Thursday, June 17, 2010

The Latest from Boing Boing

The Latest from Boing Boing

Link to Boing Boing

Summer Hacking School for kids based on Little Brother

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 11:23 PM PDT

Neale sez, "I liked Little Brother so much that I bought a copy for my niece and then based an entire Summer Hacking School around it. The kids were really excited about the premise of the book when I explained it to them tonight, and the fact that it's available for free in so many formats was just gravy. I put ePub and j2me versions on 5 mobile phones before they left for the night."

Like all my books, Little Brother is free to download and remix. You can take Neale's course at Northern New Mexico College in Española, New Mexico.

Vintage kids' art supply packaging gallery

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 10:09 PM PDT

HP to spam your web-connected printer

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 10:04 PM PDT

HP and Yahoo are teaming up to spam advertisements to your printer -- the next step being behavioral ads based on the traffic it can sniff from your local network:
"Through IP (Internet Protocol) sniffing, you have an idea about where those printers are so naturally it allows you to kind of already target your offers," Nigro said.

Ads can also be targeted based on a user's behavior as well as the content, said Vyomesh Joshi, head of the HP's Imaging and Printing Group. The pilot with Yahoo is in its early stages, however, and Joshi said the program has to be done with privacy in mind.

HP partners with Yahoo for targeted ads (via /.)


CD on one side, vinyl record on the other

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 09:58 PM PDT

Techno artist Jeff Mills produced this CD/5" vinyl single for "The Occurrence." One side of the disc is a normal CD, the other side plays on a normal analogue turntable.

The Vinyl And CD Release On One Disc From Jeff Mills

Axis Records (unlinkable Flash-blobs ahoy!) (via Make)



Just look at these awesome tiny knitted banana luchadores

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 09:50 PM PDT

Teacher cuts student's picture out of every copy of the yearbook

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 09:47 PM PDT

A high school in British Columbia is reprinting its yearbooks after a teacher used a pair of scissors to cut out the picture of a student whose quote he objected to from every copy in the print-run:
Teacher Ken Piercy, who was in charge of the yearbook committee, cut out Brandon's photo and comment because he said the boy had falsely accused the principal of spending money on a fence instead of textbooks.

"I will not allow anything to be published that is hurtful and untrue," Piercy stated in an insert placed in the defaced yearbooks.

The fence was installed by the district, not the principal. Barr said Brandon will be asked to submit a new comment for the reprint.

B.C. school yearbooks to be reprinted after teacher cut out student's photo (Thanks, Tian!)

(Image: Marcel Tetrault/Comox Valley Echo, Canwest News Service)



Keytar-playing platypus explained

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 09:44 PM PDT

Louis Armstrong death metal version of "What a Wonderful World"

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 09:18 PM PDT


(Thanks, Adam!)

Russian art group Voina "dicks" a St. Petersburg Bridge

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 10:06 PM PDT

Wp-Content Uploads 2010 06 52

Animal New York reports on the latest project by Russian art renegades Voina (War): dicking a bridge.

Over the years, Voina staged many actions: police station take-overs, anti-homophobic faux-lynchings in malls, stray cat throwing into swanky restaurants, anti-Medvedev public orgies and all kinds of ruckus. Their most recent target: the headquarters of FSB, the offices of Russia's KGB incarnate Federal Security Service. Our source: Voina themselves.

In the early morn of Che Guevara's birthday, the group psyched out bascule bridge guards and made their way to the center of Liteiny Bridge. In 23 seconds flat, Voina painted a 213-feet-tall, 89-feet-wide phallus dubbed "Giant Galactic Space Dick."

Russian art group Voina "dicks" a St. Petersburg Bridge

Previous Boing Boing post about Voina here. (Thanks, Marina!)

X-ray pin-up calendar

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 05:54 PM PDT

Eizo-Pin-Up-Calendar-2010-13

The Eizo medical supply company issued a 2010 calendar of X-ray pin-ups. (Via Anon's comment)

Hoochie Ghoul Z.I.L.F. wallet in Boing Boing Bazaar

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 04:52 PM PDT

System Product Images 7607 Original 1

Travis Pitt's Hoochie Ghoul Wallet is available in the Makers Market / Boing Boing Bazaar for a mere 16 bucks.

