The Latest from Boing Boing

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• Brain-melting counterintuitive probability problem
• London Open Source Hardware User Group presentation on Arduino, July 1
• London cops enforce imaginary law against brave, principled teenaged photographer
• Complete schedule for Hackers on Planet Earth NYC July 16-18
• Hand-carved Halo rubberstamp
• Comrade Commodore Unicorn
• Video about hand carved cawl spoons
• Kozo lamps in Makers Market / Boing Boing Bazaar
• Neatorama's video competition: Great Talent, Fantastic Or Otherwise (GTFO)
• Foo Camp 2010: snapshots by Dean Putney
• Paintings of US war atrocities at a North Korean museum
• L.A. folks: if your computers stuffs breaks, Computech is a great support shop
• Nature vs. Nurture: The neuroscientist with a murderer's brain
• Indie Games Festival opens 2011 submissions, adds mobile games
• Repuglicans: 61 monster paintings by Pete Von Sholly
• No sex on the space station
• Marshall McLuhan's playing cards
• NYT correction: Lambert and bass player "licked each other's lips"
• Why Penn and Teller won't cover Islam or Scientology on their TV show
• Savannah Smith performs "Ventriloquism" on ukulele
• Oklahoma police tase an 86-year-old bedridden grandmother
• Globe and Mail journalist arrested and kettled at G20 Toronto
• Zach Anner, the comedian with cerebral palsy in Oprah's new contest
• Doug Rushkoff and Harvey Pekar talk about how "life got incorporated"
• Devo frontman: "I smoked angel dust with Michael Jackson and Andy Warhol"
• Groucho Marx's "Omaha, Nebraska"
• Coupon-clipper eats for a month on $27.08
• An interesting video featuring a "strong man" and his "assistant."
• UK government hushed up internal analysis of anti-drug strategy to avoid ridicule
• My Twitter debate with Minister who introduced Canada's DMCA

Brain-melting counterintuitive probability problem Posted: 29 Jun 2010 05:04 AM PDT Here's a mindbending statistics and probability quirk based on the classic "Two Children" problem, a famous puzzler that goes like this: "Suppose that Mr. Smith has two children, at least one of whom is a son. What is the probability both children are boys?" (the correct answer is usually held to be 1/3, but read on). Keith Devlin, a mathematician at Stanford, examined a variant: "I have two children, one of whom is a son born on a Tuesday. What is the probability that I have two boys?" that arose at the Gathering 4 Gardner conference (held in honor of Martin Gardner) and its even more startling conclusion: 13/27 (!). Devlin's gloss on the famous puzzler is this: Everything depends, he points out, on why I decided to tell you about the Tuesday-birthday-boy. If I specifically selected him because he was a boy born on Tuesday (and if I would have kept quiet had neither of my children qualified), then the 13/27 probability is correct. But if I randomly chose one of my two children to describe and then reported the child's sex and birthday, and he just happened to be a boy born on Tuesday, then intuition prevails: The probability that the other child will be a boy will indeed be 1/2. The child's sex and birthday are just information offered after the selection is made, which doesn't affect the probability in the slightest. When intuition and math probably look wrong (via /.) (Image: [Two Smiling Children], a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from thomasfisherlibrary's photostream) Introduction to Probability textbook is free Psychology of bad probability estimation: why lottos ... Mathematics of waiting for the bus Econoblogger explains why Batman villains shouldn't cooperate ... Think critically when looking at statistics (A valuable lesson ... Security and the statistics of rare events How statistics caught Indonesia's war-criminals

