I like the way all the cats are very casual about the tortoise approaching. As if "What the heck can shell boy do?"

Kudos upon kudos for this.

Regarding the complaints about Microsoft sponsorship, I'll say the reasons to accept their money and use it for good are valid. But what about BoingBoing setting up a "tip jar" so people who complain can put their money where their trolling mouths are.

That chimp had a monkey on his back!

Those folks must really hate watermelons.

"Son, I just met these two guys: Bill Hanna & Joe Barbera. We're going to be rich!"

comments pointing out how this stuff is old hat are part of a really old tradition of trolls and their wondrous insights. Am I the only one sick of it?

It's not trolling to express respect that the book might be good, but I—and others—have had enough of the junkie memoir.

FWIW, when James Frey's A Million Little Pieces tons of people I respect would not hear one ounce of criticism against it. I thought it was okay, but his stories were too perfect and too neat. And I said as much... And was shot down... And now, we all know the deal with James Frey.

David Carr's story is probably great and heartfelt and 100% true, but as BOOKYLOO (#33) said:
"I hate to say it, but people who get fucked up and do crazy shit will ALWAYS be interesting to read about."

Actually voyeurism always sells. And nowadays the "reality" culture of entertainment we live in places people who splay themselves out on a higher pedestal than others sells even more. That's why stuff like this just doesn't interest me. No matter how good the book is it's a part of a larger cultural frenzy that dictates, "We don't care what you do unless you destroy yourself. Then that's entertainment!" And to me, it's the reason why modern entertainment is so wretched; creativity is actually punished in mass media.

Also, ANTINOUS (#3) I really don't get how quantity of e-mails in a personal mailbox means much. Especially with regards to a piece hyped in the New York Times. Well, it could mean that such books sell. But by the same token, so does porn.

Actually, when I refer to a "magical junkie" story I do so in the same way I refer to the "magical retarded/mentally challenged person" story in films like Forrest Gump, Slingblade & Radio. Even if there is no stated great insight at the end of the book, there is an implied insight of "Wow, this guy/gal was a screw up and now they aren't..."

I'm sure this book is better than most—and is probably quite good—but nowadays the tales of junkies and their woes can almost be a genre in and of itself.

This book sounds more real than others *cough* James Frey *cough*, but am I the only one getting a wee worn out my books about magical junkies and their wondrous insights?

@ #16 RED LEATHERMAN:
Well, at least Seagate erased them in some way. Every drive I every pulled out of the junk heap has been 100% un-erased.

FWIW, and might be a tangent, but is there any sure fire way to erase a cell phones memory before reselling or donating it? I know there are factory reset options, but it seems to me that data would be as vulnerable—if not more—than a hard drive.

Two things here everyone should know about retail:

1) If you don't get what you want or don't like the service of a place, just leave. Yeah, you might suffer the stink-eye (at least) from a server/proprietor, but in 10 minutes it's all over and nobody cares. Especially when it comes to coffee shops. I don't care where in the U.S. you are, there is always choice in coffee shops. So be an active consumer.

2) In the world of retail, if you're under the age of 50 and speak out against a customer, you'll suffer. People don't like young owners sassing back. But post-50? You can be a 100% opinionated jerk and people find it charming! Check out any "famous" old establishment and that's always the case. Here in NYC there are more than a few "wonderful" old timey places with cantankerous coots and people love it! Even if the food/product is mediocre.

Also, while I haven't had coffee in over 8 years, I find iced coffee fiends to be some of the most obnoxious folks around. Somehow the idea that you're having something 1% better than a bottle of cola goes to the heads of iced coffee folks.

Okay, this is all cool and interesting, but does anyone out there ever pull hard drives out of junked PCs like I do? I'm no dumpster diver or hardcore hacker, but if someone tosses a machine on the curb and I can reach in and get the hard drive, I'll snag it.

Now here's the sad reality folks. Most people don't encrypt ANYTHING on their hard drives. And yeah I'm basing this on my personal experience, but before we start worrying about deep hacks like this, perhaps everyday folks should learn how to boot from a CD and then wipe a drive. Most people don't in any way at all.

Ugggh, I am embarrassed by my spelling. No Xylophone Hero.

Someone needs to dig up e-mails on ATI price fixing on Mac versions of video cards when compared to PC versions. Most vividly I remember the ATI Radeon 8500 cards selling for $225+ while PC versions of the exact same cards went for less than $75. The only difference was the boot ROM on the card, and a whole community of ATI flashers popped up to convert PC cards to Mac.

On many Mac boards—most notably XLR8YourMac—ATI reps and techs would make long winded explanations about the who/how/what/when/where/why of cost. But when you came down to it, it was price fixing to rake Mac users over the coals. AKA: The "Mac" tax.

Ditto with Apple themselves charging $200 for a SuperDrive DVD-R when they were as low as $50 a pop direct from any OEM seller selling Pioneer or SONY drives. No special ROM. No nothing. And what was disturbing in that case is initially IIRC Apple got a bulk discount deal on SuperDrives for the G4s at the time so they were cheaper than initial retail. But as the tech became more common, the retail price went down but the Apple OEM price stayed in the stratosphere.

Nowadays if you think you are paying too much, you are. And if you own a Macintosh and think that you need to pay more for some "official" part (RAM, Hard Drive, etc...) you are being ripped off.

No Zylophone Hero or Jew's Harp Hero.

What did that pickle do to deserve that?

Very cool! Can someone bring back LED screens? Seriously. I have an old LED calculator on my desk I use all the time because I also enjoy sunlight and nothing is more eyestraining than to try and read dark gray text on a light gray background.

What amazes me is why even make a clone. Apple does charge a premium, but honestly it's not as high as it once was. RAM, Hard Drives, Optical Drives and even CPUs are generic. Ditto with external drives. It's 2008. There's no benefit in time or energy to do this.

I paid a bit more for my Mac and I'm happy. Same with others. Only hardware geeks who are penny-wise & pound-foolish would even think of using a hacked machine like this.

You know, if you look at the setup, the hamster could have "teh niblet" when it's in it's house and pulls up "teh string".

Gotta agree with Felix (#7), the piece is quite patronizing. Especially this line:

The Indian retail economy is structured around clusters, with the best bargains and widest variety to be found in hubs where everyone is selling the same thing.

Yes, that's only in the "Indian retail economy", right? Not paralleled elsewhere in centralized markets that sell similar things. Like a farmer's market, a garment district or a diamond district.

Also, the vast majority of what the guy in the picture is supposedly "selling" seems like pure junk. The homeless guys on Lower Broadway in Manhattan wouldn't even touch that stuff.

Will it have built in cat/foot/non-grass detection?

@#35 PHIKUS

Shake the Crime Stick!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuPXymJEldE

Folks, any job where you are on your own and deal with large amounts of cash has more people carrying guns than not.

Heck, the owner of the art supply store near my school in Brooklyn had shotgun under the counter back in the late 1980s. Most bar owners have a gun or weapon of some sort as well.

But will say this. The whole video is worthy of parody. If only Mr. Show were still on the air.

@ #4 POSTED BY FUTURATRONICS , JULY 4, 2008 1:46 PM
Yes, the film itself has fallen into the public domain, but the way I understand all other versions restored afterwards are controlled under copyright since those restored versions are controlled under copyright.

So if you find a 16mm film source of Metropolis and digitize it, you are free and clear. But if you take the 1984 "rock" version and dupe it, you are breaking the law.

In the case of this new footage, it depends on who releases it and what they want to do.

But my general feeling with classic films is you truly get what you pay for. So if you simply want to torrent an AVI, go ahead. But if you want an HDTV version you should pay for that kind of transfer and conversion.

I'm now a bit unsettled at how many kitten video views will be connected to me.

Does it speak Bocce?

@ 24 Cory:

Devo doesn't want anyone to think they sold out to a corporation.

