A Day in That Place

1... 2... 3:45... 6/7/08

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:23:00 +0000

No, I am not going to start posting nothing but videos, but WOW! San Francisco, Union Square, Bjork's "It's Oh So Quiet", flash mob dance performance. Oh, and my hottie McHot wife? With a very well produced video of the entire event. Now aren't you sad you weren't there?

[ADDITION]
I just got my pictures from the day posted to Flickr. It was a fantastic day in San Francisco, the kind that we rarely get to enjoy. Have fun with the pics!

Performance Art WOW!

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 07:37:00 +0000

I have never tried embedding a video before, mostly because video is pretty personal taste-y... But for this guy, I gotta try

5:30 and worth every second of it.

Definition: Idea Trucker

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Sat, 24 May 2008 03:06:00 +0000

All right, the first thing that we have to do, is break down the two words individually. I think these should be pretty straightforward:

i·de·a -noun
any conception existing in the mind as a result of mental understanding, awareness, or activity.

Good enough, pretty much anything in your head. Easy. Everybody should be able to get this one as well:

truck·er -noun
a person whose business is trucking goods.

Hmmm... goods. I think we are about to see a little theme here in truck land. I thought trucking was a verb, but in the interest of thouroughness, I looked it up too, and what do you know? That theme I was talking about?

truck·ing -noun
the art or business of conveying articles or goods on trucks.

Trucking is an ART! I knew that they were under appreciated, but how do you think most truckers would react if you called them artists? Labels sure can do funny things, huh? But I digress... So if you are conveying or moving articles or goods (objects) you are a Trucker. But how about if you are conveying or moving things that are not quite so material? Things like ideas? Now we get to the compounded definition for this phrase:

i·de·a truck·er -noun
A person whose business is conveying any conception existing in the mind as a result of mental understanding, awareness, or activity on trucks.

Hmmm... Not quite perfect. Can't get ideas onto trucks (they're slippery little buggers), besides, this is a little wordy for a dictionary. Let's try a few slight changes:

i·de·a truck·er -noun
A person whose business is conveying any conception from one mind to another.

There we go. And I hope I just made my first delivery to you of many. Please sign here.

ROWE - An Alternative Business Model

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Fri, 23 May 2008 22:17:00 +0000

After reading about Best Buy's experiment with a ROWE (Results Only Work Environment) on Tim Ferris' blog yesterday (Part One, Part Two), I started thinking about my job specifically. It started on my commute to work, and when I got in to the office, part two of this article had been posted, and I had messages from 80% of the team that I work with saying that they would be working from home (WFH) for today. Well, it WAS a Friday before a long weekend, but that is not really relevant to this...

I then had the following IM conversation with my (ostensible) supervisor, who is a peer (except maybe on an org. chart):

Me: Why am I here?
Me: And I don't mean that in the metaphysical sense!
My supervisor: hahaha you must be all alone
Me: Why is my meat in this specific chair, today (right now)? Almost everyone that I interact with has sent out a WFH message, and this is not going to change one iota the amount of work we get done as a team today. That's pretty cool, but why am _I_ still sitting in a chair in the office? Maybe the answer to that question, from [My Boss], would be better than a raise?
My supervisor: [Co-worker] isn't in yet?
Me: Don't think so, but then I just got here.
My supervisor: hahaha ok
My supervisor: yep
Me: I was already thinking this on the way to BART. I saw myself, walking a meat bag to a transport system to go put my butt in a chair, miles from where I slept. And all I could think was, "I could already be at "work", so why I am I transporting all this meat to the city?"
My supervisor: lol
My supervisor: you are in the transport business and didn't even know it!
Me: Well, I am, but I know I am an "Idea Trucker". Why do I have to be a meat trucker as well?
My supervisor: yup
My supervisor: you need mudflaps

I really like the idea of mental mudflaps, though I have no idea what they would look like.

So, 41% increase in productivity, after letting go the people who are not the best fit for the team, by empowering and respecting your employees. In exchange the company get improved retention and productivity. Why isn't every company doing this?

Oh, and the "Idea Trucker" concept will be the subject of an upcoming post.

Discuss

Art, art, and more art. We NEED more art!

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Thu, 22 May 2008 23:59:00 +0000

Crazy, crazy Netherlands performance art:

Is this where my community has gotten off to?

