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whew!

2008-07-18T11:49:00.000-07:00

had a busy week with the PSFK.com conference, and tonight I've got a kick-off meeting for my first taprootfoundation.org project, and, thanks to kamau, I'm a judge in a pork-off.

anyway, this weekend there's a blockparty at 111 Minna in SF:
http://www.goodmagazine.com/events/sf08

good magazine is actually great, and I got to meet the editor this week. looks like a fun SF summertime event.
unless, there's something cooler.
right.

ever wanted to keep a diary of what you eat???

2008-06-15T02:09:00.001-07:00

this is a really elegant and fun site FoodFeed.
it is a great example of a simple mash-up using twitter. it takes a minute to get your head around what he's up to and how it works, but i'm impressed. it's achingly simple and well thought out. you can see my foodfeed here. nothing much yet, but it looks like fun.
and it might just be particularly fun for us friendly foodie types.
Thanks to SundayNiteDinner for the turn-on.

and if you're interested in tech stuff, and reallllllly elegant design, check out the guy that created foodfeed: http://www.vlourenco.com/

PSFK Creativity Conference in SF

2008-06-11T14:34:00.000-07:00

I'm really honored to be participating in a panel discussion about "What makes the Bay Area tick?" at this year's PSFK Conference.
PSFK is an international trends and innovation team, and they have a great blog full of great ideas.

facebook loves me

2008-06-06T11:12:00.000-07:00

i used to get birthday and christmas cards from marlboro, but now:

we didn't have the technology...

2008-06-06T11:09:00.000-07:00

"we did stupid things, but not like that."

Passing notes in study hall or getting your best friend to ask a boy if he likes you or, you know, likes you, is so last century. Nowadays, teenagers are snapping naked pictures of themselves on their cell phones and sending them to their boyfriends and girlfriends.

Many of these pictures are falling into the wrong hands - or worse, everyone's hands, via the Internet - and leading to criminal charges.

Some parents are aghast.

"I just don't understand why kids would do a stupid thing like that," said Rochelle Hoins of Castle Rock, Colo., where 18 students in her twin sons' middle school sent around nude pictures of themselves last year. "We did dumb things when we were kids, but not like that," said Hoins, whose sons were not involved.

read the rest...

life.time.line

2008-06-03T10:37:00.000-07:00

Just ran across this little web app, and i really like it. would be a great tool for senior citizens or collaborations between senior citizens and writing students.
http://www.circavie.com/
I started a similar thing using freemind to make a scaffold/timeline of my life for writing, but here's what circavie looks like embedded...

Pretty cool. especially for younger users that have been digitally documenting their lives for years.

My heroes have always been...

2008-05-29T13:55:00.000-07:00

online dining was born green (draft)

2008-05-07T05:18:00.000-07:00

i recently got a call from a reporter at newsweek who asked if i knew of any online social dining projects with a green angle.

While there's been plenty said about the greenwashing of our current media, it led me to think of just how inherent "green" ideas are to "underground restaurants."

one of the true pioneers in "extra-restaurant" dining is jim denevan's outstanding in the field, co-led by katie oursler. Outstanding is one of the originators of "farm-to-table" dining, and their ambition in staging amazingly creative dinnerparties has been a constant inspiration.

Outstanding organizes dining events all over the country that take place on the farm where the food was grown, literally "bringing diners to the source." This is one of the themes that runs through the dozens of online dining projects that have emerged over the last few years.

These projects have the ability to partner with local farmers and purveyors to feature local, sustainable and organic foods. And like Outstanding, a lot of the time growers and artisans attend the dinner and speak a bit about how, where and why they are growing what they do. Also, diners can meet the chef, meet the host, meet the organizer and most importantly, meet each other.

Underground dining is not just about the food, it is about the community that makes the food possible: The grower, the chef, the server, the diner and the dishwasher. Online social dining events provide an opportunity where all of these interdependent elements come together in a tiny livingroom.

