The Latest from Boing Boing |  |
- Readers of Hacker News, Boing Boing and Daring Fireball obviously better than everyone else
- Mystery shoes
- LEARN TO HYPNOTIZE: 1930
- Vegas's Vdara focuses sunshine into a hair-singeing "death ray"
- Interview with Minecraft's creator
- Google's autocomplete blacklist
- FBI ignores DoJ report, raids activists, arrests Time Person of the Year
- Just Do It: documentary on "environmental extremists"
- God tells guy to build really, really, really large treehouse
- Los Angeles breaks its all-time heat record
- Censored maps are hard-wired on Chinese iPhone 4
- Wonderful classic monster sculptures
- New podcast: Jury Service, by Charlie Stross and Cory
- Author of Pentagon-censored memoir on book-burning in the digital age: "It's ludicrous."
- Wikileaks spokesman exits, and reveals his actual name
- "Heavy Metal Picnic," new film by "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" filmmaker
- Virgin Galactic's space tourism launch is just 18 months away, says Branson
- India wants encryption backdoors, too; critics say mobile spying is bad for business
- Where, and why, the Economist is censored
- Obama administration wants encryption backdoors for domestic surveillance
- Assam panics over "bombiles" -- exploding mobile phones with glowing red numbers
- Future of California map, from Institute for the Future, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego
- Meta-textual analysis of mainstream science reporting
- Why worry about the water levels in Lake Mead?
- Gallery of iconic tech prototypes
- Reports that UN is appointing ET ambassador not true
- The further adventures of Thomas Edison, asshat
- Abandoned Dalek goes to new home
- Fallen Fruit
- Happy capybaras cure Monday blues
| Readers of Hacker News, Boing Boing and Daring Fireball obviously better than everyone else Posted: 28 Sep 2010 12:21 AM PDT  Michael Heilemann, author of "George Lucas Stole Chewbacca, But It's Okay," has published an intriguing analysis of visitors sent to his article by top blogs. By tracking how long they stayed at the lengthy piece, a picture of engagement emerges that isn't reflected by raw traffic stats. Hacker News, Boing Boing and Daring Fireball sent the most engaged readers. Reddit users go straight for the punchline and bail immediately. One might expect the same of Facebook users, but no, among the visitors that hang around, they rank third! Likewise I would have expected MetaFilter readers to hang around and Boing Boing users to quickly move along; but actually the opposite is the case. Another surprise, and a welcome one, is that the venerable John Gruber of Daring Fireball's readership, the largest of them all, is considerably more patient than that of io9, a dedicated science fiction site.An apt quote springs to mind: "Arrrggghhnnn. Grrrhn!" Lessons of the Chewbacca Incident [Binary Bonsai via Waxy]
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| Posted: 28 Sep 2010 12:04 AM PDT  These shoes arrived at my PO Box while I was on tour in Germany earlier this month, addressed to my wife. She has no idea what they're about (they're used, and not her size) and neither do I. If there was a note with them, I missed it. Did you send me shoes? Do you know what they're for? Alice thinks they might be part of an ARG. I'm betting on creepy stalker.
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| Posted: 27 Sep 2010 11:02 PM PDT  Looking on this fake hypnotism ad from the December, 1930 ish of Modern Mechanix I'm forced to wonder if the spam really is stupider and uglier and less stylish now, or whether we'll be looking at Canadian Pharmacy splogs and spims in 80 years with nostalgic admiration. SEE HOW EASY YOU CAN LEARN HYPNOTISM (Dec, 1930)
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| Vegas's Vdara focuses sunshine into a hair-singeing "death ray" Posted: 27 Sep 2010 11:59 PM PDT MGM's Vdara tower in Las Vegas has a polished, curved mirror surface that focuses a "death ray" of heat onto the pool area that's hot enough to singe your hair and melt your plastic bags. Vdara visitor: 'Death ray' scorched hair (via Super Punch (Image: Vdara!, a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from bcgrote's photostream)
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| Interview with Minecraft's creator Posted: 27 Sep 2010 10:53 PM PDT Ars Technica's Andrew Webster has a good interview with Markus "Notch" Persson, creator of Minecraft, a fun and popular zombie defense game that has made a widower of me. "The original idea was to make a game similar to Dwarf Fortress in tone, but with a Rollercoaster Tycoon type interface," Persson explained. "As I was playing around with a first person mode I stumbled upon a game called Infiniminer that used low-res textures in a 3D environment, and I realized that that was a perfect fit for both my artistic skills and the type of game I wanted to make.Building a hit, one block at a time: the creation of Minecraft
