Estria's skinny cap (stencil tip) tutorial [updated]

Correct info, from the site: "In 1986 Crayone TWS and Razor KTD first introduced Estria to the Skinny Cap. Razor was the first to conceive of it." (San Francisco Bay Area)

This type of detail cap has spread to Europe and beyond over the decades.

Here's the first public tutorial on home made skinny caps.

Be forewarned: Using these can be incredibly messy. You will get paint all over yourself until you get the hang of it. Wear gloves and trashed shoes. On the upside, you'll have plenty of loose paint for those nice splatter effects.

Another article about graffiti innovations

Breakthroughs? You be the judge. Some cool stuff in there for sure, but plenty to get riled about as well. As a commenter put it, graffiti is usually associated with "a certain demographic" but apparently when people of other demographics do it, it's cool. Can you smell the racism there?

Parallel Strokes - New book by Ian Lynam

"Parallel Strokes is a collection of interviews with twenty-plus contemporary typeface designers, graffiti writers, and lettering artists around the world. The book is introduced with a comprehensive essay charting the history of graffiti, its relation to type design, and how the two practices relate in the wider context of lettering.

Interviews within include conversations with pan-European type design collective Underware, Japanese type designer Akira Kobayashi, American graffiti writer and fine artist Barry McGee/Twist, German graffiti writers Daim and Seak, American lettering artist, graphic designer and design educator Ed Fella, among others. Parallel Strokes is an enquiry into the history, context, and development of lettering today, both culturally approved and illicit.

Softcover, 244 pages, printed in glorious Canada First 100 orders ship with a limited edition 17 in. x 20 in. two-color Parallel Strokes poster
us $25 + Free shipping worldwide.

[Check the link for sample pages and a full list of interviewees.]

How to create your own viral videos on YouTube

Wired how-to wiki has the nitty gritty.

The Story of Stuff

A quick and engaging overview about the state of the world, who profits from our destruction, and what we can do about it.

Online art sales - busiest sites

Monthly traffic in the online art market.

Why borrowing money for college makes sense

Especially if you will have to pay for it yourself, getting a college education is the smart thing to do. (See the link for a helpful illustration of why that's so.) Sure, some philosophy majors work in restaurants, but for most people, the difference in income and opportunity is almost immediate after they get a degree.

Education is your best chance to get out of poverty, both for you and your children. It was the best decision I ever made. Make a list of questions and an appointment to speak to someone at a university Admissions office to discuss your options and where to start.

In the USA and likely in other places too, if you're poor or smart or talented enough, the government or school will pay for some of your tuition. Every worthwhile school wants you to attend, so they are often helpful in making it possible.

If you are in the US and you think you might want to go to college this fall, you need to fill out the financial aid forms now, because they process the applications in the order they are received, starting January 1 each year. Don't wait.

USA: You can find out what your Pell Grant eligibility is at www.fafsa.ed.gov . They also have some other grant info there, but your school will have even more information about financial aid.

How to recognize and counter a bad argument

Learning to identify faulty reasoning will help you over and over in life as media and authority and politicians come at you with bogus arguments. This material was the most valuable stuff I learned in college. It looks boring on the surface but it's actually fascinating because it helps sort out the truth from the BS.

Did you know ... Shift happens

Mind blowing facts about the rapidly changing world we live in.

via Todd Warfel

Why pay attention to the threat of climate change?

There's no debate among climatologists about whether or not global climate change is happening. It is. The only debate is between those who hope humans didn't cause it and those who hope humans can change it. That debate is meaningless. If we might be able to change it, we have to try, because it's our survival as a species that's at stake. The only smart thing to to is to try to curb the changes before life on Earth becomes difficult or impossible for humans.

We're the last generation of people who have a chance to try before it becomes too late, because the changes are not going to be gradual or incremental. Climate changes happen when conditions tip into a new dynamic and then become inevitable.

