Glenn Fleishman from Wireless Networking News sez, "My colleague Adam Engst and I are releasing our book The Wireless Networking Starter Kit as a free download. We wrote this edition in 2004, and sales weren't strong enough to promote further editions in print. However, we felt that it was still timely enough to give away. The book covers planning a Wi-Fi network, setting it up, security considerations, and adding antennas or more base stations to increase coverage and range. (What's not included? Much about WPA security and anything about 802.11n.) We haven't put it into Creative Commons because we share licensing with our publisher, but it's free for distribution." Link (Thanks, Glenn!)

Today on the Worth1000 photoshopping contest: fine art mixed and mashed. Link

"Scientists" at the University at Buffalo have reinvented phrenology in the form of a set of biometrics that produce a numerical score indicating the probability that you are about to commit a terrorist act.

Computer and behavioral scientists at the University at Buffalo are developing automated systems that track faces, voices, bodies and other biometrics against scientifically tested behavioral indicators to provide a numerical score of the likelihood that an individual may be about to commit a terrorist act.

"The goal is to identify the perpetrator in a security setting before he or she has the chance to carry out the attack," said Venu Govindaraju, Ph.D., professor of computer science and engineering in the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Govindaraju is co-principal investigator on the project with Mark G. Frank, Ph.D., associate professor of communication in the UB College of Arts and Sciences.

Link (via Futurismic)

(Photo credit: Phrenology1.jpg, a public domain image from Wikimedia Commons)

A Boing Boing reader says: "Immunologists from Duke University believe they've found the function of the supposedly useless and often dangerous appendix: It's a reserve store of good germs to 'reboot' your digestive system in case another bug wipes out the germs necessary for human survival."

The function of the appendix seems related to the massive amount of bacteria populating the human digestive system, according to the study in the Journal of Theoretical Biology. There are more bacteria than human cells in the typical body. Most are good and help digest food.

But sometimes the flora of bacteria in the intestines die or are purged. Diseases such as cholera or amoebic dysentery would clear the gut of useful bacteria. The appendix's job is to reboot the digestive system in that case.

Link

Japan Probe has a news video about a Chinese restaurant called MFC that borrows the look and feel of McDonald's and KFC, mashing them together. The video is in Japanese, but it's fun to watch even for non-Japanese speakers.

Main Points:

• A fast food restaurant called MFC combines the Chinese characters for McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken, crudely combining the menus of both chains.

• Our brave reporter tries a chicken burger and determines it is less tasty than what he could eat at McDonald’s.

• MFC’s homepage states it was started in America during the 1960s. However, when their reporter calls the company they are told it was founded in China 7 years ago.

• There is something that looks like a Beijing Olympics logo on their menu. However, their phone interview finds that MFC is not an official sponsor of the Olympic games.

• The best part of the report? MFC’s spokeswoman responds to their questioning with something along the lines of, “We don’t have any stores in Japan, so what’s your problem?”

Link

Tim O'Reilly has released the results of a fascinating study of Facebook as an application platform. He's got good news and bad news.

The good news has already been widely disseminated: there are nearly 5000 Facebook applications, and the top applications have tens of millions of installs and millions of active users. The bad news, alas, is in our report: 87% of the usage goes to only 84 applications! Only 45 applications have more than 100,000 active users. This is a long tail marketplace with a vengeance -- but unfortunately, the economic models (for developers at least, though not for Facebook itself) all rely on getting into the very short head. Here's the distribution of active users among the top 200 developers. (Some developers have multiple popular applications.) As you can see, the drop-off is extremely steep.

Link

John Kricfalusi, creator of Ren and Stimpy, has uploaded a new episode of Mighty Mouse to his blog.

Insanity is a common theme in my cartoons, as I said in my last post. Here's a whole lineup dedicated to the insane, with the main feature another Mighty Mouse brought to you by Ralph Bakshi.

