La bellezza nel mito,nell'inno omerico e nell'Astrologia,Venere come quando e perchè

Ho pubblicato delle foto per far emergere i miti e quindi le immagini ipotetiche  delle Dee del passato e per meglio raffigurare i protagonisti dell’Inno omerico a Demeter.andare al link Astrologia Scuola http://astrologiascuolameryluisemioblog.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/astrologia-bellezza-canoni-venere-in-vergine-e-venere-in-scorpione-demeter-e-persephone-nellinno-omerico-a-lei-dedicato/

Omero ci dice che il concetto di bellezza e i canoni a cui si rifacevano i greci erano ben delineati e conosciuti con esempi e proiezioni che si tramandavano e si declamavano attraverso le invocazioni agli Deii simbolo di manifestazione rappresentativa di connotazioni e o particolari estetici riproducenti anche caratteristiche comportamentali.

La forma o meglio l’immagine degli Deii veniva a ed essere identificata anche con le prerogative caratteristiche della loro capacità di poter aiutare o malveare l’ essere umano.

Nel suo inno Omero ci tramanda una visione della bellezza femminile ben chiara.

Demetra ,nell’inno ,viene configurata come la Dea dalle belle chiome bionde, una Dea Augusta, quindi autorevole e con una corona portata sul capo, inoltre capace di dolore e rassegnazione davanti alla perdita della sua giovinezza, rappresentata dalla figlia Persefone, riacquistata poi attraverso l’accudimento del bambino da lei temporaneamente allevato.

Quindi la bellezza per i greci, o meglio per interpolazione  omerica, si manifesta in una donna seguendo  canoni estetici ben definiti.

Demeter una bella chioma bionda fluente, la figlia belle caviglie, la madre del piccolo, un ventre piatto e una vita sottile, anche dopo il parto, Ecate belle orecchie e  Persefone una voce altisonante, tenendo presente che le sue urla erano state udite proprio da Ecate, quindi capacità da parte della donna Persefone di saper gridare e manifestare  il disappunto innanzi ai sopprusi.

Inoltre il candore e la bellezza adolescenziale acerba e accattivante viene enfatizzato dai profumi e dai colori che devono essere colti e portati con se al fine di esserne orgogliosamente spavaldi davanti alla narcisistica adorazione di se.

Altre Dee sono chiamate a dare vita alla figura femminile  che veniva a rispecchiarsi nell’antica Grecia.

Queste erano Pallade ossia Athena e Artemidis, entrambe cacciatrici e donne battagliere ma pur sempre in evoluzione verso la maturità,

Quindi donne Dee che impersonano ognuna la totalità a cui deve tendere la bellezza femminile, la quale può sfiorire con l’età e con il suo avanzamento ma che  deve pur sempre seguire i cicli e la natura stessa della sua evoluzione.

Ci viene spiegato come l’abbandono della bellezza adolescenziale non avvenga mai scevro da una coercizione ma che pur essendo una cosa naturale non deve però subire la mortificazione di essere nascosta anzi tempo.

Le giovani  dovrebero mettere in mostra le proprie grazie e non nasconderle, ma farle uscire proprio come Persefone esce dall’oltretomba, accompagnata da Hermes, il corridore, la bellezza sfiorisce in modo veloce, ma la donna nella sua maternità e nel suo attaccamento al nutrimento universale cerca di divenire il polo,o meglio il  nucleo di unificazioni tra istanze estetiche diverse.

L a bellezza adolescenziale trova anche importanza meglio ancora apporta un tocco in più al suo uscirne cambiata dal passaggio nell’oltretomba.

L’adolescenza di Persefone si evolve quando ritorna dalla madre ormai è donna, ha conosciuto l’amplesso,  e per questo quando Mercurio la scorta fino da Demeter Persefone viene ad acquistare autorevolezza  pari alla madre nell’accezione della parola Augusta.

Una bellezza più seduttiva conturbante e anche meno manifesta, anche se l’unico che vede tutto e che sa che cosa sia successo a Perefone è proprio il Sole,Elios.

Il Sole come principio di chiarezza di veduta di spiegazione dei fatti .

Elios l’unico che mette in condizione Persefone di poter ritornare.

Quindi altro canone di bellezza ,secondo i greci ,che deve attribuirsi alla donna è la chiarezza, la conoscenza, la realtà

Elios ed Hernes chiarezza e che bisogna godere delle cose se no passano velocemente

Quindi capelli biondi e folti,una voce alta, agilità di movimento,vita sottile,caviglie fini , ventre piatto e vita piccola.

Nessun accenno al seno come parte anatomica.

Quindi la Venere in Scorpio deve tendere a quei canoni

continua prossimamente

La longilineità posta in luce come forma adolescenzial

Google recently introduced a new system that will bring text captions to many YouTube videos, a move making the site more accessible to the deaf and hearing-impaired, according to The New York Times.  The technology will also make YouTube videos more searchable and open to broader foreign markets.  The news is appealing to advertisers, who will be able to reach larger audiences through the Google-owned site, as well as Google, which hopes to boost profits through ad sales.

Even though the system only allows for the insertion of English-language captions, Google is giving users the choice of using its automatic translation system to read the captions in 51 different languages.  This may broaden the general appeal of YouTube videos to millions around the world who do not speak English but could use the technology to read subtitles in their native tongue.

Furthermore, according to The Times, “[t]he speech recognition technology that Google uses to turn speech into text is not new; Google currently uses it to transcribe voice mail messages for users of its Google Voice service.”  But sources said the technology has never been applied on such a vast scale.

AOL and Hulu already feature videos with captioned text, and YouTube has hundreds of thousands of videos with preset closed captions, usually from broadcast networks that include them in their daily programming.

Google also announced the arrival of a similar service that gives anyone who uploads a video to YouTube the choice of uploading a text file of the words spoken in the video.  Google can then turn the text file into closed captions.  Known as “auto-timing,” the service will be available to all YouTube users.

Lastly, the captions will make it easier for the deaf and others, for that matter, to look inside individual videos and locate specific sound bites.

Here’s an explanation of Google’s innovation, fittingly via YouTube:

Columbia, MO -  “What is going on in your state?” The email was from a LinkedIn contact and reader from South Africa. “Murder, incest, nude photos, discrimination. Is it true about inbreeding?”

No, but…

It is amazing that Missouri has hit the international news through the Internet and cable television five times in one week from the Associated Press, AOL News, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other various sources. All online. Missouri is now infamous.

My dad called from Florida asking about Alyssa Bustamante by name. This murder occurred in Cole County Missouri, just outside of the capital, the City of Jefferson. Was she really only 15-years old? Did she really plan to kill the 9-year old girl and neighbor? Is she (Alyssa) really deranged? Is her father really in jail? He saw the story on CNN.

The nudity story is about a South Carolina woman, referred to as “Jane Doe” in court papers. The original St. Louis Post-Dispatch report indicated that the Creve Coeur, Mo. Riverfront Times ran a story in 2006 concerning cosmetic surgery, which discussed, in part, plastic surgery of the female genitalia. With pictures. Jane Doe’s picture. Without her permission. She did not sue the paper, but her doctors for releasing the picture. The photos are no longer available online.

The incest case involves six members of the Mohler family, including the 77-year old father, “charged with several felonies, including forcible sodomy, rape with a child younger than 12 and use of a child in a sexual performance. The allegations, which include bestiality, forcing children into fake marriages with relatives and making an 11-year-old have an abortion, date from 1988 to 1995.” All in Lafayette, Missouri.

Finally, the United States Supreme Court refused to hear a discrimination case concerning the Dillard’s department store in Columbia, Missouri. The thirteen believed that they were followed by security, denied services or otherwise ignored during their shopping experience.

A second story on racism, reported by CNN and the Missourian, concerns Heather Ellis’ actions at a Kennett Missouri Walmart. Video shows her disturbing the peace and fighting with police officers. She pleaded guilty, but others saw the incident as racially motivated, which Ellis denies.

It is not that Missouri, or any other state, or rural area is somehow immune from murder, incest, greed and maltreatment of minorities than other state, like New York, California and Florida. St. Louis and Kansas City have some of the highest murder rates in the country.  They had become national and international stories because the media needs something to fill the growing 24/7/365 market they created through cable television and now, the Internet. 

We have a growing fascination about heinous crimes of murder, incest and discrimination. The “CSI” and “Law and Order” series would never have been so popular along with their reality counter parts “Cops,” “Cheaters” and “America’s Most Wanted.” If there is not enough crime already, we can watch a minor hold-up in Abilene Kansas live on CNN, MSNBC, or any of the other 24/7/365 news stations on cable or online.

Years ago, an ethics professor warned me, “Never do anything that would get your name printed on the front page of the New York Times – above the fold.”  Today, we live in a world where you do not want your name showing up on the home page of AOL, Yahoo, Google or any other ISP site. We live in glass houses and everyone else are throwing stones in our direction. 

Question: can anyone actually live this angelic, perfect life? For one, I hope not. Like would be very dull. I just hope my own escapades do not appear on YouTube in the near future. Like sword fighting with straws at Denny’s.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – No primeiro grande passo para tornar milhões de vídeos no YouTube acessíveis aos surdos e pessoas com deficiência auditiva, o Google anunciou uma nova tecnologia na quinta-feira que irá trazer automaticamente legendas à muitos vídeos do site.

A tecnologia irá também abrir os vídeos para o um amplo mercado estrangeiro tornando-os mais procurados, o que vai tornar fácil para o google obter maiores benefícios.

Embora a tecnologia permite inserir apenas legendas em inglês, o Google está oferecendo aos usuários a opção de utilizar o seu sistema de tradução automática para ler as legendas em 51 idiomas. Isso poderia ampliar o apelo dos vídeos do YouTube para milhões de outras pessoas que não falam inglês, mas poderiam usar a tecnologia para ler legendas em sua língua nativa.

