BECAUSE - Best practices for a better world

Cloud Computing (salesforce.com présentation en français)

2011-06-15T09:31:00.000+02:00

Le monde fantastique de Saint-Nicolas

2010-11-10T13:05:00.005+01:00

http://www.saintnicolasshow.be/

Le Monde Fantastique de Saint-Nicolas fait partie du programme mis au point par la Présidence belge du Conseil de l'Union européenne, à l'occasion des Journées européennes du Développement qui se tiendront les 6 et 7 décembre 2010, à Bruxelles.

Lancé par M. Charles Michel, Ministre de la Coopération au Développement, et géré par la Direction Générale de la Coopération au Développement, ce programme dit « OFF » se compose de nombreuses activités de sensibilisation qui seront proposées au grand public dès la fin novembre et jusqu'au 10 décembre 2010.

Plus d'informations sur : www.eudevdays.eu, www.dg-d.be et www.eutrio.be.

En 2000, les 189 Etats Membres de l'ONU se sont engagés à réaliser, d'ici à 2015,
ces objectifs suivants:

1. Réduire l'extrême pauvreté et la faim

Réduire de moitié la proportion de la population dont le revenu est inférieur à un dollar par jour
Réduire de moitié la proportion de la population qui souffre de la faim

2. Assurer l'éducation primaire pour tous

Donner à tous les enfants, garçons et filles, les moyens d'achever un cycle complet d'études primaires

3. Promouvoir l'égalité des sexes et l'autonomisation des femmes

Eliminer les disparités entre les sexes dans les enseignements primaire et secondaire d'ici à 2005, si possible, et à tous les niveaux de l'enseignement en 2015, au plus tard

4. Réduire la mortalité infantile

Réduire de deux tiers le taux de mortalité des enfants de moins de 5 ans

5. Améliorer la santé maternelle

Réduire de trois quarts le taux de mortalité maternelle

6. Combattre le VIH/SIDA, le paludisme et d'autres maladies

Stopper la propagation du VIH/SIDA et commencer à inverser la tendance actuelle
Maîtriser le paludisme et d'autres grandes maladies, et commencer à inverser la tendance actuelle

7. Assurer un environnement durable

Intégrer les principes du développement durable dans les politiques nationales; inverser la tendance actuelle à la déperdition des ressources environnementales
Réduire de moitié le pourcentage de la population qui n'a pas accès de façon durable à un approvisionnement en eau potable
Améliorer sensiblement la vie d'au moins 100 millions d'habitants de taudis, d'ici à 2020

8. Mettre en place un partenariat mondial pour le développement

Poursuivre la mise en place d'un système commercial et financier multilatéral ouvert, fondé sur des règles, prévisible et non discriminatoire. Cela suppose un engagement en faveur d'une bonne gouvernance, du développement et de la lutte contre la pauvreté, aux niveaux tant national qu'international
S'attaquer aux besoins particuliers des pays les moins avancés. La réalisation de cet objectif suppose l'admission en franchise et hors contingents de leurs exportations, l'application du programme renforcé d'allégement de la dette des pays pauvres très endettés, l'annulation des dettes bilatérales envers les créanciers officiels, et l'octroi d'une aide publique au développement plus généreuse aux pays qui démontrent leur volonté de lutter contre la pauvreté
Répondre aux besoins particuliers des Etats enclavés et des petits Etats insulaires en développement
Traiter globalement le problème de la dette des pays en développement par des mesures d'ordre national et international propres à rendre leur endettement viable à long terme
En coopération avec les pays en développement, créer des emplois décents et productifs pour les jeunes
En coopération avec l'industrie pharmaceutique, rendre les médicaments essentiels disponibles et abordables dans les pays en développement
En coopération avec le secteur privé, mettre les avantages des nouvelles technologies, en particulier des technologies de l'information et de la communication, à la portée de tous

Le monde fantastique de Saint-Nicolas

2010-11-09T23:00:00.002+01:00

www.changerderegard.com

ETNIA 2010 - Espace Wallonie Bruxelles - 22 Oct 2010 - 14 Nov 2010

2010-10-23T14:53:00.003+02:00

EXPO Children Exchanging Cultures by Art in All of Us (in Brussels & Antwerp)

2010-10-20T09:53:00.001+02:00

Melinda French Gates: What nonprofits can learn from Coca-Cola | Video on TED.com

2010-10-12T18:13:00.001+02:00

Melinda French Gates: What nonprofits can learn from Coca-Cola | Video on TED.com

Les dix stratégies de manipulation de masses

2010-10-10T15:39:00.001+02:00

Le linguiste nord-américain Noam Chomsky a élaboré une liste des « Dix Stratégies de Manipulation » à travers les média. Elle détaille l'éventail, depuis la stratégie de la distraction, en passant par la stratégie de la dégradation jusqu'à maintenir le public dans l'ignorance et la médiocrité.

