Over at Valleywag, Paul Boutin writes,

Hold the phone. Take a closer look at the image that took over Apple's front door this week. It's 744 pixels wide and 420 high. Recognize that ratio? Those are the 16:9 dimensions of an HDTV screen, not the 4:3 of iTunes video downloads. Apple's teaser does recall the Monolith of 2001: A Space Odyssey, whose only readable information was the perfect 1 to 4 to 9 ratio of its sides.

To be precise, they're 1.5 pixels off from being a perfect 16 to 9, but whatever. More likely Cupertino's perfectionist artists wanted to make it look exactly right to human eyes. I hesitate to go against the rumor mill, but where are home consumers spending most of their money now? On big-screen TVs that say Phillips, Sony, Panasonic --- every logo but Apple's in the most sacred spot in the house.

Link to full post. Macworld takes place this coming week, January 8-12, at Moscone Center in San Francisco. At 9am Pacific on January 9 Apple CEO Steve Jobs will deliver the expo keynote, and we'll learn whether Paul is a psychic, or a pixel ratio conspiracy theorist.

Following up on an earlier BoingBoing post about a court decision in Brazil to "shut down" YouTube over an unathorized celebrity sex video (links to the video file here), Bruno Maestrini says:

Brasil Telecom, a popular ISP in Brazil has already banned user access to youtube.com. As far as I know all other ISPs are still normal.

I, as a journalist, have tried to reach Brasil Telecom without any success. The only way I got to talk to them was through customer support, and they told me that the problem was with the company that authenticates my login. That sounds stupid. I have interviewed people from all around Brazil using BrT and none of them could access YouTube, except with a foreign proxy.

Janio Sarmento says,

Here's a story about how ADSL users from BrT are now prevented from accessing YouTube. BrasilTelecom is one of the major phone companies and bandwidth providers, and they just blocked YouTube, without a single word for the customers.

If your ISP blocks access to specific websites, some of the tips in the BoingBoing document "Defeat Censorware" may help -- including Tor.

Previously on BB:

Brazil orders YouTube shut down over celebrity sex video

Reader comment: Solon Brochado says,

I just wanted to note that, even though I do find the timing suspicious and Brazilian ISPs track record is definitely not a good one, it is still possible that this is just some sort of screw up on their part. About a year ago, lots of people - in particular those who used Virtua, the country's largest cable ISP - found that all of a sudden they were unable to access Flickr's image server (static.flickr.com), even though the site was working just fine.

In the NYT, John Markoff covers the botnet phenomenon -- networks of compromised home PCs that are remote-controlled and used to send spam, blackmail net-casinos with denial of service shakedows, and harvest credit-card data and other valuable intel. I keep hearing that botnet numbers are swelling (which makes sense -- if Internet Explorer was insecure for 284 days last year, that's a lotta pwned PCs). If that's so, I would expect that the value of botnet time would be crashing -- I wonder when it'll become too cheap to even sell... Who needs volunteer PCs for Folding@Home when some Bulgarian hacker will sell you a month on a ten-million PC botnet for ten bucks?

ShadowServer, a voluntary organization of computer security experts that monitors botnet activity, is now tracking more than 400,000 infected machines and about 1,450 separate I.R.C. control systems, which are called Command & Control servers.

The financial danger can be seen in a technical report presented last summer by a security researcher who analyzed the information contained in a 200-megabyte file that he had intercepted. The file had been generated by a botnet that was systematically harvesting stolen information and then hiding it in a secret location where the data could be retrieved by the botnet master.

The data in the file had been collected during a 30-day period, according to Rick Wesson, chief executive of Support Intelligence, a San Francisco-based company that sells information on computer security threats to corporations and federal agencies. The data came from 793 infected computers and it generated 54,926 log-in credentials and 281 credit-card numbers. The stolen information affected 1,239 companies, he said, including 35 stock brokerages, 86 bank accounts, 174 e-commerce accounts and 245 e-mail accounts.

Link (via /.)

Ruth Whiting has a show of her oil-paintings of giant power-cords on in Gainesville, Florida. I thoroughly approve. Link (Thanks, Ruth!)

Link, $16 for a pair of four "emotibuds." (Thanks, shanalyn)

AKI International's laser-cut DIY models are insanely cool -- they piece together to make weird, volumetric shapes that suggest everything from human forms to fanciful animals; they can also be used as packaging, surrounding fragile bottles and other goods. They've even got a full-sized mannekin intended for clothing stores.

Materials such as acrylic, corrugated cardboard, wood, and metals are used to construct models, which are designed in 3D by computer and then precision cut by laser. This allows for fast and easy assembly, and attractive finished products.

