Saturday, February 26, 2011

The Latest from Boing Boing

The Latest from Boing Boing

Link to Boing Boing

Investigating accidents: a career for the inexperienced and uneducated

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 06:05 AM PST


Uneducated? Inexperienced? Have a penis? You can investigate accidents! I don't see how anything wrong can go with this.

"You Are Accepted As A Man With A Profession"

Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die: CA '70s/'80s punk/hardcore photography + art

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 05:48 PM PST


Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys with his home made anti-Reagan t-shirt, circa 1980, shot at the backstage toilet at The Whiskey-A-Go-Go, Hollywood, California, by Glen E. Friedman.

Opening tonight at Shepard Fairey's Subliminal Projects gallery in Echo Park, Los Angeles, "Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die," a retrospective of punk/hardcore photography and related art, featuring Edward Colver, Shepard Fairey, Glen E. Friedman, Jenny Lens, Dave Markey, Raymond Pettibon, Jordan Schwartz, and Winston Smith.

[A] selection of photography, art and ephemera from the California Punk & Hardcore scene with an emphasis on the explosive period of the late 70's and early 80's. This exhibition features both photographers and artists who were present for the detonation of the Southern California scene and whose imagery helped capture and craft it's angles, attitudes, music, fashion and sub-culture. Reflections of other punk scenes throughout California are included as well as contemporary collaborations inspired by one of the most potent and important periods of free expression in the California story.
Opens tonight, Friday, February 25th, 2011 7-11PM, with a musical performance by OFF! and The Nichemakers at 9PM.

The exhibition continues through March 26th, 2011, and is curated by Katherine B. Cone and Jon Cournoyer. Press release (PDF)

LCD Soundsystem + Muppets: "Dance Yrself Clean"

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 05:38 PM PST

Bob Knetzger's gross food-making toys

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 05:22 PM PST

zombie head box.jpg

I was very excited last week at Toy Fair (the toy industry trade show) in NYC to see a classic toy I invented being relaunched. Boing Boing readers (or their younger brothers) may remember having this toy back in 1995: Doctor Dreadful, the line of gross food-making toys. Back then, kids created overflowing potions, bubbling brains and squirming worms with their Doctor Dreadful Food Labs and Drink Labs -- and then ate or drink their "looks gross -- tastes great" concoctions. Here's the original award-winning TV spot:


For today's kids, Spinmaster Toys (the same toy company behind the Air Hogs pump up planes and Havoc micro-sized indoor RC helicopters) has updated Doctor Dreadful with even wilder food experiments and grosser-looking toys. The photo above is a peek at just one of the new versions: Doctor Dreadful Zombie Head Drink Lab.

The toys should be in production later this year and be on store shelves by fall. Wouldn't this zombie head look nice under the Christmas tree?

Sword of Fargoal -- addictive dungeon crawler for iOS

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 04:37 PM PST

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A while back, Rob posted an essay by John Brownlee about "roguelikes," which are simple adventure games that take place in multilevel dungeons filled with monsters and treasures.

I first came across Rogue in 1988 or 1989, when someone at a company in Colorado I worked for gave it to me on a floppy disk. It ran on DOS, and used ASCII characters to draw mazelike dungeons and populate them with monsters, spells, potions, weapons, and armor. It was very primitive, but the gameplay was tremendously exciting. I never made it all the way down to the lowest level of the dungeon, but sometimes I would get pretty deep before a nymph or other powerful foe would smite me.

I played the game off and on for years, obsessing over it for weeks at a time, then cooling off for a number of months before returning to it.

After I started using Windows (and later a Macintosh) I stopped playing Rogue, except for the version I had on my PalmPilot. When I got rid of the PalmPilot, Rogue just became a fond memory, and my sister and I would fondly reminisce over it (she was a fan of the game, too, and I think it was the only computer game she played).

Then I read Brownlee's essay, in which he mentioned a game called the Sword of Fargoal, a remake of a 1982 Commodore C-64 roguelike dungeon crawler that's available for the iPhone, iPad, and OS X. I bought the iPhone and iPad versions a few weeks ago and have been playing them an awful lot ever since. The graphics are gorgeous, with a nod to its retro-origins. The soundtrack by Daniel Pemberton is spooky. Wisely, the creators kept things pretty simple. Earlier this year I tried World of Warcraft and its lush 3D world didn't hook me, not like the Sword of Fargoal has.

