Boing Boing: May 15, 2007 Archives

« a day earlier May 14, 2007

May 15, 2007

a day later » May 16, 2007

Jerry Falwell talks about his first time.

Posted by Xeni Jardin, May 15, 2007 11:50 PM | permalink

Link to larger JPEG (1222 x 1608) of the historic parody ad for Campari liquor that once appeared in Hustler magazine. In the fake-interview text, Falwell recalls having lost his virginity to his own mother in a goat-filled outhouse. Wikipedia link to the history of "Hustler Magazine v. Falwell," a legal case that helped defined free speech rights in America, in relation to parodies of public figures. ~~Larry Flynt must be having a pretty happy day today~~. (image via medialibel)

Here's a statement released today by Flynt on the occasion of Fallwell's death. (thanks to everyone who suggested this)

Previously:

Falwell's stupidest quotes, direct from hell.

Reader comment: BoingBoing reader says,

This is a clip from a series of sermons Jerry Falwell gave in 1998 about Y2K. He reminisces about goats, too.

posted in:

George Bush's cone of cell phone silence

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, May 15, 2007 8:35 PM | permalink

Chloe says: Can you hear me now? Not while Bush is in town.

Thought you might get a kick out of this: George Bush is visiting Sydney in September. The news is reporting that mobile phone use will be blocked "within an area the size of a football field" via a helicopter that will be following his motorcade.

They're calling it a "sophisticated counter-terrorism measure." Bad luck if you need to make an urgent call! Link

Update:

Here's what security expert Bruce Schneier has to say about the futility of cell phone jamming as a security measure:

Efforts to restrict cell phone usage because of this threat are ridiculous. It's a perfect example of a "movie-plot threat": by focusing on the specfics of a particular tactic rather than the broad threat, we simply force the bad guys to modify their tactics. Lots of money spent: no security gained."
And that's exactly what happened in Thailand:
Authorities said yesterday that police are looking for 40 Daihatsu keyless remote entry devices, some of which they believe were used to set off recent explosions in the deep South.

As Boing Boing reader Gorc says, "Does this mean the Bush's guys will be tackling people trying to get into their cars?"

According to this article, Sydney will be shutting down trains during APEC for a couple of days, too.

Pop-up porn case sentencing this Friday

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, May 15, 2007 5:29 PM | permalink

Julie Amero is a substitute teacher who was arrested for the crime of being present in a classroom equipped with an adware-infected computer that displayed porn pop-up ads. She faces 40 years in prison sentence, and will be sentenced on Friday. Zan says:

Julie Amero, the Connecticut teacher found guilty exposing children to pornography after popups appeared on her school computer, will face sentencing this Friday, May 18th. Amero, who says that malware on the infected PC was responsible for the popups, could face up to 40 years in jail. Even if she receives no jail time, Amero will be labeled as a sex offender and unable to teach, and be stuck with tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees.
This case gained a lot of publicity earlier in the year, but as the prosecution has delayed sentencing three times, the story has fallen off the radar. The Amero case could have a chilling effect on efforts to get computer into classrooms if teachers are afraid of losing their careers (or freedom) over an infected PC.

Link

Reader comment:

Alex says:

Mark -- minor correction -- under this statute, she wouldn't be labeled as a sex offender, but she would will have 4 felony counts. Of course, sex offender status could always theoretically be "grandfathered" in to the statute in the future, so there is still that risk.

Previously on Boing Boing:
• Pop-up porn case update
• Take Action: Julie Amero Porn Case
• Teacher faces 40 years for porn in classroom, blames adware
• Teacher faces jail time over "accidental porn" in classroom

EL Doctorow's gigantic Civil War novel "The March"

Posted by Cory Doctorow, May 15, 2007 4:56 PM | permalink

I just finished EL Doctorow's (no relation) magnificent Civil War novel The March. Doctorow has a knack for writing big, unflinching novels about race politics in America (see, for example, his alternate history Houdini book Ragtime), but he's transcended himself with The March.

