The Latest from Boing Boing |  |
- Minecraft commercial -- funny, tasteless
- Pasadena family enforces its trademark of the term "Urban Homestead"
- Forgotten aquatic parakeets once amazed with their bionic gills
- Bahrain: anti-government protests continue despite brutal crackdown (big photo gallery)
- Kick-ass trailer for zombie game: Dead Island
- Escher's impossible waterfall as Rube Goldberg device
- Bruce Sterling parses Hillary Clinton on net freedom
- Red Cedar Foot Tree
- Reduce stress by making a get-ready-for school checklist for your kids
- Boy shot to death after Apple store dispute
- Bahrain: in protest crackdown, regime appears to have tightened internet filtering
- Amazing kid dance video: 8-year-olds krumpin' hella tight
- Visit to Friends of Amateur Rocketry, in Mojave desert
- TSA screeners stole over $200K from fliers' baggage
- Dapper Day at Disneyland: the well-dressed go to the fun-park
- Egypt's military junta now has an official Facebook page
- 10 artists who use videogames as their mediums
- Selling cookies like a crack dealer, by dangling a string out your kitchen window
- Tycho Brahe's dwarf and elk
- Book-O-Mat and other vintage vending machines
- Chinese magician's goldfish trick sparks controversy
- Burglar kills pet fish: "Can't leave any witnesses"
- Video: The Twilight Singers' "On The Corner" (and free San Francisco concert tonight!)
- DHS erroneously seizes 84,000 domains, falsely accuses them of trafficking in child porn
- Why haven't the banksters who stole the planet been tossed in jail?
- Midwestern Tahrir: Workers refuse to leave Wisconsin capital over Tea Party labor law
- Impossible Penrose Triangle as a 3D printed object
| Minecraft commercial -- funny, tasteless Posted: 17 Feb 2011 10:52 PM PST Martin Waltz's funny -- and slightly tasteless -- ad for Minecraft certainly seems to capture the obsessive fearlessness the game inspires in its adherents. Minecraft - "Diamonds" (Thanks, Riley!)   |
| Pasadena family enforces its trademark of the term "Urban Homestead" Posted: 17 Feb 2011 06:01 PM PST  Above, a 2004 catalog from an apple tree company called Urban Homestead. Will they have to cede to the demands of the Dervaes Family to stop using the term "urban homestead?" The Dervaes Family, who run a great urban farm in Pasadena, CA, is catching a lot of heat from urban homesteaders. They are objecting to a letter the Dervaes Family sent out a couple of days ago to let bloggers know that the terms "urban homestead" and "urban homesteading" are trademarks owned by the Dervaes Institute. They registered the terms in 2008. From Farm Curious: In fact, it appears their original application to trademark the term "Urban Homestead" was denied based on the fact that it's a generally descriptive term open to use by anyone. You can track the entire application process for their trademark of "Urban Homestead" here. You can also see here that on Dec 9, 2008 their original application was refused because "Many entities provide a variety of print and online publications and services on the same subject matter." In order to execute their trademark application, they had to go back and show evidence that they had "acquired distinctiveness" through exclusive (which we know to be untrue) and extensive (which is not deniable) use of the term. What I don't understand is why the application was approved in the end; even though they could show extensive use, they certainly couldn't demonstrate exclusive use of the term.Here's an excerpt from the Dervaes Institute letter: In addition, Dervaes Institute owns numerous trademarks which should be properly acknowledged if used. These protected names and images include the following registered trademarks: The Wikipedia entry for Path to Freedom (the Dervaes Family website) has a recent update about this: In 2008, the Dervaes filed to trademark the terms "urban homestead" and "urban homesteading," among others. In October 2010 their trademark was finally approved under the supplemental registry after initially being denied due to their reason for trademarking not being distinctive enough. In 2011 they began sending notifications to maintainers of websites who used these terms that these terms were now under their trademark and that they were not to be used without crediting the Dervaes family. Critics (such as blogger Crunchy Chicken) claim that this trademark is unenforceable, since the term "urban homestead" has been in use since at least the 1970s. For example, the New York Urban Homestead Assistance Board was founded in the 1970s in order to provide support during the economic crisis of that time. The Dervaes assert that they are protecting a legitimate business interest, and that their trademark of the term "urban homesteading" prevents corporations from doing the same thing. On February 16, 2011, in light of the negative press stemming from this controversy and claiming they have received threats from critics, the Dervaes shut down their Facebook page.Here's a Facebook page started by self-professed "urban homesteaders" who are protesting the Dervaes action. The Dervaes Family has been responding to criticism on their Twitter page. The OC Weekly is all over this story. |
| Forgotten aquatic parakeets once amazed with their bionic gills Posted: 17 Feb 2011 12:47 AM PST  From an unspecified edition of Compton's Encyclopedia, a bionic amphibious parakeet. Alas, it appears that this line of research died on the vine. A parakeet submerged in water (Thanks, James!)   |
| Bahrain: anti-government protests continue despite brutal crackdown (big photo gallery) Posted: 17 Feb 2011 05:20 PM PST  People gather to mourn and pray for demonstrators who were injured after riot police stormed an anti-government protest camp, outside the Salmaniya hospital where the casualties were sent to, in Manama February 17, 2011. More photos below (REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed). Warning: graphic content.
