The Latest from Boing Boing

---

• Three-dimensional skull-cake
• Lost steampunk coaster of Disneyland Paris
• Sugar Information explains how sugar won't make you fat
• Fox News advocates shutting down public libraries
• Crocheted R2D2 Hat
• Russian super-spies sucked at IT
• Apple is hiring iPhone antenna engineers. I wonder why.
• Steampunk Ghostbusters tribute: "Whom Shall You Telegram?"
• Twilight Eclipse as 8-bit interactive YouTube video game
• Oh my God look at these giant balls! Of hail, which fell in Bozeman, MT, today.
• Foursquare cared a lot more about $20M than your privacy
• Woot CEO's note on Amazon acquisition may be best "We Got Bought!" email ever
• Image: Apelad's Pac Man Twitter avatar
• Image: Nintendo of Japan's Mario tease
• Shadow play: Sony enters the shadow-game ring with echochrome ii
• Vuvuzela symphony planned at BP headquarters
• Just look at this illustration of an ancient carnivorous whale
• Future of transportation circa 1936
• Canadian man replaces his false eye with bionic camera eye, is putting eye video feed online for all to see
• Great blooming agave, Batman!
• One reason humans are special and unique: We masturbate. A lot.
• Doctor to pharma reps: We'll take your free lunch, but not from Boston Market
• Why tuna is delicious
• Tin can ukulele has a nice sound
• Mark talking at Crash Space in Culver City, CA tonight 6/30/2010
• Google and China, continued: Congress examines U.S. investment in Chinese censorship
• Neighborgoods: borrowing, lending, or renting from your neighbors instead of buying new
• Spam for "Perfect copy iphone 4 !"
• Dog fish wriggle after being skinned and gutted
• Fake trailer for movie about Microsoft .NET vs Java

Three-dimensional skull-cake Posted: 01 Jul 2010 02:17 AM PDT A reader writes, "For this year's Threadcakes cake contest, baker Chloe Bird rolled her own custom silicone skull mold and used it for a 3-dimensional skull cake." I got an anatomical model of a human skull and a whole load of food grade silicone. After putty-ing up the fiddly details and finding suitable containers for the skull and jaw I poured the silicone around them and left it for 48 hours to set. After de-molding the originals I trimmed the molds down to make them more flexible. I cast the jaw and face out of milk chocolate and used dental tools to carve some of the detail back in. Bitter Teeth by Chloe Bird Bakers make cake with image of flash drive instead of image in ... Resignation letter on cake HOWTO bake a no-mess chocolate cake in five minutes AT-AT wedding cake Steampunk wedding cake Jabba the Cake Pedobear on a child's birthday cake?

Lost steampunk coaster of Disneyland Paris Posted: 30 Jun 2010 10:55 PM PDT Former Disney Imagineer Thom Shillinger has posted tantalizing details of a never-built steampunk rollercoaster that he helped design for Disneyland Paris: These sketches reflected a way to clad up the coaster to look like it was made by the natives. I also had a few variation on themes. I have a Jules Verne look with button tuffed pillows, as well as a Wright Brothers space frame seat look along with ones built from wreaked ship parts. FUN project that never was produced. e-Ticket Paris 1997 Project "Meadow" WDI (via The Disney Blog) Disney goes goth Steampunk dystopian Disneyland game -- Offworld Steampunk dystopian Disneyland game -- Offworld Nautilus-themed steampunk home theatre Adventurer's Club from Walt Disney World recreated in painstaking ...

