Monday, April 30, 2007

History is Culture

A word today, friends on the notion of culture. It is firmly my belief that culture is based on family and an understanding of history. Despite a widely held belief that race impacts culture - I don't buy it.

Put anyone into a cultural society not their own and they will adapt to the societal norms to become a participating member of the new culture. Typically such new members of society will add their own cultural traditions and thus evolve the culture of the new society.

This is one of the secrets to the successfully merging of identities and cultures in New York City. It is the reason we celebrate New Years and then Chinese New Years. We also participate in a host of other cultural parades and activities throughout the year.

The Afro-American diaspora (link) is an example of such cultural integration. There is however a portion of the peoples for whom the mass dissipation has left it's original culture in tatters. I refer to those former slaves and their descendants (of whom I am one) who have had their original culture ripped away from them.

That is not to say that this removal process was either intentional or by any means complete. Nor has the lack of a historical binding to our original cultures hindered us from contributing new cultural idioms to the emerging society. Much of the stylized origins of popular culture originate from the Afro-American community.

Notwithstanding these contributions, it may be useful for the aforementioned community to reconnect with their historical roots. A re energized base of society, newly endowed with a sense of their original culture would no doubt add a new perspective to the self image of the community. It is out of this frame of reference that we now celebrate Kwanzaa (link).

But on to my main point. It should be well known if you read these pages (of the New Freedoms Journal) that I am a strong advocate of self-education. I cannot think of many things that are closer to understanding oneself than by the introspection obtained through a historical examination of one's culture in addition to the classics.

As it stands now we have access to the greatest information resource on the planet (the Internet). In addition to this resource there is a movement afoot to make available for free Education at the highest levels to anyone with access to the Internet (your public library will have free access).

Lastly I would like to direct your attention to the free resource of lectures and notes on the African American History (link). This resource is available to anyone free of charge from one of the nations top schools (The University of Notre Dame). There is a further collection of free Education materials at the Open Course ware Consortium (link) and Curriki (link). A search for free eduction on Del.icio.us (link) will yield many similar sites.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

The River of Life

You are awash in a stream of waters
Sometimes turbulent and strong
Other times quietly tugging at your attention
Ahead is a rock that is firmly entrenched in the flow

Although the rock seems far away
It often almost seems to disappear
Like the tip of an iceberg it somehow remains true
Be assured this rock is your salvation
whilst the waters of life wash over you

When pulled to the left or right
Keep this solid rock of salvation in sight
No matter what your calling or hue
It lies waiting steadfastly just for you

May you reach a peaceful destination
With well wishes,
Tommie N. Carter, Jr.

Bush-ism - historical reference or operational imperative?

(Vol.1, Issue 3.)

In an age when anger and madness run unchecked throughout the world. One critical thought is best remembered "All that is necessary for evil to prosper is that good men do nothing" (Edmund Burke) In an effort to avoid being branded "a bad american", as Mr. O'Reilly so aptly put those who would criticize the current American government; men of good conscience and equally good common sense have kept silent for far too long.

The sound of such silence can be heard in the clamor of our allies fleeing American society. How did we come to such a place? It's about that time, when Americans traditionally start asking such questions as who knew what, how much did they know and when did they know it.

Have we been bamboozled once again?

It seems to me this is just an old idea being spouted from a new person - McCarthyism most notably defined the term "anti-americanism". Bush-isms are a throwback to such a time - a time when for a while good people were afraid to stand up.

Not to say that everything coming from the White House is wrong. I mean many people like to examine facts. Intelligent folks like to determine courses of actions based on facts and constraints of the situation. Common sense is the very foundation of our justice system.

Unfortunately, for far too long the White House and the President continue to use inappropriate arguments on behalf of their points of view. Appeals to emotion rather than logic, invalid associations and, lack of evidential support for conclusions leave the public with little choice but to discount the arguments and in general the statements made by individuals as ambiguous and faulty at best. When one speaks with a forked tongue can any speech be true?

These Bush-isms include logic that amounts to "that's the way it is because I said it's so...". This operational expedience has taken the form of Presidential prerogatives way too far. A President of the United States is not King. Most notably, even a two year old will not accept these arguments (as many parents may attest to).

Now after much hoopla, many Americans are turning a deaf ear to GWB. It may be too little too late as every practical check on overuse of the environment are now a memory. Business, Societal and Governmental ethics have lapsed, as have the agencies that heretofore have policed these areas.

History it seems, is doomed to repeat itself, if we learn nothing from our examination of the past.

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Computer Health

While sitting in front of your computer you may be putting your health at risk. Especially if like most of us you tend to overdo most activities. If that picture is you consider the following:

To counter eye strain make the text larger in your browser (usually found by going to the View menu and looking for Text Size).

Reduce the brightness of your monitor (buttons are on the monitor screen).

Check out Froogle to find an anti-glare screen (link)

Consider buying Office Athlete software which will help you to learn a number of stretching techniques while you are sitting (link).

If you can spare the money getting an ergo-human chair (link) and a desk that allows your wrist to be level with your elbows might be worth the investment.

Remember that without good health nothing else matters.

Saturday, April 7, 2007

Educate and Inform

Learning has never been more open and free than it is becoming in the current days. MIT has been in the forefront of the news recently about placing its courses online in full before the end of 2008. A real break through has been the acceptance of this new forum for public education as it is being embraced by Chinese universities.

In conjunction with the development of a new openness in society regarding education is another development - the ability to translate ideas and information across language barriers. This site is one such example. Other tools exist that will enable students to access content and information from Asian Universities in addition to Western schools.

Option 1 - Learn a foreign language online using a free course from MIT (http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Foreign-Languages-and-Literatures/index.htm)

Option 2 - Use the built in translation tools within Microsoft Office to translate documents and learning materials into your native language (MS Word has a translation that works with WorldLingo.com to translate from many languages into other languages)

Option 3 - http://translate.google.com provides ever increasing translation services and flexibility.

Option 4 - Use an extensible web browser like Firefox together with a language translator add-in like ChinesePera-kun to be able to move your mouse over foreign words and get instant translations of web page materials.

As the education material for the entire world continues to become available even the poorest communities will gain the ability to educate our children. This might be a good time to consider home schooling as an alternative. With proper discipline, guidance and materials your kids can be the best educated generation thus far.

The time to act is now.

E Pluribus Unum

An interesting experiment is running off in a remote corner of the web-verse (web + universe). A forum where articles may be published by anyone. This is another example of the power of the pen being placed into the hands of an individual. To visit the site try accessing this link.

Part of the ongoing debate about content on the Internet is the revival of the "Pareto principle" (link). This principle may be better known to the reader as the 80/20 rule. To paraphrase - 80 percent of the outcome results from 20 percent of the resources. The relationship of this principle to web site is that 80 percent of the web traffic is generated by 20 percent of the web sites online.

This guiding principle may have some relevance in fact. How then do website owners become part of the 20 percent sites that generate a large amount of traffic?

The answer in a nutshell -

Broaden your appeal by increasing your content range within the category of information which you choose to deal.

Secondly, become an expert within your chosen field such that your site becomes very detailed.

Thirdly and lastly apply the laws of simplicity to your environment. Reduce, Shrink, Hide, Embody, Sort, Label, Integrate and, Prioritize with the understanding that complexity and simplicity are interdependent.

E Pluribus Unum