The March is set along the great march south in the last days of the War Between the States. Doctorow's March is a diverse nation, and Doctorow fearlessly expands his cast of characters to encompass the whole of it. There are criminals and madmen, bold freed slaves and terrified ones. Generals and corporals, patriots and deserters. Racists and opportunists. The brave and the cowardly. Lovers, despicable crooks, gifted artists, compassionate and dispassionate military men and doctors. Even the spear-carriers are vividly drawn and the main characters are as vivid as sunrise through the smoke of a burning field.

This is a huge book, with so many sub-plots and twists that it's nearly impossible to hold in your head at once (I recently read The Creationists a book of Doctorow's essays about literary and scientific creation, and it made me wonder just how much research and process he must have gone through in creating this incredible tome). The historical details feel real and the book is an education in itself on that score.

I listened to actor Joe Morton's wonderful unabridged reading of this book. Morton is a gifted voice talent, able to handle the comic relief and the gravitas (he's very good as both Sherman and Lincoln) with equal ease.

I love Doctorow's "little" books (for example, the tight and sprightly Book of Daniel, a mashup of the biographies of Abbie Hoffman and the Rosenbergs), but as he progresses along his path, he's writing them longer and weightier, and never disappointing.

Link, Link to audiobook

Neuros OSD: a set-top box that treats you like an owner

Posted by Cory Doctorow, May 15, 2007 4:42 PM | permalink

The Neuros OSD isn't just a radically open set-top box -- it's also a radically empowering hunk of technology. Neuros gave me two of their open-source/free-software video recorders for my class to play with all semester. Each week, two of my students took these home and played with them. A few students complained about the clunky user-interface, but others had overwhelming nerdgasms at the power of the tiny, Linux-based box.

The OSD can record from any analog video source, from a TiVo to a satellite box to a DVD player to a games console. It records to any removable media you plug into it, such as a USB thumb-drive or a hard-drive -- so you can record your favorite DVDs, your best video-games, or your TV shows straight to drive. Needless to say, it'll play back from all this media as well.

The OSD is networkable, and can schedule programming in advance like a TiVo. It can play back all the standard download formats, including Xvid and Divx.

Best of all, the OSD is open: anyone can hack its firmware and add features to it (Neuros will even pay hackers for adding features to the box). Unlike traditional PVRs that come lumbered with anti-copying technology to appease the Hollysaurs and anti-hacking technology to appease the investsaurs, the OSD actually treats you, the customer, as the owner of your device, and encourages you to wring every possible erg of value from your purchase. Link

Favorite this! ( 7 )

Your old CD ROMs could help kill a bogus patent!

Posted by Cory Doctorow, May 15, 2007 4:32 PM | permalink

EFF and its friends are on the verge of busting one of the most bogus technology patents ever granted, and they need your help to drive a spike through its heart. The patent in question is Acacia's ridiculous ownership over the idea of shipping CD ROMs and other media with hyperlinks in them.

To help bust this overly broad patent, we are looking for Prior Art that shows the use of this technology before 1994. Specifically, we are seeking the following items:
1. NetNews CD-ROMs, sold by Sterling Software, preferably volumes #1 through #35. These CDs may have been also available through CD Publishing Corporation.
or
2. Other CD-ROMs that were distributed in 1993 or earlier that contained hypertext content or were installation disks for applications that linked to Internet content.

Link

Insane children's book depicts horse smoking drugs, drinking

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, May 15, 2007 3:28 PM | permalink

Ben says:

A scan of possibly the most disturbing/hilarious "children's" book ever written [Latawnya, the Naughty horse, Learns to Say "No" to Drugs]. Touches on issues of peer pressure, just saying no, and has pictures of horses doing drugs, drinking, and ODing. Would possibly fit with 50's era appropriateness, but it was published in 1991, ISBN 0-533-09102-0. In-freaking-credible.

Amazon has a used copy for $138.01. Link

Art pieces left on store shelves

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, May 15, 2007 3:19 PM | permalink

Conrad Bakker makes replicas of products, places them on shelves next to their real counterparts, takes a photo, then leaves the items on the shelves.

