Update: Many have written to say that the Air Force now says that this was intentional.

Update: Bernardo sez, " The lovely Worth1000 Escher-inspired kid-style drawing contains elements from Concave And Convex, Waterfall, and Belvedere, not House of Stairs."

Legends about plunging ice go back for centuries. They didn't begin to receive serious scientific attention until a few years ago, however, when Spain and other countries were pelted by the mystery intruders.

Possible explanations range from the mundane to the bizarre.

One theory is that ice is somehow forming on the outside of aircraft, perhaps in areas that aren't protected by deicing equipment, said David Travis, a climatologist at the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater. Last year, he and 11 others co-wrote an article on the ice-fall mystery in the Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry.

Lead author Jesus Martinez-Frias of the Planetary Geology Laboratory in Madrid and his colleagues have collected reports of 40 cases around the world since 1999 of puzzling falling ice, or "megacryometeors," as they call the strange objects.

Martinez-Frias hypothesizes that the ice forms in the upper atmosphere by a process similar to the formation of hail inside thunderstorms but without a thunderstorm.

A 2005 survey by CNNIC showed that there was no time to wait. 43% of Chinese Internet users referred to the search engine with the English word "Google," 26% used a Chinese pronunciation, "gougou" ("dog dog") and 13% used a Chinese pronunciation, "gugou," that sounds like "ancient dog." Google undertook its own survey and discovered an even larger range of imaginative pronunciations, including "guoguo" (fruit fruit) and "gougou" (check check)...

The final choice, 谷歌 (goo-guh, song of the grain), appeared to Google's Asia Pacific Chief Marketing Officer, Wang Huainan, late in 2005. It means "Song of the Grain," expressing the abundance of harvest, but also "Song of the Valley"--a reference to the company's Silicon Valley roots, according to Zhang Jing, Director of Marketing, Asia Pacific.

More than 90 "global space parties" went down this week in 33 countries on all seven continents, commemorating 45 years since the first human space flight by Yuri Gagarin and the 25th anniversary of the first US Space Shuttle mission with John Young and Robert Crippen.

Here are photos. I went to the party in Houston, near NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC). If the other fêtes were half as fun, the world had a wonderful time.

Houston's edition took place at the scifi-themed Flying Saucer bar, and many NASA JSC folks were in the house -- including human space exploration engineer John Connolly.

Among the Russian guests present, RSK Energia's Viktor Sheviakyov, who is NASA's Moscow Support Group Lead for the International Space Station Program (ISSP), and Sergey Sharygin of Russia's federal space agency Roscosmos.

Cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov (in the cellphone snapshot at left) showed up, too. He spent the better part of 2005 in space, on ISS 10.

Organizers handed out stick-on tattoos of Yuri Gagarin's space-helmeted head.  After Mr. Sharipov dunked one in beer and applied it to his own forearm ("They are more permanent that way!" he said), he insisted on tattooing me in a marginally-appropriate location. 

I protested, the cosmonauts persisted. How do you argue with space-1337 dudes who've been floating for half a year?

"I have to hold my hand here for at least thirty seconds so the tattoo works!" explained Mr. Sharipov.

Don't know how they count out there on the space station, but here on Earth, that meant ten solid minutes of his palm on my chest. He was right though, it worked: JPEG link.

Sharipov's colleague Oleg Kotov was in Houston, training for a pending ISS mission that will be his first time in space. I asked him when he was scheduled to depart -- "When they think I'm ready," he said, grinning.

He and other cosmonauts typically spend about as much time training in America as they do in Russia. Kotov said he'd been training for six weeks in Houston, six weeks at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre, and back again, for most of the past year.

At the time, Loma Linda was enjoying a classic spring day, blue skies with not a cloud in sight and temperatures in the 60s...

The ice slammed into the gymnasium roof, pushing through metal, wood and insulation and landing near a wall...

Opaque, a brilliant white with black specks that might have been inflicted upon its crash landing, the ice tore a hole that measured about 2 � 1/2 feet by 1 foot, said (Loma Linda Fire Department division chief Rolland Crawford).

While the slab broke apart on impact, the largest chunk retrieved was the size of a bowling ball. The university put that chunk into a freezer for safekeeping.

"The ice was not blue, it was not clear, it was completely white,'' Crawford said.

Crawford believes the ice toppled from a passing, unheard airplane.

...[I]t has a very large problem: if any [forty] devices conspire, they can break the security of the system.

To see how, let’s do an example. Suppose that Alice, Bob, Charlie, and Diane conspire, and that the conspiracy wants to figure out the secret vector of some innocent victim, Ed. Ed’s addition rule is “[1]+[4]”, and his secret vector is, of course, a secret.

Once you have code you can't modify on hardware you can't access, "open source" can't be meaningfully used to describe a project. The key to free and open source software is the right of users to understand, modify, and distribute their changes to the tools they use -- to continue a tradition as old as the Enlightenment and as fundamental as the scientific method.

Sun's project doesn't subvert DRM, it subverts open source. It complies -- barely -- with the letter of older OSS definitions, while gutting their spirit. It's a car with the hood welded shut, with an "open" engine underneath the welding-seam.

This is a betrayal of the OSS community by Sun, which should know better. There is no market for Open Dream. No music listener woke up this morning wishing for a way to do less with her music. If Sun wants to compete with the Microsoft-controlled Open Mobile Alliance (which this project is really all about), then they should deploy set-top home Java servers (Sun, after all, is in the Java business and the server business, not the crippleware business) that grab music and video off the net, air and through the analog hole on your home theater, organize it, sort it, transcode it, and load it onto your laptop and phone -- and that use the paid mobile data networks run by the carriers (3G, EVDO, GPRS) to stay in synch.

This is a business-model that plays to Sun's strengths, that delivers value to carriers and handset vendors, and that doesn't set Sun on a doomed path to finding a way to deploy a  technology of sufficient brokenness to court Hollywood.

Stipulate that Sun will be able to get an entertainment company or two to sign up to use its crippleware. Then it gets a bunch of licensors of its technology -- companies that are willing to subject themselves to Sun's terms -- opt in and start producing crippleware products that Hollywood will put some content on.

What happens when Hollywood demands more restrictions than Open Dream presently delivers, and threatens to withdraw its content? Will Sun stick to its guns and cost its licensors their businesses by refusing to tighten the screws?

Apple may have a monopoly on supplying players for iTunes music, but at least it isn't beholden to any other company when it comes time to negotiate with the labels on the degree to which iTunes is crippled. I mean, Edgar Bronfman, Sr, managed to get the Swiss banks to give back all that Nazi gold, while Edgar Bronfman, Jr can't even get Steve Jobs to charge $1.50 for a Warners MP3.

There is no positive outcome for this. At best, it will be another costly failure for an IT company that can't afford many more of these. At worst, it will sow confusion about what "open" means (much like Microsoft's "Shared Source" initiative was meant to do See update below) and lead vendors and their customers into a trap that gives Hollywood leverage to montonically ratchet restrictions ever-tighter. Link

Update: At the urging of Bill Hilf, I re-visited the Microsoft "Shared Source" initiative mentioned above, which I hadn't looked closely at since its inception some years ago, when it primarily was a means of permitting Microsoft software vendors to look at, but not make new works from, or disclose Microsoft, code.

Today, I'm happy to report that the Shared Source initiative has adopted several licenses, including some that are short, elegant, meaningful free software licenses that grant maximal freedom to their adopters. Bill reports that 30 percent of the shared source releases from Microsoft fall under these permissive licenses.

Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold: "We need fresh ideas and fresh faces. That means, as a first step, replacing Rumsfeld and many others unwilling to fundamentally change their approach. The troops in the Middle East have performed their duty. Now we need people in Washington who can construct a unified strategy worthy of them..."

Retired Maj. Gen. Eaton: "He has shown himself incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically, and is far more than anyone responsible for what has happened to our important mission in Iraq," wrote Eaton, who now lives in Fox Island, Wash.

He added: "Mr. Rumsfeld must step down."

About 102,000 Disney branded portable DVD players are being recalled because the battery packs sold with the players can overheat and possibly burst when recharging, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said on Thursday.

"'The ultimate hypocrite is not Comedy Central. That's their decision not to show the image of Muhammad, not Parker and Stone,' he said. 'Like little whores, they'll sit there and grab the bucks. They'll sit there and they'll whine and they'll take their shot at Jesus. That's their stock in trade.'"

Previously:
- Recut: South Park's "de-Muhammed-ed" episode
- Easter South Park episode: Jesus shitting on Bush and US flag

Reader comment: Yaanu says,

Actually, according to reports, CC actually did censor the image of Mohammed from "Cartoon Wars Pt. II". From the Wikipedia, it says they said "In light of recent world events, we feel we made the right decision." For more information, I suggest you call 1-800-222-3334.

Reader comment: Tracy R. Twyman says,

Have you heard about the direct reference to the president of Comedy Central at the end of the second South Park Mohammed episode? When Kyle is pleading with the president of the Fox Network to air the image of Mohammed in The Family Guy uncensored, he says at one point, specifically:

“You can’t do what he [Cartman] wants, just because he’s the one threatening you with violence. Yes, people can get hurt. That’s how terrorism works. But if you give in to that, Doug, you’re allowing terrorism to work. Do the right thing here.”

This is the only such reference to "Doug" in the script. Everywhere else in the episode, this character is simply referred to as “Mr. President.” This "Doug" is undoubtedly Doug Herzog, the President of Comedy Central.

I blogged about it, and posted the relevant audio clip here.

A few weeks ago, tech journalist Annalee Newitz noticed (with delight) that one of her columns had been slashdotted. But when she went to check out the thread, she was disappointed to see that most comments had more to do with her body than her body of work -- something many female tech writers experience with some regularity. This week, Annalee wrote a column about it, and she concludes that the world of Slashdot is actually evolving into a less sexist place.

