The Latest from Boing Boing |  |
- Conversation with a Univac
- Iranian activists release free Persian Little Brother
- Brazil's copyright law forbids using DRM to block fair use
- The Periodic Table of Swearing
- Dubai airports nix full-body scanners "out of respect for privacy of individuals and personal freedom"
- More than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells waiting to leak in Gulf of Mexico
- Found at Costco: Corry's Slug and Snail Death
- China renews Google's license, free speech advocates debate principled engagement
- Terrorist Sorcerers Are Coming To Rape Our Cars, warns Florida senate candidate
- Photog detained by cops and BP security guard in Texas
- To do in LA: Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz of "Look Around You," live!
- Project Einstein: rural kids in Guatemala photograph their lives
- Photoshopped Cosplayers
- Judge slashes RIAA file-sharing award
- Photographer portrays swimmers in the oil spill region
- Stop-motion graffiti animation: "Big Bang Big Boom"
- Never-Ending Drawing Machine: collaborative paper computing system
- Octokiss
- Montage of Sheriff John Bunnell "World's Wildest Police Videos" intros
- 20 years of the Electronic Frontier Foundation!
- Jesus spotted at waterpark
- Science reporting officially dead at CNN
- Ridiculous-looking flying car approved by FAA
- Representing yourself and acting like you're crazy isn't a defense
- Berlusconi tries law prohibiting reporting on corruption investigation; Italy's press refuses to report any news in protest
- Handmade machined aluminum speedster
- Trek in the Park: Classic Star Trek episodes performed outdoors in PDX
- Reuters headline: "Tired Gay succumbs to Dix"
- Solar plane flies through the night
- Best. Street name. Ever.
| Posted: 10 Jul 2010 03:25 AM PDT  Boing Boing readers Scott Lloyd and his wife found this old printout of an interactive session with a Univac and sent it along. Ah, memories! Conversation With a Univac, courtesy of Scott Lloyd (Thanks, Scott!) |
| Iranian activists release free Persian Little Brother Posted: 10 Jul 2010 03:19 AM PDT A group of Iranian activists abroad and in Iran have produced a professional translation of my novel Little Brother and have released it online with the hope that it will be of interest to Iran's online activists. I've written an introduction to the edition on online activism and dissidence. It was a volunteer-led project, but they paid the translator (whose identity is a not publicly disclosed at this time), and are asking for donations to help defray the cost. Little Brother Persian Edition version 1.0 Released! |
| Brazil's copyright law forbids using DRM to block fair use Posted: 10 Jul 2010 03:15 AM PDT A UN treaty called the WIPO Copyright Treaty requires countries to pass laws protecting "software locks" (also called DRM or TPM). Countries around the world have adopted the treaty in different ways: in the US, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act prohibits all circumvention of software locks, even when they don't protect copyright (for example, it would be illegal to for me to break the DRM on a Kindle to access my own novels, were they sold with Kindle DRM). Brazil has just created the best-ever implementation of WCT. In Brazil's version of the law, you can break DRM without breaking the law, provided you're not also committing a copyright violation. And what's more, any rightsholder who adds a DRM that restricts things that are allowed by Brazilian copyright laws ("fair dealing" or "fair use") faces a fine. It's a fine and balanced approach to copyright law: your software locks have the power of law where they act to uphold the law. When they take away rights the law gives, they are themselves illegal. §1ยบ. The same sanction applies, without prejudice to other sanctions set forth by law, to whom, through whatever means:Brazil's Approach on Anti-Circumvention: Penalties For Hindering Fair Dealing
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| The Periodic Table of Swearing Posted: 09 Jul 2010 05:56 PM PDT  Click for super grande. The guys at Modern Toss made this as a poster. Sadly, they're all sold out for now. I hope they make more! (via @timoreilly, @gnat and @templesmith) |
| Posted: 09 Jul 2010 05:37 PM PDT  Full-body scanners will not be used in Dubai airports because the systems "contradict Islam, and out of respect for the privacy of individuals and their personal freedom," said the head of the Dubai police force airport security division, in a Dubai newspaper. Brigadier Pilot Ahmad Mohammad Bin Thani added, "The scanners will be replaced with other inspection systems that reserve travellers' privacy." (@adamshostack via @ioerror)
