125,000 years ago, there was an app for that...
- The hand-chipped flints and axes differ very little in intent than the custom-coded applications created today.
- These toolsets of Neolithic apps, fashioned for high usability and function, define a culture as much as the Apple App Store toolset defines ours, Angry Birds that we are.
- The assembly of apps into toolkits or other configurations may well spur unexpected consequences in discovery and social evolution. In the case of the Jebel Faya toolkit, its discovery has revealed that anatomically modern humans (AMH) migrated out of Africa 35,000+ years earlier than previously thought. In our own 16th century, it was Gutenberg who assembled several variant apps to create the printing press, which resulted in all of human knowledge recorded up to that point being printed in just 50 years, in turn creating greater access to information and the need for more content.
"Luke, I am your toast."
Puzzling artifact for future alien archeologists #1.
Smartypants R Us: IgniteBaltimore 3 Videos
Amanda Schwarz: : "You Can Drink Better Tea"
Will Noel : "Eureka! The Archimedes Palimpsest"
Matt Castner : "The Case for Being a Generalist"
Who knew so many people from all walks of life could convey so much in just five minutes? Humbling experience for a "professional communicator" like moi. These are three of my favorites (Note to Matt Castner: Awed!), but others just posted to YouTube. And you can learn more about IgniteBaltimore here.
Why I heart Jane McGonigal...
via boingboing.net
Because she is one of the most human people I know.
Because she taught me that happiness can be a science.And because I believe she can save the world.Learn more about Jane and her projects at avantgame .Meet the Transmoderns
This week, April 2-5, Baltimore's Transmodern Festival morphs into its sixth year, promising "four days of avant performance, installation, sound, film, mayhem, ectasy, and radical culture" at several locations throughout downtown, though the epicenter will be at the H&H Building on West Franklin, where Floristree, the WHOLE Gallery, and Gallery Four are based.
Why go? As a communicator, I'm keen to learn how others, especially artists, communicate, whether they fail or succeed. Given the talents of the Transmodern's curators, the success-to-failure ratio at the fest is pretty high, if not irrelevant. And it's the opportunity to discover how diverse and wonderfully nutzo Baltimore's arts & performance scene truly is, where Picasso collides with Harpo. Ain't no place else like it, 'cept maybe here.I'm also going because two of my favorite Baltimore artists, E. Liz Downing (who created the painting above) and Michael Willis, will be performing in their band, Lurch and Holler. If you haven't, for God's sake go see them and be reborn. Amen.
Friday Night Notes : "The Mother of All Funk Chords"
Being a fanboy of open-source music, this Friday night I'm listening to Kutiman's "ThruYOU," a mashup project where Kutiman orchestrated the instrumentations of unrelated YouTube videos. The results are, well, amazing:
http://thru-you.com/#/http://www.myspace.com/kutiman
Last Chance to Play, Austin...
SXSWi wraps today--as the high hummingbird whine of wi-fi dies away and the light-sensitive hordes of music fans descend.








