007.25.12 Lincoln on pragmatic idealism
I really like these quotes from his debate with Douglass: “This they said and this they meant (the equality of those certain unalienable rights). They did not mean to assert the obvious untruth, that all were then actually enjoying that equality, nor yet, that they were about to confer it immediately upon them. In fact they had no power to confer such a boon. They meant simply to declare the right, so that the enforcement of it might follow as fast as circumstances should permit. They meant to set up a standard maxim for free society, which should be familiar to all, and revered by all; constantly looked to, constantly labored for, and even though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated….the assertion that “all men are created equal” was of no practical use in effecting our separation from Great Britain; and it was placed in the Declaration not for that, but for future use.” — quoted in Stephen Prothero’s The American Bible p.80
I think this is a key point, that declaring what is right or just describing an idea has power even though the writer doesn’t have the ability to enforce or implement it, and may not in their lifetime.
006.12.12 Learning Communities Online
Just found P2PU – Peer to Peer University – on a list at reddit of online learning resources
This looks really cool. The ones I’m most excited about so far are
BOINC for citizen scientists
tools for content curation
001.19.12 My Friend Radio
‘listen to what joe is listening to/last listened to’
ah – this does exist, I didn’t know if it did; on last.fm you can listen to any other user’s library radio. Too bad most of my friends don’t use last.fm.
Actually, it doesn’t work that well – it seems to try to load the entire library before it starts playing any one song.
001.06.12 Editorial Calendar search tool
This looks useful: us.cision.com/edcals/edcals.asp
(though all the links appear to be output with the ‘:’ following the http, as of 1/6/2012)
012.24.11 The Terrible Trivium and other matters
I admit it – I enjoy children’s books. My excuse is reading them to my kids. When they all grow up I’ll have to rent kids so I can read to them. Compare picture books for kids to power point presentations designed for executives: both assume a short attention span and try to get the point across powerfully and with images as an aid. The picture books tend to be more honestly informative, but otherwise not so different.
Where else would I have time to delve into the life of Leonardo da Vinci, dolphin behaviour, or the invention of steamboats and submarines? And who else would point out the dangers of the Terrible Trivium if not for Norton Juster, author of the Phantom Tollbooth in which the protagonist faces this most terrible of fiends, “demon of petty tasks and worthless jobs, ogre of wasted effort, and monster of habit.” As the Terrible Trivium says, “If you only do the easy and useless jobs, you’ll never have to worry about the important ones which are so difficult. You just won’t have the time. For there’s always something to do to keep you from what you really should be doing…” Indeed.
107.29.11 Writing anonymously and what’s wrong with Google Plus
Second things first: Google Plus is too all-encompassing and controlling. I can’t get a feed to publish elsewhere, or hack at, or stream, or store as text. Anything I write there lives ONLY in Google Plus, it seems, and can be taken out only manually.
And I’m not sure I want to write primarily for my friends. If I wanted to tell my friends something, I’d send them an email. If I have an idea to share, it seems cleaner in some way to publish it anonymously – or at least without notifying my friends – so that it stands on its own merits, and the reaction to it is not muddled up with relationships and niceness. Besides, if the writing is both honest and personal, it may relate to people my friends know or would recognize, and that is the last thing I would want. Unavoidable, perhaps, but not desireable.
Postscript: Google Plus may open itself up when the API is launched: www.readwriteweb.com/hack/2011/06/google-plus-puts-out-a-call-for-developers.php
007.21.11 Creative Commons Case studies
Ah – I’ve been looking for this: ways people are sharing documents to make structures outside corporations. Creative Commons is building up some case studies of how CC licenses spread good ideas through the world.
wiki.creativecommons.org/Case_Studies
Global Voices Online is a good one, I think: globalvoicesonline.org
107.04.11 American History Quiz: Which founding father leaked documents that triggered the start of the American Revolution?
From 1773 to 2011, leaking incriminating documents into the public eye has been a powerful mechanism to galvanize revolutions.
Nothing quite like reading in black and white the recommendation for “abridgement of what are called English liberties”.
Benjamin Franklin leaked Royal Governor Hutchinson’s letters to the press back in 1773, triggering the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution. (Franklin was actually trying to focus anger on a local governor instead of Britain – but once the truth is out, people act on it in their own way. After this affair and the British response to it Franklin gave up on reconciliation with England and became a revolutionary himself.)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutchinson_Letters_Affair
The Remarkable Benjamin Franklin by Cheryl Harness is available in the Pima County Library – its a children’s book but with some excellent information. I learn most things by reading books to my kids!
Article originally posted to bTucson.com under Politics and Government
206.30.11 idea for writers…
Most content sites and could use more serious, thoughtful writers. Brave activists in democracy movements around the world could use more financial support.
What if, content sites hire democracy activists who need to make a living, to research best practices in established democracies, in community building and local governance? They really need to think about these things and might have deep and genuine interest, and could write from a fresh perspective…
Now, if I just had a bunch of spare cash to pay out…
006.29.11 Benefit Corporations spreading – not in Arizona yet
Most companies are legally required to be selfish. That is, to put shareholder value over all other considerations including worker health, dangers to consumers, damage to the environment, or anything else.
Enter the “B Corp” – a kind of company that can legally pay attention to what most of us call values. Arizona doesn’t yet recognize “B” Corps, but five states now do: Maryland, Vermont, Virginia, New Jersey and now New York.
Arizona? What does your legislator say?
see bcorporation.net
New law fosters benefit corporations
Background reading: The Corporation by Joel Bakan, available at the library.
Originally published at bTucson.com/193476