London Open Source Hardware User Group presentation on Arduino, July 1 Posted: 29 Jun 2010 04:52 AM PDT Andrew sez, After two meetings, London's Open Source Hardware User Group is starting to hit its stride, but is keen to recruit all (and we mean ALL) hardware-obsessed geeks and tinkerers within travelling distance of New Scotland Yard (the venue for the next meeting is just across the road). Their third meeting will take place at 6pm on Thursday 1st July, and will cover all sorts of arduino-y goodness. My very good friend Andrew Back is the guiding light of the group. Aside from being one of the most fascinating, cool and self-effacing people I know, he's also a thought-provoking and talented artist and is responsible for this commentary on the state of copyright and filesharing. Event #3 -- Arduino: An Open Source Hardware Success Story Make's gift guide to Arduino Getting Started with Arduino Arduino starter project video Learn how to use the Arduino microcontroller with Make's tutorial ... Massive Arduino-and-solenoid percussion array controlled by a ... Super Mario on a Arduino-controlled 8x8 pixelboard Text on an Arduino-based Monome clone Gadgets

London cops enforce imaginary law against brave, principled teenaged photographer Posted: 29 Jun 2010 04:37 AM PDT Two police officers stopped a teenaged freelance photographer from taking pictures of police cadets marching in an Armed Forces Day in London. The officers claimed (incorrectly) that it was against the law to photograph minors without parental consent. Then they pushed him down a set of stairs and detained him. The photographer recorded the incident, including the officers claiming that they didn't need any law to detain him. Jules Mattsson, the 16-year-old photographer, is very, very good in this recording. He knows his rights, he admirably keeps his cool as two lawless goons with badges harass him and detain him. Kids like this give me hope for the future of the human race. On the other hand, cops who invent imaginary laws and demand that the public abide by them -- after the Association of Police Chiefs has made it abundantly clear that the police must not harass amateur and professional photographers. "I was quickly and aggressively stopped by one of their adult officers asking me who I worked for," he wrote on his blog. "I responded that I was a freelance and upon being told I needed parental permission to photograph them, I explained this was a public event in a public place and that I didn't for editorial use." The audio recording begins minutes later with an officer initially arguing that it is illegal to take photographs of children. He then claims that it is illegal to take images of army members and police officers. Under laws that guarantee the freedom of press in Britain, there is no restriction on photography of children, police or armed forces in a public space. There is new legislation to protect the identities of some police officers but only those working undercover or in instances where an officer genuinely believes a photographer is collecting data for terrorist purposes. Officers claim they don't need law to stop photographer taking pictures (Thanks, Glyn and Andrew) Remixing the London police's anti-photographer terrror posters ... London cops declare war on photography Photographer beaten, detained in London for being "cocky" to ... Remixing the London police's insane, paranoid terrorism scare ... Another London photographer arrested for "terrorism" (i.e. "taking ... London cops reach new heights of anti-terror poster stupidity ... HOWTO beat the London cops on a BS terrorism stop Photographer beaten, detained in London for being "cocky" to ... Video: English cops terrorism-harassing photographer for taking ... UK Police seize amateur photographer's film UK cop: 'War on terror means no pictures of police vans in ... UK to introduce "photograph a cop, 10 years in jail" law Britain's police "descending into obvious madness." Police warn UK man that taking photos of "hooded teenagers" is ...

Complete schedule for Hackers on Planet Earth NYC July 16-18 Posted: 29 Jun 2010 04:25 AM PDT Here's the full list of talks for this summer's Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE) conference in NYC, July 16-18. You know, I've made my peace with the fact that I can't possibly get to even a tenth of the events I'd like to attend, but missing HOPE challenges my equanimity. Full List of Talks (Thanks, Aestetix!) Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to keynote 2600's HOPE conference ... Hackers on Planet Earth NYC conference is looking for tech-art ... Hackers on Planet Earth NYC announces keynote speakers NYC brownstone whose second floor wall rolls up like a garage-door ... At HOPE hacker con, speaker arrested by Feds (UPDATED)

