The Latest from Boing Boing

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• Organic Big Gulp, just in time for Earth Day
• Moongina
• Meet Glob, Blurp, Voop, and Zopp
• Report: Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld kept detainees in Gitmo whom they knew to be innocent, for political advantage
• Small, cheap, and not American: the next big thing in mobile
• To do in London Saturday: The Tweed Run
• Soldier from "Collateral Murder" company speaks out
• Geek coasters with electronic component symbols in the Boing Boing Bazaar
• Bag made out of a keyboard
• Everything you must know about Standing Cat
• "Keep Pot Illegal!" say Humboldt County dope farmers
• Atheist Barbie
• Saudi Arabia government to behead man for practicing witchcraft
• Video: Pelican bites man
• USC scientists figure out how to turn t-shirts into body armor
• It Was The War of the Trenches
• Thai man spends extra years in Jakarta prison because of a typo
• Why you can't work at work
• Man + machine = BFF
• Commercial German LITTLE BROTHER audiobook to be given away under CC license
• Great maps of comicbookland
• Canadian copyright consultation: 54 in favor of US/UK-style copyright expansion, 6138 against
• Homebrew steampunk TV
• Australian seniors ask Pirate Party for help in accessing right-to-die sites

Organic Big Gulp, just in time for Earth Day Posted: 09 Apr 2010 01:34 PM PDT Journalist Amy Westervelt found certified organic Big Gulps at a 7-11 in Berkeley. It seems to be only iced tea (sorry folks, no organic Slurpee yet), but it does remind me—the Guardian has a great ongoing series dedicated to exposing greenwashing.

Moongina Posted: 09 Apr 2010 12:59 PM PDT The internet is weird. (thanks, Susannah Breslin)

Meet Glob, Blurp, Voop, and Zopp Posted: 09 Apr 2010 03:35 PM PDT I was a tiny tot when plastic monster models were all the rage but I remember my friends' big brothers having them on their dresser and desks. At the time, I thought they were the last word in tasteful bedroom decor. Today, of course, I feel the same way. See them big at The Magnetic Brain: Glob, Blurp, Voop, and Zopp (via Coop)

Report: Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld kept detainees in Gitmo whom they knew to be innocent, for political advantage Posted: 09 Apr 2010 01:03 PM PDT Did George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld keep prisoners in Guantánamo whom they knew were innocent, for PR reasons? "Colonel Wilkerson, who was General Powell's chief of staff when he ran the State Department [...] claimed that former Vice-President [Cheney] and Defense Secretary [Rumsfeld] knew that the majority of the initial 742 detainees sent to Guantánamo in 2002 were innocent but believed that it was 'politically impossible to release them'." (via Nicholas Kristof)

Small, cheap, and not American: the next big thing in mobile Posted: 09 Apr 2010 12:09 PM PDT "What if, globally speaking, the iPad is not the next big thing? What if the next big thing is small, cheap and not American?" Anand Giridharadas on the global possibilities involving cheap, accessible, simple cellphones for texting and voicing, "in an age when more humans have access to cellphones than clean toilets."

To do in London Saturday: The Tweed Run Posted: 09 Apr 2010 12:02 PM PDT If you're in London this Saturday, you're in luck! You have an opportunity to witness 400 people dressed in Edwardian attire riding their bicycles about town. (via Matt Forsythe)

Soldier from "Collateral Murder" company speaks out Posted: 09 Apr 2010 11:49 AM PDT "A lot of my friends are in that video. After watching the video, I would definitely say that that is, nine times out of ten, the way things ended up. Killing was following military protocol. It was going along with the rules as they are. If these videos shock and revolt you, they show the reality of what war is like. If you don't like what you see in them, it means we should be working harder towards alternatives to war."—Josh Stieber, identified by commondreams.org as a veteran soldier of the same Company depicted in the Iraq killing video released this week by Wikileaks.

