The Latest from Boing Boing

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• Design for America winners remix open government feeds
• Computer mouse made from biological mouse's ribcage
• Librarians do Gaga
• Clarion sf writing workshop Write-a-Thon
• Mars Attacks wall graphics in Boing Boing Bazaar
• Pseudo-science and airport security
• What happens when you let smart teenagers play with their passions
• Scientists disagree. You should not be surprised.
• The world's tallest Internet entrepreneur
• Report: "Junk shot" fails to plug leak in Gulf
• Mike Tyson: "Earl Grey sucks"
• Gary Coleman, 1968-2010
• Church of Tarvu releases new recruitment video
• Lindsay Lohan prohibited from installing Linux on court-ordered alcohol monitoring gadget
• The iPad + Velcro
• Boing Boing Bazaar: Imaginary Foundation's iPhone cases and t-shirts
• Canadian students speak out against the Canadian DMCA
• Body of Evidence: Artist works with silver nanoparticles dispersed in hexane
• Genevieve Gauckler's cuddly blob art
• Bad acid in Humboldt?
• Gallery of homely tools
• Dog dancing merengue
• Nimble autonomous flying copters: video
• Researcher explains the appeal of Rembrandt paintings
• Psychedelic symbol in Botticelli's Venus and Mars
• New NYC subway map comes out next month
• Videogames train you for lucid dreaming?
• Uniqlo's fun and totally useless Twitter toy
• Snails on speed
• Vampire red goth clock in Boing Boing Bazaar

Design for America winners remix open government feeds Posted: 29 May 2010 05:07 AM PDT The Sunlight Foundation has announced the winners in its Design for America contest, where the public were invited find cool things to do with the US government's open data feeds. They had 72 entries, all extremely clever and provocative. The transformation of complex process into great imagery was also something we hoped for here at Sunlight. The "How A Bill Becomes a Law" category didn't disappoint. Every entry in this category was amazing. The one that won in the end was the one that combined beauty with complexity. It's beautiful, and too big to embed on this blog. But check out the whole thing. It's amazing. The Design for America Winners (Thanks, Nicko!) Ask the Government Printing Office to release the US Constitution ... International Amateur Scanning League will rescue our video ... My OpenCongress: track every bill and lawmaker in Congress - Boing ... Your chance to mark up the Wall Street bailout bill Visualizing how a dirty Congresscritter turned campaign ...

Computer mouse made from biological mouse's ribcage Posted: 29 May 2010 04:57 AM PDT I know nothing about this (do you? Add a comment) -- it doesn't look functional, but it sure is a fascinating object. mouse (Thanks, Dana!) Steampunk mouse Logitech Anywhere mouse: precise, innovative and hassle-free ... Sculptures from digested mouse parts and pulped hornet nests ... A very fine mouse-pad: $10000. Plus shipping. The OpenOffice Mouse The OpenOffice Mouse

Librarians do Gaga Posted: 29 May 2010 04:53 AM PDT In this smashing video, students and faculty from the University of Washington's Information School perform a Lady Gaga remix ("Catalog") with enormous humor, verve, and grace. Librarians are so goddamned awesome. Seriously. Librarians Do Gaga (Thanks, Fipi Lele!) Video: Lady Gaga before she became famous Mark Dery on Lady Gaga Lady Gaga trash mosaic portrait, Jason Mecier Lady Gaga: "not dumb" or "not not dumb?" Librarian fined $500 for saying nice things about his daughter's ... Radical Militant Librarian tee High school librarian: why books are a hard sell Librarian's video about installing Ubuntu on library PCs

