Boing Boing

Fatal monorail collision at Walt Disney World

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 08:10:37 PDT

Eric sez, "The operator of a monorail at Walt Disney World died Sunday morning when two monorails crashed. About five or six guests were on the monorail at the time of the accident, but they are not seriously injured." It happened at the Ticket and Transportation Center station.

A person who was on the scene reported to the news stations that they head a loud explosion and saw the mangled trains in the station. They tried to run to get people out of the front of the crashed train. They saw a family make it out, but the driver [ed: news report cuts off here]
The monorails involved were the pink and purple trains, according to Local 6 in Orlando; pink was moving and hit purple, which was stationary.

Breaking news: Two monorails crash at Disney World overnight, one Cast Member dead (Thanks, Eric and John!)

Nintendo DS glucose reader plugin for kids with diabetes

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 08:03:19 PDT

Tim sez, "This is the pre-launch page for the Bayer 'Didget', a blood glucose meter which plugs in to the DS / DS Lite's Slot-2. Consistent glucose testing by the diabetic child (or adult, presumably) is rewarded with points in a game that can be used to buy items or unlock levels. As with the the 'iPlayer' hardware video decoder for the DS which Cory recently posted, the downside is that the new DSi doesn't have a Slot-2.

Bayer's DIDGET meter was developed in conjunction with Paul Wessel -- the parent of a child with type 1 diabetes. Paul noticed that although his son Luke was constantly losing his blood glucose meter, he could always find his Nintendo Game Boy. It was this observation that inspired Paul and Bayer to work together to develop the first and only blood glucose meter that connects to the Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS Lite gaming systems to reward children for good testing habits.

Bayer's DIDGET Blood Glucose Meter (Thanks, Tim!)
Previously:
Glucoboy - Boing Boing

Glucoboy: Blood Sugar Testing via Game Boy - Boing Boing Gadgets

Matt Webb on the role of the designer in the 21st century

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:55:28 PDT

Here's my friend and neighbour Matt Webb (part of the Schulze and Webb design consultancy) addressing Copenhagen's Reboot conference on what the role of a designer was and is in the 21st century. It's a great Webbrant, thought-provoking, learned, wide-ranging, weird and great.

Reboot (via Warren Ellis)

Cheap Trick releases an album on 8-Track

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:52:39 PDT

The latest cheap trick from Can-rockers Cheap Trick is an album released on an 8-track tape. Bah! My album will be released in the form of incidental grooving on the side of a thrown pot made in the style of ancient Greek potters!

As you might imagine, finding a manufacturer today for the 8-track version of Cheap Trick's The Latest wasn't easy. "There was a lot of looking under rocks," admits Frey, who finally found a small plant in Dallas, Tex., for the retro-fit. "They're expensive to make, and they don't make very many at a time," he says of the cartridge which will sell to the public for something close to $30.
The new album, issued on Cheap Trick's own label, is comprised of 12 songs broken into four sets of three songs each - suites that unfortunately don't fit nicely into the four 10-minute programs of standard 8-tracks, but which may be available at some point as a three-for-the-price-of-one deal on iTunes. As Frey explains the discount, "We're kind of more worried about being ignored than being ripped off."

Cheap Trick brings back the 8-track

Threadless tees in cake form

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:49:48 PDT

A reader writes, "Take one part Threadless shirt design and one part cake mix, add in some fondant and frosting and you have Threadcakes: An online cake contest based on transforming Threadless designs into cakes."

Threadcakes Gallery! :: Threadcakes: A Threadless Cake

Airplane toilet gobbles a whole roll of TP

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:46:17 PDT

Behold the awesome suction power of the airplane toilet, capable of slurping up an entire roll of toilet paper in one go. Don't clog the tank, though, or chunks of shit-ice will start to fall off the undercarriage, killing people with icy B.M.s (pun courtesy of Mr Spider Robinson).

The Airplane Toilet Paper Experiment (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

@BBVBOX: recent guest-tweeted web video picks (boingboingvideo.com)

Xeni Jardin — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:44:34 PDT

(Ed. Note: We recently gave the Boing Boing Video website a makeover that includes a new, guest-curated microblog: the "BBVBOX." Here, folks whose taste in web video we admire tweet the latest clips they find. I'll be posting periodic roundups here on the motherBoing.)

