Director of INGUAT will work with the new viceministry of security to protect tourists.
Not just on the Maya Frontier.
Drugs, crime and a conservation crisis - earth - 02 September 2006 - New Scientist
On Info Island at Library 2.0, a multimedia exhibit about the Declaration of Independence. (And in other small news - the Lower Eastside Girls Club now has a kiosk on Info Island, thanks to help from Lori Bell. I'm pleased to have helped and to be around to see the evolution of the island)
Library of Congress Exhibit Now Open In Second Life on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Library of Congress Exhibit Now Open In Second Life Library 2.0
I pause today in the middle of editing my Chiapas story from this spring, to mourn the death of Sombra, a magnificent, enormous black jaguar that last lived in the Zoomat in Tuxtla Gutierrez. Janet Schwartz and I visited him in June. It gave me shivers to see him pacing back and forth behind glass in an open area, just a foot away and apparently stalking us. He died after an escape when he failed to wake up from a tranquilizer dart.
(I will look to see if I have a clip. It was difficult to shoot him through the glass)
El Heraldo de Chiapas - Consternacion por la muerte de Sombra
New SF webzine edited by Rudy Rucker.
FLURB, a Webzine of Astonishing Tales.
I haven't found a link for this story, but it is disturbing and bizarre enough to publish here as I received it by email. The president of Guatemala and the governor of Tabasco state in Mexico have a plan to link two major Maya sites by a road which would complete the destruction of the Peten in Northern Guatemala. They also promise comfort and security in an area now overrun by narcotraffickers. Dream on...
Guatemala y México acuerdan construir carretera para incrementar intercambio
07:09 P.M., 23 Agosto 2006
GUATEMALA, Ago 23 (AFP) - El presidente de Guatemala, Oscar Berger, y el gobernador de Tabasco, México, Manuel Andrade, acordaron este miércoles construir una carretera para unir dicho estado mexicano con el norteño departamento guatemalteco de Petén.
La carretera, de 20 km y cuyo costo asciende a 10,5 millones de dólares, será construida con fondos estatales y del Gobierno Federal de México. Se prevé que los trabajos se inicien en seis semanas y concluyan en ocho meses, afirmó Andrade.
En tanto, Berger sostuvo que por parte de Guatemala existe el compromiso de garantizar la seguridad dentro del territorio guatemalteco, así como de habilitar oficinas migratorias y aduaneras, además de la instalación de controles fitosanitarios.
"El comercio en esa región se está desarrollando vertiginosamente y esperamos que así siga. Esperamos un intercambio de comercio ambicioso, grande. Construimos la infraestructura para ordenarlo", explicó el mandatario guatemalteco.
Ambos coincidieron al señalar que el principal sector beneficiado será el turístico, toda vez que la carretera permitirá acceso en un término de cuatro horas, entre los parques arqueológicos de Tikal y Palenque, que anualmente son visitados por miles de turistas.
Cada año el parque de Palenque es visitado por 600.000 turistas y el de Tikal por 300.000, con la construcción de la carretera, los visitantes tendrían acceso a ambos parques.
Juan Sabines, the ex-PRI candidate on the PRD ticket for Chiapas governor, won by only 2400 votes, and the PRI and PAN backers of Aguilar said they would contest it legally. Lopez Obrador said he would welcome a vote by vote recount, a smart move on his part.
Close Election Tests Mexico's Democracy - Forbes.com
Tiene Sabines mínima ventaja en elección de Chiapas - El Universal - Los Estados
La coalición acepta contar voto por voto y casilla por casilla en Chiapas
James Derham, U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala, has asked that Guatemala improve its efforts to fight narcotrafficking and money laundering.
And at the bottom of the article, a note that only 81 kilos of drugs were confiscated so far this year, as opposed to 2,572 in 2005.
Click MORE for the text of the article (no good link to this story)
Guatemala, Jueves 17 de Agosto 2006
EE.UU. pide más esfuerzo contra narcotráfico
Embajador James Derham se entrevistó con fiscal Juan Luis Florido y el ministro Carlos Vielmann.
Dalila Huitz, Siglo 21* | dhuitz@sigloxxi.com
El embajador de Estados Unidos, James Derham, pide que Guatemala incremente su esfuerzo para combatir el narcotráfico y el lavado de dinero.
