Publishers maximize content marketing awareness metrics at executive roundtable Eisenhower's would-be country club fallout shelter Anti-capitalist London graffiti mysteriously removed, offered for sale in Miami for $500,000 Spider rain wasn't so strange Crows have fun on snow-covered car Insanely frenetic music composed for player piano Google Glass demo video WSJ on Homeland North Korea uses western video game music in propaganda Constellation Games: debut sf novel floored me with its brilliance TOM THE DANCING BUG: ...And Who Shall Save God-Man? Friends Of Hamas Soccer match-rigging, straight out of a Gibson novel Cory in New Orleans today! What it feels like to submit a manuscript Best. Harlem. Shake. Ever. Kepler Aria: Belgrade punks rocking out with lyrics by Bruce Sterling Vehicular tetris plan foiled by German policeman with tragic lack of imagination The patents that'll make 3D printing suck I Can't Let You Do That, Dave: when we design computers to boss us around Yeti: excellent sub-$100 microphone Watch the latest Boing Boing-curated videos in our video archive Tickle Me Elmo frozen in carbonite NYT public editor weighs in on Tesla/Musk drama, throws Broder under electric car Aaron Swartz's FBI File Drug OD fatalities up for 11th consecutive year; not one was due to marijuana Illustrated guide to insanity, 1883 Canadian court: you have the right to google a lawyer Seven tips from Ernest Hemingway on how to write fiction Sunset, Santa Monica Pier Publishers maximize content marketing awareness metrics at executive roundtable
By Rob Beschizza on Feb 20, 2013 12:58 pm "Blank smart phone isolated on white", courtesy of Shutterstock. At Poynter, Carlie Kollath Wells reports on top newspaper publishers' ability to remain profitable thanks to paywalls--and their plans to stay that way with subscription hikes and marketing. The Dallas Morning News in May 2009 raised prices 40 percent. "We lost about 12 percent of our ...
Read in browser Eisenhower's would-be country club fallout shelter
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 20, 2013 12:56 pm Bill Geerhart says: "This is a bizarre little chapter from Eisenhower’s post-presidency that I have documented. It concerns him being asked to participate in a community fallout shelter at his elite winter home at a country club. It also features an unlikely cameo from the white guy who did the black voice of Amos on ...
Read in browser Anti-capitalist London graffiti mysteriously removed, offered for sale in Miami for $500,000
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 20, 2013 12:19 pm During the Jubilee, someone -- probably Banksy -- posted a graffiti mural on the side of a Poundland discount shop depicting a child working in a sweatshop sewing bunting with the Union flag on it. The mural attracted great attention in Wood Green, the district of London where it appeared, and local councillors took steps ...
Read in browser Spider rain wasn't so strange
By David Pescovitz on Feb 20, 2013 12:18 pm Smithsonian looked at the recent startling video of a "spider rain" west of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Thousands of spiders can be seen moving up and down their Webs hanging from telephone wires and floating through the air. According to biologist Marta Fischer of the Pontifical Catholic University of Parana, however, the phenomenon is not so ...
Read in browser Crows have fun on snow-covered car
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 20, 2013 12:14 pm I watched this full-screen and loved it -- the shades of gray, the falling snow, the playful crows. Thank you to the person who captured this on video! (Via Arbroath)
Read in browser Insanely frenetic music composed for player piano
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 20, 2013 12:05 pm Greg Ross of Futility Closet wrote about composer Conlon Nancarrow, who wrote piano music unplayable by humans. Born in Texarkana in 1912, Conlon Nancarrow had no access to technology that could realize the music in his head. He studied music briefly and played trumpet in venues ranging from beer halls to cruise ships, but he ...
Read in browser Google Glass demo video
By David Pescovitz on Feb 20, 2013 12:01 pm This promotional video apparently demonstrates the Google Glass experience.
Read in browser WSJ on Homeland
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 20, 2013 11:33 am Here's a nice surprise: a glowing review of my new novel Homeland in the WSJ.
Read in browser North Korea uses western video game music in propaganda
By Rob Beschizza on Feb 20, 2013 11:15 am The Democratic People's Republic of Korea used Jeremy Soule's theme tune from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in a fiery propaganda video. [Kotaku] Previously: Modern Warfare 3 clips used in NK propaganda.
Read in browser Constellation Games: debut sf novel floored me with its brilliance
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 20, 2013 11:12 am I've known that Leonard Richardson was a good writer for half a decade, since he was my student at Viable Paradise. I liked his novella Pink Noise, which was brimming over with cool ideas and interesting stuff -- but, truth be told, it was ultimately a little dense/cerebral, a little dry. More promising than delivering ...
Read in browser TOM THE DANCING BUG: ...And Who Shall Save God-Man?
By Ruben Bolling on Feb 20, 2013 11:09 am Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH the omnipotent superhero God-Man is at the mercy of the Paradoxer. Who can save him??!!
Read in browser Friends Of Hamas
By Rob Beschizza on Feb 20, 2013 10:33 am Republicans complained about Chuck Hagel, Obama's pick for Defense Secretary, and challenged him to explain the money he was once paid by an organization named Friends of Hamas. But there's a problem: "Friends of Hamas" doesn't really exist. It turns out to a joke privately uttered by Dan Friedman, leaked to and laundered as weasel-worded ...
Read in browser Soccer match-rigging, straight out of a Gibson novel
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 20, 2013 10:00 am Here's a brutal, must-read article from Brian Phillips detailing the bizarre, globalized game of soccer-match-rigging, which launders its influence, money and bets through countries all over the world, in what sounds like an intense, sport-themed LARP of a William Gibson Sprawl novel: Right now, Dan Tan's programmers are busy reverse-engineering the safeguards of online betting ...
