Update: James points out this other Flickr pool and clarified: "Medianeras is the catalan Spanish word for the wall that separates two buildings regardless of whether one of them has been knocked down or not."

Coil springs form flexible bindings for a new type of memorandum books. One edge of the covers and pages of the book are perforated with more than twenty holes and the coil spring is threaded through these holes to make a permanent binding, as shown above.

...[H]ow cool is it that The Search is a street bestseller in Mumbai?! Do I care about the piracy? No. No, no no. I care that someone in Mumbai cared enough to rip it off, and that someone there might be reading my stuff. That is just cool. Commercial markets always follow the free, or, well, the pirates in this case. Always.

By taking advantage Google's binary search capability, Websense has created new software tools that can sniff out malware using the popular search engine. Websense researchers Googled for strings that were used in known malware like the Bagel and Mytob worms and have uncovered about 2,000 malicious Web sites over the past month, according to Dan Hubbard, senior director of security and research with Websense.

Update: LA Martin sends the disappointing news that this isn't real -- merely a graphic of a potential rug. What a bummer.

Under new ownership since February, the hotel's luxury facelift has ushered in a new ground-floor swimming pool and al fresco dining area, a luxurious lounge and a conservatory. Ceilings have been raised and Italian chandeliers installed, while over 40 skip-loads of rubbish have been removed.

The character of Basil Fawlty was inspired by a former manager at the hotel; he gave John Cleese and the Monty Python team a frosty welcome when they booked in 1971. The ferocious host berated them for not holding their knives and forks correctly and threw one of their briefcases over a wall believing it could be a time bomb.

Here's a 2000 Washington Post article about the painting, called "Dangers of the Mail," painted in 1937 by Frank Albert Menchau, Jr.

Check out the big mural on the fifth floor, a friend told Myrna Mooney one day last August, shortly after Mooney and fellow employees of the Environmental Protection Agency moved into new headquarters in the Federal Triangle complex. A Native American from the Blackfeet Nation in Montana, Mooney was "flabbergasted" by what she saw:

Splashed across a 13-foot-wide canvas in the Ariel Rios Building was a graphic scene of Indians attacking and scalping white people. Called "Dangers of the Mail," the 1930s-era painting included half a dozen naked white women being assaulted by Indians and an Indian stabbing a white man in the back.

"It portrays Indians as cowardly. It's an insult," said Mooney. "When you come from the reservation, these kinds of images make you physically ill."

A handful of government murals that depict Indian people in an unfavorable light will undergo a review to determine whether they are appropriate to display, a federal agency announced on Wednesday.

After years of complaints by Indian employees and their advocates, the General Services Administration initiated the review of six murals at the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington, D.C. The GSA plans to take input from the public under the National Historic Preservation Act because the artwork is more than 70 years old.

Thought you might be interested in my recent post on "The Day the Cow Sneezed," a hard-to-find children's book from 1957 written and illustrated by the late, great James Flora (SHAG has mentioned it as an influence before). Along with some scans from the book featuring the wild and wacky illustrations of Flora, I also feature a rare treat -— scans of original mock-ups for the book, which have never been seen publicly until now (BIG thanks to Flora's biographer, Irwin Chusid). It's a fascinating account to see the creative process of putting together a children's book, especiallly when the artist is the brilliant James Flora.

The off-duty deputy, who was not identified, told police the confrontation with Hibbs started after the man hit his bike with a broken golf club when he forced his way past without paying. The two became involved in an altercation and Hibbs hit the deputy with a golf club, the police report stated. The deputy said he took the golf club away from Hibbs and struck him in an attempt to defend himself...

Police said they confiscated a large marijuana joint rolled in $1 bills at the scene and then searched (the apartment of Bradley Boville, who was on the bridge with Hibbs) and recovered drugs and drug paraphernalia.

Hibbs was arrested for investigation of menacing and possession of a controlled substance, according to police.

These boards are made in Santa Monica, CA only a few miles from Cocoatech headquarters. The owner is very cool and is very responsive to customer suggestions.

I’ve been using mine daily to go out to lunch, to get to the local skatepark or to ride down to Venice beach. I hate driving, and don’t really like walking, so this has really improved my day to day life.

Is it a real big foot? You be the judge..Over all measurements are 36" wide, 32"High, and 20" from the wall. Probably was well over 8 foot tall. One of a kind!

J. P. Suarez, who is in charge of asset protection at Wal-Mart, said it was no longer efficient to prosecute petty shoplifters. “If I have somebody being paid $12 an hour processing a $5 theft, I have just lost money,” he said. “I have also lost the time to catch somebody stealing $100 or an organized group stealing $3,000...”

Retailers, (Joseph J. LaRocca, vice president for loss prevention at the National Retail Federation) said, have learned that prosecuting small shoplifting cases “does not warrant the store resources or the judicial resources required, given the dollar amount that was stolen.”

In some cases, loss prevention executives said, retailers will prosecute only shoplifters who steal at least $50 or $100 worth of merchandise. The legal costs required for prosecution, they said, are simply too high. Stores must hire a lawyer for employees who become witnesses in a trial, for example, and pay workers overtime to appear in court.

Every year Xinhua news agency, the "official" Chinese news agency, publishes one or two stories of how it has been succesfully used to end drought in one place or another in China and earlier this year, when it was used in a place called Ningxia on the borders of the Gobi desert, the report also included photographs of the hardware, not planes as in Kansas but rocket launchers mounted on the back of lorries. If this technique were being used there would be no mystery and I would have expected to see news reports but perhaps here in Beijing it is so common that it is no longer news.

However, what surprised me was his boss saying that rain is unusual in Beijing in the summer. Textbooks, meteorological records and my experience all tell me that North China, including Beijing, has a monsoon climate a bit like India's with July and August the peak months for rainfall and almost no precipitation in the winter. Having said that, I would say that in my experience, it was unusual to have rain day after day as we have known at times over the last week or so.

What I remember from my previous times in China was a few days of muggy oppressive weather building up to a heavy rainstorm that could last all day followed by some days of fine, relatively pleasant weather before starting the build-up to another heavy rain storm. But then, this year we have also had day times with occasional showers, again not like the summers I recall from when I was young, so perhaps, mirabile dictu, this is just a wet summer, unlike the dry ones with below average rainfall that has been the pattern of recent years. And, according to meteorological records, that also is a tendency here in north China, occasional wet summers 'balancing' the drier summers we usually get.

The first film festival ever held in Saudi Arabia opened this week in Jeddah...

...in an ultra-conservative country where the silver screen is so controversial that the word "cinema" does not even get a mention in the title. "The Jeddah Visual Show Festival" started on Wednesday night screening two hours of home-grown short films. They will be screened three times a week for a month.

What's next, SaudiWood? Link (Thanks, Nick)

I'll be moderating a "Great Debate: What is Net Neutrality" at the Center for American Progress on Monday, starting at 10:30 am Eastern Time. The debate features Vint Cerf and Dave Farber, both well-known net figures. In addition to an on-site audience, we'll stream audio live and take questions from the audience by Jabber. More details on streaming and questions is here.

Kent Hovind, who often calls himself "Dr. Dino," has been sparring with the IRS for at least 17 years on his claims that he is employed by God, receives no income, has no expenses and owns no property.

"The debtor apparently maintains that as a minister of God, everything he owns belongs to God and he is not subject to paying taxes to the United States on money he receives for doing God's work," U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Lewis Killian Jr. wrote when he dismissed a claim from Hovind in 1996.

Hovind, an avowed creationist, has widely publicized his "standing offer" to pay $250,000 to anyone who can provide scientific evidence of evolution. "No one has ever observed a dog produce a non-dog," Hovind once wrote in reply to a New York Times article.

Reader comment: Damon says,

Glen Stoll is Dr. Dino's lawyer. Thing is Stoll isn't a lawyer at all but a tax fraud promoter. He just got banned from doing business in Washington state on July the Sixth of this year. This is typically a first step before charges get filed. It looks like Dr. Dino may have a cell mate. Link

Kent Hovind was hilariously skewered some years back on Da Ali G Show. "Was it you? The floater?" Link

I see you covered the news on Dr. Dino's arrest. You may also want to add in his past legal troubles with the courts including his spate that nearly got him arrested for assault and battery. Turns out quite a number of his church including his family members have criminal convictions. Link 1, Link 2.

This is from the Southern Poverty Law Center on a 2001 report on Mr. Hovind -- selling Neo-Nazi literature as part of his spiel to conservative churches. Also he has a lot of wacky conspiracy crap that should really be brought up for example his future predications that over a 1 billion people would be killed by the New World Order and that the UN attacked the Branch Davidian compound due to gun control issues.

This is a more recent article on his theme park. This link has the court transcript where he falsely declared bankruptcy and said he wasn't a citizen of the United States.

Due to Mr. Hovind's history the trial should be really interesting to watch when he gets cross examined. Much like the Dover trial it should really embarrass the anti-evolutionary movement. Kent should really not try to lie to the Judge because his past behavior and a good prosecutor really make him his own worst enemy. Judges do not like to be lied to as evidenced by Judge Jone's ruling.

Tom Pearcy used satellite technology to design this 32-acre "Star Trek" maze on a farm near York in northern England. The trekkie earthwork celebrates 40 years since the show's first episode. Link. Image: REUTERS/Kippa Matthews/Handout (Thanks, Phil)

Reader comment: Jon Power says,

It's a maize maze. The farmer gets more money from cutting a maze than from selling the maize. So now he grows a new one every year. It's meant to be the largest maze in the world. Here's their site: Link. (I live in York so hence I have the 'facts' at hand.)

Several other incidents have occurred in recent years in which lithium batteries – used in laptops and cell phones – have caught fire aboard airplanes. Less than two months ago in Chicago, a spare laptop battery packed in a bag stored in an overhead bin started emitting smoke, chief crash investigator Frank Hilldrup of the NTSB testified Wednesday.

A flight attendant used an extinguisher and the bag was removed, but the bag caught fire on a ramp, Hilldrup said. Investigators in the Philadelphia fire found that several computer laptop batteries were on board the plane, and that in many cases portions of the laptop batteries had burned, he said.

