Here's an in-depth look at Tissot's "Synthetic" watches, the first analog watch-movements made (almost) entirely from plastic. They're quite striking -- some even included calendars.

The escapement is a conventional in-line Swiss lever type, but with all parts made from plastic, excepting the impulse pin. This is synthetic ruby, and is the one-and-only jewel the movement contains. The balance is provided with shock protection. Tissot designed a special shock protection device for this watch. It is similar to the Incabloc system, but the balance pivot runs in a 1-piece molded bushing. This is centered in a conical metal carrier by a 3 armed spring, visible on the top of the bearing.

Link (via Watchismo)

Reminder! Tomorrow, Tuesday, November 7, EFF Senior IP Attorney Fred von Lohmann will give a free public talk at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Fred is one of the world's leading authorities on copyright and digital freedom, a passionate advocate for both fans' and artists' rights, and for open innovation. He has fought battles in court, Congress, and the FCC over issues ranging from the Broadcast Flag to the Grokster case to the fight over Diebold voting machines to the DMCA. He's been involved in every important, precedent-settling, Earth-shattering battle over copyright in the past five years.

Fred is also a wonderful speaker. His talk is presented as part of my Fulbright Lecture Series at the Annenberg School at USC. All are welcome. It's not often that Fred gives public talks in LA, so this is a rare opportunity. Looking forward to seeing you there!

When: November 7, 2006, 7PM-9PM
Where: University of Southern California, Annenberg School, Room 207, Los Angeles

Link

The Center for Citizen Media has posted an extensive guide to the state-by-state rules on polling-place photography -- this is particularly relevant in this election, as Diebold' corrupt, inept voting machines come into play.

* Can you photograph or video your vote inside the polling station– either a paper ballot or electronic screen?
* Can you photograph or video yourself voting inside the polling station?
* Can you photograph or video others voting or the working of the polling station from within it?
* Can you photograph or video the polling station from outside it?
* Can you photograph or video people leaving the voting station?
* Can you ask people questions leaving the polling station and can you video or blog their answers?

Link

Episode #6 of the Boing Boing Boing podcast is ready for downloading. Our guest for this edition is author Steven Johnson, whose new book "The Ghost Map" my blog-mate Pesco describes as:

An account of an 1854 cholera outbreak on London's Broad Street [and] a magnificent combination of science thriller, cultural history, and celebration of cartography as a powerful tool to help us understand the dynamics of urban life.

Cory, Pesco and I talk with our guest about a slew of recent BoingBoing topics (Boy Scout MPAA badges, Borat vs. Mahir, Paul Allen's Brain Atlas, and Kevin Poulsen's MySpace hack), and about another big new release from Steven: Outside.in, a tool for participating in the online conversations taking place about your community within your community.

LISTEN:
Podcast Feed, Subscribe via iTunes, Direct MP3 Link (64K), other MP3 file download options from archive.org: Link, or listen at Odeo: Link.

Browse previous BB posts about Steven Johnson: Link.

* Steven Johnson's new book The Ghost Map
* Steven Johnson launches outside.in
* Steven Johnson's fave books about plagues

In convenience stores in Japan, the cashiers keep a supply of clear balls filled with a foul smelling orange liquid. What are they for? As the shop owner explains in this video, "if a robber comes in, please hit them." Link

The NIH has a nice collection of scanned anatomical books from the old days. Link (Via Ursi's Blog)

Geraldo and Jerry Springer would be proud of this video of a free-for-all that erupted on a Russian talk show. Link

If you have one of those espresso makers that use those expensive proprietary pods, here's a coffee pod maker that lets you use any kind of coffee you want (mmmm... Black Cat espresso pods, anyone?) Link

In the 1950s, two sisters named Helen and Betty Mitchell claimed to have met humanoid creatures from outer space in a St. Louis, Missouri coffee shop. We Met the Space People, written in 1959, is their account of the visitation. Judging by the book cover, the aliens looked a lot like Vulcans. Manybooks.net has released a free edition of this booklet in a variety of formats.

The space people that have negative qualities about them are coming from farther space systems, although I do not wish to imply that all space craft from farther systems is evil. Many of the craft from farther systems are very good and are also trying to help Earth; however, it is only those certain evil systems that we should consider when I say those from a farther system than our own. It is these negative beings who are here for the purpose of actually taking people from Earth to indoctrinate them with their ideas, so they in turn will cause confusion and disturbances upon the planet.

Link | Review on the Internet Sacred Text Archive

My two daughters think of me as some kind of novelty-producing machine. I'm expected to perform on demand when they ask for stories about my childhood (which must be "creepy, interesting, and real" or they don't count), magic tricks, or a "show" involving mouth sounds, finger-snapping, and expenditure of many calories on my part.

Lately, I've been scraping the bottom of the barrel for material. I've resorted to recycling stories to tell my three-year-old and challenging my nine-year-old to solve the "three houses, three utilities" problem. (She's going to be mad when she finds out it can't be done.)

