[Sponsor] Three new Limited Edition Mondaine Giant Watches of Switzerland were introduced at Watchismo this week. Check out the perfectly minimal raw steel and anthracite dial follow-ups to the popular 'Giant' collection use the instantly recognizable Swiss Railways clock dial, emulating a time-honored design present in every Swiss train station. The distinct Mondaine design is so easy to read that it serves its purpose at any size, but there is something majestic about these larger, domed-dial giants.
Judge suspends US law that provided for indefinite detention without trial Being gay in the world of Mad Men: what It was really like Terry Gilliam, 1970, explaining his stop-motion animation Interview with author of "Predator Nation: Corporate Criminals, Political Corruption, and the Hijacking of America" RIP Jay Kay Klein: Fandom's Photographer Rests in Peace Astronomical fidget ring made from a meteorite Zombie baseball comic on Kickstarter Raising money to free classic volume on Africa's oral literature Tesla Gun Man arrested for fetus possession Migratory bird confused for avian spy Space Hijackers create Official Protesters programme for the London 2012 Olympics Vileness of cilantro explained Crap cellphones Ukiyo Link $22,000 routers "economical" HP to axe 30k jobs Sponsor Shout-Out: Watchismo UK civil servants routinely snoop on citizens' private financial and health information Contemplating the urban design of Lego City Gweek 052: Mystery in Space Coffee associated with the opposite of death, according to new scientific study 3D printer trading cards from the future Princess awards First Amendment lawyer "Defender of Internet" medal for SOPA fight J. Coulton and J. Scalzi talk science fiction and music every day for two weeks Impromptu klezmer show on a delayed Air Canada flight from Lemon Bucket Gonzo futurism SF in SF this Saturday: Ysabeau Wilce, Marie Brennan & Erin Hoffman Private-equity driven dentists accused of "dentally abusing" poor kids on Medicaid with painful, unnecessary procedures Live nude planets! Judge suspends US law that provided for indefinite detention without trial
By Cory Doctorow on May 18, 2012 12:15 pm U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest has issued a preliminary injunction against the clause in the National Defense Authorization Act that gave the administration the power to arrest people and hold them indefinitely, without a trial, if they were believed to support terrorism. She dismissed the government's arguments in support of the clause (NDAA §1021), which ...
Read in browser Being gay in the world of Mad Men: what It was really like
By Mark Frauenfelder on May 18, 2012 12:09 pm What was is like to be gay during the 1960s on Madison Avenue? David Leddick (who was worldwide creative director for Revlon at Grey Advertising and international creative director for L'Oreal at McCann-Erickson) wrote an entertaining essay for Huffington Post about his personal experience of being a gay mad man. After I left BBDO, a ...
Read in browser Terry Gilliam, 1970, explaining his stop-motion animation
By David Pescovitz on May 18, 2012 11:38 am Here is Terry Gilliam in 1970 explaining how he made the classic "fig leaf" stop-motion animation for Monty Python's Flying Circus, in a spare bedroom at his apartment. (via Dangerous Minds)
Read in browser Interview with author of "Predator Nation: Corporate Criminals, Political Corruption, and the Hijacking of America"
By Mark Frauenfelder on May 18, 2012 11:21 am Andrew Leonard of Salon interviewed Charles Ferguson (director of Inside Job, the documentary about the unpunished criminals who caused the current financial collapse) about his new book, Predator Nation: Corporate Criminals, Political Corruption, and the Hijacking of America Ferguson: I recently was at a dinner in New York City and one of the people there ...
Read in browser RIP Jay Kay Klein: Fandom's Photographer Rests in Peace
By Cory Doctorow on May 18, 2012 11:01 am Spider Robinson writes: I just received word that Jay Kay Klein, THE photographer of science fiction and fantasy, passed away on Sunday morning, May 13, in a Catholic hospice (a "Francis House") in Syracuse, NY, at age 80, of esophageal cancer. This sad news came to me today by phone from Craig Peterson, a local ...
Read in browser Astronomical fidget ring made from a meteorite
By Cory Doctorow on May 18, 2012 10:19 am Jewelrydesignsformen.com's Nine Planets ring is made of gold and meteoric iron, set with gemstones representing all the planets of the solar system, including Pluto*. And it's a fidget ring, which is my favorite kind of ring, because holy crap, can I ever fidget. The meteorite has been etched with nitric acid to reveal the characteristic ...
