The bones of Richard III (or, possibly, someone else entirely) Cory in Seattle tomorrow, then PDX and SFO, for Homeland tour A detailed analysis of moves like Jagger's Medicine or moralism: A psychotherapist questions "sex addiction" Forget scarlet fever: What really blinded Mary Ingalls Vinyl Vault lights fuse on copyright time bomb—but is it armed? Gay marriage is homophobic, claims man who wrote that homosexuality is a perversion "Revenge porn" scammer boasts no-one will sue him Elfquest: the Bellyripper's breakfast Vast, hand-drawn maze took seven years to design Dumb tech CEO quotes Pizza robber's sob story was invented, say cops Why you don't just summon the giant eagles First unsigned artist at #1 since 1994—what does it all mean? Book picks from Mark, Jane (9), and Sarina (15) The bones of Richard III (or, possibly, someone else entirely)
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Feb 04, 2013 12:24 pm Before you get excited about the bones of Richard III being found under a parking lot, consider this — the announcement included no mention of how common the DNA sequences that ostensibly identified the body as Richard really are. Those sequences might match Richard's descendants, but if the sequences are also really common, well, that's ...
Read in browser Cory in Seattle tomorrow, then PDX and SFO, for Homeland tour
By Cory Doctorow on Feb 04, 2013 12:18 pm As this post goes live, I am on a plane from London to Seattle to kick off the tour for Homeland, the sequel to Little Brother. My first stop is tomorrow (Feb 5) night, at the Seattle Public Library, and then I head to Portland for Feb 6, where I'll be at Powell's in Beaverton. ...
Read in browser A detailed analysis of moves like Jagger's
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Feb 04, 2013 12:06 pm In which Finnish researchers valiantly attempt to quantify the sexiness of hip wiggling.
Read in browser Medicine or moralism: A psychotherapist questions "sex addiction"
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Feb 04, 2013 12:02 pm Can you actually be addicted to sex? Marty Klein doesn't think so. In an interesting article at The Humanist, he critiques the diagnostic criteria and common treatments behind this tabloid-ready psychological problem.
Read in browser Forget scarlet fever: What really blinded Mary Ingalls
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Feb 04, 2013 11:51 am Anybody who has spent much time with children's literature knows that scarlet fever blinded Mary Ingalls. But scarlet fever doesn't cause blindness. Mary really did become blind, though, in real life as well as in the books, so what was the real culprit? A paper published this week in the journal Pediatrics speculates that it ...
Read in browser Vinyl Vault lights fuse on copyright time bomb—but is it armed?
By Glenn Fleishman on Feb 04, 2013 11:32 am Amoeba Records' new out-of-print music service proves a deep knowledge of the industry it cherishes. But the much-loved music store's archive of obscure classics is also a potential time bomb, ticking away inside a bizarre legal tangle that few in the business are inclined to unravel.
Read in browser Gay marriage is homophobic, claims man who wrote that homosexuality is a perversion
By Rob Beschizza on Feb 04, 2013 11:23 am You've perhaps heard some queer folks suggest that gay marriage is a heteronormalizing institution with dangerous strings attached for queer sexuality and its social capital. Now we have that proposition's conservative counterpart! Here it comes, courtesy of British media philosopher Roger Scruton: gay marriage is homophobic! The pressure for gay marriage is therefore in a ...
Read in browser "Revenge porn" scammer boasts no-one will sue him
By Rob Beschizza on Feb 04, 2013 10:19 am CBS has a story on "revenge porn" sleaze Craig Brittain, whose website solicits private photos, then funnels the victims' takedown requests to a non-existent "lawyer" who advertises outrageous fees. The website was started about a year ago and is operated by Craig Brittain, a 28-year-old Colorado Springs resident. "I call it entertainment," said Brittain. "We ...
Read in browser Elfquest: the Bellyripper's breakfast
By Wendy and Richard Pini on Feb 04, 2013 09:00 am Enjoy
the latest page of Elfquest. First time reader? Catch up at the comic's
official homepage.
Read in browser Vast, hand-drawn maze took seven years to design
By Rob Beschizza on Feb 04, 2013 07:52 am @Kya7y's father spent seven years drawing an enormous, intricate maze on a sheet of A1 paper, of which this photo is but a tiny part. Flooby Nooby's Ron Doucet collects the revealed sections; there seems to be no single, high-quality image showing the labyrinth in its entirety. [Matome via Spoon-tamago]
Read in browser Dumb tech CEO quotes
By Rob Beschizza on Feb 04, 2013 07:37 am "There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance" — Steve Ballmer's 2007 spectacular earns him only ninth spot on Alex Bracetti's collection of the 25 craziest things that tech industry chiefs have told reporters. [Complex via Daring Fireball]
Read in browser Pizza robber's sob story was invented, say cops
By Rob Beschizza on Feb 04, 2013 07:29 am A pizza restaurant robber broke down in tears during his heist, then told a story so sad that his victims cooked him a pizza: the need to support his family had forced him into crime. But he lied, say cops: "the man suspected of the crime has no children in town, and he told the ...
Read in browser Why you don't just summon the giant eagles
By Rob Beschizza on Feb 04, 2013 07:21 am Ornithology [Oglaf]
Read in browser First unsigned artist at #1 since 1994—what does it all mean?
By Rob Beschizza on Feb 04, 2013 07:05 am Andy Baio looks at the implications of Macklemore's Thrift Shop, the first single from an unsigned artist to reach #1 since Lisa Loeb's 1994 hit, Stay (I Missed You). We're at the beginning of an indiepocalypse — a global shift in how culture is made, from a traditional publisher model to independently produced and distributed ...
Read in browser Book picks from Mark, Jane (9), and Sarina (15)
By Mark Frauenfelder on Feb 03, 2013 06:01 pm In this special Superb Owl Sunday Family Channel podcast my daughters Jane (9), Sarina (15), and I shared a pan of Jiffy Pop and talked about books. What we are reading now: Mark: Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin Sarina: The Postmortal, by Drew Magary Jane: Frederick Douglass: Young Defender of Human Rights, ...
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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