Humanize the Earth!

The blog has moved!

2005-08-18T17:02:00.000-05:00

Please see http://tedernst.com and update your blogrolls. All existing inbound links to specific posts here will still work indefinitely.

update on new blog

2005-08-10T13:20:00.000-05:00

The new home of Humanize the Earth! isn't getting ready as fast as I'd hoped. I'm having trouble importing the archives from here. And getting it to look right just doesn't seem as important as having the info there. So we're in a bit of a limbo. But I'm going to start posting over there anyway, and stop posting here, except updates on the move. Check it out! :-)

maybe moving this blog?

2005-08-08T20:10:00.000-05:00

The whole template thing has really gotten me down. At the same time, Michael Herman has been having trouble with blogger as well and has moved his operation to a wordpress on his own server. So I just installed the thing using their 5 minute install. It was a bit quicker. See http://www.tedernst.com/wp for the results. I'll announce here if/when I've actually switched, but feel free to watch my progress over there.

build a bike class

2005-08-05T01:18:00.000-05:00

Sarah and Sam from the Hub Housing Cooperative teach a Build Your Own Bike class. Tonight was the 1st meeting of their 3rd time though the 8 week class and I'm a student this time. Tonight we each brought a bike with us, or had one at the shop (West Town Bikes) in advance. I rode my Schwinn Suburban in. The we stripped everything off. Wheels first. Brake and shifter cables. Brakes themselves. Pedals. Cranks and bottom bracket (there are bearings in there - totally cool!). Handlebars with stem (left the headset in place). What am I forgetting? Chain guard had to come off to get at the cranks.

Most people were starting with either a functional bike that they wanted to upgrade or turn into something really cool and fast with lighter, newer parts or just change stuff, like handlebars and seats or whatever. All women except for me, by the way. None of us knowing very much about our bikes. Mostly about on my level it seems, though maybe I knew a bit less than average. Anyway, turns out my bike, though around the same age as me, is in really good condition. I'm replacing the cables and cable housing, but nothing substantive. Even the original brake pads are salvagable. The wheels are in good shape. The thing is really heavy. Heavy and solid. I figure I'd rather have a really cool bike with it's original parts that works really well (once I know how to fix and adjust stuff) than some frankenstein bike with mix and match parts.

When I want a fast road bike, I'll get a nice frame and build that one at that time. Once I know all this good stuff from this class.

So my bike was simpler to take apart than the others, I think, which meant faster. So I learned how to clean and adjust my bottom bracket when re-installing it. That's what they're doing next week when I'm not going to be there because I have to work.

Why Do You Do What You Do?

2005-08-04T23:41:00.000-05:00

in love with the universe

2005-08-03T23:57:00.000-05:00

This week I've been feeling in love with the universe.

For more of the context on these emotions, please see my wrap-up post about the 1st omidyar.net members conference.

template stuck-o

2005-07-25T23:59:00.000-05:00

I can make a few more tweaks, but my biggest problem is how to make the sidebar exactly the width I'd like (180px) while allowing the main column to be as wide as a particular user's screen allows. Right now it's set up for the main column to be a percentage and the sidebar takes the rest. It's too darn wide on my screen. Maybe yours too? I'll have to wait until another day. I'm off to bed

template moving along

2005-07-24T23:42:00.000-05:00

I'm sure this would be a lot easier if I planned it out with pencil and paper rather than just messing around with it. But it is where it is. It still needs work, but seems better than the broken version I had before I started today.

new tempate in process

2005-07-24T17:01:00.000-05:00

Still working on things. It's so hot. I'm so sleeping. Napping now. Will work more on this later. Sorry for any inconvienence.

new template

2005-07-24T16:26:00.000-05:00

Since I couldn't figure out how to fix my old template, I've started with a new one. If you're reading this soon after it's posted, you'll find the sidebar doesn't make a lot of sense. I'll be customizing it this afternoon and hope to have something passable finished by this evening.

Urban Compost in Chicago

2005-07-23T16:22:00.000-05:00

When I bought my compost bin a couple of years back (was it 2 or 3 years? 2, I think), I searched and searched for good information about how to actually make compost. Some municipalities had really good websites and even programs where you could get cheap compost bins. Chicago was not among them.

Until now.

The Chicago Home Composting Program kicked off with a bang today at the Garfield Park Conservatory and the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences (who know there was such a school?), where Chicago residents could get a home compost bin for only $25. Sarah and I picked up two for the Hub Housing Cooperative (rules allowed 1 per residence and we got one each) at the Conservatory.

I always knew the Conservatory was a really cool place, with lots of knowledge about growing all sorts of things. In fact, I had planned to see them about native species. But who know all the other cool programs and growing they're doing?

They have a demonstration garden that's a standard city lot-size 25 feet by 125 ft, I think, where they're growing lots and lots of wonderful things to eat and some ornamental stuff as well. They have gardeners available to answer questions 12 hours per week (Tu, Th and Sat) and have tons of great programs, such as: Summer Mainteance and Planting Fall Crops, Herbal Gifts from the Garden, Troubleshooting the Organic Garden, Fall Season Extension, Seed Saving in the Garden, Cover Crops and much, much more.

And to get back to composting, the Chicago Home Composting site from the University of Illinois Extension has tons of resources on how to compost, how to build a bin, worm composting, classes and much more.

Totally awesome! Check it out.

Categories: Chicago, compost, urban, gardening, organic, native, species, housing, cooperative

US Postal Service doesn't want my business

2005-07-22T22:11:00.000-05:00

I was supposed to be in Zambia this week, but I had a really bad rash and the doctor wouldn't let me go. I'm fine now, but it's too late. So I had my travel insurance claim form with it's doctor's form and the ticket all ready to mail back to my travel agent in Canada. I tried to find prices online first, but didn't get much of anywhere. I couldn't tell which of the products would get me what I needed, tracking. This is one set of documents that absolutely cannot get lost, given what the ticket cost me.

When I finally got to the front of the line at the post office, I asked the clerk how I can send something to Canada with tracking. She said it can't be done. She offered me "return receipt." I asked her what happens if they don't sign, if it gets lost. She said we could "trace" it. I asked what that meant and she said that I knew what it meant. Trace is to search. I said what if it can't be found? She said why are focusing on the negative. I said because if it's lost, I'm out $2000 (it's more than that, actually). I told her I was pretty sure UPS and FedEx would be able to track this for me so was there any way she could do it or should I go see them? She looked up Global Guaranteed but claimed that doesn't work with Canada.

So I sent it UPS for about $15.

Ted's Cole Slaw

2005-07-21T19:50:00.000-05:00

For years I've been getting Angelic Organics veggies and every year, there's tons of cabbage I don't know what to do with. Today I made cole slaw for the first time and it's pretty darn good, methinks. Here's what I put in it:

cabbage, lots of it
pineapple, fresh
cucumber
apple, gala
red wine vinegar
olive oil
honey
salt

Could also use black pepper, if you like that sort of thing. I also might try it with grated beets. Yum!

Categories: cabbage, Chicago, recipe, coleslaw

Compost Bins cheap for Chicago residents

2005-07-20T23:35:00.000-05:00

Chicago Home Composting Program One Day Only Compost Bin Sale

Cost: Only $25 for Chicago Residents (normally $80)

Chicago residents can purchase a top quality home composting bin for only $25, thanks to the new Chicago Home Composting Program supported by a Mayor Daley Neighborhood Recycling Grant. This is a 70% discount off the normal price.

Here's the best part: For more information, call the Rotline at (773) 265-9587.

Categories: compost, Chicago

need composting help

2005-07-18T20:23:00.000-05:00

I have two backyard compost containers. One had a bunch of sawdust added to it by some workers at my place. It was awfully dusty in there so I watered it and mixed well. It was still dusty so more water and more mixing. Ever since, it smells pretty bad, like there's not enough oxygen in there. My theory is that it now has too much brown and needs more green. My friend Sarah thinks it needs more brown. I'd love to hear your compost stories and an answer, if you have one. Thanks!

problem with my template

2005-07-09T23:29:00.000-05:00

I week or two ago I took the completed dropcash box off my sidebar and seem to have messed up my template in the process. For some reason the top post is taking up the entire main column until the end of the sidebar. That's why all that space is blank below the main post. I'm trying to fix it now. Anyone have any suggestions?

Update: I can't figure it out. I'm going to bed.

progress in Iraq

2005-07-09T22:52:00.000-05:00

I mentioned that my 2nd Cousin is in Iraq. In a comment on his blog I asked:

Do those around you feel things are progressing well?

His answer:

yes, it is very evident to all soldiers here that we are making progress. In just a few weeks, the insurgent activity in our area has drastically decreased. That is due to a combination of combat operations, Iraqi Army and Police units assuming control, and increased civil affairs projects that improve the lives of the people. One big difference though is that these people are not used to freedom or democracy. They have little concept of civil duties and responsibilities. Most people are still only concerned in taking care of themselves (lack of greater good concept). We will be here a long time and as the President has said over and over, this is not an easy task and will not happen overnight. We are focused on training the Iraqi Army to assume most of the security operations which will help us to reduce our forces here, but we will probably never be completely out (look at Germany, Japan, and Korea - 60 years later and we are still there too)."

Most people that know me know how I fought against this war before it happened and know I'm interested in the US getting out immediately, if not sooner. Having someone I know there, a relative even, certainly makes me feel all of this with a more human face. The military personnel are now much more real to me than ever before.

bikes, bikes, bikes

2005-07-06T00:21:00.000-05:00

Just noticed that a search for West Town Bikes yields the Cycling Sisters, shops in London, the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation and then this blog. Since I was looking for the West Town Bikes website, none of these was very useful, except my post about freakbikes from May did have the link I needed in text. So in that post I changed that to be an actual link and figured I'd drive the point home with this post.

My 2nd Cousin in Iraq

2005-07-05T23:41:00.000-05:00

My 2nd cousin Jeff just started a blog: MAJ Gabel. He's a soldier in Iraq. Two posts so far. In the first he muses on US Independence day about what it means for Iraqis that it was US soldiers fighting for their independence and not them. In the 2nd he describes a minor morter attack.

Iraqi Constitution

2005-07-05T23:34:00.000-05:00

Received by email today:

They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq. Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it's worked for over 200 years and we're not using it anymore.

Make Your Own Bank

2005-06-30T23:47:00.000-05:00

Here's an awesome article on how to Make Your Own Bank. My summary: Gather the community together. Give each one a card. On that card goes their name and signature. There is also a central register (so each card needs a number, but not as important). If the basic needs for a person are met with $100/month in this group, then each person write "dividend" on the first line and $100 in the "money received" column. The bank ledger writes $100 for each person in the money spent column. Both parties sign both (card and ledger, in this case).

So you want to buy some rice. You go to the rice seller and write "10 kg rice" and in the money spent column, you write $5. The seller writes 10 kg rice and $5 in teh money received column. You both sign both cards.

