Left In Lowell

I just got word as to what is happening with Blue Mass Group, if you have been trying to get that website all day. Apparently, SoapBlox, which BMG uses for hosting and running their site, has been seriously hacked. It looks very, very bad.

This follows the hacking and death of Journalspace, another popular blog site, which very recently went under due to the severity of its data loss. I suspect the two are not unrelated.

I’ve already offered what help I can to David, but it’s hard to know how quickly BMG might be back up, if it can get back up at all with its archives intact. Best wishes, guys.

Just doing some catching up on my news here - holidays and family stuff has me behind.

I’d like to belatedly welcome to the Lowell blogosphere occasional LiL commenter Cliff Krieger, a local Republican activist, whose blog is far less alliterative than this one though quite comprehensive (albeit from a different point of view). If you hadn’t seen the link from richardhowe.com, Cliff started Right-Side-of-Lowell over a month ago. (Which side would that be, the north or the south?! Kidding!) Apparently the local blogosphere is now no longer tipped completely towards the progressive side.

Cliff strikes me as the sort of person who is doing the work his party needs on the ground (butchering my name notwithstanding) so it should be interesting to observe where the local Republican party can get itself. Frankly, good competition is never a bad thing. Just, don’t be too good at it.

Unbelievable. Anyone who says George W. Bush is the Security President ought to have their head examined. Just more proof that it matters who you elect, folks.

(Again, tip o’ the hat to my husband.)

In case you missed some of the drama in the last couple weeks, both richardhowe.com and jackiedoherty.org, our two other worthy progressive Lowell blogs, were felled in connection with a bad server move.

Well, now they are back in one form or another, though you’ll note from their similar look that they have yet to restore their unique design templates.

Look guys, Left in Lowell might have been the only Lowell blog for a couple of years, but it’s much nicer to share the work load. Welcome back! Don’t ever do that to me again!

Since this topic, what is a blog, and what it means to be anonymous, and where do journalistic standards come in, has been getting some pixelspace lately on LiL, I found Ryan’s commentary over at Below Boston, “Some Serious Netroots Reform,” particularly apt and timely.

First, Ryan outlines a similar idea that I have:

But in Ritchie’s case, as I suggested in the diary, his only serious mistake was to confuse blogging with commenting. Unfortunately, it’s an all-too common situation.

As someone with some experience in local campaigns, I hear time and time again people talking about comments on WickedLocal and other community papers as “the blogs.” It’s a dangerous precedent that must be kept in check, immediately.

It’s easy to see where the confusion grows: most of the population’s never been to a blog; people just think any online commentary is simply ‘blogging.’ It would be nice if we could chalk this up to one big confusion, but by allowing this misunderstanding to take place, the reputation of blogs as useful tools is being sullied, all the while the real culprits are free from actually fixing the problem.

Follow me after the break, it’s a long post… (more…)

This weekend (June 7) is the Democratic State Convention, which is happening in Lowell. Exciting stuff, but even more exciting are the workshops after. Namely, a blogging workshop for delegates after the close of the convention that BlogLeft Mass and the DSC’s Communication Committee is jointly running!

Yup, us bloggers in pajamas get to meet the real world in a clash that is sure to be interesting. We have lots of bloggers and participants joining in to present, and it’s a two hour timeslot with the first hour being an overview, and the second hour going to breakout sessions for different interests and experience levels.

Here’s the basic outline of our training session:

Your Screename Please? - Navigating the Blogosphere

Presented by BlogLeft and the DSC’s Communication Subcommittee the team includes Lynne Lupien (Left in Lowell), Ryan Adams (Ryan’s Take), Kate Donaghue (DDemDispatch), John Bowes/Susan Haley (Below Boston), Steve Oewns (.08 Acres and a Donkey), Arthur Powell, Michael Forbes Wilcox and others. Through the magic of technology, BlueMassGroup’s Charley on the MTA will be part of the workshop.

From newspapers to local blogs, what was once a trend is now mainstream. From newbies to experts, this session has something for everyone. Topics include: geetting to know the culture of blogs - how can blogs be used to increase activism - strategies for campaigns - citizen journalism: covering events that the main stream media does not cover. The first part of the session will focus on blogging strategy and an overview of how blogs can be used by Democrats to pormote our shared values. Following the overview there will be three breakout sessions.