This is the first time I ever got to do a cartoon about an insane character. When Ralph read the script he rejected it. (He rejected 2 out of every 3 stories we wrote, I think just to keep us on our toes. I said let me record the voices first. After he heard the cassette of Patrick Pinney playing a chemically deranged Petey Pate, Ralph said "I get it now. Make the Goddamn cahtoon. You're f*****in' crazy Johnny. You'll get us all fired. I love ya,"

Link

Robert Ullman just published Vol. 5 of Atom Bomb Bikini, a wonderful anthology of his illustrations for The Stranger, Spin, The Washington City Paper, and other magazines and newspapers. He's also making a line of stickers, as shown here.

It's 56 pages (eight of them color!) of sketches, spots and girlie art goodness, sandwiched between hand-silkscreened covers. It'll cost you just ten bucks.

Link

Folk artist Martin Sanchez transformed almost an entire city block in Riverside, California into an art installation/house/chapel built from, and filled with, found materials, curiosities, and oddities. Seen here is the exterior of the chapel, with beer soda bottle "stained" glass, and the interior of the sanctuary. Marlow Harris has plenty of exterior and interior photos at Unusual Life, a terrific blog of "unusual homes, amazing architecture, and strange places." Link (Thanks, Kirsten Anderson!)

The Australian gents behind Of The World TV, creators of the 3D logo animation seen in Boing Boing TV, have launched a new beta service to showcase videos that have a bent toward alternative thought, progressive political activism, eco-conscious ideas, and humanitarian efforts. It's a smorgasboard of indy video that might inspire, outrage, or provoke you. And that's the point. Good luck, Of The World! From the site description:

OTW aims to provide a portal through which people live their daily lives by informed and ethical decision-making. The essence of which is achievable through self-education, self-empowerment, mechanisms of incentive and reward, and the provision of a “society” of concerned (and often disconnected) individuals. The future of OTW is to provide high quality channels with quality content, and to build into the framework personalization and participatory systems that will enhance social facilitation and movement.

OTW’s future direction is to facilitate a collective of socially, politically, ethically and environmentally aware individuals who are informed, networked, empowered, inspired, rewarded and responsible for the direction of their virtual and physical worlds.

Link

Soon, when you fly on a Virgin America plane, you'll be able to watch Boing Boing tv episodes on the in-flight entertainment system if you are not too busy chatting up that hottie in row 11a, or ordering a martini by touchscreen.

Link, and related items: Valleywag, Information Week, NewTeeVee. (Thanks, Charles Ogilvie!)

Last week, skate/design boutique Supreme issued a series of skateboard decks designed by Japanese superflat art pioneer Takashi Murakami and his otaku-inspired assistant Mr. Murakami's designs are seen here at left and Mr.'s at right. Each deck is $68, but the Supreme online shop is temporarily closed so contact the stores directly for availability. Link (Thanks, Ryan Babnezien!)

Jim says:"Photographed this magazine in Helsinki. WtF stands for 'Welcome to Finland.'

"Not only is a magazine named "WtF" pretty funny, but cool fashion designer Minna Parikka is striking exactly the perfect corresponding pose on the cover." Link

Our friends at Telstar Logistics took a special tour deep in the bowels of an immense Airbus A380 Superjumbo airliner, the largest passenger plane in the world. This bird has two levels, four engines, and holds 853 people when configured for maximum capacity. According to Todd Lappin, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Telstar Logistics, "This is MSN 009 -- the ninth A380 airframe to roll off the assembly line in Toulouse, France -- and it was configured for test flights, not passenger service. In other words, it lacked amenities like carpets and wall-coverings. The plane was hollow, but for a few seats, plenty of electronic equipment, and several dozen water jugs installed to simulate the weight of a passenger load. So, while the aircraft looked different than it will when we first fly aboard an A380 -- Singapore Airlines will take delivery of its first A380 later this month -- few of us will ever again have the opportunity to see an A380 buck-naked." Link

Previously on BB an BBG:
• Photos of Airbus A380 superjumbo plane Link
• Airbus A380 Cockpit Pictures Link

A campaign to raise funds for cash-strapped Canadian cities has been contemptuously sabotaged by the federal government, who are demanding thousands of dollars in royalties for use of the "copyrighted" image of a Canadian penny and the phrase "one cent."

OneCentNow is a campaign by the City of Toronto to get the federal government to return one cent of the national Goods and Services Tax to Toronto, which is struggling in the wake of decades of federal cuts in their budget-transfers.

