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Universal Computer Users Why forensic science is failing us — and why tonight's NOVA documentary doesn't quite cut it Contest to build a human-powered helicopter Exclusive: New track from ex-Throbbing Gristle's forthcoming Final Report Beyonce, owner of very red lipstick, will perform in the Super Bowl's halftime show Gary McKinnon on the decision not to extradite him to the USA La Columbe Cold Brew: jet fuel in a beer bottle More on the fake stem cell researcher who faked stem cell transplants Why do some people say the Earth isn't getting hotter? Cory in Bethesda tonight How Anonymous broke its own rules to break free A useful blog for people interested in alternative medicine Did the average Neanderthal know she had a brother-in-law? Why you should care about the planet found orbiting Alpha Centauri, even though it's not a good place to live Thoughts from a Japanese Media Pirate Binders Full of Women, the tumblr New book about the greatest trading cards ever: Mars Attacks Judge John Hodgman live in New York Virtual comic book newsstand displays all the comics on the rack for any given month and year Zak Loves Mandy NYCC interview: Face Off's Rod Maxwell Sheet music for John Cage's 4' 33" Hideous Macintosh marketing video from 1996 Support Diana Gameros' indie/Latin album effort Photos of untidy home offices The story of the iconic cover art for Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures Albrecht Dürer's Young Hare on Google Art Project Five more books join the Humble Ebook Bundle! Here is the teaser trailer for Carrie from NYCC (not a bootleg) 1 gallon jug of 1992 McDonald's McJordan barbecue sauce sells for $9,995 on eBay Universal Computer Users
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 17, 2012 01:00 pm Citing my talk on General Purpose Computing and regulation (and many other works), Olia Lialina describes a "General Purpose User... that was formed through three decades of adjusting general purpose technology to their needs": General Purpose Users can write an article in their e-mail client, layout their business card in Excel and shave in front ...
Read in browser Why forensic science is failing us — and why tonight's NOVA documentary doesn't quite cut it
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Oct 17, 2012 12:47 pm In 2009, the National Academies of Science published a massive report on forensics. For many Americans, forensics is possibly the most familiar of all the sciences. It's the one we welcome into our living rooms every night, along with TV crime dramas and murder mysteries. But the report's conclusions might surprise you. For one thing, ...
Read in browser Contest to build a human-powered helicopter
By David Pescovitz on Oct 17, 2012 12:40 pm Since 1980, hundreds of young engineers have entered the Igor I. Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition. Nobody has won the grand prize of $250,000 for demonstrating "a one minute hovering time, a momentary achievement of 3 meters altitude, and controlling the vehicle within a constrained box -- all in the same flight." But damn, they're ...
Read in browser Exclusive: New track from ex-Throbbing Gristle's forthcoming Final Report
By David Pescovitz on Oct 17, 2012 12:19 pm In 2006, industrial music pioneer Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson of Throbbing Gristle and Coil was so taken with Desertshore, a challenging 1970 album by Velvet Underground chanteuse Nico, that he set off on a project to "cover," and I use the term loosely, the entire album. It was a project that would quietly simmer in the ...
Read in browser Beyonce, owner of very red lipstick, will perform in the Super Bowl's halftime show
By Jamie Frevele on Oct 17, 2012 12:16 pm In a photographic announcement on her blog, Beyonce let the world in on some important pop culture news: duck-face is alive and well! And she is also going to be the main attraction at the Super Bowl XLVII halftime show on February 3. Actually, that's a pretty good act for the halftime show, what with ...
Read in browser Gary McKinnon on the decision not to extradite him to the USA
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 17, 2012 11:00 am Following up on yesterday's announcement by the UK Home Secretary that Pentagon hacker Gary McKinnon will not be extradited to the USA (where he faces up to 60 years in prison), the Guardian's Lizzy Davies reports on McKinnon's reaction: Speaking in the aftermath of the decision, about which his mother informed him late on Tuesday ...
