Guatemala: Archive of documents from Rios Montt genocide trial, overturned 10 days after guilty verdict Heartwarming: man leaves $1K tip to help waitress realize dream of visiting Italy Internet of Things and surveillance Mat Ricardo's London Varieties returns May 30 In defense of the selfie Whatever happened to crack babies? In-game hyperinflation Navy dolphins find antique torpedo Do science: The life you save may be your own Your very fallible memory Who are these crazy people out chasing tornadoes? Read a moving account of surviving (and dying on) Mount St. Helens Modified Liberator 3D printed gun made with cheap printer, fires 9 shots How ants always land on their feet Brain Rot: Hip Hop Family Tree, Compton, Lonzo Williams and the Wreckin' Cru Paul Verhoeven eyes director's chair in new Schwarzenegger Conan flick How do tornadoes form? Conspiracy theorists aren't crazy Unknown mathematician makes historical breakthrough in prime theory Profile of math-inspired 3D printing sculptor Bathsheba Grossman Guatemala: Nation's highest court throws out Ríos Montt genocide trial verdict and prison sentence Nutella's lawyers shut down World Nutella Day: STOP LIKING US SO MUCH! What UK education czar Michael Gove doesn't understand about creativity Vader's Little Princess: Excerpt Real Stuff: Bad Trip Chinese hackers who breached Google gained access to US surveillance data The Life of astronaut Sally Ride: Miles O'Brien on PBS NewsHour US military continues to abuse and abandon wounded soldiers Skype messages don't get end-to-end encryption, says Ars Massive tornado strikes Oklahoma City Guatemala: Archive of documents from Rios Montt genocide trial, overturned 10 days after guilty verdict
By Xeni Jardin on May 21, 2013 12:40 pm May 9, 2013: A public art project in Guatemala City, one block from the courth where Rios Montt was convicted on May 10. "Si hubo genocidio," the sign reads. "Yes, it was genocide." Photo: Xeni Jardin. As reported last night, the Constitutional Court of Guatemala has effectively tossed out the final phase of the genocide ...
Read in browser Heartwarming: man leaves $1K tip to help waitress realize dream of visiting Italy
By Cory Doctorow on May 21, 2013 12:02 pm On the Casual Cynic Tumblr, a heart-warming story about a waitress who got a $1,000 tip from a diner she'd met for the first time that night, who wanted to help her realize her dream of visiting Italy, whence her family hailed. So my mom and I have been working the same waitress job for ...
Read in browser Internet of Things and surveillance
By Cory Doctorow on May 21, 2013 11:57 am Bruce Schneier's got smart things to say about surveillance in the age of the Internet of Things: In the longer term, the Internet of Things means ubiquitous surveillance. If an object "knows" you have purchased it, and communicates via either Wi-Fi or the mobile network, then whoever or whatever it is communicating with will know ...
Read in browser Mat Ricardo's London Varieties returns May 30
By Cory Doctorow on May 21, 2013 11:54 am London impressario Mat Ricardo writes in with news of the next London Varieties show: We had a ball last month at London's Leicester Square Theatre with a show that featured the very silly JOHANN LIPPOVITZ, very naughty EASTEND CABARET, very incredible LISA LOTTIE and the very legendary PAUL DANIELS - plus I risk my life! ...
Read in browser In defense of the selfie
By Rob Beschizza on May 21, 2013 11:06 am Sam Kassé defends the selfie, blight of social networks: "I know most people hate selfies. They groan and complain about them, from the duck lips to the filters. Why, just the word "selfie" can induce legendary amounts of eyerolling. What people seem to miss, is that selfies are actually great. No, scratch that, selfies are ...
Read in browser Whatever happened to crack babies?
By Cory Doctorow on May 21, 2013 10:59 am The wonderful Retro Report (which revisits popular news stories of the years gone by and follows up on their claims) has posted a great, 10-minute documentary on "crack babies," concluding that the promised crack baby epidemic of kids with gross deformities who couldn't attend regular school never materialized. The documentary says that the entire phenomenon ...
Read in browser In-game hyperinflation
By Cory Doctorow on May 21, 2013 10:55 am Here's a totally amazing and fascinating story about hyperinflation crashing the economy of Blizzard's massively multiplayer online RPG Diablo 3. Blizzard blew its economic strategy for Diablo 3 by making the "sinks" (places where gold is taken out of the economy) unattractive, adding in real-money-for-stuff trades, and then letting a bug run wild. Before you ...
