A daily series, Connect! Unite! Act! seeks to create face-to-face networks in each congressional district. Groups regularly socialize but also get out the vote, support candidates and engage in other local political actions that help our progressive movement grow and exert influence on the powers-that-be. Visit us at Daily Kos every morning at 7:30 A.M. Pacific Time to see how you can get involved. The comment thread is fun and light-hearted, but we're serious about moving the progressive political agenda forward.
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The orange pinpoints are the location of each organized group of Daily Kos readers.
If you'd like to join a group, click on a point and a box will pop up showing contact links.
If you'd like to start a group, contact navajo for instructions.
View Interactive Map of Daily Kos Regional Communities in a full screen version.
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Welcome to 'what if' Wednesday!
WHAT IF...
... a real live extra-terrestrial arrived here on Earth? You know First Contact. Where would you rate it on the list of "biggest world events"? How do you think the world would react?
Do you think if real live aliens do show up some day, it'll be for good (altruistic) reasons, or because we have something they want? If it's the latter, how optimistic are you about the survival of our civilization much less our species? What has happened every time a more technologically advanced civilization interacts with a less technologically advanced civilization here on Earth? Yes, the less advanced civilization gets absorbed by the more advanced, their citizens taking a 2nd Class or worse position as a result and sometimes being enslaved in the process.
EARTH, IN RELATIONSHIP TO THE REST OF THE UNIVERSE
When you consider the physical location of Earth, our lovely blue marble is in a tiny backwater in the hinterlands. We're at the far end of one of the long spiral arms of the Milky Way Galaxy. So, we're far off the beaten path, and a visitor would need a good reason for spending the energy and time to drop in on us. What would they want in return for that energy and time spent to get here?
I am, by nature, a fairly optimistic person. But when it comes to First Contact, I'm quite convinced that it won't be the sort imagined by Gene Roddenberry...
In this NASA.gov article, "Beyond Our Solar System: Overview", is list of 10 Need-to-Know Things About the Universe. This one stands out for me:
There are at least 100,000,000,000 galaxies in the universe. A galaxy is full of stars: Our sun is just one of at least 100,000,000,000 stars in our own Milky Way galaxy, and each of those stars could have their own planetary system.
Those numbers are why people like Carl Sagan (astronomer, astrophysicist, author and researcher) and Stephen Hawking (theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology) have made public statements about the probability of extraterrestrial life.
The aliens in Hawking's vision would be much like the malefic beasties in the blockbuster science-fiction flick Independence Day. He describes, "We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet. I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they can reach."
He says that humans should try to avoid alien contact as we colonize space. He states that such contact would be "a little too risky". What would result? He states, "If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans"
Much like the eminent Hawking, I fear
First Contact will be bad for
Terrans (derived from Terra, the Latin term for Earth).
Still, I cannot but wish that this other possible future were more likely, the one brought to life in the imagination of men who dreamed of traveling the universe in the decade the Apollo 11 took the first humans to the Earth's moon. The future where THIS is the universal sign of good will:
President Barack Obama and Nichele Nichols in the Oval Office
Live Long and Prosper
as always...
#StrongerTogether for a better future for OUR posterity |
Latest Updates on Regional Meet-Up News Can Be Found Below the Orange Group Hug.
Let's Build Communities!
Our team is here to provide support and guidance to new and existing volunteer leaders of each regional and state group, helping them with recruiting, organizing and executing social and action events.
We invite you to join in this effort to build our community. There are many ways to pitch in.
If there isn't a group to join near you, please start one.
Instructions on HOW TO FORM A NEW DAILY KOS GROUP
List of All Existing Meatspace Groups
Where the Kogs Are: Index/Directory of the 130+ Localized Daily Kos Groups
THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY
by joanbrooker ♥ for New York City
New York City Kos gathered to remember and toast Cedwyn with her favorite icons, sippy cups and butterflies. "She touched so many lives and the loss to all of her friends at DK has been profound."
Here's one group photo:
From left clockwise: ericlewis0, DaveG, MBNYC, thirty three and a third, Mets102, sidnora, blue jersey mom, janosnation, Stacey, and joanbrooker.
Please visit joanbrooker's diary for many MORE photos! Enjoy! You can still REC it. You can join New York City Kos by sending a Kosmail to kathny.
by Sara R ♥ for Koscadia
Koscadia, at it again.
We had a lovely meal together yesterday. The mood was a bit somber as we thought of our absent [Koscadia] friend, Cedwyn. The news of Cedwyn's death did not come until afterwards.
At our lunch, I received a special gift from ericlewis0 intended for both me and Ann, wrapped and framed by llbear. It was the original artwork for the Animal Nuz cartoon of Catwyn receiving her quilt. [Photo can be seen in Sara R's diary]
Here's one photo:
L-R: War4Sale (back of head), Sheila, slampros, watercarrier4diogenes, llbear, ozsea1, loggersbrat, quill, pdxteacher
Please visit Sara R's diary for many MORE photos! Enjoy! You can still REC it. You can join
Koscadia by sending a Kosmail to
Sara R.
by John Crapper ♥ for Seattle and Puget Sound Kos
Seattle & Puget Sound Kos welcomed Joan McCarter, Meteor Blades, Monique Teal and navajo to their meet-up on January 17th. Almost 40 people attended. All had a great time mingling, listening to the DKos speakers and then finishing up with a Q&A session. Good food, great location and most of all great Kossacks.
