(Photos, top image and first two in post, by eecue of blogging.la, cc-licensed).

I'm at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts festival in Indio, California this weekend.

More around the web: Flickr "coachella" tagged photos, technorati, LA Times coverage, band lineup, Wikipedia entry.

I haven't been out here in a couple years. The event seems much larger now. The desert town where this takes place only has a population of about 70,000, but they're expecting another 60 - 70,000 200,000 to show up for the event this weekend. Profit estimates I'm hearing for the event's organizers are around $50 million.

I'm crashing on an airconditioned couch in my friend Wayne Correia's world-famous, geek-pimped, beWiFi'd bus on the event grounds. He has a better satellite 'net connection on this thing than my broadband in urban LA.

I'm listening to a low-power FM pirate radio station here at the event site: "Renegade Radio," at 103.3 FM if you're nearby. Paynie put the tracks together.

It's 108° F. outside, according to the gauge on Wayne's bus. When I drove in yesterday afternoon, there were mobile sprinklers all over the place to keep dust down. RVs, tour buses, and tent encampments stretch out as far as I can see in either direction right now.

More than 120 bands are on the lineup this year, and lots of robots, flamey stuff, and software-driven art installations, some of which might look familiar from Burning Man.

Coolest thing that isn't a band so far is the fully functional, but stationary, steam engine. Coal and everything. I'll try to upload video later (or post links to someone else's), but here's a still photo from eecue below.

(At left, Coachella Tesla Coil photo from Flickr user omarr, cc-licensed).

We wandered around from stage to stage Friday night. Interpol, Peaches, Charles Feelgood, Marques Wyatt, Jarvis Cocker, Amy Winehouse, and Sonic Youth all played, among others.

The biggest draw last night seemed to be Björk, performing material from her new album, Volta. The set was great, but what made really my jaw drop (and those of the two nerd pals I was with) was the Mac-based hardware and software system used in her set for live sound manipulation.

Flat video displays flanked the stage, and the camera lingered on closeups of that equipment inbetween shots of Björk, her horn and chorus ensemble, and the live drummer. My friends and I squinted when close-up shots of the gear came up, then googled the brand names we saw on our phones, to figure out what the components were. Here's what we found.

First: JazzMutant's multitouch control surface for live performance called Lemur, built in Bordeaux, France. Snip from manufacturer's description:

At first glance, the Lemur looks like a high-fashion etch-a-sketch. As a performance interface, the Lemur is immediately appealing. You touch colorful rounded interface objects on the 12" LCD display to control your computer in any way you can imagine. The Lemur's elegant simplicity is made possible by its sophisticated graphics processor and proprietary touchscreen interface that tracks multiple fingers simultaneously.

Using the JazzEditor application running on your choice of Mac or Windows, you drag and drop switches, faders, and other objects into an exact simulation of the Lemur's screen. Make any number of interfaces, store them in an XML-based project file, then upload them to the Lemur and it's ready to go. You can reuse them with the Import/Export feature.

The other electronic music instrument that made us drool in in Björk's show was the reactable (think: react + table), which boasts a "tangible user interface." Image below.

I'm seeing reports online that she/they used it for the first time in their show earlier this week, during the SNL performance (Video Link).

The reactable was developed over the last few years by a team led by Sergi Jordà, Martin Kaltenbrunner, Günter Geiger, and Marcos Alonso in Pompeu Fabra University's Music Technology Group, in Barcelona, Spain. Snip from description:

reactable is a multi-user electronic music instrument with a tabletop tangible user interface. Several simultaneous performers share complete control over the instrument by moving physical objects on a luminous table surface. By moving and relating these objects, representing components of a classic modular synthesizer, users can create complex and dynamic sonic topologies, with generators, filters and modulators, in a kind of tangible modular synthesizer or graspable flow-controlled programming language.

(Photo of baby on reactable: diemo schwarz).

Videos of the reactable in action: 1, 2, 3 (or on google video: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Electronic music godfather Robert Moog playing an early prototype of the reactable at the NIME conference 2004 in Hamamatsu, Japan. Here's a Video Link.

More about the Björk show from bandmate Jónas Sen's Volta tour blog: Link. Excerpt:

I must confess I felt I was about to faint when we walked on stage. Such an enormous audience! Almost the entire population of Reykjavik.

(...) We have “ear monitors” with a metronomic click sounding in our ears to keep the band’s playing together, plus everything else we need to hear. In some songs I want to hear as little from the drums as possible (even though Chris’ playing is damn good!). In other songs I want to hear the drums clearly but less of the brass. This is so unreal… yet amazing that it is possible.

(Björk photo from Friday night's Coachella set by Flickr user mediaeater, cc-licensed, more here.)

Big ups to all the BoingBoing readers out here! It's been great meeting so many fellow happy mutants here at Coachella. Thanks for saying hello. <throws internet freak sign>.

(Thanks, Wayne Correia!)

Update: eecue has more photos up: 1, 2.

Update 2: Best botched press coverage so far surrounds a police raid at a Mexican Mafia meth lab yesterday in the Coachella Valley. Again, the Coachella Valley, but not *at* the Coachella Festival site itself. During the raid, officers found 50 guns, live pipe bombs, tonza tina, tens of thousands of dollars in cash, and evidence linking the activity to "La Eme." But an Austrian publication misreports that the bust took place on-site at the festival, while Björk and Sonic Youth played: Link. There have been minor drug arrests at the festival, 25 of them according to Indio police as of mid-day Saturday, but far more low-profile than the big bust referenced above.

Reader comment: Kasey says,

Saw that you have a photo of the coils that Syd Klinge built and took out to Coachella. It'd be awesome if you could throw his name in there. I don't have more details on the coils, but I believe they're the largest dueling coils ever run. Here's his site: Link.

Update: Here's more video of the Reactable device used in the Bjork show: Link (thanks, Nicholas Mir Chaikin!)

Daniel Gilbert's Stumbling on Happiness is one of those pop-science books that delivers a serious a-ha punch at least once a chapter, a little insight into the way that the world works that stops you right where you are and makes you go back and reevaluate how you got there.

Gilbert is a Harvard Psych prof, and in this book, he doesn't seek to explain how to be happy -- in fact, the introduction specifically disclaims this intention -- but rather, how happiness happens. And why happiness is so elusive.

Happiness is certainly elusive. How many times have we chased some goal, some purchase, some strategy, sure that we needed it to be complete, only to discover later that we're no happier than we were when the whole steeplechase started? This is the crux of Gilbert's thesis: why are we so consistently bad at estimating how happy some course of action will make us?