Holy moley! It's a bank. And that card is all the money you need. And if you lose it no one else can use it. So they bring it back to you, "I found your money." And if it's truly lost, the central bank could figure it out by looking at the other cards (which they'd have to do from time to time to balance out, not sure of the details).

I wonder if this concept could simplify things at all in my housing co-op. We (the co-op) have a mortgage that we're paying every month and we also have a construction loan and we also have monthly expenses like electricity and garbage collection. So everyone writes a check to the co-op every month. But members also buy things for the co-op. A shovel here, 8 toilets there, etc. These have to get reimbursed somehow. And sometimes someone buys something that only 1 or 2 others have to pay back (the welder, window air conditioners). These cards could save a lot of back and forth with checks.

Totally cool

Marriage discrimination eliminated!!!

2005-06-30T01:10:00.000-05:00

Corrigan tells us Gay marriage finally legal nationwide. Too bad he's talking about Canada. Yes, of course this is great news for Canadians and lovers of human rights everywhere. Just wish we could have some good news on this front in Chicago, Illinois or the US.

Edit: Spain, too! What a week!

Edit: There appears to be something seriously wrong with my template. The previous post (when it was top dog) did the same as this one is doing now, leaving a whole mess of empty space on my screen down 'til the sidebar is done. Anyone else seeing this? Any ideas why?

July 1st, 10am march for Immigrants' Human Rights

2005-06-26T23:22:00.000-05:00

This just in from my friend Manuel:

The community organization called Sin Fronteras (No Frontiers"), activists, radio and tv persons, and some other people are calling for a March against the Anti Inmigrant group called Minuteman, and also we all are trying to fight for the Inmigrants Human Rights, like having the right to have medical care, be able to get drivers license, work legaly, between others.

This will be the next friday july 1 at 10 am . We will be meeting at Ashsland & 31st st. in Chicago. We will march peacefuly untill we get to 43 st. there we will meet some local community leaders and also some local politicians. We will probably write and sign a document, trying to stop this racist peolple from violating our Human Rights.

If you want to do some serching of these racist group, you can search on google, type minuteman, then look on the right hand side were it says: Sponsored Links racist group

(It actually says "Minuteman Border Patrol" but don't want to give them googlejuice)

edit: Does anyone else see a huge big white space after this post, and the next post doesn't start until the end of the sidebar? I've seen that before with certain formatting of photos, but usually I can get it to go away. This time is a complete mystery to me. Any suggestions?

Frazz on trees and irony

2005-06-15T20:06:00.000-05:00

Frazz is perhaps my favorite comic strip. Here's a particularly good one from a week or so back.

Organize to rid PACE of TVs

2005-06-14T20:37:00.000-05:00

I ride PACE suburban bus service about one round trip per week up in Wilmette, either the 421 or the 422. This spring (it's still spring, remember?) some of the busses had TVs installed. They alternate between silently showing headlines, stock quotes and current weather and loudly blasting advertising with sound included. Aparently PACE started doing this in early 2004 and are slowly phasing this in. I haven't found anyone fighting this. If you have ideas about how to start a campaign, drop me a comment or trackback. Thanks.

Update: After I wrote this, I posted an item at the Chicago El blog. Quite a few commenters over there are agreeing. No one has volunteered any info about a PACE blog. From the number of commenters, there would seem to be an audience for such a thing. Maybe that would be the way to start.

National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity

2005-06-12T22:29:00.000-05:00

Via Mark Dilly and MoxieGrrrl, GodlessGeeks has reissued an article from The Onion on January 17, 2001 entitled National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity. They've also added hyperlinks to show what has actually come true. An excerpt:

Mere days from assuming the presidency and closing the door on eight years of Bill Clinton, president-elect George W. Bush assured the nation in a televised address Tuesday that 'our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is finally over.'

'My fellow Americans,' Bush said, 'at long last, we have reached the end of the dark period in American history that will come to be known as the Clinton Era, eight long years characterized by unprecedented economic expansion, a sharp decrease in crime, and sustained peace overseas. The time has come to put all of that behind us.'

What even scarier is that we elected him again. Maybe that's because the Democrats would've done the same?

Lathrup Village Home For Sale

2005-06-12T21:52:00.000-05:00

Friends of mine are selling their house in Lathrup Village, Michigan. I love the URL. houseinlathrup.com $233,000 3 BD 2 BR Brick Ranch

Fasting for Darfur done

2005-06-11T00:03:00.000-05:00

My 24 hour Fast for Darfuris now done. Skipping breakfast wasn't so unusual so I found myself half-way done by the time it really hit me that I wasn't going to eat today. I drank a lot of water at work. Part of me wanted to go out and sit in the plaza during lunchtime but I just stayed at my desk and worked. And drank more water. By the time work was done I was feeling hunger in the belly. I often have an afternoon snack and I felt the lack today. This evening I met with a friend which kept my mind off my body, then spent a couple of frustrating hours installing a window air conditioner. Amazing how mundane and comfortable my life is, given that I'm choosing to fast to stop people from being massacred. Something tells me my distractability means that a 2 or 3 day fast might help me get past my usual self and into something else. But I hadn't planned on tomorrow so I'll get back to normal and then re-group.

Please take an action today to end the Darfur crisis or improve your own neighborhood, wherever you are.

Fasting for Darfur

2005-06-09T22:57:00.000-05:00

I'm not a big "this is a crisis" kind of guy. Or rather, I recognize a lot of situations as crises and I try to take actions in a steady way, without running from crisis to crisis. Quite a large group of people I trust are working hard to stop the on-going genocide in Darfur in southern Sudan. Read about it at Stop Genocide Now, at omidyar.net and at the International Crisis Center. In the Rwanda Genocide, the worst killing happened during a 100 day stretch starting on April 6. In 2005, an international 100 Days of Action started on April 6 to draw attention to the Darfur situation, which includes a rolling fast. Tomorrow (starting in an hour) is my day.

Yesterday I asked what action those calling for action are asking for. I was given various answers. I did some reading and wasn't happy with what I found in terms of actions:

Contact your elected representative, Write to your newspaper, Post a blog comment, Tell a colleague, Inform yourself about the crisis, Donate to organisations working in Sudan

so I kept at it to find out why we'd perform the above actions. I doni't want to see the US invade another country, for example. I found a bunch of reasons that seem to make sense to me:

Protect Civilians and Relief Supplies, Implement Accountability in Darfur (sanctions), Build a Darfur Peace Process, Implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between Khartoum and the SPLM, Prevent New Conflict in Sudan

So keep doing the other good things you're doing in the world and read something about Darfur. Then write something. In your blog. In an email to friends. To your elected representatives. And if you'd like to go further, pick a day to fast, donate what you would've spent on food that day to a relief organization and write about that.

The killing can be stopped.

Reading The Gift

2005-06-08T21:57:00.000-05:00

Circling back to the Giving Conference that sparked this blog last summer, I finally sat down tonight to really digest the first chapter of a wonderful book: 'The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property' by Lewis Hyde. Susan Kerr convened a session about it at the conference. Phil Cubeta loves it. Jill Perkins gave her copy to Chris Corrigan, who blogged it. In the comments, Chris Weaver gifted a copy to me in September.

I tried to read it at least twice. It's the kind of book I want to savor, quite the opposite from the mysteries and political thrillers that I usually devour whole on trips to and from Africa. So I put it down, first chapter unfinished.

Gerry Gleason, also a Giving Conference attendee, suggested a while back that we read it together and discuss during the Thursday night Humanist Movement meetings at my place. I still couldn't pick the darn thing up, until tonight.

The essense I find in the first chapter can be shown in a game of catch. For the game to happen, the person with the ball or the frisbee must give it away. The more people there are in the game, the more interesting the lesson. To whom do I throw? The person that's been without it the longest, of course (not precisely in any accounting fasion, but from perceptions and interests). And as soon as the gift stops moving, it ceases to be a gift and the game is over.

More when I've read more or am sparked by something else from chapter 1.

Gimme Some Truth

2005-05-31T22:43:00.000-05:00

Give a listen to some of John Lennon's words from mousemusings:

I'm sick and tired of hearing things
From uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocritics
All I want is the truth
Just Gimme Some Truth (mp3 by Craig)

Freak bikes in Chicago Tribune

2005-05-19T22:00:00.000-05:00

Korn on Tall Bike (c) Chicago Tribune
Not sure how long this link will last so copied the whole article, including references to two members of the Hub Housing Cooperative, Dan Korn in the photo and Sam Van Dellen, quoted.

Chicago Tribune | Freak bikes!
For these alley cats, recycled cycles only way to ride

By Trine Tsouderos
Tribune staff reporter
Published May 19, 2005

John Edel likes bicycles so much he rides two of them.

They're welded together, one old Schwinn perched on top of a Raleigh connected by a long greasy chain and topped with a seat that rides five feet off the ground.

The guy can see over the top of Cadillacs. Heck, he's practically level with a Hummer.

Edel's not your typical cyclist out for a Sunday ride. He's a bike freak, one of a core of 'kustom' bike enthusiasts across the state who live, breathe and dream about bikes to the extent that a simple bicycle won't do.

So they build and change them, welding bits of one to another, inventing new ways to steer or brake or haul stuff and creating bikes that look unrideable and sometimes are.

They either work alone in their garages, or in groups like the Rat Patrol (led by The Rat King) or the Scallywags, a local Christian freakbike gang that favors tallbikes and is known to ride around in jackets emblazoned with the words 'Jesus Is Lord.'

Some of these bike freaks spend thousands of dollars on custom parts. But others, like the Rat Patrollers, pedal through alleys late at night, scouring dumpsters for parts in order to turn yesterday's Huffy into today's Franken-bike.

'I think people are far more satisfied with things they create than things they consume,' said Alex Wilson, 34, founder of West Town Bikes on North Avenue and the owner of multiple ratbikes.

'Things you create are personal to you. They show who you are and what you are about. With bikes, you can create this crazy contraption and it works. And you have this audience out there.'

At his home in Logan Square, Edel, a 35-year-old set designer for TV, has a bunch of homemade bikes that look like they pedaled out of someone's nightmare. There's 'Snugglebunch,' which he made out of a woman's 10-speed FreeSpirit, a chunk of gas pipe and a lawnmower. 'FunTime,' which he welded together using two bikes, including a little girl's, is virtually impossible to steer.

'In our world, easy to ride is not necessarily a virtue,' said Edel, a tall guy who looks like he ought to be riding a tallbike. 'We like bikes that are more difficult to master . . . There are a lot of different things you can do to a bike that can make it more fun.'

Edel and his friends once moved a piano on a bike with a trailer and at other times hauled 500 pounds of bricks, a queen-sized bed, an apple tree and a three-piece band--with the accordion player pedaling from the back.

Motorists tend to give people riding these cycles a lot of room--which is good, because some, especially tallbikes, don't have brakes.

