The True Path to Freedom, One Step at a Time : Calculate Your Own Ecological Footprint on Our Planet Earth and Reduce the Size of that Footprint

The "True Path to Freedom" may be a somewhat different one than the politicians envision.

Is it really the "other" guy who always holds the key to the true path to freedom on this planet, or do you also hold that key?

At the Path to Freedom website you can calculate your own personal ecological footprint on our planet Earth, as there are links there to various ecological footprint calculators, including the

Earth Day Footprint Quiz.

We took that test and got this final result:

TOTAL FOOTPRINT 5.7 GLOBAL HECTARES

IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 4.7 GLOBAL HECTARES PER PERSON.

WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 1.8 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE GLOBAL HECTARES PER PERSON.

IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 3.2 PLANETS

Take a look at that test and the other personal ecology tests. Regardless of your country or political persuasion, we think the path to freedom is clearly outlined. Instead of more, we need less.

In this vein, since humor (Br. humour) sometimes makes the point better than anything else, here is a related piece, sent to us by a white ecological friend with a capacity for self-criticism:

"Indian Chief, ‘Two Eagles,’ was asked by a white government official, “You have observed the white man for 90 years. You’ve seen his wars and his technological advances. You’ve seen his progress, and the damage he’s done.”

The Chief nodded in agreement.

The official continued, “Considering all these events, in your opinion, where did the white man go wrong?”

The Chief stared at the government official for over a minute and then calmly replied. “When white man find land, Indians running it. No taxes, no debt, plenty buffalo, plenty beaver, clean water; women did all the work, medicine man free. Indian man spend all day hunting and fishing; all night making love.”

Then the chief leaned back and smiled.

“Only white man dumb enough to think he can improve system like that.”"

There is some truth to that, indeed, and the True Path to Freedom surely requires us to find ways to mesh modern life with more sensible planetary living. We ourselves hold the key.

Do your part to make this planet a better place. Take the Footprint Test above, find out your HONEST score, and then see how much you can reduce that score in a year by more sensible living. YOU and YOUR PLANET will both surely profit. We will be reporting in 2009.

Need a Break? Clever Magazine is the Place to Find Intellectual Balance

Life, said Aristotle (very nearly), is balance.

If you need a break, take a look at Clever Magazine, "The ezine for the neglected demographic!"

In the hectic of modern-day life, just think about what Melissa Westemeier writes there in Every Day is Earth Day:

"Everything we’re doing takes years, seven years for a prairie to mature, twenty years for an oak tree to produce its first acorn."

No matter what you do, some things take time, and that is why the plodding tortoise often vanquishes the swift hare. There is no sense in running yourself or others into the ground. Rather, sometimes you have to simply relax and be patient, and live to fight another day.

Useful Arts : A Blog About Law Technology Internet Privacy Copyrights Trademarks Free Speech Online Marketing Personal Expression E-Commerce

We ran across the Useful Arts blog today, which has the slogan "Online Law Blog: How trademark, copyright, privacy and politics shape the Web." You might consider adding Useful Arts to your blogrolls. Here is what we read there:

"Hi, I’m Dave Wieneke, the host of UsefulArts.

UsefulArts.us is a blog about how law and technology connect to determine what is possible on the Internet. It considers issues such as privacy, copyright, trademark, and free speech as they pertain to online marketing, personal expression, and e-commerce."

Take a look at Useful Arts and make your own decision. See, for example, the recent posting Wikileaks Is Back Up in the US! about the controversial whistleblower Wikileaks website. That posting at Useful Arts reads:

"Judge Jeffrey White has reversed his decision requiring the site’s domain registrar to direct traffic away from the site’s US domain."

There is no question that Wikileaks represents a new dimension in freedom of information. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it is a direct and expectable development of the new technologies that dominate our modern era. It will be interesting to see how society deals with these kinds of websites and how the legal principles attendant to prior restraint will be applied to cases such as this, as manifested by Judge White's reversal of his initial prior restraint decision.

America.gov Covers U.S. Foreign Policy, American Life and World Affairs plus 2008 Presidential Election Coverage

America.gov,"Telling America's Story", if you are not already familiar with this informative website, is described there as follows:

"State Department’s Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP) engages international audiences on issues of foreign policy, society and values to help create an environment receptive to U.S. national interests.

IIP communicates with foreign opinion makers and other publics through a wide range of print and electronic outreach materials published in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Persian, Russian, and Spanish. IIP also provides information outreach support to U.S. embassies and consulates in more than 140 countries worldwide."

Topics covered are U.S. Politics (including the 2008 Presidential elections, and U.S. Government), U.S. Foreign Policy (Economics and Trade, American Giving, Peace and Security), American Life (Arts, Diversity, Education, Innovation), Democracy and Human Rights, Science and Health (Environment, Global Health, Space), and World Religions.

Currently, 71% of poll voters at that website think Barack Obama will win the Democratic Party nomination for President.

Nubrella - A New Umbrella Idea

Nubrella is a new umbrella idea that reminds us of some ideas that we ourselves have had in designing an on-demand collapsible golf umbrella that would be hands-free, to be worn like a hat but not resting on the head and free-standing, attached firmly to the ears, almost like a kite. Nubrella is not suitable for golf, but it is hands-free. Now they just have to design the golf version.


Nubrella photo linked from xinhuanet.comView the
Reuters Video where you first get about a 10-second commercial beforehand.

Medvedev Elected President of the Russian Federation : Hillary Clinton's Comments About the Election Show She is Unfit for the Presidency

Dmitry Medvedev has won the election as President of the Russian Federation, holding about 69.4% of the vote with 75% of the votes counted.

That was expected.

What was not expected was Hillary Clinton's absolutely sophomoric media release at her website containing her "Statement of Hillary Clinton on Russia".

She wants to be President of the United States? How is someone who issues such a hopelessly non-Presidential statement and who apparently knows next to nothing about the actual political situation in Russia going to deal with the Russians at any sensible level? Forget it.

Someone who could do foreign policy would congratulate the winner and extend a hand to future cooperation on matters of joint interest, regardless of differences on democratic views. Someone who shows up acting as "morally superior" is going to get nowhere in the modern political world.

Are you still trying to decide to vote for Clinton or Obama in the primaries?
Read that Statement. Do you want Hillary to deal with the Russians?
Foolish woman.