Question: What did the snail say when he rode on the turtle's back? Read to the bottom for the answer...

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Greetings inchvestors! Hello from the interzone between LOVELAND seasons 1 and 2, and also from New Jersey, an interzone of its own, where I'm sitting on the couch of my parents' house after visiting for my mom's birthday.

If you haven't seen The Legend of The Ghost Inches video in the pre-season 2 Kickstarter, check it out here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jerry/loveland-season-2-pre-game-the-legend-of-the-ghos . Did you know Detroit has an unspoken past? A tiny, tiny, haunted, tiny past of haunted micro real estate? Well it does. The ghost inches are baaa-aaack, and they want to be caught so a new bridge can be built! : )

You want the truthiness? Well, can you *handle* the truthiness?? The video also introduces a new character in a parallel LOVELAND storyverse, the Detroit Ice Potato: http://detroiticepotato.com .

In addition to the birthday, I'm on the road for meetings and working with friends in different cities. I'll be in New York until the 4th, then I'm in San Francisco until the 10th, then I'm back in Detroit. Holler if you're wherever I am, I love meeting inchvestors. I'm never sure how everyone likes to follow along with progress, so I encourage you to join the Facebook group if you want more frequent, light updates: http://facebook.com/makeloveland and there's also the blog at http://7billionfriends.com .

I'm working my butt off to get your property in the ground. You can see some current planning at http://7billionfriends.tumblr.com/post/419025798/lets-get-physical-plymouth-grid-update and http://7billionfriends.tumblr.com/post/392213805/plymouth-grid-construction . And to get more deeds in the mail. Forgive me, we need to improve speed on that, I didn't expect to be so overwhelmed. Also, I've got a bundle of shirts on their way to me for shipping. Some new recruits will be helpful here (we just welcomed our first intern!): http://7billionfriends.tumblr.com/post/409687867/say-hello-to-nicole-the-new-inchtern .

Aaand I'm working my butt off to prepare for season 2 which will start in the spring. As I liken it, I've been working like a printer, moving back and forth quickly leaving lines of dots that are adding up to a picture, and we're aggressively knocking out a series of checkpoints over the next few weeks that will put more into focus: http://7billionfriends.tumblr.com/post/418369804/nothing-functions-like-a-deadline-preparing-for-march .

On the business side, I'm wrestling with whether or not to make LOVELAND an L3C, which is an experimental corporate structure that's part for-profit and part non-profit: http://7billionfriends.tumblr.com/post/419461554/to-l3c-or-not-to-l3c-that-is-confusing . So far LOVELAND has been entirely funded by inchvestor love and dollars. We are starting to talk to larger investors and looking at grants so we can stop scraping by from month to month, start hiring people, and move more chess pieces around the board at a faster rate.

Personally, I continue having the time of my life working on this for you. I'm excited, scared, inspired, and exhausted by turn, which is at should be. All this is...new, and we're doing it David style, not Goliath style, with naught but a slingshot full of inches. I enjoy picturing the not-too-distant future where the system is really up and running and we look back at this stage fondly. The quaint times! All of your support and inchvestment is more valuable than you can know. <3

Boldly we venture into the unknown,

Jerry Paffendorf
908-343-1981
http://makeloveland.com
http://7billionfriends.com

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Answer: Weeeeeeeeeeee! : )

People of the realm, let me keep this snappy:

As of this moment there are only 390 inches remaining in Plymouth, the first 10,000 square inch property. The final Kickstarter round is here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jerry/loveland-round-11 .

Now, what to expect. When we hit 10K, that will conclude LOVELAND season 1: the earliest stage of figuring this all out, exploring directions, welcoming LOVELAND's earliest pioneers (that would be you! :)) and testing the inchvestment model.

Season 2 will begin in the spring and I couldn't be more excited about it. What's new? Well, your inches will be physically installed and visitable. Hoorah! There will be a fresh new website with new map features to see and interact with your space online, a new side story-line, AND! We'll be coming out with 5 LOVELAND grants to support projects in Detroit, so season 2 will be about sharing new inchvestment money with people doing cool and important things in the city.

LOVELAND itself has been Kickstarted by all of you, and now it's time for it to start Kickstarting other things.

