Robots app The heaviest item to qualify for free Amazon Prime shipping weighs 1,672 lbs Iconic 3D movie audience photo taken 60 years ago this week Bob Mould kickstarter Grey Album remastered by golden-eared engineer LOL linguist UPDATE: Gilda's Club is not phasing Gilda Radner out completely America's "Six Strike" copyright punishment system on hold until 2013 Super Mario and Yoshi radio-controlled karts Photos from Bangalore's first Comic-Con Gifts for the space fans in your life What to do on Mt. Everest when you're dead Exclusive: A closer look at Catwoman from The Dark Knight Rises blu-ray Aimhack for the real world: a rifle with digital targetting Best use of hiccups in a YouTube "for the haters" video, ever New Apple iTunes 11 interface revealed Maui, 10,000 feet above the sea (photo) Do jellyfish hold the secret to immortality, and a cure for cancer? It's a SpongeBob Christmas! Big Tobacco will have to run a national advertising campaign apologizing for lying about health risks from smoking Millionaire artist Stanley Marsh 3 of "Cadillac Ranch" fame accused of sexually abusing boys Crowdsourcing the microbiome: what's in your guts? Through Facebook, family first learned of their 17-year-old daughter's death Egypt sentences 'Innocence of Muslims' director to death, in absentia LegalZoom sues Rocket Lawyer Bill O'Reilly-watching climate-change-denier is moved to tears by polar melting documentary Why copyright trolls will have a hard time shaking down Canadians Limited edition hardcover collecting Seanan McGuire's "Velveteen vs the Junior Super Patriots" stories TVShack owner will not be extradited to America Fathom Butterfly - the notorious beauty queen, showgirl, Hammer horror actress, porn star, felon and feminist filmmaker tweets her memoirs Robots app
By David Pescovitz on Nov 29, 2012 12:56 pm IEEE Spectrum just released a fun iPad app that's all about real robots! You can learn about 126 robots from 19 counties, hear interviews with roboticists, and, of course, watch videos of our future overlords in action. "Robots for iPad" (Thanks, Ken Goldberg!)
Read in browser The heaviest item to qualify for free Amazon Prime shipping weighs 1,672 lbs
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 29, 2012 12:42 pm MarketWatch wanted to know how many 1,000+lb items in Amazon's database qualified for free Prime shipping. A lot, it turns out, including a 1,672 lb gun-safe (via Consumerist)
Read in browser Iconic 3D movie audience photo taken 60 years ago this week
By David Pescovitz on Nov 29, 2012 12:37 pm Sixty years ago this week, JR Eyerman snapped the iconic photo above during the Hollywood premiere of Bwana Devil, the first full-length 3D movie. "A LION in your lap! A LOVER in your arms!" This is the caption that accompanied the photo in LIFE: These megalopic creatures are the first paying audience for the latest ...
Read in browser Bob Mould kickstarter
By David Pescovitz on Nov 29, 2012 12:23 pm Legendary guitarist and songwriter Bob Mould of Hüsker Dü and Sugar has launched a Kickstarter. The project is a film documenting "See A Little Light," last year's epic Los Angeles concert that celebrated Mould's career with performances by Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), Britt Daniel (Spoon), Ryan Adams, and many others.
Read in browser Grey Album remastered by golden-eared engineer
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 29, 2012 12:18 pm Sound engineer John Stewart has never fallen out of love with DJ Danger Mouse's genius 2004 Grey Album, a mashup of the Beatles' White Album and Jay-Z's Black Album (and neither have I). He's got a golden ear, and over the years, the little audio infelicities in his copy have been niggling at him, so ...
Read in browser LOL linguist
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Nov 29, 2012 12:04 pm I can haz transformational grammar? Via Justin Bernacki and Trust me, I'm a linguist.
Read in browser UPDATE: Gilda's Club is not phasing Gilda Radner out completely
By Jamie Frevele on Nov 29, 2012 11:48 am Well, I'm glad I was wrong! The decision by a handful of local affiliates of Gilda's Club to change their name to Cancer Support Community is not an organization-wide change. The original article reporting the name change stated that "[t]he national organization is phasing in the new name, Cancer Support Community ... and the Gilda ...
