one of the illusions of life

One of the illusions of life,
is that the present hour is not the critical,
decisive hour. Write it on your heart||
that every day is the best day of the year.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (via matt crighton)

discretion

"At times discretion should be thrown aside, and with the foolish we should play the fool." -- Menander

small beginnings

"Small beginnings can lead to great things."

what linus has to say

"We want to be able to provide the world with free high class, high quality, highly innovative software products that really empower the users and offer the best and only real chance to narrow the digital divide."


Linus Torvalds & Alan Cox,
from an open letter to the European Parliament, Sept. 21, 2003

via Community Free Software Group

establishing lasting peace

"Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war." - Maria Montessori (via chris lehmann, beacon school, new york)

the truth of theories

"Your theory is crazy, but it's not crazy enough to be true." --Niels Bohr

curiosity

"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education" -- Albert Einstein

thoughts from lev gonick at OneCleveland

"We are not so idealistic or presumptuous to assume that OneCleveland is the solution to Cleveland’s war on poverty. However, there can be no sustainable and meaningful future for Cleveland without an engaged and integrated strategy for leveraging technology to beat the culture of poverty and form the foundation of a culture of innovation, creativity, and hope."
lev gonick

note - cleveland is the location of the june, 2005, national CTCNet conference.

cleveland rocks.

being an enzyme

there are lots of different ways to be an enzyme.

strategic investment

strategic investment in the right combination of words placed in the right place can lead to lasting social change.

the three questions

"There are three great questions which in life we have to ask over and over again to answer:

Is it right or wrong?

Is it true or false?

Is it beautiful or ugly?

Our education ought to help us to answer these questions."

John Lubbock, 19th century astronomer, via doug johnson

ebay and community development

frank odasz's new article about ebay and community development is thoughtful and penetrating. i learned about this article via the digital divide network community.

what to do

"in matters of style, swim with the current. in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - thomas jefferson

there's so much more creativity and genius out there

"There's just so much more creativity and genius out there than
our media currently reflect." FCC Commissioner Michael Copps

technology fluency in the inner city

interesting ideas in technology fluency in the inner city

what is needed

Without materials nothing exists

Without energy nothing happens

Without information nothing makes sense

Albert Boekhorst

member of the Digital Divide Network

community technology review

the new issue of Community Technology Review is out.

exclamation marks run amuk on the internet

Is it just me, or have exclamation marks run amuk on the Internet? Every day I receive email with exclamation marks scattered all over the place. I get so alarmed and startled, it takes me hours to settle down. Twice I have had to increase the dosage of my blood pressure medication to handle all those exclamation marks. (Only kidding.) What turns my stomache is that web sites are using exclation marks all over the place -- in a "have-a-good-day" kind of frenzy. Do people have no decency, forsake?

We must bring these rampant exclamation marks under control before this gets completely out of hand. The world is wound up enough as is to be winding it up even more. Thanks for doing your part to rein in exclamation marks. I offer you my heartfelt and unpunctuated thanks.

(I would pay good money to have an email program or web browser that lets me filter out all exclamation marks.)

what i'm reading - "how full is your bucket?"

how full is your bucket?

next up on my reading list - blink

is spelling important?

"F. Scott Fitzgerald once handed in a manuscript with seven consecutive misspelled words."

gratitude

"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others." - Cicero

journey

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single mouse click." Lao-tzu

consistency

"A racehorse that consistently runs just a second faster than another horse is worth millions of dollars more. Be willing to give that extra effort that separates the winner from the one in second place." - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

healing

"One of the most valuable things we can do to heal one another is listen to each other's stories." Rebecca Falls

both

"The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both." - Zen Buddist text

small is

small is big.

step one

step one - find the right way of making your needs known
step two - everything else will follow accordingly

other

Other

if you're a poetry expert, i'm interested to know your favorite prose writer.
if you're a macintosh enthusiast, i'm interested to know your favorite windows program.
if you're a golfer, i'm interested to hear what skis you recommend.
if you like cooking, tell me what historical figures you admire.
if you're a cat lover, tell me your favorite breed of dogs.
if you're a dog lover, which sports figure intrigues you?
if you like snorkeling, which mountain hikes do you like?
if you're a democrat, which republicans grab your fancy?
if you're a republican, which democrats have appeal to you?

if i were a carpenter, and you were a lady.
would you marry me anyway? would you have my maybe?

public librarians as CPU's of their community

in many communities, public librarians are the CPU (central processing unit) of the community, accepting information from many sources and directing it where it needs to go. are you giving librarians the information they need to hear? are you listening to the information they have to give you?

if you're not talking regularly with a librarian, you may be out of the loop. librarians are the closest thing to omniscience here on earth. knowledge can come in handy. omniscience can be a great ally.

Technology is not consolidating power

Technology is not consolidating power into the hands of the very few.  The opposite is happening.  Everyone is getting in on the action.  Technology is opening the doors like never before.  And so we are building an architecture of participation that enables. Source

success begins with venue

success begins with venue. for something to happen, you first need a place (real or virtual) for that something to happen.

the closest distance

"the closest distance between not knowing something and knowing something is asking." doug mitchell

the voyage of discovery

"The voyage of discovery is not about seeking new landscapes, it's about having new eyes." Marcel Proust

wisdom too often overlooked

"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted
counts." (Sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton)

how to criticize

"Criticize by creating." — Michelangelo (via Taran Rampersad)