Bad Idea: PIPA and SOPA!?

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.. as these are are written in ambiguous legal language, would have the power to circumvent due process and hence are just waiting to be abused and will in the end also hurt the innocent because the defendant may not even know about having been charged even if only for the smallest infraction. We don’t need more government control especially when big, corporate business is behind it.

Initially I came across this information from the WordPress community and then, before finalizing this post, and rather than reading pages and pages of legal dribble, I researched this proposed bill on Wikipedia. There the article explains who’s behind this bill and who’s opposing it and why.

As of today (January 18), TED.com also released a video on the subject which is the best to date that I’ve found:

 

I’m all for, in this case, artists reaping the benefits of their art and skill, but I am strongly opposed to corporate interests strong arming political and legal clout which is already being abused merely to satisfy greed and hunger for power, never satisfied, making the American Dream nothing more than a pipe dream for the rest of us. I am getting sick and tired of seeing corporate interests around the world wreaking havoc on people and habitats in all the facets that we’ve already seen.

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

A personal favorite of mine is the phrase “Open Source”…

I’d like to and am beginning to see a future where people follow the passion that’s in their heart: to dream, explore, make, build, write, compose, visualize, inspire, synthesize something out of their own creative soul-center and share it for common enjoyment (e.g. ted.com). We’re reconnecting with each other in a spirit of compassion, collaborating, brain-storming, problem solving, meditating, soul-searching, evolving and once again feeling a connection with the Earth and being willing to be responsible and appreciative stewards of this little blue marble …

Life comes from within and needs to be nurtured in order to fulfill its birthright in perpetual potential for growth via experience and learning and sharing and helping – herein lies true happiness.

Before I forget, here’s a link to the petition to sign if you agree to fight counter-productive bills such as this: takeaction

Elusive Talent in Large Companies

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This Forbes article shows 10 reasons why talented people leave esp. large companies.

Open Mindedness: What a surprise to find that I’m not the only one annoyed by corporate policies, in particular specific business processes esp. when these are anything but fluid. That was one of my first observations upon entering a new company yet any attempt at making improvments merely hit a wall as I just got the run-around. The person making policies is either not taking responsibility or simply not interested in updating status quo. WOW – REALLY!!?

Leadership: For a long time, my simpleton definition of this concept revolved around ‘telling others what to do’. In some cases this may be true, however genuine leadership is

  • leading by example and inspiring others to bring out their talents, hidden and overt
  • showing an interest in the projects they’re working on (w/o being a monkey on my shoulder)
  • being a support when e.g. difficulties arise
  • being approachable, open-minded, …
  • being part of the team yet true to your function …

Surveys: Does your company have you fill out an annual survey on “how are we doing”? Such a questionnaire usually encompasses subjects such as company vision, communication, job satisfaction, et al. The funny thing about these surveys is that they’re worded in such a way if you answer negatively, you feel like a black sheep, however if you answer positively, you feel like a mere “yes” wo/man. I have yet to remember as much as I need to schedule some time to write up an essay on these subjects so that when the next survey comes, I can copy/paste my thoughts into the freestyle feedback field …

Lastly, one of the first things companies need to lose from their vocabulary is the term resource when referring to its employees. I’m NOT a resource just as much as I’m not a widget, I’m a person. Write it down, learn it, do it!

In the end I feel that some corporations, as well as government, large and small, seem to be learning from each other <SNICKER; SIGH> —you can all see where that’s gotten us— and I’m not the most patient person when it comes to address certain things and people. But rather than looking for greener grass I take upon myself the mission to first improve my own impatience so that then I may find a more pleasant, if not diplomatic, way to address these things right where I am.

Cheers ~

Transmutation: Soul & Society

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Step 1: go sit on a rock and meditate, talk to God, commune with Nature, listen and reflect. Then take your insights, revelations and learning and apply them to your life, interactions with others, endeavors and so on. —Cultivate a lifestyle of practicing presence, appreciation and mindfulness.

Step 2: build communities in your diverse geographic areas around the world that sustain an agrarian and altruistic life. —No matter of individual cultural philosophies and beliefs, we all need to eat, we all want to raise our families and we all want to live productive and meaningful lives.

Step 3: [research] progress, spiritually and technologically and do so harmoniously, in partnership with the ecosystem in which we live and of which we are merely a small part. —Enjoy responsible evolution.

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I could end the deficit in 5min

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Warren Buffett, “I could end the deficit in 5 minutes,” he told CNBC. “You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election. The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971… before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc. Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land… all because of public pressure.

Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.

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Strange Days – Part 2

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Kommen wir hier noch raus?

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7. @darthmax
Ich bezweifel nicht, dass die Ideen Hodgkinsons gut sind. Ich akzeptiere sogar, dass sie selbst Hodgkinson nicht zu 100% umsetzen kann, weil auch er in gewissen gesellschaftlichen Zwängen verhaftet ist. Oft sind es ja Denkanstöße und jeder muss für sich sehen, wie er sie in seinem Leben umsetzen kann. Manchmal sind 10% schon ein Ansatz, auf dem man aufbauen kann. So manche große Idee scheitert ja erst dann, wenn man sagt, kann ich nicht zu 100% umsetzen, also lasse ich es gleich ganz. Als Beispiel sei hier das Auto genannt. Es würde oft schon reichen, wenn man den Weg zum Briefkasten oder Brötchenholen zu Fuß statt mit dem Auto erledigt. Macht aufs Jahr gerechnet auch ein paar Kilometer Einsparung.

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Strange Days – Part 1

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On Sunday mornings I like to watch films that enhance my awareness, educate and possibly inspire me such as TED.com videos about ideas on how to make our world a better place or documentaries about the world we live in. Sure, there’s also Hollywood but you see, when you eat too much chocolate, bad things happen … <SNICKER>

This morning I picked a National Geographic documentary entitled Strange Days. From it I learned (intuitively obvious to me but facts are good to have) a little more about the interconnectedness of our world’s ecosystems and from the depicted consequences, extrapolated how the lack of an intuitive sensitivity of our species, best exemplified by the loudest and most technologically advanced cultures on our planet, and reinforced by the most uneducated parts of our species, will all culminate into both the poisoning and annihilation of all plant, animal life and mineral resources on the planet. In the so-called 1st world countries our excuse is economic growth which simply equates to money and practically translates into wasteful overproduction. In the less developed countries, and I’m looking at this rather simplistically I realize, we’re looking at e.g. overpopulation and a growing need for resources.

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