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Bad news: Facebook simultaneously became sentient and figured out that zombies are popular. Would you like to become a Fan of Facebook devouring your brains?

Via Josh Helfferich

AIDS sufferer Vinny, about whom Lisa recently wrote a feature here at BB, died this morning at 8:35 a.m. — Rob • Comments: 2

Sex, Lies, and fMRIs

Andrea James at 10:19 AM Thu

Andrea James is a Los Angeles-based writer and troublemaker.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is making its way into the public consciousness. The film Salt has an interrogation scene where a spy spills some secrets while a scientist looks at his brain scan. After a quick glance, the scientist casually says with absolute certainty, "He's telling the truth."

As with any new technology, there's a lot of potential for good, but there's also a lot of potential for pseudoscience and bad science. Remember those kooky Canadians who've used "fruit machines" and peter meters to catch people lying about being gay and what-not? Now they are moving north of the groin and firing up fMRIs. They're already making questionable claims and writing grant proposals based on what parts of the brain "light up" when people view certain stimuli. Lies, thoughtcrimes, and precrime (offense prevention) are all on the list of things they claim fMRI will divulge if taxpayers will just fund their research.

It's the same concept behind privately-held ventures like No Lie MRI in San Diego, which, for a cool $5,000, will administer a "truth-verification" session. Though this Orwellian evidence has so far been successfully deemed inadmissible in US courts under the Daubert Standard, people are still trying to use it. Reporter Mark Harris got tested to see if he is a liar and presented his troubling experiences in the most recent IEEE Spectrum.

MRI Lie Detectors [IEEE Spectrum]

Meet Desiré Dubounet: prolific gadget patenter and healing space medicine drag queen YouTube starlet

Xeni Jardin at 10:07 AM Thu

Robert Popper discovered this one, and suggests that it is very likely the new "Pardon Me." But oh, there's more. Desiré Dubounet is the nom de drag of a fellow named Bill Nelson, whose website proclaims Dubounet/Nelson to be:

The MAN Who created the term "Quantum medicine"
Who created the first "Quantum Consciousness Interface" known as QXCI
Who discovered the Xrroid process, Subspace and the Trivector field
(besides many other terms he does not know how to explain)
Who got the FDA register the first Quantum device in history called EPFX
(sorrily for him that the FDA already 19 years later found out that he misbranded it as "biofeedback" device, and now revoked the registration and declared an import ban ) Who brought Apollo 13 safely back from the moon (see details below)
Has jumped another Quantum Leap
He crossed over in female territory (also called forbidden zone in quantum theory)
And now calls himself
DESIRE

Video link, and Desiré's website is here.

There are many gems in Desiré's YouTube channel, not least of which is her "Sugar Coated Message To Media from Desire Dubounet." You really need to watch that one.

Man in hot tub calls 911 seeking cocoa

David Pescovitz at 9:56 AM Thu

A homeless man having a hot tub soak at a suburban Portland home allegedly called 911 requesting "a hug and a warm cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows in it." Police arrested him for criminal trespassing and unnecessarily calling 911. I really hope they brought him the cocoa though. From AP News:

Beaverton police say Mark Eskelsen called 911 from his cell phone, identified himself as "the sheriff of Washington County," and asked for medical help. He later admitted he wasn't the sheriff but informed the dispatcher he'd been "yelling for about an hour and a half."
The man said in his Sunday morning call that he'd been in the water about 10 hours and his towels had gotten wet.

"Homeless man calls 911 from hot tub, seeks cocoa" (Thanks, Carlo Longino!)

HMS Beagle: Awesome geeky science store in Kansas City

Mark Frauenfelder at 9:03 AM Thu

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Mat Mets of Make: Online visited a great science store in Kansas City called HMS Beagle.

While in town for the Kansas City Mini Maker Faire, we had the chance to visit the HMS Beagle, which is a gem of a science store located in nearby Parkville. Started by John and Carol Kuhns, they stock an impressive range of geeky equipment, from telescopes to model rockets, rock tumblers, and Arduinos. In addition, they also host science club meetings, star gazing parties, fossil digs, and other fun-sounding activities. If that isn't enough, they are also the home of Make: KC, an enthusiast group for Makers that meets in their shop on Tuesdays.