Was I really gorgeous, or was I ugly? Wasn't it OK to evaluate my looks because my column wasn't really "professional," but rather "humorous"? (As if I haven't been writing this column seriously and professionally for six and a half goddamned years.) And, my favorite, wasn't it OK to talk about my looks because I write about sex? (This comment was followed by links to several articles I'd published about technology and sex, as if writing about vibrators somehow meant I was "asking for it.")

My friends said, "Ignore it." They said, "Those guys are morons." They said, "Let's just read and write things in other places where men aren't dicks."

Yet slowly I began to feel the same way about their comments that I feel when a right-winger tells me that if I want to promote socialism, I should just move to another country. The problem is, I love my country. It fucking rocks. And I love Slashdot too. I don't want to run away. This is my home, and I want to stay here and fight for justice. I want women to get excited by all the cool articles on Slashdot and not get driven away by a community that values them for their bodies instead of their thoughts.

Benkler is one of my favorite writers about the economics of commons-based production. His paper, Coase's Penguin, does a better job of making sense of how the "economy" of contribution to free and open source software works than anything else I've ever read. How exciting!

In the networked information economy, the physical capital required for production is broadly distributed throughout society. Personal computers and network connections are ubiquitous. This does not mean that they cannot be used for markets, orthat individuals cease to seek market opportunities. It does mean, however, that whenever someone, somewhere, among the billion connected human beings, and ultimately among all those who will be connected, wants to make something that requires humancreativity, a computer, and a network connection, he or she can do so — alone, or in cooperation with others. He or she already has the capital capacity necessary to do so; if not alone, then at least incooperation with other individuals acting for complementary reasons. The result is that a good deal more that human beings value can now be done by individuals, who interact with each other socially, as human beings and as social beings, rather than as market actors through the price system. Sometimes, under conditions I specify in some detail, these nonmarket collaborations can be better at motivating effort and can allow creative people to work on information projects more efficiently than would traditional market mechanisms and corporations. The result is a flourishing nonmarket sector of information, knowledge, and cultural production, based in the networked environment, and applied to anything that the many individuals connected to it can imagine. Its outputs, in turn, are not treated as exclusive property. They are instead subject to an increasingly robust ethic of open sharing, open for all others to build on, extend, and make their own.

New Normality  
Belgrade: 11th April, 2006

The city is flooded. The Danube is rolling at high speed through Northern Serbia. If it were not a drama it could be romantic fun. If we didn’t know that the changing climate is no longer natural, we would paddle in rowboat and sing with mandolins. Instead we know it's sure to get worse with global warming, electricity cuts, bad Internet connections...

Today from Hague tribunal, on video link, a protected witness is speaking at the Scorpions Trial. The connection is bad but his message comes through with full impact. He looks flat and distorted on the screen, like a cartoon character, his egg shaped head is protruding towards the indicted Scorpions while his body shrinks behind his words, delayed and out of sync with the image.

He is so far and yet so near: he is the guy who owned the video cassette with the execution of the six Muslim civilians. After repeated death threats he leaked it to the Hague tribunal judges though Natasa Kandic, our heroine on this grim war stage.

“Now hear this Earth! I am Mutant Man, Homo Superior! I have been created by radiation forces out of the loins of you, the human race, after your great terrible Atom War. Yes, I am a step up and beyond you, and I am now your master for better or worse. You created me in your blind, savage, senseless war of atomic radiation. You have only yourselves to blame if I turn out to be your — Frankenstein Monster!”

Will this voice someday thunder ominously over the World from a Mutant Man, not a human being, but as far beyond us as we are beyond the ape man? Will a new race, spawned out of the hellish radiation of a World-Wide Atomic War, go on to challenge Man’s supremacy on Earth?

The Fretboard Journal is not like one of those shake and bake corparate launches. The second issue just came out, and even though I'm not a stringed-instrument fanatic (I do like ukuleles), the editors' love for guitars, ukes, basses, madolins and banjoes radiates off the pages and is infectious.

Everything about The Fretboard Journal -- published by Amazon.com's former music editor, Jason Verlinde and edited by guitar author and historian Michael Simmons -- is an example of the right way to make a magazine. The paper is thick and coated just right for the luscious color photographs and rich black and white photographs. The design is thoughtful and playful but always respectful of the fact that the articles are meant for reading. The articles are enjoyable to neophytes and (I suppose) old salts alike.

The second issue has a cover story about Neko Case and her tenor (4-stringed) guitar collection, a story written by a guy who made a fantastic sculpture of Blind Willie Johnson, an interview with experimental guitarist Richard Bishop, a profile of premiere banjo maker Chuck Ogsbury, a gallery of gorgeous vintage string packets from the early 20th century, a profile of C.F. Martin III, a review of a 20-CD set of Django Reinhardt's work, and more.

A one-year subscription is $34. Link

Can I get a LOL up in here? (Thanks, horncologne, and Chris!)

Reader comment: Noel Black says,

Hi Xeni.

I'm the "Toilet Paper dude" that Sean Bonner disparages so freely in this BoingBoing post. 

You can tell him to suck on this.

Previously:
- Wiki gang hand-sign (bitches)
- Tshirt of "blog gang hand-sign" rips off blogger?

Update: Wireless tech expert Mike Outmesguine appears to be the leader of a certain WiFi Posse. 

Update: Noel "toilet paper dude" Black now has a post up titled, "Websieeete T-Shirts Now Up Your Face at the TP, Sean Bonner, you big jerky poo poo pants."

Man, "poopoo pants?" Shit's gettin' serious around here. I think somebody needs a time-out, or at least a good nap before snacktime. Disclaimer: this is all friendly.

On Easter Sunday, the annual Bring Your Own Big Wheel (BYOBW) race will once again swoosh down Lombard Street in San Francisco.

Link to details for the April 16 event, with video and photos from previous races (these guys have been at it for six years). (Thanks, Scott Beale!)

The move represents a protest against the aggressive enforcement of federal indecency rules that broadcasters have complained are vague and inconsistently applied. Millions of dollars in fines have been levied based on those rules.

The appeals challenge the FCC's finding that profane language was used on the CBS program "The Early Show" in 2004, two incidents on the "Billboard Music Awards" shows broadcast by News Corp.'s Fox in 2002 and 2003 and various episodes of the ABC show "NYPD Blue" that aired in 2003.

For about US $4500, a company in the UK will create an "interactive and edible" chocolate room for you, complete with chocolate chandeliers and sugar wallpaper. Diabetics croak on the spot if they put one foot inside, and this definitely violates the old mom-adage: "never try to eat anything bigger than your head." Link (Thanks, Ivy, and Allen Knutson)

BoingBoing reader Gavin says, "Some very enterprising person took the old episode of South Park which featured the likeness of Mohammed and cut-n-pasted it into last night's episode. Score one for freedom of expression!" Link. Update: or not. YouTube has removed the clip: "This video has been removed due to copyright infringement." (Thanks, Scott Ellis).

Luke says, "Comedy Central already aired an image of Mohammed. This clip from an old South Park episode (#69), originally aired July 4, 2001, depicts the prophet Mohammed as a member of the 'Super Best Friends.' Times change? Or is the "refusal" of Comedy Central this time just part of the episode?"

(Thanks, Berny and James Roe!)

Our advice would be to place the bomb on a tray or solid plate in the centre of a cleared table, place the safety guard (included) around the bomb with further clear space around that. Light the wick and stand well back and wait. Do not remove the cardboard base from the bomb and like a firework do not return to the bomb once lit in the unlikely event it should fail to explode. (safety instructions included)

Due to the "explosive nature" of this bomb we can not deliver to outside the UK.

Previously:
Chocolate Russian Roulette

For more than thirty years, box upon box of studio portraits sat in the back of a local diner in LaPorte, Indiana. Shelved next to cases of ketchup and mustard, these photographs--all 18,000--marked the town's most important milestones: births, first communions, graduations, weddings, promotions, anniversaries, and retirements. The photographer, Frank Pease, could not bear to toss them, and they eventually found a home in the back B & J's American Café, located downstairs from Pease's studio. There they remained until uncovered by Found Magazine's Jason Bitner.

Jeremiah Ransom, a sophomore from Macon, was leaving a Wesley Foundation pirate vs. ninja event when he was detained. After being held in investigative detention, he was found to have violated no criminal laws and was not arrested.

“It was surreal,” Ransom said. “I was jogging from Wesley to Snelling when I heard someone yell ‘freeze.’” Ransom said he thought a friend was playing a joke before he realized officers had guns drawn and pointed at him.

Reader comment: Fred says,

[The] ninja was supposedly "doing quick peeks". Now he wants to sue. Link to onlineathens.com story, Bugmenot login: greana/grenada

In the weeks after Hurricane Katrina, the city of New Orleans built a free wireless Internet network, covering downtown and the French Quarter. It's the only network of its kind that's owned and operated by a major U.S. city. But once Louisiana's governor lifts the state of emergency in the region, the network will become illegal.

Reader comment: Bridget Wynn says,

I noticed the article about New Orleans possibly losing its WiFi, and I wanted to let you know the city of New Orleans has approched Earthlink to take it over, thus putting into the hands of a private company and making it legal again.

When asked why he has undertaken this time consuming and repetitious task, Les says that he has little else to do now that he has been classed as an invalid, and can no longer work. Besides that, Les enjoys typing and used to be a police typing instructor before his sickness which meant his withdrawal from the force. Typing an average three pages a day with one finger since April 1982, Les said his secret was to type for 20 minutes on the hour, every hour

An Easter Turducken consists of one Cadbury Cream Egg, surrounded by marshmallow Peep, crammed deep inside the body of a hollow chocolate bunny. "It is my policy to avoid ingesting foods that contain the letter sequence 'turd,'" says one commenter on this instructional blog entry.  Link (Thanks, Kate Hopkins)

Jeffrey wants to buy a spaceship
Jeffrey wants to save your life
Jeffs going to make a lot of money  

Jeffs going to take a real long
Jeffrey took a real long
Jeffs going to take a real long flight!

