Amaryllis series 2/28/09 PM

Amaryllis series 2/28/09 PM, originally uploaded by shersteve.

Amaryllis Series 2/28/09 AM

Amaryllis Series 2/28/09 AM, originally uploaded by shersteve.

job search notes: Google never forgets

Seth Godin writes of a friend who advertised for a housekeeper via Craigslist. She then google searched her respondents and did a quick background check on them. Seth summarizes:

Of course, you don't have to be a drunk, a thief or a bitter failure for this to backfire. Everything you do now ends up in your permanent record. The best plan is to overload Google with a long tail of good stuff and to always act as if you're on Candid Camera, because you are.

Read the full posting on Seth's blog here.

What is the point of this?

If you are searching for a job, someone will search on you.

Have you googled yourself recently?

If not, do so immediately.
You need to know what the results will be. If there are results that aren't you and aren't flattering, you need to be able to explain them.

When I google "Steve Sherlock" eight of the ten Page One results are legitimately references to me. There are a number of other legitimate references on the second, third, and remaining pages of Google results.

1. Steve's 2 Cents

   - 2 visits - 12/11/08
   posted by Steve Sherlock at 5:24 AM 1 comments. Wednesday, February 25, 2009. Time Goes By .... posted by Steve Sherlock at 11:32 AM 0 comments ...
   steves2cents.blogspot.com/ - 84k - Cached - Similar pages -

2. Franklin Matters

   Posted by Steve Sherlock at 11:34 AM 0 comments ..... Contact Steve Sherlock. You are welcome to comment on any of the posts which will generate an email to ...
   franklinmatters.blogspot.com/ - 159k - Cached - Similar pages -

3. Blogger: User Profile: Stephen Sherlock

   Blogger is a free blog publishing tool from Google for easily sharing your thoughts with the world. Blogger makes it simple to post text, photos and video ...
   www.blogger.com/profile/13070688297607895943 - 12k - Cached - Similar pages -

4. Flickr: shersteve's Photostream

   Gallery218: Sherlock, Pisini deep in discussion by shersteve ... Gallery218: Sherlock, Pisini sharing art by shersteve ...
   www.flickr.com/photos/steve_sherlock/ - 56k - Cached - Similar pages -

5. Twitter / shersteve

   Feb 25, 2009 ... Name Steve Sherlock; Location Franklin, MA; Web http://steves2cen... Bio Project delivered, team happy, customer satisfied! ...
   twitter.com/shersteve - 36k - Cached - Similar pages -

6. Steve Sherlock - LinkedIn

   View Steve Sherlock's professional profile on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the world's largest business network, helping professionals like Steve Sherlock discover ...
   www.linkedin.com/pub/1/419/7a8 - 11k - Cached - Similar pages -

7. Steve Sherlock

   Discuss this name with other users on IMDb message board for Steve Sherlock. Find where Steve Sherlock is credited alongside another name. Steve Sherlock & ...
   www.imdb.com/name/nm0792349/ - 31k - Cached - Similar pages -

8. Steve Sherlock — Blogs, Pictures, and more on WordPress

   Find other items tagged with “steve-sherlock”:. Technorati Del.icio.us IceRocket · 24/7 Support · Free Features · Premium Features · VIP · Terms of Service ...
   wordpress.com/tag/steve-sherlock/ - 13k - Cached - Similar pages -

9. Tertiary Education

   posted by Steve Sherlock at 5:38 AM 0 comments. Friday, November 30, 2007 ... posted by Steve Sherlock at 11:00 PM 1 comments. Tuesday, November 20, 2007 ...
   tertiary-education.blogspot.com/ - 57k - Cached - Similar pages -

10. Steve Sherlock - Vancouver, BC | Facebook

    Steve Sherlock (Vancouver, BC) is on Facebook. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected.
    www.facebook.com/people/Steve-Sherlock/574141285 - 23k - Cached - Similar pages -

#7 and #10 are other Steve Sherlock's. #7 is in LA somewhere associated with movies and music. #10 is a relatively new one (that I had not seen before).

I am aware of the following Steve Sherlock's

• an archeologist with a great discovery in northern England
• an auto rental agent in Australia
• a municipal employee in Clarksville, Tennessee
• the Chief Marketing Officer for Coverzones
• Sports Editor for the Lewiston (ME) Sun Journal

What do you see when you google your name?


BTW - check on the name variations. I go by Steve but formally I am Stephen. I need to search for both.

job search notes: Performance

For a couple of minutes, relax, have some fun, and view this amazing performance:

Star Wars a capella pour John Williams
by JoeLeMort

What if you have the time and software to create a video of your own?

What would it be about?

Would you use something like this to present your resume and skills? or only if you were going for a theatrical position?

