Making the world a much more literate place. What are YOU waiting for?

Some great things are happening, again and again, with open source ways, more freedom and hard work in the community to help everyone, rich and otherwise.

People of Pittsburgh, it is time to get on this bandwagon. You need to be running open source software -- this year, this month, this week! We can't be left in the dust. The rest of the world is work and understanding technology. They are blowing past us. We need to take the plunge and get serious about OpenOffice.org, about open-ways and open-source.

The article link goes to three predictions for the future. One of them details the embrace to all things open.

Article in The Economist.

Surfing—and everything else computer-related—will open

Rejoice: the embrace of “openness” by firms that have grown fat on closed, proprietary technology is something we’ll see more of in 2008. Verizon is not the only one to cry uncle and reluctantly accept the inevitable.

Even Apple, long a bastion of closed systems, is coming round to the open idea. Its heavily protected iPhone was hacked within days of being launched by owners determined to run third-party software like Skype on it.

Apple’s initial response was to attempt a heavy-handed crackdown. But then a court decision in Germany forced its local carrier to unlock all iPhones sold there. Good news for iPhone owners everywhere: a flood of third-party applications is now underway.

The trend toward openness has been given added impetus by the recent collapse of the legal battles brought by SCO, a software developer. Formerly known as Santa Cruz Operations, the firm bought the Unix operating system and core technology in 1995 from Novell (which, in turn, had bought it from its original developer, AT&T).

Short of cash, SCO initiated a series of lawsuits against companies developing Linux software, claiming it contained chunks of copyrighted Unix code. Pressured by worried customers fearing prosecution, a handful of Linux distributors settled with SCO just to stay in business.

But IBM, which uses Linux, was having none of it, and fought the firm through the courts until it won. SCO is now operating under Chapter 11 of the American bankruptcy code.

The verdict removed, once and for all, the burden that had been inhibiting Linux’s broader acceptance. Linux is now accepted as being Unix-like, but not a Unix-derivative.

Bulletproof distributions of Linux from Red Hat and Novell have long been used on back-office servers. Since the verdict against SCO, Linux has swiftly become popular in small businesses and the home.

That’s largely the doing of Gutsy Gibbon, the code-name for the Ubuntu 7.10 from Canonical. Along with distributions such as Linspire, Mint, Xandros, OpenSUSE and gOS, Ubuntu (and its siblings Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Xubuntu) has smoothed most of Linux’s geeky edges while polishing it for the desktop.

No question, Gutsy Gibbon is the sleekest, best integrated and most user-friendly Linux distribution yet. It’s now simpler to set up and configure than Windows. A great deal of work has gone into making the graphics, and especially the fonts, as intuitive and attractive as the Mac’s.

Like other Linux desktop editions, Ubuntu works perfectly well on lowly machines that couldn’t hope to run Windows XP, let alone Vista Home Edition or Apple’s OS-X.

Your correspondent has been happily using Gutsy Gibbon on a ten-year-old desktop with only 128 megabytes of RAM and a tiny 10 gigabyte hard-drive. When Michael Dell, the boss of Dell Computers, runs Ubuntu on one of his home systems, Linux is clearly doing many things right.

And because it is free, Linux become the operating system of choice for low-end PCs. It started with Nicholas Negroponte, the brains behind the One Laptop Per Child project that aims to deliver computerised education to children in the developing world. His clever XO laptop, costing less than $200, would never have seen the light of day without its clever Linux operating system.

But Mr Negroponte has done more than create one of the world’s most ingenious computers. With a potential market measured in the hundreds of millions, he has frightened a lot of big-time computer makers into seeing how good a laptop they can build for less than $500.

All start with a desktop version of Linux. Recent arrivals include the Asus Eee from Taiwan, which lists for $400. The company expects to sell close on four million Eees this financial year. Another Taiwanese maker, Everex, is selling its gPC desktop through Walmart for $199.

When firms are used to buying $1,000 office PCs running Vista Business Edition and loading each with a $200 copy of Microsoft Office, the attractions of a sub-$500 computer using a free operating system like Linux and a free productivity suite like OpenOffice suddenly become very compelling.

And that’s not counting the $20,000 or more needed for Microsoft’s Exchange and SharePoint server software. Again, Linux provides such server software for free.

Pundits agree: neither Microsoft nor Apple can compete at the new price points being plumbed by companies looking to cut costs. With open-source software maturing fast, Linux, OpenOffice, Firefox, MySQL, Evolution, Pidgin and some 23,000 other Linux applications available for free seem more than ready to fill that gap. By some reckonings, Linux fans will soon outnumber Macintosh addicts. Linus Torvalds should be rightly proud.