The company has developed two versions, based on their Vespa LX 50 (shown above, with 50cc gas & 1000W electric motor) and the more sleek and powerful Piaggio X8 125 (125cc gas & 2500W electic motor).

Update: Broccoli sez, "it does work, I've saved a couple of non-functioning printers from the scrapheap with that trick. Here's a photo tutorial on the Epson ink trick."

Update 2: K sez, "I got a mailing today about a class action suit being settled by Epson. It is in regards to programming that indicates that ink cartridges are empty when they are not."

Update 3:Andrew sez, "While it is true that cartridges stop printing before they are empty, it is to prevent the printer from forcing air through the printheads and causing them to rupture. Unlike HP who attach a disposable printhead to each cartridge, Epson uses one high-quality printhead that is not user-servicable. In other words, if you print too many pages, you're risking ruining your printer. I know people who have used this without a problem, and others who have permanently damaged their printers with it. YMMV. "

The saccharine sweet family shows of the 50s and 60s gave way to harder biting social commentaries like All in the Family. In 1967, the same year that CBS television ended a 17-year blacklisting of folksinger Pete Seeger, President Johnson signed legislation to establish the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), asserting that “we have only begun to grasp the great promise of the medium” and noting that noncommercial television was reaching only “a fraction of its potential audience – and a fraction of its potential worth.” As part of the legislation, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was to launch major research on instructional television in the classroom. The $9 million investment in CPB in 1967 (about $47 million in today’s dollars) has grown to over $300 million in annual funding today. Unlike television, the meteoric rise of computer and video games over the past decade has gone largely unnoticed except by the digiteratti and cultural anthropologists cruising web zines and blogs. This may be because games are not a technology per se, but applications that slip into our lives on the backs of existing technologies, from computers, to televisions and cell phones. They are less hardware and more software. Like many mass culture phenomena, games are understood more on the basis of prevailing myths than reality. Few people realize that the average gamer is 30 years old, that over 40 percent are female, and that most adult gamers have been playing games for 12 years.

I put it up for a week and left comments for co-workers saying "go back to work" and "good job". Apparently, the humor was lost on the "counsel" (I'm rather flattered that the fate of a lowly burgermaker like me would be determined by a "counsel" I guess my burgers are that damn good) and said that the only recourse was termination. Whoa. (...) The HR says blah blah blah blah and this is actually a criminal offense but they won't press charges. I'm like going o. k? I think I would have been upset if my work was being question but since it wasn't, and its their company, I figure its there perogative to hire and fire who they wish.

Reader comment: Anonymous says,

Most statutes that criminalize identity theft require intent to defraud or use of the information for unlawful purposes. In this case, while "stealing" the picture and pretending to be the boss may arguably fulfill one of the elements of the crime of identity theft under California law, there doesn't seem to be any intent to defraud. You can get the specifics of California law by reading California Penal Code 530.5 to 530.8.: Link.

Reader comment: Tor says,

In some states (and it wouldn't surprise me if CA was one of them) off duty (legal) recreational conduct is protected by law. In NY, the Recreational Activities Act made it, "unlawful for any employer or employment agency to ... discharge from employment or to otherwise discriminate against an individual in compensation, promotion or terms, conditions or privileges of employment because of ... an individual's legal recreational activities outside work hours, off of the employer's premises and without use of the employer's equipment or other property..."

Recerational activites are defined as, "any lawful, leisure-time activities, for which the employee receives no compensation and which is generally engaged in for recreational purposes, including but not limited to sports, games, hobbies, exercise, reading, and the viewing of television movies, and similar material."

Would a satirical MySpace profile of your boss telling people to get back to work count? Probably not in New York, but a California statute may read differently...

Reader comment: Morgan W. says,

California law sections 96(k) and 98.6 prohibit discrimination against employees for their lawful conduct during nonworking hours away from the employer's premises. Link. Nolo press has a bit on this: Link

Along with 45 "real" cities, Metroblogging now has a local blog for Azeroth, the fictional universe in World of Warcraft. Man, you know you're a big giant nerd when even your MMORPG has a blog. Overeager internet marketers will soon refer to this niche as MMORPBLOGGING. That will be your cue to puke. Link to azeroth.metblogs.com. (Thanks, PAINEATER!)

Update: Wil Wheaton interviewed Sean about WoW and the Azeroth Metblog for Suicide Girl News this morning: Link.

"One common suggestion is they may be copying subcultural icons or peers [when they self-harm], but our study found that more young people reported self-harm before, rather than after, becoming a goth. This suggests that young people with a tendency to self-harm are attracted to the goth subculture," says Robert Young, who led the study.

"Rather than posing a risk, it's also possible that by belonging to the goth subculture, young people are gaining valuable social and emotional support from their peers." But he cautions: "However, the study was based on small numbers and replication is needed to confirm our results." Only 25 participants felt strongly associated with goth culture.

Check out this comparative media study opportunity while we're at it: The New Scientist headline on this story is Goth subculture may protect vulnerable children, and the BBC's is Goths 'more likely to self-harm'.

Link

Update: Mike sez, "UPI went further in misrepresenting things: They did not even mention the positive aspects of the study in their article!"

Update Here she is again, running for mayor of "Nepal" (the new coaster at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom in Florida).

Update 2: Here's a clearer photo-comparison of New Orleans Square and the campaign pic.

Update 3: Here's lots of Kimberley-for-mayor banners for other parts of Disneyland (Fantasyland, Toontown, etc)

Mark Tushingham has written a science fiction novel called Hotter than Hell.

It is set in the not-too-distant future when global warming has made many parts of the world too hot to live in and has prompted a war between Canada and the U.S. over water resources.

Tushingham was scheduled to speak in Ottawa about his book and the science underpinning it. But an order from Ambrose's office stopped him.

"He got a directive from the department, cautioning him not to come to this meeting today," said his publisher Elizabeth Margaris of DreamCatcher Publishers in New Brunswick. Margaris had driven from New Brunswick to attend the speech.

Update: Michael sez, "get a load of Rona Ambrose's interview with the CBC's Rick Mercer. She is afraid of 'hurting' a maple tree on their visit to a maple syrup farm, and it's quite evident she knows very little about her portfolio."

Next, streamline the spice rack by bottling spices in test tubes and racking them. Transfer the spices to 25 x 150mm ($1.20) or 25 x 200mm ($1.60) test tubes, seal them with cork stoppers ($.15 - $.75), and place the vials in a wooden holder ($29.97). Apply simple white labels from a nearby office supply store to each vessel and never again will the nutmeg be mistaken for cinnamon.

After bringing efficiency to the kitchen, give the dining table a laboratory-cum-Moroccan look with volumetric flasks. Ordinarily used in analytical chemistry to produce accurate solutions, the decorative vials are ideal for holding salad dressings or wines. The containers are identifiable by their pear-shaped form, tall slender neck, and ground-glass-stopper crown. Volumetric flasks have a mystical appearance – as Vincent Price himself might concoct potions in them – and range in size from the tiny 25mL ($6) to large 2000ml ($24). Orange advises pouring wine into the flask and consuming within twenty-four hours to avoid oxidation.

Update: Aaron sez, "Texas actually regulates ownership of some labware; owning an Erlenmeyer, as in the article, can land you in jail (Texas state code, 481.040):"

"Chemical laboratory apparatus" means any item of equipment designed, made, or adapted to manufacture a controlled substance or a controlled substance analogue, including:

(A) a condenser;

(B) a distilling apparatus;

(C) a vacuum drier;

(D) a three-neck or distilling flask...

Banned by Comedy Central from showing an image of the Islamic prophet Mohammed, the creators of "South Park" skewered their own network for hypocrisy in the cartoon's most recent episode.

The comedy -- in an episode aired during Holy Week for Christians -- instead featured an image of Jesus Christ defecating on President Bush and the American flag...

...Kyle is shown trying to persuade a Fox network executive to air an uncensored "Family Guy" even though it had an image of Mohammed.

"Either it's all OK, or none of it is," Kyle said. "Do the right thing."

The executive decides to strike a blow for free speech and agrees to show it. But at the point where Mohammed is to be seen, the screen is filled with the message: "Comedy Central has refused to broadcast an image of Mohammed on their network."

Update: The aforementioned clip on YouTube (thanks, Berny!) and on Videosift (thanks, James!)

Update 2: iFilm mirror

The official story is that HDMI is a security measure, designed to stop infringers. It’s been known for years that HDMI has serious security flaws; even Wikipedia discusses them. HDMI’s security woes make a pretty interesting story, which I’ll explore over several posts. First I’ll talk about what HDMI is trying to do. Then I’ll go under the hood and talk about how the critical part of HDMI works and its well-known security flaws. (This part is already in the academic literature; I’ll give a more accessible description.) Finally, I’ll get to what is probably the most interesting part: what the history of HDMI security tells us about the industry’s goals and practices.

Mobs torched buses and cars, attacked the offices of international companies and stoned police on the streets of India's technology hub, Bangalore, ahead of the funeral Thursday of film icon Rajkumar...

Offices belonging to French insurance firm AXA and Microsoft had been attacked overnight after news of Rajkumar's death spread across the city.

Drivers pasted pictures of the actor to their windows in the hope of avoiding the mob's attention, cable television companies closed entertainment channels, and the president of India's main opposition party, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, decided to skip the Karnataka leg of a high-profile campaign tour.

Update: George sez, "The term 'Bollywood' refers to the Bombay (now Mumbai) -based film industry in India and not to the film industry of the nation as a whole. Similar terms exist to describe other regional filmmaking zones in the nation -- e.g. the term Kollywood is often used to describe the Tamil film industry and Tollywood is used to describe both the Telugu and Bengali film hubs."

