Dave Pollard's environmental philosophy, creative works, business papers and essays.
In search of a better way to live and make a living, and a better understanding of how the world really works.

	Saturday, February 14, 2009

Links for the Week -- February 14, 2009 "25 things about me" collage; thanks to Pete McGregor for #25; all other photos except #8, #10, #16 by the author Mindmap as Course/Conference Curriculum: My friend Geoff has done something important, world-changing: He has used a mindmap (a tool called Mind42 that lets you post your mindmaps online) to outline a complete conference presentation, with embedded links to blog posts, videos, podcasts, slide presentations, and articles, in the order you should read/view/listen to them, with a lead-in to each from Geoff, in the context of a mindmap showing how they all interrelate. Why is this important?: (1) This format really obviates the need for bums-on-chairs conferences and courses entirely. If I am asked to present at conferences in future, I will use this tool to organize and illustrate my presentation, and show the audience that this is a better way to learn. What about the Q&A? No reason why this can't be scheduled right on the mindmap, in real time, or using a wiki you can add your question to, or even offer with a link to the speaker by IM or Skype at a specified time. (2) Geoff's links in the presentation are amazing. Not only are the speakers in these videos excellent (way better than you get in conferences and classrooms), but the sites and tools the videos are hosted on are also noteworthy and bookmark-worthy. And you can go at your own pace, and drill down or skip over what you think merits more/less attention. Wow! Laugh Your Way to Zen: Communicatrix Colleen provides us with a hilarious guide to discovering and achieving your purpose. Lots more fun than my book, and it has the same destination in mind, and the same caveats on getting there. "Really, how the hell are you supposed to know what the hell it is you want when either you haven’t experienced it yet or it doesn’t exist, or both?" Brilliant. 25 Things About Me: Sharon takes a novel and poetic approach to the exhausted Facebook meme '25 things you didn't know about me'. I'm still thinking about how I would respond -- is there anything significant my readers don't already know about me? The illustration above is a collage I put together that might tell you a bit about what's important and meaningful to me in the meantime. Joe Bageant on our Prison/Asylum Culture: My buddy Joe writes about the deep and broad psychological malaise in America, and the efforts of psychologists to heal it, exploit it, and keep the lid on it. Obama Afraid to Admit Bank Insolvency?: A leading British economist says Obama knows that the major US banks like CitiBank are insolvent and will have to be nationalized or allowed to fail, but won't say so because it would set off a market panic. Thanks to Valdis Krebs for the link. The Art of Hosting on Video: Three people pointed me to this video featuring three facilitators I know through Art of Hosting. This video has a really good quality picture -- why can't YouTube do this?) Top: Major agricultural producers (dark green); Bottom: Countries facing drought in 2009 (red) - another crisis looms. Thanks to Dave Smith for the link. And NOAA suggests seven of these areas (SW North America, E South America, S Europe, N Africa, S Africa, SE Asia, W Australia) will soon face 1000-year-long dust bowls. Thanks to my Oz colleague Kim Sbarcea for that link. The Future of the American West?: Photographer-travel writer Erik Gauger travels precariously to the hard-to-reach, spectacular Coyote Buttes in Arizona, and speculates on what it will be like when the American West runs out of water and the world goes plunk. The Art of Memory: Tuzz writes about the difference between men's and women's brains, Botticelli, and how we remember. The Loci/Memory Palace technique she describes (for those wanting to learn it) is explained here. The Amish on Technology: Tree points us to an article on how the Amish use technology: A few years ago they installed a massive, $400,000 computer-controlled milling machine behind the horse stable. This massive half-million dollar tool is about the dimensions of a delivery truck. It is operated by [the Amish patriarch's] 14-year old daughter, in a bonnet. With this computer controlled machine she makes parts for grid-free horse and buggy living. One can't say "electricity-free" because I kept finding electricity in Amish homes. Once you have a huge diesel generator running behind your barn to power the refrigeration units that store the milk (the main cash crop for the Amish), it's a small thing to stick on a small electrical generator.  For re-charging batteries, say. You can find battery-powered calculators, flashlights, electric fences, and generator-powered electric welders on Amish farms... Nowadays solar panels are becoming popular among the Amish. With these they can get electricity without being tied to the grid, which was their main worry. Solar is used primarily for utilitarian chores like pumping water, but it will slowly [penetrate] into the household. As do most innovations. The Amish use disposable diapers (why not?), chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and are big boosters of genetically modified corn. All is never as it seems. Their aversion to reliance on the grid is probably wise. I'd respect them more if they didn't abuse animals. The Family: The Hard Right's Religious Cult: An underground reporter infiltrated the evangelical extreme's most powerful clique, replete with leading Congressmen, and paints a frightening picture of what might happen if fans of the Rapture capture the White House. Thanks to Dale for the link. Just for Fun: Adobe's site has an intriguing "house of cards" animation (it takes a while to load). Some of their case studies are also worth a look (especially photoshop apps 'episode 2' and 'episode 5'). Thanks to my neighbour Brenda for the links. A really serious biker has made a 20,000 mile tandem bicycle trip from the North to South extremes of the Americas. Thanks to Tree for the link, and the one that follows. Have a 10 foot by 110 foot garden to spare? You can grow enough grain there to