Photos of filthy Walmart stores Excellent DIY mailboxes In one month the SFMOMA closes for three years for renovation Stop motion movie made by moving individual atoms JOHN WILCOCK: A Job at the New York Times (1959) HOWTO play Tetris forever The cult of Shadow of the Colossus Topsy Turvy World: surreal kids' picture book Clever, vintage covers for Orwell reissues Kris Kross's Chris Kelly aka Mac Daddy, RIP Infographic: how money corrupts Congress, and what to do about it The Matrix, retold by Mom Guantanamo attorney found dead in apparent suicide Bloomberg publishes CEO-to-employee-pay chart Dig the latest videos in Boing Boing's video archives How Wirecutter's Brian Lam works Notable new Vladimir Putin meme surfaces PBS: The Movie, a PBS Meets The Avengers parody short High schooler blows stuff up for science — ends up charged with a felony Mozilla to FinSpy: stop disguising your "lawful interception" spyware as Firefox White Men Wearing Google Glass Inexpensive smooth writing pencil: Mirado Black Warrior Rumor: Koch Brothers to buy 8 major newspapers, including LA Times New Canadian $5 celebrates the space programme In the Leech Library: Behind the scenes at the American Museum of Natural History Disney floats the idea of Haunted Mansion-themed hotel rooms Looking at the link between red meat, eggs, and heart disease Photos of filthy Walmart stores
By Mark Frauenfelder on May 02, 2013 12:49 pm I once read that people who litter not only have little respect for the world around them, but that they also have little respect for themselves. I believe it. So is it any wonder that Walmart -- which is owned by a handful of the richest people on Earth yet shows little respect for employees, ...
Read in browser Excellent DIY mailboxes
By David Pescovitz on May 02, 2013 12:41 pm Excellent collection of DIY geeky and arty mailboxes. "22 unusual and creative mailboxes you don't see everyday" (via MAKE)
Read in browser In one month the SFMOMA closes for three years for renovation
By Dean Putney on May 02, 2013 12:16 pm If you're in the Bay Area and like modern art, now's the time. On June 2nd, the SFMOMA closes to begin a three year long renovation. There will be some exhibits at other museums through them, but the main building will be under construction.
Read in browser Stop motion movie made by moving individual atoms
By David Pescovitz on May 02, 2013 11:41 am IBM nanoscientists used a scanning tunneling microscope to push around carbon monoxide molecules to create this stop motion animation. The image has been magnified 100 million times. See below for a video about how the movie was made. "A Boy and His Atom"
Read in browser JOHN WILCOCK: A Job at the New York Times (1959)
By Ethan Persoff and Scott Marshall on May 02, 2013 11:21 am Chapter Four concludes with a job at the New York Times travel desk, a bit of music from the Monk Quartet, and a rotten act from Norman Mailer.
Read in browser HOWTO play Tetris forever
By Cory Doctorow on May 02, 2013 10:52 am Given a standard Tetris engine (which drops pieces in a pseudorandom order, has previews, and allows holding), this method will allow you to play Tetris forever. As always, the most fascinating thing about this is the specialized vocabulary used to describe the method: Worst case bag distributions such as H?XX?X? and H?XXX?? deserve a special ...
Read in browser The cult of Shadow of the Colossus
By Rob Beschizza on May 02, 2013 10:41 am Craig Owens writes about the quest to find a "last big secret" in the mysterious, epic game Shadow of the Colossus. Time and time again he'd load the game, steer Agro towards this postcard-perfect view, and then dismount from the steed. While Agro trotted away quietly, he would carefully walk up to one of the ...
Read in browser Topsy Turvy World: surreal kids' picture book
By Cory Doctorow on May 02, 2013 08:42 am TOPSY TURVY WORLD is one of the new titles from Flying Eye, the kids' imprint of London's wonderful NoBrow publishing. Like the rest of the line (recently reviewed titles include Welcome to Your Awesome Robot, Monsters and Legends and Akissi), Topsy Turvy World is brilliantly conceived, beautifully executed, and not quite like anything else in ...
Read in browser Clever, vintage covers for Orwell reissues
By Cory Doctorow on May 02, 2013 01:14 am Spotted these yesterday (though they've been around for a while - see Mark's post from January): Penguin's done a bunch of George Orwell paperback reissues with clever and vintagey covers. The Nineteen Eighty-Four has a black mask over the title that you can scratch off (or leave intact), while Animal Farm and Books v Cigarettes ...
Read in browser Kris Kross's Chris Kelly aka Mac Daddy, RIP
By David Pescovitz on May 02, 2013 12:15 am Chris "Mac Daddy" Kelly of Kris Kross has died. He was 34. Kris Kross's big hit, of course, was "Jump" from their 1992 album "All Krossed Out." And yes, they were the kids who wore their pants backwards. (Billboard)
Read in browser Infographic: how money corrupts Congress, and what to do about it
By Cory Doctorow on May 01, 2013 11:10 pm Money wins Elections is an excellent, scrolling infographic that illustrates how money corrupts the American legislative process, showing that time and again, Congress has voted the way that the big money told it to, against the prevailing popular opinion. It's all in support of the American Anti-corruption Act, and it was created by Tony Chu ...
Read in browser The Matrix, retold by Mom
By Xeni Jardin on May 01, 2013 10:52 pm Austin filmmaker Joe Nicolosi: "My mom hadn't seen (or heard of) the Wachowski's classic sci-fi film The Matrix. We watched the entire movie together and right after she told me what it was all about." (via Nikol Hasler)
Read in browser Guantanamo attorney found dead in apparent suicide
By Xeni Jardin on May 01, 2013 09:53 pm Detainees at Camp X-Ray sit in a holding area with Naval Base Guantanamo Bay military police during intake on Jan. 11, 2002. Camp X-Ray is now an abandoned area. US DoD photo. Jason Leopold at Truthout reports that an attorney who represented detainees at Guantanamo Bay, where a mass hunger strike is ongoing, was found ...
Read in browser Bloomberg publishes CEO-to-employee-pay chart
By Cory Doctorow on May 01, 2013 08:59 pm Alan sez, "Bloomberg got tired of waiting for the SEC to implement its own rule requiring disclosure of data on how many times the median salary the CEO makes for publicly traded companies so they did a little sleuthing of public data and a little averaging math and calculated the ratio for the top 250 ...
Read in browser Dig the latest videos in Boing Boing's video archives
By Xeni Jardin on May 01, 2013 08:47 pm Rob gave our Boing Boing video post archives a sweet makeover recently. Among the most recent video posts you will find on our all-new video page: • PBS: The Movie, a PBS Meets The Avengers parody short • How to barf in space • A whirling maglev banana • HOWTO make a HAL9000 • Video ...
Read in browser How Wirecutter's Brian Lam works
By Xeni Jardin on May 01, 2013 08:40 pm My friend Brian Lam, whom I recently visited in Hawaii, knows how to live—and work. He wrote a wonderful piece for Lifehacker that you must read. Snip: I recommend everyone either fix your job or quit it. The best thing I ever did was get out of news. There is an undeniable truth that when ...
Read in browser Notable new Vladimir Putin meme surfaces
By Xeni Jardin on May 01, 2013 08:27 pm Meet The Putins [9GAG].
Read in browser PBS: The Movie, a PBS Meets The Avengers parody short
By Xeni Jardin on May 01, 2013 08:14 pm Steven Hudson of Cinesaurus, who produced this excellent nerd short, says: It seems that we live in a world where more young people aspire to be future Kardashians and Jersey Shore-folk rather than scientists, teachers, and artists. With recurring threats of tossing PBS onto the federal chopping block, the final hope for our future rests ...
Read in browser High schooler blows stuff up for science — ends up charged with a felony
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on May 01, 2013 07:26 pm A Florida high school student with an interest in science mixed together aluminum foil and toilet bowl cleaner as an experiment. To her surprise, the mixture exploded. Unfortunately for Kiera Wilmot, she tried her experiment on school grounds. It was a small explosion, and nobody was hurt. Wilmot was, otherwise, a good student with a ...
Read in browser Mozilla to FinSpy: stop disguising your "lawful interception" spyware as Firefox
By Cory Doctorow on May 01, 2013 06:45 pm The Mozilla Foundation has sent a legal threat to Gamma International, a UK company that makes a product called "FinSpy" that is used by governments, including brutal dictatorships to spy on dissidents. FinSpy allows these governments to hijack their citizens' screens, cameras, hard-drives and keyboards. Gamma disguises this spyware as copies of Firefox, Mozilla's flagship ...
Read in browser White Men Wearing Google Glass
By David Pescovitz on May 01, 2013 05:24 pm A funny Tumblr: "White Men Wearing Google Glass" (Bonus points for including Bruce Sterling.) (via Jason Tester)
Read in browser Inexpensive smooth writing pencil: Mirado Black Warrior
By Cool Tools on May 01, 2013 05:16 pm The Mirado Black Warrior pencil is made in the USA from high quality materials, available practically everywhere, and, very importantly, cheap (hey, it’s a pencil, after all). The Black Warrior’s No. 2/HB graphite is darker and softer than standard No. 2′s and has a wax additive to make it smoother. The writing experience is noticeably ...
Read in browser Rumor: Koch Brothers to buy 8 major newspapers, including LA Times
By Cory Doctorow on May 01, 2013 04:38 pm The Koch Brothers -- billionaire ultra-conservative puppet-masters and Tea Party funders -- are rumored to be in talks to buy eight newspapers, including the LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, Orlando Sentinel and Hartford Courant from the Tribune company, which is emerging from bankruptcy protection. Half of the LA Times's newsroom has threatened to quit ...
Read in browser New Canadian $5 celebrates the space programme
By Cory Doctorow on May 01, 2013 03:00 pm I'm pretty fond of the design of the new Canadian plastic $5 note, which is much improved if you draw Spock ears, eyebrows and hairline on old Sir Wilfrid Laurier. The new Canadian $5 bill has just destroyed every single other piece of currency in the world (IMO) (farm9.staticflickr.com)
Read in browser In the Leech Library: Behind the scenes at the American Museum of Natural History
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on May 01, 2013 02:58 pm This is the second story in a four-part, weekly series on taxonomy and speciation. It's meant to help you as you participate in Armchair Taxonomist — a challenge from the Encyclopedia of Life to bring scientific descriptions of animals, plants, and other living things out from behind paywalls and onto the Internet. Participants can earn ...
Read in browser Disney floats the idea of Haunted Mansion-themed hotel rooms
By Cory Doctorow on May 01, 2013 01:23 pm After a Walt Disney World family holiday, Dr. James Martin was sent an online poll by Disney asking if he'd be interested in returning and staying in a hotel room themed after one of the park's iconic rides, including the Haunted Mansion or Pirate of the Caribbean, or a princess room. The Haunted Mansion room ...
Read in browser Looking at the link between red meat, eggs, and heart disease
By Mark Frauenfelder on May 01, 2013 01:22 pm Two recent papers about heart disease from the Cleveland Clinic are making the rounds. The studies report that red meat and eggs cause heart disease because our gut bacteria converts carnitine and choline into Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), a heart disease trigger. At Huffington Post, Chris Kresser has questions about the papers: [W]hile at first glance ...
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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