Enduring Voices

"Every 14 days a language dies. By 2100, more than half of the more than 7,000 languages spoken on Earth - many of them not yet recorded - may disappear, taking with them a wealth of knowledge about history, culture, the natural environment, and the human brain."

Not something we think about that often. Especially in a country where so few of us speak more than language. In a country, where many folks do not even have a mastery of our official language, English. But the connection between language and culture is incredibly strong, and our ability to truly understand unique cultures is dramatically diminished should their language go extinct.

Check out the following links for more information about the challenge and some attempts to save linguistic knowledge:

Enduring Voices Project (National Geographic) -
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/mission/enduringvoices/

Living Tongues Institutes -
http://www.livingtongues.org/

Free Music: Nine Inch Nails, Jane's Addiction & Street Sweeper

Yo music fans! More freebie tunage just released to coincide with the Ninja 2009 tour featuring Nine Inch Nails (NIN), Jane's Addiction and the Tom Morello and Boots Riley (from The Coup) new side project, Street Sweeper.

Just go to Ninja2009.com and get it.

Fight! Smash! Win!

Your Own Private Sovereign Island

Have you ever wanted to have your own island? I certainly... and continue to dream about how to manage that coup. Apparently, I'm not the only one. And these guys make me seem almost normal.

Yes... another Wired article was the basis of this find: Live Free or Drown.

Patri Friedman is Executive Director of the Seasteading Institute. A bit on the kooky side? Maybe. But then again, folks who innovate and otherwise come up with new, cool stuff & ideas generally are a bit wacked out.

The ideas of Mr. Friedman and the Seasteading Institute should appeal to the wannabe pirate and Libertarians alike.

Laptop Graffiti

Whenever I see stuff like these skins, I always want to buy some. Then I almost never do. Maybe this time I will.

Infectious has solid stuff. Although I'm not too hip to the car decals.

The Age of Agnotology

Agnotology: derived from the Greek root agnosis, it is the "study of culturally constructed ignorance". In other words - if society as a whole doesn't really know something accurately, it is often because "special interests" work hard to create confusion.

Sounds like another word for propaganda.

Beware the Corpus Clock

The ravenous locust has always freaked me out a bit. They just look nasty... and they are really spooky when they show up by the millions and decimate your crops.

Good thing the Corpus Clock's Chronophage is just one grasshopper. It's still damn mean nasty looking, and even more so once you realize that it's Chronophage name means "time-eater". It's a play on what is called the grasshopper escapement, apparently a major clock-making breakthrough in the 1700's.

The Wired magazine article about this caught my eye primarily due to the steampunkish design elements. They also have a cool video about the project.

The coolest part yet is that this clock can slow down, stop... and even run backwards. Now that would come in handy in these hectic days!

Kutiman - Audio / Video Mashup Wizardry

I have already evangelized about Kutiman on Facebook and Twitter... so I might as well put down a sermon here about this mashup wizard.

Someone made a comparison to DJ Shadow's first album in describing the kind of music integration that Kutiman is doing, and I think it's a good comparison, both in terms of skill level and overall musical influences. Kutiman, an Israeli artist/musician/hero utilizes YouTube videos, almost all entirely containing video of musicians playing their individual instruments of choice, to mix together both the video AND audio components to create a whole new musical piece. Think of what a DJ does... but he's just combining audio and video elements to create something new and improved.

I am truly blown away by this initial body of work and have been going back to it several times a day to listen and enjoy. "The Mother of All Funk Chords", "I'm New", and "Wait For Me" are my faves thus far... but they are ALL amazing.

In addition to the Thru-You site, you can find additional info about Kutiman on his MySpace page.

Choose Your Own Adventure Movie

Remember the Choose Your Own Adventure books that were around a lot during the late '70's / early '80's? As the reader, you would have to make choices for the main character throughout the story, and your choices would determine the plot and eventual outcome.

The producers of Late Fragment, a group of Canadian filmmakers, add in some viewer-driven interaction that determines how you view the movie by taking you to different scenes, providing additional backdrop, and otherwise providing each and every viewer with a possibly different movie experience.

It's only available at film fests and DVD... I already checked NetFlix ;) Yet another little tidbit that came to my attention from our good friends at Wired magazine -- January 2009 issue. Here is a link to the online version of the article.

