The Latest from Boing Boing

---

• Fukushima: DOE says 70 percent of Unit 1 core damaged, one-third meltdown of Unit 2
• Space image of the day: swirling palette of star-forming clouds
• GoDaddy CEO: Elephants are "a valuable source of protein"
• Katamari Damacy rolling up classic video games
• Andy Warhol bust by Ron English
• Friday Freak-Out: Arthur Brown's "Nightmare"
• Indonesia: Citibank debt collectors arrested in death of client over credit card
• "Mute: the silence of dogs in cars," a photo series by Martin Usborne
• LIFE photo gallery: In Praise of the Typewriter
• Unicorn Pasties
• Commander Edwin Quinby and the Streetcar Conspiracy of 1946
• BBC News on pranksters
• Google CEO tried to remove search results to protect his own privacy
• Emeralds: live drone synth music
• Advice from Ray Bradbury: Love what YOU love
• Minecraft seeds
• SPECIAL FEATURE: Lies in London
• April Fools
• White Mischief's 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas night: London, Apr 16
• Toronto Mini Maker Faire, May 7/8

Fukushima: DOE says 70 percent of Unit 1 core damaged, one-third meltdown of Unit 2 Posted: 01 Apr 2011 08:59 PM PDT US Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a Nobel laureate in physics, today said that 70 percent of the core of reactor No. 1 at the hard-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan has suffered severe damage. Additionally, the DOE said reactor No. 2 had suffered a 33 percent meltdown. Based on available information, Chu believes water is now covering the cores of the damaged reactors and that pools of spent fuel on top of the reactor buildings are "now under control." (New York Times)

Space image of the day: swirling palette of star-forming clouds Posted: 01 Apr 2011 01:47 PM PDT Here's a beautiful new image just released today from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Explorer, or WISE: the busy star-forming complex called Rho Ophiuch, which is one of the closest star-forming complexes to Earth. More about the image: The amazing variety of different colors seen in this image represent different wavelengths of infrared light. The bright white nebula in the center of the image is glowing due to heating from nearby stars, resulting in what is called an emission nebula. The same is true for most of the multi-hued gas prevalent throughout the entire image, including the bluish bow-shaped feature near the bottom right. The bright red area in the bottom right is light from the star in the center - Sigma Scorpii - that is reflected off of the dust surrounding it, creating what is called a reflection nebula. And the much darker areas scattered throughout the image are pockets of cool dense gas that block out the background light, resulting in absorption (or 'dark') nebulae. WISE's longer wavelength detectors can typically see through dark nebulae, but these are exceptionally opaque. JPL manages and operates the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The principal investigator, Edward Wright, is at UCLA. The mission was competitively selected under NASA's Explorers Program managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The science instrument was built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory, Logan, Utah, and the spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. Science operations and data processing take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

GoDaddy CEO: Elephants are "a valuable source of protein" Posted: 01 Apr 2011 01:54 PM PDT [Video Link: GoDaddy chief executive Bob Parsons kills an elephant in Zimbabwe. Graphic content.] Just now on CNN, blathering idiot GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons phoned in, Charlie-Sheen-style, to dig an even bigger hole for himself after the Zimbabwe Elephant Killing Debacle. The poor, starving African villagers he left the carcass to should be grateful, according to the CEO, because elephants are "a valuable source of protein." Well, by that logic, so are CEOs.

Katamari Damacy rolling up classic video games Posted: 01 Apr 2011 05:30 AM PDT Major Neese's "Neesful Katamari" is a fine 8-bit Katamari Damacy tribute, with the little prince rolling through and rolling up some of the great classic video games. Neesful Katamari (via Waxy)

Andy Warhol bust by Ron English Posted: 01 Apr 2011 11:56 AM PDT Artoyz says: "We got a few of the remaining DCon exclusive Ron English Andy Warhol "FIGMENT" busts. Each measures a whopping 13" tall, 10" deep, and 9" across." Yours for just 220 €. Andy Warhol "FIGMENT" bust by Ron English

