I was reading this post by the author of Dive into Python and came across this line -
My Zen teacher once told me that, when people try to do you harm, you should thank them for giving you the opportunity to forgive them.
I heard it paraphrased by someone else first … and it’s a good one.
More wisdom as he argues his publishing methodology:
I choose open content licenses because this is the way I want the world to work, and the only way to change the world is to change yourself first.
Some flicks (before my phone died) from my afternoon at Comic-Con’s APE that’s taking place this weekend in SF. I saw some great drawings – and got suckered into way too many hand-made prints and cards. I loved it.
This was the biggest prize I brought home. Can’t wait to get it framed in white.
the black widow
artwork by nan hockin
Photos from my cousin’s wedding in Korea. On this occasion, East met again after 30 years of Western living. Oh, happy day.
The Singularity. It is the era of the posthuman. Artificial intellegences have surpassed the limits of human intellect. Biotechnical beings have rendered people all but extinct. Molecular nanotechnology runs rampant, replicating and reprogramming at will. Co tact with extraterrestrial life grows more imminent with each new day.
Struggling to survive and thrive in this accelerated world are 3 generations of the Macx clan…
Book: accelerando by charles stross.
Perfect Sunday evening reading!
Part of the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Reunion show featured two massive marionettes, the Big Giant, a deep-sea diver, and his niece, the Little Giantess. The storyline of the performance has the two separated by a wall, thrown up by “land and sea monsters”. The Big Giant has just returned from a long and difficult – but successful – expedition to destroy the wall, and now the two are walking the streets of Berlin, seeking each other after many years apart.
Path Intelligence is a UK company that uses transponders to detect GSM signals (cellphones).
Those signals can be geolocated.
GSM phones make up ~40% of the phones in the US.
Excerpts of Janetti’s summer 2009 – minus a few exotic trips I took abroad in between.
Unfortunately for you but fortunately for me, my iPhone was turned to OFF and good times ensued.
Enjoy these snapshots of my life 
I’ve asked myself this question a thousand bajillion times for a thousand bajillion scenarios across my life.
I’m just a monkey chasing my curiosity (really, according to the zodiac, I’m a monkey!)… I’m the Toys ‘R Us kid that’s always asking … Why?
I sold my soul to the dregs of corporate America for a full scholarship to college. And after burning out on Wall Street I moved to the Artist District in downtown LA, became a waitress and spent my free time at the neighborhood coffee shop studying for my GREs.
One day a patron got chatty and asked what I did.
Janetti: Oh, these days I’m just a waitress, prepping for grad school.
Patron: Hun, none of us are ever ‘just’ anything.
I’ve been correcting myself and others ever since. That statement gave me a lot of perspective. We’re oftentimes more than what we credit ourselves with.
Another story from the Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas:
“The writer Umberto Eco… Is the owner of a large personal library (containing thirty thousand books)… A private library is not an ego-boosting appendage but a research tool.
Read books are far less valuable than unread ones. The library should contain as much as what you do not know as your financial means … allow you to put there.
You will accumulate more knowledge and more books as you grow older… Indeed, the more you know, the larger the row of unread books.”
I choose to make the library from this excerpt analogous to the world. The world is not just my oyster! It’s my collection of people, places and things… Much of it not yet discovered but waiting for me to embark on page 1, chapter: Next
I live to learn. Every day hunting down the burning Why’s that cross into my universe. I find a lot of answers but most often than not, I come up with more questions.
It’s glamorous, exciting, and fun! Simultaneously stressful and exhausting, with much sacrifice. On most days I wake up and the glass is half full. But on some days I get stuck asking myself: Why do you live like this?
And then I remember the perspective:
Life is a series of experiences. And the climb to the summit of any mountain worth climbing ain’t ever easy. But you never know until you try.
Life is a process of elimination. So WHY not??!
Looking back at the lifetime of experience that’s gotten me here, it makes sense. And all I can do is continue to follow the Why? until I reach the top.
And then maybe I’ll take a little nap under the clouds…
From today’s New York Times: A Nobelist Joins Those Pursuing Well-Being Over Growth
A Nobel laureate, Joseph E. Stiglitz, has joined the circle of economists convinced that the world needs new ways of measuring progress as human numbers and appetites butt up against the planet’s limits and old economic models have hit some speed bumps.
In The Financial Times yesterday, Dr. Stiglitz, who teaches at Columbia University, outlined the results of a study he and other economists conducted for President Nicolas Sarkozy of France providing advice on a basket of measurements that might better reflect whether a country is advancing the quality of lives while not diminishing the environment. Mr. Sarkozy embraced the findings and called on France’s econometric bureaucracy to shift how it assesses progress and on world leaders and international institutions to do the same.
9/14 NYT article: G.D.P. Seen as Inadequate Measure of Economic Health
G.D.P. is the measure of the market value of all the goods and services produced in the economy… [and] has been described as one of the most important advances in macroeconomics.
