Yesterday, Atlanta's Midtown Bowl hosted the second annual Trekkers vs Furries bowl-off, and Keneke was there, taking pix and uploading them to Flickr. Did you get shots, too? Post a link in the comments. Link (Thanks, Keneke!)

Sweet fancy Moses this is awesome!* BB reader Daniel says,

Radiohead has just announced the details for their new album, In Rainbows.

They're only selling it through their website (at least for now), and for the digital download version, they're letting listeners pick their own price for the album - it's literally a donation-based product.

Obviously this is sparking confusion among many, but the only help the website provides are the words "It's up to you."

Link, album's out October 10. To recap: the box set (Glorious thick 12" vinyl! and "enhanced CD") is $80, but the downloads are name-your-own-price. Some readers are reporting that you get the downloads for free anyway if you buy the box set.

No details on the download file format. Does anyone out there know? DRM-free? MP3s? What bitrate, what quality?

I just bought my copy (download, though I'll probably go back and buy the boxed set, too). I got wonky html on the purchase confirmation screen indicating some code glurbles going on at the online store -- not sure if my transaction actually took. Perhaps the shop's overloaded right now, announcement just went live.

This is major, and it's such a slap in the record industry's face. An unsigned superband, treating loyal fans and customers like loyal fans and customers instead of thieves -- what a revolutionary concept.

In related news, the band is dismissing a hoax website that duped fans this weekend:

The site -- www.radioheadlp7.com -- launched on Friday with a countdown timer due to reach zero on Saturday morning. It claimed it would be making a big announcement about the band. Fans speculated the "Creep" hitmakers were planning to reveal details about their next album. But a spokesperson for the band has called the Web site a "hoax" and "nothing to do with Radiohead."

Link to SF Gate blog post.

Update: More on the band's unusual indie sales approach in these news and blog reports: Green Plastic (fansite online since 1997) Billboard, Idolatr, FQMB.

But Bob Lefsetz, as usual, sums it up best:

It's not like Radiohead's living in a different world. But they're playing by a different rule book. One that says the money flows from the music, that people have to believe in you, that you've got to treat them right.

Shit, you can barely get a ticket to a Radiohead show. The venues aren't big and the demand is incredible. They're doing it all wrong, don't they see?? Well, obviously they don't.

This is big news. This says the major labels are fucked. Untrustworthy with a worthless business model. Radiohead doesn't seem to care if the music is free. Not that they believe it will be. Because believers will give you ALL THEIR MONEY!

This is the industry's worst nightmare. Superstar band, THE superstar band, forging ahead by its own wits. Proving that others can too. And they will.

Disclaimer: I AM THE HUGEST RADIOHEAD FAN ON THE PLANET. (* Thanks Coop)

Carl sez, "A couple of weeks ago, we wrote to Marybeth Peters, the Register of U.S. Copyrights, to ask why the copyright database had a copyright, and why it cost $86,000. On Friday, the Library of Congress blogged the issue, and dismissed the whole thing as a 'blogospheric brouhaha.' Well, the Library of Commerce can diss our distinguished signatories all they want, but lucky thing is these are all public records, and we're making all 21 million of them available for download." Link (Thanks, Carl!)

Survival Research Laboratories crew member Todd Blair has been in a coma for days. He sustained critical brain injuries from a post-show accident in Amsterdam.

SRL founder Mark Pauline says:

Good news. Todd is with Alex and Amy and is responding to Alex's voice with hand pressure. Eyes open a bit. Resting again now. See Todd's blog for details!

SRL: Link 1, Link 2. Recovery blog for Todd Blair is here.

Want to help? Todd's friends and family are collecting donations to help with Blair's considerable medical expenses, you can help out by PayPal if you're so moved: Link (donations go in care of Susan Maunu). I know lots of Boing Boing readers (myself included) have attended many an SRL show without paying a single dime. Now's a chance to give back some of the love, guys.

Previously on Boing Boing:

SRL crew member injured in post-show accident

The season finale of The IT Crowd aired last week -- the sex episode, where Jen ends up working as personal assistant to her lecherous boss, leaving the boys to go all Lord of the Flies. This is probably the funniest episode so far -- and remarkably restrained for a sex episode. Hard to believe the season's over already -- here's hoping for season three!

Eric adds:

I loved The IT Crowd so much, I went searching for other shows with the same actors. So far, both shows I've sampled have been fantastic. They've been mentioned in comments by BB readers, but never in an actual post:

"Garth Marenghi's Darkplace" is a fantastic show featuring both Richard Ayoade (Moss) and Matt Berry (new this season as Douglas Denholm). It is a send up of 80s horror/scifi -- spoofing Dr. Who style production on bad Steven King plotlines. A previous BB reader called it "the single best reason to have a multi-region DVD player".

Another show with Berry in it is "The Mighty Boosh", though he's only in four out of fifteen episodes. However, guess who one of the co-stars is: Noel Fielding, IT Crowd's Richmond. His character in Boosh, Vince Noir, is a too-cool punk zoo keeper, and yes it's as funny as it sounds.

