Saturday, September 4, 2010

The Latest from Boing Boing

The Latest from Boing Boing

Link to Boing Boing

Exec at troubled hedge fund busted for operating "complex" weed farm in her home

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 09:14 PM PDT

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Teri Buhl at Forbes reports on a sign of the times:

"An executive at a billion-dollar Connecticut hedge fund was arrested on felony charges of allegedly running a huge year-round pot farm inside her home. But her boyfriend says the cops have it wrong, that they're goat farmers, not dope farmers."

(Image: A CC-licensed photo by Flickr user r0bz.)

Canada may send flight data to US Homeland Security

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 10:05 PM PDT

A bill introduced in Canada's House of Commons would give US Department of Homeland Security officials "final say over who may board aircraft in Canada if they are to fly over the United States en route to a third country." (via @ioerror)

Mary Roach: Death In Space

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 05:10 PM PDT

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For some uplifting weekend reading, I suggest Mary Roach's excellent Boing Boing special feature "Death In Space." From the intro:
Deathspaceee The U.S. has plans for a manned visit to Mars by the mid-2030s. The ESA and Russia have sketched out a similar joint mission, and it is claimed that China's space program has the same objective. Apart from their destination, all these plans share something in common: extraordinary danger for the explorers. What happens if someone dies out there, months away from Earth?

Swedish ecologists Susanne Wiigh-Mäsak and Peter Mäsak are the inventors of an environmentally friendly alternative to cremation and burial, called Promession. The technique entails freezing a body, vibrating it into tiny pieces, and then freeze-drying the pieces, which can then be used as compost to grow a memorial shrub or tree.

"Death In Space"

Interview with James Howard Kunstler, author of The Witch of Hebron

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 04:16 PM PDT

Matt Staggs of Suvudu interviewed James Howard Kunstler (The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century) about his forthcoming novel, The Witch of Hebron, which is anther novel set in the same universe as his end-of-cheap-energy novel, World Made by Hand (which I liked and reviewed here).
Witch-Of-Hebron Staggs: Both World Made by Hand and The Witch of Hebron take place in the world of The Long Emergency, which you've written about in the non-fiction title of the same name. Could you very briefly explain what the Long Emergency is for our readers?

Kunstler: The Long Emergency is the culminating crisis of modernity, growing out of the limits to growth, resource scarcity, and the collapse of the complex systems that keep us going — everything ranging from industrialized farming to oil-based transportation to electronic communication. It can also be described as the crisis of over-investments in complexity — resolving in a traumatic wave of sudden de-complexifying.

Staggs: Reading your novels, I find myself in some ways envious of the sense of community enjoyed by the residents of Union Grove, yet I remain aware of – and wary of – the incredible loss of life that our world would experience following a collapse of our oil-based infrastructure. On the whole, would you imagine that we'd gain or lose more in such a world?

Kunstler: It's part of the tension of the story that we are constantly having to measure what's been gained against what's been lost. The losses are perhaps more obvious: comfort, certainty, and the whole prosthetic nimbus of technology that we are so used to. The gains are perhaps more subtle: making your own music, enjoying the sounds, scents, and sensations of nature much more directly, the blessed absence of cars and other motor-driven annoyances, unmediated relations with family, friends, and community members, a reconnection with the elemental ceremonies of birth, death, the harvest, the coming of spring, etc.

Interview with James Howard Kunstler, author of The Witch of Hebron

Adorable baby octopuses, living happy and free

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 03:20 PM PDT

To make up for the research kittens.

Note: This starts out somewhat depressingly, with the body of a female octopus that died after reproducing—as all octopuses, male and female, do. But it quickly gets past that, and on to the wee, baby octopuses, floating around the sea. Turn off the sound to block out the sad song, and focus on that.

From jenniel, via Submitterator

Research on horribly cute kittens is kind of horrible looking

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 02:52 PM PDT

"In order to study the way that experience can influence the brain, there has been a great deal of research done on the visual cortex of the kitten."