Don't let the wishful thinking of the anti-science people lull you into a false sense of security. Climate change is not something in the far future, it's something that will make our own lives and the lives of our children very different and difficult indeed. The earlier we act to curb human pollution the less expense and disastrous results we'll have.

The first step is to get everyone on board. Spread the word.

Thanks to Roger for the heads up on this video.

Midwest Teen Sex Show

Sex ed by and for teens. Video podcasts. Also available on iTunes. Watch theirs, make your own. Scholarship prizes.

"Young people (15 to 30) are invited to submit new digital videos showing how they envision the sex ed experience. The grand prize winner will receive a $3500 scholarship or cash equivalent."

Mr Wiggles on the Art of Lettering

Tutorials, alphabets and more.

40 million have HIV-AIDS (SIDA) + 4 million more this year alone

Teenagers and young adults (and their babies) worldwide are being killed by this incurable disease even though it's preventable.

We must each save ourselves, our friends and our loved ones, because the world can't afford to save us. Even if someone makes a vaccine (and no one knows if this is even possible yet), it wouldn't help you if you're already infected.

Our governments, churches, families and schools are afraid to give us any information that involves sex and drugs. In many countries where the number of infected people is rising most rapidly, the governments won't even alert the public to the threat! They would rather let you die than admit you are having sex.

So it's up to us to bring the news to the kids who need it.

Here's the bottom line: Use condoms and don't share needles. That's what works best.

Condoms show you care about yourself and your partner. Condoms are about germs and sperm, not about morality. Let's be practical. They are not a perfect solution, but this is what we all must do if we're to stop this global pandemic and avoid killing ourselves, our lovers, and our children. We need to get creative about making them more available too, such as providing them at parties and clubs.

Spread the word, please, on your blogs and personal pages ... and on the walls.

Here's a good place to buy them online (in business since 1994) and they ship worldwide: Condom.com

I'd like to show more paintings on AIDS prevention too.
info@graffiti.org

Maywa Denki

The link goes to more info and pictures about this interesting musical group, called "the first to use a true robotic vocalist." I like everything about this, but I'm especially fond of the guitar-replacement instruments.

via BoingBoing

Finally some good news about seed patents

Monsanto has had 4 patents rejected, finally.

This is excellent news, because their patents were putting honest traditional farmers out of business and creating new dependencies and weaknesses that threatened the world food supply.

Before Monsanto tried to own all the food we eat, all farmers saved and traded their seeds, but Monsanto tried to make them buy and plant sterile seeds, so they would have to buy seeds every year. Some farmers can't afford to buy seeds every year, and many didn't understand that free sample seed would lead to them going out of business before it was too late.

Other farmers were vigorously and cruelly sued out of business when Monsanto's genetically modified crops pollenated their fields accidentally via the wind.

GMO contaminated crops could not be exported to some other countries, ruining the farmers' ability to sell their crops.

Monsanto's farming practices also lead to dangerous mono-cultures, where only one genetic strain of corn or wheat, etc., is planted in most plots, paving the way for killer diseases to wipe out a whole year's crop at once.

Profit today, while the world starves tomorrow. Brilliant.

The article talks about US farmers, but Canadian farmers were also hurt, and the most damage was likely done in India, Africa and poorer countries. I sure hope this patent rejection has a positive effect on the worldwide Monsanto problem. What we need is some unbought politicians to make some better laws around patenting food crops and the GMO contamination of traditional foodstocks. Mexico's traditional maize crop's genetic heritage is now under serious threat from the GMO cross pollination.

Related food facts here:

Future of Food documentary (Bittorrent)
Harvest of Fear (PBS documentary)

More info: Google search for Monsano Terminator

Ten Politically Incorrect Truths about Human Nature

Fascinating article from Psychology Today on how reproductive strategies and mating habits cause more boys, more blonds, more suicide bombers, younger criminals and geniuses, and more red sports car buyers.

