David Byrne's Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists ? and Megastars

Types of music business deals today and what's good, bad, and ugly about them.

Chris Jordan's "Running the Numbers" - Why you matter

Green jobs for all - Van Jones and GreenForAll.org

Van Jones explains on video the important relationship between minority kids in places like Oakland and the coming "green-collar" job needs.

Music sites that charge you money but sell you music that might not be legal

A list of these misleading sites that charge you money for music without protecting you from prosecution.

Online photo editing tool - Splashup

Calligraphy of Mouneer Al-Shaarani

Arabic calligraphy, as fine as I've ever seen. His sense of balance is impressive. Most of these look like they would work as mobiles.

Universal Apology Form

Nicely done and customizable!

Banksy and friends do the Israeli wall of shame again

Graffiti World 2008 Calendar

Esko: write all over

Yo! laces.

The Political Compass

See where you stand and how your views relate to candidates in several elections, including 2008 USA, Canada, Ireland, Germany, and more. Hint: Most of us are getting taxed without being represented.

Did you know ... Shift happens

Mind blowing facts about the rapidly changing world we live in.

via Todd Warfel

Japanese taste for whales

Australia threatened to attack ships hunting humpback whales. Japan apparently backed down. Japan will try to bag 1000 other whales for "scientific research" -- but this is a shameful lie. The truth is that the Japanese EAT whales (as apparently do some northern European peoples and Native American tribes).

In order for whale species to survive, individuals in whale-eating cultures must reduce demand. Hunting traditions that thrived when the oceans were full of creatures must adapt to the present reality or those precious traditions will die with their prey. All fish populations are under extreme survival pressure because of human activities, but the large ocean mammals may be the first to go if we don't use our big mammal brains now.

Yay for Australia! Let's save the leviathans who sing under the waters.

(Related tip for China and Japan: Viagra, not powdered endangered species!)

Banksy back in Israel for Christmas charity auction

"I like the idea vandalism has contributed to the local economy," his message said.

"In Britain they always complain graffiti costs the taxpayer millions of pounds but that's a load of rubbish. Graffiti is free. Its painting things grey again that costs all the money."

Proceeds from the auction will go to "children's charities in the occupied territories."

FFFFound

This is a great site to stick in your RSS reader and dip into whenever you could use a little visual inspiration. Lovely and amazing design, architecture, and random delights.

Thanks to Miss P for the tip.

Transit Maps from Around the World

Book available at Amazon

Josh: Sculptures of Rust

I love remixed hardware art.

Dondi - Converse

The Michael White x Dondi White 1HUND(RED) Artist collaboration shoe will be available in December 2007 at Bodega, 6 Clearway St. Boston, MA 02115. MSRP $90 with 10% of the net wholesale price of this shoe going to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Geneva, Switzerland).

German Christmas Calendar

Here's a modern interpretation of the traditional German Christmas calendar. You are supposed to open one day at a time in December.

Made by Malte at GRACO (artist agency) in Berlin

Why pay attention to the threat of climate change?

There's no debate among climatologists about whether or not global climate change is happening. It is. The only debate is between those who hope humans didn't cause it and those who hope humans can change it. That debate is meaningless. If we might be able to change it, we have to try, because it's our survival as a species that's at stake. The only smart thing to to is to try to curb the changes before life on Earth becomes difficult or impossible for humans.

We're the last generation of people who have a chance to try before it becomes too late, because the changes are not going to be gradual or incremental. Climate changes happen when conditions tip into a new dynamic and then become inevitable.

Don't let the wishful thinking of the anti-science people lull you into a false sense of security. Climate change is not something in the far future, it's something that will make our own lives and the lives of our children very different and difficult indeed. The earlier we act to curb human pollution the less expense and disastrous results we'll have.

The first step is to get everyone on board. Spread the word.

Thanks to Roger for the heads up on this video.

Tool for finding words of a certain length or with letters you like

List all words by word length, browse all words in the list, explore all combinations of letters, find words with all letters different, or with letter pairs and double letters.

Great for Scrabble too, plus built-in dictionary.

Iranian Students Jailed for Protesting War

I received this disturbing note today from a writer in Tehran (and the story linked above says some teens have been killed) :

As you should be aware!!!! 

Thirty of our comrades are currently being held in ward 209 of Avin prison in Tehran, subjected to torture and the worst physical and mental conditions. The magnificent Students Day rallies in Tehran, Mazendaran, Kermanshah, Tabriz and Hamadan were manifestation of our determination to raise the banner of freedom and equality in our society. The oppressive Islamic regime tried, in vain, to prevent the student day rallies. It has suffered a humiliating defeat. We congratulate all our fellow students.

Comrades! Our call for the release of all detained students, in universities up and down the country, must break the current deadly silence. This calls for united actions of all of us for the immediate release of our detained comrades. Spread the news of the arrest of the students and let the entire population know that their students are being imprisoned for calling for freedom and equality. The shameful silence of all the so-called "impartial" and "pro-democracy" media outlets has made our task of informing the public ever so crucial. This shameful silence is tantamount to collaboration with oppressors. Such attempts to spread lies and deception have long being at the service of profiteers and capitalists.

Comrades! The families of the arrested students have pinned their hopes on us. We have shown that we never give up on our demands. Knowing the brutality of the authorities in the jails we fear for the well being of our comrades. Our struggle will continue until the release of all political students.

People of the world!

Students in Iran, by raising the slogan of "No to War" and "No to Despotism", are confronting Imperialists war mongering and fundamentalism. International solidarity is a valuable means to break down the ranks of reaction and war mongering and blow away the spectre of war and insecurity over the lives of people of Iran.

Write and Unite

"Write and Unite" will be shown starting this Friday evening at microcinema.imeem.com

"Write and Unite" presents some of the world's greatest graffiti artists live in action. From subways to huge productions, street bombing to organized events, never before has there been such a complete, global documentation of today's top aerosolists and their work.

ATOM, CAP, CODEROCK, COPE2, DASH167, DENZ, FX CREW, GOAL, GREY, JUST195, KACAO77, KENT, MAC CREW, MEAR, MOAS CREW, RISKY, SABE, SABER, SEEN, SKETCH, SMASH, SWET, T-KID, TOOMR, ZEBSTER, AND MANY, MANY MORE.

[We carry this DVD in the Art Crimes Store for only $17.50, and we'll match anyone else's price to earn your business.]

THE WOMANHOOD LEARNING PROJECT wants your photos

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!

The Hip-Hop Association invites ILLUSTRATORS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS to submit work for THE WOMANHOOD LEARNING PROJECT.

The Womanhood Learning project is a two-year initiative that explores women's roles and leadership positions in different sectors within Hip-Hop culture and the community. This project is intended to bring unity within women in Hip-Hop by creating a space to learn, build, and bring about concrete change through an online platform - www.womeninhiphop.net, a book, a case study, and a marketing campaign empowering women around the world.

We are searching for illustration and photographs that depict women in Hip-Hop, be it rhyming, b-girling, Djing or just representing Hip-Hop through social art, activism and entrepreneurship for the womeninhiphop.net website.

If your work is selected, you will receive contributing credit on the website, special thanks in the forthcoming book entitled - Fresh, Bold and So Def: 100 Influential Women in Hip-Hop, get international exposure by having your work included on our website and you will get invited to partake in exclusive events and discussions related to the Womanhood Learning Project.

There is no cost or limit to the number of entries you can submit to THE WOMANHOOD LEARNING PROJECT.

Images should be 300DPI, CMYK, TIFF or EPS.

Please send your submissions or inquiries to entries@womeninhiphop.net by December 19, 2007.

SUBMIT AN EVENT!

We are declaring 2008 "THE YEAR OF THE HIP-HOP WOMAN" and we want to create a global events calendar to promote activities that focus and promote women in Hip-Hop.

So please email us at events@womeninhiphop.net by December 21, 2007, and send us the dates and a short description for your event and a flier or a link to a website if you have one. This way we know what's up and we can support all the "Hip-Hop Ladies" worldwide next year.