The Latest from Boing Boing

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• Shareholders take Vodafone to account for network shutdown during Egyptian revolution
• Not quite Kickstarted: Robots Love Ice Cream iPad game
• The Practical Pyromaniac Clerihew Contest
• Theatre Bizarre posters
• Assemblage brooches and chokers that mix found objects, junk jewelry and vintage military insigia
• Chester Winowiecki’s handmade music
• Recreational lockpicking workshop at Maker Faire Detroit
• Kaleidoscopic maps: Rorschmap
• Well-engineered pizza box keeps grease out of the cardboard for easier recycling
• Ladies! Cannonball cure for constipation

Shareholders take Vodafone to account for network shutdown during Egyptian revolution Posted: 30 Jul 2011 10:26 PM PDT AccessNow, an NGO that works for human rights values in telcoms policy, took a resolution to the Vodafone Board meeting in London last week, holding the company to account for its network shutdown during the Egyptian revolution and asking it to endorse a plan to uphold its customers’ human rights in future. “I am asking this question as a proxy and on behalf of thousands of people from over 85 countries who have endorsed this question to the Vodafone Board. Our question is, in recognition of the challenges that you and other telcos faced during the Egyptian revolution and the lessons you've learned from this experience might you be better prepared for any future crises – which is undoubtedly in the wings – by committing to doing a human rights assessment of your licensing agreements in the roughly 70 countries you operate in, to ensure that, for example, you are both able to protect your staff and the integrity of the network, but not in the position of having to once again shut down the internet or send pro-regime messages to your customers as happened earlier in the year in Egypt? I would like to present you with a five step action plan, consistent with the GNI principles, which we believe would assist you to protect Vodafone’s brand and shareholder’s profits and ask that you consider adhering to the practices outlined in the action plan.” In addition to prolonging the misery and bloodshed of the Egyptian revolution, Vodafone’s network shutdown also resulted in the death of Egyptians who couldn’t use their phones to call ambulances during medical emergencies. Not to mention all the money the shareholders lost when millions of Egyptians lost their phone service. Access' Questions Vodafone's Board At Annual Shareholders' Meeting (Thanks, Brett!) (Image: vodafone in Egypt, a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from emiemihuimei’s photostream)

Not quite Kickstarted: Robots Love Ice Cream iPad game Posted: 30 Jul 2011 05:46 PM PDT Today I got a message from Burton Posey on Google+ about a Kickstarter project he’s working on with his wife. They’re making an iPad game called “Robots Love Ice Cream”. I liked the art they’d been working on, and I especially liked that they were having music created especially for the game by Disasterpeace. Since it hasn’t met its goal yet, I made a small donation to the project. If you’d like to do the same, you only have a couple hours left to do so, as the project’s fundraising deadline looms before us. Robots Love Ice Cream on Kickstarter

The Practical Pyromaniac Clerihew Contest Posted: 30 Jul 2011 03:49 PM PDT My friend William Gurstelle is holding a clerihew contest to promote his new book, TThe Practical Pyromaniac. Sounds like fun! "Hello Poetry Lovers" That was often the introduction to "Bullwinkle's Corner," a frequent segment of the 1960s cartoon, The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. To this day, I still remember many of the poems Bullwinkle recited. Some of my favorite segments included "Wee Willie Winkie," "Little Miss Muffet," and umm, "I Love Little Pussy." To celebrate the publication of my new book, The Practical Pyromaniac, the Chicago Review Press (my publisher), is sponsoring a contest to see who can write the most creative Clerihew about fire, scientists, and similarly geeky subjects. For the budding poet, writer, or wiseacre with a scientific bent, it's a great opportunity for creativity! Perhaps you're wondering, just what in the world is a Clerihew and what does it have to do with the book? Well, young Edmund Clerihew Bentley invented his eponymous, erratically metered, four line poems a century ago. Clerihews are more fun than limericks, and more useful than letter mnemonics for remembering things. The Practical Pyromaniac includes multiple clerihews, including this one about the famous English scientist, Sir Humphrey Davy: Sir Humphrey Davy Abominated gravy. And lived in the odium Of inventing sodium. For some reason, there have been quite a few written about famous scientists. Sir James Dewar Is smarter than you are. None of you asses Can liquefy gases. Here's one I made up. Steven Hawking Has trouble talking. But in his mind, The cosmos is defined. Entering The Contest: The rules for writing Clerihews are pretty simple: 1) It has four shortish lines of irregular length and meter. 2) The first two lines and the last two lines rhyme, at least sort of. 3) The first line contains, and in fact, may consist solely of, the subject's name. Are there prizes? You bet! One (1) first place winner will receive the Chicago Review Press DIY book pack (Absinthe & Flamethrowers, Backyard Ballistics, Miniweapons of Mass Destruction, and Unscrewed), a $25 gift certificate to ThinkGeek.com, and a $25 gift certificate to Maker Shed. One (1) second and one (1) third place winner will receive the Chicago Review Press DIY book pack. To enter, compose your Clerihew and visit this site where you'll find an entry form and complete rules.

Theatre Bizarre posters Posted: 30 Jul 2011 11:26 AM PDT Theatre Bizarre (see the documentary trailer) is here at Maker Faire in Detroit and John Dunivant‘s hand painted signs for it are incredible. They are about six feet tall. (Thanks, Zombo the Clown!)

Assemblage brooches and chokers that mix found objects, junk jewelry and vintage military insigia Posted: 30 Jul 2011 09:03 AM PDT Jennie Sharman-Cox’s assemblage jewelry uses a wide variety of materials, including a lot of pieces of British military regalia, encrusted with fake pearls and found objects. She’s got a great compositional eye and the finished pieces are really beautiful; I just bought one for my wife at Luna and Curious in London. Jennie Sharman-Cox

Chester Winowiecki’s handmade music Posted: 30 Jul 2011 09:00 AM PDT I met Chester Winowiecki at Maker Faire Detroit (happening this weekend). He makes cool stringed instruments out of pie pans and cookie tins. They sound great! I’ve asked him to write a pie pan banjo uke how to for MAKE. I can’t wait to make one myself. Watch a video of Chester

Recreational lockpicking workshop at Maker Faire Detroit Posted: 30 Jul 2011 08:06 AM PDT If you are at Maker Faire Detroit come join me at the lockpicking workshop that toool.us is conducting!

Kaleidoscopic maps: Rorschmap Posted: 30 Jul 2011 07:57 AM PDT James Bridle created Rorschmap, which kaleidoscopes the satellite views of your favorite spots (shown here, the center of Manhattan). Rorschmap (via Waxy)

Well-engineered pizza box keeps grease out of the cardboard for easier recycling Posted: 30 Jul 2011 05:50 AM PDT Scott from Scott’s Pizza Tours is obsessed with pizza box engineering, and posts YouTube videos about the pizza boxes people send him from all over the world. In this installment, he explores a fantastic box from Eataly that is coated with a recyclable, reflective finish that keeps the food hot and prevents the grease from getting on the cardboard. Pizza boxes with grease on them can’t be recycled (and they really screw up the recycling system if they slip through!), so this is a major breakthrough. Scott Presents: The Greatest Pizza Box On Earth (via JWZ)

Ladies! Cannonball cure for constipation Posted: 30 Jul 2011 05:42 AM PDT In 1901, this Ladies Guide in Health and Disease ad advised women that they should let an “eminent German physician” cure their constipation by rolling a leather-encased cannonball around on their tummies. Well then, that’s good to know.

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