my conversations, reading, doodling, writing, etc, had been monitored, in real time, by my teachers. I had great teachers, and I trusted them and confided in them and they taught me well. But if they had had this degree of oversight into my every personal detail, I think it would have killed any intellectual curiosity, any trust, any real learning. What kind of educator thinks that this is a good practice? Certainly no teacher's union I know would put up with principals and administrators putting this kind of surveillance into their lives.

I don't know for sure, but I have a suspicion that being a kid today would absolutely suck.

How Google Saved A School (Thanks, Scott!)

Previously:


Disney stop-motion post-it animation

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 10:26 PM PST

Sometimes, I am easily amused

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 06:06 PM PST

Wetsocks.com. That is all. (Thanks Aaron!)

Andrew Koenig found dead

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 06:06 PM PST

The body of Andrew Koenig was found in a park in Vancouver, Canada today. His father (Star Trek's Walter Koenig, "Chekov"), mother, family, and many friends had been searching for him since he went missing on February 14. He suffered from clinical depression. From the bio published on his father's website:
koeniglg.jpg Andrew performs at The Improv and is the video producer for Never Not Funny, and has had roles in the movies NonSeNse, InAlienable, The Theory of Everything, Batman: Dead End, and on television in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine",. "G.I. Joe", "My Two Dads", "21 Jump Street", "My Sister Sam", and "Adam-12". He's edited over a dozen films and directed, produced, and written many others.

Andrew has been an activist his entire life and most recently has been working on behalf of the people of Burma, and was arrested during the 2008 Rose Bowl parade for protesting American involvement in China's Olympics due to China's support of the Burma military regime.

I did not know him personally, but knew his work, and know friends of his who are in agony at his loss. What a beautiful person he was. My condolences to those he leaves behind.

Update: Koenig's family addressed the press shortly after this announcement was made. "My son took his own life," said Walter Koenig.

YouTube will not block Amy Greenfield's video art

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 05:08 PM PST

Kurt Opsahl at the EFF shares good news about those disputed videos by artist Amy Greenfield: "YouTube responded to the letter from EFF and the National Coalition Against Censorship by doing just what we asked. They state: "We have re-reviewed your videos and have reinstated them with an age gate." This is good news, and YouTube is to be commended for correcting its error."

Glorkian Warrior: help James Kochalka (and Pixeljam) make his first game

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 05:11 PM PST

glorkianWarriorGame01.png Cory mentioned this briefly the other day, but I thought I'd give a longer look (not least with the hi-res concept art James passed on) at Glorkian Warrior, a videogame concept Kochalka -- best known for his daily American Elf strips, as well as his Monster Mii and Superf*ckers Review comics for Offworld -- has had kicking around for several years now. So many years, in fact, that it was originally planned as a homebrew Game Boy Advance release in collaboration with hobbyist coders. Kochalka's recent performance at NYC's monthly chiptune show Pulsewave (where he performed tracks from his latest Game Boy music album Digital Elf) led to a fortuitous meeting with Mark DeNardo, frequent musical collaborator with web-game powerhouse duo Pixeljam, who mentioned that said indie devs might be interested in working with Kochalka to finally realize his space platformer vision -- a vision he's quietly been hinting at with his gallery work, right under your nose (and, more literally, mine).

mountain-maniac2.png

They were, as it turned out, reciprocal big fans of Kochalka's output. Pixeljam themselves are best known for their apocalyptic doom-surfing game Dino Run, though they've continued to crank out fantastic work for Adult Swim like their awesomely left-field Peggle-meets-backwoods-recluse sim Mountain Maniac and their just-launched Cream Wolf: faux retro games released under an "8-bit Rejects" misnomer, as they show more creative spark and aesthetic purity than most dearly beloved.

But the Glorkian Warrior project is even more valuable for doing precisely what I continually maintain the games industry needs much more of: bringing in an outside artist with fresh ideas on what games can do and how they should work. And Warrior looks like it's going to just that, taking what started as a simple Moon Patrol-esque core and expanding in near limitless directions, rendered both in pixel and Kochalka's own signature style -- and will eventually tie in with a long-planned graphic novel where both will aid the other in fleshing out its universe.