Some Assembly Required

I read about this site in the January 2009 issue of Wired magazine:

Some Assembly Required -- tape manipulations + digital deconstructions + turntable creations

I have not had a chance to really give it a solid once over, but it looks like they have a weekly radio show that could be promising on the mash-up / audio collage tip. The primary force behind the show, DJ Jonathan Nelson, also has an album called Emphasis Added that could be of interest.

Horoscope - Cancer - 09.03.15

"You have lots of irons in the fire. Travel or advanced education perhaps? Saturn's presence in your charm and chat room is a handicap, but counter with that voodoo that you do so well: nurturing. As you chew on that one, enjoy a little getaway. A spiritual retreat, perhaps."

Seems like multiple indicators involving travel and/or academic studies. Hmmmm.... I prefer the idea of travel, but I could be open to finding a new area of interest to study also. Where to go for a "spiritual retreat"?

Horoscope - Cancer - 09.03.08

You moon kids play the devil's advocate so well -- particularly in sensitive situations. Is it news that this is one of those times? In other news: You're ready to learn something new by going somewhere new. And someone slightly off-the-wall wants to take you.

Horoscope - Cancer - 09.03.01

Capricious Venus issues a clarion call to Cancers everywhere. Sure, you're goal oriented, but does that mean you can't live a little? Time now for that voodoo that you do so well. We're talking big arena: Travel in the wide, wide world, higher education or even publishing. And that's just for starters.

Innovation Map

I came across this interesting "innovation map" the other day and wanted to share it here. Its shows countries and some cities in a quadrant view that purports to show areas of innovation. Silicon Valley is the obvious powerhouse here, which is no surprise. San Francisco also shows up relatively high.

One of the frustrations you will likely have after your initial glance is -- what the hell are all of the non-named hubs? I certainly ran into this... and then I discovered this site: www.weformihm.org You can launch an interactive version of the innovation map here. Unfortunately, it requires you to think through which variables you want to include in your own version ;)

I would love to figure out what some of the up-and-comers are. Maybe it's time to change venues.

Hmmm... Beer

Hmmm... beer. One of the true pleasures in life is a fresh, cold beer on a hot, dry day.

It's not hot & dry today, but it is the middle of the San Francisco Beer Week, so it's on my mind anyways. I'm hoping to make it out to one or more of the numerous events going on around town this week. Without doubt, I'll have to swing by Elixir on Thursday night for the tapping of the new barrel-aged Snake Oil. Yum.

And speaking of beer, I came across this great graphic in Fortune magazine called "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" where they provide a guide to American beer lineage. It brought back memories of all the cheap beers we used to swill in high school and college ;) Although it brought a tear to my eye to remember some of the beers that are "brewed no more". Pour some beer for your dead homies.

Horoscope - Cancer - 09.02.10

A prize still eludes you, but be patient and bide your time. Ignore it for a while and it will drop in your lap.

Big Business... Scary Business

I just finished watching The Corporation, a documentary about... you guessed it, corporations. Pretty depressing. Especially when I realized that I have played a role in different parts of the machine throughout my life. Perhaps more so than ever right now as I am neck deep in internet advertising.

It's worth watching... but it is not short by any means. People who are not fans of documentaries to begin with will be challenged to stay attentive, but it has some fairly powerful messages. Although not a ton of great solutions.

Then I saw this graphic in a recent issue of Fast Company (Dec. 2008 / Jan. 2009) -- Really Big Business, where the graphic compares the revenue of the global corporate top 10 vs. similar sized countries' GDP.

Are corporations the new nation? The new religion? Wal-Mart has 2.1 million employees... about the size of the population of Latvia or Namibia. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of Wal-Mart...

The Ultimate Home Library

I am a book freak. Pure and simple. Boxes and boxes of them stashed everywhere - including multiple rooms in my home and two separate storage units.

I would kill to have a permanent home library like this one. In fact, I might never leave the house.

One can dream, right?

Check out the Wired article here ... and a cool video here.

Emotiv EPOC NeuroHeadset - Hands Free Gaming?

Yowza! And just when we all thought Wii was the shizzee... bam! Here comes the Emotive EPOC neuroheadset. It does sort of look like mind-controlling device or perhaps a new version of a phrenology tool. And cost? Don't know... but I can guarantee major bank required for this puppy!

Update: Apparently, these units are going to be priced at roughly $300... so not too bad, assuming the functionality is as promised.