One Geek

Hung out this arvo and night with Jem, who is just back from Mexico. It was fun. I think not being in Australia when Jem left I didn’t really get the chance to notice that she had left. Now though the Jem shaped hole in my community, is filled and things are just that extra bit more fun.

I feel like I have a few decent sized balls in the air, interested to see where they land.

An interesting article on cognitive leadership here.

In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.’ But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

May he rest well, but also may the spirit God placed in him stir up another great leader for social justice.

It’s amazing how little people people know about poverty. I had a consultant and her boss come into the office today to talk to me about a product. Anyway during the course of the subject I ended up mentioning my work in India, and she didn’t know how she would deal with that kind of poverty. She wanted to know what she could to help, and I told her about TEAR’s useful gifts and fair trade products. I think she might even buy some, interestingly her boss new about fair trade and already was on board with it. I am glad that Wollies and Coles both sell fair trade products, because it makes it so easy for people to do something.

It made me think that I spend so much time with people who know about poverty and related issues. I have ghettoised myself so much over the years, to the point where all my friends are pretty much awesome poverty fighting people. I forget sometimes that out there are compassionate people who have yet to be informed of the simple things they can do to help. That’s why I think Make Poverty History brand is so important. It should be a good way of engaging a disconnected, but generally compassionate wider community. Sadly it seems to have lost energy lately.

I hate being forced to watch one of those piracy ads on my DVD’s. It makes want to get good old pirated versions which don’t make me watch those ads.

Went and asked someone in the new T2 store in Hornsby about fair trade and their imported teas. They had a somewhat reasonable position that fair trade tea wasn’t good enough quality yet, but that the owners try to choose good tea produces.

There seems to be some solid evidence that the NH Primary could of actually been stolen. There seems to be decent statistics to indicate that the results from the voting machines are quite suspicious. There are also known techniques for hacking the voting machines in question.

I am glad that in Australia we don’t have voting machines.

So far today I’ve sent email to people I know in three continents. I think I might try and make it five continents. Shame I don’t know anyone living in Antarctica.

Prayer is now being outsourced by American churches.

Well I had read about outsource dating but today I found a site that specialise in it. I must say it makes me even more cynical about the entire concept. There code of contact is I must say is pretty amusing. They draw the line at air brushing your photo..

Reading some stuff about electronic voting in the States. From the sounds of things I could easily hack an election. I would say based on this and under things I have read that America is no longer a real democracy.

So much to do.. Might even work on a Saturday.