Instructables has instructions for building magnet-backed LEDs that you can arrange on your fridge into glowing, whimsical pixel-art that will scare you when you come to the dark kitchen for some midnight ice-cream. Link (via Cribcandy)

Don't Shoot the Puppy -- a dead-simple Flash game. If you move the mouse or type anything, you shoot the puppy. The objective is to not shoot the puppy. Therefore, to win, you must do nothing. Link (via Plasticbag)

Lukashenka, the corrupt dictator of Belarus, has a bad pop band campaigning for him in his crooked election. They sing a hilarious song praising him to the skies (and don't miss the video)...

Well-set and slim
He won't teach you evil
Father can bridle anyone
Father is stronger than the rest

He will settle conflicts
He is reliable and calm
He just throws a glance - and you see
Who is the master in the house

My grandfather came from Belarus -- I'm just glad he got out when he did, otherwise this might be the themesong of my homeland. Link (Thanks, Brendan!)

Phil Torrone of MAKE: hosted a robot dance party and posted a video of the festivities!
Link

My pal Bill Shunn calls himself an "accidental terrorist" because he once threatened to blow up an airplane while working as a young Mormon missionary in Calgary, Alberta. His hilarious memoir of accidental terrorism is now appearing in his podcast as a serial -- and between his great reading and the great material, it's bound to be one of my favorite podcasts for the weeks to come. Link (Thanks, Bill!)

Apple has issued a statement damning a proposed French law that would force it and other music-crippleware companies to license its technology to anyone who wants to build a music player.

Apple condemned the proposal as "state-sponsored piracy" and warned that it would result in its customers filling their iPods with "pirate" videos and music. This is intensely hypocritical. Apple ships millions of iPods holding up to 10,000 songs. Most customers for 60GB iPods have fewer than 10,000 songs' worth of CDs and no one is buying $10,000 worth of iTunes. While there's a certain amount of public domain and Creative Commons music likely to end up on iPods, and some video these days, there's no question that Apple's iPod business is built on the average customer's need for a way to take her/his unauthorized music downloads on the road.

What's more, as Steve Jobs explained to Rolling Stone in 2003, iTunes DRM doesn't stop people from making and sharing unauthorized copies of their music:

None of this technology that you're talking about's gonna work. We have Ph.D.'s here, that know the stuff cold, and we don't believe it's possible to protect digital content. . . . . [There is] this amazingly efficient distribution system for stolen property called the Internet --- and no one's gonna shut down the Internet. And it only takes one stolen copy to be on the Internet. And the way we expressed it to them is: Pick one lock -- open every door. It only takes one person to pick a lock. Worst case: Somebody just takes the analog outputs of their CD player and rerecords it -- puts it on the Internet. You'll never stop that. So what you have to do is compete with it.

If Apple doesn't think iTunes stops "piracy," then why include it? Because it lets them send legal threats to competitors like Real when they make players for their own DRMed music that run on Apple devices. Real's effort to put a Real player on the iPod wouldn't have helped anyone commit "piracy" -- nor would the French law. All it would do is give iPod owners the option to buy their crummy DRM-crippled music from someone other than Apple, maybe getting a better price or better features or both.

In a response issued after the law won initial approval, Apple said: "If this happens, legal music sales will plummet just when legitimate alternatives to piracy are winning over customers."

But, it added, the law could prove a boon for Apple and its popular iPod music players.

Said Apple: "iPod sales will likely increase as users freely load their iPods with "interoperable" music which cannot be adequately protected. Free movies for iPods should not be far behind in what will rapidly become a state-sponsored culture of piracy."

Link (Thanks, Herve, Dave and Peanutbutter13!)

Nature Magazine has publised a free, online/offine issue about scientific computing -- the way that science is advanced by computers.

One standout article (among many worthy pieces) is this article on massively multiplayer online role-playing games written by Vernor Vinge, the computer scientist and Hugo-award winning science fiction writer who coined the term "Singularity" and wrote the absolutely seminal proto-cyberpunk story True Names.

How can we prepare for such a future? Perhaps that is the most important research project for our creativity machine. We need to exploit the growing sensor/effector layer to make the world itself a real-time database. In the social, human layers of the Internet, we need to devise and experiment with large-scale architectures for collaboration. We need linguists and artificial-intelligence researchers to extend the capabilities of search engines and social networks to produce services that can bridge barriers created by technical jargon and forge links between unrelated specialties, bringing research groups with complementary problems and solutions together — even when those groups have not noticed the possibility of collaboration. In the end, computers plus networks plus people add up to something significantly greater than the parts. The ensemble eventually grows beyond human creativity. To become what? We can't know until we get there.