Prof. Rox Anderson, Mass. General Hospital, said "The root cause of acne is a lipid-rich gland, the sebaceous gland, which sits a few millimetres below the surface of the skin. We want to be able to selectively target the sebaceous gland and this research shows that, if we can build lasers at this region of the spectrum, we may be able to do that.... We can envision a fat-seeking laser, and we're heading down that path now "...

This technique could also be used to eliminate cellulite and body fat, say the researchers. Fat build up in the arteries (plaques), which causes heart attacks, could also be treated.

> work on dissertation

You spend five minutes playing online poker.

> work on dissertation

You pick your nose.

> work on dissertation

You go to the kitchen and eat cheese.

> work on dissertation

The Mets are on. It should be a good game.

> work on dissertation

You watch the first three innings of the Mets game.

> work on dissertation

The Mets are ahead by three runs in the fifth.

> WORK ON DISSERTATION

The Mets win. You are in a study with a laptop. It is dark out. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.

Update: Two addenda have been posted for this one -- every bit as great as the first! (Thanks, R!)

AOL is blocking delivery to AOL customers of all emails that include a link to www.DearAOL.com. Today, over 100 people who signed a petition to AOL tried sending messages to their AOL-using friends, and received a bounce-back message informing them that their email "failed permanently."

"The fact is, ISPs like AOL commonly make these kinds of arbitrary decisions -- silently banning huge swathes of legitimate mail on the flimsiest of reasons - every day, and no-one hears about it," said Danny O'Brien, of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, "AOL's planned CertifiedEmail system would let them profit from this power by offering to charge legitimate mailers to bypass these malfunctioning filters."

His dashboard camera captured (below) his questioning of Richard Lee McNair, 47, on Wednesday. Earlier that same day, McNair had escaped from a federal penitentiary at nearby Pollock, La., reportedly hiding in a prison warehouse and sneaking out in a mail van. Bordelon, on the lookout, stopped McNair when he saw him running along some railroad tracks. What follows is a chillingly fascinating performance from McNair, who manages to remain fairly smooth and matter-of-fact while tripping up Bordelon. The officer notices that the guy matches the description of McNair -- who was serving a life sentence for killing a trucker at a grain elevator in Minot, N.D., in 1987 -- observes that he looked like he'd "been through a briar patch" and had to wonder why he would choose appalling heat (at least according to that temperature gauge in the police car) to go running, without any identification, on a dubious 12-mile run. But he doesn't notice when McNair changes his story -- he gives two different names (listen for it) -- and eventually, Bordelon bids him farewell, saying: "Be careful, buddy." McNair remains on the loose. (Note: Video is more than eight minutes long but worth it.)

"it has become increasingly clear over the past few months that CRIA's position on several important music industry issues are not aligned with our best interests as independent recording companies" and "we do not feel that we can remain members [of CRIA] given CRIA's decision to advocate solely on behalf of the four major foreign multi-national labels."

The independent labels note that if CRIA's proposals are implemented, they "would have a material negative effect on the future growth of Canadian independent music." The short term consequence of this is that the labels want CRIA to clarify to the CRTC those artists that are produced by independent labels yet identified as CRIA artists and calculated in CRIA market share.

Innovation is an evolution. Everybody takes from everybody else. A truly competitve darwinian system where it's survival of the fittest may produce orders of magnitude more innovation than a system where someone gets to keep a lid on their invention (if in fact it is their invention which is a serious problem with our current system).

A Search for Comity in the Intellectual Property Wars
Friday, April 28 through Sunday, April 30, 2006
Free and open to the public

Friday April 28, 7:30-9:30 p.m.
Hemmerdinger Hall
100 Washington Sq. East

Saturday 9:30-6:30 p.m. and Sunday 9:30-1:00 p.m.
Hemmerdinger Hall
100 Washington Sq. East

Panelists to include Lawrence Lessig, Art Spiegelman, Susan Meiselas, Jonathan Letham, Errol Morris, Geoff Dyer, and others.

Chilling Free Expression and Scientific Research

* DMCA Delays Disclosure of Sony-BMG "Rootkit" Vulnerability
* Cyber-Security Czar Notes Chill on Research
* Professor Felten's Research Team Threatened
* SunnComm Threatens Grad Student
* Hewlett Packard Threatens SNOsoft
* Blackboard Threatens Security Researchers
* Xbox Hack Book Dropped by Publisher
* Censorware Research Obstructed
* Dmitry Sklyarov Arrested
* Scientists and Programmers Withhold Research
* Foreign Scientists Avoid U.S.
* IEEE Wrestles with DMCA
* 2600 Magazine Censored
* CNET Reporter Feels Chill
* Microsoft Threatens Slashdot
* GameSpy Menaces Security Researcher with DMCA
* AVSforum.com Censors TiVo Discussion
* Mac Forum Censors iTunes Music Store Discussion

Other tissue engineers have tried printing 3D structures, using modified ink-jet printers which spray cells suspended in liquid. Now Forgacs and a company called Sciperio have developed a device with printing heads that extrude clumps of cells mechanically so that they emerge one by one from a micropipette. This results in a higher density of cells in the final printed structure, meaning that an authentic tissue structure can be created faster.

Cells seem to survive the printing process well. When layers of chicken heart cells were printed they quickly begin behaving as they would in a real organ. "After 19 hours or so, the whole structure starts to beat in a synchronous manner," says Forgacs.

"Lately, he's been making a bunch of animated shorts for LA Weekly's website which (we think) are really good. A full list of his regular animated shorts are here."
Link

So far the device has sniffed out cocaine mixed with many of the substances drug dealers use to cut the drug, including flour, sugar, baking soda, coffee, and mustard powder. It also sees through such chemical masking agents as cobaltous thiocyanate, which sophisticated drug dealers mix into cocaine to fool the Scott test.

The detector works by passing an electronic signal through a type of DNA molecule, called an aptamer, that binds with other specific molecules, in this case cocaine.

This particular type of aptamer, which is synthetic, is usually floppy. When it binds with cocaine, however, it stiffens up and assumes a structured, folded shape, which causes it to allow electrons to pass through it more readily.

A dime must be inserted in the slot of this unit before the push button can be made to operate the bell. If the visitor is unwelcome, he or she loses the dime, but if a friend calls the housewife returns the dime after opening the door.

Running Boot Camp guides you step-by-step through the entire installation process, including upgrading your Mac's Firmware, creating the Macintosh Drivers CD to make XP work properly with your Mac's hardware, and using the Boot Camp Assistant to partition your hard drive and install Windows XP. You'll also learn how to avoid common pitfalls (such as previously partitioned drives and wrong disk permissions). And finally, you'll find out which Mac functions don't work in XP and which XP features backfire on a Mac. With this invaluable guide at your side, you'll finish configuring your dual-boot Mac in as little as two hours, avoiding numerous hazards and annoyances along the way.

Payloads are generally sold in 1 kilogram increments at $250 per kilo. For those that want a standardized form factor we are offering CanSat flights. A CanSat is the same size as a standard 12 oz soda can with a mass limit of 350 grams. You can buy kits from various vendors such as Pratt Hobbies. Normally CanSat flights are $199 but for a limited time they are going for an introductory $99.

Remember, this is suborbital only. We won’t be offering orbital payloads for several years and even then they won’t be anywhere near the $199 price.

Over the next several months we will be releasing versions of the payload manual which includes interface definitions and physical characteristics such as vibration and G loads.

Since January, the Nasa indigenous community has been offering the soft drink locally and in neighboring Popayan, where it is bottled. By the end of the year, the Nasa hope to sell Coca-Sek nationwide, targeting the same consumers who drink Gatorade or Red Bull, both highly popular with Colombians...

The Nasa's coca cookies and teas attracted little attention, but the launch of Coca-Sek has ignited controversy in a country where Washington has spent $4 billion since 1999 combating the drug trade and terrorism.

The reasons are myriad: the tribe's market ambitions for the beverage; the inevitable comparisons with the original Coke, which dropped cocaine from its formula in 1905; and the recent election of Bolivian President Evo Morales, an indigenous coca grower who supports the production of legitimate coca products.

Coca-Sek has also reopened a debate over the limits of the sovereignty that indigenous groups in Colombia and other nations are afforded. The Nasa claim a sovereign right to commercialize the soft drink and other coca products, even though the law permitting its use clearly limits it to traditional, not commercial, ends...

Franky Rios, the engineer at Popayan's La Reina bottling plant who oversees the production of the beverage, said Coca-Sek delivers the various vitamins and minerals, including calcium, potassium and magnesium, found in the coca leaf.

"It's better than Gatorade," he said.

Update: A reader writes, "Here's a site devoted to corporate communications that's tracking media coverage of the second Mission: SPACE death at Epcot."

Design a cover for my thesis and I will use it. Your work will appear on the 200-300 copies printed, you will naturally recieve full credit for your work and a copy of the book.

The title of the work is "Disruptive Technology" the undertitle (which should not appear on the cover) is "The Effects of Technology Regulation on Democracy"

The re-encoded DVD-R played perfectly. The movie regained its full surround sound majesty in my home theater. Without the offending flags from the original Dolby Digital stream, my flagship Onkyo TX-DS989 AV Receiver had no problem. I enjoyed the movie I rented for $4.

My $4 should have gone down the drain with this defective disc. But, through many hours of my valuable time and many expensive software and hardware resources, I was able to enjoy a very mediocre animated feature from Disney’s catalog.

Large corporations screw up and they don’t like to publicize it. Personal DIY can fix these screw ups. Part of this DIY process, defeating DVD’s DRM protection, was criminal. I don’t feel like what I did was theft. I just wanted to watch the movie I paid for.

Contributing artists:

Julie Bell, Vincent Di Fate, Daniel Dos Santos, Bob Eggleton, Scott Fisher, Jon Foster, Lars Grant-West, Greg Manchess, Stephan Martiniere, John Jude Palencar, Adam Rex, Boris Vallejo

Pictured here, Adam Rex's contribution.

