acap « WordPress.com Tag Feed

Everybody vs. Google in the content war?

Luke Mackay — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:20:21 +0000

What Fisticuffs?

Having gone to an all boys school this story is starting to have the ring of a playground fight. If you ever remember the inane chant ‘Fight, fight, fight!’ and rush of morbid onlookers as the contenders lined up against each other. In the Internet content wars it looks as though we’ve got to the “hold my coat” stage.

Ok, so Google hasn’t been doing a lot in the recent past to make friends. For example, the well publicised spat with the Association of American Publishers (http://bit.ly/3dQIdx). Now it appears that Microsoft and Rupert Murdoch are both entering the fray (http://bit.ly/mCPqi)

Entertaining for us bystanders, but what does it actually mean? And should we be worried?

As with everything in technology Microsoft’s involvement appears to boil down to a seemingly inconsequential acronym – ACAP…which as everyone knows means Automated Content Access Protocol (a little light reading can be found here: http://bit.ly/2NLbJm). The protocol is being backed by a powerful alliance of some “1,600 traditional publishers” and is proposing a more sophisticated approach to giving access to content. Rather than the all or nothing model of Google, ACAP would be designed to give the publisher greater control over things such as premium content. Something that Murdoch wants to do, but the Financial Times gave up on.

Why this innoxious protocol shot to fame was revealed by Techcrunch on Friday (should we read anything into it that it was Friday 13th?). It was leaked to the site that a senior figure from MSN had a closed door meeting with the heads of some of the world’s major print publishing organisations including the Financial Times, News International and Axel Springer. Apparently Microsoft’s revamped search capability, Bing, is going to put £100,000 of financial investment into the development of the protocol.

So what!? In his article Mike Butcher asks some extremely valid questions:

“…will ACAP – the development of which is so far being controlled by newspapers – be used by Microsoft Bing simply as an indicator of how to treat a publisher’s site? Or would Microsoft help the publishers engineer ACAP into a kind of a rights management engine – with Bing becoming the central clearing house for content from traditional publishers?…And who gets to decide who is a favoured traditional publisher and who isn’t? Bing, or a newspaper-heavy body like the European Publishers Council?”

And this comes as Jonathan Miller, News Corp’s chief digital officer, announced at the Monaco Media Forum (http://bit.ly/468wqg) that it would be “months and quarters – not weeks” before Murdoch’s empire took the step to block Google. Miller’s comments rightly underline the panic spreading in the traditional media about the ‘free vs. paid-for’ content argument and the mere fact that News International is considering this move underlines the depth of concern at the one of the biggest media companies in the world.

And yet is this just the death throes of a industry that has been caught completely on the hop by the Internet? Is it merely lashing out aggressively, because it has run out of ideas on how to monetise the Internet?

However it plays out it will be fascinating watching…much better than the X-Factor and Strictly Come Dancing combined!

@CairbreSugrue

Social Media News 11/14/09

Rachelle Maisner — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:57:27 +0000

It’s been known for a while that Rupert Murdoch has no love for Google. However, this week was the first time the leader of the second largest media conglomerate (News Corp.) said that he will prevent his news from being indexed by Google. That’s including sites like WSJ.com. It sounds like Murdoch is quite serious about the claim, even though sites like WSJ.com could lose 25% of its traffic or more, according to some estimates.

Then a few days later, TechCrunch Europe published this article detailing a secret presentation by Microsoft to various leaders of UK news media. According to the article, Microsoft is developing something known as ACAP, “Automated Content Access Protocol,” to index content like news stories on Bing in a more robust way than Google’s robots.txt protocol. If a significant amount of news media corporations get on board with the new indexing protocol, it will have a serious damaging effect on Google’s popular news search, news.google.com.

Though it may be bad news for Google in the news media industry, the communications industry might be looking up. On Thursday Google announced that it had purchased Gizmo5, which will power Google Voice with VoIP capabilities. This move makes Google Voice a serious competitor for Skype, and could also be a really nice addition to Google Wave.

In the same week, Google also purchased the popular mobile advertising platform, AdMob, for $750 Million. With this deal, Google now has a powerful mobile display advertising product that it can add to its existing mobile search advertising offering.

Twitter is in the process of rolling out its Retweet feature, though the public launch of the feature may take a little longer than expected. Prior to this announcement, retweeting has been an established norm in the Twittershere but has not been officially supported by the Twitter API. Due to its enormous popularity the Twitter developers have been working on incorporating the retweet action to become an official part of Twitter.com, but apparently they are still trying to figure out exactly how to do it.

Now here’s an interesting story in the world of social gaming. Personally, I avoid Facebook games like Farmville, Mafia Wars and Sorority Life like the plague, but I’ve always known that these games are popular among my friends. And I wouldn’t have guessed that a game maker like Playfish, the creators of games like Pet Society and Word Challenge, could be worth a whooping $400 Million. Last Monday, Electronic Arts (EA) acquired Playfish in a move that signifies just how lucrative social gaming has become. Be sure to check out this Mashable article, The Future of Gaming: 5 Social Predictions.

Endless happiness

Zara — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:21:00 +0000

Assalamualaikum and hey world!