A tecnologia de reconhecimento de voz que o Google usa para transformar fala em texto não é novo. O Google usa atualmente para transcrever email de voz para os usuários do Google serviço de voz. Mas Ken Harrenstien, um engenheiro surdo que ajudou a desenvolver o sistema de legenda automática, disse que a tecnologia nunca foi aplicada em uma escala tão grande.

Google - Ken Harrenstien - Caption YouTube

Isso é algo com o qual eu tenho sonhado por muitos anos”, disse Sr. Harrestien, falando através de um intérprete. “Ver isso acontecer é incrível”.

YouTube já tem centenas de milhares de vídeos com legendas, que normalmente vêm de uma rede de transmissão que inclui em seus programas. Alguns outros sites de vídeo online como o Julu e AOL também tem alguns vídeos profissionais criados com legenda.

Mas o Sr. Harrenstien disse que a grande maioria dos vídeos no YouTube não têm legendas e a nova tecnologia do Google irá gerá-las automaticamente. O YouTube vai inicialmente aplicar a tecnologia de legenda somente para alguns canais, a maioria deles especializados em conteúdo educativo. Eles incluem os canais de universidades como Stanford, Yale, Duke, Colombia e o Instituto de Tecnologia de Massachusetts, PBS e o National Geographic, e o próprio Google – estes vídeos corporativos serão legendados. A empresa pretende ampliar gradativamente o número de canais que trabalham com a tecnologia de legenda automática.

“Devido às ferramentas não estarem perfeitas, nós queremos ter certeza que teremos um feedback dos proprietários dos vídeos e dos usuários que acessam para assistir, antes de estendê-los para o mundo inteiro.” Disse Mr. Harrenstien. “Ás vezes as legendas automáticas são boas. Ás vezes não são tão boas, mas são melhores do que nada se você tem deficiência auditiva ou não conhece a língua.”

O google também introduziu um serviço relacionado o qual vai permitir que qualquer um que realize upload de vídeo para o YouTUbe, a opção de realizar também upload de um arquivo texto com as palavras faladas no vídeo. O Google vai transformar o arquivo de texto em legenda, automaticamente correspondendo as palavras faladas com o arquivo.

A tecnologia que o Google chama de “auto-timing”, tornará mais fácil para qualquer um adicionar legendas ao seus vídeos. Isto estará disponível para os usuário de todo o mundo, e particularmente útil para criadores de vídeos que enviam a partir de um script, desde que eles já tenham um arquivo com o texto falado no vídeo.

Além de ajudar às pessoas que são surdas ou não falam Inglês, a legenda irá tornar mais fácil para qualquer um pesquisar texto dentro dos vídeos e encontrar trechos específicos dentro de um vídeo.

O Google anunciou os novos recursos na quinta-feira em um evento em Washington. A empresa disse que estaria disponível no fim de semana.

Fonte: The New York Times

Tradução: Dilberto Rosa

   Madre e figlia le due Veneri ermetiche Scorpio e Virgo                                           

Ho pubblicato delle foto per far emergere i miti e quindi le immagini ipotetiche  delle Dee del passato e per meglio raffigurare i protagonisti dell’Inno omerico a Demeter.

Omero ci dice che il concetto di bellezza e i canoni a cui si rifacevano i greci erano ben delineati e conosciuti con esempi e proiezioni che si tramandavano e si declamavano attraverso le invocazioni agli Deii simbolo di manifestazione rappresentativa di connotazioni e o particolari estetici riproducenti anche caratteristiche comportamentali.

La forma o meglio l’immagine degli Deii veniva a ed essere identificata anche con le prerogative caratteristiche della loro capacità di poter aiutare o malveare l’ essere umano.

Nel suo inno Omero ci tramanda una visione della bellezza femminile ben chiara.

Demetra ,nell’inno ,viene configurata come la Dea dalle belle chiome bionde, una Dea Augusta, quindi autorevole e con una corona portata sul capo, inoltre capace di dolore e rassegnazione davanti alla perdita della sua giovinezza, rappresentata dalla figlia Persefone, riacquistata poi attraverso l’accudimento del bambino da lei temporaneamente allevato.

Quindi la bellezza per i greci, o meglio per interpolazione  omerica, si manifesta in una donna seguendo  canoni estetici ben definiti.

Demeter una bella chioma bionda fluente, la figlia belle caviglie, la madre del piccolo, un ventre piatto e una vita sottile, anche dopo il parto, Ecate belle orecchie e  Persefone una voce altisonante, tenendo presente che le sue urla erano state udite proprio da Ecate, quindi capacità da parte della donna Persefone di saper gridare e manifestare  il disappunto innanzi ai sopprusi.

Inoltre il candore e la bellezza adolescenziale acerba e accattivante viene enfatizzato dai profumi e dai colori che devono essere colti e portati con se al fine di esserne orgogliosamente spavaldi davanti alla narcisistica adorazione di se.

Altre Dee sono chiamate a dare vita alla figura femminile  che veniva a rispecchiarsi nell’antica Grecia.

Queste erano Pallade ossia Athena e Artemidis, entrambe cacciatrici e donne battagliere ma pur sempre in evoluzione verso la maturità,

Quindi donne Dee che impersonano ognuna la totalità a cui deve tendere la bellezza femminile, la quale può sfiorire con l’età e con il suo avanzamento ma che  deve pur sempre seguire i cicli e la natura stessa della sua evoluzione.

Ci viene spiegato come l’abbandono della bellezza adolescenziale non avvenga mai scevro da una coercizione ma che pur essendo una cosa naturale non deve però subire la mortificazione di essere nascosta anzi tempo.

Le giovani  dovrebero mettere in mostra le proprie grazie e non nasconderle, ma farle uscire proprio come Persefone esce dall’oltretomba, accompagnata da Hermes, il corridore, la bellezza sfiorisce in modo veloce, ma la donna nella sua maternità e nel suo attaccamento al nutrimento universale cerca di divenire il polo,o meglio il  nucleo di unificazioni tra istanze estetiche diverse.

L a bellezza adolescenziale trova anche importanza meglio ancora apporta un tocco in più al suo uscirne cambiata dal passaggio nell’oltretomba.

L’adolescenza di Persefone si evolve quando ritorna dalla madre ormai è donna, ha conosciuto l’amplesso,  e per questo quando Mercurio la scorta fino da Demeter Persefone viene ad acquistare autorevolezza  pari alla madre nell’accezione della parola Augusta.

Una bellezza più seduttiva conturbante e anche meno manifesta, anche se l’unico che vede tutto e che sa che cosa sia successo a Perefone è proprio il Sole,Elios.

Il Sole come principio di chiarezza di veduta di spiegazione dei fatti .

Elios l’unico che mette in condizione Persefone di poter ritornare.

Quindi altro canone di bellezza ,secondo i greci ,che deve attribuirsi alla donna è la chiarezza, la conoscenza, la realtà

Elios ed Hernes chiarezza e che bisogna godere delle cose se no passano velocemente

Quindi capelli biondi e folti,una voce alta, agilità di movimento,vita sottile,caviglie fini , ventre piatto e vita piccola.

Nessun accenno al seno come parte anatomica.

Quindi la Venere in Scorpio deve tendere a quei canoni

continua prossimamente

LONDON (Nov. 21) — Computer hackers have broken into a server at a well-respected climate change research center in Britain and posted hundreds of private e-mails and documents online — stoking debate over whether some scientists have overstated the case for man-made climate change.

The University of East Anglia, in eastern England, said in a statement Saturday that the hackers had entered the server and stolen data at its Climatic Research Unit, a leading global research center on climate change. The university said police are investigating the theft of the information, but could not confirm if all the materials posted online are genuine.

More than a decade of correspondence between leading British and U.S. scientists is included in about 1,000 e-mails and 3,000 documents posted on Web sites following the security breach last week.

Some climate change skeptics and bloggers claim the information shows scientists have overstated the case for global warming, and allege the documents contain proof that some researchers conspired to manipulate data.

The furor over the leaked data comes weeks before the U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen, when 192 nations will seek to reach a binding treaty to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases worldwide. Many officials — including U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon — regard the prospects of a pact being sealed at the meeting as bleak.

Within a decade, summers in the North Pole will be dramatically different: no ice and just an open sea. That is the prediction released Oct. 14 by explorers who have hiked through the area. Here, research vessels on an unrelated expedition break through ice near the North Pole in 2004.

A new report examines the human cost of climate change, which it said causes more than 300,000 deaths per year. The report, released in May, shows the impact of climate change on population displacement, malnutrition and diseases, such as malaria. “Climate change is not something waiting to happen,” said former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

//

In one leaked e-mail, the research center’s director, Phil Jones, writes to colleagues about graphs showing climate statistics over the last millennium. He alludes to a technique used by a fellow scientist to “hide the decline” in recent global temperatures. Some evidence appears to show a halt in a rise of global temperatures from about 1960, but is contradicted by other evidence which appears to show a rise in temperatures is continuing.

Jones wrote that, in compiling new data, he had “just completed Mike’s Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (i.e., from 1981 onwards) and from 1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline,” according to a leaked e-mail, which the author confirmed was genuine.

One of the colleague referred to by Jones — Michael Mann, a professor of meteorology at Pennsylvania State University — did not immediately respond to requests for comment via telephone and e-mail.

The use of the word “trick” by Jones has been seized on by skeptics — who say his e-mail offers proof of collusion between scientists to distort evidence to support their assertion that human activity is influencing climate change.

“Words fail me,” Stephen McIntyre — a blogger whose climateaudit.org Web site challenges popular thinking on climate change — wrote on the site following the leak of the messages.

