Sunday, November 30, 2014

Euphorbiaceae: Letter from American Friend in England, Helps me appreciate Harbin as ethnographic field site for its warm water {natural} clothing optional meditation and Californian/west coast hippie-minded-ness and friendly cultural freedoms/thinking, even decades after the sixties, as well as sunbelt California weather, much, Quaker Meeting Houses at Wellingborough and Northhamptonshire



Hi Donald,

Interesting email to Berkeley Strawberry Quakers' email list from England. Have you seen it already? Do you know the writer?

Helps me appreciate Harbin as ethnographic field site for its warm water {natural} clothing optional meditation and Californian/west coast hippie-minded-ness and friendly cultural freedoms/thinking, even decades after the sixties, as well as sunbelt California weather, much.

Friendly regards,
Scott


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Dear Strawberries,

As you know, I transferred my membership in 2013 from Strawberry Creek to Wellingborough Local Meeting (formerly called preparatory meeting, not the same as in our terminology), which is, in turn, part of Northampton Area (formerly Monthly) Meeting, which is part of Britain Yearly Meeting. The change in terms was dictated by laws passed a few years ago regarding governance of charities (of which religious bodies are a category) in England. We also have trustees (legally speaking), which, of course, has nothing to do with Quaker practice. The level of regulation here is much higher in many ways than in the USA.

But even though I am now officially a member of a meeting in England, my heart and spirit are still tied with unbreakable golden cords to Strawberry Creek. Even after 11 years here, I refer to SC as my home meeting and hold our meeting's community and mutual care as examples of what Friends are really about. So, Friends, I want to share a brief summary of my year. We had some ups and downs, some challenges and rewards, as always.

Travel-wise, we stayed close to home, our longest holiday being four hot July days in Stratford-on-Avon for my annual birthday feast of Shakespeare at the Royal Shakespeare Company. The RSC is almost as familiar to me now as the old Berkeley Rep was. We’ve seen nine shows there this year, including an extraordinary Henry IV-1&2.

At the National Theatre, we saw the Lear that won every award possible, a cold and completely unredeemable Lear in a grey and forbidding landscape; and Sean O’Casey’s anti-war play, The Silver Tassie, written after WWI, as (I think) an object less on the futility of thinking anyone ever "wins" a war.

We also frequent the Cambridge Arts Theatre, where we see pre-West End shows at half the price of London tickets; and the ADC theatre, where Ian McKellen, Derek Jacobi, Fry & Laurie, Emma Thompson and  others first got noticed. Ian got his MA at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and he knows the city like the back of his hand. In Cambridge, we also visit Ian's most elderly friend, a real firecracker of a woman, in her late 80s and still making waves. She was Ian's first Kabbalah teacher, and we always have discussions with her about spiritual life.

The year wasn't all theatre, however. Life happened, too. I had my brush with cancer, and came away declared cancer-free. I can’t fault the National Health System on this one. I was seen and run through myriad tests within three weeks, and scheduled for surgery. Of course, in my most polite, but assertive American way, I demanded a referral to The Royal Marsden Hospital, the major UK center for cancer research, where treatment is always quick and is the best in the country. I was also selected to be a subject in breast cancer research into the specific type of cancer cells I had, which means that my tiny bit of cancer might help cure someone down the line.

That whole mini-drama happened in the middle of my taking two courses at the same time. In the first, Spiritual Companion Mentor training, this year I completed 144 credit hours, with the  final project comprising a portfolio of six documents and a self-assessment grid.  I got word November 26th that my portfolio passed all requirements. I’ll receive the Certificate of Professional Practice in Spiritual Studies and Companionship from the London College of Teachers, a professional qualification for the UK and Europe.  (The College of Teachers, established in 1846, is the UK’s Professional Educational Institute for Teachers and awards internationally recognized qualifications.)
        
The second course, Equipping for Ministry, is at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre in Birmingham. This one requires about the equivalent of 150 American credit hours. There’s no certificate or diploma at the end, but, for me, it’s a wonderful connection to Quakers in Britain, developing friendships and learning about how Quakers operate here– which is very different from American Quaker meetings. 2014 was the first year of the two-year course.

Ian has been taking courses, too, and is considering a second MA, this time in law. (His first is in Classics.) He applies for full-time judicial positions when openings come up– which is very rarely. He’s been a part-time judge for seven years, plus his job as a lawyer, and he wants to stop splitting his focus. He is happiest at the end of a day when he's been sitting, hearing cases, churning facts in his mind. He almost glows when he's writing his decisions; the challenge of balancing the law with the credibility of the documents and testimony makes him buzz with contentment. He enjoys his judicial review work as a government lawyer, and he is the resident senior expert in his division; but it's the judicial work that really suits him best.

