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This article is particularly interesting after attending a meeting last week in the Capitol of Power about “Technology Assessment,” the process of determining the positive and negative side effects of new technologies. Apparently there was an Office of Technology Assessment established in the US Congress in 1972 but then it was dismantled in 1995 because - ironically enough - didn’t produce research reports quickly enough to influence legislation.

Everyone at the meeting was talking about nanotechnology and cars’ effect on society, but no one had thought about assessing this huge thing called the Internet, which had officially become mainstream the same year the OTA was dismantled. Isn’t that weird? Isn’t that suspicious and mysterious? Perhaps my conspiracy theory antennas are a little too perky right now.

Spider Fairy: First, what we have to do is dissect the question’s assumption that all for-profit corporations are evil. And perhaps it might be prudent to define “evil.” Let’s think of some well-known corporations:

McDonald’s (the one everyone loves to hate) - when this company started out, the owners just wanted to help Americans get their food faster without the hassles of cooking. Now that we all know how unhealthy and addictive this food is, this corporation is considered “evil.” Its focus on expansion and market share have overshadowed a responsibility to provide quality food to the American public.

Devil’s Advocate: Naw, naw, wait a second - this corporation never took an oath to provide quality food to anyone. McDonald’s is in the junk food/instant gratification business. Its board members took practical knowledge - that people love salty and sweet food - and converted it into a multi-billion dollar business. This is what capitalism is all about. Choice. You gotta let people make their own choices and make their own mistakes.

Spider Fairy: True, but you’re off topic - we’re trying to define evil. McDonald’s is harming people with its products just like Wal-Mart (the one everyone AND their mom loves to hate) is harming the environment and business culture. Every one of those big box buildings is like an electric plug sucking energy from the ground and surrounding areas to the point no other businesses can function or exist.

Devil’s Advocate: Evil can only do its work if people allow it to, sweetheart. The people who eat Big Macs and french fries are pretty well-informed that the food they are consuming is crap, and yet they still indulge themselves. Why? Cuz it’s a short life and why be so uptight about the whole thing?

Spider Fairy: You’re such a hedonist.

Devil’s Advocate: I’ll take that as a compliment. The energy you spend climbing up your moral high horse can be better used to power the horse to the beach.

Spider Fairy: With that attitude, there won’t be any beach to enjoy anymore. Whatever, so anywayz, moving on, let’s consider a start-up mom-and-pop corporation like Biscayne Writers, which no one has ever heard of unless you live on Planet MyAmi. But it is, in fact, listed on the books as a Florida state corporation, which requires a $150 annual report, so we know it’s legit. I wonder if it travels the same paths as McDonald’s and Wal-Mart, will it just become another evil corporation that exploits people’s vices? In order to be a successful corporation, it seems it would have to discover something addictive that would keep people coming back for more.

Devil’s Advocate: It’s not brain surgery. Everyone on Planet MyAmi is addicted to their own mirror, and blogs are quite effective at fulfilling their delusions of grandeur. Why would this make the corporation evil, though? Isn’t this just finding a market niche and running with it?

Spider Fairy: It’s evil because then you have all these people with their neuroses with the power to push their own ill-informed agendas. A writer has a responsibility to produce balanced, truthful information, otherwise it is propaganda. I mean, you can’t argue with that - we all agree that Hitler was evil because of his propaganda.

Devil’s Advocate: Everyone’s got an agenda - doesn’t matter if they have a blog or not to scale their poison.

Spider Fairy: Non-profit organizations don’t need to scale since their purpose is a mission. For example, the Boys and Girls Clubs strive to provide young people with constructive after-school activities.

Devil’s Advocate: How do you know the Boys and Girls Clubs aren’t just a market research hub for the corporations that provide its funding?

Spider Fairy: Oh, geez. Are you really that jaded?

Devil’s Advocate: Are you really that naive?

Spider Fairy: Well, folks, there you have it - two sides of the story. Yin and yang. The universe is made up of both light matter and dark matter. One can’t exist without the other.

Non-profits and corporations are beautiful couples that create balance in the world.