Now the federal corporation that mints Canada's currency has sent the City of Toronto a bill for more than $47,000 for the use of the words "one cent" and the picture of a penny in the campaign's logo in a citywide public education effort.

The Royal Canadian Mint, a corporation of the federal government, has now demanded that the City of Toronto pay $47,680 for the public education campaign. Included in this amount is a request for $10,000 for the use of the words "one cent" in the campaign website address (www.onecentnow.ca) and the campaign email address (onecentnow@toronto.ca), and an additional $10,000 for the use of the words "one cent" in the campaign phone number (416-ONECENT). The remaining $27,680 has been assessed against the City for the use of the image of the Canadian penny in printed materials such as pins and posters. (The Mint has come to this amount by taking the total number of materials printed divided by the approximate population of Toronto, and then using a percentage of that number to arrive at a dollar figure.)

Link (Thanks, Dave!)

Zack Exley, one of the smartest progressive online activists I know, has been maintaining a blog called "Revolution in Jesusland," about the evangelical resurgence, with an emphasis on bridging the gap between progressive activists and evangelicals. This is a laudable effort, and Zack's tackling it with wit, humility and a great deal of intelligence.

First, progressives will never achieve their goals as long as they are hostile toward and ignorant about the faith of 100 million of their own people who are born again Christians.

Second (and we know how difficult this is to believe) there is an incredibly large and beautiful social movement exploding among evangelicals right now that stands for nearly all of the same causes and goals that secular progressives do. Those goals include: eliminating poverty, saving the environment, promoting justice and equality along racial, gender and class lines and for immigrants--and even separation of church and state.

By learning to work together with "progressive" evangelicals, secular progressives will stand a better chance of achieving their goals and also learn an enormous amount from these remarkable people and their organizations that will help secular progressives strengthen their own movement.

Link (Thanks, Zack!)

Erica sez, "StopBadware's 2007 report on badware online, written in user-friendly non-geek-speak. Explains dangers most internet users still aren't aware of, especially hacking of otherwise legitimate websites with drive-by downloads."

Drive-by downloads and website hacking add a scary new element to the badware problem. It's no longer possible for a conscientious user to protect herself simply by staying away from the internet's more questionable areas like software piracy, pornography, drugs, and gambling. Any website, no matter how trusted, can be vulnerable to attack. Knitting sites, outdoor equipment retailers, and even Santa Claus's website can be compromised and made to infect users who simply visit a web page. This means the security-conscious user must find new ways to stay protected from badware. The first step to protecting yourself from badware is learning more about it, from common ways badware is distributed to new threats on the horizon. As new ways of distributing badware emerge, your best defense is keeping yourself up to date - from frequently updating the protective software you use on your computer, to keeping informed about new dangers so you will know how best to avoid them.

Link (Thanks, Erica!)

In this youtube, Larry Lessig appears on Danish TV to explain his new cause, devoting the next ten years to ending government corruption. Lessig is downright inspirational on the subject, calling on us to set aside our cynical instinct that tells us that money will always control government and use technology to expose corruption and rally citizens to end it. Link (Thanks, Henrik!)

See also:
Lessig switches from copyright to corruption
Wikify the problem of ending corruption

Albino Octopus says: "This artist is based out of Austin, TX and has very unique photography. He gets people to jump underneath sheets and fabrics and catches them in mid-air and completely hidden behind the fabric. The results are hilariously cool!" Link

What's nerdier than a calculator watch? This Stanley calculator watch with a built-in, telescoping tape-measure. Link (via Gizmodo)

Update: Pesco reminds me I blogged this one last year -- thought it looked familiar. You know what, though? I like this so much I don't care!

In 1945, pioneering designers Charles and Ray Eames created a playful molded plywood elephant. The legendary elephants never went into production but now, in honor of Charles Eames's 100th birthday, the elephants are available in a limited edition. As part of the celebration, Charles's grandson, Eames Demetrios, made a delightful stop-motion animation of the elephants. It's titled "A Gathering of Elephants."

Link to "A Gathering of Elephants" video, Link to video documenting the making of The Elephants, Link to Eames Gallery (Thanks, Ming-Li Chai!)

