Chilled Out Bearded Man

Alright… I didn’t make him. But I knew him before he was what he is today. Don Hertzfeld was just a plain old dull pencil like the rest of us. From the moment we were placed in the same class, I knew that Don Hertzfeld would be something special – a step up from me – better at making things clearer. After years of honing, the sharp Don that you know and love was finally created. He went from being a standard number two to number one in the class. I had been number one, but he erased me, plain and simple. He just wiped me right off the board. My remains were left outside with the other rocks to fend for myself. Don would stare out the window now and again to check on me, but I had known from the day he came into that class that he would be the teacher’s pet. I knew that, because I was at the head of the class and he was merely writing on a boring desk. But I liked him. I really did. Everyday was a new day for Don. Everyday he would come in a little sharper, a little more prepared for the day’s work. And everyday, I felt a little more worn down, a little shorter and with less to give. One day, first thing in the morning, Don came running into the room. Someone tripped and sent Don flying four feet through the air. He landed below me sprawled out like a tree with no branches. Someone could have been injured pretty badly, but alas, all eyes were spared from such a disaster. He was lucky to still be in one piece after a fall like that. But I knew that was the end for me. I had been worn down to nothingness. That day, Don was picked up. He was looking extra sharp in his yellow suit. I knew that my position at the head of the class was over. I stepped aside – or I should say I was wiped aside - my remnants thrown out to the dogs and Don took his rightful position as the lead of the class. His taste was very stylized. His descriptions of things were impeccable. A part of me was still in that class, but mostly, I had been blown to the wind. What remained of me faded away slowly. Don Hertzfeld, the sharpest pencil in town, took my job.

I know this story makes no sense whatsolutely. But sometimes, thats the point. What’s the point? Don’s the point. He uses points to draw points with points. You probably get it by now. The end will come, even for Don the pencil. Come back next to see Don reach his end, as the shiny Ben Pic roles his way past Don.

I have never understood what people mean when they say that a genius is a person who knows the answer and just needs to figure out how to get to it. The most common example is the fact that Einstein calculated the equation for relativity and got the correct answer even though when people reviewed the calculations they discovered errors. Once they corrected the errors, his answer was still correct.

What is a successful businessman? A good business man is a man with goals. He knows what he wants to achieve. Whether his intentions are good or evil, he would be considered a successful business man if he sets out a goal and achieves it.

In life, we are all wondering what our purpose is. The geniuses understand. They have some end goal that they know to work towards. Sometimes they might not understand the road to get there, but that is not a problem as long as they have ambition and perseverence. They already know the answer. They only need to get to it.

Its like walking down a road. If you know your final destination, you can reach it. If you don’t have a destination that you are heading towards, then there is no way for you to get there. This is because “there” is nowhere unless it is somewhere. So you must set yourself goals. Finding the road to reach the goals is the pleasure of living life with meaning. (What is the meaning of life, you ask?)

And what about all those people who set out to achieve a goal and failed? Weren’t their lives miserable? No. They felt alive each and every day they spent trying to achieve that goal. They toiled and tortured themselves, but there was a constant “light at the end of the tunnel”.

All of the people who had a goal were happy, but what of those of us who have no goal? We don’t know our purpose. We feel lost. We have no direction.

Well, if you were sitting in the desert and you felt lost, what would you do? Would you sit in one place and let yourself die? No! You would choose a direction and start walking. And if you hit a dead end, you would choose another direction and walk some more. You choose a direction and you go.

We must all choose a direction. If we know the destination, then it will be that much easier to choose a direction. If we do not know the destination, if we do not have an obvious goal, then we must make choices and push in a direction.

Many of us allow the road to be chosen for us. We believe that fate will choose our direction. If we leave many doors open, then life will close the unwanted doors for us, we think to ourselves. But I beg to differ. “Life” does not know what doors are correct. “Life” is not an intelligent mind like a human mind. “Life” is a way of saying that we are animate beings. And we are animate beings with intelligence. “Life” does not control. “Life is” as they say “what we make of it”.

We are intelligent. We must use our intelligence to choose a path. And when our intelligence fails us, we must choose a path from the ones available. Making a wise decision is extremely valuable. Making a bad decision is less so. But making no decision at all is the worst. Sitting in the desert and allowing ourselves to die without living first is a waste of our intelligence, a waste of our potential and a gauranteed way to feel dead long before our “life” stops. And on the upside, if you choose a direction and maybe find that special something, people will know that you are a genius and that you lived a “meaningful” life.

