Update: Looks like Pesco got to this one earlier this week!

Guido sez, "GM mice modified to have their neurons of 90 shades of color, each one shining in its unique way. A clever trick (this is a true example of biohacking) allow differential expression of color markers in each neuron in a way analogue to the display of pixels in a monitor. This will really improve things for people who does brain research and study the way the brain is wired. Santiago Ramon y Cajal would be very excited about this. Besides this, the pictures are exquisitely beautiful, this is bioart too."

Ira Flatow did a great segment with the principal researcher this week on the NPR show Science Friday (this is one of the two science podcasts I'm religiously devoted to, the other being CBC's Quirks and Quarks -- having these shows in my earbuds once a week is one of the coolest things about living in the twenty-first century). Link

Earlier this year, painter Andrew Brandou mounted an astounding and provocative exhibition, "As A Man Thinketh, So He Is," at the Corey Helford gallery in Culver City, CA. The paintings told the story of Jonestown, the commune in Guyana where more than 900 members of Peoples Temple, under the guidance of cult leader Jim Jones, killed themselves or were murdered in 1978. While creating the series, Andrew consulted a variety of sources on the history of People's Temple, including the "Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple,” a site sponsored by the Department of Religious Studies at San Diego State University. Now, Andrew has contributed a piece to the site's online journal, "Jonestown Report."

From Andrew's essay:

i was ten years old living in michigan when the events in guyana occurred, so on one hand i have no direct relationship to them. on the other hand, i was attending catholic school. each morning after for quite some time, the sermons tended to be responses to the tragedy. my teachers and priests not only described the events to me, but my own brothers and sisters, all 14 years or more older than myself. their point of view did not always align with what other authority figures had said. i became driven to understand exactly “what” had taken place, not only to the victims of circumstance who became “a nations tragedy” but to myself, as a frightened child suddenly forced to question authority. these are the forces which have always driven me for my series regarding peoples temple.

i have 30 some pieces, only 10 of them recalling specific events in south america. i have no interest in mocking anyone, glorifying tragedy, playing into conspiracy theory, or being overtly graphic. as a matter of fact, if you did not know it, you may not even realize the paintings were about the peoples temple in particular. i humbly submit that this is because i am coming from a youthful perspective, as an outside observer trying to reverse engineer an “unsolvable” situation.

i have found that a visual shorthand helps to focus on the types of stories i tell. for this reason, i call forth the simple graphic nature of childrens book artwork as a shell around my concepts. most people seem to respond very rapidly to the benign nature of the visuals, and have an easy time deciphering them. for example, i use animals in my work instead of humans. most people have vivid memories of the childrens books they read. they understand things like a lion is king of the jungle, or a rabbit is the everyman. the use of these simple visual metaphors works to take away distractions. if i attempted to portray jim jones specifically, people would find flaws or idiosyncrasies that have nothing to do with the story im trying to tell. if i simplify him by making him a lion, he becomes a hieroglyph, filed away under jones, and you can then go straight into the story.

Link to The Jonestown Report essay, Link to Corey Helford Gallery (select Andrew's name from the "past shows" menu to view "As A Man Thinketh")

My Nebula-award-nominated story 0wnz0red has been translated into Swedish by Johan Anglemark for the Finnish fanzine Enhörningen, and released under a Creative Commons license. 0wnz0red was the first sf story ever published on Salon and it has been reprinted several times -- nice to see it reaching Nordic fans, too! It seems that "0wnz0red" translates into Swedish as "Ägd!"

Tio år i Silicon Valley, och allt Murray Swain hade fått ut av det var en bilring, begynnande flint och ett liv som var ensamt och tomt och genomruttet. Hans enda vän i Kalifornien, Liam, hade förvandlats från en lönnfet programmerarformad potatis till ett levande skelett på dödsbädden ett år tidigare, med herpesblemmor i full blom över hela kroppen i brist på immunförsvar. Minnesgudstjänsten pryddes av ett inramat foto av Liam på examensdagen; hans kropp hade skänkts till vetenskapen.

