craschworks

Posted via web from crasch’s posterous

Posted via web from crasch’s posterous

Declan MuCullagh wrote a a new article on CBS news regarding the Ephemerisle event, in which I’m quoted.  

“The consensus is that next year we’ll do it again in the delta,” says Rasch, who helped to build the floating platform. “Some people, like me, were attracted to the political aspects. Other people were attracted because they like building things on the water, or solving technical challenges. There’s virtue in the camaraderie you get when you build an art project or a platform. The platforms we’re building aren’t appropriate for the open ocean, but the friendships will survive.”

Note that my role in the build was pretty small–I helped with the final build steps on Saturday, but the vast majority of the work was done by Chicken John, James Hogan, and their crew in the weeks leading up to Ephemerisle (and afterward).

First mainstream coverage of Ephemerisle, via patrissimo:

Floating innovative ideas in a sea of creativity

This is Ephemerisle, the latest defiant undermining of the stereotype that California’s tech grotto has no artistic or real-world skills to call its own. The idea, when hatched, was as wobbly as the ferry: hold a festival on water, built and then dismantled by its attendees in the course of a weekend. But then, this is the same intersection of communities that grew Burning Man, a festival that now hosts more than 40,000 attendees in the middle of a barren desert.

Some of the figures involved in that event are here today.

What a great conference! Seasteading attracts such interesting people. Yesterday I drove the author of “How to Start Your Own Country” from the airport to the hotel. Last night, I scarfed sushi and bacon soup in the penthouse suite of a billionaire. Today, I had ribs with a guy who travels the world–with no home, no car, he lives out of a pair of suitcases. And that’s just a small fraction of the people I’ve met–everyone seems to have equally interesting stories to tell. I can’t wait to see who I will meet tomorrow!

Via Patri:

I’d like to remind everyone of our upcoming Second Annual Conference and First-Ever Ephemerisle Festival, where the far-flung seasteading community will gather in person to explore the theory and practice of seasteading.

Second Annual Seasteading Conference

People from from across the globe have registered to see esteemed speakers like TSI Funder and PayPal founder Peter Thiel, Stanford University’s Paul Romer, HavenCo founder Sean Hastings, anarchist economist David Friedman, How To Start Your Own Country author Erwin Strauss, controversial political blogger Mencius Moldbug, and many more. Featuring the unveiling of our strategy for the next 5 years, a unique seasteading simulation, Annual Open Board Meeting, and our Annual Member’s Dinner, you don’t want to miss this gathering of luminaries, entrepreneurs, and pioneers – so register today!

For more information, check out the conference webpage.

World’s Only First-Ever Ephemerisle Festival

To make seasteading happen, we need practice as well as theory, which is why this year our conference is accompanied by the first ever Ephemerisle festival of politics, community, and art. Out on the water we’ll work, play, talk, and immerse ourselves in a deep but temporary world of possibility. We’re constructing 3 main platforms (a prototype is pictured above, holding a coffeeshop-in-a-trailer), to which numerous houseboats, ships, and homebuilt platforms will dock – each with their own set of laws. And we’ve awarded 7 grants so far to art projects such as those pictured below:

The attendees of this year’s Ephemerisle will be able to say, for the rest of their lives: “I was there when it all started.” Don’t miss your chance to begin at the beginning and contribute to the future of an event that will change the world – register today! For more information, check out the Ephemerisle webpage, as well as Patri’s discussion of how Ephemerisle advances seasteading

The Seasteading Institute is hiring. See below for details.
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TSI Job Opening: Director Of Development

The Seasteading Institute (TSI), headquarted in Palo Alto, CA, is a non-profit organization with the mission of furthering the establishment of permanent, autonomous ocean communities. In opening a new frontier, we will improve the human condition worldwide by enabling innovation with new political and social systems. We were recently covered in Wired and The Sunday Times, and in 2008 we received $500,000 of initial funding from Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and early investor in companies such as LinkedIn and Facebook. More information is available at our website, seasteading.org.

TSI’s development director will be primarily responsible for growing membership and obtaining funding for TSI through a combination of grant-writing, outreach, PR, fundraisers, and donor development. They will work in conjunction with the Executive Director, Director of Operations, and the Board of Directors. This is a paid, full-time role (3/4 time is available if needed for work/life balance). We offer a quality PPO health insurance plan in addition to other standard California state benefits.

