The Oslo Ikea is opening up a no-charge hostel for shoppers who want to keep on shopping the next morning. It includes a bridal suite, and a luxury suite with breakfast in bed. Many Norwegians visit Ikea on holidays, treating it like a flat-pack theme-park. Guests also get to keep their sheets, and complimentary slippers, bathrobes, dinner and breakfast.

"There will be the regular dormitory with lots of beds stacked up together. We will also have a bridal suite, with a round bed and a hanging chandelier, and the luxury suite, where customers can enjoy breakfast in bed," he said. Family rooms will also be available for parents and children to join into the Ikea fun. None of the guests will be charged for their stay.

Mr Ullebust said that, as far as he knew, this was Ikea's first foray into the hotel business. Every night, the 30 lucky few will be able to stack up on meatballs, Norwegian salmon and cranberry mousse, as Ikea is offering free dinner and breakfast at the usual canteen.

Link (Thanks, Ludwig!)

See also:
HOWTO make a cheap coffin out of Ikea parts
If IKEA was a video game
IKEA product names demystified
IKEA Hacker -- torquing your flatpack
Prefab housing by Ikea
IKEA insists photo of dog does not show human-like penis
Saudi stampede over Ikea store launch results in 3 deaths
Ikea flat-pack houses come to Glasgow
IKEA stores make great babysitters, soup-kitchens
$1500 electric guitar made from 1/3 of a $15 Ikea table
10% of Euros conceived in an IKEA bed

Jed Hartman, co-editor of the amazing science fiction webzine Strange Horizons, writes to say,

Ben Rosenbaum asked us Strange Horizons editors a few months back to put a CC license on his Hugo-nominated story "The House Beyond Your Sky." After we did that, we asked our other authors if they would like us to put CC licenses on their works in our archives.

Over a dozen of our other authors decided to license their archived stories, poems, and articles, with various licenses. I've now listed most of the newly licensed pieces in two entries in my journal: One, Two.

In other Strange Horizons news, they're running a fundraising drive. Jed adds,

We're a nonprofit online speculative fiction magazine that pays professional rates for fiction; we're run by a staff of 30 volunteers; we've published new material every week, freely available online, for nearly 7 years (and almost all of it is still available in our archives), including fiction, poetry, articles, reviews, art, and columns; we're funded entirely by donations, in a sort of public-radio-like model; in the US, donations to us are tax-deductible. Stuff we publish gets picked up regularly for Year's Best reprint volumes. This year a story we published was on the Nebula ballot and another is on the Hugo ballot.

I'll add that SH is one of the best short fiction publishers in the world, consistently putting out a free product that holds its own against any print or online market.

This gallery of mostly-Polish vintage movie posters, many for American-made films, is absolutely amazing. At left, "The Golem" (1979). At right, "A Coeur Jole" (1967). Link (via Drawn!)

UPDATE: BB reader Perian Sully points to a terrific online resource where you can learn about the artists and buy many mind-blowing Polish film posters. Link

The Etienne Louis espresso machine is a giant polished aluminium sea urchin whose top half swings away to reveal its removable water reservoir and other vital organs. Designed by Switzerland's Carlo Borer and makes two cups -- no price given on the site. Link (via Gizmodo)

Check out Simon Iddol's latest mashup album, Forgotten Hits, featuring "old surf/soul/sleaze/jazz '50s/'60s instrumentals, out of print thrift-store vinyl obscurities mashed with new pop icons."

I'm partial to Superfreak Twisters, Copycat's mashup of The Twisters VS Rick James's Superfreak. Link (Thanks, Simon!)

Here's a tantalizing little build-log from a project to fold the world's greatest origami Elder God. Legend has it that an ill person who folds a thousand origami cranes will get well. I wonder what you get if you fold a thousand Cthulhus? Devouring of your entrails? Link (via Neatorama)

Wired News has interviewed Danny Fingeroth, author of Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics and the Creation of the Superhero -- a book about the legion of underwear perverts created by Eastern European Jewish immigrants (something that's brilliantly fictionalized in Chabon's Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay -- and that I wrote about in my Jewish superman story, The Super-Man and the Bugout, published in my collection A Place So Foreign and Eight More)

WN: You're Jewish yourself. Are you worried that your book might give ammunition to anti-Semites who like to make claims about Jewish domination?

Fingeroth: My joke is that it's of most interest to Jews and anti-Semites. Most other people don’t give a shit. I think it's one of the best things I've written, but it was one of the hardest to write, too, because of how careful I wanted to be about how I framed things so as not to give ammunition to bigots who might want to twist what I was saying. I ultimately decided that if I was going to write this book, and I did and do think it was important to write, I had to put that fear out of my mind and figure that if someone has a reason to hate Jews, they don’t need to me as an excuse to do it.

Link

The Penguin Teaboy is probably the cutest way to be obsessive about your tea -- wind the timer in his belly, hook the teabag's string around his beak, and when the timer runs down, he'll raise his head and lift the bag out of the mug. Link (via Red Ferret)

The Japanese TV show Pythagora Switch uses adorable little videos of complex Rube Goldberg machines as idents/interstitials. Someone's collected a zillion of them and youtubed 'em. Link (Thanks, 5000!)

