The Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery is offering extended hours through exams.

* Sundays- Thursdays we will be open until 2 a.m.
* Fridays and Saturdays we will be open until 10 p.m.

Thank you and good luck on your exams!

We at USDemocrazy have been watching the fallout of the Wikileaks scandal quite closely. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange wants to make government and business organizations more transparent, or open to scrutiny from the public. The cartoon above questions whether that is possible. What do you think?  (cartoon by KAL)

According to a story in the Baltimore Business Journal, three UMBC alumni have been appointed to positions on the executive team of Kevin Kamenetz, who will be sworn in as Baltimore County Executive on December 6.

John E. Beverungen ’87,  English, will serve as an administrative law judge (deputy zoning commissioner). Keith A. Dorsey ’76, economics, will head the county’s department of budget and finance. Vincent J. Gardina ’78, geography, will head the departmet of environmental protection and sustainability.

Read the full story here:

http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2010/12/03/kamenetz-lists-executive-team.html?ana=twt

Thanks to Wikicommons.

We at US Democrazy had a rare treat this weekend. We got to see the future.

We reported (and tweeted) from fascinating The World in 2011 Festival presented by The Economist magazine.

The event assembled great minds in New York City to share their thoughts on the year ahead. There were three days of events with a celebrated collection of speakers including President Bill Clinton, Admiral Gary Roughead, (Chief of US Naval Operations),  Master chef Jose Andres, Grammy award winning artist Loudon Wainwright III.

So what is the future going to hold?  Well Alyse Nelson, President and CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership says we should

Forget India, forget China, even forget the Internet.  Women are the emerging market.

For this untapped resources to reach it’s potential change is needed to give women across the world the opportunity they deserve.

The Women’s Economic Opportunity Index, which ranks 113 nations based on a number of factors (ranking the US at #15) found that although many nations have gender equality laws little is done to enforce them.

Echoing this idea, Kah Wala, a candidate for Cameroon’s presidency, argues that globally women are a huge part of the informal economy (i.e. businesses not monitored by the government) but this does not allow them to build wealth.

To allow women to build a future an investment needs to be made so “they can stand on their own feet” in Zainab Salbi’s own words.  Salbi is CEO of Women for Women International a program which helps women in conflict zones.

Describing women as the next emerging market got us wondering…  What can we do to help our female readers be forces of change in our world?

Thanks to Wikicommons.

The present economy can be harrowing let alone worrying about the future.  Luckily at The World in 2011 Festival there were economists willing to do the worrying for us.

Alex Pollock, a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, thinks we are living in the wake of three collapsed financial bubbles:

1. Real Estate
2. European Dept
3. Central Bank Confidence

The last broken bubble in confidence is due to a growing concern that the Federal Reserve and other central banks globally are not as omnipotent as everyone believed.  Basically, Wall Street just found out that the Easter Bunny isn’t real.

Due to this Pollock predicts a “bull market in bureaucracy” as governments scramble to regulate problems they perceive in the economy.

Furthermore he doesn’t think these regulations will have much luck at reducing systematic risk in the banking system as

We can’t define it AND we don’t know it when we see it.

But hey the futures not all bad.  Pollock did emphasize that the financial crisis is just waves on the ocean hiding the current of progress underneath.

As our faithful readers may know US Democrazy spend last Saturday investigating the future at The World in 2011 Festival.

At this wonderful event we had the chance to chat with the Executive Editor ofthe Economist magazine, Daniel Franklin.

At this event the voices on the future ranged from a member of Cambodia’s parliament to a US Admiral.  Such a diverse offering made us wonder how the Economist chose its speakers.

Mr. Franklin told USDEmocrazy the event was “all about ideas” and that they sought “original perspectives” and “views”.

The goal of this was to “surprise” and “intrigue” guests by providing ideas “out of their normal zone of interest.”

In spirit of the event we also asked Mr. Franklin what his prediction for 2011 was. He said that

America will be surprised on the upside.

So hey, keep your chin up; Things may not be so bad after all.

If you’re familiar with OneRepublic’s “Apologize“, you’ll recognize the tune ofthis remix.

The lyrics and music video are about the American Revolution, as sung by “TJ and the Revo”.

We don’t know about you, but this is exactly how we always imagined the American Revolution happening.