Boing Boing

Techdirt post about SOPA censored from Google results due to bogus DMCA complain

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:56:51 PST

James from New America Foundation sez, "Mike Masnick has done an incredible job covering copyright issues and the SOPA debates at Techdirt but today he had a troubling post: an important post on who SOPA/PIPA are misguided has been removed from Google over a DCMA request. Mike writes:"

We've talked a lot about how copyright law and the DMCA can be abused to take down legitimate, non-infringing content, interfering with one's free speech rights. And we're always brushed off by copyright maximalists, who insist that any complaints about taking down legitimate speech are overblown.
So isn't it interesting that we've just discovered that our own key anti-SOPA blog post and discussion... have been blocked thanks to a bogus DMCA takedown?

Key Techdirt SOPA/PIPA Post Censored By Bogus DMCA Takedown Notice (Thanks, James!)

Bolivian riot cops gas, beat wheelchair protesters

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:24:10 PST

A group of protesters in wheelchairs who gathered in La Paz to demand legal recognition of disability along with monetary benefits were met by a line of riot cops with shields and batons and gas. The photos of the ensuing violence are shocking. The demonstrators had been on the road since Nov 15, and they reached the capital on Feb 19.

Disabled Protesters Vs. Riot Police

(Image: Reuters/DAVID MERCADO)

Maggie speaking at public events in Minneapolis and online

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 13:50:51 PST

This is, to say the least, a busy week. There's several events happening that I'm involved in. They're all related to my upcoming book on the future of energy, and they're all open to the public. I wanted to take a quick moment to tell you about them, because I'd love for you all to make it if you can.

Wednesday, Feb 29, noon central: I'll be speaking at a lunchtime event on the University of Minnesota's St. Paul Campus. My presentation, "Putting the Fun Back in Infrastructure", is all about how our current electric system works, where it came from, and what we can do to fix it. The speech will be recorded. If you can't make it, you can watch it online.

Wednesday, Feb 29, 2:00 pm central/3:00 eastern: PBS FRONTLINE has a new documentary airing Tuesday about what happened during the early stages of the Fukushima nuclear crisis. It includes interviews with plant workers, local residents, and the government and corporate honchos who were supposed to be in charge. On Wednesday afternoon, I'll be moderating an online Q&A with Dan Edge, the documentary's producer, who spent a great deal of time inside the exclusion zone around Fukushima Daiichi. This will be a live chat, open to anyone, and you can ask Edge questions about his experience. I'll post the chat box here on BoingBoing shortly before the Q&A starts.

Thursday, March 1, 7:00 pm central: Come to Huge Theater in Minneapolis to watch me and a troupe of actors attempt to combine serious policy discussions with live comedy. I'm the featured guest at The Theater of Public Policy. It's a great show. During the first half, the host will interview me about energy infrastructure and what we can (and can't) do to build more sustainable energy systems. Then, after intermission, actors from Huge Theater will create some of their awesome, long-form improv comedy based on what they learned from me.

HOWTO make shark jaws out of paper plates

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 13:19:26 PST

From last August, here's Jeanette Strole Parks on Dollar Store Crafts outlining a method for turning a paper plate into a set of shark jaws:

1. Fold your paper plate in half "backwards" (with the bottom of the plate facing you, and the folded edges coming toward you).
2. Using small scissors trim away the outer edges of the plate in a sweeping arched "M" design on the top half and bottom half, which should leave it looking like the hinges on the jaw, and the "m" shaped bottom & top of the mouth. Look at pictures on Google of real shark jaws to get inspiration, if the craft-samples in the photos don't help you visualize the outline.
3. Cut out a large oval from the middle, and then work from that center to cut out free-form teeth that follow the inside arc of the paper plate on the top and bottom. I just snipped away happily. Shark teeth are often quite irregular and jagged and not always parallel.

