An open source platform for building a writing space on the web... WriteFreely is built around writing... Reach outside your own site with federation via ActivityPub. WriteFreely lets anyone on Mastodon, Pleroma, or any ActivityPub-enabled service follow your blog, bookmark your posts, and share them with their followers. https://writefreely.org/ (more)

fediverse system. Pleroma is a free and open-source microblogging social networking service. Unlike popular microblogging services such as Twitter or Weibo, Pleroma can be self-hosted and operated by anyone with a server and a web domain, a combination commonly referred to as an instance. Instance administrators can manage their own code of conduct, terms of service, and content moderation policies, allowing users to have more control over the content they view as well as their experience.[2][full citation needed] It was named after the religious concept of pleroma, or the totality of divine powers.[3] The software also implements the ActivityPub protocol, which allows users to communicate and interact with content from other Pleroma instances or any server that is running software that supports ActivityPub (such as Mastodon, Misskey, Pixelfed, etc.), a decentralized network commonly referred to as the Fediverse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleroma_(software) (more)

Excellent Dilbert series on the joys of Caffeine. (more)

book by Yochai Benkler ISBN:0300110561 (more)

for reasons other than Money? not amenable to Economics analysis (more)

There has been the occasional gift-based economy. As opposed to our Exchange Economy or a centrally-controlled Command Hierarchy.(Eric Raymond compares them.) (more)

A potlatch is a gift-giving feast practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States,[1] among whom it is traditionally the primary governmental institution, legislative body, and economic system... A potlatch involves giving away or destroying wealth or valuable items in order to demonstrate a leader's wealth and power. Potlatches are also focused on the reaffirmation of family, clan, and international connections, and the human connection with the supernatural world. Potlatch also serves as a strict resource management regime, where coastal peoples discuss, negotiate, and affirm rights to and uses of specific territories and resources. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potlatch

Node.js port of Multi-user SocialCalc (WikiCalc) https://github.com/audreyt/ethercalc - hosted https://ethercalc.net/ (more)

City formed to be limited to a Minimal Compact. Same as Charter city? Maybe StartUp=US, Charter=Elsewhere? (more)

A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book.[1] The English word to describe such a work derives from the Italian: novella for "new", "news", or "short story (of something new)", itself from the Latin: novella, a singular noun use of the neuter plural of novellus, diminutive of novus, meaning "new".[2] According to Margaret Doody, the novel has "a continuous and comprehensive history of about two thousand years", with its origins in the Ancient Greek and Roman novel, Medieval Chivalric romance, and in the tradition of the Italian Renaissance novella... Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji, an early 11th-century Japanese text, has sometimes been described as the world's first novel, because of its early use of the experience of intimacy in a narrative form. There is considerable debate over this, however, as there were certainly long fictional prose works that preceded it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novel (more)

Don Quixote,[a][b] the full title being The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha,[c] is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. It was originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615. Considered a founding work of Western literature, it is often said to be the first modern novel.[2][3] Don Quixote is also one of the most-translated books in the world[4] and one of the best-selling novels of all time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Quixote (more)

The Progressive Era (1901–1929) was a period in the United States during the early 20th century of widespread social activism and political reform across the country.[1][2] Progressives sought to address the problems caused by rapid industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and political corruption as well as the enormous concentration of industrial ownership in monopolies. Progressive reformers were alarmed by the spread of slums, poverty, and the exploitation of labor. Multiple overlapping progressive movements fought perceived social, political, and economic ills by advancing good democracy, scientific methods, and professionalism; regulating business; protecting the natural environment; and improving working and living conditions of the urban poor.[3] Corrupt and undemocratic [[political machine[[s and their bosses were a major target of progressive reformers.To revitalize democracy, progressives established direct primary elections, direct election of senators (rather than by state legislatures), initiatives and referenda,[4] and women's suffrage which was promoted to advance democracy and bring the presumed moral influence of women into politics.[5] For many progressives, prohibition of alcoholic beverages[6] was key to eliminating corruption in politics as well as improving social conditions. Another target were monopolies, which progressives worked to regulate through trustbusting and antitrust laws with the goal of promoting fair competition. Progressives also advocated new government agencies focused on regulation of industry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Era (more)