Sugar Information explains how sugar won't make you fat Posted: 30 Jun 2010 10:48 PM PDT The good folks at Sugar Information want you to know the facts: Sugar is GOOD FOOD! After all, if sugar was bad for you, then all those kids who eat all that sugar would be getting obese! That'll never happen. If sugar is fattening, how come so many kids are thin? A message from Sugar Information, Inc. -- "She needs sugar in her ... Sugar Smacks + Spock Photos of food and their sugar-cube equivalent

Fox News advocates shutting down public libraries Posted: 30 Jun 2010 10:44 PM PDT When I give talks to library groups, I always finish by reminding librarians that they're powerful advocates for fair use and privacy, because "you look like a total jerk when you criticize librarians." Case in point: this Fox Chicago piece proposing that Illinois shut down its library system: But keeping libraries running costs big money. In Chicago, the city pumps $120 million a year into them. In fact, a full 2.5 percent of our yearly property taxes go to fund them. That's money that could go elsewhere - like for schools, the CTA, police or pensions One of the nation's biggest and busiest libraries is the $144-million Harold Washington Library in the Loop. It boasts a staggering 5,000 visitors a day!. I also always open my library talks with a joke: "You know, with library budgets on the chopping block and Wall Street thriving, there's only one answer: securitize bonds based on library fines!" Once again, Fox comes through: We know we spend a lot on them. But libraries do bring in some revenue: more than $2 million in fines is collected annually by Chicago public libraries. Are Libraries Necessary, or a Waste of Tax Money? (Thanks, Scott!) (Image: St. Thomas Public Library, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from bluefootedbooby's photostream) Ghostbusters attack budget cuts at the New York Public Library ... New York Public Library joins Flickr Commons Philadelphia Free Library System is shutting down Mick Jones of the Clash opens library

Crocheted R2D2 Hat Posted: 30 Jun 2010 10:40 PM PDT Etsy seller Craftandcrochet has crocheted R2D2 beanies, made to order. I wonder if you can get a yarmulke version? Crochet Robot Droid Hat (Thanks, JMD!) Crochet R2D2 Gadgets Cthulhu ski-mask Star Wars Amigurumi dolls

Russian super-spies sucked at IT Posted: 30 Jun 2010 10:35 PM PDT Those Russky superspies they busted? Turns out they were total IT noobs, and their helpdesk was staffed by a grumpy bastard who just kept repeating, "Have you turned it off and on again?" The spy ring had numerous technical problems, including file transfers that hung and wouldn't go through and difficulty replacing laptops when necessary. In one case, an agent was so frustrated by laptop issues that she unwittingly turned it over to an undercover FBI agent. In another case, replacing a laptop took more than two months. A suspect bought an Asus Eee PC 1005HA-P netbook, flew with it to Rome, picked up a passport in another name, flew on to Moscow and returned with it -- a process that took from January this year to March. Presumably Moscow headquarters configured the device. When the courier spy delivered it to another suspect, he described what to do if the laptop had problems. "...if this doesn't work we can meet again in six months," one suspect was overheard saying to another, "they don't understand what we go through over here." Pironti says spies try to use off-the-shelf hardware and software so they don't have to rely on their spymasters for replacements, and with the possible exception of the steganography application, this ring could have done that. One of the technical issues the ring faced was described by one suspect in a message to Moscow reporting on a meeting between two spies "A" and "M": "Meeting with M went as planned ... A passed to M laptop, two flash drives, and $9K in cash. From what M described, the problem with his equipment is due to his laptop "hanging"/"freezing" before completion of the normal program run." Russian spy ring needed some serious IT help (via /.) Russia spy HQ has giant batman mural in floor Spies in Canada Zenit F-21 Soviet Spy Camera

Apple is hiring iPhone antenna engineers. I wonder why. Posted: 30 Jun 2010 09:52 PM PDT Engadget reported this morning that Apple is hiring iPhone/iPad antenna engineers. Now Gizmodo has posted images from the first class action lawsuit against Apple and AT&T for general negligence and design defects, among other things. I just got the new iPhone4 last week after five years with a non-smart T-mobile handset; even though I'd heard of dropped calls and bad reception before, it's really something else to experience it first-hand. Calls really just drop! And it's ridiculous that I have to try not to hold the phone a certain way when I'm using it.

