Making sure Pizza Hut is "accurately and effectively represented online" Geminids Meteor shower: How to watch the big fireworks in the sky tonight City buses across America now covertly recording passengers' conversations Pacific Rim official trailer Vortex illusion carpet Archer, or how I spent my sick day Finally, Google Maps for iPhone again Sponsor shout-out: ShanaLogic and sailor, phrenology, and cryptozoology prints! EFF Power Up fundraiser: every dollar you give is matched 2-to-1 Santa and an adoptable dog in Las Vegas Guantánamo Public Memory Project launches Literacy privilege, or, why grammar nazis are dicks And here is a former Beatle jamming with most of Nirvana Horrible cookbooks Beat-Bach-sing: beatboxing to Bach Announcing the 20-city US tour for HOMELAND, the sequel to Little Brother Wham's "Last Christmas" remixed, with erotic butter art dancing (messed-up holiday music video) Luggage for midcentury space travel Horsies with long, flowing, luxuriant locks There's a problem with the Christmas lights John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Chuck Berry perform "Memphis" (1972) Atheist Christmas novel from a former Disney World Imagineering show-writer Man arms DIY drone with paintball handgun and shoots human cardboard cutouts Dataviz for "My Ideal Bookshelf" Galactus Goya Gweek 078: Joshuah Bearman and ARGO Where does Assad's online army come from? Sumo: debut graphic novel from Level Up illustrator Thien Pham J Rabbit, "Happy Things" (music video) In praise of stupidity Making sure Pizza Hut is "accurately and effectively represented online"
By David Pescovitz on Dec 13, 2012 12:50 pm Hello Mr. Pescovitz, My name is Alli Berry and I am working with Pizza Hut, making sure that they are accurately and effectively represented online. I noticed that your article "Pizza Hut Perfume" at http://boingboing.net/2012/12/06/pizza-hut-perfume.html discusses the exclusive Pizza Hut perfume but does not contain a link to the Pizza Hut website. Therefore, I wanted ...
Read in browser Geminids Meteor shower: How to watch the big fireworks in the sky tonight
By Miles O'Brien on Dec 13, 2012 12:41 pm The Geminids Meteor shower is coming! Space reporter Miles O'Brien speaks with AtronomyNow.com's night sky consultant, Mark Armstrong.
Read in browser City buses across America now covertly recording passengers' conversations
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 13, 2012 12:39 pm City buses across America increasingly have hidden microphones that track and record the conversations that take place on them. It's easy to see the reasoning behind this: once it's acceptable to video-record everything and everyone on a bus because some crime, somewhere was thus thwarted, then why not add audio? If all you need to ...
Read in browser Pacific Rim official trailer
By David Pescovitz on Dec 13, 2012 12:37 pm Guillermo del Toro does
kaiju in Pacific Rim, coming next summer.
Read in browser Vortex illusion carpet
By David Pescovitz on Dec 13, 2012 12:30 pm Excellent vortex illusion carpet in the video game department at Paris's Fnac La Défense entertainment retailer. Photo from Alex Korting's Flickr stream. (via Superpunch)
Read in browser Archer, or how I spent my sick day
By Jason Weisberger on Dec 13, 2012 12:24 pm I recently spent a day on the couch laughing so hard it made me cough up nasty stuff!
Archer was the source of the laughter, my daughter the disease vector.
Read in browser Finally, Google Maps for iPhone again
By David Pescovitz on Dec 13, 2012 12:22 pm Google Maps is now available again for iPhone. I'll be home soon. (via Google's Official Blog)
Read in browser Sponsor shout-out: ShanaLogic and sailor, phrenology, and cryptozoology prints!
By David Pescovitz on Dec 13, 2012 12:08 pm Thanks to our wonderful sponsor ShanaLogic, sellers of handmade and independently-designed jewelry, apparel, gifts, and other curious creations! Looking for a last-minute holiday gift? Maiden Voyage's beautiful posters are offset printed on 12" x 18" heavyweight paper. Designs include Anatomy of a Sailor, Phrenology of a Gentleman, and a Cryptozoology Glow-in-the-Dark design! Shana says, "Order ...