“It is not known at this time the role these batteries may have played in the fire,” Hilldrup said.

The simple mould of SOFA BRICK enables manufacture from various materials. For example, cork grains will offer a soft, comfortable brick.

Just then, Duck came bounding up the road. She was covered from head to toe in sticky, gooey apple sauce.

"Yoooooou stinky Pig!" yelled Duck.

"What happened to YOU?" gasped Pig.

"My baby duckling tried to eat an apple for snack time, and ALL THE APPLES EXPLODED! Why can't I share the apples with my family, Pig?"

"Oh..." said Pig.

Authorities had also severely limited the cellular network for fear it could be used to trigger more attacks.

And:

Some of the injured were seen frantically dialing their cell phones. The mobile phone network collapsed adding to the sense of panic.

Reader comments:

Ross says:

You know there is an easy way to see the level of propane in a current tank. Just warm up some water and pour it on the side of the tank. Since the gas is liquid and cool, the water's heat will cause the tank to form condensation at the current level of the propane. I do this before any cookout so I can get propane before the guests arrive rather than the last minute dash.

Al says:

Write the empty weight and full weight on the tank with permanent marker next time you get it filled. When you put it under the barbeque, keep it sitting on top of a ratty old bathroom scale. You'll know precisely how full the tank is at all times.

[This] photo shows a transnasal endoscope developed by FUJIFILM Medical Co., Ltd. and Fujinon Toshiba ES Systems Co., Ltd. Surveys show that 90% of patients who have experienced endoscopy think it is more comfortable to enter through the nose (as opposed to through the mouth or anus). I hope the expression on this guy’s face is no indication of his comfort level.

Enjoy the ukulele playing bravura of the incomparable Roy Smeck. Link (via Ukulelia)

Bacteria that use sugars and sewage as fuel are being investigated as a pollution-free source of electricity. They feed by plucking electrons from atoms in their fuel and dumping them onto the oxygen or metal atoms in the mixture. The transfer of the electrons creates a current, and connecting the bacteria to an electrode in a microbial fuel cell will generate electricity, although not necessarily very efficiently...

A clearer understanding of the way bacterial nanowires form should allow engineers to make more efficient and powerful biological fuel cells, Gorby says. For example, they could ensure that the chemical conditions surrounding bacteria encourage it to grow as many nanowires as possible, increasing conductivity.

Ralph Ginzberg died last week. Ralph Ginzberg was a brave and courageous hustler, a man for whom the big score was worth sacrificing your livelihood for. He was a street smart striver who talked in the clipped Brooklyn patios of a Coney Island barker. Working his way though the advertising department at the old Look magazine in the 50's, he became a high-level exec in short order. But when he thought it might be a good idea to trawl libraries for obscure erotica and then publish it in book from, the shit really hit the fan. Ginzberg published An Unhurried View of Erotica while working as an editor at Esquire magazine. The book was a sensation; Mike Wallace had Ginzberg on his old NightBeat talk show, and the book wound up selling over 300,000 copies.

That wasn't a good move, as it turned out, as Ginzberg appeared on the Wallace show against the wishes of his boss, Esquire publisher Arnold Gingrich. So Ginzberg was fired from Esquire, but he didn't stop there.

In the meantime Bamboo got shipped off the the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma, where she was expected to suddenly bond with two other elephants (also in one crummy little acre). Despite zoo administration saying everything was going great, Bamboo had to be returned to the WPZ because of mounting stress induced behavioral problems. So now this once happy, clever creature has her future hanging in the balance -- to be shipped around, unwanted by her home, forced to endure night chaining and forced isolation from other elephants, rather than being allowed to go to the Sanctuary, where she will never be hit, never be punished, never be chained, free to roam over 2200 acres with a whole herd of elephants.

To keep her from this opportunity is wrong, and it's shameful. So while the city sits on its hands or their fingers jammed in their ears, it's up to the public to make a stink about it. We feel a HUGE rally could really and truly help tip the scales in Bamboo's favor. So please come. Half an hour of standing around eating free donuts at the rally could actually make a big difference! Bring the kids. Bring everyone.

If our zoo really wants to practice compassionate conservation they would allow Bamboo to go live out the end of her days at the Sanctuary. To do so would make them heros. To not would make them villains in the eyes of the public.

Responses to the Zoos "explanation" of why they won't let Bamboo go | The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee

Dinner is done; people are finished.
I pronounce this an antiquated distinction rarely observed in modern speech. Nobody really supposes the speaker is saying he or she has been roasted to a turn. In older usage people said, "I have done" to indicate they had completed an action. "I am done" is not really so very different.

Crops are raised; children are reared.
Old-fashioned writers insist that you raise crops and rear children; but in modern American English children are usually "raised."

"You've got mail" should be "you have mail."
The "have" contracted in phrases like this is merely an auxiliary verb indicating the present perfect tense, not an expression of possession. It is not a redundancy. Compare: "You've sent the mail."

Kevin Ray Landry, 35, was taken into custody for providing an alias when officers requested that he identify himself. Landry was found to be in possession of approximately 10 grams of crack cocaine at the time of his arrest. South Central patrol officers contacted the APD Narcotic Conspiracy Unit who responded to the scene. Narcotic Conspiracy personnel subsequently executed a search warrant on Landry’s vehicle resulting in the additional seizure of 17 cookies of crack cocaine.

Radiohead is my favorite band in the world, but I've been holding off on listening to Yorke's solo release. The conditions must be perfect. First I have to find a cold (it's 100 degrees here in LA) black cave (with excellent hi-fi) in the Karokorum (or Santa Monica, whatever) and hole up for a week listening to it. Savor the sound with no distractions, the way my dog does with newly acquired chew-toys.

link to Fresh Air interview, and Amazon link to "The Eraser."

Reader comment: Adam Adair says,

I wanted to point out that he will be interviewed and perform solo material (with Jonny Greenwood) on the Henry Rollins Show on IFC, airing July 15th. I believe this is his only TV interview so far (he has turned down Letterman, SNL, etc.). The folks at IFC have released a preview performance on YouTube (link) - looks like the show will be great!

Another online interview (with Yorke and Greenwood) from the Chicago boys at Sound Opinions: Link.

ROBO-ONE type bipedal humanoid robots were first introduced a little over four years ago. Almost all of the current designs have at least 16 or more servo motors, advanced controller boards, and fairly involved kinematics. That's fine for the real devoted (maniac) robot fans, but as the robots have gotten more and more complex they have become way too difficult for the novice fans to master. One Osaka-based company, Robot Force, has a passion for creating simpler robot designs and kits that encourage and motivate people just getting started in robotics. Their latest creation, a fully functional walking and fighting robot, is truly amazing as you can see in the video clip below. And, it uses only 3 (yes, we said 'ONLY THREE') servos!

Burial Ceremony in Srebrenica, 11 July 2006
by Jasmina Tesanovic
photos by Biljana Rakocevic

Eleven years after the biggest European genocide since World War Two, little has changed in the Balkans. Eight thousand Muslim civilians were executed in Srebrenica by Serbian soldiers in a couple of days. Some fraction of the bodies have been excavated from mass graves in the passing years, then re-buried on the site with due honors.

I know a woman who lost seven male members of her family in 1995. She told me: during the first years after the pogrom, we were looking for our men. Now we hope to find a bone to bury.

She is smiling, her face has a compulsive yet sincere peace to it. She continues: there is nothing we can do now but wait and hope for peace and justice to reach us all. We don’t want revenge, says her older friend, who lost a 17 year old son in the massacre. I don’t hate Serbian people. I am not afraid of coming to Belgrade even, to follow the trial of those who did it. I was not afraid back then to go to the Serbian authorities in Bosnia and ask for my son. Why should I be afraid now when some of the killers are finally arrested?
[continued after the jump]

Professor Cappuccio points out that short sleep duration may lead to obesity through an increase of appetite via hormonal changes caused by the sleep deprivation. Lack of sleep produces Ghrelin which, among other effects, stimulates appetite and creates less leptin which, among other effects, suppresses appetite. However he says more research is needed to understand the mechanisms by which short sleep is linked to chronic conditions of affluent societies, such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension.

Naturally, this drives the Executive berserk; they decide that the "aliens" are in fact sophisticated terrorists and resolve to fight them -- only to face demonstration after demonstration of the absolute, unearthly power that the invaders possess.

The story follows Kay Zeldin, a retired intelligence officer turned academic, who is brought back into the field by the loathsome Sedgewick, the head of the secret police and military apparatus -- who also happens to be an old lover and partner of hers. Zeldin is sent onto the alien ship to negotiate on behalf of the US, and balances on a knife-edge between terror of Sedgewick and outrage at the aliens and their activist allies who have taken her country hostage.

This is not a subtle book. I don't think that there's a single sympathetic major male character in it -- even the anarcho-syndicalist boyfriend of one of the activists dismisses her feminism as divisive "identity politics." But then again, subtlety is hardly the point of political, dystopian science fiction. If Alanya to Alanya is explicit and one-sided about its point of view, it is no more so than 1984 or Brave New World or Frankenstein are. And what's more, it's absolutely true that issues of gender are very divisive within progressive political movements.

Alanya to Alanya does just what a poltiical sf novel should do: it leavens its political message with first-rate futuristic extrapolation, chilling dystopianism and a breathless adventure story that keeps you turning the pages. It was a refreshing read and a rare example of deft political storytelling. Link

In "Spider-Man: India," the face under the famous mask is familiar - sort of. Mumbai-dwelling teen misfit Pavitr Prabhakar gains superhuman powers. This time, though, they come not from the bite of a mutant spider, but by karmic decree from a godlike being. Kang portrays the familiar villains Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus as demons of Hindu mythology. Characters use modern Hindi slang and make knowing Bollywood references (glossary thoughtfully provided). But like his New York counterpart, Pavitr learns the hard way that "with great power there must also come great responsibility." Some things are true in every culture.

Update: Jason sez, "The quote cited in the post refers to a 2004 series published by Marvel that helped to inspire the Virgin line. Virgin Comics is not an imprint of Marvel or any other publisher."

Now Microsoft has released this video to the public, though you need Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player to see it. Link (Thanks, Mark!)

