As a born Californio who proudly packs my "U.S. out of California" tee from Mule Design whenever I leave the state, it comes as no surprise that Cebit conference organizers have, for the first time, selected a state instead of a nation as a partner in the world's largest information technology conference and trade show. Like many Americans, I could use a few euros and some free healthcare right about now. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger dropped by Intel yesterday to promote the relationship with his deutsche sprechen comrades. And while the conference is held in Hanover, I recommend stopping by Berlin, which I hear is cheap, kinky and open for business. The state and conference are even offering financial assistance for first-time attendees. California uber alles, indeed.

Scheduled to take the stage at Google's latest Zeitgeist gathering are CEO Eric Schmidt and General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt. The plan is to announce a partnership which "is likely to focus on adding network intelligence to the electric grid and improving capacity," according to Portfolio. The idea is to improve electricity-infrastructure efficiency through more advanced networking technology, presumably resulting in better service and lower carbon-dioxide pollution by reducing demand through conservation and therefore burning less coal. Of course, for now it just means more lobbyists in the Capitol and possibly more money for research and development. What does Google want in all this, besides good environmental press?GE owns vast rights of way for the electrical grid, which could potentially aid Google's efforts to build their own Internet backbone infrastructure — even over the transmission lines themselves. And of course, less demand for electricity combined with stable supply means cheaper juice for Google's giant datacenters. The real question is, what's in this for Immelt and GE? (Photos by AP/Phelan M. Ebenhack, Mark Lennihan)

O'Reilly publishing has set up the company's annual bazaar of of bizarre business models at the Javitz Center in Manhattan, but the festivities truly kicked off with last night's Ignite PowerPoint presentation spectacular hosted by O'Reilly Radar's Brady Forrest and Etsy's Bre Pettis. Pettis and friends used fourteen pounds of butter to bake 300 cupcakes and tubs of frosting, which partygoers were invited to decorate as part of a contest — the winners, Nick and Danielle Bilton, crafted the iPhone application icon cupcakes pictured here. Deb Schultz, a Six Apart veteran, did an Alley vs. Valley routine, noting that while in the Valley code is king, in the Alley folks know how to dress. For fellow Alley expats in the Valley, "You know you've gone native when you're wearing a sweater with flip flops." Case in point? Flickr developer Cal "Don Juan 2.0" Henderson wasn't wearing a sweater, but he did look to be wearing the same cargo shorts and flip flops that he was last spotted in. (Photo by Dan Lurie)

No plans for 9/11 day yet? Why not enjoy Barack Obama and John McCain at Columbia, one of those Elitist East Coast Ivy League Colleges of The Elite, where they will talk about civic duty for "ServiceNation, an organization that aims to increase public service participation." You know, "public service participation" like "community organizing," which, as we all know, is gay and elitist and not something seriously important like shooting wolves from airplanes. Anyway. We assume Obama will talk on behalf on public service and McCain will become confused and angry and speak against it. [CollegeOTR]

Are you excited that Vanity Fair and American Express' glamorous "Campaign New York" launches in a mere 40 days? The "dazzling two-week series of events," as far as we can tell, offers the following dazzling events: a discount hotel room, a book signing at Barneys, and a "cocktail and shopping night" during which you can swill booze and go spend money on Madison Avenue. That's it. Any AmEx card holder attempting to enter the Waverly Inn at any time during the course of the dazzling two-week series of events will be laughed off the premises by Graydon Carter himself, who disapproves of riff-raff. [Campaign NY via Jossip]

This morning, Republican political attack hack Roger Stone traveled to the offices of 5WPR-the firm led by legendarily inept attack flack Ronn [sic] Torossian-to give a speech entitled "The World As It Really Is." (Dirty, we presume). One brave Gawker reader, Stephen Kosloff, answered our call and agreed to go cover the event. But when our operative arrived, Ronn asked him who sent him-and he gave an honest answer. That was his downfall! We pick up his tale of woe as he enters the room where the event will take place, and prepares to start his reporting:

We've put together a quick and dirty list of the hottest spots in the Hamptons this Memorial Day weekend, which starts for us incredibly soon. If you are rich, famous, or fabulous, you will no doubt go to at least one of these clubs. We will not. So please send us reports, as well as info on upcoming Hamptons parties this summer so we can put together our full calendar. After the jump, where to blow money this weekend:

Popular Page Six gossip hack Paula Froelich had a party thrown in her honor last night, complete with her own signature cocktail: the IZZE FROLIC. Awww! She sent an email to all of her contacts saying, "It seems someone has decided to name a drink after me. I think we can use it as a good excuse to go play." But when the party happened, one boldface name was conspicuously absent: New York Post reporter Paula Froelich! So what happened? Bothersome ethics, of course.