We're not talking about a Dischord Records band or a scrappy DIY upstart. Devo signed to Warner Brothers Records—a corporation—in 1976.

Post-Devo, Gerald Casale directs commercials and Mark Mothersbaugh has composed music for commercials.

Devo was NEVER a non-commercial/non-corporate band.

The issue with this lawsuit is simply trademark infringement. If they were asked for permission to use this caricatured version of them as a toy, I don't think they'd say yes... But I'm not sure they'd say no.

Love them, but they are far from indie. They are as commercial as any other act, they just dress it up a bit differently.

You think those are bad, check this out:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jackszwergold/348535496/

I can already see this boxed, and untouched at local Salvation Army/Goodwill/Saint Vincent DePaul stores nationwide.

#12 POSTED BY HALLOWEEN JACK:
And the Swastika was a symbol in Hinduism before that loonball Nazi grabbed it for his own use. And the Confederate flag was a proud symbol of Southern independance... And white supremacy. How do you explain Big Daddy Roth's SS decal?

Regardless I stand by my statement. Big Daddy Roth was basically a very talented artist, and a shameless counter-cultural opportunist. But I'm still a bit disturbed by the tons of Nazi symbolism in the work he sold.

Appreciate the art, but don't delude yourself.

Apropos to NYC street urination, here's the deal in 2008: Homeless folks can get locked up for public urination. Thus, all over the city in the morning you can find plastic bottles filled with urine just rolling in the gutters. That doesn't apply to frat boys who have taken up the public peeing slack by doing it wherever they can.

Looking at this picture all I can think of is that guys grandfather saying the exact same thing thatthe old guy said in 40-Year-Old Virgin after "the virgin" rode off:

"That boy needs to get laid!"

Someone's brown-nosing for a promotion.

#4 POSTED BY UGLY CANUCK:
I agree to a point, but Japanese culture has a unique respect towards objects and the time/effort people place in creating or cultivating those objects. Whereas in America, land used to plant things is looked on as a "place holder" before something else happens.

I'm not a Japanophile, but that apsect of their culture really makes me admire them very much. And respect them even more. More power to people who do this!

Everyone debating the morality of the decals misses the point. Big Daddy Roth was a talented opportunist. He sold decals with the Star of David and then also sold an Iron Cross decal as well. Kind of disturbs me how many German/Nazi and racist stuff outnumbers the other stuff, but I'
m willing to let this slide.

Now, on the topic of Von Ducth...

I'm with CERONOMUS; to me action figures have to have articulation. Otherwise they are just plastic statues.

Zuzu, you have some good points. And I think there is a larger issue of schools world-wide not educating students on the basics of personal economics and finance. I really wish someone would actually push to explain that beyond the simple "start saving early".

Imagine if people actually understood this stuff? The U.S. might not be in the financial mess it's in now.

I'd recommend putting that through a Brita before tasting.

I also would like to see some Martian water speculative fiction.

I'm not too sure where I heard/read it—maybe the This American LIfe on the mortgage crisis?—but the vast majority of these technical schools are tuition loan fraud mills.

The way it works is that ANYONE who signs up gets connected to some student loan company. The "university" collects the loan money and the weight of paying it back is placed on the student. When all is said and done, they do get a worthless degree, but the goal of getting "cleaned" loan money is achieved.

That's also the reason why lots of these places go out of business. The supposed school declares "bankruptcy", disappears with the student loan money and all that's left is a lot of suckers... Um "students" who now have to pay back the loans they've taken out for crappy education.

Get ready for the rapture, folks!

Wait, so the goats are not "happy mutants"?

Oh! Oh! Just don't believe I missed this. Someone please get this doll checked for lead paint!

"So, I see you are Jewish... Please contact manufacturer for an RMA."

Scary, but is it unexpected?

Then again there's no copy protection in the world that's safe from a bunch of teens with free time and caffeinated soda.

In the book "The Tipping Point", the author describe how they started cracking down on turnstile-hoppers in NYC.

Yes and no. Malcolm Gladwell makes a decent argument, but ignores the fact that the subway jumper crackdown was just part of a larger plan started under the Dinkins administration and then followed through during the Giuliani administration of simply cleaning up NYC in general.

so you can't bring a bag on the train; wear a big coat with lots of pockets

Yeah, but guess what? Despite all of these efforts, NYC has MORE people (literally) crapping on NYC subway platforms than I ever remember back-in-the-day, and homeless folks with TONS of bags and junk are still riding the trains without issue.

Oh, and the WTC site is still a big hole in the ground 7 years later despite NYC having a massive real estate/construction boom.

Complete tangents but related. Please Obama, be our president already.

The MTA and NYC police have been doing this in NYC since shortly after 9/11. But here is the irony. They ONLY man stations that have active token booths and multiple turnstiles. If you go to a station that has just an entry turnstile or a station agent, no bag searches. It's ridiculous.

And as far as "big brother" goes, the newer Japanese made train cars in NYC play a pre-recorded message about being aware of your surroundings, being alert and—generally—being paranoid.

We're really this close to a true Blade Runner dystopian environment in NYC.

Surprised nobody mentioned The Sims as a reference point.

Did Roman's have graph paper?

This is the perfect doppelgänger to the BB Gadgets video of toddlers shooting machine guns at cars:

http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/06/12/video-toddlers-shoot.html

Who believed those videos were real. They are clearly produced and the actors are clearly acting.

Of course some guy with an old timey mustache is going to tell us the future of chips will be in stacking them. Will they be packaged in round containers with easy-open lids that will allow us to remove the tasty chips? Oh Mr. Pringle. So predictable.

Ootini!!!!

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Guys, sorry some brown hooded smelly dwarves are trying to.212112

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@ #32 POSTED BY ZUZU, JUNE 9, 2008 5:45 PM

Market economics is not a carrot and stick system. It's an information communications system regarding the coordination of supply and demand. That's all.

That's true in an ideal system. But you cannot tell me for one second that colleges and universities inherently promise rewards based on how much education one gets when we all know that really is not how the world works.

Perhaps college students would benefit from understanding that they are being marketed to when they are given "choices" in where to study and what to study. Not to mention that since the late-1980s, college students have been treated as credit cattle by the credit card industry.

This is all a tangent, but there's a whole generation of people out there who have (1) been protected from making real decisions in their lives (2) have been promised the world based on what classes they study; ignoring market demands and (3) given credit cards and are told "Live your dream!"

Seems that more people in their late 20s are now dealing with the "dream" of debt, no clear career path, and the realization that the market doesn't always want to reward you based on what you like to do.

I'm pretty sure Mack is right; looks like a studio's "New York" set more than anything.

Inspiring, but also a sign of the times. Modern career paths don't acknowledge failure or how to deal with it. So you just end up with TONS of folks graduating with degrees and demands they be given things just because they went into debt for it.

Sadly I think the mortgage crisis in the U.S. and the fact the economy is not bouncing back will force more than a few people to face failure and learn how to earn something... One would hope.

Was it parked in front of a gold house? Maybe the creator of Itchy & Scratchy got his dream!

Reminds me of SoHo and the East Village back in the 1980s. Even Canal Street.

Which makes me think of cost. Back in the 1970s and 1980s in NYC, you had all of these factories in SoHo that would sell their slightly damaged stuff to discounters downtown. Thus was born FLIP, Unique & Canal Jean. These places sold whatever they could get and we all benefited and it didn't cost much. THAT'S why it was creative.

Flash forward to now, and I'm not too sure of the Japanese supply chain, but there has to be some import of cheap goods from Taiwan and China to create the same sort of atmosphere.

Not saying there aren't a few girls splurging, but I'd bet there's a strong/steady base of goods that supply these groups.

@ #1 BRIAN GLANZ:
Two little tidbits about "Times" naming. First, the neighborhood I live in which is currently known as Boerum Hill was once—and still in some cases of city bureaucracy—called "Times Plaza". The reason? A block away from me is a building that once housed a New York Times Brooklyn distribution or printing plant; never too clear about that.