People visit a family member who was injured after riot police stormed an anti-government protest camp, at the Salmaniya hospital in Manama February 17, 2011.
People carry the body of a protester killed during a protest on Monday, as they gather at a Shi'ite village cemetery in Sanabis, west of Bahraini capital Manama, February 15, 2011. (REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed)
Protesters set up tents at the Pearl Roundabout, a famous landmark of Bahrain, in the heart of its capital Manama February 15, 2011.
A protester collapses after inhaling tear gas during a demonstration in Manama February 14, 2011. Bahraini police fired teargas and rubber bullets to break up protests on Monday in Shi'ite villages that ring the capital Manama, dampening a "Day of Rage" stimulated by popular upheaval in Egypt and Tunisia.
Military tanks are seen on the road to the Pearl Roundabout in Manama February 17, 2011.
Protesters sit at a temporary media center area off the Pearl Roundabout, a famous landmark of Bahrain, in the heart of its capital Manama, February 15, 2011.
Women pray for protesters who were injured after riot police stormed an anti-government protest camp, outside the Salmaniya hospital where the casualties were sent to, in Manama February 17, 2011.
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| Kick-ass trailer for zombie game: Dead Island Posted: 17 Feb 2011 01:54 AM PST The trailer for upcoming zombie game Dead Island is a fantastic piece of horror storytelling. I have no idea what the gameplay will be like based on this, but the video had me glued to my screen. Dead Island: Official Announcement Trailer (Thanks, Pinkstor, via Submitterator!)
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| Escher's impossible waterfall as Rube Goldberg device Posted: 17 Feb 2011 01:33 AM PST This mysterious video from YouTube user McWolles showcases a Rube Goldberg device that replicates MC Escher's famous self-replenishing waterfall. Forced perspective at its finest!
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| Bruce Sterling parses Hillary Clinton on net freedom Posted: 17 Feb 2011 01:30 AM PST Bruce Sterling parses out Hillary Clinton's latest talk on Internet freedom -- a kind of balancing act between defending her government's advocacy against Internet freedom in the case of Wikileaks, and for Internet freedom in the case of middle eastern despots. Bruce's commentary is way more interesting than the speech, of course. Secy of State Clinton espouses pure cognitive dissonance strategy (Image: Sen. Hillary Clinton speaks, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from seiu's photostream)   |
| Posted: 17 Feb 2011 01:14 PM PST  Everyone's feet perspire, some more than others. It's especially hard on your shoes if they're made of leather and don't get to dry properly between wearings. And so three or four years ago I bought a pair of shoes at the Harry Rosen store in Calgary, I was delighted when they recommended that I also purchase a pair of Woodlore cedar shoe trees. The shoe trees are unfinished aromatic red cedar that smell incredibly fresh and natural. They wick moisture from my shoes, naturally inhibit bacteria, and keep my cycling shoes and my dress shoes shoes dry and odour free better than anything I've tried in the past. And all without any fragrances or chemicals. I recently gave a set to my friend and his boots and shoes have been drastically improved as a result (which is more of a testimonial than you might think). I have also heard that you can sand them to renew the scent and that the wood they use is harvested from sustainable American sources. --Chris Alig Woodlore Adjustable Red Cedar Shoe Trees $24 Be sure to check out some of the the comments over at Cool Tools. And don't forget to submit a tool!  |
| Reduce stress by making a get-ready-for school checklist for your kids Posted: 17 Feb 2011 12:53 PM PST  Before I made this Morning To-Do checklist for my second-grade daughter, the following things happened on more than one occasion: 1. My daughter would get into the car without shoes or socks (this happens more often in warm weather) and I would drive halfway to school before she told me. 2. I would get all the way to the school and find out she forgot her homework folder, her lunch, or her backpack and I would have to drive back and get the missing item. 3. I would take her to school on a cold day and realize she didn't have a coat or sweater. 4. My wife would ask me if I was crazy for taking our daughter to school with hair that looked like a rat's nest. I finally made this checklist and printed out a fat stack, clipped them together with a binder clip, and put them on the kitchen cupboard. It took about a week for us to remember to use the checklist every morning, but then it became automatic. Now every morning, the first thing Jane does is grab a fresh checklist and start doing the activities, checking them off as a completes them. It's a game for her and she likes it. We've been doing this for about five months and it's reduced a lot of stress from our morning routine. |
