Dial-up handshaking illustrated Wall Street Journal: We, too, were hacked by China Catholic priest child sex abuse files released, at last, by LA archdiocese Ed Koch, former mayor of New York, has died. Danger Fundraising the expansion of Red Emma's, Baltimore's amazing radical bookstore cafe Steampunky concept motorcyle Sesame Street video mashed up with Beastie Boys's "Sure Shot" "No Asians" - cornering a racist turns out unexpectedly well JOHN WILCOCK: Thelonious Monk's Heroin Arrest HOWTO recover your stolen car Batbane mask is yours for $130 RIAA bigwig who architected anti-technology lawsuits is now #2 at the Copyright Office Snap-fit 3D printable airship can also form the base of a Saturn V rocket David Byrne and St Vincent on Letterman Magic, copyright, and internal enforcement mechanisms Crowdfunded doc on the Amazing Randi seeks funding Holding the steering wheel at 10 and 2 o'clock is no longer recommended Spiral staircase inspired by a whale's spine Meet Curiosity rover's earthbound sibling Mind the Gap: a paranormal thriller/mystery graphic novel that non-comic book readers will enjoy Short documentary about competitive gaming tournaments Trade show exec throws CNET under the bus, but who is he to judge media ethics? TV reporter asks videobomber how long she's had an STD Waitress who posted no-tip receipt from "pastor" fired from Applebee's Adding glasses to that old newspaper photo Noisebridge hackerspace explains fair use to Dreamworks Copyright, plagiarism and the Internet San Francisco 49er's homophobic comments and dumb apology Beijing air quality is like living in an airport smoking lounge Dial-up handshaking illustrated
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 01, 2013 12:43 pm Oona Räisänen has written a thorough and engrossing article about the noises emitted by dial-up modems while they connect and handshake, and the accompanying graphic (ZOMG HUGE) is nothing short of spectacular. It would make a great full-size poster -- maybe a framed art-print. Now the modems must address the problem of echo suppression. When ...
Read in browser Wall Street Journal: We, too, were hacked by China
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 01, 2013 12:23 pm One day after The New York Times reported that Chinese hackers infiltrated its network and stole reporters' passwords, The Wall Street Journal says: "Us, too."
Read in browser Catholic priest child sex abuse files released, at last, by LA archdiocese
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 01, 2013 12:21 pm After years of legal battles, The Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has grudgingly released files on priests accused of sexually abusing children. An announcement from the church about the document dump is here (PDF). You can browse the files yourself at clergyfiles.la-archdiocese.org. Reuters: "The 12,000 pages of files were made public more than a week ...
Read in browser Ed Koch, former mayor of New York, has died.
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 01, 2013 11:50 am Former New York mayor Ed Koch has died, at 88 years of age, from congestive heart failure. His grave marker will bear the Star of David and a Hebrew prayer, "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One," and with the last words of journalist Daniel Pearl before he was beheaded in ...
Read in browser Danger
By Jason Weisberger on Feb 01, 2013 11:35 am You are warned. Thanks, Bill Rini!
Read in browser Fundraising the expansion of Red Emma's, Baltimore's amazing radical bookstore cafe
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 01, 2013 11:32 am Red Emma's, Baltimore's astoundingly awesome collectively run radical bookstore/cafe, is having an Indiegogo fundraiser that's gone into its final stretch.
Read in browser Steampunky concept motorcyle
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 01, 2013 10:37 am This is the creation of Mikhail Smolyanov, whose concept bike designs are, to a one, wonderful to behold. Funnily nostalgic, gloriously impractical, and beautifully rendered. Solifague Design (via Kadrey)
Read in browser Sesame Street video mashed up with Beastie Boys's "Sure Shot"
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 01, 2013 09:51 am This Sesame Street/Beastie Boys "Sure Shot" mashup does some very clever stuff with fast and slow framerates that makes the puppets appear to be perfect lipsynchers
Read in browser "No Asians" - cornering a racist turns out unexpectedly well
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 01, 2013 08:33 am I don't want to give away the punchline here, but it's definitely worth 1:40 of your time to get to it.
Read in browser JOHN WILCOCK: Thelonious Monk's Heroin Arrest
By Ethan Persoff and Scott Marshall on Feb 01, 2013 08:00 am The John Wilcock comic returns with the story of Thelonious Monk's heroin arrest, followed by John's personal memory of seeing Monk play at the Five Spot.
Read in browser HOWTO recover your stolen car
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 01, 2013 12:17 am From an email sent to author Tyler Cowen by a reader: Oh, and here's a tip I hope you never need: if your car is ever stolen, your first calls should be to every cab company in the city. You offer a $50 reward to the driver who finds it AND a $50 reward to ...
Read in browser Batbane mask is yours for $130
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 31, 2013 11:43 pm Inb4 Cory! [Etsy via Khoi]
Read in browser RIAA bigwig who architected anti-technology lawsuits is now #2 at the Copyright Office
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 31, 2013 11:17 pm Karyn Temple Claggett is the new Associate Register of Copyright and Director of Policy & International Affairs for the Copyright Office. Her previous gig was litigating for the RIAA, shutting down technologies like Grokster, which had widespread, non-infringing uses (the standard in the law since the Betamax Supreme Court decision in 1982). Last night the ...
Read in browser Snap-fit 3D printable airship can also form the base of a Saturn V rocket
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 31, 2013 10:05 pm RealAbsurdity's "Modular Snap-Fit Airship" on Thingiverse is a 3D-printable toy whose parts can interchangeably form part of a Saturn V rocket. More snap-fit vehicles are planned. This is a fully modular snap-fit (no glue required) model of an Airship. It is the vanilla base for a series of absurd mashups that currently includes a Trireme ...