Read in browser Cory in New Orleans today!
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 20, 2013 09:11 am Hey, New Orleans! At this very moment, I'm flying your way for an event tonight at Octavia Books at 6PM. Tomorrow, I'll be in Houston, and then to Austin for a bookstore event and a benefit for EFF-Austin. I'm not done, either: there's plenty more cities left! Come on down and say hi!
Read in browser What it feels like to submit a manuscript
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 19, 2013 11:43 pm Steven Brust nails what it feels like after you send a book in to your editor: It has now been over an hour since I sent my [email/query/story submission/250 thousand word novel] and I have heard nothing. Nothing. I now understand Lee's frustration at Gettysburg when Stuart didn't show up. Has there been a fire? ...
Read in browser Best. Harlem. Shake. Ever.
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 19, 2013 11:03 pm Doctorow's law: "Every meme advances until it destroys white goods."
Read in browser Kepler Aria: Belgrade punks rocking out with lyrics by Bruce Sterling
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 19, 2013 10:21 pm Here's Boing Boing pal Jasmina Tesanovic performing "Kepler Aria," with lyrics by Bruce Sterling.
Read in browser Vehicular tetris plan foiled by German policeman with tragic lack of imagination
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 19, 2013 09:00 pm This tetris of vehicles was constructed by a Polish truck driver, who conceived of it as a clever means of transporting several trucks and a car in one go. His plan was foiled by a spoilsport German cop, who made him destack it. I say that if there was a problem with this construction, it ...
Read in browser The patents that'll make 3D printing suck
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 19, 2013 08:59 pm Wired's got a roundup of evil patents that are going to make 3D printing expensive and barren of innovation for years to come. There's even a business-model patent in there. Ick. (On the plus side, there are a couple that are close to expiring)
Read in browser I Can't Let You Do That, Dave: when we design computers to boss us around
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 19, 2013 08:11 pm My latest Publishers Weekly column, "I Can't Let You Do That, Dave," is a look at the dangers of redesigning our computers to boss us around instead of doing what they're told and trying to help us: Contrary to what's been written in some quarters, Aaron Swartz didn't attempt to download those journal articles because ...
Read in browser Yeti: excellent sub-$100 microphone
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 19, 2013 08:01 pm A podcast with poor acoustics is exhausting to listen to. As a podcast listener, I’ve dropped several otherwise excellent podcasts because they sound like recordings made with two tin cans and a string. As a podcast producer, I strive to produce shows with good sound quality. Many things affect sound quality: room acoustics, audio editing ...
Read in browser Watch the latest Boing Boing-curated videos in our video archive
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 19, 2013 07:57 pm We've gathered fresh video for you to surf and enjoy on the Boing Boing video page. The latest finds for your viewing pleasure include: • Tickle Me Elmo frozen in carbonite. • Video romp through several years of spinning things in the name of science. • "Most expensive" Starbucks order ever: 48-shot Frapuccino, ALL the ...
Read in browser Tickle Me Elmo frozen in carbonite
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 19, 2013 07:31 pm Todd Blatt and the fun-loving weirdos at the Baltimore Node hackerspace froze a Tickle-Me-Elmo in carbonite because of (
awesome) reasons.
Read in browser NYT public editor weighs in on Tesla/Musk drama, throws Broder under electric car
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 19, 2013 07:17 pm New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan on the controversy over John M. Broder's NYT review of the Tesla S, which upset Elon Musk and many fans of his electric vehicles: "I do not believe Mr. Broder hoped the drive would end badly. I am convinced that he took on the test drive in good ...
Read in browser Aaron Swartz's FBI File
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 19, 2013 06:54 pm Aaron Swartz spent many years trying to get the FBI to cough up its file on him. Now that Aaron is dead, that file is automatically declassified, so FireDogLake's DSWright decided to request it, and has posted it, with a summary: Exceptions aside, the records reveal that the FBI investigated Swartz for his role in ...
Read in browser Drug OD fatalities up for 11th consecutive year; not one was due to marijuana
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 19, 2013 06:26 pm Federal data to be released this week through the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that drug overdose deaths rose for the 11th year in a row. Most were accidents involving prescription painkillers: specifically, opioids like OxyContin and Vicodin which are commonly prescribed for pain management, and are widely abused. Those two drugs contributed ...
Read in browser Illustrated guide to insanity, 1883
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 19, 2013 05:54 pm "Types of insanity, an illustrated guide in the physical diagnosis of mental disease" from 1883 is not just a frightening look at the inhumane treatment of people with mental health problems in the 19th century, it's also full of sensitive charcoal portraits of inmates in various asylums, along with their tragic personal histories: "X______ has ...
Read in browser Canadian court: you have the right to google a lawyer
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 19, 2013 05:17 pm Michael Geist sez, "Hollywood crime dramas are infamous for the scene when an accused is taken to a local police station and permitted a single phone call to contact a relative or lawyer. While the storyline is myth - there is no limit on the number of phone calls available to an accused or detainee ...
Read in browser Seven tips from Ernest Hemingway on how to write fiction
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 19, 2013 04:47 pm Open Culture has compiled seven pieces of fiction writing advice from Ernest Hemingway. They all look pretty good, but the pencil one is especially near to my heart. 6: Use a pencil. Hemingway often used a typewriter when composing letters or magazine pieces, but for serious work he preferred a pencil. In the Esquire article ...
Read in browser Sunset, Santa Monica Pier
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 19, 2013 04:20 pm From the Boing Boing Flickr pool, a lovely photo of one of my favorite places in greater Los Angeles by Shabdro Photo, a Boing Boing reader and photographer.
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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