Earthquake: Inauguration, Change.gov, Paradigm Shift?

Here are some thoughts about Obama's inauguration, many of which I posted to twitter.com:

Here are two inauguration poems, - Elizabeth Alexander's "Praise Song for the Day" (2009) http://tinyurl.com/9a7zsg, and Robert Frost's "Dedication" (1961) http://tinyurl.com/9tezuk.

With Obama's presidency and the World Wide Web, we may have the potential for positively extending the freedom-oriented American Revolution of 1776 significantly. Vote ideas, for example, with blogger.com. Let the world know your ideas.

There's such potential for positive, smart change ahead. Blogger.com is one way to write about it, and, also, email your ideas directly to the White House: http://change.gov/content/home.

Anti-war, friendly, index investing: Vanguard's Bogle ~ http://tinyurl.com/7gjg6o ~ Indexing is the best way to invest, rationally and sensibly. You'll probably do best financially in the long run this way.

Obama as symbol, as intellectual, and, metaphorically, as computer server software - networked with academics around the globe, people who think critically about world issues {some bloggers}, and leaders around the globe - has amazing potential to stream ideas anew.

The discourse on race in this country has now changed dramatically. We have a new black president!

Nice to have atheism - Barack used the word 'non-believer' - included in this nation's rhetoric. Concerning religion, to have mentioned the 7-8 Huston Smith's "Religions of Man" religions, plus the openings emerging in 1960s would have been more inclusive - it's probably ahead, ... but it's hard to 'win' with religious rhetoric in a plural U.S. world .... :)

There's a "Durkheimian" social fact situation occurring here. And the social networking technology twitter was 'spectating,' and in some ways generating a kind of social fact conversation, one of an amazing number of media-mediated conversations. What about the budget ahead? - http://fcnl.org.

Marshall McLuhan's 'the medium is the message' - the video streaming of the inauguration on the Internet was pretty good; the medium now is a new network of thinking.

'This Land is Your Land' - Pete Seeger and friends at the Lincoln Memorial - http://youtube.com/watch?v=n-PCpRWqXv8 . It's too bad Woody Guthrie isn't here to see this day.

We're scaling up significantly this idea-renaissance we're digitizing, and have a remarkable opening with Obama and possibility. ... Idea-izing the world? > Write on.

OK, everybody, we're in charge now, vote with your 10-fingered ideas. Here's one free source - http://blogger.com . Democracy ideas.




And here's a letter I wrote to a nontheist friend's e-mail group.


Nontheist friends,

Here's a letter I'm sending to Barack and Joe. Change.gov seems to give us direct access to a very high level of government, via the Internet. I found out about change.gov from twitter.com and facebook.com. And, from a nontheist friend, I found out recently that you can send messages to the White House here, too: whitehouse.gov.

Let's all write emails regularly. Start a conversation with them.

Scott




Dear Barack and Joe,

Your inaugurations offer great possibility and hope.

Is there a paradigm shift ahead?

There are lots of cards to 'play' in this new 4 year game of 'poker' (vis-a-vis Harvard Law Professor Charlie Nesson). But I hope the cards that are significant are those of blogger's ideas, in particular. Please read blogs to allow us to idea-vote the 'program' of democratic government anew. {They can also offer a lot of useful, timely and topical ideas for in this rapidly changing world}.


To innovate today, too, I hope we can far-reachingly and sensibly open and extend the following:

software (via Open Source),

hardware (e.g. Bug Labs),

law (wikify the law, and e.g. Creative Commons law),

energy infrastructure (allow people to sell extra solar and wind energy that they generate back to the electrical grid, to significantly diversify the power grid),

university and education (World University and School, a Global, Virtual/Digital, Open, Free, Degree-Granting, Multilingual University & School, where anyone can teach or take a class or course - worlduniversity.wikia.com),

and so much more.


Make peace a priority - vis-a-vis the Friends' Committee on National Legislation - fcnl.org - budget priorities.

I'm glad your bodyminds - as 'computers,' as well as these networks shaped by the World Wide Web and the Internet - are making key decisions and helping to think and strategize ahead.

Best wishes,
Scott

scottmacleod.com




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To the Harbin pools soon ...