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29 Nov 2008 @ 06:39, by skookum. Entrepreneurs, Money Making
I do SO know that the day after Thanksgiving is the first official start of the Christmas shopping season...
The death and injuries attributed to Black Friday at an New York WalMart are terrible. My condolences to those and their families. I just want to know where security was. I know here in my town they had plenty of police etc. to keep things relatively sane. Just makes me shake my head that something like this would need security measures in the first place. Whose idea was this Black Friday thing anyway? Are they freakin' nuts? Are WE nuts? My only answer is "most likely". More >
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 27 Mar 2008 @ 11:26, by jazzolog. Entrepreneurs, Money Making
The most alarming sign of the state of our society now is that our leaders have the courage to sacrifice the lives of young people in war but have not the courage to tell us that we must be less greedy and wasteful.
---Wendell Berry
The essence of the problem is about consumption, recognizing that a society that consumes one third of the world's resources is unsustainable. This level of consumption requires constant intervention into other people's lands. That's what's going on.
---Winona LaDuke
What we are calling for is a revolution in public education. When the hearts and minds of our children are captured by a school lunch curriculum, enriched with the experience in the garden, sustainability will become the lens through which they see the world.
---Alice Waters
The quotations can be found in the April/May 2008 issue of Mother Earth News, and at the website www.americanswhotellthetruth.org .
Perhaps your idea of food production in the future resembles the illustrating photo (which I found here [link] ) and you may be right. Many people are preparing for a post-petroleum world by forming small self-sustaining communities of like-minded individuals. Fortified by stocks of food in individual cellars and possibly an arsenal of collective weapons, they await the apocalypse. I understand Tom Cruise is building an underground shelter.
With that kind of worry, on Tuesday I entered Ohio University's Walter Hall Rotunda (not the most environmentally sound structure, we discovered) for something called the Green Energy Development Summit. The forum was sponsored by US Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, OU's Consortium for Energy, Economics and the Environment (CE3), and the Pew Environment Group (which is one of the Pew Charitable Trusts). That's a pretty formidable team for a small college town in one of the most destitute parts of Appalachia. Was rescue coming at last?
Apparently the idea for the summit was cooked up by Tom Bullock, a representative for Pew in Ohio, and Scott Miller, who directs the energy and environment programs for CE3. They both contacted Senator Brown's office to get at least his name connected and some representatives here, remembering perhaps he visited Athens during his campaign for office to bless the solar array then opening on the roof of Athens Middle School. The senator himself came to Athens yesterday for a review of the conference and to meet with university and business leaders. I sat next to a representative of Governor Strickland. So there we were: a lot of suits and a bunch of blue jeans.
A half dozen of the people in neckties turned out to be presenters, each alloted about 20 minutes to tell us of business initiatives in which they were involved. Now I had 2 problems with this already. First of course is my prejudice that it's free market capitalists that have messed us up to the point where chunks of Antarctica the size of an average country are falling off and dissolving. Second is my ignorance, both about business marketing and the engineering that invents the products. That means I'm not such a great candidate to be telling you about this...but I'll try my best. What I want to accomplish is at least to get something on the Internet about what we learned that day, and hopefully attract some reaction from people who do know what they're talking about. More >
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 20 Feb 2008 @ 01:25, by jewel. Entrepreneurs, Money Making
"Meanwhile, we are beleaguered. We hold the pass.
The fragile hold the pass precariously, hiding behind boulders of ego and dogma.
The heroic hold the pass a bit more tenaciously, gracefully acknowledging their follies and absurdities, but insisting, ever toward life.
Life is largely material, and there is no small heroism in the full and open enjoyment of material things.
The accumulation of material things is shallow and vain,
but to have a genuine relationship with such things is to have a relationship with life and, by extension, a relationship with the divine."
-- Jitterbug Perfume
I am grateful that I have had this genuine relationship with all things, with things, and have been able to discard and flow, to always take care of the bohemian bourgeoise artistic sensitivity....
I am at a point now where I've realized where the innate shadow voices instilled via patriarchal matrixes of what a fraud/ fake we all are (thank you Tecia!) - what that is all about. IT's always us, the supra conscious creative sensitive geniuses that unlayer and unlayer the onion of that ridiculous thought patterns. That we are going to be found out for our fake fraud self. Well guess what? We are when we try to play in 'their' raindeer games! We are a fake when we are pretending to be what we think is required instead of showing up WHOLEY as ALL we are! In our fullness!
I'm at a point now where I am realizing where I am not and have not been showing up fully in my glory my power and truly living my life OUT LOUD. This is the impulse.
I am here to make manifest the glory inside. I am here to SHINE in the radiance of that which I KNOW is inside of me. I have Shown Up in so many ways, in so many places, but I've played the double agent game also. Gave up and got diplomatic. Tried to see how the other slices of pie were whole also but had also forgotten. The trick is tho, I can't be a slice next to their slice to remind them. I have to reflect the sphere the orbit the revolving explosion of pure fire phi light love truth freedom!
I am grateful for this knowing.
That today, this moon, this week.
