Don from Classic Poetry Aloud, has mp3s of 20 classic poems for National Poetry Month, available at Open Culture

The latest Belinda Subraman Presents features Maurya Simon, poet and nominee for a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award.

Maurya Simon is the author of The Enchanted Room and Days of Awe (Copper Canyon Press, 1986, 1989), Speaking in Tongues (Gibbs Smith, 1990), which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and The Golden Labyrinth (University of Missouri Press, 1995). A fifth volume, A Brief History of Punctuation, was published in a limited edition by the fine letter-press book publisher, Sutton Hoo Press, in 2002. Simon's sixth volume, Ghost Orchid (Red Hen Press, 2004) was nominated for a 2004 National Book Award in Poetry. A new, limited edition, letter-press collection of ekphrastic poems, WEAVERS, based on the paintings of Los Angeles artist Baila Goldenthal, was published by Blackbird Press in October 2005, and Simon's eighth volume of poems, Cartographies, was published 2007.

Scientists Take Drugs to Boost Brain Power Twenty percent of scientists admit to using performance-enhancing prescription drugs for non-medical reasons, according to a survey released Wednesday by Nature, Britain’s top science journal. The overwhelming majority of these med-taking brainiacs said they indulged in order to “improve concentration,” and 60 percent said they did so on a daily or weekly basis. The 1,427 respondents — most of them in the United States — completed an informal, online survey posted on the “Nature Network” Web forum, a discussion site for scientists operated by the Nature Publishing Group. More than a third said that they would feel pressure to give their children such drugs if they knew other kids at school were also taking them. “These are academics working in scientific institutions,” Ruth Francis, who handles press relations for the group, told AFP. The survey focused on three drugs widely available by prescription or via the Internet. Ritalin, a trade name for methylphenidate, is a stimulant normally used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, especially in children. Modafinil — marketed at Provigil — is prescribed to treat sleep disorders, but is also effective against general fatigue and jet lag. Both medications are common currency on college campuses, used as “study aids” to sharpen performance and wakefulness. “It doesn’t seem to be causing too much trouble since most [students] use the drugs not to get high but to function better,” Brian Doyle, a clinical pyschiatrist at Georgetown University Medical Centre, told a US newspaper last month. “When exams are over, they go back to normal and stop abusing the drugs.” Other experts expressed more concern about what the survey revealed. “It alerted us to the fact that scientists, like others, are looking for short cuts,” Wilson Compton, director of epidemiology and prevention research at the US National Institute for Drug Abuse (NIDA), told AFP. Laser Triggers Artificial Lightning A team of European scientists has deliberately triggered electrical activity in thunderclouds for the first time, according to a new paper in the latest issue of Optics Express, the Optical Society's (OSA) open-access journal. They did this by aiming high-power pulses of laser light into a thunderstorm. At the top of South Baldy Peak in New Mexico during two passing thunderstorms, the researchers used laser pulses to create plasma filaments that could conduct electricity akin to Benjamin Franklin's silk kite string. No air-to-ground lightning was triggered because the filaments were too short-lived, but the laser pulses generated discharges in the thunderclouds themselves. "This was an important first step toward triggering lightning strikes with laser beams," says Jérôme Kasparian of the University of Lyon in France. "It was the first time we generated lighting precursors in a thundercloud." The next step of generating full-blown lightning strikes may come, he adds, after the team reprograms their lasers to use more sophisticated pulse sequences that will make longer-lived filaments to further conduct the lightning during storms. Triggering lightning strikes is an important tool for basic and applied research because it enables researchers to study the mechanisms underlying lightning strikes. Moreover, triggered lightning strikes will allow engineers to evaluate and test the lightning-sensitivity of airplanes and critical infrastructure such as power lines. Pulsed lasers represent a potentially very powerful technology for triggering lightning because they can form a large number of plasma filaments -- ionized channels of molecules in the air that act like conducting wires extending into the thundercloud. This is such a simple concept that the idea of using lasers to trigger lightning strikes was first suggested more than 30 years ago. But scientists have not been able to accomplish this to date because previous lasers have not been powerful enough to generate long plasma channels. The current generation of more powerful lasers, like the one developed by Kasparian's team, may change that.