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| Google's autocomplete blacklist Posted: 27 Sep 2010 10:43 PM PDT Google's autocompleting Google Instant has a long blacklist of forbidden words that don't get autocompleted, including "Linda Lovelace," "4chan," "ass" "dirty pillows" "are [jews|christians|catholics, etc]", "sexy" and many others. More interesting is the non-blacklisted words (including "goat.se," "outercourse" and "blood play") though whether this is the result of a failure of prurience in the engineering team tasked with coming up with the list, or some value judgment, is impossible to know. I suppose that dirty Google autocompletes are the 21st century equivalent of looking up dirty words in the class dictionary (my school had a dictionary that defined "lesbian" as "one addicted to the unnatural vice of Sappho"). (via Super Punch) |
| FBI ignores DoJ report, raids activists, arrests Time Person of the Year Posted: 27 Sep 2010 10:34 PM PDT Sol_Power sez, "On Friday, the FBI raided the homes of activists involved in the peace, Palestinian solidarity, and Labor movements. This comes four days after the DoJ Inspector General issued a report that soundly criticized the FBI for four years of targeting domestic groups. Democracy Now has good coverage including interviews with two victims and Coleen Rowley, an FBI whistle-blower and was Time person of the year in 2002." (Thanks, Sol_Power, via Submitterator!) |
| Just Do It: documentary on "environmental extremists" Posted: 27 Sep 2010 10:33 PM PDT Emily James, a talented documentary filmmaker, is working on a new movie called "Just Do It," about "environmental extremism" -- activists who are willing to risk beatings and arrest to stop environmentally catastrophic projects. She's raising money to fund the film though donations, and will make it a free download when the editing is finished. They're looking for volunteers to help with everything from graphic design to making tea for the editors. Having watched the trailer, I've kicked in £150 -- this is a movie I'd love to see made! In early 2009, acclaimed documentary filmmaker Emily James began filming the clandestine activities of several groups of environmental civil disobedient activists in the UK. Allowed unprecedented access, her footage shows us the people behind the politics, providing the often overlooked human element to their story as we watch them take on the combined forces of global capitalism, run-away climate change and those pesky metropolitan police!Just Do It (Thanks, Emily!)
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| God tells guy to build really, really, really large treehouse Posted: 27 Sep 2010 05:30 PM PDT  Boing Boing reader John Hudgens says, View the entire Flickr set. (via BB Submitterator)
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| Los Angeles breaks its all-time heat record Posted: 27 Sep 2010 01:57 PM PDT The locals often call autumn heat waves "earthquake weather," but in Hollywood today they're callin' it "melt your breast implants weather." An all-time heat record broke in Los Angeles today when the mercury hit 113°F at lunchtime. Hottest day ever recorded in the city. Ever. This is September. Climate change denialists, have at it. |
| Censored maps are hard-wired on Chinese iPhone 4 Posted: 27 Sep 2010 01:50 PM PDT Ogle Earth reports that the new iPhone being sold in China contains a Maps application powered by Google Maps, "hard-wired to Google Maps' censored dataset for China, where the depiction of China's borders complies with the official propaganda of the Chinese government." More at ReadWriteWeb (via @rmack) |
| Wonderful classic monster sculptures Posted: 27 Sep 2010 01:09 PM PDT  Matt Staggs sez, "This young sculptor's work is amazing. Just check out the detailing. He apparently specializes in the Universal Monsters, particularly the Gill Man. He said that he was inspired by the old Aurora models." The Creepy Creativity of Adam "Kreaturekid" Dougherty (Thanks, Matt, via Submitterator!)
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| New podcast: Jury Service, by Charlie Stross and Cory Posted: 27 Sep 2010 01:12 PM PDT Jury Service is the first of two novellas Charlie Stross and I wrote about Huw, a technophobe stuck on Earth after the Singularity (the other one being Appeals Court). They are both being published, along with a third, yet-to-be-written novella Parole Board by Tor Books as Rapture of the Nerds. We're starting work on Parole Board in January, and to refamiliarize myself with the earlier novellas, I'm going to podcast both now (with the gracious permission of Charlie and our editor, Patrick Nielsen Hayden). Hope you enjoy 'em - they're as gonzo as I've ever gotten, I think!
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| Author of Pentagon-censored memoir on book-burning in the digital age: "It's ludicrous." Posted: 27 Sep 2010 01:12 PM PDT  "The whole premise smacks of retaliation. Someone buying 10,000 books to suppress a story in this digital age is ludicrous."—Army Reserve Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, speaking on CNN. As noted on Boing Boing earlier, the Pentagon just burned about 9,500 copies of his new memoir, Operation Dark Heart. A quick search on Amazon yields a notice about the dead-tree version's absence, and an inadvertently funny promo for the book's Kindle version (screengrab above). I haven't tried purchasing the Kindle version, but I presume it's not really offered. Anyone spotted a digital copy of Shaffer's book out in the wild? Let us know in the comments. Update: A Kindle version is available—it's redacted.