Recent Services: Poet

Get about 30% into the service to hear the main speaker.

Presented by Lynn Chandhok

Lynn is the daughter of Vijay and Shelly Chandhok and was a part of Sunnyhill from age 3. She reads from her first book of poems, which won the 2006 Philip Levine Prize, and talks about writing, religion, motherhood, memory, politics and history.

Listen to this service:

Romney Attacks McCain Tax Votes

Newsmax.com - Romney Attacks McCain Tax Votes: "Romney largely ignored Giuliani, telling reporters he was focusing on McCain rather than the former New York mayor because Giuliani had curtailed his campaigning here and polls showed his support flagging.

Libertarian Party of Allegheny County -- board members for 2008

The installation of a new Board of directors for 2008 has happened. There being no objection, the 2008 Board will consist of the following:

Chairman - Dave Powell
Vice-Chairman - Mark Rauterkus
Treasurer - Richard Loether
Secretary - Henry Haller
At-large members include:
David Eckhardt
Jerry Gloekler
Tom Kawcznski
Harold Kyriazi
David Weiser

Chairman Dave Powell asked for unanimous consent to install a new Board to consist of the people that served on the 2007 Board with the exception of Tom Kawcznski in place of Rob Willis.

$4.5 million spent on keeping the city in line

$4.5 million spent on keeping the city in line But critics ask: Are the state's oversight costs really worth it?

The worth of the OVERLORDS is much less than it should be because they don't meet as they should. I'd have less of a problem with the OVERLORDS if they really worked.

Pittsburgh has had a huge problem over the past decades because too many fell down on the job. The slumber has killed this city.

The watchdogs don't guard as they should. Here, I pin a lot of the blame on the Post-Gazette and the Tribune Review. They both miss too many important stories. Recently, they've been better. But back in the day of Tom Murphy, Tom Barnes and others were absent -- and in a deep sleep fueled by too many bologna sandwiches.

The checks within government also have to bear a lot of the blame. The city's controller and the county's controller stink. Tom Flaherty was barking at the wrong things, if he barked at all. Michael Lamb won't be too different. He is a bureaucrat. We need more.

The academics have been in a deep slumber too. From time to time, great work comes from them. But, it is rare. They should have lots of projects in the air at the same time. And, every college and university should have a dozen or more who are 'go-to people' on various issues. Most of the time, we are fighting against the higher educational leadership. They should be on the side of the people, the students, and generally helping with the stuggles concerning quality of life issues for the region.

Then the last group to fumble time and time again are the neighborhood groups. They need to be holding debates, forums, issue discussions and sending their open-minded people to events. But they all worry and try to NOT bite the hand that feeds them. Trouble is, the feed is not energy of empowerment.

So, we needed OVERLORDS. But, the overlords are lazy.

Dr. Wrestling:Armageddon Live at Civic Arena from Dallas

Recap from another blog about a trip to the Civic Arena for Rasslin.

Dr. Wrestling:Armageddon Live When we arrived at the show we noticed a ridiculously long line that stretched from the building down to the side walk and very similar to when we attended Smackdown, there was only one gate open to enter the building. Now for those that haven't been to the Mellon Arena let's do some simple math here, the Mellon Arena has ten gates to enter the building and no that's not a typing mistake. There's ten possible gates to enter the building and there was only one gate open when we arrived at the Mellon Arena. As a result, even when people started entering the building there was still a wait to get inside and out of the cold weather. Despite the ice and the snow mostly everyone was very understand and there wasn't any type of traffic jam to enter the building.

Lumps of Coal go to Roosevelt, Ravenstahl, PPS Board and Fischetti

The Pgh Tribune Review had nothing good to say about the Pittsburgh Promise side-deal disclosure and quickie approval by the school district.

Lance: To Luke Ravenstahl and Mark Roosevelt. Can these two "leaders" prove any more convincingly that they are unfit to serve? Mr. Ravenstahl, Pittsburgh's mayor, talks of UPMC's feelings being hurt because the public has the audacity to question a secret tax-credit deal. How warped. Mr. Roosevelt, the Pittsburgh school superintendent, calls those raising questions "demagogues" and disseminators of "misinformation." How dare he. These are unacceptable statements by two people who suddenly have forgotten who their bosses are.

