The Latest from Boing Boing |  |
- Lucy and Ricky love smoking, and you should too!
- TedXVienna talk on "context hacking"
- Mediating Sustainability: Daring to Defy Misfortune
- Fun-A-Day 2011
- Delightfully geeky 3D printed objects
- Andy Pescovitz's custom videogame LEGO Minifigs
- Video of uncontacted tribes
- Egypt: Vodafone and France Télécom say Egyptian gov forced them to send pro-Mubarak mass texts
- NYT reporters account of being detained by Egypt's secret police
- RIP LeRoy "Granny" Grannis, surf photography pioneer
- Captain Nemo's Daughter doll by Marina Bychkova
- Another cool transistor record player
- Wikileaks ACTA cables confirm it was a screwjob for the global poor
- Funny heat-gun manual
- 8-bit Memory: old game cartridges become external storage drives
- StartingPage now returns Google search results, privately
- New law in Malawi may or may not criminalize farting in public
- Egyptian protesters storm the building that holds their "Stasi files"
- George Bernard Shaw's rotating shed
- Crocheted Greedo
- How to: Counteract religious strife
- Edwardian Ball: your Friday steampunk week-chaser
- Fancy little "design it yourself" pocketknife
- The new Starbucks cup holds an entire bottle of wine
- Summit on Science, Entertainment and Education
- HOWTO make Viking shoes
- What atheists are really concerned about
- Who is The Most Interesting Man in the World?
- Sexual harassment stock photography
- Egypt: Kenneth Cole's failtweet comes to life in street prank
| Lucy and Ricky love smoking, and you should too! Posted: 05 Feb 2011 12:50 AM PST  Here's Lucy and Ricky promoting Philip Morris cigs to "smart young Americans" as being free from next-day "cigarette hangovers." The thing about old adverts is that they come out of a context that is, on the one hand, so competitive and on the other hand, so regulated, that even a 60-year-old ad looks like it came from another planet, not just another century. Between the aggressively obvious airbrushing and makeup, the unabashed targeting of cigarettes to young people, and the casual use of the term "cigarette hangover" (I've never heard this before, though I experienced it when I was a smoker), this is as science-fictional as the most extreme moments in Blade Runner or The Fifth Element. Indeed, as others have pointed out, the advertising in those futuristic movies is even more anachronistic than this stuff, since it's just a straight linear extrapolation of today's ads, predicting a world where things are only "more" but not "different." Contest Entry--Philip Morris, 1952
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| TedXVienna talk on "context hacking" Posted: 05 Feb 2011 02:36 AM PST Johannes from Vienna arts/pranks/tech collective Monochrom gave this fun TEDxVienna talk on "context hacking" -- making pranks out of pranks, subverting subversion, transcending mere grossouts, and being melancholic postmodern leftists. TEDxVienna-Johannes Grenzfurthner-On how to subvert subversion (Thanks, Johannes!)
