breeze debris

Kevin Kelly: Heinlein's Fan Mail Solution

I just posted a quote a few days ago by renowned science fiction writer Robert Heinlein on my tumbr blog...I just think its a bit weird and fun (i love connecting) that while I sit here having a Kevin Kelly fest... I noticed a post of his from September 2008 called "Heinlein's Fan Mail Solution" It's hilarious.

This is how he "engineered his own nerdy solution to a problem common to famous authors: how to deal with fan mail.  In the days before the internet, Heinlein's solution was fabulous. He created a one page FAQ answer sheet --  minus the questions. Then he, or rather his wife Ginny, checked off the appropriate answer and mailed it back.  While getting a form letter back might be thought rude, it was much better than being ignored, and besides, the other questions you did not ask were also answered! Indeed, it is both remarkable and heartwarming that Heinlein replied at all to most mail. Can you imagine other great authors doing the same -- even with a form letter? Heinlein's form is very entertaining to read because you are forced to reconstruct the missing requests." ~KK

Awesome.

Skitt

Me, Skittles, and my computer screen
 
He is empty too
but all I need

I'm am through trying to prove anything to anyone
or pretending I can be anything to anybody but me

I cant wrap wires around intangible things
OR add fuel to fires that were never even burning

AND Loyalty and Trust is just a joke
BUT only because you continuously think it so

i will not
NOT be me
I will not be scared to share who I am with Technology

The name of none and everything

That is real
This is
Freedom

And

I AM

This

the beginning

Storing your Entire Life

Well, it's already happening isn't it? IT is inevitable. Whether we like it or not.

Researchers believe governments and societies must urgently debate the implications of the huge increases in computing power and the growing mass of information being collected on individuals. Thinkers as early as Socrates and Plato focused on memory as one faculty of mind for which technologies of storage could change individuals' psychological makeup, by externalizing or 'outsourcing' mental function.

It is now possible to store digital versions of life's memories. As one professor playfully noted, it takes 100kbitss^-1 to get high-quality audio and video. If we imagine someone with a camera strapped to his or her head for 70 years (2.210⁹s),that is something of the order of 27.5terabytes of storage required, or about four hundred and fifty 60GB iPods. And if Moore's Law continues to hold over those 70 years (admittedly a large assumption!), it would be possible to store a continuous record of a life on a grain of sand.

Some fear that the advent of "human black boxes" combined with the extension of medical, financial and other digital records will lead to loss of privacy and a dramatic expansion of the nanny state. Of course, many choose to smell the stink of dystopian societies much like the ones depicted in 1984 and Brave New World. But why fear? The evolutionary process will continue to unfold with or without us. Maybe the survival of the fittest minds and bodies?

Positive advances in medicine, education, crime prevention and the way history will be and is being recorded should be given prominence. The variety of information captured varies between the home and the workplace, and ranges from documents and emails to digital photographs, video etc...making memory storage very rich.

The 'information overload' problem, long recognized in the computing industry, is becoming a major issue in the workplace for everyone and for the private citizen too, as retrieving and selectively deleting (forgetting) these data become ever more of a challenge (e.g. ex-boy/girl friends,embarrassing moments,death days). The challenge is now directly related to our conception of ourselves, as the information we collect is increasingly generated by us, not by outside observing bodies. The information will have some sort of role in defining our identities, over a lifetime.

Leading computer scientists, psychologists and neuroscientists gathered to debate these issues at Memories for Life, a conference held in London at the British Library on the 12th of December.

Topics included:

• Personal memory: how important in our daily lives is the recollection (accurate or otherwise) of our past?
• Technology: future directions: what new devices are waiting for us round the corner?
• Human Sciences: Psychology, Neuroscience: how much do we know about our memories, how we store and recall knowledge?
• Social, Ethical and Legal Issues: how will increased access to knowledge affect our society?

The things that gets me is that they haven't got a blog?? (sorta weird given their field) Don't worry, I sent them an email urging them to start. It's only a matter of time. But then again, who am I? HA.

Update: OMG, I got a response just minutes later, look! I am now writing back...a Thanks.

What a good memory I just made for myself. Learning, Thinking, Searching, Finding, Sharing. Another day in Breeze.

Technorati Tags: memory storage, memory, evolution, research, mind, brain, black box, IT,

Loving what you do is yummy like fruit

I have known one too many people who wake up miserably to go to a dead end job. They bitch all day and all night long about how bored they are with their lives, how aching with stress their bodies are from working way too many hours, how crappy their paychecks are at the end of the week, how pissed they were because they were stiffed. (i worked in the fine dining industry and i was one of those people and i QUIT!)

I have come such a long way from that early mindset and each day it becomes so much more clear to me that hooking up with like minded people was all I needed to help me sail more smoothly along the stream to an infinite state of being. I longed for a time when I could sit quietly reflecting on the day to feel a sense of satisfaction; accomplishment.

Anyway, I can ramble on and on about my experiences after serving in a restaurant and I am sure that I will one day, but for now my point is that you have to LEAP to get to the side of your life where things suddenly seem much more colorful, sharp, glorious, and clean.

Its not only about becoming a leader/inventor in your group, a counselor/adviser to your family, fellow bloggers, friends etc...
Its about becoming a leader to and for yourSelf
Its about finding peace, balance, and happiness.
Its discovering true LOVE in every relationShip you choose to carry on
And to share our journey with the world
is what i.t. is truly all about
the Spirit we all seek
It is Always Already

and what all these words really mean...

Today, I made a piece of art, I played my violin/guitar,I uploaded some Thanksgiving pictures to my Flickr page, I worked on a mini film about the time Jamie and I nearly froze to death camping out of season, I did more research on complementary and alternative medicine for Lucid Nutrition, I read Dave Winer's blog who pointed to a vaXzine's visionary/foretelling sketch on the future and RSS (more than just an idea, never just a glitch:)

I also read a wonderful poem by Mike Sansone who is also obviously letting his sweetest dreams linger on. You have to read it too to understand my response:

Now this is a beautiful proclamation.
This is what living is truly all about!
This is I.T. a converStation indeed
and how this work, your beloved duty,touches every aspect of your being...
we are all able to see thanks to your humble self and transparency.
Lovely!

Technorati Tags: davewiner, vaxzine, converstations, breezedebris, being, alwaysalready, spirit, duty, loving, living

Alchemy Dig

Using the work of the mysterious 20th century French Alchemist, Fulcanelli, as his foundation, and his discovery of a 350 year old Alchemical Cross in the South of France, Jay Weidner describes the  experiences, insights and powerful evidence that opens the door to a new view of the intimate relationship between myth, history, science and the true destiny of humanity. In doing so, he reveals his ultimate meaning underlying the resurrection of Christ, the message of the Book of the Revelations, the vision of Ezekiel and the Kabbalistic concept of the “Restoration of the World.”

Thanks to Joybringer on Zaadz for posting this speculative yet interesting short film. I am drawn to it...of course.

Technorati Tags: alchemy, fulcanelli, breezedebris, philospohy, science, history, mathematics, nature, time, jesus, latin, fire, renewal, inri, yod, nun, resh, yod, equinox, astrology, 8, 270, 2160,