A scapbook from my adventures professional screwing around on the internet.
DemocracyForAmerica.com » Netroots Nation Scholarships » Kevin Bondelli
“I want you to know that I am running for President of the Young Democrats of America. For more than 75 years, YDA has served as an arena for young leaders to cut their teeth, learn politics and earn their first stripes. But for many of us, just playing politics isn’t enough. Over the last three election cycles, there has been a slow and steady push for YDA to be a people-powered organization that dedicates our time to doing the hard work it takes to build a bloc of progressive young voters. Like many of us, I have dedicated myself to this change and want to see YDA become a place that will continue to build and represent our generation. That’s why I am running for YDA President and hope I can earn your support. Through the inspired efforts of young people across America, we have generated unprecedented results; and we are now poised to become a sustained force for change and progress. We must open the doors and embrace this once-in-a-lifetime energy. We must ensure that the ineffective organizational politics of old are left behind so we can build upon our achievements and embrace the change our generation so desperately wants; and our country so desperately needs. We know change is never easy, but it is necessary for progress. With our talented and diverse membership, I am confident we have the power to make the changes we need to move YDA forward. I am running for YDA President so together we can make these changes and realize our collective potential. Working together, we can make progress; without all of our shoulders to the wheel, we cannot advance. We will change YDA by bringing more people into the room, not fewer–by making our programming serve and help our members grow at the local level–by making sure that we represent millions of young voters by directly advocating on the issues that impact them the most—and most importantly by holding each other accountable for getting the work done. From my time as a local chapter president, state chapter president and national officer, I have ideas on how we can get there—and I know you do, too. The future of YDA is in our hands. I look forward to talking with you, so we can share our ideas and plan how we move YDA forward, together. Last Tuesday night, our President said to a room of young people just like you and me: “The future will be in your hands…You will make it happen.” Let’s make it happen, together. Best, Crystal”
— Crystal Strait Announces Candidacy for Young Democrats of America President - Kevin Bondelli’s Youth Vote Blog
“From February 27th to March 2nd, 2009 thousands of young adults will converge on Washington, D.C. for Power Shift 2009, the second national youth summit to solve the climate crisis. At Power Shift 2009, young people from across the country will take a message of bold, comprehensive and immediate federal climate action to Washington, D.C. We will leverage the momentum we have built through the Campus Climate Challenge, Power Shift 2007 and Power Vote to pressure our politicians to take bold, comprehensive action.”
— Power Shift 2009
Get a Moola Invitation

Open Library -- all the books, free and wikified

Cory Doctorow: Rich Prelinger sez,

The Internet Archive has launched a demo of the Open Library, a project that seeks to gather all the information about all the world’s books and make it publicly available as a giant books wiki.

While many books are making their way online for free access, most still are restricted or cost money to touch. The Open Library combines links to open resources with information on in-copyright works and enables you and me to review, annotate, correct and convene.

I think this project (which right now seems to point to almost half a million books) is very cool — it’s going to be a major addition to the world’s open cultural infrastructure. I have a hunch that it’s going to be the primary way many if not most people access books, and I see it becoming an always-open window on the desk of every librarian.

Aaron Swartz led this project, which was conceived by Brewster Kahle — please send them support, critiques and book databases!

Link (Thanks, Rick!)

(via Kevin Bondelli’s shared items in Google Reader)

Book Price Comparison Shopping Tool

Booksprice

I buy and read a lot of books. If you do as well, you might find this handy little tool called Booksprice useful. The tool allows you to enter a book title or ISBN and then get a report of the current price from dozens of sources including sources like eBay.

Here an example search using Duct Tape Marketing: The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide

You can also use the service to compare prices on CDs, DVDs, and games.

Share This

(via Kevin Bondelli’s shared items in Google Reader)

Ani DiFranco: copyright in an open source culture

Difranco I spent the morning removing Ani DiFranco lyrics from my book manuscript.  I was obliged to do so because DiFranco had refused me permission to use them, despite two emails to Righteous Babe Records that were thorough, pointed and courtesy. 

It’s not as if DiFranco had anything to fear from this anthropologist.  My treatment was laudatory.  I regard her as a transformational exemplar. Here’s my opening sentence for her from the book.

Ani DiFranco is a phenomenon, largely self taught, almost entirely self invented, the creator of a genre of music, the founder of her own record company, and probably the most gifted feminist performer at work in the U.S. today.

And it’s not like I was asking for the catalogue, probably around 130 words taken from a variety of songs.   I think this represents a very nervous eye on the copyright watch. 

DiFranco is entitled to control copyright in this way, but it is also worth observing that she has made a career mocking music labels for their narrow, controlling ways.  Apparently, it’s ok for her to act this way. 

And odd too.  This is not the DiFranco you think you see on stage and in the ones and zeros.  I guess this tells us that she never was what she contrived to seem, a champion of an open source culture. 

DiFranco’s contribution to the open source culture came in the powerful argument that women should decide who they are, not men, and that individual women should decide who they are, not groups of women.  Or to use the more particular language of open source, DiFranco seemed to say that every women has the right to do her own coding, to construct herself according to her own objectives out of our her scripts and routines, and that she is free  to refuse “sealed code” from higher authorities and the originating software provider.

The second possibility is that DiFranco is aging, changing, narrowing, risking less and controlling more. 

I guess the transformational career continues. 

(via Kevin Bondelli’s shared items in Google Reader)
“Coming on the heels of protest-mascots such as the Anteaters and the Banana Slugs, the Artichokes was chosen by the students of Scottsdale Community College in the early 1970s as a protest against the school administration’s practice of using scholarships intended for Native Americans to attract out-of-state athletes.”
— Education & Careers | The 10 Strangest College Mascots

Answerbag is Extremely Addictive

Answerbag screenshot

Answerbag

I have found a new addiction. It is even more addictive than my previous addiction, StumbleUpon.

Answerbag is a website/community that has users ask questions and give answers to those questions. As the community progresses a large FAQ is created on a wide number of subjects.

Users have ranks based on how useful their questions and answers were to the other users. The higher the rank, the more points you can give or take from a Q or A.

Answerbag also has a Facebook group and a Facebook application.

I’m telling you, this site is great. Now I am going to stop writing this post so I can go back to answerbagging.

(via KevinBondelli.com)

How to View and Edit New Microsoft Office Formats in Earlier Office Versions?

File extensions like .doc (for Word), .xls (for Excel) and .ppt (for Powerpoint) were used in earlier versions of Microsoft Office (Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003). But Microsoft Office 2007 comes with new file extensions like .docx (for Word), .xlsx (for Excel) and .pptx (for Powerpoint). By default these file extensions are not backward compatible with earlier Office versions.

Moving forward you are more likely to get Office files in the new format as they offer higher degree of formatting and options. For example, Excel 2007 can store upto 1 million rows and 16 thousand columns in a spreadsheet and Office also supports 16 million colors now.

With Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack, you can can view, edit and save files in these new Office formats in earlier Microsoft Office versions (Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003).

Download Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats

Note: This compatibility pack is installed as a separate program so that it can be uninstalled alone at any point of time. In case you are planning to install Office 2007 at a later point of time, make sure you uninstall ‘Compatibility Pack for the 2007 Office System‘ from the system through ‘Add or Remove Programs‘ before installing Office 2007.

, , , , , , ,

Share This

—-
Related Articles at Lyte Byte:


(via Kevin Bondelli’s shared items in Google Reader)