Time Goes By

I rode the train to Portland, ME last Friday to visit with a long time blogging buddy, Ronni Bennett.

She wrote up our visit better than I could do so if you haven't read that yet, you have my permission to go there to read it. Then come on back and see what else is here. We can start a conversation and take it from there.

With a little help (i.e. other elders willingness to participate) Ronni and I will try to arrange some gatherings for elder bloggers. Getting together in person is priceless!

job search notes: Green jobs

From FASTCompany via the NewEngland Networking group comes these tips on getting into green jobs:

Green entrepreneur. Solar-power installer. Urban planner. These are just some of the top green jobs for that next decade that we already told you would solar-charge your career. But how can you smartly plunge into the green-collar job market? First step might be to pop over to SustainLane.com, a green living Web guide with 25 million users. A newly launched green job board there iss already attracting 100+ listings each week across several industries.

job search notes: Christine Kane's Mental dress up

Christine Kane has some great advice on how to approach life. This will work great for the job search and for the interview. Be confident. Be the successful interviewee. Like everything else in life, this will require practice. Here is how she tells us to do this:

"Start by becoming a pack leader in your own world and healing your own world, and the effects will ripple." - Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer

One of the fun assignments in my Uplevel Your Life Mastery Program is what I call "Mental Dress Up."

This is a game that you can play daily. It is designed to bring intentions to life by literally embodying them in your own being.

Here's how it works:

Take a few moments throughout your day and Be [Fill in the Blank with Desired Thing].

As you're driving you can become a published writer. What would that feel like? When you're at a party, try being someone that everyone wants to talk to. Be wise. Be someone who has so many clients, you can hardly get through a day without turning people down. Be someone who is certain of what she wants. What does that feel like?

Don't get all scrunchy-faced and try to VISUALIZE - which is a very high-pressure word.

Instead feel the effortless shift in you, and BE successful. BE a fun person. BE wealthy. BE a rock star. Whatever!

My client Isabella started using this technique when she decided to "be someone who loves to run with her dog in the morning." She was amazed at the results.

Typically after a few blocks of running, she'd start wheezing and feel awful. But when she became "someone who loved running with her dog," she had more stamina and felt great during the run. She got better and better at this game until she actually began to love running with her dog!

One morning, she was returning from a run. Another dog and his owner were walking in her direction. Isabella's dog, Bruno, is still healing from an abusive past and can be aggressive with other dogs. So, Isabella started to get anxious, clinging to Bruno's leash.

Then, she remembered Mental Dress Up.

Instead of getting nervous and reacting to her dog's bad behavior, she focused on how calm she felt and how much she loved her dog. She also played Mental Dress Up on Bruno, feeling that he was always very loving and peaceful around other dogs.

It worked! Bruno was fine. He followed her energy, and they both headed home without incident. To Isabella, this was a nice little miracle.

At this same time, Isabella was beginning a new business. She had experienced a whole range of emotions from enthusiasm to fear to excitement to disappointment during the process. At one point, she met with her accountant. The accountant was skeptical, issuing warnings to Isabella about the numbers and telling her the reasons why the business wouldn't work.

During our coaching call, she shared these stories - about the triumph with her dog, and about the discouragement from her accountant. She wanted to know how to deal with her emotions after this deflating meeting.

Here's what I told her:

I said, "Your accountant is your dog."

Huh?

It's true!

People follow your energy. It doesn't matter if they are mentors, accountants, lawyers, audience members, listeners, friends, or customers. People follow your energy, just like dogs. You always have a choice to step up and lead them. Just like Cesar Millan has been telling dog owners for years. And just like Bruno showed Isabella in that one situation.

I told her that the success of her business would always be up to her. I told her that every business owner, artist or entrepreneur experiences bad news, good news, depression, loss, gain and insecurity. The decision to quit, fail, or succeed is always hers.

In that moment, her accountant might have sensed her fear and found all the negative stuff he could muster up to dissuade her. He became her dog and followed her energy.

You don't have to be a Jedi master to tap into someone's emotional state of being. You just have to be human. Had Isabella been feeling confident, most likely the accountant would have presented his views in a different light.

Ultimately, during our coaching call, I told Isabella this:

"The Universe is your dog."

Everything and everyone follows the energy and emotional state you bring to it. Decide that you can do something, and the Universe follows that decision. Choose to radiate love and wisdom, and the Universe follows that radiance. This is not always an easy place to go. But it almost always teaches us about our own power to create or transform any situation.

---

Performer, songwriter, and creativity consultant Christine Kane publishes her 'LiveCreative' weekly ezine with more than 4,000 subscribers. If you want to be the artist of your life and create authentic and lasting success, you can sign up for a FRE*E subscription to LiveCreative at www.christinekane.com.

