Mon, Jul 26, 2004
Goodbye, St. Louis #
Did the AnheuserBusch tour this morning, then went to the Soulard district for exploration and lunch. Spent most of the afternoon visiting the antique shops on Cherokee Street, following some spicy Cajun food at the HardShellCafe?. (1YY)
If there's been a theme to this trip, it's been the reawakening of my sense of touch. The design of last week's workshop emphasized kinesthetic learning. The night before the workshop, I was helping HollyMeyers? cut out signs that we were posting throughout the room. The scissors felt completely foreign in my hands. It was as if I had almost totally forgotten how to cut anything more complicated than a straight line. (1YZ)
When I visited AbrahamLincoln's birthplace a few days earlier, I saw the Lincoln family Bible. I spent what seemed like forever staring at it, thinking about how Honest Abe himself used to flip through that very Bible when he was a kid living in a tiny Kentucky log cabin. (1Z0)
Walking in and out of shops on Cherokee Street was like another trip on the time machine. I held kitschy tchotchkes, ran my hands over century-old furniture, and thought about where they had been before, who their owners were, what these items meant to them. On occasion, I chatted with store owners, marveling at their passion for old things. (1Z1)
Ended the day at Busch Stadium watching the Cardinals play the Giants. The evening was dry, warm, and breezy, thanks to the rain the night before. From our seats along the right field line, we could see the Arch outside the stadium. Towards the end of the game, we watched the riverfront fireworks (along with the fireworks inside the stadium provided by BarryBonds? and AlbertPujols). (1Z2)
After the game, ScottFoehner, his friend Eric, and I had beers at Dressel's in the Central Western End. Had a few Boulevard's, which is a Kansas City brew. Perfect way to end my Midwest adventures -- gorgeous weather, a night at the ballpark, good company. (1Z3)
/personal | Posted at 5:47pm
Yogi, Lewis and Clark #
Had to put out a few fires this morning. Thank goodness for high-speed wireless and my trusty new iBook. As a sidenote, AppleWorks is an absolute travesty. It is twelve steps backwards in the evolution of office applications. Can't wait for OpenOffice to run natively on Panther. (1YT)
Afterwards, I drove to TheHill for lunch at Amighetti's, then walked down Elizabeth Street to see the stretch of road where YogiBerra? and JoeGaragiola? grew up. I love TheHill. Red brick houses line the streets, and there's an Italian restaurant and bakery on every block. I could spend weeks here, just wandering the streets and eating. (1YU)
My next stop was the Arch. Took the crazy tram to the top. Remember the egg from Mork and Mindy? The tram consists of eight of those, with five people crammed in each of them. There's a tram on each side of the Arch, and they meet at the center. Takes about five minutes to the top. (1YV)
The highlight of the Arch was the IMAX movie and exhibits on Lewis & Clark. I had to add a book on the two explorers to my always growing reading list. (1YW)
ScottFoehner and I had dinner at Blueberry Hill, which Scott claims is the most well known restaurant in town. Near Washington University, it sports plenty of seating, good burgers, a wide beer selection, live music, kitschy trinkets, and the occasional StLouis celebrity. Its longtime owner, JoeEdwards?, has invested a lot in the area recently. Afterwards, we had a few beers and played some darts and pool at the Black Derby, an excellent little dive with good music in the south side of StLouis. (1YX)
/personal | Posted at 5:45pm
Stopover in Bloomington #
On my way from FortWright to StLouis, I stopped over in Bloomington to have lunch with ChrisDent and some of his colleagues, JoeBlaylock?, KevinBohan?, and MatthewOConnor. Matthew is one of TheCanonicalHackers. (1YQ)
Lunch conversation was good -- spent two hours longer than I had planned. I especially enjoyed meeting Matthew, as well as PaulVisscher and JasonCook a few nights earlier. You can gather a surprising amount from interacting with folks via email alone, but it's still only a partial picture. It was good to finally meet these guys in person, and to get a sense of their personalities and passions. (1YR)
Arrived at ScottFoehner's place in StLouis at around 8:30pm. Had dinner on TheHill at an Italian restaurant called Via's, then went to Milo's, a neighborhood bar, for drinks. I was surprised to learn that folks in StLouis brew beers other than Budweiser. Had a Schlafly's there, which was very good. (1YS)
/personal | Posted at 4:28pm
Honest Abe, Monk Cheese, and Kentucky Bourbon #
Spent the day with SujeanKim and IsaacWatras touring Kentucky. Our first stop was the AbbeyOfGethsemani, home of ThomasMerton and homemade cheese, bourbon fudge, and fruitcake. The abbey itself is beautiful, nestled in the heart of Kentucky and surrounded by acres of fields and forest. (1YF)
