John Joseph Adams sez,

I've just launched the website for my forthcoming anthology Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse, which features stories by Stephen King, George R. R. Martin, Boing-Boing's own Cory Doctorow, and many others.

The site has quite a lot of information about the anthology, the stories, and the contributors. You can read the header notes for the stories, the introduction to the anthology, excerpts for most of the stories, and three stories can be read in their entirety.

Link (Thanks, John!)

From Boing Boing Gadgets: "Haiko Hebig's photography of abandoned or decrepit industrial machinery and its control rooms." Link, Discuss on BB Gadgets

An intrepid Wikipedian named Nikola Smolenski has calculated how much paper it would take to print out the English entries in Wikipedia and produced this handy chart showing the relative sizes of the pile of paper and an adult male. This doesn't include the History or Discuss pages, which would make it a lot less useful than electronic Wikipedia (nevermind the lack of a search interface!). I think that Wikipedia is one of those documents that is inherently electronic.

Here's Nikola's assumptions: "Using volumes 25cm high and 5cm thick (some 400 leaves), each page having two columns, each columns having 80 rows, and each row having 50 characters, ≈ 6MB per volume. As English Wikipedia has 4.4GB of text (October 2006) ≈ 750 volumes. Note that this is conservative estimate, as it doesn't include images, tables etc. which take up more surface than the text which describes them." Link (via Digg)

Craftster user Blueblythe created this incredible felt replica of a vintage Underwood Noiseless typewriter. This was the first typewriter I ever owned -- I got a 1920s-vintage model from my Dad, who'd rescued it from the offices of the Communist group he belonged to, where it had been used to publish a Trotskyist news-sheet -- and I never forgot the incredible heft and solidity, and the industrial gravitas of the machine. I also loved the hubris of calling a machine that loud a "noiseless" typewriter.

Blueblythe notes: "It took me several weeks of non stop sewing to finish. The felt is hand dyed and the details are embroidered. I added some real screws that I tarnished in vinegar. The roller rotates so that a piece of paper can be added with some typed words on it." Link (via Craft)

A study by sociologists from George Mason University and North Carolina State University concludes that unmarried couples that live together divide housework more evenly than married couples.

According to Davis, the key finding of the study is that it suggests the institution of marriage changes the division of labor. Couples with an egalitarian view on gender--seeing men and women as equal--are more likely to divide the household chores equally. However, in married relationships, even if an egalitarian viewpoint is present, men still report doing less housework than their wives.

"Marriage as an institution seems to have a traditionalizing effect on couples--even couples who see men and women as equal," says Davis.

While the researchers did not follow cohabitating couples over time to see if their division of housework changed after marriage, their study provides a "snapshot" in time of couples all over the world.

Link (via Collision Detection)

The UK-based Sleep Council warns that teenagers who fall asleep with the TV, music, or computer on suffer from "junk sleep" -- poor-quality rest that doesn't get into the depths necessary to scour away the day's stress -- and suffer as a result:

And although many adults claim that they fall asleep more easily with the TV on, it doesn't always work the same way for kids. One in five of all the teenage boys surveyed admitted that leaving the TV or computer on was affecting the quality of their sleep.

The teens aren't exactly bouncing back from the poor quality sleep, either. 40 percent of the group reported feeling tired in general each day, with 15- and 16-year-old girls doing even worse. But despite this realization, only 11 percent of teenagers surveyed felt that quality of sleep was important. "I'm staggered that so few teenagers make the link between getting enough good quality sleep and how they feel during the day," Edinburgh Sleep Centre's Dr. Chris Idzikowski said in a statement. "Teenagers need to wake up to the fact that to feel well, perform well and look well, they need to do something about their sleep."

Link

In honor of comic legend Jack Kirby's 90th birthday, the NY Times has a great little feature on him.

Mr. Kirby did a lot more than just draw. As the critic Gary Groth so ably put it in The Comics Journal Library, "He barreled like a freight train through the first 50 years of comic books like he owned the place." He mastered and transformed all the genres, including romance, Westerns, science fiction and supernatural comics, before he landed at Marvel.

He created a new grammar of storytelling and a cinematic style of motion. Once-wooden characters cascaded from one frame to another -- or even from page to page -- threatening to fall right out of the book into the reader's lap. The force of punches thrown was visibly and explosively evident. Even at rest, a Kirby character pulsed with tension and energy in a way that makes movie versions of the same characters seem static by comparison.

Link (Thanks, Ape Lad!)

