By Mark Frauenfelder at 4:54 pm Tuesday, Aug 1
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Art NYC has a two-part interview with one of my favorite painters, Amy Crehore.
Me: Why are your Pierrots always wearing blue and sometimes have their faces painted black? Is there any symbolism?
Amy: Well, they started out in white, but ended up blue. I needed some color, I guess, to contrast with red. But, blue is appropriate, I think. Like Picasso’s blue period. My pierrot is a mischievous and melancholy imp. He gets into trouble a lot. But, the girl is fond of him and they have a sort of ambiguous relationship.
The black face is a twist on the white make up that he usually wears and also relates to music/entertainment that was popular back in the 1920’s. And I think the black face adds something graphically to the paintings.
Link
By Mark Frauenfelder at 4:27 pm Tuesday, Aug 1
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Coop says: "The Woodland Hills home in which Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band recorded the legendary Trout Mask Replica LP is for sale.
"At $849,900, it's a little out of my price range, but man, what kinda crazy vibes must be in that place.
...
"I wasn't ready for Trout Mask. In fact, it freaked me out, and not in a good way. It was weird, crazy, chaotic noise, and I didn't listen to it again until a few years later. By then, I was a little older, and although no wiser, I had involved myself in enough bad-for-my-health recreational activities to have a new-found appreciation for the complex sound of The Magic Band's masterpiece. Now it's one of my favorites, (though my all-time favorite Beefheart LP is still the out-of-print follow-up, Lick My Decals Off, Baby.)"
Link
By Mark Frauenfelder at 4:05 pm Tuesday, Aug 1
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There's a great interview with Second Life's virtual reporter, W.
James Au, on
this
Week's NeoFiles talking about, among other things, emergent
behaviors by users.
AU: They created what they call a Camp Darfur. So it's like... tents and
campfire and photos of real life refugees in the real life Darfur...
This guy found a flaw in the building and he was able to trash the
whole camp. And some of it was racist. They started shouting
anti-African slurs and they started attacking the camp day after day.
Meanwhile on the other side of the camp, there's a group called The
Green Lantern Core... One of the guys is the Green Lantern -- he's got
the Green Lantern outfit on and he's this huge dude and he's got the
magic ring -- he heard about Camp Darfur getting attacked... And so now
the Green Lantern Core guards Camp Darfur.
And on the
RU
Sirius Show, RU talks with Scott J. Thompson about those infamous
meth tweekers in the Third Reich.
Link
By Cory Doctorow at 3:38 pm Tuesday, Aug 1
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Chris sez, "The CBC is looking for remixes of Wagner's The Ring - interested parties can download the original classical recording and the do as they please with it."
"Mash it, chop it, layer it, turn it upside down. Your remix can have a dance feel, or be completely avant-garde. Let your imagination be your guide."
Link
(
Thanks, Chris!)
By Mark Frauenfelder at 2:55 pm Tuesday, Aug 1
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Earth Oliver says: "I noticed earlier today you posted a link to a
flickrset containing images of the objects found at a county fair. Well, I have for you the other half of that picture: the humans who inhabit the fair! My name is Earth and I travel around Oregon and photograph the most interesting characters I find at county fairs and rodeos. I have images going back for six years and have recently begun publishing them on my site. So far I've posted most of my sessions from this summer and as soon as I find the time, I will be posting the rest."
Link
By Mark Frauenfelder at 2:48 pm Tuesday, Aug 1
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A 39-year-old gentleman, clothed in boxer shorts, was arrested after punching through a plate glass window with his his fist to gain ingress to a McDonalds quick service restaurant at 3am. Police were quick to arrive on the scene, but their attempts to capture Adalberto Cardoso were foiled, because he was covered in perspiration and his own blood, making him too slippery to grip.
Police surrounded Mr. Cardoso inside the restaurant but he escaped by jumping through a broken window. Outside, Mr. Cardoso encountered a police dog, punched it in the mouth and neck, and jumped back through the broken window into the restaurant.
The police re-entered the restaurant and found Mr. Cardoso standing on top of a shake machine. As the police approached, Mr. Cardoso "began throwing handfuls of milkshake at the police and the police dog, officers allege."
