📺 Episode 3 of Essential Life

One minute, I was strolling through the quaint neighborhoods and gentle parks of west Hillsboro…mere miles away from Portland, OR. Next thing you know, I’m totally LOST in the the woods! Do I ever make it out alive??? You’ll just have to watch this video to find out.

#portland #oregonexplored #minimalism #vlog

The good part about joining a gym that has a café area is I can bring my laptop here and get work done.

The bad part is now I’m sitting in a chair working on my computer, and I’m at a freakin’ gym! 🧐🤨😭

📺 Episode 2 of Essential Life

This week’s challenge is to practice the power of observation! Learn all about a fantastic awareness training technique I learned from Mindsight by Dr. Daniel Siegel. And of course more Portland awesomeness, more trains, and more coffee!

#portland #oregonexplored #minimalism #vlog

Ta da! 🎉 The first video in the brand new Essential Life series of vlog episodes I’m filming in and around #portland. #oregonexplored #minimalism #vlog

There’s a lot of really bad religion out there. Social media makes this seem even more outrageous. Here are a couple of clues to help sort things out:

Does your faith compel you to become more compassionate towards others, or more embittered?

Do you regularly shake your head as you worry about those (X) people groups doing (Y), or do you see each person as a unique individual human worthy of respect?

#spirituality

Megan Westra recently asked an interesting question on Twitter: “what have you done in the last year to decenter and/or deconstruct whiteness in your life?” I appreciated her question and answered it thusly:

I’ve come to admit my white privilege. I used to recoil at the idea, thinking if I hadn’t personally committed any overt racist acts, I was not a racist and thus not to blame for anything. I’ve since come to realize I have a reponsibility to fight back against systemic racism.

If I’d had more room in my tweet, I would have admitted I’m not sure what the most effective way is for me fight against racism and #bigotry, but I do know I’ve started by examining my own actions. I intentionally try to go out of my way to listen to and respect the voices and art of people of color, and I encourage their promotion in all fields of endeavor. And if I’m ever given any authority to recommend candidates for a team, panel, conference, whatever…I intend to put in a lot of effort to find people from the margins to make sure they get first dibs. This doesn’t make me a great person. It just means I’ve grown a little bit more aware than some of my white peers, for which I am grateful.

BELIEVE THE HYPE. I just got out of seeing Mission: Impossible - Fallout and it’s as good as everyone’s saying. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. It’s an incredibly well-constructed movie…every little detail. A+ acting. Luscious visuals. Score was jaw-dropping. I don’t often say this but I’ll say it now: I give M:I-F 5 out of 5 stars! Without a doubt one of the best #movies of 2018.

Now that Bird e-scooters have come to #portland, I was finally able to see what all the fuss is about. Infrastrucure and safety issues aside…wow, these are fun to ride! I got the same thrill of excitement when accelerating as I did when I first tried an e-assist bike a couple of years ago. I didn’t go very far because I forgot to bring a helmet and didn’t want to tempt fate, but I can definitely imagine using these a lot whenever I come into town (as long as I remember to bring my helmet!).

Oh, and here’s phrase I never thought I’d hear uttered: The Portland Scooter War.

Big news! I purchased the domain name openweb.social, which I’m simply thrilled was still available. I’m mulling over a few ideas of what to do with it. One possibility is that I’ll install Mastodon to power a new #openweb themed social network where people can discuss building a better community of content publishing and engagement via open protocols.

Another possibility that I’m just starting to tinker with is starting a what-if #website that deep-dives into the question of what it would take for #Facebook to adopt open protocols. What if you could take your “social graph” to another service (even one you built yourself!) and post content there, and your Facebook friends could still see your posts? And you’d still see your friends’ Facebook posts and even reply to them? It would make social networking more akin to email, where all email clients and servers are compatible even though they’re run by different companies and on different infrastructure.

Got any thoughts? Just click Message above (or reply to this email if you’re reading my newsletter) and let me know what you think I should do with openweb.social!

‪It dawned on me today that I’ve been writing for and publishing on the #openweb — aka blogging — for 22 years now. I literally started when I was 13.

While the underlying technologies, as well as the ways that content gets disseminated, has changed dramatically over the decades, I feel like the magic and the promise of the web and what it enables for humanity is as exciting and amazing as it ever was.

It’s also as important to cherish and protect now as it ever was. We must resist the temptation to cede control over to a few large corporations, media conglomerates, and governments. The web flourishes only in its diversity, and it advances only because of innovation from countless numbers of creative individuals.

Don’t forget, next week’s podcast episode is all about Share ‘n’ Tell — specifically, I’ll be sharing YOUR stories about when and how you first encountered the World-Wide Web. Just email me (jared at jaredwhite dot com) and include your first name and optionally your website, and provide a paragraph or two about what you found inspiring or amazing (or confusing!) about the web when it was first introduced to you. I’ll be sharing my “origin story” as well, so it’ll be quite a fun episode about the history of the #openweb!

Emotions are like looking at the fuel gauge in your car. The gauge can tell you how much gas in in the car, but it won’t tell you the reason why it’s full or empty. To know that, you’ll have to dig deeper.

Most negative emotions are the result of misdirection. The particular thing you think you’re upset about isn’t really at the heart of the matter. In the end, everything boils down to this root question your subconscious mind is asking: Do I Feel Loved?

—from a journal entry I wrote 5 years ago #mindfulness

No podcast episode for this week, but that’s OK because I’m attending the 2018 IndieWeb Summit in #portland to learn all about the latest techniques for building social publishing experiences on the #openweb. I can’t wait to share with you all the latest tricks!

You know you’re a parent when you walk around Saturday morning humming the theme song to Dora the Explorer…and your kids haven’t even watched anything today yet! 🤣🤣🤣
#parenting

Over at Pygmy Nuthatch, I published an article about not allowing the daily grind of managing your cash flow encompass the entirety of your identity as an independent worker. Also: a new headshot for the site! Thanks to my wife Rosemary for the awesome portrait. 😃❤️