Peers

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/11/bed-looks-like-a-din-1.html

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Here's one creative way to help kids overcome irrational fears, like the fear of being eaten alive by a dinosaur: make them sleep in a giant dinosaur jaw every night. A Jupiter, Florida couple made this, presumably for their kid. The lower jaw has a storage drawer hinged onto it.

3Murphys via Gizmodiva

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/11/lawsuit-fusion-garag.html

TechCrunch has filed its lawsuit against Fusion Garage over the CrunchPad/Joojoo web tablet. After planning together to make the gadget, the two companies parted ways under acrimonious circumstances. I am not a lawyer, and nor do I play one on the internet. That said, the lawsuit contains at least one jawdropping allegation that makes Fusion Garage look supremely, hand-wringingly, cacklingly evil.

Namely, that it registered the "Joojoo" domain some time before the parting of ways, but strung TechCrunch's Mike Arrington along for at least a month afterwards--until three days before the planned launch. In the meantime, Fusion Garage CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan claimed in emails that he was relaying stuff as it came, under pressure from shadowy investors.

It's a one-sided story, of course, and the story is of Singapore-based Fusion Garage spotting Arrington's public call for a cheap web tablet, then bilking TechCrunch for money and marketing right up to the point of the completed tablet's public unveiling.

Here's some choice cuts:

When Defendant met TechCrunch in September 2008, it claimed to have developed a browser-based operating system, just like the one TechCrunch was seeking for its CrunchPad project. In fact, it had developed no such thing, and the demo product it showed to TechCrunch was little more than an off-the-shelf browser and some HTML --something TechCrunch did not realize until nearly a year later. Moreover, Defendant had not even been working on a browser-based operating system.

...

When TechCrunch executives visited the Taiwan headquarters of Pegatron, the company preparing to manufacture the CrunchPad, TC learned that the Defendant had been falsely representing to TC the costs of the product's components ...

...

During the fall of 2009, Pegatron terminated its relationship with Defenant because of Defendant's failure to pay its debts. ... Nevertheless, after that date, Defendant ... concealed the loss of the most critical supplier.

...

Defendant had substantial financial difficulties and was relying on loans at exorbitant rates from unorthodox loan sources.

My bias: I think it likely that Arrington got taken advantage of by scoundrels and my sympathies are with his admirable vision of a cheap, hacker-friendly (if not entirely open-source) tablet computer. That said, the allegedly-concealed components bill would have always denied it mainstream appeal: a 3G modem, and hence the option to consumers of a carrier subsidy, would have shaved a lot of pain off that $500 tag.

The communications attached as evidence, if at all accurate, allay suspicions that TC wanted to escape the venture after it became clear the CrunchPad would be a poor commercial prospect.

Another interesting point: the lawsuit alleges that Fusion Garage was not planning to make a tablet before its collaboration with TechCrunch. This, if true, hurts one common and reasonable defense of Fusion Garage: that everyone is making tablets and its hookup with TechCrunch merely added a marketing and branding imprimatur to its own. It worked on the third prototype and final product, and had no involvement in the earliest versions of the tablet, according to the lawsuit.

A proposed merger, to which Rathakrishnan agreed in principle, would have given Fusion Garage a 35% share (it wanted 40%) of the resulting company.

Often mentioned is the value of Arrington's "original concept" or "entire concept," as publicly proposed at TechCrunch. As appealing as the design is, it's hardly imbued with novelty by core feature descriptions such as "an iphone-like touch screen". Got a patent on that?

TC exhorts the court to consider the tablet project a partnership under California law, and hence subject to statues on shared property. But, alas, the lawsuit offers no contracts in evidence.

The lawsuit does, however, find it salient to remind the court that Time Magazine declared Mr. Arrington one of the world's 100 most influential people last year. Hey, at least he got something in writing!

Lawsuit [DocStoc-gimped PDF]

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/11/dr-peter-watts-canad.html

My friend, the wonderful sf writer Peter Watts was beaten without provocation and arrested by US border guards on Tuesday. I heard about it early Wednesday morning in London and called Cindy Cohn, the legal director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. She worked her contacts to get in touch with civil rights lawyers in Michigan, and we mobilized with Caitlin Sweet (Peter's partner) and David Nickle (Peter's friend) and Peter was arraigned and bailed out later that day.

But now Peter faces a felony rap for "assaulting a federal officer" (Peter and the witness in the car say he didn't do a thing, and I believe them). Defending this charge will cost a fortune, and an inadequate defense could cost Peter his home, his livelihood and his liberty.

Peter's friends are raising money for his legal defense. I just sent him CAD$1,000, because this is absolutely my biggest nightmare: imprisoned in a foreign country for a trumped-up offense against untouchable border cops. I would want my friends to help me out if it ever happened to me.