'People freak out,' said Sam Van Dellen, 25, a bike mechanic who builds both gorgeous custom road bikes and trashbikes in his spare time and who has been known to ride a homemade tallbike-for-two solo. 'It gets annoying when people say the same things: `How's the weather up there?' `How do you stop?' A million questions. Of course, if you didn't want the attention, you wouldn't be riding the bike.'

Nobody knows exactly when people began modifying their bikes, but experts agree that it probably happened about the same time people began pedaling them.

'Humans aren't really content with what they get,' said Jim Wilson, founder of Bike Rod & Kustom, a Webzine (bikerodnkustom.homestead.com) dedicated to customized bicycles that gets 45,000 to 60,000 hits per issue. 'When I was a kid in the '50s, I customized my bicycles. Everyone sort of did that.'

Over the years in Chicago, which was once to bikes what Detroit was to cars, newspapers have featured weird bikes people built as much as a century ago.

Sixty years ago, the Chicago Daily Tribune ran numerous photos of silly-looking bikes built by the Steinlauf family, including a bike made from an old iron bedframe, a bike with spikes on its tires to ride on the ice and most gloriously, a bike made by Charles Steinlauf to carry himself, his daughter, his son and his wife, who sewed on a sewing machine installed on the vehicle, all at once.

'You see,' Charles' brother Joe told the Daily News in 1947, 'no matter what happens, we make a bicycle out of it!'

In recent years, freakbiker clubs have popped up in cities throughout the U.S., from Portland to Minneapolis to New York City, in part thanks to the Internet, which has helped connect people with the same, slightly eccentric, interest, said Wilson."

It doesn't hurt that America is awash in abandoned Huffys, Schwinns, Treks and Raleighs waiting for new life as parts of Franken-bikes.

"You can go to any junkyard and it is amazing the stuff that is in there," said Leon Dixon, a bike historian who founded the Santa Ana, Calif.-based National Bicycle History Archive of America. "People in the rest of the earth would go to these places and they would be mesmerized. And this is stuff we are throwing away."

Nowhere is that more clear than at Working Bikes Cooperative on South Western Avenue, a freakbiker haven with a sea of old bikes that have been either donated or pulled out of garbage bins, landfills and alleys. The non-profit has so many Chicago-made Schwinn Varsities that staffers have dubbed their pile of them "Mount Varsity."

Many run-of-the-mill bikers would dismiss the Varsities as too heavy and clumsy. But to freakbikers, the tangle of cheap, indestructible bikes is the means to fulfill their cycling dreams.

One warm May morning in a Logan Square alley, Edel and some friends gathered to show off the bikes they had made. Edel pulled out a three-wheeled contraption he designed to steer with gear shifters called "The Lawnmower," which looks more like a mutant wheelchair than a bike.

"It didn't work," Edel said. "That's fine too. It was a lot of fun."

As Edel fiddled with a loose wheel on "The Lawnmower," Gareth Newfield, 43, a software programmer, tooled around on "Pixie," his tiny pink child's bike that tows a tiny, shiny, black homemade trailer. Wheeling around them was Kevin Womac, 31, owner of Logan Square's Boulevard Bikes, who zipped about on "Cocktail" built in part from a kid's bike.

All three are bike fanatics, occasional Rat Patrollers and neighbors.

After about an hour, Edel announced he had to head to work. He grabbed his tallbike, a cycle with only a front brake that leaves observers scratching their heads in wonder: How do people get up on those things? Do they have ladders? Platforms? Does someone hold the bike as the rider climbs on?

The reality is much simpler, and more impressive. After strapping on his bike helmet, Edel planted a foot on a pedal, pushed off and swung his body five feet over the seat in one swift and graceful movement, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Now if only stopping were as easy.

- - -

5 ways to go `kustom'

Want to build your first tallbike? Here, five ways to venture into the world of "kustom" rides:

Get dirty: Not sure how your gears work? Take a class and learn to repair your bike, a good first step to building one. Freakbikers like West Town Bikes, 2418 W. North Ave..

Hang out at trashbike central: Working Bikes Cooperative. Most of the staff at this non-profit, used bike seller are ratbikers eager to share their knowledge and happy to find cheap two-wheelers for your mutant creations. Better yet, volunteer at the organization and become an expert yourself. Working Bikes, 1125 S. Western Ave., 312 421-5048.

Get friendly with the Rat Patrol: A loose pack of likeminded bikers who love riding through Chicago's alleys and building bikes out of trash, the Rat Patrol regularly meets to ride their gonzo cycles through the city, and occasionally gathers to build bikes together. .

Join a Chicago Critical Mass ride: A good place to meet fellow ratbikers, Critical Mass rides often crawl with people pedaling homemade bicycles. Rides start at 5:30 p.m. from Daley Plaza on the last Friday of every month. The next ride is May 27. www.chicagocriticalmass.org.

Start messing with old bikes: The best way to learn, bike fanatics agree, is to just begin playing around. Change the tires. Screw in some weird handlebars. Buy a hacksaw and chop off the forks. Learn some basic welding. Start scheming new ways to steer, brake and pedal. Bounce ideas off your new biking friends and finally, take your new set of wheels out for a spin along the lakefront.

bike commuting

2005-05-19T00:35:00.000-05:00

From Google Blog:

Google is a huge supporter of bike commuting. . . . But it doesn't matter what or how far you ride. Biking to work is a great way to get some exercise, save some gas, improve the environment, and most importantly of all, have fun!

Couldn't have said it better myself. So I won't.

how Critical Mass has changed my life

2005-05-16T16:28:00.000-05:00

I submitted the following for the May issue of the Derailleur, the un-official publication of Chicago Critical Mass.

For years before finding Critical Mass I aspired to be a cyclist. As a car-owner, however, there was always the auto-pull that I found very difficult to resist without support from others. In 2002, I somehow found out about and turned up at the Car Show Protest ride, which was the first time I'd ever ridden in a group. That ride down Wabash was truly inspiring, with car-related businesses on both sides, but the street belonging to bikes.

That same spring I joined I-Go car-sharing service which helped me
overcome my fear of not having a car of my own. Riding in the Mass every month (starting with the May Day ride to the Hideout) helped me to see that I could do it. My rides for errands got longer and longer and soon I saw myself as car-free. I only used the I-Go car once or twice because the bike and/or public transportation always just made more sense.

Then about a year and a half ago, I found out about the demise of the Edgewood and an effort just begun to start a bikey housing cooperative. After more than a year working with dozens of other cyclists learning about neighborhoods, looking at properties, designing a process for working together and making decisions, I'm now living (as a shareholder) at the Hub Housing Cooperative. We're doing remodeling and maintenance now and when we're finished will have 5 units, 8 people and no cars.

So thanks to Critical Mass I'm not only car-free myself but am living in the kind of community that I've always wanted. Live life as if the world you wanted to live in already exists.

compost update

2005-05-16T12:55:00.000-05:00

Until this week I'd never taken anything out of the bin (about 22 months since I started putting stuff in), but now that we have a bit of yard (mostly concrete, but do have a tree with dirt around it and some space between the building and the street and has really poor soil) and the bin was mostly full, I decided to sort through it and bury some of the stuff that was close to finished.

Then the next day a neighbor and I dragged an old dresser in from the alley, took the drawers out, hammered out the seperations between the drawers, and put it on it's back to be used as another compost bin. Then we went through the original bin by hand and took out what seemed to be finished compost and put it in the drawers to plant veggies in. The stuff that needed more time went into the dresser. We then covered the pile inside the dresser with a piece of old carpet to keep it warm and keep out the rain. The plastic bin we left about 10% filled and that's where new material will go from all the households.

Critical Mass officially in the history books

2005-05-16T12:02:00.000-05:00

Payton writes:

Chicago Critical Mass is now officially one for the history books! From the The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago entry on bicycling, by Allyson Hobbs:

Bicycle advocacy groups including the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation and Chicago Critical Mass have promoted the bicycle as a viable means of transportation. Since September 1997, Chicago Critical Mass has sponsored monthly rides from Daley Plaza to busy intersections and expressways in order to challenge “car culture” and to assert bicyclists' right to the roads.

Categories: CriticalMass, Chicago, history, bicycle, transportation, CarCulture

My Vision of a Better World

2005-05-16T00:01:00.000-05:00

The World We Want asks:

What is your vision of a better world?
What are the conditions needed to realize it?
What are the obstacles?
Based on your experience, what parts of the vision are realistic and what ideas, strategies and plans can make it so?

These are all questions about what it means to humanize the earth (the way I interpret "better world" in my life). A better world is one where the human being is the central value, more important than money, more important than power, more important than violence and more important than religion or any other institution.

This is a world where each human being has an identical opportunity to pursue a true meaning in life, a world where people are able to overcome their fear and actually connect with the best in themselves and thus are able to see and celebrate the best in each other.

The most important obstacles for me are the internal ones, my fear of failure, my fear of appearing foolish, my inability to articulate the deep meaning that I touch on every once in a while, my inability to touch on that deep meaning more than for a fleeting moment, my lack of connection with myself, etc. Of course there are also external obstacles as well, such as the American Dream, that tells people that if they're unhappy it's their own fault for not working harder, even when they're working harder. This prevents people from working together as much as they might otherwise. There are lots of other external resistances as well, but the internal ones are the ones I can do something about.

Realistic? Well, none of it is actually realistic, but that doesn't make it any less necessary, or in fact mandatory, for me to keep working in this direction. It's my meaning in life, after all. How to go about it? Well, it's about this blog, it's about connecting with the people I live with and the people I meet, it's about continuing to invite people to my weekly meeting on Thursdays at my house and a periodic conference call for those not able to meet in person, it's about intentionality.

I invite you to intentionalize your own vision of a better world, especially what you can do today. And tomorrow.

Other responses: Scratchings | bmoPHAT | Gerry

Chicago Conference Invite

2005-05-15T23:31:00.000-05:00

(re-post)

Please join us for a three-day event of, by and for the Omidyar.net community and friends -- to build our capacity to make good things happen.

What: Discovering Our Power to Make Good Things Happen
When: July 29-31, 2005
Where: Carleton Hotel, Oak Park (Chicago), IL, USA

Who We Are: Omidyar.net is a new, growing online community. We believe every individual has the power to make a difference. We exist for one single purpose: So that more and more people discover their own power to make good things happen. If you have not joined this community yet, you can go to http://www.omidyar.net/home and check it out.*

You're Invited: This conference is for Omidyar.net members, friends and other curious do-gooders to come together, make connections, have fun, do as much good work as each and every one of us can... and then go home, more connected, energized and capable of doing more and more of whatever we call good in the world. Come join a good party getting better! ...and bring your good friends, too!:

If you are reading this invitation, it is because someone thought you might be interested in joining this work. Please join us to make good things happen!

What kind of good things are happening because of the work you are doing in the world?
What do you need to do in order for more good things to happen as a result of the work you really want to do?
What skills, resources, gifts and connections do you have to share?
What would happen if you could grow and get and share?

