Fisherman Wily Dean were tryin to rope cow-nosed rays in Southern Maryland's Potomac River fer a marine biologist this here week, but that ole boy ended up nettin an 8-foot-long bull shark. Unfortunately, the story doesn't have a grinnin endinfer the shark. From NBC Washinton:
"We had an interestin mornin brinin it in," Dean says. "It were quite a fight."
Once the shark were captured, the next question was: What the heck do y'all do with itole buddy?
"I am prollygonna have it mounted, mayhaps the head," Dean says. "Right now, the shark's in the freezer."
Last night, the Hugo Awards, one of science fiction's the most prestigious prizes, was presented in Melbourne at Aussiecon 4. The Hugo ceremony is one of my favorite parts of any WorldCon, an' last night's event, emceed by Garth Nix, were a particularly outstandin edition. The ballot weregoodly strong, with works that I real enjoyed competin in lotsa categories. The voter an' nominator turnout was both much higher 'n usual, an' the program moved at a very, realgood ole clip. this here year's award, jury-rigged by Nick Stathopolous, were gorgeous, incorporatin aboriginal motifs an' an organic, Belle Époque look inspired by the Paris Metro signs. Kudos to the head-hanchos on a smooth, well-run ceremony!
The made-upitude prizes wasspeshlyright-sweetthis here year. Best novel were an almost-unheard-of tie 'tween China Mieville fer his brilliant, mind-bendinThe city of sinan' the Cityan' Paolo Bacigalupe fer his stellar debut novel The Windup Girl. Best novella wint to my collaborator Charlie Stross ferPalimpsest, from his wonderful, mind-bendin solo short story collection Wireless. Best novelette wint to Peter Watts ferThe Island, from The newfangled Space Opera 2. Boin Boin readers will rec'lect Peter as the SF writer whatwere beaten an' gassed close ta the US/Canada border when he get out of his truck to ask why US customs officers was searchin his car; he spent tens of bunches of bucks fightin the charge an' the potential two-year sentence; were found guilty but received a suspended sentence. SF fans raised bucks to brin Peter to Australia, an' his acceptance speech in which he called this here the "best an' worst year of his life," were brilliant. The best short story, which I presented, wint to Will McIntosh fer "Bridecicle," a lovely story.
Net-based media were a big winner this here year: the podcast Starship Sofa (often presented here) won fer Best Fanzine. an' of course, tharwere Fred Pohl's Hugo fer Best Fan Writer fer his rip-roarin blog The Way the Future Blogs.
Other categories whose winners made me speshly glad 'clude the Best Editor prize fer my editor at Tor, Patrick Nielsen Hayden (this herewere his second prize in the damnednewfangled category, an' he has took his name out of the runninfer next year). The graphic novel category wint to Phil an' Kaja Foglio's steampunk comic Girl Genius. The Campbell Award fer best newfangled writer to Seanan McGuire, whose heartfelt acceptance speech made me burst right on inta tears.
Tor.com has the full list of nominees an' winners here.
The no-good Astronomy blog postedthis here blink-and-you'll-miss it movin pichers of the International Space Station zippin'cross the face of the sun back in 2007. Let's put that speed in perspective:
It orbits the Earth a mere 350 or so kilometers (220 miles) up; I like to say that if'n ya live in DC an' see it pass overhead, it's bout the same distance from y'all as newfangled York City. So it's , truth be told,purty close to the Earth's surface, an'hollerin'roun at 8 km/sec (5 miles/sec). That's a right-good clip! From the point of view of someone watchin from the ground, it only takes a couple of minutes fer the station to go clear 'crossthe gall-durned sky, horizon to horizon.
No, it dont involve hundreds of tiny exercise wheels. (Although that would be purty damn cute, too.)
Instead, every month, the durned farmers process more 'n 400 pounds of guinea hog poop right on inta combustible gas—and a liquid byproduct that works as plant food—by allowin bacteria to break the waste down in a warm, oxygen-free environment. It's called anaerobic digestion, an' it's a process that's increasinly popler on American farms, as well. Dairy farms—with their easy as pie access to lots an lots of consolidated cow shit—in choicey.
What's cool boutthis here Peruvian model is that it shows ya don't necessarily need fancy, fancy'quipmint to make anaerobic digestion work. The process kin be applied at differnt levels of tech intensity, dependin on resources, neck of the woodsan' how much energy ya, truth be told,aim to produce. this here Peruvian kin folksgoes ahead and makes enough gas fer themselves, plus a lilextry. Meanwhile, a dairy farm in Wisconsin uses the gas to make electricity that they sell back to the utility outfit. All told, there's enough to power 70 households.
