Busty hentai mousepads

By Xeni Jardin at 7:02 pm Monday, Nov 29 • Comments • Share

About $25 per ergonomic hentai mousepad, boobies included. Link (via Fleshbot)

DIY dodecahedron calendar, a la D-n-D dice

By Xeni Jardin at 6:57 pm Monday, Nov 29 • Comments • Share

This 12-sided pentagon print-em-yourself calendar is a nifty gift idea for thrifty geeks. Dodeca-bitchin'! Link (Thanks, ritilan).

McRorie the one-man bandstravaganza

By Xeni Jardin at 6:01 pm Monday, Nov 29 • Comments • Share

McRorie Tait is a one-man, kilt-wearing, awesomely mulletted, electronic music phenom from Canada. His website describes him thusly:

"McRorie wears eight custom designed sensors on his shoes, four sensors on his chest, two midi keyboards on his hips, and sings lead vocals, harmonies, and solo instruments with his voice. McRorie coordinates the multiple parts of a musical composition: drums, bass, rhythm, vocals, and lead instruments -- TOTALLY LIVE."

Out of control cool. Plus his chest lights up like a robot and I think he also eats fire on stage while playing killer '80s cover songs with his feet. This is so cool it almost feels like a hoax. But I think it is real. Link to website with video clips, song downloads, and CD purchase details. (Thanks, Q-Burns).

UPDATE: BoingBoing reader Alexis says, "McRorie is legit - most of the footage in that clip IS from the 80's, that's why he's covering 80's songs. He appears in the clip on the now defunct Canadian talk show Dini Petty Show, several pieces are from Toronto news show City TV and part of the way through the clip he's seen with a very young Celine Dion before she hit mega-stardom."

Reader Matt McParland says, "I saw McRorie, the one man band, play live 4 or 5 years ago when his Canadian tour rolled through my hometown. His Canadian tour consisted of the man himself, two racks of MIDI-controlled effects and a few old Macs running wireframe screensavers for the light show. He played for about 20 people that night in a hole in the wall bar and we've been talking about it since!"

Genetically engineered plants detect land mines by changing color

By Mark Frauenfelder at 5:45 pm Monday, Nov 29 • Comments • Share

When the roots of these GMO flowers hit nitrogen dioxide (which leaches into the soil from buried land mines), the plant changes color. Link

Big head people in Tokyo stores

By Mark Frauenfelder at 5:41 pm Monday, Nov 29 • Comments • Share

Giant headed people in Tokyo stores are a sign that Christmas is coming. Link

Did we mention that Target.com sells blowjobs, too?

By Xeni Jardin at 5:13 pm Monday, Nov 29 • Comments • Share

Listed under "Entertainment" (as if we don't already know), but with no additional product details whatsoever: "blowjob." A steal at $9.99, but they take 4-8 weeks to come -- er, arrive. Link to item, Link to screenshot, and link to previous post about Target.com silliness. (Thanks, Jeff)

Spongebob Swipedpants

By Xeni Jardin at 2:35 pm Monday, Nov 29 • Comments • Share

Burger King locations around the United States are reporting thefts of inflatable Spongebob Squarepants rooftop icons. The gigantic blow-up-Bobs commemorate the fast food chain's promo effort with a new animated film.

Similar SpongeBobs have disappeared from Burger Kings in at least two other states, including Minnesota, where a "kidnapper" asked for ransom - 10 Crabby Patties, fries and milkshakes. The note was signed by SpongeBob's cartoon nemesis, Plankton.

Link to one news story, and Link to another. (thanks, Stefan Jones)

Target.com sells crack and MDMA

By Xeni Jardin at 12:56 pm Monday, Nov 29 • Comments • Share

First came the news that Target.com was selling "anal massage," then came their offer of "marijuana" for $25 -- now, they're rolling out the hard stuff. Here, the online retailer beckons you to come hither and buy Crack and MDMA. No wonder Target's spokesdog has those big red circles around his eyes! (thanks Gordon Bird, and Toddville Robins)

Xeni on NPR: gadgets, gadgets, gadgets!