Travis Pitts kicks ass and we're pleased to offer this first release from the Savannah based illustrator and purveyor of crazy culture.

This wallet utilizes our "paintswatch on the inside" construction for a snazzy color-coordinated interior. There's is a large pocket for your moolah and 4 pockets for your ID and credit cards.

Size is 3.75 × 4.25 inches closed

Hoochie Ghoul Wallet Travis Pitts for Tinymeat

Dastardly Italian joke thief nabbed by long arm of the LOL

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 04:34 PM PDT

daniel.jpg

Comedian Emo Phillips shares word of international outrage over allegations of systematic, decades-long joke thievery by Italian comedian Daniele Luttazzi, shown above making a frowny face. Mr. Philips says,

Today, the biggest Italian news daily had—on the front page—an incredible scandal about how the top comedian in italy has ripped off American comedians including, but not limited to: George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Jerry Seinfeld, Steve Wright, Mitch Hedberg, Sarah Silverman, Bill Maher, and myself. He did so for years, flatly denied it, and until now, completely got away with it.
Philips points us to the news, in Italian. And alternately, in English-ish. Here is a list of comedians who have been ripped off, and details on the jokes stolen. Chortle, the UK comedy publication, has a story on the Luttazzi scandal here (in easy-to-read English).

John Hodgman alerted Boing Boing to the story, and to Mr. Philips' own personal involvement as a victim of said joke-theft. Hodgman says,

Jokes are plagiarized all the time (Patton Oswalt is constantly being ripped off, most recently by the valedictorian speaker at Columbia University's School of General Studies), but comedians often have no recourse when their work is stolen. If anything, there is a lingering sense that jokes belong to no one.

While it's true that they originally were passed around as a part of a public domain folk culture—like urban legends and ghost stories—they are now clearly examples of carefully crafted artistic expression. Few who practice comedy would debate this. But you'd be surprised at how many people defend joke thieves on the grounds that the original creator of the joke should be glad for the publicity.



And now, I, non-comedian and joke layperson, will attempt to create topical humor about the story:



Q: If Interpol are the guys who handle high-stakes international financial crimes, who do you call when stuff like this happens?


A: Inter-LOL

Behnam Karbassi - Transmedia world-building

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 02:08 PM PDT

Benhambbb Behnam Karbassi is a founding partner of No Mimes Media, currently producing alternate reality and transmedia projects. He has worked in the entertainment & advertising industry for the past decade, leading teams at Saatchi & Saatchi and producing projects for companies like Toyota, Warner Bros. and Sony. He is a producer & director at LIFTmob, and was a producer at 42 Entertainment where he worked on the alternate reality experiences Why So Serious? for The Dark Knight and Project Abraham for Playstation 3's Resistance: Fall of Man franchise.

I sent him some questions about transmedia world-building and the new media landscape... [Disclosure: No Mimes is a Hukilau partner.]

Before creating No Mimes Media, you and your partners were at 42 Entertainment where you helped create the Why So Serious? transmedia campaign for The Dark Knight. Would you describe that project? Did the results meet or exceed your expectations?

I've worked on a lot of amazing projects, but, at the time, Why So Serious was by far the most incredible movie marketing I'd ever seen, much less, been a part of. I think that's because it went way beyond marketing, it extended the story of the Batman reboot, bridged the gap between the two films, and most importantly, made millions feel they were actually citizens of Gotham City.

This was in part thanks to a
very willing studio, an extremely involved director, producer, and
writer, and a groundbreaking creative team. By the numbers, it was
the biggest experience of all time (in budget, participation and
ticket sales), with the most interesting part being that it grew over
time and across media rather than dropping off as is the norm. It was
a perfect storm of 50 years of mythology, a great first film and an
outstanding campaign. Best of all, it was when I met Steve Peters and
Maureen McHugh who would become my partners at No Mimes Media.


Transmedia is becoming a hot Hollywood buzzword. How do you
define transmedia and what do you feel are some of the key elements to
a successful transmedia project?


