The six degrees of lois weisberg

Lois is far from being the most important or the most powerful person in Chicago. But if you connect all the dots that constitute the vast apparatus of government and influence and interest groups in the city of Chicago you'll end up coming back to Lois again and again. Lois is a connector.

Lois, it must be said, did not set out to know everyone. "She doesn't network for the sake of networking," says Gary Johnson, who was Lois's boss years ago, when she was executive director of the Chicago Council of Lawyers. "I just think she has the confidence that all the people in the world, whether she's met them or not, are in her Rolodex already, and that all she has to do is figure out how to reach them and she'll be able to connect with them."

via six degrees of lois weisberg

Someone recently asked me about LinkedIn; I told them about my old TeledyN post on how your network really isn't 'larger than you think' but perhaps what I really should have said is that you won't get anywhere with LinkedIn unless you know a Lois, and if you know a Lois, you won't need LinkedIn.

I had a Lois once upon a time, an agent by the name of Steve Hope, and I was never without a really nice gig. Steve knew me, loved my work, and he just had the knack. It was a beautiful relationship, but sadly Steve made his money and left The Biz; I did fairly well with another Lois-like agency who collectively had some ins, but it was nothing like the says with Steve and their agents each wandered off in their own directions, all outside of the realms of my work, and that was it, pretty much, the end of my illustrious career. I rode on my own network for a while until the dot-bomb blew them all out of the game, but without my Lois, there was no one to inject the neo-connections that could sustain full time work, and despite what the vested interests say, it isn't really something you can just do by yourself, you have to be the type who does this, ie A Natural.

Your task then, is to find a Natural Hope, and do what you do from there.

Happiness Theory: our Brains Lie

Recognizing that our brains lie ??? that we must cultivate a healthy skepticism of our own mental processes ??? is an important step in the pursuit of happiness.

via Happiness - A Theory (Science Blog)

Not precisely 'science' in the sense of a revelation from new study, but a hilarious summary of some key findings of the past few years summed into an inviting proposal for a 'new' enlightened approach to sanity in what the ancient Buddhists might have called Great Doubt.

Jazz For Beginners

selected for enjoyablility as well as importance, from the broad "modern" period extending from 60 - 2000. excluded are both earlier classic styles such as Dixieland or Big Band, also leaving out later day completely improvised/free recordings.

via Different Waters

A wonderful list, widely scoped and very accessible, completely endorsed by Mr.G, although I might have included more newcomers like Butch Morris's conductioned NuBlu Orchestra, the harmolodious The Bad Plus, and Darcy james Argue's big band Secret Society with their brand new CD Infernal Machines

Vint Cerf Speaks

podcast interview with Vinton Cerf, one of the founding fathers of the internet:

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Just click on the link and the podcast will download to the desktop (in parts to start, but unified at end)

Vint now works for Google and has a lot to say about what's happening behind the secrecy. He is also the leading proponent of the basic human right of free and unfettered access to all that the network has to offer. 

I had the great honour of serving with Vint on the board of directors of his Internet Societal Task Force, back in the days before The Terrowar engulfed US policy. The ISTF was an activist wing of the Internet Society, charged with ensuring open and uncensored Internet access to every human on this globe and beyond.  In our last open media transmission we strongly criticised the US government for completely and without warning suspending entire national ISPs in Africa on the grounds of "suspected" links to Al Qaida, effectively stranding all legitimate Internet users in those countries -- we found our UN-granted political immunity quickly overruled, our mandate quickly redefined and our group silenced within days.  Rather than carry on as a powerless 'advisory discussion group' reporting only to the US officials, we disbanded.