We attended a prayer service, where the monks chanted their prayers, and afterwards, we lunched in silence with the brothers. Lunch was disappointing. I expected monks to eat earthy, natural foods. Nope. Frozen fish sticks, frozen fries, frozen vegetables, and canned fruit. Not exactly God's food. (1YG)
Afterwards, we drove to Hodgenville to visit AbrahamLincoln's birthplace. We stopped off at the Lincoln Museum, where I was stunned to see that they sold Confederate flags. I've heard all those arguments for Southern pride, but at the Lincoln Museum?! Strange place, the south. Not sure that Honest Abe would have approved. (1YH)
We ended our day in Bardstown, a great little nearby town that happens to lie smack in the middle of Kentucky's bourbon trail. Had dinner and drinks at the historical OldTalbottTavern, where I tried Four Roses bourbon for the first time. (I also tasted Booker, a JimBeam varietal. All I have to say is, Kentuckyians like their whiskey strong.) (1YI)
I enjoyed Four Roses so much, we went around the corner to buy a few bottles at the neighborhood liquor store. The clerk was FrederickNoe's ("Booker") nephew, and he told us some good stories about the Beam household. (1YJ)
Lots of local folks hung out at the store, buying beer and opening it there. While I was deciding how many bottles of bourbon I could haul home, my brother-in-law overheard the following conversation between a portly man and his companions: (1YK)
"Had an accident at my house the other day. Fell off a ladder." (1YL)
"How far'd you fall?" (1YM)
"Ten feet." (1YN)
"That's not so far." (1YO)
"Ten feet's a long way for a fat man." (1YP)
/personal | Posted at 4:14pm
Dayton Redux #
Just completed my adventures in the Midwest and South. Will post my notes from my trip over the next few days. -EEK (1Y4)
Some interesting facts about Dayton and Cincinnati, courtesy of PaulVisscher and JasonCook: (1Y5)
- The Wright brothers are from Dayton. (1Y6)
- So are the Sheen's and the Lowe's. (1Y7)
- So is EdwinMoses. (1Y8)
- The aluminum can pop top was invented in Dayton. (1Y9)
- JerrySpringer? was mayor of Cincinnati, by all accounts a pretty good one, until he was caught giving a check to a prostitute. The check bounced. (1YA)
- There are no strip clubs in Cincinnati. Where do folks go for adult entertainment? Dayton, of course. (1YB)
- The weather in Dayton is fairly moderate, as Midwestern towns go. Apparently, even the bad weather avoids Dayton. (1YC)
I talked to many Midwesterners throughout the trip. None of them raved about the area -- many complained about the people, the politics, the lack of decent restaurants, etc. -- but few of them had any desire to leave. I think a big part of that is family. (1YD)
I chatted with someone on my trip who suggested that folks on the West Coast have adventurers' genes. After all, our history is one of exploring the frontier and of immigration. (1YE)
/personal | Posted at 3:54pm
Mon, Jul 19, 2004
Learning Dougspeak: The Importance of Shared Language #
I worked with DougEngelbart in various capacities from 2000 through 2003, and I often retell lessons and stories from those experiences. My favorite -- untold on this blog so far -- is how I almost wrote Doug and his ideas off early in my exposure to him. It's a tale of one of my most significant transformative experiences and of the importance of SharedLanguage. (1VF)
/collaboration | Posted at 4:14pm
Sun, Jul 18, 2004
"What I Like About" Music Journal #
My brother-in-law, IsaacWatras, discovered blogging at the PlaNetworkConference two years ago, and has been an avid blogger for the past several months. Isaac is a composer, a cellist, and a teacher, and so naturally, he blogs about music. AlexRoss?, music critic for the NewYorker?, said that Isaac's blog "offers mesmerizing brief descriptions of works from across the centuries." (1RQ)
/personal | Posted at 9:29pm
Onward Towards Cincinnati #
The conference wrapped up on Friday afternoon. Powerful stuff -- lots of learning, lots of emotion. Several people cried at the end. You read that right. People attended to work, and they did a lot of that, but they were also moved by the experience. More to say on this soon. (1RE)
The Krew wrapped things up Friday night and Saturday morning, then we said our goodbyes. I'll have more to say on these folks as well, as they were a remarkable bunch who played a remarkable role. For now, this will suffice: I already miss them, and look forward to seeing them all again soon. (1RF)
Saturday afternoon, I picked up my rental car, and with my newly acquired bluegrass album blaring in the background, set off for FortWright, Kentucky via Louisville. Louisville's about three hours north of Nashville and is the home of the BrownHotel, my dinner destination. I had been wanting to taste the Brown's speciality -- the HotBrown? -- ever since learning about them on the fabulous PBS documentary, SandwichesThatYouWillLike. (1RG)
/personal | Posted at 9:28pm
A Day in Cincinnati #
Spent the day with my older sister, Sujean, and my brother-in-law, Isaac, tooling around the Cincinnati area. We spent some time at the Cincinnati's History Museum, which was very good, and we also saw the SuperCroc exhibit. I was a paleontology nut when I was a kid, and I still enjoy looking at fossils. Scientists have unearthed many new species in the past decade, and the SuperCroc -- a 40-foot crocodile from 10 million years ago, discovered in the Saraha Desert -- is one of the more interesting finds. (1RM)