Sf writer David Nickle writes,

Hugo-award-nominated science fiction author Dr. Peter Watts is in serious legal trouble after he was beaten, pepper-sprayed and imprisoned by American border guards at a Canada U.S. border crossing December 8. This is a call to friends, fans and colleagues to help.

Peter, a Canadian citizen, was on his way back to Canada after helping a friend move house to Nebraska over the weekend. He was stopped at the border crossing at Port Huron, Michigan by U.S. border police for a search of his rental vehicle. When Peter got out of the car and questioned the nature of the search, the gang of border guards subjected him to a beating, restrained him and pepper sprayed him. At the end of it, local police laid a felony charge of assault against a federal officer against Peter. On Wednesday, he posted bond and walked across the border to Canada in shirtsleeves (he was released by Port Huron officials with his car and possessions locked in impound, into a winter storm that evening). He's home safe. For now. But he has to go back to Michigan to face the charge brought against him.

The charge is spurious. But it's also very serious. It could mean two years in prison in the United States, and a ban on travel in that country for the rest of Peter's life. Peter is mounting a vigorous defense, but it's going to be expensive - he's effectively going up against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and he needs the best legal help that he can get.

He's got that help, courtesy of one of the top criminal lawyers in the State of Michigan. We, Peter's friends and colleagues here in Canada, want to make sure he gets the help he needs financially to come out of this nightmare whole.

The need for that help is real. While Peter is a critically successful science fiction writer, he is by no means a best-selling author. Without help, the weight of his legal fees could literally put him on the street by spring.

We can't let that happen. So there's going to be fundraising.

We're going to think of something suitable in the New Year - but immediately, anyone who wants to help can do so easily. Peter's website, rifters.com, has a link to a PayPal account, whimsically named the Niblet Memorial Kibble Fund. He set it up years ago for fans of the Hugo-nominated novel Blindsight and his Rifters books, to cover veterinary bills for the cats he habitually rescues from the mean streets of Toronto. Peter has made it clear that he doesn't want to use the veterinary money to cover his lawsuit. But until we can figure out a more graceful conduit for the legal fund, that's the best place to send donations for now. Just let Peter know that the donation's for his legal defense, and that's where it will go.

Here's the link to the backlist page on Peter's website, rifters.com, or you can just send a PayPal donation to donate@rifters.com.

The link to the Niblet Memorial Kibble Fund is in the middle of the page. The page also links to Creative Commons editions of all his published work, which he's made available free. Peter would approve, we think, if you downloaded one or two or all of them. Whether you make a donation to the legal fund or not.

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/11/anti-drm-free-softwa.html

Holmes Wilson from the Free Software Foundation writes, "We're at a crucial moment in the fight against DRM. This year--thanks to the strength of the movement you've built and been a part of--we defeated DRM on music. But DRM on books, games, and other digital media is a bigger threat than ever. Meanwhile the Free Software Foundation, the organization behind Defective by Design, is engaged in a broader battle: fighting for our rights to control the technology we use by promoting free software. The FSF is a member-supported nonprofit. Please consider donating or becoming a member today. FSF membership is $10 a month or $5 a month for students.

Join the FSF!

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/11/haunting-dead-mall-p.html

The Morning News's gallery of ghostmalls, accompaniment to an interview with photographer Brian Ulrich, is haunting and lovely. So much hubris. So many vinyl plants. These are the ruined temples of consumerism: "How can an economy sustain a lifestyle based on exponential growth and the leisure and wealth to support it? It's not rocket science to expect these kind of illusions to fail. What's strange is how ingrained the brands and spaces are to us that so many were not only surprised to see major retailers and malls sink but were saddened. Many of these ideas were set in motion decades ago."

Ghosts of Shopping Past (via Beyond the Beyond)

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/11/junkbots-made-from-o.html

On Wired's Gadget Lab, a gallery of sculptures made from dead hard-drives made by sysadmin Miguel Rivera, including this wonderful junkbot.

Old Hard Drives Get Sculpted Into Cars, Bikes, Robots

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/11/mall-cops-in-norwich.html

In England, the police are allowed to give "policing powers" to private individuals. The private security guards in a shopping mall (called "The Mall") in Norwich now have police powers. These civilian security guards can now "issue on-the-spot fines, give lawful orders and check normally confidential police records."

Until now the powers have generally been used by security firms covering special events or by local authority staff such as housing officers. This will be the first time they have been used as part of routine patrols...

Paul Allen, chairman of Norwich magistrates, has referred the matter to the national Magistrates Association. Yesterday he said: "We have expressed concern in the past that unaccountable civilians have been given the power to act as judge and jury in issuing fixed penalty notices.

Mall security staff will get police powers in Norwich (Thanks, Gill!)

