Tuesday, July 6, 2010

The Latest from Boing Boing

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Good news from some of Toronto's independent bookstores

Posted: 06 Jul 2010 01:59 AM PDT

From the Toronto Star, a heartwarming piece about a small number of specialty independent bookstores that are thriving in Toronto, including BakkaPhoenix, the world's oldest remaining science fiction bookstore (and my former employer). Things are going so well for Bakka that they've bought a new, larger building near the University of Toronto campus. Any good news about indie booksellers is a welcome break from the doom-and-gloom of the past twenty-some years.
But while some of the competition is retrenching or worse, BakkaPhoenix, which recorded a double-digit increase in sales last year, is expanding. In stark contrast to the recently shuttered This Ain't the Rosedale Library, BakkaPhoenix is readying a fall move from the Queen St. W. location it currently rents to the larger, two-storey Harbord St. digs it has purchased.

"One of the things we were looking for was space for our community," says Chris Szego, who has managed the store for the past decade. "We already have had science-fiction book clubs approach us to see if they can hold their meetings there.

"We want to schedule writing an reading workshops. That's something independent bookstores can be great at. We offer community."

The store, which has relocated a handful of times since it first opened in 1972, will set up shop in the former home of Atticus Books, a couple of doors west of Spadina and within shouting distance of the University of Toronto.

"Hopefully, we can insert ourselves quickly into the mental headspace of University of Toronto undergraduates because there's an endless supply of those," Szego says.

Tough times, but some bookstores have a different story (via @david_tallan)

(Image: Bakka-Phoenix, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from bobolink's photostream)



HOWTO Make a Death Star Cookie

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 10:33 PM PDT

TSA blocks "controversial opinion" from its internal network

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 10:28 PM PDT

The US Transport Security Agency has joined with other defenders of liberty, such as the governments of Iran and Syria, and has added a censorwall to its network that blocks "controversial opinion." Apparently the TSA's crack operatives are impressionable, easily gulled types who are at danger of becoming jihadis, polys, or possibly even liberals if they are exposed to "controversy."
The email does not specify how the TSA will determine if a website expresses a "controversial opinion."

There is also no explanation as to why controversial opinions are being blocked, although the email stated that some of the restricted websites violate the Employee Responsibilities and Conduct policy.

The TSA did not return calls seeking comment by publication time.

TSA to Block "Controversial Opinion" on the Web (via /.)


Underwater Basket Weaving: the real story

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 10:27 PM PDT

We've all heard "Underwater Basket Weaving" used as a synonym for easy, impractical college courses. Turns out that underwater basket weaving is challenging, rewarding, and offered by at least two American universities: UCSD, and Saint Joseph's College Indiana. So whence the joke about UBW?
The earliest reference to the term that I could find, searching on Newspaper Archive, was May 9, 1960. The author of a Pasadena Independent trivia column noted that "Son Herbert reports that underwater basket weaving is all the rage among college students who want to spare the brain cells." So evidently the joke had been well established by 1960. I would guess the origin of the term dates to the late 1950s. Did the joke start after a college actually began offering this course? I don't know, but it seems possible.
Underwater Basket Weaving (via Making Light)

(Image: Soaking_reeds_for_basket_weaving.gif, Wikimedia Commons/Charlotte Coats)



Earliest utopian novel by an American woman: 300 Years Hence, 1836

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 10:18 PM PDT

John Mark Ockerbloom sez, "My wife Mary's just posted a newly illustrated edition of Mary Griffith's 1836 vision of the future, _Three Hundred Years Hence_. It's the earliest known utopian novel by an American woman, and it's rather different from many of the later male-imagined futures that are better-known today. And to my mind, it's more interesting than most of those. For one thing, unlike many books in this genre, it doesn't simply ride one particular hobby-horse of an author, but projects a wide variety of trends, technological, political, economic, and social. For this free online edition, Mary's added a number of Creative Commons-licensed images, and links to Wikipedia articles, to help readers find out more about people and places the author refers to, as they were then, and (when applicable) as they are now."
"One thing surprises me," said Hastings. "You wear the quaker dress; indeed, it is of that fashion which the gravest of the sect of my time wore; but you do not use the mode of speech - is that abolished among you?"

