Years ago, I got turned on to the psychedelic New Orleans "voodoo" vibe of Dr. John (aka Mac Rebennack, Jr.). His 1968 debut Gris-Gris is a fantastically weird amalgam of R&B, dark psych rock, and NOLA culture. I'd never seen footage of the Night Tripper, as Dr. John is also known, until today. Quite a spectacle. From music critic Richie Unterberger's liner notes for a reissue of Gris-Gris:

Gris-Gris was the first record credited to Dr. John, and to most listeners he seemed to have dropped out of nowhere with his mystical R&B psychedelia and Mardi Gras Indian costumes.  The album, however, was actually the culmination of about 15 years of professional experience, during which Dr. John -- born Mac Rebennack in New Orleans -- had absorbed the wealth of musical influences for which the Crescent City is famed.  Gris-Gris's roots reach back well beyond the dawn of the twentieth century, even as the album took in cutting-edge influences such as 1960s progressive jazz, and pushed into territory that no popular musician had ever explored in quite the same fashion.

"Gris-Gris" itself is a New Orleans term for voodoo, and the name Dr. John taken from a New Orleans root doctor of the 1840s and 1850s.  Also known as John Montaigne and Bayou John, he was busted in the 1840s for practicing voodoo with Pauline Rebennack, who may or may not have been a distant relative of our man Mac.  One of Mac's grandfathers sang in a minstrel show, and the latter-day Dr. John adapted one of grandpa's favorite tunes, "Jump Sturdy," into the track on Gris-Gris of the same name.  His onstage costumes and feathered headdresses, the source of shock and delight to audiences since the late 1960s, are similarly adapted from those worn by Mardi Gras Indians in New Orleans, famed for the infectious tribal percussive rhythms and chants they perform in local parades.

Edgar A. Poe Memento cameo necklace in black stainless steel (via Wonderland)

Whether the reasons are ideological, demophobia-based, or a little bit of both, many of us would rather avoid today's mass shopping chaos. As an alternative to Black Friday, Story Corps is promoting today as the National Day of Listening--an opportunity to sit down for an hour with family members and other people you care about, ask them about their lives and preserve their stories for future generations.

At the National Day of Listening site, you'll find helpful How To's for recording and preserving family stories and a question generator, to help you get over that "what the heck do I ask Grandma?" hump.

Your family stories can also become part of the oral history archives at the American Folklife Center in the Library of Congress. To do that, though, you'll have to get hooked up with a Story Corps professional recording session. They've got semi-permanent booths in New York, San Francisco and Atlanta, and they're traveling the country with a portable system all year.

"Documents recently obtained through access to information legislation show that author David Bernans was being spied upon by investigators at Concordia University in Montreal.

"In this first-person narrative, Bernans chronicles his experience dealing with Concordia's security apparatus, and questions the motivations of a university that spies on and censors its students."

Christ, a university with its own private eye squad made up of failed Fed cops? What's next, a no-fly list for the campus shuttle-bus? Lookit these Keystone Kop bumblers, chasing people around because they're "interested in bilingualism." Hey, Concordia grads, is this how you want your alumni donations being spent?

The entire text of Investigator Lachance's September 7, 2006, email report on my activities is reproduced below (translated from its original French by the bilinguaphile yours truly).

Greetings,

I learned this morning that Dr. Bernans will give two readings for a "launch" of his book, "Beyong 9/11" (sic.): one at McGill University, on September 11, 2006, at 4:30 p.m. and one at Concordia University, the same day at 7 p.m. at the Coop Bookstore.

It seems that Dr. Bernans is interested in bilingualism at Concordia. He was photographing posters this morning.

Jacques Lachance, Investigator

The email was sent from the investigator to the head of Concordia Security, Jean Brisebois (a former RCMP agent), and a copy sent to Robert Rivard (another member of the Concordia Security establishment). Robert Rivard replied the same day to thank the investigator for his report, saying cryptically (at least from my perspective as outsider trying to make sense of these internal communications) "Agents will be informed."

To be honest, I was more than a little miffed that the investigator got the title of my book wrong. For the record, the novel is called North of 9/11 (Cumulus Press, 2006). He managed to get the time and place of both events right, but neither of the readings could be described as a "launch" since the book had already been launched at Concordia the previous spring. I have no clue what the reference to bilingualism means and I have no recollection of having taken any photographs of posters that morning at the Montréal downtown campus. In fact, it would have been quite a feat since I had no camera. I do recall a photographer from a McGill student newspaper snapping pictures of me going up and down the clunky escalators connecting the floors of the concrete bloc that is Concordia's Hall Building. I suppose that could have been what the investigator was reporting to his superiors, thinking the photographer was working for me on some secret terrorist bilingual reconnaissance mission. But why "agents" (presumably campus security guards) needed to be informed about any of this, is puzzling to say the least.

