Saturday, February 02, 2008

Open Hope

Just in case you missed it everywhere else...

Open Warning

Repetition and warning: Balwant Bhagwandin's I Hear Guyana Cry

...the angels turn away

shamed by sight

of a people who would

make martyr of murderer

and common criminals

liberators

and declare the drug dealer absolved

by the 4Runners and foot-runners he owns

and the money he has to burn

celebrate the success of crime

the triumph of lies and liars

the downfall of honest endeavors

and men as moronic

for being sincere

and determine how full of fun

their day of demonstration is

by how many

muggings and maulings are executed

and women are molested downtown

and the number of workplaces shut down

and stores pillaged

and burnt down by fires lit

by a madman with a vision one-tracked

to the throne

who mock the messages

of Mahatma and Mandela

murder the messengers

of reconciliation

and giggle and jump-up

happy as a herd of swine

wallowing in its own excrement

as the tempo

of the drums of war grow

towards frenzy

and whisper

as if prayer:

Harken ye the words

of your children:

Walter, the most brilliant and humble,

betrayed and blown to bits

for his caution:

together cling

all you wretched and abused

with hands and hearts entwined and grounded

that they not be made to bear guns

to make this a no-man’s land!

Recall the laments

of your son Martin

and his disillusion and pain:

So jail me quickly, clang the illiterate door

if freedom writes no happier alphabet.’

and his admonition

like that of Donne

timeless and good for all men:

‘…all are involved!

all are consumed!’

and give heed

though late

so late

lest this your ‘nation’

self-styled and so-called

though sundered

and already splintered like wood for fire

indeed becomes the fuel

for a terminal conflagration

of its children’s creation!

Open B&W

25 Январь 2008 г.

B&W

Open Rising Voices

This is soooooo good... I will not tell you that I understand the words... I will not tell you that I know the circumstances... I will tell you that until today I never had a chance ... to hear, to see, to feel.

Rising Voices: GV outreach


Rayones by Jorge Jurado


Rising Voices is an outreach initiative of Global Voices, which aims to extend the benefits and reach of citizen media by connecting online media activists around the world and supporting their best ideas.

Founded in 2004 by a group of pioneering international bloggers, Global Voices aggregates, curates, and amplifies the global conversation online - shining light on places and people other media often ignore. However, over the years it became increasingly clear that certain regions, communities, and demographics were much better represented in the online global conversation than others. The bloggers we frequently link to on Global Voices tend to be urban, middle-class, and well-educated.

Rising Voices is an endeavour to spread the tools and techniques of citizen media to communities that are under-represented on the conversational web. We do this in three different ways:

1.) Microgrants - Thanks to the support of the Knight Foundation, we are able to award microgrants to outreach projects that teach the skills of citizen media to new users. In July of 2007 we announced our first round of grantees. Rising Voices will be awarding more microgrants in October 2007 and February of 2008.

2.) Outreach Curriculum - In collaboration with Tactical Technology Collective and FLOSS Manuals, we are in the process of developing a series of multimedia tutorials which explain how to use tools like weblogs, photo-sharing sites, podcasts, wikis, and online video.

3.) Networking - Rising Voices is a global network of people who are knowledgeable and passionate about citizen media and want to see the benefits of self-expression extended to communities that have yet to come across these tools. If you would like to get involved you can request an invitation to our mailing list and Facebook group.

Open Wake



James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (Irish Séamus Seoighe; 2 February 188213 January 1941) was an Irish expatriate writer, widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. He is best known for his landmark novel Ulysses (1922) and its highly controversial successor Finnegans Wake (1939), as well as the short story collection Dubliners (1914) and the semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916).

Thanks Wikipedia - James Joyce

Open Generatives - Highly recommended.

I don't know if Kevin Kelly is the first to identify 'Generatives' but I do believe that he has clearly laid out the course of future commerce in Intellectual Property (IP). By focusing on these primal values purveyors will be able to commoditize and capitalize IP. I believe these 8 values will be the foundation of the future.

Eight Generatives Better Than Free

  1. Immediacy
  2. Personalization
  3. Interpretation
  4. Authenticity
  5. Accessibility
  6. Embodiment
  7. Patronage
  8. Findability
I agree with Seth Godin when he said Kevin Kelly is Highly recommended.

