Algorithmically constructed news Paleo author reviews anti-paleo book Ugo Serrano: armorer TOM THE DANCING BUG: The Education of Louis - Spectator Sport More dazzling design/art from We Buy Your Kids River of Stars, excerpt and passage introduction by Guy Gavriel Kay Bioshock board-game minis are pretty badass HOWTO turn your shell-prompt into a hamburger Iain Banks: I'm dying of cancer, this book will be my last Lecture on stone-wall building, with miniature stone wall built Deus Ex Arca: apocalyptic, absurdist science fiction about a box that does anything and everything Podcast to mark centennial of Marc Davis, co-creator of Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean Autonomous sensory meridian response - self-diagnosed neurological condition/superpower that makes you really enjoy whispering Curiosity rover dresses Queen goes on austerity footing, receive mere £5M pay-rise from the taxpayers Toronto Public Library's Fahrenheit 451-themed alternate reality game Notorious porno copyright trolls Prenda Law have a very bad day in court Judge Death costume Chef 5 Minute Meals: Self-cooking meal-in-a-box Charles Bradley - "Strictly Reserved for You" (free MP3) "Batteries, Sold Separately" by Randy Regier Free US court records service RECAP gets two major features, in Aaron Swartz's memory Obama and DARPA want to map the human brain like we've mapped the human genome Thursday: Pesco hosting art/tech panel at San Francisco's Contemporary Jewish Museum Citizen science project: Tracking cicadas on the East Coast Oceans could yield new sources of rare earth elements Evolution can happen faster than you think Marijuanamerica: One mans' quest to understand America's dysfunctional love affair with weed Investigating the Gulf Coast dolphin murders World's largest tunnel boring machine lands in Seattle Algorithmically constructed news
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 03, 2013 01:00 pm In Wired, Steven Levy has a long profile of the fascinating field of algorithmic news-story generation. Levy focuses on Narrative Science, and its competitor Automated Insights, and discusses how the companies can turn "data rich" streams into credible news-stories whose style can be presented as anything from sarcastic blogger to dry market analyst. Narrative Science's ...
Read in browser Paleo author reviews anti-paleo book
By Mark Frauenfelder on Apr 03, 2013 12:55 pm The new book, Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live, is billed as an "exposé of pseudoscientific myths about our evolutionary past and how we should live today." It was written by Marlene Zuk, a professor of ecology, evolution, and behavior at the University of Minnesota. Many people who ...
Read in browser Ugo Serrano: armorer
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 03, 2013 12:07 pm Daniel sez, "Ugo Serrano is the greatest living armorer, really. A man who camps at the Pennsic war in a 15th Century Italian villa (hat he built/designed that also flat-packs for storage and transportation). The props he makes for the movie/television industry are a who's who of geekdom from Firefly to Riddick to the Haunted ...
Read in browser TOM THE DANCING BUG: The Education of Louis - Spectator Sport
By Ruben Bolling on Apr 03, 2013 12:05 pm Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH Louis wrestles with the concept of tribal surrogate ritualized warfare. And suffers through a baseball game.
Read in browser More dazzling design/art from We Buy Your Kids
By David Pescovitz on Apr 03, 2013 11:44 am From the Instagram feed of hyper-talented Australian design/illustration duo We Buy Your Kids (aka Sonny Day and Biddy Maroney): the cover art for a 2008 split 7" vinyl by Cloud Control and Telekinesis! and poster for a 2012 Eleanor Friedberger concert. webuyyourkids on Instagram Poltergeist soundtrack reissued on vinyl Classic SF/horror TV theme 7"s from ...
Read in browser River of Stars, excerpt and passage introduction by Guy Gavriel Kay
By Mark Frauenfelder on Apr 03, 2013 11:37 am Here's a passage from Guy Gavriel Kay's new novel River of Stars, along with Kay's introduction to the passage: As a rule, my reading passages come from early in the novels. It took me too many years and books to figure out why that makes sense. But ... I don't like doing long backfill explanations ...
