Walmart severs ties with supplier after its garments found in shop where fire killed 100+ workers Letter from Alabama AG to head of the KKK: "Kiss my ass" Nudes in blurred motion Lenny Kravitz will play Marvin Gaye in Julien Temple's biopic Fantastic graphics innovations from SIGGRAPH Asia 2012 Will Elder does Virgil Finlay Amazons with a Cause Stanislaw Burzynski, dubious cancer doc, gets off on legal technicality Dread Spawn (Head Wrong): an artist remakes Red Dawn Mass Effect Trilogy's Mordin Solus and other esteemed extraterrestrials For newspapers drowning in red ink, are paywalls really the answer? Mitt Romney, 47-percenter Latest "Elmo" accuser posts on "Casual Encounters" regularly for "a Lil Male Stimulation." Tears in Rain Inside "Film City," Qatar Brid food sign tells a story of retail woe How many seconds until Rob Ford is gone? Arafat's remains exhumed to rule out murder by radioactive polonium poisoning TED Talks: 1,400 videos designed to give you an "aha!" moment Hand-drawn maps of an imaginary kingdom are artist's autobiography/confessional Brain Rot: In Time For Christmas, M.E.M.E.S Action Figures! Fairest: the women of Willingham's Fables stories get their own comic KaomojiApp makes crazy text emoticons easy ＼(☆o◎)／ Dear Sir Here is the glow cases Hotel break-ins blamed on flaw in keycard system Great moments in pulp fiction: "Lady, That's My Skull" Meet Sveta, Pussy Riot's perky, pro-Putin antithesis Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat, Fugazi) on "pay what you want" show archives Collaborative critical study of one-line BASIC program written for the Commodore 64 Tor Project is hiring support assistants and translators Walmart severs ties with supplier after its garments found in shop where fire killed 100+ workers
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 27, 2012 12:58 pm At The Nation, Josh Eidelson broke the story of Walmart garments found in the ashes after a garment shop fire that killed at least 112 workers in Bangladesh. Walmart now claims it has severed ties with the supplier with whom they had contracted, which they claim subcontracted to the factory where the fire took place, ...
Read in browser Letter from Alabama AG to head of the KKK: "Kiss my ass"
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 27, 2012 12:58 pm This succinct note from Bill Baxley, Attorney General of Alabama in 1970, to the Grand Dragon of the KKK, is admirable in its brevity, forcefulness, and clarity. Letters of Note tells the story: In 1970, shortly after being elected Attorney General of Alabama, 29-year-old Bill Baxley reopened the 16th Street Church bombing case — a ...
Read in browser Nudes in blurred motion
By David Pescovitz on Nov 27, 2012 12:57 pm Shinichi Maruyama, whose magical "Water Sculpture Movie" I posted about last year, created a stunning photo series of human bodies in motion. (via PetaPixel)
Read in browser Lenny Kravitz will play Marvin Gaye in Julien Temple's biopic
By Jamie Frevele on Nov 27, 2012 12:51 pm Lenny Kravitz is getting ready for what could be the biggest role of his life as an actor: late R&B singer Marvin Gaye. Rumors popped up last week that he might be taking on the role for director Julien Temple, but now it's been confirmed. Kravitz has been showing up in cool supporting roles more ...
Read in browser Fantastic graphics innovations from SIGGRAPH Asia 2012
By David Pescovitz on Nov 27, 2012 12:49 pm SIGGRAPH Asia 2012 starts tomorrow in Singapore. The above video teases some of the astounding graphics accomplishments that will be presented at the conference.
Read in browser Will Elder does Virgil Finlay
By Mark Frauenfelder on Nov 27, 2012 12:47 pm Will Elder is one of the greatest cartoonists of all time. He and Harvey Kurtzman were responsible for the early MAD (when it was a comic book) and he went on to illustrate for other humor magazines (usually partnering with Kurtzman). One of Elder's talents was his uncanny ability to mimic the styles of other ...
Read in browser Amazons with a Cause
By Jasmina Tesanovic on Nov 27, 2012 12:41 pm Why are women first to pay for every crisis? In every society, capitalist, socialist, or transition? It's because the bodies of women are expendable. I always noticed how women over eighty in Turin looked incredibly well, beautiful and loved and taken care of: desirable, because old and valuable. I connected this to Italy's long-established and ...
