Somebody up there loves me. Or at least wants me to giggle like a school girl all day. How else can you explain this rendition of Hail to the Chief, played by hand farts?
I can’t explain it, but flatulence (even fake) always makes me laugh (if I think about it). It’s just naturally funny!
Dartmouth professor Quintus Jett, who has been working on and blogging about efforts to rebuild the social networks of New Orleans residents using open source methodology, points to this excellent interactive Flash movie that shows the steps of the flood from the first levee breaches to the near-total submersion of the city. This is very much worth watching.
Also, here is an audio interview with Dr. Jett about his innovative work combining organizational management, engineering, open source, and social networks.
Inspired the by the latest Yes Men actions – see their parody websites for Haliiburton and the WTO – Alexandra Samuel has decided to release the full text of her PhD disseration on Hacktivism and the Future of Political Participation.
Is this ever timely! The paper’s conclusion “pulls it all back together and reflects on how hacktivism has been wrongly conflated with cyberterrorism as part of of the post 9/11 age of anxiety.”
I can’t wait to read it. But at 284 pages, I might be better off reading the chapter summaries on her web site. Thanks so much for publishing this and reminding us of it’s continuing relevance, Alex!
Yes of course I’m shocked by Bush spying on us illegally. All of his assurances mean nothing now that even ignorant Americans suspect that he’s about as likely to lie to us as he is to stumble onto the truth.
But what I’m really surprised about is that the New York Times is quoting research done by USA Today!
According to an article in USA Today, the National Security Agency has been secretly collecting telephone records on tens of millions of Americans with the cooperation of the three largest telecommunications companies in the nation. The scope of the domestic spying described in the article is breathtaking. The government is reported to be working with AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth to collect data on phone calls made by untold millions of customers.
President Bush has insisted in the past that the government is monitoring only calls that begin or end overseas. But according to USA Today, it has actually been collecting information on purely domestic calls. One source told the paper that the program had produced “the largest database ever assembled in the world.”
I also noticed that USA Today has RSS feeds. I might have to start checking in with them more often.
UPDATE: Added links to the Independent article “The Revolution Will Be Blogged.”
If you haven’t heard the amazing new rap song “It’s Carrboro,” you have been missing out. now you can watch It’s Carrboro: the video! I am in it but you wouldn’t notice. And really it does just fine without my obvious presence 😉 . But if you want to catch me, freeze the video at 2:10 (I am on the left) and at 2:26 (in the back).
Hey, is anyone else using LinkedIn? It’s basically social networking for professional contacts. I’ve been hearing about it for a few years, but I just recently decided that it might actually be helpful to join.
If you’re on there look me up and say hi.
Do you ever write someone an e-mail and then think “this might be helpful for others.” Well I just did. Here’s a quick-and-dirty list of suggested links and reading for organizations looking to utilize blogs as advocacy and movement-building tools:
Dick Cheney recently visited Russia and complained that they are using their own oil reserves to blackmail the world. In other words, he doesn’t like that they are energy independent and doing the same thing the US does – whatever the hell they want. He also complained that they weren’t doing enough to support democracy. The media called his remarks the beginning of a new cold war.
democracy: 1, diplomacy 0 ? Not exactly…
No doubt democratic reforms would be a good thing for Russia, but Cheney showed that he wouldn’t know democracy if it shot him in the face. On his next stop, Cheney visited oil-rich Kazakhstan and expressed his “admiration for all that’s been accomplished here” on human rights.
What is it has been accomplished? Read on…
For the first time in 15 years – if not ever – I made the honor roll! South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) has published a list of the best sessions from 2006, according to the participants. The panel I was on, “Election 2008: Revenge of the Blogs” scored a 4.32 out of 5.
In chatting with a lot of lefty politicos last night I was shocked to find that every last adult in the country has not heard about Stepehn Colbert’s performance at the White House Correspondents Association’s fancy annual dinner. Therefore it is my duty as a lover of democracy and free speech to spread the word!
UPDATE 5/8/06: C-SPAN made YouTube.com take the video down, but it’s now available (in better resolution) at Google Video.
There are three parts. You can watch them at YouTube (one, two, three), or watch the first two bits below: