Vintage vinegar valentines: mass-produced insult cards Sea slug has detachable penis Historical photos of Vietnam overlaying the present Pope resigns, God strikes St. Peter's Basilica with lightning Bicycle made (in part) from recycled car parts French 1970s space rock from Les Rockets Spanish civil war posters Cory in Cincinnati tomorrow Buy an atheism bus-ad from the British Humanist Association Mardi Gras Indians, 2013: the photography of Clayton Cubitt Our Wedding Song: stories of 4 elderly couples, through songs that played at their marriages California bill to release the state's building codes online for free Gun battle between fugitive Dorner and police underway; cops ask to press to "stop tweeting" Knight Foundation pays $20,000 to Jonah Lehrer for speech about his lies Why organizations need a Clark Kent, not a Superman 3D-printed weighted companion cube dice Scott Sigler's new MONSTROSITY show, plus a tour of my office Interview with creators of Necessary Roughness about gay pro football player What Orson Scott Card's Superman comic will be like DC Comics hires anti-gay author Orson Scott Card to write Superman Scan of 1960s novelty catalog Takeru Kobeyashi eats a 12" pizza in 60 secs Vintage vinegar valentines: mass-produced insult cards
By David Pescovitz on Feb 13, 2013 12:49 pm "Vinegar valentines" are insult greeting cards popular in the 19th and early 20th century. Over at Collectors Weekly, Lisa Hix shares a fine selection of these snarky missives. "Happy Valentine's Day, I Hate You"
Read in browser Sea slug has detachable penis
By Rob Beschizza on Feb 13, 2013 12:47 pm "A sea slug that is able to detach, re-grow and then re-use its penis has surprised scientists." [BBC]
Read in browser Historical photos of Vietnam overlaying the present
By David Pescovitz on Feb 13, 2013 12:39 pm For photographer Khanh Hmong's powerful series "Vietnam – Looking Into the Past," he held historical photos of the past over the same locations in the present. "Vietnam - Looking Into the Past" (Flickr, via Laughing Squid) "Juxtaposing Vietnam's Incredible Past and Present" (My Modern Met) Composites of 1906 San Francisco earthquake photos and today ...
Read in browser Pope resigns, God strikes St. Peter's Basilica with lightning
By David Pescovitz on Feb 13, 2013 12:21 pm Just hours after Pope Benedict XVI quit, a lightning bolt struck St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. Yeah, yeah, lightning probably strikes the church on days when the pope hasn't resigned too. But it's more fun to ignore that as you appreciate this. (The Guardian)
Read in browser Bicycle made (in part) from recycled car parts
By David Pescovitz on Feb 13, 2013 12:05 pm Creative agency LOLA Madrid designed and built a prototype bicycle constructed entirely out of scrap auto parts, from a transmission belt used as the "chain" to a seat post clamp from a door handle.
Read in browser French 1970s space rock from Les Rockets
By David Pescovitz on Feb 13, 2013 11:54 am Les Rockets cover The Spotnik's "Last Space Train."
Read in browser Spanish civil war posters
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 13, 2013 11:48 am Retronaut has collected a huge gallery of posters from both sides of the Spanish Civil War that come from the Biblioteca Nacional de España site. 1936-1939: Posters from the Spanish Civil War
Read in browser Cory in Cincinnati tomorrow
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 13, 2013 08:38 am Hey folks! Just a reminder that I'll be in romantic Cincinnati tomorrow night at 7PM at Joseph-Beth for the next stop of my Homeland tour. From there, it's Miami and Chapel Hill (and tons more).
Read in browser Buy an atheism bus-ad from the British Humanist Association
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 13, 2013 06:32 am Sara from the British Humanist Association sez, The British Humanist Association is selling the original Atheist Bus Campaign signs. The controversial campaign was launched in October 2008 and by January 2009 had been the subject of 326 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority, including a complaint from Stephen Green of Christian Voice(UK) who said "It ...
Read in browser Mardi Gras Indians, 2013: the photography of Clayton Cubitt
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 12, 2013 10:00 pm "The baby on the right was masking for the first time and could barely stand on her own."—Clayton Cubitt New Orleans native Clayton Cubitt, a photographer now based in Brooklyn, is back in his southern homeland for Mardi Gras, shooting wonderful things. Above, one of the Mardi Gras Indians portraits he's been posting to Twitter/Instagram. ...
