Mickey Mouse milk ad is a relic of olde worlde naiveté (or it's just rude) China space launch "all systems go" for Thursday Podcast: my story "The Brave Little Toaster" HOWTO rubberize origami Settlers of Catan accessory to prevent board mishaps A thermite reaction on 9/11? Can magnets make you lie? Taxonomy of Big Bird HOWTO be desaturated Hartley Hoskins makes steel cable sound cool New Mexico couple says no to DEA drug raid Harvard-supported Harvard Grad Mitt Romney Criticizes Obama for being a Harvard-supported Harvard Grad Meltdown - The men who crashed the world Inside Alvin: Scientists as Makers Andy Warhol in Pioneer stereo ad Quake's vibration, not power loss, shut off VA nuclear plant PBS reporter jailed while covering "Occupy Wall Street" protests in NYC Baby pandas need a nap Great photographs re-created in LEGO Hey baby, what's cookin'? Kitty has two faces Ice-cube molds shaped like penguins and polar bears standing on ice-bergs Andy Rooney on Letterman, 1982 Exploding toilet injures woman at US govt. building Men and Motorcycles, Nairobi, Kenya (photo) Who killed videogames? Beautifully written account of behavioral economics and social games Boing Boing's "B-Side" Frying pans that resemble planets Portal 2 warning sign coasters TOM THE DANCING BUG: On Re-Fighting The Wrong Wars 
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Mickey Mouse milk ad is a relic of olde worlde naiveté (or it's just rude)
By Cory Doctorow on Sep 29, 2011 12:24 pm This undated old Grad Rapids Milk ad features a bit of dialogue from Minnie and Mickey Mouse that either contains a rude double-entendre or is a relic of an era of unbelievable naiveté. Either way: snigger snigger snigger. (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)
Read in browser China space launch "all systems go" for Thursday
By Xeni Jardin on Sep 29, 2011 05:34 am A spacecraft named Tiangong-1, or Heavenly Palace, is set to blast off Thursday from China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu province. "The launch will mark the start of China's first spacecraft rendezvous and docking mission," China Daily reports. The unmanned spacecraft will be directed into an orbit about 350 kilometers above Earth.
Read in browser Podcast: my story "The Brave Little Toaster"
By Cory Doctorow on Sep 29, 2011 01:00 am I've just returned to podcasting after a summer holiday, kicking it off with my story "The Brave Little Toaster" (part of a series of stories that share titles with famous stories, in this case, the Disch story of the same name), just published in MIT Tech Review's TRSF. It's a story about when the "Internet ...
Read in browser HOWTO rubberize origami
By Cory Doctorow on Sep 28, 2011 10:55 pm Instructables user Blightdesign has developed a method for rubberizing paper origami creations by dipping them in Plastidip, using them for Christmas tree ornaments. This HOWTO explains how to rubberize your own paper toys. (via Make)
Read in browser Settlers of Catan accessory to prevent board mishaps
By Mark Frauenfelder on Sep 28, 2011 10:43 pm I've reviewed the Settlers of Catan and the Settlers of Catan Portable Edition. The nice thing about the portable edition's board is that it's not wont to fall apart like the standard edition's is. SJ Brown is taking a different approach to the flimsy Catan board problem by creating a beautiful wooden gameboard accessory for ...
Read in browser A thermite reaction on 9/11?
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Sep 28, 2011 10:09 pm Still think that something other than a mere plane crash brought down the World Trade Center towers? According to a Norwegian materials expert, you may be right. Just ... you know ... not in the way most Truthers probably expect. Christian Simensen thinks the Twin Towers were ultimately felled by a thermite reaction. "If my ...
Read in browser Can magnets make you lie?
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Sep 28, 2011 09:27 pm A small Estonian study is offering some hints that our brains could be even weirder than we'd imagined. Researchers found that magnetic pulses directed at a certain part of the frontal cortex affected whether people were more willing to fib, or more likely to tell the truth. Only 16 people were involved in the study, ...