Update: David got to see Boris Vallejo execute his contribution to this auction, and photographed Vallejo's palette when he was done (as well as other artists' palettes from the event).

When Vallejo finished his painting, and everyone gathered around to admire the finished product, I noticed his palette sitting there. I realized that while millions are familiar with his work, few have probably seen his palette. So I took a picture of it. Perhaps it will provide insight or inspiration for those who were unable to attend the event this weekend.

AT&T built a secret room in its San Francisco switching station that funnels internet traffic data from AT&T Worldnet dialup customers and traffic from AT&T's massive internet backbone to the NSA, according to a statement from Klein.

Klein's duties included connecting new fiber-optic circuits to that room, which housed data-mining equipment built by a company called Narus, according to his statement.

Narus' promotional materials boast that its equipment can scan billions of bits of internet traffic per second, including analyzing the contents of e-mails and e-mail attachments and even allowing playback of internet phone calls.

When the Singularity is More Than a Literary Device: An Interview with Futurist-Inventor Ray Kurzweil (pub. June 2005) was translated by Domingo Santos as Cuando La Singularidad Es Más Que Un Recurso Literario: Una Entrevista Con El Inventor-Futurista Ray Kurzweil.

NIMBY and the D-Hoppers, a short story (pub June 2003), was translated by Sebastián Castro as Nimby Y Los Saltadimensiones. Other languages this story has been translated into: French, Chinese, Russian and Hebrew.

They're both released under Creative Commons By/Share-Alike/Noncommercial licenses that allow you to make your own stuff out of them provided you don't do so commercially.

The game is being designed by the Walt Disney Internet Group's acclaimed VR Studio as a world of high seas action and adventure where players will personalize their own pirate character and organize with other players to form a pirate crew. Players will then embark on swashbuckling missions to battle both each other and the evil, undead pirates of the high seas in an effort to become the Caribbean's most legendary pirate. Access to the game will be available directly online and players will pay a subscription fee for the service. An information site for the game has been launched at www.pirateslegend.com offering a registration service to sign-up to receive future game updates and launch information.

Link (Thanks, 5000!)

We invite crocheters everywhere to contribute models to the reef. This is a collective project and all contributors will be fully acknowledged online and in future exhibitions.

The KittenAuth test puts up a mosaic of cute baby animals and asks challenges the user to click on the kittens. This is easy for sighted people, pretty hard for software, and a little too incongruous to be a likely candidate for porn-based CAPTCHA solving. Ingenious! Link (Thanks, Auza!)

The "Official" Lightning Field photos are a tricky conceptual issue, to be sure. For everyone except the few thousand people who have ever visited the dirtsite itself, the artwork only "exists" as photos. It's a construct and a thorny IP question that the artist has apparently been aware of since day one.

A couple of years ago, I linked to a 2001 interview in Cabinet Magazine with John Cliett, the photog-for-hire who documented the Lightning Field for deMaria and Dia. It's pretty fascinating stuff, especially for art fans.

It doesn't refute any of the annoying copyright abuses you point out--Control and Money are front and center--but it does add some cranky, suspicious artist perspective to the discussion.

"I'm sorry to say that you're suffering from the condition we in the medical profession call 'TOO MUCH FAT.' It is a disease and source of great annoyance."

"You mean I'm one of the Fat Folks? What's the treatment? Exercise and a good diet?"

"Don't be silly! Just take my Obesity Powder! It will reduce your corpulency in a safe and agreeable manner, with no bad results--unlike those other cures."

The problem is, we have been using the PVR to record 2 years worth of a Spanish language curriculum that is broadcast over an educational channel, and we've been using this content to teach our son Spanish. Now the curriculum is gone. It's not like I'm just inconvenienced in not being able to watch my "24" episodes. An educational curriculum is lost.

For those who aren't familiar with Mr. Giovanetti's work, he's a frequent and pugnacious commentator on intellectual property issues, and an avowed supporter of the DMCA and digital rights management technologies. He's a frequent critic of "IP skeptics" and "commonists" who argue that copyright law--and the technological measures designed to protect copyright--have gone overboard.

Today he discovered that sometimes, technological measures designed to deter piracy are a pain in the ass for ordinary consumers--like him.

Here's a radical proposition: Mr. Giovanetti should be permitted to make a backup copy of the television programs on his PVR, as long as his use of that mateiral stays within the bounds of copyright law.* Moreover, someone else should be permitted to sell him a device allowing him to do so. And finally--here's the truly radical part--it should be legal to manufacture such a device without getting a license from Dish to do so.

Thursday, April 20th, 2006
7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Roxie Film Center
3117 16th Street, San Francisco
(between Valencia and Guerrero)
Tel: (415) 863-1087

Unlike the way most people might draw a horse, beginning with its outline, Nadia began with random details. First a hoof, then the horse's mane, then its harness. Only later did she lay down firm lines connecting these floating features. And when she did connect them, they were always in the correct position relative to one another.

"Imagine for a moment if we once again knew, strictly as a matter of course, these few unremarkable things: What it is we're eating. Where it came from. How it found its way to our table. And what, in a true accounting, it really cost," writes Pollan in "The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals."

By the time readers reach this passage, which comes at the very end of the book, they will be able to answer at length. They will have tagged along as Pollan traces the path from earth to plate taken by four meals — from McDonald's, Whole Foods, a small Virginia farm, and a "first person" dinner that he killed, foraged, and grew himself. Pollan is a genial tour guide through a variety of disciplines. Along the way to his main destinations — the feedlot where "his" steer is being fattened, the vast facility where organic baby lettuces are being washed and bagged, the pasture in which chickens joyfully root through cow manure, or the forest where he is helping to disembowel a wild boar he has just shot — he delivers fascinating mini-lectures on agricultural history, plant biology, food chemistry, nutrition, and the animal-rights debate...

If you're hoping that Pollan will put an end to our food anxiety by just telling us what to eat, forget it. "I don't think it's a journalist's job to issue shopping lists or policy descriptions," Pollan explains over lunch. "We're supposed to show people how the world is, to give them the tools they need to make good decisions as citizens or consumers. Depending on what your values are — the environment, your health, animal welfare — the answers are going to be different for every person."

The Yuri's Night "global space party" is under way -- I'm in Houston, accross the street from the Enron building, getting ready to head over to the festivities here.

There are eightysome other Yuri's Night events all over the world, even some in Antarctica! Link to list, find a party in your town and schmooze with space nerds. In some cities, NASA astronauts and other folks who work with the space program will be present -- I imagine that will definitely be the case here in Houston.

Live chat and party photos from around the globe are already hitting yurisnight.net (Link to full list), and here's some from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Also, you can tune into webcams for streaming video from different cities. I'll be hosting the webcast for Houston. See you online!

I just posted scans from an extremely rare book by Milt Gross. It's a tour guide to New York City that Gross drew in 1939 for the New York World's Fair. Gross was one of the greatest comic artists who ever lived, and this book contains some of his best work. This is the only copy I've ever come across, so I wanted to make sure to post it so everyone could enjoy it. What Weegee's Naked City was to the front page story of New York City in its golden age, this book is to the funny papers version. It's that important. I'll be posting more images from it on Friday.

Where are the Ugly Writers?

Remember when writers were ugly? Jowly, bald, fat, slovenly -- that was the writerly look for ages. Writers were the anti-photogenic strivers that lurked on the margins. Now, it seems like everyone's a looker. Just thumb through the NY Times Sunday Book Review on any given Sunday - damn, when did novelists become major babes and hunkolicious studs? I do hope this isn't a new prerequisite for publication -- you know, a nifty prose style and a creamy complexion, that kind of thing. Otherwise, I'm in deep shit.

Reader comment: Kevin Morrissey says:

Re: the post on "Ugly Writers" -- Steven Almond (author of the books Candyfreak and My Life in Heavy Metal) opined on this very topic for the Virginia Quarterly Review a year ago:

"I can tell you that I only trust the ugly writers. Deep down, those are the ones who have earned their wrath. All the rest of them, the pretty boy and girl authors, screw them. Or, better yet, don't screw them. Get them all hot and bothered. Tell them you're hungry, the buffet table is looking pretty inviting, and leave them there, lathered up, grinning, in a hot cloud of their own fabulous bone structure"

Eriksson told the newspaper they examined the level of phosphorus of the samples and that "we realized pretty soon that it could not be anything other than coprolites, in other words fossilized dung..."

...They are working on an article about the find that will be published in an international magazine shortly.

"It is inevitable to joke about this, so we gave it the title 'Anomalous faces and ancient feces,'" Eriksson said.

Update: Alex sez, "That shirt was designed by Rachel Plefger."

Update: Khurram sez, "they're based on a form of writing called 'ambigrams', which appear to say one thing forward, and another thing when read in a mirror."

Update: David sends us this clever Love/Hate optical illusion tee

Photography Restrictions   The Lightning Field is protected by copyright. Photography of the sculpture and the cabin is not permitted. Commissioned, copyrighted slides are available for $30.00 per set of 8, plus $2.00 shipping and handling. To purchase a set of slides, send a check made payable to Dia Art Foundation to our New Mexico office in Corrales. Please note that these photographic images are for personal or educational use only and their publication is prohibited without written consent from Dia Art Foundation.

The scam here is that a condition of your entry to their land is that you're not allowed to take pics -- it's a contract printed in fine-print on your ticket or a nearby sign. Since the only photos of their land are ones that they hold copyright in (there's copyright in pictures of geography, not in geography itself), they can charge monopoly prices for postcards.

It's their right to impose stupid, oppressive conditions on people who visit their dirt. But it's really sleazy for them to make up all this junk about copyrighted dirt -- if they're in business to run a tawdry penny-postcard scam, they should have the guts to say so.

Meanwhile, if you're not standing on their land (and therefore have formed no agreement with them), there's nothing to stop you from taking all the pics you want, and putting them up under a Creative Commons license that undermines the penny-postcard racket. Link (Thanks, Mark!)

