WikiLeaks: Why It Matters. Why It Doesn't?

This video has been around for a few months and is long, but it's very good – I'm not aware of a better summation of many of the issues involved (I just went back to it as a source for an essay I'm working on). If you can't make it through the whole thing, my faves were the moderator, Paul Jay; Neville Roy Singham; and every bit of Daniel Ellsberg (including his comments near the end).



UPDATE 2011-03-07: Greg Mitchell celebrates his 100th day of blogging the WL story today with an article on his top Cablegate revelation picks; see also Kevin Gosztola's top 100 leaks in 100 tweets.

Ten Artists Who Use Video Games as Their Medium

Nine more at Flavorwire.

Breast Milk Ice Cream Banned

"Ice cream made from [human] breast milk was banned from London gourmet shop The Icecreamists, based on a complaint regarding a perceived health risk. The mother’s milk was screened at a leading medical clinic, pasteurized, and then served in a martini glass with lemon zest and vanilla for about $22.50."

More at Bust. What's next? (At right, Takashi Murakami, My Lonesome Cowboy, 1998.)

Last Word

"Waiting for Godot" Video Game

Finally, a game I can "win." (Thanks, Jon!)

Brainbows

Four years ago, Harvard scientists devised a way to make mouse neurons glow in a breathtaking array of colors, a technique dubbed “Brainbow.” This allowed scientists to trace neurons’ long arms, known as the dendrites and axons, through the brain with incredible ease, revealing a map of neuron connections.

Using a clever trick of genetic engineering, in which genes for three or more different fluorescent proteins were combined like paints to generate different hues, researchers created a system to make each neuron glow one of 100 different colors.

. . . . This is the first time that scientists have converted the technique to work in fruit flies, and because these organisms have a very sophisticated set of existing genetic tools, researchers can exert even greater control over when and where the fluorescent proteins are expressed . . . . Researchers have traditionally had to stain just one or two neurons in each sample, painstakingly compiling data from many brains to build a map.

More at technology review.

Colbert's True Colors

Last night, Colbert provided a hilarious recap of the HBGary v. Anonymous fiasco:

He went on to interview Glenn Greenwald, the journalist targeted by HBGary:

In case you missed it, here's a screen grab of the single frame (at 3:22 in the foregoing clip) in which Colbert is masked/unmasked (art as true lie) (@MikeRiggs, thanks for the screen grab!) Note, the frame appears shortly after he asks Glenn earnestly, "Are you Anonymous??" – which suggests the possibility that the insert was planned before the taping.

We are all Anonymous.

Re- Re-Reading a Really Interesting Essay by Seth Price,

Dispersion (and thanks to Alison Hearst at the Modern of Fort Worth for bringing it to my attention); recommended . . . one thought it inspired: that for each art work shown via GoogleArtProject, the page for that work should include a chat facility where you can "meet" others who happen to be in the same "room" and discuss the work with them, as you might if you were in a bricks-and-mortar museum. (Image: screen grab of Chow time on the Madrid front, artist unkown, from the Museo Reina Sofia via GoogleArtProject.)