The young man, whom we shall in future call Edgar, laughed out. "Quaker!" said he; "why, my dear sir, the quakers have been extinct for upwards of two centuries. My dress is the fashion of the present moment; all the young men of my age and standing dress in this style now. Does it appear odd to you?"

"No," said Hastings, "because this precise dress was worn by the people called Friends or Quakers, in my day - strange that I should have to use this curious mode of speech - my day! yes, like the wandering Jew, I seem to exist to the end of time. I see one alteration or difference, however; you wear heavy gold buckles in your shoes, the quakers wore strings; you have long ruffles on your hands, they had none; you wear a cocked hat, and they wore one with a large round rim."

Three hundred years hence (Thanks, John Mark!)


4chan prank means Justin Bieber must tour North Korea

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 09:40 PM PDT

bieber2.jpgJustin Bieber's "My World Tour" Twitter voting contest asked fans to vote on which country he should tour next, without restriction on which countries could be included in the vote. 4chan smelled opportunity: Anonymous nominated North Korea, then the boards clickswarmed. At the time of this blog post, more than half a million votes now demand the Canadian singer go do his thing on Kim Jong Il's party train.

I can't tell what's funnier, the Bieb stunt or the Beeb's coverage:

bieber.jpg il.jpg

The contest, which ends at 1800 on 7 July, saw North Korea move from 24th to 1st place in less than two days, several thousand votes ahead of Israel.

Given the fact that almost all citizens of North Korea are denied internet access and there are restrictive controls over all media, it is unlikely that any of the votes have actually come from within the country.

A spokesman for the North Korean Embassy in London told BBC News that any application for 16-year-old Bieber to tour would be dealt with by its mission to the United Nations, although the matter would be referred to Pyongyang.

Thank you for reminding us this is serious bizness, BBC News. Anyway, if the prank's outcome really does obligate Bieber to go to North Korea—hey, fair's fair— let's just hope he stays there. Just one day left for votes, as I publish this blog post!

Also: 4chan's been busy with this guy. Ars Technica reports on a related attack that exploited a YouTube vulnerability.

(via Jodi Ettenberg)

noko.jpg

Putting the "punk" back in steampunk: one particularly awesome costume

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 05:46 PM PDT

I'm a couple of weeks late on this one, but I don't think these images have been appreciated enough around the 'net. The LA Weekly's Liz Ohanesian attended the Malediction Society's Steampunk Ball in Los Angeles recently, with photographer CuriousJosh, and met someone with the best steampunk gear I've seen in a long while.

"This is perhaps the best steampunk outfit that isn't a Star Wars cosplay," says Liz. Boy, do I agree.

Mark Becknauld says that his outfit for the event wasn't based on any existing characters. Instead, his intention was "keeping the actual punk portion in steampunk." Becknauld, who reserves his steampunk outfits for special events like San Diego Comic-Con, Bat's Day and theme parties, made his armband out of brass, leather and copper. It took about two months to complete.

Becknauld's goggles were crafted from solid brass. He designed the eyewear, which includes a brass piece over one eye that can open and shut, but had it made by a craftsperson in France. It took about six weeks for him to receive the final piece.

Putting the Punk Back Into Steampunk (more photos of this guy's amazing costume) and Malediction Society's Steampunk Ball and 5th Anniversary (many more images of the event and costumes worn by other attendees).

(Image: CuriousJosh)

Iran declares war on mullets, ponytails for men; approves of hair gel and Elvis 'dos

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 05:37 PM PDT

Iran's ministry of culture has released a catalog of government-approved hair styles, in an effort to eliminate the menace of "decadent Western cuts." According to the Islamic Republic News Agency, forbidden 'dos include ponytails, mullets and spiky hair. But styles resembling those of Elvis Presley, Simon Cowell, or eighties-era floppy fringes are totally fine. Also, hair gel in moderation is acceptable. With the exception of goatees, facial hair is frowned upon.