Curious Cloud Formations Linked to Quakes By Lynn Dicks Can unusual clouds signal the possibility of an impending earthquake? That's the question being asked following the discovery of distinctive cloud formations above an active fault in Iran before each of two large earthquakes occurred. Geophysicists Guangmeng Guo and Bin Wang of Nanyang Normal University in Henan, China, noticed a gap in the clouds in satellite images from December 2004 that precisely matched the location of the main fault in southern Iran. It stretched for hundreds of kilometres, was visible for several hours and remained in the same place, although the clouds around it were moving. At the same time, thermal images of the ground showed that the temperature was higher along the fault. Sixty-nine days later, on 22 February 2005, an earthquake of magnitude 6.4 hit the area, killing more than 600 people. In December 2005, a similar formation again appeared in the clouds for a few hours. Sixty-four days later, an earthquake of magnitude 6 shook the region (International Journal of Remote Sensing, vol 29, p 1921). Guo and Wang suggest that an eruption of hot gases from inside the fault could have caused water in the clouds to evaporate. Another idea is that ionisation may be involved: Friedemann Freund at the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, recently demonstrated that when rocks are squeezed, positively charged ions form in the air above. The trouble is that ions usually help to form clouds, not dissipate them. The authors say that if recognisable cloud formations precede large quakes, they could be used for prediction, but other seismologists are sceptical. "There is no physical model that explains why something would suddenly occur two months before an earthquake, and then shut off and not occur again," says Mike Blanpied of the US Geological Survey's Earthquake Hazards Program. Nuked Coral Reef Bounces Back By Catherine Brahic What does a coral reef look like 50 years after being nuked? Not so bad, it seems. Coconuts growing on Bikini Atoll haven't fared so well, however. Three islands of Bikini Atoll were vapourised by the Bravo hydrogen bomb in 1954, which shook islands 200 kilometres away. Instead of finding a bare underwater moonscape, ecologists who have dived it have given the 2-kilometre-wide crater a clean bill of health. "It was fascinating – I’ve never seen corals growing like trees outside of the Marshall Islands," says Zoe Richards of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies in Australia. Richards and colleagues report a thriving ecosystem of 183 species of coral, some of which were 8 metres high. They estimate that the diversity of species represents about 65% of what was present before the atomic tests. The ecologists think the nearby Rongelap Atoll is seeding the Bikini Atoll, and the lack of human disturbance is helping its recovery. Although the ambient radiation is low, people have remained at bay. "Apart from occasional forays of illegal shark, tuna and Napoleon Wrasse fishing, the reef is almost completely undisturbed to this day," says Maria Beger of the University of Queensland in Australia. "There are very few local inhabitants and the divers who visit dive on shipwrecks, like the USS Saratoga, and not on the reef." Beger took a Geiger counter with her on dives and says that the background levels were similar to that at any Australian city. The same could not be said of coconuts growing on the islands. "When I put the Geiger counter near a coconut, which accumulates radioactive material from the soil, it went berserk," says Beger.

From
Sundown Lounge No. 137


Geeknotes:

Reinstate Randi
John McCain's Bottom 10
Chicago Poetry News



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Reinstate Randi
April 3, 2008

We the undersigned Air America listeners respectfully request the immediate reinstatement without prejudice or penalty of host Randi Rhodes. Her suspension comes at a time when progressive America cannot afford to be deprived of a single voice of passionate reason, even at the expense of political ego.

Her comments in San Francisco prompting her suspension did not violate FCC regulations. Though blunt and abrasive, the derogatory remarks about Senator Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro were neither literal nor delivered in such a way as to be expected to be interpreted as such. Air America's suspension of Ms. Rhodes adds considerable weight to comments delivered in a light and comedic fashion.

