Both MySpace and Facebook lost visitors in September, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, a Web-tracking service. The number of unique U.S. visitors at MySpace fell 4% to 47.2 million from 49.2 million in August, and the number of visitors to Facebook fell 12% to 7.8 million from 8.9 million.
The practice of enrollment is about giving yourself as a possibility to others and being ready, in turn, to catch their spark. It is about playing together as partners in a field of light. And the steps to the practice are:
1. Imagine that people are an invitation for enrollment
2. Stand ready to participate, willing to be moved and inspired
3. Offer that which lights you up
4. Have no doubt that others are eager to catch the spark.
A "no" can so often dampen our fire the world of the 'downward spiral'. It can seem like permanent, implacable barrier that presents us with limited choices: to attack, to manipulate our way around it, or to bow to it in defeat. In other words, a "no" can seem like door slamming instead of merely an instance of the way things are. Yet, we were to take a "no" less personally, and ourselves less seriously, we might hear something else. We might hear someone saying, "I don't see any new possibility here, so I think I'll stick with my usual way of doing things". We might here withing the word "no" an invitation for enrollment.
Expensive Cameras in Checked Luggage
This is a blog post about the problems of being forced to check
expensive camera equipment on airplanes:
"Well, having lived in Kashmir for 12+ years I am well accustomed to
this type of security. We haven't been able to have hand carries since
1990. We also cannot have batteries in any of our equipment checked or
otherwise. At least we have been able to carry our laptops on and
recently been able to actually use them (with the batteries). But, if
things keep moving in this direction, and I'm sure it will, we need to
start thinking now about checking our cameras and computers and how to
do it safely. This is a very unpleasant idea. Two years ago I ordered a
Canon 20D and had it "hand carried" over to meet me in England by a
friend. My friend put it in their checked bag. The bag never showed up.
She did not have insurance and all I got $100 from British Airways for
the camera and $500 from American Express (buyers protection) that was
it. So now it looks as if we are going to have to check our cameras and
our computers involuntarily. OK here are a few thoughts."
Pretty basic stuff, and we all know about the risks of putting expensive
stuff in your checked luggage.
The interesting part is one of the blog comments, about halfway down.
Another photographer wonders if the TSA rules for firearms could be
extended to camera equipment:
"Why not just have the TSA adopt the same check in rules for
photographic and video equipment as they do for firearms?
"All firearms must be in checked baggage, no carry on.
"All firearms must be transported in a locked, hard sided case using a
non-TSA approved lock. This is to prevent anyone from opening the case
after its been screened.
"After bringing the equipment to the airline counter and declaring and
showing the contents to the airline representative, you take it over to
the TSA screening area where it is checked by a screener, relocked in
front of you, your key or keys returned to you (if it's not a
combination lock) and put directly on the conveyor belt for loading onto
the plane.
"No markings, stickers or labels identifying what's inside are put on
the outside of the case or, if packed inside something else, the bag.
"Might this solve the problem? I've never lost a firearm when flying."
Then someone has the brilliant suggestion of putting a firearm in your
camera-equipment case:
"A 'weapons' is defined as a rifle, shotgun, pistol, airgun, and STARTER
PISTOL. Yes, starter pistols -- those little guns that fire blanks at
track and swim meets -- are considered weapons...and do NOT have to be
registered in any state in the United States.
"I have a starter pistol for all my cases. All I have to do upon
check-in is tell the airline ticket agent that I have a weapon to
declare...I'm given a little card to sign, the card is put in the case,
the case is given to a TSA official who takes my key and locks the case,
and gives my key back to me.
"That's the procedure. The case is extra-tracked...TSA does not want to
lose a weapons case. This reduces the chance of the case being lost to
virtually zero.
"It's a great way to travel with camera gear...I've been doing this
since Dec 2001 and have had no problems whatsoever."
I have to admit that I am impressed with this solution.
http://blogs.lexar.com/mattbrandon/2006/08/tighter_securit.html
Guruji.com, an Internet search engine focused on the Indian market, has raised $7 million from Sequoia Capital India. www.guruji.com
That means that YouTube viewership alone is reducing productivity by over $52 million per day or $19 billion per year.
I don't think it's future will be determined by its ability to purchase this social network or another. Yahoo already has expertise in that area with Flickr, Delicious and a slew of other internal projects. Yahoo must sort out its advertising system so that it can start generating a similar amount of cash that is really powering Google's surge.
It turns out that the Chinese don't view themselves as operating in the same league as the U.S. or Japan. Instead, the country that is most often in their sights is India.
And it is that competition with India that weighs often on Chinese minds. While leaders in China feel that their infrastructure and sense of aspiration is greater than India's, they are acutely aware of how the Indians have educated themselves and prepared for a global economy. In particular, they envy India's advanced English-language training, and the fact that Indian schools have been better at instilling creativity and innovation in students. Failure to master those language and applied learning skills is thought to be a key factor holding China back.
BROADBAND FROM ABOVECheckout the pictures at http://www.capanina.org - cool!
Sometimes it seems like there must be a "can you top this" contest going on for developing novel ways to deliver broadband, with gas pipes, electrical lines, and all manner of local and wide-area wireless schemes competing with more traditional telecom and cable access systems. But this latest scheme to reach a last untapped market of remote users may take the cake.
<http://epsilon.thedeal.com/t/27124/235409/9596/0/ >
