Boing Boing: June 11, 2007 Archives

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June 11, 2007

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Tim Biskup: toys, prints, parties

Posted by David Pescovitz, June 11, 2007 7:25 PM | permalink

Flopdoodle Helio-Pollard

Ether Tyrant-Print

Ether Armor-Totem-Wood

As regular BB readers know, artist Tim Biskup just completed a huge Helio Ocean mural project in Hollywood. We've linked to video documentation of the progress (see below). To celebrate, Helio is throwing a bash at their Santa Monica retail space on Wednesday, June 20, from 9pm-11pm! Invite here. There will be an installation of Biskup art and objects in the shop with music provided by DJ Alphabeast (AKA Tim) and pals. Helio will also give away 75 exclusive Big Pollard figures (image left) through some kind of lottery at the event. (See update below.) Another fifty figures will be available for sale at the store starting on June 21. In other Biskup news, the new prints (image middle and right) released as part of Tim's Ether exhibition at Billy Shire Fine Arts in Culver City -- previously available only in person at the gallery -- can now be purchased by contacting the gallery directly. Click the images for detail of the artwork. And finally, if you're in San Francisco on Thursday night, Tim and the Gama-Go crew are hosting a book release party for Limited Edition: Art and Design of GAMA-GO. Invite here. Buy the book here.

Previously on BB:
• Tim Biskup's new art exhibition, Ether Link
• Biskup mural for Helio: part 3 Link
• Tim Biskup profile Link

UPDATE: Helio's Justin Ried says:

Starting Friday, people will be able to visit Helio Santa Monica on the Third Street Promenade to pick up a raffle ticket (limit one per person). There will only be 500 tickets printed, each with a unique number. On Tuesday we’ll randomly choose 75 numbers out of the 500 and publish them on heliomag.com, timbiskup.com, supertouchblog.com, etc. Winners can then come to the Helio party to have food & drink and claim their Pollard from 9-11PM on Wednesday night (the 20th).

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Cory's editorial about the future of urban surveillance

Posted by Cory Doctorow, June 11, 2007 4:23 PM | permalink

Forbes just put together an excellent package on the 21st century city, including my editorial about the future of urban surveillance, called "Snitchtown":

The key to living in a city and peacefully co-existing as a social animal in tight quarters is to set a delicate balance of seeing and not seeing. You take care not to step on the heels of the woman in front of you on the way out of the subway, and you might take passing note of her most excellent handbag. But you don't make eye contact and exchange a nod. Or even if you do, you make sure that it's as fleeting as it can be.
Checking your mirrors is good practice even in stopped traffic, but staring and pointing at the schmuck next to you who's got his finger so far up his nostril he's in danger of lobotomizing himself is bad form--worse form that picking your nose, even.
I once asked a Japanese friend to explain why so many people on the Tokyo subway wore surgical masks. Are they extreme germophobes? Conscientious folks getting over a cold? Oh, yes, he said, yes, of course, but that's only the rubric. The real reason to wear the mask is to spare others the discomfort of seeing your facial expression, to make your face into a disengaged, unreadable blank--to spare others the discomfort of firing up their mirror neurons in order to model your mood based on your outward expression. To make it possible to see without seeing.

Link

GOP prez candidates on torture, with help from Monty Python

Posted by Xeni Jardin, June 11, 2007 4:15 PM | permalink

BB reader Christopher Ambler says,

With a little help from Monty Python, the Republican candidates for US President elaborate on torture -- um, no, wait, that's "enhanced interrogation techniques."

Video Link. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

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Earthmoving vehicle safety film

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, June 11, 2007 3:55 PM | permalink

Picture 10-4

Charlie says: "A while back my roommate and I started watching a bunch of the movies from the awesome Prelinger archive at Archive.org and one of our favorites was "Shake Hands with Danger." It's a crazy, campy, gruesome and musical romp through all of the ways you can maul or kill yourself with earthmoving equipment." Link

Reader comment:

Sean says: "One of my favorite comedy troupes, Loading Ready Run, has been making a new video every week since 2004. Last year they did a remake of the 'Shake Hands with Danger' video. I think it turned out pretty well." Link

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Gallery of custom vans in Japan

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, June 11, 2007 3:52 PM | permalink

Picture 9-9

Here's a photo gallery of outrageously customized vans in Japan. Link

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Bizarre Johnny Depp interview in Japan

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, June 11, 2007 3:38 PM | permalink

Picture 8-13

Johnny Depp recently appeared on Japanese TV to promote Pirates of the Caribbean Part 3. He sat in a chair while a bunch of people stood to the side and spoke to him. Then some cute little kids gave him a talent show. Mr. Depp appeared uncomfortable, but was polite during the bizarre ordeal. Link

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Hardhat made from foam block tied to head (update)

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, June 11, 2007 3:29 PM | permalink

200706111529

The foam pillow tied to this man's head keeps him safe from falling objects at a construction site in India.

