for the last year, to varying levels of success, i’ve been trying to keep my inbox empty. that has been tough, honestly, because i get a few hundred emails a day. some auto-route to a specific folder but for the most part i need to relate with, delete, file, respond, or act on each of them.
but i recommend trying to get your email inbox to zero, and using some kind of system for organizing reference material and to-do tasks. i’ve gone so far as to join the GTD cult, though i don’t think that’s quite for everyone.
here is a video to watch if you’d like to get inspired to clear out your inbox, by fellow GTD cult-member merlin mann of 43folders, when he presented his approach to email clarity.
i’d also recommend reading his short essays on why it is ok to be bad at correspondence, though i think it’s still possible to be polite, and drawing the line on what we spend our time on. he’s a motivational speaker for the modern ADHD technology world.
in my previous post, this video mashup was highlighted. it is by youtube user blimvisible, self-described as a housewife not a video professional. it’s an amazing commentary on media remixing and the change of copyright, and it is just beautifully done. in it, she uses a myriad of appropriated clips from movies and regina spektor’s song “us” with the prominent lyric “living in a den of thieves”.
we’re living in a time when copyright in the u.s. is being extended, when big companies like disney attempt to protect their intellectual property. the mickey mouse image has an estimated worth of $3 billion.
and at the same time, we’re living in a time when remixing and digital production is so easy now and accessible it is exploding. next, i ask you to watch this ted talk by larry lessig on how our copyright laws are strangling creativity. but from my post yesterday, you could say the copyright laws have a potential to hamper a cultural shift that is tremendously important - moving us away from a spectator-based, suburban TV culture to a more participatory, interactive community again.
i fear our collective understanding of this issue concerning copyright, and our ability to change the laws, is really going to lag behind. so i’m trying to get the word out.
i highly recommend you watch this lecture by anthropology professor michael wesch, where he discusses youtube and participatory culture. don’t worry, it is not dry and academic. it is uplifted and paints the largeness and the positive potential of video and the internet. watch it all the way through even though.
so i check the online culture buzz each week through various means and last week the concept of “cash gifting” popped up. i hadn’t heard about it yet but apparently these have been around a few years. now however you’ll find people submitting online press releases promoting then and numerous youtube video promotions as well.
what is cash gifting? it’s a kind of ponzi or pyramid scam that carefully attempts to avoid laws that made those scams illegal. it does this by having you sign a contract when you join absolving your sponsor of any wrong doing, effectively. a clever con, it makes you swear that no harm was done just as you give up your money to ‘buy into’ a system. but what is the system? the skills to convince other people to buy in. no product is necessarily sold, so it’s not a multi-level-marketing business particularly, though some variants sell tapes, books, and classes on how to sign other people up. but effectively it’s the same kind of scam as a pyramid. you make money by getting other people to sign up, and once no more suckers are to be found the penultimate suckers are left with a big loss.
the FTC does have an alert out about cash gifting scams. in that they recommend anyone caught in a scam file complaints with their local authorities, but they also have a complaint form. Read more »
sorry for the brief haitus, i’m preparing to lead a day-long meditation class on saturday, modeled after the book “turning the mind into an ally” by sakyong mipham. mostly have my talks outlined and the schedule worked out, now just meditating extra and reviewing my notes. should be fun.
i was in the reserves during the first iraq war, but i did not have to go there. i was in college at the time, and my group was not called up. i was fairly certain that we would have if iran had joined the fighting. but it was all over very quickly. now i’m fascinated with some of the reporting and writing coming out about the second iraq war, more critical and rich perhaps because this one is protracted and unpopular.
ashley gilbertson, an embedded reporter in iraq, is on a book tour with his newly published account of the war. he gave a talk at the santa barbara university of california campus, which is on youtube:
the war is so far away from me, it’s hard for me to stay connected to it. watching accounts like this occasionally, and generation kill which i’m following, is helping me stay in touch with it. maybe watching these accounts now is also a way for me to reconnect with that earlier experience in my life wondering if i would go to iraq, the fear i had and also the sense of duty that i had: the mixed emotions. it’s very hard for me to wrap my head around it even now.
samadhi cushions, the non-profit who made the very cushions i meditate upon, has a hip new ad posted on youtube. who knew a meditation store could be so… up to date?
san francisco hosted the imperial fleet this week:
i feel like we’re going to get more and more video ‘photoshopping’ in the future. here’s a recent paper from the university of washington and a video demonstrating what is possible with masking and replacement in video. fun stuff:
so when will we be able to insert ourselves into our favorite movies?
so my uncle went in for a stent or some such circulation upgrade a month ago and came out with a double bypass and nearly a week missing from his life. they even had to leave his chest open for a few days — who knew they did such things? — and so they put him in a coma for awhile. he’s doing well now but it’s going to be a long road of rehab.
then this last weekend his wife of fifty years, my aunt, had a heart attack and they also decided she needed a double bypass. i hear that went well.
but now both of them are recovering from open heart surgery at the same time!
please include them in your prayers or well wishes or tonglen practice. they could use the good thoughts right now.
TOO ANIMATED? Edwin Catmull, who runs Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios, just got back from his first meditation retreat, at the Shambhala Mountain Center in northern Colorado.
“I almost flunked meditation,” he said. “When things are intense and there’s a lot at stake, I have no trouble focusing. But when they’re not intense, my brain starts popping off in all sorts of places.”
Mr. Catmull is often painted as the left-brain businessman and technologist who runs Pixar’s nuts and bolts — and who helped develop RenderMan, the software behind Pixar’s animation, which has been commercially available for 20 years.
nice to see business leaders approaching meditation these days. but oh how often i hear the sentiment that one “almost flunked” meditation.
really it’s a training, like going to the gym. you can’t fail at going to the gym, it’s just great that you get there! nonetheless, we think we’re not “doing it right” unless we’re able to keep our focus in meditation. in my experience, you can train yourself to hold a laser like focus but that’s not necessary to get the benefit — which is seeing how your mind works from the inside out. all you need is to keep at it. especially when your mind is all over the place, when else would be a better time to learn how that monkey mind works?
monkey see, monkey do serves as a personal blog and creative outlet for