Live from Festival of Books today!

Today is the first day of the L.A. Times Festival of Books and Digital Village is there! At 10:00 we'll rebroadcast last year's Festival of Books interviews with David Ulin of the Times Book Review, Steven Salardino of Skylight Books, and Chris Mooney, author of The Republican War on Science.

Then at 2pm we're live from the Festival with Greg Palast for a full hour. His book Armed Madhouse has just been released in paperback and it's more relevant than ever. He'll also be at Immanuel Presbyterian Church tonight at 7pm to speak about "The Class war in New Orleans post Katrina".

Stephen Hawking Goes Zero-G

Dr. Stephen Hawking got to experience the effects of weightlessness yesterday when he took a trip above aboard Zero Gravity Corp's modified Boeing 727. During the flight, they were able to complete 8 zero-gravity maneuvers, nearly triple their original goal. During the flight, Dr. Hawking was only able to communicate via facial expressions. Raised eyebrows for "Yes" and moving his mouth to one side for "No".

After one zero-gravity ride, crew members asked if he wanted to go again. Hawking dramatically stretched his eyebrows upward in an apparently emphatic yes.

During Wednesday's dry run, 14 year old Ted Straight got to fill in as Dr. Hawking's body double. This allowed doctors and crew to determine their positions and procedures during the actual flight.

Jack Valenti is Dead

The lobbyist, who once famously equated use of VCRs with murder, has died in Washington, D.C.

PS3 Doubles Folding@Home Power

It seems Sony's participation in Stanford's Folding@Home project has been a huge success.

Representatives for Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) have proudly announced that participation by PS3 owners in the Stanford University Folding@home distributed network has allowed the medical research project's computing power to be doubled in just one month since PS3 users were allowed to join.

Gallery of Lamest Tech Mascots

Wired has a gallery of the lamest technology mascots ever. I don't know, I think Glenda is kinda cute.

via /.

White House: Oops, we lost the email!

Our story so far:
Congress investigates questionable firings of U.S. Attorneys.
Congress discovers an RNC funded email system.
Congress demands records from that email system.

In today's episode:
The White says they've lost "thousands" of these email messages.

"The White House has not done a good enough job overseeing staff using political e-mail accounts to assure compliance with the Presidential Records Act," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said in an unusual late-afternoon teleconference with reporters.

And some members of Congress ain't too pleased:

"This sounds like the administration’s version of the dog ate my homework," said Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is investigating the dismissal of the prosecutors.

"I am deeply disturbed that just when this administration is finally subjected to meaningful oversight," Mr. Leahy said, "it cannot produce the necessary information."

Organ Donors Aren't Quite Dead

The L.A. Times is reporting that, for the second time in recent months, California doctors may have attempted to harvest organs from a patient before they were dead.

Thailand Blocks YouTube

Thailand has become the latest country to block YouTube. This time it's because of a 30 second video which makes fun of King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

via EatThePress

Josh Wolf to be Released

The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that Josh Wolf, who has been imprisoned longer than any other journalist in U.S. history, has turned over video to federal prosecutors and is scheduled to be released today. Under the deal, Wolf will not testify to the grand jury or be required to identify any of the protesters shown in his video.