See also:
Ultimate rube goldberg machine
Rube Goldberg style contraption video
Rube Goldberg: 125-step flashlight battery changer
Rube Goldberg machine built out of sticks and stones
Mesmerizing Rube-Goldberg Honda ad
Rube Goldberg machine to be demoed tomorrow in NYC

Zookeepers at Paultons Park near Romsey, Hampshire, UK have solved their meerkat brawls with Vap-O-Rub. Meerkats attack newcomers unless they smell like family. The solution was to rub all the little critters with minty chest-sauce so that they all smelled alike.

Livestock manager Geoff Masson said: "It is normally extremely difficult to integrate new meerkats into an existing group - their usual instinct is to try to attack any newcomers.

"However, thanks to a suggestion from our vet, Kate Chitty, we were able to neutralise all odours by using a little of the VapoRub on the nose of each meerkat.

"The meerkats then all smelt the same to each other and gladly accepted the new arrivals."

Link (Thanks, B. Fezzi!)

(Photo entitled Meerkat 2 ganked from Ltshears's Flickr stream)

See also: Short link amuse bouches for Friday

Bonnie Burton says,

Stormtroopers in line for lattes, a gigantic LEGO Death Star looming over the crowd, Slave Leias flirting with superheroes, celebs talking movies (*cough*Indiana Jones*cough*) -- yup it's time for San Diego Comic-Con International, and starwars.com is there taking snapshots, shooting video and reporting the latest news tidbits daily on the Official starwars.com Blog. Link. Check out our Flickr blog too.

Above, a snapshot from The Vader Project, a series of customized Vader helmets on display at Comic-Con this week: Link to blogpost, here's more and more. Participating helmetmodders: Jermaine Rogers, Haze XXL, Robbie Conal, Mars-1, Gary Taxali, CRASH, Mark Bodnar, Damon Soule, Girls Drawing Girls.

Following up on this much-covered story today about a report alleging alcohol abuse among NASA astronauts, hurtyelbow says:

NASA probably has powdered beer in space, because NASA knows how to prioritize. It's like Tang. Except it's beer. So what do you do when you feel your fellow astronaut might be orbiting under the influence? Nothing, because you're an astronaut and you're drunk too.

Let's say there were interstellar law enforcement spaceships that could police the area around earth (Who cares about the other planets really?). Typical symptoms of drunk driving wouldn't apply. First of all, flying isn't driving and secondly there's nothing to run into in space anyway.

Link.

A dude on the internet referred to Navy Fire Controlman 2nd Class Petty Officer Russell Tavares as "a nerd" in an online trollfight. In one of the more dramatic tales of internet rage we've seen lately, the 27-year-old Tavares, who believed himself to not be a nerd, hopped in his car and sped off 1,300 miles from Virginia to Texas, where the name-caller lived.

Tavares photographed road snapshots along his route, and posted the images online, as if to prove to his internet peers that he was not a luzer. When he got to there, he burned the dude's trailer down. Tavares has been sentenced to 7 years in prison for arson. Snip:

The feud started when Anderson, who runs a haunted house near Waco, joined a picture-sharing Web site and posted his artwork and political views. After he blocked some people from his page because of insults and foul language, they retaliated by making obscene digitally altered pictures of him, he said.

Anderson, who went by the screen name "Johnny Darkness," traded barbs with Tavares, aka "PyroDice." Investigators say Tavares boiled over when Anderson called him a nerd and posted a digitally altered photo making Tavares look like a skinny boy in high-water pants, holding a gun and a laptop under a "Revenge of the Nerds" sign.

Tavares obtained Anderson's real name and hometown from Anderson's Web page about his Museum of Horrors Haunted House.

Link to AP report. (thanks, Andria)

Reader comment: Anonymous says,

First off - Tavares was sentenced today, but the incident happened two years ago.

Here's a video from Waco local news: Link.

And a more in-depth story from the Waco tribune, with photos of John Anderson and the ruined trailer: Link.

The site in question was Orfay. PyroDice's account is deleted (Link) but the Google cache love is there for all his photos (Link). A few of the pics hit on some 4chan memes. He's got a MySpace (Link) - his mood is "distressed." His Flickr stream (Link) shows he made it to Anime Expo in GTA cosplay garb.

Johnny Darkness goes by the Grand Goblin on Orfay: Link.

DefectiveByDesign says:

Today the BBC made it official—they have been corrupted by Microsoft. With today's launch of the iPlayer, the BBC Trust has failed in its most basic of duties and handed over to Microsoft sole control of the on-line distribution of BBC programming. From today, you will need to own a Microsoft operating system to view BBC programming on the web. And you must accept the Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) that the iPlayer imposes.

Link

Reader comment: jmhz says,

Engadget commenters report that FairUse4WM strips DRM from BBC iplayer downloads so they can be watched in VLC on the MAC.

