The Latest from Boing Boing

Think Like a Dandelion: advice for understanding reproductive strategies in the Internet era Posted: 07 May 2008 12:53 AM CDT My latest column in Locus Magazine, "Think Like a Dandelion," came out of a talk I had with Neil Gaiman about the bio-economics of giving stuff away for free. Mammals worry about what happens to each and every one of their offspring, but dandelions only care that every crack in every sidewalk has dandelions growing out of it. The former is a good strategy for situations in which reproduction is expensive, but the latter works best when reproduction is practically free -- as on the Internet. 1. Your work needs to be easily copied, to anywhere whence it might find its way into the right hands. That means that the nimble text-file, HTML file, and PDF (the preferred triumvirate of formats) should be distributed without formality — no logins, no e-mail address collections, and with a license that allows your fans to reproduce the work on their own in order to share it with more potential fans. Remember, copying is a cost-center — insisting that all copies must be downloaded from your site and only your site is insisting that you — and only you — will bear the cost of making those copies. Sure, having a single, central repository for your works makes it easier to count copies and figure out where they're going, but remember: dandelions don't keep track of their seeds. Once you get past the vanity of knowing exactly how many copies have been made, and find the zen of knowing that the copying will take care of itself, you'll attain dandelionesque contentment. 2. Once your work gets into the right hands, there needs to be an easy way to consummate the relationship. A friend who runs a small press recently wrote to me to ask if I thought he should release his next book as a Creative Commons free download in advance of the publication, in order to drum up some publicity before the book went on sale. I explained that I thought this would be a really bad idea. Internet users have short attention spans. The moment of consummation — the moment when a reader discovers your book online, starts to read it, and thinks, huh, I should buy a copy of this book — is very brief. That's because "I should buy a copy of this book" is inevitably followed by, "Woah, a youtube of a man putting a lemon in his nose!" and the moment, as they say, is gone. Link

NYC-inspired cardboard dollhouses Posted: 07 May 2008 12:46 AM CDT These highly detailed, NYC-inspired cardboard dollhouses from Swedish company Our Children's Gorilla are really delightful. The insides are totally blank, "to be decorated to your heart's content" -- a great balance of blank canvas for imagination and artwork for inspiration. Link (via Babygadget)

Democratic Senator puts ISPs on notice: "think twice" before screwing up Net Neutrality Posted: 07 May 2008 02:00 AM CDT Democratic Senator Ron Wyden has put ISPs on notice that he's going to do everything he can to preserve Net Neutrality, telling ISPs to "think twice" before they start to corrupt the connections they provide to their customers. Wyden delivered his ultimatum at a Computer & Communications Industry Association conference in DC, where he cast the entire network neutrality debate in terms of a legislative compromise. Years ago, Congress began protecting ISPs from the twin threats of regulation and taxation; in return, ISPs were expected to deliver an unimpeded connection to the Internet. A move away from a neutral 'Net would undermine the "very philosophical underpinnings of what we fought for for the last 15 years," according to Wyden. If that happens, he sees no reason for Congress to continue sheltering ISPs. Link

Boing Boing t-shirts by Coop: still some left! Posted: 06 May 2008 10:00 PM CDT During a break in the festivities at this weekend's massive MakerFaire in San Mateo, Boing Boing pal Aaron Muszalski was kind enough to model the stylish Boing Boing tshirt designed by Coop before my phonecam, to remind you that a modest quantity of these tshirts are still available for purchase on ye olde internets. They're still $22.95-$23.95, and they still glow in the dark, and they're still really cool.

RIP: Morgan Sparks, transistor inventor; former Bell Labs researcher and Sandia Labs Director Posted: 06 May 2008 09:52 PM CDT Stephanie Holinka of Sandia National Laboratories tells Boing Boing, We are sad to report the death of former Sandia Labs Director Morgan Sparks. He's best known as the Bell Labs researcher who invented the first practical transistor. His work made possible so many other inventions. Without transistors, one cannot begin to imagine personal computers, cell phones, DVD players and the many other electronic devices we rely on daily. His contributions are pretty humbling to mere English majors like me. Link to a news story about his passing; here's a profile on PBS.org for the "Transistorized!" documentary.