Read in browser La Columbe Cold Brew: jet fuel in a beer bottle
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 17, 2012 10:00 am My hosts at last night's signing at Philadelphia's Indy Hall co-working space did a lot to make me welcome, but most of all, they supplied me with rocket-fuel. The fuel took the form of a bottle of La Columbe Pure Black Cold Brew, a deceptively smooth, dark, chocolately cold-brew coffee that comes in a 12oz ...
Read in browser More on the fake stem cell researcher who faked stem cell transplants
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Oct 17, 2012 09:44 am Hisashi Moriguchi probably isn't a specialist in stem cell research. He doesn't have an affiliation with Harvard University. And he most likely has not injected reprogrammed adult heart stem cells into human test subjects. That has not stopped him from claiming all three facts were true, though — and it didn't stop a major Japanese ...
Read in browser Why do some people say the Earth isn't getting hotter?
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Oct 17, 2012 09:24 am If you haven't seen the Skeptical Science website yet, you're missing out. Via Tom Standage
Read in browser Cory in Bethesda tonight
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 17, 2012 09:00 am Hey, DC! I'm heading to Bethesda today for my Pirate Cinema tour -- I'll be at the Bethesda Public Library tonight at 7PM. Come on out and say hi before I head to Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle, Toronto and Boston! Here's the full schedule.
Read in browser How Anonymous broke its own rules to break free
By Cole Stryker on Oct 17, 2012 09:00 am Before the summer of 2011, Anonymous was an amorphous collective of hackers and pranksters ready to pour cold water on members' nascent political aspirations. By 2012, a growing antiauthority, anticensorship, anti-surveillance sentiment asserted itself, and everything changed.
Read in browser A useful blog for people interested in alternative medicine
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Oct 17, 2012 08:54 am Until 2011, Dr. Edzard Ernst was the head of one of the few university departments doing real, unbiased research on the effectiveness and safety of alternative medicine techniques. That's important, because you can't just dismiss weird-sounding stuff out of hand, but you also want somebody other than the practitioners of that weird-sounding stuff conducting research ...
Read in browser Did the average Neanderthal know she had a brother-in-law?
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Oct 17, 2012 08:37 am In an interview with The Houston Chronicle, paleoanthropologist Jean-Jacques Hublin hits on an interesting point that I don't think we (the media and laypeople) consider enough when we talk about our closest ancient relatives. Although we have an increasingly deep picture of Neanderthal anatomy and genetics, that doesn't necessarily tell us a great deal about ...
Read in browser Why you should care about the planet found orbiting Alpha Centauri, even though it's not a good place to live
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Oct 17, 2012 08:04 am Last night, astronomers with the European Southern Observatory announced that they'd found a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri B — an orange star a little smaller and a little less bright than our own Sun. That's important, because, while more than 700 planets have been found outside our solar system, this one — Alpha Centauri Bb ...
Read in browser Thoughts from a Japanese Media Pirate
By Japanese Media Pirate on Oct 17, 2012 01:34 am The following was submitted for publication by a reader who asked to remain anonymous — Rob I just finished Pirate Cinema and felt the need to write something about it, because it concerns a cause that's near to my heart. I saw myself in protagonist Trent McCauley, who makes new movies by chopping up footage ...
Read in browser Binders Full of Women, the tumblr
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 16, 2012 11:55 pm Link: bindersfullofwomen.tumblr.com. (Thanks, Tara McGinley!)
Read in browser New book about the greatest trading cards ever: Mars Attacks
By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 16, 2012 09:02 pm Yesterday I posted an illustration by the famed pulp illustrator Norm Saunders. Coincidentally, Abrams ComicArts just released a book commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Mars Attacks trading cards, which the Topps Company issued in 1962. Saunders' lurid paintings for the series depicted a horrific invasion of Earth by hideous looking Martians with giant exposed ...
Read in browser Judge John Hodgman live in New York
By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 16, 2012 07:48 pm Jesse Thorn says: We're doing a few Judge John Hodgman shows in New York. We just sold out our show Monday night and added one on Sunday night. We'll have special guests (very special guests), and I will be wearing a real bailiff outfit based on Bull from Night Court. Also, importantly, we are looking ...
