Open PPG not MPG or MPH

Toward the end of April I posted...

Open Applied Physics

55 MPH beats $3.50/GAL

I am revising my plan... I intend to increase my

PPG (People Per Gallon) ratio.

As I drove to work this morning I had one of those "I am so affluent" observation moments.

I am so affluent that I can afford to drive one of two
automobiles 20 miles one way alone to get to work.

Once again I am struck with my own arrogance and selfishness. I insist that I have my car with me at all times. This is so ingrained in our culture that we want to be a 'cowboy and his horse'. Americans have put mass or public transit out of business while blindly adhering to the rugged-individual stereotype.

During the school year I usually get 3 people to the gallon. This summer I have only been getting 2 people to the gallon. This week while my children are all off on mission trips I am only getting 1 person to a gallon. Next fall I hope to recoup by getting 4 people to the gallon.

I will still have to get to work and the children will still have to get to school. The only way to realize any significant fuel savings is if we travel together attaining a higher PPG ratio.

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Open: Coming out

I have decided to 'come out'. I have not taken this decision lightly. The ramifications to my family and friends have weighed very heavily on me during my hours and days of deliberation of this matter. All that having been said I have decided to make the following declaration:

I am a human being.

There! I said it. Right there in print for all the world to see. I am a human being and I am proud.

For the longest time I was in a state of confusion. I had feelings of not belonging. I felt that there just had to be more. As a closeted 'human being' I segregated myself from others. I felt that I should keep away from those that didn't keep the same human values that I have. I was afraid that once labeled as a 'human' I would be ostracized and shunned.

Then I slowly learned of entire communities of human beings. Open societies that endorsed and embraced human values. Enclaves of like-minded individuals who truly feel that being human, being a human being is the very foundation of equality. And in being a human being we are endowed with unalienable rights.

It even turns out that some of my best friends are human beings.

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Open Seal of Approval

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Open Counterpunching

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Open Urges

[ W A R N I N G ]

As the International Mystery Writers Festival winds down I have been experiencing urges. With the end in sight I am once again becoming nervous. I am developing an itchy blogging finger (Typing style: Christopher Columbus - Discover and land). Here are a few 'ferinstances' . . .

Mary-Jo Foley reports that Microsoft is going to spend an additional $200 Million in advertising. Now doesn't it strike a person silly that M$ would lay out all that green without having a product to tout? (Tell me they aren't going to spend all that to remind the public just how bad Vista is?)

Head Lemur says he is joining the club . . .

Open Space Technology (OST) is a method to run meetings of groups of any size.

• Whoever comes is the right people - this is meant to alert the participants to the fact that whoever attends a session is "right" simply because they care to be there
• Whatever happens is the only thing that could have - this is meant to tell the attendees to pay attention to what is going on at the moment, instead of worrying about what could possibly be
• Whenever it starts is the right time - clarifies that there is no given schedule or structure and emphasises creativity and innovation
• When it's over, it's over - to tell the participants not to waste time, but move on to something else when the fruitful discussion is over

[ This is like the Zen of Meetings. Brilliant! H/T to Euan for the link. ]

and finally Hugh admits he has made another new mistake . . .

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Open Push-back

Dear Friends,

Right now, Fox News is trying to paint Barack Obama as foreign,
un-American, suspicious, and scary. They're trying to send Americans
the message that our country's first viable Black candidate for
President is not "one of us."

I've joined on to ColorOfChange.org's campaign to push back on Fox,
publicly demanding they stop their race-baiting and fear mongering.
If that doesn't work, then we'll go to their advertisers and the FCC.
I wanted to invite you to sign on as well. It takes only a moment:

http://www.colorofchange.org/foxobama/?id=1867-526328

Here's what happened recently:

After Senator Obama won the nomination, he and his wife gave each
other a "pound" in front of the cameras. Fox anchor E.D. Hill called
the act of celebration a "terrorist fist jab." Then last week, a Fox
News on-screen graphic referred to Michelle Obama as "Obama's baby
mama"--slang used to describe the unmarried mother of a man's child.
It was a clear attempt to associate the Obamas with negative cultural
stereotypes about Black people, an insult not only to Michelle Obama
but to women and Black people everywhere.

