Saturday, October 31, 2009

Amazon River System: Spread the word about World University & School

Spread the word about World University & School ~

worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/World_University

It's open.

It's free.

It's on the internet now.


You can teach here.

You can learn here.

It has content from great universities and schools.

It has pragmatic teaching and learning content.

It's potentially in all languages.

It's potentially in all nation states.

It's potentially in all subjects.

It's potentially at all levels.

You can add to World University & School.

It's for One Laptop per Child countries especially, and for everyone.


It offers infinite, creative opportunities for idea sharing.


Teaching and Learning can take place in virtual worlds like Second Life.

Teaching and Learning can take place via video.

Teach and Learn in any way you create.


Explore teaching and learning eliciting loving bliss, naturally, for example, or whatever you like.


There's great, FREE 'Educational Software' here, and so much more.


Teach to your web camera at World University & School!

Enjoy!



Spread the word about the open World University & School.


It's a treat :)







(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/10/amazon-river-system-spread-word-about_31.html - October 31, 2009)

Friday, October 30, 2009

Golden Flax Seed: Benefits of Enough Sleep and Wellness Practices, Contact Improv, Called Quaker Silent Meeting

The benefits of enough sleep and wellness practices: diet - e.g. low-fat ovo-lacto vegetarian and/or 5-9 servings or fruits, grains, vegetables, and legumes, and exercise - are great for health, and thus well-being. And a very low-fat diet and exercise can REVERSE heart disease. This was clinically proven by Dean Ornish M.D. in the 1990s.

Flax seed oil for omega fatty acids, for for example, in my experience, harmonize and brighten, and lessen anxiety.


*

I like contact improvisation dance jams for movement, exercise improvisation-exploration and jamming ...

Hiking is great, as well.


**

There's a called Quaker silent meeting on Monday, November 2, 2009 at 11 am EST for the American Friends' Service Committee.


Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Next Monday AFSC will be starting a new chapter as a much leaner organization. We want to bring the AFSC community together to hold in the Light this precious organization. We also want to hold in the Light members of our Board, Corporation, Committees, Volunteers, and Staff who remain as well as those who have departed.

We invite you to gather for one hour at 11:00 AM EST on November 2 for a Called Meeting for Worship. We will have a telephone conference call available for those who want to worship with the entire community for an initial period. The dial-in information is below. We will gather together in silent worship as a community for
10 minutes, after which we will hold each other in the Light and continue to worship in our various locations.

Please join us and feel free to share this with others who care about AFSC and invite them to join us.

In friendship,
Paul Lacey, Clerk of the Board
Mary Ellen McNish, General Secretary






(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/10/golden-flax-seed-benefits-of-enough.html - October 30, 2009)

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Two Birds of Paradise: Harbin Baths ... MMmmm ...

Harbin baths ...


MMmmm ... :)























(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/10/two-birds-of-paradise-harbin-baths.html - October 29. 2009)

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Bonobo Together: Nontheist Friends, Dalton Letter, Learning from Higher Primates, Funny and Edifying Bonobo Researcher

Here's a recent email I sent to a nontheist Friends' email list:



Nontheist Friends,

You might enjoy my Friends' Dalton Letter where I mention 7 species of higher primates (Homo sapiens, two species of chimps, two species of orangutans, and two species of gorillas) here - scottmacleod.com/daltonletter.htm.

I see the primatological research literature about the other higher primates closest to us as edifying narratives (but only as narratives vis-a-vis 'fact,' since homo sapiens probably split 5-7 million years ago from lines that became chimpanzees, I think, and primate research is still young), and possibly important ones, not often considered as part of Quaker or more general discourse. I think it's how we learn from these other species (I'm most interested in Bonobo - Pan paniscus - and data is just beginning to accumulate) which is fascinating. Bonobo, for example, appear to be peaceful, egalitarian, matriarchal, and very sexual, which seems to have been shaped by natural selection over millions of years, and thousands of generations. The first two narratives - peaceful and egalitarian ones - seem to echo Friends' testimonies. How might nontheist Friends, in particular, learn further from these species, in the way that Friends are often open to learning from people who are different from themselves by listening, which is based a culture of respect for all?

And here's a proposal about ways in which we might learn from higher
primates that can use sign language and communicate otherwise in language: webnographers.org/index.php?title=Ethno-wiki-virtual-world-graphy. I'm curious about your thoughts about this.

Lastly, you might enjoy this funny and edifying TED Talk by a Bonobo researcher in Georgia: youtube.com/watch?v=a8nDJaH-fVE

With friendly greetings,
Scott

scottmacleod.com



*

This leads to the privileging of a whole array of different narratives, based on the natural world. These have not often been considered in many (religious) traditions, and are fascinating, relevant and very edifying. Such primate narratives could easily
encompass and supersede theistic and other religious narratives.


Scott

http://scottmacleod.com
http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/World_University


**


I wonder if as-of-yet unexplored ethno-wiki-virtual-world-graphy as method - webnographers.org/index.php?title=Ethno-wiki-virtual-world-graphy & scott-macleod.blogspot.com/search/label/ethno-wiki-virtual-world-graphy - could be the basis of a comparative, developing conversation between homo sapiens and other language-using higher primates, about such questions. I wonder, too, what primate researchers Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, Frans de Waal and Jane Goodall and the myriad of primatological researchers at universities around the world, for example, would say about these questions of connectedness. Among humans there is a very wide variety of nontheistic beliefs (from rigorous, analytic philosophy, Willard van Ormine Quine's "The Web of Belief," Richard Rorty's Neo-Pragmatist philosophy, Richard Dawkins' evolutionary biological atheism, to, by contrast, vis-a-vis religious beliefs, William James' "The Varieties of Religious Experience," to Huston Smith's "World Religions"). I can think of few examples of what you call 'emergence' or explicit 'nontheistic friendliness' in my readings of the primatological literature, although language-learning by primates (e.g. sign language and logographs) may be just this, in its own Promethean way.

And "What canst thou say?" I think we're seeing what nontheistic friends are saying here. :)

Are we coded for certain kinds of behaviors, just as labrador retrievers seem to be coded for kindness, as a breed, for example (as are species of higher primates)? See for example - scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2008/10/world-university.html (October 7, 2008 - the picture here is great:) about labrador retrievers. In what ways can we humans learn? Can we humans learn kindness and thoughtfulness, as well as peacefulness, simplicity, integrity, & love and happiness? In what ways can primates learn? They obviously can learn language, which some thought impossible (See the TED Talk, for one; Koko is another example). Can higher primates learn other aspects of social interaction? Could common chimps learn to become Bonobo?

With friendly greetings,

Scott


(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/10/bonobo-together-nontheist-friends.html - October 28, 2009)

Monday, October 26, 2009

Rough Blazing Star: Quakers and Business Meetings, Consensus Decision-Making, World University and School, Economic Model

Hi All,

Here's a Forbes Magazine article on Quakers and Business Meetings. I'd like to engage some aspects of these Consensus Decision-Making processes for World University and School, potentially virtually. (Please get a Second Life avatar - http://secondlife.com - to participate in World University and School :)


Doing Business The Quaker Way
Mark Lewis, 10.09.09, 02:42 PM EDT
Office meetings might be more effective if the participants emulated
the Society of Friends.

Imagine filing into the conference room for a business meeting, only to find the other participants sitting there in thoughtful silence. If someone has something to say, they stand up and speak; then others take their turn. No one ever interrupts. When a person finishes having his say, the silence resumes until someone else is moved to speak. No authority figure presides over the meeting, no vote is taken, and there is no agenda.

That's how Quakers run their meetings, whether they have gathered for worship or to conduct the congregation's business. If their methods sound eccentric, consider this: In centuries past, Quaker meetings produced decisions that shaped the course of capitalism. Given the poor-quality decisions emerging from corporate conference rooms these days, a revival of Quaker methods may be long overdue.

"I think that managers can adapt certain elements and the guiding spirit of the Quaker business meeting to their purposes," said Margaret Benefiel, a Boston-based management consultant and the author of Soul at Work: Spiritual Leadership in Organizations.

Those elements include "a quiet, reflective frame of mind, mutual respect, [and] the idea that no one person has all the truth, but must listen deeply to others to gain a fuller picture of the truth," said Benefiel, who is a Quaker herself, and teaches at Massachusetts' Andover Newton Theological School when she is not advising managers.

Quakers are more properly known as The Society of Friends, which comprises not one organization but many. Each meeting house sets its own procedures. But they are all egalitarian. Quakers have no priesthood or hierarchy and defer to no human authority figures.


The faith was born in England during the 17th century. Persecuted for their beliefs, Quakers banded together for self-protection, forming communities and networks based on mutual trust. Supported by those communities and empowered by those networks, Quakers invented new ways of doing business. (At least one of their innovations is still with us: the traveling salesman.) Indeed, author David K. Hurst locates the cradle of capitalism in the little town of Coalbrookdale, England, where Quaker manufacturers like Abraham Darby forged the iron sinews of the Industrial Revolution.

