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24 Jun 2010 @ 02:13, by erlefrayne. Economics, Financing, Banking
Bailing out ailing banks with people’s money (taxes) is immoral and criminal. I have already stated this contention in previous articles, and I’d re-echo it again in light of the financial fiasco going on in Europe right now. More >
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 22 Jun 2010 @ 00:27, by ming. Networking
It is probably a good idea to do an inventory once in a while of one's projects and interests. Particularly when one is interested in connecting with others working on similar things.
It would also be nice if one's public presentation actually matched what one is doing or what one is aiming at doing. Once in a while I notice with some chagrin that I've left behind a number of websites and profiles and bits and pieces that mostly are either completely outdated or entirely misleading. Most of them covered with cobwebs. Some of them were cool in the 1990s, but are a bit of an embarrassment today. Then again, I've also left behind stuff that was ahead of it's time, that if it had been taken a slight bit further, or the timing had been slightly different, or the right people had come together, or I hadn't made some crucial mistake, would have been something really big that everybody would know about today.
I'm focusing on collaborative Internet stuff here. Software. Patterns. I could probably make other inventories for other areas of my interests. But there's a bunch of stuff that goes together here, which relates to how people connect and work together, how information and people get organized, how society might work better, how humanity might operate at a higher level. It is really all one subject, which can be addressed from many different angles. Creativity. Synchronicity. Conversations. Synergy. Emergence. Collective Intelligence. New Civilization. And how we might use computer and communication technology for doing it orders of magnitudes better. Which at a local level might make us personally more effective and which might get small group activities off the ground faster. And at a bigger level, it might just save humanity from going extinct within the next century or two.
Here are a few bullet points of stuff I previously have worked on:
OrgSpace
OrgSpace has been my code word for creating a better way for individuals or small groups to organizing any kind of data related to what they do. The basic idea is that there are as many dimensions to data as there needs to be, everything is linked in several directions, any item can exist in several places, because it has several dimensions, folders and categories are the same thing, just seen differently. Somewhat similar to the idea in Ted Nelson's ZigZag project. Which never really happened, because, well, it is a hard thing to create something super simple and universal. I went through a couple of early prototypes of that kind of OrgSpace, without getting very close to what I had in mind.
Eventually I settled for a more pragmatic OrgSpace, a collection of modules that could be reconfigured for various collaborative purposes. Wikis, blogs, calendars, project management, contact database, event planning, ad hoc databases, forums, chat rooms, picture galleries, e-commerce, and more. All of which I programmed from scratch. Each user could add one or more of any of these modules, and create workgroups and networks of people, and decide who to share which pieces with. And they could embed them in public websites. A pretty clever system, but way, way too ambitious. Oh, it is 95% done and parts of it are still used by clients or friends or by myself. But there's just no way I, one single programmer, could keep all these modules current and keep up with an evolving world. But I tried for a while before giving up, more than 5 years ago. If you look at orgspace.com you'll see... basically nothing. It is an example of one of those misleading websites I really should do something better with.
New Civilization Network
I should probably have put that first, as it happened first, and some of the software I developed there ended up being used in OrgSpace. NCN wasn't particularly about software, but about creating a self-organizing network of teams that would work on building a better world. It grew out of a Whole Systems discussion group I ran in a mailing list in 1994-95. The initial vision of the infrastructure was developed with Max Sandor. The idea was to inspire the creation of a network of online communities, existing on many independently operated servers. Protocols would be developed to allow interactivity and portability between these different sites. Essentially one should be able to join any group, hosted on any server, and that group might have it's own particularities and features, but at the same time one should be able to interact with and be found by people on any of the other servers in the network. You'll notice that we're talking about a universal login and about data portability and interoperability, stuff that doesn't even really exist today, so it was maybe a bit ahead of its time. It could still have happened, if anybody else had chosen to join the effort. There was one server, run initially by Max, and later by me, but there was never more than that one. So, the imagined network became just one online community on one website. Granted, it was one of the very first social networks, which isn't half bad. I developed a lot of facilities for the site in 1995-96, like friend lists, workgroups, forums, chat rooms, and a couple of years later blogs. The blogging system I created was quite possibly the best thing around at the time, but I didn't quite realize it, as I wasn't myself happy with it yet.
NCN is quite a long story and a a lot of learning took place there. Some patterns worked, some patterns didn't. As a global movement, it looked quite promising in 1995-96. Eventually it didn't take off as envisioned. For various reasons, most of them most likely my fault. It is surely not easy to launch a global self-organizing movement that aims at creating a new civilization. Anyway, if you go to newciv.org you'll see the website, pretty much like it looked in 1995. It is still active, people are still joining, there are hundreds of blogs, people use the member area, etc. But at least the public site is way overdue for a redesign and relaunch. I'm working on that.
HoloWorld
My own vision of how a New Civilization should work can be found at holoworld.org. Again it is something that I haven't really touched for 10 years or more. I still stand by it, even though it needs to be extended and updated and developed.
