The Latest from Boing Boing |  |
- Enormous BFG sword: The Buster Sword!
- Phone-to-Twitter bridge for use in an Internet-less Egypt
- Delightful piracy-flavored ginger-ale ad
- Weather class cancelled due to weather
- Bryant Gumbel, 1994: "What is the Internet, anyway?"
- Tolstoy's "10 Rules of Life"
- Egypt: Avaaz.org and Tor team up to fight the Internet blackout, you can help
- Fun things made with programmable LEDs
- Princess Diana Doll
- What's Happening in Egypt, the Action Movie Explainer: "Raiders of the Lost Mubarak"
- About Schmidt: Google's Chief Emphatic Officer
- Chair made from carefully grown willow tree
- Egypt report from Human Rights Watch: "Impunity for Torture Fuels Days of Rage"
- Israeli Emergency Bandage
- Clumsy burglar breaks into lottery kiosk
- Great mini-doc about Brazillian tattooist Maneko
- Overgarnished cocktail
- Hollaback: fighting street harassment, one uploaded nimrod at a time
- Fanciful zeppelins and trains
- Night of the Lil Dead: little people zombie movie with Penn Jillette, Adam Savage and more!
- List of missing people in Egypt
- Missing: Thousands of planets
- Fantastic 2.5 minute documentary about motorcycle maker Shinya Kimura
- Shinmoedake erupts: lava, ash and lightning over Japan
- Math versus pirates
- Belly button bacteria, in full bloom
- Monday Worm-Stravaganza
- ATM skimmer that doesn't require any modifications to the ATM
- Egypt: "Your Weapons Are on Cairo's Streets, America"
- Astrochimp ad astra: 50th anniversary of Ham the chimpanzee's space flight
| Enormous BFG sword: The Buster Sword! Posted: 31 Jan 2011 11:53 PM PST YouTube user MichaelCthulhu shows off his Final Fantasy VII "Buster Sword," a medieval BFG that's as auto-lethal as it is impractical. He's taking commissions for further improbable cutlery, too.
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| Phone-to-Twitter bridge for use in an Internet-less Egypt Posted: 31 Jan 2011 11:49 PM PST Over the weekend, engineers from Google, Twitter and SayNow (a recent Google acquisition) built a phone-to-Twitter bridge to allow Egyptians to transmit and receive #jan25-related tweets without accessing the Internet: Tell your friends! In Egypt! Some weekend work that will (hopefully) enable more Egyptians to be heard (via Reddit) (Image: Egyptian pay phone, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from s_w_ellis's photostream)   |
| Delightful piracy-flavored ginger-ale ad Posted: 01 Feb 2011 12:16 AM PST |
| Weather class cancelled due to weather Posted: 31 Jan 2011 11:20 PM PST From Cincinnati.com: A Weather Spotter Training class scheduled for tonight at New Richmond High School has been canceled due to the ice storm expected to hit the area tonight."Weather spotting class canceled" (Thanks, Tomar Spedonez!)   |
| Bryant Gumbel, 1994: "What is the Internet, anyway?" Posted: 31 Jan 2011 11:11 PM PST The Today Show, 1994: Bryant Gumbel and Katie Couric struggle to understand and explain the Internet and "that little mark with the 'a' and the ring around it." (Thanks, Rick Pescovitz!) |
| Posted: 31 Jan 2011 09:00 PM PST Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project (a book about how to be more happy and grateful, which I enjoyed very much) ran this list of Tolstoy's "10 Rules of Life" on her blog: [F]or happiness-project purposes, Tolstoy is particularly fascinating -- both because he wrote so extensively about happiness and because he made and broke so many resolutions himself. Spectacularly... Tolstoy wrote these rules when he was eighteen years old:10 "Rules of Life" from Tolstoy   |
| Egypt: Avaaz.org and Tor team up to fight the Internet blackout, you can help Posted: 31 Jan 2011 08:01 PM PST  Help Tor fight the internet connectivity blackout in Egypt. "Your donation will go to providing satellite internet devices, other related equipment, to help with network access costs, and general support for Egyptians and people working with Egypt during this crisis and beyond. This fundraising drive is organized by the Tor Project. Money raised will be used by the Tor Project for work in areas where the Internet has been jacked." (avaaz.org via Jacob Appelbaum) |
| Fun things made with programmable LEDs Posted: 31 Jan 2011 05:30 PM PST My pals Tod Kurt and Mike Kuniavski are the proprietors of ThingM, a company that makes nifty programmable LEDs and other smart electronic components. They just sent out their latest ThingM newsletter showcasing a few cool projects that use BlinkMs: a robotic drum kit, cabinet handles that light up when you touch them, and books that blink. BlinkM in Books with Personality |