Documents show university spied on novelist

(Thanks, Rob!)

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Olympus WS-110 WMA Digital Voice Recorder The Olympus WS-110 digital voice recorder works beautifully. The interface was pretty easy to figure out, and the built-in USB plug is very handy. I just stick it my computer and it mounts like a disk. Full review | Purchase

Gerber Crucial Multi-Tool :
The Gerber Crucial's specs and image give me that head-to-toe multitool lust that has overtaken me only a few times before -- once for the Skeletool and once for Gerber's old DIY mix-and-match tool. I've had about five Gerber tools over the years and every one of them was a winner. I'm off to buy one tomorrow. WANT. FWOAR.

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Itzbeen Baby Care Timer:
I like the look of the ITZBEEN: a four-way baby-care timer that helps sleep-depped parents remember exactly when the little pisher last had a little pish.

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RESCUE TAPE Self-Fusing Silicone Tape :
Self-fusing silicone "rescue" tape sounds like some powerfully useful stuff -- permanently bonds to itself in one minute, creating a 700psi-rated, acid/solvent/oil-resistant seal. As the Red Ferret sez, "just think of it as a reel of spare fanbelt."

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Thinkpad X200:
My latest and most favorite laptop has the greatest warranty on earth. It's light, rugged, fast, runs GNU/Linux like blazes, has a waterproof keyboard with drainage holes in the bottom, and you can choose from heavy, super-long-life batteries for long-distance travel and light, slender ones for home-and-office journeys.

Full review | Purchase

Other installments:

Part One: Kids

Part Two: Media

Part Three: Gadgets

Comic fandom's rarely held to be a welcoming place for girls. But one correspondent remembers fondly her trip to the 1978 San Diego Comic-Con, when she was a wee 8-year old girl. Other females, however, were few and far between.

ROB: How did you find yourself, as a little kid, at the El Cortez Hotel in '78?

CANDACE: When I was 8, my father took me to my first Comic-Con.  He was not an overt comic junkie although he liked SciFi well enough, but I was, having been captivated by the Pini's ElfQuest comics, introduced to me by a boy of course.  Wendy Pini was there.  I still have my original Warp Graphics versions, plus two or more of each of the graphic novels that I now share with my 5 year old.  I believe it was still called San Diego's West Coast Comic-Con at that time.   

ROB: Any other well-known comic writers and artists that you recall?

CANDACE: There were others there that are now part of the iconic comic lexicon (say that five times fast) - Matt Groening and Boris Vallejo come to mind.  Later, I remember Ray Bradbury and Douglas Adams - I think in the downtown San Diego convention center.  Maybe 1983 or so.   

ROB: It must have been overwhelming!

CANDACE: Seeing as how I was only eight I was not old enough to really appreciate what it all really meant. 

ROB: How many other girls were there?

CANDACE: My impressions are of being one of the few girls there either my age or even into the teens.  This persisted for the next 8-9 years.  There were no scantily clad "models" marketing their wares or even promoting films.  That started much later. I am certain that I was missing out on a lot of the after hours screening events, knowing from later experiences that the films tended toward less mainstream and more risqué fare.   

ROB: You mention how the event's changed, how bit it's become. The whole vibe of the show must have been completely different in those days.

CANDACE: I remember lots of booths with just a couple of guys and their boxes of comic books.  Golden and Silver Age comics were star attractions.  There were lots of early Star Trek and Superman fans and even some early costume wearers.  Some of the big comic retailers that have continued to stick it out over the years were there even then, Mile High and others.   

ROB: What was the atmosphere like? Was it easy to just hang out?

CANDACE: One thing I loved was that many artists would do custom work at the convention.  You could see the work in process.  It would then be donated to the convention and auctioned off.  Though that tradition still continues to some degree, you had a much greater chance of seeing the work in progress and eventually even winning it at auction than you do today.   

I loved the flashing gorgeous neon signs of that old hotel and it's Sky Room restaurant.  Being able to be see and talk to my heroes, awestruck and tongue-tied, without standing in huge lines - just feeling like part of the gang.  I miss it.  

