All those topics that i wish i had time to pursue more earnestly.

EC calls on Member States to contribute to the European digital library:
The European Commission urged EU Member States on 25 August to set up large-scale digitisation facilities, so as to accelerate the process of getting Europe’s cultural heritage on line via the European digital library. In a Recommendation on digitisation and digital preservation, it calls on Member States to act in various areas, ranging from copyright questions to the systematic preservation of digital content in order to ensure long term access to the material.
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yet another point of resistance in google’s ‘all your book belong to us’ campaign. oh… and… it means that citizens get access to books instead of consumers… same people, different perspective.

To be referred to, to be quoted, sorted, circumscribed by the gesture of the upturned commas, single or double: what does this mean? To be linked to, to be pointed at, made part of a discourse, drawn in, made party to it, beholden to it, responsible, culpable? A with-writer, a conspirator, a friend? To reference, be drawn in, made party to….. this is a dizzying thing, a moment of radical alienation (is it me? Really? Am I really part of this – am I here at all in all this?). To reference, to draw in, to conjure up, to evoke…. oh this of all things, this more than anything is to make neurotics of us all.

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but.. does authenticity, or authorial identity matter beyond the constructs of others? yes.. i want to be me… but i have as much control of other’s constructs of my ideas and opinions as i have in deciding which cars will pass by my window on any given day. to be cited, thus in my mind, is to contribute to someone else’s work and understanding of the world. i do not see that there is anything that needs to be profoundly deeper, or cared for at the identity-level of alienation. in short, i think the assumption that ‘you’ are being cited when someone uses your work is being overextended. I think it is better to think that someone found your writing useful

ONLamp.com — What Is OpenDocument:
The OpenDocument Format (ODF) is an emerging file format standard for electronic office documents. Representing a triumph of common sense over the methods conceived before the rise of the Internet, ODF’s goals are both exciting and controversial. Early adopters of the format include state and municipal governments in some near- and far-flung places, and this makes the format’s progress a thing to watch. Yet innovation theory tells us there are some hurdles we all must overcome before ODF becomes a regular topic of conversation at the ballpark. Those in the know, however, recognize that we’re in about the second inning of a barn-burner. So, grab a hot dog and a beer, and settle in for a classic.

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Here’s something infrastructural that could change several business models….

The Journal of Electronic Publishing:


The Journal of Electronic Publishing – Summer 2006 edition now available
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some of these articles are interesting.

I Am Not A Terrorist:
I am not a terrorist.
Say it in Arabic, because free speech is for everyone.

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buy the t-shirt…

YouTube – Meet Alfred – The Belgian Penguin Man:
Meet Alfred – The Belgian Penguin Man
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well… you see… the thing is… that while this penguin man is perhaps a bit extreme…. his beliefs about ‘becoming’ and ‘enacting’ are the central beliefs of careerists in modernity. I have a ton of friends that have lived their lives in a way to ‘become’ something… something that usually isn’t too far removed from being a penguin.

Making Light: Terrorists:
he says “I am not saying that the politicians and press are terrorists”. Bruce may not be saying that, but I am.

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I have to agree, and I think it is morally wrong for our own president and political parties to encourage their populace to be afraid of each other and the rest of the world. They should be trying to build a trust in the people of the world, trying not to cause blood enemies in other countries, etc.

one thing that we have to realize is that all humans in all states of the world are equal in their moral worth. citizens gain extra worth to the state, but that is not extra ‘moral’ worth. once everyone starts to realize that ‘People are not different, not monsters, and they are thinking, caring, human beings that are trying to make a better world’ If we can get people to stop thinking ‘better world for me and my friends (or others sharing similar transcendental beliefs’ and start thinking ‘better world for everyone, here, now and immanently’, then we’ve made progress.

FDA Approves Over-the-Counter Access for Plan B for Women 18 and Older–Prescription Remains Required for Those 17 and Under:
FDA Approves Over-the-Counter Access
for Plan B for Women 18 and Older
Prescription Remains Required for Those 17 and Under

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It is about time that the FDA and our current administration started treating women as adult, contributing members of our society and nota s some form of paternalized subject to be protected for their fiction of the public good

Sometimes I Feel Like I’m The Only One Trying To Gentrify This Neighborhood | The Onion – America’s Finest News Source:
It’s getting to the point where I feel like I’m tilting at windmills. But I can’t give up—I know this neighborhood would benefit from the diversity of more people like me moving in. If you need a good place to live, come check out my ‘hood. It’s quirky, but it could use a few more creative types to get it jumping. But no developers—those guys just ruin it for the rest of us.

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the sad thing is…. some people think like this ….

WorldForge, 50K:

worldforge hits 50k… i worked on this a long long long time ago… it seems like. i don’t think any of my additions were added, but they are still going.