Animal Rights Protest (Mainland China)

Millions of Chinese netizens have joined a campaign against bear-farming amid a public outcry over the extraction of bear bile from live, caged animals.

• Bear bile has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for more than 1,000 years, and is believed to combat fever, protect the liver, and improve eyesight.

A poll on the popular news and chat site QQ.com calling on people to oppose bear farming, garnered more than four million votes by Monday evening.

Bear bile extraction, done with a needle and taken from the gall bladder, can lead to peritonitis and septicemia, leaving the bear to essentially die in agony. The bears, who can grow up to 400 pounds or more, are kept in cages not big enough for them to stand up.

I'm impressed by the number of Chinese citizens who have come forward in protest over "bear-bile milking." It shows just how globally-aware, sensitive and caring these people are. I believe China, in time, will become the U.S.'s staunchest ally and trade partner, a relationship that, right now, needs a little nurturing. In efforts to bridge the gap of understanding, I have become active on the Chinese internet, something I'll be sharing with you as the days and weeks unfold.

On Sunday afternoon of February 26th, a Shenzhen SZCAT-organized protest was taken to the streets in the Shenzhen Luohu district. Animal rights activists ["animal protection volunteers"] donned black bear masks and displayed posters in front of the Guizhentang Pharmaceutical Company store, protesting the extraction of bear bile from live bears, calling for the opposition of Guizhentang going public [IPO], attracting the attention and signatures of several passers-by.Thousands of SMS messages on “weibo” (Sina Weibo, China's most popular microblog: similar to Twitter) blasted Guizhentang for extracting bile from bears. Those messages have been forwarded (re-tweeted) thousands more times.

Click here to read a very thorough Bloomberg story about the IPO which features links to pro and con sides of the bile issue.

The Animals Asia Foundation estimates that about 20,000 black bears are kept on about 100 bile farms scattered across China.

Tags: Guizhentang, bear bile extraction

First Flakes

+2 HOURS (13:28):::

#Wordless Wednesday ::: Sheeple? Nah!

"Goodbye, Old Friend" ~ a Classic Dave Lucas poem!

I touched you for the very last time today,
gave you a gentle pat on the side
after packing up all the leftover things.

I won't forget the times we spent together,
the places we've seen...
the songs and voices we listened to on your radio.

As we took care of you, you took care of us in return,
keeping us safe over thousands upon thousands of miles.
And in the end, you gave up your "life" for us.
Kept us from harm one final time.

I took one last look as I left the field.
I didn't want to take a picture.
I'll just remember you as you were.

A great car.

Harry Carnevale In Reverse

Deaths due to police chases are always extra horrific.
Should never happen.

Harry Carnevale

• Silver-Spoon Upper Middle Classer w/bright future
• Killed by chased driver in Arbor Hill (Albany)
• Driver was working poor black

Rozell Whitehead

• Working Poor Black w/bright future
• Killed by chased driver in Arbor Hill (Albany)
• Driver was Silver-Spoon Upper Middle Classer

Why police would chase anyone going 75 on I-90 is beyond me. Most days if you go between 65 and 70 traffic whizzes by you as if you were putzing along.

From the Times Union: "Eckart-Rigberg was ticketed twice for driving 60 mph in 55 mph zones, in Albany and Guilderland, and for going 41 mph in a 30 mph zone in Albany as well..."

Really? Try Hackett Boulevard in Albany, anytime of day, where drivers whiz past at 55mph and get ready for road rage if you don't get out of their way!

Off-World Life Colony on Planet Earth via The Murchison Meteorite

We've seen it so often in movies over the last 50+ years, it should come as no shock that extra-terrestrial life can take root and multiply here on Earth.

Don't Take Communication, Freedom of Speech (or the Internet) For Granted!

via the Watershed Post ::: If you, or someone you know, will be in Delaware County tomorrow and need internet access for any reason, the Four County Library System is sending its CyberMobile your way, complete with internet access and a mobile library. CyberMobile will be making stops in Grand Gorge, Hobart, South Kortright, Davenport, East Meredith, Meridale and Treadwell tomorrow starting at 10 am.

