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Hi, David,<br>
<br>
To a certain extent, you have to trust your representatives -- it is
the nature of *representative* democracy.<br>
Of course, it's about money. I see the HackerSpace I co-founded
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.makerspaceu.org">http://www.makerspaceu.org</a> as an<br>
informal incubator for radical product design. Believe me,
non-profit funding is a LOT more benign than<br>
Small Business Administration's demands for idiotic prediction of
unsustainable growth or what a Venture<br>
Capitalist will take from your hard-born creativity.<br>
<br>
Here are the most stringent restrictions I see in the bill:<br>
<blockquote type="cite">NFLN shall<br>
> examine the ability of the organization to supply a physical
location<br>
> for the lab, their <b><i>financial ability to pay for
sufficient staff to<br>
> operate the lab and train its users</i></b>, an ability
to engage the local<br>
> community or other sufficient user base, and an awareness of
those<br>
> long term obligations.</blockquote>
It's a bit of a catch-22, since the availability of funding through
the proposed NFLN depends on the applicant meeting these criteria.<br>
<br>
Other than that, I don't see anything objectionable in the bill as
distributed.<br>
<br>
-Stewart Dickson, Communications and Technology Commissioner
(1998-2002) City of Calabasas, CA 91302<br>
<br>
On 9/23/10 2:04 PM, David Powell wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:AANLkTinCMMAF1DhTphGLkSFGAOgypXqDa1JwYnnJCBz6@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">When I think of Fab Lab I think of the commercial
version of a Hackerspace. Although it would be non-profit would it
also be inexpensive? I'm all for creating a network of
Hackerspaces. But I don't feel educated enough to write
congressmen in support of this bill. I don't think know the people
behind the bill. How can I be sure they have my best interest in
mind and are not trying to make 7 figure living through this
"non-profit" like many do in other non-profits in our country. How
can I be sure this is really about the science and technology and
not about money? I would need to be better educated before making
a decision.<br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 2:56 PM, Chris
Weiss <span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:cweiss@gmail.com">cweiss@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt
0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);
padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="im">On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 1:52 PM, Rose White
<<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:rose@yarnivore.com">rose@yarnivore.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
> This is brilliant! Writing to the subcommittee members
to say "Hey, I<br>
> support this!" would be a good thing to do, especially
if you're in the<br>
> district that any of them is in.<br>
<br>
</div>
additionally, making them aware that grass-roots "fab labs"
already<br>
exist in their areas will help a lot.<br>
<div>
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