Link (via Gallery of Functional Art, which should REALLY put more of its stunning inventory online!)

From Iconoculture: "Duda Farm Fresh Foods in Florida has engineered celery stalks with hollow centers." The celery can be used as a Bloody Mary straw or an edible swizzle-stick. Link (via Neatorama)

Teresa Nielsen Hayden has written up a list of her own Devil's Dictionary-style definitions of publishing terms as an adjunct to Paperback Writer's "Devil's Publishing Dictionary" (part 1, part 2):

Cover Art; Book Jacket: A small poster advertising the book to potential readers. Authors who have failed to take into account the fact that it has been bound to the outside of the book, rather than printed on an interior page, will often come to the mistaken conclusion that it is meant to illustrate the story, and be distressed by its inaccuracy.

Earn Out: To the author, proof that the publisher didn’t pay enough for the book.

E-book (electronic book): The publishing format that has the highest ratio of “time spent discussing it in meetings” to “copies sold.”* Authors fondly believe that tens of thousands of readers who’ve passed up the opportunity to buy attractive, inexpensive hardcopy editions of their works will nevertheless go to great effort to illegally download wonky, badly formatted e-texts of the same books in order to read them in Courier on their computer screens.

Managing Editor: In trade book publishing, the person in charge of production. Normally, there are multiple layers of insulation between the author’s behavior and the Managing Editor’s production decisions. That’s a good thing.

Mass Market: A smaller, cheaper edition of a hardcover novel that is nevertheless more difficult, expensive, and uncertain to publish.

Link

These intrepid PC builders decided to convert their machines to water-cooled, ripping out the fans -- and for water, they used an entire nearby swimming pool, hooking up a pump that circulates cool pool-water through their PCs and back into the pool. Thus, they get "quieter, cooler" computers and a warmer pool.

Cooler, quieter computers and [possibly] warmer pool water with very little extra cost and added energy savings...

This is the plumbing around the pool without modification. We can see where there are two returns on this corner from the filter pump.

Next, we insert a check valve into the system. This has no affect on the operation of the filter pump but it will come in handy later.

Water for the cooling system will be drawn in from the upstream side of the check valve and returned after the output of the check valve. This ensures that even when the filter pump is turned off, fresh pool water is drawn in and returned to different areas of the pool.

Link (via Digg)

I'm not sure how new this is, but it's the first time I've noticed. In this Charlie Rose Show clip on video.google.com, Google ads are built into the stream, and appear a slightly different color from the rest of the buffered content. (Thanks, captaindave)

The Game Dutch is a Japanese chest-pillow intended for heavy players of handheld consoles. You prop the bottom on your crossed ankles and rest your chin on the top, letting you look down at your tight-clenching hands for extended hours of supported gaming fun. Link

Bodo sez, "Creative Commons Hungary, Tilos Radio, Hungary's first and foremost non-profit community radio, and Nomada, a enormously gifted band playing gypsy music last year have announced a remix contest based on Nomada's Aven le Roma! - Here come the gypsies! song. The selection was done by Dj Palotai and two well known roma musicians Mitsou and Szakcsi Lakatos Bela. The remix album is now online and downloadable in mp3 and in uncompressed formats along with the covers under a CC Attribution- Non-commercial- Share Alike license." Link (Thanks, Bodo!)

An intrepid Torontonian snapped this Jag with custom Ontario tags reading PWNED. This tops the Jedi lorry I snapped in London, but not my own new vanity tags: COPYFYT (if I do say so myself) (and I do). Link (Thanks, David)

See also:
Proud owner poses with GOATSE license plate
Another F Dubya license plate
Conspiracy license plate
Help find stolen WEB GEEK license plate
GOTMILF? Not anymore, for vanity plate car owner
Hacker license plate gallery

Update: Rob sez, "Speking of PWN3D, I've seen this cherry red Lotus parked around Capitol Hill. Haven't noticed the Civic yet."

Update 2: Will's plates read KHAAAAAN!

Update 3: Charles sends in Beetle with a FEATURE plate -- it's not a bug, it's a feature.

Update 4: Samuel sez, "my own tags (RM -RF *) are here. (I tell Unix users that it's safe, since I backed up in the driveway. Non-Unix users ask me to explain it, and the best I can come up with is 'I am become Death, the Eraser of Filesystems')"

Update 5: Andy sez, "Here is a link to the plates that Jet Propulsion Lab people sport on their cars. Viva space nerds!"

Update 6: Ryan sez, "I thought you might be amused by my little vanity-plate homage to your fellow cyberpunk superstar Neal Stephenson."

Update 7: Daniel sez, "Our 'meta' license plate, reflecting our obsession with metadata of all sorts, might fit the hackerly license plate bill."

