HOWTO: Laser-cut and 3D printed record albums Pedals: music video about musical effects pedals Guatemala: PBS NewsHour report on Ríos Montt genocide trial, from Miles O'Brien and Xeni Jardin Hedge fund managers suck at making money (for you) German children use bundled inflationary money as blocks, 1923 Game of Thrones S3E6: Hang in there Sony ditching terrible product names, but is new Vaio Fit laptop series any good? Guatemala: Day 25 of genocide trial opens, amid ever-murky legal hijinks No internet for Syria Amazing treehouses Historical figures modernized Add the missing Snoop to your photos TOM THE DANCING BUG: God-Man's New Reboot! HOWTO build a working digital computer out of paperclips (and stuff) Mousetronaut: kids' picture book about mouse in space, written by a Shuttle pilot Child abuse PSA street-poster has a secret message for kids Zach Braff: Man of the People or Horrible Person? (Neither) Faced with excommunication threat, Irish PM explains separation of church and state to Cardinal Don't ever speak to the FBI without a tape recorder running and a lawyer present 23 words that have remained unchanged for 15,000 years Onion gets hacked by Syrian propagandists, responds with funny article Timelapse of beautiful, ancient, endangered red pine forest in Ontario Camille Rose Garcia "Alice in Wonderland" exhibit in San Francisco New Tom Gauld print: "Some advice on how to cope in these tough times" Content barons are the richest CEOs The comics of Joan Cornellà EFF updates the Takedown Hall of Shame Tell Me Something I Don't Know 007: Jeff Smith Crowdfunding a CC-licensed translation of classic Yiddish book Poylishe Velder (In The Forests of Poland) Ray Harryhausen (1920 - 2013) HOWTO: Laser-cut and 3D printed record albums
By David Pescovitz on May 08, 2013 12:57 pm Amanda Ghassaei used a laser cutter to engrave audio into wood, acrylic, and paper discs. Sure, the sound quality is, er, terrible, but… art! Previously, Ghassei 3D printed records from MP3 files. She's posted HOWTOs for both on Instructables! Laser Cut Record and 3D Printed Record
Read in browser Pedals: music video about musical effects pedals
By David Pescovitz on May 08, 2013 12:45 pm BB pal Scott Matthews points us to Jack Conte's "Pedals," a terrific celebration of music gear (and robots). The lyrics: Hog Pog Vox Wah Ocatave Multiplexer Big Muff Memory Man Boss Chromatic Tuner Polyphase MicroSynth Frequency Analyzer Voice Box Electric Mistress Freeze Tube Zipper Check out the behind-the-scenes video below! Voice Box - electronic harmonizer ...
Read in browser Guatemala: PBS NewsHour report on Ríos Montt genocide trial, from Miles O'Brien and Xeni Jardin
By Xeni Jardin on May 08, 2013 11:41 am Watch PBS NewsHour tonight (Wednesday, May 8, 2013) for a report that science correspondent Miles O'Brien and I produced from Guatemala on the role forensic science plays in the genocide trial of José Efraín Ríos Montt and José Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez. Screengrab: Juana Sanchez Toma, of San Juan Cotzal, El Quiché, Guatemala. We interviewed her ...
Read in browser Hedge fund managers suck at making money (for you)
By Cory Doctorow on May 08, 2013 11:35 am The Financial Times analyzed the stock picks of the presenters at this week's Ira Sohn Investment conference in NYC and found that, on average, following a hedge fund manager was a much worse bet than buying passive index funds (though a couple hedgies did do pretty well last year, they were dragged down by the ...
Read in browser German children use bundled inflationary money as blocks, 1923
By Cory Doctorow on May 08, 2013 11:13 am Here's a little visual aid for any inflation hawks out there who're looking for just the right graphic to stick in a powerpoint decrying stimulus packages or extolling gold's virtue: a group of Weimar-era kids using bundles of devalued Deutsche marks as building blocks. German children using marks as building blocks, when Germany tried to ...
Read in browser Game of Thrones S3E6: Hang in there
By Leigh Alexander on May 08, 2013 11:11 am The latest episode of Game of Thrones is called "The Climb," and it sees us crossing the Wall into the land of heavy-handed metaphors. What's the difference between a pin and a brooch, anyway? Let's recap! Gilly has a rescuer in Sam, albeit not your textbook hero, to say the least. She's not particularly impressed ...
Read in browser Sony ditching terrible product names, but is new Vaio Fit laptop series any good?