During early Quaker meetings, "the business activities of their members were scrutinized by their peers, not only for their soundness but also to ensure that the interests of the broader community--not just the Quakers--were protected," says Hurst, a management consultant based in Oakville, Ontario, who wrote about Quaker business methods in his book Crisis and Renewal: Meeting the Challenge of Organizational Change. The Quaker congregation "would stand behind the activities of members who were in good standing, and if one of them got into trouble, they would supervise the liquidation of the business and make good the deficit."

Quakers soon crossed the ocean to Nantucket, which they made into the world capital of whaling, and to Philadelphia, where they planted the seeds of America's own Industrial Revolution. Bethlehem Steel (BHMMQ.OB - news - people ), for example, was founded by the innovative Quaker entrepreneur Joseph Wharton, who also endowed the world's first collegiate business school at the University of Pennsylvania.

These days, the Wharton School is not known for propagating Quaker business techniques, and most people associate Quakers more with oatmeal or activist organizations like Greenpeace. But Quaker business methods are not necessarily obsolete; they have merely fallen into disuse, which is not quite the same thing.

In their meetings, Quakers do not let anyone impose a decision on the group. Instead, they wait for a consensus to emerge from a free and open discussion.

Probably the most distinctive feature of the Quaker meeting is that it begins and ends in silence. This approach may not lend itself easily to a corporate conference room.

"I suppose that on a very small scale, if you are trying to get people who already trust each other somewhat to express real concerns or come up with different ideas, it can help to think about starting a meeting without an agenda and in silence," Hurst says. "The pressure of silence is immense, so you can't just spring it on an unsuspecting group. They have to know its coming and what the objective is. A complete change in physical context from the office environment might help too."

Hurst, a non-Quaker, says he admires the Friends' theology and their community-oriented business methods. But he notes that modern corporations long ago grew too big to be managed the Quaker way.

"Huge scale undermines innovation and entrepreneurship and our ability to control our own creations," he said. "Unless we can make our large, complex organizations a lot smaller, we cannot hope that modern board meetings will ever resemble their Quaker counterparts."

Nevertheless, some firms may feel that they have little to lose by experimenting with Quaker methods. After all, most managers already spend much of each day in meetings that seem like a complete waste of time. These meetings may be conducted "efficiently" in that they plow through a long agenda and produce decisions for each item. But as those early Quakers knew, efficiency is not necessarily the same thing as effectiveness.

"Studies show that half of management decisions fail," Benefiel said. "Quaker practices can help managers make better decisions."


(http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/09/quaker-business-meetings-leadership-society-friends.html)



And further thoughts on Business Meetings from Forbes:

http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/08/meetings-conferences-management-leadership-meetings_land.html


*

See this blog entry for further ideas about how consensus decision-making works {consensus decision-making process}: scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/09/orangutan-in-water-consensus-decision.html (September 18, 2009)





**

Native Forbs:

Liatris aspera

nababutterfly.com/Photos/Painted%20lady%20Rough%20blazing%20star%28Liatris%20aspera%2956.jpg


mortonarb.org/images/stories/advice/latesummeraplants/11_Rough_Blazing_Star.jpg


Rough Blazing Star
















(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/10/rough-blazing-star-quakers-and-business.html - October 26, 2009)

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Spiro: Growing a Cornucopia of Teachers at World Univ & Sch, Web cam teaching, Translation from Youtube into any Language?

How might World University & School give birth to a cornucopia of teachers, teaching, learning and engagement with ideas?


Web cam teaching: worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/World_University for emergent One Laptop Per Child languages to Web?


Each language becomes an open teaching and learning wiki, and as languages come online, this will be especially helpful, I think.



How to grow community? And community as engaged, intelligent and interested in ideas as, for example, at Stanford University?



The web makes this possible ...



*

Vis-a-vis Google Wave, developing database information technologies like Semantic Wiki, and Google Translator together, I'd love to be able to hear what a Japanese lecturer on haiku says about haiku, and then converse directly with him. In what ways will Google Wave help develop translation technologies, and improve this possibility for all?














(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/10/spiro-growing-cornucopia-of-teachers-at.html - October 24, 2009)

Friday, October 23, 2009

Field Flowers: World University and School as Free, Public Option Worldwide, Beat Poetry and Gerard Manley Hopkins from Memory

World University and School ~

Here are more of my posts from Twitter to Facebook, and Facebook alone ...


http://WorldUniversity.wikia.com as a free 'Public Option' in world
education? Let's create it together ... The US doesn't have open, free
University education - although the U.S. has free, open education
through high school ...


would like to bring together Semantic Wiki with Google Wave, especially vis-a-vis Translators at "Edit this Page" worlduniversity.wikia.com



seeking Friendly-oriented recording clerk / secretary, digitally, for minutes with some exp w consensus decision-making for worlduniversity.wikia.com


added Scotslanguage.com to World University & School's Scottish Gaelic: worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Languages where you can Teach, Learn & Add Resources


Modeling the earth in virtual worlds like Second Life? When will we have this? I'd like for people in virtual WILDERNESS AREAS at worlduniversity.wikia.com to be able to openly, freely and extraordinarily Teach & Learn. Virtual Wilderness Areas? Oxymoronic as it is ... open skies in virtual worlds are great, and for teaching and learning (interactive idea exchange) especially ...



The 2009 Solar Decathlon! ~ solardecathlon.org/virtual_tours :) - Great ideas. Also, Art Haines' solar car: youtube.com/watch?v=M0JNohHaqM4



Added Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles REMARKABLE Video Productions (BBC) worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Ancient_Greece & Greek Tragedies



added new "Ideas (Academic)" section to World Univ & Sch Library Resources with TED Talks ~ worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Library_Resources



added Wikibooks (online flex textbooks) to World Univ & Sch - worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Library_Resources#Online_Textbooks Edit Invite



Jimmy Wales on Wikipedia - TED Talk - "Jimmy Wales: How a ragtag band created Wikipedia" - youtube.com/watch?v=WQR0gx0QBZ4&NR=1



Looking for great videos on how to best (& inspirationally) structure 52 weeks, for example, of musical instrument lessons for worlduniversity.wikia.com



Might some Wikipedia editors also become worlduniversity.wikia.com editors? - They're a lot of Subjects to teach and learn - and already up, too.



World Univ & Sch is an open 'Edit this Page' wiki - like Wikipedia with MIT Open Course Ware - worlduniversity.wikia.com Check out youtube.com/edu



World Univ & Sch, like Wikipedia w MIT Open Course Ware is homeschooling ABUNDANT - for the self-oriented learner worlduniversity.wikia.com



A friend added abt 15 Civil Engineering talks to worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Subjects World Univ & Sch will thrive through CONVERSATION - http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Civil_Engineering


doesn't see that many worker-owned cooperatives these days - Just found a new one in the SF Bay Area in Oakland Arizmendi's Bakery


Let's make World Univ & Sch beautiful, as well ~light web design and teach this, too :) worlduniversity.wikia.com, like Wikipedia w MIT OCW


how to complement all the time we spend online with extraordinary opportunities for Teaching & Learning - worlduniversity.wikia.com Add Teach Learn


subscribe to MIT Open Course Ware's monthly newsletter at ocw@mit.edu, a remarkable resource, & Teach at & Add to worlduniversity.wikia.com



Languages around the world, as they get the web, will benefit from an open teaching & learning worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Languages wiki ... video-capable hand held devices, and with icons for illiterate people ...



Played my bagpipe at a wedding at Stanford this afternoon ... Stanford is gorgeous ... Piping is perfect for such ceremonies ... and 1-1 music lessons via Skype, iChat, etc. ... at worlduniversity.wikia.com?



Languages around the world, as they get the web, will benefit from an open teaching & learning worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses wiki


World University and School Wiki Facebook Group - facebook.com/group.php?gid=48753608141 (FREE EDUCATION)



~ added HOSPITAL in Second Life (for teaching) from Imperial College London worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses#Medical_School_and_Hospital


http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses -like Wikipedia with MIT Open Course ... And here's great... FREE educational software at WORLD UNIVERSITY & SCHOOL: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Educational_Software :)



And please join the Facebook and Google Groups:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=48753608141
http://groups.google.com/group/World-University-and-School/ (have to click two "join this group" buttons)



New friend in Facebook who speaks Urdu, Saraiki & Punjabi & has deep Wikipedia exp. Pls refer friends w langs to worlduniversity.wikia.com



In case you missed today's Nonprofit Commons' mtg, here's the chat transcript abt World Univ & Sch (free education): http://bit.ly/L2uEK #fb



added Hospital in Second Life (for teaching) from Imperial College London worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses#Medical_School_and_Hospital








*

Beat poetry from memory, and Gerard Manley Hopkins, too, for sound and word, then to generate words anew, and sounds and music ... bagpiping and musical compositions ...

