One Time Opportunity To Own The DNA of the Internet

Just got word from ROFL-MC (and Reddit honcho) Alexis Ohanian that his outfit Breadpig has officially launched the auction for the ROFLDNA project!

If you were at ROFLThing-NYC, you might remember Alexis shadily going around and getting a bunch of our speakers/guests to swab their cheeks for DNA. These swabs were sent to the good people over at DNA11, who promptly combined them and created the gorgeous DNA Mini Portrait that you see above. It contains the genetic material of the following web folks:

• A.J. “HatPerson” Mazur of Lil’ Jon-Lazy Town Remix “Cooking By the Book”
• Jay “TRON guy” Maynard who needs no introduction
• Ian Spector of Chuck Norris Facts AND Mr. T Facts
• moot of 4chan
• Irina Slutsky of GeekEntertainment TV
• Jason Scott, owner of Sockington & master of TextFiles
• Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere
• Damian Hess, AKA MC Frontalot of nerdcore hip-hop fame
• Vincent Connare, creator of Comic Sans
• Jamie Wilkinson of the FFFFF.AT Lab and Rocketboom

The hope, of course, is that one day we’ll be able to use the Mini Portrait to resurrect the entire internet in some grim bombed out cyberpunk future. But until then, you can own this totally sweet wall ornament and conversation piece. Keep it safe for future generations!

The auction ends this Thursday, so act fast if you want to get in. Best of all, the entire proceeds from the auction will be donated to the good people over @ Science Commons. Rock.

Announcing AnnounceCon 2008 for ROFLThing-NYC

Ladies and Gentlemen, in the immortal words of Martin Lawrence, “shit just got real.”

Excited to announce today that Monday and Tuesday will officially be ANNOUNCECON 2008 for ROFLThing-NYC. Basically, we’ve been realizing that we’ve got too many featured speakers/attendees to post at our current one-a-day rate, and we’ve had some really exciting, badass confirmations from people in the last 48 hours that behoove us to unleash a torrent of awesomeness immediately.

So! New mystery guests to be announced at 10 AM, noon, and 3 PM EST on Monday and again on Tuesday, along with our guest DJs for the party.

Eyes to the skies, kid.

Frank Chu Invited To San Francisco ROFLThing

It’s a long shot — but thanks to the recommendation of Sean Savage and the help of some awesome San Francisco ROFLThing attendees, local favorite “12 Galaxies” protester Frank Chu has been personally invited to the party on August 29th. As one of San Fran’s most prominent microcelebrities, we figured it was only right to extend the offer.

It’s anyone’s guess as to whether or not he’ll turn up, but, fingers crossed…

ROFLCon Ranked #2 Most Pathetic Convention

Writers have Pulitzers, musicians have Grammys, the Boston Celtics have the NBA Championship, and scientists (& Al Gore!) have the Nobel Prize. Today, the ROFLCon staff was surprised with accolades of similar magnitude in our own field—that of running really freakin’ geeky conventions.

It’s no annual event and there’s no red carpet, but that can’t stop us from basking in the glory of being named the #2 Most Pathetic Geek Convention by Cracked.com.

In and of itself, this ranking would be no big deal. After all, most geek conventions are slightly puzzling to behold and take some concept or another “to a whole new, frightening level.” What makes this honor truly epic is the other conventions we’re sharing it with. Guys, we beat out Klingon Feast, a furry convention, and the Ohio Valley Filk Festival (which, incidentally, is happening in my hometown. And I thought there were no nerds here!), and we did so with reasonably good overall conference hygiene. If that doesn’t mean we just leveled up as a ‘Con, I don’t know what does.