Read in browser Navy dolphins find antique torpedo
By Jason Weisberger on May 21, 2013 10:52 am Two US Navy dolphins discovered an antique torpedo off the coast of San Diego, CA. The Howell torpedo is one of 50 produced, remarkable as it is the first locomotive torpedo developed and was fly-wheel powered. Surprisingly this marks the 24th recovered! Check out HNGN for the story: An early naval torpedo was discovered deep ...
Read in browser Do science: The life you save may be your own
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on May 21, 2013 10:08 am One of the people who developed the pacemaker is now 86. And he has a pacemaker.
Read in browser Your very fallible memory
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on May 21, 2013 10:07 am Your memories can be manipulated and changed. In fact, this happens often. And you're the one doing it to yourself.
Read in browser Who are these crazy people out chasing tornadoes?
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on May 21, 2013 10:03 am National Geographic News has an interview with Tim Samaras — an engineer, a scientist who studies severe storm systems, and a tornado chaser. Not all chasers are professionals like this. For many people, it's a hobby often motivated by a desire to help keep other people safe. Personally, I see a lot of similarities between ...
Read in browser Read a moving account of surviving (and dying on) Mount St. Helens
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on May 21, 2013 09:52 am At National Geographic, you can read Rowe Findley's 1981 account of surviving the Mount St. Helens eruption — and his deeply moving profiles of many of the people who did not. Includes this seminal quote from 83-year-old Harry R. Truman, who Findley describes as raising "the adjectival use of profanity to a new high": "It's ...
Read in browser Modified Liberator 3D printed gun made with cheap printer, fires 9 shots
By Cory Doctorow on May 21, 2013 09:46 am Joe, an engineer from Wisconsin, modified the (now censored) designs for Defense Distributed's 3D printed gun, the Liberator, and printed a working model on a Lulzbot A0-101, a $1,725 consumer printer that is much cheaper and more widely available than the Stratasys Dimension SST printer used by Defense Distributed. The gun printed by Joe, which ...
Read in browser How ants always land on their feet
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on May 21, 2013 09:40 am As they move through tunnels dug in a wide variety of soils, ants do sometimes slip and fall down their own shafts. But they catch themselves, with their limbs and even with their antenna. Scientists are studying the ways ants brace against a fall to help design better robotos for search-and-rescue missions.
Read in browser Brain Rot: Hip Hop Family Tree, Compton, Lonzo Williams and the Wreckin' Cru
By Ed Piskor on May 21, 2013 09:37 am Read the rest of the Hip Hop Family Tree comics!
Read in browser Paul Verhoeven eyes director's chair in new Schwarzenegger Conan flick
By Rob Beschizza on May 21, 2013 09:37 am Robocop director Paul Verhoeven, noted for his films' ultraviolence and politically-tinged black humor, wishes to direct Arnold Schwarzenegger as an older, grayer Conan. 65-year-old Schwarzenegger starred under Verhoeven in the original version of Total Recall; no director has officially been selected for the new project, provisionally titled Conan The Legend. Here are the top 5 ...
Read in browser How do tornadoes form?
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on May 21, 2013 09:32 am Scientific American has a great video that quickly explains the basics of tornado formation — facts that also help explain why some parts of the country, including Oklahoma, are more prone to tornadoes than others. You'll also learn about worst tornado in recorded history, which killed more than 700 people. The photo above was taken ...
Read in browser Conspiracy theorists aren't crazy
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on May 21, 2013 09:24 am I have a personal Facebook account, which I use to keep up with friends and family. Like many of you, I've also discovered that this gives me a peek inside the psyche of those friends and family — and one of the things that I saw was an interest (and sometimes belief in) conspiracy theories. ...
Read in browser Unknown mathematician makes historical breakthrough in prime theory
By Cory Doctorow on May 21, 2013 08:40 am Yitang Zhang is a largely unknown mathematician who has struggled to find an academic job after he got his PhD, working at a Subway sandwich shop before getting a gig as a lecturer at the University of New Hampshire. He's just had a paper accepted for publication in Annals of Mathematics, which appears to make ...
Read in browser Profile of math-inspired 3D printing sculptor Bathsheba Grossman
By Cory Doctorow on May 21, 2013 02:53 am Shapeways interviews the amazing Bathsheba Grossman, a sculptor who creates mathematics-inspired 3D printed objects that can be bought on the Shapeways store. I own a bunch of her pieces, and I never tire of staring at them and handling them. I was originally a math major interested in geometry and topology, when as a college ...