However, there has long been criticism that, while it accurately captures the growth or contraction of the overall economy, it is a crude tool for describing social health.
The Stiglitz commission report, known formally as “The Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress Revisited,” said that one of the most glaring problems with using economic growth as a proxy for well-being was the fact that it excluded the damage to society and ultimately to the economy of environmentally non-sustainable activities.
Mr. Sarkozy created the commission in February 2008, only the latest initiative to take on the issue. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Commission are also considering new economic measures.
Rock on France. I am very impressed with this new wave of thinking.
Interestingly I’d approached Professor Stiglitz’s office to see if he’d be available to join us at Web 2 Summit this year but was told he had a pre-arranged international engagement that would keep him occupied and unavailable. Now I understand why…
It was a wonderfully restful and labor-less Labor Day weekend and I’m appreciative that this week’s a relatively quiet one. The O’Reilly and TechWeb teams are tending to the frontlines in D.C. launching Gov 2 Summit & Showcase, and the program for Web 2 Summit is solid with the schedule going live on the site this week.
Having made the shift to virtual employee, I’ve been traveling extensively these past few months – reconnecting with family, friends and experiences – and I’m very slowly formulating a new work-from-home routine.
This morning I caught up on Google Reader and proved that the early bird definitely gets the worm. It was rush hour in the laundry room this morning and I thought – Why are so many people interested in doing their laundry on a Tuesday? Wait. Why are so many people home on a Tuesday?
Reflecting on the weekday goings-on I’ve subliminally observed I realize that there are actually a ton of people in my complex who work from home. Neighbors pacing while on courtyard cigarette breaks and shouting obscenities to their blackberries while rushing back to their wifi’d apartment.
I find it humorous that I left one cubicle but still work out of a box on the 2nd floor of a really big box filled with other home-workers, just like me. It’s just a different way of work.
A few weeks ago I sat in on a Web 2 Summit briefing call with (program chair) John Battelle and Maynard Webb, current CEO of LiveOps, former President of eBay and board member to Salesforce.com. John was brainstorming a panel concept: Web Squared and the Economy of Work – taking Web tools to increase efficiency in the ‘workplace’ and within the process of how business gets executed.
LiveOps is a virtual command center – servicing enterprises with mission critical customer service points – call centers and agents. They are a virtual company working with virtual employees – simultaneously helping their clients recruit and nurture the best employees for the right job, regardless of location.
Just start with the world of global – what do you want from a quality and cost stand point and get the best worker – not based on location, physical properties. We set so many artificial limits around work that we don’t need to do anymore. Technology and Social Networking has allowed this evolution / growth. People have learned to stay connected even though they are geographically dispersed. The technology exists to allow us to do this very well.
- Maynard Webb
Maynard wants to revolutionize the way of work – the same way he revolutionized commerce while at eBay. And he’s doing it around the demands of the people. He says,
The world of work is changing in a BIG way, since even before the meltdown. The days of paternalistic companies are long gone.
At the start of 2009 I predicted that although layoffs are terrible when basic needs are a challenge to meet – hopefully it’ll be the start of a more reflective and passionate economy of global workers. People might try to discover that there are other options out there that could offer a better work/life solution to the battle all office monkeys face. I also predicted an increase in volunteerism, for the same reason.
My friend at a large Canadian retail shop shared that instead of salary increases the entire company (about 200 people) got an extra week of vacation as compensation for 2009. That was interesting to me and a well-respected decision: people feel appreciated, get more personal time, and projects will still get done – maybe even faster with less wasted time in the office.
This rant – what’s the point? Well, as a member of this ‘new economy of work’ I have to say I love it. And if more employers gave their folks options I bet many would take less money for the ability to work virtually, and be happier doing it. So you boost morale and possibly increase group / project effectiveness, and save corporate overhead on rent.
Comforting to know I’m not the only idealist who sees the value in this. Yes, many people work better in a set office environment, but many don’t. All companies should give employees the virtual option. This transfers responsibility for success onto the employee – you can always cut your losses if it doesn’t work out.
Additional Web 2 Summit Economy of Work panelists include –
Liam Casey, founder, PCH International – who’s leading the charge in ‘just-in-time’ supply chain management. What does that mean? Production based on exact demand, limiting capital losses and risk in unpredictable markets. Based in China they are also the manufacturers of the Chumby.
Josh Green, founder, Panjiva – a database of all overseas suppliers that analyzes raw data about port shipments provided by US Customs, part of the DHS – to help find trustworthy and complimentary trade partners.
You may think a “work” panel might not be the sexiest thing on the Summit agenda – but I’m looking forward to hearing what these gents have to say. Scheduled for Thursday, 10/22 the panel will be filmed and posted to the Web 2 Summit blip.tv channel.
Twitter @Janerri
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