For Gilbert, the answer lies in our faulty perceptions. We misremember how happy we've been in the past, we mispredict how happy we'll be in the future (his section on futurism should be mandatory reading for every science fiction writer and tech journalist). Citing study after study, Gilbert lays out the lucid and funny case for the idea that our brains aren't very good at measuring what's going on in our brains.

Gilbert's funny, conversational style reminds me of Freakonomics, as does his subject-matter. For happiness is at the core of more than psychology -- it's also at the heart of justice, economics, political science, ethics, and many other key organizing disciplines that set the Earth in motion. This was the kind of book that made me reexamine more than my life's goals -- it made me re-think my politics and economic activity, too.

I listened to an unabridged edition read by the author, and it was very fine. Gilbert has the timing of a stand-up comic, and the book itself is just so funny to begin with. Highly recommended.

Link to book, Link to audiobook

Update: Louis sends in this video of the author speaking at the TED Conference

Coca-Cola has teamed up with L'Oreal to make a skin cream neutraceutical beverage. Nice -- working both sides of the street. First they ruin your skin and health with toxic sludge, then they sell you medicated mayonnaise to make it all better again. Link

Update: Meg sez, "Coke's not making a skin cream, it is a 'nutraceutical' beverage to be called Lumae. They want to sell it at places like Saks apparently. "

TheMagical has created ride-simulators for four of the best rides at Disneyland Paris. These aren't 3D ride-throughs -- they're simulators for the control-systems for the rides! You are the god of the ride, in charge of opening the doors to different load-systems, dispatching maintenance personnel, and operating the lights and so forth. The sims are brilliantly done -- there's one for the Phantom Manor (Haunted Mansion), Tower of Terror, Big Thunder Mountain, and Space Mountain. It's like playing Lemmings, but with little theme-park guests impatiently milling around, waiting for you to scare the pants off of them.

I love this approach to simulating Disney rides. It's clearly aimed at those of us who, like me, are more fascinated with the ride's artistry than its thrills, the melding of artistry and engineering in the service of fun. My dream has always been to work at the Haunted Mansion (I even wrote a novel about it) and this was totally hypnotic as a result. I could have played it for days. I probably will. Link (Thanks, Metavisual!)

The Economist has come out against DRM in a tell-it-like-it-is editorial that explains why anti-copying technology is bad for the entertainment industry.

The movie industry, which nowadays depends as much on DVD sales as on box-office receipts, still seems to think that making life difficult for its customers is a recipe for success.

After likewise shooting itself in the foot for ages, the record industry is now falling over itself to abandon DRM (digital rights management) on CDs. A number of online music stores such as eMusic, Audio Lunchbox and Anthology have given up using DRM altogether. In a recent survey by Jupiter Research, two out of three music industry executives in Europe reckoned that dropping DRM would improve sales.

The editorial goes on to promote AudibleMagic's "audio fingerprinting" scheme as an answer, citing YouTube's proposal to use software to catch infringe ing user-generated content. This idea isn't totally bankrupt (though swallowing the self-interested claims of firms like AudibleMagic is pretty credulous of the Economist), but only if the technology is used to figure out how to pay artists -- not to stop music from flowing on the Internet.

A blanket licensing scheme -- you pay a collecting society, they pay artists, you get the right to file-share using any protocol, file-format and software -- needs a bunch of ways to figure out who gets paid what. There are a lot of ways to measure the popularity of music online, including audio fingerprinting, Neilsen-style sample families, and anonymous monitoring of P2P networks. Some weighting scheme agreed upon by all the stakeholders could ensure that artists get paid when their music gets shared.

But systems like AudibleMagic are no good when it comes to enforcing a ban on file-sharing. These systems can't detect all infringement, can't tell the difference between infringement and fair use, and sometimes block non-infringing works.

In other words, audio fingerprinting is useful as part of a system to allow file-sharing, but useless as part of a system to stop file-sharing. Link (Thanks, John!)

Wellington Grey's latest flowchart shows the process by which Slashdot readers post to the site -- so utterly true! Link

See also: Science and faith: two flowcharts

Rod McFarland's "Commodore" theme for WordPress turns your blog into a command-line driven Commodore 64 interface. It's endlessly fascinating and deliciously pointless. Link (Thanks, Rod!)

Update: James sez "I really enjoyed the C64 theme. Here's another done Unix style."

Barenaked Ladies frontman Steve Page gave an eloquent interview to Ars Technica about "compulsory licenses" -- a license fee that you and I could pay to get the right to download all the music we want. The idea is to compel the music industry to sell its wares over P2P, the way that the music-listening public wants it (70 million filesharers in the US alone!). Blanket licenses already enable jukeboxes, records, radio, and live performance -- it's just poor individual music-lovers who don't get a blanket license deal from the industry.

"Not everyone's an artist," Page says, "but people can now express themselves like artists do, by sharing something that means something to them. If we had a system of compulsory licenses, they don't have to worry about going and getting a license to do it, or circumventing the system."

Link (via Copyfight)

This weekend, MAKE: and the Alameda County Computer Resource Center (ACCRC) in Berkeley, California are holding a 24 hour event for makers to build stuff from the tons of fantastic gear collected by the electronics recycler. BYOT! (Bring your own tools!) Here are the details:

ACCRC in Berkeley, CA and Make have been collecting household electronics--including old projects, failed inventions, half finished prototypes. All of these items will be diverted to ReMake, a 24-hour event beginning at noon on Saturday, April 28.

Come find parts for your new projects and work with others to create something new from salvaged electronics. ACCRC will provide internet, sleeping quarters, food, and plenty of toys to aid makers to encourage us to recycle and ReMake. Bring your tools and anything else needed to create. You can also bring anything you ReMake to the upcoming Maker Faire, May 19-20 at the San Mateo Fairgrounds, where we will showcase how a little innovation can make the old, new again.

Where: Alameda County Computer Resource Center (ACCRC), 1501 East Shore Highway, Berkeley, CA 94710

When: Noon, April 28, 2007 - Noon, April 29, 2007

edu says:

I apologize in advance if this somehow exemplifies my ignorance: Is there a name for the people who sit on the floor of the graphic novels aisle in bookstores (who invariably read manga)? I tried "manga hobos" but it doesn't sit right. I don't mean to criticize: those books can be pricey. But they're always in the way!

