The Latest from Boing Boing |
- Six-year-old thrashing on a plank
- TSA airport signs, after the toner ban
- Testing infrasound thrills and chills with a double-blind randomized spook-house
- Shirky: Times paywall is pretty much like all the other paywalls
- What I've learned about wind carts
- Explosion in Web 2.0 Factory Leads to Rockmelt
- Appalling Stuffed Cat, and other Alibaba curiosities
- Fark hosts NES nostalgia game for "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" DVD release
- Steve Martin's gospel song for atheists
- Staircase storage: vertical shelving unit is its own stepladder
- Baa, Baa, BlackSheep, Have You Any w001?
- Why don't jellyfish sting each other?
- SnapWare Glasslock
- Charles Reynolds, inventor of magic, RIP
- SPECIAL FEATURE: Awesome Gallery of De-CGI Competition Winners
- Eight Days a Week
- Interview with Hamilton Morris, filmmaker behind NZAMBI: documentary on Haitian zombie phenomenon
- Rocket to Russia: "Feel 10 - Show 1"
- JFK's birthday cake for sale
- Noah's Ark seeker gone missing
- Words: amazing video poem
- Spot the fake smile
- Why Richard Feynman can't tell you how magnets work
- Virgin America and Google to offer free inflight WiFi over the holidays
- Pulp sci-fi book covers, scanned daily
- Turn Lemon Bars into Lemonade
- Danish sailors make insane harbor entry in high seas
- The high school with seven Nobel prize winners
- Evoting security researchers at U Michigan root DC's voting machines with ease
- Skateboarder impaled on own plank costume
Six-year-old thrashing on a plank Posted: 09 Nov 2010 05:43 AM PST Asher Bradshaw is a six-year old skateboard wizard: watch him thrash like a fiend at the Venice Beach skate-park and marvel. 6 year old skateboarder Asher Bradshaw at Venice Beach Skatepark |
TSA airport signs, after the toner ban Posted: 09 Nov 2010 05:41 AM PST |
Testing infrasound thrills and chills with a double-blind randomized spook-house Posted: 08 Nov 2010 10:17 PM PST John Huntington and his friends decided to test the reported phenomenon of infrasound (very low-frequency sounds) causing people to feel spooky chills and thrills, a phenomenon blamed for ghost sightings and reports of hauntings. They created a spook-house with a double-blind randomized infrasound generator and used surveys to check for a correlation between infrasound and creepy feelings. John exhaustively documented the experimental setup (and the setbacks encountered in getting things up and running), and the results. Spoiler alert: they didn't find a correlation. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 (Thanks, John!) |
Shirky: Times paywall is pretty much like all the other paywalls Posted: 08 Nov 2010 10:11 PM PST Clay Shirky's latest essay, "The Times' Paywall and Newsletter Economics," examines all the ways in which Rupert Murdoch's Times paywall is pretty much like all the other paywalls, and failed like pretty much all the other paywalls. The classic description of a commodity market uses milk. If you own the only cow for 50 miles, you can charge usurious rates, because no one can undercut you. If you own only one of a hundred such cows, though, then everyone can undercut you, so you can't charge such rates. In a competitive environment like that, milk becomes a commodity, something whose price is set by the market as a whole.The Times' Paywall and Newsletter Economics
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What I've learned about wind carts Posted: 08 Nov 2010 08:10 PM PST As a follow-up to Rick Cavallaro's article on Make: Online about designing and making a wind-powered cart that can outrun a tailwind, I wrote a piece about wind cart enthusiasts and skeptics. Is it possible to for a wind-powered vehicle to travel directly downwind faster than the wind?Make Online: What I've Learned About Wind Carts |
