WATCHISMO TIME MACHINES - Timing is everything...
A new tradition in China: honoring the dead with paper iPads, iPhones Kutcher to play Jobs Iraqi defector whose phony WMD intel and "sexed up graphics" led to 100,000+ deaths: "Yes, I lied." Robert Silverberg's lost crime novel: Blood on the Mink Brain Rot: Hip Hop Family Tree, 10 Years Before Yo! MTV Raps, A Major Crew Breaks Up Raising money for a shared-world, Mayan-themed fantasy anthology on Kickstarter Master Dog Grooming Tools HOWTO make a disco-ball helmet Consumer Reports approves of iPad Bruce Sterling's critique and love note to "the New Aesthetic" Facing Romneality Strip-searches for any arrest OK'd by Supreme Court Remembering the PalmPilot Tinkerforge: open source electronic building-blocks Joel Stein's stupid quest for manly literature Truck plunges off cliff edge Episode 1 of Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day's "Tabletop," a net-show about tabletop gaming sessions The Dalek Relaxation Tape (by Peter Serafinowicz) Patti Smith on CBS Sunday Morning The world's smallest model car To juice, or not to juice? David Lynch "Crazy Clown Time" (Video) HOWTO make a shotgun rainbow The world's ugliest buildings, according to... Map of US police departments' policies on tracking cell-phone use without a warrant Bill Keller on Hate Crimes Machine for bulk-archiving thousands of floppies Redditor claims his licensed Asimov student film project shut down by I, Robot production Yoda's dialog corrected for grammar Autism: Awareness isn't enough A new tradition in China: honoring the dead with paper iPads, iPhones
By Xeni Jardin on Apr 03, 2012 12:58 pm April 4 in China marks Tomb Sweeping Day (Qingming Festival), an ancient cultural tradition in which families honor their ancestors by visiting their tombs and leaving offerings of food. Not unlike Día de Los Muertos, really. Brian Ashcraft writes at Kotaku: Paper replicas depict items that can be used in the afterlife, such as clothing, ...
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By David Pescovitz on Apr 03, 2012 12:42 pm Ashton Kutcher will play Steve Jobs in "Jobs," an indie film that starts shooting next month. From CNN: The timing of the story, which was published Sunday on Variety's website, combined with Kutcher's well-known love of pranks, led some to dismiss it as an April Fools' joke. But CNN confirmed Monday through a representative for ...
Read in browser Iraqi defector whose phony WMD intel and "sexed up graphics" led to 100,000+ deaths: "Yes, I lied."
By Xeni Jardin on Apr 03, 2012 12:32 pm Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, aka "Curveball", an Iraqi defector who falsified testimony about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, confirms that he made the whole thing up in an interview airing this week on the BBC2 TV series, "Modern Spies." The former chemical engineer's "confidence trick" was used by the Bush administration to justify going ...
Read in browser Robert Silverberg's lost crime novel: Blood on the Mink
By Mark Frauenfelder on Apr 03, 2012 12:23 pm Tom says: Blood on the Mink is Robert Silverberg's long lost crime novel, which tells the story of a government agent going undercover to infiltrate a counterfeiting ring. Acclaimed science-fiction and fantasy author Silverberg, a five-time winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, received the genre's highest honor in 2004 when he was named ...
Read in browser Brain Rot: Hip Hop Family Tree, 10 Years Before Yo! MTV Raps, A Major Crew Breaks Up
By Ed Piskor on Apr 03, 2012 12:00 pm Read the rest of the Hip Hop Family Tree comics! Hey dudes, I just recently finished designing the book cover for my soon to be released graphic novel and it's finally up on Amazon at almost %50 off cover, if you're interested.
Read in browser Raising money for a shared-world, Mayan-themed fantasy anthology on Kickstarter
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 03, 2012 11:54 am R. Scott Taylor, a senior editor at Blackgate Magazine, is running a Kickstarter project to raise money for a Mayan-themed fantasy shared-world series. The stories are already written, with contributions by Lynn Flewelling, Harry Connolly, Juliet McKenna, Martha Wells, Robert Mancebo, Julie Czerneda, Michael Tousignant and Todd Lockwood. They're nearly at their goal of $10,000, ...
Read in browser Master Dog Grooming Tools
By Cool Tools on Apr 03, 2012 11:00 am I've used this tool, for about 6 months on a long-haired Chow/Labrador mix and on a Corgi. They both shed like crazy and the undercoat is a serious challenge with the Chow. This grooming tool takes care of the undercoat like nothing I've ever used. It's also apparently less painful for the dogs, as it ...
Read in browser HOWTO make a disco-ball helmet
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 03, 2012 10:30 am On Instructables, Natalina explains how she turned her motorcycle helmet into a disco ball: "This disco ball helmet uses real glass, as it is intended as a costume piece (to be paired with a disco backpack, coming soon!). If you want it to be functional, acrylic mirror would be safer and lighter weight (though not ...
Read in browser Consumer Reports approves of iPad
By Rob Beschizza on Apr 03, 2012 10:11 am After criticizing the new iPad for its heat output, Consumer Reports nonetheless places it at the top of its latest list of tablets.
Read in browser Bruce Sterling's critique and love note to "the New Aesthetic"
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 03, 2012 01:43 am Bruce Sterling's "An Essay on the New Aesthetic," is a dense, difficult, exciting critical look at the New Aesthetic, a kind of art movement centered in my neighbourhood in east London ("If you wanted a creative movement whose logo is a Predator supported by glossy, multicolored toy balloons, London would be its natural launchpad."). Sterling ...
Read in browser Facing Romneality
By Rob Beschizza on Apr 03, 2012 12:25 am David Javerbaum in the New York Times Sunday Review: "Mitt Romney is but one of countless Mitt Romneys, each occupying his own cosmos, each supporting a different platform ... all of them running for president at the same time, in their own alternative Romnealities, somewhere in the vast Romniverse. And all of them losing to ...
Read in browser Strip-searches for any arrest OK'd by Supreme Court
By Rob Beschizza on Apr 02, 2012 11:12 pm The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 today that anyone arrested in the U.S. may be strip-searched. [NYT]
Read in browser Remembering the PalmPilot
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 02, 2012 11:01 pm It's clearly a bit of April foolery, but Donald Melanson's review of the PalmPilot Personal on Engadget does a nice job of capturing the excitement of those early PDAs. I owned every model of Palm and Handspring device for several years, and really organized my life around them. Unlike many of the so-called "handheld PCs" ...
Read in browser Tinkerforge: open source electronic building-blocks
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 02, 2012 10:35 pm Bastian sez, "Tinkerforge offers open source electronic building blocks. There are sensing-, motor controlling- and wireless building blocks. You can select the modules you need for your project, plug them together and with only a few lines of code you can program your system. You can control it from your PC/Mac, tablet or smartphone." Tinkerforge ...
Read in browser Joel Stein's stupid quest for manly literature
By Rob Beschizza on Apr 02, 2012 10:27 pm Time columnist Joel Stein writes that adults should read only adult books. The only thing more embarrassing than catching a guy on the plane looking at pornography on his computer is seeing a guy on the plane reading "The Hunger Games." Or a Twilight book. Or Harry Potter. The only time I'm O.K. with an ...
Read in browser Truck plunges off cliff edge
By Rob Beschizza on Apr 02, 2012 09:52 pm Marit Almendingen of the Helgeland Arbeiderblad writes that the truck driver survived this terrifying drop in Norway. [via Hooniverse]
Read in browser Episode 1 of Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day's "Tabletop," a net-show about tabletop gaming sessions
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 02, 2012 08:47 pm Last month, I wrote about Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day's announcement of their joint project, Tabletop, a net-show that records rollicking tabletop gaming sessions. The first episode, covering the game Small World, is out, and it does not disappoint. This is 30 minutes of incredibly good fun, with a great guest list: Wil Wheaton and ...
Read in browser The Dalek Relaxation Tape (by Peter Serafinowicz)
By Xeni Jardin on Apr 02, 2012 08:36 pm [Video Link] Created by Peter Serafinowicz.
