Stuart Eglin Online

Stuart Eglin Online

Posts Tagged Things I found

REM – something for free whilst the new album is being made

Jul 17

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Music, Things I found | No Comments

R.E.M.hq: EXTRAS-REMix

When the last REM album (Around the Sun) came out a couple of years ago, I saw the video to the first single, – ‘Leaving New York’.

It was nothing startling or different, but then why would REM want to do that when they have a formula that works. As with much of their best work, the lyrics tug at a melancholic feeling that connects us together. After watching the video I visited their official website for the first time. And found that they have a load of remix downloads available which are worth a listen. They can be downloaded for free – just follow the link.

REM have just finished a series of dates in Ireland to test out new material and are now in a studio in that country working on the new album.

[From the 'Things I found' archive - with an update!]

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Global Children’s Art Gallery

Jul 12

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Things I found | No Comments

I first found this website a couple of years ago. Another look today, and I see that it is still thriving. So many websites are ephemeral – they come and go. But ones like the Global Children’s Art Gallery deserve to persist as the web grows and evolves.

Put simply, the site is a collection of children’s art – totally inspiring. When you consider that many great artists aspire to be able to rediscover the innocence with which they painted when they were young, it makes sense to put together such stunning work.

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.“- Pablo Picasso

The project belongs to the Natural Child Project – “Our vision is a world in which all children are treated with dignity, respect, understanding, and compassion. In such a world, every child can grow into adulthood with a generous capacity for love and trust. Our society has no more urgent task.”

The Global Children’s Art Gallery now features 1,050 pictures by children from 67 countries. Browse all the pictures, and order prints, posters, greeting cards and clothing to support our work. Take a look.


[From the 'Things I found' archive]

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Global Ideas Blog

Jul 3

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Things I found | No Comments

I first wrote about the Global Ideas Bank on my old blog called ‘Things I found’ back in 2004. It’s great to revisit some of these things and still find the energy there. This blog, not a high frequency one, has great links to places like NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) which are well worth exploring.

The blog belongs to the Global Ideas Bank site. The bank is a place where you can find or post your own big ideas. It’s a great place to look for inspiration. Meanwhile, the blog is a good read too, and has good links to other blogs with ideas on them.

[From the 'Things I found' archive]

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World Cafe – a great way to get everyone involved

Jun 29

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Personal Development, Things I found | No Comments

Welcome to The World Cafe

A couple of years ago, I took part in a knowledge cafe, run by David Gurteen. I wrote about it on my now deceased blog called ‘Things I found’. The technique, which is openly available in a truly open source way, is a brilliant way to get true participation. I used it myself for an event which I facilitated at the start of this year.

The technique is taken from the work of the World Cafe, which can be found at their website. The Principles of the World Café are:

* Clarify the Context
* Create Hospitable Space
* Explore Questions That Matter
* Connect Diverse Perspectives
* Encourage Each Person’s Contribution
* Listen Together for Patterns, Insights and Deeper Questions
* Share Collective Discoveries

They work well because:

* The future is born in webs of human conversation
* Compelling questions encourage collective learning
* Networks are the underlying pattern of living systems
* Human systems–organizations, families, communities–are living systems
* Intelligence emerges as the system connects to itself in diverse and creative ways
* Collectively, we have access to all the wisdom and resources we need

I particularly like the fact each table is covered in paper sheets and everyone is encouraged to write or draw on them. This gives the quieter members of a group an alternative way to contribute. I also like the ‘consensus’ approach which encourages everyone to build on others’ ideas rather than to critique them.

(From the ‘Things I found’ archive)

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Elephant Talk, a King Crimson website – now it’s a Wiki

Jun 5

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Music, Things I found | No Comments

ETWiki Home – ETWiki

Elephant Talk was a regular newsletter for some 15 years which updated the fan / fanatic about the activities of King Crimson, all of its members through the years and their own solo activities. It took the form of a discussion list, so there were many diverse views in each edition. At times Robert Fripp himself posted entries to it.

Anyway it ceased publication as a newsletter recently, and has now entered the world of Web 2.0 by converting itself into a Wiki using the same technology as Wikipedia itself. It’s worth a look if you are curious about any of this branch of music. There’s probably the answer to pretty much anything you might want to know in the pages of the wiki.

Now, I’ve been thinking for a while that there must be some really useful applications of wiki technology. I have started to experiment again with WikidPad which is really easy to use and has moved on a lot since I last used it. Of course, it is always important to avoid the trap of finding a useful piece of technology and then hunting desperately for something to use it on. It should be the other way round! That said, I will be experimenting with the whole wiki approach because I really like the intuitive and flexible approach.

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Ken Wilber: Welcome

Mar 20

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Books and Book Reviews, Things I found | No Comments

Many months ago I spent an evening in a bookshop, browsing through books and drinking coffee (vanilla latte – my favourite). I spent a while browsing through a book called ‘One Taste’ which is in the form of a diary. It comprises daily reflections on a wide range of subjects. It was an excellent book to dip into. It sort of reminded me of ‘A Year with Swollen Appendices’ by Brian Eno which is an absorbing read across a dizzying array of subjects.