Read in browser Guatemala: Nation's highest court throws out Ríos Montt genocide trial verdict and prison sentence
By Xeni Jardin on May 20, 2013 11:15 pm Ríos Montt testifying in his defense in Guatemala City, May 2013. Photo: Xeni Jardin. Late-breaking news from Guatemala City: Impunity reigns in Guatemala tonight. The Constitutional Court, the highest court in Guatemala (like the US Supreme Court), has just voted to annul the proceedings in the Rios Montt genocide trial from April 19th onward. That ...
Read in browser Nutella's lawyers shut down World Nutella Day: STOP LIKING US SO MUCH!
By Cory Doctorow on May 20, 2013 11:00 pm Lawyers for Ferrero, SpA (makers of the Nutella spread) have sent a legal threat to Sara Rosso, who founded and maintains the World Nutella Day site, where they promote Nutella through recipes, tweets, stories, and (obviously) an annual day devoted to the sugary gloop. Rosso has capitulated and will no longer promote their products for ...
Read in browser What UK education czar Michael Gove doesn't understand about creativity
By Cory Doctorow on May 20, 2013 09:06 pm Michael Gove is the UK Secretary of State for Education, the subject of a vote of no confidence from the nation's head teacher's conference that ran 99% opposed to his ideas for educational reform. The major motif of Gove's reforms is an emphasis on rote memorisation and linear learning. Gove insists that he loves creativity, ...
Read in browser Vader's Little Princess: Excerpt
By Mark Frauenfelder on May 20, 2013 08:36 pm Here's a excerpt from Jeffrey Brown's latest book, Vader's Little Princess. In this irresistibly funny follow-up to the breakout bestseller Darth Vader and Son, Vader—Sith Lord and leader of the Galactic Empire—now faces the trials, joys, and mood swings of raising his daughter Leia as she grows from a sweet little girl into a rebellious ...
Read in browser Real Stuff: Bad Trip
By Dennis Eichhorn on May 20, 2013 07:47 pm "I had a mega-bummer back in 1974 when I was living in Moscow, Idaho... I was a former member of the University of Idaho varsity football team and I liked getting stoned... a lot." From
Real Stuff #1 (Fantagraphics, December 1990).
Read in browser Chinese hackers who breached Google gained access to US surveillance data
By Xeni Jardin on May 20, 2013 06:45 pm Ellen Nakashima at the Washington Post: "Chinese hackers who breached Google's servers several years ago gained access to a sensitive database with years' worth of information about U.S. surveillance targets, according to current and former government officials." The hack was reportedly intended to root out the identities of Chinese intel operatives in the US believed ...
Read in browser The Life of astronaut Sally Ride: Miles O'Brien on PBS NewsHour
By Xeni Jardin on May 20, 2013 06:37 pm As noted in an earlier Boing Boing post today, Miles O'Brien is hosting a Kennedy Center event in the nation's capital tonight, to honor the life and legacy of astronaut Sally Ride. She died in 2012 of pancreatic cancer. This just in: here's Miles on PBS NewsHour tonight, talking about his encounters with Ride.
Read in browser US military continues to abuse and abandon wounded soldiers
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on May 20, 2013 06:33 pm In 2010, The New York Times uncovered systemic abuse within units meant to help wounded Army soldiers transition through months-and-years-long treatment and rehabilitation. Today, The Colorado Springs Gazette has a profile about one of the soldiers who stood up for Warrior Transition Units back then. The abuses exposed by the Times weren't fixed and Jerrald ...
Read in browser Skype messages don't get end-to-end encryption, says Ars
By Xeni Jardin on May 20, 2013 06:22 pm Microsoft-owned Skype regularly scans the contents of Skype messages for signs of fraud, according to an Ars Technica report, and company managers may log the results indefinitely. If true, that means the belief that Skype offers end-to-end encryption under the communicator's control is false.
Read in browser Massive tornado strikes Oklahoma City
By Xeni Jardin on May 20, 2013 06:16 pm A powerful tornado struck a suburb of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma over the past few hours. Roofs were torn from buildings, homes leveled, and entire neighborhoods flattened. The number of dead and injured is not yet known. At least one school was in the tornado's devastation zone in Moore, Oklahoma. Lance West, a reporter for CNN ...
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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