Here are a couple of accounts of commercial airline pilots, one of whom has been put on the TSA's no-fly list and the other is on the terrorist watch-list, for reasons that no one will disclose.

A Gulf War veteran and his wife say they've been unfairly placed on a federal list that limits their commercial flight access and threatens his job as a commercial pilot. To fight back, the couple, who are Muslim, filed a lawsuit today against a host of U.S. government agencies. "We don't know why they're on the list. They don't know why they're on the list. The government won't tell us why they're on the list," said Amy Foerster, an attorney with Saul Ewing, who is providing pro bono counsel and working with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and the Schuylkill County couple on the case, which was filed in U.S. district court...

James Robinson is a retired Air National Guard brigadier general and a commercial pilot for a major airline who flies passenger planes around the country. James Robinson is a retired brigadier general and a commercial pilot. His name is on the terrorist "watch list."

He has even been certified by the Transportation Security Administration to carry a weapon into the cockpit as part of the government's defense program should a terrorist try to commandeer a plane.

But there's one problem: James Robinson, the pilot, has difficulty even getting to his plane because his name is on the government's terrorist "watch list."

Robinson is one of many James Robinsons on the list, including a 5-year-old. Good news, though -- all you need to do to avoid the secondary screening is fly under your initials, rather than name. Better hope the terrorists never figure that out. Ho ho ho. Airline captain, lawyer, child on terror 'watch list', Grounded pilot, wife sue over 'no-fly' list (via MeFi)

A TSA inspector decided to get a closer look at some American Eagle jets at O'Hare, so he climbed up on them, using a fragile, vital instrument (the Total Air Temperature probes) as handholds. He damaged the craft so badly that the regular maintenance crew grounded them -- and if they hadn't noticed, the lives of everyone on-board could have been endangered. Remember, folks, the "S" in TSA stands for "Security."

Citing sources within the aviation industry, ABC News reports an overzealous TSA employee attempted to gain access to the parked aircraft by climbing up the fuselage... reportedly using the Total Air Temperature (TAT) probes mounted to the planes' noses as handholds.

"The brilliant employees used an instrument located just below the cockpit window that is critical to the operation of the onboard computers," one pilot wrote on an American Eagle internet forum. "They decided this instrument, the TAT probe, would be adequate to use as a ladder."

Commuter Flights Grounded Thanks To Bumbling TSA Inspector (via MeFi)

Following up on two previous posts today about the detention of tech-art protesters in Beijing, we now have word that videoblogger Brian Conley of "Alive in Baghdad" has also been taken in by authorities.

Conley and others previously announced as having been detained were working with the group Students for a Free Tibet to document pro-Tibet protests in Beijing.

Here is SFT's statement:

Beijing - Brian Conley, creator of the well-known videoblog, Alive in Baghdad, was detained with his friend, Jeffrey Rae, early Tuesday, August 19th in Beijing. Their detention appears to have taken place at the same time as that of international artist James Powderly, whose detention was reported Tuesday. Three other bloggers and activists, Jeff Goldin, Michael Liss, and Tom Grant, have also been missing since Tuesday morning. Conley, 28, Rae, 28, Goldin, 40, Liss, 35, Grant, 39 are all American citizens.

The five “citizen journalists” and activists were in Beijing to support and promote human rights, freedom of expression, and freedom for the Tibetan people. They and numerous others have acted as an independent media centre for the dozens of pro-Tibet activists in Beijing who have sought to draw attention to the Chinese government’s occupation of Tibet during the Olympics. Rae and Conley shot and released online high-resolution photographs and footage of the recent protest by Students for a Free Tibet supporters at the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park.

Beijing: Citizen Journalists, Videoblogger, Activists Detained (SFT)

Previously:
* Beijing: Five US activists detained after lighting up "Free Tibet" LED Throwies banner near Olympics site
* GRL's James Powderly detained in Beijing for planning pro-Tibet "L.A.S.E.R. Stencil" art protest

Below: Video shot by Detainee Brian Conley of “Ethnic Park” Protest on August 13th, 2008.

