21st-Mar-2008 01:05 am - (I Know Why You're) Semper Fi
We've been in Iraq five years now, longer than both the Civil War and World War II.
In our history, only the Vietnam War lasted longer.
There is a lot of legitimate debate over how and when we should best end this. And even more debate over whether or not this fight should ever have begun.
When you are fighting something as amorphous as terrorism, how do you even know when the war is over?
I am glad however that there is NOT much debate over whether or not we should honor and respect our troops. They have a tough job to do, and for the most part they do it admirably.
My dear friend Ian Rhett wrote a song a few years ago, dedicated to his sister who is serving in the Marines. The song, and the video to go with it, are powerfully moving.
To mark the fifth anniversary of this conflict, I'd like to encourage everyone to listen to this song and watch the video here.
No matter what your stance on the war, you will be moved. And if you are moved, please share this.
"Semper Fi" is the Marine Corps motto, and means "Always Faithful". "(I Know Why You're) Semper Fi" is a song inspired by my sister, an active duty Marine. I'm a musician committed to generating kindness and inspiring peace and I'm also profoundly grateful for the commitment to serve demonstrated by my sister and her military community.
The goal of the video is to create a middle ground in a deeply divided national dialogue about the war - to respectfully acknowledge the sacrifice and dedication of the men and women fighting on our behalf, and to ask aloud, "When does the time for peace finally arrive?"
Supporting the troops doesn't mean giving the government a blank check of public support. In my opinion, supporting the troops means not only acknowledging their commitment, but also taking responsibility for speaking out to their civilian leadership on their behalf by exercising the rights for which they and their predecessors fought. Their job is to follow orders, and they do it better than anyone else on the planet. Our job as citizens is to hold our government accountable. To be silent, in my opinion, is to dishonor both freedom and the sacrifices made in its pursuit.
5th-Feb-2008 05:44 pm - There has never been anything false about hope.
This speech (and the song made from it) leaves me feeling lit up and inspired.
Our country needs leaders like this.
It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.
Yes we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.
Yes we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Yes we can.
It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality.
Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can heal this nation.
Yes we can repair this world.
Yes we can.
We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.
We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics...they will only grow louder and more dissonant ........... We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.
Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea --
3rd-Jan-2008 11:49 am - The real "secret" to manifestation and luck...
The truth is, wishing something into existence does not work.
But there is actually some learnable "magic" that comes from having your brain open to opportunity. This is the REAL secret to manifestation and the laws of attraction.
I just read this great article that demonstrates this, written by a psychology professor (Richard Wiseman) who has extensively studied luck.
He describes a famous experiment that shows how easy it is to be blind to what is right in front of your face:
I have shown an amazing 30-second film, made by the psychologist Daniel Simons and his colleagues. The film contains six basketball players. Three of them are wearing white T-shirts, while the other three are wearing black T-shirts. The people in white T-shirts have a basketball and, during the film, pass it to one another. Halfway through the film, a man dressed as a gorilla slowly walks on, saunters through the players, beats his chest at the camera and then walks off.
The audience members are asked to watch the film and count the number of times the people in white T-shirts pass the basketball to one another. At the end of the demonstration, I ask one simple question: "Did you spot the gorilla?" Most people look at me blankly--because they have completely missed him.
Some more excerpts:
The human brain is amazingly good at detecting what it wants to find. When you are hungry, your brain focuses on finding food. When you are thirsty, it looks for liquid. The problem is, your brain can become so focused on seeing what it expects to see, it misses things that are obvious but unexpected. Lucky people tend to have a somewhat relaxed view of life. They are less concerned with mundane details and more prone to look at the bigger picture. Ironically, by trying less, they see more. ... So there you have it. Opportunities do not haphazardly fall into the laps of lucky people. Instead, those people are unconsciously doing all sorts of things to increase their chances of attracting good fortune. They are looking at the big picture, opening their minds to the unexpected, breaking routines and connecting with others. It is hard work and the hours are long, but the rewards make it all worthwhile. And what if all that hard work doesn't appeal? Is there a shortcut? Of course there is--just send me $5 and your bank details.
"Some days I think that there’s nothing true in this life but what we make of it. If we see it as easy to find and are willing to work to get it, maybe everything’s within reach. Maybe all we ever wanted would be a little closer if we just had some more faith and better eyes to look for it."
The Ferret has also posted a good follow-up essay on the same topic that is worth reading.
The way that I distill it all down is simply this:
No matter how hard you look or how much you wish, you will not automatically find what you are looking for. Wishing alone will never make make it so. But the looking and the wishing and especially the believing are key regardless, because our brains are amazing at finding the things that we program them to look for. And unless our minds are open to seeing the gorilla, who knows what we might miss.
When I first saw photographs from a Royal Del Luxe performance several years ago, I was blown away, touched, and inspired.
This is monumental art - interactive and alive in ways that I had only ever before encountered at Burning Man. But Royal De Luxe creates this magic in the middle of cities, turning the mundane world into a stage and the awestruck bystanders into participants.