From the Great Depression through now. 2 separate Economic Transitions. (A Brain Fart started in 2009.) (more)

Agile Product Development, Product Management from MVP to Product-Market Fit, Adding Product To Your Startup Team, Agility, Context, and Team Agency, (2022-10-12) Accidental Learnings of a Journeyman Product Manager (more)

Rule by the few. The real A-List. Oligarchy is a form of government where most political Power effectively rests with a small segment of society (typically the most powerful, whether by wealth, military strength, ruthlessness, or political influence). The word oligarchy is from the Greek for "few" and "rule". Many political theorists have argued that all societies are inevitably obligarchies no matter the supposed Political System. Oligarchies are often controlled by a few powerful families whose children are raised and mentored to become inheritors of the power of the oligarchy, often at some sort of expense to those governed. This power may not always be exercised openly, the oligarchs preferring to remain "the power behind the throne," exerting control through economic means. http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligarchy See also kleptocrat/klept/kleptocracy, plutocrat/plutocracy/billionaire; cf ostracism, pathological; fascist/authoritarian/corporatism; Crony Capitalism, Theocracy (more)

power-holder in oligarchy

On August 23, 1971, prior to accepting Nixon's nomination to the Supreme Court, Lewis Powell was commissioned by his neighbor Eugene B. Sydnor Jr., a close friend and education director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, to write a confidential memorandum for the chamber entitled "Attack on the American Free Enterprise System," an anti-Communist and anti-New Deal blueprint for conservative business interests to retake America.[17][18] It was based in part on Powell's reaction to the work of activist Ralph Nader, whose 1965 exposé on General Motors, Unsafe at Any Speed, put a focus on the auto industry putting profit ahead of safety, which triggered the American consumer movement. Powell saw it as an undermining of the power of private business and a step toward socialism.[17] His experiences as a corporate lawyer and a director on the board of Phillip Morris from 1964 until his appointment to the Supreme Court made him a champion of the tobacco industry who railed against the growing scientific evidence linking smoking to cancer deaths.[17] He argued, unsuccessfully, that tobacco companies' First Amendment rights were being infringed when news organizations were not giving credence to the cancer denials of the industry.[17] (more)

Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. (September 19, 1907 – August 25, 1998) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1972 to 1987... He worked for Hunton & Williams, a large law firm in Richmond, Virginia, focusing on corporate law and representing clients such as the Tobacco Institute. His 1971 Powell Memorandum became the blueprint for the rise of the American conservative movement and the formation of a network of influential right-wing think tanks and lobbying organizations, such as The Heritage Foundation and the American Legislative Exchange Council. In 1971, President Richard Nixon appointed Powell to succeed the late Associate Justice Hugo Black. He retired from the Court during the administration of President Ronald Reagan, and was eventually succeeded by Anthony Kennedy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_F._Powell_Jr.

Anne Irene McGill Gorsuch Burford (/ˈɡɔːrsʌtʃ/ GOR-sutch; April 21, 1942 – July 18, 2004), also known as Anne M. Gorsuch, was an American attorney and politician. Between 1981 and 1983, while known as Anne M. Gorsuch, she served under President Ronald Reagan as the first female Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Her son is sitting Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Neil Gorsuch. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Gorsuch_Burford

James Gaius Watt (January 31, 1938 – May 27, 2023) was an American lawyer, lobbyist, and civil servant who served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior in the Ronald Reagan administration from 1981 to 1983. He was described as "anti-environmentalist" and was one of Ronald Reagan's most controversial cabinet appointments.[1] His tenure as Secretary of the Interior was controversial primarily because he was perceived as hostile to environmentalism. Watt opened up nearly all of America's coastal waters to oil and gas drilling, widened access to coal on federal lands, and eased restrictions on strip-mining.[2] His proposals to sell off federal lands failed due to extensive opposition.[2] In 1983, he resigned after controversially remarking that a panel reviewing his coal-leasing policies had "every kind of mixture—I have a Black. I have a woman, two Jews and a cripple." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_G._Watt