However, Jones denied manipulating evidence and insisted his comment had been taken out of context. “The word ‘trick’ was used here colloquially, as in a clever thing to do. It is ludicrous to suggest that it refers to anything untoward,” he said in a statement Saturday.

Jones did not indicate who “Keith” was in his e-mail.

Two other American scientists named in leaked e-mails — Gavin Schmidt of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, and Kevin Trenberth, of the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research, in Colorado — did not immediately return requests for comment.

The University of East Anglica said that information published on the Internet had been selected deliberately to undermine “the strong consensus that human activity is affecting the world’s climate in ways that are potentially dangerous.”

“The selective publication of some stolen e-mails and other papers taken out of context is mischievous and cannot be considered a genuine attempt to engage with this issue in a responsible way,” the university said in a statement.

Associated Press Writer Meera Selva in London contributed to this report.

Don’t you find having to use multiple instant messenger services for all your different friends and contacts a real pain in the bottom, well I do, I have contacts on 3 different messenger services and Facebook which of course has its own chat / messenger service.

I have in the past gathered quite a few contacts on Windows Live Messenger, a few more on Yahoo Messenger and I even have a couple on AOL Instant Messenger, add to these all my lovely friends on Facebook and it all becomes a bit unworkable. I had more or less decided to single out only one messenger service to use along with Facebook, I chose Windows Live Messenger, I’m not sure why I just did.

But I remember quite a long time ago I used to use a bit of software called “Trillian”, this was like a shell, a front end if you like, which linked together my different messengers in one window, it worked ok, perhaps a little clunky at times but I remembered it being very useful. So I did a little search and lo and behold, Trillian still exists but with a whole new look and feel, a revamped interface, it looks all modern and stuff, it even accepts services such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace etc.

So in this modern, highly connected age we have “Trillian Astra”, this sleek new piece of software is a messenger client on which you can use all your different services under one roof, it works as standalone on your PC (my choice), on a web browser anywhere and on the IPhone (for anyone lucky enough to own one), it sounds like the answer to my problems so I have downloaded it to my laptop and decided to give it a try out, no I’m not lucky enough to own an IPhone.

Following download and installation, all very easy as it should be, I was asked to enter the log on details for each of the services I use, it also set up an identity and a little profile for Trillian Astra as well, there was nothing in the least bit difficult. I now discovered I had a brand new shiny messenger gadget sat on my desktop. On the contacts window were listed all my contacts from Windows Live, Yahoo and AOL, my Facebook friends did not appear on the offline list originally but as each one comes online they appear as such and when they go offline they are then added to the normal offline contact list and remain visible from then on, it also shows e-mail updates for any of the services which have it and updates by my Facebook contacts.

I can appear online, invisible, away, in fact any of the usual statuses either for all the services or individually. It is also completely skinable although I quite like the default skin myself, there is a well featured preferences editor so you can set it up more or less as you like. Another quite clever thing, well I think its clever, is the use of MetaContacts, if you have a friend who is a contact on yahoo, AOL and Windows live for instance you could leave them all showing separately, or alternatively you could lump them all together under one contact name of your choice, this is called a MetaContact and can tidy your contact list up a bit if its getting over busy.

I have already been involved in instant messaging on it with a contact on one of the main messaging services and found it easy and intuitive to use, its all pretty seamless, whichever service my friend is using it seems to me to be as if we are both using Trillian, meanwhile the other person just see’s more or less what they normally do with their own messenger. I was also chatting to a friend who was at the time on Facebook and while I saw a Trillian style chat window he was just seeing the usual Facebook chat window. The clunkiness I remember from the old version seems to have gone, so far this feels slick and smooth and I’m enjoying using it, its getting a big thumbs up from me and I see no reason at the moment for me to use anything else.

Of course everything I have said here applies to the standalone downloadable version which runs on your own PC, I haven’t tried the web browser based version and I don’t have an IPhone.

Of the main messenger services, Windows Live Messenger is still my favourite but now it doesn’t matter so much because with minimal effort I can see them all together by opening only one piece of software, coolio, I think I’ll be carrying on using Trillian Astra and therefore using all my messengers at once, well unless something bad regarding it rears its ugly head, if that happens I’ll let you know.

For anyone interested these are my 3 messenger ID’s,

Windows Live Messenger  =  kvnwheeler2509@hotmail.com

Yahoo Messenger  =  kvnwheeler@btopenworld.com

AOL Instant Messenger  =  kvnwheeler

and

My Facebook is here  =  http://www.facebook.com/thehappysnapper

If you’re interested in connecting on any of these then please be my guest, if we already know each other in some way or if we have something in common, a hobby, past time or life experience perhaps, then I will probably accept, if we don’t know each other and your just looking to amass meaningless contacts or we have nothing at all in common then I may not accept, still, if your interested then give it a try and we’ll see.

It was an auspicious occasion, the business titans of the West standing shoulder to shoulder at the dawn of a new century. On the stage of the Shanghai International Convention Centre, in late September 1999, the crème de la crème of business achievement smiled at the hundreds of delegates, both Chinese and from around the world, who had gathered for the Fortune Global Forum.

From AIG’s Hank Greenberg to Viacom’s Sumner Redstone, from Yahoo!’s Jerry Yang to General Electric’s Jack Welch, the three-day gathering was a veritable who’s who of corporate America.

Among the high-powered throng were two other men, perhaps less well known to the crowd. Gerald “Jerry” Levin, chairman of Time Warner, the media giant which had been formed 10 years earlier from the $14bn (£8.4bn) combination of Time Inc and Warner Communications; and Steve Case, chairman of AOL, the dotcom darling which had effortlessly swallowed Netscape for $4.2bn just months earlier.

It was at this rather grand gathering that the first seed was sown. Case pulled Merv Adelson, a long-time Time Warner board member, to one side, and asked him whether Time Warner’s board had thought about merging with AOL. Adelson went straight to Levin, who shrugged and initially dismissed the suggestion. But within three months – after a series of clandestine meetings in New York and Boston and a dinner at Case’s home – the two men announced the $360bn combination of AOL Time Warner on January 10 2000.

One of the world’s biggest media content companies was to merge with one of the largest distributors of internet content – a match made in mergers and acquisition heaven. It was the biggest corporate merger the world had ever – or would ever – see, and the supposed start of an expectant new age where traditional media companies would work hand-in-hand with their internet rivals.

Or at least, that was the theory. But within months – before the merger had even received regulatory approvals – things were beginning to sour. By December 2000, Time Warner issued a damaging profit warning that saw its shares plunge by 14pc within a day. It was downhill all the way from then on, and by the time the two companies formally combined in January 2001, it was clear to insiders that the cultural clash between the two would prove insurmountable.

A decade on, with AOL on the verge of stepping out from Time Warner’s shadow, by means of a long overdue demerger scheduled for December 9, the corporate world now has a chance to assess not only what went wrong, but also what the implications are for the two companies as they emerge from a decade-long corporate headlock – and for the rest of the industry as well.

Levin and Case knew little of one another – and arguably of one another’s businesses – before they struck the deal. An ageing Levin, a lawyer by training, had worked his way quickly through Time Inc’s corporate ranks, and while aware of the need to have an internet strategy, had little idea of the best way to get one.

Case, 20 years his junior, could not have been more different, having worked first in marketing for Pizza Hut, and then at a business which initially delivered computer games down telephone lines and eventually grew into America Online (AOL). A poster child for the internet age, by the age of 40 he had amassed a $1.5bn fortune and was running one of the world’s 25 biggest companies.

In the negotiations for the deal, Case used AOL’s larger market value to dominate Levin. He made sure he would have his key men around him, with AOL lieutenants taking the top financial job and one of the co-chief operating officer roles. Case became chairman and Levin chief executive in charge of operations. Neither man wanted to cede control.

According to Nina Munk, whose book Fools Rush In is the authoritative account of the merger and the subsequent fall-out, “even before the deal was announced, it was clear to just about every insider that this was going to be a fiasco”.

“As one of the top bankers who worked on the deal told me, trying to merge AOL with Time Warner was ‘like trying to mate a horse with a dog’,” she told The Sunday Telegraph.

Munk’s argument is that the deal was motivated not by logic or strategy but by egos, in particular the “fragile ego of an ageing Jerry Levin”. Board discussions quickly became fraught following the merger itself. Ted Turner, a director and the company’s largest shareholder, went public over his dislike of Levin, while Case and Levin came to blows on several occasions. The door to the chief financial officer’s office became a revolving one, with four occupants in three years and by the start of 2003, Case and Levin had both fallen on their respective swords.

The boardroom ructions meant that the new company never really merged. Although each of the two original companies had its own reason for merging – AOL wanted broadband capability from Time Warner Cable and additional content to use across its sites; Time Warner desperately needed a way to digitise its content and reach out to a new online audience – neither strategy was played out in practice.

Integration did not take place – apart from at a corporate level – and as the various business units continued to stand alone, so the expected financial benefits from merging the two companies did not emerge. Negative synergies even developed, as AOL was held back from getting involved with external providers, in part because of a great suspicion of AOL managers by their Time Warner counterparts who believed they wanted to take over the entire company.

One of the biggest blows to the merger was the damaging revelation that AOL had been inflating sales to cope with falling advertising in 2000 and 2001 to the tune of $190m. The company paid a heavy price, with write-downs leading it to report a $98.7bn loss for 2002 – the largest in US history at the time. It also had to pay sizeable fines.

Given all this coincided with the bursting of the dotcom bubble – without which the all-share merger would never have been possible in the first place – it was perhaps no surprise that the men behind the disastrous merger jumped ship, and by January 2003, Dick Parsons, formerly co-chief operating officer, was left to single-handedly sort out the mess. What Parsons started – a slow unravelling of the merger which began with the removal of the AOL name from the merged business in 2003 – his successor Jeff Bewkes has accelerated in the 22 months he has been chief executive.