Forbidden Planet's Joe Gordon sez, "A number of us in the British comics community have been excitedly awaiting Comics Britannia, three one-hour shows on BBC4 due this September which are going to explore the history and culture of British comics, from the kids comics of the 30s through to today. Andy Hall from the BBC just sent me this link to a website the Beeb has put up to support the series (it also includes details of more comics shows in their season including on on Steve Ditko) which has details, picture galleries and some video clips of interviews from the series with Alan Moore and Leo Baxendale (one of the godfathers of Brit comics). Andy tells me more content will be added as they go along because they see this as a cultural resource as well as show - isn't it terrific to see comics culture being treated so well?" Link (Thanks, Joe!)

Howtoons -- the comic strip for kids that explains how to build cool stuff -- has just launched on the Web. Howtoons runs in Make Magazine, and it's always one of my favorite departments. This is the kind of thing that I ate up when I was a kid -- for me, it was Doctor Zed in Owl Magazine, but Howtoons is a hundred times hipper and more fun. Link (Thanks, Robbo!)

Luke Skywalker’s original Jedi lightsaber will be carried into space by NASA astronauts aboard space shuttle Discovery this October. Bonnie Burton says:

To commemorate the historic event, Star Wars characters visited the Oakland International Airport where Chewbacca handed the lightsaber over to NASA’s Space Center Houston during a special ceremony on Aug. 28, 2007. Arriving by Escalade and Hummer stretch limos (the Falcon’s in the shop) Boba Fett, Jango Fett, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, X-Wing pilots, Jedi and stormtroopers (from the Golden Gate Garrison of the 501st Legion) accompanied Chewie for the fun-filled press event which took quite a few travelers and tourists in baggage claim by surprise. NASA’s Space Center Houston Director of Marketing Roger Bornstein greeted the intergalactic guests and warmly thanked everyone’s favorite Wookiee for bringing him Luke’s lightsaber.

Link to story, here are more photos on Flickr.

Copro Nason Gallery in Santa Monica is exhibiting a "Krampus/Devil" themed painting show on September 8. I was invited to be in the show, and I titled my painting "Hot Stuff." Other artists include Tim Biskup, Gary Baseman, Ron English, Shag, and a bunch of other well-known painters. More details at the Blab! Show site. Link

Above: the art of Jessica Lagunas, an artist in Guatemala who explores what it means to be a woman there. Some of the pix on her site are marginally NSFW, but this link is not. Shown here, stills from her video piece "Para besarte mejor" ("The Better to Kiss You With"), which consists of a "close-up of my mouth in a static single shot, in which I apply red lipstick continuously for one hour."

Boy, the Peninsula Tokyo sounds sweet: "This being Tokyo, the hotel also includes a futuristic touch: a first-of-its-kind telephone system that allows you to make calls throughout the building with a cordless handset, which then switches to mobile mode the minute you step outside." Link.

Two drunk guys in Wisconsin arrested for simultaneously driving the same vehicle while intoximacated: Link.

BB reader Casey says, "I thought you might be interested to learn that there is now a facebook application entitled Unicorn Chaser which allows facebook users to get just that for their profile pages. Its actually reasonably well done. You can pick from a big gallery random of pictures. You should sue!!" Link.

Cactikkake: short pretend porn film made with desert-dwelling plants. Link.

The Unicorn Museum: Link.

Lolcats dethroned by Realisticats! BB reader Tom says, "I've made up a few "realisticats" images to contrast the cuteness of lolcats with the grim reality of actually owning a feline." Link.

(Thanks, Susannah Breslin, and Eric)

A new survey suggests that "not all risk is created equal," meaning that just because someone engages in one risky behavior doesn't mean that they're risk-takers in other aspects of their life. The University of Michigan researchers surveyed people's willingness to engage in behaviors like exposing yourself to chemicals that might lead to birth defects for a high-paying job, engaging in unprotected sex, chasing a bear out of your wilderness campsite area while banging pots and pans, and many other activities. The aim was to look at behaviors in the context of evolutionary psychology and biology. (Of course, what people say they would do and what they actually would do at the moment may differ.) According to the study, men are more likely to engage in riskier behavior than women. And just because someone likes to skydive doesn't mean that he or she would risk standing up to a dick boss. The research was published in the current issue of the scientific journal Evolutionary Psychology. From a press release:

People surveyed for the study were least likely to take fertility risks, and most likely to take risks related to social status in one's group -- like standing up to one's boss. In all domains, men were significantly more risk taking than women. During human evolution, men competed for social status and resources in order to attract mates. Thus, this pattern is not surprising, (research scientist Daniel) Kruger said.

The risks that threaten fertility function differently than the others, Kruger said. Other types of risk have a possible benefit in terms of survival and reproduction. But with fertility risks, there is just a threat to reproduction. They can only cause harm in the evolutionary sense since they would only hurt our ability to procreate.