WANT TO SEE HUNDREDS MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?
See Christine's blog - Be Creative. Be Conscious. Be Courageous - at ChristineKane.com/blog.

$timator Blog Comparison

I saw on Beth's Blog her posting about what her blog is worth. This comes around every once in awhile. Some new tool comes out. Folks try it. Looks cool or doesn't. In this case, it does not seem to explain much on how the numbers are derived.

I tried a few of my blogs and then a couple of others to see a comparison on how it works. I probably should try a better sample to really get at it but for now:

Franklin Matters

$6,257


Check yours?

Steve's 2 Cents

$17,025


Check yours?

Joyful Jubilant Learning

$14,090


Check yours?

Passionate Runner

$3,742


Check yours?

Chris Brogan

$198,549


Check yours?

Some pieces of this make sense. Some don't.

What is value?

"Let us be clear: Social Security faces no imminent crisis"

On Feb 11, 2009 William Greider wrote in The Nation:

Governing elites in Washington and Wall Street have devised a fiendishly clever "grand bargain" they want President Obama to embrace in the name of "fiscal responsibility." The government, they argue, having spent billions on bailing out the banks, can recover its costs by looting the Social Security system. They are also targeting Medicare and Medicaid. The pitch sounds preposterous to millions of ordinary working people anxious about their economic security and worried about their retirement years. But an impressive armada is lined up to push the idea--Washington's leading think tanks, the prestige media, tax-exempt foundations, skillful propagandists posing as economic experts and a self-righteous billionaire spending his fortune to save the nation from the elderly.

This kicked off a response and a reply on Feb 13th:

Is Social Security threatened by entitlement reformers? David M. Walker, president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation responds to William Greider's essay here. Read William Greider's answer to Peterson's criticism here.

It won't take too long to read the three articles.

Spend the time. Sit back and digest the issues and the way they are phrased.

Still not sure about who to side with?

Read Ronni Bennett's posting today.

job search notes: #JobAngels

Who are Job Angels?
They are folks who help others find jobs or at least share information about jobs.

Sounds like networking?
It certainly does.

Sounds pretty cool too when done via Twitter.
Now Twitter doesn't work inside some corporate environments (Fidelity was one) but on the outside, it is developing to be a pretty cool tool to have handy.

I'll leave this article to explain the remainder of the details that I haven't covered but hopefully have teased you to
http://www.examiner.com/x-2132-Career-Coach-Examiner~y2009m2d16-JobAngels--A-movement-to-help-job-seekers

If you'd like some tips and tricks on Twitter and it's uses, let me know

Flickr backup tool, plus

From MAKE Magazine, I find this entry:

A quick search landed me on FlickrEdit, a Java desktop application that uses the Flickr API to manage and export your Flickr content.

FlickrEdit will launch from a URL, after which you'll have to agree to a security dialog and you'll have the option of adding a shortcut to the app on your Desktop. After the application starts, you can associate it with your Flickr account and allow FlickrEdit to access your photos.

Your photo sets will be listed in the FlickrEdit interface. Simply select the ones you want to back up, hit the backup button in the lower right, and select a folder. FlickrEdit will download all of the full-res versions of your photos, broken out into subdirectories for each set.

FlickrEdit can be found here

job search notes: networking opportunity

Yes, the next PinkSlip Party will be held on 2/27/09, specific location in Boston remains TBD.

Upbeat, forward-looking networking parties to connect those looking with those hiring with those supporting. All are welcome and encouraged to attend. There can be some great talent at these events if you are hiring or looking to get project work done.

Zany contributions - potluck cooking, career-related prizes, etc. are welcome.

This is your party to create what you want to create!

Event details and registration via EventBrite can be found here

Thanks to @Pistachio for putting this together.

English quiz

From the Rhode Island Spring Flower & Garden Show flier comes the following introductory passage. See if you can find your way to the grammatical mistake:

Pack your passports, bags, cameras and binoculars. Get ready to discover a side of nature you've never seen before, at the 16th Annual Rhode Island Spring Flower & Garden Show. "Gardens of the World" is the Show's theme, which takes you on a journey through distant and exotic places. You show "passport" transports you through 30 gardens and an expedition to the Australia Outback, over to Mexico and South America with Mayan and Incan ruins, and into Tuscany, Spain and more. Don't miss your ticket to a horticultural melting pot that brings adventure, warmth and beauty, all with a promise of spring.

Several people must have missed that. Did you find it?


Hint: They did fix it on the web site but many pamphlets were printed incorrectly.

RI Flower Show

Dolores and I took in the RI Flower Show down in Providence at the Convention Center. There were good exhibits but not as many flowers as we thought we might see. The vendor section of the main floor vendors seemed to occupy more space than the flower exhibits.