ROB: When was the last time you went along?

CANDACE: I am still a regular "con" attendee, lucky enough to obtain a free professional pass as my husband is an award-winning Pixar animator.  I am responsible for introducing him to the Comic-Con as well in 1993.  He used to push me to the front of the crowd to get freebies as women were still a minority at the show.  Our then regular attendance started him on a path of taking a fine arts education and turning it into a more lucrative career of video games (Journeyman Project - I even got to voice a space station computer) and included the creation of a true 1998/1999 internet viral video, Alien Song - seen here: http://www.navone.org/HTML/AlienSongDownload.htm.  When founder of Pixar, Ed Catmull saw it, he hired Victor.  So in some ways, Comic-Con has shaped my life for more than 30 years.   

Now we go and battle our way through the crowds, hunting down our favorite artists and items.  We cannot stand more than a day of the chaos.  It is information overload at it's finest.  But I'll always love it!

]]>Comic fandom's rarely held to be a welcoming place for girls. But one correspondent remembers fondly her trip to the 1978 San Diego Comic-Con, when she was a wee 8-year old. Other females, however, were few and far between.<br clear="both" style="clear: both;"/> <br clear="both" style="clear: both;"/> <a href="http://ads.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=d28b434020ca824a49dd27bb8eb6efdf&p=1"><img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://ads.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=d28b434020ca824a49dd27bb8eb6efdf&p=1"/></a> <img alt="" height="0" width="0" border="0" style="display:none" src="http://a.rfihub.com/eus.gif?eui=2226"/>http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/27/a-girl-at-the-1978-c.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/7mPu8LOobto/vote-early-vote-ofte.htmlCultureRob BeschizzaThu, 26 Nov 2009 22:07:15 PSTtag:www.boingboing.net,2009://1.68603vote for Boing Boing in Adweek's "blog of the decade" poll, Perez Hilton may win. Do your duty.

]]>Attention, readers! If you don't vote for Boing Boing in Adweek's "blog of the decade" poll, Perez Hilton may win. Do your duty....<br clear="both" style="clear: both;"/> <br clear="both" style="clear: both;"/> <a href="http://ads.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=87ac6accf0522822c75786cbf5edef02&p=1"><img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://ads.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=87ac6accf0522822c75786cbf5edef02&p=1"/></a> <img alt="" height="0" width="0" border="0" style="display:none" src="http://a.rfihub.com/eus.gif?eui=2226"/>http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/27/vote-early-vote-ofte.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/t2rCpNmqKoQ/wwi-images-from-libr.htmlCulturearchivescanadaphotowwiCory DoctorowThu, 26 Nov 2009 23:32:00 PSTtag:www.boingboing.net,2009://1.68740
Library and Archives Canada has released a whole ton of WWI images to Flickr, including some stunning color paintings of Vimy Ridge and related places.

LAC / BAC's photostream (via Resource Shelf)

(Image: Anti-conscription parade at Victoria Square / Défilé anti-conscription au Square Victoria)

THE STORY SO FAR: John, Kilroy2.0, Father Thomas and four other unwitting human clones have been assembled by the U.S. government to track their villianous progenitor, a psychopath responsible for the murder of the president. His plans of terror are just beginning.

In the last episode, the clones continued to decipher John Alpha's Morse code clue. Meanwhile at a military base in the Russian wilderness, a former CIA agent named Doug Devlin reminisces about his past -- and his current alliance with Alpha. A much larger conspiracy is unveiled.

Check out this week's installment below. If you're enjoying this serialized experience, support the book by purchasing a copy at Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Borders, or printing this PDF order form and presenting it at your favorite bookstore. You can learn more about the book at J.C.'s site.

Seventh Son, Part 6

Clever Cake Studio (via The Boing Boing Flickr Pool)

]]>Clever Cake Studios made this smashing game-themed, Tetrisoid cake for the opening of a local Play'N'Trade store -- the little faces are caricatures of store employees. Clever Cake Studio (via The Boing Boing Flickr Pool)...<br clear="both" style="clear: both;"/> <br clear="both" style="clear: both;"/> <a href="http://ads.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=5a9bc85e64991efbaa3d1081217a8193&p=1"><img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://ads.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=5a9bc85e64991efbaa3d1081217a8193&p=1"/></a> <img alt="" height="0" width="0" border="0" style="display:none" src="http://a.rfihub.com/eus.gif?eui=2226"/>http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/26/game-themed-tetris-c.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/X7jrIlrNzEk/search-engines-are-t.htmlTechnologyeducationsearchengineCory DoctorowThu, 26 Nov 2009 22:42:34 PSTtag:www.boingboing.net,2009://1.68737to learn:

The researchers sought to discover the cognitive processes underlying searching. They examined the search habits of 72 participants while conducting a total of 426 searching tasks. They found that search engines are primarily used for fact checking users' own internal knowledge, meaning that they are part of the learning process rather than simply a source for information. They also found that people's learning styles can affect how they use search engines.