Oh, this is going to end badly, isn't it?

This short documentary from the 1970s explains, in depth, some research that I mentioned earlier this year in a BoingBoing article on fetal senses. Long story short: Kittens are born blind and do a lot of their sight-linked brain development in the first few weeks after birth. Because of this, they make a handy model for studying how the brains of human fetuses form neural connections and how our sense of sight develops in the womb. It's important research that has helped medical science better understand how to care for premature human babies, besides adding valuable details to our understanding of the brain, in general.

Unfortunately, because kittens are adorable, said very important research looks almost comically evil when filmed. Seriously, this video is one "Thittens" joke away from working as a segment of Look Around You.

So, thanks, blorgggg (Thorgggg?), for sending this video in via Submitterator. I'm sure the Moderators will be thanking you (and me) as well. I do ask that, as we get into the inevitable discussion on animal research, you remember that the scientists involved did not raise kittens in completely dark rooms for sociopathic shits and giggles, but because they thought the potential benefits of the research outweighed the (mostly temporary) damage done to the kittens' visual abilities. You may disagree with that calculation—and you're welcome to do so. In fact, I think that complex discussion about ends and means in specific studies is valuable. And interesting. Far more so (on both counts) than simply labeling anyone who uses animals for research as a for-kicks abuser of fluffy baby kitties.

What Things Do: excellent webcomics

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 02:51 PM PDT

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Panels from "Unraveling," part 2, by Jordan Crane

What Things Do is a stunningly good webcomics site, launched by comics artist Jordan Crane and featuring some of the best independent comics artists around, including Gabrielle Bell, Abner Dean, Sammy Harkham, Jaime Hernandez, Kevin Huizenga, Ted May, John Porcellino, Ron Regé Jr., Steve Weissman, and Dan Zettwoch.

Many of the artists here seem to have been mildly influenced by Tintin's Hergé (and Joost Swarte). This is not a big surprise, since Jordan Crane selects all the artists for his site, and Crane himself shows a little Hergé in his work. (I can't think of a better artist than Hergé from which to draw inspiration.)

The comics in What Things Do all have the same yellow-gray color scheme (with a few exceptions) that give the site and elegant cohesiveness. The comics are large clear and readable.

In addition to showcasing the work of contemporary cartoonists, What Things Do, runs "decades-old work" from worthy but not-so-famous cartoonists, as well as articles about comics. What Things Do: excellent webcomics



The Imp, a great journal about comic books, now as free PDFs

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 02:53 PM PDT

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Daniel Raeburn has done the world a favor by creating free PDF versions of his outstanding self-published journal about comic books, The Imp. Though he published only four issues (I have them all in hard copy) Raeburn's journal is regarded as a masterpiece of comic book criticism. Each issue covered a single subject: Daniel Clowes in Vol 1, Jack Chick in Vol 2, Chris Ware in Vol 3, and Mexican "historietas perversas" in Vol 4.

The Comics Journal called The Imp "One of the very best things to come out of comics."

Here's what This American Life creator Ira Glass said about The Imp:

It was clearly the work of an obsessed person, in the very best way possible. A really smart obsessed person. There was a kind of Talmudic completeness to the whole thing, in a way that journalism rarely even aspires to. Not much journalism tries to be so emotional, and funny, and analytical, and thorough. There's really very little like it out there. The closest you get is one of those big stories they used to do in the old New Yorker, where at the end you feel like there's nothing else that needs to be said on the subject. I read it admiringly and jealously. In the years since I read the Chris Ware issue I've actually become friends with Chris Ware, real friends, we talk all the time, and probably a third of what I know about Chris still comes from that issue of The Imp. It was that complete and emotionally insightful.

Stefan Jones, who also bought The Imp in hardcopy says,

The issue about Jack Chick is an amazing piece of journalism. It makes you feel some sympathy for the loon behind all of those hate-filled comic tracts.