Richard Metzger: America! F*CK YEAH!! Link
Andrea James: RT @Channel101 Celebrate America's freedom and might Channel 101 style: Link
Andrea James: Penn & Teller burn the U.S. flag Link
Jesse Thorn: particularly like the t-shirt in this ukulele version of the Beastie Boys' Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun Link
Jesse Thorn: Your Yo Gabba Gabba knock-knock joke of the day, with Paul Scheer and Jack McBrayer: Link
Susannah Breslin: I, for one, welcome our new sushi robot overlords: Link
Jesse Thorn: Footage from a 1982 tech show hosted by Bill Murray. "R2D2 was cute, he was funny, he was a fine fine actor." Link
Jesse Thorn: Trailer just released for Ricky Gervais first written & directed film, The Invention of Lying: Link
Susannah Breslin: Michael Jackson face transformation: Link
Richard Metzger: Girl freaking out on acid caught on video Link
Susannah Breslin: Dance like a polygon, you mad fool, you: Link
Richard Metzger: Vivienne Westwood meets her hero, environmentalist James Lovelock by @rodstanley Link
Susannah Breslin: Grace Jones hulahoops to "Slave to the Rhythm": Link
Richard Metzger: Church of Michael Jackson @davidschneider Link
Susannah Breslin: The great love and infinite sadness of strange animals in and out of love: Link
Richard Metzger: Lulu sings The Man Who Sold the World 1974 Link
Laughing Squid: The 50 Greatest Movie Trailers of All Time as ranked by @IFCdotcom Link
Susannah Breslin: A boy, a girl, and his alter-ego: Link
Richard Metzger: RT @robertpopper Live (Religious) Phone Sex Link
Jesse Thorn: I saw this doc "Soul Power" over the weekend, and it was amazing. James Brown, Bill Withers, Fania AS & more. Link
Richard Metzger: Church exorcism of gay teen -if it doesn't work, will they burn him at the stake? Link
Susannah Breslin: Banksy assaults the Bristol Museum, spray paint can in hand: Link
Robin Sloan: Remember "The Neverending Story"? Remember Falkor? Here's my code-art homage: Link

More @BBVBOX: boingboingvideo.com

Sarlaac pillow

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 14:26:26 PDT

Flickr user scrumptiousdelight created this Sarlaac monster in pillow form for Stitch Wars, a Star Wars crafting show. Note all the little details, like the Boba Fett helmet on one of the tentacles.

saarlac pitlow monster (via Wonderland)

Luggable 75 lb "laptop" from 1968

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:17:55 PDT

Harry sez, "Computers weren't portable in 1968 (they tended to fill entire rooms), but even then, the yen for portable computing was there. In 1968, Computerworld reported on a carrying case that turned a Teletype machine into a 75-pound mobile terminal--wheels were optional." The Laptop, Circa 1968 (Thanks, Harry!)

Weather Channel: no more smooth jazz

David Pescovitz — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 11:16:43 PDT

The Weather Channel will no longer have a "smooth jazz" soundtrack behind its "Local On the 8s" segments. Instead, they will play rock. Fortunately, you can still turn down the TV volume and crank your CD of "The Weather Channel Presents Smooth Jazz," which actually hit #1 on the Billboard's Current Contemporary Jazz Album Chart. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

“I think we’ve been doing an injustice to our viewers playing, for the lack of a better word, elevator music on the segments for all these years,” said Geoffrey Darby, the cable network’s new executive vice president of programming, Thursday.

“People would have it on but they wouldn’t be watching and they wouldn’t be listening,” said Darby, who pushed for the change after joining the network in February. “We wanted music that would get their attention —- and this has.”

Weather Channel turns to rock

Drew Friedman: painting of The Monkey Girl

David Pescovitz — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:38:00 PDT

Drew Friedman continues his new series of portraits depicting legendary circus and carnie sideshow freaks. The paintings are for a private collector, who I wish was me. Fortunately, Drew says they'll eventually be collected in a book. Seen here is Julia Pastrana Percilla Lauther aka "Percilla The Monkey Girl." Her story is strange, tragic, and also quite touching. From J. Tithonus Pednaud's fantastic site, The Human Marvels:

In the late 1930’s, while performing with the Johnny J. Jones Exposition, Percilla met fellow marvel Emmitt Bejano, the Alligator-Skinned Man. Despite her heavy beard and his ichthyosis a sweet romance blossomed between the unique couple. The pair saw past their physical differences. Emmitt was a man with calloused skin who spent performance intermissions submerged in vats of ice water because he could not sweat. Emmitt was quite literally ‘thick skinned’ and he had a ‘hard shell to crack’ but beneath he was a compassionate, gentle, charming and passionate man. Percilla, despite looking more beast than beauty, was elegant, eloquent and possessed and enchanting singing voice. Before long Percilla realized that the gentle Emmitt was the love of her life and the two eloped in 1938.