When Mr. Cardoso pulled the machine from the wall, the dog attacked him and knocked him to the ground. The quick-thinking Mr. Cardoso put the shake machine's 220-volt power cord in his mouth and announced, "I'm going to kill us all." When he bit into the electrical cord, the dog and three officers received electrical shocks. Mr. Cardoso released the cord after a police officer struck him on the shoulder with a fighting baton.
Mr. Cardoso was arrested and charged with cruelty to animals, breaking and entering, assault on police officers. and resisting arrest. Link (Thanks, Brokbrok!)
By Cory Doctorow at 2:39 pm Tuesday, Aug 1
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These NASA photos show nacreous clouds in the troposphere -- these are clouds that look like "a merger between a cloud and a rainbow."
Link
More nacreous clouds
(
Thanks, Asgard!)
By Cory Doctorow at 2:35 pm Tuesday, Aug 1
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These $25 Tyvek wallets that look like folded-up dot-matrix paper are pretty sweet -- the store also sells nice wallets that look like
folded up newspapers and
air-mail letters.
Link
(
Thanks, Ape Lad!)
By Cory Doctorow at 2:32 pm Tuesday, Aug 1
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A waitress who'd recently had her wallet stolen carded a young drinker at her place of work; the patron handed her her own stolen drivers' license:
As the waitress called police, the woman apparently got suspicious and took off, according to police. She was identified by a friend as Maria Bergan, 23.
Bergan was arrested at her home Saturday night and remains in the Westlake City Jail. She has been charged with identity theft and receiving stolen property.
Link
(
via Digg)
By Cory Doctorow at 2:29 pm Tuesday, Aug 1
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This May, 1945 article from Popular Science tells the story of how American POWs in a Nazi prison camp were smuggled a custom Donald Duck logo prepared by the Walt Disney Studios on the back of a Red-Cross delivered postcard.
DRY YANKEE HUMOR is puzzling guards at a German base prison camp for Allied airmen, since American POW’s there decided to adopt insignia to show their new status. The postcard below, sent by Capt. Robert H. Bishop, a bomber navigator now at the camp, brought the design at the right from the Walt Disney studios to Germany, via the Red Cross.
Link
By Mark Frauenfelder at 2:26 pm Tuesday, Aug 1
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Last week I posted a
video about some kids who used a motorscooter to spin a couple of girls around in a playground merry-go-round, very fast. The girls flew out of the merry-go-round, and it is a wonder they didn't get killed.
Police in Crawley, West Sussex saw the video and are now looking for the kids -- presumably to arrest, DNA test, interrogate, and lock up (as they did to some kids who committed the grave offense of climbing a tree).
A spokesman for Crawley Borough Council described the stunt as "phenomenally dangerous" and said it could have ended in a fatality.
"It is a bit like Jackass but this is a lot more dangerous because it involves children rather than people old enough to know better," he said.
Link (Thanks, Homers Brain!)
Reader comment:
Corey says: "With regards to the motor scooter/merry-go-round story: a girl was killed two years ago doing this same stunt." Link
By Mark Frauenfelder at 12:56 pm Tuesday, Aug 1
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Zach says:
Here's a recent article from the Des Moines Register about Cory Neddermeyer, a recovering alcoholic who was fired from an ethanol plant for drinking spilled ethanol. From the article:
"I am a recovering alcoholic, and I thought about the availability of this alcohol throughout the day," he wrote in a statement later provided to state officials. "Curious about the taste and its effects, I dipped into this lake of liquor and drank what I considered to be 2 to 3 ounces. The next thing I remember is waking up in Crawford County Memorial Hospital."
What makes this story even better is the following legal battle for unenmployment benefits where Mr. Neddermeyer argues that his employers are partly to blame for this because the spill provided an opportunity for him to drink the fuel. Unfortunately for him, the judge found that "The employer has a right to expect employees not to drink the fuel...Just because some of the ethanol leaked onto the floor is not a good reason for the claimant to drink automobile fuel."
Link
By Cory Doctorow at 12:15 pm Tuesday, Aug 1
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Michael sez, "I work at the Federation of American Scientists as their Director of Biology Policy. This summer, my intern took on a
monumental project: Build a website that provides better public preparedness information than the Department of Homeland Security’s
ready.gov site. She was able to create a better public preparedness website than the Department of Homeland Security in two months."
