The Latest from Boing Boing

The Latest from Boing Boing Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Sociological Images annual Halloween "Sexy What!" post When Daleks pushed cigarettes to kids BB Readers' DIY Costumes: Living Roy Lichtenstein painting, by Gina Menduni Old skeleton found in tree upended by Sandy NYC's 911 system overloaded during Hurricane Sandy A helpful roundup of emergency gadgets Prototype for a beginner's sewing machine Gruber on iPad Mini Fake Hurricane Sandy shark photo migrates to Chinese web Supreme Court asked to reconsider effectiveness of drug-sniffing dogs in narcotics cases First-person account of Sandy hospital evacuation for cancer patient with recent liver transplant Siouxsie and the Banshees performing "Halloween" (1981) BB Readers' DIY Costumes: Animal and Son of Anarchy, by BrotherPower TOM THE DANCING BUG: The Republican Rapid Rape Response Squad!! Scientists warned, again and again, that extreme weather could devastate NYC East Coast US residents try to get back to normal after Sandy Grand Guignol horror show, 1947 Zappos's crappy EULA found unenforceable, leaving Zappos without a legal leg to stand on (Everyday Is) Halloween (1984) Google's Superstorm Sandy crisis map includes eyewitness video Mitch O'Connell's Top 10 most beloved halloween classic movies of all time... 10-year-old boy tasered for refusing to clean police officer's car Burning Man arsonist dies on BART tracks in apparent suicide Republican congressman: Hurricane Sandy aid shouldn't go to "Gucci bags and massage parlors" NY National Guard decides Sandy relief more important than mock disaster drill How the sugar industry defends itself against claims that sugar is unhealthy BB readers' DIY Halloween costumes: Narwhal, by Sarah Jones Raising funds for a gallery show of Star Wars-inspired oils A wearable ghost story: Castle Magpie Zombie playing cards   Sociological Images annual Halloween "Sexy What!" post By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 31, 2012 12:56 pm Lisa Wade says: " Here is our annual post featuring sexy costumes that we think are just… bizarre. When sexy “overtakes all reason,” you can sexualize just about anything." Read in browser When Daleks pushed cigarettes to kids By Cory Doctorow on Oct 31, 2012 12:53 pm Betcha didn't know that the Daleks featured in a series of TV and print ads that appeared in the likes of Children's Dalek Annual 1978. Read in browser BB Readers' DIY Costumes: Living Roy Lichtenstein painting, by Gina Menduni By Xeni Jardin on Oct 31, 2012 12:51 pm BB reader Gina Menduni made this genius Roy Lichtenstein costume for Halloween 2012. We are gobsmacked, Gina! Thanks for sharing it in the epic DIY Halloween costume thread! Read in browser Old skeleton found in tree upended by Sandy By David Pescovitz on Oct 31, 2012 12:44 pm Yesterday a homeless woman at New Haven Green park in Connecticut noticed something odd tangled in the roots of a huge oak tree torn from the ground by Superstorm Sandy: a human skeleton. Apparently, The Green was used as a burial ground until 1821. The headstones were eventually moved but the bodies were not. "Skeletal ... Read in browser NYC's 911 system overloaded during Hurricane Sandy By Xeni Jardin on Oct 31, 2012 12:40 pm The "Superstorm" that wallopped the Northeast US this week serves as another reminder of how easily overwhelmed New York City's 911 phone system is. So much so that Mayor Mike Bloomberg again and again urged citizens not to use it to report anything but the most immediate life-threatening emergencies. "The city said it was receiving ... Read in browser A helpful roundup of emergency gadgets By Xeni Jardin on Oct 31, 2012 12:32 pm Brian Lam at Wirecutter has a timely post up about gadgets and tools one might find useful in an emergency like Hurricane Sandy. Device chargers, generators, two-way radios, but also "hey why didn't I think of that before the hurricane" non-electronics stuff like Handi-Wipes, socks, umbrellas, and good deals on batteries. Read in browser Prototype for a beginner's sewing machine By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 31, 2012 12:30 pm Sarah Dickins, a designer from Loughborough university, tackles beginner frustations with sewing machines. Read in browser Gruber on iPad Mini By Xeni Jardin on Oct 31, 2012 12:30 pm "Wow, it feels like a Kindle," and "Ew, the screen is terrible," were Mrs. Daring Fireball's initial reactions when Gruber handed her the iPad Mini to see what she, "an avid daily user of an iPad 3," thought. "Her