Including Excludes

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:29:00 +0000

RICH - Propaganda Posters

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:52:00 +0000

WWII Era posters reminded people about their actions. I think there are a lot of people who do not quite understand the true costs of their actions. Stealing the metals (copper, aluminum, brass, etc.) wholesale out of our country for the quick cash from unscrupulous metal dealers, to ship it to other countries? We, and by that I mean ALL Americans, are gutting our infrastructure to the benefit of others for a fraction of its true worth. We need to find a way to educate those people that are doing this to our country. Who can come up with a slogan and/or a moving graphic design to help curb this raping of our country?

Now, how about for litter? Wastefulness? Driving SUV's and the gas it wastes?

Anyone want to run with this?

Compliment or not?

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 00:15:00 +0000

I was walking down the street, in downtown San Francisco, and a middle-aged African-American man, with a little visible gold in his grill, said to his friends (or to me): "That's a cold moustache!". My question to you, compliment or not?

He's Alive!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 02:42:00 +0000

It has been way too long, but I think I have the transition to my new host pretty much completed. There should be no more service interruptions, though there might be a bunch of visual changes coming in the near future.

Speaking of changes... For those who know me personally, what would you like to see me talk about, cover or otherwise discuss? What sort of conversations could we time-shift to the comments that our life migrations have made difficult? I remember way too many late nights, arguing the merits of communism (or some other topic) and way to few of them in recent memory. For those of you who do not know me personally (is there even one of you who reads this?), welcome, and what do you find interesting about the things that have been written about here in the past?

A little something to get the ol' brain juices flowing:
What might we find at the intersection of Moore's Law, economy of scale, information portability, and good old enthusiasm that could be used to improve the maximum numbers of lives? For the smallest financial investment? Discuss!

I'm not sure if anyone is actually subscribed to this blog in any way, but if you are, would you let me know, either in the comments or via email, how you watch my ramblings?

There is no love without a mustache!

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 18:04:00 +0000

This just in... I have found a wonderful blog, full of photos, stories, links and humor, dedicated to:

Mustaches of the Nineteenth Century

I have not read this before, and am not sure of the source, but from the pen of Guy de Maupassant comes what I will call:

There is no love without a mustache!

I am not sure how my wife would agree with all of this, but when is the last time you read a letter this beautiful, dedicated to facial hair? Enjoy!

Burning Man 2008 Art Theme announced...

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 22:07:00 +0000

"American Dream"

If this is a prank, somebody hacked the BM website. Let the raving, flaming, angry emails start flowing!

...so... angry... maybe this is another of the 7 signs of the apocalypse? (Like the smoking ban in Irish bars) Or just the last sign that Burning Man has jumped the shark?

I am back, clean, (though most of my stuff isn't) and will be posting photos and more stories soon, but this just had to be posted ASAP.

Just HOW does this theme relate at ALL to what Burning Man is supposed to be about. Like we need MORE RVs out there? Big Red, White, and Blue RVs?

SOMEbody PLEASE post a comment about this to help me understand how any attendees can get behind this? I have nightmares of beer-helmeted, NASCAR fans saying "Well, finally! Now I can get into this Burning Thing!"

Ick!

Words of Wisdom from an unlikely source

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 22:43:00 +0000

This is a great piece of advice that I got from BRK (WOW Information for Hunters) that I think should be spread far and wide as some of the best help for day-to-day living in this hectic, crowded world:

My friend, there is one bit of advice you need to heed. One small tidbit of information that shall put your mind at ease. One itsy bitsy teenie weenie morsel of truth that shall set you free:

People are stupid.

Unfortunately, too often in our lives we have to deal with People. Friends are cool. Acquaintances are nice. People are dumb. People are ignorant. People are loud-mouthed schnooks. People need to take a long quaff from a great big tall frosty glass of Shut The H3ll Up juice.

You have three choices when dealing with People: let them control you, get away from them, or shut them up.

Heed the advice of the BRK. I know that I do!

Almost Outta Here!

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 18:23:00 +0000

I hope to be leaving for the desert in a couple of days to go to this little thing where they burn some stuff. Let's try this new embedded map thing from Google and see how it works.

View Larger Map

Hopefully this will give you an idea of where to search for me and my lovely wife!

While I am gone, I am sure that this event will get lots of news coverage, but there is one group out there that will be recording tv/podcasts and putting them online LIVE! Check out TV Free Burning Man and if you see a bunch of HUGE bikes/trikes with fire shooting out the top, look close, because I will probably be in the middle of it!

