Phinny's Livejournal

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I was outside having that final smoke of the day when I looked upward and saw the moon sitting all alone in a darkening sky. Everything was calm and quiet. I don't think a single car drove by as I stood there, head up, looking at the moon. Its a very clear night. I can see the dark parts of the moon with clarity. There was not a single cloud in the sky, though the sun was still casting some light out. I escaped in that moment. Into the moon. Hidden away, where no one could find me and everything was at peace. I had clarity of mind. Restfulness. A moment unto myself to wonder what it was like up there on the moon. Probably cold and quiet. Staring back down at us.

I hate Voicemail because it has some sense of urgency in my mind. Like, I can't do anything else until I've listened to it, and once I've listened to it, I feel like I can't do anything else until I've returned the call. For the same reason, I like LiveJournal much more than e-mail. It removes the imperitive to reply from the people to whom I'm broadcasting my ramblings. I can blabber as often or as much as I like, and if people don't want to read it, they won't, wheras I'd feel guilty if I bombarded all of you with as many e-mails per day. I also dislike Instant Messenger programs since they always leap onto my screen when I'm busy.

So, I broke down and got myself a Twitter account. Just like LiveJournal has filled a void where pointless e-mails would be, I think Twitter will be a welcome Instant Messenger substitute. Also, I might allow myself to spend some money on some text messages to update y'all whilst I don't have Internet. Believe it or not, I just sent my very first text message ever in order to set it up. Hopefully, If I set up LoudTwitter correctly, it will dump a daily digest of my Twitters right here to this blog. So you don't have to actually look at my Twitter page or subscribe to "follow" me unless you really want up-to-the-minute updates. However, I would like it if you could reply to this post if you have your own Twitter account.

http://www.metafilter.com/71704/The-tastiest-looking-severed-limbs-Ive-seen-all-day

Kittiwat Unarrom is a baker with a unique passion- sculpting delicious gourmet bread treats in the likeness of human body parts. Think bread sculpture meets BodyWorlds. If that's not quite gruesome enough for you, you can feast like a cannibal! (NSFW, no real cannibalism involved)

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/291256194/ted-talk-joshua-klei.html

Joshua Klein's TED presentation about how he taught crows to drop coins into a peanut vending machine of his own design was my favorite talk at the conference.

Hacker and writer Joshua Klein is fascinated by crows. (Notice the gleam of intelligence in their little black eyes?) After a long amateur study of corvid behavior, he's come up with an elegant machine that may form a new bond between animal and human.

Joshua Klein will hack anything that moves -- his list includes "social systems, computer networks, institutions, consumer hardware and animal behavior." His latest project, though charmingly low-tech, has amazing implications for the human-animal interface.

Right now, Klein is working at Frog Design as a Principle Technologist, while developing mobile/social applications, health care-related systems and other tools that improve people’s lives. He's the author of the novel Roo'd, which was the first modern book (after Tarzan) to be ported to the iPhone.

"Klein envisions a new symbiotic relationship between these intelligent birds and the humans that encroach on their habitat. ... Why not turn a longstanding rivalry between man and crow into something that profits both species?"

Link

http://www.metafilter.com/71703/Building-a-bow

Arnold Smit shows, step by step, the crafting of a bow. More of his beautiful bows here. (Also available in Dutch.)

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/291253492/little-brother-new-y.html

'Scuse me while I bask: Little Brother, just hit the New York Times Kids bestseller list (#9) and the Booksense Children's Interest bestseller list (#14) and I'm about to splode with joy! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to all the readers who helped put it there!

(Image: Pablo Defendini's sketch for the Little Brother paperback)

http://www.metafilter.com/71702/Awesome-Foo-Fighters-rider-Bacon-I-call-it-gods-currency-Hell-if-it-could-be-breathed-I-would

In the wake of Iggy Pop's high-larious tour rider, Foo Fighters have updated their 2008 rider (earlier rider here.) Full of jokes about Dio and bacon witticisms, you've got to admire these hardworking young men, for, as they say, "We are just another bend trying to make enough money to fuel our private jet. Please help."

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/291223009/howto-keep-your-lapt-1.html

Bruce Schneier's latest column is a good primer on getting your laptop through US (and other) customs without having your data vacuumed up by the DHS.

