Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The Latest from Boing Boing

The Latest from Boing Boing

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Chinese government photoshop disaster goes viral

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 11:01 PM PDT

A crummy government photoshop propaganda disaster in China has turned into a meme among Chinese netizens, who are furiously remixing three enthusiastic government officials into all manner of situations:
On the evening of June 26, an Internet user made a post titled "Too fake: the propaganda photo for our county" at the Tianya Forum. "I had nothing to do today so I visited the website for our county government. The headline story was about the upgrade for the road to the countryside. I looked at the photo and I almost coughed out half a liter of blood! Even a rank amateur like myself can tell that this was a PhotoShop job, and they had the nerve to put this on the home page!" The post included a screen capture of a photo, in which three men were "floating" over a road. There were clear indications that this was a composite job. According to the caption: "County mayor Li Ningyi and vice-mayor Tang Xiaobing are inspecting the newly constructed country road at Lihong Town." This post drew plenty of readers, and the Huili County Government website was even down for a while because of the heavy traffic volume.

On the afternoon of June 27, our reader interviewed the Huili County Government publicity department director Zhang Yongzhi. According to Zhang, several county leaders went out to inspect the road. An accompanying worker took some photos for the record. But when it came to posting onto the website, the worker decided that "the background of the original photo did not look very good" so a decision was made to crop the leaders onto a different background. The Huili County Government has removed all relevant information and reprimanded the worker who handled the photo. The Huili County Government issued an apology at the Tianya Forum and the Sina.com Weibo.

These are just a smattering of the remixes collected at EastSouthWestNorth; click through below for the full set.

The Three Levitating Government Officials

Newsweek ages Diana to 50 in ultimate photoshop disaster

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 06:49 PM PDT

diana50.jpeg It is "rather jarring," writes Matt Donnelly of the LA Times.

Tool Dots: Adhesive-backed rare-earth magnets for tool organization

Posted: 27 Jun 2011 10:00 PM PDT

Jeff sez, "We'd put tools into the tool drawer but they'd never come out. Other tool storage systems didn't suit us, so we created the Tool Dot. A tiny, powerful, magnetic tool holder that you stick to walls and other vertical surfaces to store tools in any arrangement you want."

I do a similar thing -- overlay little rare-earth magnets with Sugru and stick 'em to the wall. It's lumpier, but more colorful. Chacun son gout!

Tool Dot (Thanks, Jeff!)

New Mexico fire threatens Los Alamos nuclear site

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 01:32 PM PDT

5881219722_88a0aa48b6_b.jpg

(Image: Fire 27 June 2011 268, a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No-Derivative-Works (2.0) image from losalamosnatlab's photostream)

Christian Science Monitor: "For the second time in 11 years, a New Mexico fire is threatening one of the nation's three nuclear-weapons laboratories, as well as the town that hosts it."

But don't worry, there are only 20,000 barrels of plutonium waste at the facility, and at the time of this blog posts, the fire is a full two miles away from the site where they're stored.

AP: "Lab personnel are monitoring the air for radionuclides and particulate matter."

An announcement on the home page of Los Alamos National Laboratories: "Laboratory to remain closed Wednesday, June 29. Only employees on an essential-duties access list will be permitted back onto Laboratory property during the closure, as notified by their line management. All others are urged to remain off-site until facilities have been safely reopened."

Young female journalist "embeds" as cosplay maid to cover anime convention

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 01:25 PM PDT

cosplay32.jpg"I was at Katsucon, a Washington, D.C. convention that caters to fans of Japanese animation. The restaurant I was working at was inspired by the “maid cafes” of Tokyo, where people can have a meal served to them by a cute young girl in a costume. The cafe organizers were worried that having a student journalist trailing the maids would be distracting. But if that journalist was also a maid, they had no problem."

—24-year-old Lauren Rae Orsini, guestblogging at Susannah Breslin's Forbes column.

Digging up Shakespeare's remains for drug testing?

