Halliburton lands $23M Pemex contract - 2003-06-30 - Houston Business Journal
Halliburton Co.'s Halliburton de Mexico unit has been awarded a three-year contract by Mexico's state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, to provide tools and testing services and products for its Bateria Artesa field in Reforma Chiapas, Mexico.
The contract, with an estimated value of $23 million, will include the operation and maintenance of the Carmito CO2(a) Gas Separation Plant, which was built by Halliburton in 1997 and has been in operation ever since.Halliburton is a Houston-based oilfield services company.
How'd I miss this one? Actually, I looked at the site some months ago but didn't notice this list of wireless communities around the world.
WirelessCommunities - The Personal Telco Project
Britt Blaser came down to the Lower East Side today for the first day of the Girls Club farmers market. Then we headed to alt.coffee and talked over his plan for a web-based micro-economy, XPertWeb.
Larry Lessig ended the speech I attended at Cooper Union with a description of the Public Domain Enhancement Act that he has been pushing. He managed to get 15,000 signatures in support, but before he delivered them in D.C., he heard that 2 members of Congress from California had already agreed to introduce the bill. Good news. Here's his post about it.
Again from Sam Churchill at Daily Wireless, a link to a good source of information on municipal wireless systems, including a post on Nick Noe's report, "Network NYC: Building the Broadband City" (see my earlier post when the report was released).
Responding to a challenge made last November by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to "think of ways to bring wireless fidelity applications to the developing world", the Wireless Internet Institute held a conference at the UN yesterday.
UN pushes Wi-Fi to bridge digital divide - Computerworld
(via DailyWireless)
Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Ex-Guatemalan Dictator Denies Violations
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) - Human rights groups list Efrain Rios Montt among the most ruthless dictators in Latin American history, saying he directed a scorched-earth campaign that exterminated innocent Mayans while trying to weed out guerrilla forces during the height of a 36-year civil war.
But the retired brigadier general is pushing for a new image as he makes a third attempt to run for president. In an about-face, he says the government should punish those responsible for atrocities committed during Guatemala's 1960-96 civil war.
Yet while he supports the idea of high-ranking military officials facing justice, he says he won't go after them if elected and claims he did nothing wrong during his 18-month military government.``People want me to feel pained, remorseful and moved for these things that happened, and I feel bad because what really happened in Guatemala, those black pages of history, are going to be difficult to correct, cleanse and clarify,'' he says.
I've finally uploaded Kirk French's thesis on Maya waterworks at Palenque. The link is in place on the Barnhart/French post where I originally wrote about it. But here's another chance to read Kirk's work and look at the maps that came out of the Palenque Mapping Project.
(Note: This file is over 6 mB, so be advised it could take a while to download)
Creating Space Through Water Management at the Classic Maya Site of Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico (PDF)
Programs at corporations designed to bridge the digital divide. May we have our bandwidth, please?
TheFeature :: CSR - Altruism or Business Necessity?
TheFeature :: Mobilizing CSR To Bridge the Digital Divide
World Bank Institute - E-conference:"Corporate Social Responsibility, Education and Technology"
Google Search: CSR "digital divide"
And a personal note: This is my 500th post to the Daily Glyph.
Dominga Sic Ruiz lost her father, along with 70 other men in her village, to the conflict over the building of the Chixoy Dam in Guatemala.
Guatemala native shares story of her quest for justice
She was adopted by an couple in Iowa, and grew up as Denese Becker. Her discovery of the truth of her childhood will be broadcast on PBS, July 8th.
P.O.V. - 2003 Preview . Discovering Dominga | PBS
In the wake of the media blitz over Andrew Luster, Max Factor heir, CNN and Court TV provide this look back at other fugitives who escaped to Mexico.
CNN.com - When the going gets tough, desperados often look to Mexico - Jun. 24, 2003
"He said he was debating going to Canada or Mexico," Hadley said, "but he thought Canada was too cold."
Our friend Janet Schwartz has been working on this story for at least a year. You can see her photos with this report from Susana Hayward, about Muslim conversion among Protestant Maya in the expulsado neighborhoods around San Cristobal de las Casas.