I could go on and on, and often do, so I'll leave it there. Thank you again and, as always, check out the blog http://7billionfriends.com and the Facebook group http://www.facebook.com/pages/Detroit-MI/LOVELAND/92964001574... and let's keep the energy going.

LOVELAND loves you,

Jerry Paffendorf
908-343-1981
http://makeloveland.com
http://7billionfriends.com

People of the realm,

Exciting news: There are only 1,000 inches left in LOVELAND's first Plymouth colony (see the pic, bursting at the seams) and we're getting ready to move outdoors with newfunsuperexcitment in the spring.

I just posted what I think will be the last Kickstarter round here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jerry/loveland-round-11 . Double down if you'd like to and share it with friends however floats your inch boats. We can really use the energy and support to finish this off right!

Here's what's happening next: When we hit this next thousand inches http://makeloveland.com is going into mini-hibernation before reopening by spring with a new look, new features, a fully realized Plymouth for you, and a next property. General level up-ness. Think of it as the end of season 1 and the start of season 2. History made, experience gained, fresh starts, bigger bangs.

We'll also be scaling up the team to work through some of the logistical bottlenecks like mailing out the remaining deeds and shirts and following up on leeds, as well as focusing on LOVELAND special ops like Project Lemon Battery (property camera) and Project Pico Mover (property robot) and project partnerships.

As per usual there's a bunch of fun new stuff on the blog: http://7billionfriends.com , and Detroit News wrote a nice piece on us a little bit back: http://detroitnews.com/article/20100112/BIZ/1120323/Detroit-plot-sells-for-$1-per-square-inch

Keep it real and thanks 12 tons for your support and inchvestment. We're gonna do this big for you!

Faithfully,

Jerry Paffendorf
908-343-1981

Inchvestors of the realm, Happy new year to you. Here's what the rock is cooking.

Firstly a quick reminder of the channels you can follow LOVELAND on outside of Kickstarter updates:

* I update the blog frequently: http://7billionfriends.com

* as well as the Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Detroit-MI/LOVELAND/92964001574...
* and Twitter: http://twitter.com/makeLOVELAND
* and there's a google group for very infrequent emails: http://groups.google.com/group/loveland-inchvestors

Follow at your own speed. It's the '90s. You have options.

We're approaching 7,500 inches out of the first 10,000 from over 400 people which you can see on the inchvestor map: http://makeloveland.com/inchvestors . Aside from making sure certain monthly goals are met, I've been letting progress percolate organically to maximize self-selection and diversity of inchvestors. But! Heads up there's really not that much space left in the first Plymouth colony so if you'd like more space or to get your friends in, there won't be room in the pioneer manger forever.

If you haven't seen it yet, the current inchvestment round comes packing pickles compliments of McClure's Pickles: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jerry/loveland-round-9-the-case-of-the-pickled-inches

To answer the question of when can you start incheracting with your property, there are 2 main factors: first, until we reach the 10,000th inch, the property lines will continue to move around on the map. Once we do they'll freeze into place and your holdings will be stable. Second, I'll be installing a nice grid on the property so that your space will be clearly defined. I'm not sure if you've heard this one before, but "it's so cold in the D" right now, and my plan is to work on that in the studio over the winter and situate the grid in the very early spring.

Following that same timeline I'm also working on a streaming video solution for the property along with virtual ways to interact with it over the internets: http://7billionfriends.tumblr.com/post/313531583/wanted-solutions-sponsors-savvy-advice-for

Over the holidays I started mailing out deeds and letters to inchvestors with 12 inches or more. I mailed out a whole bunch but still have more to go. If you've sent me your mailing address, I have it and will snailmail industrial complex you your package soon. If you haven't yet, please do! The same goes for the "I'VE GOT INCHES IN DETROIT!" shirts (which look hot, or fierce, or rad, or whatever your preferred parlance for sweet).

As happens, there's more that could be said (see the blog for more on property game prototypes, "magical realism", and other such things), but knowing that life and the internets are full of more catnip than just LOVELAND I will leave it here and let you sniff around as your nose carries you. Please enjoy the attached teeny tiny new years inchymation video featuring The Numbers Guy, a new character who helps tally up all the Inchies.