To help polish off the game as much as they'd both like, the two have launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise enough funds to keep Pixeljam afloat while they focus purely on Warrior. Donating nets you both in-game credits as well as a number of Kochalka-quality bonuses. Head over there to see the various pricing tiers and support what should hopefully be the first in a series of new digital Elf creations.

James Kochalka + Pixeljam = Glorkian Warrior

Previously:


Yes, I'll honor the f---ing embargo

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 04:04 PM PST

embargoth.jpg This internet video captures perfectly what folks like your faithful Boing Boing editors go through many times a day. Hewn of win: "I will honor the embargo for the rest of my life because i have no intention of writing about it."

Embargoes, by London-based tech writer Steve O'Hear.

Facebook patents the feed

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 04:50 PM PST

Facebook was awarded a major patent for "Dynamically providing a news feed about a user of a social network" this week. Details here. (via Dave Winer)

Floppy disc pillow

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 03:37 PM PST

022510_tf_floppypillow2.jpg I am normally not attracted to pillows that look like gadgets, but there is something very endearing about this smiling floppy disc with rosy cheeks. It's $18.

Link (via Geeksugar)

March 16, 1946 cover of The New Yorker

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 12:13 PM PST

201002251153

I like this cover from a 1946 edition of The New Yorker.

RIP: Old-school electro great Chilly B (of '80s "Wikki Wikki" band Newcleus)

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 11:35 AM PST

Bob "Chilly B" Crafton, founding member of the influential 80's electro/hip-hop band Newcleus, passed away this week from complications associated with a stroke. He died at age 47.

chillybth.jpg The stroke had left him brain dead and in a coma. On Tuesday, February 23rd the decision was made to remove him from life support and he passed on not long after. Chilly B's signature moments were his classic verse from "Jam On It", his funky bass guitar licks from "Jam On Revenge (The Wikki Wikki Song)", and his booming deep vocal and sizzling synthesizer solo from "Computer Age (Push The Button)". In recent years he was involved in independent production, including working on a new Newcleus album, and touring with Newcleus. He is survived by his wife Valerie and his sons Justin, Jason, Joshua and Isaiah.
More: Jam On Productions, CosmicRock, Cold Crush, Amoeba Records, and OldSchoolHipHop (with word from his fellow Newcleus bandmate Cosmo D). A very sad day in hip-hop history (via Steve Nalepa).

Lose your job, lose your life: trauma of being laid off can include health problems

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 10:53 AM PST

In the NYT, a terribly sad article about a series of deaths among steel mill workers who were laid off, with little hope for gainful re-employment. The trauma of losing your job, studies show, can have a powerful negative effect on your health. The story's all the more tragic when you consider the large and ever-growing numbers of capable but unemployed men and women in the US, just like the men in this story.

Cash graffiti

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 03:57 PM PST

Bahrain will expel tens of thousands of undocumented workers

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 10:48 AM PST

The labor ministry in Bahrain announces it will expel half of the country's 41,000 "illegal workers," in an attempt to stem an overpopulation of foreigners.

California's Pot Wars: a REASON video exploration

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 10:39 AM PST

Nick Gillespie of Reason hosts "Pot Wars: Battleground California," a 9-minute online mini-documentary about the exploding medical marijuana industry in Los Angeles. By some estimates, there are about 800 dispensaries open for business in LA, and the labyrinthine history of legal conflict is an epic mess.

Light Art Performance Photography

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 10:38 AM PST

dana maltby 3_Small.jpgdana maltby 2_Small.jpgMinneapolis/St.Paul based artist Dana Maltby uses a open shutter and a slew of colored lights to create some fascinating images that he calls "light art performance photography." All images are straight from the camera, no photoshop, no computer manipulation at all; not even cropping or adjusting.

Here is a link to a video that shows how he makes light paintings

New Orleans ex-cop pleads guilty to massive coverup in shooting of 6 unarmed citizens

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 10:30 AM PST

From NOLA.com: "Admitting a cover-up of shocking breadth, a former New Orleans police supervisor pleaded guilty to a federal obstruction charge on Wednesday, confessing that he participated in a conspiracy to justify the shooting of six unarmed people after Hurricane Katrina that was hatched not long after police stopped firing their weapons."

Golden-age computer manual encourages you to break DRM, rants against EULAs

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 10:31 AM PST

David sez, "I recently found a copy of the computer manual that came with my family's first computer in 1983. Not only is it humorously written, but it also rants against EULAs and recommends circumventing software copy protection to make personal backups of programs you lawfully purchased. I can't imagine a computer manual today that would declare 'Make that copy!'"

