B Rog writes "Cisco, Atmel, and the Swedish Institute of Computer Science have released uIPv6, the world's smallest IPv6 compliant IPv6 stack, as open source for the Contiki embedded operating system. The intent is to bring IP addresses to the masses by giving devices such as thermometers or lightbulbs an IPv6 stack. With a code size of 11 kilobytes and a dynamic memory usage of less than 2 kilobytes (yes, kilobytes!), it certainly fits the bill of the ultra-low-power microcontrollers typically used in such devices. When every lightbulb has an IP address, the vast address range of IPv6 sounds like a pretty good idea."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Esther Schindler writes "Several weeks ago, Lynn Greiner's article on the state of the scripting universe was slashdotted. Several people raised their eyebrows at the (to them) obvious omissions, since the article only covered PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby, Tcl and JavaScript. As I wrote at the time, Lynn chose those languages because hers was a follow-up to an article from three years back. However, it was a fair point. While CIO has covered several in depth, those five dynamic languages are not the only ones developers use. In 6 Scripting Languages Your Developers Wish You'd Let Them Use, CIO looks at several (including Groovy, Scala, Lua, F#, Clojure and Boo) which deserve more attention for business software development, even if your shop is dedicated to Java or .NET. Each language gets a formal definition and then a quote or two from a developer who explains why it inspires passion."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

As you hopefully read in my last post about our new branding, Floor64 has separated out the Insight Community brand from the Techdirt blog. However, that doesn't mean the two won't still work together happily. In fact, we're also launching a new effort today, that will allow Insight Community cases to appear directly within Techdirt. You will see the first such integrated Insight Community case on the site in a short while.

Starting a Real Conversation, Rather Than Advertising

The idea here is similar to what we started last week with American Express sponsoring an Insight Community case concerning how small businesses are responding to the current financial crisis, the results of which are starting to appear on American Express' Open Forum blog. In situations like that, where we believe the wider Techdirt community would be intrigued by, and benefit from, the wider conversation, we'll be placing those cases directly on the Techdirt blog. Thus, a selection of Insight Community cases that are relevant to the Techdirt community will start appearing directly on the blog, allowing members to jump right in to respond (and for non-members to join up and participate).

This evolution fits in nicely as one of the many ways that the new Insight Community can be used by companies to generate insight and engage with the broader community. Integrating Insight Community cases into Techdirt is based on our strong belief about content and its relationship to advertising. Traditional, annoying, intrusive advertising is a market that won't last -- especially in economically troubled times. It's based on the false belief that there are still captive audiences.

While the online advertising market is still a big one, it's going to need to change. It's entirely focused on a one way push. Companies that buy advertising are pushing a message to an audience. The site is just the one-way pathway to get to that audience -- and that audience often doesn't care about the message being pushed. That's simply not that effective for the advertiser. And yes, before people point it out, we do include some advertising on Techdirt, though we think that the companies buying those ads could spend their money more effectively by actually engaging the community here.

Engage the Community, Reward the Community and Get Value Back

So, rather than focus on that one-way street of merely pushing "message" at an audience, we believe strongly that the concept of "advertising" needs to diminish, and in its place, the focus should be on providing good content that provides real value to all participants. That means not just viewing things as a one way street, but actually engaging the community of folks a company is trying to reach by getting back insight from them and then rewarding those in the community who provide that insight. This is much more of a win-win situation than advertising. It's about actually creating value -- about building an insightful discussion that everyone benefits from, and then making sure that those who participate can be rewarded both monetarily and through reputation, rather than just being seen as a "target" market.

Thus, rather than focusing on "advertising's" one way street to pushing a message on our community, we're asking companies who are interested in the Techdirt community to actually engage with them via the Insight Community, where not only can they start a real dialogue, they can learn from the community, gain valuable insights that can be used elsewhere, and reward the community for participating. That seems a lot more effective and valuable than "advertising." It's about good content and a real conversation where everyone benefits.

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From now until the awesomeness that is Maker Faire Austin, I'll be highlighting projects that you can find at Travis County Fairgrounds on 10/18-19. Tickets here; see you there!

Now that they've got the bike snake out to the fairgrounds, Jeremy and crew are putting the finishing touches on their latest multi-rider bike. They were kind enough to put up with me interrupting for awhile:

One of many awesome projects this weekend.... you'll be there, right?:)

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Evil Mad Scientist Labs has done some pretty cool, iconic Halloween tech projects in the past few years, from Cylon and Dalek pumpkins to ghouly 8-bit art gourds. And don't forget the Flying Spaghetti Monster Costume. If you're tuning in late to the whole evil mad scientist oeuvre, you may want to check out their round-up of Halloween projects to-date.

Halloween Projects from Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories

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Michael J. Ross writes "Most Web developers are familiar with one or more content management systems (CMSs), and how they can be used to create Web sites more efficiently than by hand. These developers may have deep knowledge of how to install, configure, customize, and extend a CMS. But far more rare is knowledge of how to develop a CMS of one's own, and the programming considerations required to do so successfully. These are the main themes of Martin Brampton's book PHP5 CMS Framework Development." Read below for the rest of Michael's review.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

We've got a bunch of announcements today (and a few more coming up as well), but I wanted to start off with the big one: Techdirt, the company, is becoming Floor64, the company -- while Techdirt, the blog, will remain Techdirt. The blog began back in 1997 as a fun side project by me. Over the years it grew into much more, and in 2000 it became a business, also called Techdirt. In 2006, we launched the Techdirt Insight Community as our main line of business and the natural evolution of what we'd been doing as a company. However, there was growing confusion over the Techdirt brand, as people weren't clear whether it meant the blog, the company or the community -- so we felt it was time to clarify. Specifically, there are now three brands related to this site:

• Floor64 becomes our new parent brand. That's the brand under which all of our products will now reside. It's a brand we've used for years internally (though some have noticed), and now it represents our overall outward brand.



• Insight Community is one of Floor64's two main offerings. This rebranding of the Techdirt Insight Community will allow us to expand beyond the community we've built around Techdirt, to cover much more than just technology and business. The Insight Community is totally redesigned to reflect where the business has been headed over the past few months. If you're already a member, go check out the totally redesigned system. If you're not yet a member, go sign up and start participating (and earning money). If you're interested in sponsoring a case there, go check out how it works and learn about the value of sponsoring a case and engaging with the community.
  
  The Insight Community is all about generating insights for companies, recognizing, as we often talk about here on Techdirt, that there's value in the creation of insightful content. The Insight Community is a platform that makes it possible for companies to generate insightful expertise on demand for use in a variety of different ways.



• Techdirt is our other main offering, and is now solely focused on the blog itself. This should help us avoid some confusion over our different properties and the services that we, as Floor64, offer. Techdirt will remain the same great blog it's been all along, but we'll have some cool new features which we'll be posting about shortly as well. As always, Techdirt, the blog will be focused on providing timely and insightful analysis of technology and business news, with a focus on how technology relates to innovation, public policy and economics.

We've been hard at work on this effort, and there's a lot more to come -- some of which we'll announce today, and much more will be coming in the near future. All of our efforts are, of course, made possible by the great, vibrant, often brilliant and always opinionated community that was built up through this site. So, we're excited to open this new chapter of the business and the site, as we look forward to doing plenty more in the future to continue to give back to this community.

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Last week we asked you to submit questions for several Blizzard employees on a wide range of issues. Since we undertook the pilgrimage to Blizzcon in person this year, we decided to use the question ideas as a guide rather than an absolute, so that it could be a little more conversational in tone. Below we have included the responses from Chris Sigaty, lead producer on StarCraft II; Jeffrey Kaplan (aka Tigole), game director for World of Warcraft; Leonard Boyarsky, lead world designer on Diablo III; and Paul Sams, Blizzard's COO. One interesting point: Paul Sams indicated in his interview that, with enough interest, Blizzard would be willing to entertain the idea of open sourcing some of their older games. He suggested that if you are interested in this to contact them directly (please be at least semi-coherent and polite).

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Café Tacvba (MySpace, Wikipedia) are one of the most, if not the most, imaginative and recklessly experimental indie rock bands ever to come out of Latin America. They formed in near Mexico City in the late '80s, and have been happily mutating ever since. I'm always kind of surprised when non-Spanish-speaking American friends don't know who they are -- they're sort of like the Radiohead of Mexico. Anyway, Boing Boing tv caught up with the tacubos backstage after their set at the Outside Lands festival, and our UK-based music correspondent Russell Porter asked them important questions about their excellent shoes, and why lots of ladies run screaming to stage-rush them during shows (Answer: because they're awesome).