initial reaction matched mine exactly, and perfectly encapsulates the experience," Gruber writes. But his prediction: "This ... Read in browser Fake Hurricane Sandy shark photo migrates to Chinese web By Xeni Jardin on Oct 31, 2012 12:25 pm A Weibo user identified "the U.S. hurricane" as the source of the "shark swimming in New Jersey streets" photo, which has been proven to be fake (we could totally tell by the pixels). He added of the shark, "In China, it would've been cooked already." More at WaPo. Read in browser Supreme Court asked to reconsider effectiveness of drug-sniffing dogs in narcotics cases By Xeni Jardin on Oct 31, 2012 12:22 pm Two cases on the Supreme Court docket "present an aggressive challenge to the notion that a dog's 'alert' to the presence of drugs is enough to legally justify a search of someone's home or vehicle. Robert Barnes in the Washington Post has more. Read in browser First-person account of Sandy hospital evacuation for cancer patient with recent liver transplant By Xeni Jardin on Oct 31, 2012 12:15 pm In the NYT's live-blog of Hurricane Sandy's impact on NYC today, a riveting account of the NYU hospital evacuation as told through the case of Christine Chin, who has had a series of operations after part of her husband's liver was used to replace her cancerous one. The hospital lost power during the storm surge ... Read in browser Siouxsie and the Banshees performing "Halloween" (1981) By David Pescovitz on Oct 31, 2012 12:15 pm Siouxsie and the Banshees in 1981 performing "Halloween," from their essential album Juju. Read in browser BB Readers' DIY Costumes: Animal and Son of Anarchy, by BrotherPower By Xeni Jardin on Oct 31, 2012 12:11 pm Boing Boing reader BrotherPower shares this work-in-progress shot of the Animal costume he's making for his 8-year-old. "I just finished the oversized drumsticks and the spiky wristbands today." Below also from BrotherPower, "Here's my other son's Golden Age Cap (store-bought jumpsuit, modded Quidditch goggles and helmet liner, custom shield) and my scratch-built SAMCRO cut. I'm ... Read in browser TOM THE DANCING BUG: The Republican Rapid Rape Response Squad!! By Ruben Bolling on Oct 31, 2012 12:05 pm Tom the Dancing Bug: Another thrilling episode of The Republican Rapid Rape Response Squad!! Read in browser Scientists warned, again and again, that extreme weather could devastate NYC By Xeni Jardin on Oct 31, 2012 12:05 pm David W. Chen and Mireya Navarro write in The New York Times about warnings that weren't heeded: "For nearly a decade, scientists have told city and state officials that New York faces certain peril: rising sea levels, more frequent flooding and extreme weather patterns. The alarm bells grew louder after Tropical Storm Irene last year, ... Read in browser East Coast US residents try to get back to normal after Sandy By Xeni Jardin on Oct 31, 2012 12:02 pm 22 deaths reported in NYC alone. 7 million still without power. Traffic and transit are a mess. Airports slowly re-opening. Damage estimates range as high as $15 billion in insured property losses, and an additional $20 billion in lost economic activity. As you might imagine, the NY Times' coverage is the gold standard on this ... Read in browser Grand Guignol horror show, 1947 By David Pescovitz on Oct 31, 2012 11:58 am Grand Guignol was a Parisian theater that between 1897 and 1962 staged macabre plays known for their cartoon horror and violence. LIFE shares with us vintage photos of this splatterpunk paradise. Above, "Burned by vitriol thrown at him by his girl who comes to seek forgiveness, her lover turns slowly to reveal his elaborately blighted ... Read in browser Zappos's crappy EULA found unenforceable, leaving Zappos without a legal leg to stand on By Cory Doctorow on Oct 31, 2012 11:50 am Of all the stupid clauses in the license "agreements" that the Internet crams down your throat, the cake-taker is "this agreement subject to change without notice." In other words, you're "agreeing" to anything and everything that the company dreams up, for the rest of time. This clause -- and its place in a "browsewrap agreement" ... Read in browser (Everyday Is) Halloween (1984) By David Pescovitz on Oct 31, 2012 11:50 am Ministry's "(Every Day Is) Halloween" from 1984, back when Al Jourgensen still cultivated an English accent. Read in browser Google's Superstorm Sandy crisis map includes eyewitness video By Xeni Jardin on Oct 31, 2012 11:50 am That Superstorm Sandy Google crisis map we blogged about earlier this week has been updated with tons