Oddly, a sand sculpture, depicting scenes from Egypt was the best of show for me. I have loved making sand castles and these guys were beyond anything I had ever done.




The flower show is open on Sunday (2/21/09). If you get to go, let me know what you thought was the best of the show.

Enjoy!

5 for Friday

1 - From Ronni Bennett writing at Time Goes By

Part of the difference is that those of us who are old don’t need all this friend tracking. We generally don’t spend our evenings looking for love in all the wrong places anymore and are less likely to perhaps cut a dinner short to meet other friends for a drink. But as the kids grow up they will adapt these technologies and the behaviors that go with them to their adult and professional lives. What is rude in the world elders have lived in is becoming acceptable and commonplace – a normal part of the social landscape.

Read the full posting about technical intrusions and courtesy here

2 - From the excellent TED Talks series, Sylvia Earle explains what the problem is with our ocean and how we need to help



3 - From Dave Pollard writing at How to Save the World

From the 1970s and 2008, we have an inkling of the consequence of huge oil price spikes (though the gnomes of Davos still cannot get themselves to acknowledge that the real risk is not a price spike, but the end of oil as the engine of our economy). From the great blackouts we've experienced, we're reluctantly aware that the decaying and neglected infrastructure in our cities everywhere is going to cause us enormous problems, but because we consider it (for now) a low-likelihood catastrophe (and because we can't afford to fix it) we just put it out of our minds. Same thing with pandemics and water crises: we know they're coming, and that they will both cause a horrific economic downturn (and the indirect economic consequences will probably kill more people than the diseases and droughts will kill directly), but because they're still 'unlikely' in any year (and hence 'unlikely' to occur in the 10-year horizon of the charts above), we do nothing.

Read the full posting here

4 - From Ed Cafasso writing at the PR Finishline

The modern message for PR professionals is that worrying about the economy this year is not going to make things better for your company, organization, staff, agency or clients. The only true cure is time.

Read the full posting here

5 - From Jonathan Jarvis via Mark Hurst, this visualization of the credit crisis.


The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

enjoy!

Amaryllis series

"mentoring is one of the most important tools"

I think Mary's acknowledgment on the importance of mentoring should occur more often. We all can think back, if we take the time, to an important decision and to who helped us. The one thing they were able to provide was a third parry view. They were able to express what they saw the decision as. In the middle of the decision and the dozens of factors around it, we did not have the ability to step back to see what was going on so clearly as they could provide.

Everyday decisions do not need a mentor, but our big decisions do benefit from one.

With this in mind, review the interview with Mary Dolaher, CEO of IDG World, and see if you find something else to take away from her experience.

"Marvelous things have occurred in my lifetime"

What is the most significant thing that has happened to you?



Thanks to Adam at UniversalHub for the tip to this brief video clip.

job search notes: Networking Opportunity Knocks 2/27/09 in Boston

Yes, the next PinkSlip Party will be held on 2/27/09, specific location in Boston remains TBD.

Upbeat, forward-looking networking parties to connect those looking with those hiring with those supporting. All are welcome and encouraged to attend. There can be some great talent at these events if you are hiring or looking to get project work done.

Zany contributions - potluck cooking, career-related prizes, etc. are welcome.

This is your party to create what you want to create!

Event details and registration via EventBrite can be found here

Thanks to @Pistachio for putting this together.

Twitpics

I am giving up on Utterli. It seems to be blocking any message I send it with a picture but allows any text email through. Yet with the same phone, moments later, the same picture goes through to Twitpic fine.

EFF: Legal guide for bloggers

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has introduced a Legal Guide for Bloggers:

Whether you're a newly minted blogger or a relative old-timer, you've been seeing more and more stories pop up every day about bloggers getting in trouble for what they post.

Like all journalists and publishers, bloggers sometimes publish information that other people don't want published. You might, for example, publish something that someone considers defamatory, republish an AP news story that's under copyright, or write a lengthy piece detailing the alleged crimes of a candidate for public office.

The difference between you and the reporter at your local newspaper is that in many cases, you may not have the benefit of training or resources to help you determine whether what you're doing is legal. And on top of that, sometimes knowing the law doesn't help - in many cases it was written for traditional journalists, and the courts haven't yet decided how it applies to bloggers.

Click through to find out more about this legal guide for bloggers here

relief (or stimulus) what they built lasted

The WPA, born in 1935 at an initial cost of $4.8 billion, was at the time, the largest “relief” program in American history (now it’s called “stimulus”). By 1941, when spending on the coming war pulled America out of the lingering slump, WPA had cost $11.4 billion and put eight million men and women to work building 1,634 public schools, 105 airports, 3,000 tennis courts, 5,800 libraries, 3,300 storage dams, hundreds of miles of roads, sewer lines, while the CCC built roads through national and state parks, fire towers, and scores of campgrounds, many of which are in use today.

