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Exec at troubled hedge fund busted for operating "complex" weed farm in her home
Teri Buhl at Forbes reports on a sign of the times: "An executive at a billion-dollar Connecticut hedge fund was arrested on felony charges of allegedly running a huge year-round pot farm inside her home. But her boyfriend says the cops have it wrong, that they're goat farmers, not dope farmers." (Image: A CC-licensed photo by Flickr user r0bz.)...
Yet another reason to opt-out of airport backscatter scanners: radiation exposure
"Many people will approach this as, 'Oh, it must be safe, the government has thought about this and I'll just submit to it. But there really is no threshold of low dose being OK. Any dose of X-rays produces some potential risk."—David Agard, UCSF biochemist and biophysicist, one of a number of scientists concerned about potential health hazards of those new back-scatter scanners at airpor...
Canada may send flight data to US Homeland Security
A bill introduced this week in Canada's House of Commons would give US Department of Homeland Security officials "final say over who may board aircraft in Canada if they are to fly over the United States en route to a third country." (via @ioerror)...
Mary Roach: Death In Space
For some uplifting weekend reading, I suggest Mary Roach's excellent Boing Boing special feature "Death In Space." From the intro: The U.S. has plans for a manned visit to Mars by the mid-2030s. The ESA and Russia have sketched out a similar joint mission, and it is claimed that China's space program has the same objective. Apart from their destination, all these plans share something in common...
Interview with James Howard Kunstler, author of The Witch of Hebron
Matt Staggs of Suvudu interviewed James Howard Kunstler (The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century) about his forthcoming novel, The Witch of Hebron, which is anther novel set in the same universe as his end-of-cheap-energy novel, World Made by Hand (which I liked and reviewed here). Staggs: Both World Made by Hand and The Witch of Hebron take place i...
Adorable baby octopuses, living happy and free
To make up for the research kittens. Note: This starts out somewhat depressingly, with the body of a female octopus that died after reproducing—as all octopuses, male and female, do. But it quickly gets past that, and on to the wee, baby octopuses, floating around the sea. Turn off the sound to block out the sad song, and focus on that. From jenniel, via Submitterator...
Research on horribly cute kittens is kind of horrible looking
"In order to study the way that experience can influence the brain, there has been a great deal of research done on the visual cortex of the kitten." Oh, this is going to end badly, isn't it? This short documentary from the 1970s explains, in depth, some research that I mentioned earlier this year in a BoingBoing article on fetal senses. Long story short: Kittens are born blind and do a lot of ...
What Things Do: excellent webcomics
Panels from "Unraveling," part 2, by Jordan Crane What Things Do is a stunningly good webcomics site, launched by comics artist Jordan Crane and featuring some of the best independent comics artists around, including Gabrielle Bell, Abner Dean, Sammy Harkham, Jaime Hernandez, Kevin Huizenga, Ted May, John Porcellino, Ron Regé Jr., Steve Weissman, and Dan Zettwoch. Many of the artists here seem ...
The Imp, a great journal about comic books, now as free PDFs
Daniel Raeburn has done the world a favor by creating free PDF versions of his outstanding self-published journal about comic books, The Imp. Though he published only four issues (I have them all in hard copy) Raeburn's journal is regarded as a masterpiece of comic book criticism. Each issue covered a single subject: Daniel Clowes in Vol 1, Jack Chick in Vol 2, Chris Ware in Vol 3, and Mexican ...
Cannabis Catering
Cannabis Catering offers gourmet meals laced with pot. The delivery service isn't cheap, around $100/person, but damn those pot-atoes look tasty. And yes, you need a medical marijuana card to order. From Fast Company: The idea for Cannabis Catering came to (Chef Frederick) Nesbitt when he learned that his friend's diabetic mother had been diagnosed with cancer. "I would bring back edibles [from...
WTF stamp
For all your puzzlement needs: the self-inking WTF stamp. WTF Stamp (Thanks, Alice!) WTF?!, a Flash-based World of Warcraft parody Raygun: WTF 2000 WTF: "Kids' lingerie" photos featuring Miley Cyrus' 9-year-old ... Web Zen: WTF? zen Wisconsin Tourism Federation loses to WTF, changes name WTF is "Dairy Drink?" Cellphones and Cancer: OMG + FUD + WTF WtF Magazine (Welcome to Finland)...
Jewelry made from laminated, polished cross-sections of books
UK designer Jeremy May makes jewelry by laminating and polishing pages from old books together to make striking pieces: "The beauty of the jewels extends within the piece: text and images pass all the way though the object, only exposed at the surfaces - giving a tantalising glimpse of the book within." LITTLEFLY (Thanks, Irene Delse via Submitterator!) Apartment made out of books Font made of ...
Flying carpet sofa
Tonio de Roover's East meets West sofa is meant to evoke flying carpets. I can't figure out how comfortable it'd be, but it looks great. East meets west (via Craft) Sofa turns into a punching bag Sofa/bookcase Coffin sofa Sofa modelled on brainwaves Accordioning sofa - mindblowing video Sofa that lets you float in the clouds Doc sofa bed converts into a bunk bed within seconds ......
Old tabriz rug becomes bear rug
An unnamed artist transformed a worn antique tabriz wool rug into a wonderful, fanciful bear rug. I imagine the reported "repaired knots and moth damage" just enhance its charm. 87" x 59", $1800 from CS Post. Repurposed Antique Tabriz Wool Rug (via Make) Monster skin rug Relief map rug World's biggest handmade rug...
