Tuesday, May 11, 2010

The Latest from Boing Boing

The Latest from Boing Boing

Link to Boing Boing

Coming to Chicago (then Portland, San Francisco, Austin, Raleigh and NYC!)

Posted: 10 May 2010 06:14 PM PDT

Hey, Chicagoans! I'm headed your way this week for the kick-off of the tour for my new young adult novel, For the Win. I'll be at Anderson's Books in Naperville on Weds, May 12 at 7PM and at the Chicago Public Library Harold Washington Library Center on Thurs, May 13 at 5PM.

My next city is Portland, OR, where I'll be at the Powell's Location in Beaverton on May 15. From there, I head to San Francisco (EFF benefit!), Austin, Raleigh and NYC. Hope I get a chance to see you!

Full tour schedule

Previously:


FOR THE WIN launches today

Posted: 11 May 2010 02:17 AM PDT

Today is the launch for For the Win, my latest YA novel. For the Win is an adventure story about kids around the world who work as "gold farmers" (people who do repetitive tasks in games like World of Warcraft to amass virtual fortunes that are sold on to lazier players) who use the video games and other networked systems to organize a global trade union, called the Industrial Workers of the World Wide Web (or "Webblies"). It's a kind of novel-length expansion of the ideas in my short story Anda's Game, and it's full of technical details about economics (classical and behavioral), global politics, the labor movement, and the theory and practice of games.

As with all of my novels, For the Win is a free download, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. Basically, that means you can give it to your friends or strangers, and make cool new stuff with it (so long as you're not making money from it). I hope you do!

I've just kicked off my US tour with the Tor edition of the book, but before I left London, I made sure to sign a mountain of HarperVoyager copies at Forbidden Planet in London, and they'll be delighted to sell you a copy in person or by post.

For that matter, most of the bookstores I'm signing at will gladly take pre-orders for signed/inscribed copies, so if you want to get a copy signed to a friend (or yourself), reach out to them and they'll help you out.

If you've loved the ebook and want to compensate me for it, but don't want a printed book, then have a look at the donation program: I'm listing libraries and schools and other institutions that need free copies, and you can buy a copy for one of them at your favorite bookseller: you get to pay me back, they get a book, I get a sale, and everyone's happy. (If you're an educator or librarian and need a copy, email freeftwbook@gmail.com with your details.)

Once again, Random House Audio has turned out a superb unabridged audio edition, and once again, I'm selling it (along with other electronic retailers) as a DRM-free, EULA-free download from my site (click here for a sample).

That's it! I'll be posting updates about the tour as it progresses: I really hope you enjoy the book and that I get a chance to run into you and sign it for you, somewhere along the way!

For the Win

SoHo digital arts show and Nebula Award party, NYC

Posted: 11 May 2010 02:00 AM PDT

Artist and fantasy novelist Larry Dixon (also husband of Mercedes Lackey) sez, "Starting this week, I am one of the artists in a Fantasy & SF art show at The Soho Gallery for Digital Art, a place owned by Star Trek-stud John Ordover, carrying on his dad Jerry Ordover's tradition of making Soho awesome for modern art. I got the invite from another Trek-stud, Keith DeCandido, who is curating the groovy otherworldly art show. Saturday, May 15th, the Gallery is hosting what is shaping up to be a terrific party, the NYC Nebula Night which will have droolworthy food and a simulcast of the Nebs Ceremony from Florida. The Gallery shows art on 40" Samsung monitors, and anything you see there you can get on-demand prints of. I have eight paintings in the show, and I've sent along autograph cards to go with the prints. Neat!"

NYC NEBULA NIGHT (Thanks, Larry!)