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| Mediating Sustainability: Daring to Defy Misfortune Posted: 04 Feb 2011 04:59 PM PST  "Mediating Sustainability: Daring to Defy Misfortune" is a fake exhibition title I generated using Rebecca Uchill's Random Exhibition Title Generator. Try it yourself! (The photo is a "Carrie cake" from a 2006 cake contest at Bazaar Bizarre.) (Thanks, Bill!)  |
| Posted: 04 Feb 2011 07:08 PM PST My pal and Make magazine contributing artist Tim Lillis participated in a project called Fun-a-Day. Every day in January, he illustrated word that had some role in something that he did that day. Fun-a-Day is an annual art show held by Artclash and exhibited at RPS Collective in Oakland. The show opens tonight, February 4, from 6 PM to 9 PM. "It coincides with Oakland's Art Murmur where tons of galleries in the same neighborhood have openings," says Tim. |
| Delightfully geeky 3D printed objects Posted: 04 Feb 2011 12:47 AM PST Joris sez, "We collected the 6 Geekiest 3D prints we could find including a Sinsusoid Lamp made with equations, the Trabecular Bone lamp and the shadow of a Tesser Cube." The 6 Geekiest 3D prints of, like, all time (Thanks, Joris!)   |
| Andy Pescovitz's custom videogame LEGO Minifigs Posted: 04 Feb 2011 03:52 PM PST  My nephew Andy Pescovitz's handpainted and customized LEGO Minifigs receive a lot of props from LEGO geeks for their creativity and fine craftsmanship. Many of Andy's minifigs are videogame characters, including his latest creations above -- The Punisher from the XBox game and Ghost from Modern Warfare 2. See more at pescovam's Flickr stream!   |
| Posted: 04 Feb 2011 03:28 PM PST On Tuesday, I posted that Survival International and Brazil's National Indian Foundation released images of what they are calling an "uncontacted tribe" in the Amazonian rainforest between Brazil and Peru. Now they've posted aerial footage of some of these people. As I said the other day, I don't really care if they're entirely "uncontacted" or just have minimal interaction with the outside world -- It's amazing that humans still live like this and horrible that their way of life, and their home, is being destroyed. Previously: |
| Egypt: Vodafone and France Télécom say Egyptian gov forced them to send pro-Mubarak mass texts Posted: 04 Feb 2011 03:22 PM PST "Vodafone Group PLC and France Télécom SA, facing heat for complying with the Egyptian government's order to pull the plug on their networks last week, said Thursday that Egypt's government forced its way onto their mobile networks to send text messages directly to the country's people." (WSJ)   |
| NYT reporters account of being detained by Egypt's secret police Posted: 04 Feb 2011 03:18 PM PST Souad Mekhennet and Nicholas Kulish of the New York Times write about their detention this week by Egypt's secret police, the Mukhabarat—they saw dozens of other journalists held, and witnessed the far more harsh abuse of Egyptian protesters detained in the same facilities: Anxiety turned to anticipation when we were driven to a military base. The military had been the closest thing Egypt had to a guarantor of stability and we thought once we explained who we were and provided documentation we would be allowed to go to our hotel. 2 Detained Reporters Saw Secret Police's Methods Firsthand (NYT) |
| RIP LeRoy "Granny" Grannis, surf photography pioneer Posted: 04 Feb 2011 03:57 PM PST  Iconic images by Gannis: Mike Doyle surfing Waimea in 1967 and "Midget" Farrelly surfing Shore Break, Makaha 1968. Gannis was a master of using light to convey emotion.LeRoy Grannis, who along with "Doc" Ball helped revolutionize the field of surf photography, has died. He also co-founded what's now Surfing Magazine. A lifelong surfer himself, Grannis didn't take up photography until 1959, when he was 42. That was the year surfing hit mainstream consciousness through the film Gidget. Grannis' amazing black and white photos really give a sense of surf's rapid shift from subculture to mainstream as Gidget and Beach Boys mania took hold. If you love beautiful photo books, the retrospective Leroy Grannis: Surf Photography of the 1960s and 1970s |
| Captain Nemo's Daughter doll by Marina Bychkova Posted: 04 Feb 2011 02:56 PM PST 
