Report: Yet another shooting at a US high school, this one in Kern County, CA Patrick Kennedy: I was hooked on cocaine, painkillers and booze, therefore no one is allowed to smoke pot Sweden issues international garlic smuggling warrant Our favorite posts of 2012 Easiest excuse for taking freedom: security Donald Trump proves he's not half orangutan, demands $5 million from Bill Maher Pregnancy drug popular from 1950s-70s blamed for breast cancer in "DES daughters" Is increased biofuel demand in the US causing more poor in Central America to starve? HOWTO be viral The 'Comet of the Century' ... and other night-sky highlights for 2013 Not for Nothing: My favorite music of 2012 Getting Started with Raspberry Pi - new book about the $35 Linux computer Bob Basset steampunk leather mask art-calendar NYC's new parking signs are great information design Nominations are open for the Hugo Awards Adult pix made comically work-safe with MS Paint (or something): Pornedits Internet crackpots believe Newtown massacre was staged, citing "absolute" Photoshop proof Airbnb's popularity grows in NYC, but "half its listings are illegal rentals" Best New York Times wedding "corrections" ever Texas student loses ID-badge case What is it like to be exposed to new technology after 20+ years in prison? Remix: "Call Me Maybe Acapella 147 Times Exponentially Layered" Reportero: documentary on journalist's life in one of the world's deadliest places for news Found relationship advice on the NYC subway Excellent drive-thru "invisible driver" prank, caught on video SkypeHide promises to hide secret messages in silent Skype packets, even when authorities are listening Chainmail running shoes For crews, reality show life can be high-risk Take a survey to help scientists improve indoor air quality NYT profile of John Kiriakou: first CIA officer to face prison for classified leak Report: Yet another shooting at a US high school, this one in Kern County, CA
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 10, 2013 12:42 pm Local news outlets in Southern California are reporting that two students have been shot in a school shooting at Taft Union High School in largely agricultural Kern County, CA. KABC-TV reports at least two victims shot; shooter in police custody; students are being evacuated. The incident is said to have occurred around 9am. As news ...
Read in browser Patrick Kennedy: I was hooked on cocaine, painkillers and booze, therefore no one is allowed to smoke pot
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 10, 2013 12:20 pm Tony Papa says: "A very interesting story about how a liberal U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy who has a drug addiction problem suddenly becomes an outspoken opponent of the legalization of marijuana." “It’s almost ‘Reefer Madness’-type stuff about marijuana he’s saying,” said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance. “There’s something remarkable ...
Read in browser Sweden issues international garlic smuggling warrant
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 10, 2013 12:14 pm "Swedish prosecutors have issued international arrest warrants for two Britons suspected of masterminding a smuggling ring involving Chinese garlic." [AP]
Read in browser Our favorite posts of 2012
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 10, 2013 12:12 pm Here are
our top posts of 2012. Now you can enjoy them all over again!
Read in browser Easiest excuse for taking freedom: security
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 10, 2013 12:02 pm Here, in concise and precise language, is the best pricking of the security bubble I've seen: Security is an ideal language for suppressing rights because it combines a universality and neutrality in rhetoric with a particularity and partiality in practice. Security is a good that everyone needs, and, we assume, that everyone needs in the ...
Read in browser Donald Trump proves he's not half orangutan, demands $5 million from Bill Maher
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 10, 2013 11:56 am "Wednesday Trump made headlines when he challenged Bill Maher to pay up the $ 5 million dollars he is owed. On Monday night’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Maher mocked Trump’s offer to President Barack Obama and offered to donate $5 million to the charity of Trump’s choice if he would release his own birth ...
Read in browser Pregnancy drug popular from 1950s-70s blamed for breast cancer in "DES daughters"
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 10, 2013 11:31 am Drug giant Eli Lilly this week settled a lawsuit brought by four sisters with breast cancer who believe their disease was caused by a pregnancy drug their mother took during pregnancy in the 1950s. The settlement could lead to more such claims being won by other women with breast cancer whose moms took Diethylstilbestrol, also ...
