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Zap Reader

By on January 13, 2009 in economy, music, news, tech

zpreader

This past week I was speaking with a colleague in the accounting field. We both commented how there is so much information and news out there especially to us who have ditched the nostalgia of printed newspapers. Times are tough. Knowledge is power. Some resort to prescription pills to make them more clairvoyant, stay up longer and retain more. We’re junkies.

Here’s a speed reading drug for you. Absorb it all in. ZapReader. Hit on the reader, copy and paste  text in and select your desired words per minute from 100 all the way upto 500. The words flash one by one, one after the other. For lengthy articles I want to read I’ve started using this. I notice I take the information in differently, it’s almost like I’m using a different part of my brain for comprehension. Its more subliminal and seems to go deeper into my subconscious. I imagine news sites will be offering content in this format. How sweet would it be if sites heavy on text content had a little widget where this just popped up and you could read it as such. Or reading this way on your mobile device. It’s coming.

We’re junkies.

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Podcast 14 – Grace Lee Boggs – Part 3

By on January 6, 2009 in detroit, economy, podcast, politics

I am fortunate and hopeful about the future of our planet and the city of Detroit. It is mindblowing to me I can think that, let alone say it and write it on a blog. Lots of change, or “the transition”, is going on in the world which is rekindling something in many of us. I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to sit down with Grace Lee Boggs and share some of her wisdom. The interviews have been insightful and eye-opening, but in the course of doing this my orbit has begun to spin a little with those involved with the Boggs Center. I will post more about these encounters. They have shown me a network of resilient, wise, and astute individuals struggling to transform Detroit into something special which the world has never seen. A glimmer of it can be heard in Grace Lee Boggs’ words, it has a lot to do with humanity and self sufficiency.

In this third part Grace Lee Boggs talks about the misconceptions of Detroit, the future of the automobile industry, and projects she has been working on, namely Detroit City of Hope.

High Resolution Media – Grace Lee Boggs – Part 3

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Podcast 13 – Grace Lee Boggs – Part 2

By on December 16, 2008 in detroit, economy, podcast, poetry, politics

The “isms”.

In this past politically charged year we heard so much labeling of a candidate as “socialist” or policies billed as capitalist or communist. Like the latest music fad, these terms are thrown around without knowledge of what they mean or where they come from. When folks start saying, “He’s a socialist”, what does that really mean?

I asked in my interview with Grace Lee Boggs to try and explain these words from her rich political and academic background. As Bob Marley called them, the ism schism, I asked what are all these “isms”. One popped up I wasn’t necessarily expecting- humanism.

A few items of interest from the interview.

a poem from William Wordsworth:

THE WORLD IS TOO MUCH WITH US; LATE AND SOON

THE world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.–Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.

Also mentioned in the interview a reference to Immanuel Wallerstein, author of The Modern World System.

High Resolution Media – Grace Lee Boggs – Part 2

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Podcast 12 – Grace Lee Boggs – Part 1

By on December 7, 2008 in detroit, economy, podcast, politics

In this podcast I sat down with Grace Lee Boggs, a community organizer and activist long before that phrase has been in the news… for like over 70 years. She was married to the late James Boggs, a prominent labor and union activist in the auto industry. The two of them had coauthored the book, newly republished, “Revolution & Evolution In the Twentieth Century“.

I have always been inspired by Mrs. Boggs’ fearless and tireless spirit, not to mention her intellect. She has also lived in the city of Detroit since 1953. It was an honor to sit down with her. This is the first part of a few podcasts.

I began by asking her about what the city was like 50-60 years ago. There is so much heart and soul in the city, and driving around, one senses the ghosts of Detroit’s economic heyday. I was curious to her thoughts. It is very interesting how she reflects on Detroit’s economic and social history and relates it to the event’s of today, specifically the Obama election.

Some links applicable to the interview.
Boggs Center
Boggs Center Blog
Grace Lee Boggs’ columns at the Michigan Citizen
Also mentioned in the podcast- Shrine of the Black Madonna

High Resolution Media – Grace Lee Boggs – Part 1

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