Scoop: a step back for the space elevator

It's friday night, and I plan to go back and retroblog the Conference on World Affairs, but it isn't every day one is explicitly handed a scoop. I'm a horrible transcriptionist, and I identified this as a gist-transcription on Julie's blog (who got the scoop up before I did), but here's Michael Laine's condensed remarks from today's Infosnacking panel:

"I've got a scoop for all the all the bloggers in the room. Other than the X Prize, if you're on the cover of Popular Science or Popular Mechanics then your project is not going to go anywhere. But failure is a critical component of growth.

Two hours ago I lost a three million dollar building. I'd rather pay for this space elevator then pay my mortgage. I'd rather talk to schoolchildren about the project than pay my phone bill. I've been in foreclosure seven times in the last five years. And now I don't have a place to live. I don't have a place to for my staff to go to. I don't have a place to put my cat.

Is this the straw that breaks the camels back? Not quite, I'm pretty tough. I've got to go get a job... I'm not a very good employee. How do you build an elevator into space on the evenings and weekends? I'm counting on the two million people on the network who have referenced the project to make a difference... to put some skin in the game.

I thought I had this fucking problem solved on Wednesday, but I'm not going to let this stop me."

Throughout the conference, I (as others have) noted Mr. Laine's propensity to evangelicalism. I don't want to get into the difference between brainwashed evangelicalism and truly-believing-want-to-change-the-world-for-the-better evangelicalism, but I was on tears' edge during Michael's (decidedly latter) remarks. Michael Laine says he doesn't need any more cheerleaders: he needs a job. I can't give him a job. I wish I could (while I could, it would be more of an unpaid internship going to the post office) and my readership isn't exactly composed of venture capitalists.

LiftPort has the potential to change not just the world, but the entire universe, and what is hopefully a temporary setback makes for an interesting footnote of the story of interplanetary human exploration. Michael seemed on the edge of tears today too. He assures us that on Monday he'll have a plan to deal with this setback. If it requires community intervention, I hope everyone who hopes to escape this planet someday will do their part.

I know I will.

CWA Reading List

I wanted to type up all my notes from all the panels I attended at the Conference on World Affairs, but next year I'm going to do it daily, so it's not an insurmountable task. As it is, it's become a blockade in my creative pipeline - so to kick it out of the way I'm just typing up my list of things to read, watch, listen to or otherwise research:
Flatliners
Strange Piece of Paradise - Terri Jentz
wordspy.com
word-detective.com
Bowling Alone - Robert Putnam
Female Chauvinist Pigs - Ariel Levy
The World is Flat - Thomas Friedman
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
Empire of Light - Sidney Perkowitz
Pikachu's Global Adventure
threewayfight.blogspot.com
JanedaPain.net - specifically poetic terrorism & guerrilla art in the 21st century [pdf]
The Watts Prophets
thoughtscape.org
Almost Girl
quirkyalone.net
Virgin - Hanne Blank

So, it's my understanding you enjoy the company of Mudkip.

I've been trying to avoid too much pre-Pokemon Diamond/Pearl hoopla, but I did play a demo at a Target kiosk the other day. The good news is the game plays exactly the same as all the other ones: only better. All commands are input via the touchscreen (or the d-pad and buttons, if you prefer). I'll be picking up the Pearl iteration and choosing the water starter.

Oh, but here's the interesting thing for people who aren't as interested in Catching 'Em All as I am. It offers voice communications over WiFi. That's right: It can be used as a mobile phone to other Pokemoners if you're in a public WiFi hotspot. Nintendo is releasing a DS-compatible earpiece. Here's hoping a DS version of Skype isn't too far behind.

Let me boil this down one more time: free Long Distance to other DS owners forever for thirty bucks. Plus... Mudkip!