Previously:


Open source hardware business booms: 13 companies making $1M+

Posted: 11 May 2010 02:17 AM PDT

Here's Limor "Adafruit" Friend and Make editor Phil Torrone presenting a quick Ignite talk on the growth of open-source hardware businesses, including the remarkable revelation that there are 13 companies turning over $1 million or more per year making hardware that anyone can copy and improve upon. Many are based on the Arduino, but the biggest (by an order of magnitude), SparkFun, is a kind of toolsmith that makes bits and pieces to plug into your other projects.

I saw Limor and Phil give this presentation earlier this month at FOO East in Cambridge Mass and haven't been able to to get it out of my head -- so glad that someone got it on video!

13 Open Source Hardware Companies Making $1 Million or More (video)

PDF of the slides (via /.)

Previously:


UK election drama gives newspapers a front-page mediagasm

Posted: 11 May 2010 01:46 AM PDT


Here's a zeitgeisty little collage of the full-on media freakout the UK papers are indulging in as the UK election mess drags on (for those not following UK politics: no one party won enough seats for a majority, and now the two biggest are jockeying around the left/libertarian-leaning LibDems to see if an alliance can be forged).

(via Memex 1.1)

Previously:


Crucimickey in an upscale Beijing mall

Posted: 11 May 2010 01:45 AM PDT

Neil Gaiman's awesome FAQ justifying his $45,000 speaking fee

Posted: 10 May 2010 09:15 PM PDT

neil-gaiman_l.jpgThere's a minor brouhaha going on over the $45,000 speaking fee Neil Gaiman recently charged to give a talk at a public library. You can read all about it at the link if you want. I admit my first reaction was "Well, that does seem like quite a bit..." until I read Neil's awesome FAQ about the fee:
Q. How can I get Neil Gaiman to make an appearance at my school/convention/event? A. Contact Lisa Bransdorf at the Greater Talent Network. Tell her you want Neil to appear somewhere. Have her tell you how much it costs. Have her say it again in case you misheard it the first time. Tell her you could get Bill Clinton for that money. Have her tell you that you couldn't even get ten minutes of Bill Clinton for that money but it's true, he's not cheap. On the other hand, I'm really busy, and I ought to be writing, so pricing appearances somewhere between ridiculously high and obscenely high helps to discourage most of the people who want me to come and talk to them. Which I could make a full time profession, if I didn't say 'no' a lot.

Lego recreation of the "Most Useless Machine"

Posted: 10 May 2010 05:56 PM PDT

YouTube user Invisibules recreated Minsky and Shannon's "Most Useless Machine" (a box with a switch on it; switch it on and a hand emerges from the box and flips the switch to off) using Lego: 'The hardest part was probably getting the flap to operate easily and smoothly, and to open and close at the correct parts of the cycle. Careful design of the "pusher" allowed the hole to be fairly small in the later prototypes. There were probably around ten partial or complete prototypes before I found a reliable method and layout. I use the latest prototype(s) as a reference for the next, so I try to have enough bricks around to keep several on the go at once.'

The Most Useless Machine Ever Made in LEGO (video) (Thanks, stagueve!)

Previously:


Funny history of programming languages

Posted: 11 May 2010 12:50 AM PDT

James Iry's "A Brief, Incomplete, and Mostly Wrong History of Programming Languages" had me snorting liquid out of my nose with delight at the contrafactual, geeky, in-jokey whimsy.
1958 - John McCarthy and Paul Graham invent LISP. Due to high costs caused by a post-war depletion of the strategic parentheses reserve LISP never becomes popular[1]. In spite of its lack of popularity, LISP (now "Lisp" or sometimes "Arc") remains an influential language in "key algorithmic techniques such as recursion and condescension"[2].


1959 - After losing a bet with L. Ron Hubbard, Grace Hopper and several other sadists invent the Capitalization Of Boilerplate Oriented Language (COBOL) . Years later, in a misguided and sexist retaliation against Adm. Hopper's COBOL work, Ruby conferences frequently feature misogynistic material.

1964 - John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz create BASIC, an unstructured programming language for non-computer scientists.

1965 - Kemeny and Kurtz go to 1964.

