step four

Now, this is the difficult part. Spritz (with a squirt bottle) the witch hazel onto your batch while stirring with the other hand. When your batch sticks together when squished, you need to start putting it in molds - time is of the essence. If you wait too long, the mixture will get hard. If you spritz too much, the mixture will be too wet and "grow" (start the fizzing reaction) on you.

Update: Maggie sez, "there seemed to be something fishy about the ingredients and instructions (like it lists 'witch hazel' as an ingredient (an herb), but then later seems to call for a liquid form -- doesn't mention what kind of liquid though). This page has much better instructions, notes about all the ingredients, and pictures of the process."

Update 2: Matt sez, "witch-hazel appears to be the herb/shrub, witch hazel (sans-dash) is the astringent."

Massive-breasted heiress, 38, seeks witty Nobel-awarded intellectual beef-cake gardener-chef-poet with stonking pecs. Like me, you are dynamic, hilarious, serious, ironic, passionate, practical, affectionate, kind, funny, have most of your own legs, and are startled to find yourself still cruising the aisles of the Lurve Bazaar. Unlike me, you don’t exist. Am I right? If so, will consider any M who can make conversation, sense, a living, friends, four cooked meals, hot love and me laugh. Box no. 07/01

"According to Boyle, it's not only "corporate capture" that makes governments stupid about copyright. They also suffer from any number of delusions, making them susceptible to "anecdote and scaremongering."

Who are the subjects of IP? They used to be companies. You needed a printing press or a factory to trigger the landmines of IP. The law was set up as a contract between industry groups. This was a cosy arrangement, but it is no longer viable. The citizen-publishers of cyberspace, the makers of free software, the scientists of distributed data-analysis are all now implicated in the IP world. The decision-making structure has yet to adjust.

There are many more themes. The idea that greater control, for example, is always better (see my column on public data) or the way we only ever internationally harmonize rights upward. Fundamentally, though, the views I have criticised here are not merely stupidity. They constitute an ideology, a worldview, like flat earth-ism. But the world is not flat and the stupidity pact is not what we want to sign.

The rumor on the waterfront is that (the two large domes are covering parabolic antennae that) will track the space shuttle Discovery, scheduled to be launched next month.

But the ship's captain won't talk. He has ordered that nobody be allowed near the ship, which is tied up in a secure area at the end of Pier 1 at the Portland Ocean Terminal. The Sage has been tied up there for three weeks, at a cost of nearly $300 a day...

The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram contacted several officials at NASA over a period of five days, but none could say conclusively whether the Sage is involved in the shuttle mission.

Thousands of soda machines in Tokyo will soon bombard passersby with the enticing sound of a Coke being poured, and several U.S. supermarkets will promote products to shoppers as they walk down corresponding aisles. Eventually HyperSonic Sound might enable a nightclub to play disco on one side of the dance floor and salsa on the other. Ambulances equipped with hypersonic sirens could clear the streets without waking the neighbors. Norris' company, American Technology, sells the devices for $600.

Update: Hal sez, "Here's an automatic English translation. It's a little rough, but you get the gist. It sounds as though the judgment only applies to one specific movie: 'The Films Alain Sarde and Studio Channel have one month to unbolt the DVD.' And is it just me, or is the idea of watching Mulholland Drive with your Mom just a tad uncomfortable?"

Update 2: Seb sez, "1) The guy didn't want to watch the DVD with his mother, but in his mother's house and 2) The ruling applies to all DVDs. The SEV (Video producers' syndicate) will probably appeal."

Update 3: Matthew sez, "Unfortunately, the automatic translation is characteristically lacking, in particular the implication that the decision applied only to a single movie (it didn't). So I made a proper manual translation of the original article and posted it on my blog."

Here's one to add to the series of bizarre voicemails you've been featuring. This was received by a friend of mine, from her sister, who left a message about how she shit her pants at the grocery store. Curiously, in her message she inadvertently used the ancient literary form chiasmus. There's a small .mp3 of the voicemail at the site, along with a .wav file that people have begun to play with (including Steve Dirkx, of "The Butcher's Covers" fame). .

Previously: bullshit comp-a-nee, Your fucked up Jewish chanting party, Confused, why don't they outlaw BBQ Forks, Crop circle psycho science, Foreigners don't have computers!, and Girl I Know You Messin Wit my Man.

You're at the campsite or in the middle of nowhere and suddenly nature calls. What do you do? You squeamishly go looking for a quiet spot behind a bush to do your thing. You cautiously avoid the poison oak and ivy. As you carefully squat down and try to relax a snake suddenly comes slithering through the weeds and startles you. What a mess! Now when nature calls you can go in comfort where ever you are with the one and only Bumper Dumper®. No more looking for the right spot, no more trying to balance while squatting, and no more surprises from creepy critters. Just park your vehicle in a nice secluded spot, plug the Bumper Dumper® in to your trailer hitch receiver, and VOILA!! A portable toilet sturdy enough to hold 500 lbs. and just as comfortable as using the bathroom at home. You can even set up a privacy screen for complete comfort.

web zen home, web zen store, (Thanks, Frank).

About this series of images from a WWII era Jujitsu manual, Warren Ellis says, "American reader Eric Palicki sent me a zipfile of scans he made, and the note: 'I found this in a stack of my dad’s old books. The copyright date is 1942.' This is just fascinatingly vile. "

Link to "American Hands."

This is an actual voicemail left for a company where I used to work. It's sort of like a stoned Elmer Fudd complaining about "sewvice" and having to pay "30 fucking dollars" to call customer service. The spaces in the sound are where I've blanked out identifying information.

Previously: Your fucked up Jewish chanting party, Confused, why don't they outlaw BBQ Forks, Crop circle psycho science, Foreigners don't have computers!, and Girl I Know You Messin Wit my Man.

Update: Mel provides alternate links for the "bullshit comp-a-nee" voicemail.

Urg. Had no idea Geocities would lock it up that quickly - I've got it on my own site and another blogger has mirrored it for me. We'll see how long I can hold out on my own site. Alternate link one or Alternate link two

Nikon has today issued an advisory addressing the current concerns around the 'encryption' of white balance data in its NEF (RAW) files from the D2X and D2Hs digital SLR's. This story started three days ago when Photoshopnews.com published an interview with chief engineer and original author of Photoshop Thomas Knoll which complained that Nikon were now encrypting white balance data in their NEF files and that future versions of Adobe Camera RAW would not be able to read WB data. In the new advisory from Nikon state that they already make available an SDK which "...when implemented properly, enables a wide range of NEF performance, including white balance..."

Transcript:

Uh Zev, this is Steve Saccone. It's 9:30 mmMon..uh..Saturday morning. Ya had a chanting, uh some kind of Jewish chanting party over there last night...uh from past midnight. Um, I can guarantee you, do it again Zev, have your...have your Jewish friends over, and do your...do your fucked up chant and I'm going to have you arrested. Alright? Because the police are gonna be there next time, Zev.

Another answering machine wav file. This one landed on my machine just over a year ago and I posted it for the guys at GYBO. This is what people sound like when you live in the West Midlands in the UK

Previously: why don't they outlaw BBQ Forks, Crop circle psycho science, Foreigners don't have computers!, and Girl I Know You Messin Wit my Man.

The website copy reads, in glorious janglish: " This machine is the most high speed in the world... It is excellent in the durability and there won't be a trouble."
Link

Update: Kim Cooper says:

I saw the wonder that is the Sushi Robot in action at a Franchise Expo at the LA Convention Center a few years back. It was part of a prospective (and now obviously failed) U.S. franchise called, I think, Sushi-U-Love. The idea was that a franchisee would buy the rights to the name and all the sushi robotics, which would sit in plain view behind the counter making nigiri constantly. All the fish (frozen) and other ingredients had to be bought from the franchise, so it was clearly a money pit. But ooh, was it fun to watch the Sushi Robot go! First a spoon scooped up some rice, then little arms patted out a rectangle, which slid along the conveyer belt, got a jaunty squirt of wasabi, a piece of fish gently laid on top, and then the whole thing was deftly folded into a piece of clear plastic, taped shut and delivered to a rapt audience. Tasted as good as the supermarket stuff, too.

Along the lines of the other telephone calls posted, a friend managed to tape this off of the radio a bunch of years back. It's not as angry as either of the posted calls, but it's entertaining. I believe it might be from the Art Bell show, although I'm not sure. (Ed: It's from Jim Bohanon's show).

Previously: Crop circle psycho science, Foreigners don't have computers!, and Girl I Know You Messin Wit my Man.

