It's Caturday. Watch: Charlie Schmidt's Keyboard Cat REINCARNATED! (via Sean Bonner)

I'm delighted to report that the UK Liberal Democrats' Spring Convention have accepted the emergency motion on internet freedom, and will be debating it tomorrow morning.

The LibDems were plunged into controversy last week when two of the LibDem Lords introduced a pro-web-censorship amendment to the Digital Economy Bill (this amendment was later shown to have been written by record industry lobby group BPI). Outraged party members (including dozens of prospective parliamentary candidates) rallied to fight this shift in party direction toward curtailment of freedom on behalf of corporate lobbyists.

The outcome of that outrage is the emergency motion on internet freedom, called the "Save the Net" memo. It calls for net neutrality, proportionality and due process in copyright enforcement, an absolute rejection of web-blocking and disconnection to solve copyright problems, and other good, principled stands that I'm proud to see my party get behind.

Organisers worked around the clock all week to get the emergency motion accepted for debate. Tomorrow morning, party delegates at the Spring Convention will debate the Save the Net motion from 0915 to 0945. If you are attending the Birmingham convention (or know someone who is!), please help support this motion and get it passed -- let's send a signal to corporate schemers that British law isn't for sale.

If you're not attending the convention, you can still help by joining the Facebook fan page for the motion. If thousands -- tens of thousands! -- of people from around the country and the world show their support for this motion, it will help conference delegates understand how important and far-reaching Internet freedom is.

Laws about copyright and the Internet don't just affect how we get and use cultural works: they affect everything we do with the Internet, whether it's earning a living or staying in touch with family or reporting the news or organising your neighbours around important political issues.

UK Lib Dems: Save the Net!

Bueno Aires's Librería El Ateneo Grand Splendid used to be a beautiful movie palace. Saved from the wrecker's ball, it is now one of the most majestic bookstores I've ever clapped eyes upon, a veritable temple to books.

Marilyn sez, "El Ateneo Grand Splendid in downtown Buenos Aires is a spectacular bookstore that retains all the glamour of its former life as a 1920s movie palace, with a original balconies, painted ceiling, ornate carvings and crimson stage curtains. Photo by Bob Krist for National Geographic Traveler. The Guardian named El Ateneo as one of the top ten bookshops in the world (along with Secret Headquarters):'Where else can you sit in a theater box and leisurely read a volume of Neruda, or sip a cortado where Carlos Gardel once performed?'"

Librería El Ateneo Grand Splendid (Thanks, Marilyn!)

Intermolecular polarity is a fancy way of saying "oil and water don't mix". Here, Science Bob explains why, and shows off a fun trick you can do over and over with oil, water, food coloring and alka-seltzer.

Like many in the insulated west, I've long been fascinated by North Korea, what life is like in there, and what will happen to the peninsula after the walls come down. (Of course, I'm half a world away, so I have the luxury of being fascinated with North Korea. Life inside the country, I suspect, is beyond rough and might get even worse in the first years of inevitable reunification.) I've read extensively on the country, enough so that I almost understand the concept of juche. And I've explored the country a bit in my fiction. My novel-in-progress has a sequence in which an over-the-hill rocker is invited to perform a goodwill concert in Pyongyang, although I'm not sure the subplot it's part of will earn space in the final draft.

My hometown website boston.com (disclosure: I used to consult for 'em) has a terrific feature called The Big Picture that tells news stories in photographs. A year and change ago, the section ran a gripping Recent scenes from North Korea, a collection of 32 photos, all taken in 2008, some from wire services, some from freelancer Eric Lafforgue's then-recent trip, some shot inside the nation, some shot across the border. And now you can see On the Spot with Kim Jong-il, 31 photos from North Korea's state-run "news" agency, showing Dear Leader, usually in a parka, inspecting various industrial facilities. It's an astonishing series of portraits of a man and a culture disconnected from reality, surveying an empire that does not exist.

I could go on all weekend about Son House, one of the top and longest-lasting country bluesman, but I'll be kind to you and get to the music quickly. His original recordings are messages from a foreign land, his sessions and concerts after rediscovery rival Skip James' (hear an interview with John Fahey and the future Dr. Demento from that period), and both his lyrical and guitar styles are slashing and unforgettable. "Death Letter" is as deep as country blues gets. National resonator guitar!