Resignation cake sender has invoice cake delivered to People.com
Last year, I posted about how W. Neil Berrett quit his job by presenting his boss with a resignation letter on a sheet cake. Here's the story behind Berrett's latest cake document, a frosted invoice delivered today to People.com: Today I sent an invoice on a cake to People.com. I'm demanding $500 from them after my Cake of Resignation photo was used without permission and without payment. Here'...
Russian mobsters taking over French Riviera
"They're into everything, from the Russian prostitute rings in resorts like Cannes and St Tropez to gassing tourists in their villa and stealing everything they've got. Bosses are now based here permanently, with foot soldiers working for them, often flying in for set periods before returning home with their profits in cash. The numbers really are unprecedented at the moment."—a French po...
The Student Loan Scheme: gateway drug to debt slavery
Information designer Jess Bachman has a new piece out which isn't so much an info-graphic as a graphic article. Jess explains: It deals with the nightmare that has become student loans. Default rates on student loans are worse than sub-prime mortgages, and the total debt is bigger than all our credit card debts combined. It's a huge issue than many people are keeping quiet about. College studen...
Woz and Jobs, phone phreakers
Adafruit Industries has posted a pair of terrific videos in which Apple's "Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs talk about their short career building illegal telephone equipment, aka 'blue boxes.' Interesting how their two stories differ...the engineer and the marketer." Bonus: Cap'n Crunch!...
Hai Karate
Axe is for wimps. Hai Karate: "Be careful how you use it." (Thanks, Mark!)...
How to make Sriracha "rooster" hot sauce at home
Well, I know what I'm doing this weekend: here's a recipe for how to make sriracha hot sauce, the ubiquitous Asian restaurant condiment in that clear plastic bottle with the little white rooster on the side. (via Farhad)...
Friday tunes: "Chola Maati Ke Ram," from the Peepli Live soundtrack
I drove south last weekend to a predominantly Indian suburb of Los Angeles to catch Peepli Live (Wikipedia) at a movie theater that plays only films from India. Its was terrific, a poignant and LOL-filled commentary on the state of Indian news media, and the injustice and tragedy that rural communities face. Unsurprisingly, the soundtrack was full of great tunes. My favorite was the song embede...
The physics of breaking stuff with your fists
iO9 recently ran a story on how martial artists are able to break boards and cement blocks, using their hands rather than mystical powers. I thought it was pretty neat, but then I read an interesting counter-analysis by science journalist (and, significantly, martial arts practitioner) John Rennie. iO9 is right about the lack of magic powers, he says. But they got the physics wrong. Key slip-up...
Cock-touching forbidden in Kyoto
I didn't touch it....
The Wilderness Downtown: Chrome experiment by Chris Milk and Arcade Fire
The Wilderness Downtown is perhaps the best browser-dominating Net art piece I've experienced since Jodi.org's best work more than a decade ago. An experimental, interactive film by Chris Milk, it's a tour-de-force for the Chrome browser and a lovely visual poem to accompany Arcade Fire's excellent "We Used To Wait" from their album The Suburbs. I won't give the "story" away, but I found it to ...
Thanks for reading and "May the scientific method always be with you."
Phylomon cards: "EUROPEAN HONEY BEE, I CHOOSE YOU!" I had a great experience here at Boing Boing, and want to send on a big thanks to Mark, Cory, Xeni, David, Rob and the rest of the crew for letting me spend some quality time here. I'm also grateful to the many museum folks who let me chat with them, and so graciously showed me their projects. Kudos especially to Bob Bloomfield for the warm we...
Nagoya COP10 Primer #4: with reference to Twitter
Continuing from: Nagoya COP10 Primer #1: with references to Star Wars Nagoya COP10 Primer #2: with a reference to Kevin Bacon Nagoya COP10 sidebar: UNFCCC YOU! Nagoya COP10 Primer #3: with a small reference to LOL cats So what should be done at Nagoya? This is the 20 million species plus question. And for all of the criticism that I've (and others) have proffered, we should appreciate that the ...
Crystal Jellybean Skull only $6 in Boing Boing Bazaar
Who in their right mind wouldn't want a Crystal Jellybean Skull for only six dollars? Get yours now in the Boing Boing Bazaar. Crystal Jellybean Skull...
HOWTO: Tiny BBQ out of Altoids Sours tin
Instructables.com contributor vmspionage built a tiny BBQ grill out of an Altoids Sours tin and computer fan grates. My 4-year-old (and I) would love this for making s'mores, one bubbling, tooth-decaying marshmallow at a time. Altoids Sours BBQ Grill...
SPECIAL FEATURE: Makoto Aida's Schoolgirls
Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential: How Teenage Girls Made a Nation Cool,
by Brian Ashcraft and Shoko Ueda, looks at how this archetype has become such a distinctive international symbol. Following is an excerpt, about the artwork of Makoto Aida, from the book. — Rob
Art, nature, the history of science, and whoa, aren't these are beautiful?
Plate 73 of the John Reeves Collection of Zoological Drawings from Canton, China, 1774-1856. (© The Natural History Museum, London). Reeves was an English tea inspector, but also amassed a wonderful collection of Chinese drawings of plants and animals during his time in Canton. A few weeks back, I had a great conversation with Judith Magee, Library Special Collections Curator at the Natural His...