of videos and webcam spots. Fascinating way to get a sense of which areas and populations are impacted, and how. Read in browser Mitch O'Connell's Top 10 most beloved halloween classic movies of all time... By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 31, 2012 11:41 am …from the video rental section behind the curtain. Artist and ephemera craphound Mitch O'Connell dug deep in his archives to find these cinematic gems. Read in browser 10-year-old boy tasered for refusing to clean police officer's car By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 31, 2012 11:31 am Salon: "According to the complaint, [New Mexico police officer Chris] Webb shot his Taser at the child after he said he did not want to join fellow classmates in cleaning the officer's patrol car. Courthouse News reported: Defendant Webb responded by pointing his Taser at R.D. and saying, 'Let me show you what happens to ... Read in browser Burning Man arsonist dies on BART tracks in apparent suicide By Xeni Jardin on Oct 31, 2012 11:20 am Paul Addis, the man who set fire to the "Man" at Burning Man ahead of schedule in an act of arson, has died in an apparent suicide. (SFGAte via Disinfo) Read in browser Republican congressman: Hurricane Sandy aid shouldn't go to "Gucci bags and massage parlors" By Xeni Jardin on Oct 31, 2012 11:19 am Christ, what an asshole. Congressman Steve King, a Republican from Iowa (a state that has long benefited from a shit-ton of federal funds and tax breaks) said Tuesday federal aid for people whose homes and lives were trashed by Hurricane Sandy should include restrictions against using aid "Gucci bags and massage parlors." Quoth the douche, ... Read in browser NY National Guard decides Sandy relief more important than mock disaster drill By Xeni Jardin on Oct 31, 2012 11:14 am Noah Shachtman at Wired Danger Room: "Hours after being contacted by Danger Room, the New York Army National Guard on Tuesday night abruptly reversed a decision to send hundreds of soldiers out-of-state in the midst of the Hurricane Sandy relief effort." Read in browser How the sugar industry defends itself against claims that sugar is unhealthy By Xeni Jardin on Oct 31, 2012 11:08 am Gary Taubes ("Good Calories, Bad Calories") on how the sugar industry fights research linking sugar consumption with chronic disease. Read in browser BB readers' DIY Halloween costumes: Narwhal, by Sarah Jones By Xeni Jardin on Oct 31, 2012 11:00 am Brava, Sarah! "Sorry to be a party pooper but it should probably be attached closer to your mouth since it's actually a tooth," wrote one commenter. "Yes, but it would have interfered with my beer drinking," replied Sarah. More: Share your DIY Halloween costume in our epic 2012 thread! Read in browser Raising funds for a gallery show of Star Wars-inspired oils By Cory Doctorow on Oct 31, 2012 10:42 am Chris Woods sez, "In light of today's STAR WARS news please check out my STAR WARS-inspired museum-show of paintings. SANDSTORM will show at The Reach Gallery Museum in Abbotsford, BC in the summer of 2013." My paintings over the last twenty-four years have looked at the far-reaching effects of mass-produced culture on the individual. They ... Read in browser A wearable ghost story: Castle Magpie By Cory Doctorow on Oct 31, 2012 10:30 am Jamin Hoyle sez, "Castle Magpie is a self-contained, wearable ghost story that takes place in a haunted Scottish castle. It took six months to plan and six months to build. I was inspired by all sorts of things, the Haunted Mansion, Tasha Tudor, the Spooky Old Tree, the Goonies, Tin Tin, Jonathan Strange and Mr ... Read in browser Zombie playing cards By Cory Doctorow on Oct 31, 2012 09:38 am Darren sez, "Rising up in time for Halloween and el Dia de los Muertos, Póstumo is a deck of zombie playing cards by Colombian artist Obsidian Abnormal and American scallywag Darren J. Gendron. The deck features gruesome zombie art, one-eyed jacks, suicidal kings, and fun twists on the normal suits - human hearts, zombie-killing clubs ... Read in browser Meet SparkTruck, an “educational build-mobile” for the twenty-first century.   Dreamed up by a group of Stanford d.school students and funded through Kickstarter, SparkTruck is a mobile maker space currently traveling across the United States. At schools and summer camps and libraries around the country, the SparkTruck team offers workshops to help kids “find their inner maker” as they design and build projects like stamps, stop-motion animation clips, and “vibrobots.”   [video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmRKXqDwieY&feature=plcp]   This might seem all shiny and new. And it is—but only in part. What’s so striking (and exciting) about SparkTruck is the way it combines old and new. It does so in the tools it gets kids using, which range from pipe cleaners to laser cutters. It does so in its educational approach, which combines cutting-edge (get it?) STEM and design pedagogy with the fundamentals of an old-school shop class. And it does so in its method, which combines the iconic, century-old technology of the bookmobile with the hot new form of the maker space.   In doing so, SparkTruck joins a growing number of libraries which are combining time-tested principles (like equal access to information) with new technologies (like 3-D printers), putting in maker spaces and media production labs alongside bookshelves and meeting rooms. As I’ve argued over on bookmobility.org, these combinations make sense because reading and making actually have a lot in common. They’re both creative processes that take existing materials and combine them in new ways. Getting people engaged in those kinds of processes—through imaginative thinking, contemplation, hands-on problem-solving, and collaborative learning—is what both maker spaces and libraries are all about.   Taking that commitment on the road with scissors and hammers and 3-D printers and a great big bookmobile-like truck, SparkTruck serves as a laboratory for new approaches, as well as a reminder that trying new things doesn’t have to (and probably shouldn’t!) necessarily mean tossing old ones out.   After all, what would those vibrobots be without classically crafty pipe cleaners and tongue depressors? And what would a library be without the creative, participatory, straight-up awesome experience of reading?   SparkTruck schedule [sparktruck.org] How to arrange a visit from SparkTruck [sparktruck.org] SparkTruck YouTube channel [youtube.com]   Signature: --Derek Attig, bookmobility.org More to read:  follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend  Sent by 2012 Boing Boing, CC. You are subscribed to email updates from Boing Boing. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe immediately. Our mailing address is: Boing Boing 905 Wettach St Pittsburgh, Pa 15122 Add us to your address book  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

The Latest from Boing Boing

The Latest from Boing Boing Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Lucy the Elephant 1881 novelty house survived Sandy Chat about climate science and Sandy with Stanford's Noah Diffenbaugh Sumana Harihareswara and sf writer Leonard Richardson will match up to $10,000 in donations to the Ada Initiative, funding for women in open culture and free/open source Instagramming Hurricane Sandy's damage The Great Showdowns, exclusive excerpt from Scott Campbell's terrific new book Quack medicine pills made from babies and super bacteria smuggled from China to South Korea Millions without power in US after Hurricane Sandy Awesome and ill-starred bodges: "Crazy logistics" Video from flooded NYC: East 8th Street and Avenue C before the blackout How to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning from generators in an emergency Brain Rot: Hip Hop Family Tree, Busy Bee vs. Kool Moe Dee pt. 1 HOWTO follow FDNY radio scanners in an emergency Haunted Mansion model-kit ads First-person account of emergency hospital evacuation in NYC after Sandy power outage Sandy slows US nuclear plants, oldest in US declares alert: morning-after update Kim Stanley Robinson's 2312: a novel that hints at what we might someday have (and lose) Con Ed transformer explosion in Manhattan Music for Sleeping Children (Video) Boing Boing Daily Digest 004 10/29/2012 NYC Mayor Bloomberg's ASL interpreter Lydia Callis has her own fan-tumblr Exploding electrical wires sparking fires in NYC Apps for Kids 32: Cobypic Rescue video: Sandy sinks tall ship HMS Bounty replica off NC; 14 saved, 2 missing (updated) Gawker, Buzzfeed, Huffington Post experience Sandy downtime after power knockout Monkey rides on a goat walking a tightrope Dying old satellites jeopardize future storm coverage Man steals phone on subway Sandy's getting bad Halloween greetings from Antarctica How Adrian Tomine came up with his first New Yorker cover   Lucy the Elephant 1881 novelty house survived Sandy By David Pescovitz on Oct 30, 2012 12:56 pm BB pal Todd Lappin reports: Last night, tropical story Sandy made landfall approximately 5 miles southwest of Atlantic City, NJ. That means