BLOG Sunday, March 14, 2010

Has it been two weeks already? This has been fantastic. Those of you who read and comment on this website may suspect that the people who run it are the coolest people on the planet; turns out your suspicions are absolutely correct. This has been a wonderful place to blab on about all sorts of issues and I hope I get the opportunity to contribute again. Thanks in particular to Mark for helping me not get Boing Boing sued, and Xeni for turning me into a YouTube-embedding ninja. In the unlikely event that you're still interested in anything I have to say after these two weeks, you can find me on twitter, my blog, and my website. You can also find me at my new job, which I'll be able to reveal in a week or so....

"Tulane" wasn't Chuck Berry's last great song -- that would be "Oh What a Thrill," from Rockit -- but it's awfully close. Recorded for Back Home, the 1970 album he recorded for his return to the Chess label after a few years at Mercury that we fans are still trying to forget, "Tulane" both sounds like classic Chuck (you have heard this guitar intro before) and completely up-to-date (it's about a head shop raid). On the album, Berry follows it with "Have Mercy Judge," one of his sharpest blues performances, the tale of what happened when Tulane got away from the cops but the singer didn't....

Here's a good reason to stay in Austin on Monday night. In 2001, Jon Lebkowsky and Cory threw the first annual Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) party during SXSW Interactive, hosted by EFF-Austin. This party became annual tradition, and morphed over the last four years into Plutopia, a multifaceted extravaganza of music, performances, art, and talks, this year based on "The Science of Music." The event is Monday night, March 15, at the Mexican American Cultural Center in Austin. Plutopia 2010 is an amazing convergence of technology, DIY, music, art, and academics. In addition to standard party fare, performance and the arts will play a major role alongside exhibits and talks in presenting the ideas in a way that will make this yet another memorable, stimulating, and fun SXSW after event. Way beyond the run-of-the-mill "booze and schmooze" after-party mixer, Plutopia is an ever-evolving multimedia experiment of Austin-tatious proportions dedicated to a playful, yet masterful cross-pollination across verticals to bring you an immersive interactive experience event. This year's Plutopian theme explores the role of technology, sound and digital media in changing the landscape and narrative of music in the information age. The science refers to everything from immersive listening and the expanding of audio boundaries and experimentation, to new forms of instrumentation, sampling and remixing and emerging creative processes; and from integrated multisensory systems and interfaces with intelligent networks, to the transformations of aesthetics and the changing rhythm of nature. Monday, March 15, 2010 7pm - midnight Mexican American Cultural Center 600 River St. Austin, TX FREE to SXSW Interactive and Platinum Badge Holders; $15 General Public FEATURED ARTISTS: Bruce Sterling Xiao He DJ Spooky Black Pig Liberation Front White Dr. Strangevibe and also featuring the Edible Austin Foodie Fest and Tipsy Texan Cocktail Bar! Unique to this and only this event, Edible Austin magazine is bringing the heart and soul of Austin's local foodie scene and cutting edge mixology to Plutopia and will be hosting out-of-town guests from Eat Well Guide. Full list of food and drink participants here. Plutopia...

Marc de Vinck says: "I was watching SpongeBob with the kids. During the snail races I noticed the announcer's mug. OK, so it most likely stands for Bikini Bottom (where SpongeBob lives), but maybe, just maybe, it stands for something else?!"...

Home movie hero Robbins Barstow writes, I am the 90-year-old producer of the 1956 family home movie, Disneyland Dream, which you first BoingBoinged nearly two years ago, on April 11, 2008. I thought you might be interested in knowing that a 1956 "Disneyland Dream" DVD is now available for purchase for $15 plus shipping from Amazon.com, with an added Special Feature on "The Making of Disneyland Dream." It has taken me a long time to get this set up, but the attachment to this email is a flyer I have worked out to let people know about this new DVD availability. "Disneyland Dream" can still be downloaded anytime free from the internet at Archive.org, but from now on the 2009 "Making of D.D." will only be available as part of this for-sale DVD. This is my first venture into commercial marketing (after 75 years of amateur film making), so I don't know how it will go. But I appreciate your earlier interest. This is the most delightful historical Disneyland movie I've seen -- including the old TV shows where Walt tours the park. Young Master Barstow was a great film-maker (there's a reason that the Library of Congress added this to the National Film Registry), and the subject is wonderful, My mom and her family had a trip to Disneyland in '56, and my grandfather talked about it to his dying day -- the stuff of legend. Disneyland Dream Previously:Robbins Barstow's spectacular amateur films Disneyland home movie from 1956 makes Library of Congress's ... Home movie of contest-winning family vacation to Disneyland in ... Home Movie Day PSA...