PAPER PLATE SHARK JAWS

Download the Universe: Reviews of science e-books and apps

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 13:12:56 PST

I'm really happy to be a part of Download the Universe, a new group blog dedicated to reviewing science e-books and apps. No dead trees allowed. It fills a long-ignored niche, helping readers find high-quality science writing in the digital realm, and my partners in this little side project are all top-notch. Download the Universe will feature reviews written by best-selling authors like Sean Carroll and Deborah Blum, new media gods like i09's Annalee Newitz and Not Exactly Rocket Science's Ed Yong, and some of the best science journalists at work today.

The whole thing was organized by Carl Zimmer, who also wrote the most recent review on the site—all about Controlling Cancer: A Powerful Plan for Taking On the World's Most Daunting Disease, by Paul Ewald.

Ewald's basic thesis: What if cancer is really a virus? We know that viruses do cause some cancers. For instance, most cervical cancer is pretty definitively caused by the human papillomavirus. But Ewald theorizes that this virus-cancer connection could be a lot further reaching than we now think—and it could have profound impacts on how we treat and prevent cancer in the future. The document is published by TED Books, and Zimmer says it bears the pretty obvious imprint of the TED brand—really provocative ideas that may or may not be correct, but are definitely fascinating.

[Ewald] has long been an advocate for putting medicine on a solid foundation of evolutionary biology. In the 1990s, for example, he came to fame for his ideas about domesticating infectious diseases. The deadliness of a parasite can evolve, and in some situations, it may pay for parasites to be milder instead of meaner. He went on to argue that many supposed chronic diseases--from heart disease to schizophrenia--are triggered by pathogens. Ewald's work has been mostly theoretical--extrapolating from what we know about evolution in general to diseases in particular. His ideas are tough to test, if only because our bodies are so complex. But they have certainly been influential, as scientists have developed better tools for detecting microbes in our bodies and probe their effects on us.

Controlling Cancer is a quick read, without any photographs, videos, or other ornaments found on other ebooks. It does include footnotes, where Ewald back up most of his points. The citations are a good thing, but sometimes it's hard to tell when Ewald citing well-established cases of pathogens causing cancer and when he's only pointing to suggestive hints. The scientific literature is loaded with papers in which researchers describe tumors brimming with viruses. These associations could be evidence of viruses triggering cancer, or they could be evidence that tumors are good places for viruses to breed.

Read Carl Zimmer's full review of Controlling Cancer

Check out Download the Universe for more science e-book reviews

Blackboard anatomy art and the International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge

David Pescovitz — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:56:51 PST

This is a 2006 winner in the International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the journal Science. The Challenge always showcases mind-blowing work, but I just love this one -- A DaVinci Blackboard Lesson in Multi-Conceptual Anatomy -- because it's so, er, analog. As explained on the NSF site, "Biology teacher Caryn Babaian of Bucks County Community College in Newtown, Pa., used the iconic Leonardo da Vinci Vitruvian Man to illustrate rotation, transparency and transverse section in her anatomy class. Babaian requires her students to draw the image in their notebooks as they watch it take shape on the blackboard." The 2012 competition opens on May 31 and you can learn more here. Smithsonian has a nice gallery of the 2011 winners that they erroneously refer to as from "this year."

Video: The Pinky Show, "The Desert is Quiet"

Xeni Jardin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:56:07 PST

[Video Link] Hard to explain this web series, and this particular episode. Cats. Philosophy. Emptiness. Best to just watch. (via Andrea James)

ICYMI: a robust BB comment thread on Foxconn, labor standards, and Pogue's recent column

Xeni Jardin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:22:49 PST

On Friday, I threw together a quick blog post about a recent David Pogue column on Foxconn, and responses to that column by others around the web. The resulting Boing Boing discussion thread was full of thoughtful, interesting stuff, and (for the most part!) surprisingly non-inflammatory. Give it a read. I've also updated the post to include a few relevant links I neglected to include, like this related ABC Nightline TV episode, and another Pogue column on the hidden cost of cheap gadgets.

