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What is Changing My Mind Wiki?
Changing My Mind is a living document in parallel media:
- CFS Blog Is writings from the unique mind of Callaghan, youth expert on fishing, videogames, soccer, and p/t muffin man.
- The Documentary Movie follows my experience with seizures and loss of consciousness that started in 1994 in Crete, and culminated in brain surgery in 2003. The seemingly endless editing process persists because I keep liking what we do every time we dive in. Currently it's about 48 minutes long, from 90 hours of source footage.
- MediaWiki -- This ultimate source container for all the spin off concepts and activities. I started using this software to capture and nurture design for Spore Expansion Pack 1, a.k.a. Galactic Adventures. I am very proud of this product. I think it's the most amazing thing I've been involved in since starting at Electronic Arts in 2004.
- IdyllistTweet -- The almost real-time spew from the incessantly chattering verbal side of my brain which, alas, was untouched by the seizures and surgery.
If you wish, you can contact me 5/7/09: This form is back online. Hurray!
- #MonkeyFace_News -- Fathomable rantings from the John Muir of California Mudflats and Rockfish.
Maps and Texts
Latest Mind Output
Scorching Interior
Response to http://current.com/1r4b44c
Let's Start Redesigning This Corporate Kleptocracy Now
Step 1: Abolish the Electoral College
We always hated this institution anyway. This will sure build momentum for the fake election system.
Step 2: Establish the American Idol Nomination System
We'll judge the first round of candidates using this well respected system. Television has done such wonderful things for American Democracy. Let's take it a step further.
Step 3: Shareholders Power
1 Share = 1 Vote. It's simple. If we all believe that the wisest members of our society are the owner-managers of the largest corporations, then we ally ourselves with their candidates, by purchasing shares. Then if a true vote is needed, we know how much we count.
Step 4: Abolish Corporate Taxation
This is obviously the next step, isn't it?
Step 5: Remove all impediments to Corporate Growth
- Make Unions Illegal
- Sell off all public assets, lands, etc. to good, trustworthy, corporate stewards
- Remove Environmental Standards, Abolish the EPA, OSHA, etc. These only inhibit our Corporate Governors
- Put all Social Programs into the hands of Private Corporations. They'll make Social Security profitable.
- Replace all commercial regulatory bodies with Industry Trade Associations
- Replace the American Military with Private Security Organizations. Allow various existing military and intelligence units to raise funds and go private, etc.
MonkeyFace News
Contents |
In The Dark
31 August 2010, by Me and the "earth shaker," workin' things out 5:30 am. Spent the day yesterday drifting around the Pacific Ocean in Loren's 1968 Sea Ray, proving the old adage: that's why it's called fishing not catching. You would think, after working 13 hrs at the ramp the day before, counting at least 1,000 rockfish, collecting data as re: coordinates, bottom depth and gear type, I might be able to put a Goddamned limit of rockfish in the boat! Buffalo sculpins ain't playin, yo. Look at those spines! But no. Great Poseidon, earth shaker, sees fit to torment me by forcing me...
Quien Es Mas Macho?
23 August 2010, by Walking through Wallgreens today and thinking about bears and bulls... and lions and tigers... wolverines and honey badgers... etc etc... The Wallgreens on the corner of 16th and Mission was, 160 some odd years ago, the site of our city's most infamous bear-baiting ring. Hard to imagine this bloody spectacle occurring somewhere beneath those pale flourescent hallways--but it evidently did. On a regular basis, for about ten years--till we ran out of bears. Honey badger: nothing messes with this little bugger. I can't speak for every guy out there but when the whiskey is flowing and the conversation's wandering happily,...
Numero Uno
19 August 2010, by Question: What is the number one commercial fishery in California? That's right. Market squid. A brief survey of relevant squid data shows us that 118,000 some odd tons of Loligo opalascens was landed in California in 2000. That appears to have been the highwater mark. Since then it's been around 50,000 give or take a few short tons. In any event... that's a lot of calamari, yo. Do we all realize that the entire lifespan of a market squid is approximately 9-14 months? We don't normally see so much squidding activity in these here parts of the state (I mean...
Magnificence
17 August 2010, by Rita has recently graced us with her presence. (If you have no idea what I am talking about, click here) Rita In The House Well... what really can be said? Every now and then nature ups and reminds us of her great bounty and magnificence. That is to say Rita Hayworth has been showing up in great abundance these past two weeks and allowing random fishermen to take her home! Imagine, you too could go all the way with Rita Hayworth! And all you have to do is drive 20 miles. Anyhoo... see what cephalopods will bring? I wish I...
