On Pretending to be a Democracy

“This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their Constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember it or overthrow it.” - Abraham Lincoln
Iran with its unrest here in the June 2009 is learning a lesson that [...]

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On What is, and What is Not Web 2.0

What is Web 2.0 ?
 
Web 2.0 is more than technology; it’s about openness, sharing and relinquishing control.   It is a fundamental way of thinking about data, in that the owner of the data, cannot possibly think about all the ways –good or bad- that data can be used, but with enough users, force more good [...]

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Understanding the Current 2.0 Moniker

Web 2.0 is itself a meme of the internet age, but it has spawned many others- Government 2.0, and Industry 2.0- which, as defined above, is a transition from the before to something new.  But there is a greater definition which can be surmised and will be defined in this article.
The Innovation Life Cycle[1]  [...]

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On What is Web 2.0 Part 1

Executive Summary
 
The “2.0” moniker was originally used to draw a line separating the state of the Web before and after the dot-com bubble burst in 2000.  It has since taken on new meme[1], which is “An interconnected Web of services” and data manipulation.[2],  The Term of Art[3], was original crafted in 2003 by Craig Cline, [...]

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On Stuff People Eat

Red meat is not bad for you.  Now blue-green meat, that’s bad for you!  ~Tommy Smothers
 
Among the insatiable desires we, as humans have, is the need to constantly change and rework our food.  I marvel at the culinary delights we concoct, and just the natural ones. I’m not even going to go in to the [...]

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On What RPG truely Means

Life Lessons, Thought Crime Comments Off

 All my life I have tried to pluck a thistle and plant a flower wherever the flower would grow in thought and mind. – Abraham Lincoln

 RPG. Remember when that used to mean something? Role. Playing. Game. Role playing.  Immersive, complete, take over Role.  As much as a love a good MMOrpg , and the graphics that come with it, I can’t help but feel, there is something missing.  I enjoyed Neverwinter Nights beyond anything I could dream or fathom, and it was so close to perfect I still think about loading it up for another try.   Almost everything I wanted to imagine could be done with it.  I recreated my greatest characters, DMed games and made items and lands, quests, and even (dare I saw) dropped in few zingers.   But…I was missing something… That something about “The time when we [all our characters] were all splayed across the floor, every item used, every potion expended, and T Man stood up.., pointed at our DM and said ‘this is done. I’m rolling a 20.” Stepped back, and opened up the heaven of woop ass.”

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OceansOfThought @ June 1, 2010

On Internet Trolls, and the (Hurt) Masses

Blubs of Verbs, Life Lessons Comments Off

“There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law.” -Abraham Lincoln

The Masses, those who have come to the internet now, the late adopters have recently run into something us long time users know: their are trolls amung us.
I bring this up because i’m starting to see more and more of these posts.  In the NY times, poor Richard made a (Gasp!) comment about Stephen Fry, the British writer, actor and television personality.  (he called his tweets boring).  The writers and actors of Stargate Universe are actually getting depressed.

These are choice examples, but still, a wave that’s growing.  From twitter under the control of it’s user mob. To backlash against something (google wave: at the time) not yet even finalized.
I have something to say to you all, thou i admire you all:  “Welcome to the internet.  Now ignore the fools on it and go back to doing awesome work.”
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OceansOfThought @ November 2, 2009

On Cash Cows and Cancer

Blubs of Verbs, Thought Crime Comments Off

Understanding the spirit of our institutions to aim at the elevation of men, I am opposed to whatever tends to degrade them.-Abraham Lincoln

New ways of tackling Cancer are always being highlighted, -See below- but, there have been no advanced  changes in the fight of this disease.  One thing that has been identified at contributing to this slowness is the funding process (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/health/research/28cancer.html?em ). We think there is something else, we think capitalism wide, there is no real incentive to cure cancer. It’s not a conscious focus, it’s just the situation we’ve worked ourselves to.  

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OceansOfThought @ June 29, 2009