Lego Russian ray-gun

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:17:41 PST

Avi sez, "AFOL Shannon Sproule built this charming Raygun entirely from LEGO parts." Shannon calls it the Russian Tokarev TT-34 Atomiser and notes, "Every mechanonaut was issued with a Tokarev laser pistol. They were small, lightweight and proved very reliable on the lunar battlefield." As this implies, there's a whole contrafactual mythology that this belongs to, called Battle for the Moon.

Russian Tokarev TT-34 Atomiser (Thanks, Avi!)

The Badgerman: Theremin vs. badger taxidermy

David Pescovitz — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:07:28 PST

This curious device is The Badgermin. Artist David Cranmer hacked a Theremin kit to integrate it with a taxidermy badger, and vice versa.

The Badgermin (via Technabob)

World's shortest man

David Pescovitz — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:57:53 PST

Chandra Bahadur Dangi of Nepal is now officially the world's shortest living man. He's 21.5" (54.6 cm) tall. If you have a hard time estimating that, notice the, er, iPad included in the photo above for comparison. Dangi beat out the Philippine's Junrey Balawing by two full inches. From Guinness World Records:

Chandra claims to be 72 years of age and weighs 14.5kg. He has spent his entire life in the remote Nepalese mountain village of Rhimkholi, about 250 miles west of Kathmandu. He lives there with his five brothers (all of an average height) and makes his living weaving traditional Nepalese garments. Chandra's home is so remote that it wasn't until recently that he gained attention; a forest contractor cutting timber in the village met him and informed local media.
Until now, Chandra's stature has been a burden; acutely aware of the difficulties of fitting into an average-sized world. However he is hopeful that the new title will see a change in his fortunes. "I'm very happy that I'm being recognized by Guinness World Records and that my name will be written in book. It's a big thing for my family, my village and my country. I am very happy.
Chandra's condition has never been diagnosed, as he has never received a checkup from a doctor. It is hoped however that the exposure he receives from as a result of his new record will lead to medical advice and support.

"Shortest Man World Record" (Guinness)

"World's shortest man found in Nepal" (The Guardian)

Jesse Thorn -- Make Your Thing: 12 Point Program for Absolutely, Positively 1000% No-Fail Guaranteed Success

Mark Frauenfelder — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:52:52 PST

Here's a fantastic essay by our friend Jesse Thorn (creator and host of the Bullseye radio show and podcast) about how to make a living doing what you love.

It took a few years, but now I make a good living from my show. I’ve got three full-time employees, and two interns. I also pay thousands of dollars a month to several teams of producer/hosts whose wonderful shows I’ve helped monetize. I’m not rich or anything, but when my wife had a baby a couple of months ago, I didn’t have to be all freaked out about it. Well, I was freaked out about it, but not so much about the money part. My business is stable, and maybe even thriving, despite the reticence of many parts our industry to embrace my show. I still love public radio, and am immensely proud to be part of it, but it’s a great relief not to have to rely on it to pay my bills. (Just ask Luke Burbank, or Faith Salie, or Bob Edwards.)

But here’s where you start asking a very pertinent question: JESSE, HOW DID YOU DO IT?

I achieved all of this through something I like to call my 12 Point Program for Absolutely, Positively 1000% No-Fail Guaranteed Success.

Whether you want to build a show like mine, build your own media empire, or simply re-grow up to 50% of the hair you’ve lost due to male pattern baldness (especially at the temples and crown), my program is for you.

Here it is.

Transom.org: Make Your Thing: 12 Point Program for Absolutely, Positively 1000% No-Fail Guaranteed Success, by Jesse Thorn

Graffiti Rock: hip hop variety show from 1984

David Pescovitz — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:36:29 PST

Behold "Graffiti Rock," the killer pilot for a 1984 hip hop variety TV show that unfortunately never went any further than this episode. What a phenomenal line-up: Run DMC, Shannon, Kool Moe Dee, DJ Jimmie Jazz, Special K, The New York City Breakers, etc. A cult favorite, the Beastie Boys sampled the show on Ill Communication and Gnarls Barkley parodied it in his video for "Run (I'm a Natural Disaster)." (via Dangerous Minds, thanks Patrick Kelly!)