The Peruvian Press Council reportedon a “Public Hearing: Access to Information and Transparency Forest,” accompanied by a training workshop on related issues in the town of Nueva Cajamarca, San Martin. Journalist and blogger Juan Carlos Lujan, who was one of the trainers, recounts [es] the problems faced due to slow internet signal in this area of ​​the Peruvian jungle. (And you curse your dial-up!)

Currently being debated in the Portuguese Parliament is a new bill (PL118) which proposes a tax on any equipment or software capable of recording, copying or storing analogue or digital content, in the name of author's rights. The online community has wasted no time in wading in on the debate, with the hashtag #PL118 duly trending on Twitter.

Bahraini netizens, backed by the international community, helped raise the voices of detained political activists on hunger strike, by making their plight a trending topic (#Hungry4BH) on Twitter. Mona Kareem reports on the efforts of activists online and on the ground in Bahrain.

Jin Ge from China Bubble Watch reports on how star micro-bloggers capitalize their social network by merging their influence with e-commerce.

Parastou Dokouhaki, an Iranian female jailed blogger was released on bail on Sunday. She was accused of collaboration with foreign based media.

Jamaica Woman Tongue feels the backlash “for daring to suggest that [the late radio talk show host Wilmot Perkins] had feet of clay.

Don't Let Your Online Past Poison Your Offline Future

Like many others, you gave little or no thought to Google's updated policy notice and/or clicked “Dismiss” because who wants to read all that fine print, right?

Besides, you aren’t doing anything illegal or unethical online, so what’s the big deal? They’re just creating one policy that covers all their services. What’s the harm? INDEED!

Daily Mail reports that deleting your browsing history before March 1 when Google's new privacy policy comes into effect will limit Google's ability to track and record your every move online. The process is simple.

DO NOT HESITATE! DO THIS NOW!

Follow the steps below:

1. Go to the google homepage and sign into your account.

2. Click the dropdown menu next to your name in the upper-right hand corner of your screen.

3. Click accounts settings

4. Find the "Services section"

5. Under "Services" there is a sub-section that reads "View, enable, disable web history." Click the link next to it that reads: "Go to Web History."

6. Click on "Remove all Web History"

When you click on "Remove all Web History," a message appears that says " Web History is Paused." What this means is that while Google will continue gathering and storing information about your web history it will make all data anonymous, that is, Google will not associate your Web History information with your online accounts and will therefore be unable to send you customized search results.

Google's ability to gather personalized information about you by assigning data to your Gmail and YouTube accounts will remain "Paused" till you click "Resume."

The Book Is Waiting To Be Written

Here it is, almost March, and I haven't touched the rough draft of my novel in weeks. Feeling a tinge of guilt, I decided it was time to speed the writing process along. I purchased a half-size spiral notebook. It's one of those five star models with a cardboard pouch inserted into the spiral.

I do a lot of writing on index cards, so that pouch will come in handy. I've also developed my own "quick reference" method of keeping ideas fresh and at my fingertips. My best ideas don't come to me when I'm sitting at the computer keyboard. Instead they appear out of thin air - when I'm taking a walk - or on the bus - or they show up in my dreams...

Almost any evening you'll find me at a public library in Albany or Poughkeepsie or New York City... I recently spent almost 4 hours in a bookstore in Salem, Massachusetts - the place has books, literally, stacked in floor-to-ceiling piles - every book imaginable!

So anyway, I'm back to working on the book, and I'd like to have it finished by the end of 2012. I'll keep ya posted!

#Music Monday ::: He's In Town

This tune could easily have been a 4 Seasons hit: I heard an urban DJ mix it one night with a couple of rap perfromances (wish I had been near a recording device!)

Back in early 1961, the Tokens released a single for Warwick Records company entitled "Tonight I Fell In Love," which scored #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and earned them an opportunity to perform on American Bandstand. The popularity that the band garnered as a result of this performance brought them new recording opportunities, culminating in their cover of Solomon Linda's "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" for RCA Victor company. It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and was a mainstay on North American music radio stations through 1966. "He's in town" charted in the Northeastern US and appeared on the group's own B.T. Puppy record label.