Friday Freak-Out: Arthur Brown's "Nightmare" Posted: 01 Apr 2011 11:55 AM PDT [video link] Friday Freak-Out: Arthur Brown performs "Nightmare" in The Committee (1968), directed by Peter Sykes. (Thanks, UncaScrooge!)   Friday Freak-Out: The Golden Dawn's "Evolution" (1968) - Boing Boing Friday Freak-Out: Julie Driscoll's "Season of the Witch" (1968) - Boing Boing

Indonesia: Citibank debt collectors arrested in death of client over credit card Posted: 01 Apr 2011 01:50 PM PDT In the Jakarta Post today, news that a Citibank employee and two debt collectors hired by the international financial institution are charged with murdering a customer in Indonesia. The man was the head of a local political party. He reportedly complained to the Citibank representatives about his credit card bill, which showed a higher balance than he expected (from about $7,825 to $11,500). By various reports, he came to negotiate the debt and was taken to a private room where he was questioned by the three suspects, then beaten to death. Snip: Unable to handle the complaint, a Citibank employee and two debt-collectors, none of whom were named by police, took Irzen Octa to the fifth floor of the building where they killed him. "We found traces of blood on the curtains and walls," Budi said, adding that Irzen's body was found early Tuesday on the fifth floor. An autopsy performed on Irzen showed he suffered damage to his brain. The three Citibank employees were named suspects in the murder case and could be charged with the Criminal Code on battery, which carries a maximum jail sentence of five-and-a-half years. Police said they would also question Citibank officials. Citibank official Ditta Amahorseya declined to comment on the ongoing police investigation when approached by The Jakarta Post, but maintained that Citibank had and obeyed a strict code of ethics in regards to debt collection. "All agencies' employees representing us are obliged to obey [the code], including the obligation to deal with clients without using threats," she said in an email sent to the Post. This is the second recent criminal case involving Citibank employees. "Citibank debt collectors allegedly kill client" (Jakarta Post, via BB Submitterator thanks orangny) Though today is April 1, this is apparently no joke. Here's another related AP item, via Forbes. It seems violent debt collectors are quite a problem in the country.

"Mute: the silence of dogs in cars," a photo series by Martin Usborne Posted: 01 Apr 2011 04:55 PM PDT Photographer Martin Usborne has a wonderful project titled Mute: the silence of dogs in cars. Most of the images were taken at night. Above, a piece from the series titled "Peggy." Usborne writes: I was once left in a car at a young age. I don't know when or where or for how long, possibly at the age of four, perhaps outside Tesco's, probably for fifteen minutes only. The details don't matter. The point is that I wondered if anyone would come back. It seems trivial now but in a child's mind it is possible to be alone forever. Around the same age I began to feel a deep affinity with animals - in particular their plight at the hands of humans. I remember watching TV and seeing footage of a dog being put in a plastic bag and being kicked. What appalled me most was that the dog could not speak back. Its muteness terrified me. Read the rest of his story here, with more photos. You can purchase prints here. (thanks, Andrea James!)

LIFE photo gallery: In Praise of the Typewriter Posted: 01 Apr 2011 01:39 PM PDT When I took typing class in 9th grade, I was by far the fastest in the class. (That's because I spent nearly all my non-school time hammering on my Apple ][e.) I still received a "D" in the class though. Why? I glanced at the keys while typing. At one point, the teacher placed a cardboard shield over the keys so I couldn't see them. That didn't end well. I also recall that the typing classroom had a mix of old manuals and a few IBM Selectrics, the battleship of electric typewriters. So we had to switch seats each class to give everyone a chance with the elegant typeball technology. Relive the clickety-clacking history at LIFE's typewriter photo gallery. Above, William S. Burroughs. At left, the fifth typewriter invention patented in the US. "In Praise of the Typewriter"

Unicorn Pasties Posted: 01 Apr 2011 10:39 AM PDT Only $8, from nikkilipstick.com. (thanks, Susannah Breslin!)