Marie Colvin: a portrait of the slain war correspondent, by Molly Crabapple

Xeni Jardin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:25:37 PST

From Molly Crabapple, this wonderful portrait of Marie Colvin, the Sunday Times war reporter who was recently killed in Syria.

More about Colvin here. Killed with her was French photojournalist Rémi Ochlik.

Colvin died trying to retrieve her shoes so she could escape a rocket shelling attack (the custom in Syria is to leave one's shoes at the door before entering a home; the rocket landed a few yards away from her as she was preparing to escape).

Molly says, and I agree:

Looking at Marie Colvin's face, it occurs to me she has the perfect beauty of an older woman- the beauty of good bones and battle scars. The beauty that comes from bravery, from power, from competence, from taking no shit. Earned beauty.

This tribute at the New Yorker is a beautiful read. Reuters today released amateur video believed to have been shot by Syrian rebels just before, and after, the attack. In the video, one of the survivors says he believes—contradicting other reports— that they were not personally targeted by the Syrian government. "They've been bombing civilians for days... we were just unlucky."

FBI shuts off thousands of GPS devices after Supreme Court ruling, now having trouble finding them

Xeni Jardin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:11:12 PST

A recent US Supreme Court ruling that overturned the warrantless use of GPS tracking devices "has caused a 'sea change' inside the U.S. Justice Department." Following the ruling, the FBI turned off an estimated 3,000 GPS tracking devices that were in use. But how to locate the little buggers to take them home?

From the WSJ, quoting FBI General Counsel Andrew Weissmann:

These devices were often stuck underneath cars to track the movements of the car owners. In U.S. v. Jones, the Supreme Court ruled that using a device to track a car owner without a search warrant violated the law.
After the ruling, the FBI had a problem collecting the devices that it had turned off, Mr. Weissmann said. In some cases, he said, the FBI sought court orders to obtain permission to turn the devices on briefly – only in order to locate and retrieve them.

Video: Punk/hiphop photog Glen E. Friedman interviewed by Paradigm Magazine

Xeni Jardin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:04:17 PST

Snip from a wonderful interview by Paradigm Magazine with one of my favorite photographers (and people), Glen E. Friedman:

Don’t care about what other people think about what you’re doing, if you’re inspired to do something, if you want to do something, if you have some kind of feeling that you should do something...then you should just do it; don’t let what other people’s preconceived ideas of good behavior, or whatever it is, limit you to thinking what you should and shouldn’t do.

(via Dangerous Minds)

Video: Cat likes to swim in the sea

Xeni Jardin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 10:47:38 PST

[Video Link]. Also contains an attractive woman in a bikini. (thanks, Tara McGinley!)

Frustrated John Hinckley: I'm an artist and musician, not just "The Guy Who Tried To Kill Reagan"

Xeni Jardin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 10:34:57 PST

Via the Smoking Gun, a frustrated (and now medicated) John Hinckley, Jr. is upset that the world knows him only as a would-be assassin of president Reagan.

He writes songs and paints landscapes now.

Speaking to his therapist:

“It’s impossible for me to change that. I don’t have a microphone in my hand. I don’t have the video camera. So no one can hear my music. No one can see my art. I have these other aspects of my life that no one knows about. I’m an artist. I’m a musician. Nobody knows that. They just see me at the guy who tried to kill Reagan.”

Breaking Good: how to synthesize Pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) From N-Methylamphetamine (crystal meth)

Xeni Jardin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 10:20:45 PST

Genius scientific paper* of the day: "A Simple and Convenient Synthesis of Pseudoephedrine From N-Methylamphetamine, by O. Hai and I. B. Hakkenshit." (PDF).

A response by annoyed Sudafed users to the onerous demands by pharmacies for ID and tracking, due to the fact that this helpful and common over-the-counter drug can be used to manufacture crystal meth.