Come to Oak Park, Chicago and find out!

Be Prepared: We are opening this space for meeting, for learning, for connecting, for acting, and for good. We don't know what is going to happen. We are imposing no limits, no agendas -- only the charge to come and learn and contribute as much as you can. Be prepared to be surprised by the results!

Agenda: Any issue of real importance to you can be added to the agenda. It will be discussed and addressed to the greatest extent possible. All of the key points and next steps will be captured and offered online, so that more good people can be invited into more and more good action.

Spirit: We invite your presence, onsite and/OR online. Please pass this invitation on to others you see leading and doing good work. We need you to add your spirit to the many many connections that are happening now. Online or onsite, please bring the stories of your progress, your skills and insights, and your passion for what can happen next. Be ready to make more good things happen.

Format: This gathering is the product of many actions and connections. This space is an invitation to make more of them, and more of us, flow more together, to the good. The format will be a rich mix of personal storytelling and powerful self-organization, informed directly by the practices of Appreciative Inquiry and Open Space Technology. The participants will be smart, caring, creative and connected leaders, organizers, activists and instigators. Beyond this, the space will be wide open for us to make good things happen.

Registration and Payment: details here

We are looking forward to meeting and working with you in July, to make good things happen!

TedErnst, GerryGleason, MichaelHerman, MichaelMaranda, LukeMartin, others from co-conveners page, who have pledged to show up, bring friends and add spirit.

(*) The best way to engage with this growing socially active network is to go online and join the omidyar.net community. Omidyar.net is the Virtual Roof under which much of the planning, coordinating and follow-on work occur. If you can't join us onsite and want to convene a local version of this simultaneously, please contact us so that we can help you post your discussion notes and next steps into the main conference online workspace. One way or another, we'll all go forward together!

Nash family reunion

2005-05-15T18:42:00.000-05:00

I received an email invitation today to a Nash family (my maternal grandmother Elizabeth's maiden name was Nash) reunion in August. Included was this photo from 1959, the Jonckheere family (Elizabeth married my maternal grandfather Gus Jonckheere) farm in Howell, Michigan. Amazing to me how familiar these people look, even though they must be a generation older than the people I know now.

Ice Cream (and mouse clicking) for a kids playing

2005-05-12T08:30:00.000-05:00

: "We Need Your Help Now! (see easily amazed or Eyeclectic for for details or simply go to Flavor Graveyard directly to vote for KaBerry KaBOOM! If it wins, KaBOOM! will receive a portion of the proceeds for each scoop sold.

co-op remodeling update

2005-05-11T22:20:00.000-05:00

I moved into the co-op last month, and a week later 6 of the 8 of us lived in the building. At that time only John's floor and my floor we finished (re-finished, actually). We've then been spending out time interviewing contractors to do all 5 kitchens and 7 bathrooms. Tonight we decided on two contractors for 2 floors, 3 kitchens and 3 bathrooms. We're still working with our architect on drawings for the other units (2 kitchens and 4 bathrooms) that will be duplexed. Progress!

The Great Mantle Caper

2005-05-04T18:10:00.000-05:00

My timeline:

Sun 17 May 05: With help of friends, moved from 2149 W. Ohio to 2358 S. Marshall. Place left dirty and nearly empty.
Wed 20 May 05: Cleaned out Ohio St place, including remaining personal items and remaining dirt and trash. Locked place with keys inside around 6pm.
Thu 21 May 05: Flew from Chicago on 5pm flight to Amsterdam, on to Accra, Ghana next day.
Fri 22 May 05: Email from my attorney telling of problems at the closing of the Ohio St place sale.
Tues 26 May 05: Email from my attorney saying buyer claiming mantle stolen while place legally still in my possession.
Wed 4 May 05: I advised my insurance company that mantle was reported stolen and that I have no further information. Later same day, I spoke with Ohio St neighbor that says she saw empty space where mantle had previously resided. I notice that the back door that the buyer insisted was unsafe and needed to be replaced (I gave her money at closing to do so) still has not been replaced, over a week later.

So, this is how it seems things happened in chronological order:
Sun, I moved out.
Wed, I cleaned the place out.
Thur, they buyer had a pre-closing walk-through and mantle was present.
Fri, closing happened. Later same day buyer found mantle missing and called police. They came and said "Happens all the time, they knew exactly what they wanted. Could go for a couple of thousand dollars."

Weird.

spring & community

2005-05-02T07:10:00.000-05:00

Last week I was in Ghana and it was really hot there. :-) So then yesterday when I returned to Chicago, the cool spring temperatures were a welcome change. So I took a walk with my new neighbors from my housing co-op (2 of us had moved in before I left for Africa and 4 more moved in while I was gone) to visit a neighbor a few blocks away and pick up some bulbs. We shared tea and cookies and walked back to plant our bulbs. Inside is still a disaster of boxes but we dug in the ground for the first time and visited our neighbors for the first time and it's cool and spring. Life is good. And I managed to stay up until 9pm so slept until after 6 so maybe jetlag won't be that bad either!

Ghana trip report

2005-05-01T02:22:00.000-05:00

I'll be writing more, probably in a series of posts as I catch up on what has happened in the last week but if you just can't wait, you can see my raw notes.

Categories: Ghana, Africa, Humanist Movement

rain in Ghana

2005-04-29T21:07:00.000-05:00

This is my 9th time in Ghana. Today is the first time I've seen rain like this. It rained hard for more than an hour and then steadily for another 5 hours or so. In the past all I'd seen was the 30 minute absolute downpour that then simply disappeared and got hot. Today stayed cool afterwards.

I'll have more to write about my teams and their humanist work when I get back to Chicago. Today is a 5 or 6 hour wrap-up meeting with the people that work directly with me. Then I fly out tomorrow night to Amsterdam, meet my friend Lory at the airport for coffee (she lives there) and then back to Chicago early Sunday afternoon.

My Ghana trip update

2005-04-24T12:39:00.000-05:00

I didn't sleep at all on the Chicago to Amsterdam flight Thursday evening (very unusual for me), caught about 2 hours worth at AMS and then about that much again on the flight to Accra. As a result (I think), Friday night I slept straight through, which has never happened to me on my first night in Africa.

Yesterday I met with 5 of my team members and 2 people from their teams. I was missing 4 of my people (3 unexpectedly, 1 that I already knew was working during the day). We had a very nice meeting, focusing on the The Principle of Immediate Action: "If you pursue an end you enchain yourself. If everything you do is realised as though it were an end in itself, you liberate yourself."

We also made a schedule for the week. I'll be meeting wtih each of their teams, each of them individually, and my team as a whole twice more. Today I'm off to town (Accra) for a Ghana national coordinating body meeting where representatives from each of the Humanist Movement councils active in Ghana meet to coordinate common activities and calendars.

Firefox adoption in Ghana

2005-04-24T12:27:00.000-05:00

When I was in Ghana last November, I had trouble accessing my gmail because all of the computers in the cyber cafe near my hotel are running Windows 2000 without the updates for Internet Explorer 6.0 (still using 5.0 or 5.5). At that time, gmail couldn't be used by these older browsers. (Now gmail has a version for older browsers so these machines can be used as-is.) What I had taken to do was run windows update on every different machine I used, upgrading them to 6.0. This time in the same cafe, I'm finding Firefox installed on about half of the machines I've used. It needs to be upgraded, but it's here (and upgrading is easy). Woo hoo!

The Hub Lives!

2005-04-18T11:52:00.000-05:00

So the move when great yesterday. John and I both slept in our new places last night. I'm really sore today. And happy. :-) I look forward to the rest of the crew moving in next weekend and then before the end of May.

moving day!

2005-04-17T06:57:00.000-05:00

Today is the day! Packing is mostly done, though we ran out of both boxes and steam last night so there are definitely odds and ends to finish up. Hopefully not enough that our helpers will notice that we're not doing the heavy lifting. :-)

Time to make a good breakfast and then get out to get the truck.

Bloglines down

2005-04-16T07:11:00.000-05:00

I use bloglines.com to read my favorite blogs. It uses what's called RSS to let me know when there is a new post (or 10) on any of the blogs I subscribe to and when I click on that feed, it shows me only the new posts from that blog. Makes it really easy to keep up.

Except when it's down. Bloglines asked me to log in this morning which is very unusual. Normally it just remembers me since I'm always using the same computer. So I put bloglines in google and found this german language blog that lead me to the bloglines technorati tag which lead me to this:

For the last hour or so, Bloglines has been down: access to my RSS feeds is impossible. No word about that problem on the Bloglines blog but when I tried to setup a new account, I got a 'There is a problem with the database. Please try again later' error message, eventhough the search engine is working fine. Note to self: export Bloglines subscriptions into another RSS reader. -- miss-information.net

Great, it's not just me. Guess I really should get packing. :-)

Update 11:51a Seems bloglines is back. Right, back to packing!
Update 5:02p Seems to be back down. And again, back to packing. :-)
Update, still giving me problems but more or less back up again.

today is packing day

2005-04-16T07:03:00.000-05:00

went to bed at midnight but up at 7 this morning - this is news because I have always been a late riser (right Mom & Dad?) - in fact, I've been cultivating my late-risingness for quite a while now - anyway, there's plenty fo packing to be done today and no reason not to get an early start, so no fighting to stay in bed this morning

not yet sure how we're going to organize moving two unrelated people out of one apartment, into one truck and then into two apartments - think I made a mistake by starting to stack my boxes near the front of the apartment a week or so ago when I started packing - John has followed my lead and we have two distinct piles of boxes, but very close together - and the rest of the place is gettting hard to navigate - so first order of business this morning is moving my pile back to a space that isn't in the way of through traffic

we're thinking of splitting the truck side to side so that stuff from both of us can be loaded at the same time but still kept organized - organizing this place first will make that a lot easier then so we can just broadbrush for our helpers (this huge pile over here is Ted's, that one is John's) and it will still make sense as the piles get smaller - we'll see

the planet is my body

2005-04-15T23:22:00.000-05:00

I can relate:

In the Trader Joe’s parking lot I stuff the saddlebags of my little bike while all around me people load up their armored vehicles with well-travelled organic artichokes and Eurotrash water. Their bodies are well-cared for, but the planet is still battered. --dervala

blast from the past

2005-04-14T09:07:00.000-05:00

Got an email from a high school friend yesterday. Haven't communicated with her for more than 15 years. Turns out she lives in the same town where my mom grew up, about 30-45 minutes from where I grew up and we went to high school. She's now a member of The Heggie Family

Is real life more real than online? Sometimes.

