tech@vedella

A physics teacher created this video showing how to make a penny "disappear" by placing a Pyrex beaker over it and filling it up with water, asking why and how this illusion worked. On IO9, Esther Inglis-Arkell explains how the effect is achieved -- it's all down to the strange motion of light in water. [...]

An open letter from Archbishop Desmond Tutu to New York's Trinity Church urges the church to allow the Occupy protest in Duarte Park, which is owned by the Episcopalian parish: Yours is a voice for the world not just the neighborhood of Duarte Park. Injustice, unfairness, and the strangle hold of greed which has beset [...]

Via Reddit, today I learned that just as there are "cat cafes" in Tokyo, there are "dog cafes" in Seoul. Redditor oddipus visited one such establishment, and shot the photo above. Corgis do, in fact, gotta corg. I've been to a cat cafe, but wonder if any Boing Boing readers (perhaps some of you in [...]

If you followed my tweets from the markup session for SOPA in the House of Representatives, you know how frustrating it was to watch: you had these lawmakers blithely dismissing the security concerns of the likes of Vint Cerf, saying things like, "I'm no technology nerd, but I don't believe it." In other words: "I'm [...]

A wonderful shot by Tokyo-based photographer Jon Siegel, shared in the Boing Boing Flickr pool.

Due out February, 2012. This will be the first independent release for the much-Boinged band since they split from Interscope. The business story behind this one is fascinating...  Sneaky Prawn (Die Antwoord snapshot) - Boing Boing Die Antwoord leave Interscope, will release "TEN$ION" on their own ... Die Antwoord: "Fok Julle Naaiers" (music video) - [...]

The Swedish tourism agency has convinced the government to turn over management of the official national Swedish Twitter account to everyday Swedes, on a rotating basis, to show the world what a swell place full of swell people Sweden is. I want brokep to run the account for a week. “No one owns the brand [...]

Rick sez, "Ayize Jama-Everett, Lisa Goldstein in discussion with live music by Fenyang Smith at the Capitola Book Cafe. Ayize's book, The Liminal People (MP3), and Lisa's book, The Uncertain Places (MP3) are easily two of the best books this year." I haven't read Liminal People yet (though Rick is a good source of book [...]

The strange, farcical trial of Byron Sonne continues (here are earlier installments). Sonne is a Toronto hacker and security researcher who was arrested during the G20, with much attendant press about the "fact" that he had been planning to make bombs in connection with the event. Sonne was left in jail for nearly a year [...]

My daughter's almost four, and we quite enjoy fishing around on YouTube for great cartoons to watch. I've just introduced her to the Animaniacs (don't tell her, but we've got the whole DVD set coming for her birthday!), starting with the classic I'm Mad, which led me to this kick-ass live-action fan-version posted in 2007.

[Video Link] When Glen Matlock (who probably wrote most of the Sex Pistols' best songs) was kicked out of The Sex Pistols he formed a power pop band called Rich Kids. They only put out one album, but it's one of my all time favorites.

“Give the audience 40 minutes of astronomy and there would be no audience. It has to be a combination of science and showmanship. If there’s a sunrise, we furnish appropriate sunrise music.”—Joseph M. Chamberlain, who died this week at age 88. His work advanced astronomical education and entertainment "by leading planetariums in New York and [...]

People walk past an activist during an Animal Naturalis demonstration to promote vegetarianism in central Barcelona, December 15, 2011. (REUTERS/Albert Gea)

Of course, just because Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda says the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl is over doesn't mean it's entirely over.

Video Link. More about the making of at the Official Star Wars Blog.

Video Link. Have an awesome frickin day. (Via Robert Popper)

Video Link. Rep. Jared Polis (Colorado Democrat who previously founded BlueMountainArts.com) has entered the complete lyrics of "The Internet is for Porn" into the official record of the SOPA debate.

Adam Butcher's short film is a portrait of Bradley Manning, the U.S. Army private accused of sending thousands of classified documents to Wikileaks. With dialog based on the chatlogs that incriminated him, and pixel-art rotoscoping of live footage, the overall effect is strangely dehumanizing—an echo of what happens when secrets private and political come to [...]

This is an X-ray of a two-headed albino Honduran milk snake that recently hatched at the home of University of Central Florida biologist Daniel Parker, proprietor of Sunshine Serpents. (via The Telegraph)

[Video Link] What a treat to find a link to Darling Pet Munkee's new video of their song "X-Ray Specs" in my inbox this morning! See my previous gushing over Darling Pet Munkee here.