Whaledreamers. Time for change.

Uno,

I share a lot of your concerns. One of my websites is aimed at just that, individuals and groups making a difference. Setting some time aside from the countless hours of television, and video games to go back to our roots of helping one another. While I am receiving a lot of traffic, alas I am seeing no interest in anyone doing anything that makes a difference. I am sure that if I were to post some mammoth breasts, or a whale of a male part I would receive interest in enormous amounts. I would greatly support any outreach program as long as we are loking close to our homes wherever they may be and insuring we are not overlooking the chances to help that are all too often directly under our noses. If Windpsalms can be of any help in yours or anyones desire to reach out and make a difference we are ready to serve our part as well.

Signed,
Reginald

hello,

without nature, no future

I do not know if you know Nicolas hulot - is a french

defender of the planet since many years

Foundation nicolas hulot

http://www.fondation-nicolas-hulot.org

paris
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=_V-CSkYobMM

http://www.dailymotion.com/Nicolas-Hulot

my country corsica
or the protection of this nature made by love of country

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=D0iPU4IiRHk

daniel

Good point, as said above, no nature, no future... not just the big mamals but also the microscpoic bacteria that live in certain soil that is being eroded...

A trillion dollar sound so impossible to reach but it started from "A Penny"...lets start together doing our own 'penny' share now. Cut our consumptions and pollutions for the sake of our future children and their natural habitat.
I will definitely watch it. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Here in California, the Gray Whales are about to begin their migration down the coast to their mating grounds in Mexico, You can see them from the shore or from the old lighthouse on Point Loma - close to the southwestern tip of the U.S. where I often ride my bike. They are truly majestic creatures.
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I have been working since early this year on an application that I believe has the potential to change the world using Boonex technology. Several years ago, on returning to the U.S. from West Africa, where I had worked for several years, I realized how tough it is for small companies and professionals to conduct international business. It is extremely difficult for them to find like-minded professionals, to market their services, to locate appropriate projects, to communicate and collaborate. That is when I got the germ of an idea for a much better kind of business network that would help small companies find and secure opportunities in international markets.
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For a number of reasons, I decided to start this project for my home State. California has a huge number of small businesses, it is highly entrepreneurial, and extremely diverse with citizens representatives from every single nationality, language and ethnic group on the planet. I figured if we could get an international business network for small business working here, we could get it working anywhere.
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It has been a long struggle - at least four different technologies have been tried, and for one reason or another didn't work. Then I found Dolphin and realized it had certain attributes I really needed to make this project work - especially the level of sophistication with the management controls and membership levels. The pain didn't quite end when I started working with Dolphin early this year though. I somehow managed to destroy my database from the control panel a half dozen times, seemingly found every single major bug in the system, and struggled as a non-programmer to modify dating software into a business network. I'm nothing if not persistent though, and I have finally managed to get a stable installation and have just started my beta test. You can see it here:
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http://www.caltrade.com/members
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I think I am finally getting there but there is a long way to go, and I would welcome any help I can get - from Boonex or anybody. Once I have this working and growing for California, I would like to build a small business, international trade network for the whole world. I know exactly what to do - I have written specs and even prototypes all over the place, I just need a little technical help. The Chinese trade portal Alibaba has gotten billions of dollars in investment, and it is really not all that hot. I am convinced that with Boonex technology, we could do something much better. Something that could really change the world.
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Rob Gordon

Technology-based businesses, in particular, have a tremendous impact on the climate/ecology. First, because of energy consumption.

What are the solutions?
There are some renewable energy projects that we can support to "neutralize" the carbon emissions that we are responsible for. Carbon offsets, Green-e credits by the Center for Resource Solutions are the two which have been brought up lately.
Some organizations like Integrated Ecosystem Market Services can help in planning and implementing a comprehensive carbon strategy for BoonEx and partners, and hosting companies in particular, as they generate a lot of heat and consume huge amounts of electricity to power their servers.

These are just the ones that I have heard of lately, but I'm sure there are so many other good projects out there. I think that the BoonEx community and the "social network" which we now have in place will help us find and join those that "genuinely try to save the world".

P.S. I will definitely show this movie to my son's classmates. The younger generation should be educated and well informed about environmental issues and the damaging effects of our modern life-style.

if you're interested:
I use a web hosting environmentally friendly

Accommodation ecological technologies that reduce up to 60% CO2 in the atmosphere.

I rest my case Uno. Post a Blog about making a difference or helping the environment and you drew a limited number of replies, I believe 6. However let someone start complaining about the Dolphin Script and the thread will not end for days. As sad as I am to agree, I believe now there may be some truth to Mrs. Obama's statement about America (and perhaps other countries as well) being a mean country in 2008. I will clarify though that I do not entirely agree with that in the whole context. I actually believe that our society and our concerns have shifted so much that the only concern seems to be self-survival for many. Couple that with a steady onslaught of nothing but bad news in every headline, our news snippet and I believe you have more of the truth. We have lost sight of what matters and the fact that a group has the potential to shift ideologies and make a difference. This has been my ongoing struggle that I will not let go of on Windpsalms, a place where good news makes the headlines, a place where groups actually seek out a positive output, instead of a way of making the news that results in more of the same bad news. If I can cause one good difference to someone like the little girl on the beach saving the starfish I will have made a difference for that one.

