As I jot this post my Gmail has outright coded (it’s unresponsive and throwing DNS errors. let’s call it “GFail,” shall we?), Twitter has been staggering for days, and today is the first day my “Remember the Milk” (task management) application has correctly integrated with my Gmail inbox all week. I’m re-starting Firefox to see if the Gmail problem is originating with me or going on outside of my system “in the cloud.”

Nothing to do with my MacBook and browser, but 15 hours worth of SMS Tweets sent last night have disappeared from my Twitter stream altogether (or never made it in), while at least one tweet posted at least 160 times in a friend’s stream.

So at the moment I’m frustrated by the downtime downside of all this “computing in the cloud” (conducting your daily work with online files, applications and services that you access through your browser). It’s a false frustration in some ways, because local applications and file storage go down too. And for a small business owner, it’s worse when they do because you’re the only one who can rally resources to fix them. But my experience this week reminds me how totally dependent my business is on a working browser. At least with the many glitches I’m experiencing I’m secure in the knowledge that 1) I am not alone and 2) someone is trying to fix them.

Tho come to think of it, I still don’t know whether this is a local connectivity problem with my new Time Capsule rig. Connectivity seems fine with certain applications, and falls to its knees with others. So, I am excited I can work from anywhere, but that also means that sometimes I can work from nowhere. Ipe.

Tackling a new skill (or project, objective, etc.) break it up into small steps and achievable bits.

When I was on Jonny’s Partay (see below) Jonny asked use to compare trapeze lessons with getting better at public speaking.

From the moment I walked into my trapeze lesson to the very end of class each one of the three instructors was reviewing a simple chain of steps you need to take to complete a knee-hang, backflip dismount, and eventually a catch.

like a mantra, they recited: “left hand hold, hips forward, right hand reach, left hand reach, ready, hep, legs up, hands off, arch & reach, hands back, legs down, legs forward-back-forward, let go & grab knees, extend.” and by then you would be on the crash pad.

I never had to remember and reproduce the complex sequence on my own, even as it became familiar.

When you tackle a new skill, like public speaking, give yourself bite size pieces to master, support yourself with a step-by-step framework, and work with a net all you like. (Notecards or a written script can be a perfectly acceptable “net.”)

Oh and click more for the trapeze videos…

continue

I told Twitter: I take issue with this world. I want your ideas. What can one kinda skinny, kinda angry, pretty fired up “girl” do about it? Srsly, IDEAS!?
(And I obviously realize millions of us feel this way. I believe nobody’s alone in that.)

UPDATE: Most concise germ of truth from Joel Dueck @joeld Think Specifically.

Some quick background: the seeds of this came up during my Christmas Eve Open House the other day (blog post forthcoming): What can technology tools DO to contribute to the greater good? While we answered, Steve Garfield sent out a live videocast from his phone: Direct Link

Anyways, this morning you all told me: (in no particular order, I’m compiling on the fly)
Brian Noe:

gandhi said “we will do what we can”
ultimately, though it’s often not very satisfying, that is always the answer
when i’m frustrated with the state of the world, i find something, however small, to do
example: when i became frightened and concerned about the erosion of our civil liberties, i started making monthly donations to the aclu, and routinely devoting some space to the subject on my weblog
that may not seem like much, but if each of us does a little something here and there, i have to believe that it adds up
we may not see the results we want even in our lifetime, but one never knows when the seeds we sow will come to fruition
so i do “something” - and have faith - that’s all one really can do, but i believe there is power in doing it

Michael E. Gruen @gruen

Depends on what part of the world she wants to change:

If she wants to change how people communicate, that’s a grass routes (sic) effort that need be thought out more carefully depending on how she wants to change it.

If she wants to change people’s opinions on something, there’s the Oprah route: find the influencers (the people that think for the people, like Oprah, Bill O’Reilly, Jon Stewart, etc) and convince them. Target their writers or get an audience with them… believe it or not, it’s not terribly hard to reach these people.

If she wants to change how people think, it depends on how quickly. Brainwashing is certainly an option, but an even better one is to infiltrate the school systems evangelists to your cause. But, make sure they’re the majority and/or the most compelling people in there. Otherwise, they’ll just seem crazy. This also takes a while, and your
results won’t be noticed for at least 20 years.

If she wants to change how people live, it depends on how. This is more complicated and requires further detail.

If she wants to change everything, pyrotechnics and duct tape: put the fear of god into everyone (what? God is a skinny, somewhat angry “girl”!). Make sure they believe!

continue

The horror. The horror. Maybe it’s the movies, maybe it’s the books, Maybe it’s the bullets, maybe it’s the real crooks, Maybe it’s the drugs, maybe it’s the parents, Maybe it’s the colors everybody’s wearin, Maybe it’s the President, maybe it’s the last one, Maybe it’s the one before that, what he done, Maybe it’s the high schools, maybe it’s the teachers, Maybe it’s the tattooed children in the bleachers, Maybe it’s the Bible, maybe it’s the lack, Maybe it’s the music, maybe it’s the crack, Maybe it’s the hairdos, maybe it’s the TV, Maybe it’s the cigarettes, maybe it’s the family, Maybe it’s the fast food, maybe it’s the news, Maybe it’s divorce, maybe it’s abuse, Maybe it’s the lawyers, maybe it’s the prisons, Maybe it’s the Senators, maybe it’s the system, Maybe it’s the fathers, maybe it’s the sons, Maybe it’s the sisters, maybe it’s the moms, Maybe it’s the radio, maybe it’s road rage, Maybe El Nino, or UV rays, Maybe it’s the army, maybe it’s the liquor, Maybe it’s the papers, maybe the militia, Maybe it’s the athletes, maybe it’s the ads, Maybe it’s the sports fans, maybe it’s a fad, Maybe it’s the magazines, maybe it’s the internet, Maybe it’s the lottery, maybe it’s the immigrants, Maybe it’s taxes, big business, Maybe it’s the KKK and the skinheads, Maybe it’s the communists, maybe it’s the Catholics, Maybe it’s the hippies, maybe it’s the addicts, Maybe it’s the art, maybe it’s the sex, Maybe it’s the homeless, maybe it’s the banks, Maybe it’s the clearcut, maybe it’s the ozone, Maybe it’s the chemicals, maybe it’s the car phones, Maybe it’s the fertilizer, maybe it’s the nose rings, Maybe it’s the end, but I know one thing. If it were up to me, I’d take away the guns.

Words and Lyrics by:Cheryl Wheeler

(P) October 1, 1997 Penrod And Higgins Music / Amachrist Music ACF Music GroupInternational Copyright Reserved

(From Cory at Boing Boing)

Professor Walter F. Murphy, a Korean war hero and McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence (emeritus) at Princeton, was delayed while flying because he’s on a “terrorist watch list.” …I presented my credentials from the Marine Corps to a very polite clerk for American Airlines. One of the two people to whom I talked asked a question and offered a frightening comment: “Have you been in any peace marches? We ban a lot of people from flying because of that.” I explained that I had not so marched but had, in September, 2006, given a lecture at Princeton, televised and put on the Web, highly critical of George Bush for his many violations of the Constitution. “That’ll do it,” the man said.

To make this presentations related:

This effort to punish a critic states my lecture’s argument far more eloquently and forcefully than I ever could.

I don’t think your politics matter, or who you favor in government. I don’t think any of us grew up thinking that this is what America stands for.