But first, let’s hear a word from our sponsor, Hostwire.com.

Red: In financial newz, there are no Chase banks in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia. Never been a better time to investigate community banks that invest locally rather than transporting your hard-earned dollars elsewhere. Read more about it at EthicalMarkets.com.

Orange: In yoga newz, find out the formulas for converting dark energy into light energy at MiamiYogi.com.

Yellow: In solar plexus newz, Virtual Gypsy negotiates rent. Read more about it at Virtual Gypsyz.com.

Green: In heart chakra newz, love never goes away. It is a bountiful resource that will never run out like oil or coal, and is independent of time and space. That’s why geography is irrelevant to keeping up my relationship with the Miami Writers, who are hosting a Write-In and Critique session at the Wallflower Gallery. Find out more at MiamiWriters.org.

Blue: In music newz, check out Lee McPherson’s latest riff with lyrics penned by TheFemmebots.com.

Purple: In sci-fi newz, everything old is new again. Watch more at UrbanMermaidz.com.

White: White: In non-profit newz, a community organic garden just opened in North Miami. Find out more at MultiMediaDistrict.com.

This is Chakra Girl reporting for the Weekly Buzz on the Third Eye Witness Newz.

Remember that ignorance is expensive and keep matches and flashlights stocked up for climate change.

Amen. Namaste. Ciao.

But first, let’s hear a word from our sponsor, Hostwire.com.

Red: In financial newz, the national unemployment rate is up to 10.6%, but self-employment and the online freelance community is robust and thriving. Read more about it more at BiscayneWriters.com.

Orange: In yoga newz, is spirituality linked to sexuality? Find out at MiamiYogi.com.

Yellow: In energy and power newz, forget solar power, apparently human energy is going to charge up your cell phone so you can continue texting and yacking free of carbon footprint guilt. Read more about it at EthicalMarkets.com.

Green: In literary newz, the Miami Writers are hosting a green St. Patty’s Day writing extravaganza at the Wallflower Gallery. Find out more at MiamiWriters.org.

Blue: In music newz, Lee McPherson plays a groovy bass riff called “Ides of February” at TheFemmebots.com.

Purple: In sci-fi newz, everything old is new again. Watch more at UrbanMermaidz.com.

White: In non-profit newz, a community organic garden just opened in North Miami. Find out more at MultiMediaDistrict.com.

This is Chakra Girl reporting for the Weekly Buzz on the Third Eye Witness Newz.

Remember that ignorance is expensive and keep matches and flashlights stocked up for climate change.

Amen. Namaste. Ciao.

Hello, this is Chakra Girl reporting LIVE from Snorrrrrelando, en route to my next assignment in Washington, DC. At present, I am still safe in the warm weather, but I’m watching the newz reports from up north and Brrrrrrrr, looks like I won’t be able to fly around with my chakras all exposed anymore! LOL!

I went shopping at the Burlington Coat Factory and was shocked that pop stars have been targeting the winter fashion market - J. Lo, Jessica Simpson, Kimora Lee. I thought most of these celebs hung out on Planet MyAmi in their McMansions! What the heck would they know about bundling up? I have to say, though, I really liked Jessica’s spacey, white, puffy down-filled coat, but in the end, I didn’t buy the thing for $79 because it’s more Lady Gaga than Classic Katherine Hepburn, and in order to be energy efficient, I’m going for the classics these days.

And there are so many choices!

Vaute Couture makes vegan coats. Can you believe it? Who knows how much they actually, cost, though.
Apparently leopard print coats are in style right now. But again, this is the type of coat that might be cool one night in Adam’s Morgan and then blah. It’s another fashion whim gone into the instant gratification dust bin.

I already bought a cute black raincoat from the Express for $98, however, this will be more useful during April showers. I need something with some serious lining!

I’m going back to Burlington Coat Factory to see what’s left…

Story by Melanie Feliciano
Art by Clutch Deluxe

It is the Winter Solstice. The eeevil Femmebots have just edited a series of propaganda music videos, and they are especially ebullient.

“The B-O-Yz don’t stand a chance with these new videos,” says Gysela MyAmi, CEO of The Femmebots. “We will castigate them all!”

