Zambia's fictional 1960s space programme Joseph Gordon-Levitt's videos of the paparazzi who shoot him It's Superb Owl Sunday School system seeks copyright ownership of students' work in Maryland Boy held hostage in Alabama bunker has Aspergers, ADHD Newly identified photo of delta blues icon Robert Johnson confirmed Strawberry that looks like a bear My Bloody Valentine release "MBV," first album in two decades, upload to YouTube: listen here. Possibly the greatest ad for books, ever What to tell a doomed space shuttle crew? Law and Little Brother Raspberry Pi, the $35 computer, in New York Times Zambia's fictional 1960s space programme
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 03, 2013 11:47 am Rick sez, "Spanish photographer Cristina De Middel's fictional documentation of a failed 1960s space programme in Zambia - The Afronauts - has just been nominated for the 2013 Deutsche Borse photography prize." De Middel was inspired by a piece of archive footage documenting the Zambia National Academy of Science, Space Research and Philosophy, Zambia's first ...
Read in browser Joseph Gordon-Levitt's videos of the paparazzi who shoot him
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 03, 2013 11:25 am Joseph Gordon-Levitt whipped out his video camera and confronted some paparazzi who were firing flashbulbs in his face. They were dicks about.
Read in browser It's Superb Owl Sunday
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 03, 2013 10:55 am Look at this superb owl photograph by Boing Boing reader Erik Veland, shared in the BB Flickr Pool. It's a barking owl, native to Australia. Do you have photos of a superb owl to share on Superb Owl Sunday 2013? Share them in the comments!
Read in browser School system seeks copyright ownership of students' work in Maryland
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 03, 2013 10:39 am It's as if they lifted the plot right out of a Cory Doctorow novel. In Maryland, the Prince George's County Board of Education is considering a proposal that would allow the school system to copyright ownership of all work created by students and teachers. The sweeping intellectual property grab could mean that anything from a ...
Read in browser Boy held hostage in Alabama bunker has Aspergers, ADHD
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 03, 2013 10:39 am The 5 year old boy who has been held hostage for 5 days by an Alabama man in an underground bunker has ADHD and Aspergers, his mom says. Law enforcement agents have been able to deliver medication, toys, and coloring books to the child through a ventilation pipe, with the consent of his abductor. (HT: ...
Read in browser Newly identified photo of delta blues icon Robert Johnson confirmed
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 03, 2013 10:29 am A rare photograph of delta blues king Robert Johnson has been authenticated after eight years. The famous subject's identity was confirmed by the same forensics expert who ID'd "the sailor kissing the nurse in the Life magazine photo of Times Square on VJ day the second world war ended." More about Johnson in this 2008 ...
Read in browser Strawberry that looks like a bear
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 03, 2013 08:36 am Behold: the StrawBEARy, a miraculous mutant fruit discovered by Redditor Taybow, and put into the Internets for the greater glory. Found a strawBEARy! (imgur.com) (via Neatorama)
Read in browser My Bloody Valentine release "MBV," first album in two decades, upload to YouTube: listen here.
By Xeni Jardin on Feb 02, 2013 11:44 pm The two decade wait is over for fans of
My Bloody Valentine: finally, a new album.
Read in browser Possibly the greatest ad for books, ever
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 02, 2013 06:23 pm I, Robot
Read in browser What to tell a doomed space shuttle crew?
By Jason Weisberger on Feb 02, 2013 05:51 pm Former NASA Flight Director, Wayne Hale, shared some unique insights and memories on the 10th anniversary of the national tragedy that was the loss of space shuttle Columbia. "'If it has been damaged, it's probably better not to know. I think the crew would rather not know. Don't you think it would be better for ...
Read in browser Law and Little Brother
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 02, 2013 02:45 pm I'm excited to see the folks at Law and the Multiverse (a blog that considers legal questions through the lens of comics, movies and fiction) having a look at the legal issues raised in Little Brother. It's very timely, what with the sequel, Homeland, coming out on Tuesday! A large portion of the book's plot ...
Read in browser Raspberry Pi, the $35 computer, in New York Times
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 02, 2013 01:03 pm The Raspberry Pi is a computer the size of a credit card. To use it, you need a keyboard and mouse, a monitor, and an SD card with Linux. The Raspberry Pi is powered by USB. The creator, Eben Upton at the University of Cambridge in Britain, is surprised at how popular the Pi has ...
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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