By Xeni Jardin at 12:38 pm Monday, Nov 29 • Comments • Share

On the NPR program "Day to Day" this week, I hit the streets with Alex Chadwick to try out a few new gadgets, including:

* A hand-held traffic reporting device called TrafficGauge ($80, thanks to Mike Outmesguine for turning me on to this one!)
* A multimedia gizmo called the DVXPod (shown here) that plays music, movies and television shows ($599)
* laptop bags made from spaceship parachutes (which have actually been up in space, $95-195).
* some awesome headphones from Sennheiser -- good noise-canceling headphones are a must for the DVXPod or other handheld media centers. Here's my favorite model, the HD 212Pro (about $90-120).
Link to archived audio for this program, Link to NPR Day to Day home.

Smiling not allowed in US passport photos

By Mark Frauenfelder at 12:01 pm Monday, Nov 29 • Comments • Share

The unhappiest passports on earth:

[When taking a [photo of a person applying for a passport] "The subject's expression should be neutral (non-smiling) with both eyes open, and mouth closed. A smile with a closed jaw is allowed but is not preferred," according to the guidelines. ... Smiling "distorts other facial features, for example your eyes, so you're supposed to have a neutral expression. ... The most neutral face is the most desirable standard for any type of identification," said Angela Aggeler, spokeswoman for the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs, which handles travel-document guidelines.

Link (Thanks, Maines!)

Sleaze SF paperback covers of yesteryear

By Xeni Jardin at 9:34 am Monday, Nov 29 • Comments • Share

Link (via Warren)

CIA funding chat room spy tech research

By Xeni Jardin at 9:06 am Monday, Nov 29 • Comments • Share

Over at News.com, Declan McCullagh writes:

The CIA is quietly funding federal research into surveillance of Internet chat rooms as part of an effort to identify possible terrorists, newly released documents reveal.

In April 2003, the CIA agreed to fund a series of research projects that the documents indicate were intended to create "new capabilities to combat terrorism through advanced technology." One of those projects is research at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., devoted to automated monitoring and profiling of the behavior of chat-room users.

Link to story. One of the FOIA'd documents, via EPIC.org (PDF): Link

Proto-pron for sale at Sotheby's

By Xeni Jardin at 8:56 am Monday, Nov 29 • Comments • Share

(Updated)
What may be the world's oldest existing piece of printed porn will be auctioned off next month, and is expected to sell for up to 65 thousand dollars.

"Sodom," penned in the mid-1670s, has been attributed to John Wilmot, the second Earl of Rochester and is described by auction house Sotheby's as a "closet drama rather than for the stage" with pornography "in almost every line." (...) The book centers on the decision made by a lustful King to "set the nation free" by allowing "buggary" to be "used thro' all the land" and then details the dire consequences.

Link to news item (Thanks, Sandy)

Here are the auction item details, including this amazing image, on Sothebys.com: Link. The work is both porn and protest:

Although in every sense, and in almost every line, pornographic (even though its humour sometimes recalls that in Aristophanes’ Lysistrata), the play has two primary purposes: one literary, the other political. One aim is the production of a hilarious burlesque of the then fashionable ‘heroic’ plays... Its other main aim, however, is to satirise uncompromisingly the court of Charles II – not only the notoriously lecherous Charles himself, with all his mistresses (“Thus, in the zenith of my lust I reign”), but also the venality of his courtiers, who are depicted as slavishly imitating him and indulging in the common state of moral and sexual anarchy.

QTVR of Macy's Parade

By Xeni Jardin at 8:27 am Monday, Nov 29 • Comments • Share

A QTVR panorama of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade last week in New York City. Link

Alaskan blogger accused of mother's murder

By Xeni Jardin at 8:10 am Monday, Nov 29 • Comments • Share

A teen blogger in Alaska has been arrested for her mother's murder.

Rachelle Waterman had posted to an online journal dating back to February. In the journals, which she titled "My crappy life, the inside look of an insane person." She says she lives in Hell, Alaska, details conflicts with her mother and writes about a desire to commit violent acts against herself and others...

