Arte Útil / Loompanics

Initiator(s)

Bik van der Pol

Description

The project includes a selection of 140 books from Loompanics Unlimited publishers, Washington. Out of business since 2006, this publishing house had for decades published manuals that ‘your mother and the state would rather you didn’t read’. Subjects varied from practical handbooks on ‘How to Develop a Low- Cost Family Food- Storage System’ to less generally acceptable publications as ‘Gourmet Cannabis Cookery’ and controversial self-help books as ‘How to Start Your Own Country’, ‘Homemade Guns and Homemade Arms’, or ‘How to Clear Your Adult and Juvenile Criminal Records’. Users are invited to read the publications and make copies of the manuals, meaning they can follow instructions and realise projects on their own.

Location

The Netherlands

Goals

To allow users free access to material, bypassing reproduction rights and encouraging them to use the manuals themselves.

Beneficial outcomes

Users gain free access to Loompanics publications

Users

Bik van der Pol, readers of Loompanics publications and users of the museum

Links

http://www.bikvanderpol.net/?book=1&page=65

Loompanics Unlimited : Open Library

Loompanics Unlimited was an American book seller and publisher specializing in nonfiction on generally unconventional or controversial topics. The topics in their title list included drugs, weapons, anarchismsexconspiracy theories, and so on. Many of their titles describe some kind of illicit or extralegal actions, such as Counterfeit I.D. Made Easy, while others are purely informative, like Opium for the Masses. Loompanics was in business for nearly 30 years. The publisher and editor was Michael Hoy.

Mike Hoy started Loompanics Unlimited in East Lansing, Michigan, in 1975.[1][2] In 1982 he moved the business to Port Townsend, Washington, where his friend and fellow publisher R. W. Bradford had earlier relocated.[3]

In January 2006, Loompanics announced that it was going out of business, and that it was selling off its inventory. In the spring of 2006, Paladin Press announced that it acquired the rights to 40 titles previously published or sold by Loompanics, including the works of Claire WolfeEddie the Wire, and other popular Loompanics authors.[4] (Wikipedia)

 

LINKhttps://openlibrary.org/publishers/Loompanics_Unlimited

FBI releases files on controversial booksellers Paladin and Loompanics

The FBI has released its files on two famously controversial publishers, Paladin Press and Loompanics Unlimited, following a FOIA request filed by Government Attic. The files suggest that the booksellers’ huge libraries of books on drugs, guns and other ultra-libertarian issues only rarely drew the FBI’s attention.

Full Story Link: https://boingboing.net/2011/07/20/fbi-releases-files-o-1.html

Loompanics

In 2005 the respected Northwest radical publisher Loompanics Unlimited closed their doors after 30+ years and we acquired much of their inventory, together with Last Earth Distro, Earthlight Books, and Last Word Books and Press we are attempting to fill their large shoes. Please inquire further as to additional Loompanics titles we may have available. If you are seeking publication please send us a manuscript.

LINKhttps://www.earthlightbooks.com/ci_2480.html

The dark web puts a new twist on the age-old practice of counterfeiting

When Secret Service Agent Matthew Britsch began trawling for major counterfeiters in the shadowy marketplaces of the dark web, he acted like any smart consumer on eBay — he studied the reviews.

Britsch knew he had struck gold when he found Billmaker, the online moniker of an anonymous counterfeiter who promised a high-quality $100 bill and a money-back guarantee. He even had a loyal fan base who praised his work and customer service with scores of positive reviews.

“Very good quality and got here quick,” one gushed.

“All passed with no issue whatsoever,” another wrote, approvingly. “FRESH CLEAN BILLS!” agreed a third.

“Billmaker was a five-star guy,” said Britsch. “He wanted those five-star reviews to help him sell more bills. That was clearly his goal.”

The agent clicked “buy” and in September 2017 purchased four fake $100 bills for $120 in bitcoin, the online cryptocurrency. The counterfeits arrived on time and were as good as promised.

An analysis by Secret Service experts linked the fraudulent bills to thousands of others that had been passed with a total face value of $4.1 million. That made Billmaker the nation’s most prolific domestic counterfeiter.

LINKhttps://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pol-dark-web-counterfeiter-20190201-story.html