Hand-carved Halo rubberstamp Posted: 29 Jun 2010 04:19 AM PDT Craftster user Astrangeone made this hand-carved Master Chief Halo rubber stamp for the site's Handmade Rubber Stamp Swap, noting, "I swear this made me crazy - took me two and a half days to carve!" Re: Handmade Rubber Stamp Swap 3 (SIGNUP 5/29/10 - 6/24/10 ; MAIL BY 7/21/10) (via Wonderlandblog) All Your Base rubber-stamp Rubber stamp jig made from folder chair Tiny rubber stamp removes "God" from US Currency Mario and Luigi rubber stamps Halo costume on eBay - insanely detailed Alphabet made out of corpses in Halo Video: One Lucky Halo Grenade Gadgets Halo 3 x Suicide Girls: Master Chief Pin-Up Gadgets In-game machinima talk-show with random Halo players shooting ... Augmented reality Halo derivative goes nutso Papercraft Master Chief from Halo

Comrade Commodore Unicorn Posted: 28 Jun 2010 09:10 PM PDT

Video about hand carved cawl spoons Posted: 28 Jun 2010 05:54 PM PDT I like this video about hand carved cawl spoons. The gent in the video says he hates eating cawl with anything but a hand carved cawl spoon. If I were a cawl eater I would feel the same way. Cawl, the national stew of wales was traditionally eaten with wooden spoons in some areas of wales. The spoons that Mansel shows in this video were made by his wife's uncle who died about 15 years ago. His hobby was making spoons. I made my first spoon, a love spoon about 10 years ago. A couple of years ago I took Welsh Classes, and this caused me to think about 'Welsh identity' and became curious about the more domestic, everyday version of the handmade spoon, like the ones I saw in an antique market in Llandeilo. I then started experimenting with carving spoons.

Kozo lamps in Makers Market / Boing Boing Bazaar Posted: 28 Jun 2010 05:48 PM PDT These nifty Kozo lamps are available in a variety of prices and models in the Makers Market / Boing Boing Bazaar. They are handmade and manufactured on demand (after you place an order). Please allow 2 weeks for manufacturing and handeling before the item is shiped. shipment may take 3 to 5 days to arrive (depending on the destination) Kozo lamps shop on Makers Market

Neatorama's video competition: Great Talent, Fantastic Or Otherwise (GTFO) Posted: 28 Jun 2010 05:00 PM PDT Our friends at Neatorama and reddit are looking for the most talented people on the Web. They're holding an online competition called GTFO and the grand prize winner gets an iPad. As Ana Lilia explains in the YouTube clip above, our Great Talent Fantastic or Otherwise search not your usual talent search: while we're looking for Neatoramanauts and redditors with amazing talents, we also want to find those with the most unusual and odd talents that mainstream media don't appreciate. If you can belch a Lady Gaga song, juggle forks while doing acrobatics, lick your elbow (try it) or do other (nearly) impossible things with your body, then you may just win! The Neatest Videos on the Web

Foo Camp 2010: snapshots by Dean Putney Posted: 28 Jun 2010 05:06 PM PDT Our Dean Putney took some wonderful photos up at Foo Camp this weekend. I'm bummed I missed it! Top: Heather Knight with Nao the dancing robot, and Eric Wilhelm's baby. Bottom: Boing Boing's Mark and Pesco. Here's the link to the Flickr set.

Paintings of US war atrocities at a North Korean museum Posted: 28 Jun 2010 04:43 PM PDT A gallery of images from the Sinchon-Ri Museum in North Korea, depicting scenes from the Korean war from a North Korean point of view. (thanks, Sean Bonner, via Eric Haller)