First......for TallyPlayer......I was following your train of thought until you had to turn it political and bring Obama's wife into it. Frankly, that's part of the problem; the willingness to politicize something to try to make a point. But if you want to cut right to the heart of the political matter; with Obama I have seen no "vision" of true change from him other than bigger and more intrusive government......And a leopard doesn't change it's spots. Twenty-some years of, at best, "questionable" associations cannot be overcome by good speeches.

Now the meat and potatoes......

99.9% of the time government is the problem not the solution.

One man (or woman) working a shovel can accomplish more than all the bureaucrats on the globe sitting around and talking about doing something. Political ideologies have no place at the table when it comes to changing the world for the better, but we cannot forget the fact that each culture has it's own belief system that is different from ours. Inspite of this we can still find common ground. The largest problem we face is creating a working environment between cultures where the most extreme fringe elements of each culture lose their relevance, and hence their influence.

That doesn't happen on a government level. It starts when just two "people" can put aside politics, ethnicity, religion, or any cultural differences to achieve a common goal.....In it's simplest terms; two people with shovels working together to finish a project which will benefit both.

I think the most common misconception is that citizens of developed countries need to "lower" their standard of living to save the planet. In fact, the most productive way to save the planet would be to raise the standard of living elsewhere. This can include any number of different things, but first and foremost we need to think about food, water, and sanitation. Infrastructure projects, better farming techniques, etc.

Combine this with rational development of industry with thought given to environmental impact. Better technological developement to reduce pollution, and better products that use less of our non-renewable resources. Regardless of what some environmentalist groups would have you believe we are not a global populace of careless consumers. We buy products that suit our needs and fulfill our desires. The vast majority of us would gladly buy a vehicle that achieved 100 miles per gallon of fuel so long as there was no loss of functionality for our needs. We don't want more, more, more. We just want those things that we believe will enrich our lives. As a personal example.....I have a 42 inch HD LCD TV, but I drive a 21 year old car that gets 35 MPG. Both things serve their purpose in terms of what it takes for me to feel happy. Could I buy a new car? Absolutely! But I don't NEED a new car that will get the same or worse gas mileage than the one I have now.....

Another fundamental problem we face with industry is changing the mindset in the corporate world regarding profit. Yes, everyone wants to make money, and that's okay, so long as the owner of the business remembers that the people who are producing his products are just that; "people", not some disposable commodity to be used and tossed away.

We also need to remember that we speak very loudly with our pocketbooks. We do not need to buy products from companies that have oppressive work rules, or buy from nations that have oppressive governments. This goes back to the "relevance of extremism" I spoke about above. Money speaks louder than all else, and when we consume products from countries that suppress free thought, encourage industry to enforce poverty and a peasant class, deny it's citizens access to any other sources of information than what the government produces, then we are tacitly approving of what they are doing to their citizens.

Likewise, when we purchase goods from companies in our own countries that we know have poor practices in how they treat their workers in terms of pay and working conditions, then we are again at fault.

We do have to remember however, that what is considered a "good wage" in some other countries isn't what we consider a good wage at home. In many developing countries a dollar an hour is still a good wage, and that's something that needs to change as well.

One last thing to touch on here.....Education.

Not one of us is so prescient that we can say with certainty "where" the next great scientific achievement will come from. It's extremely important that we find a way to educate ALL children of the world in the basics of math, science and language. Great minds and scientific achievements have never been limited to one culture, and we cannot be so arrogant as to think that a school girl in Darfur will never be equipped to be the person who comes up with a cure for cancer.

We should seek to empower all children with the ability to have an education if they choose to pursue that endeavor. What we must discourage however, is letting political or religious ideology poison young minds with hate; a problem that governments have created, not people.

We can celebrate diversity if we can communicate. And communication is going to be key in creating a better world for our children and grandchildren. We cannot just tell someone they are wrong.....we have to show them a way that is better and let them understand that for themselves.

Avarice and an unquenchable desire for power are our greatest enemies. Our humility and our humanity are our greatest strengths. Through those gifts we can create a better world.

wow that was long......sorry!

Guys, helping the environment sounds nice. But there are other issues than this which others decide for us. I am FOR this change but there are few of us... Ok, lets say we make a change, but there will be always someone to destroy and cause more damage than what we repaired. Why? Because that's the way it is... It takes long to build, but to destroy is more easy... And what my conclusion is, we cannot fight too much against it. If there will be an end, there will be also another beginning. Because this is the system. Perhaps i don't find the right words for it, but i hope i make my point clear enough. The Earth has its own resources to repair or stabilize things. Maybe some resources we do not even know about. So, this stuff about "making a change" is a nice message, looking around us and see many deplorable things. But if billions of people get together to make things better, JUST ONE is enough to destroy everything. This rule applies in our lives too... The balance is kept by nature, not by us. The conclusion is yours.

