Boing Boing: A Directory of Wonderful Things

r wrath, went so far as to make a post on its own forums that contained a working URL where BitTorrent users could go to download illegal copies of Galactic Civilizations II (screenshot). This is the same company, afte

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e pirated version only from that web-site."

Apparently, such a model

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Comments from the Diigo community

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with attitudes about the environment later in life. Interestingly, guided natur

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doing a Creative Commons remix contest. Fort Minor, which is a side project of Linkin Park (who if I'm not mistaken, is one of the best selling bands of the last

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d with attitudes about the environment later in life. Interestingly, guided nature experiences like scouts and environmental education classes doesn't affect people in the same way as "free play in nature." From a press release:

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Rubber sidewalks

More than sixty cities around the US, including New York and Washington DC, have installed some rubber sidewalks made from recycled tires. The material is manufactured by Rubbersidewalks Inc. From the Associated Press:

Since 2001, Rubbersidewalks has been grinding thousands of old tires into crumbs, adding chemical binders and baking the material into sidewalk sections that weigh less than 11 pounds a square foot, or a quarter of the weight of concrete. The panels are available in two shades of gray and a terra cotta orange.

Many of the squares have been installed in areas where damage from tree roots, weather and snow removal have required sidewalk replacement or major repairs every three years, said Lindsay Smith, founder and president of Rubbersidewalks. Rubber sidewalks are expected to last at least seven years, Smith said...

The panels are firmer than a running track or a rubberized playground, but far more resilient than concrete.

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HOWTO make a foldable, no-cut, one-sheet mini-zine

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NPR "Xeni Tech": Jigsaw wants your data

For today's edition of the NPR News program "Day to Day," I filed a report on the controversy surrounding Jigsaw Data, an online business contact management site that's something like Wikipedia meets eBay meets a Rolodex. Its founder, Jim Fowler, says he's just providing a way for professionals to reach each other more efficiently. Members pay $25/month to obtain 25 contacts from the site, or agree to put in 25 contacts a month to get 25 others out.

Users maintain the data, but unlike Wikipedia, they don't do it for love here -- they do it to score points, so they can download more contacts. Michael Arrington of Techcrunch says it ought to be illegal, and breaks an implied social contract -- nobody expects that when they hand someone a business card, this personal data will end up on a searchable, publicly-accessible website. Researcher danah boyd says it's an icky but expected evolution from sites like MySpace, Plaxo, LinkedIn, and Friendster, and says people tend to react negatively to services like this because we want control over how reachable we are, and don't like to think of friends or colleagues as numeric "points" to be cashed in.

I speak to all three, and you can listen to an archived edition here after 12pm, or hear it on your local NPR affiliate throughout the US at 9am or 12pm. "Xeni Tech" archives here.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 07:22:13 AM permalink | blogs' comments

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Revver 1.0: make money for your viral vids

Revver, the service that turns your homemade videos into commercial items, has just gone out of beta and into 1.0. Revver lets you upload your videos -- like the infamous Mentos/Diet Coke fountains -- and then distributes them with advertising rolls afterwards, splitting the money with you.

Revver's got a great toolsuite for creators and viewers, and to my eye, the videos look better than YouTube's or Google Videos, and a great collection of social gizmos to help you find the best stuff on the site. The extensive API invites you to remix the site to your heart's content -- unsurprising, given that one of Revver's founders is Ian Clarke, the co-creator of Freenet.

With the 1.0 launch, Revver substantially updates the creator tools, API support, and adds a Flash player and playlists. They've also ironed out a lot of bugs and added a ton of fit-and-finish to the service. This is good stuff. Link

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Researchers have demonstrated a test that detects "cancer genes" in smokers' breath. The assay tests for methylation, a specific biochemical reaction, in six tumor suppressor genes. The methylation is linked with the development of lung cancer. (Studies have previously shown that dogs can sometimes smell cancer on a person's breath.) According to the scientists at the New York State Department of Health, the test may someday be capable of not only identifying people who have undiagnosed lung cancer but those at high risk for it. From the American Association for Cancer Research:

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Time Warner CEO: I stole entire Warners music catalog

In this Reuters roundup, media moguls are asked about their use of iPods. Unsurprisingly, studio heads from Warners and Disney love their portable music players (you have to wonder if they'll join with Universal in claiming that these devices are "repositories for stolen music, and they all know it").