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| More than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells waiting to leak in Gulf of Mexico Posted: 09 Jul 2010 05:44 PM PDT  An Associated Press investigation shows that there are more than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells in the hard rock beneath the Gulf of Mexico, and the constellation of aging wells has been ignored for decades. "No one—not industry, not government—is checking to see if they are leaking." The oldest was abandoned in the late 1940s. |
| Found at Costco: Corry's Slug and Snail Death Posted: 09 Jul 2010 05:42 PM PDT  Dean and I found this slug and snail poison at Costco today while shopping for the Boing Boing picnic tomorrow. |
| China renews Google's license, free speech advocates debate principled engagement Posted: 09 Jul 2010 05:13 PM PDT  The government of China this week decided to renew Google's web license. The official Google announcement is here, and background on the story at Wired News, Reuters, and Washington Post. Rebecca MacKinnon has this analysis: While a number of commentators are interpreting this as a "climbdown" or "wimp out" by Google, I don't understand how they have reached that conclusion. As I pointed out last week, the only thing that has changed since March is that after typing "google.cn" into the browser's address bar and hitting "return," users have to make one extra click before reaching the uncensored google.com.hk. While the google.cn page now includes links to music, translation, and shopping services, the search box you see there on the page is just a static image that takes you immediately to google.com.hk as soon as you click on it. If you have grade school literacy in Chinese it's extremely obvious from looking at that page that if you want to search anything other than music or shopping you can simply click through to google.com.hk. I don't see how adding the extra click prevents users of Google's general search from using the service any more than the direct redirection from google.cn to google.com.hk which Google implemented in March. Of course, if you are searching from inside China and don't know that you can add an "s" to the "http:" in the address box and avail yourself of the "https" encrypted function that make your searches invisible to the Chinese network operators, searches on politically sensitive terms will get blocked by the Great Firewall. But that has been true since the redirection began. It hasn't changed. So Google's change implemented last week has no substantive impact on what Chinese Internet users can or cannot access via google.cn.On Google's license renewal and principled engagement (rconversation)
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| Terrorist Sorcerers Are Coming To Rape Our Cars, warns Florida senate candidate Posted: 09 Jul 2010 04:47 PM PDT |
| Photog detained by cops and BP security guard in Texas Posted: 09 Jul 2010 04:58 PM PDT  A freelance photographer who was taking pictures of a BP refinery in Texas was detained by a BP security official, local police and a man claiming to be with the Department of Homeland Security, according to nonprofit news org ProPublica. The photographer was working on a story about multiple large toxic releases at the BP refinery which happened just before the big Gulf oil blowout. From NBC News: The photographer, Lance Rosenfield, said he was confronted by the officials shortly after arriving in Texas City, Texas, to work on a story that is part of an ongoing collaboration between PBS and ProPublica.Photographer detained by police, BP employee near refinery (NBC Field Notes) Image: The BP refinery in Texas City, one of the largest in the country, is nearly two square miles. (Lance Rosenfield) |
| To do in LA: Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz of "Look Around You," live! Posted: 09 Jul 2010 04:36 PM PDT  Boing Boing folks in Los Angeles, here's one not to miss: On Tuesday July 20, at 11:00pm, at UCB Theater in Hollywood, a "Look Around You DVD Screening & Q & A" evening with Robert Popper & Peter Serafinowicz. The Look Around You DVD will be released in the USA that same night, and it's about goddamned time. That series is one of my favorite things ever! More about the LA event: Come and witness the nonsensical wonders of science as Robert Popper (South Park, Peep Show) & Peter Serafinowicz (Couples Retreat, Shaun of the Dead) present an audio/visual presentation of handpicked episodes from their BAFTA nominated comedy series Look Around You (Season One), on the day of its DVD release. The critically acclaimed series, which first premiered on BBC AMERICA and currently airs on Adult Swim, guides us through a series of madcap science experiments. In Season One, viewers observe a colony of ants build an igloo, find out the largest number in the world and more.Again, tickets are released today, Friday July 9. The password is "thants." (thanks, Richard Metzger!)
