Archive - 2006
January 24th
Random stuff online
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 01/24/2006 - 13:50The other day I mentioned Caffeinated Geek Girl’s blog entry about Leukemia. Today, I got an email from a former coworker who is participating in The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training. Please visit his site and contribute.
While I’m plugging online fundraising pages, please stop by at Mitch Fuchs page for his fundraising bike ride for Breast Cancer Research.
I also wrote this blog entry about the latest issues with the Federal Government trying to get Google’s search records. A lot of people have been writing about this. Recently, Lars Toomre has a blog entry about searching for nude teens growing marijuana.
I also received an email about an IRC Conference that the folks at Global Voices Online is organizing for “anyone who is interested in how the blogosphere can set up systems to respond more systematically and even more quickly to disasters”. It will be Wednesday at 9 AM EST on the #globalvoices channel on irc.freenode.net. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to join in, but I hope some of you will.
Town Committee Politics
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 01/24/2006 - 10:31(Originally published at My Left Nutmeg)
In the comments to a blog post over on Connecticut Local Politics, there has been a lively discussion about the decline in party politics. BDRubenstein888 commented on the importance of the State Party in the delegate selection process and his great honor and privilege of having been a delegate to the National Convention.
The process of becoming a member of local town committees and becoming delegates to state and national conventions is one of the areas where local party politics retains importance. I’ve encouraged people to get involved with their Democratic town committees and we have just completed the caucus process. I was glad to see information on when town caucuses where, and reports of people joining their town committees. However the process still needs a lot more work.
January 23rd
The Ebola Metaphor
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 01/23/2006 - 14:09It is a rainy Monday morning and I’m sitting in a high school classroom at the New Haven Academy. I look at the red folding chairs sitting on a blue carpet. I look up at the ceiling tiles, the kind I’ve counted too often in various waiting rooms. Why am I here?
On the simplest level, I am here to see a performance of the 9th Grade Literature classes based on the book, The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. Yet I don’t know any of the students in the performance. I don’t live in New Haven. What has really brought me here?
January 22nd
Civic Involvement
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 01/22/2006 - 23:17The following entry was written initially as a response to a comment on Connecticut Local Politics. It turned into a fairly long message, so I thought it would be best for it to stand on its own here.
Independent1, I do not think that the observation that ‘people are motivated for the most part by self-interest’ is particularly cynical or negative. If anything, I think there is great benefit in getting people to recognize that working together with ones neighbors, in helping the people around one is an act of self-interest. It is part of the reason I often refer back to John Donne,
January 20th
Albright 08, Farrell 06
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 01/20/2006 - 10:52(Cross posted to My Left Nutmeg)
No, it’s not a sports score, it is a cutsey title to sum up my experiences last night.
Next Monday, the 23rd, marks the ninth anniversary of Madeleine Albright’s swearing in as the 64th Secretary of State to the United States. She has close ties to Connecticut, having gotten her BA from Wellesley College. Her daughter and son-in-law lived in Stamford when they gave birth to her first grandchild. She is an intelligent woman of great stature.
So, it is little surprise that she spent last night in Westport talking to a group of around 100 people about how we can address grave foreign policies issues that face our country. Her first recommendation was that we need to work together to elect Diane Farrell to be our next Congresswoman in the 4th CD.