If you have a better name for these folks, post a comment in edu's Flickr site: Link

I find something strangely appealing about designer Vlaemsch's "Internal Watch," a timepiece entirely encased in leather so as to render it completely non-functional. It's $275 from Vivre. Link

Dig these 1971 "Politicards," playing cards illustrated with the politicos of the day, up for auction on eBay. From the item description:

These POLITICARDS are dated 1971 and were made during the height of Richard Nixon's presidency. Each of the 54 different playing cards is a different character of the era. There are members of the Kennedy family, Agnew, Jane Fonda - 'political activist', Ralph Nader, Buckley, Goldwater, Ford, Eisenhower, Reagan, Martha Mitchell, Strom Thurmond, McGovern, Proxmire, Tunney, Maddox, Richard Daley, George Wallace and other politicos and fringe celebs of the day. Of course, Nixon is King. Deck is still sealed (using photos of our own personal deck). After you chuckle at the humorously-illustrated cards, you can actually play with them.

Link (Thanks, Michael-Anne Rauback!)

Cartoonist Johnny Ryan made swell use of his college degree in literature in creating this highly offensive, scatological, profanity-infested comic book that lampoons classic novels. It's hilarious.

Klassic Komix Klub #2—the spanking-new sequel to Klassic Komix Klub #1, published in Winter 2006—is a limited edition comic recently self-published by Johnny. KKK #2 collects 24 highly scatological, not-for-the-squeamish classic literature parody strips into one gorgeous package, wrapped up in a display-worthy three-color letterpress printed (on fancy paper with yellow-gold metallic ink) wraparound cover produced by Buenaventura Press. (One sample colorway is represented above, we'll have detailed photos for you soon!) Only 200 copies were produced and we have limited quantities available. Each copy is signed and numbered. Various inks and papers were used, the pic above shows samples of what you might receive. Please note that Johnny's last few parody books sold out extremely fast; also these are not available in stores. Only $10.

Link

Previously on Boing Boing:
• Johnny Ryan in Mad
• "What're You Lookin' At?!" anthology
• Johnny Ryan's Klassic Komix Klub
• Johnny Ryan's Comic Book Holocaust
• Johnny Ryan's Comic Book Holocaust 2

Amid says: "Utah Republican Don Larsen believes that illegal immigration to the US is a Satanic plot and has submitted an anti-Satan resolution to be discussed at this weekend's Utah County Republican Convention."

"In order for Satan to establish his 'New World Order' and destroy the freedom of all people as predicted in the Scriptures, he must first destroy the U.S.," his resolution states. "The mostly quiet and unspectacular invasion of illegal immigrants does not focus the attention of the nations the way open warfare does, but is all the more insidious for its stealth and innocuousness."

...

Satan has popped up in Utah County politics before. Last year, failed congressional candidate John Jacob of Eagle Mountain blamed the devil for his flagging campaign.

Link. Another article here

(Click on thumbnails for enlargement)

AOL's new beta site looks just a teensy bit like Yahoo's home page, wouldn't you say? (Thanks, Patrick!)

Dakota sez, "Built by Thunder Eagle Customs (my Dad), this friggin thing is awesome. He's putting it up for sale on eBay this sunday under the name 'Steampunk Guitar - Villanizer'. I've bugged him to keep it, but I know he'll build me one -- he keeps muttering about bills to pay. Who cares about bills when you got a guitar this wicked?"

After cutting, a spacer was cut and installed to join the two pieces of the body. Knowing damned well that wouldnt be a strong enough of a join for just about any player, the steampunk look hit me, and I went on to installing the copper pipe, and soldering the joints. You just cant have steam power without a gauge, so I cannibalized an old oil gauge and made a custom face in it with my name and a real complex readout.

Gears. Man I hacked more gears together then I knew what to do with, and inlaid them into a cut plexi frame that was then screwed into the body. Under the gears is a carbon fiber layer which really sets them off. By the way, one of the gears in the lower end is a Matrix headplug vast from one of the original plugs used in the film. What the hell, it had the look.

Link (Thanks, Dakota!)

See also:
Spring-loaded steampunk spex
Steampunk magazine
Steampunk Star Wars
Steampunk watch
Beautiful steampunk laptop
HOWTO make a steampunk keyboard
HOWTO make etched brass steampunk journals
HOWTO make a steampunk spinning-wheel
Steampunk walking robot
Steampunk cartoon from SciFi channel: Amazing Screw-On Head
Homebrew mechanical steampunk lion from Belgium
Steampunk robotics
Steampunk weekly serial - handsome editions
Steampunk rayguns
Steampunk Transformer-bots
Ukrainian steampunk plane
Steampunk casemod with a "furnace"
Steampunk submarine free paper toy
Steampunk/dead media photoshopping contest
Brighton's steampunk rolling sea-platform
Steampunk Slashdot
Steampunk mecha-wars
Steampunk car-wars
New York's steampunk pneumatic subway

Len is one of the artists who participated in the 700 Hoboes Project. He's got a website called Monster By Mail. For $20, he'll create a color drawing of any fictional movie monster you make up. For an additional $10, he'll include a time-lapse video of the drawing from start to finish. It's a bargain! Link

Previously on Boing Boing:
• Videos of hoboes being drawn by Ape Lad
• Ape Lad draws Jackhammer Jill as a hobo

In Cary, Illinois, it is apparently a criminal offense for a high school student to write an essay that "alarms and disturbs" the teacher.

Dion says: "A straight A student is arrested and charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct (and removed from the school) for writing an essay that mimics the content of violent video games, in the context of a creative writing class assignment. While some concern about the content is well-understandable, and some investigation appropriate, the reflex to criminalize represents a view that sees adolescents and young adult expression as a dangerous series of risk factors that increasingly require arrest and preventive detention."

"I understand what happened recently at Virginia Tech," said the teen's father, Albert Lee, referring to last week's massacre of 32 students by gunman Seung-Hui Cho. "I understand the situation."

But he added: "I don't see how somebody can get charged by writing in their homework. The teacher asked them to express themselves, and he followed instructions."

Allen Lee, an 18-year-old straight-A student at Cary-Grove High School, was arrested Tuesday near his home and charged with disorderly conduct for an essay police described as violently disturbing but not directed toward any specific person or location.

Link

Update: Here's the essay that got Lee arrested.

Over on Scouta -- a new service that figures out the kind of media you like and serves up more of the same to you -- I wrote about five podcasts I really enjoy.

Example:

PopSci Podcasts

Jonathan Coulton, the wonderfully talented geek guitar troubadour, hosts this weekly podcast from his bunker on the moon, phoning in for interviews with people profiled in Popular Science magazine. He's talked to an electric car manufacturer, visionary roboticists, and a scientist who swaps genes around in fruit flies to make the boy flies fight like girl flies and vice versa.

