let’s everyone just remain calm.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7620318.stm

no money under mattresses or racing to the banks. We’re in Houston, folks, so at the risk of eating my words…we’re slightly protected.

24-hour Ultraskate IV – by Eric Lowell

By AdamC, on Friday 11 July 2008 at 13:33 :: Board News :: #148 :: rss

187 miles on a Longboard….

Hey ho folks, Meet Eric Lowell (Chris’s cousin!) who pushed 187 miles on a longboard in 24 hours, please read about his experience.

Written by: Eric Lowell

The moment I stepped on a longboard, approximately four months ago, I fell in love with idea of propelling myself forward in a way I never thought possible. In a sense longboarding set me free, and the “Whirling Dervish” video started it all. In my mind there is not a better feeling than knowing that you are twenty miles away from your car and the only way back is by surfing an endless concrete wave. Running once provided that rush for me, but running can be hard on your body. In a short period of time I started testing my physical limits in terms of how far could skate. 15 miles lead to 30 and I began to wonder if these types of distances were normal for a longboard. Every single time I got back to my car I never wanted it to end, and without a doubt, I always knew I could do a lot more.

When I read about Adam, Nat, and Sheldon, and their New Zealand adventure on this blog, I remember thinking, “This is the coolest thing I have ever seen.” I must have read it 100 times. These guys are super heroes to me. Its funny how this all started or maybe it was just destiny. But I started toying

From clearing excrement to New York modelling

Walking down the catwalk in front of the great and the good in New York is a far cry from using your hands to clean up human excrement for a living.

But this week a group of such women – known in India as scavengers – have been doing just that. They have been attending a United Nations conference here and doing some modelling at the same time.

In all, 36 scavengers from India have been invited by the UN to attend a conference to mark the UN’s International Year of Sanitation.

The women were brought up from early childhood for the demeaning work.

Scavengers are invariably from the lower-caste, “untouchable” (Dalit) community. They carry the human excrement in pots on their heads. They can also be found clearing rubbish from the streets and open drains outside homes.

Activist Apparel

I’ve seen a few videos recently of musical instruments that you don’t touch. Above is a TED talk of Pamelia Kurstin playing a Theremin.

more about "Activist Apparel ", posted with vodpod

TWITTER WHORE

I love you Lisa Nova

more about "TWITTER WHORE", posted with vodpod

Geek Pr: Fruit-Powered Chip Promo Vid Shows Why Geeks Don’t do PR

(via gizmodo) Being of a scientific persuasion myself, I couldn’t help but chortle at this promotional video for the TI MSP430 Ultra Low Power microcontroller unit. Sure, the neat little device sucks really low current and is used in a wide range of gizmos like smoke detectors and the recent amazing Audeo voiceless translator. We talk a lot about alternative power sources here on Giz, and since these guys demo the chip’s low energy needs by doing the old “fruit-powered” trick, I applaud them. But, dear Adrian and Kevin, you need to hire a better script-writer and actually drink the martinis you mention as power sources if you’re going to get people revved-up about a specialized silicon chip! [YouTube— Thanks Lindsey]…..
from gizmodo.com posted with vodpod

Home automation via Twitter

Even though most Twitter users use it to inform the world of their bowel movements, Justin Wickett came up with a slightly more clever use for the app. He uses an INSTEON switch and a computer in order to monitor a Twitter account for the on or off switch command send from his cellphone. When it’s received, the computer flicks the switch and turns off the light. Between the text message delay, the fact that he needs a COMPUTER hooked up, and the general way-too-geekiness of Twitter, he’s better off setting up an actual home automation system for his lights. [Gizmodo via Vimeo via Hacknmod] More »…….

from gizmodo.com posted with vodpod

Keyboard-infused pants make it okay to grab your crotch

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 23rd 2008 at 8:03PM

Okay, so maybe tapping that space bar repeatedly in mixed company wouldn’t be entirely appropriate, but if you’ve actually managed to mingle with fellow civilians while rocking these, they aren’t likely to mind. Dreamed up and designed by Erik De Nijs, these über-geeky pants boast a built-in keyboard that’s apparently Bluetooth-enabled. Beyond that, you’ll also find sewn in speakers, a pocket made especially for travel mice of all flavors and a “joystick controller” strategically located just behind the front zipper (saywha?). Hate all you like, we just penned this very post on a pair of these bad boys. Only kidding.

[Thanks, Hans] via engadget

Indie adopt video into their every growing pool of what’s esoteric enough

Videogum: A companion site to popular indie rock blog Stereogum (recently acquired by Buzznet), Videogum is a new pop culture site that delivers coverage to the visual side of entertainment: movies, television, online shorts, and even video games. Written in a tone similar to that of Stereogum, the humorous blog has the ability to make even the most lowbrow content sound like something you’d be remiss not to DVR.

