San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom was a recent guest speaker at the Long Now Foundation’s SALT (Seminars About Long-term Thinking) monthly speaker series. Typically, SALT hosts big thinker uber geeks like Jimmy Wales, Clay Shirky and Neal Stephenson. San Francisco being the geek capital of the world, it’s no surprise that Newsom knows how to Twitter around on his iPhone and is savvy in the ways of the networked world. Violet Blue grabs the mayor for a few questions covering timely geek topics like tidal and wave energy systems, keeping up with constituents using Twitter and Facebook as well as YouTube distribution for his State of the City address.

Episode links: Gavin Newsom, San Francisco Mayor’s Office, Long Now Foundation, Gavin on Twitter, Gavin on YouTube, Sea Generation Ltd, WaveRoller, Wave Dragon, Greenpeace UK Efficiencity

What do Zen Buddhism, hardcore punk and Japanese monster movies have in common? We don’t know either, but bass player turned Zen Master Brad Warner stitches it altogether for us. Violet Blue gets the skinny from Warner at Green Apple Books in San Francisco, after a signing for his most recent book, Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate: A Trip Through Death, Sex, Divorce, and Spiritual Celebrity in Search of the True Dharma.

Episode links: Brad Warner, Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate: A Trip Through Death, Sex, Divorce, and Spiritual Celebrity in Search of the True Dharma, Zero Defects, Green Apple Books, Violet Blue

What do bakers of cupcakes and geek unconferences have in common? A lot it turns out. Both spawn high amounts of sugary fueled goodness, encourage collaboration for common tasty goals and openly share the processes to reach them. CupcakeCamp, modeled after BarCamp, encourages campers to make, bake or just eat cupcakes. Tastings are self organized into time slots, thrown up on a wiki and judged for taste, style and originality.

In this episode, Violet Blue — GETV’s roving baked good’s correspondent — takes you deep into the yeasty wide world of cupcakes and CupcakeCamp, created by none-other than lovely Internet Femme Fatales Ariel Waldman, Lynn Poshy, Cindy Li, and Marianne Masculino. If you think cup cakes are just slutty muffins, get ready to have your paradigm shifted. You’ll then know not to miss the next CupcakeCamp coming up on December 7th at the Satisfactory in San Francisco.

Episode links: CupcakeCamp (site), CupcakeCamp (wiki), Upcoming CupcakeCamp, Ariel Waldman, Lynn Poshy, Cindy Li, Marianne Masculino, Violet Blue

By any non-petroleum means necessary. That is the motto that propels a dozen vehicles of various design along the “Escape from Berkeley” road rally from Berkeley, California to Las Vegas, Nevada. Part Cannonball Run and part Mad Max, these NASA scientists and junkyard fabricators aim to complete the rally, win the $5000 prize and forever cement their place in history. All fuel has to harvested along the route, none of it can be purchased. GETV’s Roving RoboReporter Violet Blue chats up a few of the eclectic participants who run their vehicles on switchgrass, wood chips, veggie oil and even a tasty bio-salad. The brilliance of the event has even put Stephen Colbert on notice.

Episode links: Escape from Berkeley, The Shipyard, Michael Michael, The Green Team, Prisoners of Petroleum, All Power Labs, The Spooning Cruisers (music), Photos (Laughing Squid), Colbert Report clip, Violet Blue

We all know that one crazy cat lady who puts her complete love, money and affection into her feline friends. Do you know what happens when crazy cat ladies come together and subject their little love muffins to the scrutiny of the harsh lights and exacting judges? Neither did we which is why Irina Slutsky and Violet Blue decided to visit the Fog City Cat Show in Alameda, California.

Episode links: Fog City Cat Club, lolcats, Doctor Popular, Drown Radio, Violet Blue

The Commodore 64 home computer celebrated its 25th birthday at the Computer History Museum with several luminaries of the 8-bit computing era present. We take a peek at this popular pesky piece of silicon and plastic and try to get an idea of why the Commodore 64 was the best selling personal computer in history at 30 million units moved. GETV’s Roving Retro Reporter Violet Blue puts the question to Jack Tramiel, founder and head of Commodore, as well as his son Leonard Tramiel. Violet gets a bit of insight from a couple of the C64’s competitors, Steve Wozniak, creator of the first Apple computer, and Bill Lowe, known as the father of the IBM PC.

Episode links: Commodore 64, Jack Tramiel, Leonard Tramiel, Steve Wozniak, William Lowe, The Commodore Billboard, C64 sounds [YouTube:Lavoraste], C64 games [YouTube:tr0d], C64 Turns 25 [news.com], Computer History Museum, Violet Blue

Maybe this will help, maybe it won’t. Thanks to the ever prolific Doc Popular for the hook up with some custom intro and outro theme music, debuting for the first time in this little inspirational piece.

Violet Blue visits the Musee Mecanique at Pier 45 in San Francisco for a refreshing, nostalgic trip through mechanical games of fun and fortune from the past. Some of these relics are downright morbid, others are delightfully funny. Violet takes us on a tour and relays a bit of the museum’s history.

Episode links: Violet Blue, Musee Mecanique

There was so much goodness at the Maker Faire this year, we couldn’t just do one episode. Violet Blue goes deep and talks to makers Kimric Smythe and Shannon O’Hare of the Neverwas Haul project, Katie London and Kate Hartman of Botanicalls and Ron Sears, who with his son Nick Sears, created the ultraORB.

Episode links: Maker Faire, Violet Blue, Neverwas Haul, Botanicalls, ultraORB