Snip from the paper:

A novel and straightforward synthesis of pseudoephidrine from readily available N-methylamphetamine is presented. This practical synthesis is expected to be a disruptive technology replacing the need to find an open pharmacy.
Pseudoephedrine, active ingredient of Sudafed®, has long been the most popular nasal decongestant in the United States due to its effectiveness and relatively mild side effects [1]. In recent years it has become increasingly difficult to obtain psuedoephedine in many states because of its use as a precursor for the illegal drug N-methylamphetamine (also known under various names including crystal meth, meth, ice, etc.)[1,2]. While in the past many stores were able to sell pseudoephedrine, new laws in the United States have restricted sales to pharmacies, with the medicine kept behind the counter. The pharmacies require signatures and examination of government issued ID in order to purchase pseudoephedrine. Because the hours of availability of such pharmacies are often limited, it would be of great interest to have a simple synthesis of pseudoephedrine from reagents which can be more readily procured.

A quick search of several neighborhoods of the United States revealed that while pseudoephedrine is difficult to obtain, N-methylamphetamine can be procured at almost any time on short notice and in quantities sufficient for synthesis of useful amounts of the desired material. Moreover, according to government maintained statistics, Nmethylmphetamine is becoming an increasingly attractive starting material for pseudoephedrine, as the availability of Nmethylmphetamine has remained high while prices have dropped and purity has increased [2]. We present here a convenient series of transformations using reagents which can be found in most well stocked organic chemistry laboratories to produce psuedoephedrine from N-methylamphetamine.

(via @ioerror. Images, via Shutterstock: At top, a type of glass pipe commonly used to smoke crystal meth. Inset, N-Methylamphetamine. Below, a LOL, referencing an episode in the first season of meth-themed TV show Breaking Bad, via @yesthatkarim.)

* Note the name of the authors, and that of the journal. It's parody, folks.

Jan Berenstain, co-creator of Berenstain Bears children's books, has died

Xeni Jardin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 10:10:52 PST

Jan Berenstain, who wrote and illustrated the popular Berenstain Bears children's books (and animated TV series, and records, and so on) with her husband Stan, has died at 88 years of age. The Berenstain Bears celebrated their 50th anniversary this year.

AP:

Berenstain suffered a severe stroke on Thursday and died Friday without regaining consciousness, her son Mike Berenstain said. The gentle tales of Mama Bear, Papa Bear, Brother Bear and Sister Bear were inspired by the Berenstain children, and later their grandchildren. The stories address children's common concerns and aim to offer guidance on subjects like dentist visits, peer pressure, a new sibling or summer camp.

From an interview with Jan at Scholastic, via Galleycat:

Why did you decide to give them your name?
That wasn't our decision. The first book we did was called The Big Honey Hunt. We didn't call them The Berenstain Bears. Our editor was Dr. Seuss. When we did the second book, it was called The Bike Lesson, and Dr. Seuss put on the cover The Second Adventure of the Berenstain Bears. So it was Dr. Seuss who named them, not us.

Nerdy birdhouses

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 09:48:22 PST

Etsy seller NirdHaus (AKA Ben Mayer) sells nerdy birdhouses and Christmas ornaments based on classic video-game and movie designs.

NirdHaus is a safe place where crafts and general geekery unite to form an amalgam of excellence. All pieces are hand-painted by me, Ben Mayer, and are infused with a healthy dose of unashamed love. From birdhouses to nutcrackers, all your craft are belong to us. Send me a message if there's something you'd like to see me take a crack at.

NirdHaus (via The Mary Sue)

Rejected Star Wars toy ideas

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 08:45:26 PST

Action Figure Insider's Jason Geyer has published a second gallery of rejected toy-ideas he and his co-workers pitched to tie in with the launch of Star Wars: Phantom Menace (the first gallery came out four years ago!). There's some stuff here that's just plain weird, but plenty that is rather cool.

Like the last blog, this group is just a whole bunch of random ideas thrown up against the wall to see what sticks. This project was both fun and frustrating. We had a very limited time to make…whatever is was we were going to make. We were working on many different projects at the same time all this was going on, and we had no clear idea of what the client wanted (mainly because the client wasn’t sure, either). So be kind to some of these pieces. The fabric booksock is not our finest hour.