I was young, but lived through the 1960s ~ memory and feeling for a time ... back in the day








(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/10/field-flowers-world-university-and.html - October 23, 2009)

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Spanish Shawl: Beat Poetry, and Gerard Manley Hopkins's poetry, and Loving Bliss

Beat Poetry, and Gerard Manley Hopkin's wild, beautiful, sound-rhythm-word poetry, ~ and with loving bliss? How?

The poetry I've written in this blog is in a tradition of Beat Poetry (e.g. Gary Snyder), in many ways. I'd like to articulate it with approaches to poetry which Gerard Manley Hopkins makes happen extraordinarily - bartleby.com/122 ...



The Woodlark


TEEVO cheevo cheevio chee:
O where, what can tháat be?
Weedio-weedio: there again!
So tiny a trickle of sóng-strain;
And all round not to be found 5
For brier, bough, furrow, or gréen ground
Before or behind or far or at hand
Either left either right
Anywhere in the súnlight.
Well, after all! Ah but hark— 10
‘I am the little wóodlark.
. . . . . . . .

To-day the sky is two and two
With white strokes and strains of the blue
. . . . . . . .

Round a ring, around a ring
And while I sail (must listen) I sing
. . . . . . . .
15

The skylark is my cousin and he
Is known to men more than me
. . . . . . . .

…when the cry within
Says Go on then I go on
Till the longing is less and the good gone 20


But down drop, if it says Stop,
To the all-a-leaf of the tréetop
And after that off the bough
. . . . . . . .

I ám so véry, O soó very glad
That I dó thínk there is not to be had…
. . . . . . . .
25

The blue wheat-acre is underneath
And the braided ear breaks out of the sheath,
The ear in milk, lush the sash,
And crush-silk poppies aflash,
The blood-gush blade-gash 30
Flame-rash rudred
Bud shelling or broad-shed
Tatter-tassel-tangled and dingle-a-dangled
Dandy-hung dainty head.
. . . . . . . .

And down … the furrow dry
35
Sunspurge and oxeye
And laced-leaved lovely
Foam-tuft fumitory
. . . . . . . .

Through the velvety wind V-winged
To the nest’s nook I balance and buoy 40
With a sweet joy of a sweet joy,
Sweet, of a sweet, of a sweet joy
Of a sweet—a sweet—sweet—joy.’


bartleby.com/122/64.html

*

And health promoting practices, like a low fat ovo-lacto vegetarian diet (5-9 servings of fruits, grains and vegetables) and movement /exercise didn't always go hand-in-hand with the culture of Beat poetry, which phased into counterculture, where, as Allen Ginsberg puts it in the first (long) sentence of "Howl"


Howl

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by
madness, starving hysterical naked,

dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn
looking for an angry fix,

angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly
connection to the starry dynamo in the machin-
ery of night,

who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high sat
up smoking in the supernatural darkness of
cold-water flats floating across the tops of cities
contemplating jazz,

who bared their brains to Heaven under the El and
saw Mohammedan angels staggering on tene-
ment roofs illuminated,

who passed through universities with radiant cool eyes
hallucinating Arkansas and Blake-light tragedy
among the scholars of war,

who were expelled from the academies for crazy &
publishing obscene odes on the windows of the
skull,

who cowered in unshaven rooms in underwear, burn-
ing their money in wastebaskets and listening
to the Terror through the wall,

who got busted in their pubic beards returning through
Laredo with a belt of marijuana for New York,

who ate fire in paint hotels or drank turpentine in
Paradise Alley, death, or purgatoried their
torsos night after night

with dreams, with drugs, with waking nightmares, al-
cohol and cock and endless balls,

incomparable blind; streets of shuddering cloud and
lightning in the mind leaping toward poles of
Canada & Paterson, illuminating all the mo-
tionless world of Time between,

Peyote solidities of halls, backyard green tree cemetery
dawns, wine drunkenness over the rooftops,
storefront boroughs of teahead joyride neon
blinking traffic light, sun and moon and tree
vibrations in the roaring winter dusks of Brook-
lyn, ashcan rantings and kind king light of mind ...

{sprayberry.tripod.com/poems/howl.txt}


Can we sing and beat together, and generate flourishing wellness?



***

So, how to engage Beats, Hopkins and health practices, to generate loving bliss. In what ways could such poetry become code for generating loving bliss, like some music brings me "there.' And for you?


****

Nudibranchia

eol.org/pages/2538


s3.amazonaws.com/readers/2009/05/18/sea-slug_1.jpg

k41.pbase.com/u34/rick_coleman/upload/31303806.spanishshawl6.jpg

Nudibranchs - Sea Slugs


... from the Harbin pools?



(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/10/spanish-shawl-beat-poetry-and-gerard.html - October 22, 2009)

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Fly with Fig Wasp: Cooperatives in the San Francisco Bay Area: Rainbow Grocery

Generating a list of cooperatives and collectives in the San Francisco Bay Area:


Cooperatives in the San Francisco Bay Area: Rainbow Grocery (in S.F.), Arizmendi's Bakery (in Oakland), Nabolom's Bakery & Cafe (in Berkeley), the Missing Link Bicycle Collective (in Berkeley), Slingshot Publishing Collective (in Berkeley) ....


Here's an online list from the "Network of Bay Area Cooperatives": http://www.nobawc.org/article.php?id=56

So many of these emerged in the 1960s and 70s. It's interesting to see which one's are still around, and why ...


What's worked with them and what hasn't?

How might the great aspects of them grow?


*

What would you add?


**

There are many fascinating cooperative (called symbiotic relationships in evolutionary biology) adaptations in nature.

Fig - Wasp is one amazing symbiotic relationship ...


In what ways are DNA relationships like this one information technology relationships, in nature?





http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/portal/pls/portallive/docs/1/589917.JPG














(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/10/fly-with-fig-wasp-cooperatives-in-san_21.html - October 21, 2009)

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

No Longer Twilight: To Harbin on This Day



To Harbin on this day

It's been too long
since we've been here,
so into the pools soon
before dark comes.
Then to the dance ~
the polyrhythmic boogie
woogie ~
this Tuesday eve
in Harbin's ochre, wondrous,
cob and bale temple,
with its funky, old, curved,
ship-beamed, hat roof ~
skylighted ~
in here we shall dance ~
and then to bed, ~

on the redwood deck,
on a platform
in a tree canopy.

To Harbin ...



To Harbin on this day -
in cool, winter-is-coming,
autumn, nice-like-summers-
in-San-Francisco,
California weather.


Now Harbin is so beautifully quiet ~

... and good sleep
comes under the canopy :}



















(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/10/no-longer-twilight-to-harbin-on-this.html - October 20, 2009)

Monday, October 19, 2009

Bachelors Button Cornflower: Want to stay in Berkeley for free, While Traveling?, People's Park, Jimmy Wales Talks about Wikipedia

Want to stay in Berkeley for free, while traveling?

Camp out in People's Park ...


Camping out in People's Park occasionally, as part of an anthropology of counterculture and information technology sounds like a good idea, and fascinating ... there must be a cast of characters living there, and some of whom have been around since 1969.


Park in front of the tree house 1 and 1/2 miles away, and head to the park with camping gear ... get to know folks there ... Learn ...


*

"People's Park: Still Blooming, 1969 - 2009" a book edited by Terri Compost, tells the ongoing story of people of Berkeley taking over this park from the UC Regents ... and reclaiming it as public space ...


http://slingshot.tao.ca/displaybi.php?0100005


I just came across this book in the worker-owned Berkeley bakery cooperative Nabaloms.


"People's Park still blooming - 1969-2009
New Book about People's Park!

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the construction of People's Park in Berkeley, local author and activist Terri Compost has compiled "People's Park: Still Blooming," a 200 page full-color coffee table book that documents the Park's evolution from 1969 to the present day.

People's Park, located between Haste Street and Dwight Avenue, half a block East of Telegraph Avenue, is in many ways the spiritual and inspirational nexus of radical activism in the East Bay. Since a diverse coalition of activists seized a vacant lot to build the Park in 1969, the Park has been a model for do-it-yourself direct action. In the years since 1969, generations of activists have fought to permit the users of the Park to decide how it should be developed, operated and maintained -- embodying the principal of user development -- in the face of constant police repression. Amidst all the riots and protests, the park still blooms.

As the silent narrator, Terri weaves together interviews, news clippings and book excerpts to tell the story of the Park's past, present and future. The book features hundreds of historical images and photographs of the Park's present uses: as a community garden and native plant repository in a dense urban area; as a liberated zone for concerts and political rallies; and as one of the few places open to all people -- rich and poor, homeless and housed -- in an increasingly consumer-dominated Berkeley. Daily free food provided by Food Not Bombs and others draws a constantly shifting band of punks, travelers, artists and marginalized people to the Park.

It is fitting that "People's Park: Still Blooming" is the first book published by the Slingshot Collective. Slingshot traces its roots to the Park -- the ideas that inspired it and the street protests that have kept it alive. The book is not a dry historical text nor mere picture book -- its conception and actualization are intimately tied to a living struggle with implications far wider than just Berkeley or just a Park. The struggle for the Park is the same as the global struggle for freedom, cooperation and ecological balance over hierarchy, corporations and a throw-away world.