“It’s a good day to tear a B-O-Y to pieces and eat him for dinner!” shrieks Pluton-the-Witch, referring to the ancient Greek “Festival of the Wild Women” when the harvest god Dionysis was sacrificed and three days of un-abstemious behavior followed.

Just then DJ Julius Brown’s Skype console appears above the Femmebots’ social networking platform.

“I’ve come to apprise you that the Cheetah was unhappy with your videos. He refused to distribute them across the network and says they need some serious work before they can appear on the Boob Tube. He compiled a compendium of  complaints.”

“Is he threatening dissolution of our agreement?” demands Pluton as she furiously thumb-types a text message to the other Femmebots.

“No, he just sent me to re-mix the music,” says DJ Julius Brown.

Pluton smiles and offers DJ Julius hot cinnamon spice tea. Her suddenly complaisant behavior puts the international DJ at ease, and soon he is in a deep slumber.

“Purrrfect timing,” Pluton says. “We will desiccate his body and…”

ENTRY BREACH ENTRY BREACH ENTRY BREACH sounds an alarm system.

“Ugh, not again,” Gysela mutters. “We got another hacker.”

Riding on a beam of lights, Chakra Girl flies in on the keyword L-O-V-E.

“You can’t eat him for Winter Solstice!” she cries. “He’s got a Playlist to mix in The Multimedia District!”

“Your bombastic display of heroics can’t save this B-O-Y now,” cackles Pluton.

The rest of the Femmebots - Princesa, Virtual Gypsy, The Devil’s Advocate and The Indigo Fairy roll their Boob Tube eyes at each other and distend a propaganda music video straight into Chakra Girl’s third eye.

The video is daunting. A desultory mash-up of images depicting murder, rape, war disabusing Chakra Girl’s vision of a balanced Bi-Universe.

Chakra Girl abates the Femmebots with a laser beam of yellow light from her solar plexus.

“Don’t try to brainwash me with your Boob Tubes, you bad girlz!” yells Chakra Girl as she throws her arms over her head and lands in a back bend. The laser beam of yellow light shines up to the mirrors on the ceilings of the VIP room of Club Beehive and reflects in six directions at each Femmebot.

Bam! Shazam! Wham! Thank ya Ma’aam!

Princesa, Virtual Gypsy, The Devil’s Advocate and Indigo Fairy all fall down, but Pluton-the-Witch and Gysela-the-Urban-Mermaid are still standing.

“Silly little Chakra Girl, you think you can attenuate us with your artless moves?”

Gysela MyAmi cracks the knuckles of all four of her hands and punches Chakra Girl one-two-three-four times in the belly, having the cogent effect of sending her to the floor.

Chakra Girl’s antipathy for these evil Femmebots is growing. She lies still. In her abeyance, the Femmebots think they have defeated the tiny ray of light that hacked into their social network. The last thing Chakra Girl wants to do is amalgamate anger into her otherwise balanced chemistry of L-O-V-E. But a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.

In a flash, Chakra Girl pops back to mountain pose, returns to back bend, then pops up again and repeats the process 7 more times until the qi surrounding her body is blazing.

Gysela and Pluton, in a craven reaction to the blazing light, burnish the screens of their Boob Tubes and abscond through their internal Googles to a backend social networking community still in beta phase.

“Awww, shucks,” Chakra Girl utters upon noticing the disappearance of the Femmebots. “I was hoping we could come to some sort of conciliatory agreement.”

In the midst of wallowing in contrition over the use of her most powerful weapon against the Femmebots, DJ Julius Brown opens his eyes. He sits up and blinks in diffidence before noticing Chakra Girl sitting on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest.

“Oh, Chakra Girl! You are the most beneficent star on Planet MyAmi!” DJ Julius Brown cries.

“Really? You really think so? I wasn’t very nice to those Femmebots. I denigrated them,” she says.

“What? Are you kidding? This is no time for a dirge,” says DJ Julius. “Those Femmebots are Witches! They wanted to dehydrate me and eat me for Winter Solstice.”

