Steampunk Maker Jake von Slatt took exception to Merlin Mann's hilarious steampunk monologue and has followed it up with a video-response of his own, noting the upcoming steampunk anthology (which looks frankly awesome -- I have a copy on my desk and I've just skimmed it, but I had to slam it down before I got drawn into it at a time when I've got no spare leisure reading cycles) and Maker Faire.
Link
Those who doubt that human activity is warming the climate sometimes suggest that earthly temperatures are tied to the natural cycles of the Sun. Two British physicists decided to test this idea. They... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 12:02 pm
adamengst tips an article up on TidBITS that explores the persistent reluctance of many nerds to embrace fully new communications media such as IM and Twitter. In this thoughtful article Joe Kissell explores, from the inside, the mind of the introvert and how this personality style often struggles with new "always-on" media. The result is a sometimes exasperated incomprehension on the part of the more extroverted. Well worth a read.
Shawn Peters likes to fuck his wife in hotels. And he’s shared that with his readers at the Boston Globe: So why is check-in a turn-on? Do hotel chains put pheromones in their air-conditioning units?... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 11:24 am
Thanks to the charity of a Dethroner reader, we’ve been thinking about “Drops,” a liquid post-splashdown toilet odor eliminator. If you predict or routinely present above average post-defecatory... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 11:17 am
The Times has a light piece about Lauren J. Reilly, a 31-year-old Manhattanite who owns a stock 1981 DeLorean. She’s single, boys. “One time I was down in Philly, and behind me I hear this... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 11:12 am
Charleton Heston, 84, has died. Charlton Heston, 84; actor played epic figures [LATimes.com] Share This Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 11:10 am
Airgas, Inc. (NYSE:ARG) today announced it has acquired A&N Plant, a European-based supplier of new and reconditioned rotating, positioning, and welding equipment for sale and rent. The business generated approximately $20 million in revenues for the year ended June 30, 2007. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
By Nancy Gaarder, Omaha World-Herald, Neb. Apr. 7--Sure, you do a good job recycling plastic water bottles and milk jugs. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
By Justin Faulconer, The News & Advance, Lynchburg, Va. Apr. 7--As the number of homes continues to increase on Smith Mountain Lake, Bedford County officials are considering dock regulation changes. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
By Steve Tetreault By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON - Federal inspectors on Thursday faulted the Department of Energy for picking a law firm with conflicts of interest to work on the Yucca Mountain Project without fully documenting why the firm was selected. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
WINSTON SALEM, N.C., April 7, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- This Earth Day, busy consumers will be able to enjoy the convenience of bottled water while reducing their impact on the planet with Primo water, a great-tasting water in a more environmentally-friendly, single serve bottle. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
By Alicia Petska, The News & Advance, Lynchburg, Va. Apr. 7--Water and sewer rates in Lynchburg are set to rise again as the city continues to pursue major renovations to its utility systems. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
By Matt Weiser, The Sacramento Bee, Calif. Apr. 7--A legal settlement announced Friday creates a new opportunity to build a major flood bypass on the San Joaquin River, a solution that has been mired in bureaucracy and infighting for decades. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
By Nick Sortal, South Florida Sun-Sentinel Apr. 7--If you live in Broward County, there's a nature center within 20 minutes of you. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
By Tom Pelton, The Baltimore Sun Apr. 7--INDIAN HEAD -- Every spring, ribbons of yellow perch eggs flutter in Mattawoman Creek like golden silk stockings. Each comprises thousands of eggs, glassy orbs holding tiny embryos. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
By Mara Rose Williams, The Kansas City Star, Mo. Apr. 7--Moms may think that cotton padding in baby diapers makes them absorbent, but hundreds of girls who participate each year in the University of Missouri's Magic of Chemistry know better. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
This is just too easy, but it's hard not to be amused at the mortgage troubles faced by the Mortgage Bankers Association. It is being forced to pay much higher prices than it expected on its new Washington... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 10:28 am
Nice figure in a current IMF paper on the global boom-bust cycle in residential real estate. Here we can compare what's been happening in a host of countries all finding real estate going off the rails... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 10:22 am
Apparently recent criticism of Alan Greenspan's March 17th column on risk in the Financial Times got under the ex-maestro's skin. He has responded today with a thin-skinned and consciously obscurantist... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 10:13 am
A minor blogosphere tussle has turned ugly. That’s nothing new; what’s surprising about this particular fight is that one of the participants, Shel Israel, is a well known author and consultant... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 10:11 am
Danny sez, "Last year, Euro Boing Boing readers wrote and called their MEPs to complain about European Union proposals advocating Internet filtering and blocking on behalf of the music industry. Not only... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 10:11 am
Danny sez, "Last year, Euro Boing Boing readers wrote and called their MEPs to complain about European Union proposals advocating Internet filtering and blocking on behalf of the music industry.