These last couple of months have been pretty insane, with lots of changes in the lives of the people I care about the most. To all of you, I give one of my new "Favorite Quotes": This too shall pass. I love you all, and will be sending my best wishes for you skyward on plumes of black smoke.

After I return from this trip (in a little over a week), I am sure there will be the usual post-event gushing of stories, but I will also be making it a point to improve the frequency of posts at That Place.

In the meantime, I might (but probably not) find access to email/blog while I am gone, so feel free to write comments or to me directly, and if nothing else, I will respond after I get back. Anyone who reads this blog, use this week to think about what you would like to see here, and I promise it goes to the top of my priority list upon my return to the world of boring normalcy.

Burn Hot, Burn Big.

Poem

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:25:00 +0000

It has been too long, and I promise to try to make writing here more of a priority.

When asked if I haz hunger (see lolcats) my respose was:

Hunger looms like a stooping hawk
Must eat meat
To stave off death

If I had had the guts...

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 20:42:00 +0000

I would TOTALLY, you know, been like, a Punk!

Find out how totally 80's are you at LiquidGeneration!

Bow to me!

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 17:13:00 +0000

You are The Emperor

Stability, power, protection, realization; a great person.
The Emperor is the great authority figure of the Tarot, so it represents fathers, father-figures and employers. There is a lot of aggression and violence too.

The Emperor naturally follows the Empress. Like an infant, he is filled with enthuiasm, energy, aggression. He is direct, guileless and all too often irresistible. Unfortunately, like a baby he can also be a tyrant. Impatient, demanding, controlling. In the best of circumstances, he signifies the leader that everyone wants to follow, sitting on a throne that indicates the solid foundation of an Empire he created, loves and rules with intelligence and enthusiasm. But that throne can also be a trap, a responsibility that has the Emperor feeling restless, bored and discontent.

What Tarot Card are You?

Take the Test to Find Out.

Meme - Photo Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 02:14:00 +0000

Ok, got the new hotness, and I love my Nikon D80, but this challenge is more for your eyes and mind than it is for what kind of camera you have. What I want to see is the one (or more?) beautiful thing that you see every day, and say to yourself, "I should take a picture of that".

Now, if you want to go with the cheese factor, you can take a pic of your husband/wife/SO/child, but it had better be a GOOD pic! I am thinking more about things like the sunset that you see every day, and say WOW! Or the light on a plant that you see when you go out for lunch at work, or the tiny little flower growing in the concrete as you walk to your car. So, put the following text above a pic on your blog, and let the world have a little more beauty in it. Let's call this challenge:

Everyday Beauty Challenge
Take a picture of at least one thing that you see every day, and that makes you say "Wow, I should take a picture of that!" Well, today I challenge you to DO IT! Share your beauty with the world like so:

My Everyday Beauty Challenge Reply:

This is a photo from my window of a typical sunset over the San Francisco skyline, from my home in Oakland.

Ping me back after you have done this so I can enjoy the beauty of the world through my friend's eyes!

I am a Book!

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 20:14:00 +0000

You're Ender's Game!
by Orson Scott Card

To you, most everything is a game. It's summertime, and the living's easy. Even when there's a war on, it's just a game to you. But even though you've historically been able to meet every challenge, there are some doubts about what lies ahead. Are you sure you're up to the next test? Don't forget to pay attention to your siblings.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Fun Vocabulary Fact

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 18:38:00 +0000

Most people have heard that a group of Crows is called a Murder. I can understand that. You see enough crows cleaning the corpses on a battlefield, and you might call that a murder as well.

BUT... Do you know what a group of Ravens is called? They are awfully similar birds...

And Unkindness of Ravens.

Go figure.

I _AM_ Iron Man!

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 20:02:00 +0000

Your results:

You are Iron Man

Inventor. Businessman. Genius.

Iron Man		90%
Spider-Man		65%
Green Lantern		65%
Wonder Woman		65%
Robin		65%
Catwoman		55%
Supergirl		50%
The Flash		50%
Hulk		50%
Superman		40%
Batman		35%

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

I Want - Mobile access to data, to interface with and track my personal data footprint

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 00:21:00 +0000

First, to the one of you who have mentioned that I do not post very often (often enough?), let me say that a)You are correct, yet b)I would hope that only when I have coherent, relevant, and original obervations to add to the interwebs, would I do so, as befits my new-found status as Person Of The Year.