Yes dude, finally i’ve finish that stupid PSPM.What a horrible week.Duh!

Ok,now im enjoying my life.Abis exam lepak kat kafe.Petang on9.Main game.

And just now, baru abis dinner ngn acap.We having Nasi Goreng Pataya

Bercakap mengenai acap, dia kwn aku dr form 1 ok.And tiba2 dpt matrik sama laa pulak!

Tp dia sains hayat.aku plak fizik.Ohh,aku terasa pendek brjln sblh dia.kau tinggi lah wei!

*Ni gambar tahun lps, g tgk twilight.Skrg dia makin hensem ok

Ok dah, esok ada MUET Speaking test pulak.Hope semuanya ok.My bus will be on 4.30 am.K lah.

Take care all

ACAP

el cocinillas — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 11:31:48 +0000

Durante el pasado fin de semana se celebró en Lleida la 55ª edición de la Feria de Sant Miquel (Salón nacional de la maquinaria agrícola) y la 24ª de Eurofruit (Salón internacional de la fruta).

De entre todas las actividades que tuvieron lugar durante los 5 días de Feria de Sant Miquel-Eurofruit (conferencias, talleres, muestras, etc), yo destacaría dos:

1. La presentación de ACAP, la Asociación para la Conservación de la Agricultura de Proximidad.

El objetivo de esta Asociación, impulsada por el sindicato agrario URAPAC-UPA (Unió de Ramaders i Pagesos de Catalunya), es fomentar la venta directa de productos de ganaderos y agricultores a los consumidores finales, evitando a los intermediarios; esto último hace que el productor pueda controlar el precio final del producto, haciendo que éste no se vaya incrementando en el camino que sigue hasta llegar a los consumidores.

2. El Mercado de Promoción y Venta Directa de Productos Agrarios de Proximidad.

Organizado por URAPAC-UPA, este espacio posibilitaba la venta directa por parte de los productores de sus diferentes productos, tanto agrícolas, como ganaderos ó transformados: frutas y verduras, carne, huevos, quesos, aceite, vino, etc. a los consumidores que paseábamos entre sus paradas.

Yo aproveché para comprar un par de botes de mermelada de higo en el stand de Alba-Soldevila, empresa ubicada en Alguaire (Lérida) y que (además de mermeladas artesanales) vende flores comestibles, hierbas aromáticas, higos “coll de dama”, etc.

La Universidad de Chicago se reúne con las universidades madrileñas para desarrollar actividades de Emergencias 112

UGT Madrid 112 — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:35:13 +0000

Europa Press

La Universidad de Chicago se reúne con las universidades madrileñas para desarrollar actividades de Emergencias 112
Europa Press 23/09/2009

Según informó la Comunidad de Madrid, los integrantes del grupo de trabajo fueron recibidos por el viceconsejero de Presidencia e Interior, Alejandro Halffter, quien les explicó la importancia que los planes de Protección tienen para el Gobierno regional de la Comunidad de Madrid.

La jornada comenzó con una presentación de los sistemas de actuación de la Comunidad de Madrid en la gestión de catástrofes, a la que le siguió un coloquio sobre el análisis de las actuaciones y toma de decisiones en momentos de crisis. Por último, se realizó una visita por las instalaciones del Centro de Emergencias de la Comunidad de Madrid 112.

El grupo de trabajo está integrado por profesores de la Universidad de Chicago, de la Universidad Carlos III, la Universidad Politécnica y la Agencia de Calidad, Acreditación y Prospectiva de las Universidades de Madrid (ACAP).

Este grupo pretende desarrollar nuevos sistemas de toma de decisiones en sistemas socialmente complejos y se integra dentro del acuerdo alcanzado entre la ACAP y la Universidad de Chicago para desarrollar áreas ámbito internacional de formación, masters, proyectos de innovación y de transferencias de experiencias y tecnologías.

El sitio elegido para el encuentro, el Centro de Emergencias de la Comunidad de Madrid 112, se ha convertido en sus diez años de funcionamiento en un referente mundial en cuanto a la evaluación y gestión de emergencias. En 2008 gestionó un total de 6,1 millones de llamadas y desde que se puso en marcha, en 1998, más de 40 millones.

En la actualidad integra de manera operativa a la totalidad de los organismos de seguridad y emergencia que operan en la región como los Bomberos de la Comunidad de Madrid, el SAMUR, la Policía Nacional, la Guardia Civil y la Policía Municipal de Madrid.

Además, está dotado de importantes avances tecnológicos como el sistema de atención a discapacitados auditivos, el de localización geográfica de móviles, el sistema de videovigilancia para la detección de incendios o la herramienta de aviso masivo a la población.

UGT Madrid 112 Facebook

Beck and Horowitz Expose The Clear and Present Danger of Obama's Cadre of Czars--Van Jones, John Holdren, Ezekiel Emanuel, Carol Browner, Cass Sunstein, and Mark Lloyd and The Progressive Radical Socialists Of The Democratic Party

Raymond — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:50:04 +0000

The Soros Connection – The Czars And Their Place In The White House

Part 2 – The Soros Connection,Glenn’s Interview With A Reformed Communist

Glenn Beck – Interview With George Horowitz – The Communist Connection

Assault On Free Radio – Glenn Beck- FCC And Your Ears – Localism

Assault On Free Radio – Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh – FCC And Your Ears – Local-ism

GLENN BECK IS TODAYS PAUL REVERE – COMMUNISTS IN THE WHITE HOUSE

Stay Awake…

Did President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton, or Attorney General Holder Vigorously Protest The Release of The Lockerbie Convicted Murderer To The United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Brown, Foreign Secretary Miliband, or Lord Chancellor Straw? If Not Why Not?