L.A. folks: if your computers stuffs breaks, Computech is a great support shop Posted: 28 Jun 2010 04:29 PM PDT Over the weekend, I did something really stupid during a data migration and believed I'd effectively lost/destroyed an important and irreplaceable chunk of my mail archives. I sweated, I cried, I rended garments, I banged my head against hard things, I couldn't eat or sleep, and I was kind of an asshole to people I love. Today, on the recommendation of my friend Christian Boyce, I stumbled in to the CompuTech Mac and PC support shop in Los Angeles. The short version of the rest of my tale: they resolved the issue fast, reunited me with my data, and were absolute gentlemen. The joint is run by Boing Boing readers, and they could not have been more knowledgeable, effective, and nice. They also advised me on a better backup routine (short version: don't trust the cloud alone—back up to multiple physical disks on and offsite *PLUS* the cloud, and use an app like Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper to create a bootable clone). I should note that these guys aren't a data recovery shop per se, they do a broad range of hardware and software/OS support stuff for PC and Mac (perhaps Linux too, though I did not ask). This blog post is not an ad, and this is not payback, this is me sharing gratitude for a great business in the town where I live, run by awesome people. As a Twitter follower just observed, "getting a new lease on data's life is like the ending to A Christmas Carol. 'I swear, from now on, I'll back up EVERY DAY!" FSM bless us, every one. The most wonderful feeling in the world: believing you've suffered a catastrophic data loss, then getting the data back. And that is my excuse for the photograph which accompanies this blog post. CompuTech (ask for Josh Yellin or Matthew LaForest, and send them my best). They're also on Twitter. * A footnote: another pal recommended MailSteward as a good helper app, and I'll be trying that now.

Nature vs. Nurture: The neuroscientist with a murderer's brain Posted: 28 Jun 2010 04:34 PM PDT NPR has a fascinating, ongoing series of stories about neuroscience, crime and the law—starting out with a piece about a scientist who discovered a dark secret in his own brain. James Fallon studies the biological basis of behavior, especially the differences between the minds of psychopaths and normal people. It's research that can produce an almost knee-jerk recoil, given that this kind of stuff was once used to justify forced sterilization and other eugenic practices. But Fallon's story actually ends up illustrating why you can't just write off people as "damaged goods", even if they do carry genes that might predispose them to violence. When Fallon's own family history turned out to be chock full of murderers (including Lizzie freaking Borden), he started studying himself, and found that his brain scans match those of people born with a lowered ability to control their id-like appetites—from rage to food to sex. He also carries a gene that prevents his brain from properly using the calming chemical Serotonin—a gene that's associated with increased levels of aggression. But Fallon isn't a killer. Or even particularly off-putting, according to the story. The point: What makes you you isn't shaped entirely by brain chemistry or genetics. We can say that there are inherited traits that seem to predispose someone to certain behaviors, but we can't say how that will play out in the real world. Biology is destiny. Except, you know, when it's not. NPR: A Neuroscientist Uncovers a Dark Secret

Indie Games Festival opens 2011 submissions, adds mobile games Posted: 28 Jun 2010 03:04 PM PDT Finally, I can show off what's been keeping me so preoccupied for the past week (and all morning as well!), as we announce the opening of the 2011 Independent Games Festival and explain all the changes we've prepared for its 13th year. Chief amongst those is the addition of a new category for iPhone/iPad, DS, PSP and all other mobile devices (ie. Android), as well as allowing those mobile games to compete in all categories, as handheld games have matured to the point where they can compete with their PC/console counterparts. Previously, those games were confined to the IGF Mobile competition, which is now entirely folded into the main IGF. But we've also expanded the focus on art/games, with more finalists in the Nuovo category -- a category specifically for more experimental games, like last year's Nuovo winner Tuning (above), from the aforementioned Cactus. Over here I've discussed the full list of changes to this year's IGF (including some inside-baseball type changes to the judging system, of interest particularly to indie devs keen to enter). If you're spurred on to enter yourself, all the submission info you need is over here. Looking forward to a wicked festival this year, and hope to see your game included! 2011 Independent Games Festival Opens Submissions, Adds Mobile Category, Expands Experimental Focus [IGF.com] Brandon named Independent Games Festival chairman The Boing Boing Guide to the 2010 Indie Games Festival The Boing Boing Guide to the 2010 Indie Games Student Showcase ... Cactus flowers: an intro to the indie game mind warps of Jonatan ...