BoingBoing reader Carl says,

I was recently in Vegas and took a tour through the Neon Graveyard. It was fascinating and gratifying to see that so many of the old neon signs are being preserved for public viewing. Everyone should go when they're in Vegas.

Link.

Blogger White African has an item up today about the mobile reporters of AfricaNews:

Africans are reporting via their mobile phones. Using GPRS-enabled phones, anyone can send images, articles and video to someone else. This is a huge, primarily because it means that the on-ground reporters don’t need an internet connection at all - only access to a cell phone tower.
The Voices of Africa project is being piloted by 3 reporters right now - one from Ghana, Kenya and South Africa. They are using Nokia E61i phones to send in their stories, working through the technical issues to ensure that it can be rolled out to a much larger group of reporters around the continent.

Link. Via Emeka Okafor at Timbuktu Chronicles.

A third person died Thursday night from injuries suffered during the explosion of an experimental rocket fuel tank at Mojave Air and Space Port in the California desert. BoingBoing readers may recall this site as the location from which SpaceShipOne and other innovative, privately-financed craft have taken off in recent years.

"We don't know why it exploded," said Burt Rutan, the owner of Scaled Composites. "We just don't know." Rutan was visibly distraught as he appeared in public for the first time Thursday night following the tragedy. He said he still can't believe three of his employees are dead, and three others critically injured. "We were doing a test that we believed was completely safe... which is why we don't remove the people from the area like we do on a rocket test," said Rutan.

Link to KGET item, here's an LAT report. In related news, Northrop Grumman recently announced that it will acquire Scaled Composites: Link to July 21 item, which stated that "the acquisition will not affect the ongoing development of SpaceShipTwo, a suborbital commercial passenger spacecraft, for space tourism company Virgin Galactic." (thanks, ginohn).

Previously on BoingBoing:

Xeni on NPR: report from SpaceShipOne launch at Mojave

X-37 first flight at Mojave (on SpaceShipOne's anniversary)

Alan Radecki's photos of X Prize event and Mojave airport

david goldin
rob dobi
mark ngui
airtoons
klonek
rolitoland
monsterism (shown here)
andrew bell
inky dreadfuls
natalie dee
toothpaste for dinner

Web Zen Home and Archives, Store (Thanks Frank!)

Erik says:

The "Never Get Busted Again" video is indeed lousy, and gives lots of terrible advice that involves 'cooperating' with cops and renouncing your constitutional rights (4th and 5th Amendments, especially). It's received a bit of angry discussion elsewhere for awhile now.

This video, however, created by the ACLU and Flex Your Rights, (I am not affiliated with either group), does a much better job, and can be seen for free on youtube, unlike the Never Get Busted Again video.

Link

Barry N. Cooper, CEO/NeverGetBusted says:

Eric is lying about my film. There is some jealousy taking place in the drug reformation community. The few who have attacked my DVD are motivated by other agendas besides true drug reform. Drug reform needs reformation. Never Get Busted Again is a high quality film full of great information...it will be released in major book and record shops in September. My second film will be shot in Hollywood, California and should do great things for drug reform. Click on this link to read a real review of Never Get Busted Again. It was written by one of the greatest names in Marijuana Reform, Jodie Emery...Owner of Cannabis Culture Magazine and wife of Marc Emery.

Bre Pettis of MAKE shows you how to make a tabletop biosphere.
Magnetic shapes to decorate your car.
Kansas takes pride in first white child born in Jamestown.
Calculate your real age. (Via Ursi's blog)
Who can resist a long egg?
Merlin Mann's Google talk on dealing with email.
Dr. Andrew Weil speaks about “Psychoactive Drugs Through Human History” (MP3)

Oh, alright, soylent green it ain't. But Pepsi will soon begin disclosing on Aquafina bottle labels that the beverage is, in fact, no more than filtered tap water -- Aquatappa. Specifically, the labels will refer to a "Public Water Source." The change comes in response to a campaign from a group called Corporate Responsibility International, and they argue that bottled water is dangerous to the environment. LAT: Link. CRI's press release: Link. Reuters: Link. (Thanks, Eric Herman, Farhad Manjoo)

Reader comment: Jon Power says

Following your Aquafina story, did you know that Coca-Cola already failed to sell the UK bottled tap water, three years ago. It was a total PR disaster and was withdrawn. Yay for us! Oh, and it gave you cancer. So now you know. Link.

Rory Mayberry is a former subcontractor employee for First Kuwaiti Trading & Contracting Company, which was contracted by the US State Dept. to build the $600 million US Embassy in Iraq.

He testified before the US Congressional Oversight Committee's "Allegations of Waste, Fraud, and Abuse at the New U.S. Embassy in Iraq" hearing that First Kuwaiti used Filipino slave labor to build the embassy, and that the State Department is covering it up.

The Star-Telegram has a short article with more details here. Link (Via Why, That's Delightful!)

LA Weekly has a funny short profile of Paul Krassner, founder of The Realist, a newsletter that was a huge influence on the formation of bOING bOING (the zine the preceded this blog). Paul is 75 years old and still going strong.

