Geoff sez, "The Academic Film Achive of North America's "Save a Film" inititative encourages people to sponsor the uploading of a rare film from our 6,000+ 16mm film archive to the Internet Archive for free public viewing. Subject areas include animation, art, documentary, and science. The site decribes how to navigate the AFA's chronological list of film shows from which to pick a film, and even offers a page of suggested films. Sponsorship is tax-deductable, and the sponsor gets credit on Internet Archive's site for helping to save this important element of cinematic history."
Link
(Thanks, Geoff!)
Donate to the Academic Film Institute and save a rare movie
Geoff sez, "The Academic Film Achive of North America's "Save a Film" inititative encourages people to sponsor the uploading of a rare film from our 6,000+ 16mm film archive to the Internet Archive for free public viewing. Subject areas include animation, art, documentary, and science. The site decribes how to navigate the AFA's chronological list of film shows from which to pick a film, and even offers a page of suggested films. Sponsorship is tax-deductable, and the sponsor gets credit on Internet Archive's site for helping to save this important element of cinematic history."
Link
(Thanks, Geoff!)
Animated Alan Watts
South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and their pals animated several audio recordings of Alan Watts, an iconic philosopher and writer who turned scores of people on to Zen Buddhism.Link (Thanks, Anthony Hall!)
Plastic God's Axis of Evil Lego-like figurines
Plastic God has made a series of plastic figurines of leaders who have made a lot of people miserable. The Saddam Hussein doll glows in the dark to indicate his posthumous status.
Plastic God’s Axis of Evil is a limited edition boxed set of 5” rotocast collectibles, featuring everyone’s favorite cast of current political icons: Saddam Hussein, Tony Blair, Kim Jong-il, George “W” Bush and Osama bin Laden. The dolls have 7 points of articulation and come packed together in a flip open window door box.Link
Charles Simonyi, astronaut, interviewed today
In April, former Microsoft exec Charles Simonyi took the longest space tourist trip in history. He spent two weeks aboard the International Space Station, having traveled there aboard a Soyuz rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Simonyi documented his experiences in training, in space, and back on terra firm at his terrific site Charles In Space. (Image at right shows the view from his window in the descent capsule.)
Today, I had the opportunity to talk with Charles at Science Foo Camp, a mind-blowing "unconference" of scientists, big thinkers, and other people much smarter than I, hosted by O'Reilly Media, Nature Publishing, and Google. Charles is quite, er, down-to-Earth, but when he reminisced about his time in space his eyes lit up with wonder. His enthusiasm was infectious--this is the space age, and we are here to go! Sign me up! I hope you enjoy this brief audio interview with Charles Simonyi about his spaced-out adventure. (Music is "Theme from 2001" by The Ray McVay Roadshow, 1974).
[Browser-compatibility note: The audio link in this post appears as embedded Flash, and is brought to you by HP's iPaq 510 Voice Messenger. If your web reader doesn't allow you to access Flash, here's a direct MP3 Link. Enjoy!]
Typewriter art
Andrew Macrae creates lovely text art on acid-free paper using a 1965 Olympia SG3 and a 1968 Hermes 3000 typewriter and colored ribbons. No Wite-Out, either! Impressive. Link (Thanks, Andrew!)
Update: Ben sez, "I thought it might interest you to know that he did the cover of my autobiography, Twenty-Six Lies/One Truth, which was published by Wheatland Press late last year. He won an award for the cover."
Mule library
Bibliomulas are mules toting mini-libraries to remote communities in Venezuela in an effort to encourage reading. Sometimes, the mules also carry projectors and laptop computers. A BBC News reporter recently took a trip with the Bibliomulas through the foothills of the Andes. From the BBC News:
Link (Thanks, Paul Saffo!)Anyone who was not out working the fields - tending the celery that is the main crop here - was waiting for our arrival. The 23 children at the little school were very excited.
"Bibilomu-u-u-u-las," they shouted as the bags of books were unstrapped. They dived in eagerly, keen to grab the best titles and within minutes were being read to by Christina and Juana, two of the project leaders.
When Amber met Amber
Video and performance artist Amber Hawk Swanson ordered a life-sized, realistic sex doll made to look just like her, and named it Amber. The couple scampered off to Vegas and got married. "Their wedding video and other footage documenting their relationship will screen for the public this week," reports the Chicago Reader. Link. (Thanks, Susannah Breslin)
DefCon 15: video of NBC "Dateline" mole fleeing premises
According to DefCon staff reports, NBC DATELINE producer Michelle Madigan attended this year's underground hacking conference in Las Vegas without identifying herself as press, and with a hidden camera tucked away in her purse -- hoping to catch conference attendees confessing to crimes in the presence of federal agents, a la "To Catch a Predator."But the first rule of exploits, as anyone in the room worth their SSH could have told her, is -- don't get caught. Ms. Madigan was.
In this video, she departs Defcon 15, escorted by a phalanx of unfriendly jeering persons, having just being outed. Video Link.
One YouTube commentser jokes, "She was probably really easy to spot, since she was probably the only girl there." A bit of an overstatement, as the video was shot by a decidedly female DefCon attendee named Elizabeth Safran -- but the point's not entirely off. I mean, at least wear a hoodie or avoid shaving for a few days. (I kid, I kid! I kid because I love!)
Previously on BB:
Update: Wired Threat Level blog has more.
According to DefCon staff, Madigan had told someone she wanted to out an undercover federal agent at DefCon. That person in turn warned DefCon about Madigan's plans. Federal law enforcement agents from FBI, DoD, United States Postal Inspection Service and other agencies regularly attend DefCon to gather intelligence on the latest techniques of hackers. DefCon holds an annual contest called Spot the Fed, in which attendees out people in the audience they think are undercover federal agents. The contest is good-natured, but the feds who get caught are generally ones who don't mind getting caught.Link.DefCon staff say that Madigan was asked four times -- two times on the phone and two times at the conference -- if she wanted to obtain press credentials, but she declined.
Continue reading DefCon 15: video of NBC "Dateline" mole fleeing premises.
Students produce the future of newsgathering
Citizen journalism evangelist Dan Gillmor writes in with word of the student projects from the News21 Initiative jointly held at at Berkeley, Northwestern, Columbia and USC. He says, "This year it's called 'Faces of Faith in America,' and includes all kinds of neat Web stuff in addition to traditional media production."
There are some pretty amazing interactive, Web-native multimedia presentations among the student work, including:
* Minorities Representing Majorities: a Google Maps mashup showing the 40 electoral districts where politicians who practice "minority faiths" (like Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism) serve as governmental representatives. The presentation includes video profiles of seven of these leaders.
* Magical Mystery Tour: A guided tour to the centers of "spiritual seekers" in California -- drag the lens over different sites, from Mount Shasta to Salvation Mountain and see videos of the seekers who come to them.
Data Road Trip: A national map of the statistical hotspots for crises and upwellings of faith and religion, including the Bronx, with the highest abortion rate in the nation; Arkansas, where the divorce rate is highest; and LA County, with the largest number of Hindu temples. Click on each for a smart mini-video documentary.
These student presentations are better than anything I've seen from "real" news agencies and could serve as a model for the future of interactive/online journalism.
Play Infocom Hitchhiker's text adventure by IM
Ben Burry has hooked up a Jabber bot to a copy of the old Infocom Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy text adventure game. Now you can play H2G2 over IM -- or over phone, if you have an IM-to-SMS gateway running! Link (via Games * Design * Art * Culture)
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