February 2009
61 posts
Book Design Primer →
“Freedom of the press,” said A. J. Liebling, “belongs to those whoown one.” There’s a reason that remark is so often quoted — todayalmost anyone with a personal computer can be a publisher. But the…
January 2009
47 posts
Stifled Laughter: How the Communist Party Killed... →
These examples at least illustrate the range of freedom that this performance domain once had, and the kinds of salty content that pre-Liberation audiences were routinely exposed to. The point is…
2009 Will Be a Year of Panic - Bruce Sterling →
Intellectual property. More specifically, the fiat declaration that properties that are easy to reproduce shouldn’t be reproduced.
Declaring that “information wants to be free” is an ideological…
Negroponte raps about OLPC 2: 'designed as if we... →
Well, our interest was certainly piqued by that OLPC XO-2 mockup that surfaced yesterday, and now the Guardian is saying that the hardware development will take place open source….
METATRONics would be a cool name for a Yoyodyne-style front company serving as an outputs for a demonic/spiritual invasion of our world. - Jay Lake (via Twitter)
PAPERNET: Some Incoherent Thoughts →
I just want to get these down in some kind of order for later consideration. See previously: Papernet: Papercamp announcement: Papercamp 1.0.
As noted previously, my interest in this revolves…
Open-Source DNA →
As far as I can tell, if you visited my home today it is legal for me to slyly snatch an “abandoned” sample of DNA from you (from the lip of a cup, a fallen hair, etc.), sequence it in full, and…
Open-Source DNA →
As far as I can tell, if you visited my home today it is legal for me to slyly snatch an “abandoned” sample of DNA from you (from the lip of a cup, a fallen hair, etc.), sequence it in full, and…
Attempts to Contact Aliens Date Back 150 Years →
Scientists have been dreaming up ways to talk to aliens since the 19th century.
65 лет назад была снята блокада Ленинграда →
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via http://WarrenEllis.com
‘Destruction of cities’ →
At Dan Hill’s always-impressive City of Sound, a recent post returns to Dan’s interest in Ballard’s Drowned World, positioning it as the middle panel of a triptych of novels (including…
In the Chinese city. Perspectives on the... →
A spectacular exhibition currently on view at the CCCB in Barcelona gives an overview of the recent processes of construction and implacable deconstruction that China is undergoing. The…
The case against Candy Land →
Ed Note: Boingboing’s current guest blogger Steven Johnson is the author of six books, most recently The Invention Of Air: A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution and the Birth Of America, for…
The End of Solitude →
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I have no idea what this site is, but I found the essay interesting.
But at least friendship, if not intimacy, is still something they want. As jarring as the new dispensation may be…
Goat detained over armed robbery →
Goat detained over armed robbery : “We cannot confirm the story, but the goat is in our custody. We cannot base our information on something mystical. It is something that has to be proved…
BLDGBLOG: Planet Harddrive →
For several years I’ve been fascinated by what might be called the geological nature of harddrives – how certain mineral arrangements of metal and ferromagnetism result in our technological ability…
Independence in Games →
My friend Gwyan just sent me a link to Offworld’s guide to the 2009 Independent Games Festival. I’m not a big gaming person (at least, not digitally). But I do find it interesting when…
Pirating the 2009 Oscars. →
Pirating the 2009 Oscars Metafilter’s own waxpancake gives us an exhaustive analysis of the current crop of Oscar nominees, and how many of their releases are available via Bittorrent. With…
Forget The Shiny Toys — Urban Transit Will Go... →
Whenever public planning types talk about urban transportation’s future, they always discuss light rail or tiny electric yuppie-mobiles. But future urbanites will really get around in the…
Consequences of Technological Convergence →
A thought experiment: If I were to teleport you to a random city on Earth in 2009 you would have a hard time telling me what city you were in based solely on technological infrastructure — absent…
Why I Write Science Fiction: An Apology by Alan... →
Since when was fiction “realistic” instead of fictive? As painful as it is to highlight the truism of “fictive fiction,” it’s almost necessary at this point of the game. All fiction, by definition,…
‘Pyramid Of Capitalist System’ →
‘Pyramid Of Capitalist System’
Clean Power From Deserts →
The Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) Technique by Dr. Gerry Wolff Close up view of parabolic trough and heat collector. Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) is the remarkably simple…
How Homemade Rockets Are Made in Gaza? →
Current contributor Zouheir Alnajjar lives in Gaza, and he produced this video segment about a group of young men identified as “Palestinian militants who make - and set off - homemade rockets…
"The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." →
“We could all do worse than to write like Saul Bellow. And when I say write like Saul Bellow, I mean be Saul Bellow. And when I say be Saul Bellow, I mean unzip the skin from his body and wear it…
You Shall Have Bike Lanes Wherever You Go →
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But will it work in the cold?
