FREELANCERS UNION "get involved" - I did.

From the Freelancers Union

"We had an incredible turnout at yesterday’s City Council Hearing on creating tax justice for freelancers by exempting them from the Unincorporated Business Tax (UBT). We packed the room and still couldn’t get everyone in. (See photos here.)

One city official said he couldn’t recall when he’d heard a better panel of testifiers, and there was resounding support from others in attendance. Council Member David Yassky was our partner in organizing this hearing, and below you can see excerpts of the testimony he heard.

Also Tuesday, the New York Post ran our op-ed about the UBT. It makes the case for exempting freelancers from the Unincorporated Business Tax–a necessary, just, and overdue amendment to an outdated tax.

Here are some excerpts from the testimonies to City Council on Tuesday:

April Silver, member and web designer: “Every year the UBT has cost me about $4,000 . . . That’s twenty thousand dollars over 5 years that I could have saved in a retirement account, spent on rent or on upgrading my business.”

Patricia McKiernan, Executive Director of the Graphic Artists Guild: “The world has changed and our laws have not. The independent workforce deserves equitable tax treatment. At a time when New York City’s creative class is struggling more than ever, it’s time to refocus the UBT on its original target . . .”

Stephen Botkin, member and theatrical technical director: “It should be said that I would be much less opposed to this tax if freelancers were offered anything in return from the State. However, such is not the case since we are not entitled to any wage claims available to employees or any benefits as conferred on corporate taxpayers.”

I was there, 250 Broadway, just across the street from City Hall here in New York City on tuesday, it was a very inspiring hearing down at the City Council meeting. The founder of the Freelancers Union Sara Horowitz gave an incredible argument for us.

Here's two photos from their flicker page, outside before i got into the City Council meeting room, and sat in the front row. (Most supporters were left outside since there was limited space, I did what i had to and got in.)

Highly underrated tracks of the 80's continued...

BEAT BOP - Rammelzee Vs. K-Rob produced by Jean Michel Basquiat (who also did the original cover art), is another classic you need to know (released circa 1983). You may have first heard it in the incredible "Style Wars" documentary (which i highly recommend if you've never seen, a must for anyone into hip-hop culture and graffitti in particular). And if you've never heard it before, now's your chance.

Earth Day documentary special

To me earth day is everyday, but most people rarely think about it, so to pick one day out of the year to make a point of examining the environmental situation of our species is better than no day at all. Even Oprah hosted a show that freaked people out who don't know any better. I got this Documentary forwarded to me on Earthday last week, and now that the media day hoopla has settled, let me throw it at you. Worth watching even if you're already down for the cause, and especially if you're not.

THANK YOU.

BLIND SPOT
by cineticmedia

Blind Spot is a documentary that illustrates the current energy crisis that our way of life is facing. Whatever the measures of greed, wishful thinking, neglect or ignorance, we have put ourselves at a crossroad which offers two paths, both with dire consequences. If we continue to burn fossil fuels we will choke the life out of the planet and if we don't our way of life will collapse.

Getting radical on a bicycle nowadays

I'm not usually into bike stuff too much these days. The fixed gear messenger style phenomenon has gotten a little interesting in the last several years, if not become a straight out fad in some major cities, but there are some cool folks out there ripping, and doing the "critical mass" is great.

That said, this has nothing to do with any of that. Ian MacKaye sent me this one, reminds me that back in the days, pre-pool skating, even Jay Adams had a BMX bike, as did i and all my friends back in the early 70's. This clip is more like "trails riding" combined with freestyle i guess, even with some Yamakasi (the French also call it "Le Parkour") thrown in, i'm not really sure what you'd call it, but i gotta say, when some one is so on their shit, you just can not deny, and you have to appreciate it.

Filmed over the period of a few months in and around Edinburgh by Dave Sowerby, this video of Inspired Bicycles team rider Danny MacAskill features probably the best collection of street/street trials riding ever seen. There's some huge riding, but also some of the most technically difficult and imaginative lines you will ever see. Without a doubt, this video pushes the envelope of what is perceived as possible on a trials bike.

Drink your cow's milk - the Deadly Poison Sunday sermon of the month

Some people won't read, some won't listen, some will only ingest information this way.
I haven't had any animal milk in over 20 years, you should watch this.

