[ B l o g / / Archive]


The Void's Foaming Ebb 
monochrom content info
You can find "The Void's Foaming Ebb" now on YouTube.



monochrom Link
YouTube Link



Turkey: torn between God and state 
The candidacy of Abdullah Gul, Turkey's foreign minister, for the presidential elections provoked massive demonstrations in Istanbul and Ankara and aborted the voting process. The confrontation is between secularists and a ruling party with a neo-Islamic tinge, the popular Justice and Development party (AKP), which has overseen a sophisticated, fast-improving economy and the nation's candidacy for the European Union. The crisis arose from a contest for the soul of the nation, with nationalism at its core.
Link



EU on web-terror: Something must be done 
Register reports:
EU ambassadors have agreed on a draft statement regarding "cooperation to combat terrorist use of the internet". Justice and Interior ministers are expected to endorse the document in June.

The EU draft text (which can be downloaded here [pdf]), lays out conclusions regarding the so-called "Check the Web", initiative launched by Germany, which currently holds the EU Presidency.
The Eurocrats reckon internet terror is a big deal.
(via Lynx, quisse-list)
Link



edition monochrom: VIPA 
monochrom content info
We invite you to the presentation of the publication "VIPA - Virtual Campus For Virtual Space Design Provided For European Architects" on the 1st of June in the Museumsquartier/QDK in Vienna. The book is published by monochrom's own book edition.

Time: 7 PM.



The project and the book will be presented by
Orhan Kipcak (admTM) Christian Kühn (TU Vienna)
Tadeja Zupancic (TU Ljubljana)
Michael Mullins (TU Aalborg)

Virtual spaces have become a major economical growth factor in many areas. At present, spatial concepts are dominant in the entertainment industry (Gaming Industry, virtual worlds like Second Life, etc.), but also other areas of life are being redesigned through augmented reality and virtual reality (VR) concepts. As a consequence, the design and building of living spaces is no longer restricted to construction processes of the building industry. The aesthetical and conceptional design of these new virtual rooms and spaces will open up new opportunities for work and employment for architects, whose major competence is in the design of rooms and space-based social interactions. In the context of these new possibilities offered by virtual reality, the aim of the VIPA project was to develop curricular tools which expand and enhance education in the field of architecture.

The development of a transnational virtual campus containing an e-learning and research platform for European universities of architecture acting in the field of virtual space design has been the primary objective of the VIPA project. This virtual campus was supposed to be available both for education and training as well as for research in the mentioned area. The publication is a summing up of the objectives, outcomes and the visions after of the project.

edition monochrom, link (German only)
VIPA link (English)



Science Fiction vs. Reality: Time for a look back 
Cyberwar Ain't What It Used to Be discusses the differences between William Gibson's literary visions of cyberwar and the recent events in Estonia. The list already is brilliant, but what I liked most was this comment underneath the article:
From the viewpoint of the early 1980s, a lot of the things in the “real world” column are pretty science-fictiony. Botnets? Computer viruses available for free to anyone who looks for them? Malware? Spam? People carrying out their everyday lives over a computer network? Pictures of cats speaking l33t? Estonia?
Link



"Re:" // Lord Jim Lodge powered by monochrom 
monochrom content info
In 1985 a couple of rather prominent European artists -- Kippenberger, Schlick, Oehlen, Bauer -- had an anti-art-art schnapps idea and founded a male-only art lodge, the "Lord Jim Lodge", named after Joseph Conrad's literary figure. This is the story of
- how the Lodge was founded
- how they created a semi-cheesy logo ("Sun Breasts Hammer") for it
- how the Lodge was presented at the world's most renowned art expo
- how the Lodge (high in symbolic value but low in real one) crumbled and nearly vanished
- how the Lodge was bought by monochrom in form of a hostile takeover
- how monochrom re-started, re-re-started and franchised the Lodge
- how monochrom created the art consulting company Teyssandier-Springer
- how Teyssandier-Springer plays the legal option
- how monochrom cracked the Coca Cola Company
and
- how monochrom outsourced the output to the People's Republic of China.

It's a story about art, the market, and products -- in the well known format of 12 oil paintings.



Link



SF Zombie Flashmob: monochrom member spotted! 
monochrom content info
May 25, 2007. A horde of zombies invades a downtown San Francisco Apple Store. But wait! Isn't that one of the crazy Austrian monochrom people?



[Photo by Declan McCullagh]

Engadget Link (More)



Dorkbot SF / Pix 
monochrom content info
Chris Veigl took a great picture of Kyle Machulis (slashdong) and myself demonstrating The Virtual Hole.



Kyle is part of our Arse Elektronika team.

And here are some more pictures Karen put on Flickr.



The Void's Foaming Ebb 
monochrom content info
Yesterday our short animation film "The Void's Foaming Ebb" premiered at Dorkbot SF. The willing beta-testing crowd seemed to like it. So here it is, free to download.