Now, this has been kicking around in my head for a while...

Message in a bottle, tracking objects through meat-space

As we wade through meat-space, we leave a trail in our wake. If we were to put a tracking substance on ourselves (Something like Po210, maybe?) we would see that the breadth of our impact is much larger than we think. In lieu of radioactive tracking, think about using something like Where's George. All you need to do is get a little stamp or a pen and mark the cash that you get, and hope that someone else logs it back into the system. Not quite as efficient as tracking with radioactive material, but a decent start.

As more and more of our devices (cameras, phones, PDAs, laptops, objects with RFID tags, clothes, etc.) become location aware via GPS technologies, we will leave more and more visible trails through meat-space, trackable through meta-space. If every picture we post on Flickr has GPS coordinates with it, you would be able to reconstruct your path through the world. Assuming enough data points, you might even have a relatively decent resolution to the map as well. Beyond the entertainment value of this, might we also become more aware of the interconnected nature of our world in the process? This can only help reinforce the idea of "Think globally, act locally.".

As we traverse meta-space, we leave a lighter trace that may be able to be followed by people with server logs, but we can leave breadcrumbs as well. We call them bookmarks, and they help us not only return to specific ideas and locations, but like their fairy tale namesakes, return us to a path of thought.

Helping me, helps us

Introducing me not only to specific items that you have found, but rather to the meta-information of the way you found it might be more valuable. Even one level up could introduce me to a whole new channel of information that might end up more valuable to me than the specific article/item that caught your eye.

As an example, I regularly submit goofy articles to Porter's Goofyblog (And have even had a few of them published!). However, I usually send him the URL to the article or item that I found (Goofy article about Krispy Kreme Hamburgers), that actually lives online somewhere else. However, for sake of argument, let's say that I found the original reference on a blog/comic that I read daily called My Extra Life. If I were to preface the link I was sending, with the URL of the place that I found the reference, he would now have a whole new channel to watch for further Goofy information.

In this age of user contributed information, the original source of the information can get lost through several layers of "telephone"-like linked referencing. Take the time to find the original source and think of it as taking the time to wrap a present in a nice ribbon before giving it as a gift. Think of the URL to the location where you found the reference as the bow on top.

For a little more along these lines, see I Want - Data Packetization.

Follow my mind

I know that I have issues staying focused on one topic/idea/project for very long. If you have known me for any length of time, you are probably laughing and thinking "That's an understatement!" Reading through my del.icio.us links only reinforces that for me. However, looking trough them also gives a pretty good overview of the type of person I am via what kind of things am I interested in. These are my del.icio.us links, and how to add a list to your own blog. I would like to see more of my friends using this service, and posting their lists. It would be a great way to follow their "breadcumbs", get to know them a little better, and improve my own information sources at the same time.

Poll - Why are you NOT going to vote?

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 17:17:00 +0000

I have voted already, and what my choices were is not relevant to this question. I would like to find out what the issues are that keep people from voting? People in other countries fight, die and are killed, trying to vote or even just to get the right to vote the first time. I heard a statistic that we are looking at maybe 55% voter turnout for this election. My question to you, and please leave them anonymously if you would like, is why are you not voting in this election?

I just got this idea on the way in to work today, and I would like to do something for the next election. I want to have a table with a microphone, probably outside of a BART station, and ask people to record a quick statement about why they are not going to vote. I would edit the recording into something that I could sent to politicians that actually want some issues to address. The totals will be posted here as well. Why do we not take advantage of what is probably the single biggest privilege/right that we have in this country?

Meme - Johari Window

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 23:07:00 +0000

So, enough about me... What do YOU think about me?
Seriously, "The Johari Window was invented by Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham in the 1950s as a model for mapping personality awareness. By describing yourself from a fixed list of adjectives, then asking your friends and colleagues to describe you from the same list, a grid of overlap and difference can be built up."

Here is my Johari Window, and it really works best if the friends that know you fill it out as well.

Let me know if you put one of these on your site, and I will fill yours out as well.

Project - The Radical Idea Clearing House (RICH)

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 19:47:00 +0000

In my last post, I mentioned that the most valuable thing that Mankind produces, in the sense of our only truly Human-only contribution to Universe, is that of unique ideas, and maybe more precisely, previously un-thought ideas.