We've spent the last year meeting with and helping educate studios,
networks, brands and agencies on the potential of transmedia. We're
very happy that it's catching on, because we really do believe it's
the future of storytelling. But there has been a lot debate over the
definition of transmedia, especially since the PGA's bold move to add
transmedia producer as an acknowledged position. We've whittled it
down to a three-fold explanation:


1) franchise transmedia: extending a story world across media


2) marketing transmedia: stories that support another brand or transmedia


3) native transmedia: stories intended to weave across media from
their inception


The holy grail for us is, of course, native transmedia, but both
funders and audiences have to change their thinking before it is
widely created and accepted.


The key element that is shared across any definition is story (and the
world that this story creates). Applying this essential narrative
base to the right media for the right audience is our formula for
creating compelling transmedia.


How does transmedia extend & challenge the idea of the
traditional narrative? Are these experiences primarily brand-driven or
are they ultimately about world-building and engagement?


Prior to the web, audiences had become accustomed to sitting back and
taking their entertainment as it was given, usually in a linear
fashion. The web and digital media gave audiences on-demand and the
ability to easily make and share their own content. Transmedia takes
the best of all worlds, and adds a non-linear element by reacting to
its audience. This is why we like to think of it as the truly
interactive way to tell stories.


Transmedia has the amazing ability to create "brand evangelists"
(whether it's for soap, a movie or an original story) BECAUSE it is
about immersing the audience in a story world and engaging them with
interactivity. And they are truly an "efficient" way to get an
audience thanks to huge engagement times as compared to a 30 second
commercial or even a 2-hour movie. All marketing buzzwords aside,
they are most importantly, a lot of fun.


No Mimes Media recently partnered with Hukilau. Do you see
transmedia as a way for independent creators to engage new audiences
without having to deal with the major studios?


The fascinating part about the digital and transmedia revolutions is
that they are closing the gap between big budget studios and
independent producers. It is no longer a top down situation. Indies
are generally bigger risk takers and they are embracing transmedia and
its potential much more quickly than the big guys. Transmedia works
best when its thought of at the beginning of development, and indies
can do this much more nimbly. They realize the benefits of building
and engaging their audience with compelling experiences since they
don't have huge marketing budgets and big-name stars. Hukilau is at
the forefront of providing independent producers with the tools they
need to digitally (and traditionally) distribute and market their
work, and we're thrilled to be partnering with them. When were you
able to ever do this before?


Does transmedia represent a fundamental shift in the way
media is created & consumed? Is the fourth wall coming down?


The future of transmedia experiences that we envision will require a
shift in the way we use and interact with stories/media. Kids are
already porting content from one screen to another, blurring the lines
of media. Perhaps their kids won't give a second thought to starting
a story at home, calling the phone number that leads them to the event
that then gives them rest at the movies that they help end with their
fellow viewers.


In the future of transmedia experiences, do you imagine a
role for emerging technologies like augmented reality &
geo-location?


We've already used both augmented reality and geo-location activities
in our past experiences, but the mobile hardware has not really caught
up to our imaginations. One day, you'll exit your flying car and use
your neural visor to see the transmedia world in front of you, or just
use the transmedia holodeck. Either way, we're always looking for new
ways to push the limits of storytelling.

Transmedia Storytelling and the New Media Convergence

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 01:59 PM PDT

Wikipedia Commons C C3 David Goliath Blanton Narrative media is undergoing a shift from the traditional model of single, linear story lines to much broader explorations of the story world. Narratives are developed within larger contexts where even tertiary characters can act as launch points for new stories that flesh out the fictional universe. These bleed into the physical world through alternate reality gaming and transmedia cross-platform experiences that directly engage the audience, drawing them into the story through real-world challenges. ARG's may not be especially new but they're being more commonly integrated into franchise productions through transmedia campaigns across web sites, mobile engagement, shorts, graphic novels, video games, music, and any other possible medium that can extend the story.

While much of this shift has been driven by the entertainment industry, typically around run-up advertising campaigns, transmedia experiences are perhaps most compelling as native expressions of a fully-articulated narrative universe. This is transmedia world building: creating a fictional universe so rich and complete that a multitude of interweaving stories can emerge from it, taking form through the social and technological spaces we share.