So Interesting
14 August 2010, by Fisherman I like fishermen. It's the goddamned truth. Can't be denied. Thing is, I spend all my time dealing with the recreational side of things... not the commercial. But I am far more interested, in fact, in the commercial. Maybe only because I'm not so enmeshed (no pun) in it. I find it all so interesting. Not only that a man (yes, they tend to be men) living in the SF Bay region in the year of our lord: 2010, can wrest a living from the sea, but that the peepul who eat this man's fish, generally, have no idea...
Idyllist Feed
Now I'm in charge of an Entertainment IP Think Tank
It didn't take long for something to emerge after the last gig with the 400 lb Gorilla of video games. Now it's back to the good old times of small shop, high-velocity thinking. Hopefully, I've learned enough about games, brains, and entertainment, software, people, and producing, over the last 30 years, to make this shop successful. It's about time.
Added MonkeyFace News!
Fabulous narratives of the great California intertidal wilderness, from the man who loves it most. He's the John Muir of mudflats and rockfish.
Fixed the MindMap Browser Compatibility Issue
For a long time the Freemind maps would only work in IE. I finally fixed this by updating the FlashObject browser detection script. Thanks to Geoff Sterns. FlashObject Site
New Mindmap Resume
It's a novel idea. How does my Career look as a Mindmap? I think this will take some more development.
First_Resume_Mindmap is the first version, mostly like my standard resume.
10/15/09 Stop strangling yourself with Patents
Too often I am seeing talented individuals who've gone to the trouble to patent their brilliant idea. This is great, in spite of the flexible attitude some foreign governments and corporations show toward foreign patents. It demonstrates a seriousness. It establishes something to raise money with.
But all too often, that's where it breaks down. The inventor is not a business person. In fact, he'll be the first to confess he's paranoid about getting his patent stolen by a shifty Venture Capitalist. He has stories to back up that experience.
So years later, this inventor will still be grinding away, with fortunes yet-to-be-realized. What's worse, he'll have become even more cynical about the investment community. Friends and family will have let him down. He's been on the road, flogging it at conferences. He gets offers, sure, but they all come at the price of ownership.
What's worse, he's not really working in his field, or his shop anymore. He's had to shift his attention to the marketing and professional world that is not his calling. He sleeps at night, however, feeling certain that at least has hasn't sold himself out. He's remained pure and true to his ideals.
What are we to do?
I believe the answer is simple, and the fault rests not only with the inventor, but with the VC community.
Behold the Museum of Unrealized Inventions
Vast in its corridors, storage, archives, and dioramas, it is a paean to Human Ingenuity and Frailty. It asks us, Why do we invent?
9/16/09 stop trying to solve the Grid problem
Distributed Generation is the future of energy in the U.S. We need to stop trying to solve the Grid problem, which dates to the old era of coal-generated electricity, and model all our investment and engineering to onsite generation. Farmers can become energy independent, harnessing the resources of their region. This will bring an end to the petroleum-based Green Revolution and elevate their importance to our economy as models for post-industrialization.
9/14/09 Where the Dollar is Worthless
What is the future of human economy when a third of the Human Race lives in de-monetized, black market dominated, slums?
the Radical Urban Theory Blog has some quality content
Clearly, we have at least a generation of repair to perform if we hope to integrate these people into the productive civilization that two thirds of us enjoy. Imagine trying to buy and sell or hire help with someone who has no experience of money as having value, other than as a symbol of a socio-economic status.
Survival is the focus of the slum economy, and the hallmarks of that economy are barter, intimidation, and slavery. The skills of survival definitely do not include managing credit card debt, healthcare options, or retirement benefits.
The gap is so large between the two economies of the world, that the consequences for the one we prefer will be dire, perhaps even worse than Global Warming.
9/06/09 Laid Off!
Surprise Vacation!
Got laid off from my job as a Game Producer. It's life in Capitalism. Interesting how nicely this coincided with Burnout.
8/24/09 Time for a Vacation
Signs that it's time for a vacation:
- Neck and Head don't seem to agree about which way they should be facing in rest position.
- Yearning glances toward passing Amtrack trains
- DVD burners that never seem to function properly
- Can't get enough soccer, even when legs are in decline after 5 days straight
- Alcohol seems to provide no euphoria. Beginning to doubt that it really ever did.
- Desire to grab kids and hide in treehouse
- Balances in banks never look right
- The words economy and trap keep appearing in the same context.
- Feeling abstracted, like being stuck in the middle of a movie in an uncomfortable seat.
