The countdown to CREATE South has begun. Have you registered?

Were you at Kulture Klash #4? James was there and has the pics to prove it.

Vera:

Although the description notes ” The eclectic mix of visual art, dance, and music from locals has become a favorite destination for the savvy, and often trendy, Holy City crowd.”

While that’s so not a description of me, I still had fun.

Dan Conover has advice for the organizers:

But if Kulture Klash means anything — and from talking with its originator, artistScott Debus, I believe he wants it to have meaning — then this flirtation with artificial status distinctions via VIP lounges is a dangerous rope to walk.

Because the larger cultural revolution in America today isn’t about social hierarchies, or money, or celebrity, or any of the things associated with the term “VIP.” Here we stand in this digital commons, conducting an enormous experiment in art and politics and values and relationships, and the beautiful thing is that what makes you important here is what you bring to the party. True, there are celebrity and status exceptions, but it’s also true that these tend to get quickly deflated if they prove phony.

In the digital culture, the values of the VIP lounge are a trusted indicator of douchebaggery. To exalt one group, you must devalue all others, and if it’s not clear why or how those distinctions were made, then you’ve just hurt people for no good reason. Demeaning others for no particular reason is generally bad for your soul. I don’t recommend it.

Check out TheDigitel’s Confession Booth.

It somehow feels appropriate to link to Doug’s Quick Bacon and Cheese Pretzel Bread recipe on 4/20. 

Looking for a speaking gig? The Technology Users Group may be interested in your topic.

Copydoodle looks down the road we’re travelling:

The fate of email is beginning to fall into the online graveyard, where dial-up internet and huge computer monitors rest in peace. According to Nielson Online, internet users are communicating via social media sites and blogs more than email.

What is drawing so many people away from email usage? Could it be that we love knowing what everyone is doing 24 / 7 and need to be updated when someone is taking a nap? I think so.

Charleston has been getting some attention lately and Mike was nice enough to round up some links for everyone.

Joan shows off her new toy.

Consuela shares a lesson from her daughter:

My transition from a shy person to someone who pretends not to be shy happened after I got married and had children. Brian is a naturally gregarious person who loves to be the center of attention and is genuinely interested in other people. Traveling through life with Brian means having to get used to talking to all sorts of people. When we had Frances it became immediately apparent that she, like her father, loved being in the world and loved being with other people. Not wanting to inhibit her natural curiousity and fearlessness, I found myself pretending to be perfectly comfortable with engaging in conversation with parents and kids we didn’t know, venturing down paths we’d never going down before, and generally doing things just because they were new.

We can’t have a round up without at least talking about Twitter, can we?

And for our last look, my favorite quote from the round up:

I walk down Market Street, deftly weaving my way like a knifeless OJ through herds of flip-flop-shod strangers, whose apparent rallying cry is: “It’s spring time in Charleston, let the Cellulite and Body Hair Festival officially begin!”

First up, CREATE South is set for April 25th. Registration is free and everyone is invited. This year it is being held at Horry Georgetown Technical College. If you’d like to go, but need a ride leave a comment. A few of us have seats available and would be happy to share.

Tonight at 6:30pm, join us at the Maritime Center for the i5k. The afterparty is just $5 and is open to anyone. You’ll just have to tolerate a few of us a little on the sweaty side. 

If design is more your style, tonight is also the Upper King Street Design Walk.

Jason Bradford links to an interesting musical compilation.

Remember to double check those first impressions.

Jared muses on Twitter authenticity:

How in the world would Twitter implement such a system to authenticate users when it can’t keep its system stable? When the basic functionality of Twitter, including updating and following, is more often than not a crapshoot, those required fixes take priority. Period. Twitter doesn’t have the capacity to properly serve up tweets at times, much less authenticate users.

The solution? If you’re a company conducting business on Twitter, or perhaps a celebrity, make sure your Twitter account is referenced somewhere on your website, so we at least know it’s really you rather than an imposter like the false Jerry Rice or the guy who was pretending to be LeVar Burton (which eventually caused the real LeVar Burton to join the service).

D3LTA V made it to yesterday’s Tea Party and has lots of pictures from the event.

Choose Charleston is looking for possible contributors.

Through the end of 2009 Patrick Properties will be donating 10% of any corporate rental fee to the non-profit of the client’s choice.

Al Forno reminds us that the Boone Hall Strawberry Festival will soon be here.

Blue Ion knows good marketing when they see it. 

See you at the i5k!

It’s been a busy day. I was sure there’d be talk of Sanfordville, but tmost of the political blogs have been fairly quiet.

