Art installation with thousands of white balloons 72-year-old man models for granddaughter's teen girl fashion store Creationist fifth grade science textbook used in Louisiana public school King Arthur Flour's black friday bread Ancient Paiute petroglyphs stolen from remote California cliffs Prison ID photos from 1915-1940 #SESAME-GATE: A flowchart for the Kevin Clash Elmo sex scandal Self-taught 15-y-o from Sierra Leone is a king-hell maker Timothy Ferriss: Cheat Sheets for Everything The circadian rhythms of death Twitter and UK libel law The new Evil Dead is all in, according to their first official poster Toronto Mayor Rob Ford demonstrates his governance style Organic chemistry textbook: The rhinoceros is a hybrid of a unicorn and a dragon I am thankful for great science reporting The Fixer's Manifesto: if it's broken, fix it! The last day "Politicians aren't scientists" Elaborate electromechanical clock built around a nutcracker Make a green bean matherole! (And other math-based Thanksgiving treats) TOM THE DANCING BUG: Bill O'Reilly's "Leave It to Beaver" Nightmare! Wired UK's Regent Street pop-up Christmas store, with Makies! Steven Johnson's Future Perfect: optimistic look at the future of networked politics A child's garden of science puns Revived Hall of Technical Documentation Weirdness Mine Kafon; a bamboo tumbleweed that clears landmines Rubber-band shotgun Kickstarter Gloriously illuminated orange Attractive, simple table top radio: Sangean WR-11 Apple's Siri vs. Japanese-accented English Art installation with thousands of white balloons
By David Pescovitz on Nov 21, 2012 12:57 pm Artist/dancer/choreographer William Forsythe's "Scattered Crowd" installation consisted of thousands of white balloons floating in a sea of sound. It's next appearance will be in 2013 at Frankfurt's Bockenheimer Depot, a former train station that's now a theater and art space. Below, video of a smaller-scale gallery installation of the work at London's Sadlers Wells in ...
Read in browser 72-year-old man models for granddaughter's teen girl fashion store
By David Pescovitz on Nov 21, 2012 12:44 pm Above is Liu Xianping, 72, who models clothes for Yuekou, a fashion retailer owned by his granddaughter Lv Ting. "He picked up one piece and tried to give some advice on how to mix and match. We thought it was fun so we started shooting," Lv Ting said in China Newsweek. (Offbeat China and MSN)
Read in browser Creationist fifth grade science textbook used in Louisiana public school
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 21, 2012 12:40 pm On Buzzfeed, Andrew Kaczynski reproduces pages from About Science 5, a fifth grade science textbook used in some Louisiana public schools, which teaches Biblical creationism alongside of evolution as the origin of life. As the publisher's page says, "Science 5 focuses on man's use of God's creation and design." Here Is What Louisiana Schoolchildren Learn ...
Read in browser King Arthur Flour's black friday bread
By Jason Weisberger on Nov 21, 2012 12:29 pm King Arthur Flour offers a great recipe for making bread with your Thanksgiving leftovers. "Matt, the fellow who heads up our King Arthur customer service team, sidled up to me a few weeks ago and asked, "Hey, how about a recipe for stuffing bread?"
Read in browser Ancient Paiute petroglyphs stolen from remote California cliffs
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 21, 2012 12:28 pm For over 3500 years, hunter-gatherer human ancestors etched petroglyphs on cliffs in California's Eastern Sierra. They "withstood winds, flash floods and earthquakes," but were recently destroyed and/or stolen by thieves in just a few hours. (LA Times, thanks RJ)
Read in browser Prison ID photos from 1915-1940
By David Pescovitz on Nov 21, 2012 12:26 pm In 1975, photographer/filmmaker Bruce Jackson, who has spent decades documenting prison life, was visiting Arkansas' Cummins Unit, a state prison farm. While there, he stumbled upon a drawer filled with old prison ID photos snapped between 1915 and 1940. Jackson recontextualized these as a unique form of portraiture in his book "Pictures from a Drawer." ...
Read in browser #SESAME-GATE: A flowchart for the Kevin Clash Elmo sex scandal
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 21, 2012 12:18 pm The Kevin Clash/Elmo scandal, and its many furry tentacles, all broken down in one handy flowchart by Hilary Sargent. Click here for the full chart: JPEG, PDF.