Read in browser Our Wedding Song: stories of 4 elderly couples, through songs that played at their marriages
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 12, 2013 09:44 pm For Valentine's Day, CDZA takes a trip to a Senior Living center to share the stories of four couples and perform the songs they were married to.
Read in browser California bill to release the state's building codes online for free
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 12, 2013 09:00 pm Rogue archivist Carl Malamud writes, Assemblyman Brian Nestande of California has introduced Assembly Bill 292, which would open source the California Code of Regulations (including the Building Codes). The summary reads: "This bill would provide that the full text of the California Code of Regulations shall bear an open access creative commons attribution license, allowing ...
Read in browser Gun battle between fugitive Dorner and police underway; cops ask to press to "stop tweeting"
By Rob Beschizza on Feb 12, 2013 07:13 pm Christopher Dorner, the former LAPD officer suspected of murdering three of his ex-colleagues, has finally been cornered—first, by officers who tried to pull him over, then at a cabin in the Californian mountains. Dorner has killed one police officer in the confrontation, according to the LA Times, but is surrounded. The San Bernadino Sheriff asked ...
Read in browser Knight Foundation pays $20,000 to Jonah Lehrer for speech about his lies
By Rob Beschizza on Feb 12, 2013 06:53 pm Please enjoy this excruciating speech from fabricator and plagiarist Jonah Lehrer, a shit sandwich lovingly-prepared for journalism by the Knight Foundation. If the former Wired and New Yorker writer's contrition leaves a bad taste in everyone else's mouth but his own, it is because a) it's delivered in the same charming yet bland pop-sci literary ...
Read in browser Why organizations need a Clark Kent, not a Superman
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 12, 2013 05:31 pm Here's an excerpt from Ray Fisman and Tim Sullivan's new book, The Org: The Underlying Logic of the Office. In The Org, Ray Fisman and Tim Sullivan explain the tradeoffs that every organization faces, arguing that this everyday dysfunction is actually inherent to the very nature of orgs. The Org diagnoses the root causes of ...
Read in browser 3D-printed weighted companion cube dice
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 12, 2013 04:08 pm Etsy seller Niquegeek made these 3D printed stainless steel dice that resemble the beloved weighted companion cubes from the game Portal. They're hollow, and retail for $29. This unique die (singular dice) is made layer by layer in a 3D printer and then fired to fuse the metal particles into solid steel. It is available ...
Read in browser Scott Sigler's new MONSTROSITY show, plus a tour of my office
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 12, 2013 04:00 pm Scott Sigler's got a new YouTube show called Monstrosity, and he interviewed me (and several others!) for it.
Read in browser Interview with creators of Necessary Roughness about gay pro football player
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 12, 2013 03:59 pm I interviewed my friends Liz Kruger and Craig Shapiro, the creators and executive producers of the USA Network television series Necessary Roughness. It's a drama about a psychologist who works with pro football players. Tomorrow night is the first of a two-part story about a gay football player who wants to publicly come out. Craig ...
Read in browser What Orson Scott Card's Superman comic will be like
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 12, 2013 03:31 pm Ben Bates imagines the first page of Orson Scott Card's upcoming Superman comic. (Thanks, Neowolf!) Previously: DC Comics hires anti-gay author Orson Scott Card to write Superman
Read in browser DC Comics hires anti-gay author Orson Scott Card to write Superman
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 12, 2013 03:10 pm NPR: "DC Comics has tapped Orson Scott Card, the Ender's Game author who has said homosexuality is "deviant behavior," to write for its new, digital-first Superman. That has sparked outrage among fans. Card also suggested in a 2004 essay that if same-sex marriage is legalized, "our civilization will collapse or fade away." The equality organization ...
Read in browser Scan of 1960s novelty catalog
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 12, 2013 01:38 pm Karswell is co-editor of the Chilling Archives of Horror Comic Books series (including Zombies, excerpted on Boing Boing). He also runs the fabulous blog, and everything else too. He recently scanned a circa-1960 novelty catalog, which is loaded with intriguing objects from a bygone era. If you've ever read a silver age comic book in ...
Read in browser Takeru Kobeyashi eats a 12" pizza in 60 secs
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 12, 2013 01:09 pm As I watched competitive eater Takeru Kobeyashi consume a 12" Domino's pizza in one minute, I realized that I could probably do this.
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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