Where Parsons was heavily criticised for not being swift enough in demerging parts of the empire, Bewkes could not be accused of being slow to act. In his first year fully in charge – Parsons only stepped down as chairman at the end of last year – he has completed the demerger of Time Warner Cable, which produced $9bn in cash which he still has to hand, and paved the way for the impending demerger of AOL.

Unlike his forebears, Bewkes is not a fan of marrying distribution to content, believing the two should be separately managed, and has taken what many view as the correct decision to focus the company on its niche: content. Although a firm believer in the power of the internet in terms of increased viewers and readers, he does not see the need to reinvent content for online readers, rather just repackage and direct it in the best way possible.

Whilst its publishing division, the Time magazine business, is struggling – sales fell 18pc in the three months to September – Bewkes has recently dismissed suggestions that he might turn most of its 23 magazines into online-only operations.

When it comes to television, Bewkes believes in what he calls “branded networks” – that speak to specific segments of the audience. In the US, the business, through its Turner division, has a stable of strong cable channels including TBS, which positions itself as the home of comedy, TNT, the home of drama, and CNN, the home of independent news. The content-led strategy flows through into Bewkes’ remaining two divisions – premium content cable channel HBO and film business Warner Brothers – and is one he is set on.

To date his strategy appears to be paying off and while third-quarter results showed a slight dip in profits, he told investors the outlook for 2010 would deliver “steady and attractive” returns, perhaps why Time Warner’s share price has risen almost 50pc since the start of this year.

AOL’s future, however, does not look as bright. Although the strategy of chief executive Tim Armstrong is almost identical to that of Bewkes, focusing on content and increasing on-site advertising, the challenges he faces are more significant. Not only is he in the process of asking just over a third of AOL’s 6,900 workforce to take voluntary redundancy, but he also has to get the outside world to understand not only that AOL actually still exists, but what it stands for today.

At the recent Money and Media conference in New York, Armstrong stressed that AOL would not be the unfocused one-time internet behemoth of the past. Instead, he said he wants it to be the king of content, content people might not readily realise belongs to AOL. The company has slowly acquired a wide and varied network of news websites and blogs, from special interest news sites like Politics Daily and Blogging Stocks, to locally-focused news sites like the “Patch” sites currently operating in New Jersey and Connecticut. He’s also focused on delivering video content online, and is a strong believer in the power of social networking tools to deliver content, through the likes of Bebo and also AOL’s popular AIM and ICQ online chat tools. The theory is that the content and its viewer-base will drive advertising, in particular banner and display advertising.

But that’s where the mis-match is between Armstrong’s rhetoric and reality. What he does not really talk about is the fact that the “vast majority” – according to Time Warner’s recent results – of AOL’s profits come from its dying internet access subscription business. That business lost 2.1m users in the year to September 2008, and now has just 5.4m users and counting, downwards. The media business, which relies for some of its web traffic on the access business, loses approximately $600m a year. Unless Armstrong can work out how to replace those profits – and quickly – AOL’s financial future looks highly uncertain.

Just as AOL finally emerges from Time Warner’s shadow, two other media companies look set to travel the same rocky route. Comcast’s advanced discussions with General Electric about a joint venture with the industrial conglomerate’s NBC Universal division is exactly the marriage of distribution and content that failed at AOL Time Warner.

And just as they did nearly 10 years ago when that merger was taking shape, Wall Street’s technology and media analysts are getting over-excited at the prospect of Comcast and NBC joining forces, in spite of the lessons of the recent past.

It would “accelerate new business models, momentum for online authentication, new approaches to on-demand and online windowing content, and interactive advertising initiatives,” wrote Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Cohen in one note. Very few have sounded caution, although Macquarie’s Ben Stretch did note earlier last week that there appear to be growing “howls” about the deal, arguing that “vertical integrations fail to add value”.

Some media giants appear to have learned from the mistakes of their rivals, with Sumner Redstone’s Viacom spinning off CBS and creating Viacom’s cable networks business, while Barry Diller’s IAC has demerged a number of smaller entities to provide value for shareholders and strategic focus. Yahoo!’s decision to essentially hive off its search engine to Microsoft and focus on big-name advertising clients is somewhat similar.

Indeed, although not directly related, the lessons of the financial crisis are also prescient here. Some argue that the marriage of consumer banks to investment banks in the 1980s and 1990s created a toxic atmosphere which led to the creation of derivative products and the absence of risk management, the after-effects of which are still being felt. The excess and lack of forethought seen in the AOL- Time Warner deal is similar to this.

In a corporate world where big has always tended to be seen as better, perhaps the implications of the fall-out from the AOL-Time Warner fiasco might stop other business leaders wandering aimlessly down the value-destructive path trod by Case and Levin 10 years ago. The titans were brought down to Earth with a crash.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/6622875/Final-farewell-to-worst-deal-in-history—AOL-Time-Warner.html

The UK Internet Service Providers Association ( ISPA ) and broadband ISP TalkTalk ( The Carphone Warehouse , Tiscali , AOL etc. ) have both come out in strong opposition to some of yesterdays Digital Economy Bill measures, which have been designed to tackle illegal downloading.

The Bill proposes that the Government can introduce new measures to punish people they think are infringing copyright without having to prove their case in court. This so-called secondary legislation appears to side-step any debate, oversight or public scrutiny. Both are particularly concerned that the proposals grant far too much control to the Secretary of State, who will have the power to make specific recommendations on costs and impose an obligation on ISPs to use technical sanctions. The ISPA believes that an independent body would be a fairer way to assess these factors.

ISPA Secretary General, Nicholas Lansman, said:

“ISPA is extremely disappointed by aspects of the proposals to address illicit filesharing. This legislation is being fast-tracked by the Government and will do little to address the underlying problem. Rather than focusing blindly on enforcement, the Government should be asking rightsholders to reform the licensing framework so that legal content can be distributed online to consumers in a way that they are clearly demanding.”

ISPs believe that to reduce illegal filesharing, music and film fans must be encouraged back to legal services through education and by making content available in a form and at a price that people find acceptable. TalkTalk’s own research shows that over 85% of people think there is not enough legal music and film content available on the Internet at a fair price. Dunstone has again reiterated his promise to only release customer details to rights holders following a court order, although ironically yesterdays Bill promised that details would only be released to copyright owners for further action “after obtaining a court order“. TalkTalk added that they would refuse any request to cut-off customer accounts and take legal action to protect their users.

Meanwhile the ISPA has also raised concerns about the allocation of cost. Consistent with the principle of beneficiary pays, ISPA rejects an apportioning of costs and believes that rights holders should shoulder this burden including reimbursement of ISPs’ reasonable costs. Presently the copyright owners will only pay the cost of notification letters. Both TalkTalk and the ISPA also oppose all of the new technical measures, which include the ability to slow a customers connection, block illegal sites and services or even cut-off user accounts, and have called for them to be dropped from the bill. Sadly we fear this is highly unlikely to happen as the government has proven unwilling to listen. It should be noted that ISPs do appear to support the notification / letter warning system.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/story/2009/11/21/uk-broadband-isps-sound-opposition-to-new-illegal-file-sharing-laws.html

The brutal economic downturn that’s being called “The Great Recession” is, at least in a technical sense, over. Online advertising and IT spending are inching back up, and many tech companies have seen their stock prices more than double from the lows reached in March. Even if it’s not the most robust of recoveries, it’ll do. So why are tech companies suddenly slashing jobs again?

The past couple of months have brought a renewed surge in job cuts at technology companies, including many that were undergoing second or third rounds of layoffs. Take AOL: It laid off 700 workers in early 2009. Earlier this month it cut another 100, followed by news this week that additional 1,000 would go. Those layoffs may cut operating costs, but they’re not exactly a cheap undertaking. AOL said that, all told, it will incur $283 million in restructuring charges.

With AOL’s (s twx) latest round, I count 17,400 jobs that tech companies — since late October alone — have said they’ll eliminate or have done so already. There are undoubtedly many more that haven’t been officially announced. The pace is significantly slower than in January and February, when 30,000 or more job cuts were announced in a single week. But it also represents a marked increase over the spring and summer, when the bloodflow slowed to a relative trickle.

What’s driving the recent increase in job cuts? A few things. Companies are drawing up budgets for 2010, and it’s common for them to eliminate some positions in November and December (however heartless this seems from a human standpoint). But the cuts often extend into the new year, which suggests the bloodletting could continue for a couple of more months.

Different companies have different reasons for the restructurings. M&A activity has also been on the rise in the tech industry, and integrating two separate operations into one often means some workers must go. Adobe reduced its head count by 9 percent in conjunction with its $1.8 billion acquisition of web analytics firm Omniture, for example.

Other companies are cutting because, despite a sense of relief that the worst economic pain is behind us, much uncertainty lies ahead. Applied Materials (s amat) said it would cut between 1,300 and 1,500 positions, even though it reported an increase in sales and orders. When facing uncertainty, cutting costs has a strategic appeal: It shields you from sluggish demand, and keeps profits — and the stock price — high in the meantime.

Still others are being buffeted by rapid changes in their core markets and are paying the price for failing to keep up, such as Microsoft, which announced 5,000 job cuts in January and recently eliminated another 800. Microsoft (s msft) is not only seeing netbook sales put downward pressure profit margins of its PC operating software, but Windows Mobile is facing daunting competition from Android (s goog) and others.

Some of the biggest rounds of layoffs have come from other companies having trouble coping with evolving markets: Nokia (s nok), struggling for a foothold in the thriving smartphone market, is shedding as many as 5,700 jobs. Sprint (S s), facing disappointing sales of the Palm (s palm) Pre will cut up to 2,500. And AOL has been floundering in its search for a role on the web for years.

