I am amazed at how many pats on the back I get for trying to support Elaine Allan’s efforts to help Burmese refugees here in town. All these people, all Obama supporters. All clamoring for change. Few choose to step up and actually help out.

Awareness is great. People willing to “get their hands dirty” are so much more useful though.

I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I suppose awareness is better than indifference. But when I see a kid who is a year old who isn’t wearing a diaper because his mother can’t afford them, and I meet a man who doesn’t have a job, can’t speak English, and has sought political asylum here in the States, I have a hard time settling with awareness. I met a family that was down to six eggs to eat right here in Austin, Texas.

How excited should I really be about the new iPhone apps? Why should I follow your dogs on Twitter? I love geeky people and feel they want nothing but the best for this world. I just don’t think they quite get the disparity in our world, and how little effort it takes from each individual to fix it.

So please support Obama. Support change. Just appreciate that you, and not your government, are responsible for the change that this world needs. Whether you believe that we need to find the cure for cancer, or bridge the digital divide, or solve world hunger, you cannot rely on your government to fix these problems. It doesn’t matter how many tax dollars you throw at it. Anyone who’s dealt with the government knows that their programs are wasteful, inconvenient, and run by people who are rewarded for being tenured rather than competent. Try this on for size: I am still dealing with crime victim’s compensation paperwork A YEAR AFTER the the situation that warranted it. When I asked a woman who worked for this division to just email me a fax number, she said she was unable to do this. EVERYTHING IS PAPERWORK WITH THE GOVERNMENT, AND THIS IS A WASTE OF YOUR TIME AND MONEY.

Change isn’t just a buzzword. It is an action that we all have to take to make society better.

BTW, if you want to improve the Burmese people’s situation here in Austin, please email Elaine at borntohelp(at)earthlink.net. She will tell you everything they need.

I just got back from North Carolina to meet with the guys at OpenNMS about their website. These guys are OG open source network management software guys, since OpenNMS has been around since 1999.

It truly is refreshing to see a company that gets open source. Open source isn’t about some pie-in-the-sky ideal of what software or community is. Open source makes sense business wise.

To me, open source is about:
1.) freedom, since we can customize the code to do what we need it to do rather than what a software company decides is right for us.
2.) pragmatism, since we only have to pay for the part we need customized and yet we get all the other features for free.

It’s funny, everyone always asks, “How do you make money with open source?” This question equates open source with free, which open source is not. That is freeware. The OpenNMS Group is profitable because it provides support and customization for the OpenNMS project. The more they get the OpenNMS project out there and the better services they provide in helping customers’ networks run more efficiently, the more money they make. It’s pretty simple.

Open source empowers the user to put in as little or as much into a product as they wish. No other software model allows us to do that. Think of it like a political campaign. Generally those who spend the most money or effort have the most impact on how the software functions. If it works great as is, you don’t have to do anything. If it has bugs, help fix them. If you need it to do something else, make it do something else or hire someone else to make it do what you want. Just like democracy, open source communities are only as good as the people in them and need good leaders to keep mob mentalities in check.

Many thanks to Tarus, Dave, Ben and Matt for treating me so well and dealing with my 10,000 questions while I was in North Carolina.

According to a BusinessWeek article, Honda is releasing their Honda FCX Clarity to beta testers in Los Angeles as early as 2009. The Clarity is a slick-looking hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle already being tested by major auto magazines. The cost? A lease will run drivers $600 a month.

I just can’t get excited for the prospects of this vehicle just yet. America’s favorite sport, like it or not, is Nascar. We get larger cars than we could possible could because they’re large, and faster cars than we need because they are fast. Cars are ingrained in the American culture. Would people spend more on a car with 136 horsepower than they would on a fully loaded BMW 328, an ultra low emissions vehicle? Wouldn’t that money be better spent just getting a home closer to work?