Link to Boing Boing tv blog post with instructions on how to subscribe to our daily video podcast. MP4 Link is here.

---

Sponsor Note: This episode, and other BBtv music features this month, are sponsored by the Crowdfire live music social media project. You can find images, video, and audio about the band featured in today's show at Crowdfire -- here's the search link for fan-uploads related to Café Tacvba.

Related Boing Boing tv episodes from Outside Lands:
* Roots Reggae Legends Toots and the Maytals (music)
* Broken Social Scene: interview and live performance (music)
* Galactic's "Modern New Orleans Funk" with Xeni and Russell (music)
* Interview with Cold War Kids frontman Nathan Willett (music)
* Andy Gould, rock band manager, dances on the labels' graves.
* Primus: Xeni interviews Les and Ler (music)
* Kaki King, guitar hero: performance, interview with Xeni (music)
* BB Gadgets' Joel at Outside Lands: Crowdfire deconstructed
* Carney at Outside Lands - a "Boing Boing tv Bus Session." (music)
* Steel Pulse founder David Hinds at Outside Lands (music)
* Boing Boing tv backstage at Outside Lands: (Xeni + Russell Porter)

(Special thanks to Wayneco for the magic bus, and to Virgin America for air travel.)

Artists Bruce Gilchrist and Jo Joelson of London Fieldworks built an installation of birdhouses based on the palaces of dictators like Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, and Nicolae Ceausescu. Seen here is the animal house embodiment of Ceausescu's Palace of Parliament in Bucharest. Creative Review has more. Despot Birdhouses

moo!
water
gadgets
sundae
sausagecase
sausage art
jaffegg
munchy box
meat
guttenberg's steak house
rejected bbq names
buche

previously on web zen:
meaty zen 2008

Permalink for this edition. Web Zen is created and curated by Frank Davis, and re-posted here on Boing Boing with his kind permission. Web Zen Home and Archives, Store (Thanks Frank!)

If he gets to ask McCain a question in tonight's debate, try asking a friendly question, like Schwarzenegger asked his opponent Phil Angelides in a 2006 gubenatorial debate. "What's been the funniest moment in your campaign?" or "Where were you when you come up with the idea of picking Sarah Palin?" It's all so serious -- what about relaxing a little.

SomaFM founder Rusty Hodge is posting updates from the Iceland Airwaves festival this week. Here's his latest installment:

We at SomaFM had made plans to cover the Iceland Airwaves music festival for SomaFM back in August. So in the last two weeks as we heard about the "economic collapse" of Iceland, we were a little nervous as to what the situation would be like over there. By the time we arrived at the Keflavik Airport and got to the Duty Free shop, we realized there wasn't anything to fear. The Duty Free was packed with people buying their allowances of liquor and wine to bring with them to Iceland- because the Duty Free is about half the price of buying liquor anywhere else in Iceland (due to the high taxes on liquor here).

Although when we got on the shuttle bus to Reykjavik, there were only 15 others on it; last year the bus was mostly full. This turned out to be a false impression; 20 minutes after we got to the hotel, a bunch of other people arrived, apparently on a later bus. I guess we were just faster than the normal crowd.

The "Economic Crisis" in Iceland is not being felt too hard on the streets of the city centre. In fact, if you look around, it doesn't seem like anything has happened at all. Banks are functioning like normal- I admit I was hoping to see protests and angry customers waiting for them to open. But even the branches at the big Kringlan mall seemed their normal busy self, and the people in them were happily going about their business.

A few Icelanders have made reference to the "economic crisis" in the same way many Americans refer to our own banking crisis... snide comments about irresponsible bankers, distrust of the way the government will handle things, etc. When asked what has really been affected, they say it's impossible to get a mortgage or car loan right now. Prices for groceries and imported goods have gone up. Real estate prices are falling, especially in "Old Town" Reykjavik, but they'll also point out that's probably a good thing since it was overpriced to begin with. The big complaint is that everything is becoming more expensive. And you can't get a car loan. Icelanders seem to be fond of new cars judging from the cars I see on the streets.

Continued after the jump.

To put it in a different context: I spoke to a German the other day, and he asked how we in the US were doing with our banking crisis. They seem to think that the US if falling apart, and small businesses are failing right and left because of it. I told him that aside from people who were invested in the stock market, it's not visibly affecting people that much yet any more than a typical economic downturn would.

So that's what's going on here in Iceland. People are still shopping, eating, drinking. Tourists seem to have caught on that the exchange rates are very favorable right now. While still somewhat expensive - a McDonald's cheeseburger costs about $2.10 right now, but would have cost $3.00 or more last year. Cocktails at many places are US$7-8, and beers are $5-6. Last year, $10 got you a beer, cocktails were more like $12.

So don't believe everything you read in the media. The stores here are not empty; the people are not living off cod and Skyr. They've just been hit with a recession and the prices on imported goods have gone up. So over the next year they're going to have to be a little more prudent with their spending.

SomaFM

An anonymous reader writes "The most comprehensive scan of the entire internet for several decades shows that millions of allocated addresses simply aren't being used. Professor John Heidemann from the University of Southern California (USC) used ICMP and TCP to scan the internet. Even though the last IPv4 addresses will be handed out in a couple of years, his survey reveals that many of the addresses allocated to big companies and institutions are lying idle. Heidemann says: 'People are very concerned that the IPv4 address space is very close to being exhausted. Our data suggests that maybe there are better things we should be doing in managing the IPv4 address space.' So, is it time to reclaim those unused addresses before the IPv6 crunch?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

One of my 2.5-year-old son's favorite books is "A Is For Astronaut: Exploring Space from A to Z." Listed under the letter "G" is "golfball," for the balls that Alan Shepard hit on the moon during the 1971 Apollo 14 mission. This week, the "Question" section in the New York Times' Science Times recounts the interesting story behind Shepard's historic swings. From the NYT:

“Being a golfer,” he said, “I thought if I could just get a club up there, and get it going through the ball at the same speed, that it would go six times as far as it would have gone here on Earth.”

So with NASA’s permission, he designed a club head to fit on the handle of the device the astronauts used to scoop up dust samples. (The collapsible club was brought back to Earth and became the property of the United States Golf Association.)

Before the flight, he practiced using it in a space suit and made a deal that if the mission went well, “then the last thing I was going to do, before climbing up the ladder to come home, was to whack these two golf balls.”

Lunar Golf

Over at the New York Times, John Schwartz has a new installment in a series of pieces about current cooperation between Russia and America in space exploration:

Star City has become an important second home for Americans working with their Russian counterparts, and it is about to become more important still. During the five-year gap after NASA shuts down the space shuttle program in 2010 and the next generation of spacecraft makes its debut by 2015, Russia will have the only ride for humans to the station.

The gap, which was planned by the Bush administration to create the next generation of American spacecraft without significantly increasing NASA’s budget, is controversial. But it is also all but inevitable, because much of the work to shut down the shuttles is under way, and the path to the new Constellation craft would be hard to compress even with additional financing.

Those who work side by side with their Russian counterparts say that strong relationships and mutual respect have resulted from the many years of collaboration. And they say that whatever the broader geopolitical concerns about relying on Russia for space transportation during the five years when the United States cannot get to the space station on its own rockets, they believe that the multinational partnership that built the station will hold.

For U.S. Astronauts, a Russian Second Home. See these related pieces in the series: One Way Up: U.S. Space Plan Relies on Russia, and Russia Leads Way in Space Tourism With Paid Trips Into Orbit.

Image: James Hill for The New York Times. "Cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov and astronaut Mike Fincke took part in a simulation exercise at a training center in Star City."

Vulnerability Assessment Team (VAT) Seals has a list of "somewhat cynical and tongue-in-cheek" security maxims that are nevertheless "essentially correct 80-90% of the time (unfortunately)."

Here are a few examples:

Insider Risk Maxim: Most organizations will ignored or seriously underestimate the threat from insiders.

Troublemaker Maxim: The probability that a security professional has been marginalized by his or her organization is proportional to his/her skill, creativity, knowledge, competence, and eagerness to provide effective security.

Feynman’s Maxim: An organization will fear and despise loyal vulnerability assessors and others who point out vulnerabilities or suggest security changes more than malicious adversaries.

