Celebs get the fugly treatment, a Canadian band takes a stand against proposed copyright laws, and we take a look at a blazin' new mind control headset. Plus our Artist of the Week, Marius Watz, shows us what sound looks like, and we have a special report about Olympic media restrictions that leads into a campfire discussion about one network with exclusive control over Olympic coverage.

iPod | 4:49 | To Embed or Email: click on "Menu." You know I like to present the other side of the coin frequently, and today this regards the blind allegiance to sunscreen and fear of the sun that has been commercially developed over the past decade. There's ample research that sunlight also prevents skin cancer, and the increase in skin cancer actually correlates nicely with the increase in sunscreen! You can hear my watch my first treatise on this here, just keep in mind I shot and edited that myself, and it's a little long. The info is still good though! I hope you hop over - there are a lot of good links in that post! For the locals; I shot this at the boat ramp. Hard to understand how we have lost so much sandy beach front in only 2.5 years. Hawaiian word: L : sun M lamalama a ka l : sunlight P S We are trying a new video platform: Viddler. It has a lot of cool features - you can leave a comment right in the video - or even leave a video comment! Please check it out! (You will need to create free account at Viddler to leave a video comment.) Join us at The Reef for discussion, Reef Radio, and occasional live streaming. Support us by buying your own copy of our Beach Walks Theme music. Please check out our Blogroll page with many more links to our friends' web sites.

Water Ice on Mars Confirmed by the Phoenix Mars Lander, White House Briefed About Life on Mars, Slashdot comments on the White House being briefed about life on Mars, Montauk Monster, What s the Big Secret About Life on Mars?, Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA), Can MECA Detect Life on Mars or Not?

Damascus, Syria - The situation in Iraq forced many Iraqis to flee to nearby countries such as Syria and Jordan. Many of them fled between the years 2003 and late 2007. When a family flees to one of the nearby countries, often part of the family will remain in Iraq to provide money and financial support. Many families send the father or a brother back to Iraq to help them collect money and support their life in Damascus or Amman. The reason behind that is Iraqis are not allowed to work in those countries, the only visa the are permitted to apply for is the tourist visa, and if you will look at the visa stamp which says “Not allowed to work.” Unfortunately, some fathers and brothers returned to Iraq and they never came back, either killed or kidnapped or detained somewhere, families were forced to return to Iraq because they cannot afford living in Syria or Jordan any more, and some remained rather than returning to the potential dangers in Iraq. Some families were lucky and found a job “under the table” that helped them to remain in their new country and to afford living in the lowest life standards. Others were forced to take difficult or unappealing jobs that do not cover all their expenses. Iraqis without sponsors were forced to do work that no human would wish to do, such a working in drug trafficking or prostitution. Some of the sex workers are under the age of 16, those sex workers are afraid of being hunted down by their families in Iraq for the work they performed in Syria or Jordan, and at the same time they are afraid of being deported from their new country. Some sex workers committed suicide, and a number of them began to consider doing the same. In Damascus the average payment for sex workers is approximately 500 Syrian Pounds (10 US dollars) to 1000 Syrian Pounds (20 US dollars) per night. The customers are from all different nationalities, others get paid much less, even just 100 Syrian Pounds (2 US Dollars) to 250 Syrian Pounds (5 US Dollars) which is barely enough money for food. Alive in Baghdad has been informed that in several cases a sex worker has been killed after returning to Baghdad. Many militias such as the Islamic Army decided on killing some of them because they consider prostitution to be a great sin and the punishment is death. *** If you appreciate the insightful content provided by Alive in Baghdad, which you won’t find anywhere else, please consider becoming a paying subscriber, or making a donation to Alive in Baghdad. You can also purchase Alive in Baghdad T-shirts and DVDs to spread the word!

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iPod | 4:09 | To Embed or Email: click on "Menu." If you have been watching Beach Walks for a while, you know I care about using language carefully - as it can really pack a lot of energy behind the words. We often say "we" when we mean "you" or "I" and there are many variations. Check out Grammar Girl's Podcast and new book. Watch this episode to learn a powerful secret for using language effectively from Liz Strauss of Successful Blog. Hawaiian word: A o: learn P S We are trying a new video platform: Viddler. It has a lot of cool features - you can leave a comment right in the video - or even leave a video comment! Please check it out! (You will need to create free account at Viddler to leave a video comment.) Join us at The Reef for discussion, Reef Radio, and occasional live streaming. Support us by buying your own copy of our Beach Walks Theme music. Please check out our Blogroll page with many more links to our friends' web sites.

