"I'm taking the question marks in my life and bending them into exclamation points. I am the human interrobang." Pete Ippel #ALLRISK ‽

Learn more about Martin K. Speckter, innovator of punctuation.

Thank you to @rejon for Fabricatorz @pianoBrad for wonderful avatar creation video tutorial unleashing the power of Inkscape to create and share. Download inkscape. Thank you to @n8willis @christopheradam @davelab6 for revealing the awesome and useful interrobang, News Cycle, and your vast font knowledge. Also gratitude goes out to @WebChickBot and Point.B Studio for supporting and sharing ALLRISK in the Artists In The Information Age Exhibition.

SHARISM is a Mind Revolution: The more you share, the more you receive. It is a ideology which promotes the sharing culture and economy as a way of thinking.

Flashback to September eleventh, 2001, I was just moving into the fall semester of my final year at Cornell University, when I woke up early for my nine am Spanish class just like any other day…My friends Cristian and Dan were already up watching the news as they were both from New York City.

That’s when we saw the second plane hit. Below are the reactions of my peers as posted on their AOL IM “Away Messages” throughout the day…

Get the full screen version: AOL Instant Messenger “Away Messages” during The Terrorist Attacks on September 11th 2001.

U2′s Peace on Earth can be downloaded from Amazon.

Everyone Can Afford Clouds by Pete Ippel

“A nothing in relation to infinity, all in relation to nothing, a central point between nothing and all and infinitely far from understanding either. The ends of things and their beginnings are impregnably concealed from him in an impenetrable secret. He is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness out of which he was drawn and the infinite in which he is engulfed.”

-Blaise Pascal, Pensées #72

Being defined by a world focused on physical limitation, mental disability, and economic bias becomes tiresome. Until action serves all things moot. Fitness never fails, whether it is the condition of being physically fit and healthy, or the quality of being suitable to fulfill a particular role or task. There can be no lies if one only speaks the truth, there can be no intellectual property if one shares ideas freely, there can be no fraud if one commits to authenticity.

Everyone can afford clouds.

This thank you goes out to everyone who sent me a message, gave me a thumbs up, shared their energy, drove me to the hospital, smiled, laughed, held me when I cried, cut my skull open, taught my class, wiped my ass, showered me, fed me, stuck needles in me, listened to my story attentively, put screws in my head, broke my nose, sucked out snot and puss with a vacuum, scraped infected bone out of my sinus, put cream on my bed sores, stacked pillows under my back, rubbed my feet, cleaned up my puke, gave me motor tests, PT, OT, Cog T, Psy T,and dealt with me freaking out in the MRI…I love you all, and I’m going to keep surprising everyone…even myself.

Pete Ippel Studio Thank You from Hypermodern – Pete Ippel on Vimeo.

And here’s the text from the video

I have a big enough studio to walk around like this.

I have a big enough studio to jump like this.

I have a crazy enough hairdo to make my sideburns laugh.

I have enough room to SPIN!

I have enough room to walk and talk and think and be PETE again.

There’s nothing that’s going to stop me from succeeding.

I’m going to be fluent and I’m going to be beautiful and I’m going to be successful.

…and be an an artist, and be an athlete, and be a lover, and a dad, and a friend…everything I ever wanted.

And I’m going to do it because of people like you.

So thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.

I love you.

ALL RISK.

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
-Martin Luther King

“Mutual affection and understanding are more important, even more practical goals, than national prosperity or prestige.”

“One of the reasons the past looks better than the present is that we know how it turned out. – It had been raining for several days and we had that feeling that it would never stop. My father remarked that in his whole life, he had experienced only one period of rain that had not ended – which of course was the one were were in at the time.”

“We may not get everything right but we can make things better or worse…”

– George F. Doyle

I was just looking through my Phi Delta Theta Pledge manual from 1999 and I found a series of note cards that I used to use as speaking points at chapter meetings.  We were in the process of re-founding the fraternity and the following are the quotes I used to light the fire of change with my peers. 

“As you walk through life, you may be solo, but not alone.”
- Unknown

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”
-Margaret Mead

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
-Martin Luther King Jr.

“Guard well your spare moments they are like uncut diamonds.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

“We are often so caught up in our destination that we forget to appreciate the journey.”
-Unknown

“I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas, I’m frightened by the old ones.”
-John Cage

“An Idea is salutation by imagination.”
-Frank Lloyd Wright

“Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after.”
- Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Technorati Tags: quotes, inspiration

I have been moving forward with my show installation bit by bit, and have been working on being diligent with my time while still having time to decompress and relax. Thank you for respecting my need to focus on myself a bit during this potentially stressful period.

I have keeping an old Chinese saying in mind, as excerpted from the Gold Mountain Monastery newsletter based here in San Francisco.

“I make my own destiny and seek my own fortune; fortune and misfortune are not predetermined but acquired by my own actions.”

The newsletter continues…

If we want to stop being muddled and attain understanding, we must first do our best to get rid of our bad habits and faults, for only then can our wisdom shine forth…

This day is already done,
And our lives are that much less.
We’re like a fish in an ever-shrinking pond.
What joy is there in this?
Great assembly!
We should be diligent and vigorous,
As if our own lives were at stake.
Only be mindful of impermanence,
And be careful not to be lax.

Moving forward, I do feel as though my artistic life is at stake at the moment, and I’m investing all my resources to make sure when the opening comes, I’m ready. Procrastination is a fault that I’m growing out of as I have more experience.

I’ve been handing out cards, getting photos ready, and making plans. I also just got a fortune cookie: “You believe in the goodness of mankind”. I do, and I’m excited to share in the joy more each day.

“He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils.”
-Francis Bacon

Tags: quotes, Francis Bacon, art,

Pete_Ipp.jpg

Originally uploaded by hypermodern

Leap into GTD. “The people who take to GTD are the most organized people,” David Allen says, “But they self-assess as the least organized, because they are well-enough organized to know that they are fucking up.”

I had this posted over my desk through college, and just found the bit of paper as I am making my scrap book. Thank you to Don Taylor for this inspiring piece.

Success is a by-product of love. I’ve never yet seen anyone achieve greatness without loving what they do. While there is still work involved, if you love what you’re doing, the workload gets lighter.

Success is a by-product of thought. Not thinking of success, but rather think of solving this day’s problems through careful consideration of facts. Thought opens the door of discovery and lets in the light of reason. Sound reason brings clear solutions to difficult problems.

Success is a by-product of focusing on the positive. Only a pessimist succeeds by being negative. By focusing on what you can do, rather than what you cannot, you move forward toward success. Your progress may not be visible to you each day, but you are on your way.

Success is a by-product of planning. Creating a plan will not make you successful. I’ve seen the business plans of some real failures. However, a good plan is a foundation to build on. Executing the elements in your plan will guide you toward success.

Success is a by-product of starting. Many potentially successful projects fail because no one got them started. All success comes from starting. An adage says that well begun is half done.

Success is a by-product of continuing. Thomas Edison achieved great success by starting where others quit. Winston Churchill made a great speech with just six words. He said, “Never, never, never, never give up.” Helen Keller said, “We can do anything we want to do if we stick to it long enough.”

Success is a by-product of time well spent. Productive use of your time is a critical success factor. All people are given the same amount of time every day. Some use it dreaming, some denying, some dodging and some doing. Become a doer. Concentrate on results. Use your time wisely.

Success is a by-product of doing. Results are the outcome of actions. Actions are the by-product of doing.

A lifetime of doing what we love in a positive way, while thinking of others, will create some wonderful products and cause success to surround you.

Work toward other goals and successes will overtake you as certainly as night follows day.