The Charleston City Paper has shuffled some of their blogs and feeds. Frugalista is now Seersucker and Stilettos. Don’t forget to update your feed readers.

It’s PETA vs Carriage Drivers.

In a more positive spin on environmentalism, Carrot Mob is set for April 11, GoGreenCharleston has details.

While we’re talking about activism, Earl Capps has information on the upcoming Tea Party.

Abandoned boats are being removed from the harbor; Charleston Waterkeeper has pictures.

Speaking of water I Love Charleston reminds us when it will be warm enough to swim.

Joan will soon be traveling to Kenya.

If you ever need to know what’s happening with the newspaper meltdown, head to Xark.

Jason Bradford is looking for some input regarding a talk he’ll be giving on social media.

Apples and love, an unsurprising combination at Tartlette.

Upcoming, Ian invites everyone out to the Palmetto Accoustic Series on April 9th and don’t forget to join us at the i5k afterparty on April 16th at the Maritime Center. The race starts at 6:30, but I have the feeling Jared, Eugene, Zwiker, and I will be pulling up the rear. Dan T and Nick Tompkins actually trained.

I’m checking in from Myrtle Beach on this lovely, if grey and drizzly April Fool’s Day.

Here’s a quick peek at the day’s gags.

Patrick Properties managing editor quits to raise emus as personal transportation.

Eyebee said, the dark side of the moon was visible at 4pm.

Syd shares his office prank.

Being Social links to Google’s gag.

One of my favorites is a classic, see the flying penguins.

Hugging the Coast has a questionable history of tea.

Next up, the legitimate.

Did you know News2 used QIK for their interview of Gov. Sanford?

First, our next scheduled meet up is April 16 at the Charleston Maritime Center for the i5k after party. It should be a chance to meet others outside of our usual circle. The i5k is being sponsored by The Digital Corridor. Six of us are running, but everyone is welcome to join in on the fun. There is a $5 fee and the fun begins right after the race which starts at 6:30pm.

We have two new blogs for the Big Blogroll this week. Please welcome The Sage Avocado and Lowcountry Architect to the blogosphere.

Eugene is celebrating ten years in Charleston.

Have you visted Nice Mike lately? He and his camera have been busy.

Today is the finale of Charleston Fashion Week. Erica Jackson has some sweet shots from the The Gown Boutique show that ended with a surprise engagement.

Tony Romo isn’t exactly behaving like a media darling.

The Digitel receives some love from Patrick Properties:

Oh, and must tell you how much I admire the folks at The Digitel. They have/had their fingers on the pulse of all the CFW brouhaha: Twittering like mad, LIVE blogging, videos, the works. Great job, guys.

Hugging the Coast is singing G-U-A-C-A-M-O-L-E.

The results are in, the Lowcountry Bloggers i5k team will be shuffling along in the “You can read about this on my blog” shirts.

Dan Tennant, in addition to co-running this fine site with me, is the founder of Summit Push.  It is in this capacity he is providing the shirts for those on the team and for those who submitted designs. Thanks Dan! 

Now, onto the round up and the focus is heavily on Charleston Magazine’s Fashion Week.

Kristin is has the results from her Hooray Spring Six Miler.

For great pics from Charleston Fashion Week, check out CopyDoodle.

Upper King Street Charleston has the best window displays from businesses decorated for the big to do.

Tim McManus has video created for the kickoff party.

Chad Norman of GoGreenCharleston surveyed several downtown hotels, he asked questions about their steps toward promoting green practices.

Don’t forget tomorrow night we’re meeting at Moose’s BBQ at 6pm. The address is 1440 South Live Oak Drive (Hwy. 17-A). We look forward to seeing you.

Here are some new blogs for The Big Blogroll.

Stop by and welcome them to our corner of the blogosphere.

Cats With Thumbs
and other anomalies from around the globe. 

Busy Budget Mom
Deals, Advice, Opinions and reviews on Everything From Coupons and Diapers, to Make-Up! Anything and Everything that makes You a MOM! 

Process JPvanArnhem
Just another creative process blog 

Bob Coskrey’s Blog
A Charleston writer. 

Good Food Campaign
Junk the chemicals and colors in your food. 