This consumer object replacement involved selecting specific consumer items, carving/painting replicas and reinserting them back into their original consumer context. Photographs were taken of the re-made objects in context, and then the objects were left to drift.

Link (Thanks, JP!)

Salvador Dali on "What's My Line?"

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, May 15, 2007 2:50 PM | permalink

Kembrew says:

When I saw the BoingBoing post about John Cage appearing on a game show, I decided to upload a clip of Salvador Dali appearing on another 1950s game show, What's My Line.
The clip is part of a series on my Web site, kembrew.com, titled "The Duchamp Found Pop Culture Object Theater."
The blindfolded panelists are completely flummoxed when Dali responds affirmatively to the following questions about his line of work, including:
Q: Are you involved in the arts?
A: Yes.
Q: Are you a performer?
A: Yes.
Q: Are you involved in sports or athletics?
Q: Yes.
Then it gets more, well, surreal. My favorite question was:
Q: Is there something quite unusual about this man?

Link

posted in:

Physicians for Social Responsibility Gala, June 7

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, May 15, 2007 2:16 PM | permalink

The Los Angeles chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility is holding its annual fundraising gala on Thursday, June 7. Adam Parfrey says: "This is their big yearly fundraising event, so that they can do their work. You might have heard about the leaking of ammonium perchlorate into the So Cal water table, and all that stuff about the toxic nature of the old Boeing site in Santa Clara area. PSR-LA has brought a lot of attention to this issue, and is working on getting all this shit cleaned up. It hurts the newly born the worst."

Honorees at the event include the patriotic loyal American heroes Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame Wilson. And Randy Newman is going to perform! Link

Rocketboom covers Maker Faire

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, May 15, 2007 2:00 PM | permalink

Picture 4-24

Today's Rocketboom is about Maker Faire (This weekend in San Mateo!). Bre Pettis and Phillip Torrone were interviewed from the MAKE satellite office in New York. Link

posted in:

Jamais Cascio on car nav hack news

Posted by David Pescovitz, May 15, 2007 1:58 PM | permalink

Jamais Cascio says:

The story: Italian hackers at a group calling itself Inverse Path have figured out how to spoof the radio signals used by car navigation systems. The money quote, from the first announcement, at a hacker-friendly site:

[[The technology doesn't authenticate where the traffic comes from, so an intruder could easily send a bogus message of a road closure, rerouting drivers to another road, Barisani says. Or an attacker could pummel the system with messages and cause a denial-of-service (DOS) attack, which could crash not only a car's navigation system, but its climate control system, and stereo, too, he says.

Barisani says the criminal or terrorist element would most likely be attracted to this type of attack. "If you're a hit man, you can use that kind of system to detour or ambush someone on any street you want," he says. "We can also send sensitive messages about security events, [weather conditions], or related to terrorist incidents." ]]

Inverse Path then demonstrated the spoof at security conference CanSecWest, where IT journalists picked it up: Link and Link

Nobody refutes it, and it basically disappears from the press, until the chairman of the TMC forum (the industry association site for car navigation systems) responds, basically saying (a) it's illegal, (b) it would probably be of little value, maybe, we hope, and (c) of course the industry is protecting itself, we assume. Link

The money quote here:
[["Service Providers and Broadcasters, I am sure, have many protection mechanisms and processes in place to prevent any illegitimate access to their services within their infrastructure."]]

Riiiiight.

To sum up:
* A hacker/security group demonstrated a spoof hole in car nav systems.
* This was reported to other security experts, covered in the IT media, and otherwise ignored.
* The car nav industry has decided to rely on assumptions and crossed fingers, instead of treating it like a security hole.

Massive sea turtle or something else?

Posted by David Pescovitz, May 15, 2007 1:39 PM | permalink

Wp-Content Uploads Giant-Turtle-002

Is this a Mystery Giant Marine Turtle or a decomposing whale? Weigh in at Cryptomundo.
Link (Thanks, Loren Coleman!)

