Why math-fans really love set theory Google buys Waze Mexico's Candidate Cat has a predecessor: Fidel the dog Snowden smearing begins Julian Assange and John Perry Barlow in joint interview NSA Prism leaks: "Snowden is a hero" That NSA Prism PowerPoint deck: A better-designed version, and what's in the missing slides? 3-D printed part from an airplane turbine Tumblog of Greatness: F*ck Yeah, Female Astronauts Disturbing trailer for doc on Soviet dog-reanimation experiments Severed deer head left at supermarket self-checkout Judge in Manning Wikileaks trial rules crowdfunded stenographers should get permanent court access Stopwatching.us: Internet companies and civil liberties groups call for investigation into the surveillance state Akissi: kids' comic about a mischievous girl in Cote D'Ivoire [now in the USA!] Brain Rot: Alien Abduction A User's Guide to Neglectful Parenting, by Guy Delisle John Muir Trail Adventure Journal: Day One Edward Snowden checks out of hotel, whereabouts unknown Bruce Sterling Augmented World keynote speech My week with the 2013 Toyota RAV4 EV Real Stuff: Memoirs of a Fightin' Missionary Where to get an EFF laptop sticker like Edward Snowden's The Official Sophie Madeleine Ukulele Tab Book Detailed obit of Iain Banks Swamp rat photo gallery Surveillance State: Maryland is Listening to You Technology company in Cupertino, CA unveils some new things El Candigato Morris: Fed up with "rat" politicians, Mexican town proposes cat for mayor Austerity: the greatest bait-and-switch in history Uglycon in LA, for fans of Ugydolls, June 15 2013 Street art from the revolution in Turkey Why math-fans really love set theory
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Jun 11, 2013 12:57 pm Turns out, math fans dig set theory for almost exactly
the same reason that some Christian fundamentalists absolutely hate it — all that messy uncertainty, which is either an affront to the idea of intelligent design or really, really sexy and fascinating, depending on your outlook.
Read in browser Google buys Waze
By Xeni Jardin on Jun 11, 2013 12:45 pm Google announces they have acquired the Israeli startup
Waze, which produces a social-driven drive-route-mapping technology that has transformed the way I get from point A to B here in Los Angeles. Rumors are Google paid $1.3 billion.
Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Land:
The big questions are (1) will this acquisition be allowed and if so (2) will Google allow Waze to be an independent product and brand?
Read in browser Mexico's Candidate Cat has a predecessor: Fidel the dog
By Xeni Jardin on Jun 11, 2013 12:40 pm After reading this post on Boing Boing about a
cat for mayor in one Mexican town, my friend
Ejival from glamorous Tijuana writes,
Your Morris the Candigato post reminded me of CANDIDATO FIDEL (candidatofidel.blogspot.mx). the campaign was full of double entendre political slang (hueso: a job in the government), mordida (corruption), etc.
Read in browser Snowden smearing begins
By Rob Beschizza on Jun 11, 2013 12:36 pm Gawker's Hamilton Nolan
ridicules the halfwitted psychoanalysis and smearing aimed by sneering pundits at Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower who revealed the agency's expansive surveillance of everyday Americans.
We are often accused of being cynics. But even we can see quite plainly that the Prism story is huge, important, and newsworthy, and that the person who made the story happen deserves credit for helping it come out.
Read in browser Julian Assange and John Perry Barlow in joint interview NSA Prism leaks: "Snowden is a hero"
By Xeni Jardin on Jun 11, 2013 12:30 pm In this
Sky News television interview with EFF co-founder John Perry Barlow, Julian Assange of Wikileaks describes Prism Leaker Edward Snowden as "a Hero."
Read in browser That NSA Prism PowerPoint deck: A better-designed version, and what's in the missing slides?
By Xeni Jardin on Jun 11, 2013 12:20 pm "Dear NSA, let me take care of your slides,"
writes Emiland, in a redesigned version of the Prism leak. "Do whatever with my data. But not with my eyes. Those slides are hideous." Related: What's in the missing slides?
Hacker and journalist Kevin Poulsen at Wired News explores what's missing from Snowden's PowerPoint deck.
Read in browser 3-D printed part from an airplane turbine
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Jun 11, 2013 12:10 pm Yesterday, we posted
a tech memoir by Steven Ashley about the slow rise of 3D printing — from sci-fi fantasy, to toy, to creator of real tools. Towards the end of the piece, Ashley mentions how GE is starting manufacture aircraft engine parts using 3D printers.