Update: Here's a direct link to the video, thanks, Dan!)

Update 2: Here's the video on Google Video - Thanks, James!

Yet there is an obvious problem with the idea that communist jokes represented an act of revolt: it wasn't just opponents of the regime who told them. Stalin himself cracked them, including this one about a visit from a Georgian delegation: They come, they talk to Stalin, and then they go, heading off down the Kremlin's corridors. Stalin starts looking for his pipe. He can't find it. He calls in Beria, the dreaded head of his secret police. "Go after the delegation, and find out which one took my pipe," he says. Beria scuttles off down the corridor. Five minutes later Stalin finds his pipe under a pile of papers. He calls Beria—"Look, I've found my pipe." "It's too late," Beria says, "half the delegation admitted they took your pipe, and the other half died during questioning."

In separate experiments, the first person to receive the implant, Matthew Nagle, was able to move a cursor, open e-mail, play a simple video game called Pong and draw a crude circle on the screen. He could change the channel or volume of a television set, move a robot arm somewhat, and open and close a prosthetic hand.

Although his cursor control was sometimes wobbly, the basic movements were not hard to learn. “I pretty much had that mastered in four days,’’ Mr. Nagle, now 26, said in a telephone interview from the New England Sinai Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in Stoughton, Mass., where he lives. He said the implant did not cause any pain...

The sensor measures 4 millimeters — about one sixth of an inch — on a side and contains 100 tiny electrodes. The device was implanted in the area of Mr. Nagle’s motor cortex that is responsible for arm movement, and was connected to a pedestal that protruded from the top of his skull. Link (Thanks, Xeni!)

[O]ur instruments do not, regrettably, emit orange glows that light our faces up from beneath, not for the most part, and if they start doing that we generally don't bend closer so as to emphasize the thoughtful contours of our faces. When we hold up Erlenmeyer flasks to eye level to see the future of research in them, which we try not to do too often because we usually don't want to know, rarely is this accompanied by an eerie red light coming from the general direction of our pockets. It's a bad sign when that happens, actually.

Guillermo Gomez Peña: One of the things that never ceases to amaze me is how many audience members are willing to take off their clothes when you create the right conditions. And I'm not talking about youth. I'm talking about doctors, lawyers, dentists, nurses… "normal people." Given the right condition, they're pretty much willing to cross any border you present to them. And this is the subtext of the show. The subtext is… borders are not prohibition lines. A border is an invitation to cross.

"At the same time, 50 other people are currently in prison in China for writing about 'subversive' subjects online," Reporters Without Borders continued. "China is by far the world's biggest prison for bloggers and cyber-dissidents. We would also like to pay tribute to the courage of this blogger's sister, who battled relentlessly for his release."

Hao was arrested on 22 February while preparing a report about an underground Protestant church. He was held in isolation for 140 days, during which he was never allowed to receive the help of a lawyer. The Beijing Public Security Bureau (PSB) never revealed the reasons for his arrest. He was said to be "under house arrest" but he was never allowed to receive a visit from his relatives or to telephone them. The PSB said this was necessary because there had been a "breach of national security."

It’s impossible to know right now what will happen next, what caused his release at this time, or whether the story is completely over. Doubtless Nina’s hard work and suffering have paid off.

There is also no doubt that all the expressions of support around the world - from media, politicians, bloggers, and other citizens writing letters and signing petitions - have had an impact. We have made it clear to the Chinese government that their treatment of Hao was a cause for national shame. We have given Hao’s family and loved ones moral support in the face of a lot of nastiness and negativity as they worked to get him released. But most importantly, the global show of support will no doubt be a great source of strength as Hao recovers from his ordeal and copes with its aftermath.

US political bloggers paid lots of attention to the Madrid 3/11 bombings and the London 7/7 bombings. Now Bombay is attacked by terrorists -- similar methods, similar scale -- and barely a mention.

Doesn't this story have important ramifications for American foreign policy? If the attacks were mounted by a Pakistan based organization, it could move two nuclear countries closer to an armed confrontation. If it was mounted by Al-Qaeda, that would be significant as well. And no matter who was involved, another attack on public transportation is important for domestic debates about anti-terror funding.

Weren't bloggers supposed to be way ahead of the MSM? In this case at least, they're way behind.

I'd been wanting to share a recent incident with you, but I was worried about the 'security' around it, until I read about it in the newspaper... I figure it's okay to talk about now. :-) To sum up, a man had half a BOMB in his bag but was still allowed to fly. We're both pretty amazed by the whole thing. And on a funny side note, [redacted] heard via the grapevine that the day after this happened, the incident was in the morning briefing for every US airport ...but not at Houston Hobby, where it happened. They wanted to forget the whole incident. Is that the best way to address a problem?

Back when I wrote the Zoo system for Slashdot, its social network system, I looked into the sixdegrees patent and commented at the time on it for Slashdot and Livejournal: Link to post. These types of patents are very implementation specific, and while the design for the systems are common enough, there are different methods of achieving the same ends -- so social network systems need to be aware of how the patent is spelled out.

Q: I can’t believe it is all Photoshop! How do you do it?

A: I design a rough in the computer (pretty small), then I blow it up and have a proper go at it. There are tons of advantages in using Photoshop when you draw: you can zoom in really close, you can flip the picture to get a new view on it and see if the composition still works, work in layers and move things around afterwards…. all that stuff is nearly impossible with a pencil drawing.

Q: And the downsides of Photoshop?

A: Since I learned how to draw on the computer using the pallet -- I feel really uncomfortable drawing without it, so I always have to take a laptop with me.

Another thing is, that you tend to get too trigger happy with the undo-button and can’t decide on anything. If you try to keep your hand away from that button - it usually turns out better.

Reader comments:

Michael says:

Seems Boing Boing is discovering Germany after all (see Xeni's "Raumpatrouille Orion" post). Though the images shown are from the Netherlands, costumes like these are extremely popular (and extremely prestigous) in the German Carnival Mardi Gras (adopted by the Dutch too). German Carnival runs from November 11 (@11:11:am) until about 4 weeks prior to Easter. It is based on pagan rites of driving out winter. but especially in the Rhine area (Mainz, Cologne, Düsseldorf) it turned into opposition against the French occupation in the 19th century. People made phantasy uniforms based on the French uniforms and made parodistic military dances all under the disguise of the Carnival celebrations. There is a brief English article on Wikipedia.

Nowadays, this subversive festivities have turned into a serious (in every aspect) business. To become "Prince Carnival" (as shown on the pics) cost you a lot of money and dedication, but is connected with serious business aspects. The "organized carnival" as they call themselves have strict rules and sometime it's really pathetic. In many cities there are movements for an easygoing "alternative carnival" which rests on the same historic roots, but is again subversive, funny and unrespectful.

You get some more (recent) pics via this search

On the off chance that you are really interested why the hell middle-aged men dress up in such a fashion (and not just point-and-laugh at peculiar clothes).

This is a gallery of pictures of the line of 'prince carnaval' of the Dutch village of Heijen.

'Prince carnaval' is the head of carnival during this period. Carnival is only celebrated in the provinces Brabant and Limburg of The Netherlands. During the 5 day height of carnival, the prince becomes the defacto mayor of the city/town/village, the city is then known with its carnival name and everyone parties dressed up. Quite a lot of beer is involved in this. The celebration itself is mentioned in documents from 1673 and is considered one of the true highlights of the year in the South of the Netherlands.

Sandy says:

In case you don't know who the Masters are: they're the past and present Princes from the Carnaval Club "de Wortelpin" (sort of means "carrot pin") in Heijen, a tiny village in the Netherlands. Each year every Carnaval Club elects a new Prince and his Council of 11 men. I've put a message in their guestbook to let them know of their notoriety (so watch your back!)

My husband is Dutch and when we lived in Boskoop (another tiny Dutch village) he was a member of the Carnaval Club "de Krooshappers". If you click on their gallery (fotoboek) then on "Raad van 11" you can see THESE masters of the world are all clowns! (Theme for this year in Boskoop).

Interestingly, Carnaval in the Netherlands officially starts at 11:11am on 11 November - which in Australia is Remembrance Day for the war dead, quite a contrast.

I also wanted to mention that one of the nice things about Carnaval in the Netherlands is that it is NOT just for the young and gorgeous, like its counterpart in Brazil. There are parties for people of all ages, from children to the elderly; a street procession with costumes, and several big parties. Even small villages will have several Carnaval Clubs, but they all go to the same parties. The main party is, of course, one big booze up. Most of the village is drunk for three days. I won a prize for my pig costume (I was actually meant to be a merino, but who cares...)

Walter says:

The Dutch princes of carnaval are known for making people disappear, indeed. They're the 'mayor' of the southern cities and towns in the Netherlands for a short period in february, and people tend to go lost in that few days - mostly because of drinking to much beer. They reappear with a hangover, eventually.

Personally, i'm glad I don't live in the south.

Rogier says:

Take it from an ex-Dutchman, now a naturalized Yankee: Those mirth-inducing photos have to do with a centuries-old Dutch tradition called carnaval.

Every year in the spring, in Holland's southernmost two provinces, Brabant and Limburg, a day or two is set aside for merry-making. People dress up in preposterous costumes, drink large quantities of beer, and take part in -- or toast -- the parade floats that every self-respecting town puts on.

The festivities take place under the auspices of 'Prince Carnaval,' who commands a Council of Eleven (eleven being the number of zaniness). A new Prince Carnaval -- one in each town -- is locally elected every year. Those pictures you linked to, of the guys in the startlingly awful get-up, are the portraits of the successive princes in the town of Heijen, Limburg.

Carnaval is celebrated elsewhere in the world too -- Germany and Brazil come to mind, although only the Brazilian version has made into America's pop-culture consciousness.

We love great tools and tips! Each volume of MAKE features Toolbox, our collection of tool reviews that brings you the best gadgets, suppliers, materials, web sites, and books found by our authors. Now we're bringing you even more online, and giving you a chance to contribute your own reviews. Login and tell us about a tool you love, and get regular updates about our very favorites by signing up for the TNT newsletter.