Link

Previously on Boing Boing:
• Five favorite podcasts
• Subscribe to the Boing Boing Boing podcast
• Subscribe to Boing Boing Boing on iTunes
• Boing Boing Boing archives
• Subscribe to the Get Illuminated podcast
• Subscribe to Get Illuminated on iTunes
• Get Illuminated archives
• Boing Boing's 60 most recent videos
• 9 great old punk videos
• 7 punk and post-punk female singer videos

Here's an illustrated poem about death-hamsters, attributed to an 8-year-old boy in Georgia named Shecky. Link, and don't miss the secret message. (Thanks, LLA)

Evil hamsters are almost as "terrizing" as the LOLGAY gebrils: Link.

Why, oh why, do I love looking at This Old House's " " photo galleries? The answer is simple -- it makes be feel better for doing such a slipshod job of repair and maintenance on my own house.

Nothing feels better than a good shocking shower before going for a swim. A showerhead placed directly over an electrical junction box does the trick.

Link

Previously on Boing Boing:
• Sex-in-Russia article on This Old House site
• Photos of bad and dangerous home improvement hacks

Attaboy, who co-produces the terrific art magazine, Hi-Fructose, has directed his first animated cartoon. It's a delightful five-minute pilot for the Disney Channel called "Too Many Robots!"

Atta sez: "Animated by Ghostbot!, featuring music by the awesome Mike Relm and the lead is voiced by Kelly Stables (the Ring 2+3)." Link

Previously on Boing Boing:
• Attaboy's Fuzzy Axtrx
• Attaboy's new book of postcards
• Preview of new issue of Hi-Fructose
• Hi-Fructose volume 3

As we continue to ramp up for the MAKE: Bay Area Maker Faire at the San Matero Fairgrounds on May 19 and 20, here are this week's previews of people and projects participating in the extravaganza. From the MAKE: Blog (photo by Steve Double):

• The Crucible Link
• The Art of Motion Control Link
• The King of Fling contest Link
• Makers @Maker Faire Link
• X1 electric car does 0-100 mph in 6.8 seconds Link
• Tom Zimmerman and his DIY videoscope for backyard biology Link

Link to purchase advance tickets for the Maker Faire

Previously on BB:
• Maker Faire previews from April 16-20 Link
• Maker Faire previews from April 9-13 Link

What's not to love about a Russian car decorated to pay homage to one of history's bloodiest dictators? Link

Zhanna, a cake-shop in St. Petersburg, Russia, creates incredible sculptural cakes in the form of government documents, newspapers with herring on them, card-tables, casino games, maps, eye charts, skyscrapers, tennis shoes... Link (Thanks, Anonymous person!)

BB pal Vann Hall comments that this photo of astrophysicist Stephen Hawking enjoying a gravity-free moment yesterday is rather Dali-esque. The apple is in honor of Isaac Newton. Click image for the full picture, credited to Steve Baxall.
Link

UPDATE: Vann points out the striking surreal similarities between the Hawking photo and "Dali Atomicus" (1949).
Link

It's hard to imagine a country more traditional, and more religious, than Guatemala. For that reason, news that the country is denying entry to a cult leader who tattooes "666" on his arm, calls himself The Antichrist, and whose (alleged) 2 million followers describe him as a living deity -- it's pretty far out.

Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda (Wikipedia link) is the head of the Florida-based Growing in Grace church. He runs a 24-hour Spanish-language television network, and hosts a radio program broadcast on 287 stations.

Thumbnail at left (Alexandre Meneghini, AP) (link to full-size): A follower of Miranda holds a baby with "SSS" painted on her head. The letters stand for Miranda's motto, "salvo, siempre salvo," or "saved, always saved."

This week, Miranda tried to fly on his private jet to Guatemala, where he apparently has a big following, to celebrate his 61st birthday.

But Guatemalan officials flagged him as a terrorist, and say he's a security risk because he provokes conflict with Roman Catholics and evangelicals.

Snip from an AP story:

He often takes aim at the Catholic Church — the most powerful faith in Latin America — calling all priests child molesters and saying chastity vows go against the Bible's teachings. Members of his church have torn up images of saints and other religious symbols in El Salvador, and marched in Guatemala and Honduras.

He preaches that sin and the devil do not exist. In January, he revealed tattoos of the numbers 666 on his forearms and declared that he and his followers were Antichrists because their beliefs supersede those of Jesus Christ. The Bible describes the Antichrist as someone who will fill the world with wickedness but be conquered by a second coming of Christ.

Despite the Guatemalan government's security block, his supporters say...

"It has been predestined, and angels will make it happen," said Axel Poessy, Miranda's media director. "He is, after all, God himself."

Link to that AP story. Well, that didn't work out. Miranda was indeed denied entry to Guatemala. Miranda spun the story of the nixed visit as his choice:

He had vowed to defy the ban but canceled Saturday and will instead address the gathering in a video teleconference, said the sect's head pastor in Guatemala, Jorge Batres. "We're a church respectful of the law and we will have to wait until the judge gives us an injunction," Batres said.

Batres said De Jesus Miranda's Guatemalan followers will "firmly fight within the law so that he can come and let the world know that Jesus the Man is in Guatemala."

Link.

No surprise here, but the church's website appears to be a very important part of their "Antichrist ministry" outreach program.

The most interesting parts of the site, to me, are these videos of children proclaiming themselves part of a "Super Race" of Miranda followers, and this photo gallery documenting "Day of the Tattoo," where followers of de Miranda all got tattoos of "666" and "SSS" ("salvo, siempre salvo") on their bodies to proclaim their faith.

Previously on BoingBoing:

Xeni's NPR series "Guatemala: Unearthing the Future"

Xeni's notes from the road in Guatemala

Mayan priests to "purge" Iximche after Bush's visit

Guatemala: Photos from indigenous protest of Bush visit

More BB posts about Guatemala

(via Warren Ellis)

Reader comment: attorney Elizabeth Camp from the University of Texas says,

Miranda moved his church and his headquarters to Houston some time ago: Link. Then he announced he is the Antichrist.

In a new interview with the OpenBusiness project, Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth explains the Ubuntu business-model. Shuttleworth is a wealthy entrepreneur who started Ubuntu -- which gives away a free, high-quality version of Linux. He makes money from the "ecosystem" of services surrounding Ubuntu. Link (Thanks, Christian!)

I'm headed to the LA Times Festival of Books this Sunday, April 29 to appear on a science fiction panel with Kage Baker Harry Turtledove and John Scalzi called "Science Fiction: The Road From Here to There." Hope to see you there! Link

Following up on a previous BB post about freshly-killed, still-wriggling octopus tentacles -- a popular dish in South Korea -- many of you wrote in with personal accounts, and video. Here are more.

ray says,

Just read the squirming octopus post on BoingBoing! I was in Korea some 2 years ago and posted a similar breakdown on my own site - it includes videos of flopping fish and waving sea urchins. Live. And of course, we're eating them. Doesn't get any fresher than that! And now I'm getting hungry too... Link.