Whether it's alternative fuels, eco-friendly manufacturing, recycling or buying local, the green movement is about involving the community in the decision-making and problem-solving process. That means pulling the curtain back on existing methods and incorporating our collective solutions.

Ultimately the underground dining movement and the green movement are about the same thing: choice. an educated and deliberate choice.

And we are facing difficult challenges. It's seemingly cheaper to do things dumb. Or it's downright confusing which is the least evil. In doing my dinner parties i always struggled with one fundamental element: napkins. Do I use napkins made from recycled paper, or do i wash cloth linens? which is better, which is worse, and ultimately, as a coordinator in a pinch, which is easier.

The various industries have to begin to build the best decision into the most convenient one, and they need our help to do that. How can we anticipate and optimize the benefits of our inclinations?

I doubt that the majority of online dining projects got started because they thought it was a green idea. It's usually because they have a passion for food, a desire to work closely with the people who grow it, an inclination to meet and serve other passionate people, and an interest in providing some alternative to the status quo.

These are all green ideas, and an amazing amount of work. These are tiny hobby-operations, that barely breakeven, and yet they have international attention. When the ghetto gourmet hit NYC the first time it was like the rolling stones had come to town. thousands of people wanted one of only 100 tickets. seats were being sold at a premium on craigslist, people were begging to be volunteer servers.

I was completely overwhelmed. And that is another theme that runs through these online dining projects. Most of them are booked, solid. Whether they are in austin or atlanta, denver or minneapolis, people are looking to connect with food, ideas and each other.

By demonstrating an alternative, by connecting and educating people, online dining projects are making a far bigger influence than profit. And i think that's ok with us. and that might be the biggest green idea of them all.

Whoa! A really Fast wooden Car!

2008-02-23T11:47:00.001-08:00

couldn't resist this:

The service of social dining

2008-02-21T18:29:00.001-08:00

I found one of the best articles i've read in a long time over at phil morle's website.

It's an article called Better than Free by Kevin Kelly.

He talks about all the things you must do with technology to provide true service, and it echoes a lot of the ideas that come out of the social dining and underground restaurant movement. By thinking in a lot of different boxes at once, social dining projects are integrating ideas that are very common, but isolated in different spheres, to provide a new, and much needed service.

The Social Dining Movement as a true service facilitated by the Internet:

The Dinner Party: People have always had dinner parties, but generally it's a bunch of people that know each other and one or two "outsiders". The new social dining opportunities are unique in that it's a majority of people that don't know each other. everyone is a little off guard and outside of their "comfort zone". people have a chance to be social in new and fresh ways.

The Restaurant: restaurants started out as solitary, isolated experiences where people could get "restorative broths." and today, even though it is more common to find communal seating in some restaurants, the restaurant is a private experience. and for the most part, we like it that way. However, the social dining trend invites people to have "positive shared experiences." Food is being prepared and served, but it is delivered in a new way that invites collective, simultaneous enjoyment.

The Theater: what attracted me most to social dining was the idea of taking things outside of their traditional context. When you present something in new way, you're able to see new things. I had the opportunity to merge performance arts with the culinary arts, and what i found was that people really enjoy hearing a solo instrumentalist in an intimate, "private" setting. The nuances of a singular trumpet or a singer-songwriter playing a cello can resonate in a room of attentive strangers. Stand-up comics were a great success at ghetto gourmet dinner parties, and I have to thank my friend Kamau for hooking me up with some of the best comics on the circuit. stand-up comedy venues are brutal, but the art of storytelling and comfort of comical common experience could really shine in a intimate residential setting.

I'll end with a story a woman told me after a dinner:
"I just had one of the most meaningful conversations of my life. we got here late and the only seats available were next to a big, fat woman and we almost left. seeing how we had paid in advance and driven all this way and we were hungry, we reluctantly took our seats. it makes me think of how many things i've kept myself from experiencing due to my personal prejudices. Thank you so much."

