Why Am I Alive? part one
Why are we alive and why do we ask this question? I believe the trick is to figure out how to make yourself at home in your body, mind, and heart. Go figure? Huh! This question has a hold, in one way or another, it seems to me, on every person. Like tentacles on the knifes edge as we are standing in the rain, this question sinks into our very flesh. There is a gnawing longing to torch some light of meaning deep inside. Do you ask yourself, ‘Is there a meaning to my life?’
Will you die without ever having really Lived?
I have been spending the odd hour or two every other week with an interesting UCBerkeley freshman. He is meeting me as part of a Cultural Anthropology course. He is interested in how it applies specifically to the way he sees members of his immediate community in their habitual patterns.
How do people choose to grow, mature, and age with vigor and delight in what is happening and what is in the next minute, day, year, decade? Rather than focusing on their decomposition, how to focus on the harmonious fact which is to always have something important to contribute to the Human Race. My young friend is wondering, as are all human beings, about the meaning of living and dying. How and what does the stepping out and over the transition and leaving our bodies behind shed light onto the insight and meaning of our very existence?
In case you did not realize, our bodies are always in some state of decomposing. Decomposition is the process by which organic material is broken down into simpler forms of matter. The process is essential for recycling the finite matter that occupies physical space. It could be insects who are doing the majority of the work in this process though in every instance there is a chemical seed instigating the process. These cycles of change works to make space for the ‘new’ with a kind of continual spring cleaning. Every seven years everyone of our cells is completely new. This happens like the toppling of dominos, a cell or two at a time until the whole is changed.
Do you suffer from First World Problems?
How we think about life makes a big difference. It is our thoughts, that in some electrical impulse, build what we see and touch. Consciousness is where we place out thought. Life is a glorious display of plans, puzzels, and progress from pain to the real hike up the wet glass mountain. This is the bold way toward understanding of things as they are. Thinking is not painful in general… A thought it is just like saying, ‘I see that tree.’ The process is moving from the stress of wanting complete control over Nature to acceptance; Bring it all on home to me.
The free flow is in my heart. I suppose there are many who see their lives as ‘the glass half ful’l rather than ‘it is already broken.’ For those in the never enough or not the right enough there is pain in every corner… Certainly my struggles with cancer have been painful but I am not living in a place like most of the world where there is no pure clean free flowing water. Let alone like I have as much as I want of this fresh clear filtered flowing freely from my faucets in several rooms of my safe apartment. Most of the pain we talk about is a First World Problem that is more Myopic than real.
What is the reason we are on Earth? What is the meaning of life? Why are we alive, thinking and feeling and able to ask this question?
I would say that the Laws Of Physics apply since everything, you me and whatever we think of as spiritual is all Matter. We are part of a Material world. Our Earth is moving in a Post Copernican information age. (Nicolaus Copernicus; born 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe. Before Nicky, intelligent society believed that the stars and everything seen in the sky revolved around the Earth. (Wikipedia)
Now we see our position in our home Galaxy as a dot in the far out reaches of one arm of a spinning magnificence of spots of stars and various space stuff. We have a different point of view. Our solar system is of less significance to Earthlings than it was just twenty years ago. I think of generations in blocks of twenty years.
Reach out and really help one-another. Help Changes Lives…
Beginning Today
Mandino wrote The Greatest Salesman in the World which contains the “time-tested wisdom of the ancients distilled into ten simple scrolls” which, if followed for the prescribed ten months, will as Og says, “seep into my other mind, that mysterious source which never sleeps, which creates my dreams, and often makes me act in ways I do not comprehend. As the words of these scrolls are consumed by my mysterious mind I will begin to awake, each morning, with a vitality I have never known before. My vigor will increase, my enthusiasm will rise, my desire to meet the world will overcome every fear I once knew at sunrise, and I will be happier than I ever believed it possible to be in this world of strife and sorrow.” (Scroll I)
The scrolls each have a principle designed to replace bad habits built up over a lifetime which “threatens to imprison my future” (Scroll I) with good habits developed through a ten month process of studying the scrolls. Each Scroll’s principle is life altering. They are:
- Scroll I – Today I begin a new life.
- Scroll II – I will greet this day with love in my heart.
- Scroll III – I will persist until I succeed.
- Scroll IV – I am nature’s greatest miracle.
- Scroll V – I will live this day as if it is my last.
- Scroll VI – Today I will be master of my emotions.
- Scroll VII – I will laugh at the world (Keep perspective)
- Scroll VIII – Today I will multiply my value a hundredfold.
- Scroll IX – I will act now, I will act now, I will act now.
- Scroll X – I will pray for guidance.
Mandino’s main philosophical message is that every person on earth is a miracle and should choose to direct their life with confidence and congruent to the laws that govern abundance.
Feeling Your Truth
Lately, it seems that whenever I talk to Coders and ask them to make sure they take a moment to get in touch with what they are feeling and reach out to tell someone about their feeling they all get a certain glazed centered energy. To the last every one, there is a look one look that comes over their eyes. The energy of attention stops and they relax into an understanding of exactly to what I am referring.
I am serious about keeping people opened to the wonder and delight all around us especially when there is a point of focus that tends to sweep the sunshine away. I want people to reach out instead of ending the ongoing experience in all of life.
My lead in to a conversation about ‘how do you feel’ sounds like; ‘High achieving people are so much more able to do things so well that when you are not feeling well you are still operating at such a high level, that no one notices that you are less than good. ‘ It is at this point that every coding, developer, network support person gets the same look. It is as though they stop putting up the veneer and get back into their bodies and hearts. Yes, I have been neglecting my feelings, thanks for asking.
Last night I met three super smart coders who were all under 16 at a hacker space. I said my sentence then took a moment to talk individually to each of them. Yes, it is true that they can slide behind what people think about their work and success mostly always ignoring their emotional humanity. Emotional health is so vital to supporting cooperative collegial cooperation. Emotions are the building blocks of strong happy friendships, families, and societies.
What can you do when you lose touch with how you feel to the point you can’t tell another person what is inside your heart? The individual becomes unbalanced. The separation is very serious. When what you are working on veils the view of your pulsing life force eventually who you are and why you are here is lost as well. How to talk when you have not exercised your voice? The problem is real. It is a problem not just in the computer world but in all the positions where feelings are pushed down and out as a habitual pattern.
A model can easily be created by taking a paper strip and giving it a half-twist, and then joining the ends of the strip together to form a loop. In Euclidean space there are two types of Möbius strips depending on the direction of the half-twist: clockwise and counterclockwise. That is to say, it is a chiral object with "handedness" (right-handed or left-handed).
In the computer world there is a lot of pressure from the people around you to get success fast with no let down. I know of several persons who are clinically depressed because of dispersed lack of emotional attention and the continuous mobius edgeless puzzle.
I Can Tell When Truth Happens…
I Can Tell When Truth Happens: Yet, I have been tossed down a horrible path. There is my tender heart lives believing what people say to be true. I actually am in shock because I have experienced the no-shows to appointments broken at the very last minute.
The trouncing of my soul solution since the Xmas Holidays is attacking my unconscious mind. Yesterday I get the medical attention from a prominate doctor who examines my body also asking me many questions. She concludes that I am in deep trauma/shock.
I feel I am part of a shared illusion. The doctors want to nudge me to let out how I feel about the trauma stacked inside my heart and internal organs. I have felt the arrows prick from the Yes/No more intensely and more dramatically from family and friends form the last several months. I am now working at catching myself in this slippery spiral.
The marvels of life is all spread out before me. All that I can learn from my extraordinary everyday activities in relation to others in a world of people. How do I react? It seems that lately I am making plans with horse blinders narrowing my view. Do people afford me information with any regularity that will bring me my goal? I no longer recognize situations for what they really are.
How happy am I in real time in this here and now? This has finally backed up into my real health problem. What prevented me from immediately acting when I was marginalized or strung along with the rug pulled out from under me and un-promised more towards the dark side of untruth I have been reckless in trust. I believe in love. This is Insanity!
I can see that these are difficult times for every strata of society. People are struggling. I know really smart people who are unable to deal with the Life Cards they currently have in their hands. The sadness in my heart because of the incredibly intertwined lives lost. I am feeling vulnerable to the emotions of the people I speek with.
I have the real purpose to let my demons out … I am learning to feel sad and to connect with the tears. It is real luck to have professional medical doctors tell you not to judge the fact that I am crying at many unexpected times. Sheer timing is rapture unbalanced, everything else is a nightmare. You have to ask: What is my emotional range? How much of the bad parts of every relationship and every situation. I guess I have to make a list of the non negotiable, the things I must never deny.
It is quite annoying not to shout about all the pain I see in the eyes as mirrors of their souls. The only way to deal with all this pain is to share the stories with one another. Last night a woman who live hundreds of miles away sent me a message to call her and talk. I allowed myself to accept her hand and today I actually feel the difference that conversation made. Today I stopped at a tiny drive through burger stall and watched the pain in the mother and daughter having at the table across the aisle. They said something to me and we chatted which gave me the opportunity to look truly and deeply in their eyes. It is the most meaningful we as beings with opposing thumbs can do with one another. Look deeply in another persons eyes is an act of tender courage. They allowed me to see into the struggles and search. I was able to focus Love toward their being with a smile in the mixing of our true sight into one another.
I have had a smile on in the face of diversity for many years. I am fortunate to not be burdened by not having what I do not have. It is time to usher in the bandages to clean my wounds to permit the reversal. Now, It Is About Time For Reaching Out To One Another. How easy to simply allow love to flow from and between one another.
Just for today I am going to take one minute to breath. Just for today I am going to practice relaxing both nerves and muscles. Just for today I am going to wish well to the people who have hurt me deeply. Just for today I am not going to judge myself for feeling weary and sad so I can allow my tears to flow freely. Just for today I am going to believe that this will not last for longer than I need to heal. I am going to allow the unseen holy serenity to surround me and invade every cell of my being. I wish with such intensity that the air of all that is refined and good to lift the hearts of the many who have lost someone they love.
The real essence of life is caring about one another. This is the Truth that happens. http://www.centerforpeacethroughculture.org/banner.asp
Relaxed Mind
Sure you have heard the words mindfulness and mindful living but what are people talking about? Sitting still in Meditation, is associated and are consistant with decreased activity in the jingle jangle of the sympathetic nervous system. Herbert Benson, is The Father of the Relaxation Response.
Benson is a pioneer in mind/body medicine, one of the first Western physicians to bring spirituality and healing into medicine. In his 35+ year career, he has defined the relaxation response and continues to lead teaching and research into its efficacy in counteracting the harmful effects of stress.
Steps to Elicit the Relaxation Response
The following is the technique reprinted with permission from Dr. Herbert Benson’s book
The Relaxation Response pages 162-163
1.
Sit quietly in a comfortable position.
2.
Close your eyes.
3.
Deeply relax all your muscles,
beginning at your feet and progressing up to your face.
Keep them relaxed.
4.
Breathe through your nose.
Become aware of your breathing.
As you breathe out, say the word, “one“*,
silently to yourself. For example,
breathe in … out, “one“,- in .. out, “one“, etc.
Breathe easily and naturally.
5.
Continue for 10 to 20 minutes.
You may open your eyes to check the time, but do not use an alarm.
When you finish, sit quietly for several minutes,
at first with your eyes closed and later with your eyes opened.
Do not stand up for a few minutes.
6.
Do not worry about whether you are successful
in achieving a deep level of relaxation.
Maintain a passive attitude and permit relaxation to occur at its own pace.
When distracting thoughts occur,
try to ignore them by not dwelling upon them
and return to repeating “one.”
With practice, the response should come with little effort.
Practice the technique once or twice daily,
but not within two hours after any meal,
since the digestive processes seem to interfere with
the elicitation of the Relaxation Response.
The ganglia are nosegays of Lotuses, bachelor buttons, peonies, roses, lilies, snapdragons, and forget-me-nots which provide relay points and intermediary connections between different neurological structures in the body.
Base Blossom
From the blossom bundles the nerve wiring thins out from branches to stems, tendrils, dendrites going to the parts of our bodies that works without thinking and the imperceptible diversionary reactive functions that we think are our whole world. Labeled as the peripheral and central nervous systems we march endlessly in the here and now. The little trees branch out projections. Some of the projections use visible branches, we call neurons, from the blossom Ganglions, (from the Greek: δένδρονdéndron, “tree”), to electrically conduct thoughts into an action. It makes the body breath and digest as well as the rainbow of feelings, some are fast, others safe and slow.
Mindful Of Movement
Research finds that dendrites support the action potentials of thought which release the neurotransmitters. Certain classes of dendrites (i.e. Purkinje cells of cerebellum, cerebral cortex) contain small projections referred to as “appendages” or “spines”. Appendages increase receptive properties of dendrites to isolate signal specificity. Increased neural activity at spines increases their size and conduction which is thought to play a role in learning and memory formation. There are approximately 200,000 spines per cell, each of which serve as a postsynaptic process for individual presynaptic axons. What do you really remember? When you just hang out on the internet most of what you remember is the rethinking of some things that may or may not have actually happened but they are generated and returned to the process.
A few years back in the mid 20th century, science, especially biology, a faced a fast-increasing need to develop a “man-computer symbiosis”, to aid scientists in solving problems.
Not Here: Depression
Standing next to the director was a thrill. I did have to tell him that though he thought it was unusual for me to come to lunch at a place where I did not work, there was a reason. I have been trying to sponge up on the emotional vibrations or radient emanations of really smart people. For me it is like watching the sultry heat waves rise from the black top along a quiet country road. There where the air is not moved much by the activity of life you can see the heat waves clearly. I was hanging out at this center to watch the emotional waves rise in a setting where not much outside movement happens.
As a non academic I speak in my ambling way. I tried to train my thoughts and fingers by taking a college level corse in Academic Writing. It felt like I was moving creators of concrete in my idea chambers between my ears.
Life happens: It is important to reach out to people when things are bothering and boiling in your feelings and thoughts.
Nature is balanced. There is a poise and a pause in the potential forward. This last week I have heard the soul searing stories of people who work in the myriad of different aspects of the highly focused digital world. It is a world apart with a mental modeling that the rest of us digital civilians rarely contact. The most common computer langues which do the heavy lifting have a component of the 4th dimension. I would call it LaLa Land. Like most thoughts, you cannot hug them though they are real.
People do not share that they are feeling blue and this builds up. The compacting of emotions in the core of a person is toxic. The generalized Blue become dark gray depression. The Darkness envelopes a person until they feel they have no options. There is no one to tell because the habit of sharing does not exist. I hear from a lot of people just in the past two weeks, that they imagine that there is no one who cares!
I want to let you know I care. The winter of the soul might come from hours of sitting looking at a computer screen or other kinds of activity that does not involve the social human component. As a human being I am and we all are animals and need the pack, herd and pod to feed both our bodies and souls.
I have a few easy exercises that I will share in more depth in my next posting. Ror this moment I suggest that you stand up and bend your elbows so that your wrists are at ear level and shake your wrists and hands so that your fingers flop and smack as you move your arms so that your shoulder blades contract! Good capillary circulation from the tips of your fingers has some good flow and you are looking silly too . Laughing is a great gift you give yourself. Love Love Love.
Consensual Habits
When people all over believe that it is true. The solid trust in truth of Time is a
Consensual habit. Time gives us a front and back, a past and a future. All the clocks come from our spin in the washing machine sloshing stars. Pressures, forces, light and heavy or weak and strong are the orchestra of gravity. Its serious that all the facts of the atmospheres we spin in are not taken into assessment of our puny little click clocks in the middle of our bodies just under our chin and 4 fists above our belly buttons. With this wide paint brush some material is rushing at us everywhere. This is past present and future as noodles being tossed in that biggest spaghetti pot bubbling on the “Life” kitchen.
Who wants to step into the past? Yet, the past is your history. Sigh, do you call it baggage or wisdom. Are you able to show yourself the difference?
Stripes are Keyboard trying to be really convincing
Bravery in the face of difficulties, Stand Tall and shimmer with a flaming heart bursting with fiery Love Stepping up to a commitment, a choice and the love that injects energy at every level of the stair risers building steps toward a change. Today with the one problem to see it through the pulse eyes in the core of heart.
A “Change of Heart” is a moment when a position of thinking clarifies a moment. Making it possible to see your emotional investment in a person, place, or thing, groups and even family and friends. A “Change of Heart” charges with static sparkles living in the prism. The Light is released. The status goes to the person who is living from the very point where they are at, the moment, the light goes off, when the pain from holding that smoldering coal in your favored hand is thrown or dropped. The Change Of Heart comes when you ask the question Look How Lucky I Am.
There is a practice that allows the tension from the your extremities, flanks, wings, tongue to feel simply solid and not glittering on the spin around your nerves. JUST let it drop. Now you have a change of heart. The thought puzzle is: Does the air go into your body and move the lungs or do the lungs move like a bellow to push the air in and out and in or does the air go through your body and is drawn to the lub llub pulse-babble of your heart. Gender aside, here is a place to stand, two feet two ears one mouth.
I Feel Your Pain Could be a Mortality Morality
Oh Yea, You feel what? I do not Believe that people I have met most of my life, care about anyone other than themselves. What would you like to hear? I imagine saying “I feel your pain, is the way people say when they are ready to run for cover. Ouch
“Saying “I Feel Your Pain”, is an extreme sarcastic play that would only be bought out from the collection of possible things to say to a person in deep pain, or is dimmer than a box of hair and rocks, to the one, or other who is also naive.
What about love, Giving, receiving and finding Love. Which one of us is ready or willing to sacrifice even a half hour to go out of your way for a friend? The World of ‘Why Not’ is all about what you want to do right now. ‘Why Not’ is the other side of what would you like to do. It is using NOW as the fulcrum. This is a way of working a puzzle that lets you see ride.
What would you like to do as a hook that ties you to the other persons agenda It is a classic combination of giving and giving from your heart as well as your actual Heart. Way earlier in our ‘cultured’ human history it was not legal to kill a plough animal, people were impelled to try anything which translated ritual murder into the power to digging out and revealing meaning from the Meat.
Then there is every idea of what is Sin. Who is making the list of what is and what isn’t sin.
Is there a person you know who has not felt the grinding pain of loneliness? Since we each have known loneliness at some time, we can and should share empathy for one another. I know what it feels like to have been shut out, to have had access to closeness, the closeness of caring contact that is simply denied.
At at one time or the other or I was living inside the picket fence boundary with a person cares for me unconditionally. Life and death questions are the same since the scribbles of Patañjali who lived and worked a couple of hundred years before the christian era. We are asking the same questions and arriving at the same answers. (I like Patanjali since his work is poetically beautiful and layered with meaning at every student level)
What do we need to change? We need to love one another as though there is nothing else but Goodness, Loving Attention, and the antidote to Pain: Change.
Has Humanity changed much in 2000 years. Ask yourself, what has changed and who exactly feels your pain today, yesterday, or tomorrow? I find that People cannot believe that change happens. I know people who think the phrase, ‘Change Is Constant’, is either some theater piece lifted from Shakespeare or Bacon, or An Equation in the Quantum. Change is not Literature, though ever time you finish reading a page you lift your finger and thumb and push or pull aside a page to expose a changed surface with type .
The last three weeks I have been bed ridden sick with sketchy fluids coming and going from the top parts and the bottom too. The infection started as a real horrible dust allergy. This condition is brought on when the apartment gets dusty. I have a person to come on and do the great job she learned in her home but she has not come for three months and my place is dirty and it Is Hard to breathe. Make a joke about this but the joke is, She feels my pain. Things have to change,, Don’t Play Dumb. Every choice is made in the persons best interest always and every time. The direction is Heading toward Winning. I am hoping that society should be better than the Individual. The group will being more information and more restraint. (There could have been another picture here but some times It just does not load)
Too Small To Breed
Karen was the only person I saw on my neighborhood walk today. She was dressed in typical ‘not looking for a date’ exercise attire. The old tea shirt and the non-discript running pants that Karen wore looked really confortable. Years ago, in the days when I lived back East in Pennsylvania, before my life in Vally Forge dissolved, I exercised every day in raggedy old t shirts and funky baggy running shorts. I loved getting in shape dressed in a covering that is there to absorbe perspiration rather than coloring the surface of my body with sparkly spandex.
She tells me that she got her Bichon from a breeder who had kept her as a pet because she was too small to breed! How to find that breeder ?? Since the dog was absolutely beautiful. The small dog was exactly the size that I could hold on my lap. I just get a kick out of my funkidellic ‘accommodation’ that I fit some idea of the past to merge with whatever is true here in my present life. I want to live and never get Cancer again! I want to emerge as a blossom out of this time period alive.
I live in a beautiful area of the bay area that makes moving around fun. This area gives me the visual and sonic space that allows me to listen to myself, really listen and hear my feelings and thoughts dance in the heat of my loving heart.
When I walk, I choose to meander around the un-trafficked thoroughfares in an all out effort to avoid cars and people. In walking this way I can combine exercise and relaxation response breathing. My neighborhood has tree canopied streets that have been blocked off to car traffic with big ‘No Outlet’ signs.
I start my walk at the front door of my building and down the wide perpendicular venue. I am determined to get moving and get my circulation up and pumping. It is a cool day and perfect for a little exertion. Making sure that every step start with clear click contact of my heel to the concrete. I do not need a music player to make music.
What’s the key secret Meaning of Life?
“All differences in this world are of degree and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything!”
~ Vivekananda
I see people in my circles of communication confused and receiving information about our and their worlds as stuff on a reflecting pool and most often not as intended. One Heart, One Language.
Karen is walking her doggie. It is the most beautiful white little puff of a A Bichon Frise . The meaning of the name is ‘A Curly Lap Dog’. Just what the Doctor Ordered for my health.
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Karen tells me that her Bichon is more cuddly and responsive than the Poodle she had earlier. She tells me that her dog is by her side continually! I am hearing that the Bichon are popular pets, similar in appearance to, but larger than, a Maltese. We are making easy conversation. Does a Maltese shed? I know that the Tibetan Terrier dos shed and shed a lot as well have a more energetic personality. I have to do more research though I have a place in my heart for a small lap dog. The big dog show in January will have a more serious investigative side than in past years.
Maltese
This ancient breed has been known by a variety of names throughout the centuries. Originally called the “Canis Melitaeus” in Latin, it has also been known in English as the “ancient dog of Malta,” the “Roman Ladies’ Dog,” the “Maltese Lion Dog”. There is also some evidence that the breed originated in Asia and is related to the Tibetan Terrier; however, the exact origin is unknown. The dogs probably made their way to Europe through the Middle East with the migration of nomades. The shapes of the faces of these two breeds are really different. This is totally Cool!
I am day dreaming of a very small Bichon. Perhaps a breeder has a litter with one small female who is too small to breed who would like to send it out to foster.. for a rescue dog.
There are no good reasons to believe that the right pedigree Bichon dog will find her way into my heart and home. Just like Karen was going for a wonderful walk in our wonderful ‘Hood several times a day, I too would get up and about with a wonderful Lovie Love. Having a dog will change the processing of the grief in my brain chemistry. I wonder if having a dog is a good strategy for relaxation or will I just become a farmer with an animal in my living room?
Physiological and neurological processes of Greif
Support Patch Adams
I met Dr. Patch Adams while he was doing a book tour prior to his selling the rights for the Movie. Robin Williams wanted in some small way to help fund the purchase of the land to house the Gesundheit Institute.
Thought the film focuses on his attention to comedy, the fact is that Patch is a fine doctor who is dedicated to health care as a human right. In one talk, Dr. Adams illustrated the work of human groups by the image of the cooperation in flight of Canadian Geese. The job of leadership means that the arrow of the beak of the first in line goose gets the brunt of the job of breaking into new space. The community acknowledges the need for taking turns in this endeavor. Each goose brings his or her best effort to this task.
Our human condition at this time clearly shows that every person must step up and contribute the best of whatever it is they can do for the greater good. Patch’s example is a good one. The leader does not have to be in front for ever. There is a time for planting seeds and a time for looking at photographs in the living room under the lightbulb. A time for development and a time for enjoying the fruit of all the efforts of the circle.
I will tell more of this story but for this dy Please look at this you tube interview:
Think about giving loving attention and kindness to all the people you encounter today. Know that living this way is a radical step forward in changing the world, one person, place, or thing at a time. The oft and lofty phrase, ‘Be Here Now’ starts with the relationship you have with yourself in balance and calmness that supports your grace in action in every thought, action, and word.
Watch the video and send in a financial contribution to the Gesundheit Institute Foundation
6855 Washington Blvd. Arlington, VA 22213
or Look up Patch Adams, MD and the Gesundheit Institute and figure out what is needed in their work and what you can contribute. Step up and become part of the revolutionary change that is sweeping the globe. Be the change you want in health care as you build loving relationships. Fix our outdated and broken relationships with one another. Love is the only answer, Love one another.
Makers Faire, May 21-22
But most of all, relax: You’re at Maker Faire Bay Area 2011, the world’s preeminent DIY festival.
I had posted some short scribble on my Facebook page yesterday and the comments I received were just dripping with jealousness. I knew at that moment I had to send this out to my general readers.
I went last year. It was wonderful. But, oh you Guys, this event is fantastic! This year is better than last year cause so many Big Name Makers are coming. It might be the last one that is manageable cause it is so good. Makers Faire may just turn into a super star event attracting the most innovative minds all poised to give people the tools to save mankind. Building creative useful and frivolous things is magic. I imagine the big lincoln town car being fully electrical with an iron ion battery, which is not in production yet, driving us in style with 70 MPG!
I am really looking forward to the Long Now 10,00o cycle clock. Thinking about material movement and life itself in section of time 10,00o years at a pop is mind stretching.
Maker Faire runs May 21-22 at the San Mateo County Event Center, hosting well over 600 crafters, makers, engineers, vendors, and artists who come from all over the world to take part in this singular event. “Each year, it’s amazing to see how many new Makers there are,” says Maker Faire general manager, Sherry Huss. “The returning Makers love to challenge themselves by bringing new projects, so there are always so many great new things for everyone.”
New this year is a wind-powered vehicle that travels faster than the wind; a robotic ball, the Sphero, that you control from your smartphone; the De-Car, or Driverless Errand Car, destined to pick up groceries of the future; and Socialbotics, DIY robots you control from your Facebook page. The UC Berkeley Solar Vehicle team will also be on hand to race their sun-powered cars and the Because We Can collective shows visitors how to build secret doors into public spaces. Towering above it all is artist Zachary Coffin’s aptly named “Colossus,” a 70-foot-tall moving sculpture composed of stone and steel and only ever before seen at Burning Man.
Sponsors are an integral part of Maker Faire, and our newest sponsor Autodesk will engage, inspire, and educate attendees this year and help more people participate in the world of design. A leader in 3D design software, Autodesk will showcase its software at Maker Faire in a way that’s accessible and fun, helping to unlock the creativity in everyone.
I like to pack a picnic basket of really special delicacies to support my health and energy. The food is more of a carnival sort of fried this and spun that. But there are stands to purchase eatables should you choose not to bring your own.
Produced by MAKE Magazine and O’Reilly Media, Maker Faire is part playground, part science fair, part welding shop, part county fair and 100 percent unique.
Calendar Editors
A celebration of DIY culture, Maker Faire Bay Area 2011 runs Saturday-Sunday, May 21-22, at the San Mateo County Event Center, 1346 Saratoga Drive, San Mateo. Saturday, 10am to 8pm; Sunday, 10am to 6pm. $5-$25; 3 and under are free. www.makerfaire.com. To purchase tickets, including weekend passes:http://makerfaire-marketwire.eventbrite.com
Rewiring the System 