CeMeGo

After reading this article on Eye Floaters, I have been paranoid that my vision is going to be cut down by rouge drifters in my eye. Knowing that I was simply suffering from paranoia was not enough to stop me from thinking about what it would be like if I was blind. I imagined what it would feel like if you never knew who was around you. Personally, I would be very uncomfortable. Then I started thinking that maybe there is a solution; eye glasses capable of facial recognition. They would be equipped with an attached ear bud and the glasses will discreetly inform the user of the approaching individuals identity.

Path to R.I.D.A.S.T - IV

...Beondo Continued

The Shadow Company
Working off of the principles I shared in "Ladders Up", Beondo Studios will have a mechanism built in so that every team-member has the opportunity to distribute their own work. In doing so we can ensure that everyone is able to reach new heights. Why can also ensure that we enable each team-member to pursue capitalist endeavors.

Purpose
At Beondo Studios, we want to build a family. To that end, the only time that we want to part with our fellow team-members is when they retire. The problem is, how can you maintain the attentions of a group of highly creative people for 20-30 years? Even a successful company might become a little bit on the yawn side, if a person feels like they are just going through the motions. The only way to really have a chance of combating this naturally occurring phenomenon is to build mechanisms into the company's SOP, which maintain dynamic qualities and freedom.

Integration
There are several mechanisms in this plan to address the need for dynamic qualities. What we now need is freedom. This means that we are going to strike a balance between the production that is needed for Beondoverse with the production that an individual will contribute to the Shadow Company.  This means equipment, time, and additional resources.  

Monetization
In order to capitalize on each individuals freedom, we will strike contracts with each employee that follows this basic revenue sharing formula (70% Creator – 30% Distributor). The employee will retain the rights to their work and can walk away from Beondo at any time. 

In keeping with Beondo Studios' vision, we will also facilitate in handling personal contributions to Social Sector 2.0. Making certain that proper recognition is given for each contributor. 

Distribution
All products created in labs will be distributed via a unique brand.  In an effort to further facilitate the concepts of freedom and dynamics, we will leave the process of branding to the participating team-members.  

Management
This alternate brand will be completely maintained by the participating team-members.  Their management structure will mimic cooperative management structures.  

Marketing
Beondo Studios will handle marketing of the products created in Labs, however it will be done under a unique brand (be it Beondo Labs, or a name chosen by the Beondo Team). This unique (secondary) brand will be managed by the entire Beondo Studios Team. Working together in a purely democratic environment. The added benefit is that each team-member will be able to have a hand in the running of this secondary brand. This collective management strategy will allow for experimentation that Beondo Studios' Beondoverse could potentially learn from. 

So here I stand at the gates of destiny. Inspired daily by heroes who push the boundaries of what is. I am confident in the systems I have designed and ready to inspire others.

If you have not read Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think yet,
you should correct this immediately!

Path to R.I.D.A.S.T - III

Beondo Studios
Ever since my time at ITT I have had an idea floating in my head for an animated film. Now that Social Sector 2.0 was in need of a financial backbone, I decided it was time to polish up that idea up. What resulted was a highly unconventional business model for what is to become Beondo Studios. With concepts like biomimicry, systems thinking, and social enterprises dominating my thoughts, Beondo was never destined for typical.

Cellular Structure
Unlike your typical companies, Beondo does not have hierarchy. By acknowledging the deficiencies of linear hierarchies, Beondo can build a more vibrant and resilient structure. This concept was first discussed in the post "Cell-Based Structure"

Administrative Cell
The administrative cell will include a dedicated Human Resources Director, a Technology Director (Engineer), an Operations Director, and a Marketing Director (Animator).  All of the positions minus the HR Director will rotate every year.  No special pay will be awarded (It is assumed that these will consist of “Tier10 Pay-Scale” members .

Animation Cells
The entire animation team will be divided into teams of 5 (3-modelers, 1-shader, 1-animator). The primary function of these cells will be the development of scenes. As the modelers finish their task they will shift roles in order to augment other functions within the cell.  The dynamic nature of rotation will ensure that each individual is receiving the maximum amount of inputs in order to remain engaged.