Read in browser Taxonomy of Big Bird
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Sep 28, 2011 09:12 pm In this Pecha Kucha presentation from Christchurch, New Zealand, Zoologist Mike Dickison talks about where a certain large, yellow, flightless bird fits into the tree of life. Via Erin Kane
Read in browser HOWTO be desaturated
By Cory Doctorow on Sep 28, 2011 09:09 pm From BrodyQat, whose infamous desaturated Santa outfit made her the toast of the Internet, advice on how to make yourself a monochrome costume: You have to think in shades of gray, not black & white. And all your grays need to complement each other, which is freaking HARD. There's blue-grays, red-grays, etc. Find neutral ones, ...
Read in browser Hartley Hoskins makes steel cable sound cool
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Sep 28, 2011 08:53 pm Hartley Hoskins is a geophysicist and communications engineer who has worked for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute since 1958. Last month, he gave me a behind-the-scenes tour of the places where WHOI's maker/scientists build the research equipment they use from scratch. In this short clip, aboard the research vessel Oceanus, he talks about the special ...
Read in browser New Mexico couple says no to DEA drug raid
By Mark Frauenfelder on Sep 28, 2011 08:53 pm Couple in shock after drug raid: krqe.com Acting on a "citizen's tip," a team of assault-weapon toting DEA agents were denied entry into a married couple's home in New Mexico. "There came this huge bang on the door, front door, sounded like the door was going to fall in," recalled [Nancy] Parker. She said her ...
Read in browser Harvard-supported Harvard Grad Mitt Romney Criticizes Obama for being a Harvard-supported Harvard Grad
By Mark Frauenfelder on Sep 28, 2011 08:33 pm You can't really get upset with Harvard man Mitt Romney for disparaging Obama for being a Harvard man. After all, Romney is just reciting words on a card that someone (probably a Harvard grad) has instructed him to read aloud. IvyGate points out the following facts, among others: Mitt Romney holds not one, but two ...
Read in browser Meltdown - The men who crashed the world
By Mark Frauenfelder on Sep 28, 2011 08:16 pm [Video Link] "The first of a four-part investigation into a world of greed and recklessness that brought down the financial world." From Open Culture: Doc Zone, a documentary series produced by CBC Television, is now airing a four part investigation into the great financial meltdown of 2008. Along the way, the CBC's Terence McKenna takes ...
Read in browser Inside Alvin: Scientists as Makers
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Sep 28, 2011 08:16 pm There are things you can't buy at Radioshack. There is not always an App for that. Sometimes, the only way to make something work is to build it yourself. Nobody knows that better than scientists. From physicists tracking a particle, to taxonomists identifying a new species of wasp, to chemists creating a useful molecule—nearly every ...
Read in browser Andy Warhol in Pioneer stereo ad
By Mark Frauenfelder on Sep 28, 2011 08:12 pm "We asked Andy Warhol to paint a picture of a Pioneer high fidelity receiver. He can't seem to finish. He says he gets so wrapped up up in the beautiful sound of the subject that he can't concentrate on the way it looks." Andy knew they'd pay him all the same, so why should he ...
Read in browser Quake's vibration, not power loss, shut off VA nuclear plant
By Xeni Jardin on Sep 28, 2011 07:57 pm Here's a first: a nuclear power plant in Virginia shut down by the earthquake last August was effectively "switched off" not by a loss of power, as previously thought, but by the actual seismic vibrations from the quake.
Read in browser PBS reporter jailed while covering "Occupy Wall Street" protests in NYC
By Xeni Jardin on Sep 28, 2011 07:48 pm While working on a story about citizen journalism at the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York for PBS affiliate WNET Thirteen, John Farley was arrested, along with the demonstrators whose stories he was covering. My arrest gave me a unique vantage point on the risks and rewards of citizen journalists, those non-professionals who capture ...
