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Study: Bandwidth hogs aren't responsible for peak network congestion Global Chokepoints: new activist coalition monitors censorship through global copyright enforcement rules High-status trades indicated by enormous cigars in 1943 Little Printer, custom paper news-ticker for your living room Imperial Japanese Army acoustic locators: Let loose the tubas of war Mick Jagger, 15-year-old rock climber Police hand- and ankle-cuff 5-year-old, charge him with battery on a police officer Anthology of forgotten Carl Barks' Barney Bear comic books Hacking carbon emissions into Minecraft Kidnapper sues victims who escaped for breach of contract Jesus and Mary Chain, piano duo Cupcakes made from Coke, Ruffles, Mountain Dew, Doritos, Cheerwine, and Nehi grape soda How To: Debunk a myth The best spam I've received in a long time Senate set to pass bill that redefines America as a "battlefield," authorizes indefinite military detention of US citizens without charge or trial Battered Tahrir Square protester recounts Monday clashes Oil company changes its name to "Pixar" Interactive musical map of Colombia Crowdfunded journalism + crowdsourced expertise = ? X is for X-Ray: Cool, interactive kids' app JWZ: you don't need to sleep under your desk to succeed in a startup, but if you do, it'll make your VCs plenty rich Brain Rot: I Am The 99% Introversion releases source code for all its games Kit-a-day giveaway from MAKE: OWS and the webcasting revolution: Xeni on The Madeleine Brand Show Boars, Gore and Swords: 3rd best Game of Thrones podcast Stross: publishers' insistence on DRM "hands Amazon a stick with which to beat them" Venn Diagram: "Using a tent is not always just camping." Neil DeGrasse Tyson interviewed by out-of-character Stephen Colbert Star Trek Book of Opposites: educational reading for geek babies Study: Bandwidth hogs aren't responsible for peak network congestion
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 30, 2011 11:35 am David Weinberger does a great job summarizing a paywalled report by Benoît Felten and Herman Wagter, who investigated ISP usage patterns in five-minute-increments to see if "bandwidth hogs" were really a problem for ISPs. They found that there is indeed a set of users who download a whole lot: "The top 1% of data consumers…account ...
Read in browser Global Chokepoints: new activist coalition monitors censorship through global copyright enforcement rules
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 30, 2011 08:57 am A global coalition of activist groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation have created "Global Chokepoints," a worldwide initiative to monitor censorship arising from copyright enforcement. Global Chokepoints will document the escalating global efforts to turn Internet intermediaries into chokepoints for online free expression. Internet intermediaries all over the world—from Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to community-driven ...
Read in browser High-status trades indicated by enormous cigars in 1943
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 30, 2011 02:23 am This 1943 ad for humongous cigars enumerates all the high-status trades of the day, a strange mix that includes "metallurgist" "dramatist" and "munitions maker." Who IS that man with the huge ... cigar?
Read in browser Little Printer, custom paper news-ticker for your living room
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 30, 2011 01:27 am Today, London design firm Berg announced Little Printer, a "printer connected to the Web." Little Printer generates a hardcopy, customized news-ticker. It grabs stuff from sites based on your parameters, and you can send it stuff from your phone to read later. When you get home, you tear off the tape and have a little, ...
Read in browser Imperial Japanese Army acoustic locators: Let loose the tubas of war
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 30, 2011 12:21 am Behold, the fearsome Japanese War Tubas, used as "acoustic locators" by the Imperial Army. War Tubas
Read in browser Mick Jagger, 15-year-old rock climber
By Mark Frauenfelder on Nov 29, 2011 11:54 pm [Video Link] Then and now. Go, Mick!
Read in browser Police hand- and ankle-cuff 5-year-old, charge him with battery on a police officer
By Mark Frauenfelder on Nov 29, 2011 11:41 pm Police feel safer in Stockton, California, after they successfully subdued a big, scary 5-year-old boy, cuffing him with cable straps and charging him with "battery on a police officer." In it, the officer, Lt. Frank Gordo, says he placed his hand on Michael's and, "the boy pushed my hand away in a batting motion, pushed ...