Rejected Star Wars Strikes Back! (via Super Punch)

Rumblefish claims to own copyright to ambient birdsong on YouTube

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 08:00:31 PST

Rumblefish, a company notorious for sending copyright takedown notices to YouTube alleging copyright violations in videos' soundtracks, demanded removal of a video whose audio consists entirely of ambient birdsong recorded during a walk in the woods. When the video's creator objected, Rumblefish repeated its accusation, and Google added the notation "These content owners have reviewed your video and confirmed their claims to some or all of its content: Entity: rumblefish Content Type: Sound Recording."

I posted a video which is basically just me walking and talking, outdoors, away from any possible source of music. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPBlfeuZuWg
And apparently youtube identified my video as containing copyrighted music from a company called rumblefish. I filed a dispute, and now I'm waiting for said company to respond to it. Is this a freak occurrence? I feel pretty violated by this, a mysterious entity claiming to own my content and apparently profiting from it with ads.
There are birds singing in the background in the video, could they own the rights to birdsong?

"Matched third party content. Entity: rumblefish Content Type: Musical Composition", but no music in the video (via /.)

Gweek 041: Under the Moons of Mars

Mark Frauenfelder — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 07:00:11 PST

Gweek is a weekly podcast where the editors and friends of Boing Boing talk about comic books, science fiction and fantasy, video games, board games, tools, gadgets, apps, and other neat stuff.

My co-hosts on episode 41 are Dean Putney, Boing Boing’s coding and development wizard, and Michael Pusateri, a lifelong tinkerer and former television tech executive for Disney. Visit his blog, cruftbox.com.

Below is a list of the things we talked about in Gweek episode 40. (Sure, you could just click on the links below to learn about them without listening to the podcast, but then you will miss out on our discussion about whether or not Tarzan shrank in Tarzan and the Ant Men or not.)

If you enjoy Gweek, please rate it in the iTunes Store -- thanks!

Dean went to the Rineke Dijkstra exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Mike talks about a new TV-to-any-device-you-want-service called Aeero.

Mark and his daughter Jane went to a at Arts ReFoundry in Los Angeles to make bronze mini-sculptures. Even if you don't live in LA, you can order a bronze buckle kit for $110, which includes pouring.

Mark announced the winner of the Gweek Secret contest. Congratulations, Eric Z. Goodnight!

Mike recommends Under the Moons of Mars, a book of contemporary short stories that place in Edgar Rice Burrough's Barsoom. Mentioned: Philip Jose Farmer's Tarzan novels: Tarzan Alive, A Feast Unknown, Lord of the Trees and The Mad Goblin and ERB's Tarzan and the Ant Men

Mark recommended Baby's in Black a graphic novel love story about photographer Astrid Kirchherr and Beatles bass player Stuart Sutcliffe in the early days of the band.

Mark also recommended the stunning new graphic novel by Tom Gauld, Goliath, the biblical tale told from the giant's perspective.

Mike's soundtrack while he worked this week was Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians

Dean likes Command Line Fu to find neat commands

Mike scared me with a personal information search site called Melconcard.

Mark is enjoying the Kameoka Diaries, a webcomic about Lars Martinson's experiences teaching English to students in Japan.

Mark likes Timehop, a web service that sends you an email each morning with your Tweets, Facebook postings, Foursquare, and Instagram activity from a year ago today.

Dean has been enjoying Super Going, a site where your friends send you on fun missions.

Dean bought two "indispensable" low-priced accessories for his phone and computer: the Wrapster and Power Curl, both by Quirky.

Mike explains why One Good Earbud is a good idea for people who like to run or ride bikes and listen to music at the same time.

Mark enjoys play with the HDR and tilt-shift functions on his Canon S95 point-and-shoot camera.

