hard deadlines

Café Tacvba (MySpace, Wikipedia) are one of the most, if not the most, imaginative and recklessly experimental indie rock bands ever to come out of Latin America. They formed in near Mexico City in the late '80s, and have been happily mutating ever since. I'm always kind of surprised when non-Spanish-speaking American friends don't know who they are -- they're sort of like the Radiohead of Mexico. Anyway, Boing Boing tv caught up with the tacubos backstage after their set at the Outside Lands festival, and our UK-based music correspondent Russell Porter asked them important questions about their excellent shoes, and why lots of ladies run screaming to stage-rush them during shows (Answer: because they're awesome).

Link to Boing Boing tv blog post with instructions on how to subscribe to our daily video podcast. MP4 Link is here.

Sponsor Note: This episode, and other BBtv music features this month, are sponsored by the Crowdfire live music social media project. You can find images, video, and audio about the band featured in today's show at Crowdfire -- here's the search link for fan-uploads related to Café Tacvba.

Related Boing Boing tv episodes from Outside Lands:
* Roots Reggae Legends Toots and the Maytals (music) * Broken Social Scene: interview and live performance (music)
* Galactic's "Modern New Orleans Funk" with Xeni and Russell (music)
* Interview with Cold War Kids frontman Nathan Willett (music)
* Andy Gould, rock band manager, dances on the labels' graves.
* Primus: Xeni interviews Les and Ler (music)
* Kaki King, guitar hero: performance, interview with Xeni (music)
* BB Gadgets' Joel at Outside Lands: Crowdfire deconstructed
* Carney at Outside Lands - a "Boing Boing tv Bus Session." (music)
* Steel Pulse founder David Hinds at Outside Lands (music)
* Boing Boing tv backstage at Outside Lands: (Xeni + Russell Porter)

(Special thanks to Wayneco for the magic bus, and to Virgin America for air travel.)

moo!
water
gadgets
sundae
sausagecase
sausage art
jaffegg
munchy box
meat
guttenberg's steak house
rejected bbq names
buche

previously on web zen:
meaty zen 2008

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!)

SomaFM founder Rusty Hodge is posting updates from the Iceland Airwaves festival this week. Here's his latest installment: We at SomaFM had made plans to cover the Iceland Airwaves music festival for SomaFM back in August. So in the last two weeks as we heard about the "economic collapse" of Iceland, we were a little nervous as to what the situation would be like over there. By the time we arrived at the Keflavik Airport and got to the Duty Free shop, we realized there wasn't anything to fear. The Duty Free was packed with people buying their allowances of liquor and wine to bring with them to Iceland- because the Duty Free is about half the price of buying liquor anywhere else in Iceland (due to the high taxes on liquor here).

Although when we got on the shuttle bus to Reykjavik, there were only 15 others on it; last year the bus was mostly full. This turned out to be a false impression; 20 minutes after we got to the hotel, a bunch of other people arrived, apparently on a later bus. I guess we were just faster than the normal crowd.

The "Economic Crisis" in Iceland is not being felt too hard on the streets of the city centre. In fact, if you look around, it doesn't seem like anything has happened at all. Banks are functioning like normal- I admit I was hoping to see protests and angry customers waiting for them to open. But even the branches at the big Kringlan mall seemed their normal busy self, and the people in them were happily going about their business.

A few Icelanders have made reference to the "economic crisis" in the same way many Americans refer to our own banking crisis... snide comments about irresponsible bankers, distrust of the way the government will handle things, etc. When asked what has really been affected, they say it's impossible to get a mortgage or car loan right now. Prices for groceries and imported goods have gone up. Real estate prices are falling, especially in "Old Town" Reykjavik, but they'll also point out that's probably a good thing since it was overpriced to begin with. The big complaint is that everything is becoming more expensive. And you can't get a car loan. Icelanders seem to be fond of new cars judging from the cars I see on the streets. Continued after the jump.

To put it in a different context: I spoke to a German the other day, and he asked how we in the US were doing with our banking crisis. They seem to think that the US if falling apart, and small businesses are failing right and left because of it. I told him that aside from people who were invested in the stock market, it's not visibly affecting people that much yet any more than a typical economic downturn would.

So that's what's going on here in Iceland. People are still shopping, eating, drinking. Tourists seem to have caught on that the exchange rates are very favorable right now. While still somewhat expensive - a McDonald's cheeseburger costs about $2.10 right now, but would have cost $3.00 or more last year. Cocktails at many places are US$7-8, and beers are $5-6. Last year, $10 got you a beer, cocktails were more like $12.

So don't believe everything you read in the media. The stores here are not empty; the people are not living off cod and Skyr. They've just been hit with a recession and the prices on imported goods have gone up. So over the next year they're going to have to be a little more prudent with their spending. SomaFM

Over at the New York Times, John Schwartz has a new installment in a series of pieces about current cooperation between Russia and America in space exploration:

The gap, which was planned by the Bush administration to create the next generation of American spacecraft without significantly increasing NASA’s budget, is controversial. But it is also all but inevitable, because much of the work to shut down the shuttles is under way, and the path to the new Constellation craft would be hard to compress even with additional financing.

Those who work side by side with their Russian counterparts say that strong relationships and mutual respect have resulted from the many years of collaboration. And they say that whatever the broader geopolitical concerns about relying on Russia for space transportation during the five years when the United States cannot get to the space station on its own rockets, they believe that the multinational partnership that built the station will hold.

