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Jonathan Chait takes to New York Magazine to explain how a revisionist version of American civil rights history paints the Republicans as the party of racial equality: The civil rights movement, once a controversial left-wing fringe, has grown deeply embedded into the fabric of our national story. This is a salutary development, but a problematic [...]
3D-printed "Death's Head Hawkmoth Skeleton" sculptures, inspired by The Silence of the LambsWed, 23 May 2012 12:44:25 PDT
Joaquin Baldwin, whose animated films and 3D-printed sculptures we've featured here before a number of times, has completed a new work. I love these. Joaquin explains: I created the skeleton of a skeletal Lepidoptera. The Death's Head Hawkmoth (Acherontia atropos), seen in The Silence of the Lambs, has a skull marking on its back. I [...]
Jack Hitt is the author of Bunch of Amateurs: A Search for the American Character, and a contributing editor to the New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, and public radio’s This American Life. He wrote the following piece for Boing Boing. This week, war gamers in the Defense Department have devised an energy-based combat scenario and [...]
One the highlights of Maker Faire for me was meeting Massimo Banzi, the co-founder of the Arduino project. He's very friendly and we had a nice time talking about design. I also enjoyed meeting Luisa Castiglioni, his girlfriend. She's a writer for a number of design magazines, including Domus. (Here's an article she wrote for [...]
I'm in New York this week and today I dropped in on Boing Boing pal Joe Sabia. Joe's in the middle of directing a series of short musical thank you note videos for people who request them online. They're short and sweet, but I was surprised by how much there is going on behind the [...]
Scott Matthews shared a photograph with me, and I'm sharing it with all of you, with his permission. His daughter Sasha handed him this note yesterday. Sasha is a pretty special girl, in no small part because she's already been on Boing Boing once before. What, indeed, does it really mean? (thanks, Scott + Amy [...]
Homemade motorcycle improvised out of a Citroen 2CV in the middle of the desertWed, 23 May 2012 11:47:27 PDT
This badass chopper was (apparently) hand-built by Emile, a Frenchman whose Citroen car broke down in the middle of the northwestern African desert, and who built himself a motorcycle out of the parts, without any tools. Here's the Imgur gallery, and an accompanying Reddit thread. There's a Hack-A-Day has a rough translation from Chameaudacier's site: [...]
Today would have been the 78th birthday of electronic music pioneer Robert Moog (1934-2005.) Please celebrate with this clip of ELP's Keith Emerson playing the "Lucky Man" solo live on his monstrous Moog modular synthesizer. Playable Moog Google Doodle - Boing Boing Klaus Schulze, live Moog madness from 1977 - Boing Boing Nik Raicevic's "Head," [...]
Eugene Polley, inventor of the wireless TV remote control, has died. The former engineer for Zenith was 96. The first TV with the technology, called Flash-Matic tuning, hit stores in 1955. From the AP: The TV came with a green ray gun-shaped contraption with a red trigger. The advertising promised "TV miracles." The "flash tuner" [...]
Musician Amanda Palmer, whose Kickstarter project for an all-singing, all-dancing tour plus album plus art book plus videos extravaganza is heading for the $1,000,000 mark, explains where all the money is likely to go, and how much she'll make, and what she sees as the future of things. It's a really good look at the [...]
Denise Balkisoon, who did a great job covering the Byron Sonne trial writes, "If you're not tired of G20 hacker/accused bomber Byron Sonne yet, the details of his pre-trial are now no longer under publication ban. I'm doing two posts on Open File with details, this is the first. Includes the police statement as to [...]
[Video Link] My friend Andrea James sent me this video. She said, " I thought it was nicely shot, and I like the music!" I agree. The song is called "Ding Ding Dong," and it is by Waipod Phetsuphan (Thailad). It's on a compilation album called "The Sound of Siam: Leftfield Luk Thung, Jazz & [...]
A Redditor posts photos of a jar of American gods, hole-punched out of the US dollar bills that an atheist friend receives as tips in his job as a valet. My atheist friend has worked as a Valet for over a decade. He uses a hole-punch to take out the "god" on US dollars. Here [...]
Generally I think QR codes are a lame stopgap technology. But this application by the Korean retailer Emart is fairly clever. They deployed 3D "Shadow QR codes" that only work during certain sunlight hours, lunchtime specifically. I could imagine this kinda thing being a fun clue in an alternate reality game. "In Seoul, retailer uses [...]
