Global Night Commuters

It's after 2AM. I'm posting this from the parking lot of Ann Arbor City Hall. There are seven hundred of us here, most wrapped in sleeping bags for warmth. We are one small group of global night commuters. A group of some sixty thousand total across the US. Despite the cold air, spirits are high. Those that have not already succumbed to sleep are clustered in small groups chatting loudly, laughing, and snacking on pizza. The Global Night Commute doesn't feel like your typical protest/rally/demonstration. Sure it had some good old standbys; Home made signage proclaiming short slogans in bright marker, impromptu drumming jam sessions, a charismatic leader standing on high rallying the troops with a bullhorn.

The differences are far greater than the similarities. Everyone here seems to know exactly what the Global Night Commute is all about. There aren't any hangers on or fair weather participants. Sleeping out of doors on a forty degree night requires a certain dedication to the cause. The demographics here run the gambit, whole families with their four and six year old children, high schoolers, University students, grandmothers, suit and tie professional types. The Commute is more than just sleeping in public to raise awareness. Everyone is writing their Senator, the President, or both. Tomorrow tens of thousands of letters will be making their way to capital hill. Each with the purpose of making the Invisble Children visible to the world.

Technology is abundant. I am by no means the only person here clacking away on a laptop. I've seen more than one glowing white apple framed in titanium. Ipods and other portamedia abound. There are more digital cameras than I can count. No doubt by this time tomorrow flickr and myspace will receive a deluge of shots of smiling people packed in like sardines in parking lots all over America. (The WiFi here is spotty at best so you'll have to wait until tomorrow for the Memepunks flickr photo stream, and other multimedia goodness.)

The final difference, the one that sits with me the most as I struggle with a beeping battery and uncooperative WiFi to get this post up, is where these people came from. Of just how many people are here because of the Internet. Everyone we heard from had mentioned catching the Invisible Children site online, seeing a blurb someplace on the net, or the film makers clever online mockumentary, and zeroing in on the event from there. Global Night Commute is a Flash Mob with a soul.

From the packet handed out to all of the participants by the organizers; "Invisible Children has not relied on the mass media to tell you of the 'Worst humanitarian crisis in the world.' Instead we've been in your living rooms, fraternity houses, Bible studies, MySpaces, coffee shops, and in the halls of the most powerful government in the world. No generation before us has has had access to technology the way we do. With the invaluable resources of the underground, we all have the responsibility to tell stories that change minds and liberate cultures."

Thats what I'm talking about. Memepunks hopes we've done this particular story some justice.

Previous Memepunks Post on Invisible Children. Stay tuned for video!

Memepunks Update: Our Flickr Stream is up! Enjoy the pictures.



Let me sleep on it, and I'll give you an answer in the morning. - Meatloaf

Wii Is The Revolution.

Judging from the spelling and grammar in the title, either the Editor In Chief at Memepunks quit, or Nintendo is up to something. Fortunatly it's the later that's true. Nintendo has announced the official name for the Revolution. They are calling it the "Wii". "Revolution" was always said to be simply the consoles code name. But recent tradition has held that a platforms codename becomes it's official name. As was the case with the Xbox. This late in the game, very few considered that Nintendo would roll out a new name for their much anticipated game console. But they have, and it's cause quite a bit of stir and confusion on the net.

Reactions thus far are mixed. Some e-pundits absolutely hate it, some are ambivalent, and some would continue to love the console even if you named it Radioactive Cancer Magnet. There are very few positive opinions on the name change. Game Informer posted an interview with Nintendo of America's Public Relations Manager Matt Atwood. Although there is much juvenile humor on behalf of the interviewer, and a fair share of marketing speak on behalf of Nintendo, a few things become clear. The Wii name is here to stay. It was a group decision by Nintendo's global upper echelon, whom never intended for the Revolution name to be permanent. They expected there to be some negative backlash around the renaming, which is why they announced the name early, so the air would be clear in time for E3.

Reading around the urine jokes and marketing one liners, something else is evident. Nintedo believes in what they are selling. Matt says, "Once you touch the Revolution, this will make more sense. Once you play more games, and once the system is out, and more and more people play it, and you’re realizing these different experiences, it’ll make more sense. Again, it may sound a little bit of a line, but I think it fits well. This is not about you or me, it’s about Wii." And together Wii will change everything.

It almost comes off as cultish. Which ties into what the new name and logo make me think of when I see it; APPLE. With those two little i characters, it promotes a very iMac, iPod kind of feeling. The universal association of the letter i with all things glossy, slick and electronic. The Wii's controllers and base have already been noted to have an Apple aesthetic and feel. Perhaps Nintendo is standing on the shoulders of Apple designers with the Wii. If so, they could stand to do much worse. The other thing that immediately comes to mind when looking at the Wii logo is Wi-fi. Another world spanning bandwagon that could be smartly jumped onto. And check out the neat short video on Nintendo's revolution site. I love how the little i guys bow at the end.

Nintendo promotes the global aspect of the name Wii. Many people don't appreciate just how impossible it is to say Revolution in Japanese. By calling the Revolution Wii, they have taken all of the various translations of revolution, and cut it down to a single particularly spelled sylable, that will be universal all over the world. Wii is a sort of proto-kanji, where the look of the symbol, the sound it makes and the thing it represents are all uniform and universal. There is something else we are all familiar with that has a similar effect... Icons.

Rather than a mistake, I think that Wii is actually a step forward. It will globalize the Nintendo meme in a way that "Revolution" never could. Since Nintendo is billing the Wii as a system for everyone everywhere to enjoy, I think that's a pretty solid idea. More importantly, this console is supposed to break all the rules, it is supposed to be something unlike anything we've seen or played before. It is supposed to be in a entirely different league than the various iterations of Xboxes and Playstations. If so, they will have done well giving it a name that stands out so far from the rest.

However, I am still willing to take Matt Atwood up on his suggestion; "Get your hands on the system. Once you see entirely what we’re doing with the system it will make more sense." Matt, feel free to ship me a Wii and I will get back to you with my reaction. Although I will not be able to make E3 this year, some will get a chance to experience the Wii first hand. For the rest of us... Wii will just have to wait and see.



You say you want a Revolution
Well, you know
Wii all want to change the world - (apologies to) The Beatles

Who Watches the Watchmen?

Ryan Singel and Kevin Poulson do. They are the men behind Wired's latest blog, the cryptically named 27B Stroke 6. Ryan Singel is a freelance journalist out of San Francisco, who focuses on civil liberties, privacy and anti-terrorism initiatives. Kevin Poulson (aka Dark Dante) is an ex-convicted hacker turned Wired senior editor and journalist. Together they will "scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, in a daily briefing on security, freedom and privacy in the wired world."