Read in browser Virtual comic book newsstand displays all the comics on the rack for any given month and year
By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 16, 2012 07:47 pm Ruben Bolling alerted me to this cool website. You enter a month and year, and it will return a page of thumbnail images of all the comic books that were available on newsstands for that month. Above, a few of the comic books available in February 1973, the month that I first became seriously interested ...
Read in browser Zak Loves Mandy
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 16, 2012 05:43 pm Photo: Kimberly Kane for VICE.Photographer and porn performer Kimberly Kane interviews friends and fellow adult film travelers Zak Sabbath and Mandy Morbid in Vice. "Last year, Mandy was diagnosed with Ehlers–Danlos syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes loose joints, damage to blood vessels, and skin that stretches and bruises easily. Her diagnosis was a relief ...
Read in browser NYCC interview: Face Off's Rod Maxwell
By Jamie Frevele on Oct 16, 2012 04:53 pm Among my favorite parts of New York Comic Con was getting to interview Rod Maxwell, special effects makeup artist and a (sadly, former) contestant on Syfy's competition show, Face Off. He's been working with the anti-smoking campaign The Truth to create the Flavor Monster, a freaky embodiment of how cigarette manufacturers target teenagers and young ...
Read in browser Sheet music for John Cage's 4' 33"
By David Pescovitz on Oct 16, 2012 04:24 pm The sheet music for John Cage's 4' 33" is available for $5.95. Of course, 4' 33" is a classic of avant-garde music in which the performer plays nothing at all.
Read in browser Hideous Macintosh marketing video from 1996
By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 16, 2012 04:19 pm A profoundly dreadful Macintosh marketing video produced while Dr. Gil "
I insist that you call me Dr. Amelio" Amelio was CEO of Apple.
Read in browser Support Diana Gameros' indie/Latin album effort
By David Pescovitz on Oct 16, 2012 04:01 pm With just a day to go, my favorite San Francisco singer/songwriter Diana Gameros is approaching her Kickstarter goal to fund the recording of her first full-length album. As I've posted before, Diana "creates soulful, passionate, and enchanting music infused with her Latin heritage… She was born in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, (and) writes songs that reflect ...
Read in browser Photos of untidy home offices
By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 16, 2012 03:49 pm Geeklogie uncovered this photo gallery of home offices in need of tidying up.
Read in browser The story of the iconic cover art for Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures
By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 16, 2012 03:45 pm Graphic designer Peter Saville tells the story of the iconic cover art he created for the 1979 Joy Division album
Unknown Pleasures.
Read in browser Albrecht Dürer's Young Hare on Google Art Project
By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 16, 2012 03:36 pm Considered to be one of the finest watercolors ever painted, Google Art Project has a nice zoomable scan of Albrecht Dürer's Young Hare from 1502. From Wikipedia: The subject was particularly challenging: because the hare's fur lay in different directions and the animal was mottled with lighter and darker patches all over, Dürer had to ...
Read in browser Five more books join the Humble Ebook Bundle!
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 16, 2012 03:29 pm We've hit the halfway mark on the Humble Ebook Bundle, a name-your-price, support-for-charity, DRM-free ebook promotion. With one week to go, we've added in FIVE more books: XKCD Volume 0; Zach Weiner's Save Yourself, Mammal and The Most Dangerous Game; Penny Arcade: Attack of the Bacon Robots; and Penny Arcade: Epic Legends of the Magic ...
Read in browser Here is the teaser trailer for Carrie from NYCC (not a bootleg)
By Jamie Frevele on Oct 16, 2012 03:28 pm "While this is obviously the same story of Carrie White and the people who drove her to mass destruction, including her fanatical tyrant mother, this intends to be a fresh take on an old tale. "
Read in browser 1 gallon jug of 1992 McDonald's McJordan barbecue sauce sells for $9,995 on eBay
By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 16, 2012 03:15 pm "That 1992 vintage of McDonald's McJordan BBQ sauce, which was on eBay yesterday, has actually been sold to an anonymous buyer in Chicago, Illinois for the "Buy it Now" price of $9,995."
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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