Read in browser Bioshock board-game minis are pretty badass
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 03, 2013 11:17 am The forthcoming Bioshock board-game (!) has some pretty wicked-cool miniatures that look like they'd be fun to play with, separate of any virtue they have as tokens for their game. BioShock Infinite: The Siege of Columbia PRE-ORDER [Plaid Hat Games] A look at the miniatures from the Bioshock Infinite board game [Super Punch]
Read in browser HOWTO turn your shell-prompt into a hamburger
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 03, 2013 11:05 am Andre Torrez has a cute and simple recipe for making your shell prompt into a hamburger (or other whimsical emoji character). Just type export PS1="\w 🍔 " into the terminal to try it out. Apparently some Macs ship with an Emoji font installed; if you need one, you can get a free, excellent one from ...
Read in browser Iain Banks: I'm dying of cancer, this book will be my last
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 03, 2013 09:57 am Sad news: Iain M Banks, beloved author of brilliant science fiction novels and (to my taste), even better thrillers, has terminal gall bladder cancer that has spread to his liver, pancreas and lymph nodes, and is unlikely to live for more than a year (and he may live for less time). He posted the news ...
Read in browser Lecture on stone-wall building, with miniature stone wall built
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 03, 2013 02:29 am My library hosted Kevin Gardner, a New Hampshire native and builder/restorer of traditional New England stone walls.
Read in browser Deus Ex Arca: apocalyptic, absurdist science fiction about a box that does anything and everything
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 03, 2013 01:21 am Here's "Deus Ex Arca," a beautifully told, absurdist science fiction story about a terrible, wonderful box, by Desirina Boskovich. Desirina was one of my Clarion students about five years ago, and was extremely promising then. When I saw her name on a new story today, I was sure it would be beautiful, and wonderful, and ...
Read in browser Podcast to mark centennial of Marc Davis, co-creator of Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 03, 2013 12:06 am Jeff Baham from HauntedMansion.com sez, "March 30 marked the centennial of the birth of Marc Davis, one of Walt Disney's "Nine Old Men" who was responsible for both the creation of some of Disney's iconic characters (Tinker Bell, Maleficent) and iconic theme park attractions (Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion). The Mousetalgia podcast is ...
Read in browser Autonomous sensory meridian response - self-diagnosed neurological condition/superpower that makes you really enjoy whispering
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 02, 2013 10:34 pm In
Tribes, this week's
This American Life podcast, a woman with
"Autonomous sensory meridian response" describes her curious neurological condition.
Read in browser Curiosity rover dresses
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 02, 2013 09:56 pm Etsy seller Shenova (who also does some nice-looking, science-y leggings), makes these $135 Mars Curiosity rover dresses to order: This super special space chic fashion forward dress has a real NASA image from the Mars Curiosity Rover, also with a rover "track" print on the other side. It it made from custom printed non-fading, durable ...
Read in browser Queen goes on austerity footing, receive mere £5M pay-rise from the taxpayers
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 02, 2013 09:27 pm At only £36.1M from the public purse (up £5M from last year), the poor Queen is positively underpaid. After all, she was divinely chosen to be monarch. God will be angry.
Read in browser Toronto Public Library's Fahrenheit 451-themed alternate reality game
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 02, 2013 08:00 pm Jim Munroe sez, "We've just launched KTR 451, a game I developed for the Toronto Public Library. Drawing on the themes and characters in Fahrenheit 451 (the TPL's One Book this year), it's a simple alternate reality game -- part scavenger hunt, part audio drama -- and people in Toronto can play it by calling ...
Read in browser Notorious porno copyright trolls Prenda Law have a very bad day in court
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 02, 2013 07:46 pm Today marked the long-awaited courtroom showdown of notorious copyright porno trolls Prenda Law (previous posts) and United States District Judge Otis D. Wright II, the judge who figured out that Prenda was running something that looked a blackmail racket that involved systematic fraud against courts around the country. After stalling and fum-fuhing, Prenda's lawyers and ...
Read in browser Judge Death costume
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 02, 2013 06:05 pm Finland's Head Hunter is selling a set of accessories that you can use to turn yourself (or a mannequin) into a terrifyingly credible Judge Death from 2000AD's Judge Dredd. It appears that the costume was made by DeviantArt member Warrior1944, who may or may not be "Peter Olsson, a huge Dredd fan from Sweden," though ...
Read in browser Chef 5 Minute Meals: Self-cooking meal-in-a-box
By Cool Tools on Apr 02, 2013 05:20 pm I bought six of these two weeks ago just because the technology — a totally self-contained heating element that gives you a hot meal via steam heat in 10 minutes or less no matter where you are —- seemed so amazing. Guess what? I’m sitting here eating one of these meals right now, with no ...