Read in browser Stanislaw Burzynski, dubious cancer doc, gets off on legal technicality
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 27, 2012 12:29 pm Oncologist and cancer-woo-debunker Orac has more on the legal details that allow this man to keep practicing medicine in Texas: "the dubious doctor known as Stanislaw Burzynski, who charges desperate patients with advanced (and usually incurable) cancer tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars to participate in his 'clinical trials' of antineoplastons, compounds that ...
Read in browser Dread Spawn (Head Wrong): an artist remakes Red Dawn
By David Pescovitz on Nov 27, 2012 12:23 pm Dread Spawn (Head Wrong) asks "how would the fantastical storyline of the Red Dawn remake function if the Chinese People's Liberation Army were to invade NYC's Chinatown instead and was met by multicultural, brainy students?"
Read in browser Mass Effect Trilogy's Mordin Solus and other esteemed extraterrestrials
By Advertiser on Nov 27, 2012 11:50 am ADVERTISEMENT This post sponsored by MASS EFFECT TRILOGY. Own the award-winning saga. Out now.
Once you're immersed in the Mass Effect Trilogy, you'll come to know Mordin Solus, seen above center. A Salarian from the planet Sur'Kesh, Solus is a professor and geneticist who was formerly an operative in the Special Tasks Group. "Lots ...
Read in browser For newspapers drowning in red ink, are paywalls really the answer?
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 27, 2012 11:48 am At GigaOm, a well-argued rant by Matthew Ingram responding to a recent Columbia Journalism Review post which said, pretty much, that the only way to solve the Washington Post's financial problems is to put up a paywall around their content like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and other big papers. "This focus on ...
Read in browser Mitt Romney, 47-percenter
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 27, 2012 11:32 am At Dangerous Minds, Richard Metzger celebrates a moment of "God rubbing Mitt Romney's nose in karmic dogshit." New election data expands Obama's portion of the popular vote to 50.8%, and drops Romney's to 47.49%, which "puts his percentage at the magic number of government dependent moochers that he himself estimated, at a secretly taped bigwig ...
Read in browser Latest "Elmo" accuser posts on "Casual Encounters" regularly for "a Lil Male Stimulation."
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 27, 2012 11:15 am This will likely come as a shock, but the newest guy to accuse Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash of underage sex—and sue him for $5M—is a frequent "casual encounters" poster on Craigslist. In other news, I just learned that "roses" is a code word for money in such ads, as in "I expect roses in exchange ...
Read in browser Tears in Rain
By Mark Frauenfelder on Nov 27, 2012 11:06 am Here's an excerpt from Spanish author Rosa Montero's "techno-human nail-biter" Tears in Rain, which is set in a post Blade Runner world. Death is inevitable. Especially when you have an expiration date. As a replicant, or “techno-human,” Detective Bruna Husky knows two things: humans bioengineered her to perform dangerous, undesirable tasks; and she has just ...
Read in browser Inside "Film City," Qatar
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 27, 2012 11:03 am Longtime Boing Boing reader Jethro Stamps, a freelance photographer based in the middle east, shares a wonderful set of photographs he shot in Qatar at Film City, an old abandoned film set in the heart of the desert. "It's a very odd place indeed," he says, "made stranger by the fact no-one seems to know ...
Read in browser Brid food sign tells a story of retail woe
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 27, 2012 10:42 am As a compulsive photographer of odd signs, I have to say that "Brid" (origin unknown) has it all. It's the implied story I love: Bob: Aw, jeez, you're kidding. "Brid?" Who made these things? Fine. I'll just put 'em out for $1.19. Customer 1: Hey, did you see this? This bucket says "brid!" That's pretty ...
Read in browser How many seconds until Rob Ford is gone?
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 27, 2012 10:41 am Now that Toronto's scumbag mayor Rob Ford is out on his ass, the city is celebrating. Here's a countdown calculator that tells you how many more seconds the deplorable oaf has in office before he's banished to the scrapheap of history. Ford Countdown - Mayor Rob Ford Countdown Clock (Thanks, Dan!)
Read in browser Arafat's remains exhumed to rule out murder by radioactive polonium poisoning
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 27, 2012 10:40 am The remains of Yasser Arafat have been exhumed so that scientists could gather samples to ship overseas to test for the presence of radioactive polonium. Some charge that the late Palestinian leader was murdered. BBC News has a list of 10 other famous people who have been dug up for one reason or another. (via ...