But what to do about them? How do we use these new ideas to better the world for us all? How do we get credit/paid to think and come up with these ideas? I think Bucky had a great idea with his "life fellowship in research and development" (see previous post) but where does the money come from? It would be great to think that someone with huge amounts of money (Think the Bill and Linda Gates foundation) would see this as a great idea and step up, but do you think that is as unlikely as I do? Before I tell you how I think it might happen, let me mention the notes I had left over from the last post. They were:

1) Profit from thinking/ideas
2) Need more outlets to make profit from ideas.
3) Outlets that assign value to creative thinking.

So, if I could answer those three things (and I am sure there are more issues that all of you brilliant people could come up with) then I would be on my way to giving a home to the previously un-thought ideas.

1) The first issue is mostly addressed by Bucky Fuller as having a "Fellowship" for people to think. In fact he suggests fishing as the ideal time to come up with new, great ideas. Wanna get paid to go fishing? You should be able to! But where does the money come from? I think it would be great to see if that could be kickstarted by a large foundation, but I would hope it is unnecessary. If these ideas are as valuable as I think they are (And I like Bucky's odds of 1 in 100,000 pays for the other 99,999 fellowships), what if we can get this started by just finding that first good idea?

2) This is the idea I just had that got me writing here. Read the title of this post again, and this should make sense. More on this later.

3) Easy, I hereby assign value to your ideas. Whatever they may be, they are unique in Universe, and therefore supremely valuable.

I think you see where this is going.

I want to start the Radical Idea Clearing House© (RICH) based on the premise that eventually, one good idea will fund all of the people involved, including myself. What wealth do I have to bring to the table to get started? Definitely not the cash of someone like a Gates, but I have ideas, time, skills, and this series of tubes called "the internet". So, in lieu of a foundation/patron/VC giving a lot of money to get this started, I am going to start this by myself and as proof of concept and as a way of putting my wealth where my mouth is, I am going to give this idea away.

To add an Idea to the RICH, one needs to submit the following information, with as much detail as possible:

1) General concepts/goals
2) Benefits to Earth/Humanity/Universe
3) Potential costs to Earth/Humanity/Universe
4) Costs to Earth/Humanity/Universe of NOT implementing this idea
5) Specifics
6) Needs
7) Next Steps towards implementation

These will be fleshed out later, as you will see in:

====================

Radical Idea Clearing House© (RICH)
(Idea Submission #1 by Graham Linn, Thinker #1, (07/22/2006))

1) General concepts/goals
Publish, in open-source/creative commons style, ideas from members (Thinkers) for peer review/improvement with the end goal of having these ideas implemented to the benefit of Humanity as a whole.

The Radical Idea Clearing House (RICH) should be an online accessible collection of the World improving ideas of its users. As such, it would also become a location for individuals, corporations, foundations, or even venture capitalists to come to find ideas that could use assistance (mental, physical, or financial) and improve the World for Humanity in the process.

2) Benefits to Earth/Humanity/Universe
A good idea, well implemented, makes Earth a better place for all. The more radical ideas that get implemented, the better it is for all of us.
Even small ideas, well implemented, can have profound effects.

3) Potential costs to Earth/Humanity/Universe
The resources necessary to implement the Radial Idea Clearing House should be relatively minimal. As this is primarily a web-based, software idea, most costs will be in the form of time invested by the participants. This should be mostly distributed so as not to put too much of a burden on any one person.
The hardware involved could be recycled from other projects, and even the necessary power could come from renewable sources.

4) Costs to Earth/Humanity/Universe of NOT implementing this idea
Ideas, being the most valuable contribution of Humanity to Universe, are priceless and if lost, or not acted upon, the costs could be immense.
Since this Idea (The Radical Idea Clearing House) could have an impact on unlimited ideas, and losing any of them could be extremely expensive, collectively, the costs of NOT implementing this Idea would range from unacceptably high to infinitely expensive, depending on the ideas NOT implemented and lost from not having a place to have them implemented.

