Check Point Curry -- Berlin

By Cory Doctorow at 10:33 pm Wednesday, Jan 9 • Comments • Share

Today in my ongoing series of photos from my travels: this nighttime shot of Berlin's "Check Point Curry," a currywurst-stand situated at the site of the notorious Checkpoint Charlie on the Berlin Wall. Link

HOWTO make edible googly eyes -- and an edible Flying Spaghetti Monster!

By Cory Doctorow at 10:29 pm Wednesday, Jan 9 • Comments • Share

The wonderful folks at Evil Mad Scientist Labs have figured out how to make edible googly eyes (snip the ed of a gelatin pill capsule pop in a round cake-sprinkle and affix it to half a Whopper; they demonstrate the technique with this excellent edible Flying Spaghetti Monster effigy!

While the gelatin capsules have a dome on each end, they have a lot of space in between that we really don't need. The photo above illustrates how much of each end we want to keep: the domed part plus a few millimeters. As it turns out, you cannot use the scissors to actually cut it there-- it will crack or suffer permanent creases, making it useless for our application...

Next, we're going to need rolling pupils for our eyes, and these fit the bill perfectly. These are Wilton Jumbo Rainbow Nonpareils, one brand of *giant* round sprinkles a couple of millimeters across. Our big surprise: these actually taste pretty good-- they're flavored candy. The downside is that we only really want dark pupils, so there's some fishing around to find them in the assortment..

Link (via Neatorama)

Marseille Figs: uptempo pop from a "small big band" -- Violent Femmes meets Tom Waits meets Squirrel Nut Zippers

By Cory Doctorow at 10:25 pm Wednesday, Jan 9 • Comments • Share

Yesterday, I picked up "The Dirty Canon," Marseille Figs's first album on the advice of a friend. I've barely listened to anything since. My pal called them a "three piece big band" who trade instruments around a lot and change up on every track. That's a great explanation -- they sound like a cross between Violent Femmes and Tom Waits, with some Squirrel Nut Zippers and even a little Louis Jordan tossed in for good measure, a rich stew of every music style overlaid with funny and soulful lyrics. Mostly uptempo, it put me in an instant good mood. What's more, it's just plain lovely -- there's a current of something delicate and wistful swirling through all twelve tracks. Check out the free downloads on the site and see what you think. Link to Marseille Figs's site, Link to The Dirty Canon on Amazon UK (Thanks, Stef!)

AT&T mulls copyright censorship at the network level

By Cory Doctorow at 10:14 pm Wednesday, Jan 9 • Comments • Share

AT&T is considering adding content filters to its network. These will try to figure out if your network connection contains a copyrighted work, and censor any communications that are believed to be infringing.

This strategy will work for approximately 30 seconds -- about as long as it takes for people who like to download copyrighted works to switch to using an encrypted protocol -- and thereafter it will be primarily useful to bullies and schemers who will use it to silence critics (by claiming their works infringe and getting them censored) and prevent competition (by raising the cost of operating an ISP through the inclusion of the spyware and the hardware to run it on).

Of course, AT&T has already shown its commitment to its customers by helping the NSA conduct wholesale warrantless wiretapping on the entire nation -- adding a censorious, expensive, and useless piece of spyware to its network operations is entirely in keeping with its behavior.

“What we are already doing to address piracy hasn’t been working. There’s no secret there,” said James Cicconi, senior vice president, external & legal affairs for AT&T.

Mr. Cicconi said that AT&T has been talking to technology companies, and members of the MPAA and RIAA, for the last six months about implementing digital fingerprinting techniques on the network level.

“We are very interested in a technology based solution and we think a network-based solution is the optimal way to approach this,” he said. “We recognize we are not there yet but there are a lot of promising technologies. But we are having an open discussion with a number of content companies, including NBC Universal, to try to explore various technologies that are out there.”

Link (Thanks, Virtual Tours and Leon!)

Steampunk Justice League of America modded action figures

By Cory Doctorow at 9:50 pm Wednesday, Jan 9 • Comments • Share

A brilliant action-figure modder has created a set of custom steampunk Justice League figs based on the Gotham by Gaslight comics. They're absolutely perfect:

Inspired by the comic book, Gotham by Gaslight by Mike Mignola and Brian Augustyn. Set in 1880's , Batman attempts to stop Jack the Ripper, who has come to Gotham.

I attempted to re-design the famous members of the Justice League in the Victorian Era. I went for a darker look & tried to give them the right period feel, but also keep the feel of the original character.

Link (Thanks, Jim!)

