Yesterday was a dramatic weather day in Portland. Given the unique conditions, photographers throughout the city took to the frozen streets to document what they saw.
PDX Pipeline has a great recap of the day in pictures and Tweets. Additionally, Flickr groups sprung up to capture the day in images.
Geoff Kleinman, writing on OurPDX.net looks back at the Web 1.0 tech boom that took place a decade ago and sees similarities to today.
He also looks forward and wonders if an insular community can step up and out for their own benefit.
The brutal truth is that 2009 is going to be an extremely rough year for many people in the community. Local companies have just started layoffs and a lot more are on the horizon. Great adversity can create great opportunities for a community to come together, support each other and find ways to use that community strength to grow. But for the Portland Tech Community to be relevant it takes more than just coming together. If the goal is to ‘put Oregon tech on the map’ then it’s going to take crossing the lines and reaching out to local businesses, involving people from outside the tight knit community and working together to create relevant national stories about Portland and tech.
As I attend various tech events in Portland, people invariably ask me, “How are you connected to all this?” It’s an innocent question for the most part.
The other day, I told one developer that I’m not connected. That I moved to Portland in August and I come to town with a history in, and interest in, marketing technology. Of course, that bit of information makes me something other than an engineer—a person who makes things! So, as I reflect on Kleinman’s call to action, I think yes, the engineers might want to warm up to people from my profession. Not all ad men are exploiters. Some of us are, in fact, as idealistic as the hackers who’ve made it their business to change the world.
We went downtown last night to see Jerry Joseph and the Jackmormons play at Dante’s on SW 3rd and Burnside. It was good to see Jerry open strong with “1936 Jesus” into “Chinese Balls” followed by “Savage Garden.”
note the shoes (Jerry typically plays barefoot)
Jerry hasn’t been performing under the Jackmormons banner for a few years, but that time is now past. Jerry explains:
…we have decided that the moratorium on the Jackmormons name is over, so its the Jackmormons = junior, drizos and myself. no…brad is not dead, he was last spotted at the oregon country fair mumbling something about 2012 and “making the snakes go away”. aside from that unforunate moment, there is no weird political cloak and dagger shit. brad’s and my life have intertwined for the bulk of our 25 year friendship and i’m sure we will see him again soon….but we just felt that the j-mos name is less confusing than the denmark-jack-sometime-stockholm-electric-solo-duo-trio-vessymormons, so we shall be kicking off the the “whatever happend to dragging it out behind the barn and killing it with an axe” tour 09 with some rockies shows and then the NYE run as the Jackmormons.
Jerry’s presence brought out some old friends–I was pleasantly surprised to see Chris Reddish who flew in from Salt Lake and I bumped in to David Warrington, the photog who took the famous Veneta ’82 image that hangs on my wall (and has since 1989, when I purchased a print from him outside the Frost Theatre in Palo Alto).
MP3 Offering: “Elastic” by The Denmark Veseys
Cross the Burnside Bridge into downtown Portland and you will be greeted by one of the most iconic neon signs in existence. It says, “Made in Oregon” and features a leaping stag whose nose cheerfully turns red during the holiday season.
The sign was first constructed by the White Satin Sugar Company in 1940. It was changed in 1957 to read “White Stag” by White Stag Sportswear. The Naito family, owners of the Made in Oregon chain, again rebranded the sign in 1995.
This is where it gets interesting. Made in Oregon is a brand name and prominent retail business in Oregon. But the phrase “Made in Oregon” is a mantra that all Oregonians can relate to and embrace. So, it’s a particularly positive piece of branding that has transcended commerce and become a civic landmark.
Now, University of Oregon, a tenant in the White Stag Building where the neon sign is perched wants to modify the text of the sign to read “University of Oregon.” See WWire for a sketch of the proposed changes.
According to Portland Business Journal, there’s resistance to the change from residents of Portland and city officials, some of whom attended Portland State University (presumably Oregon State grads would have a say in this, as well).
It’s hard to fault O of U for pursuing the change. It’s a bold move, but one that would clearly help build their brand after the dust up washes out to sea. At the same time, it’s hard to support U of O in this, since the existing sign works for everyone, not just Ducks.
Local rivers and the magnificent fish in them have been top of mind recently. On Monday night we attended a World Affairs Council-sponsored series of talks by professional river savers at the EcoTrust Building in the Pearl District.