Also, as far as real estate and advertising goes, at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and 4th Avenue was an older 4 story building that was basically bricked up and used for billboard space on the sides... Until the NYC real estate market boomed, and suddenly the billboards came down, the bricks came out and now they are "luxury condos".

And FWIW, One Times Square is weird. It used to house a Warner Brothers store. But in the past 5 years it housed this odd/semi-propaganda museum of drugs and terrorism or something along those lines. It was free and on street level, but it had full scale mockups of motel room meth labs and Afghanistan drug huts. But they still had the Warner Brothers logos on the elevator banks. Really creepy.

Hmmm. Not too sure about the Mac compatibility. The MoMA Store in NYC carries them and they explicitly state "Not MAC compatible":

http://www.momastore.org/museum/moma/ProductDisplay_10-Key%20Calculator_10451_10001_47099

Papa John's pizza is nasty. And now they want to "hack" an ad. Ugh? Can some corporate scandal scuttle that company already.

I'm pretty sure these guys were based in Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens for years, but then moved to Staten Island in the 1980s/1990s and now come to the neighborhood as a service mainly to the provide a service to the old school neighborhood residents that are slowly going away (moving, death, can't afford rent, etc...)

Most of the complaints I read about them are a bit over the top. I don't understand modern cooking culture where everyone is asous-chef in their mind and obsessed with perfection in their cooking-gadgets/tools and just whine about them.

Most of the best old school NYC restaurants don't have perfect tools and the food is great.

What benefits are they offering their henchmen and/or minions?

Interesting. But Valleywag is really pushing the hype by first saying this:
"This was no small feat."

And then saying this:
"The store took 2 days to build."

Really? 2 days is "no small feat" to fill a white boxed room with tables that Apple has easy access to and to equipment anyone with direct access to Apple can get?

Landing the Mars Polar Lander was no small feat. This is no big deal... Other than speculating on what the content of the ad will be.

Wait, what AMYLINK said is right. It does look like the skull on a Punisher t-shirt.

Dude has a sullen teen pepping in his window! Either a Jimbo, Dolph or Kearney!

Look, not only are aliens real, but they are very obsessed with YOU and ONLY you, people.

I hate to see how they'd react if you wore a fake tuxedo t-shirt:
"Oh, you are in first class I assume! Right this way sir!"

Has anyone ever put a can of "fancy peanuts" in an airport screener and then have the TSA guy find out it's filled with springy snakes?

It's like a Mr. Show commercial come to life.

In 30 years, tweens on future YouTube will watch this with ironic glee.

You know, if you got that seasoning they have on steak flavored potato chips and rubbed it on this thing, it could be tasty... But sad.

Waiting to get my "BANG" gun in the mail from Johnson & Smith was wonderful. The gun wasn't the best thing ever, but still nice.

I think the main reason novelties like this aren't as common as they once were is because of consumer safety standards for kids toys. It all changed in the 1980. Guns could no longer be black, robots stopped firing missiles. And catalog merchants couldn't sell cheap crap to kids anymore lest their modern boomer parents sue them into submission.

Not for nothing, but a friends kid LOVES the snakes in a can. Yeah, there's metal edges and such, but if someone could just release a "kid safe" version that's a money maker.

Peanuts? Why I'd love some peanuts! And in a can! I will... OH MY GOD IT'S INFESTED WITH SNAKES!!!!!

So they can build this thing, but they can never have enough cashiers on duty?

@#44 POSTED BY MATT SANDERSON
Did you throw a hissy fit when Dave Chappelle put on "whiteface" for some of his skits?

No, but Dave Chappelle pulled the plug on his show and put his career on hold after having deep issues with the way the public reacted to his work.

Jake, the power aspect comes from you choosing not to stand up and leave.

Jake, I'm not in 100% agreement with the power statement, but if you choose to surrender yourself, you are still in control of yourself—and hold power over yourself—by allowing that to happen.

To the people oddly against this blog, what's your opinion of stories being made of pimps, players and others who are at the top of the food chain in exploiting women?

If there were a pimp blog, would any of the knee-jerks be jerking their knees at them?

@ #1, Inverse Square:
"Weird that in blog terms the coolest job you can possibly have is being a stripper."

Who said being a stripper is cool? But blogs maintained by sex workers and others on the fringes are inherently fascinating since the expose the general public to a side of the business few people see/understand.

It also shows that there are minds behind these objectified bodies; I think that threatens people as well.

@ #22, Matt Sanderson:
If you go to the main page of her blog, you can see an explanation of what happened. She temporarily pulled posts just so she can double-check and make sure she's not exposing anyone who doesn't want to be exposed. Pretty reasonable. And ultimately if she did want to just pull the plug on the whole thing, that's her right as well.

Robcat2075, you mean Gary Trudeau correct?

Regarding racism, the issue boils down to (1) a cultural difference and (2) the fact they are in blackface and singing makes it edging on the not-so-wonderful world of minstrel shows. I don't think I could ever characterize this as racism, but if someone is offended by it, I respect their right to express their views.

And oddly while Japanese culture does express odd racist nods every now and then, they are much more open and willing to learn about other cultures.

For example, Japan is filled with more folks that know, love and understand the true roots of jazz than most any other country outside of France and even the U.S. And a few years back when a lone harbor seal was found in Brooklyn, the Japanese news crews were all over it and interviewing locals much more than even local news. The way that Japanese culture absorbs the culture of others is far more nuanced than some would make you think.

That said, I enjoyed The God's Must Be Crazy back when I saw it in the 1980s and was always baffled by people's reaction to that film as being racist. Then I saw it again nearly 25+ years later, and you know, that film is one of the most racist and patronizing films I have ever seen in my life.

FWIW, I have a case similar to that on my desk. Made by Galaxy. It looks okay, but it's "fanless" as well since the blue LED fan died a few months after I got it.

If there's no kittens, puppies or T.I.E. fighters exploding, why bother?

Okay, I get it. He's basically saying that though subservience to a white man—who is taking all the money—all races can learn to be on each others back.

Awesome! Project this in HD somewhere and I am there.

The place in France where the women don't wear pants is the subway?

This will really ease my pal Will (or was it Wille E.?) and his Road Runner hunting.

Does it speak Bocce?

This is just creepy.

#25 POSTED BY KIM SCARBOROUGH
Why does the government even in the parcel-delivery business?

I don't know. Why is the government in the "staring at goats" and mind control business?

The U.S. Postal Service provided a valid service we can all use and I think it gets too much flack at times. This rate hike though deserves some higher-level intervention.

I mean, we can airlift millions of dollars in freshly minted cash in crates to Iraq so they highly corrupt system there can (literally) pocket it, but somehow a small mom & pop business in the U.S. must suffer because they *GASP* create a product and provide a service?

#27 POSTED BY MAN ON PINK CORNER
It's been a few decades since we decided that it no longer made sense to continue the Bell System monopoly, and gee, the world hasn't ground to a deafening halt.

No, but phone service is worse than it was back then. And while I don't miss paying rental fees for phones, the service then was more reliable and more varied and less costly.

Why do you think VoIP is so popular? Because people are happy with their options?

"works too hard to keep a girlfriend"

I think people put too much weight on this statement although I will admit it's creepy. Basically these workaholic Wall Street guys pay through the nose for ANY fun or relaxation because they work themselves to the bone. And sometimes their pay ends up their nose; literally. So what I see in this project is an NYU student creating a modern product that attempts to target this market and not much else.

As far as videos and holograms for personal memories go, I would much rather prefer a "moving picture". An almost Andy Warhol-esque portrait of someone or something that hangs on your wall. FLICKR video is onto something with 90 second video. Combine that logic with cheap LCD photo frames and some imagination—and a tripod—and you have a perfect high tech memory.

FYI, the silver lining to all of this might mean the growth of some more local distribution and creative communities. If you can't ship, setting up a stand at a local craft fair or flea market might make it worth it.