Songs making fun of land grab case in Boulder, Colorado

By Mark Frauenfelder at 4:52 pm Wednesday, Jan 9 • Comments • Share

A while back I posted a story about a lawyer couple who were able to take away part of their neighbor's property under the doctrine of "adverse possession."

Many people in Boulder believe the court's decision was wrong. Others believe that while the court may have been technically correct, Richard McLean (a former judge in Boulder) and Edith Stevens used their connections to take the land in an underhanded manner.

Don Wrege, a Boulder songwriter, made three hilarious parody songs about the case. One is based on Mister Rogers' "Won't You Be My Neighbor," another parodies Woodie Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land," and the third is a delightful take-off of "You're a Mean One, Mister Grinch."

1. Stealing Land From Our Neighbor

2. This Land Belongs to Don and Susie

3. Edie and Dick (The Grinch Theme)

Link

Funny McDonald's flyer from Switzerland

By Mark Frauenfelder at 2:24 pm Wednesday, Jan 9 • Comments • Share

Whoever designed this flyer for a Swiss McDonalds must be a Rolling Stones fan. Link

The New Yorker's Eustace Tilley Contest

By Mark Frauenfelder at 2:06 pm Wednesday, Jan 9 • Comments • Share

Chelsie Gosk says: The New Yorker invites artists, designers, and readers of all ages to enter the Eustace Tilley Contest and create their own version of Tilley, the iconic dandy who appeared on the magazine’s first cover in 1925 and has returned for nearly every anniversary issue since.

Up to 20 winning entries will be published on newyorker.com to commemorate the magazine’s 83rd anniversary.

Show here, R. Crumb's 1994 interpretation of Eustace Tilley. Link

Today on Boing Boing Gadgets

By Joel Johnson at 1:52 pm Wednesday, Jan 9 • Comments • Share

Today on Boing Boing Gadgets we discussed the Greener Gadgets conference taking place Feb. 1st in NYC (with a 20% coupon for BB readers), a tale of sexual discovery and Atari joysticks, gas station milkshakes, why there isn't a Wiimote-based teledildonics rig, a remote-controlled Mothman flyer, a bicycle with an interesting knit carbon fiber frame, the SR-71 Blackbird in LEGO, Krups and Heineken's BeerTender (and why American craft beer may or may not be the best in the world), knock-off retro game consoles that can use legitimate cartridges, Voltaic Systems' new solar bag that can recharge a laptop, a carbon fiber guitar, and AT&T's heinous plan to start filtering internet traffic. And our new links triumvirate: deals, assorted links, and Modern Mechanix.

Dead bug funeral Kit

By Mark Frauenfelder at 1:49 pm Wednesday, Jan 9 • Comments • Share

AT just $20, the Dead Bug Funeral Kit makes an excellent gift.

The Dead Bug Funeral Kit comes with a 32-page Illustrated Buggy Book of Eulogies with Ribbon Bookmark, Casket, Grave Marker, White Clay Flower, Burial Scroll, and Pouch of Grass Seed.

The Buggy Book of Eulogies contains 15 eulogies and 15 buggy illustrations for your Ant, Bee, Beetle, Butterfly, Caterpillar, Cockroach, Cricket, Doodlebug, Fly, Grasshopper, Ladybug, Lightning Bug, Praying Mantis, Spider or Stickbug. The poems are eulogies told by children who have lost their pet bugs to fate. Each book is handmade one at a time. The Kits are assembled by hand as well.

The Burial Scroll comes tied with a ribbon and deposited in the Casket. The Burial Scroll gives instructions for conducting burial ceremonies. Mourners may bury their loved ones outside in the garden or inside the tin box itself, filled with soil and planted with the grass seed provided.

We hope the Dead Bug Funeral Kit will provide some consolation. You may preorder this Kit for yourself or a loved one. We are working as briskly as we can to make these Kits, but there is a lot of grief in this world. And a lot of bugs. We appreciate your patience.

Link (Thanks, Mark Dery!)

TSA searches, detains 5 year old because his name was on no-fly list

By Cory Doctorow at 1:26 pm Wednesday, Jan 9 • Comments • Share

A five-year-old boy was taken into custody and thoroughly searched at Sea-Tac because his name is similar to a possible terrorist alias. As the Consumerist reports, "When his mother went to pick him up and hug him and comfort him during the proceedings, she was told not to touch him because he was a national security risk. They also had to frisk her again to make sure the little Dillinger hadn't passed anything dangerous weapons or materials to his mother when she hugged him."

It's a case of a mistaken identity for a 5-year-old boy from Normandy Park. He had trouble boarding a plane because someone with the same name is wanted by the federal government. Mimi Jung reports from Sea-Tac Airport.

