WATCHISMO TIME MACHINES - Timing is everything...
Leaked memo: USA blackmailed Spain into passing brutal, censoring copyright law Jamaica's new PM vows to ditch royal rule Rare 1970s Intel 4040 CPU could be yours! What's inside a $20,000 cellphone? Vertu Signature Dragon cellphone Sound it Out #12: Spoek Mathambo "Put Some Red On It" Dazzle makeup and hairstyles to confuse facial recognition algorithms "The Night Trawlers" by R.S. Connett Be an international policy fellow at the EFF Pauline Oliveros: "Bye Bye Butterfly" (1965) DeLorean buffed to mirror-finish Tatooine, a tourist's paradise Rick Santorum opposes contraception Hey, electric cars don't totally suck: A realistic sort-of rebuttal Woman pees out of a moving San Francisco bus Floor tiles made out of recycled leather belts Steampunk playing cards Invincible Space Lair for sale Precisely how the MPAA cooks the books on piracy losses Bruce Sterling and Jon Lebkowsky: "State of the World 2012" Create your own My Little Pony Pan-Am's ad for poseur cowboys Ken Goldberg on social learning among robots Tea pouring wizard Sunnygirls perform "From A Distance" Recess Stories: great show for kids Nathan Richard Phelps's oil pen marvels File-sharing becomes a recognized religion in Sweden Forecast uncertain: Chaos theory, weather prediction, and brain cancer Electric cars suck Leaked memo: USA blackmailed Spain into passing brutal, censoring copyright law
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 06, 2012 09:44 am On the eve of the enactment of Spain's harsh new copyright law, El Pais has published a leaked letter from the US Ambassador to the outgoing Spanish president ordering him to enact the copyright law America's industry wants to see, or face trade sanctions. Spain's new law establishes a Syrian/Chinese style censoring firewall that blocks ...
Read in browser Jamaica's new PM vows to ditch royal rule
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 06, 2012 05:38 am Jamaica's new Prime Minister -- who won by a landslide -- has vowed to turn the island into a republic, eliminating the Queen as the head of state. This may seem pretty pro-forma, but in the past few years, Canada's royal representative, the Governor General, has allowed the Prime Minister to suspend parliament for highly ...
Read in browser Rare 1970s Intel 4040 CPU could be yours!
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 06, 2012 04:47 am This vintage chip is on sale; a snap at only $800,000. Free shipping!
Read in browser What's inside a $20,000 cellphone?
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 06, 2012 03:58 am Having broken apart an extremely expensive cellphone from Vertu, what does one find inside it? "This is the one that I wasn't able to fix," writes S., who says he buys salvaged cellphones from insurers and repairs them for sale on eBay. "Although I've heard they improved recently, the first generation phone had the same ...
Read in browser Vertu Signature Dragon cellphone
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 06, 2012 02:13 am Two days ago, I described Vertu's $20,000 cellphones as "resembling dragon poo." Today, it announced the Signature Dragon Commemorative Edition. [Luxury News via The Verge] Update: Want to see a Vertu torn to pieces?
Read in browser Sound it Out #12: Spoek Mathambo "Put Some Red On It"
By Amy Seidenwurm on Jan 06, 2012 12:47 am Johannesburg's Spoek Mathambo (real name: Nthato Mokgata) makes music that blends traditional African sounds with very current electronica, goth, rock and dubstep elements. He's described it as "township tech" and the result is extremely weird and addictive. Mathambo is also a producer and graphic designer - he takes his personal post-Apartheid experiences and weaves them ...
Read in browser Dazzle makeup and hairstyles to confuse facial recognition algorithms
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 06, 2012 12:10 am CV Dazzle is a systematic approach to creating "dazzle" makeup and hair effects that fool computer vision systems. For example, you could change the symmetry of your face by painting a lightning bolt across it, causing all computer vision systems to mistakenly identify you as David Bowie. There is a strong emphasis towards radical-neutrality. The ...