Here's one of Marina's recent creations, Captain Nemo's Daughter. It is limited to 10 pieces, but I'm not sure if any are available. There are more pictures at her website. Her blog is excellent, too -- here she describes her painting process. Previously: Marina Bychkova incredible dolls |
| Another cool transistor record player Posted: 04 Feb 2011 02:39 PM PST  Earlier this week I posted a link to photos of Pete Verrando's Commodore micro turntable. Here's another micro turntable. This one was made in Italy and looks even nicer. The owner, Johannes Roussel, described it to James Graham of Retro Thing: "I own a record player that is very similar but made in Italy by a company named Mo-El in Milano. Mine can play 45 and 33. See more photos of this nice-looking record player at Retro Thing. |
| Wikileaks ACTA cables confirm it was a screwjob for the global poor Posted: 03 Feb 2011 11:56 PM PST Quadrature du Net's repository of #cablegate cables related to ACTA, the secretive copyright treaty reveal that governments all over the world were pissed off that the USA and Japan wouldn't let them discuss the treaty with their citizens and industry. More importantly, they explicitly confirm that the reason that ACTA was negotiated in secret among rich countries was that this was seen as the most expeditious way of getting a super-extreme copyright agreement passed with a minimum of fuss, and that all the poor countries who were excluded from the negotiation would later be coerced into agreeing to it. The cables note that critics wanted ACTA to take place before an existing body like WIPO, where processes were in place for transparency and for the involvement of public interest groups. But cables from the US embassy in Japan make clear that the US pushed back against this approach, in large part because it knew other nations wouldn't go along with what it wanted: "a plurilateral, TRIPS-plus Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) which would aim to set a 'gold standard' for IPR enforcement among a small number of like-minded countries, and which other countries might aspire to join."WikiLeaks Cables Shine Light on ACTA History (Quadrature du Net) (Secret) US cables reveal: ACTA was far too secret (Ars Technica)
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| Posted: 04 Feb 2011 01:44 PM PST  The delightfully irreverent manual for SparkFun's Heaterizer XL-3000 Heat Gun is a darned fine read, full of wit, verve and fiero. Heaterizer XL-3000 Heat Gun (Thanks, Pixl8ed, via Submitterator!) |
| 8-bit Memory: old game cartridges become external storage drives Posted: 04 Feb 2011 03:43 PM PST  Etsy seller 8 Bit Memory transforms classic game cartridges into external hard drives, from 500GB to 1TB. The LA Weekly has more here. (thanks, Liz Ohanesian!) |
| StartingPage now returns Google search results, privately Posted: 04 Feb 2011 01:07 PM PST  Google and other search engines track what users search; over time, the data collected can be pretty revealing, so much so that the DOJ wants access. For the most part, privacy policies are only as good as the lawyers backing them, and "law of the land" can trump anything. And all of that adds up to worrisome prospects for all of us. But what if no data were collected to begin with? That's the approach Starting Page is taking. Starting today, they claim to serve as a sort of middle-man between you and Google that keeps no records or data on their own at all. So even if they were subpoenaed by, say, the DoJ, they'd have none of your search data to hand over. And all Google knows is someone made a search from Starting Page, but there's no way for them to know whose searches are whose. Starting Page even has a Firefox plugin that uses HTTPS for the browser search bar. |
| New law in Malawi may or may not criminalize farting in public Posted: 04 Feb 2011 12:51 PM PST Boing Boing reader ill ich says, "There is some argument in Malawi over whether a new law bans farting in public. If so, they will need to address the old law of 'he who smelt it, dealt it' or else all police officers would be culpable."   |
| Egyptian protesters storm the building that holds their "Stasi files" Posted: 04 Feb 2011 12:58 PM PST Jeff Stein in the Washington Post: "Anti-Mubarak Egyptians may look back at the storming of the interior ministry building Sunday as the fun part. Once they get their hands on its police files--as they almost certainly will some day--a cold reality will set in: Many of their friends and relatives were informants, maybe even reporting on them."   |