Your Milk on Drugs Video Clip
FACT SHEET:http://www.rense.com/general26/truth.htm
FACT SHEET: http://www.pcrm.org/health/PDFs/faq_m...
FACT SHEET: http://www.notmilk.com/kradjian.html
FACT SHEET: http://soulveggie.blogs.com/my_weblog...
1998 Hard Copy Special on MILK. What the government doesn't want you to know about milk. Don't drink milk, we know it contains fat and cholesterol but did you know it contains the protein CASEIN (which is basically a glue which leads to a lot of mucous build up and other health problems like asthma and congestion), milk also contains.. powerful growth hormones, viruses, a host of deadly chemical and biological bacterial agents, bovine proteins that cause allergies, insecticides, antibiotics, all this can trigger the growth of cancer and contributes to today's problem of obese children (ever notice why young girls breasts develop faster?). Cow's milk is the number one allergic food in this country. It has been well documented as a cause in diarrhea, cramps, bloating, gas, gastrointestinal bleeding, iron-deficiency, anemia, skin rashes, atherosclerosis, and acne. It is the primary cause of recurrent ear infections in children. It has also been linked to insulin dependent diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, infertility, and leukemia. Milk and refined sugar make two of the largest contributions to food induced ill health in our country.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Antibiotics, Probiotics and DAIRY.... http://redpillreich.blogspot.com/2008...

Check out - http://www.notmilk.com/

"Cuban Skateboard Crisis" a 2007 Documentary

Just got this cool Doc. from my book printer extraordinaire Greg.



Cuban Skateboard Crisis from UWE Bristol Media Practice.

my shortest interview ever

Remember i did this a few weeks back and told you it aired in the last few days. well here it is:

nothing new, just me talkin' it up for a minute or two.

Trailer for The Garden, opens in theaters Friday

The Garden is an engaging and powerful look at the famous political and social battle over the largest community garden in the US (located in South Central Los Angeles). A follow-up to Kennedy’s award-winning documentary OT: Our Town, the film shows how the politics of power and greed (backroom deals, land developing, green politics, money) tragically intersect with working class families who rely on this communal garden for their livelihood. Equal parts The Wire and Harlan County USA, The Garden exposes the fault lines in American society and raises crucial and challenging questions about liberty, equality, and justice for the poorest and most vulnerable among us. Kenneth Turan of the LA Times said: “It’s tempting to call The Garden a story of innocence and experience, of evil corrupting paradise, but that would be doing a disservice to the fascinating complexities of a classic Los Angeles conflict and an excellent documentary that does them full justice.”

thanks BoingBoing

"God knows what he's saying..." YEAH RIGHT, YOU FUCKING IDIOT.

Baby delivers emotional sermon from church stage.


This makes about as much sense as anything you'd ever hear in any fundamentalist place of worship as far as i'm concerned. Reminds me of an old Eddie Murphy skit... FUNNY AS HELL! (no pun intended)

Thanks to BoingBoing who got it from "Why That's Delightful!"

Chain & The Gang - so far best show of 2009!

I blogged about trying to make this show last week.
I made it and I was not disappointed.
Ian Svenonius delivers the goods just like he used to,
with a new band and new songs. Always an inspiration.

Billy Rohan, person of the week on our local cable news

click here to watch.

Good guy, Billy Rohan has done something and has been doing it for a while now here in NYC just a few blocks from where i live, check out the story from Time Warner's "NY1".

The latest New Yorker of the Week is rolling out a new syllabus for high school students. NY1's John Schiumo filed the following report.
Billy Rohan, a professional skate boarder, is putting a new spin on high school gym class.

"It really is a good alternative for kids to be doing something that's active," he says. "That's outside of the house, fighting obesity getting them away from the video games and just having fun outside with their friends."

A year ago, Rohan started building skate boarding parks with the help of Open Road of New York and the New York City Parks Department. One of the parks is next door to East Side Community High School on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The principal took notice and asked Rohan to start teaching.

"They come out here and they see Billy and they see how enthusiastic he is about the sport they can't help but be enthusiastic as well," says Principal Tom Mullen.

The students use boards and helmets donated by Rohan's professional sponsors.

At the beginning of each class Rohan, leads a warm up. Then, he puts the students through drills. And, at the end of the class, the students can free skate.

"The best part of this class is free skate because we get to do whatever we want and to try out new things," says student Anthony Olan. "It's just been a new experience. We just keep practicing until we get better."

Rohan also teaches at New Design High School. A group of six students helped design and build the school's roof top park.

"You get the wood, you build the stuff, you feel good about it," Rohan says. "It's like, 'I made that and now we get to play on it!'"

"I've seen their self esteem improve from being in the program and they're just happier kids and we think that happier kids are going to do better in school," says Mullen.

