Calvin and Hobbes as an Atari ST game JOHN WILCOCK COMIC: Mexico Break-up, Leroi Jones, and Gypsy Rose Lee Looking for a pilot in the southwest Gorgeous, psychedelic hand-drawn animation made with ink, white-out and coffee Pythons cuddle man Voltronoid Mickey Mouse & friends transforming robot toy Inception: a tool for compromising the slumber of computers with full-disk encryption Excerpt from Jim Woodring's Problematic sketchbook: "an idea battery loaded with shorthand references to long game insights" Do you want to be a host for a Make TV series? DELETE MY BROWSER HISTORY Medicalert bracelet Watch Jimmy DiResta make this cool canvas and leather tool bag Telcos lobby North Carolina to make community Internet illegal, then abandon the state to second-worst Internet in the country Anomia - a fun way to freak out your kid 2600: Year two, in DRM-free ebook format Losing a mom to cancer soon after becoming one Where characters come from, and where they go Wedding proposal hidden in a Kinder Surprise Egg Creepy long-read on the science of surgery patients who wake up during anesthesia The very excellent Megan Ganz has left Community to write for Modern Family Leaded gasoline and the 20th-century crime wave Journey into a volcano Colder than the coldest cold Worst product of the week: homeopathy for kids and pets Pirate Cinema nominated for the Prometheus Award Calvin and Hobbes as an Atari ST game
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 04, 2013 11:04 am Johan Vinet made this inspired login-screen for a notional, never-was 16-bit Calvin and Hobbes game. (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)
Read in browser JOHN WILCOCK COMIC: Mexico Break-up, Leroi Jones, and Gypsy Rose Lee
By Ethan Persoff and Scott Marshall on Jan 04, 2013 10:12 am Introducing a new monthly comic strip on Boing Boing, from Ethan Persoff and Scott Marshall.
Read in browser Looking for a pilot in the southwest
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 04, 2013 09:17 am If you caught last month's post on my upcoming tour in February for Homeland, the sequel to Little Brother, you'll have seen that I'm meant to be speaking in Albuquerque, NM on the evening of Feb 11, and in NYC on the morning of Feb 12. This turns out to be a nearly impossible trick ...
Read in browser Gorgeous, psychedelic hand-drawn animation made with ink, white-out and coffee
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 03, 2013 11:15 pm The Deep End, which was drawn entirely with ink, coffee, and white-out.
Read in browser Pythons cuddle man
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 03, 2013 10:11 pm REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco A man is seen wrapped with pythons, some which include the Albino Burmese Python, as part of a show celebrating the coming Year of the Snake in the Chinese calendar. Spectators look on in Malabon city, north of Manila.
Read in browser Voltronoid Mickey Mouse & friends transforming robot toy
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 03, 2013 10:03 pm Bandai has released the Chogokin King Robo Mickey & Friends, a voltronoid multi-robot toy made from classic Disney characters. It's about $132 plus shipping from Japan: 7 little robots combine to make one big one! The 7 little bots are: * Mickey Mouse (Jet Mickey)* Minnie Mouse (Sky Minnie)* Donald Duck (Diver Donald)* Daisy Duck ...
Read in browser Inception: a tool for compromising the slumber of computers with full-disk encryption
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 03, 2013 08:45 pm Inception is a tool for breaking into computers with full-disk encryption. It assumes that you have access to a suspended/screen-locked computer whose disk is encrypted. You access the machine over its FireWire interface (or, if it doesn't have FireWire, you plug a FireWire card into one of its slots, and the machine will automatically fetch, ...
Read in browser Excerpt from Jim Woodring's Problematic sketchbook: "an idea battery loaded with shorthand references to long game insights"
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 03, 2013 08:35 pm There are many reasons to be grateful to be alive, and owning this brand new facsimile edition of artist Jim Woodring's Moleskine sketchbooks is as good as any. Jim Woodring is rarely without a pocket-sized Moleskine sketchbook, in which he captures character studies, sight gags, emblems, dream motifs, and other fugitive impressions. He has filled ...
Read in browser Do you want to be a host for a Make TV series?
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 03, 2013 07:56 pm Attention makers! MAKE magazine is working on a new television project, and we're looking for a couple of hosts. Do you love making stuff? Are you itching to travel the country and meet other makers who like to make stuff? If you are, put yourself on video telling us why you're the perfect host and ...
Read in browser DELETE MY BROWSER HISTORY Medicalert bracelet
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 03, 2013 07:45 pm Medicalert bracelets can apparently be had with any arbitrary string for about $50. This gag-gift from an anonymous redditor is a rather funny choice. A medic-alert bracelet like this might be sensible. (i.imgur.com)
Read in browser Watch Jimmy DiResta make this cool canvas and leather tool bag
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 03, 2013 07:07 pm One reason you can tell Jimmy DiResta is a true craftsman is that he makes what he does look easy. If I tried to make this leather and canvas tool bag, who knows what kind of crazy-angled trapezoid I'd end up with? In each bi-monthly episode of DiResta (every other Wednesday at 2pm PT), artist ...