After a scene is completed, teams will begin working on the next round of scenes. Once all teams begin next round of scenes they will temporarily regroup themselves into cross collaboration teams. These teams will be grouped according to their function (animator, shaders, modelers). These teams will ensure that their is  a high level of consistency across the cells. Once complete, original cells will re-form.

At the end of the project teams will be shuffled. This will prevent the forming of cliques. Elitism could potentially still be an issue. This could develop during the function grouping after each round of scenes are completed. The “Salary = Work Done” scale is designed to prevent this from occurring. Additionally the rotation of duties will also help temper this from happening.  

Sound Cells
The sound team will consist of foley artist and voice actors. All members will be permanent employees. In doing so, we will ensure that we establish a consistent production flow. 

Engineering Cells
Our Engineering cells will serve multiple roles. They will help build engagement software that is designed to help Beondo Studios stay connected with our fans (websites). Another important role that our engineers will serve is helping us get the most out of our animation software.

Pay Scale (Salary = Work Done)
At Beondo Studios it is our belief that every employee is equally valuable to our company’s future. As such every employee deserves to receive equal pay based on the employee’s performance for the previous year. Each new employee will begin at the bottom and work their way up. Each year will bring a significant salary increase which should allow that employee and their family to increase their way of life incrementally. Due to the social nature of our operations we can offer less money to our employees while still maintaining their reward-of-service value. Every pay check will be accompanied with a newsletter detailing the work that is being done with the profits they helped generate.

Part IV

Path to R.I.D.A.S.T - II

Finding the Path
At this point, my military career began dissolving just as my focus was increasing. I began what would become an 8 year process of working backwards from my goal, identifying the path to my far reaching goal.

Once out of the navy, I quickly enrolled into ITT-Technical Institute's Drafting Program. I was hoping to learn how to visualize one of my early business ideas, the X-Chair. The X-Chair was a reclined chair with the ability to integrate a computer platform, aka a gaming chair.

I didn't even make it through the first Quarter until the draw of ITT's newly established Game Design program pulled me into a new course. I even transferred to an ITT in Washington State, in order to be closer to the video game industry. Unfortunately for me, after 2 years into it, the school canceled the program. They knew the entire time that enrollment was not where it needed to be. However, as the first two years of the Game Design program was actually their Multimedia program, they waited until after we finished with that program to tell us.

This began a two year process of exploring new paths. After being in the holding pattern for nearly 2 years, I made the decision to return to school. This time, I opted for a more traditional education experience. As it turns out, a traditional learning experience is not really on the agenda at the Evergreen State College.

Aside from never being able to get into a class that I wanted, I really did learn a lot about learning. The benefits of interdisciplinary learning is far reaching (inward). Unfortunately, my experience was severely marred by two separate events at the hands to two separate faculty members.

The first incident involved a teacher telling me that my group's project went beyond the scope of the assignment. I pointed out that we had a project proposal that fulfilled all of the requirements and that we were going to take it a step further in order to apply the knowledge that we had been gaining from the program. She again told me no. I then pointed out that every learning model that I had seen, has a critical final step of “applying knowledge gained”. Then, she flat out told me that I was wrong. I went on that Quarter to re-frame the wicked issue: Global Warming (source). I received 0 credits for that endeavor.

The very next Quarter, I turned to the Academics Deans' Office after I again could not get into a program that I wanted (just about 2 years at the school thus far). Having already been in contact with the Deans due to the conduct of the bad egg, they were well aware of my frustrations. At this point, one of the Deans agreed to sponsor an Independent Learning Contract focused on Business. She made the stipulation that I try to find a more suitable Faculty to sponsor, which I did try to do. After 4 weeks of trying I let her know that I was unsuccessful in finding a more suitable sponsor. She told me that we should finalize the contract (which I started the first week) the very next day.

I woke up the next morning to an email from the Dean claiming that she had just found out that Deans were not allowed to sponsor contracts, as they were “technically not faculty”. I later learned that she was completely full of shit and had, as a Dean, sponsored contracts in the past. I went on that Quarter to create Social Sector 2.0 (source). I received 0 credits for that endeavor.