Irresponsibility Maxim: It’ll often be considered “irresponsible” to point out security vulnerabilities (including the theoretical possibility that they might exist), but you’ll rarely be called irresponsible for ignoring or covering them up.

Physical security maxims from Argonne National Laboratory (via Schneier)

Bob Garfield at Ad Age proposes the radical idea that neither of America's presidential candidates should be lying during the campaign. "We're heartbroken that fabricating big lies from nominal truths has become standard operating procedure."

[W]e surrendered to the sick pleasure of Mr. Straight Talk Express revealing himself as just another cynical, self-serving politician, but we're correspondingly disgusted with Mr. Change We Can Believe In, who has revealed exactly the same thing. More broadly, we're simply heartbroken that this tactic -- fabricating big lies from decontextualized elements of nominal truth -- has become, in our most important national discourse, standard operating procedure. Needless to say, if Crest or Wal-Mart or Bridgestone tried it, there would be hell (or at least lots of lawyers) to pay.

Two years ago, we proposed something called The Oath, whereby every candidate would pledge, on behalf of his or her entire campaign, "not to lie or misrepresent my opponent's record and positions on the stump, in my press materials or in my advertising."

The theory was that no candidate could refuse to make such a pledge, and because every trespass is now documented by the opponent or the media, nobody could dare break it. Or, as we put it back then, "The Straight Talk Express will be like that bus in 'Speed.' Take your foot off the truth gas, and the whole thing explodes."

Lying Politicos McCain and Obama Should Take the Oath (AdAge)

As previously prayed for. Video Link. (via dlisted, which has more on this piece; thanks Susannah Breslin!)

In his monthly Crypto-Gram newsletter, Bruce Schneier argues that people who try to bring 3.1 ounce tubes of toothpaste on a plane should either be treated the same as someone who tries to smuggle a gun or a bomb onto the plane, or else they should be allowed to bring the toothpaste (or shampoo) on the plane.

No terrorist is going to base his plot on getting a gun through airport security if there's a decent chance of getting caught, because the consequences of getting caught are too great.

Contrast that with a terrorist plot that requires a 12-ounce bottle of liquid. There's no evidence that the London liquid bombers actually had a workable plot, but assume for the moment they did. If some copycat terrorists try to bring their liquid bomb through airport security and the screeners catch them -- like they caught me with my bottle of pasta sauce -- the terrorists can simply try again. They can try again and again. They can keep trying until they succeed. Because there are no consequences to trying and failing, the screeners have to be 100 percent effective. Even if they slip up one in a hundred times, the plot can succeed.

The Two Classes of Airport Contraband

We've seen all sorts of weird or questionable applications, but here's one that we can't quite figure out who would buy. It's an application for your mobile phone that determines if you're moving, and routes the call directly to voicemail. At the very least, it tells the caller that you're driving right now and can't come to the phone, but is that really that important? And how does the app know whether the mobile phone holder is driving... or just a passenger in the car? Or on a bus? And, more importantly, why can't people just not pick up the phone while they're driving? Are people really so addicted to picking up their phone when it rings that they would need to pay for an application that stops them from doing so? If there really are such people, we've got a better solution: turn off your phone when you drive. It's cheaper.

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arcticstoat writes "If you thought that EA might have been humbled by the massive Internet backlash against its use of SecuROM in its recent games, then you'd be wrong. Speaking at the Dow Jones/Nielsen Media and Money Conference, EA's CEO John Riccitiello claimed that the whole issue had been blown out of all proportion. 'We implemented a form of DRM and it's something that 99.8 per cent of users wouldn't notice,' claimed Riccitiello, 'but for the other 0.2 percent, it became an issue and a number of them launched a cabal online to protest against it.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Great Beyond blog notes two interesting ways in which physicist Stephen Hawking is being honored as of late: A ten foot bronze statue outside his office at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. And a large tattoo on the right leg of Brighton tattoo artist Jack Newton. From The Argus:

The text below the grinning image of Professor Hawking reads “He’s not the messiah, he’s a very naughty boy”.

The quote is taken from Monty Python’s cult film Life Of Brian and is a nod to Professor Hawking’s discoveries, which have given a scientific explanation for the beginning of the universe...

It has already caused a stir in the tattoo world, winning two trophies at conventions.

Jack, 23, said Professor Hawking, who suffers from a type of motor neurone disease, was one of his heroes. He has read the professor’s best-selling book A Brief History Of Time but said he did not understand it all.

He said: “I respect him in quite a few different ways.

“He has worked on some groundbreaking scientific research and is an amazing example of how illness does not necessarily stop a man.

“He’s an inspirational man.”

Brighton tattoo artist has Hawking ink (The Argus), New bronze to honour Prof Hawking (Cambridge News)

Electric miniature mono-railway Modern Mechanix, Feb, 1931.

IT IS a well known fact among experimenters that when a whirling gyroscope is set in an upright or inclined position it will not change unless some strong exterior force is applied. Due to this peculiar quality, which is known as the precessive effect, the gyroscope can be utilized in the construction of many scientific instruments and practical devices which are used in every day life.

One of the most important uses to which the gyroscope is put is that of keeping a mono-rail train in an upright position as it speeds along on its single track. The most practical and outstanding railway of this kind is known as the Brennan Mono-railway, which is used in Ireland.

An interesting and instructive toy mono-railway working on the same principle as its big brother can be easily made by any home craftsman out of a few Meccano parts, an old six-volt toy motor, a bell transformer, a piece of No. 20 gauge sheet iron, an old sewing machine fly wheel, and some No. 14 bare copper wire.

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French electronica duo Daft Punk have been transformed into a pair of Medicom Be@rbricks designer toys. They come in pairs and are almost a foot tall.
Daft Punk vinyl toys

farkinga writes "For those of us that no longer have a television, live TV events can be a challenge to watch. Fortunately, tonight's Presidential Debate has attracted the attention of most US broadcasters, many of whom will provide online viewing options. Leading the way is Hulu, a joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp, who will stream the Fox-branded feed tonight — assuming they worked out the bandwidth issues that came up during the second debate!"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Michael Geist sez, "Boing Boing covered the copyright pledge during the Canadian election campaign. Following last night's election, 34 candidates that supported fair copyright are now Members of Parliament including 11 Liberals and 23 New Democrats."

While copyright reform is unlikely to emerge as a top legislative priority in the current economic environment, there is little doubt that the Conservative minority government will return to the issue (whether Jim Prentice leads that charge as Industry Minister or shifts to Foreign Affairs is a separate matter). With that in mind, having Members of Parliament who will speak out on the need for a balanced approach to copyright that preserves user rights is essential. Coming out of last night's election, 34 candidates who supported the copyright pledge during the campaign were elected - 11 Liberals and 23 New Democrats, covering 8 of 10 provinces (only NB and Saskatchewan do not have a copyright MP). In some ridings - particularly Edmonton-Strathcona where Conservative Rahim Jaffer lost to the NDP's Linda Duncan - it is certainly possible that copyright swung enough votes to help make the difference.

The New Copyright MPs (Thanks, Michael!)

The Steel Yard in Providence is pouring iron on Halloween again. The video is from last year's pour; it looks like an awesome event.

The Steel Yard presents its 3rd annual HALLOWEEN IRON POUR!

Friday, October 31st - 6:00pm
27 Sims Avenue, Providence

This Halloween, come down to the Steel Yard for another molten metal spectacular! The gates open at 6:00 on October 31st at the Steel Yard, and admission is $5. Activities from 6pm - 7pm will include a ceramic bowl sale by our Ceramics Cooperative, bike art and costume building with Recycle-A-Bike, and a pumpkin flinging trebuchet. Proceeds from the bowl sale will benefit the Ceramics Department and resident artists. Hot cider and snacks will be available by donation.

The Iron Guild's casting performance will start promptly at 7pm. The first Guild performance at the Steel Yard brought us a glowing skull with iron wings. Last year, they unveiled the giant flaming heart and poured molten iron into pumpkins. This year...zombies, brains, and candy.

Stick around after the pour for music from local Providence band Tides.

*For pictures and video from previous Iron Guild performances, check out their website: IronGuild.net.

For more information, please call 401-273-7101.

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Haven't done one of these in a while.

On Twitter we're talking, to the extent you can converse on Twitter, about where we'll go if McCain wins the Presidency. Last time it came up, a couple of weeks ago I think, I was saying Vancouver -- because it's just up the coast, about a 2-day drive from Berkeley. Easy to get to, and it's got an American-friendly border, at least so far. Maybe if McCain wins they'll start turning us away so many people will want to emigrate. It's one likely response to his idea that they should start taxing health benefits.