I know my worth is not in the false games of material accumulation. My worth is not contingent on the bank account or a failed or successful business. My worth is in the Gnosis, the experience, the journey, the wealth of my wisdom, right here in each moment.
And I expect that worth to be reflected in my earthly experience. I expect the players to take the centre stage with me, and that the peers who are COMMITTED to BE that change, to BE and embody that transformation - will want to play with me and want to invest right here right now in the shared dream, the shared promise, the shared experience, of ALL of that!
I am grateful for the divine expression of my humanity. And it's weight in gold.
More >
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7 Nov 2007 @ 00:51, by ming. Entrepreneurs, Money Making
Metafilter: James Wilson's article in Commentary magazine talks about Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam's essay recently published in Scandinavian Political Studies. In the essay, Putnam publicizes the findings of his research, conducted in rural districts, towns, and cities, whose conclusion establishes that diverse neighborhoods show less "social capital" because ethnically diverse residents seem to distrust each other.
Putnam has discovered that friendship, carpooling, participating in local projects is much lower in ethnically heterogeneous communities than in homogeneous ones. His research reveals that the exception to the tendency of diversity to inhibit "social trust" occurs in ethnically diverse military or religious settings as well as in social circles with intermarried couples. Wilson adds sports teams to the list of these exceptional places where ethnically different people click well. Duh. One doesn't create community just by putting people next to each other. But if that's what one does, yes, it is more likely that the people who're most similar will develop relationships and social trust. Everything else being equal, the white middleclass working family with kids is likely to relate to their neighbors who also are white middleclass working families with kids, and they can babysit for each other, and come to each other's barbecues, and meet when they're picking the kids up from school in their minivans. And maybe they're less clear on how to relate to the unemployed black guy across the street who's sitting in front of his house all day.
Diverse groups of people are more likely to become bonded together, not just by proximity, but by either a common purpose or a shared history. If you were in the army together, or you work in the same company, the diversity is not so likely to get in the way.
And if social capital is a kind of capital, it would be reasonable to expect that differences generate potential value, and bigger differences can create more value. Meaning, we're worth more to each other, notbecause we're the same, but because something we do is complementary to what the others do. Even if you're similar people, a lot of the value in the social relation come from the areas where there's a difference. If nothing else, that your neighbors are home on a day when you want to go out, so they can babysit. But bigger differences can produce more value. If one of your neighbors is a auto mechanic, and you're a klutz, there's obviously some value in getting along well with him, even if he has a different "profile" from you, as he can repair your car. And if there's something else you can do that he can't, great.
So, the diversity IS the social capital to a large degree. Except for that it doesn't get activated unless the parties somehow get close enough together to form some links between them. Which is a little bit of a puzzle, of course. More >
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 1 Sep 2007 @ 12:48, by jazzolog. Entrepreneurs, Money Making
As a man is, so he sees.
---William Blake
There is only one great adventure and that is inwards toward the self.
---Henry Miller
The bluebird carries the sky on his back.
---Henry David Thoreau
President Bush speaks at a meeting of the Associated General Contractors of America on May 2, 2007 in Washington, DC.
Photo: Wong/Getty
In America we believe in the marketplace, and we expect bang for our buck. The educated consumer is more highly valued than an educated voter. The wise shopper researches the available products before making a major purchase. Sometimes we complain we have too MANY product choices---like when you need to buy some cough syrup.
We detest socialism, and the mere mention of it can get you a punch in the nose. We think it's probably wasteful, and we can't stand being told what to do. Freedom means I choose the car I drive...and whether or not I throw trash out the window.
So how is it George Bush gets away with 7 years of no-bid contracts clearly to companies that support the Republican Party with lots of cash? What is a no-bid contract anyway and where did it come from? Does no one ask this? Is presidential war powers the answer to every inquiry?
I've spent the morning with 3 articles that have appeared online during the past week, and I feel the need to share them. The first is in the current issue of Rolling Stone (#1034) with How Bush's Cronies Swindled Billions blazing across the cover. May I repeat that word again, since so many seem to blank out at high numbers? BILLIONS. Its author is Matt Taibbi, to whom I referred you last April in a piece called Oil's Final Trickle [link] . If this journalist, still in his 30s, doesn't get a Pulitzer someday, I'll be surprised.
The next is Paul Krugman's commemorating the 2nd Anniversary last week of Hurricane Katrina's devastation of New Orleans. TruthOut kindly put up the premium column yesterday. And finally there's an essay by Nat Hentoff on CIA torture. Well, this is Labor Day weekend reading to get you stirred up admittedly. It did me, and probably will give me more to talk about at the picnic than sale prices at the big boxes. More >
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17 Jul 2006 @ 21:40, by b. Entrepreneurs, Money Making
I have written a number of blog entries about the Newciv Gold Project and funding for a Newciv model community.
Originally what I proposed and have done now is create a company formation that is dedicated to discovery and devopment of gold mining in northern Neada, USA.
I have had a long and extensive experience with finding gold bearing properties, registring them and then proving them up.
