Because
I played hooky from last Saturday's best links of the week, I have a
bumper crop this week, a veritable del.icio.us list. So I'll keep the
commentary to a minimum:
Business: Open Business Blog:
A three-country collaboration writes about working models of Open
Source Business around the world. Now a regular read for me. Thanks to
Lavonne at Born Famous for the link. Disruptive Innovation Blog:
Colleagues of my favourite innovation writer Clay Christensen have a
blog with interesting follow-up and cases stemming from the work in his
books. Living in Open Space: Chris Corrigan asks three important questions about finding business answers. Reply to his invitation. Shifting from Push to Pull Businesses:
Walter Derzko discusses the implications of the shift from a
supplier-push and executive-push business model to a customer-pull,
front-line-worker-pull model. See if you're ready. Wisdom of Crowds Proof of Concept:
Sean Clauson and his team are using a blog to try to launch a new
business that will provide effective, affordable management consulting
to entrepreneurs, driven extensively by the Wisdom of Crowds instead of
a management team. I'm watching this unfold with great interest.
Politics: Putting Women in their Place:
Fund Forward supports women-led enterprises and community initiatives,
using a very different measure of 'ROI'. An important initiative. The Global Market Economy as Criminal Enterprise:
Michael Ventura in Austin Chronicles explains how the economy that
siphons wealth from poor to rich (countries and people) is run just
like a criminal enterprise, except with a much more effective PR
program. Very provocative. 14 Characteristics of a Fascist State:
A brief video by Eric Blumrich reviews the scholarly definition of
fascism to see whether it applies to any country we know. Thank to
reader Rob Nichols for the link. Protecting the ANWR:
Last chance to try to stem the greed of industry and the corrupt
congress before the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, and its
inhabitants, are lost forever. Protecting the Environment in Nanaimo BC:
A new site is trying to protect the city's vulnerable areas, like the
Jingle Pot Marsh, from a proposed insane new development program
featuring an expensive and unneeded convention centre. It's the same
the world over, but the local community is the battleground where we can win. Wal-Mart Spoof: Jib Jab takes shots at the Wal-Mart model of job destruction. Only works in IE browsers (irony, huh?)
New Media: Independent World Television Network:
A group with impressive credentials and the bold plan of creating a
global TV network to rival CNN but with no advertising, and no
corporate or government influence, is up and running, starting online.
Thanks to Jeff Gold of the Green Party for the link.
Techie Stuff: Get a Blog URL You Can Give Others:
Blogrolling now offers domain name registration coupled with a service
that automatically forwards the name to your blog (no FTPing, site
management or changes to how you blog required). So now I can tell
people to find me at howtosavetheworld.ca instead of
blogs.salon.com/0002007/ -- a bit easier, eh? Community-Based Wi-Fi:
Fascinating story in Wired shows that community-wide Wi_Fi is easier to
establish in rural areas the big wire players aren't interested in.
Could the country leapfrog the cities by offering better, cheaper
communications infrastructure? Thanks to Dale Asberry for the link.
Just Astonishingly Good Writing: On Grief:
Fellow Salon blogger Birdie Jaworski at Beauty Dish writes about how
she has handled the death of loved ones. Magnificient and
heart-wrenching. Blogging About Who We Are:
Fellow Salon blogger Meaghan Fowler at Blogcabin writes about who she
is, and does so in a dazzlingly imaginative, disarmingly candid, and
fall-down funny style. And if you think I'm profilic, check out Meg.
Awesome. The Portable John Gray: For those who don't have time to read John Gray's brilliant book Straw Dogs, you can get a taste in this essay, Home Alone.
Lots more next Saturday.
The image at the top of this post is a poem called Swan and Shadow written 35 years ago by
John Hollander. It is not only moving and inspiring in its own right,
it is crafted in the shape of its subject. Absolutely brilliant, a new
art form. Thanks to reader Ethan Timm for the link.
MADE IN CANADA
trust your
instincts 