Enjoy, you heretical brood!
Link



monochrom & Shifz meetup in San Francisco 
monochrom content info
Scott Beale is organizing a great monochrom & Shifz meetup here in San Francisco.
Johannes Grenzfurthner and Evelyn Fürlinger of monochrom and Magnus Wurzer and Chris Veigl of SHIFZ traveled to San Francisco from Vienna for last weekend’s Maker Faire 2007. While they are in town I thought it would be great for people to hang out and have a few drinks with them before they return to Austria. So this Saturday, May 26th we are having a monochrom & SHIFZ meetup at Lucky 13 in San Francisco. We will be gathering around 8pm and should be there until around midnight or so. Here’s the invite on Upcoming.

monochrom & SHIFZ are two amazing art and technology organizations based out Vienna and together they co-produce Roboexotica, the annual festival of cocktail robots.


Link



When Parasitic Fungi Attack! 
An incredible video of bullet ants that have been infected by a parasitic strain of fungi called cordyceps.



After the deterioration of the insect's brain, the fungus erupts out of the ant's head to spread the spores across other members of the colony. Creepy and beautiful. Thanks, David!
Link



"The Divining Pod": Aftermath 
monochrom content info
Many people uploaded pictures to Flickr.



Mickipedia blogs a very personal story about the "Divining Pod" and her favorite deity.
And Geeked ranks us under their Maker-Faire-Top-3.



monochrom @ Dorkbot San Francisco 
monochrom content info
Last Minute Dorkbot SF! See you there!
TIME:
7:30pm
Wed May 23

PLACE:
porn palace
415 jessie SF

WHO:
violet blue and guest on pain boys + electro-stim
http://tinynibbles.com

team unicorn - triumph of chastity and the legend of the unicorn
(amy jenkins, liisa pine, wendi flybutter)

monochrom - johannes and evelyn and their latest monochrom projects!
http://monochrom.at

shifz - magnus and chris on cocktail robotics
http://shifz.blogspot.com

kyle machulis (qDot) - surprise!

MC jacob appebaum
http://appelbaum.net

FREE ADMISSION but DONATIONS appreciated - all proceeds go to the SF Crisis Center

CASH BAR | 21+
Link



monochrom @ Sex Hacks (San Francisco) 
monochrom content info
SEX HACKS
with artists, technologists, designers, & geeks:

>> Norene Leddy: NYC-Based Artist Presents "The Aphrodite Project" GPS Platform Shoes for the Modern Sex Worker (theaphroditeproject.tv)

>> qDot: Offering Up His Custom Built and Frequently Teledildonic Sex Toy Hacks (slashdong.org)

>> Natasha Strange: Beloved San Francisco Dominatrix Demonstrates Hypnotic Electronic Mind Hacks (kittenwithawhip.com)

>> Johannes Grenzfurthner: of international art-technology-philosophy group monochrom on the upcoming sex + tech conference Arse Elektronika (monochrom.at)

Live, explicit demos make this an 18+ affair.

Curated, moderated, & instigated by Melissa Gira (Sexerati.com), for the Center for Sex and Culture

Monday, May 21st, 2007, doors at 7, science at 7:30
@ the Center for Sex and Culture
290 Division at 10th/Brannan, Suite 405
$10 - $20 Sliding Scale to benefit CSC
(no one turned away for lack of funds)
www.sexandculture.org

Mostly Private After Party at Shine (rsvp here, or to melissa at melissagira dot com)
1337 Mission Street
Between 9th and 10th
www.shinesf.com



"The Divining Pod" team answers email from hostile god 
monochrom content info
We decide to answer the email from a hostile god.
Dear hostile deity,

I'm sorry if we offended you, but until you identify which "one true god" you are, we cannot take steps to appease you. We included the names of over 90 deities on our "Divining Pod" including several of you jealous gods. You sign your email "You know who I am", but in fact we do not. Are you one of the monotheistic deities such as Yahweh, Ahura Mazda, Akhenaten?
Or perhaps just one of those egocentric heads of a pantheon, such as Zeus or Ra?

In any case, it is time to stop being a bully. Those other gods are your peers and you need to treat them with some respect. Chances are that many of them have been worshiped by man longer than you, whoever you are. They say jealousy is a sign of low self-esteem.

We have nothing but respect for you, and all deities. You are a great god, I'm sure, but there are so many deities competing for our attention that we simply cannot spend every second worshiping you. Please don't take this as an offense or a slight. We'll always make room for you at the table.
Signed,
monochrom



"The Divining Pod": Laughing Squid photoset 
monochrom content info
Scott Beale's "The Divining Pod" photoset.