PressenzaBoston, 21/09/2010

1/ La stratégie de la distraction

Élément primordial du contrôle social, la stratégie de la diversion consiste à détourner l’attention du public des problèmes importants et des mutations décidées par les élites politiques et économiques, grâce à un déluge continuel de distractions et d’informations insignifiantes. La stratégie de la diversion est également indispensable pour empêcher le public de s’intéresser aux connaissances essentielles, dans les domaines de la science, de l’économie, de la psychologie, de la neurobiologie, et de la cybernétique. « Garder l’attention du public distraite, loin des véritables problèmes sociaux, captivée par des sujets sans importance réelle. Garder le public occupé, occupé, occupé, sans aucun temps pour penser; de retour à la ferme avec les autres animaux. » Extrait de « Armes silencieuses pour guerres tranquilles »

2/ Créer des problèmes, puis offrir des solutions

Cette méthode est aussi appelée « problème-réaction-solution ». On crée d’abord un problème, une « situation » prévue pour susciter une certaine réaction du public, afin que celui-ci soit lui-même demandeur des mesures qu’on souhaite lui faire accepter. Par exemple: laisser se développer la violence urbaine, ou organiser des attentats sanglants, afin que le public soit demandeur de lois sécuritaires au détriment de la liberté. Ou encore : créer une crise économique pour faire accepter comme un mal nécessaire le recul des droits sociaux et le démantèlement des services publics.

3/ La stratégie de la dégradation

Pour faire accepter une mesure inacceptable, il suffit de l’appliquer progressivement, en « dégradé », sur une durée de 10 ans. C’est de cette façon que des conditions socio-économiques radicalement nouvelles (néolibéralisme) ont été imposées durant les années 1980 à 1990. Chômage massif, précarité, flexibilité, délocalisations, salaires n’assurant plus un revenu décent, autant de changements qui auraient provoqué une révolution s’ils avaient été appliqués brutalement.

4/ La stratégie du différé

Une autre façon de faire accepter une décision impopulaire est de la présenter comme « douloureuse mais nécessaire », en obtenant l’accord du public dans le présent pour une application dans le futur. Il est toujours plus facile d’accepter un sacrifice futur qu’un sacrifice immédiat. D’abord parce que l’effort n’est pas à fournir tout de suite. Ensuite parce que le public a toujours tendance à espérer naïvement que « tout ira mieux demain » et que le sacrifice demandé pourra être évité. Enfin, cela laisse du temps au public pour s’habituer à l’idée du changement et l’accepter avec résignation lorsque le moment sera venu.

5/ S’adresser au public comme à des enfants en bas-âge

La plupart des publicités destinées au grand-public utilisent un discours, des arguments, des personnages, et un ton particulièrement infantilisants, souvent proche du débilitant, comme si le spectateur était un enfant en bas-age ou un handicapé mental. Plus on cherchera à tromper le spectateur, plus on adoptera un ton infantilisant. Pourquoi ? « Si on s’adresse à une personne comme si elle était âgée de 12 ans, alors, en raison de la suggestibilité, elle aura, avec une certaine probabilité, une réponse ou une réaction aussi dénuée de sens critique que celles d’une personne de 12 ans ». Extrait de « Armes silencieuses pour guerres tranquilles »

6/ Faire appel à l’émotionnel plutôt qu’à la réflexion

Faire appel à l’émotionnel est une technique classique pour court-circuiter l’analyse rationnelle, et donc le sens critique des individus. De plus, l’utilisation du registre émotionnel permet d’ouvrir la porte d’accès à l’inconscient pour y implanter des idées, des désirs, des peurs, des pulsions, ou des comportements…

7/ Maintenir le public dans l’ignorance et la bêtise

Faire en sorte que le public soit incapable de comprendre les technologies et les méthodes utilisées pour son contrôle et son esclavage. « La qualité de l’éducation donnée aux classes inférieures doit être la plus pauvre, de telle sorte que le fossé de l’ignorance qui isole les classes inférieures des classes supérieures soit et demeure incompréhensible par les classes inférieures. Extrait de « Armes silencieuses pour guerres tranquilles »

8/ Encourager le public à se complaire dans la médiocrité

Encourager le public à trouver « cool » le fait d’être bête, vulgaire, et inculte…

9/ Remplacer la révolte par la culpabilité

Faire croire à l’individu qu’il est seul responsable de son malheur, à cause de l’insuffisance de son intelligence, de ses capacités, ou de ses efforts. Ainsi, au lieu de se révolter contre le système économique, l’individu s’auto-dévalue et culpabilise, ce qui engendre un état dépressif dont l’un des effets est l’inhibition de l’action. Et sans action, pas de révolution!…

10/ Connaître les individus mieux qu’ils ne se connaissent eux-mêmes

Au cours des 50 dernières années, les progrès fulgurants de la science ont creusé un fossé croissant entre les connaissances du public et celles détenues et utilisées par les élites dirigeantes. Grâce à la biologie, la neurobiologie, et la psychologie appliquée, le « système » est parvenu à une connaissance avancée de l’être humain, à la fois physiquement et psychologiquement. Le système en est arrivé à mieux connaître l’individu moyen que celui-ci ne se connaît lui-même. Cela signifie que dans la majorité des cas, le système détient un plus grand contrôle et un plus grand pouvoir sur les individus que les individus eux-mêmes.