Lance: To the Pittsburgh school board. In full "Ramming speed, Mr. Sulu" mode, the board adopted a resolution Wednesday approving potential dollar-for-dollar tax credits for UPMC's pledge of up to $100 million for a college scholarship program. Board members received the resolution all of 35 minutes before voting on it. There was no public hearing. But given the public outrage, this is despicable -- a "public-purpose" perversion. The tax break was not disclosed on Dec. 5 when UPMC announced its pledge.

Lance: To Lisa Fischetti. The chief of staff of Pittsburgh Public Schools seems to think it's much ado about nothing that it was not initially disclosed that UPMC demanded, and public officials are attempting to give it, tax credits for its up-to-$100 million pledge to The Pittsburgh Promise scholarship program. The "focus" was the "scholarship component." Oh, so it was the sizzle, not the steak, eh?

Meet The Press with Tim Russert - Video, Podcasts, News and Politics, Transcripts- msnbc.com

Lots of quotes from Tim Russert, host of the show, from the 1970s and 1980s. Jeepers. Time to think about 2007, 2008 and the next five years! Wish MSNBC would come into modern times.

Meet The Press with Tim Russert - Video, Podcasts, News and Politics, Transcripts- msnbc.com Texas Rep. Ron Paul (R) joined us for an exclusive interview. Watch our netcast or read the transcript to find out where the congressman -- who has raised more money this quarter than any other Republican candidate for president -- stands on the major issues facing our nation.

Happy 90th Birthday, mayor

She's 90.

Pittsburgh Pist-Gazette

The Pittsburgh Promise has more required reading than the application to the Naval Academy.

Char hits with her blog.

Pittsburgh Pist-Gazette My bottom-line conclusion is that if The Promise does not deliver on its promise, it will be because of the program’s complexity. Because with complexity comes a certain level of uncertainty.

The Trib did an article that looked at the West Virginia Promise.

Drink tax revenue more than needed, restaurateurs complain

Drink tax revenue more than needed, restaurateurs complain The 10 percent drink tax in Allegheny County could raise a lot more than the $30 million the county needs for its Port Authority subsidy next year and beyond, say restaurateurs who contend the county didn't do its homework in estimating revenue from the tax.

The same concepts were spoken at the public hearing on this topic. The speaker right before me said so. Her name is Chelsa Wagner.

Chelsa hit it out of the park. She explained how getting this tax was like getting a $1-million line of credit for home improvement (new bathroom) when the worth of the house is $50,000.

Sunday, 10:30 am, Meet the Press visits with Ron Paul, WPXI, TV 11

Tune in to TV 11, WPXI TV, Sunday at 10:30 am for Meet the Press and an interview with Presidential candidate, Ron Paul, R, born in Pittsburgh!

Pittsburgh Council balks at Promise qualifier - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Not only are the P-G editorial folks wrong with what happened -- so is the news reporter who works with the Tribune Review, J.B.

City Council had no choice. City Council did not "refuse" anything. City Council had to do what it did. City Council needed to call for a public hearing -- and that is what happened.

It was the citizens who refused to let the side-line deal with the city and UPMC pass concerning the Pittsburgh Promise. The refusal was our, the citizens. Refusal was NOT a good description of what council wanted to do.

Had city council had its way, the deal for tax credits would have passed. Folks on council are still trying to rush the public hearing. They'd love to play the refusal role -- by refusing to allow the citizens to exercise rights to demand public hearings.

The desire to study the resolution is not that of council. Rather it is of the citizens.

A women, citizen, parent, spoke to council on Tuesday. She demanded a full discussion and public hearing. And, she has a child in the 12th grade of Pgh Public Schools. She has the most at risk. The first tuition payment for he soon to be college freshmen would be expected in a few months. However, she wants accountability. She wants to have an open process. She wants to live in an honest city. She wants what is best for the region -- greater than her own self interest of getting a $5,000 check in eight months.

Pittsburgh Council balks at Promise qualifier - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Pittsburgh City Council refused to be rushed into granting UPMC potential tax credits Tuesday despite political pressure from Mayor Luke Ravenstahl to reward the hospital giant for jump-starting a scholarship program for city school graduates.

No, no, no -- the P-G editors got it wrong about Pgh Promise

No, no, no. The P-G did NOT get it right in their editorial.

Hasty promise: Council must do right by UPMC's pledge Time out, everyone. That was the welcome call Tuesday from City Council to stop the runaway train that followed UPMC's pledge of up to $100 million to the Pittsburgh Promise, a scholarship program for city high school graduates.