I doubt if George Bush even suspected that his weekend retreat, Camp David, which Franklin Roosevelt called Shangri-la, was built by the WPA as a recreation area in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland. Do baseball fans know that WPA workers built Doubleday Field, in Cooperstown, New York, in 1939 to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of America’s pastime on that hallowed ground?

The architecturally unique bridges of the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut were built by the WPA. Not until 1937 did New York City get an airport, La Guardia Field (named after the city’s New Deal era mayor), with its beautiful art-deco main terminal, all built by WPA labor.

read the full posting by Saul Friedman on Time Goes By

I have driven the Merritt Parkway many times admiring the bridges, each one different and wondered when (and why) they were done that way. Now I know.

On many of our vacations to Pennsylvania state parks, we benefited from the work of the CCC. They did create something that lasted.

5 for Friday

Yes, it is Saturday. My eye appointment yesterday changed my schedule when the dilated eyes took a couple of hours to return to normal. Of course, if I had remembered that this would occur, I could have scheduled things differently. So one learns and goes on.

1 - From Jane Genova, who I found when hitchhiking the blogosphere sometime ago, has written "The Last Blog Post" and says:

Blogging also has been a way to keep the demons locked in the basement. In Manhattan there is that old joke: If the rats stay in the cellar and don't join the diners upstairs the restaurant is doing just fine. Having demons no longer preoccupies me. They're down there. I'm up here. The end of story.

Fortunately, it is not really the end of the story. Click through to her site to read more of her post. You can pick up her e-book "Geezer Guts" here.

2 - Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone, has this video tip from his blog


Find more videos like this on Greenlight Community


3 - From Robert Scoble a Twitter tip to Twickie

OK, so, what is the tool I was using earlier in the evening to get lots of responses from my Twitter followers and copy and paste them into my blog? Chris Pirillo’s Twickie.

How does it work?

I ask a question on Twitter.

People respond.

I log into Twickie. It lets me see the tweets I’ve posted. I click on a down arrow to see all responses.

One great thing with Twickie, it users your Twitter id/password so you don't need to set up another one.

4 - From the Blogger Buzz, a timely post on integrating your blog into Facebook.

Over the years we've heard lots of great ideas for promoting your blog, and have been compiling them here as a handy reference. From simply adding links to enabling cool newer features such as Following, we're always happy to update the page when we stumble across something new.

Our latest addition comes from our friends at TypePad, who have put together a great video on How to add your blog feed to your Facebook profile. After trying this ourselves, we've found that integrating your blog feed into your Facebook profile can be a really effective way to keep your friends updated on the latest from your blog.

I realize that I don't have an easy way for folks to join the "I Believe Franklin (MA) Matters" group in Facebook on the blog itself. Duh! About time I do so.

5 - Teresa Brazen writes on the Adaptive Path Blog

In December, a blind man led me into darkness. I had a cane, but it only partially helped. I felt around with my hands. I listened to the voices of the people around me, gauging their distance by their loudness, shifting so I didn’t bump into them. The smell of grass helped me understand I was in a park. When I put my hands into a basket, I touched oranges and knew it from the feel of their skin, not their smell.

I was in an exhibition called, “Dialogue in the Dark.” As the organizers explain, “In completely darkened rooms, blind people lead small groups of guests through an exhibition in which everyday situations are experienced altogether differently, without eyesight.” Prior to this, I’d never experienced blindness. Actually, I’d never experienced the loss of any sense before.

Read Teresa's full post here.

I think it most fitting to end here with Teresa's post since I began by talking about my own eye dilation issue.

Use all your senses!

Association vs recommendation

Christopher S Penn writes:

Associate with lots of people. Associate to learn, to grow, to share your experiences. Recommend only when you want to confer trust, because if you blow it on a recommendation, you betray that trust a little, and as everyone from Presidents to CEOs to the broken hearted know or are finding out, trust is very, very hard to recover.

Read his full posting here

I agree with Chris' distinction between association and recommendation.

What do you think?

"You just can't sit around at home"

If a layoff can happen to the president of the local Rotary chapter, it can happen to anyone.

"We're in a crisis," said Ken Masson, who heads the Merrimack Valley Rotary Club and lost his job in December, several months after his employer, Massbank Corp., was bought out by Eastern Bank Corp. "With 11 million people in the US without a job, going through hardships, that's a crisis."

Increasing unemployment across Greater Boston prompted the former service marketing director to call on his fellow Rotarians to consider a twist on one of their organization's core missions, vocational service, by helping out the laid-off workers in their own backyards.

"You think of Rotary coming to the rescue of people who have polio or need water in developing countries, but there are things we can do right here," Masson said.