Requirements:

* Work experience in a non-profit.
* Willingness to commute to our downtown Palo Alto office 3 days/week.
* Social, outgoing, networking type of personality
* Largely self-managing – work with other staff to define priorities and brainstorm strategy, but able to work independently.
* Passionate about our mission, understands that we are a non-profit and part of their compensation is in the “coolness factor” and getting to work on an ambitious project to benefit humanity.

The ideal candidate will also have:

* Experience and a track record of success in a non-profit fundraising role (doesn’t need to be a senior one).
* Event management experience.
* A network of contacts and potential donors in a similar enough area to be relevant to TSI.

Specific responsibilities include:

* Board recruitment and expansion.
* Identify and develop major donors with help of Executive Director and Board.
* Defining and maintaining membership program, growing membership.
* Define and maintain project-specific fundraising.
* Schedule and plan public and member events (social, conferences, fundraisers) with the DirOps to drive interest in TSI.
* Identifying grant opportunities, grant-writing.
* Public outreach online and in print media, respond to press inquiries.
* Attend conferences and events to network and advertise the organization.
* Maintain online presence for TSI on various social networking sites.
* Coordinate the writing and distribution of monthly newsletters and the Annual Report.

jobs@seasteading.org.

Note that we offer a $1,000 referral bonus for this position, if you refer a candidate who later gets hired.

The Seasteading Institute (TSI) is a non-profit organization with the mission of furthering the establishment of permanent, autonomous ocean communities. In opening a new frontier, we will improve the human condition worldwide by allowing people to experiment with new forms of government. We were recently covered in Wired and The Sunday Times, and have received $500,000 of initial funding from Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and early investor in companies such as LinkedIn and Facebook. More information is available at http://www.seasteading.org.

TSI’s Event Project Manager will be responsible for making sure key TSI events happen smoothly, on time, and within budget. This will largely entail in-the-trenches project management and planning work. Key projects will include the planning and execution of our 2009 Annual Conference (~100 attendees) and our Ephemerisle floating festival (~30-300 attendees), which are being held the week of September 28th. Ephemerisle is a particularly unique event — think Burning Man literally floating on the water, and you will have an idea of the unusual logistical and planning challenges this presents.

We want someone who is highly autonomous, detail-oriented, passionate about what we’re doing, and loves a challenge. Seriously — we’re a four-person startup, and honestly, we’re a little behind schedule hiring for this role. And we’re asking you to plan a floating Burning Man, for crying out loud. If all this makes you say “awesome! I can work with cool people and help start a world-changing movement!”, then consider applying! If this makes you shrug and say “what’s Burning Man? I’m sure my all my experience planning dinner parties will carry me through”, this might not be the role for you.

This is paid, temporary position from now until mid-October. Candidates must be available to start immediately. It will be at least half-time up until the events, and at least full-time the week before and during the events. The role is located in downtown Palo Alto, CA, a 3-minute walk from the University Avenue CalTrain stop.

Specific responsibilities will include:

* Creating detailed project plans: Defining tasks, setting milestones, assigning ownership, identifying dependencies, and so on
* Understanding and managing projects’ critical paths
* Tracking project execution
* Proactively identifying risks to schedule, budget, or productivity
* Creating and implementing mitigation plans for those risks
* Reporting of project status to teammates and TSI Executive Staff
* Running project meetings: Agendas, notes, and action items
* Coordinating event volunteers
* Finding and securing event venues, caterers, etc.
* Negotiating good rates with vendors
* Defining event schedules
* Obtaining proper event insurnace
* Documentation of event plans for use by future planners
* Managing conference operations and volunteers during the 2009 Annual Conference

Interested candidates should send a resume and a brief statement describing their interest in the role to jobs@seasteading.org.

If you doubt the technical feasibility of seasteading, take a look at this article:

In November, Royal Caribbean will take delivery of a true sea monster. Now in its final phase of construction, the Oasis of the Seas will be the biggest (longest, tallest, widest, heaviest) passenger ship ever built—and the most expensive. It will dwarf Nimitz-class aircraft carriers and cast shadows dockside atop 20-story buildings. A crew of 2,165 will tend the expectations of up to 6,296 passengers.

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