On the home front, we adopted a second dog, Pirosca, a few days before last Christmas. She was the last puppy from Poddie’s litter, still at the rescue kennels six months later. The day the rescue people brought her here, she and Poddie were so overjoyed to see each other, they ran and ran for joy, for almost an hour. Pirosca had never lived in a house before, so there was a challenge to get her used to being inside. She is so afraid of people that even we can’t touch her, except when she and Poddie are up on the bed with me or Ian or both of us. But she has come a long way in a year. She now no longer runs outside when someone comes to the door. She sits at a safe distance and watches. Adopting rescue dogs holds a lot of challenges, but seeing a dog learn to trust, even a little, after a life of abuse and living in kennels for over a year, is exciting and humbling.

...

As I write this, the days are grey here; often a thick mist rises for most of the morning; it gets dark at about 4:00 now. The shortest day is less than a month away, and Christmas only a few days after that. Hope yours is warm, cosy and meaningful to you.

Missing you all, especially this time of year.

Love,
Mona    
                                                                                                  
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Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein Our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long.
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad,
The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike,
No fairy takes nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallowed and so gracious is the time.

                                                        --Shakespeare
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Just found this Quaker writer's blog too - http://lightwithspirit.wordpress.com/2008/04/30/is-violence-in-a-normal-range-of-emotions/ - interesting cuppa tea  ...


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Perhaps her husband, Ian, could help develop "England WUaS Law School" and related ...

http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/World_University_Law_School#World_University_and_School_Links


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Quaker Meeting House at Wellingborough -


https://sites.google.com/site/wellingboroughhistory/places-of-worship/non-conformists/society-of-friends

See too - Quaker Meeting House at Wellingborough - https://www.flickr.com/photos/bazrichardson/6789694513/


Friends’ Meeting House - Wellington Street, Northampton, Northamptonshire -


http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/directory/friends-meeting-house11


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Appreciating Friendly care / love ... which Quakers can focus on via Quaker organizations ...

while appreciating Harbin warm water releasing and hippie ethos ...

... and F/friends and hippies do have much in common and "meditatively"

















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Saturday, November 29, 2014

Erysimum species: The Grateful Dead soar, and in the modern world - and for Deadheads - innovatively ... and now in the information age, - Dicks Picks Vol 36 (Discs 1 and 2, The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA), How to weave this GD ethos of creative jamming freedom in with MIT OCW-centric wiki WUaS, A lot of listening and music-making by WUaS students from their high school rooms matriculated on the web around the world?


The Grateful Dead soar, and in the modern world - and for Deadheads - innovatively ... and now in the information age ... http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Grateful_Dead ...

I'm curious how to weave this GD ethos of creative jamming freedom in with MIT OCW-centric wiki World University and School ... and academically especially ... with the focus of students who go to great universities ... http://worlduniversityandschool.org/ ...

A lot of listening and music-making by WUaS students from their high school rooms matriculated on the web around the world?


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Dick's Picks picked the best of some of their shows ...

The Grateful Dead - Dicks Picks Vol 36 (Discs 1 and 2, The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQzPRKxHH6w
9/21/72 The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA
JerrysKids


Grateful Dead - Dick's Picks Vol 10 - San Francisco 12-29-77



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yggcg_azJ94
12/29/77 San Francisco, CA
untamewaves


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Friday, November 28, 2014

Echium spp.: Added Stanford surveillance free course "Surveillance Law" … to wiki MIT OCW-centric "Surveillance" subject page, Here, too - "Jonathan Mayer -- The Science of Surveillance," "Jonathan Mayer - Do Not Track: Technology, Policy, and Politics" ... Technology of the absurd here? ... "Cameras to Watch Cameras in Maryland," ... which CC WUaS "Surveillance" subject/school is accessible here too at the main, WUaS Subjects wiki page


Added Stanford surveillance free course "Surveillance Law" - https://www.coursera.org/course/surveillance

… to wiki MIT OCW-centrric "Surveillance" subject page - http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Surveillance


… and to the wiki MIT OCW-centrric "Law" subject page -
http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Law



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Here, too -

Jonathan Mayer -- The Science of Surveillance



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpS6llZeoC4
2014 - CITP Princeton

Jonathan Mayer - Do Not Track: Technology, Policy, and Politics


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ0vCPV-z9s
2011 - Stanford Center for Internet & Society


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Kinda funny ...

Technology of the absurd here? ... 

"Cameras to Watch Cameras in Maryland" ... http://idle.slashdot.org/story/12/09/14/154253/cameras-to-watch-cameras-in-maryland ... 


also added this to
http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Surveillance 

... which CC WUaS "Surveillance" subject/school is accessible here too at the main WUaS Subjects wiki page (only in English so far) ...  http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Subjects ... 