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

Update VICTORY! Motion passed with near unanimity! 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! Previously:LibDem rank-and-file make emergency motion for net freedom - Boing ... Brits: tell the LibDem Peers not to bring web-censorship to ... Guardian column on LibDem proposal to block web-lockers Brits: tell the LibDem Peers not to bring web-censorship to ... Speaking on privacy at Hackney LibDems event, London, Oct 19 ... LibDem Lords seek to ban web-lockers (YouSendIt, etc) in the UK ......

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!) Previously:Church converted into magnificent bookstore Best Bookstore Ever: Powell's Technical Young adult sections in bookstore -- a parallel universe of little ... Infinite bookstore video Pages Books in Toronto to close Joe Hill -- Stephen King's son -- promotes indie bookstores ... Photo of honor system at bookstore in Ojai, CA...

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. Thumbnail courtesy Flickr user ncfc0721, via CC Previously:Saturday Morning Science Experiment: The Gummi Bear Gets It Boing ... Saturday Morning Science Experiment: Science Party Tricks Saturday Morning Science Experiment: Traffic lights Saturday Morning Science Experiment: Secretaries vs. Magnesium ... Saturday Morning Science Experiment: Practicing safe earthquake ... Saturday Morning Science Experiment: Floating on Sound Saturday Morning Science Experiment: Ice cold outside, "hot ice ... Saturday Morning Science Experiment: Microwave Lava Saturday Morning Science Experiment: Gravity Is For Suckers Boing ... Saturday Morning Science Experiment: Pachyderm Dental Care - Boing ... Saturday Morning Science Experiment: Visualizing Sound Waves (Now ......

In my household, we have an almost unhealthy obsession with all things Patagonia. The environmentally conscious surf-and-climb brand from California has just released its lightest fabric ever via the new M10 jacket — it has three layers of waterproof material, air vents for your armpits, a giant hoodie, and weighs only 10 ounces....

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 Previously:Leaked documents: UK record industry wrote web-censorship ... Britain's new Internet law -- as bad as everyone's been saying ... UK Digital Economy Bill will wipe out indie WiFi hotspots in ... Britain's Digital Economy Bill will cost ISPs £500M, knock 40K ... Liberty's briefing on Britain's Digital Economy Bill Digital companies object strenuously to UK Digital Economy bill ... BREAKING: Leaked UK government plan to create "Pirate Finder ... HOWTO talk to your MP about the UK Digital Economy Bill ......

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) Previously:Dead Plants: kick-ass shoutin' hillbilly blues busker music from ... Man playing a hand-made, electrified, one-stringed musical ......

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!) Previously:DIY Flying Spaghetti Monster bumper sticker Teach the Controversy tees illustrate other important "scientific ......

Kate from Aussiecon, the upcoming World Science Fiction convention in Melbourne, sez, "The deadline for sending in your Hugo Awards nomination ballot is fast approaching! The Hugo Awards are awards for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy. The nomination deadline is Saturday, March 13, 2010 23:59 PST. To submit a ballot you must either be a member of Anticipation, the 2009 Worldcon, or have registered for Aussiecon 4, the 2010 Worldcon, by January 31st." For the record, my novel Makers is eligible for nomination....

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!) Previously:Census of the dead, in infographic form UK govt charges taxpayers to view 1911 census, conducted with tax ... Chunky crapgadget used to conduct the US census (kind of) - Boing ... Combining US census and Google Maps...

Photos: Xeni Jardin (top) and Sean Bonner 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 Previously:Sparky the Robot visits a museum, on PRI's Studio360 cool 1993-96 sculptures by 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. Collect whale snot using an RC helicopter (Via Make: Online) Previously:Curiosity shop in a whale's belly Ancient weapon discovered in whale Whale attacks trainer at SeaWorld Whale meat sold by the can in Japan Sperm whale video Some whales double their weight when straining sea-water Stealthy anti-whaling powerboat what is it like to cut up a whale?...

Just look at it. It Shoots Monkeys (Thanks, Jessemoya!) Previously: Just look at this awesome underwear made from banana fibers. Just look at this awesome slow-moving performance artist whose face has been covered with exploding bananas. Boing Boing Just look at this awesome EU banana curvature regulation. Boing Boing Just look at this awesome anti-banana-ripening bag. Boing Boing Just look at this awesome Korean banana-ripening facility. Boing Boing Just look at this awesome banana peeler. Boing Boing Just look at this awesome banana peeling simulator. Boing Boing Just look at this awesome banana slicer. Boing Boing Just look at this awesome banana saver clip. Boing Boing Just look at this awesome banana bunker. Boing Boing HOWTO disassemble a banana - Boing Boing Robber uses banana as "gun" - Boing Boing Hemant "The Friendly Atheist" Mehta Interviews Ray "The Banana Man ... Peeling bananas from the other end is easier - Boing Boing Forlorn bananas of London - Boing Boing 11 students suspended for banana prank - Boing Boing...

