Andrew Sullivan Blog Entry: The Rotten Core

Andrew Sullivan, on his blog "The Daily Dish" makes a point about The Rotten Core of political innovation leadership stagnation quite apparent in Washington DC thanks to the successful "protect the status quo" activitie of corporate lobbysts and a shallow media. I suggest you read his blog entry.

Robin Chase argues for open peer-to-peer mesh networking built into vehicles! (TED.com talk March 2007)

TED.com, the web site of the Technology, Entertainment and Design set of conferences and their regular participant communities, has taken significant steps in the last 2 years to put more of their talks on the web in audio or video form or both... and allow people to comment on these talks.

One of the most curious talks was given in March 2007, by Robin Chase, one of the founders of Zipcar.com, who believes that charging people in real-time for the vehicle and road usage they initiate, can lower the transportation contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and global climate change.

In the second part of her talk, she indicates that rather than put special communication network systems in place to do only this function, such as having video cameras snap photos of license plates, or having special tags such as the EZPass that is used in many US NorthEastern and MidAtlantic States, what should actually be done is to create, as infrastructure, the mandate that all mobile devices and machines support peer-to-peer wireless communication, known as mesh networking.

I think this is a provocative idea. See her 14-minute talk yourself at Robin Chase on Zipcar and her next big idea.

Film: Lemon Tree (Etz Limon) (Eran Riklis, 2008, 1 hr 46 min, distributed by IFC Films)

This fictionalized film, shot in Hebrew and Arabic, starts with the newly appointed Israeli Defense Minister (played by Doron Tavory) and his wife (played by Rona Lipaz-Michael) moving to a part of Israel abutting (within meters) the Palestinian-agricultural lands at the extreme West of the "West Bank" ... and ends with the transformation of the Minister and his wife and a number of Palestinian's... especially neighboring Lemon Tree grower Mrs. Salma Zidane (played by Hiam Abbass), and Ziad Daud (played by Ali Suliman).

I have had the fortune to see this film twice and it is beautifully acted and full of quiet symbolism and the touching sense of people who want to be true to themselves but find themselves caught in conventional systems that spiral away from win-win solutions and spiral towards conflicts... "as I simply try to protect my home and family".

Highly Recommended