The Latest from Boing Boing |  |
- Banksy bails out Russian graffiti artists
- Christchurchian auctions off the boulder that destroyed his building
- Review: a loaf of snot
- Lionel Richie "lost" flyer
- Remote controlled cockroach
- Egg substitute: "Real Egg Product"
- Astronomer matrioshkas
- Mazda recall for spider infestations
- TSA wants hand-luggage fee to pay for extra screening due to checked luggage fees
- Jon Stewart on the cushy lives of teachers
- HOWTO make money
- People can tell the difference between abstract art and paintings by chimps
- California libraries targeted for takeover by private equity firms
- Tank Riot on the Wisconsin situation
- Mubarak's custom pinstriped suit was striped with his name?
- Urban farming family who trademarked "Urban Homesteading" accused of plagiarism
- Proposed TX law would criminalize TSA screening procedures
- Most typical face on the planet
- UW Green Bay's hyper-nerdy concert returns
- Terre Thaemlitz remixes Hardrock Striker
- Origins of Jewish humor
- Libya: The revolution will be Photoshopped
- Squid shower caddy
- Wedding reception on the Wisconsin protest line
- Accused meth dealer with severe comic book addiction may be forced to forfeit collection to gubmint
- Leather Man, century-old hermit, to be exhumed
- What's it like inside Google's self-driving cars? (VIDEO)
- Man, high and nude, attempts to rescue imaginary children in manhole
- Muslim student sues FBI over GPS tracking device placed on his car without a warrant
- What makes a filament light bulb work?
| Banksy bails out Russian graffiti artists Posted: 05 Mar 2011 03:47 AM PST  Banksy had bailed two members of the Russian arts collective Voina ("War") out of a horrific St Petersburg prison, where they were being held indefinitely awaiting trial. Voina is known for many provocative pieces, including the giant penis painted on a drawbridge facing secret police headquarters. Leonid Nikolayev and Oleg Vorotnikov and Oleg's wife have since been cruelly beaten by secret policemen who also brutalized Oleg's toddler, Casper. The pair now face punitive psychotherapy, a practice widely feared in the Soviet era, when dissidents were committed to ghastly asylums. Oleg and Lenya emerged triumphant and boasted that they had recruited some more Voina members inside the pre-trial jail. But the charges against them still stand.How Banksy bailed out Russian graffiti artists Voina |
| Christchurchian auctions off the boulder that destroyed his building Posted: 05 Mar 2011 03:43 AM PST An enterprising fellow in Christchurch is auctioning off the 25-tonne boulder that destroyed his building as a "landscape feature" with proceeds going to the ChCh Earthquake Relief Fund. He calls the rock "Rocky." Landscape Rocks for Sale in ChCh (Thanks, Aeon, via Submitterator!)
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| Posted: 04 Mar 2011 05:26 PM PST  Our pals at Backyard Brains (makers of the terrific SpikerBox kit, which allows you to study the electrical impulses of insect neurons) are developing circuitry to control which direction a cockroach walks. By modifying the HEXBug toy "Inchworm" circuitry to deliver pulses, we stimulated the antenna nerves of the discoid cockroach to "trick" the cockroach into turning upon command. Stay tuned! as we make the preparation easier, more reliable, and lighter!Working RoboRoach Prototype (Via Make) |
| Egg substitute: "Real Egg Product" Posted: 04 Mar 2011 04:17 PM PST  When I want a substitute for an egg, I insist that the egg be substituted with an egg. (Thanks, Wendy!) |
| Posted: 04 Mar 2011 04:20 PM PST  Nate Bellegarde painted a set of blank matrioshka dolls with the likenesses of famous astronomers. It's a gift for his girlfriend, who is studying astronomy. |
| Mazda recall for spider infestations Posted: 04 Mar 2011 03:55 PM PST Mazda is recalling 52,000 Mazda6 cars because they attract cobwebs: Spider infestation leads to recall of 65,000 Mazdas (via Super Punch) (Image: Spider catches car. What next?, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from srboisvert's photostream) |
| TSA wants hand-luggage fee to pay for extra screening due to checked luggage fees Posted: 04 Mar 2011 03:49 PM PST The TSA is upset that we're avoiding checked-bag fees with more carry-on, as this increases the amount of hand-luggage they have to screen. So they're proposing a new fee to pay for all the extra hand-luggage. (via Consumerist) |
| Jon Stewart on the cushy lives of teachers Posted: 04 Mar 2011 03:45 PM PST As always, Mr Stewart puts it into perspective -- the same people who object to limiting the tax-funded bonuses of bailed out bankers because it would violate their contracts say that teachers' contracts should be torn up and their benefits slashed. |
| Posted: 04 Mar 2011 03:40 PM PST Sage advice from 37 Signals' Jason Fried on how to get good at making money through low-risk iteration and practice: So here's a great way to practice making money: Buy and sell the same thing over and over on Craigslist or eBay. Seriously.How to Make Money in 6 Easy Steps (via Kottke) |