By Rob Beschizza on May 08, 2013 11:08 am Engadget's Dana Wollman reviews the Vaio Fit, which replaces all models from the Sony E4359-DX93Ǽ034t81 to the T15-ZZSø3. It's a very attractive and well-made metal machine, for a relatively inexpensive $650. the keyboard is a clear improvement over the one on last year's VAIOs, even if it is still a bit shallow. And hey, who ...
Read in browser Guatemala: Day 25 of genocide trial opens, amid ever-murky legal hijinks
By Xeni Jardin on May 08, 2013 11:01 am Photo: James Rodriguez, mimundo.org. An Ixil Mayan woman listens to Spanish-Ixil translation in the courtroom during the historic genocide trial against former de facto dictator Efrain Rios Montt and his head of Intelligence Jose Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez. Both are accused of genocide and crimes against humanity committed against the Ixil Mayan people during their de ...
Read in browser No internet for Syria
By Rob Beschizza on May 08, 2013 10:51 am Nicole Perlroth: "Syria's access to the Internet was cut on Tuesday. The most likely culprit, security researchers said, was the Syrian government." [NYT]
Read in browser Amazing treehouses
By Rob Beschizza on May 08, 2013 10:50 am Leslie Horn collects some of the most ingenious, Myst-tastic treehouses on the planet. [Gizmodo]
Read in browser Historical figures modernized
By Rob Beschizza on May 08, 2013 10:49 am The Telegraph gives William Shakespeare, Henry VIII and others a digital makeover.
Read in browser Add the missing Snoop to your photos
By Jason Weisberger on May 08, 2013 10:43 am It is no longer hard being Snoop L-I-O-N! It is as easy as tapping a sticker on your friends forehead! Snoop has an app and PetaPixel has the story: The app, which is available for both iOS and Android, allows users to modify their photos with a plethora of Snoop Dogg-style virtual stickers designed by ...
Read in browser TOM THE DANCING BUG: God-Man's New Reboot!
By Ruben Bolling on May 08, 2013 10:42 am Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH a popular omnipotent superhero undergoes a REBOOT... but what will the new GOD-MAN?
Read in browser HOWTO build a working digital computer out of paperclips (and stuff)
By Cory Doctorow on May 08, 2013 10:30 am Windell at Evil Mad Scientist Labs has dredged up an amazing project book from the Internet Archive: How to Build a Working Digital Computer (1967) (by Edward Alcosser, James P. Phillips, and Allen M. Wolk) contains a full set of instructions for building a working computer out of paperclips and various bits and bobs from ...
Read in browser Mousetronaut: kids' picture book about mouse in space, written by a Shuttle pilot
By Cory Doctorow on May 08, 2013 08:47 am Moustetronaut is a lovely picture book by Mark Kelly, a former Space Shuttle pilot and husband of former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. It tells the story of Meteor, an experimental NASA mouse who saves a shuttle mission by scurrying into a tight control-panel seam and retrieving a critical lost key. The story is very (very) loosely ...
Read in browser Child abuse PSA street-poster has a secret message for kids
By Cory Doctorow on May 07, 2013 11:19 pm The Anar Foundation and Grey Spain created a lenticular street-poster about child abuse that shows a "secret" message to people who view it from a kid's eye-height. ANAR Foundation manages in Spain the european unique phone number 116 111, to attend children and teenagers under a risk situation. On this telephone number, only for minors, ...
Read in browser Zach Braff: Man of the People or Horrible Person? (Neither)
By Michael Schreiber on May 07, 2013 09:57 pm Emmy winning writer/director/producer Ken Levine went after Zach Braff today in a blog post about the actor's recent foray into crowdfunding. The Scrubs alum has raised millions of dollars for his planned sequel to Garden State from regular folks, when the Hollywood money machine proved to be unavailable and/or undesirable. Levine's argument is compelling. He essentially says ...
Read in browser Faced with excommunication threat, Irish PM explains separation of church and state to Cardinal
By Cory Doctorow on May 07, 2013 08:34 pm The Catholic Church threatened to excommunicate Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny if he held a scheduled vote on Ireland's new abortion law. He responded: Everybody's entitled to their opinion here but as explained to the Cardinal and members of the church my book is the constitution and the constitution is determined by the people. That's ...
Read in browser Don't ever speak to the FBI without a tape recorder running and a lawyer present
By Mark Frauenfelder on May 07, 2013 07:27 pm Civil liberties and civil rights attorney Harvey Silverglate made this video to show you how to protect yourself from FBI agents who will interview you, then claim you lied so they can threaten you with imprisonment unless you become their puppet. The message from Robel’s prosecution and Silverglate’s advice is clear: do not talk to ...
