And if you imagine your group would want me to come by and speak, here’s who you want to call.

Last year I was asked by Web Directions North, a gathering of assorted bigshots from Google, Yahoo!, etc. — people who literally convene to design the Internet itself — to deliver a closing keynote on the future of the Internet’s influence on global culture and politics.

Naturally, my take was illustrated with people dancing in the streets, teenage males being given fake boobs, and coffee made from civet poop.  I’m happy to tell you it got a long standing ovation.

You can see the whole talk online here.  It’s broken into bite-size pieces, organized loosely by the point I’m making, each about the length of a pop song.  If you dig the chunk above, click to the YouTube page with the whole shebang.

I had a total blast and met a ton of cool people.  And seeing so many young people get excited about a sense of connection with the developing world, and the ability to touch lives halfway across the globe — that gave me a huge boost of enthusiasm for my own work.  So I definitely received at least as good as I gave.

Thanks to everyone at PAAC.  Hope to see a bunch of you in Vietnam next!

In case you missed it, I was asked to write a Bones episode this year, it aired a couple of weeks ago… and here it is, available for streaming at the network’s website.

Incidentally, even though it says “Written by” and then my name in the credits, stuff like this is always a massively shared enterprise, so credit belongs in huge part with the entire writing and producing staff.

Very cool and fun bunch of people. And I’m happy to report it was their highest-rated episode since 2008!

Great experience, this was. Thanks to everyone involved!

My brief companion essay is here, and the introductory essay by novelist Arthur Phillips, who introduced me to the editors, is here.

It’s meant to be hard and yet amusing enough that you’ll want to share it with a friend or family member and work it together as part of your long holiday weekend.  Did my best, anyway.  Enjoy!

I think the other three women were her backup singers.

Obviously a coincidence.  Still: small, weird planet we live on.

It’s right here:

And while you’re here, kick off your shoes, poke around, scroll down, hit the Travel or the FAQ if you’re curious or click over to the Trebekistan section if you want more Jeopardy!-related stuff, and otherwise make yourself at home. Thanks for stopping by.

(btw, if you haven’t noticed, you can follow my own Twitter feed here.  Enjoy my random brain farts of 140 characters or less!)

So far, not one loan has defaulted.

Easiest way to do good I know.

Share the planet! Go do some Kiva.