Sample review:

To call whatever my problem is "attention deficit disorder" probably does a grave disservice to medically distracted persons everywhere, but I've known for years now that something's definitely up with my brain. I wish I had a satisfying polysyllabic shingle for my hang-up, but all I know is that coffee helps a little and ephedrine used to help a lot.

Of course, those spineless wingnuts at the FDA allowed 150 Darwinist case studies to ruin it for everyone, so now no one is getting anything done. Thanks a lot, stroke-disposed college freshmen!

NADH (Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide) definitely helps me concentrate appropriately, and I have no idea why. I take one tablet of this conenzyme on rising and another half an hour before lunch, and so far, over two months, the results have been salutary. You don't get those intriguing shakes, but there's a calm feeling of readiness that can be very reassuring. I also have the sense that I'm remembering to pause, reflect, and focus more readily than I've typically done in the past. Very much more.

Maybe this newfound dearth of spazziness is a natural consequence of turning 38, but until they can get that sad eventuality into a gelcap, I give my hearty and unqualified okey-dokey to this weird mystery enzyme. Widely available at health-food stores. -- Merlin Mann

Hidden behind the WSJ's stupid paywall is this wonderful piece by Ian Mount about rare, "lost" art-films resurfacing at online video sites like Google and YouTube -- and some ensuing copyright squabbles:

Increasingly, rare and avant-garde films are showing up on sites like these, best known for hosting homemade video spoofs. On YouTube, there are 1969 art videos by Nam June Paik, a 1967 student movie by George Lucas and an iconic 1930 film by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí, as well as a clip of Dalí in a chocolate commercial.

It's the latest reflection of an online culture where fans can function as curators of digital entertainment, bypassing libraries and museums with their own collections of music or movies. In many cases, these rare film clips are posted by amateur film buffs who've scooped up film reels or rare VHS tapes from eBay or local sales, and then digitized them for online viewing. A handful of Web sites and blogs, such as the Greylodge Podcasting Company (www.greylodge.org/gpc), link to the clips, many of which aren't available on DVD.

Today, if it is clear, Manhattan will flood dramatically with sunlight just as the Sun sets precisely on the centerline of every street.

Usually, the tall buildings that line the gridded streets of New York City's tallest borough will hide the setting Sun.

This effect makes Manhattan a type of modern Stonehenge, although only aligned to about 30 degrees east of north. Were Manhattan's road grid perfectly aligned to east and west, today's effect would occur on the Vernal and Autumnal Equinox, March 21 and September 21, the only two days that the Sun rises and sets due east and west.

If today's sunset is hidden by clouds do not despair -- the same thing happens every May 28 and July 12.

I'm interning here in Beijing for Nokia over the summer. For the past several weeks, we've been experiencing the oddest weather -- almost every day has been beautiful cool and sunny...but at night, come 7PM-ish, the sky turns forebodingly dark and we get these magnificent thunderstorms that last well into the early morning hours.

I asked my boss at work today why this was happening, because apparently rain in Beijing during the summer is quite unusual. He told me over dinner that there are actually people who launch these rockets filled with chemicals into the clouds, which causes the rainfall. I had a hard time believing him -- I jokingly mentioned it had to be some conspiracy theory about some stranded Russian scientists in Siberia left over from the cold war.

Anyways, I decided to use the ol' JFGI (Just Fucking Google It) Philosophy to see what turned up. What I got was unexpected -- apparently this cloud-seeding business is pretty common, but I've never seen it used in the US before. This article I found was particularly informative, but this recent Reuters article really tipped me off to the whole thing when I googled for "Rain in Beijing."

One of my friends who's into the whole weatherwars.info stuff once sent me this link to a U.S. company: weathermod.com. I thought it must be a joke, but I even called them late at night and someone picked up the phone and said in a matter of fact voice, "thanks for calling Weather Modification Inc., how can I help you?"

There has been interest in cloud seeding in the United States, though it has not been publicized all that much. The NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory - Hurricane Research Division has been looking at cloud seeding as a method for lessening the impact of hurricanes. Link.

i worked as a ski instructor in colorado this past winter, and there was/is definite talk of cloudseeding in the us for major ski resorts. helps them out with snow conditions. Link, and another.

In Western Kansas cloud seeding is a common practice. I am not sure who is in charge of doing it, but for almost any large thunderstorm you can see a small airplane flinging into the storm going to release the rain causing chemicals. The reason that they seed the large thunderstorms is so that it rains and the storm loses energy so that it will not produce hail, which would damage the crops. I was not aware that people did not know that this was going on in America, because I can remember this practice going on for as long as I have lived in Western Kansas.

I saw your post about the cloud-seeding and was reminded of a news clipping that my Earth Science professor in college shared with us. Back in 1916, one Charles Hatfield was able to seed the clouds in San Diego to fix the hardcore drought that had been doing on since 1912. It produced so much rain that excessive flooding took place in Mission Valley which ended up causing the rupturing of dams, and I even think a few deaths. And then he sued the people who hired him for not paying up! Link to article

There was the suggestion that a storm that almost wiped out Lynmouth (a town in Cornwall, England) in the 1950's was actually the direct result of the British Government toying with weather-seeding.

From Wikipedia - "In 2001, a BBC Radio 4 documentary featured suggestions that the events of 1952 were connected to government cloud seeding experiments being conducted in southern England at the time. There does not presently seem to be any direct evidence to support such allegations, but conspiracy theories have been fuelled by rumours of missing or destroyed government documents relating to the experiments."

In reference to your post about weather seeding and Charles Hatfield, I can't recommend enough "The Wizard of Sun City: The Strange True Story of Charles Hatfield, the Rainmaker Who Drowned a City's Dreams" by Garry Jenkins. Available at your local independent bookstore.

Glenn "Instapundit" Reynolds interviewed Anderson on the release of his new book, and you can listen to the podcast here: Link.

What I ended up with, though, felt a little different than I had envisioned. When you held one wing, you slid sideways after releasing the wing, not while pushing. Basically, it felt as I was messing with it, like you were flying into a headwind. And that changed my conception of the game mechanic a little bit.

On the other hand, my kids immediately shouted "birdie!" and spent a cheerful 45 minutes just flapping and learning the controls. As I messed with it, it felt like a different and fresh control dynamic. Still somewhat clunky, but good enough to start with.

SHOW THE CLIENT WHAT THEY WANT TO SEE
Know who you are showing your work to. Don't show your still-lifes and say, "But what I REALLY want to do is fantasy book covers." If that's what you really want to do, then sit down and create a new portfolio. And don't offer to do a job on spec to prove that you can switch gears.

Create different portfolios for different clients. The presentation you show a card gaming company may be subtlety different than the presentation you show a book publisher.

CONSISTENCY
The "Weakest Link" principle reigns supreme. Especially when looking at portfolios from young artists just out of school a couple of years. I need to know that you are in complete command of your craft. If you have seven paintings that you really like and three that you're not fond of, sit down and paint three more pictures. An AD will always fear that they could get you on a bad day. ADs don't want to take a chance on new talent, they want to feel comfortable and excited about working with new talent.

# The RIAA has sued more than 20,000 music fans for file sharing, yet file sharing continues to rapidly increase both online and offline. When will you stop suing music fans?

# The RIAA has sued over 20,000 music fans for file sharing, who have on average paid a $3,750 settlement. That's over $75,000,000. Has any money collected from your lawsuits gone to pay actual artists? Where's all that money going?

# The RIAA has sued over 20,000 music fans for file sharing. Recently, an RIAA representative reportedly suggested that "students drop out of college or go to community college in order to be able to afford [P2P lawsuit] settlements." Do you stand by this advice? Is this really good advice for our children's futures?

# The RIAA said that it only went after individual file sharers because you couldn't go after P2P system creators. After the Supreme Court's Grokster decision, shouldn't you stop going after music fans?

A formal announcement of the show, to be called "Dan Rather Reports," was planned for Tuesday in Pasadena, Calif., where cable network executives gathered this week to showcase their latest offerings to TV critics, an HDNet representative said. She said the program would debut in October but declined to give further details before a presentation expected to be attended by Rather and billionaire media investor Mark Cuban, who owns HDNet and professional basketball's Dallas Mavericks.

Rather, 74, previously acknowledged that he was considering an HDNet offer, and Cuban told trade publication The Hollywood Reporter last month that he thought the former news anchor was "being held back by the corporate structure of CBS."

"They prefer pretty faces, earnings per share and fluff to news with a payoff," he was quoted as saying. "Dan is hungry to do something unique and exciting. So we are talking about how he can do that with HDNet."

It's been in the works for a while, and I haven't had time to test thoroughly -- but you can watch the hunky he-men at TechCrunch give it a good pounding here: Link.

Snip from review:

The point of this software is to make porn browsing more efficent and more secure. The browser is available on Windows machines only, and is built on top of Internet Explorer. They’ve clearly thought this through. Every feature is aimed at either making porn consumption easier or making it less likely that others will know what you are up to.

"Lycos is selling its Wired News unit to Condé Nast Publications for $25 million, Lycos parent Daum Communications announced in Korea late Tuesday, a deal that brings Wired.com and Wired magazine under the same owner after an eight-year separation." OMGWTFBBQLINK!!!1!!1one.

Our sources in Pyongyang say Wired News' successful missile test prompted the reunification.

Disclosure: I'm a contributor to both Wired News and Wired Magazine, and I'm so excited to hear this I could just spontaneously combust right now. (Thanks, Kourosh Karimkhany and Paul Boutin!)

The evangelical group "Jews for Jesus" is using Steve Jobs' likeness and career timeline (presumably without permission) to peddle salvation. Switch! Link, and direct link to full-size, where you can read all the crazy doctorbronneresque copy. There's gotta be a joke in here somewhere about an Apple in the garden of Eden. (thanks x amount)

Reader Comment: MacFiend says,

Jews for Jesus has an extensive collection of odd pamphlets on their site, all in PDF format. Titles include "Dumped by Trump", "Google Me", "Jewish Joke of the Day" 1-5 and "Moses blog dot com." Hell, there's even a pamphlet explaining why Howard Stern would make a good Jew for Jesus.