UPDATE: Another photo of a decomposing beached whale strongly suggests that the image above is just that. More at Cryptomundo. Link

Pictorial history of vidgame consoles

Posted by David Pescovitz, May 15, 2007 1:23 PM | permalink

Images Slideshow 2007 05 Gallery Game History 01A

This month marks the 40th anniversary of the home video game console. Ralph Baer built the "Brown Box" (seen here) which eventually evolved into the Magnavox Odyssey of 1972. In celebration of the anniversary, Wired put together a nice gallery of images from the history of home video games.
Link

Funky horror MP3s from 1977: "Soul Dracula."

Posted by Xeni Jardin, May 15, 2007 12:40 PM | permalink

Everything in life goes better with a soundtrack. When you're sucking the blood out of hapless damsels' necks, there's nothing like shriek-laden, mid-70s eurosex synthdisco to keep things funky. Here's "Soul Dracula," by Hot Blood, from 1977. Link to info, and here's the MP3. Update: whoopee, there's an indigestibly compressed video, too. (Thanks, Q-Burns Abstract Message!)

posted in:

Core Memory: A Visual Survey of Vintage Computers

Posted by David Pescovitz, May 15, 2007 12:36 PM | permalink

0811854426 Large

The history of computing is rich and multi-layered. Most popular books on the subject focus on the technology, or the people behind the technology. But the machines themselves are also works of art--stunning in their thoughtful design, or magnificently bizarre in the curious forms that came from the focus on function. Core Memory is a new book, an art book in fact, that profiles 35 important and/or bizarre machines from the collection of the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley. (The book's creators will do a signing there on Monday, June 4, at 6pm.)
Coremem

Coremem

Veteran tech writer John Alderman's brief exposés of these significant computers--from the Z3 Adder (1941) and Johnniac (1954) to Seymour Cray's CDC 6600 (1964, seen here) and the Osborne I "luggable" from 1981--are like wonderful secret histories of dead technology, long-forgotten but highly influential. For example, the CDC-6600 was cooled by pumping Freon through the chassis. Most of the machines were sold to nuclear weapons facilities, where they were commonly used to play Spacewars. Another military machine included in the book, SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment, 1954-1963), analyzed radar data and featured a built-in cigarette lighter and ashtray. Alderman's text supports Mark Richards's magnificent portraits of the machines' pretty faces and equally beautiful guts, a stunning series of "glamour shots" for nerds.

The book was birthed by BB pal Alan Rapp, design and photography editor at Chronicle Books, and is right in line with that publisher's impeccable production values. Core Memory: A Visual Survey of Vintage Computers is a masterpiece that can only get better with age.

Link to buy the book on Amazon, Link to Mark Richards's site (navigate to the "Core Memory" gallery)

UPDATE: Robert Scoble posted a great video of Mark Richards discussing the book at the Computer History Museum. Link

posted in:

Falwell's stupidest quotes, direct from hell

Posted by Cory Doctorow, May 15, 2007 12:25 PM | permalink

Bigoted religious phony Jerry Falwell went to hell today. Voices of American Sexuality collected some of the stupidest things he said while he was befouling the living world:

* “AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals”
* "It appears that America's anti-Biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God, and is possibly being replaced by a Christ-centered men's movement which may become the foundation for a desperately needed national spiritual awakening."
* "If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being."
* After the September 11 attacks Falwell said, “I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen."
* “Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions”
* “[Homosexuals are] brute beasts...part of a vile and satanic system [that] will be utterly annihilated, and there will be a celebration in heaven.”

Link (Thanks, Isaac!)

(Falwell photo swiped from Dark Haired Girl's Flickr stream)

Update: ~~Freddie sez, "Don't forget that Jerry Fallwell was declared 'the defacto Executive Director of Domestic and Global Policy for the Republican party' by WhiteHouse.org."~~ this is a hoax site

Favorite this! ( 1 )

Video tryouts for a job at Disney's Haunted Mansion

Posted by Cory Doctorow, May 15, 2007 12:14 PM | permalink

Dan sends us "a post on my blog collecting YouTube submissions for a 'Win a Dream Job at Disneyland' contest. The applicants in question are trying out for the position of Haunted Mansion host or hostess, and the vibe is Count Floyd in a fanfilm." ZOMG, I just had a total nerdgasm. Link (Thanks, Dan!)