Link to copy of one of her final entries, posted Nov. 14 -- hours after law enforcement learned of the mom's reported death. In the entry, Waterman writes about a trip to Anchorage, and buying a new pair of boots. Link to Waterman's blog. Link to related post on glassdog. Link to news coverage. (Thanks, pollenatrix)

Here's Google's cache of contributions to a fantasy art site from the accused teen (now unavailable in original form). Link

1960s sex HOWTO manual from Japan

By Xeni Jardin at 7:56 am Monday, Nov 29 • Comments • Share

Scans from "Young People's Sex Manual: From Petting to XX," a mid-1960s era howto doc from Japan. Progresses from the fine art of handholding to paper cutout foreplay demos to an extravaganza of sex positions between a real woman and an artist's male wooden model. Link, also spotted on Fleshbot. (Thanks, Dave)

India's first professional DJ academy

By Xeni Jardin at 7:46 am Monday, Nov 29 • Comments • Share

Reader Avi Solomon says,

"Indian DJ Nasha made a splash with his 'Nasha - Flute Fantasy' and continued to create many more great bollywood remixes. He has now opened the first professional DJ academy in India- keep them coming, man!"

Link to news story. Listen to a complete DJ Nasha session here(realplayer): Link. Nasha's set starts around 4:49 into that BBC ram link, after some banter with the show's host. It's a fine, fine session! Interview: Link

Free music via French blog

By Xeni Jardin at 7:44 am Monday, Nov 29 • Comments • Share

Chryde says,

I founded a collective french music weblog with a mp3blog page. We made a compilation of musics we discovered on the web, by ourselves or via other mp3blogs. It's called Point D'ecoute (French for Listening post, a reference to a Mark Hansen Installation: Link

. All the tracks are taken from the bands' sites so it's 100% legal, like a mini Wired CD. 23 tracks, a lot from the US, but also Netherlands, France, Belgium, Austria, Sweden... You can download it here: Link We made it free to download, with a cover and all. At an event in Paris celebrating musical webzines, we burned it on demand: Link

Songs of Sickness

By Xeni Jardin at 6:56 am Monday, Nov 29 • Comments • Share

Reader Dougal Campbell says,

The BoingBoing post about food safety tunes reminded of of something I heard on NPR a while back. Doctor Helen Davies at the University of Pennsylvania creates songs to help her students remember facts about microbiology. One of my favorite bits (song to the tune of the Beatles' "Yesterday"):

"Leprosy,
Bits and pieces falling off of me,
But it isn't the toxicity,
It's just neglect of injury.

Link to AMA News story, and there's another article here: Link

Smart Cruise Control

By David Pescovitz at 6:42 am Monday, Nov 29 • Comments • Share

A physicist at the University of Michigan has built a computer simulation to model how "adaptive cruise-control" technology in cars may affect traffic flow. The system would use radar to keep vehicles from getting too close to each other. From Science News:

Its advantage is that it can respond much more quickly and precisely than human drivers can to any change in speed. A vehicle using adaptive cruise control typically brakes sooner and more smoothly than one without the system.... Intriguingly, at an average speed of 67 miles per hour, if only one in five vehicles used adaptive cruise control, no traffic jams would form and traffic would generally flow freely. At lower concentrations, however, intermittent episodes of traffic congestion would still be an issue.

Link

Handstanding Pandas

By David Pescovitz at 6:33 am Monday, Nov 29 • Comments • Share

Some Pandas do handstands to mark their territory. The aim is to piss as high up a tree as possible. The higher the scent, the "more dominant" the signal. A new BBC Wildlife Magazine documentary captures this and other interesting bearhavior using camouflaged cameras and motion sensors. Link

ScienceMatters

By David Pescovitz at 6:23 am Monday, Nov 29 • Comments • Share

Inside my latest issue of ScienceMatters@Berkeley:

* DNA devices for crime scenes... and Mars

* Chilling News About Glaciers

* The Toughest Shrimp Around

I hope you enjoy it! Link