Explosion in Web 2.0 Factory Leads to Rockmelt Posted: 08 Nov 2010 08:06 PM PST Tragic news today from the browser mines. An explosion rocked the Chromium operations, resulting in the death of good taste, simplicity, and utility. The resulting slag mixed together social networking, a form of RSS, and browsing into one giant, still smoking blob. Web 2.0 teams were immediately dispatched, but recovery is unlikely. We're going to have to live with Rockmelt. Rockmelt is a social-networking and most-visited site dashboard wrapped around a browser. The notion is that instead of performing separate tasks in separate places, such as different tabs, windows, or programs, we're going to want to see what the hell all our friends are up to constantly, while watching streaming crap flow up both sides of the screen along with updates to Web sites we frequently view. Yeah, that's how I like to roll, yo. I can see why the idea behind Rockmelt is appealing. It's why Flock was released over five years ago. As the number of social networks to which we belong grows, and the kind of activities we can perform is ever more tightly tied into Web behaviors, there's an obvious conclusion to draw: perhaps all of this could be in one place, making it more efficient and seamless. But that assumes that multitasking isn't a myth, and that people are incessantly in need of communication. I'm probably well outside the target demographic for this kind of software, but the target demographic is already using apps on smartphones, so they're not going to be interested in this browser, anyway. Rockmelt may be too hip for its waistline. Should I point out that Marc Andreessen is an investor? I haven't used Flock, for the same reason Rockmelt isn't appealing: I actually have work to get done, and I'm not sitting constantly in front of a browser during my soi disant "idle time." (Idle time needs air quotes and double quotes around it, since I have two small children.) Earlier in the year, I became fascinated with tools like Freedom, software for Mac and Windows that lets you save yourself from yourself. Freedom disables network access for a period of time you set. Other tools remove distractions by clearing the screen of apps except the one you're working on; several word-processing programs give you a blank sheet of paper and wipe the slate clean. The iPad has the same effect writ medium-large: whatever you're doing fills the screen, and it takes a conscious act to shift to another activity; you can't casually swap. (I wrote this up for the Economist in June as "Stay on target," complete with some neat comments from Peter Sagal of NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me.) If you don't have a prescription for Adderall already, just show Rockmelt to your physician, and he or she will be happy to oblige. I'll be in my unlit basement, viewing pages with lynx. NASA image by Robert Simmon, using ALI data from the EO-1 team via Creative Commons. |
Appalling Stuffed Cat, and other Alibaba curiosities Posted: 08 Nov 2010 06:19 PM PST If you would like 100,000 appalling stuffed cats every month, Shanghai Tony Handicrafts can take care of that. This modernist crockery is called "Grotesque Bowl," which is very true. Inflatable weird shape. The more you think about it, the more insightful it seems. In its favor, the supplier assures timely delivery of its terrible products. Its that fucking alarm again! A lovely present, you can send it to your loved ones in a fucking gift box. When in the market for a kerosene heater, don't forget the critical question. Is it lavishly slinky? Also: Shame Pig, Revolting Machine, and "This shitty product." |
Fark hosts NES nostalgia game for "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" DVD release Posted: 08 Nov 2010 06:04 PM PST As a sponsored promotion for the DVD release of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, our friends at Fark are hosting a web-based game you unlock by entering Konami code from '90s NES games (Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Enter). In the game, you challenge Ramona's "seven evil exes -- the enemies from the movie" to a trivia contest. Fark's game is a paid ad campaign— a very clever one! (Thanks, Drew of Fark!) |
Steve Martin's gospel song for atheists Posted: 08 Nov 2010 03:46 PM PST A reader writes, "From Austin City Limits (2010) Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers perform his original a capella 'gospel' tune for the non-believers among us." Steve Martin: Atheists Don't Have No Songs |
Staircase storage: vertical shelving unit is its own stepladder Posted: 08 Nov 2010 03:44 PM PST I love Danny Kuo's concept design for a "staircase" storage unit, which would be great in small (but high-ceilinged) rooms and homes -- it's a very tall shelving unit that uses its drawers as a stepladder to reach the highest compartments. I'm not clear on how that sucker is anchored/counterweighted to keep you from pitching over backwards and being crushed to death, but honestly, is that too high a price to pay for more tchotchke-space in a small flat? |