Rohan hopes his classes inspire his students to skate on their own after school.

"They see how big of a community it is and they want to be a part of it because its diverse," he says. "It's not one type of kid or another; it's like across the board."

So for jump-starting an interest in skate boarding and creating places to do it, Billy Rohan is the New Yorker of the Week.

For more information about Open Road of New York, go to playgrounddesign.blogspot.com.

Not quite Skateistan, but still pretty cool.
(But why in the fuck did he have to be wearing that hat promoting those fucking assholes?)

Has World War III begun?

Someone told me the other day they believe the third world war has begun and it's not one nation against another or several, or even against the "terrorists", it's the governments fighting the corporations... I like the sound of it, but not so sure these big governments are really going to separate themselves once and for all from these truly evil empires. Like Chomsky said recently, it we lived in a true democracy everyone would be happy to have governments doing the work of society for the benefit of everyone that put them there. How'd you read that?
So let's keep working to make some thing happen. Apathy kills!

Noam Chomsky on the Global Economic Crisis, Healthcare, US Foreign Policy and Resistance to American Empire.


here's a few photos from the weekend news that got me to smile...

100th issue of Juxtapoz magazine

From what i hear this new issue, coming out any day now, is that it's their greatest one ever. So i'm happy to say at least i am a part of it, as well as a few other friends. Shepard Fairey interviewed me for this special issue not too long ago, (i even mentioned that on this blog when we did it, if my memory serves me correctly), and they used my wife's portrait of me as a two page spread in a 14 page piece, so i can't be too mad. We'll see what you folks all think, after you check it out.


I like the two "pull quotes" they used:

TO JUST TAKE A SNAPSHOT AND CALL IT ART,
THAT'S BULLSHIT TO ME.

SKATEBOARDING
IS PUNK ROCK
AND PUNK ROCK
IS SKATEBOARDING
AND HIP-HOP
IS PUNK ROCK
AND SKATEBOARDING
IS HIP-HOP.

what ever that all means ;-)

Do i really need to blog about stuff like this?

Well since i mentioned the taping a few weeks ago within the long Pepsi related blog, I'll note that I am going to be on Fuel TV today (for about three minutes!), on their show called The Daily Habit, other guests include "world renowned JackAss", Bam Margera, as well as old friend, Wounded Knee Skateboards owner, Jim Murphy.

photo of all us guests and the host on the set, taken by Ivory Serra

"The Daily Habit" is FUEL TV’s first original daily series, telecast weeknights at 9:00pm ET (6:00pm PT) while re-airing later in the evening at 12:00am ET (9:00pm PT), and the following weekday at 2:30pm ET (11:30am PT) and 5:30pm ET (2:30 pm PT). “The Daily Habit” encompasses the world of the action sports enthusiast, mixing the best in pop culture with today’s top action sports personalities, cutting-edge music, product reviews, and comedy.

Black Flag at the Ukrainian Hall in L.A. December 1982

Above is a rarely if ever seen photo of mine from sound check taken in B&W. Below some video (with pretty horrible sound) I found on YouTube from the same nights show, I think this song is the 1st song of the encore (and i think that's me going off behind the drummer like a crazy person after i finished shooting that night.)



And below one of the great shots I got that night that I used in The Idealist (another photo from this show is on the cover of Fuck You Heroes.)

Will Chuck D. be next?

In his infamous lyric from the 1990 song Fight The Power Chuck D. spits:
"Cause I'm black and I'm proud
I'm ready and hyped
Plus I'm amped
Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamp"
but since then of course even Malcolm-X has appeared on a stamp!
So what will my friend Mr. Dangerous have to say about this distraction from the new 2¢ price hike in First class letter mail.

These Simpsons stamps are released nationwide on May 7.

Jim "Red Dog" Muir is doing much better

Last month Jim (original Z-Boy and DogTown Skates co-founder) got in a serious surfing accident, he and others were afraid he would not walk again, he was in the hospital for a while and is now home. Good news is, even though he broke 2 vertebrae in his neck and was dragged out of the water after swallowing several lung fulls of water, thinking he was left for dead, family says "He's doing so much better. He's walking around on his own and is regaining use of his arms/hands. His fingers on the left side are finally moving but the fine motor skills are still very limited. He's doing extensive out patient physical and occupational therapy 5 days a week." My best wishes go out to him and his family obviously.

