Iran's Disputed Election | A Revolution in Pictures – Images are streaming out of Iran. Hundreds of thousands of people marching. Guns, fires, roads blocked by burning busses, riots and blood in the streets. The para-military storming the University. Protesters improbably evacuating an injured riot cop. Tear-gas ping pong. All revolutions look the same on the ground. They are not in practice ideological affairs. (tagged: iranpoliticselection2009photosprotestpolice )
Gadget Teardowns – How to completely and utterly disassemble… just about anything, from a banana to your brand new Macbook Pro. Unclear whether you can put it all back together again! (tagged: technologydesignmaker )
The New Socialism: Global Collectivist Society Is Coming Online – An essay by Wired editor and Long Now pundit Kevin Kelly, making analogies between the "socialism" of the 20th century, and the open collaborative systems which have taken hold of the Internet. Larry Lessig hates the fact that he used the S-word, since it's got such a black name in the US, but I'm not so sure it was a bad idea. Actually I think that more than anywhere else, "socialist" ideas can probably work in the world of pure information. We're certainly nowhere near the limits of sharing online yet. (tagged: technologyeconomicspoliticsinternetweb2.0socialismlessiglongnow )
If we are told to accept norms on authority because we cannot judge them, then neither can we judge whether the claims of the authority are justified, or whether we may not follow a false prophet. — Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies
Incoming Memes
Twitterfeed
I think it's time to get out into that dusty, dusty Bat Country... 1 week ago
Just about packed... gonna nap until grocery and hardware stores open, or thereabouts. 1 week ago
Right. So I'm supposed to be all packed up and ready to go in 24 hours. Uh huh. We'll just have to see about that! 1 week ago
Thank goodness for coffee, waffles, dynamos and LEDs. Headed out to inspect 18km worth of bike lanes for @bouldergobldr on @burningman time. 2 weeks ago
Indulging in a little camouflage and para-aramid fiber lust, fashion bedamned! 2 weeks ago
How could I be anything but happy to have inspired someone else to go on a bicycle date? 2 weeks ago
Helping Kerry put up onions and tomatoes and other garden fruits for the long harsh winter. 2 weeks ago
Way up north it's the perfect temperature for moonbathing and stargazing with the crickets, cicadas, and toads. 2 weeks ago
Anybody up for another playa "training ride" tonight? Would it be absurd to try and ride to New Belgium and back by moonlight? 2 weeks ago
Biked on Boulder's paths all night with a mischievous girl in the moonlight and a waffle iron in my panniers. 2 weeks ago
Russia in color, a century ago2010/08/20 Incredible full color photos from all over the hinterlands of the Russian empire, around the year my grandmother was born. Just before it all disintegrated into chaos.
Profile: Viktor Bout2010/08/20 Viktor Bout, one of the arms dealers that served as a model for the protagonist in Lord of War, is set to be extradited from Thailand to the US. Russia is not pleased.
Poligraft | The Sunlight Foundation2010/08/18 Poligraft is an awesome tool from Sunlight for looking at the political influence and connections of people and organizations mentioned in news stories and press releases. A kind of digital political x-ray machine.
Federal R&D Agency Funding Profiles | Proposal Exponent2010/08/13 Good overview of where federal research dollars are spent. No surprise that it's dominated by DoD (more than half). And about half of the non-DoD funding goes to the NIH. The rest of us bicker over less than a quarter of it. Climate change? Renewable energy and efficiency measures? All in that quarter. Along with all geologic hazard research, the search for Earth crossing asteroids, habitable planets, life, and intelligence elsewhere in the Universe. All space exploration. All efforts to understand how ocean circulation works. All basic research into producing salt and drought tolerant crops, as well as soil and water conservation techniques. All archival sequencing of the world's extant species. All in that quarter. Eventually DoD will realize these things are security threats. Maybe they already have.
Cartoneros del Primer Mundo - lanacion.com2010/08/11 Box people of the first world? La Nacion, an Argentinian newspaper, wanted to use one of my dumpster diving pictures. Strange days.
Zoom into your Roof: Checking the Thermal Performance of Homes2010/08/11 Some cities in Belgium pooled resources to create a thermographic map of the buildings within their boundaries, for use as a resource to homeowners and building managers interested in doing attic insulation and infiltration retrofits. Awesome
With My Own Two Wheels2010/08/08 A documentary in progress, following various pedal powered projects around the world. With all the energy and technology we have access to in the US, it's easy to forget that for billions of people, access to this wonderfully simple 19th century contraption is still a bit step in the right direction. And actually... in many cases it would be for us too.
Deconstructing the groovy Bicilicuadora2010/08/08 Blender hooked up to a bike with a makeshift sidewall dynamo. Direct mechanical drive, and beautiful photos by Cass.
Clean Energy Action2010/08/03 Boulder may be deciding where its energy will come from for the next 20 years tomorrow... here's hoping we have the guts to do the right thing in a Long Now context. Rally at the Municipal Building 1777 Broadway, 5pm Tuesday 8/3!
