Shifting Baselines ran an ad warning that we’re depleting marine life. It was a humorous little clip, but it got some sport and commercial fisherpeople quite angry. So, SB went out and talked with a bunch of them, and put together a five minute video in which they get to speak.

This is so cool. (Thanks to Jason Lefkowitz of Oceana for the link.) (There are more videos on the Shifting Baselines home page, including this one on grassroots organizing and this very odd one about penguins.) [Tags: ShiftingBaselines environment]

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WWII-based PC video games:

Company of Heroes
Brothers in Arms
Medal of Honor
Hearts of Iron
Call of Duty

See any pattern in the titles? Nah, me neither.

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Yesterday I got to catch up a bit with Oliver Brown, Wikipedian and singer, a family friend all of his life and almost all of mine. (I’ve got a few years on him.)

Oliver Brown

Among Oliver’s many many contributions to Wikipedia: He started the “Father/Mother of…” page. About becoming an “admin” he writes:

I became an admin 16:15 May 12, 2003 (UTC); at that point I had 3,944 edits and 75 days experience. Before being an admin, I averaged 55 edits a day. After becoming an admin, that average dropped to 28 a day. Fabiform says the decline is because of IRC. I became a Bureaucrat February 28, 2004.

His songs have become family favorites.

Great to see him… [Technorati tags: OliverBrown wikipedia ukelele]

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Click on image to see larger version

[Technorati tags: hummingbird]

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No kidding. Before you click on this link to Doc’s site, you should be prepared. It is back-from-the-dead, scare-the-blind, directed-by-Tim-Burton, beyond-Photoshop ugly. [Technorati tags: ugliest DocSearls]

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The World Bank’s Information for Development program has a call for bids:

The consulting firm (hereby referred to as ‘consultants’) is expected to have expertise in development of management strategies, deployment of technology, and process services (including management consulting, design and project management) of municipal broadband networks, in developed and/or developing countries. Additionally, consultants with a proven record in the following areas will be considered: in-depth knowledge on public policy issues related to state/local/municipal governance; reputation and expertise in the above field amounting to 5 to 10 years of experience; high research capacity and ability to develop the Study and Toolkit.

You’d have 19 weeks to complete the task, at the end of which you’ll receive US$90,000 and one of Bono’s black t-shirts. (If you win, I of course get a 10% finders fee.) For more information, visit this pdf. [Technorati tags: wifi muniwif]

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As far as I can tell, our daughter Leah is right: There are no laws against jaywalking where we live.

I tried searching Massachusetts LawLib and couldn’t find any references to laws regulating pedestrians crossing streets, so I used the site’s “Ask a librarian” service, and within 12 hours got a terrific response that said,

Mass. General Laws chapter 90 section 18A, http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/90-18a.htm, gives cities and towns the right to regulation pedestrians. Some have chosen to do so.

She then cites Pittsfield and Fitchburg city ordinances. How about Boston and Brookline?

Brookline has bylaws prohibiting the riding of horses on sidewalks, and pages of laws specifying where newsracks can be placed, but I couldn’t find any that prevent pedestrians from pogo-sticking across the street in the middle of a block. Likewise, I couldn’t find any laws that use the word “pedestrian” in Boston’s city code except for a couple that regulate cars, not pedestrians. (Here’s a list of bylaws for Massachusetts cities.)

Now, IANAL (it stands for “I am not a lawyer,” not “I anal”). In fact, I don’t even know where you’d look for jaywalking laws. Maybe they’re legal guidelines, regulations, Papal bulls or ukases. Nevertheless, it looks to me that where we live there’s nothing to stop you from stepping out into the middle of Comm Ave during rush hour as a 70 ton trailer is headed towards you.

In fact, that’s pretty much how we nominate presidential candidates in this state. [Technorati tags: law jaywalking massachusetts boston brookline]

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On the way back from the play, our daughter Leah pointed out that an accurate description of Camp Jabberwocky — something like “It’s a summer camp where counselors come and care for severely disabled folks” — doesn’t convey any idea what it’s like. First, the disabilities range from people with full cognitive powers but bodies twisted like rubber bands to those with upright bodies but narrowed bands of thought. Second, the counselors, all unpaid, don’t “care” for the campers. They are friends who delight in them. And as for the story of the camp itself, for fifty years it’s run on ridiculous hopes and reliable miracles. Its story is beyond belief. Couldn’t happen.

This year’s play was F00tl00se. (I’m misspelling it because I don’t know if they paid for the rights, although the version was loose enough that I’m not sure it would count even as a derivative work. For example, I’m pretty sure that there were no penguins in the original.) I could be accurate about the show, but that wouldn’t tell you the truth. Jabberwocky gets your good intentions out of the way so you can see, and seeing means being overwhelmed, so here’s just one moment, when a man with cerebral palsey held the stage:

Two counselors lift Larry,
his body like a burnt matchstick,
out of his wheel chair
and lay him on the stage
so he can spin himself
horizontal to gravity.

Who knew he was such a show-off?

The girls discuss the hot new boy

After the play, the actors are feeling pretty good

(Here are some photos of the Camp’s float in the Fourth of July parade.)

Every time I write about Jabberwocky, I hear from people who want to get their children in. I’m sorry I can’t help you because there’s only room for 35 campers per month and the list of people trying to get in is much much longer than that. There isn’t even a known admissions process. There’s a working phone number during the summer, but I don’t know what good it will do you to call it. There’s no web site. There’s no email. This place just doesn’t operate by normal rules. I’m truly sorry I can’t help you. [Technorati tags: CampeJabberwocky Jabberwocky] poetry]

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Excellent interview with Negativland on copyright. (Thanks to Larry for the link.)

Chris Nolan reminds us that BlogHer isn’t just for women. Men are welcome, too. What a great chance for men to attend what looks like a really interesting conference while simultaneously seeing what it feels like. I wish I could go but it’s smack dab in the middle of my family’s two-week vacation.

David W. Stephenson on smart mobs for homeland security. [Technorati tags: blogher security copyright DavidWStephenson]

A bit of self-centeredness, if you don’t mind? E-School News has a nice write-up of my NECC keynote (video here), starting at the bottom of this page.

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For many of you the only puzzle will be why I didn’t realize this instantly. Anyway:

Our shower has a single lever that adjusts the hot and cold. Over the years I’ve noticed that my preferred temperature is at the 5 o’clock position during the winter but at 8 during the summer, i..e, I move the lever more toward cold during the summer. Since it seemed unlikely that our hot water heater was heating water hotter during the summer, I’ve assumed I just like a colder shower in the summer. Today I realized that that’s probably not the case.

What’s going on?

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