Virginia Gov. Mark Warner visits the Jacksonville Center in Floyd

Press release

For immediate release

Contact: Suzy Nees, Editor, The Traces Library For Creative Literacy

July 13, 2005 - Virginia Governor Mark Warner stopped by the Jacksonville Center for the Arts today while he was in town for a meeting at the Floyd Country Store.

Photos and details are at www.farmscene.org.

articles on the Great Firewall of China

Hi folks,
Here are a few items about the Great Firewall of China.

The Net Effect
by Steven Cherry
from Spectrum Online

This article gives an overview of the cat-and-mouse game between web publishers and censors in China:

"...BLOCKED POLITICAL sites are generally inaccessible for months, not minutes. That was the experience of Yan Sham-Shackleton, a resident of Hong Kong who goes by the Internet nom de guerre Glutter Girl and writes a blog about China's underground democracy movement (Hong Kong is located just outside the virtual gates of the Great Firewall.) On her birthday last year, she wrote, "My 30th Birthday Wish: Democracy in China." That entry got her blog, at http://www.glutter.org, banned in China for several months. As a protest, she altered its design, putting white text on a black background. In sympathy, a hundred or so sites around the world also reversed their layouts and "went black," an action that in turn was noticed on the discussion site Slashdot. Sham-Shackleton says Slashdot itself—one of the most popular locales on the Internet—was unviewable for a time within China". More...

The Filtered Future
China's bid to divide the Internet

By Tim Wu
Posted Monday, July 11, 2005, at 8:20 AM PT

This is an article from slate.com describing internet censorship practices in China:

"...China's long-term vision is clear: an Internet that feels free and acts as an engine of economic progress yet in no way threatens the Communist Party's monopoly on power. With every passing day the Chinese Internet reflects that vision more closely. It portends a future for the Web that we're only beginning to understand—one in which powerful countries refashion the global network to suit themselves." More...

Happy Eleventh of July

Happy Eleventh everyone. Hope it has been a lovely day for you. I am well and had a lovely weekend. Met some friends and enjoyed the nice weather. I need to keep this post quick but here are a few tags related to upcoming posts in the Traces community:

Silt, soil, dye, mineral, pigment, color, science, blood, race, clay, creation, feet, earth, island, path, yard, wildlife, lack, remedy, tillage, mowing, conservation.

Rice urges China to "reach out to Dalai Lama"

Beijing, July 10, 2005--Condoleezza Rice said she urged Chinese leaders to "reach out to the Dalai Lama," saying the exiled Tibetan leader is no threat to China.

"The Dalai Lama "is a man of considerable moral authority and is really of no threat to China," Rice told reporters after meeting with Chinese leaders, including President Hu Jintao on the first leg of her four-nation tour. More...

from an email this morning July 7

Dear Friend:

Only hours from now, President Bush touches down in Scotland for the G8 Africa summit. Tomorrow, a delegation travels to this meeting with millions of letters from around the world, asking the G8 leaders to take up a new fight against global AIDS and poverty. Will they carry your signature and voice?

We only have 24 hours left: Sign the ONE letter to President Bush and join 390,000 Americans in asking for an historic debt, aid and trade deal for the world's poorest people.

At Live 8 this past Saturday, more than 1 million people from Hollywood to Hip-Hop to the Heartland called in one voice for an end to extreme poverty and global AIDS. In living rooms from Des Moines to Johannesburg, 2 billion people tuned into the concerts on TV and asked for real change in Africa.

Live 8 was not just about one Saturday. It was one day in a long walk to justice. Don't let this opportunity pass without taking a minute to change the lives of a generation - through something as easy as sending an email. We made a noise the world has never heard on Saturday, will President Bush and other leaders hear us?

Ask at least 3 friends and family to sign the ONE letter to President Bush today.

In the next few days, eight men will huddle around a table to decide the fate of millions of lives in a new and historic solution for those who need it most. Sign the ONE letter today.

