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Pastimes : Where the GIT's are going -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Naomi who wrote (184110)	10/2/2009 9:30:25 PM
From: ManyMoose	3 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 225578

I'm so glad you enjoyed my memories of Montana, and I'm humbled by your kind words. It's hard for me to live "in the moment" and sometimes I get in trouble by not being there. My mind has its own universe, and that's where my attention is usually focused. Part of that trouble stems from imagining things as they were, because I'm afraid of what they are going to become with the advances of technology and human social habits. I love the fact that I have actually experienced hand-cranked telephones, and helped to maintain phone line in the woods by climbing up trees with climbing spurs. I fel that it gives me a greater appreciation when I pick up my cell phone and go through who knows how many satellites and tower linkages that are far removed from anything I can see. Other experiences I've had connect the past and the future. I wrote about one such earlier. I don't know whether you saw this story hat I wrote about in August: ManyMoose watching 21st Century technology while experiencing 1920s technology...click HERE Our parents' generation is truly the greatest generation that ever was or will be. They made the transition from a time when horses were a primary mode of transportation to a time when space travel is an accomplished fact. It's really quite amazing.

To: Naomi who wrote (184110)	10/3/2009 1:54:36 AM
From: KLP	2 Recommendations Respond to of 225578

Naomi, and ManyMoose and all GITS....Hopefully all of you will start getting some of your remembrances down someplace!! Seriously...You are good writers and have stories to share....Naomi, yours from a generational experience, and you MM from a totally unique experience because of your vocation.... I've tried to encourage the ladies in my organization to do that too...Some actually are taking me up on that. If for no other reason than possibly their kids or grandkids or a future descendant would LOVE to find some of your experiences on paper, but really, the people who lived in the 20th Century were so busy living a multi-faceted life, that many didn't even think what they were doing was unique. So what you would write is historical as well. Look at the differences between 1900 and 2000! From farming to city life. From no radio, and certainly not TV, Cable, Internet, Cell Phone, Video's, Movies, YouTube, and all the amazing other things in communication. ETC. I talked to my husband about this too, and he's thinking a bit more seriously about it. Told him about a woman who was in her 80's when I knew her....crackerjack gal and former teacher. She wrote a book for her family about Life in a Nebraska Soddy.....and was quite clever on how she organized it. Yes, family bio's and info...but then she told of every day life...a chapter on Laundry Day for instance. And Baking Day. Underground Cellar. Canning. Threshers in for Dinner at noon. Making wool. Planting a garden. Saturday night baths. Outdoor facilities, then wonder of all wonders, Inside Plumbing and a real big Bath Tub. Lights. Kinds of food. Making clothing. Sewing all sorts of articles. Sunday Go-To-Church Day. Holidays. Family Gatherings. Those were just a few...but what else she included was quite clever too...She took a new (but replica of the old) Montgomery Ward Catalog, and made copies of the different furniture, dishes, machines, etc that were available in those early years, and added those copies to her book. Since each of our lives is different, our books would be different, and highly interesting to our future generations.

To: Naomi who wrote (184110)	10/3/2009 12:33:23 PM
From: Neeka	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 225578

H/T LB.. This is scary! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ceding the Internet [Brett D. Schaefer and James L. Gattuso] Last week, President Obama proudly announced at the United Nations the steps taken by his administration to "embrace a new era of engagement" in international affairs. These actions included supporting the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, addressing global warming through the U.N., joining the Human Rights Council, signing the Disabilities Convention, supporting the Millennium Development Goals, and paying America's arrears to the United Nations without asking the organization to implement reforms to prevent those payments from being misused. Well, we can add another dubious decision to the list of sacrifices the Obama administration has made to alter of international engagement. Today it was announced that the administration has agreed to cede much U.S. control over the nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which regulates and manages the Domain Name System under which Internet Protocol addresses and registration of top-level domains (such as .org and .com) are assigned. According to a story in the Guardian: The deal, part of a contract negotiated with the US department of commerce, effectively pushes California-based Icann towards a new status as an international body with greater representation from companies and governments around the globe. Icann had previously been operating under the auspices of the American government, which had control of the net thanks to its initial role in developing the underlying technologies used for connecting computers together. But the fresh focus will give other countries a more prominent role in determining what takes place online, and even the way in which it happens – opening the door for a virtual United Nations, where many officials gather to discuss potential changes to the internet. Under the previous arrangement, the U.S. government retained veto power over ICANN's decisions. Although the U.S. took a hands-off approach, the relationship helped insulate the Internet from political meddling by states that were threatened or frustrated by its freedom. As I discussed in a 2005 Heritage WebMemo, the United Nations has sought for some time to acquire authority over ICANN, at the behest of a number of countries who wish to tax or regulate it. As noted in the paper: For decades, the Internet has developed with a minimum of government interference. The core governance of the medium has been performed by non-governmental entities and overseen by the U.S. government, which has exercised a light regulatory touch. It is no coincidence that the medium has prospered from this benign neglect, growing from a research curiosity into a major force in the world economy and an invaluable venue for the exchange of information. . . . The result of a UN-controlled and regulated Internet would be that non-democratic countries that oppose the right to free speech such as China and grasping, anti-market impulses like those of the European Union would have a greater voice in guiding the Internet in a direction away from "freedom, education, and innovation." If the Internet cannot be a government-free zone, it should be governed in a manner that minimizes restrictions rather than imposing international standards that restrict Internet freedom. Given the stakes, the U.S. must stand firm and reject efforts to internationalize governance of the Internet. Quite simply, the decision of the Obama administration increases the vulnerability of the Internet to political pressure, censorship, and strangling regulation and taxation. Welcome to "responsibility and leadership in the 21st century." — Brett D. Schaefer is the Jay Kingham Fellow in International Regulatory Affairs in the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, a division of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies, at the Heritage Foundation and editor of ConUNdrum: The Limits of the United Nations and the Search for Alternatives. James L. Gattuso is Research Fellow in Regulatory Policy in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies. The Corner on National Review Online (3 October 2009)