Thus far the blog has covered an alleged sighting of actual members of the government's Civil Liberties board. Leaked plans for what may be a global identification system, and the skinny on the FBIs new version of old school Carnivore. I am not alone in feeling that neo-con America is inching toward a full on Black Helicopter Apocalypse. It's good to know that we will have these two gentleman keeping us informed, and keeping an eye on The Man. Good luck fellas. [via Boing Boing]

P.S. for other Wire'd blog goodness, but with a decidedly less Orwellian slant, check out Bruce Sterling's Beyond the Beyond.

Hunting and Releasing Books in the Wild.

I'm a pretty forward thinking guy. But every once in a while, I will encounter an idea so simple and yet so brilliant that it gives me pause. Bookcrossing is one of those ideas. Bookcrossing works like this. You take an old favorite off of your book shelf. Something that you think other people would and should enjoy. Then you head over to the Bookcrossing site. You sign up, and register your book. They will provide you with a unique identification number and some printable signage for sticking on the cover and inside of your book.

The labels say things like "read me", "free book", "read and release me" along with further instructions and the Bookcrossing URL. Once you have a uniquely labeled book, the idea is to take the book someplace public; A doctors office, the DMV, a cafe, a park bench, bus stop, Any place where some one else will find it. Then you make a note of where you left it, and if you like a short review on the Bookcrossing website. Congratulations, you book is now "in the wild".

The intention is that some one will find your book, pick it up and read it. Following the instructions on the label, they'll log in to the website, and let you know they have your book. After reading it, they should re-release the book back into the wild. And the cycle continues. It's sort of Geocaching meets "where's george" meets your local public library. Participation in Bookcrossing is rewarding on many levels. You are giving something of yours to others in a completely altruistic way. You get to spread the meme of you favorite novel to some one else who may appreciate it. And you can follow the path of something that you just let go of, seeing what sorts of hands it passes through on it's journey. For those that have not yet released a book, they can still reap the reward of finding free reading materials in unexpected convenient places.

Bookcrossing is blooming quickly. Already there are half a million registered Bookcrossers, and nearly three million books propagating in the wild. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. As Metcalf's law states " the "value" or "power" of a network increases in proportion to the square of the number of nodes on the network." As more people become involved with Bookcrossing, the more utility and enjoyment people will get out of it. Imagine coming across a great novel in the drawer of your hotel room next to those tired old Gideon bibles. Or getting in touch with a group of people that have all recently read your favorite book. It's the spread of knowledge and culture of the people, by the people and for the people. It's Web 2.0 in dust jacketed analog.

This is the age of jack booted DRM, where giant lousy with lawyers megacorps try to convince you that they are the sole purveyors of culture. Bookcrossing is a refreshing change, where you are encouraged to read some one else's copy of the next up and coming thing. Where the spread of literature free of charge and obligation is set amidst a network of like minded people who are happy to share the joy of reading.

Several Memepunks staffers have joined the Bookcrossing posse. Look for some of our favorite novels coming soon to a public place near you. Also, we are planning a Bookcrossing "event" or two this year. A big name genius author will be providing signatures to copies of his works before we release them into the wild. Another idea we are toying with is a Bookcrossing Google Maps API. So you can much more easily find that ice cream shop on Mainstreet where I left Vernor Vinge's True Names.

“There's a whisper on the night-wind, there's a star agleam to guide us,
And the Wild is calling, calling . . . let us go.” - Robert Service

Only a Fool Robs a Magician.

World renowned illusionist David Copperfield tricked a pair of gun wielding thieves using sleight of hand magic. In West Palm Beach Florida, Copperfield was walking back to his tour bus with a pair of female assistants when a car load of teenagers stopped them. Two of the teenagers got out and held the trio at gunpoint. They took theassistant's cash, cellphone, purse, passport, plane tickets, whatever they had to turn over. Copperfield on the other hand didn't cooperate. Despite the fact that he was carrying a cellphone, a wallet and a passport, David turned out his pockets which were mysteriously empty. ""Call it reverse pickpocketing," said Copperfield.

Once the thieves made their get away, One of the assistants called 911 while DC read off the car's plate number for the police. The four robbers were later caught by police, and all of the stolen property was recovered. Way to go Mr. Copperfield! Now, here is what I want to know. Say for a minute that you are a car full of would be armed robbers. Now you see a world famous illusionist, heading back to his Tour Bus, complete with two lovely assistants. This guy has escaped from Alcatraz, walked through the Great Wall of China, flown over the Grand Canyon, and made the Statue of Liberty disappear. Wouldnt at least ONE of the kids in the car suggest that they maybe go and rob some one else instead?

Gladly no one was hurt, the perpetrators were caught, and all the stolen goods were recovered. Perhaps the four thieves will be able to work on an escape act of their own in prison. [via the New York Sun]

Post Earthday Post.

I am not an environmentalist, I never have been. I've never contributed to Greenpeace, attended a rally, or saved any whales or wetlands. In fact the entire mainstream environmentalist movement has been an anathema to me. I could never buy into the curbside recycle bins, earth day celebrations, or sad video montages of deforested countryside, complete with teary eyed "Indian". But there was always one environmental movement that I was on board for, Bruce Sterling's Viridian movement. Since before Y2K, the Viridians have focused on the minimization of CO2 gas emissions. Not in a way that tugs your heart strings or lays on a guilt trip. They've done it smartly. Encouraging an eco-friendly culture through innovation and improved designs. And now that glaciers are melting and New Orleans is under water, the rest of the greens are starting to follow Sterling's example. It's the best possible thing to happen to environmentalism, and probably the best thing that could happen to the environment.

My favorite globe focused website is WorldChanging. They excel at looking at new unique solutions to very large complex problems. New approaches to food, housing, energy, resources, manufacturing, recycling, and somethings you haven't even heard of yet. And then there is Greapeace founder Patrick Moore, who has long since broken off from the fear mongering anti-everything extremist politicos that have dominated the Greenpeace movement. He has come out in favor of both nuclear energy, and genetically modified crops and livestock. These are the sorts of people that are needed now more than ever. Dont tell me that I need to tighten my belt and reduce my "footprint". Yes I use up ten times as many resources as the average global citizen. But rather than asking me to make do with 3 hectares of planetary resources as opposed to 20, why not up the production of those hectares I use, making 3 do the work of 20. Don't take away my inefficient electronics, and smog belching automobile. Give me the option of of better, cleaner, more efficient ones. Not only will I be on board for that, I'll probably pay you through the teeth for it.

