Bruce Sterling's Blog, page 812

With Us, or With Rush

*When even the calm, scholarly eco-geeks get into Rush-bashing, you know
it's the New Normal in American political discourse.

*Looks like Rahm really gets it about Rove. This polarizing, raw-meat,
intensify-the-contradictions thing, that's the Rove handbook. The one
great novelty in the culture-war here is that Limbaugh is gonna collaborate
with this campaign with every heartbeat he's got; since Rahm launched
his "puppet-of-Limbaugh" campaign, Limbaugh's listeners have doubled.
The Limbaug

Wallpaper made out of webcam glitches

*Readers, don't say I never gave you anything.

More specifically: don't say I never swiped nifty conceptual FlickR art
from veteran techno-artist Amy Youngs in order to "give" it to you.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65806584@N00/sets/72157615089458648/

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God on the Brain

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/03/religionbrain.html

(...)

The findings, based on brain scans of people contemplating God, (((where are you when we need you, Tim Leary))) don't explain whether a propensity for religion is a neurobiological accident. But at least they give researchers a solid framework for exploring the question. (((If you can call magnetic scans of a bunch of gray goo a "solid framework.")))

"In a way, this is a very cold look at religious belief," said National

Dead Media Beat: Forgotten Electronic Games

*Nice gallery.

http://www.wired.com/gaming/hardware/multimedia/2009/03/gallery_forgotten_electronic_games

Sunseeker II, a European Solar Aircraft

*A battery-assisted semi-solar glider, really, but why quibble -- it's
a long-distance bird and emits no carbon at all. Woulda been killer
air-support in the MAD MAX series.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/02/sunseeker-2-solar-airplane-flying-over-europe.php

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Cavalcade of Tools

*A nice mix of plonkingly obvious and pleasantly exotic.

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/03/toolbox_ten_tools_you_wont_want_to.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890

*Jigs and clamps.

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/03/make_online_toolbox_jigs_clamps_and.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890

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Use British Web Expertise to Navigate SXSW in Austin

http://www.chinwag.com/blogs/sam-michel/30-handy-resources-sxsw-interactive

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Carbon Ponzi

(((Behind those empty coffers, that looming skull.)))

(((Imagine yourself being Chinese and reading this. "Okay,
we're shoveling coal to drown our coasts to make stuff people won't
buy." Never mind, man, it's business as usual in the world's most
rapidly aging capitalist-communist fume-spewing economic superpower.)))

(((I dunno why these guys still maunder on about impacts of
the year 2100. I'm in Austin right now and it hasn't rained here in
ages. We're having lethal wildfires and massive

Arphid Watch: Could the RFID Biz Collapse?

http://www.rfid-monthly.com/?p=593

Does RFID Have Longevity?

February 22, 2009, 8:33 am

Given Sam’s pushback, P&G’s retreat from Wal-Mart and the weakened economy resulting in less capital for RFID, we suggested tag volumes would likely be down in the first part of 2009. (((Not good news for a business that always depended on steadily advancing rollouts throughout the world of global logistics.)))

This past week, Zebra announced it took a $143M charge to impair goodwill associated with i

Geoengineering hits the media big time

http://www.openthefuture.com/2009/03/topsight_march_9_2009.html

*Maybe somebody's gonna figure out what it costs to decarbonate the seas.

We could "borrow" that money from the future because otherwise, y'know,

there isn't any.

Makes you wonder how much the Earth is worth if the planet's blatantly

facing complete disaster. Where would we prudently draw the financial line and declare,

"you know, our own extinction and the death of all known living things is much cheaper

than trying