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I think the tools worth making are the ones that inspire people to use them in ways that are surprising to the tool makers. There's not much fun in making something that is being used exactly as intended. Much more exciting is when people take an invention or tool or system or software program, or whatever, and go and do something with it that the inventors couldn't have imagined. But it is not necessarily trivial to invent something that people can then go and create further innovation with. Only some inventions manage to take on a life of their own in this way.
[ Thoughts | 2001-11-13 05:34 | | PermaLink ] More >
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 Some adventurous people are planning to fly in a balloon 132,000 feet into space next summer. Sitting in spacesuits in open air armchairs hanging under the balloon. Up where its pitch black and you can see whole countries in one look. See here: [link]
[ News | 2001-11-09 03:54 | | PermaLink ] More >
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YES! My wireless computer connectivity is coming back. I had been a subscriber to Ricochet, which went bankrupt a few months ago, and which had a very reliable, wireless 128kbps service within the major metropolitan areas of the U.S. Meaning I could be online in airports, on the freeway, or whatever. And when it disappeared there were no comparable alternatives left. Now the $1 billion assets of the Ricochet network have been bought by Aerie Networks for 8 million and it looks like they'll turn the thing on again shortly, and at a lower price. And it sounds like the new people will know how to market it. Ricochet was a well-kept secret in the hands of the old company, Metricom, which apparently had no clue on how to let people know it existed.
[ News | 2001-11-05 16:18 | | PermaLink ] More >
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Hm, actually I had in mind that I would mostly use my own newslog here as a sort of intimate journal, more than as a place to report news items. Well, I guess I can do both, but I'm trying to not lose track of the more quiet, comtemplative energy of things. Seriously, I tend to feel most alive when I'm able to be conscious of just being in the moment, facing a future which is unknown, not knowing my next step, but feeling excitement about the unfoldment of this mystery. And, preferably, when I can share that with somebody else.
[ Thoughts | 2001-11-05 02:43 | | PermaLink ] More >
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 I just realized how the mindset of the current islamic terrorists can be better understood by studying the Order of the Assassins, as there are many parallels, and Osama and his people seem to operate in many ways as the Assassins did. A thousand years ago they were the muslim counterpart to the christian crusaders, most particularly they were the counterpart to the Knights Templar. They operated through terror, prided themselves in the ability to strike anywhere at any time, and often would assassinate leaders of their opposition. Their warriors were drugged and shown how they would return to a life if heaven, with beautiful virgins and infinite glory, if they carried out their missions. Thus they had absolutely no fear of dying.
[ Information | 2001-11-02 01:07 | | PermaLink ] More >
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 This past weekend I was at the Bioneers conference in San Rafael. Quite a remarkable event. Around 3000 attendees and many great speakers. A stimulating mix of inspiration, activism and ecological solutions. People I particularly enjoyed: Lynn Margulis (co-creator of the Gaia hypothesis) talking about the wild lives of bacteria; Hunter and Amory Lovins (co-authors of "Natural Capitalism") on rethinking business; Janine Benyus (author of "Biomimicry") on how to get our next technological breakthroughs from the superior technologies of nature; Caroline Casey (mythological astrologer and radio host) on Visionary Activism; John and Nancy Todd on creating ecological industrial parks and eco-enterprises. And many more.
[ Diary | 2001-10-24 04:38 | | PermaLink ] More >
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 THE human race is likely to be wiped out by a doomsday virus before the Millennium is out, unless we set up colonies in space, Prof Stephen Hawking warns today.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Prof Hawking, the world's best known cosmologist, says that biology, rather than physics, presents the biggest challenge to human survival.
[ News | 2001-10-16 13:01 | | PermaLink ] More >
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 The planet Mars has for several months been covered by a dust storm enveloping the whole planet in a layer of dust, and creating a huge jump in global warming. Strange. Maybe it is waking up and coming to life. Maybe somebody is terraforming Mars while we're looking elsewhere, busy with other problems. Article from NASA: [link]
[ News | 2001-10-15 16:32 | 0 comments | PermaLink ] More >
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 An interesting glimpse into the culture of suicide bombers:
[link]
It is from WorldNetDaily, which is a rightwing christian news source that I'll always take with a grain of salt, but this looks useful. Kindergarten kids are taught the virtues of killing their enemies. And if you do you are a martyr, bringing great pride to your family. And, this is the kicker: there will be 72 pristinely beautiful virgins waiting for you in heaven, and you can have sex with them all day, and you will lie on fine soft carpets and receive their delights forever, just because you're a great martyr. Wow, that's juice enough to screw up the mind of any young teenage boy.
[ News | 2001-10-13 14:13 | | PermaLink ] More >
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Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Usama bin Laden seem to have a whole lot in common. Take the quiz and see if you can identify statements by each of these prominent fanatics.