Read in browser Anthology of forgotten Carl Barks' Barney Bear comic books
By Mark Frauenfelder on Nov 29, 2011 11:00 pm My friend Craig Yoe (a designer and comic book historian whom I interviewed on Gweek a while back) has has edited over 30 books about comic books and illustration, including Krazy Kat & the Art of George Herriman, Amazing 3-D Comics, Archie: A Celebration Of America's Favorite Teenagers, The Golden Collection Of Klassic Krazy Kool ...
Read in browser Hacking carbon emissions into Minecraft
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 29, 2011 10:51 pm James Smith's entry to the Stockholm Green Hackathon was a Minecraft mod that adds carbon emissions to the game, which revolves around resource extraction and use: When you burn some wood in a furnace, the mod calls out to AMEEconnect to do a calculation, and adds the result to a tracker in-game. As the carbon ...
Read in browser Kidnapper sues victims who escaped for breach of contract
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 29, 2011 09:49 pm Jesse Dimmick is suing Jared and Lindsay Rowley, whom he was convicted of kidnapping, for breach of contract. Dimmick argues that because the two won his trust when he invaded their house at knifepoint (while fleeing a murder charge which led to him driving over a police spike-strip in front of their house), and then ...
Read in browser Jesus and Mary Chain, piano duo
By David Pescovitz on Nov 29, 2011 08:47 pm Here is a lovely cover of The Jesus & Mary Chain's "Just Like Honey" played on two pianos!
Read in browser Cupcakes made from Coke, Ruffles, Mountain Dew, Doritos, Cheerwine, and Nehi grape soda
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 29, 2011 08:45 pm Orlando's new 4River Sweetshop sports dessert-like semi-edible object made by combining iconic junkfood in unthinkable ways, such as "Coke and Ruffles cupcakes, Mountain Dew and Doritos cupcakes, Cheerwine cupcakes and, still in the works, Nehi grape soda cupcakes." Rivers tells us that the baked goods will be available for online purchase – just in time ...
Read in browser How To: Debunk a myth
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Nov 29, 2011 07:33 pm I'm going to bookmark The Debunking Handbook, a quick-read pdf with all sorts of great advice for effectively countering misinformation. It's put together by the same people behind Skeptical Science, my go-to source for detailed, easy-to-understand debunkings of pretty much every climate-science-related myth you can rattle off.
Read in browser The best spam I've received in a long time
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Nov 29, 2011 06:48 pm I love unintentionally funny email spam so much. Sadly, it's been a long time—like, years—since I got any that wasn't just a boring re-tread of now-standardized routines. Then, this morning, a wonderful change of pace. In my in-box I found a strange hybrid of the Nigerian prince scam + the foreign lady looking for love ...
Read in browser Senate set to pass bill that redefines America as a "battlefield," authorizes indefinite military detention of US citizens without charge or trial
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 29, 2011 06:41 pm The US Senate's Defense Authorization Bill redefines America as a "battlefield" and authorizes US troops to conduct military arrests of civilians on US soil, and to indefinitely detain citizens without charge or trial. The ACLU wants you to write to your senator and demand that this insanity not pass. The Senate is going to vote ...
Read in browser Battered Tahrir Square protester recounts Monday clashes
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 29, 2011 06:39 pm Alejandro De La Cruz from Turnstyle News tells Boing Boing, Our reporter out of Egypt, Shadi Rahimi, has completed an online post with video on a Tahrir Square protester who was in the middle of Monday's clashes. The demonstrator, whose name is Saleh, says he was battered, arrested and later released. He says he considers ...
Read in browser Oil company changes its name to "Pixar"
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 29, 2011 06:24 pm A Canadian oil company called Paramount Resources has changed its name to Pixar. Seriously. Previously known as Paramount Resources, I guess the executives got tired of being named after one of Hollywood's has-been brands. As far as I can tell, this is not a joke, there's even a serious sounding press release composed without a ...
Read in browser Interactive musical map of Colombia
By David Pescovitz on Nov 29, 2011 06:21 pm The excellent Soundway Records label continues its musical exploration of Colombia with another huge compilation, The Original Sound of Cumbia. To promote the release, they've created a really fantastic interactive "Musical Map of Colombia." Browsing the map is a fascinating experience whether or not you intend to buy the new compilation. That said, I'd wager ...
