Tag: DocuDharma

Blogging the Future

Blogging is conducted through cyberspace here in the 21st Century, we type on keyboards, we read each other’s words on computer screens.  The technology enabling us to engage in this form of communication is new, but what we’re doing when we blog isn’t new, it’s as old as civilization–we’re talking to one another just as people did thousands of years ago, we’re sharing our thoughts, communicating about what matters, reaching for the kind of future we hope to see.  We don’t want history to keep repeating itself, there’s been too much war, too much killing, too much misery.  

As global war and genocide took the lives of 50 million people only three generations ago, a young girl expressed her hopes for the future in a diary.  Anne Frank didn’t know her words would be ultimately be read by millions of people, but they have been and will be for as long as human civilization exists.  The most brutal and inhuman regime ever to darken the pages of history killed her in Bergen-Belsen, but it could not silence her.  

What was Anne Frank doing?

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She was blogging the future.

Realizing the Mission Statement

I’ve been doing a bit of research to understand the mission of Docudharma (gotta love that name!) and I happened on the wiki which gave the number one goal as to (paraphrasing) bring the power back to the people through the Congress, as a counterweight to the power of the Executive, which we can all agree has become excessive.

In that light, I’d like to harp on one of my pet “projects”, which happens to line up with the goals and objectives of the group who sponsors the website www.thirty-thousand.org.

Please follow me across the jump to get to the full (full?) flowering of this rant.

Here’s the thing about Docudharma!

This has to do with the bloodletting that’s going on right now.  I think that it’s important that we remember that Docudharma is not a “more and better Democrats” community.  Some of us used to post at a place like that.  Some of us have chosen not to post there any longer.  I’m sure each of us who’ve chosen that route have different reasons, and I’m sure that some of the reasons are the same.  For the moment, those reasons don’t matter (at least in the context of this posting).

Invitation To Read: A Cultural Piece and an Ohio RICO Lawsuit

I’d like to invite folks here at Docudharma to check out two key pieces now up at ePluribus Media, and to re-view and pass along the contents of one Open Thread.  Additionally, out of all the spectacular stuff that gets posted here, if there are a couple of items that are exclusive to Docudharma that you think deserve extra eyeballs, please post a small blurb over on ePluribus Media letting us and our readers know about it.

I don’t get over here as often as I’d like, and I hope to post more here more often, but in the meantime I hope we can build an “Online Information and Cultural Exchange” (OICE) program where we can alert each other of significant items that their readers might enjoy.  That said…please make the jump for the goodies…

What the I-Ching Said

I asked the I-Ching if it had anything to say to Docudharma.

And I got a response.

The I-Ching is also called the Book of Changes, and the response I received had two changing lines.

I received Hexagram 61. Chung Fu/Inner Truth.

Here’s some of what the book says about Inner Truth (all quotes are from the Wilhelm/Baynes edition):

The wind blows over the lake and stirs the surface of the water.  Thus visible effects of the invisible manifest themselves.  The hexagram consists of firm lines aqbove and below, while it is open in the center.  This indicates a heart free of prejudices and therefore open to truth.  On the other hand, each of the two trigrams has a firm line in the middle; this indicates the force of inner truth in the influences they represent.

Joyousness and gentleness are the attributes of the two primary trigrams.  Tui means joyousness in following the good, and Sun means penetration into the hearts of men.  Thus one establishes the foundation of trust that is necessary in transforming a country.

What are hexagrams?  In my cases, I toss 3 Chinese coins 6 times and then draw six lines, one on top of the other.  Each toss has a numerical value depending on how they land, sort of a heads/tails kind of thing.  If you get an odd number you draw a straight (yang) line.  An even number, you draw a broken (yin) line.  In certain cases, the numerical value produces what is called a “changing” line.  When that happens, the line turns into its opposite and a new hexagram comes forth.

There were two “changing” lines in the hexagram about Docudharma, which means there were specific special messages in this reading.

Docudharma Six Month Anniversary!

Yes you read that right! Amazingly today is exactly six months since we published the essay that officially opened DD as a blogging entity, broadcasting 50,000 Pixels of Power across the known Blogoverse!

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Six months of just outstanding essays and Pony Parties, six months of building a community, six months of that community coming together and growing stronger…..six months of Yelling Loudly!

At this point I think we can safely say that Docudharma has established itself as a thriving community blog, and of course that means that all credit goes directly to the community…which means…YOU! Yes YOU! Sure, the admins and Contributing Editors have worked their butts off to bring us all excellent post for the Front Page, but none of that means anything without readers, without commenters, without community. Thank You!

On Docudharma and Blogging……..or, Welcome New Users!

Howdy Folks! It seems like there are a lot of new faces on the board, which is of course wonderful! So it seems like a good time to restate a few things and give folks a chance to ask any questions they may have, as well as perhaps clear up any misconceptions of what we are all about.

The most important thing about Docudharma is this: We are a community blog, we are what the community makes us, and the community is what individual posters make it. In other words, this blog is EXACTLY what YOU make it into. The more you participate, the more YOU decide what Docudharma is. We welcome wholeheartedly each of you contributing just as much as you want, and shaping the community into what you want it to be.

