[Sponsor] Gutted of clutter and completely exposed, the limited edition & numbered mechanical Storm Mekon watches (released exclusively at Watchismo) have totally deconstructed the basic wristwatch while maintaining traditional boundaries. The case frames no physical dial but instead supports a lone single bridge of gears spanning the void across the wrist presenting the hours and minutes into what might be considered an analog hourglass.
R2D2 turntable Snowball: excellent and addictive Flash pinball Quiz! Are these tasteless mobile apps real or fake? First human-powered ornithopter takes wing (literally), 2010 London's dystopian Olympics: criminal sanctions for violating the exclusivity of sponsors' brands Beautiful industrial and architectural letterheads from a bygone era How to blog Canada Post sues crowdsourced postal-code database, claims copyright in Canadian postal-codes Make: Talk 013 - Arts Refoundry Bronze Casting Workshops What is "used book smell?" TSA Blog boasts of nabbing soup smuggler Children cover Rammstein Creating graphics for the Yellow Pages, 1970s-style Russian City Always On the Watch Against Being Sucked Into the Earth A doctor reviews the science of "House" 1930s monkey ad for Ethyl, John Cleese on how to be creative Hugo shorts online Catholic students fight back against archdiocese's anti-family rhetoric Population growth isn't really our problem Cai Guo-Qiang Explosion Event at MOCA Maggie speaking at three events in Minneapolis next week What is a smart grid and why should you care? Explore the twists and turns of the Chislehurst Caves on Obscura Day, April 28, 2012 AT&T ad boasting about armored payphones, 1971 Exit to the Labyrinth (excerpt), a film by Eileen Yaghoobian Cigar Box Guitars book photo gallery Boing Boing... FOREVER R2D2 turntable
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 14, 2012 12:58 pm This R2D2 DJ turntable is a nice piece of work. I found it on Nerd Approved, to which it had been submitted by a reader named Jessica, who noted, 'Tech, lights and all mechanics are by Tex Nasty at Remix turntable lab. Paint/Theme art by Ed Hubbs at full blown kustoms." The R2-D2 Turntable (via ...
Read in browser Snowball: excellent and addictive Flash pinball
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 14, 2012 10:56 am Snowball is Pixeljam's Flash take on a computer pinball game, and it's an incredibly fun table. I intended to play for a few minutes to try it out and got sucked in for an hour. Snowball is simultaneously very true to the spirit of physical pinball while managing to deliver a board and several mechanics ...
Read in browser Quiz! Are these tasteless mobile apps real or fake?
By David K. Israel on Apr 14, 2012 10:49 am In this quiz, you must decide whether 15 apps are for real, or completely made-up. From scatological humor to ethnic insensitivity and tasteless decor, the mobile marketplaces have ... some of it.
Read in browser First human-powered ornithopter takes wing (literally), 2010
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 14, 2012 09:00 am In 2010, the Snowbird, a human-powered ornithopter created by a University of Toronto team, became the first HPO to sustain flight. The HPO project at U of T has a great YouTube feed of its various flights since, though it seems largely dormant today. HPO Team News | Human Powered Ornithopter Project (via Lifelines)
Read in browser London's dystopian Olympics: criminal sanctions for violating the exclusivity of sponsors' brands
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 14, 2012 08:50 am As London ramps up for the 2012 Olympics, a dystopian regime of policing and censorship on behalf of the games' sponsors is coming online. A special squad of "brand police" will have the power to force pubs to take down signs advertising "watch the games on our TV," to sticker over the brand-names of products ...
Read in browser Beautiful industrial and architectural letterheads from a bygone era
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 14, 2012 02:34 am Bibliodyssey has curated a beautiful collection of letterheads from 19th century and early 20th century architectural and industrial firms, doing a lot of cleanup and posting the hi-rez images to Flickr. The originals are from Columbia University's Biggert Collection. The images in this post all come from Columbia University's very large assortment of commercial stationery ...
