guest post by Jackson West

Earlier this month, a note purportedly detailing a break-in to the former residence of Lev Davidovish Trotsky (née Bronstein) in Mexico, the theft of his cremains and the subsequent baking of said ashes into cookies was posted on Infoshop.  In a few days, it had circulated among related news sites, blogs and message boards. 

It smelled like a hoax (and cinnamon) from a mile away, so I gave the cookies a little time to cool off.  The Village Voice, after a little online research, pointed out that whatever was left of the bearded and bespectacled hero of the Russian Revolution (and villain of the Kronstadt anarchist uprising) was buried, not placed in an urn.  Still, nice to see a new generation of revolutionaries still honoring the factional divides of a century ago.

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The Rumor of Leon Trotsky’s Ashes Stolen & Baked Into Cookies Was A Delicious Hoax

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guest post by Burstein!

On May 2nd, 2009, come unite for the International Workers Day of Celebration at the May Day Party in West Oakland. The Golden Mean, a snail car of legend, will be present along with the fantastic Boiler Bar. Also, the Boiler Bar Theater will be performing with special guests like Phat Man Dee, One Man Banjo, and Sister Kate.

Dance Around the May Pole
Gods and Goddesses dress in your best May outfit and be Crowned May Queen and King
Break from the Toil of your Labour to wait in the Soup Line
Talk about the State of the Union
Drink handmade Hooch from the Boiler Bar
See May Spring Forth in Flaming Aerial Spectacles
Touch the Golden Mean the Giant Iron Snail Car
Delight in the Simplicity of Fire and Sand
Shocked by the smoothness of our Drinks
Yell Mayday in a crowd
With: Black Smithing by Shawn Lovell

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May Day Party, A Fundraiser For The Golden Mean & The Boiler Bar Theater

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guest post by Burstein!

Pet Airways, whose motto is “Travel for Your Best Friend”, is a pet-only airline that will save your fine feathered/furry companion from the indignity of the cargo hold. Along with the joys of potty breaks, there are personal attendants and even a pet lounge where the “pawsenger” can chill until you can pick them up.

The service launches in July starting at $149 for a one way flight.

via Modern Cat

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Pet Airways, The World’s First Pets Only Airline

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guest post by Burstein!

photo by Anna Skladman

Photographer Anna Skladman has a beautiful series of Little Adults.

“The series “Little Adults” explores what it feels like to be a privileged child living in Russia, a country where its radical history and social hierarchy still rules their daily lives. It is the exploration of the recently growning society of the “Nouveau-Riche” in which little children have been raised to become the “Elite” and behave like little adults.”

photo by Anna Skladman

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Anna Skladmann Photographs the Children of Russia’s Nouveau-Riche

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guest post by Burstein!

Superman. Alien life form with super powers. Occasional Communist threat to America. Whatever you could say about the big fella, we all knew the basic outline of his origins. Marlin Brando stuck him on a rocket to earth from the planet Krypton, which then was destroyed by a supernova. The rocket lands, and the farmers Kent find the super-baby and raise him as their own. Beyond that, the details were vague until Jay Pinkerton hilariously put the pieces together for us.

via Reddit

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The True Origins of Superman Revealed

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Facebook recently released a slick new desktop app that runs on Adobe Air with a built-in auto refresh feature. Along with updating your status, can also “Like” and comment on your friends updates right from the app, which will ultimately lead to much more interactivity. Right on, one less service I need to log into for updates.

I currently have the Facebook app sitting next to Tweetie for Mac on my desktop, it’s is like having a 2nd chance seeing the all stuff you miss on Twitter.

Speaking of desktop apps, Seesmic Desktop will soon be including Fackbook updates along with Twitter, adding another great option to the mix.

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Facebook Releases New Desktop App

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“Here Come the Dinosaurs” by Paul and Storm. You can’t stop them!

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Here Come the Dinosaurs by Paul and Storm

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guest post by Burstein!

Superheros are real and many of them happen to have MySpace pages. Fortunately, if you are in need, you can access the World Superhero Registry, which aggregates the bios and contact info for many real life costumed superheros. The Registry even goes so far as to identify if their heroics are confirmed or not.

Embedded video from CNN Video

For example the Shadow Hare of The Allegiance of Heroes in Cincinnati was recently injured when preventing a man from beating a woman.

photo by Bernardo Bolaños

Superbarrio Gómez does not use violence, but actually may be placing himself at more risk by being a labor organizer and forced evictions in Mexico. As I used to do similar work in Cambodia, sans spandex and cape, I can attest to the very real risk that local organizers like this take.

More locally, we have The Eye who uses “various self-created electronic devices and other means to prevent crime, and help others in need whenever and wherever possible.”

No matter how they do it, I have to respect the fact that these individuals have the courage to not just face crime, but also the flaws in society (as they perceive them). Just like all the pranksters we profile here at Laughing Squid, these folks aren’t taking reality sitting down. As Ghost, one of the co-founders of the Black Monday Society, says “Doesn’t matter how many people snicker at us. what matters is we are out there doing our duty for justice.” Good on them.

via reddit

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The World Superhero Registry, A List of Real Life Costumed Crime Fighters

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guest post by Burstein!

photo by Nemo’s Great Uncle

Kanamara Matsuri is a Shinto Festival of the Steel Phallus that takes place each Spring in Kawasaki, Japan. The origins of this festival stem from an innkeepers daughter who had the misfortune of having a demon with sharp teeth fall in love with her. As demons are wont to do, the little bastard decided to take up residency in her vagina, and then wield his sharp teeth against the innkeeper’s daughter’s male companions. Enter Hero Blacksmith who crafted a fine steel phallus, which broke the poor demon’s teeth.

photo by Jordon Cheung

Nowadays, the festival focuses on the more general theme of sexual safety and sex worker safety. The festival is also used to raise money for HIV/AIDS research. Causes we all can get *ahem* behind.

