Short documentary about illustrators Steam-powered robots and hacked bugs: a visit to I-Wei Huang's garage Barbie's blinky dress Kickstarting a fiction magazine that pays well Largest collection of microcars up for auction today A Long Time Ago, sweet memoir of growing up Star Warsish Cory in Miami tonight! History of punk podcast Meteor explodes over Russia Mat Ricardo's "London Varieties" is back and in the west end! Malware-Industrial Complex: how the trade in software bugs is weaponizing insecurity Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you The Sun newspaper Amy cooks at an actual restaurant How governments influence behavior: code, nudge or notice? NYT reviewer responds to Tesla accusations Astronaut duvet cover Portable USB record player/cassette deck combo Six-strikes US copyright punishments will harm open WiFi EFF-Austin benefit after Cory's Book People event on Feb 22 How to Grow Killer Weed: exclusive excerpt from new book, The Art of Doing Coming soon to NOVA: Mind of a Rampage Killer Grants for anti-censorship tools JOHN WILCOCK: Four Significant Events in the U.S. Counterculture, 1958 & 1959 Alan Friedman takes mind-blowing photos of the sun from home Hand-cranked tool resembles Raymond Loewy's 1933 pencil sharpener Suspected meth lab revealed to be maple syrup homebrew hobby Millennium Falcon toilet seat: why isn't this real? Casey Curran's hand-cranked mechano-natural sculptures Getting to know "Mitochondrial Eve" A new Pew study on the Facebooking habits of the American adult Short documentary about illustrators
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 15, 2013 12:58 pm Our friend Molly Crabapple and others are featured in this excellent PBS short documentary about illustrators. Illustrators articulate what a photograph cannot. Using an array of techniques and styles, illustrators evoke stories and meaning in a variety of mediums, from editorial illustration in magazines and newspapers, to comics books, to activist media. And as their ...
Read in browser Steam-powered robots and hacked bugs: a visit to I-Wei Huang's garage
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 15, 2013 12:34 pm Wired visited the garage of my friend I-Wei Huang, which is loaded with his delightful little creations, including a Strandbeest-style hamster ball walker. (For his day job, I-Wei designs the characters for the Skylanders games.) Wired garage interview with I-Wei Huang Previously: Skylanders speed drawing Steampunk robotics Jot Touch Bluetooth pressure sensitive stylus for iPad
Read in browser Barbie's blinky dress
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 15, 2013 12:22 pm Goli Mohammadi of MAKE says: A few years ago, we were happy to learn that Barbie’s 125th career (since her inception in 1959) was computer engineer. Not surprisingly, that career was decided entirely by online vote. Computer engineer Barbie came complete with pink glasses, laptop (displaying binary), and cellphone (and blue Bluetooth). Looks like those ...
Read in browser Kickstarting a fiction magazine that pays well
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 15, 2013 11:42 am All round e-publishing genius Pablo Defendini sez, Fireside Magazine is a multigenre fiction magazine. Our goal is twofold: to publish great storytelling and offer fair pay for writers and artists. We published three issues last year, each funded by its own Kickstarter. That wasn't really a sustainable way to make a magazine, and we want ...
Read in browser Largest collection of microcars up for auction today
By Dean Putney on Feb 15, 2013 11:18 am The world's largest collection of microcars from the Microcar Museum in Madison, Georgia is on the auction block today and tomorrow. Put together by a single collector– Bruce Weiner, a former executive at Dubble Bubble –the collection of rare cars and memorabilia is being split up mostly because the fun part for him was collecting ...
Read in browser A Long Time Ago, sweet memoir of growing up Star Warsish
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 15, 2013 10:34 am A Long Time Ago, Gib Van Ert's memoir about growing up with Star Wars became news last Christmas, when it disappeared from Amazon following a bogus trademark question. It's been back for months now, and has been in my to-read pile for much longer, and I've finally had the pure pleasure of reading it. A ...
Read in browser Cory in Miami tonight!
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 15, 2013 08:49 am Hey, Miami! I'm about to head to the airport for my appearance tonight at Books & Books. Tomorrow I'll be in Chapel Hill at Flyleaf Books, and on Sunday I'll be in Decatur at the Decatur Library (sponsored by Little Shop of Stories). There's still plenty more cities to go, too!
