WATCHISMO TIME MACHINES - Timing is everything...
Jingle Bells in space: the historic recording City of London police class Occupy movement with terrorists such as Al Qaeda Universal Music claims it has a private deal with Google to take down YouTube videos it doesn't own Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011 Deterritorial Support Group: lulz and communism Lovejoy Lives! The Duke Spirit: "Procession" (MP3) Banksy's new sculpture: Cardinal Sin US-funded Open Technology Initiative takes to Occupy Comet to plunge to flaming death of hot agony in the Sun today High school students making out with their parents ICBM silo and air park for sale Free anthology of fiction from teen sf/f writing camp Louis CK's DRM-free direct-sales video experiment pays off How SOPA became a bill Last call for Magick for Terri Don't eat the poison honey Baby Tattoo's 2nd annual neighborhood pop-up store "The Medium is the Massage" 1967 album reissued on CD Embezzler stole for Mafia Wars powerups Report: Scientific research on chimpanzees "unjustified," should be limited Spider Robinson reads "Chronic Offender" - jazzy Damon Runyonesque time-travel story Music to do lab work by Jacko's hair to be a roulette ball An octopus, in need of sunscreen A Christmastime Great Depression-era Buck Rogers Ray Gun price war story Video of "magnetic" man TubeGnosis: a repository of "mind-expanding documentaries & videos" The most contrarian opinion on Slate SOPA markup, live Jingle Bells in space: the historic recording
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 16, 2011 12:38 pm Patrick sez, "Last year Boing Boing had a post about the first song ever played in outer space. On December 16 1965, the Gemini 6 crew played Jingle Bells while in Earth's orbit. I really wanted to hear that song, but there was no audio file to be found online. So I tracked it down. ...
Read in browser City of London police class Occupy movement with terrorists such as Al Qaeda
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 16, 2011 08:54 am A leaked memo from the City of London Police (the special police force maintained by the administrators of London's financial district, who are elected by the corporations with offices in its boundaries) includes the Occupy movement in a list of "terrorist/domestic extremist" organisations that pose a threat to the City's businesses. Other groups on the ...
Read in browser Universal Music claims it has a private deal with Google to take down YouTube videos it doesn't own
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 16, 2011 06:40 am The saga of Universal Music's war on the Mega Song (a song and video recorded by several major artists in support of the online service MegaUpload, which Universal is trying to have censored in the USA through its support of the Stop Online Piracy Act) just got weirder. Many of us were baffled that Universal ...
Read in browser Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011
By Xeni Jardin on Dec 16, 2011 05:57 am Journalist, pundit, author, and gentleman philosopher Christopher Hitchens has died at 62, after a long battle with esophegeal cancer. Obituaries: Vanity Fair, NPR, CNN, WaPo, Reuters, LAT. Graydon Carter's memorial is the one to read. Photo: For the release of his memoir "Hitch 22," Hitchens poses for a portrait outside his hotel in New York, ...
Read in browser Deterritorial Support Group: lulz and communism
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 16, 2011 05:35 am The Guardian profiles the Deterritorial Support Group, a secretive guerrilla humour protest group whose goals include "full communism, with lulz as a transitional demand." They're an interesting blend of radical politics, po-faced irony, sectarian haters, and media pranksters -- The Yes Men by way of the Weather Underground. Another striking thing, given their leftist politics, ...
Read in browser Lovejoy Lives!
By Xeni Jardin on Dec 16, 2011 05:33 am NASA SDO: "Breaking News! Lovejoy lives! The comet Lovejoy has survived it's journey around the sun to reemerge on the other side." Lots more movies of the comet that brushed the Sun and survived at the NASA SDO YouTube page.
Read in browser The Duke Spirit: "Procession" (MP3)
By Amy Seidenwurm on Dec 15, 2011 10:08 pm Sound it Out #10: The Duke Spirit: "Procession" If I could invent a band, they'd be one that played straight-ahead, non-trendy guitar rock. My make-believe band would meet at art college and live together in a dingy, furniture-less apartment. They'd have a hot, growly, mysterious female singer and four accomplished dudes cranking out the music. ...
