Linkage... of the FUTURE!

And now for some news that doesn't involve Iraq, Ruin and Death of Hope.

First of all, from northwest of the Zone we have this story about dairy power:

After 25 years of persistent work, Marin County rancher Albert Straus has figured out a way to run his dairy farm, organic creamery and electric car from the manure generated by his herd of 270 cows.

Cheered on by a small gathering of engineers, environmentalists and fellow farmers, Straus stepped into a utility shed Thursday, switched on a 75- kilowatt generator, then stepped outside to snip the ribbon spanning a spanking-new electrical panel.

On the panel, an electricity meter began running backward, indicating that power originating from a nearby poop-filled lagoon near the town of Marshall was feeding into PG&E's electric power grid.

The idea of locally-produced biofuel power, while it doesn't exactly stir my jaded techo-fetishist soul the same way as fusion or orbital solar power, still is a really neat concept and one worth the effort of investing in.

Meanwhile, brother Zibblsnrt has discovered a new plot to bring direct democracy to the planet. This group is extremely new, and it's going to need a good deal of work before it reaches any level of actual relevence, but as an idea I approve of the concept.

Yonder on TODAYonline Francis Chin takes a look at how the omnipresence of information technology keeps the plans of dictators and Republicans going angly:

Global outrage over digital photographs published in newspapers of American soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners is the latest example of how technology, in the hands of ordinary folk, creates a kind of information tsunami that shakes up the powerful and the mighty.
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The sheer convenience and speed of taking photos with an idiot-proof digital camera or a camera phone, and then sharing them via the Internet with the rest of the world, has given a new meaning to the word "transparency".
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With a press of a button and the click of a computer mouse, dark corners are now brightly illuminated.
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There is, literally, no place to hide.

Shades of the Transparent Society? Maybe so. If so, then David Brin was right, and we'd best get up off our asses and figure out to keep the flow of information going in both directions.

Speaking of information, I'd like to point out that 10-year-olds are smarter than Senator Inhofe and Rush Limbaugh put together. I know, it's blatantly obvious, but I figured, why not? (via Making Light)

And of course, there's always time to be an octopus in love.

Posted by the Fourth Man at May 15, 2004 01:31 PM

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