KR Washington Bureau | 06/24/2003 | In Chiapas, missionaries battle for converts
In related news, Mother Tynnetta Muhammad of the Nation of Islam posted several columns about a trip to Chiapas, a concert that was postponed, and the New Age forces that brought her there.
In Search of the Messiah - Musical concert in Chiapas, Mexico, postponed
In Search of the Messiah - Journey to Chiapas
In Search of the Messiah - The Missing note in music may link to the magical world of Chiapas
Polynesian Island of Niue the First Free Wireless Nation
Wireless networks of sensors may soon be employed to monitor the environment in various ways. Could such a network be used to study the population of jaguars near the Usumacinta River?
DailyWireless - Networking Sensors
A remarkable collection of online audio and video recordings. I found it while searching for Gary Snyder reading his poems.
Online Media: UC Berkeley Lectures and Events
Perera, author of "The Last Lords of Palenque: The Lacandon Mayas of the Mexican Rain Forest," helped create the image of the Lacandon as the descendants of the kings of Palenque. Historians such as Jan DeVos disputed this romantic view, arguing that they had migrated to to the Lacandon Forest many centuries after the Maya collapse, from Guatemala and Belize.
Victor Perera, 69, Who Wrote of Sephardic Jews and Mayas
A close friend and near-mythic figure in my world is Alonso Mendez. He is recovering at the moment from back surgery after weeks of pain. All of us wish him speedy recovery. We've got jungles to hike, rivers to float, ruins to discover, temascals to sweat in - hang in there, Alonso!
One of the pleasures of my last trip to Palenque was spending time with Dr. Ed Barnhart, who is responsible for the Palenque Mapping Project, and by extension, the careers of several upcoming archaeologists. The photo above shows Ed in front of one of the most impressive aqueducts at Palenque, built by the Maya over 1300 years ago (sorry, Ed, that's just my guess).
One of the members of the mapping team, Kirk French, has completed a thesis on the subject of Palenque's waterworks. It includes a number of the maps that came out of Ed's project.
(Note: This file is over 6 mB, so be advised it could take a while to download)
Creating Space Through Water Management at the Classic Maya Site of Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico (PDF)
When we began work to prevent the Boca del Cerro dam on the Usumacinta River, Natural Resources Defense Council was busy with the Chixoy Dam. But Ari Hershowitz at NRDC quickly realized the importance of the Usumacinta and pushed to have it declared one of their BioGems, spotlighting the danger to the river. Here's the page on the NRDC site. Thanks again, Ari!
The German engineering firm in charge of the Chixoy Dam in Guatemala (Ari Hershowitz of NRDC has been active in opposing it) was convicted of bribery charges in Lesotho, Africa.
International Rivers Network: Lesotho
"Lahmeyer International has worked on several controversial World Bank-funded dam projects. They were responsible for engineering and construction supervision on the Yacyreta Dam on the Argentina-Paraguay border (also marred by massive corruption) and the Chixoy Dam in Guatemala (best known for the massacre of Mayan Indians who refused to be moved for the dam). They are currently involved in the Nam Theun 2 Dam in Laos, which is set to receive World Bank funding."
Posting this for my own information later. Looking into creating training at the Girls Club for networking careers (and running the GC ISP), I find this Academy program run by Cisco.
Academy Connection | Get Involved
Researching Girls Club needs for office network and phone systems, and the community needs for wireless broadband internet, I ran across this:
News @ Cisco: Bath Central School District of New York Deploys IP Voice Network
In the Arizona Republic, the impact of NAFTA on Mexican farmers and immigration. More illegal immigrants are coming from southern Mexico states, including Chiapas.
But in the Lower East Side, Boys Clubs did not merge with Girls Clubs. So, no Girls Clubs. And the Lower Eastside Girls Club was formed on its own. Can we get this IBM deal? Or shame them into it?
IBM Brings Wi Fi to More Than 600 Boys & Girls Clubs--IBM Press room-Press Release
Britt tells me I should go to this.
