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God Hates Signs protest waged against Westboro Baptist Church
The ladies and gentleman at Westboro Baptist Church -- who enjoy disrupting memorial services for soldiers killed in battle with their hateful homophobic tantrums -- seem unhappy about this dada-style "God Hates Signs" counter protest campaign. (Photo by Burstein) God Hates Signs Protest of The Westboro Baptist Church...
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Marina Bychkova's Enchanted Dolls
Marina Bychkova is an artist whose medium are dolls. Her work is absolutely stunning. Bychkova's lovely figures remind me of a Mark Ryden or Lori Earley painting brought into the 3D realm. Seen here is "Bride of Frankenstein" (2008, 13.5" tall). From the doll description: I like to challenge conventional imagery of known literary characters, and provide an alternative view of how they might have looked. The reason my Bride is blonde, is to contrast the iconic image of the movie's version, and also to play on the idea of the body's low Melanin levels. I imagine that when she was alive she was bright and vibrant with dark eyes and raven hair, but the postmortem trauma to her body and the mechanical process of reanimating her corpse had changed its molecular composition. I think that being blasted with several thousand volts of electricity would contribute to that also. The metal helmet is her life support and what keeps her dead brain artificially alive by pumping oxygen into it and zapping it with small amounts of electricity to maintain its basic functions. It acts like a pump and a defibrillator. The Enchanted Doll (Thanks, Kirsten Anderson!) Previously on Boing Boing: ? Marina Bychkova "Mermaid Song" doll ? Marina Bychkova incredible dolls...
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Gama-Go's new Big Vinyl Yeti
Back in August, I posted about Gama-Go and Ningyoushi's development of a new Big Yeti designer toy. The Giant Yeti has finally been birthed and it is a big un'. The 9.5" high beast features posable arms and a light-up torch to guide him through the icy darkness of Nepal or your bedroom. For the next week, each Yeti figure ships with a free Yeti Ice Cave t-shirt. Big Vinyl Yeti at Gama-Go (Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman loves the Big Yeti too!) Previously on BB: ? Giant Yeti (real, not a hoax!)...
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HSBC's bizarre lumberjack ad
John Swansburg, Associate Editor, Slate.com says: [I wrote about] the truly bizarre new HSBC ad running on TV (and on YouTube). Have you seen it? It's the one that features a violent confrontation between police and environmental protesters who protecting trees marked for clearing. But then it turns into a love story between one of the protesters and a logger -- complete with a soundtrack by Joanna Newsom, of all people. And this is all by way of selling the services of an international banking conglomerate. Very weird. Anyway, thought the ad might be something BoingBoing readers would have seen and scratched their heads over. Here's my analysis: HSBC's Bizarre Lumberjack Ad...
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Errol Morris' "real people" ads for Obama
Errol Morris created a series of interviews of Republicans and independents who are voting for Obama. He also wrote about long history of "real people" political ads for the NYT. If you?re not going to put words in people?s mouths, if you?re really listening to what they have to say, you?re going to learn something. Admittedly, the evidence is anecdotal. I haven?t selected these people through some kind of statistical sampling. These people are self-selected. They wrote in and said that they were registered Republicans, Independents or switch-voters who were planning to vote for Obama. People in the middle. And I was interested in talking to them on film about why they were making the switch from voting for a Republican to voting for a Democrat. Was it linked with policy? With the personality of the candidate? This time ? as opposed to 2004 ? the content of the interviews has been qualitatively different. The people I interviewed have embraced Obama. They are voting for a candidate, not against a candidate. Lissa Lucas, for example, tells the story of voting for someone for the first time in her life. There is a feeling of hopefulness. There is this optimism, even though the situation in the country is arguably much worse than four years ago. A failing economy. The continuing war in Iraq. A crumbling infrastructure. But there is the core belief that if we pull together, we can save the country. Republicans and independents who are voting for Obama...
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Interesting drawing technique using water
Yesterday, Cory reviewed Emmanuel Guibert's graphic novel Alan's War: The Memories of G.I. Alan Cope. In the comments, J Meyers pointed to this video of Guibert's interesting drawing technique....
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Live Chat With John Hodgman on Washington Post
Our guest blogger John Hodgman is too modest to pimp this, but there's a live chat session going on right now with him over at the Washington Post: John Hodgman Discusses 'More Information Than You Require' (WaPo). Snip: New Orleans: What is the force of a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick? John Hodgman: The force of a single roundhouse kick from Chuck Norris=one American Chuck. In England, however, they use the old Imperial Chuck, which is the equivalents to 1.34 American Chucks. That is all....