Les dix stratégies de manipulation de masses

La Journée du Dialogue à Bruxelles – 23 octobre 2010

2010-10-07T10:57:00.003+02:00

La Journée du Dialogue à Bruxelles – 23 octobre 2010

Qu'est-ce que la "Journée du Dialogue"?

La Journée du Dialogue est une initiative sociale pour la ville, organisée par et pour les citoyens, les organisations, les institutions et les associations de cette ville.

Ce jour-là, dans différents lieux de la ville des ‘tables de dialogue’ rassemblent des personnes de tous horizons. L’idée de la Journée du Dialogue est simple et efficace : des personnes qui en d’autres circonstances n’ont pas l’occasion de se rencontrer, s’assoient ensemble et partagent leurs expériences et leurs idées en petits groupes. Il ne s’agit pas de débattre ou d’argumenter mais d’apprendre à se connaître par le biais du dialogue ; autour d’un thème central pour la vie en société et qui soit suffisamment concret, large et personnel afin que chacun se sente concerné.

Bruxelles vous invite!, le slogan de l’édition 2010, incite à l'échange des expériences et des idées autour du thème l'appartenance. Qu’est-ce que ça signifie pour vous appartenir à Bruxelles ? Où appartenez-vous? Et à qui vous appartenez? Faites-vous partie d’une association ou un club? Comment éprouvez-vous être membre d’une culture, ethnicité ou religion ? En faite, est-il important que vous apparteniez quelque part ? A l’occasion de l’Année européenne de lutte contre la pauvreté et l’exclusion sociale on se demande aussi si tout le monde, pauvre et riche, réellement fait partie de Bruxelles.

Les tables de dialogue auront lieu le samedi 23 octobre de 14h30 à 16h30, suivie d’une réception festivepour tous les participants et les partenaires de dialogue à partir de 16h30!
Un modérateur formé à la méthodologie du dialogue conduit souplement la conversation et veille à ce que chacun puisse prendre la parole, être écouté et respecté à sa table.

La diversité de la composition des tables – âge, appartenance sociale, identité culturelle – est garantie par le fait que les partenaires régionaux, francophones et néerlandophones, appartenants à des secteurs variés motivent leur public, lui tout aussi diversifié, à participer à une table de dialogue. Ces partenaires forment ensemble un réseau et au fil des mois précédent l’évènement sont régulièrement informés sur l’organisation et leur rôle dans le cadre de la Journée du Dialogue.

Ce site est destiné à:
- Des associations, entreprises, organismes publics, etc. qui désirent devenir partenaire de dialogue en 2010.
- Des personnes curieuses d’en connaître d’avantage ou intéressées de participer à une table de dialogue en tant que participant, comme modérateur ou rapporteur aux tables de dialogue.

La Journée du Dialogue à Bruxelles – 23 octobre 2010

Google Ideas To Change the World: Project 10 to the 100

2010-09-29T00:05:00.000+02:00

Big ideas: the final 16

Thousands of people from more than 170 countries submitted more than 150,000 (or around 10^5.2) ideas for Project 10^100, from general investment suggestions to specific implementation proposals:

Make government more transparent
Community
Create a website that enables people from any country or municipality to easily learn about the workings of their government, and rally their fellow citizens to take action to improve it. Numerous user ideas embraced variations on the theme of governmental transparency, with specific proposals ranging from publishing details of proposed laws and politicians' voting records to making public budgets searchable online and leveraging social networks to let communities make their voices heard by their representatives by voting on pressing issues.
Suggestions that inspired this idea
Provide quality education to African students
Education
Support efforts to increase young Africans' access to quality education. This idea's many user-submitted inspirations include an initiative to provide quality education and facilities to children who lack access; giving leadership training to outstanding young people who will comprise tomorrow's African leaders; and providing an online networking space for knowledge sharing and collaboration among teachers in Africa.
Suggestions that inspired this idea
Help social entrepreneurs drive change
Opportunity
Create a fund to support social entrepreneurship. This idea was inspired by a number of user proposals focused on "social entrepreneurs" -- individuals and organizations who use entrepreneurial techniques to build ventures focused on attacking social problems and fomenting change. Specific relevant ideas include establishing schools that teach entrepreneurial skills in rural areas; supporting entrepreneurs in underdeveloped communities; and creating an entity to provide capital and training to help entrepreneurs build viable businesses and catalyze sustained community change.
Suggestions that inspired this idea
Create real-time natural crisis tracking system
Community
Make rapid-response crisis-mapping data available to help policymakers better coordinate response efforts during hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis and other natural disasters. For example, this proposal could involve joining with global partners to develop technology to collect high-resolution imagery and video via satellite, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or ground-based communications, and display and aggregate this data for the use of policymakers and international organizations tasked with protecting vulnerable civilians.
Suggestions that inspired this idea
Build better banking tools for everyone
Opportunity
Partner with banks and technology companies to increase the reach of financial services across the world. Users submitted numerous ideas that seek to improve the quality of people's lives by offering new, more convenient and more sophisticated banking services. Specific suggestions include inexpensive village-based banking kiosks for developing countries; an SMS solution geared toward mobile networks; and ideas for implementing banking services into school curriculums.
Suggestions that inspired this idea
Collect and organize the world's urban data
Community
Support efforts to organize, analyze and make accessible online the world's urban and population data. A majority of the global human population lives in cities, and more people continue to migrate into urban centers. Information about the urban planet is ever more invaluable in helping understand humanity's impact on our surroundings, thus empowering citizens and helping leaders make better-informed decisions. Users interested in this area submitted ideas ranging from creating a website where residents can text or upload photos that highlight city issues to building a comprehensive database of city projects and using mobile phones to collect information about, and eventually be able to predict traffic and congestion patterns.
Suggestions that inspired this idea
Work toward socially conscious tax policies
Environment
Fund the most promising efforts to make the tax system more transparent and better at supporting societal sustainability and development. This idea is inspired by many tax-related ideas from users around the world, including: replacing income taxes with smart consumption taxes; tax discounts for citizens who participate in socially beneficial works; and giving citizens more visibility and control into the allocation of their tax dollars. User ideas in this category highlight tax policy as a perhaps surprisingly fertile area in which intelligent, data-driven analysis could make a huge difference in the effectiveness of the public sector.
Suggestions that inspired this idea
Encourage positive media depictions of engineers and scientists
Education
Support groups and programs that promote positive depictions of engineers and scientists in popular media. Generally speaking, career services are only offered in earnest during university years, when many opportunities have already passed by. These proposals are designed to encourage more young people to pursue careers in this field by supporting groups that work toward encouraging positive images of engineering and science in pop culture. Our users submitted a number of suggestions for making engineering and science "cool," including online libraries of "day-in-the-life of an engineer" videos, an online channel devoted entirely to IT news, live performances with massive robots, and telling inspirational real-life stories about how individual engineers and scientists have changed the world. This proposal will require finding the right public advocacy groups to partner with in pursuing these objectives.
Suggestions that inspired this idea
Enhance science and engineering education
Education
Support initiatives that enhance young people's engineering and science education. Users from many countries agreed that encouraging science education was an ideal way to ensure the brightest future for technology development itself. Specific ideas ranged from building a virtual science lab and a live multiplayer math game to putting Lego robots and local high-tech professionals in schools.
Suggestions that inspired this idea
Create real-world issue reporting system
Community
Build an issue-reporting website that lets people report problems to proper authorities. When software testers find errors, they generally submit them to a tool which automatically routes them to the right team to be fixed. Implementing proposals for this idea might involve creating an analogous system for the real world that lets anyone report a problem of any kind (e.g., a dangerous pothole), and routes problems it deems sufficiently important to the proper authorities (e.g., the relevant road agency). The aim would be to incorporate all the niche applications that users suggested, including reporting crimes to the police and environmental issues to local governments.
Suggestions that inspired this idea
Promote health monitoring and data analysis
Health
Predict and minimize medical problems and emergencies through real-time tracking of individuals' health data and analysis of historical data. Several ideas submitted in multiple languages recommend this concept, offering various ideas about which types of monitors and devices to use; which vital signs to measure (with varying levels of invasiveness); which diseases and conditions to track; and so on. The idea could work both in the developed world (through wearable, mobile or in-home devices) and in the developing world (via publicly accessible locations and devices), and the data could be used both to track individuals' health status and to spot community trends and prevent disease outbreaks.
Suggestions that inspired this idea
Create genocide monitoring and alert system
Community
Build and refine tools capable of disseminating genocide-related mapping and related information in order to save lives. Much of the necessary technology and data-gathering methodology already exists both for general crisis mapping and for early warning systems capable of preventing mass atrocities. A key remaining step is to make this data more widely available to strengthen international aid agency coordination, improve resource allocation, develop timely policy and help evaluate current humanitarian practices.
Suggestions that inspired this idea
Drive innovation in public transport
Energy
Develop new transportation technologies to help move more people with less energy, greater efficiency and fewer casualties. Millions of people still use methods of transportation invented a hundred or more years ago. Even small improvements in speed, safety, cost and environmental efficiency would have a large impact on people's lives, and on the planet as a whole. With such improvements in mind, transportation-minded users submitted ideas ranging from a hydrogen-powered bicycle to an airship optimized for commuter travel. By aligning with and supporting organizations that share these goals, this proposal aims to drive innovation in this sector and make the best of these ideas a reality.
Suggestions that inspired this idea
Make educational content available online for free
Education
Make educational and course materials more accessible online to students worldwide. Lots of educational content is not indexed or accessible on the public web. Various users have proposed finding ways to help content owners put formerly exclusive content online, including offline materials (lectures, textbooks, videotaped workshops) and limited-access materials (scholarly papers, research dissertations); help teachers themselves become more available online (access to online profs, 24/7 homework help, cross-country study groups); and to make all this material and academic help accessible through both computer and mobile platforms.
Suggestions that inspired this idea
Build real-time, user-reported news service
Everything Else
Help people find and report timely, important local information. Users have submitted many ideas proposing better access to locally relevant info, including real-time news (fires, natural disasters and road accidents), disease tracking (mobile devices that track people's health status) and personal incidents (calling to report a threatening criminal situation, natural disaster or medical emergency). Implementation of this idea would involve creating a system that enables ordinary citizens to easily report news that's happening around them, from meaningful local events to important global stories.
Suggestions that inspired this idea
Create more efficient landmine removal programs
Shelter
Fund global organizations that are developing efficient strategies for landmine detection and removal. Landmines remain a significant global problem. There are an estimated 110 million landmines still active in 70 countries; they have been blamed for over 5,000 casualties annually, ~70% of which are civilians, and nearly half of those are children.* Effective new landmine-removal programs offer a wide range of societal benefits beyond the obvious development of mine-free areas, including the repatriation of refugees and better distribution of emergency aid. Numerous suggestions for this topic include robotic, human and animal-facilitated detection strategies. *www.icbl.org
Suggestions that inspired this idea