The Park Tool TP#2 Toilet Paper Holder brings the action of the open road or trail home for those moments of silent introspection... The TP#2 is 100% Park Tool Linear Butted Cro-Moly with a mirrored chrome finish. A Ball bearing headset allows 360¡ roll rotation. The fork is without retention tabs and comes with a competition quick release front skewer for fast roll changes.

The bill... would prohibit federal meteorologists from competing with companies such as AccuWeather and The Weather Channel, which offer their own forecasts through paid services and free ad-supported Web sites.

Supporters say the bill wouldn't hamper the weather service or the National Hurricane Center from alerting the public to hazards — in fact, it exempts forecasts meant to protect "life and property."...

"The National Weather Service has not focused on what its core mission should be, which is protecting other people's lives and property," said (AccuWeather's executive vice president Barry) Myers, whose company is based in State College, Pa. Instead, he said, "It spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year, every day, producing forecasts of 'warm and sunny.'"...

(The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, parent agency to the National Weather Service,) has taken no position on the bill. But Ed Johnson, the weather service's director of strategic planning and policy, said his agency is expanding its online offerings to serve the public.

"If someone claims that our core mission is just warning the public of hazardous conditions, that's really impossible unless we forecast the weather all the time," Johnson said. "You don't just plug in your clock when you want to know what time it is."

The Food and Drug Administration approved U.S. sales of the sponge, which was the bestselling nonprescription female contraceptive when it was withdrawn from the market in 1995. Check out the photo -- I hope they use these two gentlemen as their spokespersons. The man on the left looks like he can't wait to take his sponge out for a spin. The guy on the right looks like he's disgusted by the very thought of sex. It's like a snapshot of most male-female relationships.

This first volume of HANK KETCHAM'S COMPLETE DENNIS THE MENACE publishes every single panel strip from 1951 and 1952 in one handsome and thick hardcover volume resembling a Big Little Book on steroids. HANK KETCHAM'S COMPLETE DENNIS THE MENACE will continue with new chronological volumes annually until the entire run of Ketcham’s strip is collected.

In a recent post on the Politech list about a reader who feared his computer may have been "invaded" by a federal agent during a security screening, CNET's Declan McCullagh outlined simple steps you can take:

Much of this is in the realm of personal diary-writing and not that Politech-relevant. Except for this worrying paragraph:

"I have taken my computer through customs many times and I have never had it seized. But I’ll be damned if G.I. Jackboot didn’t walk into another room with my computer. I couldn’t see what he was doing. I suppose it is possible that US Customs now has a copy of my hard drive. All of my stuff is password protected so perhaps that kept him from accessing anything other than the logon screen. Or perhaps there is now a bug in it that sends them a copy of everything I do."

So be sure to:

1. Encrypt your files, and preferably entire hard drive volumes, using PGPdisk or OS X's FileVault. Might as well switch to a Mac or some non-Windows operating system while you're at it.
2. Seriously, about the Mac thing. Police organizations are far more proficient with Windows.
3. Password-protect your computer, including a boot password.
4. Ideally find some way to verify that your computer hasn't been tampered with. You could boot off a known-safe CD when you get home, for instance, and compare current file hashes with previous hashes saved to a CD.

Update: BB reader Dan points us to reports of FileVault vulnerability via Bugtraq:

Regarding Xeni's post about using FileVault as a way to protect your computer, it's worth noting that this is a less-than-secure means of doing it. On top of that, an Apple "Genius" told me, a few months after I bought my Powerbook and had it nuked by the 10.3.4 upgrade, that FileVault was basically beta and I shouldn't use it. "Oh, well, you know, the engineers write something, but they don't really test it that well," she said. For the truly paranoid, use an OS with a more secure implementation. For everyone else, FileVault causes more pain than it cures. And for those interested, this Bugtraq post shows you how to find your unencrypted passwords on disk. And yes, that works for someone who yanks your hard drive and puts it in his computer.

I notice the mention of NSA security guidelines and Macs specifically, and your readers might like to know that the NSA's very own "Security Configuration Guide" for Mac OS X 10.3 is available online here.

re: mac encryption. apparently there was no checking of Tiger, which now offers a "use secure virtual memory" option in the security preferences. i think apple is paying attention on this topic.

" You might have seen the recent Discovery Channel documentary "Crop Circles: Mystery in the Fields" where they asked several MIT students to try and create some of the biological effects alleged by 'researchers' to be found in 'genuine' formations, such as blown nodes, and magnetized iron spheres. Anyway the production company have passed on this message that they received on their answer-phone after the show aired in the US, it makes for hilarious is somewhat worrying listening. If you know who this psychotic individual is, or maybe you ARE the psychotic individual who placed the call, let us know and we'll send you a complimentary circlemakers t-shirt!"

Previously: Foreigners don't have computers!, and Girl I Know You Messin With my Man

Update: Boing Boing reader limor says:

that "fucking 18-year old wannabe MIT scientist" is a friend of mine! as far as anyone involved in the show can tell, was just an excuse for the producer to get a bunch of MIT kids to come to a cornfield in iowa and set off explosions and build flamethrowers & then film it. hooray for science!

As long as you're posting links to voicemails for all the budding remixers out there, here's a funny voicemail that was left for a theater company I worked with a few years ago. I especially like the part where the caller claims that senior citizens and foreigners don't have computers. Enjoy, and remix away.

A month after she began donning the button, (Carrie) Rethlefsen was told to take it off. But Rethlefsen considers the button a matter of free speech. "I think you need to be bold for things to change," she said. "I'm wearing this to support sexual awareness, gender equality, women's rights and freedom of speech."

While Rethlefsen views the button simply as having a pro-woman message, (princiapl Nancy) Wondrasch said others could have other interpretations.

"I believe in freedom of speech, and I believe in women's rights," Wondrasch said. "But I also believe this could be construed as offensive or harassment."

The principal said some staff view the button as offensive, but not because they are ashamed of talking about vaginas. One female employee told her she doesn't want women being heralded for their sexual parts, but their strong mind and good hearts.

Too many women are ashamed to talk about their sexuality, Rethlefsen said.

My work investigates one of a kind objects and their role in a world based on mechanical reproduction. Industry has removed the aura from objects and stripped them of their individuality. My pizza cutters seek to demolish the sterile conformity of mass produced objects and represent the stylistic and flamboyant embellishment of groups who live on the fringe of popular culture. The outlaw biker image is a break from the conformity that has taken over America since industrialization. My machined pizza cutters draw inspiration from chopper motorcycles and attempt to reclaim the mythology and economic usefulness of the American worker as patriarch; translating machine or functional object into flesh and blood. The outlaw as defiant nonconformist, as well as social outcast, parallels being an artist who makes functional objects and being an individual who takes pride in the power of invention and skill.

The troubles began for (Wendy's VP of communications Denny) Lynch when the phone rang just after 11:30 p.m. on March 22. He had been sleeping at home in Dublin, Ohio, where Wendy's has its headquarters. The caller was Bob Bertini, the chain's media relations manager, explaining that Anna Ayala, a Las Vegas resident visiting family in San Jose, had bitten down on the finger in a spoonful of Wendy's chili.

For the 52-year-old Mr. Lynch, there was no time to prepare a sophisticated plan of action. The news media, he was informed, knew about the gruesome discovery, and wanted a statement. He did not wake John T. Schuessler, Wendy's chairman and chief executive, that night, but sent him e-mail messages explaining the news and the steps he had taken.

Over the next month, Mr. Lynch's job became part "CSI: Wendy's," part public relations nightmare.

A management team from Sacramento, Wendy's regional base, converted the office of the Wendy's franchisee, JEM Management, based in Fresno, into a makeshift crisis control room...

Reader comment: George says: "I may be wrong here, but the photo on BoingBoing looks like something I've seen before. From back in the day when I used to do a lot of martial arts, I remember one instructor saying police can press their thumbs on a nerve and muscle cluster at the back of the jaw (where the earlobe meets the cheek) to cause extraordinary pain without leaving visible marks. Try pushing around there yourself. When your eyes start to water, you've found the place. It's just "behind" the jawbone and slightly under your earlobe."

"I've heard of, and in some cases seen, this tactic used inappropriately in group homes, prisons and mental hospitals too.

"It's use is the shock of the extreme pain. It works like a taser in some ways. You can't really do anything else but flail when it's being applied. Apparently the logic is: when they let go, you quit fighting... because you don't want it to happen again. It's that painful. But again, the real advantage, as far as police are concerned, is that it doesn't leave marks. It's brutality without the bruises."

