The Latest from Boing Boing

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• Sound recordings quiz!
• Broken crockery couture
• Intel threatens lawsuits against HDCP jailbreakers
• Business Software Alliance deploys yet another BS study to "prove" fighting piracy creates zillions of jobs
• Female Ninja Attacks Foe with Weaponized Vajayjay Bubbles
• Pope's astronomer would be pleased to baptize an alien "no matter how many tentacles it has"
• New set of Fela reissues out: "Zombie" (free MP3 download here!)
• Soviet brochure from Expo '58: "Come Visit the USSR! Soviet Women! Sputniks and Rockets!"
• Giant Manta Ray swipes $5k camera rig from diver, shoots some video
• New documentary on China's "colonization" of Africa
• Photos of Cushman scooters at Sturgis
• Commercial touts benefits of film cameras over digital cameras
• Bearded lady reunited with long-lost son
• Tornado in Brooklyn
• Chemistry Ph.D. thesis explained via dance routine
• This is not a road ...

Sound recordings quiz! Posted: 15 Sep 2010 06:44 AM PDT Out lives are filled with the buzzing and beeping of electronics and other machinery. But just how familiar are we? If your life depended on knowing the difference between the sounds of an ATM or a ticket dispenser, would you make it? How about the difference between a jet engine and a hard drive?

Broken crockery couture Posted: 18 Sep 2010 12:17 AM PDT Li Xiaofeng is a Chinese artist who makes sculptural clothing from broken crockery. The results are lovely and apparently wearable. I don't know if they're dry-clean only or dishwasher-safe. Li Xiaofeng (via Craft)

Intel threatens lawsuits against HDCP jailbreakers Posted: 17 Sep 2010 11:59 PM PDT Last week, the master key for the HDCP DRM scheme -- which prevents people from connecting unapproved monitors, recorders and switches to high-def players, computers and consoles -- leaked. Using this key, it is now possible to make more flexible and cheaper high-def equipment (for example, high-def recorders that save unrestricted video-files). Intel is promising to sue anyone who tries it, though: "There are laws to protect both the intellectual property involved as well as the content that is created and owned by the content providers," said Tom Waldrop, a spokesman for the company, which developed HDCP. "Should a circumvention device be created using this information, we and others would avail ourselves, as appropriate, of those remedies." I love the spokesmanese here: "avail ourselves, as appropriate, of those remedies" indeed! Christ, where'd this guy learn to talk, the Mistakes Were Made School For Obfuscation and Passive Voice Bullshittery? Intel Threatens to Sue Anyone Who Uses HDCP Crack (Image: Why I Don't Like HDCP, a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from artgoeshere's photostream) HDCP master-key leaks, possible to make unrestricted Blu-Ray ... Blu-Ray falls: HDCP key crack confirmed HOWTO subject HDCP crippleware for video to attack Apple adds HDCP compliance to its laptop monitor ports - Boing ... Apple to Mac owners: throw away your monitor if Hollywood says so ... Ed Felten to dissect HDCP crippleware for video Selectable Output Control in Make

Business Software Alliance deploys yet another BS study to "prove" fighting piracy creates zillions of jobs Posted: 18 Sep 2010 01:13 AM PDT Michael Geist sez, This week the Business Software Alliance published a new study which purports to estimate the economic gain from a ten percent reduction in piracy of business software. For Canada, the BSA claims that the reduction would create over 6,000 new jobs and generate billions in GDP and tax revenue. Given such impressive claims, it is not surprising that some media reported on the study and the BSA's emphasis on new laws and tougher enforcement. Yet the organization now admits the estimate is just based on the economic gains from a ten percent increase in proprietary software spending. Notes a BSA spokesperson: "what the study is looking at here is really if you're reducing the piracy rate and increasing the legal software market by 10 points, this is what you'd see in terms of economic return." The BSA admits its estimate is based on the presumption that every dollar "saved" by using unlicensed software would now be spent on proprietary software. I termed this approach "shockingly misleading" given that I don't think anyone can credibly claim that there is a direct dollar for dollar correlation between piracy and proprietary software spending - many shift to open source alternatives when confronted with the issue and others cut back on spending altogether given the new costs. So long as we're counting jobs and returns, what about the additional profits and jobs created by not paying for software? I'm sure the BSA would prefer that businesses find better margins elsewhere, but it's economically illiterate to suggest that if you raise one sector's overheads (in the form of software licenses) to provide more revenue to another sector (software companies), that the former's jobs and profits won't be lost to pay the latter. Of course, there's a less risky way to avoid software license fees: switch to a free computing environment, like the Ubuntu GNU/Linux OS, which I'm happily using right now to type this blog post, and which is the most robust, easy-to-install, easy-to-maintain OS I've ever used. Fun /. comment from Noitatsidem: "The Business Glass Alliance announces for every 10% increase in tornadoes over 6,000 new jobs would be created and billions in GDP and tax revenue would be generated." BSA's Latest Study on Piracy and Economic Benefits "Shockingly Misleading" (Image: Jumpman, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from Able Archer's photostream) BSA mascot shares DNA with Disney "Beagle Boys"? MPAA/RIAA/BSA: No breaking DRM, even if it's killing you ... BSA fights piracy with condescending mascots! Dilbert shills for the BSA Bust your next employer, win $50K from the BSA

Female Ninja Attacks Foe with Weaponized Vajayjay Bubbles Posted: 17 Sep 2010 08:31 PM PDT "Vagina bubbles from hell." A clip from Female Ninjas: The Magic Chronicles, starring Kunoichi Ninpocho. More clips from this movie at Dangerous Minds. NSFW. (Thank you, Tara McGinley.)