Read in browser TED Talks: 1,400 videos designed to give you an "aha!" moment
By Mark Frauenfelder on Nov 27, 2012 10:34 am A ticket to the annual TED conference, which features astounding 18-minute talks by scientists, artists, entertainers, activists, engineers, designers, and entrepreneurs, is very expensive and limited to a couple of thousand people. But in 2006, June Cohen, executive producer of TED Media, led the decision to put TED Talks online for free. Today, the 1,400+ ...
Read in browser Hand-drawn maps of an imaginary kingdom are artist's autobiography/confessional
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 27, 2012 10:08 am Alain sez, "Artist Jeffrey Beebe's website dedicated to his autobiographical/imaginary world called Refractoria; the website features dozens hand-drawn geopolitical maps, city maps, celestial charts, genealogical charts, etc. profoundly influenced by OD&D/AD&D 1st Edition and various fantasy maps." Map of Refractoria (Thanks, Alain!)
Read in browser Brain Rot: In Time For Christmas, M.E.M.E.S Action Figures!
By Ed Piskor on Nov 27, 2012 10:00 am Read in browser Fairest: the women of Willingham's Fables stories get their own comic
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 27, 2012 09:40 am For many years, I've marvelled at Bill Willingham's ability to plumb the world of fairy-tales to produce his Fables series, the spin-out novel, and various other media. Few other creators combine such consistent skill with such astounding volume. But Willingham appears to only just be getting started. He's spun out another side-series from the main ...
Read in browser KaomojiApp makes crazy text emoticons easy ＼(☆o◎)／
By Dean Putney on Nov 27, 2012 09:00 am KaomojiApp adds a menu item to your Mac with a huge collection of Unicode emoticons that you can easily select and insert in any text area. The free version has a few basic samples in each emotion category, and you can unlock hundreds more for just $3. Yay! ☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆ KaomojiApp.com
Read in browser Dear Sir Here is the glow cases
By Rob Beschizza on Nov 27, 2012 08:43 am It wasn't even clear from the spam where you might buy one. Just in case you were wondering.
Read in browser Hotel break-ins blamed on flaw in keycard system
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 27, 2012 12:29 am Back in August, I blogged about a presentation at Black Hat, where a security researcher named Cody Brocious presented a paper on a vulnerability in hotel-door locks made by Onity, showing a method for opening many hotel-room locks with a simple, Arduino-based device. Now comes the first reported case of a hotel-room break in using ...
Read in browser Great moments in pulp fiction: "Lady, That's My Skull"
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 26, 2012 11:24 pm Cover scan link. John Elmslie of Toronto shares this in the Boing Boing Flickr pool and writes, Vintage paperback. "A Harlequin Book", Toronto, 1951. So Harlequin was publishing more than romances in 1951. The original paperback book is quite faded looking. The scanner pepped it up quite well, even though I hadn't asked it to. ...
Read in browser Meet Sveta, Pussy Riot's perky, pro-Putin antithesis
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 26, 2012 11:18 pm In the NYT, a piece by Sophia Kishkovsky on Svetlana Kuritsyna, "the very antithesis" of the imprisoned protest-art group Pussy Riot. Sveta is described as "a disarmingly direct, red-cheeked, 20-year-old Putin supporter from an impoverished rural region" who stands out "for her very normality and has become an accidental celebrity after an innocent, and somewhat ...
Read in browser Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat, Fugazi) on "pay what you want" show archives
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 26, 2012 11:11 pm Ian MacKaye, co-founder of Dischord Records, on why he decided to offer the Fugazi show archives as pay-what-you-want, but not for free.
Read in browser Collaborative critical study of one-line BASIC program written for the Commodore 64
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 26, 2012 10:54 pm Nick sez, Remember those BASIC programs you typed into your C64? Now there's a book written about one. And the program is only 1 line. And 10 people wrote this book. As one. And they're not lunatics but teach at MIT and USC and other fancy places. And they even wrote programs to study it. ...
Read in browser Tor Project is hiring support assistants and translators
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 26, 2012 09:40 pm Runa from the TOR project sez, "We are hiring support assistants and translators who can help us handle support requests via our ticketing system and our new Q&A website, as well as make sure translations for software and documentation are up to date. We are looking for candidates who are fluent in one of Arabic, ...
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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