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So, why have I put the things I have in the sidebar? It isn't as if I haven't other InterestingThings to point out.

Apart from a certain level of mememe (which I will try to keep to a discreet level), here's why:

Worldchanging

(Just to show I've got interests other than Brin!) This site looks at the massive problems facing the world. The site contributors make no attempt to deny they are massive. However, rather than just face the problems and dissolve into gibbering goo, they are put into perspective. More importantly, the possible solutions are described; in particular, the solutions that are already available. The site's mission is to find these pieces and help put them together.

If you have just one RSS feed, make it this one!

Earth

This is another pbwiki that was set up just prior to this one, and actually got me into this timewasting exercise as well!

It is a discussion of the novel Earth by David Brin. In particular, the predictions made, many of which have come true, are coming true, or which are still off in the moonshine.

Anyway, fun speculations with a more serious undertone.

Contrary Brin

David Brin's blog site wherein he indulges in a few rants involving the great strides civilisation is making even as he comments on the profound threats it faces, both from natural and unnatural causes, and suggests some possible solutions. The administration of George W Bush is a prime and ongoing target, and the continual veiled references to the r'oil conspiracy are, while acknowledged paranoia, difficult to ignore. Brin is a profound US patriot in the non-flag waving sense, and to dismiss him as a democratic lefty (if you do) is to demonstrate your own simplistic views. Hint: he has recently become a registered Republican. But why? Go find out for yourself!

David Brin's Website

Brin's official website where he defines his ideas in a more subdued and scholarly fashion. As well as announcing his latest books and publications. Poke around and you will discover a few samples of his short stories as well. Well worth a read.

Groklaw

What started as a one-girl paralegal report on SCO's aggressive assertion that it owned the rights to Unix (and therefore Linux) has become a bustling community dedicated to the unmasking of corporate conspiracies, and the general debunking of FUD against open source software. I don't know how much her reporting influenced the outcome of the various cases, but it certainly laid the underlying issues bare for all to contemplate. See also Openness.

My Blog

This is where I've been jotting down my thoughts, speculations, commentary (oh yes, and the occasional rant) since August, 2004!

Question is, which is the better environment for such things, blog or wiki?

Boroondara Bushwalkers

I belong to this club of weekend ramblers and general leech fodder. I also set up their website for prospective members (which is where the link refers).

If you do go there, you will also find the club's wiki site, which was described as 'an interesting social experiment' when I started it. Having a fairly strong techno-geek background, I thought it a no-brainer that providing a community gossip place would be popular. Turns out that getting even one of the club's 200 members to make a contribution is rather like coaxing an acknowledgment of global warming from George W!

Oh well, I've always suspected that my marketing expertise couldn't sell a slab of cold beer to a parched aussie shearer!