A. Richard Newton, the dean of UC Berkeley's College of Engineering, died today. He was 55. Rich is the person who invited me to be Berkeley Engineering's first writer-in-residence and supported me in the creation of Lab Notes, the online research digest I've written for six years. Rich was a charismatic visionary, an innovative researcher, a shrewd entrepreneur, an inspiring educator, and a passionate advocate for engineering a better world. His energy and enthusiasm were infectious. I'll miss him.
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In December I went to the Bazaar Bizarre craft show in Los Angeles. My favorite thing there was the cakewalk, which featured a number of beautiful and odd cakes. Shown here: a "Carrie" cake. Here's my Flickr gallery: Link

These guys obviously had a great time making this stop-motion video, full of amusing stunts. Link

When I heard the This American Life episode about the weird documentary called The Beaver Trilogy, which played at Sundance in 2001, I immediately tried to get it on Netflix or Amazon. I was sorely vexed to learn that the film was not available for any price.

Today, Gord emailed me to let me know "some kind soul has recently posted the Beaver Trilogy in several YouTube snippets. From the kid to Sean Penn to Crispin Glover (before they were *name* guys)."

Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

Reader comment:

Chris dunn says:

My wife and I heard the 'This American Life' episode and decided we HAD to see this movie! I emailed Trent Harris and he said he had a couple of the original DVD's that were sent to the film festivals, and would sell one for $25 shipped. We got it a few days ago and watched it immediately.

Following up on an earlier BoingBoing post about a Disney theme park designer's macabre joke-proposal to build an amusement park on Three Mile Island, BB reader Eur van Andel says:

Reality is always stranger than fiction: The Kalkar nuclear fast breeder reactor was never started and was bought by a Dutch entrepreneur who turned it into an amusement park: Link (in english).

The URL translates as "nuclear water wonderland". More on why it failed: Link.

Bottom line: it was built around the time of the Three Mile Island meltdown and did not have its nuclear materials yet when Chenobyl exploded. It was built for 3.5 billion euros and sold for 2.5 million euros. All of it German taxpayers' money :-(

Awesome. On the promotional website, along with rates and recreation options, this cheerful text:

Because this nuclear power station has never been put into use, is this whole complex guaranteed free of radiation!

There's yet another amusement park on an abandoned nuclear reactor site (this is another part of the same park), mentioned in our earlier post (screengrab below): Link to "Kernie's Family Park."

Reader comment: Carsten Kaefert says,

I'm quite fascinated that by reading bOINGbOING I actually found a sight pretty much in my neighborhood. Guess that is what's meant by "global village". But when surfing through the linked pages I found a little misunderstanding in your article: There aren't two post-nuclear themeparks around. It's just one, as "Kernies Familienpark" is a part of "Nuclear Water Wonderland" ("Kernwasser-Wunderland"). At least both of them are located on the remains of the Kalkar nuclear facility.

Stephen Dennis says,

In the nuclear theme park theme, and alternative uses of a nuclear park, here is a story by Austin Meyer, author of the awesome x-plane, visiting an abandoned nuclear power station which contains - no kidding - the set from the movie The Abyss. Long - but fun to read and the pictures are priceless. Link.

Previously on BB:

Disney Designer's Fun Park Plans for Three Mile Island

Noah Shachtman of Defensetech says,

This has to be one of the worst ideas in military history: A Cold War plan to develop "biological agents" -- including ones that can lead to "inflammation of the brain, coma and death" -- for "incapacitating" enemies on the battlefield or "neutralizing hostile cities."

Link

Fill out the linked form based on what you know about the US President. Then click the "Preview evaluation" to find out if Bush is a psychopath. Link

An online art and craft auction starts tomorrow to benefit the family of James Kim.  

 More than 40 different artists contributed auction items in a wide array of media: paintings, prints, ceramics, soft toys, jewelery, paper goods, home decor and more. Shown here, a soft, knitted robot by Jess Hutchison.

  Bidding will begin January 3rd and end January 7th. Link to auction. (Thanks, Melanie Cornwell!)

Previously on BB:

James Kim, RIP

CNet editor James Kim is missing

CNet editor's wife and kids found alive, Kim still missing

Ingenuity kept CNet editor's family alive

Chris Hedges, the former New York Times Mideast Bureau chief, has written an article for Truthdig about the Christian right's infiltration into US military and law enforcement. He is writing a book called American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America.