"Those were types of risks that weren't attractive to other people, those risks were the least likely to be taken, and people saw those risks as unattractive in a potential mate," Kruger said.

Link to press release, Link to PDF of scientific paper.

Our pals at Gama-Go are having a huge Labor Day sale. As BB readers know, Gama-Go's apparel and bric-a-brac features character design by one of our absolute favorite artists, Tim Biskup. The coolest part of the sale is that if you spend $150, you get a free limited edition canvas giclée print of this image, titled Gama-Familia, signed by Gama-Go founders Biskup, Chris Edmundson, and Greg Long. In related news, look out for a special Boing Boing/Gama-Go surprise in the next couple of months!
Link

Researchers at MIT are using mobile phones to help count owls in forests. Professor Eben Goodale and his colleagues placed tricked-out cell phones in various parts of a forest. When Goodale dials the owls' numbers, the mobile phones play owl calls from their speakers and record the responses. From The Telegraph:

One use has been to track great horned owls in Louisiana and their effects on local swallow tailed kite populations. In the new study, they show that Barred Owls and the Eastern screech owl are also happy to take a call on the mobile.

Traditionally, bird surveys rely on people standing in the woods, playing a CD of bird calls, and taking note of the birds they hear responding. It can be labour intensive and inexact.

The researchers now plan to compare a survey conducted with 65 phones with one that relies on CD recordings used by 250 volunteers from the Audubon Society in Maine to see if the mobiles do as well. The advantage is that the new method allows ornithologists to dial up birds anywhere on the planet, and to cover a large area at the same time.

Link to The Telegraph, Link to Owl Project.

Scott Beale says: "The Burning Man sculpture was set on fire early Tuesday morning, either by arson or accident. I've been tracking the story as it develops." Link

Mark says: "It's a collection of retro television logos, mainly from the 70's and 80's. Includes a bevy of PBS and other Public Television flashbacks that are certain to make anyone that grew up during that period think that they were kids again. Plus, the heavy synthesizer produced tunes with that crazy animation simply rocks!" (Via OK Future)

I'm writing this from Boulder, Colorado, which seems like a good place to make this announcement -- it was in this town that Carla Sinclair and I launched bOING bOING as a print zine in 1988. During the past 19 years we've gone through many changes -- from zine to webzine to directory to blog. Today, Boing Boing is changing again, in three exciting new ways: a redesign, the return of user comments, and a blog about personal technology.

The new look comes from Jemma Hostetler of Studio Sans Nom. Her redesign is cleaner, easier-to-read, and built to incorporate additional new features that we'll be adding to Boing Boing in the near future. The redesigned logo and new character mascots were created by the fun-loving folks at eBoy, a collective of awesomely talented pixel-pushing artists from Germany and New York.

We're also happy to be reintroducing comments to Boing Boing, a feature we reluctantly dropped a couple of years ago. At that time, we lacked the resources to manage the comments, and felt that a lousy comment system was worse than no system at all, so we pulled the plug. We've never felt good about it, though, because our readers' comments added a great deal of value to the blog. To correct this, we hired a terrific community manager to oversee the conversations: Teresa Nielsen Hayden. At her own blog, Making Light, Teresa has proven herself to be a wonderfully wise and talented tender of online conversations. Teresa worked closely with our designers to develop a commenting system that supports the Boing Boing community while preventing noise from drowning out the signal. "We want this new community system to make Boing Boing even more fun and informative," says Teresa. Under her supervision, we're sure it will be.

Our third major change is the launch of a brand new blog: Gadgets.boingboing.net. While Boing Boing has always covered personal technology, the four of us (Cory, David, Xeni, and I) believed a critical, intelligent, optimistic, and selective blog about personal technology and consumer electronics would be a fine addition to Boing Boing. But who could we trust to oversee a tech blog that the four of us would want to read? Actually, it wasn't hard to find that person. We went straight to Joel Johnson, a former Gizmodo editor and founder of Dethroner. Joel is smart, funny, knowledgeable, and curious about technology. He was our first, and unanimous, choice to run Gadgets.boingboing.net. And we're grateful he agreed to come on board.

We'd like to thank the happy mutants who helped make this major relaunch possible. These folks went under the hood and untangled the mess that Boing Boing's code had snarled into, and created an elegant, powerful system that positively shines. Federated Media's Jonathan Schreiber and Ivan Kanevski did an amazing job of dealing with the technical aspects of the redesign. Our beloved system administrator Ken Snider worked his magic on the server side and made sure all changes to the site wouldn't impact the speed of page reloads or clobber us with high bandwidth costs. David Jacobs at Apperceptive upgraded Boing Boing to the newest edition of Movable Type, and designed and implemented the new comment system to Teresa's specs.