Read in browser Crowdfunded journalism + crowdsourced expertise = ?
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Nov 29, 2011 06:15 pm This is a small thing now, but could become more interesting in the future. American Public Media (the people behind a lot of the shows you hear on NPR) have a project called the Public Insight Network, which connects journalists with average people who want to share information about their hobbies, passions, or areas of ...
Read in browser X is for X-Ray: Cool, interactive kids' app
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Nov 29, 2011 06:04 pm There are lots of alphabet books out there. Matching a letter to an object and pairing them with a little bit of cute poetry is a conceit that goes back to the days when alphabet books were printed on a single sheet of paper protected by a thin layer of animal horn. What makes the ...
Read in browser JWZ: you don't need to sleep under your desk to succeed in a startup, but if you do, it'll make your VCs plenty rich
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 29, 2011 05:21 pm Prompted by his being quoted in Michael Arrington's article on how you should view your work at a startup, Jamie Zawinski opines that the reason that venture capitalists tell you that startups should involve health-destroying, life-destroying, brutal work is because doing this will make them rich, not you. He calls this a con. JWZ, who ...
Read in browser Brain Rot: I Am The 99%
By Ed Piskor on Nov 29, 2011 05:08 pm 
Read in browser Introversion releases source code for all its games
By Rob Beschizza on Nov 29, 2011 05:00 pm The Humble Introversion Bundle -- a pay-what-you-want compilation of the games Uplink, Darwinia, Defcon and Multiwinia -- gets a huge upgrade today: the source code for every title and a bonus game, Dungeons of Dredmor. Every buyer gets the source, but Dungeons of Dredmor is unlocked only if you beat the average donation, which is ...
Read in browser Kit-a-day giveaway from MAKE:
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 29, 2011 04:54 pm Gareth from MAKE: sez, "To celebrate the release of our special Make: Ultimate Kit Guide, we're running a Kit-A-Day Giveaway between now and Dec 23. We're giving away nearly $9,000 worth of merch from the Maker Shed, including FIVE MakerBots! To be eligible, all you have to do is leave a comment on that day's ...
Read in browser OWS and the webcasting revolution: Xeni on The Madeleine Brand Show
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 29, 2011 04:48 pm A man leans against the wall of City Hall at the Occupy LA encampment after the 12.01am eviction deadline in Los Angeles (Reuters) I joined The Madeleine Brand Show today to talk about independent live-streaming backpack journalists covering Occupy Wall Street. What gear are they using, how and why are they doing what they do, ...
Read in browser Boars, Gore and Swords: 3rd best Game of Thrones podcast
By Jason Weisberger on Nov 29, 2011 04:31 pm When all my friends were talking about George "Rail Road" Martin's 'Game of Thrones' -- I was lost. The show confused me, the books were just not an option; yet a small circle of my friends were completely obsessed. Then I found the Boars, Gore and Swords podcast. Released quasi-weekly, Ivan and Red were just ...
Read in browser Stross: publishers' insistence on DRM "hands Amazon a stick with which to beat them"
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 29, 2011 04:13 pm Charlie Stross unloads both barrels on the big six publishers and their insistence on using DRM in connection with their ebooks, arguing that their demands for DRM lock their customers into Amazon's Kindle platform, "handing Amazon a stick with which to beat them harder." DRM on ebooks gives Amazon a great tool for locking ebook ...
Read in browser Venn Diagram: "Using a tent is not always just camping."
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 29, 2011 02:59 pm Link to larger size, from @punkboyinsf.
Read in browser Neil DeGrasse Tyson interviewed by out-of-character Stephen Colbert
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 29, 2011 01:52 pm The Kimberley Academy in Montclair, New Jersey hosted a fascinating, one-hour chat between Neil DeGrasse Tyson -- Hayden Planetarium director, TV science host, and all-round good guy -- with Stephen Colbert in a rare, out-of-character appearance. Stephen Colbert Interview - Montclair Kimberley Academy (via Kottke)
Read in browser Star Trek Book of Opposites: educational reading for geek babies
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 29, 2011 01:31 pm Tor.com has a gallery of pages from the Star Trek Book of Opposites, a board-book for little happy mutants featuring illustrations from the original Star Trek series. Star Trek Book of Opposites
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