Much of issue 3 was reprinted in a monograph about Ware. I prefer The Imp version, which resembles one of Ware's big-format comic collections.

Volume Four was mind-boggling. I'd never heard of the Mexican comics in question. I keep meaning to get my hands on some.

Download The Imp here

Cannabis Catering

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 02:02 PM PDT

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Cannabis Catering offers gourmet meals laced with pot. The delivery service isn't cheap, around $100/person, but damn those pot-atoes look tasty. And yes, you need a medical marijuana card to order. From Fast Company:
The idea for Cannabis Catering came to (Chef Frederick) Nesbitt when he learned that his friend's diabetic mother had been diagnosed with cancer. "I would bring back edibles [from the dispensary], but they're so high in high-fructose corn syrup that she was high off sugar rather than being medicated," he says. So Nesbitt began experimenting with his own pot food--starting with mashed potatoes.
"Meet the Personal Chef of Pot" (Thanks, Mathias Crawford!)

WTF stamp

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 01:46 PM PDT

Jewelry made from laminated, polished cross-sections of books

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 01:27 PM PDT


UK designer Jeremy May makes jewelry by laminating and polishing pages from old books together to make striking pieces: "The beauty of the jewels extends within the piece: text and images pass all the way though the object, only exposed at the surfaces - giving a tantalising glimpse of the book within."

LITTLEFLY (Thanks, Irene Delse via Submitterator!)



Flying carpet sofa

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 12:53 PM PDT

Old tabriz rug becomes bear rug

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 12:50 PM PDT


An unnamed artist transformed a worn antique tabriz wool rug into a wonderful, fanciful bear rug. I imagine the reported "repaired knots and moth damage" just enhance its charm. 87" x 59", $1800 from CS Post.

Repurposed Antique Tabriz Wool Rug (via Make)



Resignation cake sender has invoice cake delivered to People.com

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 12:45 PM PDT

Last year, I posted about how W. Neil Berrett quit his job by presenting his boss with a resignation letter on a sheet cake. Here's the story behind Berrett's latest cake document, a frosted invoice delivered today to People.com:
Cakeinvoice Today I sent an invoice on a cake to People.com. I'm demanding $500 from them after my Cake of Resignation photo was used without permission and without payment.

Here's a timeline:

On August 10 this year I received an e-mail from an employee of People Magazine requesting permission to use my cake resignation photo in an article. This is shortly after the Jet Blue Steward event, prompting many 'Weird ways people have quit their jobs' news stories.

I replied to People and said they needed a license to use my photo - meaning they have to pay me to use it. I did not receive a reply.

On August 11 my image was used without authorization and without payment on People.com, in an article titled "Take This Job and Shove It! 8 Memorable Quitters".

I sent a cease-and-desist letter demanding my image be removed from their website. Six days later I receive an e-mail stating my image had been removed from their website. I received an offer at that time of $75 for the use of my image. That may have been reasonable if my photo's copyright had not been willfully infringed and used for six days.

So, today I sent the photo director an invoice for a usage license of my cake resignation photo. This cake was delivered today, September 3rd.

Invoice Cake to People.com (Thanks, Jess Hemerly!)

Russian mobsters taking over French Riviera

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 12:33 PM PDT

"They're into everything, from the Russian prostitute rings in resorts like Cannes and St Tropez to gassing tourists in their villa and stealing everything they've got. Bosses are now based here permanently, with foot soldiers working for them, often flying in for set periods before returning home with their profits in cash. The numbers really are unprecedented at the moment."—a French police officer, on the "military-like precision" with which Russian mafia are said to be taking over the French Riviera. (Telegraph UK)

The Student Loan Scheme: gateway drug to debt slavery

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 12:45 PM PDT

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Information designer Jess Bachman has a new piece out which isn't so much an info-graphic as a graphic article. Jess explains:

It deals with the nightmare that has become student loans. Default rates on student loans are worse than sub-prime mortgages, and the total debt is bigger than all our credit card debts combined. It's a huge issue than many people are keeping quiet about. College students are a hugely under-represented and unadvocated group in Washington, and what we and the government are doing to them is just wrong.
Link to the full-sized graphic on CollegeScholarships.org.