When Jack Weinberg said, in 1965, “ ...we don’t trust anybody over 30,” Krassner was 33, an old, old man. But with the gargantuan reputation of his magazine, The Realist, the flagship publication of the radical left at the time, perhaps of all time, and indispensable rag to the hemorrhaging bleeding heart of the Vietnam War–addled counterculture, Krassner was definitely an exception to the new adage. He established himself as the Walter Cronkite of the underground press and was considered the most trusted investigative satirist working in Amockrica.

“The irony is that I’ve always tried to uphold the virtues of the Constitution and I never took an oath to do it, while [the politicians I target] did take an oath, and they’re the ones trying to destroy the Constitution,” he said.

Link

Previously on Boing Boing:
• Paul Krassner on Supremes' "Bong hits 4 Jesus ruling"
• Boing Boing interviews Paul Krassner
• The Sopranos Meet The Hippies by Paul Krassner
• Paul Krassner on RU Sirius Show
• Paul Krassner on Secret Bullshit
• Paul Krassner on the parts they left out of the Abbie Hoffman movie
• Realist archive project

Jonathan Gold writes about Lardo -- "slabs of pure, white hog lard cured for months in special coffin-shaped basins hewn from marble" -- in the latest LA Weekly.

At Dario Cecchini’s famous butcher shop in Panzano, the one featured in the best-selling kitchen memoir Heat, his version of lardo is whipped into a stiff, shiny paste that billows from his meat case like Miracle Whip. In the Val d’Aosta, chunks of pickled lardo bob in canning jars. Artisanal meat men in south Tuscany make a kind of lardo too, from the fat of plump, lovely Cinta Senese pigs, a local breed of black swine that look as if they have the white belts of Elvis impersonators wrapped around their midsections.

If you are very, very lucky in Italy, you can sometimes find somebody to grill a thick steak over a hot olive-wood fire, then gild it with just enough lardo to dissolve into the meat and scent it with the supreme fragrance of rosemary, spices and profoundly matured pork.

(Chris Bassett took this nice photo of slabs of lardo for sale.)

Link

Yesterday I wrote about a video called Never Get Busted Again, in which a former narc teaches potheads how to stay out of jail. Today, a Boing Boing reader named Wayne emailed me about it. He says:

Lorretta Nall, who founded the US Marijuana party and ran for Governor of Alabama on the Libertarian ticket, already got into a tussle with that guy.

Here's where she hears about the DVD and thinks it will be great.

Here's a blog post where she reviews his DVD.

Here's where he threatens her with legal action if she doesn't take down her review of his video.

Here's an excerpt from Nall's review:

I did not learn any way to keep a narcotics dog from detecting my bag nor to keep a cop from searching my car. Having to sit through 90 minutes of being told things even the most amatuer pot smoker should already know was insulting. The fact that this DVD has been packaged and marketed as a way to help people stay out of jail and sold for a massive profit does not lend any credibility to the notion put forth by Mr. Cooper that he wishes to atone for his sins as a narcotics officer. If that notion were true then this video would have contained information that is actually useful when trying to avoid narcotics dog and officer detection and it would have been disseminated for free. However, according to this video there isn't a damn thing I can do to ensure I will "Never Get Busted Again".

I say it's false advertising and I want my money back.

Barry Cooper, the CEO of NeverGetBusted.com says:

Read the truth about the problems between me and Loretta [Nall]. Read a non-biased review of my film from one of the most respected names in marijuana reformation, Jodie Emery. She is the wife of Marc Emery. They are the owners of Cannabis Culture Magazine and Marc is currently one of DEA's most wanted for selling pot seeds.

There must be something to my DVD if the major chains are placing it in their stores. There must be something to my second film considering Hollywood has reached out and we are negotiating contracts now.

Please take a moment and click the link. It is a message board discussion that might help you see the other side.

It is discussed here as well.

A t-shirt I helped to design is up for sale on Shirt.Woot -- a new t-shirt site from the Woot! people. The shirt's inspiration was this post about the British "Keep Calm and Carry On" tees.

My shirt features the text, "ZOMG TERRISTS GONNA KILL US ALL ZOMG ZOMG ALERT LEVEL BLOODRED RUN RUN TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES MOISTURE BOMBS ZOMG!" around a modified DHS logo, with the eagle clutching an empty water bottle and a pair of shoes.

Shirt.Woot has a funny pricing model. On the first day -- today -- the shirts cost $10 (including shipping!), but only 1000 of them are sold. Starting tomorrow, the shirts go up in price to $15 until August 6. After that, only the top selling Shirt.Woot designs will be offered for sale.

Woot and I have released the shirt's art under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license for your remixing pleasure. Link

The British Airports Authority is seeking an injunction to keep The Camp for Climate Action from protesting at London's Heathrow airport -- an injunction that would ban them from going to the airport, or from using any of the rail/tube lines or roads that go to the airport. The Camp is an umbrella group comprising several other groups, whose members include the Queen of England, Prince Charles and five million other Britons.

Heathrow's carbon footprint is larger than many nations'.

