Mail Comments to Mike and/or Kay in San Diego.
There have been reports that
Mike is a self-styled adjunct scholor at
UA UofA
in Tucson on the Sonora Desert, a general systems philosopher and an
independent student of more things than meet the eye including the new science of Complexity: Chaos Theory enters
the conversation here. So does the Gaia Hypothesis as seen by
Ralph Abraham and Memetics as coined by Richard Dawkins and defined
by Richard Brodie (see _Virus of the Mind_),if you stretch your
intellect and imagination a bit. Not to put too fine a point on it, we might do well to consider N.D.Walsch's "Conversations with God."
On a serious note, Howard Bloom says in _The Lucifer Principle_ that "We must find a way in which memes and their superorganismic carriers - nations and subcultures - can compete without carnage," a statement that bears reading in context, check it out.
Or maybe you just need some where
to hang all your suspicions about the "information content
of energy" required to sustain our headlong rush to hold
back entropy. Some relation to Soleri's paradigm: complexity,
miniaturization, and duration, but it alludes me for now. Check
out the Santa Fe (New Mexico) Institute here, but if you're serious
about Complexity a trip to New Mexico is in order, visitors welcome:
tea served weekdays at 3:00 p.m. Stuart Kauffman or Murray Gell-Mann
just might show up.
More on Complexity/Memetics/Emergent Order ect. can be found at the Principia Cybernetica Project (PCP), " an international organization. The Project's aim is the computer-supported collaborative development of an evolutionary-systemic philosophy. Put more simply, PCP tries to tackle age-old philosophical questions with the help of the most recent cybernetic theories and technologies ." Check out PCP here.
Mike was an Internet Society member, until he moved to San Diego where there is more than enough to keep one busy.. Just in case
you're wondering where the Internet protocols come from look here:
ISOC WWW Page Donald M.
Heath, president and CEO of the Society, recently succeeded Vinton
G. Cerf. If you know of Cerf you're excused from a net history
lesson. If you need, heed or indeed feed the Internet, you may
want to consider supporting the society; their membership publications
are worth the price of admission.
Find out more here about Arcosanti, Arcology and Paolo Soleri.
Goal: Omega point. Arcosanti: son of Cosanti foundation. Architectural,
Ecology, and Sociology students seeking a peek into the future
of cities and urban landscapes might consider checking out this
unique concept being built virtually by hand on the high desert
of Arizona. A city without cars, integrated every which way but
loose, ecologically sensitive, frugal, and mind bending. Arcosanti www
is where you want to go next.
This activity, where Mike started as a Computer Docent and sometime
Information Desk Docent, evolved into teaching customers advanced
data bases and the Internet. Mike ended his time in Denver and at the library concentrating on teaching Docents how to teach the public the Internet Browsers and other P.C. based databases at the Library. Says Mike: "teaching
is the best way to learn and maintain any skill; you can't be
left behind if you're trying to keep your students out in front,
or just keep up with them!. "
Web Home page at DPL, a good place to start.
Or alternately, gopher to DPL
where, if you're a bone fide member (have a DPL library card and
live in Denver) you can request, on line, an interlibrary loan!
Top that, suburban heathen. The San Diego City Library in Mike's new home town, with only half the budget/citizen that Denver enjoys, is a virtual intellectual desert by comparison. Their "Friends of the Library in San Diego is a bigger joke: a few people selling used books from time-to-time. Check out the San Diego Public Library, I have better ways of wasting time.
State Senator Mike Coffman from Aurora, in service to his community.
Outside the Capitol he creates jobs in the service sector, a noble
endeavor. Unopposed in the 1996 General Election in a rather conservative district, Senator Coffman is a great role model for representative government, a prolific and lucent writer on large and important issues, and destined for the political spotlight. He ran for and won the 1998 contest for Colorado State Treasurer, but was persuaded to help the US in Iraq in 2005 by returning to the Marine Corps as a Major in civil affairs, serving now in Al Anbar province to help the Iraquis thru the elections this year. GO MIKE!
Connect to Colorado Legislative Information
Access the data base now via ACLIN BBS (303) 786-8700; login:
ac
Mike and Kay moved here in 1996 after twenty six years in Colorado (Parker and Denver). A lot more about this later.
Mike's main pre-occupation has been connections to seafaring and all things nautical. Volunteering at the San Diego Maritime Museum for three years gave me an opportunity to fly to and from, and spend 27 hours aboard the USS Constellation, CV-64 at sea off Baja Mexico. Mike went on to become the resident PC/Network guru providing expert Access97 and other Office97 programming skills to modernize the various data bases used by the Museum, and create an internal network for PC/Macs with shared internet access by DSL.
Here is an example of the other wonders of the world Mike spoke
of earlier:
Guest Books from Hell!
Sign Mike's GeoCities Guestbook
View Comments in Mike's GeoCities Guestbook
The Port of San Diego hosts a number of cruise and merchant marine ships every week. DON'T EXPECT TOO MUCH HERE: the San Diego harbor experiences more high tides per day than merchant ship port calls! How ever, on January 20, 1998 the QE 2 paid a short visit to San Diego. Queen Elizabeth II at Broadway pier in San Diego January 20, 1998.
Think of yourself as a writer? Or have written, but
not much? Or just thinking of writing…. But especially
if you manage information resources that include Journalism and
related fields, check this out: The WWW Virtual Library: Journalism
WWWVL: Journalism
Mike's not so secret (no ebi required here, but at one time...) past connections to writing are available at
Alexander O'Neill: a writer for all seasons
Mail Comments to Mike and/or Kay in San Diego.
The usual counter is now at:
Troubled by "Emergent Order?", "Complex
Adaptive Systems?" , are you just "Coping with
Uncertainty?". Uri Merry can help in his book by that
title. Stuart Kauffman is "At Home in the Universe"
and at the Institute.
Arcosanti Workshop Alumni attended 25th Anniversary
Celebration in AZ in 1995 and re-visited (the Sky Suite!) in May
'96. Mike and Kay were on hand for the first day of the 1998 re-union, but family obligations sent us to other climes, so we missed the weekend events. There are some kindred souls in the alumni who appeared to have the motivation and time to get the alumni network up and running. Time will tell, but the prognosis is very bleak for Soleri's vision. We did our part, and continue to by living in high-density areas sans autos. Time for others to take up the mission.
Mike Volunteered in the Docent program at Denver
Public Library.
Mike Volunteered for three sessions as Legislative Assistant
in Colorado State Legislature
San Diego has no weather. Top that! Here is where you'll find the connection between San Diego
and Arcology and the Tropics. Fast becoming an Icon, The tall ship "Star of India" nee "Euterpe" is a good place to start. Check out to begin your journey!
Humor me, I thought of us Docents at the Museum as the "Euterpe Away Team," helping you to see the 19th Century in all its wonder and glory. Kay and I retired from the Maritime Museum in 2004 and I moved on to the USS Midway CV-41 aircraft carrier museum where I just completed 1,000 hours of volunteer effort for the Docent organization and other volunteer activities.
San Diego comments go here: Moving on from the Maritime Museum San Diego (see below) mike attempted to pay forward his 27 hour Navy tour aboard the USS Constllation by volunteering aboard the Aircraft Carrier Museum USS Midway (CV-41) for 18 months as a Docent, before relocating, to the Sonora Desert.
You can browse the World Wide Web using many starting points. Mike recommends:
Get your own Free Home
Page.