The highlight of the day, of course, was the food. I'm always anxious to sample local specialties, and in Cincinnati (formerly known as pork-opolis), there are two. The first is a pork-and-oats hash known as Goetta. I was a bit scared when Isaac first described it to me -- it sounded suspiciously like spam -- but it's actually quite good. Of course, my sister bought it from a great vendor at FindlayMarket?, so that might have had something to do with it. (1RN)
The second is SkylineChili, also known as CincinnatiChili. It's chili cooked with cinnamon and cloves, served over spaghetti noodles and piled high with cheddar cheese. There's a chain called SkylineChili, where we ate, but there are also several other restaurants that specialize in it. (1RO)
Tomorrow, I'll poke around the city a bit more, then will have drinks with PaulVisscher and JasonCook of TheCanonicalHackers. (1RP)
/personal | Posted at 9:28pm
Sun, Jul 11, 2004
Matt Taylor's 1982 Management Center Concept Sketch #
MattTaylor pulled me aside yesterday to show me a sketch JimToohey? had drawn for him in 1982. (1NL)
Note the flat screen consoles, the laptop on the table, and the rewriteable work wall. Remember, this was drawn in 1982. More importantly, note the multiple modes of collaboration. People are working together in different ways, and everything is being captured digitally. (1NN)
This sketch was the result of a BackCasting? exercise. Instead of predicting the future, you describe the future as if it were the present, then describe what you did to get there. As Matt explained, everything he's worked on over the past 30 years has been in pursuit of this vision, a vision that is now close to reality. Remarkable stuff. (1NO)
/collaboration | Posted at 10:53pm
Music City, Here I Am #
Arrived in Nashville on Saturday for the MGTaylor SevenDomainsWorkshop?, a meeting of the minds of many of those tied to the MGTaylor community. I'm working the workshop this week, then am spending a week driving in a circle to Cincinnati, St. Louis, and back to Nashville. If you have suggestions for places to visit along the way -- especially interesting towns off the main road -- let me know. Also drop me an email if you're in the area and would like to get together. (1NE)
My flight was largely uneventful, other than a stopover in Charlotte, my first time in North Carolina. I have this ongoing argument with several of my friends over how long you need to be in a state in order to qualify as actually having been there. We generally agree that stopovers don't count, although after today, I may have to challenge that rule. Walking through the concourse towards my connecting flight, I couldn't resist stopping for a pulled pork sandwich. Eating the local cuisine has to count for something, even if it's at the airport. (1NF)
/personal | Posted at 10:53pm
Wed, Jul 07, 2004
The Future of Purple: Distributed Transclusions #
One of my main interests is collaborative tool interoperability. In that vein, I've participated in many conversations, but I've been actively involved in two initiatives: PurpleNumbers and IdentityCommons. On the surface, these two technologies solve different problems, but when you dig a bit deeper, you can actually combine the two to do some very interesting things. (1N1)
PurpleNumbers enable granular addressability, which enables you to attach metadata to finer-grained chunks of data. Instead of having an author of a document, you have authors for each paragraph of a document. This is an especially useful concept for collaborative authoring tools, such as Wikis (hence PurpleWiki). (1N2)
If you can address granular chunks of data, you can also transclude them. This is generally more useful than transcluding an entire document. (You are more likely to want to quote a sentence from a paper than the entire paper.) So, one consequence of tools that support PurpleNumbers is that they also support granular transclusions. (1N3)
One of the limitations of PurpleNumbers as currently implemented is that addresses are only unique in a local context. What we really want are globally unique, persistent PurpleNumbers. That would allow me to transclude a paragraph from another blog into this one. If that paragraph moves, the transclusion should still work. (1N4)
Guess what. XRIs are globally unique, persistent addresses. In fact, they were specifically designed to address data. (See the excellent whitepaper, "The Dataweb: An Introduction to XDI" for more on this.) In other words, we can use XRIs for PurpleNumbers. (1N5)
/tech/purple | Posted at 5:32pm
Freecycling #
Earlier this year, I caught up with my old friend, AaronLiepman, who's currently a plant biology postdoc at MichiganStateUniversity. Aaron told me about this nationwide phenomenon known as FreeCycle. He started two chapters in Michigan, including the first and largest in Detroit. (1MN)