Isabella Rossellini's bug porno videos now online Posted: 06 May 2008 04:34 PM CDT Chris Tackett of Treehugger.com says: "I recall you doing this post on Isabella Rossellini's bug porn. The videos [called "Green Porno"] are now viewable, so we did a post about that." Link

Ontario bakery succeeds with honor payment system Posted: 06 May 2008 04:12 PM CDT Last month I took a photo of an honor payment system at a bookstore in Ojai, California. On a related note, here's an article about the City Café Bakery in Kitchener, Ontario, which uses an honor payment system and almost never gets cheated. (Photo from MyWorldReviews.com) City Café doesn't have Interac or accept credit cards. Neither will you see a cash register in the bakery. Instead, customers add up how much they owe themselves and drop their money into a fare box from an old bus. "I liked the idea of simplifying things and ... the honour system made a whole lot of sense," [owner John] Bergen says. "What irritated me about going into Tim Hortons, for example, was waiting in line for something as simple as getting a donut and a coffee. So the thought was, someone can pour his own coffee, grab his own bagel, cut it himself, throw the money in, and walk out. We don't touch 60 per cent of the transaction." Because it is up to the customers to total their purchases, Bergen has simplified the cost structure. "Everything is rounded off to the nearest quarter with taxes included where applicable," he says. "So every desert is $1.50 (tarts, brownies, and date squares), every pizza lunch is $5, every beverage is $1.25, every loaf of bread is $2.75 (Italian sourdough, multi-grain, and raisin bread on weekends), croissants are $1 each, and bagels are three for $2 (plain, sesame, and multi-grain)." The bakery conducts audits every six months and Bergen says only once did things come up short. "Our theory is that two per cent of our sales are being ripped off. 'Ripped off' in the sense that there are people who forget to pay or they make a mistake in paying, and then there are people who deliberately don't pay. And every so often we have to kick somebody out that we know hasn't been paying," he says. "But at the same time we figure we're being overpaid by three per cent. Some people come in and want a $2.75 loaf of bread, but they see we're busy so they throw $3 in and walk out. Or, although we discourage tips, some people still give them to us. But because the staff is paid well (the average wage is $15.50 an hour), the tips go into the general pot." Link (Thanks, Chris!)

Hot Poop: the story of the band Posted: 06 May 2008 02:33 PM CDT Seen here is the remarkable cover art for the remarkably-named band Hot Poop, whose moniker was inspired by a Zappa tune. Their only record, "Does Their Own Stuff!" was released in 1971. As WFMU's Beware of the Blog points out, the album art has a Manson/Spahn Ranch-esque vibe to it. The cover shot shows folks shooting up one of their pal's poop. The back photo features the same group with donkeys and swapped-genitalia. So... WTF! WFMU tracked down Hot Poop's Larry Praissman and Tom Burke for an interview. From Beware Of The Blog: Describe the photo shoot. Larry Praissman: The album cover was all Tom Burke. He broke ground as an artist. He did two "Action Sculpture" shows back then way before anyone thought of "Performance Art" and they were priceless. He designed the font on the front cover to mimic Ripley's Believe It or Not. He has a natural eye for the bizarre. I don't remember much about the shoots but I have always wondered about the donkeys and how their lives turned out. On the front cover I was pooping, Jim the bass player was delivering the poop to Tom and Lisa who were fixing and and Bruce was passed out after his fix, hence: Hot Poop Does Their Own Stuff. On the back cover the donkeys seem unimpressed as we expose our dirty little secrets. Tom Burke: The album cover was my concept. I'm surprised that more people don't get the front cover. It seems rather simple. Hot poop, poop also meaning crap. So Larry's taking a crap, it's being carried over to the others by Jim, Lisa is heating it up (cooking it) in a spoon, I'm shooting it up (doing it) and Bruce is passed out. Hot Poop, doing their own stuff (shit). The photograph was taken in an empty building in Isla Vista. The building actually had no front on it but the photographer drew in the front window shadow to give the allusion that it was a complete building with four sides. The back cover concept I came up with in it's entirety. I wanted us standing in a field of donkeys (I get donkeys and mules mixed up. I said a field of donkeys but I meant a field of mules) with two pictures, one clothed and the other with switched genitalia. In one more amazing Hot Poop moment I stumbled on a field of donkeys/mules almost the second I came up with the idea. We got the photographer and drove out there. The mules were nice enough to crowd around us for the pictures. As we were wrapping it up a helicopter started flying over as I think the land belonged to Union Oil. Link (Thanks, COOP!)

Phone-unlocking SIM-shim Posted: 06 May 2008 01:55 PM CDT Here's a nice little bauble: a tiny shim that sits between your phone's SIM and the phone, which unlocks the handset. Note the admirable use of the grocer's apo'strophe in the sell-copy -- a sure sign of daffy ingenuity. This SIM unlock is made of a very thin piece of FPC (0.10mm) with a Microcontroller mounted on, that goes between your Operator's SIM card & the phone's SIM socket. Because of it's very thin & slim design it fits into almost all phone's on the market and can also be easily removed again. It's got Gold Immersion and makes perfect contact with the card and the socket at ALL times. Link (via Red Ferret)