David Horowitz is absolutely correct about their achilles heal.

The far left progressive radical socialists of the Democratic Party would like you to think they are the friend and ally of the underdog or little guy.

They will say and do anything to give you that impression including outright lie.

In point of fact they are not the friend of the little guy or underdog.

Their only concern is to how to get and keep power.

Once they have power their chief concern is command and control through government coercion.

President Obama and his cadre of czars or commissars are not your friends but just the opposite–your mortal enemies.

Horowitz should know.

A friend of his was killed by the Black Panthers–the “community organizers” of Oakland in the 1960s and 1970s (see video below produced by the Black Panthers–does it look like ACORN or the SEIU, you bet it does).

The time is ripe for the formation of a new political party, which I have been calling the Amercan Citizens Alliance Party or ACAP for short.

A cap on government expenditures, taxes, regulations and the national debt.

The tag line should be Families First.

The emphasis should be on contracting the size of the Federal Government by eliminating a dozen Federal Departments and at least a dozen agencies.

The only remaining departments would be State, Justice, Treasury, Defense, and Homeland Security.

Vital government information and statistics such as the Census would be accumulated in an Office of Information.

All the remaining departments would be eliminated and shut down for good.

Only by doing this is there any chance in saving both Social Security and Medicare.

Both these programs would be transitioned to private accounts that the individual would own and control and not the government.

This would prevent the Federal Government from spending surpluses, for the Government would no longer have access to them and control them.

All Federal taxes would be replaced by a FairTax with a rate of 20% on consumption and a monthly rebate up to the poverty line.

This would encourage both private savings and business investment.

The result would be an economic boom resulting in economic growth rates exceeding 5% and the creation of tens of million of good paying jobs.

Immigration would be limited and tightly controlled with an annual cap of 250,000 legal immigrants per year and would be reduced to zero when the official unemployment rate exceeds 8%.

Illegal immigration would be stopped by closing the borders and completing the border fence and road so that it is well patrolled.

The 15,000,000 to 30,000,000 illegal immigrants would be removed from their place of employment and deported to their country of origin.

All employers would be required to use E-Verify to determine the legal status of an employee to work in the United States.

English would be the official language of the country and all coures would be taught in English with the exception of foreign language course.

The country would become energy independent by encouraging the development of all forms of energy including coal, natural gas, nuclear, oil, wind and solar.

All subsidies would be removed as well as regulations that discourage their development.

The Federal Government would get out of the way.

All Federal Budgets must be either balanced or in surplus.

The President would have a line-item veto.

No more dependency on the Federal Government.

Representatives and Senators would be restricted from accepting campaign contributions from only those who actually vote in their Congressional District or State.

Those serving in the Federal Government would be limited to 12 years or 6 terms in Congress and 2 terms in the Senate, no exceptions.

This would force the political elites or the establishment of both the Democratic and Republican Parties to pay particular attention to what the people want instead of what the so-called special interest demand.

The United States would resign from the United Nations and ask it to find another country for its Headquaters.

The United States would form a new international organization consisting of those countries that have representative democracies that are fairly elected.

The United States would close most if not all of its military bases abroad and the troops would return home.

How would you sell such a program?

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs–good paying jobs.

Social Security and Medicare would be saved by giving ownership rights and responsibility to them to individuals.

The Federal Government has demonstrated that it is not capable of managing them prudently.

Both political parties have been taken over by careerists who no longer understand or have the interest of the American people as their first priority.

Their arrogance and disdain of the American people is why millions are abandoning both parties each year.

The time for the Second American Revolution is now!

The clear and present danger of the progressive radical socialists of both political parties to your life, liberty and pursuit of happiness is now.

Wakeup, Standup, Speakup!

United We Stand!

Join the Tea Party Express and Join Us in Washington D.C. or a city near you on Saturday, September 12, 2009.