Here's the latest episode of Derrick Bostrom's "Your Favorite Little Podcast," featuring a terrific playlist of unusual, forgotten, underrated, and ignored music. Derrick's podcast, along with The Casbah ("an eclectic rock & roll and rhythm radio show featuring surf-instrumentals, garage, blues and more"), and Little Steve's Underground Garage on Sirius Radio, take care of about 95% of my music listening needs.

From Derrick's show notes:

I also love it when the wrong people visit this site by mistake, venting their disorientation and discomfort in the comments. I especially love it when they use terms like “elevator music” as if this was incisive criticism. After all, some folks still obsess over “authenticity,” preferring “immediacy” and “spontaneity” above all other concerns. Somehow, the soundtrack to a long-defunct Saturday morning kids show or a 30-year-old vanity pressing from an unknown lounge singer just doesn’t work for them

But for those of you who just want a little mundane background music for your misanthropic existence, a little something to listen to while you put your pants on one leg at a time (just like the next guy), I hope this podcast fits the bill.

Your Favorite Little Podcast: Episode Thirteen

I haven't read Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse by Victor Gischler, but this description, sent to me by the publisher, makes it sound good. If you've read it, please post your review in the comments.

Mortimer Tate was an insurance salesman on the verge of a nasty divorce when he holed up in a mountain cave in Tennessee and rode out the end of the world. Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse begins nine years later, when he emerges into a bizarre landscape filled with hollow reminders of an America that no longer exists. Since “The Fall,” highways are lined with abandoned automobiles, for which there is no fuel. Houses stand empty and what little civilization remains revolves around a string of strip clubs called Joey Armageddon’s Sassy-a-Go-Go, where the beer is cold, the lap dancers are hot, the bouncers are armed with M-16s—and electricity is generated by indentured servants pedaling stationary bicycles. Accompanied by his cowboy sidekick Buffalo Bill and two gorgeous and lethal women named Sheila and Tyler, Mortimer journeys to the Lost City of Atlanta—and an explosive final showdown that just might determine the fate of humanity.

Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse

Plan59's 1950s space-art gallery has some real gems! Space Art (via Neatorama)

Now that the McCain campaign has declared war on Dungeons and Dragons, Dennis has struck back with this tee.

It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman's memory of war from the comfort of mom's basement, but most Americans have the humility and gratitude to respect and learn from the memories of men who suffered on behalf of others.

Pro-Obama Dungeons and Dragons Crowd (Thanks, Dennis!)

See also: McCain staffer slams Dungeons and Dragons players

Veronica from ItchyStitchy has the pattern needed to make this child-sized Katamari Damacy Prince of All Cosmos hat thing. Someone get my smelling salts, I just went into a cute coma! The kid will be wearing it to GenCon (natch). FO and Pattern: Katamari Damacy Prince of All Cosmos Baby Hat! (via Craft)

Hugh from the Electronic Frontier Foundation sez, "EFF's Coders' Rights project had a big win for free speech when a judge ruled that the gag order against MIT student security researchers should be lifted. Right on!"

Today, a federal judge lifted an unconstitutional gag order that had prevented three Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) students from disclosing academic research regarding vulnerabilities in Boston's transit fare payment system. The court found that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Agency (MBTA) had no likelihood of success on the merits of its claim under the federal computer intrusion law and denied the transit agency's request for a five-month injunction. In papers filed yesterday, the MBTA acknowledged for the first time that their Charlie Ticket system had vulnerabilities and estimated that it would take five months to fix.

Tuesday's ruling lifts the restriction preventing the student researchers from talking about their findings regarding the security vulnerabilities of Boston's Charlie Card and Charlie Ticket -- a project that earned them an "A" from renowned computer scientist and MIT professor Dr. Ron Rivest. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) represents the students as part of its Coders' Rights Project.

Judge Lifts Unconstitutional Gag Order Against MIT Students

An update on the pro-Tibet tech-art protests happening in Beijing: Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) tells Boing Boing that a group of five pro-Tibet activists displayed an LED Throwie Banner near the Olympics site in Beijing. The protesters, all of whom are US nationals, were promptly detained by Chinese authorities.

From SFT, via email to BB:

This was inspired by GRL's "Throwies" project, and the building and implementation of this was done by a complete separate group of Tibet activitists. They combined a traditional protest banner with over five hundred throwie lights and batteries sewn and taped onto the banner.