Then came suggestions that I emigrate to Spain or Paris. Hmm. Interesting ideas. So I added them to the list. Today Moscow got added (Russia is a capitalist country now), Argentina, and my favorite so far -- Italy! Now that's a brilliant idea. I could move to Firenze, hang out in the piazza all day eating and drinking, and blogging on my Asus (although I might have an MSI Wind by then, seriously considering it). Who needs a Twitter Bar when you got a piazza with Italian food! Yum.

Okay since this is a MCN piece, I get to ramble.

Next topic -- did you see Frontline last night? It was an excellent summary of the election so far. It was good to review the events that got Obama and McCain to this point. Most interesting were the segments on McCain's experience as a prisoner of war and the part about Obama at Harvard Law School. McCain had it really hard. I didn't get how hard it was, listening to his speech at the RNC, I don't like listening to his speeches, and these days I have trouble listening to Obama too. You know who I really like -- Hillary! She gave a kickass speech on Sunday in Pennsylvania. We should be hearing more from her, and Joe Biden too. He does tend to ramble, like when he went off-script to say how much he loved HIllary. The first couple of sentences were great, but he went on and on, becoming more incoherent with each paragraph. However when he sticks to the script he's fantastic, even though he says Ladies And Gentlemen so many times you'd think he was Chuck Barris on The Gong Show.

Now the thing that really struck me about the story about Obama at HLS was that it was a time of huge conflict in the early 90s when he was there. I didn't know that. When I was there just ten years later it was totally peaceful, even a bit boring. The other thing they emphasized is something I already understood. Obama is a conservative, not a liberal. By that I mean, he won't do what Carter did when he took office -- Obama moves carefully and slowly and builds consensus. Roosevelt did the same, although that's not how history remembers him. He wouldn't go into WWII until there was a national consensus to do so, even though he knew we would have to, and every day we delayed decreased the chance of victory. Very much unlike the current President who went to war in Iraq without a consensus. This is something McCain struggles with every day, even though he never talks about it in the campaign (he should, even though it'd piss off his base, they can't stand criticisim, but we can't use American leadership that's scared of discourse).

One more idea. McCain talks about Country First. It's a good idea, I wish he would practice it more. They are responsible for the hatred that shows up at his rallies. The honorable thing would be to stand between the crowd and Obama and tell them to chill or find another candidate to rally around.

Now the idea is this -- why isn't John Kennedy in this election?

He was, for a while, when Ted Kennedy and Caroline Kennedy endorsed Obama, they were saying here is a leader like my brother and father, respectively. These days everyone is comparing Obama to FDR, but along with economic chaos, political and military chaos are sure to follow. They all go together. A weakened US is going to be tested internationally, as JFK was in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Every day the world gets more dangerous.

It's good that Obama is laying the foundation for leadership when he tells his supporters it's not okay to boo McCain when his name comes up in a speech. But why not invoke JFK in response to the Country First mantra. Remind everyone that there's a Democratic version of that, that goes like this: Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country? Isn't that the response to the 80s and 90s and 00s? Isn't that what the next decade is going to be all about?

JagsLive writes "When purchasing server processors directly from Intel, Google has insisted on a guarantee that the chips can operate at temperatures five degrees centigrade higher than their standard qualification, according to a former Google employee. This allowed the search giant to maintain higher temperatures within its data centers, the ex-employee says, and save millions of dollars each year in cooling costs."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

BART, the Bay Area's metro line, is debating whether or not to allow drinks on trains. As Schneier points out, there are plenty of reasons to ban drinks on the carpeted (!) trains, like spills. But the BART management have invoked fears of terrorists bearing Super Big Gulps filled with lighter fluid to try to make their point.

Just another stupid terrorism scare? Nope! The BART's top bosses have clobbered management for invoking terrorism to get their way, calling it "fearmongering."

Added Director Tom Radulovich, "If somebody wants to break the law and bring flammable liquids on, they can. It's not like al Qaeda is waiting in their caves for us to have a sippy-cup rule."

Directing his comments to BART administrators, he said, "You know, it's just fearmongering and you should be ashamed."

BART debates allowing drinks on trains (via Schneier)

Earlier this year, we were among many who debunked Nicholas Carr's somewhat ridiculous assertion that Google somehow made people stupid because it got them used to skimming information rather than sitting down with a big fat book (like the one Carr is trying to sell) and reading through it. Like so many Carr theses, it seems filled with some interesting factoids and connections -- but then jumps to a conclusion that isn't even remotely supported by the rest of the article. Yet, rather than defend or respond to criticisms, Carr has gotten into the habit of only posting the positive reviews of his article and book.

It would be interesting to see, then, how he responded to some actual research that suggests using search engines helps keep the brain active and "exercises" the brain -- which would be rather the opposite of Carr's thesis. Not only that, but the MRI research showed that active internet users tended to have more activity in the region of the brain that controls decision-making and complex reasoning. While it's just one study -- and you can question how widely the results can be applied -- it's at least worth noting that it seems to contradict Carr's basic thesis.

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SEAActionFund writes "Vint Cerf, Google's Chief Internet Evangelist who also happens to be credited with co-founding the Internet, submitted a video to our AVoteforScience YouTube challenge. In it he discusses the importance of net neutrality and endorses Barack Obama specifically because he supports net neutrality (John McCain does not.) The AVoteForScience challenge calls upon scientists to upload videos to YouTube explaining who they are voting for and why. The first two videos were by Cerf and the 2008 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry Marty Chalfie. Any Slashdotters game for explaining who they are voting for and why?" Still waiting for one of the campaigns to ask for my endorsement, which is totally available to whichever campaign offers me the better cabinet seat.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

SEAActionFund writes "Vint Cerf, Google's Chief Internet Evangelist who also happens to be credited with co-founding the Internet, submitted a video to our AVoteforScience YouTube challenge. In it he discusses the importance of net neutrality and endorses Barack Obama specifically because he supports net neutrality (John McCain does not.) The AVoteForScience challenge calls upon scientists to upload videos to YouTube explaining who they are voting for and why. The first two videos were by Cerf and the 2008 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry Marty Chalfie. Any Slashdotters game for explaining who they are voting for and why?" Still waiting for one of the campaigns to ask for my endorsement, which is totally available to whichever campaign offers me the better cabinet seat.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Meet some Makers tonight at Austin's downtown Whole Foods Market:

The Maker Faire Team will be out and about in Austin over the next week. Please feel free to stop by and say hello, or come out and show your projects too. You can find us Thursday for "Local Artisans" with live demonstrations from our wonderful local food makers. Thursday, 10/16 5pm-8pm Whole Foods Market 525 N. Lamar Austin, TX

Zhi Tea: one of the Makers you'll see this weekend @ Maker Faire Austin

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This frequency counter kit is called "FunCount" and can measure frequencies from 1Hz to over 2MHz. The kit uses an ATTiny2313 Atmel Microcontroller and can also be used as an AVR Development board with an LCD. Pretty cool kit, that also happens to be on sale.

FunCount Kit via Hacked Gadgets

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Tom sent us this take on the DIY whiteboard project -

These instructions show you how to create a 4’ x 8’ whiteboard with minimal effort for about $40-50. It’ll take a little time (a couple of hours - most of which is waiting), but if you are cash strapped, it’s a good alternative.

Clearly illustrated PDF instructions available here - DIY Whiteboard for under $50

More:

$28 huge cheap whiteboards

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Matt_dk writes "The U.S. space agency NASA says it plans to fix the Hubble Space Telescope by remote control this week. The Hubble stopped beaming information to Earth about two weeks ago, when a data unit on the telescope completely failed. Scientists Tuesday said they will bypass the failed unit and switch to a back-up system to restart the flow of information. The computer glitch forced NASA to postpone a shuttle mission this month to repair the Hubble. That shuttle mission has been postponed until next year."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Gijs wrote in to tell us about his Acid Machine, a synthesizer instrument with an interesting method for visual display -

The circle with the lines that you see on the top of the machine, rotates and displays the note you are playing.
When you play a C the lines in the middle circle will be standing still.. from the C it will go outward, displaying all notes on a keyboard in 12 steps.

It works by making a LED blink in the frequency of the sound, and rotating the image at a set speed. For the distance between the lines i used this table, it displays musical frequencys in centimeters.