Link (Thanks, Timo!)

This site sells silver jewelry shaped like household objects like macaroni, fruit loops, Pez, and Barrel of Monkeys monkeys. Link

MIT researchers are making strides in the development of "smart materials" that can change shape. For example, imagine an airplane wing that morphs for better aerodynamics. The researchers' approach is based on the same principal that causes the material in lithium batteries to expand and contract during charging and recharging. From the MIT News Office:

In the quest for materials that would allow such morphing, engineers have recently focused on nature's approach to the problem. A plant that bends toward the light, quickly furls its leaves when touched, or pushes a concrete sidewalk aloft with its roots is essentially moving fluids between cells.

(Materials scientist Yet-Ming) Chiang realized that the solid compounds used to store electrical energy in lithium rechargeable batteries could be made to work in a similar way. The movement of ions to and from these materials during charging and recharging, he thought, was analogous to the moving fluids in plants...

The researchers have already demonstrated basic battery-based actuators that can pull and push with large force. Later this year, they hope to demonstrate the shape-morphing of a helicopter rotor blade. The morphing capability should allow for a more efficient design, ultimately making it possible for a vehicle to carry heavier loads.

Link

At Cryptomundo, Craig Woolheater posted glamour shots of a number of cryptozoology action figures that have been created over the years. Sasquatch! Mothman! Jersey Devil! Collect them all! (Seen here, the Shadowbox Myths & Legends Bigfoot from 1996.)
Link

A flock of crows is attacking residents of Warwick, England. First, the crows were targeting cars, scratching them up and tearing off windshield wipers. Now they've reportedly moved on to humans. Colin Wilkinson, a conservation officer with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, suggests that people "protect themselves by wearing hats" and not leave any food scraps around. From the BBC News:

"It is most unusual for these birds to do this, (Wilkinson said.)

"Attacking cars occurs from time to time but graduating to attacking humans is more rare.

"It is hard to explain except if it is an instinctive reaction to someone who is close to what they regard as their territory."

He said it was the time of year that crows would be pairing up, building nests and laying eggs.

"It simply might be that they are being more aggressive at this time of year, that is the most likely explanation," Mr Wilkinson.

Link

Artist Thomas Edwards has created this sculpture titled Blame, which senses the presence of gallery visitors and then swings an arm with an accusing finger towards one hapless person, and in a loud voice "proceeds to blame the viewer for some horrible crime against society. After that, the arm returns to scanning for a new victim to blame."
Link

LDM sez,

I joined the Yahoo Publisher Network, a beta program through which Yahoo provides text ads in much the same way that Google does. I started running the Yahoo text ads on many of my web sites.

A couple of days ago Yahoo sent me a notice stating they'd revised their Publisher Policy. Item '11.l' stated that I will not "display all or part of the Ad Unit to any user located outside the US". In other words, I can't allow users outside of the United States to view my pages if there is a Yahoo ad on the page!

Emilio González writes about using Google Earth to discover asteroid impact craters.

But the most important thing is, probably, that using a free distributed software ( Google Earth, but I'm also using NASA World Wind) anyone can search for similar structures. Probably I was very lucky, as after this success I spent many hours searching for more without results.

Link (thanks, Kazys!)

T-shirt looks like you have a FedEx envelope under your arm.
Link (Thanks, Phil!)

Over at Lost Remote blog, Cory Bergman writes:

NBC and CBS are two of the companies that we know have sent nastygrams to YouTube over copyrighted video, and I'm sure there are many more. YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley says in some cases, the same company is both uploading video and ordering YouTube to take it down. "There's been a few examples of marketing departments uploading content directly to the site, while on the other side of the company their attorney is demanding we remove this content," Hurley said. (...) Did you know YouTube has twice the traffic of Yahoo! Video and more than three times that of Google Video and AOL Video? Wow!

YouTube was also the subject of a cover story yesterday in trade mag Hollywood Reporter, along with the Lonely Island guys, whose Chronic-WHAT-cles of Narnia SNL phenom left television and movie biz execs deeply perplexed: "Do we mack on the cupcakes, or sue them?"

Link to THR story on YouTube, and Link to THR story on "Lazy Sunday."

Previous BoingBoing posts: Link.