Read in browser EFF Power Up fundraiser: every dollar you give is matched 2-to-1
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 13, 2012 12:00 pm The Electronic Frontier Foundation is running a fundraising challenge called "Power Up Your Donation," where every dollar donated is matched two-to-one by a group of major donors. My family has put up part of the $140,000 matching fund, because we're living in a world where technology could go either way: it might end up continuing ...
Read in browser Santa and an adoptable dog in Las Vegas
By Xeni Jardin on Dec 13, 2012 11:59 am Photographer, animal-lover, and Boing Boing reader heiney shares this photograph in our Boing Boing Flickr pool, and explains that this was a shot from the Animal Network Holiday Adoption Low Cost Vaccination/chip Photo Event at Ann Road Animal Hospital, Las Vegas NV. "This was my first time shooting anything like this, I normally only shoot ...
Read in browser Guantánamo Public Memory Project launches
By Xeni Jardin on Dec 13, 2012 11:27 am The Guantánamo Public Memory Project is unveiled today, offering "both a physical and virtual exhibit about the history of GTMO," exploring100 years of military life, political negotiations, refugee camps, and the War on Terror. The virtual exhibit includes rare archival documents and photographs, oral histories, a map overlay of GTMO at different points in history, ...
Read in browser Literacy privilege, or, why grammar nazis are dicks
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 13, 2012 11:00 am Chandra, a "recovering grammar snob" who works as an English teacher, has a smashing trio of essays on Literacy Privilege -- the invisible privilege that accrues to people who have the facility to write well and clearly, and who have absorbed the "correct" conventions of English. I know I've been guilty of dismissing people because ...
Read in browser And here is a former Beatle jamming with most of Nirvana
By Jamie Frevele on Dec 13, 2012 10:57 am Sir Paul McCartney did, in fact, perform with the surviving members of Nirvana last night! Watch the performance here!
Read in browser Horrible cookbooks
By Rob Beschizza on Dec 13, 2012 10:22 am Yuckylicious offers the very best of the world's worst cookbooks. Who could pass over delicious recipes such as "Sardine Rabbit" and "Clean the Refridgerator Stew"? "Meat Swiss Roll", however, sounds kind of tasty.
Read in browser Beat-Bach-sing: beatboxing to Bach
By Xeni Jardin on Dec 13, 2012 09:52 am Teenage pianist Kadar Qian and beatbox extraordinaire Kevin Olusola of Pentatonix (NBC's Sing Off) reinvent the Goldberg Variations.
Read in browser Announcing the 20-city US tour for HOMELAND, the sequel to Little Brother
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 13, 2012 09:48 am As I mentioned yesterday, the sequel to Little Brother is coming out in February. Called Homeland, it picks up the action shortly after Little Brother ends, and features the continuing and exciting adventures of the characters from the first book. Tor, my publisher, have posted the first cut at the 20-city US tour schedule (the ...
Read in browser Wham's "Last Christmas" remixed, with erotic butter art dancing (messed-up holiday music video)
By Xeni Jardin on Dec 13, 2012 09:36 am Dylan Mitchell-Funk remixes a Wham! holiday classic, with a woman dancing erotically on cubes of melting lard.
Read in browser Luggage for midcentury space travel
By Xeni Jardin on Dec 13, 2012 09:23 am From the wonderful Flickr stream of x-ray delta one, a vintage Samsonite ad that requires your captioning expertise.
Read in browser Horsies with long, flowing, luxuriant locks
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 13, 2012 09:10 am Messy Beast's learned treatise on horsies includes a fascinating section on long-maned wonder horses, exhibited at carny sideshows and the like, with their flowing, lovely locks. Let the broniegasm begin. Circuses and sideshows often invented exotic stories about their exhibits. For example, exceptionally hirsute men were exhibited as "lion-faced men" or "wild men" along with ...