I like to play the iPad version of Fargoal while I ride a stationary recumbent bike every morning. It makes the time fly. In fact, I usually ride 10 minutes longer than planned, just because I want to fully explore a level before calling it quits for the day.

What makes roguelikes much fun for me? Part of it is finding potions and spells inside treasure chests -- a popular phrase with people who fish is, "the tug is the drug" --and there is a similar surge of euphoria when I happen upon a Detect Traps spell, a Restore potion, or a Reflective shield. The sense of discovery as I crawl through a dungeon level, pushing away the fog as I do so, compels me to keep exploring, and killing a nasty monster whets my bloodlust. The difficulty level of the game is perfect -- my character has died at least a dozen times, requiring me to restart at the beginning each time. But it's not so difficult that it's discouraging. As soon as I start a new game (the levels, monsters, and goodies are randomly generated so that no two games are the same), my level 1 character is faced with challenges and rewards suited to his experience.

If and when I finally retrieve the titular sword and bring it to the top level of the dungeon, I wonder if I will want to play the game again?

Rothfuss pledges to buy Firefly from Fox and give it away

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 05:14 PM PST

Bestselling author Patrick Rothfuss has pledged to help actor Nathan Fillion buy the rights to Firefly from Fox. Fillion, who starred in the series, has publicly said that if he had the money to get Firefly back from Murdoch and Co, he'd make it free and release it on the net:
Here's the deal. My second book is about to come out. My publisher tells me there's a decent chance of us selling a truly ridiculous number of copies. If this happens, I will have more money than I'll know what to do with.

Except that's not exactly true. I know exactly what I'd like to do with that money. I'd like to help you buy the rights to Firefly back from Fox.

I'm only a fledgling author. But by a strange twist of fate, I happen to be a fledgling author who is also an international bestseller.

Left to my own devices, I will probably spend my royalty money on useless bullshit. I will buy rare books and narwhal horns. If the book sells extremely well, I expect I'll probably do something like buy an abandoned missile silo and convert it into my secret underground lair.

An open letter to Nathan Fillion (via Copyfight)
 


The right way to cook bacon in a pan

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 03:04 PM PST


Excuse me while I cook some bacon now.

CHOW - You're Doing It All Wrong: How to Cook Bacon

Gadaffi sends text-spam offering bribes to counter-revolutionaries

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 09:49 AM PST

Middle-Eastern media source @MAQAM reports that Gadaffi has SMS-spammed Libyans, offering 100 dinar mobile phone credit bribes to people who send out messages asking their friends to stop protesting and stay in their homes.

Japan Airlines' CEO pays himself less than the pilots, takes the bus to work

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 03:21 AM PST

When Japan Airlines hit hard times in 2009 and began to lay off its staff, JAL CEO Haruka Nishimatsu cut his own pay to less than that of his pilots and eliminated all his perks. He now rides public transit to the office and eats in the employee cafeteria, standing in line with his colleagues.

Japan Airline Boss Sets Exec Example (via Reddit)

 


McDonald's "oatmeal" has 11 weird ingredients, more sugar than a Snickers

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 05:00 AM PST

Writing on the New York Times blog, Mark Bittman reviews McDonald's nightmarish attempt at making oatmeal (a foodstuff with one ingredient):
Yet in typical McDonald's fashion, the company is doing everything it can to turn oatmeal into yet another bad choice. (Not only that, they've made it more expensive than a double-cheeseburger: $2.38 per serving in New York.) "Cream" (which contains seven ingredients, two of them actual dairy) is automatically added; brown sugar is ostensibly optional, but it's also added routinely unless a customer specifically requests otherwise. There are also diced apples, dried cranberries and raisins, the least processed of the ingredients (even the oatmeal contains seven ingredients, including "natural flavor").

