Two subcultures meet. A moving story

This http://projects.latimes.com/homeboys/ came from a Vietnam vet of Mexican descent. A serious juxtaposition of LA Homeboys with Alabama Poorboys.  What a difference exposure to other worlds makes. It takes one's breath away or at least makes one gasp to remember that severe poverty, lack of education and ignorance on the part of folks who can and ought to get involved to change the situation still exists in the U.S.

I can understand it's existence here in Peru to some extent. But STILL in the US? Guess I've just been gone too long.

Do take a look at all the links in the piece as well.

DARPA -MIT win all around! Cool. Recio.

The wonder Adriana von Hagen and I experienced our first time really surfing the www some 15 years ago is still there!!

in reference to:

"And if I could add, from our point of view, what the message of this was. I think it's important to point out that there's a tremendous scientific opportunity in all of this, and from our side, we were never in it for the 10 balloons. Of course, that was the challenge, and that was exciting. But from a broader scientific perspective, we were in it to understand how to mobilize the vast resources of the human network, to face challenges and explore opportunities in living in such a connected society. And as a footnote to that, I think some of the applications that might come out of this would be: Can we use this technology we've developed to find missing children or something along those lines where there's an incentive for people to really participate and help out? Often, the police will offer a reward for finding a missing child. Can we restructure that in a way that we tap the vast resources of this network? Again, maybe you don't live in the state where a child was abducted, but maybe you know someone who does. Or during an emergency, maybe we need to find 10 people in a region who can operate heavy machinery, maybe a building collapsed. And how can we use these new tools to solve those challenges to help society? That's kind of the broader message that comes out of this from our side."
- MIT floats ideas in DARPA balloon challenge (Q&A) | Digital Media - CNET News (view on Google Sidewiki)

News, democracy and Google

I can only hope that Schmidt keeps up his drumbeat and that other CEOs begin to form a chorus behind it. News investigations as a linchpin of democracy is not being talked about enough.
For me Skype's the answer. I deposit $10 in my Skype account and as i use it to call fixed phones in the US it goes down in 2-3¢ per minute. I'll be glad to plunk down an amount into a "fund" that I can use for newspaper articles that cost very small amounts and always be aware of how much I've spent, as i can easily see on Skype. Yeaaa, Google! Just do it!

in reference to: Eric Schmidt: How Google Can Help Newspapers - WSJ.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

slight paranoia: 8 Million Reasons for Real Surveillance Oversight

This is quite extraordinary. Where's the MSM?
slight paranoia: 8 Million Reasons for Real Surveillance Oversight

Solar Impulse image - Solar Impulse aircraft flies, briefly (photos) - CNET News

Cool. Just too cool. God bless inventors!!
Solar Impulse image - Solar Impulse aircraft flies, briefly (photos) - CNET News: "The first plane designed to fly day and night without fuel, the Solar Impulse HB-SIA lifted off for its maiden flight on December 3 from its home at Dubendorf Airfield, near Zurich, Switzerland."

Gates at it again...

..."Now the foundation is taking unprecedented steps to spend millions to influence the way the federal government distributes $5 billion in grants to overhaul public schools."
And, "Another concern is that as a private foundation, Gates doesn't have to disclose the details of its spending like the government does.

The big teachers' unions dispute some of the goals shared by Obama and the foundation. They say student achievement is much more than a score on a standardized test and that it's a mistake to rely so heavily on charter schools."

in reference to:

"Another concern is that as a private foundation, Gates doesn't have to disclose the details of its spending like the government does. The big teachers' unions dispute some of the goals shared by Obama and the foundation. They say student achievement is much more than a score on a standardized test and that it's a mistake to rely so heavily on charter schools."
- The influence game: Bill Gates pushes education reform - USATODAY.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Is Gates $12.9m for education or Microsoft?

I'm wondering how much of this is to aid Microsoft vis a vis Google, or to recruit new users for Microsoft products to be employed more in community colleges for science and math.

in reference to: Gates Foundation commits $12.9M to college technology - USATODAY.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

The team image - Digital cloud set to hover above 2012 Olympics (photos) - CNET News

This is my favorite of the 8 pix on C/Net!!

The team image - Digital cloud set to hover above 2012 Olympics (photos) - CNET News

2012 Olympics showpiece: Big bubbles in the sky | Planetary Gear - CNET News

Google just never stops. Fascinating.
2012 Olympics showpiece: Big bubbles in the sky | Planetary Gear - CNET News: "Carlo Ratti, head of the Senseable City Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is a team leader on the project that includes experts from across the world and Google as a partner. Ratti is known for his work on a textualizing waterfall at the Zaragoza World's Fair in 2008, the Real Time Rome population-tracking project, and the EyeStop bus shelters throughout Florence, Italy."

Google "good's" better than Microsoft

Note today Dec. 1, 09 Google's home page and compare it with Microhard's. Doing "good" is simply not in Microsoft's genetic code.
Google: World AIDS Day: Learn more about how you can help; Microhard? Business as usual.
Kudos to Google's effort that goes beyond "image" to being "useful," i.e., reminding people and leading them to more info on Aids.
Microhard doesn't "get it" because they' lack and will never have "it," a sense of the common good. Yeeaaaa, Google! (And no I don't own stock in it, darn it!)

in reference to: Microsoft Corporation (view on Google Sidewiki)