Sandy came ashore in Margate, NJ, on the exact site of Lucy the Elephant -- a charming 19th century house built in the shape of a gigantic circus elephant. Lucy has survived the ... Read in browser Chat about climate science and Sandy with Stanford's Noah Diffenbaugh By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Oct 30, 2012 12:56 pm Yesterday, I told you that the relationship between Hurricane Sandy and climate change can be summed up with "It's Complicated". If you want a referendum on climate change, the data is in and we know it's happening. But if you're curious about this specific storm, what scientists know about hurricane systems, and how weather and ... Read in browser Sumana Harihareswara and sf writer Leonard Richardson will match up to $10,000 in donations to the Ada Initiative, funding for women in open culture and free/open source By Cory Doctorow on Oct 30, 2012 12:13 pm Sumana sez, "Scifi author Leonard Richardson and his spouse Sumana Harihareswara are pleding up to $10,000 from their own pockets to match donations to the Ada Initiative made before November 1st. They say: 'This is make-or-break time for the Ada Initiative. Leonard and I make our living through open source and we want to pay ... Read in browser Instagramming Hurricane Sandy's damage By Xeni Jardin on Oct 30, 2012 12:01 pm Mobile Photo Group has a live curated feed of the #hurricanesandy Instagram tag, and photos of the storm's damage throughout the Eastern US. Related: Time's photogs covering the storm last night via Instagram. And below, one particularly striking image from @jesseandgreg on Instagram: East Village swamped! #newyorkcity #nyc #ev #flood #avenuec Read in browser The Great Showdowns, exclusive excerpt from Scott Campbell's terrific new book By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 30, 2012 12:00 pm Here's Scott Campbell with a few words about his wonderful new new book, The Great Showdowns, which depicts cartoonified iconic scenes of conflict from beloved movies. Ever since the beginning of time, there has been struggle in the world. From Triceratops versus Tyrannosaurus Rex to Tom versus Jerry. We deal with it in our day ... Read in browser Quack medicine pills made from babies and super bacteria smuggled from China to South Korea By Cory Doctorow on Oct 30, 2012 12:00 pm The South Korean customs department is going to target its inspections in order to intercept shipments of Chinese quack medicine tablets made from the flesh of babies and foetuses, which are sometimes infected with superbacteria. From the BBC: "It was confirmed those capsules contain materials harmful to the human body, such as super bacteria. We ... Read in browser Millions without power in US after Hurricane Sandy By Xeni Jardin on Oct 30, 2012 11:55 am #Sandy is the largest storm-related outage in #ConEd history. Crews are working around the clock to access damage and restore power.— Con Edison (@ConEdison) October 30, 2012 East Coast electric companies say outages from Hurricane Sandy so far have taken over 8.1 million homes and businesses offline, according to a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) ... Read in browser Awesome and ill-starred bodges: "Crazy logistics" By Cory Doctorow on Oct 30, 2012 10:48 am The latest installment of Dark Roasted Blend's "Crazy Logistics" series highlight some sterling examples of awesome bodgeing, kludgeing and ill-starred jerry-rigging. My favorite story about this comes from a friend who worked at the CBC when its studios were on Jarvis Street in Toronto. Every night, there'd be a pair of power-outages across the whole ... Read in browser Video from flooded NYC: East 8th Street and Avenue C before the blackout By Xeni Jardin on Oct 30, 2012 10:38 am "Looking down at flooding from Hurricane Sandy on East 8th and Avenue C before the blackout." Read in browser How to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning from generators in an emergency By Xeni Jardin on Oct 30, 2012 10:36 am This CDC link contains essential tips for avoiding carbon monoxide poisoning, which can happen when people use emergency generators in confined spaces, as many affected by Sandy were forced to do. Read in browser Brain Rot: Hip Hop Family Tree, Busy Bee vs. Kool Moe Dee pt. 1 By Ed Piskor on Oct 30, 2012 10:30 am Read the rest of the Hip Hop Family Tree comics! Read in browser HOWTO follow FDNY radio scanners in an emergency By Xeni Jardin on Oct 30, 2012 10:00 am ShutterstockDuring last night's storm emergency, I monitored the FDNY scanners to