Quorum

My question is, why don´t we as renters have rights to request greater energy efficiency from our landlords? Especially for students in Manhattan, KS, of whom a large number rent old, outdated homes that have had little or no repairs in 30 years. I have been following each of these tips at least to the extent they recommend, if not more so, and I still pay out the ass in utilities. At what point do we, as a society, deem energy inefficiency to violate safety and thus to be against code? Could there be government subsidies allocated for this purpose? Especially since those worse off economically are going to be stuck in the least energy efficient homes, thus furthering their financial burden. Wes Jackson once outlined that efficiency actually increases usage. By this account, it is easy to see why. Those who have, get more efficient, so they can have more.

This is exactly why I have always been reluctant to use Facebook. It´s the same reason I don´t have an ipod. I cannot stand the thought that my content or media will be confined to one place. It seems Facebook starts closed and is slowly opening, whereas this article suggests starting open and then slowly closing might be better (perhaps not closing at all). The one thing Facebook has been successful with is getting people to use it. However, I submit there is something wrong when it´s most discerning users still are not comfortable with it.

This is very similar to the ideas I have been having about what the quorum online would look like. All of these services suffer the fate of trying to be the end-all service. The one and only greatest. This is fragmenting us and keeping us from meeting up online. I want to collaborate with people but it seems like most of the time I first have to convince them to use the tool/service I am using to collaborate with, or I have to submit and use theirs. Our conversations can´t even begin until we´ve hashed out these meta-conversations (conversations about how best to have conversations). It all becomes incredibly taxing, and so we are just left fragmented.

While I have not gone to grad school, and thus I am not an authority on the matter, one very large motivation for not going is something like this fear. I do not want to put myself in a situation where I am forced to study, read, and write about things that are of little importance to me. I would much rather pursue my own interests. Thus far, I have found this approach to be rather prolific, reading a book a week and working on numerous projects. I also find it very interesting how defensive these people are in the comments to this post. They seem to disagree whole-heartedly. This raises flags for me, flags of ignorance. Perhaps they are purposefully looking the other way. What do you think?

Is this just the reality of the web now, in a positive sense that we control what image and information we put out there? Or, is this really something to worry about?

This is exactly what I have been saying about the web for a long time, and especially recently. We need intersection of real and virtual worlds. I use the internet to connect with people I know. Connecting with random people is only marginally useful and usually novelty. Facebook, however, has a long way to be what it could be... or rather what I want from the web. An extension of, and motivation force for, community. Connections with people I know.