| People can tell the difference between abstract art and paintings by chimps Posted: 04 Mar 2011 03:33 PM PST A study reported on in Psychology Today set out to determine whether people could distinguish abstract art from paintings done by monkeys (as well as children and other animals, like elephants). Turns out, most people can usually tell the stuff done by artists from the stuff done by your five-year-old. "My monkey could have painted that." Really? Seeing the Mind Behind the Art People Can Distinguish Abstract Expressionist Paintings From Highly Similar Paintings by Children, Chimps, Monkeys, and Elephants (Thanks, MHutson, via Submitterator!) |
| California libraries targeted for takeover by private equity firms Posted: 04 Mar 2011 03:27 PM PST Katherine sez, Public libraries in Camarillo, Santa Clarita and Ventura have all been targeted for a takeover by Library Systems and Services (LSSI), a private company headquartered in Maryland and majority-owned by the private equity firm Islington Capital Partners. Privatizing public libraries means libraries will be de-professionalized and residents will pay more and receive less, while LSSI makes a profit for its investors and shareholders. Instead of listening to residents, the City Council created a 'Citizen's Advisory Committee' to review Santa Clarita's library system and its needs and make recommendations for moving forward with LSSI. The committee had no decision-making power, and was widely criticized as a thinly veiled attempt to silence critics. Privatization Beast | Hide your libraries! A privatization beast is on the lose! (Thanks, Katherine!) |
| Tank Riot on the Wisconsin situation Posted: 04 Mar 2011 03:21 PM PST I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, but the Tank Riot podcast guys have put together an episode on the retrograde legislative mishegas in Wisconsin. Tank Riot's one of my favorite podcasts, and they're all in Madison, so this is right up their alley. (Thanks, Viktor!) |
| Mubarak's custom pinstriped suit was striped with his name? Posted: 03 Mar 2011 10:19 PM PST  According to this unsourced photo-magnification, Hosni Mubarak's swanky pinstriped suits were made from custom fabric whose "stripes" were Mubarak's name, printed in tiny letters, over and over again. I have no idea if this is shooped -- on the one hand, it is the kind of thing a loony dictator might revel in; on the other hand, why wouldn't he get his name woven in Arabic script? (And on the third hand, maybe getting your name custom-woven into your suit's stripes in a foreign alphabet is the Egyptian dictator's equivalent to westerners who get random Japanese characters tattooed on their nethers). Oh hey, Mubarak. Nice pinstripes. Wait, what? Oh shit, those pinstripes are actually your name spelled over and over again. You're a douche, no doubt, but that is some serious despot swag.How To Talk To Girls At Parties (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)
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| Urban farming family who trademarked "Urban Homesteading" accused of plagiarism Posted: 04 Mar 2011 03:12 PM PST Remember the Dervaeses, the family from Pasadena, CA who decided to trademark "Urban Homestead," a term that has been in common use for decades? Well, a fellow by the name of Michael Nolan (co-author of a book called I Garden: Urban Style) says the Dervaes Family has been plagiarizing material from his website. Under ordinary circumstances I might have chosen to contact the Dervaes Family and quietly attempt to settle the matter but given their penchant for threatening letters and frivolous trademark registrations as well as their reputation for being terribly difficult to deal with directly, I made the decision to bring this problem to the public so that everyone might see just what this family will do when they think no one is watching. The evidence is pretty damning! Bonus: Here's an interesting tid bit for people who like to catch hypocrites and for people who enjoy being apologists for hypocrites: a member of the Dervaes family recently wrote a schoolmarmish post about the naughtiness of plagiarism. Michael Nolan: How the Dervaes Family Stole My Victory Garden ((Submitterated by badger510) |
| Proposed TX law would criminalize TSA screening procedures Posted: 04 Mar 2011 12:40 AM PST A Republican Texas legislator has introduced a bill that would make the TSA's grope-and-fondle secondary search into a felony, and would also criminalize installing and using a pornoscanner: HB 1937 includes the following:The Tenth Amendment Center adds, "the Texas legislature stands on solid ground. Local governments control airports and no enumerated power in the Constitution gives the federal government the authority to regulate them. Under the Tenth Amendment, airport operation falls under state jurisdiction." Texas Legislation Proposes Felony Charges for TSA Agents (Thanks, Anulla!)