True service lies in providing the opportunity for things that are beyond monetary value.

The bar is raised for everyone to cut the bullshit and serve.

Speaking of collaboration...

2008-02-21T18:16:00.000-08:00

Check out Thinkcycle.
supercool!

Kenya, Blogs and Technology

2008-02-21T17:19:00.000-08:00

It's hard to know whether things are getting better or worse in Kenya, and Africa as a whole. Of course, i am always aiming for optimism, and this article from mashable led me to some great resources for learning about the situation in Kenya.

Ushahidi is the most exciting from both a personal and technological point of view. The website is a really amazing resource for tracking the violence in Kenya. It turns out that land telephone lines rarely work in Africa, and cellphone use is very common. So Ushahidi allows people to submit acts of violence via the website or text message. Like Wikipedia, people can confirm or elaborate reports of violence or even particular material needs.

Check out the timeline of incidents. Citizen journalism, collective knowledge and collaboration at its best.

Now, if only we could apply these ideas in a more global and preventive way.

Here's a list of more resources for following the happenings in Kenya:

KenyaUnlimited is an amazing blog aggregator of Kenya-based blogs. A real wealth of information.

GlobalVoices is a citizens’ media project founded at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, focused on the Internet’s impact on society. they have a great Kenya section.

and here's some personal blogs that I found interesting:

robrooker.com/blog

ethanzuckerman.com/blog/

whiteafrican.com

Update from James King: It's -10 in Kotlik....

2008-02-02T08:37:00.000-08:00

My buddy James King is on tour with common rotation in Kotlik, Alaska, waaaaaaay up there, and here's his first dispatch:

What a day...so tired I can't go into TOO much detail
.

Started in Anchorage, three planes today. the last one seated 8. We almost got stuck in Bethel today...a place even the natives call the armpit of Alaska. We got the 1st and second planes to fly out in a few days. Lucky.

Landed in Kotlik "airport", which is an icy strip with flood lights and a barn at the end. And three dudes waiting for us with snowmobiles with woden dog sleds attached. They said the dogs had been waiting for us this afternoon, but since our plane was so late they sent the dogs home and came back with snowmobiles.

We sledded to the school where an elementary basketball game was in progress. The kids swarmed us like we were the Beatles. "The band is here!" "What's your name?" "That's a GIRL hat!" "Why do you guys wear hats?" "Do you know Kobe?" "Do you need help?" "You ever eat native food? Ever eat seal meat?" It's going to be an interesting few days.

Tomorrow the kids are doing native dances for us and the parents are bringing mukluk and seal and moose meat. Then we'll play our show for the town, in the same gymnasium where the basketball game was held tonight. By the way the Kotlik Falcons are the best 10 year old basketball team I've ever seen. They ruled.

Late night, I took a walk ON the Yukon River. My facial hair disappeared and was replaced by tiny icicles. Saw the northern lights.
Yeah.

talent capital

2008-02-01T19:19:00.000-08:00

what about a venture capital firm that bought applicants' student loan debt and then applied their talents and skills to problems and other enterprises within the portfolio?

could a venture capital firm buy out an appilcant's debt and then employ that applicant in some creative term?

VCs have money, but do they have all the talent they need? could there be an interesting way to invest their money into "saving" an indebt graduate from the big lendors at a reduced rate, and then incorporating that talent into solutions across a VC firm's portfolio.

so, instead of having someone owe some ridiculous sum that accrues interest, they would owe their ideas and labor in an environment where their ideas and labor could rapidly appreciate.

What if...

2008-02-01T13:17:00.000-08:00

Someone recently introduced this idea to me:
Imagine how many people would dedicate their lives to the arts or public service if they didn't have to worry about student loan debt.

Of course, it calls into question the whole idea of a society that fosters and facilitates debt so brazenly. Generations of young people starting their lives in debt means that people lose the ability to make real long term decisions about how they'd like to live their lives. Before we even know who we are, what's important and what we can and would like to do, we are locked into a month-to-month, hand-to-mouth lifestyle that's fueled largely by our ability to live outside of our means.