While out and about, a possibly over-enthusiastic Valleywag correspondent heard rumors of a Facebook "prom" being held at the highly anticipated, but as yet unopened, new San Francisco branch of New York's famed Tavern on the Green within the Metreon in SOMA. Those lucky few on the inside remember: Pics or it didn't happen! Update: There is indeed a private Facebook party on the fourth floor of the Metreon, but of course the Tavern on the Green won't take over the space until at least next year.(Photo by Shiny Things)

Thanks to Google Calendar going down I forgot the Women 2.0 business plan challenge was happening tomorrow, Saturday, at Stanford. A competitor who'd kindly submitted the item for our calendar with plenty of notice was non-plussed to find no mention this morning. With my tongue in my cheek to make room for the foot in my mouth I borrowed her suggested headline for this little reminder to check it out. [Women 2.0]

Boa-sporting Mediabistro.com proprietress Laurel Touby continues unabated in her menacing campaign to misuse email—an invention originally designed to simplify communications. Her latest infraction: in order to promote an upcoming "Mediabistro Circus," she decided to save a little time by sending a mass email to her entire contact list—all 2,000 people. The message starts off with an apology to those who "hate my guts," which is a good sign that perhaps it would be better to pursue a different outreach strategy. The entire ill-conceived email, after the jump.

If just buying James Frey's new novel isn't enough for you, you can purchase the "companion volume" called Wives, Wheels, and Weapons for just $150, hardcover. But it has a bunch of Terry Richardson photos of MILFs, gangsters, and rad cars. The three things that symbolize L.A.! I don't really understand the market for any of this. Particularly for Frey's heavy metal/ Hell's Angels book promotional tour, which gets a prize for Most Apparent Conscious Contrivance Of Coolness:

Animal blogger Bucky Turco has posted a hi-res mockup of an official ticket to see the Pope's appearance at the St. Patrick Cathedral tomorrow. Apparently someone with computer skills (Note to US Secret Service: Not us) could theoretically print this out into a reasonable facsimile of a real ticket and use it to attend the event. In related news, Bucky is "posting from an undisclosed location today," and we all wish him well and hope that he makes it to Monday a free man. Click to enlarge. [Animal NY]

Artist of our age Damien Hirst must have a busy schedule, what with all the shark embalming and gluing little diamonds onto skulls and bidding on white truffles. But he's determined to make sure that his art remains within reach of the common people, who wear jeans and patronize over-the-top art world events. So he teamed up with all-American brand Levis—and the Andy Warhol licensing machine—to design some jeans that anyone can buy, assuming they have $80,000 (really) to spend on psychedelic pants. After the jump, photos of Hirst's new clothing items from last weekend's opening in LA. The smart consumer will wait until these go on sale at Filene's.

Incompetent and angry superflack Ronn [sic] Torossian and his agency, 5WPR, are all about creating powerful connections among the real movers and shakers in New York. So if you're a client or "FRIEND OF THE FIRM"—and if you are, you have some serious self-examination to do—you're invited to a special 5WPR Speaker Series event featuring Dr. Keith Ablow, succinctly described on his website as a "Forensic psychiatrist and author of thrillers." His topic for the evening? "Friction in the workplace and the necessity for conflict/resolution and chemistry building." What better subject for a night with Ronn, a man popular with employees, potential clients, the media, and feminists alike? Anyone lucky enough to attend this ironic event, please send us a report. The full—and predictably ineloquent—invitation is below.

When you're a freelance writer and blogger forced to come all the way from Connecticut just for a Suzie Wong event, you'd better get in or there will be hell to pay. When Adam Bernard was shamefully denied entrance to the party last week, he decided to take out his wrath on the organizers, the PR firm of society mover and pedestrian runner-over Lizzie Grubman, by posting a video on his blog. Wrathful! Listen with sympathy as Adam details the "horrific" experience of being turned away at the door:

It's come to our attention that one of Mediabistro's ever-helpful panels may not be selling too well, the irony being that for once, it seemed like a not-horrid event. Rather than learning how to pitch AutoWeek, this event was a gathering of mildly interesting journos-cum-writers to talk about making the change from magazine whore to book whore. Just a thought, but if the arguably unboring gatherings aren't selling, could it be the first, tiny sign of the death of the media panel? And if so, how long until Michael Wolff keels over?

There's a certain human need to share stories of life-transforming experiences — Where were you on Sept. 11? — and so, unsurprisingly, readers have been today been emailing in their tales of attending Anderson's reading last night. Above, the photographic submission from one reader of Coopie in action. And here, a city high-school teacher who awards extra-credit points to students who attend readings and report on them sends along one student's take:

Where there is Anderson there must be Gawker. It's a law of physics. So we sent intrepid Intern Neel last night to A-Coop's big reading at the Union Square Barnes & Noble, hoping he'd catch a big enough eyeful of our hero for everyone. Alas, things did not go quite as planned. After the jump, Neel's report.

Good ol' homo-loving photog Eliot Shepard sent us pictures of the gay rugby players. And apparently equally homo-loving photog Rebecca Smeyne sent us pictures of the gay cowboy hoedowners. But nobody, alas, sent us any pictures of those M4M Fleet Week sailors. Sigh.