Most interesting is this quote from Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons: "I had the whole bunch of (the Warner music collection) files put on before we sold it."

That sounds reasonable, but wait a sec: he's saying that before his company sold off its record division, he copied the entire catalog for his own personal use? Well, that's pretty slick, isn't it?

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Flatulence forces plane landing

An American airline passenger with a "medical condition" attempted to mask the odor of her flatulence by striking matches. Instead, she caused a bomb-panic, and the plane made an early landing.

The passengers and five crew members were brought off the plane, together with all the luggage, to go through security checks again. Bomb-sniffing dogs found spent matches. The FBI questioned a passenger who admitted she struck the matches in an attempt to conceal body odor, [Lynne Lowrance, a spokeswoman for the Nashville International Airport Authority] said. The woman lives near Dallas and has a medical condition. The flight took off again, but the woman was not allowed back on the plane. "American has banned her for a long time," Lowrance said.

Link (Thanks, Denis!)

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Deep geek podcast: The Command Line

Last week I did an interview with Tom from the Command Line podcast, and I was immediately struck by how knowledgeable and quick Tom was on the subjects that I care about -- technology, civil liberties, and social change. Curious, I downloaded some of the previous episodes of his podcast and found them to be even better than I'd hoped -- thoughtful, informative, and deep, a real plunge into the geeky end of the news-pool. There's great analysis and rumination, as well as detailed explanations of important security issues with common OSes and so on. Tom's just posted the episode with my interview, but don't stop there -- I've added this one to my subscription list. Link, Podcast feed link, iTunes "enhanced" podcast feed link

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Incredible Roy Doty Christmas card

I must have been six or seven years old when I first came across Roy Doty's illustrations in a pile of old Popular Science magazines from the 1960s. Doty's "Wordless Workshop" comics featured a pipe-smoking dad who solved common household problems with ingenious but easy-to-make devices.

I instantly became a fan of his elegant, light-hearted, clear-as-a-bell drawings, and whenever I found old copy of PopSci at a garage sale or used book store, I'd tear through it until I found his two-page cartoon, which he started doing in the early 1950s.

A couple of years ago, I learned that Roy was still actively drawing, for magazines and books. I immediately emailed him and asked him to become the illustrator for MAKE magazine's puzzle page, called Aha! (in homage to another hero of mine, Martin Gardner, who wrote two books I treasure: Aha! Insight and Aha! Gotcha, now available in one volume). Roy was happy to oblige, and has illustrated the column ever since. I can't tell you how exciting it is to get the faxes with his rough sketches for the column. Of course, he needs no art direction; he knows exactly how to illustrate the puzzles.

Every year, Roy sends out whimsical Christmas cards, and this year's is a masterpiece -- a Mousetrap / Rube Goldberg-style holiday celebration machine. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 02:04:45 PM permalink | blogs' comments

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Report: USA's biggest cash crop is now pot.

Marijuana is now America's biggest cash crop, according to an analysis of government stats produced by marijuana public policy analyst Jon Gettman.

[The report] contends that the market value of pot produced in the U.S. exceeds $35 billion — far more than the crop value of such heartland staples as corn, soybeans and hay, which are the top three legal cash crops.

California is responsible for more than a third of the cannabis harvest, with an estimated production of $13.8 billion that exceeds the value of the state's grapes, vegetables and hay combined — and marijuana is the top cash crop in a dozen states, the report states. (...) Nationwide, the estimated cannabis production of $35.8 billion exceeds corn ($23 billion), soybeans ($17.6 billion) and hay ($12.2 billion), according to Gettman's findings.

Link to LA Times article. (Thanks, Stephen Lindholm)

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Web 2.0 explained in a short, moving video

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