Clarion sf writing workshop Write-a-Thon Posted: 28 May 2010 07:49 PM PDT The Clarion Writing Workshop at UCSD La Jolla is having its annual write-a-thon, in combination with Seattle's Clarion West and Australia's Clarion South: "From June 27 to August 7, 2010, Clarion supporters can tap into the creative energy of the renowned six-week Clarion workshop, encourage this year's Clarion students, and help secure the financial future of Clarion, all without leaving home. The first annual Clarion UCSD Write-a-Thon will take place at the same time as this year's Clarion Workshop. Write-a-Thon participants embark on a six-week writing journey alongside the 2010 students-in-residence, supported by friends, family and fans." I'm in. I'm writing 1,000 words a day, five days a week, on Pirate Cinema, the YA novel I've got due next Christmas. You can pledge to support me and my $500 fundraising goal for Clarion. Clarion helped make me into a better writer -- and it's done the same for hundreds of others. Fundraising is an increasingly important part of Clarion's viability. With major cutbacks from our host organization -- the bankrupt UC system -- it's fundraise or die. I hope that you'll participate in the Clarion Write-a-Thon, either as a writer or a donor (or both!). Participate in Clarion 2010 without Leaving Home! (Disclosure: I am proud to volunteer as a board-member for The Clarion Foundation, a 501(c)3 charity that supports the Clarion workshop at UCSD) Writers: Clarion wants your dead keyboard! Laptop theft at Clarion West sf workshop -- donations needed ... Instructor rosters for Clarion and Clarion West science fiction ... Seattle's Clarion West issues funds-matching challenge to support ... Kate Wilhelm's must-read writerly advice/history of ... Clarion West laptops all replaced

Mars Attacks wall graphics in Boing Boing Bazaar Posted: 28 May 2010 05:08 PM PDT These fantastic Mars Attacks wall graphics are in the Makers Market / Boing Boing Bazaar. I have Card # 21 (Prize Captive) on my office wall now (child included for size reference). The graphics come in your choice of sizes ranging from 1-foot to 6-feet in length. LTL PRINTS has been working with Topps for the last six months, and we have launched giant wall graphics featuring a number of their classic brands, including Wacky Packages, Garbage Pail Kids, and Hollywood Zombies, along with several collections of sportscard wrapper wall graphics (Baseball, Football, Basketball, and Hockey, from the 1950s to the present). Our most recent wall graphics launch with Topps, Mars Attacks, is my personal favorite. Originally released in 1962, the Mars Attacks trading cards were drawn by renowned comic book artists Wally Wood and Bob Powell, and painted by legendary pulp artist Norman Saunders. Kids loved them, but the cards prompted parental concerns due to the sensational storyline and over-the-top graphics. After LTL PRINTS had launched over 500 Wacky Packages wall graphics and received some pretty nice feedback from our customers, we asked Topps if there was any chance that we could launch the same sort of thing for Mars Attacks. They said YES, and went into their archives and re-scanned the master versions of each of the 55 cards in the original trading card series. LTL PRINTS is currently working with artists, designers, and brands from around the world to bring their 'content' to empty walls globally, and over the last 6 months we have launched hundreds of premium wall graphic collections (e.g. Popeye, Betty Boop, Dilbert, Peanuts). We are working with digital designers like Susan Kare and Yiying Lu, legendary aerosol and street artists like Vulcan and Chor Boogie, and painters like Casey O'Connell. Next week, LTL PRINTS launches a new KIDS WALL GRAPHICS catalog that features giant wall art from Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit, giant dinosaurs from the Natural History Musuem, panoramic wall murals of animals in the wild, and Paddington Bear. And our next major consumer launches include Marilyn Monroe and Star Trek wall graphic collections. Simply: LTL PRINTS is working to create a new medium for creative expression. Our goal is to bring amazing content to empty walls around the world. If you want a giant vinyl sticker of a football helmet, big clip-art flowers, or almost-lifesize cutouts of the latest boy band, there are loads of companies out there offering these sorts of wall graphics. And they are selling tens of millions of dollars worth of these big vinyl stickers each year. LTL PRINTS is taking a slightly different approach. Rather than using vinyl, we are printing on a premium material that is called 'self-adhesive repositionable fabric paper', and will stick to almost any surface (walls, windows, even ceilings), and can be removed and re-hung 100 times without leaving a mark or damaging your walls. By combining this new material and production with the worlds greatest content, we are attempting to literally create a new medium for creative expression. Mars Attacks graphics in Boing Boing Bazaar