Link to Pirate Bay torrent

(Disclosure: I was an unpaid consultant on series one of The IT Crowd, and my fiancee works at Channel Four)

See also:
Previews of IT Crowd episode six
IT Crowd, season 2, episode 5: the boob joke episode
IT Crowd Season 2, Episode 4 -- and DVD!
IT Crowd Season 2, Episode 3: Great anti-piracy PSA sendup
IT Crowd Season 2, Episode 2 -- keyboard-destroying nerd sitcom
The IT Crowd -- season two, episode one

Love love LOVE this pattern for a chunky, handmade Super Mario villain scarf. Link (via Wonderland)

Gothamist reports (via a story in the NY Post)...

Manhattan resident Carol Ann Gotbaum, who is married to the stepson of [NYC] Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, died in a Phoenix airport holding cell while in police custody. Phoenix authorities believe she may have died while trying to get out of her handcuffs.

Link

The NYT's Fred Kaplan has a piece about the "new" Blade Runner today -- won't include any spoilers in this post, but the Director's Cut DVD reveals a "secret" about Harrison Ford's character. Snip:

“Here we are 25 years on,” Mr. Scott said, “and we’re seriously discussing the possibility of the end of this world by the end of the century. This is no longer science fiction.”

The special effects that produced this vision were amazing for their day. Created with miniature models, optics and double exposures, they seemed less artificial than many computer effects of a decade later. But like film stock, they faded with time.

For the new director’s cut, the special-effects footage was digitally scanned at 8,000 lines per frame, four times the resolution of most restorations, and then meticulously retouched. The results look almost 3-D.

Link. O!M!G! I CAN'T! WAIT@ TO SEE IT! (Thanks, Susannah Breslin!)

Previously on Boing Boing:

Interview with Ridley Scott, Blade Runner: The Final Cut

Scott Westerfeld's Extras is the latest volume of the series that includes Uglies, Pretties and Specials, picking up the story with a new cast of characters who are even more likable, and a premise that is even more gripping, than those of the original books (and that's saying something!).

The three books concerned themselves with the adventures of Tally Youngblood, who inhabits a world where children are surgically modified to be esthetically "perfect" on their sixteenth birthday, under a self-serving political system that uses strict social order to enforce total mental and political control over its citizens.

In Extras, we meet Aya, a citizen of a different city, one where the social order is determined by one's social rank, as calculated by a central computer that counts how many times your fellow citizens mention you. Aya is a would-be super-blogger (a "kicker" in local slang) who hopes to accumulate "face rank" (reputation) through breaking stories about famous "faces" -- highly ranked fellow citizens. This ambition entwines her destiny with the Sly Girls, a clique of fame-eschewing rule-breakers, and that leads her to discovering a secret so dark that it upsets the entire social order of her world.

Reputation economies -- where resources are allocated based on popularity -- are of great interest to me (I wrote a novel about 'em), and I'm as skeptical as the next writer about 'em, so I was really impressed with Scott's deft and thoroughgoing handling of the subject in Extras, a real exploration of all the social- and story-problems you can get out of a reputation system.

But as with all Westerfeld novels, it's not the great ideas that make them sing (though the ideas are great!), it's the wrenching pacing and deeply likable characters. Aya and her friends are some of the most interesting, flawed and inspirational people I've met in a young adult novel, making this yet another great Westerfeld to use in turning your kids onto sf. Link

See also:
Uglies: young adult sf that perfectly captures adolescent anxiety
Conclusion of Westerfeld's Uglies and Pretties trilogy is out
Vampire novel as a work of first-rate science fiction
How an sf writer names his characters

Out-of-shape? Middle Earth geek? Why not walk to Rivendell, and join a worldwide community of Hobbit-fancying power-walkers, logging your daily paces as you leg the distances traversed by the hairy-foot set.

Walk, run, hike, bike, blade, swim - if you can measure the distance, you can do this challenge. Keep a log, and record your daily or weekly miles and the type of exercise. For walkers and hikers, you might want to invest in a walking meter, they look like wristwatches. Otherwise, you can estimate your distance at 1 mile for every 20 minutes of brisk walking on a flat surface. Our original suggested deadline was the opening of The Return of the King, December 17, 2003. As this glorious day is now past, we are setting new goals, new times:

If you would like to set a long term distance goal, choose any one of the following...

1625 miles: Take the road home with the hobbits from Minas Tirith to Hobbiton.

* 535 miles from Minas Tirith to Isengard
* 693 miles from Isengard to Rivendell.
* 397 miles from Rivendell to Bag End.

Link (Thanks, Bear!)

In yesterday's review of Terry Pratchett's latest Discworld book, Making Money, I mentioned how daunting it must be to be confronted with Pratchett's 33 Discworld novels and try to figure out where to start. Part of the charm of these books is that they're not written in any main sequence, but rather in several interrelated series that follow the lives of many different characters and subplots. Each book does a pretty good job of standing alone, and they all incorporate major characters from other lines as minor characters in their own, which makes the whole thing very meaty and extra fun to read.