A more accurate description than "100% natural whole-grain oats," "plump raisins," "sweet cranberries" and "crisp fresh apples" would be "oats, sugar, sweetened dried fruit, cream and 11 weird ingredients you would never keep in your kitchen." ...Incredibly, the McDonald's product contains more sugar than a Snickers bar and only 10 fewer calories than a McDonald's cheeseburger or Egg McMuffin. (Even without the brown sugar it has more calories than a McDonald's hamburger.)

How to Make Oatmeal . . . Wrong (via Super Punch)
 


Brickless laptop chargers ahoy

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 04:46 AM PST

Transphorm, a startup backed by Google (among others) has a cool-sounding gallium nitride technology to improve AC/DC transformers. They say they might be able to completely eliminate laptop charging bricks while vastly increasing energy efficiency. (via Cmdln)

40,000 P2P lawsuits dismissed - bad week for copyright trolls

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 03:15 AM PST


Judges in California, Washington DC, Texas, and West Virginia have severed P2P lawsuits against unnamed John Does, effectively dismissing the cases against 40,000 American Internet users. Some users are still getting notices from their ISPs, though, and EFF has a spreadsheet you can consult if you've gotten a notice (spread the word!).
The plaintiffs in these cases must now re-file against almost all of the Does individually rather than suing them en masse. These rulings may have a significant impact on the copyright trolls' business model, which relies on being able to sue thousands of Does at once with a minimum of administrative expense. The cost of filing suit against each Doe may prove prohibitively expensive to plaintiffs' attorneys who are primarily interested in extracting quick, low-hassle settlements.
Over 40,000 Does Dismissed In Copyright Troll Cases
 


Blacksmithing tutorial - make a paper towel holder

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 01:12 PM PST


I enjoyed this basic blacksmithing tutorial from Craft that shows you how to shape hot iron into a paper towel holder.

Blacksmithing With Meg

2011 Cigar Box Nation recycled material contest results

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 12:57 PM PST

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My friends at Cigar Box Nation have announced the winner of the Recycled Material Contest. The challenge was to build a stringed instrument out of 100% recycled materials. As Shane Speal put it, "If MacGyver had a gig and desperately needed a guitar, what would he build?"

The winner was Scott Winburn, who built the 7D9887, a "time slider" lap steel guitar with a movable pickup and the ability to send sound waves very slightly back in time. (I believe him, because it's based on quantum mechanics!)

2011 Cigar Box Nation recycled material contest results

HarperCollins to libraries: we will nuke your ebooks after 26 checkouts

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 12:59 PM PST

LibraryGoblin sez, "HarperCollins has decided to change their agreement with e-book distributor OverDrive. They forced OverDrive, which is a main e-book distributor for libraries, to agree to terms so that HarperCollins e-books will only be licensed for checkout 26 times. Librarians have blown up over this, calling for a boycott of HarperCollins, breaking the DRM on e-books--basically doing anything to let HarperCollins and other publishers know they consider this abuse."

I've talked to a lot of librarians about why they buy DRM books for their collections, and they generally emphasize that buying ebooks with DRM works pretty well, generates few complaints, and gets the books their patrons want on the devices their patrons use. And it's absolutely true: on the whole, DRM ebooks, like DRM movies and DRM games work pretty well.

But they fail really badly. No matter how crappy a library's relationship with a print publisher might be, the publisher couldn't force them to destroy the books in their collections after 26 checkouts. DRM is like the Ford Pinto: it's a smooth ride, right up the point at which it explodes and ruins your day.

HarperCollins has some smart and good digital people (they're my UK/Australia/South Africa publisher, and I've met a ton of them). But batshit insane crap like this is proof that it doesn't matter how many good people there are at a company that has a tool at its disposal that is as dangerous and awful as DRM: the gun on the mantelpiece in act one will always go off by act three.

And that's why libraries should just stop buying DRM media for their collections. Period. It's unsafe at any speed.

I mean it. When HarperCollins backs down and says, "Oh, no, sorry, we didn't mean it, you can have unlimited ebook checkouts," the libraries' answers should be "Not good enough. We want DRM-free or nothing." Stop buying DRM ebooks. Do you think that if you buy twice, or three times, or ten times as many crippled books that you'll get more negotiating leverage with which to overcome abusive crap like this? Do you think that if more of your patrons come to rely on you for ebooks for their devices, that DRM vendors won't notice that your relevance is tied to their product and tighten the screws?