Update 8: Matt's got some nice data on the plates at Fermilab (CQUARK, DO TOP 1, TP QUARK, QUARK).

The "Evolver" t-shirt is sweet -- a visual riff on the cover of the Beatles' Revolver mashed with some science-lovin', intelligent-design-refutin' evo-bio. If you're a proud Beatles fan and a proud ape-descended hominid, this is the best way to show it. Link (via Preshrunk)

A Boing Boing reader named Jason kindly sent me this copy of a fantastic book from 1965 called The Flintstones Meet the Gruesomes. The lively illustrations are by George De Santis. Thanks, Jason! Link goes to three photos of the book. Link

Previously on Boing Boing:
• World's most disappointing purchase -- crummy Flintstones book Link
• When did The Flintstones start to suck? Link
• Prankster puts toy dinosaur in front of volcano-cam Link

I'm going to be on the Bree Walker show on Air America today from 2-4pm Pacific time. You can listen to a live stream here. Link

Rich Kulawiec says,

The TSA is planning to inflict commercial advertising on travelers passing through its checkpoints. Apparently it's a swap: advertisers provide "divestiture bins, divestiture and composure tables, and [...] return carts" (gotta love that terminology) and in return they get to display ads on the bins. The question becomes: which advertisers wish to associate their goods and services with this fiasco?

Link to article in Aviation Now, via Infowarrior (Richard Forno) and Interesting-People (David Farber) mailing lists. I remember receiving mail from BoingBoing readers earlier in the year -- people who spotted ads on bins in the screening areas, and said "WTF?" -- according to this report, a pilot program has been in effect since July, 2006.

Reader comment: Cybele says,

I posted on www.blogging.la earlier this week about advertising on the plane (not new). But the funniest part that I think is so appropriate is the media agency (SkyMedia) that sells these types of ads uses the tag line:

"Affluent.Captive.DecisionMakers."

I can't think of anything that more truly reflects our feelings of how trapped we are by the system.

Jesse says,

I can think of one advertiser that should be falling all over themselves to advertise at TSA screening points: The EFF. "Sick of having your 4th ammendment rights violated here? Join the EFF." ... or perhaps something a bit less inflamatory. I'd give a chunk of change toward seeing that happen ;)

That's a pretty awesome idea. Photoshop brigade, are you there?

David of Ironic Sans blog says,

Your post about the TSA bins reminds me that almost a year ago, I wrote this prediction about advertisements in airplanes on the overhead carry-on bins (with a rendition of what it might look like): Link.

Ian says,

Apropos to ads on airport bins, join this pledge:

If the ACLU applies and is accepted, I'll donate $500 for the ACLU to buy bins that advise people of their rights when passing through airport screening.

Link.

EdA says, "A terrible ice storm plagued the midwest (of the USA) from 12/29-12/31 2006. A friend of mine is a pole worker out there and sent me a link to some incredible photos." Link. Above, a confused cow surrounded by ice-coated grass that can't be chewed. This is another great shot: JPEG Link.

Update: BB reader Sarah corrects my previous, erroneous subject line:

These pictures are actually from central/south Nebraska, not Montana. This is the same storm that dropped a bunch of snow on Colorado (which got all the press).

Momofuku Ando, the man who invented instant ramen and founded Nissin Foods, died Friday of heart failure at 96 years of age. As any hungry cosmonaut or broke college student knows, his creation truly is a miracle food:

Ando was inspired to develop the instant noodle after coming upon a long line of people on a cold night shortly after World War II waiting to buy freshly made ramen at a black market food stall, according to Nissin. The experience convinced him that "Peace will come to the world when the people have enough to eat," it said.'

(...) In July 2005, Nissin introduced a vacuum packed instant noodle specially designed for Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi to eat during a mission aboard the U.S. space shuttle Discovery. Showcasing his Space Ram noodles, Ando said, "I'm happy I've realized my dream that noodles can go into space."

Link to Sydney Morning Herald, Link to The Age (Australia), Link to AP. See also the "Instant Ramen Invention Story" animation Todd Lappin points to on his blog: Link. (Thanks, Vorn, Mr. Lim, John Parres)

Previously on BB:

Carnival of Carbs

New Wave Noodle theme park to open in Japan

Web Zen: food museums

Jean-Christian Bourcart: "Collateral", a series of projections in New York State in 2005. From the artist's website:

I projected photographs of mutilated and dead Iraqis on American houses, supermarkets, churches, and parking lots. I was thinking of this new generation of kids who will be traumatized for life by growing up during wartime. It was a desperate gesture: my personal protest for the lack of interest for the non-american victims. I found the images on the web. Some American soldiers post their own pictures on a website. They would show a cut leg with the caption: “where's da rest of my shit?” Or a blown up head with the caption: “need a hair cut."