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| Wikileaks spokesman exits, and reveals his actual name Posted: 27 Sep 2010 12:50 PM PDT Daniel Schmitt, the German spokesperson for Wikileaks, shares his true name with the world as he exits the organization. Der Spiegel's story says he quit over disagreements with Julian Assange, but a tweet from @Wikileaks (presumably Assange himself) say Daniel was "suspended a month ago." Either way, the impression of internal strife grows. |
| "Heavy Metal Picnic," new film by "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" filmmaker Posted: 27 Sep 2010 12:43 PM PDT Over at Dangerous Minds, Richard Metzger blogs about a new documentary coming out by Jeff Krulik, "the VHS auteur responsible for one of the most legendary low-fi masterpieces of the tape trading underground of the 80s and 90s, Heavy Metal Parking Lot." Krulik's new film "returns to the era of his much-beloved earlier film, [and] could almost be considered a prequel." YouTube Link.
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| Virgin Galactic's space tourism launch is just 18 months away, says Branson Posted: 27 Sep 2010 12:23 PM PDT "We just finished building SpaceShipTwo. We are 18 months away from taking people into space." — Richard Branson, speaking at a business conference in Kuala Lumpur. Tickets start at 200,000 dollars. |
| India wants encryption backdoors, too; critics say mobile spying is bad for business Posted: 27 Sep 2010 12:24 PM PDT Related to today's New York Times piece on the Obama administration's plan to make encryption backdoors the law: India is already several steps ahead. "Prompted by fears of digital-era plotters, officials are already demanding that network operators given them the ability to monitor and decrypt digital messages." But critics say this will harm India's ability to "attract global businesses and become a hub for technology innovation." |
| Where, and why, the Economist is censored Posted: 27 Sep 2010 12:09 PM PDT An interesting read in the Economist detailing in which countries, why, and how many times the publication has been censored since January of 2009. India can't handle a map of Kashmir with borders it disputes; maps of Taiwan piss off China, Libya doesn't like anyone criticizing Khadafi. And the 2009 Christmas issue showing Adam and Eve was censored in five countries: "Malaysian officials covered up Eve's breasts. Pakistan objected to the depiction of Adam, which it said broke a prohibition on depicting Koranic figures." (via Jake Appelbaum) |
| Obama administration wants encryption backdoors for domestic surveillance Posted: 27 Sep 2010 01:30 PM PDT  In a New York Times article today by Charlie Savage, news that the Obama administration is proposing new legislation that would provide the U.S. Government with direct access to all forms of digital communication, "including encrypted e-mail transmitters like BlackBerry, social networking Web sites like Facebook and software that allows direct 'peer to peer' messaging like Skype." Sound familiar? As Glenn Greenwald points out in his Salon analysis piece,
In other words, the U.S. Government is taking exactly the position of the UAE and the Saudis: no communications are permitted to be beyond the surveillance reach of U.S. authorities. The new law would not expand the Government's legal authority to eavesdrop -- that's unnecessary, since post-9/11 legislation has dramatically expanded those authorities -- but would require all communications, including ones over the Internet, to be built so as to enable the U.S. Government to intercept and monitor them at any time when the law permits. In other words, Internet services could legally exist only insofar as there would be no such thing as truly private communications; all must contain a "back door" to enable government officials to eavesdrop.On Twitter last night, Ryan Singel pointed out this relevant snip from a National Research Council report rejecting the idea of mandated backdoors in encryption... in 1996.
It is true that the spread of encryption technologies will add to the burden of those in government who are charged with carrying out certain law enforcement and intelligence activities. But the many benefits to society of widespread commercial and private use of cryptography outweigh the disadvantages.And the lack of backdoors doesn't seem to have put much of a damper on domestic surveillance, anyway:
Law enforcement officials have long warned that encryption technology allows criminals to hide their activities, but investigators encountered encrypted communications only one time during 2009's wiretaps. The state investigators told the court that the encryption did not prevent them from getting the plain text of the messages. Read the NYT piece: U.S. Tries to Make It Easier to Wiretap the Internet.
