10 Comfy Blogging Tips
Thought the blogging tips here may be useful for some of the TED Fellows and anyone else who follows our blog.
I came across this post via a tweet from @gemmawent Director of Red Cube Marketing. Taghi Amirani
@tagz23
Ramblings of a TED Fellow with occasional bursts of profound insight
Things to do While Avoiding Writing An Iran Blog
Let's face it, Iran is not the easiest subject to blog about. I have been writing for the past four days, on and off, taking breaks to check email for important news, fine tuning my procrastination technique, while staring out the window at the trees turning autumnal. Still no finished article, but in one of those detours from the job in hand, I came across this piece in The New Yorker.
I know it's cheap posting someone else's writing instead of creating original work, but this piece struck a chord with me, and think will do the same with some TED Fellows. I don't know about you, but when I wake up in the morning I'm not sure where I should go first after making coffee, in itself an elaborate ritual which begins with grinding the beans. Log onto Amirani Films email, Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, TweetDeck, Posterous, Google News Alert (Iran), The Guardian, Huffington Post, check sms on the mobile, read The Daily Onion News, look out for Skype chat, refresh my Podcast downloads, watch that must-see Youtube thing friends have posted, add new friend, reject old friend, get sucked into looking at party photos of a total stranger just because they have set their privacy setting to "Everyone" and on and on....
Some of you are brilliant at this. You can hold down a job, run a family, have a life, AND do all the above, even on the move around the globe spreading tweets every other minute as you go. But not all of us are super. Some of us long for the rotary dial phone, seeing friends face to face, and a newspaper you can hold in your hand. Or am I getting old? My friends say I don't act my age. Not sure if that's a compliment: so young at heart, in touch the with the playful child within, or a disguised insult as in "you're so immature".
We've had a backlash against the bankers. When will the backlash against the constantly connected elite on-line army start? Is this an idea for a movie? The Luddites taking up arms against the Twitterati. Needs more work, as does my Iran blog.
Taghi Amirani
@tagz23
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New Blog To Blow Your Mind
Right, I'm, back in the saddle and ready to blog again. (Someone said we need to find a new word for "blog". How right they are. You have to agree it does sound a little bit physiological hinting of a slightly unwell person not entirely in control. "I just blogged all over the web". "Did see his blog? My God!" "You better clean up that blogosphere before people talk" You get the picture.) Note to self: the word blog and search for alternative as a subject for a future blog.I digressed. Sorry. Having not performed verbal gymnastics here on the TED Fellows arena of excellentness for a while, I am a bit rusty. Also not at all sure what to blog about. So I am going to give you the option to choose the subject. Audience participation as a way of practising democracy. More on that later too. So tell me, what do you want read about? You have till this Sunday 18th to say. Lack of interest or time to bother to vote - highly likely what with our busy fellowship lifestyles - will lead to a unilateral choice made by me. Here are the options Trust me, even though the subjects may seem trivial presented in a flippant way, I will be sneaking in profound insights into the human condition and the global state of affairs, when you're not looking. In the meantime, to give you at least something for coming here today, here are some photos I took on holiday in Iran this summer. Taghi Amirani @tagz23
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TED Now Big Among Iranians
It's been a while since I posted. This in no way reflects a lack of interest or shortage of stuff to share. Got stories coming out of my ears.
Among the things I planned to do during the summer was TEDxTehran. Let's just say my timing wasn't so great and this was one idea too many to spread.
Here's plan B for making TED big among Iranians.
More later.
Taghi
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Back home, 111 days later
Nothing more to add.
Except stuff happened between last post and this.
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TED Fellows Documentaries Stop Me In My Tracks
Day 5 since I registered to run the New York Marathon on November 1st. And so far my training runs have reached a staggering total of zero miles. A good start.
According to the marathon's official site http://www.nycmarathon.org/ right this moment as my fingers are jumping back and forth across the PowerBook keyboard, there are 180 days 12 hours 32 minutes and 5 seconds left to the big day. Wait, while I rearranged that last sentence to include the image of fingers doing the running - nice touch, you must agree - the TIMEX Countdown to Start now reads 180 days 12 hours 25 minutes 26 seconds. See? That's some 7 minutes of your life, my life and training time that we have lost and will never get back. Ever. Now you know how much time and perfectionist patience goes into this blog that you enjoy reading so much. Every word, comma and sentence is worked, reworked and agonised over. If I had a pencil I would have chewed it back to the poisonous lead by now.
There. I have introduced one of the recurring themes that we will revisit from time to time in this blog; the transience of life, time slipping through our fingers like sand.