Percilla The Monkey Girl (Human Marvels)
Drew Friedman's The Monkey Girl (Drawger)

Previously:

Drew Friedman draws Schlitzie the Pin Head - Boing Boing

Tripping "Terminator" arrested

David Pescovitz — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 09:03:31 PDT

On Tuesday, Sean Stanley Smith, 19, ran around Lake Tahoe's casino arcade naked until police subdued him with a taser. They arrested him for indecent exposure. According to the Record Courier, "He reportedly told officers he had ingested marijuana and LSD, and was running naked because he thought he was 'the Terminator.'" He'll be back. "Naked 'Terminator' arrested at casino" (via Dose Nation)

Dead Gnomes: idiotically grinning ghastly garden gnomes

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 07:07:36 PDT

Out of the Blue's "Dead Gnome" line features garden gnomes with pistols in their mouths, or holding up the dripping heads of decapitated brethren, industriously sawing their own hands off, hanging from a gibbet, grinning glassily at the arrow that's pierced their heads, and so on. It's the wet, happy grins that get me.

Dead Gnome (Thanks, Alice!)

Reality show gives points to clerics for converting Atheists

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 06:55:15 PDT

A new Turkish game-show asks clerics to convert atheists and awards prizes for the most conversions; I think the atheists should get points for resisting the pitch, too -- it's only fair (and the atheists should win supreme if the cleric loses faith altogether!).

A new game show on Turkish television will pit a Greek Orthodox priest, a rabbi, an imam and a Buddhist monk against one another in attempt to convert atheists to their respective religions.
In each episode of Penitents Compete, to be broadcast by Turkey's Kanal T television station in September, the four faith guides will try to persuade 10 atheists of the merits and truth of their creeds...
An eight-member team of theologians will vet contestants to ensure they really are atheists before deciding who will participate in the show.

Faiths compete on Turkish game show (via Derren Brown)

One-ton manta cyclonic feeding frenzy

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 06:51:18 PDT

Marilyn sez, "Pretty cool photos from July National Geographic. These manta rays in the Maldives have a 12-ft-wingspan, and the photographer Thomas Peschak was right in among them during feeding frenzies to get these shots. I especially like the last one in this gallery, which shows them lining up one behind the other in chain feeding behavior before swirling into a spiral formation for cyclone feeding, a behavior rarely seen outside the Maldives."

Feeding Frenzy (Thanks, Marilyn!)

Wear patterns as information leakage from security keypads

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:02:27 PDT

Bruce Schneier points out that keypad wear is a form of "information leakage": "There are 10,000 possible four-digit codes, but you only have to try 24 on these keypads. The first is most likely 1986 or 1968. The second is almost certainly 1234."

Information Leakage from Keypads

Hitler finds out Michael Jackson has died (Der Untergang remix)

Xeni Jardin — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 00:50:04 PDT

Video. Adolf Hitler is pretty pissed off to learn that Michael Jackson has died and won't be able to perform at his birthday party. Evidences the true marks of a great internet meme: infinite expandability, extremely bad taste in multiple respects, and an unfairly long lifespan. (via @andrewbaron)

Previously:

djBC's Muppet mashups

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:48:22 PDT

djBC, consistently my favorite mashup producer/creator (he's the guy behind the Beasties/Beatles remix "The Beastles"), has released an entire album of remixes of Muppet music! He sez, "In honor of my daughter's first birthday- and one month late- I'm rolling out 'Muppet Mashup.' Ten mashups, remixes, and covers of music from The Muppet Show and Sesame Street. With the legendary McSleazy (of MTV Mash and GYBO), Dunproofin, ATOM, Martinn, Uncanny Valley and yours truly, dj BC. I'm particularly proud of my 'I'm Happy' track, which is built on Edwinn Starr loops, Muppet Show samples, and a fun, funky playground acapella from some little girls on Sesame Street."

I've just listened to this straight through, with the baby, and we were both captivated. Bravo!