Reader comment: Don says: "A commonly taught pain based 'come-a-long' involves placing a ball point pen or other slender object in the palm of the hand and using it to pick someone up by the back of their ear or ear lobe. I believe that is what the officer pictured is attempting to do. During my training it was recommended as a way to get passive, uncooperative people to stand up when they refused."

Reader comment: Nick says: "What those cops are doing are pressure point grabs. What looks like an earlobe pinch is a pressure point submission; I had heard of its use in law enforcement but hadn't seen it until now. You can do it to yourself by pushing your thumbnail directly up into the space where the underside of your ear connects to your jaw. The harder you do it, the more it hurts, and you feel it after you remove your thumb. Now, if someone else were to do that to you, and with considerable force, you would not only experience shooting pain, but also find yourself somewhat unable to move. If performed on someone standing up, it causes them to bend forward towards the floor. I don't know why these cops are doing this to protestors who are already on the ground. I learned this, believe it or not, in a shiatsu massage class. I didn't learn anything about that fingers-under-the-jaw thing, but performing it on myself just now, I find that it does, as expected, hurt very much."

Reader comment: Trigg says: "I am a Naval officer I have done some military law enforcement training with the US Navy Master-at-Arms trainers and we learned this technique, along with other pressure points. There is actually a chart of pressure points created by a law enforcement supply company called Monadnock - here is a link to the chart. (I think the guy looks a lot like Victor Garber - the guy that plays Jack Bristow on ALIAS.)

"Anyway, these tactics were taught as "Soft Control" techniques. The purpose of these techniques are to "bring a subject under control which have a LOW probability of causing soft tissue damage, skin lacerations or bone fractures" as opposed to hard control techniques with a baton which might be used against someone who is actively resisting. Anyway, I DO NOT believe that what George of Bookninja says: "But again, the real advantage, as far as police are concerned, is that it doesn't leave marks. It's brutality without the bruises." is the case, though I suppose if the technique is abused . . . This technique is only used if people fail to respond to verbal commands and are endangering themselves, others, and/or they are breaking the law. Again, I am not necessarily commenting on the situation with the protestors (i.e. - whether or not they were breaking the law), just trying to clarify the technique and why it is employed."

Reader comment: Drew says: "It is slightly disturbing to see this event posted on boingboing with such a strong focus on the techniques being used by the police rather than the fact that said techniques were actually performed upon peaceful students. I witnessed these events last Monday night, reporting for a campus publication, and was startled by the excessive force used on students. "If you could please post this link, which provides basic information concerning the student and police actions, I would greatly appreciate it."

(Click image for enlargement.) My fax machine spit out this "survey" asking, "Do you agree with George W. Bush that marriage should only be between a man and a woman?" I'm supposed to check either "yes" or "no" then fax the form back to a 900 number.

The fine print reads as follows: "Calls to 1-900 numbers cost $3.95 per minute, a small price for a greater democracy. Calls take approx 2-3 minutes in standard mode."

The large print says: The result of this nationwide survey will be present to President Bush, Congress and the Supreme Court." That must really impress the suckers who pay $8 to $12 to fax in the form.

Interestingly, the company running this "survey," Direct Fax Survey, is based in London. I wonder if they make much money doing this?

Mr Clark, who admits he is "a bit of a hoarder", collected the Electronics magazine issues, as well as others, after the Philips Central Library in the UK - now closed - started to clean them out.

"In the 70s, they started throwing out large quantities of these magazines," he said.

"I was in my 20s at the time and thought you shouldn't throw them out because they are recording the golden age of electronics."

He gave several hundreds of them a home first in his loft, then under the floorboards and had not looked at them since.

Disneyland : The First 50 Years ... A Retrospective (Disc 4) 1:07:19
New Orleans Square Area Sounds 1:24
Pirates Arcade Area Sounds 2:07
Pirates Of The Caribbean 15:37
Blue Bayou Restaurant 0:50
Le Bat en Rouge - Caged Old Hag (Coin Op) (Queen ... Snow White) 1:22
The Haunted Mansion 23:56
Haunted Mansion Holiday 16:41
Royal Street 5:20

Update: CharlesV sez, "Using some simple find and replace, I reformatted the Disney audio rarities page so that the mp3s are all nice, clean direct links, ripe for scraping with your favorite mass downloader and converting into a fun little torrent if you wish."

The scientists don't measure odor per se, but the compounds that might cause odor. Starch that is not digested produces many odor-causing compounds in manure. If more starch is digested, less starch is available to cause odor. Starch from dry-rolled corn does not get digested as thoroughly as that in the high-moisture corn, so cattle fed high-moisture corn are less likely to produce foul-smelling manure.

[H]igh-end, socially-conscious London sex shop [Coco de Mer], established in 2001 by Samantha Roddick, daughter of The Body Shop's founder Anita Roddick, has launched an online version of the busty boutique where you'll find everything from nipple covers and clitoris creams to Swarovski-encrusted merkins by J. Maskrey and feather-tailed Molten crystal vibrators by Shiri Zinn. As for us, we'll be tied up with this pair of leather bondage gauntlets designed exclusively for the erotic emporium by Paul Seville, an artisan of animal skins better known for his collaborations with Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood.

He mentioned specifically the clause that imposed a fine, jail or both on any Ghanaians who commercially use, sell or distribute Ghanaian folklore or translations without Government's permit.

The Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana said the Bill would create a terrible situation for the future well being of the country's culture, which required a constant dynamic recycling to stay alive in the Global Village.

Update: Garth sez, "Here's an interesting PDF of a paper by John Collins, who was actually a member of Ghana's copyright board. Interestingly, the whole copyright ball was kicked off by none other than PAUL SIMON! Being a well-meaning human, he paid $16,000 to the Ghanaian government for a song that he lifted for his album 'The Rhythm of the Saints'. This got the Ghanaian government thinking about all of the revenues that they were losing as THEIR OWN citizens plundered Ghana's cultural heritage."

Update: Erin sez, "Amazon actually launched Free Music Downloads in February of 2001. The page mentioned is just the top 200 downloads, there are a lot more available here.

Update 2: Jesse sez, "I wrote a GreaseMonkey script which make the songs link directly to the MP3."

Two NYPD veterans are being investigated by Internal Affairs for allegedly accepting payoffs from the motion-picture industry to arrest vendors of pirated DVDs, law-enforcement sources told The Post.

One officer, a sergeant on the force since 1992, has been transferred from the Staten Island Task Force to the 122nd Precinct pending the internal investigation.

We are very displeased to announce that apparently MGM the huge company feels very threatened by a group of individuals spread throughout the world. We have received a letter to desist from the creation of the Stargate: Source mod. At this time we are still discussing the issue but it does appear that we are going to be shutting down. Sorry to all of our followers and those who were looking forward to this mod. Personally I will not buy a copy of their game out of protest. It is an unfortunate circumstance when the large, powerful and wealthy must attack the small and free but it happens and it is buisness.

He told me that my problem "could be a firewall issue or an AirPort version problem."

Preferences -> Transport -> Use manually configured Click Configure and clear all transports except HTTP

I did as he instructed and tried watching a video on RealPlayer. It played without a hitch, which is the first time that's ever happened.

He pointed out: "Just so you know, there is a note about the Airport problem in RealPlayer Help under Network/Connectivity Issues titled AirPort wireless issues."

Thanks Brian, and I apologize to you and your co-workers who strive to keep it Real.

During the 1950s and 1960s, DC Comics engaged in a long-time infatuation with gorillas, especially talking purple ones. Supposedly espoused by Creative Director Irwin Donenfeld, and supported by such editors as Julius Schwartz and Mort Weisinger, the theory was that any comic with a gorilla on its cover was a guaranteed top-seller. At one point, DC was publishing so many funnybooks with gorilla-covers that its editorial staff found it necessary to monitor these efforts, as to limit the number of gorilla-covers to one per month!

Your friends will TOTALLY TRIP when they walk in see this sitting on YOUR table!! And they can not go out and buy one. This is a SWEET ONE-OF-A-KIND nearly exact replica! Complete with T-Handle, Headpiece, and One LARGE Crystal INCLUDED for Maximum Time-Travelazation.* The analog year counter is even STUCK on 1982!

Nina describes the latest chapter, Hanuman Finds Sita: "Gags, gimmicks, AND narrative - hundreds of pages of text crammed into 3 minutes. Plus it contains all 4 main characters: Sita, Rama, Hanuman and Ravana, with extra added bonus demons ... People already familiar with the Ramayana will probably enjoy these musical bits more, but I'm trying to make the story understandable to anyone." Link

UPDATE: Anil Kandangath says: The link you posted to is unavailable since the site is down. However, the torrents for all four parts are available on Sepia Mutiny.