Read in browser Banksy's new sculpture: Cardinal Sin
By Mark Frauenfelder on Dec 15, 2011 09:17 pm Banksy spoke to the BBC about his brilliant and funny new sculpture, Cardinal Sin, at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. He made it by gluing bathroom tiles to the face of cardinal bust, to give the effect of a mosaiced photograph. I love everything about the Walker Gallery -- the Old Masters, the contemporary ...
Read in browser US-funded Open Technology Initiative takes to Occupy
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 15, 2011 08:51 pm The New America Foundation's Open Network Technology Initiative, a US State Department-funded project to build an "Internet in a suitcase" that can be dropped into repressive zones where protesters need network access and the state is trying to take it away. The project -- a very complex piece of technology -- has gotten to the ...
Read in browser Comet to plunge to flaming death of hot agony in the Sun today
By Xeni Jardin on Dec 15, 2011 08:32 pm Update: Lovejoy lives! The comet had a near-encounter with the sun, but survived. From Space.com: "A newly discovered comet is set to make a death dive into the sun's atmosphere today (Dec. 15), and scientists will have a ringside seat to watch its fiery demise." How could this story be made any more sci-fi? The ...
Read in browser High school students making out with their parents
By Xeni Jardin on Dec 15, 2011 08:13 pm Possibly the most upsetting thing I've seen on the internet. Ever. Video Link. The principal issued a bullshit apology. (via Joe Sabia, and thanks for the update, Pesco!)
Read in browser ICBM silo and air park for sale
By David Pescovitz on Dec 15, 2011 07:18 pm Please note that as soon as Dean approves the capital expense, Happy Mutants World Headquarters will move from our unmarked island to this Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Silo and air park now for sale in New York's Adirondacks. The new list price is just $750,000! From Sotheby's: The Atlas-F missile sites were activated in 1961, and ...
Read in browser Free anthology of fiction from teen sf/f writing camp
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 15, 2011 07:17 pm Jeff Vandermeer sez, Shared Worlds is a unique summer SF/F writing camp for teens, based out of Wofford College in South Carolina. The participants build worlds in the first week and write stories set in those worlds in week two. We've just announced our guest list for 2012, as well as set up donation and ...
Read in browser Louis CK's DRM-free direct-sales video experiment pays off
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 15, 2011 06:40 pm Comedian Louis CK has weighed in with a status report on the first four days of his experiment with independent, DRM-free video distribution. CK spent $170,000 recording live performances consisting of previously unaired material ("every new generation of material I create is my income, it's like a farmer's annual crop") and made it available online ...
Read in browser How SOPA became a bill
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 15, 2011 06:38 pm Michael Weinberger sez, "Today is a big day for SOPA, but it is really the culmination of over a year's worth of negotiations, meetings, and debates. This video gives a bit of background and context for the bill to help people realize what has happened already and to imagine what is likely to happen in ...
Read in browser Last call for Magick for Terri
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 15, 2011 06:22 pm This the last day of the Magick for Terri auction to benefit Terry Windling, one of fantasy literature's most beloved figure, presently mired in family health and financial difficulties. Included in the auction: naming rights to a character in the sequel to my novel Little Brother.
Read in browser Don't eat the poison honey
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Dec 15, 2011 06:18 pm One interesting fact and one bit of useful advice, courtesy the Neuroskeptic blog: • When bees use nectar from wild Rhododendrons the honey they produce is poisonous. Not poisonous as in, "dude, you have to try this poison honey it made me see god," but poisonous as in "was once left out as a deadly ...
Read in browser Baby Tattoo's 2nd annual neighborhood pop-up store
By Mark Frauenfelder on Dec 15, 2011 06:15 pm Bob Self says, Baby Tattoo publishes art books that are distributed around the globe; but we are, at heart, a local business that has been based near North Hollywood, California for nearly a decade. In the spirit of being a good neighbor, we are opening our 2nd annual Christmas Pop-Up store in the NoHo Arts ...
Read in browser "The Medium is the Massage" 1967 album reissued on CD
By David Pescovitz on Dec 15, 2011 05:50 pm Five Day Weekend has reissued "The Medium is the Massage" LP (1967), the experimental audio recording based on media theorist Marshall McLuhan's groundbreaking book of the same name that was designed by Quentin Fiore and coordinated by Jerome Agel. The reissue of this rare LP includes new essays, artwork by BB pal Winston Smith, and ...
