Bill Nye tells us how old the earth is It's OK to Do Stuff: rude and funny parody of Free To Be You and Me Thrift Shop by Macklemore Saturday Video Matinee 001 Rejected jokes submitted to a kids' jokes site Search engine for the full text and descriptions of every Calvin and Hobbes script Protesting dairy farmers hose down EuroParl and cops with milk Project Neon: 800 neon signs in New York City Gweek 077: Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Chef Danish entrepreneur helps people with autism get jobs that require focus, attention to detail TechDirt schools a copyfraudster who tried to censor a critical post with copyright threats Tolkien superfan Stephen Colbert will do an entire Hobbit-themed week of shows Bad taxidermy is good Bill Murray describes the last time he saw Gilda Radner Bradley Manning's pre-trial hearing: live-blogging, live-tweeting, and live-sketching Die Antwoord: Ninja and the Parktown Prawn Teasers for A&E's Bates Motel are creepy and short, so you should definitely watch them Everything you eat is associated with cancer, but don't worry about it Burning Man 2013 theme announced Watch Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang blow up a 40-foot pine tree in DC's National Mall, because art How to eat a corn in 10 seconds Button making kit for kids The first-ever convention celebrating Community is taking place in February! XKCD on cancer, and commemorating a biopsy-versary Hubble Space Telescope Advent calendar Coming soon: Dinosaur hotel Real shell as iPhone loudspeaker How monoculture farming changes biodiversity Imagine a world in which Nicolas Cage is in every movie ever made A dreadful hoax! Bill Nye tells us how old the earth is
By Jason Weisberger on Dec 01, 2012 12:41 pm Bill Nye explains how we use science to calculate the age of the planet and how that understanding and science impact our economy. I hope Sen. Rubio listens...
Read in browser It's OK to Do Stuff: rude and funny parody of Free To Be You and Me
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 01, 2012 11:56 am Rob Kutner and the Levinson Brothers (and friends) released It's OK To Do Stuff, an album parodying Free to Be You and Me. Guest vocals include Steven Page from Barenaked Ladies and Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Gos (featured here singing the album's themesong). It's a $6 MP3 download on Amazon. It's OK To Do Stuff
Read in browser Thrift Shop by Macklemore
By Jason Weisberger on Dec 01, 2012 11:36 am Fantastic song by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. He wears your granddad's clothes and looks incredible!
Read in browser Saturday Video Matinee 001
By Mark Frauenfelder on Dec 01, 2012 10:00 am Welcome to Boing Boing's Saturday Video Matinee!
Read in browser Rejected jokes submitted to a kids' jokes site
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 01, 2012 08:50 am A moderator of a kids' joke site maintains a Tumblr filled with the jokes that were too rude to merit inclusion. Poop jokes ahoy! Q.what did batman say to robin before they got in the car A.get in the car What does your mum need to make her fase very dirtey SHE needs to go ...
Read in browser Search engine for the full text and descriptions of every Calvin and Hobbes script
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 30, 2012 11:15 pm The Calvin & Hobbes Search Engine performs pretty much as you'd expect: it's a search engine that runs against the full text and descriptions of all the Calvin and Hobbes strips. For example, a search for "snowman" returns, Mom is sitting at the table when Calvin walks by dressed in his coat and hat. Puzzled, ...
Read in browser Protesting dairy farmers hose down EuroParl and cops with milk
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 30, 2012 09:09 pm Dairy farmers protesting in Brussels sprayed thousands of litres of milk on the European Parliament and its police cadre. Shown here, a small thumbnail of a remarkable photo by John Thys for AFP/Getty Images. Click through for the full image, on the Telegraph's site. Dairy farmers spray milk at the European Parliament in Brussels
Read in browser Project Neon: 800 neon signs in New York City
By Mark Frauenfelder on Nov 30, 2012 07:28 pm Ben Marks of Collector's Weekly says: "We just published an interview with Kirsten Hively, whose Project Neon documents about 800 neon signs in New York City (her iPhone app directs users to about 120 of them)." I’ve loved neon signs for a long time. When I would travel to cities like Portland or Chicago, I ...
Read in browser Gweek 077: Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Chef
By Mark Frauenfelder on Nov 30, 2012 07:20 pm Tim Ferriss is a broad-spectrum enthusiast, and his sense of curiosity drives him to learn about and participate in a dizzyingly large number of activities.
Read in browser Danish entrepreneur helps people with autism get jobs that require focus, attention to detail
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 30, 2012 06:41 pm Gareth Cook tells the story of Thorkil Sonne, founder of a Danish social enterprise called Specialisterne ("the specialists"), which helps place people with autism in jobs that demand a degree of focus and detail-orientation that's impossible to find among the neurotypical. Specialisterne began because Sonne's son, Lars, has autism, and Sonne saw that he was ...
Read in browser TechDirt schools a copyfraudster who tried to censor a critical post with copyright threats
By Cory Doctorow on Nov 30, 2012 06:34 pm TechDirt got a malformed takedown notice from Human Synergistics International, a company they'd previously written up for sending copyright threats to a blogger who quoted four sentences from a "human factors training" exercise. The original TechDirt post quotes the four sentences at issue, and this prompted Human Synergistics' lawyer to send a ham-fisted threat to ...
Read in browser Tolkien superfan Stephen Colbert will do an entire Hobbit-themed week of shows
By Jamie Frevele on Nov 30, 2012 06:09 pm To celebrate the release of The Hobbit, Stephen Colbert will have a full week of Hobbit shows on The Colbert Report starting this coming Monday, December 3 on Comedy Central. A die-hard fan of J.R.R. Tolkien, his guest lineup will consist of Sir Ian McKellan, Martin Freeman, Peter Jackson, and Andy Serkis. Other Hobbit-related segments ...