Privacy, Interrupted

The Whitehall Road Frankenpine

Frankenpine is the name given to a cell phone tower that is camouflaged to resemble a pine tree. The term first garnered public attention in 2004 when the Adirondack Council, a nonprofit organization working to protect the Adirondack Park, gave a proposed tower this name. Efforts to disguise the steel tower include painting its base brown and attaching fake branches to it.

I was out for a walk with a buddy Sunday afternoon when she spotted a member of the Frankenpine family in the skyline above the JCC on Whitehall Road in Albany! I walked around the side of the building to have a better look and snapped the pic below! There are so many antennas, this creature must certainly be for more signals than cellular!
Tags: Frankenpine, Frankenpine

Ellusicat

Ellusicat appeared in a dream that had a music soundtrack.
Ellusicat spoke in colours, some words were as rainbows.
Elluiscat answered only to his name called in thoughts.
Sparkles of energy could be seen at the tips of a device
which enabled him to interact with humans on their level.

The dream also contained puzzles and riddles within one another in some sort of interlocking fashion. I was able, in the dream, to solve every one. Although I cannot recall all of the details of the problems I solved, I know some of them were quite complex. If only there had been something to awaken me while the process was unfolding, I might have been able to write some of the discoveries down.

Capturing the image of Ellusicat (that is not his name, by the way, his true name could only be experienced as a sequence of colours) you see above was the best I could muster with my artistic talents. I tried fooling around with the image of a cat in Photoshop but couldn't produce an image even remotely resembling the dreamed character.

In the last ten years I think I may have had 7 or 8 dreams of this kind. Some were quite intense. One involved a puzzle made of colours that, the more I tried to solve, the deeper I was spellbound by the puzzle itself, almost like an insect after having been captured by a spider. Breaking out of that dream and awakening was very difficult... I ended up with a major headache. Such is the power of dreams!

Micro transmitter brings WIOX to Phoenicia

The Woodstock Times has an article featuring Michael Koegel, proprietor of Mama's Boy Cafe in Phoenicia. I met Michael after the terrible storm twins Irene and Lee ravaged the Catskills.

One thing I've learned from roaming the Hudson Valley region is that many of the communications we folk in Albany and New York City take for granted sometimes vanish: I can't tell you how many times my GPS would grey out while driving and display the dreaded "no signal" message!

Matter of fact, today I stopped off at Triple-A and picked up a map and booklet so that when I'm without GPS I'll still have an idea which road I'm on!

And when it comes to ideas, Michael has a good one! If you read this, Michael, I might even suggest adding a little original programming from time to time (you could tape performances at the cafe and re-play them the next day)...

Phoenicia Inside Mama's Boy Cafe- Contrary to reports aired on WABC-TV and published in the New York Times, Phoenicia is alive and thriving...Michael Koegel at his cafe

Occupy Obama’s G+

From Sina Weibo:

@月光博客: Chinese web-users have initiated a “Occupy Obama’s G+” movement, and currently American President Obama’s Google+ commentary has all changed into Chinese. Since January 31st, President Obama has allowed comments on his Google+ profile page in order to interact with web users.

霍建波:

Here come the Chinese.

王志永:

President, respect human rights! You freed Iraq and, freed Libya, shouldn’t you also free us?!!

陳曉:

Must occupy Google+! Capture the White House!

丁春阳:

Mr. President, do you like to eat la mian [handmade noodles]? If you like it, come to my hometown, and I’ll treat you to eat until you’re full!

Ali Utlu (Addressing the Chinese comments):

Be polite!

Terry Schmidt:

Dear President Obama, when will you send troops to liberate China?

张勉:

Mr. President, we long for America’s freedom.

Dylan Bozarth (American writing in English):

I need to learn Chinese.

秋山晴子:

Are you all not losing face? I cannot feel embarrassed more.

Joepo Ding:

Is this what freedom tastes like?

吴佳斌 (In English):

Obama, you do not contribute to world peace, but earlier get the Nobel peace prize, do not you feel ridiculous?

You to attack terrorists without the permission of a sovereign state without authorization to send troops into the country, and the manslaughter of a few 60 people in this country, and finally, only say “We regret that”. Please tell me what is your human rights?

