Judah over at Sindrian Arts is a friend, a client, and one heck of an inventor.
Don’t just take my word for it though, Cory Doctorow just blogged about his latest project on Boing Boing- Kickstarter project to make an open-source CNC router. Many thanks to Cory for helping to get it in front of more eyes!
A CNC machine? Many of you are probably asking “what’s that?” Well here is Judah’s answer to that very question from his latest Kickstarter update:
Put simply, CNC machines are one of the quickest ways to turn your ideas into physical objects.
When I was little I told anyone who asked that I wanted to be an inventor when I grew up. I would spend hours every day just staring off into space dreaming up everything from pedal-powered airplanes to Nerf-based siege weapons. I got into 3D computer modeling when I was around ten or so, and was amazed by how quickly I could take the images in my head and turn them into 3D objects on my screen. Years later when I entered design school and I was introduced to the school’s CNC machines, I realized that these tools could take the 3D objects on my screen and actually make them real.
I was in love.
I love working with people who have such a passion for what they’re doing! Of course I am also a well known proponent of both Open Source and DIY projects so it’s no surprise that I enjoy this type of project. Check out this video of the Kikori in action and if you’re inspired to do so drop by and add a few dollars to the funding. The minimum is one dollar and every dollar helps!
As many of you are already aware I am a regular contributor to the SixEstate Communications blog. Since I’ve recently had a few requests I decided to add a new page to the website that would act as a directory of my posts. Ranging from Wikileaks to Facebook it’s been an interesting run, and one that I hope has provided useful and interesting commentary for our readers.
If you’d like to check it out you can Click SixEstate Posts in the left sidebar, or you could just click here.
I’ve been working on something recently that I haven’t done since moving to Cincy- gearing up to do workshops.
So here is my question: what sort of workshops or classes would you like me to do? Keep in mind these can be geared towards individuals, small businesses, or national businesses. I’ve worked with all three.
Best practices, campaign management, basic how to’s- Let me know!
At the moment the two that I have in mind are Intro to Blogging and Intro to Social Media (there are versions of each of these geared towards both individuals and organizations).
I am planing on both face to face workshops in the Cincinnati area (and possibly in New Orleans periodically) but I am also available to provide custom instruction over Skype (which I will teach you if you don’t all ready use it).
Time to kick off the new year’s blogging, and what better time for a native o the Crescent City to do so than Twelfth Night, the official start of the Carnival season! In the spirit of the season I’d like to share the following video clip from my home town with you. In it we get a bit of a view on how social media is being adopted by the traditional secret societies that put on the parades- the Carnival Krewes:
This coming year should be a good one. Here are a few of the things in the works for SocialGumbo in 2011:
In addition to my usual contract work I will be continuing to pen my weekly blog for SixEstate Communications as well as continuing to work on campaigns for them.
I should also be making an announcement in the Spring about our first experiment with pdf publishing. Look for an announcement then about our new secondary imprint under which we will be publishing material for tabletop RPGs, primarily Pathfinder.
This year both of our hyperlocal projects – HumidCity in NOLA and CincyVoices in Cincinnati – will be getting a face lift and adding some new team members. Speaking of HumidCity, later this month I will be covering the NOLA Comic Con there so if geek news appeals to you there is fun stuff coming!
So here’s to it! A new year, a new decade, and a new Carnival season! May all three be exceptional, educational, and full of new social media toys!
[Disclosure- I am one of the organizers and the MC for this year's conference.]
Rising Tide NOLA, Inc. will present its 5th annual new media conference centered on the recovery and future of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast on Saturday, August 28, 2010, 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., at The Howlin’ Wolf, 907 South Peters St., in New Orleans.
The one-day conference features speakers and panel discussions on the status and future of the culture, politics, criminal justice system, environment, and flood protection of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Past speakers have included actor and outspoken champion of New Orleans Harry Shearer, and authors Dave Zirin, John Barry, Christopher Cooper and Robert Block.
Rising Tide NOLA, Inc. is a non-profit organization formed by New Orleans bloggers in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the failure of the federally-built levees. After the disaster, the internet became a vital connection among dispersed New Orleanians, former New Orleanians, and friends of the city and of the Gulf Coast region. A surge of new blogs erupted and, combined with those that were already online, a community of bloggers with a shared interest in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast developed. In the summer of 2006, to mark the anniversary of the flood, the bloggers of New Orleans organized the first Rising Tide Conference, taking their shared interest in technology, the arts, the internet and social media and turning advocacy for the city into action.
Conference registration is open at www.risingtidenola.com and is only $20 until July 31. Registration includes lunch. There will be pre-conference party hosted by the New Orleans bloggers on Friday evening August 27, also at the Howlin’ Wolf. More information is available at the Rising Tide5 Website: http://www.risingtidenola.com and at the Rising Tide blog: http://www.risingtideblog.blogspot.com
Rising Tide’s featured artwork, available as a poster and t-shirt, is once again produced by the award-wining editorial cartoonist and artist Greg Peters of Suspect Device.
