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How to take down a helicopter with a bikini and a boomerang Man dies after eating roaches and worms Close to Home sucks 1820 advice on how to beat the blues Everybody hates Zynga 3 days to go to Kickstart Sword of Fargoal 2: Classic Dungeon-Crawler Adventure HOWTO make a 9-layer density column Maker education project: "Let's make seats in school." International release dates for games are stupid Little droid dress More trouble for proposed Do Not Track flag TOM THE DANCING BUG: Mitt Takes a Stroll Down Sesame Street Factrix: "Scheintot" music review Boy sells mom's bling to finance brothel trip Cory in Naperville, IL tonight New York Five: beautifully told coming-of-age comic from Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly Alaskan baby walrus seeks bukkit in New York Court sets accused rapist free, arguing severely disabled woman who can't talk could still refuse sex Brightly colored Guy Fawkes mask-scarves Shuttle Endeavour's California flyover, as seen from an FA18 HOWTO make an Ewok bento box Cheesy video for AT&T's Frame Creation Terminal, a 1982 graphics workstation The Beer Shuttle: Kirin ad, Japan, 1984 Price discrimination without coercion: the Humble Ebook Bundle Pirate Cinema, for your downloading pleasure Disneyland employee cafeteria, 1961 Antifascist Greek protesters say they were tortured by police Occubaby is born! Surreptitious recording of a stop-question-and-frisk in New York The Verge profiles SRL robot artist Mark Pauline How to take down a helicopter with a bikini and a boomerang
By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 10, 2012 12:52 pm 
Read in browser Man dies after eating roaches and worms
By David Pescovitz on Oct 10, 2012 12:20 pm Edward Archbold, 32 had just competed in a roach and worm-eating contest at a south Florida reptile store when he keeled over and died. (The video above shows the contest in progress.) Archbold was hoping to win a python. Not surprisingly, Ben Siegel Reptiles has retained lawyers who are waving waivers. From CNN: Archbold swallowed ...
Read in browser Close to Home sucks
By Rob Beschizza on Oct 10, 2012 12:18 pm Illustrator Tom Pappalardo on the stunningly unfunny newspaper strip Close to Home: "It is so poorly executed I usually spend more time trying to comprehend what I'm looking at than I do not spend laughing at the punchline."
Read in browser 1820 advice on how to beat the blues
By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 10, 2012 12:15 pm Excellent advice for maintaining a positive outlook. From the wonderful blog, Futility Closet. A letter from Sydney Smith to Lady Georgiana Morpeth (right), Feb. 16, 1820: Dear Lady Georgiana, -- Nobody has suffered more from low spirits than I have done -- so I feel for you. 1st. Live as well as you dare. 2nd. ...
Read in browser Everybody hates Zynga
By Rob Beschizza on Oct 10, 2012 12:03 pm Farhad Manjoo writes that Zynga, no longer shielded by its early success, is now in a death spiral fueled by universal contempt: "If you're looking for this generation's Pets.com, Zynga is pretty much it."
Read in browser 3 days to go to Kickstart Sword of Fargoal 2: Classic Dungeon-Crawler Adventure
By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 10, 2012 11:52 am The Kickstarter for Sword of Fargoal 2 has only three days to go. The developers have so far received $30,000 out of a $50,000 goal. I want this to happen, because Sword of Fargoal is one of my favorite iPhone games. From my review of Fargoal last year on Boing Boing: What makes roguelikes much ...
Read in browser HOWTO make a 9-layer density column
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 10, 2012 11:40 am Steve Spangler shows you how to create a nine-layer density column with seven objects suspended in it. This would be great fun to do at home on a rainy afternoon (or a sunny afternoon, if your kids are goths). Amazing 9 Layer Density Tower - Sick Science! #013 (via Beth Pratt)
Read in browser Maker education project: "Let's make seats in school."
By David Pescovitz on Oct 10, 2012 11:20 am Are you a teacher seeking a creative, fun, and compelling design/engineering/maker project? Try the WikiSeat Catalyst, a welded steel central structural support for a three-legged-stool! The stool seat and legs can be made out of almost anything you can imagine. (See above.) In 2011, I posted about WikiSeat Catalyst creator Nicolas Weidinger, my Institute for ...