Baa, Baa, BlackSheep, Have You Any w001? Posted: 08 Nov 2010 03:24 PM PST Firesheep, meet BlackSheep. The Firesheep Firefox extension makes it a simple point-and-click operation to hijack the unsecured Web session of anyone on the same unprotected Wi-Fi hotspot network using any of a couple dozen popular sites. It was created as a demonstration of poor user data protection, but can be used maliciously, too. BlackSheep is a strange rejoinder. While I recommended here at BoingBoing that people consider using a VPN, encrypting communications with specific services, or using a secure Web proxy, Zscaler's free BlackSheep uses jiu-jitsu. It creates fake tokens and transmits them over the live network in a manner that Firesheep scans for. Then it alerts you if another system on the same network attempts to resubmit the same credentials. What you do next, I don't know. Stand up, start pointing your finger around the coffeeshop, and yell, "J'accuse!"? |
Why don't jellyfish sting each other? Posted: 08 Nov 2010 02:27 PM PST Along with this lovely jellyfish photo that she posted to the BoingBoing Flickr Pool, Kate Tomlinson asks, "How come they don't sting each other?" Not a bad question. How does a creature with no brain—but with long, venomous tentacles—manage to travel in dense packs without things getting really socially awkward? I took Kate's query to Southern Fried Scientist, a science blogger who doubles as a graduate student studying deep-sea biology. Jellyfish can and do sting other jellyfish, he says, but really only when they're hunting jellies of another species. They don't sting the other members of their same-species swarm. Neither (luckily) do they zap themselves. It works because jellyfish tentacles aren't inherently poisonous. Rather, it's the nematocytes—special cells that line the tentacles. When touched, nematocytes fire off microscopic quills that lodge in a victim and pump in the venom. But this weapon comes with a built-in safety switch. "Jellyfish have chemoreceptors that turn the nematocyte on or off," Southern Fried Scientist says. If the receptors pick up the chemical signature of the jellyfish's own species, nothing happens. Everything else is assumed to be potential prey (or, at least, a potential threat) and, thus, worth firing upon. |
Posted: 08 Nov 2010 02:24 PM PST Storing food in plastic containers is an imperfect solution. Not only is there the risk of the plastic contaminating the food, but it also tends to stain and retain the taste and smell of whatever was last stored in it. After years of frustration with plastic containers I recently picked up an 18-piece kit of SnapWare Glasslock, a glass-based alternative to plastic food storage containers. As their name implies, the glass containers come with a rigid plastic top that snaps shut with four hinges. This coupled with a durable silicone seal renders the containers leak-proof. I have biked with one filled with soup and arrived at my destination without a drop missing (something I definitely couldn't do with my old plastic ones), and I didn't have to waste another bowl in order to microwave it. The biggest downsides to this container solution is the expense and added weight. Plastic containers are cheap, near-disposable, and almost weightless. But I'll happily tote the extra ounce or two of glass if it means I don't have to worry about plastics leeching into my now unspilled soup. The containers themselves are freezer, microwave, and dishwasher safe, but are not recommended for the oven. I have read many accounts of people successfully using them in the oven, but I do not believe they are made with the same borosilicate they use in Pyrex, bake with them at your own risk. The 18-piece set is enough for my partner and me, but may not be enough for a family of more than two or three (given how fast some people go through containers). I bought my set at a Costco warehouse where they are sold for quite a bit cheaper than elsewhere. I believe the Container Store has a near identical solution for comparable prices. Finally, for those not concerned about using plastics, SnapWare recently released a near identical product with BPA-free plastic. -- Oliver Hulland Snapware Glasslock 18 Piece Set $37 Comment on this at Cool Tools. Or, submit a tool! |