A visit to the HMS Beagle science store

Noir movie for free download: Two Dollar Bettor (1951)

Mark Frauenfelder at 8:43 AM Thu

I subscribed to the Internet Archive's RSS feed for noir films. This movie, called Two Dollar Bettor, looks good!

Bank controller John Hewitt is a much-respected member of the community. One afternoon he is persuaded to make a small two-dollar bet at the racetrack and collects a couple of hundred dollars when his horse wins. Such a return-on-investment intrigues him and he begins to frequent the track and making larger bets. After a short period of winning, he hits a losing streak and his savings are soon wiped out. He then starts to take money from the bank and is soon thousands of stolen-dollars behind. Mary Slate, secretary of his bookmaker, advises him that the bookmaker has a sure thing, and if he will liberate $20,000 or so from the bank, he can get in on it and solve all his problems.

If you've seen and would like to review it in the comments, please do! Two Dollar Bettor (1951)

Short documentaries about people who work with monkeys and apes

Mark Frauenfelder at 7:42 AM Thu

Manjaro makes short documentaries about people around the world who work with monkeys and apes. You can watch them on Vimeo. The series is entitled Monkey Business. (Via Arbroath)

Tombstone stuffed with drugs

Mark Frauenfelder at 7:36 AM Thu

This tombstone was shipped from Jamaica to Cincinnati, where US Customs and Border Protection at the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport discovered it was filled with 50 pounds of marijuana.

Officers questioned last week why someone would ship a tombstone from Kingston, Jamaica, to London. An X-ray machine revealed packages of the drug in a metal box, wrapped in metal mesh and hidden inside the hollowed-out concrete marker.
The stone bears the name of 35-year-old Delroy Senior. Part of its inscription reads, "your place no one can fill."

Tombstone stuffed with drugs (via Arbroath)

Steampunk lighting

Cory Doctorow at 6:51 AM Thu

Designer Art Donovan has a lovely line of handmade steampunk lighting that he sells direct (inquire within, as they say). No idea how they're priced, but they sure are purdy.

Donovan Design (Thanks, Art, via Submitterator!)

Copyfighting banjo-picker Patrick Costello has a new book of free/open banjo tunes: Songs for Sunday: "In this book you will find a selection of hymns, country gospel and even some blues songs arranged for frailing banjo. The arrangements presented here blend melody and rhythm so that you can sing along with the banjo and still be able to knock out a solo once in a while. The accompanying DVD contains video workshops where I walk you through each song." (Thanks, Patrick, via Submitterator!) — Cory • Comments: 4

Debate with Nina Paley about noncommercial licenses

Cory Doctorow at 11:16 PM Wed

Recently, Nina "Sita Sings the Blues" Paley and I conducted a protected email exchange debating the merits of the Creative Commons "noncommerical" licenses (like those used on my novels and here at Boing Boing). It was an instructive and sometimes productive debate, and Nina's edited the thread and posted it.

Here's my perspective: the purpose of any cultural policy or regulation should be to encourage a diversity of both participation and works (that is: more people making art, and more kinds of art being made).
ISTM that your assertion amounts to: "Whatever forms of participation that come into existence as a result of the capitalization opportunities that accrue in an exclusive rights regime, they are dwarfed by the works that lurk in potentia should such a regime perish."
IOW: we unequivocally get *some* participation in culture as a result of exclusive rights regimes, some of which would not exist except for exclusive rights. You believe that if this regime and the works that depend on it was to vanish, the new works that would come into existence as a result would offset the losses.
I don't know how either assertion could be tested. We both have firsthand experience of both modes of creativity -- I know of works that wouldn't have been capitalized absent the higher returns expected in the presence of exclusive rights; I also know of works that could only have been made in their absence.

Paley & Doctorow argue over Non-Commercial licenses

Why natural history museum collections rock!

David Ng at 8:36 PM Wed

David Ng (Twitter) is a science literacy academic based at the Michael Smith Laboratories at the University of British Columbia. He is currently on sabbatical at London’s Natural History Museum, and encourages you to check out the PHYLO project.

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Photo: Tom Goskar. Used with permission.

