WATCHISMO TIME MACHINES - Timing is everything...
Repairing a Victorian hat-fitting Conformateur with 3D printed parts Rick Santorum tells boy not to use pink bowling ball Pink slime in the context of history When was Super Mario Bros. released? Bald eagle, fox, and cat are porch friends User uploads to YouTube hit one hour per second Dummies guide to Fallout 2 Anything an Ultrabook now Bacon-themed coffin Because we are all mature adults How to: Replace unnecessary antibiotics with a good dose of empathy Destruction by numbers Want superconductivity? Add red wine. Virgin boy piss eggs a treat in China Paul Vixie's firsthand account of the takedown of DNS Changer EyeWire: a videogame to help scientists trace the neurons in a retina Sponsor Shout-Out: Watchismo Before the Lights Go Out: Maggie's energy book is thoughtful, timely, necessary UK tories embroiled in Cornish Pasty row Potato removed from clergyman's anus Original MC Frontalot CD art for sale Padlock daisy-chains NatGeo Adventure iPad app: Greatest Stories Ever Told Behold! Our new mascot Czechoslovakian tank helmets Rolling on the river: The future of local energy 5 days until the release of The Art of Daniel Clowes: Modern Cartoonist! (…plus your chance to win an autographed copy today) Trailer for Comic Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope Speculations on the origins of the Disney Haunted Mansion organist and hitchhiking ghosts Java Rings from 1998 Repairing a Victorian hat-fitting Conformateur with 3D printed parts
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 29, 2012 01:00 pm A followup to yesterday's post about the Conformateur, a 19th century hat-fitting device acquired by Tricia Roush to aid in her millnery. Here is a post from La Bricoleuse, another proud Conformateur owner, whose gizmo needed some TLC to get into good running shape: specifically, it needed new parts that were output from a 3D ...
Read in browser Rick Santorum tells boy not to use pink bowling ball
By Mark Frauenfelder on Mar 29, 2012 12:51 pm “You’re not gonna use the pink ball. We're not gonna let you do that. Not on camera. Friends don’t let friends use pink balls.” (Via Cynical-C)
Read in browser Pink slime in the context of history
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Mar 29, 2012 12:27 pm I haven't written much about pink slime—that creamy mixture of meat and animal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of industrial meat processing. Most of what's being written about this lately comes from a place of outrage. And I'm really not sure I can get outraged about pink slime. Why not? After all, we're talking ...
Read in browser When was Super Mario Bros. released?
By Rob Beschizza on Mar 29, 2012 12:24 pm At Gamasutra, Frank Cifaldi tries to pin down a fact that's suprisingly slippery: when was Super Mario Bros. released in the U.S.? The official date—October 19, 1985—is somewhat unconvincing. The console industry crash turned the era into a crater of press inattention and poor record-keeping, showing that even in the computer age, the hard facts ...
Read in browser Bald eagle, fox, and cat are porch friends
By Mark Frauenfelder on Mar 29, 2012 12:02 pm [Video Link] Contented creatures on a porch in Unalaska, Alaska in the Aleutian Islands. See how the fox, eagle and cat are all just fine hanging out and no one is trying to attack anyone and they are getting along just fine? Notice the eagle in the background on the lamp post down by the ...
Read in browser User uploads to YouTube hit one hour per second
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 29, 2012 12:00 pm User uploads to YouTube have hit one hour per second -- that is, sixty hours per hour. It's a testament to how much latent expression there is in the world, waiting for a distribution platform to make it possible to share it. Before you dismiss this with the shibboleth about YouTube being nothing but illegal ...
Read in browser Dummies guide to Fallout 2
By Rob Beschizza on Mar 29, 2012 11:58 am Joe Martin plays through classic RPG Fallout 2 with a character of the lowest possible intelligence: "Confidently, I lead Al out of his village, ignoring the hurled insults by the useless NPCs and staying focused on my destination; Klamath. The nearby town is the first stop everyone makes in Fallout 2 and I know it's ...