Read in browser Embezzler stole for Mafia Wars powerups
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 15, 2011 05:40 pm A former administrative assistant for the Maine Trial Lawyers' Association has pleaded guilty to embezzling $166,000. Apparently, much of the money was spent on powerups for the Facebook games YoVille and Mafia Wars. (Thanks, Chad!)
Read in browser Report: Scientific research on chimpanzees "unjustified," should be limited
By Xeni Jardin on Dec 15, 2011 05:01 pm From the Washington Post today: Nearly all medical research on chimpanzees is "scientifically unjustified" and any future studies using the great apes must pass a "very high bar," according to a new congressionally ordered report from the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences. "Fewer kinds of studies will be justified based ...
Read in browser Spider Robinson reads "Chronic Offender" - jazzy Damon Runyonesque time-travel story
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 15, 2011 05:00 pm I just caught up (rather late) with the last Spider on the Web podcast, wherein science fiction writer and musician Spider Robinson reads aloud from his work, plays his guitar, and plays some of his favorite music. I really enjoy Spider's podcasts, and the last one was a particular favorite, as it included a reading ...
Read in browser Music to do lab work by
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Dec 15, 2011 04:55 pm You should listen to this awesome song by Adam Warrock, called I Am An Action Scientist. It's guaranteed to make you feel like a badass, even if all you're doing is plotting data points. (Via Atomic Robo and bclevinger.)
Read in browser Jacko's hair to be a roulette ball
By David Pescovitz on Dec 15, 2011 04:44 pm A gambling website purchased a small baggie of Michael Jackson's hair at auction for $10,000 and now they're compressing it into a roulette ball. From AOL: "Indeed, considering Jackson dedicated his life to entertaining millions, the prospect of this very special ball captivating crowds at roulette tables seems like a fitting use for it, (reads ...
Read in browser An octopus, in need of sunscreen
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Dec 15, 2011 04:40 pm Floating just below the surface of the water near Italy's Mt. Vesuvius, an octopus suns its head lump in this National Geographic Picture of the Day. Thanks Maggie Fitzgibbon!
Read in browser A Christmastime Great Depression-era Buck Rogers Ray Gun price war story
By Xeni Jardin on Dec 15, 2011 04:39 pm The National Air and Space Museum has a cool post up about the first metal Buck Rogers gun: the XZ-31 Rocket Pistol, produced in 1934 by the Daisy Manufacturing Company of Plymouth, Michigan. "That toy, which was wildly successful, even sparked a Christmastime price war between two of the biggest department stores in the country ...
Read in browser Video of "magnetic" man
By David Pescovitz on Dec 15, 2011 04:39 pm Etibar Elchyev, 39, of the country of Georgia, had planned to break a Guinness record for balancing 27 spoons on his face. Instead, he surprised everyone by balancing 50 spoons on his body. It's not clear whether he claims to be actually magnetic or if the media (myself included) just prefers to that word because ...
Read in browser TubeGnosis: a repository of "mind-expanding documentaries & videos"
By Mark Frauenfelder on Dec 15, 2011 04:36 pm [Video Link] TubeGnosis has a fantastic collection of esoteric videos, featuring Aleister Crowley, Timothy Leary, Robert Anton Wilson, Carlos Castaneda, Jacques Vallee, Ram Dass, Alan Watts, William Burroughs, J.G. Ballard, Kenneth Anger, Terence McKenna, Robert Crumb, and many more psychonauts and mutants. Above, a 16-minute film that David Lynch made in 2010 for Dior, called ...
Read in browser The most contrarian opinion on Slate
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Dec 15, 2011 04:34 pm Slate.com is great, but it does have a predictable theme. That theme is contrarianism. If there were a contest for "most contrarian position Slate ever published", it's possible this is the story that would win. (Via Dr. Hypercube)
Read in browser SOPA markup, live
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 15, 2011 04:32 pm Rep Darrell Issa's Keep the Web Open has live coverage of the markup of the Stop Online Piracy Act bill, including a video stream of the hearing, and a version of the bill that you can help mark up. (Thanks, jcnoble2!)
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