HELIOLITH

I just finished reading The Cathedral and the Bazaar (Wikipedia | O’Reilly ) by Eric S. Raymond (Wikipedia) . The original essay was released in 1997 and the book which includes 4 other related essays was released in 1999. I found it was a quite enjoyable and interesting read. The complete text of all of […]

While visiting my parents on the East Coast, (and yes my dear co-author Talula), I had the opportunity to see the powerful documentary film, “Street Fight.” (Wikipedia | Official Site) It’s about Cory Booker’s (Wikipedia | Official Site) unsuccessful but relentless campaign for mayor of the city of Newark, N.J. in 2002. […]

I’ve been using Ubuntu Linux for 99% of my computer needs since January, and am quite content to not depend upon Windows for anything. One of the nice features that comes with Ubuntu is the ‘gnome-volume-manager’ daemon that auto-mounts usb and firewire devices when they’re connected. I need to start that ($gnome-volume-manager &) once […]

The LA Times’ opinion page carried an interesting story Wednesday: that the Bush administration is reluctant to release the results of a study we paid for through the National Literacy Panel. An administration that touts science publically seems frequently at odds with accepted research (global warming, evolution, etc.)
Panelist Robert Slavin, an education professor […]

Driving home from work I was listening to a local NPR station. I the reporter say (approximately) “Ventura County Sherrifs responded to a domestic violence call last night in Oak View…” They named a very small street I used to live on, and blood rushed to my ears, sensing events that were too […]

I’ve been playing with Stumbleupon and came back again to the postsecret weblog that takes postcards sent in anonymously and posts them. They are frequently sad, occaisonally funny, and very frequently incredibly powerful.
Upon seeing this card, I felt tears coming on and had to put my head down for a few moments. In […]

This is an open letter to Maribel Cuevas, age 11 of Fresno California, who after being seperated from her parents for 3 days [edit: 5 days], and put under house arrest for 30 is being prosecuted for assault with a “deadly weapon” for throwing a rock at a boy that had been pelting her with […]

Lately my first stop for news, the Slate’s “today’s papers” section shared a few good links around the currently evolving scandal regarding the leaking of Valerie Plame’s CIA identity and Karl Rove. Especially interesting is the juxtaposition of previous administration comments and the somewhat irrepressible hounding of gag-ordered? Whitehouse frontman Scott McClellan who absolutely refused […]

My lately dizzyingly busy personal life (a new baby, the end of the school year) having held me back from writing as I would like, my vision of content is shifting slowly toward a more child-friendly message. An activist that I once worked with told a group of teachers as we were trying to […]

Amnesty released an extensive report last week, and I started a post, but ran out of time. Amnesty called for an end to “the gulag of Guantanamo,” alleging that the US has “thumbed its nose at the rule of law and human rights.” In a press release on their site, Irene Khan […]