So far, it's been a very interesting experience in the month and a bit into my sabbatical at London's Natural History Museum. First off, there was that element of giddiness: coming back to an iconic institution that takes me back to my time as a kid in awe of dinosaurs, blue whales and all the sparkly stuff in the mineral exhibits. Next came, a weird sort of pride - like as if being in the museum's great hall, looking up at the beautiful ceiling, and standing in between a Diplodoccus skeleton and a statue of Darwin, made me feel privileged to be a scientist. I felt as if I was in the best-club-ever: one that carried on the work of so many pioneers whose efforts are housed in this museum. But then a strange feeling of discomfort settled in. This was because the science that goes on here, by and large, is quite foreign to the medically genetic driven projects of my own background. In other words, the bench tops here do not always require pipettemans and overpriced electronics. However, after having had the privilege of meeting some lovely people at the museum and viewing a few of these collections, I've come to really appreciate the importance of biological curation.

1. The collections serve as the physical and open portal to specimens needed for biodiversity research.

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Chic apartments for London birds

David Ng at 8:29 PM Wed

David Ng (Twitter) is a science literacy academic based at the Michael Smith Laboratories at the University of British Columbia. He is currently on sabbatical at London’s Natural History Museum, and encourages you to check out the PHYLO project.

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Take a look at this art project entitled, "Spontaneous City in the Tree of Heaven"

In the sought-after London boroughs of Chelsea and Islington, inner city birds often have to claim their nesting space quickly! However, birds that are open to changing their wild ways might be convinced to try out the innovative bird-housing concept developed by the artists at London Fieldworks. The "Spontaneous City in the Tree of Heaven" opened recently as part of the Secret Garden Project by UP Projectsand hopes to develop into a haven of biodiversity and create a new public awareness of the ecological and cultural value of urban green spaces. (via Inhabitat)

These look very pretty, although I am curious as to how they fare when the tree moves or when it grows.

As an added layer of biodiversity speak, there's a bit of irony in the title of the project. Turns out the "Tree of Heaven" or Ailanthus altissima is actually a tree species of much botanical interest in London, and elsewhere in England generally. Essentially, a lot of folks are quite concerned that this ornamental turn invasive species is poised to rocket in numbers. It's one of the fastest growing trees around, it's allelopathic (meaning it produces a chemical that inhibits the growth or other plants), and its seed production capabilities are almost unmatched. In fact, the female tree is capable of producing upwards of 30,000 seeds per kilogram of tree! That would be akin to a small tree as heavy as me (at about 160 pounds), being able to produce 2.2 million seeds!

Why is this tree a particular interest these days? Well, over the years, climate has been steadily getting warmer and sunnier in England, and given that the Tree of Heaven is shade-intolerant, the extra sunlight is possibly giving the opportunistic tree the small push needed to expand greatly in numbers.

Anyway, perhaps this means more places for the birds to live?

Merry Cemetery celebrates the dead with gaily painted grave-markers

Cory Doctorow at 5:05 PM Wed

Michael sez, "The Merry Cemetery is a cemetery in north-east Romania (the Moldovan region). I visited it with my wife and parents-in-law this summer. nstead of a sombre and sad approach to death the Merry Cemetery celebrates life with colourful painted oak 'headstones' engraved with a picture and story of the life of the deceased."

The Merry Cemetery (Thanks, Michael!)

Undergrads at the University of Colorado sent a NASA satellite to its fiery demise on August 30th. But don't worry. They are not in trouble. In fact, they were specifically tasked with the job of decommissioning the satellite—figuring out where and when to send it screaming through Earth's atmosphere so as to ensure that any leftover bits land someplace where they won't do much damage—as part of a class. An incredibly awesome class. — Maggie • Comments: 5

Videos that prove the elites are really reptilian humanoids

Mark Frauenfelder at 4:51 PM Wed

I'm with my friend and senior editor of bOING bOING (the zine) Gareth Branwyn and he is showing me funny videos posted by people who think the world is ruled by reptilian humanoid shapeshifters (basically, the nonsense that David Icke perpetuates). The videos show politicians and other powerful people's tongue flicks, hisses, strange head tilting, and membrane eyelids that move sideways. Commentary from video above:

'HISSSING' at 1:35...HEAD TILT at 1:38...how many times have you seen a human tilt their head like a freakin animal?...look at her nose...it flatens an the nostrils are larger and farther apart...near complete morph...
Notice everyone, body language? She points to her face. The middle man tries to cover it up.... His voice tone gives it away. The Reptile even gives a Freudian Slip.... "the whole thing feeds on itself."...and are those the twin towers in the background?...more subliminal reptilan sh*t

Reptilian shapeshifter videos on YouTube

Ford Levacar model from 1961

Mark Frauenfelder at 4:31 PM Wed

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Over at Make: Online Gareth Branwyn writes about the latest issue of Model Cars Magazine.