Woz and Jobs, phone phreakers

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 12:16 PM PDT

Adafruit Industries has posted a pair of terrific videos in which Apple's "Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs talk about their short career building illegal telephone equipment, aka 'blue boxes.' Interesting how their two stories differ...the engineer and the marketer." Bonus: Cap'n Crunch!

Hai Karate

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 11:58 AM PDT


Axe is for wimps. Hai Karate: "Be careful how you use it." (Thanks, Mark!)

How to make Sriracha "rooster" hot sauce at home

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 11:54 AM PDT

Well, I know what I'm doing this weekend: here's a recipe for how to make sriracha hot sauce, the ubiquitous Asian restaurant condiment in that clear plastic bottle with the little white rooster on the side. (via Farhad)

Friday tunes: "Chola Maati Ke Ram," from the Peepli Live soundtrack

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 12:04 PM PDT

I drove south last weekend to a predominantly Indian suburb of Los Angeles to catch Peepli Live (Wikipedia) at a movie theater that plays only films from India.

Its was terrific, a poignant and LOL-filled commentary on the state of Indian news media, and the injustice and tragedy that rural communities face. Unsurprisingly, the soundtrack was full of great tunes. My favorite was the song embeded above, "Chola Maati Ke Ram," performed live here by Nageen Tanvir at a launch event for the film.

The lyrics of this song are about human mortality. Loosely and imperfectly: Time spares no one... death spares no one... our bodies are clay robes that will eventually disintegrate, so it is best to dedicate our lives to honoring Lord Ram, and all that is eternal.

Incidentally: Today, Kamla Bhatt will be interviewing the Indo-fusion rock band Indian Ocean, who performed several songs in the Peepli Live Soundtrack, at 12.30 pm PST on Stanford radio station KZSU. Listen online here.

The physics of breaking stuff with your fists

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 10:51 AM PDT

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iO9 recently ran a story on how martial artists are able to break boards and cement blocks, using their hands rather than mystical powers. I thought it was pretty neat, but then I read an interesting counter-analysis by science journalist (and, significantly, martial arts practitioner) John Rennie.

iO9 is right about the lack of magic powers, he says. But they got the physics wrong. Key slip-up: Assuming martial artists strike like a cobra—fast punch, with a quick pull back at the end—when they have their smashing fun times. iO9's theory was that that movement caused the boards to bend and snap. But that's not how it works, Rennie says. In fact, martial artists are taught to follow through with their punches, aiming not at the board-to-be-broken, but at a point beyond it.

So how's the breaking really done? Rennie quotes an episode of the awesome old PBS show Newton's Apple:

One key to understanding brick breaking is a basic principle of motion: The more momentum an object has, the more force it can generate. When it hit the brick, [karateka Ron] McNair's hand had reached a speed of 11 meters per second (24 miles per hour). At this speed, his hand exerted a whopping force of 3,000 Newton's -or 675 pounds-on the concrete. A slab of concrete could likely support the weight of a few people weighing a total of 675 pounds (306 kilograms). But apply that amount of force concentrated into an area as small as a fist and the concrete slab will break.

The fact that martial artists also pick their materials very carefully doesn't hurt, either.

When breaking wooden boards, you use pine (not oak, not mahogany) that isn't marred by dense knots, cut ¾ inch thick and about 12 inches on the diagonal; you hit them to break along the wood's natural grain. (It's not playing by Hoyle but some breakers have been known to bake their boards in ovens before demonstrations to make them more brittle.) One good board, if held securely so that it won't move on impact, is so easy to break that even those with no training at all can be taught to do it in under five minutes.

