## Mitch Kapor's talk at Web 2.0 -- a call to technologists to help propel a new populist reform movement -- deserves much wider circulation beyond the conference hall: "We're thinking a lot about the election just a few short weeks away. No matter who wins, I believe the kind of fundamental change we need to repair a damaged system will not come from the political establishment of either party. It must come from a popular reform movement, one which is heavily Internet-based, and comprised of a broad cross section of the American people." Kapor has posted the full text
over at Of By and For. Alternet has a good interview with Kapor as well.
## William Gibson is blogging again. He explains his return to the fray: "Because the United States currently has, as Jack Womack so succinctly puts it, a president who makes Richard Nixon look like Abraham Lincoln. And because, as the Spanish philospher Unamuno said, 'At times, to be silent is to lie.' " [via Tim Jarrett]
## Real Live Preacher's book is out! It's been a great gift to read this Texan preacher-turned-blogger's moving tales from the pulpit and beyond here on Salon blogs. Now new stories and some of the best of the Web stuff is collected between hard covers. Check it out. (You can buy it at the Preacher's favorite San Antonio independent boookseller.)
## "Joshtoberfest" in the Bay Area: Josh Kornbluth's got a new movie of his autobiographical monologue "Red Diaper Baby" opening at the Mill Valley Film Festival and then at two theaters. And his great and timely monologue, "Ben Franklin Unplugged," returns for a new production at the Magic Theater in San Francisco. More details here. Josh -- who I'm proud to count as a longtime friend -- is certainly one of the funniest people alive, and he has held tight over the years to his artistic compass, his political bearings and his remarkable impromptu punning ability. "Red Diaper Baby" is where you will, for instance, find Josh's priceless joke about Communist economics: "We've learned from history that it's very important after feudalism to stop in capitalism before moving on to socialism -- because that's where you get your appliances."
## Alex Cohen's Underground Clips site is an interesting and increasingly valuable experiment in fair-use-based posting of politically relevant video clips.
## I'm experimenting with this new bullet-point style. I used to use one that was an image, and that seems like overkill. I want to maintain ASCII purity. I'll probably keep, uh, iterating.
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