For those of you out there who are fans of the Cooking Mama series of games for the Nintendo DS and Wii, you may be delighted to know that Majesco is about ready to spring the second installment of the Wii portion of the series on you, coming this October. We were able to get a quick demo of the game during E3 2008, and immediately realized that the successor to the original seems to be a better game all around. Specifically, a lot of the frustrating actions you needed to do in the original are replaced by very intuitive Wii Remote actions that anyone can pull off. Also, if you mess up, you aren t pretty much eliminated like you were the first time around. A few new game modes round things out. Hit the video for all the details, and prepare yourself for more cartoony kitchen battles.

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iPod | 3:59 | To Embed or Email: click on "Menu." I have mentioned Twitter before - there are these odd little quirks that occur because of it. One of them is that I get little sparkles of energy when I see my friends returning from exercise. It somehow inspires me. So today is big shout out to: Ian Kitajima Neenze Faleafine Sprite The site mentioned: One Hundred Pushups Hawaiian word: Makamaka: buddy P S We are trying a new video platform: Viddler. It has a lot of cool features - you can leave a comment right in the video - or even leave a video comment! Please check it out! (You will need to create free account at Viddler to leave a video comment.) Join us at The Reef for discussion, Reef Radio, and occasional live streaming. Support us by buying your own copy of our Beach Walks Theme music. Please check out our Blogroll page with many more links to our friends' web sites.

After several years maintaining my blog as The Revolution Will Be Televised, I decided it s time for a change. And so, I bring to you FreedoMedia wrapped in an oh-so-temporary skin (what can I say, I didn t exactly want a whole new name with the same old look, right?) I ll get on that in the coming days, but FreedoMedia isn t the only new project I m working on Today is Aug. 1, and that means that exactly two years ago, I was nervously fretting over the contempt hearing I was about to attend. As most of you probably are aware, I was hauled out of court at the end of that hearing and placed in handcuffs and shackles and eventually transported to the Federal Detention Center in Dublin, CA. During that time I kept a daily diary, and beginning with my first entry on Aug. 2, I will be keeping a side blog going at joshwolf.net/prisondiaries/ I hope you ll check in from time to time and read the experiences I lived through day-by-day.

I've been meaning to make this video for weeks. Check out our place and our gardens! If you can't see the QuickTime video, click here for the Flash version. We're gardening using the Grow Biointensive methods we learned in Willits, CA from John Jeavons and Carol Cox. All hand tilled baby. Everything is growing wonderfully.

This week we're jam packed with alternate reality games, vampires, zombies, and mutant pigs. And that's just in the first 2 minutes! We've also got a new FUca bulary lesson and the FU of the Week is served by the writers of Dr. Horrible fr om Comic-Con!

Rocketboom field correspondent Chuck Olsen of mnstories covers interactive toy sculpture artist Anastasia Ward

iPod | 3:31 | To Embed or Email: click on "Menu." I ran into my friend Sally Spencer (Beach Walk 528 ) and we got to talking about the broken hearts show (Beach Walk 668) and how compelling "victim energy" can be. And also how it can weaken a person, both body and spirit. It takes a special understanding to be compassionate and encouraging at the same time, rather than slipping into pity. Pity does not empower, in my book. Hawaiian word: Ho omana: empower P S We are trying a new video platform: Viddler. It has a lot of cool features - you can leave a comment right in the video - or even leave a video comment! Please check it out! (You will need to create free account at Viddler to leave a video comment.) Join us at The Reef for discussion, Reef Radio, and occasional live streaming. Support us by buying your own copy of our Beach Walks Theme music. Please check out our Blogroll page with many more links to our friends' web sites.

The Magic Number 30, The Airventure Airshow, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, The Martin Jetpack, Aulophobia on Wikirage, The Celtic Football Club, of Glasgow, Scotland, The Rangers Football Club, also of Glasgow, Scotland, Aulophobia on Wikitionary, The PetPocket Bird Carrier, FriendFeed, Andrew Baron on Friendfeed, 1894 Film of Annie Oakley Shooting at Targets, Professor Kunihiko Takeda on “Hypocritical Ecology