Reader comment: David Rothschild says: "As I wrote on my blog, an issue concerning this professor and the role he and his much vaunted corporate ties played in denying tenure to a critic of biotechnology, is at the heart of a lawsuit filed just this week, and a controversy over the issue of corporate influence in academia that made the cover of the Atlantic a few years ago."

Firstly, a frame is clamped onto a patient's jaw and very thin needles penetrate the gum to determine the location of the bone. This data is wirelessly transmitted to a PC, which combines it with CT scan data to configure a set of drill guides. The guides are then attached to the frame and finally the dentist presses a button to start the drilling in the precise location required...

"The system causes less trauma and brings dental implants to the general practitioner," says Kinrot, who designed the system. "Today it is only done by experts."

Josephine Zarkovich, a UC Berkeley art student, came up with the theme for this student-run art show with her best friend Ilsa Brink, a graphic designer for Berkeley’s California Shakespeare Company. This fascination with the Abominable Snowman began when the two listened to Jonathan Richman’s song “Abominable Snowman in the Market.” Another Berkeley art student, Matthew Siemonsma, (creator of image left,) suggested that they build a show around this topic....

For Matthew Siemonsma, the Yeti represents “an allusive (sic: elusive?) being, something you can’t quite put your finger on—something you can’t quite capture or contain. If you could, it would lose its charm.”

One mailbox transfers "skunk oil" on a vandals baseball bat (Company literature states: "We hope that some of the skunk oil gets wiped onto clothing and car upholstery.") Another (shown here) is designed to "grab" a bat when someone swings it into the mailbox. ("Upon direct impact with a wooden bat, the plastic tube deforms and the bat is grabbed out of the hand of the swinger.") The third mailbox contains a wireless tamper-detecting sensor. ("When the door of the mailbox is opened, a chime in the house is followed by a visual green light to inform you that mail has been delivered, that the mailbox door has been opened at midnight, or that the mailbox has received an impact.")

Hats off to Yankee ingenuity! Link

The Prodigem Marketplace allows Prodigem users to sell their independent media (videos, music, etc) while not concerning themselves with traditional bandwidth costs associated with repeated large data transfers. Content providers (YOU!) simply upload their work, set a price, and Prodigem does the rest. Once customers pay for access to the bit torrent peer-to-peer session for your content, Prodigem grants them access so they can begin their download (no DRM). Prodigem collects this revenue, removes 10% + transaction costs (PayPal) and then sends you a monthly check. Ever considered making a living as a Long Tailor? Check out this example for-pay torrent to see what it looks like.

Earlier this week, I posted an item on Boing Boing about Jacob Appelbaum's geek trip to Iraq (HOWTO set up a VSAT in Iraq). The 22-year old San Francisco resident known also as "ioerror" tells BB he's in the country on vacation, "not working for anyone, paid for the trip out of my own pocket, visiting some friends here." He's taking gigs and gigs of digital photos with his Canon 20D, including this series about buying a pair of Generation 3 Night Vision Goggles for only $900USD.

Here's another post on Jake's blog about IEDs -- improvised explosive devices -- in Iraq. Shown here, an IED constructed with a cellular phone. One call missed.

Jake says the image came from "someone who's a massively talented hardware hacker," who in turn says it was shot by a soldier in Iraq.

Today, Jake says:

I even happened to get a set of photos of the Yezidi (Wikipedia link), a sect of Muslims that worship a peacock as their king. The rest of the Muslims think they worship the devil. Most Satanists actually talk about the Yezidi as being part of the same club if they've ever heard of them. It's an interesting place that's for sure! I have some amazing photos of their temple.

Update: Kelly Rosati says:

I thought I would send you some info on the pic of the cell phone in Iraq. I had this same photo posted on a family forum I run by my uncle who is an EOD officer in the navy (he did not take the pic.) Here is a quote from his post:

"They're using cell phones as initiators to set off explosive devices when we get down on them. Instead of the phone ringing, it sends the power to a blasting cap. This EOD Tech had gone down on an IED, placed an explosive charge and detonated it, and went back down to ensure it was disabled. That's when he found the phone!! He was very lucky the phone did not receive the signal, unfortunately, many of our guys have not been that lucky. Just another day in Iraq, our guys respond to 3 to 5 of these a day."

I'm dropping a line on behalf of ioerror in Iraq (I guess he doesnt have email access atm)- the videos he posted are now torrents on his livejournal.

Update: Dan Wineman reminds us of recent reports that Nikon's D2X uses a proprietary form of data encryption that locks out third party software (DRM where it is not needed = really stupid):

The camera actually encrypts part of the image file (specifically, the white balance data) for every photo you shoot with it. The encryption isn't particularly good, so there are various ways to get around it, but Nikon won't license the decryption algorithm to Adobe. This means that Photoshop can't import Nikon's raw image format unless Adobe reverse engineers it, and Adobe is unwilling to do so because of the DMCA. Slashdot story and original article. Why should you care? Because it amounts to a camera manufacturer using technology to assert ownership rights over the pictures you take. I'll explain: there's absolutely no technical reason why that data should be encrypted, and the encryption scheme is so bad that Nikon must have implemented it only to gain DMCA protection. That protection isn't available to them unless they own the data being protected, so if they DON'T intend to claim a copyright interest in your photos, then they've just gone to a whole lot of trouble to make a digital camera that's incompatible with Photoshop. I'm sure that's what customers are clamoring for, right?

BB reader Stephen B. Goodman argues:

Nikon's D2X ships with a Photoshop plug-in that can export RAW format data from the camera into Photoshop. So it is not only possible, but encouraged to use Photoshop in your workflow. What Adobe is worried about is incorporating the D2X's excrypted RAW format into their OWN proprietary RAW importer which they sell for a profit. Adobe simply wants to be able to support more cameras, so they can sell the plug-in to more photographers. Secondly, only Nikon really knows why their data is encrypted, but it probably has far more to do with protecting their trade secrets concerning firmware and hardware design, than it does about wanting copyright control over a photographer's image. No digital cameras that shoot a RAW format are natively compatible with Photoshop (which is why you see a list of supported cameras in the Adobe link above), because RAW (which is really a name convention, not a standard format) is a straight data dump from a camera's chip. Different chips + different firmware = different data formats.

The Nikon white balance thing really is a tempest in a teapot.

One of the major advantages of shooting raw is that you can change the white balance after you shoot. The white balance information is just a tag that the raw converter can use, or not. Many photographers who shoot raw don't even bother setting white balance in the camera (my Canon 20D is always set to auto WB) since you can set it much more precisely after the shoot anyway. If a photo was taken outdoors, you can choose the Sunny, Cloudy, or Shade preset. If indoors, Fluorescent or Tungsten. If you used a flash, you can choose Flash. After choosing one of those, you can tweak the color temperature as desired by as little as 1 degree Kelvin (which is imperceptible).

What's more, Adobe Camera Raw has an Auto white balance mode that ignores the embedded white balance tag and attempts to calculate the correct value itself, and it usually does a better job than the camera did at the time of shooting. Which is what you'd expect, considering your computer is a few orders of magnitude more powerful than the processor in the camera. If Adobe Camera Raw can't read the embedded white balance data, it should just switch to Auto mode. Most users would find that this (or one of the presets) usually yields better results anyway. The kind of photographers who shoot raw are already well aware that the default settings need to be tweaked and are perfectly willing to do so.

Contrary to what Stephen Goodman says, Adobe Camera Raw is bundled with Photoshop CS (and now CS2) and is not available for purchase separately. Of course there are other programs that can use Photoshop plug-ins, but they'll have to use the Nikon plug-in or some other third-party raw converter, since Adobe Camera Raw does not (and has never) worked with anything but Photoshop.

So the point is not that Nikon are evil bastards for encrypting their white balance data and blocking Adobe. Adobe's not really blocked since reading the camera's white balance data is such a minimal part of their product.

The point is that Nikon are idiots, as they have expended engineering resources on protecting a bit of data that has little real value to begin with. They should have spent it on improving their cameras, given that they are having their ass handed to them by Canon in nearly every segment of the consumer digital camera market.

Two years ago, a party planner working for the hip-hop artist Mary J. Blige ordered a birthday cake for her from a Brooklyn baker who had long ago retired his given name - Raven Patrick De'Sean Dennis III - for the shorter if equally titular designation Cake Man Raven.