In the comments for the post, Techbuzz pointed out the Discworld Reading Order Guide, maintained in several languages by Krzysztof Kietzman of Lspace.org (Pratchett readers will recognize the reference to "Library Space" -- the virtual Borgesian world in which all potential libraries exist simultaneously). This is a remarkably handy little chart -- all the main lines of the Discworld books are laid out in their chronological sequence, with dotted lines showing how each line intersects with the rest. This is an indispensable guide for the Pratchett novice. Link

I just lost half an hour of my life to the highly amusing "Bad Signage" Flickr pool, which sports hundreds of photos of bad and weird signs. This is a favorite photographic subject of mine -- I think because bad signs are a kind of window into the most demented minds of other people, their humor, their malapropisms, their authoritarian tendencies, and their anxieties. Link

(Photo credit: The cropped, downsized thumbnail above is reproduced on the basis of fair use from Excard1970's photo, "Best sign of the year (so far)")

vintage technology
car record player
carnival prizes
monster models
odd rods
muffler men
plan 59
world of kane
retro planet

Archive link for this week's edition. Web Zen is produced weekly by Frank Davis, and republished here on Boing Boing with kind permission. Web Zen Home and Archives, Store (Thanks Frank!).

Last week, San Francisco lost one of the underground art scene's most dedicated supporters. Most recently, Jack Davis was the director of the SomArts Cultural Center, ran the stage production for the San Francisco Blues Festival, and served on the mayor's Arts Task Force. But for decades, Jack has been an icon of the of Bay Area avant-garde culture. He was one of those people who just made things happen. Last year, my friend John Law, himself a legend in SF's underground scene, wrote a tribute to Jack after he suffered a heart attack. With the news of Jack's passing, Scott Beale of Laughing Squid reposted John's tribute. Here's what John wrote:

In any town, any scene, any time, you can count on the fingers of one hand the largely unheralded folks that facilitate almost everything thing of note that happens. They are there early on, giving quiet, confident encouragement – and, as importantly for starving artists, the occasional big break in event cost or maybe various services provided but somehow unbilled. These two or three princes never expect anything in return other than to watch the blossoming and growth of what they consider to be (and usually are) the most worthy enterprises. Other’s who “make things happen” the individuals, deserving or not who do get the lion’s share of the credit – you know who they are – they’re in the papers, on the radio, these folks know who those two or three are and always owe them a debt.

Jack Davis is one of those princes. At crucial points in the life of almost any significant Frisco art endeavor/scene/ organization (underground or established,) Jack has, in some capacity, small or gigantic, been pivotal in its life and growth. As Director of SomArts Gallery in SOMA for the last twenty years, one of the largest, best and most easily accessible art/event/party places in the City, Jack and his wonderful staff have given untold thousands of nascent artists, community groups and provocateurs their first big or pivotal show and a grand forum for promulgating their ideas and spirit in the local scene. Many of these individuals and organizations have moved on to national prominence. Following is a very small sampling of groups that benefited from Jacks involvement and/or support: The Neighborhood Arts Program (one of the founders) this group kicked off most of local Cultural Centers, Intersection for the Arts (past Director,) S.F. Mime Troupe (Board Member,) Burning Man (first big in-town events in the early 90’s were at SOMARTs for extremely low cost,) Day of the Dead, The Farm, Pickle Family Circus, Make a Circus, Dance Mission, Cellspace, S.F. Pride, Survival Research Labs (Jack held the cops off while Mark and crew got away!) The list goes on & on.

Link

Here's a snip from an essay at videoblogging.info:

Lumiere video arises from the tradition of the French Lumiere brothers. Credited with some of the first footage captured, in 1895, the Lumieres are also recognized for holding the first public film screening, showing ten shorts that lasted only twenty minutes total. At the time, Louis Lumiere stated, “The cinema is an invention without a future,” believing that everyday photography and video was ultimately nonsensical. Yet, we stand firm that Lumiere principles are essential to our existence as artists, media producers, visual creatures, and world citizens.

From a documentary perspective, and because Auguste and Louis Lumiere are thought to have produced the rudimentary firsts in this now well-known genre, founders of the field are essential to how we view our work today on a continuum. Lumieres emerge from the belief in filmmakers' distinct points of view; appropriately, lumiere literally means “light” in English. Online video has now for years allowed the advancement of personal narratives and showcased the world through the eyes of other video producers. At best, we display an edited view of our worlds. At worst, we destroy important viewpoints through unnecessary editing.

Link (Link and hed snagged from Warren Ellis)

UPDATE: oooh, there's a competing videoblogging manifesto from snottydouche.info:

The Luxidogmeimerde Manifesto

(For fuller context, you should read the wussified Lumiere Manifesto first. But then come back and read this one, because seriously our manifesto is way way better.) (...)

We followed the Dogme95 conventions until we realized that Dogme film #188 was Big Booty Hoes, which kind of fucked up that for us. We have attempted to find videos usingthe Lumiere Manifesto, which at first thought was good but now we hate. We looked for films that were longer than 60 seconds, no camera movement, no audio, and no editing. Sadly, most of the videos we found that matched those criteria were dudes beating off. After watching several hundred of those videos, we decided that we needed to draft our own set of rules.