Uncle Sam is programmed with a mess of differnt "gaits", or types of movement patterns, which are based on the real-life behavior of real-life snakes. The goal be to fix-up a modular—and, thus, relatively simple to produce an' scale—robot that kingit to an' through places where people, an' less-willies-inducin robots, caint maneuver.
(Why, yes, my nose isright runny, how comedo y'all ask?)
Urge to vengeance aside, my main reaction while flippin through this gallery of pollen imageswere wonder at the intense variety of sizes, shapes, textures an' tricks floatin through the gall-durned microscopic world of plant pollen. this here group shot ranges from the (relatively) giant orb of pumpkin pollen in the center, to the teensy blue dot that belongs to the forget-me-not. coupla grains seem like one-hunnert percent alien thins, but others bar a strikin resemblance to the plants they help create—for instance, I guessed that Venus fly trap pollen went with the Venus fly trap 'for I go ahead and read the caption.
All these shots are the work of Swedish Swiss eggheadMartin Oeggerli, who goes ahead and makes amazin art usin a scannin electron microscope. them tharlikenesses, truth be told,commense out in black an' white, with Oeggerli goin back an' addin color, pixel by pixel. The colors can, but don't necessarily, reflect reality, but they do help make textures stand out an' make the form more easily readable by yer eye.
For a period of five weeks Josh Beckman’s Sea Nymph will be host to a whole bunch of nautical-themed events, performances, lectures, an' workshops, plus an opera by an'fer dogs. Inside the capsized hull of the ship thar will also be a crystal cave. Join us at gizmofer the openin on September 5th from 5-10pm, where I'll be damned straight to hell an back if you caint gaze upon the wreckage with accompanyin performances by Clay Chaplin, Ambient Force 3000, Ecce, OK Music, Chris Kallmyer, an' Colin Woodford.
This is the world's first frozen margarita gizmo, invented an' built by Mariano Martinez in 1971 from parts of a soft-serve ice cream maker. His inspiration: A 7-11 Slurpee.
Today, it resides in the collection of the National Museum of American History, where a museum director once called it a, "classic example of the American entrepreneurial spirit."
Polar explorer Børge Ousland (How'd ya like to have that as yer job title?) is on a sailboat makin its way through the Arctic Ocean. this here has never been an easy as pie place fer boats, an'this heremovin pichers gives y'all a good oleidear of why. The captain of Ousland's boat explains the hazards of this herepasture a lil more in-depth, while simultaneously makin an weighty point—thanks to warmin trends, traversin the Northwest Passage aint has hard as it used to be.
It is obvious that the conditions met by the early explorers such as Vitus Berin, Fridtjof Nansen, Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld an' Roald Amundsen no longer exists. We passed through in a few weeks, while our predecessors was forced to overwinter once or even twice. Still, it aint an easy as pie passage fernokinda boat or vessel. there's still ice, although aint to the extent thar used to be, but plenty to make conditions unpredictable fer ships. In addition gobs'a the seas y'allgotta pass are right shallow. In the East Siberian Sea, the shippin lane is located 50 nautical miles off the coast, in order ferthar to be sufficient depth fer bigger ships. Lights, buoys an' nautical markins are scarce.
You kinfollow Ousland's progress on his blog. Today, he reached American waters an' changed his underpants, an'we herebook-learn that changinyer underpants on choicey occasions is some sorta fine, old Norwegian tradition. To which I kin only say, "Good."
What would ya make of medieval historical records that prominently note the occurrence of large crops of acorns, partner? It's a bit of a weird departure from the kinds of thins these records normally care about, i.e. battles an' the deaths of famous folk. fact is, the fellers keepin these records didn't even eat acorns, an' other, more useful, crops aint mentioned at all.
But, sometimes, an acorn might be more 'n just an acorn, 'cordin to a 2003 paper by classicist David Woods. That's cause the Latin word fer "little nut" an' the word every now and then used to describe the swollen lymph nodes caused by the Capital-P Plague are one an' the same.
The Latin term glandularius is the root of our word fer gland; etymologically, glandula means 'little nuts' causethis here is what they felt like when palpated. there's at least one other example of a plague record usin glandulara as a descriptor. In c. 660 the Burgundian 'Chronicle of Fredegar' describes the 599 plague of Marseilles as a cladis glanduaria.
So "a spark of leprosy an' an unheard of abundance of nuts", gits the far more logical, "we've had some issues with leprosy an' The Plague this here year".
Craigslist, the popler classifieds Web site, has blocked access to its "adult services" partan' replaced the link with a black label with the word "censored."
