Speakers: Web 2.0 Summit 2008 (O'Reilly Media), "Al Gore Joins the Lineup at Web 2.0" (John Battelle's Searchblog)As we convene the fifth annual Web 2.0 Summit, our world is fraught with problems that engineers might charitably classify as NP hard—from roiling financial markets to global warming, failing healthcare systems to intractable religious wars. In short, it seems as if many of our most complex systems are reaching their limits.
It strikes us that the Web might teach us new ways to address these limits. From harnessing collective intelligence to a bias toward open systems, the Web's greatest inventions are, at their core, social movements. To that end, we're expanding our program this year to include leaders in the fields of healthcare, genetics, finance, global business, and yes, even politics.
Increasingly, the leaders of the Internet economy are turning their attention to the world outside our industry. And conversely, the best minds of our generation are turning to the Web for solutions. At the fifth annual Web 2.0 Summit, we'll endeavor to bring these groups together.
Place SunTable in a sunny outdoor location and it automatically stores backup energy. Get hours of power for laptops, cellphones, lights, radios, water purifiers, and more. Perfect for entertainment and vital during electrical blackouts.Sun Table: $2200.00The SunTable is designed for ease of use and weather-resistance. The solar cells charge the battery even when partially covered. A charged battery provides more than 4 hours of laptop use.
The teak frame and edging are low-maintenance and moisture-resistant. The stainless steel legs are resistant to weather. All the outer electronics are designed for outdoor use. Stainless leveling feet ensure an even tabletop surface. Zero moving parts. Hose down to clean.
The voltage meter displays the voltage of the battery, and the hour meter displays the total hours the table has been on. Its electrical output is 12 volts DC, like a car. With the included inverter, you have a regular wall outlet.
"You're a Bad Mommy!" 1941 Fletcher's Castoria magazine advertisement
You just chomp on this bit and then you can shave around it for perfect results every time. And you adjust three rollers's width, flawlessly conforming to your face, and also to your notion of what a real goatee looks like.
As soon as someone comes up with a PonytailSaver and SideburnSaver, the Blackwater/DEA hipster will have all his grooming accessory needs filled.
GoateeSaver (LikeCool)
I enjoyed this video of a youngster climbing through the prize-dispenser chute of one of those ripoff claw games. (via haha.nu)
Steampunk Dystopian Sniper Rifle (Mercury Bow)
I decided to make it recognizably steampunk, while staying true to my own style.Ive used a lot of metal, and a lot of card. and a lot of other stuff, so much inf act that there is no point me creating a list of items. The main barrel is made from metal, and the handle and stock is mostly card, dense card with a layer of corrugated.
Ok, this is about 5 weeks of work, off and on, i will try my best to explain, but its pretty length, so im gonna try and keep it short and sweet.
A Chicago Police officer has been suspended and ordered into counseling after she was found guilty of demanding free Starbucks coffee from five different stores on the North Side from 2001 to 2004, sometimes flashing her badge, displaying her gun and screaming at employees.Cop demands free coffee, but not at this Starbucks (via Starbucks Gossip)Officer Barbara Nevers of the Belmont police district was suspended for more than 15 months, according to records the Chicago Police Board released today.
For example, your DVDs have value as discs you put in a player, which you pay for when you buy them at a store. But when you rip the disc and put it on a portable player, then you realize some new value. According to "if value, then right," the studio that made the DVD has the right to be compensated for that new value. Otherwise, you're stealing.
Exploring this idea, David "Everything is Miscellaneous" Weinberger has compiled a list of "20 things I’ve stolen" according to the "If value, then right" theory.
1. I took an extra napkin from a Taco Bell for unspecified use “later.”20 things I’ve stolen
2. I sat on a bench on a hot day, enjoying the breeze as the man next to me fanned himself.
3. I read the headlines of a newspaper that was for sale in a kiosk box.
4. I divided a single-serving DingDong in two, and had it for dessert on two consecutive days.
5. I listened all the way through to a Metallica song emanating from my neighbor’s radio, but closed my window when the commercial came on.
6. I remembered the movie times in my newspaper from the day before so I wouldn’t have to buy a copy of the paper today.
7. When a friend’s cat chose my lap to sit in, I petted it, precisely to discourage it from moving to the lap of its rightful owner.