I could not help thinking of those images as some kind of restless ghosts that endlessly wander in the intermediate level of the web. I took care of them like a embalmer would; downloading, revamping, printing, rephotographiing, then projecting them as if I was looking for a place where they would rest in peace and at the same time haunt those who pretend not to know what was going on.

Link to Bourcart's website. Here's more about "Collateral." Found on Wooster Collective: Link to post. (Thanks, Susannah Breslin)

Deathnote, cheerfully immoral Japanese comics serial (Cory)

Bezos's space ship revealed (Pesco)

Royal Mail delivers letter with no address, just a map (Cory)

Richard Newton, RIP (Pesco)

Video of fungus that grows out of insects (Mark)

PlayStation2 toaster (Pesco)

Cory interviewed, new book reviewed (Cory)

Every issue of MAD on one DVD-ROM (Mark)

Brazil orders YouTube shut down over celebrity sex video (Xeni)

The Secret Life of Machines on Google Video (Mark)

Media overestimates porn industry's girth, say indie producers (Xeni)

US military code will apply to contractors - and embed journos? (Xeni)

Earlier this week, a 50-year-old NYC construction worker jumped into the path of a moving subway train to save the life of a stranger:

[Wesley Autrey] gave this account: He was in the station in upper Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon when Hollopeter, also waiting on the platform, seemed to collapse during a seizure. Autrey used a pen to get Hollopeter's tongue out of his throat. Hollopeter stood up, then staggered and fell between the tracks.

As the train neared, Autrey pinned Hollopeter in the trough by lying on top of him, face to face. But the student kept struggling. "Don't move!" Autrey said. "Or one of us is going to lose a leg."

Subway car brakes screeched. One car passed overhead, then a second. Then came silence, followed by the wailing from the platform of his daughters, who'd just seen their father run over.

"We're OK," Autrey yelled to bystanders on the platform. "I got two daughters up there. Let 'em know their father's OK!"

"Who are you?" asked Hollopeter.

"Someone who saved your life," replied Autrey.

Link to USA Today account, which includes the diagram above. Mr. Autrey appeared on Letterman last night, and Gawker posted about it here. Gothamist's post is here. (Thanks, Sven-Erik and John Parres)

Reader comment: Sarah H. says don't cram things in people's mouths when they're having a seizure:

Jumping under a train to save someone is super bad-a$$! But for the well-being of all my peeps out there with epilepsy, never ever put an object or your finger in someone's mouth while they're having a seizure! From the Epilepsy Foundation (Link): "It is not true that a person having a seizure can swallow his tongue." If someone is having a seizure, turn them on their side and place something soft (a pillow or a coat) under their head. Sticking your finger in someone's mouth could hurt them or you.

Robert says,

That reminded me of this rescue in korea that happened a while ago: Link.

Anonymous says,

Here is a very interesting article about what happens to heroes like Frank Autrey after all the publicity, mainly the story of 1996 New York hero Daniel Santos:

"Then came the national TV interviews, the fan mail from strangers, the offers to do commercials, the free trip to Disney World. Then came the nightmares resulting from his near-death plunge. He returned to work after the Disney World trip only to get harassed about his absence, and quit. He lost his health insurance, the money ran out, and he started drinking heavily."

Excerpt from "Here, Bullet," a book of poetry written by Sgt. Brian Turner, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, while he was serving in Iraq:

Here, Bullet
If a body is what you want,
then here is bone and gristle and flesh.
Here is the clavicle-snapped wish,
the aorta's opened valves, the leap
thought makes at the synaptic gap.
Here is the adrenaline rush you crave,
that inexorable flight, that insane puncture
into heat and blood. And I dare you to finish
what you've started. Because here, Bullet,
here is where I complete the word you bring
hissing through the air, here is where I moan
the barrel's cold esophagus, triggering
my tongue's explosives for the rifling I have
inside of me, each twist of the round
spun deeper, because here, Bullet,
here is where the world ends, every time.

Amazon Link to book, and here is an article about the author from today's San Francisco Chronicle. (via Wayne's list)

Over at ZDNet's "Social Web" blog, Steve O'Hear writes:

It looks like the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA) has died a slow death. DOPA was proposed during the height of last year's moral panic around the issue of child safety and sites like MySpace. The legislation would have banned the use of commercial social networking websites in US schools and libraries which receive federal IT funding — therefore undermining much of the pioneering work being done by educators in the e-learning 2.0 space.

But much damage the new law would have brought has already happened, he says -- many schools now block social networking sites, anyway. Read the full post here: Link (via /.)