Dan says: "10 to 1 it's just a pad for head-loading. One of the guys in the background has something similar. In India most carrying of heavy loads is done by getting someone to help boost it on to your head. It's much more energy efficient, although it may be hard on your back." Link

Wiretaping charges for recording a traffic stop

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, June 11, 2007 2:43 PM | permalink

Paul says: "18 year old arrested on wiretapping charges for recording a friend's traffic stop."

[Brian D.] Kelly said his friend was cited for speeding and because his truck's bumper was too low. He said he held the camera in plain view and turned it on when the officer yelled at his pal.
After about 20 minutes, the officer cited the driver on the traffic charges and told the men they were being recorded by a camera in his cruiser, Kelly said.
"He said, 'Young man, turn off your ... camera,'" Kelly said. "I turned it off and handed it to him. ... Six or seven more cops pulled up, and they arrested me."

Link

School with filthy water fountains bans bottled water

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, June 11, 2007 2:37 PM | permalink

Melanie "mellowknees" Fletcher says:

Here is an interesting article about a student at the Oregon Coast Technology School at North Bend Middle School in Oregon. The school placed a ban on students brining bottled water to class (because some students were using it to smuggle alcohol). Student Kyleray Katherman conducted a series of tests to prove that the drinking fountains in the school were not sanitary, and found that, in fact, the water from the school's toilets contained considerably less bacteria than the water coming from the drinking fountains.
Administrators quickly replaced the spigots and casing at three of the water fountains and custodians gave them all a thorough cleaning.
More teachers are providing water in classrooms now, but the ban on water bottles remains.
"It was a great lesson. We don't always see things in and about the school that are in need of repair," said Scott Edmondson, the school's principal, adding, "You'd be surprised how clean the water is in a toilet."

Link

Reader comment:

Nick says:

My middle school had dirty water fountains -- they went over the legal limit for e.coli in the water several times without shutting down the water. We were also forbidden to have waterbottles for the same reason.

Spy museum bans photography

Posted by Cory Doctorow, June 11, 2007 2:28 PM | permalink

Kim sez, "I thought it was ironic that visitors to the International Spy Museum (which is packed with security cameras, of course) aren't allowed to take photos or videos, as evidenced by this large sign in their lobby. In fact, one of the cashier drones even yelled at me for taking a photo of this sign--and this was before I had even purchased my ticket or went inside. Even more ironic is that one of the exhibits is all about the history of miniature hidden cameras."

Christ this stuff bugs me, especially from museums. These places are supposed to be about preserving and disseminating human culture -- but no taking any pictures or we might not be able to sell as many picture postcards! Link (Thanks, Kim!)

Update: Jamais sez, "I took the 'no photos' command at the Spy Museum as an implicit challenge to one's own spycraft -- after all, the conceit of a visit to the Spy Museum is that you're a new recruit. Accordingly, I took a couple of shots with my cameraphone. Nobody yelled at me or kicked me out, so I guess I passed the test."

Update 2: Enrique sez, "Another extremely ironic situation: the museum of the Prado in Madrid bans photography in all its rooms, but meanwhile it´s showing Thomas Struth´s series 'making time'... pictures taken in museums!! (including the Prado, of course). It´s also the first time they use the main rooms to show photography."

NASA 'Absolutely' Wants to Partner with Private Space Moguls

Posted by Xeni Jardin, June 11, 2007 1:54 PM | permalink

Matt Sullivan of Popular Mechanics tells BoingBoing,

Just before this weekend's successful Space Shuttle launch, NASA administrator Michael Griffin sat down for a very candid conversation with Popular Mechanics.
In addition to sharing his opinions on the Mars vs. Moon manned space flight debate, the 2008 elections and NASA's global warming research, he admitted that NASA has been working to collaborate with the Richard Bransons and Elon Musks on the world in a development that could make all the public and private funding for space travel finally add up to something truly meaningful:
"Absolutely. I see a day in the not very distant future, where instead of NASA buying a vehicle, we buy a ticket for our astronauts to ride to low-Earth orbit, or a bill of lading for a cargo delivery to space station by a private operator. I want us to get to that point."

Link. Image: Michael Griffin of NASA, during the Popular Mechanics interview.

Previously on BB:

Space Shuttle Atlantis, mission STS-117, lifts off

Are these awesome clouds a result of the shuttle launch?