Read in browser Charles Bradley - "Strictly Reserved for You" (free MP3)
By Amy Seidenwurm on Apr 02, 2013 04:51 pm Sound it Out # 45: Charles Bradley - "Strictly Reserved for You" (MP3) Soul singer Charles Bradley has a lot of feelings, and it's not hard to see why: he's lived on the street, discovered his brother's murdered body, and spent most of his 64 years as a James Brown impersonator, all while dreaming of ...
Read in browser "Batteries, Sold Separately" by Randy Regier
By Mark Frauenfelder on Apr 02, 2013 03:21 pm Here's the latest piece of art by the great Randy Regier. "Batteries, Sold Separately" H 4.5" x W 3.5" x D 1.5" Inkjet print on paper, clear plastic. Multiple of 10. More work by Randy Regier
Read in browser Free US court records service RECAP gets two major features, in Aaron Swartz's memory
By Cory Doctorow on Apr 02, 2013 02:56 pm One of Aaron Swartz's more epic hacks was the liberation of $1.5M worth of caselaw from PACER, the US government's proprietary court-records database, pushing them into RECAP, the free/open alternative that gives everyone access to American law. The Think Computer Foundation produced a set of grants in Aaron's memory to accomplish a pair of long-sought ...
Read in browser Obama and DARPA want to map the human brain like we've mapped the human genome
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 02, 2013 02:51 pm Here are a couple different perspectives on the big news out of Washington this afternoon — an ambitious Obama Administration proposal to appropriate $100 million to begin a project to "map the brain". What's that mean? We have a lot of good data on single neurons. We have a lot of good data on what ...
Read in browser Thursday: Pesco hosting art/tech panel at San Francisco's Contemporary Jewish Museum
By David Pescovitz on Apr 02, 2013 02:42 pm On Thursday evening (4/4) at San Francisco's Contemporary Jewish Museum, I'm moderating a panel titled "A State of Technology" at about art, technology, culture, and the Bay Area. Much more interesting than me though are the fascinating folks on the panel who are likely familiar to you if you are a regular Boing Boing reader! ...
Read in browser Citizen science project: Tracking cicadas on the East Coast
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 02, 2013 02:30 pm You can build your own cicada detector and help Radiolab track the movements of a once-every-17-year cicada swarm expected to invade the US East Coast this summer.
Read in browser Oceans could yield new sources of rare earth elements
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 02, 2013 02:27 pm Rare earth elements aren't actually rare, but right now the vast majority of them (97%) come from a single place — China. Given how important these elements are to the making of everything from computers to cars, that gives China quite the monopoly. With that context, here's the news: Japan just found a big supply ...
Read in browser Evolution can happen faster than you think
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 02, 2013 02:19 pm I'm contributing to Voice, a new group column on environmental science at Ensia. My first piece is about those swallows in Nebraska that seem to have adapted to highway traffic and what they can teach us about the speed of evolution and the way invasive species adapt to new homelands.
Read in browser Marijuanamerica: One mans' quest to understand America's dysfunctional love affair with weed
By Mark Frauenfelder on Apr 02, 2013 02:10 pm Alfred Ryan Nerz is a journalist and public broadcasting producer. He smokes weed, sometimes several times a day, for weeks at a stretch. He praises it for allowing him to unwind and feel good, but he also wonders if his dependence on cannabis is bad for him, both mentally and physically. Nerz knows he isn't ...
Read in browser Investigating the Gulf Coast dolphin murders
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 02, 2013 02:08 pm Along the Gulf Coast, people are killing (and sometime gruesomely mutilating) dolphins in record numbers. At National Geographic, Rena Silverman goes in-depth on the killings, which investigators now believe are the work of multiple people who are not connected to one another. Xeni wrote about it last year, when that was apparently less clear. Is ...
Read in browser World's largest tunnel boring machine lands in Seattle
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Apr 02, 2013 02:04 pm Known affectionately as Bertha, this tunnel boring machine has the widest diameter of any boring machine ever built; 57.5 feet. It's being used to dig a highway tunnel under downtown Seattle and it just arrived there today after being shipped from Japan. I feel this warrants your attention for two reasons: 1) If you live ...
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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