Open Freedom

Frequently Asked Questions about Stoning

1. What is stoning?

   Stoning, or lapidation, refers to a method of execution in which an organized group throws stones or rocks at the person they wish to execute. Although it takes many different forms, stoning has been used throughout history and in many religious and cultural traditions as a kind of community justice or capital punishment. For instance, the practice has been documented among the ancient Greeks to punish people judged to be prostitutes, adulterers or murderers. It is also documented in the Jewish Tradition via the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, and the Talmud, or Jewish Oral Law. In the Old Testament of the Bible, stoning is prescribed a method of execution for crimes such as murder, blasphemy or apostasy. Although there is no mention of stoning in the Quran, the practice has since grown to be associated with Islam and Muslim culture.
   

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11. Shouldn’t we just accept stoning as part of someone’s culture and their right to freedom of belief?

    There is no excuse for the killing of women in the name of any ‘religion’, ‘culture’ or ‘tradition’.

    ‘Religion’ and ‘culture’ cannot and must not be invoked as excuse for the killing of women, because religion and the laws which derive from it are always subjective interpretations. Culture is not static, but constantly re-created and re-defined by the various interests of groups in positions of power in a society at any given time. There is no excuse for the killing of women. Murder is a brutal violation of the most basic human right – the right to life – and any practice which harms women or impinges upon their agency and autonomy contradicts fundamental rights, such as the right to security; the right to freedom from violence; from inhuman, degrading treatment and punishment; from terror; the right to choose a marriage partner; and the right to not face discrimination under the law. As long as impunity exists, the misappropriation of culture and religion will continue to threaten women’s safety.

    No ‘culture’ has the right to kill and harm women based on their perceptions of morality or honour. The freedom of belief does not mean freedom to kill. Stoning is a brutal example of how culture and religion are being misused to perpetuate violence against women.

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Open Influence (peddling?)

How hamstrung would the office of the President of the United States of America be if...

The Clinton’s Kazakh Affair Is Spinning

Posted by Zhanna_Zhukova | in Politics, Business | on February 20th, 2008

Tags: No Tags

Here is an updated reporting on the scandal around ex-president of the United States Bill Clinton, his friend Frank Guistra (a canadian financier and businessman) and Kazakhstan, where Guistra got a lucrative contract in uranium production after the visit to Almaty together with Clinton. ...

'I so want to be President but I can't take him anywhere...*Sigh*'

Open Language

Are languages free? Thoughts on the International Mother Language day

from Global Voices Online by Rezwan

Today is the International Mother Language Day, an annual event in UNESCO member states to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. This is mostly the international recognition of the Language Movement Day called ‘Ekushey February', which is commemorated in Bangladesh since 1952. The date of 21st February was chosen in homage to a number of ‘language martyrs' from Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) who were shot on 21st February 1952 in Dhaka, during public protest. They were demonstrating to establish their mother language Bangla as a national language along with Urdu, which was chosen as the sole official language in the then newly created Pakistan.

Photo: Shaheed Minar, a solemn and symbolic sculpture erected in the place of the massacre. The monument is the symbol of Bangladesh Nationalism.

Open QOTD (2)

A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice

-- Thomas Paine

Submitted for your consideration by Sister Beth (who doesn't blog, yet!)

Open Progress?

in short…

February 13, 2008 · 8 Comments

USA … 1931

Saudi Arabia… 2007

Translation: “According to The Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice; passing coffee to women is not allowed.

Thanks for your cooperation!”

Oh no, thank you...

Open Open Open Open

Click "What has Barack Obama done for me lately?" ... then just reload the page every time you get the urge.

Open Superdelegates

Excerpts from David Plouffe's letter to Barak Obama supporters...

As you've probably heard, there could be a wildcard in the race for the Democratic nomination.

We firmly believe that the candidate who has won the most pledged delegates -- the result of having more voters in more places supporting your campaign -- will be the Democratic nominee.

...

While we intend to continue winning states and expanding our lead among the pledged delegates, and believe that will likely ensure that Barack is the Democratic nominee, we're also doing the work of reaching out to superdelegates and making sure as many as possible support Barack Obama.

Here's where you can play a key role.

Our work so far has taught us one important lesson: that your personal story about why you support Barack Obama is often the most powerful persuasion tool for someone who's undecided. That's true whether that undecided voter is your neighbor or a superdelegate.

The story of where you're from, what brought you into the political process, the issues that matter to you, and why you became part of this movement has the potential to inspire someone who could cast a deciding vote in this contest.