Over on Boing Boing Gadgets, our Joel has found a battery-powered, WiFi-detecting t-shirt from ThinkGeek that lights up when you're near a live network. Like Joel, I want a t-shirt that can distinguish between closed and open nets. Link, Discuss this on Boing Boing Gadgets

Monkeyday News says: "Sibu the orangutan won't mate with the other orangutans, but get excited by blonde women, especially those with tattoos. Apparently, one of his early handlers was a tattooed blond female."

Sibu fancies his female keepers, especially blondes. That, the spokeswoman said, was common for orang-utans but Sibu has a fetish for tattoos, harking back to a heavily tattooed keeper who reared him.

Link

Copyright scholar Tim Wu has a great little piece on Slate about the legality of iPhone unlocking. Bottom line: it's legal and it's fun!

Did I do anything wrong? When you buy an iPhone, Apple might argue that you've made an implicit promise to become an AT&T customer. But I did no such thing. I told the employees at the Apple Store that I wanted to unlock it, and at no stage of the purchasing process did I explicitly agree to be an AT&T customer. There was no sneakiness; I just did something they didn't like.

Meanwhile, lest we forget, I did just throw down more than $400 for this little toy. I'm no property-rights freak, but that iPhone is now my personal property, and that ought to stand for something. General Motors advises its customers to use "genuine parts," but it can't force you to buy gas from Exxon. Honda probably hates it when you put some crazy spoiler on your Civic, but no one says it's illegal or wrong.

The worst thing that you can say about me is that I've messed with Apple's right to run its business exactly the way it wants. But to my mind, that's not a right you get in the free market or in our legal system. Instead, Apple is facing trade-offs rightly beyond its control. When people unlock phones, Apple loses revenue it was hoping for, but also gains customers who would have never bought an iPhone in the first place. That's life.

Link

Today on the Something Awful Photoshop Phriday remix contest: "Modernized Art II." Some very subtle work here (but I like this obvious mix). Link

I don't know how much this 25-lb bucket of lard costs at Wal-Mart, but I'll bet you'd be hard-pressed to find a lower price-per-calorie product than this. Plus, it's hydrogenated!

A little Googling taught me that the bucket Ray is holding contains 105,000 calories and 11,200 grams of saturated fat. Not only that, but as the bucket proudly proclaims, it is preserved with BHA and propyl gallate, everyone’s favorite carcinogenic preservatives! It’s like an old bucket of paint toting it’s extraordinarily high lead content. Brilliant, ConAgra Foods!

Link

Daily Kos readers are commenting on the GOP's new "wide-stance" logo. I think this one nails it: "It look[s] like an elephant that just got ran over by a truck and is now splattered and dazed on the ground, covered in skid marks." Link

Brandon says: "New York artist Michael Dory plants little noise makers inside of pieces of trash, as a way of making audio graffiti, forcing passers buy to take a real look around."

NPR has an audio story abut Dory and his cheery chirpers.

New Yorkers are hearing things these days — and it is coming from the bushes.

It is the sound of concrete crickets, little devices created by artist Michael Dory that play bits of music and make cricket-like sounds. Dory hides small sound devices in containers around the city, similar to the way graffiti artists spray paint their art on walls without asking anyone's consent.

The crickets are just loud enough for passersby to hear. And like their namesake, the crickets stop chirping when the curious draw too close — thanks to motion sensors Dory installed in them.

Dory says the idea for the crickets came to him as he watched his lower eastside neighborhood change, becoming too expensive for the artists who lived there.

The concrete crickets, he says, are his way of keeping his voice in the neighborhood.

I hope he doesn't try this in Boston. The authorities there don't take kindly to electronic street art. Link

Researchers at the Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands have found that certain types of plants form underground networks of runners that they use for communication with neighboring plants of the same species. From Science Daily:

Recently [Josef] Stuefer and his colleagues were the first to demonstrate that clover plants warn each other via the network links if enemies are nearby. If one of the plants is attacked by caterpillars, the other members of the network are warned via an internal signal. Once warned, the intact plants strengthen their chemical and mechanical resistance so that they are less attractive for advancing caterpillars.