You have exactly one weapon in your arsenal to keep yourself from being caught in this leg-hold trap: your collections budget. Stop buying from publishers who stick time-bombs in their ebooks. Yes, you can go to the Copyright Office every three years and ask for a temporary exemption to the DMCA to let your jailbreak your collections, but that isn't Plan B, it's Plan Z. Plan A is to stop putting dangerous, anti-patron technology into your collections in the first place.

The publisher also issued a short statement: "HarperCollins is committed to the library channel. We believe this change balances the value libraries get from our titles with the need to protect our authors and ensure a presence in public libraries and the communities they serve for years to come."

Josh Marwell, President, Sales for HarperCollins, told LJ that the 26 circulation limit was arrived at after considering a number of factors, including the average lifespan of a print book, and wear and tear on circulating copies.

As noted in the letter, the terms will not be specific to OverDrive, and will likewise apply to "all eBook vendors or distributors offering this publisher's titles for library lending." The new terms will not be retroactive, and will apply only to new titles. More details on the new terms are set to be announced next week.

For the record, all of my HarperCollins ebooks are also available as DRM-free Creative Commons downloads. And as bad as HarperCollins' terms are, they're still better than Macmillan's, my US/Canadian publisher, who don't allow any library circulation of their ebook titles.

HarperCollins Puts 26 Loan Cap on Ebook Circulations (Thanks, LibraryGoblin, via Submitterator)

LA Magazine asks me about my favorite places in LA

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 12:37 PM PST

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Photo of Vanalden Cave. See my other photos of the Vanalden Cave.

The inimitable Chris Nichols of Los Angeles magazine interviewed me about some of my favorite places in Los Angeles. I told him about the Vanalden Cave, the Norton Simon Museum, Ramen Jinya, Meltdown Comics, Machine Project, and other places.

Cru: I'm not a vegan or a raw food eater exclusively but I like this raw food vegan restaurant in Silver Lake. You think of raw vegan food as chewing fiber until your jaw falls off from exhaustion, but they have this really good ravioli made with thinly shaved slices of jicama and filled with nuts and spices. You won't walk out thinking, now let's go to the Argentinian restaurant.

San Vicente Mountain Park: L.A. used to have a bunch of Nike Ajax supersonic missile launch sites. The one on Mulholland Drive is now a park and the view is beautiful. It has these really cool looking structures that used to be a radar system with metal platforms. There's even a sign posted about the cold war with Kruschev's famous line "We will bury you."

My LA to Z: Mark Frauenfelder

Irish Minister denies new sneaky copyright law

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 12:28 PM PST

Irish Enterprise Minister Mary Hanafin denies that she will sneak in a three-strikes-and-you're-off-the-net censorship law without debate, using a statutory instrument: "'The Government cannot perform this legislative sleight of hand on the eve of polling,' [former minister for communication Eamon Ryan] said." (Tx, Diane!)

Weta collectibles auction to benefit Christchurch quake victims

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 02:59 AM PST


New Zealand special effects house Weta has put a collection of its fine models up for auction on eBay, with proceeds going to benefit victims of the Christchurch earthquake. I own two of Weta's rayguns, and they're among my most prized and beautiful possessions. Up for sale are two models based on the Lord of the Rings movies (one signed by Peter Jackson, the other by Richard Taylor) and one of the Doctor Grodbort's rayguns, customized and signed by Greg Broadmore.

Weta Limited - eBay (via Super Punch)

 


Alan Dean Foster: Predators I Have Known - tiger

Posted: 24 Feb 2011 04:06 PM PST

predators-i-have-known.jpg Tiger-finding-you.jpg

So iconic and blatant is the tiger in its coloring, that to observe one close-up and in the wild is like seeing a cartoon come to life. There's a slight disconnect in the brain, as if this enormous mass of brightly striped orange sinew and muscle and bone has been dropped into the real world from some other reality. Real cats don't look like tigers. They're more subdued in hue, more shaded into their surroundings.