Our staff will compile stories from supporters like you and make them a key part of the conversation with superdelegates as Barack asks for their support.

Share your story to help persuade superdelegates now:

http://my.barackobama.com/superdelegates

Here is my response to that request...

I believe that people, in their heart of hearts, are good caring conscientious citizens. I know that all members of our great nation wish to serve as a model of democracy in action for a world that is torn asunder by the interests of a privileged few. Please allow our democratic process to be a beacon of freedom.

Open Rights

Human Rights First - This is test. What is the objective of this organization?

Our Mission

Human Rights First believes that building respect for human rights and the rule of law will help ensure the dignity to which every individual is entitled and will stem tyranny, extremism, intolerance, and violence.

Human Rights First protects people at risk: refugees who flee persecution, victims of crimes against humanity or other mass human rights violations, victims of discrimination, those whose rights are eroded in the name of national security, and human rights advocates who are targeted for defending the rights of others. These groups are often the first victims of societal instability and breakdown; their treatment is a harbinger of wider-scale repression. Human Rights First works to prevent violations against these groups and to seek justice and accountability for violations against them.

Human Rights First is practical and effective. We advocate for change at the highest levels of national and international policymaking. We seek justice through the courts. We raise awareness and understanding through the media. We build coalitions among those with divergent views. And we mobilize people to act.

Human Rights First is a non-profit, nonpartisan international human rights organization based in New York and Washington D.C. To maintain our independence, we accept no government funding.

2005-06 Accomplishments

2005-06 Annual Report

Open Protest (1)

Iran: Protests over ban of women's magazine

from Global Voices Online by Hamid Tehrani

Zanan Magazine [Fa] (means “women's magazine”) was banned by the Iranian government two weeks ago, after 16 years in print. Iranian authorities have canceled the license sof many journals and magazines in recent years, but Zanan's closure has stirred strong international and national protests.

More than 120 academics and human rights activists such as Noam Chomsky, Jürgen Habermas, Betty Willams, and Shirin Ebadi have signed a letter and addressed it to Iranian leaders protesting the ban.

More than 1000 Iranian journalists, intellectuals, and cultural personalities within Iran and abroad, wrote a similar letter and praised the role of Zanan in Iran. Human Rights First launched a protest campaign too.

Open QOTD (1)

Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from
acquiring the deadening effect of a habit.
-- W. Somerset Maugham

Open MADNESS

SCO is back

From the Oh Puke dept.:
Embattled Unix vendor SCO may get a new lease on life, thanks to a $100 million infusion aimed at helping it emerge from bankruptcy and pursue its controversial legal claims.

The financing comes from Stephen Norris Capital Partners (SNCP), which will take a controlling

It is time to start investigating Stephen Norris Capital Partners. Who are they? Where does their money come from? Why do they feel continued litigation is in anybody's best interest?

If, and this is a big if, SNCP has anything other than a pure heart and a helping attitude then we should seriously consider NOT supporting any of their other interests.

THIS MADNESS (SCO) HAS TO STOP!

Open QOTD

Message of hope

from Mining Nuggets by tamarika

Quote of the day:

Obama gives us content, conviction, and commitment. Frank Paynter

He was there!

Open Curiosity RE: DRM & RIAA

Which Operating System and/or application set has been used to copy the majority of the 'illegal or pirated' content?

Why doesn't the RIAA go after the entity that is has the greatest interest in and most responsibility for such 'illegal or pirated' materials?

Hmmmmm?!?!

Open Changes

Open Photo Op

Gobama!

Borrowed from the University of Chicago
The Law School
Home > Faculty > Barack Obama

Barack Obama

---

Barack Obama
Senior Lecturer in Law (on leave of absence)

Open Count

Count every vote! Every vote counts!!!

Call for Help: Create Petitions to Count the Vote in Washington State, Count the Popular Vote in the DNC
By Zephyr Teachout, 02/11/2008 - 11:53am

After everybody aped Moveon's brilliant petition innovations, petitions became a tool for list growth, mostly a marketing tool. But there are two things happening right now that just beg for petitions--real ones, as in, people petitioning the government and their candidates:

(1) Superdelegates ought affirm popular vote. I tend to think they should affirm the total vote numbers around the country, but I'd be happy with the affirmation of the delegate count. Consensus around this needs to be decided before the popular vote is decided, so that the process is not subservient to the political needs of either candidate. Will someone make a petition for this, one that we can then distribute, along with thoughtful signators comments, to all the superdelegates?

