and hiding in a little corner:

and my Co-Ed Magazine pin…

I was taken by an ad for a one day workshop but the price was out of range for me. I couldn’t pass up applying for a free spot in it though, a two minute video. Sounds easy, no?

LOL there’s a reason why I don’t do video! I used my Lumix which gave me good quality but it would have helped to have a remote control.

In the last couple takes, a car went by repeatedly. really? The best take I’d forgotten to turn off a little fan. I finally decided just to go for it. Adjusted the audio a bit, slapped on a couple titles, uploaded it and called it done.

It was an interesting exercise but next time I’d do it from the computer itself probably.

Looking at the moon
asking what brings out the best;
where heroes come from.

Moon in fuzzy sky
not white, not peach, just softly
sailing into night.

Did two things today
I’d put off too long. too long.
and it felt damn good.

This morning, eyes closed,
leaning against a cat’s warmth;
hear the birds singing.

I am sitting here eating my dinner and watching live JPL and NASA guys talking about what’s happening with Curiosity up there on Mars and how it’s all working. There was a pause just before I got there while they were watching new information arrive. Now that’s just very very cool.

How cool?

I think the Mars Rover folks are using web communication in the best way possible – to make their story immediately available to people who are interested. Watching the landing of Curiosity was a great and exciting communal experience. We watched, we shared the moment by moment and they shared the news and their excitement and glee as it successfully landed.

This brought back memories for me from years of space launches and missions. This immediacy might be new to younger folks.

Anyway these guys are tweeting, facebooking, Ustreaming, you name it to put new information immediately out there. There’s nothing surer to create buzz and interest than a continuing story told by enthusiastic tellers.

I won’t rant about the idea that “if I could just master social media I’d be a famous xyz!” but to me, NASA’s doing it all exactly right.

An awesome ted talk by a very unassuming woman, Scilla Elworthy, on ways to think about dealing with bullies without becoming a thug yourself.

This is the book, From Dictatorship to Democracy, by Gene Sharp that she talks about at the end.