The New Orleans bloggers will present the annual Ashley Award named for Ashley Morris—blogger and passionate advocate for New Orleans—who passed away in April, 2008. The Ashley Morris Award is given each year to an outstanding blogger writing about New Orleans and the challenges it faces.
Tables for booksellers and vendors are available at the Rising Tide 5 Conference by calling Tim Ruppert at 504-975-3591 or by e-mailing[email protected].
Information about registration is available by emailing [email protected]. The telephone number to call for information about RisingTide 5 is 866-910-2055.
Connect with Rising Tide on your preferred platform:
I’ve been getting heavily involved in the new documentary Other Side of the Fence which is being made by my buddy Kevin Frech. Well, now its crunch time- with only a matter of hours left we have almost raised our needed completion funds through our Kickstarter campaign. The thing is, if we don’t meet our goal we get nothing, zip, nada. That’s the way Kickstarter works.
We have been contacted by an Angel investor who will donate the last $4K we need, if and only if we can reach the $6K mark by the deadline. (The bottom of the widget to the left shows in real time where we are in relation to our goal.) So I am reaching out to our readers. We’ve only got to raise about a thousand dollars and we have achieved our objective. We also have only a matter of hours to do so (roughly 50 and counting at the time of this writing). Will you help us complete the doc?
“Why should I help? I know nothing about this film, what is it about?” I’ll let Kevin’s own words sum it up:
The film asks the question, “How can we expect to save the animals if we won’t save the people?” by focusing on men who have survived both sides of the equation: ex-poachers turned game wardens like Nanyuki. On my first trip to Kenya I met Nanyuki, a former poacher who’d killed over 150 elephants. Now, as a police reservist, he protects the very same elephants he once hunted so mercilessly.
You can get a much more detailed description, view some of the footage already in the can, and donate just by clicking the widget above.
Every once in awhile one cannot help but indulge in a bit of narcissism. For me, today is one of those times.
Recently I joined the team at the new blog Back of Town, which is dedicated to analyzing the new HBO series Treme from the standpoint of actual New Orleanians. Several members of our New Orleans blogger rogues gallery are there with me, and in some odd ways it almost feels like the first year of HumidCity.
As bizarre as it is revisiting those times through the imperfect lens of fiction, it is good to see the broad strokes done properly. After all, there really has not been much in the way of accurate representations of NOLA in the world of celluloid. (Dennis Quaid. The Big Easy. I rest my case.) At least the people in it do not sound like they are from Atlanta or rural Alabama. Go read my full review on BoT for more.
I’m a huge film buff, as anyone who has seen my movie collection can attest. I also have a weakness for documentaries, partially gained from knowing a number of documentarians over the years. That said I’d like to steer you towards some colleagues of mine over at LogicalChaos who are hard at work filming one now: The Other Side of the Fence.
You see, my friend Kevin is a rather gifted film maker. You may have seen his last doc, Bowery Dish, on Sundance Channel a year or so ago. It was a great piece about how restaurants,NYC’s Lower East Side and gentrification. Now he has turned his lens towards Africa and has been amassing footage not only of the endangered species there, but also of the poachers in the area and interrelationships between the two. Let’s cut to the chase in using his own words:
Help me finish my documentary, “The Other Side of the Fence,” which explores the high-stakes struggle between animal conservation and human poverty in 21st century Africa.
The film asks the question, “How can we expect to save the animals if we won’t save the people?” by focusing on men who have survived both sides of the equation: ex-poachers turned game wardens like Nanyuki. On my first trip to Kenya I met Nanyuki, a former poacher who’d killed over 150 elephants. Now, as a police reservist, he protects the very same elephants he once hunted so mercilessly. [Check out the video he put together with some of his interviews with Nayuki here. -Loki]
Needless to say I’m glad at the end of each trip when he returns in a non bullet ridden state. As a matter of fact he just got back a few days ago from his latest trip over there shooting. (Lots of anecdotes from the African trip are up on the OSF Facebook Page)
So here is the meat of it: Kevin and the LogicalChaos team need completion funds. Not a lot in the grand scheme of things, only about $6k all told, but due to the way Kickstarter works if they do not meet that goal they don’t get any of it including funds already committed. To sweeten the pot they are going to provide a digital copy of the finished doc to all who donate $10 or more, as well as a variety of other perks and credit for those able and willing to donate more. Watch our progress and click to donate using the widget below. You know, the one with the elephant….
[Transparency: Once the film is funded I'll be joining their team in a paid capacity handling the social media end of the documentary roll-out. Even if I wasn't I'd still support the project though.-Loki]
I’ve been working on something recently that I haven’t done since moving to Cincy- gearing up to do workshops.
[Disclosure- I am one of the organizers and the MC for this year's conference.]