Link (Via ComDig)

Backup, the German edition of my novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom has just been published by Heyne. Down and Out was the first novel released under a Creative Commons licensed, distributed for free on the same day the book was shipped to stores -- and I'm pleased to announce that Backup is the first German translated novel to be released under a CC license on publication day!

Random House is also working on a German translation of my second novel, Eastern Standard Tribe, working with Michael Iwoleit, the translator who worked on Down and Out.

Many thanks to Johannes and Evelyn at Monochrom for their help in translating the oddball concepts like "Whuffie" and "Bitchun Society." Link

Get Your War On's trenchant commentary on Blackwater makes a good point -- if you're gonna call your savage private army of war criminals "Blackwater," why not go whole hog and call it "Deathfang's Midnight Posse of Merciless Skull Warriors?" Link

When I was in China last month, one of the ways I got around the Great Firewall of China's censorship was by reading RSS feeds, which the Politburo wasn't really hip to. Someone wised them up.

Unfortunately, China appears to have finally gotten wise to RSS as of late--reports have been popping up from our readers and around the web of not being able to access FeedBurner RSS feeds as early as August of this year. More recent reports tell us that the PSB appears to have extended this block to all incoming URLs that begin with "feeds," "rss," and "blog," thus rendering the RSS feeds from many sites--including ones that aren't blocked in China, such as Ars Technica--useles

Link

Grumm the Screamer is a free downloadable papercraft robot from Matthijs Kamstra -- and you can get him decorated or blank. The download is Creative Commons licensed, and Kamstra wants photos of your own coloring jobs. Link (via Paper Forest)

In this edition of Boing Boing tv: first, an update on that Japanese pop tune about a "butt biting bug" (Oshiri Kajiri Mushi). Then, we explore advertisements that feature something that's never been unpopular - vajayjay. Video Link.

Mark Allen of Machine Project in Los Angeles is holding a workshop on making the classic crank ghost animatronic Halloween project.

Brought to life by the mad scientists at MAKE magazine, this Sunday, October 7th, 2007 we’re offering a build-your-own Animatronic Ghost workshop. Combining a slow motor, a simple system of pulleys, and a deathly amount of fun (and almost as much electricity), this ghoul will be the “life” of your Halloween party. Along the way, you’ll learn the basics of working with motors and mechanisms.

This project (originally by Doug Ferguson) is featured in an article by Edwin Wise in the special halloween edition of MAKE, which you’ll receive as part of the class materials.

Cost of $150 will get you in the door and all materials needed. Class enrollment limit is 7 people, so sign up today!

Machine Project - 1200 D North Alvarado Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026 Link

COOP scanned an entire Matchbox Collector's Catalog from 1969. It's filled with terrific illustrations of the diecast toy cars. These people sure were having a grand old time playing with them. Link

Surrealist clothiers and thinktank The Imaginary Foundation have released their latest series of wonderful t-shirts. Seen here is Parallel Universe, which reads "Possible parallel universe one millimeter from here." Also available are limited-edition giclee art prints featuring other stunning designs.
Link

Canned Peaches In Syrup is a new post-apocalyptic comedy play about the survivors of a global environmental catastrophe who have divided into two, er, polarized groups: cannibals and vegetarians. This weekend, Los Angeles's award-winning Furious Theatre Company will bring the play, written by playwright Alex Jones, to the stage for the first time. Jones is part of the "in-yer-face theatre" movement, which according to Wikipedia involves the presentation of "vulgar, shocking, and confrontational material on the stage." Indeed, the last Furious Theatre Company production that I saw -- The God Botherers, about foreign aid workers -- was more entertaining, provocative, and intense than anything I've seen on TV in years, including HBO. And I'd say that even if my brother, Robert Pescovitz, was not in the cast. Bob is also starring in Canned Peaches and the only reason he's letting me post about the play on BB is because it's right up our alley: futuristic, dark, romantic, nihilistic, and funny. From the play description:

Alex Jones' timely and hilarious post-apocalyptic comedy, CANNED PEACHES IN SYRUP places us in a seemingly absurd and inconvenient future, where water is scarce, the sun has gone crazy and love still survives. In a post-environmental apocalyptic future, the world is divided into two tribes of nomadic humans: Cannibals and Vegetarians. Can star-crossed lovers Rog (think Romeo as a cannibal) and Julie (think Juliet as a vegetarian) cross tribal lines?! Can Rog's taste for flesh be suppressed?! Can Julie deny her parents' "meat is murder" mantra?! And, who exactly is Blind Bastard? A lone can of peaches in syrup holds their fate...and the fate of all mankind...