Not all tech companies will be cutting positions. A recent survey by Robert Half Technology, an employment consulting firm, found that 43 percent of CIOs interviewed see retaining workers as their top staffing priority. And companies that follow one round of layoffs with another may regret it in the end. Too many layoffs send a bad message to customers and partners, while chasing away the top talent. That can cause even more problems, and more layoffs, instead of a real recovery.

(image credit GooseGoddessS)

We posted just last week about ‘local’ being the new ’social’ for news publishers and it seems the guardian.co.uk (perhaps even taking editorial inspiration from the Moreover Blog!?) agrees.

The Digital Content Blog has posted a nice write-up of just a handful of the developments over in the States where many online news outlets are already trying to take advantage of this new ‘hyperlocal‘ buzz. AOL and some former eBay execs are both taking interesting steps in this direction, with AOL looking to expand it’s recently acquired Patch network and eBay founder Pierre Omidyar bidding to kick-start his local news service Peer News. Not forgetting that we have blogged in the past about YouTube’s efforts in this area and with foursquare regularly being touted as the ‘next Twitter’ is hyperlocal getting you excited?

Interesting post this morning for HR peeps on AOL’s asking for volunteers to be fired. AOL has asked 2500 to apply. Clearly they are asking for applications, because they don’t want some people leaving. So you apply to get severed, get an acceptance/rejection letter and, apparently, move on. In their offer, taking severance is a lot better than the getting fired option.

It can’t be that simple. Think about all the issues this system brings up.

• What if you application gets rejected? Are you a loser? Winner? Both? How awkward is it going to be working for your manager after you get rejected?
• What if 10,000 people apply? What does that say about your org? What does that do to the 7500 who will have to stay?
• Why would they do this? Lack of talent planning? Do they not know who they want to leave? If they don’ t, they need to fire HR. Hey, maybe that will get them to 2500.
• What if your on the fence about whether they’ll keep you, aren’t you more likely to apply to get the better deal?
• Are they really so sure that enough people won’t take the offer? Is AOL such a great place to be right now?

Clearly, I think this is a terrible idea. Whoever thought it up should volunteer to get fired. Tim Armstrong made a huge mistake by accepting this proposal. He should know better having gone through the Google/DoubleClick acquisition. If you need to let people go, take the time to figure out who you need to let go and make it happen. The last thing you want to do is destroy the morale of your org in the process. Huge Fail!

Persephone e Hades

Acqua profonda che viene ed esplode in terra Persephone

Luna e o Venere in Scorpione

 nella Dea Persefone rapitrice e

 ammaliatrice 

nel suo essere un’attrice,

 nella rinascita sessuale

 per un amore totale,

inchinandosi alla natura

che la vuole come fioritura

nella chiara luce di genitura

Questo articolo è stato da me scritto e suddiviso in due momenti quello storico ed echeggiante il mito greco di Pesephone non disgiunto da quello della madre Demetra o  meglio Demeter, e l’altro momento più ludico e vezzoso dove descrivo il look della Donna Scorpione

Avevo  già sottolineato nell’articolo concernente il segno dello Scorpione come prima dell’avvento ipotetico del Cristo le costellazioni zodiacali della Vergine e dello Scorpione fossero unite tra loro e come  la costellazione della Bilancia,tutt’ora una costellazione di estensione minore, non fosse visibile ma fosse parte integrante delle due costellazioni Virgo e Scorpio.

Solo dal tempo dei romani ,questa costellazione detta Libra, ha assunto importanza in vista del fatto che gli stessi romani le rendevano omaggio quantunque al momento della nascita di Roma 753 A.C., nel cielo si formava proprio la Luna in Bilancia.

Questo cappello introduttivo è preambolare, alla descrizione del mito della Dea scorpionica Persephone figlia di Zeus e Demeter,  immortale e di casta elevata, al fine di introdurvi alla sua citazione

Persephone nell’inno Omerico viene descritta come una fanciulla vergine,candida e in pubertà, Dea consacrta al fiorimento e al germogliare della primavera attraverso le floreali manifestazioni di bellezza e gaudio dei prati e del rigoglioso spumeggiar del risveglio della natura, impersonata per l’appunto da Demetra.

Quindi la figlia di Demeter soggiungeva a  palesare la bellezza e le essenze profumate del chiarore, vergineo e spontaneo, del principio anche edonistico e di gaudente bellezza che la natura regala con colori e profumi nelle sue florescenze radicate,con Persefone,all’humus dalle radici che fanno germogliare e fiorire i  prati.

Quindi Perephone dea fresca primaverile ma anche protettrice della botanica e della biologia dei semi piantati e che trovano sostegno dalle radici sottostanti il terreno.

Persephone anche vivaista con fiori a lei attribuiti come viole, crochi,narcisi,rose tutti attributi in estetica di ornamenti e imbelletamenti.

Persephone che preserva anche le acque quelle appena scongelate che formano rivoli,ruscelli,corsi d’acqua che dissetano la natura.

In parole riassuntive, anzi con una sola parola che ne dia spiegazione ,la figlia di Demeter è il RISVEGLIO manifesto della stessa madre.

La fanciulla viene descritta come colei dalle belle caviglie mentre la madre è colei dalle belle chiome, quindi la parte anatomica inferiore per la figlia e la parte anatomica superiore per la madre, manca però la base, quella dei piedi, su dove poggiare e stabilizzare, e si presuppone che questa sia attribuibile a Gea, la quale fornisce il suo appoggio alla natura ,che però ha necessità di movimento evolutivo per riprodursi e di questo movimento artefice divino è Hermes, l’unico che può varcare anche la soglia degli inferi, ovvero quello che è nascosto e risalire in superfice per poi recarsi in cielo e o sul monte Olimpo.

Hermes il corridore, quello che trasporta i semi, che li fa radicare, che li porta a morire e poi rinascere, Hermes il messaggero, colui che assiste, che accompagna  che porta l’umanità a vedere i propri difetti, colui che scandisce il tempo insieme a Cronos, di cui è il nipote

Questa storia ci fa entrare nella visione e nell’avvistamento della costellazione della Libra la Bilancia.

 Demeter simboleggia la Luna e-o la Venere in Virgo, Persephone è la Dea  Luna o Venere in Scorpio, due segni che erano uniti che però proprio Zeus e Hades disuniscono, attraverso le ore di luce simboleggiate da Persephone e sottratte alla manifestazione chiara e pura della natura in senso lato.

Il distacco tra il chiaro delle chiome di Demeter che è rappresentata nell’inno omerico come bionda e le chiome scure di Hades rappresentato  produce un compromesso, una commistione, un chiaro scuro simboleggiato da Persephone che dall’esperienza di coercizione  e di inganno perpretata attraverso il suo rapimento diviene colei che determina i cicli delle stagioni, per sei mesi ,quelli più freddi ,starà con il suo sposo Hades diventandone regina e quindi con poteri decisionali sugli inferi, mentre per nei mesi più caldi  tornerà dagli inferi per stare vicino alla madre come colei che produrrà il cibo e le essenze esistenziali per l’evoluzione della pianeta.

Questo sottolinea come la stessa Persephone abbia egida sia sugli inferi che sulla terra, diviene un ponte in questa dualità ,la stessa Dea fa avvistare la costellazione della Libra o Bilancia che esplica la funzione ,come strumentazione di pesare e stabilire l’equilibrio tra le due costellazioni attigue… la Virgo e lo Scorpio nella ciclicità della natura.

Quindi tra Hades Ares Hermes dello Scorpio e Hermes e Ouranus della Virgo si  associano due altri Deii Aphrodite e Cronos della Libra,facendo del mito della fanciulla Persephone, poi cresciuta nell’esperienza, un mito archetipale importantissimo per la natura umana, se la madre terra Demeter non viene rispettata piuttosto che far evirare Urano ne prende il lato negativo e diviene talmente rigida e inesorabile da sterilizzare ogni procreazione e produzione di cibo e bevande come Urano faceva con i propri figli.

Se invece Madre terra attraverso i suoi messaggi, i suoi allert, i suoi annunnci inviati da Hermes viene rispettata e si può ricongiungere alla parte più pura e incontaminata della sua stessa figliolanza allora il genere umano e tutte le specie esistenti prospereranno.

La  Virgo cerca lo Scorpio Hades e vuole capire chi le ha portato via la sua parte pura e lo cerca e trova la sua risposta a questo enigma con Elios il Sole dal vicino segno del Leone, e da Ecate Dea stessa del Leone.

Il sole tramonta nella Bilancia e per trovare lo Scorpione si deve stanarlo e questo diviene facile attraverso solo la sua purezza identificata da Persephone che diviene la luce solare del segno scorpionico, luce solare portatale e regalatale  della sua primaverile età, dalla spontaneità, dal rischiare del Sole nell’intensità di luce leonina la quale però si appoggia con Persephone alla Dea leonina Ecate che parla  con Madre natura Demeter, che è l’unica ad udire  la voce della fanciulla , Ecate che segue il dolore di Demeter, che l’aiuta nella ricerca.

Miti femminili forti, Demeter mette in scacco l’intero Olimpo, assoggetta gli Deii al suo volere, non cede a compromessi, non regala più niente, esilia tutto congela, si appoggia idealmente ad Urano come freddezza e autorità.

Solo un inganno di Hades genera il compromesso facendo ritornare  la fanciulla Core dalla madre ma inducendola a mangiare il frutto degli Inferi e  a ritornarne suo malgrado.

Inesorabilmente quel Cronos  bilancino  deve  epurare la vendetta uraniana di Demeter e lo fa aiutando Hades a far si che la natura abbia equa stabilità proprio nel matrimonio, simboleggiato nel segno della  Bilancia, tra gli inferi dove soggiacciono le cose morte  e la luce del sole e il risveglio primaverile.