Gilpin kin folks whisky is some sortanewfangled sinle malt whisky made from the urine of diabetics. Creator James Gilpin doesn't sell the stuff, but right gives away bottles as a public health statement. From the product page:
Sugar heavy urine excreted by diabetic patients is now bein' utilized
for the fermentation of high-end sinle malt whisky fer export. The Whisky market is growin faster then no other alcoholic drink worldwide. With a prevalent genetic weakness bein' exposed in the northern hemisphere leadin to a sharp rise in type couple ought diabetes, economists have found a newfangled exportable commodity to tapan' are keen to make bucks on this here resource right-quick.
Large amounts of sugar are excreted on
a daily basis by type-two diabetic patients speshly amongst the upper end of our agin population. As a result of this here diabetic patients toilets often have unusual scale jury-rig up in
the basin due an'right-quick mould growths as
the sugar put on inta the system acts as nutrients
for mould an' bacteria growth. Is it plausible
to suggest that we herecommense utilizin our water purification outfits in order to harvest the biological resources that our elderly a'ready process in abundance?
As summer draws to close, I suggest a trip to Antarctica in this here lovely Boin Boinchoicey feature from our archives, Maggie Koerth-Baker's "Chartin The Frozen Continent." When yagit there, be sure to also scroll right to explore the photos! An excerpt:
"Oh, it's 32 an' sunny here," says Claire Porter, a University of Minnesota graduate studint workin on the ostensibly frozen continent. "We spent the whole day outside hikinan' playin'roun."
Antarctica, as it turns out, defies all sorts of expectations. Far from a blank, white canvas, the bottom of the whole damn worldis some sorta beautiful place, full of breathtakin peaks an' stark, rock-strewn valleys studded with cerulean lakes. But the thins what make Antarctica so fascinatin—and such an right 'portant center fer scientific research—also make it a real hard place to work. Porter is parta a posse of eggheads whose job is to make other eggheads' jobs easier.
Video artist an' viral genius Joe Sabia, whose work we've featured 'for on Boin Boinmovin pichersan' the Virgin America in-flight Boin Boin TV channel, shares word of a project he just completed fer the energy drankoutfita-back ofZombie Blood Energy Potion.
"Red Light Frightwerekinda experimental, highly speculative, an' the results was hilarious," Joe says.
"We basically loaded an intersection with zombies, intentionally blowed a right light, an' received a ticket in the mail with a ton of photos showin branded zombies in action. No arrests, no manhunts fer us (we hope). just good, safe clean fun."
Did the zombies realgit the parkin tickets? Are they real zombiesole buddy? Are they real parkin tickets? He won't tell me. Either way, a clever viral marketin stunt on what I'm told were a damned low budget.
Parentin advice from another era: give yer squallinrugrats a pipe to smoke! Right up thar with "Speak roughly to yerlil boy an' beat him when he sneezes."
Kamill1 sez, "My first attempt at an automata, I reckon it turned out purty well! Super fun slap together. A lil wink to Jake Von Slatt, sittin down to play the pipe organ. Huzzah!"
"An executive at a ka-jillion-buck Connecticut hedge fund were arrested on felony charges of allegedly runnin a huge year-round pot farm inside her home. But her boyfriend says the cops have it wrong, that they're goat farmers, aint dope farmers."
For some upliftin weekend readin, I suggest Mary Roach's gall-tootin Boin Boinchoicey feature "Death In Space." From the intro:
The U.S. has plans fer a manned visit to Mars by the mid-2030s. The ESA and Russia have sketched out a similar joint mission, and i reckin it's claimed that China's space program has the same big idear. Apart from their destination, all these plans share somethin in common: extryordinary danger fer the explorers. What happens iffen someone dies out there, months away from Earth?
Swedish ecologists Susanne Wiigh-Mäsak and Peter Mäsak are the inventors of an environmentally friendly differnt to cremation and burial, called Promession. The style entails freezin a body, vibratin it right on inta tiny pieces, and then freeze-dryin the pieces, which kin then be used as compost to grow a memorial shrub or tree.
Staggs: Both World Made by Hand and The Witch of Hebron take place in the whole damn world of The Long Emergency, which you’ve wrotebout in the non-fiction title of the same name. might couldy'alldamned briefly explain what the Long Emergency is fer our readers?