Mashups, remixes, and covers of music from The Muppet Show and Sesame Street.

Coral Cache mirror of the entire album

Previously:

HOWTO build a radio in a POW camp -- the real life King Rat

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:42:28 PDT

This first-hand account of the construction of a clandestine shortwave radio by British POWs in a Japanese camp in Singapore really reminds me of James Clavell's magnificent novel King Rat, my all-time favorite war-novel, which revolves grippingly around the construction, discovery and consequences of a hidden shortwave in the Changi camp (both Clavell and Ronald "St Trinian's" Searle were interned in this camp).

BJ: Can I just ask you - the components for the low voltage battery cells that you produced, where did you get all the components from?
RGW: Well, zinc wasn't hard, there was some sheet zinc lying on the aerodrome and we pinched quite a bit of that because that would be eaten away during the use of the cells for the low voltage. I don't know what would have happened if that ran out. I think someone produced two lantern cells which did for a while, but it was mainly on this home-made cell system, which wasn't efficient but nowhere near as inefficient as the rectifier was. We must have been consuming... Ah Ping said he had to turn up a lot of power to keep the lights what they wanted. We were dispersing such an amount of power in this four test tube rectifier for the high tension.
A variable capacitor was another component we had to bring in. We couldn't make a variable capacitor, it was impossible. We had to take two plates off the one we had to get a high enough frequency. Yes, I can't remember why we didn't go up a bit in inductance; it was largely a trial and error business really. Except that in a regenerative receiver you had some idea when you were near a station because the receiver was so sensitive as all regenerative receivers are.
It had a piece of meat skewer type wood which I had a hole drilled in by a pen-knife, and we glued this in with some of our glue or something, into the capacitor shaft so that we could tune it by holding a little stick across it, fixing it at about six inches because one couldn't get one's hands any closer to the set because it was in a state of very near oscillation where the maximum sensitivity is, just before it bursts into oscillation. With a fairly clear HF band, it wasn't long before we knew roughly, by putting a couple of marks on the stick, where it was. We knew that the Voice of America was due for a transmission and I don't think we ever knew the frequencies because the BBC didn't announce frequencies, they just came on the air and broadcast.

Construction of Radio Equipment in a Japanese POW Camp (via Make)

Landmark buildings of the world as acrylic rings

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:25:58 PDT

Etsy seller Plastique's got laser-cut acrylic rings boasting pointy world monuments. As knuckledusters, they create the possibility of growling, "Right, mate, you're geography," before you bust your opponent in the chops.

world landmarks acrylic ring set (white) (via Neatorama)

If woowoos ran the emergency room

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:23:29 PDT

"Homeopathic A&E," a sketch from the British comedy show That Mitchell and Webb Look invites us to imagine an emergency room (A&E is British for Accidents and Emergencies, the UK equivalent of ER), as run by newage woo woos.

That Mitchell and Webb Look: Homeopathic A&E (via White Coat Underground)

Compuserve shuts down

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:20:02 PDT

After 30 years, Compuserve is finally, totally, mostly dead (the email addresses still work). I was always a local BBS and GEnie guy, but there's no doubting the power and influence of Compuserve in introducing the idea of networked communications to a generation, and proving the business-case for commercial online activity:

The original CompuServe service, first offered in 1979, was shut down this past week by its current owner, AOL. The service, which provided its users with addresses such as 73402,3633 and was the first major online service, had seen the number of users dwindle in recent years. At its height, the service boasted about having over half a million users simultaneously on line. Many innovations we now take for granted, from online travel (Eaasy Sabre), online shopping, online stock quotations, and global weather forecasts, just to name a few, were standard fare on CompuServe in the 1980s.
CompuServe users will be able to use their existing CompuServe Classic (as the service was renamed) addresses at no charge via a new e-mail system, but the software that the service was built on, along with all the features supported by that software, from forums for virtually every topic and profession known to man to members' Ourworld Web pages, has been shut down. Indeed, the current version of the service's client software, CompuServe for Windows NT 4.0.2, dates back to 1999.

CompuServe Requiem (via Beyond the Beyond)

Massive bank fraud in massively multiplayer game EVE

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:15:39 PDT

The chairman of the virtual bank in EVE Online, a space-trading/piracy game, absconded with billions of virtual credits, swapping them for $5,000 in cash to make a house payment. The embezzlement caused a run on the bank and has rocked the economy of EVE.

