William Gibsons OP-ED contribution in the NYT’s is great — a must read.

“Google’s Earth — By WILLIAM GIBSON

… We never imagined that artificial intelligence would be like this. We imagined discrete entities. Genies. We also seldom imagined (in spite of ample evidence) that emergent technologies would leave legislation in the dust, yet they do. In a world characterized by technologically driven change, we necessarily legislate after the fact, perpetually scrambling to catch up, while the core architectures of the future, increasingly, are erected by entities like Google.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/opinion/01gibson.html?_r=1&hp

http://www.flickr.com/photos/surfbaja/

LOST SPOILERS — STOP READING AND DON’T WATCH IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCH ‘THE END’

Still haven’t watched/downloaded THE “JKL Aloha to LOST Special’ — but this clip is great !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCXlLNWRULo

Great update: Words from the man behind @BPGlobalPR himself — http://streetgiant.com/2010/06/02/leroy-stick-the-man-behind-bpglobalpr/

One of my favourite current pieces of satire/commentary is from @BPGlobalPR discussing the recent oil spill. It’s so good they now have almost 60,000 followers and BP is trying to have it shut down.

“After oil started spewing into the Gulf of Mexico following the BP oil rig explosion almost a month ago, a Twitter account launched purporting to be BP’s public relations group, @BPGlobalPR. The account, which offers dark, satirical commentary about the spill and cleanup efforts, is run by an anonymous person” — Mashable article

https://twitter.com/BPGlobalPR

Sometimes shit hits the fan. Other times it’s you.

In celebration of making things by hand. The video is in French.

Another post from Austin, TX — SXSW 2010.

During a panel today, a new buzzword (to me at least) popped up…

"Data Exhaust"

This is the by-product of you interacting with the internet. When you search Google, when you create content, when you tweet, when you update your favourite app, you leave behind a trail of bits that slowly dissipate. These include logs & caches, content that references your content, metrics and date time/stamps and other sorts of tailings.

That "exhaust" from your interaction is valuable, it can be mined for info even if that data has been anonymized. It can make other people quite a bit of money. Some people disagree that this should be the de facto way everything works.

I’m no expert in any of this, but when the term came up my first immediate reaction was, how does this relate to driving a gas guzzling car that creates the fumes the buzzword references?

Should we be concerned about reducing this emission? Is there such a thing as ZERO emissions interaction with the net? Should it be your right to have that? Or would a complete anonymization remove all useful functionality? Will we see a movement towards a "clean" internet, where you at least have control of that emission or can choose how much is spewing out behind you, without slowing you down?

http://www.plankdesign.com/en/blog/posts/sxsw_day_3_2010

Hard to believe this is CG. Beautiful.

More shots

Beautiful nostalgia.

Old Surf Movies: Bali and Hawaii (1978-1980) From: DrAbalone

Home surfing movies I made with my brother, Craig Tissot, during a trip to Bali in 1978 and Hawaii in 1979-80. Bali: Kuta Beach, Nusa Dua, Uluwatu. Hawaii: Honolua Bay, Haleiwa, Ala Moana. You had to hike to Ulu back in those days. Shot with Sony 8mm camera with Ikleite housing. All footage by Brian & Craig Tissot. Music by Tony Kaltenberg.”

Couple more great ones on Dr. Abalone’s channel | Thanks to Special J for turning me on

My iphone sitting on my dash pointing up as I drive down st joseph listening to some opera after a long day.

“The Italian magazine WIRED asked us to draw a map based on the scenarios developed by the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto to help the reader in the net of ideas and hypothesis built by 7000 influencers from all over the world.”

Just great. View large

Happy no-meat day (“I’ll go celebrate by eating a large steak stuffed up a chickens butt then slow roasted in bacon fat” — har har — that joke was for @warrenwilansky). I’m a vegetarian (20 years in) and I find this a bit obnoxious — but I still support it.