P.S.: Rennie's blog, The Gleaming Retort, is part of a new family of science blogs, hosted by the Public Library of Science—a non-profit that publishes open-access science journals. I highly recommend checking out the entire PLoS Blogosphere.



Cock-touching forbidden in Kyoto

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 09:56 AM PDT

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I didn't touch it.

The Wilderness Downtown: Chrome experiment by Chris Milk and Arcade Fire

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 10:05 AM PDT

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The Wilderness Downtown is perhaps the best browser-dominating Net art piece I've experienced since Jodi.org's best work more than a decade ago. An experimental, interactive film by Chris Milk, it's a tour-de-force for the Chrome browser and a lovely visual poem to accompany Arcade Fire's excellent "We Used To Wait" from their album The Suburbs. I won't give the "story" away, but I found it to be a deeply personal and moving experience.
Choreographed windows, interactive flocking, custom rendered maps, real-time compositing, procedural drawing, 3D canvas rendering... this Chrome Experiment has them all. "The Wilderness Downtown" is an interactive interpretation of Arcade Fire's song "We Used To Wait" and was built entirely with the latest open web technologies, including HTML5 video, audio, and canvas.
The Wildreness Downtown (Thanks, Jean Hagan!)

"Behind the Work: Arcade Fire 'The Wilderness Downtown'" (Creativity Online)

Thanks for reading and "May the scientific method always be with you."

Posted: 02 Sep 2010 01:49 PM PDT

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Phylomon cards: "EUROPEAN HONEY BEE, I CHOOSE YOU!"

I had a great experience here at Boing Boing, and want to send on a big thanks to Mark, Cory, Xeni, David, Rob and the rest of the crew for letting me spend some quality time here. I'm also grateful to the many museum folks who let me chat with them, and so graciously showed me their projects. Kudos especially to Bob Bloomfield for the warm welcome and the many discussions on biodiversity advocacy. Hopefully, my posts didn't dilute the overall awesomeness here at Boing Boing, and at the every least, I hope a few more people are interested in Nagoya COP10. Also, it was fun to do my part to increase the Chewbacca quotient (even if only slightly) here at the site.

With that, I'd like to end with two last requests. Both related to biodiversity: one is kind of worthy, the other a little goofy. One requires folks of the artistic bent, the other maybe a more scientific approach.

First, if you haven't already done so, do please check out the PHYLO project. If you don't know what it is, think Pokemon but with real creatures, and then read the about section (or this previous Boing Boing post). Although the project is being hosted by my lab, it is hardly my project. Basically, all images, web infrastructure, game rules, IP advice, and educational discussion, to make the 180 or so cards currently available (new one every weekday!), has been produced solely from the fine act of crowd sourcing. Everything is open source and open access, completely free, so that all you really need is a printer, some paper, and you're good to go. It's been very cool to watch it progress, but I'd love it if more people came by to contribute. In fact, if it sounds interesting to you and/or your kids, you can even start playing it right now.

In particular, we'd like more artists to participate. You'll note that the artwork for the cards is pretty freakin' excellent (see the image above), and we're hoping for a wider pool of people to contribute. Doesn't matter what the organism is: it can be one you've already drawn, or one where you try your hand at something that's not currently a card (for instance we are well represented by birds and mammals, but poorly lacking in things like reptiles, insects, aquatic plants, and still no blue whale yet). Heck, in honour of the Boing Boing community, I think we can even open the doors for unicorn submissions, but ONLY if you also provide a picture of a real creature (NOTE: you might wonder where a unicorn card might fit in with a biodiversity project, but we are not above a little parody in the project - see if you can find the one other fictional card already hidden in the collection).