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| Project Einstein: rural kids in Guatemala photograph their lives Posted: 09 Jul 2010 03:24 PM PDT  The youth photo training group Project Einstein got its start with group of young people living in a refugee camp in Bangladesh. One of the participants came up with the name because "Einstein was a refugee but could still do great things." Here's a collection of images taken by Q´eqchi´ Maya kids and teens in a rural part of Guatemala known as Zona Reyne, where the project is currently working in partnership with this state development group. Read more about Project Einstein in Guatemala. (thanks, Renata Avila!)
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| Posted: 09 Jul 2010 03:49 PM PDT  If we're going to have unrealistic and oppressive standards of beauty, we may as well base them on inherently dysmorphic cartoons. Gallery [ajanlo.kapu.hu]
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| Judge slashes RIAA file-sharing award Posted: 09 Jul 2010 03:04 PM PDT A judge slashed a $675,000 file-sharing fine by nine tenths on Friday, describing the size of the damages as an unconstitutional breach of due process. Nate Anderson at Ars Technica reports: Judge Nancy Gertner knows that Joel Tenenbaum did it. Tenenbaum, the second US target of the RIAA's five-year litigation campaign to complete a trial, eventually admitted his music-sharing liability on the stand--and Judge Gertner issued a directed verdict against him. But when the jury returned a $675,000 damage award, they went too far. Way too far.Though the RIAA has won both file-sharing cases it's brought to trial, it's seen limited awards and slim chances of ever collecting a dime. What it has received, however, is the back of the court's hand: "Reducing the jury's $675,000 award, however, also sends another no less important message, " wrote Judge Gertner. "The Due Process Clause does not merely protect large corporations, like BMW and State Farm, from grossly excessive punitive awards. It also protects ordinary people like Joel Tenenbaum." The RIAA is livid: Judge slams, slashes "unconstitutional" $675,000 P2P award [Ars] |
| Photographer portrays swimmers in the oil spill region Posted: 09 Jul 2010 12:22 PM PDT  Photographer Jane Fulton Alt's latest series is called Crude Awakening. She writes on her web site: Living on the shores of Lake Michigan, I am acutely aware of the disastrous toll the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has taken on all forms of life, especially as our beaches opened to the 2010 swimming season. This environmental, social and economic catastrophe highlights a much larger problem that has inflicted untold suffering as we exploit the earth's resources worldwide.Photographer's web site [via NotCot] |
| Stop-motion graffiti animation: "Big Bang Big Boom" Posted: 09 Jul 2010 11:39 AM PDT Blu's "Big Bang Big Boom" is a spectacular stop-motion graffiti animation depicting "an unscientific point of view on the beginning and evolution of life ... and how it could probably end." (Thanks, Lindsay Tiemeyer!) |
| Never-Ending Drawing Machine: collaborative paper computing system Posted: 09 Jul 2010 11:03 AM PDT At MIT's Center for Future Storytelling, my friend David Robert is co-developing the Never-Ending Drawing Machine, a mixed reality "paper computing" platform for collaboration. The system enables you to work in a physical notebook and then bring it to the system to share and augment the pages digitally over the network with other people. It's based on Derivative's TouchDesigner software and an Arduino-based physical computing platform. From the project description: For each page, the system loads the appropriate background content and lets you take a picture and send it back and forth to your friend or collaborator using an identical table somewhere else on the network (co-located or remote). Your collaborator also has an enhanced sketchbook and if it's on the same page each table will see everyone's latest additions.Never-Ending Drawing Machine |
| Posted: 09 Jul 2010 10:57 AM PDT  An aquarium director kisses an octopus goodbye before setting it free in the ocean to mate before dying. Larger version of photo here, along with the beautiful story behind it. (Image: Kitsap Sun / Thanks, Steve Silberman!) |
