The Latest from Boing Boing

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• Argentina: judge orders DNA test to determine if media heirs are orphans of "disappeared"
• TSA subpoenas, threatens two bloggers who published non-classified airline security directive
• Surrealistic cartoon by illustrator Jean-Philippe Masson
• Snail with vanishing spots
• AbeBooks' Weird Book Room
• Beautiful microscope images
• What makes "feminine" handwriting?
• Collin Cunningham explains Ohm's Law
• Baby in overhanging cage, London, 1934
• Man throws his bike at purse snatchers riding a scooter
• Odds of being a terrorism victim on a flight
• Graph compares price of inkjet ink to other liquids
• I am not Frodo: A Facebook conversation
• Obama moves to limit secrecy of government documents
• Schneier on this week's air-terror-scare, and TSA response
• Chris Hardwick's thoughts on airline security
• Word cloud of underwear-bomber's posts at Islamic forum
• Census of the dead, in infographic form
• Science Question from a Toddler: Why is poop brown?

Argentina: judge orders DNA test to determine if media heirs are orphans of "disappeared" Posted: 30 Dec 2009 06:35 PM PST BBC News: "An Argentine judge has ordered the heirs to a powerful media empire to take DNA tests to establish if they are victims of a forced adoption scheme... Last month, the Congress backed a proposal from the group, allowing the forced extraction of DNA from adults who may be the children of political prisoners - even when they do not want to know." And more here.

TSA subpoenas, threatens two bloggers who published non-classified airline security directive Posted: 30 Dec 2009 09:04 PM PST (Courtesy of Wired: "TSA Special Agent John Enright, left, speaks to Steven Frischling outside the blogger's home in Niantic, Connecticut, after returning Frischling's laptop Wednesday." Photo: Thomas Cain/Wired.com) On Friday, December 25, following the incident in which a Nigerian man attempted to blow up a US-bound flight, the TSA issued an urgent, non-classified security directive to thousands of contacts around the world—airlines, airports, and so on. On Saturday, December 26, airlines and airports around the world further circulated that emailed document and began implementing the procedures described. On Sunday December 27, two bloggers published the content of the TSA directive online (some portions had already been showing up on airline websites). And on Tuesday, December 29, Special Agents from the TSA's Office of Inspection showed up at the homes of bloggers Steven Frischling and Christopher Elliott, and interrogated each on where they obtained the document. Both bloggers received civil subpoenas. Snip from Wired piece by Kim Zetter: "They came to the door and immediately were asking, 'Who gave you this document?, Why did you publish the document?' and 'I don't think you know how much trouble you're in.' It was very much a hardball tactic," [Frischling] says. (...) The agents then said they wanted to take an image of his hard drive. Frischling said they had to go to WalMart to buy a hard drive, but when they returned were unable to get it to work. Frischling said the keyboard on his laptop was no longer working after they tried to copy his files. The agents left around 11 p.m. but came back Wednesday morning and, with Frischling's consent, seized his laptop, which they promised to return after copying the hard drive. Here's Frischling's post. He says he received the document from an anonymous source known to be a TSA employee, who uses a gmail account (will Google be subpoenaed?). "I received it, I read it, I posted it. Why did I post it? Because following the failed terrorist attack on the 25th of December there was a lot of confusion and speculation surrounding changes in airline & airport security procedures." Here is Elliot's post about his visit from a friendly TSA Special Agent named Flaherty. "[T]he TSA wants me to tell them who gave me the security directive. I told Flaherty I'd call my attorney and get back to him. What would you do?" Here at Boing Boing, I linked to Frischling's leak post on Monday, December 28. Two days earlier, I'd flown home to the US on an international flight during which I personally experienced the procedures detailed in the directive. I tweeted what I experienced of those procedures before, during, and after my flight on the 26th. Thorough physical patdowns and secondary hand luggage screening pre-board, no leaving your seat or electronics or putting anything on your lap during the final hour of flight, and so on. Attendants on my flight explained that the stepped-up procedures came from a just-issued TSA security directive. As soon as airlines and airports began implementing the directive—and that began before the bloggers posted their copies—the contents of the directive were no secret. So why the strong-arm tactics? Read more: New York Times story, Wired News story, and Huffington Post. Related: Just weeks ago, a TSA contract worker posted an improperly redacted sensitive screening manual on a government website. Previously: Yo dawg, I heard you like TSA security restrictions, so I put some ... Pantsbomber psyche laid bare in messageboard archives (corrected ... Do new post-pantsbomber TSA security directives kill inflight WiFi ... Word cloud of underwear-bomber's posts at Islamic forum Fruit of the Boom

Surrealistic cartoon by illustrator Jean-Philippe Masson Posted: 30 Dec 2009 02:41 PM PST Muzorama from Muzorama Team on Vimeo. This fun video by illustrator Jean-Philippe Masson (aka Muzo) was produced in just 6 weeks. Its sense of absurdity reminds me of Betty Boop cartoons.