BoingBoing reader Cristin says,

The independent film community lost a great artist when Helen Hill was murdered in her home yesterday. We are setting up a memorial site that will have photos and some of her works. There are some glowing tributes out there already, and I am expecting this story to get bigger as she was the last in a horrible string of murders in New Orleans. A march is scheduled for Sunday. Other blogs/news: CBC, TheState.com, LostInLight, b.rox.com.

Elijah, a close friend of the deceased and her family, writes:

I'm so sorry to tell you Helen has passed away. She was shot by an intruder in her home in New Orleans. Paul was also shot but only received minor injuries, mostly to his hand. 2-year-old Francis Pop was not harmed. Paul and the whole family are together in New Orleans and managing the best they can.

The plan is to have a funeral in Columbia, S.C. probably on Wednesday. [see website for contact details, for sending condolences]. She was the sweetest person in the world. We all loved her so much.

Love,
Elijah

More information about Helen Hill's body of work: IMDB Link, 30takes Link, Link to mediaartists.org bio, and here's a profile on bestofneworleans.com. (Thanks, Yoni, Farai Chideya and others)

Helen was (at least) the 7th person to die in New Orleans during just the first 5 days of the new year: Link.

Related news today on the overwhelmingly high murder rate in New Orleans and other communities nearby, post-Katrina: "Louisiana mayor's death stirs furor," Link.

Heckuva Job, Bushie! is the latest Doonesbury collection, a big fat thing that spans the GW Bush years. I was raised on Doonesbury -- it was reading Trudeau's Watergate strips that led me to go to the library and research Watergate and Vietnam when I was a boy -- and it's amazing how sharp, relevant, and brave he manages to be after all these decades. It's clear that the years have honed, rather than blunted, Trudeau's razor.

As the effects of the Bush attacks on the US economy, family, child, public image, security, and constitution continue to be felt, it's easy to forget how shocking some of the individual outrages have been. Re-reading the Doonesbury strips from Plamegate and the Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination reminded me afresh of just how incompetently the Chief Executive has run this country.

These were seminal strips in the long-lived Doonesbury storyline -- BD goes to war, loses a leg and comes home with PTSD; two color Sunday strips consist of nothing but lists of American Iraq casualties in 9-point type; Mike's kid goes to college, bloggers come to the strip, Duke copes with the death of Hunter S Thompson. There were hundreds of laughs between these covers, and not all of them bitter. This is the perfect semi-sweet balm to tide us over until 2008. Link

See also:
Doonesbury skewers creationism/intelligent design
Doonesbury runs for Congress
Blogging in Doonesbury
Doonesbury: will Creationists take modern antibiotics?
Doonesbury references masturbation, America's editors surrender
Doonesbury on Napster
Doonesbury to be dropped for being 'too controversial'
Doonesbury on DRM
Bushisms in today's Doonesbury
Doonesbury's lost Miers confirmation strips
Duke's first Doonesbury appearances
Garry Trudeau puts $10K up for anyone who will confirm Bush's Air Guard claims

Eirikso sez, "Amie Street is a very interesting music publishing site that offer quality DRM free music for a very reasonable price. Songs start off completely free. As it gets more known the price increases up to about one dollar for a song if it gets really popular. They have also included a nifty recommendation system that gives the user rewards if he or she recommend music that turns out to become popular." Link (Thanks, Eirikso!)

Hans sez, "I briefed my students at Norway's Westerdals Communication on a one-day project today: 'make a wooden object out of plywood and place it somewhere in Oslo.'

"They made this great collection of wooden snowmen, demonstrating in front of the Parlament, asking for a better life situation. We've experienced the warmest winter in 60 years. Norway is really lagging behind when it comes to full filling the Kyoto protocol. The national newspaper, Dagbaldet, ran a story on it.

"One of my students, Ole M Buene, entered it on his blog and posted a Flickr set." Link (Thanks, Hans!)

Dennis sez, "In February, 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr., was invited to give a sermon for Friday evening Shabbat services at Temple Israel of Hollywood. Unless you listened to this tape in the Temple's archives, or were there that night, this speech hasn't been heard since." Link (Thanks, Dennis!)

The 2007 Bloggies are open for nominations -- I think we're basically out of the running, since you all saw fit to give us a freakin' lifetime achievement award last year! Link (Thanks, Alice!)

The Tower of London has just hired the first female Beefeater in history:

The iconic landmark is in the process of appointing its first female Yeoman Warder in the guard's 522-year history, according to spokeswoman Natasha Woollard.

Link (Thanks, Regina!)

Wade sez, "This is a series of photos showing 'ideal' female forms in our society over the last few hundred years." Link (Thanks, Wade!)

