Han Solo in Carbonite ice-molds Bristol street art exhibition transforms Ballardian brutalist street Japan: Prime Minister Naoto Kan resigns New reports of China State TV broadcasting video of cyberattacks on US Hurricanes and New York: A Visual History Esther Dyson: My iXperiences with Steve Jobs How did animals at the National Zoo react to the Great East Coast Earthquake of 2011? WikiLeaks releases tens of thousands more US cables Instruments of the Glitter King NYC bracing for the worst from Hurricane Irene: transportation system shutdown, evacuations How the first image of the whole Earth was taken What are the 115 best comics of all time? Secret documents reveal "Gaddafi's desperate bid to save regime" Libya: Gadhafi's loose weapons could be "1000 Times' worse than Saddam's Animated map of VA earthquake tweets, August 23, 2011 NYPD: Yes, a CIA officer works out of NYC police headquarters Syria: masked gunmen beat, break hands of cartoonist critical of Assad regime Hurricane Irene, as seen from space (video, and snapshot by astronaut) Google's Vic Gundotra, on getting a call from Steve Jobs on a Sunday: the Icon Ambulance Sponsor Shout-Out: Watchismo Scientifically accurate sf novels with help from NASA How to make a spike-knuckled butyl rubber glove wired to discharge a disposable camera flash cap across the spikes Steve Jobs: A Mega, Meta Appreciation Cthulhu bento box Popsicle test: evaluating a neighborhood's livability with frozen treats Science Question from a Toddler: How ants evolve Internet Archive's cache of 24/7 TV footage from 9/11 and beyond The Kid Should See This: cool web-stuff for kids Free public service games for young people about sweatshops and death Kid's "Counting Box" – press the big buttons to increment/decrement the total 
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Han Solo in Carbonite ice-molds
By Cory Doctorow on Aug 26, 2011 09:58 am ThinkGeek has added to the vast canon of housewares and edibles that pay homage to Han Solo in Carbonite with varisized hancarbonite silicone ice-molds. ThinkGeek :: Star Wars Han Solo in Carbonite Ice Cube Tray Han Solo in carbonite throw-pillow …
Continue reading → Read in browser Bristol street art exhibition transforms Ballardian brutalist street
By Cory Doctorow on Aug 26, 2011 05:02 am Tim sez, This weekend saw the final unveiling of the the See No Evil project in Bristol; Europe's largest street art exhibition. It is, to say the very least, an extraordinary, breathtaking achievement. Graffiti artists not just from Bristol but …
Continue reading → Read in browser Japan: Prime Minister Naoto Kan resigns
By Xeni Jardin on Aug 26, 2011 05:00 am First Steve Jobs, now this? Kyodo News reports that Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan has resigned. This resignation, too, was expected: Kan first indicated he would step down three months ago, not long after the 3/11 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear …
Continue reading → Read in browser New reports of China State TV broadcasting video of cyberattacks on US
By Xeni Jardin on Aug 26, 2011 03:58 am WSJ: "Chinese state television has broadcast footage of what two experts on the Chinese military say appears to be a military institute demonstrating software designed to attack websites in the U.S."Looks like old footage they're using as b-roll. I would …
Continue reading → Read in browser Hurricanes and New York: A Visual History
By Xeni Jardin on Aug 26, 2011 03:31 am Over at the Scuttlefish, a visual history of hurricanes and the damage they've left in "Yankee cities." "New York has been hit by hurricanes before, and it hasn't been pretty. One of the most looming issues is that the region …
Continue reading → Read in browser Esther Dyson: My iXperiences with Steve Jobs
By Xeni Jardin on Aug 26, 2011 03:08 am Some personal recollections of former Apple CEO (damn, that feels weird to type) Steve Jobs, from Esther Dyson. She first met Jobs "in 1979 or 1980," at the Personal Computer Forum, a conference she later purchased and hosted. For some …
Continue reading → Read in browser How did animals at the National Zoo react to the Great East Coast Earthquake of 2011?