Thanks, everybody! Watch your inches, watch your feet.

Wonderfully excitedly hard-workingly yours in Detroit,

Jerry Paffendorf
908-343-1981
jerryp[at]gmail[dot]com

http://makeloveland.com
http://7billionfriends.com

LOVELAND Inchvestors,

To the chase:

If you’ve inchvested in 12 or more inches of Detroit I will mail you a one square inch golden deed to your land along with a magnifying glass and googly-eyed Inchy (these kits are locked and loaded, see a picture below). Send me your mailing address ASAP to jerryp[at]gmail[dot]com (or call me with it or any questions at 908-343-1981) if you’d like to receive this before Inchmas (December 25th).

Speaking of Inchmas, if you’d like to give the gift of LOVELAND Detroit micro real estate this holiday season you can inchvest in 12 inches or more at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jerry/loveland-round-7-peak-inches and send me the person’s name and address. They’ll go on the inchvestor map http://makeloveland.com/inchvestors with a note that you gifted them land and they’ll receive a beautiful little LOVELAND Inchmas package that will make them smile a mile.

Now some really big news that’s transformative for your inchvestments and the project as a whole. When the project hits its 10,000th inch, everything is going to scale up to square feet. Your original inchvestment will remain unaffected and the Plymouth colony of 10,000 square inches will still move outdoors and exist in its original square inch grid form, but, as an added reward and return on your inchvestment you will also receive the same number of square feet as you have square inches. That’s a 144x return! :)

You’ll have to bear with me while I set these new properties up, but effectively, upon reaching 10,000, if you have 12 square inches now, you’ll also have an additional 12 square feet. If you have 144 square inches you’ll also have an additional 144 square feet, etc etc. Suffice it to say this is a radical leap in terms of possibilities for developing your land. Mailboxes, gardens, solar power, benches, sheds, rocket ships(?), etc etc etc all become feasible.

Thank you so much for believing in and being part of LOVELAND. From humble beginnings, we’re working incredibly hard make this the greatest inchvestment of your lives and develop a solid framework for micro real estate ownership and creativity. Call with any questions and Merry Inchmas season everybody!

Constantly evolving and intelligently designing,

Jerry Paffendorf & Friends

http://makeloveland.com
http://7billionfriends.com

Greetings Inchmart Shoppers!

We're entering the Inchmas season and there's no better time to give the gift of micro real estate in Detroit. You can buy inches for friends, family, and loved ones (frenemies and haters, too) and just let me know who they're for. Their names will go on the inchvestor map ( http://bit.ly/6L6uE3 ) and they'll receive LOVELAND Inchmas greetings. There are only hours left on the current Kickstarter round and in ecological terms we've already reached "peak inches" with less than 1/2 of the first Plymouth colony remaining: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jerry/loveland-round-6-a-force-more-powerful . Get to the chopper!!

This month I'll be at a few physical locations in Detroit and New York selling micro real estate gifts so come say hey. Tomorrow, Friday the 4th I'll be in NY for the first stop on the Degenerate Craft Fair tour: http://degeneratecraftfair.com . Then Saturday the 12th I'll be at the Fisher Building in Detroit as part of Detroit Synergy's Shop Detroit event: http://www.detroitsynergy.org/projects/shopdetroit . I also made an art chair deed for a Chair-ity fundraiser for homeless veterans in Michigan that will be auctioned off at Tangent art gallery in Detroit this Saturday: http://bit.ly/7RXTqb

There are some serious surprises in store for LOVELAND and inchvestors. We've been working hard, listening hard, and learning hard (hey, it's hard times) and are not forever constrained to the inch scale in our exploration of micro payments for micro ownership and creative land use. I probably shouldn't say too much more, but wouldn't it be cool if you woke up one morning and your inchvestment had incr... oh never mind. But this is a good time to get into Plymouth before it's full. ;)

As always, there's new stuffs on the blog: http://7billionfriends.com .