Snail with vanishing spots Posted: 30 Dec 2009 02:34 PM PST The flamingo tongue snail Cyphoma gibbosum appears to have a shell decorated with bright spots (top of image). Amazingly though, the spots aren't actually part of the shell, but rather the animal's flesh! When the animal retracts into its stark white shell, so do the spots (bottom of image). The Cyphoma gibbosum is the star of the latest CreatureCast video from Dr. Casey Dunn's laboratory at Brown University. RISD animator Chris Vamos, who was also a student in Dr. Dunn's invertebrate zoology course, created the video. Watch it after the jump! Previously: Animal with the longest penis (relative to its size!) - Boing Boing

AbeBooks' Weird Book Room Posted: 30 Dec 2009 01:37 PM PST AbeBooks has a fantastic virtual Weird Book Room. I was thrilled to discover that I only have three of the books on the page: Mannix's The History of Torture (highly recommended!), The How And Why Wonder Book of Guns (useful!), and the Gangsta Rap Coloring Book (a gift!). Oh, how I love thee, Abe. Abe Weird Book Room (Thanks, Vann Hall!)

Beautiful microscope images Posted: 19 Dec 2009 01:37 PM PST You're looking at a water flea, as captured by Dr. Jan Michels of the University of Kiel, Germany. It's the top-prize winner in the 2009 Olympus BioScapes contest—a competition focused on images taken via microscope. The winners gallery is full of gorgeous pictures in striking, day-glo purples, greens and reds. Worth browsing, for both art and science nerds. Olympus BioScapes 2009 Winners Gallery

What makes "feminine" handwriting? Posted: 30 Dec 2009 01:47 PM PST "Masculine" writing? "Feminine" writing? Why? Every culture with a gender binary imposes gender onto all aspects of human appearance and behavior. This is done in order to reify that binary and make it appear to be "natural," rather than arbitrary. As an example, let's look at handwriting. Most people can make a better than chance guess at someone's gender identity based on a handwriting sample. But why? A couple of years ago, a reader asked me how she could make her handwriting more "feminine." I had a general sense that in the US, "feminine" handwriting is neater, more loopy, and in its most mockable form has little circles or hearts dotting each letter I. It turns out it's much more complicated than that, and the entire field of inquiry can easily devolve from legitimate forensics into quackery like "graphology" and "evolutionary psychology." The section has become the most popular part on my how-to site for transgender people, as there is considerable general-market interest in the topic, even in our age of texting and IMs. I include 30 handwriting samples (worth reading because they are cute aphorisms). Learn about gradient, structure, concavity, and maybe even make your chicken-scratch a little more legible, no matter what your gender. Handwriting and gender cues (via Transsexual Road Map)

Collin Cunningham explains Ohm's Law Posted: 30 Dec 2009 12:11 PM PST Here's MAKE's Collin Cunningham explaining Ohm's Law: Voltage = Current X Resistance. Previously: Collin Cunningham of MAKE builds an infrared heart monitor Boing Boing Make video about LEDs - Boing Boing How inductors work - Boing Boing Video explains what a capacitor is and how to make one - Boing Boing make video about visible sound and vibration

Baby in overhanging cage, London, 1934 Posted: 30 Dec 2009 11:03 AM PST 1934 photo of a baby in a wooden and wire cage hanging out of a window a few stories up. It looks secure.

Man throws his bike at purse snatchers riding a scooter Posted: 30 Dec 2009 10:38 AM PST According to the YouTube description for this video, a guy threw his bicycle at a pair of purse-snatching thieves who were speeding away on a scooter, causing them to crash and become quite upset.

Odds of being a terrorism victim on a flight Posted: 30 Dec 2009 02:09 PM PST Nate Silver of fivethirtyeight.com collected the data for this handsome infographic designed by Jesus Diaz of Gizmodo. It shows your odds of becoming an airborne victim of terrorism. Maybe the new TSA rules will decrease the odds of being a terrorism victim from 1 in 10,408,947 to 1 in 10,408,948. Let's hope so! The True Odds of Airborne Terror Chart

Graph compares price of inkjet ink to other liquids Posted: 30 Dec 2009 10:07 AM PST ReflectionOf.Me posted a graph that shows how much HP printer ink costs compared to human blood, vodka, crude oil and other precious liquids.

I am not Frodo: A Facebook conversation Posted: 19 Dec 2009 01:24 PM PST I read Lamebook sometimes, but I've never seen anything there that made me snort tea out my nose. Until now. It begins in the magical kingdom of Facebook, with a "What Lord of the Rings Character are You?" quiz ... Fair warning: There is some NSFW language and liberal doses of the stupid, preteen usage of the word "gay". Lamebook: FroDOH!

Obama moves to limit secrecy of government documents Posted: 30 Dec 2009 09:04 AM PST President Obama is taking steps to modify rules around the secrecy of government documents, and the length of time for which documents may remain secret. Secrecy experts like Steven Aftergood are cautiously optimistic, but not yet convinced this is good news.