The industry seems to want to ban five million of us from Heathrow and all routes to the airport, including the Piccadilly line, parts of the rail network, and sections of the M25 and M4.

In three weeks' time, the Camp for Climate Action is due to gather near Heathrow to peacefully protest against Heathrow's vast contribution to climate change (the airport's planes emit more greenhouse gases than many individual countries) and its planned third runway expansion.

The owner of Heathrow, the British Airports Authority (BAA), seems to be, frankly, terrified.

It's seeking an injunction, which names as defendants "all persons acting as members, participants or supporters" of anti-aviation group Plane Stupid, anti-noise group HACAN and AirportWatch. The injunction is to stop people from setting foot on Heathrow and "the arterial infrastructure serving" it.

Link (Thanks, Bex!)

(Image, 747 at Heathrow airport, ganked from Alistairmcmillan's Flickr photostream)

A British woman's pedigree poodle has had its identity stolen by a conman running a fake puppy-mill:

A suspected conman has been passing Blue off as his own, claiming the dog has given birth to pups which he tries to sell to unsuspecting customers...

Mrs Day said Blue's details were mistakenly put online by somebody she employed to work on her website.

Link (via Schneier)

The US Army has developed a stand-up arcade version of its video-game "America's Army" and it will seed it in arcades around the country. This is straight out of a science fiction novel, but what would be even more skiffy is if they were to put these in arcades outside of the US. I'm surprised they're charging to play these games -- the natural thing would be to make these the only free games in the arcade, so the poorest and most desperate kids would dominate them, absorbing messages about signing up for Der Surge.

The “green label”, coin-operated AMERICA’S ARMY game is the result of a unique partnership between the U.S. Army and GLOBAL VR. The partnership which encompasses the development and manufacturing of an official U.S. Army game for the arcade market, will create a new communication channel with young Americans.

Working hand-in-hand with U.S. Army Subject Matter Experts and with the full cooperation of units of the U.S. Army, the coin-operated AMERICA’S ARMY is a realistic and engaging game centered on exciting training exercises, and includes a significant amount of authentic Army videos and other information designed to immerse the player in the Army culture.

Link (via Gizmodo)

Today on the Something Awful Photoshop Phriday contest: crazy pinball machines. I was tempted to put up the Turbotax machine, but in the end, I couldn't resist the Smokin' Al's BBQ Challenge machine, shown here. Link

Today is the last Friday in July and that makes it Sysadmin Appreciation Day! As I said in my acceptance speech when I won the Locus Award for my story, When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth:

Systems administrators are the unsung heroes of the twenty first century, our tireless morlocks who keep the entire universe running. The best sysadmins I’ve met treat their jobs as holy callings. They understand that they’re keeping the infrastructure of the information age alive and functional.

Boing Boing's sysadmin is the tireless and brilliant Ken Snider, who keeps us running so smoothly that it's easy to forget just how much work he does. A million thanks, Ken! Link

This 1981 brochure promoting the soon-to-be-opened Epcot Center has been scanned and keyed in by the 2719 Hyperion blog. It's a treasure trove of forgotten goofy futuristic exhibits from the heyday of Epcot, before it got run down, its relentlessly optimistic exhibit on the future of transportation replaced with a thrill ride, its happy plug for the oil industry replaced with a comedy episode of Jeopardy!, and its giant golf-ball centerpiece topped with a pointy hat.

New Horizons: An underwater colony is one of the future habitats highlighting your journey through New Horizons, presented by General Electric, In the Omnimax Theatre, you'll spiral through eight-story-high projections of the macro and micro worlds that form the building blocks of our future. And you'll take a whimsical look backwards at the tomorrows imagined by visionaries of the past.

Link (via Paleo-Future)

Abagusii tribespeople in the remote village of Tabaka in Kisii, Kenya, have a contract to carve busts of Simpsons figurines using ages-old traditional techniques. The contract pays six times their usual carving rate -- and the busts will be sold in British shops called Craft Village UK.

The Tabaka Classic Carvers are licensed to produce 12 models of the show's characters, and they are keen to expand their portfolio.

Pauline Kemunto and her husband work with the Simpsons team in Tabaka; he carves the figures and she smoothes the soapstone afterwards

"I don't know who they are," she says about the dysfunctional cartoon family.

"But I like them because I earn from them."

Link

I'm at the San Diego Comic Convention -- 140,000 people strong! -- this week and am blown away by the size, energy, and variety on display here. Here's my voicepost report from the field:

The best way hear Michael Hearst's latest musical compositions is blaring from an ice cream truck as it pulls around the corner. His album, Songs For Ice Cream Trucks, is just that, new music for ice cream trucks recorded with a delightful array of instruments, from glockenspiel to Theremin to an old Casio keyboard. While Songs For Ice Cream Trucks is a novel idea for a novelty record, it transcends the gimmick. Like old circus and carousel music, I found the melodies on Songs For Ice Cream Trucks to be hauntingly beautiful, sometimes sickeningly sweet, and often eerily familiar. I hope my neighborhood ice cream man gets turned on to this new sound of summer.