There are admins here to settle conflicts etc., but we have very few rules,  we try to keep as light a touch as is possible, and that has meant that there are very few conflicts!

Our ethos?

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Art shamelessly stolen from Ink In Our Veins

Another motto we like: Don’t start no shit, and there wont BE no shit!

Banner Contest….Time to Vote!

Thanks to some wonderful, creative Dharmisians, we now have FOUR (technically, 3 1/2)very high quality banners to choose from, with more still in development. With so many great entries, we have decided to have a rotating banner, each with a variation on the elements included in the Mother of All Banners, OPOL’s brilliant original. (which is included in the four, of course!) Each is distinctive and beautiful and makes a powerful statement. Today is your chance to settle the only real question left. Which one to put up first! Your choice today are between these two.

News Corpse’s fine entry:

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And our latest entry, from Edger:

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Dharmathon 2 ! ! !

Calling all Dharmateers!

The Time Has Come Again.

The Call Has Gone Out and Shall Not Go Unanswered!

Welcome to Dharmathon 2, where you are the star.

You! Yes you, you bioquantum computing sentient amalgam of water and carbon and nitrogen and heavy metals spawned in supernovae of eons past…the Universe was designed to bring you to this moment….to this virtual place, where the I meets the Thou in a Raucous Volleyball Mud-slinging and Daquiri Party of Epic Proportions, Now with Extra Karma!

And All We Ask Is This:

See that biggish oval yellowy-orange lozenge on the right? No silly, the one on the screen. The one that says “Donate”.

Click it!

Thank you very much.

Can’t afford to donate?

Leave a comment describing the worst thing or the best thing you ever bought for a buck.

Keep it clean, skinflints.

Action Action Action!!! …and Tags …and Banners ..iow…META!

We are in the process of figuring out how to get Docudharma more….actiony.

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The thrice beloved On The Bus, whose official title is Chief Technical Wizard, has recently added a box on the far right hand side of the page for hot tags. Now I am EXACTLY the wrong person to try to tell you about anything technical. I only got on the net a couple of years ago, before that, I was a carpenter. If it is made out of wood, I’m your man. Silicone and ones and zeros and code and stuff? Not so much. I like Number Two Ticonderogas. They have good erasers.

But here we are, all digitalled up. Which means that we have a ton of info passing through teh blog everyday, much of it is actually useful and important! And since one of the marvels of digitalness is the ability to store and access info, we should do all we can to take advantage of that…as well as taking advantage of the mediums possibilities and opportunities for action.

These two intersect in the use of action tags, and the opportunity to have access to action items through the Hot Tags box. OR through some other systems. Or both. Since the admins here are smart enough to admit we aren’t that smart we are, as we try to do with just about everything, throwing this out to the community for general input, ideas, and to receive your brilliance.

Consider this an open thread on both tagging, and how to facilitate and make it easier to engage in various Action! items.

While I’m Gone

Hi everyone,

While I’m busy setting up the farm I was hoping that one or two volunteers could step up to do some basic things for Docudharma.  They are very easy to do. I’ll be gone for about a month with only quick visits to see how traffic is doing and catch up with events.

1. Ping Technorati when a new story appears on the front page.  Just go to http://technorati.com/ping/ and enter https://www.docudharma.com exactly as you see it here w/ no www or trailing slash.  That will let technorati know we’ve updated the site and they’ll share our headlines with the other bloggers.  Just do it when you can as long as we are getting a few fresh pings a day we’ll be fine.

We are registered with most active blog indexes so if you see another place to ping us go ahead and do it.

Sphere and Blogburst work automatically so there is no need to ping them.

2. Search for smaller search engines and political directories and add Docudharma to the list.  Just check to make sure we aren’t already listed and only apply to places that are free and do not require a reciprocal link or link back to their site.  We won’t gain much direct traffic from these links but they help our rankings on Google and other search engines.

3. The following tags have their own feeds, consider using them in your essays:

impeachment, how to, politics, women’s issues, healthcare, sports, activism, dharmazine, Iraq, solar, GLBT, science, immigration and literature.  I’ll be doing more development with the feeds when I get back.

That’s about it, otherwise keep doing what you are doing and thanks for helping.

Member Requests

Thank you all for your continued involvement with Docudharma. OTB noted that Docudharma is currently ranked #51 on America Street’s list of Top 100 Bloggers.  We wouldn’t be there without you.

OTB and the gang are working on ways to make the site run smoother and be more powerful.  In addition the SoapBlox people are planning some more upgrades that I think will be beneficial to the community. So this begs the question:

What Do Our Members Want?

Do you like special features on other sites?  If so please tell us.

Do you have a concept that hasn’t been tried before?  Tell us that too.

Have a crazed conspiracy allegation?  Send those to [email protected] 🙂

Ready…Begin!

While you do that I’ll just post some links:

PBWH | NAN | MMW

 

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