Details on the SFT website, Photos on Flickr, and here is a short video. "Still no more news on GRL founder James Powderly at this point," a SFT rep tells us. Previous BB post on Powderly's detention in Beijing, over 24 hours ago.

Here's a snip from the SFT press release about today's action:

Five pro-Tibet activists unfurled a banner spelling out “Free Tibet” in English and Chinese in bright blue LED “throwie” lights in Beijing’s Olympic Park tonight. The five were detained by security personnel after displaying the banner for about 20 seconds at 11:48 pm August 19th. Their whereabouts are unknown. The detained activists are Americans Amy Johnson, 33, Sam Corbin, 24, Liza Smith, 31, Jacob Blumenfeld, 26, and Lauren Valle, 21.

"The Chinese government is desperate to turn the world's attention away from its abuses in Tibet as the Olympics take place, but the creativity and determination of Tibetans and their supporters has once again ensured that Tibetan voices are heard and seen in Beijing despite the massive security clampdown," said Tenzin Dorjee, Deputy Director of Students for a Free Tibet. "The Chinese leadership must realize that the only way it can make the issue of Tibet disappear is to acknowledge the demands of the Tibetan people and work with them to bring an end to China's occupation of Tibet."

The lights used on the banner are blue 10 mm light-emitting diodes (LEDs) powered by small batteries, commonly known as “throwies.” Throwies are open-source technology attributed to OpenLab and Graffiti Research Lab, developed as a means of creating non-destructive graffiti and light displays. This is the first time ever that they have been used on a banner. James Powderly, free speech activist and co-founder of the Graffiti Research Lab (GRL), was detained in Beijing early this morning (see http://freetibet2008.org/globalactions/jamespowderly).

Previously: GRL's James Powderly detained in Beijing for planning pro-Tibet "L.A.S.E.R. Stencil" art protest

A Londoner was stopped by a London Transport Police officer under S.44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, and had the presence of mind to whip out his video camera and record the officers tearing through his stuff. They officers admitted that they had no suspicion of him, no reason to search him and told him he'd be arrested if he refused. They riffle through his books (looking for terrorist words?) and go through his things. Welcome to Britain, now spread 'em. Stopped under S.44 of the Terrorism Act 2000

Jimmy sez, "Michael Goldfarb of the John McCain campaign oddly disses gamers in his post yesterday on the John McCain blog."

It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman's memory of war from the comfort of mom's basement, but most Americans have the humility and gratitude to respect and learn from the memories of men who suffered on behalf of others.

Smears the Left Can Fight For (Thanks, Jimmy!)

The Georgia Bigfoot, who missed his own press conference last week, has been confirmed as a (gasp) hoax. The two Georgia men, one of them a cop, who claimed to have found the dead animal allegedly pulled one over on Tom Biscardi, a self-described Bigfoot researcher who has a reputation as a hoaxer himself. From Fox News:

SearchingforBigfoot.com owner Tom Biscardi paid an "undisclosed sum" to Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer, the two Georgia men who say they found the body, for their frozen corpse and the privilege of trotting them out in front of TV cameras.

At the same time, Biscardi sent self-described "Sasquatch detective" Steve Kulls back to Georgia to check out the body.

Kulls, it's safe to say, was severely disappointed.

The upshot? The real Bigfoot, once found, is now missing. So are Whitton, Dyer and Biscardi's money.

Georgia Bigfoot hoax (FoxNews, thanks, Loren Coleman! Thanks Rob Beschizza for the image!)

Previously on BB:
• Bigfoot press conference a bust
• Bigfoot discovery press conference on Friday (HOAX?)

Astronaut and space hero Dr. Buzz Aldrin speaks with Xeni about his belief that America -- and that means you! -- must return to the moon, and soon. His nonprofit, Sharespace.org, seeks to provide "affordable space travel opportunities for all." Buzz believes that commercial space vacations should not be available only to the wealthy elite.

Editor's note: the comment trolls really are taking over around here. One of them invades this very BBtv episode. Teresa, why doesn't disemvowelling work in video? We'll have to get our hamster-engineers right on that. (cameo by BBtv Production Assistant Rob Bergsma)

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Link to Boing Boing tv post with discussion, downloadable video, and instructions on subscribing to the BBtv video podcast.

