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I'm Mentioned In The UK's Daily Dust For Discovering Time Travel In Gmail

One of the up and coming comedians who also moonlights on Newsnight, Baratunde Thurston spotted something unusual in his Gmail account… Time Travel!

Here's the blog post they're referencing. http://baratunde.com/blog/archives/2009/04/gmail_introduces_time_travel.html

Can anyone give me the lowdown on The Daily Dust? I've never heard of it until now.

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The Baratunde Got Jacked Recovery & Reinvestment Act IS FULLY FUNDED THANK YOU

UPDATE: IN ONE WEEK WE DID IT, AND I LOVE YOU ALL. I AM SO GRATEFUL RIGHT NOW. THANK YOU TIPJOY, PAYPAL AND SUPER DUPER GENEROUS RIDICULOUS INTERNET FRIENDS. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. I'LL POST A VIDEO LATER. --- Hey fam, On april 17th, while performing at a Manhattan club, someone stole my bag with laptop, keys, wallet, canon digital camera, canteen and deodorant! Yeah, they stole the deodorant too. That's a cold bastard right there. I really don't have the funds to replace it but need these tools to do my job. I'm suggesting a $5 donation to help me get it back. That's 700 people I need donations from. With 4,500 twitter followers and 3,500 facebook friends, I'm hoping I can get through. I love what I do and it's near impossible without my tools. Here's a somber, heart-wrenching, emotional, personal, video appeal: Hopefully $5 to you is less of a big deal than $3.500 to me. How I plan to spend the money.
  • replace my macbook pro, case and applecare
  • replace my digital camera
  • purchase Undercover, a tracking application all mac laptop users should install that helps recover stolen laptops
I'll finally be getting renter's insurance (something I should have had) and need to replace all kinds of keys and my driver's license. I'll also probably subscribe to that LifeLock service since all sorts of personal info was on the stolen laptop. This is just a major inconvenience, and while I'm distracted by this crime, our enemies are not letting up! Please help me rejoin the fight -- the fight to make people laugh, the fight to keep geeking out, the fight to promote active citizenship in all the ways I know how. If you appreciate what I do, you can show it with a $5 (or more (or less)) donation. Thanks. Here's how it works. TipJoy is set up to use Twitter, but if you don't use twitter, go here: http://tipjoy.com/joy/224421/ The widget below is for twitter users. You fill in your info, and can announce a donation to my just cause via a Twitter status update. If you don't want to give up your password, TipJoy can let you authenticate your twitter account here http://bit.ly/twoauth. If you don't wanna be down with TipJoy, a direct paypal to myfirstname@myfirstname.com would work.

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My CNN.com/Live Blogger Segment On Torture w/ Video

Here's the video! I couldn't see any of the other participates so hope that didn't come across as weird. What did come across to me as weird is that we're having a big debate about whether people involved in violating domestic and international law should be prosecuted. I tried many different angles during this segment in an attempt to highlight the absurd notion that we should only look forward. I hope one of them stuck. Always appreciate any feedback. I'll be back on CNN.com/live Monday at 12:10pm ET. Topic TBD Oh and thanks to Huffington Post for letting me use their office space for the webcast. Update 4:45pm. Oh dear god. I just noticed the caption on the video refers to us as The Blogger Bunch. As in The Brady Bunch. What has happened to the most trusted name in news!?

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I'm Cited In The 5 Worst Tweets Ever For My #Skittles Hack

Full story at Silicon Alley Insider here: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-5-worst-tweets-ever-slideshow-2009-4

Based on the work of Melissa Lafsky of Discover Magazine http://discovermagazine.com/2009/apr/17-twitters-greatest-hits2014and-misses/

My tweet is actually verifiably awesome, but I guess the authors/judges are saying Skittles was among the worst, and I was reacting to that. And yes, I still hate Skittles and will never eat them again.

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Frank Rich Covers The Gathering Storm Anti Gay Marriage Ad, Links To Our Parody!

Far from terrifying anyone, “Gathering Storm” has become, unsurprisingly, an Internet camp classic. On YouTube the original video must compete with countless homemade parodies it has inspired since first turning up some 10 days ago. None may top Stephen Colbert’s on Thursday night, in which lightning from “the homo storm” strikes an Arkansas teacher, turning him gay. A “New Jersey pastor” whose church has been “turned into an Abercrombie & Fitch” declares that he likes gay people, “but only as hilarious best friends in TV and movies.”

Yet easy to mock as “Gathering Storm” may be, it nonetheless bookmarks a historic turning point in the demise of America’s anti-gay movement.

What gives the ad its symbolic significance is not just that it’s idiotic but that its release was the only loud protest anywhere in America to the news that same-sex marriage had been legalized in Iowa and Vermont. If it advances any message, it’s mainly that homophobic activism is ever more depopulated and isolated as well as brain-dead.

You can see the original ad and our response here: http://bit.ly/54FWg

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Video From My Segment On ABCNews.com Discussing Obama's Weekend

After a weekend that saw President Obama play action hero -- resolving a stand-off with pirates, delivering a puppy to his daughters, and making time for Easter services -- we chatted with ABC’s Ann Compton and political comedian Baratunde Thurston about the optics of the presidency today on ABCNews.com’s “Top Line.” 

So I've been back in the country barely one week, and already I'm being asked to comment on the President's Puppy Situation :) Well, a bit more than that. Anyway, here's the segment from my Noon ET appearance on Top Line, a show distributed at ABCNews.com and several cable and mobile phone operators.

The snippet above links to a blog post with a writeup and links to the full show. My segment can be found directly here: http://bit.ly/W2cAA

From including LGBT families in the Easter Egg Roll (http://bit.ly/3a9AKN) to committing to Iraq troop withdrawal by the end of 2011 to stopping pirates, it's been a good weekend for the President. Maybe it's competence, which we're sadly not accustomed to. Maybe it's luck. Whatever it is, the country needs it

Oh, and for the record, I don't sanction the use of the term "optics" unless someone is referring to the behavior and properties of light.

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'Fix CNBC' Campaign Goes To Wall Street, Network HQ (VIDEO (w/me!))

The network, popular among the market obsessed, has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks for what critics claim is a propensity to cheerlead Wall Street. Occasionally brash commentary on White House policy by hosts Jim Cramer and Rick Santelli did little to help CNBC's cause among progressives. A few weeks ago, a group of leading progressives and economists penned an open letter demanding that the network modify its mission.

Since the launch of FixCNBC.com, the network has, in fact, made several programming changes. Former DNC Chair Howard Dean was brought on as a regular commentator, and Huffington Post editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington guest hosted CNBC's morning show Squawk Box last week.

Big up to Adam Green, Katie Halper, Negin Farsad, Jeff Kreisler, Lee Camp and everyone else involved in the http://fixcnbc.com program. This was actually fun to do. The video doesn't reveal all the footage we got, but you get a slice.

Based on my experience, I'd say half the people we approached had no comment and were in a rush. Another 20 percent thought CNBC was just there for entertainment and didn't take it seriously but conceded that it could be damaging. Another 20 percent thought it was a market-pumping, completely biased and useless network. Ten percent loved it.

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Jack & Jill Politics Heads To Europe: London And Amsterdam

So JJP co-founder Cherly Contee has already written extensively about her trip to London to cover the G20. Jack & Jill Politics was selected by G20Voice (founded by Oxfam) to bring diverse new media voices to this global meeting of economic powerhouses. You can follow all of Cheryl and JJP's coverage of the G20 by reading anything tagged "G20" on the blog.

Now for part two. At the same time that Cheryl is in London, I'll be in Amsterdam. My flight leaves tonight, and I'll return next Monday morning. I'll be traveling with 20 fellow New York City activists, artists and engaged citizens as part of a program called Pioneers. 

Pioneers

The trip has two basic goals:

  1. It is part of the Dutch government's celebration of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's arrival in New York City
  2. Exchange ideas, techniques and inspiration for creating healthy, diverse cities. We'll go to Amsterdam now, and in November the Amsterdam contingent will come to NYC
According to the website: 

The Pioneers sessions will bring together a group of selected Pioneers -- today's cutting edge thinkers and entrepreneurs in diverse professional fields -- for a transatlantic dialogue into the frontiers of civic engagement and social entrepreneurship in Amsterdam and New York City.

We'll be participating in workshops run by fellow Pioneers from NYC and Amsterdam, talks by people like Jeff Johnson (BET), Andrew Rasiej (techPresident), Naema Tahir (activist and lawyer) and others. 

As many of yall know, the Dutch have a special challenge when it comes to integrating a homogenous 400-year old society. The exploitation of its colonies, "improvements" to the slave trade and rough importation of migrant labor have created massive amounts of tension between Muslim communities and the wider society. And I don't have to repeat America's own challenges for most of yall.

I'll be posting as much as possible to JJP and my Twitter account. You can see the full program at the Pioneers blog. I won't have a lot of free time, but if there's someplace or someone in Amsterdam you think I should hit up, let me know.

There's something truly amazing about both me and Cheryl (Jack and Jill) deploying to Europe at the same time. Black folk have a history of "global travel." We'll be there to learn and listen but also represent those who can't go with us.

 

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My 2006 Interview With A Defense Acquisitions Specialist

During last night's press conference, President Obama spoke about the need to reign in spending on defense contractors and procurement. It's rare to hear a "wartime president" call for such a thing, at least in recent memory, and I hope the president is serious and committed to imposing constraints and sacrifices on those who profit from war.

His mention reminded me of an interview I did three years ago for my then-podcast, "The Front Porch Podcast." The full show is just over 50 minutes, but the interview with "Steve" starts at about minute 25. This was my first direct encounter with someone involved in acquisitions for the military, and through his story, Steve was able to communicate not just the fact of wasteful spending but the how and even the why. 

I no longer do the podcast, but thanks to the Internet, you can still here this still-relevant exchange. Again, minute 25 is where we begin, though the entire show is pretty hot :)

 

Here's the link to the original podcast posting which has some interesting comments from readers and listeners.

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