Blogs

Do you see the connection between this picture:

Viva erotica
A model wears boots and underwear with Brazilian motifs on Friday during the 10th Erotic Fair that is currently being held in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

...and the two stories that were published the same day, in the same newspaper about abuse and adultery??

For those who don't get it, the picture is 'newsworthy' because erotica 'sells'. Erotica 'sells' because it is on demand. It is on demand for the same biological reasons that marital abuse and adultery are common...

Yet another poll reveals that 80% of Taiwanese support for adultery remaining a crime

Despite efforts by local women's rights groups to promote the decriminalization of adultery in Taiwan, 79 percent of respondents to a survey released yesterday disapprove of the idea and believe that adultery should remain subject to criminal penalties.

A Taiwanese poll shows that abused women are more prone to depression:

More than 80 percent of Taiwanese women who are physically abused by their husbands have a tendency toward depression, with one quarter considered to be seriously at risk of committing suicide, according to the results of a survey (...)conducted by the Modern Women's Foundation.

Surely, the results have nothing surprising. One even wonders why this is newsworthy.

Alaa Abd El-Fatah is a renowned Egyptian blogger. He's been campaining in Egypt for Free software, Free Speech, Human Rights and political reform.

His blog, manalaa.net has won special reporters without borders award from the 2005 Deutsche Welle International Weblog Awards.

Alaa, together with a group of activist, have been calling for political and judiciary reforms. At stake, in particular, is a motion to ensure that the judiciary is independent and free from pressure from the government during elections. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/egypt/story/0,,1770311,00.html)

This is a copy of a message I posted in the Drupal Voting API group

I would like to introduce you to a php voting API that I wish to develop further and for which I'd like to create a Drupal module. It is a complementary alternative or even replacement to the Drupal voting API.

Please, don't consider having a heart attack just yet. Please, read further and decide later.

Allow me to start from the beginning...

A world of alternative voting systems

It is a sad fact that for most people, whenever they think about voting or election, they can only think about what is known as "plurality voting", the voting method whereby you can only select one choice among many. Unfortunately, this voting method is demonstrably very bad.

Hello,

For the next week or so, I will try to organize a little the pages related to the project "Interpersonal Relationships".
See: http://www.wechange.org/interpersonal_relationships .

If you are interested and would like to contribute your knowledge and insight, please drop a comment on the Community forum:
http://www.wechange.org/forum/11 .

thanks.

Have a look at this sad presentation about the ongoing war that the US government in waging in Iraq:
http://www.peacetakescourage.com/3years.html ,
It shows the casualties of war on both sides. Tears shed for a beloved one are as bitter when flowing from the eyes of the mother of a US soldier returning home in a casket, as when flowing from the eyes of a Iraqi father who lost an infant in a raid.

You can download the flash file here:
http://www.peacetakescourage.com/3years.swf

The presentation ends asking that the person who started the war finish it now.

I am not Iraqi, nor am I American. What power do I have to stop THAT war?

The newspaper article Love and Human Nature arose from a lead article in the February 2006 edition of the National Geographic. The National Geographic interviewed Helen Fisher, whose research indicates that neurochemicals dictate sexual behaviour - that chemical passion lasts only a few years and is replaced by the bonding chemical oxytocin. Faced with this, the reporter, Christin Geall, felt her romantic spirit begining to wither.
Christin's response to the idea that sexuality is governed by biology is to argue that some of the best relationships are born, not only out of passion, but also out of a deeper connection with nature. That is ducking the issue. Assuming sexuality is governed by biology, what is the role of sex in love?

Homelessness and the Social Economy

Homelessness – ‘they’ are not going away – ‘they’ are ‘in your face’. ‘They’ are downtown, annoying business owners, depressing property values, and hassling pedestrians. If you drive ‘them’ out of one locality they will settle in another. The homeless, like all humans, have followed the food, their addictions, or the availability of people to support them. Bottom line - it is likely the hard core homeless, will always be with us. What are we going to do with ‘them’?
What’s got our attention are the visible homeless - the ten per cent hard core chronically homeless and chronically ill - the heavy users of expensive public systems, hospital, jails, and detoxification centers – those who require long term subsidization. Visible homelessness gets our attention but it is only the tapering end of a spectrum of poverty.

Are Blogs Communities?

Being geographically separate would, at first glance, seem to preclude blogs from being categorized as a community. From the blog point of view this is too restrictive an interpretation of what it means to be ‘in community’. Discussion on a blog is where a relatively large number of people co-operate in a process leading to an action or attitude based on the collective intelligence. This collective intelligence, based on the freely given thoughts of anyone joining the blog, is very enticing. Collective intelligence is one of the signs of community. Reading a blog discussion gives a validity to personal thought often missing in the day to day world – it is approval from one’s peers – a tribal stamp of significance and self worth.