A Jewish Boat to Gaza | Jews for Justice for Palestinians

2010-09-26T19:59:00.001+02:00

This statement has been issued by Jews for Justice for Palestinians

Boat principles of operation

1. We do not recognize Israel’s right to blockade Gaza. We will be challenging this brutal siege by deploying civil resistance and non-violent direct action. We will not engage in any physical confrontation and will therefore not present the Israelis with any reason to use physical force or assault us.

2. If, as we expect, the Israeli naval forces intercept us on our way from international waters into the territorial waters of Gaza, we will show them the ship’s manifest, stamped by the authorities at our last port of call, confirming there are no weapons or offensive materials on board and that we require safe passage to Gaza.

3. If they refuse us this and command us to divert to Ashdod we will remind them that, under international law, they do not have the right to blockade Gaza. We will again assure them that we have no weapons on board, that we have nothing that could be put to military use, and we will ask them to consult with their authorities in Tel Aviv and reconsider.

4. If they still refuse to allow us to proceed and order us to change course to Ashdod we will refuse to change course. We will effect a ‘sit down’ protest and deploy the tactics of civil rights movements, namely passive, non-violent resistance and non-cooperation. If they tow the boat to Ashdod, as has been the case with other aid boats, we will not assist with setting up the tow, nor will we helm the boat during the tow.

A Jewish Boat to Gaza | Jews for Justice for Palestinians

Art in All of US - Support Haiti Children

2010-09-26T12:09:00.004+02:00

Join this action on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=162299060449543

You can submit scanned images of any type of art by children to express friendship and moral support for the kids in Haiti. They will be shared with children in Haiti as part of an exhibition by www.artinallofus.org

Submission deadline is 14 October 2010.
Please let me know if you would like to contribute: levent.korkmaz@be-cause.be

We all have been shocked by the situation in Haiti and adults have tried their best to help relieve the pain of the sufferers.Our organization Art in All of Us has been contacted by NGOs active in Haiti who alarmed us on the trauma that thousands of children (orphans or not) are going through. UNICEF is very involved in post-trauma assistance to thousands of children hosted in the street of Port au Prince. Haitian children need to feel they are not alone and that other children from the world think and care for them. Most of them are handicap and suffering heavy trauma. It is important to work with them and connect them to other children of the world who would care for them and sustain them psychologically. We could imagine a great solidarity chain of artistic creation from children of the world aiming at showing their love and support to Haitian children to re-dream their life!" www.artinallofus.org

The Millennium Development Goals and the Road to 2015: Building on Progress and Responding to Crisis

2010-09-23T19:58:00.002+02:00

This book draws on two of the World Bank’s flagship publications, the Global Monitoring Report and the World Development Indicators. It analyzes the international statistical record and the findings of researchers around the world to report on the progress toward the Millennium Development Goals over the past decade. The book's online companion, the World Bank eAtlas of the MDGs, features worldwide mapping, timeline graphing, and ranking tables, allowing users to map the progress of goals, targets, and indicators; compare data; and export and share graphics.

More info:http://www.worldbank.org/mdgs

The 6th ANNUAL EVPA CONFERENCE

2010-09-20T12:05:00.000+02:00

The 6th ANNUAL EVPA CONFERENCE: "Now in its 6th year, the Annual European Venture Philanthropy Conference brings together leading experts in the field to discuss the development of the industry and meet their peers across Europe."

This tree is using social media

2010-09-19T16:58:00.001+02:00

The Duel Between Good and Evil: Aristotle Versus Plato; Ayn Rand Versus Kant @ THE VINCENTON POST

2010-09-19T03:01:00.000+02:00

"The result of Plato’s approach was a form of adoration. The result of Kant was “hatred of the good for being the good.” The hatred took shape in the culture of nihilism.