Repuglicans: 61 monster paintings by Pete Von Sholly Posted: 28 Jun 2010 03:00 PM PDT The folks caricaturized in Repuglicans don't deserve to be depicted as famished ghouls, white-eyed vampires, drooling werewolfs, and rotting zombies. What I mean is, they aren't worthy of the fantastic 1960s monster-trading-card treatment bestowed upon them by veteran storyboarder Pete Von Sholly. In the same way that Mad magazine only parodied good TV shows and movies, this kind of honor should be reserved for good people. In any case, it's still a treat to pore over the hilariously doctored images of Roger Ailes, Glenn Beck, Dick Cheney, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and 55 other power-hungry fear-mongers. As Steve Tatham (who wrote the commentary to the book) writes in his introduction: There are 55 million Republicans in the United States. Most of them are decent, honorable people. The Republican limited government, state's rights, traditional American values, pro-business political philosophy is a reasonable and worthwhile set of beliefs. Real Republicans and real Democrats share a common goal: they want the United States to be a better place for all its people. The Republican party has its fair share of towering intellects and inspiring heroes. None of them are described in the pages that follow. Buy Repuglicans on Amazon.com See sample images after the break.

No sex on the space station Posted: 28 Jun 2010 01:21 PM PDT No screwing on the space station. From The Telegraph: "We are a group of professionals," said Alan Poindexter, a NASA commander, during a visit to Tokyo, when asked about the consequences if astronauts boldly went where no others have been. "We treat each other with respect and we have a great working relationship. Personal relationships are not ... an issue," said a serious-faced Mr Poindexter. "We don't have them and we won't." "International Space Station sex ban" Sex in space. No, seriously. "Sex In Space" on TV

Marshall McLuhan's playing cards Posted: 28 Jun 2010 01:11 PM PDT Here are scans of media theorist Marshall McLuhan's "Distant Early Warning" playing card deck from 1969. A nice collection of provocative one-liners, unfortunately peppered with some offensive bits.

NYT correction: Lambert and bass player "licked each other's lips" Posted: 28 Jun 2010 12:52 PM PDT The New York Times issued the above correction to Jon Pareles's review of Adam Lambert's concert last week. "(Thanks, Gil Kaufman!)

Why Penn and Teller won't cover Islam or Scientology on their TV show Posted: 28 Jun 2010 12:25 PM PDT In this excerpt from a Las Vegas Weekly interview, Penn Jillette explains why he won't cover Islam or Scientology on his TV show, Bullshit! Let's talk about your TV show Bullshit! Will you ever run out of theories to debunk and people to expose? If you build a kingdom on bullshit, you're not in danger of running out of it. Our producer says that Teller and I can take any subject in the news and do a credible show on it. Sure, we like to have a villain, something to call "bullshit" on, but if we don't, we can depart from that model. Are there any groups you won't go after? We haven't tackled Scientology because Showtime doesn't want us to. Maybe they have deals with individual Scientologists —- I'm not sure. And we haven't tackled Islam because we have families. Meaning, you won't attack Islam because you're afraid it'll attack back ... Right, and I think the worst thing you can say about a group in a free society is that you're afraid to talk about it—I can't think of anything more horrific. [...] You do go after Christians, though ... Teller and I have been brutal to Christians, and their response shows that they're good fucking Americans who believe in freedom of speech. We attack them all the time, and we still get letters that say, "We appreciate your passion. Sincerely yours, in Christ." Christians come to our show at the Rio and give us Bibles all the time. They're incredibly kind to us. Sure, there are a couple of them who live in garages, give themselves titles and send out death threats to me and Bill Maher and Trey Parker. But the vast majority are polite, open-minded people, and I respect them for that. Why Mr. Anti-Bullshit Won't Call Out Islam or Scientology Photo by copiousfreetime. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Savannah Smith performs "Ventriloquism" on ukulele Posted: 28 Jun 2010 12:14 PM PDT Savannah Smith performs "Ventriloquism" on ukulele Supercute! plays Misty Mountain Hop on ukulele NajMeTender plays "Pokerface" on ukulele Megan plays "You and I" on ukulele Sarahsukulele plays "Object of the Game" on ukulele Misanthrope Jackalope plays "The Maker" on ukulele Dream a Little Dream of Me on ukulele Sophie Madeleine plays "The Beard Song" on ukulele Karinne Keithley plays "Sweet Child of Mine" on ukulele YouTube collaborative ukulele jam with Sophie Madeleine "Hallelujah I'm a Bum" played on homemade ukulele Shelley Rickey plays "Tonight, You Belong to Me" on her handmade ... Sophie Madeleine plays "Don't Think Twice It's All Right" on ... Optional Accessory ukulele video By Zoe Hawaii82 plays "In Your Hawaiian Way" on ukulele Taimane plays Eleanor Rigby on ukulele Ukulele version of "Walk, Don't Run" Clara Belle performs "Summer Face" on Ukulele TV Brittni Paiva plays "Glass Ball Slack Key" on ukulele Paulina Sinaga plays "Don't Bogart Me" on Ukulele BBtv: Clara Belle performs "Summer Face" on Ukulele Diane Rubio plays "Lulu's Back in Town" on ukulele Sophie Madeleine's "Love. Life. Ukulele." album Ukulele covers of Jonathan Coulton's "Still Alive" from Portal ... Janet Klein plays "Tonight You Belong To Me" on ukulele Two girls, one uke Videos by two good ukulelists Maile Waltz on Uke Diane Rubio plays "Lulu's Back in Town" on ukulele