Read in browser Self-taught 15-y-o from Sierra Leone is a king-hell maker
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 21, 2012 12:15 pm This short documentary about a teenager from Sierra Leone who taught himself electronics and got a residence at MIT is inspiring and humbling -- what a kid!
Read in browser Timothy Ferriss: Cheat Sheets for Everything
By Advertiser on Nov 21, 2012 12:10 pm ADVERTISEMENT This post sponsored by Timothy Ferriss's The 4-Hour Chef: Timothy Ferriss's new book The 4-Hour Chef isn't just a cookbook. It's a choose-your-own-adventure guide to the world of rapid learning. Here's an excerpt: CHEAT SHEETS FOR EVERYTHING Any subject can be overwhelming. Magazines have to fill editorial space month after month with "new" recommendations ...
Read in browser The circadian rhythms of death
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Nov 21, 2012 11:34 am This is possibly one of the weirdest things I have read this year. You (yes, you) are more likely to die around 11:00 am than any other time. That is, provided your death is the sort that happens in old age, as opposed to, say, being hit by a bus. That's because of circadian rhythms ...
Read in browser Twitter and UK libel law
By Rob Beschizza on Nov 21, 2012 11:20 am Britain's Lord McAlpine was recently the un-named subject of a BBC documentary alleging child sexual abuse. On Twitter, journalists, celebrities and clued-in everyday citizens subsequently published comments making it easy to figure out who was on the hook. The problem? There was no evidence that McAlpine abused anyone, and everyone--right down to individual tweeters--are now ...
Read in browser The new Evil Dead is all in, according to their first official poster
By Jamie Frevele on Nov 21, 2012 11:17 am Fede Alvarez's Evil Dead is not messing around, as I learned during New York Comic Con this fall and as you may have learned when you saw the teaser trailer. But one look at the new poster (released via Yahoo! Movies) proves that these guys really mean business. They might also be putting their asses ...
Read in browser Toronto Mayor Rob Ford demonstrates his governance style
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 21, 2012 11:17 am Toronto mayor Rob Ford is a dick. He rips out bike lanes. Violates municipal conflict of interest rules by participating in votes to censure him for unethical fundraising. Closes libraries. Skips council meetings to coach little league football (to which he diverts city resources), then hijacks a city bus to drive his team around. Calls ...
Read in browser Organic chemistry textbook: The rhinoceros is a hybrid of a unicorn and a dragon
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Nov 21, 2012 10:42 am Analogies are tricky things. One minute, you're trying to find a clever and memorable way to illustrate molecular bonding of hydrocarbons ... the next you're suddenly Napoleon Dynamite and all your zoologist friends are yelling at you. This image, apparently taken from a real textbook, is part of an excellent Tumblr blog of textbook fails ...
Read in browser I am thankful for great science reporting
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Nov 21, 2012 10:41 am If you're traveling (or just hanging out and bored) today, here's a delightful collection of kick-ass science journalism to fill your hours. The American Association for the Advancement of Science recently announced the winners of this year's Kavli Science Journalism Awards. At the announcement site, you'll find links to all the winners, including: Michelle Nijhuis' ...
Read in browser The Fixer's Manifesto: if it's broken, fix it!
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 21, 2012 10:24 am Jane from Sugru sez, "We've been working on The Fixer's Manifesto. for ages, and we're pumped about it!" Fixing is the unsung hero of creativity. And it really shouldn't be. It's the most common, humble and beautiful form of creativity there is. Let's wear that belief proudly. Let's notice and celebrate these little everyday triumphs, ...
Read in browser The last day
By Rob Beschizza on Nov 21, 2012 10:21 am Francisco Dao's unusual flash fic about the last minutes of a failed startup. [Pando Daily] He opened his wallet and took out his business card. It said "CEO." He realized that was another lie, that he was never really the boss. Math was the boss, the math of a shrinking bank account. The math of ...
Read in browser "Politicians aren't scientists"
By Rob Beschizza on Nov 21, 2012 10:14 am You know how some media love "he said, she said" journalism? The kind in which any issue, no matter the facts or relative degrees of extremism, is narrated in perfect equilibrium between two opposed, yet indistinguishably-intractable sides. Doesn't that stuff suck? OK! Cool. Moving on, Slate's Daniel Engber has an interesting article up today about ...