* No script or scenes or actors or dialog or locations
* No artifical lights or real lights or black lights
* To maintain a total sense of reality, NO credits are allowed either before or after the film.
* Or during the film, either. * In order to maintain the artistic integrity in shots involving visual effects for explosions, if you use an Explosion element, it must be ONLY from the ArtBeats Reel Explosions Volume One library in the Zero-G folder and can only be composited into the scene using either Shake or Fusion (NOT After Effects) and you may only use Add or Screen modes and more no than three rotoscoped mattes, including the scene's general garbage matte, per shot. Also, no more than seven (7) nodes per shot, including the background plate AND any color correction, either done pre-comp or post.
* No costumes
* No soundtrack, audio, music, sound effects except for a high pitched whine
* Trailer may not use Don Lafontaine for voiceover
* Camera may not be put on a tripod or other artifical camera putting on thing.
* Lens Cap On
* No Battery Or Other Power To Camera
* Camera In Bag
* First Camera Bag Put In Another Bag Made Of Dark Heavy Canvas
* Doubled Bagged Non Powered Camera Buried At Depth Of Six Feet
* No fatties

The following are not rules for filmmaking or film makers but represent a complete philosophy of life.

Only films that follow all of these rules will get props from us on MySpace.

Linkidogmeimerde (actually written by Lee Stranahan)

Design Observer has a slideshow of images of Burma in 1989 by William Drenttel. Snip from intro:

According to Wikipedia: 8888 Uprising was a national peaceful revolution demanding democracy that started on August 8, 1988, in Burma (now Myanmar), when university students started the initial demonstrations in Rangoon. The Uprising ended on September 18, 1988, after a bloody military coup by the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). Thousands, mostly monks and civilians (primarily students) were killed by the Tatmadaw (Burmese armed forces).

I spent a month in Asia in early 1989, and was fortunate enough to purchase an entry visa into Burma from Thailand. On February 24, 1989, my passport was stamped number 263, meaning the Burmese government admitted less than 300 tourists that month. Only four months earlier, the military regime had killed an estimated 3,000 civilians during the 8888 Uprising.

This slideshow of photographs from 1989 is dedicated to the people of Burma — as they again confront one of the most brutal regimes in the world.

Link.

Previously on Boing Boing:

Burma: 'net cut as brutal crackdown worsens

ABC reporter files from inside Burma via cellphone

Burma: internally displaced demonstrate in rural areas

Burma regime cracks down on protesting monks

First tourist snapshots from Myanmar (Burma)'s new capital

Elephant landmine survivors on the Thai-Burma border

Mediabistro snip:

When ABC's senior foreign correspondent Jim Sciutto crossed into Myanmar today from neighboring Thailand the authorities took away his camera. So he filed his report for World News and the webcast, with the next best thing, his cell phone.

Link

AT&T has brought down new Terms of Service for its network customers. From now on, AT&T can terminate your connection for conduct that "tends to damage the name or reputation of AT&T, or its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries." So AT&T customers aren't allowed to write/podcast/vlog critical things about AT&T, its billing-practices, or its cooperation with illegal NSA wiretapping, on pain of having their connections disconnected. Link (via /.)

I just had the immense pleasure of reading the latest Terry Pratchett Discworld novel, Making Money, the sequel to one of my favorite books in the series, Going Postal.

Making Money is the continued adventures of Moist von Lipwig, the con-artist who was bullied into going straight and re-establishing the Ankh-Morpork post office in Going Postal. The post office is now running like clockwork, and Moist is growing bored, doing stupid, dangerous things with lockpicks and climbing-gear just to convince himself that he's still bent.

But all that changes when he is put in charge of Ankh-Morpork's major bank, in charge of the city's thoroughly disordered monetary supply. Like The Truth, which recapitulates much of the true history of the early days of newspaper publishing as a comic fantasy novel, Making Money tells the tale of the difficult transition from the gold standard to an economy based on fiat currency. And, like The Truth, Making Money manages to extract an enormous amount of humor, pathos, and keen insight from the subject, especially through its use of well-drawn and well-realized characters (the secret to good comedy).

There are 33 Discworld novels out there, and I imagine that being confronted with that many books would be a little daunting (on the other hand, Vernor Vinge told me that when he finally started reading Pratchett, a couple summers back, it was like being 10 and discovering a writer like Baum or Howard with a huge corpus of works, something that hadn't happened since he'd caught up with all those writers, decades before). Luckily, the books largely stand alone. You can probably enjoy Making Money without reading any other Discworld novel, and you can definitely enjoy Making Money if you read Going Postal first.