(2) Count every vote in Washington. The Washington Republican chair seemed comfortable declaring a winner when Huckabee was only 242 votes behind, with thousands of votes yet to count.

These situations--where elites breezily assume power--create something approaching democratic horror (is there a word for this, the gut-grippling fear that we are really not in charge?) I've talked with people at poker games and marches, and been flooded with the real fear of friends, frozen by the prospect of superdelegates making the Democratic party decision this year. I have the highest respect for Howard Dean, but I'd vastly prefer a brokered convention between people's representative delegates than a brokered deal between superdelegates--lets show some sound and fury for those that signify nothing.

Open [Counter-] Insurgency

Doc Searles highlighted John Robb’s explanation of 'progress' in Iraq

Where this goes from here is problematic since (and I say this to get you thinking and not to shock you) the US is now leading both the insurgency and the counter-insurgency in Iraq

I think Robb is giving the administration too much credit. Instead of "leading" I suggest that the US is 'paying' for both the insurgency and the counter-insurgency. There in lies the fatal flaw in the overall US strategy. The US is using money like a drug. The US is attempting to addict the Iraq population to an inflated standard of living all the while hoping that peace will break out.

Open Absurdity

Saudi woman's cafe plight highlights rights problems

The English-language Arab News quoted a 40-year-old financial consultant, named only as Yara, as saying she was arrested on Monday by members of the powerful Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

She said she was holding a business meeting with the man in a branch of Starbucks in Riyadh, in a section reserved for families. Saudi law requires that unrelated men and women be segregated in public.

Yara said she was taken to a Riyadh prison, strip-searched and forced to sign a confession to having been caught alone with a unrelated man -- an illegal act in the kingdom which enforces a strict Islamic moral code.

"I had no other choice" but to sign, said the married mother of three. "I was scared for my life ... I was afraid that they would abuse me or do something to me."

She said the religious police, known as the Muttawa, released her several hours later after her husband, Hatim, intervened.

Open Privacy Manifesto

Our sense of privacy is predicated on the perception of our right to choose. Our right to be an individual when making our choices.

Our expectation of privacy is the assumption that we get to choose what we divulge about ourselves and what we choose not to divulge.

Our privacy is not about what someone else dictates as private but what we choose to keep private or conversely what we choose to make 'public'.

In order to implement a system that honors an individual's expectation of privacy it must

• Affirm that all participant information be kept private until the participant specifies that a given unit of information can be made public.
• Or, clearly state that by associating with a system the participant is choosing to make all activity associated information public.
• Clearly state and guarantee that all meta-information is and will be kept anonymous.

Open Demise of the Internet

Sorry, I broke the Internet. Really, I am very sorry...

When I created the link ( Second SuperPower ) I realized that this was the demise of the Internet. The 'First SuperPower' will never allow a larger community to overshadow it. Very soon we will see the heavy hand of established power brokers impose "for-our-own-good" draconian measures to insure that SP^2 is fractured. We are already seeing this in with the implementation of Global Internet Filtering.

ONI - OpenNet Initiative reports ...

From RussiaProfile.org

On Jan. 29, the Council’s Committee on Information Policy held a panel to discuss the bill, which addresses the issues of administrative regulation of content and activities within the World Wide Web - or rather, its Russian segment.

From Nart Villeneuve | Internet Censorship Explorer

Search Monitor Project: China

Search engines are increasingly censoring their results, often by geographic location, having a significant, negative impact on the right to freedom of expression. The most advanced cases of censoring political content is in search engines that market a version of their product in China. This project aims to expose and monitor the censoring practises of search engines with a specific focus on China.

It is very easy to imagine the following here in these United States...

• Content filtered under the auspices of 'National Security' - The Powerful must monitor and censure information deemed contrary to the 'best interests' of 'Powerful Security'.
  
• Content filtered as a form of power segregation (The Powerful have access to "unfiltered" information while the "weak" masses are given only what "they need to know".)
• Content filtered as a form of the 'free market' business model (e.g. economic subjugation) - This is the 'Information for Profit' model where only the affluent can 'afford' access to unfiltered information.
• Content filtered as a from of Ideological 'Cleanliness' - Under the auspices of 'social health' information is filtered and censured for the "good-of-the-people".