Read in browser History of punk podcast
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 15, 2013 06:57 am The nice folks at the Tank Riot podcast did a great job with their new punk episode, reviewing the early history of punk and some of its later mutations (MP3, subscribe)
Read in browser Meteor explodes over Russia
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 15, 2013 05:01 am A meteor has exploded over
Chelyabinsk , a remote part of Russia 150km north of Kazahstan. The meteor's descent was captured by many video cameras (largely the ubiquitous Russian dashboard cams, it seems).
Read in browser Mat Ricardo's "London Varieties" is back and in the west end!
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 15, 2013 02:11 am Mat Ricardo sez, Last year I started a monthly variety show in a small East London venue. It was a little personal project that let me show my vision of what a variety show could be. Well, happily, it was a bit of a success - all the shows pretty much sold out, we got ...
Read in browser Malware-Industrial Complex: how the trade in software bugs is weaponizing insecurity
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 14, 2013 09:28 pm Here's a must-read story from Tech Review about the thriving trade in "zero-day exploits" -- critical software bugs that are sold off to military contractors to be integrated into offensive malware, rather than reported to the manufacturer for repair. The stuff built with zero-days -- network appliances that can snoop on a whole country, even ...
Read in browser Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you The Sun newspaper
By Rob Beschizza on Feb 14, 2013 08:50 pm Does tomorrow's cover of UK tabloid The Sun not possess a certain je ne sais quoi? The subtle alliteration, dancing down the page in distinctive formal juxtaposition against the stark prosody of the headline itself. The exquisitely photoshopped composition, its 1990s GIF-style cutouts echoing memories of better days. The framing of murdered South African model ...
Read in browser Amy cooks at an actual restaurant
By Amy Seidenwurm on Feb 14, 2013 08:21 pm I'm going to be cooking a dinner featuring locally-produced honey at canelé restaurant in LA next Tuesday, February 19. The restaurant has a program called "Friends Cook", where they invite neighborhood pals to cook a special menu at the restaurant. Here's how they describe it: Every so often on a Tuesday night we share our kitchen ...
Read in browser How governments influence behavior: code, nudge or notice?
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 14, 2013 07:22 pm Ryan sez, "Here's a new essay entitled 'Code, Nudge, or Notice?' The essay compares side-by-side three ways that the government tries to influence citizen behavior short of making it illegal. It uses contemporary examples, like the graphic warnings the FDA wants to put on cigarettes, to make the point that it sometimes very hard to ...
Read in browser NYT reviewer responds to Tesla accusations
By Rob Beschizza on Feb 14, 2013 07:18 pm Earlier today, Tesla's Elon Musk released logs suggesting that NYT reviewer John Broder deliberately abused the review car's batteries to contrive a poor performance. Broder has just published his response. Here's his explanation of one of Musk's centerpiece claims: that he drove around a car lot aimlessly to try and flatline the batteries. "I was ...
Read in browser Astronaut duvet cover
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 14, 2013 06:25 pm €60 is a lot to spend on your kid's duvet cover, but there's no denying that this astronaut bedding from Snurk is pretty wonderful. Astronaut (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)
Read in browser Portable USB record player/cassette deck combo
By David Pescovitz on Feb 14, 2013 05:43 pm I can't vouch for the sound quality of the Ion IT34 Duo Deck USB turntable/cassette deck but I sure dig the design. It runs on four AA batteries, fits in a backpack, and plays 78s -- perfect for a real old timey picnic. Would also be fun to build it into your auto's dash, like ...
Read in browser Six-strikes US copyright punishments will harm open WiFi
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 14, 2013 05:38 pm You may have heard Jill Lesser, Executive Director of the Center for Copyright Information, explain that America's six-strikes copyright punishment system would not harm open WiFi. Adi Kamdar explains why Ms Lesser's totally mistaken: Termination may not be part of the CAS, but that's not the point—the program still uses "protecting copyright" as an excuse ...
