“Source Companion” team, originally uploaded by jefftimesten.

Ayah, Aaron and I take a night off to have a drink at Cafe de Prague in Hamra. She described this as “a total hipster bar,” which is, of course, why she took us there.

Esse, Nosse, Posse

common wealth for common people

I wish I could take credit for putting this into some form at some point, but I honestly don’t remember.

Thank you and good day.

In my prototypes, I have strung together PHPActiveRecord and Smarty (which, BTW, I have found very pleasant and not at all frustrating), but now I want to make sure I am using the best options.  I’ve been out of the PHP loop for too long and I’m not sure whether to go with just an ORM and make the MVC pattern myself, or to go with an existing framework.  Here is what I need:

1. plenty of documentation
2. extensions for things like video, maybe some for popular APIs, etc.
3. active community/not likely to be abandoned any time soon
4. ess complicated/structured than CakePHP
5. caching
6. AJAX

ORMs

If I decide to just use an ORM, these are the options I have found.

1. Doctrine – works with Symfony.  Very popular according to The Goog’
2. Propel – also has some advocates out there. Also works with Symfony
3. RedBean – looks nice.  761 posts in forum
4. Outlet – “simpler than Propel and Doctrine and it works similar to Hibernate.” But Hibernate is a Java framework, and I loathe Java on the web.

Frameworks

I have consulted PHPFrameworks, but this didn’t really get me any closer to a decision.  This is the long list of possibilities I have come up with.  All of them pretty much meet my requirements.

1. CodeIgniter [info]- very active forum
2. Symfony [info]
3. Zend [info] – Of course I know about all of the Zend libraries, but I didn’t know they had a framework.
4. Kohana – no info on phpframeworks (worrying), but seems to have a somewhat active community.  4858 posts in the forum.  Moreso than Yii, anyway.
5. Yii [info] – Seems pretty Cake-like.
6. Cubed
7. Akelos [info]
8. Seagull [info]

Didn’t make the list

1. ATK Framework – Seems too business-focused
2. ADODB – website too ugly
3. Concrete5 – Too much of a CMS.  Not flexible enough
4. dORM – as an ORM, actually seems *too* simple.  Not enough features.
5. Repose – not enough community/activity

Too many options!  Haaalp me.

To be exact, we want you to print out the attached PDF with a color printer, attach it to something torch-like (a stick, handle, pole), and make a video of yourself running with it. If you don’t have a color printer, try to get something close to the same color. Your video should be no longer than 1 minute. The video should start with you entering the frame from the left, and end with you handing off the torch to an unseen person out of the frame to the right. This is important because we will edit the videos together so that the relay (handing off the torch) looks more or less continuous. But beyond that, it’s pretty much up to you what you do. The crazier the better.

Oh, and we also need your location (latitude and longitude). We will connect all of the videos together, superimpose animated GIFs of fire onto your torch, and animate the torch route onto a map of the world (think Indiana Jones). The video will culminate in a torch lighting ceremony at MIXER: OLYMPIAD on March 12.

The goal is to have some geographic diversity here, so the further you are from NY, the better. If you have any friends in far-off places that might be interested, please pass this along to them. Right now we are just looking for a head count if people who might be interested. We can provide a very small materials budget if you need it (I’m talking like $10-$20).

Of course, everyone who makes a video will be an honored guest at the MIXER: OLYMPIAD, you will receive credit on the Eyebeam website, and you will earn our gratitude. So please, pass this along. Post it on your FaceTweeter. And if you are interested in making a video, please contact me ASAP.

Chair: Vagner Whitehead
Panelists: Barbara DeGenevieve, Doug Ischar, Stephanie Rothenberg & Jeff Crouse

Saturday 2/13/10 from 2pm – 3:30pm
Columbia College Chicago – 916 S. Wabash Ave, Room 150

Panel Abstract: While it is arguable that looking at pornography online equates actual sexual acts performed with the aid of computer communication technologies, the connection between mediated visual stimulation with desire exists. It is possible that a percentage of the people looking at porn and partaking on cybersex (from the traditional chatroom text, to emailed pictures, cam2cam, MUVEs, etc), consists of artists. Their interaction with these technologies and other beings interested in similar activities could potentially inform/influence their artistic endeavors. This panel aims to examine the varied form in which artists explore and present sexuality and the Internet in their works.

While on the subject, Aaron and I are still looking for an intern to help us with the super-exciting new version of World Series of ‘Tubing.  We have tentatively scheduled a performance at a super hip new venue in Brooklyn.  So, if I may horrifically mix some metaphors, the time is right to get on this bus on the ground floor.

For all of you listeners out there who just can’t wait for ep1 to drop:  have patience!  It will arrive soon!

• Go to Craigslist
• Do a search
• Copy the URL
• Go to Earthify Beta
• Paste the URL
• GO!

The one problem is that it doesn’t remember the location and zoom level of the Google Map when you bookmark a search. This is annoying because part of what makes Housingmaps great is that you can zoom in to see only the location you are interested in.

WELL NOT ANYMORE! I fixed it! http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/65745

This little Greasemonkey script will add the lat, lon, and zoom to the “Link” element of the page.  Then, when you come back, it will move and zoom the map.

Yeah, it’s kind of a very specific need.  But there it is.

Facebook event

Date: Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Time: 7:00pm – 9:00pm
Location: The Change You Want to See
Street: 84 Havemeyer Street
City/Town: Brooklyn, NY

Upgrade! NY continues its series on open source as it relates to activism and creative practice.

Within activist and creative practice there is a range of models for mobilizing the labor and creativity of the crowd (aka “crowdsourcing”). Both practices experiment with a spectrum of autonomy and control within those models. From distributed design to distributed fundraising, MoveOn to Mechanical Turk, a crowdsourcer issues a call and creates structure for participation.

What role do individual motivations and collective goals play within these structures? What are the ethical, social and political implications of distributed labor?

Panelists include xtine, artist, educator and creator of the Mechanical Olympics; Jeff Crouse, Eyebeam senior fellow, artist, technologist and co-creator (with Stephanie Rothenberg) of the Invisible Threads virtual jeans factory; and Beka Economopoulos, online organizer, consultant and curator at The Change You Want To See Gallery.

This event will take place at The Change You Want to See, 84 Havemeyer Street, Brooklyn.

Upgrade! NY is co-produced by Eyebeam and Not An Alternative.

This is a prelude event to the conference, The Internet as Playground and Factory: a conference on digital labor at the Eugene Lang College, The New School, New York, NY, November 12-14.

http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/3716 – James Chimpton (with Steve Lambert)
http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/3715 – openFrameworks (with Zach Lieberman)

I know I’m an Eyebeam whore.  Don’t worry.  It’s been brought to my attention.

Come for the lulz.  Stay for the $2 beer.

What you can’t see is the crowd of heathens standing and laughing at me as I was knelt down on my kneeler.

Here’s the full set