Link



"The Divining Pod": Semi-total success! 
monochrom content info
May 20, 2007 was a great day for polytheistic airtravel! Let's (partially) praise the goddesses and gods!



More info, videos and pics



New message for Violet B. 

Message for Violet B. 

"The Divining Pod" under email threat by god 
monochrom content info
May 20, 2007. Morning.

We receive an email from a hostile god.
Subject: Mortals, ye shall fail!
To: polytheism@monochrom.at

Abandon all hope. I am the all powerful god. All those other gods are suckers. You have offended me, the one true god, with your blasphemy. I shall never let your "Divining Pod" off the ground.
Signed,
You know who I am.
Help!

Link



monochrom member serves funnel cake 
monochrom content info
Blogosphere reports.
Link



"The Divining Pod": Time Schedule for May 20 @ Maker Faire 
monochrom content info
1:00 PM:
Filling and tagging the balloons.

1:45 PM:
Structural tests.

2:30 PM:
First test lift-off.

3:00 PM:
First ride to the heavens.

3:10 PM:
Cheering and/or insulting the goddesses and gods in charge.



link



Pictures online: >>Re:AW: [Wir] Fwd: Loge etc / OTS-Auss.f.Ubernahme; oel / businessplan // WICHTIG; wer?<< 
monochrom content info
Our good pal eSeL put some great pictures of the opening of our exhibition at Galerie Bleich-Rossi (Vienna) online.



Link



Roboexotica @ Maker Faire 
monochrom content info
We arrived late on thursday, but our friends and cocktail robotics team buddies at Shifz did a marvellous job setting up the Roboexotica boot at Maker Faire. Now we are spreading the word. The only problem... we are not allowed to serve any drinks. Well, it's a free country.



Link (Roboexotica)
Link (Pix)



SF Community Supports "The Divining Pod", but Peak Helium Threatens Project! 
monochrom content info
The local community supports our efforts!

Link (Laughing Squid)

But: Peak Helium threatens the "Divining Pod"!

Link (Peak Helium)



Rube Goldberg Fire Contraption 
I was not impressed in the first thirty seconds of this video, but as time drew on and I realized what a huge contraption this was, I became impressed. And jealous.

This is what is possible when people have a surplus of time and space. From the early days of humanity when those were nearly all we had, civilized people (like me, of course) have traded those commodities for other comforts (mostly eating out in restaurants).

This video evokes the same sort of jealousy that one might have towards the super rich: that is, jealousy that someone should have such huge quantities of a resource that you do not. Time and space: the new currency.

Oh right, and the video is fun to watch.
Link



Law and Second Order: New monochrom t-shirt 
monochrom content info
Phresh from the printers... our brand new monochrom t-shirt.



"Law and Second Order":
18 euros; shirts available in various colors/sizes for men and women. For details, please email.

Link to all English language monochrom shirts



"The Divining Pod": International Year Of Polytheism 
monochrom content info
Cluster ballooning is a perfect metaphor for the plurality and democracy of polytheism. Fight the concept of monotheistic single-balloon ballooning!

At Maker Faire San Francisco 2007 we want to present the world with the "Divining Pod".

Join our effort to fill ballons with helium, tag the balloons with names of air goddesses and air gods, and lift a human being into the skies of diversity! We want to see the heavens open!



May 20, 2007 @ San Mateo Fairgrounds, San Francisco.

More info



monochrom: Ten days in San Francisco 
monochrom content info
Upcoming monochrom performances in San Francisco.
Law and Second Order: monochrom @ Maker Faire.
Saturday, May 19, 2007.
Link

The Divining Pod: International Year Of Polytheism @ Maker Faire.
Sunday, May 20, 2007.
Link

Roboexotica: Festival For Cocktail Robotics @ Maker Faire.
Saturday/Sunday, May 20+21, 2007.
We'll help our friends and co-organizers of Shifz.
Link

Sex Hacks: Arse Elektronika @ Center for Sex and Culture.
Panel with Norene Leddy, qDot, Johannes Grenzfurthner (monochrom), Natasha Strange, moderated by Melissa Gira.
Monday, May 21, 2007; 7:00 PM.
Link



Charlotte Hatherley: "Behave" 
Great manga-esque video, great song.
Link



The Cube (by Jim Henson) 
This philosophical teleplay covers many themes such as, the nature of reality, individual versus scientific perception, self-reference, man's relation to others and society, insanity, social projections, and race relations. It originally aired on NBC's weekly anthology television show NBC Experiment in Television February 23, 1969.



The production was produced and directed by Jim Henson, and was one of several experiments with the live-action film medium which he conducted in the 1960s, before focusing entirely on the Muppets and other puppet works. The screenplay was co-written by long-time Muppet writer Jerry Juhl (who also appears in a cameo). (via DaddyD)
Link



Zombies in San Francisco 
This just spotted on http://eatbrains.com/
"Something sinister is coming to San Francisco in May. The conditions for a zombie outbreak will be perfect on May 25th around 6pm. Stay tuned for further dispatches."
If you're in San Francisco and you want to join the Nation of Zombia, you know where to go!