Robert Bridgewater (American writing in English):

If they can’t speak English, they most likely aren’t even legal and shouldn’t be voting anyways! Who paid for this? It better not have come from any tax payers!

Cale Monson (American responding to above):

Um, I really hope this is supposed to be a joke comment. These are Chinese citizens who are actually in china, not “illegals”. If this is a joke profile, then you’ve done very well. If this is sincere, then you are a moron.

Sean Lee:

Americans suspect we are all illegal immigrants, but according to freedom of speech is it against the law for illegal immigrants to write comments??

tianhao shen:

Do you know why if was so easy for you you guys to grab the sofa? It’s because foreigners often first read the post seriously, earnestly think about what to say, and then write a comment. Unlike Chinese people who come and immediately say “sofa, front row, up close…..”, All day writing these meaningless things. Perhaps this is the so-called “Chinese characteristics.”

Siqi Wu:

Ha ha ha, watching intensely~~~~why we should speak English ?Just some people dont know Chinese?Its tell you learn Chinese is important.plz learn ,ty. lol~~So happy I can type Chinese, oh yeah!~~~

王华庭:

Really sorry, but I’m also here to occupy. Hope Obama doesn’t just focus on China economically, [because] what China needs more is democracy and freedom. Obama please exert your influence.

Brian Anderson [American writing in English]:

I think it’s awesome that China now has access to G+, but seriously, if you’re going to flood an American politician with comments, at least put them in English so those of us who actually live here can read them? I don’t really understand the purpose of responding to an all-English post in nothing but Chinese. Clearly you guys can speak English if you can read the post…

陈光诚 (Responding to above in English):

My reply to the Chinese compatriots are in order to express their aspirations for freedom. We do not have direct access to G+ , because we have a national firewall. I hope you forgive us, thank you!

Paloschi Alberto:

Hello Mr. President, I am Chinese. I hope that when you are dealing with the Chinese government that you won’t only focus on economic interests. The people here also need freedom and democracy. We need a free internet and a safeguarded life that is not too hard. Hope you can do your best to help us, thank you.

武廷建 (In English):

Why there are so many Chinese. Because we can’t communicate with other country people for a long time. We come here and post comments. You see, most comments have nothing.That’s like you hadn’t ate food for a long time. So when you can eat food now. You have no time to think it’s delicious or not but eating. Because you don’t know where is the next food. If you can eat anytime,that won’t a problem.I hope you could understand that, my American friends.

闵晨:

I will speak English!，we want freedom,we need facebook，we hate great fire wall

Cross Lee:

hi americans. i know it made you uncomfortable because so many chinese here. please dont mind. most of them are stupid and ridiculous。they have a damn mind education by ccp. they dont know what is manner. but not all chinese like them. hope your mood will be better. god bless you.and god bless america.:)　Fellow Chinese， please demonstrate manners and upbringing, this is not China.

COATTAIL WA (In English):

We Chinese seldom have the chance to connected with the world’s famous websites including U2B,FACEBOOK, TWITTER,WIKI. g+ opened several days ago and Chinese is so exited and our “occupy” is friendly, We love America and world value!

3 Additives Your Blog DOESN'T Need!

PageRank

"Guest Blogging" nonsense!

eBooks & PDF's featuring "blogging tips" and other useless advice.

Please Google Please! "If it ain't broke don't fix it"...

One of the things I HATE that Google has recently implemented:

If you enter search terms in the box, but you then decide to switch to "news" - you have to re-enter search terms.

On any other button, your search terms are saved - like, say you clicked on "images" - your search terms would remain in the bar and you would find images relevant to your search.

I'm sure the m***********s deliberately did that so we'd be forced to look at the Google news page.

And today, Google's "call" button (telephone chat) vanished from my gmail. I figured out a sketchy way to make outgoing calls again. I'm not sure if this is a temporary fluke or what the heck is going on.

Sure is ANNOYING!

Someone had an interesting commute this morning...

A look at the grounds outside my office in New Paltz:

Winter! You finally made it!

Dark Side of Facebook

The Social Network apparently engages in its own brand of BlackOps, employing third worlders to maintain order (which, from what I've seen over the last 12 months, they don't do a very good job at: the so-called GUIDELINES are here)... er... no... they have just been updated so that you can now splatter your Facebook wall with pictures of bodily fluids.

Amine Derkaoui, the 21-year-old Moroccan who leaked the document, claimed he was hired by a firm Facebook uses to outsource content policing, only to be paid $1 an hour for his efforts.

"It's humiliating. They are just exploiting the third world," Derkaoui (who now works as a regional content manager for the New York-based tech company Zenoradio) complained in a thick French accent over Skype just a few weeks after Facebook filed their record $100 billion IPO. As a sort of payback, Derkaoui gave GAWKER some internal documents, which shed light on exactly how Facebook censors the dark content it doesn't want you to see, and the people whose job it is to make sure you don't.

Tags: Amine Derkaoui, facebook policy, facebook

And now: morning maniac music to get you gone!

What You Need May (or may not) Be In The Feed

On three of the many blogs I regularly read, the bloggers routinely publish their earnings online.

If not for RSS, I wouldn't even know about these earnings ! Two of these blogs have landing pages that are way too busy - too much stuff going on - one even has a black background with white text - SMALL white text that is really difficult to read.

Another blog wrote a very nice article about me - that DID NOT appear on RSS! The I noticed several of their posts rarely make it to RSS... very puzzling indeed...

Some of my own blog posts fail to appear on RSS from time to time, unless I give them a gentle "push"...

My own twitter feed is sometimes not picking up new blog posts - that too seems to be hit and miss.

MORAL OF THE POST ::: experiment with RSS and feeds, but do not solely rely on any one feedreader or system. Make certain you don't miss anything of importance to you!

F the Cloud!

And here we have one more reason why I HATE CLOUD COMPUTING!

Previous arguments against include THIS and especially THIS!

Girls In Panties in Taiwan

Saving the environment, Taipei-style!

RADIO Birthdays!

Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (February 22, 1857 – January 1, 1894) - the man behind today's Google doodle - was a German physicist who clarified and expanded the electromagnetic theory of light that had been put forth by Maxwell. He was the first to conclusively prove the existence of electromagnetic waves by engineering instruments to transmit and receive radio pulses using experimental procedures that ruled out all other known wireless phenomena.

Hertz' work pioneered television, radio, and Wi-Fi – he would have turned 155 today. Without Hertz, there would not have been WOR. The New York City radio staple turns 90 today! WOR, along with WCBS, WFAN, WABC and Bloomberg Radio, represent the handful of Big Apple stations that can be heard all the way up here in Albany!

#Wordless Wednesday, Incredulous Wednesday

"As only Oscar could conceive, we’ve taken Beats by Dr. Dre headphones and covered them in luxe silver fox for a limited edition twist. Form meets function as these high performance headphones deliver rich, full sound from a portable and stylish unit. Includes headphones, cable with ControlTalk ™ and phone hands-free calling, travel case, tissue de nettovage anti-mincrobien and a 1-year warranty..."

$695.00

(I can think of many ways to spend and people I could help with $695!)

Style #BEATS

Tags: Oscar de la Renta headphones, Headphone earmuffs

Which kind of DRIVER are you?

Hover and click to enlarge image

Around The Blogosphere 21 Feb 2012

A 28-year old Japanese man with dreams of cycling around the world became the center of internet buzz when his bicycle was stolen in China. His story and call for help in finding the bike has been forwarded over 60,000 times and spent some time as #1 on Sina Weibo. Last night around 11pm, police finally recovered the bicycle and returned it to him.

A policeman returns the bicycle to Japanese world traveler Karahawa Keiichiro in Wuhan, Hubei province on Feb 20, 2012. [Photo:Asianewsphoto]

Nicaragua: Discovering ‘1001 Tropics' with Blogger Mildred Largaespada

Written by Silvia Vinas · Translated by Kathryn Morgan · Latin America

Well-known blogger and journalist Mildred Largaespada was recently interviewed about her participation as the first Nicaraguan woman in the 20minutos.es Premios 20Blogs blog competition. Here Global Voices shares video of the interview and the additional questions that Midred added to her blog.