Read in browser How to blog
By Rob Beschizza on Apr 14, 2012 12:10 am Laptop isolated on a white background, Shutterstock I was invited to give a talk at Washington & Jefferson College about careers in blogging. Clearly, this would entail explaining why everything they'd heard about blogging was completely wrong. A good crowd turned up and it was a fairly casual affair, but I got in some good ...
Read in browser Canada Post sues crowdsourced postal-code database, claims copyright in Canadian postal-codes
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 13, 2012 08:00 pm Michael Geist sez, Canada Post has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Geolytica, which operates GeoCoder.ca, a website that provides several geocoding services including free access to a crowdsourced compiled database of Canadian postal codes. Canada Post argues that it is the exclusive copyright holder of all Canadian postal codes and claims that GeoCoder appropriated ...
Read in browser Make: Talk 013 - Arts Refoundry Bronze Casting Workshops
By Mark Frauenfelder on Apr 13, 2012 06:27 pm Here's the 13th episode of MAKE's podcast, Make: Talk! Our makers this week are Kate Mayfield and Gordon Bowen, owners of the biodiesel-fueled Arts Refoundry in Los Angeles. A couple of weeks ago my 9-year-old daughter Jane and I took a bronze casting workshop at Arts ReFoundry. Here's what we made: If you don't live ...
Read in browser What is "used book smell?"
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 13, 2012 05:52 pm In this short video, Richard from ABEbooks describes the distinctive smell of old books ("a combination of grassy notes with a tang of acids and a hint of vanilla, with an underlying mustiness") caused by hundreds of volatile compounds released during the slow oxidization of the paper, glues and inks. Why Do Old Books Smell? ...
Read in browser TSA Blog boasts of nabbing soup smuggler
By Mark Frauenfelder on Apr 13, 2012 05:46 pm Our close personal friend at the TSA, Blogger Bob, gave a rundown of prohibited items confiscated by his fellow officers on the front lines of the War on Terror. Concealed Knife – A knife was found zip-tied to the inner workings of a bag handle at Cedar Rapids (CID). Clever, but no match for our ...
Read in browser Children cover Rammstein
By Xeni Jardin on Apr 13, 2012 04:54 pm [Video Link, and here's the original for comparison.] Lots more on their YouTube channel. Uploader cartemarte1 explains: Only 5 yrs and 8 mo, Cornelia is helping her older brother and sister to record one of their favorite songs. Rammstein has some amazing compositions, likeable to younger kids too. Children Medieval Band: Stefan (10) - vocal, ...
Read in browser Creating graphics for the Yellow Pages, 1970s-style
By Mark Frauenfelder on Apr 13, 2012 04:46 pm Paul Di Filippo says: Thought you might like the video that we posted to the AT&T Tech Channel today. It's a 1977 film that highlights a new Bell Labs-developed system for building advertisements to publish in the Yellow Pages. While very crude by today's Photoshop/Illustrator/Fireworks/whatever standard, the scanner + dynamic design system was a huge ...
Read in browser Russian City Always On the Watch Against Being Sucked Into the Earth
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 13, 2012 04:27 pm That's the headline in the New York Times. Really, what more do I need to say?
Read in browser A doctor reviews the science of "House"
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 13, 2012 04:22 pm Earlier this week at The Conference on World Affairs, I watched a panel about science in the movies. During the panel, physicist and science writer Sidney Perkowitz said that, out of all the people writing about science and medicine in Hollywood, the writers of House are some of the people who care the most about ...
Read in browser 1930s monkey ad for Ethyl,
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 13, 2012 04:19 pm Long before there was a "tiger in your tank," Ethyl wanted to assure you that this delightful simian would speed your jalopy along. Knock! Knock! Who's there?
Read in browser John Cleese on how to be creative
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 13, 2012 04:00 pm John Cleese's 35-minute lecture on creativity is warm and funny and humane. I find myself disagreeing rather strongly with his central premise, though: Cleese advises giving yourself 30 minutes to sit quietly before being creative, letting all the nagging voices in your head quieten before you try to be creative. I've really found that by ...