The good news is that most of these strategies are obsolete in the modern world, and once you understand what's going on, you might be more in control of your life choices.

GRL in BCN

Graffiti Research Lab takes Barcelona by storm. It's hard to know what to make of the laser-maddened crowd. Is it just that everyone wants to get away with drawing genitals and dirty words on buildings? While everyone watches? Really big ones?

GPS, Graffiti, and Self-Incrimination

The article above describes a system of graffiti surveillance involving police using Global Positioning System (GPS) tagging of photos, etc. We could worry about that, but consider this bigger picture:

GPS is a system that involves a satellite and a ground receiver. The satellite tells the receiver on the ground where the receiver is located, to within a few feet. This system is very handy indeed when, for example, you happen to be lost.

Problem is when your devices report your location without telling you. Your phone might already be GPS-enabled. If not, your next one likely will be. It's not something you can turn off in most cases, because it's used by the emergency services, for example when you dial 911 for an ambulance, in the USA. You have to be tracked for your own good, see?

Your car might already be GPS-enabled. Maybe it has a map or direction finder, very handy. Or maybe it has an antitheft system like OnStar that keeps track of where your car is without telling you. Or maybe your rental car, company car or truck tells the company where you are all the time and your route, again without your knowledge or permission.

Your camera is next, and of course your phone camera. They will have GPS and it will be a "feature." Your photos will automatically contain where and when you took them and with what device, and when you upload to Flickr or whatever, the websites could display that info on a map. Cute, right? Except when the buffers come to the wall hours later or your secret bridge turns into a tourist area, or when the cops need a quick list of every place you hit this year.

GPS is only one of these passive-surveillance technologies of concern. There is also RFID, unencrypted wireless (email, texting, web browsing, pagers, keyboards, cordless phones, most cell phones), surveillance cameras, outdoor listening devices, and cell-phone triangulation, just to hit the high spots.

Clearly, humans need to be more in control of the kind of info their devices are sharing without their permsission. Nothing else will do. Try to buy stuff that has controls that put you in charge and features that are not hidden or automatic. Be aware that your devices can create big security problems for you.

And let's not forget the most dangerous form of self-incrimination: running your mouth. What you say in chatrooms, on phones, on Myspace, in email, to reporters, and to the nice policeman who promised to let you off easy if you just showed him every piece of graffiti you ever painted -- are the most dangerous kinds of self-incrimination available.

The Great Filter

"No alien civilizations have substantially colonized our solar system or systems nearby. Thus among the billion trillion stars in our past universe, none has reached the level of technology and growth that we may soon reach. This one data point implies that a Great Filter stands between ordinary dead matter and advanced exploding lasting life. And the big question is: How far along this filter are we?"

Bluetooth Shoes

Forget LEDs, here come the shoes that authenticate you.

From Threat Level, which often warns about real threats that are worth fighting against. Bluetooth shoes may not be one of the worrisome things -- that is until they start broadcasting your identity or exhibiting other promiscuous or spoofable behavior.

On a similar note, some video cameras are being hooked up to software that attempts to identify people by their gait (how they walk). This type of mass surveillance may turn out to be more evil in the long run than shoes that let you into your workplace without a keycard.

Color Guide

Compilation of color knowledge, tools, and resources that every designer needs.

-via digg

This Week in Science - The Kickass Science Podcast

These people are really dropping science, and it's a joy to listen to.

Visuwords: online graphical dictionary

djdamico pointed out this very cool word tool. It's more like a thesaurus actually, because it shows the relationships between words and ideas. MCs and slammers will love this.

Give it a try with epitaph and epithet

Heroes, Guards, and Prisoners

Ordinary people become great, evil, and passive, depending on how they react to what's going on around them. This article explains how easy it is to fall into the prison mindset and how anyone can be a hero. This essential info will help you throughout life, so don't skip it.