Update: Many have written to point out that the Lightning Fields grounds comprise an art installation, which *is* copyrightable. But the point still sounds -- installing art in a field doesn't make the field copyrighted. What's more, copyright doesn't prohibit noncommercial personal photography of a work, nor photography for the purpose of criticism, nor the incidental capture of art in a photograph of, for example, lightning (or a photo of your pal standing on a particular patch of dirt making a funny face).

Not only does the building run a photosynthetic and phototropic skin made with spinach protein, but it also produces more energy than a single family’s needs, allowing the excess to be distributed to neighbors. This radical shift, from centralized energy systems today, fosters community interdependence as neighbors benefit from the resources of others.

Update: Alternate link, thanks, )3

Martinez-Frias speculates it is a natural phenomenon caused by global warming. According to his studies, every time such an incident occurs, it is precipitated by an unusual atmosphere in which higher altitudes are turbulent and cold. The cold helps create the ice. The turbulence helps keep it together in the sky.

As global warming continues to heat the earth, his theory goes, upper atmospheric temperatures become cooler, opening more opportunities for the ice to form.

I tie my shoelaces with an "Ian Knot", the World's Fastest Shoelace Knot: Make a loop with both ends and simultaneously pull them through each other to form an almost instant knot. It's a truly revolutionary way to tie your shoelaces!

I'm really, really excited about this! I'm moving to Los Angeles for a year, and I'll be dipping my toe in academic waters with more seriousness than I've had since I dropped out of the University of Waterloo to program CD ROMs for Bob Stein's Voyager Company, ten years ago (Small world: Bob's also at USC).

Even more exciting is the idea of being able to teach and write about this subject that's so important to me. I think the world has yet to see a really cogent book on how DRM is bad for democracy, speech, and discourse -- how it turns technology from something that enables into something that denies. This has profound implications for public diplomacy, and for communications, which is why the USC Annenberg School for Communication is also sponsoring my position at USC.

I'm even planning on trying to transplant the London Copyfighters Drunken Brunch and Talking Shops (where we have a fake-Champagne brunch and give speeches on copyright at Speakers' Corner) to Venice Beach, substituting Bible-bashers for roller-bladers. Link

...Black Hmong, Circumsized, Fatty, Tlingit, Inuit, Luxembourgian, Jerry Lewis, Ecuadorian, TiVo List Pauser, Hawaiian, NPR Listener, Turkish, Japanese, Buddhist, Sue Grafton, Greek Orthodox, Amish, Belgian, Mohawk Indian, Hindu, Mary Kate & Ashley...

Cadbury eggs are a little yolk-shy. I am learning that basically, you just need to forget everything you THINK know about eggs because man, you don't know anything. You know nothing about eggs. Eggs is like "You don't know me! Don't even play like you know me!"

But there are still ways...

And here we have our Cadbury Egg Yolk

And here we have our leftover Cadbury Egg shells.

An illustrated story by Kieron Gillen and Charity Larrison. Link (Thanks, Reverse Cowgirl)

Please join us for the second CC Salon, taking place in San Francisco on Wednesday, April 12 from 6-9pm at Shine (1337 Mission St. between 9th and 10th). The theme of this month's CC Salon is music, and we're thrilled to announce presentations by Lucas Gonze of Webjay, James Polanco of Fake Science, and composer Bob Ostertag, who recently made the majority of his music available to the world for free under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial license. Additionally, esteemed producer / ccMixter contributor Minus Kelvin will be rocking the 1s and 0s (AKA laptop DJing).

I was just helping my daughter with her science homework when the subject of "volcano rabbits" came up. Never heard of the creatures and there's not a lot about them online but, still -- rabbits that eke out a living near volcanos deserve a little respect.

Washington DC legal paper Legal Times is reporting that a legislative aide to Sen. Gordon Smith has just taken a job with Viacom. The aide, Kevin Murphy, worked on the broadcast flag bill that Sen. Smith has been circulating in the Senate. Viacom is a big supporter of the broadcast flag. Can you say "conflict of interest"? I thought you could.

Triple XXX Road in central Oklahoma runs North-South just east of Oklahoma City. There has even been local discussions about the possible renaming of the road, but not because of the reference to porn. It concerns the fact that if you triple xxx you should get xxxxxxxxx. They have thought about changing the spelling to Triple X Road (the way it is pronounced) or XXX Road.

Previously:
- More 'net xxx: Los Alamos physics preprint archive
- More unexpected XXX: Amsterdam traffic pillars
- BB readers: XXX root beer, XXXX beer, Guber burgers
- Yet another '50s kitsch restaurant called "XXX"

Previously:
- Photos: Peeps peepshow
- Protesting French youth invoke nekkid revolutionary icon

On April 12th 1961, 45 years ago today, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space. Two decades later, astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen flew America's first Space Shuttle flight into orbit. And tonight, commemorations of human space travel will take place all over the world: Yuri's Night. 86 parties in 32 countries! I'll be hosting a live webcast from the Houston edition, and it should be a lot of fun.

Reader comment: Eric Mortensen says,

Zia, a space-themed electronic band that builds their own instruments and often performs using unusual tunings, recorded the theme for a previous World Space Party. The track, Yuri's Night, is available as a free download from Zia's website.

This DEADMAN panel shows some freaky rays that read "HEY! A JIM STERANKO EFFECT!" Jim Steranko, of course, is a highly regarded comic artist and designer.

Want to paint your home the same color as the Golden Gate Bridge?

We did, in our kitchen, so I made a few calls, including one to the purchasing manager of the Golden Gate Bridge itself. Here's what I learned:

The official paint is called Golden Gate Bridge International Orange (of course), and it's manufactured by Sherwin Williams. Who knew? But there's a catch. It's a custom mix, and only sold in very large (ie: commercial) quantities. Need 500 gallons? You're in luck. Want less? Don't panic.

After visiting a Sherwin-Williams dealer in San Francisco, I was told that the consumer color called "Fireweed" (color code SW 6328) is a color equivalent to the paint used on the bridge.

I was skeptical. Fireweed looked waaaay too dark when I saw it on a paint sample, so I drove out to the bridge to see for myself. Turns out, it's true: If you allow for a little natural fading on the bridge railing shown here, Fireweed (the bottom sample shown above) is indeed the same color as the bridge.

My friend Keith Lovik, whose dummies have appeared on Saturday Night Live and Conan O'Brien, has been their supplier for 35" and 40" Dummies for 10 years. He is now gonna have to sale them through his own business site and I was hoping he could get a mention on Boing Boing."
Link

We interrupt our regularly scheduled coverage of wireless Lithuanian anagrammed subway map podcasts on Mars to bring you this breaking update on the Great Blog Handsign Controversy of 2006. Sean "I invented everything funny on the internet" Bonner says,

[It's] time for splintering... here's the Wiki gangsign. Following the collaborative theme of wikis themselves, this sign requires two people to throw. And this should be obvious but since there's no accounting for intelligence - if some returd decides to swipe this and put it on a t-shirt, it better be blue. Step to that.

Link, mothaf8ckaz!

Previously: Tshirt of "blog gang hand-sign" rips off blogger?

These two kids ofen perform right outside my office. But there are so many of them in Shenzhen that nobody really pays any attention. Life isn't easy...

Give them money!

When they grow up I'll hire them as my bodyguards.

We should not be giving them money, but asking the government to help them.

Your photos are pretty good. But you don't understand the situation. There's definitely someone behind them who's in control.

When confronted by detectives, Scordato denied that he was masturbating in plain view, according to a Sept. 16 police report.

"I have dry skin, and I have to itch it a lot," he was quoted as saying in the report...

Matthew Winthrop, a caretaker who wheeled Scordato into court, said Scordato was innocent.

"He is a very good man," Winthrop said.

Asked how he felt about the charges, Scordato uttered an obscenity and said, "Let's get out of here."

A car bomb killed 10 people at a Shiite shrine in Najaf, Iraq, and a suicide bombing killed 85 people at a Shiite mosque in Baghdad. The U.S. military announced that 1,313 Iraqi civilians had been killed in the sectarian violence of March. "Civil war," said Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, "has almost started among Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, and those who are coming from Asia." The case against Abdul Ameer Younis Hussein, an Iraqi cameraman for CBS who was arrested in April 2005 after filming the wreckage of a car bomb, was finally dismissed for lack of evidence. The Bush Administration continued to plan a major air attack on Iran; a highly placed government consultant said that President George W. Bush believes that "saving Iran is going to be his legacy." Doctors in London reported that a man who has taken 40,000 doses of Ecstasy was having trouble with his short-term memory. A physicist in Connecticut was looking for funding for time-travel experiments. His proposed machine, he said, "uses light in the form of circulating lasers to warp or loop time." A chiropractor in Ohio was in trouble for telling his patients that he could cure their ills by traveling back in time to when the injury occurred (a practice he calls "Bahlaqeem"), and a Swedish doctor in Norway was fired for using an "anal massage" technique to cure different kinds of pain, such as headaches. "I am different," explained the doctor. Doctors reattached a section of Ariel Sharon's skull. The Massachusetts legislature voted to make health insurance mandatory for all state residents by July 2007. Australia agreed to sell uranium to China, and an Australian nudist, attempting to kill a spider, suffered burns over 18 percent of his body after he poured gasoline into the spider's hole and lit a match.

Reader comment: Mike says: Worthwhile noting that the author of the Weekly Review is Paul Ford, who has been Boing-Boinged before (cf. Gary Benchley entry), and has a truly amazing website with his writings at FTrain. He also collaborated with "Blue's Clues"-host-turned-rock-singer Steve Burns on his website.

This is not the first example of counterfeiting in the ancient world, but the researchers say that in this case the silver coating seems to have been created by a sophisticated chemical process...

A couple of simple counterfeiting methods have been spotted before. Old forgers could cover a metal lump with thin silver foil and heat it to fuse the foil on to the surface. They could also fake the look of a coin by chemically treating the surface of an alloy (which may or may not have contained precious metals) to give it a silvery or golden sheen.