"Our results suggest the view of Web searchers having simple information needs may be incorrect," said Jim Jansen, associate professor of information sciences and technology. "Instead, we discovered that users applied simple searching expressions to support their higher-level information needs."

They have smashed water mains, damaged homes, buildings and the local airstrip - threatening emergency medical evacuations - and scared local residents from venturing outside.

"The community of Docker River is under siege," said the Northern Territory's Local Government Minister, Rob Knight.

"This is a dire situation which requires immediate action

...Central Australian Camel Industry executive officer, Peter Seidel, said camel meat was low in fat and cholesterol and tasted like beef.

"There is substantial demand worldwide (for camel meat). An investor from Oman is already interested," Mr Seidel said.

(Image: Deve (Camel), a Creative Commons Attribution photo from Veyis Polat's Flickr stream)

]]>Nat sez, "Six thousand marauding camels have rampaged though a small Australian outback town. Apparently there are over a million in the outback, doubling their numbers every nine years, and despoiling the ecosystems, water supplies, and Aboriginal resources. Wikipedia knows all. One proposed solution involves an export-licensed, halal-certified abattoir to produce camel meat for export. Just goes to show that there's no tasty meat source so invasive and pestilential that it doesn't have an industry and lobby group." They have smashed water mains, damaged homes, buildings and the local airstrip - threatening emergency medical evacuations - and scared local residents from venturing outside. "The community of Docker River is under siege," said the Northern Territory's Local Government Minister, Rob Knight. "This is a dire situation which requires immediate action ...Central Australian Camel Industry executive officer, Peter Seidel, said camel meat was low in fat and cholesterol and tasted like beef. "There is substantial demand worldwide (for camel meat). An investor from Oman is already interested," Mr Seidel said. Feral camels ruling the roost in Outback (Thanks, Nat!) (Image: Deve (Camel), a Creative Commons Attribution photo from Veyis Polat's Flickr stream)...<br clear="both" style="clear: both;"/> <br clear="both" style="clear: both;"/> <a href="http://ads.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=8f4d2ef4737b7cd92d746e121bc6240c&p=1"><img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://ads.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=8f4d2ef4737b7cd92d746e121bc6240c&p=1"/></a> <img alt="" height="0" width="0" border="0" style="display:none" src="http://a.rfihub.com/eus.gif?eui=2226"/>http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/26/camels-terrorize-aus.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/W68UtM90Cuo/mckinnon-another-ste.htmlTechnologyRob BeschizzaThu, 26 Nov 2009 21:54:24 PSTtag:www.boingboing.net,2009://1.68734Gary McKinnon, tinkerer in U.S. military systems, has all but lost his legal battle to avoid extradition. What's worse? That his real crime was to reveal his supposed victims' criminal incompetence and expose a lopsided extradition treaty, or that the British press will bullshit relentlessly about his likely sentence--and portray Aspergers sufferers as mental and moral infants--just to hype his story? And then there are his laywers, ready with the ultimate moral blackmail: He'll kill himself if forced to face American justice.

]]>British hacker Gary McKinnon, tinkerer in U.S. military systems, has all but lost his legal battle to avoid extradition. What's worse? That his real crime was to reveal his supposed victims' criminal incompetence and expose a lopsided extradition treaty, or that the British press will bullshit relentlessly about his likely sentence--and portray Aspergers sufferers as mental and moral infants--just to hype his story? And then there are his laywers, ready with the ultimate moral blackmail: He'll kill himself if forced to face American justice....<br clear="both" style="clear: both;"/> <br clear="both" style="clear: both;"/> <a href="http://ads.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=c9348fb22055f151509455cf409f7167&p=1"><img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://ads.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=c9348fb22055f151509455cf409f7167&p=1"/></a> <img alt="" height="0" width="0" border="0" style="display:none" src="http://a.rfihub.com/eus.gif?eui=2226"/>http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/26/mckinnon-another-ste.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/nQ5LEpE-n3M/cancer-drug-may-trea.htmlScienceDavid PescovitzThu, 26 Nov 2009 16:18:27 PSTtag:www.boingboing.net,2009://1.68733posted before about my brother Mark Pescovitz's fine art photography. In his spare time, Mark is a transplant surgeon and medical research scientist. Today, he and his colleagues published a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine about a new way to slow and possibly even stop the progression of type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile-onset diabetes. The approach uses the drug Rituxan, normally indicated to treat non-hodgkins lymphoma and rheumatoid arthritis. Is it nepotism for me to post about my brother's accomplishment? Nah, just nachas. Keep up the great work, Mark! From Reuters:

"What this study does is open the door to a whole new way to approaching type 1 diabetes," Dr. Mark Pescovitz of Indiana University, who led the study, said in a telephone interview.

Rituxan, known generically as rituximab, is made by Genentech, a unit of Roche Holding AG and Biogen Idec Inc. It was designed to wipe out immune cells known as B lymphocytes, which proliferate out of control in lymphoma.

The same cells are also involved in the autoimmune destruction of healthy cells and tissue seen in rheumatoid arthritis and, in theory, in juvenile diabetes.

Usually, by the time diabetes symptoms appear, 80 to 90 percent of those insulin-producing cells have been destroyed. The Pescovitz team gave Rituxan hoping to save the remaining cells.

The treatment worked at first and the body produced more insulin. But over time, the effects faded, and insulin production began to decline at the same rate as among people who received placebo.

Pescovitz said he was not disappointed. Further tests will show if repeated treatments with Rituxan or newer drugs that also eliminate B lymphocytes will keep insulin production up.

"Rituximab, B-Lymphocyte Depletion, and Preservation of Beta-Cell Function" (New England Journal of Medicine)

These companies' businesses are inconceivable without the net, but they also risk being collateral damage in Mandelson's war on the British internet. Just increasing the liability for copyright infringement (and creating a duty to police user-submitted files for infringement) could bankrupt either company overnight. How would Moo sell business cards with your personal photos on them if they could be sued into oblivion should those photos turn out to infringe copyright?

Mandelson is standing up for the Analogue Economy, the economy premised on the no-longer-technically-true idea that copying is hard. Companies based on the outdated notion of inherent difficulty of copying must change or they will die. Because copying isn't hard. Copying isn't going to get harder. This moment, right now, 2009, this is as hard as copying will be for the rest of recorded history. Next year, copying will be easier. And the year after that. And the year after that. Why does Mandelson favour the Analogue Economy over the Digital?

Dan Bull (he of the musical open letter to Lily Allen about copyright) has recorded another open letter to Peter Mandelson, the UK Business Secretary who's set himself up to be Pirate-Finder General, with nearly unlimited powers to enforce copyright.

Dan Bull - Dear Mandy [an open letter to Lord Mandelson] (Thanks, Toby!)

Two bits of lighthearted holiday history from my old friends at mental_floss.

The first official National Thanksgiving Turkey was presented by members of the Poultry and Egg National Board to Harry Truman in 1947. According to some reports, they ate him. Not that it necessarily matters, since the turkeys who get pardoned don't live for very long anyway. According to The New York Times, "Whether the turkeys come from a shelter or the White House, they don't live very long. Most adopted turkeys are commercially bred broad-breasted whites, genetically disposed to grow to a marketable size in about four months. Even on a diet of only a couple of cups of turkey feed a day, they become obese. They usually develop leg problems, congestive heart failure and arthritis."

In 1939, the Retail Dry Goods Association warned Franklin Roosevelt that if the holiday season wouldn't begin until after Americans celebrated Thanksgiving on the traditional final Thursday in November, retail sales would go in the tank. Ever the iconoclast, Roosevelt saw an easy solution to this problem: he moved Thanksgiving up by a week. Roosevelt didn't make the announcement until late October, and by then most Americans had already made their holiday travel plans. Many rebelled and continued to celebrate Thanksgiving on its "real" date while derisively referring to the impostor holiday as "Franksgiving." State governments didn't know which Thanksgiving to observe, so some of them took both days off. In short, it was a bit of a mess.

Mental_Floss: The Somewhat Dark History of the Presidential Turkey Pardon & A Brief History of Black Friday.