I've never been a "car guy," but it was really fun to go through the issue (from January 2010) and see what the car model kit industry and hobby are up to these days. As in other areas of modeling, specialty kits are big, vintage kit comebacks, impressive scratch building, and stunning levels of finishing and detailing of kits, are all in evidence.
In this issue, one of the articles I got the biggest kick out of was on the AMT Ford Levacar kit, a promo kit version of the late 1950s Ford concept car that was straight out of The Jetsons. The Levacar kit even levitated! It had plastic tubes that you blew into to raise the car. The model, packaging, everything is to die for. Here's the page about the Levacar kit from Fantastic Plastic.

Model Cars Magazine

Mongoliad is live: Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear and friends create participatory, epic fantasy for the web

Cory Doctorow at 4:13 PM Wed

The Mongoliad is live! This is the collaborative, participatory shared-world project from Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, and pals. It's an epic fantasy novel about the Mongol conquest, told in installment form, with lots of supplementary material (video, stills, short fiction, etc), and a strong audience participation component in the form of a Wikipedia-style concordance, fanfic, etc. You can read the free samples without registration, but you need an account to edit the "Pedia."

For $5.99 you get a six-month subscription to the main body of fiction; $9.99 gets you a year (you retain access to the fiction after your subscription expires, but don't get any new material until you renew, which is a major plus in my view -- much fairer than most online "subscriptions" that lock you out once you let your sub lapse).

The first (paid) chapter went up yesterday, and I've just read it. The word here is epic, a swashbuckling swordplay novel with the sweep, charm and verve of the major Stephenson epics, such as System of the World. A very strong start and well worth the price of admission. This is a great experiment in new fiction business-models that welcome audience participation and work in a way that is native to the net.

These men were likely knights of the Shield Brethren--the ones she had been instructed to find. If there was anything to their reputation, they would have responded within days to the Khan's unlikely invitation. The Shield Brethren were scattered all about, but their closest branch was in Petraathen, an ancient crag-fort in the mountains south of Kraków, just a few days journey from here. Their instinct--the reverse of the Mongols--was to camp in the woods, and their scouts had spied this old monastery, long since abandoned. To her, it had the look of a converted pagan temple--perhaps Mithraic. Long ago, many of her people had been Mithraic. Now, it was an impromptu chapter house, a sanctuary where they could wait and train, while they reconnoitered the territory around the blood-soaked battlefield of Legnica and the great, stinking tent city that Onghwe had built there.
A horseman emerged from behind the graveyard wall riding a big blue roan stallion. Cnán flinched at the sight of a Mongol-style bow, striped and jointed like the leg of an insect, held out in the man's hands. But this was no Mongol: his hair was brown, long and full, and below his sharp nose drooped a luxuriant moustache. He pivoted his mount and galloped along the curve of outbuildings, then pivoted again and rode back and forth through the grass. His apparently aimless movements made no sense until she understood that he was practicing archery. When his eye fell on something that looked like it might serve as a target, he loosed an arrow from the bow, sometimes galloping past, sometimes away, or jerking his horse up short and shooting from a standstill.
She did not know these knights other than by reputation, but she saw the rider as one who had suffered under the power of the Mongols and had learned from them, adopting and adapting their weapons.

The Mongoliad

United Airlines and Dulles security treat Pakistani military officers as terrorists

Cory Doctorow at 4:01 PM Wed

United Airlines threw nine high-ranking Pakistani military officers off a Washington-Tampa flight on Sunday and turned them over to Dulles security, who detained and grilled the men. The officers were on a junket in the USA, and had been travelling extensively; one of them said words to the effect of, "I hope this is my last flight." This was interpreted as a terrorist threat by a flight attendant. Dulles security did not let the men contact their embassy or the US military officials who were hosting them.