Commander Edwin Quinby and the Streetcar Conspiracy of 1946 Posted: 01 Apr 2011 10:01 AM PDT In 1974, Commander Edwin Jenyss Quinby published a book with a title as fantastic and odd as the Commander's own eclectic interests: A Few Glimpses of the Passing Scene: Involving the Strange Combination of Steam Calliopes, Steamboats, Pipe Organs, Telegraphs, Cables, Radio, Electric Railroads and Gyro Monorails. Who was Commander Quinby? Well, he was an inventor of musical instruments, an activist who fought to save a historical riverboat, a transportation buff who was tinkering with his own electric car technology in his basement. According to former BB guestblogger Arthur Goldwag -- author of Cults, Conspiracies & Secret Societies -- Quinby was also "one of those rare conspiracy theorists who was right." In the 1950s, he was instrumental in efforts to save the paddlewheel riverboat The Delta Queen; he spent the final years of his life developing a prototype for an electric car in his basement. A 1960 article in American Heritage magazine describes the remote-controlled steam-powered calliope he created for the Delta Queen. At the time, he was also developing a calliope that could be installed on a trolley car–he'd helped set up a trolley museum in Branford, Connecticut so he had access to forty of them–"a kind of 'trolleyope,' which will use compressed air from the brake pump (the panting organ under the floor that used to go thump-thump thump when the cars paused) to play airs on various trolley bells, horns, and whistles." Amazon lists a quaintly-titled book he published in 1974 (out of print and unavailable) that reflects the whole range of his interests: A Few Glimpses of the Passing Scene: Involving the Strange Combination of Steam Calliopes, Steamboats, Pipe Organs, Telegraphs, Cables, Radio, Electric Railroads and Gyro Monorails. Quinby earned his footnote status in history in 1946, when he wrote a 24- (or 26- or 37-page–different accounts provide different numbers) pamphlet, ran off dozens of copies on a mimeograph machine in his basement, and mailed it to Congressmen, mayors, and city managers across the country. "This is an urgent warning to each and every one of you," it began, "that there is a carefully, deliberately planned campaign to swindle you out of your most important and valuable public utilities–your Electric Railway system! Who will rebuild them for you?" "Commander Edwin J. Quinby and the Great Streetcar Conspiracy"

BBC News on pranksters Posted: 01 Apr 2011 09:42 AM PDT Modern prank pioneer Joey Skaggs, culture jammer of the first order, alerts us to a BBC News Magazine story exploring the art of the perfect prank. The article references such fine tricksters as Russian art collective Voina, Improv Everywhere, and of course Skaggs himself. From the BBC News: Television turned the prank into an expensive business with millions at risk. The budgets of TV and film allowed for exactly the kind of careful dramatic plotting that a good prank needs, fortunes were spent in creating versions of reality that were are at once, ridiculous to the viewer and plausible to the victim. Nigel Crowle, an associate producer for Noel Edmonds and Jeremy Beadle, describes it as creating "layer upon layer of absurd situations, build it up, to a climax, which really if you analysed it make absolutely no sense whatsoever". You almost need to bully your target into accepting a false reality, by not giving them the opportunity to consider the alternatives. Of course this is how advertising works. Pranksters are the special forces of comedy, getting out into the field to tell truth through laughter and using the public space as a theatre. "The art of the perfect prank"   Joey Skaggs launches Art of the Prank - Boing Boing Boing Boing: Universal Bullshit Detector Watch by Joey Skaggs RU Sirius on pranksters and tricksters - Boing Boing

Google CEO tried to remove search results to protect his own privacy Posted: 01 Apr 2011 09:38 AM PDT Claire Cain Miller's article about Google's bungling in China is packed with funny moments, but this is my favorite: "Mr. Schmidt asked that Google remove from the search engine information about a political donation he had made. Sheryl Sandberg, a Google executive who is now Facebook's chief operating officer, told him that was unacceptable."

Emeralds: live drone synth music Posted: 01 Apr 2011 10:41 AM PDT Several months ago, I posted about Emeralds, the Cleveland-based drone/synth/guitar band whose recent album "Does It Look Like I'm Here" flips my analog switches like vintage Tangerine Dream, Neu!, and the Robert Fripp/Brian Eno collaborations. self-titled magazine has posted a recording of Emeralds' phenomenal performance at last year's Unsound Festival. Annoyingly, self-titled has turned off SoundCloud's embedding feature, but you can listen and download the recording by following this link. Emeralds, Live @ Unsound 2010 (via chris_carter_) UPDATE: Rory from VICE points us to their Electric Independence video interview with Emeralds!