Inside a digital dump

Posted by Xeni Jardin, May 15, 2007 12:00 PM | permalink

Foreign Policy has just published a series of "digital dump" photographs by Natalie Behring -- here's a close-up look at discarded tech hardware piling up at some of China's most polluted e-waste heaps. Link. (thanks, Travis)

Coop's timelapse painting slideshows

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, May 15, 2007 11:54 AM | permalink

200705151153

It's a real treat to view the progress of these giant (6'x12') paintings by Coop. Be sure to watch them in the slideshow mode. Firestone | Atari | Ridgid | Goodyear

Previously on Boing Boing:
• Mini-documentary about Coop

posted in:

Gonzales proposes criminalizing "attempted infringement"

Posted by Cory Doctorow, May 15, 2007 11:40 AM | permalink

Torturer-in-chief and selective amnesiac Alberto Gonzales has proposed a new copyright law that will increase the DMCA's penalties for circumvention and -- amazingly -- penalize attempted infringement.

The DMCA hasn't put a penny into an artist's pocket. It hasn't reduced copyright infringement. Of course, what America needs is more DMCA.

Criminalize "attempting" to infringe copyright. Federal law currently punishes not-for-profit copyright infringement with between 1 and 10 years in prison, but there has to be actual infringement that takes place. The IPPA would eliminate that requirement. (The Justice Department's summary of the legislation says: "It is a general tenet of the criminal law that those who attempt to commit a crime but do not complete it are as morally culpable as those who succeed in doing so.")

Link (Thanks to everyone who suggested this story!)

Calf with two noses

Posted by David Pescovitz, May 15, 2007 10:33 AM | permalink

Lucy is a calf in Merrill, Wisconsin who was born earlier this month with two noses. She has a tiny nose just above her regular nose. From the Associated Press:

"It's a functioning nose because the middle of her second nose, the flap would go in and out when she drank out of the bottle like that," (farmer Mark) Krombholz said. "It was kind of funny."

Link (via Fortean Times)

Previously on BB:
• Two-headed snake for auction Link
• Two-headed fossil Link
• Two-headed turtle Link

X-ray of bullet in head

Posted by David Pescovitz, May 15, 2007 10:23 AM | permalink

I don't know if this is real or not, but I like the image anyway. Jin Guanging, 77, of China's Jiansgu province, reportedly got an x-ray for a bad headache and physicians found a bullet in her skull. It allegedly had been there since 1943 when she was shot by a Japanese soldier while delivering food to her guerrilla father. The bullet went through someone's arm before entering her. From Ananaova:

The chief surgeon, who removed the rusty bullet, was amazed it had remained in her head for so long without causing major problems.

"The fact that the bullet lost strength and speed passing through another person, and that the point it struck is not vital, may explain her survival," he said.

Link

Previously on BB:
• Pain in the neck Link
• X-rays of kids who swallowed toys and coins Link

UPDATE: BB reader "O" writes:

I don't know if that one is real but I know its possible. My father has had a bullet in his head for 20-something years now (No plans to take it out). He was shot on the right temple when someone was trying to steal the car he was in (he was on the passenger side) in the early 80s in Guatemala City. He lost his sight on the right eye, because the bullet cut some nerves, but everything else is fine. A few years ago he started to have some seizures, which are now controlled by medication. I've seen x-rays of his head and the bullet is sitting somewhere in the middle of his forehead. (I know, its nuts!) He drives, works hard and is the smartest guy I know. He is my hero!

Flying without ID won't work? Try making your own ID.

Posted by Xeni Jardin, May 15, 2007 9:47 AM | permalink

BB reader Mark Olson says,

The CBS affiliate here in Kansas City (KCTV) just did an investigation into airport security, and proved that it doesn't matter what kind of ID you show when you try to board a plane, as long as the ID looks kind of real. So while people test the system and try to fly without an ID at all, I think the bigger story is that requiring an ID at all is a total sham security measure. The TV station made an ID from scratch and the screeners accepted it with no questions asked. They even have an interactive display on their website showing how they created it and all of the crazy stuff they included on it. Kind of funny and scary at the same time.

