Hi Kofi

December 8, 2003 12:02 PM

Hi Kofi. Diplomats from 191 countries meet this week in Geneva for the three-day United Nations World Summit on the Information Society. It's the occasion for The Helloworld Project to project thousands of 500-foot-high laser-light SMS messages onto the Geneva fountain. Internet users everywhere can post billboard thoughts almost instantly onto the fountain -- or onto the northern façade of New York's U.N. building, the face of a mountain in Rio de Janeiro or the front of a Bombay skyscraper.
posted by the fire you left me (15 comments total)

Back in the early '90s, India and France had this Indo-French festival, and one of the things they did was project video on the Air India building, which I am assuming is the very same the UN's Helloworld project will use. It was fantastic, it's great seeing Queen's Necklace, and the big fat skyscrapper turned television. I am sure the laser light will be similarly interesting to see.
posted by riffola at 12:18 PM on December 8, 2003

See also this...
posted by anastasiav at 12:37 PM on December 8, 2003

It's all fun and games until somebody posts goatse.cx
posted by substrate at 12:57 PM on December 8, 2003

Gah. If there were another site bannination would ensue. substrate's link is NSFW, not safe for women nursing, not safe for puppies with big brown eyes, or really just about anything. Despite the tempation, don't click on the link. You have been warned.
posted by haqspan at 1:12 PM on December 8, 2003

Nice job, substrate. What are you, 12?

Don't click that, internet explorers who don't know what it is (you few that are left), unless you're inordinately fond of frighteningly distended rectums.

Goatseman is soooo 2000. [/rolleyes]
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:13 PM on December 8, 2003

If there=If this were
posted by haqspan at 1:13 PM on December 8, 2003

I've always wondered -- has anyone found goatseman? Does goatseman know he's famous? How does he feel about it?
posted by aramaic at 1:55 PM on December 8, 2003

Too bad the projectors are off now.
posted by SisterHavana at 2:00 PM on December 8, 2003

substrate, that trick was old and moldy on slashdot in 1996. nowadays, savvy users link bartse.cx.
posted by quonsar at 3:38 PM on December 8, 2003

umm back on topic. this is the coolest thing i've seen in a while - although the pending messages on the site are a little underwhelming.
posted by euphrosyne at 3:51 PM on December 8, 2003

very, very cool.
posted by moonbird at 6:05 PM on December 8, 2003

I've always wondered -- has anyone found goatseman? Does goatseman know he's famous? How does he feel about it?

i remember reading that he was dead. r.i.p.
posted by joedan at 6:18 PM on December 8, 2003

"... laser-light SMS messages..." and "Internet users everywhere..."

So, which is it? SMS or Internet? The two networks barely intersect at all except at a few limited-functionality gateway points, and its always nice to know whether one is about to give absurd sums of money to the phone company (a la SMS) or not (a la the Net) before doing something.
posted by majick at 5:38 AM on December 9, 2003

(This being a perfect example of why the UN should very much have nothing whatsoever to do with administration of the Net.)
posted by majick at 5:40 AM on December 9, 2003

I'm working on a weblog for the World Summit, and was travelling through Geneva last night - the site of giant neon text messages on a massive geyser is really quite something. Especially set against the city's magnificent Xmas lights..
posted by ascullion at 9:56 PM on December 9, 2003