So for 100 dying people in the street you would not try to save one? Yes one person could probably not save all of them, but what a difference you could make for that one. Granted what that one does with their new found life is up to them, but atleast you were able to give them that choice. I also believe that like any wave of change if the mindset of a small group is to seek out and find ways to help their fellow man that that group like any other would grow. Once again, what a difference. It is typically our indifference and short attention spans that lead us away to look for instant gratification and self wealth, but within the group at least one can stoke the fires. Like you I hope I found the right words.

GOODBYE DOLPHIN !!!!!!!!!

After spending $1000 on the Propack (or whatever is called), and about 6 months of suffering ... and perhaps $300 more on mods ... I just could not stand the bugs anymore.

Therefore I went back to my OLD custom application. Now I have the task of moving some 20K members that I added when I used dolphin ... but it just feels good to go back to something I can control.

I am sorry for all you guys that are suffering with Dolphin. It is just NOT good enough. It is ok for dinky little websites with at most 5K members and where most members have very little friends. (Remember my complaints about having 78 friends and the time it took to look them up in the database .. about 35 seconds !!!!) But for me with 78,000 users, it was just not fast enough .. full of bugs, support was awful, it is just a BLOB of code with a lot of promises, and very little truth to it.

www.amistad.com (friendship.com in Spanish) is back to its roots. NO MORE DOLPHIN !!! AHH ... It just feels good to be able to scream that OUT LOUD!!! Perhaps I will pick up that RailsSpace book in Amazon.com that teaches you how to build a Social Network with Ruby on Rails ... and keep building up my own unique site.

SOOOOOO LOOOOOOOONG !!!!!!!!!!

Keep dreaming !!!!

as i read your post, i ponder why you posted that in on this blog? it has absolutely no relevance here. but since you have opened that can of worms. lets get to the root of the problems you had with dolphin. I truly do not believe it was a dolphin problem 100%, sure when you are working with new technology, you have glitches, and quirks that need to be worked out, but that is part of the program.

now, what i would like to know from you, where were you hosted, and with 78k members on a database, which i find hard to believe you had that on one database if you are complaing about speed. i think you had a network problem, not just your hosting provider, but your sysadmin, and your whole backend.

now i believe that a dolphin site with that number of members could absolutely work, but you would have to setup a network to handle that so you would attain a certain performance level. it seems you failed to plan on that. so that would be your downfall, not the script, the script has nothing to do with the capabilities of the performance of the machine you host it on.

good luck where ever you end up. enjoy life as its too short, and dont spend energy posting negatives when you could have done something productive with the time you spent posting on here.

Regards,
DosDawg

Here are the answers:

I host at HOSTFORWEB .. Dedicated 8 core Xeon server. Ping www.amistad.com and you can see. You recommend them, right. I have 3 servers with them.

My complain about speed was with the way you retrieve "friends" for a profile. A profile with around 80 friends took more than 30 seconds to execute the query. It is a nasty left join that you use.

Dolphin is extremely buggy. I am sorry if you find that hard to believe. Most Dolphin users already know this.

I ended up with my previous, Custom made app. Take a look ( www.amistad.com ). I only have the 48K users I had prior to Dophin ... as moving the users is not an easy task for me ... but at least I have more signups now per day, more adsense revenue, more viewed pages, and NO BUGS.

Your advertising is deceptive. You claim that Dolphin is the ultimate social network script and that it can handle the next MySpace. Well, I got news for you .. it CANT handle my band's friends ... 11,000 of them in MySpace ... www.myspace.com/cafealmediodia .

I tried using Amistad.com and Dolphin to promote my band (instead of giving traffic to myspace) but at 80 friends in our band's profile Dolphin started choking. I complained several times .. nobody answered me ... read my previous comments. The guy that was helping me from your organization was erratic... he disappeared very often ... and when upgraded from 6.0 to 6.1 HE BROKE MY WHOLE SITE !!!!

I really had high hopes when I started using Dolphin ... I wanted it to work ... I do not like to be switching from software to software ... if there is someone that is really disappointed it is me.

I'm on board!

Dolphin Support needs to improve. And work on a Boonex Buddy Scheme please. Transported my site to a new Host and nothing worked, had to reinstall from scratch. Backup and restor and moving of site and database needs improving. And explanations of Cron Jobs.

There will be some opposing individuals and organisations to environmental protection, so lets team up. Are you going to suggest charities to support, e.g. Friends of the Earth?

Let me know please.

Let's get back on track to the blog posting people.. rather than ranting about a topic that wasn't started here.