the tao.ca mid-winter newsletter (README)

[admin@tao.ca]

[: hacktivism :]


#####################################################
#	tao.ca mid-winter newsletter 2001
#####################################################

	please pass this on to friends and supporters
		if you operate an email list @ tao.ca
			please post this to it

##################################
# what is tao.ca
# how you can help
# groundhog day
# tao locals
# the teachin project
# irc -> chat.tao.ca
# useless servers


#####################
# what is tao.ca

tao.ca is a revolutionary assocation of workers and organizers involved in
struggles for radical social change. we are constituted by a ten point
program accessible via the url http://new.tao.ca

one of our primary contributions to radical movements at large is the
provision of network facilities for communications and organizing. these
are commonly known as the tao.ca networks, although more often than not we
host and facilitate networks using their own domain.

examples of relevant domains hosted by tao.ca:

http://www.quebec2001.net
http://www.ainfos.ca
http://www.analai.org
http://www.lescollective.org
http://www.latinosagainstracism.com
http://www.blackradicalcongress.org

and of course there are always groups that use tao.ca subdomains:

http://reclaimthestreetsnyc.tao.ca
http://strike.cupe3903.tao.ca
http://prometheus.tao.ca
http://slingshot.tao.ca
http://savewbai.tao.ca


#####################
# how you can help

tao.ca is always in need of funds. at this point we have yet to implement
a dues structure, and we do not charge members for usage of our network
facilities. therefore we rely upon the voluntary contributions of members
and supporters. we depend upon you to subsidize the costs needed to
maintain these facilities that aid so many. so please send us what you
can:

TAO Communications
P.O. Box 108 Station P
Toronto Ont Canada
M5S 2S8

We accept Canadian and US Dollars, Euros, books, magazines, videos, films,
ipo stock, solar panels, Canadian Tire Money, stickers, zines, love
letters, ram, scsi drives, medicinal ganjaweed, scsi pin converters, air
time, and general good blessings.

We also of course always accept labour, only thing is that we also require
you to help us figure out what to do with it. See the sections below on
local organizing and irc.


#####################
# groundhog day

the tao.ca admin sub-collective will be doing substantial system overhaul
over the weekend of februrary 2nd and february 3rd. we expect there to be
several hours of downtime over this weekend as we reinstall the debian
operating system (2.2r2 release) on the dojo and lists systems. as per the
tradition of groundhog day, we here in toronto are hoping that when the
servers come out of their hole for this one day of the year, they will see
their shadows, and there will only be six more weeks of winter. witness
the event live in irc.


#####################
# tao locals

the most effective way to participate and have impact upon the tao.ca
federation is by organizing and being active within a tao local. tao
locals in toronto and vancouver currently maintain workspace and network
facilities. locals in montreal, edmonton, ottawa, olympia, boston, and new
york city, are active albeit with only a few members actually organizing.
there are however tao members and tao email lists from around the world,
and there is a self-reinforcing effect between where people organize and
where we receive applications from via http://new.tao.ca/new.html

there is an email list to discuss the formation of locals
it's address is tao-org-locals@lists.tao.ca


#####################
# the teachin project

The project is tentatively called the Teach-In and thus far it's
hub is designed to enable the cross-fertilization of groups
working to defend, imagine and create high-quality, accessible
and public education.   In the interests of existing student
members of TAO's dojo, we've dedicated a new server specifically
to this project, and have begun migration to it as of last month.
(You can see a working prototype of the kind of uses this may
enable, created by the striking students @ York University, at
http://strike.cupe3903.tao.ca)  This is a call for broader
participation in the project.

Though still very much in beta-phase, as of now, accounts can be
created on this new server, we can register domain names onto it,
and we can establish lists, create database applications, and
generate our own statistics.   The server still has lots of space
to grow, and we are working on upgrades to improve processing
speed.

The Teach-In project has been "spun off" of several years of
active involvement in the student movement and TAO organizing.
It is also a continuation of several other attempts to bring
together activists and organizers in various movements related to
education for social change:  the Direct Action Solidarity
Network (www.tao.ca/~dasn) and the Student Activist Network
(san.tao.ca) to name a couple.   Immediately, there are quite a
few groups we will be appealing to co-operate in seeding the
project...  ( CUPE 3903 @ York and 4600 @ Carleton, the Concordia
Students Union; the United Students Against Sweatshops; the 180
Movement for Democracy in Education; several Public Interest
Research Groups and their constituent working groups; the Consejo
General de Huelga - UNAM (Mexico City); the Clearinghouse;
several campus/community radio stations, and student
publications.  This is certainly not an exhaustive list, just
some initial ideas of groups we're already working with in some
fashion.)