The video game
spin-off becomes an opportunity to extend the narrative and create a
new experience. The web site becomes a breadcrumb in the story arc
offering a phone number that conveys a meeting place. The graphic
novel picks up the life of a tertiary character from the original
story. The audience is asked to participate in the unfolding
narrative.


The pieces here aren't particularly new but they're all starting to
converge with the technologies that enable these experiences. Most
importantly (and disruptively) they are converging in a way that
radically empowers independent content creators at exactly the moment
when they've been completely abandoned by the industry giants of
yesteryear. The majors have ditched or shelved their independent film
houses and now focus solely on tent-pole blockbusters. Premiers at
Cannes, Sundance, and other indie fests are barely selling to the
studios. Yet, independent creators can set up powerful home studios
and score a RED camera or even a Canon 5D mk2 to shoot & produce
exceptional, authentic work. And very soon the audience will control
access to this massive Long Tail of content right from their living
room (and from their mobiles, and laptops, and kiosks, and car
stereos, etc...)


Indeed, the near-simultaneous announcement of both Google TV and the
new iteration of Apple TV herald the final arrival of truly integrated
internet TV. This is the enxt major wave of convergence. These devices
will fully legitimize web video - the pre-eminent domain of
independent film, tv, and short-format creators - and bring it
directly into the living room for mass consumption. Viewers will be
able to open chat streams, web browsers, interactive content, and
feedback polling while watching content from YouTube, Hulu, Vimeo and
anyone else uploading to the cloud. Content providers will grab
analytics off the back-end, manage ad placement, and push interactive
challenges directly to the viewers. Internet TV convergence will be
radically disruptive.


The majors are fighting hard to control this space. They'll continue
to defend the old models & limp box office gimmicks like "3D" movies
while new media innovators will be figuring out how to use Microsoft's
Kinect and augmented reality and geolocation to extend the reach &
impact of their content. New models of crowdfunding & collaboration
will bring the audience into the production, and creators will push
out distribution through iTunes, Netflix, torrents, and the emerging
array of independent web hosts. Whatever the role of Old Media may be
in the future, independent creators will play a much larger role in
the new media landscape.

Daring Fireball on accepting comments

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 01:45 PM PDT

Gadget blog drama time! John Gruber, proprietor of Daring Fireball, responds to a complaint from pundit Joe Wilcox, who believes that Gruber should publish Wilcox's responses at DF itself to make the conversation fair. Gruber's having none of it:
You write on your site; I write on mine. That's a response. I don't use comments on Wilcox's site to respond publicly to his pieces, but somehow it's unfair that he can't use comments on my site to respond to mine? What kind of sense is that even supposed to make? ... Now that DF has achieved a modicum of popularity, however, what I tend to get instead aren't queries or complaints about the lack of comments, but rather demands that I add them -- demands from entitled people who see that I've built something very nice that draws much attention, and who believe they have a right to share in it. They don't.
Wilcox's argument is that there are established good practices of the internet that Gruber fails to live up to out of cowardice, to shore up the authority of his analysis. But Gruber's right: everyone who wants to respond can do so at their own websites. Why isn't this good enough? It's as if the exposure offered by being published in the margins of a popular venue is more valuable than the right to publish at your own -- as if what people really want is a right to be heard. We accept comments at BoingBoing and publish them automatically, yet receive complaints just as Gruber does -- some folks don't want it to be moderated, either. Sometimes, the contention is that accepting comments turns a website into a USENET-style public venue covered only by social conventions. Unfortunately for them, our commenting policy lacks the provision, "Void where prohibited by a sense of entitlement." Not without reason, some believe that Boingers' vigorous defense of free speech creates a milieux here whereby the comments should be an unfettered, energetic free-for-all. But it's not just about entitlement ... more practically, that results in a noisy, infested mess that drowns out anything of quality. We want to create a non-hostile and non-adversarial community environment, even at the cost of criticism. Antinous, Arkizzle and Avram do an unbelievably difficult job making sure the comments are spam- and arsehole-free and otherwise safe to swim. Accepting comments on a widely-read blog creates a lot of work. It's a task no-one should begrudge anyone else for choosing not to do. That said, if your first-world problem set includes the right to post on a blog specializing in the emergent steampunk and unicorn issues of the day, you're probably our kind of reader. I'll Tell You What's Fair [Daring Fireball]