Link

posted in:

Judge Judy rules against eBay photo-scam perpetrator

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, May 15, 2007 9:47 AM | permalink

Picture 2-41

Last night I wrote about a scammer who is sneakily selling photos of electronics equipment instead of the equipment itself. Here's a Judge Judy episode of a similar eBay scammer (Kelli Filkins) who got punished for her crimes against humanity. Judge Judy's ferocious dressing-down of the unrepentant, flat-affect Filkins is a work of art. Link

posted in:

Favorite this! ( 2 )

Biker fine after head hit with baseball bat

Posted by David Pescovitz, May 15, 2007 9:44 AM | permalink

High school student Ethan Stone of Urbana, Illinois was riding his bike Thursday evening when a guy in a truck reportedly hit him in the head with a baseball bat. According to Stone, the driver in a red Dodge Ram yelled obscenities and then pulled up beside his bike. From the Uni High Gargoyle:

...Then he saw a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye, and he felt his world shift simultaneously as his ears processed a series of loud crunches...

He had been hit on the top of his head, and his skull felt heavy, as if a weight had been dropped onto it, and his head spun. His entire body sagged as his bike swerved madly, but he miraculously managed to stay on two wheels...

As for how he’s feeling, he said he felt dazed and stunned for most of the night. However, he seemed to be doing fine a day afterward.

“My helmet really absorbed most of the impact,” he said. “It broke, though. I had to throw it away.”

Link (Thanks, Geoff Merritt!)

Previously on BB:
• Truck crushes biker's helmet but not head Link
• Bike helmets inspire unsafe driving Link

Boombox, circa 1954

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, May 15, 2007 9:39 AM | permalink

Shorpy reprints a photo and article excerpt about a convenient way to play music anywhere in your house, from 1954.

"A novel idea for the audiophile who likes his music wherever he is. A household teacart can be used as a mobile carrier for any combination of audio gear."

Link (Thanks, David!)

Thongy figurine of Spiderman's girlfriend (maid?) incites blogger ire

Posted by Xeni Jardin, May 15, 2007 8:30 AM | permalink

Mapletree7 says,

Marvel Comics, in their infinite wisdom, has chosen to release a new statuette to celebrate the success of the Mary Jane (wife of Peter Parker) character in the wake of the record-breaking Spiderman III movie.
The statuette features a busty Mary Jane leaning over a bucket and washing Spiderman's costume. Don't miss the thong, ripped jeans, pearl necklace, and bare feet. Female comic book fans are not amused. No, we are not amused.

Dozens of responses from comicbloggers linked here. Above, the controversial "comiquette" from Marvel at left, and a critic's parody response, at right.

Favorite this! ( 1 )

Dr. Strangelove scenes recreated with everyday stuff

Posted by Xeni Jardin, May 15, 2007 7:36 AM | permalink

The Morning News profiles Kristan Horton, a Canadian artist who watched Stanley Kubrick's 1964 masterpiece Dr. Strangelove over 700 times and recreates stills from the film with household objects.

Q: How did the "Dr. Strangelove Dr. Strangelove" project begin?
A: I don’t have a television. When a friend dropped off a VHS version of the film to the studio, it became the only thing to watch on the monitor. In two and a half years, I watched the film over 700 times. My perception was saturated by the film, and this caused me to respond to it. You can see this among Star Wars fans that log hundreds of viewings and go on to make Storm Trooper outfits for themselves in their living rooms. It’s a need to manifest [the reality of the film] in life. That marked the beginning of the project. I began to see relationships [between] the film present and the way I was working.

Link. (Thanks, Rosecrans Baldwin, co-EIC of The Morning News)

UPDATE: An exhibit of "Dr. Strangelove Dr. Strangelove" is on display at Art Gallery of York University (AGYU) in Toronto through 24 June 2007. Apparently this is available in book form, too, but I can't figure out where/how to buy a copy?