You can continue reading the article in today's Boston Globe here.

Yes, being without a job can happen to anyone. For the job search notes that I have compiled from my own experience follow this link here. If you want to compare notes and network, please feel free to contact me via comment or email.

This was cross posted to Franklin Matters today.

Nature-deficit disorder

Wil Richardson writes:

When I mentioned in passing our 45-minutes-a-day on the computer policy during a recent presentation, I was seriously amazed at how many people came up afterwards (and even e-mailed me later) and asked about that. There was like a whole ‘lotta angst going on in terms of people wondering if their kids were getting too much screen time and how we came to the decision to limit our own kids. I had no answer for the first part, and I felt like I stumbled through the second part because to be honest, it’s a really complex equation that is going to be different for every kid, every set of parents. For us, I think it’s a combination of having two very energetic kids who love to physically play, a reaction to the struggle for balance in my own life, and an expectation that when we’re together as a family, we’re together as a family that interacts more often than not without media.

You can read his full posting here

Why did this catch my reading eye? Probably because I am reading "Last Child in the Woods" by Richard Louv in preparation for A Love Affair with Books next month.

A sample teaser from the book:

As we grow more separate from nature, we continue to separate from one another physically. The effects are more than skin deep, says Nancy Dess, senior scientist with the American Psychological Association. "None of the new communications technologies involve human touch; they all tend to place us one step removed from direct experience. Add this to control-oriented changes in the workplace and schools, where touch is often forbidden, or at east discouraged, from any kind of physical contact, and we've got a problem," she says. Without touch, infant primates die; adult primates with touch deficits become more aggressive. Primate studies also show that physical touch is essential to the peace making process. "Perversely, many of us can go through an average day and not have more than a handshake.," she adds. Diminishing touch is only one by-product of the culture of technical control, but Dess believes it contributes to violence in an ever more tightly wired society.

Page 67 of the paperback text of Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv

How much exposure to nature do you get daily?

How much exposure to humans do you get daily?

The things that will destroy us

The things that will destroy us:
politics without principle;
pleasure without conscience;
wealth without work;
knowledge without character;
business without morality;
science without humanity; and
worship without sacrifice.

- Mahatma Gandhi

Thanks to Kirk Weisler for this T4D sharing this quote.

Antje Duvekot - Stone Soup Coffeehouse

Antje Duvekot is playing at the Stone Soup Coffeehouse down in Pawtucket, RI this Valetine's Day.



Enjoy!

Blogging 101

NewBCamp - Blogging 101 - 2/8/09

For those who attended my Blogging 101 session at NewBCamp, I used Free Mind, a mind-mapping software to present the topics and links as we needed them. This document contains all the text and links of the Free Mind document.

Why blog?

• What is your message?
• What is your goal?
• Who is your audience?
• Think about these questions before you create your blog

Build your network

• Find blogs that interest you
• Via search
• via RSS Reader
• via Blogroll

• Use an RSS Reader

• Read blogs that interest you
• Comment on those blogs
• Generate a conversation

Observe "blogger behavior" / "netiquette" -

• http://www.albion.com/netiquette/

Answer the questions to "Why blog?"

Blogger software

Blogger- http://www.blogger.com/

Wordpress -http://wordpress.org/

RSS Reader

• Web based

Google reader -http://www.google.com/reader/
Bloglines -http://www.bloglines.com/

• Desktop based

RSSOwl -http://www.rssowl.org/
FeedDemon -http://www.newsgator.com/Individuals/FeedDemon/
BlogBridge -www.blogbridge.com/

Analytics

Google Analytics -http://www.google.com/analytics/
StatCounter -http://www.statcounter.com/
SiteMeter -http://sitemeter.com/

Pictures

Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/
Picassa - http://www.picasaweb.google.com/

Video

YouTube -http://www.youtube.com/

Network/groups

Google groups - http://groups.google.com/
Yahoo groups - http://groups.yahoo.com/
NING - http://www.ning.com/
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/

LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/
MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/
Twitter - http://twitter.com/login

Other Resources

• Robin Good's listing of best online collaboration tools

• Problogger tips

• Steve Garfield sets up a blog in class

• David Fischer on Audio vs Video podcast

• Liz Strauss on blogger best practices

This is a sample of the many links you can use to start blogging.

Does everything need to have it's place?

In the interest of sharing some good creativity, here is a wonderful short film from John Douglas Powers.


The Collector from john douglas powers on Vimeo.

Does everything need to have it's place?

Thanks to Make for the tip to this item

Don't start in the middle of the scale!

Lee writes:

In 2009 and beyond, our videos will be aimed at the left side of the scale. We want our videos to save educators and influencers valuable time by creating videos that fill basic knowledge gaps and get learners on the same page so that they can spend time where their time is most effective - on the right side of the scale.