Thank you,

The ONE Team

P.S. Look at the ONE.ORG blog for the most up to date news on ONE at the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland.

some incredible pictures of floyd virginia

Jonathon Kingston has some incredible pictures of Floyd, Virginia in his portfolio.
Do see them if you have a minute.

evolution of lotuses

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press Writer Mon Jul 4, 5:47 PM ET

WASHINGTON - When Charles Darwin explained evolution, the process he observed was natural selection. It turns out inadvertent human selection can also cause species to evolve.

Take the case of the snow lotus, a rare plant that grows only at high levels in the Himalayas.

Researchers have discovered that one species of the plant has been shrinking over time — the one people like to pick.

A snow lotus species called Saussurea laniceps is used in traditional Tibetan and Chinese medicine and is increasingly sought after by tourists. The largest plants are picked, and that occurs during their only flowering period.

The result is that only smaller, unpicked plants go to seed. More...

July 5, 2005

Hi folks,

It has been a beautiful weekend and I am greatly encouraged by the general state of things this foggy Tuesday morning. Hope this morning finds you well, too.

First I must tell you that an interesting exhibit is happening in Blacksburg July 6, 7, 8. Details are on Let Me Help You Shop Dot Comic. this exhibit is called Eyes Wide Open and it is an exhibition on the human cost of the Iraq war.

The D Kat is very restless and begging me to come out and play, but there is poison ivy out there and I am covered as it is. Actually I can’t really say that he is begging me. He is scratching and biting my feet in a very grumpy way and being a general you-know-what.

Saturday we picked a zillion blueberries at Idyllease farm in Newport. Nice people. A beautiful setting and very nice blueberries. Giles Co. always knocks my socks off in the beauty department.

Blueberry farmers Pat and Bob Adams “look forward to seeing you” at Idyllease. Their farm is open for picking Tuesday & Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 7 until dark. Email or call ahead to check picking conditions. pradams@pemtel.net.

On Sunday we went canoeing on the Walker Creek on Saturday. This was extremely fun.

We Google Earthed (does anyone know of a better verb for this?) the creek beforehand and that gave me a much better idea of the route, and the overall day, I think. It would be nice if this Google Earth thing could somehow provide us with a watershed & nutrient map along with all the Free! Above-home helicopter tours it is giving the world now.

I have heard folks wondering aloud about this, how long it will take for someone to start selling tinfoil above-land screens which could provide a pleasant shade from the satellites in question.

Earth screens like that might be nice, especially in desert-y areas that could use some shade anyway, but if you make them out of tinfoil I think that would make people sad, as if someone or something was aggressively reminding them of their lost inheritance as children of the earth. Bamboo or iron would be a preferred material, I think. Or maybe blackberry cane…or trees…

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Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,
Move along now, my ego

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Ping! Ping! Ping! Dear “Internet Content Producer”.

Seeking: Dynamic watershed map which will allow user to track water use and nutrient production.

This material is needed so I can get working on my latest unfinished book, which begins when a curious Little Pig flushes the Toilet and wonders, where does it go?

Tags: New River, hog farming, North, flow, Nile, waste, reverse desertification

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So anyway then on Monday we went to the Monongahela National Forest and had a really lovely time. Monday morning was spent in silence in remembrance of the suffering of others. Then we hiked and hiked.

Ogh yes and I ran across an interesting book today called
Hackers & Painters: big ideas from the computer age
I'd like to see a copy of this sometime but I doubt I will buy it.
You know me the big penny pincher.

Some interesting stuff on Slashdot today about human computers...yes, they really did exist and you may be surprised to learn who they were, and when they lived.

Well The D Kat is about to be a big jerk again and I think I really do need to do some chores so I must sign off now. But I must tell you I just read a really wonderful post by neighbor Fred over there in Floyd Co. His post really resonated with me, and is called The Illusive Butterflies of Blogging and it is well worth a look, even if you are terribly busy living your life and smelling the roses this morning.

Blessings,

La Nantoka