The Pakistanis were finally released after police at Dulles determined they did not pose a threat. But instead of proceeding to Tampa, the delegation was ordered to return to Pakistan by their military superiors in Islamabad, in protest of their treatment, the Pakistani official said, adding that they were "verbally abused." The group of officers spent the next 48 hours in Washington, waiting for the next available flight home, and were scheduled to depart the United States on Tuesday evening.
The Pakistani officers were originally en route to U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa to attend the annual conference of the U.S.-Pakistan Military Consultative Committee, said Maj. David Nevers, a Central Command spokesman. He said Centcom officials hoped to reschedule the conference.

Pakistani officials leaving in protest (via Consumerist)

News stories about stupid young people make old people feel good

Cory Doctorow at 3:55 PM Wed

Dr. Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick (Ohio State) and Matthias Hastall, (Zeppelin University, Germany) have published an article in the Journal of Communication with their research showing that old people love to read stories about young people doing stupid things because it makes them feel better about being old. The study was conducted using 178 German adults aged 18 to 30 and 98 between 55 and 60. I have no idea if this is a valid statistical sample, but since it confirms my own feelings about old people, I will trust its results.

All the adults in the study were shown what they were led to believe was a test version of a new online news magazine. They were also given a limited time to look over either a negative and positive version of 10 pre-selected articles.
Each story was also paired with a photograph depicting someone of either the younger or the older age group.
The researchers found that older people were more likely to choose to read negative articles about those younger than themselves. They also tended to show less interest in articles about older people, whether negative or positive.
But younger people preferred to read positive articles about other young people.

Older people enjoy reading negative stories about young (via /.)

Mainstream press throws Wikileaks under a bus in journalist shield debate

Cory Doctorow at 3:49 PM Wed

A new proposed federal journalist shield law is under debate in the USA, which sounds like a great idea, except that the traditional press have agreed to amendments that would exempt Wikileaks from any protection for its confidential sources, on the grounds that Wikileaks isn't journalism (ORLY?).

More generally, Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee, criticized WikiLeaks as "not journalism."
"It's data dissemination, and that worries me," she told Time magazine. "Journalists will go through a period of consultation before publishing sensitive material. WikiLeaks says it does the same thing. But traditional publishers can be held accountable. Aside from Julian Assange, no one knows who these people are."

Wait, what? You don't want to give confidential source protection to Wikileaks because Wikileaks has confidential sources? [Boggle].

Trying to exclude WikiLeaks from shield law stinks (via /.)

IO9's Annalee Newitz has posted a great syllabus and book list for novice students of science fiction literature, filled with good suggestions for getting started in the field. — Cory • Comments: 10

Mechanical wall-hung clockwork sculptures

Cory Doctorow at 3:42 PM Wed

Here's more wonderful stuff from Brett Dickins, AKA MechanicalSculptor, who makes wall-hung mechanical clockworks that explode/disintegrate/transform and reform. I'm absolutely besotted by the self-sawing piece around 1:55.

Kinetic Wall Sculptures - Dizzy

Woody Guthrie pencils

Cory Doctorow at 3:24 PM Wed

These Woody Guthrie-themed pencils are emblazoned "This Machine Kills Fascists," the motto Guthrie famously inscribed upon his guitar. Not sure how they compare to Blackwings, though!

These machines kill fascists (Thanks, Sara the Teacher!)

Gardener fighting village busybodies for the right to grow tomatoes in her front garden

Cory Doctorow at 3:15 PM Wed

Dora Lyakhovetsky, a gardner from Northbrook, IL, is fighting her village Board of Trustees for the right to keep tomatoes and flowers in her front yard instead of turf. The local code prohibits growing anything but grass out front, even though Lyakhovetsky's back yard is overshadowed by big trees and can't be used to grow anything.

Lyakhovetsky showed up at the Board meeting with a basket of tomatoes for her neighbors and asked them to reconsider.

"This isn't a garden dispute -- this is a neighborhood dispute," said Goodman, who had circulated a petition in the neighborhood trying to drum up support for Lyakhovetsky's front yard garden on the 2700 block of Shannon Drive.
Somewhat of a community activist, Goodman told the board his petitioning job had never been so easy. The two people who objected most strenuously to Lyakhovetsky's garden, he said, did so because they did not like her.
Had someone else planted the garden, perhaps they would not have minded its prominent placement, he said.
"I know you think you can solve this by writing a new law," Goodman said.
But he said that wouldn't work because people would just find something else to complain about. Plus, he said, residents clearly don't want the village to do so.