(There is no answer to the meaning of life, because the meaning of life is not a question. Think about that for a second. Or don’t. It really makes no sense. We have life. Thats that. Now give it meaning.)

In the movie Zeitgeist, Jacques Fresco says that politicians cannot solve problems because unlike engineers, they are not trained to solve problems. The Venus Project, who is behind Zeitgeist, is a new solution civilization – a redesign of civilization by scientists. Discussing the implications of this is another discussion for another time. The point I want to make right now is that Barack Obama is doing a wonderful job of using technology to communicate with the people.

Just the fact that he is using the internet to send updates to the people (i.e. his weekly addresses) and to receive questions and ideas from the people (i.e. his town hall meeting) is impressive. The idea that he is pushing for innovation in technology is just above and beyond anything we could have asked for in a president. He wants the US to be the leader in renewable energy. That is incredible, forward thinking, respectable, beneficial, and economical.

Every person wants to find a job that they love. In other words, they want the ability to do what they love at the same time that they are winning bread. Use the same actions to create things as to supply yourself with necessities.

Obama is saying, lets improve energy technology, but lets create jobs and fix the economy in the process. Do what we as a country love – innovating, and at the same time do what we need – create jobs, so that people can spend and reinvigorate the economy.

I still believe that Zeitgeist and the Venus Project are wonderful movements with the best intentions of humanity in mind. Unfortunately, the solutions they recommend will take time to implement on a grande scale. In the meantime, it is good to know that we have a leader who is focusing his energy in a positive and innovative direction.

Check out Obama’s Weekly address here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/weekly_address/

I found the RSS feed for the White House Weekly Addresses here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/rss/speeches.xml

Here is a link to the “experimental” White House Town Hall Meeting:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/03/26/Wrapping-Up-Open-for-Questions/
(That’s right, an experiment… Its when you try new things – generally because there is a problem with no currently viable solution. And don’t try to tell me that militarily attacking Iraq was a useful experiment.)

Children are the inspiration for many actions we take in the world. We see them as innocent and defenseless beings – simple and pure. Images of children are used to raise money for starving Africans. Images of children are used as propoganda in wars. When children are kidnapped or injured we give them extra attention. When they are killed, we all say, “Imagine what could have been.” We have to take care of our children, because they are the continuation of our lives. In the same way that we do not want to die too soon, we must remember that our race lives on through our children.

In this video, a young girl reminds the whole world that we need to stop bickering and fighting, and start fixing, healing, sharing, communicating and caring. Its a short video, but it brings the point home quite fervently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQmz6Rbpnu0

The second Zeitgeist Movie, Zeitgeist Addendum gives a full theory of what is the main problem with our Western/American way of life and how we can potentially solve it. It doesn’t attempt to solve our problems with charity or efficiency or any such common solution. Instead, they offer a new solution. It is a revolution of thought. I don’t want to say anymore, because the movie is so much better at explaining it.

I intended to write a full article with my thoughts about the movie, but my notes were sitting around for a few days and I decided it is better to get my thoughts into the world in bullet format rather than to leave them sitting around until some magical free time.

Watch the movie here: “Zeitgeist: Addendum”

Then, let me know what you think. And I would love to hear your feedback on the following thoughts after you watch the film.

what about dumb people? don’t they ruin this type
of society? or is dumbness a side effect of our
current society’s poor education and way of life?

why do rich people commit crimes?

what about the robotic laws? this is a little out there but if you have ever read Isaac Asimov, then you have heard of the Three Laws of Robotics. these robotics seem crucial for a solution like this.

this whole concept seems too far off. too theoretical.
is it really worth thinking about or putting energy into it.
the movie is calling for a revolution of thought
and action. this revolution must come from the
heart. Revolution is a scary word. But in this
case they are calling for a peaceful clever
revolution.

our capitalistic society has also brought about technology

christianity has 34000 subgroups:
that is the nature of humanity – that we
are all different and need to be subgrouped
with the people we relate to. why are subgroups
a bad thing?

our brain chemistry makes us each unique and to
say that we are the same and our minds need the
same inputs is ignoring basic human nature.
people’s understanding and comprehension is different.