Read in browser Anything an Ultrabook now
By Rob Beschizza on Mar 29, 2012 11:49 am To help other PC manufacturers replicate the MacBook Air's runaway sales, Intel defined its specifications as the Ultrabook: slim, lightweight SSD-based laptops without the performance compromises of a netbook. But as soon as they became successful, the vendors slid, applying the hot branding to any old thing in their lineup: Samsung now has 4lb "Ultrabooks" ...
Read in browser Bacon-themed coffin
By Mark Frauenfelder on Mar 29, 2012 11:45 am Is there a better way to show your love of bacon forever than to be buried wrapped in it? We don't think so. This genuine bacon casket is made of 18 Gauge Gasketed Steel with Premium Bacon Exterior/Interior, and includes a Memorial and Record Tube, Adjustable Bed and Mattress and Stationary and Swingbar handles. It ...
Read in browser Because we are all mature adults
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Mar 29, 2012 11:41 am And now: The science of farting. (via Hannah Waters)
Read in browser How to: Replace unnecessary antibiotics with a good dose of empathy
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Mar 29, 2012 11:20 am A key component of antibiotic resistance is the over-use of antibiotics. We talk about this a lot in the context of over-the-counter antibacterial cleansers, but there's a doctor's office side to this story, as well. When sick people come into a doctor's office, part of what they are looking for is psychological wellness. They want ...
Read in browser Destruction by numbers
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Mar 29, 2012 11:09 am In nine years of filming, the show Myth Busters has burned through 33,500 yards of duct tape. (Via Katherine Nelson)
Read in browser Want superconductivity? Add red wine.
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Mar 29, 2012 11:04 am Why does electricity move along wires? This is one of those questions where the answer is relatively simple—the wires are made of conductive metal—but the meaning behind the answer isn't always well-understood. Conductive metals are conductive because of things going on at the tiny scale of atoms and electrons. If you want to understand superconductivity, ...
Read in browser Virgin boy piss eggs a treat in China
By Rob Beschizza on Mar 29, 2012 11:03 am "[It's] the start of busy times for dozens of egg vendors across the city, deep in coastal Zhejiang province, who ready themselves to cook up a unique springtime snack favored by local residents. Basins and buckets of boys' urine are collected from primary school toilets. It is the key ingredient in "virgin boy eggs", a ...
Read in browser Paul Vixie's firsthand account of the takedown of DNS Changer
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 29, 2012 11:00 am Carl Malamud sez, "Paul Vixie tells a real-life action adventure about the DNS Changer and Conficker plagues that are still active on the Internet and how he ended up running a center for disease control in addition to his day job. His day job, in case you're not familiar with isc.org, consists of helping keep ...
Read in browser EyeWire: a videogame to help scientists trace the neurons in a retina
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 29, 2012 10:00 am Robert sez, "The gamified EyeWire project, now in open beta, is about using human computation to help trace the neurons in a retina. Tracing the neurons will help nail down the computation that goes on inside the retina leading up to the optic nerve, and lead to better methods of brain mapping. Come and help ...
Read in browser Sponsor Shout-Out: Watchismo
By Rob Beschizza on Mar 29, 2012 09:00 am Our thanks go to Watchismo for sponsoring Boing Boing Blast, our once-daily delivery of headlines by email. These brand spanking new Projects TOWARDS watches are as unique in construction as they are in style. The case is tilted toward the wearer at an angle, making for an ergonomic timepiece with large numbers and an easy-to-view ...
Read in browser Before the Lights Go Out: Maggie's energy book is thoughtful, timely, necessary
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 29, 2012 08:43 am Boing Boing science editor Maggie Koerth-Baker's debut book comes out today. It's called Before the Lights Go Out, and I was lucky enough to get to read an early copy back in January. If you read Boing Boing, you already know about Maggie's wonderful ability to make scientific subjects accessible without sacrificing nuance -- and ...
Read in browser UK tories embroiled in Cornish Pasty row
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 29, 2012 02:46 am UK chancellor George Osborne was confronted on his government's decision to charge value-added tax (VAT) on hot take-away food like pasties. Labour MP John Mann asked Osborne when he'd last had a pasty from Gregg's, a chain of bakeries. Osborne couldn't recall. But PM David Cameron was ready for the question when it next arose ...