| Boy shot to death after Apple store dispute Posted: 17 Feb 2011 12:00 PM PST A teenage boy in Ohio died today after after police say he was shot by his older brother in front of shoppers, following some kind of dispute inside an Apple store.   |
| Bahrain: in protest crackdown, regime appears to have tightened internet filtering Posted: 17 Feb 2011 11:57 AM PST Protests continue today in Bahrain, and the regime there has responded violently. BB pal Ethan Zuckerman points us to this chart that shows that the Bahrain internet is not shut down, per se, but rather much slowed—most likely by filtering.   |
| Amazing kid dance video: 8-year-olds krumpin' hella tight Posted: 17 Feb 2011 11:50 AM PST Director Joe Sabia, who's been collaborating with us on the Boing Boing Video in-flight entertainment channel on Virgin America, found this crazy video of some 8-year-old dancers Krumping. What amazes me most isn't the phenomenal krumpin' the one kid does for such a long period of time in this video, but the sight of the two other 8-year-old boys next to him, standing still for more than 10 seconds. Video Link: "Video Hella Tight Krumpin 8-Year-Old Kids Freestyle To Step On Stage!" |
| Visit to Friends of Amateur Rocketry, in Mojave desert Posted: 17 Feb 2011 11:40 AM PST The Los Angeles hackerspace CRASHspace, of which I am a co-founder, took a drive out to California's Mojave desert to visit the Friends of Amateur Rocketry and deliver some gifts. It was quite an adventure, as the mini-documentary video we produced should demonstrate. |
| TSA screeners stole over $200K from fliers' baggage Posted: 17 Feb 2011 01:41 AM PST Two TSA screeners from New York's Kennedy airport were busted for stealing over $200,000 in cash from fliers. They targetted people they thought were drug dealers, since they didn't think their victims would complain. The TSA says that this is an isolated incident, despite the fact that it's happened before. Two TSA agents arrested at JFK Airport for stealing $39K from passenger's bag (via Digg) (Image: Bottle: entry in Bruce Schneier's TSA logo competition, a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from bazzargh's photostream)
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| Dapper Day at Disneyland: the well-dressed go to the fun-park Posted: 17 Feb 2011 12:34 AM PST  The original concept art depicted Disneyland's attendees as dapper, well-dressed families meandering in effortless style around the fantastic landscapes and amusements in Anaheim. Modern reality falls short of this ideal (someone really needs to invent athletic wear that's tailored for people who aren't in very good shape, perhaps made from stiffer cloth that doesn't drape and cling quite so much. I'd buy it.) This Saturday, a group of Disnephiles are planning an unofficial well-dressed theme day at Disney, called "Dapper Day at Disney Parks." Participants are urged to have a dressy day at Disneyland: "A period Mad Men look is as correct as the latest haute couture, be creative, go Gaga, anything that would make the legendary and stylish Disney designers Mary Blair, John Hench, Herbie Ryman, Dorthea Redmond, Harriet Burns and the rest of the stylish WED lot look proud - or blush!" Dapper Day at Disney Parks - This Sunday   |
| Egypt's military junta now has an official Facebook page Posted: 17 Feb 2011 11:33 AM PST To better communicate with the internet-savvy youngsters who toppled Hosni Mubarak's regime, The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has launched an official Facebook page dedicated "to the sons and youth of Egypt who ignited the January 25 revolution and to its martyrs." Lest you be left with the impression these are happy-fun guys, Amnesty International said today it has found new evidence that this same military has been, and still is, torturing detainees. (AFP)   |
| 10 artists who use videogames as their mediums Posted: 17 Feb 2011 11:21 AM PST Flavorwire has a nice roundup of videogames as an artistic medium: a post today about the work of 10 artists, many of whom use mobile devices such as the iPhone and iPad as a platform. Among them, Greg Wohlwend and design partner Mike Boxleiter of Mikengreg, who created Solipskier (video embedded above) for the iPhone. Their next project, 4fourths, looks intriguing. As the Flavorwire folks point out, all of this happens as the Smithsonian readies a major exhibition on the art of video games, and as a San Francisco-based nonprofit is trying to raise $20,000 for a video game museum. |