A Brief, Incomplete, and Mostly Wrong History of Programming Languages (via Links)

(Image: Grace Hopper and UNIVAC, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from publicresourceorg's photostream)

Previously:


Roy Lichtenstein's estate decides they don't own the rights to everything he ripped off, after all

Posted: 10 May 2010 05:47 PM PDT

Roy Lichetenstein's estate has seen the light. After threatening copyright litigation against an indie band whose CD cover remixed the same comic book panel that the pop artist made famous, the estate has withdrawn the threat and no longer claims to own the rights to everything that rips off the same stuff that Lichtenstein copied. Elsinore's Ryan Groff sez,

Shelley Lee sent us an email this morning letting us know that the estate is fine with us using our image and requests a liner note that says:

Cover Painting by Brittany Pyle (an homage to Roy Lichtenstein's Kiss V)

This, of course, is what we initially offered to do before finding out our artist did NOT paint it as an homage, but as an appropriation of the graphic novel image. And Ms. Lee's response to this offer was "It's not an homage. It's a copyright violation." We don't know exactly what she saw or read, but she included a P.S. that said:

"For your information, someone who was familiar with your album cover notified us."

We're not quite sure what they would've notified her of, but all it boils down to is that WE WON!

Lichtenstein's Estate has Changed Its Mind!!!

Previously:


Man doesn't know what happened at the Hustler Club, but it wasn't worth $21K

Posted: 10 May 2010 05:43 PM PDT

A man who disputes a $21,620.60 charge to his Discover card for something that transpired in a private room in a Larry Flynt's Hustler Club, but he has no recollection of what transpired: "Plaintiff has no recollection of what transpired after he was led from the bar area into the private room. Plaintiff has absolutely no recollection of what transpired once he left the bar area and entered the private room."

Scholarship of video games and virtual worlds

Posted: 10 May 2010 05:40 PM PDT

Ars Technica takes a look at the world of games scholarship, including the latest issue of The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, which focuses on "Virtual Economies, Virtual Goods and Service Delivery in Virtual Worlds." There's some really meaty, sociological and economic cross-disciplinary stuff being done about games these days.
What gets studied? Gold farming, "goon culture," griefing, entrepreneurial activity, intimacy, even "The Visual Language of Virtual BDSM Photographs in Second Life," which appeared in the most recent issue of the journal.

That last piece, by Professor Shaowen Bardzell of Indiana University, relied on "two years of ethnographic observation, interviews, and artifact analysis" to suggest that "BDSM fantasy in Second Life is far more than a sexual pastime... I am more than ever convinced that all subcultures have the capacity to incubate innovation in a user-created content, and BDSM is successful particularly because of its combination of a potent visual language and the intense personal desires it stirs."

Bardzell spent many hours analyzing "hundreds of virtual photos taken from the public profiles of Second Life's BDSM practitioners" to learn more about how people presented themselves publicly.

In a paper presented last month at an Association of Computing Machinery conference, a team from Indiana University that included Bardzell conducted in-game World of Warcraft interviews to learn more about how real intimacy develops in virtual worlds--and how that world blends with the physical world. The result was "The Rogue in the Lovely Black Dress: Intimacy in World of Warcraft."

Sociologists invade World of Warcraft, see humanity's future (via Futurismic)
Previously:


Sony Vaio P2

Posted: 10 May 2010 03:53 PM PDT

vaiop2.jpg Sony's Vaio P got a sequel; Engadget's Joanna Stern quite likes the new model. I have the original: it's a great ultraportable laptop for writers on the go thanks to its jacket-pocket size and nearly full-size keyboard, and now it's also a seriously gorgeous machine, too. But! But! It still has the 1600x768 eight-inch display, which is just not at all nice on the eyes with current resolution-dependent desktop operating systems. If you want to actually enjoy the pleasure of general purpose computer, but want something lighter and nicer than a plain-jane netbook, it looks like the Vaio X (and its 8-hour battery) remains a better bet.