There's this myth in wide circulation: rational, emotionless Vulcans in white coats, plumbing the secrets of the universe, their Scientific Methods unsullied by bias or emotionalism. Most people know it's a myth, of course; they subscribe to a more nuanced view in which scientists are as petty and vain and human as anyone (and as egotistical as any therapist or financier), people who use scientific methodology to tamp down their human imperfections and manage some approximation of objectivity.

But that's a myth too. The fact is, we are all humans; and humans come with dogma as standard equipment. We can no more shake off our biases than Liz Cheney could pay a compliment to Barack Obama. The best we can do-- the best science can do-- is make sure that at least, we get to choose among competing biases.

That's how science works. It's not a hippie love-in; it's rugby. Every time you put out a paper, the guy you pissed off at last year's Houston conference is gonna be laying in wait. Every time you think you've made a breakthrough, that asshole supervisor who told you you needed more data will be standing ready to shoot it down. You want to know how the Human Genome Project finished so far ahead of schedule? Because it was the Human Genome projects, two competing teams locked in bitter rivalry, one led by J. Craig Venter, one by Francis Collins -- and from what I hear, those guys did not like each other at all. Because As We All Know, The Green Party Runs the World. (via Charlie Stross)

Every year in New York, Boing Boing buddy Danielle Spencer organizes a Turkey-shaped Jell-O® Mold art competition that rivals the great art showcases of our time -- think of it as the Venice Biennale of holiday-themed foodplay.

The 2009 edition winners have been selected, and Danielle has published critiques and appreciations of each masterpiece. There's an awful lot of je ne sais quoi goin' on. Justin Downs crafted a Jell-o turkey Death Rattle that purrs when you pet it, with an embedded capacitive circuit (inset, at left). Then, there's David Byrne's conceptual baby-food entry. Cindy Sherman's entry sounded tastiest: "white chocolate with chopped candied walnuts filled with cranberry/pomegranate flavored gelatin (no added sugar) with raspberries."

Above, "Live Feed," by The Builders Association:

With the hard drive as proscenium, The Builders Assocation mounts a spectacle that exposes the "transparency" of contemporary technology. The turkey appears to be giving birth to an iPod Nano, which plays--on endless loop--a video of a turkey. We are frozen in time, yet the video evokes remembrances of cluckings past. In this way the Builders brilliantly capture the intersection of synchronic and diachronic axes while forcing us to interrogate our relationship with turkeys and technology.

Turkey-shaped Jell-O® Mold: 2009 Competition

[A note for lawyers: this is just unofficial fun, and Jell-o/Kraft Foods has nothing to do with this, other than having created an iconic and enduring American food ingredient.]

A photograph from the Library of Congress collection in the Flickr Commons.

Thanksgiving Maskers, what the heck's that, you ask? Before Halloween became the holiday it now is in the United States, children would dress up in masks on the final Thursday in November and go door to door for treats (think: fruit!), or scramble for pennies. The tradition was known as Thanksgiving Masking.

Here are more Library of Congress images from the early 1900s which depict the now-abandoned custom.

An excerpt from a New York Times article published in 1899 after the jump, with details of the maskers' hijinks -- which included boys and men running around in women's clothing. Some of them organized into a society known as "Fantastics."

From Encyclopedia.com:

Progressive era reformers regarded child begging on Thanksgiving as immoral and thought children who engaged in it should be arrested. Why were parents not able to control their offspring? the New York Times in 1903 wanted to know. (30) The newspaper castigated parents who allowed children to demand treats or money as indecent.(31) The police tried to enforce a ban against begging. In response to complaints from the public, the clergy, school superintendents, and classroom teachers issued warnings. The New York Times in November of 1930 worried that demanding coins could teach children to become professional beggars and blackmailers and that children were annoying the public.(32) Begging, decided the paper, was a "malicious influence on the morals of children of the city. (33) Boys' clubs and other child welfare agencies organized parades and costume contests as alternative activities. As a result of these efforts, child begging on Thanksgiving finally disappeared by the 1940s.(34) The tradition went back as far as 1780, involving crossdressing men who called themselves the Fantastics and paraded on the holiday.

And here's a snip from a New York Times story from December 1, 1899 about that year's Thanksgiving festivities:

Full PDF of the article, as it appeared in print.