Read in browser Patti Smith on CBS Sunday Morning
By Xeni Jardin on Apr 02, 2012 08:24 pm The legendary singer/songwriter Patti Smith, one of my personal heroes, sat down with CBS News host Anthony Mason to discuss her career and her forthcoming album in this hour-long video. She performs two songs: "My Blakean Year" and "Grateful." They also talk about her 2010 book, "Just Kids," a memoir of the formative years she ...
Read in browser The world's smallest model car
By Rob Beschizza on Apr 02, 2012 08:23 pm This electron microscope photograph, published by the Vienna University of Technology, shows a nano-scale model of a Formula One racing car, created using a 3D printing technique being developed there. The BBC has more on the new technique.
Read in browser To juice, or not to juice?
By Xeni Jardin on Apr 02, 2012 08:09 pm Over at the Wirecutter, Brian Lam has an exhaustive, intensively-researched, budget-minded examination on what gadgets to buy (or not!) if one wants to drink nice fresh vegetable juices every day. Do read it.
Read in browser David Lynch "Crazy Clown Time" (Video)
By Amy Seidenwurm on Apr 02, 2012 08:03 pm Here's the new self-directed video for "Crazy Clown Time," the new single from director (and songwriter) David Lynch. His new album is also called Crazy Clown Time. Mr. Lynch continues to make very disturbing and effecting films.
Read in browser HOWTO make a shotgun rainbow
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 02, 2012 07:57 pm In this short video, Kirsti show us how she uses a shotgun and some standing water to make a beautiful rainbow that carries the delicate scent of gunpowder and magic. KIRSTI'S SHOTGUN RAINBOW (via Neatorama)
Read in browser The world's ugliest buildings, according to...
By Rob Beschizza on Apr 02, 2012 07:43 pm The Daily Telegraph has determined the world's ugliest buildings. Some of them are hideous indeed, but the collection is perhaps more interesting as an illustration of what the fancier echelons of British conservative like to be told about architecture. [Telegraph via The Awl. Photo: Steve Cadman, CC BY 3.0]
Read in browser Map of US police departments' policies on tracking cell-phone use without a warrant
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 02, 2012 07:36 pm ACLU affiliates across America requested information on local law enforcement's use of cell-phone tracking, and received a wealth of disturbing information about the extent of wireless tracking. They produced a map showing which police departments were discovered to be tracking people's phones without a warrant, either by getting gutless phone companies to fink out their ...
Read in browser Bill Keller on Hate Crimes
By Rob Beschizza on Apr 02, 2012 07:20 pm Should the same crime deserve greater punishment if motivated by racial hatred or bigotry? At The New York Times, former editor Bill Keller says no, with the murder of Treyvon Martin as his entry point to the issue. He thereby instantaneously won the argument for his opponents, explains Choire Sicha. Here there is a convergence ...
Read in browser Machine for bulk-archiving thousands of floppies
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 02, 2012 06:42 pm @OzzyDweller has 5,000 3.5" Amiga floppy disks that he needs to archive, so he built a glorious rube-goldbergian floppy-disk bulk-importing device. It has a magazine filled with floppies that are auto-inserted into a drive, copied, spat out, photographed (so their label art can be captured), and dropped to an untidy higgeldy-piggeldy pile on the floor. ...
Read in browser Redditor claims his licensed Asimov student film project shut down by I, Robot production
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 02, 2012 06:28 pm A Reddit user called capt_wink_martindale wrote a piece last month describing what he claims happened to him as a student film-maker who'd licensed the rights to an Isaac Asimov story for his thesis project, and his project was shut down due to legal intimidation from the film studio producing the I, Robot film. He does ...
Read in browser Yoda's dialog corrected for grammar
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 02, 2012 04:54 pm YodaFan has recut Yoda's scenes from the Star Wars movies to correct his grammar. I've always summarized Yoda's speech patterns with this: "Bad grammar have I you think? When 900 years old you are, talk like your zayde you will, too!" Speaking Correct Order of Words Yoda Is (via IO9)
Read in browser Autism: Awareness isn't enough
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 02, 2012 03:32 pm Science writer Steve Silberman does an amazing job covering neurodiversity and the Autism community, so I've been waiting to get his take on the recent Centers for Disease Control data that found the rate of autism prevalence in the United States to be 1 in 88. That prevalence rate has been on an upward trend ...
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