Here's a 1976 photo of Jim that was on my most recent show poster:



Jim has been mentioned/seen in this short lived blog twice already, so i don't need to tell you he's an old friend. But another old friend of mine dug up some old skate magazines and happened across this 1977 quote from an interview Jim did in Skateboard World (which was a rag compared to SkateBoarder back then) nevertheless this mention of me i can't say i ever remember seeing before:

What are your thoughts on the upcoming Henry Hester pool competition [the 1st pool contest ever]?
It's a good idea, but I think they're going about it the wrong way. First of all D.T. [DogTown] wasn't even notified. We found out about it from our local little photographer Glen Friedman, who had picked it up from Dennis Martinez. We just found out about it this week and the contest is next weekend... (Read the complete answer and a few pages from the interview that were scanned and sent to me by clicking on the images of the pages below):

Chain and the Gang coming to a town near you

You know the Spiv is one of my favorite folks, he's got a new group that he's runnin' around with, so you might want to get out and see them. They are already out on the road and playing New York City this friday, (I'll try my damnedest to be there) And quite possibly your town before or after so check out their MySpace page for dates and sample demo tracks.

Ian Svenonius … a.k.a. Name Names is now with CHAIN and The GANG. They are tired of liberty … tired of being free … they say "if this is 'freedom' then lock me up and throw away the key."

"DOWN WITH LIBERTY … UP WITH CHAINS! YEH YEH … SAY IT AGAIN … PUT THOSE HANDCUFFS ON MY HANDS!"

They are concerned that the spread of liberty has been detrimental to the world.

Everywhere liberty goes, it leaves a path of destruction. Fast food, bad architecture, militarism, rampant greed, environmental destruction, imperial conquest, class struggle; these phenomena, when combined, seem to be synonymous with "Liberty."

So just as they call it "liberty" or "freedom" when war and greed stalk the land, Svenonius calls his band: CHAIN And The GANG …

For Svenonius , this is another step in a life spent trying to do as little as possible.

He's been seen on stage as a lecturer promoting his book "The Psychic Soviet", as a singer in the groups Make-Up, Scene Creamers, Weird War, and Nation of Ulysses, and also as interviewer of interesting people on the internet chat show Soft Focus.

Above press release from the K Records website

"A Different Sort of Red America"

Found this a bit earlier, pretty cool, but interesting that even the NY Times must conclude that if so many Americans believe socialism is better than capitalism they must not know what they are talking about... fucking ridiculous comment, but an interesting piece with comments from all around the internet.

Weekend Opinionator: A Different Sort of Red America
By By Tobin Harshaw - New York Times April 10, 2009
'Socialism' rises in the polls - but do Americans even know what it means?

Perhaps the most telling line in the Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of “socialism” is this one: “The range of application of the term is broad.” That’s something to bear in mind as we consider a much-discussed poll, released by Rasmussen on Thursday, that found that “Only 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism.” For the record, here is the primary O.E.D. definition:

A theory or system of social organization based on state or collective ownership and regulation of the means of production, distribution, and exchange for the common benefit of all members of society; advocacy or practice of such a system, esp. as a political movement. Now also: any of various systems of liberal social democracy which retain a commitment to social justice and social reform, or feature some degree of state intervention in the running of the economy.
As for Rasmussen’s definition, well, there isn’t one: “The question posed by Rasmussen Reports did not define either capitalism or socialism.”

But the pollsters did point out an anomaly: “It is interesting to compare the new results to an earlier survey in which 70% of Americans prefer a free-market economy. The fact that a ‘free-market economy’ attracts substantially more support than ‘capitalism’ may suggest some skepticism about whether capitalism in the United States today relies on free markets.”
So, has the nation really drifted that far to the left, or are we simply struggling with our semantics? Plenty of folks in the blogosphere were happy to answer that question.

the full story here at NYTimes.com

My Easter/Passover weekend special for you!

"The God Who Wasn't There"
I downloaded this movie a few years ago, but recently it's come up in conversation, and particularly after seeing that horrible "bite" by Bill Maher with his condescending "Religulous" I thought this was really an interesting documentary you might want to check out.

here's the trailer:

In this critically acclaimed film, you will discover:
The early founders of Christianity seem wholly unaware of the idea of a human Jesus. The Jesus of the Gospels bears a striking resemblance to other ancient heroes and the figureheads of pagan savior cults. Contemporary Christians are largely ignorant of the origins of their religion. Fundamentalism is as strong today as it ever has been, with an alarming 44% of Americans believing that Jesus will return to earth in their lifetimes. From exposing the hidden history of Christianity to lampooning the bloody excesses of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (which caused Gibson to attempt legal action against the documentary), The God Who Wasn't There pulls no punches.

