Announcing Long Now's Salon Social Space

Long Now Raises Funds & Spirits and Further Opens the Long-Term Conversation

I've been helping the Long Now Foundation with their plans to raise half a million dollars to redesign their San Francisco museum space into an incredible social venue: a bar, salon & gathering place for Long Now members and the general public. The campaign is now live, take a look.

Offering major donors the opportunity to participate in a "bottle keep" purchase of singular Long Now spirits and support a new social step in Long Now's admirable mission ...

Help us build it... from The Long Now Foundation on Vimeo.

We would like to invite you to help The Long Now Foundation build our new event space...

More information at http://www.longnow.org/salon/

We opened our small museum and bookstore here in Fort Mason in 02006 to show some of our long-term projects. Since then, we have seen some of the best connections and conversations about long-term thinking at our receptions and gatherings.

So in collaboration with our partners here at Fort Mason, and the amazing design-build studio “Because We Can”, we have designed a salon space that will not only house our prototypes, and a hand curated library, but also serve locally roasted coffee by day, and inspired cocktails by night. The goal is to build a social place to help make long-term thinking more automatic and common rather than difficult and rare. But now, we have to raise the funds to build it.

We would like to engage you, our friends and members, along with some amazing local artisans in a campaign that is hopefully as compelling for you participate in, as it has been for us to create.

St George Spirits in Alameda has created two exclusive spirits for us. Each one is truly a distillation of long-term thinking. The first is an aromatic gin made with juniper berries harvested by hand among the five-thousand year old bristlecones from our site in eastern Nevada.

The other spirit is a whiskey with a specially tailored grain bill. It will be fermented and distilled in such a way that it'll be delicious without aging, and grow more intricate and complex with every year. We will bottle a small amount, each year for the next 15 years, allowing you to taste its annual progression.

Each of these spirits will be kept at our space for you in the Japanese “Bottle Keep” tradition. They are stored on permanent display in a custom vessel by Adams & Chittenden. When you arrive the bartender will lower your bottle for you to enjoy it straight, or mixed in a cocktail of your choice. We are offering two levels for you to participate, the Founders Bottle, and the 15 year Whiskey Club.

But to be clear, this space is about more than just coffee and cocktails. The goal is to build a social place to help make long-term thinking more automatic and common rather than difficult and rare. We are excited about bringing you all together in a new space, and a new conversation. Please join us and help us build it.

We do realize not everyone can afford to help us at these donation levels. If you can’t afford to donate at these levels, but would like to participate, we encourage you do so as a group of friends. We are happy to list several people as owners of any bottle club membership.

More on Unions, no really, you better watch out!

This joke is making it's way around Facebook, and it really nails it (which I think 'the kids' are saying again, right?)

So, a unionized public employee, a member of the Tea Party, and a CEO are sitting at a table. In the middle of the table is a plate with a dozen cookies on it. The CEO reaches across and takes 11 cookies. He looks at the tea partier and says, "Watch out for that union guy, he wants a piece of your cookie."

Here is a very informative clip from The Rachel Maddow Show about the underlying motives and dynamics of the Wisconsin fight over public sector workers collective bargaining rights...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The unions in Wisconsin have already said that they are willing to make concessions, but the Governor's goal is not really to solve the "budget crisis" (which, per the clip above, might not have been so much a 'crisis' if he had not proactively passed a bunch of business tax cuts as his first act upon taking office). What he wants to do is to remove unions' voice, to neuter their ability to represent a large group of workers on their salary, benefits and working conditions. And in so doing to tilt the balance of power in the Republicans favor for ever more.

Wisconsin is not the easiest place for this piece of the GOP agenda to get across, it may be the toughest. And that's why they are doing it--they wanted to act quickly, sneak it in on a general positive wave of just-elected-governor vibe, and thus get it straight in as a mainstream national policy issue. But it's not. It's an attempt to radically retrench how employees are treated in this country, especially blue collar employees, and it aims directly (if much less intuitively) for the source of funding for the Democratic party. Which in a post Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission world is very dangerous for all of us.