Open Valentine

....to Microsoft ... in preparation for loading Linux.



thanks Frank

Open for just 1 day

Thanks to
TIME GOES BY by Ronni Bennett

Open Lacking

Paul Simon - Kodachrome lyrics

When I think back
On all the crap I learned in high school
It's a wonder
I can think at all
And though my lack of education
Hasn't hurt me none
I can read the writing on the wall

I have loved and honored the work of Paul Simon since the very earliest days ... but this particular lyric stanza has always haunted me... when I encountered these websites I began to understand just how 'my lack of education' has really hurt me some...

Utilidade pública

O Escriba [pt] has created a link to his online library, with free books available for download. Some of them are quite rare, others have been forbidden, such as Roberto Carlos' biography. He has only an environmentally-friendly wish: “Please avoid printing them out, reading on the screen is not that much difficult”.

Iran:Remember Faridani,a great photographer

Dokhtari az Iran, writes[Fa] about the death of Nikol Faridani, a famous Iranian photographer who has published several photo books about Iranian cities and nature.Watch some of his photos.

" Watch some of his photos. " Go "watch" this site and be amazed. The photos are great - the rest of the site is magnificent - unfortunately my lack of education prevents me from really appreciating it.

Open Clarity

I continue to be impressed with the clear and concise reporting of the 2008 Primary elections by this site...

Presidential Elections 2008 - Super Tuesday

Open Future

In the true spirit of change there is a revolution going on in China. Likened to the "Second Superpower" (Link) the newly formed Netizen Party will have a significant impact on China's political landscape.

I will only link here - please consider reading the rather lengthy post.

China: Netizen Party announced

Friday, February 8th, 2008 @ 23:00 UTC

by John Kennedy

If the Netizen Party is established then the existing political regime will find itself on the horns of a dilemma. To accept the rigors of change driven by grassroots interests - which in my view is a good thing. Or, to attempt to put down such a popular movement in the very well publicized area of world politics.

Open SECOND SUPERPOWER

[Excerpted from...]

The Second Superpower Rears its Beautiful Head

James F. Moore

There is an emerging second superpower, but it is not a nation. Instead, it is a new form of international player, constituted by the “will of the people” in a global social movement. The beautiful but deeply agitated face of this second superpower is the worldwide peace campaign, but the body of the movement is made up of millions of people concerned with a broad agenda that includes social development, environmentalism, health, and human rights. This movement has a surprisingly agile and muscular body of citizen activists who identify their interests with world society as a whole—and who recognize that at a fundamental level we are all one. These are people who are attempting to take into account the needs and dreams of all 6.3 billion people in the world—and not just the members of one or another nation. Consider the members of Amnesty International who write letters on behalf of prisoners of conscience, and the millions of Americans who are participating in email actions against the war in Iraq. Or the physicians who contribute their time to Doctors Without Borders/ Medecins Sans Frontieres.

I am not the first - do not let me be the last to raise my voice in support of the SECOND SUPERPOWER. This is an idea who's time has come...

Open Olechko

Moleskine sketchbook pages

January 18th, 2008

Check out my new color drawings in ink pen & watercolor pencils:

[Note added 2/10/8 - These are not my ("Papa") drawings and watercolors. I just thought they deserved recognition.]

Open New Year Symptom

In previous posts I have extolled the value of Global Voices. In an earlier age I imagine it to be like reading a really good international newspaper. Global Voices brings to my dark cave here in the wilds of Kentucky the light of a world vibrant and alive. So here is something that this backwards boy never gave a whole lot of thought to...

Korea: Lunar New Year, do men also struggle?

Saturday, February 9th, 2008 @ 10:12 UTC

by Hyejin Kim

New Year! It’s a big holiday in Korea. People return to their hometowns and worship their ancestors. People gather with relatives whom they haven’t seen for a while. For entertainment and respect for ancestors, preparing meals is a big job. Now New Year has produced a new symptom, ‘New Year Symptom of Housewives’ because of the hard job. Housewives have headaches and some of them get depressed before New Year starts. ‘New Year Symptom’ became a new term in this modern society.

But men are asking, ‘Do men have no ‘New Year Symptom’?’

New Year Symptom… it is not just for housewives… Let’s talk about New Year Symptom of men. The first and last symptom is that they don’t want to go back to their hometown or their wives’ hometowns. […] Looking at how much time you spend on the path of going back to the hometown, my time is spent to 40 percent on the road, 20 percent in my hometown, and 40 percent in my wife’s house. […] In order to see relatives, I can’t go with empty hands. I have to bring bottles of alcohol and meat that fill up my car. Before I go to see my ancestors’ gravestones, I’m already worried. Mother and father… Why did you guys pass away so fast? This undutiful son will go to see you, but can’t trim your graves this time. Please forgive me.