Image: James Hill for The New York Times. "Cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov and astronaut Mike Fincke took part in a simulation exercise at a training center in Star City."

Here are a few examples: Insider Risk Maxim: Most organizations will ignored or seriously underestimate the threat from insiders.

Troublemaker Maxim: The probability that a security professional has been marginalized by his or her organization is proportional to his/her skill, creativity, knowledge, competence, and eagerness to provide effective security.

Feynman’s Maxim: An organization will fear and despise loyal vulnerability assessors and others who point out vulnerabilities or suggest security changes more than malicious adversaries.

Irresponsibility Maxim: It’ll often be considered “irresponsible” to point out security vulnerabilities (including the theoretical possibility that they might exist), but you’ll rarely be called irresponsible for ignoring or covering them up. Physical security maxims from Argonne National Laboratory (via Schneier)

Two years ago, we proposed something called The Oath, whereby every candidate would pledge, on behalf of his or her entire campaign, "not to lie or misrepresent my opponent's record and positions on the stump, in my press materials or in my advertising."

The theory was that no candidate could refuse to make such a pledge, and because every trespass is now documented by the opponent or the media, nobody could dare break it. Or, as we put it back then, "The Straight Talk Express will be like that bus in 'Speed.' Take your foot off the truth gas, and the whole thing explodes."

As previously prayed for. Video Link. (via dlisted, which has more on this piece; thanks Susannah Breslin!)

Contrast that with a terrorist plot that requires a 12-ounce bottle of liquid. There's no evidence that the London liquid bombers actually had a workable plot, but assume for the moment they did. If some copycat terrorists try to bring their liquid bomb through airport security and the screeners catch them -- like they caught me with my bottle of pasta sauce -- the terrorists can simply try again. They can try again and again. They can keep trying until they succeed. Because there are no consequences to trying and failing, the screeners have to be 100 percent effective. Even if they slip up one in a hundred times, the plot can succeed. The Two Classes of Airport Contraband

Just another stupid terrorism scare? Nope! The BART's top bosses have clobbered management for invoking terrorism to get their way, calling it "fearmongering." Added Director Tom Radulovich, "If somebody wants to break the law and bring flammable liquids on, they can. It's not like al Qaeda is waiting in their caves for us to have a sippy-cup rule."

Directing his comments to BART administrators, he said, "You know, it's just fearmongering and you should be ashamed." BART debates allowing drinks on trains (via Schneier)

(Image: Minor road near Aberuchill, a Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike photo by Dr Richard Murray)

Phil Torrone at Make Blog posted these photos of the Betterbaby snake-proof baby crib from the early 20th century. Betterbaby snake proof crib

Criggo is a delightful blog that posts scans of funny things from newspapers. Criggo

Let's start by identifying the real villains here: the major news media outlets. They are the ones censoring these political ads, based on the use of a few seconds of their footage. The networks need to back off and give fair use a wide berth. So let's start by shaming the bad guys here. In addition, lawsuits might help. Under the DMCA, both the campaigns themselves and YouTube have standing to sue those who send clearly bogus takedown notices. (EFF has represented video creators in a number of these cases, including against Viacom.) McCain Campaign Feels DMCA Sting (Thanks, Fred!)

FACT! Barack Obama talks about his white mother and his white grandparents and the white half of his family that is white, but did you know that half of his family is also black? In fact, half his family is so black that Obama keeps them hidden away on a whole other continent where they speak in a strange, otherworldly code which is not even English. What is Obama trying to hide? Possibly something black. BONUS FACT! Barack Obama may be half-white and half-black, but he married a woman who is completely black. In a way, doesn't that make him three-quarters black? Math doesn't lie, people!

FACT! "Obama" is an ancient Muslim name meaning "He Who Deceives the White Man with his Telegenic Charisma, Angular Good Looks, and Deceptively Conservative Policy Proposals." Coincidence? Or co-bama? Barack Obama: Black? (Thanks, Lynn!)

On his YouTube page, Quethe writes about getting an RFID chip injected into his hand: I implanted a RFID chip in my hand. I injected the chip myself from supplies bought on the internet. This tag is readable from up to 2 inches from my hand.

I am currently using it to open my handgun safe for instant access. I can have a gun in hand in one second in blackness without fumbling with buttons or codes.

If you are convinced that this is the "Mark of the Beast", then from one Christian to another I hope you read the Book of Revelation and apply more understanding to it that what you hear from those who only offer fear.

The right hand is the action hand (our works) and the forehead is our mind (our faith and thoughts). If the whole book of Revelation is to be understood carnally then I'd suggest we start exploring the ocean for a giant monster.

If you fear government ID tags etc, take a look at Biometrics. Why try to chip people when a machine can identify persons from a distance and without control. These are currently in place in US cities.

RFID is old hat. Just something some Evangelists have used to justify their lack of scriptural knowledge because they are whited seplecures that deny the existence of modern day revelation and prophecy. Learn for yourself.

So if you are telling me I am going to Hell for this, at least read the Revelation of John and pray for understanding.

I will appreciate comments that are sincere or are not knee jerk comments like "Oh my G**! You are going to Hell". The profanity is also not appreciated.

I am not offering advice or giving instruction. I do not recommend this and am not liable. This video is for information only. RFID Implant in Hand Do It Yourself