Nokia Announces Treo-Killer

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 02:43 PM PDT

nokiax5.jpg Nokia's new X5 mobile phone, which runs Symbian 3 and is priced at about $450 $200 unsubsidized, also comes in chartreuse. Nokia launches slew of smartphones to take on Apple, Android [The Hindu]

Mark's book signing in Bay Area, Thursday, June 17, 2010

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 01:09 PM PDT

Images 50810000 50810290 I'll be at the Barnes and Noble at 5604 Bay Street, Emeryville, CA 94608 on Thursday, June 17, 2010 at 7pm to promote my book, Made by Hand. If you are around, I hope you'll come!

Mark Frauenfelder of Made by Hand at Barnes and Noble in Emeryville, CA



Operation BP: Bullsh*t Plug (free print-and-play game)

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 12:50 PM PDT

Andrew Sheerin of TerrorBull Games (makers of the beloved War on Terror board game) have created a free print-and-play game called Operation BP: Bullshit Plug.
Games Printandplay Bullshitplug Bullshitplug1653X2339This game is for two players. Each player takes a role - either 'BP' or 'The Public' and each player has two cards that represent two possible strategies. BP is trying to shore up its dwindling share price, while the public just want the leak plugged. Both players pick a strategy and play it face down, simultaneously. These are then revealed and the effects on the share price and the leak are worked out. This action is then repeated until the game ends. It's very simple, takes just a few minutes to play, but is also quite devilish and deceiving.

For the game-design/psychology geeks among you, Operation BP: Bullshit Plug is (as you probably know if you're a game-design/psychology geek) actually a variant of the classic Prisoner's Dilemma. In fact, it's a re-iterative prisoner's dilemma with a non-finite amount of iterations (although the iterations can safely be presumed to be fairly low in number). This makes co-operation in the game rather difficult.


Operation BP: Bullshit Plug

My Baby is Black!

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 12:44 PM PDT


"Nothing you have ever seen before and nothing you have ever heard before will prepare you for the shock of 'My Baby is Black!'"

(Don't miss the thrilling sequel, "My President is Black!" produced by The Tea Party Motion Picture Corporation.)

Macedonia introduces universal, deep telco/Internet wiretapping; hardly any MPs bother to vote

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 12:14 PM PDT

A reader writes, "Today the Law of Electronic Communications was amended in the Macedonian parliament with 55 for and 9 votes against (of 120 total, 91 were present, the remainder abstained). In a very Orwellian manner, the law grants the government constant and direct access to electronic communication networks (mainly telcos and internet providers) and obliges the providers of these services to enable the government (Ministry of Interior) to download of traffic data without oversight, through equipment which provides an interface to logs for phone-calls, TCP/UDP/IP traffic and every other means of transferring data to and from machines. The provided link is from an NGO that started to raise awareness for the law, but sadly as the government here doesn't pay much attention to independent thinking, they ignored the whole initiative. You can find more information on why the law is bad."

Call for protection of citizens' privacy in the Republic of Macedonia



NYC brownstone whose second floor wall rolls up like a garage-door

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 12:09 PM PDT


Architect Bill Peterson renovated this 14th Street townhouse so that the living room wall rolled up like a garage, leaving it open to the street, with an "air curtain" to keep the heat in: "The hardware on the moving wall is custom, and McLaren Engineering Group, the firm Peterson eventually hired, also works for Cirque du Soleil. 'These guys were like magicians,' he says." The Wall Vanishes (via Cribcandy)

(Image: Stan Wan/New York)