You're reading the words of the world's leading procrastinator. Why do today what you can put off till tomorrow is the motto that's got me to where I am today. There's no limit to the creative energy spent in coming up with perfect excuses to put off stuff you are committed to doing, and replace them with stuff you think you must do before you can tackle the big job staring you in the face.
So what is it today? What's stopping me from putting on the running shoes and heading out to Queens Park on my first training run in 3 years? Well, it's not exactly sunny and warm. In fact if I look carefully out of the living room window in the garden I can even spot a wee bit of drizzle. It is after all a British May Bank Holiday Monday and cloud and rain on Bank Holidays are written into the Constitution of Great Britain. I remember The Queen herself at Balmoral Castle in Scotland http://www.balmoralcastle.com/ signing the Rain Bill while one of her servants held an umbrella over her royal head. In fact seeing that Americans call the bill, the check, I do believe that's where the phrase "rain check" originated from.
OK, rain stops play. But that's not enough. It's this pile of documentary proposals submitted by some of the TED Fellows sitting on my desk that's stopping me from going out for a run. Surely I got to read these first before I can do anything else. So, the sky is grey. The kettle is boiling for a big mug of Earl Grey tea. The couch cushions are plumped up and Bach is playing in the background.
You tell me. Who needs to be running around the park when there are more important things to be getting on with? I feel I will enjoy a run much more with a clear head that I have done my duty by my fellow Fellows who have put effort and time preparing and sending me their proposals. Thank you guys.
See? The genius of the procrastinator's mind has no boundaries. Tomorrow I will run, as soon as I have worked out my training schedule.
Taghi Amirani
TED Fellow 2009
@tagz23
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TED Fellow Tags To Run New York
If at first you don't succeed, fail better the next time. Or words to that effect. I can never get those clever aphorisms right. So in that respect this makes me a successful failure.
And it's with this mind that I just this minute registered to run the ING New York Marathon 2009 on November 1st. Getting a place didn't come easy. Nothing worthwhile ever does. Those NY Marathon places are like gold dust. Here's the back story.
I ran the New York marathon, my first ever 26 miles, in November 2006. If you've never run one and want to, make sure it's in New York. There's nothing like it on earth. The experience is indescribable. Mine was memorable for many reasons which I'll be happy to share if you buy me cake and coffee. But here's one for free: a knee injury I thought had gone away during training in London came back with vengeance barely two miles into the run. Clearly waiting in the wings for its big impact entrance. Still crossing the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge from Staten Island into Brooklyn with the finish in Central Park a distant unimaginable mirage, I was struck by agonising pain in the left leg. Let me cut this story short. By the time I crossed the finish line 5 hours 24 minutes 56 seconds later that pain and I were best buddies for life. Love your pain is the game. Now I am not saying if the knee injury hadn't hindered my progress I would have been there with the Kenyans and Ethiopians breaking the 2 hour 5 min record. All I am saying is this wasn't the real deal. I could have done better. "I coulda been a contender".
And so I applied to run again in 2007. You enter an online lottery to get a place in the world's most popular marathon. Sure you can get attached to one of many charities who are given a number of guaranteed places, in return for raising sponsorship for them. Indeed my first marathon was run for the homeless charity Shelter. I raised $10,000 for them. (taking a bow as I write and as you read). But in 2007 I wanted to get a place by applying direct, plus Shelter weren't doing New York anymore. I got rejected in one of those nice computer generated emails. Undeterred, I tried again in 2008. Same "thank you but sorry to inform you...." response. But this year I hadn't even started thinking about filling in the online lottery form when an email drops into my mailbox from New York offering me a guaranteed place in the 2009 race. Yay! Failing twice to get in succeeds. Persistence pays.
Thus begins this year's new adventure, a new story to brag and blog about. On top of the TED experience. And of course with the excitement comes the panic and fear. Did I really just commit my summer to training 4 to 5 days a week? Can I actually pull this off? And will I beat 5 hours 24 mins 56 seconds? Of course 5 hours 24 mins 56 seconds is for losers. Which is why on the registration form where it says "Predicted Time" I entered the fateful numbers 1 hour 59 mins.
Just kidding. Pigs will fly before I can do that kind of time. Wait, with the spread of Swine Flu all around the world maybe pigs really can fly. (cheap joke, but couldn't resist it).
Follow this blog to find out what realistic predicted time I am aiming for? What fun and exciting sponsorship stunts and scams I'm planning and what high carbohydrate recipes I will invent. Plus video and photo blog. Blogs full of existential and profound insights on a man on the run. The meditative nature of long runs and more... Running as art.