AP reports the State Department is recovering from a series of major network breaches targeting its headquarters and offices that deal with China and North Korea:

Investigators believe hackers stole sensitive U.S. information and passwords and implanted backdoors in unclassified government computers to allow them to return at will, said U.S. officials familiar with the hacking. These people spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the widespread intrusions and the resulting investigation.

The break-ins and the State Department's emergency response severely limited Internet access at many locations, including some headquarters offices in Washington, these officials said. Internet connections have been restored across nearly all the department since the break-ins were recognized in mid-June.

MAKING scale models of giant engineering projects with flat wooden toothpicks and household cement serving as the structural materials, is the unusual spare-time occupation of Dr. M. Russell Stein, a New York City dentist. Ably assisted by his wife, Dr. Stein transforms boxes of toothpicks into architectural masterpieces that are accurate models of their prototypes, practically perfect in every detail...

Dr. Stein usually begins his projects by laying them out on paper. Each section is designed and then made in a single flat plane, by placing the toothpicks along the lines of the drawing and then cementing them together. To speed the work, toothpicks are cemented together in advance, in lengths of two, three, and four. Small cutting pliers are the only tool used. When all the flat planes are complete, they are tied together with string and cemented in place. In addition to its entertainment value, Dr. Stein says that his hobby helps him in mastering problems in dentistry, and in his work as a lecturer on anthropology.

Today, SixDegrees cofounder Adam Seifer, now with fotolog in NYC, tells BoingBoing:

Just got back from traveling and saw the bit about Friendster trying to patent Social Networking. As it turns out, I was one of the co-founders of sixdegrees.com, head product guy and one of the inventors on the social networking patent we filed back in 1997 (and was finally granted in 2001): Link.

There's a lot of stuff in the patent about the email components of the system -- essentially a viral growth engine where friends invite friends who invite friends via email and there's a whole parsing system that records email responses to the invites and generates invites to the next set of friends etc. (it was back when email and web browsing were still pretty separate activities). But the meat of it was a database that can store, identify and display the network of connections between any of its member records based on the individual relationships between the nodes (members).

sixdegrees.com was an early web community where our 3.5 million members could see how they were connected to other members and leverage the power of the social network to add context and relevance to applications like bulletin boards, chat, prodcut reviews, auctions, etc. It turned out we were just a little early for that kind of stuff. The patent went as part of the assets when we sold sixdegrees to Youthstream (a now defunct marketing company) in 2000, but I think the guys over at Tribe and LinkedIn purchased the rights to the patent from Youthstream back a couple years ago.

I don't know a lot about the nuances of the patent process, but based on what the Friendster patent application looks like (from a cursory glance), it sure seems to have a lot of similarities to the sixdegrees patent - it should be really interesting to see if it gets granted and what the current owners of the sixdegrees patent decide to do about it.

FYI: I'm currently the co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Fotolog.com, a photoblogging community where we've used social network-ish functionality to create an environment where our members' photos (all 125 million of them) get looked at by lots of other human beings who care (i.e. friends of friends).

Scientists said a substance in certain mushrooms induced powerful, mind-altering experiences among a group of well-educated, middle-aged men and women. The study could revive interest in researching the effects of psychedelic drugs.

Uh, really? Shrooms make people trip? Who would have thunk it?

The rest of the article, however, makes it clear that the WSJ is hip to the fact that some mushrooms are psychedelic. The article is about one of the first studies of the effects of psychedelic mushrooms in 40 years. Most of the volunteers reported happy trips with long-lasting benefits.

A third of the participants said the experience with psilocybin was the single most significant experience of their lives, and an additional 38% rated it among their top five such experiences -- akin to, say, the birth of a first child or the death of a parent. Just 8% of the Ritalin episodes were reported to be among the top five meaningful occurrences. Two months after the sessions, 79% of the participants indicated in questionnaires that their sense of well-being and satisfaction increased after the psilocybin episodes, compared with 21% for Ritalin.

At the Burbank-based workshop of Sword & Stone, master blacksmith Tony Swatton forges handcrafted pieces -- some futuristic, some historically accurate -- for use in TV, movies, and on stage.

Their website is full of droolworthy works created for Hollywood clients, but none so glorious as this pair of metal! armour! stiletto! heels! crafted by Swatton for the science fiction television series Babylon 5.

Beth Holley of Sword & Stone tells BoingBoing that recreations can be custom-ordered. For the armour stilettoes, expect a wait of 6-10 weeks for production time, and a price tag in the $3,000-5,000 range.

See also this incredible "posture collar" by famed armorer by Ugo Serrano, worn by Jenna Jameson in "Janine loves Jenna." Because we all know how important posture is. More amazing images under "weapons," and this child has nothing to fear from the invading hordes of would-be robot overlords. Nothing at all.

Link to Sword & Stone contact info. They'll be at Comic-Con in San Diego later this month.

The first order of business is catching a chicken. Dwight runs around in his backyard with his arms outstretched. His favorite technique is to corner a hen and leap on it. When he catches one, he inserts the chicken, beak-first, into an old fashioned laundry-wringer (the same one that his grandma, who sang briefly with the Carter Family and who bought young Dwight his first hammer dulcimer, used to launder baby Dwight's drawers) and turns the crank until a "chicken pancake" comes out the other side. Next, he uses an empty tin can to cut out "chicken circles" from the pancake. He pokes his finger through each chicken circle to create a "chicken ring."

Each chicken ring is breaded with a special mixture, the ingredients of which were passed down from his grandfather, Claude "Pappy Bowlegs" Yoakam, who handed over the recipe after a team of former Abu Ghraib prison guards paid Pappy a visit and convinced him that it was not in his best interest to keep the recipe a secret.

Finally, the chicken rings are tossed in a skillet until golden brown. This is Dwight's favorite part of the day, and his lucky neighbors can hear him singing merrily as he stands over the stove.

The simple country boy takes pride in the basic wholesome ingredients that go into his products. You can read out what goes into his similar product, Dwight Yoakum's Chicken Lickin's Chicken Fries (it's really fun to poke a Chicken Fry through the hole of a Chicken Ring!), right on his website:

Chicken breast with rib meat, water, textured vegetable protein product (soy protein concentrate, zinc oxide, niacinamide, ferrous sulfate, copper gluconate, vitamin A palmitate, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate (B1), pyridoxine hydrochloride (B6), riboflavin (B2), and cyanocobalamin (B12)), seasoning (enriched wheat flour (enriched with niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), salt, yellow corn cones, enriched yellow corn flour (enriched with niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), leavening (sodium aluminum phosphate, sodium bicarbonate), spice, sugar, honey, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, wheat starch, nonfat dry milk, extractives of paprika, soy flour, dehydrated onion, garlic powder), dried whole egg, seasoning (salt, sugar, hydrolyzed corn gluten, spices, sodium tripolphosphate, dried onion, dried garlic, partially hydrogenated soybean and/ or cottonseed oil). BREADED WITH: Bleached wheat flour, yeast, sugar, yellow corn flour, salt, oleoresin of paprika. BATTERED WITH: Water, enriched wheat flour (enriched with niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), salt, yellow corn cones, enriched yellow corn flour (enriched with niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), leavening (sodium aluminum phosphate, sodium bicarbonate), spice, sugar, honey, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, wheat starch, nonfat dry milk, extractives of paprika, soy flour, dehydrated onion, garlic powder. Breading is set in vegetable oil.

Reader comments:

John Castle, Food Science & Technology, Oregon State University, says:

Zinc Oxide is a fungi static, meaning it is used to inhibit the growth of fungi in the vegetable protein and is a GRAS (generally recognized as safe) ingredient as classified by the FDA.

Sodium Aluminum Phosphate is found in almost all baked goods that use 'baking powder' as a leavening agent. When dissolved in water, the acid salt (sodium aluminum phosphate, in this case) combines with the alkali (sodium bicarbonate) to react and create CO2 gas, causing the bread to rise. If the product was already acidic then just baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) would be necessary.

There really isn't anything in that list of ingredients that you wouldn't find in your average home kitchen, the only stretch being the high fructose corn syrup.

Chris Meadows says:

Actually, sodium aluminum sulfate may not be as harmless as all that. Though conclusive proof hasn't been found yet, some studies suggest elevated aluminum levels in the body may be linked to Alzheimer's Disease, and many health advocates have started advising that it might be a good idea to avoid cookware, foods, and medicines (such as antacids) that contain aluminum just on general principles--and sodium aluminum sulfate baking powder is one such avoidable. (It also can add an undesirable aftertaste to foods baked with it.) Rumford brand is often suggested as a good aluminum-free baking powder alternative. (P.S. The baking powders I had read the ingredients on contain sodium aluminum sulfate, not phosphate, but it would hold true for the phosphate too.)

Reader comment: Nick says:

Just thought you'd like to know that the "Russian camera prank" item you posted today isn't from a tv program, but is actually footage from an ingenious TV commercial for a printing production company. I'd consider it more shocking with the tagline and logo displayed at the end. Here's the full scoop from the usual suspects over at Snopes.

Artist Mleak crafted these lockable metal stiletto heels as an exploration of female power and gender roles:

These 5” stiletto heels are entirely metal, fabricated by hand, with a cast heel. The straps open and close on hinges, and the shoes lock onto the feet.

(...) I’m honestly amazed at women who choose to wear stiletto heels on a regular basis. One must “learn” how to walk in such heels, and it remains difficult and uncomfortable. Over time, high heels can cause serious damage and permanently restructure the leg. This pair of shoes acts as a pair of handcuffs, binding the wearer, although it is unclear who will hold the keys.

Through The Canary Project, photographer Susannah Sayler and a team of researchers, writers and designers are collecting photographs that document global warming and displaying them on and offline. This month, images from the project will appear on the sides of buses in Denver, for the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art's "Creative Acts That Matter" exhibit. Link to more images from The Canary Project, including some of the bus images. Above: "Two views of the Pasterze Glacier, Austria, 2005. The left image is an area of glacial runoff, much of which was covered by ice merely 10 years ago; the right image is of ice at the source of the glacier." (thanks, Charlie Kondek)

Update: From Magnus of Schifz in Vienna, this link to many more tableaux vivants that recreate famous works of art.