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 01:18 PM PDT

Did Shakespeare smoke weed? University of the Witwatersrand anthropologist Francis Thackeray thinks he did. He'd like a chance to prove that, and also learn more about the Bard's life and death, by digging up his body. (Maybe they'll also determine if Shakespeare was Shakespeare, but that's another story.) In 2001, Thackeray and his colleagues unearthed pipes in Shakespeare's garden that tested positive for marijuana, cocaine, and other substances. From RAW Story:
Wikipedia Commons A A2 Shakespeare "We have incredible techniques," Thackeray told Fox News. "We don't intend to move the remains at all..."

"The pipes we tested still had dirt in them which preserved the residues inside the stem and bowl," Van der Merwe said. "The readings we got were the same as if it had tested a modern-day crack pipe."

Camphor, myristic acid, and quinoline were among other substances detected in the pipes.

"Myristic acid, which is found in nutmeg, has hallucinogenic properties, and camphor, perhaps, was used to hide the smell of tobacco or other substances," Thackeray noted in 2001.

"Scientists want to dig up Shakespeare to find out if he smoked weed" (Thanks, Bob Pescovitz!)

 


Robot armpit

Posted: 27 Jun 2011 10:10 PM PDT


Kevin Grennan created this Robot Armpit prototype. There's more good stuff about his work with robots that smell scary in this We Make Money Not Art interview and profile, in honor of The Smell of Control: Fear, Focus, Trust, which deals with smell and robotics.
It was important to me that the odours and chemicals came from within the robots and that they were an integrated means for them to communicate with the humans who would surround them. Each robot that I have augmented with a 'sweat gland' emits a particular chemical that has a specific effect on humans and the chemical has been chosen to further enable the robot's primary function.

In the case of the bomb disposal robot the 'sweat gland' releases the smell of human fear. It has been proven that humans can identify this specific smell and it tends to enhance cognitive performance in. I propose that this robot would enable surrounding humans to work more effectively and to differentiate dangerous situations from false alarms.

In the case of the picker robot. It releases a chemical called androstadienone, which is found in male sweat. This has be shown in research to effect mood in females under certain circumstances. I have speculated that this robot when used on a production line could enhance the performance of female employees in it's vicinity.

Prototype Robot Armpit (via JWZ)

Alien wedding cake

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 01:08 PM PDT


This HR Giger/Alien wedding cake from Jet City Cakes in Kirkland, WA, is bursting with delightfulness!

H.R. Giger Cake (Thanks, RickKleffel!)

Billy Ripken's Fuck Face baseball card

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 01:14 PM PDT

I don't give a damn about sports, but I do love this kinda thing. In 1989, Fleer Corporation released this baseball card for Baltimore Orioles player Billy Ripken. Ooops. From Wikipedia:
Wp-Content Uploads 2011 05 Billy Ripkin Fuck Fleer subsequently rushed to correct the error, and in their haste, released versions in which the text was scrawled over with a marker, whited out with correction fluid, and also airbrushed. On the final, corrected version, Fleer obscured the offensive words with a black box (this was the version included in all factory sets). Both the original card and many of the corrected versions have become collector's items as a result. There are at least ten different variations of this card. As of February 2009 the white out version has a book value of $120.[5]

Years later, Ripken admitted to having written the expletive on the bat; however, he claimed he did it to distinguish it as a batting practice bat, and did not intend to use it for the card. In the same letter, he expressed the opinion that Fleer was well aware of the obscenity, and not only retained but made it even clearer, hoping to benefit from the publicity the card would no doubt receive.

Modern Man has some more baseball card funnies: "12 Hilarious Old Baseball Cards" (Thanks, Vann Hall!)

Google launches Facebook competitor Google+

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 12:49 PM PDT

Google today launched a social network: Google+. The emphasis in launch PR seems to be on user privacy, and controlling who you share what with.

China: Artist and dissident Ai Weiwei freed, but must pay 1.85 million

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 12:47 PM PDT

The dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is out of detention, but must pay the government $1.85 million in "back taxes and fines."