Background Articles and Videos

Obama’s Czars

Afghanistan-Pakistan (Af-Pak) czar, Richard Holbrooke
AIDS czar, Jeffrey Crowley [openly gay white man]
Auto recovery czar, Ed Montgomery
Behavioral science czar, position not yet filled
Bailout czar, Herbert Allison Jr., [replaced Bush bailout czar Neel Kashkari, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability confirmed by Senate]
Border czar, Alan Bersin
Car czar, Ron Bloom [Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury , under Senate oversight]
Climate change czar, Todd Stern
Copyright czar, not appointed yet
Counterterrorism czar, John Brennan
Cybersecurity czar, position will be vacant on August 21st [upon the departure of Melissa Hathaway]
Disinformation czar, Linda Douglass [This is a new media buzz since our earlier list, a response by pundits to the White House request for informants: see Glenn Beck and Lew Rockwell]
Domestic violence czar, Lynn Rosenthal
Drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske
Economic czar, Larry Summers
Economic czar number two, Paul Volcker
Education czar, Arne Duncan
Energy czar, Carol Browner
Food czar, Michael Taylor [a former Monsanto executive, or, the fox in charge of the henhouse]
Government performance czar, Jeffrey Zients
Great Lakes czar, Cameron Davis
Green jobs czar, Van Jones [who has a communist background]
Guantanamo closure czar, Daniel Fried
Health czar, Nancy-Ann DeParle
Infotech czar, Vivek Kundra [Shoplifted four shirts, worth $33.50 each, from J.C. Penney in 1996 (source). His last day in DC government was March 4 but on March 12 the FBI raided his office and arrested two staffers.]
Intelligence czar, Dennis Blair [Director of National Intelligence, a Senate confirmed position. He is a retired United States Navy four-star admiral]
Latin-American czar, Arturo Valenzuela (nominee) [although this post is referred to as a czar, he is nominatied to be Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs and so is subject to Senate confirmation. Voting on his confirmation was delayed to clarify his position on Honduras. Watch WaPo’s Head Count to track status of confirmation.]
Mideast peace czar, George Mitchell
Mideast policy czar, Dennis Ross
Pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg
Regulatory czar, Cass Sunstein
Religion czar, aka God czar Joshua DuBois
Safe schools czar, Kevin Jennings [appointed to be Assistant Deputy Secretary of the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, a newly created post (that does not require Senate confirmation); openly gay founder of an organization dedicated to promoting pro-homosexual clubs and curricula in public schools]
Science czar, John Holdren
Stimulus oversight czar, Earl Devaney
Sudan czar, J. Scott Gration
TARP czar, Elizabeth Warren [chair of the [Congressional Oversight Panel for the Trouble Assets Relief Program; note that Herb Allison is frequently called the TARP czar]
Technology czar, Aneesh Chopra
Trade czar, Ron Kirk
Urban affairs czar, Adolfo Carrion
War czar, Douglas Lute [retained from Bush administration, married to Jane Holl Lute, currently a Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security]
Water czar, David J. Hayes [a Deputy Interior Secretary and therefore subject to Senate oversight]
Weapons czar, Ashton Carter [actually Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics and so subject to Senate confirmation]
Weapons of mass destruction czar, Gary Samore

Positions being planned:

Income redistribution czar
Land-use czar
Mortgage czar, formally “consumer financial protection czar” (source)
Radio-internet fairness czar
Student loan czar, to oversee a program of mandatory service in return for college money (source)
Voter list czar
Zoning czar

http://frontpage.americandaughter.com/?p=2385

David Horowitz

“…David Joel Horowitz (born January 10, 1939) is an American conservative writer and activist. The son of two life-long members of the Communist Party, and a former supporter of Marxism as well as a former member of the New Left in the 1960s, Horowitz later renounced his “left-wing political radicalism” and became an advocate for conservatism.

He is a founder of the David Horowitz Freedom Center (formerly the Center for the Study of Popular Culture), and has served as president of that organization for many years. He is the editor of the conservative website FrontPage Magazine, and his writings can be read on news sites and publications, including the conservative magazine NewsMax.^[1] He founded the activist group Students for Academic Freedom …”

“…David Horowitz was born in 1939 to a Jewish family in Forest Hills, a neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens. His parents, Phil and Blanche Horowitz, were school teachers in nearby Sunnyside Gardens. Horowitz attended Columbia University, receiving a BA in 1959 with a major in English, and later the University of California, Berkeley, where he received a master’s degree in English literature.

His parents were long-standing members of the Communist Party. While still identifying as a Marxist, Horowitz, like many other left wing figures of his generation, sought to distance himself from the Soviet Union.^{[citation needed]} In the 1960s he was employed as a political aide to Bertrand Russell.^[2] At this time, Horowitz was a close friend and associate of Marxist historian Isaac Deutscher. Horowitz wrote a biography of Deutscher in 1971.^[3]

After returning to the US in 1968, Horowitz wrote several books that were influential in New Left critiques of American society and particularly its foreign policy, including The Free World Colossus: A Critique of American Foreign Policy in the Cold War. Horowitz was an editor at the influential New Left magazine, Ramparts.

Horowitz was a confidant of Black Panthers leader Huey P. Newton, and provided legal and financial assistance to the black revolutionary organization. He would later cite experiences with his involvement in the Panthers as the primary catalyst for reassessing his views. In December 1974, his close friend Betty Van Patter, a bookkeeper for the Panthers, was murdered.^[4] While the case officially went unsolved, Horowitz has maintained that the Panthers were responsible for her murder, which, he alleges, they committed in order to silence Van Patter from revealing the organization’s financial corruption, and thereafter covered up the killing.

Other events that Horowitz cites as being influential in his political realignment were the impacts of the US abandonment of South Vietnam in the Vietnam War on the peoples of Indochina, and particularly Cambodia, which under the leadership of the Khmer Rouge experienced mass terror and famine, leading to millions of deaths. Horowitz believes that the far left turned a blind eye to such atrocities because the ideological vision of the Communists was one which they shared.