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Thursday, November 27, 2014

Echinodium spp.: What a CC Wikidata feast in all 7,106 languages WUaS will be ..., "#Wikidata, the interview" ... Lydia Pintscher (Wikidata's communication person) and Daniel Kintzler (one of three core developers of Wikidata), "... But what is this brand new Wikidata project about.", Added this to the Wiki subject/school at WUaS, Tweeted this interview with Lydia to WUaS Twitter today, See this more recent news from today too ... "statements on properties and first language fallbacks are coming"


What a CC Wikidata feast in all 7,106 languages WUaS will be ...
http://worlduniversityandschool.org/


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"#Wikidata, the interview" ... 

Lydia Pintscher (Wikidata's communication person) and Daniel Kintzler (one of three core developers of Wikidata) ... 

"... But what is this brand new Wikidata project about." 
http://ultimategerardm.blogspot.com/2012/03/wikidata-interview.html … - 


Pintscher, Lydia, with Gerard Meijssen (interviewer). 2012. [http://ultimategerardm.blogspot.com/2012/03/wikidata-interview.html #Wikidata, the interview]. Netherlands: ultimategerardm.blogspot.com/2012/03/wikidata-interview.html . 


Added this to the Wiki subject/school at WUaS  - 
http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Wiki  

Tweeted this interview by interview with Lydia (@nightrose - https://twitter.com/nightrose)

to 
https://twitter.com/WorldUnivandSch
and
https://twitter.com/scottmacleod




See this more recent news from today too ... 

statements on properties and first language fallbacks are coming[edit | Add topic]

Hey folks :)
Good news before the end of the year!
  • You can go to test.wikidata.org right now and test out statements on properties. If everything goes well we will make it available on Wikidata in 1 week. One thing that is missing is a new datatype to link to other properties to indicate things like "property x is the inverse of property y". That will come a bit later. Discussion about proposed properties to be used on properties is happening at Wikidata:Property proposal/Property metadata.
  • Language fallbacks are coming. This is a first version. It'll only show fallbacks of linked entities on an item. So if you are viewing an item with a statement linking to another item you will see a label in another language for this linked item if it doesn't have a label in your language. Fallbacks are currently implemented to follow the fallback for system messages. Unfortunately you can't try that out on test.wikidata.org yet. That'll hopefully happen next week. It should go live on Wikidata in two weeks.
Cheers --Lydia Pintscher (WMDE) (talk) 16:35, 27 November 2014 (UTC)


https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Project_chat#statements_on_properties_and_first_language_fallbacks_are_coming






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Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Trisetum distichophyllum: added this "A Very Open Xmas! - Part I: Hardware" article to MIT OCW World University and School - Hardware_Resource_Possibilities, Virtual_Worlds, Brain_Computer_Interface, Liking, in particular, here: Virtual Reality Headsets as DIY - and vis-a-vis WUaS


Great, Juan ... added this "A Very Open Xmas! - Part I: Hardware" article - http://www.plingzine.com/?p=724 -  to MIT OCW World University and School -

Hardware_Resource_Possibilities -
http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Hardware_Resource_Possibilities

Virtual_Worlds -
http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Virtual_Worlds

Brain_Computer_Interface -
http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Brain_Computer_Interface





Liking, in particular, here http://www.plingzine.com/?p=724 


Virtual Reality Headsets

The DIY Open Source VR Goggles.
The DIY Open Source VR Goggles.
If you are on a tighter budget, you could go for the Open Source Virtual Reality Goggles that are currently running a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. Inspired by Google cardboard, the DIY Virtual Reality Goggles extend functionality with, not only a magnetic button, but a capacitative switch that guarantees the goggles will work with virtually all smartphones with a touchscreen. It also includes a rig that allows you to attach the goggles to a cap, which means you can use it hands free… Because you’re going to need you hands for the Leap Motion you can mount at the front of your device, allowing you to interact with the VR world using your hands.
They have also created an Open Source VR development framework called GLAM, that allows developers create VR environments as easy as creating web pages, so it’s a gift to programmers too.








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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Degenia velebitica: "Skin in the game" in WUaS, How to interpret it in your case? More investors, more lenders...?, Aye, seems so, yes ... more investors, lenders, donors, f/Friends in WUaS financially to spread the risk, fuel the growth, help accredit, and benefit.



Hi Scott, got your phone call about skin in the game. I don't really know how to interpret it in your case -- sorry. More investors, more lenders...?



Hi Donald,

Aye, seems so, yes ... re: "Skin in the game" - more investors, lenders, donors, f/Friends in WUaS financially to spread the risk, fuel the growth, help accredit, and benefit.