Open Source^2

This is an open request to IBM.

Please Open Source OS/2.

(Sadly I know in my heart of hearts that they will not, cannot comply. In these litigious days not even the mighty IBM can with stand the lawyerly scrutiny that will befall the open source of OS/2. Certainly the hungry M$ mouthpieces will circle salivating like buzzards. Oh well... )

Then let me recommend a truce. Let the behemoths call an Open Source truce. Let Microsoft release early versions of Windows while IBM releases OS/2.

Open Support (1)

This is how America has a chance to heal and grow...

Why I'm Backing Obama

By Susan Eisenhower
Saturday, February 2, 2008; Page A15

Forty-seven years ago, my grandfather Dwight D. Eisenhower bid farewell to a nation he had served for more than five decades. In his televised address, Ike famously coined the term "military-industrial complex," and he offered advice that is still relevant today. "As we peer into society's future," he said, we "must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow."

. . .

It is in this great tradition of crossover voters that I support Barack Obama's candidacy for president. If the Democratic Party chooses Obama as its candidate, this lifelong Republican will work to get him elected and encourage him to seek strategic solutions to meet America's greatest challenges. To be successful, our president will need bipartisan help.

Given Obama's support among young people, I believe that he will be most invested in defending the interests of these rising generations and, therefore, the long-term interests of this nation as a whole. Without his leadership, our children and grandchildren are at risk of growing older in a marginalized country that is left to its anger and divisions. Such an outcome would be an unacceptable legacy for any great nation.

Emphasis mine.

Friday, February 01, 2008

Open Art I

Please click here to enter...after picture loads :-)

From sister Beth (who does not blog, yet)

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Open Abstention

Here is a real choice...

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
ab·sten·tion [ab-sten-shuhn] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1.an act or instance of abstaining.
2.withholding of a vote.
I am hearing a frightening undercurrent of opinion expressed about the upcoming Presidential election. From different quarters I am hearing, "I must vote for McCain because he is the lesser of three evils." This is wrong on so many levels...
  1. "I must vote..." Since we were small it has been instilled in us that we must cast our vote. It is our right and privilege as members of a free society. It is our patriotic duty. 'If you don't vote you can't complain.' All are compelling reasons why we must vote and if we must vote who wants to vote for the losing side. So we must vote for a winner - not necessarily the best choice.
  2. "...lesser of three evils." This is the truly frightening undercurrent. I have heard Joe Average whisper, '[I] can't vote for a woman and won't vote for a black so that leaves only that Republican guy. If I got to chose I guess it will be that guy.' Joe Average is stating in no uncertain terms that he is going to throw his vote away by casting it for a candidate that he would not otherwise endorse.
To Joe Average I say, "Do not vote!" Let your abstention eloquently give voice to your personal opinion. Let your abstention speak the truth clearly instead of the lie of voting for the "lesser evil."

Protect your rights and privileges by voting the truth of your heart. If you cannot endorse any of the candidates do not cast a "lying" vote - tell the truth, your truth by abstaining.

Please, do not help to elect the "lesser evil".

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Open skepticism

Open Hunger!

Beth (who doesn't blog yet!) e-mailed me a photo essay detailing the "What we eat in a month" world perspective. I did a little poking around and located Rowland Croucher's blog posting of the same essay.

Papa says, "I am so affluent that I can be picky about what I eat."
Further poking around uncovered the fact that these pictures are from a series published by Time

What the World Eats, Part I
Hungry Planet: What the World Eats, Part II
Hungry Planet: What the World Eats, Part III

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Open for Business

Just flame me now and get it over with...

If you do not want to succeed in business do not go into business!

Duh!!! If you want to go into business would you like to only make half a profit? Only get paid for half of your work? Of course not! When we engage in business we expect full measure for measure. That is what value is based on.

Ok, here comes the rub...

Why then do we demand that the best of the business people accept anything less than their full measure???

Chief Executive Officers started out just like the rest of us ... deciding they wanted to be in business. Evidently they are good at business. It is their business right to expect full measure for measure.

Why then do we grouse and complain that CEOs receive their full fair market value? What is up with that?

. . .