The Latest from Boing Boing

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• The problem with RIM
• Lloyd Kahn (age 76) on skateboarding
• Dubstep mime
• Ethan Nadelmann responds to DEA claim that marijuana has no accepted medical use
• Bazooka conversion for fireworks artillery rounds
• Obama meets with Dalai Lama: US "does not support independence for Tibet"
• Prince Charles with his margarine tub ukuele
• Muslim hate crime victim asks TX court to spare life of white supremacist who shot him
• TED2012 Fellowship Applications
• Adam Savage reviews The Practical Pyromaniac
• Summertime Caturday
• Walk without rhythm
• A geek's journal, 1976

The problem with RIM Posted: 16 Jul 2011 07:45 PM PDT I was drawn to Forbes' article about BlackBerry maker RIM by author Eric Jackson's use of the phrase "When I speak to Research In Motion (RIMM) Bulls, they tell me...", which places it in the category of cryptozoology. But this quote, from RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie, is what remains: He was asked about the recent letters from employees that have appeared in the press, complaining about all the problems with the company that have led to the current low stock price - 80% below its 5 year high. He growled: "Nobody ever wrote us letters saying thank you for the first $20 billion in revenue." Balsillie to anyone who has invested in his company since 2007: "Go fuck yourself."

Lloyd Kahn (age 76) on skateboarding Posted: 16 Jul 2011 02:38 PM PDT I love this video of my friend Lloyd Kahn (founder of Shelter Publications) talking about his joy of skateboarding. He's 76, and started boarding as a wee lad of 65. Lloyd in 1½ min skateboarding video Video profile of Shelter Publications editor Lloyd Kahn DIY and Green Building Pioneer Lloyd Kahn Talks About Shelter, Concept of Home - Boing Boing The prettiest woodpile I've ever seen

Dubstep mime Posted: 16 Jul 2011 02:27 PM PDT [Video Link]. A lot more where that came from: here's the guy's channel, esoterradubstep. The music is Big Boss, by Doctor P. (thanks, Tara McGinley)

Ethan Nadelmann responds to DEA claim that marijuana has no accepted medical use Posted: 16 Jul 2011 02:21 PM PDT [Video Link] Tony Papa of the Drug Policy Alliance says: "Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, responds to the recent decree by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) that marijuana has no accepted medical use. The decision by the DEA comes almost nine years after medical marijuana supporters asked the government to reclassify cannabis to take into account a growing body of research that shows its effectiveness in treating certain diseases. For more on this subject please go the July 14 LA Times piece titled 'Medical marijuana: A science-free zone at the White House' by DPA's Bill Piper and Stephen Gutwillig. LA Times: Medical marijuana: A science-free zone at the White House

Bazooka conversion for fireworks artillery rounds Posted: 16 Jul 2011 02:10 PM PDT [Video Link] These folks did an attractive bazooka conversion for fireworks artillery rounds using PVC and parts made on a 3D printer. You can download the 3D models at Thingiverse.

Obama meets with Dalai Lama: US "does not support independence for Tibet" Posted: 16 Jul 2011 02:32 PM PDT President Barack Obama meets with His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama in the Map Room of the White House, Saturday, July 16, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) China strenuously objected to US President Barack Obama's private meeting today with the Tibetan spiritual and political leader, saying any dialogue with the Dalai Lama "damaged the Sino-American relations." China has little to worry about, it seems: the White House issued a statement in which Obama stressed the U.S. policy that "Tibet is a part of the People's Republic of China and the United States does not support independence for Tibet." But the Dalai Lama himself does not propose "independence," per se, which makes the president's statement seem all the more like an attempt to placate China. In a statement released after the 45-minute meeting, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama also "underscored the importance of the protection of human rights of Tibetans in China," and "commended the Dalai Lama's commitment to nonviolence and dialogue with China." More at CNN, Reuters here, here's a New York Times piece, and here is the Xinhua item. Dalai Lama fails to understand Dalai Lama joke, but is a good sport about it Dalai Lama announces plans to retire as political leader of Tibetan government in exile Dalai Lama receives human rights award from Amnesty International Tibet: nearly 1,000 jailed in Lhasa, Dalai Lama offers to resign Obama meets with Dalai Lama (finally), monks back home celebrate