Northbrook front-yard gardener brings some of her crop to Village Board (Thanks, JArmstrong via Submitterator)

(Image: Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune)

Golf company has Ping trademark, domain (UPDATED: There's a deal)

Rob Beschizza at 1:59 PM Wed

Apple's name for its new social network, Ping, is interestingly generic. With a long association to the sport of table tennis and a computer networking utility whose function resembles it, it carries a natural association with communication, responsiveness, and so on. But like many generic terms, if you do a search for "Ping" at the trademark office's website, you'll find many, many entries. Most recent filings are from Karsten Manufacturing Corporation, which makes golf gear. Interestingly many of its filings go beyond the sticks to include computer and internet-related stuff.

This mark, for example, is for goods and services concerning "Communications software for electronically exchanging data." Though filed on April 7, 2010, it's already been abandoned. Most of the "Ping" trademark filings from Karsten, however, remain live.

Ping.com is a well-manicured corporate site that touts the corporate twitter account. It even has an iPhone app.

Then there's Ping.fm, a bona-fide social networking tool even closer to Apple's new thing. Owner Seesmic.com don't seem to have filed for any related trademarks.

Here's some of Karsten's trademark filings for Ping:
85003420 Wireless communication devices for voice, data or image transmission.
85010415 Computer software, namely, file sharing software; communications software for electronically exchanging data, and graphics accessible via a computer network, etc.
85009569 Computer services, namely, providing search platforms to allow users to request content from and receive content to a mobile device or a computer; Providing user-defined generated content, etc.
85014001 Entertainment and educational services ... Providing an internet website for dissemination of historical information and current news relating to golf etc.
85003420 Broadcasting of video and audio programming over the Internet ... Electronic mail; Providing on-line communications links which transfer the web site user to other local and global web pages .. Providing an on-line forum relating to the subject of sports; Consumer telecommunication services, namely, communications services for electronically exchanging data and graphics via telecommunication networks, including mobile and wireless networks.

UPDATE: There's a deal between the two companies. Press release follows after the jump! Thanks, Kristopher!

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Hands-on with new Apple TV and iPods; and notes on Ping, the iTunes social network

Rob Beschizza at 12:28 PM Wed

Apple showed off the latest editions of its iPod lineup and the Apple TV earlier today. The new iPod Nano loses the physical controls and adopts a multitouch display. The iPod Shuffle, however, gets them back.

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Gunman at Discovery Channel headquarters

Maggie Koerth-Baker at 11:29 AM Wed

A gunman has taken at least one hostage at Discovery Communications headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland.

There's no official police statements about who the gunman is or what he wants, but there's a list of demands circulating on Twitter—said to be the gunman's manifesto. (Edit: The original site is now down, I'm linking to a version one of our readers saved.) I'm not sure what the original source of this list is, yet, but I'll let you know if/when I find out. The demands are centered around a proposed new programming lineup for The Discovery Channel, pushing Malthusian ideas on population and Daniel Quinn's "My Ishmael" pages 207-212. Seriously. This would be almost funny if it weren't for the whole hostage thing.

The Discovery Communications building is being evacuated. Here's hoping everybody makes it out safely.

UPDATE: According to DCist, the list of demands apparently dates to 2008, and is linked to James Jay Lee, a man arrested that same year for disorderly conduct while protesting at the Discovery Communications building. No one has any idea who the gunman is at this point, so it's unknown whether this is the same guy. WUSA9 TV in Washington D.C. first tweeted the old demands as being linked to the current gunman, but it's unclear how they came to that conclusion.

For now, let's assume they aren't linked. It's worth noting that Discovery Networks have received a lot of threats recently because of Animal Planet's Whale Wars show, which follows the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as it attempts to deter Japanese whaling ships.

UPDATE #2: Law enforcement officials are now saying that they believe the gunman is that 2008 protester, James Jay Lee.

UPDATE #3: Police have shot and killed Lee and freed the hostages.

Image of gunman taken by a colleague of Discovery employee Jason Divenere That colleague is now safely out of the building.

