Democracy Now podcast

Fascinating conversation with musician, actor and longtime activist Harry Belafonte yesterday (1/30/06) from Democracy Now. (Podcast available through iTunes)

What's up, Google?

I feel like my little bow to Google on Things I've Seen is somewhat out of order with their recent bending over to the Chinese government and its censorship policy. Right on the heels of applauding the search engine company for its refusal to provide the U.S. government with requested search results, people now are talking about boycotting Google and generally taking the company to task for what they see as a reneging on its mission, “don’t do evil.”

Blogger and Global Voices Online cofounder Rebecca MacKinnon writes in a recent post that Google representatives “have been making much of the fact that Google.com will remain available to users inside China.” But she also notes that “if it becomes completely unavailable, and Google does not try to fight government moves to block Google.com, they will have gone several more steps in buttressing the Chinese Firewall.”

I have to believe Google won’t let things go this far, and search guru John Batelle’s entreaty to the company probably sums up a lot of people’s thoughts:

There's still time to pull out, guys. I've read your rationalizations … and … I don't buy them. I don't buy that this is what, in your heart, you believe is right. Sure, I understand the logic. But, well....in your heart, is this what you wanted to do? No? Then why did you do it?

As MacKinnon says, "It will be interesting to see how things evolve over the coming weeks."

Update: GR blogger Murdoc points to some great Google logos created in response to the Chinese debacle.

On getting what you pay for

So, back when I first became unemployed and I was (just a little ) panicky, I signed up with Guru.com, a site that bills itself as "the world's largest online marketplace for freelance talent."

It works basically like this: Employers post project specifications and freelancers enter their skills and interests into the site's database. The site posts projects to job boards and catalogs the information, cross referencing project requirements with freelancer qualifications and sending out notifications on any matchups (on which freelancers may then bid).The site offers both paid and free memberships, Guru takes a percentage cut of any payments to freelancers (5% for paying members; 10% for nonpayers) and payments for work completed are handled through an escrow account.

Sounds like a no-brainer, right? But here's the rub: "Plumb" projects seem available only to paying members; in fact, free-ride members can't even bid on a good number of the projects listed on the boards. Needless to say, as a non-paying member, I've found zilch that could bring any appreciable income into my personal bankbook.

Which brings me to the notification I received in a recent email:

Dear Kathleen: Within the last 24 hours, employers posted one or more projects that match your profile(s).

Profile ID: ...
Project ID: ...
Title: Wedding Ceremonies
Category: Writing / Editing / Translation
Description:
Need interesting wedding ceremonies. (see attached for samples of good ceremonies.)

Hmmm. Could be fun. After listing a typical outline for a wedding ceremony, the description goes on:

All Rights to all ceremonies submitted and accepted will be owned by us to utilize as we wish; it will be a work for hire.

You can see some ceremonies there and there are a ton of ceremonies on the web you can review (I have reviewed many many many of them)

I want ORIGINAL ceremony scripts, not something copied off other sites. I have seen most of those.

OK, it's getting a little off-putting, but still has some potential ... maybe. So I go to the Guru site to find out more. Hmmm. They want 10 three-page ceremonies, each "very different" from the other, using different styles and tones. Still do-able, I think. I download a couple of the samples and read through them. No literary masterieces here for sure, and -- what's this? A typo? Then I scroll through all the admin information till I see this:

Project budget: Less than $250

My reaction is, "They're kidding, right?" and, "Do they know how much research and writing time possibly could go into 10 well-crafted pieces? It's a wedding ceremony for cryin' out loud. It's for the most important day in some couple's life -- it should be beautiful and poetic and ... and on top of everything, Guru is going to take 10% of what I earn?

Then I think, who the heck would pay some nobody who knows nothing about your life, your love, your dreams (who in turn hires some unknown-but-hopeful hack writer ) to concoct their wedding ceremony, vows included?

Indeed. I guess it's true. You really do get what you pay for.

We've got roller derby!

Just wrote an article for GRNow.com about the startup women's roller derby league here in Grand Rapids, the Grand Raggidy Roller Girls. Check it out.

Wider scope

Thought I'd better change the description of this blog to better express its content. What prompted me is that I noticed this blogger (an ultra conservative guy from Rochester, Mich. I don't know what I think about that!) had linked me up on his Grand Rapids Blog and it dawned on me that I've been misrepresenting this blog a bit. (Think he'll delink me?) For some time now I've strayed from Grand Rapids into more things Michigan.

Oh, and speaking of Michigan, I also see I'm on the blogroll of this relocated Michigander ...

