I’m doing this for the child in Africa who is going to use free textbooks and reference works produced by our community and find a solution to the crushing poverty that surrounds him. But for this child, a website on the Internet is not enough; we need to find ways to get our work to people in a form they can actually use.

And I’m doing this for my own daughter, who I hope will grow up in a world where culture is free, not proprietary, where control of knowledge is in the hands of people everywhere, with basic works they can adopt, modify, and share freely without asking permission from anyone.

Personal Appeal - Wikimedia Foundation

własność Rodryga hrabiego Dunina. - Majętność ta, dawniejsza siedziba Nieżychowskich, od roku 1898 znajduje się w rękach obecnego właściciela. - D..wygodny i przestworny, zbudowany został w pierwszej połowie zeszłego wieku przez .esnego właściciela Nepomucena Nieżychowskiego.

One of the things that I find frustrating about researching my heritage, is all the different ways that names can be spelled. For example, I've done many searches on my great-grandfather's name "Rodryg Dunin", but it was only today that someone (from Poland) showed me this site, with an actual picture of his home. The name is listed as "Rodryga hrabiego Dunina", which (I think) is the possessive form, so a rough translation would be "belonging to Count Rodryg Dunin".

In any case, I'm delighted to see this image. It was one of those "OMG" moments for me.

More Google searches to do now....

Elonka :)

does that make you secretly a countess Elonka? ;-)

(in Polish) Information about Rodryg Dunin's Granowko estate

The words "hero" and "patriot" focus on the death, not the life. They are a flag-draped mask covering the truth that few want to acknowledge openly: Death in battle is tragic no matter what the reasons for the war. The tragedy is the life that was lost, not the manner of death. Families of dead soldiers on both sides of the battle line know this. Those without family in the war don't appreciate the difference.

A Life, Wasted

In Saddam's time, the days before Saddam's rule were called the “Good Times.” Now, the “Good Times” extend to envelop even Saddam's time. But amidst the blackness of time and the wounds of fate, Iraqis still find a way to crack a smile, even if it hurts. Despite my cynicism, I believe in God (or Allah or whatever you care to name Him), and I pray for the well-being of this country every day. And every day I listen to Metallica and read Philip K. Dick.

Baba Noel, Metallica and Philip K. Dick - Day to Day in Iraqi - NYT Web Journal

Happy New Year, everyone!

Want some advice for 2006? Well, look no further. Illegal Art placed suggestion boxes in California and New York and invited passers-by to offer a word (or two) of guidance.

A selection:

NEVER give a gun to a duck

Fish closer to the shore

Listen to some old school PUNK ROCK

This is awesome

Your Suggestion Here

StumbleUpon is an intelligent browsing tool for sharing and discovering great websites. As you click Stumble!, you'll get high-quality pages matched to your personal preferences. These pages have been explicitly recommended (rated I like it) by friends and other SU members with similar interests. Rating these sites shares them with your friends and peers – you will automatically 'stumble upon' each others favorites sites.

StumbleUpon uses / ratings to form collaborative opinions on website quality. When you stumble, you will only see pages which friends and like-minded stumblers () have liked. Unlike search engines or static directories, this allows for a true "democracy of the web" – all SU members have a say ( or ) as to whether a page should be passed on.

In effect, StumbleUpon's members collectively share the best sites on the web. You can share any site by simply clicking I like it. This passes the page on to friends and like-minded people – letting them "stumble upon" all the great sites you discover.

Elonka ... Here is where that traffic is from... I use it for killing idle time....

:)

About StumbleUpon

The most outspoken of President Vladimir V. Putin's senior advisers abruptly resigned today, warning that Russia's nascent political freedoms have been lost and the Kremlin's economic choices have been poor.

Putin's Senior Economic Adviser Abruptly Resigns - New York Times

In a world beset by terrorist violence, natural disasters and war, small signs of progress are often overlooked. So it's no surprise that even as Western donors spend millions to foster the "rule of law" from Baghdad to Bolivia, recent advances across three continents have attracted little notice.

the real meaning of the rule of law
the former dictator or the government or a global corporation stands on a level playing field with the victim, the oppressed, the abused and the poor
this is the march of progress
hail to the law

Some quiet victories for human rights - Editorials & Commentary - International Herald Tribune

In a case of unprecedented brinksmanship in a European Union antitrust battle, regulators threatened on Thursday to impose millions of euros in daily fines on Microsoft for defying orders designed to give consumers and businesses broader choice in the market for software that runs office computer networks.

Microsoft threatened with daily EU fines - Business - International Herald Tribune

2005 was already the year of the demagogue, having been dominated for months by the endlessly echoed falsehood that the president "lied us into war." But the year ends with yet another round of demagoguery.

Administration critics, political and media, charge that by ordering surveillance on communications of suspected al Qaeda agents in the United States, the president clearly violated the law. Some even suggest that Bush has thereby so trampled the Constitution that impeachment should now be considered. (Barbara Boxer, Jonathan Alter, John Dean and various luminaries of the left have already begun floating the idea.) The braying herds have already concluded, Tenet-like, that the president's actions were slam-dunk illegal. It takes a superior mix of partisanship, animus and ignorance to say that.

Charles Krauthammer Impreachment Nonsense Washington Post Op Ed

In the face of mounting questions about news stories saying that President Bush approved a program to wiretap American citizens without getting warrants, the White House argues that Congress granted it authority for such surveillance in the 2001 legislation authorizing the use of force against al Qaeda. On Tuesday, Vice President Cheney said the president "was granted authority by the Congress to use all means necessary to take on the terrorists, and that's what we've done."

As Senate majority leader at the time, I helped negotiate that law with the White House counsel's office over two harried days. I can state categorically that the subject of warrantless wiretaps of American citizens never came up. I did not and never would have supported giving authority to the president for such wiretaps. I am also confident that the 98 senators who voted in favor of authorization of force against al Qaeda did not believe that they were also voting for warrantless domestic surveillance.

two opinions

Power We Didn't Grant