The call for a "time out" came from the citizens. We shouted it in council chambers. The council would have been quick to rush to action had the citizens not called for the public hearing. The majority of the members of council, were willing to jump onto that runaway train.

They all botched the communication on this. It started in early 2007 when the first hint of the promise came with a $10,000 check from the PFT (Teachers Union). That was scripted by Mark Roosevelt. The thing died then and there.

SabrinaSpiher.com: A Media Empire

SabrinaSpiher.com: A Media Empire: "And even sillier for them to threaten to renege on this 'donation' unless we just do what they say and guarantee that they'll never have to pay taxes no matter what.

Make a bid. Burgh to host NRA. How about the OpenOffice.org event?

News says that the NRA is going to return to Pittsburgh.

Well, I'd love to see a bid go in for OpenOffice.Org's annual event.

OpenOffice.org Annual Conference 2008 - Call for Location

Would your team like to rise the challenge? Full details of the Call For Location process are available on the website http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2008/cfl.html There is also a conference organisers' mailing list with open discussions.

http://www.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=announce&msgNo=345

Working with open source software is sure to help thousands of people, as well as schools and government.

Blowback: Why they hate us. From Dan Sullivan

Dan Sullivan, Pittsburgh, fellow Libertarian, wrote on another email list, reposted below:

This attempts to explain why Muslims hate Americans so much that they would be willing to strap bombs onto children or kill themselves in suicide attacks. Those who insist that this is some irrational, unprovoked, religious jihad should look at how many of them and their children have suffered terrible, protracted deaths due to US foreign policy.

This is not about GW Bush. Even though he has done terrible things to Americans and has completely botched the second undeclared Iraq War, the hatred of America's intervention was already established by our previous foreign policies that attempted to subjugate these people to control their oil.

Probably the best recruiting tool Osama Bin Laden ever had was this clip of Clinton's Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, saying that half a million Iraqis dying due to our embargo of Hussein was "worth it." Here is a very short clip.

http://qurl.com/nzzd3

Yes, Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. But those who make that argument ignore the fact that Hussein was already a brutal murderer when we helped him overthrow the Qassim government, and a brutal mass murderer who was getting "weapons of mass destruction,"
including nerve gas and biological weapons, from the United States.

This slideshow, made to the sound of Bing Crosby singing "Thanks for the Memories," lasts 4 1/4 minutes.

http://www.bushflash.com/thanks.html

Yes, Saddam killed hundreds of thousands of Iranians and Kurds, but he did so, not only with our acquiescence and approval, but with our resources. The reason we figured he still had anthrax-causing bacteria was that we had sent it to him to use on Iran.

Why did we help him make war on Iran? Because the Iranian people had overthrown their own brutal dictator, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (the Shah of Iran), whom we had installed in 1953 after we overthrew the democratically elected President Mossadech.

The Shah's denial that he engaged in torture now echoes in our own similar denials. This clip is one minute and 20 seconds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8u2UKWCHtM&feature=related

Our imperialist brutality has existed under many of our regimes. The following Bill Moyers Journal episode focuses on Reagan, because it was made in the wake of the Iran Contra Scandal. However, its historical background implicates every President since Truman, with the exception of Jimmy Carter.

This documentary, made by liberal journalist Bill Moyers over two decades ago, said exactly what Ron Paul is saying about the dangers of ignoring the Constitution, and said it very, very well. And the excuses made for trashing the Constitution then are very much like the excuses being made today. This 86-minute video is EXCELLENT!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3505348655137118430

In looking at all of these videos, I keep thinking of the people in other countries where we did these things, and asking Ron Paul's question, "How would we feel if some foreign power did things like this to us?" How many of our own children would have to die at the hands of these brutal murderers before we become desperate enough to want one of those children to take a bunch of foreign imperialists down with him?

-ds

Hoops in MSG -- Overtime

Pitt played D and Duke missed two shots to get the game into overtime.

Ouch. That outside keen folded badly. #31 is feeling it.

Navy game is on delay. The Pitt & Navy connection...

Just as Big Ben was getting sacked in another knee bending, jerky way -- Pitt hit a 3-point shot. Duke missed two more at the other end at the buzzer.

Wow. Blair gets the 5-star player of the game from ESPN.

Isn't it great that you can watch an online movie (Thanks Google Video) such as this, from one citizen about a candidate

Updated in December:



Older version:

Twelve Days