All YOU need to do is cancel everything for November 1st 2009 and get yourself down to the streets of New York for the city's biggest festival outside 4th July. Every cheer counts. Come and have yourself a blast in Manhattan. The night before the big race pasta party at my favourite Italian in Brooklyn, and a bash in Central Park at the big finish.
Taghi Amirani
TED Fellow 2009
@tagz23
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Obama Takes His Cue from a TED Fellow - Thank you for listening Mr President
Just over a week ago, on 14th March 2009, I posted a blog here with a story about my chance encounter with the then Senator Obama on his campaign trail in New Hampshire. With my tongue loosely in my cheek, but my heart in the right place, I ended the post with some outlandish claims and pie in the sky thinking. Just a plan in embryo to change the world. As Groucho Marx once said in a letter to Sam Zolotow at The New York Times Drama Department:
December 5, 1945
Dear Sam
My Plans are still in embryo. In case you've never been there, this is a small town on the outskirts of wishful thinking.
Before that, in another post on March 10th, I played around with my collection of Nokia mobile phones, using them as a clever writing device to turn myself into an agent of peace and dialogue between our two nations, connecting people, as Nokia would say.
In fact browsing through my posts - a new blogger gets excited when people actually read his stuff, and keeps checking his "hit rate" - I notice I have been banging on about Iran, USA, Obama, dialogue, yada yada...more or less since my first post in January when becoming a TED Fellow dragged me kicking and screaming into the blogosphere. Blogging is on the list of your duties as a TED Fellow as well as shining the shoes of all TED staff and feeding them grapes.
Now, I used to be dismissive of blogging and bloggers, considering the activity the preserve of geeky losers in dingy dirty apartments surrounded by empty Coke cans and dried up pieces of pizza. Going on interminably about inconsequential stuff like the inner workings of their minds - yeah really - computer games and second, third lives, having forgotten to get a first one.
No more. Bloggers are cool. Blogging is the activity of smart, profoundly engaged human beings with good hearts, poetry in their soul, wanting to change the world.
And so as I was busy free-associating in my own blog, little did I realise that the ramblings of this insignificant blogger in a bright and clean apartment nestled in a lovely London neighbourhood, would have such far reaching consequences on the global stage. Yes, dear reader, President Obama and his staff actually READ my blog, and what's more, ACT on it.
This morning, on the occasion of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, first day of spring (Vernal Equinox), I wake up to the news that President Obama has sent a direct video message to the Iranian people.
Cup of tea in hand watching it on the White House's own site - here for best wide screen HD quality - made a small drop of tear of joy roll down my spring rosy cheeks.
He does listen!
Here's another example: One of the people I follow on twitter is Evan Williams (@ev), the co-founder of twitter. Through him I started following Chris Sacca (@sacca) who on his twitter page describes himself so:
Bio When not making people laugh, I advise startups like Twitter, ski, kitesurf, and eat. Lots of eating.
On 5th March @sacca posted the following tweet:
I am going to the White House tomorrow morning, and I need your help: http://bit.ly/5OKHq
10:09 PM Mar 5th from web
And then the next day this:
Unless the Secret Service decides that my prior overheards disqualify me for entry, I should be in Barack's house soon. Last min thoughts?
6:36 PM Mar 6th from Tweetie
To which in a moment of impulse I replied to his tweet thus:
@sacca engage with Iranian/American entrepreneurs: they have serious proven business sense and connections to Iran -> Mid East Peace
6:45 PM Mar 6th from web
Did he pass on the idea? In his video message today Obama acknowledges the contribution of Iranian/American community. So, who knows?
Let me wish all my Iranian friends a Happy Happy New Year and all non Iranians a glorious spring time. New beginnings indeed. Thanks Barack. You're the man!
Taghi Amirani
TED Fellow 2009
@tagz23
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Touched By The Hand of History - Or, Meeting Obama Changed My Life
Last October I was invited to an Iranian wedding in San Francisco. A doctor marrying a lawyer. Anyone who knows anything about Iranians will know that doctors tend to marry lawyers. That way if they get sick of the marriage, they can simultaneously cure and sue each other, saving money on medical and legal fees.
A friend of mine at MIT says come visit me in Cambridge on your way to San Francisco. I say on one condition: we rent a car and go see the autumn colours in New Hampshire. It’s been my dream to see autumn in New England. All that lush colour basking in glorious autumn light. She agrees. Then my TEDster friend Deborah Scranton who lives on a farm says if you’re going to be leaf-peeping in my neighbourhood, come and stay. So we have this amazing drive through trees and leaves, taking pictures as only tourists know how, and end up at Deborah’s house in time for dinner.