Here's a piece of the film i found online:

Directed by award-winning filmmaker (and former Christian) Brian Flemming, The God Who Wasn't There includes stimulating interviews with: Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation - Robert M. Price, Jesus Seminar fellow and author of The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man - Alan Dundes, Professor of Folklore at the University of California at Berkeley - Richard Carrier, historian and author of Sense and Goodness Without God - Barbara & David P. Mikkelson, authors of the Urban Legends Reference Pages at snopes.com - And many others

I did a few searches around looking to see if the whole thing was posted on line and i just found the piece above several times, as well as the trailer and tons of christians refuting and trying to tear down the credibility of the movie, Oprah, Obama and anyone scary to them, these folks were more scary than the devil himself.

You can easily Bit-torrent this doc, or go to http://theGodMovie.com to buy the DVD

have a good one if you celebrate that type of stuff...

Snoop Dogg's Live Webshow on Ustream

this from our friend Xeni at BoingBoing:

I'm still digesting what this means for the future of the internet and entertainment, but something about this feels like (a) the end of all media or (b) the beginning of all media to come. Snoop Dogg has a webshow on Ustream. As I blog, it's live right now. The show consists entirely of him sitting in a chair in his house, smoking a shit-ton of weed, and playing really good old-school music. Sometimes, singing along for a bar or two, or talking back to the chat room intermittently in Snoop-isms. Then, walking away entirely, leaving the webcam fixed on a poster of Snoop on the wall for, like, a half hour at a time. Seriously, that's it. Where the evolutionary arc of reality TV finally ends. Like Father Hood, but with all the plot stripped out. Someone smarter than I will be writing a media analysis column about this soon enough. I don't have anything pithy to say yet, just -- do observe. Snoop Dogg Live.

Yes this is my first really beat down tired lazy post. maybe i'll go to once a week instead of once a day, i don't want anyone to feel gypped.

Tracy Morgan keeps it TV real

I must admit that besides the Daily Show there are only two other programs i watch religiously on network TV, and one of them is 30 ROCK, it's hilarious, the acting and writing is up there as far as quality is concerned, only Seinfeld in it's heyday compares. Anyway here's one of the show's funniest actors Tracy Morgan on a Chicago morning news show being interviewed back in 2007. This makes it look as though his character on the show isn't such a stretch for him.

There have been too many instances to count over the show's three-season run where Tina Fey has inserted real-life elements into the show... To that end, TV Squad is reporting that the show's April 23 episode will incorporate one of the more legendary Tracy Morgan outbursts [see above] into its story line.
-from NYmag.com

X-Clan (another underrated group) you should know about

from the album To The East Blackwards, there are at least four incredible songs on this record that you should check out:

"Verbs of Power"


"Heed The Word of the Brother"


"Verbal Milk"


"Day of Outrage"


I love all these tracks!

The X-Clan was from Brooklyn, originally consisting of Grand Verbalizer, Brother J, Professor X the Overseer, Paradise the Architect, and Sugar Shaft the Rhythm Provider. These guys were the O.G. on the Afrocentricity and really took it to another level. The first song is a good example of Brother J's skills and flow as well as the extended intro by Professor X who appeared at the beginning of most songs on the LP. - (Professor X's real name was Lumumba Carson, he died in 2006 after contracting meningitis, he also was the son of famous civil rights activist, Legendary Black Nationalist Figure in Brooklyn Sonny Carson who died in 2002.)

Below is a bad ass clip I found from the 1974 film "The Education of Sonny Carson"

Noam Chomsky on "Ron Paul Libertarians".

"So pretty soon it will be April 15th, and the people in your neighborhood are going to have to send in their income taxes. The way they’re going to look at it, and the way they’ve been trained to look at it is that there is some alien force, like maybe from Mars, that is stealing our hard earned money from us and giving it to the government. Okay, well, that would be true in a totalitarian state, but if you had a democratic society you’d look at it the other way around You’d say "great, it's April 15th, we’re all going to contribute to implement the plans that we jointly decided on for the benefit of all of us." But that idea is even more frightening than Social Security. It means that we would have a functioning democracy, and no center of concentrated power is ever going to want that, for perfectly obvious reasons. So yes there are efforts, and pretty successful efforts to get people to fear the government as their enemy, not to regard it as the collective population acting in terms of common goals that we’ve decided on which would be what have to happen in a democracy."