Not only were the amendments voted down, but now ninety MEPs from across the political spectrum have tabled a new text which condemns IFPI's plans to exile from the Net anyone they accuse three times of file-sharing:"
Calls on the Commission and the Member States to recognise that the Internet is a vast platform for cultural expression, access to knowledge, and democratic participation in European creativity, bringing generations together through the information society; calls on the Commission and the Member States, therefore, to avoid adopting measures conflicting with civil liberties and human rights and with the principles of proportionality, effectiveness and dissuasiveness, such as the interruption of Internet access.
"Among the advocates of the new language is Michel Rochard, the former Prime Minister of France. That's significant because present French PM Sarkozy is the only Euro leader currently seriously considering implementing IFPI's three strikes plan. With this kind of opposition, it looks like France might remain an anomaly, if it doesn't abandon the plans entirely."
The Government has gave permission for a prototype tidal stream generator which could power 70,000 homes. The generator will be tested in the Humber Estuary near... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 9:41 am
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - "Honey, I'm on a plane" will be increasingly overheard on flights -- much to the annoyance of some passengers -- as the European Commission on Monday unveils a pan-EU... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 9:38 am
OMNIpotusCOM writes "As we've previously discussed, Amazon is in the process of taking the 'Buy' buttons off of published on demand (POD) books that were not created by Amazon's in-house publisher, BookSurge. PODdy Mouth has been reporting reactions throughout the week (including an open letter from Amazon), culminating today in letters to Amazon and their board by the Author's Guild, Small Publishers Association of North America, and the Publishers Marketing Association. Possible lawsuits are looming ... is it enough to change Amazon's mind?"
By Jarrett, Linda Ethanol will now be free flowing out of the St. Louis region with the opening of Gateway Terminals LLC in Sauget, Ill. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Apr 2008 | 8:00 am
By Gardner, Dave A comprehensive program at Misericordia University strives to help people with special needs become higher achievers, including the older members of society. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Apr 2008 | 8:00 am
WASHINGTON - Scientists and engineers are racing to develop ways to use light instead of electricity to avoid traffic jams inside computers. Today's fastest computers employ miles of tiny copper wires to connect multiple data processors packed on silicon chips. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Apr 2008 | 8:00 am
By Lofton, Lynn A variety of methods - tried and true, as well as cutting edge - are being utilized to tell the positive story of downtown Jackson. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Apr 2008 | 8:00 am
By Yurcan, Bryan F U.S. businesses spent $250.7 billion on information and communication technology equipment and computer software in 2006, an increase of 6.3 percent from 2005, according to a recent report from the U.S. Census Bureau. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Apr 2008 | 8:00 am
Bharat Sanchar Nigam has said that it had to postpone the rollout of the National Internet Backbone program by eight months due to supply delays by a consortium led by Telecommunications Consultants India, the Business Standard has reported. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Apr 2008 | 8:00 am
High-tech entrepreneurs in the United States and elsewhere are finding that investors have turned off the venture-capital spigot, analysts said. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Apr 2008 | 8:00 am
TOKYO, April 7, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- NTT Communications (NTT Com) announced today that it will conduct a pilot test of its new Mobile Fragrance Communication (Kaori Tsushin Mobile) service, a mobile version of an existing service for enjoying downloaded audiovisual content together with specific fragrances that are emitted by a dedicated device. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Apr 2008 | 8:00 am
America isn't the exporter that it used to be. All across the nation, plants and factories have closed, victims of cheap foreign labor and cheap-shot trade tactics by our competitors. But one thing we should never tire of exporting in this country is freedom. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Apr 2008 | 8:00 am
At the RSA Conference today, Network Box USA (www.networkboxusa.com), a leading provider of cutting-edge computer network security solutions, unveiled a channel program for its award-winning Network Box Internet threat prevention and security device. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Apr 2008 | 8:00 am