Wikified reply to Easterbrook re: WIRED commentary on NASA's future

Building with oscillating exterior

Posted by David Pescovitz, June 11, 2007 1:51 PM | permalink

As part of the Liverpool Biennial, sculptor Richard Wilson designed a system that rotates and revolves part of a building's façade. The piece, titled "Turning the Place Over," is running at Cross Keys House, Moorfields, until the end of next year. From the Liverpool Biennial press release:

The revolving façade rests on a specially designed giant rotator, usually used in the shipping and nuclear industries, and acts as a huge opening and closing ‘window’, offering recurrent glimpses of the interior during its constant cycle during daylight hours.

The construction programme started in February 2007 and involves the careful deconstruction of the façade across three floors of the building, which is then reconstructed and fixed to the enormous pivot installed at the heart of the building. This astonishing feat of engineering will stun audiences on many levels. Disturbing and disorientating from a distance, from close-up passers-by have a thrilling experience as the building rotates above them.

Link to YouTube video, Link to press release (Thanks, Lindsay Tiemeyer!)

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Little kid playing "Do Re Mi" on ukulele

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, June 11, 2007 12:48 PM | permalink

Picture 7-12

Watch out, Shaggs. You have competition. Her name is Tessa and she does a killer rendition of 'Do Re Mi" on her pink ukulele. Link (Thanks, Kev!)

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Sotheby's to auction off Atari marketing archive

Posted by Cory Doctorow, June 11, 2007 12:26 PM | permalink

Sotheby's auctions in ~~London~~ New York is selling off Atari's marketing archives, chock full o vintage console gaming goodness. The lot is expected to go for $150K-$200K.

An extensive archive of original marketing materials (as detailed below) from the "Golden Age" of Atari, ca. 1981 to 1983, comprising more than 2,000 items of widely varying sizes and formats, including manuscript memorandum, internal specification guidelines, original sketches, blue lines, mechanicals, proofs, color separations (including acetates), and screen diagrams; the archive is mostly related to marketing materials for Atari games and game consoles, especially boxes and manuals, but includes some early design and graphic work for specific game characters and components; the archive contains mostly English-language materials, but proofs and mechanicals for cartons and manuals in French, German, Spanish, and Italian are also present. The whole archive organized into approximately 135 large file folders for graphic materials.

Link to Sotheby's site (registration required, Bugmenot has plenty of fake logins) (Thanks, John!)

Satire radio ad: WHIT Power 102 FM (Video)

Posted by Xeni Jardin, June 11, 2007 12:23 PM | permalink

Internet funnyguy Jesse Thorn, from The Sound of Young America, says:

As a professional radio host, I think I am qualified to dub this video the single greatest radio industry satire EVAR. I am still laughing, 20 minutes later. The video's by the New York comedy group Elephant Larry.

Video Link

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Dave T. Smith's peculiar science fiction costumes

Posted by David Pescovitz, June 11, 2007 12:22 PM | permalink

Photos Uncategorized 2007 06 11 Davetsmithds2Alt2

Beware of the Blog posted an interview with Dave T. Smith, an artisan who makes incredible elaborate costumes depicting entire scenes, mostly from science fiction and fantasy films such as Wizard of Oz, Batman, and of course the Star Wars movies. (This creation is titled "The Battle of Endor.") I also really like his concept sketches, like the one below for a JFK Assassination costume. From Beware of the Blog:

How did all this get started?
Actually, it began with drafting class in high school, which was in preparation for architecture school. I grew to enjoy working with my hands, plotting perspectives and building actual models, etc. Of course, the business world had moved on to the computer by the time I graduated, mostly with Computer Aided Drafting & Design. Like anything on the computer, CADD is a virtual world - not quite real nor tactile, but very malleable. Real world distances (full scale) are employed but one's work is locked within the monitor. Then, the hardware is not very portable, and it's hard for people to relate to CADD work. While this pays the bills, it's not always satisfying. So it hit me one year, to dust off my architectural modeling skills for Halloween and go as the one Batman character no one else would think to dress as... Gotham City. I spent an entire weekend hitting all the toy aisles and comic book shops collecting miniature figures and vehicles for the project then the next two weeks actually building it. When I left home Halloween night (1994, I think) the street lights painted on the black poncho were still wet.

And you just kept making them?
There were four built in this order: Gotham City, Battle of Endor (Death Star 2), NYC Under Attack and The Land of Oz. I'm inspired by high design and high concept in popular cinema... again, mostly to appeal to the street culture.

Link (Thanks, COOP!)