Advice from Ray Bradbury: Love what YOU love Posted: 31 Mar 2011 08:15 PM PDT From Letters of Note, via The Happiness Project.

Minecraft seeds Posted: 01 Apr 2011 08:05 AM PDT Minecraft, epic exploration game, now builds landscapes using seeds. This allows players to share their procedurally-generated worlds, and some of the best seeds are being collected. Two popular ones to get you started: "Glacier", shaded by massive overhanging cliffs, and "gargamel", a stunning canyon whose usual spawn point is in a pitch-black cave. Pictured above is the extraordinary planet known as -9028489474908844496.

SPECIAL FEATURE: Lies in London Posted: 01 Apr 2011 09:53 AM PDT Up to half a million people marched peacefully on London last week to protest cuts to public services, but local media coverage dwelled almost entirely on stories of mindless violence and criminality. In a follow-up to an earlier article published at the New Statesman, Laurie Penny wonders why the press is so eager to echo official accounts—and so eager to attack critics of the police. Read the rest

April Fools Posted: 01 Apr 2011 06:11 AM PDT It's that time of year again, when everyone is allowed to think that they're funny (including us) even when they are totally not funny at all. Share the best April Fools' jokes on the net in this thread! Let's get the ball rolling with Comic Sans Pro, a press release from Monotype. Nice!

White Mischief's 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas night: London, Apr 16 Posted: 01 Apr 2011 05:31 AM PDT The smashing White Mischief steampunk night returns to London this month, with a 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas event at the Scala on April 16. The event includes the usual array of exhibiting artists, maker and crafter stalls, vaudeville and dance-hall acts, improbable stunts, happy mutants, raucous live music, a therimin concert and "Pith-helemeted chap-hop MC PROFESSOR ELEMENTAL." Dressing-up is not compulsory but certainly encouraged Inspirations: Captain Nemo, The Squid, Sailors and Sailorgirls, Salty Sea Dogs, Mermaids, Pirates and Wenches, Seahorses and Sea Monsters, End-of-The-Pier performers, Moby Dick and Ahab, Neptune/Poseidon/Triton, Victorian, Steampunk, HG Wells/ Jules Verne, Top Hats and Tails, Gowns and Bustles, Vintage... WHITE MISCHIEF: "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Seas" (Thanks, Toby!)   Photos from White Mischief steampunk night - Boing Boing Portraits of attendees at London's steampunk White Mischief night ... White Mischief steampunk night, King's Cross London, June 7 ... Highlights from steampunk bazaar at White Mischief - Boing Boing White Mischief steampunk variety night returns to London, May 23 ... White Mischief, London's steampunk variety night - Boing Boing Steampunk makers lineup announced for this Saturday's White ... Steampunk variety night returns to London's Scala, Mar 27 - Boing ... Steampunk variety night returns to London's Scala, Mar 27 - Boing ...

Toronto Mini Maker Faire, May 7/8 Posted: 01 Apr 2011 05:30 AM PDT A gang of Toronto makers are throwing the inaugural Toronto Mini Maker Faire on May 7/8 at the Evergreen Brick Works, and they're raising funds and selling tickets and sponsorships to make the event a reality. Maker Faires are about as good as it gets, and it's a delight to have one on the way to Toronto. There's all kinds of hackerspace-style swag for donors, from laser-cut CN Towers to robot illustrations and shirts. The Treehouse Group and Site 3 coLaboratory are co-organizing a Mini Maker Faire in Toronto, May 7 & 8, at the Evergreen Brick Works. A Maker Faire is a place for Makers to come together to compare notes, see what others are doing, and to spark ideas for new projects and expanded collaboration. It facilitates the exchange of information throughout a community whose members in many cases work alone or in groups that have limited opportunities to associate with one-another. Toronto Mini Maker Faire will include: commercial and non-commercial Makers, designers, hackerspaces, workshops, demos and speakers. It will be entertaining and educational. The majority of our booths will be interactive, and visitors will have opportunities to take home a part of the experience when they participate. Mini Maker Faire Toronto (Thanks, Joe!)

You are subscribed to email updates from Boing Boing To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610