Brain Blenders

Tao of Sharpie

If I've never mentioned this, now seems to be a good time...I love Sharpie's. I use Sharpie's all the time, especially at work. I am often in need of writing on large easel pads or making notes onto index cards, and no other pen will do. If you want people to be able to read your work from some distance, or want to boldly capture a singular thought on an index card or post it, then Sharpie is THE ONLY WAY TO GO. I have tried every other permanent marker available...the Staples knock-off brand, Avery Marks-a-lot, Bic Mark-it, Eberhard-Faber, RediSharp and countless others - and the bottom line is they all stink. Here is why:

• Knock-off brands: low grade quality
• Avery: The Native American name for this one is, "Label that bleeds all over hands"
• Bic: Tip diminishes in less than one page
• Eberhard-Faber: Motto - "We make great charcoal art supplies, oh you wanted a permanent marker? Did we mention we make good charcoal art supplies?"
• RediSharp: They have a soft rubber grip. That's it...soft, rubber grip. Hanging their hat on that one?

I have every size of Sharpie known to man in my bag...not just in the office - but the bag! I use the extra fine point to write notes to people (like I'm some kind of grade-school student - writing notes to people?), I use the retractable Sharpie (prefer orange) to write during group exercises, I use the bold chisel tip to make notes on large easel pads, and the minis I hang in places that I might need to make a permanent mark on - like in the garage.

I am a bit of a writing tool fanatic. I kept one mechanical pencil through high school and college, as an example. So pens matter to me, even though my penmanship might not indicate it. Maybe that is why I like the Sharpie...it's a pen that works - works well, and can be utilized for so many jobs. What would make them better, is if they made a refillable one. I'd spend $40 on a retractable Sharpie that I could buy refills for.

Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story

For all the fans of the Family Guy who haven't seen Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, do yourself a favor and rent it. It's three good episodes strung together, not a movie mind you...but three good episodes of the endearing show. I watched it on my PSP and laughed quite a bit. Stewie reminds me of a coworker so it has even more meaning to me, comically.

Wiki and CC

I recently received an email inquiring about Creative Commons and Wiki. Here is my take...

CC and wiki - the short of it is..."We the Media"

Wiki - is an online open-ended database. Any user, any browser - can become an editor. The simplest way to share information and evolve web usage. Two extreme contrasts are wikipedia.org and urbandictionary.com. Both allow for user-defined content, one will kill the encyclopedia; the other will kill brain cells.

CC is in short, sharing information. Original copyright laws limit the building upon of content, the Creative Commons organization formed to try to return to what they think our founding fathers intended to do with Copyright.

An interesting guy to look at is Cory Doctorow. His latest work "Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town" was published in CC and actually launched in several electronic formats including the iPod and PSP. Cory believes that the more he gives away the more he will earn, and actually has created a model that backs up his theory, apparently. He is using a version of the CC called iCommons, which has been adopted by something like 21 countries since late 2004. What this means is that you can download the book in the states, but you can actually print that thing for profit in other countries. This is essentially a utopian belief that by giving your work away to underprivileged countries for their gain will bring them up to the lifestyle we enjoy here in North America, and therefore we all win. Good book if you like science fiction, I read it on my PSP- for free!

Speech he gave about Creative Commons - http://craphound.com/ebooksneitherenorbooks.txt

Then of course, there is copyleft, the idea is that every person who receives a version of the software, music, document, or art can adapt it change it, and re-purpose the item from it's original version. And then they must ensure that they copyleft the work so that the circle can be repeated. Very ideological in it's very nature.

Cabs of Despair

First of all, it's 5:43 AM Central Standard Time and I am so early for my flight American Airlines may ask me to help park the plane at the gate. I have never been this early for a flight that wasn't a connection. I know the airlines advise you to arrive one hour prior to your departure time, but that's an idea I scoff at. My standard operating procedure is to pull up at the airport after everyone else is seated on the plane, rush through security, and sit down right before they shut the door. I prefer it that way!

Not today - today I took a cab to the regional airport I fly out of so that I could leave both cars at home. We just got one of the rides back last night after having some work done on it, and I don't want the family to be left in the lurch while I have my vehicle parked out at the airport, just in case.

Anyway, I called a cab company last night and they arrived this morning bright and early...jabba the hut was driving and had a cancer stick working in the cab. Now, I've taken cabs here at home before and in other smaller markets and had the smell of smoke hit me pretty hard when I stepped into the car/van. However, I have never gotten into a cab and had the driver continue to smoke. I felt like I had hitched a ride. I wasn't bitter about it though, so I asked, how busy is a local cab? How many fares do you pick up in the course of an evening for example. She said, "Oh it varies quite a bit, this shift has been pretty busy I've had four fares."

FOUR?!

Please enjoy that heater - you've earned it.

This list of email accounts suck...

The good news is...BrainMail readership is at an all time high, thank you for signing up for the free service. The bad news is that last night I spent quite a while going through my email list and validating addy's...after the jump is a list of emails that did not validate, and therefor suck! Welcome to my bad side oh ye who spam. If, by the way one of these emails is yours - get a new email address cause yours is jacked up.

SMS Bible

"N da Bginnin God cre8d da heavens & da earth” is a passage out of the Bible translated by a member if the Bible Society in Australia into SMS lingo. What is SMS:

SMS also S.M.S. (es-em-es) abbr. 
1. noun. Short Message Service: a text messaging service on mobile phones.
2. verb. to send a text message over a mobile phone. (from urbandictionary.com) 

You can download the whole thing here. Think about it, from word of mouth to the multi-million dollar business it is now - the Bible is the one book that seems to transcend it's medium.

Podcast - Behind the Scenes

This podcast is a recorded conversation between the Pilot of the JetBlue that had to emergency land at LAX a couple of weeks ago, maintenance and some other airline types. The conversation is remarkably calm, even dull at times for a guy who's about to touch the nose of a flying gas can to asphalt. But it intrigued me enough to listen to most of it. This could be the future of podcasting, the behind-the-scenes show. Joepodcaster And here is his main page - this is a well done podcast, especially if you like to geek-out on commercial aviation.

I think we need more pods like this. Give me more behind the scenes, beyond the velvet rope, insiders look at what's the word on the street, so to speak. How about behind the curtain at the Grammy's, major news networks, hell - the DMV if it's a unique experience.

So many podcasts just stink up the place, it would be nice to have one that tells a compelling story, one that I can't hear on the radio, or listen to it on iTunes, or watch it on some gossip show.

I'm just saying...I should make a reality show out of my work. With the sheer mass of characters that I come in contact with on a given day...it would be the most compelling podcast on the planet.