Wikileaks releases "Global Intelligence Files" -- 5MM emails from private spook outfit Stratfor

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 07:00:01 PST

Today, Wikileaks releases its "Global Intelligence Files," a trove of more than 5,000,000 emails from Stratfor, a Texas based "global intelligence" company. The dump includes emails detailing Stratfor's work with the US government on discrediting Wikileaks itself, as well as a lot of extremely dirty geopolitical laundry.

"[Is it] possible for us to get some of that 'leak-focused' gravy train? This is an obvious fear sale, so that's a good thing. And we have something to offer that the IT security companies don't, mainly our focus on counter-intelligence and surveillance that Fred and Stick know better than anyone on the planet... Could we develop some ideas and procedures on the idea of ´leak-focused' network security that focuses on preventing one's own employees from leaking sensitive information... In fact, I'm not so sure this is an IT problem that requires an IT solution."
Like WikiLeaks’ diplomatic cables, much of the significance of the emails will be revealed over the coming weeks, as our coalition and the public search through them and discover connections. Readers will find that whereas large numbers of Stratfor's subscribers and clients work in the US military and intelligence agencies, Stratfor gave a complimentary membership to the controversial Pakistan general Hamid Gul, former head of Pakistan's ISI intelligence service, who, according to US diplomatic cables, planned an IED attack on international forces in Afghanistan in 2006. Readers will discover Stratfor's internal email classification system that codes correspondence according to categories such as 'alpha', 'tactical' and 'secure'. The correspondence also contains code names for people of particular interest such as 'Izzies' (members of Hezbollah), or 'Adogg' (Mahmoud Ahmedinejad).
Stratfor did secret deals with dozens of media organisations and journalists – from Reuters to the Kiev Post. The list of Stratfor’s "Confederation Partners", whom Stratfor internally referred to as its "Confed Fuck House" are included in the release. While it is acceptable for journalists to swap information or be paid by other media organisations, because Stratfor is a private intelligence organisation that services governments and private clients these relationships are corrupt or corrupting.
WikiLeaks has also obtained Stratfor's list of informants and, in many cases, records of its payoffs, including $1,200 a month paid to the informant "Geronimo" , handled by Stratfor's Former State Department agent Fred Burton.

The Global Intelligence Files - List of Releases

The Global Intelligence Files (Press release)

HOWTO bake a Death Star cake

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 06:23:00 PST

This beautiful Death Star cake is surprisingly straightforward to bake: two semi-spherical cakes are baked in steel bowls, then joined with sugar dowels, then iced and decorated with ganache polygons.

This Death Star Cake was such fun to make that you just won’t know when to stop! It is made of Dark Chocolate Mud Cake and filled and covered in Dark Chocolate Ganache then grey Sugar-paste. Use two 8.5″ or 9″ metal kitchen bowls to bake the cakes.

How to Make a Death Star Cake (via Craft)

Chocopornoholic cook book comes to America

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 06:00:15 PST

Americans rejoice! Chocolatier Paul A Young's chocopornoholic recipe book Adventures with Chocolate is out in the USA, in mouth watering goodness. I reviewed the book in 2009 when it was released in 2009, and for those who've missed it, I've included it below. Paul was good enough to supply some images from the book for an accompanying gallery as well. This is my favorite chocolate in the world, and the recipe book is pretty much edibly good.