Read in browser "The Night Trawlers" by R.S. Connett
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 06, 2012 12:07 am We have featured the incredible artwork of painter R.S. Connett before. Here is his latest work, called Night Trawlers. On his website, R.S. shares the story behind it: Many years ago, when I was a young boy, my father would wake me before dawn to go fishing in the Ocean. We would drive through the ...
Read in browser Be an international policy fellow at the EFF
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 05, 2012 11:10 pm Here's a sweet gig: the Electronic Frontier Foundation is soliciting applications for its annual Google Policy Fellowship,"an opportunity for undergraduate, graduate, and law students to work alongside the international Policy team on projects advancing debate on key public policy issues."
Read in browser Pauline Oliveros: "Bye Bye Butterfly" (1965)
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 05, 2012 11:03 pm [Video Link] David and I were talking about avant garde musicians' work from the 1960s and we both agree "Bye Bye Butterfly" by Pauline Oliveros is one of the best. "Through Pauline Oliveros and Deep Listening I finally know what harmony is... It's about the pleasure of making music." --- John Cage 1989
Read in browser DeLorean buffed to mirror-finish
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 05, 2012 10:25 pm On the Autopia forums, AkamaiDetailing recently unveiled his brushed-steel DeLorean, polished and buffed to a mirror finish: "This took an insane amount of time, but it was so worth it. Has anyone else done this before?" They have indeed.
Read in browser Tatooine, a tourist's paradise
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 05, 2012 09:12 pm From @LASTEXITshirts, an unattributed "commercial side of Tatooine" image, that made me guffaw. If you know who the creator is, please leave it in the comments! The commercial side of Tatooine. (via Super Punch)
Read in browser Rick Santorum opposes contraception
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 05, 2012 09:07 pm Lest you think that Rick Santorum is a mere garden-variety homophobe who offers no threat to the sexual freedom of hetero couples, consider this quote: "Many of the Christian faith have said, well, that's okay, contraception is okay. It's not okay. It's a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to ...
Read in browser Hey, electric cars don't totally suck: A realistic sort-of rebuttal
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Jan 05, 2012 08:46 pm As a Midwesterner and someone who has been paying a lot of attention to energy issues, I read Joel Johnson's recent Jalopnik essay with interest. "You're Not Alone. America Hates Electric Cars," is a pretty provocative title. But, as with most provocative titles, it doesn't really capture what Johnson is actually trying to say. So ...
Read in browser Woman pees out of a moving San Francisco bus
By David Pescovitz on Jan 05, 2012 08:28 pm At her Tumblr, Kelly Kate says: "HAPPY FUCKING NEW YEARS ASSHOLES, I JUST PEED OUT THE WINDOW OF A MOVING BUS." This image has generated many comments -- some funny, some offensive, some just plain predictable -- over at Mission Mission. (Thanks, Greg!)
Read in browser Floor tiles made out of recycled leather belts
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 05, 2012 07:51 pm Ting London makes bespoke flooring out of recycled leather belts, laying them down like floorboards. When/if you get sick of them, they'll take them back and recycle them. I'm not sure how they'd wear or what they'd be like to clean, but they look awesome. Each belt is hand selected to ensure a high grade ...
Read in browser Steampunk playing cards
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 05, 2012 07:13 pm Theory11's $6 Steampunk Playing Cards are manufactured in concert with the American Playing Card company on custom bronze-effect paper stock. The cards feature machinelike illustrations and are really rather well done. Steampunk Playing Cards - theory11.com (via The Dieline)
Read in browser Invincible Space Lair for sale
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 05, 2012 06:57 pm A nuke-proof space observation station in Carmel Valley, Ca., is up for sale. The asking price: $2,950,000. Able to take a 5 megaton blast, the Jamesburg Earth Station was built in the 1960s and was the first to receive live images from the moon during 1969's Apollo landing. Also included in the deal is 160 ...
Read in browser Precisely how the MPAA cooks the books on piracy losses
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 05, 2012 06:47 pm The Cato institute's dug deep into the MPAA's funny piracy accounting: "In IPI-land, when a movie studio makes $10 selling a DVD to a Canadian, and then gives $7 to the company that manufactured the DVD and $2 to the guy who shipped it to Canada, society has benefitted by $10+$7+$2=$19. Yet some simple math ...