2005-04-14T02:10:00.000-05:00

Some people I know in real life and don't really know online (thinking of online mostly as email, in this case). Tonight I discovered by way of Johnny Payphone's blog roll that one of the my friends from the new Hub housing co-op (I'm one of the first two to move in this Sunday and he moves in the following Sunday) has a blog. Check out Sam's Innacan... Spam, Innacan.

car v. trike

2005-04-14T01:41:00.000-05:00

From Johnny Payphone:

car: 0
trike: 1

update on co-op and moving and Africa and such

2005-04-13T23:44:00.000-05:00

Last week was a lot of hard labor at the Hub Housing Co-op, pulling up tile and plywood covering the original (over 100 years old) maple floors in John's unit and mine. Then there was a lot of stress Monday over getting appliances ordered and getting a contract signed and initial payment made so our guy could sand and re-finish the floors in those two units (he estimated 5 day job so needed to start Tuesday) before John and I move on Sunday.

Speaking of that, who wants to help? Any time you want to come is good. Refreshments will be provided. We start at 2149 W. Ohio and finish at 2358 S. Marshall. Come over later even if we're finished. Call if you think we might be in transit or want to confirm where we are. 312 371 6625.

So once everything got worked out Monday, I started to feel more calm. Still felt stressed about moving and getting packed for Africa and getting this condo sale finalized and all that jazz. So I decided to take the evening off from everything and just spent it with Regula at her place. The floor guy did get started.

Today I have felt even more calm. Part of that is it being slower at work and part of it is that people are helping out when I've asked and even when I haven't. I don't need to be in charge of everything. So I didn't even go to the co-op today either. I came home after work and did some more packing of the house and some more packing for Africa. I feel that both tasks are now quite managable in the time I have.

So tomorrow night maybe I'll go see how the floors look sanded. And I'll pack some more. And spend some time planning what I need in terms of materials for Ghana. And that's it. Friday is the next co-op meeting so I'll see the floors again. Saturday is all-day packing, as long as it takes. Sunday is the move. Monday is carpet cleaning in the new place. Wednesday is cleaning of the old place. Thursday I leave for Africa.

It's all good. :-)

mis-translation rectified by each of us

2005-04-07T07:19:00.000-05:00

Chris Corrigan asks a great question from generationsit:

What, in your own words, is your deepest experience of this moment right now? What new spiritual theory could we synthesize if left to our own devices?

I'm not ready to answer this at the moment. I found the question important enough to post here anyway.

100 Days of Action to combat genocide in Darfur, Sudan

2005-04-06T07:28:00.000-05:00


"If every member of the House and Senate had received 100 letters from people back home saying we have to do something about Rwanda, when the crisis was first developing, then I think the response would have been different.": -Senator Paul Simon, after the Rwandan genocide

April 6 will mark the beginning of 100 Days of Action to combat genocide in Darfur, Sudan. This date was chosen because it marks the anniversary of the start of the 100 day genocide in Rwanda in 1994 where 800,000 people lost their lives. On this day, Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Jon Corzine (D-NJ), primary authors of the Darfur Accountability Act, and Representative Donald Payne, author of the Darfur Genocide Accountability Act, will speak in Washington to kick off a campaign to bring awareness and attention to the atrocities occuring in Darfur. The bills call for several specific actions, including creating a new U.N. Security Council resolution with sanctions; supports increased presence of the African Union peacekeepers, freezing assets and denying visas to those responsible for the genocide and other war crimes; and making Darfur a military no-fly zone.

An estimated 350,000 people have been killed by the Sudanese military and janjawid militia in Southern Sudan. Another 3 million are displaced from their homes and in danger of starvation, illness, and continued harassment in temporary camps. Several hundred thousand more are in refugee camps in Chad.

We must be the voice for these voiceless people and I am asking for your help. We are urging our govenment to pass strong resolutions of support for the people of Sudan and against the genocide occurring there. I am including two links here which will give you more information about Sudan, ways to act by contacting your congress people, and other humanitarian and political ways to support the people of Darfur.

http://www.stopgenocidenow.org/ and http://www.genocideinterventionfund.org/

Please take the time to learn more about Darfur and let your Congress people know that you want them to act on your behalf to bring peace to the people of this devastated region.

Another way we can make an impact is to support divestment. On March 31st the California Assembly unanimously passed a resolution urging California's $300 billion retirement funds for public employees to avoid investing in global companies that do business in Sudan. Nation-wide, public retirement funds have in excess of $91 billion invested in companies active in Sudan. You might want to bring this up to your legislators as well. Without our funds, it would be more difficult for the government to buy weapons to kill their own citizens. You can find a complete list at http://www.sudancampaign.com/sudaninvestments.htm

font sizes changed

2005-04-02T11:07:00.000-06:00

Thanks to a discussion on the Information Systems Forum list, I started thinking again about how this site displays in your web browser window. When I set up the site originally, I was clear that I didn't want to specify the width of the page since people view sites in all sorts of different screen dimensions. That's why this page might look wider to you than some other blogs or web pages that only take up a portion of your screen. Or, if your screen is small, this site might actually fit on the page rather than be too big like some other sites.

Anyway, until today I was still using fixed text sizes. I had 39, 10, 15, 14, 12, 11 and 8pt fonts. This page explains that another way to specify sizes is xx-small | x-small | small | medium | large | x-large | xx-large so I converted the 39 into xx-large, the 15 and 14 into medium, the 12 into x-small and the 10, 11 and 8 into xx-small. This should give your browser more ability to re-size to fit your needs, rather that what I think things should look like.

Categories: blogging, css

Discovering our power to make good things happen

2005-03-31T22:14:00.000-06:00

Please join us for a three-day event of, by and for the Omidyar.net community and friends -- to build our capacity to make good things happen.

What: Discovering Our Power to Make Good Things Happen
When: July 29-31, 2005
Where: Carleton Hotel, Oak Park (Chicago), IL, USA

Who We Are: Omidyar.net is a new, growing online community. We believe every individual has the power to make a difference. We exist for one single purpose: So that more and more people discover their own power to make good things happen. If you have not joined this community yet, you can go to http://www.omidyar.net/home and check it out.*

You're Invited: This conference is for Omidyar.net members, friends and other curious do-gooders to come together, make connections, have fun, do as much good work as each and every one of us can... and then go home, more connected, energized and capable of doing more and more of whatever we call good in the world. Come join a good party getting better! ...and bring your good friends, too!:

If you are reading this invitation, it is because someone thought you might be interested in joining this work. Please join us to make good things happen!

What kind of good things are happening because of the work you are doing in the world?
What do you need to do in order for more good things to happen as a result of the work you really want to do?
What skills, resources, gifts and connections do you have to share?
What would happen if you could grow and get and share?

Aerial photos of the Hub Housing Cooperative and surroundings

2005-03-25T16:30:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Payton, here are some aerial, photos from the City of Chicago:

21st St - 27th St

A little bigger than 6 blocks by 6 blocks of the Little Village neighborhood, centered on the Hub Housing Cooperative. See the Cook County Court/Jail complex in bottom right corner. (right)

22nd Pl - 25th Pl

About 3 blocks by 3 blocks, can see how much greenspace is provided by Marshall and 24th Blvds and the schools directly west and south of us. (left)

Sacramento – Marshall

Greenspace really shows well in this view, as well as the school south of us. (right)

Hub

Getting blurry, but pretty tight shot of our building. The other side of that north/south roof on the west side will be my ceiling. (left)

Categories: Hub, Housing, Cooperative, Chicago

hitchhiking, revolution, awakening and gratitude

2005-03-25T03:13:00.000-06:00

Via mousemusings : The Hitchhikers Guide to the Revolution

People tell me it is really dangerous picking up hitchhikers. But I find it is a way I keep my instincts alive. I train myself to know what is dangerous and what is not. I used to be really good at knowing. I got caught up in the corporate world and lost much of my instincts. That happens when you are told everyday that you know nothing and you should not speak, and they work you so hard you can't feel anything anymore. A couple of years ago the whole thing came apart. I lost my job, my house, my family and my community. I was really disoriented. I lost my place in the world. I lived in my truck. I had to travel a lot to have work and so I started picking up hitchhikers again. At first it was just women. Because I am a woman and I wanted to be safe. But later I got better at reading people. Also "magical" things begin happening.

This is but one excerpt from a long essay about hitchhiking, war, and revolution. Please go read it.

It brings up a lot in me. For starters, there's the romanticism of the road, being free and outside "the system." And I'm inside the system. Yes, I'm working for change and ultimately for non-violent revolution. The romanticism makes me feel that I'm not doing enough, that I'm too comfortable, working for the government, owning my own home, living a pretty "secure" life, if such is possible in today's world.

Then, there's the fear. Do I have any instincts left? If everything collapsed today would I be able to make the transition to something new? Something less secure? More free?

As much as I find that my meaning in life is about humanizing the earth, I find I have a really hard time relating with people a lot of the time. Humanizing the earth for me right now is about humanizing myself and humanizing those I come in contact with. And I have my moments of coherence. And my long interludes of floating along with the stream, content to stay asleep, to not confront the fear, to not make friends with my internal enemy.

So thank you Cyndy and Ellen for this possiblity of my awakening for this brief moment.

peace,
ted

Categories: personal

WINE makes Linux run Windoze programs?

2005-03-24T22:32:00.000-06:00

A while back I mentioned buying some old Win98 laptops for use in Africa. I'd really like to get rid of windoze altogether, but I have the fichasplus program that only runs on windoze. Is WINE my solution? Can anyone help me get it running? Of course, this also means getting Linux running first. Help? Will this work?

Public Policy that kills

2005-03-24T14:14:00.000-06:00

Escapable Logic quotes eduction writer John Taylor Gatto:

With less than thirty hours of combined training and experience, a hundred million people are allowed access to vehicular weapons more lethal than pistols or rifles. Turned loose without a teacher, so to speak. Why does our government make such presumptions of competence, placing nearly unqualified trust in drivers . . . ?

Yes, I'm taking this quote out of context. Gatto's critique is of the state school system, but mine is of the vehicular weapons that cause over 40,000 fatalities per year in the US alone. That figure continues to astound me. Why do we accept it? Imagine 40,000 airline deaths per year, or 40,000 rail traffic deaths per year, or 40,000 terrorist attack deaths (leaving aside the Iraq war for a moment, okay?). Astounding, isn't it?

Categories: transportation

Human Peace Sign Budapest

2005-03-24T10:43:00.000-06:00

Humanist Movement organized 2000 people in Budapest on 2nd aniversary of start of Iraq war. Last year there were 720 people.

Categories: Humanist Movement, peace

Humanist Movement at omidyar.net

2005-03-23T18:27:00.000-06:00

I've started a group for the Humanist Movement at omidyar.net. You don't have to sign in to read, but to post, you'll have to create a free account. It's fast and easy to sign up so don't let that stop you. Of course, if you don't want to do that, feel free to leave comments here. It's a lot easier for me to add more content when people ask me questions or make comments on what's been written so far, so please check it out and jump right in. Thanks!

Categories: Humanist Movement, o.net

I am in top 1% on earth in terms of income

2005-03-20T12:08:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Colby, I found the Global Rich List which shows that I am among the richest 1% of people on earth. Kinda puts things into perspective, doesn't it? Where do you fit on the list?