Tiffiniy from Fight for the Future (standard-bearers in the fight against SOPA) sez, Congressional hero of the SOPA wars, Senator Wyden, said about cyber security legislation (CISPA and Lieberman-Collins) that is expected to be taken up and passed in early June: "I believe these bills will encourage the development of an industry that profits from [...]
Artist Bruce Lowell recreated Limor Fried's Adafruit workshop in Lego and submitted it to LEGO CUUSOO. I hope it gets the 10,000 votes needed for Lego to manufacture it as a set! Ladyada's workshop is a place where you explore all the cool things you build and use when you're an engineer! Computers, pick-and-place machine, [...]
TOM THE DANCING BUG: Super-Fun-Pak, featuring Pato Afortunado mit Heinrich Hund!Wed, 23 May 2012 08:45:11 PDT
Support Tom the Dancing Bug and receive untold BENEFITS and PRIVILEGES by joining the brand new INNER HIVE right now! "I signed up the second I read about it. It's a lot of fun. I enjoy hearing Ruben tell the story behind each of his comics. Good luck, Ruben!" -Mark Frauenfelder, INNER HIVE member since [...]
Historical novel tells the story of San Francisco's profit-sharing madam and the cops who betrayed herWed, 23 May 2012 08:41:02 PDT
Hank Chapot sez, "You've published two links to my research about the 1937 police corruption scandals in San Francisco, November and February, 'the long lost Atherton Report.' After all the research, I wrote a novel. 'Bordello Politique'. Its an e-book available in most formats on most sites. Dolly Fine was the first profit sharing madam, [...]
Jason K has reimagined a series of Studio Ghibli movie posters as covers of vintage Penguin paperbacks. He sells them as posters, postcards, and assorted other etsybits. Studio Ghibli 4x6" postcard set of nine (via Wil Wheaton)
AKMA Adam sez, "After three years of living in Glasgow, we couldn't miss the opportunity to return to Cozy Noodle in Evanston -- our favourite restaurant here, where we used to live. We love the food and service, but the thing that sets Cozy apart is its vertiginously happy-mutant decor. The dining room was busy [...]
In case the Epic Poop post has you reaching for a unicorn chaser, I bring you...unicorn poop. Specifically, DIY unicorn poop from Instructables user kristylynn84. The secret ingredient is love. And poop. And "sugar cookies, rainbow dragees, rainbow star sprinkles, white sparkle gel, and rainbow disco dust." Unicorn Poop!
A stapler with a USB hub in it? Why not? USB ALL THE OFFICE SUPPLIES. Usb hub auto Stapler (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)
Kusa makes flip flops with a footbed of faux grass. They seem like an imaginary product in the background at an invention fair on The Simpsons. KUSA Grass Flip Flops
The RedPower Minecraft project, which has built a programmable 8-bit computer for Minecraft, has done a new release. Engadget's Mat Smith sums up the new features: "The system is made from three separate cubes, representing the CPU, monitor and disk drive, respectively, all connected by ribbon cables. Part of pre-release 5 of the RedPower 2 [...]
A Reddit thread called "Did you ever think you were going to die from a shit?" sparked a lyrical/scatological series of reminisces of epic dumps, including a two part series by ErikPDX recalling a storied moment of colonic glory following a period of post-surgical bedrest during which he consumed enormous amounts of painkillers and protein [...]
The NY Daily News reports that Actor Michael McKean, of Spinal Tap fame, has been struck by a car on Manhattan today. NY Daily News: McKean, 64, who played Lenny on the hit television show (Laverne and Shirley,) was seen bleeding from the head after a car barreled into him at W. 86th St. and [...]
Bits & Pieces has a fun collection of "double take" photos. Each one caused a fun moment of "huh?" in my mind, until reality snapped into place.
Zimbabwean senator proposes ending AIDS crisis by mutilating women and preventing them from bathingTue, 22 May 2012 18:50:42 PDT
A Zimbabwean senator named Morgan Femai from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change has given a bizarre, misogynist speech at an African HIV/AIDS conference in which he proposes that his county's AIDS health emergency can be solved by mandating that women must be ugly and unbathed, and be subject to genital mutilation. He also gave [...]
A dad says: "My son has a long to do list today!"
A creative agency called Murmure is kitting out its employees with concrete business cards that come with their own miniature shipping palettes. There's a scene in a William Gibson novel (I could swear it was Idoru, but I can't find it) where a Hollywood studio exec passes out business-cards screened on wafer-thin slices of marble, [...]
