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Elected officials launch the first Cultural Caucus in the Massachusetts Legislature to harness the assets of Massachusetts $4 billion cultural sector and help the states economy recover from recession. Anita Walker of the Massachusetts Cultural Council talks to Rep. John Keenan of Salem, along with Caucus Co-Chairs Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz of Boston and Rep. Smitty Pignatelli of Lenox.

We are using MySQL, help save it

Please copy and paste either the text and link above, or the button image and link, into your own blog and social networks.

Here’s a snip from the link, written by Michael “Monty” Widenius, the creator of MySQL. Please read the whole story on his blog (i.e., the link above):

“I have spent the last 27 years creating and working on MySQL and I hope, together with my team of MySQL core developers, to work on it for many more years.

“Oracle is trying to buy Sun, and since Sun bought MySQL last year, Oracle would then own MySQL. With your support, there is a good chance that the EC (from which Oracle needs approval) could prevent this from happening or demand Oracle to change the terms for MySQL or give other guarantees to the users. Without your support, it might not. The EC is our last big hope now because the US government approved the deal while Europe is still worried about the effects.

“Instead of just working out this with the EC and agree on appropriate remedies to correct the situation, Oracle has instead contacted hundreds of their big customers and asked them to write to the EC and require unconditional acceptance of the deal. According to what I been told, Oracle has promised to the customers, among other things, that “they will put more money into MySQL development than what Sun did” and that “if they would ever abandon MYSQL, a fork will appear and take care of things”.

“However just putting money into development is not proof that anything useful will ever be delivered or that MySQL will continue to be a competitive force in the market as it’s now.”

Please distribute widely. This could have big implications for the future of the WWW.

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UPDATE

Deadline extended to Tuesday, Sept. 8! Go to the Opt Out page now.

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Many authors seem confused about the ins and outs of the Google book settlement.

Read about what you need to know at Ask the Editor.

My advice would be to opt out – today! You don’t really lose anything and you keep control of your rights.

All week my thoughts have been with the Kennedy family in their time of personal grief, while I try to comprehend the enormous influence this family has had on the well being of us all.

How sad it is to notice that Senator Kennedy was nearly alone in his battles, that he was marginalized by the media, that his message of fairness to the everyday person was considered so “un-American” that he was allowed to be vilified by many loud voices whose hearts were corrupted by fear and envy. I am deeply embarrassed to know that what he fought for was absent in the hearts of the vast majority of the privileged and the wealthy, that they felt it was their prerogative to be so entitled, and that they felt deserving of even more, whatever the cost to others.

Senator Kennedy, seemingly alone, kept alive the political force of fairness and opportunity for all in both word and deed. These fundamental American values, I regret to think, the majority have forgotten over the past 40 years. It is immensely shameful how all of us allowed this to happen.

May Edward M. Kennedy rest in eternal and lasting peace. And let us remember it is now time for us to pick up his burden, the one we’ve refused to acknowledge for so long, as ours, too.

JFK Library
Memorial website
Kennedy news Twitter

Connect and collaborate with activists and art spaces around the world.

The freeDIMENSIONAL social network on Ning invites your interest.

Mission

freeDimensional (fD) advances social justice by hosting activists in art spaces and using cultural resources to strengthen their work. We…

1. Provide resources and safe haven for oppressed activists and culture workers.
2. Facilitate knowledge-sharing among art spaces who actively participate in local community organizing.
3. Engage the art world and mainstream media to heighten public awareness and influence policy change on critical issues.

Vision & Guiding Principles

Based on the belief that creative expression fuels social justice movements, fD works with the global arts community to identify and redistribute resources, and support meaningful relationships between artists and activists.

Throughout its work, fD aims to engage with and foster solidarity among marginalized groups, including LGBT communities, people experiencing economic oppression, people with disabilities, migrants, and young people. fD is also committed to promoting long-term economic and environmental sustainability within its network of art centers and human rights organizations.

fD is a decentralized organization that recognizes the power of strategic partnerships throughout its work. Rather than a top-down imposition of values and programs, fD works with local civil society groups, social movements of all scales, arts organizations, schools and independent media outlets to build meaningful grassroots programs. fD is powered by the energy of its members, many of whom volunteer their time and resources to benefit the online and offline communities.

Please continue reading about freeDimensional on their about page page. Then see what you can do to help.