3D printed moon-base Illustrated portraits of woman astronauts London's FREEDOM anarchist bookstore firebombed Grotesque creature housewares and jewelry U of Chicago Press launches DRM-free ebook line Durex launches condoms-on-demand iOS app in Dubai Now is a good time to re-set your Twitter password and disable Java in your browser Bank of America services totally crap out; hack not suspected LA Sushi chef who served endangered whale could face maximum sentence of life in prison HOWTO make an octopizza Gentleman in LA police chase ends standoff by huffing nitrous Locus List: best sf/f/h of 2012 Comics Rack: Boing Boing's comic books picks for January 2013 Disney's "Paperman," a romantic short film If you don't read Brain Rot... First Night Out Ai Weiwei: "Wonderful dissident, terrible artist" Joy is round: children make beloved soccer balls from trash Creating a pyramid scheme for fun and education Warren Ellis reviews Bruce Sterling's "Love is Strange," a paranormal romance Kama Sutra cookie-cutters 2-In-1 iPotty with Activity Seat for iPad The bug killing tool preferred by mosquito researchers Seven iPhone games to keep you occupied during a long flight How to tell whether a mosquito is male or female (without getting bitten) Odd and inappropriate Valentine's cards of yesteryear Aaron Swartz memorial in Washington, DC, Feb 4 Why can't Americans look up their own case-law for free? Lost Boys jacket The epic Venom banter mixtape, 1986 3D printed moon-base
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 02, 2013 11:39 am The European Space Agency is contemplating 3D printed moon-bases: By using the Moon's loose rocks (regolith) as a base for concrete, robots based on Monolite's D-Shape 3-D printer will be able to build up a structure that uses as many local materials as possible. The idea is that with a shell made of moon rocks ...
Read in browser Illustrated portraits of woman astronauts
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 02, 2013 09:17 am Artist Philip J Bond created a set of illustrations depicting the women who've been to space. They're beautiful and full of personality and style, and really do justice to their subjects. I just showed these to my five year old daughter, and she was as entranced as I was. Working for months at a time ...
Read in browser London's FREEDOM anarchist bookstore firebombed
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 02, 2013 01:33 am FREEDOM, a legendary anarchist bookstore in east London, was firebombed on Friday morning. This is the store that Peter Kropotkin helped found in the 19th century, and the home of a monthly newspaper that published Emma Goldman. No one was hurt, and no one seems to know who did it, or why. The store was ...
Read in browser Grotesque creature housewares and jewelry
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 01, 2013 10:43 pm DeviantArt's dogzillalives is makes jewelry and housewares studded with eyeballs, tentacles, yellowing fangs, stitched faux-skin, and more. She's got an Etsy Store, too! Stitched eyes cuff side (via Neatorama)
Read in browser U of Chicago Press launches DRM-free ebook line
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 01, 2013 10:22 pm Levi sez, "Chicago Shorts -- distinguished selections, including never-before-published material, off-the-radar reads culled from the University of Chicago Press's commanding archive, and the best of our newest books, all priced for impulse buying and presented exclusively in DRM-free e-book format. The first batch includes an unfinished Norman Maclean manuscript, Shakespearean legal criticism, works by Carl ...
Read in browser Durex launches condoms-on-demand iOS app in Dubai
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 01, 2013 09:49 pm Durex launched an emergency condom delivery service
application for Apple devices, offering service only in Dubai.
Read in browser Now is a good time to re-set your Twitter password and disable Java in your browser
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 01, 2013 09:24 pm Beneath what may be the most passive-aggressive hack disclosure blog post title ever, Twitter today disclosed that it, too, has been compromised by hackers. At least 250,000 user accounts were affected. "This attack was not the work of amateurs, and we do not believe it was an isolated incident," said Twitter's director of information security ...