Read in browser David Byrne and St Vincent on Letterman
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 31, 2013 08:50 pm David Byrne and St Vincent appeared on the David Letterman show this week to perform "I Should Watch TV" (a deliciously ironic choice, given the song's content) from their
amazing album
Love This Giant, which is my favorite new music in years.
Read in browser Magic, copyright, and internal enforcement mechanisms
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 31, 2013 07:58 pm Sara Crasson sez, "With the posts about magic recently, I thought you might be interested in an article I wrote about how intellectual property law applies to magicians (among other performers). In writing it, I thought I would establish that current protections were of limited benefit to magicians and then finish the piece by proposing ...
Read in browser Crowdfunded doc on the Amazing Randi seeks funding
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 31, 2013 06:48 pm Justin sez, In 2010, Boing Boing wrote about about James "The Amazing" Randi coming out of the closet as a gay man. Coming from the famed exposer-of-deception, many found his honesty inspirational. Then, in September of 2011, his live-in partner of 25 years, Jose Alvarez - the man who famously adopted the persona of "Carlos" ...
Read in browser Holding the steering wheel at 10 and 2 o'clock is no longer recommended
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 31, 2013 06:10 pm 8 & 4! 8 & 4! (Via Doobybrain) See also: Adjust a car's sideview mirrors to eliminate blind spots
Read in browser Spiral staircase inspired by a whale's spine
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 31, 2013 05:56 pm Spiral staircase? Yes please. Spiral staircase modeled on the spine of a whale? Hell yes! Andrew McConnell conceived of this system as a modular set of components that can be deployed in a spiral, each element supporting the next – the only variation would occur in the top and bottom pieces that connect to landings. ...
Read in browser Meet Curiosity rover's earthbound sibling
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 31, 2013 05:55 pm Photo: Glenn Fleishman Go and check out Glenn Fleishman's fantastic set of photos from the Jet Propulsion Lab's sandbox, where the scientists get to hang out and play with one of Curiosity rover's siblings.
Read in browser Mind the Gap: a paranormal thriller/mystery graphic novel that non-comic book readers will enjoy
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 31, 2013 05:47 pm Somebody tried to kill Elle Peterssen. She's comatose in the hospital. Her wealthy family doesn't seem to care much -- not her Korean tiger mom, not her emotionally vacant father, not her spoiled brother. They consider her hospitalization a major inconvenience. Elle's boyfriend, Dane, cares a lot but he's the prime suspect. Elle, unconscious in ...
Read in browser Short documentary about competitive gaming tournaments
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 31, 2013 05:10 pm TL Taylor (author of Raising the Stakes: E-Sports and the Professionalization of Computer Gaming) talks about competitive gaming and e-sports in this short PBS documentary.
Read in browser Trade show exec throws CNET under the bus, but who is he to judge media ethics?
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 31, 2013 03:51 pm Gary Shapiro is chief of the Consumer Electronics Association, the tech industry group behind the massive annual CES trade show. In an op-ed published by USA Today, he writes that the organization is reevaluating its relationship with tech news site CNET, which oversees a big CES-related award. CNET was planning to give this award to ...
Read in browser TV reporter asks videobomber how long she's had an STD
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 31, 2013 03:51 pm "I don't have an STD." "Then why did you want to talk?"
Read in browser Waitress who posted no-tip receipt from "pastor" fired from Applebee's
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 31, 2013 03:44 pm The Consumerist reports that Chelsea, the Applebee's employee who earlier this week posted a receipt with a note from a tightwad "pastor" that read "I Give God 10%. Why Do You Get 18," was fired. “We make $3.50 an hour. Most of my paychecks are less than pocket change because I have to pay taxes ...
Read in browser Adding glasses to that old newspaper photo
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 31, 2013 03:43 pm Chris Smith very helpfully fixed the newspaper photo I posted earlier today, which showed me at 9 months, with my mom. 25 years of legal abortion in Canada (Thanks, Chris!)
Read in browser Noisebridge hackerspace explains fair use to Dreamworks
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 31, 2013 02:53 pm Dreamworks is producing a sensationalized, awful movie about Wikileaks and Julian Assange. Some of the action involves the Noisebridge hackerspace in San Francisco that Wikileaks's Jacob Appelbaum helped to found, so Dreamworks wrote to them asking for permission to use their logo. Noisebridge collectively penned a letter back explaining fair use and free speech to ...
Read in browser Copyright, plagiarism and the Internet
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 31, 2013 02:14 pm My latest Guardian column is "Internet copyright law has to have public support if it's going to work," and it goes into the difference between copyright infringement and plagiarism, and tries to understand why so many people got upset at Glee's legal ripoff of a Jonathan Coulton song: Copyright experts were quick to explain that ...
Read in browser San Francisco 49er's homophobic comments and dumb apology
By David Pescovitz on Jan 31, 2013 02:11 pm In a radio interview this week, San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver said, "We ain't got no gay people on the team… They gotta get up out here if they do. Can't be with that sweet stuff. ... Nah, can't be ... in the locker room, man." He has since issued an equally-intelligent apology: "The ...
Read in browser Beijing air quality is like living in an airport smoking lounge
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 31, 2013 01:49 pm Beijing's air quality has long been known to be unsafe, and has been over the World Health Organization's "healthy" limit every day this year. A chart and report from Bloomberg show that it is in fact similar to the air inside an airport smoking lounge.More: Beijing Air Akin to Living in Smoking Lounge: Chart of ...
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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