Brittanie H. says,

I have been living on Geoje Island, Korea, for the past two years. I have never eaten the wiggling octopus tentacles because they gross me out but I have had other undead seafood and I love steamed octopus.

I thought you might like to know the reason why Koreans eat their food this way. Especially in coastal areas, there is an emphasis on the "freshness" of seafood. Seafood lovers in the West know that fish always tastes better if it hasn't been frozen — Koreans take this one step further. They think most seafood is best when it's freshly killed, like, literally seconds before you eat it. Near the coast, almost all seafood restaurants have tanks outside where you pick the fish you want to eat. It is then killed at a bar inside and served up sashimi-style. Markets here serve skinned eel that even after de-gloving continue to wriggle around.

There is a scene in the Korean movie "Seom" (A.K.A. The Isle, a very good movie) in which a fisherman pulls a catch out of the water, cuts a chunk off the flank, eats the meat and then drops the butchered fish back into the water. The camera follows the fish as it swims away, streaming blood. Animal right activists had a heyday with that one, since the scene looks very, very real, but the director swears the fish was a fake. You can see part of the fish in this trailer at about 54 seconds in. Video Link.

Evan Garcia says,

The posts about octopus reminded me of recent Pulitzer-recipient Jonathan Gold's description of eating live prawns in LA's Koreatown: Link.

It's a great piece of writing, like no other food review I've read.

Len Cullum says,

Here is a 2 minute video of a sushi chef who fillets both sides of a fish, then puts it back in the tank where it swims around seemingly unaffected. The video is not graphic or gory unless you consider being able to almost see through the fish as either of those things. Video Link.

Kyungjoon Lee says,

BTW, there's a Wikipedia article about eating live octopus: Link.

Joe sez, "This is an open letter from Neuros to all the AppleTV hackers that appeals to AppleTV hackers to help contribute to Neuros Open Source/Linux Set-top box."

I've had a couple of these circulating in my class at USC this semester and some of the students have had a complete nerdgasm over them (for example, see this post on the class blog). The Neuros offers the best functionality of several devices -- a TiVo, an AppleTV -- in a small, cheap, functional package. It's built on free/open software and there's a community of hackers working to improve it. I can't wait to get my recorder back from my students so I can start using it at home!

We at Neuros are working to fulfill the vision of the open set-top box, but the path is not an easy one. The embedded components that are typically needed are quite often not nearly as open as many of the components in PCs. We don't have the heritage of mature, free software to support multimedia playback and recording, and we often have constrained computing resources that are a challenge to porting the software designed for PCs. Although each generation of our devices has become increasingly more open, we continue to rely too heavily on licensed proprietary code that would benefit greatly from the kind of help and expertise that you can bring.

Unlike other manufacturers who typically ignore or may even try to suppress or undermine your contributions, we at Neuros rely on them. Your contributions can get quickly incorporated in our official releases, and you will have a say in the creation of future generations of our devices and the ability to work side by side with our internal engineering team.

All while expanding the body of free software for those that follow.

At Neuros, we do not sell content, nor do we sell our devices through content distributors, as most set-top box manufacturers do. We are beholden only to you, the consumer. In a world of DRM, closed systems and proprietary walled garden content distribution, we record content from any legally obtained source to free and non DRM-encumbered MPEG-4 files that allow you to use that content as you wish.

Link (Thanks, Joe!)

Here's a 1977 video of a teenage Jodie Foster singing Je T'Attends Depuis La Nuit Des Temps. She recorded the song and several others for the film Moi, fleur bleue.
Link (Thanks, Michael-Anne Rauback!)

Dan says "Yesterday afternoon at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, a student dropped a gym bag with 60lbs of sand off behind a trash can. This caused all the buildings in the surrounding area to be evacuated as police investigated." Link

Jack Valenti, 85, passed away today. Link to an obituary in the Los Angeles Times. (Image: Wikipedia)

The first internet radio station I ever tuned in to was a downtempo ambient stream from Soma FM. I was working long, late hours at a website sweatshop an interactive services firm, with visions of plump stock options dancing over my monitor. The music and the delivery method were equally captivating. Radio! On the computer! Whoah. It felt so new at the time. I've remained a loyal Soma FM fan as years passed.

Now, Soma FM and other Internet radio providers -- including terrestrial radio networks now offering streams online -- are in big trouble, thanks to blockheaded moves by the RIAA and its spinoff, SoundExchange.

I asked Soma FM general manager Rusty Hodge if he wouldn't mind sharing an overview with BoingBoing readers, and he generously complied. Snip:

There is a crisis facing internet radio: new mandatory royalty rates are so high that they will force most or all independent internet radio stations off the air.

Read the entire post here. It's comprehensive, with lots of links. If you're not familiar with the issues facing webcasters right now, it's a great place to start. Rusty has also posted an update with some breaking news from today, here. Rusty also points to SaveNetRadio, an advocacy website for internet broadcasters: Link.

Kurt Hanson and the Radio and Internet Newsletter (RAIN) folks have been covering this from the beginning, too -- here's their latest post: Link.

More background: here's an explanation from one of the lawyers representing webcasters: Link. LA Times reporter Jon Healey posted something about the issue in his blog, as well: Link.

(Thanks, Wayne Correia, and Fred von Lohmann!)

Reader comment: Aram Sinnreich says,

I just published an interview on the subject with tim westergren from pandora in truthdig.com: Link.

In this episode of the Get Illuminated podcast, I interviewed the publisher (Alvin Buenaventura) and the editor (Todd Hignite) of one of my favorite magazines, Comic Art.

Alvin also publishes other books of and about comics -- check out the line-up at Buenaventura Press. Hignite is the author of a terrific book called In the Studio, in which he visits well-know cartoonists and interviews them about their process and inspirations. (Shown above: The cover of the upcoming Comic Art 9 by LA cartoonist and musician Tim Hensley.)

MP3 link | Podcast feed | Subscribe via iTunes | Previous Get Illuminated shows

I know, I know -- to each, his own eats. But this video of freshly-offed octopus on a restaurant table in Korea made me squirm more than the tentacles therein. Cyrus Farivar shot, uploaded, and tentatively nibbled. "They calm down after a little while, but then when you go after them again, they start up again," he says, "It’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen brought to a dinner table." Video Link.