Read in browser Bruce Sterling and Jon Lebkowsky: "State of the World 2012"
By David Pescovitz on Jan 05, 2012 06:07 pm Old-school bOING bOING contributors Bruce Sterling and Jon Lebkowsky posted their annual State of the World discussion on the good ol' Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link. Sidle up for some fine brain tennis. Jon says: The reality we're in today is reflected in responses I got when I asked my online social network what they thought ...
Read in browser Create your own My Little Pony
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 05, 2012 05:51 pm OMG there are like 1000 different hairstyles! Nonetheless, while I am proud of my Pony, this has failed to turn me into a Brony. [General Zoi's Pony Creator via Metafilter. Previously] UPDATE: My father sends me a poem that he alleges I wrote about My Little Pony as a 6 or 7 year-old. I love ...
Read in browser Pan-Am's ad for poseur cowboys
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 05, 2012 05:45 pm This Pan-Am ad from 1983 really grabbed my attention with an oddly disharmonious message: first you have the cowboy, sleeping with his hat over his eyes, a symbol of ruggedness and the ability to relax and sleep anywhere, out on the range under a cactus. But then you have the ad's USP: "Delta has spacious, ...
Read in browser Ken Goldberg on social learning among robots
By David Pescovitz on Jan 05, 2012 05:39 pm Over at the Huffington Post, UC Berkeley roboticist/artist Ken Goldberg writes about the future of social robots that help each other learn to better navigate a world they never made. From HuffPo (image of Goldberg's TeleGarden): Our robots are signing up for online learning. After decades of attempts to program robots to perform complex tasks ...
Read in browser Tea pouring wizard
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 05, 2012 05:24 pm [Video Link] Gravity seems to work differently at this Bangkok bazaar. (Via Tai-Wiki-Widbee)
Read in browser Sunnygirls perform "From A Distance"
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 05, 2012 05:17 pm [Video Link]Introducing the new teen sensation, The Sunnygirls, direct from Sweden. (So, that's where Slim Jim Phantom got the idea of standing up while drumming.) Sunnygirls perform "From A Distance"
Read in browser Recess Stories: great show for kids
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 05, 2012 05:08 pm Recess Stories #3: Rat Story web series for kids from Beeswax Productions on Vimeo. Recess Stories is a series of short fictional films about realistic kids' having kid-sized adventures on a school playground. In episode 3, the kids are excited about reports of a rat on the playground. I am excited to watch these with ...
Read in browser Nathan Richard Phelps's oil pen marvels
By David Pescovitz on Jan 05, 2012 05:08 pm One evening this week, my wife and I were walking on Market Street in San Francisco when we were awestruck by the painting at left leaning in the window of the E6 Gallery. The artist, Nathan Richard Phelps, was inside hanging his work for a solo show opening this Friday. He must have noticed our ...
Read in browser File-sharing becomes a recognized religion in Sweden
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 05, 2012 04:48 pm Sweden has given official religious status to Church of Kopimism, a faith and philosophy based on file-sharing. The faith's foundational document, ""POwr, broccoli and Kopimi," is available as a .torrent file indexed on The Pirate Bay (natch). It exhorts followers to undertake 100 tasks to attain #g_d (a hashtagged, all-lower-case version of the observant Jewish ...
Read in browser Forecast uncertain: Chaos theory, weather prediction, and brain cancer
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Jan 05, 2012 04:40 pm A diagnosis of brain cancer is basically a death sentence. It's a terrible thing for anyone to deal with, and it's only made worse by all the uncertainty. Doctors don't really understand how brain cancer works very well. Beyond death, there's often not a lot that they can tell patients about what to expect—how the ...
Read in browser Electric cars suck
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 05, 2012 04:06 pm Joel Johnson, formerly of Kotaku and Boing Boing Gadgets, is now at Jalopnik. His first editorial: You Are Not Alone. America Hates Electric Cars.
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