Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Latest from Boing Boing

The Latest from Boing Boing

Link to Boing Boing

Dirty debt collectors frightened victims with fake "sheriffs," "courtroom," "judges"

Posted: 31 Oct 2010 12:15 AM PDT

The Pennsylvania Attorney General has brought suit against the Unicredit Debt Resolution Center in Erie, PA. According to the suit, Unicredit dressed its employees in fake sheriff's deputies uniforms to lure debtors out of their homes with unenforceable orders, and took them to a fake courtroom where another employee pretending to be a judge told them they could go to jail if they didn't pay up.
"Can I look at your fake courtroom?" Parsons asked.

"First of all, that's an allegation that supposedly someone said, so talk to the attorneys," Covatto said. "You guys have a nice day. That's all I got to say."

The Attorney General's Office told Team 4 that Unicredit lured debtors to the building by sending employees who appeared to be sheriff's deputies to their homes, implying that they would be taken into custody if they failed to appear at the phony court hearings.

"It really galls me that someone would stoop that low," Erie County Sheriff Robert Merski said. "This certainly seems to be a scam, and it upsets me that they are trying to play on the integrity of this office, the office of sheriff. We've been here since the beginning of the United States."

The lawsuit accuses Unicredit of intimidating debtors into revealing their bank account numbers, even turning over the titles to their cars once they got them inside the building.

Team 4: Debt Collectors Accused Of Fake Courtroom, Judge

Erie debt collection company sued; accused of using bogus "hearings" and fake "courtroom" to collect from consumers (PA Attorney General)

(Thanks, Anthony I!)



Mechanical mustache will make you look like a dandy robotnik

Posted: 31 Oct 2010 12:05 AM PDT

This swell mechanical mustache would be the pride of any lip, but it belongs to John Kit, who sported it at the first anniversary celebration of HeatSync Labs in Chandler, AZ.

Mechanical Mustache Project (via Make)

Automatyperwriter: Arduino-controlled typewriter is both input and output device

Posted: 31 Oct 2010 12:00 AM PDT

Johnathan Guberman from the Site 3 coLaboratory in Toronto made the "Automatypewriter," an Arduino-controlled typewriter that acts as both input and output device. He's rigged it to play Zork!

Each key is attached by fishing line to a solenoid, an electromechanical device that pulls down when electric current is passed through it. The solenoids sit behind and underneath the typewriter in a multi-layer structure. The solenoids are connected to a MOSFET, which allows the lower-power parts of the circuit to control the high-power solenoids.

The MOSFETs are connected in sets of eight to shift registers (integrated circuits that can, amongst other things, expand the number of outputs on a microcontroller). The shift registers are connected to an Arduino, which is connected to a computer via USB. When the computer sends a character to the Arduino, the Arduino chooses which solenoid to fire and sends that information to the shift registers.

The Automatypewriter is a typewriter that can type by itself: (via Make)


DIY Hallowe'en: Minecraft Creeper

Posted: 30 Oct 2010 11:53 PM PDT

Olde timey gloomy public domain music

Posted: 30 Oct 2010 11:46 PM PDT

Lucas Gonze sez, "I have posted a mix mp3 of 21st c./ olden days sounds, including scratchy ancient recordings like the Edison Talking Doll and my own new recordings of gloomy and sweet 19th century tunes, all in the public domain under a Creative Commons Zero license."

DIY Hallowe'en: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and alleged source Bradley Manning

Posted: 30 Oct 2010 08:17 PM PDT

julian_bradley.jpg

Gentlemen, start your slashfic engines. Yes, the theme of this DIY costume in Boing Boing's ongoing series is— Sexy Wikileaks.

Above, Philip Neustrom and friend Ron Baker last night at DNA Lounge in San Francisco. Philip, at left, is dressed as Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Baker, at right, is Pfc. Bradley Manning, the Army officer believed to have leaked secret documents to the whistleblower website (he is currently in military jail, awaiting trial.)

Too soon? Eh, not for me to say. These two figures are nothing if not folk heroes. But don't ask, don't tell indeed. Philip tells Boing Boing,

DADT.jpgSome totally unrelated and somewhat-drunkely-typed backstory: When we were getting the Manning outfit supplies from a military surplus store in Berkeley, the guy ringing us up asked, "Hey, what are you dressing up as?"

We showed him a picture of Manning and gave a little explanation. He got it immediately and then told us this story, with the preface that we were probably "far too young to get it"--

So a few weeks back, an older woman walks into the store and says something like, "Do you folks have any goggles? My grandson is going to burning man.."

The guy helps her find some goggles, and as he's ringing her up he looks down at her credit card. "Ellsberg..any relation to Daniel Ellsberg?" "Oh..well, he's my husband!"

Not exactly the types I'd expect to be running a military surplus store. Regardless, the guy hooked us up and we got like $150 worth of stuff for $20!

(thanks for the photo, @philipn and thanks for the heads up, @iamsusannah!)

You Can't Tell Your USB from a Hole in the Wall

Posted: 30 Oct 2010 04:15 PM PDT

dead_drop_grey.jpg

Aram Bartholl is mortaring USB drives into walls, curbs, and buildings around New York. These dead drops, as he terms them, are peer-to-peer file transfer points with true anonymity. Bartholl has a residency with EYEBEAM, a truly fascinating incubator of and studio for new ideas in technology and art.

The project has five initial locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn, with more to come. Bartholl has posted a photo gallery of the installations, too.