Reader comment: M. Hwang says,

If you've ever seen the Korean movie Old Boy (I'd highly recommend it, though it's also a bit disturbing), there's a scene in it where the protagonist eats a live octopus on camera. As he chomps down on it, the tentacles move along his face. The actor, CHOI Min-sik, is a devout Buddhist, and apparently he prayed/begged forgiveness after each take. Video link.

And ROFL, someone out there suggests that this is a Klingon dish: Link.

Korean Cuisine Geek and BB reader stylimitsu says,

OMG! Are you kidding me? My mouth is STILL watering after checking that video out! Seriously. Funny what turns different people on, huh?

The way it was prepared in the video makes it seem pretty tame. The sauce actually lubricates the tentacles, making them easier to manipulate in the mouth and, thus, chew properly (trust me, you gotta chew the hell out of these things). It also makes them easier to pick up with chopsticks, as, without the sauce, the little suckers (hah!) grip tenaciously to the smooth surface of the plate. That's why sliced tentacles will often be served on top of leaves (on top of plates).

Okay, I'm really getting hungry now...

Spluch says,

Yeah, I have been to South Korea sometime ago and encountered this "store" which was selling live octopus next to a rocky shore. According to the local tour guide, one has to chew really fast to prevent the suckers from getting stuck onto the teeth. Also, divers (woman) who catches these stuffs on the spot needs to be able to dive to a depth of some 50 to 100 feet all while holding their breath without the use of diving equipment. The end result of holding such long breaths is that these divers don't actually live long.

ray says,

Just read the squirming octopus post on BoingBoing! I was in Korea some 2 years ago and posted a similar breakdown on my own site - it includes videos of flopping fish and waving sea urchins. Live. And of course, we're eating them. Doesn't get any fresher than that! And now I'm getting hungry too... Link.

bob dole says,

Also see the related behind the scenes footage from Oldboy: youTube Link. (BTW I, being from the middle of the north american continent, say it's gross, but it makes my Korean wife totally hungry :))

Previously on BoingBoing:

Octopus camouflage video

Big octopus squeezes itself through a little hole - video

Octopus-related pulp mag cover gallery

Video: weird vintage Japanese octopus baby nightmare

Roger Bean, 60, was arrested yesterday for doing illegal dentistry in a West Palm Beach garage laboratory that was "filthy," according to police. From the Smoking Gun's summary of the probable cause affidavit:

When Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputies raided Bean's garage, they recovered various power tools, false teeth, putty, dentures, and moldings. Bean, pictured in the mug shot at right, described himself as a "denturist" and told cops that this was not the first time he had been nabbed for operating an unregistered lab. He was charged with practicing dentistry without a license, a felony. While first visiting Bean's garage (after receiving an anonymous tip), detectives watched as a 67-year-old woman arrived to pick up dentures Bean had repaired for the bargain basement price of $40.

And from an Associated Press article:

Ron St. Mary, 73, head of the neighborhood crime watch, said Bean is no criminal.

"He's helping the old people who don't have a few dollars," he said. "I think the world of him."

Link to Smoking Gun, Link to Associated Press article

Previously on BB:
• Basement cosmetic surgery clinic busted Link

Joshuah Bearman wrote a great story for Wired. He summarized it for me thusly:

The story is a CIA rescue mission during the Iran Hostage Crisis, when six American embassy staff escaped the compound and were on the lam in Tehran for months -- until the CIA rescued them by creating a fake Hollywood production company and pretended to be in Iran location scouting for a big-budget sci-fi epic. I swear, it's all true. The CIA even got an office for their fake production company at Sunset/Gower studios, had a script and concept art, and took out ads in Variety. There are many more strange digressions in detail, but I'll let you find out about them in the story.

Link

Reader comment:

Luke says: In Errol Morris' First Person series, he did a documentary about the CIA agent responsible for the Sci-fi rescue. He talks about it in some detail. The episode is called "The Little Gray Man"

The Royal Society, the UK's national academy of science, has announced its short list for the 2007 General Prize for Science Books. I'm jazzed because I love reading popular science books and haven't checked out a single one of these yet. The long list is also available on the Royal Society site. The winner will be announced on May 15. From the 2007 General Prize page:

• Homo Britannicus by Chris Stringer
Homo Britannicus tells the epic story of the human colonisation of Britain, from our very first footsteps to the present day. Drawing on all the latest evidence and techniques of investigation, Chris Stringer describes times when Britain was so tropical that humans lived alongside hippos and sabre tooth tigers; and times so cold they shared the land with reindeer and mammoth; and times colder still when humans were forced to flee altogether. Link

• In Search of Memory by Eric R. Kandel
Nobel laureate Eric R Kandel charts the intellectual history of the emerging biology of the mind, and sheds light on how behavioural psychology, cognitive psychology, neuroscience and molecular biology have converged into a powerful new science. These efforts, he says, provide insights into normal mental functioning and disease, and simultaneously open pathways to more effective treatments. Link

• Lonesome George by Henry Nicholls
Lonesome George is a 1.5m-long, 90kg tortoise aged between 60 and 200, and it is thought he is the sole survivor of his sub-species. Scientific ingenuity may conjure up a way of reproducing him, and resurrecting his species. Henry Nicholls details the efforts of conservationists to preserve the Galapagos' unique biodiversity and illustrates how their experiences and discoveries are echoed worldwide. He explores the controversies raging over which mates are most appropriate for George and the risks of releasing crossbreed offspring into the wild. Link

• One in Three by Adam Wishart
When his father was diagnosed with cancer, Adam Wishart couldn't find any book that answered his questions: what was the disease, how did it take hold and what did it mean? What is it about cancer's biology that means it has not been eradicated? How close are we, really, to a cure? There was no such book. So he wrote it. One in Three interweaves two powerful stories: that of Adam and his father; and of the 200-year search for a cure. Link

• Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert Psychologist Daniel Gilbert reveals how and why the majority of us have no idea how to make ourselves happy. The drive for happiness is one of the most instinctive and fundamental human impulses. In this revealing and witty investigation, psychologist Daniel Gilbert uses scientific research, philosophy and real-life case studies to illustrate how our basic drive to satisfy our desires can not only be misguided, but also intrinsically linked to some long-standing and contentious questions about human nature. Link

• The Rough Guide to Climate Change by Robert Henson
The Rough Guide to Climate Change is a complete, unbiased guide to one of the most pressing problems facing humanity. From the current situation and background science to the government sceptics and possible solutions, this book covers the whole subject. The guide looks at visible symptoms of change from a warming planet, how global warming works, the evolution of our atmosphere over the last 4.5 billion years and what computer simulations of climate reveal about our past, present, and future. It looks at the sceptics' grounds for disagreement, global warming in the media and what governments and scientists are doing to try and solve the problem. It also includes lifestyle advice and tips for consumers who want to make a difference in tomorrow's climate. Link

Link to Royal Society Prize page, Link to BBC News article

For today's edition of the NPR News program "Day to Day," I filed a report about the online battle surrounding Eric Volz, a 27-year-old American who is serving a 30-year prison sentence in Nicaragua for the murder of his Nicaraguan ex-girlfriend. Volz insists he is innocent, and now his family is publicizing his case on the Web to get him freed.