Modern intellectuals are comparable to a psychopath who murders for kicks. They seek the thrill of the new; and the new, to them, is the negative. The new is obliteraion, obliteration of the essential in every field; they have no interest in anything to take its place. Thus the uniqueness of the century behind us: philosophy gleefully rid of system-building, education based on the theory that cognition is harmful, science boastful of its inability to understand, art which expelled beauty, literature which flaunted antiheroes, language “liberated” from syntax, verse “free” of meter. nonrepresentational painting, atonal music, unconscious psychology, deconstruction in literary criticism, indeterminancy as the new depth in physics, incompleteness as the revelation in mathematics–a void everywhere that was acclaimed by the avante-garde with the metaphysical chuckle. It was the sound of triumph, the triumph of the new anti-ideal: of the unknowable, the unreachable, the unendurable.

In a Kantian reality, nothing else was possible.

*~*~*~*

Ayn Rand is to Aristotle what Kant is to Plato. Both sides of the perennial duel, in their pure form, have finally been made explicit. Kant’s philosophy is Platonism without paganism. Ayn Rand’s philosophy is Aristotelianism without Platonism.

At this moment in hstory, the west is mutating again. The reason is that Kant as a cultural power is dead.

Kant is dead in academic philosophy; the subject has effectively expired under his tutelage. He is dead among the intellectuals, whose world view is disillusionment (they call it the “end of ideology”). He is dead in the realm of art, where nihilism, with little left to defy, is turning into its inevitable product: nihil (this is now being called “minimalism” and “postmodernism”).

Kant is dead even in Berlin and Moscow. As of this writing, although it is too early to know, communism seems to be disintegrating.

The collapse of a negative, however, is not a positive. The atrophy of a vicious version of unreason is not the adoption of reason. If men fail to discover living ideas, they will keep moving by the guidance of dead onel they will keep following, by inertia, the principles they have already institutionalized. For the nations of East and West alike today, no matter what their faddish lipservice to a “free market,” the culmination of these principles is some variant of dictatorship, new or revised–if not communist, then fascist and/or religious and/or tribal. Force and faith on such a scale would mean the fate of the ancients all over again.

The only man who can stave off another Dark Ages is the Father of Enlightenment.

It is true that Aristotle has flaws, which always gave his enemies an opening. But now the opening has been closed.

The solution to the crisis of our age is love, as everyone says. But the love we need is not love of God or the neighbor. It is a love of the good for being the good. The good, in this context, includes reality, man the hero, and man’s tool of survival.

Dr. Leonard Peikoff, the intellectual heir of philosopher Ayn Rand, is the author of two great books, The Ominous Parallels and Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand. Dr. Peikoff is an American Objectivist philosopher. He is a former professor of philosophy and a former radio talk show host. He is the founder of the Ayn Rand Institute and the legal heir to Ayn Rand‘s estate."

The Duel Between Good and Evil: Aristotle Versus Plato; Ayn Rand Versus Kant @ THE VINCENTON POST

Aristotle: the Nicomachean ethics

2010-09-19T02:57:00.003+02:00

WWB Network | Women's World Banking

2010-09-19T02:53:00.002+02:00

Women’s World Banking is a global network comprised of 40 leading microfinance institutions from 28 countries. The network members are diverse in geography, size and structure but united in the firm belief that microfinance must remain committed to women as clients, innovators and leaders.

Why Women And Microfinance?

"The initial motivation for microfinance roughly 30 years ago was, to a great extent, gender neutral. The pioneering microfinance institutions (MFIs) sought to provide credit to poor entrepreneurs who had no assets to pledge as collateral and, consequently, were denied access to capital by the formal banking sector. It quickly emerged, however, that women entrepreneurs invested the profits from their businesses in ways that would have a longer-lasting, more profound impact on the lives of their families and communities. The woman entrepreneur as the gateway to household security became a fundamental premise of the microfinance business model and the success of microfinance as a poverty alleviation tool. The microfinance industry has recently moved into the commercial mainstream, reducing its reliance on subsidized donor funding. This commercialization has decidedly shifted the focus of MFIs away from low-income populations in general and poor women in particular. While this trend is worrying, WWB believes its effects can be significantly mitigated by another important development: the movement by MFIs away from a strictly credit-led approach toward providing a broad array of financial products and services, including savings and insurance. The key to success for the MFIs of the future will be offering financial products and services that are designed to meet clients’ needs, motivations and desires. WWB’s research confirms that the key economic priorities for poor women—to a far greater extent than for men—continue to be health care, the education of their children, and housing. All MFI clients, but particularly women, seek a safe place to save the assets they have created and the means to protect them from catastrophic loss."

WWB Network | Women's World Banking

Google Books Settlement Agreement

2010-09-19T02:33:00.001+02:00

"'Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Today, together with the authors, publishers, and libraries, we have been able to make a great leap in this endeavor,' said Sergey Brin, co-founder & president of technology at Google. 'While this agreement is a real win-win for all of us, the real victors are all the readers. The tremendous wealth of knowledge that lies within the books of the world will now be at their fingertips.'