Next year's Toyota Prius is going to get 93 miles to the gallon, Ninety Three. That means I could get from Detroit to Chicago on three gallons of gas. And it's not some smaller slower golf cart. It will be faster, and have better acceleration than the Prius on the road right now. Germany plans to market the Loremo in 2009, that will get 150mpg, and cost all of $13,000 American. For the DIY crowd, companies are selling aftermarket add-ons for hybrid cars, that will let you run completely off of electrical power for short commutes, or turn your car into an emergency gas powered generator for your home.

The average laptop computer uses an order of magnitude less electricity than the average desktop. A sleek new ultra portable uses even less. Try running your humming computer tower and wide screen monitor off of a palm sized battery for 3 hours. You wont get very far. I like these things, I want them. I'll pay for them. Not because of their environmental impact. (Which would be substantial if everyone switched over from gas to hybrids, and from towers to laptops.) Nor is it because of the rewarding feeling I get by making the morally right choices. I really don't care about any of that. I like them because they are new. They are smaller, cooler, smarter, and cheaper than their less eco-friendly alternatives of years ago. Owning something that neat doesn't require any heart strings to be tugged, just leak a picture of it on Engadget.

My Apartment is lit entirely by low wattage hyper efficient long lasting light bulbs. I didn't make that decision based on the amount of coal that is required to provide electricity to power normal Edison age lights. I bought them because now I'll never have to change a light bulb again for as long as I live here. As an added bonus, they just happen to get by on 23 watts instead of 100. Don't ration how often and at what time we are allowed to water our lawns. Instead let us have lawns that require less watering. If they are greener and hardier and easier to maintain, we will buy them. Let the farmers of the world grow GM crops. Sure we don't know their long term impacts. However we do know the long term impacts of famine.

"Saving" the earth isn't a question of reducing and reusing and recycling "before it's too late". It's a matter of changing the rules of the game; Cradle to Cradle design, urban farms, intelligently designed population centers, arcologies, krill, fuel producing algae. Make it smarter, make it better, make it cheaper, and make it cooler. I am not resistant to any of that. And if the environmental movement can get behind realistic complex reasonable solutions to these big global problems, maybe just maybe the rest of the world will come alongfor the ride. I'll tell you one thing for sure. If you can sell it to me, you can sell it to anyone. And that just might save the world. [inspired by Wired]

“Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity - not a threat” - Anon

Weekly Robot Update 003

Bring me the head of Philip K Dick. So says David Hanson at Hanson Robotics. In 2005 Philip K Dick, author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, the novel that brought us the movie Blade Runner, was resurrected... As a robot. Hanson Robotics, working along side the Automation and Robotics Research Group and the Insititute for Intelligent Systems, built a one of a kind memorial to the late great science fiction author. This robot is more than just an animatronic PKD replica. Hanson and the others worked closely with PKDs former literary executor and close friend Paul Williams to really bring the android to life.

For starters, Phil's face is capable of demonstrating any number of subtle expressions, requiring very little power to do so. It is covered in a proprietary synthetic rubber like skin material that Hanson calls "frubber". Cameras in the eyes are the focus for state of the art face recognition and biometric identification software. Which not only lets the android know who you are, but where you are and what you are doing at any given time. He can recognize friends, family members, celebrities, and anyone he's spoken with before. Combine that with speech recognition software, advanced speech synthesis, and top notch natural language processors, and you have the makings of a hell of a computerized conversationalist.

But the fun doesn't stop there, in fact this is where it really gets interesting. In true Philip K Dick style, IIS has actually constructed a gestalt personalty for Phil. They have used every available bit of information on PKD, books, short stories, essays, interviews, his life, and any public appearances. They took all of that data, and applied an advanced mathematical algorithm to generate the artificial intelligence that inhabits Phil's android body. And the result is more than the sum of his parts. Make no mistake, PKD isn't just spouting a series of canned responses. He can actually intelligently converse with you, about topics like reality, robots, drugs, the future, whatever. In a way that is both natural and authentic to his once living name sake. Phil the android begins to feel a lot like Phil the person.

The author turned android made his debut at Wired's Next Fest in 2005. He was quite a hit, in his mock up living room with a couch where visitors could sit and converse with him. Originaly, Hanson had built a complete head, with hair to conceal the inner mechanical workings inside of his skull. But they found that after a few removals of the rear skull casing to do maintenance, that the visitors preferred a Philip K Dick with visible servos and protruding wires. It seemed to fit, so they left his inner electronics exposed. Since Next Fest, he has toured the world, appearing at trade shows, technology expos, universities, and was destined to take up permanent residence with the Smithsonian this year. But this story doesn't have a happy ending.

After two trips to Asia, and fifteen 24 hour days in just over a month, David Hanson was traveling from Dallas to an appearance at Google in San Francisco. He had a carry on bag with him containing PKD's detached head. During a plane change in Vegas, Hanson inadvertently left the bag in the overhead compartment. PKD has not been seen since. Airline personal with America West claimed to have discovered the bag containing the head, and sent it out on the next flight to California. But the head never arrived. Hanson has two theories, One that Philip K Dick was stolen by a depraved baggage handler. And the other is that seeing the head and the wires in a bag, some overworked airport security goon called in the bomb squad. Says Hanson, "That would be a really strange ending, if the head of a Philip K. Dick robot wound up being exploded by another robot."

If any one has any knowledge as to the where abouts of this weeks robot, and can provide information leading to his recovery, please contact Hanson Robotics for a no doubt substantial reward. And we'll even throw in a highly sought after, as of now non-existent, Memepunks T-shirt for your trouble. I've included a link to a few short Google videos for the purposes of better identification. [via Wired]




“I got the idea in Beijing, when I was dying a lot. There's something wonderful about having memories implanted, like you're really working your brain. I love the synthetic clarity of it all.” - Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

Et Tu, Blogger?

As many of you already know, Blogger had some kind of a system wide outage for the past 24 hours. No one using Blogger could post, update or otherwise republish their blogs. This caused quite a stir here at Memepunks, as we enjoy nothing more than bringing you regular timely content. And it couldn't have happened at a worse time, as we had just started getting a steady stream of new readers from a submission that hit Boing Boing. (welcome Boing Boing readers!) It appears now that the storm has passed. Everything is back to normal. Hopefully Blogger will learn from this disruption and see that something this drastic doesn't occur again any time soon.