Reader comment: Marc Lowenthal of MIT Press says,

One book in which Horton's project appears, is a book we released last year entitled Trash, edited by John Knechtel. Horton's photo project is perhaps my favorite among the artist projects in the book, but there is a lot of other great stuff in the collection as well (both entertaining and serious).

Amazon Link. Well, there's apparently a *new* book by Horton, devoted exclusively to this project (the AGYU site references a book launch on May 13, as does this news article)... but I still don't know where to find it.

UPDATE 2: Woo-hoo, Torontoist to the rescue! David Topping says,

I did some digging around Horton's website, and found out some deets about the book of "Dr. Strangelove Dr. Strangelove" -- Link. It seems as if it's done by the AGYU press, so people interested in buying can probably call 'em up ( Link ) at 416.736.5169, or e-mail them at agyu@yorku.ca to find out more information. Those in the Toronto area'd probably have the best luck (as they can just go and buy a copy from the physical store), as it may very well not be available online.

Reader comment: Nick says,

Here's my own tribute to Dr Strangelove that I did last year in Lego. Admitted just the one scene, but fun none the less.

posted in:

Lileks does Disney World

Posted by Cory Doctorow, May 15, 2007 6:46 AM | permalink

Humorist James Lileks took his family to Disney World -- he's publishing a series of columns on the experience. The first installment's great:

Bus to the Magic Kingdom. Our bags are given a perfunctory look; we enter our index fingerprints into the database. The park isn’t open, so we join the throng of hardcores and neophytes, waiting for . . . what? The answer comes in a few minutes: a train, an actual steam train, appears above, with all the Beloved Licensed and Trademarked Characters leaning out and waving. Including Cindyrelly! A welcome song is sung; everyone waves back (including me, I note – I haven’t even set foot in the place yet and I’m almost weeping at the sight of Goofy.) The music! The architecture! The trains! From the very first moment, it’s like a live wire jammed into your Disney Lobe, a part of your brain that’s been rewiring since you were very small, just so it could release endorphins at this very moment. All that’s missing is Disney himself in a white robe and sandals, carring a lamb, projected against the sky. If they’d done that I would have bloodied my knees.

Link (Thanks to everyone who suggested this!)

Which troll-fighting techniques work

Posted by Cory Doctorow, May 15, 2007 6:15 AM | permalink

In my latest InfoWeek column, I look at what works, and what doesn't, when it comes to fighting trolls:

In the wake of the Kathy Sierra mess, Tim O'Reilly proposed a Blogger's Code of Conduct as a way of preventing a recurrence of the vile, misogynist attacks that Sierra suffered. The idea was that bloggers could choose to follow the Code and post a little badge to their sites affirming their adherence to it, putting message-board posters on notice of the house rules. Although it sounds like a reasonable idea on the face of it, bloggers were incredibly skeptical of the proposal, if not actively hostile. The objections seemed to boil down to this: "We're not uncivil, and neither are those message-board posters we regularly see on the boards. It's the trolls that we have trouble with, and they're pathological psychos, already ignoring our implicit code of conduct. They're going to ignore your explicit code of conduct, too." (There was more, of course -- like the fact that a set of articulated rules only invite people to hold you to them when they violate the spirit but not the letter of the law).
O'Reilly built his empire by doing something incredibly smart: Watching what geeks did that worked and writing it down so that other people could do it too. He is a distiller of Internet wisdom, and it's that approach that is called for here.
If you want to fight trolling, don't make up a bunch of a priori assumptions about what will or won't discourage trolls. Instead, seek out the troll whisperer and study their techniques.

Link

Atari joystick candle-holder

Posted by Cory Doctorow, May 15, 2007 5:49 AM | permalink

I love this Atari joystick candleholder from designer Mixko (unfortunately, Mixko's own site is an unnavigable, unbookmarkable Flash blob [what is it about designers and Flash?] with no search, but Wonderland has a nice picture of the piece). Link

« a day earlier May 14, 2007

May 15, 2007

a day later » May 16, 2007