Make: continues to cover the saga of John, who is bent on homebrewing a Pong watch. The latest design is miniaturized to fit in a 10mm thick case, and sports a 96 x 64 OLED display. I'll pre-order one now, thank you. Link (via Wonderland)

The Grauniad's Victor Keegan has a stirring editorial on the way that the BBC can afford to take risks that the private sector can't afford, proving out new technology. He mentions last year's wonderful Second Life/real life music festival, which gave rise to a private sector venture to do more in virtual worlds.

The BBC needs to be cut down to size because it uses the certainty of its licence fee to undermine entrepreneurial initiatives in the private sector. That is the accusation used by many of its rivals as they try to prevent the BBC from getting an above-inflation rise in its current licence application, a decision on which is imminent. The reality is rather different, as two recent examples illustrate. Back in May the BBC - Radio 1, actually - was prescient in launching a pop concert in the now-fashionable Second Life virtual world that attracted 6,000 people. The spin-off from the event is credited with tripling the number of SL participants and helping to change it from a geek's secret paradise into a mainstream phenomenon. Justin Bovington, chief executive of Rivers Run Red, the enterprising Soho company that employs 22 people to build projects in SL, reckons that only the BBC could have done that because private sector companies wouldn't have taken the risk.

Unfortunately, the Beeb seems poised to renege on its most important promise -- putting its entire archive online, without DRM, for the British public to download and remix. Instead, they're chasing crappy Windows DRM non-solutions that fail to decriminalize Britain's creative remixers, that forces law-abiding Brits to use American software to see British TV, and that abolishes the idea that you should be able to record an Internet TV program the way you would record a TV program with your VCR.

The Beeb needs to spend less time sucking up to Microsoft and making vague announcements about upcoming "partnerships" and more time doing what it does best: taking the risks that the private sector is too scared to take on its own.

Link (via Wonderland)

See also:
BBC music festival simultaneously in-game and in real-life BBC report on UK gamers from 6-65
BBC Backstage: tools for remixing the Beeb to your spec
BBC launches site for tracking its open source projects
BBC affirms Creative Archive in Charter Renewal plans
BBC to put its entire archive online
Catalog of nearly 1 million BBC programs online
Audio/transcript from BBC Creative Archive talk
BBC asks Britons to pan-surveil events with cam-phones
BBC's mobilecam gallery of protest pix
BBC Radio's experimental audio-tagging project

Jessica Hagy's "Indexed" is a laff-riot collection of Venn diagram jokes, drawn on lined index cards. Link (via Wonderland)

A British kid on holidays in Thailand plugged his Xmas Gameboy into the wall of his hotel room to recharge it. He was fresh out of the pool, the wiring sucked, he was electrocuted. The UK tabloids (and even the stolid Grauniad) reported the story as CHILD KILLED BY GAME-BOY!

So, we have the possibility of poor wiring combined with moisture, combined with a charger combined with an electronic device.

Just ask yourself this: Had Connor been unplugging a lamp, would The Sun have reported “Connor, 7, Killed by Lamp” and would The Guardian have published “Boy, 7, dies in lamp lighting accident”?

Link (via MeFi)

Here's a lovely hack -- hooking up an "antique" (repro) weather-clock to a web-based weather service:

I used a fake antique (replica) that I picked up for cheep on ebay. I took out the clock work, and replaced it with a servo and used a phidgets USB - servo controller so I could control the servo from my computer. I had to use some gears so that the needle shaft would turn 360 degrees, since the servo only turns about 180. I also re-designed the face of the clock keeping a similar look to the original time piece. Once that was all set I created a little flash application that would connect to yahoo! weather service, and update the servo. I made it so it could toggle between current condition and the local forecast, and also made it so I could enter another zip code to see what the weather is in other places. Their weather service reports something like 40 different conditions, so I had to condense some of them, I combined some things, and ended up with 14 'conditions'

Link (via Gizmodo)

Check out Trevor Little's handsome photo of the power-washing of Manhattan's 188 Suffolk Street, revealing the deep sootiness of New York's old buildings. Link (via Kottke)

Twisted bureaucrats from the British government's "Lean" project have busied themselves by marking, in black tape, the area of government employees' desks where they are supposed to put their pens down. The Lean programme is costing £7.4 million, and involves many of these bizarre, anal-retentive exercises in treating adults like idiot children.

"The scheme is demoralising and demeaning. Staff know how to order their desks themselves.

"We had a situation in some offices in Scotland where staff were asked 'Is that banana on your desk active or inactive?', meaning were they going to eat it?

"If not, it had to be cleared away."