Charles Reynolds, inventor of magic, RIP Posted: 08 Nov 2010 01:23 PM PST Charles Reynolds, one of the world's greatest "backroom boy" magicians who advises other conjurors and invents illusions, has died. Reynolds's accomplishments included helping the likes of Doug Henning vanish a white horse and rider and Harry Blackstone Jr. buzzsaw his wife in half. Reynolds was 78. From the New York Times: He lived in a little house in Greenwich Village crammed with magic books, mummy cases and antique posters, including a dozen of the American magician who went under the Chinese name Chung Ling Soo and who became an instant legend in 1918 when he died by muffing the trick of catching a bullet in his teeth."Charles Reynolds, Magicians' Magician, Dies at 78" (Thanks, AnthroPunk!) |
SPECIAL FEATURE: Awesome Gallery of De-CGI Competition Winners Posted: 08 Nov 2010 01:06 PM PST We challenged you to take something that is usually computerized and remake it with natural media. The incentive: great prizes from HP including a brand new laptop. Here are the entries we received, with the winners and runners-up announced below! |
Posted: 07 Nov 2010 07:26 PM PST A press release arrived in my inbox a couple days ago in which a CEO, facing a major change in his line of business, promised to continue to work for his customers 24x7x365. I was impressed. It's not every day that a company vows to accelerate its customers to a high fraction of the speed of light relative to the Earth to squeeze seven years into the space of one. What's more, many companies have the same capability. I worry about the fabric of reality, already stretched by firms impacting operations and effectuating paradigms. Our frame of reference will be stretched, snapped, and broken. For details on repair, consult How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe. |
Interview with Hamilton Morris, filmmaker behind NZAMBI: documentary on Haitian zombie phenomenon Posted: 08 Nov 2010 06:09 PM PST
With his Herman Munster baritone and his spindly manorexic gams vacuum-sealed into a pair of black skinny jeans, writer and filmmaker Hamilton Morris is like some Edward Gorey character come to life. It's a look particularly suited to the protagonist's role in his new movie NZAMBI, a documentary on the legend of the Haitian zombie. It's been 30 years since the anthropologist Wade Davis wrote The Serpent and the Rainbow, his investigation of the Haitian zombie phenomenon--human beings put into a state of suspended animation for months or years by a voodoo poison. In NZAMBI, Morris travels to Port Au Prince on a mission to substantiate Davis' research for his generation. Like the rest of his videos for Vice Magazine's "Hamilton's Pharmacopia" series, Hamilton does a little gonzo drug experimentation too, but this time the stuff turns out to be bunk. Absent a definitive climax, he's forced to carry the movie with his deadpan voice over--and he's definitely funny, but you're never really sure if he's making fun of these Haitian Bokurs or making fun of an American audience expecting him to find answers in this spooky, magical world. And that's probably the point. I sat down with him after his premiere party at New York's Tribeca Grand Hotel (of course they were serving a vodka punch called zombies) to talk to Hamilton about reanimation, his interest in braiiiiinns, and what his dad thinks about his chosen profession of hipster psychonaut.
Steve Marsh/Boing Boing: When did you read Wade Davis' Serpent and the Rainbow?
But Max Beauvoir, the Pope of voodoo, loves it and thinks that Wes Craven is the only director who truly understands the Haitian people and that it's a masterpiece. He went on to sort of trance while he was talking about it, looking off into the distance as if enraptured--just filled with pure love for the movie. He really loves it. But then I was like, "Well you know Wade Davis hated the movie don't you?" And he just looked so pissed off and was like, "Wade has no right to hate that movie. That movie made Wade a rich man. He profited while the Haitian people starved and he has no right to complain."
HM: Disappeared? BB: Wow. That's part of every voodoo story: the voodoo doll or other tools of witchcraft disappearing mysteriously. That's part of voodoo magic.
We would get out of the car, and everyone would start crowding around us and ask us for money and Alex would say, "Stop, stop! I'm going to turn all of you into a goat!" And that was like a serious threat that scared people and made them back away because that did not want to be turned into a goat. And you'd think well wouldn't you eventually ignore it because nobody has ever turned anyone into a goat? (whispers) But that's just not how they think.
