I will be heading to Japan (courtesy of my frequent flyer miles) for ten days to visit some very important people. So please don't expect an update for a couple of weeks. (Yes, I know they have internet in Japan, i just don't plan to use it while I'm on vacation.)
In the meantime, i leave you with an open letter to Brian Eno:
Dear Brian Eno,
Not so long ago (the second Friday of November 02003) I attended your Long Now Foundation Seminar. You asked the audience for some help coming up with ideas for your book tentatively titled "250 Projects to Induce Long Term Thinking."
I arrived to the Philippines as a Peace Corps volunteer in late January, two weeks prior to a corporate-sponsored, record-breaking 5,122 couples locking lips in unison. (They broke the record set less than a month earlier: 4,445 couples in Chile.) I believe the Philippines also holds the current record for world's largest barbeque grill.
I got to thinking how pointless these records are. They have little to no intrinsic value and soon enough they'll be broken. Yet people love being record-breakers, and the media loves their feats.
It's taken me forever, but I've finally come up with an idea which may have some potential: "Break a Record for the Future."
Screw the mass makeouts and cookouts, let's shoot for the largest coastal mangrove reforestation, the most-bountiful compost harvest, the longest caravan of vegetable-oil-fueled vehicles. The competitive nature of people will inspire the records to be broken time and time again, which can only be a good thing.
It's now easier than ever to begin the official process of record-breaking. The good people at Guinness have supplied an application link at their site www.guinnessworldrecords.com.
And if the good people at Guinness lack interest in such records, the Long Now website may be a fine place to keep track of these tremendous accomplishments in honor of the past, present, and future.
so long,
daniel