Adventures with Chocolate: 80 sensational recipe is chocolate genius Paul A. Young's first foray into cook-books, and, like his wonderful shops in London, it's playful, inspiring, delicious and surprising.
Young's gifted touch with truffles, brownies and drinking chocolate have made his Islington store a fixture in our orbit around London. My wife's pregnancy was eased with his sea-salt caramels; we celebrated the birth with kalamansi truffles. The baby practically melted when she first tried a crumb of his cherry brownie. I am visited by Paul's chocolate in my dreams. I have been conditioned to start salivating when I reach the end of Camden Passage, and by the time I reach the shop, I need a bib to catch the dribble.
And here are all of Paul's secrets, laid bare in a superbly designed and printed book whose pornographically chocolated pages make you want to surreptitiously taste them (I tasted them. Tasted like clay-coated heavy paper stock). Paul's recipes are easy to follow and are equal parts inspirational (he makes it clear enough that even ham-fisted me believes that I can make them) and aspirational (in reality, it's a lot more likely that I'll just pop in on the Camden Passage shop and buy another box). And his essay on how he became a chocolatier, as well as his essays on buying and preparing chocolate, are sensational.
And truth be told, there are some recipes here I'd like to try for a special occasion: the savory chocolate recipes, if only because Paul doesn't actually sell these in the shop and I want to find out what a honey-cured bacon, Stilton and chocolate sandwich tastes like, or sip some cocoa-bean infused vodka, or try a salted black-olive bar with 600g of Ghanian tempered 68% dark chocolate.

Adventures with Chocolate: 80 Sensational Recipes

Danish band claims collecting society prevented them from playing anti-ACTA gig

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 02:18:26 PST

The Danish band Qu'est-ce Que fuck? claims that they were prevented from playing an anti-ACTA gig by KODA, a Danish rights-management society. They claim that KODA deliberately put a number of bureaucratic hurdles in their path, with the final straw being a demand that the band be paid 4,000 Kroner for their appearance (which was beyond the means of the organisers), despite the band's assurance that they would only perform their own material.

Our so-called guild KODA and the Aarhus police have done everything they could to prevent our performance today, and they succeeded.
The requirement of KODA's hand to the organizers of the demonstration was that we should have at least 4000 dollars for appearing today. 4000 crowns as organizers of today's demonstration obviously have not had time to travel when a claim was made yesterday, and as you know, not exactly make money by organizing popular protests.
We have tried to explain KODA that we want to play our own compositions free to support the event, but we had not.
We suggested them so that we could improvise the entire concert, avoiding rights issues at the event. This was not an option.
We do not feel that it is in our best interest to deny us the chance to play our music to the public!
We are not artists because of the pursuit of profit and regelrytteri. We simply can not help but create music.
Naturally, we believe that all people are entitled to payment for their work and musicians, we know that the problem lies in the piracy of our music or sharing our videos on youtube.

Koda away censoring free music from Aarhus' demonstration against the ACTA (Google Translate)

Koda bortcensurerer gratis musik fra Aarhus’ demonstration mod ACTA (original in Danish)

The Everything is a Remix theory of creativity

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 18:00:48 PST

Kirby Ferguson, creator of the absolutely outstanding Everything is a Remix series, explains his theory of creative inspiration, remix, and cultural commons, citing some of history's best-loved "individual" creators and explaining how what they did was a remix, an extension and a part of the work that came before them.

2011/08 Kirby Ferguson (Thanks, Avi!)

Understanding the scale of the ripoff in the Robosigning Settlement

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 17:20:27 PST

Barry Ritholtz sez, "The Washington Post has been kind enough to allow me to vent about what is wrong with Wall Street and Washington DC. Today's episode: Robosigning Bank Settlement."

Before the settlement, we learned that nearly every aspect of the robosigned documents was false. None of the details were ever reviewed. The signatures attesting to the review of the documents were fabricated — made by someone other than the person whose name was on the document. Neither person — the supposed signatory to the document nor the hired forger — ever validated the facts of each case. All of the safeguards put in place to make sure foreclosures were done correctly and legally were bypassed. Even the notary stamps were bogus — they were not real, and not signed by a notary to validate that the signer and the signature matched...
The bigger issue is the economics of criminality. Most people who get caught committing crimes are punished. Commit a felony — if you run a bank — and your shareholders pay a monetary fine. Violating the law has merely become the banker’s cost of doing business.
Thus, the robosigning agreement has allowed the mass production of perjury. It has gone unrecognized and unpunished. It has made perjury a business expense, like travel or office furniture. The same reckless approach to giving loans to unqualified people was institutionalized, leading to another reckless approach to foreclosing homes.

Foreclosure settlement a failure of law, a triumph for bank attorneys (Thanks, Barry!)