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Taiyo Matsumoto's 600+ page manga masterpiece Tekkonkinkreet: Black & White is utterly unlike any comic I've ever read, a thrilling fusion of French and Japanese comic-book styles that scintillates with originality, daring, adventure and metaphysics. Black and White are the Cat Brothers, a pair of ultraviolent lost boys who rule Treasure Town, a surreal Japanese pleasure-ville where hoods and cops and gangsters battle for dominance. Black is violent, cunning and brilliant; White is naive, foolish, and sweet. They are ten years old, and they complete each other.

But Treasure Town is in flux: new powers are come to the city, and as it sickens, so do Black and White, who are, in some metaphysical way, its soul and avatar. The story moves between Black and White's struggles to remain together and defend their turf and the huge political upheavals underway in the adult world.

Unapologetically weird, violent and sweetly sentimental about cities, Tekkonkinkreet is a valentine to cities everywhere, the biggest machines humans have built, ever on the verge of collapse, magnificent even so. Matsumoto learned his craft in France, studying its visual and storytelling styles and Tekkonkinkreet mixes everything from Metal Hurlant to Tin Tin alongside the manga visuals and mythos. There's not one thing unlovable about this comic -- it is 612 pages of pure win. Absolutely extraordinary.

I see that there's a movie based on the comics, and that it got pretty good reviews. I've ordered a copy -- I'll let you know if I like it when I get a chance to see it. TEKKONKINKREET: Black & White, Tekkon Kinkreet DVD

Students for a Free Tibet tells Boing Boing they learned of Graffitti Research Lab founder James Powderly's detention by Chinese authorities in Beijing via a Twitter direct message that read "held since 3am."

I just spoke to the SFT representative who has been Powderly's closest contact, and this person says Powderly has now been held for more than 19 hours with no further word.

So far there's no acknowledgment from officials in Beijing that Powderly is being held. Here's SFT's announcement about the L.A.S.E.R. Stencil art protest project Powderly was planning -- he was also writing an "instructable" about it yesterday:

Internationally known artist, technologist and co-founder of the Graffiti Research Lab, James Powderly, was detained in Beijing early this morning while preparing to debut a new work and technology of protest, the L.A.S.E.R. Stencil. According to a “twitter” message received today by Students for a Free Tibet at approximately 5 pm Beijing Standard Time, Powderly had been detained by Chinese authorities at 3 am. His current whereabouts remain unknown.

“James is a unique voice in the world, who lives and breathes art and technology for the purpose of promoting and enabling freedom of expression for all,” said Nathan Dorjee, Director of Technology for Students for a Free Tibet. “His trip to Beijing, in support of the Tibetan people and all people around the world whose voices have been silenced by their governments, is a small piece of his portfolio as an artist who won’t back down in the face of authority.”

The work, “The Green Chinese Lantern,” uses a 400 milliwatt handheld green laser with micro-stencils to beam simple messages and images up to three stories high on surfaces such as billboards, buildings, and bridges. The Laser Stencil technology was developed in conjunction with Students for a Free Tibet.

Powderly’s direct experience with censorship by Chinese authorities furthered his commitment to highlighting the Tibetan cause during the Beijing Games, in partnership with the efforts of Students for a Free Tibet. Powderly and other members of the Graffiti Research Lab were dis-invited from Synthetic Times, a new media art exhibition at Beijing’s National Media Art Museum of China, due to their uncompromising stance on freedom of expression.

Students for a Free Tibet has staged six protests in Beijing over the last two weeks, placing the issue of Tibet’s occupation front and centre as China hosts the Olympic Games. The protests have included a dramatic banner hang near the Bird’s Nest Stadium; a display of Tibetan flags near the Bird’s Nest just before the opening ceremony began; a symbolic die-in at Tiananmen Square; a protest by a Tibetan woman with flags outside Tiananmen Square; a blockade of the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park; and “Free Tibet” banner hang outside the CCTV headquarters. Thirty-seven members and supporters have been detained and deported, not including those detained today.