| Posted: 31 Jan 2011 04:00 PM PST  The Franklin Mint makes this charming porcelain Diana doll. What a wonderful way to remember Diana! ... Miniature tiara and white "English Rose." Extraordinary blue eyes and shy smile foreshadow the beautiful Princess admired by millions.If you find it slightly odd, that may be because it is not an accurate depiction of the infant Diana Spencer, but rather an idealized pedomorphic adult.   |
| What's Happening in Egypt, the Action Movie Explainer: "Raiders of the Lost Mubarak" Posted: 31 Jan 2011 03:16 PM PST  After she realized many people couldn't wrap their heads around what was going on in Egypt, Furrygirl decided to turn to Hollywood staples and made this Raiders of the Lost Ark mashup version which explains things pretty clearly. Full graphic follows, below...   |
| About Schmidt: Google's Chief Emphatic Officer Posted: 31 Jan 2011 02:20 PM PST Video Link. Literally. By Joe Sabia and the Whirled Creative team. |
| Chair made from carefully grown willow tree Posted: 31 Jan 2011 12:32 AM PST  Floris Wubben's "Upside Down" chair was made by patiently training and knotting the branches of a willow to form four chair legs, then cutting down the tree: "A seat and backrest were then cut into the trunk and the whole thing inverted. The chair was designed in collaboration with artist Bauke Fokkema." (via Cribcandy)
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| Egypt report from Human Rights Watch: "Impunity for Torture Fuels Days of Rage" Posted: 31 Jan 2011 12:58 PM PST  A report released by Human Rights Watch documents how Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's government effectively condones police abuse by failing to ensure that law enforcement officers who are accused of torture are investigated and criminally prosecuted. HRW describes torture as "an endemic problem in Egypt." According to HRW, ending police abuse—and the cycle of impunity for those crimes—is a driving element behind the massive popular demonstrations in Egypt this past week. Snip from introduction:
'Work on Him Until He Confesses': Impunity for Torture in Egypt," documents how President Hosni Mubarak's government implicitly condones police abuse by failing to ensure that law enforcement officials accused of torture are investigated and criminally prosecuted, leaving victims without a remedy. [ Warning: disturbing content. The report contains graphic descriptions of torture. ] Overview: Egypt: Impunity for Torture Fuels Days of Rage Report (95 pages): "Work on Him Until He Confesses": Impunity for Torture in Egypt.The report is offered in in English and Arabic, English version of PDF here. (via @ioerror)
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| Posted: 31 Jan 2011 12:35 PM PST  I was first introduced to the Israeli emergency bandage several years ago as a medic in Iraq. It was a huge step up from the standard military dressings that we had been issued. The old military style dressings hadn't changed since WWII and were not really effective as the canvas ties didn't always hold the dressing where you needed it. A lot of guys were using gauze pads and elastic wrap which, while better, was cumbersome. The Israeli emergency bandage was the first of a new generation of bandages that made a difference when it really counts. It combines a sterile dressing, elastic wrap and a pressure bar to make a fast and easy to use trauma bandage. The long tail can be configured in various ways to hold the bandage in place or to immobilize the limb, plus it can be configured in to an improvised tourniquet. I consider it must carry item since I can use it as a multipurpose bandage, use the tail as an "Ace" wrap for sprains or to immobilize a fracture to a splint. The bandage comes in 4" and 6" for around $5-$11 and everyone in my family has one in their car first aid kit, backpack or office. [Note: Someone over at the Cool Tools thread pointed out that NPR reported that these bandages were effectively used after the shooting in Arizona. -- OH] -- Sandy Fraser, Paramedic Israeli Emergency Bandage 4" or 6" widths $5-$11 Comment on this at Cool Tools. Or, submit a tool!   |
| Clumsy burglar breaks into lottery kiosk Posted: 31 Jan 2011 12:29 PM PST [Video Link] This fellow works hard for his money, doesn't he? (Via Cynical-C) |
| Great mini-doc about Brazillian tattooist Maneko Posted: 31 Jan 2011 11:42 AM PST Maneko - Mini doc from 13thUnit on Vimeo. This is a fantastic mini-documentary (about 8 minutes) about vegan straight edge tattoo artist Maneko from Brazil. Some great thoughts about appreciating the good things in life to help you get through the bad times. |
| Posted: 31 Jan 2011 12:29 AM PST  JWZ has discovered the most heroically garnished drink in modern history: what appears to be a Bloody Mary (?), garnished with a skewer that includes a hard-boiled quail egg, among other morsels. |