El diplomático se reunió con el jefe del Ministerio Público (MP) Juan Luis Florido. Antes de entrar a la reunión, el embajador fue consultado sobre la situación del narcotráfico en el país, a lo que respondió que este flagelo “es un delito serio y necesitamos un esfuerzo con gente capacitada para enfrentar el problema, ya que es una amenaza para las naciones”.
Respecto al lavado de dinero, Derham subraya que “se debe evitar que este delito cruce nuestras fronteras”. El diplomático indicó que la entrevista con Florido era una visita de cortesía “para presentarle a un consejero de la Embajada”.
Derham también se reunió con el ministro de Gobernación, Carlos Vielmann, con quien conversó sobre los avances del Plan Maya Jaguar que, con el apoyo de Estados Unidos, combate el narcotráfico en el departamento de Petén.
Baja incautación
Sobre el tráfico de drogas, el fiscal contra la Narcoactividad, Fredyn Fernández, indicó que la desarticulación del Servicio de Análisis e Información Antinarcótica (SAÍA) de la Policía Nacional Civil (PNC), no ha permitido cumplir con la meta de incautar al menos 900 kilos mensuales de cocaína.
Según el investigador, en lo que va del año han sido confiscados sólo 81 kilos. En el 2005 fueron incautados 2,572 kilos de la droga.
Daniel Guerrero, jefe de la nueva unidad antidrogas de la PNC, responde que el fiscal y la Embajada de Estados Unidos “están conscientes de la restructuración que sufrió el SAÍA, y ahora es la Dirección de Puertos y Aeropuertos la encargada de investigar”.
El director de la PNC, Erwin Sperisen, no quiso referirse al tema y dijo que la información la proporcionaría la sección de prensa de la Policía.
I'm collecting resources for nonprofits in Second Life, for my own education and for TechSoup. Click More to see the links, which I will keep updating.
START HERE:
Second Life: Your World. Your Imagination.
Second Life | Membership Plans
Second Life | Land Pricing & Use Fees
ONCE YOU JOIN
Getting Started - NMC-Campus (overall guide to getting around in Second Life)
NEW USER TOUR HUD
Out to Pasture » Blog Archive » Second Life New User TourHUD
INFO ON NONPROFITS IN SL
Google Groups: TechSoup Second Life
Tech Soup\'s Second Life Non-Profit Directory
Second Life: Non-Profits - SimTeach
Second Life Nonprofit Information Resources
EDUCATION IN SL
Second Life Annotated Bibliography
Pathfinder Linden - John Lester
SimTeach: Information and Community for Educators using M.U.V.E.'s
SL BLOGS
(there are many of them, here are a few)
Beth Kanter: Beth's Blog
her category for posts on nonprofits in Second Life
Beth's Blog: npsl
Angry's Tripping the Metaverse
BlogHUD : Second Life blogging system
SL NEWS
The Metaverse Messenger | A Real Newspaper For A Virtual World
ART AND COMMERCE
Out to Pasture » Blog Archive » Text 100’s machinima on SL
UNREAL ESTATE
ANSHECHUNG.COM - Your global leader in virtual real estate.
WHAT"S A SLURL?
SLurl: Location-Based Linking in Second Life
THE BASICS
Scripting guides - LSL
Scripting examples:
Using Linden Script Language (LSL )
Linden Lab Tutorials:
BEST INWORLD TUTORIALS
The Ivory Tower Library of Prim, Natoma (207, 170, 25)
The Particle Laboratory, Teal (200, 60, 21)
(Just search for these under the places tab, you can teleport directly)
THE SL-to-WEB CONNECTION
SL Forums - How to use llHTTPRequest
EXERCISES:
Dispensing information:
Tutorial: Create a box that gives an item when clicked (beginner)
Making a donation box:
Second Life Knowledge Base | How do I make a donation box?
NOTE: As someone has commented on the page, the donation script given requires another } bracket at the end to work properly.