Erik Prince, the secretive, mega-millionaire, right-wing Christian founder of Blackwater, the private security firm that has built a formidable mercenary force in Iraq, champions his company as a patriotic extension of the U.S. military. His employees, in an act as cynical as it is deceitful, take an oath of loyalty to the Constitution. These mercenary units in Iraq, including Blackwater, contain some 20,000 fighters. They unleash indiscriminate and wanton violence against unarmed Iraqis, have no accountability and are beyond the reach of legitimate authority. The appearance of these paramilitary fighters, heavily armed and wearing their trademark black uniforms, patrolling the streets of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, gave us a grim taste of the future. It was a stark reminder that the tyranny we impose on others we will one day impose on ourselves.

Link

What a neat old gem this is: scanned for your pleasure, an entire issue of the alt/art/underground Los Angeles culture zine WET, from 1981. Love hotels, a bunch of old Ed Ruscha art, paranormal phenomena ads, Rodney on the ROQ, and a side-by-side interviews with Johnny Rotten and a then-26-year-old David Lee Roth. My favorite part is an essay on the "emerging field of xerox art," and related musings on cutups and intellectual property law: "Xerox means never having to honor a copyright."

Link to main page, and here's all the scanned pages side by side (you have to scroll to the right to move forward). (Thanks, Lex10)

Reader comment: Scott Jacobson says,

Don't forget Mark's post from May 2004: Wet Magazine scans from 1978

My father is reading a novel called Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. It's about a guy who escapes from prison in Australia (where he was serving a 19-year sentence for armed robbery, which he committed to maintain his heroin addiction) and flees to India and becomes a "doctor" for people living in a Bombay slum. (The author knows his subject -- he, too, escaped from prison in Australia and went to India.)

The novel describes some interesting people called Standing Babas, who have vowed to remain upright for many years. Here's a page with some information about them.

Bajrang Das, a 'standing' baba, who never sits down, day and night. He sleeps standing too, hanging over this swing. A metal chastity belt covers his genitals.

A ‘standing’ Baba, who is called khareshwari, has taken the vow not to sit or lie down for twelve years. He may rest one leg by hanging it in the sling under his swing. It is a painful austerity: the swollen legs and feet tend to develop persistent ulcers.

Khareshwaris may walk about, but usually just hang in their swing in their corner -- and stand.

Link

Researchers from Florida State University surveyed 700 people from various professions about how they're treated by their bosses. Here are some of the results, from a news release:

• Thirty-one percent of respondents reported that their supervisor gave them the "silent treatment" in the past year.
• Thirty-seven percent reported that their supervisor failed to give credit when due.
• Thirty-nine percent noted that their supervisor failed to keep promises.
• Twenty-seven percent noted that their supervisor made negative comments about them to other employees or managers.
• Twenty-four percent reported that their supervisor invaded their privacy.
• Twenty-three percent indicated that their supervisor blames others to cover up mistakes or to minimize embarrassment.

Link

MAKE magazine (I'm editor-in-chief) has a good deal for people who subscribe for two years: a free copy of the Pocket Ref.

This great little book is a concise all-purpose reference featuring hundreds of tables, maps, formulas, constants & conversions and it still fits in your shirt pocket! Packed with mathematical formula, tables, standard conversion ratio, electric wire size vs. load, resistor color codes, Morse code, sun & planet data, earthquake scales, nail sizes, geometry formulas, currency exchange rates, and much more! It's no wonder The Pocket Ref was featured in MythBusters.

And now, with each two-year subscription to MAKE magazine, you'll receive your own MAKE Special Edition Pocket Ref as our gift to you. And if you already subscribe, we'll extend the same offer on any two-year renewal.

Link

I visited artist Kenny Irwin's holiday art show on the grounds of his large house in Palm Springs last week. It consists of dozens of robot sculptures made from discarded junk and thousands and thousands of tiny electric lights. The effect is otherworldly. It just might have been my favorite experience of 2006.

While I was wandering around the exhibit, I saw the bearded Irwin, wearing a turban and hobbling around on crutches. He told me he has been exhibiting his work for 20 years. Since he appears to be about 30, I told him he looks too young to have been doing this for 20 years. "'I've been doing it for 20 years!" he said, slightly agitated.

I noticed a piece of paper tacked to a board at the entrance to Irwin's house. It was titled DO NOT ASK QUESTIONS.

Here's what it said:

DO NOT ASK QUESTIONS:

1) Where do I store everything?

2) How long did it take me?

3) What faith or nationality I am?

4) How big is the property

5) How much is the electric bill?

6) How much did it cost me?

7) Are you giving guided tours?

8) How big is your house?

