Cruise ship chaos video

David Pescovitz at 2:02 PM Tue 

This video of a cruise ship in heavy seas is intense, and the Rod Stewart soundtrack doesn't make it any less so. I bet it was quite scary for the folks onboard. (Thanks, Mathias Crawford, via Dangerous Minds!)

      Comments: 71

Lennon-killer Mark David Chapman will remain in prison

David Pescovitz at 1:34 PM Tue 

Mark David Chapman, who murdered John Lennon in 1980, has again been denied parole. From CNN:

In their written comments, the commissioners told Chapman they had concerns "about the disregard you displayed for the norms of our society and the sanctity of human life." After considering the action he took in 1980, they concluded Chapman's "discretionary release remains inappropriate at this time and incompatible with the welfare of the community."

Imagine Peace

      Comments: 59

Makers Market (RIP)

David Pescovitz at 1:30 PM Tue 

The beta test period for Makers Market has come to a close and we're bummed to announce that the doors are closing on the Market and our Boing Boing Bazaar. There is some terrific stuff in the BB Bazaar and we encourage you to reach out to the sellers directly and seek out their merchandise via other channels. Thank you to all the makers, the buyers, and our great partners/friends at MAKE! We learned a lot from this experiment and are currently exploring some new ways to create a curated catalog of wonderful things. More on that soon. The official message from our partners at MAKE follows.

Read the rest

      Comments: 24

Neighbors angry about man's massive tree

David Pescovitz at 10:51 AM Tue 

Neighbors want David Alvand of Plymouth, Devon, England to cut the lovely leyland cypress tree in his yard. In 2003, Alvand almost went to jail over a 12-foot concrete privacy wall that he ultimately was forced to remove. From The Guardian:

(Neighbors) have launched a formal complaint under antisocial behaviour legislation to force him to cut back the vast leyland cypress trees completely filling the front garden.

Planted in 1991, shortly after the 66-year-old moved into the area, the famously fast-growing trees – better known as leylandii and the source of countless previous neighbourly disputes, some turning violent – are now more than 10 metres tall.

As well as completely obscuring the front of Alvand's home, their higher branches overhang his neighbours' roofs, as well as the pavement.

One neighbour said: "That wall took years to sort out. It's been a nightmare. Now the trees are an eyesore – they block out sunlight and make the street look bad."

      Comments: 112

Mind-controlled Moog from Apples In Stereo

David Pescovitz at 10:31 AM Tue 

Robert Schneider of excellent psych-rock group Apples In Stereo hacked a Mattel MindFlex game, which measures brain waves, into a controller for his Moog analog synthesizer. He calls his mind-control interface The Teletron. If you'd like to make your own, here are Schneider's video instructions, "Teletron for the Populace."

      Comments: 7

Help Wanted: Youth Media International/Youth Radio

David Pescovitz at 9:35 AM Tue 

I've posted before about my friends at Youth Media International/Youth Radio, an Oakland-based non-profit that helps underserved young people learn the tools of media creation. You may have heard their excellent contributions to NPR or read their journalism at the Huffington Post and other places. Right now, Youth Radio has two very rare job openings that are killer opportunities for the right people.

First, they're looking for a "Managing Editor" to helm a new online news service and media property for young people. Rob, Dean, and I have all been consulting on this at varying levels, and it's a really groundbreaking, worthwhile project. Managing Editor job description

Also, the organization recently won a MacArthur Foundation competition to launch a "Mobile Action Lab" to build six online/mobile apps "that serve real needs in youth communities." Are you a developer who can run the lab and collaborate with young people to make the apps? Developer-In-Residence, Mobile Action Lab job description

      Comments: 0

Star Trek: book of gorgeous images

David Pescovitz at 9:15 AM Tue 

Star Trek: The Original Series 365 is a lovely new hardcover book ripe with full-color images/illustrations (365 of 'em!), original series episode summaries, and interviews. For more samples, check out the post at Wired.com and the book page at Abrams. The book is just $20 from Amazon. Star Trek: The Original Series 365

      Comments: 7

Globe Genie: random teleporter for Google Street View

David Pescovitz at 6:38 AM Tue 

MIT grad student Joe McMichael's Globe Genie reminds me the Hyperspace button in the Asteroids arcade game. Just hit "Shuffle" and it takes you somewhere random on Earth, via Google's Street View. Simple but effective! Globe Genie (via Submitterator, thanks jacobn9820!)

      Comments: 29

Eight-foot shark caught in Potomac River

David Pescovitz at 3:16 PM Sun 

Fisherman Wily Dean was trying to catch cow-nosed rays in Southern Maryland's Potomac River for a marine biologist this week, but he ended up netting an 8-foot-long bull shark. Unfortunately, the story doesn't have a happy ending for the shark. From NBC Washington:

"We had an interesting morning bringing it in," Dean said. "It was quite a fight."

Once the shark was captured, the next question was: What the heck do you do with it?

"I am probably going to have it mounted, maybe the head," Dean said. "Right now, the shark's in the freezer."

      Comments: 52

Whiskey from diabetics' urine

David Pescovitz at 10:39 AM Sat 

Gilpin Family whisky is a new single malt whisky made from the urine of diabetics. Creator James Gilpin doesn't sell the stuff, but rather gives away bottles as a public health statement. From the product page:

Sugar heavy urine excreted by diabetic patients is now being utilized for the fermentation of high-end single malt whisky for export. The Whisky market is growing faster then any other alcoholic beverage worldwide. With a prevalent genetic weakness being exposed in the northern hemisphere leading to a sharp rise in type two diabetes, economists have found a new exportable commodity to exploit and are keen to capitalize on this resource quickly.

Large amounts of sugar are excreted on a daily basis by type-two diabetic patients especially amongst the upper end of our aging population. As a result of this diabetic patients toilets often have unusual scale build up in the basin due and rapid mould growths as the sugar put into the system acts as nutrients for mould and bacteria growth. Is it plausible to suggest that we start utilizing our water purification systems in order to harvest the biological resources that our elderly already process in abundance?

"Whizky, world's first bio whisky aged with granny whiz" (The Independent, thanks Carlo Longino!)

      Comments: 66

From the BB Archives: Charting The Frozen Continent

David Pescovitz at 10:20 AM Sat 

As summer draws to close, I suggest a trip to Antarctica in this lovely Boing Boing special feature from our archives, Maggie Koerth-Baker's "Charting The Frozen Continent." When you get there, be sure to also scroll right to explore the photos! An excerpt:

"Oh, it's 32 and sunny here," says Claire Porter, a University of Minnesota graduate student working on the ostensibly frozen continent. "We spent the whole day outside hiking and playing around."

Antarctica, as it turns out, defies all sorts of expectations. Far from a blank, white canvas, the bottom of the world is a beautiful place, full of breathtaking peaks and stark, rock-strewn valleys studded with cerulean lakes. But the things that make Antarctica so fascinating—and such an important center for scientific research—also make it a difficult place to work. Porter is part of a team of scientists whose job is to make other scientists' jobs easier.

For more Boing Boing features, click here!

      Comments: 2

Mary Roach: Death In Space

David Pescovitz at 4:38 PM Fri 

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: extraordinary danger for the explorers. What happens if someone dies out there, months away from Earth?

Swedish ecologists Susanne Wiigh-Mäsak and Peter Mäsak are the inventors of an environmentally friendly alternative to cremation and burial, called Promession. The technique entails freezing a body, vibrating it into tiny pieces, and then freeze-drying the pieces, which can then be used as compost to grow a memorial shrub or tree.