It's only when the tiger moves, when it gets up and walks around, or yawns to display teeth like daggers, that it fully impresses its reality on you, and you're grateful for however much distance exists between the two of you. Because no matter how somnolent and lazy it appears, the quiet, brooding cat is the pawed equivalent of a Remotely Operated Device fully capable at any moment of blowing up in your face. Or taking it off.

Report: Feds spying on NYT's James Risen in CIA leak probe

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 10:51 AM PST

From Politico: "Federal investigators trying to find out who leaked information about a CIA attempt to disrupt Iran's nuclear program obtained a New York Times reporter's three private credit reports, examined his personal bank records and obtained information about his phone calls and travel, according to a new court filing."

Mafia snitches overstated corpse-dissolving properties of sulfuric acid

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 02:46 AM PST

A report at the Feb 23 meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences has determined that the mafia snitches' claims regarding the mob's ability to undetectably eradicate the remains of a murder victim with sulfuric acid were overstated. Though informants had claimed that the acid used by crime boss Filippo Marchese in his "lupara bianca" ("white shotgun") torture chambers would liquify a corpse in 15 or 20 minutes, researchers working with pig carcasses concluded that, at a minimum, a bath of sulfuric acid and water (which accelerates the acid's effects) would take two days.
The research suggests that the members of the crime clan were not as good at telling time as they were at ritual murder.

But "they are smarter than some Georgia criminals," said Michael Heninger, an associate medical examiner in Fulton County, where Atlanta is located. "People think they will destroy a body, but they'll do things that preserve it. These guys are more experienced," he said of the Palermo killings.

It isn't obvious whether the new research will translate into something usable for future investigations. "We constantly see cases that are weird," says Heninger. "I'm never going to see this exact case, but when you do see something weird like this, it gets you thinking about how you would figure it out."

Mafia's Corpse-Dissolving Claims Exaggerated (via JWZ)

(Image: melting skeleton, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from 75001512@N00's photostream)

 


Artist vs. eBay bootleg artist from China

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 10:36 AM PST

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Paul Richmond is an artist who paints amazing homoerotic paintings as part of his "Cheesecake Boys" series, based on classic pinup girl art from the 1940s and 1950s. In this video, Paul explains how he discovered that an artist from China was making forgeries of his Cheesecake Boys paintings, and the funny way he punk'd the copycat using Nigerian-spammer befuddlement tactics.

Paul Richmond punks Chinese copycat artist

Shard fox evicted

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 03:45 PM PST

A fox was found living at the top of the Shard, a supertall skyscraper under construction in central London. He was taken to an animal center for rehabilitation.
Ted Burden, the centre's founder, said: "We explained to him that if foxes were meant to be 72 storeys off the ground, they would have evolved wings. "We think he got the message and, as we released him back on to the streets of Bermondsey shortly after midnight on Sunday, he glanced at the Shard and then trotted off in the other direction."
UPDATE: I have added a video of the essential soundtrack to this post. Fox lived in the Shard skyscraper at London Bridge [BBC]

Madison police chief wants to know why governor considered using agents provocateur

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 11:36 AM PST

Madison, WI police chief Noble Wray has asked Governor Scott Walker to explain his statement to a phone prankster impersonating billionaire arch-conservative David Koch, in which Walker stated that he'd considered using provocateurs to create problems amongst the demonstrators in order to discredit the public service unions and their supporters. The chief wants to know why Walker would consider sowing public disorder for political gain:

"I spent a good deal of time overnight thinking about Governor Walker's response, during his news conference (Wednesday), to the suggestion that his administration 'thought about' planting troublemakers among those who are peacefully protesting his bill. I would like to hear more of an explanation from Governor Walker as to what exactly was being considered, and to what degree it was discussed by his cabinet members. I find it very unsettling and troubling that anyone would consider creating safety risks for our citizens and law enforcement officers. Our department works hard dialoging with those who are exercising their First Amendment right, those from both sides of the issue, to make sure we are doing everything we can to ensure they can demonstrate safely. I am concerned that anyone would try to undermine these relationships. I have a responsibility to the community, and to the men and women of this department -- who are working long hours protecting and serving this community -- to find out more about what was being considered by state leaders," Wray said in the statement.

