Four|One

A Look at The Good.

2008-08-18T07:59:00.001-06:00

Millions of voices will unite to speak out about positive change in New Orleans during the week of August 25th - the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The “New Orleans 100” initiative will highlight and encourage discussion among millions about 100 of the most innovative and world-changing ideas to take root in the city since Katrina.

“After hearing so many of the positive changes and innovative projects post-Katrina, we’ve decided enough is enough,” said Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Co-Founder of alldaybuffet. “It’s time to put an end to the negative press in mainstream media. We know that the levees broke. We know that our city is dysfunctional. We know that. But do you know about Prospect.1? Or about the influx of young professionals into New Orleans? The world needs to know about the NEW New Orleans.”

To combat top down media, the project will leverage bottom up tools on the social web (email, blogs, twitter, facebook, digg, etc.), which can reach a combined audience of millions to raise awareness about New Orleans and inspire action to make a difference.

“The New Orleans 100″ features projects like Prospect.1, the largest biennial of international contemporary art ever organized in the United States, and NOLA YURP, an organization that offers a support and resource network to connect, retain, and attract young professionals from diverse backgrounds for a sustainable New Orleans. The list will highlight 100 of the most inspiring people, organizations, and projects that define the rebirth of New Orleans.

We’ll release the list on Monday, August 25th and call on everyone on the social web to participate. Our goal is to reach 1,000,000 views by 8.28.08. Everyone can make a difference. All it takes is a click!

To view the list and find out more information, please visit http://www.alldaybuffet.org/neworleans100

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Euro Homer.

2008-08-16T15:57:00.002-06:00

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Hipster Requiem

2008-08-16T14:57:00.006-06:00

"Lovers of apathy and irony, hipsters are connected through a global network of blogs and shops that push forth a global vision of fashion-informed aesthetics. Loosely associated with some form of creative output, they attend art parties, take lo-fi pictures with analog cameras, ride their bikes to night clubs and sweat it up at nouveau disco-coke parties. The hipster tends to religiously blog about their daily exploits, usually while leafing through generation-defining magazines like Vice, Another Magazine and Wallpaper. This cursory and stylized lifestyle has made the hipster almost universally loathed...

"We are a lost generation, desperately clinging to anything that feels real, but too afraid to become it ourselves. We are a defeated generation, resigned to the hypocrisy of those before us, who once sang songs of rebellion and now sell them back to us. We are the last generation, a culmination of all previous things, destroyed by the vapidity that surrounds us. The hipster represents the end of Western civilization – a culture so detached and disconnected that it has stopped giving birth to anything new.

"An artificial appropriation of different styles from different eras, the hipster represents the end of Western civilization – a culture lost in the superficiality of its past and unable to create any new meaning. Not only is it unsustainable, it is suicidal. While previous youth movements have challenged the dysfunction and decadence of their elders, today we have the “hipster” – a youth subculture that mirrors the doomed shallowness of mainstream society." http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/79/hipster.html

via adbusters - Douglas Haddow

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Know-Nothing Politics

2008-08-08T08:14:00.003-06:00

Now, I don’t mean that G.O.P. politicians are, on average, any dumber than their Democratic counterparts. And I certainly don’t mean to question the often frightening smarts of Republican political operatives.

What I mean, instead, is that know-nothingism — the insistence that there are simple, brute-force, instant-gratification answers to every problem, and that there’s something effeminate and weak about anyone who suggests otherwise — has become the core of Republican policy and political strategy. The party’s de facto slogan has become: “Real men don’t think things through.”

via Paul Krugman / New York Times read article

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'Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love'

2008-08-06T11:49:00.002-06:00

New Yorker Matt Kinsey went into the West Side Market in NYC the other day and picked up a container of assorted cheese cubes from the shelf. When he glanced down to see if the ingredients would truly be 'great for snacks,' he was surprised to find some classic rock lyrics instead.

As you can see from the photo, a verse from Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin' 'bout love" was curiously printed on the label. In other words, ingredients = killer lyrics.