We hope and expect that this leap forward with our friends and partners in the publishing industry is just the first of many. We love books at Google, and our fondest dream is that Book Search will evolve into a service that ensures that books, along with their authors and publishers, will flourish for many years into the future."
Google Books Settlement Agreement

Robert Nozick - Méditations sur la vie

2010-09-19T02:26:00.004+02:00

The Dismal Science - Stephen A. Marglin - Harvard University Press

2010-09-19T02:05:00.007+02:00

"Economists celebrate the market as a device for regulating human interaction without acknowledging that their enthusiasm depends on a set of half-truths: that individuals are autonomous, self-interested, and rational calculators with unlimited wants and that the only community that matters is the nation-state. However, as Stephen Marglin argues, market relationships erode community. In the past, for example, when a farm family experienced a setback--say the barn burned down--neighbors pitched in. Now a farmer whose barn burns down turns, not to his neighbors, but to his insurance company. Insurance may be a more efficient way to organize resources than a community barn raising, but the deep social and human ties that are constitutive of community are weakened by the shift from reciprocity to market relations.

Marglin dissects the ways in which the foundational assumptions of economics justify a world in which individuals are isolated from one another and social connections are impoverished as people define themselves in terms of how much they can afford to consume. Over the last four centuries, this economic ideology has become the dominant ideology in much of the world. Marglin presents an account of how this happened and an argument for righting the imbalance in our lives that this ideology has fostered."

The Dismal Science - Stephen A. Marglin - Harvard University Press

http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/9128

Nonprofit Consulting Cafe: How to Network, Nonprofit Style

2010-09-18T11:24:00.000+02:00

"..it is always a good idea to get involved with trade and networking organizations that are locally and nationally connected to nonprofits. When I say 'involved' I mean a few different things:

Participate in person - this may mean attending lunches, becoming a member, or joining trainings and just meeting people.

Participate online - do they have a LinkedIn Group? Facebook Page? Listserv? Blog? Be sure to get involved by interacting online. I've had lots of people connect my name with my online participation. I post resources, articles, events, and more online so people have a good sense of what is happening in the community and I demonstrate that I am hub for that information.

Volunteer - This is an outstanding way for people in these network 'hubs' to get to know you and eventually spread the word about you, your ideas, and great work.

Why should I even care about networking?
Networking can open doors to opportunities that were never possible - those may be job opportunities, friendships, supporters, prospective donors, volunteer and leadership roles, and more. You just never know. Whether or not you are actively networking it is important to remember that you never know who is going to be valuable in your life for whatever reason - be kind and gracious with everyone!"

Nonprofit Consulting Cafe: How to Network, Nonprofit Style

Twitter Needs to Become More Open or Die: Tech News

2010-09-17T16:27:00.002+02:00

"The call for a decentralized Twitter speaks to deeper motives than profit: good engineering and social justice. Done right, a decentralized one-to-many communications mechanism could boast a resilience and efficiency that the current centralized Twitter does not. Decentralization isn’t just a better architecture, it’s an architecture that resists censorship and the corrupting influences of capital and marketing. At the very least, decentralization would make tweeting as fundamental and irrevocable a part of the Internet as email. Now that would be a triumph of humanity."

In a blog post, Alex Payne says he quit the company at the height of its success earlier this year because he wanted the service to become an open, distributed communications platform, but the startup’s senior executives were more focused on building a business instead. It’s a critical question that many technology companies have faced: open or closed? Open can fuel more growth, but closed can generate more revenue.

Twitter Needs to Become More Open or Die: Tech News

Town says no to bottled water

2010-09-16T13:48:00.001+02:00

Le forum des entrepreneurs by initiatives - Les rendez-vous des entrepreneurs : 20 et 21 octobre 2010 - Au Halles des Foires de Liège

2010-09-16T09:29:00.002+02:00

2010 - Cap sur la croissance http://www.forumdesentrepreneurs.be/

Principale plateforme de rencontres entre entreprises de Wallonie, le Forum des Entrepreneurs fédère les acteurs du développement économique pour faciliter les échanges et les coopérations entre entreprises, notamment les PME.

En 2009, le Forum des Entrepreneurs a enregistré et identifié 5.000 participants différents, dont plus de la moitié se déclarent responsables d'une entreprise ou d'un département.

Le Forum a poursuivi et amplifié sa route vers son objectif de consolider sa position de principale réunion professionnelle des dirigeants de PME de Wallonie.

Le succès de la plateforme B2Fair (rendez-vous programmés entre entreprises) et autres accueils de délégations belges et étrangères a également contribué à développer sa vocation internationale.

Le Forum est pour les PME un rendez-vous incontournable pour mettre le cap sur la croissance.

Le thème 2010 : Les matériaux nouveaux

Pour la première fois, le forum se dote d'un thème général : les matériaux nouveaux, considérés comme l'une des pistes les plus prometteuses pour générer l'activité économique en Wallonie...