Afghan underarm fart music (video)

Posted by Xeni Jardin, June 11, 2007 12:09 PM | permalink

"If more people from the middle east would open up like this, there would be no war," says BB reader Nick Damato, as he points us to this video of a fellow in Afghanistan who makes beautiful fart music with his sweaty armpits. Little more need be said. Video Link. (Some folks have pointed out that Afghanistan is more correctly considered part of Asia, not the Middle East, but -- hey, this is America! What do we care!)

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Creepy horse bouncy house

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, June 11, 2007 11:27 AM | permalink

Ben says:

While reserving a bouncy house for my kid this weekend I found this bouncy house which seems to (almost) combine the unicorn and goatse memes. All they need to do is add a horn and maybe a rainbow colored mane. Something just not right about the look in that pony's eye.

Link

Air quality by SMS

Posted by David Pescovitz, June 11, 2007 11:25 AM | permalink

Eric Paulos of Intel Research has launched an SMS system for mobile phone users in the US to learn about the quality of the air around them. Called Ergo, the system uses data from the US Environmental Protection Agency's airnow.gov site and Weatherbug.com. The number to text is 415.624.6678 and here's a a summary of the commands:

If you text...

* a 5 digit zip code = you receive the most recent air quality reports for that area (ex. 94704)
* the word worst = you receive the worst three locations in the US as currently reported (ex. worst)
* daily zip time = you receive a report every day at the specified time for the given zip code. The time should be in 24-hour format and uses the time zone associated with the zip code given. (ex. daily 10011 1300) for daily air quality for New York City at 1pm Eastern Time
* daily worst time = you receive a report every day at the specified time of the worst air quality in the United States. The time should be in 24-hour format and interprets the time as Pacific Time Zone. (ex. daily worst 0900) for daily report of worst air quality at 9am Pacific Time

Link

Previously on BB:
• New York City art opening: Eric Paulos Link
• Telerobots separated at birth Link

Storage staircase -- genius!

Posted by Cory Doctorow, June 11, 2007 11:10 AM | permalink

Unicraft Joinery of Hamilton, Victoria, Australia made this wonderful staircase with drawers hidden in each riser. I'd hate to go down it in the dark with the drawers left out, but a few broken necks would be a small price to pay for all that storage. Link (via Digg)

Update: Jon sez, "I've seen this in houseboats where they need to use all the space as efficiently as possible. I've also seen where about three steps all hinge upwards revealing a big storage box underneath."

Taser executive caught lying his damn fool ass off

Posted by Xeni Jardin, June 11, 2007 11:10 AM | permalink

...according to the folks at Wired News' blog "Danger Room." The conflict involves an earlier item on the blog titled "Taser Zaps Critics - So Far" (Link), which questions the stun gun maker's claims that "Zapping someone with 50,000 volts will never, ever, under any circumstances, help kill him."

Link to today's followup post with Taser International Inc.'s response. The post includes heated debate over the definition of "heart failure," a concept which is relatively unambiguous for the rest of us. (thanks, Noah Shachtman)

Previously on BB:

Man zaps self with taser to test it, regrets doing so

SRL and Greg Leyh's Taser Cannon renamed after C&D

UCLA cops taser student who won't show ID

ULCA taser-cop has a history of sadistic violence

Testing Tasers on swine

A reader shares his stun gun story

Device turns waste heat into sound, then electricity

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, June 11, 2007 11:08 AM | permalink

A team of doctoral students led by University of Utah physicist Orest Symko have constructed a device that "converts heat into sound and then into electricity." They believe it could work as an alternative to photovoltaic cells and be in production in two years.

The project was funded by the US military as a way to harness the waste heat produced by radar systems and power electronics in the field.

When heat is applied -- with matches, a blowtorch or a heating element -- the heat builds to a threshold. Then the hot, moving air produces sound at a single frequency, similar to air blown into a flute.
"You have heat, which is so disorderly and chaotic, and all of a sudden you have sound coming out at one frequency," Symko says.
Then the sound waves squeeze the piezoelectric device, producing an electrical voltage. Symko says it's similar to what happens if you hit a nerve in your elbow, producing a painful electrical nerve impulse.
Longer resonator cylinders produce lower tones, while shorter tubes produce higher-pitched tones.
Devices that convert heat to sound and then to electricity lack moving parts, so such devices will require little maintenance and last a long time. They do not need to be built as precisely as, say, pistons in an engine, which loses efficiency as the pistons wear.

Link (Via Complexity Digest)

Robot rights activist attacked by human superiority bigots

Posted by Xeni Jardin, June 11, 2007 11:02 AM | permalink

Many BB readers wrote in with news of the unthinkable cruelty unleashed against a robots rights activist in ~~western~~ eastern Pennsylvania.

