WATCHISMO TIME MACHINES - Timing is everything...
English plainclothes police officer follows himself for 20 minutes Sky News bans reporters from retweeting from "professional" accounts The making of a kid's app: Counting Box Pro Three Tibetan herders burn themselves alive in protest New Yorker long-read on gay student who killed himself after his roommate webcam-spied on him "What breast cancer is, and is not" Why is it more interesting to spend an evening with this book than a beautiful woman? Apps for Kids interview The Amish Project Black atheist group calls for 'Day Of Solidarity' during Black history month Errol Morris' short documentary about the five-time champion of the Philadelphia Wing Bowl eating competition Die Antwoord on Letterman (and Letterman on Die Antwoord) Tuning in to ambient urban sound: Alex Braidwood's "Listening Instruments" Homemade astronaut ice cream instructions Muslim man's motivational text to colleagues leads to terror probe Cancer rates triple among NYPD 9/11 first responders Mexican Banda bandits blamed for school tuba thievery Google's New Privacy Policy: Close But No Cigar Stunning snapshot of the moon When Listerine made cigarettes Mark Jenkins's public sculptures of mannequins in distress Reading lamps made from drilled-out books Excerpt from The Information Diet, by Clay Johnson Jobs of the medieval city The OMG-AR15 Unicorn zombie gun Brain Rot: Hip Hop Family Tree, The Origin Of "Hip Hop", And A Tale From Hollis, Queens Graphic novel on stage in Los Angeles EFF's PlayStation 3 PSA: jailbreaking shouldn't be a crime Maggie in a silent auction to support Phillips Neighborhood Medical Clinic "I've robbed the rainbow to make you gay" English plainclothes police officer follows himself for 20 minutes
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 08, 2012 09:21 am An undercover police officer in Sussex, England, shadowed a suspicious character through the streets a small market town for 20 minutes, following directions passed to him by a CCTV operator who guided him towards the suspect. After 20 minutes, the CCTV operator realized that the "suspicious character" was the police officer himself. The operator directed ...
Read in browser Sky News bans reporters from retweeting from "professional" accounts
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 08, 2012 04:55 am Sky News has issued guidance to its reporters on their Twitter use. Under the new policy, Sky reporters are prohibited from retweeting from rival journalists and the public (though they are allowed to retweet each other). They are also not allowed to tweet about subjects that aren't their beat. Finally, they're prohibited from "personal" tweets ...
Read in browser The making of a kid's app: Counting Box Pro
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 07, 2012 11:14 pm Last week, Tom Klimchak emailed me with a link to a counting box app he made for his son. He said he'd been inspired by Cory's post about Nathan's beautiful wooden cased Kid's Counting Box (above), so I asked Tom to write about how he developed the app and the things he learned while developing ...
Read in browser Three Tibetan herders burn themselves alive in protest
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 07, 2012 11:05 pm The crisis among ethnic Tibetans in Sichuan Province continues: "three livestock herders set themselves on fire to protest what they saw as political and religious repression at the hands of the Chinese authorities," reports the New York Times, bringing the total number of such self-immolations over the past year to 19, "an unprecedented wave of ...
Read in browser New Yorker long-read on gay student who killed himself after his roommate webcam-spied on him
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 07, 2012 11:02 pm "That September, Tyler Clementi and Ravi were freshman roommates at Rutgers University, in a dormitory three miles from the courtroom. A few weeks into the semester, Ravi and another new student, Molly Wei, used a webcam to secretly watch Clementi in an embrace with a young man. Ravi gossiped about him on Twitter: 'I saw ...
Read in browser "What breast cancer is, and is not"
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 07, 2012 10:43 pm [Video Link] The Komen kerfuffle that inspired this video may soon pass from the headlines, but for people living with the disease, breast cancer—and the fight for dignity, survival, and a cure— is forever. I now count myself among them. I watched this video many times this weekend, while recovering from the most recent round ...
Read in browser Why is it more interesting to spend an evening with this book than a beautiful woman?
