Chez Augustin

Learning the constellations, one certainly should start by learning the 12 constellations of the zodiac.
Note: according to the modern definition of the constellation boundaries, the Sun passes through one more constellation, Ophiuchus, as it follows the ecliptic.

The web site http://openteacher.info/ is officially opening today.

The web site will host a project that I have discussed with Craig Mason, Ryan, Lu Chiu-hui and Dan Chay. The project itself is (or will very soon be) explained in the 'about' page and more extensively in the wiki. All but Dan are English (ESL) teachers, so the primary focus will be to create material for ESL teachers. However, teachers of other subjects are also welcome.

If you are a teacher, and/or if you care about various social issues, make sure to join us!

Blessings,

Augustin.

Fifty years ago, the world was consuming 4 billion barrels of oil per year and the average discovery was around 30 billion. Today we consume 30 billion barrels per year and the discovery rate is approaching 4 billion barrels of crude per year.

Asia Times, May 4, 2005

So, we are at the end of the cheap oil era. Many organisations that want to deal with this fact are sprouting.

I just came across one such organisation: the Transition Network.
http://www.transitionus.org/
http://www.transitiontowns.org/

Today is the official opening of http://charityware.info . From now on, all links to the old web site at charity-ware.org redirect there.

I have been spending the last couple of weeks updating the old database of developers and charityware. I may have made some mistakes in the process, deleting some charityware that should still be listed here. If so, please contact me and I'll promptly rectify the situation.

I try to blog about interesting web sites as I find them.

Since I started Overshoot TV I notice more and more video web sites sprouting everywhere. Here I just found a new sister TV web site: Conscious . TV. It is a very simple web site publishing video interviews of writers in the area of Healing, Consciousness and Psychology.

In the video below, they interview Richard Lang from Headless . org. The topic is: "Seeing who you really are." I am a fan of the Headless Way and I am a subscriber to Richard's newsletter, for which I am grateful. Check his web site.

I just blogged about Kiva, the microcredit charitable organization.

I learned about Kiva very unexpectedly through Blender Nation, a blog dedicated to the 3D animation software Blender.

I like it when various sites which are originally not necessarily charitable endeavors, take the time to have a thought for those who really need our help.

They wrote:

Woah! Three years have already passed since I began a small experiment in blogging :). Time for a birthday present!

Maybe you remember our previous fundraiser where we donated 1 classroom, 4000 hot meals, 2 goats, 1 alpaca and 3 animal care kits to a Third World country? That was great, but when tax time came it became hell for me because I had to sort out all the donations with my bookkeeper ;-)

Still, I want to do something similar again - use the size and enthusiasm of this community to do good for others. Just with less tax headache.

One of the best initiatives in this area are 'microcredits': people provide small, interest-free loans to people in third world countries, who use the money to start or expand their own business. I believe this is a *much* more successful approach than simply giving money.

An easy way to do this is through Kiva.org - a website where you can find an entrepreneur or activity, and lend them something. As they would say it, "connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty".

Here is an interesting charitable endeavor:
Kiva

We Let You Loan to the Working Poor

Kiva's mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.

Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world.

The people you see on Kiva's site are real individuals in need of funding - not marketing material. When you browse entrepreneurs' profiles on the site, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan, you are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when you get your loan money back, you can relend to someone else in need.

Kiva partners with existing expert microfinance institutions. In doing so,
we gain access to outstanding entrepreneurs from impoverished
communities world-wide. Our partners are experts in choosing
qualified entrepreneurs. That said, they are usually short on
funds. Through Kiva, our partners upload their entrepreneur profiles
directly to the site so you can lend to them. When you do, not only do you get a unique experience connecting to a specific entrepreneur on the other side of the planet, but our microfinance partners can do more of what they do, more efficiently.

Kiva provides a data-rich, transparent lending platform.
We are constantly working to make the system more transparent to show
how money flows throughout the entire cycle, and what effect it has on the people and institutions lending it, borrowing it, and managing it along the way. To do this, we are using the power of the internet to facilitate one-to-one
connections that were previously prohibitively expensive. Child
sponsorship has always been a high overhead business. Kiva creates a
similar interpersonal connection at much lower costs due to the
instant, inexpensive nature of internet delivery. The individuals
featured on our website are real people who need a loan and are waiting
for socially-minded individuals like you to lend them money.

I already have had discussions with several people about the proper use of wikis. Apparently, a wiki does not mean the same thing to different people. This article is a place holder for me to explain what I mean by wiki, especially with regard to a Drupal implementation of a wiki.

Signal to noise ratio

I have already recommended settin up a wiki node type when creating a Drupal site.

Wikis are great to increase the signal over the ambient noise. Wikis are a must for any collaborative work and ought to be used in every communities.

Wikimedia and specialized wiki software vs. Drupal

Introduction

One of the first decision to make when setting a new Drupal web site, is to decide which content types to set up.

The content types define what kind of content will be added to the web site: blog entries, forum topics, images, book reviews, etc.

By default, Drupal comes with two content types: page and story. A 'page' can be used for simple, static web pages like an about page. In a single user web site, a 'story' can be used as a blog entry.

Since Drupal 5, the administrative interface allows the webmaster to easily create as many content types as required. In Drupal 5 and 6, such content types are basically composed of a title and a body. However, contrib modules allow for more specific content types like event, image or image gallery. In addition, the popular CCK module allows the webmaster to create content types with additional and more specialized fields.

There was one thing I was always sure of: of all the disasters and calamities that could befall me, flooding was not one of them. We live and work on both sides of the dividing water line very near the top of a hill. But I was underestimating the ability of nature to fight back against urban encroachment.

What follows is meant to be a light-hearted account of the flooding of my business premises. It is written mostly for my friends and family who might care about the details. More importantly, it is written with the full awareness that I was very lucky, and that on the same day, in the same city, the situation was much more dramatic for thousands of other people. But the most important of all is that I would like to spread awareness about long term solutions, and about ongoing campaigns to promote them.