Madison Police Chief Angered Over Governor's Comments (Thanks, Eileen, via Submitterator!)
 


Quotable Charlie Sheen

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 09:54 AM PST

"Look what I'm dealing with, man, I'm dealing with fools and trolls."—The one thing Charlie Sheen has ever said that I can relate to. This internet link includes 18 more Oblique Sheen-isms. (thanks, Gabe Delahaye!)

Slowly fuming used bookstore clerk seethings

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 09:48 AM PST

Take it from a former used bookseller, Michael Leaverton's "This Is Why Your Used Bookstore Clerk Hates You" is gospel truth.
You Stole All Our Bukowski
It's hard to keep Bukowski on the shelf when he keeps getting stuffed in the pants of street punks when no one is looking (but we are looking!). Although punks love him (he's so easy to read) so does the staff (Hank worked a menial job for years, drank an eternity, and still ended up famous). He provides hope for apprentice alcoholics who are going to start writing sometime tomorrow or Thursday for sure. If you do steal him, please sell him back to us when you're finished.

You're Spending Too Much Time in the Erotica Section
Huh, and you're totally and creepily not moving.

You Camp Out in the Self-Help Section
What is it about the self-help section that attracts people who take off their shoes and eat fruit salad right in the stacks? Or what is it that doesn't attract them, amirite? Though we don't mind you blocking the aisle, making your little piles of books and scribbling action items in your notepads (this means we can avoid the section), at least tidy up when you're finished for the night. This goes for everyone in the spiritualism section, too. See you all tomorrow.
This Is Why Your Used Bookstore Clerk Hates You (via Confessions of a Science Librarian)

(Image: Ted's Used Books, Santa Barbara, CA, a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from brewbooks's photostream)

 


Oddly infantalizing breakfast cereal ad

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 07:16 AM PST


In this strange ad for a cereal called Muffets, a woman helps her husband get the benefit of the milk in his coffee by giving him a cereal whose benefits are seemingly aimed at children. Either they wanted to target infantalizing spouses, or couldn't make up their mind.

Muffets

Gadaffi jams satellite phones and TV, mobile phones

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 09:50 AM PST

The desperate Gadaffi regime in Libya has deployed powerful radio jammers that are blocking satellite-based TV networks and satellite phones around the region, as well as screwing up mobile phones across the nation.
On Monday, Al Jazeera television said Libya's intelligence agency was behind the powerful jamming that has disrupted the widely watched Arab satellite broadcaster's signal across much of the Middle East and North Africa.

On Saturday, Arbor Networks, a U.S. company that monitors Internet traffic said Internet service had been cut off in Libya for a second consecutive day.

Thuraya satellite telecom says jammed by Libya
 


Voices and pictures from Madison, Wisconsin, protests

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 08:37 AM PST

We Are Wisconsin from Finn Ryan on Vimeo.

Last night, I joined the scattered groups of people walking down Madison, Wisconsin's State Street towards the State Capitol Building. There weren't the mighty throngs from last weekend, but for a Thursday night, at 8:00 pm, the smaller clutches still made an impact. They came up both sides of the block. A group of five here. Another three over there. Four coming up right behind them.

I wanted to see, for myself, what was happening in Wisconsin—what it really looks and feels like when a diverse swath of Americans band together for a common cause. From that first realization that all the people on State Street were going to the same place I was going, I knew this was going to be a new experience.

tall shot of rotunda.jpg

That's "Kill the Bill" by the way, not a threat to a person.

In fact, I'd gotten a hint of that difference earlier in the day, when some of the people I'd eaten lunch with ducked out early to spend the last 20 minutes of their lunch hour at the protest. The layout of Madison is somewhat uniquely conducive to public action. Unlike every other capitol city I've ever spent time in, their Capitol Building isn't located in the middle of a half-abandoned downtown, miles from where most people live, work, and play. The University of Wisconsin is a short walk away. All the streets that stick out from the Capitol like spokes on a bike tire are packed with businesses—most of which have signs in the windows offering support to the protesters. Residential neighborhoods are close.

