3D printed synthetic tissue folds itself into shapes TOM THE DANCING BUG: The Path to Tyranny - "First They Came to Register..." Museum inside a freight elevator Inside a potato chip factory HOWTO wrap a pigeon for aircraft drop Nuclear contaminated water leaking from storage tanks at Fukushima site Three important takeaways from the "ladies like big penises" study Read this before you read another story on epigenetics CEO of biometrics company believes biometrics are best way to "Document the 'undocumented'" The National Air And Space Museum Udvar-Hazy center is an awesome place Excellent vintage Japanese Toy: Early Warning System radar station, ca. 1950 There is a national competition for best-tasting tap water Secrets of the world's most successful tumbleweed farm Why do trains stay on the track as they go around a curve? Mali to replace French president's eaten camel McClatchy gets access to Top Secret intel reports on drones Just look at this soldier feeding bananas to an adorable little goat Brits send "Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead" into music charts after Thatcher's death A blog about "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" Mark's book and game recommendations on Bullseye with Jesse Thorn Rodents of Unusual Size - a documentary about 20-lb rats in Louisiana Why the majority of people now favor marriage equality Exclusive video for Bob Staake's new book, Bluebird Johnny Rotten Reviews "Katy Perry: Part Of Me" Tell Me Something I Don't Know 005: Jesse Schell 3D printed synthetic tissue folds itself into shapes
By David Pescovitz on Apr 10, 2013 12:46 pm University of Oxford chemists 3D printed "synthetic tissue" that can fold itself into various shapes.
Read in browser TOM THE DANCING BUG: The Path to Tyranny - "First They Came to Register..."
By Ruben Bolling on Apr 10, 2013 12:20 pm Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH one small step leads straight down the slippery slope to tyranny. "First they came to register..."
Read in browser Museum inside a freight elevator
By David Pescovitz on Apr 10, 2013 12:12 pm Hidden inside a nondescript freight elevator in a NYC TriBeCa alley lies Museum, a delightful cabinet-of-curiosities drawing from weird collections around the globe. Museum is now open for its second season and includes such items as: "Personal Ephemera from Al Goldstein, The Rocks and Tools from Tom Sach's Mars expedition, Objects Made For Prisoners or ...
Read in browser Inside a potato chip factory
By David Pescovitz on Apr 10, 2013 11:58 am I love potato chips, don't you? Here's how they're made.
Read in browser HOWTO wrap a pigeon for aircraft drop
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 10, 2013 10:17 am If you need to wrap a pigeon for aircraft-drop, this will help. From the surprisingly useful Pigeon Service Manual, Air Ministry, 1919 (featuring "Some meritorious performaces," "Writing the message," and more). Could prove useful
Read in browser Nuclear contaminated water leaking from storage tanks at Fukushima site
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 10, 2013 10:17 am Over the last couple of days, Japanese electrical company TEPCO has announced that they found leaks in three of the seven underground tanks used to store contaminated water at the site of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. They've also admitted that the tanks aren't reliable. And here's where we get to the fun part: Despite ...
Read in browser Three important takeaways from the "ladies like big penises" study
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 10, 2013 09:24 am First: When shown images like the one above and asked to choose which men they found more attractive, women cared significantly more about body shape than penis size. (Also, it's worth noting that the image above is meant to show you an average, actual human guy in the middle and the extremes of body shape ...
Read in browser Read this before you read another story on epigenetics
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 10, 2013 09:17 am At Download the Universe, i09 editor Annalee Newitz critiques a new e-book about epigenetics — the science of how environmental factors can influence genetic expression — and violence. The book makes some pretty terrible (and non-scientific) insinuations about the idea of an inherent propensity towards violence and Newitz does a good job of both taking ...
Read in browser CEO of biometrics company believes biometrics are best way to "Document the 'undocumented'"
By Xeni Jardin on Apr 10, 2013 08:56 am Surprise, surprise. The CEO of a biometrics firm argues that the DHS "will need to rely upon biometrics" to effectively screen "the undocumented" for criminal or terrorist leanings. (HT: _nomap)
Read in browser The National Air And Space Museum Udvar-Hazy center is an awesome place
By Xeni Jardin on Apr 10, 2013 08:53 am BB pal Bryan Jones, a scientist based in Utah, visited the Udvar-Hazy center in DC on a recent trip (which also included a cup of coffee with yours truly); he took some really great photos. If anyone asks you why Udvar-Hazy is worth visiting, point them to his blog post.
Read in browser Excellent vintage Japanese Toy: Early Warning System radar station, ca. 1950
By Xeni Jardin on Apr 10, 2013 08:48 am My brother Carl, who is the world's most discriminating eBay craphound, found this spectacular 1950s tin toy made in Japan. According to the description, "THE PYLON LIGHTS UP WHEN THE MORSE CODE BUTTON IS PRESSED WITH A SOUND."