iPod | 4:38 | To Embed or Email: click on "Menu." Seems every year or so I get in the mood for a bikini show. You realize here in Hawaii they are common - on all ages and all sizes. But reading about this research in Belgium and by Carnegie Mello, I realize they are a hot topic for the study of neuroeconomics. Bottom line: men get stupid in front of bikini-wearing women, and spend more money on things they don't necessarily want. One way to break that is to desensitize, to present bikinis in normal context (not the usual seductive poses.) Helen Mirren is a role model for many and at 62 still wears a bikini. And to the women who won't wear one? Other side of same coin! Who cares how you look? Swimming and sunning with a bare tummy sure feels awful nice. 20 years ago, when I arguably had a much "better" body, I would not have filmed this. Today, who cares? Beach Walk 43 - Live Dangerously, Wear a Bikini Beach Walk 436 - Bikini Culture, Internet Culture Beach Walk 211 - Go deeper to see clearly Beach Walk 149 - Free 2 B U and Me Hawaiian word: Loli: change P S We are trying a new video platform: Viddler. It has a lot of cool features - you can leave a comment right in the video - or even leave a video comment! Please check it out! (You will need to create free account at Viddler to leave a video comment.) If you are having trouble with the iTunes version earlier this week, we fixed that. You can click on the iPod version link under the movie player and manually download the corrected version. We recommend you use the most recent version of iTunes software. But if you get a white screen on the main player, you will either want to upgrade your Flash or click on the iPod version to watch. That's required to support the in-video comments. Join us at The Reef for discussion, Reef Radio, and occasional live streaming. Support us by buying your own copy of our Beach Walks Theme music. Please check out our Blogroll page with many more links to our friends' web sites.

Fresh episodes are back! Good luck Olympians! Click below to Download this movie: (Use 'Save As' Control Click for Macs and Right Click For Windows) iPod/Quicktime If you like it, tell a friend! You got questions, Ninja got answers. Previous Episodes of Ask A Ninja Visit Ask A Ninja Fans Send your questions to askaninja@gmail.com. This is a podcast and can be automagically downloaded to you computer through iTunes. Please upgrade to the newest version of Quicktime.

The U.S. economy sucks, so we look at how people around the world spend 5 bucks, how to save gas money with Google Maps, and how to sag your pants without getting busted by the cops! Fantasy illustrator Ryohei Hase is our Artist of the Week, and we interview the guys from rock band Drive A, whose average age is 16.

Rocketboom field correspondent Chuck Olsen covers the 3rd Annual Netroots Nation progressive politics conference in Austin, TX. Interviews with Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos, NYU Journalism professor Jay Rosen, Karl Frisch of Media Matters, and Erwin Tang author of Gook. For more coverage, visit TheUptake.org, Rocketboom coverage of last year s conference.

iPod | 4:38 | To Embed or Email: click on "Menu." My niece broke up with her boyfriend recently. She has just graduated from college (with all kinds of honors) but unfortunately IQ does not protect you from a broken heart. Somewhere in the pain is a gift. And in the meantime, some pretty scenery to move our attention to something else. Hawaiian word: Lapa au: heal Eha: hurt Aloha: love P S We are trying a new video platform: Viddler. It has a lot of cool features - you can leave a comment right in the video - or even leave a video comment! Please check it out! (You will need to create free account at Viddler to leave a video comment.) If you are having trouble with the iTunes version earlier this week, we fixed that. You can click on the iPod version link under the movie player and manually download the corrected version. We recommend you use the most recent version of iTunes software. But if you get a white screen on the main player, you will either want to upgrade your Flash or click on the iPod version to watch. That's required to support the in-video comments. Join us at The Reef for discussion, Reef Radio, and occasional live streaming. Support us by buying your own copy of our Beach Walks Theme music. Please check out our Blogroll page with many more links to our friends' web sites.

We were able to spend some time with CAPCOM during E3 2008, and they gave us a look at their very fun herding simulator, Flock. Yes, a herding simulator, but they are referring to it as more of a sandbox puzzle game. What they mean by that is that there are many ways to solve any given level, and the user can get creative and choose a method that is most fun for them. The point of the game is to move farm animals around a quilt-like environment using a UFO of sorts. The quilt is where the world lies, and everything in the game looks to be stitched together, which gives it quite a bit of charm. Depending on how you herd the animals, and change the level, you affect that different ways that you can solve each puzzle. The game is similar to Lemmings, will support co-op online gaming, and will have over 50 levels. If that isn t enough, there will also be a level editor for you to play with, and you can share any custom level you build online as well. The game will be released on Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network, and PC. Check out the full demo in this episode, and watch out for the awesome Rube Goldberg level near the end.

