Successful Blog

The Mic Is On: We’re Misbehaving! Well, Sort of . . .

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It’s Like Open Mic Only Different

Here’s how it works.

open mike night

It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME
The rules are simple — be nice.

There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun it is until you try it.

Tonight we’re misbehaving — well, sort of . . .

We might also talk about

  • things we did as kids
  • pranks we pulled with our friends
  • funny stuff that happened
  • the weirdest situations we got in at school

AND THE EVER POPULAR,
Basil the code-writing donkey, and Milton the Skinny Moose.

Friends

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related articles
The Mic Is On: We’re List Crazy!

Open Mic 7pm Chgo Time: We’re Misbehaving! Well, Sort of . . .

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That One Time I Said I Was Twins . . .

Personal Branding logo

YES, the mic will be open again tonight. So start collecting your thoughts. Remember, you get to bring what you want to talk about.

The rules are simple — be nice.

There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun it is until you try it.

Tonight we’re misbehaving — well, sort of . . .

We might also talk about

  • things we did as kids
  • pranks we pulled with our friends
  • funny stuff that happened
  • the weirdest situations we got in at school

AND THE EVER POPULAR,
Basil the code-writing donkey, and Milton the Skinny Moose.

It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related articles
The Mic Is On: We’re List Crazy!

Net Neutrality 12-12-2006

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Net Neutrality Links

I’m adding this link to the Net Neutrality Page.

Why Jennifer Granholm Really Is Helping Destroy the Internet

InterrupT has an interesting post at Michigan Liberal where he argues that a franchising bill that looks like it’s about to pass, HB 6456, isn’t really related to net neutrality. Sadly, he couldn’t be more wrong, and it’s the type of wrongness that is going to lose us our free and open internet. Here’s an email from a knowledgable friend of mine on how these guys work and why it’s not as simple as thinking that we can just put through net neutrality protections.

Net neutrality politics have gotten a shade complex. Here’s a stab at sorting out why it’s important to pass net neutrality in a state, why it must be done in the same package as “franchise reform,” and why it’s critical even though it would only apply to Internet connections in that state.

Let’s start with power. Ultimately, all politics is a competition for the power to change things. Net neutrality pits the power of the cable and phone companies against…well…pretty much everybody else. They are more organized, well-financed and professional in the game of politics than “everybody else”, which explains why they are so successful.

[ . . . ]

What does telco power do when it fails to win in Washington? It goes to the states. They believe they can get the same thing at the state level. They can convince state legislators that build-out and universal competitive cable TV services aren’t important. And they can pretend net neutrality doesn’t matter. If they win in enough states, then they will have effectively outflanked Washington. That’s their strategy. They’ll have what they want, and we’ll have nothing. Worse, when they don’t need things from politicians, there is nothing to extract from them in a compromise. So, they’ll focus all their time on killing good things we’ll try to get politicians to do.

So what do we have to do? We have to go to whatever states they go to. And we have to put net neutrality and build-out requirements into their “franchise reform”. If we don’t, they’ll win. Simple as that.

Want to know what you can do?
MA Bell Monopoly Versus the Free Internet — Tell the FCC Net Neutrality Is Not Negotiable

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related
NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

Net Neutrality 12-11-2006

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Net Neutrality Links

I’m adding this link to the Net Neutrality Page.

SavetheInternet.com Coalition Calls on New Congress

Companies like AT&T, Verizon, BellSouth and Comcast pushed the FCC to remove Net Neutrality protections last year and have since spent more than $150 million to keep Congress from reinstating the nondiscrimination rules that enabled the Internet to become an unprecedented vehicle for free speech and economic innovation. But in the end, they couldn’t overcome widespread public opposition, and Congress would not pass a telecommunications bill that failed to protect Internet freedom.

[ . . . ]

“We look forward to working with the new Congress to craft a comprehensive broadband policy that will preserve the open character of the Internet,” added Gigi Sohn, founder and president of Public Knowledge. “Consumers were the winners when Congress chose not to pass legislation during the session just ending that would have given control over delivery of Internet content to the telephone and cable companies and, in addition, would have given control of consumers’ use of digital media to the FCC and entertainment industries.”

The more than 850 groups in the SavetheInternet.com Coalition also include the National Religious Broadcasters, the Service Employees International Union, the American Library Association, Educause, Gun Owners of America, Future of Music Coalition, Parents Television Council, the ACLU, and every major consumer group in the country. The coalition also includes thousands of bloggers and hundreds of small companies that do business online.

Want to know what you can do?
MA Bell Monopoly Versus the Free Internet — Tell the FCC Net Neutrality Is Not Negotiable

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related
NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

Net Neutrality 12-08-2006

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Net Neutrality Links

I’m adding this link to the Net Neutrality Page.

Net Neutrality Alert : FCC Chair Tries To Ram Thru ATT Merger

Imagine : a 5 minute wait for a Daily Kos page.

Imagine : that political blogs – perhaps the major channel now for political dissent in the United States – suddenly became hard, very slow, to access while corporate websites popped up in your browser quick as a corporate CEO robbing a pension fund.

Well, execs from the ATT and BellSouth Corporations that are seeking approval for a merger from the FCC have said they’d love to make that happen.

ACTION ITEM : Send Letter to your Congressperson or Senator protesting Kevin Martin’s attempts to violate FCC ethical guidelines and ram through an AAT/BellSouth merger that would threaten the Net Neutrality.

Media on this :

John Nichols in The Nation : http://www.freepress.net/19566

Josh Silver on the Huff Post : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-silver/latest-washington-ethics-_b_35706.html

Want to know what you can do?
MA Bell Monopoly Versus the Free Internet — Tell the FCC Net Neutrality Is Not Negotiable

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related
When Did AT&T Become Not For Profit? Was I Absent that Day?
MA Bell Monopoly Versus the Free Internet — Tell the FCC Net Neutrality Is Not Negotiable
NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

Chris Cree and Liz Converse and Conspire

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I agree
Last night I had dinner with Chris Cree. What a thrill that was. It reminded me of one of my favorite quotes.

People from the same family are rarely born under one roof. Richard Bach, Illusions

That’s how the conversation felt from the first word to the last. The food was excellent, as was the company.

We talked about life, work, family, and philosophy. We talked about times when we feel sorry for ourselves. I told him the best cure for that was Phil Gerbyshak. To prove it, we called up Phil and Chris only had to hear his voice to see what I meant.

Then Chris and I did some conspiring about Successful-Blog. Yep. We came up with a really cool idea or two — ways to broaden the scope and depth, to offer more, and more fun to readers. I’ll be announcing what’s happening in a day or so . . .

Meanwhile this morning, I went back to find the first comment that Chris left on this blog. Here it is.

. . . It doesn’t matter if the conversation ends up being about work. The take-away is that it is about making a connection. If a connection is made, it will most likely help work too.

Talk about a simple yet powerful tool to hang on our belts! Thanks. –Chris Cree, comment on “Better Than Hi! How Are Ya?” April 25, 2006

I guess that kind of explains everything.

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