You know, if you wanted to systematically discredit the idea of a Department of Homeland Security, if you wanted to make an utter mockery of aviation safety, you could not do a better job than this. Link (via Consumerist)

Premier of Alberta threatens to sue blogging uni student for registering a domain with his name in it

By Cory Doctorow at 11:15 am Wednesday, Jan 9 • Comments • Share

Ryan sez, "Dave Cournoyer, a University of Alberta student and popular Alberta blogger, is being threatened with a lawsuit by Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach regarding the registration of the domain edstelmach.ca. The Premier had failed to register the domain even four months after taking office."

The letter requests that I:

(a) make arrangements with my service provider by December 21, 2007, to ensure that the Website no longer forwards to the blog; and
(b) make arrangements to with my service provider and/or registrar to have the Website registered in their client's name.
(c) govern myself accordingly (I added this one).

If I chose not comply by their imposed deadline, the letter states that they “have been instructed by our client to commence litigation.”

As someone who has never shied away from criticizing the 36-year old Progressive Conservative government, I have always faced harsh criticism from those who don’t appreciate the views espoused on this blog or agree with my political beliefs. I accept this reality.

Link (Thanks, Ryan!)

Know Thyself: Myware vs. Spyware

By Cory Doctorow at 11:05 am Wednesday, Jan 9 • Comments • Share

My latest InformationWeek column just went live: "Don't Let Self-Improvement Tools Be Used Against You" looks at "myware" tools that help you keep in control of your life and compares them to spyware tools used to give others control over your life:

Our computers are full of small pieces of "myware" -- software that spies on you for your own benefit, helping you to know yourself better. Your browser's History file autocompletes the URLs you type into the location bar; the search box remembers your previous searches. The recent-documents list in your word processor, your email program's capacity to remember the people you've emailed before -- all little bits of useful mental prosthesis, external systems that help you keep track of what you do, so that you can do it better.

But "Know Thyself" has an ugly, sinister cousin: "Know Thy Neighbor." This is the curtain-twitching philosophy that drives us to spy on the people around us (sometimes at the behest of the government, who appear to have learned nothing from failed snitch states like East Germany). It's the folly that drives merchants, bosses and governments to watch us through a million CCTV cameras, track us through spyware that keeps track of what we install on our PCs, follow us around the Web with beacons, count our keystrokes, and log our library books.

Link

Billboard alterations by "The Decapitator"

By Mark Frauenfelder at 10:09 am Wednesday, Jan 9 • Comments • Share

The Decapitator alters street ads by making the people appear as though their heads have been removed. Here's a Flickr gallery of his or her handiwork. Link

Orlando's Family Auto Mart infomercial

By Mark Frauenfelder at 10:03 am Wednesday, Jan 9 • Comments • Share

I've never been to Orlando, but after reading the "Guide to All Things Tacky Fabulous in Orlando" blog, I'm tempted to visit.

This infomercial from a car dealer called Family Auto Mart is truly tacky fabulous. The theme song is incredibly catchy, and the host is like a 300-lb hummingbird with an espresso IV drip.

I was trying to figure out how to describe these guys, for those of you who aren't in the Orlando TV viewing area and haven't been lucky enough to bear witness to the owner being harnessed to the front of a sleigh during the holiday season. Suffice it to say, the brothers from Family Auto Mart are a visual product, best enjoyed on a late night bender.

Fortunately, their website is as tacky fabulous as their TV spots.

OK, so where to begin? They have merchandise, a fan club (with photos from an autograph signing), a CD, a bio that reads longer than War and Peace (without a spell-checker), an instructional video (so you can do the "Family Man Dance" at home), and a great motto which is clearly the work of a fancy ad agency ("Kiss me in Kissimmee!"). Oh, and I think they sell cars, too.

Link

RIP: Philip Agee, former CIA agent and US foreign policy critic

By Xeni Jardin at 9:53 am Wednesday, Jan 9 • Comments • Share

Snip from AP obit:

Former CIA agent Philip Agee, a critic of U.S. foreign policy who infuriated American intelligence officials by naming purported agency operatives in a 1975 book, has died, state media reported Wednesday. He was 72.

Agee quit the CIA in 1969 after 12 years working mostly in Latin America at a time when leftist movements were gaining prominence and sympathizers. His 1975 book "Inside the Company: CIA Diary," cited alleged CIA misdeeds against leftists in the region and included a 22-page list of purported agency operatives.

Link (via Ned Sublette)

Photo of kids on go kart hitching ride on truck in Peru

By Mark Frauenfelder at 9:43 am Wednesday, Jan 9 • Comments • Share

From Street Use, via Zeraga’s Flickr pool. I'd love to know how she shot this amazing image.