try and follow fast-moving and difficult-to-obtain details about what was happening where in NYC. For future reference, radioreference.com is an excellent way to do that (provided you have power and internet access). Along with that, you'll want to have two browser tabs open, for ... Read in browser Haunted Mansion model-kit ads By Cory Doctorow on Oct 30, 2012 09:54 am Man_Writing_Slash has plundered a haul of Haunted Mansion ephemera from Monster Memories, including a pair of ads for the (absolutely fabulous) old model-kits. Disney Haunted Mansion toy ad & sound files Read in browser First-person account of emergency hospital evacuation in NYC after Sandy power outage By Xeni Jardin on Oct 30, 2012 09:48 am Image: CBS NewsOne of the focal points of the storm emergency in New York City last night was New York University's Langone Medical Center: the hospital's main and backup power generators all failed, and hospital staff had to evacuate patients as power resources faded. All but 50 patients have been evacuated, and the remaining 50 ... Read in browser Sandy slows US nuclear plants, oldest in US declares alert: morning-after update By Xeni Jardin on Oct 30, 2012 09:39 am Oyster Creek nuclear plant in New Jersey was placed on "alert" status last night, after a storm surge from Sandy caused water levels at the plant to rise over 6.5 more than normal, threatening the "water intake structure" that pumps cooling water throughout the nuclear plant. Snip from Reuters update: Those pumps are not essential ... Read in browser Kim Stanley Robinson's 2312: a novel that hints at what we might someday have (and lose) By Cory Doctorow on Oct 30, 2012 09:09 am Kim Stanley Robinson's 2312 is an insanely ambitious novel of life three hundreds years hence, set in a solar system where the Earth continues to limp along, half-drowned, terrified, precarious -- and only one of many inhabited places. Read in browser Con Ed transformer explosion in Manhattan By David Pescovitz on Oct 30, 2012 12:24 am A transformer exploded at the Con Edison plant on 14th Street in Lower Manhattan. Read in browser Music for Sleeping Children (Video) By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 29, 2012 11:46 pm I have long been a fan of Charlie White's photography. His new project is called Music for Sleeping Children. Read in browser Boing Boing Daily Digest 004 10/29/2012 By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 29, 2012 11:40 pm Commentary on a few of my favorite Boing Boing posts of the day, plus what I did over the weekend. Please let me know what you think of these (criticism is welcome). Read in browser NYC Mayor Bloomberg's ASL interpreter Lydia Callis has her own fan-tumblr By Xeni Jardin on Oct 29, 2012 10:41 pm A woman identified by NY Mag as Lydia Callis, the ASL interpreter at New York mayor Mike Bloomberg's side during tonight's Sandy update, was like a human emoticon for one of the nation's most expressionless mayors. Now she has internet fans, animated tribute GIFs, and her very own fan-tumblr. (Update: Her name is misspelled on ... Read in browser Exploding electrical wires sparking fires in NYC By Xeni Jardin on Oct 29, 2012 10:31 pm Power lines downed from Sandy's storm sparking electrical fires, endangering people in the water and structures nearby. Read in browser Apps for Kids 32: Cobypic By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 29, 2012 08:41 pm In this episode of Apps for Kids, we talk about a coloring book app for iPhone called Cobypic. Read in browser Rescue video: Sandy sinks tall ship HMS Bounty replica off NC; 14 saved, 2 missing (updated) By Xeni Jardin on Oct 29, 2012 07:39 pm A 180-foot, 3-mast replica of the 18th century tall ship HMS Bounty sank on Monday, Oct. 29 during the epic surf and winds from Hurricane Sandy. Read in browser Gawker, Buzzfeed, Huffington Post experience Sandy downtime after power knockout By Xeni Jardin on Oct 29, 2012 07:31 pm As others have quipped, if you're a celebrity, now is the time to do something stupid. Hurricane Sandy has achieved what Anonymous could not: the ultimate pop culture publishing blackout trifecta. . From tweets by those affected, looks like the culprit was a Sandy-caused power outage in Lower Manhattan, where Buzzfeed, HuffPo, and the Gawker ... Read in browser Monkey rides on a goat walking a tightrope By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 29, 2012 06:41 pm As you can see in this detail from a larger photo, the monkey looks concerned. But the goat appears to know what he's doing. And