A group of U.S. Senators are asking the FBI to explain a recent controversial National Security Letter sent to the Internet Archive. The Internet Archive was able to defeat the request with help from the EFF and the ACLU this past April. "The Internet Archive's case is only the third known legal challenge to NSLs, despite the fact that the the FBI issues tens of thousands a year -- more than 100,000 such letters were issued in 2004 and 2005 combined. But despite the lack of legal challenges from recipients at ISPs, telephone companies and credit bureaus, successive scathing reports from the Justice Department's Inspector General have found illegal letters and a willy-nilly culture within the bureau towards tracking their usage."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Wired's posted a photo gallery from the new show of vintage Japanese robots opening at the Sci Fi Museum in Seattle. Iconic graphic designer Tom Geismar, whose firm Chermayeff & Geismar has created memorable logos for Mobil, PBS and other U.S. institutions, has been collecting the shiny bots for decades.

The Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle will exhibit toys from Geismar's collection in Robots: A Designer's Collection of Miniature Mechanical Marvels through Oct. 26. The vintage robots on display reflect Geismar's trained eye. "I've really restricted myself to ones that appealed to me as interesting, imaginative designs," he says. Link

If you know me, you know I love bookcases built into EVERYTHING. This sofa (the Flexform Oltre) with bookcases in the arms: no exception. Link (via Cribcandy)

This 1958 Japanese tin toy features Laika, Sputnik 2's brave cosmo-dog. Poor Laika. Link (Thanks, Erin!)

See also: Laika - graphic novel tells the sweet and sad story of the first space-dog

Danny O'Brien from the Electronic Frontier Foundation sez,
Vista users are complaining that Media Center refuses to let them record broadcast digital TV shows on NBC.

Here's a screenshot of what they're seeing.

After we won the fight to stop the Broadcast Flag three years ago, over-the-air digital TV shouldn't have any copy controls -- and if it did, Microsoft shouldn't have to obey them.

Is it a bug in Vista's DRM systems? Did Microsoft and NBC cut a deal? What other receivers out there are going to obey the broadcasters instead of their owners? Link (Thanks, Danny!)

They wrote this: The child with an XO is a passive consumer of knowledge, not an active participant in a learning community. As children grow and give up on hopeful idealism, the software, content, resources, and tools should properly restrict them. The very nature of OLPC demands that growth be determined ...

http://www.olpcnews.com/software/windows/windows_xp_on_the_xo.html Well, that's the final nail in that coffin.  What I really want to know is this: Why is it that when I use Microsoft Software on a $1600 desktop machine, with a 1.8 GHz Dual Core CPU and  2 GB of RAM it doesn't run nearly as fast as it runs ...

Well, as it stands right now, from the way the chips landed yesterday at City Council, that the City adopted based on consent the report that the Municipal Wireless initative be shelved until after 2010.  However, I think that was the best decision given the fact that the posterchild of ...

While I disagree with him on many points (namely the Mac OS X parts), I do like the use of acrobatic fuck in this essay! This seems to have the real truth about the One Laptop Per Child and the Sugar spin-off group that it has spawned. http://radian.org/notebook/sic-transit-gloria-laptopi He is definitely ...

I recently went to the Calgary Anarchist Bookfair.  It was a good bookfair, and I have to admit that it changed my views on a lot of things.  One of these things is how I view various types of Anarchism. Frankly, before I went to Calgary, I disliked primitivism.  Actually, dislike ...

At the last VONIC meeting, after talking about strategies for DIY networking and after quite a few beers, we started talking about Venture Communism, and what to put on our business cards when we go talk to VCs.  We were tempted to put on Venture Communist on our business cards ...

I saw this, and this is an interesting concept.  It ook me a while to warm up to it because the whole "Communism" word is loaded with thoughts of Lenin beating down the worker with a copy of a work by Marx (most likely Capital). http://www.telekommunisten.net/venture-communism Also, Riseup Labs is hosting the ...

In the tech industry, there are two crowds.  There is the crowd that is actually interested in technology, how things work and making cool stuff.  There is also the other group, the parasites as it were.  These people are the Venture Capitalists.  It's these people who hold an unequal form ...

We've read what was going on with the OLPC project, and now that Negroponte has put the OLPC beancounter in charge, I think that this will quickly be the nail in the coffin of the project.  If OLPC does in fact put Windows on the laptop, I seriously hope that ...