Pope's astronomer would be pleased to baptize an alien "no matter how many tentacles it has" Posted: 17 Sep 2010 01:21 PM PDT Guy Consolmagno, astronomer to the pope, is profiled in the Economist. He says intelligent design is "bad theology" that has been "hijacked" by American creationist fundamentalists. He also would be "delighted" to discover intelligent extraterrestrial life. Consolmagno curates the pope's meteorite collection and is a trained astronomer and planetary scientist at the Vatican's observatory. He dismissed the ideas of intelligent design – a pseudoscientific version of creationism. "The word has been hijacked by a narrow group of creationist fundamentalists in America to mean something it didn't originally mean at all. It's another form of the God of the gaps. It's bad theology in that it turns God once again into the pagan god of thunder and lightning." (Hey, you guys won against the pagans centuries ago. Why kick them when they're down?) Pope's astronomer says he would baptise an alien if it asked him Photo by The Cleveland Kid. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

New set of Fela reissues out: "Zombie" (free MP3 download here!) Posted: 17 Sep 2010 11:41 AM PDT Knitting Factory Records this week released a third set of Fela reissues in an ongoing series. The portion out this week is titled Zombie, after Fela's well-known track of the same name, which you can download here as an MP4. Seriously, it's okay, we have permission! Go on and download that classic afrofunky track! This set includes material originally released from 1976 through 1980. This period of Fela's storied career saw his Kalakuta Republic increasingly under siege from the Nigerian government, and the clear rise of his vitriol as it fermented into scathing musical diatribes. (...) Tracks such as "Authority Stealing" and the international hit "Zombie" are great examples of Fela's unfiltered outpouring of raw anger towards the oppressive Nigerian government. Interestingly, the 1976 album Upside Down features the vocals of Sandra Isadore - the American woman who introduced Fela to the Black Power Movement. Music Of Many Colours is collaboration with American vibraphonist Roy Ayers. I would add that significantly, it was during this same period that Fela's Kalakuta Republic compound burned to the ground (February 18, 1977) after a thousand armed soldiers attacked its residents. During that assault, Fela's mother was thrown from a window by soldiers. She fell into a coma, and died two months later. The titles that are being released are: Zombie (1976), Upside Down (1976), Music of Many Colours (1980), Stalemate (1977), Fear Not For Man (1977), Opposite People (1977), Sorrow, Tears and Blood (1977), Shuffering & Shmiling (1978), No Agreement (1977), V.I.P. (1979), Authority Stealing (1980). Here's more about the Zombie set. Amazon: Album on MP3, or CD.

Soviet brochure from Expo '58: "Come Visit the USSR! Soviet Women! Sputniks and Rockets!" Posted: 17 Sep 2010 11:02 AM PDT Here's a neat bit of paper ephemera: A brochure of the Soviet pavilion at Expo 58, also known as the Brussels World Fair—which was the first World Fair after World War II. The Soviet pavillion brochure includes period-perfect illustrations, a neat map, and promises of love 'n' leisure in the land of the Reds: "Sputniks and Rockets! Soviet Women!" Scanned and published to Flickr by user Jericl Cat (via BB Submitterator, via metkere.com)

Giant Manta Ray swipes $5k camera rig from diver, shoots some video Posted: 17 Sep 2010 10:39 AM PDT Via the BB Submitterator, Melanie says, A camera crew for the show Into the Drink was filming Mantas off the coast of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii when one of the giant Pacific Manta Rays took a camera off one of the divers. After swimming around for a bit with the camera still rolling, the Manta dropped the rig off on the sea floor under their boat. Another diver filmed the camera equipment being taken by the Manta. Video and more about the manta mugging here (grindtv.com).

