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May 6, 2007
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Maker Faire previews from May 1-5

Posted by David Pescovitz, May 6, 2007 4:24 PM |
The MAKE: Bay Area Maker Faire is just two weeks away! The DIY extravaganza happens on May 19 and 20 at the San Mateo Fairgrounds. Blog Puppymonorail
From the MAKE: Blog, here are last week's previews of some of the people and projects you'll see at Maker Faire:
• Swap-O-Rama-Rama Link
• Anachronistic clocks Link
• Puppy Mover Monorail Link
• The ComBots Cup Link
• Kite aerial photography Link
• Calling all cassette jockeys, circuit benders, etc. Link
• Print your own Maker Faire posters Link
• Maker Faire site widget: preview photos Link
Link to purchase discounted advance tickets for the Maker Faire

Previously on BB:
• Maker Faire previews from April 23-27 Link
• Maker Faire previews from April 16-20 Link
• Maker Faire previews from April 9-13 Link
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Credit card offers in-game World of Warcraft rewards: it's real now

Posted by Xeni Jardin, May 6, 2007 3:16 PM |

Link (via the-inbetween via Makezine via Joi Ito)

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Hot rice, just add cold water

Posted by David Pescovitz, May 6, 2007 9:16 AM |
Japanese inventors have developed a pack of rice that you cook by adding cold water. Called "Hotto! Raisu," the product would be an excellent emergency ration after a natural disaster. From Mainichi Daily News:
By subjecting rice to 4,000 times normal atmospheric pressure, the developers were able to preserve rice for long periods in a soft form that holds moisture. When water is poured over an exothermic agent in the pack, steam warms the rice contained within, and after about 15 minutes, the dish is piping hot.
Link (Thanks, Paul Saffo!)
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Uranium futures market to open on NYMEX today

Posted by Xeni Jardin, May 6, 2007 8:17 AM |
At 6 PM ET today, the New York Mercantile Exchange will offer a new market for uranium futures. The nucular stuff is hot. Currently trading at $113 a pound, it's up roughly 11 times from 2002 prices. I can't wait to see the investment scam emails this will inspire, soon to fill spamfolders everywhere: TH1S STOCK W1LL BL000W UP!!!11!1. via Gawker, more on Marketwatch, NYMEX press release, UPI.
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Iraq: Kurdish girl stoned to death, mob films it on cameraphones

Posted by Xeni Jardin, May 6, 2007 8:00 AM |
Cellphone videos that depict a teenage girl being stoned to death by a crowd surfaced online last week. Statements on the Kurdish website jebar.info claim the incident took place in Mosul, Iraq, and that the girl was Du'a Khalil Aswad, a 17-year old Kurd who was being killed for having had a relationship with a Sunni Muslim boy in a nearby town. These same online accounts indicate that some of the same members of the crowd who were stoning her to death were simultaneously documenting the act on their mobile phones:
In a short mobile video clip which appears to have been taken by locals at seen of the murder, the girl is seen being ambushed on her way home by a group of up to 1000 men who were waiting for her to return; the men killed her in the most brutal way possible, by throwing large stones on her head. The following clips show that while she is alive and crying for help she is taunted and kicked in her stomach until someone finishes her off by throwing a large stone on her face.

From the clips it appears that the girl was first stripped naked to symbolize that she had dishonored her family and her Yezidi religion. She is lying on the road naked while her smashed face is covered with blood and still breathing.

.3gp video files (warning: contains extremely graphic violence) and account at kurdishaspect.com. I see related reports at Daily Mail and Foxnews.com, but there's nothing online at sources I'd consider more reputable -- so I don't know how reliable the reported details of this incident are.

According to the online reports that do exist, these phonecam videos were uploaded to YouTube also. But a quick search on YouTube now shows: "This video has been removed due to terms of use violation."

Related: 30 Iraqis died in a car bomb attack in Iraq today, and more than 600 civilians are reported to have died in the week prior.

UPDATE: BoingBoing reader Derek says,

AP mentions a similar story of the incident, so what happened seems to be established. As a bit of an update, the article is mainly about how a gunman executed a bus full of Yazidis in response to the stoning of the girl. Vicious circle.
At least 23 have been killed in retaliatory violence: Link to Amnesty International statement. Peaceful protest rallies against the violence took place in Erbil: Link to blog account.
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May 6, 2007
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