Read in browser Is increased biofuel demand in the US causing more poor in Central America to starve?
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 10, 2013 11:25 am Richard Perry/The New York Times A worthy and overlooked story in the NYT by Elizabeth Rosenthal about a new economic riptide hitting Central America, a result of America's changing corn policy. The US is now using 40% of our own corn crop to produce biofuel, and tortilla prices have doubled in Guatemala, which now imports ...
Read in browser HOWTO be viral
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 10, 2013 08:45 am Upworthy, a startup that helps promote material via "viral" distribution, has posted a short slideshow with some interesting (and depressing -- it all comes down to horrible Facebook) insights into how things become popular online. How To Make That One Thing Go Viral (via O'Reilly Radar)
Read in browser The 'Comet of the Century' ... and other night-sky highlights for 2013
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 09, 2013 08:47 pm Cosmic Log has a terrific list of night-sky highlights for 2013. Some of them look interesting enough to keep me up past my strictly-observed 9 PM bedtime. November-December for Comet ISON: Will ISON shine "brighter even than the full moon" a year from now? That seems hard to believe right now, but by next autumn, ...
Read in browser Not for Nothing: My favorite music of 2012
By Peter Bebergal on Jan 09, 2013 08:32 pm Some of the best music 2012 sounded a lot like the 1970s, replete with analog synths, occult pretensions, powery pop, ambient landscapes, and heavy guitars. 2012 felt like a dark time, and some of the music here reflects that. Yet in all my favorites of the year there is spring of hope, an urging towards ...
Read in browser Getting Started with Raspberry Pi - new book about the $35 Linux computer
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 09, 2013 07:51 pm My friend and MAKE contributor Matt Richardson says: Over the past few months, Shawn Wallace and I have been writing a book called Getting Started with Raspberry Pi. It's about how to use and make things with the very popular $35 credit card-sized computer. I'm happy to announce that the book is now shipping from ...
Read in browser Bob Basset steampunk leather mask art-calendar
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 09, 2013 07:37 pm Bob Basset -- Boing Boing favorites, steampunk and fetish maskmakers -- have issued a rather lovely art calendar for 2013 with Mell Ghandy. Bob Basset and Mell Ghandy Art Calendar 2013
Read in browser NYC's new parking signs are great information design
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 09, 2013 06:43 pm The NYC Department of Transport has revamped its notoriously complex parking-rules signs, so that they're slightly less cryptic. It's a very nice example of good information design! NYC DOT Commissioner Sadik-Khan, City Council Speaker Quinn and Council Member Garodnick Unveil Newly Designed, Simplified Parking Signs in Midtown (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)
Read in browser Nominations are open for the Hugo Awards
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 09, 2013 06:30 pm Nominations are open again for science fiction's Hugo Awards -- if you attended last year's WorldCon or have supported/bought a membership for this year's con, you get a vote. There's a lively LJ group discussing potential nominees (I often wait for the annual Locus Magazine best-of list to use as a crib for my nominations). ...
Read in browser Adult pix made comically work-safe with MS Paint (or something): Pornedits
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 09, 2013 05:46 pm One of my favorite Instagram and/or Twitter feeds right now is PornEdits. The example shown here is the creation of contributor @Airborn0280.
Read in browser Internet crackpots believe Newtown massacre was staged, citing "absolute" Photoshop proof
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 09, 2013 05:38 pm "Yes, there really are Newtown truthers,"
writes Alex Seitz-Wald in Salon. And they can tell by the pixels.
Read in browser Airbnb's popularity grows in NYC, but "half its listings are illegal rentals"
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 09, 2013 05:36 pm At Skift, an interesting piece on the short-term apartment rental startup Airbnb's growing pains in NYC. The service is increasingly popular, but Skift writer Jason Clampet says "a basic search on Airbnb.com for New York City lodging demonstrates that more than half of the available bookings on the popular vacation rental website are likely illegal ...