Categories: money

BlogMap

2005-03-20T10:44:00.000-06:00

Not sure I like it, but at the bottom of my sidebar on the right, you will find my brand new BlogMap, found via Andrew. Since I'm moving soon and don't want to have to worry about updating it, I put in my address at the Hub Housing Cooperative as of April 17th. It uses a pretty broad definition of "near," all the way out to the Western suburbs and the North Shore. The micro$oft maps technology also seems clunky to me. But still, it's a new toy and I'll leave it there for a while. Let me know if you find it useful or interesting or if you don't. Thanks.

Images are powerful

2005-03-19T08:14:00.000-06:00

Dilley and Human iterations we talking about the banning of this ad in Europe, but I thought that it is interesting just as an image.
Not being a religious scholar, I couldn't remember clearly what the Da Vinci original looked like so I went seaching for it. Then I found Reflections, Reflections also talking about the ad and also showing the original from artchive.com

I'm facinated by the power of these two images for many people. What happens with us when we cannot transform images in our mind, when we suffer from the images becoming stuck, and on the contrary, what happens when we learn to become flexible with images in our mind. What power to overcome suffering!

blogger nav bar gone

2005-03-17T23:24:00.000-06:00

Just learned a new trick (those that read the site with RSS won't notice). Remember that black Blogger navigation bar at the top of the page. It's gone, right? I hacked it out, thanks to this page by way of Andrew.

Categories: blogging

Cool Bike Organizations

2005-03-17T20:35:00.000-06:00

Working Bikes Cooperative collects (from donations or buying them at the scrapyard) discarded or unwanted bikes and fixes them up. They sell the ones that are most in demand here in Chicago and use the money to ship the ones most in demand in Africa or South America there. Last year they shipped some 4000 bikes. Awesome. In 2004 they opened a storefront for bike sales and repairs (was just a warehouse before that).

From the delicious co-op tag feed, I just found Plan B: the New Orleans Community Bike Project. They have a professional-quality workshop space that's available for free and hold classes for free where people teach each other about bikes. Good stuff.

Added 4/1/05: Ride Manchester : We want to improve the lives of Mancunians using the bicycle as the tool. We hope to provide free bikes to marginalised groups in the future, if we get enough funding. For now, we provide cheap bikes to the people of Manchester, and give them the skills to maintain them.

Categories: co-op

Chicago and Illinois on different planets

2005-03-16T22:58:00.001-06:00

Got my mailing from the League Illinois Bicylists today. It had tons of ride brochures for the summer. Here were some things that struck me:

- In Chicago we are traffic. In the rest of Illinois, riders must not impede traffic. Organizers reserve the right to remove riders from the ride.
- Route closes at 4pm (saw this at least twice) - what does that mean? These rides seem like they're on the street so how can they close? And if they're on trails, how can they close?
- I'll bet some of these rides are fun, but why would I pay money for this? Sag wagon is good, I suppose. Free watermelon is good. Free water, that's really good.

Anyway, just thought I'd share what's on my mind.

Category: bike

print to PDF instead of paper

2005-03-15T20:42:00.000-06:00

I wanted to make a note to myself about this free pdf printer and thought I'd share it with anyone that mistypes the blog they're actually looking for and ends up here. pdf 995

Gay marriage ruling step in right direction

2005-03-15T17:15:00.000-06:00

From csmonitor.com:

The intensity of the debate, combined with the relatively slow way in which it's being resolved, is reflective of the way the nation has dealt with controversial social issues in the past. For instance, supporters of gay marriage point out that it was two decades after a California court ruled a ban on interracial marriage unconstitutional that the US Supreme Court concurred, in 1967.

For supporters of gay marriage, the parallel with the civil rights movement is heartening. After all, it's been almost 15 years since the Hawaii Supreme Court first ruled in favor of gay marriage. Now lower courts in both New York and California have called on the civil rights battles of the past to justify their rulings in favor of gay marriage.

I see this ruling as very good news. As far as I can tell, marriage is about love and about sharing a life and about publically declaring that love and that sharing. We don't require people to be married to have children and we don't require people planning to get married to pledge that they will have children, nor do we ban marriages for women past child-bearing age. These arguments about what's best for the children are not relevant, especially when you look at how many children are growing up in single-parent households. Go California!

Zoe's Blog

2005-03-11T12:18:00.000-06:00

My very good friend Zoe in NYC has a new blog. I'm really digging here writing. Check out Zoe's Blog.

Such a simple act, it was radical

2005-03-06T14:15:00.000-06:00

Is this a way out of Wealth Bondage? From The Inner-net:

"Let's do something outrageously kind. Right now. And let's do it without money," I randomly yelled as five of us were walking down a busy Ahmedabad street at 10PM.

Within minutes, we notice a crew of women and men, in their 50s, sweeping the streets. Oh yeah, baby. Anjalee, Guri, Mark and I approach them spontaneously: 'Can we give you a ten minute break?' Despite the initial what-in-the-world response, we snagged the brooms and started sweeping!

After a few quick lessons, we were in full effect.

Such a simple act, it was radical. Soon enough, a crowd of more than 50 folks circled us. Rickshaw drivers stopped with confused looks, late night college students crowded around with curiousity, families stopped by on their scooters with congratulatory remarks, nearby slum dwellers looked on with a half smile, and one onlooker even started to sweep with us!

Jayeshbhai took the sweepers to a nearby stall and treated all of them to a 'lime soda'. They do this everyday till 4AM, but today, they got a ten minute break from unexpected friends.

Ten minutes at 10 PM. Smiles all around.

Awesome!

Now is better than perfect

2005-03-05T17:25:00.000-06:00

Couldn't resist the priceless last line from Seth's Blog: Don't Shave That Yak!: Doing it well now is much better than doing it perfectly later. If you agree, please go read the explanation at Seth's site.

email I just sent

2005-03-04T19:42:00.000-06:00

This week I received an email from someone wanting info about Ghana and the Budaburam camp. This is the email I sent back to him about Ghana and visas and such.

I've been to Ghana 7 times or so. I got a 3 year visa, I think, so it'll be up this fall and I'll have to get another one. I had to send my passport to DC to get the visa. I think I sent it directly to the embassy but you can also spent a bit more money and sent it to an agency C3visas I think is the name of one I used to get my Liberian visa. It's about $100 or something.

There are a few airlines that fly there, KLM through AMS, British through London and maybe some others. I use a travel agent in California that does pretty well for tickets. $1300 or so this upcomign trip, I think. Other times of year I've gone for $900 or so.

There are a few guest houses close to the camp. I pay about $20/night at the New Timer Inn in Kasoa. I have my friends in the camp hire a taxi to come get me at the airport which costs about $15 or so. It's much cheaper taking public transportation going back to the airport but it's too much of a pain late at night when getting in after so many hours traveling.

There are also nicer lodgings in Accra, still not too far from the camp (less than an hour) if you're in the mood to spend more money.

Yes, the internet isn't bad there. In the camp there are a couple of cafes that are full all the time. Kasoa has a 24hrs place (the camp places might also be 24hrs). There are also fancier and more expensive places in Accra, Busy Internet is one. They even have wifi.

In terms of technology and how you might help, indulge me in just telling a bit about where we are now? Maybe you'll see a way to help. I recently bought a couple of cheap (~$100) laptops and have been working on getting them working. My plan is to not have them connect to the internet, but just have whatever software we need on them and let them email attachments from floppies to us to tranfer information. We use this program to track our members: http://www.neuer-humanismus.de/FichasPlus/ Unfortuately, there is no linux version so I'm sticking with windows on these laptops.

Not sure what I can ask you to do to help. Any more thoughts?

peace,
ted

Categories: Ghana, Africa, Humanist_Movement

nothing to say

2005-03-03T00:53:00.000-06:00

from gapingvoid
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Greyhound bus trip

2005-02-28T14:44:00.000-06:00

It's taken me a week after the trip to post this becasue I got pretty sick on the return and just haven't been up to posting. I left Chicago on the 8:15pm Greyhound bus to Indianapolis on the 18th. We got in there after midnight sometime, in some time zone. I was suprised by the size of both Chicago and Indy stations. Both seemed huge to me. Bus was cram-packed, but on-time. One stop between Chicago and Indy. Seats are small, but not that uncomfortable. Certainly loads better than in Africa. Maybe that isn't a good sign if that's what I'm comparing it to, but hey. Really unhappy crying baby next to me much of the trip (with her mom, sometimes was across aisle with her dad). Didn't bother me a bit, interestingly.

I had less than an hour to wait for the next bus, from Indy to Columbus. Wasn't totally full, but nearly so. Seems that bus was from St. Louis to New York City. Before we left there was a fist-fight between a mother (protecting her children, it seemed) and a rather unreasonable man. The people on the bus gave him a hard time about taking his medication or going back to the mental hospital. He didn't ride the bus with us to Columbus. Man in window seat with me didn't want to move feet from under the seat in front of me. I was feeling agreeable so while my hackles raised a couple of times, I mostly just felt he must've needed the rest. Got to Columbus on time, around 4am. Unpacked by folding bike and off I went, without a map. I had looked at the map on Thursday so had a general sense of where I was going, was very glad that my friends lived north of the station so my orientation in space was the same as on the paper. Never would've made it otherwise.

The trip back started with an 11:30pm departure from Columbus, stopping in Dayton to let people off. Mostly full bus again. Then about an hour to change in Indy. Bought a soup in a cup and a hot tea for a total of $2.10 including tax. Good stuff. Bus to Chicago was mostly empty. The driver didn't welcome us or turn on the lights or anything, just let the people sleep. Non-stop this time. Amazing to me that all 4 of my busses arrived on time or a bit early. Does that happen in the daytime as well or is this an overnight phenomenon?

Anyway, overall, I was happy with the experience. I'd prefer Amtrak, but the bus is good too. Not as good as a train, but good.

Category: transportation

Humanize the Earth: The Inner Look VII & VIII

2005-02-24T22:40:00.000-06:00

This builds on chapters's I, II & III and chapters IV, V & VI.

VII. Presence of the Force

The fifth day:

When I was truly awake I scaled from comprehension to comprehension.
When I was truly awake yet lacked the strength to continue the ascent, I was able to draw the Force from within myself. This Force was present throughout my body. All of the energy was present even in the smallest cells of my body, and it circulated more rapidly and more intensely than my blood.
I discovered that the energy concentrated in certain points of my body when they were active and was absent when they were not.
During illness the energy was either lacking or it accumulated precisely in the affected areas of my body. But if I was able to reestablish the normal flow of the energy, many illnesses began to recede.

Some peoples knew this, and through various procedures that seem strange to us today, they were able to reestablish the flow of the energy.
Some peoples knew this, and they were able to communicate this energy to others, producing “illuminations” of comprehension and even physical “miracles.”