Giving a presentation:
Giving a PowerPoint Presentation in Second Life
Creating clothes:
Tutorial: Create a basic black tshirt (beginner)
Nicola Escher - SECOND LIFE TUTORIALS
Creating Textures:
Creating Textures with Transparency Using Adobe Photoshop CS
Playing Media (audio and video):
LSL Wiki : llParcelMediaCommandList
Creating Particle Effects:
Tutorial: Create a candle with particle effects (intermediate)
Creating a texture animation:
Tiny prims
SL Forums - HOW TO: Make Tiny Prims
An elevator script (good general LSL tips also)
Jeff Barr's Blog - Second Life Scripting - The Elevator Script
Second Life tutorials developed by Doe-Hyung Kim
Second Life Tutorials at CTER Portal
The making of the virtual guitar played by Suzanne Vega's avatar in Second Life. Just watch the video. Trust me.
My Digital Double: Suzanne's Guitar
Electric car is recharged by Eight Solar panels or Hybrid Genset.
One person's obsession with the One Laptop Per Child program has led to this lively website. Just as on the Digital Divide listserv, there are widely varying opinions here on the usefulness of the $100 laptop.
Unofficial One Laptop Per Child Website
32 Tzotzil Maya were sentenced to 25 years in prison for their roles in the Acteal massacre in 1997. 45 villagers were killed in that incident.
Condenan a 25 años de cárcel a 32 tzotziles por caso Acteal
Now, this book I do have and love, for at least three reasons. First, Joel Skidmore was kind enough to send it to me. Second, it was a spectacular find that filled in gaps in our knowledge of Palenque's history. And third, because Temple XIX was one of my first subjects as a television field producer. Wait, a fourth reason - David Stuart is simply brilliant. Yes, I think that covers it.
The Inscriptions from Temple XIX at Palenque by David Stuart: Precolumbian Art Research Institute
The Governor of the Peten and representatives of the police, military, CONAP, and Defensores de la Naturaleza met yesterday to create a unified plan to fight narcotraffickers and invaders of the protected areas, including Sierra del Lacandon and the Laguna del Tigre.
PrensaLibre.com - Unen esfuerzos por Petén
Emilio Zebadua (Nueva Alianza) and Paco Rojas (PAN) have dropped out of the race (essentially ordered out from higher up) in favor of José Antonio Aguilar Bodegas of the PRI, in his battle against Juan Sabines, a former PRI politician who joined PRD just before the campaign got serious. Are you confused yet?
Declinan los candidatos de Panal y AN en favor del PRI en Chiapas
Andrés Manuel López Obrador - Recounting Our Way to Democracy - New York Times
Having called this weblog "The Daily Glyph" I've never really provided much information about the glyphs themselves. A helpful person on the Aztlan list pointed to these three links as good places to start learning about glyph reading and the process by which they were deciphered.
Maya Writing - by David Stuart and Stephen Houston
First Palenque Round Table - PACAL - by Floyd Lounsbury
WAYEB - European Association of Mayanists - Resources
And from FAMSI:
Peter Mathews' Description of J.E.S. Thompson's Catalog of Maya Hieroglyphic Signs
Thompson's Drawings of Hundreds of Maya Glyphic Signs
The original report at Noti7 of three guard posts in the Sierra del Lacandon being burned is no longer availale. Here is the Google cache:
And in case that disappears, the full text can be found by clicking MORE
01/08/2006 Redacción Noti7
Hombres fuertemente armados quemaron tres garitas de control del consejo de áreas protegidas, los hecho ocurrieron durante el fin de semana, en el parque nacional Sierra Lacandón. Las autoridades han retirado a los guarda recursos con el fin de salvaguardar sus vidas.
Los puestos de control El Porvenir, Yaxchilan y Ceiba de oro en el parque nacional Sierra Lacandón, fueron incendiados por desconocidos, se cree que las amenazas provienen de personas ligadas al narcotráfico.
Como se recordará, el 13 y 14 de junio se retuvo a 8 personas del CONAP, por parte de personas que han invadido tierras del estado, con el saldo de dos personas heridas; esto ocurrió cuando realizaban un patrullaje por la zona en busca de depredadores e invasores de áreas protegidas.
Existe presión por parte de personas invasoras de áreas protegidas, por lo que las autoridades han adoptado por retirar a los guarda recursos con el fin de resguardar sus vidas.
Este es el quinto incidente que ocurre en áreas protegidas del estado, donde se ha detectado hombres armados, requiriendo tierras para la vivienda, señalaron las autoridades del Conap.