| Selling cookies like a crack dealer, by dangling a string out your kitchen window Posted: 17 Feb 2011 11:41 AM PST  Fat Cookies sells cookies out of a second-story window in San Francisco. Owners Eve, Kathleen and Clem dangle a string with a sign advertising their goodies out of the kitchen window of their apartment "$1 for a FRESH baked cookie! (pull the string if you wish to partake)" Pull the string and send up a dollar and they'll lower down a cookie. The street finds its own use for things, and in this case, the street is a nice one in Dolores Park, and the "thing" is a time-honored cocaine dealer's technique. Cookies Sold by String Dangling From San Francisco Apartment Window (via Super Punch)
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| Posted: 17 Feb 2011 10:47 AM PST From an email that BB pal Ben Cosgrove sent me: I was recently looking up some information on my all-time favorite nose-less astronomer, Tycho Brahe, and came across this information in Wikipedia. I include it here, unedited, because 1) it is entertaining, and 2) it reads like something written in one language, translated into another, and then quickly rendered back into the original by someone distracted by a shiny object. Completely insane: Tycho Brahe (Wikipedia)   |
| Book-O-Mat and other vintage vending machines Posted: 17 Feb 2011 10:34 AM PST  Seen here, the Book-O-Mat vending machine from 1949. What a terrific idea! More vintage (and modern) vending machines -- flowers, liquor, lemonade, bikini, gold! -- over at LIFE. "In Praise of Vending Machines"   |
| Chinese magician's goldfish trick sparks controversy Posted: 17 Feb 2011 10:25 AM PST Animal rights activists in China are furious with magician Fu Yandong who performs the trick seen above in which he directs goldfish to swim in formations. He was meant to encore the trick today during a Lunar New Year holiday TV program but China Central Television cancelled the performance in light of the controversy. From AFP: However, a separate regional broadcaster said magician Fu Yandong would perform the controversial trick again on Thursday night -- and reveal its secret so as to silence his critics."China magic fish trick sparks outrage"   |
| Burglar kills pet fish: "Can't leave any witnesses" Posted: 17 Feb 2011 01:02 AM PST A teenaged burglar near Chicago has been charged with poisoning the occupants of a fish-tank in a house he robbed; he is said to have explained himself by saying "We can't leave any witnesses." Goldfish killer "didn't want to leave witnesses," police say (Thanks, Mope, via Submitterator!) (Image: Goldfish, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from jorburn90's photostream)
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| Video: The Twilight Singers' "On The Corner" (and free San Francisco concert tonight!) Posted: 17 Feb 2011 10:36 AM PST Previously: |
| DHS erroneously seizes 84,000 domains, falsely accuses them of trafficking in child porn Posted: 17 Feb 2011 01:15 AM PST The DHS's Immigration and Customs Enforcement department has lately claimed for itself the right to seize and shutter domain names without substantial due process. Unsurprisingly, it is now making enormous, crushing errors as it exercises its self-appointed role as domain cop. The latest bungle? Erroneously shutting down 84,000 domains and replacing their content with a warning accusing them and their visitors of trafficking in child porn. U.S. Government Shuts Down 84,000 Websites, 'By Mistake'   |
| Why haven't the banksters who stole the planet been tossed in jail? Posted: 17 Feb 2011 01:50 AM PST Matt Taibbi's cover story in this month's Rolling Stone, "Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?" continues his excellent ongoing coverage of the immense corruption and malfeasance before, during and after the finance meltdown. As Tabbi points out, the outright criminality on display during the subprime bubble has resulted in exactly zero jail sentences for the men and women whose fraud destroyed the planet's economy. Indeed, many of their firms have gone on to go on to carelessly confiscate their customers' homes regardless of whether the customers were in arrears on their mortgages (indeed, Bank of America infamously foreclosed on someone who didn't even have a mortgage). Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail? (via MeFi) (Image: Whack A Banker by Tim Hunkin with Joanna Lumley, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from dullhunk's photostream) |
