Animal-head hooks Man arrested for throwing spear at car Raiders of the Lost Ark hand-painted poster from Ghana Feds thwart KKK member's plot to create mobile death ray machine to kill "undesirables" Postal Service: new video and Colbert Report interview Normandy photos: World War II and now Chinese Astronaut gives science classroom lesson from space Stockholm court finds Pirate Bay founder guilty of hacking; sentences him to 2 years IRS to issue $70M in employee bonuses, says lawmaker Segregated headstones reach over the cemetery wall Our planet just had the third warmest May in recorded history Jughead beanies Sponsor shout-out: Makerbot and the Robohand Colorado police launch excessive force investigation after naked man tasered, another man dies at music festival Pentagon confirms that Cap'n Crunch, cereal fraudster, is wearing rank of a U.S. Navy Commander Something to think about A tribute to James Gandolfini at Holsten's Ice Cream shop in New Jersey, and on HBO Kindle Worlds: Amazon licensed fan fiction 16-year-old invents prizewinning clean algae-biofuel conversion process Inside Digg's new RSS Reader Corpse Readers in Song Dynasty China Giant, rolling Katamari Damacy controller Gweek 099: John Hodgman: Ragnarok (airs tonight 6/20/2013) Microsoft does a 180 on DRM in the Xbox 360++ Why gadgets are no longer made of wood Young Gezi protester waits out the tear-gas in a Burger King Tell Me Something I Don't Know 009: John Porcellino Leaked doc shows USA has started an Internet War: Schneier 37 Conversation Rules for Gentlemen (1875) Actor James Gandolfini of Sopranos fame dies suddenly, in Italy Animal-head hooks
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 20, 2013 01:00 pm I'm pretty taken with these Lightahead animal-headed coathooks, which come in everything from polar bear to camel, and cost $20 each.
Read in browser Man arrested for throwing spear at car
By David Pescovitz on Jun 20, 2013 12:57 pm This gentleman is Jeffrey Allen Jones, 56, who was arrested in Sacramento this week for assault with a deadly weapon. He allegedly thew a spear at a passing car.
Read in browser Raiders of the Lost Ark hand-painted poster from Ghana
By David Pescovitz on Jun 20, 2013 12:49 pm Excellent hand-painted "Raiders of the Lost Ark" movie poster from Ghana. Click to see it larger. This style of poster was frequently an advertisement for mobile "cinemas" where the operator traveled around with a VHS machine and TV to screen movies for paying customers.
Read in browser Feds thwart KKK member's plot to create mobile death ray machine to kill "undesirables"
By Xeni Jardin on Jun 20, 2013 12:47 pm Federal officials say two men in New York state are charged in a
bizarre plot to develop a mobile X-ray "death ray" machine to silently and remotely kill people flagged as "undesirable." Glendon Scott Crawford, 49, and Eric J.
Read in browser Postal Service: new video and Colbert Report interview
By David Pescovitz on Jun 20, 2013 12:40 pm Here's the brand new video for The Postal Service's "A Tattered Line of String," one of the fresh bonus tracks on the deluxe 10th anniversary edition of their classic LP "
Give Up." This was the song the reunited group played during their first ever TV appearance on last night's episode of The Colbert Report.
Read in browser Normandy photos: World War II and now
By David Pescovitz on Jun 20, 2013 12:28 pm Accidental Mysteries posted an excellent collection of "then and now" photos of Normandy in 1944 and 2009. (Color image by Patrick Elie).
Read in browser Chinese Astronaut gives science classroom lesson from space
By Xeni Jardin on Jun 20, 2013 12:28 pm China held its first classroom lecture from its orbiting space module as part of efforts to promote an interest in science and space flight to young people.
Read in browser Stockholm court finds Pirate Bay founder guilty of hacking; sentences him to 2 years
By Xeni Jardin on Jun 20, 2013 12:25 pm After a two-week trial, The Stockholm District Court has issued a sentence in the Gottfrid Svartholm hacking case. "The 28-year-old was found guilty of hacking into Logica, a company carrying out work for local tax authorities, and sentenced to two years in jail,"
reports TorrentFreak.
Read in browser IRS to issue $70M in employee bonuses, says lawmaker
By Xeni Jardin on Jun 20, 2013 12:23 pm The Internal Revenue Service is planning to pay out about $70 million in employee bonuses,
according to Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, a senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over the IRS.
Read in browser Segregated headstones reach over the cemetery wall
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 20, 2013 12:23 pm These grave markers -- pressed up against either side of an imposing wall, with a pair of clasped hands reaching over the wall's top -- date to a time in Dutch history when Catholic and Protestant graves were strictly segregated.
Read in browser Our planet just had the third warmest May in recorded history
By Xeni Jardin on Jun 20, 2013 12:20 pm Earth experienced its
8th warmest spring on record, and the third warmest May, with average global temperature in May 1.19 degrees F.
Read in browser Jughead beanies
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 20, 2013 12:00 pm Ever wanted to own a beanie like Archie Comics's Jughead Jones? Now you can, thanks to the folks at Pork Shop:
MADE OF 100% WOOL FELT IN AMERICA, HIGHEST QUALITY WOOL CONSTRUCTION.
