By Mark Frauenfelder at 7:11 pm Tuesday, Sep 18
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• Cane with a Pull-Out Map of Boston Link
• Fujitsu LifeBook U810 Tablet UMPC Reviewed (Verdict: Needs EV-DO) Link
• World's *est: Olympus' Microscopic Questionnaire Link
• Official Star Wars Lightsaber Simulation Coming to the Wii Link
• Tetsuya Nakamura's Technocolor Basins Link
• Creative Aurvana X-Fi Noise-Canceling Headphones Introduced Link
• Video: Boston Dynamics LittleDog Robot Link
• Motorola ROKR E8 Music Phone's Trick Backlit Keypad Link
• Lemon Squeezer Screw Link
• Wes Anderson's AT&T Commercials Link
• Morning Tech Deals Highlights Link
By David Pescovitz at 3:14 pm Tuesday, Sep 18
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Sean Collins
of Fantagraphics got a bunch of comic artists to draw renditions of David Bowie in his sketchbook and compiled them into a Flickr set. At far left, Adrian Tomine's Bowie
(as Halloween Jack). At immediate left, Charles Burns's Ziggy Stardust.
Link to Sean's blog post,
Link to the Flickr set
(via Fantagraphics Flog!)
Other themed sketchbooks held by Fantagraphics folks include Jacob Covey's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle book and Mike Baehr's Yoda book.
Link
By David Pescovitz at 2:37 pm Tuesday, Sep 18
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The original Sex Pistols will reunite for a one-off London gig to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols. The November 8 show will take place at Brixton Academy. A seven-inch vinyl of God Save The Queen will also be released as part of the anniversary. From the NME:
Speaking about their return to the London gig scene for the first time since 2002, Sex Pistols' frontman John Lydon explained: "Maybe it's because we're all Londoners, but there would be no Sex Pistols without dear old London town."
He added: "See you all at Brixton with proper feelings and proper people all around. From London Bridge to The Rose And Crown, all of Britain is welcome so come on down."
Link
In honor of this news, here's the infamous December 1, 1976 appearance of the Sex Pistols and their punk pals (including Siouxsie Sioux!) on Bill Grundy's Today TV show.
Link
By David Pescovitz at 2:15 pm Tuesday, Sep 18
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In this week's issue of The New Yorker, neurologist and science writer
Oliver Sacks tells the incredible story of Clive Wearing, an accomplished musician and musiciologist who in 1985 suffered a brain infection that ruined his memory, limiting his recall to just the previous few seconds. Amazingly though, Wearing is able to remember two incredibly important things: how to make beautiful music and that he loves his wife. Wearing's wife Deborah wrote about her experiences with her husband in the book Forever Today: A True Story of Lost Memory and Never-Ending Love. He has also been the subject of
documentary films. I'd imagine that Sacks's forthcoming book, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, includes more on Wearing along with other similarly extraordinary stories. From the New Yorker article:
When I asked Deborah whether Clive knew about her memoir, she told me that she had shown it to him twice before, but that he had instantly forgotten. I had my own heavily annotated copy with me, and asked Deborah to show it to him again.
“You’ve written a book!” he cried, astonished. “Well done! Congratulations!” He peered at the cover. “All by you? Good heavens!” Excited, he jumped for joy. Deborah showed him the dedication page: “For my Clive.” “Dedicated to me?” He hugged her. This scene was repeated several times within a few minutes, with almost exactly the same astonishment, the same expressions of delight and joy each time.
Clive and Deborah are still very much in love with each other, despite his amnesia. (Indeed, Deborah’s book is subtitled “A Memoir of Love and Amnesia.”) He greeted her several times as if she had just arrived. It must be an extraordinary situation, I thought, both maddening and flattering, to be seen always as new, as a gift, a blessing.
Link to The New Yorker,
Link to Mind Hacks post for more background,
Link to buy Wearing's Forever Today,
Link to buy Sacks's Musicophilia
By Mark Frauenfelder at 1:03 pm Tuesday, Sep 18
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"Again With the Comics" has a scan of
Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and adapted for
Drawn and Quarterly in 2000 by R. Sikoryak.
Link (Via Laughing Squid)
By Xeni Jardin at 11:25 am Tuesday, Sep 18
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Myspace, the largest online social network, will soon begin tailoring ads to the personal data submitted by its 110 million active users on their profile pages. Facebook is sure to follow. Snip from NYT article by Brad Stone:
Executives at Fox Interactive Media, the News Corporation unit that owns MySpace, will begin speaking about the results of that program this week. They say the tailoring technology has improved the likelihood that members will click on an ad by 80 percent on average.
