Star Trek wine Badger Swagger Writers Guild's "101 Best Written TV Series" Anonymizing is really hard really, so why is the EU acting like it's easy? National Academies: public call for future visions of human spaceflight Haunted Mansion ballroom ghosts TOM THE DANCING BUG: Attention, Journalists! You are an Enemy of the State! Rob Ford crack-smoking video is "gone" Beast Academy: grade three math textbooks in monster comics form Han-in-Carbonite-with-a-boner lightswitch cover HOWTO make edible Aliens eggs and chestbursters The Good Life Lab: A modern manual for living off-the-grid Mind-controlled architecture, drones, and costume cat tails Sensing your gestures with WiFi Hurrah! It's a new Barenaked Ladies album! Real Stuff: Knock Knock Why the FBI's plan to require weak security in all American technology is a terrible, terrible idea Short video about Detroit makerspace Paul Krassner's funny stories about making up new words All the Young Dudes: Why Glam Rock Matters, by Mark Dery -- Boing Boing's first ebook! Penguin classic wallpaper Documentary about US Army's WWII "tactical deception unit" Boneshaker: A Bicycling Almanac Cost analysis of a toilet wipe Plants vs Zombies 2 - fun trailer Pirate Bay outs porno copyright trolls: they're the ones pirating their own files California wants an end to taxpayer subsidy for WalMart Uncharted Waters by Fred Kaz Public Resource liberates "Life in the UK" book, building codes The Ghost Fleet of Suisun Bay Star Trek wine
By David Pescovitz on Jun 05, 2013 12:46 pm I don't know anything about wine, but I like the looks of Vinport's limited-edition Star Trek wine featuring label art by Juan Ortiz. The labels represent classic ST episodes: "The City on the Edge of Forever," "Mirror Mirror," and "The Trouble with Tribbles."
Star Trek wine (via Laughing Squid) Read in browser Badger Swagger
By Rob Beschizza on Jun 05, 2013 12:41 pm The backstory: the British government is imposing an unpopular badger cull for
questionable reasons.
Read in browser Writers Guild's "101 Best Written TV Series"
By David Pescovitz on Jun 05, 2013 12:14 pm The Writers Guild of America has released its list of "101 Best Written TV Series." I'm thrilled that four of my favorite TV shows ever are in the top 5. Here's the top 10:
1. The Sopranos 2. Seinfeld 3. The Twilight Zone 4.
Read in browser Anonymizing is really hard really, so why is the EU acting like it's easy?
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 05, 2013 11:54 am My latest Guardian column is "Data protection in the EU: the certainty of uncertainty," a look at the absurdity of having privacy rules that describes some data-sets as "anonymous" and others as "pseudonymous," while computer scientists in the real world are happily re-identifying "anonymous" data-sets with techniques that grow more sophisticated every day.
Read in browser National Academies: public call for future visions of human spaceflight
By David Pescovitz on Jun 05, 2013 11:36 am Do you have ideas about the future of humans in space? The US National Academies' Committee on Human Spaceflight is seeking short papers from individual and groups with a vision for the future of human spaceflight.
In developing their papers, respondents are asked to carefully consider the following broad questions.
Read in browser Haunted Mansion ballroom ghosts
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 05, 2013 11:03 am Here's a rare look at the robots used to create the reflective "Pepper's Ghost" effect in the ballroom of Disney's Haunted Mansion. They're never directly visible during the ride, and can normally only be seen reflected in a transparent sheet of glass that invisibly bisects the Mansion's ballroom.
Read in browser TOM THE DANCING BUG: Attention, Journalists! You are an Enemy of the State!
By Ruben Bolling on Jun 05, 2013 11:02 am Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH so-called "journalists" are ordered to Re-education Centers for direction on how to best serve the State.
Read in browser Rob Ford crack-smoking video is "gone"
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 05, 2013 10:00 am Gawker's John Cook has finally gotten in touch with the guy who offered to sell him a video of Toronto Mayor Rob "Laughable Bumblefuck" Ford smoking crack. Bad news: the guy says the video is "gone":
But I have heard independently from others familiar with the goings-on in Toronto that leaders in its Somali community have determined who the owner is and brought intense pressure to bear on him and his family.
