[Sponsor] Tendence watches now have fully mechanical automatic movements! Watchismo has the exclusive for the new Tendence Skeleton Watches, each with fully exposed 'skeletonized' mechanics seen both from the top of the dial and the see-through crystal of the caseback where the rotor can be seen revolving & generating power the old fashioned way -- with cogs, gears and hairsprings! A blend of form and function, the Tendence collection is a highly evolved concept, with extreme dimensions and three-dimensional numbers carved to stand high above the concave dial, itself cut from stainless steel, polycarbonate or titanium.s.
Cory in Pasadena this aft Brazil to roll out national radio-chip ID/surveillance/logging for all vehicles Bees make blue honey by harvesting waste from M&Ms manufacturing Talk sophisticated with PronunciationManual Ladyada's geeky coloring book for makers of all ages Pirate Flix: Video remix contest Why is the sky dark at night? Gay Boy Scout denied his Eagle Scout award Back Yard Air Bubble, 1961 Mark your calendar now for December 2013 comet-viewing party Physicist dance bombs Stephen Hawking Kickstarting a free/open adult education book Astrophysics student with lymphoma makes epic trek Mitt Romney agrees with you Artisanal mayonnaise is giving me a post-modern headache Happy 50th, Mr. Bond! Here is the fancy new song that Adele sang for you Useless Machines in a political struggle How to steal the Space Shuttle Ticket to hell (and back) Let the casting speculation for Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy begin with Michael Rooker Friday Freak-Out: The "Swiss Beatles" - Les Sauterelles - "Dream Machine" (1969) Cory in Pasadena this aft
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 06, 2012 11:01 am Hey, Pasadena! I'm signing and speaking at Vroman's Bookstore this afternoon at 3PM, as part of the Pirate Cinema tour. I'll be in Rendondo Beach at Mysterious Galaxy tomorrow, before heading east to Lansing, MI, then Chicago, NYC, Bethesda, Edmonton, and many other cities in the US and Canada. Here's the full schedule -- I'm ...
Read in browser Brazil to roll out national radio-chip ID/surveillance/logging for all vehicles
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 06, 2012 08:59 am In Brazil, a new regulation requires drivers to add radio ID tags to their car windshields, which broadcast "vehicle year or fabrication, make, model, combustible, engine power and license plate number." This will be read by checkpoints throughout the country, and centrally processed and retained, in a system called Siniav. The administration claims that this ...
Read in browser Bees make blue honey by harvesting waste from M&Ms manufacturing
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 05, 2012 11:00 pm Beekeepers in Ribeauville, France discovered blue honey in their hives. When they investigated further, they discovered that their bees were harvesting M&Ms manufacturing waste from a biogas plant that processes the industrial runoff from a Mars chocolate factory. The blue honey will not be offered for sale. From the BBC: The plant operator said it ...
Read in browser Talk sophisticated with PronunciationManual
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 05, 2012 09:13 pm The PronunciationManual YouTube account consists of short clips of clearly enunciated borrowed words and proper nouns that are often uttered by English speakers, including some tricky single malt Scotch whiskey names. These pronunciations are sure to impress your friends with your nous (pronounced "nooo-see") and sophistication. PronunciationManual's YouTube channel (via Kottke)
Read in browser Ladyada's geeky coloring book for makers of all ages
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 05, 2012 08:30 pm Phil Torrone sez, Ladyada's "E is for Electronics" is a coloring book adventure with electronic components and their inventors. Makers of all ages can learn, color, and share common parts and historical figures throughout history. Explore the world of electronics with Ladyada as your guide! This is the first ever open-source electronics coloring book! Adafruit's ...
Read in browser Pirate Flix: Video remix contest
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 05, 2012 06:54 pm On the NYC leg of my Pirate Cinema tour, I'll be stopping at Brooklyn's wonderful indie bookstore WORD. The WORD folks have cooked up a remix video competition for the event, inviting you to make short remix videos, 1-3 minutes long. I'll be judging the finalists, and the winner will be screened at my reading ...
Read in browser Why is the sky dark at night?
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Oct 05, 2012 05:47 pm So, the sky looks blue because of the particular gases in our atmosphere reflect and scatter the blue wavelengths of light from the Sun. Fair enough. But that leads directly to a second question that, I'm ashamed to say, I never really thought to ask — why doesn't the light from all the stars in ...
Read in browser Gay Boy Scout denied his Eagle Scout award
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Oct 05, 2012 05:27 pm Back in the Summer, I told you about a movement among Eagle Scouts, some of whom have been sending back their awards — in effect, resigning — in protest of The Boys Scouts of America's discriminatory policy banning gay, bi, and trans scouts and troop leaders, as well as atheists. Here's a great example of ...
Read in browser Back Yard Air Bubble, 1961
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 05, 2012 05:07 pm Only $50! Scanned and uploaded to X-Ray Delta One's photostream, and shared in the Boing Boing Flickr Pool. View larger sizes here.
Read in browser Mark your calendar now for December 2013 comet-viewing party
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Oct 05, 2012 05:03 pm Provided that the world does not end in December of 2012, you might have the opportunity to view a particularly impressive comet around Christmastime in 2013. The poetically named C/2012 S1 (ISON) will pass at a-safe-yet-great-for-viewing distance from Earth, after first passing close to the Sun — a combination that promises to produce a beautiful ...
Read in browser Physicist dance bombs Stephen Hawking
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Oct 05, 2012 04:53 pm So, on The Ellen DeGeneres Show they have a thing called a "Dance Dare". The basic idea: Sneak up around somebody when they aren't looking and boogie down, just outside their peripheral vision. If you're caught, stop dancing. Play casual. Wander away. Which brings us to this video. Krister Shalm is a postdoc in the ...
