Monthly Archives: September 2024

Litmus tests suck…

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Barack Obama says, Fighting on behalf of the poor and the vulnerable is not the same as fighting for homophobia and Halliburton.  But to the degree that we brook no dissent within the Democratic Party, and demand fealty to the one, "true" progressive vision for the country, we risk the very thoughtfulness and openness to new ideas that are required to move this country forward.  When we lash out at those who share our fundamental values because they have not met the criteria of every single item on our progressive "checklist," then we are essentially preventing them from thinking in new ways about problems.  We are tying them up in a straightjacket and forcing them into a conversation only with the converted.

Everything is mucilaginous

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I just want to meet Rashmi, that’s why I’m going on like this…

Web 1.0 was all about linking and searching, publishing and presenting, and of course there was commercial activity from online banking to retail sales and auctioneering.  Web 2.0 is not here yet but some think it is emerging out of the fog of the future through ripples of Skype and MMPORGs, rapids of BitTorrent and foamy drifts of tags.  It seems self-serving of someone to aver that Web 2.0 has anything to do with a Technorati feed on Newsweek.  It seems in fact sort of, I dunno… retro?  Web 2.0 seems more about progress toward that Isenbergian ideal of dumbing down the center and smartening up of the edges of the net.  Never mind that infrastructure pieces that route Gigabit ethernet over MPLS or SONET or whatever are hairy smart components…  what the Weinbergerites and the Isenbergians are talking about is not having a bunch of databases in there driving authentication and billing.  All that infrastructure provides a commodity and the commodity is called throughput.  Don’t be inspecting my packets Mr. Bell.  That’s content and that’s all you need to know.  You pipeline it, we’ll use it.  We’ll bundle up and unbundle the content at the edges.  You just provide the transport.

Thus we have the vision of a vast peer to peer network that comprises Web 2.0.  I must ask, "What’s Newsweek got to do with it?"

Compumentor is a non-profit outfit that distributes tech tools to other non-profits and NGOs. They are planning to "Internet empower" those customers.  This will potentiate freedom of speech, freedom of virtual assembly, empowerment writ large, writ global. 

This has the potential of empowering communities that have never had a free press.  It’s exciting and I’m in.  The NetSquared site says there are 209 days to the event.  How many blawgers, journalists, teachers and techies and geeks have the stones to offer up a little pro bono service for a good thing?

Incentive? You want incentive?  April 26th there’s going to be a "blow-out party… entertainment, food and drink."    I think there might be music and dancing and stumbling around in the parking lot.  At least that is what I would expect.  On the 27th they promise aspirins and wi-fi and comfort food and a chance to deepen those relationships….   

Weird/Tiered

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Tiered… ethernet

Weird… etherbunny

NetSquared x Web 2.0 equals Four

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Chris Locke is off and running on a new engagement, blogging for NetSquared.  It’s full of all kinds of useful info about how to save the world and how to blow tin cans sky high with M-80′s and not lose a finger while doing that (hint: run like hell).

I was in the Kennedy Library parking lot a few weeks ago talking with Chris and the word "eleemosynary" slithered into the conversation.  Next thing you know he’s hard at work for the good of the world and Dervala is somehow also involved.  This HAS to be a good thing.

So, you go to the NetSquared blog, you register, and first thing you know you have your own associated blog through Drupal.  Shades o’ Doc Searls’ IT Garage!

Well, the real reason for this post is to see if I can get it linked through del.icio.us through the miscellaneous magic of tagging.  Everything, as we say, is mucilaginous.  I’m sure I can get a tag laid in that will place this like a post-it on the sidebar at NetSquared.

Are you weird or tiered?

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RB, reminded of the old Wired Magazine feature "Wired versus Tired,"  proposed a new approach:  "Weird versus Tiered."  Here’s my first stab at it…  more agile minds will undoubtedly find funnier pairings.  As for me, I am old and slow, my head hurts, my feet stink, and I don’t love Jesus…  that’s my excuse…

Weird                           Tiered
cladistics                       Linnaen taxonomy
orgone therapy               org charts
sacher-masoch              maslow
demolition derby            deductible insurance
the Dow                        the Tao
the Tao                         the Dow
quakers                        catholics

Why don’t you give it a try?

Eyes Wide Open

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We’re bringing the AFSC exhibit, Eyes Wide Open,  to Madison on Veterans Day.  The posted schedule says Amherst that date.  Wonder if they couldn’t get the permit?  Couldn’t find the cash?  This feels a little like a Christo thing.   Our permit for the Capitol steps isn’t finalized.  MAPC sponsorship hasn’t been finalized.  The schedule says Amherst.  We still need another $500.  When the semi trailer full of boots and shoes commemorating each American soldier and the thousands of civilians who have died in the Iraq war arrives in Madison, who will arrange them on the Capitol steps?  Who will pack them up that night and move them to the library mall for the Saturday installation?

[Update... just ran across the blog.]

Danny Miller

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Here’s something good I just read.  "Everybody likes me," she said.  I wish I could lay it all out there like Danny does.