There are eight million stories of chemistry laboratory disasters. They all end in explosions. (Except for the ones that end in accidentally making mustard gas.) You might think of this Reddit open thread as a public service—one read-through and you will never forget to wear safety goggles ever again. — Maggie • Comments: 9

Cyclops turtle

David Pescovitz at 11:00 AM Wed

This cyclops turtle sure is a cute critter. (Thanks, Kirsten Anderson!)

It's "Ask a Museum Curator" Day on Twitter

Maggie Koerth-Baker at 10:12 AM Wed

It's Ask a Museum Curator Day, and museums all over the world are answering your questions on Twitter. Here in the United States, you can query curators of everything from various Smithsonian museums of science, history and culture in D.C., to the Art Institute of Chicago. It's a great way to learn about museum collections from the people who know them best, as well as ask a few burning questions you've just been waiting for an expert to answer.

Sadly, the #askacurator hashtag is full of spammy things that are making it mostly useless, so I'd recommend picking a specific institution and checking out it's Twitter feed. Some of the fun things I've learned today:

Renaissance Italy was the birthplace of the mazzocchio, a torus-shaped hat which is one of the Museum of Math's favorite bits of math-based fashion.

Stamps are occasionally issued jointly by two different countries—usually to commemorate some historical event or achievement that suits political purposes. The Smithsonian Postal Museum has, as an example, a stamp issued by the U.S. and Canada to mark the anniversary of the St. Lawrence Seaway.

According to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, Hadrosaurus Foulkii were the common dinosaur species of New Jersey. Today, they're famous for being the first dinosaur to have its skeleton mounted for display.

Meanwhile, Kansas City's Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art correctly calls out the statue of Guanyin of the Southern Sea as a high point in their collection—but sadly fails to mention that the statue is part of an entire temple, taken apart piece by piece and reconstructed at the Nelson. They've got several rooms like that, all of which I loved as a kid.

Apple event, September 1: The Boing Boing Liveblog

Xeni Jardin at 10:00 AM Wed

Xeni's in San Francisco for Apple's press event today. Watch this space for live commentary from the event, and tune in to the live streaming broadcast from Yerba Buena at apple.com (the short version: to watch the HTTP Live Streaming, you gotta have a Mac/iPhone/ipod/iPad. But following Boing Boing? Pick any OS and hardware you like.)

Liveblog archive after the jump.

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Controversy around "temporary marriages" in Iran

David Pescovitz at 9:58 AM Wed

Controversy continues in Iran around legally-recognized Shi'ite marriage arrangements that permit a man and woman to marry for as little as one hour. As recently as last week, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad brought a law regulating such temporary marriages to the parliament where some of it was ultimately rejected. Human rights and women's groups have opposed parts of the regulation that, according to Haaretz Daily Newspaper, is "intended to help men and make it possible for them to marry another woman without the permission of their first wife, the tax that would be imposed on the dowry the woman would receive, and the registration of temporary marriages." From Haaretz:

The (temporary marriage) arrangement (has even been) significantly promoted as "a means to help women who have difficulty getting married for various reasons," as the former president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, explained. The various reasons can include the fact that a woman is divorced, that she is unable to give birth, or that she has committed some transgression that makes it difficult for her to find a husband.
For some of the women who are forced to get married under an arrangement of this kind, as well as for young couples that are not officially married but require legal coverage to spend time together, this is the only arrangement that exists.
It is also convenient for thousands of students who go to the holy cities of Iran and want to have "legal" sex during their studies and before getting "actually" married.

"Iran's women defeat Ahmadinejad's 'legal prostitution' bill" (Thanks, Mark Pescovitz!)

Third largest gold nugget in the world discovered in Australia

Mark Frauenfelder at 9:35 AM Wed

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Journalist Jeroen van Bergeijk, who profiled me for a Dutch magazine a few years ago, has been keeping me up to date on his new life to Australia. His wife is taking a winemaking class there, and to pass the time, Jeroen has been prospecting for gold. He told me, "after weeks of metal detecting, I only found about 2 grams of gold, but hey, it's a start."

Another local gold prospector has gotten a bit more lucky. Says Jeroen:

A Perth-based goldbuyer bought and sold the worlds third largest nugget here recently. These things are EXTREMELY rare. This thing weighed 23 kg (gold value alone around 860.000 US dollars). There's only two in the world that are heavier. This particular nugget was sold privately to an undisclosed buyer in the US within 24 hrs.
The nugget had been found a couple of weeks ago with a metal detector somewhere in the goldfields around here. Through various tests it had been established that the thing has a 92% purity.

