Dougma (dŭg·mə) n.

Andy Updegrove has just posted about The Hague Decloration. I received a phone call about it this morning, and I believe it is one of the most important declarations on human rights to come along in quite some time. Please go read up on this. It may at first appear that technology and the standards those technologies are based on are a very meta-level aspect to human rights as apposed to the men in the night. Recent issues with Google, Yahoo, and Cuba, and South Africa have shown us otherwise. Please read Andy’s post en toto.

When one thinks of international human rights, one thinks of The Hague - home of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, and the situs of an increasing number of Tribunals chartered to redress the assaults on human dignity that inexcusably continue to plague this planet.  It is therefore appropriate that The Hague has been chosen to witness yet another pronouncement in defense of human rights.  That pronouncement has been titled The Hague Declaration by the new international group, called the Digital Standards Organization (”Digistan,” for short), that crafted it.  In this blog entry, I’ll talk about what the Declaration is all about, and what it is intended to achieve.

The basic premise is that as more and more of our basic freedoms (speech, assembly, interaction with government, and so on) move from the real to the virtual world, care must be taken to ensure that our ability to exercise these freedoms is not inadvertently eroded or lost.  And on the opportunity side, the Internet and the Web provide incredible and unique ways to bring the benefits heretofore enjoyed only in developed countries to those struggling for equality of opportunity in emerging countries.

– Andy Updegrove (Consortium Info Blog) ‘Introducing The Hague Declaration‘

Or maybe it’s LSD, it was created here after all.

Want to make a major decision with little oversight and little notice? Just do it just before or on a holiday. Every time I take some time off with my family I get back to find out that some major change or event in the ongoing Mass ODF saga (or marriage, or the Big Dig, or Cape Wind) has occurred. Seriously, if it is something people actually care about, but is influenced by special interests with deep pockets, the decision is made when the majority of the state population is eating turkey, unwrapping presents, dressing their kids in costumes, watching people run across Boston, or in this case trying to celebrate the birth of a democracy; (no irony there). At least it is not a smear campaign again, it is just the Massachusetts Government rolling over. The good news is, we, the citizens of Mass have a chance to respond.

UPDATE: Seems I am not the only person having problems, so is the British National Archive. The solution seems to be the ones who created the problem, Microsoft and OOXML. Hope they actually read the 6000 page specification and know how to implement useWord97LineBreakRules.

UPDATE 2: Sun releases it’s OOXML/ODF converter for MS Office. And no it will not handle Visio OLE embedded objects, as that is impossible for a non MS developer. Only Microsoft can do that, and they wont. Also here is an unintended answer to the question ‘Isn’t choice always good for the customer?’ I have seen on every blog about ODF and OOXML. And in answer to Marry Jo, because it is impossible for me to implement the OOXML standard completely. Only Microsoft can do that, and thus is not actually a standard by any rational sense.

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Governor Deval Patrick has instituted May 12th as Park Serve Day! If you have the time and are able, please check out the list of Massachusetts State Parks and join us in a bit of spring cleaning.

Park Serve Day is this Saturday, May 12th!

Please select a park where you would like to volunteer from the list below and register by clicking the “Register Now” link.

For more information, to register a group of six or more people, or to discuss any special accommodations or needs you may have for the day, please contact the Department of Conservation and Recreation at 617-626-4980 or park.serve@state.ma.us. DCR welcomes all interested participants and has developed a broad list of projects suitable for various abilities.

General directions are provided for your assistance. Please use additional on-line trip planning tools or maps to guide you to the park from your specific starting point.

As I have mentioned before, our local parks are in dire need of attention. Any time you can spare would be greatly appreciated.

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A very special thank you to Speaker DiMasi, Chairman DeLeo, Chairman Smizik and Representative Mike Rush of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. They have passed the new budget which includes ~$10Mil for the Department of Conservation and Recreation; fulfilling Governor Duval Patrick’s campaign promise. The representatives mentioned sponsored the additional monies for the parks department. This proves once again that while it is the big offices which make the big promises, it is the representatives who get the work done. I do not agree with all the decisions made in the budget (link coming later once it’s up on the site), but I was not elected to take part in it. It will effect my voting behavior next session however (this is a note to you Fresolo). But I digress.

Last week the House heeded your call and stood up for Revere Beach, Middlesex Fells, Nickerson State Park, Balance Rock State Park, Walden Pond and other great places across the Commonwealth by including an additional $9.6 million for the Department of Conservation and Recreation in the final version of their budget. Thanks to all of your emails, phone calls and petition signatures, we won this critical first step in the Legislature’s budget process.

This additional funding, championed by Speaker DiMasi, Chairman DeLeo, Chairman Smizik and Representative Rush, means more rangers, cleaner and safer parks, more public access, more educational programs and more recreational opportunities. These lawmakers, as well as all the legislators who supported additional funding for forests and parks, deserve our thanks.

Please email your state representative and thank them for standing up for our treasured public places.

To email your state representative, click on the link below or copy and paste it into your web browser.

https://www.environmentmassachusetts.org/action/preserving-massachusetts/thank-rep?id4=ES

Background

Massachusetts has a strong legacy of preserving our special places. Unfortunately, this legacy, like our state forests and parks, is deteriorating. Many of our public treasures are suffering from chronic neglect, mismanagement and understaffing that in some cases have led to visible decay, safety issues and environmental damage. Our state forests and parks system currently has a deferred maintenance backlog of estimated between $1.2 and $1.7 billion.

Our state forests and parks support dozens of rare species, natural communities, old growth forests and champion tree sites. They provide recreational opportunities for millions of visitors who walk, play, camp, bike, hike, and otherwise enjoy these natural resources. And, they contribute significantly to our economic prosperity in the Commonwealth, supporting robust tourism and recreation economies and even, according to recent studies, drawing young people to settle here.

Unfortunately, Governor Patrick missed a crucial step toward restoring our world class forests and parks a few weeks ago when failed to fulfill his campaign promise to provide an additional $10 million for our forests and parks. By ignoring our forests, parks and beaches, we turn our backs on the places that make Massachusetts such a great place to live and work.

The legislature is writing its budget between now and the end of June, so we are working to build as much support as possible to convince our legislators to deliver the additional resources our public treasures need and deserve. We are working closely with the Parks Caucus in the Legislature, other environmental groups, and you to make this happen. As the first step in that process, the House of Representatives passed the final version of the House budget last Friday. We are happy to report that their final budget includes an additional $9.6 million for the Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Please email your state representative and thank them for standing up for our treasured public places.

Sincerely,

Frank Gorke
Environment Massachusetts Director
FrankG@environmentmassachusetts.org
http://www.environmentmassachusetts.org

P.S. Thanks again for your support. Please feel free to share this e-mail with your family and friends.

Please take the time to thank your representatives for passing this budget and the additional funding for our parks in particular. Don’t know who they are? Here is the list by town and here are their e-mail addresses and phone numbers. Now it is up to the Senate to accept the budget. I will post information on that process later.

And on a personal note….

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