What would I do if I were a Honda executive? Pick an assortment of technology leaders, non-profits, journalists, scientists, and plain regular folks, and just give them the cars to try out. Ask for their feedback on how to make it faster, cheaper, and more practical. And then tell us all about it. Show the car from all aspects, good and bad, to the people who will hopefully buy it one day. Make it ours. A $600 lease means it will just go to the Leonardo DiCaprios or Ed Begley Jrs. of the world, and they are going to like anything that’s green. That includes cars that aren’t affordable or marketable. In the long run, that’s just stupid. Being green shouldn’t be seen as a holier-than-thou status symbol or a pie-in-the-sky ideal. Being green means we can finally remove the elephant from the room, which is Exxon’s 40 billion dollar per year profits at the expense of the American people.

Inspired by Ed Schipul’s honest post on the economy. Although the economy is bleak, acknowledging our options is the first step.

Cool Related Links:
The Audi A8 diesel drove from London to Edinburgh and back on one tank of gas.
The X Prize Foundation is giving $10 million to the fastest production-ready car getting over 100 MPG.

As you can see in my blogroll, I have three four sites, one of which is Obama’s site. One reason I respect Obama is his website. While I’m not fond of either Hillary or Obama’s website now since they ask me to sign up before I can even figure out what they are all about, I was struck by the communal aspects of his site when I first saw it. I just remember Clinton’s site asking me for money almost immediately. Your website is a reflection of you, so I’m not sure how that relects on Hillary.

Aside from Hillary’s goofy smirks when she disagreed with something Obama said, something struck me quite hard. The CNN commentators brought out all sort snippets of how the two differed. If someone were not familiar with the candidates’ policies, he or she would not gain much from this commentary. But people on CNN are paid to look and talk pretty, so I’m not terribly surprised. What struck me was their verbage. Hillary often said, “I plan to” and “If elected , I will…” Obama says, “We can ” and “We must…” Government can be transparent. We have the tools. Will we have a president who believes we have the power to instill change ourselves?

A more transparent government that requires the involvement of the people will not necessarily guarantee success. People become apathetic. They often do not take the responsibility to understand the issues, so some leadership is needed. We do need to get more involved though if we are going to make sure that politicians spend our money in our interests rather than for those of special interests. Besides, given our current situation, can an “I” really solve our problems anyways?

Listen to it. Just ignore the smirk. As much as I’d love a woman in office, it drives me nuts.

So here is the poll on which candidate you believe would best serve the open source community. You don’t have to register or wait in line this time. You just have to select a candidate by February 12th and your vote will be tallied on opensville the following day.

opensville

Do you like this post? Get the code to embed this poll in your blog or website here and the stats will feed to the opensville blog.

After working at BMW for two years, I became very appreciative and spoiled with good handling and acceleration. Acceleration and handling don’t just make a car more fun to drive–they can help smart drivers avoid accidents (note the word “smart”). As much as I want an uber fuel efficient car, I cannot justify the extra expense of a Prius or even the upcoming Smart Car given their lack of ability to both accelerate and handle on par with their less fuel efficient counterparts. Think I’m being harsh? Watch how the taller shapes of these vehicles affect how they handle in this Top Gear clip.

Fortunately, the X Prize Foundation is offering 10 million dollars to the winner of the Automotive X Prize. How do you win the Automotive X Prize? Build a 100-mpg machine that wins a race against other green vehicles. According to Eric Hagerman’s article in Wired, the rules, which will be finalized later this year, have three broad components: efficiency (cars must get at least 100 miles per gallon); emissions (cars must produce less than 200 grams of greenhouse gases per mile); and economic viability (mass production of the cars has to be feasible, and the company has to have a plan to make 10,000 a year). It’s this last point — that a winning vehicle has to be safe, comfortable, and ready to be mass-manufactured at a reasonable cost — that will separate the fantasy-mobiles from those that could actually be put into production and sold for a profit.

Do you have what it takes to create a car that solves America’s addiction to oil? Are you not that cool, but just want to know more? Read more about this contest by visiting the X Prize Site.