5) Specifics
Since The Radical Idea Clearing House should be accessible from the internet, in order to reach the largest number of Thinkers, It will need to start as a hosted web server. The software that runs on this box should include at least the following functionality:
a) A web-based front end which provides Thinkers, the public, and interested parties access to the Ideas therein and provides Thinkers access to and a way to modify Ideas that they are working on either solo or collectively.
b) A database to which individual Thinkers can add personal data, for project tracking, credit/acknowledgement of Ideas, contact information for compensation if so desired, etc. This should also provide for some sort of encrypted signature that can help track individual Thinkers' contributions on projects other than their own.
To make the submission of ideas simpler, there should be a standardized (and updateable) form to help focus on the basic questions that need to be answered.
c) A collaborative environment, where Thinkers can add and change their idea statements over time and can collaborate with other Thinkers on their Ideas. Something similar to a wiki-type environment would work well. I would like to see a way to color-code changes, so that it is possible to see who and when someone has made a change. Each Thinker could choose their own unique color at registration time. This way, you could look at collaborative text, and at a glance, tell who has been working with you on what sections. This color coding could also "fade" (approach closer to black-on-white) over time, possibly based on calender time, possibly based on number of views by other registered Thinkers. The software could also use this to track which are the most active Ideas both by numbers of Thinkers involved and by the amount of changes in an Idea.
d) A weighted ranking system for Ideas, incorporating an element of user input as well as things like cost/benefit differences, degree of feasibility, outstanding issues/problems, ease of implementation, etc. Anything that could be put into the database, and evaluated by a formula, should serve as the basis for an idea's baseline ranking. That Idea can be promoted or demoted, by the registered Thinkers, especially as problems are introduced or solved in the Idea. This ranking system should help get as many good ideas implemented as possible by showing those interested in developing them further, the Ideas that are most ready for further development.
e) Payment enabling. I would like to think that just seeing your idea improve the world for Humanity (and yourself in the process) would be enough. However, until things change, we still need money to provide for some needs.

I would suggest that anyone/any company who takes an idea from The Radical Idea Clearing House, and makes a profit from it, would voluntarily take some of the net profits (maybe as little as .5%) and return that to the Thinker that posted the idea in the first place. If people see that they can do good AND get paid, we should see more people posting more ideas. This would also be a great place for a collection of organizations that could use further funding so that if a Thinker would like, they would have an easy way to find an organization they believe in and donate their earnings.

Additionally, a donation (out of the net profits from an idea) to The Radical Idea Clearing House itself, would be used to provide for the infrastructure of the RICH, and if there was enough funding available, to start a foundation to give out Bucky's Lifetime R&D fellowships to the most productive Thinkers until such point as every user of The Radical Idea Clearing House is receiving a fellowship.

As a way to keep track of Thinkers, I suggest giving out a unique Thinker number, upon submission of your first verified Idea to The Radical Idea Clearing House. A simple task for a new user, or even someone having a little creative block, would be to go through the queue of incoming ideas, briefly check them for validity and uniqueness, and submit them for further review. After an idea passes this stage, its Thinker will either be given their unique, sequential number or credit for the submission of another Idea. This is the point at which an idea (lower-case i) becomes an Idea (lead-capital I) and is tracked from this point out as a project.

As the collection of Ideas grows, there will come a need for a way to connect with other Thinkers that have knowledge in areas that you do not. I could see individual Thinkers take on the task of helping to clarify individual issues with Ideas into general fields (electronics, programming, manufacturing, political, etc.) with a place that someone with specialized knowledge could go to look at solving individual issues, without having to try to solve all problems in one Idea.

6) Needs (This would be a place for a standardized form for things any Idea might need. This would also help focus the Thinker to help kickstart the Idea into implementation)

Hardware
To start with, one server, hosted on a static IP address, running the software further described below. I see the scalability of this set-up to be important, and hence should be considered carefully from the beginning.

Software
The software needed falls into two categories:
Infrastructure - General running of The Radical Idea Clearing House, including databases, forms, payment tracking and website.
Social - More specific to ranking of ideas, charity tracking, donation acceptance, etc.

Labor
Financial - We need someone knowledgeable about Non-Profit/Not-For-Profit organizations, foundations/corporations to answer questions about the best way to set up The Radical Idea Clearing House.
Hardware - Originally, one person to set up and maintain the first server for RICH, growing as needed.
Programming - This is the place that I see the largest need in the implementation of this idea. At this point, I need further feedback from other Thinkers, as to how to approach implementing this, and what the needs are for further programming requests/requirements.