Prince Charles with his margarine tub ukuele Posted: 16 Jul 2011 01:54 PM PDT Prince Charles looks badass wielding this margarine tub ukulele. (Via Ukulelia) REUTERS/Andrew Lloyd

Muslim hate crime victim asks TX court to spare life of white supremacist who shot him Posted: 16 Jul 2011 02:21 PM PDT Rais Bhuiyan, a devout Muslim who emigrated from Bangladesh to the United States, is one of the victims of a white supremacist who went on a "9/11 revenge" killing spree and murdered two people, one of whom was Hindu. At left, Mr. Bhuiyan after he was shot. CNN has more. Mark Anthony Stroman shot all of his victims while they were working at gas stations and convenience stores in Dallas, Texas. Unless there is an intervention, the still-unrepentant killer will be put to death by the state of Texas on July 20. But Bhuiyan believes that the man who shot him should not be killed, and has created the worldwithouthate.org project to urge Texas to spare his life. From Bhuiyan's website: It was Friday 12:30pm, September 21, 2001. A man with a gun entered the gas station where I was working. He asked me, "Where are you from?" The question seemed strange to ask during a robbery, which certainly this was -- the man wore a bandana, sunglasses and a baseball cap, and aimed the gun directly at my face as I stood over the gas station register. "Excuse me?" I asked. As soon as I spoke I felt the sensation of a million bees stinging my face, and then heard an explosion. Images of my mother, my father, my siblings and my fiancé appeared before my eyes, and then, a graveyard. I didn't know if I were still alive. I looked down at the floor and saw blood pouring like an open faucet from the side of my head. Frantically, I placed both hands on my face, thinking I had to keep my brains from spilling out. I heard myself screaming, "Mom!" The gunman was still standing there. I thought, "If I don't pretend I'm dead, he'll shoot me again." NPR had an earlier story here. Bhuiyan wrote an op-ed in the Dallas Morning News, here. The paper's editor wrote more here. Related item at ACLU.org here.

TED2012 Fellowship Applications Posted: 16 Jul 2011 01:05 PM PDT "The search is on for the next class of TED Fellows. The Fellows program is looking for 20 outstanding multidisciplinary innovators from around the world – techies, entrepreneurs, artists, scientists, bloggers, filmmakers, musicians, activists,  and more. " I've met a lot of TED fellows from around the world, and they are always doing incredibly interesting work. Apply for the TED Fellows Program through July 25, 2011

Adam Savage reviews The Practical Pyromaniac Posted: 16 Jul 2011 12:50 PM PDT Adam Savage reviewed William Gurstelle's fun-with-flammables book, The Practical Pyromaniac: Build Fire Tornadoes, One-Candlepower Engines, Great Balls of Fire, and More Incendiary Devices , for The Wall Street Journal. I have proof that we are not so far advanced as we would like to imagine, we humans. We may drive to work in hybrid, air-conditioned cars, eat hydroponically grown tomatoes on our salad and have the ability to instantly listen to any song in the history of music, but we are not as far from the roving bands on the veldt as we hope. My evidence: fire. You need only see humans' reactions to fire, in every form, to comprehend its import to us on a cellular level. Somewhere deep in our amygdalas we know how powerful our mastery over this primal force is, and how much that mastery separates us from all other living things. Children are especially connected to this fascination. I see my boys (12-year-old twins) playing with dinner candles just as I did at their age, with the same rapt fascination. I tell them to stop, just like my parents did—it's in the rulebook. Read an excerpt from The Practical Pyromaniac. Adam Savage: Young Men and Fire

Summertime Caturday Posted: 16 Jul 2011 12:50 PM PDT * Actually, all week has been a cavalcade of animated GIFs over on Google+. Follow me if you're into this sort of thing.

Walk without rhythm Posted: 16 Jul 2011 07:38 AM PDT Hydrothermal Worm imaged on a Quanta SEM [FEI via JWZ]

A geek's journal, 1976 Posted: 16 Jul 2011 07:00 AM PDT "What if there had been blogs in 1976? I would most definitely have had one and this might well have been it. This blog is based on my actual journal kept in 1976."

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