Read in browser International release dates for games are stupid
By Rob Beschizza on Oct 10, 2012 09:47 am Here's John Walker on the absurdity of staggered international release dates for games that everyone has already pre-downloaded. The reason it happens, as best as we've ever been able to ascertain, is because of retail. Games have traditionally always been released on a Tuesday in the US, and a Friday in the UK. Before there ...
Read in browser Little droid dress
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 10, 2012 09:31 am If you need a party frock to go with your R2D2 bathing suit look no further, for this is clearly the dress you've been looking for. Artoo Dress
Read in browser More trouble for proposed Do Not Track flag
By Rob Beschizza on Oct 10, 2012 09:16 am The proposed Do Not Track browser standard is turning into mud. Ad-dependent organizations already wanted the goalposts moved; now the advertising industry itself wants the goalposts to be the entire width of the field. Marketing should be added to the list of "Permitted Uses for Third Parties and Service Providers" in Section 6.1 of the ...
Read in browser TOM THE DANCING BUG: Mitt Takes a Stroll Down Sesame Street
By Ruben Bolling on Oct 10, 2012 12:11 pm Tom the Dancing Bug: Come and play, everything's A-OK when Mitt Romney is President and makes some changes on Sesame Street.
Read in browser Factrix: "Scheintot" music review
By Aquarius on Oct 10, 2012 08:12 am Factrix originally manufactured their proto-Wolf Eyes sound in San Francisco some 30+ years ago. The history of underground music on the West Coast in the late '70s is not an easy one to trace. Unlike the punk explosion in England or New York, the influences and disturbances of the musical circuits manifested collusions of concepts that never really fit into the marketable ideas of punk or new wave.
Read in browser Boy sells mom's bling to finance brothel trip
By Rob Beschizza on Oct 10, 2012 08:00 am A 14-year-old teen sold his mother's jewelry to pay for a visit to a brothel in Karlsruhe, Germany. [Reuters]
Read in browser Cory in Naperville, IL tonight
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 10, 2012 07:45 am Hey, Naperville, IL! I'll be speaking and signing at Anderson's Bookshop tonight at 7PM, in part two of the Chicagoland leg of my Pirate Cinema tour, which wraps up tomorrow night at the Evanston Public Library. Anderson's is one of the nation's great indie bookstores, ranking in my books with the likes of Powell's, and ...
Read in browser New York Five: beautifully told coming-of-age comic from Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 10, 2012 09:22 am DC's Vertigo has published The New York Five, the sequel (and conclusion?) to the original Minx title. I've just finished it and it was worth the wait. The characters from the original story return seasoned by their first semester, wiser and more gunshy, but still filled with the wild, reckless energy that made them so engaging in the first volume.
Read in browser Alaskan baby walrus seeks bukkit in New York
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 09, 2012 11:00 pm Mitik, a 234-pound, 15-week-old, rescued baby walrus, will travel from his former home in Alaska to New York City this week in a jumbo-size crate aboard a FedEx cargo jet, accompanied by a veterinarian and a handler. That's him in the photo above. Like many refugees from the West Coast, he's en route to a ...
Read in browser Court sets accused rapist free, arguing severely disabled woman who can't talk could still refuse sex
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 09, 2012 10:12 pm Your daily dose of rage: the state Supreme Court in Connecticut has decided to let a rapist go free in a case involving a severely disabled woman with limited mobility who cannot talk. Why? Because there was no evidence she could not communicate her refusal to have sex with the defendant." She cerebral palsy, cannot ...
Read in browser Brightly colored Guy Fawkes mask-scarves
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 09, 2012 09:35 pm $15 a pop, in red, orange, blue, and violet, as well as the more traditional black. Hot Occu-Babe not included. Giant Eye/sleekanddestroy.com. I'm also feelin' the Kraken Loves Galleon - Laser Cut Paper Eyelashes and the Pedobear Earrings. Update: Here's Cory modelling one! And here's a previous post about the black ones. Cory says, "They ...
