Notes

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Amazing insight from Sean Donahue on true two-way intimacy

I invited an intimacy that flowed in one direction. Come to me, show me all of who you are, and I will love you without judgement, I will support you through everything, I will take your pain as my own, I will pleasure you without expectation of return. But I will remain cloaked in my robe, hidden from you.

Circumcision hypocrisy

If nothing else, I try not to be a hypocrite, which casual observation shows is plenty difficult in its own right.

Well I was caught in a double-standard the other day. I don't like needles, piercings, tattoos, hanging from hooks, or anything that involves perforating or cutting or mangling one's body. I wouldn't, of course, try to stop anyone else from

But I have no problem with being circumcised.

And that is done to decidedly non-consenting non-adults.

Can Judaism, which has the same double standard codified, help explain this?

Internet freedom

"Underlying all freedoms is justice, and freedom of access is no exception. A right of access to Internet technology is the necessary foundation for these freedoms."

My comment in the discussion about MayFirst PeopleLink's promotional palm card.

How the rich screwed the world without even trying this time: comment on NPR's "Global Pool of Money" piece

As NPR's "global pool of money" explanation made pretty clear (without them ever actually saying so) the driver for the problem, the reason there was so much money looking for an outlet that got turned into the subprime loans, is the inequality– lots of wealth in few hands and it's too much trouble to get that wealth into productive uses, that is, available to those who aren't filthy rich and so have useful things to do with money (and furthermore cannot, generally, promise a 10 to 20 percent "return on investment").

Ready for Obama ready for right-wing attack machine?

A friend asked, "are you ready for obama 09"?

And I launched right into what I expect to see...

"the media is going to go into right-wing attack machine mode soon enough... i mean have people forgotten the Clinton years? You couldn't be more corporate and centrist and good for the rich
but he wasn't part of their oligarchy, and so was piled on constantly
Obama is a lot smarter and tougher, but also likely to be more progressive, and so alienate even larger and more entitled and angry sectors of those who believe they rule us
I hope he's ready for the living hell that's coming."

Switching heating oil companies

BJs - their multi-state program came up for Natick because their HQ is here!
http://www.allbusiness.com/retail-trade/4298900-1.html

that program works with:
https://members.priceenergy.com/aboutUsAction.do
https://members.priceenergy.com/resourcesAction.do

online audio chat with emoticons

me: Animated emoticons. How did we live without them?

Stacey and Cathy in unison: I don't know!

God as evolved beings, or not

How do I get pulled into this on a Sunday morning when I really need to be getting lots of work done?

Some excerpts from my end of the IM conversation about this, after Kathleen Murtagh sent at 9:58 a.m.

interesting philosophy: http://www.fullmoon.nu/articles/art.php?id=tal

I happen to think my autoreply – The Beginning is Near - http://mlncn.com/node/827 – was right on point, heh

But on actually reading it, some thoughts i wrote:

‘Seemed like a good idea at the time’ is MY philosophy and no one else can have it!

...

On not having the right to vote: felony disenfranchisement

More than two percent of otherwise eligible-to-vote citizens of the United States of America are denied the right to vote for felony convictions.

In total numbers and in the political tendencies of the disenfranchised, that's about the same as denying Jews the vote in the U.S.

in 1998 "an estimated 3.9 million U.S. citizens are disenfranchised, including over one million who have fully completed their sentences."

http://www.hrw.org/reports98/vote/usvot98o.htm

How much can board members donate to PWGD?

Best question ever:

how much can board members donate? If they can donate to their own charity their the board member of? And, how often can they donate? What's the limit of the donation?

most people want trade only with working condition protections

popular opinion regarding World Trade organization free trade over time
opinion polls free trade 1999

http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/btglobalizationtradera/8...

Looking for a house in Jamaica Plain

I have a friend who really wants to move to Jamaica Plain. Would prefer a full house, not a split house or apartment, but I think a true cooperative living arrangement with the right people would be more than acceptable.

