Tensegrities

One of the earliest reasons I was drawn to Barack Obama’s campaign has to do with the shift in his rhetoric from “I will do this…” to “we can do this, yes we can…” It was a shift that’s been sensed by many people, and picked up in numerous volunteer efforts (like the Yes We Can video, for instance). I think perhaps it touches a zeitgeist of the Web2.0 era.

There’s a been a lot of analysis in the last few days about why Sen. Clinton’s campaign is not winning, but this is the first post I’ve read that returns to what is a CORE issue for me: opposition to the war in Iraq, and her vote FOR the war.

Some smart allies of Sen. Obama have put together a version of his 2002 speech opposing the war — only 13 seconds of which anyone can find video of — by reading it in their own voices. This kind of video, where his words are put in the mouths of many people, is effective at emphasizing, in all sorts of subtle ways, what collective agency could look/feel/BE like. And I think it’s beginning to become a trademark, of sorts, for his campaign.

Here’s a great list of articles that have influenced TimBoyd’s thoughts about social networking — they’re influencing mine, as well.

Please take a few moments and remember how Mother’s Day got started in the first place!

Minnesota is at the heart of the ethanol industry and at least initially, ethanol seemed like a reasonable alternative. But increasingly, it looks worse and worse. This webpost does some basic math to point out how much more helpful solar energy would be — minus one very big drawback: it doesn’t create the same kind of profit. We need to figure out a way to invest in processes that have huge social GOODS without producing huge private profit.