NYTimes covers Houston CVB “My Houston” Campaign

The Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau get some local Houston peeps to talk about “[their] Houston”. Among the featured are the Art Guys, Chloe Dao, restauranteur Monica Pope and Dynamo Brian Cheng. Surprised to discover that Dr. Bailey (Grey’s Anatomy) was a Houston native.

Check out the NYT article here, via onlyinhouston.org.

ZENFILM has most (all?) of the vids on YouTube.

How to sync Outlook with GCal and Gmail…finally.

Synchronization on multiple locations is always hard, and it is really tough to get it right if you are doing multiple two-way sync. Though someone got it right – engtech blog introduces his holy grail of synchronization. He has a system setup for syncing Microsoft Outlook (multiple locations), Google Calendar, Gmail, iPod and Mobile Phone. Here is the diagram he used to illustrate:

One of the key tool that engtech uses is ScheduleWorld, which is a online PIM system that has great synchronization support (yes, it supports Google Calendar syncing).

Check this how-to if you are looking for syncing these services and applications with your personal information.

The Holy Grail of Synchronization: How to synchronize Microsoft Outlook (multiple locations), Google Calendar, Gmail, iPod, and mobile phone with Funambol / ScheduleWorld – [engtech]

Google presents April Fools

The kids over at Google have laid out a nice way to shove the inbox truth in the face of everyone you’ve ever lied to and told that an email was “stuck in my outbox”.

Your Custom time opportunities are limited to 10 (the number of times until people lose faith in the accuracy of time, thus rendering the feature useless). Based on , naturally.

Playing with your Wii

The relentlessly hilarious Ze Frank draws comparison betwixt his Wii and his wee. It’s a great intro vid for any newbies to Ze and a great reminder for the rest of us how much we miss the show.the show with ze frank ze on twitter 

Sandy will treat you right / www.iwantsandy.com

 Sandy is all about you…

Life moves too fast for your calendar.

Hi! I’m Sandy, your new assistant. I’ll remember the details so you can focus on what’s important.

• Kick off your morning knowing what’s on for the day.
• Keep your day moving forward with reminders right when you need them.
• Books to read, people to call, your cousin’s birthday — I’ll remember it all.
• Stay organized with everyone in your life — effortlessly.

All without leaving your email inbox.

Check it out at www.iwantsandy.com. You just CC her and tell her dates and times and she reminds you. Pret-ty cool.

Free Dr Pepper for All if ‘Chinese Democracy’ Happens in 2008

Soda Company Nudges Axl Rose, Guns N’ Roses

Adages
Dr Pepper has promised a free can of soda to every American if “Chinese Democracy” comes in 2008. No, that isn’t a reference to activism and the Olympic Games. Rather, the stunt revolves around the Guns N’ Roses album that’s been in “development” for more than a decade.

FULL ARTICLE via Adage.com

Some elaborate marketing schtick from Toyota – Prank your friends

Some elaborate marketing ploy from Toyota and at the same time, some kind of 5 day prank. Sell out your friends. It looks fun.

from www.toyota.com posted with vodpod

We Tell Stories. Six Authors. Six Stories. Six Weeks.

THE NEWEST INNOVATION IN BOOKS
PENGUIN’S DIGITAL LITERATURE PLUS: FREE ITUNES?

Penguin UK recently launched a new book series, called We Tell Stories , that extends the books’ narratives beyond the printed page with components both online and in the real world. This additional media will enhance and further each book’s plot. The Internet element of the stories will not only be updated regularly, but, similar to ARGs , will also give readers the opportunity to interact with the stories and win prizes.

The first story to be published, Charles Cumming’s The 21 Steps, allows readers to follow the protagonist’s movement with Google Maps in order to learn more about the story. This digital literature is a great example of updating a traditional product with new media to create a unique consumer experience. And as the publishing industry now has to contend with videogames for consumers’ attention, the gaming aspect of this project may resonate with young people accustomed to digital competition.

And by the way: According to a number of sources, such as the Financial Times, Apple is considering offering its entire iTunes library to consumers for free with the purchase of a premium priced iPod.

(source)

My friend Becky as a wee lass

see above. she’s irish.

from my.break.com posted with vodpod

Feel better about yourself

Some perspective on not being to afford those SXSW tix.Word.

This chick is GOOD at this.

http://noellehancock.blogspot.com

Oh, right, Cosmopolitician also has/had a Tumblr

Her best post:

http://cosmopolitician.tumblr.com/post/21904899

I know at minimum 4 girls from whose mouth this could have come

noellehancock.blogspot.com

Thanks to Lindsey for the tip.

Welcome to web 2.0

“We can help with that” -Sharon and Fred

For more fun with Sharon and Fred, visit their site.

When you’ve got 7 hours to kill…

Give this site a band name/album and it offers you 5 more that you might want to check out–all with no navigating away and full access to album track lists, wikipedia entry and embedded video via youtube.

If you caught the M.I.A. Houston show

This is the girl she shared the stage with. Hip whipping and general sass included.

Not sure I’d be able to tell the difference if it weren’t for video and the Baltimore references.

Here’s her myspace.