Cool collection of optical illusions

Posted: 10 May 2010 02:58 PM PDT

dolphinsex.jpg

Scientific American is doing a whole issue on optical illusions and they've got a sampling up on their website as a slideshow. It's interesting to see how some illusions are created by physical tricks of the eyes, while others are, apparently, psychological in nature. This illusion, for instance, is supposed to be influenced by the way sexual maturity changes your frame of mind—kids see dolphins and grown-ups see, well, sex.

If White House caves on Miranda, turrrrists really have won

Posted: 10 May 2010 02:59 PM PDT

Over at Rachel Maddow's show blog, a post about news from various sources indicating the White House may be caving on Miranda rights. But don't worry, US Attorney General Eric Holder's statements would have us believe only citizens who are suspected of terrorism don't need Miranda warnings. And there's no way any innocent American citizen could mistakenly be accused or suspected of being a terrorist.

Novice level monster on Fox News fails to defeat atheist

Posted: 10 May 2010 02:39 PM PDT


In this Fox News segment about the recent U.S. District Court decision banning the National Day of Prayer, Dan Barker (author of Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists) handily parries a Fox News announcer's clumsy blows.

Unless the Fox News character learns how to devour his prey like the Ayperobos and Ghargatulas who command the prime slots on Fox News, he won't be long for the network.

A dozen reasons TV shows get made BESIDES ratings

Posted: 10 May 2010 02:16 PM PDT

tvshowdozens.jpg I get asked a lot about why Syfy and other TV networks pick some shows to air and not others. There are of course the obvious things everyone knows or can figure out: Is it good? Will our audience like it? Will it do a good rating? Can we afford it? But beyond that there are dozens of other things we consider along the way. Some weigh more heavily than others, and each show follows a slightly different path. Below are a dozen things we think about when evaluating shows and potential shows that might give you more insight into how things actually make it onto TV. This isn't comprehensive and it's definitely not a formula, but it does go beyond just the cost vs. ratings most people know about: What kind of show is it? For Syfy we talk about, is the show set in space or on Earth? Is it science fiction or fantasy? Does it take place in a small town or a big city or on another world? Is it a scripted series? A serialized show? A reality show? A comedy? To bring in the most viewers throughout the week, our lineup needs to be balanced. After all, if we only had one type of show, we'd only bring in one type of viewer. Overall, TV viewers want variety, so it's important not to lean on one type too heavily. Of course sometimes we'll look for shows that ARE like other shows What are the "auspices" attached to the show? Who's "attached" to the show or what the show is based on can play a big role in its success. We call these "auspices." For instance, any show based on a book by Stephen King will get more attention than a show based on a book by Craig Engler. Johnny Depp as your lead, or J.J. Abrams as your creator, will attract a bigger audience than a show with people no one's ever heard of. Also, more bloggers and critics will want to write about it. A Star Trek show will have an automatic following because of its franchise vs. an all-new show. Conversely, sometimes the "newness" of a show can be like an auspice...is it the kind of show no one's ever done before?

Is the premise sustainable?
In the U.S. TV market, successful shows can last for years and run for hundreds of episodes. To do that you need a premise that doesn't wear out after the first six episodes. That's a lot harder to do than you might think. I've seen MANY shows pitched to us that were AMAZING, but they were only amazing for about six episodes, and the U.S. TV model doesn't readily support six-episode series.

What kind of audience will it bring in?
All TV networks want shows that bring in new viewers, because then we can talk to those viewers about our OTHER shows. And of course, the more viewers a show has, the more successful it is. On the other hand, we also want shows that current viewers can enjoy too, since we want to make sure they're getting the entertainment they want. It's important to have a mix of shows that do both. The best show is one that the majority of existing viewers like AND that also attracts new viewers. Currently Warehouse 13, the highest rated show in our history, does that for us. (That's WHY it's our highest rated show in history.)