Some of these comments here are painfully uniformed. I've been involved in publishing for decades and have personally kept up with rate changes for personal mailings/online-selling and my lord. The last batch of rate changes TRULY screws over the everyday mailer on so many levels.

1) First and foremost, you used to be able to calculate your own postage for items over an ounce by simply weighing them and then adding an additional postage stamp per each ounce past one ounce. So sending out a 3 ounce envelope would be equal to one first class stamp and 2 postcard rate stamps. Can't do that anymore. The rate structure doesn't allow it.

2) Any non-machinable sizes get higher rates even if it's one ounce. The most immediate way average consumers will be affected is—get this—sending out birthday cards and other "squarish" formats. Seriously. That blows my mind. Anyone sending cards out nowadays does it in good faith and wants to keep a tradition alive. Thanks to the U.S.P.S., you are punished with a higher rate. Who thought of that?

3) Because the rates are so crazy and seemingly arbitrary some folks will pay more postage initially when mailing with stamps than wait in line at the post office to find out what the exact rate is. Seriously, an extra 10-20 cents per mailing seems like nothing to a person, but add it up across the nation and you have TONS of people overpaying for services.

4) Sea mail seems to be eliminated. Not 100% on this, but someone else feel free to correct me. But anyway, this means affordable overseas shipping of heavy items for the everyday joe.

5) Also, yes I think printed zines are an anachronism nowadays, but one does have to be concerned about a magazine rack filled with Time Warner sanctioned product. A publication with a circulation of 250,000 might not be a "zine" to some folks, but the reason why Tower Records (back in the day) and other places carried zines of smaller circulation in the first place was because there were larger "anchor" publications that would draw people in.

6) eBay sellers are even more screwed. You know it's simply getting harder to calculate a fair and honest rate for shipping on eBay. And while some would say one should maybe "overcharge" a bit to cover costs, that's not only against eBay rules but is just unfair. So now if I sell some old pack of... ZINES! on eBay I won't be able to give a buyer a solid shipping cost until after I ship? Crazy.

This is really sickening to me because yet another channel for someone to start up is being smothered to death in the name of profits. Also, I'm disturbed at how many entities nowadays find ways to screw everyday consumers out of the extra change one has in everyday life. For example, Metrocards in NYC have rates now that assure you to have some oddball amount that you will NEVER get back but the MTA keeps. Ditto elsewhere.

You'd think with all this technology, there'd be fairer options so small players and larger players can play on the same field. But it seems to be 100% the opposite. Good grief!

#7 POSTED BY WARLORD , MAY 18, 2008 8:49 AM
Of course, how much food poisoning resulted, spices after all were used in the early days to hide the spoilage

In early days? It still happens today. And there's nothing wrong with it.

What amazes me is how much Americans are obsessed with "freshness" while not understanding the concept of what to do when food supposedly goes bad.

For example, tomatoes. If one is bruised and in a produce bin, it will most likely stay there until it's time to toss it. When in reality, if you're making a sauce or anything that requires a tomato be pummeled, it is perfectly fine. Use it in a soup.

And as someone who has only recently learned how to cook, I'm amazed at the obsession with getting "fresh" items for use in cooked meals. I think the best cooks out there learn to use all kinds of basic ingredients to their maximum potential. In fact that's the benefit of learning how to cook. Buy something to use for one thing, and then when it ages a bit learn how to use it in another day.

You know folks, soups are made in restaurants primarily to find a use for items that can't be sold/eaten as-is.

Does anyone know if there are any major food chains that recycle or redistribute their so-called "bad" food? I've passed by Starbucks at night in NYC and have often seen shopping bags neatly filled with salads and such that didn't sell from the day before; why aren't those donated to City Harvest (NYC food reclaimer)? I mean, Starbucks is all over the place.

#36 POSTED BY OSIFANATIC , MAY 17, 2008 8:54 PM
STOP WASTING TIME WATCHING TELEVISION.
IT'S ALL A BUNCH OF CRAP ANYWAY.

Back in July 2008—July 4, 2008 to be exact—I chucked my analog TV after a few weeks of not only having my head shaked by HDTV and the options out there, but realizing that I actually didn't watch too much TV anyway outside of a handful of TV shows and the news.

I truly do miss the creative/fun TV shows of the 1980s, 1970s and beyond. And if TV actually had a fraction of that kind of creativity nowadays I'd miss it as well.

Instead I like downloading the handful of shows I like, and watching cute kittens and puppies on YouTube. If network TV came up with anything as half-way scintillating as the "Dramatic Chipmunk", I'd watch it. Watch yet another reality TV show? Feh. It's worthless and boring.

#5 POSTED BY JEFF
Collecting is something that you really need to do at your own pace. The mainstream U.S. collectors market for toys tends to slant towards the (I hate to say it) OCD "Gotta catch them all collector!"

My own collection of Microman figures comes from an appreciation I had for them as a kid, and actually funding my adult collection by selling off a few key toys from my childhood collection. I'm not really into being a completist as much as getting what I like.

What I will say is that nowadays it's hard to figure out where one can easily get vintage 1970s/1980s robots without going to toyshows. I go to flea markets and thrift stores all the time, and while you can find tons of stuff, it's rare to find cool robot toys.

Also, in my casual talks with old school collectors, it seems that there are treasure troves of stuff hidden away by old school collectors who don't want to have anything to do with online selling.

Outside of the U.S. it seems easier to get stuff... Even U.S. stuff... Maybe if the $ weren't week a trip to Europe or Canada would be in order.

Finally! Biotron/Robotman/Cosmobot gets his due!
http://tinyurl.com/6khdgx

For more info on this under-appreciated—but iconic—toy, check this: http://www.microforever.com/Robotman-Biotron.htm

Welcome to the new Cold War folks!

Of course the most prominent tall, black man in the Star Wars universe kicks the bucket playing harmonica. Wouldn't expect anything less from the same folks who brought us Jar jar Binks!

@ #13 POSTED BY JIM DANDY:
You might want to do some research of the era before passing judgment on anyone who was sympathetic towards socialism and the Soviet Union. Far more repressed and underclass folks in Eastern Europe saw true hope in the Soviet Union. Any why not? It was relatively new and better than what most people were living with. And it gave hope to many who saw the mess in post-World War I europe.

But it was only when stories of what happened behind the Iron Curtain started to come out did people question their behavior, but not necessarily the underlying ideology. People still held hope.

During World War II only Nazi Germany could distract anyone from the mess in the Soviet Union. Sure if you ran way from your Eastern European enclave to the relative safety of the U.S.S.R. you might go into forced labor camps. But it was better than gas ovens or brutal death in war ravaged Europe.

You need to factor another issue with Einstein. He was a genius and he was legend in his time. He might have been playing politics to avoid choosing clear sides on the world stage. And even avoid being a target to anyone who thought he was too polarizing.

Also, as a secular Jew I think most folks who are anti-religion might at least acknowledge there are cultural differences between groups formed around religion even if you yourself are not religious. If you were raised Catholic but are not agnostic or atheist, you were still raised in a profoundly different environment than a Jew, Muslim or a Buddhist. Ditto all the way around.

Einstein was very Jewish, but not religious. It's possible to balance that. Too bad we live in a polarized world where some can't see the difference between culture and religion.

@#1 (ANTINOUS)
Japan is a strange place. Crime does exist, but somehow it's explained differently or defined differently.

For example, a friend was explaining to me how someone he knew got divorced. You see the husband was constantly borrowing money from some guy, but was never paying him. So I say "Oh, the guy was dealing with loan sharks..." And my friend insisted, "No, it wasn't a loan shark..." It was just a guy who was connected to some gambling thing who happened to loan people money and charge high interest rates.

But the guy was "not a loanshark." *rolls eyes*

Japan is a great place but the obsession with explaining things very specifically makes some Japanese—and Japanophiles—forget the bigger picture.