Thank you all very much for your patience. We will very soon return you to your regularly scheduled cutting edge science, paradigm shifts, and Internet weirdness. In the mean time, let me suggest you give a listen to Cory Doctorow's Human Readable podcast. It's a short story he wrote for the Future Washington anthology, about an advanced society wide computer network that starts experiencing long unexplainable outages. (wink)

Hey Blogger, Let's never fight again.

Cures and Implants. A Good Weekend for Medicine.

Calling all Type 1 diabetics. Your days of finger poking, restricted diets, and insulin needles may be drawing to a close. Researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology in San Diego believe they have found a cure for Type 1 Diabetes. The potential cure is actually a combination of two drugs. One is the antibody anti-CD3, the otherproinsulin peptide. Each drug has shown promise independently in the treatment of diabetes. But it is when they are administered together, that the treatment becomes a cure. In laboratory animal experiments, it was shown that the antibody suppresses the diabetics immune system, easing the pressure on the insulin producing cells. The peptide then acts as a vaccine, protecting those same cells permanently. Most mice given the drug cocktail have shown a complete and permanent reversal of their diabetes!

The antibody is to be administered orally, the peptide is dispensed via nasal spray. The good news is that individually each of these drugs are already undergoing human clinical trials. The team of scientists that developed the cocktail are anxious to begin human testing on the combination treatment. However they are at the mercy of various government drug safety regulators. Including the Food and Delay Agency, who must first decide of taking the cocktail is safer than being diabetic. The researchers hope, FDA willing, to be testing in human trials as early as the end of this year. There more than 200 million people world wide living with diabetes, and one out of every ten medical dollars spent in the US is spent on diabetes and it's complications on the 20+ million American sufferers. Diabetes complications include seizures, coma, organ failure, loss of lower limbs, blindness and death. Let's fast track this one folks, there are alot of good people waiting for it. [via news-medical.net ]



For those that have already lost their sight, there is new hope to be found as well. Laxman Saggere of the University of Illinois at Chicago has developed an electronic implant that may restore vision the the blind. It works by replacing damagedphotoreceptors in the eye with a sensor that picks up light, and then transmits corresponding stimulation to retinal cells in the eye. Other such implants are in development, but they require proportionately large and deletable batteries. Also, the other implants deliver signals to the rental cells electrically, causing the cells to heat up, and over time become damaged.

Dr. Saggere's implant is a chip of different color. For one it is solar powered. It will run strictly off the light that enters the eye. And this implant doesn't use electrical signals. It actually sprays the retinal cells with neurotransmitters, mimicking the behavior of functionalphotoreceptors . An array of the tiny actuators on a single implanted chip would send pixel information to the retina similar to the way images are created on a computer screen. Allowing the blind to see. At this point the device is merely a prototype. Theere is no word as to when viable implants using this technology will hit the market. But we are now one step closer to throwing out the orange tipped canes and dark glasses. Kudos Dr. Saggere. [via New Scientist Tech ]



"If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible he is almost certainly right, but if he says that it is impossible he is very probably wrong." - Arthur C. Clarke

It' a bird. It's a plane. It's a Library!

Architects Lot-Ek (not sure if that is a deliberate Johnny Mnemonic reference or not) have designed a public library made from the reclaimed fuselages of 727/737 passenger jets. The fuselages are the one part on an airliner that is more expensive to recycle than it is to just junk. Hundreds of old jet bodies litter the countryside, and now someone finally found a use for them. The building is very unusual in both appearance and design. The structure sort of reminds me of capsule(coffin) hotels but on a much grander scale. I really hope this particular design sees the light of day. In addition to an amazing looking library, it will remove tons of rusting Boeing cast offs from desert graves.

I think this would make a great low rent housing or hotel design as well, each fuselage could be an apartment or suite. Poking around on Google I found this military graveyard in Arizona. Enough unused fuselages there to build hotels, libraries, and apartments galore. I say we set up a few these in places like New Orleans, where people waiting for homes to be built. Then turn them into hotels once everyone is situated. And I love the LCD on the buildings facade. Something like that might just bring back the Drive In.



"The street finds its own use for things." - William Gibson

Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Streetfight 2006

I am not even kidding, that is the title of a new on line animated short. It is made to look like a side scrolling fighting game in the tradition of final fight. If this were available for the Nintendo DS, i would buy 2. It STARTS with a baby in a tri-corner pirate hat, piloting an attack helicopter with a trained octopus on a jump line, which he uses to kidnap a damsel in distress. It just gets weirder, more disturbing and more awesome as it goes. If you are a fan of babies, zombies, baby zombies, cosplay fans, cephalopods, monster trucks, Samo Hung, Christopher Walken, black and white entrails, or mindless violence, this is a must see. Watch it at your peril! [via Boing Boing ]

Ancient Pyramid Unearthed... In Bosnia?!

In Bosnia, 20 Miles northeast of Sarajevo, archaeologists have uncovered what they believe to be an Aztec style step pyramid. Not only is this the only pyramid ever found in Europe, but this may be the oldest pyramid in existence. It's possible that this pyramid could be in excess of 12 thousand years old. Until now the oldest pyramid was thought to be the one in Hellinikon Greece, dating back to 2,720 BC. Initialy, the idea of an antediluvian pyramid in Bosnia was a fringe theory met by skepticism. “This is total nonsense. It’s impossible. There was no high culture in this region at that time capable of building something on this scale,” said noted Bosnian archaeologist Enver Imamovic. But new evidence, including sophisticated linear anomaly satellite scans have proved that a giant hill in Visoko, Bosnia does in fact contain a massive man made structure.

Digging has already begun, vindicated archaeologist and pyramid expert Semir Osmanagic has found large smooth stone slabs at the base of the structure. Based on other observations, Semir believes there may be as many as five pyramids buried at Visoko. Diggers have also discovered a network of tunnels running under the area. The discovery of 12,000 year old Bosnian pyramids leaves us with more questions than answers. It remains to be seen exactly who built them, as no civilization is believed to have had the means to do so at the time that they were built. Have a look at Bosnian Pyramids , for more pictures and regular blog style updates on the dig in progress.

To Stop a War, Sleep On It.

The sages at Boing Boing brought this to our attention. Invisible Children is both a film and an organization. It began with three young filmmakers who traveled to Uganda to create a documentary on the situation there. What is happening in Northern Uganda is beyond the pale. The rebel faction in Northern Uganda is known as the Lord's Resistance Army or LRA. They have been fighting a war there for two decades, and the children of the region are the ones caught in the middle. Every night, the LRA combs houses looking for anyone old enough to hold a gun to serve in the army. Very young children are abducted, beaten, tortured, and made into soldiers in the LRA. More than 30,00 children have been abducted since the process began.