My Radio Show and Music Blog on RadioValencia.FM

I have a show on RadioValencia.FM, San Francisco's latest & greatest independent non-commercial radio station (there are those who call us pirates, Arrr!).

My show is called Can Haz DJ, and it is on every Tuesday night from 10pm-1am. Here's a little bit of my thoughts on getting back to radio after 15 years or so (I unofficially majored in radio as an undergrad, meaning that I got no credits for it, even though I dedicated so much my time and energy to it). I started doing the show in August of last year, the same timeframe when Radio Valencia started up. You can download mp3s of my previous shows. It might help to review playlists of some of my shows to see what you are getting into--I also include videos in some of those posts.



Working in college radio was probably the most important experience that I have ever had, in terms of my personal development. It was practical experience for a real life work enviornment, and especially for one where a group of people are passionately dedicated to the task at hand. That's the way that I hope to always work, and it's something common to great startups, great small teams and awesome arts & theater groups, all of which I've been fortunate enough to find my way into ever since.

If you want to listen to Radio Valencia live, you can go to the website and click the play button, or tune in (in some parts) of San Francisco on 87.9FM.

Jazz at Club Deluxe in San Francisco Last Night

I've put up a couple videos on my Flickr stream of a great jazz performance that I went to last night at The Club Deluxe in Upper Haight (note to self, and anyone who is listening, that their WikiPedia entry needs a lot of work).

The two videos are below--one is :30, the other about 1:15. FUN. Nine-pieces, sometimes ten, including 3 trumpets, trombone, and tenor, alto & baritone (I think, iz big) saxes. Not sure if it is a regular thing or what, but it was a great time, would love to see it again.





It reminded me of the time that Danielle and I stumbled into a performance of the Harlem Renaissance Orchestra at a small Harlem joint where they do sort of a mid-week practice gig, playing to neighborhood locals with a church basement style dinner spread. That was amazing (and more than twice as many players), but there's just nothing like the vibe of

Here's the HRO in a bit more upmarket surroundings, playing at Lincoln Center:

Unions Really Are Important

This video pleases me.



There's more to say on this. But I don't think I will get into it right now. But if you, like me, are inspired and excited by what has been going on in Wisconsin in terms of protests by the people, then you will be happy to see this video of the police union (they are workers also, after all) expresses their support for the peaceful actions of tens of thousands of their fellow citizens.

via Crooks & Liars

Come see Mikl-em in Caddyshack live

Yup, I'm in it. The show runs Fridays & Saturdays in March at the Dark Room. A truly stellar cast!! I'm playing Rodney. Jim Jeske as Ted Knight. Several members of Chicken Scratch Improv, and familiar faces from past Dark Room shows like Wicker Man, Zippy the Pinhead, Life of Brian and others. You should not miss it: ONLY EIGHT SHOWS!

Forget the Balloon Boy, now it's the Balloon Goal!

The inflationary theme continues to be a hot issue. Saturday in England, a Liverpool fan cost his own team a goal by introducing his loosely held breath into the sphere of play...

via Soccer Insider

Also here's a list of other odd goals in history.

The Trader Joe's Song--a delightful fake commercial

I mention this video in a recent post that I did on LaughingSquid as the same director also directed a few cool commercials with the Mythbusters guys in them.

But it felt off-topic and like too many videos to put in one post, so I excluded this amazingly catchy parody of the TJ-reality. So I decided to share it here instead.

Two posts in one day, this could portend grave happenings.

Daily Show skewers CNN's weak, leaving-it-there coverage

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
CNN Leaves It There
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

This must be one of my favorite Daily Show segments ever. They could stop a couple times along the way, but thankfully they see the satire all the way through. And there is a lot of damning evidence: CNN is a weak weak choice for news.

Those who celebrate goat *ucking will be particularly excited.