Congress now able to use Skype, Oovoo for videoconferencing, dickpic-sharing

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 12:57 PM PDT

On the official Skype blog today, news that "The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Administration announced that they will open up the world of Skype communications to Members of Congress and their staff. (...) Skype's engineers worked closely with the Congressional network security team to ensure that Skype is used safely for official business." Oh, I bet. Competitor Oovoo also got the green light.

Iowa woman's home raided in hunt for LulzSec

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 12:39 PM PDT

Afghanistan: Terrorist attack reported at Kabul Intercontinental hotel

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 12:36 PM PDT

"A major terrorist attack has taken place on the Inter-Continental Hotel in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul. A number of armed men have reportedly entered the hotel, with explosions and shots reported inside the hotel, which is not part of the global chain." The hotel is frequented by Westerners. (storyful, NYT)

When "Hair" came to Memphis

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 12:31 PM PDT

This post at Dangerous Minds about the documentary "When Hair Came to Memphis," on the longhair musical hitting the Bible Belt, is a great piece of internet writing by Marc Campbell. But whoah man, the video is really—you gotta watch. (Thanks, Richard Metzger)

NYT gadget guru David Pogue in professional ethics kerfuffle (again)

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 05:17 PM PDT

Foster Kamer, at NYO: "David Pogue is, for the Times, a valuable asset. He has been called the "Oprah of Gadgets." His Twitter follower count exceeds that of the entire Times technology reporting staff put together. And yet: Mr. Pogue is repeatedly accused of being in an ethical grey area."

Space Invaders watch

Posted: 27 Jun 2011 10:16 PM PDT

Romain Jerome's Space Invaders watch features a dial etched with a (non-playable) scene from Space Invaders, and a case made with fragments form the Apollo 11 capsule. It also features self-parodying promotional luxury-goods sell copy that sounds best when read aloud in Dan Ackroyd's Bass-o-Matic voice:
Inheriting the highly distinctive case of the Moon Invader series (a round shape within a cambered 46 mm square, with a round front and an almost rectangular back), the SPACE INVADERS have also kept the same steel coalesced with fragments from the Apollo 11 capsule. It is no coincidence that this case is designed like a strongbox, or even like a space vessel capable of travelling great distances, since that kind of vehicle is exactly what is needed to facilitate the SPACE INVADERS colonisation of our daily lives.

The four functional ball-and-socket joints of this rounded squares are cut like the pivoting « feet » of the lunar landing modules of the American lunar missions. These extremely sophisticated components mounted on axles anchored in the case hold the lugs of the rubber straps and enable the watch to adjust to all kinds of wrist sizes.

RJ-Romain Jerome: Space Invaders shake up the watchmaking world! (via IZ Reloaded)

Watchismo winners! [Giveaways]

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 10:12 AM PDT

The winners of the Watchismo Diesel watch giveaway are Hedge a Log, who won the DZ4202; Dawn Marie Pickett Currin, who won the DZ4201; and Guy Kelly, who won the DZ7221. Many thanks to everyone for participating!

Apple offers refunds to upset Final Cut Pro X users, but "rage-quitting" exodus grows

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 12:19 PM PDT

fcpfail.jpg

As you may have heard on the internet, the recent update of Apple's popular video-editing software Final Cut Pro has left many professional users very upset. Today, there's news that Apple will offer refunds to customers who are unhappy with Final Cut Pro X, or as some are calling it, "Final Cut Fail."

But as some working video editors have noted, this alone doesn't solve the problem for those who've built their businesses and creative lives around a product and company they now feel has abandoned them.

I found one positive review by a former working non-linear video editor, here at Macworld.

Here's a thoughtful review from Larry Jordan. "This launch has been compared to Coca-Cola launching New Coke - resulting in a humiliating loss of market share," he writes."With Final Cut Pro X, however, the situation is worse -- with New Coke, only our ability to sip soda was affected. With Final Cut Pro X, we are talking losing livelihoods."