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Just a year after the Egyptian revolution, 10% of its Social Media Documentation is already gone. An article on US magazine The Atlantic explains how this is happening, quoting a study conducted by a phD student in computer science and Web preservation at Old Dominion University. “Twitter gives us a new version of ‘the first rough draft of history.' But tweets are fragile things.”

Barbados Underground says that “there are basically five types of bloggers, the political blogger, the philosophical blogger, the religious blogger, the light hearted blogger and the blogger extraordinaire.”

Africa: African Arguments Online

Written by Ndesanjo Macha · Sub-Saharan Africa

Another Global Voices article, this one about African Arguments Online, a multi-blogging platform that covers contemporary African events and develops debates on themes that are important to an ever changing continent. The platform has 6 blogs: Making Sense of Sudan, African Politics Now!, Rethinking Zimbabwe, Business Africa, The Central Africa Forum and Diaspora Debate.

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Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s "Naked Challenge"

Dominique Gaston André Strauss-Kahn (French pronunciation: [dɔminik stʁos kan]; born 25 April 1949), often referred to in the media,^[1][2] and by himself,^[3] as DSK, is a French economist, lawyer, politician, and member of the French Socialist Party (PS). Strauss-Kahn became the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 28 September 2007, with the backing of his country's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and served in that role until his resignation on 18 May 2011 [WikiPedia]

The title of this post based on / borrowed from a New Yorker article by the magazine's Senior Editor Amy Davidson. This is familiar territory: Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been taken into custody for questioning over allegations of a prostitution ring operating out of the northern French city of Lille and reaching as far as Washington, putting the onetime French presidential hopeful back into a harsh international spotlight.

The case has been murky from the very start. Davidson: So now it is clothes that make the prostitute? Indeed, it could well be the DSK story (and person) has many layers that need peeling, like an onion perhaps...

Background:

The Case of Dominique Strauss-Kahn VS. Nafissatou ...

Strauss-Kahn returned to France in early September 2011 after the charges against him in New York were dropped when New York prosecutors said they couldn't prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the former IMF chief had attacked the maid, Nafissatou Diallo. DSK has admitted to a "moral failing" in his interaction with Nafissatou Diallo but has denied he raped or assaulted her.

According to French news reports, DSK allegedly was invited to parties by the prostitution ring that took place in Paris as well as in Washington—with the last one taking place in the U.S. capital just days before DSK's ill-fated trip to New York. The reports allege the expenses were covered by the prostitution ring.

A person familiar with the matter confirmed that "prostitutes were brought from France for these parties," saying there were at least "three trips to the U.S. which were for orgies." The person said the "last trip was just before the Sofitel case."

Paying prostitutes isn't illegal in France, but encouraging prostitution by offering them to others and using corporate funds to pay for them is.

Everywhere

"For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them..." Matthew 18:20


I had to deal with a few emails from readers who did NOT enjoy my article "Spiritual Mash-Up".

Then, I read this awful post squabbling over faith on a blog.

I was briefly troubled, but UK Blogger Tess Wynn out of Scotland helped me out of my darkness:

She LOVES church - does NOT pretend to be religious - she is an ATHIEST! She blogs:
"I have met the friendliest, funniest, fashionable, and most fantastic (check out that alliteration, eh?) people through my involvement with the church, some of whom have become close friends. I am a university student and because the church is in part a student church, I feel perfectly at home with the demographics of the congregation..."

Read more »

More Pain Coming To A Pump Near You?

World in CRISIS? Maybe...

Iran is shutting off oil to the UK and France, the Saudis are cutting back, and just when we need their support the most, young Muslim Americans get some very disturbing news...

The gas pain may actually hit the economy and "recovery" like a bullet between the eyes. It could potentially derail President Obama's re-election, unless there is war and perhaps Martial Law imposed. Then again, unless the Republicans can come up with another candidate to field, Obama could sail into his second term regardless of the economy!

That could be NEPTUNE in action what we're seeing here!