Read in browser Baby pandas need a nap
By Xeni Jardin on Sep 28, 2011 07:27 pm Giant panda cubs lie in a crib at Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu, Sichuan province September 26, 2011. (REUTERS/China Daily)
Read in browser Great photographs re-created in LEGO
By Xeni Jardin on Sep 28, 2011 07:25 pm Artist Mike Stimpson recreates iconic photographic images in LEGO. (via Russ Marshalek)
Read in browser Hey baby, what's cookin'?
By Dean Putney on Sep 28, 2011 07:24 pm The New York Times photography department is really on a roll with this deliciously absurd photo of a chicken.
Read in browser Kitty has two faces
By Xeni Jardin on Sep 28, 2011 07:23 pm This Massachusetts cat with two faces has become the world's longest surviving so called "janus" feline at 12 years of age. The cat, who is named Frank and Louie, has two mouths, two noses and three eyes. Frank and Louie have one brain, so the faces react in unison. (REUTERS/David Niles) Update: via the comments, ...
Read in browser Ice-cube molds shaped like penguins and polar bears standing on ice-bergs
By Cory Doctorow on Sep 28, 2011 07:04 pm I love these "polar ice" molds from the Japanese site Monos; they resemble penguins and polar bears perched on icebergs, and are balanced so they stay upright in your drink. (via Super Punch)
Read in browser Andy Rooney on Letterman, 1982
By Xeni Jardin on Sep 28, 2011 06:39 pm [Video Link]. From a longer appreciation of Andy Rooney on Woot. The veteran television commenter, whose complaints and annoyances somehow comforted the rest of us, will announce this weekend on 60 Minutes that he is retiring. He was like, the world's kindest internet troll, only on TV instead of a blog comment thread. He philosophized ...
Read in browser Exploding toilet injures woman at US govt. building
By Xeni Jardin on Sep 28, 2011 06:06 pm At a General Services Administration building, a toilet exploded and injured a woman so badly, she had to go to the hospital. Things have since improved. It's not funny if you're the one on the toilet.
Read in browser Men and Motorcycles, Nairobi, Kenya (photo)
By Xeni Jardin on Sep 28, 2011 05:57 pm "Nairobi, Kenya," a photo from Boing Boing reader Biketripper shared in the BB Flickr Pool. On the bikeflaps of one rider, "A Strong Enemy Is Better Than a Weak Friend."
Read in browser Who killed videogames? Beautifully written account of behavioral economics and social games
By Cory Doctorow on Sep 28, 2011 05:53 pm Tim Rogers's essay "Who killed videogames? (a ghost story)" is one of the most interesting pieces of technology reporting I've ever read. It's a long (long!) account of the mechanics of "social games" where psychomathematicians or behavioral economists or engagement designers (all variations on the same theme) create systems to make games compelling without being ...
Read in browser Boing Boing's "B-Side"
By Xeni Jardin on Sep 28, 2011 05:45 pm There are a number of delightful little easter eggs baked in to our redesign by Boing Boing's managing editor, Rob Beschizza. Among them, a section we're calling B-side, "a place where we'll post unwieldy or alarming amusements that don't fit well on the homepage because of file size, formatting or other reasons." Now go have ...
Read in browser Frying pans that resemble planets
By David Pescovitz on Sep 28, 2011 05:35 pm Christopher Jonassen photographed well-used frying pans that resemble alien planets. The series is titled "Devour." (via @wonderosity) Related, the "'Fried Egg' nebula cracks open rare hyper giant star" (Thanks, Ariel Waldman!)
Read in browser Portal 2 warning sign coasters
By Cory Doctorow on Sep 28, 2011 05:21 pm ThinkGeek's got a set of funny Portal 2 warning-sign coasters, which may serve as a minatory presence in your home for careless visitors who leave rings on the furniture. (via Red Ferret)
Read in browser TOM THE DANCING BUG: On Re-Fighting The Wrong Wars
By Ruben Bolling on Sep 28, 2011 05:00 pm 
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