Happy Thanksgiving as well to all!

Cheers,
Scott



Donors and contributors to 501 c 3 WUaS - 



Potential investors and lenders ...
contact: info@worlduniversityandschool.org
http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/World_University_Foundation







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Monday, November 24, 2014

Zelkova: Recent Rhodes' Scholar list of undergraduate winners who might also be good eventual WUaS online graduate instructors teaching in group video to MIT professors, And in MIT OCW translated courses too, Reed College has produced many Rhode Scholars' over the years, WUaS's great universities' wiki list, Friendly / Quaker excellent graduate students and - eventually for many large languages ?



Hi D,

Thanks for this recent Rhodes' Scholar list of undergraduate winners - http://www.rhodesscholar.org/assets/uploads/rhodes_winners_list_11_22_14.pdf - who might also be good eventual WUaS online graduate instructors teaching in group video to MIT professors - http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/audio-video-courses/. (Reed College has produced many Rhodes' Scholars over the years as well, as you probably know, since your mother went there some years ago). Good idea too to look at such lists.  

How to find the best graduate student instructors to teach to MIT audio video faculty in the MIT OCW - again, http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/audio-video-courses/ - and in MIT OCW translated courses - http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/translated-courses/ - at all of these universities on WUaS's great universities' wiki list - http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses#University_course_listings - and possibly Friendly / Quaker  is a good question, and such academic achievement award lists are a starting approach - and eventually for many large languages?

Scott





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Sunday, November 23, 2014

Path moss: To Friends Association for Higher Education (Quaker) about WUaS, Glad to see Wikidata and Commons coming together first on December 2 and then in January / February 2015, Friends - become tender - and the virtual?



Dear Kimberly and FAHE friends,

It was nice to meet with you at the FAHE (Friends Association for Higher Education) conference at Haverford in June.

Thanks for this good news too on behalf of Friendly-informed, MIT OCW-centric, wiki, accrediting, CC World University and School - http://worlduniversityandschool.org - which is like Wikipedia with MIT OpenCourseWare, and planned for all 7,106+ languages and 242+ countries (where CC Wikipedia is in 288+ languages and CC MIT OCW is in at least 8 non-English languages). Startup WUaS plans to accredit first in English with MIT OCW audio-video courses - http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/audio-video-courses/ - and then in other languages with MIT OCW translated courses - http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/translated-courses/ - with interactivity taking place with teachers in group video, for example, and while also creating wiki schools in all languages.

WUaS hopes also to create a lot of employment opportunities -
http://quakerfahe.com/quaker-colleges-universities-and-study-centers/employment-opportunities-at-quaker-educational-institutions/ - at FAHE member institutions (twice the size of IBM eventually perhaps?) and among F/friends.

WUaS holds an open monthly business meeting in the manner of Friends on the second Saturdays of the month at 9 am Pacific Time (which is an hour-long and electronically mediated) to conduct our business. All are welcome (email worlduniversityandschool@gmail.com and info@worlduniversityandschool.org if interested in participating).

You can find out more about WUaS's business meeting here at the World University and School blog - http://worlduniversityandschool.blogspot.com/search/label/Business%20Meeting
- in the "Business Meeting" label, and find out more about WUaS in general in my blog in the "Quaker" label - http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/search/label/Quaker - and in the "global university" label - http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/search/label/global%20university.

Very much a leading in the manner of Friends, WUaS would like to reach out to Meetings around the world in many languages to offer free (since CC - Creative Commons' licensed) and MIT-centric degrees online, where many students would be studying from the rooms in which they went to high school.

Thanks too for the FAHE newsletter.

With Friendly greetings,
Scott

http://worlduniversityandschool.org


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Glad to see Wikidata - https://www.wikidata.org/ - and Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page - coming together first on December 2 and then in January / February 2015, and thanks for this great office hour record of a collaborative conversation among Wikidatans and structured data folks - https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours/Office_hours_2014-11-20 - and also to see that structured multimedia data is up next. :)

Cheers, Scott

See, too -
Wikidata Status updates:
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Status_updates/Next


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Friends/Quakers - to become tender

Friends have an expression "to become tender" which I understand to be what some Quakers have noticed in other Friends when they become very caring and/or loving, and as an expression of Quaker culture and also perhaps because of a vision (in the vein of "lamb of God"), or even as a virtual experience (in my interpretation) of a Friendly vision.


How to start generating income/revenue for myself, and WUaS, and somehow soften further – to become tender, and more loving, in a F/friendly Quaker sense – in being with people, in helping people, in being creative, in developing World University and School, and in having a family … and also vis-à-vis Harbin? …




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