I was 16 when i started applying to colleges. I was to be the first member of my family to graduate from college. I was interested in the world's cultures and religions, i was passionate about art, and interested in contributing to the large social problems we face. The smart thing for me to do would have been going to a two year community college and then transferring to a 4-year state university, never going into debt and graduating with a world of choices.
but that's was an impossibility. i wanted to travel and see the world and take advantage of my opportunity to study abroad and out-of-state.

I borrowed $18,000 for my undergrad, and $18,000 for my graduate degree, for a total of $36,000, two degrees in english with time in russia and the north of england. When i got done with my master's, i was tired of school and ready to push my limits further. I traveled the States as an industrial boilermaker replacing steel tubes in big air heaters, and then i took a gig working in Antarctica, driving an unsupported utility tunnel under the south pole.

After 6 years of avoiding the envelopes from sallie mae, I currently owe $82,000 because of interest and penalties.

Was there a better way to do my life? Probably. But i think of the thousands and thousands of people that end up in debt, with families, and credit cards, working everyday to break even, and i wonder how better their talents could be applied to the world we live in.

How many of us would dedicate our lives to working on the big problems if we didn't have to get that paycheck to pay that debt?

We are on the verge of facing another gigantic humanitarian crisis in Kenya. (you can read a round-up of kenya-based blogs here.) We have nearly forgotten about what happened in Rwanda and Burma. The issues of poverty, illiteracy, corruption, communicable disease, energy and oppression need all of our resources, and instead we're stuck in the grind, stuck in the cubicle, paying off debt that a lot of us didn't understand when we got into it.

how many of us would sublet our apartment for a month and go to kenya to help moderate or facilitate solutions? or how many of us would take a month off and work with people in our own communities to address some of the local issues that are complicating our lives and the lives of our children.

I recently read this quote on some investors blog:
Money is a renewable resource, while time and opportunity run out.

Isn't our effort more valuable than aid?

So my question is: Where are our leaders? Doesn't anyone know that this is going on? Talent and energy and time is being wasted. People are getting locked into lives that aren't serving the greater good. Isn't there a better way?

I looked up these quick stats:
"A recent study by the National Center for Education Statistics (1) shows that about 50% of recent college graduate have student loans, with an average student loan debt of $10,000." and "The average medical student graduates with nearly $100,000 in student loan debt."

James King does Kotlik!!!

2008-01-31T11:48:00.000-08:00

It's so cool when, in the throes of success, one of your friends gets to do some amazing thing, and my friend james king just called me on his way to the airport. He's going up to Kotlik, Alaska to do a couple of shows with a great folksy outfit called common rotation, and i have to say that they have a great sound and one of the best websites i've ever seen. of course my favorite site is still right here.

anyway, i'm looking forward to some blubber eating stories and j.king's tales of making the native gals swoon on the tundra.

Where is my mind?

2008-01-30T18:21:00.000-08:00

My friend Vera sent me this great link to a program that runs you through a few questions on the big issues of the up-coming election and then pinpoints your position on a graph of candidates.

it's called electoral compass, and it only takes a few minutes.
very cool.

the bell curve...

2008-01-25T12:53:00.000-08:00

wow. last night i went to one of the best live shows i've ever seen. it was the w. kamau bell curve. it was at the shelton theater, it was the last show in a short run, but there's more promised, and it was great.

it was in a small, basement proscenium theater near union sq. in SF, and it was packed, all four shows have sold out, but i was lucky enough to know somebody.
it started out with a pretty great funk/rock band: conjure, led by paul hunt, who featured a terrific female vocalist, latrice, and his regular male vocalist, who's name i don't know, but is really amazing. i saw them last month and the singer is really impressive: sweet, soulful, and straight to the point.

