Boing Boing

Shackleton's Antarctic whisky found

Rob Beschizza — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:45:06 PST

Photo: PDVos In 1909, British explorer Ernest Shackleton aborted an attempt to reach the south pole. He abandoned two cases of scotch at base camp. A century on, we've found it.

Whyte & Mackay, the drinks group that now owns McKinlay and Co., has asked for a sample of the 100-year-old scotch for a series of tests that could decide whether to relaunch the now-defunct Scotch. Workers from New Zealand's Antarctic Heritage Trust will use special drills to reach the crates, frozen in Antarctic ice under the Nimrod Expedition hut near Cape Royds.

Thought discovered in 2006, conservation guidelines impose strict rules on how the ice-embedded bottles may be recovered. Whyte & Mackay's master blender says it will taste extactly as it did 100 years ago. Company Wants To Drill For Whiskey Lost In Antarctic [CBS]

Murdoch-Microsoft deal in the works

Rob Beschizza — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:09:30 PST

Microsoft is ready to pay Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. to remove its news content from Google, according to the Financial Times. Microsoft has also approached other "big online publishers" with similar deals.

"One website publisher approached by Microsoft said that the plan 'puts enormous value on content if search engines are prepared to pay us to index with them",' wrote the FT's Matthew Garrahan. "... Microsoft's interest is being interpreted as a direct assault on Google because it puts pressure on the search engine to start paying for content."

This he calls a "ray of light to the newspaper industry."

Now, every site in Google is currently there by choice. As it could conceivably change its mind and shank Balldock and Murmer with fair use, let's assume that they're planning on exclusivity. End-user license agreements, paywalls, spider-blocking, that sort of thing. Maybe even encryption and plugins and other delights. Sayonara, RSS!

In any case, participating publishers have to become invisible to search engines who don't pay up. Think of all the gambles encoded in that decision: that the U.S. ad market won't rebound enough to go it alone. That subsidized foreign competitors like the BBC aren't a domestic threat. That people will change their surfing habits to find them. And so on.

But there's one gamble which does make some twisted sense: that Microsoft is an irrational consumer. It's easy to believe that it may spew senseless riches into publishers' pockets, radically distorting the news market, just to spite Google. In this case, Murdoch could be wringing cash out of a market he knows is doomed to implosion or assimilation. And he doesn't even have to be an evil genius, either: he just has to be smarter than Steve Ballmer.

Previously:

Spectacular slow card-flourishes from Dimitri Aleri

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:32:24 PST

PeaceLove sez, "My buddy Chris 'Orbit' Brown just hipped me to this lovely video of one Dimitri Arleri doing some amazing card flourishes, set to an unidentified piece of ambient opera. Most flourish videos are rapid-fire montages of jaw-dropping excellence (ie. the brilliant Card Flourishes: Dimitri Arleri - "Opera" www.thecuso.info (Thanks, PeaceLove)

Previously:

Associated Press loves fair use (we just wish they'd share)

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:58:16 PST

The Associated Press, a organization with so little respect for fair use that they expect you to pay for a license to quote as little as five words from its articles, describes how it relied on fair use to do reporting on Sarah Palin's memoir Glowing Rouge:

"The AP was determined to get the first copy," Oreskes [a senior managing editor] wrote, detailing how the writers learned a store had "inadvertently placed the book on sale five days before its official Nov. 17 release date." "They bought a copy, ripped it from its spine and scanned it into the system so it could be read and electronically searched," he wrote.

As Rebecca Tushnet notes, this is fair use. And so is quoting the AP.

Actually, the AP likes fair use after all (via @CathyGellis)

Previously:

Short papercraft film on the beauty of the book

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:51:30 PST

Going West is a beautiful short film illustrating the worlds in a book, incorporating papercraft to make something dreamlike and wonderful. It was animated by Andersen M Studio.

NZ Book Council - Going West (via @GreatDismal)

16 Golden Retrievers Teach You About Atoms

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 11:59:12 PST

I've often found that, when I can't understand a concept in science or math, putting it into pictures will make everything make more sense. It's like magic. Now, none of the visualizations I used as a kid involved a cadre of trained golden retrievers, but maybe that's a flaw the Kansas school system needs to correct.

(Thanks, Mark Day!)

Brits: sign petition to kill three-strikes law

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:48:21 PST

Britons: here's a petition to the Prime Minister to abolish the new Digital Economy bill's provisions that will require ISPs to cut off your household's internet access if anyone living there (or using your network) is accused of three acts of copyright infringement:

This petition has been set up in response to the Government's proposal to cut off internet access to those who are caught illegally downloading copyrighted files. We think this has one fundamental flaw, as illegal filesharers will simply hack into other peoples WiFi networks to do their dirty work. This will result in innocent people being disconnected from the internet. What's more, such a punishment should be dealt with in the proper way, in a court of law. This guilty until proven innocent approach violates basic human rights.