- - - - - -

LISTEN:
"Two Sides Take up Nicaraguan Murder Case Online." Link to archived audio (Real/Win). Here's an MP3 Link. Or, listen to this report as an MP3 in the "Xeni Tech" podcast (subscribe via iTunes here). NPR "Xeni Tech" archives here.

- - - - - -

Eric Volz is one of many Americans drawn to the beauty of Nicaragua. Two decades after the end of a civil war between leftist Sandinistas and U.S.-backed Contra rebels, the country has become a magnet for retirees, surfers, and ecotourism.

After going there to surf, Volz ended up staying in Nicaragua, selling beachfront real estate and launching a magazine about local culture. Life was pretty good — until last November. His 25-year-old Nicaraguan ex-girlfriend, Doris Jimenez, was murdered. Of the four suspects, Volz was the only non-Nicaraguan. He became the prime suspect.

The one witness placing Volz at the scene of the crime was himself a suspect — a petty thief with an established criminal history. Charges against him were dropped when he agreed to testify against Volz.

Evidence for Volz's defense, including phone and Internet records, and testimony from 10 witnesses who claimed to have seen Volz in another city at the time of the crime, were denied by the small-town court.

Nicaraguan tabloids printed inflammatory headlines about the case (examples: 1, 2, 3), and Volz's mother, Maggie Anthony, says the climate surrounding the legal proceedings became chaotic.

"After the hearing, Eric was chased by a mob chanting, 'Let the gringo out so we can kill him,'" says Anthony. "We believe that was a direct result of the frenzy that happened because of the press."

Anthony says they turned to close family friend Richard McKinney for help. McKinney -- a former government tech CIO in Tennessee, now a Microsoft executive -- had some experience with technology and media. At first, they thought it best to avoid more press attention.

"Our lawyers said the best course of action is to let the evidence speak for itself and not make the situation worse by introducing the media," says McKinney.

If that spun out of control, they reasoned, the story could turn into a Nicaragua-vs.-America firestorm. But when the court returned a guilty verdict, McKinney turned to his 24-year-old daughter Nicole, who works in an ad agency and knew a thing or two about creating "viral media" campaigns with YouTube, MySpace, and blogs.

"When I called her, I said, 'Darlin', we need to light a fire on the Internet,' and she said, 'Let me work on it,'" McKinney recalls.

A "Free Eric Volz" MySpace page materialized, letters written by Eric from jail appear like blog posts on a "Friends of Eric Volz" Web site. Supporters produced a YouTube video called "An American Wrongfully Imprisoned In Nicaragua."

Soon, blogs picked up the story, and mainstream US media followed. Around the same time, congressmen and State Department officials took notice. In Nicaragua, there is not a strong Internet culture yet — but locals expressed themselves online, too, in newspaper forums. And an anti-Eric Volz video popped up on YouTube, followed by counter-responses produced by still others who had learned about the case from the Internet. Beyond the case itself, it seemed that traditional media in Nicaragua suddenly found itself at odds with a new, global, social media.

Howard Rheingold, the author of "Smart Mobs," believes this is part of an emerging trend.

"The poor people who earn a dollar a day don't have access to the Internet quite yet, but they've always had access to the networks through which rumors spread — and they hit the streets," says Rheingold. "Some of those people on the streets know someone who's connected to the Internet, and I think increasingly we'll see those two worlds merge."

Those worlds are merging in other legal cases, too. Supporters of American videoblogger Josh Wolf, who spent 226 days in U.S. prison, credit a massive online campaign in part with his recent release.

The murder trial of a 23-year old woman in Oakland, Calif., grabbed national headlines last year when her mom posted scanned court documents and photos of witnesses on MySpace.

Just as "conversational media" could be used to exonerate the wrongfully imprisoned, Rheingold worries that it could be used the other way.

"The question is, is that going to raise the quality of the public sphere, or is this simply going to be a medium that can be manipulated, [where] people become inflamed over falsehoods?"

Volz's case has been forwarded to an appeals court in Nicaragua, and a new hearing is expected in the coming weeks.

- - - - - - - - - -

Elsewhere on the web: NBC News has been covering the story extensively for more than a month, through several video reports (which aired on "Dateline," and NBC "Today.") Link to archived video.

CNN's Rick Sanchez covered it for "Anderson Cooper 360" this week: Link.

Here's a San Francisco Chronicle story (April 6): Link. And a Wall Street Journal story is here (March 19, behind a paywall, sorry): Link.

Supporters are staging a benefit concert in San Diego tomorrow, Friday April 27: Link to flyer (GIF).

Update: Be sure to look at the bottom of this post for updates -- Fark's Drew Curtis has said that the policy is a mistake and will be fixed soon. He also points out that he goes the extra mile when someone from the press wants to use a farker's image or contribution."

Fark -- home to many photo-mashup contests -- has a new (?) copyright policy: everyone who posts to Fark agrees to assign all copyright in their work to Fark (Fark then gives the posters back the right to use their work on personal projects, but not to allow anyone else to ever use their work).

The clause is really dumb. It's clear that Fark just wants to be sure they're allowed to, for example, publish books of the entries in Fark contests and to make sure that they're allowed to put ads alongside user submissions. Not altogether ridiculous.

But there are much better ways of accomplishing this than simply grabbing all the copyright to farkers' submissions. For example, Fark could ask submitters to release their submissions into the public domain, or to license them as Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike, which would make sure that Fark could make stuff from user submissions, without turning Fark into the sole owner of their users' creative output.

The agreement also prohibits any quoting of Fark submissions, message board posts etc, without ever mentioning fair use. Boing Boing has often quoted Fark posts in the past -- something that this policy now prohibits.

All in all, these terms of service are not very well thought through and are a real disappointment.

Fark.com is the legal owner of all copyright interests of Fark.com content. Each and every submission to Fark.com carries with it an implied assignment of the entire copyright interest in the submission. In exchange for the content and publication of that submission on Fark.com, Fark.com grants back to the submitter a non-exclusive, non-transferable and royalty-free license to republish that submission in any and all forms.

If you have any questions about our copyright policies, please send Feedback.

Link (Thanks to everyone who suggested this!)

