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Alan Sondheim | 1 Oct 2005 09:21
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Partial Description of the World

Partial Description of the World

The power grid provides 60 Hz here at approximately 115-117 volts; this is
maintained by dynamos driven by steam or coal or oil or hydro held together in a
malleable grid. The grid enters the city, where electricity is parceled out
through substations to cables continuously maintained and repaired. Here, the
cables are below ground. They drive my Japanese Zaurus PDA which utilizes an
entire linux operating system on it. The Zaurus connects to the Internet through a
wireless card that most often connects to my Linksys router, which is connected
both to the power grid and the DSL modem by a cat cable. The DSL is operated by
Verizon with its own grid at least nation-wide and continuously-maintained. The
DSL of course connects more or less directly to the Internet, which is dependent
upon an enormous number of protocol suites for its operation, the most prominent
probably TCP/IP. The addresses of the Internet, through which I reach my goal of
NOAA weather radar, are maintained by ICANN and other organiza- tions. These
organization are run by any number of people, who employ the Net, fax, telephone,
and standard mail, to communicate world-wide. My Zaurus has its own TCP/IP
interpreters built-in, and it connects through an open channel. The wireless modem
may have been built in the US. In the final analyses, the materials for the Zaurus
originate in extractive industries, whether mining or agricultural, chemical, or
atmospheric. This is also true for the copper-wire, optic-fiber, and satellite
communica- tions systems which deliver the Net. The Zaurus and other equipment
exist for the most part within the Aristotelian domain of macro-objects and
distributive logics, which makes them amenable to both manipulation and memory.
Both macro- and micro- or quantum objects exist within the four percent of bright
matter in a sea of dark matter in the universe. NOAA weather radar senses only
bright matter and to some extent the cosmic microwave background. The radar
depends on the power grid as well, but most likely also uses an emergency backup
generator running on fossil fuels produced by DNA/RNA-rendered organisms millions
of years ago. The relative bending of space-time in relation to mass holds
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John Young | 1 Oct 2005 18:17
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Re: Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side'


Nonsense, pure and simple. Gregory Paul is a sexual predator of children, his
favorites being the young of god-fearing ministers. 

Old Greg is the world's record holder of time wearing an electronic monitor,
capable of strapping the devices onto his bedazzled young victims to keep the
police believing he's at home when prowling the houses of the lord posing as a
vice officer with questions about the initmate details of keepers of the lord's
one and only believable Word.

He's a fake cop, too, who trafficks in tours to the Far East for kiddie sex,
cutting deals with perps for lists of contacts and photo albums. Worked out of
NOLA for years, then went to Barbados, got a medical degree which he leveraged
into a psychiatry license to finger and lick.

Ah, well, believers know these monsters appear regularly with futile efforts to
tarnish good hearts, to rupture trusting families with fear and doubt, to propound
secularism as blind faith, to urge solitary, sterile masturbation, imaging a
conquest of god -- atheistic Sartreanisme begat by Nietazchean Judeo-German
narcissism -- attempting an end run around vigorous, unconstrained reproduction,
within the mansion of holy marriage. Vatican City penis envy.

God damn these heathens and their speakspeople, unctiously purveying news reports
of the necessary death of god. Cut their throats when you get the chance, defile
their children, well, teach their children the virtues of ratting their father to
the authorities, tell the police, the female officers, what daddy did, watch eyes
widen and moisten with desire to revenge the ages of male gods promising,
promising light soon to come to the home hearth jail cells.

Psalm 27.
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Jose-Carlos Mariategui | 3 Oct 2005 13:59
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Database on new media art in the 'Southern Cone': Videobrasil on-line

Videobrasil on-line
[the most complete database on new media art in the 'Southern Cone']

http://www.sescsp.org.br/sesc/videobrasil/vbonline/

English
The Videobrasil Cultural Association has put together, in over twenty years,
one of the most important collections of electronic art in the Southern
Hemisphere, which is now available in this open database to all interested
people. Here, you will find information on works, artists, institutions, and
collaborators, as well as details on its festivals and exhibitions. With
Videobrasil on-line we carry out our diffusion project, and specially focus
on the production of the southern circuit.  Supported by Prince Claus Fund
and SESC SP.

Portugues
Em mais de vinte anos, a Associação Cultural Videobrasil reuniu um dos mais
importantes acervos de arte eletrônica do Hemisfério Sul, disponível agora
neste banco de dados aberto a todos os interessados. Aqui, você encontrará
informações sobre obras, artistas, instituições e colaboradores, além de
dados sobre sus festivais e mostras. Com o Videobrasil on-line, levamos à
frente nosso trabalho de difusão, com foco voltado principalmente para a
produção do circuito sul.  Apoio do Prince Claus Fund e SESC SP.