Geek coasters with electronic component symbols in the Boing Boing Bazaar Posted: 09 Apr 2010 11:19 AM PDT This extraordinarily geeky set of six drink coasters will set you back $9.99 Alan Parekh of Winnipeg makes these sweet component-symbol coasters from 1/4" plywood, sealed with polyurethane varnish. Ten bucks gets a set of six: resistor R1, inductor L2, LED D3, capacitor C4, transistor Q5, and ground GND. Good-looking, clever, and easy on the wallet. Electronic Component Coaster Set Previously: Beer bottles reblown into drinking glasses in the ... Dead drop spikes in the Bazaar $30 amplifier kit in the Bazaar Mustache crayons for sale in Bazaar Ratmobile kit and mushroom puzzle in the Bazaar ... Aerogel chunks in Bazaar Get a P8TCH at the Bazaar Chaotic Pendulums for sale in Bazaar Dead drop spikes in the Bazaar Miniboss T-shirt in the Bazaar Hine's felt camera cases in the Bazaar The splendor of the Boing Boing Bazaar!

Bag made out of a keyboard Posted: 09 Apr 2010 11:00 AM PDT Neatorama calls this clutch eco-conscious and fashionably stylish, but I disagree. While recycling a keyboard may be a good idea, I wouldn't be caught dead enjoying a night on the town with this thing.

Everything you must know about Standing Cat Posted: 09 Apr 2010 12:48 PM PDT Standing Cat has become quite the internet phenomenon in recent days. French internet culture journalist Aude Baron has been digging into the story behind this little guy, and writes, The cat's name is Rocky. He is 2 years old and his owners are French (Daisy and Yann). Rocky used to stand up because he couldn't see the birds through the windows, and wanted to, so he stood up. Why does he raise his leg in the middle of the video? Probably because there was a bird outside, according to Daisy, or maybe a dog wandering around. Rocky hates dogs. He doesn't stand up too often any more because Daisy and Yann moved their stuff, so now Rocky can see everything without having to go bipedal. He's also able to sit on his bottom like a human (this cat is crazy). Basically, that's it :-) Video after the jump.

"Keep Pot Illegal!" say Humboldt County dope farmers Posted: 09 Apr 2010 10:48 AM PDT Mother Jones reports that Humboldt County pot farmers are afraid they'll go out of business if their crops are legalized in the upcoming California elections. Recently, "Keep Pot Illegal" bumper stickers have been seen on cars around the county. In chat rooms and on blogs, anonymous writers predict that tobacco companies will crush small farmers and take marijuana production to the Central Valley. With legalization, if residents don't act, "we're going to be ruined," said Anna Hamilton, a radio host on KMUD-FM (91.1) in southern Humboldt County. A friend told me once that he thought drug prohibition a was good thing because it promoted a black market, which is an important part of society. Interesting point, but I'm not sure the benefits of a black market outweigh its negative effects. It's a fun thing to tell people who are in favor of the drug war, though. Criminalize Marijuana! (Via Cynical-C. Image via Stoner Party)

Atheist Barbie Posted: 09 Apr 2010 10:25 AM PDT After coming across photos of an Episcopal Priest Barbie, Jen McCreight of Blag Hag designed an Atheist Barbie. (Via Cynical-C)

Saudi Arabia government to behead man for practicing witchcraft Posted: 09 Apr 2010 10:15 AM PDT Ali Sibat was convicted of sorcery in Saudi Arabia after he appeared on TV and gave psychic advice and predictions. As punishment, the government is going to behead him. From Jennifer Clark writing for The Examiner: This Lebanese "sorcerer" is a 49-year old married man with five children.  His job entailed appearing on a television show and offering psychic advice and predictions.  When Sibat was arrested, the Mutawa'een (religious police) instructed Sibat to write down what he did for a living claiming he would be released after doing so.  He apparently believed them.  His written description of his job was used as evidence against him -- it became his confession to the sorcery charges. His case in not unique. From The Telegraph: Sibat is one of scores of people reported arrested every year in the kingdom for practicing sorcery, witchcraft, black magic and fortunetelling. The deeply religious authorities in Saudi consider these practices polytheism. I have a psychic prediction of my own: We'll see comments that say "If he was a real psychic, he'd have seen this coming." (Via Derren Brown)