| Montage of Sheriff John Bunnell "World's Wildest Police Videos" intros Posted: 09 Jul 2010 10:39 AM PDT Schlock bonanza, you guys! A montage of John Bunnell intros from
• To protect and serve, it's the sworn duty of every police officer. And when it comes to saving lives, even when it seems hopeless, an officer never gives up. And dozens more where that came from in this spectacular YouTube specimen. (thanks, Adrian Chen). |
| 20 years of the Electronic Frontier Foundation! Posted: 09 Jul 2010 10:19 AM PDT Congratulations to the Electronic Frontier Foundation on 20 years of fighting the good fight! All of us at Boing Boing applaud and appreciate your efforts protecting digital rights. Thank you. To celebrate EFF's anniversary, talented free culture activist/cartoonist Nina Paley created this wonderful animation. Donate to EFF now! |
| Posted: 09 Jul 2010 10:02 AM PDT  Jesus was spotted in this lifeguard flag at the Liquid Planet Water Park in Candia, New Hampshire. Park owner Kevin Dumont believes this is a miracle, as bad weather has been ruining their business. Since they noticed the image, which Dumont says appears to be an "image of Christ, flanked by two other faces, with a starburst over their heads" -- attendance has been booming. His sister Kelly Dumont, who manages the park, is skeptical: "I think they're all a bunch of nuts. It looks more like a gladiator, or the Beatles," she told the Union Leader newspaper. "At Candia water park, some see Jesus in a flag"
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| Science reporting officially dead at CNN Posted: 09 Jul 2010 08:14 AM PDT  Given a 50/50 random chance choice of flag-labeled food boxes, Paul the Octopus has "picked" winners in the six World Cup games played by the German national soccer team. CNN reporter Paul Armstrong thinks this means Paul the Octopus is psychic. To quote Dave Barry, "I am not making this up."
Seriously. A professional journalist at a publication that was not The Weekly World News wrote that. And professional editors published it. If you're in a Starbucks in Killeen, Texas today and your coffee drinking is interrupted by frantic sobbing and/or manic screaming...well, I apologize in advance. |
| Ridiculous-looking flying car approved by FAA Posted: 09 Jul 2010 08:21 AM PDT  Next year, those of you with a sport pilot license and $194,000 to burn will be able to buy an honest-to-Doc-Brown flying car. Sadly, the demo vehicle is not remotely as cool looking as a DeLorean. (Pesco says the production model is much slicker, and we'll feature an interview with the industrial designers behind the production vehicle in the coming weeks!) As with many flying car prototypes I've seen over the years, the aesthetics of this demo version, called the Transition, suffers from Foldupwingitis, making it look like the illicit love child of an Aptera and an airport metal detector while in driving mode. That said, it gets a surprisingly reasonable 30 mpg on the highway (5 gallons per hour in flight). The intended customer seems to be private pilots who want to avoid airport waiting, shuttles and car rentals. Take-off requires a mere 1/3 of a mile runway, which Popular Science says means you could use your street as an airstrip—but I suspect that may be illegal. |
| Representing yourself and acting like you're crazy isn't a defense Posted: 08 Jul 2010 10:14 PM PDT Two mortgage refinance con-artists tried to get out of jail by representing themselves in court, then acting like total idiots, and finally appealing on the grounds that they were bad lawyers for themselves. The court wasn't amused: "The record clearly shows that the defendants are fools, but that is not the same as being incompetent. . . . [T]hey had the right to represent themselves and go down in flames if they wished, a right the district court was required to respect." Fools Convicted (Image: Sad clown, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from 42dreams's photostream)