Link to the Furious Theatre Company site for tickets
Link to "The Making of 'Canned Peaches in Syrup'" podcasts
Link to the Furious Theatre Blog
Link to the Canned Peaches site

Originally an April Fools' Day gag, ThinkGeek is now selling their nerdcool 8-Bit Tie. It's a clip-on, 'natch.
Link

Go Ape has a funny new Star Wars tee -- the Han (guitar) Solo. Link (Thanks, Josh!)

See also:
The Great (Wrong) Star Wars Movie Line of 2005 t-shirt
Che/Star Wars Stormtrooper shirt
Stylized Star Wars line-art tees

This extraterrestrial spacecraft Benthocodon jellyfish was spotted near undersea mountains. The photo is in a new book titled The Deep that features more than 200 photos of the insanely strange and beautiful denizen of our oceans. It was edited by Claire Nouvian, a French documentary filmmaker. Smithsonian has a feature on the book and a sampling of remarkable photos from it. From the Smithsonian article:

The more than 200 photographs—most taken by scientists from submersibles and ROVs, some shot for the book—show just how head-shakingly bizarre life can be. The scientists who discovered the creatures were apparently as amused as we are, giving them names such as gulper eel, droopy sea pen, squarenose helmetfish, ping-pong tree sponge, Gorgon's head and googly-eyed glass squid.

Nouvian herself made two dives in a submersible, to 3,200 feet. The first thing she noticed, she says, was that "it's very slow. You can tell that all their laws are different."

Link to Smithsonian article, Link to slideshow, Link to buy The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss

Danny says: Tangled telephone cords and electronic cables that come to resemble bird nests can frazzle even the most stoic person. Now researchers have unraveled the mystery behind how such knots form."

[Douglas Smith of the University of California, San Diego] and UCSD colleague Dorian Raymer ran a series of homespun experiments in which they dropped a string into a box and tumbled it for 10 seconds (one revolution per second). They repeated the string-dropping more than 3,000 times varying the length and stiffness of the string, box size and tumbling speed.

Digital photos and video of the tumbling strings revealed: Strings shorter than 1.5 feet (.46 meters) didn't form knots; the likelihood of knotting sharply increased as string length went from 1.5 feet to 5 feet (.46 meters to 1.5 meters); and beyond this length, knotting probability leveled off.

Their conclusion?

While there is no magical knot buster, Smith advised what all sailors, cowboys, electricians, sewers and knitters know: to avoid tangles, keep a cord or string tied in a coil so it can't move.

Link

Ruuskado says: "Ahh Boston, now here's something worthy of an anti-terror alert. Thief steals over 100 parking meters and keeps them in his apartment. Oddly, during his arraignment, they let him sit behind a privacy screen."

Cambridge police arrested Thomas Gannon, 38, Monday night after they served an unrelated trespassing and larceny warrant at his Plymouth Street home. Detectives performing a routine safety sweep discovered the 123 stolen meters under beds, in closets and under blankets, said Cambridge police spokesman Frank Pasquarello.

(Above image is a thumbnail of a photo by Angela Rowlings)

Link

Scott says:

A fantastic and slightly disturbing series of pinhole photography taken from inside the mouth.

Justin Quinnell, the photographer, sells "SmileyCam" mouth cameras for $23 so you can take you own inside-the-mouth-looking-out photos. Link

Ben says: "I remember the story of the substitute teacher accused of showing porn on a school computer in January and figured I'd share a related story. I wonder if [Ohio] Rep. Barrett will end up convicted of risk of injury to a minor and face a 40 year sentence as well?"

State Rep. Matthew Barrett was giving a civics lesson Tuesday when he inserted a data memory stick into the school computer and the projected image of a topless woman appeared instead of the graphics presentation he had downloaded.

Police interviewed Barrett and school officials and seized the data memory stick and the computer to determine where the image came from, a state highway patrol spokesman said.