This one is in El Achiotal, in the Laguna del Tigre Park, Peten, Guatemala. But the story says that it is the third to be burned, after Yaxha and Ceiba de Oro. This differs from an earlier report that Yaxchilan and El Porvenir in the Sierra del Lacandon Park had also been burned. I'll try to determine what has actually happened.
PrensaLibre.com - Queman otro puesto de Conap en Petén
La construcción de presas unifica las protestas y resistencia de los afectados
Thanks to Alfonso for pointing this out. A good summary of the problems with dams, in Mexico and the world, and the continued plans for large dam construction in Mexico.
México insiste en construir más presas, pese a sus comprobados inconvenientes
This looks like a book I must have. Read the excerpt on this webpage.
Table of Contents and Excerpt, Houston, Stuart, and Taube, The Memory of Bones
Anarchy and ungovernability, with illegal settlers used as employees and shields of the narcotraffickers. No police, no military, no park guards, little action by the government except to appoint another vice minister of security. The last green gem in the Lacandon, lost.
PrensaLibre.com - Sin autoridad en Sierra del Lacandón
Following the kidnapping and wounding of 8 in the Sierra del Lacandon, and the subsequent burning of the guard posts there, the violence spreads to Tikal Park, much smaller and more heavily visited by tourists.
AP Spanish | 08/05/2006 | Guatemala: matan tres funcionarios de parque nacional
Not the 3D modeling program, but related.
This is for Aimee, Boliver, and Hiro.
Two 3D renderings that I admire, originally commissioned by Kevin Costner's company for the American Indian TV series 500 Nations in 1995, created at Santa Babara Studios. I think the 3D work was the best part of the series. And I licensed the Palenque flythrough for a Discovery project years ago, but was not able to find anyone left in the production company to clear it the last time I tried. So let the cease and desist letter come. It'll make it easier.
Palenque flythrough m4v (iPod)
Piedras Negras animated matte painting m4v (after Proskouriakoff)
And a short (40 seconds) sequence of the Temple of the Inscriptions, walking down into the tomb of Pacal, and the view of the Palace from the Temple.
Launches Aug. 3, Kurt Vonnegut and Howard Rheingold guests on Aug. 7. Isn't it great when it all starts to come together? Now we have to do it for nonprofit organizations and progressive politics. Oh, and bridge the damn digital divide so there is more access to this powerful tool. Bandwidth to the people, my friends.
First, the Infinite Mind blog:
The Infinite Mind Comes To Second Life
The Infinite Mind on Second Life Press Kit - a photoset on Flickr
Beyond The Infinite Mind (Torley's Second Life & techno music Blog)
Beyond The Infinite Mind - a photoset on Flickr (Torley's photos) (After the jump - my rant to the TechSoup-Second Life nonprofit folks) Hi folks I'm in a sleepless swelter (91 degrees at 2:30am?) and also a Second You may be aware of this, but a new complex of NPR studios is about to http://www.gomaya.com/glyph/archives/001823.html This makes me even more impressed by what you folks accomplished in 1) We need a tour of the NPR place and an understanding of how to use 2) We need to launch our own project to build a small studio on Info I've been inspired by AngryBeth Shortbread's live TV studio, with I gather from reading year-old SL history that there was a brief move 3) We also need to document a tutorial on how to do this (as you did 4) We have to make sure that the new media facilities in SL are not in 5) I have to get up to speed on a lot of stuff you folks have already 6) The TechSoup event was a good proof of concept. The NPR studio is a 7) More than ever the issue of the digital divide needs to be But we could think about a way to throw a switch in the studio that Mea Culpa and Carpe Diem: Sorry to be the newbie coming in and waving his arms in the air. But sleep...
Life fugue state, so I'm up blogging a development that has me mapping
out my next 6 months of work.
open in SL. I've collected a number of links and some photos that I
ran across (credits to Torley Linden, who blogged her preview) and
posted them:
the last event, on the run and with few resources. It also says a few
other things to me:
it and how to schedule ourselves in there, if it is actually going to
be open for outsiders. I want a tour anyway, don't you?
