By Rob Beschizza at 7:16 am Saturday, May 12
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Nancy Schaar at the Times Reporter:
A 62-year-old Carrollton area man was found unconscious and unresponsive Thursday morning during an intense search overnight by Carroll County sheriff deputies, an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper and the patrol’s airplane. [Sheriff] Williams said he attempted to use the man’s cell phone signal to locate him, but the man was behind on his phone bill and the Verizon operator refused to connect the signal unless the sheriff’s department agreed to pay the overdue bill. After some disagreement, Williams agreed to pay $20 on the phone bill in order to find the man.
The amazing thing about cellular carriers isn't that they're so nasty—it's that they're nasty in so many different, seemingly unrelated ways.
Laura sez, "Podcast nominations are open until June 1, 2012 for
the Seventh Annual Parsec Awards which recognize excellence in speculative fiction podcasting. The awards were founded in 2005 by New York Times bestselling author Tracy Hickman, podcasting guru and author Mur Lafferty, and Farpoint Media founder Michael Mennenga. Given each year at Dragon*Con in Atlanta, Georgia, the awards recognize those whose works mark the pinnacle of this form of new media and give hours of entertainment to their audience. This year there are 17 categories recognizing stories, full cast productions, audio dramas, videos, content creation, fan and newscasts, fact behind the fiction casts, new podcasters, music, and more."
— Cory
Interactive fiction is a thriving genre, but its commercial heyday is long gone. Here's Leigh Alexander on how Kickstarter could usher in text adventures' long-overdue renaissance: "There's more than just nostalgia contributing to a potential revival for interactive stories. A broader gaming audience means appetites for game forms we might have once called "casual" in another time -- and furthermore, the popularity of tablets and e-readers means there's a real appetite for game forms that take advantage of
a culture now habituated to reading on luminous screens in ways prior generations were widely not. [Gamasutra]
— Rob
By Cory Doctorow at 9:07 pm Friday, May 11
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Harry Clarke's 1919 illustrations for Poe's "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" are absolutely wonderful, some of the best Poe interpretations this diehard Poefan has seen. 50Watts has them at super-hi-rez, too. Looks like you can buy a 2008 facsimile edition for about $26.
Harry Clarke, Illustrations for E. A. Poe
(via How to Be a Retronaut)
By Cory Doctorow at 8:00 pm Friday, May 11
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Mike Schropp's "BioComputer" is a PC casemod that actually grows wheatgrass, using waste-heat from the computer to provide a hospitable hothouse environment. He's posted detailed build-logs from the project, and plans more ambitious horticulture.
I can’t exactly recall when the idea came to me, but at some point I started wanting to use the heat from a computer as a way to warm the soil and help with germination/growth. I’m about as far from a botanist as it comes, I did some reading online and became pretty interested in the effects of soil temperature on germination/growth. I read different studies and papers from various universities. It was not too long into that process that I became hooked on the idea of using computer heat as a way to control the soil temperature of some sort of living plant life.
As the idea developed further I started looking into wheatgrass as a plant option. There is something clean and natural about the look and idea of a piece of grass growing in my basement. I thought the look would alter the space a little bit and add a bit of color along with something more than just metals and plastics. After reading enough studies and papers on the effects of soil temperature and germination with wheatgrass I felt like I had a good enough handle on the basics to tackle this.
Bio Computer
(via Neatorama)
By Cory Doctorow at 7:54 pm Friday, May 11
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Here's some of Russell Brand's wonderful, thoughtful, funny, and ascerbic testimony to the UK Parliament on the subject of combatting addiction and setting sensible drug policy. Brand is a former herion addict, and he was questioned by MPs over his views on the subject:
* I don't think we need a carrot or a stick. Both of those things seem to be to be bizarre metaphors. I think what we need is love and compassion.
* Being arrested isn't a lesson, it's just an administrative blip
* Again mate, what we need to identify is a degree of authenticity and compassion in the way we deal with this problem, otherwise you just seem like you don't know what you're talking about.
* You can tell what party they're in from the questions, innit? "What about the victims of the crime!"
* [After the committee chair tries to restore order by declaring that they're running out of time, and without missing a beat.] Time is infinite. You cannot run out of time. Who's next? [Home Secretary] Theresa May? She may not show up. Check she knows what day it is.
You've got to listen to the recording, which starts at about 5:55 in this episode of the BBC's Today in Parliament. It's like a chirpy cockney Groucho Marx discussing drug policy with a bunch of Margaret Dumont-esque Tories, and running silvertongued circles around them.
Russell Brand says drug addiction should be treated as a health matter
By Cory Doctorow at 6:05 pm Friday, May 11
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The JSTK Blog has an eye-catching formula for making jello vodka shots in a waffle-iron, resulting in some awfully weird-looking booze-delivery biscuits.
Anyway, we prepared two versions of our jelly waffles, one blueberry, and one classic (i.e., no blueberry). Both are based on the lovely cocktail from LA's Harvard & Stone. Here's a link to their fun video which showcases three fab cocktails. (I'm pitching the video because I'm really hoping that H&S' Raul will let me borrow his rad pink and white striped tank top. Check it out. It's awfully cute and I have just the outfit for it. BTW, I tested their cocktail out at home, and declare it delicious enough for any hour of the day ...)