Some cities are slow getting around to approving bike lanes; others don’t bother. Here is a way to carry your bike lane with you wherever you go:…
Import Google Reader Shared Items to Publish2:... →
Publish2 already makes it super easy for journalists to save links to any content on the web using our “link tool” (AKA bookmarklet). Just click “Link with Publish2″ in your browser when…
How Homemade Rockets Are Made in Gaza? →
Current contributor Zouheir Alnajjar lives in Gaza, and he produced this video segment about a group of young men identified as “Palestinian militants who make - and set off - homemade rockets…
Old Nuclear-Powered Soviet Satellite Acts Up →
But on or about July 4, 2008, the dormant Cosmos 1818 satellite seemed to be involved in its own Independence Day fireworks. The U.S. Space Surveillance Network spotted debris of various sizes being…
Packing Light for Central America →
I am headed to the Arenal volcano area of Costa Rica, for a shoot at an ecological institute and for some fun with the family. I have been before, and am looking forward to dodging sticks…
Dr Strangecraft, I presume? →
Existential horror: it’s not just for breakfast. H. P. Lovecraft didn’t invent horror, but he pretty much pioneered the first open-source horror mythos; a universe mind-bogglingly ancient and…
The New Nostradamus →
He is wildly controversial, though. As one of the foremost scholars of game theory—or “rational choice,” as its political-science practitioners prefer to call it—Bueno de Mesquita is at the center of…
Children of the Left, Unite →
As Julia L. Mickenberg and Philip Nel document in Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of Radical Children’s Literature (New York University, $32.95), Marxist principles have been dripping steadily…
For the last time! It's "I couldn't care less" →
“The form I could care less has provoked a vast amount of comment and criticism in the past thirty years or so. Few people have had a kind word for it, and many have been vehemently opposed to it…
HOWTO Convert your car to run on garbage →
Stef sez, “Here’s an Instructable explaining in 25 simple steps how to convert your car to run on household trash using a process called Gasification. As the site sez:
‘Gasification is the use of…
Who Created Dark Knight's Joker? [The Dark Knight] →
It was the movie of last year, and at the center of The Dark Knight was Heath Ledger’s compelling Joker. But… who really invented the worryingly sane Clown Prince of Crime? Maybe not Chris…
Correcting CNN.com's impressionistic Q&A →
I’ve been busy this weekend so it was 1am on Monday morning when I finally looked at the CNN.com “Q&A” interview with me, titled Analyst: China Internet move part of global trend - CNN.com posted…
How the city hurts your brain →
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Another salvo in the great Inside kids vs. Outside kids battle of preferences. Watch out Holly, some day all this stuff’ll actually convince me to come live on your commune.
A city…
The greatest Russians of all time? →
Here’s the issue that seems necessary to register after considering this vote: in The Gulag Archipelago, Mr. Solzhenitsyn makes the point that, as of 1966, some 86,000 Germans had been convicted in…
Capitalism: doesn't it make you (mentally)... →
His arguments go like this. The habits of modern industrial societies — acquisition, competitive wealth-making, organised greed — far from producing happiness are the source of misery, stress and a…
Design Won't Save the World →
Love the fine print.
How Moon Dust Could Yield Oxygen, Fuel and Water →
On Hawaii’s Mauna Kea volcano, which rises 9,000 feet abovesea level, there is a mid-level base facility where scientists can pretend theyare on the moon. Hawaii’s volcanic terrain, soil and remote…
Stephen Fry on the beauty of "incorrect" language... →
The latest Stephen Fry podcast, “Language,” is an outstanding rant on the absurdity of being a pedant about the English language, that most glorious, reeling drunken bastard of a tongue that has…
IT ALL LOOKS LIKE RAN OUT THE SCI-FI BOOK PAGES →
“Special lightweight small atomic reactors were produced in limited series to be delivered to the Polar Circle lands and to be installed on the lighthouses .”
Scary Go Round Comic by John Allison →
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Hooray for constitutional crises!
Nothing Is Weirder than the Truth, Part 1 →
One of the many reasons I prize science fiction, fantasy, and the more psychedelic aspects of other branches of fiction is the simple thrill of watching writers unfetter their imaginations on the…
Bruce Sterling: State of the World, 2009 →
You know what’s truly weirdabout any financial crisis? WE MADE IT UP. Currency, money, finance,they’re all social inventions. When the sun comes up in the morningit’s shining on the same physical…