1. Netroots 101 - By the end of the workshop, you should be ready to log on and join the excitement.
2. Blogging: the “tech stuff” - Platforms, podcasting, video blogging, other netroot tools that can make your blog better and more.
3. Bloggers Round Table - Meet with experienced bloggers from around the Commonwealth. Share your experinces and learn from others.

So, if you’re a delegate at the convention this weekend, and you are interested in learning more about blogs, please join us! Bloggers and blogger participants out there, we would love to have you at our round table discussion. Training will begin at 3pm on June 7 or at the close of convention, whichever is later.

This utterly depresses me.

Mobile phones could kill far more people than smoking or asbestos, a study by an award-winning cancer expert has concluded. He says people should avoid using them wherever possible and that governments and the mobile phone industry must take “immediate steps” to reduce exposure to their radiation.

The study, by Dr Vini Khurana, is the most devastating indictment yet published of the health risks.

It draws on growing evidence – exclusively reported in the IoS in October – that using handsets for 10 years or more can double the risk of brain cancer. Cancers take at least a decade to develop, invalidating official safety assurances based on earlier studies which included few, if any, people who had used the phones for that long.

Sigh.

This could bring a whole new dimension to the wifi debate in Lowell:

Intel’s researchers have come up with a way to send Wi-Fi signals up to 60 miles (100km), while maintaining a usable throughput of up to 6.5Mbits/s.
[…]
The technology is innovative on a number of levels. It works using a point-to-point design, which automatically lowers cost to a quoted region of $500-$1,000 (£250-£500) for a single connection – way below rival systems such as cable broadband or satellite.

Once terminated at the remote location, the connectivity it provides could be distributed using off-the-shelf Wi-Fi hardware.

It is also low-power, using around five to six watts for a system with three radios in a link, making it possible to power it during the day from solar power or by battery during the night.

So, what say you, Bernie?

Information is a precious and precarious commodity these days. Many “trusted” companies you do business with are selling their data on you to other companies. Junk mail and spam attack you at all angles, scams abound, and the universe is getting smaller and smaller.

Conservatives and liberals alike ought to be very, very frightened of our Big Brother culture. Because Big Brother is doing it…again:

Siobhan Gorman of The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that the National Security Agency has assembled what some intelligence officials admit is a driftnet for domestic and foreign communications.

Here’s the way the whole thing works, according to Gorman: into the NSA’s massive database goes data collected by the Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Treasury. This information includes data about email (recipient and sender address, subject, time sent), internet searches (sites visited and searches conducted), phone calls (incoming and outgoing numbers, length of call, location), financial information (wire transfers, credit-card use, information about bank accounts), and information from the DHS about airline passengers.
[…]
Gorman describes the NSA’s effort (elements of which have been reported before) as basically a resurrection of the Pentagon’s Total Information Awareness program, which of course was de-funded by Congress once the details became public.

OK, so the NSA figured out that naming a program Total Information Awareness sounded really Orwellian. So they changed the name and kept doing it - even after Congress said “No!”. Can someone tell me just where the due process is? Hello? Do we even have a Bill of Rights anymore?

And how important do you think it is to keep telecom immunity out of the FISA bill now?

What, you don’t trust these guys with your open and fair internet? From Free Press:

Comcast Blocks Public Debate at FCC Hearing
WASHINGTON — Comcast has admitted hiring people to fill up the limited number of seats at yesterday’s Federal Communications Commission hearing at Harvard. More than 100 people were turned away when the event reached capacity. The public hearing was part of the federal agency’s ongoing investigation into allegations that the cable giant is blocking consumers’ access to legal Web traffic.

Timothy Karr, campaign director of SavetheInternet.com, issued the following statement:

“First, Comcast was caught blocking the Internet. Now it has been caught blocking the public from the debate. The only people cheering Comcast are those paid to do so. Clearly, Comcast will resort to just about any underhanded tactic to stack the decks in its favor. And yet Comcast still expects us to trust them with the future of the Internet?”

Read Portfolio’s story.

Read the SavetheInternet.com blog.