Link



Screening: "Little Shop Of Horrors" 
monochrom content info
As part of our film and discourse series "Projektion" we'll show Frank Oz's "Little Shop Of Horrors" (1986, English version). Thomas Ballhausen will give an intro talk.



May 16, 2007; 8 PM at Museumsquartier Vienna/QDK, next to the monochrom office.
More info (sorry, German only)



Re:AW: [Wir] Fwd: Loge etc / OTS-Auss.f.Ubernahme; oel / businessplan // WICHTIG; wer? 
monochrom content info
monochrom would like to invite you to the exhibition Re:AW: [Wir] Fwd: Loge etc / OTS-Auss.f.Ubernahme; oel / businessplan // WICHTIG; wer?

The group presents a series of 12 oil paintings visually narrating the story of the Lord Lim Lodge and monochrom's hostile takeover.



As announced at a press conference in Berlin's Cafe Einstein in spring 2006, the Vienna group monochrom has assumed ownership of all trademark and usage rights of the artist Joerg Schlick's "Lord Jim Lodge". Schlick, who died in December 2005, developed the brand name together with Martin Kippenberger, Albert Oehlen and Wolfgang Bauer during the 1980s. This takeover has far-reaching consequences for numerous artistic endeavors. In cooperation with the Berlin art consulting agency Teyssandier-Springer, monochrom has lodged claims asserting its rights in the affair while simultaneously inviting the owners of the works in question to negotiate a satisfactory out-of-court settlement.
Shortly before the artist's death, monochrom purchased from Joerg Schlick in a package deal all rights pertaining to intellectual property, copyright, trademark, and usage in accordance with national and international regulations.
In May 2006 monochrom had already succeeded in landing the first returns from the partial transfer of the logo to the American soft drink manufacturer The Coca Cola Company. From these funds it was possible to enter into takeover negotiations with additional art and cultural organizations, thus furthering the group's vision of working toward an economic restructuring of the so-called Austrian "art scene". The results will be officially announced shortly. In celebration of their exceptional art-market performance, monochrom and Art Consulting Teyssandier-Springer - in cooperation with the partner firms Galerie Bleich-Rossi, Austroarts Consulting, MuseumsQuartier Wien, The Coca Cola Company, Landesbund Kunst & Kultur Kärnten, Ströck Art Center and Künstlerbedarf Hirmke, Hrabalekgasse 9a – invite you to take a painted look back at the business year 2006/2007.
As part of the opening monochrom will presents the latest issue of Sonne Busen Hammer (which is monochrom print issue #25).



Opening: May 15, 2007; 6 PM @ Galerie Bleich-Rossi, Vienna.



Taugshow #11: Pix 
monochrom content info
Regine Debatty posted a few pictures of Taugshow #11 on Flickr. Thanx!



Link



Call for Participation: Chaos Communication Camp 
The deadline for submission for the Chaos Communication Camp is near (May 15). Please hand in your workshops and lectures for the 5-day hacker open air event this summer!
The main theme of this year's camp is the world we want to live in tomorrow. We try, however, to create a certain focus on a number of topics that we regard as important for the near future. We want:
  • flying and non-flying autonomous robots
  • security, encryption and anonymity
  • software projects
  • technologies for the day after the climate change
  • rapid prototyping and fabbing
  • software and hardware for disaster-resistant infrastructure
  • bringing broadband to the countryside
  • politics and propaganda
  • anti-crowd-control tactics and technologies
  • lock picking
  • alternative energy systems
  • citizen surveillance, data mining technologies, and social networks
  • data forensic methods
  • all things radio (preferably digital)
  • self-sustaining and -reproducing hardware
  • pollution free transport systems
  • hacker anthropology and sociology of the scene
  • flying cars, saucers and carpets
  • 42
  • tesla generators
  • telecommunication technologies
  • FPGA based analysis
  • military technologies
  • all kinds of voting computers
  • ebooks
  • satellites and rockets
(and countermeasures against all of the above).
Call for Participation



Taugshow #11: Recommendation 
monochrom content info
Tim Pritlove recommends Taugshow #11.
Link



Cluster Ballooning 
A website dedicated to the sport of Cluster Ballooning:



Link



Taugshow #11 @ C-Base, Berlin 
monochrom content info
Our 11th episode of Taugshow will be recorded at the C-Base in Berlin/Germany, May 12th (9 PM). Our guests will be Régine Debatty of "We Make Money Not Art" (asks the question what happens when artists manipulate life itself, hack the genes and grow semi-living entitites in their labs) and Karin Harrasser (who will tell us why Science Fiction is a restricted mode for science communication). Evelyn Fürlinger will present "Wicked Wordz", our regular column about lingustics.
Music performances by the monochrom Allstar Band and Krach the Robot.