| George Bernard Shaw's rotating shed Posted: 04 Feb 2011 12:34 PM PST  Photo: Ralph Morse/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images, Jul 01, 1946 I'm not especially looking forward to dying, but when the time comes, I couldn't think of a better way to go than the way George Bernard Shaw died: from a fall while pruning a tree at age 94. The Honest Architecture blog has a nice post about George Bernard Shaw's tiny, rotating backyard work shed, where he spent much of his time. Apparently, spinning huts like this were popular in the early 1900s. It was basically a lazy susan that Shaw would periodically turn a few times a day for optimal sunlight, shade, and temperature. According to the National Trust website, the shed was equipped with casters that rotated on a circular track. The hut was electrified, and had an electric heater and telephone. I wonder how the wiring was accomplished -- maybe you couldn't spin the hut more than 360° to prevent twisting the wiring too much? |
| Posted: 03 Feb 2011 11:45 PM PST  Flickr user BackyardBirderWa made this smashing, well-accessorized Greedo amigurumi. She sells her creations here.   |
| How to: Counteract religious strife Posted: 04 Feb 2011 11:07 AM PST  Remember how Egyptian Muslims served has human shields for Egyptian Christians during this year's Coptic Christmas Mass? Here's a photo of Egyptian Christians returning the favor, protecting praying Muslims during a protest this week. (Thanks, Brian Thomas!)   |
| Edwardian Ball: your Friday steampunk week-chaser Posted: 04 Feb 2011 10:56 AM PST [Video Link] Mark Day shot this lovely HD video (with a Canon 550D T2i) of The Edwardian Ball & World's Faire, San Francisco, with circus from Vau de Vire Society, waist-lines from Dark Garden corsetry, music from Jill Tracy and Rosin Coven, and steam-engines from Kinetic Steam Works. The Los Angeles Edwardian Ball is coming up on March 5th! The "Steampunk helmet filled with live goldfish" video blogged earlier by Cory came from this same event, and from Mark Day. |
| Fancy little "design it yourself" pocketknife Posted: 04 Feb 2011 10:50 AM PST  If you've ever purchased a Swiss army knife, you know the hardest part of choosing your knife is just figuring out which one fits your needs best. Do you need this blade or that saw? A magnifying glass or a USB stick? Corkscrew or scissors? Well, what if you didn't have to choose? Quirky is selling an interesting take on this idea with the Switch: Switch is the ultimate modular pocketknife, with 17 different attachments so you can mix and match your most frequently used tools. Customize your Switch's width by swapping out the inner axles, or group your tools into different "themes" — home, office, outdoors, etc.It's not dirt cheap, but then again, a quality Swiss army knife isn't either. I'd be interested to see one in person, the concept images are nice, but a real photo would be a bit more informative. Check it out here.   |
| The new Starbucks cup holds an entire bottle of wine Posted: 04 Feb 2011 10:53 AM PST Rob Cockerham of Cockeyed.com says: "Its not the largest cup in America, but the new Starbucks Trente is big. Thirty-one ounces. "That's about 5 ounces more than a bottle of wine. "Today after work I stopped in to get a giant iced coffee. In the evening, I replaced it with something more appropriate for dinner." |
| Summit on Science, Entertainment and Education Posted: 04 Feb 2011 10:31 AM PST  I'll be blogging live notes from the Summit on Science, Entertainment and Education (web, twitter, hashtag) taking place today. Hosted by The Science & Entertainment Exchange of the National Academy of Sciences, the event explores how film, television programming, video games, and other entertainment media can enhance science education in America. Speakers today include Chuck Vest, president of the National Academy of Engineering; Karen Cator, director, Office of Educational Technology, U.S. Dept. of Education; Tony DeRose, senior scientist at Pixar; games designer Will Wright, film director Jerry Zucker (Airplane, Ghost), science reporter Miles O'Brien (PBS NewsHour, Frontline); Neil deGrasse Tyson, scientist and host of NOVA ScienceNOW, and others.