From the halls of Montezuma to Inchon to Fallujah, the United States Marine Corps have proved themselves to be the meanest, toughest, most resourceful warriors on the planet. Now, a single test remains for this hallowed assemblage of fighters: Make a rich, smooth Cabernet Sauvignon.

Fortunately, the former Marines at Firestone Vineyards are meeting the challenge, by producing "Jarhead Red."

The wine is "a robust, full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon. It was aged in French oak barrels for eight months. It offers flavors of plum, cassis and black currant with fine tannins on the finish," according to Firestone's website. "Jarhead Red is available in 750ml (the Rifleman) and 1.5L (the Sergeant). Occassional availability on larger formats including 3.0L (the Sergeant Major) and 5.0L (the Commandant)."

The French-born photographer died of cancer this weekend in Santa Monica, CA. She was 60. Snip:

Leroy was 21 years old in 1966 when she took a one-way ticket to Saigon to document American troops in Vietnam. A year later she became the only accredited journalist to participate in a combat parachute jump, joining the 173rd Airborne in Operation Junction City.

In 1968, during the Tet Offensive, Leroy was captured by the North Vietnamese Army. She managed to talk her way out and emerged with images of the North Vietnamese Army in action that were used for a Life magazine cover.

(...)A famous 1967 photo, "Corpsman In Anguish," portrays a young Marine, his face wrenched in torment, hunched over the dead body of his friend, while smoke from the battle rises into the air behind them.

"[This] is the most significant development in the conservation of the Mekong giant catfish in the last ten years," said Zeb Hogan, an associate research biologist at the Mekong Wetlands Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use Program.

Conservationists say that while the ban is an important step toward saving the giant catfish, more has to be done before the unique species is off the hook.

As part of that effort, Hogan runs a tracking program in which he tags the fish to discover their spawning grounds and to study their migration patterns.

Contributors on the Mumbai metblog and other local sites are posting media, timelines, and their reactions to the explosions that killed and injured hundreds today. Mumbai metblogger Selma Mirza writes:

There are injured and dead people lying on the tracks. No police in the picture, no fire brigades. Its the local people, the shopkeepers and the people wo live close to the house who are coming into help. Carrying bodies both alive and dead in bedhseets. Some tiny bundles, perhaps with limbs within, or maybe children. (...)

Whom were you trying to target? The working class men who struggle for an inch of space in local trains? The working women who knit and cut vegetables in trains on their way home? Young, dreamy students discussing exams and love? The babies accompanying their mothers, smiling back at the women around them?

AT LAST the grapefruit has heen conquered. The weapon employed in the conquest is an "umbrella spoon" shown at left, which automatically opens into a large shield when you gouge down into the meat of the fruit. When you raise the spoon to your mouth the shield closes.

Webuser has more details on this, including a complaint from Tiscali that the grandstanding BPI issued a press-release about its letter before it had been reviewed at Tiscali: "A Tiscali spokeswoman described the move as a 'media ambush'. She said the BPI had '[sent] their letter to the media before we even had a chance to read it and the information they went to press with was not strictly correct'."

You have sent us a spreadsheet setting out a list of 17 IP addresses you allege belong to Tiscali customers, whom you allege have infringed the copyright of your members, together with the dates and times and with which sound recording you allege that they have done so. You have also sent us extracts of screenshots of the shared drive of one of those customers. You state that such evidence is "overwhelming". However, you have provided no actual evidence in respect of 16 of the accounts. Further, you have provided no evidence of downloading taking place nor have you provided evidence that the shared drive was connected by the relevant IP address at the relevant time.

Similar requests we have dealt with in the past, have included such information and, indeed, the bodies conducting those investigations have felt that a court would consider it necessary to see such evidence, supported by sworn statements, before being able to grant any order.

10 July 2006 marks what would be the 150th birthday of the great inventor Nikola Tesla. For those who could make it, Tesla is immortalized as a statue at Niagara, New York depicting the master of lighting; a Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, Serbia; and he is featured on the Serbian 100 dinar banknote. For those who cannot reach such exotic locales, later this year a movie by Christopher Nolan (who really should be working on a follow up to "Batman Begins") will depict David Bowie as the good Mr Tesla.

Update: Tor Books's Patrick Nielsen Hayden sez, "Not just 'a movie,' a movie based on Christopher Priest's World Fantasy Award-winning novel THE PRESTIGE. (Published in the US by, ahem ahem, cough cough.) "

Suppose we discover that customers of TelCo, a residential ISP, are having trouble using the VoipCo Internet phone service, because of jitter problems. What might be causing this? One possibility is that TelCo is using delay discrimination, either minimal or non-minimal, with the goal of causing this problem. Many people would want rules against this kind of behavior.

Another possibility is that TelCo isn't trying to cause problems for VoipCo users, and in fact TelCo's management of its network is completely reasonable and nondiscriminatory, but for reasons beyond TelCo's control its network happens to have higher jitter than other networks have. Perhaps the jitter problems are temporary. In this case, most people would agree that net neutrality rules shouldn't punish TelCo for something that isn't really its fault.

The most challenging possibility, from a policy standpoint, is that TelCo didn't take any obvious steps to cause the problem but is happy that it exists, and is subtly managing its network in a way that fosters jitter. Network management is complicated, and many management decisions could impact jitter one way or the other. A network provider who wants to cause high jitter can do so, and might have pretextual excuses for all of the steps it takes. Can regulators distinguish this kind of stratagem from the case of fair and justified engineering decisions that happen to cause a little temporary jitter?

Update: Paul sez, "The CDC changed the definition of 'overweight' and 'obese" in 1998, making millions of Americans 'fatter' overnight."

Update 2: Steve sez, "According to the CDC's data _ALL_ the years are compared against a standard BMI measurement, BMI > 30, regardless of year."

Update 3: Jim sez, "One interesting feature of the CDC obesity data is that it's based on people's self-reported height and weight collected through telephone surveys, rather than being based on actual measurements of patients reported by doctors and physicians."

It's hard to imagine anything more perverse, really. Copyright is supposed to protect expression, but the BPI thinks that protecting its business should take precedence over due process or free speech. They want to be able to silence anyone whom they think might be breaking the law, without having to go to the expensive mediapathic bother of bringing a lawsuit, with evidence, and proving their case to a judge.

I actually attended a preliminary meeting on notice-and-termination the UN's World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) last year. WIPO is the entity that gave us notice-and-takedown, which is now embedded in Europe through the EUCD and in the USA through the DMCA. Notice-and-takedown allows people claiming to be be rightsholders to have any web-page removed from the Internet just by claiming that it infringes their copyright. The Church of Scientology uses this all the time to shut up its critics, and Diebold used it to suppress the publication of a whistle-blower memo that detailed the critical failings in their voting machines (for more examples of bogus takedowns, see Chilling Effects).

The music and movie and software industries are notoriously careless with their takedown notices. ISPs receive thousands of these at a time, generated by software. Kids' book-reports about Harry Potter, MP3s of lectures by university profs named Usher, and even copies of Linux are routinely mistaken for infringing materials by the takedown bots.

Notice-and-takedown is a censor's best friend, but as the music and film industry can attest, it hasn't made any kind of dent in copyright infringement. For one thing, it's wholly ineffective against P2P file-sharing -- notice-and-takedown only works on stuff hosted on an ISP's web-server, not on a customer's own PC.

The new proposal for notice-and-termination aims at creating an even more radical version of this judge, jury and executioner privilege the entertainment industry has secured for itself. Under notice-and-termination, you need only claim to be an aggrieved rightsholder to actually knock someone's DSL circuit offline.

This sounds like something similar to notice-and-takedown, but there's a gigantic difference: the cost of connecting a DSL circuit is vastly higher than the cost of putting some files on a web-server. Indeed, ISPs have told me that it can take years to recoup the cost of connecting a customer to the Internet.

If termination notices could be sent in the same volume (and with the same negligence) as takedown notices, it could potentially destroy ISPs, who would be forced to terminate customers -- on the mere say-so of the entertainment industry -- long before the customer had made a penny of profit for the ISP.

Indeed, I pointed this out to a rep of one of the industry lobby groups I met at WIPO and he agreed, but proposed a simple solution: ISPs could cripple their customers' Internet connections, throttling their bandwidth, banning certain protocols and spying on file-transfers and terminating anything that might be an infringement. By prohibiting all large file-transfers, by constraining upload speeds, and by blocking any non-Hollywood-approved protocols, ISPs could ensure that their businesses wouldn't be destroyed by an avalanche of termination notices.

And since this is being proposed as a United Nations treaty obligation, every ISP in the land would have the same restrictions, so no customer would be able to jump ship for a less censorious provider.

If this regime had been in place when VoIP was invented, there would be no VoIP -- after all, the protocol didn't exist, and for it to take hold, every ISP in the world would have to be convinced, a priori of its value and allow it at the firewall. Hell, this regime would have made the Web itself impossible; Tim Berners-Lee was smart enough to invent the Web, but would he have had the wherewithal to convince the world's ISPs to let http on port 80 through their liability-limiting firewalls?

The BPI is floating a trial balloon here, but it's not a coincidence that they're proposing something already under discussion at WIPO. Getting countries or even major ISPs to adopt notice-and-termination paves the way for the creation of a takedown treaty -- and the end of the Internet as we know it. Link (via /.!)

The game consists of 8 KB (8192 Bytes) of coding, graphics, musics and sounds. As the 2600 can only handle 4 KB of ROM at the same time, bankswitching is used to toggle between the two ROM-banks as if they were one. The intro and the musics are located in bank 2 while the main game is located in bank 1.

Due to differences between PAL- and NTSC-consoles, the game is programmed and released in two versions to fit both TV-standards.

The development was performed on a Pentium-PC using a normal Text-Pad as editor and DASM V2.12 as compiler. Testing was done using the emulator z26 V1.52 and V1.58 and on the real console of course.

The game will be released as a limited edition of 55 boxed, numbered and signed copies first. Afterwards the unlimited run (cartridge and manual only) will supply as many copies as requested.