here's a related post. Read in browser Dying old satellites jeopardize future storm coverage By Xeni Jardin on Oct 29, 2012 06:18 pm In the NYT, a story about "endangered satellites" that orbit the earth and provide essential data for tracking storms like Hurricane Sandy. But because of "years of mismanagement, lack of financing and delays in launching replacements," they could begin falling apart—with no functional plan in sight to maintain those resources. Read in browser Man steals phone on subway By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 29, 2012 05:30 pm It's a good idea to keep your wits about you when you are riding the subway in Budapest. Read in browser Sandy's getting bad By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 29, 2012 04:39 pm (Via instacane) Read in browser Halloween greetings from Antarctica By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Oct 29, 2012 04:32 pm Henry Kaiser is kind of our man on the inside in Antarctica. He works there every year as a film maker, turning science into movies. He sent this awesome Halloween greeting from underneath the sea ice. Bonus: He also sent us a video taken at the same spot — only this has 100% fewer wacky ... Read in browser How Adrian Tomine came up with his first New Yorker cover By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 29, 2012 04:30 pm Optic Nerve cartoonist Adrian Tomine wrote a great piece for The Thought Fox about how he came up with his popular (and first) cover for The New Yorker. It includes a lot of preliminary sketches. If you’ve lived here your whole life, you probably just think of the subway as a way of getting from ... Read in browser Meet SparkTruck, an “educational build-mobile” for the twenty-first century.   Dreamed up by a group of Stanford d.school students and funded through Kickstarter, SparkTruck is a mobile maker space currently traveling across the United States. At schools and summer camps and libraries around the country, the SparkTruck team offers workshops to help kids “find their inner maker” as they design and build projects like stamps, stop-motion animation clips, and “vibrobots.”   [video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmRKXqDwieY&feature=plcp]   This might seem all shiny and new. And it is—but only in part. What’s so striking (and exciting) about SparkTruck is the way it combines old and new. It does so in the tools it gets kids using, which range from pipe cleaners to laser cutters. It does so in its educational approach, which combines cutting-edge (get it?) STEM and design pedagogy with the fundamentals of an old-school shop class. And it does so in its method, which combines the iconic, century-old technology of the bookmobile with the hot new form of the maker space.   In doing so, SparkTruck joins a growing number of libraries which are combining time-tested principles (like equal access to information) with new technologies (like 3-D printers), putting in maker spaces and media production labs alongside bookshelves and meeting rooms. As I’ve argued over on bookmobility.org, these combinations make sense because reading and making actually have a lot in common. They’re both creative processes that take existing materials and combine them in new ways. Getting people engaged in those kinds of processes—through imaginative thinking, contemplation, hands-on problem-solving, and collaborative learning—is what both maker spaces and libraries are all about.   Taking that commitment on the road with scissors and hammers and 3-D printers and a great big bookmobile-like truck, SparkTruck serves as a laboratory for new approaches, as well as a reminder that trying new things doesn’t have to (and probably shouldn’t!) necessarily mean tossing old ones out.   After all, what would those vibrobots be without classically crafty pipe cleaners and tongue depressors? And what would a library be without the creative, participatory, straight-up awesome experience of reading?   SparkTruck schedule [sparktruck.org] How to arrange a visit from SparkTruck [sparktruck.org] SparkTruck YouTube channel [youtube.com]   Signature: --Derek Attig, bookmobility.org More to read:  follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend  Sent by 2012 Boing Boing, CC. You are subscribed to email updates from Boing Boing. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe immediately. Our mailing address is: Boing Boing 905 Wettach St Pittsburgh, Pa 15122 Add us to your address book  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences