Resist Nothing

If you could make a 30 second speech to the entire world, what would you say?

Be happy and healthy. Be kind but never underestimate the weakness of others. People are inherently primitive so it takes a village to foster the growth of a good person and it takes nothing for a person to be evil. Be prepared for those that are weak and evil. Lastly, HACK THE PLANET!

Election Day

Obama just projected the winner four minutes ago. I feel like I will always remember where I was when this happened. To note, in the lounge of the men's locker room at my gym. Very interesting to have seen men of business and money comment as we watch CNN coverage. Surprising to see supporters of both sides here, though one younger...I'll say anti-Democrat...guy the only one that was a bit too ungentlemanly. As people celebrated across the country, it seems a bit subdued here. I am indifferent at the moment.

Return

I haven't written on this blog in a long, long time. I'm also using "written" loosely. I mostly reached a point where I had nothing to say so simply shared samples or items important to me (pre-Twitter). I'm writing now, weeks behind schedule, mostly out of boredom. Why start a new blog when I can just pick the old one back up? Exactly.

I'm sitting now in a lounge with the television on, but I ignore it easily since I threw my headphones (they saved my life!) on and tuned into "Play" by Moby. Shuffled through email, shuffled through Twitter. I look at Facebook but I hate that site! So here I am. Trying to think, to write. Why do I struggle at this when I have so much to talk about?! Where I am, where I've come from, what I'm doing and what I've been up to. People seem genuinely interested when I mention details IRL so why not OTI (on the Internet)?

Maybe I'm thinking too hard. That's my problem. I overanalyze. Luckily I write this knowing no one will read it. That's either my saving grace or Achilles' heel. Maybe it leaves me comfortable to think that this is just for me but not motivated enough to say something. Either/or, I'll figure something out. I want to, better yet need to, turn a corner and whether that be to write more or to give this sort of path up, only time will tell.

I have a lot on my mind at least. Leaving the east coast, driving crosscountry to move to Los Angeles, finding my new habits for this town. I've been quite busy and I like it. Far better than doing nothing like I did in the last town. It was mostly my fault, but how can I disregard my own feeling that I was in the wrong town at the wrong time of my life? That's what I'm doing in LA. Getting back to living.

2011 Stanley Cup Champs: the Boston Bruins

Protect our air from hazardous pollutants

We could save over 5,000 lives just by cleaning up acid gases, mercury and dioxins from dirty old boilers scattered across the country, yet over one hundred polluter allies in the House of Representatives signed a letter pressuring the EPA to put industry profits over our health. I just sent a public comment supporting EPA efforts to save lives with new standards, and you could too! Check it out: action.sierraclub.org/mact

Calamity on the Kalamazoo

Anne Woiwode and Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune coauthored an op-ed piece in the L.A. Times about how last month's oil spill upstream of Lake Michigan spotlights what's wrong with the nation's energy direction.

Read here: http://tinyurl.com/23gg75l

What happens to your smartphone data -- and is it safe?

(CNN) -- This week, news out of the Middle East saw BlackBerry, the handheld communication device of choice in the corporate world, assailed on multiple fronts over a security problem.

Story highlights include:

• The BlackBerry controversy has highlighted how smartphone privacy works
• Many plans encrypt data, meaning it can't be deciphered if it's intercepted
• BlackBerry data is stored on a private server; others stored by mobile service providers

Click here to read more: http://bit.ly/9hO4NV

Protect Communities from Toxic Coal Ash

The Benefits of Wall Street Reform

Click to enlarge.

AT&T dropping more calls than ever

Three times as many as Verizon, according to a consumer survey released Tuesday.

Click here to read more.

End of Nutritious Rice for the World project

"World Community Grid is pleased to announce, that as a result of the generous contribution of computing power from our members, the Nutritious Rice for the World project finished on April 6, 2010."

Click here to read more.

OMRF scientist finds missing protein stops immune cell development

"In a paper published Sunday in the journal Nature Immunology, OMRF scientist Jose Alberola-Ila, M.D., Ph.D., found that a single missing protein in mice makes their immune systems unable to produce a potent defensive cell. The findings could be key to a deeper understanding of autoimmune disorders like type I (juvenile) diabetes."

Click here to read more.

Flagship Initiatives Shine in Open Government Plans

Ever since Open Government Day – the 120 day deadline in the Open Government Directive when agencies had to release Open Government Plans – I’ve been pouring over them hoping to get a better understanding of how openness is going to be implemented. If we are to judge government openness by the barrage of documents we received last Wednesday, then we open government advocates ought to be very happy! But what are these documents made of, anyway? A word cloud illustrates it quite well – all the buzzwords that you would expect: Information, government, data, open, public.

Click here to read more.

No Cops in the Cloud Without a Warrant

What do Google, Microsoft, AT&T, Intel, Americans for Tax Reform, ACLU, the American Library Association, the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have in common?

Click here to find out.

Dial-Up Law in a Broadband World

The Internet has given the government powerful 21st-century tools for invading people’s privacy and monitoring their activities, but the main federal law governing online privacy is a 20th-century relic. Adopted in 1986, it has had trouble keeping up with technological advances and is now badly out of date.

Click here to read more.

Green up!

Recycle your mobile phones and find out what to do with your old phone books:

• April 5-11 is National Mobile Phone recycle week!
• Thinking about upgrading to an iPhone or Droid? Recycle your old phone: http://bit.ly/aQAjoo 
• Last year, Americans turned in approximately 11.7 million mobile phones for reuse and recycling.
• The energy saved by recycling even one mobile phone is enough to power a laptop for 44 hours.
• If Americans recycled the 130 million mobile phones tossed each year, enough energy would be saved to power more than 24,000 homes.
• Where can I turn in my mobile phone for donation or recycling? Mobile phone collection programs can be found here: http://bit.ly/c5ko9u
• Verizon Wireless’ HopeLine program collects used wireless phones & accessories to support victims of domestic violence. http://bit.ly/c2mrH3
• Have you gotten your 2010 phone book yet? Approximately 540 million phone book directories are delivered to our front steps every year.
• Though many are 40% post-consumer recycled, phone books still require enormous quantities of paper, oil and ink.
• Opt out: Visit PaperlessPetition.com to request that your name and address be removed from the Yellow Pages printed directory mailing list.
• Get Just One: If you still want to get one phone book, not 10 at a time, then call the individual titles directly to let them know.
• What can you do with your old phone books? Recycle them of course! Find out where: http://bit.ly/aGAklT
• According to the EPA, 500 recycled phone books saves 7,000 gallons of water, 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space, 24 trees & 4,100 kWh of power.
• 500 recycled books provides 6 months enough power for an average home. Thanks to Eco-Chick for the tips! http://bit.ly/c4dmlY

Read the original post here.

The Courts Can't Take Away Our Internet

Megan Tady, Huffington Post

The ruling for Comcast by the D.C. Circuit Court could be the biggest blow to our nation's primary communications platform, or it could be the kick in the pants our leaders need to finally protect it. Either way, the future of the Internet, the fight for Net Neutrality, and the expansion of broadband are hanging in the balance.

Click here to read more.

CDT Reaction to Comcast v. FCC Decision

"Either the FCC or Congress is going to have to go back to the drawing board and reconsider the authority that the agency can exercise over 'last mile' providers of Internet access."

Click here to read more.

Elegant Readings with Michael Ian Black: Taco Party

I find this amusing.