Read in browser Tumblog of Greatness: F*ck Yeah, Female Astronauts
By Xeni Jardin on Jun 11, 2013 12:08 pm Valentina Tereshkova, first woman in space, launch date June 16, 1963. A wonderful website:
fuckyeahfemaleastronauts.tumblr.com.
Only 10% of people in space have been women, and on tumblr that seemed even less. so here it is for your inspiration. Fuck yeah!
Read in browser Disturbing trailer for doc on Soviet dog-reanimation experiments
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 11, 2013 12:03 pm Charlie made a disturbing video backed by Kurtz's "Everything Burns Alike," featuring footage from
Experiments in the Revival of Organisms, a 1940 documentary on the horrific experiments of Dr. S.S. Bryukhonenko at the Institute of Experimental Physiology and Therapy, Voronezh, U.S.S.R.
Read in browser Severed deer head left at supermarket self-checkout
By Rob Beschizza on Jun 11, 2013 11:57 am From the BBC: The severed head of a deer was left on a self-service supermarket checkout, prompting a police investigation. The innards of the animal were found in one of the aisles of the Tesco shop in Saffron Walden, Essex, police said.
Read in browser Judge in Manning Wikileaks trial rules crowdfunded stenographers should get permanent court access
By Xeni Jardin on Jun 11, 2013 11:40 am Photo: Bradley Manning, via
standwithbrad.org Huge
news from the Freedom of the Press Foundation's Trevor Timm:
Bradley Manning's defense lawyer David Coombs brought up our crowd-funded stenographers in court during the morning session, and we're happy to say, once and for all, that the judge ruled the government must make permanent accomodations for the stenographers.
Read in browser Stopwatching.us: Internet companies and civil liberties groups call for investigation into the surveillance state
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 11, 2013 10:40 am A coalition of Internet companies and civil liberties groups have signed on to an open letter to the Obama administration calling for increased transparency and sensible checks on the power of the American surveillance apparatus and its spy agencies. The signatories -- including Happy Mutants, the company that owns Boing Boing -- call on Congress to convene a committee like the Church Committee of the 1970s, to investigate the scope and legality of American surveillance.
Read in browser Akissi: kids' comic about a mischievous girl in Cote D'Ivoire [now in the USA!]
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 11, 2013 09:23 am Back in April, I
reviewed Akissi, a delightful kids' comic about a mischievous little girl in Cote D'Ivoire, translated from the original French. Back then, it was only
available in the UK, but as of today, you can buy it in the USA, too!
Read in browser Brain Rot: Alien Abduction
By Ed Piskor on Jun 11, 2013 09:22 am Read in browser A User's Guide to Neglectful Parenting, by Guy Delisle
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jun 11, 2013 09:00 am A User's Guide to Neglectful Parenting is a funny and truthful book about being a parent, and as a bonus, it's told in cartoons. Guy Delisle, a French Canadian cartoonist and animator, is best known for his
award-winning graphic travelogues about Jerusalem, Pyongyang, Burma, and Shenzen.
Read in browser John Muir Trail Adventure Journal: Day One
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jun 11, 2013 01:06 am Boing Boing reader Tom Fassbender says: "On June 10, 2012 (one year ago) I embarked on a 13-day solo hike of the 212-mile John Muir Trail. My memories of those days are still very vivid. To commemorate,
I'm posting my trail journal, one day at a time, with photos, warts and all."
Read in browser Edward Snowden checks out of hotel, whereabouts unknown
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 11, 2013 12:58 am Edward Snowden has reportedly checked out of the hotel in Hong Kong where he had holed up to leak a series of NSA documents to the Guardian and the Washington Post. The US will not say if it is seeking his extradition.
Read in browser Bruce Sterling Augmented World keynote speech
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 10, 2013 10:40 pm Here's Bruce Sterling's snappy, excellent keynote for Augmented World Expo. This is definitely AR beyond mere Google Glass.
Bruce Sterling - Keynote at AWE 2013 Read in browser My week with the 2013 Toyota RAV4 EV
By Advertiser on Jun 10, 2013 10:00 pm ADVERTISEMENT SPONSORED: This post is presented by the Toyota RAV4 EV. Because innovation can be measured in miles, kilowatts and cubic feet. Learn more at toyota.com/rav4ev.