Was his blood midichlorian level above the legal limit?

Isn't there a problem with Star Trek folks jumping into renaissance faire battles pretended they "went back in time" and harassing folks in period garb?

Seriously.

PS: Nobody wins in a Jedi church duel.

It was—and is—and excellent explanation of mortage/credit crisis and reminded me of the kind of reporting NPR used to do all the time... Not just during crises.

#9 POSTED BY ELLE P , MAY 12, 2008 11:18 PM
"That AP story also mentions that insurers won't pay for the transplant without pot abstention."

That's the real issue. And it's the main reason why the U.S. healthcare system stinks to hell. Anyone who has dealt with insurance and medical issues can tell you this kind of stuff happens more often than one can believe.

For example—and not to go into much detail—when my dad was near death a routine blood test revealed that he might have colon cancer. Here's the deal: His chances of surviving what he was going through to begin with were slim at best. But because of that blood test, the doctor was insistent that they do an endoscope "to make sure all bases are covered." My family had to scream at this guy about how @%#& idiotic it was to put an elderly man through such a test and stress out what remainder of his life was left. Even if the colon cancer was severe it was an irrelevant factor to his larger health picture which was bleak to begin with. It would have not saved him.

But...

Then there was the implication—which never ended up being real—that if the family did not agree to such a stupid test, the insurance company might refuse any further treatment to make the remainder of his life more bearable.

Even if the insurance company has no issues, the work-a-day healthcare worker who doesn't know any better will always err on the side of limiting doctor/hospital liability. That's what's sick. The atmosphere of healthcare and insurance in the U.S. is so nit-picky that your practically guaranteed to deal with nightmares like this.

I truly hope whoever gets elected in 2009 passes law and enforces regulations to end this utter mess.

Is there any guide for average Joe—or Jack—consumers to see what basic material costs are? The cost of everything seems to be going up and it would be nice—or at least perversely comforting—to see all the costs in one nice place.

And when all is said and done, daddy still doesn't give him the attention he needs.

Tangental, but has anyone uncovered the deal with Zappos ratings? Yeah, it's sneakers and shoes, but there are SOOO many glowing reviews of ANY piece of footwear it's highly dubious how those reviews got placed.

Welcome. I'm Lando Calrissian. I'm the administrator of this cutlery. And who might you be?

I'm not coming home drunk to that.

I'm getting one of these for Wile E. Coyote after he gets out of the hospital. Does ACME sell them?

So is "HARVEYBOING" a sock-puppet of a Boing Boing staffer? Because said commenter has only posted 3 comments. All of them here.

@ #196 POSTED BY ROB
You expect the hookers to be invincible? People can be killed in game. Hookers are people. Therefore, hookers can be killed. No large leaps of logic there.
Okay, then how can you explain why comedians in the comedy club can't be shot at or killed? You want satire, how about being the ultimate heckler. Or have a comedian suddenly pull out an Uzi and fight back.

Or as #195 (ANTINOUS) points out, why can't the women in GTA have the same weaponry as men in the game?

That's all there is to it in the sandbox. Nothing more, nothing less. Anything else is what you are reading into it on your own. Sandbox games, by definition, can't be on rails. You can do things outside the story, that's part of the point of these games. Anything you do of your own free will, not driven by the story is your own, not part of what is woven by Rockstar.

"Sandbox" games are still on rails, you just don't see them as clearly. Are you able to—for example—able to operate outside the overriding premise of the game? No. I mean, why not give people an option to rent a studio apartment and sleep all day and then get a job as a barista. Or what about giving people an option to sell stuff on "Craplist" to score points. Seriously. Or what about giving hookers an STD or street safety pamphlet?

Now you might say "What kind of BS is that?" but here's the thing. You really AREN'T given much of any choice to do anything beyond defined boundaries in GTA. So this idea that it's a sandbox is canard at best. The reality is you can avoid doing things, but to progress in the game you ultimately need to find those proverbial rails and ride them.

@ #187 POSTED BY GLUGENWOG
Can you explain what they're doing to market this to kids?
Read what you said immediately after that.

(Other than making a product that inherently and unfortunately seems to attract kids like flies to honey.)
The "unfortunate" you're claiming is your spin on this. The reality is they are in full control of what they create and how it looks/acts/behave. If they wanted to create a game where there were male hookers as well as female hookers, they could have created it. If they wanted to allow comedians in their comedy club to be shot, they could.

Maybe instead of studying deep marketing, you should step back and not look at outward ad efforts, but more the look/shape/feel of what they create.

If I setup a bakesale stand and decide to sell cupcakes that are pink, that act in itself is making my product be targeted towards girls. And if I made it blue, it would be inherently marketed towards boys. But I don't have to put up a sign or sticker or even say anything to do that.

THAT is at the most basic level how marketing works.

Homer Simpson learned this when shooting shotguns outside of the Bowlarama.

@ #85 POSTED BY JOHN BROWNLEE
You guys who want BBG to have the same tone as BB are going to be perpetually disappointed, so you may as well make your exit now, because things are only going to get more different. ... Aping the same tone, being the same kind of site as Boing Boing was not what we were hired to do, nor is BBG meant to reach out to the exact same readers. It is a different site entirely, and you can either accept that, or move on. You've chosen to move on. Sorry to see you go, but we're not losing any sleep over it.

Whatever the tone is, the hostility—void of real criticism—of the original post combined with the defensiveness of your criticism doesn't sit well at all.

I don't think people come to BBG to get another version of BB, but we also don't come here to read nonsensical rants against something as hack a subject as Apple Store "Geniuses". Jokes, slams and comments against them appeared years ago when they first appeared. And when you distill it to it's core it's simply the same old "Those people at the repairshop know nothing..." premise. You can say the same thing about contractors, garage mechanics and others. Customer service rants (pro or con) are not new and it's tiresome.

Please, rise above the tech blog crowd. Don't sink below.

@ #182 POSTED BY JCCALHOUN , MAY 1, 2008 5:03 PM
The average age of videogame players is 35. http://www.theesa.com/facts/index.asp (that is a study put out by the videogame rating board so it might be biased)
You said it.

Roy Lichtenstein made paintings with "broad black lined illustrations with bright solid colors which make it look like a comic book or cartoon" so were those for children?
His work was inspired by and based on taking comics and transforming them into a different medium. Not a fair comparison.

Finally, the whole advertising thing is an example of how videogames are held to a different standard than other forms. One season, the Sopranos was advertised with arms sticking out of the trunks of taxis and with shoes in cement in shoe store windows. In Scotland they went so far as to put stickers in taxis that looked like blood splatters and bullet holes for the Sopranos. No one complained about those, so why complain about videogame advertising that is much less graphic?
Because The Sopranos is a show made for—and targeted to—adults. And a handful of stunts is wildly different than a whole ad campaign.

Does HBO place The Sopranos stickers outside of skater shops? No. But Rockstar does. Ditto with sponsorship of concerts, events and festivals targeted towards teens and young adults.

They know exactly what they are doing and have done a great job. Too bad what they are selling has some heavy moral issues that make people question their tactics.

@ #180 POSTED BY GLUGENWOG
Kids should not be playing this game. I'm just not understanding the arguments that it's Rockstar's fault that it finds its way into their hands.

You're defense of Rockstar's marketing tactics and denial of the game being marketed towards kids reminds me of people who were in denial that Joe Camel was used to market cigarettes to kids. I think you should do some research into the ways marketing works and how things that shouldn't be directly marketed towards kids are being virally/stealth marketed towards.

just because they appeal to kids as well, doesn't mean they're being marketed AT kids

If it appeals to kids, and a company makes it and pushes those buttons, it's being marketed to kids. Rockstar is not some scrappy company that is just putting out stuff because it is cool. They are very conscious of how to market and push buttons and the GTA series is made to appeal to kids. Specifically boys 12-16; right in the middle of puberty. Which is why the game itself is sickening.