...

"I have no idea where these came from," the Democrat said.

Link

Hart says: "The city of Duncan on Vancouver Island, British Columbia isn't allowing anyone to take pictures of their 80 totem poles, without the city's permission - because of copyright(!?!?).

This is an article from one of Canada's national newspapers The Globe and Mail about it..."

The city policy, created this summer, states that "the use of the totem images in any form requires approval from the City of Duncan." Applicants have to complete a form detailing how totem pole images will be used. After living in China for three years, and seeing how personal rights were violated, Mr. Langevin, who designs learning materials and is well-versed in copyright law, gets a little "touchy" when excessive rules, such as the totem policy, are enacted. "It borders on extortion," he said.

Here are a bunch of nice photos of the totem poles on Flickr. (Shown above, a thumbnail of Josky_TW's beautiful photo which captures four of the totem poles.) Link

JMT says: "I ran accross this flickr photo by accident. Apparently, it's an exact replica of 'Chairy' from PeeWee's playhouse found on the side of the street, wet and neglected. I think it might be New York. How could the photographer have not picked it up?!?!?!" Link

Here's a collection of scanned in high-rez, public-domain anatomical atlases from the National Institutes of Health. There's some beautiful squishy bits there, ripe for use in design projects. We are truly marvellous inside. Link (via Kottke)

Biologists from Delhi University discovered this darling frog that when fully grown is just 0.3937 inches or 10 mm. From Loren Coleman's post at Cryptomundo:

Delhi University Systematics Biologist S. D. Biju and his colleagues have found this new frog, India’s smallest land vertebrate, in the Western Ghats of Kerala, a mountainous region in the western portion of India.

The humid rainforests of the Western Ghats are the perfect habitat for these nocturnal frogs, which enjoy making mating calls from under leaf litter and among the roots of ferns during the monsoon months.

Link

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik, IEEE Spectrum interviewed science fiction author and futurist Arthur C. Clarke. In the October 1945 issue of Wireless World, Clarke forecasted the idea of geostationary satellites in a paper titled "Extra-Terrestrial Relays: Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide Radio Coverage?" From IEEE Spectrum:

SPECTRUM: You, Frederick Durant, and Ernst Stuhlinger were all in Barcelona at an International Astronautical Federation meeting on 4 October 1957. What was your reaction when you got the news about Sputnik?

CLARKE: Although I had been writing and speaking about space travel for years, I still have vivid memories of exactly when I heard the news. I was in Barcelona for the 8th International Astronautical Congress. We had already retired to our hotel rooms after a busy day of presentations by the time the news broke. I was awakened by reporters seeking an authoritative comment on the Soviet achievement. Our theories and speculations had suddenly become reality!

For the next few days, the Barcelona Congress became the scene of much animated discussion about what the United States could do to regain some of its scientific prestige. While manned spaceflight and Moon landings were widely speculated about, many still harboured doubts about an American lead in space. One delegate, noticing that there were 23 American and five Soviet papers at the Congress, remarked that while the Americans talked a lot about spaceflight, the Russians just went ahead and did it!...

SPECTRUM: A lot of what was achieved at the beginning of the Space Age—from Sputnik to the first landing on the moon—was spurred on by the rivalry that was the Cold War. Without that competition, do you think the human impetus to reach for space has slowed somewhat?

CLARKE: Launching Sputnik and landing humans on the Moon were all political decisions, not scientific ones, although scientists and engineers played a lead role in implementing those decisions. (I have only recently learned, from his long-time secretary Carol Rosin, that Wernher von Braun used my 1952 book, The Exploration of Space, to convince President Kennedy that it was possible to go to the Moon.) As William Sims Bainbridge pointed out in his 1976 book, The Spaceflight Revolution: A Sociological Study, space travel is a technological mutation that should not really have arrived until the 21st century. But thanks to the ambition and genius of von Braun and Sergei Korolev, and their influence upon individuals as disparate as Kennedy and Khrushchev, the Moon—like the South Pole—was reached half a century ahead of time.

I hope that nations can at last see better reasons for exploring space, and that future decisions would be informed by intelligence and reason, not the macho-nationalism that fuelled the early Space Race.

Link