Read in browser Zombie baseball comic on Kickstarter
By Cory Doctorow on May 18, 2012 10:00 am Zack sez, "If you've ever seen the sociopathically-detailed artwork of James Stokoe, you'll want to support his new graphic novel written by Mark Andrew Smith, SULLIVAN'S SLUGGERS, which pits a baseball team against an army of flesh-eating monsters. A trailer and information on the book is available on the Kickstarter page -- which has already ...
Read in browser Raising money to free classic volume on Africa's oral literature
By Cory Doctorow on May 18, 2012 08:57 am A campaign on Unglue.it is seeking to raise $7,500 to pay for a Creative Commons Attribution-only licensed edition of Oral Literature in Africa, an out-of-print classic on the subject that is widely sought by African libraries. Once the money is raised, they will produce the new edition and make it widely available. First published in ...
Read in browser Tesla Gun
By David Pescovitz on May 18, 2012 08:55 am Rob Flickenger made a handheld Tesla coil gun. It's amazing and amazingly dangerous. Don't do this. Live vicariously through Flickenger instead. "The Tesla Gun" (dɸ/dt)
Read in browser Man arrested for fetus possession
By Rob Beschizza on May 18, 2012 08:49 am "It is not known why the arrested man was in possession of the foetuses." [BBC]
Read in browser Migratory bird confused for avian spy
By David Pescovitz on May 18, 2012 08:00 am A dead bird found in a southeastern Turkey village caused a stir when it was found to have a metal ring labeled "Israel" around its leg. Apparently, some were suspicious that the European Bee-eater may have been carrying a spy chip in its beak. From the BBC: The BBC's Jonathan Head, in Istanbul, says the ...
Read in browser Space Hijackers create Official Protesters programme for the London 2012 Olympics
By Cory Doctorow on May 18, 2012 06:42 am Leah sez, Bespoke troublemakers, the Space Hijackers, have announced that they are the Official Protesters of the London 2012 Olympic Games. To this end, they've launched a site where you can register for tickets for the official protests. They have also outlined the top ten reasons why the Olympics are worth protesting against. A spokesperson ...
Read in browser Vileness of cilantro explained
By Rob Beschizza on May 18, 2012 06:23 am People who cannot stand The Detested Herb are beneficiaries of a genetic mutation. [MSNBC via The Awl]
Read in browser Crap cellphones
By Rob Beschizza on May 18, 2012 06:10 am Sam Biddle rounds up the most appalling, terribly-made cellphones money can buy. Pictured right is the Pantech Jest (as in "surely you"). Why are these awful phones for sale—some for very much money!—when you can buy phones that aren't awful and cost zero dollars? Corporate apathy, manufacturing antipathy, a large populace of people who will ...
Read in browser Ukiyo Link
By Rob Beschizza on May 18, 2012 05:46 am Jed Henry paints Nintendo heroes in Ukiyo-e style. Here's Link about to find out that arrows are futile against enenra. [via Gamovr]
Read in browser $22,000 routers "economical"
By Rob Beschizza on May 18, 2012 05:37 am Ultra high-end $22,000 routers were bought in huge quantities by the government in West Virginia, many destined for rural offices with minimal IT footprints. [Ars Technica]
Read in browser HP to axe 30k jobs
By Rob Beschizza on May 18, 2012 05:25 am At the New York Times, Quentin Hardy writes that HP CEO Meg Whitman is to cut at least 30,000 jobs Her goal, they said Thursday, is to spend the money she saves on increasing the efficiency of the company's sales force and on creating new products. Meg Whitman, Hewlett-Packard's chief executive since September, is said ...
Read in browser Sponsor Shout-Out: Watchismo
By Rob Beschizza on May 18, 2012 05:10 am Our thanks go to Watchismo for sponsoring Boing Boing Blast, our once-daily delivery of headlines by email. Three new Limited Edition Mondaine Giant Watches of Switzerland were introduced at Watchismo this week. Check out the perfectly minimal raw steel and anthracite dial follow-ups to the popular 'Giant' collection use the instantly recognizable Swiss Railways clock ...
Read in browser UK civil servants routinely snoop on citizens' private financial and health information
By Cory Doctorow on May 18, 2012 04:47 am Disclosures made by the UK Department of Work and Pensions in response Freedom of Information requests show that over 1,000 civil servants illegally snooped on private citizens' data over a 13-month period. A separate disclosure from the Department of Health showed over 150 illegal breaches in the same period. As Zack Whittaker points out in ...
Read in browser Contemplating the urban design of Lego City
By Cory Doctorow on May 17, 2012 09:00 pm Alexandra Lange sends us her "Living in Lego City," from Print Magazine: "An essay that asks and answers the question: If you built all the Lego City sets, what kind of city would you get? The city you get is one founded on the stereotype of boy busyness, a place that makes 3-D the transportation, ...