By Xeni Jardin on Aug 26, 2011 02:56 am Seismic waves from this week's rare 5.8 earthquake centered in Virginia were felt by critters at the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C., according to a news release from the zoo. None of the animals or humans at the …
Continue reading → Read in browser WikiLeaks releases tens of thousands more US cables
By Xeni Jardin on Aug 26, 2011 02:42 am On Wikileaks' Twitter feed Thursday (presumed to be manned by Julian Assange): "We will have released over 100,000 US embassy cables from around the world by the end of today." The latest round appear to be from the massive cache …
Continue reading → Read in browser Instruments of the Glitter King
By Rob Beschizza on Aug 26, 2011 02:31 am The Glitter King transforms everyday musical instruments and recording equipment into fabulous works of art. Here is a Sennheiser EW165 microphone given the treatment, which costs €250 and up.
Read in browser NYC bracing for the worst from Hurricane Irene: transportation system shutdown, evacuations
By Xeni Jardin on Aug 26, 2011 01:23 am New York city Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the city has plans to close the entire NY metropolitan transportation system this Saturday, as concerns grow over the anticipated force of Hurricane Irene's arrival. It is expected to arrive in NYC as …
Continue reading → Read in browser How the first image of the whole Earth was taken
By Mark Frauenfelder on Aug 25, 2011 10:28 pm Kevin Kelly says: "The very first image of the whole Earth was made in 1966. It was fax quality, sent back by the Lunar Orbit 1. Most remarkable was the ingenious contraption that took a picture, developed the film, scanned …
Continue reading → Read in browser What are the 115 best comics of all time?
By Mark Frauenfelder on Aug 25, 2011 09:58 pm The Hooded Utilitarian recently asked readers to vote on the top comics (books, strips, and gags) of all time. They ran the list of the top 115 vote getters. Here are the top 10: 1. Peanuts, Charles M. Schulz [50 …
Continue reading → Read in browser Secret documents reveal "Gaddafi's desperate bid to save regime"
By Xeni Jardin on Aug 25, 2011 09:19 pm From the Guardian, a first look at papers retrieved from ransacked government headquarters in Libya, as Gaddafi's regime crumbles: Secret documents in Tripoli seen by the Guardian reveal the desperate attempts made by the Libyan government in its final months …
Continue reading → Read in browser Libya: Gadhafi's loose weapons could be "1000 Times' worse than Saddam's
By Xeni Jardin on Aug 25, 2011 09:13 pm Wired Danger Room on why the apparently-soon-to-be-former Libyan leader's loose weapons are a worse threat than Saddam's: Because "Moammar Gadhafi spent decade piling up a huge stash of weapons like a crazy old lady hoarding cats."
Read in browser Animated map of VA earthquake tweets, August 23, 2011
By Xeni Jardin on Aug 25, 2011 09:08 pm Video, from Eric Fischer: Green dots are tweets about earthquakes. Gray dots are tweets about other topics. Each frame is one second (total of 12 minutes). Thanks to Natural Earth for the land, water, and boundary shape data and the …
Continue reading → Read in browser NYPD: Yes, a CIA officer works out of NYC police headquarters
By Xeni Jardin on Aug 25, 2011 08:55 pm From the AP, news on the increasingly blurred lines between foreign and domestic spying in the US: New York's police commissioner confirmed Thursday that a CIA officer is working out of police headquarters there, after an Associated Press investigation revealed …
Continue reading → Read in browser Syria: masked gunmen beat, break hands of cartoonist critical of Assad regime
By Xeni Jardin on Aug 25, 2011 08:50 pm The Committee to Protect Journalists reports: "Ali Ferzat, a famous Syrian cartoonist critical of the government, was abducted and severely beaten by masked gunmen as he left his office early on Thursday in Damascus." They broke his hands, said the …
Continue reading → Read in browser Hurricane Irene, as seen from space (video, and snapshot by astronaut)
By Xeni Jardin on Aug 25, 2011 08:43 pm [Video Link] From NASA: From 230 miles above the Earth, cameras on the International Space Station captured new views of powerful Hurricane Irene as it churned over the Bahamas at 3:10 p.m. EDT on August 24, 2011. Irene is moving …
Continue reading → Read in browser Google's Vic Gundotra, on getting a call from Steve Jobs on a Sunday: the Icon Ambulance
By Xeni Jardin on Aug 25, 2011 08:31 pm The news that Steve Jobs has resigned as Apple CEO, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, will inspire a lot of people to write a lot of things online. Much of it will be garbage. Some of it, like …
Continue reading → Read in browser Sponsor Shout-Out: Watchismo
By Rob Beschizza on Aug 25, 2011 07:27 pm Our thanks to Watchismo for sponsoring another week of Boing Boing Blast, our delivery of blog headlines to your inbox. Ilvo Fontana, crafter of precision engineering instruments, received a commission from the Italian Navy in 1942: to design and build …
Continue reading → Read in browser Scientifically accurate sf novels with help from NASA
By Cory Doctorow on Aug 25, 2011 06:28 pm Samantha sez, "Tor/Forge authors will be teaming up with NASA experts to pen a series of scientifically accurate novels with the hope of generating more interest in science."