Don't love alone,

Jerry Paffendorf & Friends

908-343-1981
http://makeloveland.com
http://7billionfriends.com

Friends, Romans, Inchvestors, lend me your clicks,

If you check out http://7billionfriends.com you'll see some new stuff including some lunar property for you, a new premonition video, a new inchvestor visualization in the works, and an expanded colony strategy around Detroit.

I'm in Los Angeles right now getting ready to give a short talk about LOVELAND at the DIY Days conference http://diydays.com . Word on the street is they'll be a live video stream and chatty social media stuff at http://diydays.com/conference . The conference starts today at 6:30 PM west coast time/9:30 PM east coast time. I'm scheduled to go on from 6:50 - 7:10 PM west coat time and will be shouting you out.

There's also a Kickstarter round finishing out here that needs its backboard broken: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jerry/loveland-round-5-youre-nobody-til-somebody-hates

In other news I love you all. Also I swear on a copy of "Oh, The Places You'll Go!" that the shirts and deeds and other deliverables are in progress. You wouldn't believe the glitches that pop up in the matrix.

Wish me double luck tonight, I'm feeling under the weather *sniffle*,
Jerry

We've got 6 days to move 550 more inches in the current round: http://bit.ly/1LqxVi then I'm going to use that money to buy a camera and figure out a streaming video solution for our first property, and move from there. If you want to support that and get more space or if you have friend's who'll be into this project, by all means spread the love!

After this round I'm going to open up a store on http://makeloveland.com where people can purchase inches and other LOVELAND stuffs at any time (claimed inches, physical inches of dirt from the property, paper deeds and magnifying glasses, and shirts to start with -- the shirts and deeds will be on their way soon, things got a little spun in the forest of possible printing solutions). Also after this round we'll be more than 1/2 way through the Plymouth colony, with a real property to move into, and it's time to open up to the world more and make some changes that reflect that.

Thank you all so much for being a part of the Kickstarting process. Over the last few months...well, I'll spare you the speech. It's been awesome. And you know me, I'm crazy enough to keep doing this until it's a phenomenon far beyond my control where you'll all be saying, "ZOMG I was in LOVELAND back when it was on Kickstarter! I was IN PLYMOUTH!!!" And then we will all clink our glasses to history and drink them down to the road ahead.

Oh, I also just started a Google Group that's going to replace the mailing list as a place for announcements and where we can all squwawk together if you want to join: http://groups.google.com/group/loveland-inchvestors .

Doing my best to create ever more value for your inchvestments,

Jerry Paffendorf
908-343-1981

PS Attached here is little thank you postcard with Inchy and Inchured Inchy. If you haven't seen Inchy's scuffle with the robot zombie from Zug Island, they're the two top videos currently on http://makeloveland.com . They also show Plymouth (the taped grid) and Recovery (the first property I just bought for us).

People of Plymouth,

While Plymouth has about 5,000 inches to go I've been working on the next stage, level 2, where your inchvestments will be featured and take on new life. The premise I'm working on is an online battle game against a demon from Zug Island that will transform real land in Detroit inch by inch and all of you who've gotten in early will be featured.

Please see the epic premonition video here, featuring your fair Plymouth colony leading up to a sketch of the battle: http://bit.ly/UN18J

Jerry

PS I'm looking for an assistant and artists in Detroit: http://bit.ly/1l3tTW

Inchvestors of the realm, greetings from Detroit,

Please send me your mailing addresses at jerryp[at]gmail[dot]com if you've inchvested in 20 inches or 50 inches (or more). 20 inches gets you a one square inch printed deed to LOVELAND and a magnifying glass, and 50 inches gets you a deed and an "I'VE GOT INCHES IN DETROIT" t-shirt. I'm working on getting both printed right now. Hot stuff.

If you inchvested in less than that and want to level up, I quietly posted a new round of inches on Wednesday morning. You can add to your initial inchvestment there: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jerry/loveland-round-3-im-not-afraid

The shall we say mysterious video attached to the current round foreshadows an upcoming occurrence related to the official inchcorporation of Why Don't We Own This? LLC in Michigan, the company I'm starting for LOVELAND and future micro-ownership projects. Hmm... I wonder what it will be, and what its relationship to the Declaration of Inchdependence is. :)

I'd like to share more here but I know how hard it is to keep everyone's attention. We're all so busy! (Except you. Stop slacking. jk :)) Feel free to call me on the phone at 908-343-1981 to catch up and stay tuned to http://7billionfriends.com .