BB reader Amber says,

In April, a fellow student at Kutztown University was arrested for 'Fauxtesting'. In response to some insane Christian protesting he made a sign demanded equal rights for all Robots. He's one in a long line of fake-protesters who go out to reflect on all of the insane-protests in the world.
I've spoken with Charles Kline a few times, and he's a really nice guy. He was arrested for holding up a sign and must now cough up $300 for disturbing the peace on campus while the Christian protesters got off with a warning.
I went to the school and I can say this honestly shocks me. It's a normally laid-back campus in a liberal town. All I can think is after the VT attacks the school and police thought he might gun down a few people so robots get the right to vote.
Link.

BB reader Richard asks, "When will our authorities finally be willing to face the Robot Rights issue with integrity?", and points us to more on the story: Link (thanks also, CMB). Here are two related news reports: one, two.

Reader comment: Jake Landis writes,

Kutztown is actually in eastern Pennsylvania – as opposed to western PA, where robots are programmed to call soda “soda,” not “soda pop.”

Alt-porn site can't trademark name, patent office says it's obscene

Posted by Xeni Jardin, June 11, 2007 10:47 AM | permalink

There's a legal battle brewing over the fuckingmachines.com domain. The robophilia site is one of many fetish domains managed by alt-porn company Kink.com (formerly Cybernet Entertainment LLC).

I've visited the studio where this site and other Kink.com properties are produced, and met some of the folks behind it (and in front of it, and on top of it, and -- ok ok sorry). They're the most health/safety-conscious porn biz people I've ever met, and many of the employees are very friendly, geeky hacker/maker/ex-dotcom folk. It's a cool space, and by all appearances, one of the most responsibly-run adult entertainment companies around.

Anyway, fuckingmachines launched in 2000. Five years later, the company behind it asked the United States Patent and Trademark Office to trademark the word "fuckingmachines," to protect their IP rights. According to a feature in the Orlando Weekly....

Cybernet’s request met the government’s most preliminary standard: No one else was using the word “fuckingmachines.” But it didn’t clear another, more important hurdle: The patent office believes the word “fuck” is “scandalous,” and won’t allow Cybernet owner Peter Acworth to trademark it, or any variation of it.
“Registration is refused because the proposed mark consists of or comprises immoral or scandalous matter,” wrote Michael Engel, the attorney who reviewed the case for the government. “The term ‘fucking’ is an offensive and vulgar reference to the act of sex. … A mark that is deemed scandalous ... is not registrable.”
In other words, the federal government decides which words are and are not scandalous, and “fuck” falls on the immoral side of that divide. It’s been that way since 1905, according to documents included in Cybernet’s trademark application case, when federal guidelines for trademarks were first spelled out. Times may have changed, but the trademark office’s standards haven’t.

Link (thanks, Susannah Breslin, via daze reader)

Images: coupla phonecam snapshots I took on the kink.com set last year.

Related BB posts:

(NPR) Tech and Porn collide in Vegas

(NPR) Larry Flynt and Online Porn Crackdown

Reader comment: Marc J. Randazza says,

Here is a PDF link to the actual legal arguments in the case.

David Brin on future forecasting

Posted by David Pescovitz, June 11, 2007 10:13 AM | permalink

Discover magazine interviews David Brin, the tech writer and novelist best known for his exploration of surveillance in The Transparent Society and the prophetic science fiction tale Earth. In the interview, Brin discusses the art of future forecasting and the expansion of human perception. From Discover:

Why do you have such a good track record as a prognosticator? When prediction serves as polemic, it nearly always fails. Our prefrontal lobes can probe the future only when they aren’t leashed by dogma. The worst enemy of agile anticipation is our human propensity for comfy self-delusion.

Peering ahead is mostly art. We all have tricks. One of mine is to look for “honey-pot ideas” drawing lots of fad attention. Whatever’s fashionable, try to poke at it. Maybe 1 percent of the time you’ll find a trend or possibility that’s been missed. Another method is even simpler: Respect the masses. Nearly all futuristic movies and novels—even sober business forecasts—seem to wallow in the same smug assumption that most people are fools. This stereotype led content owners to envision the Internet as a delivery conduit to sell movies to passive couch potatoes. Even today, many of the social-net and virtual-world companies treat their users like giggling 13-year-olds incapable of expressing more than a sentence at a time of actual discourse.

A contrarian trick that has served me well is to ponder a coming technology and then imagine, What if everybody gets to use it? In really smart ways? Most of those imaginings have come true.

Link

UPDATE: BB reader Patrick Shifley writes: "It might also be useful to link to his blog Contrary Brin where he regularly writes short essays on transparency, freedom, government and other miscellany." Link

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Development porn: white, 1st-world photogs take most 3rd-world pics

Posted by Xeni Jardin, June 11, 2007 9:01 AM | permalink

A cluster of blog posts have popped up recently around the ethics of "development pornography," and the fact that most images we see of the developing world were shot by photographers (and presumably, video cameramen) who are not from the countries, classes, or ethnic groups they're photographing.