In celebration of Ms. Blige's 33rd birthday, Mr. Dennis constructed a cake that paid tribute not to any single one of her achievements or affinities, but, ostensibly, to all of them. Four feet wide and 26 inches tall, the cake featured edible approximations of a CD, a musical note, a Dolce & Gabbana shopping bag, a Christian Dior purse, a MAC cosmetics compact, a dove and a near-life-size baby, meant to symbolize Ms. Blige's spiritual rebirth.

Whether by happenstance or design, Cake Man Raven has become the city's most visually strident opponent of the restrained preciousness that has overtaken the baking world. Few would confuse the results of his labor with anything found in Real Simple. Instead, Mr. Dennis's cakes and Mr. Dennis himself - or Cake, as he identifies himself over the phone - have a sense of the epic about them. For the Rev. Al Sharpton, he once made a model of the Bible turned to Timothy 2:15 ("Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved"); for Cab Calloway's 80th birthday, a songbook with a grand piano resting on top; for Marty Markowitz, the Brooklyn Borough President, a replica of its Borough Hall, twice. When the rapper Jam Master J died in 2002, he made a cake in the shape of a large Adidas sneaker with a gold chain and two turntables on it.

Update: Here's the Cake Man's website with more photos: Link (Thanks Beau Brady, and Vanessa)

The KISS Institute for Practical Robotics is running their Northern California tournament this Saturday in San Jose, at the Leavey Center @ Santa Clara University. The tournament starts around 10am, and will probably go until around 5 or 6 in the evening. Botball is a robotics competition for Middle/High Schools, using completely autonomous robots (some using gameboy advances!) built and programmed completely by students (Using a special version of C called Interactive C. Admission to watch the tournament is free, it's always great to get a big crowd in to see the participants. Not to mention, everyone loves robots. :)

"Both Intuit and Block, which offer electronic filing for free through the IRS' Free File program, use hidden Web bugs throughout the tax-preparation process to monitor taxpayers' online behavior."

"The law states that it's a misdemeanor for any company 'to disclose any information obtained in the business of preparing federal or state income tax returns or assisting taxpayers in preparing those returns, including any instance in which this information is obtained through an electronic medium.'"

Link (Thanks, Eli the Bearded!)

NBC Universal Television Group President Jeff Zucker said entering the generally opinionated world of blogs might be one way television networks could keep their grip on viewers who increasingly use the Internet for news.

"Over the next two years, network news is going to go through a lot more changes," Zucker said at a Yahoo conference on high-speed Internet use. "This is one of the biggest issues facing traditional network news divisions."

"I don't know why Brian Williams isn't blogging right now," Zucker said of the anchor of NBC's top-rated evening news program who took the helm after veteran journalist Tom Brokaw stepped down in December. "We should be looking for a more interactive component ... and be experimenting more."

The bonobos will be able to cook in their own kitchen, tap vending machines for snacks, go for walks in the woods and communicate with researchers through computer touchscreens. The decor in their 18-room home includes an indoor waterfall and climbing areas 30 feet high...

Using a network of cameras and computers, the bonobos can see visitors who ring the doorbell -- and will be able to choose through a computer touchscreen who will be permitted into a secured viewing area.

"Only if they want to open the door can you enter," (experimental psychologist and ape-language expert Dr. Sue) Savage-Rumbaugh said.

UPDATE: Here's a torrent of the pertinent part of the video (In QuickTime, not Real!) Link (Thanks, Matt Yohe!)

UPDATE:Sean Graham says: "For those people who don't want to deal with RealPlayer I made a very lo-fi mp3 of the audio from the "Stolen Laptop" lecture posted earlier today...

"I trimmed out the actual educational part of the lecture and just left the 'good part.'" Link

UPDATE: Tim says: I've transcribed Professor Rine's speech to the thief who stole his laptop. It's available here.

It automatically boots up and links in to Verizon's "Broadband Access" service, turning itself into an access point. Turn on your laptop, join the network and voila -- you're on the net! It's just like using a hotspot (such as they have at Starbucks and airports), but it goes anywhere you car goes.

As long as I've got an always-on internet link in the car, why not make it do other things? As part of this project I've made it do live vehicle tracking via Google Maps, upload pictures from an on-board web cam and other tricks.

Why is it called a "StompBox"? I like to think of any nework I build as my own online "stomping grounds"... and I figured if I made a little box that would let me bring my stomping grounds with me wherever I went, I'd have to call it a Stomp Box.

They are talking about copyrights and thinking about turning the Bigfoot video into big bucks if some media outlet were just willing to pay...

What (Bobby Clarke) captured, according to his sister, Sharness Henry, is the image of a massive creature that stands eight, nine, maybe 10 feet (three metres) tall, walking along the edge of the water through some bulrushes. Near the end of the video, the creature turns and appears to stare into the camera, but the details of its face are impossible to make out.

"He's really hairy," Ms. Henry said.

Ritchie, now 77 and living in San Jose, was a 30-year-old deputy U.S. marshal and Marine Corps veteran with a spotless record in December 1957. According to his testimony, he had four or five bourbon and soda drinks over several hours at an office Christmas party, left, and soon started feeling overwhelmed by depression and paranoia.

He retrieved his two revolvers, tried to rob a bar in the Fillmore neighborhood, got distracted, and was hit over the head and knocked unconscious. Ritchie pleaded guilty to attempted robbery and was fined $500.

Plagued by flashbacks and suicidal urges for years, Ritchie spent 34 years as a house painter before retiring in 1992. Seven years later, he read a newspaper article about MKULTRA and concluded he may have been one of its victims...

Ritchie's case relied in part on a diary entry by an MKULTRA agent, Ira Feldman, that Ritchie's lawyer interpreted as admitting he was at the office party. In sworn depositions, Feldman at first denied that he knew Ritchie, but later referred to "this nitwit, Ritchie'' who "deserved to suffer.'' (Judge Marilyn Hall) Patel, in a ruling in May, said the latter statements could be taken as an admission that Feldman had drugged Ritchie.

Update: BK DeLong sez, "Johns Hopkins School of Public Health just launched their own Opencourseware following in MIT's footsteps - their first 6 courses are live."

"As streaming media three hours long, it's a bit hard to find your place or determine what portion you might want to hear again, so I've broken it into segments featuring an individual speaker or question. There are also summary descriptions of the questions and responses. (I'll be adding summaries to all links)." Link (Thanks, Allison!)

Update:: This server has melted down. Someone should really just post torrents of the video as an MPEG and the audio as an MP3.

"Sony has finally dropped the other shoe," said Dan Hunter, a professor at the Wharton School of Business and an expert in virtual economies. "Finally, we understand what their reluctance (has been). It's not that the gameplay has been affected by (virtual goods trafficking), but rather, their objection has been that they can't monetize it."

SOE claims the auction site is primarily about offering players a safe and secure marketplace for buying and selling virtual goods. But the company readily acknowledges the new system could bring in hefty new revenues.

"When 40 percent of our customer service man-hours are dealing with fraud, it's in our interest to deal with it," said John Smedley, SOE's president. "We don't want to hide the fact that we're going to make money." Smedley said that because many SOE players are opposed to users bu

Weird as it seems, the Directors Guild of America and the studios hated the idea that viewers should be able to skip past the bits they don't want to see while watching movies in their living rooms, proffering a bunch of self-serving, mystical crapola about the need for "artistic integrity" in the viewing experience you get from watching Police Academy n-1. This was transparent horseshit from the same groups that willingly redact their "content" for packaging by the censorious Blockbusters, airline movie providers, and TV broadcasters to eliminate toddler-damaging mentions of bodily fluids and glimpses of hoo-hahs, nee-nos, pee-paws, and other grotendous anatomical elements that no one needs to see more of.

Me, I can't wait to see the reverse: you can already buy guides to film-nudity that provide you with film names and timecode to skip right to that moment in some actor's past when she or he bared all -- a "good-parts" version, if you will. I would happily patronize a "FilthyFlicks" service that promised to lop out all the non-cussin', non-naked parts of the movie, leaving me with nothing but pure, degenerate rot. Link

The Dashboard promises to “keep you in touch with the details that make up your day.” Easy to read dials show digital information in analog form. Track stocks, the weather, traffic, email, unpaid bills, and more using the included “facecards”. Eventually, a developers kit will allow people to create their own using configurable blank face plates... The Dashboard gets its data over the existing digital paging network. This is not a Wi-Fi device. No network cables are required. And configuration is as simple as visiting the company website, typing in the Dashboard serial number for activation, and the postal zip code where the Dashboard will be located (for regional weather and possibly premium data.)