Moist von Lipwig is fast becoming my favorite Discworld character, a flawed, likable, canny comic hero who manages to surprise and delight with each volume. And Pratchett remains one of my favorite writers in the world, a man who is clearly having so much fun, he must be breaking some law, somewhere. Link to US edition, Link to UK edition, Link to UK audiobook

O'Reilly is throwing their second annual conference on the future of publishing, called "Tools of Change," next February in New York, and they're looking for talk proposals:

Some of the topics we plan to include in the 2008 conference program are:

* New business models for publishers and other players in the publishing value chain
* Case studies of successful (or unsuccessful!) new publishing initiatives
* Case studies from implementing lessons learned at TOC 2007
* Why and how to digitize your content/backlist, and what to do with it once you've got it (or permitted someone else to keep it for you)
* Strategies and tactics for incorporating Print-on-Demand into a supply chain
* Tools and challenges for an efficient all-digital workflow
* Best practices for working with Amazon, Google, Ingram and other big players
* Creative web-based marketing strategies, including SEO (search-engine optimization, a.k.a., "turning up at the top of a Google results page") for publishers
* Best new practices and tools for working with and supporting authors during editorial, production and/or marketing phases

Link (Thanks, Andrew!)

Here is an all-too-short clip of the Velvet Underground playing "Venus in Furs" at Andy Warhol's Silver Factory. Also making the scene are Edie Sedgwick and "whip dancer" Gerard Malanga.
Link

Previously on BB:
• Video: Lou Reed and John Cale do Heroin Link

Ren and Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi has uploaded another episode of his terrific cartoon, Mighty Mouse. He says, "This week's Mighty Mouse Cartoon is loaded with all my obsessions." Link

Our buddy Diana Eng wrote an article for CRAFT Vol 3 (Disclosure: my wife, Carla is editor-in-chief) on making this cute Harajuku style T-shirt. The entire how-to is now available online at HP's Wetpaint Wiki. Link

Glyph Jockey made a high-res scan of an old, low-res record club ad. The effect is pleasing. Link

Despite its mellifluous moniker, Naegleria fowleri (nuh-GLEER-ee-uh FOWL'-erh-eye) is an unfriendly microscopic critter. It eats human brains. From APL

It sounds like science fiction but it's true: A killer amoeba living in lakes enters the body through the nose and attacks the brain where it feeds until you die.

Even though encounters with the microscopic bug are extraordinarily rare, it's killed six boys and young men this year. The spike in cases has health officials concerned, and they are predicting more cases in the future.

Link

The Micropolitan Museum is an incredible collection of images depicting nature's microscopic beauty. Wim van Egmond is the proprietor of this virtual wunderkammer. Seen here, from left to right, Ceriodaphnia reticulata and a section of a pine needle. From van Egmond's page:

In this type of work there is no need to deform reality to create abstract images. The credits go to the wonderful life forms that inhabit this Museum of Invisible Life. The photographer is now just a curator. He scoops up the artworks with a pipette, presses a button or two and patiently fills the museum. A collection that could easily fit on one fingernail.

Link (Thanks, Vann Hall!)

It always brings me pleasure to watch a practiced expert ply their trade or craft. This young man's ability to shake dice around in a cup and stack them on a cup borders on the unbelievable. I've never even heard of dice stacking until I saw this video. Link (Via haha.nu)

The Free Burma Rangers describe themselves as "a multi-ethnic humanitarian service movement" providing aid to people in the war zones of Burma (Myanmar). Here's a snip from an blog post they just published:

On September 27, 2007 hundreds of Shan, Pa'O, Palaung, and Lahu villagers gathered in a internally displaced persons site in Shan State, Eastern Burma as an act of solidarity with those demonstrating in the larger cities of Burma.

Villagers expressed their common desire for the restoration of a free and democratic Burma, in which people of every ethnicity are guaranteed fundamental rights. Much of Shan State continues to be a warzone, where the Burma Army regularly commits atrocities against the civilian population, and any act of overt civil disobediance would most like result in a swift and brutal punishment. The villagers who gathered today announced their unity of heart and purpose with those demonstrating in the larger cities against this oppression.

Ethnic peoples of Burma have been under direct attack by the dictators for years. They hope that the demonstrations in the cities of Burma will draw international attention and help for those under attack. They also hope that all the oppressed people of Burma will soon be free.

Link to photos and text. Total non sequitur: I love the li'l brother in the front, chewing on a stick (?) -- look at him sporting that tiny mohawk. (Thanks, James Hathaway)

"Again With the Comics" has an article about a hobo superhero named "The Vagabond," who debuted in U.S.A. Comics #1 in 1941.

Like many handsome millionaire playboys/crusading district attorneys/ frustrated beat cops of comics’ Golden Age, Murphy decided to fight crime anonymously by taking on the dramatic secret life of a costumed crime fighter. Unlike those others, a mere domino mask and opera cape would not be sufficient. Apparently, to fight crime in Middleton, one must become more retarded than crime.

“I need a disguise that will strike terror into criminal hearts! I shall become a creature of the night! I shall become...a comical, roly-poly cartoon hobo!!”

Thus was born the Vagabond, a.k.a. Chauncey Throttlebottom III, the first bumfighter. With a fake gut, rosy-red nose and clown lips, smoking a cigar, this utter fucking lunatic took on the city’s crime wave.