Link



"You can also become a pants man!" 
Wonderful Japanese potty training video.



Link (thanx, Frank Lachmann)



Free Speech... a little bit different 
Verizon is one of the phone companies currently being sued over its alleged disclosure of customer phone records to the NSA. In a response to the court last week, the company asked for the entire consolidated case against it to be thrown out—on free speech grounds. The response also alleges that the case should be thrown out because even looking into the issue could violate state secrets, of course, but a much longer section of the response tries to make the case that Verizon has a First Amendment right to "petition" the government. "Based on plaintiffs' own allegations, defendants' right to communicate such information to the government is fully protected by the Free Speech and Petition Clauses of the First Amendment," argue Verizon's lawyers.
Link (Thanx, Lynx/quisse-list!)



Woman's 11-stone legs may be lost 
A woman is campaigning to raise awareness of a rare condition which has left her with 11 stone (70kg) legs.



Link



Iraq: follow the money 
US agencies in Iraq claim that extraordinary sums have been spent on reconstruction projects; that thousands have been completed and that many more are under way. But the cash (some of which was Iraq's own) has gone to shady contractors who have done a bad job or none at all.
Link



Child Care: Regular Television Time Starts for Many at 3 Months 
"For many families, apparently, it is never too early to watch television. Researchers reported yesterday that 40 percent of infants are regular viewers of television or videos by age 3 months, and 90 percent are watching regularly by age 2."
Link



Worst song lyrics ... ever 
Thanks, BBC.
#1 Des'ree - Life
I don't want to see a ghost,
It's the sight that I fear most,
I'd rather have a piece of toast,
Watch the evening news.

# 2 Snap - Rhythm Is A Dancer
I'm as serious as cancer,
When I say Rhythm is a Dancer.

# 3 Razorlight - Somewhere Else
And I met a girl,
she asked me my name,
I told her what it was.

# 4 ABC - That Was Then But This Is Now
More Sacrifices than an Aztec priest,
Standing here straining at that leash,
All fall down,
Can't complain, mustn't grumble,
Help yourself to another piece of apple crumble.

# 5 U2 - Elevation
I've got no self control,
Been living like a mole now,
Going down, excavation,
High and high in the sky,
You make me feel like I can fly,
So high,
Elevation

# 6 Toto - Africa
The wild dogs cry out in the night,
As they grow restless longing for some solitary company,
I know that I must do what's right,
Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti.

# 7 Oasis - Champagne Supernova
Slowly walking down the hall,
Faster than a cannonball,
Where were you when we were getting high?

# 8 Duran Duran - Is There Something I Should Know?
And firey demons all dance when you walk through that door,
Don't say you're easy on me you're about as easy as a nuclear war.

# 9 Human League - The Lebanon
Before he leaves the camp he stops,
He scans the world outside,
And where there used to be some shops,
Is where the snipers sometimes hide.

# 10 Black Sabbath - War Pigs
Generals gathered in their masses,
Just like witches at black masses.

Link



What you should know about computer programming 

"It should be noted that no ethically-trained software engineer would ever consent to write a DestroyBaghdad procedure. Basic professional ethics would instead require him to write a DestroyCity procedure, to which Baghdad could be given as a parameter."

Nathaniel S Borenstein



Hegemonchhichi 

"We had a child one day... we were happy first... yet the next day we neglected the baby although he was crying" (chuckle) 
A Japanese couple talks about their relationship.



From an amazing series of interviews with people talking about their lives on Second Life and Sims Online.
Link



The Cracked Ambience: new and recommended sounds for your personal space 

Gspell: Google-based spell checking? 
Gspell is a great little add-on for Mac users to add system-wide spelling recommendations from Google search results. For 10.4 users, Tiger's had spell-checking from the New Oxford American Dictionary built in, but even that has its limits when it comes to brand-new words and company names. Gspell's solution is to search Google to find spelling recommendations based on top results. This comes in handy when typing in people's last names, or site names that are slight variations of real words, such as Digg, Yelp, and CNET.
Link



An Ideology of 'Gunism' 
By Robert Jay Lifton.
The combination of mental disease and access to guns leaps out at almost everyone in connection with the Virginia Tech shootings. But from there ideas and advocacies tend to become amorphous and tinged with hopelessness. There is consensus that something should be done to intervene earlier in threatening forms of psychological disturbance, and as a psychiatrist I agree and also recognize some of the social obstacles to doing so. But while there will always be mentally ill people, a few of whom are violent, it is our gun-centered cultural disease that converts mental illness into massacre.

