Ever go to school for love?  Ever wonder where is the educational center that walks us through how to get our love needs met?  Or are we doomed to experiment all our life and maybe lose the game because we just don't get it?

Millions over the centuries have lost the game of love.  Thousands have ended the game and died for love.
 

• Who invented the game? 
• What is a love relationship supposed to do? 
• What role does it play in today's society? 
• How did we get where we are today with love. 
• What does consumerism have to do with love? 
• How is love today different than 1000 years ago?
• What does love have to do with marriage?

 
These questions and more than you want to know may be answered by anthropology Professor Michael Wesch presenting the history of love and marriage from a 12th century perspective using Tristan & Isolde as the centerpiece to discuss today's 21st century love-marriage ritual.

How does your love-marriage relationship compare to the 12th century version? What kind of relationship help would take you to your goal of feeling complete today?

Michael Wesch, Professor of Cultural Anthropology and Digital Ethnography at Kansas State University presented the following talk in June at the Lincoln Center.  Catch him on his blog

He was definitely pleased with the attendees stating on his blog: "The gathering may have been the highest concentration of amazingly creative and concerned global citizens I have ever been around.

Hallway conversations were different than your typical conversations. Instead of lots of people saying, “You know, somebody should … ” there were lots of people saying, “So I did this, this, and this, and now I’m working on doing this, this, and this and we should collaborate … ”

In other words, it was a bunch of people blessed with what I once heard Yochai Benkler and Henry Jenkins call “critical optimism.” Nobody there was blindly optimistic, thinking technology was going to make everything better.

They were all continually trying to figure out where we are, where we might be going, and the possible downsides and dangers of new technologies so we can use the new technologies to serve human purposes. In other words, it was my kind of crowd."

As you're watching - take notes on how you want to frame your own web 2.0 videos, if you're into that:)

Evan Williams interview about monetizing Twitter

Do you know Evan Williams? Heard of Twitter? The online social network was developed by Evan Williams. Here's a brief history. Williams, born in 1972 in Clarks Nebraska, left the University of Nebraska after a year and a half to get on with his career. Don't miss this part. Here's another entrepreneur that placed little value on "higher education" and trusted himself to find his own true purpose. Like the song, he did it his way!

After leaving school, Williams worked at various technology jobs and start-up firms in Key West, Dallas, Austin, Texas. In 1996 Williams moved to Sebastopol, California in Sonoma County to work for the technology publishing company O'Reilly Media. He started at O'Reilly in a marketing position but eventually became an independent contractor writing computer code, which led to freelance opportunities with companies including Intel and Hewlett-Packard.

Evan Williams co-founded Pyra Labs to make project management software. A note-taking feature spun off as Blogger - one of the first web applications for creating and managing web logs. Williams invented the term "blogger" and was instrumental in the popularization of the term "blog". Pyra was eventually acquired by Google in 2003.

In 2004 Williams co-founded a podcasting company, Odeo, and sold it to Sonic Mountain. In 2007, along comes Twitter which he is currently CEO.

That's the back story.

So, in keeping with blogging, only briefer, Twitter to the rescue. Sending out short, to the point, yet meaningful messages is a great way to keep in touch with your Tweeples.

Evan's idea for Twitter was a service that not only allows people to post short "micro" entries (by enforcing a self-created parameter that allows users a maximum of 140 characters per post), but also helps people stay connected through the use of followers, text messages, and @replies.

The Twitter followers are coining their own lingo to describe some of the everyday actions that take place on the site. "Tweets," for example, is the term used to describe each of your short, 140 character or less, posts to update your Twitter profile.

In this article, the target is to review the simple, everyday things you'll need to know in order to get started on Twitter and set yourself up for maximum exposure using this free online social network service.

Follow these steps:

1.  Create an account at Twitter. - use your current business name, domain name, or personal name. Use the name you are most recognized by and keep it simple and brief.

2.  Check the "Settings" tab and customize your profile; enter a short bio along with the URL to your web site. Include a photo. Personally, I do not accept follower requests if they don't have a photo. The default images on Twitter are ugly. I like to connect with real humans thus, I want to see a face or reasonable facsimile thereof. Double your chances of getting a click to your web site by including a hyperlink within your bio as well as in the form box that asks for your URL.

3.  Go to the "Devices" tab and get your account setup on your mobile phone. This comes in handy when you are out-and-about having waaaaay too much fun. You can turn this on and off

Alrighty then, you are now ready to tweet.

You are limited to 140 characters per message - if you want to include a URL use Tiny URL or Snip URL.

Use Twitter wisely. Be kind, considerate and generous.

1.  Do not include a URL in every tweet.

2.  Do not tweet constantly

3.  Do not start fights, argue, call anyone names, be offensive in anyway

4.  Do reply back to people that follow you - like this - Create an upbeat tweet that welcomes them and thanks them - be generous here - the law of reciprocity is at play. Review the daily tweets you receive and tweet their message back using the @theirname thus, letting all of your followers know about them. Your generosity will build your community, get you more followers and make you some fabulous friends.

5.  Do share your daily activities, home life, children antics, volunteer work, seminars you attend, ask questions, etc with your Tweeple. This gives everyone human connect points to build relationships.

6.  Do follow more people than are following you. If the numbers go the other way, you'll get stuck and won't be able to add more followers.