Anyway, how do you submit? Well, there is a special Flickr pool just for art submissions, but if it's easier you can also pass on a link to your art in the comments below (make sure the link also has a way of contact so that we can follow up); do the same via this post; or, if you're on Deviant Art, by sending on a note to my deviantart.com account. All in all, any help is greatly appreciated.

We're also now at the stage where we can begin to construct locale specific starter decks. In other words, with our card numbers continually expanding, we can provide pdfs of decks that make sense to a particular city or region, as well as decks of cards chosen to support the exhibits at learning institutions (I'll be making one for the Natural History Museum for example). This would have awesome educational potential, so it would be great if we could get locale specific "champions" to help with this.

Finally: wouldn't these cards look cool on a smart phone? Maybe there are biodiversity type apps out there that would like to add a "card" layer to their functionality. Or maybe just a way to play trumps or some such similar game with the cards? Just saying.

Second, here is a request that involves the blue whale I wrote about earlier.


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Photo by Stuart Pearce (link)

During construction (of the whale model), workmen left a trapdoor within the whale's stomach, which they would use for surreptitious cigarette breaks. Before the door was closed and sealed forever, some coins and a telephone directory were placed inside -- this soon growing to an urban myth that a time capsule was left inside. The work was completed -- entirely within the hall and in full view of the public -- in 1938. At the time it was the largest such model in the world, at 28.3 m in length, though the construction details were later borrowed by several American museums, who scaled the plans further. (Wikipedia)

Isn't that wonderful? I've also heard other stories about what might be inside the belly of this whale (including one that mentioned a distill), and have increasingly heard the term "Narnia doors" around this museum. Apparently, the museum is so vast and so twisty-turny that it's not uncommon to open a door and end up somewhere totally unexpected.

In fact, the idea of the blue whale possibly harboring some secret inside is such a delicious notion, that I'm a bit disappointed that someone like J.K. Rowling didn't lend her considerable imagination to include it in her vast Harry Potter iconography (although I might pursue this myself in a children's science culture/novel I'm working on). Anyway, in this respect, I'm curious to find out more. To be specific, I was wondering if:

1. Anybody knows more about what might be inside the whale, and

2. Without having to open up the huge hollow model, what technical options (high tech or better yet DIY) are there to take a peek inside?

And with that, this is where I'll sign off. Thanks for reading and playing along, and "May the Scientific Method always be with you."

Nagoya COP10 Primer #4: with reference to Twitter

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 12:52 PM PDT

Continuing from:

Nagoya COP10 Primer #1: with references to Star Wars Nagoya COP10

Primer #2: with a reference to Kevin Bacon Nagoya COP10 sidebar: UNFCCC YOU!

Nagoya COP10 Primer #3: with a small reference to LOL cats

So what should be done at Nagoya? This is the 20 million species plus question. And for all of the criticism that I've (and others) have proffered, we should appreciate that the task at hand is going to be quite the challenge. If nothing else, this is immediately clear from the often anthrocentric (humans rule the Earth and are just playing our role on the evolutionary front, so deal with it!) commentary left on biodiversity pieces throughout the internet.

There is a somewhat official Strategic Plan document out there, one that (with a remarkable lack of brevity) highlights 2020 goals and attempts to identify the process and partners to be involved. It's worth a look, although probably best absorbed by taking in the tables shown on page 19 on. It involves a list of some 20 different target statements. Some of which are short, bouncy, although still vague like a twitter tweet:

1. By 2020, everyone is aware of the value of biodiversity and what steps they can take to protect it.

Others are more to the point:

11. By 2020, At least 15% of land and sea areas, including the most critical terrestrial, freshwater and marine habitats, have been protected through effectively managed protected areas and/or other means, and integrated into the wider land- and seascape.

A few establish direct talking points for individual COP members:

16. By 2020, Each Party has an appropriate, up-to-date, effective and operational national biodiversity strategy, consistent with this Strategic Plan, based on adequate assessment of biodiversity, its value and threats, with responsibilities allocated among sectors, levels of government, and other stakeholders, and coordination mechanisms are in place to ensure implementation of the actions needed.

