The U.S. Bureau of Fabulous Bitches

This blog has been inactive for awhile. It’s time to start...

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 00:04:00 -0700

This blog has been inactive for awhile.

It’s time to start anew.

ALL HAIL BROSEPH STALIN

Laser Portraits (.net)

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:01:16 -0800

Laser Portraits (.net):

Actually kind of fascinating.

Sorry about the delay, I’ve been having my ass kicked lately trying to get everything together for ROFLThing-NYC together, but will have much more time over break. Stay tuned as USBFB starts regular substantive (?) posts once again.

The Prizm Code

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 15:00:00 -0800

The Prizm Code:

This is an old one, but only became aware of that you could get this free online recently.

Oh man, market segmentation systems, SO COOL.

No seriously guys, the zip code lookup tool is tons of fun. Plus, if you’ve got a moment, the ConneXions NE system for stereotyping different kinds of technology use in the population is great.

Lab Report: Tithing In the Interest of Awesome

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 11:23:00 -0800

Proposed: a geek is someone who actively works to forward the interests of awesome wherever it lies. And tries to fill the awesome gap as increasing quantities of that mysterious substance escapes the universe.

Proposed: But the generation of awesome — the public or community sense that all things the social and physical environment are entirely elastic and malleable — usually isn’t merely spontaneous, it requires the active creation of some latent ether of resources, capital, and community to materialize.

So the Would Buy Again question is: how do you design this as a feature of social systems?

I’ve been kind of flirting recently with the idea of pushing a community norm of creating personal tithes. Specifically budgeted blocks of financial and time resources (10% if you want to be really traditional) for the dedicated intention of creating the necessary ether fabric for awesome, either for investing in social capital, building skills, or otherwise.

This might seem like a complete anachronism, but people personally tithe all the time to goods or ideas. You set aside money to keep up with the latest ideas, or to look stylish, or you hold out for a brand new kickass set of Heelies. This is mostly the same idea, though the traditionally self-centralized direction of these disbursements are turned towards tithing in the interest of creating new projects and promoting public activity. Creating, in some sense, your own little personally managed fund that you keep in reserve when opportunities for the not-so-rainy-day when serving the interest of awesome come along.

On the individual level, this might promote a constant low-level circulation of earmarking that’s effective in creating local clusters of social/financial resources that can work to support geek efforts. But there’s also network benefits to encouraging this build-up of microresources held in reserve as an accepted personal accounting standard for geek culture in general. The likelihood of people meeting with the combination of common interests and common purposes for resources raises the probability of real action on ideas. Much larger action too, since there suddenly exists incentives for geeks to actively group together to achieve their ends. You can imagine the conversation, “How much do you have in your fund? I really need to buy this helicopter and for this plan I’ve got.”

This personal tithing approach has worked pretty well — with two or three months under the system operating at about a 10% money/time tithing level, I’ve been able to personally support Information Superhighway One, Information Superhighway Two, and some initial stuff for Hello Silo (it’s a plan to rent a missile silo — long story, USBFB will report on it later — you can follow news about it @hellosilo) So at least on the microlevel, it’s working.

But who knows if it’d scale to the level of social community engineering though — thoughts?

The Lamest Wikipedia Debates

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 05:33:21 -0800

The Lamest Wikipedia Debates:

Make for the best reading.

Sorry we’ve been a little delayed — the USBFB has been going nuts getting everything for ROFLThing-NYC together. On the plus side, we just confirmed the guy who invented Comic Sans to speak. SWEET.

Breaking News: ROFLThing-NYC, Jan 24th

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:50:00 -0800

Breaking News: ROFLThing-NYC, Jan 24th:

Submitted for your consideration: the boys are back in town. File this under “A” for “Awesome.”

photo by sushiesque CC BY SA

The Bureau, Back In Business

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 02:19:00 -0800

ANNOUNCEMENT:

With the neutralization of several high-priority classified threats in the Pacific Rim and with the area secured (for the moment) in the American Interest, the Commissioner and key staff are returning to Boston to resume the normal work of the Bureau. Accordingly, our Microvlogger intelligence gathering study will take a backseat to our usual operations as the USBFB network of field offices reopen.

Thank you for your patience during this period. We are accepting Petitions 27B-6 at this time and will be dispatching agents to deal with backlogged requests from the public.

Your Tax Dollars At Work!

Microvlogger Seven

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 02:03:56 -0800

In this style.

Well, that was useful.

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:07:00 -0800

Well, that was useful.

Microvlogger -- Entry Six

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:30:06 -0800

Microvlogger -- Entry Five

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 02:09:12 -0800

Microvlogger -- Entry Four

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 06:04:44 -0800

YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 07:39:05 -0800

YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS

Way Cooler Than You Were At That Age

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 06:55:45 -0800

Way Cooler Than You Were At That Age:

Thanks to the amazing Amy Klein, was recently forwarded this amazing blog. The author (a 12 year old girl) is the hippest thing on the Internet. Description from the blog:

I am a 12 year old space cowboy that can fit in mail bins and pretends to follow baseball season. To pass the time I write fairy tale fan fiction, in which princesses join cults and witches are photographed by Wendy Bevan. My favorite foods are raspberries and hipsters, and my #1 pet peeve is Comic Sans. Magic wandery is my prime method for self defense, along with some karate I picked up in fourth grade and excellent insults I spontaneously come up with on the spot. Your mom.

Microvlogger -- Entry Three

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:19:00 -0800

This is the unedited soundtrack to the video.

Microvlogger -- Entry Two

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:31:00 -0800

The Microvlogger -- Entry One

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:57:00 -0800

Video from the breakfast buffet at the basement of the Delight Hotel (where we’re staying). Turn up your speakers.

Yeah, you heard right — it’s “Hey Jude” on creepy chimes.

CREEPY CHIMES.

This was followed by “Yesterday.” On creepy chimes.

The Next Two Weeks: Bon Voyage!

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 15:50:14 -0800

To Employees and General Management,

The United States Bureau of Fabulous Bitches, recently flush with a new round of Department of State funding to launch several new initiatives to protect American interests in foriegn lands, will be sporadically in touch over the next two weeks (November 17-28) as we attend a very clandestine, high-level summit in Taiwan to assess our fabulous bitches security needs in the Pacific Rim.

Contracting with operations specialists at Kimball Simms and Barlowe, however, we will continue to offer our services, though expect delays in delivery and changes in service. While the Berkman Coffee Supply Project and The Land Before Time Project will be on (further) hiatus during this period, projects in foriegn lands to include:

* Tim Hwang Continuously Listens To “Sussudio” In Locales Around Taiwan

* Emerging Details on this Crazy Webcomic Show We’ve Been Putting Together

* Decomissioned Missile Silos: Threat or Menace?

I thank you all for your continuing support.

Signed,

Tim R. Hwang (Commissioner, Special Reports Division)

Really fascinating documentary on British teenagers suffering...

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 16:15:22 -0800

Really fascinating documentary on British teenagers suffering from Tourette’s Syndrome traveling to the US to attend summer camp. You can get the rest of it here on YouTube.

Oh sweet. Like, the entire soundtrack for River City...

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 16:12:00 -0800

Oh sweet. Like, the entire soundtrack for River City Ransom.

Hell. Yes.

When I was a kid, I’d sometimes just get to the level with the song at 1:12 and leave it on ambiently to do homework to.