"Recognizing everybody’s communication rights in the information society is not mere slogan or campaign; it’s an integral part of social justice," say members of fair trade photography group Kijiji Vision, whose "mission is to reveal, support, develop and promote indigenous photographers from the majority world" while "making it easier for image buyers and the general public worldwide to access their work."

Here's a snip from one post on the "Technology, Health, and Development" blog:

In the past month there has been a slate of news from Reuters, MSF and others, surrounding imagery and how western media portrays the world. Imaging Famine is about media representations and was mentioned this week by a Reuters blog. This is nothing new, but the debate is good, and as the Reuters piece points out, they have covered the issues surrounding ‘development pornography‘ previously.
Another Reuters writer also picked up on this entire theme: Viewing the poor through Western eyes, I recommend the short read below and checking out the Kijiji/Majority World websites-

“Part of the reason for this kind of post-colonial choreography by INGOs is because they are still required to be the visual mediators of the poor world to the rich world. In Western society, our INGOs are inter-cultural gatekeepers. And you would often have for example, the young white INGO nurse talking passionately on television beside starving children...” Full story.
(...) Two other bits of related content from this week. First, Buffett (son of Warren) donated $730,000 to the journalism school at Nebraska to help student photojournalists record the wants of the world. And finally Together TV (yet another video outlet) has launched more video “in their own words”.

Cat Laine from the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG) has a thoughtful post on the topic here, which ends with the following:

Another interesting thing that this brings up is the relationship of the photo’s subject to the photographer. In the post, they mention the following fact: “Upwards of 90% of the images of the majority world that are seen in the western media are produced by white photographers from the USA or Europe.”
When I was in Cap-Haitien, Haiti last summer, I took various pictures of people who were involved in the charcoal training workshop, as well as folks who were on site. I took a few shots of these 2 sisters. [At Left] is the pic they posed for me, a Haitian-American female.
[At right] is how the posed for Dan, an engineer who was also on the trip [a white American male] a few minutes later.

Via Africa Unchained.

Ken MacLeod's "Execution Channel" -- chilling blogothriller

Posted by Cory Doctorow, June 11, 2007 9:00 AM | permalink

Ken MacLeod's invented an entirely new genre -- the Blogothriller, the infinitely weirder cousin of the technothriller. More improbable, hilarious, and engrossing than 70,000,000 conspiracy sites, a trillion trackbacks, a heptillion message-board posts. This book feels like the future, like our futuristic present. The book is called "The Execution Channel." It scared the shit out of me.

The Execution Channel is set in an ever-so-slightly alternate future, in which the War on Terror is being lost, where terror and terrornoia has destroyed every semblance of decency and humanity. Britain is rocked by race-riots, America is a vast, festering stew of conspiracy nuts and debt-shattered indenture slaves, China and Russia are retreating into old-line Communism, and France is spying on all of them (!).

The story follows a number of engaging, sharply drawn characters -- a soldier in the middle east, a peacenik camped outside a US base in Scotland, a paranoid Brit engineer turned French spy, an American warblogger in the midwest, a clade of disinformation sock-puppeteers who maintain great handsful of fake provocateur blogs.

The action is set in motion when a new weapons system -- a nuke? a propulsion system? a beam weapon? -- explodes at a US base in Scotland. As the plot unfolds in enough twists and turns for three spy novels, the players are haunted by The Execution Channel, a warporn Internet video stream of people being murdered, tortured, shot in war on killed in riots. No one knows where the Execution Channel emanates from -- maybe it's CIA black propaganda, maybe it's some snuff-artist's wank-fodder.

The spies and civilians and nutters and radicals circle and snarl, falling on each others' necks like wolves, as scene after scene of gripping action pound relentlessly past one another. This is one hell of a book. Link

Jules Verne map collection

Posted by Cory Doctorow, June 11, 2007 8:54 AM | permalink

An international cadre of volunteers have collected all the maps that appeared in the original editions. They're beautiful.

Weirdly, the volunteers who scanned these in have added this to their page: "These maps may not be reproduced for commercial purposes." Given that the maps are in the public domain, and that scanning a public domain image doesn't make it yours, I don't know why they think they can dictate the terms on which these are used. We all benefit from the public domain and no one has the right to tell you what you can and can't do with it. Might as well post the text of "Hamlet" and say, "This text may not be used for commercial purposes." Sez who? Link (Thanks, Robbo!)

