My friend and fellow WELLpern Mike Knell has started a new campaign called GeekAid, aiming to get geeks all around the world to donate a day’s pay to grassroots IT and technology projects in the Third World. It’s a worthy cause – take a look.
The Euro and good service at coffee shops
One benefit of the Euro, if it ever comes to the UK, is that we’ll no longer have to watch our coffee get cold as French, Italian and Spanish trainee baristas struggle to remember which of these funny English coins is which.
Mixed messages
The Washington Post’s user registration page has a jaunty banner saying “Register now – it’s free and it’s required”.
Oh yes. The Washington Post – as refreshing as it’s compulsory.
Then and now
Not the hardest word
Trains still green, planes still not
The Association of Train Operating Companies has published a short pamphlet, restating the environmental benefits of rail over road transport and short-haul flying.
Reputation
Manifesto for the reputation society on firstmonday.dk. Random question: Are reputation systems democratic?
Historical interest
For historical interest, the Political Bohemian Rhapsody
The Church of England will eat itself
After unisex hairdressers, the unisex branch of the Church of England. BBC
Joy cometh in the morning, for some
It’s morning in America, in at least the astronomical sense. John Kerry is about to concede the presidential election to President Bush, after a strong campaign that was just not quite strong enough to unseat an entrenched incumbent.
The strong uptick in turnout was very welcome – it is plain bad that US election turnouts have been so low for so long – but I do wonder whether that will be sustained into the next election, or whether the “new” voters are going away disillusioned. Moreover, the best ground for new voters to come from is the centre – it will be interesting to read the full profiles of the voting when they become available.
The early election commentary is as usual, the back-of-the-envelope notes for the first draft of history. One worthwhile read, however, is Andrew Leonard’s article for Salon on the echo-chamber effect of the blogosphere. It is a timely reminder of the harmful nature of such reverberation. The piranha-shoal treatment meted out to news stories on both sides of the fence (see much of the commentary on Free Republic or the WELL) shows the ferocity of belief, and the distrust of the other side can be pathological, not just the rough-and-tumble of politics.