The “most dynamic public speaker of our generation” John Hogman expertly details “the cultural war of our time” - the philosophical divide between jocks and nerds. I like the title reality tester even if we can be a bit annoying sometimes. It’s also wonderful to have the first nerd president. Hooray for the decriminalization of evolution!
If you don’t already, follow Hogman on the Twitter machine. That is all.
Help spread the word for Swine Flu infomation, click here for the CDC’s Swine Widget. Track the latest data & investigation progress.
**UPDATE 4/27 - Hey, they changed “Get it Now” to “Get widget Now.”
Good Morning All,
I’ve been encouraged that we’re still headed towards a positive future by all the amazing ideas coming out of the TED conference this week. Even though the economy is bleak, there is hope and science and technology are key. President Obama even mentioned this in his Inaugural address. However, I received this dispatch this morning from the ScienceDebate2008 team. Major science funding is in peril and we have to take quick action today by contacting our representatives. These cuts just don’t make sense.
———————-
From Shawn Otto:
“I am writing to alert you to efforts underway this morning to zero out a large portion of the science funding from the Senate American Reinvestment and Recovery Act as a part of a $77.9B reduction effort led by Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Susan Collins (R-ME).
As you know better than most, science and technology are responsible for half of the economic development of the United States since WWII and yet, if current trends hold, some, such as the Business Roundtable, have predicted that 90% of all scientists and engineers will live in Asia within 5 years.
The United States simply MUST renew our investment in the single greatest economic engine this country has ever known. Small federal investments in scientific research have helped produce things like the internet and the transistor that have consistently delivered multi-trillion dollar economies.
The United States is at a critical juncture, and if this concerns you we suggest now would be a time to contact your Senators and urge them to support science funding. Here is what is being proposed to be cut from the bill, according to TPM:
NASA exploration $750,000,000 = 50%
NSF $1,402,000,000 = 100%
NOAA $427,000,000 = 34.94%
NIST $218,000,000 = 37.91%
DOE energy efficiency & renewable energy $1,000,000,000 = 38%
DOE office of science $100,000,000 = 100%”
———————-
You can see the documents at Talking Points Memo.
Click here to find your Senator’s contact information. Please do something today if you can. This is all moving very fast.
Back in Austin following an incredible week at Pop!Tech. If you missed the live stream, Pop!Tech will be posting all the presentations on their site soon (you can watch the ones from 2007 now). I attended to forge partnerships for the developing Leapology strategy and it was an amazing experience. I found a multitude of new ideas and wonderful new friends. You’ll be seeing the results here on the blog and an extended site soon. For now, enjoy my favorite video from the last day of Pop!Tech, the amazing flying jellyfish robot.
You know you’ve moved to the right town when it hosts an unbridled geek fest extravaganza each year. I presented as a Maker in 2007 for Slooh - “Armchair Astronomy.” I think I had more fun this year, just being able to play, think, observe, and meet cool people.
MakerFaire fills me with hope for the future by demonstrating that everyone isn’t just watching TV & shopping. We’re taking control of technology and creating everything from a Peanut Butter Monster Detector to a house for Katrina survivors that can be assembled with just a rubber mallet.
Check out my MakerFaire Flickr set so see some highlights. I used my new Nikon D90, haven’t read the instructions yet, but it’s proving to be a great little photo machine. I also shot this short video of the Tesla Coil music performance. Enjoy.