Steampunk Ghostbusters tribute: "Whom Shall You Telegram?" Posted: 30 Jun 2010 06:20 PM PDT This olde-tyme silent movie steampunk homage to Ghostbusters is spectacular. It's a commercial of sorts for a Victorian-themed ghost removal service known as League of STEAM (Supernatural and Troublesome Ectoplasmic Apparition Management). You gotta love the tinkly piano tribute to the 1984 film's theme. What fun. (thanks, Porkchop!)

Twilight Eclipse as 8-bit interactive YouTube video game Posted: 30 Jun 2010 06:46 PM PDT Here's an 8-bit, Nintendo-esque homage to the Twilight Saga movie, Eclipse, which opened today to relatively lousy reviews. I think this interactive YouTube game might be more entertaining than the film. Watch the video, and choose which action the character should take by clicking on the option you want. Then, a new video loads with the next step in the interactive narrative. It's pretty neat. Video Link, for part 1 of the story. (thanks, Mark Day!).

Oh my God look at these giant balls! Of hail, which fell in Bozeman, MT, today. Posted: 30 Jun 2010 05:47 PM PDT Boing Boing reader Andy Meehan sent us this amazing photograph of hail that fell in Bozeman, MT today. Yuks aside, that's an amazing hail storm. Andy says there was a huge amount of property damage and lots of broken windows, which I am sorry to hear. Hope everyone's doing okay.

Foursquare cared a lot more about $20M than your privacy Posted: 30 Jun 2010 05:51 PM PDT Ryan Singel at Wired News has been covering the story of reported breaches of privacy for Foursquare users, and the company's horrible (and horribly slow) response to the matter. It all started on June 20, when the startup received an unsolicited message from a white-hat hacker: it was leaking user data on a massive scale, and violating its own privacy policy: The company asked the white hat, Jesper Andersen, to give it nine days to deal with the problem that it was publishing all users’ location data to the entire web despite its privacy-policy promise to users that “You can opt out of such broadcasts through your privacy settings.” At the same time, the company was wrapping up a protracted and very public finance round that stalled for a while as the company reportedly almost sold itself to Facebook. So when the nine days were up, the company told Andersen in a private e-mail Tuesday morning that it had fixed the “privacy leak” (the company’s own words) by modifying how an existing privacy setting worked, and that it had no solution yet for two other privacy holes that Andersen also reported, saying it was trying to figure out how to balance usability with privacy. As for its blog, the only thing the company disclosed Tuesday was that it had closed a monster round of financing: $20 million in venture capital from some of the hottest investors in the country. Nor did the company contact users to tell them that it had found and sort-of fixed a hole in its service that violated the promises it had made to users. Foursquare Puts Money Before Privacy (Wired News)

Woot CEO's note on Amazon acquisition may be best "We Got Bought!" email ever Posted: 30 Jun 2010 05:40 PM PDT "I know I say this every time I find a picture of an adorable kitten, but please set aside 20 minutes to carefully read this entire email." The news is out that Amazon will be acquiring Woot.com. CEO Matt Rutledge wrote what may be the funniest "our company has been purchased" mass-email ever in the history of such emails. (via Nat Torkington)

Image: Apelad's Pac Man Twitter avatar Posted: 30 Jun 2010 04:32 PM PDT It's not the first or even the second time he's done a gaming themed take on the default twitter-bird, but it is the most interpretive and therefore kind of the best. Pac Man Twitter Avatar [Adam 'Apelad' Koford] Remixing the default Twitter avatar

Image: Nintendo of Japan's Mario tease Posted: 30 Jun 2010 03:23 PM PDT Andriasang has closeups of a line of wicked customizable Mario Ts (that chain-chomped heart!) meant solely for members of Japan's official Club Nintendo, and on the same day Tiny Cartridge spots a new ltd. ed. line of Super Nintendo shirts from King of Games/editmode, which have a far better chance of showing up in their English store.