Español
En más de veinte años la Asociación Cultural Videobrasil reunió uno de los
más importantes archivos de arte electrónico del Hemisferio Sur, disponible
ahora mediante una base de datos online para todo el público interesado.
Aquí se puede encontrar información de trabajos, artistas, instituciones y
colaboradores, así como detalles de sus festivales y muestras.  Mediante
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Alan Sondheim | 3 Oct 2005 06:18
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Melting Planet (fwd)


Apologies for the constant forwards. The planet is at one of any number of crisis-
points. At this point we should all join Peta, do our best to pass this
information along, vote and act on it. - Alan

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 2 Oct 2005 16:29:48 -0400 (EDT)
From: moderator@...
Reply-To: portside@...
To: portside@...
Subject: Melting Planet

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/article316604.ece
The Independent
October 2, 2005

Melting Planet: Species are Dying Out Faster Than We
Have Dared Recognize, Scientists Will Warn This Week

The erosion of polar ice is the first break in a
fragile chain of life extending across theplanet,
from bears in the north to penguins in the far south.

By Andrew Buncombe in Anchorage and Severin Carrell
in London

The polar bear is one of the natural world's most
famous predators - the king of the Arctic wastelands.
But, like its vast Arctic home, the polar bear is under
unprecedented threat. Both are disappearing with
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Ned Rossiter | 4 Oct 2005 20:33
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Conference review: Capturing the Moving Mind


[from B.Neilson@...]

The following review of the 'Capturing the Moving Minds' conference was published
in the Italian newspaper Il Manifesto on 2 October 2005. The Italian version is
available at:

http://www.ilmanifesto.it/Quotidiano-archivio/02-Ottobre-2005/art83.html

I append an English version below.

A window on the world

> From Helsinki to Beijing on board the trans-siberian train. A  
> mobile conference of activists, artists, researchers and mobile  
> communications experts, gathered to investigate the new logic of  
> the economy and generate forms and practices of resistance to  
> global control. 'Capturing the Moving Mind,' an itinerant event  
> organised by the journals Ephemera and Conflitti Globali.
>

Brett Neilson

To move without cause, to organise without ends, to flee the war against
intellect: these were the imperatives that animated the conference held on the
trans-siberian train: 'Capturing the Moving Mind: Management and Movement in the
Era of Permanently Temporary War' (September 11-20, 2005). Organised by a group
surrounding the online journal Ephemera: Theory and Politics in Organization
<http:// www.ephemeraweb.org/index.htm> and affiliated with Framework: The Finnish
Art Review and the new Italian journal Conflitti globali, the conference brought
(Continue reading)

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Ronda Hauben | 4 Oct 2005 12:39

Who will own and control the Internet's infrastructure?


The struggle over who will control the Internet's infrastructure escalated last
week at a meeting in Geneva. Following is an article describing what is happening.
It would be good to see discussion about this as it is a significant development.

Ronda

----------------
Who Will Control Internet Infrastructure?

At a recent U.N. preparatory meeting for the World Summit on Information
Society, the dispute widens

<http://www.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?menu=3DA11100&no=3D25=
1118&rel_no=3D1>

As the third preparatory meeting (Prepcom III) for the U.N.'s upcoming summit
about the Internet and its infrastructure came to an end, a dispute erupted over
whether the management of the Internet's names, numbers and protocols should be
controlled by one nation or by a multinational structure.

Brazil, China, India and several other countries insist on a change from the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the entity created by
the U.S. government. The U.S. government insists on continued control of ICANN,
which operates under the charity laws of California.

Many governments believe that this is not an appropriate entity to protect those
who depend on the Internet for their economic, political and social needs around
the world. The stage is set for a difficult round of negotiations to determine if
an agreement can be reached to resolve this dispute in time for the 2nd World
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brian.holmes-39ZsbGIQGT5GWvitb5QawA@public.gmane.org | 5 Oct 2005 15:24
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The Scandal of the Word "Class"

THE SCANDAL OF THE WORD "CLASS"
A review of David Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism 
(Oxford UP, 2005)

David Harvey's new book has four faces on its cover: Reagan, Thatcher, Pinochet
and Deng Xiaoping. It makes one self-evident, yet strangely scandalous assertion:
the rise of neoliberal economics since the late 1970s ? or more precisely, since
the bankruptcy of New York City and the dictatorship in Chile ? is the centerpiece
of a deliberate project to restore upper-class power. 

True to its title, the book presents a concise but extremely well-documented
economic history of the last three decades, encompassing not only the usual G-7
countries but the entire world, with a particular emphasis on the US and
capitalist China. It identifies structural trends of neoliberal governance that,
as the book nears conclusion, serve equally to explicate the present crisis, both
of the global economy and of interstate relations. And finally it asks the
political question of how resurgent upper-class power can successfully be opposed.
Here is where the most benefit could be gained by examining the aura of scandal
that surrounds its central thesis.