I understand it's appealing to a new age sensibility--especially because the psychedelic experience is so incredibly difficult to conceptualize. Everyone is looking for a framework to interpret what is happening psychologically. So you can try to do it through various religions--through whatever, kabbalah, Christianity--but it's always difficult. The really difficult truth of the matter is that there is no framework at all. At all. And that nobody has any answer. But it seems appealing to people who are unwilling to take responsibility for their own experience. It's appealing to say, "Oh, I'll go to this ancient shaman. He's an ancient man. He comes from an ancient primitive culture that understands these metaphysical things." But of course they don't, anymore than you or I do. They're just people. They don't possess any sacred knowledge that you or I don't have. I've spoken to so many shamans and I find that most of this stuff is platitudes. It's all you know, the planet is the ambassador, it is our teacher and our mother and our father. But that doesn't really help you all that much in the end. BB: Have you had anything that could be called a spiritual experience on any of these substances? HM: I think they're inherently spiritual. I think it's difficult not to have a spiritual experience. BB: What are the ones that have been the most dramatic paradigm shifts for you? HM: There's so many. There are a few very interesting substances that I've had the opportunity to try. There's a chemical called diisopropyltryptamine. DIPT. It has the unusual effect of selectively distorting hearing. So that your vision remains relatively intact, but you're totally immersed in this world of profound auditory hallucinations. And I had tripped a few times before ever trying DIPT, and that was the first time I fully understood the sorts of weirdness that the human mind is capable of. That you could just walk down the street and hear these sounds that seemed utterly impossible to be generated without a computer and they were coming from your own ears. BB: Have you contacted anything that you think is external to the human mind on these substances? HM: No. Absolutely not. BB: Terrence McKenna talked about the futuristic elves. HM: I've seen "things." Sort of? The human brain is evolved to recognize movement to recognize patterns to recognize faces in everything. That is what the brain does, among many other things. So of course you will see faces and things and movement. But I don't want to assign any values to those things and say that they are for somehow an extraterrestrial being that's trying to teach me lessons about telling everyone to drink ayahuasca before 2012 or something like that. BB: What does your father think of your work? HM: Uhhhh...well, I have a very good relationship with my dad. Initially he was sort of against it because I always forget that in the 70s, that all this stuff was probably horrifying and cheesy and overdone in a way. Like I remember him talking about how much he hated Jodorowsky and then watching Jodorowsky movies and thinking, "Like oh my god, how could you hate this? This is the like the most interesting thing." I have no idea, but I can imagine everyone in the 70s talking about how awesome Jodorowsky movies were. It was probably tiring and stupid after awhile and he didn't want to have anything to do with all this psychedelic culture when it became stupid and self-indulgent and boring. So I sympathize. And he's not a stoner. He's not that kind of a guy. So he doesn't like stoner stuff. BB: Does he like your stoner stuff? HM: My stuff isn't. I actually don't even smoke weed. BB: (Laughs) Except on camera in your new zombie movie? HM: Okay. On camera, on occasion, in Haiti, to relieve a little bit of the stress, I might toke a j every once in a while. But it definitely messes with my sleep and I don't smoke that much weed. But anyway he likes it, he's supportive. I'm genuinely close with my dad. He's a legitimate human being which is rare. But it's difficult to make movies. I like writing more than documentary. Because there's so much tension to make it digestible and simple and of course it's never simple in any way at all. It's incredibly complicated and difficult to explain to everyone. BB: I just re-watched your dad's little Academy Award movie because you were in it as a 15-year-old. And there's one guy who said "film might have more to do with poetry than prose." HM: That guy is incredible. He's Dennis Jakob. I went on a road trip with him. He's a paranoid schizophrenic who helped edit Apocalypse Now. He's a fascinating character. He's like best friends with Francis Ford Coppola and then he was in an insane asylum for a decade and now he's living in a trailer, but he was on of the most brilliant minds in Hollywood but was too schizophrenic to do anything. He's recently regained his sanity.
BB: Are you on anything right now? You mentioned your interest in mental illness earlier--have you ever struggled with mental issues?