In these times, we treasure Air America as a beacon of truth, free from the corporate mood lights intended to color us with their agendas. The decision to suspend Randi, while perhaps valid per the terms of her contract as an Air America host, is at best a formality and not the will of her listeners. At worst, it is a discretionary action that alienates your listeners in order to smooth corporate and political feathers . We, your loyal listeners, support Randi and her decision to speak freely and we ask that you do not deny us her voice.

America for Randi

BREAKING NEWS: Randi Rhodes will appear on CNN’s “Larry King Live” tonight (Thu, 4/10) – 9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific!

Today, Randi Rhodes, who was suspended by Air America Radio (AAR) last week, will start broadcasting with NovaMradio starting Monday, April 12, in the same 3-6 PM EST time slot she was in at AAR.

Cool. I read on a blog that she was pointing toward a breach of contract. I couldn't be happier for her. The chat with Larry King should be fun...




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don’t):

1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has “evolved,” yet he’s continued to oppose key civil rights laws.

2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain “will make Cheney look like Gandhi.”

3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.

4. McCain opposes a woman’s right to choose. He said, “I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned.”

5. The Children’s Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children’s health care bill last year, then defended Bush’s veto of the bill.

6. He’s one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a “second job” and skip their vacations.

7. Many of McCain’s fellow Republican senators say he’s too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: “The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He’s erratic. He’s hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me.”

8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.

9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his “spiritual guide,” Rod Parsley, believes America’s founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a “false religion.” McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church “the Antichrist” and a “false cult.”

10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Chicago Poetry News

"YOU CAN TAKE MY GUN FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS." – Charlton Heston

In remembrance of Charlton Heston, the
ChicagoPoetry.com Drive-In Theatre presents the
full, uncut version of SOYLENT GREEN:

http://chicagopoetry.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=980

=======================

HURRAY FOR BOLLYWOOD:

http://chicagopoetry.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1189

====================

POETRY BOMB WEBSITE

Don't forget April 20 is the Poetry Bomb. A bunch
of poets will be meeting at the bean in millennium
park. For more info:

http://www.myspace.com/thepoetrybomb

or contact

poetrybomb [at] gmail [dot] com

=================

GOLD AND CHERRY

You are invited
to a reading and book-signing featuring
Susan Spaeth Cherry, author of the new poetry book
I AM THE POOL'S PERIMETER:
Musings About Mothering
and Sandy Goldsmith, author of
IMAGING CENTER
Sunday, April 27, 2008
4:30 P.M.
Women and Children First
5233 N. Clark St.
Chicago (773) 796-9299

==============

RED ROVER RED ROVER

Red Rover Series
{readings that play with reading}

3 YEAR ANNIVERSARY with NEW LOCATION
at the Division Street Dance Loft
735 W. Division St, 3rd floor
(Division @ Halsted
enter parking lot off of Halsted St)
http://www.rtgdance.com/teach_schedule.htm

7PM SATURDAY, APRIL 19th
Experiment #20:
A Sing Economy
guest curated by Matthew Klane

Featuring:
Tawrin Baker
Jaye Bartell
Barrett Gordon
Jennifer Karmin
Laura Sims
Kevin Thurston

suggested donation $4
doors lock at 7:30pm
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/redroverseries

================

OYEZ! OYEZ!

Oyez Review will be having 3 launch readings for
the 35th volume of Oyez Review featuring
poetry and fiction from our new issue.

April 17, 5:00 pm

Roosevelt University, AUD 244
430 S. Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL 60605