Oklahoma police tase an 86-year-old bedridden grandmother Posted: 28 Jun 2010 02:28 PM PDT When Lonnie Tinsley's 86-year-old bedridden grandmother refused to take her medicine, he called emergency services in El Reno, Oklahoma and requested a medical technician. Instead, a dozen armed officers arrived at the scene. According to officer Duran's official report, Mrs Vernon had taken an 'aggressive posture' in her hospital bed. In order to ensure 'officer safety', one of his men 'stepped on her oxygen hose until she began to suffer oxygen deprivation'. Another of the officers then shot her with a taser, but the connection wasn't solid. A second fired his taser, 'striking her to the left of the midline of her upper chest, and applied high voltage, causing burns to her chest, extreme pain', and unconsciousness. Lona was then handcuffed with sufficient ruthlessness to tear the soft flesh of her forearms, causing her to bleed. After her wounds were treated at a local hospital, Lona was confined for six days in the psychiatric ward at the insistence of the El Reno Police Department. "Don't taze my granny!" (Photo source) Oklahoma Highway Patrol finally releases video of trooper attack ... Woman ticketed after goats caught mating

Globe and Mail journalist arrested and kettled at G20 Toronto Posted: 28 Jun 2010 11:41 AM PDT Lisan sez, "On Sunday, police corralled 100+ protesters and pedestrians at a G20 bike rally in Toronto. I was caught in the group while tweeting on behalf of national newspaper The Globe and Mail. We were made to stand in the torrential rain for 4 hours, then arrested -- dog walkers, the homeless, the elderly, peaceful protestors and accredited media -- every last one of us." Caught in the storm, penned in at Queen Street (Thanks, Lisan!) Toronto's secret ID law used to arrest G20 protestor Just a mellow afternoon at the G20 Canadian cops' history of agents provocateurs and the G20 - Boing ... Excellent G20 coverage from Torontoist