Marvel has an anthology of U.S.A Comics, which includes the Vagabond, along with other Golden Age characters including The Defender, Major Liberty, Rockman, Rusty, the Young Avenger, the Whizzer, and Jack Frost. Link

This fellow appears to be smoking, er, tobacco from a Nintendo 64 controller converted into a pipe.
Link

Previously on BB and BB Gadgets:
• Crown7 Nicotine Delivery Systems Link
• Retro bong designed and built in 11 minutes Link

My friend Sean Ness noticed Karl Marx peering up from his soup spoon.
Link

Previously on BB:
• Face in the clouds Link
• Tree with face Link
• Daikon "foot" Link

Texas State Representative Debbie Riddle (R) says she is concerned about the same person voting twice at the polls, so she is trying to pass a law requiring that anyone who wants to vote must have a photo ID. Another Texas lawmaker has introduced a bill that would "criminalize anyone who delivers a ballot for someone unable to drive to the polls."

Here's a video showing Rep. Riddle and many of her fellow representatives voting twice on the same issue in the legislature.

Later in the video, Riddle explains why its OK for her to cast ballots in other people's names: "We have a lot of votes. We have a lot of amendments. And there's times where we don't break for lunch, and we don't break for dinner, we don't have bathroom breaks." Link

Over at the Wired Danger Room blog, Noah Shachtman writes:

The MySpace generation is a "somewhat alien life force," a Navy recruiting presentation contends -- with a language and lifestyle that's almost unrecognizable to adults.

And because the kids are such "coddled," "narcissistic praise junkies," they'll be beyond tough to bring into the military. Propensity to join the armed forces among these so-called "millennials" has dropped to as little as 3%; that's down from 26% in 2001.

Entropic Memes uncovered the bleak, often unintentionally hilarious report from the Annual Navy Workforce Research and Analysis Conference, which also glumly notes that the Iraq war has brutalized recruiting efforts.

Up to two-thirds of millennials are "less likely to join the military" because of the war, according to the presentation.

Link

Science News has an article about a "cure all" Siberian herb called Rhodiola rosea, that has long been used by Soviets, and is currently being looked at by US university medical researchers.

Zakir Ramazanov first encountered Rhodiola rosea in 1979 as a Soviet soldier in Afghanistan. A comrade often received boxes full of the yellow-flowered mountain herb from his home in Siberia and would prepare and share a sweet-smelling tea from the root. Ramazanov found that the drink seemed to quicken his hiking and speed his recovery after a taxing mission.

...

Much of the old Soviet research on the herb remains locked away in Russian language journals. But over the past decade a growing body of new research published in English tentatively supports the results of early Soviet research. Laboratory and animal studies show that the herb may inhibit cancer cells, protect healthy cells from toxins, and correct enzyme imbalances associated with diabetes. In addition, four trials with human volunteers show that rhodiola extracts can boost mental performance, reduce fatigue, and ease depression.

Link

This two-headed red slider turtle, now living at Big Al's Aquarium Supercenter in Pennsylvania, is particularly rare because the heads are on opposite sides of the shell. From The Metro:

Jay Jacobi, the shop's exotic reptile manager, said: "The two heads seem to have their own thoughts, operating independently.

"But sometimes they seem to put their two heads together and move in the same direction, feed together, walk together."

Link (via Fortean Times)

Supporters of Star Simpson -- the 19-year-old MIT student who inadvertently caused a total freaking flipout at Boston's Logan International Airport last week for wearing a sweatshirt with an attached homemade light-up device -- are selling these t-shirts to help cover her legal fees.

Link, at Instructables.

Authorities in Massachussetts are throwing the "infernal machine" book at her, claiming the shirt was a "hoax device" intended to look like a fake bomb. Simpson denies this charge.

FWIW, I can't fault airport security personnel who spot an unfamiliar electronic device, worry that it might be dangerous, and question accordingly. That's what they're there for. But why do prosecutors still insist on carrying these charges against Simpson, despite clear and abundant evidence she meant no harm?

Over at Politech, Declan McCullagh has a great post up about previous cases of *actual* hoax devices.

There's a big difference in intent with this case, no matter how ill-advised the young Ms. Simpson's fashion choices may have been last Friday morning.

On CNET, Chris Soghoian has a blog post about "TSA's misguided war against 'make'ers, and tinkerers and other electronics geeks," also worth a read.

Soghoian lists some past examples of devices used to blow up planes. At left, the World War II German Exploding Chocolate Bar (image courtesy "M15 History For Schools").

More than 60 years and we've learned nothing? Why are chocolate bars still being sold in airport snack shops around America with such careless disregard? This is an outrage.

Previously on Boing Boing:

MIT student arrested for entering Boston airport with "fake bomb"

National Geographic has a preview of the best science images from 2007.

Snip: "The awards are given out each year by the National Science Foundation and the journal Science for the imagery that best conveys complex scientific information and concepts. This year the winners are announced in the September 28 issue of Science."

My favorite is this still from a 3D animation that illustrates how nicotine stimulates nerve impulses to the pleasure center of the brain. Link. (thanks, Wellington Grey)

Kathryn Cramer says,

CNN is reporting that Myanmar has cut Internet access and also reports "Unconfirmed reports of bodies in the streets, protesters shot." and "New video appears to show point blank shooting of protester in Yangon."

