WATCHISMO TIME MACHINES - Timing is everything...
Firesign Theater's Peter Bergman has died Durham County, UK: No more #13 address Helmet cam video of scary downhill bike race on the streets of Valparaiso, Chile Medical aid worker on Kony 2012: "The aid industry has just been Biebered." Cutest video you'll see all day of penguins flying on a plane Solar Flare update: A Hot Mess FBI's LulzSec informant Sabu: "Party boy of the projects" Union Jacket Last chance for Canadians to weigh in on Canada's SOPA Wander the desert in Journey, a game for explorers Solipsist eBook Review: Ex-Heroes Leave Kony Alone Westerfeld's Uglies continues in manga form: Shay's Story Seduced by Food: Obesity and the Human Brain Giant chocolate Cthulhu idol Infographic: Charter Cable's dirty tricks to kill community broadcast Suspended tent-hammock sleeps 5-8 Arizona Senate votes to let anti-abortion docs lie to pregnant women Amy Crehore: Basker's Cove Recursive D&D dungeon is a procedural dungeon-generation system Reddit PAC aims to kick SOPA's daddy Lamar Smith out of Congress TSA body-scanner guy says TSA is "strongly cautioning" reporters not to write about him NSFW word-for-word comics adaptation of A Princess of Mars Excerpt from Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works Pickpocket uses chopsticks -- video Make: Talk 008: Kyle Machulis, Kinect Hacker Profile of Ralph Baer, 90-year-old video game pioneer Macro photos of the inside of musical instruments Canadian copyright consultation drawing to a close - time to contact your MP Firesign Theater's Peter Bergman has died
By Xeni Jardin on Mar 09, 2012 12:57 pm Writer and comedian Peter Bergman, best known as a member of the surrealist troupe The Firesign Theater, died last night of complications from leukemia. (Thanks, Taylor Jessen)
Read in browser Durham County, UK: No more #13 address
By David Pescovitz on Mar 09, 2012 12:45 pm Durham County in north east England will no longer use the house number 13 in any new streets or developments. THe Durham County Council cabinet hopes it will help sell homes that numerically should be designated #13 on the street. From Durham Times: Dave Wilcox, the council's strategic highways manager, said the change reflected the ...
Read in browser Helmet cam video of scary downhill bike race on the streets of Valparaiso, Chile
By Mark Frauenfelder on Mar 09, 2012 12:39 pm [Video Link] As I watched this, I kept tilting my head up to see what was coming down the road, but it didn't work. (Thanks, Felipe Li!)
Read in browser Medical aid worker on Kony 2012: "The aid industry has just been Biebered."
By Xeni Jardin on Mar 09, 2012 12:35 pm On his personal blog, Marc DuBois of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, Doctors without Borders) writes about the impact of the hyper-viral Kony 2012 campaign on the work of long-established humanitarian efforts in Africa. "Most madmen love the idea of fame so Joseph Kony's wet dream just came true," writes DuBois. Many aid workers are simultaneously ...
Read in browser Cutest video you'll see all day of penguins flying on a plane
By Xeni Jardin on Mar 09, 2012 12:08 pm [Video Link.] Yahoo's "Sideshow" blog has the story behind this video, and an accompanying photo gallery slideshow. On a recent Delta Flight, there were 300 or so human passengers and two foot-and-a-half tall penguins, Pete and Penny, who are 6 and 12 years old respectively. They were on their way to the New York premiere ...
Read in browser Solar Flare update: A Hot Mess
By Xeni Jardin on Mar 09, 2012 11:36 am Click for more images. Above, one of a number of images released by NASA today that show how a coronal mass ejection (or CME) from our Sun progressed on March 8, 11:38 PM EST to March 9, 12:53 AM EST. These were captured by the Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Snip from NASA: The sun is ...
Read in browser FBI's LulzSec informant Sabu: "Party boy of the projects"
By Xeni Jardin on Mar 09, 2012 11:08 am The New York Times has a colorful profile piece out on Hector Xavier Monsegur, who agreed to serve as an FBI informant in the LulzSec/Anonymous sting in hopes of reducing possible prison sentence of more than a hundred years.
Read in browser Union Jacket
By Rob Beschizza on Mar 09, 2012 11:00 am London's Impero Leather offers this fantastic tailed leather jacket, a steampunk answer to the postapocalyptic duster that the late Alexander McQueen designed for David Bowie in the 1990s. It's rather expensive, yes.