L-R: Monique Teal, cinnamon68, N in Seattle, Joan McCarter, seabos84, Meteor Blades speaking, James Wells and John Crapper
Please visit John Crapper's diary for many MORE photos! Enjoy! You can still REC it. You can join Seattle and Puget Sound Kos by sending a Kosmail to John Crapper.
Event Organizers! Please contact wink from Netrootsradio.com by KosMail to schedule airtime with them to live broadcast the date of your Event. Wink & Justice will then promote it on The After Show radio program!
Saturday, February 21st
Colorado Community Caffeinating Liberally Meet-up
TIME: 9:00 AM
LOCATION: Common Grounds Coffeehouse
44th & Vallejo • Denver
ORGANIZER: Send Leftcandid a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. Leftcandid
2. ColoTim
3.
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Maybees: |
Latest diary: DENVER: Wake Up Before Noon On Saturdays? Join Us, Feb. 21
Saturday, February 21st
Cheers & Jeers Meet-up in Portland, Maine
TIME: Noon
LOCATION: Flatbread Pizza
72 Commercial Street • Portland
ORGANIZER: Send nhox42 a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. nhox42
2. Bill in Portland Maine
3. Common Sense Mainer
4. Ed Tracey
5.
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Maybees: |
Saturday, February 28th
Four Corners Kossacks International Diplomatic Outreach Junket
TIME: 1:00 PM
LOCATION: Irish Embassy Pub
900 Main Ave • Durango
ORGANIZER: Send Thinking Fella a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. Thinking Fella
2. Hero Machine
3. red moon dog
4. ERRN
5. Mr. ERRN
6. Gary Norton
7. nzanne
8. msaztec
9. relleno
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Maybees:
LucyTooners
Mr. LucyTooners
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Latest diary: Four Corners Kossacks Meet-up: International Diplomatic Outreach
Saturday, February 28th
DC Kossacks Meet-up
TIME: 1:00 PM
LOCATION: Busboys and Poets
5th and K Streets • DC
If you can't make this one, we will resume the 3rd Saturday of the month in March and that meetup will be held at 1 pm.
ORGANIZER: Send NinthElegy a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. NinthElegy
2. patbahn
3. mimi
4.
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Maybees:
Rachel Colyer
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Latest diary: [Waiting for linked diary]
Saturday, February 28th
Texas All-State Meet-up with:
• Kath Haenschen: Legislative Preview: The Good, The Bad, And The Really Really Ugly
• Meteor Blades: The Power of Year-Round Precinct Organizing
• Denise Oliver-Velez: Motivating Young People to Vote and Run for Office
• Neeta Lind aka navajo: Maximizing the Daily Kos Forum
• Egberto Willies: How to Attract the Most Readers to Your Message
Please come for an afternoon of camaraderie and progressive strategizing with Big Orange flavor! Out-of-state attendees welcome!
Lunch and Seminar c/o Daily Kos
TIME: Noon - 6:00 PM
LOCATION: Max's Wine Dive
"Fried Chicken and Champagne... Why the Hell Not?"
207 San Jacinto Blvd • Austin, 78701 (near convention center and state capital building)
Cocktail time First drink c/o Daily Kos if you attended the seminar, coupons handed out at seminar.
TIME: 6:00 PM
LOCATION: CRAVE
340 E. 2nd St (around the corner from seminar) • Austin
ORGANIZER: Send nomandates a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. nomandates
2. Chrislove
3. Meteor Blades
4. Denise Oliver-Velez
5. Egberto Willies
6. Katherine Haenschen aka kath25
7. navajo
8. johnatx
9. mrs johnatx
10. Blood
11. cosette
12. anotherdemocrat - Vege*
13. bastrop
14. Warren Pease
15. Patience John
16. noteaforme
17. blue armadillo
18. RLMAC
19. TexMex
20. JC Dufresne
21. TexasLibertine
22. politik
23. Mr Pea
24. PDiddie
25. Mrs. Diddie
26. suesue
27. mr suesue
28. Sandia Blanca
29. Noisy Gong
30. Essephreak
31. laderrick - Vege*
32. getlost
33. TulsaGal
34. AndyT
35. Carol in San Antonio
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36. blueisland
37. TX Unmuzzled
38. walkshills
39. MargaretPOA
40. rabel
41. on the cusp
42. freerad
43. freerad's guest
44. Wino
45. Mrs Wino
46. Red Tom Kidd
47. Tutone in Texas
48. Mrs Tutone in Texas
49. jfranks
50. 1toughlady
51. scott5js
52. tmc222
53. tmc222's daughter
54. asprivett
55. blue armadillo's guest
56. postmodernista
57. Texan001
58. Texan001's brother
59. tmservo433
60. Gilmore
61. Mrs Gilmore
+84 = 145 RSVPs!