Read in browser Elaborate electromechanical clock built around a nutcracker
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 21, 2012 10:09 am When John Hilgenberg got a nutcracker for Christmas, he decided to make it the centerpiece of a huge, delightful rubegoldbergian clock that strikes every four hours, using a combination of eight bells and a complex arrangement to motors and gears. John Hilgenberg's Quarterdeck Striker
Read in browser Make a green bean matherole! (And other math-based Thanksgiving treats)
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Nov 21, 2012 10:07 am Vi Hart is Khan Academy's professional mathemusician. (Yeah, I KNOW, right?) And, this year, she's making the most delightfully nerdy Thanksgiving dinner ever. It begins with green bean matherole, topped with fried Borromean onion rings. But, besides the fact that it's finished with crispy, delicious hyperbolic geometry, what makes the matherole a matherole? Vectors. Like ...
Read in browser TOM THE DANCING BUG: Bill O'Reilly's "Leave It to Beaver" Nightmare!
By Ruben Bolling on Nov 21, 2012 10:05 am Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH President Obama is determined to destroy Bill O'Reilly's "traditional America" of Ward, June, Wally and the Beave.
Read in browser Wired UK's Regent Street pop-up Christmas store, with Makies!
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 21, 2012 09:50 am Wired UK is running a Christmas Pop-Up shop in London's Regent Street from Nov 29-Dec 5, in the Quadrant Arcade by Picadilly. I'm delighted to note that MakieLab, the 3D printed toy company my wife co-founded, will have a store within the Wired shop, where you'll be able to buy Makie Dolls and accessories, or ...
Read in browser Steven Johnson's Future Perfect: optimistic look at the future of networked politics
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 21, 2012 09:22 am I've read and enjoyed innumerable Steven Johnson books; he's one of those great science writers who can gather together disparate phenomena from the technological world and tease out of them a coherent story about what's happening to the world right under our noses. His latest, Future Perfect: The Case For Progress In A Networked Age, ...
Read in browser A child's garden of science puns
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Nov 21, 2012 09:15 am Oh, there's more where that came from. Yes, indeed. Via Brian Mossop
Read in browser Revived Hall of Technical Documentation Weirdness
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 21, 2012 09:12 am Darren Barefoot sez, '1000 Internet years ago, I started something called 'The Hall of Technical Documentation Weirdness'. It compiled 'wacky, bizarre, surreal and otherwise strange examples of technical documentation' Boing Boing covered it in 2004, which was a thrill, and some of the images appeared in the IT Crowd. I think of the Hall as ...
Read in browser Mine Kafon; a bamboo tumbleweed that clears landmines
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 21, 2012 05:13 am The "Mine Kafon" is Massoud Hassani's artificial tumbleweed, made from lightweight materials like bamboo. It is designed to be blown across uncleared minefields, detonating forgotten mines.
Read in browser Rubber-band shotgun Kickstarter
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 20, 2012 11:27 pm Bob Coulston, a woodworker and contractor, has a wildly oversubscribed Kickstarter for a laser-cut plywood "shotgun" rubber-band gun that fires tons of rubber bands at once.
Read in browser Gloriously illuminated orange
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 20, 2012 09:25 pm This beautiful image comes from Caleb Charland, who creates all his images in-camera. Recently one Sunday I spent the day at the kitchen table playing with oranges, copper wires and galvanized nails. My hope was that I could make this on going project work with a single piece of fruit. I tried cutting it into ...
Read in browser Attractive, simple table top radio: Sangean WR-11
By Mark Frauenfelder on Nov 20, 2012 08:23 pm After futzing around with various streaming radio apps and bluetooth speakers, my wife told me she wanted a real tabletop radio for the kitchen. Here were her requirements: 1. No buttons - knobs only. 2. Two knobs preferred. A maximum of three. 3. Pretty. 4. Easy to use. I immediately thought of the Tivoli Audio ...
Read in browser Apple's Siri vs. Japanese-accented English
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 20, 2012 07:36 pm An increasingly frustrated native Japanese speaker discovers Siri can't parse the spoken word "work" when voiced with a Japanese accent
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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