Answers to most DO NOT ASK questions:

1) I have a legion of hollow robots for storage

2) Apx 2000 man hours mainly by myself since August

3) Faith or nationality is personal

4) Light Display covers apx 4 acres

5) Electrical cost is bigger than you can imagine

6) I will not disclose cost, but the light display is made possible by people like you who contribute, patronship, and personal art sales. This all for the benefit of the public

7) All tours are self guided again this year due to lack of help

8) Please don't ask questions like that

Here's a link to my Flickr gallery of Irwin's work. Link | Link to Kenny Irwin's Flickr page

Over at Street Tech, bOING bOING senior editor Gareth Branwyn posted the first Street Tech Thumbnail Guide. This one is a primer on soldering, complete with illustrations by our very own Mark Frauenfelder! (Mark's drawings first appeared in Gareth's excellent book Absolute Beginner's Guide to Building Robots.) From the Thumbnail Guide:

In all my years of hosting Street Tech and writing technology books, I've been amazed at how many people I've heard whining about how much they wish they could solder (or complaining about how awful they are at it). Truth be told, I used to be one of these people. And while I'm not likely to win any beauty contests for my lead-laying, I'm at least competent enough to repair damaged electronics, assemble electronics kits, and even scratch-build some of my own frakenrobot creations. If you want to do the same, read on.

Soldering is not some rarified art. It does take a little bit of patience and some practice, but mainly, it's a question of having the proper tools to do it right, carefully following a few simple steps, and steering clear of a few common pitfalls.

Link

Previously on BB:
• Boing Boing Boing podcast #3 -- Gareth Branwyn Link
• Mark Frauenfelder's Illustration Portfolio Link
• How-To: Build a Robot from a Coat Hanger Link

Jamais Cascio, co-founder of World Changing and my colleague at Institute for the Future, writes:

I got tired over 2006 seeing people like Kunstler, Lovelock, and the various and sundry apocophiles out there talking about the end of the world, so I thought it might be worth laying out an Apocalypse Richter Scale of sorts. That way, when we talk about the end of all things, we can be sure we're all on the same page about just how bad it would be. After all, not all apocalypses are created equal.

My proposed scale starts with Class 0 (regional devastation), then ranges from standard Classes 1 (civilization ruined, but not eliminated) through 5 (planet sterilized), with the added fun of a "Class X" apocalypse -- post-Singularity beings disassembling the planet to make computronium.

Link

Previously on BB:
• Apocalypse fever in New York Magazine Link
• Top 10 Ways the World Will End Link
• Home sweet apocalypse-resistant home Link
• Photoshopped apocalypse cities Link

Neuroscientists report that the same regions of the brain are used for forecasting the future as recalling the past. In the Washington University study, subjects underwent fMRI brain scans as they were asked to remember, say, a BBQ they attended and also imagine one in the future. The fMRI enabled the scientists to identify which specific brain regions lit up during both tasks. From Scientific American:

"...To effectively generate a plausible image of the future, subjects reactivate images (e.g. visual-spatial context)," the researchers write in a paper published online January 1 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. "Postexperiment questionnaires indicate that while envisioning the future, subjects tended to place those images in the context of familiar places (e.g. home, school) and familiar people (e.g. friends)." In other words, to imagine the future, we remember the past and put our projections in that context.

Link

FAKING BOMBINGS
by Jasmina Tešanović
photos by Bruce Sterling

If it were not so frightening, it could even be fun: New Years Eve in Belgrade.

In Rome, at midnight, they throw their unwanted junk out of their windows, meaning you could be crushed to death by a plummeting toilet from the early 1930s. Some of these things are worth money on the art flea market if they don't shatter or kill you. Rome's inherently dangerous lifestyle does not lack for charm.

In Belgrade, the people run to the streets... For the past fifteen years, a Belgrade New Years was more a political carnival than a street-party. But last night, it was the carnival for cheap, hand-held fireworks. Major downtown streets were closed to traffic for pedestrian fun and strolling, but the squares became smoky pyres guarded by the police, used as open free-fire zones for all sorts of explosions. The deafening blasts drowned out the two big stages with rock, pop and folk music acts.

Music fans, there to listen and dance, were dodging flung fireworks in that very typical errant diametrical way, as when people from Sarajevo struggled to avoid random snipers. Wincing girls and scared children were obviously upset, me included... Most of the perpetrators of this fake-bombing arte popolare were clearly very happy with it.

A project from the Troika art and design collective. Snip from description:

The SMS Guerilla Projector is a home made, fully functioning device that enables the user to project text based SMS messages in public spaces, in streets, onto people, inside cinemas, shops, houses… Small, portable, and battery operated, the SMS Guerilla Projector contains a mobile phone which enables the device to receive and project messages from other people.

Link (via placebokatz blog post, thanks Susannah Breslin)