Il tempo Cronos ci dice che tutto nasce muore e si rigenera ma queste regole non devono essere disattese.

La Bilancia regala poi a Persephone attraverso Aphrodite Venere la capacità del sentimento che fa nascere nei confronti di Hades nel modo che Persephone acetti il ritorno con maggiore letizia.

Le regala una bellezza nascosta, non solare ma non per questo meno affascinante  e meno seducente, è una bellezza acquisita, o meglio è una seduzione non innata ma evolutasi nella conoscenza, tanto che dopo aver soggiornato negli Inferi Omero  non descrive più Persephone come fanciulla acerba ma la chiama Augusta  nel suo risalire in superficie, augusta termine sempre attribuito a Demeter nello stesso inno.

Quindi la Venere in Scorpione o la Luna possono dare connotazioni differenti, secondo la loro posizione nella mappa personale di nascita, facendo nascere, laddove siano mal collocate, ovvero vengano in rapporto con pianeti non attinenti alla loro  natura ad esserle di supporto, una sorta di possessione coercitiva e pressione ossessiva che riproduce la fase del rapimento e dell’assoggettamento.

In sintesi o abbiamo un archetipo femminile aperto e generoso oppure il contrario abbiamo una smania di potere, una sorta di sadismo, un verificarsi di situazioni d’amore dove le donne Scorpioniche debba manipolare e usare qualsiasi mezzo pur di conquistare l’uomo.

Idem questo archetipo o generoso o  estremamente possessivo si verifica negli uomini.

Comunque sia questo mito greco rappresenta il lato nascosto e meno chiaro di situazioni in cui ognuno di noi si è trovato ad affrontare senza sapere che cosa o chi lo stavano rapendo.

Non è un rapimento di sensi quello che si estrapola dal mito della Venere in Scorpione  bensì sono emozioni d’amore nascoste che avvingono ,che tolgono l’aria ,che portano ad essere soggiogati dal fascino perverso o proprio o altrui.

Dall’Inno omerico a Demeter,Demetra madre di Persephone

Il Rapimento

rapimento di Persephone

La fanciulla stava giocando con le figlie di Oceano sui prati lussureggianti e coglieva fiori, rose e crochi, violette e giacinti e anche il narciso che Gea aveva fatto spuntare per insidiare la giovane. Un dolce profumo di narciso si spandeva nell’aria, la fanciulla stupita stendeva ambo le mani verso quel fiore come verso un giocattolo o un tesoro. Allora la terra si aprì, si spalancò una voragine sul campo Niseo: il signore degli Inferi, il figlio di Crono ne balzò fuori con i suoi cavalli immortali, prese la fanciulla riluttante sul suo carro dorato e la rapì. Con voce acuta ella chiamò il padre,  Zeus, supremo sovrano. Nessuno sentì la sua voce tranne Ecate ed Elio. Finchè  la fanciulla divina vide il cielo stellato, la terra , il mare, nutriva ancora speranza di rivedere la madre

Il Dolore di Demeter madre di Persefone

Un acuto dolore la colse nell’animo: sulle chiome

divine lacerava con le sue mani il diadema,

si gettava sulle spalle un cupo velo

Nessuno voleva dirle la verità, per nove giorni la sovrana Demetra errò sulla terra, con due fiaccole accese nelle mani. Nel suo dolore non toccò né nettare, né ambrosia, né bagnò il suo corpo con l’acqua. Al decimo giorno finalmente Ecate che aveva sentito il grido di Core le viene a dire che non vide il rapitore, entrambe si avviano da Elio che tutto vede. Questi commosso dal dolore di Demetra, comunica che  Core è stata rapita dal Dio degli inferi

Demetra svela la sua identità celata a Metaniera madre di un bambino allevato temporaneamente da Demetra lungo il suo vagr alla ricerca della figlia sotto mentite  spoglie.

Io sono l’ augusta Demetra, colei che più di ogni altro agl’ immortali e ai mortali offre gioia e conforto.Orbene: per me un grande tempio, e in esso un’ara,tutto il popolo innalzi ai piedi della rocca e del suo muro sublime,più in alto di Callicoro, sopra un contrafforte del colle;io stessa vi insegnerò il rito, affinché in futuro celebrandolo piamente possiate placare il mio animo.

Hermes inviato da Zeus a parlare con Ade  per  far restituire Persephone alla madre

…”O Ade dalle cupe chiome, che regni sui morti,Zeus,il padre, mi ordina di condurre fuori dell’ Erebo,fra gli dei, l’augusta Persefone, affinché la madre rivedendola coi suoi occhi ponga fine al rancore e all’ ira inesorabile contro gl’ immortali; poiché medita un grave progetto:sterminare la debole stirpe degli uomini nati sulla terra tenendo il seme celato sotto la zolla ,e distruggendo le offerte che spettano agl’immortali  .Tremendo è il suo rancore; e non si unisce agli dei, ma, in disparte, entro il tempio odoroso d’ incenso siede, e abita l’aspra rocca di Eleusi.”

Demetra e Persephone si ritrovano

Ella salì sul carro e arrivarono dove dimorava Demetra dalla bella corona. “dalla bella corona”(v.225-255-251-295-384-470) essendo una delle tante mogli del re dell’Olimpo Zeus.

Demetra incontrò sua figlia che quando vide la madre lasciò il carro e i cavalli e le gettò le braccia al collo.La madre le rivolse molte domande:
“Figlia,mentre eri laggiù, non hai mangiato , certo,alcun cibo?parla ,non celarmi nulla,affinché io lo sappia con te.Così infatti, ritornando dall’aborrito Ade,con me e col padre Cronide dalle nere nubipotrai abitare,onorata da tutti gl’ immortali.Se invece hai mangiato, scendendo di nuovo nelle profondità della terraLì abiterai ogni anno per una delle tre stagioni:le altre due con me e con gli altri immortali.Ogni volta che la terra si coprirà di fiori odorosi,multicolori della primavera, allora dalla tenebra densatu sorgerai di nuovo,meraviglioso prodigio per gli dei e gli uomini mortali.E con quale insidia ti ingannò il possente dio che molti uomini accoglie?”

Persefone rispose:

“Certo, madre, io tutto ti narrerò sinceramente.Quando a me venne Ermes il corridore, messaggero veloce,da parte del padre Cronide e degli altri dei, progenie del cielo,a dirmi di risalire dall’Erebo, affinché rivedendomi coi tuoi occhi tu ponessi fine al rancore e all’ira inesorabile contro gl’immortali ,al vederlo io balzai in piedi,piena di gioia;ma Ade, insidiosamente,mi porse il seme del melograno,cibo dolce come il miele,e, contro la mia volontà, con la forza mi costrinse a mangiarlo.Come poi egli mi abbia rapito, secondo la ferma decisione del Cronide,mio padre, e sia fuggito portandomi nelle profondità della terra,io ti dirò; e ti narrerò tutto come mi chiedi.Noi tutte sull’ incantevole prato-Leucippe e Fainò ed Elettra e Iante,Melite, Iache, Rodeia e Calliroe,Melobosi, Tyche , e Okyroe dal roseo volto,Criseide, Ianeira, Acaste e Admete,Rodope, Plutò, e la graziosa Calipso,e Stige, e Urania, e l’amabile Galaxaura,e Pallade che suscita le battaglie, e Artemide saettatrice-giocavamo,e raccoglievamo con le nostre mani fiori stupendi,il delicato croco e insieme le iridi e il giacinto,corolle di rose ,e di gigli,prodigio a vedersi,e il narciso, che l’ampia terra generava come il croco.Io dunque lo coglievo, piena di gioia:ma la terra dal profondo si aprì, e ne balzò fuori il possente dio che molti uomini accoglie,e mi portò via,sotto terra, nel carro d’oro mentre gli resistevo, e levavo alte grida.Tutto, nel mio dolere,io ti ho sinceramente narrato.

IL LOOK DELLA VENERE  O  LUNA IN SCORPIO consigliato e ideato e realizzato dalla mia visione…Meryluise Astrologa

Luna e o Venere in Scorpione

 nella Dea Persefone rapitrice e

 ammaliatrice 

nel suo essere un’attrice,

 nella rinascita sessuale

 per un amore totale,

inchinandosi alla natura

che la vuole come fioritura

nella luce della genitura

Persefone Dea dello Scorpione
Tutti i colori

Quelli tendenti allo scuro,blu notte,blu mare, cobalto,amestista, nero,grigio perla,marrone scuro,rosso,amaranto,arancione scuro, .

Look

Calzature

 Stivali in pelle di nappa aderenti alla gamba, neri o rossi, scarpe con punta triangolare con tacco alto ma non a spillo, sandali alla schiava, sandali con infradito.

Vestiario abiti liegerie

Gonne aderenti ed elasticizzate, giubbotti, giacche corte alla vita, giubbini, maglie fresco di lana, cashere misto seta, cotone e lino , calze a rete, autoreggenti ligierie con bustini e slip sgambati, camicette con risvolti sovrapposti, scollature ,vestiti interi con lacci sulla schiena, corpetti sopra la vita, pantaloni aderenti sui fianchi e a zampa d’elefante, vestiti arabeggianti con ombellico in mostra. Sottoveste da indossare anche come abito.Reggiseni a balconcino.

Trucco e make up

Color sabbia del deserto,  color ocra per il fard e rossetto rosso fuoco. da portare al collo collana in raso nero.Capelli neri o ramati con frangetta e che arrivano alle spalle, capelli raccolti tiratissimi con coda di cavallo alta e lisciati.

MERYLUISE astrologia del look,bellezza,previsioni

FACCIO L’ANALISI DEL VOSTRO TEMA NATALE O CARTA ASTRALE PER:

-cambiare disposizione dell’arredamento posizionando alcuni elementi in armonia con le longitudini e latitudini dellla vostra casa,

-costruire uno schema abitativo secondo il vostro tema natale astrologico.