Look for People's Park: Still Blooming in your local indy-bookstore or infoshop, or order from the slingshot website: slingshot@tao.ca. "



*

"Jimmy Wales: How a ragtag band created Wikipedia" TED Talk

Jimmy Wales on Wikipedia - TED Talk - "Jimmy Wales: How a ragtag band created Wikipedia" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQR0gx0QBZ4&NR=1








(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/10/bachelors-button-cornflower-want-to.html - October 19, 2009)

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Dolphins Two: Conversation with a Friend Interested in Learning the Scottish Highland Bagpipe

A Conversation (in the social networking site of Facebook) with a friend interested in learning the Scottish Highland Bagpipe:


Scott:

... {Uilleann bagpipes} They're beautiful, but I've never played them ...


3:05pmScott

They're certainly better for indoor playing ...


3:09pmScott

It looks like there are 85 different bagpipes on this list (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bagpipes) ...


3:11pmThomas

Confession: I'm really blown away by good teachers! I have a love/ hate relationship with my own teaching. And I'm REALLY excited by the little I've seen of your work.


3:12pmScott

It sounds like you've taught before :):)

Great teachers are a boon, but learning an instrument takes focus for a long time

How to get to 'flow' experiences while learning fingering is a question I wonder about?


3:15pmThomas

It's a kind of "singing' with your body, isn't it?


3:15pmScott

Canntaireachd (pr. Cantroch) in Scots' Gaelic

(Scottish Gaelic: literally, "chanting") is the ancient Scottish Highland method of noting classical pipe music or Ceòl Mòr by a combination of definite syllables, by which means the various tunes could be more easily recollected by the learner, and could be more easily transmitted orally (from Wikipedia)

This is a fun way


3:17pmThomas

Hence the name 'chanter'?

Good for learning an illegal instrument


3:18pmScott

I think so - very true ...


3:18pmThomas

The hardest thing I ever dabbled in was tabla

they have great verbalizations

very simple


3:19pmScott

Check out the Tabla lessons at World University & School:

http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Music

Was the verbalizing fun in Tabla?


3:20pmThomas

Very fun, but so much work.


3:20pmScott

There are both beginning bagpipe and tabla tutorials at World Univ & Sch (which I'm developing)

What an instrument ... :):)


3:21pmThomas

What's with the virtual worlds? That's so cool!


3:21pmScott

It helps to have its polyrhythms 'in the air' around one from birth, I bet

for tabla

Virtual worlds and the web open amazing possibilities for learning and teaching ... (I've taught "Society and Information Technology" online, for example) ... and the internet opens creative opportunities ... for teaching in virtual worlds ... and

for open teaching and learning ...

but with music teaching, one-to-one is still vital ... (and doable with video conferencing and the internet now from anywhere)


3:24pmThomas

My Hindustani slide guitar teacher says that if a 4 year old can't hear 13 over 9, for example, teachers don't bother with him!


3:24pmScott

:):) Have you seen these guidelines for practicing a musical instrument - http://scottmacleod.com/GuidelinesPracticingMusicalInstrument.htm


3:25pmScott

piping is more familiar and possibly more straightforward - Ceòl Beag (light music), that is - than music with 13/9 timings, but not perhaps Piobairreachd (Pibroch - or Ceòl Mòr - classical bagpipe music), in my experience, which has very unique timings


3:26pmThomas

I just read them before I spotted you online. beautiful, but challenging


3:27pmScott

practical in some ways ... and focused ... every musician gets to flow in their own ways

though


3:28pmThomas

I play bluegrass banjo. Lots of roots in Scots melodies and rhythms


3:28pmScott

"How can I get to Carnegie Hall?" - the joke goes - someone on the street in NY asks a taxi driver. The driver replied "Practice, practice, practice ..."

That helps a lot, Thomas


3:32pmThomas

everyone calls me Doug, but once in a while I like the sound of Thomas.


3:32pmScott

:):)


3:37pmThomas

I've taught, guitar, harmonica, electric bass, banjo, mandolin, steel guitar, judo, tai chi, and on and on...


3:37pmScott

impressively polymusical


3:38pmThomas

The consciousness work is my favorite way of working with people, really


3:39pmScott

:):) Where do you want to be musically in, say, four years?


3:39pmThomas

everything winds up being that in the end

Concrete goals


3:40pmScott

in so many ways ... consciousness and beginner's mind can be very present-making


3:40pmThomas


I want to be able to perform on the pipes in the next year

The instrument is still such a mystery to me...


3:41pmScott

Cool - To play with straight fingers, to learn grace notes and doublings, while learning beautiful tunes, is part of the process ...


3:46pmThomas

streight fingers! I saw that in the chanter booklet. That was hard to even think about, but I see that I can feel the holes that way1

!

My typing is terrible


3:47pmThomas

Learning the SPECIFIC fingerings is giving me fits!


3:47pmScott

It's part of the 'bicycle riding' of piping ... not sure how it emerges from the depths of time ... perhaps fingers are more percussive that way (straight) ... but that's piping - it makes doublings and grace notes easy, I think


3:49pmThomas

the guitarist in me wants to just uncover the holes sequentially, but that's clearly a mistake I would have to unlearn later

Maybe that's from all that marching around in the cold!

(streight fingers)

Those guys were clearly no pantywaists.


3:51pmScott

:):) We might begin with the green "The College of Piping Highland Bagpipe Tutor, Pt. 1" - yes, it's a form ...

Not quite sure how to get to Tabla like 13/9 polyrhythms, metaphorically, without learning 'The first 6 letters: Ta Tee Tin, Da Dhee Dhin' (per the online video at World University & School - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1mfZyeP05A) ...


3:53pmScott

Exactly ... the bagpipe has made it through centuries of cold weather ...


3:54pmThomas

Is there any air pressure delivered directly from the piper's mouth through the actual pipes or is it all pressure on the bag?

Is that clear?

I'm used to using my mouth shape to 'bend' notes on the harmonica....

Will i be squeezing the bag for that?


3:56pmScott

Generally you play the practice chanter for around 6 months to a year and then move to the bagpipe where you only blow through a blowpipe (and your mouth never comes near a reed while playing), and sometimes via an intermediary instrument called a goose, which is just bag, blowpipe and chanter, but has no drones - and is easier than the full bagpipe, and where you learn how to blow into the bag and play music at the same time

The cafe I'm in is closing now ...

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Corals: I added a hospital in Second Life to World Univ & Sch, Bow Strokes of Loving Bliss, Stanford's Beauty

I added a hospital (Imperial Hospital London) in Second Life to World University & School yesterday ...


Click 'here' to go 'there': http://slurl.com/secondlife/Imperial%20College%20London/150/86/27


... for teaching and learning ...



*

How to get to the 'bow strokes' (as in bowing notes while playing string chamber music, as metaphor) of eliciting loving bliss neurophysiology, naturally?

... especially vis-a-vis listening to Mozart's arias, contra dance music, ragas, etc., (all of which can cause neural cascades of pleasure for me), freely and easily ...




**

I played my bagpipe at Stanford, beginning outside the church in Stanford's beautiful quad, for a wedding today ... Built space affects ethos and culture ... Stanford's beauty is salutary :)




***

Went late to the Berkeley Contact jam ... easy to explore movement vis-a-vis spectacular underwater sea creatures there ... which is very fun and freeing, and good movement ...




****

Spectacular Marine Scene and Wonders of the Underwater Wonderlands:


http://scienceray.com/biology/marine-biology/spectacular-marine-scene-and-wonders-of-the-underwater-wonderlands/



*****

Ah, warm waters ...












(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/10/i-added-hospital-in-second-life-to.html - October 17, 2009)

Friday, October 16, 2009

Ladybug: Introducing World University & School in Second Life to Nonprofit Commons (SF Technology Group) in SL

Introducing World University & School in Second Life to Nonprofit Commons / (Netsquared?) (a San Francisco Technology Group - slurl.com/secondlife/Plush%20Nonprofit%20Commons/88/126/26) in SL