Ce thème se déclinera par l'organisation d'un nouveau salon, appelé "Métamorphoses" et organisé par la SPI+.

"Métamorphoses" mettra en place une plateforme d'exposition et de contacts d'une surface de 1.500m², entourée de stands dévolus aux acteurs impliqués dans la production et la distribution de ces matériaux innovants, un programme de conférences, une "'matériauthèque" et un grand événement inaugural...

Contact pour le salon "Métamorphoses": Isabelle Kruyts - 04/230 12 74 ou isabelle.kruyts@spi.be

Pierre Luthers, Directeur d’ENJEU

Le forum des entrepreneurs by initiatives - Les rendez-vous des entrepreneurs : 20 et 21 octobre 2010 - Au Halles des Foires de Liège

Conférence de Muhammad Yunus

2010-09-14T12:34:00.004+02:00

Depuis 2008, la SRIW a pris l’initiative d’inviter et de rencontrer des personnalités respectées qui constituent des références mondiales dans le domaine économique, en vue d’enrichir la réflexion sur les enjeux globaux auxquels notre tissu économique est confronté. Ces deux dernières années, nous avons donc eu l’honneur d’entendre les prix Nobel d’économie Joseph Stiglitz (invité en 2008) et Paul Krugman (invité en 2009).

La SRIW, en partenariat avec l’Université de Mons, a le plaisir de vous annoncer la troisième édition de ce cycle de conférences dédié à la mémoire de Jean-Claude Dehovre.

Cette année, elle accueillera le Professeur Muhammad Yunus, prix Nobel de la paix 2006, fondateur de la Grameen Bank et pionnier du microcrédit dans le monde. Il nous fera bénéficier de son expérience passionnante et abordera le thème « Social Business : Towards a New Capitalism » (« Le social business : vers un nouveau capitalisme »).

Quand ? Lundi 18 octobre à 18h45
Où ? Théâtre Royal de Mons
(Grand Place, 7000 Mons)
Traduction simultanée anglais-français
La conférence sera suivie d’un cocktail
Parkings :
- Lotto Mons Expo (Avenue Thomas Edison, 2 -
7000 Mons), face au cinéma IMAGIX (Zoning des Grand Prés) avec navettes jusqu’à la Grand Place
- Parkings payants rue de la Halle et rue d’Havré
Transports en commun :
- Depuis la gare :10’ à pied
- En bus : ligne Mons IntraMuros, direction « Aller », arrêt Intra Muros (Rue Samson).

www.conference-yunus.be

Conférence de Muhammad Yunus

BECAUSE - Best practices for a better world

Cloud Computing (salesforce.com présentation en français)

Le monde fantastique de Saint-Nicolas

http://www.saintnicolasshow.be/

www.changerderegard.com

ETNIA 2010 - Espace Wallonie Bruxelles - 22 Oct 2010 - 14 Nov 2010

EXPO Children Exchanging Cultures by Art in All of Us (in Brussels & Antwerp)

Melinda French Gates: What nonprofits can learn from Coca-Cola | Video on TED.com

Les dix stratégies de manipulation de masses

La Journée du Dialogue à Bruxelles – 23 octobre 2010

Google Ideas To Change the World: Project 10 to the 100

Make government more transparent

Provide quality education to African students

Help social entrepreneurs drive change

Create real-time natural crisis tracking system

Build better banking tools for everyone

Collect and organize the world's urban data

Work toward socially conscious tax policies

Encourage positive media depictions of engineers and scientists

Enhance science and engineering education

Create real-world issue reporting system

Promote health monitoring and data analysis

Create genocide monitoring and alert system

Drive innovation in public transport

Make educational content available online for free

Build real-time, user-reported news service

Create more efficient landmine removal programs

A Jewish Boat to Gaza | Jews for Justice for Palestinians

Art in All of US - Support Haiti Children

Join this action on Facebook:

You can submit scanned images of any type of art by children to express friendship and moral support for the kids in Haiti. They will be shared with children in Haiti as part of an exhibition by www.artinallofus.org

The Millennium Development Goals and the Road to 2015: Building on Progress and Responding to Crisis

The 6th ANNUAL EVPA CONFERENCE

This tree is using social media

The Duel Between Good and Evil: Aristotle Versus Plato; Ayn Rand Versus Kant @ THE VINCENTON POST

Aristotle: the Nicomachean ethics

WWB Network | Women's World Banking

Google Books Settlement Agreement

Robert Nozick - Méditations sur la vie

The Dismal Science - Stephen A. Marglin - Harvard University Press

Nonprofit Consulting Cafe: How to Network, Nonprofit Style

Twitter Needs to Become More Open or Die: Tech News

Town says no to bottled water

Le forum des entrepreneurs by initiatives - Les rendez-vous des entrepreneurs : 20 et 21 octobre 2010 - Au Halles des Foires de Liège

Conférence de Muhammad Yunus