(Image: TheMall.co.uk)

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/11/interactive-timeline.html

Michael Geist writes, "The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is generating growing concern as many people learn about the secret copyright treaty for the first time. I've create a visual timeline to trace its emergence that includes links to the leaked documents, official government statements, and NGO letters and work in the area."

The ACTA Timeline

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/11/kenyan-bike-mechanic.html

Here's an inspiring video of Mohammed Makokha, a master bike mechanic in Nairobi who has designed and built a bunch of custom tools for repairing bikes.

Video of home made bicycle repair tools and gadgets in Nairobi

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/11/scientists-study-bir.html

She's not packing heat, but she does have a camera hidden in her (apparently attractive) breast. Researchers at the University of California, Davis built a robotic version of a female sage grouse in order to get a bird's-eye view of courtship rituals. They're hoping to learn more about the evolution of sexual selection, and what the sage grouse do to survive in a shrinking habitat. Bonus: The video features Miles O'Brien. Yeah, Miles O'Brien!

Watch the video at NSF.gov Science Nation: Bird Courtship

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/11/jc-hutchinss-sf-nove-6.html

Welcome to the seventh serialized installment of J.C. Hutchins' human cloning thriller 7th Son: Descent. If this is your first exposure to our free serialization of 7th Son, you can easily catch up by experiencing the story via links found at J.C.'s About 7th Son page. You can also dive in right away, thanks to...</p>

THE STORY SO FAR: The story shifted to Houston, where billionaire oil tycoon A.U. Rookman conducted a videoconference with a John Alpha. Michael, John, Dr. Mike and the 7th Son soldiers reached Los Angeles. After a tense ride through the streets of West Hollywood, the team arrived at Folie a Deux. At the 7th Son facility, Father Thomas, Jack and Jay learned more about Kilroy2.0’s world. A powerful benefactor helped Kilroy in a time of need.

Check out this week's installment below. If you're enjoying this serialized experience, support the book by purchasing a copy at Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Borders, or printing this PDF order form and presenting it at your favorite bookstore. You can learn more about the book at J.C.'s site.

JC Hutchins's sf novel 7TH SON serial, Part 8

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/11/science-fiction-fand.html

80 years ago today, the first ever science fiction fan group, the Scienceers, met for the first time at organization president Warren Fitzgerald's apartment in Harlem (Fitzgerald, the first-ever big name fan, was black). Happy 80th, fandom!

Our thanks to Rob Hansen, author of the formidable history of British fandom Then, for reminding us of this anniversary. Says Rob, "I've always been fascinated that the first president of that first US fan group--indeed, the world's first fan group--was a black guy, Warren Fitzgerald, and that they held their early meetings at his home in Harlem. I'm amazed this doesn't seem to be widely known." Rob also points out that Fitzgerald was one of the founders of the American Rocket Society.

All that aside, it would be nice to establish December 11 as the official anniversary date of the formation of SF fandom. And certainly it's a more pleasant thing to associate with December 11 than the assassination of Byzantine emperor Nikephoros II in 969, the abdication of Edward VIII in 1936, or the arrest of Bernard Madoff in 2008. Go, fandom, may you always be creative, unconventional, and neurodiverse.

Happy 80th anniversary, SF fandom

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/11/superb-data-visualiz.html

Yishay sez, "The good people of the Open Knowledge Foundation have just released a prototype of their visualisation tool for UK gov spending. This on the same week that the government announced radical plans for opening their data. Open data needs to be seen, not just done."

I'm loving this: you can click on any of those dots (on the actual web-page) to see what it represents. The slider moves you back and forth year-to-year. It's an amazing way of visualizing public spending.

Where Does My Money Go? (Thanks, Yishay!)

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/11/english-anti-terror.html

England's West Midlands counter-terrorism unit is putting nursery schools on notice to check out their four-year-olds to make sure that they're not being "brainwashed" into "Islamic extremism."

Arun Kundnani, of the Institute of Race Relations, contacted the officer and said he was told that officers had visited nursery schools. Mr Kundnani added: "He did seem to think it was standard. He said it wasn't just him or his unit that was doing it. He said the indicators were they [children] might draw pictures of bombs and say things like 'all Christians are bad' or that they believe in an Islamic state. It seems that nursery teachers in the West Midlands area are being asked to look out for radicalisation. He also said that targeting young children was important because they would be left aware of what was inappropriate to say at school. He felt that it was necessary to cover nurseries as well as primary and secondary schools. He said it was a precaution and that he wasn't expecting to come back with a list."

Now, I'm no fan of parents instilling racial intolerance in their kids, but if "All Christians are bad" is the gold standard for telling whether a kid is being "radicalised," then I quake for all the Jewish kids I grew up with hearing things like "A shikker is a goy" (gentiles are drunks). I'm likewise pretty certain that there are many Christian kids being brought up on messages like "Jews are all cheap" and "Muslims are all terrorists."

