Humanize the Earth!

finally, a use for spam!

ted — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 15:30:57 +0000

This website is set up so that anytime someone comments for the first time, I get an email asking me to approve posting it. The bulk of these comments are spam, that I mark as such, and you never see them. Annoying, to say the least. And yet today, this spam was actually useful! The spam comment was on this post: response to Tree’s Always in Open Space from October of 2005. Without using the word, in that post, I was talking about do-ocracy.

In my housing co-op, I want those most interested in gardening to do the gardening, and not worry about consulting with those that don’t care so much. Same with creating an organizing scheme for the basement. Hopefully everyone will participate in keeping things organized, but not everyone needs to create the scheme.

This is one of the reasons I feel I need to let go of my day job of 6 years. It’s not a do-ocracy. About two months before I wrote that post, I made my five year plan to leave the job. In June of 2006, I wrote about my five year plan again, though it had changed to a 3-4 year plan (with year 1 nearly finished). Here we are just a little over a year later, so just about to finish year 2, and my current thinking is that I’ll be done before the end of 2007. Anyway, interesting to look back and be reminded. Thanks spammer!

How to Disappear by Pete Leki

ted — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 16:08:41 +0000

Please go read this very short book by Pete Leki: How to Disappear. I love it. I’ve also been working on a wiki with Michael here How to Disappear Wiki. We’re not sure yet what’ll come of the wiki project, but we’d really like to see this book widely read.

My 5 year plan

ted — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 03:03:42 +0000

Last August I made myself a two-step, 5-year plan to quit my job entirely. Step 1 is to find a way (or ways) to make some money so I can feel confident dropping to part-time at my job (knowing that I might lose it entirely in the discussion process). Step 2 is to use the extra time freed up to continue those passions that also make money from time to time and be able to quit entirely. In the last few months I’ve been feeling more confident about the direction I’m going, having oppotunities come up to gain experience opening space at the o/net July conf and at WikiSym in Denmark in July.

In the last month I wrote my first useful computer program in a long, long, time, which gave me an amazing feeling that this is not simply an intention, I now have evidence that it can be a reality. Sure, no money yet, but no rush, I’ve got 5 years.

And in the last week it became clear that 5 years is too long. Without deliberation, I have now shortened the plan to 3-4 years. Rich Henry suggested a book to me on Wednesday (yesterday) called Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life, by Gregg Levoy. I read the first hundred pages or so on the train this evening.

That’s where I’m at.

dream of Michigan

ted — Sun, 08 Jan 2006 16:44:40 +0000

Drempt of a last-minute invitation to Traverse City from friends of mine in Ohio. Not sure how I got there, but the trip was appropriately long, have a feeling now of following some specific directions to get there. They were already there, Amy, Timi, Cabot, Catherine, Allison and more I can’t remember at the moment, in a beautiful spot on the beach, sunny with waves coming in. There was a house of some sort on that beach. Only remember one room. Sitting there with Cabot and others. Told him how much I’d missed him and cried. He cried too. On the wall was a map of either the Grand Traverse Bay or Michigan as a whole o rLake Michigan or some other spot related only to dreamworld. It had been created on a wiki, which I knew because the instructions were there that any spot added by an anon IP weren’t to be included on the final product unless vetted by someone. The spots were all listed with their non-chrisitan historical significance.

dream last night

ted — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 16:08:15 +0000

on highway, couple gets on and ride next to me, they’re talking about sunshine today and heat/humidity

she’s worried about the onions in her garden frying up - he’s more optomistic, saying it’s not so hot, only in the 70s

notice, that we’re all talking with each other on the highway, but not in the same vehicle - not in vehicles at all

the motion is more like motorcycles (no pedaling motions which is odd in retrospect), but the sound is very much like bicycles (silent)

what a dream!