How Chinese secret police talk about their jobs when they think the camera isn't rolling Glitched out blankets and tapestries Tanker-truck full of inedible pig blood Grotesque portraits from Christian Rex van Minnen Ethan Zuckerman on civic engagement English town council wants to abolish apostrophes in street-names to end "confusion" Loose Ends: "Hangin' on a String (Contemplating)" (1985) National Security Letters Unconstitutional, finds federal judge, who bans them Drew Friedman on The Caricature Art of Robert Grossman Best of Etsy Star Wars posters Look at this portrait of Sydney, Australia, in oranges and bananas Reuters suspends employee accused of aiding Anonymous US to beef up missile defense along West Coast, to defend against possible North Korea attack CIA drone secrecy rejected by federal appeals court Eco headline of the week: Disposable chopstick addiction destroying China's forests National Post wants to copyright article titles Cafe brazenly risks citation from department of sanitation 55 gallon barrel of personal lube now just $1,228.85 Anti-pot GOP Assemblyman accused of pot possession Remarkable face-painting from NZ's Daizy Design Internet security writer DDOS'd, visited by armed police SWAT team who'd been hoaxed Resurrecting The Thing: "How a BBS changed the art world and came back from the dead" Documentary filmmaker suing AP for ripping off footage of "prohibited" site Robot man vs. jackass on the street Uber driver in D.C. accused of rape Fun & Games: fast paced pulp thriller about an evil secret society of assassins in Los Angeles Global children with their favorite toys What Boing Boing readers are doing The Rise of Web Comics: a short PBS documentary Australian DJ & video remix artist Pogo banned from the US How Chinese secret police talk about their jobs when they think the camera isn't rolling
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 16, 2013 11:38 am This reminds me of nothing so much as the
DHS checkpoint officials who won't tell you if you're being detained, won't tell you if you're legally required to answer their questions about your citizenship, but also won't let you go.
Read in browser Glitched out blankets and tapestries
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 16, 2013 09:20 am Philip Sterns is an artist who commissions blankets and tapestries woven in the USA with glitch-art patterns he generates with broken digital cameras. They're for sale! $200+ Tapestries Blankets (via Kottke)
Read in browser Tanker-truck full of inedible pig blood
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 15, 2013 10:44 pm Welp, there's something you don't see every day. Unless you work at an abattoir. "I'm Goin' to Prom!"
Read in browser Grotesque portraits from Christian Rex van Minnen
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 15, 2013 08:43 pm Christian Rex van Minnen's grotesque portraits are spectacular. IO9's Lauren Davis called them "portraits of aristocrats from another dimension." I love the crammed-together, rammed-together higgeldy piggeldy of insectoid body parts, high fashion, and toons. He's got a show on at Denver's Robischon Gallery. 2012-2011 - Christian Rex van Minnen (via IO9)
Read in browser Ethan Zuckerman on civic engagement
By Elisabeth Soep on Mar 15, 2013 07:08 pm It's easy to find alarming evidence that we've lost our way when it comes to civics in the US. But longtime global activist and MIT prof Ethan Zuckerman says there's a lot to get excited about too, if we're willing to think in new ways about what it even means to be civically engaged in ...
Read in browser English town council wants to abolish apostrophes in street-names to end "confusion"
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 15, 2013 06:24 pm The Conservative council in Mid-Devon, England has mooted a proposal to remove apostrophes from street signs, claiming they cause "potential confusion." I live on a street in East London with an on-again/off-again apostrophe whose presence depends on which database you're using. But given that all serious UK navigation and geocoding is done by postcode, this ...
Read in browser Loose Ends: "Hangin' on a String (Contemplating)" (1985)
By David Pescovitz on Mar 15, 2013 05:46 pm From Loose Ends' 1985 LP
A Little Spice, "Hangin' on a String (Contemplating)" was the first track by a British band to ever hit #1 on the US Billboard R&B Chart.