AT&T iPad hack discoverer arrested

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 12:44 PM PDT

Last week, hacker Andrew Auernheimer uncovered a flaw at AT&T's website which may have compromised the privacy of thousands of iPad users. This week, he was arrested on drugs charges. From CNET:
Andrew Auernheimer, 24, was being held in Washington County Detention Center in Fayetteville, Ark., according to Lt. Anthony Foster of the Washington County Sheriff's office in that state. The drugs were found during the execution of the warrant, said Lt. Mike Perryman, of the Fayetteville Police Department. However, Perryman could not say what prompted the warrant. ...
What indeed? We're far short of knowing much about the circumstances of his arrest, but if AT&T sent the Feds on a fishing trip out of spite rather than because it had evidence of a crime, it would be perfectly in keeping with its reputation. Also, the fact that Auernheimer's supposedly a racist and an 'unsavory dude' shouldn't make it OK to arrest him on unrelated charges just because. EscherArrest_270x203.pngIf the charges are accurate, though, we might have a learning moment at hand: If one has just publicly exposed the gross incompetence of a major corporation and humiliated its respected partners, perhaps it is time for one to flush the coke. Fascinatingly, it appears Auernheimer is Weev, a source for a 2008 New York Times feature about how horrid internets are. In it, Weev was quoted saying that that posting flashing images to an epileptics' online forum was over the line: "It's hacking peoples unpatched brains. we have to draw a moral line somewhere." Mattathias Schwartz wrote:
Weev, the troll who thought hacking the epilepsy site was immoral, is legendary among trolls. He is said to have jammed the cellphones of daughters of C.E.O.'s and demanded ransom from their fathers; he is also said to have trashed his enemies' credit ratings. Better documented are his repeated assaults on LiveJournal, an online diary site where he himself maintains a personal blog. Working with a group of fellow hackers and trolls, he once obtained access to thousands of user accounts.
(Well spotted, vonnegutlives!) Hacker in AT&T-iPad security case arrested on drug charges [CNET. Photo: Washington County Sheriff's Office]

E3 2010: first gameplay video of Valve's Portal 2

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 11:38 AM PDT

Saving you the trouble of coming all the way out to LA, IGN have published off-screen video of the Portal 2 demo Valve's currently demonstrating here at E3. The first gives you a bit of story background -- taking place as GlaDOS resurrects herself years after the events of the first game -- while the second two below the fold dig further into the new gameplay features, including the "propulsion pudding" paint-gun enhancements added when Valve employed the fresh student indie team behind Tag: The Power of Paint. The best part? As always, the hapless turrets and your merciless blanking of them a minute or so in that first video.



Icelandic Modern Media Initiative passes: a new safe haven for journalists?

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 11:53 AM PDT

iceland.jpg

Jake Appelbaum says,

The IMMI (Icelandic Modern Media Initiative) passed last night unanimously (tweet 1, tweet 2).

Read more about the IMMI here. Here's the WikiLeaks talk about IMMI from the last Chaos Communications Congress. Here's the time line.

This is a really big deal for journalists and free speech activists everywhere. This has been a major effort by hundreds of people from all over the globe, and most importantly the Icelandic people! I have an unending amount of respect for the people of Iceland. They've decided that history shouldn't be erased, that people should be free to discuss what is actually happening in the world around them, and most of all they've decided to help the entire planet with this in mind.

Below, a statement from Wikileaks founder Julian Assange about Wikileaks' involvement in this initiative.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Announce] WikiLeaks inspired "New media haven" proposal
passes Parliament
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:00:17 +0100 (BST)
From: Julian Assange

FYI:


Reykjavik, Iceland; 4:00 UTC, June 16th 2010.

The WikiLeaks advised proposal to build an international
"new media haven" in Iceland, with the world's strongest
press and whistleblower protection laws, and a "Nobel" prize for
for Freedom of Expression, has unaminously passed the
Icelandic Parliament.

50 votes were cast in favor, zero against, one abstained. Twelve
members of parliament were not present. Vote results are available
[here].

One of the inspirations for the proposal was the dramatic August 2009
gagging of
of Iceland's national broadcaster, RUV by Iceland's then largest bank,
Kaupthing.


Two changes were made to the proposal from its original form as per
the opinion of the parliament's general affairs committee
[Link]. The first of these
altered slightly the wording of the first paragraph so as to widen
the arena for research. The second of these added two new items to
the list of tasks for the government:


- That the government should perform a detailed analysis,
especially with respect to operational security,
for the prospect of operating data centers in Iceland.