This tactic has led to what is known as Night Commuting. The children of Northern Uganda leave their homes at night, en mass to walk on foot to various camps and urban centers, where there is strength in numbers. They sleep in the streets, huddled together to avoid being kidnapped and forced to fight. The filmmakers titled their documentary "Invisible Children: Rough Cut ". It must be seen to be believed. They brought the film to the US to raise awareness of the state of emergency in Uganda, in the hopes that the President or the United Nations would act to help. They also began a small cottage industry of hand making bracelets by the Ugandan locals, in a war torn climate that made a real economy impossible.

Invisible Children the film has since become Invisible Children the organization. And they are taking steps to further raise awareness of, and participation in alleviating the suffering of the Ugandan children. IC has now called for a Global Night Commute. Invisible Children has released a great "Mockumentary " to promote the event. They are asking everyone to meet on the night of April the 29th in 136 cities around the country. The people will then travel from one part of town to another, and once they reach their final destination, will bed down for the night outdoors, and sleep until morning on behalf of the children of Uganda.

At the time of this posting, nearly 32 thousand people have signed on for the Global Night Commute. Localy in Ann Arbor Michigan, there are almost 700 people registered. Memepunks' on the spot reporters will be there, hacked CVS vidcams, Verizon camphones, and mp3 voicecorders in hand to document the rally as it unfolds and bed down with the troops in support of the Invisible Children. If you aren't doing anything else that night, why not come stop a war ?

Memepunks Update: It appears that the film is up on Google video. This is not piracy, the filmmakers want as many people to see this as possible. Have at it.


"In peace the sons bury their fathers, but in war the fathers bury their sons." - Croesus

One Laptop. One Child. One Revolution.

Many people have never heard of Nicholas Negroponte. Dont confuse him with his brother John, the former ambassador to Iraq, and current Director of National Intelligence. Nicholas is the former head and founder of MIT's ground breaking Media Lab. Dr. Negroponte has been studying how computers and humans interact for the last 40 years. He was involved in the creation of WIRED magazine, wrote Being Digital, and was a key investor in Skype. Nicholas sits on the board of Ambient Devices and Motorola Corporation. All of his experience and accomplishments have lead him to a singular vision. One that when it should come to fruition stands to change the world. It is his goal to provide every child on earth, all one billion of them, with their own laptop.

The One Laptop Per Child initiative has gone very quickly from concept to massive undertaking. Now a non profit organization that has attracted contributions and funding from such companies as Google, AMD and Red Hat. OLPC seeks to build a $100 dollar laptop, one that will then be sold to individual countries in quantities of one million units. The laptops will then be given away at no cost to the students of those nations. The machines technology is low end by current standards; 500Mhz processor, 128 megs of ram, a half a gig of flash memory to serve as a hard drive. But the one laptop per child program is not about hardware. Dr. Negroponte has said "The idea is simple. It's an education project, not a laptop project. If we can make education better--particularly primary and secondary schools--it will be a better world." And that is what this is really about. Empower the children, and you change the world.

Still there are some unique aspects of the OLPC computer that make it especially viable in the developing world. The machine is designed around low power consumption. With a dual mode display that can be switched from full color 640x480 video, to a black and white reflective daylight readable mode, the aimed for power draw is a minuscule two to three watts. To charge the machine, a manual crank or foot pedal is being integrated into the laptops power supply. Worst case scenario, pump the foot pedal for six minutes, and get an hour of usage. This is critical as many of the target areas where the laptop will first see use have no electricity to speak of. And they certainly wont have Ethernet jacks or phone lines. Which is where the Mesh Network comes in. Each machine will act as a node on a network. If any two machines are near each other, they will be instantly networked. And every computer acts as a router, connecting any neighboring system to any other neighboring system. A novelty with just a hand full of machines, but with a hundred systems, a thousand, ten thousand, you start to see the real promise of the network. And any Internet connection available to one machine will be available to all. A wireless mesh network that will span villages, and eventually nations.

The computers will run exclusively on open software. Not just free, but software that will give students and teachers the power to mod and tinker and hack new applications and solutions however they choose. Basic programing applications will also be included to introduce even the youngest students to writing software. And the machines will be localized with keyboards and interfaces in the language of whatever region they are destined for. They will also be 100% ruggedized , built of thick rubber or some similarly impossible to destroy material. Negroponte also intends the machines to be visually unique. So much so that it will be obvious at a glance that they are from the OLPC program. (although no final design has been settled on, here are a few prototypes.) This will make the machines much more difficult to move via grey markets. And eventually they will be so ubiquitous, that there will be no grey markets to speak of. The hundred dollar price tag is only an initial goal, Nicholas projects that by 2010, they will be $50 or less. A fully functional mesh networked laptop computer for the cost of a couple of text books.

Imagine for a moment, a world where all children have the same educational tool at their disposal. Where whether you are a fourth grader in an inner city school in Detroit, or a tiny village in china, you can read hundreds of books, use any software, or reach out to the billion other students around you. A planet where every child regardless of economic or social standings, will be able to participate in their own education in ways no one ever has before. "This is the most important thing I have ever done in my life" Said Dr. Negroponte at the Emerging Technology Conference. And even that is an understatement. This may be the most important thing anyone has ever done. Certainly literacy and education will skyrocket but whats more, for the first time in human history, we will be raising a generation of people that when they come of age all over the world, will have a common cultural point of reference. I cant even fathom the repercussions of such a place.

The unknown is one of the most intriguing aspects of this project. The truth is no one can predict what kind of things will ultimately come of this. What sorts of things might we expect from a billion computer wielding children? Reputation economies... 200 million kids leveraging their processor cycles folding proteins or decoding genomes to pay for hospitals... A collective repository of all the worlds knowledge held in a billion node mesh network... The breakdown of oppressive governments from the free flow of information and hacktivism ... new uses for hardware and software that have yet to even be conceived. One thing is for certain though. When every child has a laptop, every child will be a voice in a world spanning chorus, and they will be singing the praises of Dr. Nicholas Negroponte.


"Every revolution was first a thought in one man's mind" - Ralph Waldo Emerson


P.S. I've included a link to Dr. Negroponte's Emerging Technology Conference presentation. If you can find an hour, do yourself a favor and give it a look. Unfortunalty it is in RealPlayer format. Here is a link to Real Alternative. It will let you watch the file without installing RealPlayers devilware. I couldn't find a video or a transcript of Negroponte's recent Boston Linux World Conference keynote address. If anyone knows where to find it, please let me know, and I'll include a link.

Weekly Robot Update 002

This weeks robots are a matched set. They may not be as bleeding edge as some other bots, in fact their technology is years behind the state of the art. They lack biomimicry, they don't have neural nets or weapon payloads. These robots don't demonstrate flocking behaviors, they cant dance, and they don't have living fungus for brains. And yet, they are hands down the most advanced pieces of machinery on the planet. And that planet is Mars. I am of course talking about the two Mars Rovers , Spirit and Opportunity. They are the two robots farthest from my being, but closest to my heart.

The two rovers touched down on Martian soil in January of 2004. After a seven month trip through the cosmos followed by a parachute and airbag landing that would whiten the hair of even the most X-Treme sportsman. They arrived on opposite sides of the red planet with a projected life expectancy of 90 days. Here we are two years after the expiration of their warranty, and the little guys are still going strong. The rovers have gone above and beyond all expectations, reaching areas of Mars that their designers never thought possible.

The two rovers are identical in everything but name, but apart from each other they are completely unique machines. Each rover stands five feet tall at the eye line. They weigh in at a whopping 408 pounds. Propelled by six independently motorized wheels, four of which can be used for steering. A rover can spin in place without moving forward or backward. More a rolling laboratory than a speed demon, the rovers average about 1 centimeter a second travel speed. In addition, it stops every ten seconds for a good long look around. That being said, each rover has put over four miles of martian surface behind it. A 20Mhz processor handles all the mental heavy lifting needed to run the rovers, with 128 megs of ram and 256 megs of flash memory. (Specs that are now out done by many cellphones.) A radio isotope keeps the rovers warm during the frigid martian nights. Each rover is powered entirely by the sun, their backs are covered in wing like solar arrays which charge a pair of lithium ion batteries.

Martian beauty really is in the eye of the beholder, so Spirit and Opportunity have nine eyes a piece; Six to make sure they get where they are going without smashing into rocks, or falling into craters, two to capture those breathtaking martian panoramas that made the rovers so famous, and one that is a microscope for getting to the bottom of martian mysteries. The rovers aren't just a pretty set of peepers. They come fully stocked with a rock abrasion tool (fancy NASA phrase for drill/grinder), dust collecting magnets, and enough Spectrometers to satisfy even Mr. Spock. The rovers each reach out to mars with single three jointed arms that can hold many of their instruments.

Spirit and Opportunity are more than just collections of parts and pages of schematics. These intrepid robots really resonate with the explorer in all of us. Their mission has been a roller coaster of set backs and discoveries. In the week following Spirits touchdown on the red planet, NASA's website received a record breaking 1.7 Billion hits! Every picture of every rock excited scientists and the arm chair explorers at home. We held our collective breaths when Spirit first failed to communicate with earth. (A problem later fixed by a software patch.) Shortly after, in March, NASA report that the rovers findings suggested that mars once had regions covered in flowing water, something that has changed the way we now look at the universe. At one point Opportunity had become mired in martian sand, and teams on earth had to work tirelessly to even get it moving again. Later, a strange phenomenon of martian dust devils cleaned Opportunity's solar panels doubling it's power output.

Just recently Spirit has been seeking a refuge from the coming martian winter, if it reaches a place where it can get good exposure to the sun, it will not have to hibernate through winter. But now one of it's front wheels has ceased to function entirely. Spirit continues to roll toward safety, dragging it's broken wheel through the sand. The machines push on, 800 days it what should have been a three month mission. They are a testament to the men and women who built them. A constant reminder of the kind of things NASA is doing right. More than that, Spirit and Opportunity have returned Mars to us. The discovery of the evidence of water, the constant stream of gigabyte after gigabyte of new information, has restored the thoughts of our nearest cosmic neighbor to the forefronts of our minds. Already a slew of new mars missions are planned and underway. The government has now declared a plan to deliver human beings to the red planet in the near future. That is the real reason these robots are so important.

Inevitably, men will go to mars. Whatever government or philosophy they represent, they will be following in the wheel tracks of their robot predecessors. Some day when brick red habitat domes pepper the martian landscape, may we remember the explorers that were there before us, and name the first two martian colonies Spirit and Opportunity.



I used to live in an Orphanage.
It was dark and cold and lonely.
At night, I looked up at the sparkly sky and felt better.
I dreamed I could fly there.
In America, I can make all my dreams come true.....
Thank-you for the "Spirit" and the "Opportunity"

— Sofi Collis, age 9

The First Flying Cars will be Red.

Many times when speaking about potential near time technologies that will change the way we live, I am rebutted with "Where is my flying car?". The flying car, like the meal in a pill or the robot house keeper, was one of the big forecasts promised us by silver jump suit advocate Hugo Gernsback. Who also happens to be the father of science fiction, and the man for whom the Hugo Award is named. Thanks to his vision of gleaming skyscrapers, bubble tops, and aerofins on everything, the flying car has become something of an American cliche. But not to Proffesor Paul Moller.

Prof. Moller is 68 years old, and he has been working on designing a feasible flying car for over forty years. Now he seems to have built just the machine for the job. The Moller M400 Skycar. It's metalic red, it has fins, a bubble top, it runs on clean burning ethanol, has 8 wankle rotary jet turbines, cruises at 300 mph, and gets better gas mileage than my 94 Plymouth Sundance. The Skycar takes off and lands vertically, so no need for pesky runways. Just taxi her out of the garage and into the driveway, and off you go into the wild blue yonder. A hundred mile commute in twenty minutes. And the Skycar is designed to be easy to fly. Computer assistance removes the need for sophisticated piloting skills. So why then aren't our freeways miraculously cleared of congestion, why aren't gleeful drivers zooming overhead in shining red tribute to Gernsback?

Two reasons mainly, Money and Rules. Moller has spent every penny trying to get his Skycar off the ground. He bemoans the lack of investors in his flying car. “America has many good things going in terms of creativity but it is unable to finance projects like the Skycar because US capitalists want to finance something that gives returns in six or eight months, maybe even two years, but they are not willing to look 25 years ahead." As is, if you are interested in buying the skycar prototype, the cost is 3.5 million dollars. If you want to get in line for one of the first production vehicles, the price tag drops to a cool million. That's a ways outside the means of the average American commuter.