The process of Social Sector 2.0's creation was both a magical and tormentous experience. After the Dean failed me, I moved all of my operations over to Student Activities (aka The Sandbox).

I started by creating the Business Society of Evergreen, whose original purpose was to provide business educational resources to students. Within a week, the group expanded its focus to include a Social Enterprise incubator (I would later learn that another student had designed a for-profit incubator and was in process of launching). Within another week, the group's focus expanded to analyze how the money generated by these Social Enterprises was going to be utilized. Within another week the fundamental structure of Social Sector 2.0 had been established. I soon realized that the scope of Social Sector 2.0 was well outside of the scope of Student Activities. It was time to look Beondo.

Part III

Path to R.I.D.A.S.T - I

Finding Purpose
As a young lad, I led a care free life. I only lived for the moments and did not worry about the “small” things. I remained unphased until one evening in November of 2001.  I was then given a dose of reality.

From this point, I began calculating the sum of my being. Unfortunately, the value was low. My first step towards recovery involved identifying areas of interest. Aside from media (comics, movies, tv), reading online news was really the only other activity that I could draw from.

Looking at my news habits, I noticed that I frequented these topics; computers, space, business, and science. I decided it was time for me to begin consuming deeper knowledge in these areas. I began with science.

At the time, I was under the false impression that college was beyond my means. I think I had it built up in my mind that college was only for those who have made the right choices in life. Instead, I decided to join a science book club and the United States Navy.

While waiting to get into boot camp, I read one of the first books to arrive from the club, Leonardo. This book significantly altered my entire worldview. No longer was I concerned about who or what I should focus on being. Instead my potential was unlimited.

While in the military, I was stationed primarily in Souda Bay, Crete, Greece. It was a leisure tour to say the least. Beautiful beaches, lots of girls, and some of the wildest times of my life. It was a time that was also filled with a lot of training: WMD First Responder, Auxiliary Security Force, Fuel/Oil Spill Clean-Up, HAZMAT, etc.. A training regime that will be very costly to replicate in the future. Needless to say, life was good.

On February 1st 2003, I went to one of the base's eateries for dinner. While waiting for my cheeseburger, I looked up at a television monitor at what I instantly recognized as the Space Shuttle Columbia. It was breaking apart as it reentered Earth's atmosphere.

I laid in my rack that night wondering how the tragedy would hinder Humankind's venture into space. I knew that at the very least, it would slow our progress. By the end of the night, I resolved that I was going to create a Research Institute Dedicated to Advancement in Space Technology.

Part II

Planetary Resources

© Copyright 2012 Planetary Resources

Today I had the pleasure of attending Planetary Resources' inaugural press conference. Planetary Resources is an asteroid mining company (the world's first), with its sights set on harvesting water and minerals from asteroids in our solar system. Their plan includes four milestones; three regarding data collecting and the fourth involving harvesting. This is quite arguably one of the most significant announcements in Humanity's history. The doors that that will be opened both on and off of our planet, are significant. We could reduce the cost of advanced technologies thanks to an Abundance of precious metals found on these asteroids.

Thoughts on Reframing Organizations - 2

For this weeks leadership workshop series at SPSCC we continued working off of Dr Terry Deal and Dr Lee Bolman's "four-frame model". Led by Dr David Rector - Dean of Student Life, we had an opportunity to apply what we learned last week to the case study "The Case of Chris Cunningham". During this workshop we had the opportunity to work in small groups, which yielded some interesting results regarding our biases. Essentially, our biases came out in our initial examination of the case study. Once we started collaborating on a solution, we started to approach the problem from each of the framework lenses.

Chicken Parmesan Baked Ziti

Updated (10/14/12) Better Breading!

What a great month for this little blog! Just about every statistical record has been shattered and we still have over a week left to go. Thanks in large to the Coatesism News readers. A blog of this nature can be a tough sell to the public at large, so I am truly appreciative of all those who take the time to read it.