After each of the incidents mentioned, Fox issued some form of weak
apology. But what does it mean when you slap someone in the face,
apologize the next day, then slap them again on the third? It means
the apology is meaningless.

These aren't one-time incidents--they're part of a pattern that
continues no matter how often Fox is forced to apologize. Fox has a
clear record of attacking and undermining Black institutions, Black
leaders, and Black people in general.

If we don't push back now, we will see more of the same from now until
November. Please join me in helping to bring an end to Fox's
behavior.

http://www.colorofchange.org/foxobama/?id=1867-526328

Thanks.

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Open Country

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I am going to vote for Barack Obama.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.

Open Annoyances: 2 venues, 5 flavors each

The original post was entitled . . .

The 5 Annoying People You Meet In Kuwait’s Movie Theater

. . . from my point of view it should not just focus on Kuaitis. Here are the bulleted lists. You really should go and read the original author's descriptions.

• The Duckman
• The Gossip Girl
• The Bluetooth Whore
• The Incarnated Children of The Devil
• The Clown Clapper

When I finished reading the posting it suggested I might like . . .

The 5 Annoying People You Meet In Starbucks

• The Writer Who Wants You to Know He’s a Writer
• The Guy Who Hates Starbucks But Goes There Anyway
• Study Groups
• Manager Who Refuses to Recognize the Words Small, Medium, and Large
• The Person Who Peruses the DVD/Music Section As If He Might Purchase Something

Yup, got StarBUCKS exactly right.

Come to think of it here in our little town the same points that apply to movie theater goers applies to library patrons ... except perhaps the clapper ... and there are even a few of those lurking in the stacks :(

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Open Bloom

Leave it to Jeremy to help us remember the really important things . . .

Bloomsday

Today is bloomsday, the day of the year that we celebrate Ulysses by drinking guinness….

[from Too many topics, too little time]

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Open Patriotism

BrightKite

[Hat tip to /Ambivalence NASFW (not always safe for work)]

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Open carefully, please avoid spilling ... :)

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I am going to vote for Barack Obama.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.

Open Plea: Know and Remember

Yesterday I posted about supporting Iranian Women's Rights activists. Today I have received a comment and an e-mail containing this message.

These are the photos of women who were arrested in Iran yesterday.

Please go to this site به جرم زن بودن

Please think of these daughters, sisters, fiances, wives, mothers and visualize them in prison, held as social subversives.

Now know and remember that these eight women, Nafiseh Azad, Jila Baniyaghoub, Farideh Ghaeb, Jelveh Javaheri, Sarah Loghmani, Nahid Mirhaj, Aida Saadat, and Nasreen Sotoodeh, along with many, many more represent the hope of our future.

True peace in a healthy society can only be achieved when all people are respected. When fear is vanquished. When repression and subjugation are replaced with compassion and cooperation.

One Million Signatures Campaign

Click Here to Take Action>>

Click Here to Learn More About These Cases>>

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Open Support: Iranian Women's Rights

Support Iranian Women's Rights Activists on their National Day of Solidarity

Today marks the second anniversary of a protest held by women's rights activists in Iran. That demonstration was broken up violently by security forces and led to the arrest of 70 men and women. The activists then launched the One Million Signatures Campaign, an unprecedented grass-roots campaign to change gender discrimination in Iranian laws.

They chose June 12 as a national day of solidarity with their campaign, and planned to hold an event today commemorating the protests. However, their gathering was canceled due to threats and when a number of women arrived anyway, security forces blocked the doors. Eight women have reportedly been detained: Nafiseh Azad, Jila Baniyaghoub, Farideh Ghaeb, Jelveh Javaheri, Sarah Loghmani, Nahid Mirhaj, Aida Saadat, and Nasreen Sotoodeh.