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| Posted: 08 Jul 2010 10:08 PM PDT Italy's media is going on strike today, and practically no news will be reported. This is in protest of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's plan to ram through anti-wiretapping legislation that includes a gag order on reportage concerning government investigation (especially investigation of corruption). Berlusconi's notoriously corrupt government has been the subject of numerous scandalous investigations, and the media oligarch previously passed legislation prohibiting the courts from prosecuting him while he was in office (this law was struck down by the courts, prompting Berlusconi to denounce his country's judiciary). Silvio Berlusconi's 'gag law' sparks media strike in Italy
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| Handmade machined aluminum speedster Posted: 08 Jul 2010 10:01 PM PDT  Dan Bishop from Karas Kustoms makes and sells these beautiful machined aluminum speedsters for $65: "It measures approx. 6″ x 4″. The wheels are mounted on bearings and actually roll. Each car is machined from 6061 alum, in our shop, right here in the good ol' USA." Machined Aluminum Speedster (via Make) |
| Trek in the Park: Classic Star Trek episodes performed outdoors in PDX Posted: 08 Jul 2010 09:56 PM PDT  Shawna sez, "An amazingly awesome small theater group in Portland, OR called Atomic Arts is about to launch its second season/episode of Trek in the Park -- a live action recreation of a classic Star Trek episode from start to finish, free and open to the public and staged at Woodlawn Park. The group launched Trek last summer with weekend performances of the bizarre episode 'Amok Time', and it was insanely awesome! Local band Fast Computers provides the live soundtrack (including a great rendition of the theme song to get things off to a spacey start), and the entire staging, from the actors to the live-on-set sound effect, is just . . . fascinating. And hilarious." Atomic Arts: Trek in the Park (Thanks, Shawna!) |
| Reuters headline: "Tired Gay succumbs to Dix" Posted: 09 Jul 2010 02:32 PM PDT |
| Solar plane flies through the night Posted: 08 Jul 2010 07:43 PM PDT The first solar-powered plane to make an overnight flight landed early this morning after flying for 26 hours straight. There's some great photos up on ZDnet. NPR says it was also the longest and highest flight by a solar-powered aircraft. That said, don't get too excited yet. The Solar Impulse is, basically, the green futurism equivalent of a Wright Brothers prototype. Promising, but a ways from commercial use. From conversations I've had with researchers studying the future of transportation technology, we'd need a way to store a lot more energy in a lot less weight/space before solar planes can really be competitive with those run on liquid fuels. |
| Posted: 08 Jul 2010 07:29 PM PDT  Tank Destroyer Blvd. Seriously, it's like the work of a drunk 18-year-old playing Sim City. |
We are pleased to announce that the first version of the Persian edition of "Little Brother" by Cory Doctorow is available for download now. 
According to the court, the two set out to sabotage their own case, filing "meaningless and nonsensical documents," wearing prison garb in front of the jury, and making bizarre comments such as asking the jury to "enter a guilty plea for us." The defendants also advanced a "peculiar theory" that "they were 'sentient human beings' distinct from the abstract titles 'Defendants KURT F. JOHNSON AND DALE SCOTT HEINEMAN' as they were referred to in the indictment and court documents." That sounds a lot like the thoroughly dumb "personal sovereignty" arguments that we have seen before, and although you have to wonder whether people making these arguments are not entirely in touch with reality, the trial judge had these guys were evaluated by a doctor who found neither one was suffering from a mental disorder. But on appeal - after an unsurprising conviction - they argued that the district court should not have let them represent themselves, as they had demanded, because "their own courtroom behavior rendered their trial unfair." 
The media would only be able to publish a summary of the findings of an investigation after it had ended. While that may be no more onerous a restriction than applies in Britain, the editor of Italy's biggest-selling daily, Corriere della Sera, Ferruccio de Bortoli, argues it is "a bill tailor-made to shield members of the government from unwelcome investigation". 
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