Work from Joyce Goldenstern, J. Weintraub, and others

April 25, 57th Street Books, 7:00 PM

1301 East 57th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
773-684-1300

Work from Arlene Zide and others

May 1, 7:00 pm, Quimby's Bookstore

1854 W. North Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622
773-342-0910

Work from J. Weintraub and others


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Grid: Superfast Internet Jonathan Leake, Science Editor THE internet could soon be made obsolete. The scientists who pioneered it have now built a lightning-fast replacement capable of downloading entire feature films within seconds. At speeds about 10,000 times faster than a typical broadband connection, “the grid” will be able to send the entire Rolling Stones back catalogue from Britain to Japan in less than two seconds. The latest spin-off from Cern, the particle physics centre that created the web, the grid could also provide the kind of power needed to transmit holographic images; allow instant online gaming with hundreds of thousands of players; and offer high-definition video telephony for the price of a local call. David Britton, professor of physics at Glasgow University and a leading figure in the grid project, believes grid technologies could “revolutionise” society. “With this kind of computing power, future generations will have the ability to collaborate and communicate in ways older people like me cannot even imagine,” he said. Computers on the grid can also transmit data at lightning speed. This will allow researchers facing heavy processing tasks to call on the assistance of thousands of other computers around the world. The aim is to eliminate the dreaded “frozen screen” experienced by internet users who ask their machine to handle too much information. The real goal of the grid is, however, to work with the LHC in tracking down nature’s most elusive particle, the Higgs boson. Predicted in theory but never yet found, the Higgs is supposed to be what gives matter mass... Spy Camera Sunglasses We all remember seeing those incredible ads for x-ray specs in the back of comic books and some of us probably even mailed in the $3 to a PO Box in New Jersey for rush delivery. "Surprise your friends with amazing x-ray vision" the ads would read. Yeah, someone is going to be surprised but it's not going to be your friends. These camera sunglasses certainly aren't x-ray specs, but they do capture 1.3 megapixel still images (at a resolution of 1280x1024). The included RF remote-control is ideal for easy, stealth-style photo shooting. High-quality lightweight frame material and UV400 polarized flip-up lens. A polymer li-ion rechargeable battery provides a battery life of up to 9 hours (shooting 1 photo/minute). USB 2.0 interface via a standard Mini USB port for data upload and download & re-charging the battery. The sunglasses also allow you to enjoy your music via MP3 playback. Built-in earbuds provide super convenient listen capability and can be hooked out of the way when not in use...

USB Digital Camera The combination of SanDisk USB Drive with distinct digital camera brand that utilize the functionality of the USB Drive. The idea of blending a drive with a Leica digital camera speaks to the concept of photographers and their need to always have their Leica. Sweat Ducts May Act As Antenna For Lie Detection Politicians now have a new reason to worry - a technology that can determine if they are lying… from a distance. Our skin may contain millions of tiny “antennas” in the form of microscopic sweat ducts, say researchers in Israel. In experiments, they found evidence that signals produced by bouncing electromagnetic waves off the tiny tubes might reveal a person’s physical and emotional state from a distance. The research might eventually result in lie detectors that require no physical contact with the subject. Human skin contains millions of sweat glands, which are connected to pores at the surface by tiny ducts. These ducts were originally thought of as straight tubes, but detailed images produced in recent years have revealed that they are actually helical. “When you look at this through the eyes of an electrical engineer, it is very familiar,” says Aharon Agranat of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “It immediately ignited the thinking that perhaps they also behave as helical antenna.” To function in this way, the ducts would need to conduct a current. And since the ducts are filled with sweat, they do indeed conduct when hit with an electromagnetic wave, although not at the very high frequencies needed. And yet, experiments performed by the Israeli researchers suggest that they do somehow work as antennas. Initially, the experiments were carried out in contact with the subjects’ hands, to reduce diffraction effects. But even at a distance of 22 centimetres, the researchers found a strong correlation between subjects’ blood pressure and pulse rate, and the frequency response of their skin. Agranat emphasises that the research is at an early stage, but recognises potential applications. “You could make a lie detector that does not require any connections to the person being tested,” he says.

From
Sundown Lounge No. 136


Geeknotes:

NaPoWriMo
Charles Bernstein on NaPoMo
Democrats.com Picnic
MLK



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


This week marks the start not only of Nat'l Poetry Month, but also some craziness called NaPoWriMo, Nat'l Poetry Writing Month, where the goal is to write a poem a day for April. Having done two NaNoWriMo's, I admire those brave poets, but no friggin way am I gonna do this. Anyway, I tip my hat to Will Brown of 'Cloudy Day Art' for taking the challenge. He has a blog all about it...