Grassroots Use of Technology - Conference June 20, 21 2003
Rand Beers, former adviser to Bush on terrorism, quit and joined Democratic candidate Kerry as national security adviser. He says Bush is making things less secure, not more.
Former Aide Takes Aim at War on Terror (washingtonpost.com)
I keep gathering information on wireless community networks, even though the field will change greatly by the time the Girls Club (the center of our network) is built.
But two priciples may remain important when we are ready to implement the system. Mesh networks may be the way to go - each user's connection can transmit to other users. Or a series of repeaters can spread the coverage.
As usual, Sam Churchill at DailyWireless is on top of this. Here's his post from today, and a link to an earlier post with lots of information.
DailyWireless - Buffalo G Repeater & USB Client
DailyWireless - Repeaters and Wireless Distribution
And Sam also has a summary of wireless cloud management systems:
DailyWireless - Managing Large Scale Networks
Let's hope that jaguars become the new focus of conservation. That would benefit protection of the Usumacinta River, since at least one place on its banks is a high population jaguar habitat, according to Roan McNab. In any case, a world without jaguars would be a sad place indeed. (photo by Christian Kallen)
Jaguar Could Be the Conservation Movement's Next Star
My thanks to Clay Shirky for some tips he's sent my way, regarding the community broadband idea. And as a refugee from broadcasting, I find this essay of his useful, and cautionary.
Shirky: Broadcast Institutions, Community Values
Construction won't begin for another year. But yesterday was the real ground-breaking for the future Lower Eastside Girls Club.
Oh, sure, they've done a few test borings to see what's the situation underground. But a hardy group of girls, staff, volunteers, and family began cleaning up the currently empty, city-owned lot yesterday.
We have site control of the whole piece, and a lease on part of it, where this summer there will be a weekly farmer's market and, if all goes well, wireless internet demo. A taste of the future, an open house, a barn-raising, a homestead for the girls of the Lower East Side.
Gen. Efrain Rios Montt, campaigning for president in spite of being barred by the Guatemalan elections authorities, was attacked and stoned by villagers in Rabinal, where mass graves from Rios Montt's genocidal war were found last year.
CNN.com - Guatemalan ex-dictator stoned during campaign trip - Jun. 14, 2003
Municipal Wi-Fi: No More Free Ride
And only the financial district gets it?
Lefty bloggers think he's great. I don't know much yet about the Howard Dean presidential candidacy. But here's the Official Howard Dean Weblog.
I still hate that word, "blog". What if I don't want to blog for America? Somehow, at this point, I'd rather blog for Chiapas, the Maya, the Usumacinta River, the Lower Eastside Girls Club. Will Howard Dean make free wireless broadband available to every American, as a new technological birthright? I'm sure he has a position paper about it somewhere. Sorry, I think we have to do for ourselves these days. Give it away now!
And until I'm better informed, that's the end of my political rant.
It's not a rave review but the NY Times has a story about the chocolate show, from the Field Museum in Chicago, that is touring museums and is now at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
It's Dark, Seductive and Rich. Who Can Resist?
Michael Coe will give a lecture on the mesoamerican history of chocolate at the museum on June 26 at 2:15pm. For more information, call 212 769 5200.
Coe wrote "The True History of Chocolate" with his wife, Sophie. It's still the best of the many books on the food of the gods. Sophie also wrote "America's First Cuisines" .
A collection of Maya artifacts that survived 9-11 in the World Trade Center is being returned to Guatemala.
Support for the emerging standard for mobile phone multimedia, from Quicktime 6.3.
Good scheme for local low-power FM combined with Internet radio. Also a list of links to other low-power radio websites. (by way of Boing Boing)
A profile of Lawrence Ferlinghetti, whose City Lights book store in San Francisco is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Ferlinghetti's City Lights, Still A Beacon at 50 (washingtonpost.com)
My graduating bioengineer son was permanently warped when I started filling his mind with nano-nonsense a few years ago. But scientists are getting closer to the programmable fog we imagined back then. Hey, I think I have a computer in my eye!
