We have the technology to look for life on Mars Amazing anatomically correct baked goods Boing Boing Digest #002 10-25-2012 It's not okay to threaten to rape people you don't like: Why I stand with Rebecca Watson Colbert to Trump: I'll pay $1M to your favorite charity if you let me put my balls in your mouth Aviation vulnerability: Scan boarding passes to discover if you're in for deep screening; print new barcodes if you don't like what you find Conquering Graymail With Outlook.com Where servers meet saunas All-in-one Sable Complete PC, an Ubuntu-based desktop PC that competes on price and power Carl Sagan's Cosmos: The Meat Planet (with pork volcano) Pregnancy fashion tips Run Wrake, animator of dark and imaginative award-winning short films, dead of cancer at 47 Cory in Toronto today, tomorrow (then Boston!) ➚ A 15-16' great white shark killed a 39yo surfer near Santa Barbara, CA this week [latimesblogs.latimes.com] ➚ SpaceFlightNow has details on Sunday's scheduled departure of the SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo spacecraft, "filled with nearly one ton of failed parts, experiments, and precious blood and urine samples for return to Earth." [spaceflightnow.com] ➚ Polygon, a new site from The Verge's stable, launched this evening [polygon.com] Japanther video by 50 teenaged animators Ai Weiwei's "Gangnam Style" parody video Felt animal hats Paul Krugman's introduction to the Folio Society's beautiful edition of the Foundation trilogy Bench made from books Audio experiment: Boing Boing digest Hey! There's a new Hilda book out! Hey! Jem (and the Holograms) is (are) making a comeback Lana Wachowski on growing up transgender ➚ John Franklin Stephens, a 30yo man with Down Syndrome, writes an open letter to Ann Coulter [specialolympicsblog.wordpress.com] Skepchick on sexism ➚ "When cancer was suspected during my pregnancy, I faced a decision no woman wants -- and few politicians understand." Abortion and cancer, and a different kind of "right to life." [salon.com] ➚ Barack Obama, "the first meme president." [mercurynews.com] ➚ Awful headline of the day [nydailynews.com] We have the technology to look for life on Mars
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Oct 25, 2012 12:57 pm The Curiosity rover can do a lot of things, but nobody is expecting her to find direct evidence of life on Mars. In fact, the hunt for life on the Red Planet has been a pretty stunted one. The last time we really looked was during the Viking missions, which tried to find chemical "footprints" ...
Read in browser Amazing anatomically correct baked goods
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Oct 25, 2012 12:52 pm I absolutely love cheeky science cooking projects. So the Eat Your Heart Out bakery website makes me sincerely wish that I lived in London. From white chocolate vertebre stuffed with dark chocolate cream, to cupcakes topped with beautiful red blood cells, to what I think is a cupcake but KNOW is an amazing cutaway of ...
Read in browser Boing Boing Digest #002 10-25-2012
By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 25, 2012 12:46 pm Thanks for your feedback on the first daily digest, which I posted yesterday. This one is a lot shorter, and hopefully better!
Read in browser It's not okay to threaten to rape people you don't like: Why I stand with Rebecca Watson
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Oct 25, 2012 12:45 pm Every now and then, I am reminded of how lucky I am. I'm lucky that none of my readers has ever responded to a comment I made, which they didn't like, by calling me ugly. I'm lucky that they've never called me a cunt or a whore. I'm lucky that they've never threatened to rape ...
Read in browser Colbert to Trump: I'll pay $1M to your favorite charity if you let me put my balls in your mouth
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 25, 2012 12:06 pm Stephen Colbert has raised the stakes on Donald Trump.
Read in browser Aviation vulnerability: Scan boarding passes to discover if you're in for deep screening; print new barcodes if you don't like what you find
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 25, 2012 11:00 am Want to know if you're in for a date with Doctor Jellyfinger the next time you go to the airport? Just print out your boarding-card and scan in the barcode: it encodes whether you're getting the "full security screening" or just the normal humiliation. Information about this vulnerability spread after a John Butler blog-post documented ...
Read in browser Conquering Graymail With Outlook.com
By Advertiser on Oct 25, 2012 10:58 am ADVERTISEMENT This post sponsored by Outlook.com: Go and look at your inbox right now. Go on, I'll wait. Done? Good. For the majority of you, over 80% of the email you receive is something called graymail. It's not spam, but it's also not higher priority messages from friends, family or colleagues that you're more likely ...
Read in browser Where servers meet saunas
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 25, 2012 10:09 am "Google operates nine giant data centers across the U.S. and Europe. And it's building four more in Asia and South America. But only one has a sauna. Yes, that would be the one in Hamina, Finland." —Steven Levy's WIRED profile on Google's sauna-server centers is well worth a read.
Read in browser All-in-one Sable Complete PC, an Ubuntu-based desktop PC that competes on price and power
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 25, 2012 10:04 am OMGUbuntu reviews the new System76 Sable Complete, a $799, expandable, open all-in-one computer that is price-competitive and performance-competitive with iMacs and other all-in-ones. I've owned some System76 laptops and have been generally impressed with both the build-quality and the support offered by the company -- they're always a good bet if you want to get ...
Read in browser Carl Sagan's Cosmos: The Meat Planet (with pork volcano)
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 25, 2012 09:46 am "A giant planet with a liquid interior full of liquid beef and pork, into which a thousand earths would fit."
Read in browser Pregnancy fashion tips
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 25, 2012 09:44 am Here's some helpful tips on 'pregnancy fashion' from the amazing Desire Dubounet.
Read in browser Run Wrake, animator of dark and imaginative award-winning short films, dead of cancer at 47
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 25, 2012 09:29 am "Rabbit," a dark, nightmarish short film by UK animator Run Wrake. He died this week of cancer, at the relatively young age of 47.