| Midwestern Tahrir: Workers refuse to leave Wisconsin capital over Tea Party labor law Posted: 17 Feb 2011 09:57 AM PST This week has seen massive, broad based protests in Wisconsin over Tea Party governor Scott Walker's new labor bill, which outlaws collective bargaining, slashes real wages in the public sector (by increasing workers' share of pension contributions and other payments), and allows the executive to fire state employees without substantial due process. Walker brought down his bill with enormous bluster, promising to mobilize the national guard against the state's workers if they had the temerity to demonstrate against this gutting of their hard-fought rights. Thousands and thousands of protestors have surrounded the state capital, and Walker has had to retreat to a nearby corporate boardroom in order to give his budget address. Protestors are camping out around the clock, braving the Wisconsin February to stand up for their rights -- a little bit of Midwestern Tahrir Square right there in America. The bill, introduced just this week, is already up for a planned vote on Thursday. State Senator Robert Jauh (D-Poplar) asked for more time, saying "Even God took seven days."Wisconsin Demonstrates Against Scott Walker's War on Unions (The Awl) Wisconsin Taken Over by Working People (The Awl) A third day of protests begins against the Walker budget bill for Wisconsin |
| Impossible Penrose Triangle as a 3D printed object Posted: 17 Feb 2011 01:09 AM PST  A cunning 3D designer named Artur Tchoukanov has worked out a way to 3D print the "impossible" Penrose Triangle, a famous optical illusion seen in the work of MC Escher. "The first clue was that the top face was in shadow (darker)... that let me to believe that it was a concave surface. Then I figured that they all need to be connected." Artur then designed his solution using Rhino. So we're curious to see if Artur did solve it? Or is there another solution?Impossible 3D printed Penrose Triangle: solved?   |
"Clinton tried to reconcile the US administration's support for the internet as a motor for change in the Middle East, China and elsewhere with its fury over WikiLeaks. She said: "Liberty and security. Transparency and confidentiality. Freedom of expression and tolerance. There are times when these principles will raise tensions and pose challenges, but we do not have to choose among them. And we shouldn't. Together they comprise the foundation of a free and open internet." 
Coumar X-rayed luggage destined for an American Airlines flight to Argentina on Jan. 30. Then he phoned Webb, who was assigned to the baggage belt area. Webb confirmed there was cash inside, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. 
Tycho was said to own one percent of the entire wealth of Denmark at one point in the 1580s and he often held large social gatherings in his castle. He kept a dwarf named Jepp (whom Tycho believed to be clairvoyant) as a court jester who sat under the table during dinner. Pierre Gassendi wrote that Tycho also had a tame elk (or moose) and that his mentor, Landgrave Wilhelm of Hesse-Kassel, asked whether there was an animal faster than a deer. Tycho replied, writing that there was none, but he could send his tame elk. When Wilhelm replied he would accept one in exchange for a horse, Tycho replied with the sad news that the elk had just died on a visit to entertain a nobleman at Landskrona. Apparently during dinner the elk had drunk a lot of beer, fallen down the stairs, and died.
When the residents returned home they also found hot sauce, mustard, ketchup and spices had been poured into their fish tank and three goldfish floating at the top, police said. 
My favorite alt.rock band of the 1990s was Afghan Whigs, who I knew growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio. After the Whigs split up, Greg Dulli formed the Twilight Singers to further his unholy union of the seductive rock, soul, and R&B influences that spawned him. The Twilight Singers' latest release, "
The most amazing noncase in the entire crash -- the one that truly defies the most basic notion of justice when it comes to Wall Street supervillains -- is the one involving AIG and Joe Cassano, the nebbishy Patient Zero of the financial crisis. As chief of AIGFP, the firm's financial products subsidiary, Cassano repeatedly made public statements in 2007 claiming that his portfolio of mortgage derivatives would suffer "no dollar of loss" -- an almost comically obvious misrepresentation. "God couldn't manage a $60 billion real estate portfolio without a single dollar of loss," says Turner, the agency's former chief accountant. "If the SEC can't make a disclosure case against AIG, then they might as well close up shop." 
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