When can we air it?
Is this a show that will do better Tuesdays at 8pm or Fridays at 10pm? Is it a show that might work better in the spring, or the fall, or does it not matter? Is it a weekend or a weeknight show? Can this show fit into a "night" of similar programming? Syfy is "full" on certain nights, while we have "holes" on other nights. Shows that more easily fill the holes have a better chance of getting the go-ahead from us. But overall, it's kind of like the NFL draft -- some teams draft "best available player" while others fill pressing needs (wide receiver, linebacker, etc.). The best strategy is to do both -- look for great shows that will also fill our needs. And if you've watched Syfy for a long time you'll probably remember things like "The Summer of Sci Fi" or "Sci Fi Mondays" or "Sci Fi Fridays." Tuesday has recently become our most successful night of the week, so in the fall get ready for "Syfy Tuesdays."

What can we air it with?
Although TV is getting less and less linear all the time, most people still watch it live, one show after another, so we have to think about what will run before the show (its "lead in") and what will run after it (its "lead out"). Ideally you want your audience to flow from one show to another, with a strong show pushing its large audience to the next show and so on. Sometimes we put shows (or more likely repeats) with two entirely different audiences together to get new viewers to sample them.

What can we air it against?
Every shows runs against competition on every other network out there. Can this show go head-to-head with dozens of other shows on a competitive night, or will we have to try to "protect" it? Since there are now NO nights without stiff competition, we increasingly want shows that can hold their own wherever they are. At Syfy we also have to keep an eye on where other genre shows air, as well as shows that are popular with the Syfy audience like Mythbusters. We used to "counter program" our shows in the summer since other networks ran their shows in the spring and fall, but now everyone runs shows all year long so we can't do that as much.

Will it repeat well?
Certain shows might do a massive rating when they first air, but no one watches it again in repeats. Or a show might do an okay rating at first then keep doing an okay rating in repeats. You need a mix of both. The ideal show does a massive rating AND repeats well.

Is it an easy concept to understand?
Shows with a simple, recognizable hook are easier to explain to viewers, and therefore easier to market. If I tell you there is a show called Ice Road Truckers, you'll probably know instantly if you'd be willing to give it a try or not. Of course, sometimes having a new, complicated premise can be a selling point too, if its enticing.

Is it promotable?
This goes hand-in-hand with the auspices and concept, but basically we look at what's the best way to promote this particular show? Will it need a lot of marketing money to push it or can it sell itself? Is it likely to be a critic's darling and get a lot of press, or are the critics likely to ignore it? Will viewers be more or less apt to promote it virally?

Is it "ad friendly"?
Ultimately our business model depends on advertisers, so if advertisers don't want to be in a show it's going to make it tougher for that show to succeed. Not impossible, but tough. Also, product placement is becoming more prevalent on TV. A show like Eureka, that's set in the present day on Earth is a lot easier to put products in than a show like Battlestar Galactica, where they don't have Coke and Starbucks isn't a coffee shop.

Is it interactive?
Every show works differently on the Internet. Some shows lend themselves to big, sprawling Web sites with webisodes, podcasts, and mobile comics that help us build and sustain an audience. Then there are shows people would rather just watch on TV. Non-theatrical movies, for instance, tend to be "just watch" events unless they have a crazy premise like "Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus." Shows with extensive fictional worlds like Battlestar are perfect for the Internet, because people always want to know more about them.

I could probably list a dozen other things we also look at when evaluating show pitches, but you get the idea: It's much more than just cost vs. ratings. That said, because TV shows are subjective, there's also no formula for picking winners. We might find a show that hits the sweet spot of all these things, and we might find a show that doesn't hit any of these and works because it's so different. TV is definitely one of those things that's more art than science, but at least you can see there is (occasionally) some method to the madness.

Keyhole design improvements, old and new

Posted: 10 May 2010 03:15 PM PDT

201005101343

201005101343-1

Plus ça change....