Encrypting your entire hard drive, something you should certainly do for security in case your computer is lost or stolen, won't work here. The border agent is likely to start this whole process with a "please type in your password". Of course you can refuse, but the agent can search you further, detain you longer, refuse you entry into the country and otherwise ruin your day.

You're going to have to hide your data. Set a portion of your hard drive to be encrypted with a different key - even if you also encrypt your entire hard drive - and keep your sensitive data there. Lots of programs allow you to do this. I use PGP Disk (from pgp.com). TrueCrypt (truecrypt.org) is also good, and free.

While customs agents might poke around on your laptop, they're unlikely to find the encrypted partition. (You can make the icon invisible, for some added protection.) And if they download the contents of your hard drive to examine later, you won't care.

Link

See also: HOWTO keep your laptop from being searched at the border (it's hard)

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/291223010/howto-encrypt-your-g.html

Instructables has just posted the latest installment in their series of HOWTOs inspired by my young adult novel Little Brother (remember, you can get on BBtv with your own videos demonstrating these).

Today, the subject is using encrypting your Gmail messages:

The principle behind GPG encryption is easy. Anyone who wants to play creates a public key and a private key. Your public key is the part of the encryption that you make public. Your private key is the part of the encryption that you never share with anyone under any circumstance.

The two keys work together so that you need both to decrypt anything. To send an encrypted message to someone you lock the message with their public key and when they get it, they can unlock it with their private key. If they want to respond, then they encode the message with your public key and you can read it with your private key.

Of course, this only works so long as you can trust that you have been given the right public key and that you know who you are talking to. One of doing this is by having a key signing party with your close friends. You all show up at a given location at a given time and exchange public keys. Then you have a list of trusted public keys with which you can communicate. This is often referred to as a web of trust.

Link, Link to other Instructables feed

See also:

I could've done without the intro voice-over, as the action explained it for me, but Malcolm McDowell's onscreen contribution to the film was brief. I could've done without the "Mad Max" orgy prior to the "roasting", but never mind. I used that scene to visit the bog.

Otherwise, it was non-stop action. I enjoyed the in-references, of course, like the John Carpenter style music near the beginning. As with Neil Marshall's earlier films, there are a lot of familiar ideas given a fresh treatment. Only the "Mad Max" cliches bored me, and apart from the orgy, most of those were relieved by the graveyard humour.

It was alright.

http://www.metafilter.com/71701/Its-a-bird-Its-a-plane-No-its-a-guy-with-a-jetpack

FusionMan is back!
Yves Rossy (previously discussed) showed off his flying wing in his most daring stunt to date, leaping from a plane to perform aerial maneuvers over the Swiss Alps. (CNN video)

He plans on using it to cross the English Channel later this year.

http://www.metafilter.com/71699/Charged

Lori Drew was charged today for her involvement in the MySpace-related suicide of Megan Meier last fall.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/291204838/kick-n-go.html

My kids and I have been having a lot of fun with our Kick N' Go, a $100 scooter that's propelled by a chain-driven lever you press with your foot. Unlike Razor-style scooters, which send you flying over the handlebars whenever the tiny wheels hit a pebble, the Kick N' Go's wheels are big enough to roll over small obstacles without a mishap or the ensuing application of Hello Kitty band aids to skinned knees. Link

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/291183223/chicago-sleepwalks-i.html

Ryan sez, "Chicago is touting their new 'intelligent' 700+ camera network as being able to flag suspicious activity without human intervention, based on operator-defined criteria within the video frame. Video is archived for 30 days in a 60 terabyte storage vault. Great."

They're everywhere. They're multiplying. Several thousand cameras are now capable of sending live pictures into a room - the operations center at the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communication.

There's no way that human beings can effectively watch all those feeds, so enter video analytics. By programming algorithms, you give the camera intelligence.

"We actually can tell the camera, 'This is precisely what we're looking for.' The camera will watch for that circumstance, and when that circumstance occurs, comes back to the human being whether they're watching that camera or not - with an alert," said OEMC director Jim Argiropolous.

Someone needs to come up with a name for this fallacy, the "untouched by human hands" fallacy: "the computers are impartially finding the bad behavior -- there's no human bias or prejudice at work -- we just program it and then it proceeds with perfect platonic precision to catch all the bad guys." Link (Thanks, Ryan!)