Island. Maybe it's a research and training studio. Maybe we get the
gurus of other studios in to speak. Maybe it's a studio without walls,
with overflow on the lawn. Maybe it has the ability to be "piped" over
to an amphitheatre for bigger groups. I liked the outdoor feel of the
last event. I spent too many years in soundproof rooms. The NPR stills
I've seen look like they went overboard recreating a "real" control
room, because they could. And ours should be self-instructing, a
"physical" tutorial in online media, as the Ivory Tower Library of
Prim functions to teach building in 3D.
multiple camera switching, at The Port (15,70,56) . You can walk in
and teach yourself how to use it in 5 minutes. She also has an
interactive whiteboard available free in the ICT library if you
haven't seen it - it has a lot of potential. I'd love to see a roundup
or exhibit of available media players and equipment in SL.
by Linden Labs to start their own streaming video channel, but it
never happened. There is still a lot of infrastructure, tools and
expertise around. It probably went into the NPR place. You folks
probably know all this better than I do.
out of Boston) for NPOs, and in fact create a stripped down field
technique for smaller or mobile productions. Can it be done with one
laptop, a Skype headset and a webcam? One new Macbook with builtin mic
and iSight? What did you folks use? What are the limits of our video
stream? How do you get video streaming on the web anyway?
fact broadcast centers - that they use all the crazy interactivity
that we got a taste of in the last event, and that we find more ways
to expand on that.
wrestled with, including building and programming. Or bark at the
folks who know it already.
breakthrough in visibility and credibility. Now some funder needs to
come in (Soros?) and help make this a democratic tool.
addressed. True affordable broadband for a significant portion of the
population. But can you address that in SL? I don't think so. We have
to do that in our communities and in Congress.
cuts down the bandwidth required to be functional. Limit chat or IM?
Lower framerate on video to one every 5 seconds if necessary? That
would have been enough last time, frankly. Though I am a 30 frames per
second fan. The audio lag was harder to deal with.
all this is to say that I have some time and energy at the moment,
some mostly useless experience in live and edited television, very
little build and program experience in SL, and a lot of opinions. If
that can be helpful to a team of people with more SL experience, let
me know.
Dave
The worst news so far in the Sierra del Lacandon. All three guard posts - El Porvenir, Yaxchilan, and Ceiba de Oro - were burned down by members of the invading groups, presumed acting for the narco traffickers who are taking over parts of the park.
NOTE: That link may no longer work. Try the google cache link below, or click MORE for the full text.
01/08/2006 Redacción Noti7
Hombres fuertemente armados quemaron tres garitas de control del consejo de áreas protegidas, los hecho ocurrieron durante el fin de semana, en el parque nacional Sierra Lacandón. Las autoridades han retirado a los guarda recursos con el fin de salvaguardar sus vidas.
Los puestos de control El Porvenir, Yaxchilan y Ceiba de oro en el parque nacional Sierra Lacandón, fueron incendiados por desconocidos, se cree que las amenazas provienen de personas ligadas al narcotráfico.
Como se recordará, el 13 y 14 de junio se retuvo a 8 personas del CONAP, por parte de personas que han invadido tierras del estado, con el saldo de dos personas heridas; esto ocurrió cuando realizaban un patrullaje por la zona en busca de depredadores e invasores de áreas protegidas.
Existe presión por parte de personas invasoras de áreas protegidas, por lo que las autoridades han adoptado por retirar a los guarda recursos con el fin de resguardar sus vidas.
Este es el quinto incidente que ocurre en áreas protegidas del estado, donde se ha detectado hombres armados, requiriendo tierras para la vivienda, señalaron las autoridades del Conap.
Ron Blechner, known as Hiro Pendragon inworld, has a good post on educational projects in Second Life. He's been involved in New York Law School's Democracy Island, where he's built a "3D wiki", a model of Landing Lights Park in Queens, that allows collaborative building and moving of objects .
Second Tense: Educators as Innovators
Boulevard Blockade Prompts Grumbling in Mexico City - Los Angeles Times
PC World - Nonprofit May Manage Boston's Wi-Fi
The plan calls for designating a nonprofit entity to deliver citywide Wi-Fi at wholesale prices and let other service providers offer end users access to the network, either for free or for pay. Even community-based organizations with grant money could offer service over the network, and the city envisions both companies and individuals finding innovative uses for the infrastructure. Surplus revenue to the nonprofit would go back to the community for programs to get low-income people online.
We can use this right now on the girls club podcast site. We'll try it with Lyceum soon.
1 Pixel Out » Audio Player Wordpress plugin