]]><br clear="both" style="clear: both;"/> <br clear="both" style="clear: both;"/> <a href="http://ads.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=913c6174d1713b02ce9995d4ad4fb153&p=1"><img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://ads.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=913c6174d1713b02ce9995d4ad4fb153&p=1"/></a> <img alt="" height="0" width="0" border="0" style="display:none" src="http://a.rfihub.com/eus.gif?eui=2226"/>http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/26/william-s-burroughs-3.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/ux3yVtMU-1U/boing-boing-gift-gui-1.htmlEntertainmentReviewsgamesgiftguidemoviesmusicCory DoctorowFri, 27 Nov 2009 02:21:47 PSTtag:www.boingboing.net,2009://1.68691 Here Comes Science: I am thoroughly smitten with the new They Might Be Giants kids' album, Here Comes Science, which ships with a charming DVD of videos and supplementary material. In the best traditions of awesome educational kids music -- Schoolhouse Rock, the Animaniacs, Electric Company -- Here Comes Science combines top-notch pop music with humor that's aimed at both kids and adults (I once heard the creators of Sesame Street discuss how the inclusion of humor targeted at adults meant that grownups were more likely to watch with the kids, and thus be on hand to answer questions and discuss the material; this should be gospel for everyone who makes media for kids). And, of course, the material is great. Better than great. Perfect. This is the album They Might Be Giants was put on Earth to record: they are genuine science nerds, and it shows. Full review | Purchase

Rolling Stone Cover to Cover: The First 40 Years Every issue on three DVDs and works with Windows and Mac. It's fun to search on terms to see when they first appeared in Rolling Stone. "Punk Rock" made its debut in 1973 (though it was about garage punk, not the punk rock that began in 1975). An October 1977 article by Charley Walters called "Punk: Pretty Vacant Music" is the first to mention The Clash. (Walters has good things to say about The Clash, but dismisses punk rock music in general as "overly simplistic and rudimentary. It's also not very good.") Full review | Purchase

The Princess Bride (20th Anniversary Edition):
Justin Watt sez, "the latest cover of the Princess Bride DVD has an amazing ambigram." Indeed it does -- a suitably awesome cover for one of the finest movies ever made.

Full review | Purchase

Glitter and Doom Live (Tom Waits):
Glitter and Doom is the latest Tom Waits CD, a double live-disc featuring tracks from his US/Euro 2008 tour, along with a disc of him basically telling jokes and shooting the shit with the audience. It's a real winner.

Full review | Purchase

Stop Making Sense:
Mine too. This is the best concert movie I've ever seen, one of the greatest albums ever recorded, and the amazing thing is that the trajectory of the band and its components went up from there. I've been listening to the new Byrne/Eno for weeks on heavy rotation and going crazy over it.

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Mister Rogers Swings!:
Holly Yarbrough's Mister Rogers Swings! is a fine collection of swinging, jazzy, uptempo covers of songs from classic episodes of Mr Rogers' Neighborhood, with a big, brassy band backing sweet, passionate vocals.

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Monster Kid Home Movies:
Monster Kid Home Movies is an utterly exuberant celebration of monster-obsessed amateur creativity, and the films are filled with raw enthusiasm for the genre. These are Forry Ackerman's spiritual progeny at their most ingenious, contriving incredible costumes, ill-advised stunts, clever camera work, and often hilarious hamming to recreate the famous monsters of filmland.

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The IT Crowd, Vol 3:
This was the funniest season yet -- the Friendster episode was nothing short of brilliant. The show has hit its stride and is triumphantly stalking the airwaves. Best of all were the shots of the densely decorated set, which was dressed by Boing Boing readers and fans of the show, who sent their favorite nerd memorabilia to the show for inclusion.

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Left4Dead 2:
Left 4 Dead -- a first-person, team-play zombie game -- is one of the most compelling, nightmarish, cinematic games I've ever seen. Part of it is the excellent play mechanics, part of it is the music (which has its own AI subsystem to ensure that it follows your play and makes appropriate, dramatic swellings at all the right times), part of it is the superb writing -- but it's mostly the fact that computer generated zombies are supposed to inhabit the uncanny valley, so these undead critters seem incredibly lifelike.

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Free to Be...You and Me (Marlo Thomas):
Free To Be... You and Me was one of my favorite movie/record/books when I was growing up. Marlo Thomas's 1972 project brought together an all-star cast to perform songs, poems and sketches that challenged gender stereotypes and delivered a fundamentally humane, loving message about being who you are and not being constrained by society's expectations.

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Other installments:

Part One: Kids

Part Two: Media

Part Three: Gadgets