In this leaked, six-page email, Richard Mollet, the Director of Public Affairs for the British Phonographic Institute (the UK's record-industry lobbyists), sets out the BPI's strategy for ramming through the Digital Economy Bill, a sweeping, backwards reform to UK copyright law that will further sacrifice privacy and due process in the name of preserving copyright, without actually preserving copyright.

Mollet's memo, entitled "Digital Economy Bill weekly update 11 March 2010," appears to be a weekly status report on the DEB's progress. On the CC list are executives from major record labels, staff at IFPI (the international record industry lobby), PR agents from The Open Road, and others I don't recognise (if you can identify others on the CC list, please post to the comments).

In the memo, Mollet identifies Britain's top spies as being a stumbling block to the bill's passage -- worried, apparently, that creating a Great Firewall of Britain will make it harder for spies to spy on naughty sites (someone should tell MI5 about Ipredator, the excellent proxy service from the Pirate Bay; after all, that's the same proxy that everyone else in Britain is likely to use to get at the blocked sites if the BPI gets its way).

Mollet also implies that Britain's spy agencies might have paid for a Talk Talk survey in which 71% of 18-34 year olds said that they would simply evade the DEB and go on infringing.

Mollet claims that Britain's ISPs have already caved into their duties to spy on and censor network connections, claiming that there is a sense of "settled will" in the "ISP community."

On the other hand, he identifies Members of Parliament as being "resigned" to the fact that they will not be allowed to debate the bill or give it "detailed scrutiny" (heck of a job, MPs!). He cites an expert on legislation as saying that the bill will likely die if MPs insist on their right and responsibility to examine this legislation in detail before voting on it.

BPI Digital Economy Bill weekly minutes (PDF)

Mirror

Sweet busking pitch: Boba Fett costume, accordion, Zelda theme. This is what makes the NYC subway great. Boba Fett shows off his artistic side (via Digg)

Here's the latest trailer for Luc Besson's forthcoming steampunk movie, "Les Aventures Extraordinaires d'Adele Blanc-Sec." That's some heady stuff.

Les Aventures Extraordinaires d'Adele Blanc-Sec - 2nd teaser (Thanks, Xeni!)

Looking for an automobile decor element that proudly proclaims your devotion to the earliest, persecuted science fiction fans who huddled in catacombs, scratching crude rayguns into the walls?

Look no further.

WHITE vinyl SCI-FI RAY GUN decal jesus fish parody 3x5 (Thanks, Travis!)

The census is one of America's great institutions, the way the country knows itself. Here then is the 1870 statistical atlas of the ninth census, scanned at high rez. Your one-stop shop for 1870's best infographics: "Presented here are all of the maps and charts from the first statistical atlas of the US Census, widely praised in its time and still a wonderful example of sophisticated graphics, the out-of-date racial/psychological nomenclature notwithstanding. The atlas is available page-by-page from the Library of Congress, but you can download it in bulk here."

STATISTICAL ATLAS OF THE NINTH CENSUS (1870) (Thanks, Marilyn!)

The South African rap-rave internet star known as The Ninja grabs my face by the cheeks. He leans forward and stares into my eyes, like a large savannah predator about to inhale a hamster.

"And that's what I did to Jimmy Iovine," he says. "He didn't seem to like it, but nobody told me it wasn't cool to do that. And then I kissed him on each cheek, because we were making a deal like you do with the mafia. Die Antwoord is in business with Interscope now."

It's been just over a month since a friend emailed me a link to their music, and I blogged here on Boing Boing. They had fans before, but what exploded in these past four weeks is the stuff labels and artists dream of: Die Antwoord became a living meme of unprecedented velocity, propelled into global megawebstardom faster than any act I've ever seen. Ninja tells me that in addition to shaking hands with Interscope, District 9 helmer Neill Blomkamp plans to direct Antwoord's next music video, they'll likely be performing at the Coachella festival, and a film is in the works.

Harbor East is hosting an art opening called "Tools, Trash and Technology - A 25-year retrospective of the Art and Design of Marque Cornblatt." Marque's whimsical, clever creations have been featured on BB and MAKE.

