How to live in a world of your own design?

I just finished watching the PandoMonthly Fireside Chat with Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky right now and I enjoyed his stories about his time at RISD and "building a world of his own design."  I agree that entrepreneurs and innovators can start with a simple concept of how they want to change the world on a major scale.  So what is an example of how I might live in a world of my own design?

My current entrepreneurial project revolves around injecting trust into society.  While I'm not going to go into all the details in this forum, the basic idea is to make it impossible for people to lie about where and when they went to school and what they studied there.  This has nothing to do with valuing a degree or comparing individual performance (i.e. GPA).  It has to do with the fact that the group of people that claim to have graduated with a particular degree is often larger than the group of people that actually did complete that particular degree.  This difference represents false claims, and reducing this number to zero would represent a positive iteration of the world in which I live.

At this point, let's take a step back and analyze this from the perspective of a social enterprise.  A traditional business generally needs to create value for its employees and its customers.  Tim O'Reilly, a favorite famous person of mine, alludes here to a third output of creating value for "others whom you may never even meet." It is this tenant that is the driving force behind the third bottom line of social enterprises, regardless of whether this empathy for unknown people is important to the founder or to the consumer.  For example sending a free pair of shoes or glasses to someone in need is a moral good for the entrepreneur and the consumer, and it falls under the category of charity.  Charity is a moral action, and many consumers purchase goods without knowing the tertiary value that is being provided by a triple bottom line business.

O'Reilly "urges companies to create more value than they capture" and I am curious as to how I might measure the value created on my mission to inject trust into society.  Maybe TOMS Shoes can provide shoes and glasses for everyone in need, but they are definitely making a great impact that they can measure how many pairs are delivered.

My goal is more abstract in that I am trying to remove the ability to lie about one particular thing from all society.  Will it be measured by the decrease in the number of people that are caught with inaccurate education histories? Or by a greater acceptance of people who have unfinished degrees or no degree at all?

Rekindling the XodpoX

It's been a while, yes.  I've been busy since 2010 working at Event Farm, and having moved on to re-start development on CertiServer my development skills have been dusted off a bit.  One development primer project, working with the SurveyMonkey API, is ideally suited for collecting the xodpox definitional zeitgeist.

So stayed tuned, and let's see if I can get a survey up here for the word debt.  It's back in the mainstream conversation, only this time it's not personal debt, but national debt.  Maybe I should target policy makers and see how their definition of debt differs from that of the average citizen.

A new definition of xodpox.

If you haven't noticed, the word xodpox is a visual palindrome. The fact that it can look the same but be flipped over symbolizes how some words can look the same but have their meaning "flipped over" or mis-understood. This phenomenon of xodpox, or definitional inversion, can have an impact on behavioral trends in society.

I am shifting the focus of this blog to discover, research, and explain instances of xodpox in society. In cases where certain perceptions of definition are better than others, we will identify ways to reinforce better perceptions of definition.

Identifying instances of negative xodpox and efforts to "flip back" to a state of positive xodpox will lead to positive social change. There is also potential to measure the current state of xodpox for key terms in society and day-to-day life. We aim to identify these key terms and generate indices of xodpox.

Young Athlete Aims to Break World Record: Running a Marathon on Seven Continents for Seven Charities

Young Athlete Aims to Break World Record: Running a Marathon on Seven Continents for Seven Charities

Tomorrow night in NYC there will be an event with Girls on the Run.
Here are the details:

In the Running and our N. American partner organization, Girls on the Run Manhattan, invite you to "Break the Ice" at our winter fundraiser. Join us for some frosty beverages as we help send Erin off to her next marathon: Antarctica!

Thursday, February 21, 7:00PM

Red Sky Bar & Lounge
47 E. 29th Street (btw Park and Madison), New York

3 hour open bar (beer/wine/soda) plus appetizers and a silent auction with all proceeds going to benefit GOTRM.