I was trying to describe Royal De Luxe last night while hanging out for New Years Eve, and words failed me. Only pictures and video could explain this, so YouTube came to my rescue.
The video above is from the visit of "The Sultan's Elephant", when a giant girl and a time-traveling elephant visited London in the summer of 2006.
The entire room had their jaws on the floor after watching this video, so I think it is worth sharing here. Enjoy, and be amazed.
You can read a great article with lots more details about the Royal De Luxe here.
Here's another video clip, this one focusing on the elephant. Amazing!
8th-Oct-2007 03:50 pm - Some Nomadic Inspiration...
Steve Roberts is the original Technomad, and meeting him and reading his book Computing Across America while I was in college planted deep seeds of possibility in me. He is one of my chief inspirations, and I also now consider him a good friend.
Over the years though, Steve has grown rather stuck and mossy - buried deep in his lab focusing too much on trivialities.
But I think he's at last found the vehicle that will carry him forward. Steve blogged about his first outing in his new boat yesterday, and I am thrilled for him.
A quote he posted along with this blog entry also left me feeling abuzz with inspiration:
"I've always wanted to sail to the South Seas, but can't afford it." What these men can't afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of "security." And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine—and before we know it our lives are gone.
What does a man need—really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in—and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all—in the material sense. And we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention from the sheer idiocy of the charade.
The years thunder by. The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it the tomb is sealed.
Where, then lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?"
28th-Feb-2007 06:46 pm - We are teaching the machine. The machine is us.
I've gotten really fired up lately around a new way to approach one of the business ideas I have been exploring, and that's had me avidly researching all sorts of cool companies and technologies and development methodologies - most of them in some way or another related under the "Web 2.0" umbrella.
"Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform. Chief among those rules is this: Build applications that harness network effects to get better the more people use them."
Rather dry - and it fails to capture the true paradigm shift that is going on in technology, and in society.
But during my research today I stumbled across this AMAZING video that "explains Web 2.0 in just under 5 minutes."
This is worth a watch, for geeks and non-geeks alike:
This was created by Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Kansas State University.
I love how he elegantly goes from written text to html to xml/css to rss to blogging to online communities to "mashups" to the semantic web to the evolution of human intelligence - all in a way that even a non-geek who has never looked at a line of HTML can understand.
He concludes with this:
We'll need to rethink a few things... copyright, authorship, identity, ethics, aesthetics, rhetoric, governance, privacy, commerce, love, family, ourselves.
*tremble*
He totally has managed to hit a resonant chord within me. I'm inspired!
18th-Dec-2006 05:16 pm - Space Shuttle Night Launch!!!
"A magic day when super-science mingles with the bright stuff of dreams..."
I'm back from a great week cruising the Caribbean with serolynne and the other members of the "Fun Party".
The first night of the voyage was particularly magical. The captain of the Disney Magic waited off shore at Cape Canaveral for the shuttle launch, and we had an AMAZING view from the top deck of the ship across the water towards the launch pad. We were so close that with binoculars you could make out the outline of the shuttle sitting on the pad.
But you did not need binoculars at all for the main event. WOW!
The video I just uploaded can barely capture the magic. The way the clouds continued to glow after the shuttle passed above them is one of the most beautiful and exciting things I have ever seen, with a ghostly steam trail cutting across the dark sky back towards the ground.
This little known gem of a song from Rush captures the magic of a shuttle launch incredibly well:
Countdown Rush, from Signals. Words by Neil Peart, Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson.
Lit up with anticipation We arrive at the launching site The sky is still dark, nearing dawn On the Florida coastline
Circling choppers slash the night With roving searchlight beams This magic day when super-science Mingles with the bright stuff of dreams
Floodlit in the hazy distance The star of this unearthly show Venting vapours, like the breath Of a sleeping white dragon
Crackling speakers, voices tense Resume the final count All systems check, T minus nine As the sun and the drama start to mount
The air is charged --- a humid, motionless mass The crowds and the cameras, The cars full of spectators pass Excitement so thick --- you could cut it with a knife Technology --- high, on the leading edge of life
The earth beneath us starts to tremble With the spreading of a low black cloud A thunderous roar shakes the air Like the whole world exploding
Scorching blast of golden fire As it slowly leaves the ground Tears away with a mighty force The air is shattered by the awesome sound
Like a pillar of cloud, the smoke lingers High in the air In fascination --- with the eyes of the world We stare...
Thank you Disney for waiting around for the launch while most other departing cruise ships sailed on. Disney Magic indeed!
18th-Sep-2006 12:45 pm - Dancing to the Divine Rhythm
Friday night I was invited to attend the "All Night Dance Celebration", a quarterly event hosted by the Rhythm Society to mark the changing of the seasons.
What an amazingly good time!
The energy in most public dance spaces I have been to is a mix of predatory sharks trying to hook up, or people hiding behind big defensive walls. Most people end up zoned out essentially dancing with themselves, or connected only with the small group they came with. Often everyone feels tight and tense and closed hearted. But no worries - you'll be kicked out at 2AM anyway no matter how much fun you happen to be having.
