Vertopia Blog: Getting You to Green Places

Carl “Cotch” Emil Camenzind, 79, died Sunday March 4, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 22:44:00 +0000

Carl “Cotch” Emil Camenzind, 79, of Salem, Ore., died Sunday, March 4, 2012

Cotch's Obit in The Oregonian

Cotch Camenzind was born to the late Carl and Marie Camenzind on Oct. 2, 1932, in Hillsboro, Ore. Cotch grew up on the family dairy farm in Hillsboro and he graduated from Hillsboro High School in 1948. After serving honorably in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War, Cotch received a BA in Business and an MBA from City University in 1991, as well as an MA in Environmental Studies from The Evergreen State College in 1998.

In 1966, Cotch married Shirley Bossom Camenzind in Portland, Ore. Cotch and Shirley raised their three children in Medford, Ore., Anchorage, AK, and Renton and Chehalis, WA. They were married for 30 years before her passing in 1996. In 1998, Cotch met and became partners with Carol Doolittle, with whom he resided in Salem, Ore. Cotch and Carol enjoyed many adventures during their almost 14 years together.

After eight years of service with the Air Force, Cotch worked as a sales manager for Caterpillar dealerships in Oregon, Washington and Alaska. Over the years, he also worked as a college instructor for City University in Washington, Oregon, Germany and China. After 2001, Cotch was a business consultant for an NGO in Laos, and worked as a commercial realtor in Salem.

Cotch was a loyal brother, a loving husband, and a kind and caring father. He took care of people and generously shared his time, his sense of humor, and his good nature throughout his life. His children fondly recall family vacations, camping trips, Cotch’s playful reading of the Sunday comics, and engaging political discussions at the kitchen table. Over the years, Cotch enjoyed travels to Europe, China, S.E. Asia and Mexico. Cotch was always ready to help when called, and was a great support to a wide circle of friends and family.

Cotch is survived by his partner, Carol Doolittle, of Salem, OR; his son, Greg Camenzind (wife: Mary Baylor, daughter: Helena) of Seattle, WA; his daughter, Lorre Carver (fiancé: Marc Sanford, children: Willow, Bryony, and Sedge) of Portland, OR; his daughter, Greta Camenzind (partner: Jeff Benson, sons: Gideon, Caden, TJ, and Nathan) of Beaverton, OR; and his three siblings: Herb Camenzind of Gales Creek, OR; Rose Newton of Beaverton, OR; and Paul Camenzind of Phoenix, AZ.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Sat., March 24th at the Unitarian-Universalist Congregation of Salem. www.facebook.com/UUSalem -- 5090 Center Street Northeast, Salem, OR 97317
Reception to follow.

The family requests that memorial donations be made out to Mercy Corps and Marion-Polk Food Share.

For pranks and parody, what is fair game and what is out-of-bounds?

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 06:22:00 +0000

Question to chew on:
In both pranks and parody, what is fair game and what is out-of-bounds?

I am thinking, here, about the recent Cover Story/April Fools parody found in the April 6 edition of The Seattle Weekly: http://www.seattleweekly.com/2011-04-06/food/eat-lou-kohl/ Please read the "Eat Lou Kohl" Weekly article first., and then I would like to encourage you to share your opinion/viewpoints in the comments for this post.

In the interest of full disclosure, I would like to transparently discuss my own initial thoughts when I first read this article.

I first heard about the story from my friend, Bill, who had said "you HAVE to read the "Eat Lou Kohl" cover story in this week's Seattle Weekly." (I now wonder if Bill was trying to set me up for this April 1 gag, or if he may also have fallen victim to it.) In my defense, and in Bill's, my April 1 radar had shut down by April 6 - Mike Seely and the Seattle Weekly were very tricky in that the article appeared 5 days AFTER April 1.

So, when I read the piece. I have to admit that I was sucked in. It was very entertaining (even before I realized it was a gag,) because the contrived character of Lou Kohl is such an unusual/quirky personality.