7/7/09 Don't Mistake Twitter for Democracy
Plenty of folks are paid to read and write tweets. Nothing holds them accountable. It's no replacement for journalism. It's an ideal medium for viral marketing. This makes it an ideal medium for rumor mongering and manipulation of mass opinion. Sure it's cool to have your friends tweet you about what's going down at the latest G-8 summit. But don't take it all as purely factual. Look for corroborating evidence, not just re-tweeting.
6/3/09 Immersive is a Dead Ideal
I don't care for immersive anymore. The gimmick of better resolution, better sound, tactile feedback, is all starting to wear thin. What bothers me is the more immersed I become the stronger the nagging suspicion that I'm missing something important. It's why I'm a Twitter addict. It's why I keep hunting for new Internet-aggregator paradigms. Simultaneous Perception of Broad, Parallel Streams = My New Ideal
5/30/09 Internet Insecurity
The Internet was a great idea for the defense of communications networks not unlike those forms employed by guerrilla warfare in occupation conflicts. Naturally, this great environment is fundamentally, philosophically opposed to the hierarchical, Military-Industrial culture of command and control we find the the D.O.D. as well as other global political and economic regimes.
Now, somehow, the Obama Administration has been persuaded that the Internet is far too risky a place for the conduct of modern society ("business") and concern for its welfare must be handed over to a cabal of brains, under the tutelage of spooks and D.O.D. careerists.
Gentlemen, whom do you serve? What future do you really see for humanity in this diverse, polymorphous network? Are the interests of humanity, security, and unfettered communication truly part-and-parcel with those of tone thing to endure and manage the colonization of the Internet by Retail and Marketing.
Malware is a pain, yes. But what about when it's sanctioned by politics? Now, do you really have an outcome in mind for all this cool, tactical, cybernetics?
Who owns the Big Picture? Where can we find it?
5/19/09 Memes from Facebook and Twitter
[Acoustic Ecology] is an ever-evolving subject. q.f. Jacques Attali's excellent book outlining the stupid self-destruction of the Music industry.
5/15/09 This is not a Blog!
The format does resemble a blog, it's true. The topical dis-continuity is one reason for the wiki structure. Very soon, the content will fall into classic category structure. Seeking memes.
5/5/09 Where is the Documentary?
So many people have asked, and I have run out of excuses. Honestly, I don't understand why it's not done. It's definitely the material of psychoanalysis. Why would such an obvious project, with a definite subject and well-defined audience be so hard to complete?
I am a crazed perfectionist. It's terrible and destructive, I know. It relegates my work to eternal mediocrity. I keep wanting to improve things that cannot be improved: Lighting on a badly composed shot, awkward screen direction, statements that just don't mesh.
So often I find myself saying, "If only I could shoot that again." But that's not possible with a doc, is it? It's a total creativity killer. Even setting deadlines doesn't seem to work. I'm not sure I could finish it with a gun to my head.
How will I finish this project?
4/28/09 CMM Titling Work
I'm excited about what we have here for the opening credit sequence of Changing My Mind. I think it looks like we've hit the production value we're after. Now it's just a matter of getting through the polish edit. Ideally, before June.
4/15/09 More Sleep Maps
These maps need a third axis, which represents time, or at least the sleeper's perception of time. Freemind for 3-D construction and viewing would be awesome. In the meantime, I'm looking for suggestions.
4/10/09 Sleep Maps
I had this idea in the middle of a dream. I will try to record a night or two of dreams as a mindmap like This SleepMap
4/06/09 How did I become a videogame developer
It's still a bit of a mystery to me. My first exposure to videogaming was in the form of a gravity simulator on a D.O.D. computer at Sandia Laboratories, in Albuquerque, in 1976. The orbit of the asteroid belt was represented in single color, as small triangles around a single circle, representing earth. The display was an old vector-graphic CRT. The user was invited to adjust the velocity and mass of each of the asteroids, and then observe their orbital changes. Some would decay and burn up in the Earth's atmosphere. Some would be become wildly eccentric, eventually losing orbit. I must have spent an hour at this until I was forced to move on by the facilitator. At that point, I knew I wanted to have this at home, and I was not satisfied until I was about 14, and I could recreate this at home, on my 8 bit, 16K TRS-80 with its ridiculously limited display and capacity. It's ironic that I did not stay on course to become a videogame developer. Rather I diverted to "serious" business applications, to ride the wave of the 90's Internet boom, and didn't return to my true interest into 2003. About the same time I really returned to soccer.