Remember now, just months ago an Iranian cleric decreed: "Many women who do not dress modestly lead young men astray and spread adultery in society, which increases earthquakes." Wonder what disasters the verboten hairdos for men cause?

More: France 24, Reuters (image: Reuters)

Tampa police officer rides horse through hookah bar

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 05:48 PM PDT


Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor said, "It's good public relations."

EFF's Cindy Cohn on Colbert Report tonight (July 5, 2010)

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 05:22 PM PDT

This just in: Electronic Frontier Foundation Legal Director Cindy Cohn will be a guest on The Colbert Report on Comedy Central tonight. Show airs at 11:30pm, and video will of course be available on the internets tomorrow.

Old timey homemade stainless steel dentures

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 05:10 PM PDT

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I love your smile. (Via Mostly Forbidden Zone)

Help fund a hackerspace for biology

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 03:36 PM PDT


At FOO Camp, I had the pleasure of meeting Eri Gentry, a very smart, passionate, and charismatic bio-hacking enthusiast who is working with friends to build BioCurious, a non-profit community hackerspace for open source biotech in Mountain View, Califoirnia. (BB's Dean Putney snapped the below photo of Eri at FOO Camp with her group's DIY PCR machine.) The BioCurious folks have launched a Kickstarter project to really bring their work out of the garage and, well, into a much bigger garage. I think efforts like BioCurious are essential to the future of biotech. In fact, I think efforts like BioCurious are the future of biotech. BioCurious is all about:
4142 4735542743 B1375Cd605-1 1) Education, Outreach, Community building events.
Science was once a cultural activity, carried out by wealthy "gentlemen scholars" who had the leisure and material resources to experiment. The 20th century saw an unprecedented centralization of science around an industrial model. The plummeting costs of enabling technologies has brought meaningful biological research back within reach of the independent citizen scientist. From Bio-Art to BioFuels, the wave of next generation biotech applications is set to transform our culture and economy. BioCurious will be Ground 0 for this revolution.

2) Entrepreneurship Incubation, Mentoring, Angel Investment.
The Bay Area is home to many networks that help entrepreneurs launch web businesses with a shoe-string budget and a dream. Similar support infrastructure does not yet exist for biotech ventures. Until recently, biotech has required large start up costs. An ecosystem of mentorship and a network of investors who understand the possibilities for lean-biotech-start ups to leverage shared resources and amplify their creative efforts to have disproportionate commercial impact, does not yet exist. BioCurious will catalyze the formation of this system.

Your support will help us acquire the remaining needed equipment and secure the deposit of 3 months rent for a fully outfitted labspace. Together with the matching pledges from our founding members, whose monthly dues will support operations, we'll have a sustainable non-profit community lab. Science and education grants (STEM) will provide further support as well as kits and classes (eg, core biotech courses, how to build a gel box, PCR technique, SNP testing).
Kickstarter: BioCurious biology hackerspace

Internet gentleman really, really likes rainbows

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 02:56 PM PDT

The fellow whose voice you hear in this video has rather a thing for rainbows. This one is funny, but this one is legendary. (thanks, Andrea James).

Mister Jalopy's business card: Just Google me!

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 02:23 PM PDT

-L2C8Nymcv0 Tc6I2Oqtj2I Aaaaaaaafws Mfrnip6Zf50 S1600 Googlebusinesscard

Mister Jalopy's business card is brilliant.

If you Google my nom de bullshit, Mister Jalopy, all the top hits are for web pages that I control. And my e-mail address is right on the front page of all of them. For detractors, fans and spam scraping robots alike, I am super easy to find.

Despite my almost annoying ever presence, people are always asking for my business card. I understand. It is not so much about my contact information as a physical token of us having met. An artifact to record the moment. So, now I have a business card!

Just Google me!

