No More Pigeon Heads Please
I really don't mind people selling bird plumes on Etsy but pigeon heads is something else completely.
Looking for an old cabinet to build an electric funhouse out of. Something spooking behind each drawer, cupboard or book. Haven't found anything yet but I've just started looking. I'm sure that I will have to build a full backend to house all of the animatronix.
Naomi Wolf has a powerful article in the Guardian today about the new US strip search law that really has me scared about the constant arsenal of law enforcement tools that are being stacked up to be used at anytime against activists. I'm not even talking about their non-lethal weapons. I'm just thinking about the intimidation and humiliation that can be used against someone that you can strip search for the smallest of crimes. Then hold the person indefinitely and jail them by proving there was a person of high security in the area.
New graphic novel from Douglas Rushkoff
It has been a while since we've seen any new comics from Douglas Rushkoff but the wait is over. Reviews are here, here, here, here and here.
A.D.D. Adolescent Demo Division (Vertigo Comics)
Written by Douglas Rushkoff
Art by Goran Sudzuka and Jose Marzan Jr.
I will have a review shortly.
A city where constructing and deconstructing are the same thing
Megalomania is a beautiful short film about an uninhabited city that is in a constant state of simultaneous construction and deconstruction.
The film was directed by Jonathan Gales as his final film for his Masters in Architecture program at Bartlett, UCL.
via deconcrete/////
Where does this cable go to?
Great short film on the infrastructure of the internet and more specifically one of the central hubs in Lower Manhattan.
Written and edited by Ben Mendelsohn
Shot and animated by Alex Chohlas-Wood
more info at benmendelsohn.com
My Neurostimulator and headaches
A number of people have asked me questions about my implanted neurostimulator. Here is a story from ABC news on the device. This isn't 100% what I have but it is very close.
ABC News story on Neurostimulators
My headaches have always been on the left side of my head and so I only have the stimulation on that side. Before the implant my headaches started behind my left ear and would slowly move up to the front of my head. With the neurostimulator I still get headaches but I don't feel them behind my ear. I feel them starting at my left temple and they move into my forehead and face.
Even though I still get headaches I have no regrets about getting the implant. March will be the 2 year anniversary of the surgery. I don't have any pain or discomfort caused by the implant wire or the internal battery. I do need to charge the device every night with a wireless charger that I put on my chest with a harness or tape. If I forget to charge it then it just shuts off.
Using a 3D Printer to Create Prosthetic Cartilage that is Alive
Dr Lawrence Bonassar and his team at Cornell University have used a 3D printer to create real cartilage that is alive and implantable into the human body.
I have had plastic cartilage in my nose ever since I was 16 years old. It would be amazing to have the real thing inside of me.
via Tristan Hambling's Future Link Digest
Don’t get a heart tattoo, put a tattoo on your heart
Very cool circuit tattoo that can measure and control biological functions.
via NSF and Tristan Hambling's Future Link Digest
Here is a picture of one of the sensors:

Links to more links that have even more links
this week in links
- the Triggertrap: universal and opensource remote camera trigger
- The Transparent State Enemy: Western Surveillance Technology in the Hands of Despots
- george clooney becomes a spy on the side of good: this is not a film it is real life.
- ten things everyone should know about time: a nice refresher of late night stoner talk on physics
- New Christmas Catalog Price List - Anders Brekhus Nilsen
- My Occupy LA Arrest, by Patrick Meighan: how long will we condone the violence perpetrated by police.
- The Problem of Paint: Walker Art Center article about the restoration of art featuring my friend and neighbor Joe King.
- Longform's best of 2011: Who says journalism is dead?
- Retooling Libraries: Make magazine calls out to rethink libraries.
- NY Times Best Books of 2011
- LA Times domestic surveillance: Police use Predator Drone to aid in domestic arrest.
- Naomi Kline on Capitalism and Climate. Also, question and answers with her in the NY Times
Meet you in the trans-future!
This week I found out about this event in LA called the Extreme Futurist Festival. This seems to take transhumanism so far beyond life extension, singularity and science. It brings a futuristic culture into the fold and combines hacking, performance and definitely some edge. I would love to see a more cultural take on bio-hacking. The Quantified Self and Humanity + crowd is pretty dry and this is a topic that need to be shaken up some to really get the discussions started.
Extreme Futurist Festival in LA
web: http://extremefuturistfest.info/
blog: http://extremefuturistfest.info/blog/
They have talked a bit about livestreaming the festival. I hope they do!
Also: I usually try to check out the sponsers of events such as this and the two listed on the festival home page do not disappoint.
Sniffcode.com is a site dedicated to the research done for the fiction book Clone. I haven't read this book but I will now. The site works great because you actually have to figure out how to navigate it. There is nothing obvious. At first I just saw the odd art and photography. On second look I found content and then more and more content. Great site.
Mythos Media is a site linked to the idea that myths are not dead stories that explain our history. They are alive and interacting with us at all times. There are stories, essays, music, books and events. Tons of things to occupy your off hours. Like Sniffcode and the festival they have a real futuristic edge.
Hopefully as I dig through these sites and communities I find the one thing that makes sub-cultures work, a sense of humor. There is nothing worse than taking it all to serious. Have fun and do cool things.
Happy Dormant Vegetation Season
We can all agree that Christmas is the most Dickensian of the holidays. And by that I mean "it is the best of times, it is the worst of times".
Now to get you in the festive mood we point you to fine folks at HOMETAPES. They have provided us with a new album of the season's finest hymns available for whatever price you wish to donate.
Here is a sample:
I don’t know what time though. Porter thought. ThomasSpurgeon
Today's Google Voice-mail transcription:

Hey Billy. Don and I are on our way to with the Bulldogs just wondered if you're around. Or in the area,stop on the We're going to the ball, Doc. I don't know what time though. Porter thought. ThomasSpurgeon, it's kind of 2 so we'll be there by 2 and have a dot. For through They will see you bye bye.
Crystalline crystals
Declaration of the Occupation of New York City
from the home office of Occupy Wall Street
As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.
As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.
They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one's skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.
They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.
They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.
They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.
They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit. They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.
They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas. They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.*
To the people of the world,
We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.
Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.
To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.
Join us and make your voices heard!
*These grievances are not all-inclusive.
safe travel Manhattan

Hey Bill, It's map, Hey, I got a new phone. I'm having a safe travel Manhattan for where I can have the The Road movie email Hello. I can't remember how we solve it, gimme a call. Hope you're well. Bye.
Bow down before your new master, beer!
It won't be the roomba that takes over the human race, it will be your last can of beer.
via: Robot Overlords