@ #179 POSTED BY ROB
You've played GTA and don't see the satire?
I never said I did not see the satire. I do see it, but the "satire" is not the purpose of the game. It's window dressing on a first-person-shooting game and not much else. Remove the gameplay from the equation and simply have the story as-is and people would call the satire for what it is: Hacky, lazy and lame.

While you're at it, read some satires like Huck Finn, Modest Proposal, Candide, 1984.
I've read a few of those, and those have staying power beyond GTA4. If the "satire" of GTA still lasts into 2009 Rockstar should consider themselves lucky.

@ #178 POSTED BY MEENEECAT
I don't understand why some people are being so defensive and wetting their pants over some valid criticism.
I think you can blame the whole initial tone of the post decrying others who criticise GTA4. Between this post and the one on BB Gadgets decrying Apple "Geniuses" for no valid reason, I'm pretty disappointed with the base level blog-baiting going on here. I come to this place to read something better than what other blogs have to say; not read knee-jerk posts that are better suited to others.

But kudos again to Rockstar's marketing team for doing such a great job creating passionate consumers of their product.

@ #170 POSTED BY GLUGENWOG
Also, it is possible that I'm blind here, but can you explain how this is being targeted specifically toward kids? And by that, I mean how is it being directed toward kids using means that aren't also appealing toward those that are 17+.

First and foremost, as a video game it's inherently something tracked to appeal to kids. Second, just the artwork used for the promotion of the game itself: broad black lined illustrations with bright solid colors which make it look like a comic book or cartoon. Yes, we all know adults read comics as well, but comics and animation are mainly a medium of youth; you won't find graphic novels in senior centers.

Beyond that, one needs to only look towards Rockstar's "street team" efforts. Stickers and murals in NYC are being placed in areas where people under 20 will be seeing it. They aren't placing posters outside of museums or nightclubs. But in lower Manhattan and the Village where teens hang out.

GTA action figures are also out there.

Now any critic can dissect this and say it's over analysis, but look at the marketing for the movie Iron Man: Similar in many respects and it's a film targeted towards kids. But nobody is taking them to task for it because it's accepted that it's for kids.

But most of the so-called "satire" in the game is really on the level of a teen or pre-teens understanding. Does any adult actually think renaming "Craigslist" to "Craplist" is a witty satire designed to stimulate an adult mind?

And beyond that if you can't see how the "forbidden fruit" aspect of this game is being pushed to the limits in getting kids enticed to get the game, I can't explain it anymore.

@ #162 POSTED BY GLUGENWOG , MAY 1, 2008 3:17 PM
I don't think most people are trying to silence the critics here, they're just getting frustrated at the "critics" who haven't played the game. Seriously, you do have to play it to judge it - what do you think they mean by the term "sand-box genre."

That's ridiculous. I've played other GTA games on friend's setups, and never completed them. Why? Because I'm just not into a game that is that hateful and vengeful and cynical towards the world. It's in no way a satire and anyone claiming it as such is just a tad brainwashed.

The issue with this argument of having to had to "fully play the game" is it's not analogous to books, film or even theater. The amount of time one would need to devote to playing GTA to the end is not worth most people's time. Thus you have these naturally polarized points of view. On the one hand you have GTA zealots who want to justify the hours spent on the game, so they won't dare say anything remotely critical. On the other you have non-GTA folks who just don't want to spend time playing a game like that for any reason.

And the general sense is even if one magically is able to get a critic of GTA to play the game to the end, and then after that the critic holds their ground and says "You know, it's misogynistic, cynical and very negative..." they would still be shot down for other reasons.

The reality is this. Either you want to spend hours of your life immersed in such a cynical game/world or you don't. I actually don't want to deny anyone the right to play this game, but let's not place a game on a pedestal as a way of self-justifying the highly negative content in the game. And the fact it's being targeted to kids (seriously if you don't accept that you're blind to how marketing works) makes it all even worse.

@ #121 POSTED BY SCHMEIS:
Now that's funny. Films are created outside of the scope of marketing??? Really?? Any time a large amount of money is spent on something that will be sold to the public Marketing is involved. Yes, this includes theater.

There are—indeed—films, books & theater created solely based on marketing needs. But there is a greater variety of works created by individual voices with messages beyond marketing in films, books & theater than there are in video games. Nobody is sitting around the table at Rockstar saying, "You know, I think crime is a problem in society, and I think we should create a game about it so we can address this societal ill."

Any humor/satire/depth in games are secondary to gameplay and marketability. Not the same with films, books & theater.

@ #134 POSTED BY ROB , MAY 1, 2008 10:34 AM
@Jack: "It's far easier for kids to get their hands on games than it is to see movies and we all know it. Granted nowadays it's a tad easier to see R-rated films if you are a kid thanks to file-sharing but still."

Better tell the FTC. Games and theaters have the same level of age enforcement. DVDs however, have very pathetic enforcement. So cut with the "everybody knows it" crap, especially when it's wrong.

This is pretty amazing. When I was a kid, it was hard to get into R-rated movies and buying even model glue required my dad coming along.

Flash forward to now and you have two things that make age level enforcement a joke at best: Internet stores and sales-person indifference.

In the case of age enforcement with video games, just order it online or have someone else do it. Very easy. Or better yet, go to a big box retailer and just buy it. Most of the staff is underpaid and doesn't care. Better yet, go to the small mom & pop video game store and buy it. They are desperate for sales and will simply sell it. In the case of sneaking into movie theaters, sneaking into movies is easier nowadays more than ever. Heck in the past 7 years I'm amazed at how many times I haven't had my ticket checked. This is part of the reason folks go to automated ticketing machines, buy a "senior" priced ticket and then just walk in. The staff doesn't really care. And heck, even if they did care, just buy a ticket to a PG or G movie and then just walk into the R rated film.

What's amazing about the comments here are how blind and zealous the fans are. To the point of stifling any criticism. If you want video games to be treated on the same level as other forms of media, you need to let people speak their mind. Nobody is getting up in arms about criticism about Madonna's new album. But dare say there is *GASP* sexism in GTA games and suddenly you're piled on by blind fans. THAT is why the genre will never get any level of serious criticism; oversensitivity.

@ #94 POSTED BY GRIMMWAY:
Based on your comments there is one overarching rule for any GTA game: Don't ever dare have an opinion that dares to criticize anything about the GTA franchise.

Not everyone who saw "Birth of a Nation" went out and lynched a black person either, that doesn't mean we're not allowed to talk about how fucked up it's portrayal of people of color is and what that says about society at the time it was made.

Now you're making no sense at all since all you are doing is trouncing people here who dare to say anything against GTA or Rockstar games at all. FWIW, "Birth of a Nation" didn't make people instantly jump out and commit racist acts, but it did enforce and legitimize wretched behavior and validated it to the masses.

It's not a reflection of society nor is it a deep polemic on the aches/pains of society. And in a decade or less nobody will care about or write about the game, because it's shelf life would have expired and the hype would be dead.

Video games like GTA are not created outside of the scope of marketing; that's why it will never approach the level of criticism that films, theater and literature get. Nobody at Rockstar is saying "Hey this is a great commentary on society's ills, lets make it!" That—more than anything—is the reason video games will never get any respect in the world of critical thought. Anyone lamenting games as seriously medium of creative expression really needs to take that into account.

Enjoy the game, but please... Don't put it on a pedestal it doesn't deserve.

Nobody is buying GTA for the story or poignancy or the humor or the satire. But kuds to their R&D and marketing team for making people believe their is depth there that simply doesn't exist.

@ #89 POSTED BY GRIMMWAY
Jack, if you think R rated movies are harder to get hold of then games you are living in a fantasy realm. The last time I saw a Blockbuster employee card a movie renter they were still renting VHS.