Dozens of teachers, students, and curriculum developers will join in these discussions to explore how movies, television programs, and video and computer games could be used in the classroom. The summit will include breakout sessions and a group exercise to encourage interaction and brainstorming among participants. Judy Muller ( Emmy Award-winning news correspondent, ABC News), is emceeing. The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, which is sponsoring the conference, is offering a $225,000 grant to fund pilot projects that emerge from ideas discussed here today. Here's some background reading. [Image, top contributed to the Boing Boing Flickr Pool by woodley wonderworks. And Image, bottom: photo contributed to the BB pool by BB reader Bryan Jones.] |
| Posted: 04 Feb 2011 12:02 AM PST  Crafty Therese made her own "Viking/Iron Age" shoes in 1997 and has been enjoying them ever since. Now she's brought us a tutorial explaining how you can make your own styling Viking kicks. the picture above is of my own, good old shoes, made in 1997. i always use them with these thick, felted socks inside; to me, they're part of the shoe. they are soft, comfy and i simply love them. based on my original 11 year old, several times altered, water damaged drawing,earth and living: viking shoes: a tutorial, sort of (via Neatorama)   |
| What atheists are really concerned about Posted: 04 Feb 2011 10:06 AM PST |
| Who is The Most Interesting Man in the World? Posted: 04 Feb 2011 10:04 AM PST I still get a kick out of those TV commercials for Dos Equis featuring "The Most Interesting Man in the World." (My favorite is when he says that he once visited a psychic... to warn her.) The New Yorker has a very short profile of the actor behind the Man. His name is Jonathan Goldsmith. He's 72-years-old. Jewish. And from the Bronx. And he's pretty interesting too! From the New Yorker: "Interesting" (Thanks, Bob Pescovitz!)   |
| Sexual harassment stock photography Posted: 04 Feb 2011 10:14 AM PST  The folks over at The Hairpin have collected what is shaping up to be a lovely collection of sexual harassment in the workplace stock photography. It's looking really good today. Really good. You know what I'm talking about. |
| Egypt: Kenneth Cole's failtweet comes to life in street prank Posted: 04 Feb 2011 09:55 AM PST  A real-world prank making fun of Kenneth Cole's ill-timed and tone-deaf tweet. Coilhouse has the story, and here are photos. Adobe Illustrator, a little font knowledge, a vinyl cutter, and bitter, bitter sarcasm. |
Trabecular Bone Lamp by Dimitri van Lessen. "We, human beings, are very good in creating our own new shapes and forms, but I think that the most beautiful and complex shapes are still to be found in nature itself. Now, some time ago, one of my colleagues created a 3D model of a trabecular bone. This model had such a complex and amazing internal structure that I was immediately fascinated by it. Since the moment it was made, I always thought this would be a cool model to use as a lamp. For me, this trabecular bone lamp is the perfect combination of "medical meets design". Due to its complex structure, it is only possible to print this design via 3d printing. Knowing this, I went to look for a nice dataset which I could use to make the design. Once I found one, I realized I was too clumsy in 3D model software to edit this set. So I asked one of my friends, who's a biomedical engineer, to help me adapting the dataset to a nice square that could be used for the lamp." 
is one of those crazy-expensive Taschen books that really shows his work beautifully. (
Incredible porcelain doll maker 
His mother was a Conover model, his father a track coach at James Monroe High School. Postcollegiate dissolution (and a session with the famed psychoanalyst Fredric Wertham) led him into an acting class at the Living Theatre and, eventually, into competition with the likes of Dustin Hoffman and Robert Duvall. (Goldsmith recalls a contentious exchange with Hoffman: "I jumped up and said, 'Dustin, the reason you don't like me is because I'm gonna make it and you're not.' ") Goldsmith eventually made it—out to Los Angeles, anyway—and embarked on a career as a "that guy," very often the that guy who gets killed, on television shows such as "Bonanza," "Mannix," "Gunsmoke," "Hawaii Five-O," "The Rockford Files," "Barnaby Jones," "Charlie's Angels," "CHiPs," "Dynasty," "T. J. Hooker," "Knots Landing," "Magnum, P.I.," "MacGyver," and "Dallas," to name a few. He had an equally peripatetic career off the lot, the particulars of which he's saving for a book. He divulged one old surefire tactic: knowing that Warren Beatty kept a penthouse suite at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Goldsmith used to wait in the lobby for the young women who'd been summoned there, and he'd intercept them, saying, "Warren sent me down. I'm terribly sorry, but he had to cancel the meeting."
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