| Hollaback: fighting street harassment, one uploaded nimrod at a time Posted: 31 Jan 2011 01:59 PM PST  The folks at Hollaback! came up with a novel solution for combatting public sexual harassment of women: just grab your phone, take a picture of the chump, and upload it to their site with a description of what he did and how it felt. This public-shaming-2.0 may not be preventing a lot of jackassity quite yet, but it already has enormous healing and empowerment value to women made to feel victimized for daring to be born female. Since the original 2005 launch in NYC, local sites have sprouted worldwide, including ten new ones starting today from Buenos Aires to Houston to Prague to Mumbai, and there are even iPhone and Droid apps to expedite the Holla-ing-back. |
| Posted: 31 Jan 2011 11:14 AM PST  Etsy seller Gingerbees is selling prints of her late father Andrew George Brown's wonderful, fanciful steamcraft, with an emphasis on trains and zeppelins. Lovely stuff! Gingerbees (Thanks, Wondermark, via Submitterator!) |
| Night of the Lil Dead: little people zombie movie with Penn Jillette, Adam Savage and more! Posted: 31 Jan 2011 11:10 AM PST Ghostworks sez, "A behind the scenes look at 'Night of the Little Dead' - a short film directed by Ezekiel Zabrowski and Frank Ippolito starring Adam Savage, Penn Jillette, Bill Moseley, Aye Jaye, Erica Taylor, Gary Morgan, Martin Klebba, & James Hurley." "Night Of The Little Dead" Behind the Scenes Trailer (Thanks, GhostWorks, via Submitterator) |
| List of missing people in Egypt Posted: 31 Jan 2011 11:42 AM PST  As unrest continues to grow in Egypt, so, too, does the number of people who are missing and unaccounted for. Samer Karam and Dara Mouracade have put together a shared spreadsheet with information about missing people and when/where they were last seen (as well as links to their online profiles and accounts). If anyone has any information about these folks please reach out to Samer or Dara and help update the list, or help pass it on so that it hopefully ends up in the hands of someone who does have info. |
| Posted: 31 Jan 2011 10:35 AM PST  This chart was assembled from data on the incomparable Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia , maintained and curated by the astronomer Jean Schneider. It depicts the 520 exoplanets detected between 1992 and 2010, divided up by detection technique. The accompanying data sheet includes a few notes and caveats about the assumptions I used to generate the chart. There's also an interactive version available. Finding 520 planets in less than 20 years is an impressive testament to the skill of modern-day planet-hunters. And the rapid, recent acceleration of detections suggests that the next 20 years will see several thousands of additional planets added to our catalog. But given that there are hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy alone, shouldn't we actually be finding more planets? Let's assume that planets are an almost inevitable side effect of a star's formation from a collapsing cloud of gas and dust—a hypothesis that is less controversial by the day. Now, there are still several ways for a star to be bereft of planets. A star can form simultaneously with one or more companion stars, and the group will be collectively bound together by its own gravity; in this case, the gravitational interactions of the stars may disrupt planet formation. Similarly, the gravitational nudge of a passing star could scatter planets from around their sun, casting them away forever into the inky void. Gravitational nudges could also make planets fall into their host stars, the planets' constituent atoms lending a dirty sheen to the surfaces of their suns, like oil slicks on oceans. These and other planet-stripping scenarios are unavoidable occurrences in the universe, so not all stars have planets, but it's still a good bet that most do. Standing beneath a pristine night sky in the northern hemisphere, an unaided human can, at best, see perhaps 2,500 stars. Another 2,500 or so can be seen in the skies above the southern hemisphere. These ~5,000 stars are visible by virtue of their being very bright or very close to us, so that they flood our eyes with photons, particles of light. Photons are like currency for astronomers: In general, the more you have, the more you can do. Consequently, the stars we can see with the naked eye on a dark night are, on balance, the easiest for astronomers to study. So if most of these stars have planets, and the stars are so easy to observe, why are there only 500-odd exoplanets known today, and less than 100 known around naked-eye stars, rather than 5,000 or more? The answer comes in three parts: First, just as there are more small pebbles than giant boulders in the world, small planets are probably far more common than the large ones that are easier to detect.