Update: ACLU reaction here. "Mandating that all communications software be accessible to the government is a huge privacy invasion." [Image: Code, a Creative Commons-licensed image from Anonymous Collective]
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| Assam panics over "bombiles" -- exploding mobile phones with glowing red numbers Posted: 27 Sep 2010 12:03 PM PDT People in Assam are alarmed at stories of "bombiles" -- mobile phones that either explode, or make you drowsy, or explode and then make you drowsy, or give you a headache or something. It's got all the hallmarks of mass hysteria: poorly understood, ubiquitous, transformative technology; nonspecific symptoms; mysterious death without warning: An estimated 30 cases have been reported so far with more than 20 people admitted to various hospitals in Assam during the past one week. Most of the victims complained of nausea and a splitting headache, and some of them had to be literally wheeled into the hospital unconscious after the mobile handsets exploded soon after receiving a call.'Bombile' is the latest terror in Assam (via Beyond the Beyond)
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| Future of California map, from Institute for the Future, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego Posted: 27 Sep 2010 12:22 PM PDT  California is a mess. We have a nearly $20 billion deficit, no approved budget, and Meg Whitman running for governor against Jerry Brown. Meanwhile, we have a water shortage, the educational system is deeply screwed, and we suffer, like the rest of the country, from broken health care and immigration systems. Are we screwed for the long term? Are we headed toward an "Enclave Economy," complete with walled cities, suburban slums, and a privatized police? Or a smarter state with open governance, free online education, and a culture of innovation? These were some of the questions raised by my colleagues at Institute for the Future who during the last year worked with crossdisciplinary experts from UC Berkeley and UC San Diego to lay out an array of alternative futures for the state. The result is a beautifully-designed map called "California Dreaming: Imagining New Futures for the State," that's meant to provoke conversations about how California may change for the better, or the worse. Hopefully, if many more citizens start thinking about this stuff in a systematic way, it'll lead to real action. The map is free and CC-licensed to encourage as much public engagement as possible. My old friend Jonathan Weber wrote about it for his Bay Citizen column, that also appears in the New York Times: As I gaze at a colorful new map that lays out four alternative futures for the state, I feel quite energized. The document is the first piece of an effort by two major University of California research centers and the Institute for the Future, based in Palo Alto, to reframe the public policy conversation. And for me, it succeeds in its effort to use imagination about the future as a way to grapple with the present."The Future of California, Ready for Discussion" (Bay Citizen) "What would YOU do to build a better California?" (IFTF) "California Dreaming: Imagining New Futures for the State" (PDF)
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| Meta-textual analysis of mainstream science reporting Posted: 27 Sep 2010 10:29 AM PDT The Guardian's Martin Robbins does a spot-on bit of media criticism on the standard template for mainstream science reporting, in a piece fittingly entitled, "This is a news website article about a scientific paper." In the standfirst I will make a fairly obvious pun about the subject matter before posing an inane question I have no intention of really answering: is this an important scientific finding?This is a news website article about a scientific paper (via MeFi)
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| Why worry about the water levels in Lake Mead? Posted: 27 Sep 2010 10:28 AM PDT  Above is a satellite image of part of Lake Mead, taken in August of 1985. You can see the Colorado River flowing in on the right. This was the same part of Lake Mead in August of 2010:
Lake Mead is the reservoir that sits behind the massive Hoover Dam, where it generates electricity and provides water to most of the American Southwest. The water level in Lake Mead has pretty much always been up and down, depending on drought and other factors. You can see how this normal fluctuation has played out since the high point of 1941 in a graph on NASA's Image of the Day page. The low you're looking at here is the lowest the Lake has been since 1956. Why? The National Park Service sums up the problem: "In an "average" year, the amount of water flowing out of Lake Mead exceeds the amount of water flowing into Lake Mead." Now, that's a bit of a "duh" statement, but it's important to remember that the problem really is that simple. There's no black magic going on here, just basic math. Part of the problem is an ongoing 12-year drought that's limiting inflow from snow melt in the Rockies. But, as seen throughout Lake Mead's history, droughts come and go. The really worrying issue here is on the demand side. Decades of population growth have led to increased water demand in the Southwest. Take, for instance, Las Vegas, which gets 90 percent of its water from Lake Mead. Back in the 1940s, fewer than 9,000 people lived there. In 2006, the population was estimated at more than 550,000, and growing. Rapidly. Multiplied throughout the region, that added demand means the tolerance for expected drought fluctuation becomes more brittle. And if the cycle of drought and rain doesn't behave like it has in the past—a change some scientists say you can see happening now, and others say is likely under climate change scenarios going forward—it puts more people at risk for water shortage. In a nutshell, that's what's got people freaking out about Lake Mead. It's not so much the current water level, but concern about what happens if the rains take a particularly long time to return. Or don't last as long as we'd like them to before another long drought. Thanks to Mr. Bad Example, who sent the photos in via Submitterator.