“We are blessed with a phenomenal amount of information about the likes, dislikes and life’s passions of our users,” said Peter Levinsohn, president of Fox Interactive Media, who will talk about the program at an address to investors and analysts at a Merrill Lynch conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday. “We have an opportunity to provide advertisers with a completely new paradigm.”
Oh lordy, whenever they say "new paradigm," you know you're in for something fun.
Link.
I generally post phony data to sites like MySpace. As a result, I'm bracing myself for unicorn timeshare ads and polyamorous mesothelioma ringtones.
I have no doubt the new move will be profitable. But if they want to improve ad revenue at MySpace even more, they might start by de-shittifying the site a little. Horrible UI = takes 10x more clicks to do anything than it should = squeeze out more pageviews per user but = less happy users = Facebook drain. Sneaky stuff like that always hurts in the long run.
By Mark Frauenfelder at 11:21 am Tuesday, Sep 18
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Wayne Slavin, the creator of NetStumbler, wrote a lengthy rant on his site entitled "My Wonderful Trip To South Africa That Didn’t Happen Thanks To The TSA And Delta Airlines."
[The police officer] then gives me back my passport, waves his hand, and says “Go through.”
I then hand my tickets and passport to another first class “document checker”, and then Jackie [a security guard employed by GAT Security] says, “What do you think your doing?”
“The officers said that I could come through!” I plead.
“Oh no they didn’t, you get back in line where you were!”
Now, remember back now to the family holding my place in line? They had been watching this entire thing and were now at the front of the line, literally next in line. They waved to get my attention and say “We are here! We’re up here!”.
“I’m with those people, thats where I was”, I tell Jackie.
“Oh hell no, he’s not up there with those people, he’s got to get at the back of the line where he was.”, Jackie says.
“No, I was standing with them”, I plead again.
Link
By Mark Frauenfelder at 10:59 am Tuesday, Sep 18
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Here's a comic book pamphlet adaptation of Nobel prize winning economist Friedrich A. Hayek's 1947 anti-collectivism book
The Road to Serfdom. It was originally published in
Look magazine in the early 1950s.
Link (Thanks,
Ivan!)
By David Pescovitz at 10:54 am Tuesday, Sep 18
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In the third issue of the online art/lit/culture journal
Article, David Gill, author of the Philip K. Dick blog "
Total Dick-head" writes about the new "prestigious" Library of America volume anthologizing four PKD novels and interviews the edition's editor, novelist and MacArthur "genius" Jonathan Lethem. From Gill's interview with Lethem:
What will the Library of America volume mean for Dick’s legacy?
It’s a weird thing to leap into this concept of what is a legacy, what is posterity -- those things are so bizarrely subjective. In some quarters Dick is already one of the defining voices of the second half of the twentieth century and in other quarters he is obviously disreputable forever. This volume becomes part of a conversation that’s a cacophony. There’s not one paradigm anymore, if there ever was, of a literary reputation.
With Dick there’s a sense of his always arriving in the culture, always being discovered. There are certain things that no matter how many people love them they retain their dissident quality. If you love something like Philip K. Dick you feel like you’re the only one that gets it. That said, I go back a certain distance with this. I was around in the years just after his death, hanging out with Paul Williams working on the Philip K. Dick society newsletter. Which was this photocopied labor of love, with a circulation in the hundreds. And all the books were pretty well out of print. There’s an unimaginable difference between now and 1991-92 when in order to even read the major works people were circulating imported British mass-market paperbacks.
That’s the way change happens, people declare it and then slowly their declaration is turned into a reality; it’s like the gentrification of a neighborhood. When my parents moved into this part of Brooklyn in 1968, everyone was promising each other it was about to happen here. Fools invested their money in opening boutiques on a street that was mostly boarded up shops and gas stations. But now you know what? There are boutiques there now, thirty years after it looked like a silly idea. You say something is going to happen for a long time and then a lot of people get exasperated and say oh you’re ridiculous; it’s never going to happen. Then one day it sort of happens. I think Dick’s gentrification has that quality too. This is not only the way literary reputations are transformed but the way change generally occurs, especially change in opposition to entrenched class prejudices. And a lot of the biases against genre fiction have not to do with any kind of aesthetic or literary judgment but with class discomfort. That kind of change happens very slowly, but it does occur, it distills as people come of age: people in your generation, people even younger than you, don’t care; they just don’t understand the prejudices of the previous generation. So that’s how it’s happening. It’s a very layered kind of transformation. Yet Dick retains an outré vibe – the work conveys a permanent and intrinsic cult affect.