Read in browser Bank of America services totally crap out; hack not suspected
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 01, 2013 09:19 pm We'restill working our technical issue & apologize for thisinconvenience. Our ATMs, credit & debit cards areworking. Stay tuned.— Bank of America (@BofA_Community) February 1, 2013 Some of Bank of America's 40 million customers "were unable to access their online banking accounts, mobile payment systems or the company's telephone call centers on Friday," reports the NYT. An internal breakdown, ...
Read in browser LA Sushi chef who served endangered whale could face maximum sentence of life in prison
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 01, 2013 08:57 pm Remember the LA sushi scandal involving a chef who served up endangered Sei whale meat at The Hump, a once-popular restaurant next to the Santa Monica Airport? It was a sting set up in 2009 by one of the activist-producers of the movie The Cove, and it worked. Three years later, the US Attorney's office ...
Read in browser HOWTO make an octopizza
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 01, 2013 08:56 pm Instructable user DoneDirtCheap posted this "Octopizza" recipe for the site's fast-food contest. We eat a lot of pizza. Usually that means we take a blank canvas of soft dough and apply our favorite colors -basil, tomato, cheese, meats, veggies- then cut it into triangl-y pieces and eat the pointy ends first. But what if, this ...
Read in browser Gentleman in LA police chase ends standoff by huffing nitrous
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 01, 2013 08:37 pm 22-year-old suspect refused to get out of the vehicle, instead inhaled nitrous oxide from balloons.
Read in browser Locus List: best sf/f/h of 2012
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 01, 2013 07:54 pm Locus magazine has just released its 2012 Recommended Reading List of science fiction/fantasy/horror, which is always a great reading guide (and a fabulous resource for those of us nominating for the Hugo awards. I'm delighted to see my novel Pirate Cinema and Rapture of the Nerds (written with Charlie Stross) on the best novel list! ...
Read in browser Comics Rack: Boing Boing's comic books picks for January 2013
By Brian Heater on Feb 01, 2013 06:57 pm Start your new year with new comics! Or slightly old comics that you may have missed toward the end of 2012. It was a busy time, after all, no one expected you to head to the comics store every Wednesday like clockwork. But don't worry, we've got a diverse array this time out, including jokey ...
Read in browser Disney's "Paperman," a romantic short film
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 01, 2013 06:50 pm Disney's posted the short feature "Paperman" to YouTube. It's an utterly charming and stylishly drawn animated film about love at first sight.
Read in browser If you don't read Brain Rot...
By Jason Weisberger on Feb 01, 2013 06:07 pm On Facebook, earlier this week, Ed said he's soon to tell the story of Tracey Lynn Curry, The D.O.C. He's one of my favorite artists and I can not wait.
Read in browser First Night Out
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 01, 2013 06:04 pm Avery Edison, who is transgender, writes about what it feels like to live with a constant threat of violence because of your gender identity. "If you're trying to feel less like a man, you can do worse than getting assaulted by a child."
Read in browser Ai Weiwei: "Wonderful dissident, terrible artist"
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 01, 2013 05:51 pm In The New Republic, Jed Perl writes about Ai Weiwei: the man, the activist, the artist. "The trouble with most critiques of political art is that they pay too much attention to the politics. This is not to say that an artist's politics do not matter; not at all. But the great challenge today, at ...
Read in browser Joy is round: children make beloved soccer balls from trash
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 01, 2013 05:11 pm Carlos Ribeiro stands on a ball he made from rubbish in Inharrime, Mozambique, where boys learn to make balls at age five. Anna says: "The February issue of National Geographic magazine features a unique look at the ingenuity of African youth and their makeshift soccer equipment: on fields throughout Africa, plastic bags, old clothes, and ...
Read in browser Creating a pyramid scheme for fun and education
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 01, 2013 04:53 pm John Young says: "Here is a picture of a toy pyramid scheme I did for one day with my friends. People who made money are in green, people who lost money are in red. I think it's a stark picture of what MLM really looks like!" Read the entire post at Boing Boing's wonderful G+ ...