Waffle Jelly Shots
(via Neatorama)
By Cory Doctorow at 5:07 pm Friday, May 11
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Cymon (AKA Joe) won the Tinkercad Chess Set Design contest with his design for Action #Chess, whose pieces can be assembled into a Chess Giant. He's documenting the 3D output of his darling on his MakerBot blog.
Action Chess By Cymon: It Works!
By Cory Doctorow at 4:04 pm Friday, May 11
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The Seattle Public Library system's
annual Summer Reading Program is called
Century 22: Read the Future, and is tied in with the 50th anniversary of the Seattle World's Fair. Young people are encouraged to scour the city's landmarks for 1,000 books hidden throughout town, and then to re-hide them for other kids to find. Among the books in this summer's program is my own YA novel
Little Brother, which is a source of utter delight for me.
A student going a little too heavy on a brand of
spray-on stench popular with teens set off the fire alarm at a Connecticut high school: “It was some kid in the locker room using body spray and it created a cloud of mist right underneath the sensor,”
Fire Marshal Albert Santostefano told the Middletown Press. “The mist could trip the fire alarm, steam from a shower could trip it. It looks like he used an overabundance, and they said it was Axe Body Spray.” Hm. How did "they" know it was Axe? Could it have been... the smell? The awful, awful, awful smell?
(via NextDraft) — Xeni
By Xeni Jardin at 3:16 pm Friday, May 11
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William Saturno, a Boston University archeologist, excavates a mural in a house in Xultun. Photo: Tyrone Turner ? 2012 National Geographic
An archaeological expedition in the northeastern lowlands of Guatemala yields an amazing discovery: the "9th-century workplace of a city scribe, an unusual dwelling adorned with magnificent pictures of the king and other royals and the oldest known Maya calendar."
From Thomas Maugh's report in the Los Angeles Times, on the dig in the ruins of Xultun led by William Saturno of Boston University:
This year has been particularly controversial among some cultists because of the belief that the Maya calendar predicts a major cataclysm ― perhaps the end of the world ― on Dec. 21, 2012. Archaeologists know that is not true, but the new find, written on the plaster equivalent of a modern scientist's whiteboard, strongly reinforces the idea that the Maya calendar projects thousands of years into the future.
To paraphrase modern-day Maya priests I've spoken with on past travels in rural Guatemala: "Well, duh."
The findings were first reported Thursday in the journal Science. The full text of the report requires paid subscription, but a recent Science podcast covers the news, and is available here (PDF transcript or MP3 for audio).
Read the rest
By Cory Doctorow at 2:49 pm Friday, May 11
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Amara, the free/open subtitling/dubbing project that used to be called Universal Subtitles, has just landed $1,000,000 in funding from the Knight Foundation and the Mozilla Foundation. Amara is run by the Participatory Culture Foundation, a charitable nonprofit that produces technologies to increase and deepen the average person's ability to participate in the online world. Amara is a technology that lets people bridge linguistic barriers in the world of video. Here's TheNextWeb's Anna Heim on the announcement:
In other words, it is a great example of what crowdsourcing can achieve. According to its parent non-profit, Participatory Culture Foundation (PCF), the platform’s users have translated over 170,000 videos since its founding in 2010, including popular videos such as President Obama’s message to Sudan and KONY 2012.
However, it could expand into other territories, such as dubbing ? hence its rebranding with a broader name, which may also help it capture the sense of community it is trying to create. This is undoubtedly one of the reasons why Mozilla was interested in supporting the platform, its executive director Mark Surman explains:
“Mozilla’s global translation and localization communities have always been at the heart of who we are. For the first time, Amara lets us extend our community translation work to include video,” said Mark Surman, Executive Director of Mozilla. “We are proud to support Amara as they build a crucial part of the open web.”
Knight Foundation and Mozilla invest $1m in crowdsourced video translation project Amara
(Disclosure: I am proud to volunteer on the board of directors for the Participatory Culture Foundation)
Comedian and former attorney
Dean Obeidallah, co-director of the
previously-Boinged documentary project,
"The Muslims Are Coming!," is not a fan of Sacha Baron Cohen's new movie,
"The Dictator." Regarding Cohen as "Gen. Shabazz Aladeen," the leader of a fictitious Arab country, Obeidallah writes: "Cohen, who is not of Arab heritage, plays this Arab character while sporting a long fake beard and speaking in a strong Arabic accent, which would be fine, except the character is showcasing the worst stereotypes of Arabs." (CNN.com)
— Xeni
By Maggie Koerth-Baker at 2:26 pm Friday, May 11
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Last week, scientists used ice caves in Austria as a stand-in for Martian caves, testing spacesuits and rovers in the freezing chambers. This week: We go to the desert near Baker, California, where NASA is testing out its Curiosity rover. Curiosity is 86 days away from landing on the real Martian surface.
Gene Blevins / Reuters
A powerful piece at The Rumpusby Steve Almond about reports that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was
a cruel homophobic bully in high school. "It’s just bullshit, total fucking sociopathic bullshit. And it makes me sad that such an episode comes to light and all Romney can do—a guy who wants to be elected to our highest office—is nervously lie and make excuses, as if this were political problem. It’s not a political problem. It’s a moral problem. It’s a sin he committed for which any believer would seek atonement."
[* contains a graphic description of a sexual assault.]
— Xeni
, my book about the future of energy in the United States, will be published April 10th.