What he said. This is awesome computer documentation from a golden and innocent era when Apple computers shipped with schematics so you could modify and improve them, when hobbyists sent code to Byte magazine to be published so other hobbyists could type it in, and when Logo turtles roamed the land, pen-downing innocent floors with geometric patterns.

The Ace 100 manual goes on to describe three categories of crooks in the computer world. The first category is "Them," the computer salespeople who overhype their products with advertising gimmicks. The second category is "You." Franklin isn't actually calling you a crook, but they say that software manufacturers will treat you like one:
They Don't Make Computer Manuals Like They Used To (Thanks, David!)
Previously:


Comedy: the people who expect us to fix their computers

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 09:15 AM PST

This week's Search Engine video podcast: "The Luddite," a brief, comedic monologue about the people who expect us to fix their computers while they patronize us and ignore our explanations.7

JESSE BROWN: The Luddite (Thanks, Jesse!)

Previously:


False negatives as an advertising tactic

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 09:15 AM PST

When I come across one of those little "drop card" ads that look like someone has dropped a $100 bill on the ground, I promise myself never to do business with that company. Such false positives are common. Sleestak of "Lady, That's My Skull," discusses the opposite deceptive advertising tactic, the false negative.
One of the tactics to trick the public into noticing an ad or promotion is what I term the False Negative.

The False Negative is becoming more pervasive over the last several years and violates one of my rules when it comes to purchasing: If a lie is needed to get me to purchase a product then I will never, ever buy it.

...

I initially noticed it a few years ago while gassing up my car. The pump beeps with a descending tone, the opposite of the usual higher-pitching rising and happier sound of a successful transaction, prompting me to investigate by looking at the pump display screen. Where one would expect a message reminding me to choose a grade of gas instead would be an advertisement for refreshments or a car wash. This is a tactic in up-selling I expect that will decrease in effectiveness over time... One could only cry wolf only so many times before it is ignored.

The False Negative

Acoustapus: glowing found-object octopus sculpture

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 09:08 AM PST

Multitool in a carabiner

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 09:09 AM PST


I really like the look of the Guppie multitool, which turns a carabiner into a multidriver, adjustable wrench and utility knife (there's even a pocket-clip that doubles as a money-clip if you want to carry it in a front pocket). Hell, it's even got a flashlight! And a bottle opener! I haven't tried it (I've been scared off of carrying anything with a blade by the fear that it could be used as a pretence for some Orwellian shakedown if I'm stopped by the cops here in London), but I want it.

Columbia River Knife and Tool 9070 Guppie Black and Grey Multitool (via Core 77)

Previously:


The Onion gets it right

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 08:08 AM PST

I laughed at the Onion headline, "Paleontologists: 'We've been looking at dinosaurs upside down'". Then, Marc Abrahams, editor of the Annals of Improbable Research, pointed me toward the true story of the 19th-century paleontologist who really did put a dinosaur together backwards. Hilarity ensues.

Happy Sesquicentennial: The Chemical History of a Candle

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 08:10 AM PST

I propose to bring before you, in the course of these lectures, the Chemical History of a Candle. There is no better, there is no more open door by which you can enter into the study of natural philosophy than by considering the physical phenomena of a candle.--Michael Faraday, introduction to lecture 1
This is my all time favorite DIY science book. 150 years ago, the great Faraday (and I do mean great; I don't believe there has been an experimental scientist of his ability since) gave a series of lectures for school children at London's Royal Institution. In six lectures he explained many mysteries of chemistry and physics using a wax candle and some very simple props. The text for all six lectures are available for free online. I am still looking for an online edition that contains the drawings, which are pretty important.IMG_1663_Small.JPG

Sounds from space

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 08:00 AM PST

chorusbirdspace.jpg

If you've read our feature story up today about NASA's Cassini space probe, then you know about Don Gurnett, a University of Iowa scientists whose research includes recording and analyzing sound waves from space.

You can listen online to some of Gurnett's favorite space sounds—including a Dawn Chorus recorded from Earth's radiation belt—and watch animations that pair the sound with spectrogram visualizations of the waves. Very cool stuff!

Image courtesy Flickr user Gidzy, via CC

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