Tickets: $45 at the door


--The In the Running Team

Angry about the dollar?

Should we launch our next venture in the US? Or should we start in Europe? The venture is targeted at helping small-businesses, a sector that the US has led. Many people think that the dollar is not the place to be, and yes I would rather be paid in Pounds right now, but then again there's nothing like a little macro-level competition between currencies. Yes the US may be living beyond it's means, but that's just going to force us to become even more productive... Let's see if Nostravo / xodpox can help trigger the next wave.

It's been a while, so I'd better post something...

Here are some thoughts on virtual reality vs. a natural higher state of consciousness... yes it is mostly questions:

The race between virtual reality (ala matrix) and the discovery of the physical world being better.

Team 1: Dropping into a virtual reality (i.e. focusing the human experience purely on the brain and maintaining the body as the support system for shared conscious through tech). Techno-shared-conscious.

Team 2: Uncovering the subconscious might allow us to have shared conscious without technology (this would probably be an evolutionary jump). But will having a man-made artificial reality accelerate or cut-off the next step of the pure brain experience? Which would be better? An understanding of the subconscious would be required in order to create the artificial bond through technology, but we run into a chicken and the egg scenario where we are forcing acclimation through the assumed paradigm that we use to create the techno-shared-conscious.

Is there a shared conscious? Shared experiences create intersections in time between individuals. What is conscious?: the ability to process critically within a personal context. With a shared or hive structure, the context needs to shift to the group. What issues and thoughts are unique to a group conscious? What are the potential benefits to a group conscious? As individuals are we blind to facets of reality that can only been seen by a shared conscious? If so, how can individuals "create" a virtual reality with the purpose of transcending to, or just seeing, new facets of reality. Is there a way to enhance reality through the virtual? (what are the definitions of reality and virtual)


What is the interaction between humans and machines? Will this be a progressive bridge, or the ultimate block to achieving shared conscious? Will the mechanism for a techno-shared-conscious virtual reality divert us from a natural evolutionary path to shared conscious?

If so, people might have to pick a path which may lead to a rift between the techno-shared-conscious & natural shared conscious groups.

NFTE Project 762 update:

NFTE's project, Project 762, a documentary about youth entrepreneurship coupled with educational materials, has been chosen as one of the Top 50 projects by American Express cardholders! Once the winning project has been selected, American Express will donate between $1 million and $5 million to bring it to life.

If you are an American Express cardholder, please register and vote at http://www.membersproject.com/ for Project 762 by Sunday, July 15. The top 25 project ideas will be announced July 17. You can find it under "Business and Finance" and titled "Inspiring Kids..."

Voting for the Top 5 projects will taking place July 17-22, with those winners being announced July 24. The final round of voting occurs July 24 - August 5. The Winning Idea will be announced on Tuesday, August 7.

You can place one vote for each American Express Card that you have, so if you have a corporate card, please register and vote with that one in addition to your personal card! And encourage your friends, family members and coworkers with American Express Cards to vote as well.

Please vote for Project 762! This documentary will help bring much-needed attention to the importance of entrepreneurship education in the lives of disadvantaged youth.

An excerpt from Al Gore's book:

http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1622015,00.html

I agree that our society has truly regressed to a celebrity-addicted morass. To an increasingly alarming degree, all sides (even those outside of our country) judge individual Americans based on what the media choses to broadcast. I have no say in what is forced out over the airwaves... until now. What will we call this new enlightenment?

Seven Year Cycles: Part 1

About ten years ago, while in college, I worked over my winter break. One of the professionals I was assisting sat me down and shared a perspective on life. I am not sure to whom this "theory" should be attributed, but I found it a fair way to evaluate one's progress through life.

Basically, with a +/- of a year or so, life is divided into seven-year segments.

0-7: You are really not a person, your main priority is to learn how to use your body, speak, and understand basic social function.

7-14: At this point you pretty much know you are an individual, but are still devoid of responsibility. The main goal is to learn about responsibility and to learn how to organize ideas.

14-21: Technically you are an adult now, although modern society still sees you as under the umbrella of education and parental control. This segment is focused on "developing a sense of identity - a process often label teenage rebellion.

21-28: Here you are likely out on your own for the first time as a functioning member of society. You are working and are setting yourself up for a stable place in the working world so that you can be the source of your own means.

*Note: The purpose of my mentor sharing this with me was to highlight the fact that if you are screwed up at one of these crucial "gateways," i.e. 7,14,21,28..., it will take you another seven years for society to allow you to progress to the next segment. By screwed up, he meant using drugs, in jail, or not working.

**Note: Timing the creation of a family plays a role in these cycles, and in this dimension there are differences with regard to gender. This is a little complex so I'll leave it for a later post.

28-35: This phase is built upon the confidence and experience of the previous. A time where one is expected to contribute to society, not just focus on surviving, exploration, and personal development.

35-42: You are likely in a more senior role in your job, and you have likely started a family. The cycle repeats here with the addition of your offspring who are themselves starting their cycles, and therefore look to you for guidance.

42-49: Again more seniority in career and a more developed family.

49-56: Thinking about retirement, kids are moving on.

...

I can go into more detail, but the main concept I want to get across is that setting goals for these landmark ages can be very productive. Re-evaluating one's life, on a macro-level, every seven years is good. Knowing that you have to stop bad behavior by a certain year in your life will only help you move to the next phase. Every seven years (and I am now in my second iteration since learning about this), I re-read books, revisit journals, and objectively evaluate every aspect of my life. I'm not perfect, and there are things that worry me, but I am able to say to myself, "if I want this in seven-years, I need to get these things fixed in the next 8 months."

Thought for Food

This evening I attended a panel discussion titled Setting the Oldways Table. Oldways is a Cambridge-based food issues and culinary think tank founded over ten years ago in hopes of recalibrating America's perspective on diet and sustainable food sources. The founder of Oldways, K Dun Gifford, is a familiar figure to me as I know many of his relatives and we both share a passion for pulling striped bass out of the Atlantic. He anchored a panel of scientists, culinary icons and restaurateurs who everyday ramble through a love affair with food. Ideally I would have learned a bit more from the actual discussion, but the event did provide a fertile backdrop for some of my own musings on food, nutrition and health in general.



The book provides a context for a food-lifestyle that combines health, social awareness and social interaction. A table set for friends, a myriad of fresh ingredients, and some good wine will not only result in great memories, but also better mental and physical health. As a personal rule, I always try to avoid eating alone. One does not need to dig in with one's hands, literally sharing a pot of food with others as they do in some cultures, to find the ritual of eating with someone a strong one. My shared meals are purposed to catch up with friends and family, or to extract new ideas from business and social networks. Adding the experience of preparing the food, or at least appreciating hospitality amplifies such interactions, and the book contains the first steps to perfecting the content and setting of a meal.

The details of recipes, science, and cultural origins are best left to the book, but the concept of proximity to one's food is key and it will vary based on where you live --proximity in knowledge as well as geographical proximity. A farmer who grows vegetables for the market may chose not to eat their own due to the amount of pesticides they use to ensure a "healthy" product. Mass-produced poultry and livestock from the center of the country taste different from their grass-fed cousins an hour away from your metropolitan area. Finding a local butcher or monger (maybe just behind the counter at your supermarket) and being able to ask about the source of one's ingredients is not only educational but also reassuring. With Oldways' stress on vegetables, it may even be better to grow your own food in the yard or in a victory garden. As one panelist put it, "I look at the green worms on my cabbage and know that if they are healthy, its healthy for me too."

One concept that came to mind during the discussion was the idea of the aesthetic of the table. Aesthetics, and the efforts that I feel most people put into aesthetics, is popularly associated with interior decorating and home improvement. In our capitalist society showing one's wealth through one's assets, and in this case one's home, is the most popular pastime. Home Depots and hardware stores are booming as people attempt to increase their property and personal values through stylish additions. For the effort given, the immediate return is likely to fade as the aesthetic dulls with time and shifting style. In contrast, if society placed more premium on the pleasant aesthetic of healthful variety, balanced diet, sustainable processes, and social communication, we would greatly improve the quality and value of our intangible "home" and likely find a new way to add to our own personal value.

Hypermiling

Yesterday I read this article about individuals motivated to maximize their mileage per gallon. Obviously waste is bad, and often the negligible difference in arrival time is not worth the added consumption of fuel (the cost, both direct and indirect, of fossil fuels have been rising in the last few years). Obviously, taking things to the extreme (not slowing for turns, killing the engine while drafting a tractor-trailer, and puttering along in the slow lane) may lower the probability of a successful arrival.

This morning I achieved 23.8 MPG on my ~25 mile commute -- a "score" that I am not that happy about. I was hoping to have a higher score because I was able to leverage a double-trailer UPS truck for the majority of the ride. Regardless, there have been days where I rushed in at 10 MPG, and therefore this is a move in the right direction. Reading the article did shift my focus from minimizing travel time to minimizing fuel consumption while still conforming to basic commuter standards.

New York may ban iPods while crossing street

From this Reuters story today:

"Government has an obligation to protect its citizenry," Kruger said in a telephone interview from Albany, the state capital. "This electronic gadgetry is reaching the point where it's becoming not only endemic but it's creating an atmosphere where we have a major public safety crisis at hand."

This problem of idiots stepping into oncoming traffic has been solving itself for decades, and no, Rep Kruger, the government does not have an obligation to protect its citizenry from themselves. I have no problem requiring hands-free headsets for cell phones, and yes I agree with the current law that it is illegal to listen to headphones while driving (or biking on the road).


Links
Example of Virginia Driving Law

How long until Google buys Yahoo!?

1) How much would it cost Google to buy Yahoo!?

2) How much would it cost Google to recruit the core of Yahoo!?

Go Yahoo!

I have a feeling that 1) and 2) above are close to each other...

Reading
I have just ordered a book that claims to cover Art and Democracy.

As far as art is concerned, please look to the right to find a link to the initial site of DaBa Productions.

In 2003, DaBa Productions was founded to support my efforts in and around the art world in New England, the east coast, and now internationally.
So far DaBa has produced and edited one short film for an organization in Boston, met with numerous visual artists, and promoted a few bands visiting town. In 2007, DaBa plans to explore more film projects (at least one documentary), book at least two bands in the first half of the year, and keep the momentum going behind the launch of our literary magazine.

DaBa Productions will be launching its own arts blog in the coming weeks, and I will keep you posted.

UPDATE: Air Guitar is phenomenal. I highly recommend picking up a copy. I will be re-reading it and posting my comments on the DaBa Blog.

Current Events in Astronomy

Just a quick note about a celestial event I remember purposefully calculating back in high school. Next Sunday morning, about forty-five minutes before sunrise, three planets, Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter, will be "converging" within a one-degree circle. This happens to be occurring in the constellation of Scorpius, which due to my birth date, holds some significance.

• How tight is a one-degree circle? Generally with one's arm stretched full length, a closed fist will represent approximately ten-degrees of arc. The tip of your index finger will represent one-degree of arc.

• How frequently do planets converge in a tight formation like this? As far as planets that you can see with your naked eye, the next time will be in 2053.

• Where can you see it? Scorpius is a southern constellation, and the event will be occurring right on the horizon for me during my visit to New Orleans this weekend. Hopefully I will be able to catch it to the East-Southeast.
  

Astronomy has always been a source of awe, and with awe comes a healthy dose of humility. Look up the next night you find yourself in a low-light-pollution environment.

In an attempt to grasp the infinite, I studied astronomy, volunteered at an Observatory, and followed in early man's path of relating myself to some aspect of the heavens. Although astrology is hokey, one can not argue that understanding such an abstract environment is not a noble undertaking. Our reaction to being nothing in space is our attempt to control, i.e. to calculate and to predict. Control is one way to boost our intellectual ego.

The culmination of engineering and mathematics is exhibited in a device called the Antikythera Mechanism. It was constructed two thousand years ago.

National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE)

Just as Micro Lending has proven that credit is an inherent human right, NFTE is proving that the knowledge to be economically self-sufficient is a powerful tool with which to rise from economic adversity.
I have seen it with my own eyes, and I continue to help both inside and outside the classroom. And thanks to NFTE, one constant that will be with me for the rest of my life will be my desire to enable others to gain economic freedom through Democracy and Capitalism.

Tomorrow morning at 7:40 I will be in a NFTE classroom continuing to coach a few high-school students. They are working hard to formulate their business plans, and will be gathering courage to present in front of their classmates in hopes of reaching the city-wide business plan competition.

It just so happens that NFTE was selected by the Motley Fool as one of their Foolanthropy 2006 charities. This is a unique opportunity to step up and help NFTE spread empowerment and financial skills to at-risk youth.

Link to Donate via Foolanthropy

Must Reads:

As I have mentioned principles of Democratic Capitalism a few times, I should probably offer some primary sources for my opinions on the matter.

First: A favorite book that has been with me on so many travels that it's a bit moldy. Ironically, when I was younger and ignorant of the issues that, to me, would become so lucid, Michael Novak joined my family for dinner in Washington.

Skiing

Winter time is upon us! I am looking forward to the fireside debates apres ski. Democratic Capitalism works at all altitudes and velocities. More posts coming to help you prepare for your many fireside economic philosophy conversations.

Am I missing something?

"Anyone who describes Islam as a religion as intolerant encourages violence," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said.

A quote from this article.
Encourages Violence?

In this instance, the definition of intolerance:

–noun -lack of toleration; unwillingness or refusal to tolerate or respect contrary opinions or beliefs, persons of different races or backgrounds, etc.

What ever happened to debate? Why must everything resolve to the threat of violence so quickly? Obviously the media is fanning the flames for its own gain, and it LOVES this hypocritical and idiotic quote. Media strives for the zero-sum game, and continues to over simplify things in order to make all seem sensational.

The Pope is arguing that the spread of religion through violence is wrong. Jihad exists, and that can not be denied, but I also know that all of my Muslim friends are not terrorists, and are incredibly kind and endearing. Yes the Crusades did take place, but that was during a time of mass-ignorance. Is there a resurgence in ignorance? If so, it's probably due to mass media. Not only are they bombarding us with vapid video bits, but they are doing so in such a way (read: 20 second to 2 minutes news bites) that is actually negatively impacting our intelligence.

Those who threaten violence as a solution are truly desperate, and those who promote violence for profit are despicable. The media needs to stop focusing on the minority view, even though it is the most "entertaining."

Becoming a ToDo list

So far I have a number of drafts queued up. The topics are listed below. Please vote for one in the comments section. This will keep me motivated to complete them.

1. New Spirituality: An exploration of how spirituality plays a role in the life of a prime mover.

2. Quantum Search: An exploration of the impacts of the ability to search parallel instances of our own lives in order to aid decision making. And, yes, by parallel instances, we mean parallel universes, not other people who are similar.

3. Seven Year Cycles: A detailed exploration of the fourth (21-28) phase of life.

4. Seven Year Cycles: An introduction to the xodpox interpretation of the seven year cycles theory.

5. Seven Year Cycles: Things to do during transition between phases.

6. Band Profile: The So Nice

7. Things I Miss Expository series (TIMES): Intro, and example of an environment or stimulus that resonates.