Simboli stelle del cielo come in terra, minerali astrologici personalizzati, profumi ed essenze personali e curative, essenze per la bellezza personale attraverso i vostri pianeti natali e altro ancora.

Trovare la vostra anima gemella come le stelle regali in cielo che hanno un sistema binario astronomico.

 Luogo: MERYLUISE ASTROLOGA PRESSO BEAUTY FARM web

Aggiornato: 03 settembre
Creato il 04 febbraio

Charging to read news content is like ‘putting genie back in bottle’, says Twitter co-founder Biz Stone

The co-founder of Twitter today warned Rupert Murdoch that his plans to charge for online content, and block Google from using stories produced by his News International titles, were a vain attempt to “put the genie back in the bottle”.

In recent weeks Murdoch has launched a vitriolic attack on Google and other web companies, accusing them of “stealing” content created by his titles, including the Times and the Sun. Management at News International is working on plans to introduce an online paywall next spring and prevent stories from being linked to by sites such as Google News.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone today warned that Murdoch “should be looking at it as an opportunity to do something radically different and find out how to make a ton of money out of being radically open rather than some money by being ridiculously closed”.

Speaking at an event organised by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (Nesta) in London, Stone added that the speed of change on the internet meant Murdoch’s plan was likely to “fail fast”. He was joined in his attack by Reid Hoffman, co-founder of networking site LinkedIn, who added: “I am sure that during the transition from horses to automobiles there were some people bemoaning the loss of horse transport.”

In contrast, Stone said Twitter’s future lay in making more of the service available to application developers and other partners so they could build on the stream of “tweets” created by its users. The social networking site’s users post more than 500 messages per second. The service is increasingly being used by news organisations as a way of discovering breaking news.

“I don’t know what the future of traditional media is,” said Stone. “But from my perspective and Twitter’s perspective I think there is a wonderful co-operative alliance there in terms of the wisdom of crowds, and as we add things to Twitter… maybe we can help.”

Twitter, which was valued at more than $1bn just over a month ago, is looking to drive revenues and eventually start making a profit. It plans to introduce some new features over the coming months. Stone, who set up the company just two years ago, said that by the end of the year it would have begun to offer its corporate users a suite of new analytical tools to help them use Twitter to keep in touch with customers and keep an eye on their brands. An increasing number of corporations, from mobile phone companies to airlines, have added Twitter as a means by which customers can get in touch.

Twitter is also considering giving its users reputation scores, which would help traditional news organisations using the social networking service to spot breaking news stories. Twitter recently announced search deals with both Google and Microsoft’s Bing and the deals added fuel to recent speculation that the micro-blogging site might be a takeover target for either business.

But Stone emphasised a sale was not on the cards: “That was never something we were interested in talking about”. Instead, the company was interested in doing more partnership deals. “One of the things we are seeking to do as we have already done with Myspace as we have done with LinkedIn, as we have done with AOL, as we have done with Google, as we have done with Bing, is to share our data and form partnerships that are long standing… Twitter wants to work with social networks, with mobile networks, with TV networks with search engines… we want to put a little Twitter in everything.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/19/twitter-murdoch-paywall-charge-content

• The CW’s Web site has launched a store with accessories and clothing seen on Gossip Girl and 90210.
• PEOPLE.com has more on the Leighton Meester (Blair, Gossip Girl) coverstory in Glamour UK.
• Two Tori Spelling (Donna, Beverly Hills 90210) films–Mother May I Sleep With Danger and Co-Ed Call Girl–made AOL’s list of Most Awesome Lifetime Movie Titles Ever.
• Rihanna has refuted reports that she’s dating Tristan Wilds (Dixon, 90210).
• MTV has several articles jointly featuring Kellan Lutz (George, 90210) and Nikki Reed (Sadie, The O.C.), all related to Twilight and New Moon.
• Zap2it and AOL have interviews with Benjamin McKenzie (Ryan, The O.C.).
• Olivia Wilde (Alex, The O.C.) stars in Fix, which starts tomorrow in some areas. Perez Hilton posted a pretty picture of her.
• AOL also has a video interview with Joshua Jackson (Pacey, Dawson’s Creek).
• After separating in June, James Van Der Beek (Dawson, Dawson’s Creek) and his wife are getting a divorce.
• The Dawson’s Creek Web site now has a trailer advertising Dawson’s Creek: The Complete Series. It’s pretty cool.

As we head in to the 2009 holiday season, we are being bombarded with news about the economy and unemployment. Layoffs continue…

• Adobe Systems lays off 680 people (November 10, 2009)
• Microsoft trims force by 800 (November 5, 2009)
• AOL to cut 2,500 jobs (November 19, 2009)

And if retail numbers from this holiday season are weak as many expect, then next year will likely see more layoffs as retailers large and small shudder their stores leading to a ripple effect in the commercial real estate market and economy as a whole.

Yes, numbers show the economy is improving – but they also show this will continue to be a jobless recovery for many sectors. However, the Information Technology industry has some light shining on it from behind the clouds. Despite unemployment rates at record highs, there are still jobs to be had for highly skilled resources.

On a daily basis Axis Technical Group is introduced to numerous technology professionals who are amongst the jobless, each seeking some silver lining in what is clearly a stormy job market. What we offer each of them is the plain, un-coated truth of what they can expect and what they need to do to differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack. Often, this is not what they want to hear, but understanding what you are facing in this job market is important if you are going to be successful in navigating through it.

For truly the first time in a depressed market, technology jobs and spending is not the first to go on the chopping block. Clearly budgets have been slashed, and people have lost their jobs. But when you look at the IT marketplace, you see companies realizing that in order to make money now and in the future, technology is the force that is driving improvements in daily workflow, process, and productivity.  Therefore, organizations that are cutting back across the board are looking to their technology team last and with a smaller knife than other areas.

This is the first in a series of blog posts that will share some of that plain truth with you, and offer some of the tools, information and tips that will help you pilot your own successful job search. The series will be geared towards the Information Technology (IT) industry and job market, but really can apply to any job search.

The perception in the IT segment of the market is that there are no jobs out there. The reality is quite the opposite as there are still numerous opportunities in IT, but they call for specific skills and expertise, not to mention offer lower salaries and the chance to compete with a stampede of candidates vying for the same position.  Every candidate is facing increasingly stiff competition from other highly qualified individuals and it is those people who are best prepared for the job search that will ultimately find success.

So, as a job seeker, what can you do to get the right job for you? Here are a few tips:

• First, have a plan. Are you currently working but looking for something better? Are you out of work and need to get income going again? Regardless of your situation, you have to have a game plan about everything from how you will run and manage your job search, to the industries (and even specific companies) you wish to target, to the weapons in your job search arsenal (resume, cover letter, references, work examples).

• Be realistic about your situation, and the changing marketplace. The jobs are there, but the employers have the all of leverage right now and are intent on finding the exact right fit, and at a compensation plan that fits the budget, but not necessarily your lifestyle. Know for yourself exactly what your limits are for compensation, commute, and level of responsibility.

• Be realistic about the job you are seeking. If you are a senior Software Engineer, don’t apply for the QA job just because you desperately need work. You will grow increasingly frustrated at the lack of return calls and will be wasting valuable time focusing on the job opportunities that are right for you.

• Choose your job-search partners carefully! This goes for everything from job boards to recruiters. Quantity IS NOT better than quality. Focus on some of the best IT job boards ( The Ladders, LinkedIN, and DICE are amongst your best choices in the crowed job website space. Equally as important is to be careful about the recruiters you work with. Make sure you interview the recruiters who call to interview you, and learn about their history and how long they have been in the business; learn who their clients are; learn what their resume privacy and submission policies are.

• Network – never underestimate the value of networking. Use Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to your advantage. It’s far easier to find a job when you “know someone who knows someone” than when you’re just dropping your resume on the virtual stack of resumes that pile up at every company. And don’t be afraid to ask someone – a friend, colleague, former boss – for a referral or a few kind words. They are worth their weight in gold.

• Guard your information and resume, and know who you are sending it to. Finding a new job is a job itself, and therefore keeping detailed records of who you have talked to, who your resume has been sent to, and the status of your opportunities, is very important.

Finding a job in today’s marketplace is a daunting task. But don’t let the challenge own you – you must own the challenge and remain positive every step of the way.

Click Here to learn more about Axis Technical Group’s Recruiting Process and then
Check back soon for the next in this“Looking for a job” series of posts – Your Resume.

Click Here to learn more about Axis Technical Group, or follow us on Twitter , Facebook , and LinkedIn .

Comments about the Axis Technical Group Blog? email us here.

As AOL (s TWX) lays off a third of its work force as it prepares to go independent, it’s looking to drop its ICQ and MapQuest units, according to reports by Kara Swisher. But with the deluge of information hitting web users these days, location and presence are two of the most promising ways to parse the online world (GigaOM Pro sub. required). They’re also two of the most innovation-rich veins of the last year, with projectile growth of mobile location apps and the ongoing real-time status arms race. While AOL is busy revising itself to be about content and advertising, both of those areas of focus benefit greatly from context and relevance.

ICQ was long ago eclipsed by other instant-messaging services (AOL’s AIM among them) and the last person to prefer MapQuest over the competition was probably Andy Samberg in “Lazy Sunday,” but those services are hardly tiny. MapQuest alone accounted for more than 40 percent of AOL’s U.S. search queries in October. ICQ reportedly has 40 million to 50 million unique monthly visitors and still leads the market in countries like Germany, Russia, Ukraine and Israel.

Given the overlap, it’s understandable that AOL no longer needs ICQ as much as it once did, but a sale of MapQuest is pretty strange — though AOL might be able to get a decent price for the unit out of Apple (s AAPL), which clearly would be happy to wean its mobile self off of Google (s GOOG) and its Maps.

AOL paid $287 million plus earnouts for ICQ in 1998 and $1.1 billion for MapQuest in 1999. The soon-to-be-spinoff itself is also possibly thinking about getting rid of recent acquisition Bebo, cause, you know, social networking’s another boring sector these days.

Gefunden bei heise.de:

19.11.2009 16:41

heise Jobs

AOL streicht 2500 Stellen

AOL macht sich schlank für die Börse: Im Zuge der geplanten Umstrukturierung sollen rund 2500 Jobs gestrichen werden. Wie das Wall Street Journal am heutigen Donnerstag berichtet, will sich die kurz vor der Abspaltung von der Mutter stehende Time-Warner-Tochter von mehr als einem Drittel der Belegschaft trennen.

Insgesamt sollen jährliche Kosten in Höhe von 300 Millionen Dollar eingespart werden. Das Unternehmen beschäftigt derzeit rund 6900 Mitarbeiter.

Sollten im Rahmen des derzeit laufenden Abfindungsprogramms nicht genügend Mitarbeiter “freiwillig” das Unternehmen verlassen, werde AOL kündigen müssen, sagte AOL-Sprecherin Tricia Primrose der Zeitung. Time Warner will die ungeliebte Internet-Tochter nach acht verlustreichen Jahren in die Eigenständigkeit entlassen und an die Börse bringen.

Der spektakuläre Zusammenschluss von Time Warner und dem damaligen Internet-Star AOL auf dem Höhepunkt der New Economy war eine der größten Fusionen der Branche, entpuppte sich dann allerdings als kapitaler Fehler. AOL hatte sich Time Warner für 160 Milliarden US-Dollar im April 2000 einverleibt und schuf so den Riesen AOL Time Warner. Nach dem die Dotcom-Blase geplatzt war, strich der Konzern das “AOL” im Herbst 2002 wieder aus dem Namen. Als Zugangsanbieter verlor AOL in den letzten Jahren rasant an Bedeutung und hat sein Geschäftsmodell im vergangenen Jahr voll auf den Portalbetrieb umgestellt. (vbr/c’t)

Американският интернет гигант AOL планра да уволни около 2,300 души. Повече по темата

This morning the Wall Street Journal reported AOL, Inc. plans to cut 2,500 jobs in preparation for being spun off from parent company Time Warner.

From the Wall Street Journal:

AOL Inc. plans to cut its work force by about a third, or roughly 2,500 jobs, as it prepares to spin off from Time Warner Inc. next month.

AOL Chief Executive Tim Armstrong will surrender his 2009 bonus, which was expected to be between $1.5 million and $4 million. ”That decision is a personal one and is not a sign for the future payout of the overall bonus plan for employees,” he said in an email to employees Thursday.

Mr. Armstrong is in the midst of a campaign to sell the Internet company to investors as a publicly traded business after years of strategic shifts and disappointing financial performances under Time Warner’s ownership. He has said the company will focus on expanding in online media content and branded display advertising as its dial-up Internet-access business declines.

The CEO began an effort to reduce the company’s cost structure four months ago.

AOL said it will seek volunteers for layoffs through Dec. 11 and will resort to involuntary layoffs if it doesn’t reach its target. It aims to cut annual operating costs by $300 million.

With these staff reductions, Tim Armstrong is repositioning AOL to become the largest single Google Adsense publisher – a super-sized version of Associated Content.

AssociatedContent.com is a new media company built on and monetized by Google Adsense Publishing.

Armstrong previously served as Chairman of the Board of the Associated Content.

In recent news, the country of Sweden crashed: Apparently it is possible to cause every single address in a domain to go down (in this case, .se), by making a simple script error during routine maintenance…whodathunk? I shudder to think what may happen when routine maintenance on the .com domain takes place…

In another bit of “wish I’d never done that” news, Tim Berners-Lee just admitted that the forward slashes in the Web’s URL design protocol were both unnecessary and – in his words – a mistake. With this in mind, I thought it might be fun to wander around the Web, and the Internet as a whole, just to see what we could find, by way of unfortunate stories we may have forgotten, or never even known about…things that “seemed like a good idea at the time”. We’re getting closer to the end of the year, when all those retrospectives come out, and I thought this would be as good a time as any to think back, only not just over the past year, but further. After all, it’s the history we forget that we so often tend to repeat…

Do you remember GeoCities? If you thought they died a long time ago, you might be surprised to hear that Yahoo, who acquired them back when people thought dot-coms would never bomb, recently (as in October 26th, 2009) announced GeoCities was closing its doors. Talk about limping along…

Then there are the ISPs. I was a Mindspringer for the longest time, one of the first evangelists for the brand (until Earthlink purchased them). Along with the likes of Prodigy (still shuffling along, believe it or not, as owner AT&T tries to find someone stupid enough to buy something worth nothing), AOL (reinventing itself every day, yet still deriving the largest measure of its revenue from good old (and I mean old!) dial-up subscriptions), and Netzero (reduced to net zero, as they try to find new ways to also rejigger the fact that they are still a dial-up ISP), Mindspring was a pioneer doomed to be eclipsed by telcos who learned from their mistakes.

When we think back to the search engines, the list is long: Webcrawler, AltaVista (technically still around), Lycos…heck, I’m just scraping the tip of the iceberg, and have already lost interest. Did you know that AltaVista had a chance to buy Google’s search technology way back when, and passed? Whoops. Google, contrary to its current well-deserved reputation, was not innovative at all when it first opened for business. It was efficient and analytical. Its algorithms reinvented web search, based on the ideas of its predecessors, good and bad alike. Some people call that reinventing the wheel, but they at least have not rested on their laurels.

Many websites that burned brightly for only a short while were decried as unsustainable business models (remember Pets.com, Webvan, eToys, Kibu, and Kozmo?), and yet their model has since been adapted and proven successful (Petedge, Upco, Fosters &Smith, Amazon, Barbie.com, Tesco, to name but a few comparable online ventures that seem to have “made it”). Timing is all, it would indeed seem, or at least kinda crucial.

For some, it was all about effective marketing and brand awareness…or the lack thereof: Akimbo.com failed because they could not manage to communicate their value proposition to their target market, among other “challenges”; Hulu succeeded (where Joost, Veoh, Vimeo, and others have not – to varying degrees) because they realized their brand strength was tied to the apron strings of their partners. OK, it certainly didn’t hurt that the networks who own the content it distributes also own Hulu!..

In other cases, interactive success came as a result of reinvention: the transition (or should I say ‘desertion”?) from Microsoft Live Search to today’s “Bing” *might* finally establish MSFT as a competitor to Google, in much the same way as Firefox is to the Redmond giant’s own browser…well, without the Open Source stuff!

Now,who uses RSS? I’m sure it some value, but not yet for me. I subscribe to several feeds, and all I do is trash the avalanche of junk in my inbox each morning. Until people learn to self police their content (be it RSS feeds, Tweets, or Facebook Mafia War activities), the internet is going to continue to burn through ideas like flames across the Verdugo mountains.  There is too much information online, and we want tools that will filter and control the flood of data, not simply fractionalize it. After all, half of infinity is still infinity.

Some companies have good ideas, easily replicable by larger or later-in-the-game interests. Kiko developed a web based calendar, which seems like a great idea, unless you factor that it was not sufficiently proprietary of a business model to prevent Google from developing its own Google Calendar app.; and  HotorNot.com and Friendster were arguably ripped off by what is known today as Facebook (originally Facemash). Several companies are in the process of trying to beat TVguide.com at its own game (something that seems – at first glance – to be a good idea, given that the TVGuide.com site is not so great). However, couchville.com was there first, and since departed. Branding is worth a lot these days, in a very cluttered marketplace and, unless you are a captive subscriber (using ATT/Yahoo TV portal, for instance), or an early adopter (of which there are far fewer than those of us on the East and West Coasts might believe).

Some ideas are not so much failures as temporary successes, taking advantage of loopholes in the law or in best practices. P2P is one prime example, with different offerings coming and going (or continuing to exist despite obviously supporting illegal practices), but there are others, such as Yak4ever, the site that allows you to make free international calls, albeit through a slightly cumbersome process. Google Voice is another offering that seems destined to either succumb to the counterattacks of the powerful telco lobbies, or force a reinvention of telco laws.

Where such ongoing “could go either way” projects as MySpace.com,  Friendster (it’s still trying to make a go of it, my friends, and doing quite well in the Asia Pacific regions!), Kiva (currently under attack by folks who’d like to see it go the way of govWorks.com. Did you read the recent NYT article?), Project Natal, and James Cameron’s “Avatar” (had to throw that one in there!) end up is anybody’s guess. That’s where you come in: What failures and unforeseen successes do you recall? What is coming down the pike that you feel may completely reinvent interactive content production, storage, distribution, and/or consumption? Are you working on something that will make the Internet an even more robust tool and platform for communications, community and content? What does the Internet mean to you, beyond the conventional Web and email? What internet ventures do you feel will still be with us by the end of 2010?

History shows that much of what we praise today will be gone tomorrow.

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter’d visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp’d on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Ozymandias, by Percy Shelley (1818)

Last spring, Time Warner announced that it would spin off AOL as an independent company. The announcement was made shortly after hiring Tim Armstrong away from Google as President. This fall, they’ve named members to the future Board of Directors and hired key financial executives needed to run the publicly traded company.

Now, we know that AOL’s independence day is December 9, 2009. All Time Warner stockholders as of 5pm on November 27, 2009 will receive 1 AOL share for every 11 shares of Time Warner.

AOL has openly talked about their focus on content, in ways reminiscent of Yahoo! after striking a deal with Microsoft. AOL currently relies on Google for their search, and there’s no sign of that changing anytime soon.