Spider delays vote count Man run over by combine harvester, lives Man sues church after crucifix crushes leg Two very good dogs teach you chemistry Chicken truck burns in Chili, NY Liberal Sicily James Bond's accessories Apple ordered to pay Samsung's legal fees in UK after 'false and misleading' notice Maggie speaking in St. Paul with superhero physicist, Jim Kakalios Videogame simulates "a slower speed of light" Cosplaying Chilean students protest education cuts George Lucas profiled by The Atlantic, 1979 Freedom Tower as æolian harp Grab YouTube thumbnails easily Elfquest: A successful hunt First International Maker Meetup, on 3D Printing, Nov 15 Super Scratch Programming Adventure! an excellent way to get started in Scratch Ad-blocking box maker seeks funding Cloaking device demonstrated Villain hair What the election map would have looked like if only white men could vote Tiny 32 GB USB flash drive Fake William Gibson novels, tweeted L'affaire Petraeus: second woman identified, and Gmail metadata outed Broadwell and Petraeus Fairies gone bad Spider delays vote count
By Rob Beschizza on Nov 12, 2012 12:55 pm The Attleborough Sun-Chronicle reports that a spider got inside a voting machine on election day, thereby preventing the scanner inside from correctly counting ballots. Poll workers stayed up all night to count Rehoboth, MA.'s ballots by hand; presidential candidate Mitt Romney emerged victorious.
Read in browser Man run over by combine harvester, lives
By Rob Beschizza on Nov 12, 2012 12:48 pm A man taking a nap in a Billings, MT, cornfield was run over by a combine harvester without serious injury, reports Carmen Irish of the Billings Gazette. At about 1:15 p.m., the landowner drove a combine into the field to harvest corn. The farmer drove about 50 yards when the combine shuddered, [Sheriff's Lt. Kent] ...
Read in browser Man sues church after crucifix crushes leg
By Rob Beschizza on Nov 12, 2012 12:42 pm A man, crushed by the 600-lb marble crucifix he was cleaning, is suing the Hudson Valley church which gave him permission to do so: "Jimenez was standing on the crucifix's base, using rags and soapy water to clean Christ's face. While holding onto the cross beam for balance, the whole crucifix snapped off at its ...
Read in browser Two very good dogs teach you chemistry
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Nov 12, 2012 12:41 pm Paige and Dexter are so smart, they can even explain chemical bonds.
Read in browser Chicken truck burns in Chili, NY
By Rob Beschizza on Nov 12, 2012 12:34 pm Forty thousand pounds of chicken meat were engulfed in flames last week after a tractor trailor's fuel tank ruptured. The chicken-filled 18-wheeler, which originated in Mississippi, ignited and was engulfed in flames just a few miles from its intended destination, the Wegmans Distribution Center, in Chili, said Chili Fire Department Chief Kevin Steeves.
Read in browser Liberal Sicily
By Rob Beschizza on Nov 12, 2012 12:29 pm In Italy, openly gay and devoutly Catholic anti-corruption politician Rosario Crocetta was recently elected to govern conservative Sicily: "I will demonstrate that this region can be the most liberal in Europe." The Mafia's tried to kill him three times, so far. [Reuters]
Read in browser James Bond's accessories
By David Pescovitz on Nov 12, 2012 12:24 pm Smithsonian posted a guide to "
5 Essential James Bond Accessories."
Read in browser Apple ordered to pay Samsung's legal fees in UK after 'false and misleading' notice
By Rob Beschizza on Nov 12, 2012 12:14 pm After losing a patent lawsuit with Samsung in the UK, Apple was required to post information about the ruling on its website and in media advertising. After seeing Apple interweave the details into an amusing editorial and later tuck it out of sight with a clever web design trick, the court appears not to be ...
Read in browser Maggie speaking in St. Paul with superhero physicist, Jim Kakalios
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Nov 12, 2012 12:13 pm Tomorrow night, I'll be joining University of Minnesota physics professor Jim Kakalios for Beaker & Brush — a series of discussions between scientists and artists/writers sponsored by The Science Museum of Minnesota. Kakalios is the author of The Physics of Superheroes and The Amazing Story of Quantum Mechanics. Together, we'll be talking about the way ...
Read in browser Videogame simulates "a slower speed of light"
By David Pescovitz on Nov 12, 2012 11:56 am MIT researchers developed a game that simulates the weird relativistic effects of slowing down the speed of light.
Read in browser Cosplaying Chilean students protest education cuts
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 12, 2012 11:55 am Young Chilean protesters cosplaying superheroes and video-game characters in front of the Chilean government in an all-singing, all-dancing, choreographed amazeballs of a demonstration.
Read in browser George Lucas profiled by The Atlantic, 1979
By David Pescovitz on Nov 12, 2012 11:49 am From The Atlantic's profile of George Lucas, in 1979: The idea of Star Wars was simply to make a "real gee-whiz movie." It would be a high adventure film for children, a pleasure film which would be a logical end to the road down which Coppola had directed his apparently cold, remote associate. As Graffiti ...