Tell your friends.

Petition to: abolish the proposed law that will see alleged illegal filesharers disconnected from their broadband connections, without a fair trial

Previously:

Augmented reality rig that turns you into a character in a third-person game

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:59:53 PST

Marc Owens's augmented reality project "Avatar Machine" puts its users in VR helmets that display the world around them as though they were playing a third-person game, so that their own body is seen from behind. Owens theorizes that "The system potentially allows for a diminished sense of social responsibility, and could lead the user to demonstrate behaviors normally reserved for the gaming environment."

Avatar Machine (via Beyond the Beyond)

Previously:

Sex advice from D&D players

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:54:56 PST

Nerve is running "Sex Advice From Dungeons & Dragons Players," answering questions about RPGs, role-playing, and finding mating opportunities among the nerdy. It's a delight.

What's the best way to pick up a D&D player?
If you're a geek and you see a girl geek browsing the comic books and players' manuals, don't make assumptions. Nothing irritates me more than having someone tell me what I'm holding. I know what I'm holding. Aside from the fact that I came in here specifically looking for it, I CAN READ. Instead, try a trivia tidbit or a commentary on the quality/author/whatever. Your goal is to sound interested, not condescending. For the non-geek, we're really not that strange and different, but we tend to be a little defensive. Be willing to listen, stumble through some conversation you don't have the lingo for. Don't mock. Unless your romantic candidate starts talking about their characters in detail. No one finds that interesting. Really. Get out while you still can.

Sex Advice From Dungeons & Dragons Players (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

Previously:

Redhead 12-year-old assaulted over Facebook message citing South Park episode?

Xeni Jardin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:18:31 PST

LA County detectives are investigating an assault on on a 12-year-old boy which may have been incited by a Facebook group message referencing a 2005 South Park episode. "The boy was kicked and hit in two separate incidents (...) by as many as 14 of his classmates." The attack followed a Facebook message promoting that date as Kick a Ginger Day." Sadly, not the first time for such stupidity.

The Glenn Beck Party?

Xeni Jardin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:13:33 PST

Fox News spokesdouche Glenn Beck is seeking a more direct role in American politics, though it sounds mostly like a clever marketing campaign: "He will promote voter registration drives and sponsor a series of conventions across the country featuring conservative speakers, all leading up to a rally in Washington in August to coincide with the release of his book on conservative proposals for the country."

Fantastic faux-floor illusions

David Pescovitz — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:57:35 PST

I was reading a Cool Tools review of a company that puts any image on blinds, wallpaper, or flooring, and one of the comments led me to some fantastic illusions made using photo prints on the floor. More info on the bathroom floor and elevator from the Amazing Illusions blog.
UPDATE: Turns out the bathroom was for a Photoshop contest and so, is faux. I hope somebody makes it real though! (Thanks, Dean Putney!)

Thus you shall go to the stars: Michæl Paukner

Xeni Jardin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:44:00 PST

Sic itur ad astra = Latin for "thus you shall go to the stars". Yet another beautiful work from artist Michæl Paukner. "I used some scans of old astronomy maps from the 17th century," he says. You can buy prints of his work now! I want the Aztec Calendar print so bad. And Luna, too. I want every single one he's selling, but then I'll need to buy some more wall space, too.

Previously:

Hugo Chavez, cannibalism apologist

Xeni Jardin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:52:16 PST

Is Bruce Vilanch writing for Hugo Chavez now? 'Cause the Venezuelan leader's comedy material is pretty good lately: now he's a cannibalism apologist. In a recent speech, Chavez praised Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the late Ugandan dictator Idi "Butcher of Uganda" Amin. Said Chavez: "We thought he was a cannibal... I don't know, maybe he was a great nationalist, a patriot." (thanks Antinous)

Witch bottle from the 18th century

David Pescovitz — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:11:22 PST

Above is an 18th century "witch bottle," used to fend off evil spirits. Discovered at a construction site in the London borough of Greenwich, this example is particularly rare because it's still corked. Retired chemistry professor Dr. Alan Massey analyzed the bottle and its curious contents. From Fortean Times:

(The bottle) contained 12 bent iron nails (one of which pierced a small leather heart), eight brass pins, 10 adult fingernail pairings (sic) (not from a manual worker, but a person "of some social standing"), a quantity of hair and urine with traces of nicotine, indicating it had come from a smoker. There were also traces of sulphur, then known as brimstone, and what is thought to be navel fluff. The brimstone recalled the passage in Revelation where the beast and the false prophet were "cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone".