Zach Anner, the comedian with cerebral palsy in Oprah's new contest Posted: 28 Jun 2010 11:39 AM PDT Over 8,000 video entries have been submitted for Oprah's Your OWN Show contest, which aims to find a talk show host for her new TV network starting in 2011. Right now, the leading contestant is a guy named Zach Anner, who has gotten crazy support from the Internet, including Reddit, 4chan, and John Mayer's personal blog. Zach is 25 and has cerebral palsy. The contest has been the subject of a pretty widely reported vote rigging controversy — Zach went from having several thousand to several million votes in a matter of hours, and shortly thereafter, another contestant named Dr. Phyllis surpassed him in an equally unrealistic surge in votes, triggering rumors that the network was trying to vote Zach out because they didn't want a disabled guy hosting their new show. Last week, the Geekosystem did a post about the 4chan vote rigging plot, which includes a screen grab where one user describes how to rig the vote. It seems that, in one of those seemingly random acts of goodwill, the 4chan community decided to rally behind Zach and try to make him win. Meanwhile, Zach made a follow-up video thanking the Internet for supporting him. "I don't know what happened, but the Internet is crazy!" he says, thanking 4chan, Reddit, Digg, and John Mayer. ("I know my body is a wonderland, but I don't know why you would be interested in me.) Zach is funny, without a doubt — to me, he seems like a guy who has embraced his disability and uses his own identity to create comedy (as do most other comedians). He has over 8.8 million votes right now; Dr. Phyllis has 6.8 million. You can vote for him (or any other contestant) here through July 3rd. (Thanks, Sean Bonner, for the tip!)

Doug Rushkoff and Harvey Pekar talk about how "life got incorporated" Posted: 28 Jun 2010 11:33 AM PDT Smith Magazine presents a wonderful comic starring our pal Doug Rushkoff talking about his book Life, Inc. with American Splendor writer Harvey Pekar. Pekar & Rushkoff Kibbitzin’ How Life Got Incorporated | The Pekar Project

Devo frontman: "I smoked angel dust with Michael Jackson and Andy Warhol" Posted: 28 Jun 2010 11:13 AM PDT Paul Krassner once took acid with Groucho Marx. Similarly Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh recounts smoking PCP with Michael Jackson and Andy Warhol. From The Big Issue: "The only time in my life I smoked angel dust was by accident and it was on a double date with Andy Warhol and Michael Jackson," laughs Mothersbaugh. "We all went to Studio 54 and people were passing drugs all over the place. "Michael Jackson had just finished doing the movie The Wiz and still looked like Michael Jackson back then – he had an Afro and he was still black. He passed me a joint and I thought, well OK, we don't have marijuana in Ohio so I'll try it." Minutes later Mothersbaugh found himself on the dancefloor as pillars of light were swirling around "like weedcutters" knocking people over and cutting them up. He turned to his date in horror, only to hear her say: "You didn't smoke any of that angel dust did you?" Mark Mothersbaugh: "I smoked angel dust with Michael Jackson and Andy Warhol" (Via DoseNation) Photo by Ingorrr. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Groucho Marx's "Omaha, Nebraska" Posted: 28 Jun 2010 10:43 AM PDT Want to know what song I've had stuck in my head for three days? Groucho Marx's "Omaha, Nebraska," a funny, surreal bit of doggerel set to music. I wake up to it, I lie down to it and it is with me all day long. Have a listen, you can go crazy too. THERE'S A PLACE CALLED OMAHA, NEBRASKA, In the foothills of Tennessee. My sweetie told me that someday she'll meet me at the corner of Delancey Street and Avenue "B". From the shores of California to the rockbound coast of Maine We'll settle down in Washington D.C. In the Heart of Omaha, Nebraska, Where the best things in life are free in the foothills of Tennessee. THERE'S A PLACE CALLED OMAHA, NEBRASKA, In the foothills of Tennessee. Each night when day is done we watch the setting sun and listen to the mocking bird sing Mother Machee. When it's showing in Alaska where the Swanee River flows I love like the honey likes the bee. In the Heart of Omaha, Nebraska, Where the best things in life are free in the foothills of Tennessee. Realaudio for "Omaha Nebraska" Omaha Nebraska lyrics (Image: Annabelle in Groucho Disguise!, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from winton's photostream) The Essential Groucho Groucho to Warner Bros: Get Bent Bill Gates 0wns Einstein, Groucho , Freud, Asimov, Fuller, et al ... Happy Father's Day! Harpo Marx on the origin of the "Gookie"