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| Most typical face on the planet Posted: 04 Mar 2011 01:26 PM PST  Have you seen this man? According to National Geographic, he has the most typical face on Earth. The composite is a 28-year-old Han Chinese man. The image was created for National Geographic's special series "Population 7 Billion." Video after the jump. (Thanks, Gabe Adiv!) |
| UW Green Bay's hyper-nerdy concert returns Posted: 03 Mar 2011 10:02 PM PST The University of Wisconsin at Green Bay's geeky concert series is back. The Wind Symphony and Symphonic Band plays music inspired by Godzilla, anime, MMORPGs, and sf/f. They're kind enough to credit me with inspiring the series, but really, all credit is due to Director of Bands Kevin Collins. 'Godzilla' featured in UW-Green Bay music concert (Thanks, Kevin!) |
| Terre Thaemlitz remixes Hardrock Striker Posted: 04 Mar 2011 02:01 PM PST  bOING bOING contributor, computer musician, and transgender activist/educator Terre Thaemlitz, who was recently featured on NPR's "All Things Considered." created two remixes of indie electro/house producer Hardrock Striker's new track "Motorik Life." Terre is credited as DJ Sprinkles, the nom-de-mix he's used since spinning at New York City's underground gay clubs in the 1980s. Shake that ass. Show me what you're working with. (Bart Nagel photo) |
| Posted: 04 Mar 2011 10:52 AM PST  1905 postcard of a badkhn at a wedding What are the roots of Jewish humor? According to UC Berkeley theater arts professor Mel Gordon -- author of Siegel and Shuster's Funnyman and Voluptuous Panic -- it goes back hundreds of years before the Borscht Belt. Gordon argues that the Badkhn, a jester-like comedian figure common at weddings and Purim celebrations in East European shtetls, was the father of what we know as Jewish humor today. The Badkhn act was only one of many styles of Jewish comedy popular in the shtetls. Then, in the mid-17th century, 100,000 Jews in Ukraine were killed in a pogrom carried out by Cossacks. The ultraorthodox Rabbis of Poland and Ukraine decided that the pogroms were a punishment from God and that Jews should lead stricter lives and not have as much fun. So comedy acts had to go. But on July 3, 1661, the Badkhn was given a special exemption. From the Jerusalem Post: ...A rabbi asked his colleagues, what about the badkhn? He's not really funny, the rabbi said. In fact, he's abusive."Badkhn Belt? Jewish humor was born in 1661, prof says" (Thanks, Adam Parfrey!)
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| Libya: The revolution will be Photoshopped Posted: 04 Mar 2011 09:59 AM PST  Anti-Gaddafi demonstrations continue in Libya today, amid ever-increasing reports of violent response by pro-government forces. In the photo above, protesters prepare caricatures depicting Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, inside a burnt state security building in Benghazi. (REUTERS/Suhaib Salem) |
| Posted: 03 Mar 2011 09:58 PM PST  The Shower Squid is a $35 stretchy shower caddy/squid whose elastic tentacles hold your shampoo, soap and other products. SHOWER SQUID (via Thoughts From Kansas) |
| Wedding reception on the Wisconsin protest line Posted: 03 Mar 2011 09:47 PM PST  Heather Allen and David Sensenbrenner were Wisconsin high-school sweethearts who moved back to Madison just in time to get married and then rush back to the pro-labor protests outside the state capitol: "We are just so extremely saddened by the budget repair bill and the threat to teachers and all public workers in Wisconsin," said Allen, adding that there were two teachers and a childhood speech pathologist in the wedding party.Cue Union Maid: "A union man's got a happy life when he's got a union wife." Going to the Chapel, But First a Stop at the Wisconsin Statehouse (Thanks, Kevin!) (Image: Becca Dilley)
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| Accused meth dealer with severe comic book addiction may be forced to forfeit collection to gubmint Posted: 04 Mar 2011 09:36 AM PST A man accused of being a large-scale meth dealer may lose his beloved collection of nearly 19,000 comic books, said to have been purchased with his drug money. The collection is valued at more than a half a million dollars, and federal prosecutors want it forfeited to Uncle Sam. |
| Leather Man, century-old hermit, to be exhumed Posted: 04 Mar 2011 09:42 AM PST This is Leather Man, a famed hermit who wandered New York's Westchester County and Western Connecticut more than a century ago. He slept in caves, rarely spoke to anyone, and wore a suit made from old leather boots that he picked up along the way (hence his nickname). Leather Man is a legend in the area and his grave, apparently mismarked, is something of a local attraction. Now, historians and scientists plan to exhume his body for study and to move the remains to a better location than the "pauper's area" of the local cemetery. Others disagree with that plan, as evidenced by the site Leave Leather Man Alone, which Xeni previously posted about. The New York Times reports on this fascinating story: "Looking for Answers From a Wanderer at Rest" (NYT) |