We enjoyed hearing from Jeremy Five Crows of the Nez Pierce tribe and the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission. He educated us on the Columbia Basin Fish Accords, an historic collaboration between the four tribes in the Columbia River basin and the federal government. At the heart of the Accords is a 10-year, $900 million agreement to restore salmon habitat. Five Crows mentioned that the tribes can’t advocate for dam removal during this 10-year term, which I found interesting. He didn’t say anything about the rest of us pursuing that particular goal.
Today, while doing my internet rounds, I happened upon Rivers in Demand a project from media advocacy group, Epicocity. Here’s a sample of their mission-driven work:
As you can see in the video above, the Rogue’s 40 anniversary of protection under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was greeted by a proposal to log in its basin. Thankfully, a coalition of concerned groups, called Save The Wild Rogue, is working to extend Wild and Scenic protection to the Rogues tributaries, which would stymie the logging plan.
Kavita Heyn of American Rivers (where I once worked!) and Stephanie Tidwell of Klamath-Siskiyou Wild are helping to lead the charge for the Rogue.
I love this:
Dick Cavett: I heard you use the expression “electric church” as an ambition you had, was this speaking metaphorically or poetically or do you really want to…?
Jimi Hendrix: It’s just a belief that I have. We do use electric guitars. Everything you know is electrified now days, therefore the belief comes through the electricity to the people. That’s why we play so loud. Because it doesn’t actually hit through the eardrums like most groups do now days. They say we’re gonna play loud too, ’cause they’re playin’ loud. And they got this real shrill sound, you know, that’s really hard. We play for our sound to go inside the soul of the person, actually, you know. And see if they can awaken some kind of thing in their minds, you know, ’cause there’s so many sleeping people.
“I live on Earth at present, and I don’t know what I am. I know that I am not a category. I am not a thing — a noun. I seem to be a verb, an evolutionary process – an integral function of the universe.” – R. Buckminster Fuller
I feel fortunate that we were able to see Portland Center Stage’s production, R. Buckminster Fuller: THE HISTORY (and Mystery) OF THE UNIVERSE last night. Going in, I didn’t know much about this man. The fact that I did not seems incredible to me now. Be that as it may, I certainly care to know more.
There was so much density in last night’s finely honed delivery of Fuller’s vision, that I hardly know where to begin. But I can point to a few things that jumped out at me. Fuller’s sense of “design responsibility” grabbed me. So did his admonition to do more with less. I was also impressed with his playful, but serious, use of the English language. For instance, Fuller coined lots of terms in his day. One that stands out for me is “livingry.” Livingry is the opposite of weaponry and killingry, and means that which is in support of all human, plant, and Earth life. It’s an idea that brings to mind Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich’s call for a Department of Peace. I wonder where Obama is on that idea.
While I ponder that, take a look at this video on Fuller, clearly one of the more enigmatic American thinkers (and doers) in the 20th century:
At the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco on Friday, Al Gore said Web 2.0 can be utilized to serve a common, but higher, purpose.
“The purpose, I would urge all of you — as many of you as are willing to take it up — is to bring about a higher level of consciousness about our planet and the imminent danger and opportunity we face because of the radical transformation in the relationship between human beings and the Earth,†Mr. Gore said.
According to the Times’ Bits blog, Gore also said, the nation needs to build “an electronet,” a unified national smart grid, with high-voltage, low-loss underground wires that deliver renewable energy from the places that produce it — like the sunny Arizona deserts or the windy Dakota plains — to the cities where the majority of it is used. Such a grid would require a $400 billion investment upfront, but would pay off in just over three years, he said.
The task, to summarize, is to use cloud computing, open source technology and viral networks to share mission critical information that directly leads to environmental upgrades in the nation’s infrastructure.
Reuben and Cherise
The Lorax speaks for all trees
I speak for two, Reuben and Cherise.
These towering firs caught the scent of Lewis and Clark
On an updraft from the mighty Columbia.
It was the first whiff of progress,
And it took some getting used to.
The neighborhood was thick then.
Eagles fished from Reuben’s limbs
Bears clawed Cherise’s bark
And many long-needled creatures
With deep Cascadian roots
Stood tall in every direction.
Bye and bye, legions of white men
With sharpened axes came
To thin the forest boreal.
By luck of the draw,
Reuben and Cherise survived.
Today the grind of industry
Contiues to churn
Making the squirels run faster
And the ‘coons climb higher.
Ch-chug, ch-chug
Train whistles blow in the night.
Rueben and Cherise prefer the
Hoot of the owl.
[via JamBase]