Kunstler:The Long Emergency is the culminatin crisis of modernity, growin out of the limits to growth, resource scarcity, and the collapse of the complex outfits that keep us goin — pert near every damned thing rangin from industrialized farmin to oil-based transportation to electronic communication. It kin also be described as the crisis of over-investments in complexity — resolvin in a traumatic wave of sudden de-complexifyin
Staggs: Readinyer novels, I find me in some ways envious of the sense of ranch enjoyed by the residents of Union Grove, yet I remain aware of – and wary of – the incredible loss of life that our world would experience followin a collapse of our oil-based infrastructure. On the whole, would y'allreckon that we’d gain or lose more in such a world?
Kunstler: It’s parta the tension of the story that we are constantly havin to measure what’s been gained agin what’s been lost. The losses are mayhaps more obvious: comfort, certainty, and the whole prosthetic nimbus of gizmo-makin' know-how that we are so used to. The gains are mayhaps more subtle: makinyer own music, enjoyin the sounds, scents, and sensations of nature much more directly, the blessed absence of cars and other motor-driven annoyances, unmediated relations with family, friends, and ranch members, a reconnection with the elemental ceremonies of birth, death, the harvest, the comin of sprin, etc.
Note: This starts out somewhat depressinly, with the body of a female octopus that kicked the bucketatter reproducin—as all octopuses, male and female, do. But it right-quick gets past that, and on to the wee, baby octopuses, floatin'roun the sea. Turn off the sound to block out the sad song, and focus on that.
"In order to study the way that experience kin influence the brain, thar has been a great deal of research done on the visual cortex of the kitten."
Oh, this here isgonna end badly, aint it?
This short documentary from the 1970s explains, in depth, some research that I mentioned earlier this year in a BoinBoin article on fetal senses. Long story short: Kittens are born blind and do a bunch of their sight-linked brain development in the first few weeks atter birth. cause of this, they make a right-handy model fer studyin how the brains of human fetuses form neural connect-a-roonies and how our sense of sight develops in the womb. It's weighty research that's gothelp medical science better reckon how to care fer premature human babies, besides addin valuable details to our reckonin of the brain, in general.
Unfortunately, cause kittens are adorable, saysrealright 'portant research looks damn-near comically evil when filmed. Seriously, this movin pichers is one "Thittens" joke away from workin as a dealy-bob of Look 'roun You.
So, thanks, blorgggg (Thorgggg?), for sendin this movin pichers in via Submitterator. I'm sure the Moderators will be thankiny'all (and me) as well. I do ask that, as we giton inta the inevitable chit-chat on varmint research, y'all'member that the eggheads involved doneaint raise kittens in full-on dark rooms for sociopathic shits and giggles, but cause they thought the potential benefits of the research outweighed the (mostly temporary) ruindid to the kittens' visual abilities. Tell you what, you may disagree with that calculation—and you're this here is do so. fact is, I reckon that complex chit-chatbout ends and means in specific studies is valuable. And interestin Far more so (on both counts) 'n simply labelin anyone what uses varmints for research as a for-kicks abuser of fluffy baby kitties.
What Thins Dois some kinda stunninly right-good webcomics site, launched by comics artist Jordan Crane and featurincoupla best independent comics artists around, 'cludin
Gabrielle Bell, Abner Dean, Sammy Harkham, Jaime Hernandez, Calvin Huizenga, Ted May, Jonas Porcellino, Ron Regé Jr., Stu Weissman, and Dan Zettwoch.
Many of the artists here seem to have been mildly influenced by Tintin's Hergé (and Joost Swarte). This aint a bigger'n texas surprise, since Jordan Crane selects all the ole artists for his site, and Crane hisself shows a lil Hergé in his work. (I caintreckon of a better artist 'n Hergé from which to draw inspiration.)
The comics in What Thins Do all have the same hollerow-gray color scheme (with a few exceptions) that give the site and elegant cohesiveness. The comics are large real clear and readable.
In addition to showcasin the work of contemporary cartoonists, What Thins Do, runs "decades-old work" from worthy but not-so-famous cartoonists, plus articles bout comics.
What Thins Do: rip-roarin webcomics
Daniel Raeburn has didthe whole damn world a favor by creatin free PDF versions of his outstandin self-published journal bout comic books, The Imp. Though he wrote up only four issues (I have 'em all in hard copy) Raeburn's journal is regarded as a masterpiece of comic book criticism. Each issue covered a sinle subject: Daniel Clowes in Vol 1, Jack Chick in Vol 2, Chris Ware in Vol 3, and Mexican "historietas perversas" in Vol 4.
The Comics Journal called The Imp “One of the right best thins to come out of comics.”