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TED Talks

Mar 15

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Personal Development, Things I found | No Comments

TEDTalks (audio, video)

I was led to ‘TED’ by David Gurteen who wrote about it in one of his recent newsletters (well worth subscribing to – it is free!) TED stands for ‘Technology, Entertainment, Design’. It is an annual event which hosts talks, music etc. But it is much more than that description implies. If I said that speakers over the years have included Tony Robbins, Malcolm Gladwell, Bono, Peter Gabriel, Richard Dawkins, Dan Gilbert, Nicholas Negroponte, Dan Dennett, and Al Gore – would that give some idea of the sheer range and depth of presentations? TED sells out at least a year ahead, and is to an invited audience anyway. So, why should I be talking about this? Well, the link above takes you to a page where you can download videos of over 70 of these speakers. More are added each week – using an RSS feed, they can be downloaded as video podcasts. I’ve watched a handful of them and am incredibly inspired by what I have seen.

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Paris Transatlantic magazine

Mar 9

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Music, Things I found | No Comments

‘Paris Transatlantic’ is an online magazine. I originally found it and posted a link to it a couple of years ago, on an earlier weblog.

If you are interested in new music, contemporary, electronica and jazz it is well worth a visit. It would appeal to anyone who wants to explore sounds and names that they are unlikely to have heard of before. The editing of the magazine is handled by a team of people including Nate Dorward (who also edits an excellent poetry magazine) and Dan Warburton who has written for Wire magazine for a few years now. Dan Warburton has also produced music for the online stasisfield music label, which I love.

The magazine comes out monthly and is worth a surf when you have a few minutes to spare.

(From the ‘things i found’ archive)

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Gurteen Knowledge Seeds

Feb 2

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Things I found | No Comments

This is brilliant! I attended a Workshop a couple of years ago, run by David Gurteen. I also subscribe to his monthly e-newsletter. Follow the link and you will find a page with a button on it. Click the button, and a small window opens where ideas will be posted at an interval which you can choose. The ideas range from quotes, to suggestions, or book references. Try it.

It’s a great way to get inspiration moving. But do be warned – if you are easily distracted like I am, you will need to time its use very carefully.

This is the first of a series of posts taken from a parallel weblog which I ran for a while called “Things I found”. It was a place I used to keep links to interesting things on the internet. Now that blogger has labels I can do this within the main blog!

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British Library Treasures in full

Jun 27

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Books and Book Reviews, Things I found | No Comments

Treasures in full: Shakespeare’s plays, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Gutenberg’s Bible

This is well worth a visit. I have to confess to being a bit of a library geek. I love looking at books. When I was a student (many years ago!) I used to spend hours in the special collection in the University Library looking at rare and old books. I was particularly impressed with very old manuscripts of books by Aubrey Beardsley.

The link takes you to the British Library website where you can find digital images of the pages of various editions of Shakespeare’s plays, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Gutenberg’s Bible. The Quartos of Shakespeare’s plays were published towards the end of his life – books that are 400 years old. The site enables you to compare different versions of the same play, which is great if you are into that sort of thing.

For me, the main attraction is the ability to actually browse through the pages of these incredibly rare manuscripts. Thank you, British Library!

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Best Tool For the Job

Jun 22

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Things I found | No Comments

Best Tool For the Job

This is a site that I found for the first time today. It has a great post called “Ten Things You Can Do Today to Jump-start Success”. It is well worth a visit to read the detail, but the headlines are:

1. Read or listen to something that motivates you every single day.

2. Keep a journal of your daily progress and carry it with you wherever you go.

3. Make goals and re-write them every day.

4. Keep track of every person you meet.

5. Begin investing a portion of your income today.

6. Begin looking for opportunities to build passive income (money that you don’t have to work for once you’ve done the initial work) and write down or begin working on your ideas.

7. Only sleep as much as you need to.

8. Look for opportunities to serve.

9. Keep track of every penny that you spend or save.

10. Stop being a victim. Focus on what YOU can DO.

You really need to read the extra detail on Marcus’ website to apply these – I thought they were a great set of things to work on.

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Edge

Jun 20

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Things I found | No Comments

Edge

In the interests of exploration I have just ventured into a site which is new to me. It is at www.edge.org and is an amazing repository of articles, interviews and comment – it describes itself:

“Edge Foundation, Inc., was established in 1988 as an outgrowth of a group known as The Reality Club. Its informal membership includes of some of the most interesting minds in the world. The mandate of Edge Foundation is to promote inquiry into and discussion of intellectual, philosophical, artistic, and literary issues, as well as to work for the intellectual and social achievement of society.”

It’s full of amazing ideas and information from people like Stewart Brand (Clock of the Long Now), Dave Winer (podcasting) and scientists like Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and Stephen Pinker. There is also an interview with and set of commentary on Brian Eno, on the subject of Big Culture. The only down-side to a website like this is that it is one huge time-sink. One can get lost in there for hours at a time, and come out the other side trying desperately to remember what the reason was for going onto the net in the first place.

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