UPDATE: The innovation in the first picture is not new!

(Via EverydayUX)

"Science Gangster" coffee mug

Posted: 10 May 2010 01:28 PM PDT

sciencecoffee.jpg

What's better than starting your morning off right with a proud, nerdery-displaying mug of caffeine? Knowing that said mug was purchased from Warren Ellis.

The cuteness, it burns: baby bear plays with teddy

Posted: 10 May 2010 01:42 PM PDT

cuuuute.jpg

Today, the Flickr blog is featuring the obscenely adorable photographs of In Cheryl Kim, a publicist for a zoo in Seoul, South Korea. Among them, images of a baby brown bear carousing with a stuffed teddy. For maximum adorbs, browse this subset of his photos with the tag "baby."

Robin Cooper Urdu talk show phone prank: "My only friend"

Posted: 10 May 2010 02:48 PM PDT

coopop.jpg

I think this video may be Robin Cooper's greatest phone call ever. I know I say that every time, but, still:

The host to this foreign language show seemed so friendly and kind. I just loved our complete 'non conversation', and the fact that somehow so much seemed to be understood by both of us despite all the long pauses. He also has just about the best stare I have ever seen.
You can follow the man behind the madness here on Twitter.

Previously:


"We Built Sioux City" civic pride video

Posted: 10 May 2010 01:13 PM PDT



My eyes burn, yet I cannot look away. "It's like 'Waiting for Guffman' for Sioux City," says Gabe Adiv.

The Party Train of Kim Jong-Il

Posted: 10 May 2010 02:48 PM PDT

kim.jpg

When North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il ventures out from his happy country, as he did recently to visit China, he prefers to travel by train. But Dear Leader only does so under extraordinary security precautions, and surrounded by bling and luxuries that would make the most ostentatious of American hiphop superstars shake in their diamond-encrusted Pradas:

Kim's train is equipped with conference rooms, an audience chamber and bedrooms, with a pair of Mercedes-Benzes on standby, not to mention satellite phone connections and flat-screen TVs so the leader can be briefed and issue orders.

In the 2002 book "Orient Express," Russian official Konstantin Pulikovsky described Kim's three-week journey to Moscow the previous year.

Cases of Bordeaux and Beaujolais were flown in from Paris, as was live lobster, according to the book. There were also such North Korean specialties as koya, piglet barbecue, and salo, salted and aged pig fat. Leftovers were boxed up and returned to North Korea.

What, no Ciroq? Well, at least the people of North Korea aren't on the verge of (yet another) famine. Oh wait, they are.

Kim Jong Il mixes bling, extreme safety on train (LA Times)

What is this musical instrument at a Qatar souk?

Posted: 10 May 2010 02:48 PM PDT

souk.jpg

Omar Chatriwala of Al Jazeera posted a neat set of photographs of traditional musicians at a souk in Doha, Qatar. Among them, this shot of a gentleman playing something that looks kinda like Middle Eastern bagpipes, made from some kind of animal hide. Do you know what it is?

BP continues kludgey, toxic attempts to contain Gulf oil spill, limit damage

Posted: 10 May 2010 01:04 PM PDT

bp.jpg

Hey, it's Monday, and that means a fresh week of bumbling attempts by everyone's favorite oil company to limit the ongoing spread of the giant Gulf oil spill.

BP on Monday resumed injecting dispersants into the gusher a mile below the Gulf of Mexico, as it weighed its next steps. Ideas include "top hats" and "junk shots" to try to contain the spewing crude.
Top hats and junk shots! And if that don't work, there's always golf balls and tires! Is anyone uploading this stuff to thereifixedit.com?