New documentary on China's "colonization" of Africa Posted: 17 Sep 2010 10:41 AM PDT Al Jazeera will be broadcasting "The Colony," a documentary about "the onslaught of Chinese economic might and its impact on long-standing African traditions." Filmmakers Brent Huffman and Xiaoli Zhou traveled to the West African nation of Senegal to explore these themes. I am familiar with the subject, having witnessed it in other West African countries I've spent time in—as the promo says, the massive influx of Chinese citizens and China-owned businesses and capital has sparked tensions, and even violence. I haven't seen the film yet, but it sounds interesting. (shared with Boing Boing by the filmmaker himself, Brent Huffman, via BB Submitterator)

Photos of Cushman scooters at Sturgis Posted: 17 Sep 2010 09:41 AM PDT A large gallery of beautiful Cushman scooters on display at the most recent Sturgis gathering. (Via Mt. Holly Mayor's Office)

Commercial touts benefits of film cameras over digital cameras Posted: 17 Sep 2010 09:32 AM PDT Mayor Mike says: "Looks like the folks at Vivitar are squeezing the last drops of blood out of this withered industry . . . Plus, a free roll of film!" Digital Photography is Dead! - New Vivitar Film Camera Commercial

Bearded lady reunited with long-lost son Posted: 17 Sep 2010 09:02 AM PDT Richard Lorenc, 33, of Kansas, wanted to find his birth mother who had been separated from him right after birth. He put in a request with the state for help and after just six weeks, he learned that his mother is Vivian Wheeler, 62, a famous bearded lady. An Internet search led him to Marc Hartzman, author of American Sideshow, who helped reunite the mother and son and wrote about it for AOL News: According to Wheeler, doctors examining her for Guinness said she has a male bone structure, with half her hormones being male. Doctors thought it would be impossible for her to give birth, but she became pregnant, and baby Richard was delivered by cesarean section in 1977. For Wheeler, a Seventh-Day Adventist, it was a miracle. But she says the father, a carnival ride operator she had met in Nebraska, took the baby away from her soon after the birth. Lorenc didn't learn all this until later. After learning his birth mother's name, he set out to find her. He started by looking her up on the Internet. "I knew it was her as soon as I saw the picture online," he said. "We have a resemblance." "Bearded Lady Reunites With Long-Lost Son"

Tornado in Brooklyn Posted: 17 Sep 2010 08:37 AM PDT Steve Silberman says: "This video is like Cloverfield meets 2012: Brooklyn Tornado 9/16/10." One YouTuber called this a "bronado." You'll learn why. Language not safe for work. Tornado in Brooklyn

Chemistry Ph.D. thesis explained via dance routine Posted: 17 Sep 2010 10:17 AM PDT Today, you're going to learn about "Selection of a DNA aptamer for homocysteine using systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment". Better yet, it's going to make sense, because Maureen McKeague—a chemistry Ph.D. candidate at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada—turned her complicated thesis into an easy-to-follow dance routine. It's part of the third annual Dance Your Ph.D. competition put on by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. McKeague's video is one of this years' four finalists, and my personal favorite of the bunch. To me, McKeague did the best job of making her Ph.D. dance make sense without having read the Ph.D. Plus, I love her depiction of how a Taq Polymerase chain reaction makes copies of DNA. You can view the other finalists and vote for your favorite, or see all 45 of the 2010 entries

This is not a road ... Posted: 17 Sep 2010 07:20 AM PDT ... It's an inlet filled with dead fish. You're looking at a mass fish die-off. These don't happen every day, but they're also not particularly rare in southern Louisiana, where this photo was taken. The BP oil spill wasn't to blame for this die-off. Instead, it's the result of a very large number of fish getting trapped by the tide in a very shallow pool of water on a very hot day. All of those factors added up to not enough oxygen to go around, and the fish suffocated. But unfortunate accidents of nature aren't the only reason fish drown in southern Louisiana. Last year on BoingBoing, I wrote about what happens when nitrogen and phosphorous-rich fertilizer runoff from Midwestern farms makes its way into the Gulf of Mexico: Technically, Rabalais said, nitrogen and phosphorous are good things. Without them, you don't get life. In fact, a little extra nitrogen and phosphorous actually improve fishy existence, by plumping up the plankton population. Plankton feed on nutrients, fish feed on plankton and people serve the fish up in a nice butter sauce. Those nutrients are also food for plants. In fact, that's a big part of why we get excess nitrogen and phosphorous in the water system to begin with, because both are used as fertilizer on American farms. For example, in 2007, American corn farmers used more than 5 million tons of nitrogenous fertilizer. But, while corn may have big appetite for plant food, but it's about as efficient at "eating" as a toddler with a bowl of spaghetti. You know the kid will wear as much food as she eats. And a corn field will often use as little as half the fertilizer it's fed. The rest just sits on the soil until it's washed away into the nearest creek by rain or irrigation. Several river systems and thousands of miles away, the Mississippi Delta vomits out water saturated with the nitrogen runoff of every corn farm in the Midwest. In the Gulf of Mexico, the nitrogen becomes a buffet for another plant--algae--which, in the sort of natural cycle that completely fails to inspire Disney song writers, first cut off light needed by underwater plants and animals and eventually die off in numbers so large that their decomposition consumes every drop of available oxygen, suffocating aquatic life for miles around. It's the Circle of Death. And it doesn't make a great musical number. Via New Scientist Image: Plaquemines Parish Government Dead Fish and Gluttony: Why Too Much of a Good Thing is ...

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