Inspired by the WorldChanging article "Bird Flu: Can We Out-Collaborate a Pandemic?" (dead link removed; SF 2025), I want to join the blogosphere chorus for educating the public about the dangers of avian influenza. This is a nasty topic almost no one knows about. Instead of writing my own article, I've borrowed the following from one Barry Campbell and his blog Enrevanche, licensed under the Creative Commons SA 2.0.

Change happens. Today is not the same as yesterday, and both are far different from a few decades ago. Nevertheless, most of us look at the troubles of the world and feel more or less hopeless than any social change will ever lessen the suffering and degradation of more than a small handful of any given populace. But change does occur. Legalized slavery was abolished in the United States. Citizens stopped hunting for witches. Democratic movements swept over the Ukraine, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon. Gandhi and King preached non-violence, and with non-violence achieved at least the first vital steps toward realizing their dreams. How this change comes about is the topic of an excellent essay, albeit one in need of some tightening, called The Six or Seven Axioms of Social Change.

Are those devils or dervishes dancing on my wingtips? I can't deny a certain...
    Beauty...
To it all;

Grace is not found in riveted
Planes of steel—
Even the birds register disapproval,
But perhaps its in a lonely red dot
Awash amidst gray and white,
Or maybe, yes, certainly
In the majesty of suspension while
Earth rolls 'round and 'round.

A recent article on George Lucas, the Presidio, and the URI in the Canada Free Press is an excellent example of the yellow journalism that now plagues the Internet, particularly in the blogging domain. Instead of providing the courtesy of a link to the article, I'll just talk about it instead. Some might say I'm engaging in a yellow tactic myself — but then again, I don't claim to be producing news at Conscientia.

I'll give you a couple of choice quotes though:

"Lucas creatures join the murky, hypocritical, we-have-a-monopoly-on-peace taxpayer-supported Neverland of the populous United Nations brethren." …

"URI claims that since 1996, over 1,000 people have participated in six regional conferences around the world. The cathedral in Chartes, France is the latest to join the movement. Its global headquarters and interfaith board of directors are located in San Francisco. Supporters have waited since 1996 for the release of a draft charter from the organization, and the draft is scheduled for release in June of 2005."

PBS's Robert X. Cringeley thinks Intel is poised to buy Apple (removed dead link; SF 2025), saying "Apple's Decision to Use Intel Processors Is Nothing Less Than an Attempt to Dethrone Microsoft. Really." What is a fan of upstart competitors to do when his favorite upstart (Apple) might merge with one of the upstarted (Intel as opposed to AMD)? Course its sheer speculation at this point, but Cringley makes fascinating observations. Since a friend mentioned two days ago not wanting to replace his broken Powerbook, as it would be obsolete in a year or two, I've wondered why Apple would make such a big announcement and risk major sales losses. Hm...

2¹⁴— that's the maximum number of files in a folder on the Windows operating system. If you fill this up, you don't get any more (unless you move a few files to another directory). In layman's terms, that 16,384 files. Just thought you should know.

A lonely flame chases away
The velvet embrace of dark
Claws extending toward my spirit.

Spirit not only lives but
Dies as the fire extinguished
By imbalance of nourishment.

The dancing gaiety ebbs every
So often blow the bellows,
Resuscitate soul, psyche, spirit.

Though she burns she is not sun,
Rather radiant rays of moonlight
Captured under forests' eaves.

The forest is the father of my
Fears and bearer of my hopes,
Nursemaid of my dreams.

O live on forest!
Live on my hopes, my dreams!
Even the whispering fears too,
For ye are all but one—
In spirit.

April 7, 2005. San Francisco, USA – The United Religions Initiative Global Council in March voted to endorse the Darfur Unity Statement in recognition of the continuing necessity for international intervention in the Darfur region of Sudan. Originally signed by over 100 non-governmental agencies in July of 2004, the Save Darfur Coalition's Unity Statement remains relevant today with over two million refugees in need of aid and death toll estimates in the region now exceeding 300,000 (the statement can be found at www.savedarfur.org).

When the anti-globalization riots occurred in Seattle in the late 90's, it seemed that none of the major news reports bothered saying just what they were protesting against. Yes, they said "globalization," but nothing about why the protesters saw globalization as a rampant evil. Thankfully I was part of a few networks that touched on this movement and passed its news on, so I knew that it wasn't just creeping materialism they were against, and it wasn't development per se that they hated: rather, it was the wholesale exploitation of third world countries for the continuing benefit of the first world, and, increasingly, specific transnational corporations. Postcards From The Global Food System (#3) (dead link removed; SF 2025) at WorldChanging last week brought this all back, and serves as a terrific introduction to the problems of globalization without regard for local conditions, cultures, and needs.

Yesterday's Minnesota Public Radio story Finding culture and history in the suburbs was perhaps the most poignant I've ever heard, spotlighting a wonderful program in a Minneapolis suburb and displaying the full power of audio to move the heart in ways text alone cannot.

The slam against suburbs is they lack culture or history. Wrong and wrong. Eden Prairie school children are discovering their suburb is loaded with culture and history, but it takes some digging to find it. Students at Eden Prairie's Oak Point Intermediate School interviewed elders in their community including people from other countries. They've put the stories to song.