Perhaps you missed the full sentence where I said:
"Not a fair comparison. It's far easier for kids to get their hands on games than it is to see movies and we all know it. Granted nowadays it's a tad easier to see R-rated films if you are a kid thanks to file-sharing but still."

@ #89 POSTED BY GRIMMWAY
It's not a 'psychotic nightmare' and if you'd bother to learn anything more than what some reactionaries feed you you'd know that.

I've fed myself by playing various incarnations of GTA and the premise is always the same: There are no rules to the world, everyone is out to get you, and the only way to win to to go against them. That's pretty much a psychotic/cynical nightmare.

@ #72 POSTED BY MATT SANDERSON:
"Movies like Pulp Fiction and The Departed are clearly not intended for children, and neither is this game."

Not a fair comparison. It's far easier for kids to get their hands on games than it is to see movies and we all know it. Granted nowadays it's a tad easier to see R-rated films if you are a kid thanks to file-sharing but still.

This game is not marketed as an adult game only to adults. It's very much marketed to kids with the ESRB rating being window dressing and not much else.

"...but I'll certainly defend their right to make it and sell it."

They have a right to make and sell it, and consumers have a right to voice their concerns. The ability to form yourself as a corporation doesn't shield one from public scrutiny. Rockstar Games is not some scrappy nerdowell company; why people defend them as if they are their personal pals is hilarious IMHO.

Actually I just discovered something interesting about the game via some comedy pals. There is a comedy club in GTA4, and there are digital versions of comedians there. But guess what you can't do to them? Shoot or kill them. Hypocrisy anyone?

So you know, that is what really gets me. For all the talk about the game being "open" and exportable, it's actually just a bigger predefined maze game where certain people—women and hookers—can be treated like crap, but others—such as comedians—can't have the same things done to them.

Ultimately the game presents the pretense and highly marketed pretense of "choice" and "exploration" with the reality being that you are being guided down a very specific path.

I actually grew up playing video games and going to arcades to place electro-mechanical shoot-em-up games. Shooting plastic ducks and random targets is one thing. This is something much more destructive and negative. Halo, Quake, Unreal and others are violent but morally neutral; this game is anything but. And that's what really sickens a lot of people.

You know why games like Katamari Damacy, Guitar Hero and Wii games are so popular and considered "revolutionary"? They drop the violence as the main motivating factor in gameplay and truly create worlds you can be a part of. For Guitar Hero's world is limited in the game, but the social interaction expands the world it exists in.

GTA4 is just a cynical psychotic nightmare of a game that pushes buttons but actually doesn't give much back in return.

Onion head would be: “Slaves Unware They Were Making Freedom Flags, Are Slaves”

I already aired my dismay that Boing Boing is helping to promote this overhyped game, but geez louise, so nobody can say ANYTHING critical about hyper-violent and overly sexual games like GTA that are clearly marketed to teens?

Sorry but you know there is something amiss when people can't call crud for crud. And what is AMAZING about the current GTA release is how much they are couching what they do as being "satirical". How many new blurbs and reports repeat that "This is a satire..." mantra?

This isn't satire. This is a mass-marketed misogynist game that is specifically targeted towards teens no matter what Rockstar's company line is. They know their market. They know how to push the right buttons. And it's amazing how many people are drinking the proverbial Kool Aid.

Anyone remember when video games weren't all based on sociopathic murder fantasies?

Okay, with the overhype surrounding this game—and more people not caring than Rockstar flacks would actually admit—why is a quality blog like Boing Boing actually adding to the Rockstar promotion machine?

How would you feel if you woke up one day and your broken couch was suddenly "magically" repaired?

I'd be so freaked out I'd move as well!

Well, would it be Kosher? Or would toy companies now have to come up with pig plastic and non-pig plastic toys?

I like the fact he’s wearing a suit and tie. A far cry from the sweats and polo shirts techs wear today.

But you know what is also funny? The TV backpacks (tape machines) that some TV crew members wear in the film Dog Day Afternoon. It would be nice to see a survey of backpack tech items from ye olden days.

Tangental, but as someone who often buys watches that work, but have straps that crap out for various reasons, maybe a Boing Boing post on cool and sturdy watch straps is in order.

Top 10 or top 20, that's cool. But top 50? That's a bit insane!

I'm going back to watching sleepy dogs and talking cats on YouTube.

They are amazing! But fair warning to people who will first experience them on CD: It's cliche, but it doesn't come close to seeing them live.

If you can go see them live, you should.

Here's a solution for the anti-graffiti folks: Use stencils but use chalk. Or use something water soluble.

“A Veteran MAD Man Remains in the Fold”? Bleagh!

The NY Times screwed up by not calling the piece: “Al Jaffee Snappy Answers to Stupid Reporter’s Questions”.

Also, I bought most all of my copies of MAD used, but sometimes wanted to get a fold-in I would fold myself, so I’d spring for the extra few dimes and get a fresh new one... That is if people at the newsstand didn’t fold it in before I grabbed it!

Cool stuff! But the Amazon link above goes to an out-of-print edition that resellers on Amazon sell for $70 and upwards. Here's the in print edition for $26-$19 depending on who you get it from:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/3865213936/

So what happens if you don’t turn the key?

This is awesome!

While I eat better and am a member of a local food co-op, every vitamin loon I have ever met is simply a new age hypochondriac. Much in the same way many (not all) people who go on extreme vegan diets are simply new age anorexics.

Yes, some vitamins help. And if you know what your deficiencies are, even better. But simply eating better and limiting junk will do more and make you feel better than piles of vitamins that most get passed through the body and do nothing.

I've never felt better in my life since cutting down on the vitamins some OCD friends recommended and simply adopted a better diet.

Heck, taking too many vitamins can damage your body and damage your liver worse than drugs or alcohol.

#7 POSTED BY PYROS , MARCH 25, 2008 5:14 PM
Within our lifetimes the cataracts will be lifted, and the the horrific extent of our former enslavement will finally become apparent.

Of for the love of over-dramatism, please lets end with the "enslavement" nonsense.

I agree with a lot of what Clay is saying, but I cannot stand it when people describe current politics of whatever era they are in as enslavement.

As a child of immigrants I have always had conflicts with other people in the U.S. who are not immigrants based on one simple fact. Most 2nd generation and above American's are just lazy and heck. When you come from a poor place and want something better you'll look at the opportunities in front of you and grab them. That is the foundation of my family’s—and many other immigrant families—experience; we don't have too much shame in doing work others scoff at to get ahead.

Fast forward just one generation and what do you have? People who do have more opportunities but rarely take them or even understand why they should.

So the problem I see here is technology does give people more freedom... Only if they choose to use it. Remember despite all the great ways to communicate and collaborate nowadays we have a president in office who by all rights should be impeached, but he isn't. We're mired in a war that more people are ambivalent about than truly angry about. And unlike the energy crisis of the 1970s, people are still driving gas guzzling SUVs and assert their "rights" as citizens to drive what they want despite a crisis being at hand.

Honestly none of these new ways of collaborating will mean anything if you still have lazy blobs of meat sitting behind the keyboards. And sadly while see the dream of greater participation, I also see the sloth of people who are technologically lazy at best.

You want to inspire a participatory democracy? Well we've always had one. Just participate!

What impresses me most about this is that someone in America can have such an esoteric vocation and yet retain a physical "brick and mortar" storefront. That's admirable and great!

Crumb, miserable? NO WAY!

Seriously, there are a few different types of collectors. And I see them as being divided into two camps. One, adults who try to recapture part of the past (their past) with objects. And two, people who do just accumulate to accumulate.

What Crumb doesn’t actually acknowledge is that there are some collectors that are well adjusted and are happy to share their objects. To me, those are the most well adjusted. Yes, the ultimately hoard, but they still share. And that is a sign of it being healthy.

Also as an armchair litmus test, if you cannot share your collection/passion as part of your public life—at least in your home—you have problems. People who have "secret stashes" are a tad creepy. At least people who integrate their objects into their lives acknowledge their own needs.