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Rocket to Russia: "Feel 10 - Show 1" Posted: 08 Nov 2010 11:52 AM PST Encore (St. Petersburg - BKZ Oktyaborsky) As bassist for electric guitar icon (and extremely nice person) Joe Satriani on a European tour I thought to regale you, dear Boing Boing reader, with the exploits of an American rock band touring in Russia. (Dateline: St. Petersburg. Local time: 11pm. Weather: raining and cold.) Despite (or possibly because of) a soundcheck rife with technical challenges, the show in St. Petersburg comes off swimmingly. Though stiffly seated for the first several songs of the set the crowd maniacally rushes the stage as soon as the block-shouldered and packing security agents (complete with tiny coiled earbuds) usher the photographers out of the way. The rest of the set (a total of two hours and twenty five minutes) is a joy, with audience members singing along to well memorized guitar melodies, head-banging furiously or doing the dark Russian poet thing: standing motionless with a maniacal intensity, a sort of "Feel 10 - Show 1" approach to existentialism. After the show the promoter, resplendent in groovy bling, treats us to dinner at his Italian restaurant nearby, and I marvel as our waitress (there is no other word that can most accurately be used to describe her) and our cook bicker animatedly but quietly into the face of each other about opening wine bottles and the timing of serving our meals. The food is very good but I can't finish the mountain of spaghetti carbonara on the plate. It's 1am. During the day prior to soundcheck a group of us walk to The Hermitage, a world destination museum with over 1000 rooms and 3,000,000 paintings (not all of which are open or on display at any given time) but, as it's a holiday of some kind here (the name of which we're unable to divine) the lines across the wind-swept central square are pushing the length of three football fields. Russians apparently are very good at queuing and not always for a good purpose. Naturally we walk right up and offer tickets to those in front* to let us take their place, to no avail. We return to the hotel only slightly disappointed. Like traveling to Paris, having one day for the Louvre and, it being a Tuesday, the museum is closed, I name the experience of not getting in to The Hermitage as proof that I will return. For a transcendent cinematic experience of this place see the movie, Russian Ark with the subtitles on.
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Posted: 08 Nov 2010 11:38 AM PST Call J. Peterman! This unappetizing piece of cake is up for auction right now with a current bid of $2,500. Why? It's from JFK's 45th birthday party in 1962, the one where Marilyn Monroe seductively sang "Happy Birthday, Mr. President." From Collectors Weekly: The piece of cake up for auction is actually a sugar-frosted decoration on cardboard—it was spirited away from the ceremony by a police officer who was part of the event's security staff. Along with a program from the event, the piece is expected to bring between $5,000 and $10,000."Let Them Eat JFK's Birthday Cake" |
Noah's Ark seeker gone missing Posted: 08 Nov 2010 11:27 AM PST In May, I posted about a Christian group's expedition to find the real Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat in Turkey. One of the seekers is now missing after a solo trek on the mountain. According to the BBC, Donald Mackenzie was last in touch with his family more than a month ago. "Noah's Ark site search man goes missing" |
Posted: 08 Nov 2010 10:54 AM PST |
Posted: 08 Nov 2010 10:21 AM PST The BBC has a fun experiment where you're challenged to "Spot the Fake Smile" on 20 individuals. I didn't do much better than 50 percent. Good thing I don't play poker. The experiment is based on the amazing work of retired University of California psychology professor Paul Ekman, who spent a career studying emotion and facial expressions. Most famously, Ekman researched "microexpressions," subtle "tells" that reveal when someone is lying. He's the author of Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage and Emotions Revealed, among other books, and the inspiration behind the TV drama Lie To Me. "Spot the Fake Smile" (Thanks, Bob Pescovitz!) |
Why Richard Feynman can't tell you how magnets work Posted: 08 Nov 2010 10:15 AM PST But seriously, f*ckin' magnets, how do they work? It's a very good question, but the truth, according to none other than Richard Feynman, is that it's also a very hard question to give non-scientists an answer on. The trouble: Magnetism is one of those things that's just damn difficult to understand in terms of analogy to stuff the average person already knows. The only way to answer this kind of reductive "why" question, Feynman says, is to put the questioner through an elaborate education in physics, at which point they will emerge—like a hobbled butterfly—equally unable to answer the question in a simple way. Basically, ICP is doomed to receive nothing but unsatisfying answers on this topic until they enroll themselves in an evil clown Ph.D. program. Submitterated by millrick, from a post at The Atlantic. |