And this one, almost works as a haiku:

3. By 2020 Subsidies harmful

to biodiversity

are eliminat...

Well, maybe not a 5-7-5 haiku. Still, the 20 targets make for a good, if detailed, read. I'm actually tempted to see how they might fare as a poem: if I stack them one by one, and then giving it the title, "By 2020."

The purpose of this long and comprehensive list of targets, of course, is to address the vagueness discussed before. This is a good thing: but how wieldy these discussions will be, especially in the context of 190+ COP members needing to reach an agreement remains to be seen. In light of this, maybe structuring this discussion around a more simple list is better.

I quite like the suggestions laid out in this recent paper, "Biodiversity targets after 2010" by Mace et al. (pdf). For starters, it's written in a pretty readable fashion, but more importantly, it tries to break the targets into three defined categories, as described in this box.


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This seems pretty clever to me. Let's break up the priorities depending on: (1) whether the loss in biodiversity is directly "bad" for you (as well as anthrocentric commenters); (2) whether the loss in biodiversity results in a loss of sociological and/or cultural value (i.e. makes you "sad"); and (3) what kind of things are needed in order to tackle the previous two. If viewed in this manner, the hope is that everyone can find something of value in this process. In fact, I think an important part of 3 (or the blue target) is to also showcase how closely tied 1 and 2 are to each other (things that make you "sad" are often things with a direct "bad" effect - often an effect you're not necessarily prepared for).

In any event, let's end with a list of priorities, whittled from our "By 2020" poem, and worded explicitly for those of you who don't wish to read the strategic document outlined earlier. In fact, let's borrow from a great list seen at the IYB UK website. Here they suggest that at the very least, Nagoya COP10 can provide the following:

1. A new set of targets to protect our natural resources that are achievable and measurable.

2. A protocol for fair access to, and sharing the benefits from, the world's genetic resources. This is called the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) protocol.

3. The need to put a fair economic value on nature's services that are currently used for free, such as fertile soil, pollination of our crops, and flood defences. This will be based on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) report.

4. Support for establishing a single source for access to reliable scientific evidence which can be used to inform policy decisions on biodiversity issues. This is called the Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and will operate in a similar way that the IPCC informs climate change policy.

My favourite is the first one, which in a sort of grant-proposal-speak, is basically asking for a strong and kick ass Nagoya agreement.

Now, what can you do to help move this along? Well, on the high effort scale, you can obviously get involved in various biodiversity outreach programs. I'm sure there are many in your local neck of the woods. However, at the lower end of the effort scale, just being vocal about such things is a good star (even if you disagree heartily about everything I've written). Dialogue generates more dialogue which then generates debate which then generates noise which then, if you're lucky, might generate notice from the government players, which is what you hope for.

The timing is also interesting politically. For the US, biodiversity has inadvertently been pushed into the public's consciousness by the horrible Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The images and stories presented have been visceral and gut wrenching, and tragically informative in providing a look at how a locale is closely tied to its ecosystem. In the UK, Nagoya COP10 is Prime Minister Cameron's first real test on the environmental front - so there's lots of eyeballs monitoring his government's action. And in Canada, where my home is... well... Stephen Harper should be well aware that the sweater vests he loves so dearly are very much a product of biodiversity.

Anyway, since this is my last Nagoya COP10 primer, I'm hoping you can just go on and make some online noise. For example, those four priorities above seemed primed for a twitter rework. Or maybe just come up with any creative/witty/funny/deep Nagoya related tweet. You can even stick a #nagoyaCOP10 hashtag in there. It would be interesting to see what great lines people can come up with.

Crystal Jellybean Skull only $6 in Boing Boing Bazaar

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 09:00 AM PDT

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Who in their right mind wouldn't want a Crystal Jellybean Skull for only six dollars? Get yours now in the Boing Boing Bazaar.