Read in browser Kickstarting a free/open adult education book
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 05, 2012 04:47 pm Dan sez, "Most adult education teachers are subject-matter experts but have no experience teaching. This book, 'How to Teach Adults,' contains everything you need to start, well, teaching adults: How to find a job, plan your class, teach your students and change the world. It's short and eminently practical. The Kickstarter campaign for it ends ...
Read in browser Astrophysics student with lymphoma makes epic trek
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 05, 2012 03:37 pm Andy Lyon, an astrophysics student at UC Berkeley, was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2008. He went through chemotherapy, and returned to school, but his cancer returned. He did a stem cell transplant, but remission only lasted a few months. Faced with a now more limited range of options, he chose to forgo medical treatment and ...
Read in browser Mitt Romney agrees with you
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 05, 2012 03:01 pm Use the RoboRomney service to fill in your positions on issues from abortion to the economy to gun-control, and the system will mine a database of real Romney quotes to produce a position paper in which the candidate agrees with everything you say.
Read in browser Artisanal mayonnaise is giving me a post-modern headache
By Xeni Jardin on Oct 05, 2012 02:54 pm "These… mayonnaise people. Have I assumed their pretension too harshly? Did I falsely detect a sense of irony so thick they don't even know when they're kidding anymore? Why do I assume they aren't earnest in their love of mayonnaise? They look like nice people." Amber Frost at Dangerous Minds. [I get it, but I'd ...
Read in browser Happy 50th, Mr. Bond! Here is the fancy new song that Adele sang for you
By Jamie Frevele on Oct 05, 2012 02:24 pm The fancy new James Bond theme, "Skyfall," sung by Adele is out, and it's pretty sweet! You can buy it at iTunes and consume it in video form on the singer's YouTube page. Adele has experienced some moderate success this year with both her career and her life, and singing the new Bond theme was ...
Read in browser Useless Machines in a political struggle
By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 05, 2012 02:05 pm [Video Link] I feel cheated because this Useless Machine video runs out after only 11 minutes and five seconds. Buy a Useless Machine kit from The Frivolous Engineering Company Inc
Read in browser How to steal the Space Shuttle
By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 05, 2012 01:59 pm Jason Torchinsky of Jalopnik wrote a detailed scenario on how to steal the Space Shuttle in Los Angeles. Yesterday morning I was at the California Science Center's press conference outlining their plan to drag a massive spaceship across Los Angeles. It was one of those times where logistics can make even the most outlandish plans ...
Read in browser Ticket to hell (and back)
By Cory Doctorow on Oct 05, 2012 01:51 pm Apparently, this remarkable little coupon was offered up at auction, once upon a time. This is a souvenir of a visit to a Coney Island Bowery amusement called Darkness and Dawn. It was a Cyclorama, and had been created for an exposition in Omaha, Nebraska in 1898. It was brought to the Coney Island Bowery ...
Read in browser Let the casting speculation for Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy begin with Michael Rooker
By Jamie Frevele on Oct 05, 2012 01:40 pm Ever since Marvel announced that one of its next film ventures was The Guardians of the Galaxy, not much discussion has taken place about who might join the cast. But now, Michael Rooker (who is returning to The Walking Dead next season) is throwing his hat in the ring -- to play Rocket Raccoon! A ...
Read in browser Friday Freak-Out: The "Swiss Beatles" - Les Sauterelles - "Dream Machine" (1969)
By Mark Frauenfelder on Oct 05, 2012 01:22 pm In the 1960s Les Sauterelles became known as the "Swiss Beatles." Their song "Dream Machine" doesn't have anything to do with Brion Gysin's
Dreamachine, as far as I know.
Read in browser Meet SparkTruck, an “educational build-mobile” for the twenty-first century.
Dreamed up by a group of Stanford d.school students and funded through Kickstarter, SparkTruck is a mobile maker space currently traveling across the United States. At schools and summer camps and libraries around the country, the SparkTruck team offers workshops to help kids “find their inner maker” as they design and build projects like stamps, stop-motion animation clips, and “vibrobots.”
[video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmRKXqDwieY&feature=plcp]
This might seem all shiny and new. And it is—but only in part. What’s so striking (and exciting) about SparkTruck is the way it combines old and new. It does so in the tools it gets kids using, which range from pipe cleaners to laser cutters. It does so in its educational approach, which combines cutting-edge (get it?) STEM and design pedagogy with the fundamentals of an old-school shop class. And it does so in its method, which combines the iconic, century-old technology of the bookmobile with the hot new form of the maker space.
In doing so, SparkTruck joins a growing number of libraries which are combining time-tested principles (like equal access to information) with new technologies (like 3-D printers), putting in maker spaces and media production labs alongside bookshelves and meeting rooms. As I’ve argued over on bookmobility.org, these combinations make sense because reading and making actually have a lot in common. They’re both creative processes that take existing materials and combine them in new ways. Getting people engaged in those kinds of processes—through imaginative thinking, contemplation, hands-on problem-solving, and collaborative learning—is what both maker spaces and libraries are all about.
Taking that commitment on the road with scissors and hammers and 3-D printers and a great big bookmobile-like truck, SparkTruck serves as a laboratory for new approaches, as well as a reminder that trying new things doesn’t have to (and probably shouldn’t!) necessarily mean tossing old ones out.
After all, what would those vibrobots be without classically crafty pipe cleaners and tongue depressors? And what would a library be without the creative, participatory, straight-up awesome experience of reading?
SparkTruck schedule [sparktruck.org]
How to arrange a visit from SparkTruck [sparktruck.org]
SparkTruck YouTube channel [youtube.com]
Signature: --Derek Attig, bookmobility.org
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