As a clarification, and no surprise here: officials in the military regime controlling Burma (Myanmar) still have internet access, regular folks do not.

BB reader Dave Hecht adds

The NYT's Lede blog has pretty extensive coverage of Burmese military junta's shutdown of public internet and other communications channels. We must be living in the future if to stop a revolution, the government needs to shutdown the Internet. The Times page has links to blogs, some of which are still up, some which are ominously blacked out. Link.

Image above from the photostream of Jim Rees, who explains:

With Burma in the news lately I thought I'd post this photo of this sign that greeted me when I visited in 1989, a year after the coup that brought the current military leadership to power. This is on the Thai side of the border just outside Mae Sai.

At that time the new Burmese government, short of cash and not wanting anyone to observe conditions inside the country, was asking over $500 just to get in. This part of northern Burma was not really under government control, it was a stronghold for the KNU. You could sneak over the border from Thailand and get a brief look at the other side, but this was officially discouraged and there were stories of people being kidnapped or thrown in jail. I didn't go very far.

Here's a recent BBC report about Burmese bloggers, and press freedom inside Burma (hint -- there isn't any): Link.

That story points to London-based blogger Ko Htike, who has been posting reports on behalf of people inside Burma. Htike's blog is mostly in Burmese, but with some English and lots of pictures, including the image re-posted here, below.

Update: BB reader John Gale points out that this appears to be Japanese reporter Kenji Nagai. "The report over on BBC suggests that he was targeted and possibly shot at point blank range because he was holding a camera."

Here, on Htike's blog, photographs and first-person testimony from a man who identifies himself as a Singaporean working in Burma. The post includes graphic images of injuries he says he received at the hands of soldiers who were attacking protesters. Snip:

My wife found the "40mm riot control munnition" empty cartridge that the soldiers shoot at me. I would like the embassy and media to know the actions of this army. We are just ordinary citizen going to work and they just shot at us for no reason. Imagine what they would do to the protesters!

Marilyn Terrell says,

Ethical Traveler is offering people a place to post their messages and photos of support for the monks in Burma: Link.

Below, an image from ethicaltraveler.org of a solidarity gathering earlier today in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

David Weinberger -- author of Everything is Miscellaneous -- is in London's Heathrow airport today, and he's discovered that British Airways' internet terminals block Boing Boing:

Internet Access to this site has been BLOCKED

British Airways Plc prohibited website information page.

British Airways has blocked access to certain Internet sites which may be considered to be illegal or offensive. This site is currently on the barred list.We understand that the Internet changes constantly and that the decision in respect of this particular site may no longer be appropriate. If you would like us to review the decision to bar access to this site, please give the website URL and a contact e-mail address to a member of staff at the Lounge Reception. The response will be written confirmation that either the ban on this site has been lifted, or that the site continues to contain material that is inappropriate and, therefore, the bar on access will continue.

Thank you for your co-operation.

Date/Time: 2007-09-28 - 07:29:54
Website: http://boingboing.net/
Category: "Nudity;Personal Pages"

BA is probably using one of the censorware companies like SmartFilter, who also supply the censorship technology to governments in countries like Syria and the United Arab Emirates. SmartFilter's business model is to fill sleazy boiler-rooms with prudish unemployable drones who spend all day clicking on web-pages and classifying them based on whether they'll offend the delicate sensibilities of the world's tyrants.

BA contracts with these scam-artists to control which information the adults who fly on its planes can use -- because you lack the capability to choose which web-pages you want to look at, and need an airline to choose the pages for you. We've been vocal critics of these companies, and so they all block us, using rubrics like "nudity" or "circumvention" -- because if you have one nude thumbnail or one page about circumvention, then all the tens of thousands of pages on your site will be blocked. What a "non-nudity" site is, then, is a site in which no nudity has ever appeared and no nudity ever will appear (SmartFilter says that a web-page with a picture of Michaelangelo's David counts as a "nudity site").

I'm a BA platinum flier, logging hundreds of thousands of miles per year on the oneworld network. I guess it's time to try Virgin instead. Link, Link to Boing Boing's "Defeat Censorware" page

When I moved to LA in summer 2006, I discovered that my neighborhood sported the best comics store I'd ever shopped: Secret Headquarters, a small, neat, welcoming boutique that focuses more on art and comics than vinyl toys. The staff picks were always perfect for me -- every time I walked in that place, I left with three or four graphic novels that knocked my socks off.

Now, Caroline sez, "Secret Headquarters is my favorite comic book store too! They've been nominated on MyFox Los Angeles' 2007 hot list--let's give them our support!" Link

Tornado Potatoes -- new street-food from South Korea. It's a spiral-cut potato, deep fried and dusted with tangy cheezy powder. Yes, it's unhealthy, but the Koreans have a long way to go if they're going to bridge the US-Korean junk-food gap -- hello, deep-fried Coca-Cola! Get that potato some whipped mayo and maybe some rat-poison (or plutonium) and we'll be in business. Link (via Neatorama)

Zend PHP Con is coming to San Francisco Oct 8-11, a kind of gathering of the tribes for PHP hackers from all over the world. I'm giving one of the keynotes, along with Joel "on Software" Spolsky. Hope to see you there! Link

A group of Star Wars trufans in New York meets regularly at a dance-studio to practice their lightsaber "fighting" -- doing yoga, meditation and then lightsaber choreography.