16 October 2009 (9 am, Pacific Time)
The avatar Aphilo Aarde is Scott MacLeod in actual life





[8:59] Aphilo Aarde: Good morning from Berkeley
[8:59] Aphilo Aarde: In the next 10 minutes
[8:59] Glitteractica Cookie: Good morning from san francisco!
[9:00] Aphilo Aarde: I'd like to let you know a little about World University & School
[9:00] Aphilo Aarde: like wikipedia - so open and free - with MIT Open Course Ware
[9:00] Aphilo Aarde: so with an academic focus - MIT has 1900 courses on line for the self oriented learner
[9:01] Aphilo Aarde: And then we can converse about what we might like to see further in this open university
[9:01] MacZ Urbanowicz is Online
[9:01] Aphilo Aarde: World University & School will focus
[9:02] Aphilo Aarde: potentially in all languages, nation states, levels and subjects
[9:02] Aphilo Aarde: and is potentially for One Laptop per Child countries as well
[9:02] Aphilo Aarde: There are about 3000- 8000 languages - so, as a wiki,
[9:02] Aphilo Aarde: as languages come online WUaS will be there, and open, -
[9:02] Aphilo Aarde: as a Teaching and Learning wiki (editable web pages).
[9:03] Aphilo Aarde: What WUaS facilitates is all of us being able to teach to our web cameras
[9:03] Aphilo Aarde: as well as to add the amazing amount of open, free Teaching and Learning content already on the web
[9:03] Aphilo Aarde: as well as to learn
[9:04] Aphilo Aarde: World University and School also focuses especially on the open content of great universities
[9:04] Aphilo Aarde: So Cambridge, Oxford, Berkeley, Stanford, MIT, ivy leagues
[9:04] Aphilo Aarde: aggregating all of their free open content
[9:04] Aphilo Aarde: for its academic focus
[9:05] Aphilo Aarde: but it's also an opportunity for creativity
[9:05] Aphilo Aarde: for us to shape education the way we want it
[9:05] Aphilo Aarde: Teach something to your web camera and post it to a free video hosting site
(http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Educational_Software#Video-Streaming_Hosting_Services)
[9:05] Aphilo Aarde: then link it to WUaS
[9:05] MacZ Urbanowicz: brilliant aphilo
[9:05] Aphilo Aarde: WUaS's wiki has been up for about 2 years
[9:06] Aphilo Aarde: And it has the following main pages with subsections
[9:06] Aphilo Aarde: and there's already a lot! of material on it, and wikis (editable web pages)
[9:06] Aphilo Aarde: are infinitely extensible
[9:06] Aphilo Aarde: So the main pages are first
[9:06] Aphilo Aarde: Courses - add a course you teach or would like to teach or know about
[9:07] Aphilo Aarde: worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses
[9:07] Aphilo Aarde: There are aggregates of courses -
(http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses#Course_listings.27_aggregates)
[9:07] Aphilo Aarde: the best of which presently is youtube.com/edu I think
[9:08] Aphilo Aarde: But there are about 25 great universities on the list - each with their own collections of courses
[9:08] Buffy Beale: amazing!
[9:08] Aphilo Aarde: and then you can add more universities of course
[9:08] Aphilo Aarde: WUaS is very cool (and extensible)
[9:08] Aphilo Aarde: Let me in the last 2 minutes outline the other 7 or so main pages
[9:08] Aphilo Aarde: then we can converse
[9:09] Aphilo Aarde: Subjects is the next main page - add a subject -
[9:09] Aphilo Aarde: and add courses - or teach them yourself - worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Subjects
[9:09] Aphilo Aarde: worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Languages
[9:09] Aphilo Aarde: WUaS languages list about 300 languages presently
[9:10] Aphilo Aarde: Each language as I see it becomes a university and School unto itself
[9:10] Rhiannon Chatnoir is Online
[9:10] Aphilo Aarde: And Facilitators will help this along -
[9:10] Aphilo Aarde: Universitians, like Wikipedians (Wikipedia has 175 languages and about 13 million articles)
[9:11] Aphilo Aarde: will help develop WUaS - it's the group knowledge production process
[9:11] Aphilo Aarde: which the web makes so easy and which is so cool
[9:11] Aphilo Aarde: To close let me just
[9:11] Aphilo Aarde: list the other secitons and then we can talk
[9:11] Aphilo Aarde: worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Library_Resources
[9:11] Aphilo Aarde: worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Nation_States
[9:11] Aphilo Aarde: worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/You_at_World_University
[9:12] Aphilo Aarde: worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Hardware_Resource_Possibilities
[9:12] Aphilo Aarde: worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Educational_Software
[9:12] Glitteractica Cookie: Thanks Aphilo, does anyone have questions?
[9:12] Aphilo Aarde: worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/World_University_Foundation
[9:12] DrG Zeiler: Go MIT: Very nice, impressive! Will we not get lost in the massive bulk of it all?
[9:12] Aphilo Aarde: WUaS is cool (I hope search technologies like Google will get us to what we want).
[9:12] DrG Zeiler: I mean, search wise
[9:12] Aphilo Aarde: Thanks Gallatica and Penguin
[9:13] Aphilo Aarde: and NetSquared
[9:13] Glitteractica Cookie: it's glitteractica, but you are welcome. :)
[9:13] Aphilo Aarde: Check out the Educational FREEWARE - there's a lot! already
[9:13] DrG Zeiler: smile,
[9:13] Glitteractica Cookie: i know, strange name
[9:13] Aphilo Aarde: and the Library Resources are also rich
[9:13] MacZ Urbanowicz: DrG i see us each focusing on our own areas
[9:13] Aphilo Aarde: Questions?
[9:13] Smash Lane: Anyone can say do research from the Library on here?
[9:13] Aphilo Aarde: (Yes)
[9:13] Dusty Artaud: Have tried some of the free MIT stuff, not bad - definitely must be a self-learner
[9:13] Aphilo Aarde: What would you like to see?
[9:13] Aphilo Aarde: Agreed Dusty
[9:13] Tuty Inkpen: Do you have project management courses?
[9:14] DrG Zeiler: Community Psychology courses
[9:14] Dusty Artaud: how do you encourage self-learning?
[9:14] MacZ Urbanowicz: with some of the MIT stuff you really need the textbook
[9:14] Aphilo Aarde: WUaS is about video lecture (e.g. youtube.com) and interactive Teaching and Learning in virtual worlds (e.g. Second Life)
[9:14] MacZ Urbanowicz: hard to get in West Africa
[9:15] DrG Zeiler: Oh, just what I need, to work on ,thanks, I'll check it out after this meeting
[9:15] Dusty Artaud: hwere do you expect the highest usage - given tech constraints?
[9:15] Aphilo Aarde: Tuty - WUaS is a resource - I would first check out MIT and youtube (for project management courses)
[9:15] Tuty Inkpen: Aphilo...did u see my question?
[9:15] Bon McLeod is Online
[9:15] Tuty Inkpen: yes...ok TY
[9:15] Aphilo Aarde: Dusty - as a resource
[9:15] DrG Zeiler: got it
[9:15] Aphilo Aarde: But GoogleGroups in a way is a wiki calendar -
[9:16] Aphilo Aarde: If you would like to teach a class - post it to the googlegroups calendar
[9:16] Buffy Beale: Question: How do schools like the 'free' idea? (see below)
[9:16] Aphilo Aarde: or learn and develop a class
[9:16] In Kenzo is Online
[9:17] Smash Lane: I'm doing 2 papers for school on SL, could I get source info from this?
[9:17] Aphilo Aarde: (Yes - check out the Library of Congress in http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Library_Resources, for example)
[9:17] Aphilo Aarde: Tuty - to follow on - look through WUaS and add open, free material you know of and don't see
[9:17] Malburns Writer is Online
[9:17] Aphilo Aarde: Dusty ... usage will be variable ... OLPC is the beginning model for
[9:17] Glitteractica Cookie: This is great presentation and you are all asking great questions, but in the interest of time, i am afraid we are going to have to end pretty soon, just a fcouple more questions from the audience
[9:17] Aphilo Aarde: digital divide questions
[9:17] Dusty Artaud: OLPC?
[9:18] Aphilo Aarde: One Laptop per Child
[9:18] Rhiannon Chatnoir has an OLPC
[9:18] Dusty Artaud: yes, ty
[9:18] Aphilo Aarde: I hope anthropologists at great universities will facilitate this wiki in African countries and with many languages
[9:18] Aphilo Aarde: Thanks Gallactica
[9:18] Aphilo Aarde: Here are two groups to join
[9:18] Eme Capalini is Offline
[9:18] Dusty Artaud: very interesting Aphilo I will investigate on the links, thank you.
[9:19] Aphilo Aarde: to stay in touch
[9:19] Tuty Inkpen: Gallactica = Glitteractica
[9:19] DrG Zeiler: Aphilo likes that name: we can have Aphilo back another time, maybe, once we check it out.
[9:19] Michele Mrigesh is Online
[9:19] Aphilo Aarde: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=48753608141
[9:19] Buffy Beale: Nice Rhi I wanted one too missed the lottery :(
[9:19] Aphilo Aarde: http://groups.google.com/group/World-University-and-School/ (have to
click two "join this group" buttons)
[9:19] Glitteractica Cookie: Yes, GLITTERACTICA
[9:19] Glitteractica Cookie: :_)
[9:19] Glitteractica Cookie: ok, next we have a curriculum meeting update
[9:19] Tuty Inkpen: Seriously...we need delicious or another bookmarking tool in SL!
[9:20] Glitteractica Cookie: and tahnks again aphilo
[9:20] DrG Zeiler: thank you Aphilo, very very much, I have heard good things about MIT and its work
[9:20] Aphilo Aarde: GLITTERACTICA :)
[9:20] Buffy Beale: Thanks Aphilo great info and nicely presented :)
[9:20] MacZ Urbanowicz: Aphilo you might want to talk to the Geek Corps folks
[9:20] jacmacaire Humby: Thnaks.. :)
[9:20] Aphilo Aarde: Check out all of the great universities content - Berkeley and Stanford and Yale each have good collections of courses (all on youtube.com/edu
[9:20] Aphilo Aarde: Great MacZ - please add them
[9:20] MacZ Urbanowicz: mm
[9:20] Glitteractica Cookie: ok, who is going to give the next update
[9:21] Aphilo Aarde: "EDIT THIS PAGE" is what World Univ & Sch is about
[9:21] Glitteractica Cookie: Dr G?
...

[9:23] MacZ Urbanowicz: proceeding with evidence based curriculum, doing needs assessments
[9:23] Aphilo Aarde: One further followup - Degree and Credit granting may happen after a few years
[9:23] Glitteractica Cookie: Mac-- care to elaborate




[9:27] Kali Idziak: Just wanted to remind everyone that if they are in need of something to do, or simply want to see what volunteer roles are available, you can look at:
http://npsl.wiki.techsoup.org/volunteers
[9:27] Kali Idziak: or you can help us complete the revamps that the community suggested:
http://npsl.wiki.techsoup.org/Suggestions+to+improve+NPC
[9:27] Kali Idziak: also, please make sure you join Dusty, Brena, and Matthew in helping us greet, and if you are greeting, make sure you log your time on this sheet:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AvDFwA1G2T6ndFFoQ0I3dHRBV0JFWE84WGpNT01DckE&hl=en
[9:27] Kali Idziak: Finally, I want to thank our very own Brena Benoir for finding me an amazing furniture designer named Mystical Miklos from LP Homes and Furnishings who Brena had custom make me brand new low prim furniture for the Techsoup Office remodel.
[9:28] Kali Idziak: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Basenville/18/83/66/?title=LP%20Homes%20and%20Furnishings and stop by the Techsoup office to take a look. ;-)
[9:28] Glitteractica Cookie: Hey Thanks!
[9:28] Aphilo Aarde: Please link free open teaching and learning content to World University & School, as well.
[9:28] Brena Benoir: yw






-- Instant message logging enabled --
[9:35] Aphilo Aarde: Hi Buffy
[9:35] Aphilo Aarde: Just noticed your question - about other schools and 'free' WUaS
[9:35] Buffy Beale: Hey :) ty for friendship
[9:35] Aphilo Aarde: :)
[9:35] Aphilo Aarde: public schools in this country (US) through high school are free
[9:36] Aphilo Aarde: and in Scandanavian countries and Japan, they are free, as well.
[9:36] Aphilo Aarde: I think we need a free high quality World University and School - in all languages (and nation states)
[9:37] Buffy Beale: yes I agree just was wondering how the universities were taking to it, no tuitution fees
[9:39] Aphilo Aarde: WUaS isn't offering degrees or credit yet, so we aren't competition, and we're a wiki ... but if degree granting emerges, WUaS may partner with existing universities - WUaS is unique and potentially therefore attractive …





worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/World_University







(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/10/introducing-world-university-school.html - October 16, 2009)

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Wild Red Fox: Invitation to World University & School Conversation in Second Life Friday Morning

I'm 'talking' for 10 minutes about "World University & School in Second Life" tomorrow at 9 am Pacific Time in Second Life http://slurl.com/secondlife/Plush%20Nonprofit%20Commons/88/126/26


.. with conversation to follow ...


Invitation to get an avatar and come in-world ... to participate in this conversation ...



















(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/10/wild-red-fox-invitation-to-world.html October 15, 2009)

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Island from Space: Talking About World University & School, Recent Postings in Social Networking Sites for WUaS and Webnographers

I've been talking about World University & School with folks here in Berkeley, California.


*

Here are some highlights from my recent postings in some social networking sites, - often first to http://twitter.com (140 character limit), which is then forwarded to http://facebook.com:


Some examples of World University & School -

Music: worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Music (lots of music teachers here, and with web cameras and this will grow) &

Economics: worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Economics & interactivity in virtual worlds like Second Life - Invitation to Teach, Learn and Add ...


Added Harvard Univ's "Yochai Benkler: After Selfishness - Wikipedia 1, Hobbes 0 at Half Time" to
worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Economics wiki


first significant day of rain in the SF Bay Area - feels like Reed College (in Portland, Oregon) ... consensus decision making to inform worlduniversity.wikia.com


About World Univ & School - worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/World_University - Teach and Learn via video (e.g. Youtube) and interactively in virtual worlds
(e.g. Second Life), & via rich, real time, multilingual and other
integration with Google Wave's platform, - with great universities & for OLPC countries & everyone http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/World_University


What's protocol in Bohemia? Internet protocol - let's teach this at worlduniversity.wikia.com ...


free Doctor of Education Degree at Harvard (for 25) in Fall 2010 - worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses & WUaS is student teaching opportunity


added 'Haptics" with MIT Touch Lab bibliography as a new subject at worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Subjects - where you can add subjects also


Looking for native speakers to befriend in Facebook in all 3000-8000 languages. Let friends know: worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Languages


Musicians: Check out Audacity & Lame for recording music, and MuseScore for composition at http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Educational_Software FREE Education Software


Back to the Harbin pools ... (is Harbin an ongoing Rainbow Gathering?) Could people teach "Harbin Hot Springs" at worlduniversity.wikia.com?


How to teach and learn about this 'extraordinaire instrument de musique' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozSHXkCLM8U - at World University & School ... Post a course: worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses
, - Add a subject: worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Subjects
What is this instrument, by the way? :)


Page of abundant fruits at World Univ & Sch educational FREEware: worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/educational_software - invitation to add


free Doctor of Education Degree at Harvard (for 25) in Fall 2010 - worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses
& WUaS is student teaching opportunity


started to define World Univ & Sch's 'Nation States' by adding online textbooks (Calif) to U.S. worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Nation_States

Added Python and 'programming languages' section to EDUCATIONAL FREEWARE at worlduniversity.wikia.com

& California digital flex textbooks to LIBRARY RESOURCES


posted Academic Jobs Wiki to World Univ & Sch - worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Library_Resources#Academic_Jobs_Wikis


added Scots' Gaelic BBC lessons to World Univ 'Languages' and Malawi videos to 'Nation States' - worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Languages


TURN ON your computer, TUNE INto the URL (web page) you want, DROP OUT anytime to worlduniversity.wikia.com to create your own ideas


Students of the World, please create worlduniversity.wikia.com in the ways you want & would like education to be, - a link and an idea at a ... time


added Harvard Page Delivery Service to worlduniversity.wikia.com - Ex. pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/14115881?n=1&imagesize=1200&jp2Res=0.125 - Nicholas Statham's 1490 "Abridgement of cases to the end of Henry VI"


Added 'Discover Second Life' to http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Library_Resources#Second_Life_Teaching_and_Learning_Resources for cool links


wonders whether Berkeley and other students from great universities may extraordinarily create http://worlduniversity.wikia.com a wiki w MIT


wonders whether a great universities' student movement will shape worlduniversit.wikia.com creatively thru their own teaching at WUaS


Just added a new Music Education section w practice tools and tutorials to World Univ & Sch worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Music_Education


Here's a free, online 'iPhone Application Programming' course (from Stanford - 18 weeks), which I've posted to worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses. There's also a free Harvard Doctor of Education (for 25 people admitted for fall 2010) here, too.

World University & School's new Mission Statement: worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/World_University_Foundation


: free Doctor of Education Degree at Harvard (for 25) in Fall 2010 - worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses

& added SL assessment roundtable



will add compilers and scaling FREEWARE to worlduniversity.wikia.com's educational software soon


just added webcast.berkeley.edu to worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses#University_course_listings, -an open, wiki Univ & Sch, all languages


How might World Univ facilitate kinds of chamber music betwn people besides in the music school? worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Music Bliss?


World Univ & Sch Planning Wiki on the way - stay tuned here: worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/World_University - open like Wikipedia w MIT OCW


there's a growing list of educational FREEWARE here at World Univ worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Educational_Software to which we can add




Languages around the world, as they get the web, will benefit from an open teaching & learning worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses wiki

Papua New Guinea has around 670 languages, and the Democratic Republic of Congo has around 240. :) We need video capable hand held computers.

Friend who studies Welsh: I've commented on similar things b4; this would be of huge benefit. 150 or so indigenous langs. are still spoken in the U.S., though most are highly endangered if not moribund. California is blessed (or "cursed", depending on how you look at it) w/ many many langs that are individually distinct, not even related by family, yet have so very few (mostly elder) speakers. For obvious reasons "master-apprentice" teaching is the order of the day there, vs. full scale immersion schools, & yet it seems what you suggest could be immensely helpful w/ seemingly little "investment" needed. I think also of start-from-scratch "revival" efforts w/ langs. that were considered "dead" for decades or even centuries; e.g., Wampanoag in Mass. What a blessing to be able to "legitimize" these and other langs. in as visible and accessible a medium as the web.



