The social science of Middle Earth Realistic chocolate baby-heads Judge considers unusual plea deal for accused WikiLeaks source Manning Julian Assange on WikiLeaks, Bradley Manning, and new Julian Assange book Overly Attached Girlfriend at the American Music Awards North Korea reports "Lair of King Tongmyong's Unicorn Reconfirmed in DPRK" Weev: Hackers should keep security holes to themselves Houston duo indicted for internet puppy torture videos Arrested for punching psychic, Lindsay Lohan becomes instant Skepticism movement hero At pre-trial hearing, Bradley Manning testifies of mistreatment in detention Syrian internet blackout continues for second day Top Baby Names of 2012 include "Mac," "Siri," and "Mars" Victorian jargon watch: "a dictionary of heterodox English, slang and phrase" The basketball court inside the summit of Disneyland Matterhorn Art for Tibet IV: auction in NYC to benefit Students for a Free Tibet, Dec. 1st, 2012 California pot decriminalization correlated to lowest youth crime rate in recorded history UK record lobby wants Pirate Party to shut down its Pirate Bay proxy New FCC rules will let a single company own a town's ISP, newspapers, 2 TV stations and 8 radio stations Greenpeace's anime video about hazardous chemicals and fashion Staples to get in-store 3D printers Makie doll in a Minecraft sweater Story Dice: app for storytelling fun Demdike Stare's "Hashshashin Chant" (music video) Floppy Table made from rolled steel, with hidden compartment 3D printing with moon-dust Gigapixel images of Charles Babbage's Difference Engine #2 Joss Whedon's extracurricular Much Ado About Nothing gets a release date Cartoonist group photo in Toronto restaurant Make editors and contributors in a Google Hangout at 2pm PST Ad for freelance Russian bank-robbers The social science of Middle Earth
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Nov 30, 2012 12:43 pm The Lord of the Rings Project collects and analyzes data on all the characters inhabiting Middle Earth, to produce statistical comparisons of life expectancy, age distribution, population, and more.
Read in browser Realistic chocolate baby-heads
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 30, 2012 12:41 pm The evil bakers at Eat Your Heart Out showcase these custom-made, specially commissioned hyper-realistic chocolate baby heads, suitable for an infanticidal feast. They won't say who commissioned 'em, but I'm guessing whomever it is has plans for a hell of an office Christmas party. A private commission (that's all we can say), they are solid ...
Read in browser Judge considers unusual plea deal for accused WikiLeaks source Manning
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 30, 2012 11:36 am The Associated Press has details on the unusual plea deal being considered in the case of Bradley Manning, the Army private accused of passing classified documents to Wikileaks. On Thursday, a military judge, Col. Denise Lind, accepted the terms under which Private Manning would plead guilty to eight charges for sending classified documents to WikiLeaks.The ...
Read in browser Julian Assange on WikiLeaks, Bradley Manning, and new Julian Assange book
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 30, 2012 11:31 am Democracy Now has an interview with Julian Assange, speaking from inside the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he has been holed up for about six months.
Read in browser Overly Attached Girlfriend at the American Music Awards
By Mark Frauenfelder on Nov 30, 2012 11:31 am Overly Attached Girlfriend hamming it up at the American Music Awards
Read in browser North Korea reports "Lair of King Tongmyong's Unicorn Reconfirmed in DPRK"
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 30, 2012 11:27 am Seems legit. (via @chicoharlan, thanks, @klustout)
Read in browser Weev: Hackers should keep security holes to themselves
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 30, 2012 11:24 am Andrew Auernheimer, aka "weev," the hacker found guilty last week of computer intrusion for obtaining the unprotected e-mail addresses of more than 100,000 iPad owners from AT&T's website and passing them to a journalist, has an opinion piece in Wired News today. In it, he argues that hackers should forget about disclosure, and keep what they learn of ...
Read in browser Houston duo indicted for internet puppy torture videos
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 30, 2012 11:22 am Wired Threat Level reports that a man and woman in Houston man and woman have been indicted for distributing snuff films online in which puppies and other animals were tortured and killed. "Federal authorities say the pair made eight videos — bearing titles like puppy 1, whitechick and crushblackluvsample — that depicted puppies, chickens, kittens and ...