| What's it like inside Google's self-driving cars? (VIDEO) Posted: 04 Mar 2011 09:19 AM PST Danny Sullivan from Search Engine Land is at the TED 2011 conference in Long Beach, where Google gave rare demos of its auto-driving car. Danny captured this video from inside the car. The vehicle was making extreme and fast turns unlike it would on regular roads because it was on a closed course, demonstrating the full range of its capabilities. Read more about the demo here on Danny's site, with more video. |
| Man, high and nude, attempts to rescue imaginary children in manhole Posted: 04 Mar 2011 08:58 AM PST A fellow in Gilbert, Arizona was pulled from a city manhole on Tuesday after he had become stuck 25 feet down a pipe. The man said he was attempting to rescue trapped children. He was also nude. And he was also on PCP, marijuana, and 'shrooms, according to the police. Apparently, he was mistaken about the children. From KPHO: "Man Pulled From Gilbert Manhole" |
| Muslim student sues FBI over GPS tracking device placed on his car without a warrant Posted: 04 Mar 2011 02:47 PM PST  The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) this week filed a civil rights lawsuit against the FBI on behalf of Yasir Afifi, a Muslim-American student of Egyptian descent who lives in Santa Clara, California. Mr. Afifi last year discovered a strange gadget attached to the underside of his car, when he took his car in for an oil change. He was afraid it was a pipe bomb. A friend of his then posted photos of Reddit, asking if anyone knew what it was. With the help of savvy internet observers, and civil rights groups including the ACLU and CAIR, Afifi soon figured out that this was a secret GPS tracking device, placed by the FBI without a warrant to spy on his movements and activities. News of the internet attention spread to FBI agents, who then demanded he return the device to the bureau. Here's an overview of the lawsuit at AP, San Francisco Chronicle, SJ Merc, CNN. Here is a PDF of the suit, via CAIR.com. Video, from CAIR.com: Is FBI Using GPS Devices to Spy on Muslims? |
| What makes a filament light bulb work? Posted: 04 Mar 2011 08:51 AM PST Love this fascinating look at the filament inside standard light bulbs. As "Engineer Guy" Bill Hammack points out, this type of light is on its way out. But the history behind it is still really interesting, especially if you want to see how scientists take a good idea and make it better, one step at a time. |
He is in pristine condition (just a little bit of concrete dust). Suitable for garden feature, or as in our case a magnificent addition to your living area. 
'Cause he wonders where you are, and he wonders what you do. (Thanks, 
The recall of 2009 and 2010 Mazda6s is due to "a certain type of spider" that "may weave a web in the evaporative canister vent line and this may cause a restriction in the line," the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says on its website. Another 13,000 of the cars sold in Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico are also being recalled. 
"This concert really feels great, because the people we play for are so incredibly grateful. Hearing this music honored and respected in a formal setting is really an affirming experience for fantasy fans as well as many of our band members, and, I think that our 'regular' audience members are delightfully surprised that this is such wonderful and expressive music," he said. 
His headstone reads Jules Bourglay, but that was not his name. Nor is there any reason to believe it was Isaac Mossey, Rudolph or Randolph Mossey or Zacharias Boveliat, as he has sometimes been identified. He was said to have been born in Lyon, France, the son of a wealthy wool merchant who was driven mad by economic ruin and a broken heart. It was reported that he had vast real estate holdings; that he once had a thriving business in Poughkeepsie; that he might be Portuguese; that he was a devout Catholic; that he was a fugitive from justice; and that he was a black man. There is no proof that a word is true. 
Officers said they were unable to locate the man until about 11 p.m. when a passer-by called 911 after hearing screams coming from the manhole, according to Capt. Mike Connor of the Gilbert Fire Department...| You are subscribed to email updates from Boing Boing To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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