"I'm a Mac ... and I've Got a Dirty Secret"-A little word about 'conflict minerals'.

Get up to speed about conflict minerals. I'm a Mac ... and I've Got a Dirty Secret Hello, I'm a Mac, and I'm helping fuel the war in the Congo -- the deadliest war in the world. So are PCs, cell phones, digital cameras and other electronics. That's what Apple's famous ads don't tell you. So actor/activist Brooke Smith and cinematographer Steven Lubensky teamed up with actors Joshua Malina and John Lehr to create a version that sets the record straight. To learn more about conflict minerals and how you can help end war in the Congo, visit www.raisehopeforcongo.org.

The true meaning of being a slave

Not to speak up when you see injustice about you.
To keep silent through fear.
To walk by when the weak and the poor are assaulted by power and ill-used by thuggery whether of the commons or of the state.
To put the comfort of salary before the insecurities of conscience.
To speak like reasoned honey and act like a coward.
To tug the forelock while the abusers of the planet roil in luxury.
To press down rage and turn it into servitude.
Not to see the golden threads that connect each to each.

To be concerned with mere money and to understand nothing of value.
To be known as 'a safe pair of hands.'
To be endlessly corruptible.



That, truly, is what it means to be a slave.

BOOK OF THREE RINGS-POEM 3

THE SEX-DREAMS OF CLAUDIUS AND GERTRUDE

He gets the shakes when she’s close,
her beauty burns his eyes.
Clarity of fire within the green!

She parts her lips-he almost faints.
What arid fumes arise
when the book-spine cracks?

She seizes him in her white arms!
Her breasts are stirred and flecked!
She lands on him like Zeus on Leda!

The red skeins in her hair weave tales
of wildness and of chaos.
The sea is sounding in his shell.

She reaches up and is revealed:
A Selkie and a Siren,
smooth as dew-kissed moss.

Her dusky peaches softly glow,
he holds one in each hand.
Such surprising balance!

Within the blessing of the grove,
by a yielding forest pool,
he reaches deep inside

And throws:

His beating heart all bloodied at
her feet of slippered clay
and shouts his plea through grit:

Queen of the Night! Let me be the one
you’ll take to your chamber of gold.
That very secret, sacred space.

Cut me with your flinty knife!
Drain me of my blood!
And I will frame your hidden moon,

And stand where your husband stood.

A bit quiet of late?

Sorry there have been so few postings over the past weeks.  I'm just a bit snowed under at present.  We'll get back to normal in a few days.
Thanks for your patience and here's a photo of a living starling sculpture over Brighton's waters taken by my brother in law Andrew Jameson.

THE BUCKMINSTER FULLER CHALLENGE-WINNER ANNOUNCED!

INITIATIVE TRANSFORMING AFRICAN DESERT NAMED WINNER OF 2010 BUCKMINSTER FULLER CHALLENGE

ALL SIX FINALISTS DEMONSTRATE SIGNIFICANT POTENTIAL TO SOLVE SOME OF HUMANITY'S MOST PRESSING PROBLEMS

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June 5, 2010, Washington DC — Operation Hope, a solution combating one of the major causes of climate change has been named the winner of the 2010 Buckminster Fuller Challenge. At its core the winning strategy transforms parched and degraded Zimbabwe grasslands and savannahs into lush pastures with ponds and flowing streams, even during periods of drought. Operation Hope was awarded $100,000 to further develop its work at a ceremony today at the National Press Club in Washington DC.

The Buckminster Fuller Challenge is the premier international competition recognizing initiatives which take a comprehensive, anticipatory, design approach to radically advance human well being and the health of our planet's ecosystems. The 2010 finalists are providing workable solutions to some of the worldÕs most significant challenges including water scarcity, food supply, and energy consumption. The Challenge is sponsored by the Buckminster Fuller Institute, which is accelerating the development and deployment of whole-systems solutions which demonstrate the potential to solve some of the worldÕs most significant challenges.

Operation Hope is a project of the Africa Centre for Holistic Management in Zimbabwe and its sister organization the Savory Institute in Albuquerque, NM. Its successful approach to land management contradicts accepted practice and theories of resting land from animal grazing. Instead, Savory's holistic management process re-establishes the symbiotic balance between plant growth and the behavior of herding animals, returning unusable desert back into thriving grasslands, restoring biodiversity, bringing water sources back to life; combating global climate change, and increasing crop yields to ensure food security for people. The approach is currently being practiced and producing results on over 30 million acres world wide.

"Our work proves that we do have the ability to simultaneously better mankind's experience while bettering the Earth," said Allan Savory, founder of the Africa Centre for Holistic Management and the Savory Institute. "We are thrilled that the Buckminster Fuller Challenge exists to recognize and support work such as ours, and thank the jurors for this honor."

Berlin-based Watergy was named runner up of the Challenge. Watergy has developed and implemented a closed system greenhouse that provides extremely efficient farming capabilities in water-scarce communities. The approach, being demonstrated in Almeria Spain, allows a dramatic shift in resource efficiency for the supply of water, food and renewable material, and can be deployed across urban and rural conditions.

The other four finalists were:

»Barefoot Women Solar Engineers of Africa, Asia and Latin America (Tilonia, Rajasthan, India), which teaches illiterate, rural women in India and Africa to be solar engineers within their communities, providing energy to their communities, catalyzing their local economies and improving their quality of life;

»BK Farmyards, (Brooklyn, NY, US) a leading model in the urban agricultural movement, which is creating a web-based crowd-sourcing platform to advance urban farming as a viable business and food source for local communities;

»UrbanLab (Chicago, IL, US)
which has re-conceived the Chicago street-grid as a holistic Bio-System that captures, cleans and returns 100% of the city's wastewater and storm-water to the Lakes, ensuring constant regeneration of that natural resource while producing added economic, energy, social, and environmental benefits; and

»Living Building Challenge (Seattle, WA, US) which has developed the most advanced green building rating system in the world. Living Buildings are virtually self-sustaining, generating their own power, using renewable sources, and capturing and treating all their own water. construct, renovate and occupy and to serve as a catalyst for innovation.

"My grandfather believed that we have the ability to apply transformative strategies based on whole systems thinking, Nature's fundamental principles, and an ethically driven worldview to better the world and our own experiences. He called this approach comprehensive anticipatory design science," said Jaime Snyder, Buckminster Fuller's grandson and co-founder of the Buckminster Fuller Institute with his mother, Allegra Fuller Snyder. "I'm proud that the Institute is supporting the creative pioneers who are bringing this vision to light, and thankful to our partners who sponsor the Challenge and work with us to fulfill our mission."

The Buckminster Fuller Challenge originated in 2007 and awards $100,000 annually. Support for the program has been provided by the Atwater Kent Foundation, The Civil Society Institute, The James Dyson Foundation, The Highfield Foundation; The Jewish Communal Fund, and the members of The Buckminster Fuller Institute.

Founded in 1983 and headquartered in New York, The Buckminster Fuller Institute is dedicated to accelerating the development and deployment of solutions which radically advance human well being and the health of our planet's ecosystems. BFI's programs combine unique insight into global trends and local needs with a comprehensive approach to design. BFI encourages participants to conceive and apply transformative strategies based on a crucial synthesis of whole systems thinking, Nature's fundamental principles, and an ethically driven worldview. By facilitating convergence across the disciplines of art, science, design and technology, BFI's work extends the profoundly relevant legacy of R. Buckminster Fuller. For further information visit www.bfi.org

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