When I run in the mornings in downtown Austin, I often hear cranes and beeping trucks slapping up some huge building or another. While these buildings are better than the run down shells that used to clutter downtown, I can’t help but wonder if Austin will be able to maintain its Austiness throughout all of this development. After managing to get off the couch after a early afternoon slew of football games, I took some photos just to document what downtown Austin looked like on January 1, 2008. You can find these photos and others by checking out my downtown Austin photos on Flickr. What do you think Austin will look like in one year? Leave the best comment on a photo and win a box of yummy clementine oranges!

Do you hate commercials? So do I, and so do your potential customers. That’s why I’m attending Got Social Media? in Houston on January 24th. Technology allows marketers such as myself to communicate more closely to our audiences than ever before. “Got Social Media?” covers topics such as buzz marketing, web 3.0, designing for the interactive web, and more. Houston social media expert Erica O’Grady will be hosting this event at the Houston Technology Center.

Who’s speaking at this event?
giovanni gallucci: Buzz Generation, Guerilla Marketing and Branding via SEO, Social Media, and Social Networking
Kelsey Ruger: Crucial Conversations: The Art and Science of Conversation in Social Media
Erica O’Grady: What’s in Your Social Media Toolkit?
Chris Bernard: There Will Be Blood. Why Web 3.0 Will Feel A Lot More Like Web 1.0 Than Web 2.0
Stephen P. Anderson: Creating Pleasurable User Experience: When Design Meets Social Media
Laura Mayes: Women in Social Media
Ed Schipul: Social Metrics

Registration is just $50 until January 1st, and $65 until January 23rd. Learn how to make your marketing stick by signing up to attend.

OK, so I don’t have the greatest taste in men…

Hopefully you all had a restful and rewarding holiday break. I’m looking forward to 2008!

I read a Duncan Riley article in Techcrunch that well regarded blogger Susan Reynolds is undergoing surgery today for breast cancer. Although I am not familiar with Susan or her blog, I remember what it was like to go through my own sister’s cancer experience and I wish her and her family the best during this hard time. Our peas are with you!

Why peas? Read an exerpt from Reynolds’s blog, Boobs on Ice:

When I discovered a very thick area in my breast I called the doctor. The next day I was in her office. A half hour after that I was in the diagnostic radiologist’s.

A full afternoon and multiple stab wounds later we had a variety of samples of malignant tentacles of tissue that were on their way to the lab.

I was in a little pain – it would increase as the local anesthetic wore off – but left his office with a soft cold pack in my bra.

To keep bleeding down & relieve pain I’d need to keep things cool. Traditional ice packs are hard and heavy. As much as I try to be a good sport I’m not into having a brick sitting on my chest.

Enter a bag of frozen peas.

I tucked it in my bra, took a picture, and was ready to tell the story later that night. That bag of peas added a touch of lightness to what could have been a sad and serious tale.

* A bag of peas was something everybody could relate to.
* Some people love them, some hate them, some use them for their own injuries.
* A bag of frozen peas was a vehicle for conversation and let people tease me instead of having to cry.
* It let people share instead of bemoaning.

I napped a lot during the first few days after the biopsy. The news was sudden and stunning after all and my body was being assaulted.

Mmmm peas for lunch?

When I fell asleep with peas in my cleavage I’d wake to the smell of freshly cooked peas. That made the story funnier, and more human. Of course I shared it because what is life but a series of stories.

After enough cooked peas I moved on to baggies with ice cubes or larger gel-packs which truth be told still are too big and too heavy to be comfy but help with pain.

The peas however live on in the form of stories from others about their use of pea-packs and the line-up of twitter avatars sporting peas in support of my struggle.

This makes them a comfort in more than one way

You can follow Susan through her Twitter account. Give your support by adding peas to your Twitter avatar, and don’t forget to donate to the Frozen Pea Fund!