VIII. Control of the Force

The sixth day:

There is a way of directing and concentrating the Force that circulates through the body.
In the body are points of control upon which depend what we know as movement, emotion, and idea. When the energy acts in these points, it gives rise to motor, emotional, and intellectual manifestations.
Depending on whether the energy acts more internally or superficially in the body, the states of deep sleep, semi-sleep, or wakefulness arise. Surely, the halos that surround the bodies or heads of the saints (or the great awakened ones) in religious paintings allude to this phenomenon of the energy which, on occasion, manifests more externally.
There is a point of control of being-truly-awake, and there is a way of bringing the Force to this point.
When the energy is led to this point, all the other points of control move in a new way.

Upon understanding this and hurling the Force to this superior point, my entire body felt the impact of an immense energy. This energy struck powerfully within my consciousness, and I ascended from comprehension to comprehension. But I also observed that if I lost control of the energy, I could descend to the depths of the mind. Then I remembered the legends of “heavens” and “hells,” and I saw the dividing line between these mental states.

categories: Humanist Movement personal work

cool baby names display

2005-02-24T22:37:00.000-06:00

Via Notio: This is so cool on so many levels: http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html

condo for sale by owner

2005-02-16T23:05:00.000-06:00

2149WOhio1E.JPG

Selling my condo to move into the new co-op - here's a photo of the outside of the building

~~$195,000~~ listed at $200,000
2bd,2ba 1st floor
in-unit washer/dryer and central air
back deck
2003 taxes $1870.14
assessments $137.50/mo
for sale ~~by owner~~

Update 7Mar05: I ended up listing with Steven Somlar @ Baird & Warner 773 697 5555. Please call him with questions or to make an appointment.
Update 10Mar05: ~~I have verbally accepted an offer and expect to sign the contract tomorrow.~~
Update 11Mar05: I have a signed contract, now have to get through the attorney, inspection, and mortgage contigency periods. Expect to close around April 22nd.
Update 15Mar05: The inspection is scheduled for this Saturday.
Update 17Mar05: Inspection is finished. I tried to stay out of the way so I don't know exactly what turned up, but I did hear the inspector advising about a few fixes (ever heard of sparking light switches?). We'll see what we get from the lawyers on Monday.
Update 23Mar05: They asked for some credits to fix electrical, plumbing and back door, plus wanted a small escrow until it can be verified that A/C works, plus went back and forth on radon testing. Hopefully this will all be settled tomorrow and the inspection contingency can end.

May First Technology Collective

2005-02-16T07:44:00.000-06:00

From their website:

May First Technology Collective is a nonprofit, worker-run collective, building a model for a healthy and just workplace. May First uses technology to strengthen the impact of social justice organizations. We are organizers and activists first, grounding our technology work and internal development within the vision of the larger social justice community.

Categories: resource, co-op

missed opportunity airport story

2005-02-13T16:13:00.000-06:00

Last year my parents traded their time-share in Branson, MO for two weeks in Ft. Lauderdale. They had such a good time that they asked (in about March of 2004) me and my brother if we'd like to join them for a repeat in 2005. I'm 33 years old and haven't been on vaction in about 6 or 7 years and haven't been on vacation with my parents in much longer than that. I'd been looking forward to it for a long time. My parents went from Michigan down to Florida last weekend on Saturday and my brother and sister-in-law and my neice and nephew went down around Tuesday. My partner Regula and I were to fly down Friday morning.

But I messed up.

I set the alarm for 5:10 for a 6:40 flight. I figured it would take 5-10 minutes to get out of the house after waking up and then would take 20 minutes to drive to the airport and we'd have plenty of time. I even checked the homeland security website to see how long to expect for security delays. Ten minutes it seemed to say for that time of morning.

We actually got into the car at 5:28. We got to the airport exit about 5:50 and I still thought we'd be okay. We parked the car and walked to the airport train to our terminal. There was a delay at the escalator leaving the train and there were no stairs so no other way to go. Then in the walkway to the terminal, there were machines where you could check in, but they were all occupied so we kept walking. I noticed some departure monitors that said it was 6:08 at that point. (6:40 flight, remember?). I still didn't know that we were in trouble.

So we then found a whole lot more of these check-in machines, but there aren't the typical lines to stand in that I'm used to so it was a bit chaotic. When I finally got up to a machine and put my credit card in there, it told me to see an agent. We did and she seemed worried. She said 30 minutes before a flight, the gate takes control of seat-assignments so we were too late to check in. She put us on the stand-by list for the next flight and told us to rush to the gate to see if we could make it.

The security line was really long and my heart sank. Regula asked a staff person if we could jump the line because we'd miss our flight and she was less than helpful. Then another set of security lines opened up down the terminal and we went fast-walking that way with many of the others. After another minute or two we were at the front of the line and I put the bags on the belt. I didn't notice that behind me Regula was being screened out into the invasive search line. After I went through the machines, I looked back to see her having to wait further. It took at least another 10 minutes for her to get through and by then we'd for sure missed the flight. I have no idea how these kinds of random checks make anyone safer, but I'm fairly certain we would've missed the flight anyway.

So we were on standby for the 1:20 flight. What a long 6 hours that was waiting for that one. After everyone else got on, they called my name. I went up with both stand-by cards and they said they only had one seat and that we were not listed as flying together anyway. I assured them that we were flying together and isn't there a chance for a 2nd seat. They said no without looking at our stand-by cards. They told me they'd roll us (me?) over to the next flight at 3:55. So I walked away and they called Regula's name. We told them she was with me and they called someone else's name. A few mintues later they discovered a checked-in passenger that had not boarded so they called another name (drats-if one of us had gotten on when called, the other would've also made it!).

We found a place to take a name and wait another 2+ hours. When I took our cards up to the counter to make sure we were on the list and together they told me that Regula was not on the list. They added her and gave us both new cards. But then they only called one name for that flight.

We gave up and went home. I'm not sure how much difference it makes, but I cannot blame any of the staff at the airport for our plight. Yes, I feel things at many stages of the day should've gone differently from their side of things, but ultimately, we controlled our own fate when we didn't get up early enough. So I missed the time in Florida, most importantly missed the time with my family. And I have to take responsibility for that. Not fun, but necessary.

Categories: personal, family

Humanize the Earth: The Inner Look IV, V & VI

2005-02-10T18:29:00.000-06:00

This builds on last week's chapters's I, II & III.

IV. Dependence

The second day:

Nothing that I do, feel, or think depends on me.
I am mutable and depend on the action of my surroundings. When I want to change my environment or my “I,” it is my environment that ends up changing me. Then I seek the city or nature, social redemption or a new struggle in order to justify my existence. In every case it is my environment that leads me to choose one attitude or another. In this way, my interests and my surroundings leave me here.
I say, then, that it does not matter who or what decides. I say on these occasions that I have to live since I am in the situation of living. I say all this, but there is nothing that justifies it. I can make a decision, hesitate, or remain where I am. In any case, one thing is only provisionally better than another; ultimately there is no better or worse.
If someone tells me that those who do not eat die, I will answer that this is indeed so, and that, spurred by their needs, they are compelled to eat. But I will not add that the struggle to eat justifies one’s existence—nor will I say that this struggle is bad. I will simply say that all of this concerns an individual or collective fact related to the need for subsistence, but that it has no meaning in the moment that the last battle is lost.
I will say, moreover, that I feel solidarity with the struggle of the poor, the exploited, and the persecuted. I will say that I feel “fulfilled” in this identification, but I understand that these feelings do not justify anything.

V. Intimation of Meaning

The third day:

At times I have anticipated events that later took place.
At times I have grasped a distant thought.
At times I have described places I have never been.
At times I have recounted exactly what took place in my absence.
At times an immense joy has surprised me.
At times total comprehension has overwhelmed me.
At times a perfect communion with everything has filled me with ecstasy.
At times I have broken through my reveries and seen reality in a new way.
At times I have seen something for the first time yet recognized it as though I had seen it before.

And all this has made me think.

It is clear to me that without these experiences I could not have emerged from the non-meaning.

VI. Sleep and Awakening

The fourth day:

I cannot take as real what I see in my dreams, nor what I see in semi-sleep, nor what I see when I am awake but in reverie.
I can take as real what I see when I am awake and without reveries. Here I am not speaking of what my senses register, since naive and dubious “data” can arrive from my external and internal senses as well as from my memory. Rather, I am speaking of the activities of my mind as they relate to the “data” being thought. What is valid is that when my mind is awake it “knows” and when it is asleep it “believes.” Only rarely do I perceive reality in a new way, and it is then that I realize that what I normally see resembles sleep or semi-sleep.

There is a real way of being awake, and it has led me to meditate profoundly on all that has been said so far. It has, moreover, opened the door for me to discover the meaning of all that exists.

categories: Humanist Movement personal work

this post has moved

2005-02-10T08:53:00.000-06:00

This post has moved to technorati and delicious tagging. Please update your bookmarks.

Be afraid, be very afraid

2005-02-10T08:21:00.000-06:00

Is this fear-mongering to drive up membership renewals? Is there really something "emergency" going on here? Can we live in a state of emergency all the time?

Outraged that the Attorney-General nominee argued that prohibitions against torture were quaint? Concerned that police surveillance of anti-war groups has chilled speech opposing the war in Iraq? Worried that your neighbor's son, or perhaps your own, will be interrogated by law enforcement because of his race or ethnicity? Fearful that your daughter may be stripped of the right to choose lawful - and safe - reproductive health services? Suspicious that all of our rights have been eroded by the government's focus on "national security" at the expense of everything else?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, please join activists from around the state for an Emergency Summit of ACLU of Illinois Members Committed to Defending our Constitution.

Efforts to impose criminal penalties against physicians who provide life saving reproductive health care to women patients;
Government funding of religious organizations that discriminate against applicants for jobs and social services on the basis of religion, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, HIV status or any other characteristic that a religious organization finds objectionable;
Broad authority for intrusive investigations of average Americans based on their religious and political beliefs, without any indication of criminal behavior - in contravention of the 4th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Of course I'm glad the ACLU is working on all of these issues, but I'm concerned about the effects of using fear as a motivator. Comments?

New roads can cause congestion

2005-02-10T01:37:00.000-06:00

New Scientist - New roads can cause congestion viaMeshForum

Traffic should flow best in cities when only a limited number of roads lead to the centre. This counter-intuitive finding could allow planners to prevent gridlock by closing roads rather than building new ones.

It's not counter-intuitive to me. Seems totally clear to me that when there are more roads or more lanes, there's more traffic and thus more congestion. I'd like to see Chicago close or narrow roads for cars but leave the pavement in place for bikes. Lakeshore drive would be a good place to start. Turn one lane each way into bike lanes and everyone would see the benefits nearly right away. Too bad they couldn't have kept Wacker Drive closed to cars after it was closed for 2 years to be rebuilt. Traffic in the loop during that time showed that the road simply isn't needed for cars. Let's see a balanced transportation policy that works for all of us!

categories: bike transportation chicago

Why ride a bicycle?