<3

Jerry

Hola inchvestors,

I'm headed to New York for a week to work from the Big Apple and celebrate a birthday near family. If you're in NY and want to meetup get in touch.

I've got a couple new posts on http://7billionfriends.com including the nice pairing of one about the company I started last coming out of stealth mode with a traditionally formatted realtime social web product, and another with thoughts on story, process, and abstraction in building things (which is the approach I'm taking this time with LOVELAND).

Stay tuned for updates. I'm on it,

Jerry

Happy Friday inchvestors, welcome to LOVELAND!

The current Kickstarter round closes tomorrow (Saturday). There are 300 inches left so I'm picking up the phone today. If you know anyone else incherested, to take a page from Obama, now is the time for action! :) At the end of this round we'll be at 4,000, or approaching 1/2 of the first colony.

There are new posts on the 7 Billion Friends blog. Notably:

• Plymouth now physically exists in my studio and I'll be working to organize your space and update the site with that soon. Here are pics and stuff (also pasting pics into this update): http://7billionfriends.tumblr.com/post/190065352/a-fun-thing-happened-on-the-way-to-plymouth-10-000

• I wrote about the story of the naming of LOVELAND, which actually came off the side of a book on property law owned by a woman named Susan Loveland who I'd never met. Well, after I wrote that I was connected to THE Susan Loveland through Facebook. Go go gadget internets: http://7billionfriends.tumblr.com/post/190478762/loving-quoth-and-dance-city-the-etymology-of-loveland

I'm looking for an illustrator who wants to draw out a nice map of Plymouth that we can use. I'm picturing something like this: http://xkcd.com/256 . If you are or know that person let me know!

Rock on,

Jerry

See the full update with pics on my blog at http://bit.ly/YUD0f .

Time is winding down on this round and there are still 700 inches available. Inchvestments of 25 or more now come with paper deeds, and 50 or more come with "I've Got Inches In Detroit" t-shirts. The construction of the Plymouth colony is underway, so the number of inches people have is taking on greater meaning and tangibility.

If you're in Detroit and want to visit Plymouth in my studio at the Russell Industrial Center, please do!

Jerry

This is an important inchvestor update as LOVELAND takes a turn for the tangible and grows a first colony.

Effective immediately, the first 10,000 inches of LOVELAND have been defined as the Plymouth colony and exist in my studio at the Russell Industrial Center in Detroit. You can read more about this foundational colony on the 7 Billion Friends blog at http://bit.ly/2VhH0c. Your inches now have a first physical home and next week you'll be able to get a look at the grid and start experimenting.

I'm now going to turn my attention to focus on achieving the current Kickstarter goal by reaching out to more people I think will be incherested. With this new news in mind, invite your friends to inchvest and join in on the Plymouth action. If this current round is successful we'll be up to over 4,000 inches, almost half way through the first territory. The current Kickstarter round is at http://bit.ly/1Fea8r .

Inch long and prosper,

Jerry
908-343-1981

Howday y'all and welcome!

We're about 100 inches deep into this round. Here's the short URL for sharing that'll get people to the latest LOVELAND Kickstarter page: http://bit.ly/1Fea8r Old Italian adage: Why inch alone when you can inch with friends?

Some new things since the round started:

♥ Here's audio of a great LOVELAND interview from Friday with Pirate Cat Radio in San Francisco: http://bit.ly/4FZLYx

♥ Here's a fun write-up and new video of a tiny LOVELAND appearance at Balsa Man on Saturday, a mini Burning Man that happens in just a couple of hours: http://bit.ly/3wPjqI

♥ Here's some thinking (and a little wishing) about Kickstarter putting Kickstarter on Kickstarter: http://bit.ly/yYIYQ

I'll be in San Fracisco for about a week and then back to Detroit. For the next little bit I'll be spending my time between getting some word out to make sure we hit this goal, and working on Inchernet designs. Be in touch with ideas and questions.

Every day I'm hustling,

Jerry