Indeed, I would claim that a gun is not just a lethal device but a psychological actor in this terrible drama. Guns and ammunition were at the heart of Seung-Hui Cho's elaborate orchestration of the event and of his Rambo-like self-presentation to the world. When you look at those pictures, you understand how a gun can merge so fully with a person that a man who makes regular use of it could (in the historical West and in Hollywood) become known as a "gun."

Some years ago, the distinguished historian Richard Hofstadter told me that, after a lifetime of studying American culture, what he found most deeply troubling was our country's inability to come to terms with the gun -- which in turn strongly affected our domestic and international attitudes. Emotions of extreme attachment to and even sacralization of the gun pervade American society, and commercial interests shamelessly manipulate those emotions to produce wildly self-destructive policies.
Link



In Search Of Nazi-Looted Art 
Bernard Taper's mission -- to save art looted by Nazis. Here's how he did it.
Bernard Taper dreamed about Raphael's "Portrait of a Young Man,'' the most prized painting looted by the Nazis that has never been found. He spent two years searching for the Raphael in ravaged post-World War II Germany -- and for many other works he did recover -- as an art-intelligence officer with the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives section of the U.S. military.

"It's the most valuable single thing that's still missing,'' says Taper, a longtime writer for the New Yorker, one-time Chronicle reporter and retired UC Berkeley journalism professor. He tracked down many artworks in 1946 and '47, including objects German peasants had looted from an abandoned train carrying booty pilfered by Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring. A connoisseur of luxury, Göring had amassed thousands of paintings, sculptures and others works during his tenure as the second-most powerful man in Nazi Germany.
Link



Oh the Irony. 
I hate to tell you this, but sarcasm is dead. I'll miss it as much as you will, no really. I'll miss how sarcasm used to provide people a way to skirt around saying what they truly thought. I'll miss the ambiguous vocal inflections that could, if you were in on the joke, turn a compliment into a scathing criticism. I'll miss being able to use sarcasm to shield myself from the scathing criticisms of others.

Sarcasm has always been one of the most important modes of communication. It is hard to imagine how we will go on without it. Who wants to go on living in a world where you can't go around saying the opposite of what you mean and expect to be understood?

Oh, sarcasm, you elevated us all to a position of sage authority. Anyone who invoked you was sure to win the argument, to make their point crystal clear, to gain the trust and respect of their fellows. Not one person ever took advantage of the potential ambiguity to be an asshole. On the contrary, you were an incisive tool for the most brave and inventive minds of our times. I'll miss you, sarcasm.



Elf 

They really kicked you out of the Situationist International? 

Capitalism is Delicious! 
This waffle iron in the shape of a computer keyboard is proof that capitalism, though terribly inefficient, produces wonderful things. In that way it is a lot like natural selection. A less chaotic "planned economy" would never have produced something so bizarre for mass consumption. Call it "Product Darwinism".



Link



Programmer Testifies: US elections rigged 
No breaking news anymore, but well worth distributing:
Clinton Eugene Curtis, a former programmer for NASA and Exxon has finally come forward to testify before the US Judiciary that he was enlisted by Republicans to create a program which could guarantee Bush's presidential election victory.


Link



Culture Sculpts Neural Response To Visual Stimuli, New Research Indicates 
Researchers in Illinois and Singapore have found that the aging brain reflects cultural differences in the way that it processes visual information. This study appears in the journal Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience. This paper and another published by the same group in 2006 are the first to demonstrate that culture can alter the brain’s perceptive mechanisms.
Link



Ha! Ha! 

D.I.Y.-Exhibition 
Today is the day! Da könnt' ja jede/r kommen - ca. 10 Jahre D.I.Y.-Kultur in Wien is opening today! It's an exhibition on the do-it-yourself "movement" (for lack of better words) in Vienna during the past 10 years or so. You'll see flyers, fanzines, lots of photography, records and other shit from back in the day.

There'll also be live-gigs (all for free!) by A Thousand Fuegos, Paper Bird, Seven Sioux, Everton, Dimitrij and Feeding Time. Google the names or put them into myspace for samples. Also make sure to read this weeks' Falter for a feature, or listen to FM4s Homebase tonight for another item. We're blowing the backdoors off this thing!

Most importantly however, come out tonight, 7pm!