More on the story at SFT's website. More about GRL's LASER stencil here. Here's a statement from Powderly:

James is proud to have been kicked out of the Synthetic Times new media art exhibition in Beijing because he wouldn’t censor his little art project. James wonders why organizations like the MoMA, Parsons, Eyebeam, Ars Electronica and many other arts and cultural institutions around the world who claim to support free speech and expression would participate in a show like this. But they did! It was after being kicked to the curb by the show’s curator that James connected with Students for a Free Tibet and decided he would go to China anyway and do what he though was right in support of Tibet, Taiwan, free speech and the people of China. James lives, if indeed he is alive, in the County of Kings, Brooklyn, and teaches at the Communication Design and Technology program at Parsons the New School for Design. I am James Powderly and I approve of this message.

Previously: Boing Boing tv - Graffiti Research Lab, the movie

In this great little Instructable, Morfmir shows you how to make a "Viking spoon," using only handmade, historically accurate viking hand-tools.

You need:
Axe: any small hand axe will do fine. It just needs to be sharp. A good hand axe weighs around 500-600g
hammer: you need a heavy hammer. If it is to small it will not have enough force to split the wood.
wedge: A heavy iron wedge made for splitting firewood will work fine. Alternatively use a old axe and hammer it through the log. Don't use you good axe for that. You ruin the axe that way.
Knife: a small sharp knife will do.
Spoon knife: You need a spoonknife, in my book there are no alternatives. You will probably not find it in you local hardwarestore, but you can buy it online. The best are handforged made by S. Djärv but you can also go after the cheap ones made by Frost Sweden.

How to make a wooden spoon, the viking way (via Make)

Today on Boing Boing Gadgets, the day started as it always does: deus ex machina. Then Kafka hit the Apple Store.

Rob looked at Frotz for the iPhone and a wrist-wearable 1920s GPS unit. He also discovered a wonderful MAME cabinet that looks like an old console pulled out of a Buck Rogers episode. Swoon.

Brownlee found a Terminator skull DVD player and a new Casio that perfectly captures the rust-aesthetic of Star Wars. RFID allows an elderly Japanese wife to have an unsettling discussion with her dead husband. The early BBS cowboys were re-examined through the antiquarian literature of GIF News. Dell has some great plans and pants to match for tackling the iTunes juggernaut. And we discovered some amazing tech to enhance videos with high-res photographs.

Meanwhile, Joel — rushing off to Burning Man — considered some luminescent clubbing attire, "useful tools to illuminate your drink, making it more difficult for slimebags to slip Rohypnol into your drink." He also looked at RCA's $2,000 television from way back in 1969. iPhone developers find the App Store soul killing and booze now comes in juice pack form.

Also perhaps of scientific note: Sony claims their VCRs will cure cancer.

Link

An American human-rights worker was detained by the DHS at JFK when she returned from her holiday in Syria. She found herself in a Kafka-esque nightmare room crammed like a cattle-car with Americans and foreigners seething as they were abused, ignored, insulted (and sometimes deported) by the US government's representatives. So much for public diplomacy.

No one who had been detained knew precisely why they were there. A few people were led into private rooms; others were questioned out in the open at desks a few feet from the crowd and then allowed to pass through customs. Some were sent to another section of the holding area with large computer screens and cameras, and then brought back. The uninformed consensus among the detainees was that some people would be fingerprinted, have their irises scanned and be sent back to the countries from which they had disembarked, regardless of citizenship status; others would be fingerprinted and allowed to stay; and the unlucky ones would be detained indefinitely and moved to a more permanent facility.

There was one British tourist in the group. Paul (also not his real name) was traveling with three friends who had passed through customs soon after their plane landed and were waiting for him on the other side of the metal barrier; he suspected he had been detained because of his dark skin. When he asked if he could go to the bathroom, one of the guards said, "I wouldn't." "What if someone has to?" I asked. "They will just have to hold it," the guard responded with a smile. Paul began to cry. I watched as he, over the course of four hours, went from feeling exuberant about his trip to New York to despising the entire country. "I speak the Queen's English," he said to me. "I'm third-generation British. I came to America because I've always wanted to come here, and now they've got me so scared that all I want to do is go home. We're paying for your stupid war anyway."