Bystander's Dilemma - The Banality of Heroism, by Zeno Franco and Philip Zimbardo, Berkeley.edu

Flu pandemic + our governments, killers of millions?

The US government is doing nothing about the potential avian flu pandemic that may almost be upon us. Doing nothing is the same as condemning millions, if not billions to death. We need a worldwide coordinated response to Avian Flu and any pandemic. We're overdue for one and still the world leaders are not acting.

Wake some politicians up; your life may depend on it. Ask your representatives what they are doing to stave off economic collapse in the event of a flu pandemic that kills a substantial proportion of your area's citizens, since the national government isn't planning a credible national vaccination effort.

We need vaccine-making infrastructure and megabucks from the rich countries to fund it. Big pharma doesn't care because they can't make a killing on vaccines. So last year, there was not enough flu vaccine for those who wanted it. Imagine how many of us will want vaccine when a flu strain goes pandemic again. It takes a couple of years to make enough vaccine to make a difference, so the time to start demanding action is immediately.

Educate, activate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemic
The most previous flu pandemic killed 50m people worldwide, in 1918-19. Usually they kill 25% of the population apparently. So far this candidate bird flu has killed 60% of the people who've caught it from birds.

Jesus gets up with projected graffiti

Personally, I think "Jesus Saves" graffiti's been done to death, but at least this version of the old standby xtian assertion is BIG

Etching your Powerbook

Forget gold fronts. Etch your favorite style into your aluminum Powerbook. In black.

Pixel Roller

I don't know how they do this, but dang it's cool. It's a printing technology that lets you print on walls using something that looks a lot like a paint roller. The video is worth a week of explanation, though so watch it and be amazed.

Gardening Graffiti

Non-destructive graffiti. This is something I've talked about doing for awhile with gardening friends. About time someone figured it out for me.

New hope for HIV vaccine

New discovery of a bacterium native to the human body that eats the coating of HIV viruses.

"Soon the majority of HIV-infected individuals will be women, according to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative."


Did you Know ...

* At least half of all new HIV infections in the U.S. are among people under 25.

* Most young people are not concerned about getting AIDS. 1

* HIV, for least one NY man, apparently has become resistant to three classes of anti-retroviral medication, and its transition to AIDS isvery short -- less than one year. This man may be the first of many. 2

* African Americans are more affected by HIV and AIDS than any other race.3

* More women are getting HIV and AIDS than ever before. 4

* Most men who get HIV have sex with other men.5

* Most people don?t know their HIV status. 6

* The hardest hit group of Americans is young African American men who have sex with men. One third are infected with HIV; most do not know.7

Notes:
1. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation's Survey of Americans on HIV/AIDS (2004), 58% of young Americans are ?not concerned? about becoming infected with HIV. Only 24% are "very concerned." Numbers for older Americans are much lower.

2. This man's case may not actually be quite so newsworthy. According to one study published last year in the journal AIDS, about 13 percent of 17,300 people with HIV have developed resistance to all three classes of drugs.

3. More than half of AIDS deaths are African Americans. The proportion of African Americans with AIDS is 10 times that of whites. 65% of teens who get HIV are African American. AIDS is the number one cause of death for African Americans between the ages of 25 and 44.

4. 27% of HIV cases in 2003 were women. In 1985, the proportion was only 8%.

5. 57% of HIV diagnoses among men in 2003 were "men who have sex with men."

6. Less than half of Americans say they have been tested for HIV. Only 20% say they have been tested in the past year.

7. 32% of African American men who have sex with men, ages 23-29, living in major cities, are HIV+.

* 200,000 New Yorkers are HIV+
* 40,000 don't know

Letter animation: ASCII movies

These are extremely cool. They take a minute or two to load but are well worth the wait. Thanks to ntk.net for the tip.

Best fractals ever

I know you like fractals, even if you don't know what they are yet. These are some of the best I've seen anywhere. Check them out.

Bicycle Bombing

See it in action (Quicktime movie)