As a thank you for the increased readership, I have decided to share my Chicken Parmesan Baked Ziti recipe. If you are health conscious, you will need to make necessary adjustments to bring this dish up to your elitist standards. This recipe is all about being delicious!

Marijuana

Marijuana has been a part of society since the 3rd millennium BC. That is right, Humanity has been smoking/using Marijuana almost as long as we have been writing. In that time, we have found many uses for Marijuana in our society. It is used for food, recreation, spirituality, textiles, paper, fabric, and fuel oil. Today, it is enjoyed by millions around the world. Even our country's college sports programs are having a hard time keeping it out of their programs (source). The fight to keep Marijuana illegal is probably one of the greatest failures of our Federal Government (90 years since Federal prohibition, 80 years since individual States adopted prohibition laws). Despite its criminalization, Marijuana has remained one of the top cash crops in America. According to a report By Jon Gettman, Ph.D., it is the number one cash crop, beating out the second and third crops combined (source).

The Playbook

Earlier this year (source), it became apparent that my many ideas were becoming hard to keep track of. Although I have always been good at keeping my ideas relatively organized, I had, over the years, spread those ideas across multiple mediums. Between the many notebooks, 1,118 file documents folder (graphics/text), and my documents in the cloud; it was obvious that I needed to bring everything together into a concise document. Thus was born, "The Playbook". Currently sitting at 86 pages of ideas spanning across many areas, The Playbook is shaping up to be the herald of an incredible adventure.

Thoughts on Reframing Organizations

With a new quarter comes a new leadership workshop series to attend at SPSCC. Starting off the Spring 2012 schedule is a two part workshop on Reframing Organizations. Led by our workshop coordinator Dr. David Rector - Dean of Student Life, we looked at the four frameworks from which an organization can be viewed. As with any good workshop, we also had the opportunity to take a short test to evaluate which of the four frameworks we are naturally oriented to (my results are to the right). Working off of Dr Terry Deal and Dr Lee Bolman's "four-frame model", we began by breaking down each of the frames.

Collaborative Process

Collaborating in the workplace can sometimes be an excruciating process. As is often the case, not all ideas/submissions can be selected. This in turn can lead to hurt feelings, jealousy, or create a situation that encourages people to focus more on popularity. The worst thing that could happen is for people to become disenchanted with the process. Yet collaboration is an essential part of most businesses. To that end, I believe it is possible to build mechanisms into the process that will prevent people from becoming disenchanted. In doing so, it might be possible to have a collaborative process that fosters encouragement, creativity, and belonging.

The Buffet Rule

Today, President Obama gave a speech at Florida Atlantic University reaffirming his call that Americans making over $1 million a year should pay at least 30% in taxes (Buffet Rule) [source]. Now for those who have followed my previous posts, you know that I am hardly on board with the rhetoric of the Occupy Movement. When it comes to taxes and our Government, I hope that we all agree on the importance that each play. Taxes help fund our growth as a nation in the form of research, education, infrastructure, and health. These are all investments in our future. So why are we not on the same page?

Damn Dirty Oil

Last week Republicans blocked a bill that would eliminate 24 billion dollars in tax breaks for oil companies [source]. It is hard to imagine why we continue to coddle an industry that is far from suffering. In fact, last year the three biggest oil companies in the United States brought in a whopping $80 Billion in profits [source]. This is America and we are a capitalist society. Therefore, the oil companies are more than within their rights to earn as much as they please. That does not mean that they should be given special tax breaks to reward their effort. So why in the world did Republicans defend this tax break for Big Oil?

Revitalizing Film

For over a month now (maybe longer), I have been on the prowl for Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Next Level [Blu-ray] . In a nutshell Next Level amounts to an overhaul of Star Trek The Next Generation series. Upgrading graphics, audio quality, and film quality. This got me thinking, this really is not a new concept. In fact, I can think of this happening as far back as the mid-late 90s with the special editions of Star Wars Episodes 4-6. I believe that the revitalization of film is a very good thing. As I will discuss in more detail at the end of this post, it will play an important role in another aspect of film--preservation.