Read in browser Telcos lobby North Carolina to make community Internet illegal, then abandon the state to second-worst Internet in the country
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 03, 2013 06:41 pm Christopher sez, A lot of people were frustrated in 2011 when the North Carolina General Assembly passed a bill written by Time Warner Cable to revoke local authority to build community-owned networks. A new report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and Common Cause explains how Time Warner Cable, AT&T, and CenturyLink bought their bill. ...
Read in browser Anomia - a fun way to freak out your kid
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 03, 2013 06:31 pm Carla and I freaked out our 9-year-old daughter Jane when we sat down to play Anomia the other night. That's because we were laughing hysterically. "I've never seen you guys like this before," she said, her eyes wide. The reason we were laughing was because of the ridiculous answers we were blurting out during Anomia's ...
Read in browser 2600: Year two, in DRM-free ebook format
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 03, 2013 06:29 pm Emmanuel Goldstein from 2600: The Hacker Quarterly magazine writes, "2600 has gone and remastered the second year of its publication from way back in 1985. The original issues have been rearranged into ebook format, and can be read on Kindles, Nooks, computers, phones, etc. Each word of the original publications was proofed so that nothing ...
Read in browser Losing a mom to cancer soon after becoming one
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 03, 2013 05:45 pm Amy Joyce writes about losing her mother to cancer, not long after she became a mom herself. "When I started thinking about writing about losing my mom, I thought I would be able to fill pages with what exactly has been lost. But it sort of comes down to one thing that my wise 3-year-old ...
Read in browser Where characters come from, and where they go
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 03, 2013 05:36 pm My latest Locus column is "Where Characters Come From," and it advances a neurological theory for why fiction works, and where writers find their characters. As a writer, I know that there's a point in the writing when the engine of the story really seems to roar to life, and at that moment, the characters ...
Read in browser Wedding proposal hidden in a Kinder Surprise Egg
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 03, 2013 05:32 pm Matthew wanted Lori to marry him, so he secretly dissected a Kinder Surprise Egg and loaded it with a custom toy containing a down-on-one-knee robot version of himself complete with tiny toy engagement ring, resealed it, and gave it to Lori. She said yes, because of awesome. We used to buy Kinder Surprise Egg candies ...
Read in browser Creepy long-read on the science of surgery patients who wake up during anesthesia
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 03, 2013 05:29 pm I have breast cancer, and I am going in for more surgery tomorrow. Awakening, by Joshua Lang in The Atlantic, may not have been the best choice for pre-op reading material, but it is a fascinating piece. Read at your own peril if you're planning on a trip to the O.R. any time soon. The ...
Read in browser The very excellent Megan Ganz has left Community to write for Modern Family
By Jamie Frevele on Jan 03, 2013 05:28 pm One of Community's most notable and popular writers, Megan Ganz, has announced in a Reddit post that she's taken a position at ABC's Modern Family. While it's sad to see her go, it's hard to blame her for leaving when there is constantly a question about Community's future. But at least we'll get to see ...
Read in browser Leaded gasoline and the 20th-century crime wave
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Jan 03, 2013 05:21 pm Scientists are amassing evidence that suggests exposure to tetraethyl lead — the additive once used in almost all the gasoline sold in the United States — could account for the dramatic increase in crime that happened in this country between the 1960s and 1980s. As leaded gasoline was phased out, they say, children were exposed ...
Read in browser Journey into a volcano
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Jan 03, 2013 04:12 pm Back in July, I told you about an crane system used to lower tourists into the now-empty lava tubes of an extinct volcano. Now, you can travel down into Iceland's Thrihnukagigur volcano yourself — via this fascinating video posted at the NOVA website. While you're probably not getting a view of Thrihnukagigur's magma chamber, you ...
Read in browser Colder than the coldest cold
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Jan 03, 2013 03:27 pm Absolute zero is supposed to be the coldest cold — 0 Kelvin, the point where atoms stop moving. But researchers at the University of Munich say it's possible to get colder than that, an idea they've demonstrated experimentally. But what does it mean to be colder than cold? Here's the scientists' totally unhelpful explanation: another ...
Read in browser Worst product of the week: homeopathy for kids and pets
By Drew Fairweather • The Worst Things For Sale on Jan 03, 2013 03:22 pm Homeopathy is based on the principle of diluting an herb with water until none of the substance remains, then selling the water for $10—or $100. Inert powders are also used as the dilutant, with the same results. Take, for example, the "HomeoFamily Kit", which is a big drawer full of tubes. Most of the ingredients ...
Read in browser Pirate Cinema nominated for the Prometheus Award
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 03, 2013 03:22 pm I'm delighted to announce that my novel Pirate Cinema is a finalist for this year's Prometheus Award, given by the Libertarian Futurist Society. Winning the Prometheus for Little Brother, and being nominated again for Makers was a major honor, and I've got my fingers crossed for this year.
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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