By the time I got to the list of A- and B-list celebrities who were to be attending one of these Dirt Farm events, I realized this had to be a gag.

There are other examples of Pranks or Parodies that I would like to discuss here. For example, I only recently developed a fake Facebook profile for G. Gordon Liddy. I included as much accurate historical/biographical info as I could find about Liddy's life into the Bio/Profile section of my fake FB page.

I have other examples that I can share with you. If you are interested, please just respond via email, or like this entry on my Facebook page.

Please share your own insights?

Thanks,
Greg

A Response to Rants Over Subsidies for Renewables

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 01:28:00 +0000

This is from a post by Craig Shields from http://2greenenergy.com

Late-Night Radio Show Caller Rants Over Subsidies for Renewables

March 24, 2011 in Renewables - Politics by Craig Shields

... The highlight of the show for me was a caller attacking clean energy based on the fact that the government subsidizes it. When I pointed out that fossil fuels get 12 times the amount of subsidies as clean energy, he responded that since clean energy is only 2% of the total grid-mix, the subsidies it receives represent four times those of fossil fuels per installed megawatt. In other words, because clean energy hasn’t happened, there is no reason to make it happen.

I asked the caller if he happened to be a hard-line libertarian who believes government has no business effecting changes in the public landscape. When he said no, I indicated that his position strikes me as considerably shortsighted, in that it employs a kind of circular logic. It’s like saying that we shouldn’t have built the Internet in the 1990s because there were a only few people online; his argument is really no better than that.

And in the case of renewable energy, I pointed out, we’re talking about a subject that really doesn’t compare well to the Internet; the imperative to move to clean energy goes well beyond the convenience and niceties of our modern age. Whether your concern is long-term environmental damage, national security, lung disease, the ballooning national debt (just take your choice), we are dealing with real dangers here that government, I believe, is duty-bound to address.

I also note that the subsidies for oil have been in place for 80 – 90 years — long past the point that the industry became incredibly profitable. Yet Washington is so completely bought off by the oil companies and the 7000 lobbyists they employ that it simply doesn’t have the integrity to bring this disgusting state of affairs to a close; this is rank corruption in its purest and most obvious form. By contrast, you’ll have a hell of a hard time finding an advocate of clean energy who thinks renewables should be subsidized through the year 2190 — and on indefinitely.

You think YOUR house is under water...

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:01:00 +0000

What's your read on the Vibe of the Vancouver Business Community?

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 19:09:00 +0000

Hey there friends!

I would love to get some feedback - especially from Vancouverites! - on your perceptions of the current business climate in the Vancouver area. I have been making some relatively freewheeling declarations about Vancouver on my blog, and I definitely need some realistic commentary to bring me back to Earth!

Perhaps the phrase "Vancouver Business Community" seems a bit oxymoronic to you? If so, please let your opinions be known -- and share them here!

Please post your comments here: http://www.vertopiablog.org/2011/02/hello-vancouver-business-community.html

Cheers,

Greg Camenzind

Vertopia Blog: Getting You to Green Places: Hello Vancouver Business Community - Small Is Beautiful

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 18:42:00 +0000

Vertopia Blog: Getting You to Green Places: Hello Vancouver Business Community - Small Is Beautiful

Hello Vancouver Business Community - Small Is Beautiful

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 07:49:00 +0000

As I have been working with sustainable start-ups in the Vancouver (BC) Business Community, I am starting to get a feel for the culture/business vibe of Vancouver. As I learned from a meeting I had recently with Councilor Andrea Reimer, Vancouver is really a city of small businesses.

Well, to quote E.F. Schumacher - "Small Is Beautiful".

In fact, the opportunities are quite auspicious in the Vancouver area. See Kirkpatrick Sale's* Overview of Decentralism to learn more:

"The next, following, point of agreement is that power should be diffused, and to the lowest level possible - which means to a bioregional level, and beyond that to a community level, a neighborhood level, a family level, an individual level. Nothing should be decided at any level beyond that where the people effected get to have their say and participate in carrying it out. "

1. Decentralism is the basic human condition.

2. Decentralism is the historic norm.

3. Decentralism is deeply American.

4. And it continues even now, it is alive and well in this country and around the world.

*Lest anyone think otherwise, I am NOT a Luddite, but I am sympathetic to some the tenets of the neo-Luddites.

-- Greg Camenzind

Welcome!

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 03:09:00 +0000

Welcome!: "This is my new Flavors.me page."

Check it out...

Greg

Vertopia Blog: Getting You to Green Places: Houseless Guy in OH w/ Golden Radio Voice

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 08:54:00 +0000

Vertopia Blog: Getting You to Green Places: Houseless Guy in OH w/ Golden Radio Voice

If you'd like to learn how to get your talent or your business out there, come on by https://sites.google.com/a/vertopia.com/www/What-is-Social-Media/What-We-Do/Benefits/Influence/best-practices and drop me a line.

Best,

Greg

greg@vertopia.com

Please share the Vertopia Consulting Facebook page with your friends! + Smart Blog Commenting (Bonus)

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 08:39:00 +0000

Happy New Year FB Friends!Sending out my latest on Social Media Marketing from Vertopia Consulting.
Vertopia Consulting on Facebook
Please share this post with your networks, and spread the word.
Drop me a line if you would like to learn more!
Cheers,
Greg
And as an added bonus, here is a brief outline on "Smart blog commenting"... Enjoy!

Decide on 10 Blogs (20 blogs at the most.)-- choose

5 Blogs that have a High Page Rank (PR) - Use CommentKahuna to find Blogs w/ High Page Rank - http://www.commentkahuna.com/
5 Blogs that have a High RSS subscriber count - Use Google Reader - reader.google.com

Us Google Alerts w/ Keywords - try to be the first to comment on the post for blogs that have high RSS subscriber counts. (About.com backlink etc...) Google.com/alerts
Daily commenting on blogs. Making sure that you make the comments valuable. Want people to read your comment and want to click through to your blog to learn more about your niche (and make sure you read the posts thoroughly.)

Here is a youtube video that walks you through smart blog commenting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJHXTAST3qw

A Real Science of Mind

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 02:41:00 +0000

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/a-real-science-of-mind/

Opinion
The Stone: A Real Science of Mind
By TYLER BURGE
Published: December 19, 2010

Why advances in perceptual psychology, not neuroscience, should be grabbing headlines.
--------
In recent years popular science writing has bombarded us with titillating reports of discoveries of the brain’s psychological prowess. Such reports invade even introductory patter in biology and psychology. We are told that the brain — or some area of it sees, decides, reasons, knows, emotes, is altruistic/egotistical, or wants to make love. For example, a recent article reports a researcher’s “looking at love, quite literally, with the aid of an MRI machine.” One wonders whether lovemaking is to occur between two brains, or between a brain and a human being.
There are three things wrong with this talk.

First, it provides little insight into psychological phenomena. Often the discoveries amount to finding stronger activation in some area of the brain when a psychological phenomenon occurs. As if it is news that the brain is not dormant during psychological activity! The reported neuroscience is often descriptive rather than explanatory. Experiments have shown that neurobabble produces the illusion of understanding. But little of it is sufficiently detailed to aid, much less provide, psychological explanation.

Second, brains-in-love talk conflates levels of explanation. Neurobabble piques interest in science, but obscures how science works. Individuals see, know, and want to make love. Brains don’t. Those things are psychological — not, in any evident way, neural. Brain activity is necessary for psychological phenomena, but its relation to them is complex.

Third.... (read the rest of the article here)

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 02:24:00 +0000

AMERICAN TUNE
(words by Paul Simon music by JS Bach)

Many's the time I've been mistaken,
And many times confused
And I've often felt forsaken,
And certainly misused.
But it's all right, it's all right,
I'm just weary to my bones
Still, you don't expect to be
Bright and Bon Vivant
So far away from home,
So far away from home.

I don't know a soul who's not been battered
Don't have a friend who feels at ease
Don't know a dream that's not been shattered
Or driven to it's knees.
But it's all right, all right,
We've lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the road we're traveling on,
I wonder what went wrong,
I can't help it
I wonder what went wrong.

And I dreamed I was flying.
I dreamed my soul rose unexpectedly,
And looking back down on me,
Smiled reassuringly,
And I dreamed I was dying.
And far above, my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty,
Drifting away to sea
And I dreamed I was flying.

We come on a ship we call the Mayflower,
We come on a ship that sailed the moon
We come at the age's most uncertain hour
And sing the American tune
But it's all right, it's all right
You can't be forever blessed
Still, tomorrow's gonna be another working day
And I'm trying to get some rest,
That's all, I'm trying to get some rest.

Vertopia Consulting on Facebook - Thanks for your support!

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 00:47:00 +0000

Announcing the Vertopia Consulting page on Facebook!

Please "Like" Vertopia Consulting if you find my posts of interest. I will keep you informed on how you can use Social 2.0 Technologies to get your business to green places....

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vancouver-BC/Vertopia-Consulting/152297848142823 - Hoping to watch the "likes" grow - with your help.

Vertopia Consulting

Professional Service

http://www.vertopia.com

Book I am reading right now: A Geography of Time

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 06:39:00 +0000

Heard about this book on Radio Lab. Fascinating!

These walk speed studies lead to many other interesting statistical metrics, such as...

Patents Issued (per capita) (most recent) by state

A Geography of Time: the temporal misadventures of a social psychologist,
or how every culture keeps time just a little bit differently

by Robert Levine

1 Review

Basic Books, 1998 - Science - 258 pages

In this engaging and spirited book, eminent social psychologist Robert Levine asks us to explore a dimension of our experience that we take for granted—our perception of time. When we travel to a different country, or even a different city in the United States, we assume that a certain amount of cultural adjustment will be required, whether it’s getting used to new food or negotiating a foreign language, adapting to a different standard of living or another currency. In fact, what contributes most to our sense of disorientation is having to adapt to another culture’s sense of time.Levine, who has devoted his career to studying time and the pace of life, takes us on an enchanting tour of time through the ages and around the world. As he recounts his unique experiences with humor and deep insight, we travel with him to Brazil, where to be three hours late is perfectly acceptable, and to Japan, where he finds a sense of the long-term that is unheard of in the West. We visit communities in the United States and find that population size affects the pace of life—and even the pace of walking. We travel back in time to ancient Greece to examine early clocks and sundials, then move forward through the centuries to the beginnings of ”clock time” during the Industrial Revolution. We learn that there are places in the world today where people still live according to ”nature time,” the rhythm of the sun and the seasons, and ”event time,” the structuring of time around happenings(when you want to make a late appointment in Burundi, you say, ”I’ll see you when the cows come in”).Levine raises some fascinating questions. How do we use our time? Are we being ruled by the clock? What is this doing to our cities? To our relationships? To our own bodies and psyches? Are there decisions we have made without conscious choice? Alternative tempos we might prefer? Perhaps, Levine argues, our goal should be to try to live in a ”multitemporal” society, one in which we learn to move back and forth among nature time, event time, and clock time. In other words, each of us must chart our own geography of time. If we can do that, we will have achieved temporal prosperity.

And by the way.... it has been determined that an elephant cell is more efficient than a mouse cell. Cities work kind of the same way when it comes to infrastructure. E.g. the bigger the city the less roads you need per capita, etc. If I move to a bigger city, does one person become "greener?" -- as cities get bigger, people speed up. More choices, more interactions, more frictions. This increase in energy comes at a c0st.

11,000 Watts of energy consumed per day by an average American (U.S. Citizen) -- more and more consumption has grown in neat parallel with the growth of cities.

Really interesting stuff!

Greg

Going green to be seen: U of M researcher finds people will forgo luxury for green products when status is on the mind : UMNews : University of Minnesota

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 20:42:00 +0000

Going green to be seen: U of M researcher finds people will forgo luxury for green products when status is on the mind : UMNews : University of Minnesota

According to U. of Minn. Researcher Vladas Griskevicius, consumers don't buy green products to save the Earth -- they do it to improve their social status. TOTALLY makes sense - to me, at least. (That's why the Prius sold better than the covert Civic hybrid - "conspicuous conservation"!

Check out the video in the right nav bar here.

A link to purchase the full research article is enclosed here:

http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=buy.optionToBuy&id=2010-02829-004

See abstract below.

Cheers,

Greg

Going green to be seen: Status, reputation, and conspicuous conservation.

By Griskevicius, Vladas; Tybur, Joshua M.; Van den Bergh, Bram

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 98(3), Mar 2010, 392-404.

Abstract

Why do people purchase proenvironmental “green” products? We argue that buying such products can be construed as altruistic, since green products often cost more and are of lower quality than their conventional counterparts, but green goods benefit the environment for everyone. Because biologists have observed that altruism might function as a “costly signal” associated with status, we examined in 3 experiments how status motives influenced desire for green products. Activating status motives led people to choose green products over more luxurious nongreen products. Supporting the notion that altruism signals one’s willingness and ability to incur costs for others’ benefit, status motives increased desire for green products when shopping in public (but not private) and when green products cost more (but not less) than nongreen products. Findings suggest that status competition can be used to promote proenvironmental behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)

Derrida: "It's not easy to improvise..."

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 16:53:00 +0000

"It's not easy to improvise, it's the most difficult thing to do. Even when one improvises in front of a camera or microphone, one ventriloquizes or leaves another to speak in one's place the schemas and languages that are already there. There are already a great number of prescriptions that are prescribed in our memory and in our culture. All the names are already preprogrammed. It's already the names that inhibit our ability to ever really improvise. One can't say what ever one wants, one is obliged more or less to reproduce the stereotypical discourse. And so I believe in improvisation and I fight for improvisation. But always with the belief that it's impossible. And there where there is improvisation I am not able to see myself. I am blind to myself. And it's what I will see, no, I won't see it. It's for others to see. The one who is improvised here, no I won't ever see him."

-- JACQUES DERRIDA, UNPUBLISHED INTERVIEW, 1982

See video clip of Derrida

Saul Gets It: Social Media Marketing at Saul Good Gift Co.

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 07:07:00 +0000

If you'd like to see a fun and successful application of social media to support a sustainable business, look no further than Saul Good Gift Co. -- Try clicking on the video clip in the yellow box on the homepage at: http://www.itsaulgood.com/index.php - you can also find Saul's (somewhat) regular blogs. (It is hard to keep up - I know!)

I think Saul understands how to get social media to work for building his brand. Saul seems to have an intuitive grasp of the "5 B's of Building Brand U.0"...

The 5 B's of Building "Brand U.0"

1) Be Ubiquitous: Create multiple "lifestreams" on the Social Web. Participate!

2) Be Social: Effectively manage your "social systems."

3) Be Interesting: Write. Photograph. Share. Document.

4) Be Remarkable: Do something worthy of a remark.

5) Be Yourself: Let your personality shine through.

Well done, Saul!

Best,

Greg

If you'd like to learn how Vertopia can help you get your business to green, please visit: http://www.vertopia.com/What-is-Social-Media/Landing-Page

Benoit Mandelbrot, Mathematician, Dies at 85

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 17:46:00 +0000

U.S.

Benoit Mandelbrot, Mathematician, Dies at 85

By JASCHA HOFFMAN

Published: October 16, 2010

Dr. Mandelbrot, a maverick mathematician, developed an innovative theory to study uneven shapes and applied it to physics, biology and many other fields.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/us/17mandelbrot.html

------------------------------------------------------------------

The passing of the mathematician who coined the term "fractals". A great mind who had a profound impact on the way we see and understand the world.

Greg

The "Database of Intentions" and the Twitter(ed Out) Revolution

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 18:34:00 +0000

John Battelle coined the concept of the "Database of Intentions" back in Nov. 2003. It might have been THIS post where he debuted the term: Database of Intentions.

As a Social Media consultant and practitioner, I am as optimistic as the next person about the potential for positive social change that might be achieved through social media. Battelle's idea was that the Google search engine is cultivating a massive database of human intentions, a kind of fog chamber by which analysts can see traces of what consumers want (sex, love, cars, insurance) and how they are acting on those desires (conversion rates etc.) According to Battelle, Tim O'Reilly and other zealots of Web 2.0, not only would Search make human desires visible, but the power of social networks might play a significant role in democratizing the marketplace, if not the actual political process. (See the Obama campaign for a recent example.)

On the Social Web, it is said, you can't buy influence or authority, you have to "live it". Frank Rich, in his recent NY Times Op-Ed piece (see below), raises reasonable questions on whether that is true.
As Rich states:
"The Internet in general and social networking in particular have done little, if anything, to hobble those pursuing power with such traditional means as big lies and big money."
---------
OPINION: Facebook Politicians Are Not Your Friends

By FRANK RICH Published: October 9, 2010

The Web, with its potential to hold politicians accountable, has also given partisans license to find only the “facts” that fit their prejudices.
------------

Whether you are looking at the ROI for Social Media from the point of view of a business, a celebrity, or a politician - it all comes down to what is the payoff of your social media efforts. Personally, I question the reliability of web analytics. I think we should consider the epistemology of Web 2.0 Analytics - i.e. what can we really know, and with what certainty, about human desires based on metrics like "click through rates", "Time on Site", and "conversions" from the Social Web? Not much, (yet) I would contend.

What are your thoughts? - Do you think social media can actually bring about good, or positive social change, or is it just another commercial distraction that has been relegated to making a buck? What is your evidence?

Greg Camenzind
Vertopia Consulting
www.vertopia.com

Vertopiablog is making its move... Original blog posts DAILY - so watch 'em!

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 05:21:00 +0000

The time is now for Vertopia Consulting to come out into the light of day and become a beacon of hope and conviviality.

To my Friends and Neighbors in Vancouver I send fair greeting. My family and I have decided to immigrate.

I will blog throughout the transition. If you like what you read, please follow me or "like" me or whatever form of recognition makes it possible for us to interact and communicate as needed.

My first objective is to find FT employment in the wilds of Vancouver. I am not intimidated - merely curious and eager to get started.

All the best,
Greg
www.vertopia.com

Test Your Savvy on Religion

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 00:48:00 +0000

OPINION

Test Your Savvy on Religion

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Published: October 9, 2010

Take this pop quiz on world religions. It shows why we should not rush to inflammatory conclusions about any faith.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/10/opinion/10kristof.html

Greg

NY Times - Schott's Vocab: "Galapagos"

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 17:04:00 +0000

September 29, 2010, 10:00 AM

Galapagos

Term used in Japan to describe the country’s increasing global isolation.
“‘Galapagos,’ the name of the South American chain of islands where Charles Darwin observed the wondrous creatures which helped formulate his theory of evolution, has taken on new meaning in Japan,” Daisuke Wakabayashi wrote on The WSJ’s Japan Real Time blog:

Shortened from the phrase “Galapagos syndrome,” “Galapagos” is used as an umbrella adjective in Japan to describe the country’s growing isolation from the rest of the world. It is also tinged with the negative connotation of a country which sees itself in decline.

Need a word to describe the inability of many Japanese people to speak English well? Galapagos. How about the root cause for why young Japanese workers not wanting to be sent abroad? Galapagos.

In its most commonly used variance, the term describes the country’s mobile phones, which for all their technological wizardry often do not sell well outside of Japan because they’ve been fine-tuned so acutely for the domestic market that they are no longer in touch with the needs of non-Japanese consumers.

5 Social Media Recommendations for Startups

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 07:40:00 +0000

Five social media recommendations for startups

Advice from Edward Boches for startups on how to use social media to launch a business, create a community, and generate content that will engage.

Stop thinking like a marketer
Start by answering the right questions
Take time to learn the basics
A) Figure out where you should make your presence felt. There are dozens of platforms – from Twitter to SCVNGR – but they may not all be right for you.

B) Master conversation strategy. There are still marketers who do nothing but push out information. Polluting the stream will not endear you to very many people. You need to promote others, share content of value and come bearing gifts.

C) Determine the tools that will make your time and effort more efficient and measurable. There are tools for listening, tools for analytics, tools to help leverage existing platforms. If you don’t know what you’re getting out of your efforts, you’re wasting time and money.
Become a media-content company
First and foremost, be creative

Wikiquotes for Gaston Bachelard

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 17:50:00 +0000

From Wikiquotes for Gaston Bachelard

La poétique de l'espace (The Poetics of Space) (1958)

If I were asked to name the chief benefit of the house, I should say: the house shelters day-dreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace. (Ch. 1)

Words ... are little houses, each with its cellar and garret. Common sense lives on the ground floor, always ready to engage in ‘foreign commerce’ on the same level as the others, as the passers-by, who are never dreamers. To go upstairs in the word house is to withdraw step by step; while to go down to the cellar is to dream, it is losing oneself in the distant corridors of an obscure etymology, looking for treasures that cannot be found in words. To mount and descend in the words themselves—this is a poet’s life. To mount too high or descend too low is allowed in the case of poets, who bring earth and sky together. (Ch. 1)

La poétique de la rêverie (The Poetics of Reverie) (1960)

Poetry is one of the destinies of speech.... One would say that the poetic image, in its newness, opens a future to language. (Introduction, sect. 2)

Ideas are refined and multiplied in the commerce of minds. In their splendor, images effect a very simple communion of souls. (Introduction, sect. 4)

A word is a bud attempting to become a twig. How can one not dream while writing? It is the pen which dreams. The blank page gives the right to dream. (Introduction, sect. 6)

I am a dreamer of words, of written words. I think I am reading; a word stops me. I leave the page. The syllables of the word begin to move around. Stressed accents begin to invert. The word abandons its meaning like an overload which is too heavy and prevents dreaming. Then words take on other meanings as if they had the right to be young. And the words wander away, looking in the nooks and crannies of vocabulary for new company, bad company. (Introduction, sect. 6)

Childhood lasts all through life. It returns to animate broad sections of adult life.... Poets will help us to find this living childhood within us, this permanent, durable immobile world. (Introduction, sect. 6)

The subconscious is ceaselessly murmuring, and it is by listening to these murmurs that one hears the truth. (Ch. 2, sect. 2)

Reverie is not a mind vacuum. It is rather the gift of an hour which knows the plenitude of the soul. (Ch. 2, sect. 3)

The repose of sleep refreshes only the body. It rarely sets the soul at rest. The repose of the night does not belong to us. It is not the possession of our being. Sleep opens within us an inn for phantoms. In the morning we must sweep out the shadows. (Ch. 2, sect. 3)

Fragments of a Poetics of Fire (1988)

from A Retrospective Glance at the Lifework of a Master of Books:

To live life well is to express life poorly; if one expresses life too well, one is living it no longer.

There is no original truth, only original error.

To feel most beautifully alive means to be reading something beautiful, ready always to apprehend in the flow of language the sudden flash of poetry.
Ideas are invented only as correctives to the past. Through repeated rectifications of this kind one may hope to disengage an idea that is valid.

A special kind of beauty exists which is born in language, of language, and for language.

Literary imagination is an aesthetic object offered by a writer to a lover of books.
One must always maintain one’s connection to the past and yet ceaselessly pull away from it. To remain in touch with the past requires a love of memory. To remain in touch with the past requires a constant imaginative effort.

Membership Life Cycle for Online Communities (ZDnet)

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 20:29:00 +0000