Essentially it is imagining a world that entirely would work on the kinds of principles that are touched upon in Open Space conferences, in Open Source software, in P2P anything. It is a bottom up grassroots self-organization kind of thing.
It is an anarchy where real community is possible. If you're free to do what you feel is right, you'll of course get together with others who want to do similar things as you, and there's a certain market economy of ideas and resources that naturally takes place. If nobody tells you what to do, and there's nobody who'll automatically do things for you, self-organizing community is what takes place. That's how people get together to develop open source software together, or how Wikipedia gets updated. Imagine if everything in the world worked like that. Well, it would only be possible if certain safeguards would be in place, primarily to avoid that a very few anti-social people would monopolize all the resources for themselves.
There are other things I intend to work on, but I don't have much to show for them yet:
Tools for Creativity
I'd be happy just spending my time making better tools. Software tools, for enhancing the creative process, for assisting various kinds of group activities. I'm interested in patterns. Generative patterns. Certain patterns make certain kinds of things happen. Yet, a lot of software doesn't really help you much in doing what you're trying to do. You can have a meeting within a piece of conferencing software, but the whole thing is not at all patterned to help do do what you have in mind. E.g. if you have a meeting specifically to arrive at a common decision, the software should be organized so as to help you make that decision. Duh. Most software isn't structured remotely like that. These projects would probably go on my cr8.com domain. Cr8 means Create, in case that isn't obvious.
Synchronicity
Synchronicities are subjectively meaningful coincidences. Something happens that clicks in a surprising way. I believe that's related to being in the flow and to collective intelligence. Imagine that you can increase the number of synchronicities in your life. Things just sort of surprisingly fit. Stuff appears out of the blue that happens to be exactly what you need, even if you didn't know it before. It is a state of mind, but it might very well also be something that can be amplified and enhanced.
Genes have receptors. Certain things will connect. You can increase the amount of connections by bringing in more stuff that might connect, by increasing the opportunities for connections. Similarly, the increasing interactions that the Internet has brought us can, if properly structured, increase synchronicity, increase the number of things that will connect, surprisingly.
There are other things I do than these. Some are more pragmatic, ways of making a living, or minor interests. Like, I've gotten back into webcam websites recently. And, generally speaking, I'm interested in the structure of success, how one can set one's mind to do something, and then actually do it. Which includes how one deals with one's own thoughts and emotions, and what the characteristics are of viable activities. All of which are other stories. More >
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21 Jun 2010 @ 23:38, by susannahbe. Ideas, Creativity
 Magnificent and all aglow, the heavens are on fire with
colour and celebration on this the longest day of the year.
 Golden, I am golden,
a fiery sun burning with a never ending flame.
Red hot centre combusting,
radiating outward,
wave after wave fueled by a magnificient wind,
whirling, blowing life into the feeding flames.
I am alight, radiant, glorious.
Raging heat, the nucleus of creation,
throw me down into your molten heart,
transform me in your crucible.
Forged in the white heat to arise
a phoenix from your flame.
Base to precious,
lead to gold,
transmutation,
alchemy.
Photos and words - susannah bec
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 20 Jun 2010 @ 08:36, by Unknown. Peace
Premise
I wonder if the answer to a fair, democratic and just society involves not the physical engagement between the Parliament and the populous and not an ideological one necessarily either but simple communication with the masses. What I mean by that is perhaps the casting of a ballot for this or that party and for a mere vote or dollar or answering a simple yes no to a referendum question is perhaps to simplistic of an approach but to perhaps to ask for the opinions and or judgments of Canadians instead and thus gather the collective "vision" and stated consensus and "story" of Canadians. So instead then ask the populous a carefully phrased question or 3 questions perhaps on the ballot. Answers restricted to 200 words each.
What do you think Canada is?
What would you like Canada to become.?
What do you think Canada was?
thus instead of just tallying up mere votes you would have the vision, history and current words at hand. Thus the facade or veil of Governance would for a moment be open and transcended to reveal the truth of this enigma that is CANADA. The results could maybe then be studied and complied into a collective kind of constitution to supplement the Charter and represented of and for the term of office ie 5 years upon which time the process would be repeated.. Canadians would thus feel more engaged and involved and "valued" in the Governance process as they would have had their say and it would be compiled and reflected upon on a collective constitutional document and the Governors would know the stated will of people.
just some thoughts
Never been done before I figure but I wonder.....
I wonder if it would be possible with 30 million people....
I guess its not practical at the moment so a normal ballot for a party could be cast in the intern.
ed More >
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 19 Jun 2010 @ 23:10, by ming. Technology
Seems like some stimulating conversations will get me out of hiding. OK, I wasn't really hiding, I just wasn't blogging.
There are certain things on my list of what I'm here to do. Sounds nebulous to people who aren't plugged into the same kind of stuff. Wiring of the global brain. Emergence of collective intelligence. Tools for creativity. Building a new civilization. Conscious evolution. Self-organization. Collaboration.
They've sort of been on hold for me for a while. At least after I realized that one can't avoid having to make a living, however much that sucks. So I added to my list of interests: Escape velocity. Organizing viable activities. Even: Internet marketing. And: Managing beliefs. Living deliberately.
I'd prefer to spend my days inventing stuff that will change the world. Maybe I will, once I get a couple of key things in place. But there's no reason to procrastinate either.
A couple of recent conversations has made me realize that there are smart people out there working on the kind of stuff I'm into. Which makes me rather hopeful. It might indeed be time to wake up and start the generators again. More >
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18 Jun 2010 @ 17:10, by susannahbe. Spirituality
I was sitting quietly at my desk as the late afternoon Sun gently crept around the corner of the building ready to shed its slanted light into the sheltered part of the garden.
From out of nowhere the most intense golden beam of sunlight flooded in through the large window of my room, chasing away the gloom of the previous moment as it shone.
I looked up in awe as it pierced through the heart pendant in my window and refracted into thousands of shimmering diamonds of light that covered me and made me gasp with joy.
I was dazzled with the light, the beauty, the moment . . .
. . . as my heart was filled with sunshine.
"Once your awareness becomes a flame,
it burns up the whole slavery
that the mind has created."
- Osho
Photo: Heart - Susannah Bec
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17 Jun 2010 @ 06:07, by johnjoseph. Philosophy
Stereotypes lead to self-fulfilling prophecies and non-scientific thought More >
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15 Jun 2010 @ 01:18, by vaxen. Business
"The Federal Reserve Banks are one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever seen. There is not a man within the sound of my voice who does not know that this Nation is run by the International Bankers."
-Congressman Louis T. McFadden (Rep. Pa)
"We have, in this country, one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board. This evil institution has impoverished the people of the United States and has practically bankrupted our government. It has done this through the corrupt practices of the moneyed vultures who control it".
-Congressman Louis T. McFadden in 1932 (Rep. Pa)
"I care not what puppet is placed on the throne of England to rule the Empire, ... The man that controls Britain's money supply controls the British Empire. And I control the money supply."
-Baron Nathan Mayer de Rothschild (1777-1836)
Evidence Points To BP Oil Spill False Flag
- Sales of shares and stocks in days and weeks beforehand
- Halliburton link, acquisition of cleanup company days before explosion
- BP report cites undocumented tampering with well sealing equipment
- Government uses disaster to push for Carbon Tax, Nationalization talk
Troubling evidence surrounding the Deepwater Horizon explosion on April 20th suggests that the incident could have been manufactured.
On April 12th, just over one week before the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, Halliburton, the world’s second largest oilfield services corporation, surprised some by acquiring Boots & Coots, a relatively small but vastly experienced oil well control company.
The company deals with fires and blowouts on oil rigs and oil wells. It was responsible for putting out roughly one third of the more than 700 oil well fires set in Kuwait by retreating Iraqi soldiers during the Gulf War. More >
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13 Jun 2010 @ 01:00, by energy. Spirituality
It's All About Energy!
And Then You Find "Synergy", which is really Feelings...
And Then All Else Follows....
Happiness, Passion, Joy, Excitement, Hope, Satisfaction, Love & Security.
Don't be fooled by,
Anger, Annoyance, Criticism, guilt, rush, worry, fear & Hate.
And then and only then you will know what the TRUTH is......
AND THE TRUTH IS:
Within..... So Without.....
There has to be a opposite!
But it's up to us to make the right choices
We Create what is right now.
Weather it's True or Not.
But what if you can't Leave a Situation or the negative is all around you?
There is just one answer for that....
Change, Move, Leave, Re-born, New Life, adapt differently.
Create NO MORE PROBLEMS. (Because it's a choice)
If you have the pain, they have the pain. (or Source)
Or
Just simply Change The Subject.
PAST & FUTURE or NOW!
There is no guarantee, so why not live in the NOW that you chose?
Peace, Love & Care.
Flow with Ease,
by Douglas A. Rohloff
It's A Sign (C) 2010 More >
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9 Jun 2010 @ 18:38, by vaxen. History, Ancient World
Here’s where it gets interesting. Lord Alfred Milner, who was tasked with carrying out Rhodes’ Last Will and Testament, was also an integral part of the “League of Nations Commission on Mandates” along with Woodrow Wilson’s advisor (and also 2nd generation Rothschild agent) Edward Mandell House.
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A HISTORICAL HOUSE OF PERPETUAL PAIN
“Colonel” Edward Mandell House, in addition to helping make 4 different men become Governor’s of Texas, also helped steer Woodrow Wilson’s election to become President of the United States.
House “advised” President Wilson’s acceptance and signing of the notorious Federal Reserve Act, and was also active during the Versailles Treaty of Paris in 1919 when Germany’s Zionist Banker representatives sold Germany down the river in exchange for Lord Balfour’s “Declaration” of the future creation of a state called Israel.
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(Please see the brilliant film, “Paris 1919” – Trailer bel)
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*** More >
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