To celebrate go make this dish from Mark Bitten (NYT’s) who’s an advocate of eating less meat and eating smarter …

Roasted Vegetables, Thai Style
 http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/featured-recipe-roasted-vegetables-thai-style/

http://www.worldvegetarianday.org

Avalanche Skier POV Helmet Cam Burial & Rescue in Haines, Alaska from Chappy on Vimeo.

A sobering/scary/amazing/chilling video. Almost couldn’t watch. This is what it’s like to get caught in a major avalanche and barely survive. (Link from Ed Fladung)

“The guy in the video was the first one to drop from their group and while not a guide, he had a lot of Utah and AK backcountry experience. He had a Black Diamond Avalung on, but as you can tell from the video while he’s talking as he’s dropping in, it wasn’t in his mouth to start. He tried to shove it in the instant of starting to get sucked down, but it didn’t stay in fully during his ragdoll descent. It was just off to the corner of his mouth he said, and he definitely got some snow / ice in his mouth still. ”

The vimeo page has the complete story.

Amazing art for a great cause.

“Kind Lines is an art show and auction to benefit Surfaid International. The event, to take place in September of 2009 in NYC, was created by Rick Malwitz, of the Brooklyn-based Malwitz Custom Surfboards. Malwitz wanted to raise money for Surfaid in a creative, fun way that would celebrate surf culture and art. When he started asking artists within the surf community if they would be interested in donating a painting for the event, the response was overwhelming. In the end, 24 artists were selected to participate. Malwitz hand-shaped and bamboo glassed canvases, each resembling a cross-section of a surfboard, and distributed these to the participants. The rules were simple: any medium, any style, any surf-related theme. In September, these 24 original works of art will be featured at gallery in NYC, and an online auction will follow. The auction will be open to anyone, and is a great way to collect original art from some of the most brilliant surf artists. 100% of the proceeds go to Surfaid. Thanks to the sponsorship by Greenlight Surf Supply, Surf Source, and Swaylocks.”

Online Auction is between September 26 - October 4th , 2009

All the details/artwork here www.kindlines.com | Put together by Mr. Rick Malwitz

Beautiful photos of Hurricane Bill from the sky. (via Special J)

http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/surf-from-above-a-birds-eye-view-of-hurricane-bill_30005/1/

We got her weighed the other day and she’s now 11 pds. She’s getting more vocal, can control her legs and hands much better and it smiling up a storm !! She’s been a very good kid so far. We couldn’t ask for more.

Follow along with the “brigitte” tag on flickr.
 http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevey/tags/brigitte/

“Mama C’est Fini !” written in seaweed on Higgins’s Beach, ME.

Strange.

See it live here ‘til the tide washes it away.

With the retro craze @ full speed — how long ‘til this comes back?

Full sized image here

Long exposure photo taken from the Plateau looking at Mt Royal on a hazy hot night.

Korduroy/Patagonia Alaia Shaping Tutorial from Cyrus Sutton on Vimeo.

Fun stuff coming out of California as always — plus I’m really looking forward to what Korduroy.tv has to offer when it launches in the coming weeks.

The “Makers/DIY” culture has always drawn me in — I was fantasizing about our next house/apt having a dedicated “shop” area of some kind — a tinkering spot to break stuff and put it back together, etc.

“In a petroleum-addicted, pre-packaged culture a fire has been sparked that will transform surfing forever. From his Australian country shed, Tom Wegener has opened the door to surfing’s future by reintroducing the Alaia, an ancient wooden surf craft devoid of fins, foam or rocker. Welcome to a new age where a single surfer with simple tools and natural materials can push the limits of modern surfing.

Join Patagonia Cardiff, Korduroy.tv and Jon Wegener this Saturday, August 8th for an alaia shaping tutorial. Also check out Thalia St. Surf Shop Friday, August 14th for the Korduroy.tv website launch party. Both events are free and feature sneak screenings and limited, home-made dvd/books of “Tom’s Creation Plantation.”

korduroy.tv
wegenersurfboards.com
 patagonia.com

Large image here