Category: community

Laugh for today

Apparently, 1 in 5 people in the world are Chinese. And there are 5 people in my family, so it must be one of them.
It’s either my mum or my dad.
Or my older brother Colin.
Or my younger brother Ho-Cha-Chu.
But I think it’s Colin.

Thanks to Chris and Geek-Speak for the joke.

Chris runs a great website across the pond with fun technology insights “for the rest of us” (Thomas has posted several items of interest there as well). It’s also been fun getting to know him on Twitter as of late. Be sure and stop by and say hello.

Related ::

More jokes from Geek Speak
Follow Chris on Twitter
Thomas’ posts on Geek Speak

Quote for today

“Church communities ought to be cauldrons of theological participation and imagination. that’s why we make churches… we are supposed to gather together in communities to engage in theological participation and imagination just as Christians have done all along.”

– Doug Pagitt
Aug 30, 2007
emergent village podcast

how to be interesting

Thomas shares a great post on how to be interesting.

  1. Take at least one picture everyday. Post it to flickr.
  2. Start a blog. Write at least one sentence every week.
  3. Keep a scrapbook
  4. Every week, read a magazine you’ve never read before
  5. Once a month interview someone for 20 minutes, work out how to make them interesting. Podcast it.
    Collect something
  6. Once a week sit in a coffee-shop or cafe for an hour and listen to other people’s conversations. Take notes. Blog about it. (Carefully)
  7. Every month write 50 words about one piece of visual art, one piece of writing, one piece of music and one piece of film or TV. Do other art forms if you can. Blog about it
  8. Make something
  9. Read:
    * Understanding Comics – Scott McCloud
    * The Mezzanine – Nicholson Baker
    * The Visual Display Of Quantitative Information – Edward Tufte

I think I’m a pretty interesting chap – but one trap I find myself sinking into is sharing so much with the world via the interweb that I don’t stop and take time to share that with others in real life. And other times, I forget to take the time to find out what makes other people interesting and sharing those things with others.

I think that’s one thing I try to do when we host dinner parties, or work on the something beautiful podcast, or introduce friends – make each person see what makes the other person interesting.

In other words – this person must have some qualities/values that I find to be interesting – so be sure and share those qualities with others when you introduce them.

And also, find the beauty in each person around you. Each person has a story. Each person has value. Each person already has “interestingness.” Find it & share it.

Something I’ve also found that helps add to a person’s interestingness is reading and responding to those random surveys on MySpace. I’ve found out so many random thoughts, ideas and history behind so many of my “acquaintances,” friends and family through MySpace surveys.

Twitter has also helped bridge the time/space gap between many (new) friends as well. In fact, many of the suggestions above can be done with 140 characters or less via Twitter, rather than a full blown blog… or you can incorporate the two together.

Related ::

Thomas’ blog post
the original post from Russell Davies
share your photos for free on flickr
get a free blogger (google) blog
get a free wordpress blog
get your own free Myspace profile
micro-blog for free on Twitter
Twitter tools for WordPress

something beautiful :: 1.4 :: matt wilson

for those of you who haven’t checked lately, or subscribed to the something beautiful podcast, this week thomas talks with matt wilson, who heads up the message trust, in manchester, england – along with andy hawthorne – the original founder and visionary.

wilson is also the author of “eden:called to the streets” and is an active blogger at faithscape21.blogspot.com.

and don’t forget to drop us an email for your chance to win shawn mcdonald’s CD, “roots.”

related links ::