Monthly Archives: July 2008

37 Days

Posted on July 30, 2008 by Dave Pollard

Patti Digh is recording the answers of readers to the question “What would you do today if you had just 37 days to live?” Some of these answers are masterful pieces of writing. I read them over, several times, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Our Culture / Ourselves | 9 Comments

Wordless

Posted on July 29, 2008 by Dave Pollard

Janet Fitch, the author of the novel White Oleander, writes in this month’s Vogue magazine (not available online) about her ten days of self-initiated silence, and the astonishing effect it had on her. She’d been thinking about a meditation retreat, … Continue reading →

Posted in Preparing for Civilization's End | 3 Comments

The Harmonics of Complexity: Silver Linings and Unintended Consequences

Posted on July 28, 2008 by Dave Pollard

Kathy Sierra, on Twitter, challenged us to identify the good things that sometimes come out of bad circumstances. In complex systems — social and ecological systems particularly — the number of variables is infinite, so there are no discernible causes … Continue reading →

Posted in Working Smarter | 3 Comments

Saturday Links for the Week: July 26, 2008 (a day late)

Posted on July 27, 2008 by Dave Pollard

Valdis Krebs’ Twitter network map The Life You Save May Be Your Own: Jen Lemen, powerfully affected by her recent visit to Rwanda, is going through a huge, and moving, personal change, and she’s putting it all out there on … Continue reading →

Posted in Our Culture / Ourselves | 4 Comments

Friday Flashback: The Next War of Independence: Natural Community, Natural Enterprise, Natural Economy

Posted on July 25, 2008 by Dave Pollard

A short article from last year, that generated a fair bit of buzz, reproduced in its entirety: The independent media have been telling us for several years now that the US is no longer a free country, nor is it … Continue reading →

Posted in Preparing for Civilization's End | 8 Comments

The Politics of Conversation

Posted on July 23, 2008 by Dave Pollard

Four years ago I read and reviewed Keith Johnstone’s book Impro, in which he explains how pervasive dominance and submission behaviours are in human interactions. He describes an example of physical dominance and submission (status displays) in our encounters with … Continue reading →

Posted in Our Culture / Ourselves | 7 Comments

Three Mini Book Reviews: The Back of the Napkin, Landscape & Memory, and Edible Forest Gardens

Posted on July 22, 2008 by Dave Pollard

The Back of the Napkin, by Dan Roam “Visual thinking means taking innate advantage of our ability to see, with our eyes and our mind’s eye, in order to discover ideas, develop those ideas quickly and intuitively, and share those … Continue reading →

Posted in Preparing for Civilization's End | Comments Off on Three Mini Book Reviews: The Back of the Napkin, Landscape & Memory, and Edible Forest Gardens

Memorandum to All Employees

Posted on July 21, 2008 by Dave Pollard

Delivered By Hand To all employees: Beginning August 1st, you will no longer be able to send an e-mail to another employee of our organization. After some study, we have concluded that such e-mails are almost never the most efficient … Continue reading →

Posted in Using Weblogs and Technology | 7 Comments

Saturday Links for the Week: July 19, 2008

Posted on July 19, 2008 by Dave Pollard

Photo from birdstar.org, one of the amazing shots from the Bond brothers of SW Ontario. Disparity, Poverty and Environmental Health: I’m reading HervÈ Kempf’s How the Rich are Destroying the Earth (review next week). His message, from France, is essentially … Continue reading →

Posted in Our Culture / Ourselves | 2 Comments

Join Me September 28-October 1 in BC

Posted on July 18, 2008 by Dave Pollard

Bowen Island by Richard Smith I‘m going to be on Bowen Island, near Vancouver BC, September 28 through October 1, for an Art of Hosting event. The program teaches several interactive meeting and facilitation technique skills — World CafÈ, Circle, … Continue reading →

Posted in Our Culture / Ourselves | 2 Comments