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/291183224/sweet-stopmotion-vid.html

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/291183225/new-yorker-conferenc.html

From “Stories from the Near Future,” the 2008 New Yorker Conference -- Yoky Matsuoka, the director of the neurobotics laboratory at the University of Washington, discusses how brain signals can control prosthetic limbs, and other advances in the hybrid field of neuroscience and robotics.

Link | Subscribe to all New Yorker Conference videos on iTunes

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themovieblog/VkTh/~3/291181298/tyreese-set-to-play-ba-baracus

http://www.themovieblog.com/2008/05/tyreese-set-to-play-ba-baracus

Rumors have squeaked out that Tyrese Gibson has landed the role of Mr. T. We get this saucy scoop thanks to our friends at CHUD:

Last night I talked to Tyrese on the set of Legion, an ambitious religious action/horror movie co-starring Paul Bettany and Dennis Quaid. It was late at night in the cold, dusty desert outside Santa Fe, but the elements didn’t keep Tyrese from dishing on his many upcoming projects… including playing BA Baracus in John Singleton’s The A-Team.

Tyrese is excited by the opportunity, even if it isn’t set in stone, since the script is still being worked on and him taking the role would depend on scheduling. He said that a mohawk is not out of the question, but otherwise he’s excited to bring BA into the 21st century, so don’t expect a ton of bling around his neck. The not in bad shape by any means singer/actor did mention that he’ll be hitting the weights to prepare for the role, saying that the physique of the original is a lot to live up to.

I am actually quite happy about this news. Tyreese is just a shade taller than Mr. T, Is in outstanding shape (and beefing up), and is game to grow the mohawk. The mohawk is a necessity as far as I am concerned, the gold - I can go either way. The gold is more Mr.T than BA, so maybe it makes sense to thin out the bling for the role of the A-Team’s master mechanic/bruiser.

I was starting to get scared that Ice Cube would nab the role after he made a public declaration that he was interested. With luck, word will start to trickle down the pipe about who the other 3 heroes will be. If this movie is awesome - it will transport me back to childhood. If it sucks, I will rip trees out of the ground and throw them at the sun till the earth is devoid of all greenery.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/us/15cnd-marriage.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/us/15cnd-marriage.html

The ruling, striking down laws limiting marriages to unions between a man and a woman, would make California the second state to allow same-sex marriage.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/15/garden/15contractors.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/15/garden/15contractors.html

Much has been written about contractors from hell, but comparatively little attention is paid to the homeowner from hell, who can make contractors crazy.

http://www.metafilter.com/71698/The-Internet-Encyclopedia-of-Philosophy

The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy is an excellent resource for matters philosophical. There you can be enlightened on such diverse subjects as paradoxes existential or logical, Greek or American philosophers obscure to the wider world, philosophers whose names have resounded through the ages, both well-attested and possibly mythical, Buddhist thought and Western mysticism and definitions of thorny and difficult concepts. And that's just a small sampling of the letter P section. All articles are written by specialists on the subject and the editors of the IEP are all academic philosophers. The encyclopedia is far from complete, so if you think you can help out, they have a list of their 100 most desired articles.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/291170583/scary-sign-for-giant.html

Photoshop disasters posted this ad for humungous "wings." The Monty Python sketch below is a good fit:

Customer: What flavor is it? Man: It's a bird mate, it's a bloody bird, it's not any bloody flavor. Albatross!

Customer: It's got to be some flavor, I mean everything's got a flavor. Man: All right, it's bloody albatross flavor, it's bloody sea bloody bird bloody flavor. Albatross!

Customer: Do you get wafers with it?

Man: Course you don't get bloody wafers with it, it's a bloody albatross innit. Albatross!

Link

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/291159107/man-loses-money-tryi.html

In Norway, a French gentleman (F) told a Vietnamese gentleman (V) that he could double his money using a special liquid solution. V gave F $35,000, hoping to turn it into $70,000 overnight.

This unidentified man was told by a 32-year-old Frenchman that if he mixed the real cash with blank bills and then marinate them in a special liquid for one night, he would have double the amount of the cash.

The gullible Vietnamese believed the Frenchman's story and gave him 180,000 kroner (35, 000 U.S. dollars). But when he prepared to collect his money the next morning, both the cash and the Frenchman disappeared.