Read in browser Arrested for punching psychic, Lindsay Lohan becomes instant Skepticism movement hero
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 30, 2012 11:16 am Troubled famous person Lindsay Lohan was arrested this week for sucker-punching a Florida psychic inside a Manhattan nightclub where Lohan had once been banned. "I need space," Lohan allegedly declared before slamming her fist into palm reader Tiffany Mitchell, who offered her a free "reading." Admit it, you Michael-Shermer, Richard-Dawkins reader, you are secretly cheering ...
Read in browser At pre-trial hearing, Bradley Manning testifies of mistreatment in detention
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 30, 2012 11:11 am "My world just shrank to Camp Arifjan and then my cage. I remember thinking: I'm going to die. I'm stuck here and I'm going to die in animal cage."— Bradley Manning, testifying at Fort Meade on Thursday. (Guardian)
Read in browser Syrian internet blackout continues for second day
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 30, 2012 11:08 am The Internet in Syria is effectively shut down for a second successive day, according to activists who spoke to the New York Times, "fanning speculation among opponents of President Bashar al-Assad about the government's intentions in coming days." There are always workarounds, including satellite phones, but those alternatives make it easier for Assad agents to ...
Read in browser Top Baby Names of 2012 include "Mac," "Siri," and "Mars"
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 30, 2012 11:06 am Mac, Siri, Sky, Star, Luna, Skylar, Heaven, Stella, and Mars are among the baby names that grew in popularity in 2012, according to BabyCenter.
Read in browser Victorian jargon watch: "a dictionary of heterodox English, slang and phrase"
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 30, 2012 10:00 am The Internet Archive has a complete scan of James Redding Ware's wonderful 1909 treatise "Passing English of the Victorian era: a dictionary of heterodox English, slang and phrase," ganked from the University of Toronto's Robarts library. The Archive has OCR'ed versions, hi-rez PDFs of color and b/w scans, and every ebook format you're likely to ...
Read in browser The basketball court inside the summit of Disneyland Matterhorn
By Mark Frauenfelder on Nov 30, 2012 10:00 am Is there a basketball court inside the Matterhorn?
Read in browser Art for Tibet IV: auction in NYC to benefit Students for a Free Tibet, Dec. 1st, 2012
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 30, 2012 09:51 am Kylin, "Dtsi Legomandala," combining the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual practice of creating and ritualistically dismantling ornate sand mandalas with the contemporary medium of LEGO. On December 1st, 2012, 6pm-9pm, Tibet House in New York is hosting a silent art auction featuring live music performances, and bidding on art by a number of different artists to benefit ...
Read in browser California pot decriminalization correlated to lowest youth crime rate in recorded history
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 30, 2012 09:00 am California Youth Crime Plunges to All-Time Low, a paper from the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, analyzes recent data from the California Department of Justice's Criminal Justice Statistics Center, and concludes that decriminalizing marijuana was correlated with an unheard-of 20% drop in the youth crime rate. The California youth crime rate is now the ...
Read in browser UK record lobby wants Pirate Party to shut down its Pirate Bay proxy
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 30, 2012 03:19 am The BPI -- the UK version of the RIAA -- got the courts to order the UK's ISPs to censor requests to The Pirate Bay. The UK Pirate Party set up a proxy in anticipation of the order. Now the BPI has demanded that they shut it down. Word is that the news of the ...
Read in browser New FCC rules will let a single company own a town's ISP, newspapers, 2 TV stations and 8 radio stations
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 29, 2012 10:50 pm Josh from Free Press sez, " FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski wants to gut existing rules that limit media consolidation. This is bad news for people who care about the effects of too much media in too few hands. Genachowski's proposed plan would make our media less diverse, create local media monopolies and ultimately mean less ...
Read in browser Greenpeace's anime video about hazardous chemicals and fashion
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 29, 2012 09:45 pm An animated collaboration between Greenpeace and Free Range studios exposes the trail of hazardous chemicals throughout the world.