Read in browser Sponsor shout-out: Makerbot and the Robohand
By David Pescovitz on Jun 20, 2013 11:58 am Special thanks to our sponsor
MakerBot, creators of the world's best desktop 3D printers. MakerBot says:
MakerBot and its MakerBot® Replicator® 2 Desktop 3D Printer proudly support Robohand.
Read in browser Colorado police launch excessive force investigation after naked man tasered, another man dies at music festival
By Xeni Jardin on Jun 20, 2013 11:51 am At the
Sonic Bloom Colorado music festival, a
naked guy was tasered by police. Onlookers charge that the police used excessive force.
Read in browser Pentagon confirms that Cap'n Crunch, cereal fraudster, is wearing rank of a U.S. Navy Commander
By Xeni Jardin on Jun 20, 2013 11:35 am Image:
Foreign Policy "You are correct that Cap'n Crunch appears to be wearing the rank of a U.S. Navy commander," Lt.
Read in browser Something to think about
By Xeni Jardin on Jun 20, 2013 11:30 am * Ripped from Gareth Branwyn's Facebook feed. Read in browser A tribute to James Gandolfini at Holsten's Ice Cream shop in New Jersey, and on HBO
By Xeni Jardin on Jun 20, 2013 11:06 am This photograph shot by
News 12 New Jersey reporter John Klekamp (@JKlekamp) went viral last night, the night the world learned that
actor James Gandolfini died.
Read in browser Kindle Worlds: Amazon licensed fan fiction
By Jason Weisberger on Jun 20, 2013 10:46 am So I just read
this press release from Amazon and thought they are up to something pretty neat. Licensing worlds from their creators and allowing fan fiction writers to monetize them, with everyone making a little, sounds like a really cool idea.
Read in browser 16-year-old invents prizewinning clean algae-biofuel conversion process
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 20, 2013 10:16 am Alan sez, "Evie Sobczak, who is presently 16, appears to have invented a completely chemical-free process for turning algae into a biofuel.
Read in browser Inside Digg's new RSS Reader
By Rob Beschizza on Jun 20, 2013 10:14 am It wouldn't be a sexy subject were it not for the imminent demise of "market" leader Google Reader, but
Mat Honan's article about Digg's replacement service is a must-read. Read in browser Corpse Readers in Song Dynasty China
By Antonio Garrido on Jun 20, 2013 10:00 am During the turbulent Song dynasty (960 — 1279), a young man without resources somehow managed to become the first forensic scientist in history.
Read in browser Giant, rolling Katamari Damacy controller
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 20, 2013 09:11 am Chris sez, "I am completely obsessed with the Katamari games, so I rounded up a team to throw a Katamari party featuring a 36" Katamari controller controlling the game projected up on a wall.
Read in browser Gweek 099: John Hodgman: Ragnarok (airs tonight 6/20/2013)
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jun 20, 2013 09:00 am Your browser does not support the audio tag. John Hodgman's comedy special is airing tonight (June 20th) on Netflix. It's called
John Hodgman: Ragnarok.
Read in browser Microsoft does a 180 on DRM in the Xbox 360++
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 20, 2013 07:48 am As the specifications for Microsoft's upcoming Xbox One have emerged, more and more gamers have expressed, forcefully, their dismay at the developing picture of a console that is totally built around DRM, taking away cherished customer rights like lending or selling their games.
Read in browser Why gadgets are no longer made of wood
By Rob Beschizza on Jun 20, 2013 12:09 am John Brownlee at Fast Company: There are two reasons. One is practical; the other spiritual, about the way we look at what technology represents to the future.
Read in browser Young Gezi protester waits out the tear-gas in a Burger King
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 19, 2013 11:00 pm From the
Occupy Gezi Pics tumblr: "A young girl in a Burger King restaurant on Sunday, after she managed to escape the tear gas outside.
Read in browser Tell Me Something I Don't Know 009: John Porcellino
By Ed Piskor on Jun 19, 2013 09:40 pm This is episode 9 of Boing Boing's
Tell Me Something I Don't Know podcast. It's an interview show featuring artists, writers, filmmakers, and other creative people discussing their work, ideas, and the reality/business side of how they do what they do.
Read in browser Leaked doc shows USA has started an Internet War: Schneier
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 19, 2013 09:27 pm Bruce Schneier points out that the
leaked top-secret list of electronic attack targets picked by the Obama administration is tantamount to a declaration of Internet War on foreign powers, and shows the US government planning attacks that make the much-vaunted Chinese attacks on the USA look tame by comparison.
Read in browser 37 Conversation Rules for Gentlemen (1875)
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jun 19, 2013 08:45 pm The Art of Manliness has reprinted "37 Conversation Rules for Gentlemen" from a 1875 book entitled,
A Gentleman’s Guide to Etiquette by Cecil B.
Read in browser Actor James Gandolfini of Sopranos fame dies suddenly, in Italy
By Xeni Jardin on Jun 19, 2013 07:45 pm Actor James Gandolfini, 51, has died of what
early reports say was
a massive heart attack. He was in Italy at the time.
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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