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Privacy Int'l: Google fails our privacy test. Google: test wasn't fair.

Posted by Xeni Jardin, June 11, 2007 8:35 AM | permalink

Watchdog group Privacy International has issued a report on the privacy practices of 23 internet companies. The report, the result of a six month investigation, ranks Google worst. Yes, even below -- oh, heavens! -- Microsoft.

Link to "A Race to the Bottom: Privacy Ranking of Internet Service Companies." Why Google?

We are aware that the decision to place Google at the bottom of the ranking is likely to be controversial, but throughout our research we have found numerous deficiencies and hostilities in Google's approach to privacy that go well beyond those of other organizations. While a number of companies share some of these negative elements, none comes close to achieving status as an endemic threat to privacy. This is in part due to the diversity and specificity of Google's product range and the ability of the company to share extracted data between these tools, and in part it is due to Google's market dominance and the sheer size of its user base. Google's status in the ranking is also due to its aggressive use of invasive or potentially invasive technologies and techniques.
The view that Google "opens up" information through a range of attractive and advanced tools does not exempt the company from demonstrating responsible leadership in privacy. Google's increasing ability to deep-drill into the minutiae of a user's life and lifestyle choices must in our view be coupled with well defined and mature user controls and an equally mature privacy outlook. Neither of these elements has been demonstrated. Rather, we have witnessed an attitude to privacy within Google that at its most blatant is hostile, and at its most benign is ambivalent. These dynamics do not pervade other major players such as Microsoft or eBay, both of which have made notable improvements to the corporate ethos on privacy issues.

Here's a related Wired News item, here's a related AP item. Snip from that story, which includes a response from Google:

In a statement from one of its lawyers, Google said it aggressively protects its users' privacy and stands behind its track record. In its most conspicuous defense of user privacy, Google last year successfully fought a U.S. Justice Department subpoena demanding to review millions of search requests.
"We are disappointed with Privacy International's report, which is based on numerous inaccuracies and misunderstandings about our services," said Nicole Wong, Google's deputy general counsel. "It's a shame that Privacy International decided to publish its report before we had an opportunity to discuss our privacy practices with them."
Privacy International contacted Google earlier this month, but didn't receive a response, said Simon Davies, the group's director.

Authorities in China blocking Flickr images?

Posted by Xeni Jardin, June 11, 2007 8:27 AM | permalink

Flickr users in China began reporting that access to images was blocked on June 7, and the ban appears to still be active as of June 11.

A Flickr spokesperson says, "Our technical staff have looked into this and determined that it's not a technical issue from our end. Evidence suggests that our image servers are being blocked for many users in China."

Here's the support forum discussion on Flickr, and The San Francisco Chronicle has a related story here. See also this CNET item, this Slashdot thread, and this Shanghaist item.

Audrey Kawasaki: Juxtapoz profile

Posted by David Pescovitz, June 11, 2007 8:21 AM | permalink

One of my absolute favorite artists, Audrey Kawasaki, is profiled in Juxtapoz magazine. Audrey is currently showing the piece seen here, "Amai Wana," in the Venus show at Seattle's Roq la Rue Gallery and will exhibit at the Lineage Gallery in Philadelphia in July. From Juxtapoz:

"You really have to dive in for months in advance and concentrate hardcore," she says of preparing for a show. So she does what she does best, working with a medium and canvas she's comfortable with. "I enjoy the organic grains and patterns on wood panel. It's very inviting to me. It works as a good base and background, and I use really thin washes of oil, so the grains show though. I like to work and play around with that." She's worked with oil paint for about ten years but admits that she's willing to branch out to other mediums. "Though I haven't found any yet. My wood paintings are very precise and carefully done, so I'd like to experiment with being more rough and dirty and raw at some point."

Link

• Audrey Kawasaki at Roq La Rue Link
• Venus show at Roq La Rue Gallery Link
• Smitten: art by Hultberg, Kawasaki, Sol, Milne, and KuKula Link
• Audrey Kawasaki interview on MacTribe Link

Gun to launch objects into orbit

Posted by David Pescovitz, June 11, 2007 7:59 AM | permalink

In Jules Verne's 1865 story From the Earth to the Moon, a gun club constructs a massive cannon to launch a spaceship to the moon. Since then, the technical feasibility of a space cannon has been raised, not for human missions but rather to launch supplies. Project HARP, started in 1961 by the US and Canada, was one example. The New Scientist Space Blog reports on the latest exploratory research in this area, by physicists at the University of Ferrara in Italy. In an Acta Astronautica journal publication, they present their theory of a "multistage light gas gun," describing the "application of such a gun to satellite or robot craft launching." From New Scientist:

...Much higher efficiency can be achieved with a multi-stage gun, where the energy of an explosion is channeled through a series of tubes and pistons that accelerate the projectile, rather than accelerating it directly.