I once got pulled out for secondary screening at the Australian border. They brought my pregnant wife a chair and a glass of water, were friendly and professional and prompt, and never made me feel anything other than welcome. They thoroughly investigated me without ever making me feel like a crook. It took all of 10 minutes. It doesn't have to be this way. At JFK Airport, Denying Basic Rights Is Just Another Day at the Office

Wal*Mart's class-specific lists of "Back to School" supplies that local teachers want kids to show up with on day one are pure fabrications -- and they include items that are prohibited on school-grounds:

When we noticed the local Wal-Mart had shopping lists not only specific to school and grade level, but to teacher, we were thrilled. We started tossing items in the cart to spend, spend, spend.

Weren’t we a little surprised to learn afterwards that Wal-Mart invented those lists. Not only were we a bit surprised to learn they did not, in fact, base the lists on anything remotely suggested by the school. Wal-Mart, in fact, put items on the list that are BANNED from being brought to school.

Our daughter’s school said Wal-Mart makes up those lists on their own, and a number of items (such as crayons) are on a list from the school. A list of items parents are specifically told not to have their child bring to school. Seriously?

Truth About Wal-Mart Back to School Lists (Thanks, Thomas!)

Flickr user jek in the box made this handsome phone sculpture out of raffle tickets and Scotch tape -- lovely! raffle ticket phone (via Craft)

farside photoshop
married to the sea
minimalist stick figure theatre
scary bear
pope alien
cat and girl
diesel sweeties
kookie

previously on web zen:
more comic zen

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!)

Daniel says:

The idea is just to de-contextualize serious or crappy video comments, collecting them like in an isolated art gallery.

We also made a typographic presentation video.

Decontextualized video comments become modern pieces of poetry

Rick Adams shot a video of a man clinging to the hood of a car driven by an intoxicated maniac, and writes about what happened to him as a result of filming the incident.

[T]he frenzy around it was unsettling to me; as soon as it was published (including some really stupid factual errors) the story was around the world and it made me wonder: how accurate are the stories I know nothing about but read all the time? If something as small as this could have errors in it (some of which I won't go into as they really should be kept in the courtroom, as far as I'm concerned) because of a feeding frenzy does that bode well for our acceptance of everything else we read in the Oregonian or hear on the Today show? A small example: somewhere, somebody got the idea the video was taken with a cell phone and you can tell from the headlines that the media thought this was a cool concept. My cell phone doesn't even take stills, let alone video, but never mind: CELL PHONE CAPTURES ROAD RAGE INCIDENT, blared the trumpets. As a guitar player I know only too well that you can't take back a note once it's been played.

I also found the immediate media concern trolling a little hard to take. When I told one local TV station's door-to-door news crew I really didn't want to participate in the whole process because it seemed like they were trying to sensationalize the issue the reporter popped up with "But you might have some information that's vital! And if you didn't speak up the case might be harmed! Then how would you feel?" And I lost track of how many times I was asked to describe how I felt when I was filming the incident, always framed as a leading question telling me how I should have been feeling and cueing up the response they had in mind but which I never did give to anyone.

The most amusing things I saw were comments to the Oregonian's story online, which assured me that the entire event had been staged and that the photos were hoaxes. I really did try to figure out how you could stage something like this and get an arrest in less an hour but I just couldn't do it; I'm simply not creative enough.

Road rage filmer writes about his media experience

Papa Jack Weil, owner of Rockmont Ranch Wear in Denver, Co, died last Wednesday. He continued to show up for work every day, even when he was 107 years old.

We lost the oldest CEO in Colorado, and probably in the U.S., this week. Rockmount Ranch Wear founder Jack A. Weil died Wednesday at the age of 107.

Grandson Steve Weil, Rockmount's 49-year-old president, recently told Rocky contributor Bill Gallo that "Papa Jack" had reduced his work schedule in recent times from 12-hour days to five mornings a week. "But he was still active. He loved being the greeter. He talked to 50 people a day."

"My grandfather was to Western shirts what Levi's was to blue jeans," Steve Weil told Gallo. "One of his most remarkable traits was an ability to live on his own terms. That's probably the result of growing up in the early 1900s and enduring the Depression. He was self-made and self-educated, and he had a strong code of ethics."