PARIS (Reuters) - France has dropped plans to tender a fourth license for third-generation mobile services, and could instead divide it into several blocks, French daily La Tribune said on... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 7:40 am
Reservoir Hill writes "Researchers have discovered that human skin may contain millions of tiny "antennas" in the form of microscopic sweat ducts that may reveal a person's physical and emotional state. This discovery might eventually result in lie detectors that operate at a distance. In experiments, the team beamed electromagnetic waves with a frequency range of about 100 gigahertz at the hands of test subjects and measured the frequency of the electromagnetic waves reflecting off the subjects' skin. Initially, the experiments were carried out in contact with the subjects' hands, but even at a distance of 22 cm, researchers found a strong correlation between subjects' blood pressure and pulse rate, and the frequency response of their skin."
Stephanie sez, "NotCot has a post up about Stephanie Posavec's (not me) incredibly detailed graphic artwork in which she exhaustively analyzes the language and thematic structure of Jack Kerouac's On The Road, rendering the data into amazingly beautiful Tufteian info-graphics that are as elegant as they are data-rich. In 'Literary Organism' the entire beat classic is represented as an array of flowers, with petals and blossoms accurately reflecting the word and paragraph count of each chapter. Colors are assigned based on the subject of each section, like cyan for 'Dean Moriarty,' & tan for 'Parties, drinking, & drugs' It's breathtaking."
Link to Posavec at the Sheffield Galleries and Museums Trust,
Link to Notcot
U.S. military officials seeking to boost the nation's cyber warfare capabilities are looking beyond defending the Internet: They are developing ways to launch virtual attacks on enemies. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 7:00 am
It says new tools will bring shareholders more benefits than a Microsoft takeover. Yahoo Inc. says it's poised... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 7:00 am
An ex-coroner's investigator performs private autopsies. His side businesses include prop rentals for TV and films. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 7:00 am
More Web start-ups are on the rocks as investors appear to be warier about their bets. In recent months, some... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 7:00 am
LONDON, April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Seen the new way to send mail? Now everyone can post letters, invoices, statements and so on, all directly from the computer desktop into... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 6:03 am
NEW YORK, April 7, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- Experian(R) CheetahMail, a global leading email marketing and customer intelligence service provider, today announced the... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 6:00 am
HOUSTON, April 7, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE: CSV) today announced that it has updated its "Company & Investment Profile", Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 6:00 am
SAN MATEO, Calif, April 7, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- NextLabs(R) Inc., the leading provider of policy-driven, information risk management software for Global 5000 enterprises, Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 6:00 am
OREM, Utah, April 7, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- AtTask, Inc., the leading provider of on-demand project and portfolio management (PPM) software, was chosen by Red... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 6:00 am
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 7, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- Brightcove today announced distribution partnerships with Bebo, Meebo, RockYou, Slide and Veoh, giving media companies new Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 6:00 am
BEIJING, April 7, 2008 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- VisionChina Media Inc. (Nasdaq: VISN), one of China's largest mass transportation mobile television advertising... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 5:43 am
Thomas Hawk writes "Once again a Yahoo! user has found themselves on the short end of the DMCA stick. Video blogger Loren Feldman recently found that his video mocking (read parody) the Village People and blogger Shel Israel was removed from the Yahoo! service after Scorpio Music served Yahoo! with a DMCA takedown notice. The video in question contained a very brief fair use parody snippet of the Village People song YMCA as performed by a puppet. What's more, Yahoo! threatened Feldman with the termination of all of his Yahoo! services including the revocation of his Yahoo ID."