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ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT BREAKDANCING AND FREEMASONRY
I AM AWAITING word from Patrick Borelli to see if there is any high quality video of Grand Master Priest, breakdancer, Mason, available for posting here. IN THE MEANTIME, here are some answers to your questions from the comments. RE: MAJORD AND MADFIST'S DISCUSSION about the attainability of the 33rd Degree within Freemasonry, in this case you should consider the messenger before you blame the popper/locker. My conversation with Grand Master Priest regarding his Craft was brief, and I may have gotten some details wrong. I also think he may be somewhat older than he appears in the photograph, because breakdance and Masonry, in combination, make you immortal. RE: ANONYMOUS, the answer is YES. The man I met is certainly the "Grand Master Priest" who is on staff at the Mystical Grand Masters School of Popping. But I must have gotten the name wrong somehow. The masked man in the video certainly has the moves. But according to his bio at the MGMSOP, that man was born in ancient Lemuria. So I cannot say for sure if that is also the man I met in Philadelphia. [VIDEO; note, lyrics are explicit] I WILL PROVIDE more information as it comes to me, as he really was a lovely and amazing person. That is all....
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Tim O'Reilly's endorsement of Barack Obama
...over on O'Reilly Radar blog is one of the more extensive and thoughtful analyses of what this presidential candidate's policies mean for those of us who make our living in technology. Snip from the introduction: [W]e need a president who can harness the best and brightest our country has to offer, a president who is conversant with, and comfortable with, the power of technology to assist in solving these problems, a president who is good at listening, studying, and devising solutions based on the best insight available, rather than on narrow ideology. We need a president who can forge consensus, not just among the partisans in our own fractured democracy but around the world. We need a president who can inspire our citizens and our global partners to forgo narrow self interest and embrace the possibilities that we can achieve if we work together to build a better future. I believe Barack Obama is that president. He is a man of intelligence, but also a man whose character and temperament seem suited to the problems of our age: unflappable, optimistic even in the face of adversity, willing to speak the truth about subjects that have long been taboo (I'm thinking of his speech on race, and his speech on fatherhood) and with unscripted reactions that show his fundamental decency (I'm thinking of his reaction to those who wanted to make a campaign issue of Sarah Palin's daughter's unplanned pregnancy.) Because this is a tech blog, not a political blog, though, I primarily want to address the subject of why members of the technical community should join me in supporting Barack Obama. (The New York Times has made a compelling case based on the broader issues, as has Colin Powell.) I outline four principal reasons: 1. Connected, Transparent Government 2. The Financial Crisis 3. Climate Change 4. Net Neutrality I will also discuss some important additional considerations, personal and political, that I hope Radar readers who don't want to see politics in these pages, will forgive. Why I Support Barack Obama (O'Reilly Radar)...
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Dean Kamen Q&A: American culture needs a geek overhaul
(Popular Mechanics editor-in-chief, Jim Meigs (left) and inventor Dean Kamen.) Andrew Moseman says: Dean Kamen is famous for inventing the AutoSyringe, the portable dialysis machine, the iBOT self-balancing wheelchair, and, of course, the Segway human transporter. But he is most passionate when talking about his nonprofit organization, FIRST, which tries to get kids excited about science and technology by having them build 120-pound robots to slug it out on a rough-and-tumble field of play. "We're not competing with science fairs, we're competing with Britney Spears and Shaquille O'Neal" for the attention of teenagers, Kamen said. The FIRST game changes every year?in 2008, teams raced 40-in. balls around a track. Kamen spoke with Popular Mechanics editor-in-chief Jim Meigs and an audience of journalists and FIRST competitors at the magazine's headquarters, in New York City's Hearst Tower. Kamen's core message: American culture needs a geek overhaul. What do you think is the most important science and technology issue to be addressed by the next president? What's the biggest issue he should take on? Is it energy? Genomics? Is it bird flu? Is it the polar caps?are they really melting? Is it terrorism? You pick the crisis du jour: The answer to all these issues is going to be an educated, competent global society. This country ought to lead the world, for lots of reasons. And we ought to help the rest of the world get educated, because if they are educated, their impact on the environment is actually way less. If they are educated, they'll have better ideas than killing each other or killing you and me. The next president should recognize the power of technology. Technology is how we create wealth, how we cure diseases, how we'll build an environment that's sustainable and also gives people the capacity to pull more out of this world and still leave it better than when they found it. You know, people always talk about rights in this country?I wish we had a bill of responsibilities. So I think the president has to stop thinking of the crisis du jour and say, "In this race between education and catastrophe, we need education to win." The next president better make sure that all kids are part of the solution, not part of the problem. And with 50 percent of the kids in the 20 largest school districts in the country not graduating high school, they're part of the problem. This is unsustainable. It has to change. Read the rest here: Dean Kamen on education...
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