I hope you are curious enough to click through to the Common Craft site and read the full post about the approach they use to produce their great videos!

Not what was advertised

The sign this morning read big and bold $1.79.
The pump actually read in small print $1.89.

This was at the Shell on RT 140 near Panther Way.

I drove away without buying there.

Flickr Set - NewB09

This is the set of photos I took at the NewBCamp today.



Enjoy!

NewBCamp Twitpics

These are the mobile phone pictures I took and sent to Twitpic:



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NewBCamp was a very good time. 81 folks gathered to learn and share!

NewBCamp schedule

NewBCamp is tomorrow (2/8/09) down at Johnson & Wales in Providence, RI.

The updated schedule is as follows:

Order of Events
9:00-9:30am Sign-in at Registration

9:30-9:40am Kick-off and UnKeynote Introductions

9:45-9:55am What is a blog? - with Michelle Riggen-Ransom and Adam Darowski of BatchBlue

10:00-10:30am Break-Out Sessions at Tables

10:30-10:40am 10 min Break

10:45-10:55am What is a good design - with John Speck of New Commons

11:00-11:30am Break-Out Sessions at Tables

11:30-11:40am 10 min Break

11:45-11:55am How to buy a Quality Computer: the State of the Art - with Mark
Leeuwenbergh of Free Geek

12:00-12:30pm Break-Out Sessions at Tables

12:30-12:40pm 10 min Break

12:45-12:55pm How do I protect my online info - with Steve Malloy of Atrion

1:00-1:30pm Break-Out Sessions at Tables

1:30-1:40pm 10 min Break

1:45-1:55pm Closing Remarks

2:00pm End NewBCamp

2:00-5:00pm Lunch and Afterparty at AS220


Parking tips can be found here

The Guide to NewBCamp can be found here

Registration fee - optional $10 donation to help defray costs.

I'll be at the Registration/Welcome desk wearing my tri-corner hat. If you are going, please be sure to say hi!

5 for Friday

Here is some key points from this week's reading:

1 - the time is ripe

A confluence of biophysical and social processes — the physics of heat trapping gases, the faltering of the consumption-driven, global economic system, and the re-energizing of our own democratic political process – all this has created space for deliberate human action to reshape the future. As a nation, the decisions that we make — or fail to make — in the next year will have profound consequences, not only for our children, and for their children, but in fact, for every human being who will ever inhabit the earth from now until the end of time.

Read the full article on the global warming education effort written by Eban Goldstein here

2 - on a similar track along the road to Copenhagen

For Obama, the political winds at his back are now as favorable as they will ever be. He is in a position to seize 2009 and do three things to meet the climate challenge: properly educate the American public about climate change and the need for immediate action; exercise the full might of his executive powers and regulatory discretion under the Clean Air Act to jump-start action; and spend freely from his enormous store of political capital to lead the government to enact comprehensive federal climate legislation. If he does, the United States will reclaim the mantle of global leadership when it takes its seat in Copenhagen.

Read the full article from the Yale Environment 360 here

3 - on the green jobs front

Nationally, there are about 1.7 million low-income youths (16 to 24) who were out of school and out of work in 2005, according to a report by the Center for American Progress. Many of them live in areas of concentrated poverty and are often striving for precious few opportunities that the corporate media glorify--rap stars, professional athletes. When Thrower tells young people in Manchester about green jobs, "it goes in one ear and out the other." Despite this, he is confident that once he starts to put solar panels up in his neighborhood, he'll become a tangible new role model young people will want to emulate.

Read the full article about green jobs here

4 - In January, I had found a discussion between Van Jones and California State Senator Darrell Steinberg as they discussed green jobs. You can find the audio discussion here.

5 - and finally, from Wil Richardson

So those of you who have heard me speak know that I love to tell the story of Laura Stockman and the good work that she’s been doing in her community and writing about in her blog “Twenty-five Days to Make a Difference.” Laura is only 11, but her willingness to do community service of all kinds and to share those experiences with others sets her apart in many ways. Through her blog, she’s been able to connect with people from every part of the globe, and she’s even been asked to teach other kids in other classrooms how to go about changing their own places for the better. Because of her efforts, Laura has been invited to the Special Olympics in Idaho this year to be a part of its Global Youth Summit. It’s all good stuff and I think a great testament to how even younger kids (with the help of their parents and, hopefully, their teachers) can use social media to sincerely “make a difference.”

Read the full posting about Laura and how you can help to make a difference here

Enjoy!

job search notes: How to answer the tough questions

If you are not prepared to answer the tough questions, then consider reviewing these before you step into an interview.



Thanks to Liz Strauss for the tweet/tip to Question 7

Social media in the afterlife?