"Discovery of witch bottle used to drive away evil spells"

Previously:

Video: Lady Gaga before she became famous

Lisa Katayama — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:46:56 PST

In this video clip from New York University's annual talent show four years ago, Stefani Germanotta — aka Lady Gaga — performs two songs she wrote herself. She came in third place. At the end of her performance, one of the judges says: "Norah Jones, look out!" Little did she know that Lady Gaga would not be making Norah Jones-ish music at all. After the jump, a music video from her new album, The Fame Monster, which comes out Monday.

via Mat Honan's Twitter

Heroes and sociopaths: behavioral twins?

Xeni Jardin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:41:26 PST

Behaviorally speaking, heroes and serial do-gooders have a lot in common with sociopaths, according to this paper on psychology and neuroethics: "their personality traits are very similar, with only a few features to distinguish them."

Traffic cameras used to harass and limit movement of peaceful protestors

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:14:04 PST

Britain is full of license-plate cameras, cameras used to send you tickets if you're caught speeding, or driving in the bus-lane, or entering London's "congestion-charge zone" without paying the daily fee for driving in central London. And because of Chekhov's first law of narrative ("a gun on the mantelpiece in act one will go off by act three"), the police have decided to also use these cameras as a surveillance tool, to "catch terrorists" (and other bad guys). So any police officer can add any license number to the database of "people of interest" and every time that license plate passes a camera, the local police force will receive an urgent alert, and can pull over the car, detain the driver, and search the car and its passengers under the Terrorism Act.

And, of course, police officers are less than discriminating about who they add to this list. For example, "Catt, 50, and her 84-year-old father, John" were added to the list because a police officer noticed their van at three protest demonstrations. And now Catt and John get pulled over by the police and searched as terrorists.

Environmental activists tend to be pretty forgiving of license-plate cameras, because they're a critical piece of congestion-charge systems that charge people money for driving instead of using public transit. This kind of regressive tax (the £10 charge in London is a pittance and no disincentive to the wealthy, and is crippling to the marginal and the poor) is also much beloved by the law-and-economics crowd, who assume that rational consumers will all be equally disincentivized by a little friction in the system.

But congestion charges require license plate cameras, and license plate cameras are an enormous piece of artillery to hand to the world's police, who are increasingly pants-wettingly afraid of any sort of public protest -- including environmental protests. I support reducing driving as much as the next green, but environmental change will require lots of protest, and that protest will get exponentially harder with the growth of the traffic cameras that are absolutely integral to congestion charge schemes.

The two anti-war campaigners were not the only law-abiding protesters being monitored on the roads. Officers have been told they can place "markers" against the vehicles of anyone who attends demonstrations using the national ANPR data centre in Hendon, north London, which stores information on car journeys for up to five years.
Senior officers have been instructed to "fully and strategically exploit" the database, which allows police to mark vehicles with potentially useful inform-ation such as drink-driving convictions.
The use of the ANPR database to flag-up vehicles belonging to protesters has resulted in peaceful campaigners being repeatedly stopped and searched.
Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal Kent and Essex police deployed mobile ANPR "interceptor teams" on roads surrounding the protest against the Kingsnorth power station, in Kent, last year.

Activists repeatedly stopped and searched as police officers 'mark' cars (via Beyond the Beyond)

(Image: control, a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike photo from Secret London's photo stream)

Saturday Morning Science Experiment: Microwave Lava

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:41:27 PST

Parents, romantic partners and roommates of America: I am not encouraging your child, partner or person you share living space with to do this. At least, not in your good microwave. They should buy their own for this sort of thing. And for the love of Pete, they should wear protective eye covering.

I am so very serious about the protective eye coverings.

(Thanks, Greg Laden!)

Owner of trendy Manhattan restaurant Paradou plumbs new depths of evil bad-bossitude

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:28:30 PST

Vadim Ponorovsky, the owner of the restaurant Paradou in ~~trendy Park Slope~~ Manhattan's meat-packing district, sent his employees an email in which he called them "lazy motherfuckers" because they failed to extract enough email addresses from their customers (he has a spam list and he makes it his servers' duty to get email addresses out of diners). Ponorovsky went on to call his employees "fucking lazy disrespectful assholes," "fucking children," and said, "Effective immediately, any server or host who fails to collect at least 20 emails per week, will be fined $100. Anyone failing to collect at least 20 emails for two weeks in a month will be fired immediately. No matter what. No matter who you are."