Read in browser EFF-Austin benefit after Cory's Book People event on Feb 22
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 14, 2013 05:17 pm After my event at Austin's Book People on Feb 22, I'll be doing a benefit for EFF-Austin on their location privacy campaign. We did this the last time I came through town and it was tremendous -- come on out! An evening with Cory Doctorow and EFF-Austin
Read in browser How to Grow Killer Weed: exclusive excerpt from new book, The Art of Doing
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 14, 2013 04:44 pm Excerpted from The Art of Doing: How Superachievers Do What They Do and How They Do It So Well, by Camille Sweeney and Josh Gosfield. (Camille and Josh interviewed me for the book, too.) It was the Sixties, and Ed Rosenthal, who listed his future career as "plant geneticist" in his high school yearbook, had ...
Read in browser Coming soon to NOVA: Mind of a Rampage Killer
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 14, 2013 04:12 pm A documentary on the neuroscience behind teen rampage shooting violence, like the recent tragedy in Newtown.
Read in browser Grants for anti-censorship tools
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 14, 2013 04:11 pm Sandra sez, "OpenITP's first round of 2013 project funding is now open for proposals! Project grants are meant to support specific technical efforts to improve users' ability to circumvent censorship and surveillance on the Internet. 'Technical' doesn't have to mean software or hardware. For example, they also consider efforts to improve user experience through translation, ...
Read in browser JOHN WILCOCK: Four Significant Events in the U.S. Counterculture, 1958 & 1959
By Ethan Persoff and Scott Marshall on Feb 14, 2013 04:03 pm A round up of items that helped shape the underground culture of the late fifties. With Paul Krassner, Robert Anton Wilson, Yoko Ono, God's Penis, and Gustav Metzger.
Read in browser Alan Friedman takes mind-blowing photos of the sun from home
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 14, 2013 03:50 pm Colossal has a gallery of Alan Friedman's stunning sun photography. (Here's Friedman's TEDx Talk from December). [Alan Friedman] points a telescope skyward from his backyard in downtown Buffalo, directly into the light of the sun. Using special filters attached to his camera Friedman captures some of the most lovely details of the Sun’s roiling surface. ...
Read in browser Hand-cranked tool resembles Raymond Loewy's 1933 pencil sharpener
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 14, 2013 03:38 pm This hand-cranked tool was inspired by Raymond Loewy's 1933 pencil sharpener. (Via the World's Best Ever)
Read in browser Suspected meth lab revealed to be maple syrup homebrew hobby
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 14, 2013 03:38 pm The Benson family's maple "meth lab." Photo: WFVS-TV. A Missouri Illinois couple who enjoy making their own maple syrup were reported to the cops as likely meth cooks. "I think my neighbors on their way to church see the buckets and stuff and think we've got a meth lab operation going on here," said Laura ...
Read in browser Millennium Falcon toilet seat: why isn't this real?
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 14, 2013 03:22 pm Back in 2005, High Admiral Enchurito posted this great shoop to the Rebelscum forum depicting a Millennium Falcon toilet lid and a lightsaber plunger-handle. The fact that 7 years have gone by without this becoming reality is a sad comment on the state of our society. Master replicas Sent ME the new falcon prototype! (via ...
Read in browser Casey Curran's hand-cranked mechano-natural sculptures
By David Pescovitz on Feb 14, 2013 03:02 pm This week I visited BB pal Kirsten Anderson's wonderful Roq La Rue Gallery in Seattle where Casey Curran has hung a number of his exquisite kinetic sculptures. Each sculpture is a baroque ecosystem of wire plants, synthetic flowers, metallic creatures, faux feathers, and other ornate faux-naturalia. Gently crank the handle on each sculpture and these ...
Read in browser Getting to know "Mitochondrial Eve"
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Feb 14, 2013 02:41 pm By studying the way it has mutated and changed over time, scientists can trace human mitochondrial DNA — the DNA that is passed from mother to daughter — back to a single woman. Basically, everybody alive is descended from her. But that's not the same thing as saying that Mitochondrial Eve was once the only ...
Read in browser A new Pew study on the Facebooking habits of the American adult
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 14, 2013 02:39 pm Shutterstock
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
No comments:
Post a Comment