Although such a gun would be more efficient, the authors admit that there are other hurdles, such as the intense heating the projectile would experience during its high speed passage through the atmosphere. "We have not treated the many technological difficulties inherent in the realization of such a gun," they say.

Link to New Scientist, Link to Acta Astronautica abstract

Update: BB reader Steve Glista writes:

I thought other readers might like to see that there's a good write-up of the physics involved in shockwave acceleration and light gas guns on Wikipedia (link) and that there are several of these things already built and working, although on a scale that is much too small to send large masses into space.

Biometric door locks are cool, plus Schneier likes 'em

Posted by Xeni Jardin, June 11, 2007 7:47 AM | permalink

BoingBoing reader David K says,

The NYTimes has an article (Link) on a new, commercially available fingerprint scanning lock you can install on your front door in about 20 minutes.
They (mostly) like it, and quote [well-known security expert] Bruce Schneier on what a great idea this is. He brings his characteristic wit, reason, and smarts: "'Honestly, who’s going to get a photo of your fingerprint to trick the scanner?' he said. 'If I had a photo of your key, I could fool your lock. I can also get a rock and throw it in your window.'"
Personally, I am constantly frustrated that in this modern age, the device I crucially rely on several times a day still uses centuries old technology that is preposterously prone to mechanical failure and human error. The prospect of never again fumbling for a key, frantically jiggling a bad copy, or finding a locksmith at 2am is positively delightful.
That said, I see two major downsides: (1) batteries run out (2) how long until some intrepid tinkerer figures out how to hack this with a garage door opener or something ridiculously simple (a la Bic pen in Kryptonite lock).

Shown above (via NYT article): "After the SmartScan lock is programmed, it can be opened from the outside, right, with the swipe of a finger."

The $199 lock is called SmartScan, and is manufactured by CA-based company Kwikset. Press release here.

Jesus, I sure hope the lock works better than the gutwrenchingly slow, bloated Flash page on which Kwikset is promoting it -- not only does it take for frikkin' ever to load, it launches in a daggoned pop-up window, and may crash your browser (depending on your OS/browser combo). Who designs these sites, drunk chimpanzees? Reluctant Link.

You can't buy SmartScans yet, but there's a mailing list at that godawful website for alerts when the product is out.

Reader comments: Won't someone please think of the fingers? BB reader DaKu did:

My 2-Pesos (sicilian-style): As a former citizen of Colombia (thankfully I am now U.S. citizen), I can firmly say that the advent of these new locks there (if they ever take off), will mean that people will have to be very guarded with their fingers, to make sure that they are not stolen to break an entry. I can see it now: Fist Guards®: To keep your hands in one piece...

Nicholas Weaver says,

In practice, these locks can be very easy to fool. Mythbusters did a episode with such locks. Getting the fingerprint was suprisingly easy and, when cleaned up, a XEROX of the fingerprint was sufficient to open the lock! You don't leave photos of your keys all over the place, but you do leave photos of your fingerprints. Heck, you could probably take a little camera and read the print directly off the sensor!

Alex Antener says,

Here is a Video from the Chaos Computer Club in Berlin (CCCB) on how a fingerprint can be hacked. It is spoken in german language but the way the hack is shown it can easily be understood.

BoingBoing week in review: June 4-10, 2007

Posted by Xeni Jardin, June 11, 2007 7:11 AM | permalink

Pamela Low, Cap'n Crunch creator, RIP (Pesco)

Skytyping (Pesco)

Soviet arcade games: wonderfully horrible (Cory)

Science of forgetting (Pesco)

Laugh Out Loud Cats: more 1900s comics unearthed, and True historic origins of the Laugh Out Loud cats. (Xeni)

Things that don't look like what they're supposed to be: mutant Jesus candles (Mark), Johnny Depp cookies (Xeni), Popsicle plastic surgery (Mark), Turtle popsicle (Mark)

Bradbury denies free speech message in Fahrenheit 451 (Cory)

Do The Right Thing with Sesame Street Toys (Cory)

Realist archive project (Mark)

Google Street View: a cavalcade of reactions, gag pix, paranoid rants (Xeni)

Steampunk Star Trek (Cory)

Cat has camera on collar so we can see what he does (Mark)

Cory's book reviews: Rejuvenile, Execution Channel, Other Side (Cory)

Mark's new blog, call-in podcast, and book: Rule The Web (Mark)

Cory's Internet Filtering editorial for the Guardian (Cory)

YouTubes to make your Mexican grandmother cry (Xeni)

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