Today is a very important day.  This is the day that signifies when Anarchism was put on trial in the United States.  Even though the Haymarket Riots were on May 4th, this is a very important day, since it signfies the direct relationship between Anarchism and Unions.  In fact, what ...

esocid writes to tell us that researchers from Taiwan have created a new baseball cap complete with embedded -bio-signal monitoring system. The purpose was to give a neural interface that could be useful in everyday life. "The cap contains five embedded dry electrodes on the wearer's forehead, and one electrode behind the left ear, that acquire EEG signals. Then, the EEG signals are wirelessly transmitted to a data receiver, where they are processed in real-time by a dual-core processor. The BCI system includes Bluetooth transmission for distances of 10m or less (e.g., for driving applications), as well as RF transmission for distances up to 600m (e.g., for potential sports applications). Next, the processed signals are transmitted back to the cap, where the data can be stored, displayed in real-time on a screen, or be used to trigger an audio warning, if necessary."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Dr. Eggman writes "Oscar Pistorius, a 21-year-old South African double-amputee sprinter, has won his appeal filed with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. This overturns a ban imposed by the International Association of Athletics Federations, and allows Mr. Pistorius the chance to compete against other able-bodied athletes for a chance at a place on the South African team for the Beijing Olympics. He currently holds the 400-meter Paralympic world sprinting record, but must improve on his time by 1.01 seconds to meet the Olympic qualification standard. However, even if Pistorius fails to get the qualifying time, South African selectors could add Oscar to the Olympic 1,600-meter relay squad."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Start: May 24 2008 - 8:00pm End: Jun 1 2008 - 6:00pm

Hot One Inch Action is a unique one-night only show of original art, music and social interaction. We take 50 artists, Vancouver's hottest live music and the most discerning art audience and gather them under one roof. During the show, we present the original work of fifty different artists on one inch buttons. These one inch buttons are displayed on the gallery wall and the audience is offered the opportunity to buy randomly selected buttons. If your purchase does not have a desired button, you are invited to trade

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Start: May 27 2008 - 2:00pm End: May 27 2008 - 4:00pm VANDU hosts the next open community DTES housing action meeting.

Tuesday, May 27, 2-4pm
(day before Cheque Day)
380 East Hastings Street
(between Gore and Dunlevy)

BB pal and inspiration V. Vale is the publisher of RE/Search, chronicles of underground and fringe culture since 1977. The RE/Search books, from Industrial Culture Handbook and Pranks! to Modern Primitives and Incredibly Strange Music, are essential encyclopedias of alternative thought, art, music, literature, and methods to circumvent "control" in all its manifestations. (Pranks!, Industrial Culture Handbook, and RE/SEARCH #4/5: Burroughs, Gysin, Throbbing Gristle are now available in limited edition hardcover!) Vale attended the recent Maker Faire Bay Area and was blown away by the connections he saw between the hacker/maker/crafter culture and what he suggests are the original, unspoken "principles" of punk rock: DIY, Mutual Aid, Anti-Authoritarianism, and Black Humor. Vale saw all those characteristics embodied at the Maker Faire and, inspired, wrote a wonderful piece about what the Faire meant to him. Here's an excerpt from Vale's RE/Search blog post, "Maker Faire and Punk Rock": The first, quintessential principle of “Punk Rock” was (obviously) “DO-IT-YOURSELF”… meaning Create All Your Own Culture: music, recordings, record labels, distribution, “Punk Rock” stores, art, graphic art, collages, drawings, interior decor, your clothing, hairstyles, sculpture/installations, social gatherings, community centers, squats or shared housing, art studios, shows — everything that makes your life “meaningful” and “fun.” And this “principle” made EVERYONE at least a naive or “outsider” artist, if not more...

Well, for more than thirty years Punk’s “Do-It-Yourself” signified (to me, at least) Doing It Yourself — but pretty much restricted to the “Arts.” But for the first time we attended last weekend’s Maker Faire and realized that: Why shouldn’t D-I-Y also apply to Science and Technology? (Now, we had ALMOST thought that, years ago, when Survival Research Laboratories began, but — we’re dense.)...

In other words, for thirty years the underlying message of all my publications has remained: “Everyone Is An Artist.” But, now I want to add an additional message: “Everyone Is A Scientist” — or, “Everyone is an Artist/Scientist.” Because, who doesn’t want to figure out how things work? ” Link