CIA's Psychology of Intelligence Analysis book online Posted: 06 May 2008 12:59 PM CDT The CIA has posted the full text of one of its guidebooks, "Psychology of Intelligence Analysis." The 1999 book was published by the CIA's Center for the Study of Intelligence. It's interesting to just dip into it randomly and read little bits here and there. Of the diverse problems that impede accurate intelligence analysis, those inherent in human mental processes are surely among the most important and most difficult to deal with. Intelligence analysis is fundamentally a mental process, but understanding this process is hindered by the lack of conscious awareness of the workings of our own minds... "When we speak of improving the mind we are usually referring to the acquisition of information or knowledge, or to the type of thoughts one should have, and not to the actual functioning of the mind. We spend little time monitoring our own thinking and comparing it with a more sophisticated ideal." When we speak of improving intelligence analysis, we are usually referring to the quality of writing, types of analytical products, relations between intelligence analysts and intelligence consumers, or organization of the analytical process. Little attention is devoted to improving how analysts think. Thinking analytically is a skill like carpentry or driving a car. It can be taught, it can be learned, and it can improve with practice. But like many other skills, such as riding a bike, it is not learned by sitting in a classroom and being told how to do it. Analysts learn by doing. Most people achieve at least a minimally acceptable level of analytical performance with little conscious effort beyond completing their education. With much effort and hard work, however, analysts can achieve a level of excellence beyond what comes naturally... A central focus of this book is to illuminate the role of the observer in determining what is observed and how it is interpreted. People construct their own version of "reality" on the basis of information provided by the senses, but this sensory input is mediated by complex mental processes that determine which information is attended to, how it is organized, and the meaning attributed to it. What people perceive, how readily they perceive it, and how they process this information after receiving it are all strongly influenced by past experience, education, cultural values, role requirements, and organizational norms, as well as by the specifics of the information received. This process may be visualized as perceiving the world through a lens or screen that channels and focuses and thereby may distort the images that are seen. Link (via Further: Strange Attractor & Beyond) Previously on BB: • Puzzles vs. mysteries in Smithsonian Link

Photo from the Paris Catacombs Posted: 06 May 2008 12:38 PM CDT National Geographic posted this beautiful photo taken in Les Catacombes de Paris. The incredible "installation" of human remains reopened this week after renovation. I hear people are dying to get in. (Sorry.) Link to National Geographic, Link to Les Catacombes de Paris

Passenger moons speed camera Posted: 06 May 2008 12:36 PM CDT A car passenger is in trouble for mooning a speed camera in the UK. It's interesting that the car was not speeding, but the authorities had a photo of the car anyway. Police may take action against the man for public order offences and not wearing a seat belt. Officers have the registration of the car, which was not breaking the speed limit, and intend to contact its owner. It is understood the driver will not face prosecution as no driving offence was being committed. Jeremy Forsberg, of the Northumbria Safer Roads Initiative, said: "This behaviour is simply ridiculous - it's clear what he was thinking with what he had on show. "Not only is it disrespectful, but distasteful and offensive, particularly to children who may have been exposed to this nonsense. Link (via IP)

San Francisco sculpted in cookware Posted: 06 May 2008 12:18 PM CDT Beijing-based artist Zhan Wang sculpted the San Francisco cityscape out of pots, pans, graters, and other kitchenware. The piece is part of a new exhibition of Wang's work at San Francisco's Asian Art Museum running until May 25. From the exhibition page: Zhan Wang is among the most respected artists in China, having become world-renown for his stainless steel sculptures of "scholars' rocks," the graceful, craggy boulders found in several provinces around China that seem to have been sculpted by natural forces into complex forms worthy of thoughtful contemplation–almost like mental or spiritual landscapes. Collecting these rocks from around China, Wang painstakingly pounds, bends, heats, and molds sections of stainless steel plate across the cloud-like topography of each rock, as if wrapping it in steel–in essence, applying a modern industrial skin to an ancient geologic body. After the steel has been shaped around the rock it is peeled away in sections, welded together as a single unit–a now-hollow duplicate of the rock–and polished to a flawless steel sheen, in some cases almost a mirror finish. The resulting play of light upon their surfaces has the effect of seeming to disembody and even liquefy the steel sculptures, as if they were luminous floating masses or shimmering topographies. For his exhibition at the Asian Art Museum, Wang has selected rocks from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, alluding to the nineteenth-century Chinese immigrant experience of mining gold during the California gold rush. Both the actual rocks and their stainless steel versions will be exhibited. The artist will also create a topographic San Francisco cityscape–one of his "urban landscape" series– using steel rocks, mirrored surfaces, silverware, and stainless steel pots and pans. Link to Asian Art Museum exhibition page, Link to more photos, Link to Ethicurean post (Thanks, David "Swapdrive" Steinberg!) Previously on BB: • San Francisco in Jell-O Link