Of course I still have stuff on other topics, but hey, that's my prerogative.

Anyhow, here's the old description. The new one's up top.

File under "huh?"

Every now and then you see a news item about a woman who's been told she can't breast-feed in some public place. Usually somebody or other is offended by such a "scandalous" display of infant nutritional needs being met. Other times public breast-feeding is held to be a violation of some official rule or policy. This story reported in the Ann Arbor News on Wednesday is of the latter type. Via MLive:

An Ann Arbor woman is upset that the YMCA will not allow her to breast-feed her baby in the swimming pool area.
Kelly Fuks said she was told it's a distraction to the lifeguards.
The Y says it is a health issue because it violates a "no food and drink'' rule in the pool area. Officials say she can breast-feed in many other parts of the building...
... The issue arose Dec. 22 when Fuks took her 6-month-old daughter, Ansley, her 3-year-old son, Maxwell, and a friend swimming at the Y in downtown Ann Arbor. Fuks said a lifeguard approached and told her she could not breast-feed Ansley on the deck of the family pool.
When she queried Y management later by phone, Fuks said, she was told that breast-feeding by the pool is forbidden because it's a distraction to lifeguards ...
... Diane Carr, senior programs director at the Y, said all food and drink is forbidden in the pool area, and that exceptions can't be made for breast-feeding.

Yeah. A breast-feeding 30-something mom is way more distracting than a gaggle of bikini-clad 16-year-olds. Oh, and that breast milk just might get spilled and put unsuspecting swimmers at risk of slipping and falling on the pool deck. Not to mention the sticky mess it would make.

Like I said, "huh?"
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Grand Rapids bloggers: Did you take the poll yet?

Pollard on the myth of leadership

Dave Pollard writes the wonderfully thought-provoking blog, How to Save the World. I regret that I haven't read him more, but his posts are usually so long and complex that I tell myself I'll save them for when I have more time. Which of course I rarely have had. Until lately.

Now that I'm not working a regular 9-to-5, it sometimes feels like I have nothing BUT time. And mostly that's great, 'cause I can read things like Dave's blog more. And reflect more on things that always bugged me when I was working in the land of cubicles. Heh.

Things like, what passes for leadership in corporations -- indeed, in the country -- these days. Dave (he's Canadian and he starts off his post stating that he loves Americans but not our leaders) wrote a long missive on that very subject recently. You should read it for yourself (especially if you do not happen to be slightly left of center, since it'll expose you to something new). But here is my favorite bit:

...the essence of complex systems [is]: No one is in control. What gets done (for better or worse) gets done as a result of the staggeringly complex interactions and personal decisions of everyone. Even in the most hierarchical organizations, far more energy is expended finding workarounds for incompetent management decisions and policies (without offending management, of course) than is spent implementing the odd intelligent insight that management, with all the resources at its disposal, 'manages' to come up with. Employees, and customers (who are often treated only slightly less paternalistically than employees), actually have almost all the good ideas that would be needed to make any organization much more successful, but it is taboo to listen to them, to even be accessible to them. That would make the leaders look weak, as if perhaps they don't have all the answers. And that, of course, is unthinkable.

Absolutely. Unthinkable.

Take my advice and go read more of Dave Pollard.
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Hey, don't forget to take the poll, Grand Rapids bloggers!

GR bloggers: How 'bout a meetup?

Anybody interested? Are you willing to leave the safety of your laptop for an hour or so and meet for beers and BS-ing about things bloggy? Let me know. Take the poll. (GR area bloggers only, please. You're on your honor!)
Final update 1/12, 2:35 p.m.: I don't know where my other two updates disappeared to, but the poll is working now, so give it a whirl.

Are you interested in a meetup of Grand Rapids bloggers?
	Yee-ha! Tell me when and where. I'll be there!
	Um, sure. If I don't have to organize it.
	Can't you just start an online forum instead?
	Not sure. (I'm shy.)
	No-no, never-never, uh-uh-uh
Free polls from Pollhost.com

UAW rank-and-file protest at the Auto Show

Media Mouse points this report at Future of the Union on the protest outside the Detroit Auto Show this week, where several hundred of the UAW rank-and-file marched against General Motors and Delphi. Every major UAW local in Michigan was reported to have been represented, with union activists from many organizations joining them from across the country. The rank-and-file published website also noted that UAW bureaucrats in several of the larger locals did not support the grassroots-initiated march, in fact they neither publicized nor attended it.

Proofreading bugaboo

Keash writes on every freelance writer's nightmare: typos. A lapse in proofreading can undo you. Yet I find too that this is one of my lesser skills.