3/19/09 My Next Documentary: Cartographers
I want to make a documentary about map making. My son has inspired me to take maps seriously again. I had lost sight of their importance until he began drawing them, staring at them, begging me to help him in more and more elaborate projections. Now I realize how truly powerful they are as tools of abstraction and order. Giving metrics to all things spacial, or tangible, or even simply great ideas. I would like to see how these people look at the world. My first great experience with maps was mundane. I delivered pizza. Since it was inefficient to have to stop the car in the dark of the evening to read a map, the key to success in finding a new street was to visualize it's location, and the route from the wall-sized streetmap posted in the store. Typically, to stay competitive with the other drivers, I had less than a minute to assimilate the image and see my route. It took time to master, but this skill that has served me much more than I expected.
3/12/2009 Pickup Futbol
I have been a geographer of pickup soccer for 28 years. This year, my retirement from the Melchester Rovers, inspired my return to the serious pursuit of random competition. Recently, Pixar closed its internal campus soccer pitch, exiling their lunchtime crowd to the municipal spaces of Oakland, Emeryville, and Berkeley. The quality of ball is among the best pickup I've found in several years. This is clearly due to the high percentage of immigrants, who grew up with the game. As usual, there is the expectation that we will be shut down by Parks and Rec. Hopefully, protecting the turf isn't the driving concern that protecting grass is. Among other places I have enjoyed pickup soccer:
- San Francisco -- Most resembling the casual games I've encountered in Europe, where the newcomer is not hazed, but generally welcomed. There is a clear spectrum of players. Some take their personal games too seriously. Most are a little more aware of their limitations. The soccer population here sustains several leagues of varying competitiveness. Golden Gate Park's 100 year old Big Field on the south side always has a pickup game, when it is not closed by rain or serious local baseball leagues. Even then, a game will be found in the trees.
- Dharamsala, India -- The games is played with intense joy by the Tibetans in exile. Particular pleasure is taken in thrashing westerners. Generally, this is a really fun game, and a great way to make friends.
- Rethymno, Crete -- Great beach games with English and Germans staying at the local Youth Hostel. Perfect way to clear off the previous night's drinking and make way for the afternoon.
- EA Redwood Shores -- Mostly game developers and a few folks from local high tech companies and Oracle. There is always a sense that these guys work far too much and need this lunchtime pickup they commit to daily, like a religion. Some, occasionally, need to be reminded their playing against VP's and executives as well as peers. But the spirit is good and the ball can occasionally be inspired. A few serious fitness and futbol geeks in the group.
- Puerto Vallarta, Mexico -- Huge numbers of youth, living here for resort work, rarely get to see their home teams in Guadalajara and small towns. Pickups are forming constantly. The tourist, provided he looks capable enough, is generally welcomed. If he puts up a good game, he will be the subject of some rapid bets and fresh competition. Much fun and good comradery will be enjoyed. This is a fantastic way to tour Mexico and completely unexpected and appreciated by the locals.
- Thailand Island Soccer -- This is nearly always a staggering clot of intoxicated Europeans. The locals avoid the matches, preferring Kick-boxing and their own beautiful game of wikipedia:Sepak_Takraw. The Thai are scary agile on the pitch and tend to dribble circles around western competitors. The differences in height and body-mass can occasionally produce some embarrassing knocks, which is probably another reason mixed pickup games are rare. Dedicated expats around Bangkok have formed clubs and found ways to mix a new quality ball with the Thai. It's a more elaborate game than you see in the US and Western Europe, with lots of one touch volley-passing, and most goals scored in dazzling ricochet. Often a breakaway, or solo goal is not celebrated the way a cooperative strike is. This game takes real time to break into. The reward is a viable social network for someone who intends to live there.
- Parma, Italy -- Wintertime games on the hard earth feel more like their northern counterparts in Romania, than down south. The foreigner may have to wait awhile before being invited to join, and the game is pursued with the utmost seriousness. Afterward, however, there will be smiles and good wine to enjoy.
- Bolinas, California -- The serious physical types that enjoy this north coast surf, play their pickup games with remarkable fitness and energy. One of the few places where I am not the oldest walk-on. A few gray beards put up a decent defense and occasional scramble against the more aggressive 20-somethings. A great Sunday afternoon ritual followed by beers.
- Emeryville, California -- The special effects studio, Tippett, has a core of dedicated lunchtime footballers. The games are similar to the EA matches across the Bay in San Carlos. Usually, a contingent of Latino players joins this group in the Berkeley parks, to raise the game a bit. This tends to be more closed than others I've encountered. Mistakes elicit jeers and complaints, which is the hallmark of weekend warrior pickups. But, when the teams are balanced and the egos forgotten, the matches can be good.