Longtime FCP user Aaron-Stewart Ahn, who, among other things, directed this music video we featured on Boing Boing from Death Cab for Cutie, ranted to me on Twitter this morning:

Bottom line for me is: I literally could not use FCPX to produce my work. That last Decemberists video shot on RED for various tech / workflow reasons would not have been possible using FCPX. Now it is literally impossible to edit a studio motion picture in FCPX.

I wish a journalist would get in touch with Walter Murch. He was the first to edit a movie, 'Cold Mountain' on Final Cut Pro. He could not, with FCPX (no EDL support).

It's dead simple: Apple should've released it as, say, Final Cut X. A reworked FCP Express / iMovie with glimpse to come for Pros.Every professional editor I know who makes film for broadcast / film agrees (if you're in the web-only ecosystem, you're kinda ok).


But basically, I believe it's part of the road to Apple abandoning the pro market. It's too small a market. A huge shift happening, there.


I switched to Mac over a decade ago expressly for Final Cut Pro. And a decade of work wouldn't have been possible without.


That said, everyone seems to forget that editors adapt to tech constantly. A good editor is technology-agnostic and has innate skills.


As Boing Boing commenter james4765 noted in a previous FCPX thread here, there is at least one upside to the apparent exodus by disgruntled FCP editors to Avid or Adobe Premiere.


The nice thing is there's a lot of good standard-definition Final Cut-specific gear coming up on eBay from people rage-quitting Final Cut. I'll be using FCP Studio 3 for a while yet, since I'm not working with RED footage, but Avid is going to be my next upgrade. And likely not on a Mac.



 

Record storage as art

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 11:37 AM PDT

Site Images 10 Musicshow Publico
Vinyllllll
Looking for vinyl storage solutions, I came across these two images. They're not really record storage systems. Well, they're real, but they're art. Created by David Ellis, they're titled "This could be the worst" and "Recollections: Honey Horn" and were featured in a 2006 Cincinnati, Ohio exhibition titled Music Show: Contemporary Art, Design & Music. (via Audio Karma)

 


Cameramail: sending disposable cams through the post with a note asking posties to take pix

Posted: 27 Jun 2011 10:27 PM PDT


Matthew McVickar designs these Cameramail packages with disposable film-cameras taped to their front and a note exhorting posties to take pictures of themselves and environs as the package passes through their custody.
The first camera traveled from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to Honolulu, Hawaii, collecting a total of seven pictures on its way. I couldn't have hoped for a better set of photos! The Postal Service sure does move fast.

I ended up trying three more cameramail packages to Washington, to Japan, and to Massachusetts (all three when I was living in Hawaii) but never heard back.

Cameramail (via Neatorama)

Nebraska nuclear power plant still holding out against Midwest floods

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 11:23 AM PDT

In this June 14, 2011 photo, the Fort Calhoun nuclear power station, in Fort Calhoun, Neb.,was surrounded by flood waters from the Missouri River.jpg

Among the places surrounded by floodwaters in the American Midwest: Nebraska's Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Station. And when I say "surrounded," I mean literally. The power plant is a berm- and sandbag-protected island in the middle of temporary lake. This has not ever happened to an American nuclear power plant before. So far, it sounds like things are going fine (though, of course, the power plant's owners are the primary source of information here, along with government regulators). Overall, there are some good reasons to be nervous, and some good reasons not to be too terrified.

First, on the positive side, the power plant's single reactor has been in cold shutdown since April for maintenance. But that's not a guarantee against problems. After all, Fukushima Daiichi's Reactor 4 was also down for maintenance, and the spent fuel in its cooling ponds still overheated and caused problems with hydrogen explosions and fires. That said, a reactor in cold shutdown is significantly less vulnerable than one that's operating.

Second, on the downside, the power plant got into trouble with federal regulators last year, because its flood defenses weren't up to standards. But, on the positive side, that's ended up meaning that the flood defenses that Fort Calhoun is currently dependent upon are newly improved and inspected—the results of mandated upgrades.

Floods also happen at a slower place than earthquakes and tsunamis, and Fort Calhoun has had time to really double down on preparedness. They've built dams around not only the plant itself, but also the electrical substations that supply its primary source of power. And they've stockpiled weeks worth of fuel for the backup generators, so that in case those power lines go down the fuel rods will continue to be cooled.

