Forgotten Chicago is a new website dedicated to documenting little known elements of Chicago’s infrastructure, architecture, neighborhoods and general cityscape, whether existing or historical. I just had a nice little look around and will stay tuned, hoping the site will keep growing.

What About Me?

I’m here talking with Therese Rowley, mystic, healer, management consultant, speaker, writer, educator… about how she can start a blog. Can’t wait to read what’s really going on when she does what she does.

A new toy …er, tool. I’m giving FeedBlitz a try. See the sidebar. For those of you whose primary web destination says “Inbox” at the top. Now you can read by email. Just enter your address in the box and click add. Your address will be used for NOTHING but delivering blog posts.

To blog or not to blog? Well… okay… blog. It’s been a grand experiment, but there are things I put here now that I don’t have any other place to put. Much to my surprise, and chagrin, there is more to say. So without further ado, here is where I’ve been, mostly gladly, spending big piles of attention these last four months…

• Four weeks of being very much out in the world, in India and Nepal, honeymooning, retreating, and training in Open Space (notes for the latter, totally redesigned, forthcoming)
• Learning to use a cellphone. Yes I finally caved, converted my oldest landline, so the number remains the same. And yes, learning… still catching myself listening for the dial tone before dialing. (grin)
• Rebuilding the best bicycle I ever had (1981). Photo forthcoming, when it gets launched on the first good bright sunny day of Spring.
• Tearing around Lincoln Square area on foot and on my other bicycle, learning to ride in the cold again, for first time since high school — and looking for a HOUSE.
• Learning to ride the bike and talk on the phone.
• Long holidays with the WHOLE family.
• Facilitating the 2nd Annual Chicago Area Food Policy Advisory Summit, especially rewarding as this is the most lively growing edge of what started in a statewide Summit I facilitated in 2001.
• C3 summit project, C3 weblog, green dinners, WorldChanging, and Massive Change in the City.
• Updates to MichaelHerman.com and OpenSpaceWorld.org
• Opening Space projects, including one for the City of Aspen, a community-wide affair to cultivate broad community support to resolve a decades-old debate about what to do about inbound traffic there.

The Aspen events happen later this week, so I’m off to the airport. Inviting Again. Call me on the slopes, I’ll think I’m going to need the rest breaks!

Imposed in 1898 to help finance the Spanish-American War, (one of the) taxes on long distance calls end today. You can even get a refund for taxes paid in the last few years. Don’t spend it all in one place.

via Mises.

It’s 2:30AM here in central Sweden, and I think it’s already starting to get light out. I’m not sure it ever really got dark. So strange to look out the window at in the middle of the night, and see all the way across the meadow!

A “No” uttered from deepest conviction is better and greater than a “Yes” merely uttered to please, or what is worse, to avoid trouble. – Mahatma Gandhi

via ricHARD Makepeace

Iran Press Service is the oldest post-revolution English language Iranian publication outside Iran. Created in 1980 it is also one of the first Iranian Internet publications.

I don’t know if it’s more accurate or reliable than what comes through the mainstream media. I’m just glad to have an alternative source of information on Iranian nuclear diplomacy. Feels like I learn more reading Iranians on Iran, even when they report from Paris, than when I read Americans and Europeans, reporting from anywhere.

UPDATE: See also GlobalVoices for individual voices on Iran, thanks to Christy.

…the new wordpress widget, from the dashboard of my new powerbook. this rocks. go apple, go!

I’m just finishing the first wave of settling into a gorgeous new Powerbook, and OSX 10.4… so I’m finally Skype-able!

Skype me and tell me how it works! All versions of my name were taken, so my Skype name is globalchicago.