I get depressed around the Christmas holiday here in the US. I have/had read enough pop-psychology to know that this is mostly a reaction to the bi-polar stress of capitalistic materialism verses the Christian Birthday Celebration (oh and I won't forget all my other friends that are caught in the Winter Solstice stresses as well.)

Why is the above article so important? How else would this naive WASP living in the heartland of these United States ever have a clue about what is impacting potentially 1/3 to 1/2 of the world's population?

Open LOLOPOLOTISHUNS

McCain's baggage Friday, February 08, 2008 by Dave Winer.

Open Ambiguity

Because I say so, that's why... (Quoted from Talking Points Memo)

Mukasey also refused Conyers' request to see the OLC opinions that authorized waterboarding, because they discussed techniques of what remains a "classified program." Conyers protested that every member of the committee was cleared to see top secret material, but Mukasey was unmoved, though offered to continue "ongoing discussions" with the committee -- discussions of which Conyers seemed to be unaware.

Update: A transcript of the exchange is below.

CONYERS: Well, are you ready to start a criminal investigation into whether this confirmed use of waterboarding by United States agents was illegal?

MUKASEY: That's a direct question, and I will give a direct answer.

No, I am not, for this reason: Whatever was done as part of a CIA program at the time that it was done was the subject of a Department of Justice opinion through the Office of Legal Counsel and was found to be permissible under the law as it existed then.

For me to use the occasion of the disclosure that that technique was once part of the CIA program -- an authorized part of the CIA program, would be for me to tell anybody who relied, justifiably, on a Justice Department opinion that not only may they no longer rely on that Justice Department opinion, but that they
will now be subject to criminal investigation for having done so.

That would put in question not only that opinion, but also any other opinion from the Justice Department.
Essentially, it would tell people: "You rely on a Justice Department opinion as part of a program, then you will be subject to criminal investigation when, as and if the tenure of the person who wrote the position changes or, indeed, the political winds change." And that's not something that I think would be appropriate and it's not something I will do.

CONYERS: Are you prepared to let us get a copy of the Office of Legal Counsel opinion?

MUKASEY: The Office of Legal Counsel opinion discusses particular techniques that were part of what remains a classified program.

We have, I believe, provided an unclassified discussion of general legal principles -- did it back in 2004. And we have provided some classified briefings with regard to the legal reasoning underlying opinions, and are prepared to continue to do so.

But the opinions themselves can't simply be turned over because they discuss not simply legal reasoning, but the program itself, which remains classified.

CONYERS: Well, every member of this committee is cleared for top secret information.

MUKASEY: The opinions themselves dealt with a program that -- to the extent the opinions themselves deal with a current -- opinions relating to a past program cannot simply be disclosed in that fashion. They can be the subject of briefings, and have been. We can't simply turn them over.

CONYERS: Well, can we meet and find out what it is you're basing the response to my question?

MUKASEY: I think the question was whether I was going to open a criminal investigation because it's now been disclosed that waterboarding was part of the program.

And what I've said is that waterboarding, because it was authorized to be part of the program, pursuant to approach -- that it was authorized to be part of the CIA program, cannot possibly be the subject of a criminal -- a Justice Department investigation, because that would mean that the same department that authorized the program would now consider prosecuting somebody who followed that advice.

MUKASEY: That won't change whether letters are disclosed or not disclosed.

CONYERS: Well, what we're trying to do is make ourselves conversant with the basis of the response that you gave to my question. So there must be some way, between the Department of Justice and the House Judiciary Committee, that we can be made more aware -- we've requested this document before -- of the document on which you base your response.

MUKASEY: The response about a criminal investigation doesn't really depend on the particular content of the document. It depends on their having been an opinion that defined and authorized the limits of a particular program that is now disclosed included waterboarding at that time. It's no longer part of the program; that's also been disclosed, but that doesn't change the contents of the letter.

That said, I'm sure that we can talk about possible additional discussion of what is in the letters between the department and members of this committee. My understanding is there had been ongoing discussion with members of various committees, including particularly the Intelligence Committees, but I was not aware -- there may well very well have been discussions with members of the committee. I'm not certain as I sit here.

CONYERS: Well, we'll pretend that we've never asked for this before and we'll start right now. Thank you very much.

Open Search

This is Habeas Corpus.

On October 17, 2006, he went missing without a trace. Last seen in Washington, D.C., his current whereabouts are unknown. Where is he? We don't know.

