Google offers $10 million for ideas that can change the world

You ever have a great idea and think, dang, I wish I could tell someone who could make that happen? Well, here's your chance.

The link above goes to the Google page for the project.
CNN's article

The plan is to attract good ideas from as many people as possible and to fund the ones they think will do the most good. You don't have to have the expertise to make your idea work, either, and you can submit more than one idea. Some people and ideas will be connected with charitable organizations that can help implement them also.

"People are encouraged to submit their ideas, in any of 25 languages, on http://www.project10tothe100.com/index.html through October 20. Entrants must briefly describe their idea and answer six questions, including, "If your idea were to become a reality, who would benefit the most and how?"

"Google employees, with the help of an advisory board, will narrow the submissions to 100 semifinalists by January 27. Between January 27 and February 2, the public will vote online for their favorite ideas. A panel of as-yet-unnamed judges will then review the top 20 ideas and announce up to five winners in mid-February.

"Funding, from a pool of $10 million, will be awarded in May. If the judges decide to reward five winning ideas, each will receive $2 million. If only two ideas are chosen, each will receive $5 million, and so on."

INSA - shoes

Spike heels for the ladies by the UK writer INSA. Hot stuff.

Party in Rio - Rio Cruzeiro, a Favela Painting Project

Haas & Hahn proudly announce the inauguration of Rio Cruzeiro, a Favela Painting Project, on 17-19 October 2008

Rio Cruzeiro, an artwork by Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn. A +2000 m2 painting of a japanese style river based on a design by master tattooist Rob Admiraal. Painted together with kids from the community of Vila Cruzeiro, the most infamous favela of Rio de Janeiro.

The weekend of the 17th - 19th of October will feature an opening party, photo exhibit and video installations in the center of Rio de Janeiro. On the 18th the painting will be unveiled, followed by a huge blockparty. There will be photo opportunities for the press, guided tours through the community and the whole day will be planned in cooperation with the IBISS Community Center.

Join the Celebration! A once in a lifetime experience to visit this favela and the Favela Painting Project! Book your flights to Rio now!

Those of us who can't fly in for the party can drop them a note on their blog to congratulate these brave and hardworking artists.

DFW RIP

David Foster Wallace, college professor and author of the mindblowing book, Infinite Jest and many others, has apparently killed himself this weekend. Every newsthing is already covering the story of his life, but I have to say a few words because his work and his passing mean a lot to me, and to all of his readers.

His honesty was something I really appreciated ... and every word in that phrase is an extreme understatement. His candid point of view was a blue-white cutting torch with an escape plan. People compare him to Pynchon often, but in my heart he was closer to Vonnegut and Brautigan.

His work is so much fun to read because he invested all of himself in it, he expressed himself in an original way, and he was as hilarious as he was brilliant and insightful. For those lucky people who have not read him yet, please take the time to sample any page in Infinite Jest. I think you'll be very glad that it's a big book.

There's a little taste of him at the link above, a university commencement speech he made. I hope it inspires you too. I sure wish he had stayed a lot longer and said a lot more.

Toronto gallery show closes after local writers complain

This is the second time I know of that something like this has happened. The most recent other example was the 2007 Tattooed Walls show in NYC, where very similar stuff went on. In that case it cost the photographer his book as well.

In this case, the photographer was selling photos of writers' pieces for an outrageous sum: CAN$2800, but she did not acknowledge that the artists had rights to their work or indeed to any of the money. They were also not properly credited.

Understandably, the writers felt disrespected and ripped off. In fact they were, and further, this sounds like a clear-cut case of copyright violation, particularly if the photography was quite documentary in nature. Idiotically, the photographer took the attitude that she was doing the writers a favor. Just as stupidly, the gallery let this all happen.

What if writers had printed copies of her photos and sold those for thousands of dollars - to do her a favor of course - without bothering to mention her name? Right.

It's unfortunate when graffiti art shows (or books) go down in flames, but in cases like this, it's the only right thing to do. Some photographers assume they can do what they like with graffiti photos because they think the artists can't defend their work or that they are not going to notice. Others arrogantly assume that their photos are legitimate art and the paintings are not. Nothing could be further from the truth. Graffiti writers win copyright cases all the time. They also tend to play nice with non-predatory, respectful photographers and galleries.

Crayone's Obama T-shirt fundraiser

Proceeds go to the campaign.

Physical Reality

Congratulations to all the particle physicists in the world! Some have been waiting 30 years to do their experiments on CERN's Large Hadron Collider, which was switched on for the first time September 10. The real party though, is for the many engineers who designed and built this incredibly large and complex machine in France and Switzerland over the last 10 years. It's the biggest, most ambitious and complex engineering project ever undertaken by humans.

"The LHC was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), and lies underneath the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland. It is funded by and built in collaboration with over eight thousand physicists from over eighty-five countries as well as hundreds of universities and laboratories. The LHC is already operational and is presently in the process of being prepared for collisions. The first beams were circulated through the collider on 10 September 2008, and the first high-energy collisions are planned to take place after the LHC is officially unveiled on 21 October."

The first video, above, explains why this machine is interesting, but you have to watch the whole 15 minutes to get the story. The second video is just silly, but it has footage from the inside of the LHC and it's bound to make you feel great about your own MC skills.

Physicists aim to explain how the universe works, and in the process, they ask some very interesting questions. A good book on the topic is A brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking, which lays it out in words and pictures for everyone to understand.

Vote 411

Everything you need to know about getting registered to vote, local deadlines and polling places. Don't wait till the last minute, because many deadlines are in October to register for the November election.

Against the System - trailer

Photos from Style in Progress, Toronto Canada

Separating the facts from the BS

Factcheck.org exists to keep the news media and politicians honest by examining what was said and finding out what's true. Unfortunately there is a lot of disinformation published and broadcast during presidential campaigns, so when you get suspicious "news", you can go here to see if it's hogwash or not.

"Bummer" burner at Burning Man - Peter K and Pose 2

Women rock Berlin

Toofly has covered the recent female invitational graffiti jam in Berlin.

Bozo Texino and Bill Daniel - collector alert

Vanessa Renwick has a really nice triple-photo piece of Bill Daniel and Bozo Texino in her latest show at Needles and Pens in San Francisco. It's unique. "3 spectra polaroids - edition of 1 - $600," and you can see it at the link above listed as "Grandpa and Bill" about halfway down the page or directly, here. Some other nice stuff is in the show. I love the nuclear plant demolition photo.

Bill Daniel made the fabulous documentary film called "Who is Bozo Texino". We still have a few copies left in our store if you haven't got one yet.

Contact Vanessa at qualitypie@gmail.com about the artwork.