No word yet if thousands of mullet haired rock fans have made a pilgrimage to the market in their assless chaps to pay tribute to this one of a kind VH cheese. But In my opinion any cheese that's "been to the edge, And [then I] stood and looked down" is some the best damn cheese ever made. Even if it's rotten to the core.

The work of some rogue stockboy no doubt.

via yesbutnoyes / adage

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Get Your War On.

2008-08-02T20:55:00.000-06:00

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Must be a New Orleanian.

2008-07-31T09:59:00.003-06:00

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Muddy Waters

2008-07-24T15:49:00.001-06:00

Jul 24, 2008

(The Politico) So why exactly did Sen. John McCain cancel an event yesterday on an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana?

According to the McCain campaign, the event was canceled over weather concerns.

However, that explanation is not sitting well with Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, who claims McCain canceled the event because of a nearby oil spill that dumped hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil into the Mississippi.

“Look up ‘irony’ in the dictionary and you will find a description of this turn of events. Having to cancel your big oil drilling photo op because of a massive oil spill is like canceling a crime safety photo op because the house next door just got robbed," said Menendez.

"In selling his absurd coastline drilling plan to the American people, Sen. McCain has time and again pointed to advanced technology that would supposedly eliminate the threat of massive oil spills. As he can now personally attest, even with the most modern technology, we can’t prevent massive oil spills like the one currently devastating the Mississippi, just as we couldn’t prevent 7.7 million gallons of oil spills after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. This is the type of straight talk about oil drilling the American people deserve to hear.”

On Wednesday, a 600-foot tanker and a barge loaded with fuel oil collided near New Orleans, breaking the barge in half. While there were injuries, more than 419,000 gallons of thick oil spilled from the barge, forming a slick 12 miles long.

McCain's critics also pointed to the forecast, which according to weather.com called for scattered showers with a 30 percent chance of thunderstorms in the New Orleans area.

Menendez has authored legislation to permanently ban drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf, however, McCain has come out in favor of expanding offshore drilling.
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Pandora Thumbs Up.

2008-07-18T14:21:00.003-06:00

Whoa. Ben turned me on to Pandora, a iPhone streaming radio app that allows you to punch in artists or songs that you like and it then streams tunes it thinks you'll like based on a ton of parameters. It's based on the Music Genome Project. Pretty cool stuff, and free, which is nice.

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Street Cred.

2008-07-15T14:45:00.004-06:00

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Geauxbama!

2008-07-15T13:25:00.008-06:00

Check out the killer Geauxbama shirts & stickers from Dirty Coast!

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Feed the Animals

2008-07-15T11:28:00.002-06:00

Good new stuff from Girl Talk, available here.

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Rainbow in Marrero

2008-06-18T09:41:00.003-06:00

A Rainbow In Marrero from ballzack on Vimeo.

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R.I.P. Muddy Waters

2008-05-22T13:46:00.002-06:00

Our beloved dog Muddy Waters passed away this morning. We miss him dearly. He was a 12 year old Rhodesian Ridgeback. We drove to Texas in 1995 or so to pick him up as an 8 week old puppy and we were inseparable since.

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2008 MS Walk April 5th.

2008-03-10T19:19:00.012-06:00

The 2008 MS Walk is coming up, and we've got a big team going! The Muddy Waters Walkers have participate for the last 8 years, both in the San Francisco area and here in New Orleans. You can Register here to sign up and/or pledge money.

The walk is Saturday, April 5th at 8:00 in Audubon Park.

Muddy Waters, by the way, is our dog. Also one of the great old bluesmen, and a reference to the mighty Mississippi River. We're working on 2008 T-shirts. Contact Peter for more information about the Walk and joining us!

You can comment below to let us know you're coming, or to ask any questions!!

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20 Minutes 4Obama.

2008-02-12T13:16:00.000-06:00

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Insert Memento joke here.

2008-02-01T10:21:00.000-06:00

The To-Do Tattoo, the perfect solution for those with shoddy short-term memory.

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Time Stops in Grand Central.

2008-02-01T09:53:00.000-06:00

Wow. Funny as hell. Thanks, Vector Living!

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Obey Obama.

