Steampunk Maker Jake von Slatt took exception to Merlin Mann's hilarious steampunk monologue and has followed it up with a video-response of his own, noting the upcoming steampunk anthology (which looks frankly awesome -- I have a copy on my desk and I've just skimmed it, but I had to slam it down before I got drawn into it at a time when I've got no spare leisure reading cycles) and Maker Faire. Link

Charles Perry wrote a good article for the LA Times about Phillipe the Original, a restaurant that's celebrating its 100th anniversary in downtown Los Angeles this year. The restaurant is probably the origin of the French Dip sandwich. (A nearby place called Cole's also claims to be the creator.)

The restaurant spreads before you, six steps below ground: sawdust floors, lines of people, painted menus and neon beer signs on the walls. The lines--at peak hours there are 10 of them, each up to 20 people long--weave between the tables where scores of others are eating, oblivious to the crush. Pick a line and wait your turn.

When you reach the counter, you don't need to consult the menu on the wall, of course. You've been here before. You make it short and snappy--"Beef, double dip. Coleslaw, blueberry pie, coffee."

This is Philippe the Original, an L.A. institution that will be 100 years old in October. It has been serving French dip sandwiches--single-, double- and even triple-dipped--for 90 of those years.

Link

Pro-Tibetan human rights activists (who also erected the billboard shown above) are organizing a rally in San Francisco this Tuesday, April 8, to be led by Richard Gere, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Tibetan community leaders.

As China prepares to host the Olympics in August, the government is conducting the worst crackdown in Tibet since the 1960s Cultural Revolution. Come show your support for the Tibetan and Chinese people on the eve of the Beijing Olympic torch passing through San Francisco - the only stop in North America.

Where: United Nations Plaza, at Market & Hyde, near Civic Center BART
Rally & Speeches 6:00pm
Culture / Music 7:15pm
Candle Light Vigil 8:00pm

Link (Thanks Jake Appelbaum)

UPDATE: Sean Savage says,

1) On Wednesday, the day the torch will be run here, another big protest will take place.

2) SF Team Tibet will send out SMS updates to anyone who wants to take part on the 8th and 9th. People can send a text message with the word SFTORCH to the phone number 41411 to receive important text message updates on 8th and 9th.

Related BB posts:
* BBtv Vlog (Xeni): Tibet report - monks forced to participate in staged videos.
* BBtv Vlog (Xeni): Tibet's uprising and the internet.

Over on Boing Boing Gadgets, our Joel brings word of reader Willykea's newly discovered trove of vintage Epcot pix:

Miraculously, on the day this was first posted I was cleaning out my garage and found a box containing a thick, full-color brochure from 1982 announcing the opening of Epcot. I immediately thought of boingboing. I was shocked when I saw the headline "Incredible Epcot Concept Painting" the next morning and the associated picture that I had just been admiring the day before. The brochure was buried under a pile of old letters and memorabilia that I had held onto for almost 30 years and I found it a few hours before someone posted the picture of the painting online - amazing coincidence. I went out and bought a scanner so that I could share some additional images from the brochure with you guys

Link, Discuss on Boing Boing Gadgets

See also: Incredible Epcot concept painting

Kate sez, "I just finished a cross-stitch inspired by the famous Alfred Bester book The Demolished Man. I am a PhD student in cognitive science, so I couldn't resist turning the Greek symbol for 'psi' and logic symbol for negation (the tilde) into decorative details! I hope you like it. I made it for my husband who has inspired me towards post WWII science fiction." Link (Thanks, Kate!)