- Acid Machine

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Sculptor Brenda Guyton does not believe there is any such thing as "digital garbage". Guyton makes detailed creatures out of outdated computer hardware ranging from motherboards to ram chips. This little guy is called "K-9" and actually measures up to 3 feet tall, which is probably bigger than most pooches, digital or not. Check out all of her "animals" at the links below.

Brenda Guyton Sculpture, EcoFriend

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mikesd81 writes "Cnet reports that to avoid being sued by the U.S. Justice Department, Google is negotiating with them. The Justice Department and a multistate task force are still reviewing the proposal to decide whether to oppose the partnership. Under the non-exclusive partnership Google would supply Yahoo with some search ads, a move that could increase Yahoo search revenue but that also gives Google even more power in the market. Yahoo expects the 10-year deal to raise revenue by $800 million in its first year and to provide an extra $250 million to $450 million in incremental operating cash flow. Google's share of the U.S. search market reached 71 percent in August, compared with Yahoo's 18.26, according to Hitwise's most recent numbers."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Colz Grigor writes "It appears that CBS and Fox have submitted DMCA takedown notices to YouTube for videos from the McCain campaign. The campaign is now complaining about YouTube's DMCA policy making it too easy for copyright holders to remove fair-use videos. I hope they pursue this by addressing flaws in the DMCA."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Highly Liquid is selling a kit to add MIDI input to one of Casio's classic keyboards, the VL-1 aka “VL-Tone”. Could be a lot fun for owners/benders of the little white instrument. - VL-1-MIDI

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This isn't a Halloween trick or decoration, but it's still a bit creepy. Not sure what a Psi wheel is? Check out the wikipedia entry.

Making a psi wheel can be an interesting demonstration of telekinesis or science, depending on your individual perspective. Unlike a psi ball, a psi wheel creates a readily observable effect that'll have most people scratching their heads. This article will describe how to make and use one, followed up by some theories as to why putting your hand near a piece of paper can make it spin.

More about How to Make a Psi Wheel

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This isn't a Halloween trick or decoration, but it's still a bit creepy. Not sure what a Psi wheel is? Check out the wikipedia entry.

Making a psi wheel can be an interesting demonstration of telekinesis or science, depending on your individual perspective. Unlike a psi ball, a psi wheel creates a readily observable effect that'll have most people scratching their heads. This article will describe how to make and use one, followed up by some theories as to why putting your hand near a piece of paper can make it spin.

More about How to Make a Psi Wheel

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Just posted! Our latest lens review starring Canon's eagerly-awaited 'superzoom' for APS-C DSLRs, the EF-S 18-200mm F3.5-5.6 IS. This much-requested lens was finally delivered by Canon as an accompaniment to the EOS 50D, so we've put it though its paces on the new DSLR using our comprehensive studio test suite. To find out how Canon's latest optic performs (and how it matches up to the demands of a 15Mp sensor) follow the link.

Just posted! Our latest lens review starring Canon's eagerly-awaited 'superzoom' for APS-C DSLRs, the EF-S 18-200mm F3.5-5.6 IS. This much-requested lens was finally delivered by Canon as an accompaniment to the EOS 50D, so we've put it though its paces on the new DSLR using our comprehensive studio test suite. To find out how Canon's latest optic performs (and how it matches up to the demands of a 15Mp sensor) follow the link.

Just posted! Our latest lens review starring Canon's eagerly-awaited 'superzoom' for APS-C DSLRs, the EF-S 18-200mm F3.5-5.6 IS. This much-requested lens was finally delivered by Canon as an accompaniment to the EOS 50D, so we've put it though its paces on the new DSLR using our comprehensive studio test suite. To find out how Canon's latest optic performs (and how it matches up to the demands of a 15Mp sensor) follow the link.

This is a really spooky looking fountain made from PVC pipe, expanding foam, and a Christmas tree stand. Be sure to click the "next" links on the bottom of the site for all the details of the build.

How to: Skull fountain

DIY HALLOWEEN from MAKE & CRAFT!

It's here!! DIY HALLOWEEN 2007 from the editors of MAKE and CRAFT brings you 40-plus DIY projects for the holiday that's made for makers. From the craftiest costumes to amazing animated props and the latest in computer-controlled haunted house effects - Link.

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This is a really spooky looking fountain made from PVC pipe, expanding foam, and a Christmas tree stand. Be sure to click the "next" links on the bottom of the site for all the details of the build.

How to: Skull fountain

DIY HALLOWEEN from MAKE & CRAFT!

It's here!! DIY HALLOWEEN 2007 from the editors of MAKE and CRAFT brings you 40-plus DIY projects for the holiday that's made for makers. From the craftiest costumes to amazing animated props and the latest in computer-controlled haunted house effects - Link.

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This is a really spooky looking fountain made from PVC pipe, expanding foam, and a Christmas tree stand. Be sure to click the "next" links on the bottom of the site for all the details of the build.

How to: Skull fountain

DIY HALLOWEEN from MAKE & CRAFT!

It's here!! DIY HALLOWEEN 2007 from the editors of MAKE and CRAFT brings you 40-plus DIY projects for the holiday that's made for makers. From the craftiest costumes to amazing animated props and the latest in computer-controlled haunted house effects - Link.

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Paul sez, "Geograph British Isles got its millionth image this morning! The Geograph British Isles project aims to collect geographically representative photographs and information for every square kilometre of Great Britain and Ireland. All the images are CC licensed and we think we're building a useful educational and historical document which will be freely available forever." Geograph hits one million photographs! (Thanks, Paul!)

(Image: Minor road near Aberuchill, a Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike photo by Dr Richard Murray)

Paul sez, "Geograph British Isles got its millionth image this morning! The Geograph British Isles project aims to collect geographically representative photographs and information for every square kilometre of Great Britain and Ireland. All the images are CC licensed and we think we're building a useful educational and historical document which will be freely available forever." Geograph hits one million photographs! (Thanks, Paul!)

(Image: Minor road near Aberuchill, a Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike photo by Dr Richard Murray)

Science_afficionado writes "In the southeastern US, fisherman have an unusual way to collect earthworms for bait. The practice is called worm grunting, fiddling, snoring, or charming. It involves pounding a wooden stake into the ground and rubbing the top of the stake with a long piece of steel to produce a grunting sound that causes earthworms to come to the surface where they can be easily collected for bait. A study published today in the open access journal PLoS ONE shows that the technique works because the worm grunters are unknowingly imitating the sounds created by burrowing moles. Full text of the paper is available at PLoS ONE."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

One of our regular readers, Rose M. Welch wrote in with an interesting story that reminds me of the mess concerning the show WKRP in Cincinnati. As you may know, the massively successful sitcom used popular music as part of its storyline about a radio station and its employees. Yet, the music itself was only licensed for the broadcast on TV, since in those days no one thought about any after market. So now, when DVDs and syndication of TV shows are popular, the show couldn't actually use the original music, and had to dub in some crappy replacement music, harming the overall quality of the show. It's ridiculous too, since it only harms the bands who have been "cut" from the show, and makes the show a lot less interesting.

Welch's story isn't quite at the same level but does a good job demonstrating how bands that focus on licensing their music and getting every penny for every use may be making a big mistake:

'House' is a very popular television show in America and the UK. I first started watching the show at the beginning of the summer. One of the things that I really liked was the beat of the into music. I did a search for it and found out that it was 'Teardrop' by Massive Attack. I found it on Amazon.com and purchased it. Woot!

After a few days, I went back and purchased more of their music, and some of the suggested music from groups like Thievery Corporation. I'm a rocker at heart, so this kind of music was really a change for me. I've probably spent about forty bucks on this kind of music in the last two months. I'm pretty into it and so is my hubby so I plan on buying more. Not to mention the people who have heard it in my home or vehicle and liked it.

So the new season of House has just began and it has a different but equally compelling theme song. I went to try and find it to purchase it. It turns out that it's not a full song. It's just a short clip called 'House' by composers Scott Donaldson and Richard Nolan, written specifically for the show.

Apparently, they'd had an awful time trying to license 'Teardrop' in the UK and said screw it. They made their own. It's now the theme for the US and the UK. And the next person to go searching for that neat genre will be disappointed because you can't purchase that clip and that clip doesn't lead you to any similar music. Not to mention the loss any of funds they would have received for the US show.

So, in attempting to make sure the musician got every penny for every use, the band has been cut out entirely, and replaced with a homemade snippet that isn't leading anyone to actually purchase new music or go see a concert or anything like that.