Researchers Create Wireless Sensor Chip The Size Of Glitter
In "Motley Fool" a column that refers to the "Mayan concept of the universe as it relates to investing."
That's right, guys - collapse. We've seen it before.
Fool.com: The Previous Menace [Commentary] June 11, 2003
Chiapas and the Adirondacks in the same project. Other folks besides Chris, Ron, and myself making that connection.
Democrat & Chronicle: Kodak gives $500,000 to preserve land
And what if we go with the big dog in the field? Here's what they have coming up.
DailyWireless - Cisco's Wi-Fi Management
Here's a new twist on mobile logging. A traveler can send a message by cell on SMS and have it drop into a travel log, notify friends and family that it's been updated. This is the first site we've seen devoted to backpackers and travelers. Cheaper than a call. Someone try it and let me know how it works.
(via Smart Mobs)
I've posted very little on the damage that a dam at Boca del Cerro would do to the Usumacinta delta area, downstream from the dam. It's one of the largest wetlands in the hemisphere. Here's a description of that region that I've just found. (Photo by Fulvio Eccardi)
Reserva de la Biósfera Pantanos de Centla
I'm coming up on a year since I started weblogging with Movable Type. Changed my life, blah blah. Now Ben and Mena Trott, with Anil Dash, have come up with something (not quite released yet) that is an elegant, easier version of MT, for folks without access to a server. They host it, you weblog it.
And also check the home site of both TypePad and Movable Type, Six Apart:
Sam Churchill at DailyWireless has outdone himself with an off-topic Mars link extravaganza. I have to say, my best moments working in television include "Mars Live" for the Discovery Channel in 1997. Those were the days. What am I saying, THESE are the days! They're going to webcast this one. And we're still sending great little robots out into space, in spite of our muddle here on Earth. Humanity...we'll find a way.
DailyWireless - Missions to Mars
Chalchiteco, which means "tiger's children".
Guatemala recognizes Mayan tongue as its 22nd second language
As more settlements have cleared jungle in the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, the government has failed to act, fearing Zapatista reaction. Now the Lacandon Indians of the area are threatening action on their own.
ENVIRONMENT-MEXICO: Violence Brewing in Montes Azules Reserve
Grassroots organizing with the internet - can it work? Let's hope so.
Mindjack Magazine - Nodal Politics by Jon Lebkowsky
And here's author Lebkowsky's weblog:
Weblogsky - industrial-strength weblog
TidBITS: Wireless Grab Bag: Old Macs, Mac OS X, and More
Besides the fires and invasions in the Peten, resurging political problems:
Reuters AlertNet - FEATURE-Guatemala: a new Latin American political hotspot?
Ginger Thompson has a story in the New York Times today on the recent crackdown on immigrant smuggling.
In Border Town, Migrant Crackdown Rankles
Janet Schwartz has been working with Susana Hayward of Knight-Ridder on news stories in Mexico. Here's one they collaborated on.
KR Washington Bureau | 05/30/2003 | Mexico's Fox initiates human smuggling arrests
In the current issue of Harper's Magazine (June 2003). I did this story in 1997 and 1999. Don Moises has been telling it for decades.
Harper's Magazine June 2003 Highlights
THE LAST AMERICANS
The Political Price of Environmental Collapse (p. 43)By Jared Diamond
Pulitzer Prize–winning author Jared Diamond writes about the political effects of an environmental disaster. "Few people, least of all our politicians, have absorbed the significance of recent discoveries by archaeologists and historians: pointing to a primary cause of collapse of many societies: the destruction of the environmental resources on which they depended." By tracing Maya history, Diamond is able to compare and contrast their patterns to the present environmental situation. "Today, just as in the past, countries that are environmentally stressed, overpopulated, or both are at risk of becoming politically stressed, and of their governments collapsing."
BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Waters rise behind massive dam
For my older son, the scientist, and my younger son, who brings me pies from the farmers market.
(Thanks to Backup Brain)