IT and Sustainable Workshop.

On June 26-27, 2003 a number of experts from many countries and organizations gathered at a workshop at the World Bank in Washington, DC to discuss impact of information and communications technologies on sustainable development. The workshop was organized by Carnegie Mellon University with the support from NSF, World Bank and UN. Presentations from a recently workshop . (via Reuben)

[E M E R G I C . o r g]

this looks like it could be interesting but the link is currently down:(

worst blogger ever. it's official: i'm nominating myself as the worst blogger, or guest blogger, ever. i'm finding it hard to get online to check email, not to… [Fragments]

David's Guestblogging efforts are now broadcast with a bit of humor:)

Soft money loophole reopens.

AP via NYT: Big companies and unions banned from donating to elections under a new law will be able to whip out their political checkbooks after all — at least to contribute millions for fireworks, silver-tray shrimp and other glitz at next year's presidential nominating conventions.

The Federal Election Commission decided Thursday to keep one of the oldest avenues for soft money open, ruling that the law's strict limits on campaign donations don't apply to fund raising by the local committees that help the parties stage their conventions.

[The Agonist]

well, once again, large amounts of money will be funneled into an american election and it will function basically as a form of once removed purchasing of votes and cause undo influence onto the incoming regime, maybe we'll invade france to gain control of swiss cheese this time to underwrite the u.s. dairy industry….

In praise of plodders.

There was an article a couple days back in the Chronicle of Higher Education called “What People Just Don’t Understand About Academic Fields.” (Unfortunately, I can’t link to it because apparently you have to be a subscriber—but it doesn’t really matter for this post.) The article included a few paragraphs from a handful of professors in different fields each talking about what most people don’t seem to understand about what they do or why they do it. None of the entries struck me as all that interesting, but they did remind me of an essay by Isaiah Berlin which has been bothering me for awhile. The essay is called “Philosophy and Government Repressession” (1954) and was printed in The Sense of Reality. In trying to correct what he thinks is a common “misunderstanding of what philosophy is and what it can do,” Berlin argues that second- and third- rate philosophers are essentially worthless, except as obstacles to be overcome by truly great thinkers.

[Crooked Timber]

I'll add that for 99% of people that actually stay around long enough to really get a taste, academic philosophy is not philosophy, but it is some long developed set of skills and techniques tied to some very narrowly defined problems and issues, that really in the end seem to have little application in the real world, not that philosophy in general has any application, but that to understand philosophy is to have perhaps a richer life in some respects.

Insider talk Rice will resign.

US News and World Report: As White House officials try to control the latest fallout over President Bush's flawed suggestion in the State of the Union address that Iraq was buying nuclear bomb materials, there's growing talk by insiders that National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice may take the blame and resign.

For most insiders, it's inconceivable that Rice, touted as a future secretary of state, California governor, and even vice president, would go, but the latest revelations that her shop and deputy Stephen Hadley mishandled CIA warnings have put the NSC in the bull's eye of controversy.

While it's unclear how serious the talk is inside the administration about the future of Rice or Hadley with the NSC, a few top aides are already suggesting replacements for Rice. They include former Bush administration National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft, NASA chief and former Navy Secretary Sean O'Keefe, and Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq.

ed: i almost always treat US News “Washington Whispers” with a decent amount of skepticism

[The Agonist]

Condi is one of the few believable people in the current regime, if she leaves, that'll be a real hit against them. Though i encourage her to go elsewhere and remove the legitimization that her presence lends them.

Military Discounts.

Veterans and military members: check out the new Discount Center Index!

[Electric Venom]

there are some great discounts here….

douglas adams in mp3. douglas adams mp3 audio archive … “The Douglas Adams media archive is presented here by the wi2600.org groups for your enjoyment. This allso is to serve as a tribute to Mr. Adams's great, but suddely shortened career. Those who have not heard his voice and those who know it well will both enjoy having this material available. We will miss him!” [MetaFilter]

Douglas Adams is dead:( has been for some time now, but his work lingers ever onward.

FOAF-a-matic — Describe yourself in RDF.

I'll admit to not having paid a lot of attention to the 'Friend of a Friend' format to date, but a couple of things I've read recently made me pay a little more attention to this XML-based personal profile that can help connect you to others through the people you know.

Today I stumbled on this – a simple yet useful javascript-based form that helps create an initial FOAF RDF file to get you started.  Very handy! In theory, and in practice, XML was meant to be 'human readable' and fairly straightforward to create. But little applications like this are so helpful – once you've structured data you already understand, expanding it by hand becomes much more straightforward. – SWL

- via [Channel 'social_software'] and [WebDawn]

[EdTechPost]

soon i will do this, i can see how it could be useful to some folk, and it is certainly one way of extending your network.