Read in browser How to make a spike-knuckled butyl rubber glove wired to discharge a disposable camera flash cap across the spikes
By Mark Frauenfelder on Aug 25, 2011 06:16 pm [Video Link] Sean Michael Ragan says: Responding to criticisms that their new no-trolling-allowed policy lacks teeth, Hack a Day writer Jack Buffington threw down the gauntlet Monday, announcing that, henceforth, anyone leaving a nasty comment about one of Jeri Ellsworth's …
Continue reading → Read in browser Steve Jobs: A Mega, Meta Appreciation
By Xeni Jardin on Aug 25, 2011 05:36 pm Adam Penenberg at Fast Company: Everything that needs to be said about Steve Jobs has already been said. (Image: No Apple @ MacWorld?, a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No-Derivative-Works (2.0) image from macwagen's photostream)
Read in browser Cthulhu bento box
By Cory Doctorow on Aug 25, 2011 05:19 pm NeighborhoodStory made this Cthulhoid bento box (with green hot-dog!) for a packed lunch -- tentacly delicious! Cthulhu Bento I made for Connor's lunch tomorrow. (Thanks, TheLovecraftsman!)
Read in browser Popsicle test: evaluating a neighborhood's livability with frozen treats
By Cory Doctorow on Aug 25, 2011 03:11 pm Here's an ingenious heuristic for evaluating the livability of a neighborhood: can a kid get to a store on her own, buy a popsicle, and get home again before it melts? It comes from a Vancouver, BC planning official's presentation …
Continue reading → Read in browser Science Question from a Toddler: How ants evolve
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Aug 25, 2011 03:01 pm Consider, if you will, the issue of sex and the single ant. Male ants are born into what is, essentially, a giant sorority house, vastly outnumbered by female workers. But that doesn't mean male ants are living out some Hugh …
Continue reading → Read in browser Internet Archive's cache of 24/7 TV footage from 9/11 and beyond
By Cory Doctorow on Aug 25, 2011 02:54 pm Rick Prelinger sez, "Internet Archive has launched 'Understanding 9/11: A Television News Archive,' an online library of 24/7 TV news broadcasts from 20 worldwide channels over the week starting 9/11/2001. Originally introduced on October 11, 2001, it's now back with …
Continue reading → Read in browser The Kid Should See This: cool web-stuff for kids
By Cory Doctorow on Aug 25, 2011 02:09 pm The Kid Should See This: a collection of kid-friendly, kid-exciting Internet stuff, with loads of science, nature, music and fun. Co-curated by a parent and a three-year old. (via Kottke)
Read in browser Free public service games for young people about sweatshops and death
By Cory Doctorow on Aug 25, 2011 01:59 pm My wife Alice quit her day job (commissioning public service games for the UK's Channel 4) in January to do a start-up, but some of the games she got underway are still coming out. Two new ones that are of …
Continue reading → Read in browser Kid's "Counting Box" – press the big buttons to increment/decrement the total
By Cory Doctorow on Aug 25, 2011 01:08 pm Nathan made this "Counting Box" for his son -- I love LED displays set into hand-crafted wood boxes, and the simplicity of this toy makes it a nice blend of traditional toymaking craftsmanship and high-tech electronics: My son—now four, but …
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