For a taste, please enjoy listening to "Where Do Ice Cream Trucks Go In The Winter?" courtesy of the artist:

Link to buy Songs For Ice Cream Trucks
Link to Hearst's site
Link to Hearst on NPR's Fresh Air
Link to Today Show coverage
Link to Listening Post interview with Hearst
Link to BAR/NONE Records

UPDATE: Tom Whitwell points to his neat 2005 post on MusicThing titled "Why do ice cream vans sounds they way they do?" Link

I just bought one of these "Monster Belt Buckles" on the ComicCon floor -- I couldn't resist. They've got the classic good looks of the Universal Monsters or vintage Ray Harryhausen, cast in heavy metals like brass or pewter (there's aluminum versions too). Nice variety in the subjects -- there's a really encouraging trend to vintage monster stuff at ComicCon this year. Link

Scientists now estimate that cats were first domesticated 12,000 years ago in the Near East. According to research published last month in the journal Science, every housecat is a descendant of a Middle Eastern wildcat with the name Felis sylvestris ("cat out of the woods.") In a new online article, Smithsonian outlines what we know about the secret history of domesticated cats. From Smithsonian:

When humans were predominantly hunters, dogs were of great use, and thus were domesticated long before cats. Cats, on the other hand, only became useful to people when we began to settle down, till the earth and—crucially—store surplus crops. With grain stores came mice, and when the first wild cats wandered into town, the stage was set for what the Science study authors call "one of the more successful 'biological experiments' ever undertaken." The cats were delighted by the abundance of prey in the storehouses; people were delighted by the pest control.

"We think what happened is that the cats sort of domesticated themselves," Carlos Driscoll, one of the study authors, told the Washington Post. The cats invited themselves in, and over time, as people favored cats with more docile traits, certain cats adapted to this new environment, producing the dozens of breeds of house cats known today. In the United States, cats are the most popular house pet, with 90 million domesticated cats slinking around 34 percent of U.S. homes.

Link

This hotel in southwestern Bolivia is constructed entirely from blocks of salt. It was built on the salt desert of Salar de Uyuni. Previously, the only folks in the area were salt miners but apparently it's now a tourist destination. From National Geographic:

The blindingly white flats stretch as far as the eye can see, except for a few raised mounds of salt. Despite its barren appearance, the desert hosts cacti and rare hummingbirds, and three species of flamingos stop over each year to breed.

Link

Former narcotics officer Barry Cooper says he feels guilty for making over 800 drug arrests in his career: "The war on drugs is an utterly losing proposition," he tells Radar. "We caused more harm breaking up families to put non-violent drug offenders in jail than the drugs ever did. And for what? To eradicate 1/10th of a percent of drugs on the street."

Now he has made an instructional video called Never Get Busted Again. Radar Online has printed some of Cooper's tips.

• The best advice I can give you is this: Never carry more marijuana than you can eat. If the police turn on the red and blues, just eat it. It's not illegal to smell like pot—it's just illegal to possess it.

• Don't think that by hiding pot in coffee grounds, or masking the scent with Bounce fabric softener or vanilla extract, you're gonna be okay. Police dogs are trained to cut through these scents. Petroleum and cayenne pepper don't work either—a dog may jerk back after smelling it, but humans will recognize the reaction.

• If you are going to travel with marijuana, place it in a non-contamined container right before you leave. The drug odor won't have time to permeate through the plastic. If you are handling pot at your house, wear latex gloves or wash your hands—marijuana dust can reside on your fingers, and dogs can smell it. You'd be surprised at how many people get busted when dogs start sniffing around car door handles.

• Hiding your drugs in food is also a wise move. The mixed smells will throw off a dog.

Link

Josh says:

A couple of days ago you noted Elbruz.org's geographical claim, in this post:

There is a larger one on Glover Island on Newfoundland.

I should know: I believe I'm the only person to have ever slept on an island on an island on an island. I went to Newfoundland once and camped on one the islands in the lake on Glover.

Link (This is a Google Maps link. Zoom in an out to see the island on an island on an island)

Earlier this month Max Blumenthal went to the Christians United for Israel's (CUFI) annual Washington-Israel Summit and made a video.

In its call for a unilateral military attack on Iran and the expansion of Israeli territory, CUFI has found unwavering encouragement from traditional pro-Israel groups like AIPAC and elements of the Israeli government.

But CUFI has an ulterior agenda: its support for Israel derives from the belief of Hagee and his flock that Jesus will return to Jerusalem after the battle of Armageddon and cleanse the earth of evil. In the end, all the non-believers - Jews, Muslims, Hindus, mainline Christians, etc. - must convert or suffer the torture of eternal damnation. Over a dozen CUFI members eagerly revealed to me their excitement at the prospect of Armageddon occurring tomorrow. Among the rapture ready was Republican Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. None of this seemed to matter to Lieberman, who delivered a long sermon hailing Hagee as nothing less than a modern-day Moses. Lieberman went on to describe Hagee's flock as "even greater than the multitude Moses commanded."

...