And quoth Doug Suttles, BP's operating officer for exploration and production, at a Saturday press conference on the failed attempt to stop the gushing oil with a "containment dome" the night before:

I wouldn't say it has failed yet (...)What I would say is what we attempted to do last night didn't work.
(via William Gibson, Greg Mitchell, Peter Kirn)

John Dillinger's wooden prison escape pistol sold at auction for $19,120

Posted: 10 May 2010 12:42 PM PDT

Dillingerswoodgun

Is this the infamous wooden pistol that John Dillinger made to break out of prison in 1934? The person who paid $19,120 for it at an auction in December 2009 probably thinks so. I like that it has "Colt 38" carved into the side. The Great Escape prisoners also put markings (e.g., "Made in Stalag Luft III") on the escape tools they fabricated. A nice touch!

Probably the Single Most Iconic Item Associated with John Dillinger is the Legendary "Wooden Gun" He Carved and Used to Escape from the Crown Point, Indiana Jail, March 3, 1934. In reality there are three 'wooden guns', including this example, that can lay claim, all with some degree of credibility, to being the one Dillinger used is his remarkable escape. This example was part of the personal effects of Dillinger's younger brother Hubert, and has been in the possession of Frances Helen's family since his death in 1974. Another example is in the possession of the Dillinger Museum in Hammond, Indiana, while still another is in the possession of another branch of the family. While it will probably never be known which, if indeed any, of these three examples is the one he actually used, aside from it having a traceable lineage through the Dillinger family, this example exhibits several other details which lend strong credence to the family's belief that this is, in fact, the original specimen. 5.75" overall, the blackened finish is clearly affected by a dye, such as shoe blacking, rather than a paint and it does, indeed appear to have been fabricated from the leg of something such as a washboard. The general impression, based on the barrel form, is that of an automatic pistol. There are tiny brads in place on top at the front and back giving the impression of sights, with an incised line between them. A notched area at the back approximates a hammer. The front/muzzle has a .25" copper tube inserted to simulate a barrel. Crudely carved on the right side "Colt 38" and on the left, clearly in keeping with Dillinger's sense of humor and irony, "Pat Mar 3, 1934" the date of Dillinger's escape. Accompanied by a detailed letter of provenance and lineage from Frances Helen Thompson (Dillinger).
John Dillinger's Wooden Gun

BP's contributions to Congress dwarf amount received by Obama (and GOPers got most)

Posted: 10 May 2010 12:45 PM PDT

Last week, I posted about a report from the Sunlight Foundation on political campaign contributions from BP and its employees to presidential candidates in the last US elections. Obama received the most. Today, Good Magazine points to related news: "[M]ore oil money goes to Congress as a whole than to presidential candidates." Looking at their list of 10 top BP $$ recipients, more went to Republicans than Democrats, for what that's worth.

Amazing head-on photo of DC-3 taking off

Posted: 10 May 2010 01:22 PM PDT

Images Dc3-Sightings-Flash
Photographer Mike Shore of Austin, Texas took this spectacular photo of a DC-3 airplane from a helicopter. It's so perfectly head-on that it almost looks like an illustration. Shore's Web site is filled with fantastic aviation photos. From Smithsonian Air & Space:
The 70-200mm telephoto lens that (Shore) used to grab this Douglas DC-3D created a compression effect, "in which the subject appears a little more extreme in comparison to the background," he says. "This is all in the glass, and it's a great technique to capture the eye."
"Sightings: Head On"

Andy Kaufman-esque yo-yo prankster confuses local TV news stations

Posted: 10 May 2010 12:00 PM PDT



From Dangerous Minds: "Evidently this guy is going around tricking local news stations in the mid-west into letting him give these "yo-yo" demonstrations on live TV. Brilliant!"

Rastafarian inmates in VA prisons spend 10 years in solitary for dreadlocks

Posted: 10 May 2010 11:07 AM PDT

In Virginia, Rastafarian prison inmates who will not allow their dreadlocks to be cut for spiritual reasons have been placed in solitary confinement for up to a decade. The VA Dept. of Corrections won't say how many rastas are in solitary for this reason, but the linked AP story says there are at least 10.
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