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One of our regular readers, Rose M. Welch wrote in with an interesting story that reminds me of the mess concerning the show WKRP in Cincinnati. As you may know, the massively successful sitcom used popular music as part of its storyline about a radio station and its employees. Yet, the music itself was only licensed for the broadcast on TV, since in those days no one thought about any after market. So now, when DVDs and syndication of TV shows are popular, the show couldn't actually use the original music, and had to dub in some crappy replacement music, harming the overall quality of the show. It's ridiculous too, since it only harms the bands who have been "cut" from the show, and makes the show a lot less interesting.

Welch's story isn't quite at the same level but does a good job demonstrating how bands that focus on licensing their music and getting every penny for every use may be making a big mistake:

'House' is a very popular television show in America and the UK. I first started watching the show at the beginning of the summer. One of the things that I really liked was the beat of the into music. I did a search for it and found out that it was 'Teardrop' by Massive Attack. I found it on Amazon.com and purchased it. Woot!

After a few days, I went back and purchased more of their music, and some of the suggested music from groups like Thievery Corporation. I'm a rocker at heart, so this kind of music was really a change for me. I've probably spent about forty bucks on this kind of music in the last two months. I'm pretty into it and so is my hubby so I plan on buying more. Not to mention the people who have heard it in my home or vehicle and liked it.

So the new season of House has just began and it has a different but equally compelling theme song. I went to try and find it to purchase it. It turns out that it's not a full song. It's just a short clip called 'House' by composers Scott Donaldson and Richard Nolan, written specifically for the show.

Apparently, they'd had an awful time trying to license 'Teardrop' in the UK and said screw it. They made their own. It's now the theme for the US and the UK. And the next person to go searching for that neat genre will be disappointed because you can't purchase that clip and that clip doesn't lead you to any similar music. Not to mention the loss any of funds they would have received for the US show.

So, in attempting to make sure the musician got every penny for every use, the band has been cut out entirely, and replaced with a homemade snippet that isn't leading anyone to actually purchase new music or go see a concert or anything like that.

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This is a great, and green, way to decorate your house for Halloween. Almost everyone has a few pieces of scrap wood that they could use to make some scary looking boarded up windows.

I first measured my windows and made a frame out of 1"x2" furring strips. The "boards are scrap 1/4" plywood left over from building the coffin. I arranged the boards around the frame until I thought it looked good. I then screwed all the boards down to the frame

More about DIY Halloween: Boarded up windows

More:

DIY Halloween contest! This is the BIG ONE!!!!

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Olympus, Panasonic and Sigma have jointly launched a firmware update service for the Four Thirds system standard. The service enables users to install future DSLR lens firmware updates via their four thirds camera, even if the body and lens are not by the same manufacturer. The move allows all Four Thirds system users to ensure their lenses include all the latest revisions.

Our pals, including Joe Grand (MAKE author and advisory board member) show premiers tonight! Prototype This - Discovery Channel via Hack a Day.

Set your DVRs!

• Mind Controlled Car, October 15
• Boxing Robots, October 22
• Traffic Busting Truck, October 29
• Get Up and Go, November 5
• Waterslide Simulator, November 12
• Six-Legged All Terrain Vehicle, November 19

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highways sends word that preliminary investigations into a Qantas Airbus A330 mishap where 51 passengers were injured has concluded that it was due to the Air Data Inertial Reference System feeding incorrect information into the flight control system — not interference from passenger electronics, as Qantas had initially claimed. Quoting from the ABC report: "Authorities have blamed a faulty onboard computer system for last week's mid-flight incident on a Qantas flight to Perth. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said incorrect information from the faulty computer triggered a series of alarms and then prompted the Airbus A330's flight control computers to put the jet into a 197-meter nosedive... The plane was cruising at 37,000 feet when a fault in the air data inertial reference system caused the autopilot to disconnect. But even with the autopilot off, the plane's flight control computers still command key controls in order to protect the jet from dangerous conditions, such as stalling, the ATSB said."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Noah Scalin of SkullADay.com and the upcoming book, Skulls, joins Martha to show off some of his skull projects from the blog and book. He also crafts with Martha to make a skull potato stamp in these videos from the Martha Stewart Show.

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Phil Torrone at Make Blog posted these photos of the Betterbaby snake-proof baby crib from the early 20th century. Betterbaby snake proof crib

For years, Europe has been trying to push data retention rules, that require ISPs to hang onto data much longer than it's needed for any business purpose. Such data retention has plenty of problems, from the likelihood of abuse to the chance of inadvertent disclosure to the simple fact that sifting through more data often makes it more difficult to find the data you actually need. However, the biggest problem is the cost involved with data retention. It's rather costly to retain all that data for many ISPs, and for years ISPs (especially smaller ones) fought to make sure that any data retention laws also included provisions that would make the government pay for retaining the data. While some politicians in the UK have tried to shrug off the cost issue as not a big deal, it looks like it may leave a loophole that makes data retention in the UK basically meaningless.

The Register is reporting on a meeting the UK government held with various ISPs that left many of the ISPs baffled. Basically, they were told that they needed to start retaining data to stay in compliance with the law, but that since the UK government couldn't pay for it, many of the ISPs could get away without actually retaining the data. In other words, it sounded as if they said that, yes, you need to retain the data, but since we don't want to pay for it, maybe you shouldn't actually retain the data (wink, wink, nod, nod). So they end up giving lip service to the public about telling ISPs to retain data, but then since they won't fund it, it won't actually happen.

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Criggo is a delightful blog that posts scans of funny things from newspapers. Criggo

Apparently even inmates are makers, using whatever means available. There has been a problem with prisoners brewing their own alcohol with fresh fruit and sugar, increasing violence and perpetuating alcoholism in the system. I found a recipe for this so called "pruno," and as gross and unsafe as the process is (do not try this at home), I thought I'd share. As the site says, "Even people who have never had any trouble with the law can learn to make this horrible, putrid beverage!"

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The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Fred von Lohmann sez, "The McCain-Palin campaign comes out fighting for fair use after having their YouTube videos targeted by frivolous copyright claims from CBS, Fox News (!), and the Christian Broadcasting Network (!!). They propose special protections for the YouTube accounts of political campaigns -- a good start, but other YouTubers need protection from bogus DMCA takedowns, too! With 20 days left before Election Day, this problem is going to get worse..."

The obvious problem with this solution? It assumes that YouTube should prioritize the campaigns' fair use rights, rather than those of the rest of us. That seems precisely backwards, since the most exciting new possibilities on YouTube are for amateur political expression by the voters themselves. After all, the campaigns have no trouble getting the same ads out on television and radio, options not available to most YouTubers.

Let's start by identifying the real villains here: the major news media outlets. They are the ones censoring these political ads, based on the use of a few seconds of their footage. The networks need to back off and give fair use a wide berth. So let's start by shaming the bad guys here. In addition, lawsuits might help. Under the DMCA, both the campaigns themselves and YouTube have standing to sue those who send clearly bogus takedown notices. (EFF has represented video creators in a number of these cases, including against Viacom.)

McCain Campaign Feels DMCA Sting (Thanks, Fred!)

Fafblog -- the funniest writing on the net for my money -- tackles the question of Barack Obama's dark side:

FACT! Barack Obama has been friends with Rashid Khalidi, an openly Arab Arab who is so Arab he writes about other Arabs. Is Barack Obama part of the international Arab conspiracy to trick white people into thinking about Arabs? Answer: also maybe.

FACT! Barack Obama talks about his white mother and his white grandparents and the white half of his family that is white, but did you know that half of his family is also black? In fact, half his family is so black that Obama keeps them hidden away on a whole other continent where they speak in a strange, otherworldly code which is not even English. What is Obama trying to hide? Possibly something black. BONUS FACT! Barack Obama may be half-white and half-black, but he married a woman who is completely black. In a way, doesn't that make him three-quarters black? Math doesn't lie, people!

FACT! "Obama" is an ancient Muslim name meaning "He Who Deceives the White Man with his Telegenic Charisma, Angular Good Looks, and Deceptively Conservative Policy Proposals." Coincidence? Or co-bama?

Barack Obama: Black? (Thanks, Lynn!)

The last debate is tomorrow night at 6PM.

irc://irc.freenode.net/#presidentDebate3

Once again we are having a gathering to watch the debate at the Hillside Club in Berkeley, 5:30PM, suggested contribution $5.

Limor has a quick hack up on her blog on getting an analog signal from a digital proximity sensor to work around a preset distance trigger.