I have never witnessed any spectacle as politically extreme, outrageous, or bizarre as the one Christians United for Israel produced last week in Washington. See for yourself.

Link

Previously on Boing Boing:
• Generation Chickenhawk: the unauthorized College Republican National Convention Tour
• Blog about end times
• The Rapture Index: Quantifying the end-times
• Honky Tonk Badonkadonk: proof end times are upon us
• Yisrayl Hawkins' end of the world videos, remixed
• World will end on 9 September 2006

Jill says:

I thought you might be interested in this little article I just wrote up on the "sustainable" farm exhibit at Disney's EPCOT center, which features lots of genetically modified crops and vegetables grown in the shape of Mickey Mouse heads.

Link

David Mackett, the president of the Airline Pilots Security Alliance, says the "almost incomprehensible size of the air transportation system" is the reason why the TSA's "entire approach to airline security is almost completely ineffective against a threat like Al Qaeda."

Immediately after 9/11, the Administration deployed the National Guard to airport checkpoints to reassure the public, though the terrorists’ objective was not the checkpoint, but the aircraft. The Airline Pilots Security Alliance (APSA) called for putting National Guardsmen on airport ramps to monitor anyone around the aircraft, conduct random ID checks, and protect the aircraft from anyone putting suspicious cargo in the holds or cabin. We also called for 100% ground employee security screening, which, while flawed, provided some layer of prevention against minimum wage employees planting illicit weapons on commercial aircraft; we also called for behavioral profiling of passengers at security checkpoints.

None of this was done, and the aircraft on the ramp were “protected” only by vigilant employees who had other, more primary responsibilities. These aircraft were still freely accessible to many other employees who worked on the strength of a background check that said they hadn’t done anything yet.

...

Almost six years after 9/11, it is inexcusable that — in an environment where TSA misses more than 90% of weapons, RON aircraft are not secured, and ground employees are not screened — fewer than 2% of our airliners have a team of armed pilots aboard, fewer than 5% have air marshals, and the flight attendants have no mandatory tactical or behavioral assessment training. $24 billion dollars later, we are not materially safer, except in the areas of intelligence that prevent an attack from getting to an airport. Once at the airport, there is little reason to believe the attack won’t succeed.

Link (Thanks, Dan!)

Three easy magic trick videos
Trailer for new Cohen bros. movie, No Country for Old Men (Via Grow-a-brain)
Anime-masked models charge $100 per hour to be photographed by eager amateur shutterbugs
Insane noodle-eating contest between two Japanese celebrities
Merlin Mann takes cell phone video of woman clipping toenails on Muni public transportation (Via Muni Mani-Pedi Flickr pool)
Apartment #69: 8-track cassette audio porn

BB reader Jim Ratcliffe writes,

This link points to "Weeping Sikkim," a blog that chronicles an ongoing hunger strike by the youth of Sikkim, India to demand goverment transparency and accountability regarding hydroelectric projects in Dzongu, the homeland of the Lepcha people.

The good news is that hunger strikes by the Buddhist community in Sikkim have sucessfully stopped hydroprojects in the past. However, the projects planned for Dzongu are much much larger. The government of Sikkim is not evil, and has made remarkably progressive environmental moves in the past (e.g Sikkim was one of the first states in India to ban plastic bags).

Sikkim works hard to position itself as an ecotourism/buddhist pilgrimage destination for western tourists, so getting the word out about this hunger strike may help tip the balance.

The people behind the Sikkim protest blog are also uploading YouTube videos like this one (Video Link), which shows ACT (Affected citizens of Teesta) members Dawa Lepcha (age 35) and Tenzing Gyatso Lepcha (20), on the 34th of their hunger strike. Here's another video about the protest, and the hydroelectric project: video link.

The latest post on this blog includes a statement from the government of Sikkim demanding that the hunger strikers stop within 24 hours, or face punitive actions for a protest that now deemed illegal.

More here.

The hunger strike is being described as a form of satyagraha. Here's more on the origin and meaning of that word.

Pablo says,

The main Chilean newspaper, El Mercurio, is reporting that some Harry Potter fans have read, translated and posted online a spanish version "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". It can be downloaded as a PDF or read online in blog format. They even tried to copy the font etc... The translation isin't perfect - some grammar errors and typos - but still. Impressive. Link. Blog version: Link. PDF Versions: Link 1, Link 2.

Girlguiding UK surveyed 1000 girls and women in its organization to find out what skills they wanted to learn. Popular answers included "surf the Web safely," "stand up to boys," "master Microsoft Word," "practice safe sex," and "assemble flat-pack furniture."

The demands emerged in a survey of more than 1,000 Guides by Girlguiding UK, which is striving to keep itself relevant to the lives of young women. A spokeswoman said that the movement would act on the findings and make sure that the appeal for more information on sex and money was met.

In the poll, senior Guides, who are aged over 16, said that managing money was the most important skill to master as they contemplated leaving the family home. “Practising safe sex” was placed fourth, with “assembling flat-pack furniture” eighth. Younger Guides, aged from 10 to 15, valued more traditional skills. Top of their list was “cooking a healthy meal” and “pitching a tent”, although “standing up to boys” came fourth.