Maybees:
BlueMississippi
BlackSheep1
Deja (+1-2)
boadicea
Ignacio Magaloni
neverontheright
manoffire
+2
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* Needs vegetarian meal
Latest diary: Texas Meetup on 2/28: Now with Big and Burnt Orange Flavor
Wednesday, March 4th
NOTE DATE CHANGE ^^^^^^^^^^
San Francisco Kos Welcomes joanbrooker to Town
TIME: 6:15 PM
LOCATION: Triptych, near Civic Center BART
1155 Folsom Street • San Francisco
ORGANIZER: Send navajo a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. joanbrooker
2. navajo
3. norm
4. side pocket
5. Richard F.
6. jpmassar
7. citisven
8. Meteor Blades
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Reservation has been made for 15 people.
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Maybees:
dharmasyd
KC208
Plumbers, party of 3
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Saturday, March 21st?
Motor City Kossacks Meet-up
TIME: 7:00 PM or TBD
LOCATION: Taqueria Mi Pueblo
7278 Dix • Detroit (Corktown-ish)
ORGANIZER: Send peregrine kate a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. DoReMI
2. mideedah
3. BFSkinner
4. peregrine kate
5.
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Maybees:
ProvokingMeaning
ChemBob
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Latest diary: Michigan/Motor City Kossacks Weekly Open Thread: Meet-Up, Sat 2/14, 7:00 PM, Corktown(ish) Detroit
Saturday, April 18th
San Francisco Kos Welcomes blue jersey mom to Town
Potluck style BBQ
TIME: 1:00 PM
LOCATION: kimoconnor's garden
[Address given privately to RSVPs] • San Francisco
ORGANIZER: Send navajo a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. blue jersey mom
2. navajo - [2 bottles of wine]
3. side pocket
4. Mrs. side pocket
5. maggiejean
6. kimoconnor
7. dharmasyd
8. norm
9. remembrance
10. Glen The Plumber
11. TLO
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Maybees: |
Saturday, April 25th
DAILY KOS CONNECTS KANSAS CITY
Our first regional Daily Kos gathering.
Join us for a day of camaraderie and progressive strategizing with Big Orange flavor. In a day-long seminar, learn how our Connect! Unite! Act! team maximized the Daily Kos forum to effect change in Kansas state politics. We are going to duplicate that effort across the nation. Participants will focus on organizing from the ground up.
You'll also get a chance to meet the blog's founder, Markos Moulitsas and some Daily Kos writers, such as Joan McCarter, Meteor Blades, David Nir, Jen Hayden and others.
TIME: 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
LOCATION: Alamo Drafthouse
1400 Main Street • Kansas City
SCHEDULE:
8:00 AM - Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:00 AM - Presentations, panels and Q&A's begin
Noon - Lunch served
1:30 PM - More presentations, panels and Q&A's
6:00 PM - After Party
REGISTER HERE: $30 registration fee at Eventbrite
Benefactor level is also available if you plan to attend and buy a scholarship for someone, you and your attendee can have a front row seat. Angel level is also available if you can't attend but want to help someone else attend.
We have five scholarships available thanks to our Benefactors and Angels. Please kosmail navajo if you need a scholarship to attend. |
Grow our network, unite our progressive communities, help win elections!
RSVPs:
1. Markos Moulitsas
2. tmservo433
3. Meteor Blades
5. Joan McCarter
6. David Nir
7. Jen Hayden
8. Monique Teal
9. Neeta Lind aka navajo
10. Cindy Kelly from Women4KS
11. Peter Gogol
12. Jeffrey Zamrzla
13. Brian82
14. C.M.
15. Sandzen
16. kj in missouri
17. artguy4life
18. Chris
19. pyoung
20. Madge Montgomery
21. cdtribble
22. Mrs. cdtribble
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Maybees:
ColoTim
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Saturday and Sunday, April 25-26, 2015
DKos Asheville's Roadtrip and Two-Day Retreat to Roanoke, Virginia
From randallt:
After seven successful and engaging meet ups, DKos Asheville's core members decided to take our next gathering on the road. The first reason was that our chef and benefactor for all our meet ups has been Gordon20024 and we wanted say thanks by traveling to be with him instead of having him drive to be with us. We asked and he was thrilled and so the idea was born. Another reason is that it offers us the opportunity to meet more Kossacks from around the region including Virginia and parts of North Carolina to the north and east of us.
Grow our network, grow our community, help win elections.
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TIME: 1:00 pm Saturday till 1:00 pm Sunday
LOCATION: Hotel Roanoke, Conference Center
110 Shenandoah Avenue • Roanoke
ORGANIZER: Send randallt a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. gordon20024
2. davehouck
3. randallt
4. Joieau
5. LamontCranston
6. Steerler Grrl
7. Steeler Guy
8. Otteray Scribe
9. DawnN
10. emmasnacker
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Maybees: |
Latest diary: DKos Asheville: Open Thread
navajo maintains the above event list. Kosmail her if you have any diaries
about your event or if you have changes or additions.
EVERYONE is welcome, tell us what you're working on,
share your show and tell, vent, whatever you want.
This is an open thread. Nothing is off topic.