Webby Awards announced Posted: 06 May 2008 11:46 AM CDT The winners of the 12th Annual Webby Awards have been announced. A bunch of BB faves were honored including National Geographic Magazine Online, PostSecret, I Can Has Cheezburger?, TED.com, Nature.com, and the amazing Skull-A-Day. The Webby Awards bash takes place on June 10 during the new Internet Week New York festival. Congrats to all! Link

1.4GB of personal data recovered from botnet server Posted: 06 May 2008 11:25 AM CDT Glyn sez, A server used by a botnet to store stolen data from infected PCs was found to contain more than 1.4 Gigabyte of business and personal data. It consisted of 5,388 unique log files. The data included: * Compromised patient data * Compromised bank customer data * Business-related emails * Captured Outlook accounts containing email communication To illustrate the scope; the server contained among others 571 log files from the US, 621 from Germany (DE), 322 from France (FR), 308 from India (IN), 232 from Great Britain (GB), 150 from Spain (ES), 86 from Canada (CA), 58 from Italy (IT), 46 from the Netherlands (NL), and 1,037 from Turkey (TR). Link (Thanks, Glyn!)

Return of the Moon-Nazis in Creative Commons-licensed film from Star Wreck creators Posted: 06 May 2008 11:24 AM CDT John Buckman from Magnatune sez, I'm involved with a film project called "Iron Sky", which released a 2 1/2 minute teaser today: "In 1945 the Nazis fled to the moon. It's 2018, and now they're coming back" What makes this interesting is that it's the second film by the people who made Star Wreck, which is the most successful feature-length Internet-distributed film of all time. Star Wreck was made by 3000 people, has been download 8 million times, is under a CC by-nd-nc license, and made good money both through DVD sales, and through an eventual deal with Universal. My role in this is that I provided the seed funding for Iron Sky, and I'm head of the board of wreckamovie.com -- a collaborative film-making web site (also CC based), that was built from the Star Wreck experience (and is being used to make Iron Sky) Link (Thanks, John!)

Animation: Syd Garon and DJ Qbert, and Jon Burgerman's "Magic Ink" Posted: 06 May 2008 10:38 AM CDT Today on Boing Boing tv, a classic animated work from Syd Garon: "SNEAK ATTACK" by DJ Q-Bert. Music video by Eric Henry and Syd Garon. Next, an animation based on work by illustrator Jon Burgerman for his forthcoming book Pens are my Friends, produced by Jason Arber and Wyld Stallyons. Link to BBtv episode with discussion and downloadable video. Related Boing Boing tv episodes: Syd and Eric: music videos for Dan The Automator and Buckethead Jack Chick, animated: "Somebody Goofed," by Syd and Rodney

Pen-in-pocket printed shirt Posted: 06 May 2008 09:56 AM CDT In the Bazaar Bizarre at last weekend's Maker Faire Bay Area, my friend Jason Tester snagged one of these excellent "Pen-in-Pocket" shirts. Designed by Social Studies, it's a stenciled design screened printed directly onto a vintage dress shirt. Link

Free Little Brother for librarians, teachers, etc -- a tipjar alternative for people who loved the free ebook Posted: 06 May 2008 05:13 AM CDT Every time I put a book online for free, readers ask me how they can "tip" me for the download. The problem is, I'm not actually interested in tips, since these cut my publisher out of the loop, putting us on opposite sides of the free download equation. My publisher is extremely valuable to me, providing editorial and marketing and distribution services that I couldn't possibly provide on my own without spending a lot more of the cover-price of the book than currently goes to my publisher. For Little Brother, I've come up with a solution that balances out my publishers' interests, my interests, the generosity of my readers, and the needs of educators and libraries. Here's how it works: if you're a librarian, teacher (or similar -- someone who works in a halfway house, social center, or comparable institution), you can send in a request for a free copy of Little Brother. I'll post these, along with your institution's address, on a public web-page (I'm also vetting these to make sure that they really come from educators and affiliated trades, and not just cheap people who want someone else to buy them a copy of the book). If you're someone who loved the ebook and wants to "tip" me, you can pay me back by checking out the list of teachers and suchlike in search of donated copies, and buy a copy directly for someone on the list, using Amazon, BN.com, Powell's, or your favorite mail-order house. Send in the email receipt (delete anything private first), and the teacher's entry will be marked as fulfilled. I'm actually paying someone to manage this whole process, out of my own pocket. Olga Nunes, a friend and awesome web-developer, has agreed to take on the task of updating the page, vetting the entries, and answering your questions. You can reach her at freelittlebrother@gmail.com with your solicitations and/or donations. So there it is: educators, librarians, social workers and other people who work with kids, send in your solicitations now! Generous ebook readers are waiting to send you free copies of my latest book! Link

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