Link to Article,
Link to buy Philip K. Dick: Four Novels of the 1960s
Previously on BB:
• Jonathan Lethem on Philip K. Dick
Link
• Jonathan Lethem: remix my stories!
Link
• Library of America to publish Philip K. Dick
Link
• Adam Gopnick on Philip K. Dick
Link
By Mark Frauenfelder at 10:42 am Tuesday, Sep 18
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Face Your Pockets! is a Russian website where people can upload images of their faces pressed against a scanner along with the stuff in their pockets.
Link (Thanks,
Bryanboy!)
By Mark Frauenfelder at 10:37 am Tuesday, Sep 18
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The 100 Artists Project has an interview with illustrator Ape Lad, who goes by the nickname Adam Koford.
Q: John Hodgman's book, "Areas of My Expertise," seems to have had an enormous impact on your work. Why do you think that is?
A: I've always had a soft spot for absurdity I guess.
Q: Have you thought of trying to work on something with him, a collaboration?
A: At this point I'm resigned to the fact that I'll never actually meet him (let along collaborate with him on anything), even though several other hobo artists have seen him at readings and such. Did you know Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott met only once in their entire lives? Two men who defined the look and flavor of comics for the next several decades only met once at a convention, had a few words, and went along their ways. I'm no Joe Sinnott, but maybe I'll meet Hodgman when we're very old men, at the annual Hobo Convention in Britt, Iowa.
Link (Thanks, Zuma Bum!)
By David Pescovitz at 10:29 am Tuesday, Sep 18
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Last year, nine-year-old William Moore of York, England underwent emergency brain surgery after doctors discovered a brain abscess caused by meningitis. When he finally spoke again, William's
Yorkshire accent had completely disappeared and he was now speaking the Queen's English (aka
Received Pronunciation). After a long recovery, William is now fine but his Yorkshire dialect never returned. From The Evening Standard:
Brain surgeon Paul Eldridge, who works at the specialist Walton Neurological Centre, Liverpool, said it was possible that the infection and abscess had affected the area of the brain which controls language skills, forcing William to learn how to speak again.
"It's as if he's re-learnt how to talk from listening to language from sources different to those that prompted his speech first time around."
Phil Edge, head of therapy at the brain injury charity, Brainwave, said: "I've heard of other patients developing changes in their speech or behaviour following a head injury or brain surgery, but not quite to this extent that an accent completely changes.
"Usually, a person's speech changes in pitch or tone, but it's interesting that this boy's lost his Yorkshire dialect completely.
"Obviously there has been some change to the central speech centre of his brain which has caused differences in how it is functioning now, compared with before the operation."
Link
UPDATE: Greg Benjamin points us to last week's Daily Mail article about the Czech motorbike racer who crashed and woke up speaking fluent English.
Link (Thanks, Vann Hall!)
By Xeni Jardin at 10:24 am Tuesday, Sep 18
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Click photos for full-size. Shannon Larratt says,
I've been debating for a while whether I should post this or not. This photo was taken in flight in the washroom of an airplane after passing through security at an international terminal. Yes, that's a box cutter, like what was used in the 9/11 attacks (taken on accidentally). Not only that but they searched the bag that contained it and missed it. Not only that, but they did require pouring out a coffee that had been bought at the entrance to the security line-up. Well, that made me feel safe.
Link to full text of blog post.
By Xeni Jardin at 9:16 am Tuesday, Sep 18
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Canada's largest phone carrier had to apologize after a vintage Sex Pistols "BELSEN WAS A GAS" pin appeared in billboard ads for its cellphones.
The ads for Bell Canada's Solo discount service showed a young woman decked out in flashy punk rock attire, with a button that reads "Belsen was a gas" -- the controversial title of a song by the Sex Pistols, and a reference to Nazi Germany's Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Link.
(thanks, Farai Chideya!)
By Xeni Jardin at 9:01 am Tuesday, Sep 18
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Here are some clips from ABC Nightline with Ted Koppel on the copyright debate, way back in 1981. Why do contemporary news programs not make more use of the excellent "hurtling through space" effect? This makes otherwise drab legal discussions super awesome. Video 1, Video 2, Video 3. (thanks, Jack)
By Xeni Jardin at 8:53 am Tuesday, Sep 18
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Filip says,
Here's one of the awesome-est music videos I've seen, ever. Johan Söderberg (who's worked for Madonna or Robbie Williams, so he's no amateur) edited a vintage footage from a religious happening so it looks like a rave party. (The tele-evangelist being the lead singer.) It's kind of chilling to see that footage alone. Some of the old people in the audience are experiencing nothing less than trance.
