If you have 16 minutes check out this video presentation by Tim Berners-Lee (inventor of the World Wide Web) explaining the next Web of open, linked data. He also touches on linked data and the government. This is the semantic web and very cool stuff.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/tim_berners_lee_on_the_next_web.html

GovTrack has launched an experiment using MixedInk, the collaborative writing tool, to see how members of the GovTrack community could come together to write a joint letter to congressmen. A large problem facing Congress is their inability to keep up with constituent communication, as the rise of electronic communications to Congress has far outpaced the [...]

I just registered for Artomatic and the show runs from May 29-July 5. They had over 600 visual artists + 60 bands are booked for the show - in the first 24 hours!
Held regularly since 1999, Artomatic transforms an unfinished indoor space into an exciting and diverse arts event that is free and open to [...]

The Six Degrees of Separation theory states that everybody on this planet is separated by only six other people and a group on faceBook wants to see if it’s possible to contact every single person on facebook. Last time I checked they had 4,075,548 members.
Now they want to set a world record and they just [...]

An interesting article by Tim O’Reilly on the LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2009 section which reads, “Public Access to Legislative Data* - There is support for enhancing public access to legislative documents, bill status, summary information, and other legislative data through more direct methods such as bulk data downloads and other means of no-charge digital [...]

Washington, DC is emerging as a leader in opening government data. In November 2008 the city made more than 200 real-time data streams available to the public as part of their “Apps for Democracy” contest, a city-sponsored competition that asked local web developers to analyze the city’s data and build web applications around it that [...]

An “insatiable” appetite in the United States for illegal drugs is to blame for much of the violence ripping through Mexico, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday. (read more here)
The violence is high because the profits are high. It is estimated that if the possession marijuana where to be made legal it [...]

South Africa has refused the Dalai Lama a visa to attend an international peace conference in Johannesburg this week.
The Tibetan spiritual leader and Nobel Laureate did not receive a visa because it was not in South Africa’s interest for him to attend, said Thabo Masebe.
South Africa thinks that, if the Dalai Lama attended the conference, [...]

[ March 19, 2009; 9:00 am; ] Let me know if there are any events you would like me to put on the calender. Check it out at http://wpcal.firetree.net/

The leader of the nation’s largest veterans organization says he is “deeply disappointed and concerned” after a meeting with President Obama today to discuss a proposal to force private insurance companies to pay for the treatment of military veterans who have suffered service-connected disabilities and injuries. The Obama administration recently revealed a plan to require [...]