Read in browser National Security Letters Unconstitutional, finds federal judge, who bans them
By Xeni Jardin on Mar 15, 2013 04:35 pm "Ultra-secret national security letters that come with a gag order on the recipient are an unconstitutional impingement on free speech, a federal judge ruled Friday." Kim Zetter at Wired News has more on the order from U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, who today ordered the government to stop issuing so-called NSLs. [Wired News]
Read in browser Drew Friedman on The Caricature Art of Robert Grossman
By Mark Frauenfelder on Mar 15, 2013 04:35 pm Artist Drew Friedman has assembled a nice gallery of airbrush illustrator extraordinaire Robert Grossman's work. I became familiar with Grossman's illustrations by reading National Lampoon (Thank goodness the Boulder Public Library subscribed to it so I could read it when I was 11 years old). Grossman also did work for Paul Krassner's The Realist, and ...
Read in browser Best of Etsy Star Wars posters
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 15, 2013 04:33 pm On Wonderland, Alice has had a deep trawl through the world of Etsy Star Wars posters and rounded up a collection of top choices, including the Space Cowboy by CONCEPCIONSTUDIOS (top) and Vintage Pop Art set from Posterinspired (right). Beautiful Etsy Star Wars posters
Read in browser Look at this portrait of Sydney, Australia, in oranges and bananas
By Xeni Jardin on Mar 15, 2013 04:32 pm Just look at it. By Domenic Bahmann. Shared in the BB Flickr Pool.
Read in browser Reuters suspends employee accused of aiding Anonymous
By Xeni Jardin on Mar 15, 2013 04:31 pm Earlier this week, 26 year old Reuters deputy social media editor Matthew Keys was indicted on charges he handed Tribune Co. network passwords to Anonymous, which were then used to deface the LA Times website for about 30 minutes. The alleged offense took place in 2010, before Keys was hired at Reuters. The DoJ press ...
Read in browser US to beef up missile defense along West Coast, to defend against possible North Korea attack
By Xeni Jardin on Mar 15, 2013 04:25 pm Uh-oh. The NYT reports that the United States "will deploy additional ballistic missile interceptors along the Pacific Coast to increase the Pentagon's ability to blunt a potential attack from North Korea in a clear response to recent tests of nuclear weapons technology and long-range missiles by the North." Guess the Dennis Rodman basketball diplomacy thing ...
Read in browser CIA drone secrecy rejected by federal appeals court
By Xeni Jardin on Mar 15, 2013 04:20 pm A federal appeals court today ruled the CIA cannot continue to "neither confirm nor deny" the existence of the drone war, in a court case prompted by a Freedom of Information Act request by the ACLU. Here's the ruling. [Antiwar via Glenn Greenwald]
Read in browser Eco headline of the week: Disposable chopstick addiction destroying China's forests
By Xeni Jardin on Mar 15, 2013 04:17 pm From the Washington Post: "China uses 20 million trees each year to feed the country's disposable chopstick habit... 4,000 chopsticks per tree, that's roughly 80 billion chopsticks per year." All those chopsticks have led to "rampant deforestation and forest quality far below the global average," and Greenpeace estimates the destruction rate at 1.18 million square ...
Read in browser National Post wants to copyright article titles
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 15, 2013 03:47 pm Canada's National Post is trying to convince a court that article titles should be copyrightable, overturning centuries of law and practice. Well, that's dumb. (Thanks, Chris!)
Read in browser Cafe brazenly risks citation from department of sanitation
By Mark Frauenfelder on Mar 15, 2013 03:45 pm (Via Arbroath)
Read in browser 55 gallon barrel of personal lube now just $1,228.85
By Rob Beschizza on Mar 15, 2013 03:39 pm The legendary 55-gallon barrel of water-based love lube is now half-off at Amazon. I wasn't quite sure what to say about this slippery deal, myself, but reviewers there dove right in. Carla was completely drenched, and her momentum slid her to the front door - which she somehow managed to pry open with a pair ...