Second, we haven't been looking long enough or hard enough to detect all these smaller planets around nearby stars; the first exoplanets were only discovered in 1992, and only in the past couple of years have we gained the capability to reliably detect tinier, more prevalent worlds. Finally, and most importantly, each detection method we use has its own unique observational biases that can blind it to the presence of exoplanets large and small. It's been my experience that most misunderstandings of exoplanetary discoveries are caused by a lack of familiarity with the capabilities and limitations of each detection method. If you want to be savvy about the search for life beyond our solar system, if you want to be immune against exoplanetary hype and flim-flam, then you need to know the basics of how astronomers find planets in the first place. Tune in tomorrow for a beginner's guide to planet hunting!   |
| Fantastic 2.5 minute documentary about motorcycle maker Shinya Kimura Posted: 31 Jan 2011 11:07 AM PST Shinya Kimura's scratch built motorcycles are beautiful, and this short video profile, directed by Henrik Hansen and shot byAdam Richards, is very well made (it was was one of 5 films nominated for a 2010 Vimeo Award). I got the same feeling from watching this as I did from the short video about House Industries. It was interesting hear Kimura say that he has never flown in a plane before! (UPDATE: He actually said he has never piloted a plane before. Thanks for the clarification, commenters!) UPDATE: Eric Nakamura, publisher and co-editor of Giant Robot, says: "His bike that's featured in that film is showing currently in LA at a show I curated called Zen Garage." |
| Shinmoedake erupts: lava, ash and lightning over Japan Posted: 31 Jan 2011 09:33 AM PST
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| Posted: 31 Jan 2011 08:56 AM PST Although it's fallen off of the headlines lately, piracy continues to be a big problem, with an annual economic impact estimated at $10 billion. Fighting pirates after they've already attacked is only so effective. And trying to track them down and bring them to justice before a raid is next to impossible. The best solution is to just keep boats and pirates away from one another. But how? Applied mathematician James Hansen* has an idea. With the Naval Research Laboratory he's put together a computer model of pirate behavior.
Followers of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, rejoice! (Via Mara Grunbaum) *Not that James Hansen. A different one.   |
| Belly button bacteria, in full bloom Posted: 31 Jan 2011 07:37 AM PST  These petri dishes are growing bacteria harvested from the belly buttons of scientists, journalists, and bloggers at the 2011 ScienceOnline Conference. It's all part of Belly Button Biodiversity, a project of researchers from North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Their goal: Introduce humans to the wildlife that's growing on us and in us. Their next sampling event—aka, your chance to see what's growing in your belly button—is February 12, at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.   |
| Posted: 31 Jan 2011 07:13 AM PST Start your Monday off right, with a round-up of worm facts. From the horsehair worm to the penis worm (Don't worry, it's SFW!), you'll be introduced to a wide swath of worm-y diversity.   |
| ATM skimmer that doesn't require any modifications to the ATM Posted: 31 Jan 2011 08:58 AM PST Brian Krebs reports on a new wrinkle in ATM skimmer design: if the ATM is in its own lobby, crooks can steal your card number and PIN without ever touching the ATM. Instead, they attach the skimmer to the door-lock (you know those doors that only open if you swipe your card?) and then use a hidden camera to record you keying in your PIN. Clever, in a horrible way, especially since ATMs in their own lobby feel more secure. ATM Skimmers That Never Touch the ATM
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| Egypt: "Your Weapons Are on Cairo's Streets, America" Posted: 31 Jan 2011 06:11 AM PST "Most of the $1.3 billion that the U.S. annually provides to Egypt in military aid goes for weaponry to defend Egypt against foreign assault, like Patriot air-defense missiles, Multiple Launch Rocket System rocket pods and TOW anti-armor missiles. That's not particularly relevant for crowd control against protesters. But it does speak to how close the U.S. and Egyptian militaries are." (Wired Danger Room)   |
| Astrochimp ad astra: 50th anniversary of Ham the chimpanzee's space flight Posted: 31 Jan 2011 06:06 AM PST  Ben Cosgrove of LIFE Magazine says, Today, January 31, is the 50th anniversary of Ham the Astrochimp's 1961 space flight -- the first time any hominid went into space -- and this morning we published a gallery of rare and never-seen photos featuring Ham before and after his landmark achievement.The gallery is here, and contains previously unpublished photographs of the astrochimps and their handlers, and rare LIFE pictures of Ham and his "simian cohorts." |
We worked with a small team of engineers from Twitter, Google and SayNow, a company we acquired last week, to make this idea a reality. It's already live and anyone can tweet by simply leaving a voicemail on one of these international phone numbers (+16504194196 or +390662207294 or +97316199855) and the service will instantly tweet the message using the hashtag #egypt. No Internet connection is required. People can listen to the messages by dialing the same phone numbers or going to twitter.com/speak2tweet. 
On July 24, 2009, California police officers responded to a report that a customer had uncovered a camera hidden behind a mirror that was stuck to the wall above an ATM at a bank in Sherman Oaks, Calif. There were two ATMs in the lobby where the camera was found, and officers discovered that the thieves had placed an "Out of Order" sign on the ATM that did not have the camera pointed at its PIN pad. The sign was a simple ruse designed to trick all customers into using the cash machine that was compromised. 
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