You can get on the fast track and start adding new followers by doing a search right on Twitter. Follow people you find interesting, people you want on your team and people you would like to know more about.

There are twitter products out there to purchase that supposedly help you build a following. Most of these products are spam machines. Proceed cautiously. Do a reputation search on everything you find before purchasing or using. You don't want to get deleted from Twitter or cause any of your followers to complain about you or become miffed with you.

Check out TwitterFeed. It can help you build your following. It's also free. Another tool that can help you manage Twitter and Facebook is SocialOomph - formerly TweetLater. There is a free and paid version. The idea is to automate your social networking as much as possible.

Twitter is a social network revolution in communications. If you haven't yet, I recommend getting set up as soon as possible and I know you'll appreciate its value.

I just met Saras Saravathy while surfing - perhaps "found" her is a better way to describe the event.  I regard her as practical, clear and very grounded in her view of entrepreneurial "prototypes?"  In fact, inspiring as she explains that anyone can make a valuable contribution by taking up entrepreneurship.

Six Facts About Entrepreneurs That May Help You Take The Leap:

1.  The entrepreneurial method as the key skill in assessing the
     resources available.

2.  She looks at the world through entrepreneurial glasses and explains   how entrepreneurs are action-oriented.

3.  She sees the entrepreneur in all of us and explains what characteristics we share

 4.  From the entrepreneur viewpoint, a crisis is another word for
opportunity, thus, she doesn't mind a little recession.

5.  Entrepreneurs are innovators, and in this world, innovation is "the name of the game."  She encourages companies to "encourage change."

6.  Entrepreneurship is a powerful tool for social change.

Update:  Nov 4th 2009 - Dave Lakhani explains how persuasion works to get people following directives that lack common sense.  Specific to James Arthur Ray tragedy - See it here:  Dave Lakhani

I was concerned, sad and appalled to read about the recent press regarding James Arthur Ray's Spiritual Warrior retreat tragedy.  You may be familiar:  three people died and some reports say 21 people were taken by emergency vehicle to hospitals in serious condition.  Two people were pronounced dead upon arrival and the third died this week.  The lodge was overfilled with people - maybe up to 60 people and it was covered with plastic tarps.  A native sweat is never done like this.

My concern is that someone like Ray, known for a hard driving motivational message,  taking people into a sweat.  Clearly, he doesn't understand the purpose of a sweat. 

It's not a sporting event.  It's not competitive.  It's not an achievement.

The sweat lodge is a place to go within and get right with source.  To feel "at one" with great spirit and make the right decision or release  what may be bothering you.  It's sacred.

I've participated in sweat ceremonies many, many times.  I only sweat with native people leading.  The leader is a pipe carrier.  Being a pipe carrier is a responsibility to "walk your talk."  They are chosen for spiritual reasons, not, for any other man-made western-achievement oriented purpose.  They are very humble people and their job is to lead the prayers and be there for you.

A sweat is not a challenge.  It is a place to communicate with spirit.  If I don't feel well, I am free to leave.  I actually did that on my first sweat.  I was overcome with the heat.  My fear drove me out.  But, as soon as I caught my breath, I went back in and finished up the rounds of prayers.  After that first sweat, I was never afraid again.

The preparation for a sweat actually takes a few days to get underway.

We went down to the river to gather red willow branches and hauled them back to the spot we'd chosen for the sweat.  The construction of the lodge is sacred.  We built it with drummers drumming and prayers being said.  We were respectful of the sacred while putting up each piece of the lodge.  We covered the lodge with old wool blankets and quilts.  That's all in a days work believe me.

The day of the sweat, we fasted.  No food and plenty of water because we knew, we would sweat.  No more than twenty people would sweat together.  Usually there were around twelve.

We had special sweat dresses that we wore and I've never sweat with both men and women.  Just women.  The dresses weren't specific to the sweat, we just wore something light weight and easy to move around in.  We would be pretty grimy afterward.

If we had our moon time, we didn't sweat.  No need to during moon time.

Sometimes I would volunteer to tend the fire.  That was an all day job and big sacrifice.  I would be available to the sweat leader when he called for more hot rocks or water. 

The sweat lodge itself represents the "womb of the earth."  Now, think about it - there's no rock and roll going on in a human womb right?  The womb is a place where nurturing happens.  Where life is grown and sustained.

The womb of the earth is the same.  In the womb of the earth you meet Spirit, face to face, eye ball to eye ball.  You breathe Spirit in and connect.  You dream and vision.  You get right inside.  You are humbled by the power of it.  You come out renewed.

After a sweat - IT'S TIME TO PARTY!!  We shower, put on clean clothes and greet a new way of being.  There's a big feast.  Everyone brings their best dish.  There is much to celebrate. 

In my experience, the men and women came together at the feast.  While the sweat took place in two different camps, women at one and men at the other, the feast was a joint affair.  There was much frivolity, laughter and appreciation for life expressed.

Some parents take their job seriously. They think it's up to them to teach their child.  I've heard that children come here to teach rather than be taught.  What if we saw it that way.  Would our lives be different?  Would their innocence take us back to our own original innocence?  Is this what it's like to have the Presence with us?  Couple the innate joy with the capacity to follow our inner prompting. . .