Who left that door open?

Recently in class we have been looking at the free software movement and other open movements, such as open government, that have recently come about and seem to parallel the movement of the Enlightenment and Renaissance in that they challenge the long-held authorities and call for free men everywhere to think for them selves. While I am in favor of free men thinking for themselves, I believe this is how we find truth in our lives, I'm not to sure about all of these open movements.

Martin Luther and the Free Software Movement

Many people believe that the main reason to study history is to find the patterns and study them to determine the benefits of the repetition, or a way to prevent evil from coming back again. Such is the case with Martin Luther and his Protestant reformation that can be connected to the relatively recent Free Software Movement. After first the connection is hidden in the complexities of the motives and goals of each, but when looked upon with a broader perspective the patterns are surprisingly clear. Martin Luther set the stage for the rejection of authority found in the Free Software Movement.

Martin GNU

Note Taking, with the World Wide Web

The traditional system of note taking, has always been the pen (or pencil) and paper. The internet, as with most things, is changing all that. For his lab Dalton took on the challenge of exploring different Information Gathering Tools. According to him one of the best tools for online note taking is called Evernote.

A note from Evernote

Adventures in Yugma

This post is devoted entirely to the Digital Lab group assignment. So, if you were looking for something fantastic I'll have to send you to a different post. For this Lab I explored the universe of web conferencing and some of the tools that make it possible. It was quite an adventure that lead me all around the world wide web and then back home. Need a way to call, video chat, screen and file share? Learn more, For those people, mostly business types, who want a FREE way to send files, screens, messages, and interact face to face in real times across borders, Yugma is the path.
 

Yugma's Opening Screen

 Yugma is designed to connect several computers and screens to each other under the direction of the host, and then the screen each sees can be controlled by the presenter. This allows the group to stay together and be able to all see and understand even if their individual GPS coordinates put them across cities, counties, states, countries, oceans, or whole continents. There are of course other web conferencing tools, however my personal issue with these, is that as a starving-student, they have a price attached. Additionally, the tools provided for free on Yugma match with many of those that can be bought. The only thing worth paying for with these services is security.

September 11, 2001: From the eyes of an 8 year old American child...

It has been 9 years since the day that changed my world. I realize now that not everyone had the exact same experience or even feels similarly about it. But like any tragic event healing takes time and understanding takes even longer. And to aid in that process for others and myself I'd like to share my view of what happened, something that isn't as hard as I once thought it would be.