Not at an ANDC.
The Rhythm Society very intentionally creates an amazing open hearted community environment of sharing and connection (and yes, dance!) that is unlike anything else I have ever experienced done on such a large scale other than at Burning Man. And just like at Burning Man, the music and dancing doesn't stop until the sun comes up.
The venue for Friday night's ANDC was stunning - the Unitarian Universalist church on Cathedral Hill in SF. There was one main dance area, two chill areas, a food and mingling area, a massage room, a kids play area, and an outdoor courtyard with a sacred fire.
All gorgeously decorated by volunteers, including the rose window from the Conexus Cathedral hanging over the dance floor.
Did I mention a play area for kids? Indeed - all ages are welcome, and the diversity of the crowd was awesome. Folks aged 8 to 80 where dancing all night together. The mix of ages and backgrounds felt great. It was a family-friendly space - and that brought an energy you'll never find at a normal dance club.
The guest list for the ANDC is carefully controlled - only Rhythm Society members can invite guests, and the invitations are barcoded and serial numbered. This guarantees that everyone there has the right energy and attitude, and that everyone is at most just a degree or two of separation away from each other...
The doors are only open from 9:30 - 11:30, and once the opening ritual is conducted at midnight all late comers are turned away to keep the energy contained.
The music and the DJ's were amazing, the chill spaces plush and full of cuddly energy, and there was a never-ending stream of yummy free food provided.
And the best part was all the open hearted people everywhere talking and sharing. There were so many people present that I felt close to that I didn't even have time to say hello to all of them.
The whole event was amazingly well put together, other than there being a mixup such that there wasn't crash space in the kids area for sleeping - forcing dawnd and Allegra to head home early - drat!
As the sky started to lighten, the sacred fire was extinguished in a closing ritual, and everyone filed into the main sanctuary of the church to end the night with a stunning pipe organ concerto. What an magical end to the night!
I think I am ruined for life.
Between the magic that is the Rhythm Society's ANDC, and the intensity and energy and enormity of Burning Man - I can't see how any traditional dance club will ever be able to measure up for me again.
I certainly know that I am hooked now. After dancing till Saturday's gorgeous dawn, I am hugely inspired to get more involved with the Rhythm Society now.
It is an amazing world that we live in that people can come together in community to create such incredible things. I love it!
30th-Dec-2005 10:18 pm - Book Review: Kahlil Gibran - The Prophet
Rachael gave me this book on my 31st birthday. I finally read it on my flight home from St. Louis this past Wednesday.
Wow. Why did I wait so long?
This is a short (115 pages) book of spiritual wisdom, conveyed as brief poetic answers to questions posed to a prophet about to depart across the sea for his homeland.
This is as divinely inspired of a book as any I have ever read. The words flow like music, the imagery is beautiful, and the wisdom is timeless and true. There is nothing in this book I found myself disagreeing with.
If this book had been written 1500 years sooner, it would have surely been worthy of incorporating into the bible. Reading this - you definitely feel closer to the deeper wisdom of the universe.
It actually makes me sad that Christianity has stopped growing to incorporate new wisdom, and new ways of sharing old truths. I could easily imagine some of the sections of The Prophet being read in church.
Divinely inspired books are still being written. This is one of them.
And now at last I know the source of one of my favorite quotes and bits of wisdom: Say not, "I have found the truth," but rather, "I have found a truth."
This book is definitely a truth - and one worth sharing.
I don't know if she ever reads this journal - but thank you Rachael, wherever you are. *love*
So riding Caltrain home from work tonight, while looking for something/anything to read I just happened to pick up a copy of the Palo Alto Daily News that was lying discarded on a seat.
In the paper, I stumbled across the full transcript of the commencement speech that Steve Jobs gave at Stanford's graduation ceremony yesterday.
It was an awesome, inspiring speech.
I have been searching for an online transcript so that I can share it, but I've come up empty handed so far.
But - I have the paper... If I don't find the speech online, I will summarize it here.
I really want to share this, and I've already inspired one friend by sharing it with him.
Needless to say, I am feeling inspired tonight. :-)
4th-Feb-2005 05:59 pm - Boldness has a genius, power, and magic in it...
A friend of mine recently posted this quote:
"Don't wait for ideal conditions. You'll never find them," they admonish. "Begin! And the conditions you need will come to you."
I am discovering again and again just how good this advice is, unless perhaps you are a NASA launch engineer holding a bad weather forecast printout. ;-)
In searching for my favorite Goethe quote along these same lines, I found these inspiring words:
(From W.H. Murray, "The Scottish Himalayan Expedition")
Until one is committed there is the chance to draw back; always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans:
that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one that would not otherwise have occured. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man would have dreamed would come his way.
I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets:
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it! Boldness has genius, power, and magic, in it. Begin it now!
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<Ah -- Google reveals that this quote is not actually from Goethe, but likely from a loose translation of Faust... The power of the Internet:
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