PROTECT YOUR FACILITIES
* Attach equipment and cabinets to walls or other stable equipment
* Place heavy or breakable objects on low shelves
* Move workstations away from large windows
* Elevate equipment off the floor to avoid electrical hazards in the event of flooding
* Install fire extinguishers and smoke detectors in appropriate places
* Consider if you could benefit from automatic fire sprinklers, alarm systems, closed circuit TV, access control, security guards, or other security systems
* Secure all the ways in which people, products, supplies and other things enter and leave your facility
Link
(
Thanks, Michael!)
By David Pescovitz at 12:15 pm Tuesday, Aug 1
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Today's New York Times Science page looks at how 17th century alchemy, a DIY trial-and-error approach to discovery, had a profound impact on the practice and business of modern chemistry. The article is pegged on an exhibition about titled "
Transmutations: Alchemy in Art" and last week's
International Conference on the History of Alchemy and Chymistry, both at the Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philadelphia. Seen here, Hendrick Heerschop's "The Alchemist's Experiment Takes Fire" (1687, oil on canvas laid down on board, 21" x 17 1/2"). From the NYT:
“Experimentalism was one of alchemy’s hallmarks,” said Lawrence M. Principe, a historian of science at Johns Hopkins University and a trained chemist. “You have to get your hands dirty, and in this way alchemists forged some early ideas about matter.”
Bent over boiling crucibles in their shadowy laboratories, squeezing bellows before transformative flames and poring over obscure formulas, some alchemists stumbled on techniques and reactions of great value to later chemists. It was experimentation by trial and error, historians say, but it led to new chemicals and healing elixirs and laid the foundations of procedures like separating and refining, distilling and fermenting.
“What do chemists do? They like to make stuff,” Dr. Principe said. “Most chemists are interested not so much in theory as in making substances with particular properties. The emphasis on products was the same with some alchemists in the 17th century.”
Link
By Mark Frauenfelder at 12:06 pm Tuesday, Aug 1
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"This kayak-canoe hybrid has a transparent polymer hull that offers paddlers an underwater vista of aquatic wildlife and waterscapes unavailable in conventional boats." It's yours for just $1,459.95.
Link (Via CubeMe)
By Mark Frauenfelder at 12:00 pm Tuesday, Aug 1
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Jason Wishnow says:
Jeff Han's talk from TED 2006 just went live -- in it, he demonstrates his multi-touch interactive computer interface. Tthe interface has been blogged before but this talk offers a really solid explanation of how the technology works and its kinda mesmerizing. Link
As an aside, a completely different tedtalk i'd recommend you check out is Larry Brilliant - he tells his story of leading the W.H.O.'s eradication of smallpox in india (and the world).
Link
By Mark Frauenfelder at 11:55 am Tuesday, Aug 1
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Sean Carton says:
Unfortunately, this is not a joke...and this is not an old video. Appalachian State University put out this video last year and it instantly became a viral hit amongst the educational community. It's probably THE worst educational recruitment video ever and possibly one of the worst songs ever recorded. From the production values to the obsessive use of the same transition to the incredibly lame imagery used in the video, this one takes the cake on almost every level. It's so bad that it's destined to become a classic.
Link
By Mark Frauenfelder at 11:51 am Tuesday, Aug 1
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The
Daily Mail reports that three 12-year-old children were caught climbing a tree on public land (and breaking some loose branches to build a clubhouse).
Their shoes were removed and mugshots, DNA samples and mouth swabs were taken.
Questioned by police, the scared friends admitted they had broken some loose branches because they had wanted to build a tree house, but said they did not realise what they had done was wrong.
Officers considered charging the children with criminal damage but eventually decided a reprimand - the equivalent of a caution for juveniles - was sufficient.
Although the reprimand does not amount to court action and the children do not have a criminal record, their details will be kept on file for up to five years.