Mister Jalopy's Business Card

Jam infused with Lady Di's hair and other strange ingredients

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 02:28 PM PDT

Cnn 2010 Images 07 05 C1Main.Milk.Jam
Sam Bompas is selling a line of "occult jam" infused with specs of Princess Diana's hair, sand from the Great Pyramids, and wood from The Victory, a warship from the Battle of Trafalgar. He created it for the Surreal House exhibition at Barbican Art Gallery and will soon sell it through his jelly company, Bompas and Parr. From CNN:
Bompas decided he wanted to push it to the limit - to see how far he could go with infusing some of the strangest objects, but also ones we can all relate to - by putting them in his jam. So he got on eBay and purchased locks of Diana's hair and got together his other ingredients to start preparations...

"We wanted the jams to have these weird and wonderful ingredients," Bompas said. "By using things like sand from Egypt, hair from Princess Diana,
if you are going to choose an odd ingredient, choose one that everyone can relate to. It can open up those conversations, and it will. Everyone can
have those conversations about how they feel about it - it's the eternal debate of what is art. What has started out as art itself has become a product with a lot of major retailers."

Perhaps Bompas has Princess Diana to thank for that, because now the founder is preparing to make the jam available through retailers worldwide, instead of just the store at the Art Gallery (where it sells for about $7 a jar). Bompas said the jams have been through all the normal testing procedures to ensure safety and shelf-life testing.

"For sale: Jam infused with Princess Diana's hair"

Bamboo Charlie: homeless man builds toy-filled refuge

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 01:22 PM PDT

"I love the expression on people's faces when they come here," says "Bamboo Charlie" Walker in this Los Angeles Times profile. "A homeless man with toys? Whoa!"

For the better part of 18 years, Charles Ray Walker, a homeless man from Houston, has made his home near the junctions of the 5, 10, 60 and 101 freeways in Boyle Heights, on a plot with a shock of green bamboo trees. There, he grows nectarines, peaches and strawberries and displays a collection of found objects.
Here's video, here's a photo gallery of his amazing abode and meticulously arranged found object collection, and here is the interview.

World Cup statue made from cocaine

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 12:48 PM PDT

This crappy-looking replica of the World Cup trophy is actually made from cocaine. Police found it at Colombia's Bogotà airport in a box addressed to Madrid. From The Guardian:
Cocainetrophhh(Airport official Colonel José) Piedrahita said a lab test confirmed the cup was made of 11kg (24lb) of powder, which would have been mixed with acetone or petrol to make it into a paste that could be moulded. The cocaine would be worth up to £1m on the street.
"World Cup replica made of cocaine seized in Colombia"

Zombies in Wonderland tee

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 12:24 PM PDT


I'm all for this sort of thing: Zombies in Wonderland, a Threadless tee by Alice X. Zhang and Donald Lim.

Zombies in Wonderland by Alice X. Zhang and Donald Lim (via Super Punch)



Chamomile Tea Party Posters

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 12:23 PM PDT

Boing Boing reader Jeff says, "I'm so sick of the rancor and party politics in Washington, so I created a series of posters under the moniker of the 'Chamomile Tea Party,' advocating for putting the country first and parties last. The posters are based on WWII-era propaganda posters."

Psychological research and WEIRD nations

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 12:28 PM PDT

A new University of British Columbia psychological study used a new acronym to help explain why results from behavioral studies on people in Western nations don't usually represent the rest of the world. It's because we're WEIRD ("Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic.") The research is in the scientific journals Nature and Behavioral and Brain Sciences. From the UBC:
"The foundations of human psychology and behavior have been built almost exclusively on research conducted on subjects from WEIRD societies," says UBC Psychology and Economics Prof. Joe Henrich, who led the study with UBC co-authors Prof. Steven Heine and Prof. Ara Norenzayan. "While students from Western nations are a convenient, low-cost data pool, our findings suggest that they are also among the least representative populations one could find for generalizing about humans."

The study, which reviews the comparative database of research from across the behavioural sciences, finds that subjects from WEIRD societies are more individualistic, analytic, concerned with fairness, existentially anxious and less conforming and attentive to context compared to those from non-WEIRD societies.