Read in browser Freedom Tower as æolian harp
By David Pescovitz on Nov 12, 2012 11:30 am Winds from approaching Hurricane Sandy turned the Freedom Tower into an æolian harp.
Read in browser Grab YouTube thumbnails easily
By Rob Beschizza on Nov 12, 2012 11:18 am YouTube makes available a set of different-sized thumbnails for every video through its API, but sometimes you just need to grab 'em and go. So I made a plain-jane widget to grab what's available, at-a-glance, for any given YT URL. Enjoy!
Read in browser Elfquest: A successful hunt
By Wendy and Richard Pini on Nov 12, 2012 10:45 am Page 10 of
The Final Quest: Prologue is published online-first
for the first time here at Boing Boing. First time reader? You're
a few issues behind.
Read in browser First International Maker Meetup, on 3D Printing, Nov 15
By Mark Frauenfelder on Nov 12, 2012 10:03 am Gareth Branwyn says: What: International Maker Meetup Where: Your Community! When: November 15, 2012 Learn more at http://www.meetup.com/makermeetup/ Next Thursday, the first of our new International Maker Meetups is happening. The idea here is to get makers all over the world together, to talk about the latest issue of MAKE, and making in general, hang ...
Read in browser Super Scratch Programming Adventure! an excellent way to get started in Scratch
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 12, 2012 09:39 am Super Scratch Programming Adventure! is No Starch Press's excellent adventure to Scratch, the extremely popular (and absolutely wonderful) kids' programming environment from the MIT Media Lab's Lifelong Kindergarten Group. Produced with the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, Super Scratch Programming Adventure! is a graphic novel that walks readers through a series of extremely well-designed ...
Read in browser Ad-blocking box maker seeks funding
By Rob Beschizza on Nov 12, 2012 08:36 am AdTrap is a planned $150 firewall box for consumers. Plugged in between your internet connection and router, it strips the web of advertising without requiring a moment's configuration. Unlike browser-based plugins, it covers the whole pipe rather than a single app: every device in the house managed from a single setup screen. It's open-source and ...
Read in browser Cloaking device demonstrated
By Rob Beschizza on Nov 12, 2012 08:05 am After years of research, "perfect" invisibility cloaks are finally a reality— at least so long as you are a tiny cylinder. In 2006, the development of metamaterials resulted in a working example of a cloaking device, an essential accoutrement for young wizards and evil Klingon generals alike. Practical complexities, however, meant the material offered no ...
Read in browser Villain hair
By Rob Beschizza on Nov 12, 2012 07:18 am "Possession of a terrible haircut is the Hollywood litmus test for evil" [The Awl]
Read in browser What the election map would have looked like if only white men could vote
By Mark Frauenfelder on Nov 12, 2012 01:04 am No wonder Ann Coulter wants women's voting rights taken away. What The 2012 Election Would Have Looked Like Without Universal Suffrage (Via Sociological Images)
Read in browser Tiny 32 GB USB flash drive
By Mark Frauenfelder on Nov 12, 2012 12:44 am My first engineering job was with Burroughs in the 1980s. We were making 100MB disk drives that weighed 70 lbs. A few years later I worked for Fujitsu on a 100MB 2.5-inch drive that weighed about 6 ounces. I can't remember how much either drive cost but it was probably over $1000. Earlier this week ...
Read in browser Fake William Gibson novels, tweeted
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 11, 2012 11:54 pm Australo-Prussian tugs in LEO scuttled to avoid capture by Hardee's exoatmospheric weapons & chicken division. Zürcher calfskin watchbands?— Authentic Wm. Gibson (@AuthenticWmGibs) November 3, 2012 @AuthenticWmGibs is a funny fake William Gibson Twitter account, which tweets plausible-sounding precis of imaginary Gibson novels (or, as the Twitter bio has it, "Synopses for William Gibson novels that ...
Read in browser L'affaire Petraeus: second woman identified, and Gmail metadata outed Broadwell and Petraeus
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 11, 2012 09:41 pm David Petraeus, L, used a pseudonymous Gmail account to sext biographer/lover Paula Broadwell, R. They were outed in part by Gmail metadata. Well, that didn't take long. On Friday, CIA chief and retired general David Petraeus, 60, resigned after an FBI probe stumbled on evidence of an extramarital affair, and hinted at possible security violations. ...
Read in browser Fairies gone bad
By Jason Weisberger on Nov 11, 2012 01:55 pm The San Jose Mercury News reported on a "fairy" who participated in a marijuana related robbery. "Police said at about 2 a.m. on Halloween, a woman in a fairy costume was let into the victim's house in the 2400 block of Center Road after asking to use the phone. The others followed her. After one ...
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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