Human Rights First has joined over forty international human rights organizations to express support for the defenders. On this anniversary, call on the Iranian government to cease its persecution of the activists, drop any charges against them, and to allow women's rights activists to engage in their rights of assembly and peaceful political expression.

Click Here to Take Action>>

Click Here to Learn More About These Cases>>

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Open Market ... I gotcher classics right here.

From TimesOnline

June 10, 2008

'Any book in Hemingway's library for $200'

Irish thriller writer Adrian McKinty takes us on an atmospheric journey to one of literature's greatest shrines, and receives an extraordinary offer

Ernest Hemingway’s house

Adrian McKinty

The secret policeman wasn’t smiling. It just looked like that because his false teeth didn’t fit correctly. I was relieved. If Russian writer Isaac Babel is to be believed it’s when secret policeman start grinning at you that you should begin to worry.

“Think about it,” he said as he ran his fingernails along the right lapel of a navy double breasted blazer that was miles too big for him. His eyes were dark and squinty and his skin yellowy white. He was small, grey haired and not terribly menacing.

“I’m sorry?” I said, unsure that I had heard him correctly.

He repeated his offer. “Any book in Hemingway’s library for two hundred dollars,” he said in carefully enunciated English.

[Thanks to The Cuban Triangle for the insight.]

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Open floodgates (abren las compuertas)

Cuba wages will be tied to productivity

Salary caps will be eliminated in August

Ray Sanchez | Direct from Havana

5:08 PM EDT, June 11, 2008

HAVANA

Recognizing the egalitarian goal of the island's socialist revolution as outdated, Cuba is moving ahead with a productivity-based wage system, a top labor official said Wednesday.

Carlos Mateu, a vice minister of labor and social security, said in an interview with the Community Party daily Granma that all state enterprises must eliminate salary caps by next month. Many have already done so.

The move contradicts the idea of an egalitarian society long promoted by ailing former president Fidel Castro, 81, who was officially replaced by younger brother Raul in February.

But Cuba's first new leadership in nearly 50 years has acknowledged that the socialist system was in danger without better economic results in areas from food production to worker productivity.

Ray Sanchez E-mail | Recent columns

"Either we solve the problems or we ourselves destroy the revolution that cost us so much blood and sweat," Maria del Carmen Concepcion, a top Communist Party official, was quoted as saying in the state press this week.

Mateu told Granma that "there has been a tendency for everyone to get the same, and that egalitarianism is not convenient. That is something we have to resolve." The vice minister could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

When everyone was equally poor then all desire was unfulfilled. As economic classes re-emerge in Cuba the true tyranny of poverty and oppression will once again raise its ugly head.

¡La revolución es muerta!

[Thanks to Luis M Garcia who blogs at Child of the Revolution for the insight.]

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Open Tutorial: How to speak Republican

[Bonus Link #1]

[Bonus Link #2]

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Open Endorsement: I'm Voting Republican

I'm voting Republican because I don't think we really need a change...



www.ImVotingRepublican.com

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Open Diversity

Just click the ticket [NSFW] ... well, maybe just a little risque ... still be difficult to explain to the boss. (WEG) Also, check out the film.

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Open Adolescence

[Click picture for full story]

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Open tears of a clown

Rule of Lords

Cyclone relief no laughing matter

June 6, 2008 · No Comments

On the night of June 4, a group of police officers came to a house in suburban Rangoon, searched it and took away one of the occupants. But the person they took is not a wanted robber, murderer or escapee. He is a comedian.

Although Zarganar (pictured above at left, with fellow actor and social activist Kyaw Thu) is famous in Burma for his antics on stage and screen, he has not been joking much lately. Instead, he has been at the front of local efforts to get relief to where it has been needed most since Cyclone Nargis swept through his country a month ago.

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I am going to vote for Barack Obama.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.