"The thing is, when you hold a lightsaber, you want to use it!" says General Sun as he flips the switch on his lightsaber. It powers up with the signature hum of voltage, like an electric razor on mescaline, and the tube radiates solid white. "So the new ones have the noise chip, and they're thicker," he says. "They're made for dueling." Behind him, the other customers glance nervously at the growing circle of swordsmen and their blades.

"The nerd element of being a Jedi is pretty obvious," Cyran Oghma says. "We're all huge nerds. But it's more than that, more than Star Wars. If you base yourself on a character who has high personal ethics and a high level of skill and confidence, there is no way that's not going to influence who you really are."

Link (Thanks, Bonnie!)

Today on the brilliant nerdy webcomic xkcd: a trenchant and very funny commentary on online sexism, especially as practiced in the techier corners of the net. Link

See also:
Cory Doctorow cosplayers at the XKCD picnic
Geeky comic strip uses Cory as the punchline
Geeky comic about chess and roller-coasters
Xkcd fans bring chess-sets on roller-coasters
Nerd humor about Katamari Damacy
Bloggin' 'bout my generation
Pi joke
Funny map of online communities in the style of a D&D map
Sarcastic comic about computational linguistics (and emo kids)
Where LOLCats come from
Ironic Internet malapropism grid

This artwork by infamous Beat author, artist, and firearm enthusiast William S. Burroughs is currently listed for a live auction on eBay. Titled "Eight Bullets," the piece consists of, er, eight bullets. The spent bullets don't appear to be mounted and the work doesn't seem to be signed. It's part of a large Phillips de Pury & Company auction in New York City of items from avant-garde theater director Robert Wilson's loft. Absentee bidding on these bullets starts at $200 and the estimated selling price is $300 to $500. Link to eBay auction, Link to Phillips de Pury lot page

Klassic Komix Klub Vol 3 -- Johnny Ryan's hideous, sickening, revolting, vile, lewd, obscene, nauseating, puerile, infantile, distasteful, foul, nasty, vomitous, loathsome, offensive, appalling, outrageous, objectionable, shocking, horrifying, scandalous, monstrous, unspeakable, shameful, vile, odious, obnoxious, detestable, hateful, contemptible, despicable, deplorable, and abominable comic book -- is now available!

Klassic Komix Klub #3 —- the spanking-new sequel to Klassic Komix Klub #2, published in Spring 2007 —- is a limited edition comic recently self-published by Johnny. KKK #3 collects 24 highly scatological, not-for-the-squeamish classic literature parody strips into one gorgeous package, wrapped up in a display-worthy three-color letterpress printed (on fancy paper with bright inks) wraparound cover produced by Buenaventura Press. Only 200 copies were produced and we have limited quantities available. Each copy is signed and numbered. Various inks and papers were used, the pic above shows samples of what you might receive. Please note that Johnny's last few parody books sold out extremely fast; also these are not available in stores. Only $10.

Link

Pie & Hammer has a scan of an entrance exam for MIT. Link (Thanks, Lily!)

An Austrian provincial judge refused today to declare that Matthew Hiast Pan, a 26-year-old chimpanzee, is a person. Now, animal rights activists intend to take the case to the country's Supreme Court. According to the Association Against Animal Factories, "personhood" is the only way to make sure that Pan, who previously lived in a now-bankrupt shelter, doesn't end up under nasty ownership outside of Austria. From the Associated Press:

The Association Against Animal Factories says it's not trying to get Pan declared a human, but rather a person, which would give some legal status. Otherwise, he is legally a thing.

"The question is: Are chimps things without interests, or persons with interests?" Balluch said.

"A large section of the public does see chimps as beings with interests," he said. "We are looking forward to hear what the high court has to say on this fundamental question."

Link (Thanks, Xeni!)

Seen here is a Google Earth image of US Navy barracks in Coronado, California. The US Navy has now budgeted $600,000 to cover up the swastika shape through the installation of solar panels and various landscape modifications. They were encouraged to do the modifications by several parties, including US Rep Susan Davis, Anti-Defamation League regional director Morris Casuto, and radio talk show host Dave vonKleist.

Navy officials say the shape of the buildings, designed by local architect John Mock, was not noted until after the groundbreaking in 1967 -- and since it was not visible from the ground, a decision was made not to make any changes...

"I don't ascribe any intentionally evil motives to this," Casuto said, referring to the design. "It just happened. The Navy has been very good about recognizing the problem. The issue is over."

Link (Thanks, Paul Saffo!)

The kids in my daughter's preschool were asked to describe their current feelings and why they felt that way. I enjoyed their answers, so I took photos and uploaded them to Flickr. Link

Previously on Boing Boing:
• "What happens to people when they get old?"
• Tio Nacho soap
• The Farm