Yahoo Inc. believes it's poised to revolutionize online advertising after years of being outmaneuvered by rival Google Inc. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 4:04 am
Decades before the Xbox 360 and the music industry's "360 deal," IBM rolls out the System/360 mainframe. It's big, it's blue, and Business is its middle name.
Surrey, British Columbia, once one of the car-theft capitals of North America, with 8,000 vehicles stolen in 2003, has seen a 50 percent decline in auto theft since the inception of a bait-car program four years ago. Decoy cars are outfitted with an arsenal of gadgetry that allows cops to track anyone foolish enough to take them.
Charles Perry wrote a good article for the LA Times about Phillipe the Original, a restaurant that's celebrating its 100th anniversary in downtown Los Angeles this year. The restaurant is probably the origin of the French Dip sandwich. (A nearby place called Cole's also claims to be the creator.)
The restaurant spreads before you, six steps below ground: sawdust floors, lines of people, painted menus and neon beer signs on the walls. The lines--at peak hours there are 10 of them, each up to 20 people long--weave between the tables where scores of others are eating, oblivious to the crush. Pick a line and wait your turn.
When you reach the counter, you don't need to consult the menu on the wall, of course. You've been here before. You make it short and snappy--"Beef, double dip. Coleslaw, blueberry pie, coffee."
This is Philippe the Original, an L.A. institution that will be 100 years old in October. It has been serving French dip sandwiches--single-, double- and even triple-dipped--for 90 of those years.
esocid writes "At the national meeting of the American Chemical Society, scientists presented evidence today that desert heat, a little water, and meteorite impacts may have been enough to cook up one of the first prerequisites for life The result of that brew could be the dominance of "left-handed" amino acids, the building blocks of life on this planet. Chains of amino acids make up the protein found in people, plants, and all other forms of life on Earth. There are two orientations of amino acids, left and right, which mirror each other in the same way your hands do. These amino acids "seeds" formed in interstellar space, possibly on asteroids as they careened through space. At the outset, they have equal amounts of left and right-handed amino acids. But as these rocks soar past neutron stars, their light rays trigger the selective destruction of one form of amino acid."
SAN FRANCISCO Yahoo is expected to respond by early Monday to a letter from Microsoft that threatened to lower the price of its buyout offer and take it directly to Yahoo shareholders, people close to... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 2:37 am
So-called virtual machine software, which allows a computer to simultaneously run different operating systems and applications, is already having a big impact in corporate data centers. And the leader... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 7 Apr 2008 | 1:36 am
Pioneer Woman writes "Researchers at Hebrew University in Jerusalem have found a link between a gene called AVPR1a and ruthless behavior. These findings come from an economic exercise called the 'Dictator Game' that allows players to behave selflessly, or like national dictators and 'little Hitlers' found in workplaces the world over. The team decided to look at AVPR1a because it is known to produce receptors in the brain that detect vasopressin, a hormone involved in 'prosocial' behavior. Researchers tested DNA samples from more than 200 student volunteers, before asking the students to play the game that measured their altruism. There was no connection between the participants' gender and their behavior but there was a link to the length of the AVPR1a gene."
An anonymous reader writes "As you're probably already aware, Charlton Heston passed away yesterday. Wired has a piece looking back at Heston's extremely notable work in the sci-fi genre, with roles in films like "Planet of the Apes" and "Soylent Green". 'Heston also roared out some of sci-fi's greatest and most memorable lines, bringing his macho swagger and over-the-top intensity to the screen in movies like 1973's food freak-out flick Soylent Green and the Planet of the Apes series. In a pivotal scene from 1968's Planet of the Apes (see clip), Heston's character, time-traveling astronaut George Taylor, utters the first words spoken by a human to the simian rulers of a bizarro future Earth: "Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!'"