But we do know Habeas Corpus needs our help. What can you do?

Get involved and help us restore Habeas Corpus to his rightful place in our Constitution!

Open Foolishness

RIAA: Anti-Virus Software Should Filter Pirated Content
In addition to your modem, media player and ISP-level filters...
11:55AM Thursday Feb 07 2008 by Karl

Public Knowledge posts a video from the recent State of the Net Conference, at which the RIAA's Cary Sherman discusses ISP piracy filters. Of course, many piracy filtering systems like the one being tested by AT&T could easily be bested by encryption. Sherman has a solution for that: spyware/software on your PC, buried in your anti-virus software or within your modem that would restrict you from viewing certain content:

Filters can be put in the applications for example. You know, one could have a filter on the end user’s computer that would actually eliminate any benefit from…encryption because if you want to hear it, you’d have to decrypt it, and at that point the filter could work. Why would somebody put that on their machine? They likely wouldn't want to do that, they'd do that when it benefits them such as for viruses...

This is such a bad idea!

What is the very first thing Joe Average Jr is going to do if this were enacted?

Let's all say it together, "Disable the anti-virus software!"

...then Joe Jr. will go back to doing whatever he might have been doing AND proliferating virii!

And somebody gets paid to think up this FOOLISHNESS???

---

Notice: Any resemblance to any Pirate(s) living or dead is purely coincidental. No animals were harmed in the posting of this blog. Do not operate heavy equipment. Be sure you have at least eight hours to devote to sleep before becoming active. Keep out of the reach of children ... and Pirates.

Open Hope

Thank you Larry Lessig for stating so clearly our hope for the future...














20 minutes or so on why I am 4Barack

Open Decline, 'bout time!

Obama, the Internet and the Decline of Big Money and Big Media

By Micah L. Sifry, 02/06/2008 - 11:14am

...If it were not for the internet, and all the campaign- and voter-generated activism that it has enabled, Hillary Clinton would already be the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee, and Barack Obama or another reform-minded candidate would be trailing badly.

The dawning of an age of populist politics... and about D*MNED time!

Open Clock Towers

From All things Pakistan ...

Owais Mughal

Following is a collection of Clock Tower (ghanta ghar) images from Pakistan. Can you tell us where are they located? Once part of every major public building, Clock towers have now gone out of fashion from modern architecture. For Quiz purposes let us number following images from (1) through (9) starting from top left, then going across and then down the rows.

The final answers have not been posted as of this writing... but what a wonderful post!

Open Transparency

Here is the very best reason for Open Source ... posted by Bruce Schneier

A Good Security Investment by DHS

They're paying for open source software to be scanned for security bugs, and then fixing them.

All the software scrutinized was found to have significant numbers of security flaws, Coverity said on Wednesday. Since 2006 the project has helped fix 7,826 open source flaws in 250 projects, out of 50 million lines of code scanned, the company said.

They find, on average, one security flaw per 1,000 lines of code. And when the flaw is fixed, everyone's security improves.

Open.Mouth.Insert...

Korean

서당개 삼 년에 풍월 읊는다.

"Even a dog can recite poetry after three years at school."

... luckily I attended 4 years. :)

Open Pact

A call for shared responsibility...

The Company-Customer Pact

Thanks to Christine ...

I was happy to work with Get Satisfaction this month to draft a provisional “Company-Customer Pact.” Our intention was to create a simple, usable framework for company-customer interaction. Ideally, one that could be recommended and adopted by consumers and companies alike.

Open Endorsement

Through all those years, I chose not to engage in party politics. Though I was asked many times to endorse candidates at every level, I was never comfortable doing so. At this time, however, changing that posture feels like the responsible thing to do. If anyone can navigate the contaminated waters of Washington, lift up the poor, and appeal to the rich to share their wealth, it is Sen. Barack Obama. If anyone can bring light to the darkened corners of this nation and restore our positive influence in world affairs, it is Barack Obama. If anyone can begin the process of healing and bring unity to a country that has been divided for too long, it is Barack Obama. It is time to begin a new journey.

Joan Baez, San Francisco Chronicle

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.

Rayones by Jorge Jurado

posted by David Sasaki on Jan 30, 2008
categories: Video, Hiper-Barrio

• Download MPEG4 Video (.mp4)
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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 1882 – 13 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.

Open Art I

From sister Beth (who does not blog, yet)

Open Abstention

Here is a real choice...

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

ab·sten·tion /æbˈstɛnʃən/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[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".

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

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?