Read in browser Gweek 052: Mystery in Space
By Mark Frauenfelder on May 17, 2012 08:37 pm Click here to play this episode. Gweek is Boing Boing's podcast about comic books, science fiction and fantasy, video games, board games, tools, gadgets, apps, and other neat stuff. My co-hosts for episode 52 are: Maggie Koerth-Baker: BoingBoing's science editor, journalist, and author of Before the Lights Go Out, a new book about electric infrastructure ...
Read in browser Coffee associated with the opposite of death, according to new scientific study
By Xeni Jardin on May 17, 2012 08:19 pm "Sexy girl in coffee beans," by Marcel Jancovic, via Shutterstock. A large prospective study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that "coffee consumption was inversely associated with total and cause-specific mortality." In other words, data showed that there is a connection between drinking coffee and not necessarily dying. Sort of. "Whether ...
Read in browser 3D printer trading cards from the future
By Cory Doctorow on May 17, 2012 08:15 pm Make is knocking out some fabulous "3D Printer Trading Cards (From the Future!)" -- lovely contractual design fictions from a world gone made for additive manufacturing. I had a dream that I found a box of 3D Printer Trading cards from 2012 at the Seekonk Speedway Flea Market. When I awoke I realized that might ...
Read in browser Princess awards First Amendment lawyer "Defender of Internet" medal for SOPA fight
By Xeni Jardin on May 17, 2012 08:05 pm Marvin Ammori's recently-bestowed freedom bling. Note the Nyan Cat. Constitutional law expert Marvin Ammori, one of the First Amendment scholars along with Larry Tribe who explained how SOPA would violate the First Amendment, shares a wonderful story with Boing Boing. Snip from his blog post: When I was quite young, I saw the first Star ...
Read in browser J. Coulton and J. Scalzi talk science fiction and music every day for two weeks
By Cory Doctorow on May 17, 2012 07:00 pm A new, two-week long daily podcast called Journey to Planet JoCo consists of a series of dialogues between John Scalzi and Jonathan Coulton -- like my two favorite flavors of ice-cream in one delicious cone! Welcome to Journey to Planet JoCo, an interview series where science fiction and sometimes fantasy author John Scalzi talks to ...
Read in browser Impromptu klezmer show on a delayed Air Canada flight from Lemon Bucket
By Cory Doctorow on May 17, 2012 05:57 pm When Canada's Lemon Bucket Orkestra -- a swinging klezmer act -- got stuck on Air Canada flight 876 at the start of their Balkan Station Romanian Tour 2012, they treated the fliers to a fabulous impromptu performance. Here's Lemon Bucket's origin tale: The band grew out of a conversation between a Breton accordionist and a ...
Read in browser Gonzo futurism
By Cory Doctorow on May 17, 2012 04:46 pm Writing on Warren Ellis's site, Justin Pickard presents "Action and Decision-Making for the Professional Weirdo," part of a longer, inspiring "Gonzo Futurist manifesto (PDF)" that opens with my most-favorite Bruce Sterling quote -- the words that were in my heart when I dropped out of university to work on the Internet: "Don't become a well-rounded ...
Read in browser SF in SF this Saturday: Ysabeau Wilce, Marie Brennan & Erin Hoffman
By Cory Doctorow on May 17, 2012 03:51 pm The next installment of San Francisco's SF in SF science fiction reading series is this Saturday, May 19: Ysabeau Wilce, Marie Brennan & Erin Hoffman. Doors open at 6, event kicks off at 7. Free, with a suggested donation to Variety Children's Charity of Northern California of $5-10.
Read in browser Private-equity driven dentists accused of "dentally abusing" poor kids on Medicaid with painful, unnecessary procedures
By Cory Doctorow on May 17, 2012 02:49 pm Hedge funds in America have backed several dental practices, and Medicaid and parents allege that this has led to a rash of "dental abuse" of poor children, who are seen by dentists at school, without parental consent, for invasive and painful (and expensive) procedures performed by dentists. Critics say the dentists have to meet quotas ...
Read in browser Live nude planets!
By Mark Frauenfelder on May 17, 2012 02:39 pm Rachel Hobson says: "Who needs to watch a web cam of baby pandas when you can watch Venus live? Welcome to the Public Observatory channel, where you can see live video of the Sun, moon, or the planets taken through one of our telescopes. The Public Observatory is located at the National Air and Space ...
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