Read in browser Potato removed from clergyman's anus
By Rob Beschizza on Mar 28, 2012 11:19 pm "He explained to me, quite sincerely, he had been hanging curtains naked in he kitchen when he fell backwards on to the kitchen table and on to a potato," said Sheffield, England A&E nurse Trudi Watson. "But it's not for me to question his story." [Metro]
Read in browser Original MC Frontalot CD art for sale
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 28, 2012 10:39 pm MC Frontalot sez, "The unstoppable Eliza Gauger is selling off the original back-cover painting that she did for my album Zero Day. A little bit of nerdcore history available to the aspiring archivist, with about two days left to bid." ZERO DAY
Read in browser Padlock daisy-chains
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 28, 2012 07:20 pm Sculptor Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's piece "Nothing is more optimistic than Stjärnsund" is a curator's playset of modified, daisy-chain-able padlocks. I like the idea of a necklace of these things, lying flat like an industrialized, faux-Egyptian burial ornament. This piece consists of twenty modified padlocks which can be interconnected to create chains or assemblages, as the collector ...
Read in browser NatGeo Adventure iPad app: Greatest Stories Ever Told
By Mark Frauenfelder on Mar 28, 2012 07:18 pm (Photo by Will Steger) In a sea of sunlight and drifting snow, huskies awaited their handler's call on the first leg of the traverse. Because dogs were banned from the continent after April 1, 1994, the TAE stands as Antarctica's last dogsled expedition. Here's a gallery of photos from the new National Geographic Adventure: Greatest ...
Read in browser Behold! Our new mascot
By Rob Beschizza on Mar 28, 2012 06:29 pm From Boston Dynamics: "Sand Flea is an 11-lb robot with one trick up its sleeve: Normally it drives like an RC car, but when it needs to it can jump 30 feet into the air. An onboard stabilization system keeps it oriented during flight to improve the view from the video uplink and to control ...
Read in browser Czechoslovakian tank helmets
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 28, 2012 06:16 pm From the Joseba Revuelta collection, photos and commentary (in Spanish) on vintage Czechoslovakian tank-helmets, which were apparently accessorized to the nines. CASCOS CARRISTAS CHECOOSLOVACOS (via Making Light)
Read in browser Rolling on the river: The future of local energy
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Mar 28, 2012 05:49 pm Today, most of the electricity in the United States is generated in very large facilities—capable of serving millions of homes—far away from the people who will actually use that electricity. We do it this way because it makes financial sense. It's cheaper to produce electricity in bulk and ship it over transmission lines, than it ...
Read in browser 5 days until the release of The Art of Daniel Clowes: Modern Cartoonist! (…plus your chance to win an autographed copy today)
By Mark Frauenfelder on Mar 28, 2012 05:44 pm …and our countdown continues with more Clowes extras that couldn’t be included in the book. Joey Ramone talks about Clowes and I Don’t Want to Grow Up & the Launch of the danielclowes.com YouTube Channel [Video Link] Alvin says: "Daniel Clowes drew the art for the Ramones animated music video for their cover of Tom ...
Read in browser Trailer for Comic Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope
By Mark Frauenfelder on Mar 28, 2012 04:59 pm [Video Link] I'm looking forward to seeing this documentary. Comic Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope -- a film by Morgan Spurlock explores this amazing cultural phenomenon by following the lives of five attendees as they descend upon the ultimate geek mecca at San Diego Comic-Con 2010: -- Eric, an aspiring illustrator, is hoping to ...
Read in browser Speculations on the origins of the Disney Haunted Mansion organist and hitchhiking ghosts
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 28, 2012 04:12 pm The Long Forgotten blog -- my best source for scholarly discussion of the Disney Haunted Mansion and spook houses more generally -- tackles the historical origins of the rides' haunted organ and the ghostly hitchhikers. It's a timely piece, as I published the long-mothballed comic that Christopher and I made in 2007 to explain the ...
Read in browser Java Rings from 1998
By David Pescovitz on Mar 28, 2012 04:09 pm At the JavaOne 1998 conference, Sun gave out rings like this one. It's embedded with an iButton chip containing a Java Virtual Machine. Based on the 1-Wire device communications bus system, IButtons can act as a token for access control, e-cash, data logging etc. 1-Wire systems are still in common use and someone is selling ...
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