Read in browser 23 words that have remained unchanged for 15,000 years
By Mark Frauenfelder on May 07, 2013 06:23 pm "A research team led by Mark Pagel at the University of Reading in England has identified 23 'ultraconserved words' that have remained largely unchanged for 15,000 years." - Washington Post (Thanks, D.S. Deboer)
Read in browser Onion gets hacked by Syrian propagandists, responds with funny article
By Cory Doctorow on May 07, 2013 06:00 pm The Onion got hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army, who proceeded to send out a bunch of tweets that could have been mistaken for actual Onion tweets making fun of the sort of thing that Syrian propagandists would tweet if they hacked the Onion's Twitter (see after the jump for the full list). But no, ...
Read in browser Timelapse of beautiful, ancient, endangered red pine forest in Ontario
By Cory Doctorow on May 07, 2013 04:46 pm Here's a beautiful timelapse video of an endangered, uniquely significant red pine forest in Ontario. The Ontario government has just renewed the mining licenses for the territory around it: Wolf Lake is surrounded by the largest ancient red pine forest in the world - an endangered ecosystem that remains in only 1.2% of its former ...
Read in browser Camille Rose Garcia "Alice in Wonderland" exhibit in San Francisco
By David Pescovitz on May 07, 2013 03:57 pm Opening at San Francisco's Walt Disney Family Museum on Thursday is "Down the Rabbit Hole," a show of Camille Rose Garcia's magnificent, dark, and dreamy paintings created for her illustrated edition of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Forty of Garcia's paintings will hang alongside ten Alice in Wonderland concept paintings from 1951 by legendary ...
Read in browser New Tom Gauld print: "Some advice on how to cope in these tough times"
By Mark Frauenfelder on May 07, 2013 03:49 pm Cartoonist Tom Gauld (author of You're All Just Jealous of My Jetpack) has a gorgeous new letterpress print. A three colour letterpress print on 175gsm Somerset paper in an edition of 250 signed and numbered copies. The image is 21cm by 25cm, and the paper is 27 by 32cm. The print will be available in ...
Read in browser Content barons are the richest CEOs
By Cory Doctorow on May 07, 2013 03:41 pm Alan sez, "Following up on Bloomberg's earlier posting of the CEO-to-average pay ratio, the NY Times has looked laterally across CEO pay levels and discovered that the richest of the rich are the 'media moguls' (their term). Given that the average media CEO makes $10 million more than the average non-media CEO it's hard to ...
Read in browser The comics of Joan Cornellà
By Mark Frauenfelder on May 07, 2013 03:23 pm Joan Cornellà's painted cartoon strips are wonderfully weird.
Read in browser EFF updates the Takedown Hall of Shame
By Cory Doctorow on May 07, 2013 03:20 pm The Electronic Frontier Foundation has published its latest "Takedown Hall of Shame" installment, listing three companies that used baseless and stupid legal threats to censor the Internet. The current crop includes Kern's Kitchen in Louisville, which claims a trademark on the common term "Derby Pie" and threatens bloggers who post their family recipes for the ...
Read in browser Tell Me Something I Don't Know 007: Jeff Smith
By Ed Piskor on May 07, 2013 02:25 pm This is episode 7 of Boing Boing's, 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. Jeff Smith began writing, drawing, and publishing Bone in 1991, through his company, Cartoon Books. ...
Read in browser Crowdfunding a CC-licensed translation of classic Yiddish book Poylishe Velder (In The Forests of Poland)
By Cory Doctorow on May 07, 2013 02:08 pm Eric sez, Best selling author and native Yiddish speaker Michael Wex has launched an indiegogo campaign to translate what he is calling the most important work of world literature that you've probably never heard of. The book, written by Joseph Opatoshu in 1921 when he was a young Polish immigrant living in New York City ...
Read in browser Ray Harryhausen (1920 - 2013)
By Mark Frauenfelder on May 07, 2013 01:45 pm One of the greats is gone today. Thanks for the wonderful movies, Ray! The Harryhausen family regret to announce the death of Ray Harryhausen, Visual Effects pioneer and stop-motion model animator. He was a multi-award winner which includes a special Oscar and BAFTA. Ray’s influence on today’s film makers was enormous, with luminaries; Steven Spielberg, ...
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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