Kansas militia prepares for zombies HOWTO get stuff made in China Forties weekend on the Vintage Ads group Pedagogy of the Depressed: my experiences as a special ed student in the 1990s. CC-licensed Muslim sf anthology Best-of Canadian Conservative government blunders for 2012 Found Poem Chinese tourists say crooked NZ tour-operator took them to a "buffet" that was really a church soup-kitchen LulzBot, a "libre hardware" 3D printer Diana Eng's journey into an abandoned sulfur mine in a dormant volcano to view this season's most popular yellow color Lost soundtrack for Apollo 16 Lunar Buggy discovered Couple visits Disneyland every day for a year Paul Frees tries out narration for the Haunted Mansion A must-read for anyone who wants to be less stupid Epidemic, or awareness? The Office: An Unexpected Journey Kinetic energy, as illustrated by Disney Two Americans arrested in international narwhal smuggling ring Jackson Publick shares images from the new season of The Venture Bros.! Terrific no-mess milk frother How space radiation hurts astronauts Rereading my childhood: The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death Circuit Playground plushies from Adafruit Kansas militia prepares for zombies
By Jason Weisberger on Jan 05, 2013 12:02 pm The Kansas City Star reports. "'Can a natural person change into this monster that many fear?' Alfredo Carbajal, the militia's main spokesman, said in an interview. 'The possibilities are yes, it can happen. We have seen incidents that are very close to it, and we are thinking it is more possible than people think.'"
Read in browser HOWTO get stuff made in China
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 05, 2013 12:00 pm On his blog, Bunnie Huang -- legendary hardware hacker turned entrepreneur -- has begun a four-part series explaining how to have electronics manufactured in south China. This post focuses on the BOM -- the Bill of Materials -- where "Every single assumption, down to the color of the soldermask, has to be spelled out unambiguously ...
Read in browser Forties weekend on the Vintage Ads group
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 05, 2013 09:22 am The Vintage Ads LJ group is having a Forties weekend, and there's some amazing stuff coming through at the moment. The palettes, the illustration style, the layouts and the fonts -- all pure gold. Exhibit A: this Safe-T Cones ad. Exhibit B, this Eternol Tint Oil Shampoo ad from 1943. Both are from the always-great ...
Read in browser Pedagogy of the Depressed: my experiences as a special ed student in the 1990s.
By Anonymous on Jan 05, 2013 09:00 am In May 2013, "Asperger's Syndrome" will be removed as a diagnosis from the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V), leaving "high functioning autism" in its place. I agree with this change. Given the importance of the manual, however, it's caused a lot of consternation and caused me to reflect ...
Read in browser CC-licensed Muslim sf anthology
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 04, 2013 10:50 pm Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad sez, "I am the editor of Islam and Science Fiction which has been previously featured on Boing Boing. Back in 2007 I co-edited "A Mosque Among the Stars, an anthology of muslims in sci-fi. We are now releasing it for free under a Creative Commons license."
Read in browser Best-of Canadian Conservative government blunders for 2012
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 04, 2013 08:46 pm Dave sez, This little blog is my attempt to keep track of all of the comings and goings of Canada's Conservative government. Every week I spend an hour or two putting together a weekly round-up of the bad things done by the Conservatives in the name of "fiscal responsibility" and "family values". Honestly, there's always ...
Read in browser Found Poem
By Jason Weisberger on Jan 04, 2013 07:14 pm Thanks Glen Norris!
Read in browser Chinese tourists say crooked NZ tour-operator took them to a "buffet" that was really a church soup-kitchen
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 04, 2013 06:37 pm Chinese tourists say a crooked tour-operator who'd promised them the best sightseeing in New Zealand and a buffet dinner instead took them to a bunch of public parks and then dumped them in the line at a soup-kitchen: "I thought it was a real bargain, but the main reason we decided to go with him ...
Read in browser LulzBot, a "libre hardware" 3D printer
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 04, 2013 06:01 pm Kristin sez, "Based in Loveland, Colorado, LulzBot designs, builds, and sells desktop 3D printers, parts, and plastics for entrepreneurs, inventors, engineers, and experimenters. They've just launched their AO-101 3D printer a high-quality, cost-effective solution that embodies the philosophy of "Libre Hardware," allowing people to learn from, share, and improve the hardware and software they use." ...
Read in browser Diana Eng's journey into an abandoned sulfur mine in a dormant volcano to view this season's most popular yellow color
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 04, 2013 03:55 pm My friend Diana Eng is a fashion designer. She says: A couple of years ago trend forecasters at Premiere Vision said a highlighter neon yellow would be a big color for Fall/Winter 2012. I’ve been seeing this color for a while at American Apparel which didn’t mean much since they cater to hipsters. But when ...