Read in browser There's a problem with the Christmas lights
By Rob Beschizza on Dec 13, 2012 06:53 am There's something funny about the Christmas lights display in Brighton.
Read in browser John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Chuck Berry perform "Memphis" (1972)
By David Pescovitz on Dec 12, 2012 11:59 pm In February 1972, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were guests hosts on the Mike Douglas Show. Here is John and Yoko with Chuck Berry performing "Memphis, Tennessee."
Read in browser Atheist Christmas novel from a former Disney World Imagineering show-writer
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 12, 2012 11:04 pm Darryl Pickett, the Walt Disney Imagineering contract show writer whose videos about life in the trenches at Disney World I blogged in Jan 2011 has written a fun-sounding Christmas novel called The Secret Feast of Father Christmas. He writes, The story seeks to reinvent the traditional Christmas gift giver. No toy-making elves or flying reindeer ...
Read in browser Man arms DIY drone with paintball handgun and shoots human cardboard cutouts
By Mark Frauenfelder on Dec 12, 2012 08:49 pm Milo Danger says: Drones aren't just for the military and government anymore - regular citizens and makers are embracing drones at an amazing rate and creating some very interesting uses for this rapidly developing technology. Milo Danger designs, builds, flies & shoots an armed drone to determine just how safe - or dangerous - these ...
Read in browser Dataviz for "My Ideal Bookshelf"
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 12, 2012 08:40 pm Fred sez, "My lady, Thessaly La Force, recently published a book with the artist Jane Mount called 'My Ideal Bookshelf.' In it, Thessaly interviews over 100 people and Jane paints their bookshelves. As I observed Jane and Thessaly compile the book over the last year, I couldn't help but think about all the fun opportunities ...
Read in browser Galactus Goya
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 12, 2012 08:10 pm Marvel meets Goya in Matt Buck's "Galactus Devouring His Herald," available for pre-order for a $20 11"x7" print now. Galactus Devouring His Herald (print) (via JWZ)
Read in browser Gweek 078: Joshuah Bearman and ARGO
By Mark Frauenfelder on Dec 12, 2012 07:38 pm I interviewed one of my favorite journalists, Joshuah Bearman, who wrote the 2007 Wired article that the movie Argo was based on. It was called "How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans From Tehran." Joshuah has also produced some of the best and weirdest episodes to appear on This American Life, ...
Read in browser Where does Assad's online army come from?
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 12, 2012 06:32 pm Syria's brutal Assad regime has damned few allies left in the world, but one of them, Russia, is governed by a dirty-tricking ruling elite who've made a science out of manipulating Internet opinion. This may explain the weird, stilted pro-Assad astroturf army who appear in any discussion of the regime's atrocities to explain that it's ...
Read in browser Sumo: debut graphic novel from Level Up illustrator Thien Pham
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 12, 2012 06:22 pm Tony sez, "My dear friend Thien Pham has just released his first solo graphic novel, Sumo. Thien's work has been previously featured on Boing Boing as he did the illustrations for Gene Luen Yang's Level Up. His new book, Sumo, resonated deeply for me, especially in these uncertain times. Figured fellow Boingers might enjoy something ...
Read in browser J Rabbit, "Happy Things" (music video)
By Xeni Jardin on Dec 12, 2012 06:11 pm A talented young Korean vocalist on her way to becoming a YouTube sensation.
Read in browser In praise of stupidity
By Rob Beschizza on Dec 12, 2012 05:06 pm Matthew Bostick praises honest stupidity in the age of Google, Wikipedia and relentless knowitall-dom. My life path has led me to some exciting revelations and extraordinary experiences. It's been carved out by indulging in – and being comfortable with – my own stupidity. Because stupidity is not a bad quality in a person, no matter ...
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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