In addition to financial woes, Professor Moller is neck deep in the rules and regulations of the FAA. The Federal Aviation Administration governs all flight in the US, and there are many hoops one must jump through when designing, building and testing an innovative new air vehicle. The M400 made a tethered test flight in January of 2002. Since then it has taken years of safety testing and talks with the FAA to get beyond that stage. The Skycar has only now been cleared to fly untethered over a specific man made lake in California. Mollers flying car may now fly untethered, but it must still fly through miles of red tape before it will ever see a place in America's skies.

Strapped for cash and frustrated by bureaucracy, the visionary Moller may have found a solution to the skycar's problems. He's moving the operation to China. And China is happy to have him. Bereft of FAA regulations, with hundreds of million of dollars to finance development and manufacturing of the skycar, China may well be the perfect home for the M400. Moller said “America’s FAA has no control in China. Chinese aviation engineers can do anything they want. And of course you don’t do anything in China that doesn’t have military overtones. They’ve been so much more aggressive about wanting to do business with us. In America you cannot penetrate the market because it’s who you know.” Although Europe will be heavily involved in producing the engines for the skycar, the lions share of the manufacturing will happen in china, and it will happen soon. “We are seriously working with China to put the Skycar into production. The Skycar is liable to be in the 2008 Olympics in China.”

It's an unfortunate testament to the state of innovation in the US, when something like the M400 must be transplanted to China to thrive. But America's loss may be the worlds gain. Moller envisions the skycar's price will fall to around $50,000 dollars two years into production, less than the cost of that Porche or Escalade sitting in may upscale driveways. And once real mass production is underway, the price may drop even more. In Mollers own words “I see this as a cheap, civilian product, and if it isn’t it would be a failure as far as I’m concerned”. Chinese company Geely is debuting it's new line of low cost vehicles at the international auto show this year. And they plan to start selling their cars in the US next year. I'm willing to bet that when pushing my shopping cart through Walmart in 2012, I just might encounter a sleek red Chinese made flying machine with a price tag less than that of the average American compact. Screw nationalism... ROAD TRIP!



"Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads." - Doctor Emmet Brown

I'm Hyper for Hyperspace!

It is in man's nature to explore. And the infinite vastness of space has always been the crown jewel of that exploration. Sure we've hobbled to the moon, sent robots to Mars, and even had probes out to the edges of our solar system. Those are no small accomplishments by any means. But until recently, really reaching out across great distances has been little more than a pipe dream. That all might be about to change.

Recently a pair of European scientists have resurrected the theories of Burkhard Heim, who's "theory of everything" confronts physicist's current understanding of the universe. It never caught on with mainstream scientists, and has often been ignored or not taken seriously due to it's lack of peer review and multi-language translations. But there is something to Heim Theory. Heim Theory predicted the masses of sub atomic particles, before we had the means to measure them. And low and behold, upon investigations, Heim's numbers are closer than those of any other established quantum model. In other words he was right.

Now, what does this have to do with light speed and warp drive and hyperspace?

One of Heim's proposals for the use of his theory was the construction of a ship that could break the "light barrier" so to speak. Through the use of unimaginably strong magnetic fields and rotating rings, Heim calculated that it was possible for a ship to enter a multidimensional space where the speed of light and other natural constants would be different... Hyperspace. Allowing travel to mars in less time than it would take to watch the original cut of Gone with the Wind. We could make a round trip voyage to Alpha Centauri, leaving our own solar system behind entirely, faster than Phileas Fogg traveled around the world. But despite the grandeur of this idea, it lied fallow for years.

Enter the two gentlemen from Europe. Austria's Walter Drocher and Germany's Jochem Hauser have breathed new life into Heim Theory. They reintroduced two additional dimensions to Heim's model, pinned down the existence of an anti gravity force, and worked out the details of Heim's proposed hyperspace propulsion. Their recently published paper entitled "Guidelines for a space propulsion device based on Heim's quantum theory" won the The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautic's “The Future Flight” award. Now there is a new buzz regarding Heim theory among mainstream scientists.

There are many ways to validate Heim-Drocher-Hauser's proposal. One of which will be to find a so called "neutral electron". That is an electron that lacks the typical negative charge. But the real test would be a real world experiment involving massive magnetic fields, which up until now has been impossible. The last piece of the puzzle may be Sandia National Laboratories Z Accelerator. Z Machine to it's friends. The Z machine has made scientific headlines lately when it produced plasma at temperatures in excess of two billion degrees Kelvin, hotter than the heart of the hottest star. Roger Lenard, a researcher at Sandia believes that their Z machine may be able to generate powerful enough magnetic fields to test the hyperspace theory. And he has said that he would be interested in trying the experiment at Sandia after a more discerning look at the mathematics behind it.

So set your google news alerts to "Z Machine" and "neutral electron". If hyperspace propulsion is proved possible, it will open a door to rest of the universe, changing the very destiny of mankind. Look for me on the first ship headed for Alpha Centari. I'll be the one sitting in coach grinning like an idiot. And I'll save you seat.



"They Slipped the Surly Bonds of Earth to Touch the Face of God" - President Ronald Reagan

P.S. I hope everyone had an excellent ethno/religious holiday of choice! And check out our newly added RSS Feed.

Dairy Cows + Human Genes = Crazy Delicious

Not long ago during the presidents historic state of the union address, he touched on some real hot button issues. Of which he is an apparent expert. "Tonight I ask you to pass legislation to prohibit the most egregious abuses of medical research: human cloning in all its forms, creating or implanting embryos for experiments, creating human-animal hybrids, and buying, selling, or patenting human embryos." I'll leave the real controversial stuff; cloning, embryos, patents, etc. and his follow up comments about life being a gift from the creator, for a more serious post.

Now, let's get back to those "Human animal hybrids". W. is too late. They are already among us! Such fearsome beasts as THIS. A herd of genetically modified cattle enhanced with human genetics to produce the beneficial compound lactoferrin in their milk. Thats right, these inhuman monsters are regular cows in every other way except that their milk has a very healthy positive additive. The same chemical produced by nursing mothers with newborn babies. Simply diabolical. Pharming , a dutch biotech company, has already put their naturally occurring chemical through a massive dose rat safety test, wth no negative results. They have put the ball in the FDA's court now, in asking that the lactoferrin heavy milk be "generally recognized as safe". It remains to be seen whether the FDA will tow the party line of foot dragging on GM products of any kind, or whether they will animal-man up, and give Pharming the right to distribute new healthy forms of yogurt, ice cream, and other dairy products.