Video: Pelican bites man Posted: 09 Apr 2010 10:02 AM PDT If a pelican bites you in the crotch, why would you hang around for a second bite? (Via Arbroath)

USC scientists figure out how to turn t-shirts into body armor Posted: 09 Apr 2010 11:02 AM PDT Researchers at the University of South Carolina have figured out how to combine the carbon component of cotton with boron to create a cotton t-shirt with the toughness of body armor. The scientists started with plain, white T-shirts that were cut into thin strips and dipped into a boron solution. The strips were later removed from the solution and heated in an oven. The heat changes the cotton fibers into carbon fibers, which react with the boron solution and produce boron carbide. Boron carbide is the same stuff that's used to protect tanks, but the boron carbide nanowire fabric that the USC team created has the added benefit of being flexible, lightweight, and elastic. USC via Ecouterre

It Was The War of the Trenches Posted: 09 Apr 2010 09:43 AM PDT Few people alive today are old enough to remember World War I, and as it recedes into the past, the "war to end all wars" becomes more abstract. But French cartoonist Jacques Tardi's graphic novel, It Was The War of the Trenches (Published by Fantagraphics and translated into English by Fanta's own Kim Thompson), brings the Great War to life in all its mud- and blood-soaked misery. Without a trace of sentimentality, Tardi's richly detailed and grimly rendered vignettes depict the horror, illness, cruel manipulations, and stupidity of this giant black spot in human history. Tardi wisely avoids the politics and major developments of World War I, choosing to instead present daily life in the freezing, flooded, rat filled trenches, where shell-shocked soldiers waited for their commanding officers to send them on futile suicide missions. Maus creator Art Spiegelman called It Was The War of the Trenches "an essential classic." You can download a 10-page preview of this monumental book here. It Was The War of the Trenches

Thai man spends extra years in Jakarta prison because of a typo Posted: 09 Apr 2010 09:38 AM PDT A Thai man named Kamjai Kong Thavorn spent an extra three years in a Jakarta prison because of a clerical error; the person who typed in his incarceration year put 1997 instead of 1987.

Why you can't work at work Posted: 09 Apr 2010 06:09 PM PDT Offices are optimized for interruptions and interruptions are the enemy of work, creativity, and productivity. That's what Jason Fried, the co-founder of 37signals (makers of small business online collaboration tools), says. As a result, people who work in offices have to do their real work at home, during the nights and weekends. I agree, for the most part. The best thing about working at home is that I can shut my phone off and focus fully on a project for a couple of hours without interruption. In an office environment, I have never been able to work for more than 15 or 20 minutes without someone breaking my concentration. That said, good things happen in offices, too. The thing I miss most about working in an office are those times when good ideas and decisions are made through informal meetings. Sometimes, getting people together in realspace is the best way to get something done. With its constant commotion, unnecessary meetings, and infuriating wastes of time, the modern workplace makes us all work longer, less focused hours. Jason Fried explains how we can change all of this. UPDATE: David Heinemeier Hansson and Jason Fried of 37signals are co-authors of a book called Rework that goes deeper into ways to get things done. Why You Can't Work at Work

Man + machine = BFF Posted: 09 Apr 2010 08:20 AM PDT "The machines, products of man's mind and skill, are also the agents by which his mind and body are set free." Written by Cyril M. Jansky (my new dead boyfriend and a former professor of electrical engineering at the University of Wisconsin) in 1933.