Along with close associate Peter Collier, Horowitz hosted a 1987 “Second Thoughts Conference” in Washington, D.C., described by liberal journalist Sidney Blumenthal in The Washington Post as his “coming out” as a supporter of the right. According to attendee Alexander Cockburn, at that conference Horowitz recounted that his communist parents had not permitted him or his sister to watch Doris Day and Rock Hudson movies and instead had required them to watch celebratory films about the Soviet Union.^[5] His gradual shift to the right has been recounted in a series of memoirs and retrospectives, culminating in 1996’s Radical Son: A Generational Odyssey. …”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Horowitz

David Horowitz – Party of Defeat

Glen Beck Interviews David Horowitz

David Horowitz – UC Santa Barbara

Marxist professors try to radicalize students. David Horowitz expose them in, One-Party Classroom

Riz Khan- David Horowitz- 21 Aug 08- Part 1

Riz Khan- David Horowitz- 21 Aug 08- Part 2

Black Panthers (1968) part 1

Black Panthers (1968) part 2

Black Panthers (1968) part 3

Black Panthers (1968) part 4

Black Panthers (1968) part 5

Black Panthers (1968) part 6

Marxist Obama Part 1

Marxist Obama Part 2

PATCH WORLD - Exposição de artes visuais de Ghiza Rocha, até o dia 30 de agosto

Felipe Obrer — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 20:15:19 +0000

para ampliar, clique na imagem

O QUÊ: Exposição PATCH WORLD, de Ghiza Rocha.

QUANDO: Até o dia 30 de agosto, das 14h às 18h.

QUANTO: Entrada franca. Grátis.

ONDE: Na ACAP (Associação Catarinense de Artistas Plásticos). Prédio da Alfandega. Rua Conselheiro Mafra, 141, Centro.

Abaixo, mais informações sobre a exposição:

A artista plástica Ghiza Rocha expõe seus trabalhos de 10 a 30 de agosto no prédio da alfândega – região central de Florianópolis

A mostra “Patch World” traz 17 obras em pintura e colagem onde a figura humana é tema frequente sob uma estética de cores contrastantes e retalhos de notícias impressas em jornais e revistas.

Na linguagem pop art, os trabalhos brincam com imagens conhecidas, entre pin ups, garçons, militares, causando surpresa e divertimento.

Ghiza Rocha é especialista em História da Arte e também diretora de arte da ACAP – Associação Catarinense de Artistas Plásticos. A paixão pela figura humana, particularmente por retratos, existe desde o início do seu trabalho, conduzindo-a por diversos estilos de arte, desde o hiper-realismo, passando pelo expressionismo e chegando hoje onde se encontra, no pop art.

Ghiza trabalha com nanquim, têmpera e colagem, mas não dispensa o estudo realista em lápis grafite que a sustenta na construção da figura humana.
Persiste na busca de uma obra moderna, mas que não abandone a expressão realista, a valorização da figura humana.

Para conhecer mais o trabalho da artista: www.flickr.com/photos/ghizarocha

Fonte: e-mail da artista.

re: ‘Copyright – no “buts”,’ say online newspapers

rafszul — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 03:47:30 +0000

Interesting post appeared yesterday on At last … the 1709 Copyright Blog, which is not that unusual since at least from my point of view it is essentially an interesting blog; however, the post itself at first sight might seem untypical for that blog.

There, discussing ‘Hamburg Declaration’ (pdf), which according to the author is ‘both reactionary and progressive’ we read:

‘A big part of it is ACAP (the Automated Content Access Protocol) though that’s only half the story, the progressive half.’

So far so good, but further we learn about what author identify as “reactionary” part of European Publishers Council’s plans presented to EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media, Viviane Reding.

Angela Mills Wade, Executive Director of the European Publishers Council, told me they are not looking for new legislation. What they want to do is counter ‘a very loud voice out there that says that there should be no laws for the internet, that is entirely anti-copyright and that thinks that copyright will destroy the ethos of the net’.

And this is the point, which I must admit I fail to understand. For, it seems to me that the author expresses views, which are somewhat untypical for At last … the 1709 Copyright Blog. What I mean by this is that both terms, “reactionary” and “progressive” indicate some particular value judgment placed on proposals discussed in the article and are not mere (neutral) statements of move (progress) in certain (potential) direction.

Nevertheless, a closer look at author’s assertions as to what is “progressive” and what “reactionary” seems to show that none of the statements should be considered in terms of “approval” or “disapproval” and that we should regard this particular use of both words as rather unfortunate accident.

Shouldn’t we?

For those interested, here is the ‘Hamburg Declaration’

How to DRM the News?

minyall — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:00:03 +0000

It’s generally possible to lock down a media such as music or video because it requires equipm

News Won't Learn from Music's Mistakes

minyall — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:09:03 +0000

The news industry has been kicking up a bit of a stink that is reminiscent of the music industry in

Hur tänkte Stampen nu?

Hannes — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:10:07 +0000

Stampen, en av Sveriges största tidningskoncerner och vars koncerncehef Thomas Brunegård vi hade här på en Pratstund i våras, har beslutat sig för att stödja ACAP eller Automated Content Access Protocol. En teknik som tillåter dem att bestämma om det material de producerar ska indexeras av sökmotorer som Google eller Bing.