Don't we get too much of it here and now? you might ask yourself.

But what of the afterlife, when we have gone on and left our spouses/significant others with some scraps of paper or links to places they may not have been.

The subject matter of death spooks many people so this new website called FarAwayFish will surely give many of you the creeps. Basically, it’s a service that will send emails to your loved ones after you kick the bucket. It will also publish a profile page with your biography and share your wisdom which you captured while still connected to your mortal coil.




Paisano has an interesting post about FarAwayFish that provides an email service after we have gone on. He also comes up with some worthwhile suggestions to create a service to help someone manage our online interactions, at least make them available in some user friendly form, after we have moved on.

Morbid? No, real planning for the future.

What would you like to see?

The Carousel

Kodak introduced the Carousel many years ago. There are probably some still sitting in basements, or closets replaced by more current electronic devices to showcase pictures.

Pictures that take us back in time. Pictures that stir memories.



Do you have a carousel in storage somewhere?

Do you have a more modern slideshow device?


Thanks to Seth Godin for the pointer to this clip

Reminder: NewBCamp - Sunday - 2/8/09

Register today: registration is only $10. A real bargain!

What if you had the chance to have a conversation that resolved a nagging computer problem you’ve been having for a week now? Or helped you discover a website which expands your network and promotes your business at the same time? And don’t forget the three minute tutorial on new software you’ve been too busy to figure out.

On Sunday February 8, 2009, Free Geek Providence in collaboration with the SofT ICE club at Johnson & Wales is organizing NewBCamp, an “unconference” for the rest of us. Rather than a conference, in which the communication is too often only one way, an “unconference” is based around the idea that an event brings people together that have something to talk about with each other.

NewBCamp will feature break-out sessions based around an informal, conversational format. There will be four featured presentations on the following topics:
• Why and how do I start a blog?
• What tools can help me design my own business card?
• What do I need to know to buy a quality computer/laptop?
• How do I protect my identity and personal information on the web?

We are also actively seeking presenters and participants!

This may be the place for you to participate and get your questions answered!

Updated: Yes, if you did see an earlier note about the day of registration increasing to $25, while it was discussed on the last conference call, we will not be implementing that this year. Same bargain, $10 early or day of.

job search notes: Task avoidance

It is good to have a "To Do" list.
It is better to have a prioritized "To Do" list!

Otherwise, with something "to do" that you really are looking to avoid, anything else on the "to do" list becomes a really good thing "to do". You accomplish something. See that's done! It is crossed from the list.

But the item that needs to be done, remains there. Sitting. Waiting. Being avoided.

I need to tweak my resume to focus it properly for a particular position. The advice was clear and reasonable. Some things in my chronological story need to be combined with others. Nothing major. Shouldn't take long.

But to remove the stuff needed to streamline it; that is the hard part. Those items represent hours of good and successful work, great accomplishments. They are part of me. Why should I "diminish" them?

To emphasis what is being looked for in this case! They are looking for something specific that you do, not all that you do. The resume needs to be focused to get you to the interview. Once there, you can impress them with all the talents that you have. They'll appreciate it at that time. But the gatekeepers won't. To them it is clutter.

I need a subtle knife.

A subtle knife, a subtle knife, my kingdom for a subtle knife!

Apologies to Master Shakespeare for taking liberties with his phrase but that is what I need. I need the knife to open a window. Right there. Not far. Just enough to step aside. To create a 3rd person perspective on this to do the editing necessary.

Now that the statement has been uttered, written out for the world to see, I just may be able to find the window and step aside.

Um, is that a window over there?

Failure to pay attention

Pay attention to what you ask?

There were approx. 30 in the Attleboro hall to view the movie “Escape from Suburbia” and the discussion that followed versus millions in front of their TV to watch the Super Bowl.

How much oil/coal was consumed to power the Super Bowl and all the TVs to watch the spectacle?

Oil that a short while ago had risen to historic prices generating lots of talk but now that the prices have returned to lower levels, the issue seems to have passed.

It hasn’t.

What can I do? The problem is so huge.

“Conservation is one answer… conservation is economically more sustainable.”

Reduce your household energy use. Change out regular light bulbs for the energy saving kind. Take one small step at a time but keep at it.

“Action encourages optimism”

Take the 2 Mile Challenge!

Walk or use a bike (in the warmer New England weather) to the store for those small item errands rather than take the family vehicle.

“Community is our solution. We need to help one another.”

Get active in your community. There are a number of groups in the area that are working to address this issue. The Franklin Area Climate Team is one. Check out the sponsor listing for the Green Reel series for other groups in our area.

Talk with your neighbors, share the tips and tricks you pick up with each other.

Do something today!

Note: the quotations in Bold were notes that I took from the dialog in the movie "Escape from Suburbia"