The youngest Guides, aged under 10, said that they wanted to know how to surf the web safely and how to cross the road.

Link (Via Nothing To Do With Arbroath)

Reader comment:

Susannah says:

The piece on UK Girl Guides made me think of Mary Yaeger's "Female Merit Badges," which recognize milestones from getting pubic hair to wearing your first pair of high heels to having a mastectomy. They took my breath away when I first saw them several years ago.

The US House voted against the Hinchey Medical Marijuana Amendment, which would have prohibited the feds from busting people for possession of small quantities of marijuana.

To celebrate, the DEA raided six medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles, even though the people of California passed a law that allows dispensaries to operate in the state.

Another examples of how states rights only matter to politicians when it furthers their ideological agendas. Link

Reader comment:

Lee says:

I wanted to give you all the full picture of SoCal and the DEA. The following (here) was played on the local Pasadena NPR affiliate 89.3 KPCC this morning. It states that 10 clincs were shut down yesterday.

This also does not count an additional two in the Inland Empire region of SoCal which were shut down as recently as 2 weeks ago, I have provided the notices provided to patients through the local Patient Group (of which I am a member).

I'm sure you know, and any copy of next weeks LA-Weekly or The Onion you pick up will prove this doesn't change anything about access to medical pot in LA. and despite the feds we have the support of local legislators.

Architect and BoingBoing reader Greg La Vardera in New Mexico Jersey read the post here yesterday about planned housing communities for amateur astronomy buffs, and wrote in to share word of an interesting project he's working on for a client in New Mexico:

We are building a small private observatory as part of a new house - although housed in a separate structure. Located in New Mexico, very remote, for all the same reasons you describe. Thought your readers might enjoy some of the back ground about designing a small observatory which are elaborated in the second half of this post from my blog.

Link. Snip from the text that accompanies the sketch above:

Working on this design was an education for us. I've always been interested in space and astronomy but never had a telescope. My brother and several friends have good telescopes but nothing that a consumer could not order from a catalog. This was different.

The scope in this case is a precision instrument. It was going to be housed in a 16ft diameter dome with an operating aperture and motor driven base - just like the big boys.

We did not have to design this - it is procured from a company that specializes in their fabrication. But we had to design up to it and support it.

Adjacent to the dome is an equipment room. Here will reside computer equipment and tools and supplies to maintain the instrument. The computers control the tracking of the instrument, as well as manage image acquisition.

You an use an eye-piece with the scope but the primary mode is a high res CCD capturing images and serving them to the operator who is remote. A web based interface allows for control as well as imaging so this is something that can be used where ever you have an internet connection. You do not need to be at the facility.

Previously on BB:

Planned communities for amateur astronomers

Link to an item in The Asbury Park Press suggesting that the body of Jeremy Blake has been found off the New Jersey coast. Here's another one in the LA Times.

The artist and video game designer is believed to have killed himself last week, just after his filmmaker/writer/blogger companion Theresa Duncan took her life in New York City.

In related news, the LAT reports a weird Scientology element to the story:

"They thought Scientologists were really harassing them," [friend and gallery owner Christine Nichols] said. "They would say, 'They are following us, harassing our landlord.' I did not see any evidence of that.

"But it got to be something that was huge to them -- a 'You're either with us or against us' thing where if you didn't believe them, you weren't on their side. The story they had woven in paranoia and conspiracies took over part of their lives. A lot of us couldn't understand that acting out."

Two other art world sources corroborated Nichols' characterization but declined to speak on the record out of concern that Blake may still be alive.

Beck was unavailable for comment, but his manager, through a publicist, let it be known that things were "extremely cordial" between the singer and the artist the last time they talked three years ago.A spokesman said the New York Police Department was not investigating any involvement by the Church of Scientology. Karin Pouw, a spokeswoman for the Church of Scientology, denied the allegations, saying, "Never heard of these people. This is completely untrue."

(thanks, TJ Armstrong) Previously:

Artist Jeremy Blake missing, and his girlfriend has committed

Reader comment: Jon says,

I really wish you'd include a link to a post on Jeff Wells' Rigorous Intuition blog, regarding Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake's "suicides". Theresa Duncan herself was an avid reader of Rigourous Intuition, and some of the details surrounding her harrassment were gleaned, seemingly, directly from this blog. It's like a web of intrigue on the world wide web! The post "Imitation of Life" contains more info on the Theresa Duncan/Jeremy Blake suicides.

(thanks, also, vikram)

Update: David Newton was among the BB readers who wrote in to point us to this statement from Beck, published today:

"I am deeply saddened at the news of the loss of Jeremy Blake. I got to work with him back in 2002 on the art for the Sea Change album. His pioneering video paintings had an intelligence and power that seemed to open the door to the possibilities of what the medium could become. I had not heard from him in a few years, so it was heartbreaking to learn of this turn of events. I feel really privileged that I got to collaborate with him, and be a part of the world he created with his work. My condolences go out to his family and friends. We'll be forever in his debt for the stunning images he gave us."