make 120 loaves of bread per harvest. Obama's stimulus package is lampooned by a libertarian group as if it were a 'performance enhancing drug' in a send-up commercial. Thanks to Sojourner for the link. And my friend Ivor says that, if we have 'comedy clubs' to get together to laugh about things we find funny, why not 'rage clubs' to get together to rant about what drives us crazy? Thoughts for the Week: Crisis Down Under: My thoughts go out to those in SE Australia coping with the horrific and tragic fires and in NE Australia coping with devastating floods. Bloggers and Twitterers and other social networkers in Oz have played an important role in coordinating disaster response and communicating information. Hats off to them! Thanks to Cheryl for the link. Lines From a Robot Owner's Manual: More amazing work from Dave B. I'm just in awe of this guy's writing ability, and imagination. Bestiary, by Joanna Macy (thanks to Eric Lilius for the link): BESTIARY Short-tailed albatross              Whooping crane                           Gray wolf                                     Woodland caribou                                                 Hawksbill sea turtle                                                                Rhinoceros The list of endangered species keeps growing longer every year. With too many names to hold in our mind, how do we honor the passing of life? What funerals or farewells are appropriate? Reed warbler            Swallowtail butterfly                          Bighorn sheep                                        Indian python                                                    Howler monkey                                                                Sperm whale                                                                             Blue whale Dive me deep, brother whale, in this time we have left. Deep in our mother ocean where I once swam, gilled and finned. The salt from those early seas still runs in my tears. Tears aren't enough anymore. Give me a song, a song for a sadness too vast for my heart, for a rage too wild for my throat. Giant sable antelope            Wyoming toad                      Grizzly bear                                 Brown bear                                             Bactrian camel                                                          Nile crocodile                                                                     Chinese alligator Ooze me, alligator, in the mud whence I came. Belly me slow in the rich primordial soup, cradle of our molecules. Let me wallow again, before we drain your swamp and pave it over. Gray bat          Ocelot                   Pocket mouse                               Sockeye salmon                                             Tasmanian kangaroo                                                            Hawaiian goose                                                                           Audouin's seagull Quick, lift off. Sweep me high over the coast and out, farther out. Don't land here. Oilspills coat the beach, rocks, sea. I cannot spread my wings glued with tar. Fly me from what we have done, fly me far. Golden parakeet            West African ostrich                        Florida panther                                  Galapagos penguin                                                Imperial pheasant                                                               Snow leopard                                                                          Mexican prairie dog Hide me in a hedgerow, badger. Can't you find one? Dig me a tunnel through leaf-mold and roots, under the trees that once defined our fields. My heart is bulldozed and plowed over. Burrow me a labyrinth deeper than longing. Thick-billed parrot            San Francisco garter snake                      Desert bandicoot                                Molokai thrush                                          California condor                                                       Lotus blue butterfly Crawl me out of here, caterpillar. Spin me a cocoon. Wind me to sleep in a shroud of silk, where in patience my bones will dissolve. I'll wait as long as all creation if only it will come again -- and I take wing. Atlantic ridley turtle           Coho salmon                     Helmuted hornbill                               Marine otter                                         Humpback whale                                                   Stellar sea-lion                                                               Monk seal Swim me out beyond the ice floes, mama. Where are you? Boots squeeze my ribs, clubs drum my fur, the white world goes black with the taste of my blood. Gibbon         Sand gazelle                  Swamp deer                            Musk deer                                      Cheetah                                               Chinchilla                                                          Asian elephant                                                                     African elephant Sway me slowly through the jungle. There still must be jungle somewhere, my heart drips with green secrets. Hose me down by the waterhole; there is buckshot in my hide. Tell me old stories while you can remember. Desert tortoise          Crested ibis                    Hook-billed kite                                Mountain zebra                                            Mexican bobcat                                                         Andrew's frigatebird In the time when his world, like ours, was ending, Noah had a list of the animals, too. We picture him standing by the gangplank, calling their names, checking them off on his scroll. Now we also are checking them off. Ivory-billed woodpecker             Indus river dolphin                             West Indian manatee                                              Wood stork We reenact Noah's ancient drama, but in reverse, like a film running backwards, the animals exiting. Ferret              Gorilla                            Jaguar                                          Wolf Your tracks are growing fainter. Wait. Wait. This is a hard time. Don't leave us alone in a world we have wrecked. 11:49:17 PM  trackback []  comment []

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