In Perú from Huánuco to Tingo Maria, where the road from the Pacific coast across the Andes finds its way towards the Amazon lowlands. This is near the top of the last mountain pass. From there, soapbox rider can enjoy a vertical 1000 meters of gravity assisted ride. As these kids help stranded truck drivers along the road, they're called bomberos (firemen). They transport drinks, food and spare parts to broken trucks.

Link

Hiroshima man keeps crocodilian pet

By Mark Frauenfelder at 9:33 am Wednesday, Jan 9 • Comments • Share

Japan Probe provides a translation of a Japanese news story about a man in Hiroshima who has pet spectacled caiman.

Murabayashi got the caiman, which he creatively named Caiman, from a pet shop 23 years ago. Caiman was once small enough for Murabayashi’s daughter to carry, but has since grown to a length of 2 meters.

Caiman is used to living with humans and does not bite or attack them. Murabayashi’s daughter seems totally okay with sitting next to Caiman while holding her baby.

Link

Liz McGrath, creator of creepy creatures, on BBtv

By David Pescovitz at 7:41 am Wednesday, Jan 9 • Comments • Share

I recently visited Los Angeles artist Elizabeth McGrath, creator of incredibly beautiful, spooky, and charming mutant beasts. Instead of animal parts, Liz makes the monsters from resin, faux fur, and fake leather layered over taxidermy armatures. She then skins the creatures in roofing tar, paint, and hand-sewn fabric. Liz's studio is like a decadent circus sideshow of sculpture. I had lots of fun watching Liz work and hearing her delightfully weird childhood tales. Check out Boing Boing tv for the video evidence!

Link to BBtv video and comments
Link to Liz McGrath's site

Previously on BB:
• Liz McGrath show in Los Angeles Link

(Guatemala) Letter to a Forcibly Disappeared Son

By Xeni Jardin at 5:56 am Wednesday, Jan 9 • Comments • Share

I'm traveling in Guatemala for a few weeks, working on different projects here. One of the sources of insight I turn to often about this place and its history is the work of the very, very talented photojournalist James Rodriguez.

One of the recent posts on his photoblog documents an event carried out to dignify the memory of a Guatemalan man named Oscar David Hernandez Quiroa. He was "forcibly disappeared" in 1984, during the civil war, and was the son of well-known activist Blanca Quiroa. She worked in FAMDEGUA, a group that worked (and still does) to support the surviving families of "desaparecidos," the victims of political assassinations.

Here's a snip from the letter Mr. Quiroa's mom wrote to her son in 2005, two decades after his death.

Oscar, there are so many things I would like to tell you which have happened over these past twenty years. Ever since you were abducted, on that February 23rd 1984, my heart has remained completely void. You know I considered you not just my son, but also my brother, my colleague. You were everything to me and ever since that day I swore I would neither rest nor give up the struggle to find you.

More than twenty years have passed now and unfortunately I have yet to complete the objective I set for myself. If these walls could speak, they would recall everything we once talked about. How many sleepless nights of work we spent! I don’t know if you remember the amount of cigarettes we smoked together, the cups of coffee we drank while planning our work. Work intended for that struggle you took upon and eventually involved me in. Despite of it all, I do not regret a thing. If things were to go back as they were in the 1980s, now in 2005, I would do it all over. Even if it meant losing you again because I know everything we have done has been worth it. Unfortunately you were not able to see the progress. I won’t lie to you because in truth, most of the changes we set ourselves to make have not occurred. But certain paths have been carved and I am not alone – there are thousands of people who serve as your voices.

Link. Image: James Rodriguez.

BBtv: Falco Stairs/Fuji Apple

By Xeni Jardin at 12:45 am Wednesday, Jan 9 • Comments • Share

Now that we've properly memorialized Falco with his own product code, it's time for the ultimate monument to his iconic talent. Via monochrom, BBtv takes you to the Falco... stairs? Sean Bonner makes a cameo to weigh in on the Falco... lamppost. Then, we proudly premiere the Falco Memorial Haz Mat Dancers. Er, actually it's a retro-style short video by Walterrobot entitled "Fuji Apples." Music in the Walter Robot short from Boards of Canada (song: Roygbiv, from "Music has the Right to Children.")

Previously on BBtv: Bar Codes for Falco

Link to BBtv video and comments.

Ceramic original Game Boy bricks

By Cory Doctorow at 12:39 am Wednesday, Jan 9 • Comments • Share

A Dutch ceramicist gamer is selling a line of clay bricks cast in a mold taken from an original Nintendo Game Boy. At 20€ each, they're a little too pricey for a whole garden wall, but the idea is damned intriguing. Link (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)