Me: Yes, yes, yes ... another focus I'll add to the developing WUaS planning wiki, the url I'll let you know about ... Thanks ... :)




and how might we who have never been modern (Latour) cultivate the neurophysiology of loving bliss naturally, as moderns, when and as we want it?

And how might anyone teach something like this at World University & School ~ worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Loving_Bliss_%28eliciting_this_neurophysiology%29?


added UC Berkeley's AnthroHub to World Univ & Sch's library resources: worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Library_Resources - a Wiki w MIT OCW



Added the open National Science Digital Library & Applied Math & Science Education Repos - worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Library_Resources +



Why isn't open World Univ & Sch (worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses) yet taking off the way Wikipedia (70 langs & 13 million arts) has?


Friend: The links often end up being more sensational then the content?

Me: What are you looking for? There's a lot of great content on the web already. For example, check out MIT OCW and youtube.com/edu for academic subjects, and instructables for how-to. Finding people who want to aggregate it is one interesting possibility at WUaS. But so is creating it - how to connect with large numbers of students from great universities who teach to their handhelds (not yet possible) as they're walking between classes? I've added a lot of similar links (written entries and edited, as well) to Wikipedia. ... Finding great content out there, or teaching to one's web cam, is like an egg or treasure hunt, or creative opportunity. Further thoughts, Rob? :)

Friend: seems like I don't need to go to world university to get to the MIT content. Wikipedia is a destination, not a clearinghouse

Me: I hope people will teach to their web cams at WUaS, like people add entries to Wikipedia. I hope that will lead to a fascinating unique learning opportunity. It will hopefully aggregate much of the great teaching and learning content on the internet, and then borrowing and articulating may occur, making already great material greater. Wikipedia is a remarkable example of group knowledge production, which I hope WUaS will become, as well.




Why not free world Degrees at http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses? Here's a Free Harvard Doctor of Education http://tinyurl.com/mkzl7n (for the 25 in program), also posted above at WUaS. Check out the huge amount of courses already the...re, including other sites that aggregate teaching and learning material.



Here's World University & School - http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/World_University ... and an invitation to join the WUaS Google Group: groups.google.com/group/World-University-and-School & the Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=48753608141&ref=ts. World Univ & Sch - like Wikipedia with MIT OCW - is potentially in all languages, nation states, subjects and levels, for everyone. Scott :)



Here's a free 18 week "iPhone Application Programming" course I've posted to the open World University & School - like Wikipedia with MIT OCW - from Stanford http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses. Does anyone know of any online courses that show you how to write a FB app?




Join the World University & School Facebook Group - facebook.com/group.php?gid=48753608141 - I just messaged the group with A LOT of AMAZING free Teaching and Learning content, - e.g. free Harvard Doctor's degree, free MUSIC SCHOOL instruction, FREE iPhone Application Programming course from Stanford :)




Benjamin Zander inspirationally instructs a 15 year old cellist playing Bach - poptech.org/popcasts/popcasts.aspx?lang=&viewcastid=211

Added new CELLO section to World Univ & Sch with the above instruction - worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Cello - THE ART OF THE POSSIBLE :)



there's great educational FREEWARE here at World Univ & Sch worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Educational_Software a wiki to which we can add

And these resources at World Univ & Sch will grow in unexpected ways, since it's a wiki and all of us can add to it. Wikipedia, for example, has 13 million articles in 70 (175 I've since read) languages :)



added free Stanford "Computer Musings by Professor Donald E. Knuth - over 100 video lectures to worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses Wiki



is excited to explore Google Wave's implications for http://worlduniversity.wikia.com for wiki, multilingual conversations educationally, +



is excited to combine Google Wave w translators for http://worlduniversity.wikia.com for multilingual conversations educationally



How to bring together the best of the info revolution has generated for an open http://worlduniversity.wikia.com e.g. See educational software



will use the VERY COOL Google Wave with World Univ: worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Educational_Software#Personal_Communication_and_Collaboration_Tool



Added free Gimp to photo editing software at World Univ & Sch's Educational FREEWARE: worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Educational_Software


worlduniversity.wikia.com welcomes you to the planning group by joining groups.google.com/group/World-University-and-School a wiki w MIT OCW




Why not free Degrees worldwide at http://worlduniversity.wikia.com?

Let's create a worldwide, open, free university and school on the internet. It's often costs which inhibit access to high quality education.

For example, here's a free Harvard Doctor of Education degree - tinyurl.com/mkzl7n (for the 25 people admitted to theprogram).




Why not free world Degrees at worlduniversity.wikia.com? Free Harvard Doctor of Education http://tinyurl.com/mkzl7n (for the 25 in program)



added the Library of Congress to the free, "Edit this page," open http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Library_Resources -like Wikipedia with MIT OCW/ There are a lot of resources on this wiki ... Teach, Learn, Add and interactivity in virtual worlds.



The weather is great, here, Tori. And I'm making some progress on World University & School (like Wikipedia with MIT OCW), but not yet in growing a community of Universitians, - like Wikipedians. You're nice to ask ... How is your locale, university, motherhood? And happy birthday :)



added 'Nature Precedings,' and 'PubMedCentral' to worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Library_Resources and SmashWords and GapMinder to FREEWARE



added FreeBase, Mendeley to new Collaborative Knowledge Bases section & other Libraries to worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Library_Resources



added Vid Hosts 'SciVee,' 'Viddler,' & 'BioScreenCast' -worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Educational_Software#Video-Streaming_Hosting_Services



Here's a good place to begin seeing some learning opportunities at World Univ & Sch - scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/09/bramble-patch-greetings-world.html . How to elicit bliss (this neurophysiology), naturally, is an interesting question I hope to explore and develop at WUaS, as well. :)

WUaS is developing. Feel free to teach, add content, or learn. There's a lot there already. I'd like to grow significantly Universitians, like Wikipedians. I hope a lot of people will "Edit the Page."



Seeking videos that teach abt "Beings Enjoying Life" - Teach a 4 minute video to your web cam, or a many hour series, post it to the web, and link it to World Univ& Sch at this "Subject" - worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Beings_Enjoying_Life Any and All other creative approaches to teaching and learning this via the Web are welcome too :) (There's a budding music school at World Univ & Sch as well - worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Music - as some possible examples:). How to teach how Beings can Enjoy Life vis-a-vis a musical instrument?




added 'Index Investing' as Subject to World Univ & Sch wiki - worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Subjects & Jack Bogle interview w Steve Forbes


And here's the rationale for socially conscious index investing, vis-a-vis index investing - scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2008/12/american-dipper-nontheist-friends.html

And here's the interview with Vanguard Mutual Funds' founder - forbes.com/2009/01/09/intelligentinvestingbogle.html


Added free Doctor of Education program from Harvard University beginning in 2010 to World Univ & Sch - worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses#Free_Degree_Programs



A friend just told me about BrightTalk which allows people (Teachers) to record up to 30 minutes of video (for academic talks, for example), as well as ustream, another video site. I added them to World Univ & Sch's FREE educational software... - worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Educational_Software#Video-Streaming_Hosting_Services - an editable wiki where you can teach, learn and add content

Both video streaming sites are free



added new 'Open Access Funding' Subject at World Univ & Sch worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Open_Access_Funding - Teach, Learn, Add courses



Re-visit the rationale (part way down) for index investing with Jack Bogle, founder of
Vanguard Mutual Funds in an interview with Steve Forbes -
http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2008/12/american-dipper-nontheist-friends.html




World Univ & Sch's mission: worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/World_University_Foundation Teach, Learn, Add. A wiki w great Univ for OLPCcountr

http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/World_University_Foundation

Mission: World University & School's (http://worlduniversity.wikia.com - like Wikipedia with MIT Open Course Ware) - mission is to facilitate all levels of teaching and learning opportunities (and potentially degrees, eventually) through an open, editable wiki in all languages, nation-states and subjects with great universities, and for One Laptop per Child countries and everyone.


Harvard, MIT, Berkeley, Cornell & Dartmouth announced plan for open-access pubs-see DASH: worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Library_Resources.

openaccessweek.org/2009/09/14/five-top-us-academic-institutions-announce-compact-for-oa-publication/



seeking alternative to Robert's Rules of Orders for incorporating World Univ http://worlduniversity.wikia.com Consensus Decision Making URLs?

Friend: Greens often have a "Quaker lite" kind of process where the spiritual/theological element is absent but consensus is still striven for. You check for concerns, and if there are any, ask if any rise to a "blocking concern" that the "concerned one" feels is sufficient to "stand in the way" of passage. If so, then you fall back on a vote w/ a 2/3 threshold.

You always hope, of course, that in the preceding discussion period concerns will be ironed out in how the resolution ends up being worded/tweaked to begin with, so that everyone can already agree with the resolution once finalized and "presented". But often easier said than done, of course... :^D

If you have to make specific (election-type) choices among things, you may want to look at instant runoff voting (IRV) and/or single transferable vote (STV), essentially both the same thing for different contexts. I'm warming up, however, to "approval voting" and (not quite as much) "range voting"; let me know if u want more info.