“I doubt that’s what Gysela MyAmi wanted,” says Chakra Girl. “She’s an Urban Mermaid, not a witch.”

“Well, she’s in cahoots with the witch, and I was about to become dinner.”

“How ’bout we blow this joint and go up to The Multimedia District for some art and music?” asks Chakra Girl. “Some of my friends are performing!”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” says DJ Julius Brown with alacrity. “Music always ameliorates the spirit.”

Abate: to strike down.
Abeyance: temporary inactivity, cessation, or suspension.
Abscond: to depart in a sudden and secret manner
Abstemious: moderation in eating and drinking
Alacrity: cheerful readiness, promptness, willingness
Amalgamate: mix, mingle
Ameliorate: to make better
Antipathy: dislike for something/someone; opposite of sympathy
Artless: uncultured, lacking cunning or deceit.
Attenuate: weaken, make slender or less vigorous
Apprise: to give notice, inform
Beneficent: charitable, doing or producing good
Bombastic: pompous, pretentious
Burnish: to polish, to make smooth by rubbing
Castigate: to punish
Cogent: convincing, having the power to compel or constrain
Compendium: a full list or inventory; a brief treatment or account
Complaisant: cheerfully obliging, exhibiting a desire or willingness to please
Conciliatory: overcome mistrust or animosity; appease
Contrition: feeling sorrow for a wrong that has been done
Craven: cowardly
Daunt: to lessen the courage of, to intimidate
Denigrate: attack the character or reputation
Desultory: random, haphazard, having no set plan
Desiccate: dry out thoroughly, preserve food by removing moisture
Disabusing: to free from mistaken beliefs or foolish hopes
Diffidence: shyness, timidity
Dirge: somber song at a funeral
Dissolution: to separate into component parts, the act of undoing or breaking an agreement
Distend: extend out, to swell out
Ebullient: zestfully enthusiastic, boiling or seeming to boil

What do we do: We work in juvenile detention centers, in schools, with teachers, parents and other community groups.  We teach yoga, mindfulness and stress reduction; and teach people how to channel their energy (even their anger and pain) into useful action. We bring art, music, health, wellness and unconditional love into the lives of those who need it the most. We believe that truth, respect, honor and compassion create the language in which we speak to each other, and all those we encounter.

Get involved…

The Age of Stupid is the new movie from Director Franny Armstrong (McLibel) and producer John Battsek (One Day In September). Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated future world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance? It was released in UK cinemas on 20 March 2009, and will be followed by other countries. It will be released in Germany on 22 August 2009.

Along with the release of the movie, a global campaign “Not Stupid” was started.
The movie as well as the campaign aim to support the follow-up contract of Kyoto that will be debated and finalized in Copenhagen in December. The UN Climate Conference, where political heads will decide on the future of climate policies wants to increase the global awareness of our resources.

Human activity cannot expand forever on our finite planet. An economy growing at 3% a year doubles its size every 24 years. Centuries of such growth have brought us to a mature size. As with individual maturity, there comes a time for societies to stop growing, recognize their power and take responsibly for their impacts. Read more…

Paige Elenson has passionately shared the practice of yoga in Africa for the last three years. A 30 year old native New Yorker, Paige has always been drawn to the magic of connection. In 2000, while a consultant for Accelerated Transformation at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young on Wall Street, she found the ultimate tool for accelerated transformation; Yoga. Certified to teach AcroYoga, Jivamukti Yoga and Baptiste Power Yoga, Paige co-founded the Africa Yoga Project in 2007. She has been studying, teaching, and assisting internationally with Baron Baptiste for the last six years and is also a certified Jivamukti Yoga teacher . In NYC, she studies under the loving guidance of Dharma Mittra.

The Mission
To empower youth, build a global community

and increase well-being in East Africa.

We have introduced hundreds of students in

Kenya to the practice of yoga, as well provide

educational scholarships, job training

food stipends, temporary housing and health services.

Our core group of students are from impoverished backgrounds in Nairobi, Kenya, are between 16-30 years old and live on under $2 per day. Many are personally affected by HIV/AIDS and are living/have once lived on the streets.