- Genom att stödja ACAP markerar Stampen och våra kollegor i mediebranschen att redaktionellt innehåll har ett värde och att vi som bransch måste värna om det. God journalistik kostar pengar och vi måste finna vägar att få större kontroll över hur vårt redaktionella innehåll används, säger Tomas Brunegård, koncernchef i Stampen-gruppen i en pressrelease som skickades ut i morse.

Med “används” måste initiativtagarna World Association of Newspapers mena spridning, och spridning av det man gör vill man väl absolut inte ha. Eller? Enligt mig är det en väldig sticka huvudet i sanden-teknik – vi vill inte vara med, alltså ser vi till att bara de som verkligen verkligen vill hitta oss kan hitta oss.

Vad kan de tjäna på att inte få trafik till sin sida? Jag antar att det är fler än jag som letar efter information primärt genom sökmotorer. Jag går sällan till en tidningssida och använder tidningens egen sökmotor av två anledningar: de är ofta sämre och de ger mig, naturligtvis, bara träffar från den tidningen. Eftersom jag personligen vill ha lite bredd i mitt informationsintag använder jag därför sökmotorer.

Hur som helst ska det bli intressant att följa om utvecklingen går åt det håll som exempelvis Dagen.ses Emanuel Karlsten spår. Kommer de tappa ca 126 000 läsare i veckan?

AFGHANISTAN: Senators listen to victims stories

warvictims — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:49:12 +0000

Posted by Erica G from Kabul This past week in Afghanistan, three US Senators — Patrick Leahy

Daydreaming of PCS'ing outta here

liberalgranolagirl — Wed, 13 May 2009 18:26:32 +0000

It’s one of those days where all I can do, other than work, is daydream about PCS’ing fromthie place. Our next options are KY, GA or NC depending on what my hubby decides to do careerwise. I really, really, really want GA b/c the Army post where we would be stationed is close to my family and I would get to see them more often. KY or NC wouldn’t be bad either but now I have my heart set on GA. I’ve been researching buying vs. renting a house; where to live; where to work and all that jazz. I would be terribly sad to leave my job but dang it, I need civilization again.

Speaking of my job, it still rocks. In fact it has gotten even better since one of my coworkers-the only one i didn’t like-left. She always had a surly look on her face and just seemed generally unapproachable. We are in the process of hiring someone to replace her and I’m sure it will be a person who is a much better match with our staff. I am hoping that wherever we go after Polk, I can still work at that post’s ACAP Center. I really, really love doing this job.

There’s not really much else going on around here. P is in the field so I am left to handle the zoo by myself. My father in law comes in town next week and he is staying a week. I have some serious cleaning to do this weekend…joy, joy.

Sands of Saturn

shineyshine — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:08:02 +0000

… OF GLORY!

Totally random shoot, it was kinda good bye party for Aznam ( you’ll see him in a minute ) I only manage to capture this and the behind the scene pictahz, the rest is all with faye right now Owh and btw,

this is how we roll.

More picture please head to Faye’s blog

Behind the scene pictahz after the jump

That is Aznam and me, he’s really down to earth guy lah thats why i love him so much

Misty Mountain

WORLD: Assistance for civilian victims of war - Statement of Dirk Dijkerman Acting Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance U.S. Agency for International Development

warvictims — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:53:51 +0000

By USAID, U.S. Angecy for International Development Before the Committee on Appropriations Subcommit

Positivity....

liberalgranolagirl — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:06:32 +0000

I have made a conscious decision to be more positive in my life. Life is markedly better with a positive attitude, in my humble opinion There is so much negativity in the world and I am a firm believer in the power of mind of matter when it comes to attitude. Now this new attitude of mine does not mean that I won’t break down in tears if we don’t get pregnant this month-I am not Superwoman, infertility is still painful-but I will try to limit my negative thoughts about life in general.

Having a job that I love definitely makes it easier to be more positive. I have seriously not ever been this happy at a real job. I love talking to soldiers and helping them with resumes, job searching and figuring out what they want to do after they get out of the Army. So many of them sell themselves short but today I convinced one not to do that. H came in wanting to look for jobs and start a resumes but he had no idea what kind of work he wanted to do. After talking with him for over 2 hours he decided to not settle for a crappy paying job; instead he decided to apply to college and major in civil engineering THAT IS HUGE!!! We looked at a college curriculum for the program as well as looked at some job announcements and it turns out that he is great at math and would love to do that line of work. It is so nice to make a difference everyday. Yesterday I spent 2 hours with a retiree-job searching and writing his resume. He said that retiring from the military is the most stressful thing he’s ever done b/c the military is all he’s ever known. He thanked me several times for spending time with him to prepare for his future. LOVE MY JOB!

Today I get to start peeing on sticks again to figure out my ovulation. I might even try charting my BBT but that means I will have to get a thermometer b/c I cannot find ours. yeah, I lose thermometers every time we move. Hopefully I will ovulate and get knocked up this month so that we don’t have to worry about Tricare, IVF and travelling to Ft. Bragg.