An accompanying online feature at PBS.org explores the growing acceptance of comic books -- er, cough, graphic novels -- as a legit form of art and lit for adults, and includes interviews with six contemporary comic artists who talk about Hergé's influence on their work: Jessica Abel (La Perdida), Daniel Clowes (Ghost World), Phoebe Gloeckner (Diary of a Teenage Girl), Jason Lutes (Berlin), Seth, and Chris Ware (Jimmy Corrigan — The Smartest Kid on Earth).

Link to "Tintin and I" website with trailer and film background, and Link to web feature with artist interviews. (Thanks, Mike Minney)

Sherwood, a midwife who at times wore men's clothes, lived in what today is the rural Pungo neighborhood, and she later became known as "The Witch of Pungo." Her neighbors thought she was a witch who ruined crops, killed livestock and conjured storms, and she went to court a dozen times, either to fight witchcraft charges or to sue her accusers for slander. She was 46 when she was accused in her final case of using her powers to cause a neighbor to miscarry.

At News.com, Declan McCullagh reports the FBI plans to require ISPs to create wiretap hubs for surveillance. The draft legislation would also require networking gear manufacturers to build "backdoors" in equipment to enable eavesdropping. Snip:

FBI Agent Barry Smith distributed the proposal at a private meeting last Friday with industry representatives and indicated it would be introduced by Sen. Mike DeWine, an Ohio Republican, according to two sources familiar with the meeting.

The draft bill would place the FBI's Net-surveillance push on solid legal footing. At the moment, it's ensnared in a legal challenge from universities and some technology companies that claim the Federal Communications Commission's broadband surveillance directives exceed what Congress has authorized.

The FBI claims that expanding the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act is necessary to thwart criminals and terrorists who have turned to technologies like voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP.

"The complexity and variety of communications technologies have dramatically increased in recent years, and the lawful intercept capabilities of the federal, state and local law enforcement community have been under continual stress, and in many cases have decreased or become impossible," according to a summary accompanying the draft bill.

A serendipitous search by Vitalsecurity.org through the profiles on MySpace for adware companies revealed profiles belonging to Zango. The Zango profiles were crafted to push Zango's products to visitors.

One profile pushes a toolbar and programs for protecting "kids from predators," noted Vitalsecurity. The other profile launches what looks like a typical video player seen on many MySpace profiles when visited.

For the careless user who does not read the fine print in the popup video player, clicking the big red Play Now button places the Zango Search Assistant and its Toolbar on the user's system. It's a twist on the typical enticement to download software the user may not want if he actually knew what was being downloaded.

Hi Xeni –

In response to your inquiry regarding the verification process for International Calling, I am providing the info below to indicate that we have revised the verification process. Sprint Nextel is committed to protecting the privacy of its customers, preventing fraud and providing quick and responsive handling of customer calls.

To minimize our customers' wait time, for certain types of inquiries we employ an interactive voice response system (IVR). The process for enabling customers to sign up for an international calling plan includes an IVR identity verification process with checks and balances to prevent fraud and protect privacy.

The first step in this fraud prevention process involved an automated verification of a customer’s current address.

Although this process operated well within the bounds of applicable federal and state privacy laws, we recognize that there is a heightened sensitivity today by consumers to any use of their personal information, even when it is for fraud prevention purposes.

For that reason, Sprint has revised the process to further enhance security and prevent fraud.

Fortunately, a few kid bands are excellent. My favorite is Gwendolyn and the Good Time gang. Their lyrics are funny, and the music is clever and engaging. We saw them perform live in the woods of Topanga Canyon on Sunday, and it was the best live music performance I've seen since Joe Strummer played at the Troubador shortly before his untimely death. They put on a lively show.

If you have young kids, you owe it to your sanity to microwave the Barney and Gymboree CDs in your possession and seek out Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang. Link

Three questions come to mind. 1) Why is Hershey's in the business of selling regular milk? 2) And why would it insist on making the label look chocolately? -- it would be like Lipton selling a bottle of water with pictures of tea leaves and a lemon on it. 3) And why Hershey's they make the label opaque so you can't tell at a glance if the milk is flavored or not?

This label is a cognitive disaster. Imagine how upset the people are who buy this expecting chocolate milk and then take a swig of unflavored bovine mammary gland product.

(BK's crowns are fun, though. You've got to read the text printed on them sometime.)

Reader comment: John Binns says All of your other objections to the Hershey packaging were valid. But modern milk containers are opaque to preserve taste and vitamins.

Bilibo's iconic shell is a plastic kids’ toy that can be used, depending on the child and circumstance, as a seat, a rocking chair, a hat, a raft, a sled, or a turtle shell. "I love that adults always ask ‘what is it?’ but kids never do".

But here's another ad from the same company with the same setup. This time the mom is in the tub. Tao at Why, That's Delightful! is equally perplexed and bemused by these ads:

Incest, fascinating dental information, a child from a Michael Haneke film, a woman who thinks she's doing porno, a very bad pack shot and the sort of grammar you find in a 419 scam. I'm sorry, but this has it all!

On Friday, I posted word from BoingBoing reader Steve Parkinson that an automated Sprint Wireless phone system leaks customer data in the course of a poorly-designed process to authorize international calling (Link to BB post).

Here's what happens: You call a toll-free Sprint Wireless customer service number, then punch in a cell number (maybe yours, maybe a battered wife you're stalking). The voice-bot asks if you're [first name/last name] associated with the account. If you say "yes," the voice-bot then surrenders more of the accountholder's personal data including home address, and asks you to say "yes" or "no" to each piece of data. As Steve said,

[T]he two major problems are:

- this is useless as an identity checking mechanism, because the questions they ask have obvious answers
- they leak an enormous amount of personal information.

Thanks for raising this to our attention. We are looking into it very seriously and hope to be able to get back to you by Monday.

(1) Landline providers allow you to opt out of those directories.
(2) Cell customers don't expect their cellphone numbers and associated home addresses to show up in public directories.
(2) While the Sprint security issue doesn't leak SSNs or credit card numbers, it appears that in certain circumstances, the system surrenders other sensitive data like the names of other people who live with you. And a digg user commenting on this story wrote:

After I passed the test, second time, it said I am now authorized for international calling. It gave another number to call if it wasn't in effect within two hours. (888 [redacted]) When I called THAT NUMBER, and entered my cell phone number (it could have been ANYBODY'S number)....it first told me how much is currently owed on my account...SO they ARE giving away THAT information, for ANY number you put in.

[Name of another commenter] may indeed be absolutely correct that HE doesn't care that Sprint will give a name and address in exchange for a telephone number to anyone who asks, but not all people will agree. One of the numbers I gave to that Sprint voicebot was the number of a friend who is in a battered woman program. It gave her name and her current 'safehouse' address, and she WAS very concerned about that.

For myself, while there are not the safety concern, the fact that the billing address for number "X" is address "Y" is NOT public knowledge, nor should Sprint be broadcasting it to anyone who asks.

Thirdly, since this phony "security check" is for the purpose of turning on an additional high-priced service option, a more rational check needs to be made than one that GIVES a name and address and asks that you confirm it's right. Ridiculous!

The bugs were so thick that they showed up as a rainstorm of mayflies on National Weather Service radar.

For about 1 1/2 hours starting at 9 p.m., the insects drifted north, with the radar showing them blanketing areas along the Mississippi River.

"They were dive-bombing in the root beer floats," said Gary Rudy, owner of Rudy's Drive-In, whose family has been slinging burgers and soft drinks since 1966.

The hulking machine — a T-55, named for the approximate year in the last century when the model went into production — could have been a museum piece. Iraqi mechanics are able to keep it running only by scrounging through scrap yards, local markets and the wrecked hulks on old battlefields for parts that Soviet factories once churned out by the millions but that no one makes — and few even remember — anymore.

But this tank is more than a relic: it is the building block of the new Iraqi Army's first and only armored division. Through an American-sponsored program, the division, with more than 200 old Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers, has been rumbling through villages and fields in this area, trying to dampen insurgent violence.

(...) "The problem is not with the tanks," Colonel Habib said. The right leadership, he said, will make the Russian machines run like "the best tank in the world."

That may be an overstatement. The tanks, though still a formidable threat to fighters on foot, are badly outdated. The remarkably cramped gunner's seat inside the T-55 driven by Mr. Kareem, a soldier in the Iraqi Army, is surrounded by a riot of old dials, switches, belts, wires, cables, leather straps and crude optics along with manual controls for moving the turret and the main gun. Shells must be loaded by hand into the breech of the gun.

A 10' x 10' shack would take approximately 1000 bottles to build, but the Jamaican tourist industry would likely supply plenty. In addition, glass (and air) are good insulators, though the humid and hot Jamaican climate may not require insulation per se. A unique feature was that the short bottle neck would fit into a depression in the bottom of each bottle. Ultimately though, the idea was either (according to different accounts) voted down by the Heineken board, or vetoed by the bottle companies and the customers. Not much information is available on the World Bottle today, but there have been other attempts to make interlocking "bottle bricks", even of plastic.

Editing movies to delete objectionable language, sex and violence is an "illegitimate business" that hurts Hollywood studios and directors who own the movie rights, said U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch in a decision released Thursday in Denver. (...) Matsch ordered the companies named in the suit, including CleanFlicks, Play It Clean Video and CleanFilms, to stop "producing, manufacturing, creating" and renting edited movies. The businesses also must turn over their inventory to the movie studios within five days of the ruling.

Update: Here's an alternative design from last year's Goldsmith's College Degree Show -- thanks, Isotonic!

The US Census shows that there are about 300 million people living in the USA. Suppose that there are 1,000 terrorists there as well, which is probably a high estimate. The base-rate would be 1 terrorist per 300,000 people. In percentages, that is .00033%, which is way less than 1%. Suppose that NSA surveillance has an accuracy rate of .40, which means that 40% of real terrorists in the USA will be identified by NSA's monitoring of everyone's email and phone calls. This is probably a high estimate, considering that terrorists are doing their best to avoid detection. There is no evidence thus far that NSA has been so successful at finding terrorists. And suppose NSA's misidentification rate is .0001, which means that .01% of innocent people will be misidentified as terrorists, at least until they are investigated, detained and interrogated. Note that .01% of the US population is 30,000 people. With these suppositions, then the probability that people are terrorists given that NSA's system of surveillance identifies them as terrorists is only p=0.0132, which is near zero, very far from one. Ergo, NSA's surveillance system is useless for finding terrorists.