Many protests I've been to in the past were made up largely of students, retirees, and people whose main hobby was protesting things. That's not the case here. The urban geography of Madison makes it relatively easy for working people to participate. I think a big part of why Madison has been able to maintain this protest is simply that maintaining it—while simultaneously maintaining a life—is relatively easy, compared to other cities.

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This protest looks different from inside the Capitol, too. Yes, there are the requisite meditators—OM-ing their way to a legislative compromise. And, yes, there are a few obvious old hippies, leading chants or standing around looking generally pleased with the world. But these people are the minority. Most of the Wisconsinites I saw at the Capitol didn't look like "protesters". They looked like me—professionals who'd come over straight after work. They looked like my Father—teachers with union t-shirts pulled on over their business casual wear. They looked like my Mother—working women with big smiles and big, comfy sweatshirts. And there were LOTS of them. At least a few hundred, I'd guess. My hosts told me I'd missed the much larger crowds that come right after work.

people.jpg

These people were packed around the Rotunda. Their air mattresses and cots were tucked into little sheltered corners of the upper floors. And the walls all over the buildings were covered in posters and signs and printed off sheets with messages of support from all over the state. It didn't feel like a protest, it felt like a party. The Wisconsin protesters are unhappy, sure. They're angry that their Governor wants to eliminate the right of public employees to bargain collectively for their salaries and working conditions. But they aren't angry in the sense of being violent, ill-tempered, or even so much as downbeat.

sleepingquarters.jpg

People talked and laughed. A couple of guitarists had set up impromptu concerts in the hallways. The protesters shared food and camping supplies. They'd set up a first-aid station. They organized volunteers to sweep and mop the rotunda, to keep it clean. I saw signs all over the place urging protesters to pick up after themselves—"This is our house," the signs said.

A graduate student in engineering from the University of Wisconsin told me that his TA union was offering homework help. He was thinking about doing a series of science demonstrations, just to help keep people entertained and to do his job while he also protested.

Honestly, I've never seen anything like this. I spent about an hour wandering through the crowd, moved to the point that I developed a Keanu Reeves speech impediment. All I could say was, "Wow."

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3 Republicans.jpg

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what democracy sleeps like.jpg

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FYI: The video at the beginning of this post was made by Finn Ryan, an awesome Madison media producer who was also responsible for the beautiful video about the impact of climate change on maple syrup production that I posted here a few months ago.



And big thanks to David Zaks for lending me his iPhone to take these photos, and then uploading them to Flickr!

Tolkien estate censors badge that contains the word "Tolkien"

Posted: 25 Feb 2011 10:01 PM PST

Not content to censor a book that combines literary criticism and fiction by including JRR Tolkien as a character, the Tolkien estate has shut down Adam Rakunas, who makes and gives away buttons that have the word Tolkien on them:
Back in the late 2009, I got into a Twitter conversation with Madeline Ashby about geek culture, fandom, and a bunch of stuff like that. Madeline wrote, "While you were reading Tolkien, I was watching Evangelion." I thought this was an excellent encapsulation of the divide in SF/F/Whatever fandom, and thus took to Zazzle to make little buttons with her quote. I bought a bunch, handed them out at a few conventions, then I had a kid and promptly forgot all about it.

Until today, when Zazzle emailed me to say they were pulling the buttons for intellectual property right infringement.

And guess who complained about their rights being infringed?

I've tried to come up with something more to say about this, but I'm too angry and confused and tired to say anything more than I did in the title of this post. Have fun milking your dad's stuff, Christopher Tolkien!

The Tolkien estate has long had a censorious bent -- a writer I admire was forced to put a series of books that in no way infringed upon Tolkien's copyrights out of print because the estate threatened to make her publisher's life a living nightmare (not naming names, because the writer has chosen not to go public with the story). The professional descendants making millions off a long-dead writer have become a serious impediment to living, working writers -- and readers. If this isn't the greatest proof that extending copyright in scope and duration screws living creators and impedes the creation of new works, I don't know what is.

The JRR Tolkien Estate Can Go Fuck Itself (via Futurismic)

 


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