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John Hodgman's new book MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU REQUIRE hits the streets on October 21, but by no means is today's episode of Boing Boing tv any sort of, oh, how do the marketing people say it -- it's not a book trailer, and it is by no means a promotional vehicle for said book.

No, we just noticed the star of Apple ads and Daily Show hijinks wandering aimlessly in the streets outside the BBtv studio this week. We invited him in for scotch and cocoa, and shared questions posed to him by BBtv viewers through the popular internet messaging website known as "The Twitter."

We don't know how all those books managed to stack themselves from studio floor to ceiling. We are not holding those books in front of our faces in the first 10 seconds of this episode so that you might see the cover -- we're doing low-impact pilates.

HEY LOOK, IT'S A CONTEST: If you would like to receive a Hodgmanically autographed copy of the book for which this episode is not a promotional trailer, reply to @xenijardin on The Twitter with the answer to this question:

What area of expertise does Hodgman credit Boing Boing tv for on page 592 of this excellent book?"

We will select a winner randomly. Friends, spouses, love-slaves, and business partners of Boing Boing and Boing Boing tv are not eligible. (Serious face: this episode isn't an ad, we're just ridiculously hardcore fans of Hodgman. Watch our trufan-trailer here, then, seriously, go buy the book).

---

Link to Boing Boing tv blog post with instructions on how to subscribe to our daily video podcast. Here's the direct MP4 link to this episode.

---

Previously on Boing Boing tv:

* John Hodgman in BBtv's SPAMasterpiece Theater, Vol II: "Wuthering Wire Transfers."
* John Hodgman in BBtv's SPAMasterpiece Theater.
* John Hodgman: More Information Than You Require.

An anonymous reader writes "Canadian company Aegis Mobility has developed software that detects if a cell phone is moving at 'car' speeds. If so, the software, DriveAssistT, will alert the cellular network, telling it to hold calls and text messages until the drive is over. Calls are not blocked entirely; callers will be notified that the person appears to be driving, but they can still leave an emergency voice mail, which will be sent through immediately."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

We've had numerous articles over the years concerning the rise of "open access" scientific journals, which focus on making the research they publish openly available (usually online) to anyone who wants it, rather than the more traditional method of going through ridiculously expensive journals. This movement has certainly gained plenty of steam in the past fast years, even as many of the traditional publishers have done everything possible to fight it.

However, as SteveD points out to us, last week one of the big traditional publishers, Springer Science+Business Media acquired one of the more successful open access journals, BioMed Central, which has shown that it's possible to be an open access journal and profitable at the same time (wonders never cease). The author of the article notes, correctly, that it would certainly be a good thing if the old-line journals are finally recognizing that open access journals are an important and profitable part of scientific discussion, rather than just fighting them at every turn.

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I got my hands on an old Lowell George album I haven't heard since 1980 or 1981 when I lived on Comanche Trail in Los Gatos. It was a wonderful time, although I wasn't so sure about it then. I was young, and reaching my peak of creativity. I was hanging out with smart people at Personal Software and some shady people too. It was at this time that we created the expand and collapse display for outliners, and move-by-structure. Outliners for personal computers were being invented at the house on Comanche Trail. With Google Maps I can almost go to the exact house. Maybe at some point they'll send their car down that street and I'll be able to find the house itself. Those were great times!

All of it brought back by listening to an old album! Music is great that way.

BTW, the sound system I'm listening to Lowell George on is a billion percent better than the one I listened to then. I also smoked then and did a lot of drugs. I don't do that no mo, although gotta admit sometimes I wish I could.

So far my favorite two songs on the album are 20 Million Things To Do and Cheek To Cheek.

With the Justice Department making it clear that it wanted to go after Google for possible antitrust violations, it appears that Google has recognized the time isn't right to be defiant, but to get a seat at the negotiating table. The company, along with Yahoo, is apparently in talks with the Justice Department to see what it can do to avoid getting sued for antitrust violations. While it's obviously way too early to see whether or not this works, it must be better than waiting until the whole thing gets hashed out in court. It's still difficult to see what sort of antitrust violation there really is here, but that wouldn't stop the government from bringing a costly lawsuit if some sort of deal isn't worked out quickly.

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Back in the early 1900's a company named Caldwell made a snake-proof baby crib, they don't make them like they used to folks... via BA.

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Vrst1013 notes a Business Week account of a government report examining fraud in the H-1B program. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services just released a report to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee examining issues with fraud and technical violations within this program. Based on a sample size of 246 H-1B petitions, 13.4 percent showed fraud and 7.3 percent showed technical violations, for an overall violation rate of 20.7 percent. There was slso evidence of payment below the prevailing wage, offers of non-existent jobs, and fraudulent documentation. "'The report makes it clear that the H-1B program is rife with abuse and misuse,' says Ron Hira, [a professor] at the Rochester Institute of Technology... However, both Presidential candidates, Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain, have said they support expanding the program."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

On his YouTube page, Quethe writes about getting an RFID chip injected into his hand:

I implanted a RFID chip in my hand. I injected the chip myself from supplies bought on the internet. This tag is readable from up to 2 inches from my hand.

I am currently using it to open my handgun safe for instant access. I can have a gun in hand in one second in blackness without fumbling with buttons or codes.

If you are convinced that this is the "Mark of the Beast", then from one Christian to another I hope you read the Book of Revelation and apply more understanding to it that what you hear from those who only offer fear.

The right hand is the action hand (our works) and the forehead is our mind (our faith and thoughts). If the whole book of Revelation is to be understood carnally then I'd suggest we start exploring the ocean for a giant monster.

If you fear government ID tags etc, take a look at Biometrics. Why try to chip people when a machine can identify persons from a distance and without control. These are currently in place in US cities.

RFID is old hat. Just something some Evangelists have used to justify their lack of scriptural knowledge because they are whited seplecures that deny the existence of modern day revelation and prophecy. Learn for yourself.

So if you are telling me I am going to Hell for this, at least read the Revelation of John and pray for understanding.

I will appreciate comments that are sincere or are not knee jerk comments like "Oh my G**! You are going to Hell". The profanity is also not appreciated.

I am not offering advice or giving instruction. I do not recommend this and am not liable. This video is for information only.

RFID Implant in Hand Do It Yourself

Richard Metzger sent this around today, saying: "Is this what the bailout really looks like???"

Oh you lucky, lucky Boing Boing readers... I have a gift and I think it's pretty special: For those of you unaware of the work of Charles Hugh Smith you are about to meet one of the finest thinkers and writers in America today.

It often seems like there are certain people who come along, at precisely the right time, to fulfill necessary and needed roles in society. I'm not sure why, but I'm glad it happens. Maybe it's a function of DNA, who knows? Right now, with the problems the world and this nation face, there need to be more voices that we can TRUST in the media sphere. Especially when it comes to understanding the economy, because that's where what matters most in our society occurs. It's THE big story of our time. Perhaps part of the problem is that reporters and journalists writing on the economy aren't economists. Fine, fair enough, but what do you actually receive when the issues being discussed on the evening news and in the newspapers are so complex as not to be understood adequately either by the journalists themselves or by the man in the street? Not a lot of value there I'm afraid.

And here's the genius of Charles Hugh Smith: He takes some of the most difficult to understand problems vexing the world today and make sense of these issues -- heavy things like what are we going to do about universal health care, why Social Security will probably never get fixed (or be around much longer), ending oil dependency, what sorts of jobs will matter most during a depression and so forth. He writes with a calm and steady voice that takes readers by the hand and carefully explains the most pressing issues of our time. We, all of us, need to comprehend our problems, that's the first step, before we can change anything and master our fates.

Each morning I check email, glance at Drudge, the NY Times -- Boing Boing, of course! -- and then when the coffee is brewed, I sit down with that morning's essay from Charles' weblog, Of Two Minds. His writing is my daily oasis of sanity in an otherwise insane world. It never fails to impress me - -each morning I think this same thought -- that every day he's able to come up with something so utterly brilliant, deep and wise, no matter what the topic, although the main subject Smith tends to write about is examining how we got to where we are today and how we will live tomorrow in a tragically diminished America.

Recently, one of Charles' readers wrote in to say that he considered Smith the "new" David Henry Thoreau. What a nice compliment, I thought, and then it struck me how true that comparison is. Charles Hugh Smith is indeed the Henry David Thoreau of our era. Thank the gods he showed up, and right on time!