But the microscopic structure of the silver layer in this case differs from that produced by either of these methods. Instead it looks like something generated by a much more modern electroplating process, say researchers.

To solve the mystery, the Italian researchers devised a treatment that produces an effect similar to electroplating, using only materials known to be available in the third century BC.

These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft, show the Galle Crater, an impact crater located on the eastern rim of the Argyre Planitia impact basin on Mars...

The 'face' was first pointed out in images taken during NASA's Viking Orbiter 1 mission.

Its interior shows a surface which is shaped by 'aeolian' (wind-caused) activity as seen in numerous dunes and dark dust devil tracks which removed the bright dusty surface coating.

The moon crash, part of a larger mission that includes a lunar orbiter, is a quest for ice. Water is the key ingredient for supporting future human outposts on the moon, a goal of the Bush administration.

NASA scientists say the collision should excavate a hole about a third the size of a football field and hurl a plume of debris into space. After the crash of the space probe, the mothership that released it will fly through the plume and look for traces of water ice or vapor — similar to NASA's Deep Impact mission last July, which blasted into a comet.

Since you guys seem to be collecting xxx references on the internet: The original physics preprint archive, the first internet system to distribute scientific papers, started in August 1991 under the name xxx.lanl.gov on a Sun computer in the corner of Paul Ginsparg's Los Alamos office. It's officially called arxiv.org now, but many people in physics still call in "Triple-X". Paul even uses skulls to interpret his X'es. Took me years to realize that this has a completely different meaning outside science :-)

Link

Previously:
- More unexpected XXX: Amsterdam traffic pillars
- BB readers: XXX root beer, XXXX beer, Guber burgers
- Yet another '50s kitsch restaurant called "XXX"

S is the overall shape or droopiness of the bottom, C represents how spherical the buttocks are, B measures muscular wobble or bounce, while F records the firmness. V is the hip to waist ratio, or symmetry of the bottom, and T measures the skin texture and presence of cellulite.

Reader comment: Grayson says,

Anyone who makes an academic study of nice derrieres is bound to be interesting. Dr. David Holmes has a web page (and clearly a decent sense of humor). Complete with pics of him in local bands in the 80s and some cool records and guitars for sale. This is the same Manchester Metropolitan University professor mentioned in the earlier "perfect ass equation" post. Link

Patrick Macias, who often writes about pop culture in Japan, has some interesting posts on his blog about  the Gosperats. This Sony Music recording group is comprised of Japanese men who impersonate black people, and go on stage in blackface. Link, and here's another. Snip from the transcript of a pop music TV show on which they appeared, following Puffy AmiYumi:

Q: "It's been a while since you guys put on blackface. How does it make you feel?"
A: "Strong. Like a light that's been turned on."
Q: "But back in the old days, you were the only guy who didn't put on make-up."
A: "Yeah. I was supposed to be the white guy."
(Cue laughter. Applause.)

Reader comment: Steve Akers says,

There is also live video of a Gosperats television appearance over on YouTube: Link At about halfway through the clip, when they finally perform, it's kinda like James Brown meets Sha Na Na.

Following up on previous posts about everyone's favorite seasonal, flame-retardant marshmallow treat, BoingBoing reader Matt says,

I used Peeps in a recent school photography assignment. They are deliciously adhesive after being cleaved in half, easily affixed to surfaces like 80's puffy stickers.

This is some bullshit! On September 23, 2005 I blogged the blog gangsign that I made up. Lots of people linked to it and bloggers everywhere started frontin'. At the beginning of March this year I showed it off again at etech. Later that month some toilet paper dude totally bit it with no link love, as if it was his idea. And now some loser made a t-shirt out of it and is probably making mad loot off of my idea. WTF? Did they give me any credit? No. Any giant royalty checks? Hell no. I can just see those chumps now, probably rolling in their brand new Bentley laughing it up. That shit is WHACK! They think they can get away with this but they can't. I have NWA on vinyl for crying out loud. Shit's about to get all kinds of sketchy. Someone needs to step the fuck off and quick like.

Link to shirt, Link to Sean's post, Link to gominosensei's post. PS: Sean's not really mad, the shirts are cool, and I just bought one. (thanks, Sean Bonner)

Reader comment: Jim says, dude,

That blog hand sign is a rip off of the Bloods hand sign. The blogger who "made up" the blog hand sign is really just turning the "d" in the bloods hand sign upside down. Jpeg link.

I made up the bloods handsign as well, see US Civil case Bonner v. Bloods and you'll see that I was able to prove in court that I created the Bloods gangsign back in 1981 almost 12 years before The Bloods were formed in 1993 and I make a $0.05 royalty everytime anyone flashes it.

Mr. Fithen since that time has accomplished many difficult feats, such as writing, dressing and undressing himself, swimming, bicycle and unicycle trick riding, and above all he operates, drives and controls his own 6 cylinder 60 horse power "Oakland" car. Fithen's best time to date is 58 miles an hour.

"Cartoons of red arteries and blue veins illustrate the principles of cardiovascular medicine. These illustrations appeared on the back covers of The Heart Bulletin. The figures underwent a transition over the years, as the artist [Joseph Schwarting] refined his ideas about illustrating medical quotes. The quotes prompting the cartoons came from a variety of philosophers and physicians who pondered cardiovascular theory through the centuries."

Blind Lightnin' Pete is writing an article for Make on how to make one of these amps.

Here is a video of BLP playing "Out of Milk and Butter Blues" on his cigar box guitar and cracker box amp.
Link

A number of sites in the Metroblogging network have detailed coverage from folks on the scene, including photos. Link

It wasn't clear whether the bill was a mistake, or if Yahaya's father's phone line was used illegally after his death.

"If the company wants to seek legal action as mentioned in the letter, I'm ready to face it," the paper quoted Yahaya as saying. "In fact, I can't wait to face it," he said.

Previously, the product had been sold in a pump spray container, and during four years no problems with it were reported, according to Jurgen Kundke, a spokesperson for Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment. The aerosol form creates a much finer mist of droplets than the pump, possibly allowing the droplets to stay in the air longer or to penetrate further into the lungs, says Kundke.

"We have seen this effect in other sprays with no nanoparticles, so it's a question of the aerosol and not especially of the nanoparticles," Kundke says. Although the product is labeled "nano," Kundke says it might not contain nanotechnology. "The recipes are still secret, he says. "We don't even know if there was nano in the product..."

While acknowledging that the cause of the health problems associated with the German product is uncertain, organizations such as The Nanoethics Group, an nonpartisan research organization based in Santa Barbara, CA, say the incident should be a "wake-up call" that the potential risks of nanotechnology are real and deserve more attention by both government and industry. "Historically, it takes something catastrophic, such as widespread injury from asbestos, for real action to be taken. This time, hopefully, we will be smarter than that and not wait for the other shoe to drop," says the group's research director, Patrick Lin.

* A wingless grasshopper (Kingdonella sp.) that can withstand extremely low temperatures and communicates by gnashing its teeth.

* A new beetle species that specializes in burying small bird and rodent carcasses into subterranean crypts to feed their offspring.

* A new subspecies of small mammal known as the Qinghai vole (Microtus fuscus).

* Up to three new frog species, eight new insects, and ten new species of ants.

* Giant hornets so deadly locals call them "Yak Killers"

* Jumping "Yeti" mice

* Baby blue-faced golden monkeys, the region's largest primates

* Hamster-like pikas that eat their own feces

Link. Campaign by Grey Advertising, client: Childcare, India. (Thanks, Mitza)

Reader comment: miah says,

This isn't cosplay, most of the people there are EGL (Elegant Gothic Lolita). Cosplay is all about dressing up as Anime characters and I see no cosplay in those pics. Harajuku is a common area for teens to hang out in clothes they've designed themselves or thrown together from thrift shops. See Fruits for more info: and an introduction to Harajuku.

Miah's comments are incorrect. Cosplay (kosuperu, in Japanese) is a portmanteaux of the English words "Costume" and "Play." It simply means the act of dressing up in costume, whether it be a costume of your own design, or an imitation of an anime character, rock star, tv celebrity, video game character, etc. True, a large number of cosplayers do choose to dress up as anime characters, but the term is not specifically limited to that one group (except in America, maybe, where cosplay is mainly popular among the anime and convention crowds).

The term "Elegant Goth Lolita," on the other hand, was coined by ex-Malice Mizer singer Mana to describe his clothing line, and the term is now used to describe a particular type of cosplayer. See Wikipedia for more info: Link.

Yes, some of these are cosplay - the term cosplay refers to costuming of any genre - one is just as easily a Star Trek cosplayer as a Sailor Moon cosplayer. I believe at least a couple of the photos feature those cosplaying members of "Visual Kei" bands, though I'm not familiar enough with the scene to confirm or deny how many of them there actually are.

While most half-assed gaijin insist on designating anything with with a bit of lace on it as "EGL", the term refers only to clothing by the brand "Moi Meme Moite". A better blanket term is simply "Gothic & Lolita", covering both the goth/punk styles, and variety of Lolita sub-styles (indeed, it is a complicated fashion - and I stress fashion, it is /not/ cosplay). The layered and brightly colored girls are not Lolita, but Decora, yet another street fashion style.

We happen to sell a lot of the harder to find magazines at J-List, including Gothic and Lolita Bible (the magazine that started the whole thing), Kera (which has helped the creation of "Punk Lolita," the next version to become popular), and other related items. This link is work safe.

A Chicago company is converting old Lear Jets into limousines: "Learmousine LimoJets." They're taking reservations now for a summer '06 service launch. Link (Thanks Better Living Through Miles, via luxist)

[T]he main object of this invention is to provide a safe toy which exploits the combustible properties of flatus to fire a toy missile into space.