The hubby and I have decided to try and do something fun at least every other weekend so that we can enjoy our time here. This weekend we are going fishing and maybe even going to Avery Island, the home of Tabsaco Sauce. It’s about a 3 hr drive so we have to figure out something to do with our dogs if we go-10+ hrs is too long to leave them cooped up in the apartment. Maybe next weekend I can talk him into going back Natchitoches so I can tour the plantation homes. Since we have at least 9 more months here we figure that we ought to at least try to enjoy it.

Ok, back to work. Lunch is over and am STILL hungry

Semaine sans pesticides

saratorrao — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 19:05:14 +0000

Du 20 au 30 mars 2009 se tient la quatrième édition de la Semaine sans pesticides. Le principal organisateur de cette semaine de sensibilisation, l’ACAP, Action Citoyenne pour les Alternatives aux Pesticides, accompagnée d’associations, de collectivités, d’agriculteurs… proposeront diverses actions pour sensibiliser les publics sur les risques environnementaux liés à l’utilisation de pesticides.

Voici une vidéo qui dresse un constat de la France des plus accablants! Notre pays est le plus gros consommateur de pesticides! Pas de quoi se réjouir donc!

Cours de jardinage, projection-débat, conférences, expositions… voilà entre autre les actions organisées en France (DOM-TOM compris), en Europe et dans le monde entier (Brésil, Québec, Tunisie…).

Le site officiel:

http://www.semaine-sans-pesticides.com

Semaine sans Pesticides

Lydia — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:40:30 +0000

Aujourd’hui débute la Semaine pour les Alternatives aux Pesticides, un événement qui chaque année prend de l’ampleur et s’étend hors de nos frontières.
Du 20 au 30 mars, de multiples acteurs prouvent qu’on peut et qu’on doit se passer des pesticides.

76000 tonnes de pesticides rien pour la France, soit 1/3 de la consommation de l’UE, et des conséquences néfastes pour la santé et l’environnement…heureusement beaucoup d’alternatives pour se passer de ces produits toxiques !

Déjà près de 350 évènements rien qu’en France ! 13 autres pays se joignent à la France durant cet événement (Belgique, Cameroun, Tunisie etc.). Des centaines d’organisations différentes proposent des actions variées et destinées à des publics diverses.

Au programme : des conférences débats, des projections de film : « Pesticides, non merci », «BioAttitude sans Béatitude », « Nos enfants nous accuseront », «Herbe », « Homotoxicus», etc., des expositions, des spectacles , des visites de fermes et de jardins bio, des formations sur le jardinage, l’agriculture ou les espaces verts sans pesticides, de l’information ludique et instructive, des actions dans les écoles, collèges et lycées avec une information et la dégustation de produits bio.

Il se passe forcément quelque chose prés de chez vous !

Voir la vidéo

Slowly my quality of life is improving

liberalgranolagirl — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:43:50 +0000

I abso-freaking-lutely love my new job!!!! I have been here a week and I am already acclimated to the workload and am helping clients. I haven’t mastered the resume wizard stuff yet but I can schedule clients and do some other things. Hopefully in a month or so I will be doing briefs on my own =) It’s amazing how being in a job you enjoy can lift your spirit.

The one “eh” side to my job is the dress code. I haven’t had to wear business casual attire in a year so my closet needs some replenishing. I am slowly building my professional waredrobe back to an acceptable level but it is difficult to do given that I am limited on funds and stores. Anyone want to nominate me for “What Not to Wear” so I can get new clothes??

I have also decided to set up a Paypal account to help raise funds for P and I have to have IVF. There is no way we can save enough money quickly enough to do it due to our outrageous credit card debt. Yes, we are aware that we were terribly financially irresponsible and we will never do it again. After our state tax refunds come in we should be able to pay off one and a half cards which will leave us with 3 and a half to go. Thankfully with my new job and us cutting down on stupid expenses (i.e. energy drinks, massive amounts of alcohol) we should be able to start paying those down in a reasonable amount of time.

A dad’s disposable diaper dilemma

Michael Parker — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:27:14 +0000

By Mark Leger
The following commentary kicked off the March 5, 2009, edition of ‘Serf City’ radio, which airs Thursdays at 6:30 pm on CFMH 107.3 FM. Listen to the full podcast here.

Over the years, I’ve been inconsistent in my personal commitment to the environment. I’ve been a vegetarian twice in the last 15 years or so, in part because I know a meatless diet is not only better for me, but also for the environment. Meat production takes up too much of the world’s farmland and the animals emit methane though farting – and methane is more potent source of greenhouse gas emissions than Co2. As silly as that sounds, it’s the honest-to-God truth.

I’m not a vegetarian right one now, though, which makes me feel guilty and also makes a little flabbier because I have a weakness for fast food burgers, not lean cuts of fresh meat and fish.

And, oh, the environmental horrors of fast food…I’m not really sounding like much of an environmentalist here, am I?

So what am I doing? I live uptown and am trying to walk more. One of our cars is for sale because we’re running the roads less, though my twice-weekly commute to teach in Fredericton certainly doesn’t count in my favour. We also installed a natural gas furnace that burns cleaner than oil and we’re taking advantage of government green funding to insulate our basement.