Cadenhead said he hasn't figured out what he's going to do with the BenedictXVI.com domain yet. "I know for certainty I won't be doing that," he said, referring to the adult sites. "The decision would be guided by the idea not to piss off 1.1 billion (Roman Catholics.)"

Three San Diego entrepreneurs plan to start a cut-rate outsourcing plant for software development three miles off the coast of Los Angeles aboard a used cruise ship moored in international waters.

Wired with a fat T3 pipe fed by microwave, SeaCode would employ 600 developers - the bulk of them non-U.S. citizens - who could crank out code around the clock at a lower cost and higher rate of efficiency than their American counterparts. The beauty part (at least according to the proponents) is that business would be booming, the headquarters could change sail wherever business took it, and RnR would be just a half-hour water-taxi ride away. In your neighborhood.

BB reader Kate says:

Generally, maritime folks consider "international waters" to be the high seas, which start outside of 200 nautical miles from any coastline. If by "international waters" they mean Mexican waters then they could have a ship three miles from San Diego. It would be subject to Mexican law, and there are a number of fishing collectives off Baja that patrol the area.

Boing Boing reader Kurt says:

Reader Kate was headed in the right direction, but confused international waters and exclusive economic zone. 12 nautical miles from shore is the generally accepted definition of a nation's territorial waters. Once a vessel passes beyond that point, it is considered on the "high seas" and not subject to the laws of the land. (with one notable exception). 200 nautical miles is considered to be within an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and a nation may exercise exclusive fishing rights in the 200 miles from its coast. P.S. -- I am a Navy Officer.

"Ratzinger's past includes brief membership of the Hitler Youth movement and wartime service with a German army anti- aircraft unit. (...) Ratzinger was enrolled in an anti-aircraft unit that protected a BMW factory making aircraft engines. The workforce included slaves from Dachau concentration camp. Ratzinger has insisted he never took part in combat or fired a shot — adding that his gun was not even loaded — because of a badly infected finger. He was sent to Hungary, where he set up tank traps and saw Jews being herded to death camps.

Boing Boing reader Patricio Lopez says, "I think the Ratzinger nazi info should be qualified," and points us to this Wikipedia entry for more detail: Link

Perhaps even more disturbing than Ratzingers obligatory Hitler youth stint, this detail mentioned in that Wikipedia entry:

On November 25, 1981 Pope John Paul II named Ratzinger prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly known as the Holy Office of the Inquisition, which was renamed in 1908 by Pope Pius X.

Some time ago I’ve read a news on your site about plastic surgery magazines and I thought it was really interesting -- here in Brazil we have a very big plastic surgery industry but I wasn't aware of any Brazilian magazines on the subject.

But last week, I saw an ad for a plastic surgery magazine. I asked the magazine vendor about it and he remembered the name immediately, and found it for me right away. I was surprised and realized now we have one of those magazines. Its name is Plastica e Beleza, meaning "Plastic and Beauty."

I took some pictures of the its advertising... Translation of their slogan to English is; “Small touches can make a big difference.”

Link to magazine website.

Previously: "Plastic surgery lifestyle" magazines: Kuala Lumpur, More plastic surgery lifestyle magazines, and "New beauty" mag: cosmetic surgery, c'est chic

The U2 blog Vertiblog sez:

"Factoid: The entire US$50Million stage lighting system for [U2's] Vertigo Tour is controlled via a Playstation [2] video game control[ler]."

BB reader Ned responds:

This really isn't as surprising as it might seem. While a set of light cues (up/down, color changes, moving lights, etc) is written for a stage production, it is programmed into a set of cues on a lighting board. Once this is done the only control needed by a board operator is a "Go" and occasionally "Back" button (when the stage manager screws up and calls a cue too early). I can see this being done for cool factor, comfort, or just an eccentric stagehand trick. Easy analogy: running lights for a concert is akin to running a PowerPoint slide - all the hard work is done up front.

BB reader David Gilman says:

Ned is confused. He mentions a stage manager, so he's probably thinking of a theatrical production, where, yes, a guy sits there and pushes a GO button when the voice in his ear says "GO".

HOWEVER, in the concert industry, where the show invariably changes every night, it's customary to have a lighting supervisor run the show live.. There are cues written, but there's also a lot of changes. In fact, most people in the concert industry eschew theatrical consoles (like an ETC Obsession II, the standard on Broadway), in favor of consoles that give them more flexibility, like an Avolites, Whole Hog, or Martin Maxxyz.

So, while *maybe* someone wired a Playstation controller to a contact-closure --> MIDI box and is using it to trigger something on a lighting console, the statement, "...The entire US$50Million stage lighting system for [U2's] Vertigo Tour is controlled via a Playstation [2] video game control[ler]." is pretty misleading.

Boing Boing reader Rob Burnip says:

Just a funny fact. Studio 39 makes videos of tourists flying around the city on a Magic Carpet. As an employee there, we use a Playstation 2 controller as well to control the camera and stage to make it look like they are flying. It is like the customers sitting in my green room are my game character. If anyone is in Las Vegas they can see me using the controller at Luxor and/or Circus Circus! Our website has not been updated in a while and only mentions our San Francisco locations as of right now.

Update: John sez:

I'm 'The Captain' of the Vertiblog and see that you posted a reference to my site on boingboing today. I wanted to let you know that I put up a link to the clip of the VH1 video that shows Willie Williams, U2's production manager, stating that the entire production is controlled via a Playstation handset. Here is the clip: Link (WMV)

There was one detail the audience didn't know: Kodak paid [Child magazine's Technology Editor James] Oppenheim to mention the photo album, according to the company and Mr. Oppenheim. Neither Mr. Oppenheim nor KVUE disclosed the relationship to viewers. During the segment, Mr. Oppenheim praised products from other companies, including: Atari Inc., Microsoft Corp., Mattel Inc., Leapfrog Enterprises Inc. and RadioShack Corp. All paid for the privilege, Mr. Oppenheim says.

One month later, Mr. Oppenheim went on NBC's "Today" show, the U.S.'s biggest national morning news program, which is part of NBC's news division. "Kodak came out with a great idea," he said to host Ann Curry, before proceeding to talk about the same product he'd been paid to discuss on KVUE. Ms. Curry called it a "nice gift for a little child." Kodak says it didn't pay for the "Today" show mention. But neither Mr. Oppenheim nor NBC disclosed the prior arrangement to tout the product on local TV.

In the "Today" segment, Mr. Oppenheim talked about products made or sold by 15 companies. Nine were former clients and eight of those had paid him for product placement on local TV during the preceding year. KVUE says it didn't know about Mr. Oppenheim's business deal. An NBC spokeswoman says the network is looking into what it knew about Mr. Oppenheim's relationship with Kodak and the other manufacturers.

Mr. Oppenheim is part of a little-known network that connects product experts with advertisers and TV shows. The experts pitch themselves to companies willing to pay for a mention. Next, they approach local-TV stations and offer themselves up to be interviewed. Appearances frequently coincide with trade shows, such as the Consumer Electronics Show, or holidays including Christmas or Valentine's Day. (...)

The familiar faces on this circuit include Mr. Oppenheim, "Today" Tech Editor Corey Greenberg and trend spotter Katlean de Monchy. They are among an army of experts who have risen to prominence as news organizations everywhere, seeking to expand their audiences, have branched into reviewing consumer products ranging from home furnishings to personal finance.

Four years ago, a small cut on Mitchell's left heel turned into an diabetes-related infection two inches wide and down to the bone... the powerful antibiotic that doctors prescribed for her infection was also wreaking havoc on her bones. Mitchell found a dermatologist willing to perform the [maggot] procedure, and soon had 600 live maggots wriggling inside the wound on her left foot, 400 in her right, where they were sealed in gauze and left for two days. Today, Mitchell walks normally and both wounds are completely healed. She is now a member of the board for the Biotherapeutics Education and Research Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes the medical use of maggots

A Condé Nast security badge that develops a large red X after 24 hours gave Adler the idea to add a similar marker to the label. A version that works over months, not hours, will be ready in 2006.

(2) Code red. The red color of the bottle is Target’s signature— and a universal symbol for caution.

(4) Upside down to save paper. Klaus Rosburg, a Brooklyn-based industrial designer hired by Target, came up with an upside-down version that stands on its cap, so that the label can be wrapped around the top. Every piece of paper in the package adds up to one eight-and-a-half-by-fourteen-inch perforated sheet, which eliminates waste and makes life easier for pharmacists.