Shadow play: Sony enters the shadow-game ring with echochrome ii Posted: 30 Jun 2010 03:44 PM PDT It all started -- it should be noted -- with Steve Swink and Scott Anderson's Shadow Physics, revealed at the Game Developers Conference's Experimental Gameplay Sessions in 2009, and still in production at their upstart studio Enemy Airship (as yet offline, but already with this amazing logo designed by Phil Fish). After that came Lost in Shadow, Hudson's own upcoming fantasy/storybook platforming take on shadow-play. And now, spotted very briefly at E3 in Sony's PlayStation Network reel, but now shining in a stronger light on their PlayStation.Blog, is echochrome ii, an upcoming downloadable that'll use the PlayStation Move motion controls as a flashlight to modify the game's cast shadows to solve yet more puzzle/platforming levels. Sony's take does, to be fair, appear to be a logical next step from their original optical-illusion puzzler echochrome, but it is a curious case of Hundredth Monkey game design, and will be interesting to see how each makes its own mark as they all come to market.

Vuvuzela symphony planned at BP headquarters Posted: 30 Jun 2010 01:41 PM PDT This might be the best Kickstarter project ever. BP is not feeling the pain they are causing in the Gulf. BP is spending millions on PR. In order to put a bit of public pressure on them, we plan to buy 100 vuvuzelas and hire 100 vuvuzela players off Craigslist to play in front of BP's International Headquarters in London for an entire work day. Ideally, the players will keep coming back every day until they fix the gusher. 1 St James's Square London, SW1Y 4PD UK Budget: $2,000 = $1,000 for the vuvuzela protest ; $1,000 for the Gulf Disaster Fund Budget is set at $2000 for now, which will be enough to buy 100 vuvuzelas at $6.50 a pop (plus shipping), and leave some left for hiring some people to manage the crowds. Hopefully (and likely) we can find people to play for free (plus they get a free vuvuzela). In which case, we'll use the remaining funds to buy more vuvuzelas and find even more players. Vuvuzelas for BP (Thanks, Shawn!)

Just look at this illustration of an ancient carnivorous whale Posted: 30 Jun 2010 01:53 PM PDT How do we get kids interested in science? How about more pictures like this in junior-high science textbooks. Just look at it. I'm having a hard time not making metal hands at my own computer screen. The beast in question is called Leviathan melvillei, a name so awesome that it actually made me question whether this was a legitimate animal and not something made up as a joke. But Wired Science and Science News magazine tell that it was real. And spectacular. The longest of Leviathan's teeth measure about 14 inches including the root, more than 40 percent longer than those of today's sperm whales. And, Lambert notes, the longest tooth of Sue, one of the largest Tyrannosaurus rex specimens yet found, measures only 10.6 inches from root to tip. Modern sperm whales feed largely on invertebrates such as giant squid, but have been known to feed on fish and other creatures as well. The extremely robust, deeply-rooted structure of Leviathan's teeth strongly suggests that the creature fed on large, presumably struggling bony prey like sharks do. But that doesn't mean the whale's diet was restricted in any way. "If you're big enough," Fitzgerald notes, "you can bloody well eat what you want." Insert guitar solo here. (Thanks, Nick Bohac, you giant nerd.)

Future of transportation circa 1936 Posted: 30 Jun 2010 01:38 PM PDT In 1936, a Japanese magazine called Shonen Club published a series of illustrations imagining what the future of transportation might look like. Among them, this giant ship that can spit out smaller ships from an embedded dock.

Canadian man replaces his false eye with bionic camera eye, is putting eye video feed online for all to see Posted: 30 Jun 2010 02:41 PM PDT Erico says: When Canadian filmmaker Rob Spence was a kid, he would peer through the bionic eye of his Six Million Dollar Man action figure. After a shooting accident left him partially blind, he decided to create his own electronic eye. Now he calls himself Eyeborg. Spence's bionic eye contains a battery-powered, wireless video camera. Not only can he record everything he sees just by looking around, but soon people will be able to log on to his video feed and view the world through his right eye. Canadian man replaces his false eye with bionic camera eye Previously: Camera in filmmaker's eye socket