Here is all the info:
www.plattformquelle.org



How false information creates true events 
monochrom content info
Our new post for Joey Skaggs' pranks.com:
An article by Klaus Schoenberger — who is doing pop-culture research at the University of Hamburg, Germany — featuring the Yes Men and their Union Carbide/Bhopal hoax in 2004.
Link



Spy on any Mac 
We all know the problem: through physical force (aka good, old violence) or with a warrant you gained access to a usual suspect's home and now you're eager to access all the private data, passwords, whatever... But the victim uses a Mac, no Windows system, so your usual tools fail. Fear not, bold investigator: MacLockPick is here to help you, at a very good price (US$499.95, state and local law enforcement get 10% discount):
MacLockPick™ is a valuable tool for law enforcement professionals to perform live forensics on Mac OS X systems. The solution is based on a USB Flash drive that can be inserted into a suspect's Mac OS X computer that is running (or sleeping). Once the software is run it will extract data from the Apple Keychain and system settings in order to provide the examiner fast access to the suspect's critical information with as little interaction or trace as possible.
Link



The mystery of Chu 
Grand Text Auto (a group blog about computer narrative, games, poetry, and art) is always worth reading. This entry (okay, so it's a few days old, but interesting nevertheless) tackles a problem with Japanese video games I also encountered — the question of what on earth the onomatopoetic sound "chu" means:
What does "chu" mean? The answer is not available on the Wikipedia disambiguation page. My fellow Dreamcast owners may particularly be wondering about this. If you've played Space Channel 5, you will probably recall that all the cute alien opponetnts say "chu" to indicate you need to press the A button.
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The Very Rich are Different from You and Me 
According to Princeton University professor Peter Singer, the top 0.01 of taxpayers or 14,000 Americans earn an average of $12,775,000 with total earnings of $184 billion. The rest of the 0.1 percent, or 129,600 individuals, now have an average income of just over $2 million. And the top 0.5 or 575,900 have an average income of $623,000.

Prof. Singer calculates that if the folks in the top 10 percent donated between 10-30 percent of their income, it would raise $404 billion, an amount that would eliminate half of global poverty. And they wouldn't be left to scrimp on their sumptuous lifestyles.
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I Aim to Misbehave! Reassessing Science-Fiction 
I just received an interesting Call for Papers for a SF conference in Graz, Austria. The conference's title is I Aim to Misbehave! -- Reassessing Science-Fiction: Dystopia and Utopia, rebellious pathos and perpetuation of reactionist thinking, transgressive body-politics and maintenance of paternalistic gender-concepts.
As an accompanying program to the first Can't-Stop-the-Serenity-Screening in Austria, and the first screening of the movie in English in Graz we plan to have a panel discussion on the 21st of June 2007. In this discussion we want to explore the emancipatory potential of Science-Fiction and the realization of this potential in mainstream genre movies.

We welcome a variety of texts: i.e., on particular movies, character studies and comparisons, on the history of the genre, on the ambitions of single directors, on fandom, or anything else you can imagine.

Since this discussion isn't targeted solely to Science-Fiction scholars or fans, we would recommend sending in easy-to-understand texts which would be accessible to a non-hardcore audience.

We're especially looking forward to texts which include a gender-aware perspective.

In order to initiate this panel, we invite SF-scholars, fans, political activists and film critics to send in their views on the topic as short articles and participate in the discusion: 5 pages max., 12 pt, CV, and list of publications (not mandatory!).

Since Can't Stop the Serenity Graz is a charity event to support the local Women Shelter and the global women rights advocacy group Equality Now!, and because of the fact that money is more than tight right now, we'll only be able to refund transportation costs.

All articles we receive will be published on this site indefintely, if it's not against the author's will.
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A long swim 
Google maps gives directions from my house in San Francisco to Vienna, Austria
32. Turn right at Long Wharf 0.1 mi
33. Swim across the Atlantic Ocean 3,462 mi
34.Slight right at E05 0.5 mi
7,463 mi (about 31 days 11 hours)
Of course, I don't own a car, so I figure it will take me at least until October!


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BikeMike: A Field Recording Audio Blog 
BikeMike is an audio-blog based on field rcordings by Wolfgang Fadi Dorninger (sound-artist & composer).
I like to move into the "fields" to record something "real" and to focus on sounds we normaly filter from perception. Massive noise causes constant stimulus satiation and as a result we filter our acoustic input broadband. Filtering noise/sound means also to filter information, communication and natural environments. That's why I run BikeMike.


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monochrom is an art-technology-philosophy group having its seat in Vienna and Zeta Draconis. monochrom is an unpeculiar mixture of proto-aesthetic fringe work, pop attitude, subcultural science, context hacking and political activism. Our mission is conducted everywhere, but first and foremost in culture-archeological digs into the seats (and pockets) of ideology and entertainment. monochrom has existed in this (and almost every other) form since 1993.
[more]

Booking monochrom:
[Europe]
[USA]

External monochrom links:
[monochrom Wikipedia]
[monochrom Flickr]
[monochrom blip.tv]
[monochrom GV]
[monochrom Youtube]
[monochrom Facebook]
[monochrom iTunes]
[monochrom Twitter]
 


Soviet Unterzoegersdorf / Sector 2 / The Adventure Game

Climate Training Camp

Krach der Roboter: Hello World!

