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!

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!

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.

Sure, you can pocket the money when it comes back. (Which is almost always does — Kiva’s overall default rate is currently less than two percent. Given recent stock market downturns, you may well do better with Bolivian woodworkers than the S&P.) But where’s the fun in that?

So today, the $25 that came back from Nicaragua, I sent to a student in Costa Rica. The cash from Peru went to another shopkeeper in Uganda, and the money that came in from The Philippines went to a teacher in Mozambique.

When your loans get repaid and you shuffle the money off to somebody else, it feels like you’re running your own tiny foundation.  It’s really fun.

And remember: this costs me virtually nothing, other than the time value of the money while it’s out of my hands and the rare one or two percent of loans that default.  (That said, I haven’t had a single default so far.)  And for that fair price — a few farthings above free — you get to reach across the world like this:

Neat, huh?

Now that repayments are starting to keep my account almost reloaded on its own, this is starting to look like a lifetime hobby.

It’s one you might enjoy yourself.