Read in browser Best New York Times wedding "corrections" ever
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 09, 2013 05:33 pm Megan Amram, comic genius: "The New York Times would like to issue corrections for the wedding announcement of Mr. Adam Penview to Ms. Katie Jasper that ran in yesterday's paper."
Read in browser Texas student loses ID-badge case
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 09, 2013 05:23 pm The Texas student who sued over her school's insistence that she wear an RFID-embedded ID card has lost her appeal. The school had offered to issue her an RFID-free ID badge, but her family felt that the ID badge itself was related to the "mark of the beast" and asked the court to find that ...
Read in browser What is it like to be exposed to new technology after 20+ years in prison?
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 09, 2013 05:15 pm Michael G. Santos spent 25 years in prison. On Quora, he wrote eloquently about what it was like to experience new forms of technology after so many years of incarceration, with no access to the internet, contemporary computers, or the smartphones we now take for granted. Gizmodo republished the piece here, and it has now ...
Read in browser Remix: "Call Me Maybe Acapella 147 Times Exponentially Layered"
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 09, 2013 05:07 pm The 2012 pop hit "Call Me Maybe,"
layered 147 times in its acapella form by Dan Deacon. It's a much more interesting song as a blast of free-form noise.
Read in browser Reportero: documentary on journalist's life in one of the world's deadliest places for news
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 09, 2013 05:00 pm A powerful documentary film about the risks for journalists operating in Mexico.
Read in browser Found relationship advice on the NYC subway
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 09, 2013 04:43 pm "I found this adorable piece of pragmatic relationship advice from a child on the floor of my subway stop this morning," Jeff Simmermon tells Boing Boing. "It's so loving and level-headed, and fair to all the parties involved," Jeff adds. "I especially love that the little girl (I'm guessing) that wrote this is not taking ...
Read in browser Excellent drive-thru "invisible driver" prank, caught on video
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 09, 2013 04:35 pm Self-described "Magician Prankster!" Magic Of Rahat produced this clever video demonstrating an effective "invisible driver" prank.
Read in browser SkypeHide promises to hide secret messages in silent Skype packets, even when authorities are listening
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 09, 2013 04:25 pm Buzzing around the internet this week: Polish security researcher and professor Wojciech Mazurczyk (left) claims to be developing a way to hide secret, un-eavesdroppable messages in "silent" packets transmitted within Skype conversations. He and his team plan to present SkypeHide at a steganography conference in Montpellier, France, this coming June. VentureBeat has a writeup here. ...
Read in browser Chainmail running shoes
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 09, 2013 04:18 pm For reasons I'm not entirely clear on, Paleos sells a chainmail "barefoot" running shoe: Delinda is not a shoe, it's a piece of jewelry! Suitable for strolling, hiking and walking on natural surfaces in, around and in waters. Order your PaleoBarefoots Delinda, the lightest among our Barefoot. A minimalist running shoe for grounding and light ...
Read in browser For crews, reality show life can be high-risk
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 09, 2013 04:18 pm In the LA Times, an interesting piece on the dangerous nature of working in reality television. As shows compete against each other to present the grossest, riskiest, and most outlandish spectacles, the men and women who labor on these productions are exposed to greater risk for injury and illness.
Read in browser Take a survey to help scientists improve indoor air quality
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Jan 09, 2013 04:08 pm Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are studying how the seemingly innocuous things we do in our homes and offices can have big impacts on our health. One of those things is cooking, because the way we cook can affect the air we breathe. Scientists are trying to figure out how to make houses ...
Read in browser NYT profile of John Kiriakou: first CIA officer to face prison for classified leak
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 09, 2013 03:58 pm A long-read you may have missed in the New York Times by Scott Shane, on the story of John Kiriakou, a former CIA analyst and case officer who is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 25 to 30 months in prison for leaking classified government info to a reporter. With this sentencing, the Obama administration ...
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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