Schneier on this week's air-terror-scare, and TSA response Posted: 30 Dec 2009 08:43 AM PST Bruce Schneier: a voice of reason, as usual. Terrorism is rare, far rarer than many people think. It's rare because very few people want to commit acts of terrorism, and executing a terrorist plot is much harder than television makes it appear. The best defenses against terrorism are largely invisible: investigation, intelligence, and emergency response. But even these are less effective at keeping us safe than our social and political policies, both at home and abroad. However, our elected leaders don't think this way: They are far more likely to implement security theater against movie-plot threats. Is aviation security mostly for show? (CNN guest editorial)

Chris Hardwick's thoughts on airline security Posted: 30 Dec 2009 08:37 AM PST Comedian and television host Chris Hardwick has a few choice words for the TSA.

Word cloud of underwear-bomber's posts at Islamic forum Posted: 30 Dec 2009 08:51 AM PST "Just / want / allah / help / good / people." Link, requires Java and no adblockers. Via Wired Danger Room on Twitter, from @i2pi and via @drewconway Previously: Do new post-pantsbomber TSA security directives kill inflight WiFi ... Pantsbomber psyche laid bare in messageboard archives (spoiler: he ... Fruit of the Boom Boing Boing Yo dawg, I heard you like TSA security restrictions, so I put some ... President Obama, It's Time To Fire the TSA

Census of the dead, in infographic form Posted: 19 Dec 2009 01:24 PM PST Appfrica has a great infographic that looks at the number of Earth's dead humans and the causes of their deaths, and creates comparisons between the population of the dead and that of the living. "How many people have ever lived?" The numbers in this piece are highly speculative but are as accurate as modern science allows. It's widely accepted that prior to 2002 there had been somewhere between 106 and 140 billion homo sapiens born to the world. One interesting fact he digs up: There are more people currently alive in Asia, Africa and Latin America than the total number of people who died—anywhere, and for any reason—during the entire 20th century. Appfrica: Population of the Dead (Thanks, Maria Popova!)

Science Question from a Toddler: Why is poop brown? Posted: 23 Dec 2009 02:10 PM PST Two Science Questions from a Toddler in the same month? It's a Festivus miracle! Or, you know, the unexpected byproduct of trying to write weekly blog posts during a month where damn-near all the sources you need to talk to are on vacation. But I'm a glass is half-full kind of woman. Speaking of byproducts, BB reader Tammy says there's a small person in her life who wants to know, "Why is poop brown?" First off, the fact that this kid's poop is brown is a really good sign. See, your stool can come in several different colors. Brown just happens to be the color of good health. "Bile comes from your gall bladder and helps your body digest food," said Anish Sheth, M.D., assistant professor at Yale Medical School and author of the book What's Your Poo Telling You? "It's metabolized by the bacteria in your large intestine, leaving behind a byproduct called stercobilin—and it's that stercobilin that gives stool a brown pigment." Without stercobilin, your poo would actually be a sort of pale, off-grey color, like white clay. This really does happen from time to time, Dr. Sheth said, when something is blocking a patient's bile duct, so that bile can't get from the gall bladder into the intestinal tract. The cause could be as simple as a gall stone, or as ominous as pancreatic cancer. In fact, the color of poop can offer some surprising insights into what's going on with the human body. In the days before fancy medical technology, doctors looked at the color and texture of poop to help diagnose gastro-intestinal illness. Today, changes in stool are still frequently the first sign that something is wrong. There's three main "wrong colors" your poop can be: Red Means: Internal bleeding, or that you've recently eaten beets If it only happens once, it's probably the beets. But ongoing red poop likely means you're bleeding somewhere along your G-I plumbing. If the problem is near the bottom, in the intestines, Dr. Sheth said, the poop will be bright red. But if you're bleeding from the throat or stomach, then the blood will get digested along with whatever you've eaten—leaving you with black, tar-like poop. "It has a very distinctive smell, too. I'm not really sure how to describe it. But once you've smelled it, you don't forget it," Dr. Sheth said. Yellow Means: There's fat in your poop The yellow color is the least disgusting part of this problem. Fatty poop also smells way worse than normal and it tends to float. "Like an oil slick," Dr. Sheth said. That's not a good thing, to put it mildly. In general, your body ought to be able to digest and absorb fat. If it's not, there's probably something wrong with your digestive system. Green Means: You've probably got a bacterial infection A particular kind of bacteria that can infect your colon can also turn your poop green—the color is a direct result of the presence of bacteria in the poop. While I had Dr. Sheth on the line, I decided that I had to ask him the ultimate "Why does my poop look like that" question. Oh yes, I asked about corn. "There are a lot of things that we can't fully digest. I call it 'Deja Poo'. Corn is just the most common example," Dr. Sheth said. The key is fiber. There's two kinds: Soluble and insoluble. If what you eat has a lot of insoluble fiber, it'll come out your other end mostly intact, because your body can't digest it. The foods that contain insoluble fiber foods are almost all plants, Dr. Sheth said, because humans haven't evolved the enzymes necessary to break down some plant cell walls. In the case of corn, some of the plant is soluble fiber and some isn't. "There's two parts of the corn—the exterior kernel that we pass through and the germ inside of it. The germ is actually extracted. The whole kernel is immersed in digestive enzymes and your body pulls out what it can use," Dr. Sheth said. "What it can't use just passes on." Ask Dr. Sheth your poop-related questions at his Web site, Dr. Stool Image courtesy Flickr user GregtheBusker, via CC

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