Pseudo-science and airport security Posted: 28 May 2010 02:53 PM PDT The Pomona College student who was detained by airport security after they found Arabic flashcards in his carry-on luggage was originally pulled aside for questioning because of Screening Passengers by Observation Technique (SPOT), a pseudo-scientific program that's supposed to teach TSA employees how to identify deceptive or hostile behavior in travelers. Or, rather, SPOT is supposed to help pick out people who are trying to hide their cruel intentions. The pushy, cranky guy behind you in line who's yelling at his kid = no. Sneaky terrorists trying to look innocent = yes. The problem, of course, is that there's no evidence this system works any better than a lie detector. Which, just to be perfectly clear, means it doesn't work. "Simply put, people (including professional lie-catchers with extensive experience of assessing veracity) would achieve similar hit rates if they flipped a coin," noted a 2007 report1 from a committee of credibility-assessment experts who reviewed research on portal screening. "No scientific evidence exists to support the detection or inference of future behaviour, including intent," declares a 2008 report prepared by the JASON defence advisory group. The TSA does track statistics. From the SPOT programme's first phase, from January 2006 through to November 2009, according to the agency, behaviour-detection officers referred more than 232,000 people for secondary screening, which involves closer inspection of bags and testing for explosives. The agency notes that the vast majority of those subjected to that extra inspection continued on their travels with no further delays. But 1,710 were arrested, which the TSA cites as evidence for the programme's effectiveness. Critics, however, note that these statistics mean that fewer than 1% of the referrals actually lead to an arrest, and those arrests are overwhelmingly for criminal activities, such as outstanding warrants, completely unrelated to terrorism. I'm in favor of reasonable security measures at airports. But, from my perspective, a big part of defining "reasonable" is providing objective evidence that the measure actually does any good. Nature: Airport security: Intent to deceive? Image courtesy Flickr user nedrichards, via CC

What happens when you let smart teenagers play with their passions Posted: 28 May 2010 02:36 PM PDT Love this: Two and a half years ago, a high school freshman called up a cell biologist and asked him to "give her a try in his lab.' This month, Raina Jain of Freedom High School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, won the International BioGENEius Challenge—a sort-of mega science fair—with a project to test which type of surfaces are best for growing the precursor cells that could one day be used to create bone implants. Kudos to Dr. Matthias Falk, of Lehigh University, for giving Jain that proverbial try. I wish more high schoolers had the opportunity to poke their noses around laboratories and learn about the things they think are cool in a way that allows them to go as far as their brains can reach. This is just simply something you can't get in a high school class that has to teach the basics to everybody. The fact that Jain's folks are a doctor and a materials scientist probably helped a lot on cluing her into potential opportunities. It's not something that would have ever occurred to me as a possibility when I was that age. Hopefully, this post will inspire other young brains to reach out to older ones—and vice versa. Image provided by Flickr user x_ray_delta_one

Scientists disagree. You should not be surprised. Posted: 28 May 2010 02:10 PM PDT Ardipithecus ramidus—the skeletal proto-human also known as Ardi—was discovered almost 18 years ago. The first scientific reporters were published last year. And now, other researchers are coming forward to challenge the way Ardi's discoverers interpreted the evidence about her habitat and place in the human family tree. But here's the kicker—these challenges aren't a scandal. In fact, this is the normal way that science, of all sorts, happens. I point this out, because I think it's a basic fact that the public doesn't really understand, and that we—the science reporters—often forget to clarify. Science works because scientists disagree. They challenge each other's ideas, find better ways to interpreting the data and eventually come to conclusions that bring us closer to truth. (Story via Cort Sims)