Crystal Jellybean Skull



HOWTO: Tiny BBQ out of Altoids Sours tin

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 08:48 AM PDT

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Instructables.com contributor vmspionage built a tiny BBQ grill out of an Altoids Sours tin and computer fan grates. My 4-year-old (and I) would love this for making s'mores, one bubbling, tooth-decaying marshmallow at a time. Altoids Sours BBQ Grill

SPECIAL FEATURE: Makoto Aida's Schoolgirls

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 08:11 AM PDT

Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential: How Teenage Girls Made a Nation Cool, by Brian Ashcraft and Shoko Ueda, looks at how this archetype has become such a distinctive international symbol. Following is an excerpt, about the artwork of Makoto Aida, from the book. — Rob

Read the rest



Art, nature, the history of science, and whoa, aren't these are beautiful?

Posted: 02 Sep 2010 01:35 PM PDT

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Plate 73 of the John Reeves Collection of Zoological Drawings from Canton, China, 1774-1856. (© The Natural History Museum, London).

Reeves was an English tea inspector, but also amassed a wonderful collection of Chinese drawings of plants and animals during his time in Canton.

A few weeks back, I had a great conversation with Judith Magee, Library Special Collections Curator at the Natural History Museum. From this conversation, as well as others (thanks Peronel, Martha, Bergit), it soon became clear that there were many individuals within the museum that had a passion for things pertaining to the humanities and the arts (see also this previous post).

In particular, the museum happens to house a vast collection of illustrations and paintings, many of which were originally produced as a way to scientifically document new species, new cultures, and other things observed during expeditions. However, it's also clear that apart from their historical value, these pieces of artwork also have immense aesthetic value. They. Are. Beautiful.

And speaking to Judith, you can literally feel the enthusiasm and affection for such pieces. Judith talked to me about writer/artists such as Alexander von Humboldt, John Bartram, as well as the wonderful drawings collected by John Reeves.

Best of all, it looks like the museum is now in the process of developing exhibitions around their art collection, and if you're the academic type whose interest is piqued by the mention of the humanities, the museum has a fairly new Centre for Arts and Humanities Research (you can see one of their projects here). This Centre has a mandate that:

supports interdisciplinary research into the historical, cultural, social and economic significance of the library, archive and specimen collections of this world-class museum. It does this by enabling and promoting research into the collection through partnerships with universities, research councils, foundations, major museums and libraries around the world.

Anyway, sit back and enjoy these other few images:


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"Humboldt and his party collecting plant." Specimens at the foot of Mount Chimborazo. Detail from Plate 25 Voyage aux Regions Equinoxiales by Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859). (© The Natural History Museum, London).

Humboldt was well known as a wonderful writer. In fact, his works were known to have inspired Darwin as he traveled on the Beagle. As well, Humboldt's views on the "unity of nature" are often thought to have laid the groundwork for ecological study. In his art, he often included himself in the picture (the first Waldo?), again to emphasize the holistic connections in nature.


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"Nelumbo lutea, American lotus and Triodopsis albolabri, snail." Drawing 34 (Ewan 59) from the Botanical and zoological drawings (1756-1788) by William Bartram. Pen, ink and watercolour. (© The Natural History Museum, London).


Bartram is often referred to as the "Father of American Botany," and played an important part in distributing American seeds to European gardeners. His artwork is also acclaimed as being one of the first to move away from the Linnaean practice of plant in isolation depicted in a position that best highlighted its anatomy. You can see here how Bartram has really attempted to present the various species as a community of players.


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"Bubo bubo bengalensis, Eurasian eagle-owl." Large Series plate 5, a watercolour from the John Reeves Collection of Zoological Drawings from Canton, China. (© The Natural History Museum, London).

Reeves' collection presented a fascinating look at the wide variety of Chinese natural history. In fact, many of the species depicted by the images were, at the time, unknown to Western science.



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