Link
Reader comment:
Jay pointed out this news story about the incident:
"Superintendent Stuart Johnson, operations manager at Halesowen police station, said: 'I support the actions of my officers who responded to complaints from the public about kids destroying an ornamental cherry tree by stripping every branch from it'"
Incidentally, most DNA swabbing methods aren't really an invasive procedure, and no less scary than having your finger prints taken. They've been a part of standard processing in all police detainments in the UK because of 'public outcry' and claims that they could have been stopped some high profile child abuse cases if 'the police had known who they were'. It's vaguely hypocritical of the Daily Mail to be complaining about something they were partially responsible for in the first place.
Basically, a case of a pair of young yobs being caught vandelising a public park, and being run through the 'system' to give them a shock before being let of with a warning.
By David Pescovitz at 10:47 am Tuesday, Aug 1
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The British Egg Information Service developed an egg emblazoned with an invisible ink label that turns black when the egg is cooked. The new eggs will go on sale this fall. From the Times Online:
All you need to do is decide whether you prefer your eggs soft, medium or hard-boiled, and buy accordingly.
A spokeswoman for Lion Quality Eggs, the service’s quality assurance scheme, said: “We had a lot of inquiries. We said OK, this is a big issue – people can’t even boil an egg.”
Link
By David Pescovitz at 9:46 am Tuesday, Aug 1
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This week, the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh opens a huge Ron Mueck exhibition. As BB readers know, Mueck creates incredibly detailed sculptures of hyperreal figures. (Previous BB posts about Mueck
here and
here.) From an article in The Telegraph
(photo by Gautier Deblonde/Anthony d'Offay Gallery):
The studio is a workshop packed with tools and equipment, some of which Mueck has invented for his own ends. Scattered on the floor were anatomical text books, photography, hair pieces and bits and bobs of semblances of human anatomy. The pinboard displayed shots of babies' faces, mythological creatures, grotesque faces, cartoon-like figures, and close-ups of eyeballs. Susanna Greeves, a former director of the Anthony d'Offay Gallery, who has worked with the artist for many years, says that Mueck 'lavishes extraordinary care on hand-making his model's eyes in many stages, building up a transparent lens over a coloured iris and deep black pupil. When he finally inserts them, the effect is startling...'
Advances in technology have enhanced his technique, but much of his actual process has been used by sculptors down the ages. He makes plaster maquettes to test ideas, does drawings of various sizes and takes decisions on the scale of the piece. He then sculpts the figure in clay with all the lifelike touches that will appear in the final sculpture. A mould is made of the clay figure and he casts it out in fibreglass resin and silicone. The skin of his figures, which tempts people to peer at it to see if it could be real, is built up from layers of silicone. The lower layers are impregnated with pigment, resulting in a finish that has the slight transparency of the real thing. Each hair is sewn by hand.
Link to Telegraph article,
Link to National Galleries of Scotland site
(via We Make Money Not Art)
By David Pescovitz at 9:11 am Tuesday, Aug 1
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A couple in Framingham, Mass. were busted for running a basement cosmetic surgery clinic after liposuction surgery they performed killed one 24-year-old "patient" and hospitalized another. Luiz Carlos Ribiero, who claims to be an MD in Brazil, is charged with practicing medicine without a license. He and his wife, Miranda Ribeiro, who acted as a nurse, are also charged with illegal distribution of narcotics. For several years, the Ribeiros, who pleaded not guilty, have offered liposuction, lip augmentation, and nose jobs on the down-low. From the Boston Globe:
Illegal cosmetic surgery by unlicensed doctors appears to be a growing problem in the United States, and authorities have discovered similar underground clinics in California and Florida in recent years. They are especially prevalent in immigrant communities, where women may not have the money to pay for surgery from a licensed physician and where strong community networks easily circulate the names of illegal practitioners who speak the immigrants' language...
Renata Lagares, 28, said in an interview conducted in Portuguese that a friend told her about the illegal clinic. Luiz Carlos Ribeiro injected her lips, did a procedure on her nose, and performed liposuction on her midsection Saturday, which took two hours.
``My lips turned black, and they began to hurt, so I went to the MetroWest [Medical Center] Sunday night," she said. She said that doctors gave her antibiotics for an infection and that the Ribeiros charged her $1,400. ``I never heard of anything bad happening to anyone in the whole time he's been doing this," she said.