RIP Papa Jack Weil, 1901–2008

(UPDATE: The YouTube video was pulled, but Live Leak has the same video, embedded above)

Can you spot where Robert's Rules or Order are broken during this argument between two university debate coaches? (Salty language and underwear mooning in video).

In the quarterfinal of 2008 CEDA (Cross Examination Debate Association) Nationals, the RFD erupts into a heated exchange of words between Pittsburgh coach Shanara Reid and Fort Hays coach William Shanahan.

Debate coaches lose cool, 1 pulls down his pants (via Arbroath)

The Times Online reports on the Dexter cattle breed, “the world’s most efficient, cutest and tastiest cows."

For between £200 and £2,000, people can buy a cow that stands no taller than a large German shepherd dog, gives 16 pints of milk a day that can be drunk unpasteurised, keeps the grass “mown” and will be a family pet for years before ending up in the freezer.

The Dexter, a mountain breed from Ireland, is perfect for cattle-keeping on a small scale, but other breeds are being artificially created to compete with it, including the Mini-Hereford and the Lowline Angus, which has been developed by the Australian government to stand no more than 39in high but produce 70% of the steak of a cow twice its size.

Just right for the garden: a mini-cow (via Arbroath)

(Photos of Carter Hotel here.)

Forbes Traveler has an article called "Travel Scams to Avoid" (I'm waiting for the follow-up article, "Travel Scams to Embrace"). Here are a couple of interesting tidbits from the piece. First, the "wad of money" trick:

“I was back in Moscow a few years ago and saw with nostalgia they were still trying to pull the ‘wad of money’ trick in Red Square,” says veteran travel scribe Robert Reid, author of the Lonely Planet guides to the Trans-Siberian Railway, Central America and Myanmar. “Some goon rushes by you and drops a wad of dollars—could be more than a thousand—and another goon steps in and picks it up, offering to share it with you. If you take the offer, the other goon will track you down and demand all of the money. I kinda find it cute that they think it can still work—sadly it probably does.”

The other tidbit isn't really a scam; it's a warning about the Hotel Carter in New York:

Unsuspecting travelers can get scammed into rooms only a few notches above a pig sty, places like the Hotel Carter in New York, which recently topped TripAdvisor’s list of the Top 10 Dirtiest Hotels in America. A manager at the Hotel Carter—who requested anonymity—said, “We know about the list. We’re doing OK. We’re still busy,” adding, “But we get many emails saying that it's not fair or not true or something like that.”

The TripAdvisor reviews for the Hotel Carter make the place sound so horrible I almost want to stay there for the experience:

"Bad Bad Bad Bad Bad hotel. Should this even be called a hotel?"

"CARTER = Completely Atrocious Rooms That Encourage everyone to Run-away (FAST!)"

“Don't Stay Here Unless You Are A Big Risk Taker!!”

“A Disgusting And Repulsive Sess Pit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“Twilight Zone”

“Dirty, liar and impolite”

“The hotel from hell”

Travel Scams to Avoid

Lisa Gold, an extraodinary researcher with deep ties to science fiction (she conducted research for Neal Stephenson's Baroque Trilogy and is married to the wonderful comedic sf/f writer Matt Ruff, author of the newly paperback-published Bad Monkeys) has launched a public blog where she's keeping track of her research notes. I have a love-hate relationship with book research, so it's amazing to see someone really good at it at work.

“The next best thing to knowing something is knowing where to find it.” — Samuel Johnson

I thought this famous Samuel Johnson quote would be an appropriate way to begin my blog. The problem is that Johnson never actually said this, despite the fact that you’ll find this attributed to him on a number of different quotation websites. None of these websites identified the original source of the Johnson quote, so I decided to dig a little deeper. The Apocrypha section of Frank Lynch’s Samuel Johnson Sound Bite Page identifies this quote as a corruption of something Johnson did say, which was recorded by James Boswell in his Life of Johnson. The actual Johnson quote is: “Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.” I confirmed this by searching the text of Boswell’s Life of Johnson online.

Lisa Gold: Research Maven