SUNNYVALE, Calif. Yahoo is beginning to pull the wraps off an online advertising system that the company said would help it and its partners drive sales of graphical and other premium ads. Yahoo said... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 6 Apr 2008 | 11:36 pm
Pro-Tibetan human rights activists (who also erected the billboard shown above) are organizing a rally in San Francisco this Tuesday, April 8, to be led by Richard Gere, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Tibetan community leaders.
As China prepares to host the Olympics in August, the government is conducting the worst crackdown in Tibet since the 1960s Cultural Revolution.
Come show your support for the Tibetan and Chinese people on the eve of the Beijing Olympic torch passing through San Francisco - the only stop in North America.
Where: United Nations Plaza, at Market & Hyde, near Civic Center BART
Rally & Speeches 6:00pm
Culture / Music 7:15pm
Candle Light Vigil 8:00pm
Ant writes "Colin Stewart's OC Register Inside Innovation blog has up a post discussing Blizzard Entertainment's success in the games industry. According to the site, Blizzard has learned eleven lessons on innovation that can help almost any business. The industry leader used these innovation methods not only to create the world's most popular massively multiplayer online game, World of Warcraft, but also to keep the game fresh and challenging for more than 10 million players. Because many of those customers pay $15 a month to continue playing, Blizzard's ongoing creative achievement is worth more than $1 billion a year in revenues, not counting the multi-millions it tallies from its other games."
Roland Piquepaille writes "UK researchers have recently used virtual reality to check if people had paranoid thoughts when using public transportation. Their VR tube ride experiment revealed that 40% of the participants experienced exaggerated fears about threats from others. Until now, researchers were relying on somewhat unreliable questionnaires to study paranoid thoughts which are often triggered by ambiguous events such as someone laughing behind their back. With the use of VR, psychiatrists and psychologists have a new tool which can reliably recreate social interactions. As the lead researcher said, VR 'is a uniquely powerful method to detect those liable to misinterpret other people.'."
jhealy1024 writes "The College Board recently announced it will be getting rid of the Advanced Placement Computer Science AB examination after May 2009. The 'A'-level exam will continue to be offered, though there is no word yet on what will become of the AB-level material (e.g., if it will be merged into A or just dropped). Many teachers of AP CS are upset about the move, as it seems the decision was made without consulting members of the CS teaching community. As one teacher put it: 'this is like telling the football coach next year is the last year you have a varsity team.'"
A jury finds that handwriting recognition technology in Microsoft's Tablet PC operating system infringes on pattern recognition patents and orders Microsoft to pay $367.4 million to the patent holder, Alcatel-Lucent. The software maker vows to appeal the court decision.
Birth control choices are wider these days for women 40 and older -- a group that once viewed its options as pretty much limited to tube-tying surgery and condoms. Both the pill and the IUD are available again for these women, and they are safer than they used to be.
Over on Boing Boing Gadgets, our Joel brings word of reader Willykea's newly discovered trove of vintage Epcot pix:
Miraculously, on the day this was first posted I was cleaning out my garage and found a box containing a thick, full-color brochure from 1982 announcing the opening of Epcot. I immediately thought of boingboing. I was shocked when I saw the headline "Incredible Epcot Concept Painting" the next morning and the associated picture that I had just been admiring the day before. The brochure was buried under a pile of old letters and memorabilia that I had held onto for almost 30 years and I found it a few hours before someone posted the picture of the painting online - amazing coincidence. I went out and bought a scanner so that I could share some additional images from the brochure with you guys
The restaurant spreads before you, six steps below ground: sawdust floors, lines of people, painted menus and neon beer signs on the walls. The lines--at peak hours there are 10 of them, each up to 20 people long--weave between the tables where scores of others are eating, oblivious to the crush. Pick a line and wait your turn.