Outwardly—and without insider knowledge—it’s a very negative statement to cover up someone else’s work with black cloth.

It simply seems lazy and reactionary rather than insightful and critical.

Fascinating photos! But I live a short ride away from where they are located and it's amazing anyone would complain about their smell. Look on a map, they are RIGHT near where the BQE and Prospect Expressway merges. TONS of traffic with TONS of exhaust. Also, they are quite close to the Gowanus Canal which smells better nowadays but is STILL an industrial mess of a waterway. The only significant stuff nearby is a Home Depot and that's about it.

They aren't in a residential neighborhood. Their smell is undoubtedly better than the rest of the neighboring smells and they are being punished? Yeow.

Not for nothing, but I took this gallery of pics of Gordon Bennett’s robots nearly 3 years ago and even sent a tip to BoingBoing about it as well:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jackszwergold/sets/72157603927174958/

Does this woman get upset when she puts hot dogs in buns?

Guys, if you think that is bad, you should look at the dollar versus practically any other foreign currency.

I’m no expert on things, but I do like buying some vintage Japanese toys off of Yahoo! Japan auctions. And holy crap! Just in the past week the Yen exchange rate from the dollar went from 103 Yen to $1 on (3/10) to 97 Yen to the $1 today (3/17).

Something really, really scary and really big is happening out there folks.

Part of me is excited something this neat sold for a reasonable price. But then think about it. On a normal house your biggest worry is making sure the roof doesn't cave in. In this one, the bottom can fall out and then what?

Seems like a money pit at best. Unless someone opens a roadside attraction.

Whoops! Incorrect link to the “Microman plus other Japanese toys” above. This one is correct.

As long as we’re all “me too”ing, here’s my stuff on FLICKR: Small scale car photos & Microman plus other Japanese toys.

#33 POSTED BY JIM.COWLING , MARCH 13, 2008 12:22 PM:

I'm not a heavy duty collector of things, but I do have a few hobbies that include diving into the collectors market. And guess what? You're making a mountain out of a molehill.

Or rather, if this story were different and Edgar Church were dealing directly with Chuck Rozanski then I would agree with you that Edgar Church was screwed.

But that isn’t the case.

The reality is you have a family who could care less about this ’s comics and even HIS OWN ART and simply treated it like trash... And this was HIS OWN FAMILY.

Also the concept of fair market value in collectibles is odder when you factor in all the time and energy spent hunting stuff down. As #21 (Marble River) said “So much leg-work and very little pay-off, except for the thrill of the hunt.” Even if you sell a collectible for thousands of dollars, it just doesn’t factor in the personal time/energy people put into things. We all gasp and are delighted when we hear that something we paid $1 for sells for hundreds. But calculate the amount of money you make an hour versus the time and energy you spent and that $1 ends up being worth tons more.

The point is simple as #35 (BookyLoo) mentions. The reason these things are valuable is there is high demand and little stock. You pay a lot because tons of people took this stuff for granted at one point, few items of that type exist and many collectors want them. Nobody was screwed here in any way. What was the alternative? Have all of these comics tossed in the dump thus increasing the value of an already small pool of comics to begin with?

Also, here’s another idea. You can truly bring the market to fair levels if comic publishers just did one thing: Provide true/quality reprints of old-school/high-demand comics. Most people don’t want an original. Most just want to see the comic and read it. And many pay inflated prices because the companies that print these pieces of paper refuse to reprint these pieces of paper. It’s that simple.

The debate over the fairness of pricing is ridiculous. I’ve bought tons of things from flea markets and thrift stores that then sold for tons more. The assumption that the collectors market value rules over all misses the point.

The reality is that Edgar Church’s family could care less about the comics. They were obsessed with flipping the property and getting AS MUCH VALUE AS THEY COULD of that property. Is anyone jumping on Chuck Rozanski] actually thinking about other ephemeral values such as property values and their real motivation to get this stuff chucked in the trash so the house would be clean for a quick sale?

Also comic guide values need to be seriously questioned in todays Internet age. The “Comics Buyers Guide” is a fairly worthless entity nowadays since ALL the prices are inflated and based on a very narrow scope of who is willing to pay how much for what. Say what you will but eBay is ultimately the best benchmark of value nowadays. CBG is just a tool that collectors use to bully and negotiate a higher value than there is for an item.

Anyone hating Chuck Rozanski is just a hater. You wish you came across boxes of the same stuff for free to nothing tossed on the street.

Doesn't anybody ever f**king knock anymore?!?

It's amazing to me that on regular broadcast news here in NYC the biggest news item is Governor Spitzer being involved with a prostitute, but stuff like this—which I consider to be more important—I'm only learning about via online media.

Weird priorities mainstream media have. Not a big revelation but an annoying one.

This is really sad on so many levels.

The reality is this: Someone who initiates and starts a project often knows—and has done the work—to understand the scope/limits/dangers of the project.

The problem with the Internet is someone posts an idea/concept like this and then you suddenly have a bunch of people who are too dumb to know they know too little and they simply mimic the initiator, but has no true depth or understanding and will—more often than not—get in a situation that is way above their heads.

All the bemoaning of security guards and paranoid ignores this point. Far too many people who follow Internet trends are out of their league and have no idea what they are getting into.

I recommend anyone engaging in a long-term project they want to share to simply do great documentation while the project is happening but NOT to share any information until the project is over or close to being over.

For the record, there was a small local computer chain store in NYC called The Computer Center that sold a knock-off of Centipede that an employee wrote. The game was called “Megalegs” and the graphics and game play were great. So great in fact I bought it on cassette and practiced playing it so much that when they held a promotional contest for the new release of “Centipede” for the Atari computer in Macy’s I was way ahead of the curve and won second place. Could have won first but I was genuinely so nervous and terrified of competing against these rich Manhattanite kids (I’m from Brooklyn) that I choked.

But thank you Mike Dubno—author of “Megalegs”—for helping to make my 14-year-old dreams come true!

Oh wow! Oh wow! I need this.

Leave it to the Nazis to create a friendly tank that doesn’t inherently scare the shit out of you.

Are there laws against socks filled with pennies?

As a child of World War II Holocaust survivors, looking at this posts comments is largely sickening.

How about this for an idea: Without a true groundswell of people in the U.S. urging elected officials to do anything, you really have no right blaming this politician or that politician or any politician.

The reason why this stuff never gets stopped when it happens is people in America are such a bunch of coddled babies nowadays that real news about real issues terrifies them. People killing each other? Too disturbing! Let me know what celebrity is drunk right now!

When public opinion changes, politicians change. When you sit back and say/do nothing then expect nothing.

If I were Daffy Duck I’d call the ACME company headquarters and say, “See! That’s how you do it!”

@ #10 POSTED BY NEPHILIM , FEBRUARY 27, 2008 8:32 PM:
Yes, I know this. I was around back then, and buying Chucks. This hardly has any relevance to the article, or my posting.

It’s highly relevant since if you truly enjoy Hunter S. Thompson, maybe actually mimicking the spirit of what he did makes more sense than paying an inflated price for a sneaker that is stamped with a logo.

@ #4 POSTED BY NEPHILIM:
The main reason people bought Chucks back in the day was because they were cheap and relatively easy to maintain.

What if this actually promotes sales of his books, and encourages people to find out more about him? Is it a bad thing then?

More people own Che t-shirts than have actually ever read Che's bio.

I don’t know if “sellout” is a correct term, but it’s ghoulish for the dead to be re-appropriated to push sneakers.

What’s next? Lester Bangs special edition cough syrup? “100% pure and free of psychotic reactions and carburetor dung. Some restrictions may apply.”

The problem is larger. Aren't virtually all electronic product reviews nowadays nothing but fluff pieces and press releases regurgitated? Quite possibly the only place one can ever get a truly honest view of electronics is by going on Amazon and reading reviews.

If you can't have genuine consumer product revie