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Here’s a funny for you. If you don’t like funnies, don’t click on the “More” thingie

Continue reading ‘Political Science for Dummies’ »

Be there on April 13th… or miss it!

Darn it, $2 million will be the best hush money ever spent on a politician since… well, I don’t know since -that- hush money kept the scandal quiet.

Well, except for how the Mooninites are giving us one more push down the slope to McArthyism with this stupidity

[Boston Mayor] Curtatone proposed an ordinance that would allow for nontraditional marketing in the city, but would also regulate it. The ordinance will be considered first by the Board of Aldermen Legislative Matters committee, and then by the full board.

“We’re not trying to quell free speech, we just want to make sure we monitor these actions,” Curtatone said.

I’m proud to be a Pastafarian.

A while back, I made this T-Shirt for myself (with my own original artwork :-). It has brought me joy. It should bring you and your loved ones joy as well. Click and buy one. If you want it in a different color or style or something, email me.

It reads, “Mine is a kind and loving pasta”

If you have a Girl in your life, you can get her this snazzy double-sided shirt. I (made and) got one for my Girl!

“5,000 Years Ago, When Pirates Ruled The Earth!”

I went to the Mark Pauline lecture (founder of SRL) at CCA. Suprisingly, I met up with an acquaintance of mine at the lecture. She goes to school there. The world just got smaller :-)

The lecture was very good. Two things I noticed….

He lost part of his right hand in an accident many years ago. He functions well missing 2 fingers and a thumb but I’m sure he’d rather have kept them. That’s a big reminder to me to always be safe in the shop; it just takes 1 accident… and you don’t ever get them back.

I asked, “Do your shows pay for themselves?”

“Oh no. I lose hundreds of thousands of dollars on them. In San Jose last summer, we had a paying audience so I just lost $15,000. Normally it’s much more.” He talked a little bit about how he uses it as a promotional expense on his taxes. Just after the show, he mused how he’s probably lost millions over the years.

Oh and he told us where the name “Survival Research Labs” comes from. It was pretty funny. It’s a story involving corporate re-appropriation, Soldier of Fortune Magazine, figuring out how to kill the right wing when the time came, sniper scopes and a mail fraud PO Box in Georgia. :-)

Two of my friends are working on different telepresense technologies. How scary/cool do you think they are?! The time is totally ripe for these things. Years ago, I had a gig at Picturetel. Their video conference solution cost $20k and didn’t work 1/2 as well as Skype video conference does today (BTW, if you want to use reliable video conference software between you and your family, I definitely recommend Skype video. It’s really easy to use and free.)

This seems to be a worthy petition to sign. It’s got about 24,000 signatures so far…

To: Internet Radio Listeners

To my Congressional representatives, and to Congress as a whole,

As a fan of Internet radio, I was alarmed to learn that music royalty rates were recently determined by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) which, if enacted, would certainly silence most or all of my favorite online listening services. For most webcasters, this royalty rate represents more than 100% of their total revenues!

The shuttering of the webcasting industry would be a loss for not only independent business owners, but also for musical artists, for copyright owners, and for listeners like me who enjoy the wide variety of choices available via Internet radio.

I respectfully request that Congress look into this matter and initiate action to prevent it. As the CRB rate decision is retroactive to January 1, 2006, please understand that time is of the essence — as the immediate impact of this decision could silence many free Internet radio stations forever.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

My parents have a gazillion of them. What we (I) did was put all of them into a cardboard box on a bottom cabinet shelf. So looking for tupper involves pulling the box out instead of getting on hands and knees and wading through them all. Since they’re in a box, they don’t scoot around the cabinet the way that so many pieces of slick plastic normally would.

Another solution is to get all tuppers that are the same size and nest inside each other. Though I still haven’t found a brand of quality tuppers that do this. The inexpensive ones from Glad wear out after 5-20 washings and you’re never really guaranteed a seal vs. liquids with them.

The best partial solution is to get rid of 80% of what you have because just because the container is still perfectly good doesn’t mean you have to keep it.   ;-)

I went to SF Dorkbot last night with Charlotte and her friend Sam.

It was terrific. I only got to see the first 2 main speakers and Ken Murphy. Those guys have done a -lot- of cool stuff. And they presented wonderfully.

(from a followup email)

Main Presenters

dan maynes-aminzade

afshin mehin

evolution control committee

Open dorks

ken murphy

leila hasan –
marc powell –
korntee –
and i’m missing the URLs for the others…

and special thanks to MC jonathan foote, niklas terczak for the BBQ (he’s a pro chef!)

and most of all to scott arford for hosting us at one of the spaces in SF (fond partying and noise show memories) at 7hz

i took some too much flash or too little flash photos here:

I’ll be at the Maker Faire along with some other Lotus Girls with a couple FLG Angel of the Apocalypse Feathers

Hey, anybody else going to this? Wanna go with me?
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http://www.cca.edu/calendar/
http://www.cca.edu/about/directions.php

Oakland campus
5212 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94618-1426
510.594.3600

Mark Pauline: Survival Research Laboratories «
Media Arts lecture
Thursday, March 15, 7:30 pm

Nahl Hall, Oakland campus
Info: 510.594.3656

Survival Research Laboratories (SRL) was conceived of and founded by Mark Pauline in November 1978. Since then, SRL has operated as an organization of creative technicians dedicated to redirecting the techniques, tools, and tenets of industry, science, and the military away from their typical manifestations in practicality, product, and warfare.

Since 1979, SRL has staged over 45 mechanized presentations. Each performance consists of a unique set of ritualized interactions between machines, robots, and special effects devices, employed in developing themes of sociopolitical satire. Humans are present only as audience or operators.