Read in browser Bad taxidermy is good
By David Pescovitz on Nov 30, 2012 05:55 pm Stacey Ransom points us to this delightful collection of terrifically bad taxidermy!
Read in browser Bill Murray describes the last time he saw Gilda Radner
By Jamie Frevele on Nov 30, 2012 05:53 pm Gilda Radner was in the news this week -- because she wasn't considered "news" enough for some of the affiliates of Gilda's Club. That story had a less sad ending than originally thought, with only a small number of Clubs dropping Gilda's name and not the organization as a whole. But in an attempt to ...
Read in browser Bradley Manning's pre-trial hearing: live-blogging, live-tweeting, and live-sketching
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 30, 2012 04:42 pm Bradley Manning (by Clark Stoeckley) Kevin Gosztola is liveblogging the pre-trial hearing of suspected Wikileaks source Bradley Manning at Ft. Meade. Also in the courtoom, the Guardian's Ed Pilkington, and Arun Rath of Frontline/PRI's The World, both of whom live-tweeted the proceedings today. Artist Clark Stoeckley (@WikileaksTruck on Twitter) is also present, and is live-sketching. ...
Read in browser Die Antwoord: Ninja and the Parktown Prawn
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 30, 2012 04:24 pm Amateur entomologist Ninja of Die Antwoord sends Boing Boing this home video of an encounter with a Parktown Prawn
Read in browser Teasers for A&E's Bates Motel are creepy and short, so you should definitely watch them
By Jamie Frevele on Nov 30, 2012 04:14 pm Two tiny, creepy previews for A&E's upcoming
Psycho-inspired series.
Read in browser Everything you eat is associated with cancer, but don't worry about it
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 30, 2012 03:55 pm Image: Shutterstock. Fried chicken gave the model in this stock photo cancer of the double chin. Sarah Kliff at the Washington Post digs into new research out today from The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. She writes about correlation and causality, and how to read statistics more intelligently. Snip: "I was constantly amazed at how ...
Read in browser Burning Man 2013 theme announced
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 30, 2012 03:33 pm And the theme is.... "Cargo Cult." * Image: Theme by Larry Harvey, text by Larry Harvey and Stuart Mangrum, illustration by "DA" Dominic Tinio
Read in browser Watch Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang blow up a 40-foot pine tree in DC's National Mall, because art
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 30, 2012 03:15 pm In what is probably one of the first-ever planned explosions on DC's National Mall, Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang will blow up a 40-foot pine tree to commemorate of the Sackler Gallery's 25th anniversary and the 50th anniversary of the Art in Embassies program. Watch it live. From Washington City Paper: Using 2,000 firework-like explosives, Guo-Qiang ...
Read in browser How to eat a corn in 10 seconds
By Dean Putney on Nov 30, 2012 02:59 pm how to eat a corn in 10 seconds via reddit's "Learn Useless Talents" section
Read in browser Button making kit for kids
By Mark Frauenfelder on Nov 30, 2012 02:33 pm In this short video, Jane shows how to use the Sukie Button Factory to make fabric-covered buttons.
Read in browser The first-ever convention celebrating Community is taking place in February!
By Jamie Frevele on Nov 30, 2012 02:20 pm Attention Community fans who live in or are willing to visit the Los Angeles area: CommuniCon, the first convention devoted entirely to the excellent (but neglected) show is taking place February 9-10, 2013 at Los Angeles City College, where they happen to shoot a lot of exteriors for the show! (Not to be confused with ...
Read in browser XKCD on cancer, and commemorating a biopsy-versary
By Xeni Jardin on Nov 30, 2012 02:20 pm Today's edition of the webcomic XKCD rings true for me, as I'll be marking the one-year mark from my own diagnosis tomorrow. Randall, much respect. I wish both of you the best.
Read in browser Hubble Space Telescope Advent calendar
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Nov 30, 2012 02:12 pm Starting tomorrow, you can visit the Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar for daily pictures of the cosmos.
Read in browser Coming soon: Dinosaur hotel
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Nov 30, 2012 01:47 pm A Best Western in Denver is set to begin a remodeling project that will turn it into a dinosaur-themed wonderland. (Via Alexandra Witze)
Read in browser Real shell as iPhone loudspeaker
By David Pescovitz on Nov 30, 2012 01:30 pm Earlier this month, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design kindly brought me out to meet with grad students and attend the annual MCAD Art Sale where I was happily overwhelmed with a fantastic collection of student and recent graduates' work at affordable prices. Within minutes of walking in, I was drawn to two pieces ...
Read in browser How monoculture farming changes biodiversity
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Nov 30, 2012 01:27 pm This image, taken by artist David Liittschwager shows the plants and animals collected in a square meter of South African public park over the course of 24 hours. This image, from National Public Radio, illustrates the plants and animals found over the course of two nights and three days in an Iowa cornfield. Robert Krulwich ...
Read in browser Imagine a world in which Nicolas Cage is in every movie ever made
By Jamie Frevele on Nov 30, 2012 01:18 pm You'd be surprised how much just one Nicolas Cage can improve a classic film!
Read in browser A dreadful hoax!
By Jason Weisberger on Nov 30, 2012 01:17 pm This rang true to me. The education system I was put through did exactly this... (The South Park-ish style also made me smile.)
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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