Jeroen put the full story on his website: The third largest gold nugget in the world

Tom the Dancing Bug: True Tales of False Romance

Rob Beschizza at 9:24 AM Wed

Read the rest

Make your own ginger ale

Mark Frauenfelder at 9:23 AM Wed

Over on credit.com, I wrote an article about making ginger ale (from a recipe that Orli Cotel told me about). Here's an excerpt:

Because I was unsure about the amount of fizziness the ginger ale would have, I put the bottle in the sink before uncorking it. With one hand over the top of the bottle to serve as a splash guard, I lifted the lever. A powerful jet of frothy ginger ale whooshed from the bottle, rebounding off my hand and splashing forcefully into the sink. The hissing fountain lasted for several seconds. The atomized beverage, strong with the essence of ginger, stung my eyes and my lungs. When the eruption subsided there was just a few ounces of liquid remaining in the bottle. I poured it into a glass and took a sip. There was no sweetness, and curiously, not much of a ginger taste either. I asked my wife to sip it and she almost gagged. She said it had an intolerable sulfur smell and taste. I hadn't noticed it but when I tasted it again I could sort of convince myself that there was a sulfurous tang.
I figured I'd used too much yeast, so for the next batch I used just an 1/8 of a teaspoon for one half gallon of ginger ale. I also used plastic screw top bottles instead of the lemonade bottle. I used a cup of sugar and about one-and-a-half times as much ginger as before.

UPDATE: Mark C posted what looks like a really good and safer ginger ale recipe.

Save Money and Have Fun Making Ginger Ale at Home

Boing Boing/Imaginary Foundation/Marshall McLuhan t-shirt

David Pescovitz at 9:16 AM Wed

Themessage Mblk Flat Images Themessage Back Text Cu Images Flock Cu
I'm pleased to announce another co-designed t-shirt from Imaginary Foundation and Boing Boing! We hope you dig it! This design is a play on media theorist Marshall McLuhan's most famous soundbite, "The medium is the message." It's available in small-XXL. The front of the t-shirt is printed with a flock process, giving the blue text a lush texture. The back (above left) is a super soft "discharge" print with the BB and IF logos and the following text:

"Societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media with which men communicate than by the content of the communication." –Marshall McLuhan, 1969
This design is a celebration of the t-shirt as a medium. We are all media, so we may as well get good at it.

Boing Boing/Imaginary Foundation t-shirt: The Message

Chewbacca, Han Solo and R2D2 drawn as if part of A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh

David Ng at 8:00 AM Wed

David Ng (Twitter) is a science literacy academic based at the Michael Smith Laboratories at the University of British Columbia. He is currently on sabbatical at London’s Natural History Museum, and encourages you to check out the PHYLO project.

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Illustrations by James Hance, used with permission.

I'm surprised I didn't catch this earlier, but James Hance has recently released a series of lovely images. Here, he re-imagines Han Solo as Christopher Robin, Chewbacca as Pooh Bear, R2D2 as Piglet, and even (this is cool) an AT-AT as Eeyore.

Definitely go to his Cartoon page to see the images in their full glory. Also this just in - James writes:

The first Wookiee the Chew book gets published today (September 1st) and will be available from either my website or comic stores in Jacksonville. My main hub is at Cafe 331, downtown Jacksonville. I'm there every Saturday with prints, paintings and books.

Link

10 Years Ago: The Wally Wood Letters

Mark Frauenfelder at 7:14 AM Wed

From Boing Boing 10 years ago: In the late 1970s John Hitchock started up a mail correspondence with Wally Wood, inarguably one of the world's most gifted comic book artists. For a variety of reasons, Wood had fallen on hard times, but he was a generous man and wrote 18 replies to Hitchock's letters.

"So my advice is, don't be a creator. It's much more fun, and much more rewarding to be a defacer with a title . . . "Creative Director" or "Assistant Associate Editorial Consultant". If you're a creator, you'll find yourself at the mercy of a kid fresh from writing dirty words on walls, who will take work you have spent hours on and write the singularly revealing message "Kill This" across it in bold strokes of his big blue pencil."

The Wally Wood Letters

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