The world's tallest Internet entrepreneur Posted: 28 May 2010 01:27 PM PDT World Record: Most Party Hats Worn At Once (Elna Baker) Photo: Emily Wilson Yesterday, the Air Force announced that its Waverider aircraft set the record for hypersonic flight -- it reached Mach 6. Which is impressive. But some other world records were also broken yesterday: Fastest Time to Name All James Bond Movies in Chronological Order (9.9 seconds). And Most Beer Bottles Balanced on Chin (12 bottles). These records were featured on one of my favorite websites, the Universal Record Database . If you're not familiar, it's a Youtube-like version of world records, where anyone can upload their feats of human achievement -- no matter whether they're inspiring or absurd, athletic or intellectual. I thought I'd take this historic opportunity to do a short Q&A with my friend Dan Rollman, who, along with his colleagues, launched the site about a year ago. (It started as a project at Burning Man in 2004). Here's Rollman - who I believe holds the unofficial record for tallest internet entrepreneur (6-foot-7). And who also beat my record for longest hand coo, about which I am only moderately bitter. What is the most unbreakable record? If anyone ever beats Chad Lunders' record for Fastest Time To Recite "To Be Or Not To Be" Soliloquy While Balancing On A Rola Bola On A Picnic Table And Juggling Knives, I'll be mightily impressed. What was the first world record set on URDB?   The first submission I remember coming directly to the site was from a guy in Australia named Daniel Fowler. It was for Most Giraffe Tattoos On A Shoulder (1).  Three months later, a San Diego radio station offered a free tattoo to anyone who would come in and beat Fowler's record. A guy named Mike McDonald got three shoulder giraffes inked live on-air. A couple of weeks after that, Daniel Fowler got three more giraffe tattoos on his shoulder and reclaimed his record. That was the exact moment I knew we were onto something.  What is your most watched world record? Our most viewed record is Longest Whisper Chain, set last summer at one of our World Record Appreciation Society live events. A guy named Jake Bronstein came onstage and whispered "Kristina, will you marry me?" to a volunteer from the crowd. That person then whispered it to the next person and so on, Telephone Game style. She said yes. By the way, I'm going to their wedding in July. You also get a lot of traffic for the Deepest Toe Cameltoe. Tell me how that happened? One of the earliest records we documented at Burning Man involved a woman who measured the depth of indentation between her big toe and second toe. Unsure what to call the record, we went with "Deepest Toe Cameltoe." Appropriate and descriptive title, right? Somehow, over the past year, this record page has risen extremely high in search ratings for "cameltoe." The title alone has driven tens of thousands of people to our site. We've pondered changing it to avoid confusion, but, you know, we, um, haven't come up with a better title yet. Speaking of which, you must get people who submit X-rated world records? Like most people in an orgy? It's a site for all ages, so we don't currently accept X-rated submissions. We do, however have Most Naked People In A Hot Tub and Largest Group Eskimo Kiss. There's also a quick glimpse of a boob hidden deep on one video, but you'll have to pay a hefty ransom for me to reveal where it is. What about getting seven billion people to do something? Awesome idea. Imagine if the whole planet teamed up to beat Jake Bronstein's Longest Whisper Chain? That would be a landmark moment in human achievement. Especially if the message traveled without anyone messing it up. If that were to happen, what do you think the message be?  Human beings are radical. World Record: Most People To Kiss Same Person At Once (Paymon Parsia) Photo: Emily Wilson World Record: Fastest Time To Drink Pint Of Beer While Juggling 5 Balls (Stephen Bent) Photo: Emily Wilson

Report: "Junk shot" fails to plug leak in Gulf Posted: 28 May 2010 01:42 PM PDT Videos and stills posted by Pas au-Delà appear to show spectacular events going on in the operation to cut off the flow of oily gunge in the gulf -- possibly a 'junk shot,' where rubber and other materials are forced into the failed blowout preventer in an attempt to plug it. As you can see, the junk appears not to have remained in place. More from the New York Times. BP's CEO says they'll give the strategy another 48 hours: the next plan is to cut the pipe and cap it with another pipe; and failing that, to place a second blowout preventer atop the failed one.

Mike Tyson: "Earl Grey sucks" Posted: 28 May 2010 01:11 PM PDT Understanding Mike Tyson's breakfast ritual.

Gary Coleman, 1968-2010 Posted: 28 May 2010 02:24 PM PDT Dead at 42, following a brain hemorrhage. [Washington Post]

Church of Tarvu releases new recruitment video Posted: 28 May 2010 12:55 PM PDT A confession here, Boing Boing readers: I've already said "hebbo" to Tarvuism—the world's fastest-growing religion—and I've learned how to speak to an octopus along the way, with help from a friendly priestmunty. Thanks to this brand-new recruitment video, now you can too. Video: The Church of Tarvu: Join us! Related: Tarvupedia, and chat forum. (thanks, poppermunty and serafinamunty) Happy Tarvu Day, Everyone! Video about Tarvusim

Lindsay Lohan prohibited from installing Linux on court-ordered alcohol monitoring gadget Posted: 28 May 2010 04:41 PM PDT A Los Angeles judge this week ordered Lindsay Lohan to wear an alcohol-detection ankle bracelet at all times, after the actress was convicted for driving under the influence. Last night, Ms. Lohan tweeted that she wished to bedazzle her Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor (SCRAM). The device isn't pretty. Neither is alcoholism. Snip from the Los Angeles Times: "Can CHANEL please help me out by getting me some stickers to put on my scram bracelet so that I can at least wear a chic dress?! maybe!? x," Lohan wrote. But the maker of the ankle bracelet warns that anything that affects the alcohol-monitoring device could be considered a violation and could trigger its tampering mechanism. So adorning the lightweight monitor with sequins or stickers could be fraught with problems for the fashionable actress. Guess that means you can't install Ubuntu on it, either. Bummer. Here's more about the bracelet, which wirelessly sends data on transdermal booze detection by RF. And here's a "how it works" page from the device manufacturer which shows all the parts in the system. Wonder if it sniffs coke, too? I ask about the gadget, not Lohan.