Link (via Making Light)

Over at Instructables, user Herrozerro posted a guide to making these beautiful duct tape roses that are eternal, like your love for the person you'll make one for.
Link (via MAKE: Blog)

Previously on BB:
• HOWTO make a duct-tape wallet Link
• Duct tape festival in Ohio Link
• Many other duct tape posts Link

Birdmonster has learned to stop worrying and love the spam.

I love the nearly poetic intext gibberish ("And if de bees wake, it doan matter for her her"), the wonderful email titles ("intrinsically regimental" or "lumpy connote"), and, especially, the names. They read like a list of distinguished hobos:

- Faulkner T. Rasmus
- Ty Coon
- Lestat Crownover
- Crabtree S. Stella
- Milligan Peg
- Lavonne Negronne
- Barrera Fanny
- Eduardo Watches
- Gonzales B.B. Bertram
- Septimus T. Stevenson

Expectant parents: throw away those two dollar baby-naming periodicals. Faulkner T. Rasmus YourLastNameHere is better than anything inside. Not unlike that Men's Wearhouse guy: I guarantee it.

Link (Thanks, Zach!)

When Spocko of "Spocko's Brain" began posting audio clips of the creepy stuff said by the hateful wingnut hosts on Disney-owned KSFO radio in San Francisco, Disney's lawyers forced Spocko's ISP to shut the site down. Spock retaliated by sending letters to KSFO's advertisers asking them if they were happy about supporting a radio station with hosts who call for the torture and deaths of elected officials and minorities.

To: Wendy Clark, VP-advertising, AT&T

Dear Ms. Clark:

Thanks to radio hosts from KSFO your brand is being associated with torturing and killing people. Would your marketing people be happy to hear your commercial ran after Lee Rogers said this about a black man in Lincoln, Nebraska?

"Now you start with the Sear's Diehard the battery cables connected to his testi*les and you entertain him with that for awhile and then you blow his bleeping head off. " (Audio link)

You should know the person calling for the execution and torture of the black man in that clip READS THE AT&T commercials on the air. Right now on KSFO Lee Rogers is THE VOICE of AT&T to the SF Bay area. (Audio Link)

Sadly, calling for the death and torture of individuals and groups of people is a regular occurrence on KSFO 560 AM, owned by ABC Radio Disney.

Another example: immediately after the 6 am ABC Radio news on October 27th:

Lee Rogers: I say they catch the person, tie 'em to a post and burn 'em. Set 'em on fire.

Officer Vic: Yeah.

Lee Rogers: Let 'em know what it feels like.

Melanie Morgan: Hog tie 'em first. That would be good.

Next, Lee Rogers talks about a protester at a Cindy Sheehan event:

"Whoever did that should have been stomped to death right there. Just stomp their bleeping guts out." (Audio link).

Within three minutes they called for someone to be burned alive and a protester to be stomped to death. If you dismissed the first clip as a "joke", note that in this clip they were clearly not joking:

Melanie Morgan famously called for Bill Keller of the New York Times (and nine editors from other papers) to be hanged. (Audio link)

On Nov. 14th Melanie Morgan said this about Nancy Pelosi:

"We've got a bulls-eye painted on her big laughing eyes."

Link

Now that Spockosbrain.com has been killed by Disney, you can't hear the clips there any longer. But this site has them: Link

Joshua Bearman gives thumbs-down to the computer game based on the ridiculous and astoundingly unsuspenseful Left Behind series of books (the first book in the series is available for 1 cent on Amazon), about the end times according to Biblical prophesy.

All real-time-strategy games are about harvesting resources, and I was hoping for a little thrill in the harvesting of souls, but after a couple hours of learning how to train builders to erect cafés and dodge street musicians, I got bored and gave up. I never even saw a Horned Demon (Level 5 evil spirit; special ability: fireball), or any of the holy war that is supposed to be the whole point for supporters and critics alike. If you’re looking for good versus evil on your computer, it’s infinitely more satisfying to stick with standbys from those other two great mythologized Manichaean struggles, The Lord of the Rings (Battle for Middle Earth II) and Star Wars (Empire at War).

I should have guessed Left Behind would be disappointing when I read that you could play, but never win, as the Antichrist.

Link

Previously on Boing Boing:
• The Rapture Index: Quantifying the end-times Link
• Hardening an httpd for the rapture Link
• Religious nuts ecstatic over Middle East turmoil Link
• Left Behind deconstructed Link
• Christian Apocalyptic Fiction Link

Gamer Ryou-chan, her father, and her friend gutted a toaster and modded a PlayStation2 inside. From an email posted to Destructoid:

I am a proud nerd and gamer, and I like to use my artistic vision in unexpected ways. I can't take all the credit for the PSToast though. It was really a team effort by my friend and I. Also, my father helped us by driving us around town in search of a toaster and doing some of the things that required the use of machinery (he owns a machine shop).