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 07, 2012 10:41 pm (Via This isn't Happiness)
Read in browser Apps for Kids interview
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 07, 2012 10:32 pm Libsyn kindly featured Apps for Kids as its "Rockin' New Podcast" of the week, and interviewed me about it. Why did you start podcasting? I started Apps for Kids because my 8-year-old daughter Jane and I like to play games on the iPhone and iPad together. We have a lot of fun checking out new ...
Read in browser The Amish Project
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 07, 2012 10:29 pm [Video Link] A young man disconnects from the "cloud" for 90 days, on a mission to reboot his connection with the world and the people he loves in it. (via Joe Sabia)
Read in browser Black atheist group calls for 'Day Of Solidarity' during Black history month
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 07, 2012 10:14 pm [Video Link]Members of the Black skeptics organization African Americans For Humanism (AAH) are planning events on Feb. 26 in six major U.S. cities, "targeting African-Americans who have privately or openly questioned their faith." The group holds religion responsible for "many of the problems plaguing the African American community" and promotes "rational and scientific methods of ...
Read in browser Errol Morris' short documentary about the five-time champion of the Philadelphia Wing Bowl eating competition
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 07, 2012 10:10 pm A double treat from Errol Morris: a short video documentary about a man who calls himself the Wingador, the five-time champion of the Philadelphia Wing Bowl eating competition, and an accompanying essay about Morris' fascination with "champion eaters." I have been fascinated by champion eaters for over 30 years. When I was in Berkeley, Calif., ...
Read in browser Die Antwoord on Letterman (and Letterman on Die Antwoord)
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 07, 2012 10:07 pm [Video Link]. "Well...by God..." —David Letterman. Die Antwoord's new album, TEN$ION, is out today. (via Clayton Cubitt)
Read in browser Tuning in to ambient urban sound: Alex Braidwood's "Listening Instruments"
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 07, 2012 10:01 pm [Video Link, via LAist] Los Angeles area radio station KPCC produced this lovely video portrait of designer, educator, and media artist Alex Braidwood. His work "explores methods for transforming the relationship between people and the noise in their environment." In the video, you'll see Alex wearing what I believe may be his Noisolation Headphones, "an ...
Read in browser Homemade astronaut ice cream instructions
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 07, 2012 10:00 pm [Video Link] Rachel Hobson says: Ever since I was a kid, I've adored the crunchy/creamy sweet treat of astronaut ice cream. Now that I live just five minutes from Johnson Space Center, the freeze-dried confection is the top request when we take visiting friends to the gift shop at Space Center Houston. There is just ...
Read in browser Muslim man's motivational text to colleagues leads to terror probe
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 07, 2012 09:43 pm On Jan. 21, 2011, 40-year-old telecommunications sales manager Saad Allami of Quebec sent a text message to colleagues encouraging them to "blow away" the competition at an upcoming trade show in New York City. His innocent intent, he claims: to "pump up his staff." He was arrested without warning days later, detained, searched, and presumed ...
Read in browser Cancer rates triple among NYPD 9/11 first responders
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 07, 2012 09:40 pm From the Telegraph: "Of the 12,000 who attended the scene of the atrocity at the World Trade Center 10 years ago, 297 have been diagnosed with cancer, almost triple the incidence before the attack. A report said that 56 who have been diagnosed had since died."
Read in browser Mexican Banda bandits blamed for school tuba thievery
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 07, 2012 09:38 pm The Los Angeles Times reports that two more $6,000 King brass sousaphones (marching band tubas) have been burgled from an LA county high school this week, in an extended run of thefts over recent months blamed on "the popularity of Mexican banda music."
Read in browser Google's New Privacy Policy: Close But No Cigar
By Adam Levin on Feb 07, 2012 09:10 pm Last week was a pretty good one for the notion of privacy in America, which has increasingly become forlorn and tattered as a result of the advancement of digital technology. First, the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Jones that warrantless GPS tracking of a criminal suspect by the FBI was unconstitutional, and then ...