I found Be the Coolest Dad on the Block just in time. Subtitled "All of the Tricks, Games, Puzzles and Jokes You Need to Impress Your Kids (and keep them entertained for years to come!)," this book is filled with stuff that has delighted my kids. The authors manage to cram an awful lot of great ideas into 186-pages. There are things to make, like bows and arrow, fire-starting kits, garbage bag kites, and instructions for making animated movies with Lego bricks. There are games to play on in cars and on plane rides and answers to questions like "Why is the sky blue?" and "Why is the sea salty?" I like the list of "misconceptions" the authors encourage you to share with your kids ("There's a parallel universe on the other side of mirrors where people exactly like us do exactly the same things.")

The first thing we did was make a duck call out of a drinking straw. We then modified it by poking holes in the straw so we could vary the pitch. My nine-year-old loves the "quick-fire puzzles" (Example: A man buys several loaves of bread at $1 a loaf and sells them at 25 cents a loaf. He does it again and again. Entirely as a result of this, he becomes a millionaire. How? ). I make her guess for a few minutes before giving her the answer (I'm not going to give you the answer, either).

I hope they come out with a follow-up book soon. Link

Leslie Moonves, CEO of CBS, announced last week that his network is shopping around for internet media companies. From the LA Times:

"We're not going to buy YouTube," Moonves said, referring to the wildly popular video-sharing website that Google Inc. agreed to acquire last month for $1.65 billion. "But it's not a bad idea to buy the next YouTube."

Today, CBS is expected to announce that it has hired a 35-year-old investment banker, Quincy Smith, to find the "next YouTube." "I appreciate the pressure," Smith said with a chuckle during an interview. The company named him president of its newly created CBS Interactive division. The move demonstrates that CBS, which is sitting on a stockpile of $3 billion in cash, is eager to make acquisitions to better position itself in digital media.

Link (Thanks, D.A.!)

Here's a timed test to see how quickly you can pick out the real logos in a line-up of imposters. I didn't do very well. Link (Via growabrain)

Second Attention hosts an inspiring collection of free video and audio lectures by psychedelic pioneers Alan Watts, Terence McKenna, and bOING bOING patron saints Robert Anton Wilson and Timothy Leary.
Link (via Reality Carnival)

Psychedelic mathematician and RealityCarnival blogger Cliff Pickover has launched a fun new blog, WikiDumper: The Official Appreciation Page for the Best of the Wikipedia Rejects. Cliff combs the submissions that the Wikipedians have flagged as inappropriate and preserves the best of them for posterity. The site's slogan is "Knowledge's Last Chance." I'm hooked. The first week's collection of Wikipedia rejects include such masterful entries as a list of songs about hair, drunk blogging, the Bonkum brand of sexual position furniture, and a list of celebrity laser eye patients. Link

My friend Dustin Hostetler, also known as UPSO, is an amazing illustrator whose work you might recognize from MAKE:, the Webby Awards, Threadless, Coachella, and a variety of vinyl toys. For five years now, Dustin has also published an excellent zine/book hybrid (zook?) called Faesthetic. It's a limited edition perfect-bound 200-page publication packed with original black and white art, photography, illustration, and graffiti with dozens of artists represented in each issue. (No articles, just art.) The last issue, #5, opened with several mind-blowing pages taken from Tim Biskup's sketchbook. Dustin just sent me the latest issue, #6, and every time I flip through it, I end up picking a new favorite page. Faesthetic #6, with a cover designed by Friends With You, sells for $24. Five hundred "collectors edition" copies of this issue, themed "LOVE & DEATH," are also available directly from Faesthetic.com with each one containing a bonus assortment of offset printed posters, stickers, and a mini-comic by Jonkers.

#6 features 94 artists and is 100% ad free! (in order of appearance):
Derek Ballard, Aye Jay, Michael Sieben, royalremarkableTM, Maya Hayuk, Michelle Blade, A Purdy, Brad Askew, hellovon, Matthew Peinado, Mansi Shah, Clayton Rochemont, Alexis Mackenzie, Hello Brute, NoPattern, Katy Horan, Maria Forde, Heiko, Jim Koch, Kelsey Brookes, Jason Wasserman, Reynaldo Vasquez, Chrissie Abbott, Blair Kelly, Abe Lincoln Jr. vs Outbreak, Aaron Winters, Peskimo, Steven Harrington, Robin Cameron, James Braithwaite, Ytje Veenstra, Ryan Riss, Mike Deye, Biff Baxter, James Hill, Irana Douer, Jens Andersson, Damien Correll, Andrea Campbell, Product HK, Howie Tsui, Kristy Milliken, Jaimie Reed, Matt Curry vs. eThos, Jonathan A. Murphy, Andy Rementer, Salvatore Schiciano, SteakMtn, Tiny Industries, Jason Brunson, Devious, Arran Ridley, Jennifer Garcia, Johannes Ekholm, Anke Weckmann, DopePope, M.J. Holland, saru.org, Scott Barry, Toby Neilan, Warren Heise, David Trumpf, Junichi Tsuneoka, Tomson Jenker, Ryan Santos, Matthew Robinson, Darin Bendall, Christopher Sleboda, Adam Garcia, Jeremyville, Josh Hassin, Jason Polan, Hiro Kurata, LaChienne, Zach Johnsen, Matthew Robinson, Ric Stultz, Gliese vs. Matthew Barnes, Colin Henderson, Will Ainley, Kim Scafuro, Prate™ Computer Channel, Randy Laybourne, Office Supplies Inc., Superblast, Niall McClelland, Matthew Chapman, Martin Vallin, UPSO, Myron Macklin & Mike Giant.