Liams bortgång hade verkligen sabbat allt för Murray. Han hade hamnat i en av de spiraler med klinisk depression som förr eller senare hade drabbat alla åldrande smarta unga kodare som han känt i datorbranschen. Ögonen blev fuktiga på morgonen vid andra kaffekoppen och när blodsockerkraschen inträffade på eftermiddagen satt han och grät tyst i sitt bås och klinkade slumpmässigt på tangentbordet för att dölja sitt motbjudande hulkande. Hans papperskorg svämmade över med använda näsdukar och det gick ett rykte bland kvällsstädarna att han var obotlig onanist. Det omöjliga i ryktet blev snabbt uppenbart för alla andra kodare på våningsplanet som, ständigt på jakt efter pr0n, hade utforskat omfattningen och gränserna för censurproxyn på huvudkontorets nätverk. Trots detta upprepades det med illa dold glädje i den kollegialt grabbiga atmosfären på arbetsplatsen och lustigkurrar envisades med att dumpa samlingar av miniatyrflaskor med handkräm som de stulit från konferenshotell på hans skrivbord.

Link to HTML version, Link to PDF version

Anita Thompson, who was married to Hunter S. Thompson for two years before he died, is unhappy with Jann Wenner's Gonzo: The Life of Hunter S. Thompson, An Oral Biography. She told the NY Daily News:

"There are beautiful parts in [Wenner's] book, but it sensationalizes Hunter unecessarily. It's meant to portray him as losing his mind at the end, but he was not. He was just as kind and decent and brilliant as when he was younger.

"And it portrays him like leaving Rolling Stone was the biggest mistake of his life. After leaving Rolling Stone, he's portrayed as an awful beast of a man. Jann looks at it as humiliating that, after he left Rolling Stone, Hunter wrote for ESPN. But Hunter's deepest passion was politics and sports. And he was looking at sports readers as just as important. He saw them as a powerful voting bloc if they could be inspired to vote.

"When Hunter was compiling his second letters book, there was some humiliating correspondence between Hunter and Jann. His publisher was urging him to put it in, but in the end, Hunter didn't run it. It would've sold more books. But he protected his buddy. I'm sad that Jann didn't do the same.

(Shown here: Anita and me at her book signing in Aspen Colorado for The Gonzo Way: A Celebration of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. She told me Hunter would have loved my shirt.)

Link

MAKE is looking for makers who would like to show off their creations at the upcoming Felt Club event in Los Angeles. (I'm editor-in-chief of MAKE). Here are the details:

The Maker Faire team is joining forces with Felt Club for the upcoming Felt Club XL Holiday event -- Sunday, November 18th from 11am-6pm on the Los Angeles City College campus (855 N Vermont Ave, LA CA 90029).

This family-friendly event will feature 70+ amazing crafters, delicious food and great music, plus an all-new section called MAKER SQUARE, a miniature version of Maker Faire! (Felt Club is a twice-yearly indie craft fair featuring the best and brightest of the SoCal craft scene. Our carefully juried shows highlight a wide variety of handmade goods, including handbags and jewelry, baby gifts and paper products, clothing and housewares, one-of-a-kind plushies and original artwork. In between shows, we host a variety of craft-related events around the city, including how-to workshops, craft supply swaps, and more).

Maker Square is organized by the staff of Make and Craft magazines and is a mini-fair that brings together science, art, craft and engineering in a fun, energized and exciting public forum. The aim is to inspire people of all ages to roll up their sleeves and become makers. We will showcase the amazing work of all kinds of makers -- anyone who is embracing DIY and wants to share their accomplishments with an appreciative audience.

We encourage you to join the fun and enter a project to exhibit. You can submit you entry by sending an email to sherry@oreilly.com. In your Maker Square entry request, please tell us about yourself and your project. Entries can be submitted from individuals as well as from groups such as hobbyist clubs and schools. Please provide a short description of what you make and what you will actually bring to Maker Square. Please provide links to photographs or videos of what you make. Maker exhibits should be non-commercial. We particularly encourage exhibits that are interactive and that highlight the process of making things. Please remember that our space is outdoors and we do not have access to electricity.