The iPad + Velcro Posted: 28 May 2010 10:59 AM PDT As Kevin Kelleher, who posted this video on The Big Money pointed out, transparent velcro is available.

Boing Boing Bazaar: Imaginary Foundation's iPhone cases and t-shirts Posted: 28 May 2010 10:40 AM PDT A few weeks ago, I posted that our friends at surreal outfitter Imaginary Foundation were in the Boing Boing Bazaar selling a terrific belt emblazoned with Einstein's chalkboard formulas. Now, IF has added a slew of magnificent new products to the Bazaar, including iPhone cases and t-shirts. Imaginary Foundation in the Boing Boing Bazaar

Canadian students speak out against the Canadian DMCA Posted: 28 May 2010 10:17 AM PDT Noah from the Canadian Federation of Students sez, "The video was released today to draw attention to the issue and build momentum for the campaign prior to the tabling of new copyright legislation next week." This is great work. The Fight for Fair Copyright (Thanks, Noah!) 7 Copyright Questions for Canada's DMCA Minister Canada's Heritage Minister ready to bring back DMCA-style ... Canadian Prime Minister promises to enact a Canadian DMCA in six ... Tweet-sized letters of protest over Canadian DMCA, ACTA Documentary on Canada's DMCA Canada's sellout Heritage Minister ready to hand copyright to ... Canada's copyright minister: superinfringer HOWTO Fight Canada's coming DMCA copyright law

Body of Evidence: Artist works with silver nanoparticles dispersed in hexane Posted: 28 May 2010 04:38 PM PDT (PHOTO: Artist Kate Nichols, with her nanoparticle art / Kristen Philipkoski) When Kate Nichols traded her paintbrush for a pipette, she had to accept a few changes in the way she created art. First, control and predictability went out the window. Sometimes her new medium -- nanoparticles dispersed in hexane -- behaved, sometimes it didn't. "It is docile and containable at times, unruly and given to bursting uncontrollably from my pipette at others," Nichols said. In science, such unpredictability leads to failed experiments. Reproducibility is king in science; it's vital if a researcher wants to prove what he or she is seeing isn't just a fluke. Scientific journals require many repeated identical results before they'll publish a scientist's work. But in art, it's just the opposite. Uniqueness is most important. Reproducing art only devalues it, so Nichols' inability to predict what her materials might do next only made the work more compelling. In just such an unpredictable moment, the 2010 TED fellow happened upon a method of creating mirrors. While trying to create a dark background for her silver nanoparticles on glass, she inserted microscope slides that had been rendered black by a layer of silver-gelatin photographic emulsions. "When I inspected my work," Nichols said, "I was surprised to see my own eyes staring back at me." She ended up with objects that changed depending on what was reflected in them, which riffs on another concept in science. Often when a scientist examines particles, they are somehow changed or destroyed, whether it's with an electron beam or a light microscope. The same goes for Nichols' mirrored pieces -- what one sees is destroyed and changed moment to moment with the changing reflection. Images: Above, Untitled: silver nanoparticles, glass and wax. The exhibit was at the Materials Research Society annual meeting in San Francisco in April. In this piece, mirrors coat class tubes filled with silver nanoparticles. Above, L: Body of Evidence 2. Above, R: Body of Evidence 1. Previous post: TED fellow using nanoparticle paint

Genevieve Gauckler's cuddly blob art Posted: 28 May 2010 09:54 AM PDT I really would love to be at this party, drawn by Parisian illustrator Genevieve Gauckler. It's called "lots of cuddles." Artist's page [via Designboom]

Bad acid in Humboldt? Posted: 28 May 2010 09:44 AM PDT Humboldt County, California police are warning acid-eaters after responding to quite a few recent situations of individuals experiencing (very) bad trips. Indeed, last month paramedics found a man who apparently had castrated himself. According to the Arcata police chief, it's not known whether the bum trips are a result of contaminated LSD or just an indicator that more people than usual have taken the drug in the last month. From the AP: Earlier this month, a 21-year-old man who took LSD wandered into the forest for two days without adequate clothing or shoes. The next day, a 19-year-old man became violent while having flashbacks two weeks after taking the drug. Then officers found an 18-year-old man on LSD throwing himself to the ground in the middle of the street. "Arcata police see "bad trips" spike for LSD users in Humboldt County" (Thanks, Chris Arkenberg!) As someone famously once said...