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Speaking of NaPoMo, I found an interesting essay on this spring ritual written by Charles Bernstein, against NaPoMo, written back in 1999. The entire essay is here, but let's have a taste:

Against National Poetry Month As Such, by Charles Bernstein

"April is the cruelest month for poetry.

As part of the spring ritual of National Poetry Month, poets are symbolically dragged into the public square in order to be humiliated with the claim that their product has not achieved sufficient market penetration and must be revived by the Artificial Resuscitation Foundation (ARF) lest the art form collapse from its own incompetence, irrelevance, and as a result of the general disinterest among the broad masses of the American People.

The motto of ARF's National Poetry Month is: "Poetry's not so bad, really."

National Poetry Month is sponsored by the Academy of American Poets, an organization that uses its mainstream status to exclude from its promotional activities much of the formally innovative and "otherstream" poetries that form the inchoate heart of the art of poetry. The Academy's activities on behalf of National Poetry Month tend to focus on the most conventional of contemporary poetry; perhaps a more accurate name for the project might be National Mainstream Poetry Month. Then perhaps we could designate August as National Unpopular Poetry Month..."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


From Democrats.com:

TO ALL PROGRESSIVE GROUPS: JOIN US FOR A RARE
?MEET & GREET/THANK YOU? SPRING PARTY/PICNIC!

WHO THANKS US FOR ALL WE DO? LET?S THANK EACH OTHER!
SUNDAY, APRIL 6, FROM 1:00 TO 4:00 PM
FIESTA HALL, PLUMMER PARK, WEST HOLLYWOOD (7377 Santa Monica Blvd.)
? WHO IS YOUR GROUP?
? WHAT ARE ITS GOALS?

YOU?ll HAVE FIVE MINUTES TO TELL ABOUT IT.
MAYBE WE?LL EVEN TALK A LITTLE ?IMPEACHMENT?
SOCIALIZING, NETWORKING, NEW GROUPS ? WAYS FOR PROGRESSIVES TO
?? W-H-A-A-A-T?? ?? WORK TOWARD SOME COMMON GOALS??

? NEW SCHTICK FROM BILLIONAIRES FOR BUSH
¦ LIGHT REFRESHMENTS (Bring goodies to share, if you like)

SPECIAL INVITATIONS TO:
PDLA, CODE PINK, SoCalADA, VETERANS FOR PEACE, COMMON CAUSE, ACLU, DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA, CDP PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS, WORLD CANT WAIT-LA, LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS, CALIFORNIA CLEAN MONEY, PROGRESSIVE DEMS OF SANTA MONICA, WESTSIDE PROGRESSIVES, VALLEY DEMOCRATS UNITED --

all groups and people working to promote the common good, or fight the common evil!

LOOKING FORWARD TO MEETING YOU and YOUR FRIENDS!

Picnic Grounds/tables (No Cooking), Tennis & Basketball Courts (1st Come 1st Served)

Best to Park at North Lot off Vista Ave.

RSVPs Nice but Not Necessary ? Donations accepted, but not required.

HOSTED BY THE LOS ANGELES IMPEACHMENT CENTER (FORMERLY THE LANIC GROUP).

CONTACT TOBI DRAGERT AT TDRAGERT@GMAIL.COM TO GET FIVE MINUTES ON THE AGENDA!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Reverend Martin Luther King responds
to Malcolm X's criticisms of his philosophy:




Ten OTHER Things MLK Said,
from Ill Doctrine:




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tooth Regeneration Scientists are working on making teeth regrow the crystals that make up dentin and enamel. This process could eliminate drilling and filling to combat tooth decay. Sally Marshall, a professor at the University of California at San Francisco, is looking for a way to catch decay early and cause teeth to start “remineralizing”. Marshall’s newest work, which has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Structural Biology, focuses on regrowing dentin in damaged teeth with the help of a calcium-containing solution of ions (electrically charged particles). By putting a layer of the solution on individual test teeth, Marshall has already been able to remineralize some parts of the teeth. The challenge is to get the crystals to regrow throughout the dentin. To heal properly, the crystals need to form from the bottom of the tooth up to the enamel. Marshall isn’t sure whether that’s happening yet, but she is confident that she’ll find a way to restore dentin functionality over the next few years. The Lynx - Rocket For Two [This week] in Los Angeles, a private space company unveiled the latest entrant in the race to send paying passengers into suborbital space. The Lynx, in development by XCOR Aerospace, is envisioned as a two-seat vehicle that will allow a paying passenger to ride up front with the pilot to experience weightlessness and see the Earth from space. “From the beginning we worked towards a vehicle which is fully reusable, will fly often enough, economically enough and safely enough to succeed in what we expect will be a robust, competitive market place,” said XCOR president Jeff Greason at a press conference today. XCOR’s been quietly working on liquid fueled rocket engines of all sizes and types in Mojave, California since 1999. The engines range from a diminutive alcohol-fueled “tea-cart” rocket suitable for showing off in hotel ballrooms (and attracting investors), to a methane-powered 7,500-pound-thrust engine completed last year for NASA. Along the way, the company’s engineers have also hotrodded a homebuilt Long-EZ airplane with an alcohol-fueled rocket engine, picked up contracts from the Department of Defense to build novel rocket fuel pumps for cheaper operation of high powered rockets, and teamed with the Rocket Racing League to build the X Racer, a rocket-powered raceplane that XCOR chief test pilot and former Space Shuttle commander Rick Searfoss is now flight testing.

Daisies can Lower Triglycerides Last week, in the Journal of Natural Products, Masayuki Yoshikawa explained how he and his colleagues discovered the fat-fighting chemicals. At Kyoto Pharmaceutical University, they extracted a mixture of molecules from Albanian-grown flowers. When mice drank some of the herbal extract and then chased it with olive oil, a source of vegetable fat, their triglycerides remained pretty low -- even though they should have increased substantially. To narrow down their search for the medicinal substance, the Japanese researchers used high performance liquid chromatography to separate individual chemicals out from the mixture. Next, they used nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectrometry to identify each of the purified compounds. Seven of them were previously undiscovered, but each belongs to a well-known family of substances called saponins. When the scientists tested two of the newly-discovered molecules on mice, both worked like a charm. In the introduction of his paper, Yoshikawa explained that the plant has been used as a folk remedy for bruises, bleeding, muscular pain, purulent skin diseases, and rheumatism. He also mentioned that it is sometimes included in salads. If its fat-fighting abilities work on humans, we may find ourselves chowing down on plates of the healthy flowers. Photo: Bill Hails / flickr Yuri's Night at NASA Ames Lab By Aaron Rowe On April 12th, NASA Ames Research Center will hold an incredible celebration of space exploration. Last year, the Yuri's Night event was utterly amazing. In a hangar decorated with neon lights, Anousheh Ansari, space tourist and founder of the X Prize that bears her name, gave the keynote address. Thousands of people stayed to watch science demonstrations, scientific lectures, and women dancing with glowing hula hoops. Wired compared the event to burning man. This year, the organizers tell us that it will be much more like the Maker Faire. Visionary Stewart Brand will make some remarks and SIMS creator Will Wright will lead the plenary session. Other luminaries will lead salons about a host of scholarly topics. Lots of sculptures and technical projects will be on display. Of course, there will also be performances by The Flaming Lotus Girls, Capacitor, and new band that includes Phil Lesh of The Greatful Dead. Many other cities will hold Yuri's Night parties, but we expect the one at NASA Ames to be the best. Update: Since this post went live, several people have written to me to point out that there will be a tremendous number of technical exhibits including: * 2008 Tesla Roadster * Ames Amateur Radio Club * Brainwave-reading technology for consumer applications * CalCars.org — Bringing Plug-In Hybrids to Mass Production