The event runs March 10-April 4, 2010 and is open Wednesday - Saturday 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Opening reception for the artist Friday March 12, 5-8 PM

Cornblatt will personally be in the gallery each afternoon, offering hands-on demos and opportunities to operate the robots.

San Francisco-based and Baltimore native artist Marque Cornblatt will be presenting a 25-year retrospective of his work in Harbor East in Retail Suite 102 of The Legg Mason Tower. The exhibition will include self portraits, interactive sculptures, web-based robots, and video, as well as examples of Cornblatt furniture and interior design. This 25-year retrospective represents Cornblatt's return to exhibiting on the East Coast and his first major exhibition in Baltimore.

From the very first Sony Watchman to portable DVD players, no technology is off-limits to Cornblatt's creative eye. Using found objects, broken toys and re-purposed electronics, Cornblatt creates sculptures that challenge ideas about technology and the self. His recent use of videogames and virtual reality to create self-portraits offers a glimpse into the future of digital identity.

Cornblatt's will also be presenting the Sparky project, his pioneering interactive videochat robot. First shown in 1996, Sparky has evolved from an assemblage of mixed parts into a worldwide network of telepresence robots capable of connecting people face-to-face in real time over the internet.

The gallery will be furnished with examples of Cornblatt's handmade design and housewares, including cardboard furniture, metal and glass tables, candleholders, chess sets and object d'art made from scrap metal and other recycled materials.

Tools, Trash and Technology - A 25-year retrospective of the Art and Design of Marque Cornblatt

Scientists want to study whale diseases, but collecting blood is difficult and dangerous to the scientists and the whales. But whale snot is also good for analyzing whale health, and whales shoot it out of their blowholes freely and frequently. The trick is in collecting it.

Dr. Karina Acevedo-Whitehouse of the Zoological Society of London things remote control helicopters are the answer.

Her recent paper in Animal Conservation (abstract), irresistibly entitled "A novel non-invasive tool for disease surveillance of free-ranging whales and its relevance to conservation programs," introduces the ground-breaking methodology of strapping a petri dish to a toy RC helicopter and flying it into the spout.

Just look at it.

It Shoots Monkeys (Thanks, Jessemoya!)

A geologist proposed bombing Japan's volcanoes to win the war in a January 1944 issue of Popular Science. [via Google Books via Pink Tentacle]

(Today's post inspired by the ghost of Andy Rooney.)

Don't we get to have our cheap movie clichés anymore? The well-shod feet walking away in the rain... the lonely figure in silhouette, illuminated by headlights at the mouth of a dark alley... the mirrored medicine cabinet that swings shut to reveal the knife-wielding maniac? These are movie inventions, and every one carries with it the emotional aura of a thousand iterations in a thousand films, and all those images add up to a part of cultural memory. Which is where they should stay. Who needs them here in the real world with us, where it's raining and the neighbors are blasting death metal and I really don't like the looks of that mole on my shoulder? What I'm saying is, do we really need a calendar in which the pages automatically sever themselves and fall to the ground? This is, of course, a venerable movie device to signal the passage of time. Here in the actual world, however, it's an advertising gimmick cooked up by a German agency. Parenthetically, it seems worth noting that the pages don't fall as much as they do plummet, which sends a subliminal message that is perhaps even more dark than intended. (Message: Time is passing, and it is passing really really fast.) Also, the connection to the advertised product (leaf blowers?) is tenuous at best. So here's a plea to advertisers: Let our movie clichés stay in the cineplex where they belong. On the big screen they're iconography, weighted with memory and meaning. Out here in the everyday world, they're just weird.

(This just in: Apparently Andy Rooney is still alive.)

As a relative newcomer to the craft of sewing, I just recently started to realize the value of fabric scraps. That's why I was intrigued when I heard of Looptworks, a new apparel company — started by three guys who worked together on product design and management at Adidas — that claims to make all their products out of excess materials. This MacBook laptop sleeve, for example, is made from scrap neoprene found in wetsuit factories in China and Thailand. I love the simple design; it also has two exterior pockets that fit a power adapter and a couple of thumb drives perfectly. Because their materials aren't mass-produced, most of their designs are available for a limited time only. Looptworks rolls out new items every month on their web site and in selected specialty apparel stores in most major cities.

Product page