Oh and the music is great, too. Well, if you're into electro that is. The band is called Familjen and they are from Stockholm, Sweden.
Video Link. The creepy dude at the beginning with the accordion -- hey, is that Richard James?
By Mark Frauenfelder at 8:47 am Tuesday, Sep 18
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Here's yet another gadget that its inventor claims will produce more energy than it uses. This one is a plastic tube fill with a secret catalyst. You plug the power cord into a wall outlet and it will heat up water running through it at 150 to 200 per cent efficiency.
They should get together with the folks at Steorn and connect their gadgets together. They'll have a system that's 300% efficient!
The system - developed by scientists at a firm called Ecowatts in a nondescript laboratory on an industrial estate at Lancing, West Sussex - involves passing an electrical current through a mixture of water, potassium carbonate (otherwise known as potash) and a secret liquid catalyst, based on chrome.
This creates a reaction that releases an incredible amount of energy compared to that put in. If the reaction takes place in a unit surrounded by water, the liquid heats up, which could form the basis for a household heating system.
If the technology can be developed on a domestic scale, it means consumers will need much less energy for heating and hot water - creating smaller bills and fewer greenhouse gases.
Jim Lyons, of the University of York, independently evaluated the system. He said: 'Let's be honest, people are generally pretty sceptical about this kind of thing. Our team was happy to take on the evaluation, even if to prove it didn't work.
'But this is a very efficient replacement for the traditional immersion heater. We have examined this interesting technology and when we got the rig operating, we were getting 150 to 200 per cent more energy out than we put in, without trying too hard.
Best part - this reader comment left on the Mail on Sunday page:
If this is true, then let us hope that yet another great British invention is not lost to this Country and then exploited by foreign corporations and industry.
- Andy, Lancashire, England
Link
By Xeni Jardin at 8:47 am Tuesday, Sep 18
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Boing Boing reader Nate says,
The courtroom sketches of the Chicago 7 by Franklin McMahon will soon be on display at the Chicago Historical Museum. The release of these sketches come at an interesting time with the ever declining feelings for the war in Iraq and the 40th anniversary of the '68 Democratic convention a little under a year away. The release of these sketches are a reminder not only of the turmoil of the 60's but also of what can happen when the judicial system runs wild.
Link
By Xeni Jardin at 8:44 am Tuesday, Sep 18
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Ryan Singel of the Wired News blog Threat Level tells BoingBoing,
Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers filed suit against God Friday, asking a court to order the Almighty and his followers to stop making terrorist threats.
The suit (.pdf), filed in a Nebraska district court, contends that God, along with his followers of all persuasions, "has made and continues to make terroristic threats of grave harm to innumerable persons." Those threats are credible given God's history, Chambers' complaint says.
Chambers, in a fit of alliteration, also accuses God of causing "fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes, pestilential plagues, ferocious famines, devastating droughts, genocidal wars, birth defects, and the like."
Link.
UPDATE: Lindsay Tiemeyer points out the uncanny "halo" that appears behind this senator's head in a photo re-posted above.
N.E. Lilly adds,
Your post reminds me of the "Paranormal Restraining Orders" website. In addition to God, you can get a legal restraint from Bigfoot, Nessie, Death, and David Letterman. Disclosure: I made the site (almost a year ago)
By Xeni Jardin at 8:38 am Tuesday, Sep 18
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Not quite, but a number of villagers have become ill with an unknown ailment after a meteorite hit their remote rural pueblo:
Link. Crater shown in photo at left (image: ©
La Republica).
By Xeni Jardin at 8:35 am Tuesday, Sep 18
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... because Mac users *know* they're God, no doubt.
Ian Clarke says,
Thoof has done some analysis of the data collected by their recommendation algorithm, and discovered some interesting differences between Mac users and Windows users. For example, it seems Windows users are 20% more interested in religion, but 6% less interested in intellectual property law.
Link
By Mark Frauenfelder at 8:27 am Tuesday, Sep 18
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• Manga Sub-Genre Ahoy!: Mecha Musume
Link
• Cane with a Pull-Out Map of Boston
Link
• Video: Boston Dynamics LittleDog Robot Link
• Motorola ROKR E8 Music Phone's Trick Backlit Keypad Link
• Lemon Squeezer Screw Link
• Wes Anderson's AT&T Commercials Link
• Morning Tech Deals Highlights Link
• Blowing Out the Dust: Afternoon Edition Link
• Review: Fuji FinePix F50 SE is a sweet li'l point 'n' shoot Link