More particularly an object of this invention is to provide a toy gas-fired missile and launcher assembly collect in a combustion chamber an explosive mixture derived from a colonic mixture emanating from the operator of the toy. Among the significant features of the invention are the following: A. the toy assembly includes a hand-held unitary launcher. B. Little skill and minimal safety precautions are required to operate the launcher; hence the operator may even be a child. C. While the assembly explodes a mixture of air and colonic gas, it is hazard-free, for the explosive is safely confined.

(...) To operate the assembly, the player who may be fully clothed places the inlet of the tube with its valve open adjacent his anal region from which a colonic gas is discharged. The piston is then withdrawn to a degree producing a negative pressure to inhale the gas into the combustion chamber to intermix with the air therein to create a combustible mixture. The ignitor is then activated to explode the gas in the chamber and fire the missile into space.

A Michael F. Zanakis of NJ -- presumably the same as the Michael F. Zanakis of NJ who was the inventor of the fart-powered rocket -- was convicted of fraud and extortion after he took a rat tail from his medical laboratory, deep fried it, placed it in a container of french fries from McDonalds, and then sued. Link to NYT. (Also see: Link)

The USPTO web site makes the original patent's images available via a crappy image browser. It is a pain in the ass to use so I took screenshots and posted them here if your readers are interested: Link.

There are pillars like these all over Amsterdam. When I visited the tour guide said they served as warnings to ships docking there-- the X's stand for fire, flood nd black death (pestilence). This website claims it refers to St. Andew's cross (which is the flag of Scotland and one of the flags unionized in the Jack along with St. George's red cross and Ireland's red X). It was originally X X X not XXX and appears on the Amsterdam coat-of-arms vertically, but Amsterdam's flag has it the naughty way. This Wikipedia entry translates the coat of arms' motto as "Valiant, Resolute, Merciful."

Link.

Previously:
- BB readers: XXX root beer, XXXX beer, Guber burgers
- Yet another '50s kitsch restaurant called "XXX"

Reader comment: Chris Kawalek says,

Many of Amsterdam's benches were inlayed with an interesting juxtaposition of the XXX and Chess boards. Here is a picture I took a couple of years ago: Link. When I was there we were told that since 1947 the XXX has represented or was supposed to represent the three moral virtues: Compassion, Resolution, and Heroism.

They're called "Amsterdammertjes" - more or less translates to "little Amsterdammers". If you'd like a vaguely phallic traffic barrier, the city does sell them to groups and individuals. The crosses are the 'Andreaskruisen', after the apostle Andreas who was crucified on such a cross. So the St. Andrew connection is correct, and they do in fact stand for the three 'curses' of the city - fire, flood, and plague. The Compassion, Resolution, and Heroism thing is the motto of the city, and appears in the overall coat of arms of the city.

And, incidentally, amsterdammertjes are usually just short enough not to be seen out of one's rear view mirror, and leave nice purple scrapes on car doors.

I made an Easter egg shaped like Yoda using the normal green dye kit, some crayons and foam ears.

Okay, so it's dorky as hell, but at least I didn't make an egg pun like "Do or do not, there is no fried."

Cris in Addison, Texas writes,

I was at a grocery store yesterday, when I noticed a point-of-sale endcap floor to ceiling with various "Peeps" related merch... mostly kids books, coloring books etc. I love Peeps and all, but seriously! How interesting a story can you get about Marshmallow chicks and bunnies? check out the listing on Amazon. And here's a pic I got with my celphone. Happy easter / passover / whatever it is that Pastafarians celebrate this time of year.

There are four variations of the World Time Clock design. (...)Each can be turned to one of 12 positions to indicate the time in selected global regions. I love the concept because I consider a regular 12-sided polygon (a dodecagon) to be the most aesthetically pleasing shape in nature. Maybe it's no accident that there are 12 hours in a day and 12 months in a year--also 12 pennies in an old English shilling, before the metric system came along and condemned us to the rule of 10, merely because we happen to have 5 digits on each hand.

Reader comment: Gdga says,

Would it be overly pedantic to point out that many parts of the world operate within a 1/2-hour time zone and therefore wouldn't be covered by this world time clock? The list includes all of India and Afghanistan, a swath of Australia from Darwin down to Adelaide, the island of the Canadian province of Newfoundland, and parts of Burma and Iran. Sri Lanka has recently decided to switch to a 1/2 hour time zone to align its business day with India. And then there is Nepal and the Chatham Island of Zealand, which are just 15 minutes different from their nearest neighboring time zone. And then there's daylight savings times around the world...

The knife is 13.1 inches long with a metal handle. It's made of heavy metal and can be easily thrown - it will always hit the target with the sharp tip. Has a gothic theme and detailing of fangs.

The metal box contains one syringe and it can be used to inject liquid garlic or secret serums into vampires. It has a small cross on it made of silver . The syringe can sustain temperatures up to 200 Celsius degrees. The cross is very old, with one beautiful black stone and is on a very old metal chain .

The metal teeth plier ( 7.5 inches ) was used in the past to remove the vampire's teeth. There is also a special tool called Dentol ( 5.5 inches ) used in the past to remove the vampire's teeth.

A corpse that had not decomposed or whose eyes were open was often deemed to be a vampire. Other telltale signs included a ruddy complexion with the mouth and nails clotted with blood, or the corpse floating on a reservoir of blood. If the flesh was punctured with a pin, blood would gush from the body.

Reader comment: Brett Burton says,

At the Mercer Museum in Doylestown, PA, they have a vampire killing kit similar to the one you posted on Boing Boing. I know, because I bought an awesome postcard of it once. According to the museum, the kit is actually a hoax manufactured in the 1920's. It's possible that that the kit on ebay is also a hoax. Here's a link to a tour guide description of the mercer museum. It mentions the vampire kit.

Reader comment: Aaron Newton of CNET says,

I was reading your post on the vampire kit and saw this in the ebay description: "The knife is 13.1 inches long with a metal handle. It's made of heavy metal and can be easily thrown - it will always hit the target with the sharp tip." Now, that can't be possible, right? So a little work at wikipedia brought me to knifethrowing.info which is a nice how-to-throw-a-knife tutorial of sorts. What's even cooler is the physics page and here's the spiffy Russian "wave throw." All in all, it seems that throwing a knife with zero spin is really, really hard and the notion that a knife could be produced so that, when thrown, it will always strike tip first isn't possible (well, according to this site, anyway - I'm certainly no expert).

Click and sniff. (thanks, Mary Sallis)

Reader comment: Keith says,

It's also the time of year when all the fake cherry blossoms sprout from subway turnstiles, meat freezers and vending machines here in Tokyo. Link.

Well, if you are gonna be talking about cherry blossom time, don't forget the drunken parties that happen all over Japan. It is a Japanese tradition to sit under the blossoming trees and just get totally ripped. There is an expression, "Hana yori, dango" which means, "More than the flowers, dumplings". Supposed to mean people want to eat and drink more than they want to see the flowers. I love Japan. Domo! Link.

Nelson Pavlosky of FreeCulture.org says,

As mentioned earlier on BoingBoing, FreeCulture.org is having a student summit at Swarthmore College April 21-23. On Saturday the 22nd we will be throwing a pirate-themed party, for which we require remixed music videos featuring pirates!

FreeCulture.org is calling for video remixes to be used for the upcoming party and future Pirate Parties. The videos should be set to danceable music, have at least ten seconds of pirate footage, and be in a VLC-friendly format. The remixes need to be in by April 21st to be used for the first Pirate Party, though we will accept submissions later than that for other pirate parties.

For years, developed countries have been exporting tons of electronic waste to China for inexpensive, labor-intensive recycling and disposal. Since 2000, it's been illegal to import electronic waste into China for this kind of environmentally unsound recycling. But tons of debris are smuggled in with legitimate imports, corruption is common among local officials, and China's appetite for scrap is so enormous that the shipments just keep on coming.

Reader comment: Dan Gilchrist says,

My friend Adam Minter, who lives half the time in Shanghai and half the time in Minnesota, has been covering the Chinese scrap industry for several years for a variety of publications -- Far East Economic Review, Wall Street Journal, and others. He has become the scrap story king! Here's one he did for the Wall Street Journal: PDF Link. He even traced a shipment of scrap from Minneapolis to the recycler in China: Link. Other stories: one, two, three.

"I looked up, and I saw this guy leaning into me as if he was asking a question,'' he said. "I leaned forward, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone fiddling with the computer cord. I tried to stand up, and as I stepped back, he stabbed me in the chest.''

The attack marked a violent turn in a wave of crime that has hit the city -- the "hot spots" frequented by wireless laptop users are becoming hot spots for laptop robberies.

The 40-year-old San Francisco victim of the March 16 attack suffered a partially collapsed lung and was hospitalized for six days.

Link (Thanks, Zed)

The Mountain View-based company has proposed to track users' locations and use that data to match them with advertising from neighborhood businesses. Google said it would keep the information for up to 180 days before deleting it.

But privacy advocates are worried the information Google collects on wireless Internet surfers could be used by law enforcement agencies and private litigators to place users under surveillance.

"The greatest concern is that once you have that treasure trove of information, will people start to come looking for it?" said Kurt Opsahl, staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy watchdog group.

Self-portrait in a French press coffee pot ("freedom press," for patriots) by blogger and artist Kamala. She does like drinking the stuff rather a lot. Direct link to full-size jpeg. Zingggggg!

Reader comment: Brad Kimmel says,

Inspired by the cool French press self-portrait of Kamala posted this morning I scoured flickr for similar photos and came across a few in a similar vein: one, two, three, four.

Update: BoingBoing pal Sean Bonner of metroblogging phonecams in a couple coffee-self-portraits: one, two.

Reader comment: Michael says,

The french press photos are fine, but vanity is not restricted to coffee drinkers. Give a man a shiny teapot and his narcissism will be rewarded! Link.

Reader comment: Robert Thombley says,

Seeing these coffeepot pictures reminded me of the classic naked teapot meme and the reflectoporn "craze".