If you don't like your bags being out of your sight and it makes you uncomfortable to think that airline workers are rifling through your stuff, you can take advantage of the TSA's own security rules by—eek—packing a gun.

Photo by Vince Alongi.

Most of the time, travelers are on the short-end of TSA regulations. In this instance, however, you can use travel rules to your advantage. If you're traveling with equipment you would prefer locked up and watched more closely than your run of the mill luggage, you can pack a firearm with the equipment or luggage. Whether or not you own an actual firearm isn't important—the TSA considers a starter pistol a firearm, and it must be checked in and secured properly. Bruce Shneier, on his security and privacy centered blog, highlights how some creative professional photographers have been using this rule to their advantage. One of the photographers writes:

A "weapons" is defined as a rifle, shotgun, pistol, airgun, and STARTER PISTOL. Yes, starter pistols - those little guns that fire blanks at track and swim meets - are considered weapons...and do NOT have to be registered in any state in the United States.

I have a starter pistol for all my cases. All I have to do upon check-in is tell the airline ticket agent that I have a weapon to declare...I'm given a little card to sign, the card is put in the case, the case is given to a TSA official who takes my key and locks the case, and gives my key back to me.

That's the procedure. The case is extra-tracked...TSA does not want to lose a weapons case. This reduces the chance of the case being lost to virtually zero.

It's a great way to travel with camera gear...I've been doing this since Dec 2001 and have had no problems whatsoever.

You can pick up a super basic starter pistol for around $16-20—really nice starter pistols can easily cost $100-200, but you're not concerned about the quality—a rather small sum to ensure that your case of photography equipment or personal effects will be watched more carefully and only opened in your presence.

Have your own off-beat way of keeping your stuff safe while traveling? Let's hear about it in the comments.

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Paintings by Nick Lepard. A fellow Emily Carr grad.

Hugh Pickens writes "The Telegraph reports that scientists have created the first artificial meat by extracting cells from the muscle of a live pig and putting them in a broth of other animal products where the cells then multiplied to create muscle tissue. Described as soggy pork, researchers believe that it can be turned into something like steak if they can find a way to 'exercise' the muscle and while no one has yet tasted the artificial meat, researchers believe the breakthrough could lead to sausages and other processed products being made from laboratory meat in as little as five years' time. '"What we have at the moment is rather like wasted muscle tissue. We need to find ways of improving it by training it and stretching it, but we will get there," says Mark Post, professor of physiology at Eindhoven University. "You could take the meat from one animal and create the volume of meat previously provided by a million animals." Animal rights group Peta has welcomed the laboratory-grown meat, announcing that "as far as we're concerned, if meat is no longer a piece of a dead animal there's no ethical objection while the Vegetarian Society remained skeptical. "The big question is how could you guarantee you were eating artificial flesh rather than flesh from an animal that had been slaughtered. It would be very difficult to label and identify in a way that people would trust.""

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Shared by Matt
Got one in my closet. Will sell for $50,000.

This is unconfirmed by Technics, but DJ equipment retailer DMC says that DJing on a turntable is officially dead – Technics is discontinuing the classic SL-1210 MK5 Direct Drive Turntable:

Panasonic (the manufacturer of Technics) have announced that production of the world famous Technics SL-1200 and SL-1210 DJ turntables will stop at the end of February 2010.

If you are interested in securing a pair of the legendary turntables before they are gone, we have a limited number left in stock at DMC.

Is traditionally DJing really dead? Let me know what you think!

shitmydadsays: “We’re banned from the dog park. Well, I guess it’s okay to hump, and it’s okay to bark, but both at the same time freaks people out."

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shitmydadsays: "I like the dog. If he can't eat it, or fuck it, he pisses on it. I can get behind that."

Meet Nathan Fowkes. He’s teaching a painting workshop today in Pasadena. It’s sold out, but there’s still time to sign up for another session in December.

I found his work via google reader’s automated suggestions, which I’ve now learned not to ignore.

Posted by Adam Koford on Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog | Permalink | One comment
Tags: blog, classes, Drawing, instruction, painting

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Paintings by Adrian Ghenie.

Paintings by Vince Contarino. Brooklyn.

(be sure to click to enlarge)

(be sure to click to enlarge)

Photos nicked from David's blog here.

This is AMAZING. James Paterson creates a drawing using Rhonda, a 3D tool designed by Amit Pitaru. I must get my hands on this!

Watch the incredible video below!

Flickr user Ondrej Kovacik has posted some lovely Illustrations by Mirko Hanák for Bambi - A life in the woods, a book by Felix Salten released in Chzechoslovakia in 1967.

These dudes, make music... Step your game up...
This guy physically plays an instrument??? instrument? what's that?...
...and this dude, don't need no stinking tables... ...this dude, don't need no stinking records... ...this dude, don't need no stinking tables or records... ...and thiiiiis one don't need no legs to rock, creating the total package... Tuesday... not much going on! but, Get to work; there's some big shoes to fill.

Jordan Seiler's incrediblely ambitious "New York Street Advertising Takeover" became a reality yesterday, when over 120 illegal billboards throughout the city were white washed by dozens of volunteers.

NYSAT was organized as a reaction to the hundreds of billboards that are not registered with the city, and therefore are illegal. While illegal, these violations are not being prosecuted by the City of New York, allowing the billboard companies to garner huge profits by cluttering our outdoor space with intrusive and ugly ads.

After the illegal spots were white washed, late in the day yesterday over eighty artists transformed these spaces into personal pieces of art.

Here's some of the initial photos that are coming in:

Artist: Ji Lee

Artist: Clarina Bezzola

Photo nicked from here.

Photo nicked from here.

The other day Sara and I had the pleasure of spending some time with artist/designer Matt W. Moore, who had come down to New York from Maine for the PSFK Conference. We were blown away by not only Matt's work but by how cool of a guy he is. If you are not familiar with his work, click here.