Psychological research conducted in WEIRD nations may not apply to global populations

Atomic Flashback: Nuclear Fourth of July, 1951

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 12:20 PM PDT

Official "This website seized by feds" graphic

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 12:51 PM PDT

Boing Boing reader "ominous mouse" points us to a US Government official takedown graphic—the thing you'll see when a filesharing site (or some similar site which has run afoul of the law) is yanked. The example here can also be seen on tvshack.net, one of nine websites recently seized by the feds over pirated movies. The warrants for those takedowns were issued in Manhattan federal court, hence the reference to New York state. Reuters snip:

Kevin Suh, vice president of content protection for the Motion Picture Association of America, a Hollywood trade group, called the action, "Operation In Our Sites", the "largest takedown of illegal movie and television websites in a single action by the federal government."
I kind of want this graphic on a t-shirt.

Silver pill fob in Boing Boing Bazaar

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 12:37 PM PDT

System Product Images 8540 Original Av1

We've featured Brain Dereu's hollow spy coins before. Have you ever wondered what Brian does with the milled out silver shavings? He makes 1.5-inch long silver pill fobs out of them, naturally! This $68 creation would make a terrific gift for a loved one. I just ordered one for my lactose-intolerant wife, so that she can always carry a Lactaid tablet around her neck.

Solid Silver Spy Capsule

Micmacs, a movie about makers

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 11:39 AM PDT


Laura says:

I just saw Micmacs last night. It is a really enjoyable French film with a MAKE-bent to it - the main characters live in a junkyard, salvaging discarded stuff and turning it into useful contraptions and art.

"Here, we salvage gear, sort it and fix it." It's written and directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who wrote & directed Amelie and City of Lost Children.

Micmacs

Planck's first image of space, past and present

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 02:55 PM PDT

planck.jpg

The European Space Agency today released the first image of space obtained by the Planck mission. Shown above, the image includes emissions from dust in our own galaxy and faint ripples of the cosmic microwave background that is light left behind from The Big Bang. This is the first all-sky map from the spacecraft, which will complete four surveys before its mission ends in 2012. A good explanatory article here on SpaceFlight Now. (image courtesy ESA/ LFI & HFI Consortia; Thanks, Dave Clements)

"This is the worst oil we've seen yet"

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 11:32 AM PDT

news-hurricane-alex05-waves-grass_22800_600x450.jpg

National Geographic News photo editor Chris Combs has filed a report from the Louisiana shoreline, after Hurricane Alex pushed oil onto already cleaned beaches. This time, he reports, there's no one around to clean them up:

"This is the worst oil we've seen yet, and...this is the absolute worst time for the oil to be here," said Wayne Keller, executive director of the Grand Isle Port Commission.

The Grand Isle Port Commission's Keller supervises some of the efforts to clean oiled beaches on nearby Elmer's Island National Wildlife Refuge, off Grand Isle, where beach access has been cut off by high waters from Hurricane Alex.

"We can't stop it. There's no skimming, booms aren't working in the heavy surf. It's a mess right now. And "the largest [oil] plumes we've seen yet are offshore."

Pictures: Hurricane Alex Pushes Oil on "Cleaned" Beaches (Photograph by Chris Combs, National Geographic; thanks, Marilyn Terrell)

Prince: "The internet's completely over."

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 11:13 AM PDT

It takes a lot to get me to link to noted shitrag The Daily Mirror. One of my favorite musical artists and Highly Eccentric Persons declaring the entirety of networked communication "over"? Fine. I'll take the bait. Snip:
prince.jpg"You must come and listen to the album," he says. "I hope you like it. It's great that it will be free to readers of your newspaper. I really believe in finding new ways to distribute my music." He explains that he decided the album will be released in CD format only in the Mirror. There'll be no downloads anywhere in the world because of his ongoing battles against internet abuses. Unlike most other rock stars, he has banned YouTube and iTunes from using any of his music and has even closed down his own official website.

He says: "The internet's completely over. I don't see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won't pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can't get it. The internet's like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can't be good for you."

{facepalm}.

