Seattle Mind Camp; liveblogging the mind

Saturday, 3:30 PM

Well, I finally have an Internet connection. It is slow as mud, but it is working. Most of the day today the wireless network has been unusable; the original plan to create a giant mesh network never really gelled.

I've been to a couple of sessions, but I think the best thing about Mind Camp so far is the spontaneous discussion groups. (Scoble has had his own circle most of the day.)

There are so many smart people here; and all of them seem to have something interesting they are working on or that they burning to share with other smart people who might just be excited about the same things. Of course this is what Mind Camp is all about, what impresses me is the cross-fertilization that naturally comes from this kind of sharing.

It's fun!

Saturday, 7:45 PM

My 'Coffee Hacks' session didn't start well; only one person showed up. But I got going anyway, and next thing I know a bunch more showed up. It meant that I had to go over some of the same ground twice, no big deal. Everyone was impressed with the vacuum coffee maker, and enjoyed the end result. But I didn't demonstrate coffee roasting.

Dinner was tasty and afterward I floated around the tables talking to people I knew and meeting new folk.

Sunday, 1:00 AM

Well, things are finally quieting down a bit. TDavid and I jammed on guitars for a little while (and another guy did some good harmonica, but didn't stay for very long). No lan party I think; maybe I was the only one stupid enough to haul his gaming machine down.

There are still a lot of conversation circles going, although a few people have left for home. Still, I suspect many of these folk will still be talking three or four hours from now. Me? I intend to be snoring.

Sunday, 8:00 AM

Breakfast. I slept just fine in my van in the parking lot. When I went out around 2:30 there was a large circle of people playing a game called 'Werewolf', which seemed to involve lots of clapping and laughing. I was kind of expecting to still see them at it when I came in this morning, but there are only a couple of dozen people moving around, some of them in a remarkably zombie-like manner. (Note: I was told this morning that the Werewolf game ran until five.)

Hopefully everyone will be back at it soon.

Sunday, 9:55 AM

Setting up for a talk on cell-phone programming. There is already one person here asking questions and interested in the technology.

Sunday, 11:30 AM

Well, the mind is closing. The cell-phone presentation went well; not a lot of people, but the ones there seemed really interested and had lots of questions. Right now they have gathered everyone left into the main room and are having an open comments session where they pass around a mike and let people describe what worked at the mind, and what didn't. The comments are overwhelmingly positive!

I do think this will be happening again. Maybe I will see you here the next time the mind opens?