Read in browser Beast Academy: grade three math textbooks in monster comics form
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 05, 2013 08:56 am Beast Academy is a set of grade three math textbooks and practice books structured as comic books about monsters. The books are "aligned to the common core state standards for grade three," if that matters to you. What's more significant is that they're actually really good math textbooks that introduce their subjects in a clear and easy-to-follow fashion, carefully linking each concept to the last; and the exercises are lively, fun, and built around stories that dovetail smoothly into puzzles, games, and other ways of putting the knowledge into practice.
Read in browser Han-in-Carbonite-with-a-boner lightswitch cover
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 04, 2013 11:09 pm The Han Solo in Carbonite light-switch cover combines the 1980s-era Empire Strikes Back kitsch with
1960s era novelty "boner" decor -- yours for $40 from Etsy seller Wicked Studio.
Star Wars Han Solo in Carbonite Light Switch (
via OhGizmo)
Read in browser HOWTO make edible Aliens eggs and chestbursters
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 04, 2013 09:03 pm Here's a sweet little cookery show that will tell you how to make a facsimile egg from
Aliens and a chestburster cake. The former is something you could actually serve at a dinner party (it sounds delicious!), but the cake requires a volunteer willing to lie on her/his back.
Read in browser The Good Life Lab: A modern manual for living off-the-grid
By Cool Tools on Jun 04, 2013 06:56 pm When I was editor of
Craft magazine, I always looked forward to Wendy Jehanara Tremayne’s next “Re-Fitted” column, which profiled a waste-conscious maker and included a how-to project by that person. A few of the projects included making textiles out of plastic bags, turning used clothing into a quilt, and building a beautiful outdoor fence with found branches and tie wire.
Read in browser Mind-controlled architecture, drones, and costume cat tails
By David Pescovitz on Jun 04, 2013 06:40 pm This post is brought to you by Jaguar. Experience F-TYPE.
I remember the first time I controlled a computer with my brain. It was in 2008 at Institute for the Future and Neurosky's CEO Stanley Yang was visiting to demonstrate their system mobile headset and software that measures brainwaves and translates that information into a digital signal.
Read in browser Sensing your gestures with WiFi
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 04, 2013 06:38 pm WiSee is a reasearch project at the University of Washington; as described in
this paper, it uses standard WiFi hardware to sense the location and movements of people within range of the signal. Using machine-learning, it maps specific interference patterns to specific gestures, so that it knows that -- for example -- you're waving your hand in the air.
Read in browser Hurrah! It's a new Barenaked Ladies album!
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 04, 2013 05:46 pm Here's some great news! It's the 25th anniversary of Barenaked Ladies' first album,
Gordon, and they're celebrating with a new record:
Grinning Streak , which comes out today. They did a
Reddit AMA yesterday to promote it, and they're headed out
on tour.
Read in browser Real Stuff: Knock Knock
By Dennis Eichhorn on Jun 04, 2013 05:38 pm "One day I got a letter from Charles Bukowski..." From
Real Stuff #1 (Fantagraphics, December 1990).
Read in browser Why the FBI's plan to require weak security in all American technology is a terrible, terrible idea
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 04, 2013 05:07 pm Bruce Schneier's editorial on CALEA-II is right on. In case you missed it,
CALEA II is the FBI's proposal to require all American computers, mobile devices, operating systems, email programs, browsers, etc, to have weak security so that they can eavesdrop on them (as a side note, a CALEA-II rule would almost certainly require a ban on free/open source software, since code that can be modified is code that can have the FBI back-doors removed).
Read in browser Short video about Detroit makerspace
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jun 04, 2013 04:53 pm I enjoyed
Dark Rye's
video about
I3's Nicholas Britsky and the maker movement in Detroit.
Dark Rye's entire Detroit issue is excellent.
Read in browser Paul Krassner's funny stories about making up new words
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jun 04, 2013 04:16 pm Our friend Paul Krassner has coined quite a few terms that have made their way into common use. In this essay
he shares a few stories about the words and terms he's invented. The stories include the time he smoked a mixture of weed and opium with John & Yoko, the time he covered the trial of Harvey Milk's killer (who tried to get away with the murder by using what Krassner called "the Twinkie defense"), and the time he asked Bob Dylan why he was taking Hebrew lessons.
