Update: Speaking of burning yourself horribly: the commenters in the Metacafe thread (and here) say it's a composited hoax and report burning themselves. Astonishingly, rolling a burning oily rag around in your hand isn't a good idea.
Update 2: Well, maybe it's not a hoax. Other commenters make a good case for the video being real. Mind, you're still rolling a flaming, oily rag around in your bare hand, but at least you know that someone, somewhere did this without being horribly burned.
Tesla_Downunder is a site for Australian Tesla coil builders. The photos are astounding. Link (Thanks, Luke!)
Illo is a gorgeous new magazine about contemporary illustrators. The interviews are lively and supplemented with lots and lots of color illustrations. The first issue (thumbnails) features Mitch O'Connell, Mark Schultz, Nathan Jurevicius, and Brian Taylor. The second issue (thumbnails) will feature Michael Cho, James Gurney, Zina Saunders, and Nancy Stahl. Link
This oral biography of Hunter S. Thompson, written by Jann Wenner and Corey Seymour, consists of anecdotes culled from interviews with 120 of Thompson's acquaintances, beginning with his childhood in Kentucky and ending with his death in 2005 in Woody Creek, Colorado.
Some people -- most notably Thompson's second wife -- have complained that this oral biography paints an ugly picture of Thompson. I'm not in a position to say whether or not the material was skewed to present a misleading image of Thompson. I think Thompson was a tremendously talented writer (my favorite book of his is Hell's Angels, which was published in 1966) who lived a far out life, and what I learned from reading this book doesn't seem to be out of line with what I imagined he might be like as a person. He was fiercely loyal to his friends but could be also be abusive and cruel. His first wife, Sandy, was interviewed extensively for the book, and her description of Thompson as an exceedingly charismatic man who could be lovable and funny one moment and brutally inconsiderate the next seems to echo the opinions of most of the other people who offered their stories in the book.
It's interesting to note, however, that most of the people who were friends with Thompson remained friends with him for life. Despite his flaws, his generosity and love made up for his frequent bouts of bad behavior. Here's an example of Thompson's (reckless) bigheartedness:
Tim Ferris [former New York Bureau Chief for Rolling Stone]: Around that time, I was leaving New York to go on tour with David Bowie. [Rolling Stoneeditor] Jann [Wenner] was in New York, and we had a meeting. I had my bag with me because I was on my way to the airport, and Jann fired me -- which happened periodically during downturns. When I called Owl Farm, Sandy answered and said that she had just spoken to Hunter, who was in his room at the Watergate. I asked her how things were going, and she said, "Pretty well, but we're worried about money. That's what we were just talking about. We only have four hundred dollars left in the bank and we don't know where any more money is going to come from." We talked a bit more, and then I hung up and immediately called Hunter. He said, "How's it going?" I said, "I just got fired by Jann." And Hunter said, "Do you need any money? I can lend you four hundred dollars."
My gut feeling tells me this book comes as close as possible to being an accurate portrayal of Thompson. Whether I'm right or not, it was absolutely addictive: as soon as I cracked it open, I could hardly stop reading, and I tore through all 467 pages in two days.
Link
Previously on Boing Boing:
• Hunter Thompson's widow unhappy with new bio
• Hunter S Thompson tribute beers with Steadman labels
• Hunter S Thompson's ashes in fireworks display
Here is an unsurprisingly cheesy demo video of the potentially interesting Gibson Robot Guitar. It tunes itself. Fortunately for me (and Sonic Youth), you can switch it to manual tuning. Just about the only thing I can do on a guitar is tune it. And play the opening chords to Ziggy Stardust. Oh yeah, and the bassline to Bela Lugosi's Dead. Retail price for the Robot Guitar is $2499. LinkThe birthday bash will be on January 15, 7-11 PM, at 111 Minna Gallery in San Francisco. Headliners Adrian & the Mysterious D (A+D), the DJ duo that founded the seminal mashup party "Bootie," will be dropping a shameless, genre-smashing blend of tracks, backed up by DJ sets from Bay Area copyfighters Ripley, Kid Kameleon and EFF's own J Tones and Qubitsu.
The EFF party will also feature an exclusive chocolate sampling with TCHO, "a new chocolate company for a new generation of chocolate enthusiasts." Founded by Wired co-founder Louis Rossetto and legendary chocolatier Timothy Childs, himself a former technologist, TCHO will be bringing a "beta release" of its best dark chocolate to the party table. Attendees are invited to vote for their favorite TCHO beta chocolate flavors at the party -- feedback that will help define TCHO's next steps as they gear up for a national release.
January 15, 7-10 PM
111 Minna Gallery
111 Minna Street
San Francisco, CA
Today on Boing Boing Gadgets we looked at this Buddhist jukebox that plays Tibetan chants, a possible upcoming smoke and lights accessory for Rock Band, an induction cooker that works with woks, the best iPod dock in the shape of a pig ever made, a neat sequencer that uses ball bearings, an online parts catalog for doing your own gadget repairs, a classy, glassy wall unit, knives hidden in belt buckle, a fake iPod from Africa, a Team Fortress 2 tribute in LEGO, and a short bit about why sub-notebooks are more important than any other mobile computer. Then some deals and retro gear links.
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