Shawn’s Blogspot
Christ-follower, husband, daddy, pastor, author, sports fan, twitterer

Charleston Waterkeeper
Measurable Improving the Quality of Charleston’s Waterways

Jenna from No Room for Necklaces, sent me a new link today. The Political RoundUp is run on WordPress and while it may not technically be a blog, I thought its local focus would be of interest to many of you. From their Who We Are page:

This site started as a blog but as interest increased I decided to turn the idea into a full fledged website. The contributors on this site are people that I have met over the years and they are, without a doubt, some of the most intelligent, free thinking and opinionated people that I know. We all have different thoughts on politics and the world around us and I think it’s this wonderful mix of opinions that makes this site special. We encourage you to read, think, agree and disagree with us.

Happy Pi Day.

Photo Credit: Pam

If you do nothing else today, wander with Pam through her garden as winter drifts into spring.

The Coastal Community Foundation is shedding light on the dim forecast for many nonprofits.

It’s Guinness vs Beamish at Untamed Beer.

Joan has captured some fantastic graffiti at Charleston Daily Photo.

Over the past few days facebook has been rolling out their new homepage. Jared is underwhelmed by the change:

My big takeaway from this? Facebook’s innovating less and less. I don’t know how else to put it, but there it is. Smaller, nimbler startups have outfoxed Facebook, and they’re now trying to play catchup and bring those features over to its own walled garden. For the first time in really a long time, the social Web has shifted and Facebook didn’t lead the charge. Things like photo tagging, News Feed, and the like pushed Facebook to the bleeding edge and forced change all across the social media spectrum. . .

While we are there, Michael Lively has a few rants of his own:

Sleepy Moon Guy: Keeps his browser open all day long, and sitting on Facebook.  Indicated by the sleepy blue sliver of a moon symbol next to his name.  Technically, he’s an “online friend,” but he lies in wait, stealthy-like. If you happen to drop in for a moment, the steel trap springs shut and…and I guess you have to chew off your arm to get free.

The “Go on, ask!” Girl: Brief, cryptic updates like “my heart hurts…” Designed to make someone, anyone, anyone at all, ask “Aww, what’s wrong?” Anyone except me, that is.

Congratulations to the Charleston City Paper, they took home four first places at the State Press Awards.

Here’s a spectacularly bad example of customer service:

Hibachi operator miscalculates a flip. One spatula goes flying through the air, slices through one of the women’s full wine glasses (causing it to EXPLODE). Spatula then grazes aforementioned women’s arm, giving it a nice slice that begins to bleed. (Um, out?)

Here’s the kicker.

Nothing happens.

Hibachi operator does not cease all hibachi activity. He pauses momentarily, goes to find another spatula (to replace the one that both broke a glass and winged a guest) and continues on.

The group of women sits in stunned silence

Yikes. Maybe I’ll stick to the sushi bar in the future.

Most places only give two fer Tuesday. You, our lucky readers, are getting ten links for your reading pleasure.

First up, Quads! Seriously and it isn’t a post by one of our fitness junkies.

Earl is looking to hear your favorite podcasts.

The folks at Beidler Forest are applying for a grant to help create content for mp3 players.

Bad news fatigue?

Test your knowledge on sex discrimination. Thankfully all the answers are fully explained by Xarkgirl.

Lowcountry Dog Blog weighs in the recent pit bull controversy:

Dogs are animals and no matter what the breed, amount of training and socialization received, or the type of family environment, animals will always have the potential to be “unpredictable.” All dogs have the potential to bite. A loving family, good training, and socialization will lessen a dog’s chance of acting inappropriately, but the animal instinct is always there. Dogs are dogs. Not “furry children.” They don’t think like humans and we shouldn’t expect them to have human rationale.

Check out Leigh’s new digs.

Charleston son, Shepard Fairey has his day in court.

Sherry asks:

After all, if we’re not here on this earth to be out of sync with current trends, thereby embarrassing our children, what is our purpose in life?

Beware of Ronin.

Just a few links for tonight.

Good dog:

No one hiding in the shower.

Dumb dog. 

And then I saw it.  

The Girl left her flat iron plugged in this morning.  Next to her plastic jar of hair goop.  I immediately unplugged the flat iron and put the goop away. (By the way, shouldn’t melting plastic have a smell?  Or will that come once the fire starts?  Just asking.)

Audubon South Carolina has a great rundown of spring events at Beidler Forest.

Speaking of spring, Compost in my Shoe has early blooms.

Fuzzco points to an interesting project: The 50 States Project.

Gregg Hambrick talks about The Fairness Doctrine.

Dave Moulton breaks from his hiatus:

Bicycles on sidewalks are another problem. Bicycles are a vehicle and belong on the road, sidewalks are for foot traffic. That’s why they are called sidewalks. They are supposed to be a safe haven for pedestrians. A place where there are no vehicles.