they did well, sounding like they were trying some new things and really taking advantage of the intimate setting. i think it's rare to see almost 10 musicians playing for 100 people in theater seating. it was really fun.

then, it was the main event.
my friend kamau did more than an hour of something like stand-up, something like lecture, and something like barbershop storytelling. his issue is race, and he explores news, pop-culture and most importantly, our language, and how we are constantly making choices that contribute to the world around us.
it was a night of goosebumps, hmmmmms and moments where i couldn't laugh hard enough. I've seen kamau perform often over the last few years, and this new show signifies a great shift in his work. from an accomplished stand-up comedian to a social commentator with some badass comedic chops, kamau's new show explores race not as some abstract concept, but as a series of nouns and verbs and inclinations that we create and experience as people on the street.

it's was fucking good. and he not only got oohs and ahhs and wows throughout the show, he got a long standing ovation.

i could easily see him in a room of a few thousand people, young and old, white, black and burmese, and everyone would leave feeling like the received a personal tour through the underbelly of some of the most pressing and present ideas that we never speak up to.

i couldn't be prouder of my friend, and i look forward to seeing the wkb curve grow.
special thanks to the folks that help make the show happen: lisa marie, bruce, melissa, danielle and the rest of the team. great work.

from Speak Up › The Hardest Working Presidential Candidate Logo

2008-01-16T20:12:00.000-08:00

while i'm at it, i came across this really interesting discussion about obama's logo. i was impressed with the look and feel of his site, and the content for that matter, and it was great to see all of these iterations of his "identity". really thoughtful stuff.

and for my two cents, it does matter what a candidate's brand is like. the best candidate will be so conscious of design and the "mental landscape" that meaningful kick-ass branding would be imperative. we're so sensitive and discerning about graphic representation, and it looks like barack is smart enough to know this, and to do something, or demand something, really appropriate.

what's presidential?

2008-01-16T19:43:00.000-08:00

i don't want to feel like i'm being spun all the time, but maybe that is the job of a president... "the world is all fucked up, but i'm out here lying and stealin for YOU!"

i can't tell who's better: hillary because she's a consummate politician. she's fucking dirty and manipulative. it's remarkable the way she moves, like a magician that will actually cut you in half when you're not looking.
or, obama because he seems so genuine and optimistic. he seems so straightforward and practical. it makes me nervous, like maybe he's as bad as hillary, but much, much better at it...
it just seems like he's really clear. he's not dancing and there's no smoke and mirrors, or is there???

awesome: Ex-lawmaker charged in terror conspiracy

2008-01-16T19:25:00.000-08:00

It's times like this that I wonder what it must have been like for my mom to not only deal with my crazy ass growing up, but also to try to process something as discouraging as the iran-contra affair.
We're at a time in history where we're processing more information than ever before. We know more about what's going wrong in the world than ever before, and I believe that we have the tools and the talent to begin to solve some of those problems.
it's so discouraging to feel trapped in a culture that lacks the necessary leadership to take advantage of the opportunity.
this story about a congressman raising money for a charity that was funding an al-Qaida and Taliban supporter is one of those things that really exposes just how complicated things are.
who's right? who's guilty? and what's really going on?
we don't live long enough to ever figure anything out.

MySQL bought by Sun for 1Billion Dollars

2008-01-16T12:07:00.000-08:00

I'm no programmer, but i do love technology, and i also love collaboration and democracy. I think open source is one of the most inspiring ideas out there today, and this move by sun is a very exciting development for the world of open source programming.
I'm looking forward to learning more about the new possibilities of this merger, and more about open source in general. and this is a great reason to get busy.
here's some great observations from Kaj Arno regarding some of the core implications of the sun/mysql move: MySQL AB :: Kaj Arn�

Swiss sausage shortage - Slashfood

2008-01-16T12:04:00.000-08:00

in a world of giant problems, it's always nice to hear about a small one.
Swiss sausage shortage - Slashfood