Read in browser Warren Ellis reviews Bruce Sterling's "Love is Strange," a paranormal romance
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 01, 2013 04:49 pm Last month, I blogged the new Bruce Sterling book, Love is Strange, an ebook-only paranormal romance. I haven't had a chance to read it yet (it's in my queue), but Warren Ellis has, and he's written up a review that makes me want to read it RIGHT NOW: Bruce likes breaking things in his fiction. ...
Read in browser Kama Sutra cookie-cutters
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 01, 2013 03:58 pm Sweden's Pipparkakan sells porny "kama sutra" cookie cutters, which would probably come in handy for V-day. They're 250 Swedish Krona (USD40) per set. Only Lust Limits the Imagination (via IZ Reloaded)
Read in browser 2-In-1 iPotty with Activity Seat for iPad
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 01, 2013 03:57 pm After 4.6 billion years of evolution, DNA's mission is complete. There is nothing left to do but sit around and wait for the heat death of the universe. 2-In-1 iPotty with Activity Seat for iPad (Via This isn't Happiness)
Read in browser The bug killing tool preferred by mosquito researchers
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Feb 01, 2013 03:54 pm Meet The Executioner. Earlier today, I got a tour of the mosquito breeding facility at North Carolina State University. Basically, it's a small room — about the size of my bathroom at home — where scientists breed and grow the mosquitoes they use in scientific research. The downside: Mosquito enclosures are somewhat less than foolproof. ...
Read in browser Seven iPhone games to keep you occupied during a long flight
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 01, 2013 03:50 pm Megan Reardon of Not Martha wrote about seven iPhone games that she loves. I'm familiar with just one (Where's My Water?) so I'm looking forward to trying these out! Megan's recommendations for iPhones games to play on long flights
Read in browser How to tell whether a mosquito is male or female (without getting bitten)
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Feb 01, 2013 03:33 pm The mosquito on the left is a male Aedes aegypti mosquito. The mosquito on the right is his female counterpart. Viva la difference — and the difference is in the antennae. Mosquito antennae are lined with fine hairs called antennal flagellum, and the density of the flagellum differs from one sex to another. Males have ...
Read in browser Odd and inappropriate Valentine's cards of yesteryear
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 01, 2013 02:57 pm Here's a small sampling of artist Mitch O'Connell's fabulous Valentine's card collection gallery. (These are real cards, not something Mitch made up.) Just in time to send to your Valentine sweetheart, a huge selection of the offbeat, odd, perplexing, inappropriate, outlandish, bizarre, sexist, eccentric and far-out funny cards, all collected in one place ...for YOU ...
Read in browser Aaron Swartz memorial in Washington, DC, Feb 4
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 01, 2013 02:45 pm A reader writes, "On Monday, February 4th, family and friends of Aaron Swartz will join members of Congress at the Cannon House Office Building to honor and celebrate the life, work, and legacy of Aaron Swartz, the accomplished activist and technologist who took his own life on January 11. Aaron's supporters will also discuss possible ...
Read in browser Why can't Americans look up their own case-law for free?
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 01, 2013 02:31 pm Here's a recent talk given by Princeton's Steve Schultze where he argued for the right of all Americans to access federal court records online at no charge.
Read in browser Lost Boys jacket
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 01, 2013 02:00 pm Alas, the mystical and gorgeously elaborated jacket worn by Alex Winter in his performance as Marko in The Lost Boys has been sold. No idea how much it cost, but it can't have been enough. Lost Boys, The (via Super Punch)
Read in browser The epic Venom banter mixtape, 1986
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 01, 2013 01:58 pm My friend Mikael Jorgensen of the band Wilco turned me on to a classic tape I'd never heard before:
The Venom Banter Tape (MP3).
From a 2005 WFMU blog post about this classic tape of "mentally-defying sounds of the between-song banter that tumbled from the mouth of Venom vocalist Cronos when his band played at City Gardens, (Trenton, NJ)."
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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