Read in browser There is a national competition for best-tasting tap water
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 10, 2013 08:45 am Top contenders this year: Louisville and Fremont, Nebraska. Time to start filling out those brackets, water fans!
Read in browser Secrets of the world's most successful tumbleweed farm
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 10, 2013 08:30 am Tumbleweeds aren't a type of plant. It's more of a description — the thing that happens when the bushy above-ground parts of lots of different types of plants dry, die, and disconnect from the healthy root system below. It is then free to blow wherever the wind takes it. That's your basic free-range tumbleweed. At ...
Read in browser Why do trains stay on the track as they go around a curve?
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 10, 2013 08:18 am Let's sit down for some story time with everybody's favorite science uncle, Richard Feynman.
Read in browser Mali to replace French president's eaten camel
By Rob Beschizza on Apr 10, 2013 08:12 am "Francois Hollande had left the creature with a family in Timbuktu for safekeeping, after it was presented to him by local residents in February. But it was promptly slaughtered and used in a tagine."
Read in browser McClatchy gets access to Top Secret intel reports on drones
By Xeni Jardin on Apr 10, 2013 08:07 am Jonathan Landay, writing for McClatchy Newspapers: Contrary to assurances it has deployed U.S. drones only against known senior leaders of al Qaida and allied groups, the Obama administration has targeted and killed hundreds of suspected lower-level Afghan, Pakistani and unidentified "other" militants in scores of strikes in Pakistan's rugged tribal area, classified U.S. intelligence reports ...
Read in browser Just look at this soldier feeding bananas to an adorable little goat
By Xeni Jardin on Apr 10, 2013 07:58 am Just look at it.
Read in browser Brits send "Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead" into music charts after Thatcher's death
By Rob Beschizza on Apr 09, 2013 05:08 pm It could reach even No. #1, reports The Independent. In contrast to the rather unpleasant street parties, this strikes me as a more perfectly British detractors' send-off for the Iron Lady.
Read in browser A blog about "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'"
By Mark Frauenfelder on Apr 09, 2013 04:15 pm Look! A blog devoted solely to cover versions of "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'."
Read in browser Mark's book and game recommendations on Bullseye with Jesse Thorn
By Mark Frauenfelder on Apr 09, 2013 04:06 pm On the current episode of Bullseye with Jesse Thorn I recommended two "culture picks" -- This week's recommendations come from Boing Boing founder and Gweek host Mark Frauenfelder. His first suggestion is Bunk!, a game for iOS that makes good use of your vocabulary, your friends, and your ability to convincingly make stuff up. Looking ...
Read in browser Rodents of Unusual Size - a documentary about 20-lb rats in Louisiana
By Mark Frauenfelder on Apr 09, 2013 03:55 pm I am a huge fan of Chris Metzler's documentaries. He co-directed the unforgettable Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea and the amazing documentary about Fishbone, Everyday Sunshine. He's getting ready to make his next documentary, Rodents of Unusual Size, about 20-lb swamp rats. I can't wait! When we first heard about the nutria, we ...
Read in browser Why the majority of people now favor marriage equality
By Mark Frauenfelder on Apr 09, 2013 03:22 pm Lisa Wade of Sociological Images posted her comments on a recent Pew survey that explains why the "the majority of Americans are in favor of extending marriage to same-sex couples." People offered a range of reasons for why they changed their minds. The most common response involved coming into contact with someone that they learned ...
Read in browser Exclusive video for Bob Staake's new book, Bluebird
By Mark Frauenfelder on Apr 09, 2013 01:37 pm As I've said before, I've been a fan of Bob Staake's illustration ever since David and I stumbled across his ABC and 123 books at SF Moma in 1998. Bob's art is appealing in its simplicity, but it's also sophisticated and wry. No surprise that he has illustrated quite a few New Yorker covers. He ...
Read in browser Johnny Rotten Reviews "Katy Perry: Part Of Me"
By Mark Frauenfelder on Apr 09, 2013 01:36 pm Johnny Rotten is in an unusually jolly mood here. He thinks Katy Perry is an interesting person with an interesting story who sings dull songs. (Via World's Best Ever)
Read in browser Tell Me Something I Don't Know 005: Jesse Schell
By Mark Frauenfelder on Apr 09, 2013 01:20 pm This is episode 5 of Boing Boing's newest podcast, Tell Me Something I Don't Know. It's an interview podcast featuring artists, writers, filmmakers, and other creative people discussing their work, ideas, and the reality/business side of how they do what they do. Jesse Schell is the CEO of Schell Games - a video game and ...
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
No comments:
Post a Comment