Read in browser Lost soundtrack for Apollo 16 Lunar Buggy discovered
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 04, 2013 03:47 pm Click the link to this MP3 file in a new tab and then start the video as soon as it starts playing.
Read in browser Couple visits Disneyland every day for a year
By Jason Weisberger on Jan 04, 2013 03:41 pm The Orange County register shares the story of an under-employed couple who visited the park daily. "'It was a way to keep ourselves occupied because we didn't have jobs,' said Mickesh about the initial reasons behind their self-imposed challenge. 'Originally, we thought we'd get jobs and stop doing it, but we kept it going.'"
Read in browser Paul Frees tries out narration for the Haunted Mansion
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 04, 2013 03:10 pm Check out this amazing reel of Paul Frees trying out different narration choices for the Disneyland Haunted Mansion. It comes from the excellent (and out of print) Haunted Mansion Original Soundtrack, which I am a proud owner of. Neener. The Genius of Paul Frees
Read in browser A must-read for anyone who wants to be less stupid
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Jan 04, 2013 03:06 pm When it comes to discerning truth from myth, our enemy is ourselves — and ourselves really, Really, REALLY like to turn chance events into coherent narratives. (Via Kellan)
Read in browser Epidemic, or awareness?
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Jan 04, 2013 02:56 pm Here's some evidence supporting the idea that the increase in autism diagnoses is just that — an increase in diagnoses, not an increase in incidence. Increases in autism diagnosis aren't evenly spread around the country. There are hotspots. Researchers found that kids who move into these hotspots — even after an age where autism might ...
Read in browser The Office: An Unexpected Journey
By Jamie Frevele on Jan 04, 2013 02:54 pm I'm not sure David Brent is even qualified to play Gandalf in this mashup, but I'll take it!
Read in browser Kinetic energy, as illustrated by Disney
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Jan 04, 2013 02:45 pm This is the difference between low kinetic energy (top) and high kinetic energy (bottom), as illustrated in the 1956 Disney book Our Friend the Atom. It may be useful in visualizing some of the ideas presented in my recent feature on space radiation. From Fresh Photons, a fantastic blog chock full of science pictures. Via ...
Read in browser Two Americans arrested in international narwhal smuggling ring
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Jan 04, 2013 02:38 pm Okay, which of you all just got busted for smuggling narwhal tusks? Fess up. It was either one of you, somebody from Reddit, or both, right? Image: N is for narwhal - finished, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from notahipster's photostream
Read in browser Jackson Publick shares images from the new season of The Venture Bros.!
By Jamie Frevele on Jan 04, 2013 02:35 pm Co-creator of The Venture Bros. Jackson Publick was kind enough to update everyone on the status of the upcoming fifth season of the show. And while we'll be waiting a little longer than expected for the premiere -- March or May, due to the production of the first hour-long episode last -- we were treated ...
Read in browser Terrific no-mess milk frother
By Lew Frauenfelder on Jan 04, 2013 01:55 pm The Aeroccino 3 is a sleekly designed product about the size of a can of peaches that heats and froths milk to super fluffy consistency in about thirty seconds making for perfect cappuccinos, lattes or macchiatos. The frother has a clever frothing mechanism consisting of a ring magnet rotor that fits over a vertical post ...
Read in browser How space radiation hurts astronauts
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Jan 04, 2013 01:45 pm NASA image of the Crab Nebula, a remnant of a supernova. Scientists think that Galactic Cosmic Radiation comes from places like this. Space is full of radiation. It's impossible to escape. Imagine standing in the middle of a dust storm, with bits of gravel constantly swirling around you, whizzing by, pinging against your skin. That's ...
Read in browser Rereading my childhood: The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death
By Jason Weisberger on Jan 04, 2013 01:13 pm When I was finishing grade school the works of Daniel Pinkwater delighted me. I read his stories over and over and The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death is a life long favorite. Reminiscing with an old friend last night brought tears to my eyes. It is amazing how this tale of youth and ...
Read in browser Circuit Playground plushies from Adafruit
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 04, 2013 01:08 pm Last month, I brought you the delightful news that Adafruit was launching a kids' puppet show about electronics called Circuit Playground. Now Adafruit has begun to offer plushie toys based on the characters from the show, including Cappy the Capacitor Hans the 555 Timer Chip, Mho the Resistor, Connie the Transistor, Ruby the Red LED ...
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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