Read in browser Cory in Toronto today, tomorrow (then Boston!)
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 25, 2012 09:00 am Hey, Toronto! I'll be at the Harbourfront International Festival of Authors tonight and tomorrow night (tonight it's a joint appearance with Larissa Andrusyshyn, Stuart Clark, Corey Redekop and Robert J. Sawyer; tomorrow, it's a twofer with China Mieville). Then I head to Boston for the last engagement in my Pirate Cinema tour, a free, ticketed ...
Read in browser ➚ A 15-16' great white shark killed a 39yo surfer near Santa Barbara, CA this week [latimesblogs.latimes.com]
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 25, 2012 08:45 am A 15-16' great white shark killed a 39yo surfer near Santa Barbara, CA this week. A 19yo surfer was killed by a shark off the same beach two years ago. Tip: don't surf there.
Read in browser ➚ SpaceFlightNow has details on Sunday's scheduled departure of the SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo spacecraft, "filled with nearly one ton of failed parts, experiments, and precious blood and urine samples for return to Earth." [spaceflightnow.com]
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 25, 2012 08:39 am SpaceFlightNow has details on Sunday's scheduled departure of the SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo spacecraft, "filled with nearly one ton of failed parts, experiments, and precious blood and urine samples for return to Earth."
Read in browser ➚ Polygon, a new site from The Verge's stable, launched this evening [polygon.com]
By Rob Beschizza on Oct 24, 2012 11:06 pm Polygon, a new site from The Verge's stable, launched this evening. Launch features include a look at Halo 4's playtesting labs, a review of Medal of Honor: Warfighter, and a roundup of developer thoughts on the iPad mini.
Read in browser Japanther video by 50 teenaged animators
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 24, 2012 11:01 pm 'She's The One' by Japanther and the California State Summer School for the Arts Animation Class of 2012 features the work of 50 teenage animation students.
Read in browser Ai Weiwei's "Gangnam Style" parody video
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 24, 2012 10:18 pm Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei covers PSY's viral hit.
Read in browser Felt animal hats
By Rob Beschizza on Oct 24, 2012 10:01 pm Barbara Keal makes unusual felt hats, perfect for cold winter mornings and pagan orgies. [via Trendland] Update: Barbara's email box is full and it is essential that I procure a hat. Anyone got working contact info?
Read in browser Paul Krugman's introduction to the Folio Society's beautiful edition of the Foundation trilogy
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 24, 2012 08:59 pm The Folio Society has released a beautiful, illustrated slipcased edition of Asimov's Foundation trilogy, illustrated by Alex Wells, with a special introduction by Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman. The introduction (PDF) is a great and insightful piece into one of the ways that science fiction inspires and shapes the lives of its readers. Yet despite their ...
Read in browser Bench made from books
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 24, 2012 08:29 pm DeviantArt's Funnysock posted this this "bench made of books," which she or he apparently found and photographed, but did not make. It's available as a print. Bench (via Neatorama)
Read in browser Audio experiment: Boing Boing digest
By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 24, 2012 07:34 pm We have a new Soundcloud account and I've been playing around with it. This morning I recorded a 13-minute commentary about recent posts on Boing Boing. If you are inclined, please give it a listen and let me know what you think! If enough of you are interested I will create a podcast RSS feed ...
Read in browser Hey! There's a new Hilda book out! Hey!
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 24, 2012 06:45 pm Back in January, I reviewed Luke Pearson's Hilda, an amazing, beautiful, perfectly brilliant kids' comic from Nobrow Press in London. I've just heard from Sam at Nobrow that there's a new Hilda out, Hilda and the Bird Parade, and apparently there's a copy waiting for me to review when I get home from my tour. ...
Read in browser Jem (and the Holograms) is (are) making a comeback
By Jamie Frevele on Oct 24, 2012 06:17 pm Ladies -- and gentlemen -- I couldn't possibly brace you enough for this amazing retro toy news, so I'm just going to come out with it: Jem, lead singer of the Holograms and the rock 'n' roll answer to Barbie (and perhaps her complete inability to choose among her 100+ career paths), is being resurrected ...
Read in browser Lana Wachowski on growing up transgender
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 24, 2012 06:05 pm Lana Wachowski, director of Cloud Atlas, describes in a speech delivered this week at the Human Rights Campaign's gala fundraising dinner how she "once suffered a physical beating at the hands of a Catholic school nun after she failed to join a line of boys and nearly committed suicide as a young adult before being ...
Read in browser ➚ John Franklin Stephens, a 30yo man with Down Syndrome, writes an open letter to Ann Coulter [specialolympicsblog.wordpress.com]
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 24, 2012 05:59 pm John Franklin Stephens, a 30yo man with Down Syndrome, writes an open letter to Ann Coulter. The professional political troll recently used the word "retard" to refer to the president of the United States.
Read in browser Skepchick on sexism
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 24, 2012 05:50 pm Rebecca Watson, aka Skepchick (YouTube), in Slate: "I spoke out about sexual harassment among atheists and scientists. Then came the rape threats."
Read in browser ➚ "When cancer was suspected during my pregnancy, I faced a decision no woman wants -- and few politicians understand." Abortion and cancer, and a different kind of "right to life." [salon.com]
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 24, 2012 05:46 pm "When cancer was suspected during my pregnancy, I faced a decision no woman wants -- and few politicians understand." Abortion and cancer, and a different kind of "right to life."
Read in browser ➚ Barack Obama, "the first meme president." [mercurynews.com]
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 24, 2012 05:41 pm Barack Obama, "the first meme president."
Read in browser ➚ Awful headline of the day [nydailynews.com]
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 24, 2012 05:39 pm Awful headline of the day: "'Evil clown' metal drummer accused of making child porn."
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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