Robin Good: If you are curating a specific topic you may find yourself often wading through tons of useless content and wondering where you can find some good stuff.
One option is to start using some good news discovery tools which can greatly help you filter out some of the useless spammy content that fills in most unfiltered searches and feed streams.
Here is my mindmap on news discovery tools which can help you in finding your best crop of interesting stories on the specific topic you are interested in.
It contains over 30 news discovery tools and services all with a direct link.
Cyclone Power Technologies, a Pompano Beach, Florida company, focuses on solving our dependence on fossil fuels with its heat regenerative external combustion engines.
“This engine works when steam enters the top of each of the six radially arranged cylinders (20) and pushs the pistons (54) downward in sequence.”
“The rotating action of the pistons connected through the spyder bearing (60) turns the crank shaft (24) in an orbiting motion around the central longitudinal axis of the crankshaft (24).”
“The engine does not use motor oil as water is both the working fluid and the lubricant.”
“The engine can run on any source of heat, including waste heat from industrial sources.”
Sepp Comments:
This could enable distributed, backyard concentrated solar power generation applications. Now we just need good storage technology for the electricity.
Groofer makes finding and sharing online information easier.
Instead of having to visit multiple web sites, Groofer let’s you and your team share search results and links directly from your browser so that they can be discussed and archived as needed.
You can also subscribe to, read and discuss your favorite feeds as a group and collectively stay informed on what’s important to you.
Making Search Social
Groofer makes searching and bookmarking social within your organization. You can easily rate or leave comments on links, search results and feeds in one secure private social network. Members of your team or work group can view the same results, see your comments, and add their thoughts too.
Sharing and Discussion
Groofer is built for sharing search results, links, news and blog articles, and group messages. It is the ability to add comments and context to search results that sets Groofer apart.
Collective Intelligence
Groofer automatically stores discussions and comments from group members and displays them as you search or read. You don’t have to do anything different. Work groups can also save relevant information on topics or research projects for easy access.
Your Own Private Social Network for Free
Groofer can also work as a private social network for your team or work group. You can create groups, send messages, share links and store information in folders aligned with your projects or interest areas. Try it now!
As a result of the viral video on electoral reform out of my briefing to the Occupy NYC working group on electoral reform, a number of stakeholders got in touch with me. Others I have identified via searches for major civil society elements with defined electoral reform programs.
Below are the ones I have identified. They can also be seen, with their logos, at Directory of Activist Individuals & Organizations (USA). I welcome nominations for others to be added to this list, and I must say up front, that while some of these were quick to give me their inputs for the Act itself, all of them, without exception, have failed to respond to my letters seeking their assistance in moving toward a Statement of Demand being read publicly soon, ideally on President’s Day.
Ballot Access News The long-standing and comprehensive monitor for all ballot access news.
Center for Democracy & Election Management (American University) The mission of the Center for Democracy and Election Management (CDEM) is to provide education, research and public engagement on the full range of democracy issues in the United States and around the world.
Center for Election Science We are a nonpartisan not-for-profit organization made up of engineers, mathematicians, and voting theorists. We educate the public based on our study of voting theory. Voting theory looks at the way votes are expressed and calculated.
Center for Voting and Democracy FairVote acts to transform our elections to achieve secure access to participation for all, a full spectrum of meaningful ballot choices and majority rule with fair representation. As a catalyst for change, we build support for innovative strategies to win a constitutionally protected right to vote, universal voter registration, a national popular vote for president, instant runoff voting and proportional voting.
Citizens in Charge The organization works with activists, legislators, media, opinion leaders and voters to protect the initiative and referendum process where it exists in 26 states and to expand the process to the 26 states where voters currently lack that right.
Committee for a United Independent Party We are a national strategy, communications, and organizing center working to connect and empower the 40% of Americans who identify themselves as independents.
Common Cause We stand up for ordinary people, root out corruption in the halls of power, and lead a true citizen’s movement to fight for a government that works for all of us—not the special interests.
Constitution Party Join the Constitution Party in its work to restore our government to its Constitutional limits.
Electoral Knowledge Network The ACE network promotes credible, and transparent electoral processes with emphasis on sustainability, professionalism and trust in the electoral process.
Free and Equal Elections Foundation The Free & Equal Elections Foundation is a non-partisan, non-profit public policy advocacy group dedicated to election reform and improving ballot access laws in the United States.
Free Speech for People This Amendment to the U.S. Constitution will put an end to the ridiculous idea that corporations are people.
Green Party We stand for democracy, social justice, and both ecological and economic sustainability.
League of Women Voters We work to educate and register voters, and to improve elections and government.
Libertarian Party We are the third largest party in the USA. We believe all individuals can freely exercise the natural right of sole dominion over their own lives, liberty and property.
National Committee for Voting Integrity In keeping with the goal of public election administration we are working to ensure that election systems preserve the secret ballot, accuracy, privacy, integrity, and the proper tabulation of the voter’s intent regardless of his or her physical condition, language of origin, or literacy ability.
People for the American Way Thousands of eligible Americans still experience challenges at the polls in part due to an organized effort to disenfranchise voters.
Public Campaign ($) Public Campaign is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to sweeping campaign reform that aims to dramatically reduce the role of big special interest money in American politics.
Reform Party We stand for ethics and reform across the electoral system and government to include a reformed tax system, a balanced budget, and the promotion of jobs for citizens.
Verified Voting Foundation Computer and network security experts are virtually unanimous in pointing out that online voting is an exceedingly dangerous threat to the integrity of U.S. elections. There is no way to guarantee that the security, privacy, and transparency requirements for elections can all be met with any practical technology in the foreseeable future.
Wikipedia / Electoral Reform Electoral reform is change in electoral systems to improve how public desires are expressed in election results.
The most persistent and pernicious Big Lie regarding the so-called “Civil War”— more properly called the “War to Prevent Southern Independence”— is this:
Noble and saintly yankees fought the war to abolish slavery; evil Confederates fought to preserve it.
The historical record incontrovertibly refutes this Big Lie and yet it lives on, repeated incessantly by many who know better, and by many, many more who accept without challenge what they were taught in government schools.