Here's some suggested ideas for topics that we're looking for:

• Things Made From Recycled Items
• Microcontrollers
• Robotics
• Making Musical Instruments
• Bicycle Hacks
• Ham Radio
• Puzzles, Games and Toys
• Cars (hot rods, custom vans, electric vehicles)
• Airplanes and Aeronautics (models, etc)
• Biology/Biotech
• Chemistry
• Cool RC Toys & Mods
• Video Games (retro, home arcade and more)
• Model Trains and Planes
• Weaving/Looms (historical or unusual)
• Kites
• Temporary Structures (Tents, Domes, etc.)
• Unusual Tools or Machines
• How to Fix Things or Take them Apart (Vacuums, Clocks, Washing Machines, etc.)

Maker Square Space: Our standard setup for each Maker is roughly a 10x10 space. Use this space to display your work and/or demonstrate how you make something. You will need to bring your own tables and chairs.

NOTE: Makers whose entries are accepted will receive free admission to Felt Club/Maker Square. However, we cannot pay for transportation and accommodations. Makers do not pay a fee to exhibit at Felt Club/Maker Square and maker exhibits are non-commercial.

Carl Malamud sez, "Public.Resource.Org is pleased to announce a joint venture with the U.S. government's National Technical Information Service, a program I've dubbed 'FedFlix.' Each month NTIS will send us 10-20 videotapes, which we'll digitize, then send the tapes back. We'll upload all this public domain data to places like the Internet Archive, and also give the NTIS a digital copy of their data." Link (Thanks, Carl!)

Bonnie sez, "Find out how to make a giant Jabba the Hutt puppet out of irrigation tubing, foam mattress padding, spandex fabric, plastic bowls and other supplies from discount and hardware stores!" Link (Thanks, Bonnie!)

A economic study funded by the Canadian government has concluded that heavy P2P users buy more music.

* When assessing the P2P downloading population, there was "a strong positive relationship between P2P file sharing and CD purchasing. That is, among Canadians actually engaged in it, P2P file sharing increases CD purchases." The study estimates that one additional P2P download per month increases music purchasing by 0.44 CDs per year.

* When viewed in the aggreggate (ie. the entire Canadian population), there is no direct relationship between P2P file sharing and CD purchases in Canada. According to the study authors, "the analysis of the entire Canadian population does not uncover either a positive or negative relationship between the number of files downloaded from P2P networks and CDs purchased. That is, we find no direct evidence to suggest that the net effect of P2P file sharing on CD purchasing is either positive or negative for Canada as a whole."

Link

I moved back to London a couple months ago and I've been trying to get a British Telecom phone line installed ever since, and so far, all I've gotten is a comedy of errors that's played out like a cross between a Fawlty Towers episode and 1984.

There appear to be at least three departments at BT that aren't talking to each other (or themselves) and between them all, I've been put through a meat-grinder. First, there's the billing department, who seem to call me every other day to tell me that I need to put a deposit down before my line can be installed, and then, when I remind them that I've provided them with a credit card on three separate occasions, promise to call me back (and never do).

Then there are the schedulers, who keep calling to confirm a November 1 installation date, and every time I say, "No, we agreed that you'd install on November 6th -- that's why I cancelled a flight and a day's worth of meetings to be home for you." Why, just Wednesday a BT rep assured me that the installation would be on the sixth, not the first.

Finally, there are the customer service people, who insist that someone needs to come out to "install" my line, even though there's been a working BT line in this flat for the past ten years, and all I want to do is switch it back on again now that the tenants who rented the place while we were in LA last year have gone.

Thursday morning, a BT engineer called to say that he was on his way (it being the first) and I told him, no, I'm not in today, you're supposed to be coming on the sixth. Since then, I've been on the phone for two days with BT, speaking to customer service rep after customer service rep, none of whom can explain when -- or if -- my line will be turned on (though several of them have told me firmly that no work can be done until I put down a deposit).

Now it seems like I'm going to get installation sometime before the end of the month. Maybe. Who knows? At this point, it wouldn't surprise me if BT's next step was to burn my house down and dance in the ashes.