I have taken an opportunity in 2006 to form the Majestic Discovery company in California to collect and register and devopment a gold ming property with proven reserves in Nevada. Gold is minded and milled in a variety of ways. The easiest types of gold to process is placer gold , that found near stream beads in gravel and quartz. There are many new high tech solutions available
I know a number of properties by personal experience and have kept in correspondence with technical people as to the most advantageous ways to develop these propeties.
I suggested all of this here at NCN to give some members opportunity to invest and receive a huge return on their investment in the form of this discovery company. It was my thought before making this proposal that of the 10,000 membership there should be qualified investors among the membership. People who have made investments in the past or are presently invested. Investments in things like mutual funds, stocks, commodities or even some members might have the knowledge and skills to play the market by observing the changing values and making puts andcalls. Or just investing in currencies. I have gained no knowledge of such members here.
From the responses that I have recieved to my various blog entries on these proposals and even my idea of using some of the profits to further and fund a model newciv community, I have had very little response. So I have taken the original proposal and presented it through several financial markets and there is interest in gold stocks, gold bars and precious metals that can be mined especially when the land can be restored after the mining.
So even if there is no direct participation by NCN members who don't or can't recieve profit I hope you wish me and these rojects well. I did and do want NCN members to profit from this experience. Even if there is little or no interest in individuals here possesing gold for keeping or for changing into goods or money. I still have some thought of benifiting members here whee I have been a long time NCN member. Maybe I will give each member one share of stock at the time when that happens. Would NCN membes accept a share? More >
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9 May 2006 @ 23:41, by ming. Entrepreneurs, Money Making
A micropayment system for blogs, indieKarmaSupport your favorite independent blogs & websites - give a penny for their thoughts
How does this work? Easy. Join the indieKarma network and add one dollar to your account (for the first 5000 accounts, this dollar is free).
Each time you visit a website or blog on the indieKarma network, your account is seamlessly debited just one cent. It's the smallest of micro-payments, directly supporting the blog or website you're enjoying.
At the bottom of each page on any blog or website on the indieKarma network, you'll see a small "dock", with a message from the site. If you're browser is logged in, this will thank you for your support and quickly fade out for the rest of your visit. If your browser is not logged in, it will encourage your support at each page reload.
One cent may be an inconsequential sum to you, but it can make a world of difference to content creators running the independent blogs and websites you enjoy. A fine idea. So, if I have 1500 visitors per day, that would net me $15, I suppose. If they all were members of indieKarma, which is a huge IF, of course. Here's what Jason Kottke says about it. Mostly very positive, but some concerns about the pop-up thing at the bottom being too intrusive, and whether it will gain critical mass. Anyway, I'm gonna give it a shot, since I think it is a basically good idea. More >
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 31 Jan 2006 @ 21:44, by jmarc. Entrepreneurs, Money Making
Here are some of the things I've done in my life for money. A couple of things(the farm stuff) I did for room and board.
Some of these jobs I'm proud of, others obviously, I'm not. I have other talents too, but haven't been paid for them so I didn't list them here. More >
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7 Oct 2005 @ 17:37, by ming. Entrepreneurs, Money Making
Seems like Google didn't want to hire me after all. Well, it was a fun thought, and I wish I at least had gotten to the point where they'd fly me somewhere to see their operation. Or to where they gave me an offer I could or couldn't refuse.
I suppose, like most big companies, they have different people who look for candidates than who actually make the decisions. The first guy who called me was super positive, and seemed to be ecstatic about my background. They had basically a whole bunch of jobs of various kinds, in various locations, and I could pretty much pick. But then again, that was probably just the headhunter guy, who didn't decide anything.
Anyway, their approach is a series of interviews, which also are tests. I.e. they ask you lots of hard technical questions within what is supposed to be your area of expertise. And if that works out, they'd fly you to one of their headquarters, to spend a day talking to people and seeing what they're doing. And then they'd give you some kind of offer, if you survived the process.
So, I've spent several hours on the phone with them. Last call was a 45 minute interview on systems, with one of their systems managers of some kind. I'm pretty sure I aced that.
But then, a couple of weeks later, I just get a brief, one paragraph form letter e-mail from some different person than the guys I had been dealing with. Essentially: "Thank you for your interest in Google. After carefully reviewing your experience and qualifications, we have determined that there is not a fit."
I suppose they passed it on to the actual decision maker, who didn't like my resume. Or maybe he took one look at my blog, and decided, no way. Or he did a search on my name in Google, and found all sorts of weird stuff. I don't know.
Well, good, I can go on bitching about big corporations without having to censor myself because I work for one.
I would really have liked to figure out Google's well-guarded secrets, though.
And, curiously, a couple of hours after getting the e-mail from the guy, my one website I was having trouble with suddenly re-appeared in the Google index. Bing, traffic suddenly doubled. Makes me wonder if the guys at Google sit there with a whole picture of my Internet life on their screen while I'm talking with them. My gMail account, my Orkut friends list, my Blogger comments, my browsing patterns, my desperate pleas to Google support. Nah, probably just a coincidence. More >
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 12 Sep 2005 @ 21:46, by jhs. Entrepreneurs, Money Making
Timing could not have been better...
the Italian version of Polar Dynamics 1 is 'pronto'.
time to celebrate...
thank you to all who have helped with this project !!!
mx More >
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