In one room, 12 toilets are flushing as if under ghostly control; an electronic machine is pulling the virtual levers - and manipulating water temperature and pressure as well. In smaller rooms nearby, one man is alternately flushing cylinders of miso paste, wadded-up paper, and as many as 24 golf balls at a time, while another is inspecting different glazes on ceramic tiles.

Men and machines are testing and retesting the Champion, a low-to-medium priced but technically advanced toilet. American Standard, the world's largest maker of bathroom and kitchen products, has promised consumers that the Champion will never clog.

Soto said Vazan had volunteered to pay $1,000 for the damage. The sculptor paid 20-year-old Genaro Gatica, an Easter Island resident, $25 a day to help carry stones.

Vazan, in interviews with local media, said that Gatica was supposed to help him identify sacred stones so he could avoid using them.

"He went in front of me saying this rock yes, these others no. ... Now it appears that two of the rocks I used had value, but it was never my intention to cause harm," he told La Tercera newspaper.

An unabashed and unapologetic pastel artist with an obsessive nature toned in kitsch and pith; Whitfield creates a personal mythology within an art historical context.

Growing up the child of a politician and an educator in south Florida, Whitfield found himself at the age of 6 living in the master suite of a haunted Antebellum Mansion on an abandoned horse farm. The former owner, and now ghost, Norma, had succumbed to madness for the last ten years of her life. It was said she often walked to the end of the circular drive waving with undergarments fastened to the outside of her clothes. But it was inside the house that her madness truly reined, where she had stuffed her rooms with worthless discards. Whitfield’s family found the former master suite’s, pink and maroon tiled, bathroom, stuffed with lipsticks even filling the toilet bowl; permanently streaking it in the waxy reds his Mother and Father kept in memoriam...

Seven years of Daf Yomi lectures-every shiur on every daf of every Mesechta - are pre-loaded onto a brand-new Apple iPod 40GB! You can access any shiur on any page of Talmud for instant study and review! It's great for commuting, exercising, on vacation - any time and place you can pull out your iPod to listen to a Daf Yomi shiur!

You want the Funk? We've got the Funk! This ringtone will get you in the groove and remind you where to go to get the facts on drugs. And remember, you have the power to stop your friends from using drugs or alcohol. That's right--your cell phone is a powerful way to help start a conversation with a friend who might be using drugs.

What do you get when you cross a chicken with a centipede?
A media circus about the debate over the morals and ethics of genetic engineering.

Why did the blonde get fired from the M&M factory?
Repeated absences and stealing.

Recently, the MusicBrainz project released its much-anticipated Advanced Relationships feature that allows users to contribute detailed information about musical works and artists. These expanded capabilities can capture all of the credits that are typically printed in the liner notes of an audio CD, as well as data found in comprehensive musical biographies or discographies:

"With Advanced Relationships, MusicBrainz expands its data coverage beyond basic metadata and sets its sights on becoming a user contributed music encyclopedia. The project can now capture more information ranging from common knowledge to obscure facts about music. We are finally ready to incorporate the detailed information that users have been clamoring to contribute." said Robert Kaye, the Executive Director of the MetaBrainz Foundation.

This is how I spent my day today. It took around 6 hours round trip to drive to Sulimaniya, Iraq. This in Kurdistan where we did the install. I learned some stuff, it's mostly simple labor but it raised some interesting questions in my mind about interception.

As far as I can tell, it's entirely possible to intercept any data being sent to earth in an entirely passive way. I'm going to look into this more before I make any outlandish claims, if you know, feel free to let me know.

(...) This [photo] is the lead engineer checking to find the 251 degree azimuth. The tool he's holding is totally awesome and old school. I think you could sail around the world with it if you were determined.

I think it's a wonderful idea. Bruce isn't claiming any ownership or control over this, hoping that it will grow organically (though he will help you sell your Individual-I merch through his site). I got some Individual-I stickers last week at the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference, and they will shortly adorn my laptop. Link (Thanks, Bruce!)

For artists who accept electronic payment via Paypal or credit cards, the database records the relevant payment info. A separate nightly perl script issues electronic payments (via CapitolOne's excellent web-services "micropayment" (sic) interface) where possible (batched until the amount exceeds $1.75), and for artists without electronic payment info, totals the corresponding amounts and transfers the overall total to the money-market escrow account I have for this purpose. The escrow account isn't automated yet, but I usually kludge around this, when I get new payment info for an artist, by simply moving the money back out of escrow, resetting the amount paid/escrowed to $0, and rerunning the original script. At the end of each month I mail physical checks to artists for whom I have physical addresses but not electronic, and rebalance the escrow account accordingly. I don't currently have a way to split this compensation across the performer and the publisher for material where the two are different. The best I can do is include track info with all my payments and rely on the artist in turn to pay for material they acquired from elsewhere.

Update: Turns out that this was largely a prank/hoax/speculation; from the comments on the 43 Folders blog post:

As various Davids guessed or noted, the intro and #1 through #4 are all exactly true, but starting with #5 the post migrates from what I actually do to speculation about what I *might* be doing if I had unlimited time and no other projects. The stuff about fingerprinting and admitting that (only) the last bit is geeky are cues, but most of the rest of it is plausible even where it isn't true.

In practice, for example, I actually don't use ratings myself at all. But several people have emailed me about that section after you posted this link, so now I'm thinking maybe I'll actually implement it. It's a good idea for exactly the reason you said: the software ought to respond to the implicit semantics of my regular interaction with it, rather than me having to make an endless series of explicit decisions about things. I probably won't build exactly what I described, which had some impratical fantasy wrinkles, but I've got the scaffolding for something on the same basic principles, which might be useful and/or interesting.

The compensation/micropayment thing, on the other hand, was an attempt to describe the absurd complexity an individual person would have to take on to administer such a system themselves. I wouldn't try to build this in reality, although interestingly, the new SQL Lite hooks in Tiger may make some of the database integration I described a lot more tenable than it is right now. My own artist-compensation system is much simpler: I still buy CDs. But this whole industry is on the verge of collapse and reinvention, and the new forms of it may look a lot more like my imaginary DIY version.

Unfortunately and inexplicably, this was only available as a crappy, dropout-prone Real stream from Cornell, which meant you couldn't load the audio onto your iPod or download the video to show your friends later.

Now someone's converted the video to something else (not sure what) and posted a .torrent, packaged with soemthing called "Matroska" that seems like a good way to add bookmarks and such to video (I'd be interested in knowing whether this packaging presents any barrier to someone who simply wants to download the video and watch it in her player of choice). There's also an Ogg of the audio available (I'd love to see this converted to MP3 for iPod users and posted as a Torrent!). Video Torrent Link, Ogg Torrent Link

"Underpass Mary" has moved in down the street from me. I knew her as this blob of underpass ooze I used to ride past on my bike. Cops are now protecting the site from the mob 24/7. I suppose they'll all give up after the next rain when "Underpass Mary" becomes "Underpass Jabba the Hut."

The way she saw it, Koenig was stealing from the Walt Disney Company. Right there in front of his tour group, she likened what David was doing to " ... setting up your own t-shirt shop inside our theme park. Which then prevents Disney from being able to sell our own t-shirts."

David tried to explain that the tour that he was giving was significantly different than the tours that Disneyland Guest Relations gives. That his tour was based on the stories that Koenig had included in his own "Mouse Tales" books.

Again, the Assistant General Manager of Disneyland Guest Relations wouldn't hear of it. David's tour was cutting into that theme park's ability to sell its own tours, plain & simple. Which is why -- after taking down his annual pass info -- this woman quickly hurried away. Clearly disappointed that she hadn't found a way to legally shut him down.

The shark took two bites of the fiberglass board before ceasing the attack, (life guard Aaron) Graham told The Associated Press by telephone. "There were two big puncture mark bites on the board, but it didn't actually bite a hunk out of it so he was able to ride it in."

"I want everyone to love me," he said, half-mockingly, after explaining that he was once shocked to learn that the racial stereotypes and violence toward women he portrayed in his work were hurtful to many people. "Please love me," Mr. Crumb added.

A woman in the audience then shouted, "We love you!," and Mr. Crumb held up his hands, cringing, to stop the applause.

"O.K., you love me," he responded, laughing. "You're killing me, you love me so much. You're choking me. Now back off."

So how do you know if the backed-up you that you've restored into a new body-or a jar with a speaker attached to it-is really you? Well, you can ask it some questions, and if it answers the same way that you do, you're talking to a faithful copy of yourself.