Read in browser Anti-pot GOP Assemblyman accused of pot possession
By Xeni Jardin on Mar 15, 2013 03:31 pm NY state Republican Assemblyman Steve Katz has been charged with marijuana possession after a Thursday morning traffic stop. "Katz currently sits on the Assembly's Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Committee as well as its Higher Education committee; last year, he voted against a bill that would have legalized medical marijuana." [Times Union, via Steve Silberman]
Read in browser Remarkable face-painting from NZ's Daizy Design
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 15, 2013 03:29 pm Wellington, NZ's Daizy Design is a face-painting studio that does astounding work, as the images here can attest. They also paint pregnant bellies, do custom work for photo shoots, and so on. The rates look pretty reasonable, considering the standard of work on display. Gallery - Daizy Design (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Read in browser Internet security writer DDOS'd, visited by armed police SWAT team who'd been hoaxed
By Xeni Jardin on Mar 15, 2013 03:26 pm Holy moly, Brian Krebs: It's not often that one has the opportunity to be the target of a cyber and kinetic attack at the same time. But that is exactly what's happened to me and my Web site over the past 24 hours. On Thursday afternoon, my site was the target of a fairly massive ...
Read in browser Resurrecting The Thing: "How a BBS changed the art world and came back from the dead"
By Xeni Jardin on Mar 15, 2013 03:10 pm Joshua Kopstein has a wonderful feature over at The Verge today about how archivists revived a bulletin board that was a central networking hub in NYC's art scene during the 1990s.
Read in browser Documentary filmmaker suing AP for ripping off footage of "prohibited" site
By Xeni Jardin on Mar 15, 2013 02:59 pm Makers of the film Hart Island: An American Cemetery, about a small potter's field island in New York City where prison laborers bury the region's unclaimed mass dead in mass graves, are suing The Associated Press. The filmmakers say AP stole footage from their film, which follows "four individuals and their six-year struggle to navigate city ...
Read in browser Robot man vs. jackass on the street
By David Pescovitz on Mar 15, 2013 02:57 pm Watch what happens when a jackass harasses a robot man street performer.
Read in browser Uber driver in D.C. accused of rape
By Xeni Jardin on Mar 15, 2013 02:56 pm A limo driver who worked under contract for Uber has been accused of raping a 20-year-old customer. [Washington Post]
Read in browser Fun & Games: fast paced pulp thriller about an evil secret society of assassins in Los Angeles
By Mark Frauenfelder on Mar 15, 2013 02:44 pm On Monday I flew from Los Angeles to the Bay Area. Before leaving, I went to the family room to select a book from the growing mountain of review copies I keep there. The previous book I pulled out, Jenga style, from the heap was A Single Shot, by Matthew F. Jones. It was a ...
Read in browser Global children with their favorite toys
By David Pescovitz on Mar 15, 2013 02:27 pm Gabriele Galimberti photographed children around the world posed with their favorite toys and possessions. At top, Pavel (Kiev, Ucraina). Above, Maudy (Kalulushi, Zambia) and Noel (Dallas, Texas). "Toy Stories"
Read in browser What Boing Boing readers are doing
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 15, 2013 02:09 pm Inspired by John Scalzi's open promo thread, herewith is a place for you to plug your own personal projects, products, and proclivities. Be sure and upvote your faves and I'll come back to this over the weekend when I get a sec and promote the best stuff to the front door.
Read in browser The Rise of Web Comics: a short PBS documentary
By Mark Frauenfelder on Mar 15, 2013 01:50 pm It was fun to see the faces behind some of my favorite web comics in this brief PBS documentary. The internet has given birth to yet another new medium: web comics. Moving beyond the restrictions of print, web comic artists interact directly with audiences who share their own unique worldview, and create stories that are ...
Read in browser Australian DJ & video remix artist Pogo banned from the US
By Mark Frauenfelder on Mar 15, 2013 01:25 pm EDW Lynch from Laughing Squid reports: "While on an American tour last year, Australian DJ and video remix artist Nick Bertke (Pogo) ran afoul of US visa rules and was jailed and deported from the country. He is now subject to a 10 year ban from the United States. His fans are now petitioning the ...
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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