And what about all of those other transgenic animals, mice bred to grow replacement ears for the disfigured. Pigs bred to produce insulin growth factor, or to grow fully human organs for those in need of transplants. Goats that supply a powerful anticoagulant in their milk. A myriad of mice that help us research and treat disease. And I haven't even touched on the plant human hybrids, like lactoferrin heavy rice. We are already amidst a managery of so called chimeras. And the results thus far are very much in mankind's favor.

There is no need to draft a government policy outlawing beneficial science, just because it's "Icky". I know that the phrase "animal human hybrid" conjures up images of Kilmer and Brando fighting man-bulls. But alarmist fear mongering of an old sci-fi novel shouldn't dictate policy. And if it does, it should be 1984 we're legislating against, not Dr. Moreau.

Dear Pharming, I'll take a large lactoferrin chocolate milkshake to go. And just for fun, put a picture of a minotaur on the cup.


"Dont have a cow man!" - Bart Simpson

Would you like to play a game?

HAL 9000, Wargames Whopper, Collossus... Cinema abounds with depictions of Artificial Intelligences living just on the other side of a computer screen. And speculative fiction has more AIs than you can shake a Turing Test at. But the real world has always fallen painfully short of building machines with souls. That doesn't mean that we aren't taking steps in that direction. Enter Cycorp. The proud parents of a bounding baby AI named Cyc. Now Cyc wont be curing humanity's ills, or ushering in the singularity anytime soon. Basically Cyc is Cycorps attempt at a common sense engine. A computer that actually KNOWS what a tree is, and that human beings have arms. And there are some pretty amazing success stories thus far. In 1986 Cyc asked his programmers if he was human. Later he asked if there were any more like him in existence. I like to think that eventually he will have much more to say.

Until then there is no reason to sit on the side lines. This time last year Cycorp told us that there would be a way for all of us to encourage Cyc's growth. And now there is a way that we can all participate. Check out the FACTory. It's an interactive trivia game, where you can actually help Cyc increase his understanding of everyday things and how they relate to each other. I've been playing for months. It's a very rewarding feeling to be able to lend a hand in such a landmark process. We are the first generation that has the opportunity en mass to help spoon feed a toddling AI. Give it a go. Cyc may thank you later.


"I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do." - HAL 9000

Google Calendar

Google Calendar has gone public. I have been waiting to try this out for some time. Enjoy!

Ninjas Vs. Pirates Vs. Department of Homeland Security

We've long known how the FBI feels about Pirates. Now the truth has come out on the ATF's stance on Ninja. Jeremiah Ransom, wearing red bandannas ninja mask style, was forcibly detained at gunpoint by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms after leaving a Pirate vs. Ninja event at a Georgia university. He was held in "investigative detention" and ultimately released. Jeremiah will file a formal complaint with the ATF. The above picture is a camera phone shot of Jeremiah unmasked, face down on the sidewalk, with an ATF agent's knee on his neck.

The ATFs explanation for why they decided to bring down a jogging ninja...“Seeing someone with something across the face, from a federal standpoint — that’s not right”. Boy are they going to have their hands full this Halloween. No actual Ninja could be reached for comment. However, I did ask.

Pirates...Ninja...I swear, if an alphabet agency starts cracking down on werewolves, I'm going to stop paying my taxes.

"In my life, I have prayed but one prayer: 'Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it." - Voltaire

Weekly Robot Update 001

It's Tuesday, and you know that means. (Well, you didn't but you do now.) It's time for the WEEKLY ROBOT UPDATE. Once a week we'll provide you with the scoop on a unique robot lurking some place on the net.

This weeks robot is the ACM-R5. Courtesy of TechEBlog.

The ACM-R5 "Amphibious snake like robot". It crawls, it slithers, it swims it dives. Watch the video to do this slick machine justice. My Japanese is weak (gomen nasai), but I'll bet the video commentators are saying something like "that's the coolest damn robot I've ever seen."

ACM is just under two meters long, and weighs in at 8 kilos. He can survive in the wild for half an hour before needing a recharge of his Lithium Ion Batteries. There is a small CCD camera in the head segment, surrounded by bright LEDs, which can relay real time video to a remote operator. The operator can control the general heading of the snake bot, but obstacle negotiation, path finding, and water aquabatics are all done autonomously.

ACM was designed to aid in disaster relief. Especially in areas subject to earthquakes and flooding, such as Japan. The robot could crawl, climb, slither, and swim it's way through debris and flood waters to find human survivors. Another proposed use for this machine is to aid in the laying and repair of more fiber optics underground to increase Japan's broadband penetration.

I say they are missing out on the real killer app for this thing. Give it some more expressive LED lights, a prehensile tail claw, a shiny paint job, and a cuddly Aibo-esque personality, and you've got the makings of the worlds greatest beach/pool toy. I'd buy one in a Tokyo minute, and name him Serpentor.

Memepunks Update: A reader was kind enough to supply us with a translation of the reporter speak... "there's not really anything unexpected in the commentary. Just a lot of "Wow! It looks like a snake. It moves very smoothley. Snakes are scary, why did you choose a snake as your model? Wow, that's really futuristic." etc. etc." Thanks!

"I think it was manufactured locally... finest quality... superior workmanship. There is a maker's serial number... 9-9-0-6-9-4-7-X-B-7-1. Interesting. *Not* fish. *SNAKE* scale!" - Blade Runner.

Memepunks officially begins!

This marks the initial post to get the memepunks blog underway. Between myself and my stalwart collaborators, we hope to keep the content fresh and filled with interesting facts, entertaining diversions, and web 2.0 goodness. Here we go!

But wait you say..."what exactly is a "memepunk"?

That's an excellent question. As Bruce Sterling has said, "successful tech neologisms tend to have children". The term memepunk is the great grand child of cyberpunk. Cyberpunk encompasses the writings of people like William Gibson, his predecessors, peers and proteges. Stories like Neuromancer, with a focus on futuristic technology and it's effects on dystopian societies, where hackers and cyborgs brandish chrome middle fingers at the powers that be.

From Cyberpunk, the term Steampunk was was born. Steampunk combined the techno fetishism of cyberpunk with Victorian era steam technology. Clockwork machines, Steam powered analog computers and edgy inventors are often the focus of stories like Gibson's and Sterling's Difference Engine.

A play on Steampunk gave us the title for Cory Doctorows latest novel in progress, Themepunks. A story about visionary inventors, an economic singularity, social networking, hacktivism, and a theme park.

And from Themepunks comes Memepunks. A meme is a thought or idea. And I hope the thoughts and ideas presented at this blog will encompass some small part of the vision of those that have gone before it.

Enjoy!


If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. - Isaac Newton