Link (via Arbroath)

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themovieblog/VkTh/~3/291165946/should-movies-touch-political-topics

http://www.themovieblog.com/2008/05/should-movies-touch-political-topics

There have been some fantastic politically centric films in our age. Politics can make for some fantastic drama, mystery, intrigue and entertainment. But the thing is, it seems like most people enjoy political movies when they really have little to do with real politics. We love seeing great movies like “Dave” (man I do love that movie) or “The American President” (don’t laugh, it’s my favorite Annette Bening performance), films that may have political figures… films that may have political environments… but a lot of people seem to cringe at movies that have political topics.

When movies come out that address political situations in our world, some people seem to recoil. Films like “Stop Loss”, “Rendition”, “Lions For Lambs” and others ended up getting blasted by a lot of people even before their first screenings simply because they were political in nature (or because of the specific political topic). The upcoming Oliver Stone movie on George W. Bush simply titled “W” is already starting to get some of that treatment.

One of the obvious observations I’ve made in the past is that people who complain about these sorts of movies (or about celebrities who are vocal about their political beliefs) usually only do so when they disagree about what the movie or celebrity is saying about certain topics. Some will love hearing Sean Penn talk about the war in Iraq and say he’s just being a good citizen trying to bring about change… but then loudly complain that James Belushi should “shut up” and that he shouldn’t talk about things he’s not an expert on when addressing the exact same issue, only from a different point of view. The opposite is true as well when we see some people praising Charlton Heston as a great american for speaking out and supporting the political causes he believed in, and then call Tim Robbins a traitor who should shut up when doing the exact same thing, only from a different point of view.

I think most people would agree that the United States has never in its history been more divided politically than it has been for the last few years. Right and Left hate each other with a dripping venom where neither side can do anything right in their eyes. So in an environment like this… are movies about political issues a good idea?

Let me give my personal opinion on the matter as a starting point and we can go from there.

To me, from the creative stand point, movies are by nature art. As art, film is subjective, giving everyone who looks at it, observes it and engages it a slightly different experience than the next person who stands in the same place and sees the exact same thing. That, in essence is the single most beautiful thing about film. But from the creators perspective… art is also about expression. Expression of ideas. Expression of experiences. Expressions of how they see the world. Expression of how they think the world should be. Expressions of love, fear, hate, loneliness, despair, excitement, hope and joy in serious, silly, parody or frightening ways.

If then, movies are at a base level a medium for that very expression, then why should certain topics, especially large topics that effect our society, our culture and our world be considered “off limits”? Why would we say it’s alright for an artist to express their thoughts and observations on the quirks of modern dating, but not allow for them to give their expressions on issues that seriously effect thousands or millions of people?

Much like art itself is subjective to those that observe it, the artists themselves will each have their own unique way of seeing the world around them and their art reflects that. Why must we precondition our appreciation of their unique expressions as long as we AGREE or share their views? I’ve never understood that. Why is it that something someone has to say is only valuable as long as we deem it “correct”? Why is something only worth observing as long as it already aligns with what we already believe? Isn’t there value in the expression itself? Isn’t there worth in the perception of the artist regardless of its synchronicity to our own perceptions?

For example, I don’t really think high school kids should be constantly getting hammered and humping like rabbits. But I still appreciate Super Bad. I personally don’t think force and violence are what will end the world’s problems… but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate and enjoy Tears of the Sun or Rambo.

So to me, movies about political topics should be made, regardless if I agree with them or not. To limit that, is to ask an artist to limit what or how they see the world, and I don’t think that makes much sense. Everything that expresses an opinion is “preachy” and promoting a certain point of view to one degree or another, and in and of itself I think that’s fine. Just because we engage and even enjoy the expression of a certain point of view doesn’t mean we have to agree with is. To me all that really matter is “Does the expression come off to me in an engaging or entertaining way?”

But that’s just my point of view on this issue. I’m sure lot of you guys have a million variations of opinions on this matter. Share your thoughts below. Should movies address political issues? Why or why not?

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themovieblog/VkTh/~3/291131198/werner-herzog-and-david-lynch-team-up-for-my-son-my-son

http://www.themovieblog.com/2008/05/werner-herzog-and-david-lynch-team-up-for-my-son-my-son

It looks like a team up of epic proportions has come about with Werner Herzog and David Lynch! We get the scoop thanks to the caves of Yahoo:

Directors Werner Herzog and David Lynch are teaming for “My Son, My Son,” a horror-tinged murder drama based on a true story. Herzog and his longtime assistant director Herbert Golder co-wrote “Son,” loosely based on the true story of a San Diego man who acts out a Sophocles play in his mind and kills his mother with a sword.