Here's how it works: (1MO)
- Someone starts up a mailing list in their local community (often a Yahoo! Groups list). (1MP)
- People post offers on the list. Everything must be free (and legal). (1MQ)
- People respond to offers directly to the poster. When an item is claimed, the poster emails a notice to the list again. (1MR)
You can also post items that you want. Aaron told me that one person posted on one of his lists asking for a DVD player. He scoffed at the post when he saw it, but sure enough, someone had a DVD player to spare and gave it to the poster. (1MS)
I'm a reforming packrat, and I'm always trying to get rid of old stuff, so I subscribed to the Palo Alto freecycle soon thereafter. Since I recently replaced my laptop, I decided to give it a shot. This morning, I posted my offer. Literally a few seconds later, I got seven responses. This is for a seven year old laptop running Windows 95! If I hadn't emailed a taken notice immediately thereafter, who knows how many responses I would have received? (1MT)
What I love about FreeCycle -- other than the obvious environmental benefits -- is that it's a wonderful example of patterns trumping tools. First, it's an innovative and efficient use of mailing lists. Someone could certainly design a custom tool to handle this exchange, but it's not clear that the gains would be significant. Second, it's easily replicable. Aaron heard about it and just did it. So did a thousand other cities. Third, it's a community-builder, just like eBay -- a way to discover folks close by with similar interests. (1MU)
More articles about Aaron and FreeCycle: (1MV)
- "High-tech trade: Online system helps reduce landfill waste." The State News (February 18, 2004). (1MW)
- "Freecycling promotes true give and take." Lansing State Journal (March 6, 2004). (1MX)
/collaboration | Posted at 11:14am
Tue, Jul 06, 2004
Identity Commons: Empowering the Individual #
At last month's PlaNetworkConference, BlueOxenAssociates proudly demonstrated the first IdentityCommons system for SingleSignOn. Conference attendees could access the PlaNetwork Wiki (which we hosted), LivingDirectory (for online profiles), NeoSociety (a social networking site), and the conference site itself, all with one username and password. Although I've mentioned this work in passing on a few occasions, I've neglected to explain exactly what IdentityCommons is about. (1LG)
In short, we're building a system where individuals have full control over their digital profiles. It's an idea that was heavily inspired by the AugmentedSocialNetwork paper that was published last year. (1LH)
/collaboration | Posted at 4:09pm
Mon, Jul 05, 2004
Advocacy Developers Convergence in San Francisco #
I enjoyed the Advocacy Developers Convergence last week, where about 40 super-passionate folks -- mostly developers of advocacy tools -- gathered in the Presidio to discuss ways to collaborate. Among those represented were AdvoKit, CivicSpace, IndyVoter, GroundSpring, IdentityCommons (one of three hats I was wearing), and many, many others. AspirationTech organized and facilitated the event, and BlueOxenAssociates provided the Wiki. (1JJ)
While the scope of projects represented -- most of which were open source -- impressed me, I was really taken by the collective energy in the room. These weren't your average techies. These folks cared about improving the world, and their passion was palpable. Even the most hardened cynic would have walked away from that gathering with at least a smidgen of hope about our future. (1JK)
I wore three hats. First, I was there to facilitate Wiki usage during the event. In this regard, I basically did nothing. Most of the people there were already highly Wiki-literate, and the rest picked it up quickly. Second, I was there to help FenLabalme talk about the IdentityCommons system and to identify other potential early adopters. Third, as always, I was there both to share what I knew about collaboration and to observe and learn from others. I was particularly interested in watching Gunner's (AllenGunn) facilitation technique. Gunner, who recently took over AspirationTech along with KatrinVerclas, used to work for RuckusSociety, and has facilitated a number of interesting events, including several international OpenSource boot camps. (1JL)
/events | Posted at 11:23pm
New iBook G4 #
Folks who know me best know that, while I like to keep track of cutting-edge trends, I myself am the classic late adopter. Part of it is practicality -- if it works, why replace it? Part of it is excessive sentimentality. Up until a few years ago, I was still using a wallet my parents had given to me in elementary school! (1JC)
For the past seven years, my laptop of choice was a Toshiba Satellite Pro 425. I had upgraded the memory twice and the hard disk once, and it ran Windows 95 and Linux. About a year ago, I started having hard disk trouble. That, combined with my desire to run Compendium and to have wireless access compelled me to finally replace the machine... a year later. (1JD)
A few weeks ago, I purchased an iBook G4. Reasons for going Mac: (1JE)
/tech | Posted at 11:23pm