Terror police to monitor nurseries for Islamic radicalisation (Thanks, Marilyn!)

(Image: Nursery School, a Creative Commons Attribution photo from Editor B's photostream)

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/11/cinch-seat-handsome.html

Inventor Adam Kay sent me one of his flat-pack "Cinch Seat" kids' booster chairs to play with. The Cinch Seat comes as four pieces of composite wood-board with a white, hard-wearing eggshell veneer, laser-cut so that all four pieces can be quickly slotted together to form a secure and very pretty booster-chair. A set of nylon straps threaded through the seat board keep the kid safe and also securely affix the seat to a regular chair. It's very quick to assemble and disassemble the seat, and the extremely clever design lets the chair sit at one of two different heights, depending on how you put it together. It's altogether one of the handsomest and cleverest baby-gadgets I've tried.

That said, I have a few caveats. At £57.50, I think it's pricey, especially given the use-case for this as a portable chair you can keep in the car or under the stroller for those times you're out and about at a restaurant or relative's place. I can see paying a small premium to have a really beautiful piece of furniture for home use, but I don't see shelling out to ensure that my kid's chair doesn't clash with the restaurant's decor for the hour we're having lunch there. The composite wood is extremely sturdy and lovely besides, but it's heavy, especially relative to equally hard-wearing (and much cheaper) plastics. Again, the weight isn't a big deal if this is meant to be a permanent home seat, but as a portable seat, every gram counts. Finally, the first-time assembly, during which all the straps have to be threaded through various slots on the seat, is fiddly and confusing. You only have to do this once, but at nearly £60, I'd expect the thing to come ready for use.

Conceptually, the Cinch Seat is fantastic, and I love the idea of making kids' furniture and gadgets out of simple materials with an eye for good design. If price is no object, the Cinch Seat is a great idea -- if I were running an upscale restaurant, I'd certainly consider buying a couple of them.

Cinch Seat (Thanks, Adam!)

Update: Adam adds, "I know it's expensive for a portable booster so I'm happy for you to offer a discount to your readers if anyone orders one before christmas day. I'll reduce it to £50. They just have to let me know they saw it on your site."

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/11/video-from-mad-max-c.html

Last month, I blogged about a group of Mad Max superfan cosplayers who hied themselves out to the desert in a variety of amazing vehicles (including a flying one-person chopper!) and costumes and spent the weekend playing at apocalypse. The event's organizer, DJ Wolfie, has put together a (mildly NSFW) video of highlights from the weekend.

Road Warrior Weekend Dj Wolfie

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/11/just-look-at-this-aw-7.html

Just look at it.

Commission Regulation (EC) No 2257/94 of 16 September 1994 laying down quality standards for bananas (as amended)

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/10/nanoscale-snowman.html

Simon sez, "David Cox at the UK National Physical Laboratory has created this snowman, which is ~20µm high."

The snowman was made from two tin beads used to calibrate electron microscope astigmatism. The eyes and smile were milled using a focused ion beam, and the nose, which is under 1 µm wide (or 0.001 mm), is ion beam deposited platinum.

A nanomanipulation system was used to assemble the parts 'by hand' and platinum deposition was used to weld all elements together. The snowman is mounted on a silicon cantilever from an atomic force microscope whose sharp tip 'feels' surfaces creating topographic surveys at almost atomic scales.

Christmas 2009 : Educate + Explore : National Physical Laboratory (Thanks, Simon!)

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/10/organizations-sign-o.html

French activist Jérémie Zimmerman sez,

A worldwide coalition of Non-Governmental Organizations, consumers unions and online service providers associations publish an open letter to the European institutions regarding the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) currently under negotiation. They call on the European Parliament and the EU negotiators to oppose any provision into the multilateral agreement that would undermine the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens in Europe and across the world.

By December 17th, 2009, European negotiators will submit their position regarding the proposal put forward by the U.S Trade Representative for the Internet chapter of the ACTA. It is now time for the European Union to firmly oppose the dangerous measures secretly being negotiated. They cover not only "three strikes" schemes, but also include Internet service providers liability that would result in Internet filtering, and dispositions undermining interoperability and usability of digitial music and films.

The first signatories of the open letter include: Consumers International (world federation of 220 consumer groups in 115 countries), EDRi (27 European civil rights and privacy NGOs), the Free Software Foundation v(FSF), the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), ASIC (French trade association for web2.0 companies), and civil liberties organizations from all around Europe (9 Member States so far...). The letter is open for signature by other organizations.

ACTA: A Global Threat to Freedoms (Open Letter) (Thanks, Jérémie!)

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/10/steampunk-pewter-coa.html

eBay seller Treasure Cast makes pewter coat-buttons cast from the guts of old mechanical watches, a lovely idea.

SteamPunk Buttons - FIVE Steampunk Watch Buttons 1066 (Thanks, Liz!)