Read in browser All the Young Dudes: Why Glam Rock Matters, by Mark Dery -- Boing Boing's first ebook!
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jun 04, 2013 04:02 pm “All the Young Dudes,” glam rock’s rallying cry, turned 40 last year. David Bowie wrote it, but Mott the Hoople owned it: their version was, and will ever remain, glam’s anthem, a hymn of exuberant disenchantment that also happens to be one of rock’s all-time irresistible sing-alongs.
Read in browser Penguin classic wallpaper
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 04, 2013 04:00 pm Here's wallpaper that looks like a collage of classic Penguin covers, from Osborne and Little. Lots of retailers carry it -- the John Lewis site
lists it at £65 for a 10m x 52cm roll.
The PENGUIN LIBRARY wallpaper is a collage of front covers of those iconic early paperbacks from this famous publishing house and includes Ariel, the very first Penguin paperback published in 1935.
Read in browser Documentary about US Army's WWII "tactical deception unit"
By David Pescovitz on Jun 04, 2013 03:58 pm During World War II, the US Army deployed a "tactical deception unit" to Europe. The 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, aka the "Ghost Army," consisted of artists, ad directors, actors, and other creative folks who used inflatable tanks, sound effects trucks, and good ol' fashioned bullshit to trick the German forces.
Read in browser Boneshaker: A Bicycling Almanac
By Brian Heater on Jun 04, 2013 03:53 pm I’m slightly ashamed to admit that, as of mid-2013, my print reading has, on a whole, fallen into two categories. The first is comics. I’ll stubbornly argue the superiority of the physical media for sequential art for the foreseeable future. Even as a tech journalist, I’ve yet to encounter an experience compelling enough to convince me to swipe through panels (I love you, Comixology, but I’m just not ready for the commitment).
Read in browser Cost analysis of a toilet wipe
By Dean Putney on Jun 04, 2013 03:52 pm The folks at Dollar Shave Club have a new product out:
One Wipe Charlies, a peppermint-scented toilet wipe they claim is better than normal toilet tissue. Their video sure is flashy, but how much more will it cost me? Is this worth the cost?
Read in browser Plants vs Zombies 2 - fun trailer
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jun 04, 2013 03:20 pm I wish Plants vs Zombies 2 really looked like this! It's coming out exclusively on iOS in July.
Read in browser Pirate Bay outs porno copyright trolls: they're the ones pirating their own files
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 04, 2013 03:15 pm Yesterday, I
wrote about an expert witness's report on Prenda Law (
previously), the notorious porno copyright trolls (they send you letters accusing you of downloading porn and demand money on pain of being sued and forever having your name linked with embarrassing pornography).
Read in browser California wants an end to taxpayer subsidy for WalMart
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 04, 2013 02:38 pm The State of California is considering legislation that would fine businesses $6,000 per employee who has to turn to Medical, the state's version of Medicaid. The bill is especially targeted at WalMart, which notoriously counsels its employees to use food stamps and other social programs to make up for the shortfall between the wage it pays and the minimum cost of staying alive:
The amount of the fine is no coincidence.
Read in browser Uncharted Waters by Fred Kaz
By Jason Weisberger on Jun 04, 2013 02:20 pm A few years ago, we shared the incomparable jazz master
Fred Kaz' website and some tracks he'd made available there, free. Fred's music, his wit and his wisdom have made this world a better place. For decades, Fred worked as the musical director of the Second City, helping cast after cast of the funniest people ever perfect their trade.
Read in browser Public Resource liberates "Life in the UK" book, building codes
By Cory Doctorow on Jun 04, 2013 01:35 pm Rogue archivist Carl Malamud sez,
Public.Resource.Org has always been a strong supporter of British-American cooperation. In order to further what Winston Churchill so aptly dubbed our “Special Relationship,” I'm happy to announce two hands across the sea. If you would like to be a citizen of the United Kingdom, you need to study a book called Life in the UK.
Read in browser The Ghost Fleet of Suisun Bay
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Jun 04, 2013 01:17 pm On a train from Portland to Oakland last week, my husband and I were startled to pass the rotting carcasses of dozens of battleships, moored together in clusters in a still, reedy bay north of San Francisco. Turns out, our Navy stockpiles warships the same way we stockpile nuclear weapons.
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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