Lagares said the basement was tidy and contained a small brown sofa and a washer and dryer. In the middle of the room was a massage-style table covered with white sheets. ``A friend of mine, she had the liposuction done while I was there, and she bled a lot," Lagares said. ``The sheets were covered in blood, but when it was over, he took the sheets and put them in the washer."
Link (free reg. required, try
BugMeNot for login/password)
(Thanks, Paul Saffo!)
By Mark Frauenfelder at 8:36 am Tuesday, Aug 1
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My friend
Jeff Voris went to the Orange County Fair on Saturday and took some photos. Here are three favorites.
1) A collection of Star Trek bears from the Hall of Collections, possibly the coolest hall ever;
2) A cartoon machine gun on a shooting gallery booth on the midway;
3) A booth that offered not just deep fried Twinkies, Oreos, and pickles, but also a chicken sandwich served on a Krispy Kreme donut.
Complete Flickr set here:
Link
By David Pescovitz at 7:48 am Tuesday, Aug 1
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William "Bill" Smatt has written what appears to be a delightful nonfiction book revealing that George W. Bush is the Messiah.
Left Bumper has a bit more information on this, including a reference to Smatt's previous book, "A Millionaire's Cocaine Encounter." And there's more, including mentions of Smatt's links to Jamaica and an alleged drug smuggling investigation, in this dense
post on Cannonfire. None of that really interests me as much as the cover of the book though, which I think is a real hoot.
Link (Thanks, Vann Hall)
By Cory Doctorow at 7:15 am Tuesday, Aug 1
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An Oregon judge has ruled that fixed-gear bicycles -- which use the rider's leg-power to brake them -- are illegal, and must be outfitted with traditional lever/caliper brakes. The cyclist who was ticketed for the offense fought it in traffic court, and was represented by a pretty sharp attorney, judging from the partial transcript here. It seems obvious that "fixies" should be lawful, since they can satisfy the statutory requirement that bikes be "equipped with a brake that enables the operator to make the braked wheels skid on dry, level, clean pavement. strong enough to skid tire." Nevertheless, the judge ruled against the cyclist -- I hope she appeals.
Now it was time for Officer Barnum to ask questions. He asked Holland,
"What would you do if your chain broke?"
Holland:
"I would use my feet."
Officer Barnum:
"What if your leg muscles had a spasm?"
Holland:
"I'm not sure...these are emergency situations."
Ginsberg interjected with a question for Holland:
"Did any of these situations happen on the day you were stopped?"
Holland:
"No."
Link
(
Thanks, Fipi Lele!)
Update: Emily sez, " Fixed gear bikes can have a front brake, and often do.
Track bikes, TRUE track bikes, do not have a place or a way to attach
a front brake."
By David Pescovitz at 7:03 am Tuesday, Aug 1
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In 1968, Otto Preminger made
Skidoo, a psychedelic film starring Jackie Gleason as a mobster, Groucho Marx as the kingpin, and Mickey Rooney as a snitch. Throw in some LSD and you've got the makings of a very strange cinematic trip. BB pal Richard Metzger of
Disinformation points out that the trailer for Skidoo is now on YouTube and it's a gas. Dig the testimonials from BB patron saint Dr. Timothy Leary, Sammy Davis Jr., and other icons of the time. As Tim says, "Can you imagine Groucho Marx being God?"
Link (Thanks, Richard!)
UPDATE: If you'd like to watch Skidoo in its entirety, BB reader
Chris Joseph says that this Torrent is still
being seeded! Readers ask that people who downloaded Skidoo please return to seed the file for a while. Link
By Xeni Jardin at 6:44 am Tuesday, Aug 1
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Over at politech, Declan McCullagh
writes,
On Monday the Bush administration appealed its loss in the AT&T/NSA wiretapping case to the 9th Circuit. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker had ruled on July 20 that EFF's case alleging illegal cooperation with the NSA could proceed.
I've placed some of the briefs filed today online here:
PDF Link to DOJ motion, PDF Link to Plaintiff's brief, PDF Link to ATT brief.
Link to Declan's story at News.com.
By Cory Doctorow at 6:23 am Tuesday, Aug 1
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Skede chairs are made out of skateboard decks, and you can swap out the standard plank and replace it with your own "old-skool deck or one your own favorite, heavily lipslided decks."
Link
(
via Cribcandy)