Read in browser Staples to get in-store 3D printers
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 29, 2012 09:08 pm Some Staples stores in Belgium and the Netherlands will have MCOR color 3D printers that will print out model-files uploaded to a store website for in-person pickup. MCOR printers use plain pulp paper as build material, so the resulting models will be essentially cellulose, dye and glue, and should be easy to recycle. Staples' Easy ...
Read in browser Makie doll in a Minecraft sweater
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 29, 2012 08:55 pm This adorable Makie doll went to MineCon, a Minecraft convention in Paris, with its owner MoggyMoo and her son, a Minecraft enthusiast. In honour of the occasion, Moggymoo knit a tiny custom Minecraft creeper jumper for it to wear. Meena is going to MineCon (Thanks, Alice!) (Disclosure: My wife is the founder of MakieLab)
Read in browser Story Dice: app for storytelling fun
By Mark Frauenfelder on Nov 29, 2012 07:46 pm This attractively-designed iOS app lets you roll virtual dice that have a number of different symbols on their faces.
Read in browser Demdike Stare's "Hashshashin Chant" (music video)
By David Pescovitz on Nov 29, 2012 07:15 pm A fantastically-psychotronic and insane video for "Hashshashin Chant" by Demdike Stare, available on their out-of-print Voices of Dust LP or the
Triptych box set compiling all three of their essential 2010 albums.
Read in browser Floppy Table made from rolled steel, with hidden compartment
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 29, 2012 06:59 pm Neulant van Exel's Floppy Table is made from rolled steel, and its dust-guard slides aside to reveal a cavity for storing your TV remote. No pricing info, so I assume this is one of those, "If you have you ask, you can't afford it" deals. Material: Hot-rolled steel (welded) Stainless steel (welded) Measures: 27.56" width ...
Read in browser 3D printing with moon-dust
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 29, 2012 05:50 pm Researchers from the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Washington State University have built a 3D printer that can use sorted (simulated) Lunar regolith (moon dust) to print out "crude" objects.
Read in browser Gigapixel images of Charles Babbage's Difference Engine #2
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 29, 2012 05:38 pm Greg sez, "This project is using a number of computational photography techniques to document Charles Babbage's 'Difference Engine No 2' for the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. There are interactive gigapixel images for the four cardinal views of the device available to view." Babbage Difference Engine in Gigapixel (Thanks, Greg!)
Read in browser Joss Whedon's extracurricular Much Ado About Nothing gets a release date
By Jamie Frevele on Nov 29, 2012 05:15 pm That Shakespeare movie that Joss Whedon shot in 12 days (during some spare time while shooting The Avengers) has gotten an official theatrical release date: June 7, 2013. Filmed in glorious black and white, Much Ado About Nothing features several Whedon favorites, like Fran Kranz (The Cabin in the Woods) as Claudio, Alexis Denisof (Buffy ...
Read in browser Cartoonist group photo in Toronto restaurant
By Mark Frauenfelder on Nov 29, 2012 05:12 pm A gaggle of devastatingly handsome cartoonists pose for a group portrait in a Toronto restaurant. Left to right: Chris Ware, Charles Burns, Seth, Chester Brown, Anouk Ricard, Peter Birkemoe, Adrian Tomine. (photo: Nathalie Atkinson)
Read in browser Make editors and contributors in a Google Hangout at 2pm PST
By Mark Frauenfelder on Nov 29, 2012 05:01 pm Join the editors and contributors of MAKE in a Google Hangout right now. We'll be talking about 3D printers and content in the latest issue.
Read in browser Ad for freelance Russian bank-robbers
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 29, 2012 04:42 pm Brian Krebs has published an ad from "Foreign Agents," a notorious Russian crime service. They're advertising the availability of foot soldiers in the USA who can help cash out hacked bank accounts and credit cards. Unlike traditional bank-fraud mules, who don't know that they're part of a scam, these "associates" are "неразводные" ("nerazvodni" or "not ...
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