Gallery of homely tools Posted: 28 May 2010 09:21 AM PDT Make: Online's Toolbox section features "tools that fly under the radar of more conventional tool coverage." The latest entry is a round up of "homely tools." James Vreeland -- Before the war, my grandfather was a toolsmith and perpetual tinkerer in Poland. After the fighting started, he and my grandmother were sent to a Siberian work camp. Not content to allow such an inconvenience to keep him from making things, he began to cobble together a humble toolkit. In lieu of a finishing hammer, he was able to scrounge a short segment of brass bar stock, which over time mushroomed at both ends and shortened by almost half. Apparently he found this solution adequate, as when he and my grandmother moved to the States after the war, he continued the practice in his new life as a lamp maker. As each "hammer" got too short to use further, he'd toss them into a drawer and begin the process anew. When he passed, he had "finished" three and was well along his way to completing a fourth, which I use to this day whenever the need for gentle mechanical persuasion is in order. Thank you Jan Jakiela for teaching me what patience and dedication looks like, in the form of a one pound lump of metal. James is a very lucky fellow to have his grandfather's hammers. And I applaud the fact that he still uses one to make repairs. Toolbox: The homeliest tool in the shed

Dog dancing merengue Posted: 28 May 2010 09:20 AM PDT This is really cute, but I wonder if the dog actually enjoys dancing in that frilly skirt. via Dogster

Nimble autonomous flying copters: video Posted: 28 May 2010 09:14 AM PDT The GRASP Lab at University of Pennsylvania made this video that shows off the "precise aggressive maneuvers" of an autonomous quadrotor helicopter. It flies through small windows, perches on walls, and nimbly flips over. I imagine there are quite a few applications for something like this. Maniobras alucinantes de cuadricópteros autónomos (Thanks, Antonio!)

Researcher explains the appeal of Rembrandt paintings Posted: 28 May 2010 09:58 AM PDT A researcher at the University of British Columbia claims he has figured out why Rembrandt paintings are so appealing to viewers. Renaissance artists used various techniques to engage viewers, many incorporating new scientific knowledge on lighting, spatial layout and perspectives. To isolate and pinpoint factors that contribute to the "magic" of Rembrandt's portraits, DiPaola used computer-rendering programs to recreate four of the artist's most famous portraits from photographs of himself and other models. Replicating Rembrandt's techniques, he placed a sharper focus on specific areas of the model's face, such as the eyes. Working with a team from the Vision Lab in UBC's Dept. of Psychology, DiPaola then tracked the viewers' eye movements while they examined the original photographs and the Rembrandt-like portraits. "When viewing the Rembrandt-like portraits, viewers fixated on the detailed eye faster and stayed there for longer periods of time, resulting in calmer eye movements," says DiPaola, who is also an associate professor at Simon Fraser University and adjunct faculty at UBC's Media and Graphics Interdisciplinary Centre. "The transition from sharp to blurry edges, known as 'lost and found edges,' also directed the viewers eyes around the portrait in a sort of narrative." ..."Through these techniques, Rembrandt is essentially playing tour guide to his viewers hundreds of years after his death, creating a unique narrative by guiding the viewers' eye," says DiPaola. "This may explain why people appreciate portraiture as an art form. UBC researcher decodes Rembrandt's "magic" [UBC] If Rembrandt shilled for Coke Rembrandt's vision problem - Boing Boing

Psychedelic symbol in Botticelli's Venus and Mars Posted: 28 May 2010 09:08 AM PDT An art historian suggests that Botticelli's famous "Venus and Mars," an homage to the power of love, may actually have a hidden psychedelic message. Art historian David Bellingham of Sotheby's Institute of Art suggests that the plant clutched by the satyr in the bottom right corner is actually Datura stramonium, a poisonous hallucinogen. From the Times: "This fruit is being offered to the viewer, so it is meant to be significant," he told The Times. "Botticelli does use plants symbolically. In the background are laurel [bushes], for example, which are a reference to his patrons, the Medicis. Datura is known in America as poor man's acid, and the symptoms of it seem to be there in the male figure. It makes you feel disinhibited and hot, so it makes you want to take your clothes off. It also makes you swoon." Mr Bellingham believes the 15th-century painting was intended not only as a depiction of Venus and Mars but also of Adam and Eve. He believes that the Datura may represent the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge that Eve offered to Adam, triggering their ejection from the Garden of Eden. The fruit is commonly depicted as an apple, but was not specified as such in the Bible. "Botticelli's painting Venus and Mars may allude to sex and drugs" (via The Daily Grail)

New NYC subway map comes out next month Posted: 28 May 2010 08:54 AM PDT The New York City subway map is getting a makeover for the first time in over a decade.