But first let us consider in detail how this history unfolds. It is well known
that Chicago-school economists, trained by Milton Friedman, applied the latter's
free-market utopia to Chile after the consolidation of power by Pinochet in 1975.
"Freedom" was a key word in the economic management propounded by the dictator. 
Harvey begins not with that story, but instead with four orders issued on
September 19, 2003 by Paul Bremer, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in
neoliberated Iraq. The orders included "the full privatization of public
enterprises, full ownership rights by foreign firms of Iraqi businesses, full
repatriation of foreign profits... the opening of Iraq's banks to foreign control,
national treatment for foreign companies and... the elimination of nearly all
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Gurstein, Michael | 6 Oct 2005 01:49

FW: [IP] more on Ireland counts the cost of MIT Media Lab fiasco


-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber [mailto:dave@...]=20
Sent: October 6, 2005 1:39 AM
To: Ip Ip
Subject: [IP] more on Ireland counts the cost of MIT Media Lab fiasco

Begin forwarded message:

From: John Murray <jxm900@...>
Date: October 5, 2005 9:50:37 AM EDT
To: David Farber <dave@...>
Subject: Re: [IP] Ireland counts the cost of MIT Media Lab fiasco
Reply-To: John Murray <jxm900@...>

Dave:

The Irish Government's review document is part of the Auditor-General's 
annual report.  The relevant section on MLE can be found at .... 
http://www.audgen.gov.ie/documents/annualreports/2004/ReportChap11.pdf

-jxm

On 10/5/05, David Farber <dave@...> wrote:

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@...>
> Date: October 4, 2005 7:26:16 PM EDT
> To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net@...>
(Continue reading)

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?ISO-8859-1?Q? "jean_pD8D8le_::::::" ? | 6 Oct 2005 08:09
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Solu Dot Org : Video artist Interview

It's been a while since I've spotted a Netoschka Nezvanova thread in net-time... so it's
almost my duty to send in this video artist interview that cuts across various terrain...

(it's a longer, mildly edited version of a piece which had to be crammed into a tiny 3D
world column, and also published with links clickable to most names mentioned below at
www.skynoise.net )

jp

Solu Dot Org : VJ Interview

Representing the Finnish Pixel, Mia Makela, aka SOLU, has been busy in Barcelona. Aside from
helping raise the live audiovisual roof in the last few years with performances, workshops
and writings, SOLU has dived into many music, theatre and dance collaborations, has had
experimental music videos screened in loads of festivals and added to DVD compilations,
helps out with femalepressure.net and recently launched dorkbot.org in Barcelona. An
apparent highlight of the recent AVIT-UK world VJ festival, samples of her work and writings
can be found at her site : www.solu.org

 >>What particularly interests u with live-video at the moment?

The potential this model of creation has. Watching TV nowadays its easy to notice how little
creativity is allowed in mass communication formats of visual creation. Iive found
inspiration in working with different kinds of music styles - I did visuals for a concert of
violin and accordion and it really changes everything in the visual thinking - the rhythm is
very different, the visuals should float through time, video poetry. Creating visuals for
dance or theatre pieces or in collaboration with other creative practices, which use space
more widely than a screen.  Iim quite bored of the one screen-one projector set-up and the 2
dimensionality of it all. Looking forward to when the prices of projectors go down!
(Continue reading)

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Ned Rossiter | 7 Oct 2005 13:04
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Creative Industries in Beijing: Initial Thoughts


[this brief report has been written for Leonardo magazine and the ISEA'06 Latin
American-Pacific/Asia New Media Initiative, http:// isea2006.sjsu.edu/prnms.html]

'Creative Industries in Beijing: Initial Thoughts'

Ned Rossiter

During a teaching stint at Tsinghua University in May this year, and then
following the trans-Siberian conference organised by Ephemera Journal in
September, I started preliminary research on creative industries in Beijing. What
follows is a brief report on my experiences, perceptions and meetings in Beijing.
My interest is to discern the constellation of forces that might be taken into
consideration in future analyses as the research project develops.  I should also
state that this brief overview of Beijing's creative industries is part of a
collaborative project that undertakes a comparative study of international
creative industries.  The research seeks to go beyond economistic interpretations
of creative industries by focussing on inter-relations and scalar tensions between
geo- politics and trans-local, global cultural flows as they manifest around
issues such as labour conditions, IPRs, social-technical networks and cultural
practices.

 46rom the start, there are many factors and variables that make it questionable
to even invoke the term "creative industries" in the Chinese context. Such
complications amount to a problematic in translation of the creative industries
concept.  For the most part, there is little variation at a policy level as
governments internationally incorporate the basic ingredients of creative
industries rhetoric (clusters, mapping documents, value-chains, creative cities,
co-productions, urban renewal, knowledge economies, self-entrepreneurs, etc.) into
their portfolio of initiatives that seek to extract economic value from the
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