This is my first Noam Chomsky post on this blog. Chomsky has been an heroic figure to me for many years. In fact i look out for his perspective often. This bit i found on Wikinews with a few other recent choice clips from an interview he did on March 13th here.

Wishful thinking on the Daily Show last week

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Rush Limbaugh Leaves New York
comedycentral.com

I'll believe it when i see it, that sack of shit and hot air is always lying, why would this be any different? But it would be nice.

"I totally don't know what that means, But I want it..."

This Jessica Simpson commercial is from the absolute peak of capitalism. I don't know if it was that commercial i posted a few days ago or some stupid conservative rant i heard on a talk show tonight, but something reminded me of this insane commercial from 2007.

I mean the day someone said they wanted something, and they didn't know why and they advertised it, you know, just like those greedy fuckers that were running the country, that they just went too damn far. The end was bound to come soon, and i think this commercial back when it came out was the 'straw that broke the camels back'.

Birdsong Radio

here's a keeper:


Our friend Xeni over at BoingBoing wrote:

I was just stumbling around in the ambient section of iTunes' radio listings, and found a radio station that plays nothing but recorded birdsongs. I think its' pretty wonderful. birdsongradio.com, embedded above.

Agreed.

"Mow the Lawn"

This is one of the most insane television commercials ever.



I could almost imagine it airing in the US, but hell no. UK only.

A little ditty for down under.
A catchy tune touting the new Wilkinson Sword Quattro for Women Bikini, with a razor on one end and a waterproof bikini trimmer on the other, but certain racial stereotypes/imagery might muff... er, ruffle some feathers.

Creativity magazine, where i had a pretty cool interview last month, wrote about this and it was picked up by Boing Boing where i found it.

Jay Adams is out of jail and online...

Can you believe it? I can't. Jay's Skatopia ID circa '76

Jay Adams was released from federal prison last year under a work furlough program of some type i believe, and was living in California until he moved back to Hawaii in January. Apparently he's doing pretty well with a new girlfriend and a job on the North shore of Oahu (where all the great surf spots are, for those of you who don't know). Last month when i spoke to him he sounded great, as though he's back on that life long "summer vacation."

Anyway the reason for this post was to show you some of the recent photos i snatched off his Myspace page (LINK NO LONGER HIS PAGE)!

Jay and Dennis "Dentine" Martinez 2008

"SURF WHEN THE WAVES ARE GOOD"



Jay and Tony Alva 1976

Jay and Tony Alva 2008

"SKATE WHEN THE WAVES ARE BAD" 2008

Jay and his son Seven

"PIPELINE 2005"

A graphic i made a few years back.

He's also got his own Facebook page, so anyone want to say hello just click on though.

The new shit...

This is what i've been saying for a while now. The internet culture, and hackers, and really anyone contributing to the internet in a positive way, are this generations real rebels. There are things going on online that none of us could have even dreamed of organization wise 20 years ago, well none of us except the real nerds. This is punk. Any way here's a piece i found on Boing Boing that was borrowed from a Wired Blog.

Wired's Dylan Tweney has a great piece up on the world's burgeoning crop of Hacker Spaces -- clubhouses where members pitch in to share the rent in exchange for a role in governing a collectively managed collection of hacking kit: workbenches, tools, and components. I've visited hacker lofts in Vienna, San Diego, Los Angeles and elsewhere, and they always have a fantastic vibe, that palpable buzz you get from gathering a lot of smart, passionate, creative people inside each others' spheres of attention and set them to work, a cross-pollinated vigor.

At the center of this community are hacker spaces like Noisebridge, where like-minded geeks gather to work on personal projects, learn from each other and hang out in a nerd-friendly atmosphere. Like artist collectives in the '60s and '70s, hacker spaces are springing up all over.
There are now 96 known active hacker spaces worldwide, with 29 in the United States, according to Hackerspaces.org. Another 27 U.S. spaces are in the planning or building stage.

Located in rented studios, lofts or semi-commercial spaces, hacker spaces tend to be loosely organized, governed by consensus, and infused with an almost utopian spirit of cooperation and sharing.

"It's almost a Fight Club for nerds," says Nick Bilton of his hacker space, NYC Resistor in Brooklyn, New York. Bilton is an editor in The New York Times R&D lab and a board member of NYC Resistor. Bilton says NYC Resistor has attracted "a pretty wide variety of people, but definitely all geeks. Not Dungeons & Dragons–type geeks, but more professional, working-type geeks."

For many members, the spaces have become a major focus of their evening and weekend social lives.

DIY Freaks Flock to 'Hacker Spaces' Worldwide