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Creative Commons Salon

Creative Commons Presents

Creative Commons, the great little content licensing scheme that makes it possible for Geek Entertainment TV to be interesting, is kicking off a monthly salon here in San Francisco this Wednesday. I’ve been tapped to present GETV and our CC connection. I will focus on how fun and easy it is to find CC licensed content to spice up the geek video interviews I edit. Also presenting are Josh Kinberg, majordomo of the iTunes killer FireAnt, and Wagner James Au of Second Life. Full details.

shine
1337 Mission Street (Yahoo! Maps, Google Maps)
San Francisco, California

Please join us for the first CC Salon, taking place in San Francisco on Wednesday, March 8 from 6pm-9pm at Shine. CC Salon is a casual get-together focused on conversation and community-building. It’s open to anyone interested in art, technology, education, and copyright. We look forward to seeing you there!

CC Salon – San Francisco
Wednesday, March 8
6pm-9pm
Shine (http://shinesf.com/)
1337 Mission Street (between 9th and 10th), San Francisco

Featuring presentations by:
Josh Kinberg; FireAnt (http://fireant.tv/)
Eddie Codel; Geek Entertainment TV (http://geekentertainment.tv/)
Wagner James Au; Second Life (http://secondlife.com/)

And music by:
Minus Kelvin; ccMixter (http://ccmixter.org/)

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Flocking for the Winter

FlockAs the rainy winter sets in here in San Francisco, two birds of a feather spread their wings. Last week, the much anticipated social browser Flock made it’s debut. This is my first post using Flock to see how she flys. So far, she’s airborne.

The other Flock coming to San Francisco is the beautiful metal sculpture piece pictured here from Burning Man 2001, by longtime artist Michael Christian. Flock (the sculpture) will be coming to the plaza in front of City Hall in mid-November, assuming the Black Rock Arts Foundation can raise enough dinero. You should donate, hint hint. Flock is one of my favorite pieces from all of Burning Man. The legs that rise up from the ground are organic and vine like slowly transforming to an animal shape as it reaches the headless mammalian torso. Possibly a glimpse into our own genetic future?

Hey Scott, so I think Flock officially bridges the gap between the SF Burning Man art scene and the new generation of open source geekdom. Your perception was spot on.

UPDATE: The San Francisco Examiner did a story on Flock coming to SF. I’m happy they chose to use my photo, despite not giving me a credit.

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SF History Podcast

Sparkletack.com
The world needs to know that Sparkletack is officially my favorite podcast of the moment. If you live in San Francisco and have wondered about the strange origins of the many things that makes our home quaint, cozy and just weird then listen up. Sparkletack tackles everything you could ever want to know about the origins of SF street names, the Golden Fire Hydrant, the great Emperor Norton, Patty Hearst, the infamous stagecoach robber Black Bart and of course, the Mission Burrito. The cool voice behind Sparkletack very succinctly covers a subject in a gripping storytelling style steeped in mystery and well researched history. Each episode is easy to devour in 20 minutes or less usually and will leave you wondering what will appear on your ipod next week. Give a listen before Sparkletack gets a deal with the History channel or something. It’s that good.

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Monday brain food

Monday night was rad. Media Alliance did an informative thing at 111 Minna on wifi in San Francisco. Larry Lessig did an incitement and wry presentation and slideshow on the history of communication monopoly, specifically touching on how AT&T stifled any sort of creativity when they felt the least bit threatened. One example of this is being the Hush-a-Phone case. With the FCC in their pocket for many decades, AT&T got their way until they were finally broken up in the 80’s. After Larry, a panel discussion followed by three people representing communities that have stakes in wifi access. A reoccurring point of the evening was that whatever gets deployed in San Francisco, should be ‘network neutral’ and ‘platform neutral’ meaning that the city and the provider don’t get to decide who does and does not have access to the network. Neutrality being the key concept here.

After the intellectual fun, a bunch of us headed across the street to a Thai restaurant to munch and shoot the shit. It was cool meeting Jimmy Wales, the genius behind Wikipedia, one of the best things about an open Internet. Rene shot some video of Irene interviewing Jimmy and Irene interviewing Craig Newmark (yes, THAT Craig).

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Lessig at SF Wifi Media Alliance Event

If you live in SF and care about democratizing Internet access, you should attend this free event. Media Alliance is making it happen and Lawrence Lessig is gonna throw down a few words. And check out Awesometown, funny as fuck.

Lawrence Lessig on Wireless in SF: Digital City or Divided City?

When: Monday, October 10 2005 @ 07:00 PM PDT – 10:00PM
Where: 111 Minna Gallery
111 Minna Street
between 2nd and New Montgomery
San Francisco
Description: Join Media Alliance for this dynamic panel discussion on creating universal, affordable Internet access through municipal broadband utilities. Featuring a presentation by Professor Lawrence Lessig and a panel of local community Internet experts, the evening will include Q&A with the audience.

After years of advocacy by MA and other groups, Mayor Newsom announced earlier this year his goal of free wireless Internet access for all San Franciscans. Cities across the country are implementing municipal projects, though with varying degrees of commitment to bridging the digital divide.

This evening will explore the significant opportunities for city-run projects to expand Internet access and usage by under-served communities, and improve cost, service and consumer choice for everyone.

The talk will be followed at 9pm by music from DJ’s Kid Kameleon and Ripley.

Cost: $5, Free for Media Alliance and EFF members

7-9 pm Discussion: Lessig, Panel, Q&A
9-10pm DJ’s Kid Kameleon and Ripley

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Operation Save-a-Life

I met Pam Pam around the old Progressive Nerve Center sometime last year while she was working for Dennis Kucinich’s presidential campaign. She’s an amazing human being that brings SF Peacemakers to life. She and friends and neighbors take back the corner of Sunnydale and Hahn every Friday night. It’s the most notorious block in San Francisco where frequent but little known stories of dead black men are made. Pam Pam brings a moment of peace to where much violence and blood have flowed. This 60 minute video (144MB QT) is Pam Pam’s story of what goes on down there. Get ready, it’s damn powerful. Btw, I didn’t create this video. This is a rip of a DVD that Pam Pam asked me to make available on the ‘net. I just ripped it and uploaded it to the Internet Archive.