Over dinner the conversation turns to the presidential election and Deborah’s father says: “If I knew you were coming I would have got you tickets to see Obama”. My ears prick up! Turns out tomorrow, Obama will be speaking at a rally in an orchard in Londonderry, but no tickets left. I go to bed a bit down on this whole thing. Wake up at 4 am, still on London time, staring out the window at a full moon looking at me. I’m lying in this silver halo, thinking in a few hours the most historic presidential candidate of modern times is going to be down the road and you cannot miss the chance to see him just because you have no tickets. At this stage I’m not thinking about the headline “Two Iranians gatecrash Obama rally.”
After breakfast I decide, hell, let’s go to the orchard and find a way of getting in. Where there's a will, there's a way.
So we arrive at Mack’s Apples in Londonderry. There’s a long line of people as far as your eyes can see down the country road, all with pink tickets in hand, waiting to go through security. The volunteers show us to other side of the road, another long line, the ticketless hopefuls. We go to the end.
I see how slowly the ticketed line is moving. The security is tight and makes airport security look like a picnic. So, I ask my friend to stay in line while I go looking for plan B. I start walking down the ticketed line asking everyone “Do you have a spare ticket? Do you have extra tickets?” After two, three hundred times asking, one guy digs in his pocket and hands me a single ticket. I hug him. But one ticket is no good. By the time I’m at the end of line facing empty farmland I must have asked over 1000 people. Then this girl runs up to me and asks “Did I hear you want a ticket?” “Yes!” “I think I have one in my car,” she says, “Wait here, I go get it”. And she runs off into the distance for what seems like an eternity. Twenty minutes later she runs back, sweating, sorry, glowing, with a ticket in hand. I hug her, in spite of her glow, and run back to the end of the line, grab my friend and we hop and skip across the road to the ticketed line.
So, now we’re inside. The big moment arrives. Obama comes on and speaks. And boy, does he know how to speak! We’re enthralled, mesmerised and uplifted. Every now and then look at each other not believing we are here. It begins to rain, and I think even the heavens are crying with joy at the prospect of him becoming president.
The speech over, people start to shuffle out, but I think we’ve come this far we’ve got to see the man up close, shake his hand. I want to be touched by the hand of history. At this stage I’m not thinking about the headline “Obama palls around with Iranian terrorists from the axis of evil” and the how this could lose him the presidency. "Palling around with terrorists" is at this stage the slogan of choice for the McCain/Palin campaign.
So, we push our way to the front and wait our turn as he goes on a walkabout surrounded by eagle eyed security men. He gets closer and closer and I am filming and my friend is taking photos, people are jostling and pushing to shake his hand. The bodyguards look sharper. I realise my right hand is strapped into the handycam. How will I shake his hand? Either I get the perfect close up, the money shot, or put down the camera and free my right hand. There’s just no time for such a manoeuvre. Obama is right in front of me. It’s now or never. Panic sets in. I could lose my appointment with history. What will I tell my grandchildren? I opt for a compromise . Still filming with the right hand, I reach out with my left hand to offer him an easy grip, little finger outermost. And so it happens.
Barack Hussein Obama, the 44th President of the United States, the first black leader of the free world, touches my little finger.
So, President Obama has already made contact with Iran. And should his administration go ahead and talk to Iran, and if those talks lead to restoration of diplomatic links, and a harmonious and mutually respectful relationship develops between our countries, and if I may be so bold as to suggest, that leads to peace in the Middle East, I’d like to think it all began on October 16th, 2008, in an orchard in New Hampshire with a tiny wave of my little finger.
Blessed by that encounter a few weeks later in November 2008 I was elected a TED Fellow. Obama went on to win the presidency.
Taghi Amirani
TED Fellow 2009
http://www.ted.com/index.php/profiles/view/id/81645
@tagz23
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The Global Adventures Of The TED 2009 Bag
An earlier post of mine on the TED Fellows Posterous blog prompted Colleen to share a colour co-ordinated photo of her and her bag in the woods. Gorgeous. Kyra said she will join in.
Then TEDster Jose Fernandez-Calvo posted a photo of his bag in Machu Pichu.
The whole thing began when Erik Hersman posted HIS bag on the back of his yellow BMW bike as he set off to Miami to pick up an award. (Congrats Erik!)
So I set up a Flickr group.
Join, share, tell the stories.
Taghi Amirani
TED Fellow 2009
@tagz23
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