Read in browser America's "Six Strike" copyright punishment system on hold until 2013
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 29, 2012 11:04 am The American Six-Strikes regime -- through which ISPs voluntarily agree to punish their customers if the entertainment industry accuses them of piracy -- has been delayed, again, to "early 2013." The Center for Copyright Information (CCI) -- which will act on the entertainment industry's behalf -- blames Hurricane Sandy for the delay. TorrentFreak has learned ...
Read in browser Super Mario and Yoshi radio-controlled karts
By Mark Frauenfelder on Nov 29, 2012 10:00 am These little karts are rip roaring fun, especially when you have a couple of rambunctious kittens dead set on upending them.
Read in browser Photos from Bangalore's first Comic-Con
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 29, 2012 09:56 am Bangalore's inaugural Comic-Con, back in September, looks like a whale of a time. The cosplay on display is truly delightful, and lovingly documented in several places online. Mustache Man and his sidekick Mustache Lad seem to enjoying themselves here with Thor (or Rama?). Best Pix from Bangalore's First Ever ComicCon [Asia Obscura] Photos from Comic ...
Read in browser Gifts for the space fans in your life
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Nov 29, 2012 09:55 am If yesterday's BoingBoing Gift Guide didn't give you enough holiday ideas, Popular Science has a collection of gifts for aspiring rocket scientists. Includes meteorite jewelry, a scarf printed with a pattern inspired by measurement systems, and some natty blazers designed by NASA.
Read in browser What to do on Mt. Everest when you're dead
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Nov 29, 2012 09:35 am We all know that people do sometimes die while attempting to climb Mt. Everest. But it's easy to overlook what happens to those people after they've died. You can't bring a body down from the mountain. In fact, many of the people who have died there had to be abandoned before they were dead because ...
Read in browser Exclusive: A closer look at Catwoman from The Dark Knight Rises blu-ray
By Jamie Frevele on Nov 29, 2012 09:28 am Learn how badass Catwoman was in this Boing Boing exclusive video!
Read in browser Aimhack for the real world: a rifle with digital targetting
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 29, 2012 08:49 am Xact is a digitally targetted rifle: using a heads-up scope, the user tells the rifle what she wants to shoot.
Read in browser Best use of hiccups in a YouTube "for the haters" video, ever
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 29, 2012 08:07 am We should all be so lucky as to have a Cindy to support our internet arguments. #Hometown.
Read in browser New Apple iTunes 11 interface revealed
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 29, 2012 07:56 am Vintage ad scanned and Flickr'd by James Vaughan. Wouldn't it be nifty if the newest iteration of iTunes, which in my opinion is one of a great company's poorest products, looked like this? The Ping-less iTunes 11 is set to launch this month, likely today, according to hints dropped in this Wall Street Journal profile ...
Read in browser Maui, 10,000 feet above the sea (photo)
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 29, 2012 07:33 am My, but Boing Boing readers are a talented lot. Shared in the Boing Boing Flickr pool today, this stunning photograph by Carlos26 of mountains in Hawaii, some 10K ft. above sea level. Notice the clouds *below*.
Read in browser Do jellyfish hold the secret to immortality, and a cure for cancer?
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 29, 2012 07:18 am Takashi Murai, via New York TimesNathaniel Rich on the so-called "immortal jellyfish," Turritopsis dohrnii: "[It] seems able to survive, and proliferate, in every ocean in the world. It is possible to imagine a distant future in which most other species of life are extinct but the ocean will consist overwhelmingly of immortal jellyfish, a great ...
Read in browser It's a SpongeBob Christmas!
By Jason Weisberger on Nov 29, 2012 12:08 am Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob, and Andy Paley, a veteran music producer, have collaborated on a 12 track SpongeBob christmas album! It's A SpongeBob Christmas! Album debuts seven brand-new original Kenny/Paley, SpongeBob songs. "Much as we all love "Jingle Bells" and "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree," laughs Kenny, "Let's face it: they've been done ...
