The Latest from Boing Boing

Yippie mashup movie: Krassner, Hoffman et al versus Chicago 1968
RIP, Diana Wynne Jones
Analtech
Nintendo, former stalwarts of the Japanese underworld
PSA: The 5 bodily fluids that transmit HIV
iPhone app store of "Color" may be best app store review ever
Hilltronix H-200 Plastic Coating
Front-line report from Trafalgar Square paints a radically different picture

Yippie mashup movie: Krassner, Hoffman et al versus Chicago 1968

Posted: 27 Mar 2011 08:55 PM PDT

Roy Trumbull has recovered some rare Yippee! movement footage: "In the wake of the demonstrations during the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, the city produced a white wash entitled 'What Trees Did They Plant?' TV Stations that broadcast the film had to offer equal time to those speaking in opposition. One group was the Youth International Party or Yippies who produced this film. Paul Krassner wrote the script. Some classic film footage was re-mixed with footage shot during the demonstrations. Paul Krassner wrote the script but otherwise there's no traditional credit list. It's hoped the original film still exists and that a better copy can be posted. At the end of the film there is a credit for additional footage to Killian Shows, Inc and a production credit to Documentary Interlock, Inc. However a search doesn't turn up a connection with current companies using similar names. The pitchman for the Yippie helmet was Marshall Efron. The Yippie head was that of Bob Fass. Keith Lampe was the narrator."

The Yippie Response to Mayor Daley 1968 (Thanks, Roy!)

RIP, Diana Wynne Jones

Posted: 27 Mar 2011 06:03 PM PDT

Christopher Priest's obit for much-loved fantasy writer Diana Wynne Jones in today's Guardian is a lovely and loving look at a wonderful person who will be much missed:

Like many good writers, Diana Wynne Jones, who has died aged 76 of cancer, worked for long years in relative obscurity, in her case sustained as a children's fantasy author by a modestly sized but devoted young readership. That obscurity provided the freedom to develop her own voice without the distractions of having to build on perceived success. By the time real success found her, in Jones's case almost by chance, she was a mature writer with a solid and varied body of work that was ready to be appreciated by a much bigger new audience.
Her intelligent and beautifully written fantasies are of seminal importance for their bridging of the gap between "traditional" children's fantasy, as written by CS Lewis or E Nesbit, and the more politically and socially aware children's literature of the modern period, where authors such as Jacqueline Wilson or Melvyn Burgess explicitly confront problems of divorce, drugs and delinquency.

Diana Wynne Jones obituary (Thanks, Flying_Monkey, via Submitterator)

Analtech

Posted: 27 Mar 2011 12:56 PM PDT

I received some random chemistry-industry PR, and spotted therein this unusually-named chromatography company and its contemplative technical director. What could he be thinking about? Heather suggests: "Hmmmm. Maybe we should change our name." UPDATE: Analtech has considered changing their name. I hope they keep it.

Nintendo, former stalwarts of the Japanese underworld

Posted: 27 Mar 2011 11:54 AM PDT

We all know that Nintendo, family-friendly videogame industry titan, started out making playing cards. Kotaku's Brian Ashcraft looks into the details and finds a company that once served gangsters and casinos, even operating its own 'love hotel.'

Hanafuda is a traditional Japanese card game that is often played during the New Year's holidays, at least today. In the 1880s, it was played by gangsters, and its popularity spread due in large part to gambling.
The Japanese word "yakuza" originally meant "useless individuals" and is derived from a losing hand played with hanafuda. Just as Nintendo's lore is inseparable with hanafuda, so is hanafuda impossible to disentangle from the history of Japanese organized crime.

A fantastic read. The Nintendo they've tried to forget [Kotaku]

PSA: The 5 bodily fluids that transmit HIV

Posted: 27 Mar 2011 11:45 AM PDT

Jason Wishnow, TED film director, helped create this PSA for Maitri, the AIDS hospice where Lisa Katayama volunteers and where Vinny, the subject of a feature here at BB by Lisa, died last year. Adds Lisa: "We made it as part of what we hope will become a series of educational but funny videos that address issues around working with people who have HIV/AIDS."

iPhone app store of "Color" may be best app store review ever

Posted: 27 Mar 2011 10:51 AM PDT

The photo sharing/social network app Color launched last week, and much fuss was made for a variety of reasons: massive media hype, massive funding, and a complete lack of documentation about how people should actually use the app. Mike 3K found this brilliant iPhone app store review of Color, which makes the whole affair worthwhile. Read the whole thing here.

Hilltronix H-200 Plastic Coating

Posted: 27 Mar 2011 10:38 AM PDT

This dip coating is awesome. I wanted to label a couple of tarps so I would know what was underneath them. I couldn't seem to find anything that would hold up. Everything I tried would peel and flake off. Then I tried the Hilltronix H-200 and by golly it stuck and kept sticking. It coats tool handles, wood, metal, plastic, ropes, and tarps. It's not like the previously reviewed Plastidip that can be picked up in big box stores as that stuff rubs off when it comes in contact with gasoline and other solvents. I have found that the Hilltronix dip coating holds up much better to harsh chemicals. -- John Scrack Hilltronix H-200 Series Coating $13 for 16 oz, $20 for 32 oz Don't forget to comment over at Cool Tools. And remember to submit a tool!

Front-line report from Trafalgar Square paints a radically different picture

Posted: 27 Mar 2011 10:05 AM PDT

Forget what you've seen on the BBC and Sky about yesterday's protest/"riot" in Trafalgar Square; the New Statesman's Laurie Penny was on the barricades (and apparently, there was a moment when the barricades were on her), and she's seen something altogether different from what the mainstream coverage depicts. If you read only one account of the protests, make it this one (and you should really read more than one!).

Minutes after the fights begin in Trafalgar square, so does the backlash. Radio broadcasters imply that anyone who left the pre-ordained march route is a hooligan, and police chiefs rush to assure the public that this "mindless violence" has "nothing to do with protest."
The young people being battered in Trafalgar square, however, are neither mindless nor violent. In front of the lines, a teenage girl is crying and shaking after being shoved to the ground. "I'm not moving, I'm not moving," she mutters, her face smeared with tears and makeup. "I've been on every protest, I won't let this government destroy our future without a fight. I won't stand back, I'm not moving." A police officer charges, smacking her with his baton as she flings up her hands.
The cops cram us further back into the square, pushing people off the plinths where they have tried to scramble for safety. By now there are about 150 young people left in the square, and only one trained medic, who has just been batoned in the face; his friends hold him up as he blacks out, and carry him to the police lines, but they won't let him leave. By the makeshift fire, I meet the young man whose attempted arrest started all this. "I feel responsible," he said, "I never wanted any of this. None of us did"

What really happened in Trafalgar Square

(Image: March for the Alternative, Nelson's Column Occupation, a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from blahflowers's photostream)