Read in browser Stunning snapshot of the moon
By David Pescovitz on Feb 07, 2012 08:47 pm BB pal Nick Harmer snapped this gorgeous photo of the moon last night in Seattle just by pressing his Canon S95 point-and-shoot against the eyepiece of his Orion Starblast 6 telescope! His crescent moon photo from January 26 is a beaut too.
Read in browser When Listerine made cigarettes
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 07, 2012 08:21 pm A long-lost brand, and singularly odd one. Like discovering Spicy Cajun Visine Hot Sauce lurking in the product's history. listerine cigarettes.....
Read in browser Mark Jenkins's public sculptures of mannequins in distress
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 07, 2012 07:06 pm Sculptor Mark Jenkins's "City" series is comprised of lifelike mannequins placed in public spaces in odd postures, often in seeming distress or danger, usually with a broadly humorous undertone. They're pretty funny stuff. Shown here: "Barcelona Trashgirl." City (via kikirikipics)
Read in browser Reading lamps made from drilled-out books
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 07, 2012 06:05 pm Typewriter Boneyard does a sweet line of reading lamps made from drilled-out old books, fitted with replica Edison bulbs. Hardback Book Lamps (via Neatorama)
Read in browser Excerpt from The Information Diet, by Clay Johnson
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 07, 2012 05:25 pm Clay Johnson is the author of The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption, which has been getting a lot of media attention lately: Weekend Edition, Triangulation, Atlantic, The Wirecutter, to name a few. I haven't read it yet, because I'm too busy consuming other sources of information. But it's on my to-read list! The ...
Read in browser Jobs of the medieval city
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 07, 2012 05:02 pm Here's a neatly categorized and tantalizing list of medieval urban professions, including the criminal trades. silk-snatcher - one who steals bonnets stewsman - probably a brothel keeper - "since the words stew and stewholder both mean a bawd, I'm guessing that a stewsman would be a brothel-keeper as well. Whether bawdry counts as a criminal ...
Read in browser The OMG-AR15 Unicorn zombie gun
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 07, 2012 04:45 pm Marque Cornblatt made the OMG-AR15 Unicorn zombie gun using Smith & Wesson parts and an 18v pole saw. "It's very accurate," he says. Below, a video of it in use. Inspired by the recent trend towards rifle-mounted chainsaws, we at Guns & Gardens wanted to give the idea a try -- our way. First, we ...
Read in browser Brain Rot: Hip Hop Family Tree, The Origin Of "Hip Hop", And A Tale From Hollis, Queens
By Ed Piskor on Feb 07, 2012 04:45 pm Hip Hop Family Tree Part 1 Hip Hop Family Tree Part 2 Hip Hop Family Tree Part 3 Hip Hop Family Tree Part 4
Read in browser Graphic novel on stage in Los Angeles
By David Pescovitz on Feb 07, 2012 04:40 pm No Good Deed is a new multimedia play in Los Angeles that melds a graphic novel with live theater. Created by the edgy, experimental Furious Theatre Company -- including my brother Robert Pescovitz -- No Good Deed is a classic, dark superhero story of good and evil injected with the cultural criticism that is Furious' ...
Read in browser EFF's PlayStation 3 PSA: jailbreaking shouldn't be a crime
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 07, 2012 03:56 pm The Electronic Frontier Foundation is petitioning the US Copyright Office for a DMCA exemption legalizing "jailbreaking" -- modifying the devices you own so that they can run software of your choosing. The Copyright Office holds hearings every three years on DMCA exemptions and these need to be renewed at each hearing. To highlight the need ...
Read in browser Maggie in a silent auction to support Phillips Neighborhood Medical Clinic
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Feb 07, 2012 03:51 pm This Thursday, I'll be donating my time to support The Phillips Clinic, a free healthcare provider that serves more than 1000 patients in Minneapolis. Come to the Clinic's annual silent auction where you'll be able to bid on awesome items like gift cards, a hot air balloon ride, and a presentation by me! If you ...
Read in browser "I've robbed the rainbow to make you gay"
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 07, 2012 03:17 pm If Rick Santorum can apprehend the rainbow robber, all his problems will be solved.
Read in browser 
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