- That the government should organize an international conference
in Iceland regarding the changes to the legal environment being caused
by expansion of cloud computing, data havens, and the judicial state
of the Internet.


Video footage from the proposal's vote will be available at:


Link 1


Link 2


For details of the proposal and press contacts, please see
http://www.immi.is




Here's a related video report on Al Jazeera.


(image: The Geothermal Genie, a Creative Commons licensed photograph taken in Iceland, from the Flickr stream of "stuckincustoms," whose terrific HDR photoblog is here.)

Outwitting Squirrels: one of the funniest books I've ever read

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 11:31 AM PDT

Images G 01 Ciu 61 17 1Fd59833E7A0B38F97262110.L In the introduction to his book, Outwitting Squirrels, Bill Adler recounts attaching a suction-cup-mounted bird feeder to the window of his apartment. The next day he was treated to a colorful spectacle of "beautiful birds with beautiful songs coming to my window every handful of seconds." In a single day he saw a "sunset-red cardinal, two doves, a couple of finches, a chickadee, a tufted titmouse, a warbler, a junco, and a white-breasted nuthatch."

But shortly afterwards, "something happened that changed my world forever. It inspired a quest that has been driving me for nearly two year; the same quest that motivates eighty million other Americans. That February afternoon, I returned from an errand, opened my door and saw a squirrel in my feeder. My birdfeeder! The whole squirrel -- tail and everything -- was inside the feeder, a rectangular lucite compartment attached to my window with suction cups. Nothing has been the same since."

Adler then goes on to describe his various and increasingly desperate attempts to keep squirrels from raiding his birdfeeder. He "stood guard" over the feeder, banging the window whenever the squirrel approached, but the animal soon learned to ignore the noise and eat the seeds anyway. He tried opening the window and screaming at the squirrel, which worked, but as soon as Adler walked away the squirrel seized the opportunity and returned.

Determined to outwit the squirrel, Adler studied its behavior. He noticed that the squirrel had to climb a brick wall to get to the feeder. Adler went to the hardware store to buy a can of liquid Teflon. "With the glee of a sixteen-year-old on prom night, I coated the walls around and below the air conditioner [which the squirrel jumped from to land on the bird feeder] with a visible film of Teflon." The stratagem worked: "The first squirrel that leapt onto the Teflon-coated brick was as surprised as I was overjoyed. The moment his claws caught the Teflon-coated surface he scrambled furiously to keep hold, his little legs moving rapidly in circles, as if he were being chased by a cat. It was a fun, funny, fantastic sight."

The Teflon worked, until it rained, and Adler was back to square one. He described a number of other methods he employed in his attempt to outwit the enemy (which soon gained his grudging respect as a highly intelligent, resourceful combatant) but the squirrel outsmarted him every time. I tried reading parts of the book out loud to my wife, but I was laughing so hard I couldn't talk. I just handed the book to her and managed to squeak, "Read it."

Eventually the human won over the squirrel, and the rest of the book is devoted to descriptions of various squirrel-foiling contraptions and their efficacy.

Outwitting Squirrels: 101 Cunning Stratagems to Reduce Dramatically the Egregious Misappropriation of Seed from Your Birdfeeder by Squirrels

The definitive guide to making old-people candy in bulk

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 11:07 AM PDT

The Up-To-Date Candy Teacher contains everything you ever wanted to know about making all sorts of candies—from various flavors of fondant cream to horehound sticks and beyond—using all the modern technology 1921 has to offer. A must read for any budding candy entrepreneur, or curious enthusiast.

Black licorice is awesome

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 01:07 PM PDT

blacklicoriceyeah.jpg

Black licorice (or "real licorice", if you're nasty) is, like many of those old-timey candies from the days before high-fructose corn syrup, something of an acquired taste—an acquired taste I'd highly recommend acquiring. Beyond the obvious benefits that come from expanding one's food repertoire, black licorice also offers two key advantages:

First, it tends to pack enough of a flavor punch that you aren't going to sit down and eat a pound of the stuff, saving you calories and money, while still supplying a junk food fix.

Second, you usually don't have to share. In fact, you can offer, and everybody will turn you down, so you still look like a good person even though you're really being a giant, selfish candy hoarder.