2005-02-06T22:25:00.000-06:00

Today I rode from my house to the new Hub Housing Cooperative building (about 4 miles) to meet with some of the other members and a contractor that may bid on our remodeling work (green resources requested). Then I rode to my friend Jodi's new place (about 9 miles) and then home (about 5 and a half miles).

From Why ride a bicycle?:

A Zen teacher once asked his students why they rode bicycles. One said he rode to carry potatoes. Another cycled to observe the world. A third said it cleared the mind, and a fourth said cycling put him in harmony with all sentient beings. The Zen master was pleased, but when the fifth replied, "I ride my bicycle to ride my bicycle," the teacher sat at the student's feet and said, "I am your student."

categories: bike

Keelhauling: Q-Drum - rolling water

2005-02-06T19:52:00.000-06:00

This post led me to this post which finally led me to Q-Drum for hauling water. Cool idea.

gmail invites

2005-02-05T13:02:00.000-06:00

Gmail is a web-based email (similar to hotmail and yahoo mail in that respect). One key difference is that it provides almost infinite amounts of space so you never really have to delete anything. Plus, since it's from google, it's really easy to search for stuff. Anyway, it's an invitation-only service right now, but I have 48 invitations available (not very exclusive, is it?!). Let me know if you'd like one.

edited to add links to actual invites so you don't have to email me to ask for one (if the first one doesn't work, try the 2nd and so on - if they're all used up, let me know in the comments and I'll post some more)
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-54b9d844bd-73504644a2-5010cf4cb1
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-54b9d844bd-c8e11083c8-d0b4f0bc46
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-54b9d844bd-78d4c030b0-b7e07659d0
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-54b9d844bd-5262710dc5-89d709a429
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-54b9d844bd-44868f1c76-4d95668d98

Chicago Social Forum - Call for proposals

2005-02-05T10:36:00.000-06:00

Another Chicago is Possible!
Call for Proposals for Chicago Social Forum
April 30^th-May 1^st 2005 Location TBA

The 2005 Chicago Social Forum aims to be even bigger than the first, and to that end, we need your help. The first Chicago Social ForumChicago Social Forum held in January 2004 drew more than 500 hundred participants who came together to share ideas, network for effective action, and participate in open workshops on a multitude of topics including affordable housing, NAFTA, police brutality, gentrification, the Illinois Death Penalty, and globalization. Now is the time to work even more vigorously toward positive change through dialogue and collective action.

The Chicago Social Forum (CSF) brings together organizers, community leaders, activists and artists from all across the City who believe in progressive change and social justice and are working to make it happen. It is an open meeting space that brings together people from a wide variety of struggles and interests to discuss the social, economic, political and environmental issues that affect our local and global communities.

Participating organizations and individuals may sponsor or conduct:

Workshops
Presentations
Solidarity meetings
Cultural or artistic performances and exhibitions

We will acknowledge receipt of your request by March 23, and will provide a response by April 9.

For more information or to have the attachment emailed to you, contact: Stephanie Dernek 312-641-5151 or Kelsa Rieger at 847-476-7009

Humanize the Earth: The Inner Look I, II & III

2005-02-03T21:03:00.000-06:00

At tonight's weekly meeting, we read and discussed the first three chapters from the Inner Look, the first book of Silo's Humanize the Earth, from which this blog gets its name. Humanize the Earth can be found in Collected Works vol I.

I. Meditation

Here it tells how the non-meaning of life can be converted into meaning and fulfillment.
Here are joy, love of the body, of nature, of humanity, and of the spirit.
Here sacrifices, feelings of guilt, and threats from the beyond are rejected.
Here the worldly is not opposed to the eternal.
Here it tells of the inner revelation at which all arrive who carefully meditate in humble search.

II. Disposition to Comprehend

I know how you feel because I can experience your state, but you do not know how to experience the things I am speaking of. Therefore, if I speak to you without self-interest of that which makes the human being happy and free, it is worth your while to try to comprehend.
Do not think that you will arrive at understanding by arguing with me. You may argue if you believe that through opposition your understanding will become clearer, but it is not the appropriate path in this case.
If you ask me what attitude is appropriate, I will tell you that it is to meditate profoundly and without haste on what is explained here.
If you reply that you are busy with more urgent things, I will answer that since your wish is to sleep or to die, I will do nothing to oppose it.
Nor should you argue that you dislike my way of presenting things, for you do not criticize the peel when you like the fruit.
I state things in the way I consider appropriate, not as might be desired by those who aspire to things remote from inner truth.

III. Non-Meaning

After many days I discovered this great paradox: Those who bore failure in their hearts were able to illuminate the final victory, while those who felt triumphant were left by the wayside like vegetation whose life is muted and diffuse. After many days, coming from the darkest of darkness, I arrived at the light, guided not by teachings but by meditation.

Thus, I told myself on the first day:

There is no meaning in life if everything ends with death.
All justification for actions, whether these actions are despicable or admirable, is always a new dream that leaves only emptiness ahead.
God is something uncertain.
Faith is something as variable as reason and dreams.
“What one should do” may be thoroughly discussed, but in the end there is nothing that definitively supports any position.
The “responsibility” of those who commit themselves to something is no greater than the responsibility of those who do not.
I move according to my interests, and this makes me neither a coward nor a hero.
“My interests” neither justify nor discredit anything.
“My reasons” are no better than the reasons of others, nor are they worse.
Cruelty horrifies me, but neither because of this nor in itself is it better or worse than kindness.
What I or others say today is of no value tomorrow.
To die is not better than to live or never to have been born, but neither is it worse.
I discovered, not through teachings but through experience and meditation, that there is no meaning in life if everything ends with death.

Next week we'll continue, moving out way through this work. Please join us, in person or here in the comments, or if you're interested, we can arrange to have you here using a voice-enabled internet connection.

categories: Humanist Movement personal work

Just noticed (10Feb05) that this didn't get published last week so publishing it now.

we have our building!

2005-02-02T22:10:00.000-06:00

My closed on our building late last month. This means that the Hub Housing Cooperative is that much closer to being a reality. Right now I suppose we're a landlord co-op. Not so great, but we intend to be landlords of the non-sucky type. Tenants will be moving out this spring and we'll be doing a bit of construction and then moving in. Watch this space for open house details.

categories: housing co-op

laptops for africa update

2005-02-02T21:47:00.000-06:00

Several weeks ago I mentioned my experiment of getting old laptops ready to take to Africa. I now have 5 of these in my possession, but only 4 at home. The 5th is still in the box at my office. Tonight I finally got around to actually seeing if I could get them into shape. Since they all have Win98 installed already, my plan is to simply strip off any non-essential software, use Windoze update to update them, equip them with a compression utility and the fichasplus database we're using for the humanist movement and make sure they can transfer their data to an internet cafe and attached to an email to be mailed to me later.

The first two machines I tried were unable to connect to the internet. Not sure why. They each have a PCMCIA slot and I tried a couple of different modem cards in them. No dice. The third machine seems to have an internal modem but that didn't work. One of the PCMCIA card modems did work there, however so I'm spending a couple of hours with windoze update. Any thoughts on what to try with these other two?

I'll get around to trying #4 and getting #5 home one of these days as well.

Redundant restatements of what was said before

2005-02-02T19:57:00.000-06:00

Was just reading about a PA announcement starting with Attention All Personnel and I was reminded of my personal pet peave about the PA at O'hare airport. It says, "Do not leave baggage left unattended. Baggage left unattended will be removed by the Chicago Police Department." That's not a typo. It's a recorded announcement that repeatedly (over and over) says "Do not leave baggage left unattended." Unreal.

Shovels & Wheelbarrows #2 COMPLETED

2005-01-26T21:49:00.000-06:00

Today the progress meter reached $1000 which completes our goal! At last count, I also received $146 that did not register on the progress meter and have at least one more check on the way.

Since there are three teams involved in this, I have to coordinate with them on getting the money to them, but I expect to have it in their hands shortly. Then I'll be posting updates as soon as I have them. I likely won't travel to Ghana again until May or June so it'll be a while until we can have a first-hand account from me, but I'll post when I get updates from the teams.

Thanks to: Michael, Kevin, Reid, John, Pam, Niny, Tom, Anne, Nick, Jeff, Cynthia, Elsbeth, Tim, Lisa, Terry, Sean, Carla, Grace, Rose, Michael, Judy, Cuda, Sol, Sue, Steve, & Luke!

Previous Posts on this: Campaign announcement | Update | Update #2

categories: Ghana Africa Humanist Movement fundraising

a friend needs help with assessment

2005-01-20T01:14:00.000-06:00

Hat in Hand (in full):

I don't know who here can possibly help me, but one doesn't know until one asks. As some of you know, Gerry and I live in Chicago. We have two daughters. Our elder daughter, Maura, is severely handicapped. One of her handicaps is that she's unable to speak for the most part. I need to find someone who is an expert in dealing with children with multiple handicaps who can evaluate for hidden intelligence. We've had her evaluated, but the report was inconclusive as to what her potential may or may not be. I just discovered that our choice was not the best one because, while this person may be very qualified when it comes to assessing verbal children, he may not have been the best at figuring out children who cannot talk. I hesitate to say nonverbal because there is now a recognized learning disability called Nonverbal Learning Disorder, but this applies to people who are verbal but autistic. Getting her what she needs in order to have an optimal education is an uphill battle. We have had minimal success in even getting a two-object talker for her. Meanwhile, she is being warehoused in a special ed situation that is barely more than glorified pre-school. I don't know if anyone here knows people who knows people. I have been exploring a variety of options. UCP and Easter Seals thus far have been useless to me. I need to find someone who can read body language and visual cues etc. In six years, there's only been one teacher who "got" what Maura is about. Unfortunately, her assessment is being superceded by other people who are not as intuitive or as interested in seeing her for the individual she is. I need someone who can read her and help me prove that she is being incorrectly assessed. All they want to do is get her to a place where she can function some day in a group home. Even if it turns out she's not college material, she deserves a better future than what they are offering. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me solve this. I also dream of a person who is a cross between Mary Poppins and Annie Sullivan who can help us unlock her brain. We have the people in place helping her unlock her body, and we feel very fortunate to have them. Now we just have to have the rest in place.

Angel, Second Class, reporting

update #2 on tip jar #2

2005-01-19T22:39:00.000-06:00

Since my last update the progress meter is up to $~~685~~905, though not all donations are listed there so the actual total is $~~801~~$1026 of our $1000 goal!!

Thanks to: Michael, Kevin, Reid, John, Pam, Tom, Anne, Nick, Jeff, Cynthia, Elsbeth, Tim, Lisa, Terry, Sean, Carla, Grace, Rose, Judy, Cuda, Sol, Sue, Steve, & Luke!

click here to donate

categories: Ghana Africa Humanist Movement fundraising

I'm on my way out of town but will annouce completion of the drive when I get back next week.