Read in browser Hugo shorts online
By Rob Beschizza on Apr 13, 2012 03:51 pm John Scalzi collected links to online copies of this year's Hugo-nominated short stories. [Whatever]
Read in browser Catholic students fight back against archdiocese's anti-family rhetoric
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 13, 2012 03:36 pm Minneapolis' Catholic DeLaSalle High School had a mandatory assembly recently for its senior class, to educate the students on what marriage is and what a family ought to look like. As you might guess, this also meant telling the students who didn't count as a family and why some families were bad. It didn't go ...
Read in browser Population growth isn't really our problem
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 13, 2012 03:10 pm In the course of preparing for a panel here at the Conference on World Affairs, I ran across a 2009 editorial by environmental journalist Fred Pearce, in which he explains why current global population trends aren't as horrific as they're often made out to be. I thought you should read it. Global population is going ...
Read in browser Cai Guo-Qiang Explosion Event at MOCA
By Amy Seidenwurm on Apr 13, 2012 02:52 pm LA's Museum of Contemporary Art invited the city to the opening party for Cai Guo-Qiang's "Sky Ladder" exhibition, the highlight of which was a massive explosion of rockets and other fireworks, titled "Mystery Circle." Thousands of people filled the museum grounds for the big event. Several introductory speakers (including the artist) described what was about ...
Read in browser Maggie speaking at three events in Minneapolis next week
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 13, 2012 02:47 pm I'll be talking about electricity, infrastructure, and the future of energy at three different events next week in the Twin Cities. On Tuesday, join me at Minnesota Public Radio headquarters in St. Paul for a live taping of the interview show Bright Ideas. Thursday is my book launch party for Before the Lights Go Out, ...
Read in browser What is a smart grid and why should you care?
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 13, 2012 02:38 pm If you only have the vaguest notion of what a "smart grid" actually is, don't feel bad. This is one of those energy buzzwords that confuses a lot of people. Part of the problem is that utility companies don't often do a very good job of communicating this stuff. They tell you it's good. They ...
Read in browser Explore the twists and turns of the Chislehurst Caves on Obscura Day, April 28, 2012
By Mark Frauenfelder on Apr 13, 2012 02:23 pm When I was at TED in February, I told Joshua Foer, (author of Moonwalking With Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything) about the Chislehurst Caves near London, suggesting that it would be a good place to visit on Obscura Day (an international celebration of unusual places that Joshua founded), held April 28, 2012. ...
Read in browser AT&T ad boasting about armored payphones, 1971
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 13, 2012 02:16 pm On the Vintage Ads LJ group, Uptown Girl has assembled a collection of AT&T ads spanning 80 years, including this wonderful, boasting 2-page spread from 1971 that's all about how bad-ass the new payphone designs are. AT&T brings you fairy magic and the future (1913-1993)
Read in browser Exit to the Labyrinth (excerpt), a film by Eileen Yaghoobian
By Mark Frauenfelder on Apr 13, 2012 02:13 pm [Video Link] Eileen Yaghoobian says: In the Spring of 2010, after showing my documentary about underground Indie-Rock Posters in Berlin, I was trapped under Iceland's clouds of volcanic ash, surrounded by wealthy artist types at some millionaire’s party. Having no interest in this world and not enough money to buy a twenty-euro cocktail, fortune had ...
Read in browser Cigar Box Guitars book photo gallery
By Mark Frauenfelder on Apr 13, 2012 01:36 pm Here's a gallery of photos from David Sutton's new book: Cigar Box Guitars: The Ultimate DIY Guide for the Makers and Players of the Handmade Music Revolution. (David kindly invited me to write the forward to the book.) Part DIY guide, part scrapbook – this book takes you behind the music to get a glimpse ...
Read in browser Boing Boing... FOREVER
By Dean Putney on Apr 13, 2012 01:25 pm Fire up your Javascript engines: we've just added infinite scrolling to Boing Boing. Now when you scroll to the bottom of any index page more posts will automatically load in so you can continue your absorption of our nearly 80,000 Wonderful Things. This, combined with some additional changes we've been working on in the background, ...
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