2008-01-30T13:24:00.002-06:00

Pretty neat new Shepard Fairey prints, found at the Creative Review Blog.

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BarCamp New Orleans

2008-01-28T09:50:00.000-06:00

BarCampNOLA Conference Set to Gather Gulf Coast Technology Experts for a Good Cause

BarCampNOLA, a technology conference that aspires to bring Gulf Coast digerati, entrepreneurs and those interested in them together in order to connect with the local community, socialize and learn, will be held on February 16th and 17th at the Voodoo Ventures, LLC offices at 757 St. Charles Avenue, Suite 301 in New Orleans.

BarCamp is an international network of user generated conferences that was born from the desire of people to share and learn in an open, participatory environment. BarCamp conference content is provided by participants and often focuses on early-stage web applications and other open source technologies. Participants interact in the form of discussion, demos, and collaborative projects. The first BarCamp was held in Palo Alto, California in 2005. Since then, the BarCamp movement has gained momentum as hundreds of BarCamp conferences have been held in North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Australia and Asia over the past few years. BarCampNOLA is one of over 30 BarCamp conferences that have already been scheduled to take place in the United States this year.

The main focus of BarCampNOLA organizers is to help a struggling Gulf Coast-based small business or nonprofit by participating in a “hack day” style project over the course of the conference in order to produce or modify a needed technological service such as a new website or enhanced Web services. Organizers anticipate the attendance of participants with expertise in relation to code, design, creative concept production, and a variety other technology-related specializations.

BarCampNOLA is free to attend, and active participation is all that is asked of attendees. Wireless internet access will be provided by the conference. Also, individuals who attend are simply asked to share information regarding knowledge gained and overall experiences of the event via public web channels such as blogging, photo sharing and wiki-ing.

Like previous BarCamp conferences, BarCampNOLA will rely on securing sponsorship and donations ranging from food, beverages, and media advertising to monetary contributions of $250 to $400. BarCampNOLA organizers are actively soliciting sponsorship from local businesses interested in supporting the local tech community. Sponsors will have their organization’s logo printed on the back of the official BarCampNOLA T-shirt and are more than welcome to participate in the conference itself.

Local press will also be invited to the event, and are encouraged to assist in the promotion of BarCampNOLA. New Orleans-based organizations and groups that are able to spread the word about BarCampNOLA to their membership are greatly encouraged to do so.

For more information regarding attendance or sponsorship of BarCampNOLA, please contact Chris Schutz, CEO of Voodoo Ventures, LLC by phone at (504)581-6446 or via e-mail at cschultz@voodooventures.com. Also, visit BarCampNOLA’s official website at http://www.barcamp.org/BarCampNOLA.

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Old New World Order.

2008-01-25T15:18:00.000-06:00

Pretty cool agitprop from Knife Party and Submediatv. Jonah pointed me to this today. Said it was a little dated, but I still dig it.

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Shive on the Scene.

2008-01-16T15:38:00.000-06:00

These crazy bastards are too funny. The NSFW Dirty Coast jingle reminds me a little of one of my favorite local NOLA commercial jingles, for Broad Warehouse furniture.

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1 iPhone Per Child.

2008-01-09T18:54:00.001-06:00

Good stuff. Thanks Twenty B's!
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One Laptop for Xmas.

2008-01-07T14:53:00.000-06:00

This year, my company Annunciation donated 'One Laptop Per Child' laptops on behalf of our clients for the year-end holidays. We ended up with one of them at our offices. Very neat. The attentiveness in engineering is immediately apparent. Couldn't find the hand crank on ours - we must've gotten the domestic model. Great program, and we're excited to watch it progress.
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The Davos Question.

2007-12-17T09:21:00.000-06:00

Every year many of the world's top leaders attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to discuss how to make the world a better place.

This year, you get to join them.

First, submit a video answering The Davos Question:

"What one thing do you think that countries, companies or individuals must do to make the world a better place in 2008?"

Then, starting January 1st, watch and rank others' ideas. The highest-rated videos will be screened in Davos (January 23-27), where world leaders will watch your videos and make responses of their own. Your idea could be the start of something big.

Visit The Davos Question website.

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