Link

This handsome giant sea horse is up for auction on eBay. Starting bid is US$899. Human not included. From the auction listing:

Comes directly from a Pennsylvania Estate and has never been offered before.

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING GIANT SEA HORSE 7' 6" TALL (90") x about 7" thick and PERFECTLY PROPORTIONED including HUGE EYES. If you want to attract attention, this is what you'll need to get the job done.

PRICE REDUCED. There's only one like this.

He has a metal grommet at top for hanging him from your ceiling or on the wall of your home, business, or restaurant. Perfect condition with no flaws ready to work inside or outside in the weather. Weighs about 75# or so. YOU'LL NEVER SEE ANOTHER LIKE THIS AGAIN, that's for sure. It is the best of the best and the asking price is far less than it's real value.

Link (Thanks, Michael-Anne Rauback!)

Last month, Japanese fishers caught a bottle nose dolphin with an extra set of fins near its tail. According to scientists, the mutation is just more evidence that the evolutionary ancestor of ocean mammals like dolphins and whales had four feet and lived on land. From the Associated Press:

Although dolphins and whales with odd-shaped protrusions near their tails have been caught in the past, researchers think this is the first one found with well-developed, symmetrical fins, (Taiji Whaling Museum director) Katsuki Hayashi said...

Fossil remains indicate that dolphins and whales were four-footed land animals about 50 million years ago and share a common ancestors with the hippopotamus and deer. Scientists believe they later transitioned to an aquatic lifestyle and lost their hind limbs.

Whales and dolphin fetuses show signs of hind protrusions but they disappear before birth.

Link (Thanks, Paul Saffo!)

Vidiot sez, "The immensely talented cartoonist Goopymart has posted a Flickr set of illustrations of 'Net-talk, such as "O RLY", "PWND", and others. They're brilliant and very funny." Link (Thanks, Vidiot!)

I've just finished Steven Levy's wonderful new book "The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture, and Coolness." The Perfect Thing is a thoroughgoing treatment of the iPod from many different perspectives -- social, economic, technical, psychological, packed with insights from one of the tech world's most astute observers.

I first read Levy in Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution, a book that served me as both edification and inspiration, something that continued with new classics like Crypto. Levy's special gift is the ability to simultaneously find the fine lines of the story that are visible in the minor details of, say, Steve Jobs's maunderings about Bob Dylan, and the wide brushstrokes of the social changes unfolding for the entire music industry as the result of the iTunes Music Store and the iPod.

The Perfect Thing is arranged as a series of stand-alone essays ("Shuffle," "Personality," "Cool," etc) and these chapters are shuffled into a different order in several different simultaneous editions of the book, so that each read creates new, serendipitous connections between the different facets of Levy's story. This worked surprisingly well (in my edition, anyway -- it's possible that some of the arrangements are less coherent).

The pieces are chock full of expertly selected, expertly told anecdotes, such as the L-train "iPod wars" in New York, where subway riders challenge one another to coolness battles that consist of facing off your iPod's current track against another rider's, to see who has the better taste. These are used as jumping off points for astute observations about the iPod and what it's doing to the world -- Levy's inside story of how the music industry was lured into getting locked into Apple's proprietary file-formats is gripping and quite enlightening.

The book isn't perfect -- neither is the iPod, of course. There was very little analysis of the way that the iPod is affecting the DRM wars in the US and abroad, and Levy is a little too sanguine about what it means for online music sales to be so thoroughly dominated by a single retailer, no matter how many images of Einstein and Gandhi show up in its advertising.

But Levy is onto something here. The impact of "shuffling," of carrying your collection in your pocket, of putting digital music in the hands of info-civilians who never would have put up with the crummy design and arcane interfaces of the early competitors -- these are big stories that will play out for decades yet, and Levy's book does the best job I've yet seen of categorizing and taking the measure of these great shifts. Link

US Army recruiters were secretly videotaped lying about the Iraq war to students working undercover for ABC news. The recruiters promised the students that the war in Iraq had ended and that they wouldn't be sent overseas. 105 troopers died in Iraq last month alone. One recruiter helped a student posing as a drug-addled dropout to forge his papers in order to gain admission.

"Nobody is going over to Iraq anymore?" one student asks a recruiter.

"No, we're bringing people back," he replies.

"We're not at war. War ended a long time ago," another recruiter says.

Link (via Making Light)