Friday, August 14, 2009

Welcome, Lovelanders!

At last count, 75 inch-holders have inchvested in Loveland! Read all about it in this thoughtful post (including the Fermi paradox, coded communication with extraterrestrial life forms, humans in cages and shooting stars) by Loveland impresario Jerry Paffendorf.

1000 Inches in Loveland is a neighborhood in Loveland made up of eight zones named for the Eightfold Path. Read this to learn more about it and check out the map of the inches.

So far we've got Grady Booch, Stephen Burlingham (scroll to the bottom of the Tiffany family archives page to see him), the brilliant and hard-working Alexis Madrigal, nanotechno artist and IBMer Jack Mason and on Inch 502, Zone V: Livelihood, we have the mysterious proprietor of the Mystery Hole.

If you're incherested, get in touch.

Follow @ritajking, @makeloveland and @1000inches on Twitter.

Monday, August 3, 2009

The Eightfold Path as a model for 1000 Inches in Loveland

The eight main zones of 1000 Inches in Loveland are shown around the perimeter of LOVELAND in pink. Each zone is named for one of the aspects of the Eightfold Path: Zone I: View, Zone II: Intentions, Zone III: Speech, Zone IV: Actions, Zone V: Livelihood, Zone VI: Effort, Zone VII: Concentration, Zone VIII: Mindfulness.

Alexis Madrigal, shown left with Josh Fouts, is an inch-holder in Zone VI: Effort. Alexis Madrigal is one of the most illustrious journalists working today, and on top of that, he's spectacularly fun. I can't wait to see what he does with his inch!

Why the Eightfold Path was chosen as a model for the eight zones of 1000 Inches in Loveland: The Imagination Age:

I've been taken with the Eightfold Path for years, and the fact that there's a mundane and a transcendental way to approach the framework of its aspects. In other words, there's theory and then there's action. It's time for action.

In "The Noble Eightfold Path," Bahikkhu Bodhi says that following the path is more a matter of practice than intellectual knowledge, but to apply the path correctly it has to be properly understood. This is a process that people can undertake together, no matter what circumstances into which each individual person is born in the physical world, if we commit to a creative approach to imagination and technology.

The current economic and cultural crisis has created an opportunity for new understanding, just as the Eightfold Path is borne from suffering yet is a framework for a genuine spiritual search. Collaborative creativity can defeat the fear of transformation.

1000 Inches in Loveland: The Imagination Age is a cultural and economic development project, a neighborhood in the larger Loveland project.

1000 Inches in Loveland will be one of the world's most diverse creative communities.

How big can you make an inch with your imagination?

I've been working on Zone I: View: Inch 1: Transformation. The project will launch this week. I've been meeting with various inch-holders to discuss their massive plans for their tiny parcels. If you're interested in becoming an inch-holder, follow the project on Twitter at @1000Inches or email us here.