Virgin America and Google to offer free inflight WiFi over the holidays Posted: 08 Nov 2010 09:41 AM PST For the second year in a row, Virgin America and Google are teaming up to offer free Gogo in-flight wireless internet for passengers during the holiday season, as a promotion for Google's Chrome browser. (Disclaimer: Virgin America carries our Boing Boing video episodes on its in-flight entertainment system—in fact, I heartily recommend you watch while you tweet or catch up on email!) |
Pulp sci-fi book covers, scanned daily Posted: 08 Nov 2010 09:33 AM PST
Via the BB Submitterator, Boing Boing reader calebkraft says, "I was given several large containers of pulp Sci-Fi publications from the 50s-70s. I've been scanning them and posting at least one a day to the pulp archive. The art is fantastic!" No kidding. My favorite, among the ones posted so far, is above. Analog, September 1968, Vol. LXXXII, No. 1. It looks like Analog had a decent budget for art. Their cover paintings are usually fairly detailed and high quality. I'm not really sure what is going on here, but the fantasy fan of me approves of giant marmots that play horn instruments. More: pulparchive.com |
Posted: 08 Nov 2010 09:32 AM PST The Cooks Source brouhaha has turned into at least one positive outcome. One advertiser in the publication, 2nd Street Bakery in Turners Falls, Mass., quickly contacted Cooks Source to pull its ads. Kudos poured in on Facebook on the bakery's page and the Cooks Source discussion area. Several people suggested sending cash to or placing orders with 2nd Street to offset the loss in business due to people calling them and emailing them to complain about Cooks Source, and the potential loss in business from halting these ads. Owner Laura Puchalski suggested redirecting the effort via a Facebook reply to those wanting to help her business out: Ok Ok! If you are all set on showing some love for our local charities, my recommendation would be The Food Bank of Western MA. They serve over 7 million pounds of food PER YEAR to hungry families and elders in my county and surrounding areas. Pay it forward and fight hunger! We really are not looking to benefit directly from any of this, so do please just send your good will to a charitable cause!!Image by Janet Hudson via Creative Commons. |
Danish sailors make insane harbor entry in high seas Posted: 08 Nov 2010 09:24 AM PST This is what luck looks like. Luck, combined with a whole lot of skill. Notice the person at the front. I'm sure they're locked in with a harness, but that would still be a wild ride. The harbor is Svaneke, a town on an island in the Baltic Sea. According to this thread at the Wooden Boat Forum, local guides say you shouldn't even attempt entering Svaneke harbor during strong onshore winds. I have no idea what prompted this crew to take a shot, but I'm guessing they decided the alternatives were worse. Thanks to Happy Mutant role model Marti Siebert for the video! |
The high school with seven Nobel prize winners Posted: 08 Nov 2010 08:56 AM PST Inside the Bronx high school that produced seven Nobel-winning physicists—despite having sub-standard physics education while most of them were in school. According to this article, what the Bronx High School of Science lacked in specific-subject resources, it made up by creating an engaging environment that got kids excited about science, in general, both in and out of the classroom. |
Evoting security researchers at U Michigan root DC's voting machines with ease Posted: 08 Nov 2010 08:23 AM PST Oldsma sez, "DC election officials put a test version of their voting system up in a mock primary and invited white hat attacks. U. Michigan broke it completely within 36 hours. DC officials reply, in a nutshell, 'Well, that's why we asked people to test it.'" D.C. voting officials knew there might be openings in the upload procedure, said Paul Stenbjorn, director of information services at the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics.Michigan researchers hack Washington DC computer voting system (Thanks, Oldsma, via Submitterator!)
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Skateboarder impaled on own plank costume Posted: 08 Nov 2010 08:11 AM PST This swell "skateborder-impaled-on-his-own-plank" costume can also be used as a handy drinks table -- the images were captured by the talented @Toastkid. Impaled Zombie Skateboarder DIY Halloween Costume (Thanks, Jim!) |
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