Videogames train you for lucid dreaming? Posted: 28 May 2010 08:58 AM PDT Can playing videogames train you as a lucid dreamer? Psychologist Jayne Gackenbach thinks so, according to work she presented at this week's Games for Health Conference in Boston. For several years, Gackenbach, a researcher at Grant MacEwan University, studied similarities in skills between gamers and individuals who have learned to control their dreams. She also looked at how videogame-play seemed to affect nightmares. From LiveScience (painting is Salvador Dali's "The Dream"): "If you're spending hours a day in a virtual reality, if nothing else it's practice," said Gackenbach. "Gamers are used to controlling their game environments, so that can translate into dreams...." Finding awareness and some level of control in gamer dreams was one thing. But Gackenbach also wondered if video games affected nightmares, based on the "threat simulation" theory proposed by Finnish psychologist Antti Revonsuo. Revonsuo suggested that dreams might mimic threatening situations from real life, except in the safe environment of dream world. Such nightmares would help organisms hone their avoidance skills in a protective environment, and ideally prepare organisms for a real-life situation. To test that theory, Gackenbach conducted a 2008 study with 35 males and 63 females, and used independent assessments that coded threat levels in after-dream reports. She found that gamers experienced less or even reversed threat simulation (in which the dreamer became the threatening presence), with fewer aggression dreams overall. In other words, a scary nightmare scenario turned into something "fun" for a gamer. "What happens with gamers is that something inexplicable happens," Gackenbach explained. "They don't run away, they turn and fight back. They're more aggressive than the norms." "Video Gamers Can Control Dreams, Study Suggests" (via The Anomalist) And for an excellent HOWTO on lucid dreaming, I highly recommend the 1990 book "Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming" by Dr. Stephen LaBerge and Howard Rheingold (yes, that Howard Rheingold).

Uniqlo's fun and totally useless Twitter toy Posted: 28 May 2010 08:52 AM PDT Japanese clothing store Uniqlo has a fun little web service right now called Color Tweet — you just enter your Twitter handle and it creates this fun crazy movie featuring your icon, your tweets, and cute Japanese girls in Uniqlo T's dancing on-screen to happy music. Color Tweet by Uniqlo

Snails on speed Posted: 28 May 2010 08:34 AM PDT Biologists turned snails into tweakers to learn more about how crystal meth seems to improve memory in humans. According to the Washington State University and University of Calgary researchers, memories formed while on methamphetamine may be more durable. (They ran another snail study in 2006 using cocaine instead of meth.) Their work could someday provide a deeper understanding of addiction. From EurekAlert! (images from Wikimedia Commons): ...The team wondered whether meth could improve the snails' memories. First they immersed the snails in meth-laced pond water, then they moved them into regular de-oxygented pond water and gave them a training session that the snails should only recall for a few hours. In theory the snails should have forgotten their training 24 hours later, but would the meth improve the snails' memories so they remembered to keep their pneomostomes closed a day later? It did. A dose of meth prior to training had improved the snails' memories, allowing them to recall a lesson that they should have already forgotten. And when the team tested whether they could mask the meth memory with another memory, they found that the meth memory was much stronger and harder to mask. "Snails on methamphetamine"

Vampire red goth clock in Boing Boing Bazaar Posted: 17 May 2010 02:16 PM PDT This Goth Clock in Vampire Red by Eye Pop Art is $50 in the Makers Market / Boing Boing Bazaar. The Goth Clock in Vampire Red features my original, psychedelic design, hand painted in glossy black on a blood red background. It is made from an upcycled 12" vinyl LP record. The painted record is assembled with a new quartz clock movement and simple black clock hands. There's a heavy duty hanger on the back for hanging. The clock takes one "AA" battery (not included). 12" (30.48 cm) in diameter. Goth Clock in Vampire Red

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