Slacking is killing the DIY industry (T-Shirt)

Carefully Selected Moments / CD, LP

Freedom is a whore of a word (T-Shirt)

#fullboycott

International Year of Polytheism 2007

Santa Claus Vs. Christkindl: A Mobster Battle

Could It Be (Video clip)

Pot Tin God

Hacking the Spaces

Kiki and Bubu and The Shift / Short film

Kiki and Bubu and The Privilege / Short film

Kiki and Bubu and The Self / Short film

Kiki and Bubu and The Good Plan / Short film

Kiki and Bubu and The Feelings / Short film / Short film

Sculpture Mobs

Nazi Petting Zoo / Short film

The Great Firewall of China

KPMG / Short film

The BRAICIN / Short film

Soviet Unterzoegersdorf / Sector 1 / The Adventure Game

I was a copyright infringement in a previous life (T-Shirt)

Brave New Pong

Leben ist LARPen e.V.

One Minute / Short film

Firing Squad Euro2008 Intervention

RFID Song

A tribute to Honzo

Lessig ist lässig

I can count every star in the heavens above -- The image of computers in popular music

All Tomorrow's Condensations / Puppet show

Bye Bye / Short film

Revaluation

PC/DC patch

Proto-Melodic Comment Squad

myfacespace.com

The Redro Loitzl Story / Short film

Hax0rcise SCO

Law and Second Order (T-Shirt)

They really kicked you out of the Situationist International?

Death Special: Falco

Applicant Fisch / Short film

When I was asked to write about new economy

Taugshow #6

Taugshow #7

Taugshow #9

Taugshow #10

Taugshow #11

Taugshow #14

Taugshow #15

Campfire at Will

Arse Elektronika 2007, 2008, 2009 etc.

The Void's Foaming Ebb / Short film

Remoting Future

When you / Short film

Elf

Free Bariumnitrate

Toyps / Typing Errors

ARAD-II Miami Beach Crisis

The Charcoal Burner / Short film

Digital Culture In Brazil

Hegemonchhichi

Nation of Zombia

Lonely Planet Guide action

CSI Oven Cloth

Dept. of Applied Office Arts

Farewell to Overhead

Google Buttplug

Fieldrecording in Sankt Wechselberg / Short film

Dark Dune Spots

Campaign For The Abolition Of Personal Pronouns

Zeigerpointer

Space Tourism

In the Head of the Gardener

Entertainment (Unterhaltung) / Short film

Cthulhu Goatse

Nicholas Negroponte Memorial Cable

Coke Light Art Edition 06

Experience the Experience! (West Coast USA/Canada Tour 2005)

April 23

Overhead Cumshot

Irark / Short film

Wart

Instant Blitz Copy Fight

A Patriotic Fireman

A Micro Graphic Novel Project

Noise and Talk

The Exhilarator

H&M

SUZOeG Training / Short film

The Flower Currency

Gastro-Art/Gastrokunst

A Holiday in Soviet Unterzoegersdorf

How does the Internet work?

Paraflows 2006 and up

Special Forces

Coca Cola

About Work

Turing Train Terminal

Me / Short Film

Massive Multiplayer Thumb-Wrestling Network

Doormat

Some Code To Die For

The Year Wrap-up

Soviet Unterzoegersdorf Metroblogging

Project Mendel

Display, Retry, Fail

Manifesto of Ignorantism

Actionfilm

Towers of Hanoi

Heisenberg

Opto-Hedonism

Every Five Seconds an Inkjet Printer Dies Somewhere

Milk

Mobutobe

Brandmarker

We know apocalypses

452 x 157 cm² global durability

A Good Haul

Blattoptera / Art for Cockroaches

Minus 24x

Gladiator / Short Film

Eden

An attempt to emulate an attempt

Paschal Duct-Taping

Laptop Crochetication

Russka

Somewhere in the 1930s

Soul Sale

The Department for Criticism against Globalisation

Dot Smoke

Georg Paul Thomann

Nurgel Staring

War On

Let's network it out

Nude

Mackerel Fiddlers

Whales

Disney vs. Chrusov / Short film

Bulk Mail

Easter Celebrations

Mouse Over Matter

Condolence for a Crab

Force Sting

Turning Threshold Countries Into Plows

System

A Noise

A. C. A.

Hopping Overland

Achy Breaky Heart Campaign

Hermeneutic Imperative III

Holy Water / Franchise

Roböxotica // Festival for Cocktail-Robotics

Spears

Engine Hood Cookies

Ikea

The Watch

Creative Industry 2003

This World

Cracked Foundation For The Fine Arts

Sometimes I feel

Fit with INRI

Growing Money

Catapulting Wireless Devices

Buried Alive

Illegal Space Race

Magnetism Party

Brick of Coke

1 Baud

Scrota Contra Vota

Direct Intervention Engine

Oh my God, they use a history which repeats itself! (T-Shirt)

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Dorkbot Vienna





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