On the other hand, all that preparedness is kind of dependent on conditions. According to the Omaha World Herald, The Army Corps of Engineers expects the river to crest no higher than 1,008 feet elevation, and the flood barriers would protect the power plant to 1,010 feet. But that doesn't leave a lot of margin for error. If rainfall becomes extraordinarily heavy again, the river could crest higher. If that happened, Fort Calhoun would be at much greater risk. Hopefully, the container around its reactor would be as watertight as advertised, and the water wouldn't reach the spent fuel pool, which is on higher ground at 1,038.5 feet.

There've also been a couple of small accidents. On June 7th, the cooling pools lost power for an hour and a half because of an electrical fire. And, on the 26th, one segment of secondary flood berm collapsed. The berm was water-filled, and so its collapse caused some flooding in the plant, even though the floodwaters, proper, remained at bay. That accident forced a temporary switch to backup power.

Shorter version: From the information available, it sounds like things are currently under control and that the power plants owners are prepared for the situation they're dealing with. But it's also too soon to know how this will play out, or whether "prepared for the situation they're dealing with" is the same as "prepared for a worse-but-plausible scenario."

Image: Nati Harnik/AP

Silicon Valley's secret military history

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 04:27 PM PDT


The psychedelic history of Silicon Valley is well-told in two recent fantastic books, John Markoff's What The Dormouse Said and Fred Turner's From Counterculture to Cyberculture. But there's another somewhat darker parallel history too. In this video from a 2008 talk at the Computer History Museum, Steve Blank explores the shadowy military roots of the Bay Area's high tech hub. "Secret History of Silicon Valley" (Thanks, Jacques Vallée!)

Baseball, cheating, and physics

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 10:04 AM PDT

notacheaterbat.jpg

Some good news for Sammy Sosa fans still whispering, "Say it ain't so." Back in 2003, Sosa was caught using a corked bat—a normal wooden bat hollowed out in the center and stuffed with lighter cork material. That embarrassing incident did happen, and it does go against baseball rules. But, according to physicists at the University of Illinois and Washington State University, a corked bat probably doesn't offer much of an advantage. Sure, Sosa technically cheated. But he didn't actually cheat in a practical sense, they say. At least, not by altering his bat.

There was some anecdotal information from players that there's something like a 'trampoline effect' when the ball bounces off a corked bat," says Nathan, one of the authors of the new study. So the researchers hollowed out a bat, stuffed it with bits of cork and fired a ball at the bat from a cannon. If anything, the ball came off the corked bat with a slower speed than off a normal bat. Less velocity means a shorter hit. Their conclusion: the trampoline effect was bogus.

But there was another way corking might work: a corked bat is a few ounces lighter than an unadulterated one, and a lighter bat means a batter can swing faster, which means he can generate more force and hit the ball farther. Right? Not quite, as it turns out.

A batter indeed can swing a lighter bat faster, but a lighter bat has less inertia. So there's a trade-off, says Lloyd Smith, an associate professor of engineering at Washington State University and a co-author on the paper. By once again firing a ball at a bat at WSU's Sports Science Laboratory, the researchers found that a heavier bat still hit the ball harder (and therefore farther) than a lighter, corked bat. "Corking will not help you hit the ball farther," says Smith.

Smithsonian: The Physics of Cheating in Baseball

Image: hung up, pt. II, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from eioua's photostream

Wyoming's corporation mills manufacture privileged artificial "people" to order

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 10:03 AM PDT


Dan "Mediactive" Gillmor sez, "Looks like corporations (i.e. the people who control them) have more rights to privacy in America than regular citizens. This terrific investigative piece by Reuters (co-reported by one of my colleagues at Arizona State University) exposes yet another dirty secret of corporate America's power over federal and state governments. They don't need to go to the Caymans and other such havens to create nearly impenetrable secrecy. They can do it right here at home by using pathetically weak state laws -- plainly weak by design -- to hide sometimes sleazy doings. It's yet another example of the way the deck has been stacked by corporate America in its own favor."
A Reuters investigation has found the house at 2710 Thomes Avenue serves as a little Cayman Island on the Great Plains. It is the headquarters for Wyoming Corporate Services, a business-incorporation specialist that establishes firms which can be used as "shell" companies, paper entities able to hide assets.