Sounds good. But the me who sent his first story into Asimov's seventeen years ago couldn't answer the question, "Write a story for Asimov's" the same way the me of today could. Does that mean I'm not me anymore?

Kurzweil has the answer.

"If you follow that logic, then if you were to take me ten years ago, I could not pass for myself in a Ray Kurzweil Turing Test. But once the requisite uploading technology becomes available a few decades hence, you could make a perfect-enough copy of me, and it would pass the Ray Kurzweil Turing Test. The copy doesn't have to match the quantum state of my every neuron, either: if you meet me the next day, I'd pass the Ray Kurzweil Turing Test. Nevertheless, none of the quantum states in my brain would be the same. There are quite a few changes that each of us undergo from day to day, we don't examine the assumption that we are the same person closely.

It's what a watch should be: waterproof, nearly indestructible, accurate, and radically legible.  Clear, black-on-white glow-in-the-dark numbers (no hour ticks) in an analog face. Day/date optional. And best of all, at $40 the Swatch is probably the cheapest rugged watch you can buy. Luxury watches perplex me: what are you getting extra? Sure, the plastic wristbands of the Swatch wear out and are cheaply replaced every five years, but you'll lose a Swatch before it crashes.

Legendary musician, producer, and visual artist Brian Eno sits down with scientist and technical wizard Danny Hillis to discuss their inventive careers and explore the theme of creativity. Both Eno and Hillis are board members of the Long Now Foundation, an organization that aims to promote "slower/better" thinking.

This year, Technology Review magazine will again assemble a list of top young innovators under the age of 35 -- the TR35, or "35 Innovators under 35." The basic idea, however, is the same: to showcase young people who have displayed extraordinary talent and potential as technology innovators. The list will be published in TR's October 2005 issue, and the 35 winners honored at the Emerging Technologies Conference at MIT in September.

Boing Boing reader Justin A. Neitzey adds,

Just thought you should be warned that the Vader helmet's packaging states that "This is not a protective helmet." I LOL'ed when I saw that at Wal-Mart.

BB reader ars says:

There is another! Batteries not included! Get yourself one of those big glass jars of pickles. Eat the pickles (or feed them to the pigs). Put the jar over your mouth and growl: "Luke! I am your father!" You're welcome!

"Eleven "Mad Max" fans of were arrested after alarming motorists as they made their way to a movie marathon in a theatrical convoy in which they surrounded a tanker truck armed with fake machine guns.

Indy is a free music discovery service that learns what you like, and plays more of it. It is designed to provide an alternative channel for music fans to discover artists, and for artists to reach a new audience. Indy employs a sophisticated collaborative filtering algorithm. Currently the Indy client works on Windows, but Mac and Linux versions are in the pipeline.

BB reader Justine says:

This Indy program sounds alot like www.last.fm, which has been around a while and combines social networking into the picture as well.

The MAKE:DIYcast audio program, like the magazine, is loaded with exciting projects, hacks, science and news that help you make the most of your technology. Right click or Control + click to download the MP3 to you local system or add the MAKE Audio feed to your podcasting application and get the show automatically! This is our first experiment with our MAKE:DIYcast, let us know what you think. In this show- Woody Norris wins the "Nobel prize" of invention, using the iPod Shuffle without iTunes, camera phone panoramas, hacking for GIs, answered some reader email/IMs, Bill Nye is back, Macromedia and Adobe merge, getting around the XP Admin password and everything that'll be in issue 02 of MAKE! Show notes after the jump...

"Baby chimps pick up habits by mimicking adults and we think he started mimicking smokers at his enclosure which probably led to smokers throwing him cigarettes," spokesman Daryl Barnes (said)...

"He even acts like a naughty schoolboy by hiding the cigarette when staff approach the area," Barnes said, adding that the zoo was determined to help him quit.

18 Apr '05, 04:18 (LIT) WHO WAS JESSE OWEN ?
18 Apr '05, 04:17 (SM) What is Blue note flavored with?
18 Apr '05, 04:16 (GAM) when does tomb raider 7 ps2 game come out?
18 Apr '05, 04:13 (PRG) I am 28 weeks pregnant and I am seeing my midwife soon, what sort of things should I be asking at this stage?
18 Apr '05, 04:13 (GSS) where i can get ONGC model question paper
18 Apr '05, 04:12 (PRG) took one 200 ibufren tablet by mistake last night and I am 27 weeks pregnant. Is this ok or should I tell the hospital? ( 1 response )

En route from San Jose to Phoenix, I was told by a Transportation Security Agency (TSA) screener about a ban on lighters (cough) starting April 14th, but the book allowance has been cut from 4 to 2...

I must highlight that this could be bad information and hearsay. I can't confirm this with the DHS or TSA prohibited items list. However, the TSA list notes it's own inaccuracy -- and the discretion of the screener to interpret policy...

Update: My guess here is that the screener has confused the regulation of matchbooks with the regulation of books -- and, as Ross points out, the screener's determinations are final: "To ensure everyone's security, the screener may determine that an item not on the prohibited items chart is prohibited. In addition, the screener may also determine that an item on the permitted chart is dangerous and therefore may not be brought through the security checkpoint."

So while you're unlikely to find your screener forcing you to take a book or two out of your carryon, anyone unlucky enough to get this guy is gonna find the Federal government taking an unhealthy interest in her reading materials.

I've written to Ross for clarification and I'll post it when I get it.

Update 2: In comments on his blog, Ross confirms that the screener was definitely talking about actual books -- the kind you read -- and not matchbooks.

Update 3:Ross adds, "While this personal account may bring to mind book burning, the screener made separate points about regulating matchbooks when examining my lighter and books when examining my advance copy of The Only Sustainable Edge. I was of sound mind and body, assume he was too. One commentor on my blog is a pilot and is looking into it. Regardless, I take comfort in Alfred Whitney Griswold's quote: 'Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail.'"

Of course, those TI calculators were a little on the slow side. The intarweb comes to the rescue: with just a little overclocking know how, you can bring the older machines up to a blazing 12MHz and the top-line beasties all the way up to 20MHz!

Curently, the TI-81, TI-82, TI-83, TI-85, TI-86, TI-89, TI-92,a nd TI-92 Plus can be accelerated. The 81, 85 and 86 can be accelerated to approximately 2-3x their normal speed, about 18 MHz. The TI-82 and TI-83 can also be accelerated to about 1.5-2x normal speed. They only about double their speed to around 12 MHz. The TI-89 and 92 can be accelerated to around 20 MHz!

Update: Martin sez, "I believe you are confusing TI with the HP48 series of calculators by Hewlett-Packard. I'm not aware of any TI with an infrared feature, probably because of the trouble HP has had with theirs. Here's some documentation on HP's IR port. On the other hand, there is a hack to add an IR port to TI calculators here."

For now, the company is called "FM Publishing." The "FM" stands for "Federated Media" - a nod toward the fundamental idea behind the company - that of federation, as opposed to ownership (it's also sort of a nod to the evolution of a medium - e.g. radio going from AM to FM). The company is a publishing business focused on high quality content - that should come as no surprise to those of you who know what I love to do. But the difference is that I do not plan to "own" most of the content that will be critical to FM. Instead, I plan to partner with site authors, acting as a platform which provides important services to them - revenue (in the form of advertising), back end support, and the like. In essence, FM will act as a publisher to sites which need and want a publisher. We don't plan to take a lot of folks on, initially, but hope to grow over time.

FM was inspired by the things I learned writing the book, as well as running Searchblog and acting as Band Manager for Boing Boing. For now, nothing is really changing with regard to my role at Boing Boing, but when FMP is up and running, it's my goal to move BB's business services over to FMP, and the kind folks behind BB have agreed - at least in principle. I still have to deliver what I say I can deliver, and that's non trivial....

I'm not allergic to financial investors - folks who put money in with the express intent of getting a lot more money out - but for now, I prefer to keep it strategic, and small. In fact, I hope to build FMP in a very Web 2.0 way - a lightweight business model focused on innovation in assembly, driven by the force of many - you get the picture.

Using their telephone and mail privileges, plus a network of family, friends or activists, inmates are contributing to websites to plead their case, pillory prosecutors or find pen pals...

In 2000, inmates successfully fought an Arizona law that prohibited helping inmates to access the Internet and punished those who transmitted items to someone for posting on the web. The law was passed after a murder victim's family complained about the killer's Internet pen pal ad. A federal district judge struck down the law in 2003.

The American Civil Liberties Union pursued that case on behalf of the Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty. The group publishes websites for about 500 U.S. death row inmates, and pen pal solicitations for about 700 more, said co-founder Tracy Lamourie.