Commercial German LITTLE BROTHER audiobook to be given away under CC license Posted: 09 Apr 2010 07:23 AM PDT Argon Verlag, publishers of the German audiobook edition of my novel Little Brother, are fed up with all the man-the-barricades talk about audiobook piracy. So they commissioned a very high quality reading of the German text, read by Oliver Rohrbeck, a beloved German voice-actor (star of the long-running radio drama Die Drei ??? and overdub voice of Ben Stiller). The abridgement is being sold on six CDs for €19.95. Fans of the abridged reading and everyone else who is interested in the audiobook are being asked to pay in towards a full, free, unabridged release, also read by Rohrbeck. Once the total of €9000 is raised, the unabridged recording will also be released, free of charge, without DRM, under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license, free for all comers (if the total sum isn't raised by a set time, all the money is refunded). What's even cooler is that the audiobook (and the German print book, from Rowohlt), co-exist happily with a free fan-translation of the novel by Christian Wöhrl and a free fan audiobook reading by Fabian Neidhardt. Fans are free to promote the work to other fans, for free, while commercial operators produce commercial editions. I'm going on a multi-city tour of Germany in September and I'm hoping to meet Christian and Fabian so that I can thank them in person. I'm also hoping that fans of the free editions support my cool, sharing-friendly German publishers and reward them for their open attitude towards free and paid media. What this is about

Great maps of comicbookland Posted: 09 Apr 2010 07:02 AM PDT Comic Book Cartography is a blog devoted to scans of the wonderful maps and diagrams of classic comics. The kind of thing I could stare at all day. Comic Book Cartography (Thanks, Jonathan!) Previously: Google map of world's best comic book stores Annotated Walking Dead Google Map Satirical WWI maps XKCD's log-scale map of the observable universe Funny map of online communities in the style of a D&D map Insanely elaborate and wonderful custom maps Clive Barker and Ray Zone 3D comics event at Meltdown in Los ...

Canadian copyright consultation: 54 in favor of US/UK-style copyright expansion, 6138 against Posted: 09 Apr 2010 06:54 AM PDT Michael Geist sez, "The Canadian copyright consultation concluded last fall and it seems worth reminding Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore and Industry Minister Tony Clement what Canadians had to say when they asked for their opinion on copyright reform. It has taken some time to calculate the final numbers as the government conducted a review to ensure that all were properly posted. There were ultimately more than 8,300 submissions - more than any government consultation in recent memory - with the overwhelming majority rejecting Bill C-61/U.S. DMCA/UK DEB (6138 submissions against, 54 in support), while thousands called for flexible fair dealing and a link between copyright infringement and anti-circumvention rules." The Final Copyright Consultation Numbers: No Repeat Of Bill C-61 (Thanks, Michael!) Previously: Canadian copyright consultation -- video explains why you should ... Canadian Copyright Consultation shows Canadians overwhelmingly ... Canadian Copyright Consultation submission from Tucows and David ... Leaked document: How the EU planned to force changes in Canada's ... Canadian govt appears to be altering submissions to Copyright ... Canadian copyright collecting agency subverting open debate on ... Leaked secret EU-Canada copyright agreement - EU screws Canada ... Access Copyright tells Canadian gov't: no home TV recording, no ...

Homebrew steampunk TV Posted: 09 Apr 2010 06:52 AM PDT This homemade, working Romanian steampunk TV is going for €300 at auction right this moment. It's a lovely piece of work -- very Gilliam's Brazil. UNICAT! RETRO TV home-made (Thanks, EugenS!)

Australian seniors ask Pirate Party for help in accessing right-to-die sites Posted: 09 Apr 2010 07:31 AM PDT Exit International is an assisted suicide education group in Australia, whose average member is over 70 years old. The Exit International website has been will likely be blocked by the Great Firewall of Australia, so Exit International has turned to Australia's Pirate Party and asked for help in producing a slideshow explaining firewall circumvention for seniors. It's a pretty informative slideshow -- teachers could just as readily use it for schoolkids in class in a teaching unit on getting access to legit educational materials that's mistakenly blocked by school censorware. home » Slideshow » The Pirate Party: how to bypass the great Australian firewall (via /.) Previously: Ad campaign for pro-assisted suicide group Terry Pratchett on the right to die

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