He also threatened to fire his entire staff, saying, "I have absolutely no respect for any of you," and "Go find another place to work."

And now, he's sent along a followup to the trade press, saying that this is just the way he talks, that "if you talked to anyone who ever worked for me, I could say without any sense of self-aggrandizement that they'd say I was the best boss they've worked for." In support of this he cites the fact that he's never missed payroll (e.g., he pays his employees the wages they earn), that he lets them work for him again after their vacations, and that they get to eat for free at the restaurant where they work.

He also declares himself to be a Reaganite and villifies anyone who disagrees with his treatment of his employees, who can only become wealthy if he gets rich first, through the magic of "trickle-down."

"If my staff has the ability for self-reflection and seeing the big picture, they should ask, 'Why would one of us fuck the rest of us so badly by damaging our ability to make money?" Ponorvosky says. "The first casualties of this will be the people who all of these protesters are 'defending.' No thought is given to 'the trickle-down,' to use Ronald Reagan's favorite expression." As for the people who are vowing to shut Paradou down, Ponorvsky says, "These people have no sense of rightness or goodness."

Paradou Owner Says Tirade Against Staff Was a Restaurateur's 'Howl'

Restaurant Owner's Email to Staff Belongs in Tyrant Hall of Fame

(via Making Light)

(Image: New York City - Paradou Brunch, a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike image)

Crucifix multi-screwdriver

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:03:18 PST

Designer Michiel Cornelissen laser-sintered stainless-steel crucifix has screwdriver bits cut into each tip, turning it into a screwdriver that repels vampires.

a bit cross (via Make)

Previously:

Lego hole-punch for paper-meets-Lego projects

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:58:30 PST

Muji's going to start selling hole-punches that knock out patterns that can be threaded between two Lego bricks. They go on sale in a week, and open up many possibilities for crafty Lego extensions.

LEGO for MUJI Paper and Block Sets (via Make)

Previously:

EZ Cracker egg cracker

Mark Frauenfelder — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:26:09 PST

This looks like a truly useless, and depressingly ugly device for cracking eggs (which this TV commercial would like you to believe is a big problem).

Video of Tiny Tim performance mentioned in Pynchon's Inherent Vice

Mark Frauenfelder — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:18:14 PST

Gary says:

I’m reading the latest Thomas Pynchon book, Inherent Vice, and he makes reference to this song.
It’s like Tiny Tim is tripping on acid, entertaining children, and predicting global warming — all at once.

Cop gets 7-day paid vacation for Tasering child

Mark Frauenfelder — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:48:58 PST

The Arkansas cop who used a Taser on a 10-year-old girl was punished with a 7-day paid vacation -- not for stungunning a little girl, but for not having a camera on his Taser.

3D scanning with a plain webcam

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:14:23 PST

Coming soon to a science fiction plot near you: with the right software, a plain-jane webcam can be a 3D scanner. It's a project from Qi Pan, a PhD candidate at Cambridge University Engineering Department.

ProFORMA: Probabilistic Feature-based On-line Rapid Model Acquisition (via Futurismic)

Previously:

Let's blow up the moon

Rob Beschizza — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:05:48 PST

Behold! The Rings of the Earth.

Photographs of residents in their tiny flats in Hong Kong's oldest public housing estate

Mark Frauenfelder — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:37:06 PST

Michael Wolf took 100 photos of people living in Hong Kong's oldest public housing estate. Each flat is 100 square feet. Almost every room has the same kind of metal bunk bed. They almost all have a TV, electric fan, and rice cooker.

I looked at all 100 photos. Here's the creepiest room. Here's the most cluttered room. Here's the tidiest room. Here's the most spartan room.

Michael Wolf 100 x 100 (Thanks, Lookforthewoman!)

Matt Logue's "Empty Los Angeles" photography book

Mark Frauenfelder — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:08:07 PST

Matt Logue says: I just completed a self-published book depicting an uninhabited Los Angeles, and it got an honorable mention in the photography.book.now competition at blurb.com! The photos were made over a period of 4 years, beginning in 2005, at a variety of locations around LA.

Empty Los Angeles

A Klingon Christmas Carol

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:22:59 PST

An after-Thanksgiving treat for the whole family...

Scrooge has no honor, nor any courage. Can three ghosts help him to become the true warrior he ought to be in time to save Tiny Tim from a horrible fate? Performed in the Original Klingon with English Supertitles, and narrative analysis from The Vulcan Institute of Cultural Anthropology.

Playing November 27 through December 13 at Minneapolis' Mixed Blood Theater. No really, this is for serious.

(Thanks Joel!)