Coupon-clipper eats for a month on $27.08 Posted: 28 Jun 2010 10:34 AM PDT Darren sez, "This guy, some kind of coupon Jedi from what I can gather, ate reasonably healthfully for a month on one dollar a day. In fact, he only spent $27.08, and claims to have procured $597.96 in food (from the final day's entry). He even, it seems, donated a bunch of stuff to a local food bank. He obsessively documented the experience for those, uh, keen to repeat it." Grocery Shopping Is A Game: Getting good deals while grocery shopping is a game. If you don't think that it is, you are simply unknowingly playing it and it's costing you. Most people don't understand the rules of this game and that is why they pay much more for food than they need to. It takes about a month to learn the rules of the game and how to play it to your advantage which makes it possible to get huge discounts on the food you buy. You Can Eat More Than Junk Food On $1 A Day: Most people that I told I was going to be trying this challenge assumed that I was going to be eating a lot of macaroni & cheese and instant ramen. I actually was able to get fruit and vegetables into my diet on a daily basis. I only ate 100% whole wheat bread the entire month. While I could have made my diet healthier if I had more money, I believe that what I ate was better than what many people in the US eat without the strict financial limitations. Eating Well On $1 A Day (Thanks, Darren!) (Image: Drawer full of unfiled inserts & misc., a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from bargainbriana's photostream) Coupon queen spends $10/week on family groceries Clever grocery-store coupon strategy Confusing sandwich coupon Coupon sharer wins lawsuit

An interesting video featuring a "strong man" and his "assistant." Posted: 28 Jun 2010 10:31 AM PDT Robert Popper finds the weirdest things.

UK government hushed up internal analysis of anti-drug strategy to avoid ridicule Posted: 28 Jun 2010 11:36 AM PDT Last December, the UK government declined to release a document about whether its anti-drug strategy was working under Freedom of Information legilsation - on the ludicrous basis that it might confuse the public. But it gets worse. Steve sez, "Last week the Home Office inadvertently released 19 pages of correspondence concerning the case to a BBC journalist in an unrelated request (they had deleted it in track changes but forgotten to accept all deltions I presume - as its still all there but red and struckthough). What it reveals is not only that the stalling was transparently political in nature (all the various excuses previously given were entirely spurious), but that the rules stating FOI applications should be dealt with 'applicant blind' were clearly ignored." The release of the report entails the risk of Transform, or other supporters of legalisation, using information from the report to criticise the Government's drug policy, or to support their call for the legalisation of drugs and the introduction of a regulated system of supply. These risks should be considered in reaching a decision on whether to release the report, as recommended. Home Office internal document reveals bunker mentality of secrecy and suppression (Thanks, Steve!) Latest lame UK gov't excuse for supressing drug policy report: "if ... UK cops threaten to bust woman who videos her boyfriend's search ...

My Twitter debate with Minister who introduced Canada's DMCA Posted: 28 Jun 2010 10:18 AM PDT After Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore decried opponents of his US-style copyright bill as "radical extremists" and vowed to "fight them on Twitter," I decided to take him up on his offer. So I followed his tweets for a while, responding to the things he was saying about his bill (some background on it here). Finally, he rose to the challenge, and we spent a merry hour having a vigorous airing of views on Twitter. It was a lot of fun (and, in my biased estimation, Moore comes out looking pretty poor). David Eaves captured the whole thing with Bettween, which generates a JPEG of Twitter conversations: Full Twitter conversation Canadian Heritage Minister declares war on copyright reformers ... Canada's sellout Heritage Minister ready to hand copyright to ... A Canadian author's perspective on "radical extremism" and ... Canadian Heritage Minister smears DMCA opponents as "radical ...

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