Not quite sure how to swing anything, but maybe let that fall into place after the perfect house is found.

keywords:
house in Boston JP neighborhood
jamaica plain coop housing
J.P. home

Seth Godin's Tribes talk in NYC

[funny thing is he began with acknowledgments and thoughts -- and he's right, it would have been a much better flow with that having been a running loop of images while everything got settled!]

I think I know what you want: more!

Jacquelyn Novogratz - Acumen - singlehandedly changing the way philanthropy - did this

advertisements for cigarettes with babies and doctors

[used to be]
interrupt people, spam them, because it's our job

then, Internet: ideavirus, people talk about us because we deserve it

those days are ending

[Santa Clause 1836-2000 picture]

Comments on Newspaper Sites

comments on newspaper web sites
percent newspapers that allow comments
"percent of newspapers" that "allow comments"

One-third of newspapers allow comments:
bivingsreport.com/2007/american-newspapers-and-the-internet-threat-or-opportunity/

(But Bivings didn't know how to develop a Drupal web site -- we took over one of theirs, we know! -- so they have no credibility with Agaric, heh.)

Exact same number from a different source?

Finally, 33% of these sites allowed readers to make comments on news articles, up from 19% in 2006 (The State, 2008).

Food processor busting walnut and raisin tahini hummus

Dried chickpeas, soaked and cooked a half-dozen hours
thrown into the food processor (bottom mixer) with a lot of their own water
a few cups each, probably
several tablespoons of tahini, which is a lot
something to sweeten it up... found raisins
walnuts, nice addition
added some olive oil but it was at this point that the food processor did not turn back on

Fixing the furnace hot water pipes relief valve

Update and Success: Thank you Ace Plumbing Supply Inc.

(617) 436-0213
(617) 436-5858 (Fax)
1180 Massachusetts Avenue,
Boston, MA 02125

acesupply.us

Keywords:
3/4 inch safety relief valve opening pressure water
replace McDonnell No 230 Safety Relief Valve
hot water emergency release valve
McDonnell Miller pressure reducing valve inch

30 psi opening pressure
BTU per hour: 303000

Monkey wrench got it off, no real info about buying a replacement online.

PWGD is up to the News Challenge

if important news were naturally viral, if it spread rapidly and were easily monetized, there would be no need for the Knight News Challenge. If important news were always sexy, funny, comfortable to share, and socially rewarding, Digg's front page and YouTube comments might be constant fonts of vital information.

The question is not "do you think this will be popular?"; the question is "do you think this is important?".

People's behavior changes

No secret algorithms. No complicated algorithms. Come to think of it I better stay away from the word algorithm.

News Challenge opportunities

Kara:
My main objective with Drupal En Español is to make a "DLRC" that is
specifically geared towards Spanish-speaking communities with the
overarching goal of increasing civic engagement by making Drupal accessible.
We can start as local or as big as we want. I would love it to be the
Guatemala or Venezuelan communities because those are communities Ytaelena
and I are well-connected to and can create bridges really quickly. Ideally
we would pick four communities: Guatemalan and Venezuelan communities in the

Resolved: Do something worth sharing every day, and share it with someone

Man, something about deciding this made me want to call Dad, like all this time I could still reach him by telephone, but just hadn't; we telephoned probably a dozen times in my life, well a few dozen more including "pick me up at the high school."

Originally I was thinking of this in terms of doing something interesting, and telling someone about it, but actually doing something with someone every day, sharing an experience, would of course be far better.

Why I am not using Flickr

In my first hour of using Flickr, 2/3 of the photos I was uploading, from one event, Tony and Tina's Wedding (a play and a dinner where my friend Manda played maid of honor), did not upload, with this error message:

You have used 101% of your upload capacity for this calendar month.

To be fair, I did take about 500 pictures... very rarely does anyone ever ask me to take pictures.