by cameron | Mar 23, 2009 | Uncategorized
I’ve been receiving emails from people asking “what happened to your Twitterfast”? The posts that you’re seeing from me in Twitter are automated posts from Friendfeed which keeps an eye on my blogs, delicious bookmarks, Facebook posts, Flickr uploads, etc. I haven’t posted directly to Twitter (except asking for help on uStream last night) for 36 hours and it has been HARD. I have the impulse to post to or check Twitter every few minutes. Just nonsense stuff really… about thoughts I’m having, people I’m talking to, where to catch a bus, plugging sites I’ve discovered, etc. Nothing terribly important or special but it does really make me notice how much I rely on Twitter every day. As I was discussing with some folks in a meeting today, Twitter is really my primary search engine for so many things. I’m finding living without it pretty difficult.
Back in 2001, I gave a series of CIO breakfasts for Microsoft. One of the things I talked about was a rating system I had for evaluating new technologies and services in my life. It went something like this:
Rating 1: If it disappeared tomorrow, I would hardly notice.
Rating 2: If it disappeared tomorrow, I would notice but could happily live without it.
Rating 3: If it disappeared tomorrow, I would feel the absence but would cope.
Rating 4: If it disappeared tomorrow, I would feel the absence and proactively look for a replacement.
Rating 5: If it disappeared tomorrow, I would go to war to get it back.
Where is Twitter for me right now? Somewhere between 4 and 5 I think.
by cameron | Mar 22, 2009 | Uncategorized
I love Twitter. Too much.
Late last night, I was driving home from having a beer with a couple of old school mates and realized I was checking Twitter on my iPhone WHILE I WAS DRIVING every few minutes.
I don’t like feeling that I’m addicted to things. I gave up drinking alcohol for 12 years (from age 18 to 30) because I felt like I had a problem with it. And with Twitter, I’ve been feeling lately like I NEED to check Twitter. Like I’m missing out on something if I don’t check it or tweet something every ten minutes. It’s an urge. A need. It’s physical. I’d love to see an fMRI scan of the hypothalamus when people are using Twitter. I’m sure some people have a greater addiction to activities that generate increased dopamine (one of the neurochemicals associated with pleasure and motivation) than others, and I know I’m one of them. I get easily addicted to short-term activities that give me a burst of quick pleasure and I want to train myself to develop better impulse control. And I’m starting with Twitter.
Over the last ten years I have fasted a number of times (ingested nothing but water) for a week to ten days when I’ve felt like my diet was out of control. Every time I’ve done it I have found that it re-calibrates my thinking about food for pleasure versus food for nutrition. I’m hoping a Twitterfast will accomplish the same thing. By the way, when I used the term ‘twitterfast’ last night I thought I was coining it but apparently it’s been around for quite a while. 🙂
IN the meantime… if you haven’t watched Bill Gates’ talk from the recent TED conference, watch it now. I was stunned to learn that more investment goes into finding a cure for baldness than a cure for malaria.
http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf
by cameron | Mar 20, 2009 | climate change, energy, energy debate, environment, Podcast
Today I had the pleasure to catch up once again with G’Day World regular Dr Peter Ellyard, futurist, environmentalist, and author of “Designing 2050: Pathways To Sustainable Prosperity On Spaceship Earth” which is published by TPN TXT. Buy your copy now!
I chatted with Peter today about the recent IPCC report, Kevin Rudd’s emissions trading scheme and whether or not we are all doomed, as George Monbiot is suggesting. Peter told me that our politicians and media are focusing on the wrong thing. We shouldn’t be just thinking about reducing emissions, we should be talking about MINING THE SKY.
As always, I just loved talking to Peter. He never fails to inspire. He’s now on Twitter (I gave him a crash course today), so make sure you follow him. And we also have a Facebook group for Peter call “The Future Makers Club“, make sure you sign up for that as well.
If you are a journalist, blogger, twitterer or podcaster and you’d like a review copy of Designing 2050, please email me.
by cameron | Mar 18, 2009 | climate change, Podcast
This episode was recorded LIVE on Tuesday March 17, 2009. We have an audience following in a chat room on the G’Day World uStream page and my guests include:
Ian Kath – The Polyamorist
Nick Beaugeard – The Climate Change Skeptic
and
Kate Edwards – The Polyamory Skeptic
by cameron | Mar 16, 2009 | GDay World Live, science
So… I’ll be doing another live show tomorrow night (ie Tuesday) at 8pm QLD time / 9pm Sydney time. Put it in your diary and log in here. Will hopefully be road testing a new co-host (@joshuawithers), a Christian radio DJ, so that should provide some fun!
On the advice of Rai, I’ve got a rough plan. Each week, the live show will contain the following (roughly 15 minute long) segments:
BAD RELIGION – a story exploring how religious folks are a danger to us all
THE MASTER PLAN – a recent story concerning the game plan of the global elite
SCIENCE WORKS – a story from the world of science, unlocking the secrets of the ‘verse
CAM’S LIBRARY – as you know, I read a lot. So I thought I’m share one of the books I’m reading at the moment.
I’m going to try to set it up so you can actually come ONTO the show as well, audio style. Either just using uStream or via Skype. So if you’re interested in being on the show, let me know.
Hope you’ll join me.