The low-budget feature will flash back and forth from the murder scene to the disturbed man’s story. A guerrilla-style digital video shoot on location is tentatively set for March. Lynch is executive producing the project.

Werner Herzog was born to tell the story of a madman that kills his own mother with a sword. I am wondering what type of sword it will be. I’m hoping it’ s a family heirloom brought home from the great war. A sword with history behind it, and some rust on it, will make the murder all the more sinister.

Herzog is a man that wrestles his films into existance, and squeezes them for what he calls an ecstasy of truth. I am still trying to understand the full meaning of this statement; Herzog himself says it is hard to do with words. When Herzog talks about the need to see adequate images, he sounds more like a missionary than a filmmaker, his deep convictions force him onward and compel him to try and show us truth through pictures on the screen. He sees this as a necessity in a world where we are surrounded by falsehoods.

Werner Herzog is a man of conviction, talent and vision. I am forever in the debt of Jay Cheel for introducing me to his work; I now catch Herzog’s films whenever possible and dig for symbolism, and meaning, in the images. This is one to watch for - this is certain.

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Marriage is marriage.  A right for all Americans. And it leaves what that means up to you. 

Today, several more of my friends are old married couples than yesterday. And why not, because every one of them have stayed together since they were married in San Francisco back in February 2004. 

And that goes a long way towards saying why, even with all its faults, I'm still a Californian. 

A US drone attack on Islamic militants in Pakistan has caused a significant international incident in that country, with Pakistan's new Prime Minister, Yousaf Raza Gillani,  saying,

"I strongly condemn this. It's absolutely wrong. It's unfair. They should not have done this action."

Gilani, a top member of assasinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's PPP party, apparently views US attacks in Pakistan as illegal. 

Interestingly enough, Taliban spokesman Maulvi Omar said the U.S. missile strike was aimed at scuppering the peace talks with the government.

"They don't want peace in Pakistan and that's why they are doing it but we'll continue the talks." 

So, we've got a Taliban that is apparently on the verge of negotiating a peace treaty with the Pakistani government that would help secure their power base, allowing them to attack into Afghanistan more readily, a Pakistani government that supports such talks as a way of ending internal violence and unrest, and a U.S. government, apparently trying to stir dissent.

This does not bode well for the future of Afghanistan.    

http://www.metafilter.com/71697/Alaskas-Capitol-City-Cuts-the-Power

While Alaskan senators get mopey about polar bears and climate change, the capitol city is busy cutting their power use... even if it is a bit against their will. The Snettisham Hydro plant suffered a massive avalanche this Spring, taking out the main source of power for Juneau. Some more info

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/291137563/the-control-master-n.html

Dave says: "A new animated short from Run Wrake, the director of Rabbit (previously mentioned on Boing Boing) is now online. Wrake's technique for animating classic illustrations seems to be his unique talent." Link

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/291132030/italian-tourist-deta.html

A NY Times article describes how Domenico Salerno, an Italian was jailed by the US government for 10 days after coming to the US to see his American girlfriend and her family.

[O]n April 29, when Mr. Salerno, 35, presented his passport at Washington Dulles International Airport, a Customs and Border Protection agent refused to let him into the United States. And after hours of questioning, agents would not let him travel back to Rome, either; over his protests in fractured English, he said, they insisted that he had expressed a fear of returning to Italy and had asked for asylum. ... “The border patrol officer said to my face that Domenico said he would be killed if he went back to Italy,” [Salerno's girlfriend Caitlin Cooper] recalled, voicing incredulity that, in his halting English, he could express such a thought. “Also, who on earth would ever seek asylum from Italy?”

Twelve hours later, when Mr. Salerno was granted a five-minute phone call, he called Ms. Cooper and denied saying anything of the kind. Instead, he said, the asylum story seemed to be retaliation for his insisting on speaking to his embassy.

After being turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he was taken to the Pamunkey Regional Jail in Hanover, Va., where he ended up in a barracks with 75 other men, including asylum-seekers who told him they had been waiting a year.

Link