Prince - world exclusive interview: Peter Willis goes inside the star's secret world (via Chris Carter)

Bandai's new model of Space Shuttle Endeavour

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 12:05 PM PDT

spaceshut.jpg Cutaway views of the Endeavour collectible, the second in Bandai's "Super Alloy" series

Bandai Co.'s toy-making division today announced that on on December 3, 2010, the company will release a zinc alloy 1/144-scale model of the U.S. Space Shuttle Endeavour. In 1992, astronaut Mamoru Mohri was its first Japanese payload specialist. Endeavour will fly its final mission—which will also be the final mission of the entire Space Shuttle program—in 2011.

Collectspace.com editor Robert Pearlman writes,

The 47,250 yen ($540 US) model includes removable panels exposing the crew cabin flight- and mid-decks, as well as the orbital maneuvering system tanks. Endeavour can separate from the twin solid rocket boosters and external tank, open its payload bay (included are a Spacelab pallet and Mulit-Purpose Logistics Module) and deploy its landing gear and tail-mounted speed brake.
This will be the second in Banda's "super alloy" collectible series: in March, the company released an Apollo II Saturn V.

Bandai to release U.S. space shuttle Endeavour model (Collect Space)

More product images on the Bandai distribution website.

Screen shot 2010-07-05 at 10.42.44 AM.jpg

Weird multi-level marketing company sells $300 cure-all wand

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 10:35 AM PDT

Rocco Castoro of Vice wrote an article about a multi-level marketing company called Amega Global. He told me, "Basically they are the Amway for people who think a metal tube full of 'granulated minerals and crystals' can fix your bad back, make crappy wine taste better, reduce the acidity of lemons, energize your food, etc. I went to a 'wanding party' in Westchester, and it was very weird indeed."
Int V17N6 Htdocs A-Wanderful-Experience-454 Man-Getting-Wanded The AMwand was released in the US in January, and since then a steadily growing number of Amega associates across America have discovered that the wand and the company's other products are capable of grand things. The short list of its supposed powers includes relieving various body aches and pains, stimulating the circulatory system, reducing the acidity of lemons, increasing the potency of food, alleviating migraines, and "energizing" just about any organic or inanimate object you can shake a stick at.

According to the company's website, Amega Global was formed in Singapore in 2006 by a consortium of three companies: a wellness-product manufacturer, an investment firm, and a "people-development company." Most of their products are made in Asia and Australia. If you were wondering, its founders came up with the name Amega Global because they wanted to create "a mega global company." And if you're to believe Amega's distributors, the program has been a runaway success. Other Amega dealers told me that the AMwand produced approximately $42,000 worth of presales in December 2009, $885,000 in its inaugural month on the market, and an astounding $2.5 million in February. (More recent figures were not available at the time this piece went to print.) There is no way to ascertain whether Amega's sales figures are legit. None of the emails I sent or voice mails I left for administrative members of Amega were returned. In fact, the only direct employee of Amega who would speak with me on the phone was a customer-service representative who told me they do not have a public-relations department and he did not have access to sales information; he advised me to send an email to a general address (which was never answered). Yet every distributor I spoke with was extremely enthusiastic about the products and claimed to be making a healthy supplemental or full-time income from their sales. In fact, many of the Amegans I contacted mentioned that the program has been so successful it's spawned cheaper bootleg wands available on the internet (which, according to them, do not work).

Check out YouTube for a bunch of funny videos about the AmWand, like this one.

A Wanderful Experience

Memories of Omni magazine

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 10:20 AM PDT

Images2 Omni 7811 Images2 Omni 8207
I miss Omni magazine. It was a terrific blend of technology, science, art, fiction, futurism, and high weirdness. It definitely inspired my worldview and interests that I hope come across on BB. In fact, if I could launch a new Boing Boing print magazine, it might have this logo, courtesy of Rob Beschizza:

Omniboinnnn

For more Omni wonderfulness, a French site called Collectors Showcase has a nearly complete set of Omni covers. And for more, there's the Omni Magazine Online - Tribute Website and the OmniShrine Wiki.
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