Rubin Starset » Rubin

BrainMeats: Occupy Everything – Overlap of Tech and the Occupy Movement

Rubin — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 20:32:22 +0000

Audio: OGG / MP3

About two weeks ago (October 27th) while up in Seattle I was invited to participate in a podcastable discussion about the current overlap of technology and the Occupy Movement.

The inaugural episode of the BrainMeats podcast is devoted to the Occupy movement and what hackers and makers can do to support the protesters on the ground. Willow spoke over Skype to Ari, Ella, Matt, Ruben, and Smári about the history of OWS, the meaning of illegibility within the movement, software tools for protesters, and more.

I was a little groggy through most of it and wish I had more fruitful things to say other than being the devil's advocate that I normally am. Anyhow it was a good discussion and if you're interested I recommend listening in on it. If you're curious about any of the sites/services/things talked about, please check out Willow's post for more details.

The podcast is provided under the Creative Commons: Attribution, Share Alike, Non Commercial license.

2lb of Political Spam

Rubin — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 05:04:08 +0000

So tonight at some point in time I went to the front door of my flat, to find this...

2lb and 9oz of political spam, 53 piece in total, ranging from supporting runners for offices and propositions to bad mouthing individuals and groups. For the most part I consider much of this fiction and not worth my damn time. It's weight is approximately 10 times what my household normally gets a week in paper snail mail spam. All of it went into the recycling bin at the top of my stairs under our little mail slots for each housemate. I could sit here and do the carbon footprint math, but just by looking at the pile of junk it's pretty apparent that there's a bunch of money and resources wasted that go into these paper campaigns.

It boggles my mind on how we don't have a system to opt out of this trash.

Next to the recycling bin we have a bench, where this was sitting on top of...

9oz of fact. I would like to see political parties throw their money into making this booklet easier to read and not as daunting, more recyclable, more apparent that it's available online.

I don't care how much politicians want to toot the truth or name bash the other runners, but please stop doing it in print, stop filling up my mail box with this garbage, it makes me not want to vote for any of you, or maybe that's just the point?

Layers

Rubin — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 06:34:59 +0000

The universe at its core is extremely binary. Without the attention to detail and the ability to look closely we perceive it as analog and rather confusing or possibly chaotic and random. Computers are an attempt to recreate a binary systems on top of the analog layer we have such a hard time seeing beyond, pushing for some sort of sane black and white order. Video games, social networking, online communication, the attempt at providing an over all seamless web experience, transparent inside that little device sitting in your pocket, purse or bag, are us pushing for an artificial analog experience within this digital binary world we created, on top of the analog universe that's just an overly complicated binary system.

We are nothing more than meme/meta machines....

Yes I'm on my 4th drink for the night.

Last Things Last Forever

Rubin — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 16:47:13 +0000

I've kept a bit of distance away from Twitter for the past couple of weeks, it's been good, though I'm sure this post will auto update my feed. Disconnection has lead to a bit of wondering where and when things happen for a given night, but the return value of hearing about stories, events, interesting things from people directly through passing has been worth it. I've gone from compulsively refreshing Twitter to my lone RSS feeds, Slashdot and Latitude.

My trip to Europe happening in a day or so already feels like escape, really don't want it to feel like that. I'll inevitable come back and it's no longer escape. Keep track of me on the Locate page. I'll have access to phone, email, IM, etc for most of it. Looking forward to Camp.

New job has been great, rather enjoy working out of a castle. It's also been challenging to the level that works well for me.

Distance and pain lasts forever, a closed feeling. I busy myself with new projects trying to keep my mind off of the past, present and what could have been the future. Multiple futures. I wake up each morning early wondering, making my bed, having a tiny bit of breakfast, picking out what to wear. Mannerism I didn't have before, they're not mine. Now I'm not really sure who's they are.

Last things last. At the point now where I need to for myself to understand that this really isn't the last thing.

Journey to the End of the Night: 5 Years Running

Rubin — Sat, 21 May 2011 06:46:59 +0000

Look at what I just made over the past two days.

The game happens June 18th, 6:30 PM, Justin Herman Plaza. Come and play!

Odd Messages

Rubin — Mon, 16 May 2011 19:01:52 +0000

So last night I received a series of text messages, all at the same time right on the minute change over to 1:25 (UTC -06).

+17864926438 - I bet the Jews did this. n2
+13057055326 - Trade cats for weed? I7
+13057055432 - BILL MAYS HERE!! oJ
+17865826469 - Nice obesity. 9r
+17865926441 - I demand justice. 6W
+17274879593 - Sup I just drifted a 85' crown victoria. k1
+17864718655 - I demand justice. 8F
+14155704163 - If a tree falls in a forest and hits a woman, what is a forest doing in a kitchen? Bq
+17319070379 - Your hands are really hairy. wq
+17864718638 - Omg, tits. a7

Spam? Weird encrypted message? What the fuck?

Broken Parabolic Curve

Rubin — Wed, 04 May 2011 09:29:32 +0000

One of the things I've been aiming for recent is to live completely without expectations. As a result it seems like I haven't gotten as exited about something as I did months ago. I think this is starting to become a negative aspect of my life, to not actually be extremely exited (pony peeing rainbows) about much of anything. Maybe this is turning me into a boring person? To my friends and within myself.

Today I had a series of communications to varied wildly on the emotional scale, I surprised myself by eventually feeling overwhelmed by it all. My time to myself tonight went to waste from a lack of focus. Wishing that all this were easier.

There are things missing from my life right now, some I know about, others are a mystery in themselves. The need to focus on figuring out what these missing things are is rather hard, the feeling replaced with a want to dig a hole and live in it.

Balsa Man

Rubin — Tue, 03 May 2011 06:12:30 +0000

Kind of done playing catch up. Here are a bunch of photos I shot at Balsa Man this past year.

It was entertaining going to both large and small events. Reminded me how humble we all really are.

The Pianist

Rubin — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 07:49:10 +0000

The Institute

Rubin — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 03:45:27 +0000

Taxi Jack

Rubin — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 23:41:05 +0000

Megatropolis

Rubin — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 18:54:41 +0000

Syzysupport

Rubin — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 18:39:57 +0000

Slightly blows my mind the number of hands on this project.

Faces of Jane

Rubin — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 04:25:11 +0000

Silks and Fluits

Rubin — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 21:20:33 +0000

Cafe Party

Rubin — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 17:11:39 +0000

I’m Alive, Awake, Alert and Fuck My Day

Rubin — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 09:19:03 +0000

And so the gates opened.

Steve23

Rubin — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 04:16:07 +0000

Maintaining the Cubes

Rubin — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 22:13:35 +0000

Blondie & Rick!

Rubin — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 16:59:32 +0000