[link]
[ Opinions | 2001-10-12 18:03 | | PermaLink ] More >
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 One of my central inspirations for starting the New Civilization Network 6 years ago was the work of Jessica Lipnack and Jeffrey Stamps. They're sort of networking gurus, having written and talked extensively about the power of networked organizations, particularly inter-connected networks of teams, which they coined the term TeamNet for. I hoped for NCN to become a TeamNet. Anyway, because of the increased necessity for dialogue and good networking in the world, they've decided to make all their books available online for free. They are "The Networking Book", "The Age of the Network", "The TeamNet Factor" and "Virtual Teams". I very much applaud this. You can find the books at [link]
[ News | 2001-10-10 23:39 | 0 comments | PermaLink ] More >
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Seems to me that a lot of potential problems in the world are there because of technology and systems that only work when everything is going well, and that aren't prepared for things going wrong, or for deliberate misuse. Un-collapsible buildings and un-highjackable planes are certainly technologically possible. But it is generally not how we design things. Too many of our technological constructions have single points of failure. Knock out a few key pieces, and the whole thing tumbles down. Blow up a few supporting pillars and a building falls down. Cut the right cable and millions of people have no TV or electricity. Pull out the plug out of your own computer and, no matter how many millions of transistors it has, they all stop working.
[ Patterns | 2001-10-09 20:21 | | PermaLink ] More >
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 An auction just ended at eBay of an old ICBM missile silo, re-fitted into a rather unique luxury home. Sounds like a lot of fun. Who wouldn't want a 47 ton garage door for one thing. I always dreamt of living underground. Anyway, it sold for $1.5million, and there are a whole lot more of these in Kansas.
[ News | 2001-10-06 05:02 | | PermaLink ] More >
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 The one of the speakers at the Awakened World conference who touched me the most was Oriah Mountain Dreamer. She speaks about authenticity and intimacy, and she speaks about living in the tension between admitting one's human frailties and flaws, and remaining connected with a deep knowing of what life is about. And she thoroughly embodies what she's speaking. She's the author of the piece below:
"It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.
It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive. ...
[ Inspiration | 2001-09-29 21:51 | | PermaLink ] More >
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 Now I'm at the Awakened World 2001 conference in Palm Springs, arranged by Association for Global New Thought. [link] Very impressive list of speakers, like Jean Houston, Hazel Henderson, Barbara Marx Hubbard. And so far shaping up to be a very inspiring and unifying event. About 1000 people here. The signups grew tremendously after 9/11. One thought from Barbara Marx Hubbard: 9/11 was the awakening of the world. A rude awakening, granted, and we woke up crying, but it was an emotional jolt that a large portion of humanity were part of, and that provides a great opportunity for becoming conscious of where we go next.
[ Diary | 2001-09-26 23:48 | | PermaLink ] More >
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This is a pretty good site on propaganda and propaganda analysis:
[link]
It covers a number examples of how communication is used to deceive, and how one might be aware of that.
[ Patterns | 2001-09-25 20:09 | | PermaLink ] More >
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This weekend I'm at University of Science and Philosophy's yearly symposium, mostly focusing on education. Like the last conference I went to, it is excellent. Great information that all ties together, and great dialogues. Some of the speakers here are Elisabet Sahtouris, Ashok Gangadean, Gregg Braden, Paul von Ward, Cleve Baxter and others. Themes are how to travel across multiple world-views, dialogue, how to teach unified, cosmic, living systems knowledge, rather than just cutting everything into little pieces.
[ Diary | 2001-09-22 23:38 | | PermaLink ] More >
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It often baffles me how bad many people are at judging the character of others. To me it is usually quite apparent, if one watches somebody, and listens to them, whether they're lying or not, and whether they're basically well intentioned or not. Their body language, their manner of speech, their choice of words, their eyes, their whole aura is broadcasting quite loudly who they are. OK, some people hide better than others, and it might be harder to read them, but then that fact should be quite apparent. So, it usually shocks me when people I know judge people based on totally different factors, abstract ideas, preconceived notions, etc., and fail to see what I see.
[ Thoughts | 2001-09-20 23:50 | | PermaLink ] More >
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Many messages are being circulated,
with calls for healing, peace, compassion; with condolences and sympathy; with
information about possible causes, reasons, etc. Many emotions are being expressed.
Anger, fear, indifference, compassion, love.
I can't possibly forward all that
people have asked me to forward, but I will again include a few messages below
that I find to be of value.
[ Inspiration | 2001-09-19 02:34 | | PermaLink ] More >
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The recent terrorist attacks are very likely to lead towards increased government surveillance and decreased freedoms for people in the United States. The general population is probably going to buy any reasons presented for allowing more easy wiretapping, laws against encryption, etc. I.e. more of a police state, which people will willingly join, apparently to be better protected from "bad people".
Now, let me state that I would actually be perfectly happy having video cameras follow me everywhere, having GPS tracking chips placed in my body, having my DNA checked, etc., *IF* I could trust that such devices weren't misused. Unfortunately I can't, as I don't believe there's any existing government who wouldn't misuse these things constantly.
[ Thoughts | 2001-09-18 05:32 | | PermaLink ] More >
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