I think Paul Winkeler only blogs when there’s an orange alert:

“From a Hard Place to a Rock Chicago is about to become the home of a Hard Rock hotel. That in and of itself is hardly news. What is interesting however is that this hotel is moving into a building formerly know as the ‘Carbide & Carbon’ building on E Wacker Dr. Talk about a Rock and a Hard Place! “

Either that or since Knowledge is Power, he dispenses power wisely.

Howard Rheingold, author and virtual community pioneer, thinks ahead to 2004:

“I wish an interdisciplinary investigation of human cooperation and collective action would begin to emerge in 2004, bringing together scientists, scholars and practitioners in self-organizing Internet politics, peer-to-peer computation, the sociology of managing common pool resources, the economics of open-source production, the biology of symbiosis, and the evolutionary psychology of cooperation around the nature, dynamics, barriers and multipliers of human cooperation.

“What probably will happen is that my colleagues and I will begin to put together a map of this emerging field and then stalwartly paddle upstream against the institutional tides of specialization — because universities, corporate research, and foundation funders succeed by specializing and risk failure by broadening their interests across disciplinary boundaries, thus building into our civilization’s knowledge-gathering institutions a strong negative incentive against seeing (or looking for) big pictures.“

As Jon Husband points on in his comment here on BFD, he wrote a great piece a while ago:

[W]e don�t yet know how to operate as whole human beings in this business-oriented interconnected interactive world. It takes new skills, new logic, new emotions and different dynamics. Most of us still only know how to interact in prescribed ways with the large institutions, the commercial and political systems that govern our lives. We haven�t yet learned how to create, how to sustain ourselves and help others sustain themselves, even though we are (usually) interconnected and (often) concerned that we are at the mercy of these institutions and commercial and political systems.

Yes, Jon. I think it’s very interesting. BFD readers should click through the title for an amazing digest of recent social networking articles and the current state of affairs.

In Lyz Bly’s Free Times commentary:

Arts advocate George Nemeth is baffled by the proposed levy. “I am disappointed that [the commissioners] didn’t have the language and details worked out in advance of their announcement about the levy.”

It’s not the levy I’m baffled by, it’s the implementation of the strategy. Ooops. I used the S word. Sorry!

From Patti Anklam:

“Cynthia Typaldos has created a database listing various social software applications. I, for one, am very glad to see this, and am not surprised that Cynthia is the one who has done it. Thanks, Cynthia!”

Yeah, this is Steve Goldberg’s beat. But I’m thinking BioScience in general should benefit from this news:

Shares of Trinity Biotech plc rose as much as 51 percent on Monday after it said it received US regulatory approval to market its HIV test in the United States.

I’m thinking about networking this morning, based on a quote from Valdis Krebs in the PD article I’ve linked to in the title:

Valdis Krebs, a management consultant who studies connections between people and organizations, said the sites can reflect real networking like sitcoms reflect real life. People often hoard friends, many of whom have no real business connection.

Which comes on the heels of Sandy Piderit’s recent comments.

My thoughts are that online networking mirrors real world networking even more closely then sitcoms mirror real life. How many times have you gone to [insert your favorite networking event here], met someone, and have it consummate in a deal? I think it’s a rare exception, but the alternative (not networking, and not increasing your chance of a deal) isn’t very attractive either.

What’s your networking experience been like, either online or off?

Thomas, Tisha, and I are talking about the weekly newsletter. Thomas quips and Tisha laughs:

“Drinking coffee may or may not lead to something better.” - Thomas Mulready

Wow. Cleveland-based OnlyOne gets international attention on Howard Reingold’s Smart Mobs blog:

With the described Only One service the user controls what happens to incoming calls. Subscribers at work can have calls automatically forwarded to their cell or home phones if they fail to pick up, or vice versa, changing the settings quickly on their computers or cell phones.

Callers are asked to give their names before subscribers answer and can be sent directly to voice mail without ever knowing they were screened; they also have the option of leaving a message without ringing the phone.

When subscribers do pick up, no indication is given as to where they are, or at what number they have been reached.

[F]ull report by Ryan Mahoney on this Ohio based service.

You can’t buy exposure like that with advertising. Congratulations!

From Grouse!: “Daniel Shiu and I worked on this as a joint project after we finished our rendition of Escher’s “Ascending and Descending”, making it our fourth Escher picture rendered in LEGO. Once again, no camera tricks, but the picture has to be taken from exactly the right place, and boy did we get tired of trying to find where that place was. The whole thing took five or six evenings spread over two or three weeks. Most of the last evening was taken up with setting up the lighting the way we wanted it and trying to get the camera position just right…”

Computers Assisting People Inc. had a banner year this year, donating over 500 PCs to 50 non-profits in the area. In all, they’ve assisted 175 non-profits. Did I mention they were recognized by the computer industry at the industry’s tradeshow this year? CAP Inc. received the Jerry Award for Community Service at Comdex in Las Vegas. Like all non-profits, CAP is struggling in this economy. They’re seeking donations, so if you can help, please do. One last thing from Dan:

next week we will be picking up our biggest donation of PCs ever - about 170 PCs from First Energy in Akron (we worked with our pals at National Cristina Foundation in CT to get this). We will again rely on a caravan of volunteer’s personal vehicles for the trip (U-haul’s get to be very expensive). If you want to join the caravan or know of a truck that we can use, please let me know.

I’m not even sure I have to comment on this gem:

Who is this Mulready guy? Why does that whining wuss have an actual friggn’ column. What, cuzz he knows well how to pucker up. This, this guy wants us genuflecting and kissing that Old Dope Head Peter Lewis’ ass, begging for money to run cultural and scholastic establishments. This is how a society should be run? What are you kidding me or what?

Oh yeah, that’s the solution: Open the cafeteria or whatever at Severance Hall to the teachers at Case. Oh thank the gods, Peter Lewis might then not smite us and may wave his philanthropic wand in our poor pathetic direction. I’m certain (Christ, I hope) I can’t be the only one who looks at shit like this and goes, �Wha’?�

Trust me, Mulready, there are more than a few of us who realize Cleveland was much more culturally fecund, if not as �Cool,� 25 years ago, before we were �saved� by the elite using our own money to dress this city up for themselves and their pals. I’d explain further but I ain’t gettin’ paid for this and I’m now cutting into my drinking time. And Lord knows I gotta’ drink if guys like Mulready are the, watchacallit, �Creative Elite,� who are gonna’ �Not Blame Cleveland� or �Save Cleveland.� Thanks for your time. Love to all of you this Holiday Season.

Ed Tarbush
Cleveland

Perhaps Cleveland would be more “intellectually productive or inventive to a marked degree” culturally if we didn’t knock of at a certain time to have a drink.

The cool thing about blogging is someone can start a dialog with a post, the discussion can move to the comments, then end up someplace completely different. I was over at Chris Corrigan’s Parking Lot where he picked up the John Galt Strategy thread:

In the context of a city, the thing about having someone “in charge” of developing strategy is that it’s kind of a mug’s game. For one thing, the basic fact that 2.5 million people will improvise its implementation should be enough to make planners give up the notions of tight control of its development. Howdo you anticipate the hive mind of 2.5 million people? You can’t do it by decree, not in a democracy at least (and not truly in a dictatorship either, or so says Jonathan Schell). Instead, you need to create spaces where improvisation can flourish and thereby invite the citizens create their own city.

Make sure you click through and check it out.

I’ve added about 4 new blogs to the blogroll recently. Let’s see if you can find them…