Read in browser Big Tobacco will have to run a national advertising campaign apologizing for lying about health risks from smoking
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 28, 2012 10:43 pm US district judge Gladys Kessler has ordered the world's largest tobacco companies to pay for a two-year, national US advertising campaign to apologize for lying about smoking's health risks, and for perverting the science on the issue. Kessler's ruling on Tuesday, which the companies could try to appeal against, aims to finalise the wording of ...
Read in browser Millionaire artist Stanley Marsh 3 of "Cadillac Ranch" fame accused of sexually abusing boys
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 28, 2012 10:33 pm Image: Cadillac Ranch, via Wikipedia Police in Texas today issued an arrest warrant for Stanley Marsh 3, the patron behind Ant Farm's 1970s public art installation known as Cadillac Ranch. The Amarillo-based millionaire is accused of six counts of child sexual assault and five counts of sexual performance by a child involving two victims. In ...
Read in browser Crowdsourcing the microbiome: what's in your guts?
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 28, 2012 10:28 pm Guido sez, "The microbiome is the genome sequence of all the different bacteria that dwell on and in us, and it is very important, since there are 10 times as many bacteria cells as there are human cells in our bodies. My friends Zac and Jessica started a crowfunded/crowsourced project to do the sequencing of ...
Read in browser Through Facebook, family first learned of their 17-year-old daughter's death
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 28, 2012 09:55 pm Parents of a Georgia college freshman first learned from Facebook that their daughter was found dead in a a dorm room just before Thanksgiving. They are now seeking social media assistance in solving the mystery of Jasmine Benjamin's death, which police are investigating as a homicide. (AP)
Read in browser Egypt sentences 'Innocence of Muslims' director to death, in absentia
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 28, 2012 09:51 pm The mysterious California fellow behind that "Innocence of Muslims" film linked to violence in the mideast was today sentenced to death in absentia in an Egyptian court. He was among the 7 Egyptian Coptic Christians and one FL-based American pastor sentenced on charges linked to the movie. All of the defendants are "outside Egypt and ...
Read in browser LegalZoom sues Rocket Lawyer
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 28, 2012 09:47 pm The Wall Street Journal reports that online legal documents company LegalZoom.com Inc. is suing rival online legal documents firm Rocket Lawyer Inc., alleging violations of FTC guidelines and unfair business practices "for the purpose of injuring LegalZoom."
Read in browser Bill O'Reilly-watching climate-change-denier is moved to tears by polar melting documentary
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 28, 2012 09:14 pm A self-described daily Bill O'Reilly watcher, who used to tell people to get out of her house if they said global warming was anything other than 'bullshit', saw it -- and started crying.
Read in browser Why copyright trolls will have a hard time shaking down Canadians
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 28, 2012 08:24 pm Michael Geist sez, "Over the past couple of days, there have been multiple reports about the return of file sharing lawsuits to Canada, with fears that thousands of Canadians could be targeted. While it is possible that many will receive demand letters, it is important to note that recent changes to Canadian copyright law limit ...
Read in browser Limited edition hardcover collecting Seanan McGuire's "Velveteen vs the Junior Super Patriots" stories
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 28, 2012 07:09 pm Rob sez, "Hugo award winner Seanan McGuire (author of the Toby Daye, Newsflesh, and Incryptid series) is trying something new: her latest book Velveteen vs the Junior Super Patriots started life serialized on her LiveJournal and she's still writing more there, but due to fan demand she struck a deal with a small press to ...
Read in browser TVShack owner will not be extradited to America
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 28, 2012 06:22 pm Richard O'Dwyer, the young British man who ran the TVShack linksite (which allowed users to post links to legal and illegal places to watch TV online) will not be extradited to the USA after all. He's settled with the US government, and will pay a small fine, as well as travelling voluntarily to the USA ...
Read in browser Fathom Butterfly - the notorious beauty queen, showgirl, Hammer horror actress, porn star, felon and feminist filmmaker tweets her memoirs
By Mark Frauenfelder on Nov 28, 2012 05:41 pm I learned about Josh Gosfield a few years ago when I stumbled across his cool art project that consisted of spot-on ephemera about a fictional French ye ye girl, Gigi Gaston: The Black Flower. Now Josh has a new art project about another fictional superwoman: Fathom Butterfly, aka "Scandal Shirley" -- the Notorious Beauty Queen, ...
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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