Read in browser Last chance for Canadians to weigh in on Canada's SOPA
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 09, 2012 10:42 am Michael Geist sez, "Open Media, which launched the most successful Canadian online petition in history on usage based billing, is now encouraging people to speak out on copyright reform. The group makes it easy to speak out against SOPA-style reforms, harms to fair dealing, and unduly restrictive digital lock rules. This is the last chance ...
Read in browser Wander the desert in Journey, a game for explorers
By Rob Beschizza on Mar 09, 2012 10:31 am Journey casts the player as a robed wanderer in the desert. There is no narrative, no backstory, and nothing to do battle with; just a landscape of dunes, ruins and strange guardians to explore. Objectives emerge only slowly, and a distant mountain looms ever-closer as one progresses. Even better, it's designed to be played with ...
Read in browser Solipsist
By Rob Beschizza on Mar 09, 2012 09:58 am Solipsist, by Andrew Huang, is winner of Slamdance 2012's special jury prize for experimental short film. It stars Mary Elise Hayden, Marissa Merrill and Dustin Edward. There's also a mini-"making of" documentary; check out a lovely rock video for Avi Buffalo by the same director. [Vimeo via io9]
Read in browser eBook Review: Ex-Heroes
By Jason Weisberger on Mar 09, 2012 09:57 am Talk about crazy eBook genres -- I started with Zombie novels; survive the apocalypse, rebuild society after the apocalypse, zombie break-outs through history -- you name it we got it. Then I was reading super-hero fiction that was surprisingly similar to the teen-angst magical powers; just replace the dark and brooding black outfits with capes ...
Read in browser Leave Kony Alone
By Xeni Jardin on Mar 09, 2012 09:48 am Video Link. For those who are unfamiliar, this is a riff on a classic internet meme. Well played. (via Oxblood) Kony 2012: a viral mess - Boing Boing African voices respond to hyper-popular Kony 2012 viral campaign ... Joseph Kony documentary: bringing the world's attention to the ...
Read in browser Westerfeld's Uglies continues in manga form: Shay's Story
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 09, 2012 09:00 am I've written several times here about Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series, a collection of outstanding dystopian YA science fiction novels about a world where everyone is forced to undergo cosmetic surgery at the age of 16. Westerfeld concluded the series in 2007, but now he is revisiting the world in manga form, co-creating a series of ...
Read in browser Seduced by Food: Obesity and the Human Brain
By Stephan J. Guyenet on Mar 09, 2012 08:00 am Photo: grahamc99, CC BY 2.0. In 1960-1962, the US government collected height and weight measurements from thousands of US citizens. Using these numbers, they estimated that the prevalence of obesity among US adults at the time was 13 percent. Fast forward to the year 2007-2008, and in the same demographic group, the prevalence of obesity ...
Read in browser Giant chocolate Cthulhu idol
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 08, 2012 11:29 pm Jason sez, "A follow up to last years insanely popular Chocolate Cthulhu Idol comes the Giant Chocolate Cthulhu Idol. Standing 7.5 inches tall and weighing a sanity shattering 2 lbs, this solid green chocolate treat is a must have for the devoted cultist." (Thanks, Jason!)
Read in browser Infographic: Charter Cable's dirty tricks to kill community broadcast
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 08, 2012 10:35 pm Christopher sez, "We developed an infographic along the lines of 'The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly' to show how Charter Cable is engaging in predatory pricing to kill cable/broadband competition in one of the few places in the US people have a choice. You want to know why we don't have real competition in ...
Read in browser Suspended tent-hammock sleeps 5-8
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 08, 2012 09:41 pm Hammock-tent-makers Tentstile have a new 5-8 person model -- string it up between a couple-three massive trees and it becomes a treetop aerie, far above the madding crowd of critters and hikers. Tentsile combines the comfort and versatility of a hammock with the usable space and security of a tent. The ultra portable structure uniquely ...
Read in browser Arizona Senate votes to let anti-abortion docs lie to pregnant women
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 08, 2012 09:31 pm The Arizona Senate has passed a bill that immunizes doctors from malpractice suits if they deliberately withhold information about prenatal problems because they don't want the woman carrying the fetus to consider an abortion. (Thanks, Nodeg!)