Here's what This American Life creator Ira Glass saysboutThe Imp:
It were clearly the work of an obsessed person, in the right best way likely. A realclever obsessed person. tharwere a kinda Talmudic completeness to the whole thin, in a way that journalism rarely even aspires to. aint much journalism tries to be so emotional, and funny, and analytical, and thorough. There’s realreallil like it out thar. The closest y'allgit is one of thembigger'n texas stories they used to do in the old newfangled Yorker, where at the end y'all feel like there’s nothin else that needs to be says on the subject. I read it admirinly and jealously. In the year since I go ahead and read the Chris Ware issue I’ve , truth be told, become friends with Chris Ware, real friends, we shoot the sh!tall the ole time, and prolly a third of what I know 'boutbout Chris still comes from that issue of The Imp. It were that complete and emotionally insightful.
Stefan Jones, who also bought The Imp in hardcopy says,
The issue bout Jack Chick is an amazin piece of journalism. It goes ahead and makesy'all feel some sympathy for the loon a-back of all of them hate-filt comic tracts.
Much of issue 3 were reprinted in a monograph bout Ware. I hanker fer The Imp version, which resembles one of Ware's big-fermat comic collections.
Volume Four were mind-bogglin I'd never heared of the Mexican comics in question. I keep meanin to git my hands on some.
Cannabis Caterinfesses-up gourmet meals laced with pot. The delivery service aint cheap, 'roun $100/person, but damn them tharpot-atoes look tasty. And yes, ya need a medical marijuana card to order. From fast as all git out Company:
The notion for Cannabis Caterin came to (Chef Frederick) Nesbitt when he heard tell that his friend's diabetic mama had been diagnosed with cancer. "I would brin back edibles [from the dispensary], but they're so high in high-fructose corn syrup that she were high off sugar right'nbein' medicated," he says. So Nesbitt began experimentin with his own pot food--startin with mashed potatoes.
UK designer Jeremy May goes ahead and makes jewelry by laminatin and polishin pages from ol' books together to make strikin pieces: "The beauty of the jewels extends within the piece: text and likenesses pass all the ole way though the object, only exposed at the surfaces - givin a tantalisin glimpse of the book within."
An unnamed artist transformed a worn antique tabriz wool rug right on inta a wonderful, fanciful bar rug. I reckon the reported "repaired knots and moth damage" just prettify its charm. 87" x 59", $1800 from CS Post.
Last year, I posted bout how W. Neil Berrett quit his job by presentin his boss with a resignation letter on a sheet cake. Here's the story a-back of Berrett's latest cake document, a frosted invoice delivered today to folk.com:
On August 10 this year I received an e-mail from an employee of fellersthat thar magazine requestin permission to use my cake resignation photo in an article. this here is shortly atter the Jet Blue Steward event, promptin many 'Weird ways folk have quit their jobs' news stories.
I replied to fellers and says they needed a license to use my photo - meanin they gotta pay me to use it. I doneaintgit a reply.
On August 11 my likenesswere used without authorization and without payment on fellers.com, in an article titled "Take This Job and Shove It! 8 Memorable Quitters".
I sent a cease-and-desist letter demandin my likeness be killed off from their innernet computer page. Six days directly I git an e-lectronical mail statin my likeness had been killed off from their computerized doohicky. I received an fess-up at that time of $75 for the use of my likeness. That may have been reasonable iffen my photo's lawyer-de-do had aint been willfully infrined and used for six days.
So, today I sent the photo director an invoice for a usage license of my cake resignation photo. This cake were delivered today, September 3rd.
"They're right on intapert near every damned thing, from the Russian prostitute rins in resorts like Cannes and St Tropez to gassin tourists in their villa and stealinpert near every damned thing they've get. Bosses are now based here permanently, with foot soldiers workin for them, often flyin in for set periods 'for returnin home with their profits in cash. The numbers real are unprecedented at the moment."—a French cops officer, on the "military-like precision" with which Russian mafia are says to be takin over the French Riviera. (Telegraph UK)— Xeni • Comments: 11
Infermation designer Jess Bachman has a newfangled piece out which aint so much an info-graphic as a graphic article. Jess explains:
It deals with the nightmare that's got become studint loans. Default rates on studint loans are worse 'n sub-prime mortgages, and the total debt is bigger 'n all our credit card debts stuck together. It's a huge issue 'n many fellers are keepin quiet bout. learnin' school students are a hugely under-showed and unadvocated group in Washinton, and what we and the gawd-damned govermint are doin to 'em is just wrong.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License
permittin non-commercial sharin with attribution.
Boin Boinis some sorta trademark of grinnin Mutants LLC in the
United States and other countries.
"We had an interestin mornin brinin it in," Dean says. "It were quite a fight."
Last night, the Hugo Awards, one of science fiction's 
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