Great blooming agave, Batman! Posted: 30 Jun 2010 12:39 PM PDT Agave plants—the progenitors of everybody's favorite crazy juice—bloom only once in their lives—usually between 10 and 25 years of age, though certain species can take up to 100 years to bloom. There's one blooming right now at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington D.C. If you're in the area, you can stop by and check it out. Image not from the zoo. Taken by Flickr user limulus and used via CC

One reason humans are special and unique: We masturbate. A lot. Posted: 30 Jun 2010 12:26 PM PDT Sometimes, the title of a story I'm linking to just speaks for itself. Interesting fact from the text, as pointed out by Richard Metzger: Amongst the more interesting things discussed in the article--trust me, it's a great read--is the fact that most men basically need to spill their seed, drain the vein, etc, at minimum, every 72 hours. Pair that notion with studies that found women's bodies rejected sperm that had overstayed its welcome in the male testes (had not been flushed out) by 48 hours.

Doctor to pharma reps: We'll take your free lunch, but not from Boston Market Posted: 30 Jun 2010 12:18 PM PDT I suppose if you're going to take handouts from pharmaceutical reps—a practice that's been proven to influence decisions doctors make, even if they think it doesn't—you may as well get exactly what you want out of the deal. Carmen Drahl, an editor at Chemical & Engineering News who blogs about the cool science that comes out of pharmaceutical chemistry, sent me this example of the industry's less-awesome side. She says: Even though it's frowned upon these days for doctors to be getting free lunches from pharmaceutical company sales reps, that doesn't mean it doesn't still happen. And at least one medical practice is acting like a real diva about it- specifying everything from what time the food should be delivered to which local eateries are do's and don'ts. Journalist Ed Silverman's Pharmalot blog has posted a memo from a Baltimore practice that reads "like a rider for a concert tour", as one commenter put it. To be fair, as far as concert tour riders go, this ain't a J.Lo level of detail. But it is amusing/depressing to see a medical practice specify exactly what it takes to buy their loyalty, potentially at the expense of their patients. Especially when that loyalty can be bought, apparently, with lunch from Macaroni Grill. Image courtesy Flickr user avlxyz, via CC

Why tuna is delicious Posted: 30 Jun 2010 12:28 PM PDT The blog Star-Gazy Pie (it's namesake being this whimsically disturbing fish dish from Wales Cornwall) offers up some fun insight into the biology of the tuna—specifically, why that biology makes the tuna so much fun to eat. The piece also explains why certain species of tuna are endangered and how to make sure the tasty tuna you eat was raised in such a way as to ensure that our great-grandchildren will be able to enjoy it, too. But yeah, have you ever wondered why tuna steaks look like this (top) and say, catfish fillets (bottom) look like this? DING DING DING: Tuna have more red muscle than other fish in order to fuel their eternal swim (like sharks, tuna literally do not stop swimming). To burn the oxygen required by these hefty piscine muscles, tuna have myoglobin, a type of protein, in their muscles. Myoglobin actually forms the pigments that gives raw "red" meat its color, and is also responsible for making red meat that has been frozen turn brown. Awesome! Along with that, I also learned that tuna are neither, strictly speaking, cold-blooded OR warm-blooded. Instead, tuna use a network of veins and arteries to trap body heat. They can't regulate their temperature as well as warm-blooded species, but they can stay significantly warmer than the ice cold waters they swim through. Cool stuff. (Via hectocotyli)

Tin can ukulele has a nice sound Posted: 30 Jun 2010 05:01 PM PDT Aaron Keim says: "Here is a tin can ukulele I made recently. It is walnut and mahogany with an italian espresso can." He plays in a band called Boulder Acoustic Society. (Thanks, Gary!)

