Loosely Assembled

I’ll say it again, I want to live in a whole village of this kind of stuff.

I say, “Put a bunch of these things *facing* each other and create a huge artificial valley.”

portland needs a skateboarders’ bar.

6 days of low-impact living and high-impact action near the mouth of the Columbia River in Skamokawa, Washington.
Wednesday, August 8th – Tuesday, August 14th

Well, not really a ‘barcamp’ brand event, but in the similar unconference style, REWILD is putting on a week long skills and knowledge sharing event called REWILD CAMP PORTLAND. Mark your calendars, August 4th in when it kicks off, and you should go to the wiki and RSVP.

Mark Baard of The Register has a terrifying article published this week about technocratic totalitarian dystopia.

the US Department of Defense (DOD) may already be creating a copy of you in an alternate reality to see how long you can go without food or water, or how you will respond to televised propaganda.

The DOD is developing a parallel to Planet Earth, with billions of individual “nodes” to reflect every man, woman, and child this side of the dividing line between reality and AR.

Called the Sentient World Simulation (SWS), it will be a “synthetic mirror of the real world with automated continuous calibration with respect to current real-world information”, according to a concept paper for the project.

“SWS provides an environment for testing Psychological Operations (PSYOP),” the paper reads, so that military leaders can “develop and test multiple courses of action to anticipate and shape behaviors of adversaries, neutrals, and partners”.

This is gnarly!

Our simulations are built upon the SEAS (Synthetic Environments for Analysis and Simulation) technology. Originally designed for military war-gaming applications, SEAS has been expanded to factor in research from the fields of management, economics, and psychology. The result is a revolutionary new technology, blending easy-to-use visual interfaces and complex artificial intelligence: half simulation, half interactive war-game, and better than either alone. Senior decision makers have used SEAS to solve problems ranging from business strategies to disaster management.

Government Clients

• United States Department of Defense
• United States Department of Justice
• United States Army Recruiting Command
• United States Joint Forces Command
• Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center

Private Sector Clients

• Eli Lilly
• Lockheed Martin
• Other Fortune 500 companies

Welcome to the Festival of Extreme Building.

Over the summer of 2007 this project will bring a variety of interesting experimental structures to the city of Birmingham. Some will be sited here at our home base whilst others can be seen at various locations around the city center. Some of these exciting buildings will be designed and built by artists, architects and designers. Others will be made by the citizens of Birmingham who have been working with us over the last year.

Scott Heiferman sent this link over tonight, it’s pretty hilarious.