If these indicators remain constant, the petro-war is underway. And it's not good. I'm not going to re-hash a lot of old material here. I'll just reference it, and you can read whatever articles strike your fancy. Who got us into this oily mess? No, not George Bush. It was General Motors:

Dave Lucas: No Country For Old GM (ReMix)

Dave Lucas: GPM vs. MPG

DO NOT PANIC ::: Gas has been near $5 a gallon before -

Dave Lucas: Ain't No Gas

Dave Lucas: The Great Gas Vortex and the US Economy

Dave Lucas: 4 Dollars A Gallon

Dave Lucas: 4 Dollars A Gallon

Dave Lucas: 4 Dollars A Gallon

Every Blogger Should Have One of These...

Not Exactly Stepford Wives...

Now, a look [at your own discretion] at a factory that builds women... keep in mind, there are more men than women in China...

Ride The Revolution Wave

"Neptune in Pisces generates mass wave phenomena such as popular movements and revolutions." The time of NEPTUNE is UPON US!
[Neptune in Pisces: Ride the Revolution Wave]

Syrian Blogger and Freedom of Speech advocate Razan Ghazzawi was reportedly released on Saturday along with her female colleagues. The news came via Razan's sister, who tweeted:@NadineGhazzawi: Sister is home :) but she can't leave the country anymore…they won't allow her.

Razan was arrested last week along with several of her colleagues during a raid on the offices of the Syrian Center for Freedom of Expression in Damascus. Some of them remain in prison. Keep up with the news by checking the FREE RAZAN page on Facebook.

MOROCCO ::: My activist-blogger friend Sharmin has been touring Morocco. She shares her adventures via tumblr...

“What a dreadful news today!” laments the blog Morocan Geeks [fr], which reports that the Moroccan historic operator Maroc Telecom is now officially blocking all VoIP services, including Skype. The news sparked a heated debate on social media. Many netizens speculate the move is meant to bolster Maroc Telecom's paying telephony services... ...As we approach the first anniversary of the start of the youth-based pro-democracy movement “February 20“, activists are calling for a nationwide demonstration.Anartiviste posted this video on YouTube to convey the movement's message

Occupy Wall Street Calls for May Day General Strike

Nathan Schneider, Op-Ed: “The prospect of an Occupy general strike has been circulating for a while already. One of the several Facebook event pages devoted to it has more than 10,000 attendees. Occupy Los Angeles began calling for a May 1 general strike as early as last November, and Occupy Oakland joined at the end of January. Occupy Wall Street’s Direct Action group tried to take a strategic approach to the idea; though many of its members had little hesitation about calling for it, they took steps to ensure there was consultation, and therefore buy-in, among some of those whose participation would be vital.” READ | DISCUSS | SHARE

NBC News: Charges Dropped for Many #OWS Protesters Arrested on Brooklyn Bridge‎

How 'Occupy' went wrong (according to the NY Post)

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Corporate Twitter accounts are stupid, says Jordanian blogger Roba Al Assi. Click here to learn why.

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Spiritual Mash-Up

During breakfast with Saki Tumi this morning at the Internet Café, I was perusing the latest edition of Metroland, and came upon a Featurewell article which began "Think about Romney and his faith for a moment..."

That got me thinking about my own faith. Many times people have questioned me regarding my religious allegiance.

Let me put it this way: my religion is a mixtape. I was raised Roman Catholic in an area where the only other major belief was Judaism. Naturally curious, I learned all about Jewish culture, food and traditions from neighborhood kids. And, going to parochial school, I was well aware of the Jewish Holidays as I would gaze out the classroom windows and see the Jewish kids playing. (Of course, we Catholics played outside the nearby public but mostly Jewish school on Catholic religious holidays!)

So while the basic structure and melody of my faith is Roman Catholic, there are samples from Judaism and Islam, beats from Martin Luther, rhymes from "new agers" and a little Hindu mantra wrapped into the background melody with a random shout from Confucius.

I'm not suggesting it's for everyone, but I truly believe that God is delighted with my personal brand of syncretism. And I wonder if more people would find harmony in their lives by taking a cafeteria approach to religion.

You've asked if I have a favourite religious or Christian or "God" song? If it did, it might be this.

Related: Lohud blogs food editor Liz Johnson is looking for families that celebrate both Easter and Passover

See Also :

Dave Lucas: Disconnect & Re-connect: Come, Join My Religion

Dave Lucas: Origin