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...

Kumquat marmalade Thinly slice 24 kumquats and 2 oranges. Measure how many cups they add up to, then put them in a large pot. Add 3 cups of water for each cup of fruit, and let it sit overnight. The next morning, bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat & simmer until the rind is tender. Measure the cooked fruit. Add 1 cup of sugar for every cup of fruit mix. Add the juice of 2 lemons, and boil again, stirring occasionally. The mix should eventually turn into gel at about 220F; when it does, remove it from the heat and take the foam off of the surface. You're done! Just put the mixture into jars, seal, refrigerate, and enjoy. Source: AllRecipes.com A kumquat is one of those things that I always admire at the produce section of the supermarket but never buy. I love the burst of sweet-and-sour-with-a-spicy-kick goodness that this tiny citrus fruit with the beautiful shiny orange skin adds to almost anything. But a part of me doesn't want to cook with it — maybe I'm afraid the novelty will wear off. If you do decide to bring kumquats into your kitchen, you'll find that they're pretty versatile. You can eat them raw, cooked, candied, pickled, or as a marmalade. Even just tossing a few peels of the rind can add a ton of flavor to anything. They also last a few weeks in the fridge, so you'll have some time to contemplate and experiment — but you better get them quick because they're a mid-winter fruit, and spring is just around the corner. My favorite rendition of kumquat was on white fish, sea bass it might have been, at some fancy restaurant in San Francisco. So tasty. Kumquats are full of vitamin C and potassium; in Japan, it is called kinkan, also the name of a popular over-the-counter drug brand that makes remedies for sore muscles, sore throat, and mosquito bites. Kumquats were originally found in China, but have made their way to Japan, Europe, and North America; Dade City, Florida even has a Kumquat Festival every winter to celebrate its harvest. Image via Miss Meister's Flickr Previously: Taste Test: Cherimoya Taste Test: Umeboshi Taste Test: dragon fruit Taste Test: Raw eggs Taste Test: Ginkgo nuts Taste Test: Togarashi Taste Test: Persimmon Taste Test: Watermelon daikon...

WorldBytes, a charity that trains people to make their own journalism got sick and tired of British policemen, bureaucrats and officials telling them that they don't have the right to shoot motion pictures in public places. There's no law against making movies or taking pictures in public in Britain -- and indeed, you can hardly turn around without a CCTV recording you -- but officials and cops enforce this imaginary no-camera law as though it were the law of the land. Saleha from WorldBytes adds, "In this film, we investigate what the public think and let people have their say on issues of the day. Sick of being stopped,our volunteer film-makers made a stand against the arbitrary interference suffered by photographers and film makers and achieved a one day victory for citizen journalism." Freedom to film (Thanks, Saleha!) Previously:UK cop: 'War on terror means no pictures of police vans in ... London cops declare war on photography Current TV on photo bans in UK UK mall bans grandparents for trying to photo their grandkids ... UK to introduce "photograph a cop, 10 years in jail" law Photographers win British war on photography?...

All of Carl Sagan's Cosmos. All for free. Enjoy....

UCLA collects ads for patent medicine. Princeton has piles of 17th-century porn. UNLV? Showgirls and Dean Martin, of course. Mental_Floss presents a guide to some of the best weird library collections at American universities....

James from the New America foundation sez, "The FCC launched a consumer broadband test on their blog broadband.gov yesterday. Internet speeds in the US are often 50% to 80% lower than advertised and its vital consumers have reliable information on the actual performance of their connections. One of the two tools the FCC is using is the Network Diagnostic Tool (NDT), an open source tool hosted on MeasurementLab.net (M-Lab). The validity of NDT can be independently verified, and all data is publicly released. M-Lab hosts other test as wells, such as a test to see if bit torrent is being throttled, or how much bandwidth is available." Consumer Broadband Test (Thanks, James!) Previously:YouTube speed tester: Net Neutrality judo will show you when your ... Google's getting into the broadband business Time-Warner bandwidth cap protest this Saturday in Rochester NY ... Poverty in Mississippi Delta worsened by poor broadband iPhone 3G monthly service rates: It's going to be more expensive ... Time Warner cable metering internet in test markets ... Open proposal for national town-hall meetings on America-wide ......