Iraq, Baghdad - Neighborhoods in Baghdad such as Hay Al-Jama a and Ameriyah had some stability and security side after the Sahwa took control of those neighborhoods, others were not that lucky and still face problems with security. There have been many rumors circulating about the Sahwa Councils, in particular, many Iraqis have begun to believe that some of the Sahwa members were previously members of Al-Qa eda. These rumors have begun to increase suspicions about the Sahwa and Iraqi civilians have begun wondering whether they are really trying to help make neighborhoods safer or are just working for money. The US military were has blown up some house in neighborhoods such as Hay Al-Jama a, a house sitting next to Baghdad Highway was blown up by the Sahwa and US forces. One neighbor living next to the destroyed house, who requested to remain anonymous, told Alive in Baghdad that the owner of this house were traveling abroad to Amman, Jordan and the house was destroyed without his knowledge. There were also rumors that this particular house was being used by Al-Qa eda, although neighbors have said they were unsubstantiated. Another blast took place in Baghdad Al-Jadeeda, when US military blew up a building that belonged to a merchant who was traveling in Syria when his building was demolished, this according to a neighbor who asked to be known only by his first name, Abbas. Neighborhoods like Adhamiya face similar doubts about the Sahwa Councils as well. Although Adhamiya residents overall seemed to be generally happy about the appearance of the Sahwa and the re-establishment of security, there have been some mistakes. In Adhamiya the Sahwa found some suspicious cars in a parking lot next to an important medical clinic in Adhamiya. This clinic served much of Adhamiya and provided treatment to many patients with chronic diseases. According to the caretaker of the parking lot, some members of the Sahwa came to take the cars, which are believed to have been left by members of Al-Qa eda. He asked them to check the cars first to see whether they belonged to someone, and after searching the cars they found many of the cars wired with bombs or storing weapons. When the Sahwa and US troops demolished the cars, there was an accident with destroyed much of the clinic as well as two generators belonging to local residents. Alive in Baghdad spoke with the caretaker of the lot and the director of the clinic to get their perspective on the impact of the Sahwa in Adhamiya. *** If you appreciate the insightful content provided by Alive in Baghdad, which you won’t find anywhere else, please consider becoming a paying subscriber, or making a donation to Alive in Baghdad. You can also purchase Alive in Baghdad T-shirts and DVDs to spread the word!

Rocketboom special field correspondent Sarah Austin visits Comic-Con 2008 in San Diego, CA. Interviews with JJ Kirby and Michael Lopez of Wildstorm Comics, cosplayers, Shonen Jump, Bill Plympton, Ghostbusters, Rocketboy

iPod | 3:43 | To Embed or Email: click on "Menu." I am embarking on a plan to get more balance in my giving and taking. I've tried this before, and I keep ending up on the over-giving side of things in many areas of my life. I am realizing I have some judgment hurdles to dismantle if I am going to be successful at this. But just like exercise, it's important to work the neglected muscles, not just the favorite ones. Of give and take, which action seems easier to you? Hawaiian word: H awi: give Lawe: take P S We are trying a new video platform: Viddler. It has a lot of cool features - you can leave a comment right in the video - or even leave a video comment! Please check it out! (You will need to create free account at Viddler to leave a video comment.) If you are having trouble with the iTunes version earlier this week, we fixed that. You can click on the iPod version link under the movie player and manually download the corrected version. We recommend you use the most recent version of iTunes software. But if you get a white screen on the main player, you will either want to upgrade your Flash or click on the iPod version to watch. That's required to support the in-video comments. Join us at The Reef for discussion, Reef Radio, and occasional live streaming. Support us by buying your own copy of our Beach Walks Theme music. Please check out our Blogroll page with many more links to our friends' web sites.

David Byrne s interactive art project Playing the Building at South Street Seaport in New York City.

During E3 2008, we hit up the Sony Media Briefing to get a look at all announcements related to the PS3, PS2, and PSP. We bring you the best of the best in this episode, showing off games like Resistance 2, MAG, LittleBigPlanet, DC Universe Online, and others for the PLAYSTATION 3. Of course, there is also a bunch of portable PSP goodness, and even some PS2 love as well. Hit the video for all the details. Also, if you want all the notes, we ve got the Sony E3 2008 Media Briefing live coverage, and even a full photo gallery of the highlights as well.

If you can't make it to San Diego, Zadi shows us web alternatives to Comic-Con, and she does it with style, dammit! We have a heads-up on the Watchmen mo vie, portraits of costumed fans, and New Orleans sticker cars (wtf?). Plus, our Artist of the Week gives away his comics online for free!

Spammer literally walks out of prison, YouTomb tracks videos taken down for copyright violations, Deleutube is now defunct, Contact Deletube, The Real Deletube, Migaloo an albino humpback whale spotted in Australia, Migaloo s albino turtle cousin, Coral Grief, Coral Reefs Threatened by Bleaching , Just For Men, Pedicures by Dead-Skin-Eating Fish, Exclusive Images from the Waikupanaha Lava Plume (thanks, Kam!), Update from Kilauea, Fingerfood Plate Ring

Do you use a Sanyo Xacti HD1000 camera? Have you seen the green mp4 of death? Not sure why? Well, my friend Mary Matthews of Videopancakes.com also had this problem recently and she pointed me to this Apple discussion thread to help her de