Update: Fark's Drew Curtis has gone on record saying that this agreement isn't good and will be fixed soonest -- great news!

We’re not, we’re asking for a non-exclusive right to republish. Submitters still own their submissions, we’re asking for reprint rights in case we can use it. We have no intention of acquiring ownership of submission

(Thanks to everyone who suggested this!)

Update 2: Fark's Drew Curtis adds, "Something else no one knows, because no one asked, is that since the inception of the website, I have been contacted on multiple occasions by mainstream media people (or otherwise, such as when Thomas Dolby asked permission to blow up submissions to a PS contest with him as the subject to poster size for his own house) about using Fark PS submissions. I have refused to give the permission, and instead have on every occasion contacted the individual who owned the work and told them that the didn't need to respond to the media inquiry but if they wanted to they could. Because of this, if you ever saw a Fark PS in Mainstream Media that was uncreditted, it was used without permission."

John sez, "A variety.com article that suggests that 18 to 34 year olds in Europe download music and films because they don't trust the entertainment biz to provide bang for their buck. In the U.K., 35% of those asked did not think entertainment companies respected the rights of people who pay for digital entertainment, with that figure rising to 46% in France."

Some 41% of 18- to 34-year-olds in the U.K. did not trust entertainment companies to provide them with value for money, compared with an even higher figure of 54% in France. In the U.K., 35% of those asked did not think entertainment companies respected the rights of people who pay for digital entertainment, with that figure rising to 46% in France.

"It's bad news for the entertainment companies in that consumers are saying they're used to getting what they want, when they want, without paying for it on the Internet," said Gail Becker, Edelman's global head of digital entertainment division. "People are asking if I am going to pay for my entertainment, what value are you going to give us?"

(Thanks, John!)

Dave, from the Order of the Science Scouts of Exemplary Repute and Above-Average Physique, writes in with good news:

Recently, our badges have doubled in number (new ones include various levels of the "I build robots" badge; the "I've named a child or pet for science" badge" and the "I AM actually a freakin' rocket scientist" badge).

As well, the Science Scouts have adopted a kicking punk rock song called "Increase the N" by local Vancouver band HEFE as our official anthem. Who knew punk could work in the words "Mass Spec" into the lyrics?

Link (Thanks, Dave!)

Update: JFR sez, "I thought you would enjoy these merit badges from the Autonomous, Co-Ed, Secular, Non-Heirarchical Meme-Rider Scouting Collective for All Ages."

Update 2: Bonnie sez, "Saw these awesome zinester merit badges from podpodpost.com at Alternative Press Expo in San Fran this weekend!"

An entire ancient rainforest has been discovered, fossilized, in an Illinois coal mine. Three hundred million years ago, an earthquake pulled four square miles of the forest just below sea level and buried it in mud, preserving it for eternity. From National Geographic:

The forest... features an abundance of huge leaf impressions, large trunks of extinct trees, and tree-size horsetail plants, the researchers (from the Illinois State Geological Survey) said...

Geologist John Nelson, also with ISGS, found the fossils in 2004 when he was visiting the mine and noticed plant imprints in its shale-covered ceiling.

Elrick said, "Imagine an artist's canvas that's covered in gray flat paint—that's what gray shale kind of looks like.

"The plant fossils stand out in that grayness as black impressions, and they look just like pressed leaves in a book.

"As [workers] continued to mine, they exposed more and more fossils," he added.

Link

Instructables has directions for making a magnetic wallet/billfold out of an innertube and some old steel. I'm a little skeptical about credit-cards and magnets peacefully co-existing.

Duct tape wallets are non-optimal. The nature of the adhesive used on duct tape results in a wallet that will slowly slide apart based on the forces input to the wallet by your ass. After a year or so, depending on the ambient temperature of your location, the wallet will be falling apart and you will be building a new one. Besides, who needs all those pockets, a full length cash slot or other "wallet" features? In today's modern, RFID, credit-ready, cash-poor society a money clip with credit card and drivers license storage is truly the best wallet you will ever need. Any more storage and you will tempted to store receipts, ATM slips, business cards, and other sundry items in the wallet until you have a full blown case of "Costanza Wallet".

Enter the Innertube Wallet. As a Maker, geek, or otherwise shunned cheapskate, you doubtless have numerous blown bicycle innertubes, a few sheets of rusty 22 gauge steel, and any number of DOA hard disks and their attendant magnets. With such materials and a boundless enthusiasm for turning interminably stored junk into stuff you don't need, I present the bitchin' innertube wallet to solve all your wallety needs.

Link (via Make)

Update: Matias sez, "My friend Eli in Seattle has been making awesome bags and other accessories from inner tubes and other reused materials for a while. He sells them through his tiny business Alchemy Goods."

Attua Aparicio Torinos designed a line of funny white coffee mugs with cartoon animal parts on the bottom. Also available in pig and rabbit for £10.00 from Thorsten Van Elten.
Link

See updates below. Thousands of Japanese people have apparently been scammed into buying "poodles" that are actually sheep with fancy haircuts. The scam was uncovered after actress Maiko Kawakami showed a photo of her pet poodle on TV and commented that it "didn't bark and refused to eat dog food," according to a Metro.co.uk article. After being informed that the poodle was a sheep, police lines rang with other rubes telling the same story. From Metro.co.uk:

'We launched an investigation after we were made aware that a company was selling sheep as poodles,' a police spokesman told The Sun.

'Sadly, we think there is more than one company operating in this way.

'The sheep are believed to have been imported from overseas - Britain and Australia.'

Link (via Fortean Times)

UPDATE: There is some debate over whether this story is true or an urban legend. Link

UPDATE: And BB reader Jeff Gordon points to this story, from ninemsn, suggesting that the poodle/sheep scam may not be true. Link

UPDATE: And last but not least, a summary of the doubt at Snopes. Link

UPDATE: And the final word is that this story is not true. According to an AFP article, Kawakami denied that she had been scammed but rather that she overheard someone else telling the story in a nail salon and had simply recounted it on TV. Meanwhile, the police in Sapporo said that "the "article is completely made up." Link

BB reader Branko Collin says,

TopPop, a Dutch hit music show from the seventies and eighties, has opened its archives last month. They were big on the eve of the video clip, when artists who wanted to market their face and not just their music had to make live appearances on local TV shows throughout the world. TopPop was special because of their funky backgrounds (think: Blondie standing on a tin foil mountain); the fact that if an artist was unable to appear, the show would replace them by a ballet (think: dancing to the theme of Star Wars); and because of its slightly goofy looking presenter Ad Visser, who also wrote the science fiction novel-with-soundtrack Sobrietas.

Link