This movie answered so many questions that I have been thinking about for so long:
1) Marketing seems useless and somewhat evil
2) Hollow financial system
3) Technology should be able to solve all

How are we supposed to let go of the existence
we have been raised in?

The programming computer world has this concept
partially figured out. The internet makes it
possible.

Who will coordinate things? Who will maintain things? how
do decisions get made in this type of society?

Victims are often the biggest bullies. Media today equates bullies with sociopaths and psychotics. Bullying is not that simple. Bullying is often relative and is defined by the victim of the “bully”. If you are having a bad day and I mistake your attitude for anger, I would consider you a bully. “Stop being mean to me,” I would think to myself. And then later, I might tell my friends that you are such a bully. You were being mean to me all day. That is only one simple example of how a “bully” is created.

Izzy Kalman has made it his life goal to redefine the word Bully, so that the “bullies” are not blamed for the negative actions of their victims and so that “victims” are taught how to deal with their “bullies” – something many of us adults have to do on a daily basis. Its those “victims”, who have victim mentalities to justify their actions. The ultimate example is the columbine shooting. They were mistreated, so they felt justified in taking action against their “bullies”. Izzy Kalman wants to teach “victims”, how to take responsibility for their actions, as well.

In a bigger picture, this victim mentality helps us understand how Israel and Gaza both feel justified in their actions. “They are merely defending themselves from the bully.” And unfortunately, both sides have had rough histories which qualify them in their own minds as victims. Think of two children who have both been through a rough time. Which one deserves to be given the cookie? Its not a perfect analogy, because their is a lot more background to the middle east conflict. It simply shows us why both sides can’t see the other side and feel justified in their own actions.

I can never seem to explain this subject quite as well as the man who created it, Izzy Kalman.

Read Izzy’s Blog on Psychology Today: http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-bully-witch-hunt/200812/time-end-the-bully-witch-hunt

Visit Izzy’s website Bullies2Buddies: http://www.bullies2buddies.com/

What happened to the Adobe Flash Player 10 for the G1 Android? Its officially been over two months since the first videos were released of the Adobe Flash Player working on Android on the T-Mobile G1.

Back in mid-November we saw videos all over the internet showing us progress on Adobe’s Flash Player 10 for the G1 Android. Its over two months since we saw the player working in those videos. Now, I think everyone is wondering when this player is going to come out. Having Youtube on the phone is definitely nice, but I am constantly finding myself on other sites with broken Flash Player icons telling me to install Flash Player 10.

And what about the business aspect? Adobe seems to be leaving the market open for someone else to jump in here. An update or a release date would be nice. Grabbing the market with an announcement and then leaving us hanging like this is not appropriate.

We’ve been holding our collective breath for too long and I think we’re starting to suffocate in our Flash-less world.

Does anyone have any updates? Does anyone know what happened to the flash player for the G1? Maybe there is someone at Google or Adobe who could get us an update.

Two years later and I think my letter still applies:
http://www.chilledoutbeardedman.com/2006/12/05/google-is-growing-up/

Here is someone else who sees Google in the same light:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10127876-16.html?part=rss

Keep up the good work, Google. People aren’t scared of you. They are scared that you will become something bad. All we ask is that you don’t lose your identity as the thinker and innovator.

Once you are inside of your T-Mobile G1 Browser you can use the following keyboard shortcuts to save time:

Menu+l: To open a new url (in the same window), hold down Menu and click ‘l’.

Menu+t: To see all the open windows, click Menu+t.

Menu+b: To see your bookmarks, press Menu+b.

Menu+r: To refresh the webpage, press Menu+r.

Menu+w: Close the current window by pressing Menu+w.

Menu+space: To go to your home page, press Menu+space.

Menu+h: Press Menu+h to see your browsing history.

Let me know if you find more browser shortcuts.

Finally figured out how to transfer numbers from an old t-mobile SIM card onto the new T-Mobile G1.
Load contacts.
Then click the menu button.
Click settings.
Click SIM contacts importer.
Then choose the numbers you want to import one by one or click the menu button to import all.
Btw… I am making this entry on my new T-Mobile G1.
This was in response to my previous entry:
http://www.chilledoutbeardedman.com/2008/10/20/my-tmobile-g1-arrived/