The thing we did best – until two weeks ago at least – was cut down on garbage. Most of what we consumed was being recycled or composted; only a small bag a week was going to the curb as garbage.

What happened two weeks ago, you ask. We had a baby boy – a little disposable diaper machine! We had original planned to try cloth diapers, but my friends threw me a diaper party and we got a three-month supply of disposable ones.

Things have gotten so bad here, I think my only hope is to buy carbon credits – you know, those programs where you mitigate the damage you do though consuming too much by contributing money to green projects. ACAP Saint John has started a program here, and we’ll be talking to Graeme Stewart-Robertson about that program and other ACAP activities on tonight’s show. We’ll also be speaking with Anne McShane, owner of the Feel Good Store and chair of Uptown Saint John’s environment committee. She’s here to talk about Green Feet, a new group that seeks to educate residents and businesses about environmental issues.

I hope one of them can tell what to with my mounting diaper problem. Maybe Graeme can at least tell me how a carbon offset would cost.

Mark Leger is the host of ‘Serf City’, a weekly radio show that airs Thursdays at 6:30 pm on CFMH 107.3 FM. Listen to this edition of ‘Serf City’ here.

Salt in the Wound: The Case for Compensation (from the Huffington Post)

warvictims — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:07:28 +0000

KABUL, Afghanistan – I’ve written generally in the last few blogs about the compensation

A peek at the unspoiled past

Michael Parker — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 19:52:53 +0000

To many people, Marsh Creek on the city’s East side is either a neglected piece of the city’s landscape or an environmental eyesore that just begs to be cleaned up. But long before this area was settled by European colonists, this waterway was a vital piece of the local ecosystem and a source of food and transportation.

The environmental group Atlantic Coastal Action Program Saint John (ACAP Saint John) and local filmmaker Graeme Stewart-Robertson have recently produced an short video that gives viewers a glimpse into the past. Marsh Creek – Travelling Through Time shows us the contrast between how the area looks today and how it may have appeared when the original Europeans arrived in the region.

You can see the video below.

Kabul Notebook: Searching for More than Just Talk On Civilian Casualties (from Huffington Post)

warvictims — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:46:16 +0000

KABUL, Afghanistan – I arrived back in Kabul this week. With the snow already melting, many fe

Losing the People: The Cost and Consequences of Civilian Suffering in Afghanistan (From the Huffington Post) -

warvictims — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:47:11 +0000

KABUL, Afghanistan – For the last year, I have been living in Afghanistan interviewing civilia

ACAP e ANECRA queixam-se

pedalofilo — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 23:23:00 +0000

Não seria bonito dizer “é bem feito” e estar aqui a lembrar “que eu bem vos disse”, porque só ajudaria a crispar quem agora “anda aos papeis” porque não viu a horas que “isto assim não podia continuar”.

No entanto, “eles” aí estão a refilar, e pedir que os “deixemos trabalhar” e que “metam isto nos eixos”… com o herário público.

Eles falam em tudo o que é Media, e ainda se queixam de que não falam a uma só voz. E quem NÃO quer que as coisas voltem a como eram? Onde está a sua voz? Já não é sem tempo de dizer bem alto que é JÁ que queremos mudar o paradigma de transportes<economia<modo de vida ???

Aqui ficam as vozes dos que ainda acreditam no Pai Natal:

e aqui a noticia da tvi que não consegui aqui disponibilizar.

Comentários às peças:

Na RTP ficou demonstrado que a desculpa do “precisamos do carro para trabalhar” ficou minada. Parece que os carros comprados de facto para trabalhar não se vendem tanto já, mas por outro lado os postos de trabalho também tem vindo a desaparecer a maior ritmo. Mas vê-se que os automóveis particulares de luxo não são menos procurados, o que demonstra que ter carro é maioritáriamente um simbolo de status e um reflexo da disfuncionalidade da nossa sociedade.

José Ramos Presidente da ACAP diz para se aumentar o crédito ao consumo, para que se venda mais. Ou em analogia:se o drogado precisa de heroína, que todos nós demos dinheiro ao bancos, para estes darem parte ao drogado para que este mantenha o estilo de vida do traficante. Ora aí está uma boa ideia, xôr Ramos! Nunca ouvi falar dos maleficios do crédito? Vá de férias à Islândia.

Fala-se de corte aos impostos, e nem lhe toco… pois esse tema daria uma constelação de blogs

Mas foi giro fechar com a associação entre a gravidade da situação e o sector ser 4%PIB. Ora se fosse só isso até estávamos nós muito bem. O problema é que quase tudo depende do pópó, ora vejam como fica o país quando os camiões bloqueiam ou quando a maldita neve agride os pneus de tanta latinha… Mas se não retirarmos este cancro JÁ vai ser bem pior no futuro.

A SIC acrescentou a visão do mundo das reparações. Ou significa que os carros estão mais fiáveis, ou (espero) ~~as pessoas~~ os condutores vão se aperceber da excessiva complexidade do monstro metálicos em que todos os dias querem entrar… este vai começar a frustá-los e pode ser que mudem para algo mais funcional

E assim acabei em tom de esperança…