Last week our sponsor Toyota delivered a 2013 Toyota RAV4 EV to my house so I could drive it for a week.
Read in browser Real Stuff: Memoirs of a Fightin' Missionary
By Dennis Eichhorn on Jun 10, 2013 09:56 pm "In Walla Walla, the most popular pastime for the town toughs was 'Whitty bashing.' A carload of young drunks would pull up alongside the campus, and a crew would hop out and beat up some unlucky Whitman student." From
Real Stuff #1 (Fantagraphics, March 1991).
Read in browser Where to get an EFF laptop sticker like Edward Snowden's
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 10, 2013 08:37 pm Hugh from the Electronic Frontier Foundation sez, "Edward Snowden's computer sported stickers for EFF and Tor. You can buy the EFF sticker
here."
Read in browser The Official Sophie Madeleine Ukulele Tab Book
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jun 10, 2013 06:30 pm Sophie Madeleine says:
"I'm very pleased to announce that you can now pre-order my Official Limited Edition Ukulele Tab Book. This is the first edition, limited to only 200 copies. Each one is numbered and signed by Sophie. The front of the book is full tablature, chord boxes, lyrics, and melody notation.
Read in browser Detailed obit of Iain Banks
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 10, 2013 05:45 pm Iain Banks
died yesterday. The Guardian's John Mullan does justice to the long and important career of one of the best writers in two fields:
In 2010 he gave an interview to BBC Radio Scotland in which he spoke with painful frankness about the breakdown of his relationship with his first wife.
Read in browser Swamp rat photo gallery
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jun 10, 2013 05:26 pm Louisiana pays $5 a tail to encourage people to hunt the nutria. I'm glad to see that my friend Chris Metzler's
documentary about 20-lb nutrias (swamp rats) was fully funded on Kickstarter. (If you missed our post about the swamp rat meat taste test,
here it is.) While we are waiting for the documentary to come out, here's a
somewhat gruesome gallery of swamp rat photos.
Read in browser Surveillance State: Maryland is Listening to You
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jun 10, 2013 05:14 pm Todd Krainin of Reason TV produced this mini-documentary about how "audio-visual recording technologies are fundamentally changing the privacy-versus-security debate in cities all across America." It's called "
Surveillance State: Maryland is Listening to You."
Read in browser Technology company in Cupertino, CA unveils some new things
By Xeni Jardin on Jun 10, 2013 03:24 pm Apple WWDC is under way. Announcements from the keynote include a new version of IOS, a refreshed MacBook Air, a streaming radio service, small and powerful Mac Pros, and more. Event hub sites and liveblogs:
Engadget.
Gizmodo.
Verge.
Read in browser El Candigato Morris: Fed up with "rat" politicians, Mexican town proposes cat for mayor
By Xeni Jardin on Jun 10, 2013 03:04 pm Image:
juancarlosvazquez.com A wonderful meme is spreading throughout the Spanish-speaking internets:
El Candigato Morris, a cat politician who originated in the Mexican city of Xalapa. His campaign slogan translates to "For a Xalapa Without Rats," referring to the notoriously corrupt politicians and police in the region.
Read in browser Austerity: the greatest bait-and-switch in history
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 10, 2013 03:00 pm Mark Blyth, a delightfully sweary Scottish economist, talks for about an hour to Googlers about the stupidity of austerity as a means of recovering from recession, describing it in colorful, easy-to-grasp language. This is brilliant, accessible and important economics:
Governments today in both Europe and the United States have succeeded in casting government spending as reckless wastefulness that has made the economy worse.
Read in browser Uglycon in LA, for fans of Ugydolls, June 15 2013
By Xeni Jardin on Jun 10, 2013 02:48 pm Eric Nakamura of
Giant Robot sends word that
Uglycon, a gathering for ultrafans of all things
Uglydoll, is happening
Saturday, June 15 in Los Angeles.
"Costumes. Bingo. Art by guests and the creators of Uglydoll. Reading. Comic art.
Read in browser Street art from the revolution in Turkey
By Xeni Jardin on Jun 10, 2013 02:43 pm Dangerous Minds has a good collection of street art photos from the ongoing uprising in Turkey.
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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