And like I said, I have a gift for you people... Read on for an interview with philosopher Charles Hugh Smith after the jump.Richard Metzger: When it was announced that there would be a meeting over the past weekend of the West's big financial players and then with the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's irresponsible lip flap about the possibility of shutting the markets down until they figured what they were going to do -- this is almost an outright admission that nothing they've done so far is working, isn't it? I expected that the financial markets would just utterly tank on Monday, but for some reason they didn't. Is it possible that Wall Street knows something that the man on the street doesn't or is this just another irrational rally based on fumes and Pollyanna-ish "hope" -- and little else -- like all the other recent rallies have been?

Charles Hugh Smith: We’re always told that the stock market reflects the “real economy” but the connection is mostly illusory. The markets reflect human emotion and our tendency to “herd” with the consensus, a consensus that has been based on “good news” data that is highly suspect. In Exploiting the Market and The Real Revolution I posted two charts of the last great Bear markets: 1929 – 1946 and 1966 – 1981. You can see that as the real economy foundered in both decades, the stock market rallied again and again, reaping huge gains for those who ignored the real economy and focused only on charts, which reflect the human emotions behind the trading. Note how a "buy and hold" strategy resulted in big losses—so the standard “buy and hold” advice is an OK strategy in a 15-year Bull market but a horrible strategy in a 15-year Bear market like the one we’re in.

So while this rally is irrational in terms of the real economy, which is deteriorating rapidly, it makes perfect sense to traders because they reckoned that such apocalyptic expectations were overdone. The sharp declines look a lot like panic selling in 2002 and after 9/11, and so history suggests a strong rebound would occur,

The other thing Wall Street knows that the man on the street might not is that all this government intervention would eventually have an effect. I like to think of it as feedback. When the financial sector was collapsing, it seemed like bad news fed on itself. But the massive intervention created positive feedback loops that acted to counter the prevailing panic.

In other words, The Powers That Be were actively throwing everything including the kitchen sink at the panic. Experienced traders, both small-fry and big-money managers, didn’t need any inside information to expect the feedback to start mitigating the crisis.

Did the intervention fix what’s ailing the real economy? No; but it did change the psychology of the herd and hence of the market. Bear markets are characterized by these wild, even irrational swings of consensus from hope/renewed greed to gloom/panic. We should expect these to continue for at least 4-5 years and perhaps even longer. ??

Richard Metzger: Isn't the moment that the government tells you that "everything is under control" the moment to hit the panic button and BAIL OUT of the markets?

Charles Hugh Smith: I would say the time to bail out of the markets or go short is when the consensus as reflected in the mainstream media and the markets is that everything will be fine. The intervention repaired some immediate financial-sector problems but didn’t fix the economy.??

Richard Metzger: What about the price of gold? The age-old truism about gold is that it is supposed to move in the opposite direction from the market and that it provides a "safe haven" hedge against both inflation and deflation. The Market goes south, gold increases in value. At least that's the way it's supposed to happen, but this year gold is making some unexpected moves... why?

Charles Hugh Smith: There are lots of theories and I really don’t know which ones have traction. My best guess is that as the global credit bubble popped and all the extreme leverage began shrinking, all assets which had large amounts of speculative money in them fell as players sold whatever still had value to raise cash and pay down debt. Even real stores of value like gold and oil got sold off hard.??

Richard Metzger: Do you see Inflation or Deflation? Deflation is supposed to be the thing that "can't happen here" or so conventional wisdom says... but some iconoclast financial analysts (like Mike Shedlock and others) think Deflation is exactly what we’re dealing with. What do you think?

Charles Hugh Smith: Back in June 2006 I asked Could We Have Deflation and Inflation At the Same Time? and my answer was yes. The reason is the global credit bubble created huge asset bubbles in real estate and construction-related commodities like copper and steel. But it also created new wealth in the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and that wealth enabled hundreds of millions of consumers to buy more and better food and to begin consuming petroleum in vast quantities. I call this the 500 million motorscooter economy. If Mr. American cuts his gasoline consumption a bit -- currently U.S. oil consumption is down about 500,000 barrels a day, or about 2.5% of our total daily consumption -- then the slack is more than picked up by 500 million motorscooters, not to mention millions of new autos and trucks. So as global demand outstrips supply of limited resources —- what I call the FEW resources in my new book Weblogs & New Media: Marketing in Crisis (food, energy and water) -- then prices for these essentials rise even as deflation ravages assets like real estate, stocks and eventually even bonds.

It turns out this is exactly what has happened in past economic cycles, as historian David Hackett Fischer described in his book The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History which I often recommended. I have also covered other aspects of this cycle, for example:?

Are We Entering the Next Age of Turmoil? (June 2005)
A Rickety Global House of Cards (Oct. 2005)?
As the Real Estate Bubble Pops, so Does the Economy (March 2006)
Housing Bubble Bust Will Take Down the Global Economy (May 2006)

Richard Metzger: What do you think things are going to look like in a year's time? In five years?

Charles Hugh Smith: These long historical cycles take a long time to play out. I expect assets to continue to deflate in terms of purchasing power while the FEW resources (food, energy, water) will continue rising in price. Gold and oil will continue rising as stores of real value. Political “solutions” will basically be half-baked attempts to muddle through without addressing the core problem that ultimately the entitlements we have promised our citizens will bankrupt the nation. Eventually the U.S. will be unable to pay its bills as the interest on our rapidly rising debt squeezes out all other spending. This will probably take 8 or 9 years to play out, maybe even longer.

Richard Metzger: History probably will not repeat itself in the sense that there is a much different world today with different possibilities and choices, than there was during The Great Depression. Not only are we more interconnected now (trade, air travel, Internet, various forms of cultural exchange, etc) but there are many categories of job descriptions, businesses and marketplaces that didn't exist then. Having said that, it's pretty easy to envision the more frivolous professions and businesses being vaporized first. I wouldn't want to be an investor in, nor employee of, something like (not to pick on them, but here goes) "Second Life"! What are the core safe/essential jobs you see for Americans in the next decade?

Charles Hugh Smith: Certainly everything connected to the FEW resources (food, energy, water) and anything which enables “faster, better, cheaper” goods and services and living healthier without costly interventions. In my book Weblogs & New Media: Marketing in Crisis I propose that the Web and New Media are key enabling technologies for just these kinds of improvements in efficiencies, for virtually all enterprises from one-person businesses to global companies. I have long suggested ( Will the Housing Bust Take Down China? June 2006) that China may be more vulnerable to the global depression than is commonly recognized. Couple this with rising sea transport costs and it is easy to see a resurgence of distributed manufacturing in the U.S.??

Richard Metzger: When I was reading The Fourth Turning -- a book I know that you are a fan of, too -- I felt like the authors were building up to a moment in history that is pretty much nigh upon us, a period of intense change and perhaps chaotic transformation, but one they seemed determined not to describe or speculate about in their book with any detail. When the tectonic plates move between generations, much changes. Putting on your long-range prophecy goggles, and assuming that we're coming out the other side of this mess ten years from now, what kind of a world will we have in 2018? (I cling to the hope that things will be as different in 2018 from today as the change was from 1960 to 1970).

Charles Hugh Smith: While many predict doomsday scenarios, and those are certainly possible if we go into complete denial for another decade, I suspect painful adaptations will have been made by 2018. We will have learned to get by with much less energy consumption per person and how to create distributed networks of alternative energies. The Federal government and all state governments will be essentially bankrupt and the entire culture of entitlement will have been upended by this inability to pay everyone’s medical care and pension. Self-reliance and community will replace dependence on central government. The dollar may well be replaced with a “new dollar” or superceded by a global currency based on gold or a basket of commodities of enduring value. Hopefully we will have avoided “resource wars” but if we haven’t weaned ourselves from petroleum then we may well still be engaged in a “long war” over oil resources, perhaps even involving China or Russia. If we refuse to become energy-self-sufficient then a major global conflict is not impossible in the 2017-2021 timeframe.??

Richard Metzger: How will you personally live and protect yourself during the hard times??

Charles Hugh Smith: In June 2008 I wrote an essay called Art of Survival, Taoism and the Warring States which a lot of people seemed to like. Basically I plan to rely on living simply and reciprocity/generosity with my circle of friends, family and neighbors. My beliefs are counter to killing and I will depend on community for defense rather than stockpile weaponry and ammo. Many survivalists wrote me positive comments about this essay so that gives me hope that we will collectively recognize that pulling together is the best way to “take care of Number One.” ?

(Richard Metzger is guest blogger.)