Friend: consensus.net/

Me: Thanks for your above suggestions. I'm looking to insert a simple, alternative 'rules of order' to Roberts,' into the Nolo Press Guide on 'How to Incorporate a Nonprofit,' with their pragmatic and useful guidelines, for board members who may be somewhat unfamiliar with the consensus process as practice, and where I'd like to be able to reach well formulated decision with expediency. Other suggestions?

Friend: Drat! I thought you'd already compiled the list of URLs--and it just happens to be precisely something I need right now! Please post an update when you get some links; I will be eagerly waiting.





Added 'Dentistry' subject and Univ of Michigan's 609 Dentistry videos to World Univ & Sch's to worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses & Subj

World Univ & Sch is for OLPC countries ...

Looking for OLPC country Facebook friends ...




Here's a good place to begin seeing some learning opportunities at World Univ & Sch - http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/09/bramble-patch-greetings-world.html . How to elicit bliss (this neurophysiology), naturally, is an interesting que......stion I hope to explore and develop at WUaS, as well. Check out the growing Music Learning opportunities :)




added new Banjo section & Banjo Workshop by Bill Keith to World Univ & School Wiki worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Banjo Teach Banjo here :)



World University & School ~ http://worlduniversity.wikia.com ~ is an editable wiki which has open 'Courses,' 'Subjects,' 'Languages,' (potentially all), 'Library Resources,' 'Nation States,' 'Social Network,' 'Educational FREEWARE,' 'Hardware Resource Possibilities' + more, - like Wikipedia with MIT Open Course Ware ... Add to it, Teach here or Learn at WUaS ... interactivity in virtual worlds



added 'Natural History References' section to World Univ's editable Wiki worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Library_Resources#Natural_History_References and beautiful photos of insects and spiders


(through around September 2, 2009)



**

And http://webnographers.org, where I'm presently a key editor and aggregator, I've added these:


To webnographers.org' syllabi, I listed MIT's 24 undergraduate and 23 graduate course syllabi, and related materials in Science, Tech & Soc


added danah boyd's "Research on Twitter and Microblogging" to Wiki on virt ethnog. - webnographers.org/index.php?title=Papers#Bibliographies


Added 'Opening Up Education: The Collective Advancement of Education. through Open Technology, Open Content, and Open Knowledge.' (MIT) to webnographers.org


added MIT's list of "Comparative Media Studies" Theses (67 & growing) cms.mit.edu/research/theses.php to http://bit.ly/Oa5Cy


Added Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Center DIALOGUE by Spence, Randy and Matthew Smith. 2009. A Dialogue on ICTs, Human Development, Growth, and Poverty Reduction - to http://www.webnographers.org/index.php?title=Papers#Dialogues



added "Media Worlds: Anthropology on New Terrain" to virtual ethnog wiki webnographers.org/index.php?title=Books, accessible at Google Books





***


is glad the Toyota Prius 2010 has solar technologies - REDUCE CARBON OUTPUT PERSONALLY - Google Art Haines' Solar Car Infinity Miles per Gallon - youtube.com/watch?v=M0JNohHaqM4



****

wonders whether practicing a musical instrument is like sharing a kind of meditation, not quietly on the Scottish Highland Bagpipe

Friend: Och aye, laddy!

Me: via a kind of computer code, as well :)



*****

very funny, very funny :) youtube.com/watch?v=zKH3iemEd-A - A Space Odyessy

Check out this extraordinary clip: http://bit.ly/kunR3 by sand animation artist Kseniya Simonova




(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/10/island-from-space-talking-about-world.html - October 14, 2009)

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Blue Ringed Octopi Mating: Guitar Four-hands, She Gets to Bliss, Nataraj


Extraordinary ~


Guitar Four-hands? Now, wait a minute ... cross-handed, too :) Lovely music, as well ...


İşte Gitarı Konuşturmak Ben Buna Derim by dj_atheros
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xaavt9_yyte-gitary-konuyturmak-ben-buna-de_music ...



Twice as many fingers as usual, and a lot of moving parts. She gets to bliss (and 'flow: the psychology of optimal experience) in the music making :)


It's their togetherness which is wondrously synchronous, mutual and enjoyable ... a kind of one-ness of minds, a one-ing of brains - and then they move to twoness, apart, in a very light way ...


Nataraj ... Mmmm :) ... in the guitar duet above? ... yes


hindujagruti.org/hinduism/knowledge/out/images/1190551386_nataraj.jpg


Octopus Nataraj ~

farm4.static.flickr.com/3352/3446210242_fdd20a30d1.jpg




*

I think the bliss I see in the female guitar player's face above is an example of how people might cultivate loving bliss naturally, vis-a-vis this letter:

scottmacleod.com/GuidelinesPracticingLovingBlissvavMusicalInstrument.htm



**

Octopi mating:


scubatravel.co.uk/octopus_1.jpg



scubatravel.co.uk/octopus_2.jpg



http://www.mbari.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/octomate-350.jpg
'A male octopus (right) reaches out his mating arm toward a female octopus. During mating, the male transfers packets of sperm to the female using this specialized arm.'




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-ringed_octopus






* * *

Sunday, October 24, 2019 

Thanks, Mr. Mazumdar,

I've blogged a bit about this guitar duet a few times ... and with regards to a kind of one-ing of minds even ... https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/10/blue-ringed-octopuses-mating-guitar.html (for example). 

Thanks for your email again, Scott 






(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/10/blue-ringed-octopuses-mating-guitar.html October 13, 2009)

Monday, October 12, 2009

Big Tree: Practicing Yoga Changes Your Neurophysiology, The Harbin Pools Do Too, Called Contact Imrpov Jams

In thinking about yoga, I think practicing yoga poses changes your neurophysiology, and can lead to great bodymind neurochemistry as well as make your bodymind fit.

I hypothesize that the bodymind can make inferences about human social behavior that can affect people's and bodymind's neurophysiology in a way that leads to tension, etc., and yoga (regularly practice), or the Harbin Hot Springs' pools, can transform this neurophysiology.


*

The Harbin pools change my neurosphysiology, as well, but more with the relaxation response and through these pools' beauty, and the mostly naked people - some who are cuddling - all normalized, than the effects of doing yoga poses.


**

I posted this sign for a short while on the Harbin Ride Board this Sunday, at a friend's suggestion. Later, another friend suggested the good idea of posting it in Fern (community) kitchen.


CONTACT IMPROV
AT HARBIN
{Improvised Jams:
Post a Sign with
Time, Place & Day
(e.g. 4 pm, Stonefront Lodge, Monday -
check schedule first)
And Jam, There


The Harbin community, its visitors and the beautiful Harbin valley, as well as its buildings, make it uniquely ripe for this kind of thing.









(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/10/big-tree-practicing-yoga-changes-your.html - October 12, 2009)

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Otters Holding Paws: Love in Nature? Humans Think Up Fascinating Things, World University & School

Love in nature? Why is this video of two otters holding paws twice, like long loves, so easy to anthropomorphize? (These otters are actually in captivity, but they appear to be 'wild' otters - otters may be born and raised in captivity, but their engagement with humans is relatively brief historically, so perhaps they remain quite wild. We don't know, for example, if there was a couple near the camera modeling 'hand holding' here). Do otters in the wild hold paws regularly? What might be its evolutionary significance? If some kind of pairbonding (vis-a-vis John Money's "Concepts of Determinism," why this kind?). After looking on the internet, it seems to me that a more fruitful hypothesis might be that it has to do with a kind of troopbonding (again vis-a-vis Money). For example, "Sea otters often rest in groups called “rafts”. Rafting sea otters sometimes hold paws to stay together" (http://www.vanaqua.org/education/aquafacts/seaotters.html).






youtube.com/watch?v=epUk3T2Kfno


*

Humans think about such fascinating things, and then do (or write about) them, especially relative to other life forms on earth ...


Ecstasy - MDMA? Koellisch (Anton Köllisch) synthesized it around 1912, and someone thought to ingest it in the 1930s ... what a delight? Hmmmm ... (MDMA and LSD profoundly influenced the 1960s and early 70s).

Circuses?

Opera?

Music?

Thinking in India ...

The origins of life (Darwin, Crick and Watson)

The nature of the universe, the solar system and the cosmos (Hawkings and astrophysics)


An open, virtual World University and School - http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/World_University - which is editable, and potentially in all languages, nation states, subjects and at all levels.


These are pretty unique expressions of symbolic reality relative to all 160 species of higher primates, closest to us genetically. Is this all due originally to the development of the larynx (see Deacon's "The Symbolic Species: The Coevolution of the Brain and Language"), and our ability to eventually talk, exchange ideas and symbolize?


***


Back to the Harbin pools ...

Is Harbin an ongoing Rainbow Gathering?









(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/10/otters-holding-paws-love-in-nature.html - October 11, 2009)