The server is currently hosted here in Toronto along with other
tao servers, but we are hoping the Teach-In project will take on
a life of its own.  To this end, we are calling for the creation
of a kind of 'steering committee' made up of the various member
organizations and individuals.  This body could facilitate
further productions, perhaps newsprint, and certainly activist
forums, and workshops.

For more info email pj@teachin.ca


#####################
# irc -> chat.tao.ca


tao workers regularly meet and hang out on irc (internet relay chat) via
our server irc.tao.ca which is now accessible via the web at
http://chat.tao.ca

other tao members are encouraged to use this irc server for their own
organizing needs. please address any questions you may have to irc@tao.ca


#######################
# last words


if you ever read something that came to you via a tao.ca address and it
made you smile, gave you hope, or got you fired up, then please
take a moment to consider the labour that goes into providing facilities
like these. there are humans behind the boxes. send them something from
the real world (money or materials):

TAO Communications
P.O. Box 108 Station P
Toronto Ont Canada
M5S 2S8


#######################
# useless servers


Shih the hacker was on his way to the state of Chi. When he got to Chu
Yuan, he saw a computer by the village shrine. The server was large
enough to shade several thousand oxen and was several hundred mind spans
around. It towered above the microsofts with its lowest branches eighty
clicks from the ground.  More than ten of its branches were big enough to
be made into local area networks. There were crowds of people as in a
marketplace. The master hacker did not even turn his head but walked on
without stopping.

His apprentice took a long look, then ran after Shih the hacker and said,
"Since I took up my ax and followed you, master, I have never seen phiber
as beautiful as this. But you do not even bother to look at it and walk
on without stopping. Why is this?

Shih the hacker replied, "Stop! Say no more! That server is useless. A
network made from it would implode, a computer would soon rot, a program
would split, a web site would ooze sap, and a chat would have parasites.
It is worthless phiber and is of no use. That is why it has reached such
a ripe old age.

After Shih the hacker had returned home, the sacred system appeared to
him in a dream, saying, "What are you comparing me with? Are you
comparing me with useful servers? There are commercial, application,
pornographic, occult, security, warez, and other network servers. As soon
as the network is ripe, the servers are stripped and abused. Their large
branches are split, and the smaller ones torn off.  Their life is bitter
because of their usefulness.  That is why they do not live out their
natural lives but are cut off in their prime. They attract the attentions
of the common world. This is so for all things. As for me, I have been
trying for a long time to be useless. I was almost destroyed several
times. Finally I am useless, and this is very useful to me. If I had been
useful, could I have ever grown so large?"

"Besides, you and I are both things. How can one thing judge another
thing? What does a dying and worthless man like you know about a
worthless server?" Shih the hacker awoke and tried to understand his
dream.

His apprentice said, "If it had so great a desire to be useless, why does
it serve as a shrine?"
Shih the hacker said, "Hush! Stop talking! It is just pretending to be
one so that it will not be hurt by those who do not know it is useless. If
it had not become a sacred server, it would probably have been cut down. It
protects itself in a different way from ordinary things. We will miss the
point if we judge it in the ordinary way."

----------

Nan Po Tsu Chi was wandering in the Shang Hills when he caught sight of a
huge, extraordinary server. A thousand four-horse chariots could have
rested in its shade. Tsu Chi said, "What kind of server is this? It must
be very special phiber. He looked up and saw that the smaller networks
were gnarled and twisted, and could not be used for marketing or selling
products. He looked down and saw that the great shell was curved and
knotted, and could not be used for sending spam. When he tasted the
phiber, it burned his mouth; when he sniffed it, he became intoxicated
and for three days acted as if he were drunk. Tsu Chi said, "Indeed this
server is good for nothing. No wonder it grew so big. That is how it is!
Holy men treasure this worthlessness."

----------

Ching Shih in the province of Sung is a good place for growing
commercial, governmental, and application servers. Those servers that
attain the girth of a span or more are cut down to make buy-out targets.
Those of three or four spans are cut down to make platforms for tall,
elegant online malls. Those of seven or eight spans are cut down to make
side shows for the spectacles of cinema and television, or serve the
tastes of aristocratic and rich merchant families. So, these servers
never achieve their full stature but fall in their prime under the blows
of a market. Such are the hazards of being useful.






[: hacktivism :]
[: for unsubscribe instructions or list info consult the list FAQ :]
[: http://hacktivism.tao.ca/ :]