Read in browser Amy Crehore: Basker's Cove
By Mark Frauenfelder on Mar 08, 2012 09:30 pm My friend, artist Amy Crehore, has finished a lovely painting, called Basker's Cove.
Read in browser Recursive D&D dungeon is a procedural dungeon-generation system
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 08, 2012 09:30 pm Tavis sez, "A mind-blowingly recursive poster that represents the AD&D rules for procedural dungeon generation as a flowchart which is drawn as a dungeon. From the The Mule Abides blog at NYC's intersection between role-playing games, the gallery art scene, and how Kickstarter can jam 'em together. Cory's linked the Mule before as HOWTO have ...
Read in browser Reddit PAC aims to kick SOPA's daddy Lamar Smith out of Congress
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 08, 2012 09:26 pm Mike sez, "With the Texas Primaries coming up in May, I thought you would be interested to know that some of the Redditors that were involved in the boycott on GoDaddy.com and 'Operation Pull Ryan' (where Reddit raised money for Rep. Paul Ryan's opponent), have started TestPAC, a non-connected, registered PAC, with the goal of ...
Read in browser TSA body-scanner guy says TSA is "strongly cautioning" reporters not to write about him
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 08, 2012 08:52 pm Jon Corbett, who posted a video explaining a vulnerability in TSA full-body scanners that might allow dangerous objects onto airplanes now reports that two different reporters have told him that they were contacted by a TSA spokesperson called Sari Koshetz who "strongly cautioned" them not to write about his video.
Read in browser NSFW word-for-word comics adaptation of A Princess of Mars
By Mark Frauenfelder on Mar 08, 2012 08:24 pm Heidi MacDonald has a great post about a Henry Darger-esque fellow named James Killian Spratt who created a obsessively detailed version of Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars. In a few short hours, I’ll be doing something I’ve dreamed about my whole life -- going to see a movie about John Carter of Mars… ...
Read in browser Excerpt from Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works
By Mark Frauenfelder on Mar 08, 2012 07:55 pm [Video Link] Here's an excerpt from the new book, Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works, by Ash Maurya. It's published by O'Reilly (which also publishes MAKE, the magazine I edit). Running Lean is an ideal tool for business managers, CEOs, small business owners, developers and programmers, and anyone who's interested ...
Read in browser Pickpocket uses chopsticks -- video
By Mark Frauenfelder on Mar 08, 2012 07:45 pm [Video Link] These Chinese fellows use chopsticks to liberate their comrades of their material possessions. It looks like hard work but fortunately the passers-by who notice don't disturb the pickpockets, nor do the folks doing the video-taping. After a long day of stealing, these thieves all all set for facial tissue! (Thanks, lunchthief!)
Read in browser Make: Talk 008: Kyle Machulis, Kinect Hacker
By Mark Frauenfelder on Mar 08, 2012 07:11 pm Here's the 8th episode of MAKE's podcast, Make: Talk! In each episode, I interview one of the makers featured in the magazine. Our maker this week is Kyle Machulis, a hardware and software hacker who led the team in making the reverse engineer drivers for the Microsoft Kinect. Kyle is also an avid self-tracker, which ...
Read in browser Profile of Ralph Baer, 90-year-old video game pioneer
By Mark Frauenfelder on Mar 08, 2012 07:09 pm This is an excellent short profile of video game pioneer Ralph Baer. He's 90 and still inventing. "I still get a big charge out of making something work. I write the hardware, I push a button, I put it into the microprocessor and it works. Ahhh… beautiful." Ralph Baer is often called the father of ...
Read in browser Macro photos of the inside of musical instruments
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 08, 2012 06:42 pm On Behance, art director Bjoern Ewers shows off the gorgeous macro-photo ads he produced for the Berlin Philharmonic, which depict the insides of instruments as airy atria (or, as Colossal has it, "vast and spacious, almost as if you could walk around inside them.") ART DIRECTION: INSTRUMENTS FROM INSIDE (via Colossal)
Read in browser Canadian copyright consultation drawing to a close - time to contact your MP
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 08, 2012 06:01 pm Michael Geist sez, The long road of Canadian copyright reform is nearing an end as the Bill C-11 committee concluded hearing from witnesses yesterday and indicated that it will begin a "clause-by-clause" review of the bill starting on Monday. While there will still be some additional opportunities for debate - third reading in the House ...
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