Here are more photos of the festival from Akademi Fantasia Travel Blog.

photo by Héctor Ratia

Jokes aside, we here in San Francisco have plenty of our own sex-positive festivals, but I still feel that we will be trailing Japan in the Awesome Party category until we get our own Squid Festival.

See Previously: Squid vs. Robots Featured in Hakodate, Japan Tourism Videos

via Akademi Fantasia Travel Blog

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Kanamara Matsuri, The Annual Penis Festival in Kawasaki, Japan

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Dan Gurewitch from CollegeHumor experiments with the concept of Real Life Twitter.

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Real Life Twitter

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guest post by Burstein!

Obscura Digital recently created some amazing 3D Animated Projections on the old San Francisco Mint for McAfee’s Party Red during the RSA Conference by using a blend of 7 HD projectors, Autodesk 3ds Max and a 3D model of the Mint.

Obscura Digital did something similar with Michael Tilson Thomas and the YouTube Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.

via Gizmodo

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Obscura Digital Creates 3D Animated Projections on The Old San Francisco Mint

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photos by Pete Souza

The Official White House Photostream on Flickr has some amazing candid photos shot by Pete Souza of US President Barack Obama during his first 100 days in office.

via Flickr Blog

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Candid Photos of Barack Obama on Flickr of His First 100 Days in Office

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Neatorama illustrator Chris Murphy came up with a really great “Swine Flu: Bacon’s Revenge” t-shirt in honor of our latest pandemic.

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Swine Flu: Bacon’s Revenge T-Shirt

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guest post by Burstein!

Augmented Reality Scratching is an utterly awesome little hack that Todd Vanderlin came up with. In short, Augmented Reality is a technique where computer graphic is transposed onto real footage in real time. One way of doing this is to use markers that the computer will track on a coordinate system.

So by figuring out the velocity of the records rotation and applying it to the payback of the audio you can scratch. There is some digital noise that needs to bee worked out, but sounds pretty good. Its still really hard to scratch, it takes some practice but is super fun. The next step is to figure out some nice triggers for different modes. I like the idea of not needing a turntable but the actual spinning of the record helps with the scratching and playback. I made a couple modes, one where the record is paused and you can just scratch through the song. The other looks for zero velocity for x time and then continues on with the song. If there is velocity you then are scratching and the audio is affected. I think that this project has some legs can’t wait to play more.

photo by Todd Vanderlin

via Waxy

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Augmented Reality Scratching, Vinyl Record Scratching Without a Turntable

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guest post by Burstein!

photo by Audrey Penven

Some brilliant pranksters installed beautiful swings on BART last night. What apparently happened, according to witnesses, was a team of six or so people hopped on to a north-bound train from 24th Street station in San Francisco around 8:30 p.m. last night, installed three matching red swings, and then exited at 16th Street leaving their swings behind for public consumption.

Luckily, photos were taken to record the event.

photo by Neiltron

I personally love this prank because of the joy that it inspires in the innocent by-standers. Look at the photos. Even the dudes that are not swinging are smiling (except for one woman - that is just how some people role, i guess). I declare this to be an epic victory for joy and whimsy over the mundane!

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Pranksters Install Swings on BART

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guest post by Burstein!

In the same vein as the anonymous “Post No Bills” vigilante that defiantly posted Bills in Culver City back in 2006, the Post More Bills campaign is actively encouraging wanton Bill proliferation across our public spaces.

Post More Bills campaign calls for posting as much bills as possible. Bills – A response to “Post No Bills”–attack New York City. Bills likes to appear wherever they are not wanted. A humorous approach to posting your own thoughts on the street. There is no hidden program, there is no bigger meaning, other than to spreading Bills far and wide and bring a bit of playful relief in our visually saturated media environment. As you walk through the city you will find yourself bombarded with images that promise or imply or accuse. We want to find the space in-between this visual cacophony and place there a part of you. And we want you to help. We want the Bills to grow and flourish, so please feel free to help them grow, include them in your own designs.The only condition we ask is that you make no money from the image. The bills are free for you to download, reproduce and modify, so long as they are not used for commercial gain.

See Previously: Post No Bills

via Urban Prankster

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The Post More Bills Campaign Calls For Posting As Many Bills As Possible

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guest post by Burstein!

photo by Audrey Penven

Last Saturday’s How to Destroy the Universe Part 6 at NIMBY was a smashing success. Rather than tell you all about it, here are some photos and video.

Chicken John flies and sings as he dodges bottle rockets! Who would have thunk it? In all seriousness, the dude was surprisingly nimble for his advanced age.

photo by Audrey Penven

Flame on (thank god for the proximity suits)!

photo by Ed Rabbit

And a lovely video of our very own Slim putting up a noble effort to not get toasted while on the raver level of Dance Dance Immolation.

video by Ed Rabbit

And of an interview with Qarly of Corpus Callosum fame as I am getting suited up to be the next hunk of toast contestant.

video by Ed Rabbit

And a beautiful shot of the Life Size Mousetrap.

photo by Audrey Penven

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Photos & Video of How to Destroy the Universe Part 6 at NIMBY

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