The furtiveness of squeezing your laptop or mobile against a wall is rather intimate--these may be dead drops, but they're also data glory holes. And one more thing, too. The concept pricked at my memory, until I remembered the Finn from William Gibson's Neuromancer universe. In Mona Lisa Overdrive, the Finn has lost his corporeal form, but Molly seeks out his advice in a disreputable alley.

A tight beam of very bright light...descended until it found the thing at the base of the wall, dull metal, an upright rounded fixture that Kumiko mistook for another ventilator...

Sally stepped forward, the beam held steady, and Kimiko saw that the armored thing was bolted into the brickwork with massive rivets. "Finn?"...

"Moll." A grating quality, as if through a broken speaker. "What's with the flash?"

Image by Aram Bartholl via Creative Commons.

$1,000 fine for Silly String possession in Los Angeles

Posted: 30 Oct 2010 04:08 PM PDT

201010301605

Don't even think about hiding a can in your crotchal area *. They will find it.

Silly String ban

Stoners say yes to Prop. 19

Posted: 30 Oct 2010 03:49 PM PDT


(Video Link) As Allen Ginsberg said 50 years ago, "Pot is Fun." (The folks here were cast via a Craigslist ad.)

Plan A: impress the Scottish by insulting redheads!

Posted: 30 Oct 2010 12:24 PM PDT

How to lose a reputation for "po-faced political correctness" fast: mock a rival's red hair during a speech, in Scotland, concerning political "mutants" that need to be "got rid of." [Telegraph]

DIY Halowe'en: Laika come home

Posted: 30 Oct 2010 11:02 AM PDT

DIY Hallowe'en: Swedish Chef cooks family dog

Posted: 30 Oct 2010 10:33 AM PDT

DIY Hallowe'en: Bender

Posted: 30 Oct 2010 10:14 AM PDT

5128289682_5b17cea27c_b.jpg In the Boing Boing DIY Hallowe'en Costume thread, Boing Boing reader stefrobb says,
I made a Bender costume for my eldest, who is 8 years old. He sees it as a great excuse to run around shouting "Bite my shiny metal ass!" Aww...

The cigar is stuck on with a magnet, so is detachable. Took a couple of weeks all in. We've been distracting drivers and causing accidents today. Fun!

Flickr set is here.

DIY Hallowe'en: Astronaut

Posted: 30 Oct 2010 10:07 AM PDT

5087856381_71bb8ee418_b.jpg

In the Boing Boing DIY Hallowe'en Costume thread which could not possibly be any more awesome, Boing Boing reader Joonce says,

I made an Astronaut Costume this year. My Spacesuit includes a working movable visor, in-helmet lighting, magnetically attached "air-hoses", and a spacepack with built in speakers for my iPod to play some spacejams.

Here's a good photo. And a link to the rest of the set.

The helmet is made of papier mache, bondo, and an old wetsuit. The spacepack is made of cardboard and includes an old boombox I took apart to fit inside. The rest is a painter's suit, some gloves, and custom shoes.

God hates figs

Posted: 30 Oct 2010 09:17 AM PDT


No, really: "Mark 11:12-14 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14Then he said to the tree, 'May no one ever eat fruit from you again.' And his disciples heard him say it."

God hates figs

Natural genes can't be patented says U.S. government

Posted: 30 Oct 2010 08:31 AM PDT

In a reversal of long-standing policy, the U.S. Justice Department announced on Friday that naturally occurring genes—human or otherwise—could not be patented. This ruling does not include manipulated or altered genes. So, for instance, you can still patent the specific, fiddled-with genes behind a GM crop. But, this is still a very big deal. Right now the genes associated with increased risk of breast cancer are patented and, thus, there is only one, very expensive, test available to look for them. In March, a judge ruled those patents invalid. And now it looks like the federal government is backing up that ruling.

A science joke for your Saturday morning

Posted: 30 Oct 2010 07:47 AM PDT

As told by Mr. Karl Sinfield in the comments section of a Tom Chivers blog post at the Telegraph:

horseofcourse.jpg

A geneticist, a physiologist and a physicist were summoned to meet a wealthy racehorse magnate. He told them he would give a million pounds to the one who could accurately identify race-winning horses. After six months of hard work, they returned to present their results to the expectant millionaire.

The geneticist said, "I've looked into all the current genetic research, checked blood-lines going back decades, but there are just too many behavioural and environmental factors. I can't help."

The physiologist said, "I've looked at muscle mass, bone volume and density, and all the other factors I can think of, but the problem's too complex. There's just no guarantee of predicting a winner."

Finally, the physicist calmly walks up to the millionaire and gives him an index card. "Here you go," he says "I've found an equation that solves the problem for you."

"Wow," said the millionaire, "That's impressive...I'll get my cheque book."

"Great. But there's one thing you should know," said the physicist. "It only works for a spherically symmetric horse travelling in a vacuum."

(Via Martin Robbins)

Image:Some rights reserved by Tambako the Jaguar

Google-eye view of a nuclear test site

Posted: 30 Oct 2010 07:26 AM PDT


View Larger Map

Yucca Flat was the site of 739 nuclear tests between 1951 and 1992. Once an anonymous stretch of desert, it's now pockmarked with subsidence craters left behind by underground nuclear detonations. Among them is the Sedan Crater, a massive, 1200-feet-wide, 320-feet-deep pit, created as part of "plowshare" experiments—tests meant to demonstrate whether nuclear bombs could be used for peaceful purposes, like excavating new lakes or deep bays.

(Via Sean Carroll)
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

CrunchyTech

Blog Archive