The idea was a product of extreme boredom. My friend and I were sitting around at my house when I suddenly wanted to do a case mod for my ps2. The first thing that poppped into my head was that a kitchen appliance would make an awesome case, and after some brainstorming, it was decided that a toaster would be perfect. Since I had bought the ps2 used, it never really worked perfectly, and the plastic bit on the front of the disk tray was missing. So I thought that it wouldn't really be a great loss if we ended up breaking it in the process.

Link

Previously on BB:
• Modding the box Link
• PlayStation knockoffs made by Chinese prisoners Link

Three-year-old Timothy Addo fell four stories off a fire escape yesterday but fortunately was caught by two passers-by. Julio Gonzales and Pedro Nevarez were walking by the building when they noticed Timothy hanging from the fire escape. He had crawled out onto it when his babysitter wasn't paying attention. From the Associtaed Press:

The boy tumbled and hit Nevarez in the chest so hard he knocked him off balance, but he bounced into Gonzalez' arms.

Timothy was treated at the hospital for a cut on his forehead.

"He's fine. He's happy. He's smiling," said his mother, 26-year-old Katrina Cosme, who was working at the time of the accident

Link

Salon's "Ask the Pilot" columnist, Patrick Smith, wrote a column about the popular plane-on-a-treadmill brain teaser I blogged last month. It neatly sums up the problem, pointing out the impossibility in the setup, and what would actually and theoretically happen if the experiment was carried out.

With the airplane and treadmill, there is, at the outset, friction force capable of rotating the tires at the proper speed to keep the plane stationary. However, as the thrust is increased, that force eventually maxes out. (Two separate frictions are at play here, actually, one between the tires and belt, the other between the plane's axles/bearings and its wheels. The first will max out before the second.)

"And at that point the wheels no longer roll, they slide," says Camp. "Or rather, they roll and slide at the same time. Tire motion is now decoupled from the belt motion. No matter how much you whiz up the treadmill, you won't add any more rotational velocity to the wheels because friction is already doing everything it is capable of. The plane skids toward takeoff -- likely accompanied by much smoke and a powerful rubbery stink."

Link

(Please don't email me about this problem. I've already read a gazillion opinions and don't want to think about it any longer -- Mark)

Previously on Boing Boing:
• Shrimp on treadmill Link

A calf with two faces was born two weeks ago at a Dairy Farm in southwest Virginia. It has two noses, two tongues, and a single socket with two eyes. From the Associated Press:

The calf has two lower jaws, but only one mouth. (Farmer Kirk) Heldreth feeds her through a tube, and acknowledges he probably can't maintain that feeding schedule for long.

The calf was the product of artificial insemination, which was supposed to create a genetically superior specimen. "Genetically, this is one of my better calves," he said...

According to MedicineNet.com, the condition is called diprosopus. It happens when twins start to form and don't completely separate. In most cases, the twins are completely fused with one set of limbs, but part or all the face is duplicated.

Link to AP story and ABC News video

Lifehacker editor Gina Trapani got her own hedcut in the Wall Street Journal, and deservedly so. Congrats, Gina!

Ms. Trapani, who manages a staff of three writers, is something of an anomaly among bloggers. She avoids writing about herself and her posts are free of the sarcasm and snarky attitude that other blogs -- particularly those on technology -- use as calling cards. The former software programmer says she prefers to stay out of the limelight. Any publicity about herself, instead of the site, "makes me want to climb under my desk and hide," she said. "But that's just my inner geek."

Link

Previously on Boing Boing:
• The art of WSJ illustrator Noli Novak Link
• WSJ artist also a rocker Link

(Thanks, Brian!)

A familiar source from Iran who previously worked for an ISP there tells BoingBoing,

I have heard from several sources that Iranian ministry of "culture and islamic guidance" has published a set of regulations for Iranian websites. Parts of this are to force all website owners to register their website and their own identity. Hosting companies inside Iran cannot host any website unless the site owner has already registered their information. After a registration deadline two months from now, persian websites not registered are at risk of filtering (censorship).

The website to register this information is www.samandehi.ir.

I could not find any official document stating this fact. But since some media sources in Iran - and also the BBC Persian service - have criticized this, the chance it is true is very high. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I am no more in Iran. At the moment I am searching for some reliable sources inside Iran to confirm this.

It would be interesting to know how the BBC confirmed the data they published as a news article here (Persian): link.

Previously on BoingBoing:

Censorware in Iran: latest crackdown on bloggers

Iran limits ADSL bandwidth above 128kbps for all ISPs

Iran: magazines at newsstand censored in ink, stickers

ISPs in Iran, Tunisia also use SmartFilter (which blocks BB)