Social
Advertising - It would be nice to think that viral marketing, cross-linking in the blogosphere, and maybe a good Digg experience would be enough to launch this Idea into the public consciousness. And, for all I know, it might be! If not, in order to reach a large enough number of Thinkers to reach a critical mass of ideas, some form of slightly more aggressive advertising might be necessary.
Marketing Materials - I would like to be able to provide 50-100 free business cards to anyone who registers as a Thinker at The Radical Idea Clearing House (With additional cards either cheap, free, or somehow "earnable" via work for RICH). The front side would have the Thinker's name, Thinker number, any contact information that they would like, the URL to RICH, and one line that has the title "Idea Title". The back side would have some very basic fields in a table form to quickly capture the essence of a spur of the moment idea, with the URL to a direct submission area of the RICH site. These cards would be used by the Thinker, whenever they overhear a good idea. By handing the card to someone, and telling them that there is a place to see good ideas come to life, they not only advertise RICH, but bring a new idea to the table as well. If there is anyone working at a printer that might have extra printing capacity to donate, contact me.
Publicity - News, print, podcast appearances, online repository of "Who we are" info, etc.

7) Next Steps towards implementation
If all of the above needs were addressed, The Radical Idea Clearing House would be an entity poised to make the World a better place.

At this point, I need two things:
1) Feedback on this idea. Will it fly? What am I missing? Where could it be improved?
2) Manpower. I need help figuring out how to implement the software ideas I have outlined, and getting them to a functional place where other Thinkers can contribute. This Idea would be a perfect test case for how to make this process work. Anyone have a couple spare brain cycles to donate to the cause?

Trend - More time to think or just thinking more?

noreply@blogger.com (Graham) — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 23:57:00 +0000

Is it that those of us who blog make it a point to take more time to think or that because we have more time to think, we need an outlet for it, and find that blogging provides that outlet?

I find that knowing there is a place that I can put the things I think about, online, where other people can comment and give feedback has acted as a focus for my thinking.

Now to the real trend: I think that we are finally seeing a change in how much time humanity has available to devote to "just thinking". In a broad sense, think about how much man/brain power, in aggregate, is spent now on things like farming, manufacturing, transporting goods, and all of the rest of the manual labor that humans have had to do for the last few millennia.

The Fair Labor Standards Act, originally approved in 1938, was the foundation of many of the laws that are now in place to protect workers salaries, and prevent child labor abuses as well as the establishment of a minimum wage and overtime pay. It also established the 40-hour work week as a standard. Interestingly, there was also a proposal for a 30-hour week as a way to reduce unemployment and hence increase the quality of life for more people.

Most of us now spend 40 hours of every week (24% of our life/week) working. At least. Many people spend quite a bit more. How much of that quarter of my life is actually used to improve the quality of my life or that of the rest of the humans on earth, in any way other than the salary I am provided in exchange? Almost none.

What is the one thing that human beings produce, that (so far as we know) NO other being in the Universe produces? Novel, unique, and brand new IDEAS! This is the true value that each of us can add to the Universe, should add to the Universe, and as this is the thing that makes us unique in the Universe, MUST add to the Universe.

"But, if I don't work... I don't get paid!" True, but I think that the "work" of thinking is as important to humanity, and depending on your job, immensely more important than cranking out one more PowerPoint presentation.

I have started re-reading Buckminster Fuller's Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth in which he proposes:

Bucky's "Life Fellowship in Research & Development"
Chapter 8. Regenerative Landscape

"To take advantage of the fabulous magnitudes of real wealth waiting to be employed intelligently by humans and unblock automation's postponement by organized labor we must give each human who is or becomes unemployed a life fellowship in research and development or in just simple thinking. Man must be able to dare to think truthfully and to act accordingly without fear of losing his franchise to live. The use of mind fellowships will permit humans comprehensively to expand and accelerate scientific exploration and experimental prototype development. For every 100,000 employed in research and development, or just plain thinking, one probably will make a breakthrough that will more than pay for the other 99,999 fellowships. Thus, production will no longer be impeded by humans trying to do what machines can do better. Contrariwise, omni-automated and inanimately powered production will unleash humanity's unique capability - its metaphysical capability."

I think this is a great idea. It is a little ambitious, but I think the principle is sound. Maybe we could start by spending (volunteering) one hour a week (.59% of a week) thinking about problem solutions. Bucky had many ideas that were VERY far ahead of his time. Some of them are only now becoming feasible. Be sure to read his book preferably in hard copy so it is easier to refer to.

I had a few notes left here at the bottom of the draft for this post. I am going to leave them here, so you can see them, but read carefully the next post, because I think I found a way do address them all at once.

Notes:
1) Profit from thinking/ideas
2) Need more outlets to make profit from ideas.
3) Outlets that assign value to creative thinking.