Bob Staake is a terrific children's book illustrator (here's a great interview with him at Pixelsurgeon). My kids love all his books. Today, Fantagraphics released Staake's latest book, Struwwelpeter, and it's his best work yet. The art (which Staake draws using his ancient copy of Adobe Photoshop 3.0!) is creepy and happy at the same time, which is my favorite kind.

Struwwelpeter is Staake's adaptation of Der Struwwelpeter, a teach-kids-morality-through-fear book written 160 years ago by Heinrich Hoffman. When Staake was a child, he was exposed to the original book's, and never forgot its frightening and gory illustrations of mayhem and punishment.

The "scissor scene" (top) from Hoffmann's original Struwwelpeter. This is the image that haunted Staake (and others) from childhood on -- and the power of the gruesome scene compelled Staake to reinterpret the Hoffmann classic in 2006.

Staake's Struwwelpeter is both a faithful adaptation of the original and an inspired reexamination. it's my favorite book of the year.

Be sure to check out the excellent website Staake made for the book, which contains many sample pages, and historical notes on the original book and its author. Link

In Switzerland last weekend, a new and odd world record: 240 people built a village of one hundred igloos in 12 hours, with no motorized help. Link (Thanks, Jens Riedweg)

A recently-proposed law in Japan would outlaw many forms of vintage electronics and handheld gadgetry. Dozens of old-school electronic music enthusiasts in Japan took to the streets this week to protest (the ban may outlaw old synths and boomboxen). Here are photos. Tom at MusicThing blog posts details on the acts of civil geekobedience in Japan, and says,

I want to see the birth of an utterly ruthless terrorist organisation devoted to the protection of dusty musical gear. Someone should kidnap the relevant minister's family and torture them with copies of Country Moog: Switched on Nashville until the law is repealed.

Link

Labor party politicians in Australia want to censor the country's internet using state-mandated content bans that would be maintained by internet service providers:

Under the policy, announced by Opposition Leader Kim Beazley today, international websites would be banned by the Australian Communications and Media Authority if they contained graphic sexual or violent material, rated R or higher.

Link to Herald Sun news report.

And in Guatemala (where the death squads are back in business, and reportedly canoodling with US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld), a similar plan is under way.

The Australian Scottish censorware maker selling the filtering tech to Guatemalan ISPs calls its product a "broadband condom." Snip:

Yesterday, Bridge announced it had signed a deal with locally based Red Technologies to manufacture the GuardianBox in Guatemala and take licence revenue from all boxes used in the country. The contract requires the filtering system to be refined to recognise offensive Spanish terms. It is expected to be worth around £250,000 a year.

Link to Scotsman news article.

Kathryn Cramer has a related post on her blog here.

I've previously posted about Wilson Alwyn Bentley who in the late 19th century created an amazing collection of snowflake photomicrographs. Inspired by Bentley, Icelandic chemist Tryggvi Emilsson came up with a way to "preserve" the structure of snowflakes using superglue and microscope slides. The snowflake seen here has been stored in Emilsson's desk since 1979. From Popular Science:

1. Set microscope slides, coverslips and superglue outside when it’s 20°F or colder to chill them. Catch flakes on the slides or pick them up with cold tweezers.

2. Place a drop of superglue on the snowflake. Note: Gel glue doesn’t work. Find a brand that’s thin and runny.

3. Drop a coverslip over the glue. Don’t press down hard or the flake could tear or melt from the heat of your finger.

4. Leave the slide in a freezer for one or two weeks and don’t touch it with warm hands. The glue must completely harden before the snowflake warms up.

Link (Thanks, Lindsay Tiemeyer!)

Here is another apartment complex in Taiwan in which units are branded "BLOGS." Link. This Taipei building is called "MRT Blog," and the MRT is the city's subway system. (Thanks, Poagao)

Previously:
In Taiwan, a condo project called "BLOG"

On the Make blog, Phil Torrone recaps Modern Marvels' top 25 inventions of 2006. Shown here: Matthew C. Grossman's "Shift Bicycle," designed to teach kids how to ride a two wheeler. As the tricycle picks up speed, the rear wheels get closer together, until they merge into a single wheel.
Link

Reader comment: John says:

In the story posted today is mentioned Matthew Grossman as the sole inventor of the SHIFT Bike. Others were also involved as part of a design project at Purdue, under the guidance of professor Scott Shim and in tandem with alumni Ryan Lightbody. The linked to article in question seems to state that it was designed in Austin, Tx. The original press release for the bike is linked here.