Mark talking at Crash Space in Culver City, CA tonight 6/30/2010 Posted: 30 Jun 2010 11:25 AM PDT I'm going to give a talk at Crash Space tonight about interesting urban homesteaders and what I learned from them. This week for the semi-occasional Wednesday Speaker Series we're excited to present Mark Frauenfelder! As you should be more than aware Mark is the founder of BoingBoing, Editor-in-Chief of MAKE, ex-editor of Wired, and author of several books, not the least of which is the recently released Made by Hand: Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World. Here's an interview with him in a little rag you might have heard of called Time. Mark will likely be talking about the new book, MAKE culture in general, and all things DIY. If you've recently gotten your hands dirty in any of our shops, any of your own shops, or have been thinking about it, or haven't been thinking about it, this is the perfect way to spend your evening. Talk starts at 8PM. Free for members, suggested donation of $10 for non-members. We'll try to Ustream it too, but no promises. [Photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid] Wednesday Speaker Series: Mark Frauenfelder

Google and China, continued: Congress examines U.S. investment in Chinese censorship Posted: 30 Jun 2010 05:29 PM PDT Rebecca MacKinnon writes, In his latest blog post, Google's Chief Legal Officer David Drummond reports that Chinese authorities aren't happy with the automatic redirection of Google.cn to Hong Kong. They are threatening not to renew Google's Internet Content Provider license, which is required to legally operate any kind of Internet business in China. In an attempt to thread the legal needle, Drummond says Google.cn will now lead to a landing page which - if you click anywhere on that page - takes the user to the uncensored Google.com.hk. This is Google's convoluted way of adjusting Google.cn so that it remains technically in compliance with Chinese law while still sending Chinese users to an uncensored site. Now they just have to click through an extra page to get to the results. It's unclear whether this will be acceptable to the Chinese authorities. It really depends on how secure or insecure they're feeling these days. In the meantime, the new landing page is a signal to Chinese users that they may want to remember Google.com.hk just in case Google.cn ceases to work, or update their browser bookmark. What will happen next?  Any one of four scenarios is possible... Google's China troubles continue; Congress examines U.S. investment in Chinese censorship (rconversation) Rebecca MacKinnon on China and Google: "I think the Chinese gov is ... Responding to Google, China's Xinhua invokes the spirit of Lady ... China: The Great Google Coverup? Google vs. China vs. Google: update roundup Google: "Today we stopped censoring our search services on Google ... Google and China: not a pullout, not an end to censorship, but a ... China: State censors block all Google services

Neighborgoods: borrowing, lending, or renting from your neighbors instead of buying new Posted: 30 Jun 2010 05:24 PM PDT Micki "Mickipedia" Krimmel's LA-based startup NeighborGoods.net launches nationwide throughout the USA today (before, the service was only available in Southern California). The big idea: borrow and lend stuff with your neighbors instead of buying things new. From Micki's launch announcement: NeighborGoods.net offers a unique service by building upon the success of sites like Craiglist and Freecycle. Inspired by their ability to encourage re-use and keep waste out of landfills, NeighborGoods goes one step further to help people get more value out of stuff they actually want to keep. Members can safely borrow a lawnmower, lend a bicycle, or earn some extra money by renting a DVD collection. NeighborGoods is like Craigslist for borrowing. NeighborGoods provides all the tools to share safely and confidently including transparent user ratings and transaction histories, privacy controls, deposits, and automated calendars and reminders to ensure the safe return of loaned items. Intro video embedded above, and available here on Vimeo. Share Some Sugar: Web platform for neighbors to share with each other

Spam for "Perfect copy iphone 4 !" Posted: 30 Jun 2010 10:38 AM PDT I got this spam for a "Perfect copy iphone 4 !" Size! Function!all in perfect copy And nokia n8,x10,u5 all in 120usd /pcs Accept paypal ,min order 1 pcs I don't recommend that you buy it, but if you want to learn more, here is the link. More photos after the jump.

Dog fish wriggle after being skinned and gutted Posted: 30 Jun 2010 05:01 PM PDT Apparently, fish are not immune to the zombie virus.

Fake trailer for movie about Microsoft .NET vs Java Posted: 30 Jun 2010 10:27 AM PDT I wish "Java 4-Ever" was a real movie. (Mildly NSFW content at approximately 2:40)

You are subscribed to email updates from Boing Boing To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610