Special thanks go out to the gang at Federated Media: John Battelle, Chas Edwards, Josh Matison and everyone else that contributed a significant amount of time and hi-octane mental effort on making this relaunch a success. We're grateful to all of you for everything you've done. Extra special thanks to FM's Jason Weisberger for endless advice, encouragement, and, well, adult supervision. Thank you!

We hope you enjoy the new Boing Boing. Let us know what you think by clicking on the "discuss" link and adding your thoughts.

Prism -- an astroturf organization established by science publishers to discredit free open access journals -- has been caught using a bunch of infringing Getty images on its front page. Prism advocates against open copyright for science journals, preferring to lock up scientific knowledge with a maximal version of copyright that limits scientific endeavor to those parties who can pay rent to the corporations that fund Prism. Like many copyright maximalists, Prism only uses moral arguments about copyright as cover for self-interested greed -- they talk a good line about "respecting copyright," but what they mean is, "pay us and pay us and pay us, and screw everyone else."

In short, they want to protect science by locking it up under copyright. They want to restrict access to publicly-funded research results by requiring that everyone pay a fee to see it. There are plenty of reasons why PRISM's logic falls apart (see here for a thorough bashing), but I wanted to point out just one: they're hypocritical. While their entire web site advocates strict enforcement of copyright laws, the images they've used on their front page are a violation of copyright law. Take a look at this screenshot from their front page:

Notice how the hairdo of the handsome scientist in the large photo is marred by the "Getty Images" logo? That's a digital water mark that stock photo suppliers use to keep unscrupulous publishers from "borrowing" their images. A quick search of the Getty Images web site locates the identical photo, with the identical watermark.

Clearly PRISM was too cheap, or in too much of a hurry, to bother with copyright (if you look closely at the other two photos, you'll see watermarks on them as well).

Link (via /.)

FBZ sez, "The 24c3 (annual congress of the Chaos Computer Club) is going steampunk! The theme this year is 'Volldampf voraus!' ('Full steam ahead' in German). Any steampunk creator, other maker type people, robot builders, hardware hackers, and other such creative types are encouraged to answer this year's call for participation, as well as more traditional hacker themed talks and presentations."

The 24th Chaos Communication Congress (24C3) is the annual four-day conference organized by the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) in Berlin, Germany. First held in 1984, it since has established itself as "the European Hacker Conference". Lectures and workshops on a multitude of topics attract a diverse audience of thousands of hackers, scientists, artists, and utopists from all around the world. The 24C3s slogan is Volldampf voraus! - the German equivalent of "full steam ahead" - a particular request for talks and projects featuring forward looking hands-on topics. The Chaos Computer Club has always encouraged creative and unorthodox interaction with technology and society, in the good tradition of the real meaning of "hacking".

Link (Thanks, FBZ!)

(A useful and curious collection of previous steampunk links

A fight between two cosplayers dressed as giant Tetris bricks broke out last week at VIANCO, an anime convention held in Tijuana. Don't know if this is a put-on or a genuine brawl -- and I don't care. I just enjoy watching geometric shapes in berzerker rage. Video link 1, Video link 2 (Thanks, Noruru!)

Thursday marks the first-ever Creative Commons salon in Los Angeles -- an evening of copy-friendly music, talk and socializing:

This Thursday, August 30th, between 7PM and 9PM, we will be hosting our very first CC Salon in Los Angeles at LAND in Little Tokyo (366 E. 2nd St). The Salons are a great opportunity to meet-up with others interested in Creative Commons, technology, new media and discuss how we can all work together.

To say we are excited for this Salon would be an understatement - joining us will be JetSet Show/Pixelodeon, the popular vlog/Vloger Awards Conference (discussed previously here), and Vosotros Music, an amazing LA-based, CC-oriented, record label. Eric Steuer, CC's Creative Director, will be rounding out the Salon with a discussion of what is happening in the world of CC in the upcoming months.

The fun doesn't end there though as Vosotros' monthly concert series, Live@Land, will be taking place afterwards with some musical performances that are bound to be amazing. We've heard rumors of a beat-boxing tuba player - what more can you ask for?

Link (Thanks, Cameron!)

Free Spirit Spheres build lovely, spherical wooden treehouses that you enter via a suspension bridge. The photo-gallery documents the construction and installation of "Eryn," a five-windowed spherical tree-dwelling with an electric kitchen, sleeping area, and living area. Link (Thanks, MarkM!)