Wyoming Corporate Services will help clients create a company, and more: set up a bank account for it; add a lawyer as a corporate director to invoke attorney-client privilege; even appoint stand-in directors and officers as high as CEO. Among its offerings is a variety of shell known as a "shelf" company, which comes with years of regulatory filings behind it, lending a greater feeling of solidity.

"A corporation is a legal person created by state statute that can be used as a fall guy, a servant, a good friend or a decoy," the company's website boasts. "A person you control... yet cannot be held accountable for its actions. Imagine the possibilities!"

Among the entities registered at 2710 Thomes, Reuters found, is a shelf company sheltering real-estate assets controlled by a jailed former prime minister of Ukraine, according to allegations made by a political rival in a federal court in California.

Special Report: A little house of secrets on the Great Plains (Thanks, Dan!)

1955 scanned Disneyland guidebook from opening year

Posted: 27 Jun 2011 10:39 PM PDT


Disney By Mark has scanned and uploaded a 1955 Disneyland guidebook, produced in the park's first year of operation. It's full of contrafactual notes about forthcoming attractions that never emerged, and curious and charmingly stilted descriptions from the dawn of the modern themeparkian era. I've stuck some of my favorite spreads below, after the jump.
The 1955 Guidebook was produced before Disneyland opened. If fact many of the attractions were in the process of being built. Because of this, it's full of beautiful concept artwork and some surprises too.
A Journey Through The 1955 Guidebook (via The Disney Blog)














Giant squid found off Florida coast

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 09:50 AM PDT

Fishermen in Florida found a 23-foot-long giant squid floating dead in the Atlantic. Some of you will be impressed by this. Others will complain that, at only 23 feet, this squid wasn't even all that giant. After all, giant squid can be as long as 43 feet. Still more readers will simply sigh and silently wish that people would stop lumping all those different species under the moniker "giant squid." (Via Hannah Waters)

Ballad of a sort-of frog

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 09:43 AM PDT

Purple Frog.jpg

If this Purple Frog doesn't look very frog-like, he apologizes. It's just that the last time he shared an ancestor with the rest of frog-kind was back on the supercontinent of Gondwana.

For more weird animals, check out Brandon Keim's slideshow of 11 Animal Wonders of Evolution.

Via Noah Grey

Canned responses to people who reply to you on Twitter in a stupid manner

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 10:17 AM PDT

pmcnoargue.jpg.scaled500.jpg

I love @pourmecoffee's list of canned replies to people on Twitter who "at" him with dumb responses to his funny tweets. One could use these canned replies for internet commentry in general, not just stupid people on Twitter.

# Please tell me more about how I might use my time and talent to perfectly match your unique sensibilities!
# I accept my (moral) (intellectual) (physical) inferiority.
# I acknowledge your (clever) (devastating) (hilarious) insult.
# I applaud your attempt to improve upon my humor (from an opposing ideological view) (with a slightly different twist).
# I stipulate that you are a very big deal online.
What's best about it: replying to the troll in question with just a number from the list, and a link. I may adopt this for daily use, myself.

Snow monkey chillin' in a hot spring, Nagano, Japan (photo from Boing Boing Flickr Pool)

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 09:26 AM PDT

Screen-shot-2011-06-28-at-9.14.jpg

Photographer and Boing Boing reader appurupai shot some wonderful photos of a snow monkey (Japanese Macaque) relaxing in a natural hot spring pool in Jigokudani Monkey Park, in Nagano, Japan. These little guys are the most northern-living and most polar-living primate other than us. Contributed to the Boing Boing Flickr Pool (thanks, appurupai!)

Screen-shot-2011-06-28-at-9.11.jpg

 


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