Read in browser Shuttle Endeavour's California flyover, as seen from an FA18
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 09, 2012 08:16 pm This NASA video captures shuttle Endeavour's aerial view during its tour of Southern California on September 21, 2012. Sites the shuttle flew over included Malibu, Dodger Stadium, California Science Center, the Los Angeles Colosseum, downtown Los Angeles, the Hollywood Sign, Griffith Observatory, Pasadena, the Rose Bowl, Santa Monica, Long Beach, Angel Stadium of Anaheim, SpaceX, ...
Read in browser HOWTO make an Ewok bento box
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 09, 2012 11:00 pm Jenilanda's recipe for an Ewok bento box is delicious and cute as the dickens. Yub nub. How To Make An Ewok Bento Box (via The Mary Sue)
Read in browser Cheesy video for AT&T's Frame Creation Terminal, a 1982 graphics workstation
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 09, 2012 07:42 pm The Bell Labs-produced Frame Creation Terminal (FCT) was an all-in-one graphics system designed to generate the types of pages used by the Viewtron system. Price: $34,000 in 1982 dollars, or about $81K today. The first customer for this system was Viewdata Corporation, the company jointly owned by AT&T and Knight-Ridder. More about the system here, ...
Read in browser The Beer Shuttle: Kirin ad, Japan, 1984
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 09, 2012 07:37 pm The Beer Shuttle. If NASA had used this sort of pragmatic ingenuity, perhaps the shuttle program would have lasted longer. Generously scanned and shared in the Boing Boing Flickr Pool by v.valenti.
Read in browser Price discrimination without coercion: the Humble Ebook Bundle
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 09, 2012 08:45 pm My latest Guardian column is "Giving online customers the chance to pay what they want works," which describes the thinking behind the Humble Ebook Bundle, a bold name-your-price ebook promo that launches today: What if the experience of purchasing electronic media was redesigned around making you feel trusted and sincerely appreciated? What if you knew ...
Read in browser Pirate Cinema, for your downloading pleasure
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 09, 2012 07:53 pm It took me a little while, but the Pirate Cinema website is finally up, with multiformat downloads and purchase links for the ebooks, print books, and audioboks. Have at it!
Read in browser Disneyland employee cafeteria, 1961
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 09, 2012 07:22 pm This pic from the Disneyland employee cafeteria in 1961 has got to be staged (the astronaut with his helmet still on is a bit of a giveaway), but it's still a great shot. Disneyland's backstage cafeteria, 1961
Read in browser Antifascist Greek protesters say they were tortured by police
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 09, 2012 06:36 pm Antifascist protesters in Greece who were arrested during a clash with members of the neo-fascist Golden Dawn party/gang say they were tortured by the police, who put out cigarettes on them, tased them, beat them, and threatened to provide their names and addresses to Golden Dawn revenge squads. The Guardian's Maria Margaronis reports: Several of ...
Read in browser Occubaby is born!
By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 09, 2012 06:14 pm Call it kismet. Last year police officers fenced in a peaceful young woman and pepper sprayed her in the face at an Occupy protest. She fell in love with the medic who came to her aid. On September 28 the couple had a baby: Tegan Kathleen Grodt! Occubaby is born!
Read in browser Surreptitious recording of a stop-question-and-frisk in New York
By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 09, 2012 06:02 pm The New York police department conducts 1800 stop-question-and-frisks every day. This video contains an audio recording of a couple of Officer Friendlies conducting a stop-and-frisk on a Harlem teen named Alvin. Radley Balko says: This video includes a surreptitious recording of a stop and frisk in New York. It also includes interviews with NYPD cops ...
Read in browser The Verge profiles SRL robot artist Mark Pauline
By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 09, 2012 05:34 pm Here's a beautifully shot video profile of our friend Mark Pauline, founder of Survival Research Laboratories. Mark has been creating explosive robotic art performances for over 30 years. This is Mark Pauline, and for 34 of his 58 years he’s built robots. They are not practical robots, not servile room-sweepers or toadying floor-moppers, but multi-ton ...
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
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