The run on the bank has come to about 600 billion ISK, which has been withdrawn. However, we have a very big group of excellent supporters, who have deposited about 105 billion ISK sitting in Sweep to keep us liquid. We are extremely grateful for this. Currently the run seems to be mostly over with only a slightly higher withdrawal rate still, than deposit rate. That's to be expected, and in-line with EBANK's strategy to shrink to a more managable level.
EBANK has always been extremely sound, due to our massive reserves. Our checks and balances have proven themselves to work as a mitigation device and by having the reserves spread out over several directors, the embezzlement was kept to a minimum. However, the run on the bank had the potential to do great damage to EBANK as people frantically made withdrawals to ensure they would not be caught if the bank ran short.
We have also had several offers from very large entities, regarding big loans, should we need to cover any insolvency. Frankly, this has yet to be needed. But we are grateful for the support.

Billions stolen in online robbery

New perspective on EVE Online's latest bank embezzlement (via /.)

Previously:

Ghost Town: The Bumpy Road To Bodie

Mark Frauenfelder — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:09:51 PDT

Stephen Worth says:

When I was very small, I had one of those horses on springs. I would jump on it and bounce around furiously while my Dad would urge me on, calling out to me to "Ride that horse down the bumpy road to Bodie!"
Before I was born, my family had taken a trip to the High Sierras and my Dad and Mom never forgot the potholes they had to navigate their 56 Chevy station wagon over. It was a memory they spoke of often. When I got a little older, I got a chance to visit Bodie with them, navigating a slightly more modern Chevy station wagon over those same potholes. Bodie became a lasting part of my consciousness as well.
On my personal blog, Late Night Coffee Shops, I just posted a documentary on Bodie (and its nine inhabitants) from the mid-1950s. If you love the otherworldly feeling of stillness in places like this as much as I do, this video will make your day and fill your dreams with the beautiful sound of wind blowing through sun bleached boards.

Ghost Town: The Bumpy Road To Bodie

The Don Martin Dictionary

Mark Frauenfelder — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:52:46 PDT

Richard Metzger pointed me to the Don Martin Dictionary. Martin was one of my favorite Mad cartoonists. His sophisticated absurdism was the opposite of Dave Berg's middlebrow sitcom humor (but I liked him, too). The Don Martin Dictionary

Music video of stochasticity for Radiolab science podcast

Mark Frauenfelder — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:23:36 PDT

Higher Mammals made a song and video to accompany Radiolab's recent show about stochasticity. If you don't already know about Radiolab, it's a terrific science podcast produced for WYNC public radio.

Radiolab Stochasticity Bonus Video!

Andy Warhol paints Debbie Harry on an Amiga

David Pescovitz — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:24:11 PDT

This week, Cory posted a Talking Heads video and I followed up with a Laurie Anderson clip. For the trifecta of posts related to NYC's downtown scene in the 1980s, here is a video of Andy Warhol painting Debbie Harry on an Amiga computer at a Commodore press event in 1985.

Previously:

Record sleeve table and syringe chandelier

David Pescovitz — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:43:51 PDT

While BB Gadgets' Rob is fond of Bughouse's Album Side Table made from old LP jackets, I prefer the Hypolux Chandelier, constructed from plexiglass plates, commercial syringes, and a ballchain suspension.

Cool projects on Make: Online

Mark Frauenfelder — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:14:43 PDT

Make: Online has published a number of cool projects recently.

Sew a cute Morse code key leg strap

Diana Eng's frilly and fashion-forward Morse code key. Diana Eng (best known from Project Runway and her book Fashion Geek) is our current guest author. Besides being a geek-chic fashion maven, Diana is also a ham operator and on a mission to introduce a new generation of hobbyists (especially women) to ham radio. In this project, she makes a sexy garter strap to hold her new Morse key.

Shrinky Dink gaming minis

Sean Ragan shows you how to make some sweet home-baked gaming components using Shrinky Dink plastic and binder clips.

New images of the lunar surface

David Pescovitz — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:49:39 PDT

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has sent back its first photos of the moon. The photo above was taken near the moon's Mare Nubium region. The man in the moon is just outside the frame. From NASA:

Older craters have softened edges, while younger craters appear crisp. (The image) shows a region 1,400 meters (0.87 miles) wide, and features as small as 3 meters (9.8 feet) wide can be discerned. The bottom (faces) lunar north.

LRO's First Moon Images

Previously: