From DailyZen.com:

Overcome your uncertainties
And free yourself
From dwelling on sorrow.
If you delight in existence,
You will become a guide
To those who need you,
Revealing the path to many.

- Sutta Nipata

An email from Valdis Krebs, reprinted with his permission:

isn’t creativity and learning just “remixing”[info/opinions/solutions]?
one could argue we are moving from the info society to the remix
society…

remixing is hot in the music world… and now they make it easy [from
the tech viewpoint]…

http://www.tuaw.com/2005/04/15/trent-reznor-rules/

How would you like to improve your output by 40%?

After our recorded conversation last week, Dave Bayless, Ron Newman and I continued chatting. I wish I would have kept the recorder going. One of the things Ron mentioned was BrainWriting. After a bit more information from Ron on his colleauge Dr. Paul Paulus, I found this Inc Magazine article:

Then there’s what experts call “brainwriting.” Rather than staging a face-to-face group, direct participants to write their ideas down on a piece of paper or electronically. One member of the group writes an idea, another reads it, adds feedback and his or her own ideas, and so on. This overcomes a lot of the problems of the group, says Paulus. Plus, it gives people more time to think about, and respond intelligently to, their colleagues’ ideas. He’s found that brainwriting exercises generate about 40% more ideas than individuals brainstorming alone.

In a way, if blogs are done well, they’re similar to brainwriting…

He asks “What’s going to be the biggest issue in the 2005 Cleveland Mayor’s race that nobody’s talking about… yet?”

Go there and add your $.02

I think Cleveland should have its convention center in Youngstown or Toledo. Couldn’t they do a JEDD? Maybe we can put the casinos there too…

I’m chatting with Steve FitzGerald from LakewoodBuzz at DJ’s Restaurant. I’m picking up a linksys router someplace…

“Blogger Relations Practice” is what PR firm Issue Dynamics has created to “helped clients create, participate in, monitor, and advertise in blogs” according to Muniwireless.com. I’m looking around their site and 1). Don’t see a blog, 2). See one reference to a blog 3). See lots of rheotic about themselves:

“Our standard Internet and public affairs practices have been incorporating blog strategies into our client work plans for years now, and the blog slice of the pie has been getting bigger and bigger,” says Ken Deutsch, IDIâ??s Executive Vice President. “Looking at the needs of our clients and the attention blogs are finally getting in the business community now seemed the right time to launch a dedicated Blogger Relations practice.” IDI Blogger Relations clients have already included Fortune 50 corporations, national trade associations, advocacy groups and political party committees…

Pretty much your standard PR fair. Not to mention I don’t see any bloggers on their staff. Would would you trust an auto mechanic that didn’t own a car? It’ll be interesting to see how good their “blog monitoring” is. If I don’t get any comments on this post from ID Inc., I’ll know it’s all hype.

If you’re looking for some to guide you through blogging and the blogsphere, ask an expert. Same thing if you’re a PR company. Get in touch with me. I’ll point you in the right direction.

I’m posting two recordings I did at DJ’s Restaurant on E. 105th Street in Glenville.

The first is Steve FitzGerald of LakewoodBuzz asking me about pizza, sex, and the Pope. We recorded it after recording this conversation, where we talk about less interesting thing like Cleveland politics, The Plain Dealer, and community.

Be warned. The second of the two is 80M and 1:30 long. The first is 26M and runs about a half hour.

Enjoy!

Props to Tim Russo. He’s linked on Instapundit. Thanks to John Ettorre for the head’s up.

Podcasting makes everyone one.

Will Kessel of CollisionBend.com emailed this article first. Valdis Krebs sent it to me today.

Thanks, guys.

Jack reacts to the process the organization that wants to “enhance the prosperity of our region by defining the strategies, policies, and targeted actions that will promote new technology-based businesses and quality job growth in Northeast Ohio”:

I spent yesterday at a regional technology planning conference where I was told that the mantra for technology business success is “eat or be eaten.” If this injunction doesn’t sound new, it’s because it isn’t. If I recall, it’s been around since guys hunted mammoth beasts wearing loin cloths and carrying big sticks. What’s new is the scale. Today, you get to make business headlines if your prey is global.

Sounds like we’re in for more of the same.

Brent Gummow of Infinite Number of Sounds emails:

The first Experimental Behavior Podcast is a little over 30 minutes long and
discusses events and gives sonic samples from the the ExBe calendar events for
this week in Cleveland and beyond:

homepage:
http://www.experimentalbehavior.com

rss file:
http://www.experimentalbehavior.com/exbe_podcast1.rss

mp3 file: 30 megs.
http://www.experimentalbehavior.com/exbe_podcast1.mp3

There will be a thread setup on the messageboards for each episode where folks
can discuss and give me feedback (as well as suggestions for improvement).
There is also a “help” thread in the podcast area where community members can
assist one another with both listening and producing questions.

Sweet.

Tremonter.com

Not a Masters of Business Administration, but a Media Bloggers Association. From Wendy Hoke:

Hey George,
A freelancer friend of mine in Nashville sent me a link to this blogger
conference taking place in May.

http://blognashville.org/

It’s sponsored by Media Bloggers Association. Ever heard of them? Check this
out:

http://mediabloggers.org/about/

Thought BFD readers would be interested, given the never-ending
blogger/journalist debate.

Cheers,
Wendy

From my friend Niko Angelis, a link to very funny flash film that if you’re at work (why are you reading BFD at work?! get back to work!) or around the family (get off the computer and spend time with your family!), you’d better put yer headphones on. I’m seriously LMAO.

A query regarding Ohio House Bill 591 got me thinking about municipal wireless again and looking around the web. Here’s a link to the latest info from MuniWireless.com:

Ohio â?? HB 591 (Now lapsed, and not yet introduced new session, but still under discussion)

HB 591 would extend to municipal providers of telecommunications service, as defined in federal law, various requirements previously in effect for municipal providers of cable service. In addition, the bill would add a highly vague prohibition on cross-subsidization.

You might want to drop your state representatives a note. You can find their email addresses here.

“Cello-rock ensemble”.

Enough said.

John Ettorre let me know that BFD is listed with his blog by Northern Ohio Live Magazine.

So “Pour yourself a satisfying cup of Blog”. Thanks, NOL.

I haven’t brought it up in a while, but for BFD readers who don’t know Civic Strategies “is a strategic planning firm that structures public policy solutions for cities and regions.” Every month Otis White sends out a newsletter. When he mentions Cleveland, more often then not the stories paint a dim picture of our city. Like this one regarding Plain Dealer reporters visiting Cleveland schools.

Hello? People around the country receive this newsletter. Doesn’t anyone monitor this stuff besides me? Isn’t there a PR person for the school district? Or is that why MaryBeth Matthews blogs? I think we need some better “media relations” then press releases about basketball scholarships. Not that those aren’t important, but I think we’ve got some serious perception issues here…

Ummm, is this for real? You mean to tell me not only are our state legislators trying to regulate municipal WiFi, but they’re also creating legislation that will only go into effect if a federal law is overturned?

Don’t they have anything better to do? I might have to email my representatives again…

From Motivational Quotes of the Day:

“To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act.” - Anatole France