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| Gallery of iconic tech prototypes Posted: 27 Sep 2010 12:46 PM PDT  The new issue of Wired includes a lovely visual feature by BB pal Steven Leckart and photographer Dan Forbes showcasing the prototypes of iconic tech products, from the Atari 2600 to the Moog Modular synthesizer. I think Steven and Dan should do a coffee table book of these, and also include photos of the glorious failures, build notes, back-of-the-envelope sketches, and interviews with the makers. Above, the Super Soaker, 1989: Lonnie Johnson was trying to build a better refrigerator, based on a low-cost heat pump that circulated water instead of Freon. But when one of his custom-machined brass nozzles blasted a stream of water across his bathroom, Johnson—by day an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory—realized he had the makings of something way more fun. A shotgun-style air pump and a series of check valves allowed for sniperlike range and accuracy with little exertion. Selling the idea to toy companies, though, was more of an effort. After seven years of frustration, Johnson scrapped his difficult-to-manufacture Plexiglas "pressure containment vessel" for an empty 2-liter soda bottle. It wasn't slick, but it was easy to make."Original Models: A Look at Iconic Tech Prototypes"
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| Reports that UN is appointing ET ambassador not true Posted: 27 Sep 2010 12:31 PM PDT Is the United Nations about to appoint Malaysian astrophysicist Mazlan Othman as the ambassador to extraterrestrial intelligences? Yesterday, the Sunday Times published an article claiming that Othman is expected to announce her proposed new role at a meeting of the Royal Society next week. According to the article, the plan to make Othman and the UN's Office for Outer Space Affairs which she heads, the first point of contact will be debated by UN scientific advisors before heading to the general assembly. Turns out though that the newspaper, and dozens of other media outlets that rewrote the same story, may have jumped to some conclusions. Today, Othman emailed The Guardian, "It sounds really cool but I have to deny it." Besides, if aliens really do reach out, it's likely that the scientists who receive the message will likely call Paul Allen first. "UN plan for 'alien ambassador' a case of science fiction?"
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| The further adventures of Thomas Edison, asshat Posted: 27 Sep 2010 09:30 AM PDT  Say you were curious about what happened when a human brain came into prolonged contact with a strong magnetic field. To find an answer, you might learn more about the nature of magnetism and the biology of the brain and make some hypotheses. Later, you'd run some experiments using dead tissue, or perhaps live animal models. This is because you are a good person. If you were Thomas Edison, on the other hand, you'd find the nearest street urchin and keep him inside a giant electromagnet. It's OK, though, science writers would later say, because there turned out not to be much of an effect, and, anyway, the boy liked it.
Anecdote taken from The Wonder Book of Magnetism, by Edwin James Houston. Published in 1908. Thanks to Alexis Madrigal for this fabulous find!
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| Abandoned Dalek goes to new home Posted: 27 Sep 2010 09:40 AM PDT The mysterious Dalek found last week in an Exeter, England elementary school has found a foster home with John Hadlow, proprietor of a film and TV memorabilia shop in the area. Apparently the Dalek will eventually be donated to charity. From This Is Exeter: "Abandoned Dalek given new home"
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| Posted: 22 Sep 2010 11:31 AM PDT  LA public art project, Fallen Fruit, started by mapping public fruit--fruit trees growing in or over public property. Since then, the interests of this Meshy project "have expanded from mapping public fruit to include Public Fruit Jams in which we invite the citizens to bring homegrown or public fruit and join in communal jam-making; Nocturnal Fruit Forages, nighttime neighborhood fruit tours; Community Fruit Tree Plantings on the margins of private property and in community gardens; Public Fruit Park proposals in Hollywood, Los Feliz and downtown LA; and Neighborhood Infusions, taking the fruit found on one street and infusing it in alcohol to capture the spirit of the place."
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| Happy capybaras cure Monday blues Posted: 27 Sep 2010 08:34 AM PDT It's like a Pentecostal service, but with giant rodents, as a person moves through a crowd of capybaras, scratching each one until it falls over on its side, slain with the spirit of snuggliness. Some fun facts about everybody's favorite friendly hundred-pound rodent:
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Chicago visitor Bill Pintas experienced Vdara's "death ray" recently. A lawyer, he was here on business for Preferred Capital Lending, which he co-owns. He also co-owns a Vdara condo. 
Mr Hadlow said: "I felt so sorry for him being stuck in a school cupboard so I've brought him to the shop and he is stood next to the other Dalek. 
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