8. I said “What a long, strange trip it’s been” without air quotes.
9. On the Amtrak “quiet car,” I listened to a man in the seat ahead of me explaining to the bored woman next to him how he gets such a great shine on his shoes. I have since used his technique, successfully.
10. I have stared carefully at reproductions of great paintings.
The Future of Shopping Malls: An Image Essay
As malls across the country start to fade into obsolescence, what is to become of these massive structures? After spending some time searching out the most creative alternatives to abandonment and massive landfilling of these former monuments to chain-store consumerism, I've found that the future of shopping malls is hopeful and creative:The Factoria Mall in Bellevue is currently losing many stores, but redevelopment will begin soon in the hopes of creating a more useful, long-term multipurpose community space. The new Marketplace @ Factoria will still house retailers, but the redesign will add pedestrian walkways, outdoor dining, and even residential units.
(Image: Brian Lutz)
Our pals at Pressure Printing and Hi-Fructose Magazine teamed up to produce this incredible Travis Louie fine art print, titled "Bride of Stan." It's an intaglio print encased in a hand-cast resin frame with dome glass. As always with Pressure Printing, the attention to detail in the production process is incredible. The edition is limited to 50. Each one is signed, numbered, and sells for $350.
BBtv guest correspondent and blog pal Todd Lappin of Telstar Logistics takes us inside a steam-powered World War II "Liberty Ship," the SS Jeremiah O'Brien.
We marvel (!) at the cool old retro-technology that kept this behemoth boat running to and from the beaches of Normandy, and we meet the volunteer caretakers -- obsessive nerds just like us, only with white hair! -- who keep her ship-shape today. Did you know that shipyards in the San Francisco Bay Area once churned out Liberty Ships like this in 4 days or less, during the heat of the war? Watch and learn, li'l skippers.
Todd has a rockin' photoset of images from the ship, too.
Shot for BBtv by Eddie Codel, during the Long Now Foundation's Mechanicrawl.
Another Police Raid; More Dead Dogs (Thanks, Danny!)Cheye Calvo, mayor of DC suburb Berwyn Heights, was raided by a SWAT team after 30lbs of marijuana was delivered to his home. They broke down his door, shot his two black labradors, and interrogated him and his wife as their dogs bled to death.
Turns out Calvo says he had no idea about the package, which was still outside, unopened and perhaps waiting for its real recipient to pick it up. Police say they still had sufficient cause to break in (even though they did not have a "no-knock warrant").
There’s this broad consensus that the Virginia Tech murders had something to do with violent video games. When you actually read the coroner's inquest report, video games are mentioned twice. The first is his mother saying he never wanted to play those video games. The second is his roommate saying, "We always thought he was weird because he never wanted to play video games." Yet it’s still a truism that violent video games must be responsible for Virginia Tech.LinkWe have the capacity to surveil and control adolescents ion a way we’ve never done before. We chase them indoors and then we tell them that all the virtual places they might gather, we need to surveil them because of the ever-present threat of pedophiles and because of the ever-present need to market to them. We've really hemmed in adolescence in a way we never have before.
'Virophage' suggests viruses are alive (via /.)With just 21 genes, Sputnik is tiny compared with its mama — but insidious. When the giant mamavirus infects an amoeba, it uses its large array of genes to build a ‘viral factory’, a hub where new viral particles are made. Sputnik infects this viral factory and seems to hijack its machinery in order to replicate. The team found that cells co-infected with Sputnik produce fewer and often deformed mamavirus particles, making the virus less infective. This suggests that Sputnik is effectively a viral parasite that sickens its host — seemingly the first such example.
The team suggests that Sputnik is a ‘virophage’, much like the bacteriophage viruses that infect and sicken bacteria. “It infects this factory like a phage infects a bacterium,” Koonin says. “It’s doing what every parasite can — exploiting its host for its own replication.”
Paranoia Travel: Get Spied on at This Scary German Bar (Thanks, Marilyn!)
Make a day of Cold War anti-nostalgia with a visit to the Stasi Museum around the corner, which shows off the offices of the last minister of the secret police who flourished before the Wall came down. There are even prison cells to reenact the fates of those who were brought to the grim, blocky building.When that display becomes too much, buy a beer and apply for an ID card at the theme bar, called "The Company" or "At the Firm." The cards will mark you as a Stasi informant, but also get you a ten percent discount--not at all offensive to the victims of the reign of terror perpetrated by the secret police.
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