Modern cryptographic systems are essentially unbreakable, particularly if an adversary is restricted to intercepts. We have argued for, designed, and built systems with 128 bits of security precisely because they are essentially unbreakable. It is very easy to underestimate the power of exponentials. 2^128 is a very big number. Burt Kaliski first came up with this characterization, and if he had a nickel for every time I tell it, he could buy a latte or three.

Imagine a computer that is the size of a grain of sand that can test keys against some encrypted data. Also imagine that it can test a key in the amount of time it takes light to cross it. Then consider a cluster of these computers, so many that if you covered the earth with them, they would cover the whole planet to the height of 1 meter. The cluster of computers would crack a 128-bit key on average in 1,000 years.

If you want to brute-force a key, it literally takes a planet-ful of computers. And of course, there are always 256-bit keys, if you worry about the possibility that government has a spare planet that they want to devote to key-cracking.

Surprising Jump in Tax Revenues Is Curbing Deficit:
"Spending has not been restrained," Mr. Riedl said. "One hundred percent of the reduced deficit is because taxpayers are sending more money to Washington."

U.S. to Negotiate Russian Storage of Atomic Waste:
But the report also cited such an agreement as a way to foster cooperation on securing spent fuel and providing nuclear energy to nonnuclear nations seeking to develop their own enrichment facilities.

Ally Warned Bush on Keeping Spying From Congress:
A spokesman for Mr. Negroponte's office said he had not yet replied to the complaint.

At Colleges, Women Are Leaving Men in the Dust:
"I think men do better out in the world because they care more about the power, the status, the C.E.O. job," Mr. Kohn said. "And maybe society holds men a little higher."

For the Biennale, Gormley has shipped out his Asian Field, an installation of 180,000 hand-sized clay figurines. Three hundred and fifty villagers in southern China individually crafted the figurines in just five days from more than 100 tonnes of red clay. Together, the figurines form a vast sea of bodies that dominates the huge upper space of Pier 2/3. Lumpy and almost featureless, they eerily stare out with blank holes for eyes. As Gormley says, "The art is not there to be looked at; it is looking at you."

Wikipedia defines "flash mob" as

[A] group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, do something unusual for a brief period of time, and then quickly disperse. They are usually organized with the help of the Internet or other digital communications networks.

But when Mr Bedford, whose hypocrisy had earned him the ridicule and contempt of his female flock, and especially that of a group of hardened offenders known to Hobart Town as `The Flash Mob,' began to address the women from the dais, "on a sudden the three hundred women turned right round and at one impulse pulled up their clothes shewing their naked posteriors which they simultaneously smacked with their hands making a loud and not very musical noise.

This was the work of a moment, and although constables, warders etc. were there in plenty, yet 300 women could not well all be arrested and tried for such an offence and when all did the same act the ringleaders could not be picked out. The feeling of the Governor and her Ladyship may well be conceived..." — although it was said that her Ladyship managed to restrain her mirth until she was safely homeward bound in the viceregal carriage.

Reader comment: xiaolongnu says,

I'm an art historian by profession, so the first thing I noticed was the style of the image on the postcard. The pseudo-engraving on this postcard is done in a style that is clearly modern, not 19th-century. Obviously somebody was trying to imitate a 19th-century newspaper engraving, but this is not a reproduction of a period image. Thus the postcard itself (which is obviously modern) can't be considered evidence for the usage of the phrase "flash mob" in the 19th century. It may represent a later urban legend in Hobart, or it may reflect an actual usage from the past. The thing to do would be for a historian to locate "Rev. Robert Crooke's diary." If *he* used the phrase "flash mob" that would be proof of its 19th-century provenance. Similarly, a newspaper article from the period, etc., would serve as evidence -- but, sadly, this postcard does not. Does anybody have evidence for actual 19th-century sources that the postcard might be drawing on?

Google reveals that the image is a 2004 painting by Tasmanian artist Peter Gouldthorpe. The Flash Mob is an actual historical phenomenon -- more details about this group and Tasmania's other female convicts here: Link

I live about a kilometer away from the "Female Factory" (prison) where the incident occurred. Part of it is a memorial to the hundred of women and babies (The area was called the Valley of the Shadow of Death for this reason) At Cascades in South Hobart, Tasmania.

Whatever the age of the card the term "flash mob" referred to a real group of people, convicts and and local born, mostly young,who dressed 'flash' and were uppity and rude etc etc in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. In Aboriginal English today you can still here "pretty flash" for well dressed, well done as a general term of excellence.

The term mob is Australian English as the accepted collective noun for a group of Kangaroos, from the hoitytoity mobilus vulgaris. It has a wider usage than just "mob violence".

The Governor in question is the same Franklin who led the ill-fated expidition to find the North-West Passage and the whole crew went mad eating lead-sealed canned food and perished. He and his wife while governing Tasmania were the yuppies of their day, Romantic and capable. The story is the clash between two subcultures educated and refined Romantic yuppiedom and the 'flash mob' that the picture card illustrates. Some Links: from here,

"Watkin Tench, officer in the marines, commented not long after the arrival of the First Fleet, on the fact that the convicts were marked by their use ‘of what is called the flash, or kiddy language’, an ‘unnatural jargon’ that needed to be abolished in order to achieve reformation. The ‘infatuating cant’, he believed, was ‘more deeply associated with depravity, and continuance in vice, than is generally supposed’. Tench reflected the views of the British elite of the eighteenth century, who associated the lower classes with criminality, and despite their concern with reformation exhibited a voyeuristic fascination with the habits and culture of the so-called criminal class."

See also The Australian National Dictionary Centre, and Tassie Terms: A Glossary of Tasmanian Words, as well as Wikipedia entries for Female Factory, John Franklin, and Van Diemen's Land.

Another company, Alltrack USA, offers a service that e-mails or calls parents if the car they're monitoring exceeds a certain speed or leaves a defined geographic area. DriveCam, which now installs cameras in fleet vehicles, plans to offer a monthly service to parents and teens next year that will let them watch video clips of their driving and receive coaching from driving experts.

CarChip-type devices differ from the "black boxes," or event data recorders, installed by manufacturers in many cars to record speed and other data in the seconds before a crash. A California law that limits access to that data does not apply to the types of accessories parents are using.

Dale is from the south, and his work a full of moody southern gothic imagery, but it's a modern gothic, so that all of his stories seem to take place in a magic place that is part nostalgic 1960s Ray Bradbury territory, part modern, hard-boiled turf. There are ghost stories and horror stories here, but also science fiction and fantasy stories. They're all quite melancholy, but they sparkle with people doing good to one another as well.

I'm especially fond of the first two stories in the collection: The Resurrection Man's Legacy and Death and Suffrage. The former is the title story of the collection, and it's a fine, weird baseball story about a boy who is raised by a robot after his father dies. The robot teaches him to play ball, and then keeps his spinster aunt company after he goes away to the pro leagues. The descriptive stuff in this one is so lush that you can practically smell and taste the dusty house, the back fields, and the characters are drawn with sure and deft strokes, complete people who are neither good nor bad, but both by turns.

In Death and Suffrage, the dead rise up and vote after a DNC operative loses his cool on a talk show and savages his Republican opponent for being soft on gun control. The dead literally claw their way out of their graves on November 4 and demand the vote. This makes the story sound political, but it isn't, quite. It's the story of this political operative and how he got to be where he was, and what happened afterward. It's as good a story as I've ever read, the kind of thing that makes you laugh and then makes you nervous.

One of the stories, In Green's Dominion, is online at SciFiction, so you can check it out. The collection itself is a lovely hardcover from Golden Gryphon Press, who ship the kind of well-made artisanal product that is a treat to hold in your hands (and the great John Picacio cover doesn't hurt at that).

She frowned, glancing at the weed-grown churchyard and the crumbling building beyond. A right shoddy job he was doing of it, then. Someone ought to see about him.

Only then did she register the fact that he had answered her question. "A green man," he'd said. "They all have them."

It was true. Surveying the little cluster of graves, she caught glimpses of that odd, somehow frightening face peering out at her from the weathered sigil atop each stone. Those oddly slanted eyes. That curling tongue.

She looked back at the stranger. "Like in the poem?"

He shrugged. "I wouldn't know about that."

My friend Phil and I were going through a metal detector on the way out of Highbury & Islington tube on Friday evening around 8.30pm, on our way to a gig. Phil, who has a degree in physics, said to me in a low voice that the metal detector was a "piece of shit that wouldn't stop anyone". Obviously, someone was listening, as all of a sudden, half a dozen policemen jumped on him and hustled him over to the corner of the tube station, where he was detained for about 20 minutes for the grave crime of swearing in public, and fined £80 for the privilege. For swearing! On the tube! If it's such a crime, then I owe them about a million pounds, as swearing on and at the tube is the only way to deal with the pain of having to travel on the dratted thing every day.

The police were fucking rude, too, and treated Phil like he was a hardened criminal - they were really aggressive, and clearly wanted him to lose his temper so they could charge him with something worse. They said repeatedly he was very close to being arrested. For the terrible crime of swearing and calling their machine a piece of shit - which, as a physics graduate, he actually knows about. Phil co-operated fully and gave them every piece of ID you could think of, and allowed them to search his bag, but that wasn't enough for them - they just had to keep on firing questions. I got really upset and started crying through rage, frustration and fear. I also asked them very politely if this was the UK or the People's Republic of China. They then told me I was very close to being arrested, too.

Update: My name is Chris Wells and I do web development for the Quinn project. I would appreciate it if you could ask the BB crowd for a bit of advice (legal or otherwise) on the matter. Simon (Quinn's developer) and I are trying to figure out _for sure_ if we really have a legal leg to stand on, even if we couldn't afford a trial. If anyone would like to give us a little assistance, we have an archive of the original page and application to offer up. Chris's email: chris.wells@gmail.com

Update 2: Rob sez, "The Quinn (Tetris) program can still be downloaded from these locations: Link 1, Link 2