But where to start? I found four excellent entry points to the world of licorice at Minneapolis candy store Sugar Sugar.

Pontefract Cakes: Keepin' it old-school
Look and Texture: About the shape and size of a quarter—but thicker. Made since 1614, they come stamped with an image of England's Pontefract Castle, which makes an American feel terribly important while eating them. The candy is dense and chewy, more like a Swedish Fish in texture than a gummi worm.

Flavor: Pontefract Cakes are sweetened with molasses, and I definitely get more of that flavor off them than licorice/anise. It's almost like eating a gummi version of gingerbread.

Griotten: Tiny and delicious
Look and Texture: Made in Holland, Griotten look more like a cube of raw sugar than licorice candy. They're very small, light brown and coated in a layer of sugar. The texture is ... different. In a good way. Light and airy and almost a little springy, it's like eating a slightly stale—but still nom-worthy—marshmallow.

Flavor: If there ever was licorice I could eat by the bagful, this would be it. Griotten have a caramel flavor on first bite, while the not-too-pungent licorice-ness kicks in with chewing.

Dutchies: Perhaps not for the faint of heart
Look and Texture: Big, jet-black diamonds coated in sparkly sugar, Dutchies have a presence even before you start to eat them. The texture reminds me of the spice drops my father-in-law loves. (A side note: If spice drops were a person, they'd be Harvey Fierstein in very elaborate drag. Discuss.)

Flavor: Dutchies are a licorice punch in the face. A shot of ouzo in candy form. There's something very Mentholatum-ish going on here, too, as the vapors work their way into your sinuses. Your tongue gets a bit numb. I still like them, but two at a sitting is plenty. Your mileage may vary.

Koppers: Easing you in via liberal doses of chocolate
Look and Texture: Perhaps the inspiration behind Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls, Koppers are a piece of very firm, very black licorice surrounded by a layer of dark chocolate. They're about the size of a gumball.

Flavor: Can i describe something as being like a darkest pit of hell and mean it in a good way? These things are rather like Guinness in candy form. Or maybe a Guinness float. Sweet and bitter and savory all mingled together. Delicious.

Photo taken by multi-talented journalist (and my regular partner-in-crime), Leah Shaffer.

Memory Palace: Halley's Comet

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 10:08 AM PDT

Haleycomettttmemory In the new episode of one of my favorite podcasts, The Memory Palace, Nate DiMeo takes us to the roof of New York City's Waldorf Astoria Hotel in 1910 where everyone who was anyone celebrated the arrival of Halley's Comet and the possible end of the world.
Memory Palace: "Looking Up"

Mindshare LA: an evening of "Enlightened Debauchery" 6/17/2010

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 09:55 AM PDT

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On Thursday, June 17th, 2010 at 7:00 pm Mindshare LA (a social experiment which gathers every month in downtown L.A.) is presenting an evening of "Enlightened Debauchery" at Club 740.

Thursday's speakers cover an eclectic range of topics, including augmented reality (Brian Selzer of AR game company Ogmento), sexual cooking techniques (Chef Spencer Walker of Cooktobang.com), finance for babies (UCLA Professor Bhagwan Chowdhry of the FAB campaign), and the wisdom of animal dung showering (writer/comedian Spencer Gibbs). Nerdcore rapper Random (aka MegaRan) will perform, with interactive installations from Andreas Stadler and Syyn Labs, the engineering whiz kids behind the OK Go 'Rube Goldberg'-inspired music video. DJ, dancing and alcohol-induced mayhem follow.
EVENT DETAILS:

When: Thursday, June 17th, 2010, 7:00 pm
Where: Club 740
740 S. Broadway (Enter through the alley off 8th St.) Los Angeles, CA 90014
Drinks: Full cash bar
Food: Food trucks will be on the premises from 6:45 pm onwards
Tickets: $30. Purchase.

Mario v. Pac-Man animated short film

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 09:51 AM PDT

My favorite TokyoMango tipster Kazu Y just clued me into this fun little video on Yahoo! Japan that shows what might happen if Mario and Pac-Man went head to head in battle in Mario World. Despite having the home court advantage, Mario makes some major errors that ultimately cost him his head.

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