This is what I've been waiting for

An organization that seeks to creatively address the challenges of the music industry today:

http://www.futureofmusic.org


I am THRILLED to see this.

The Burning City Smoking

Last week I attended the Hotel Cafe Tour stop in Columbus, Ohio. More on that later, but I wanted to mention this song that Kevin Devine performed, called "The Burning City Smoking."

"I wrote 'The Burning City Smoking' during the (New York City) transit strike," he says. "That song was a person sticking his head up and saying, 'Oh, I'm not just self-involved and crazy inside - the world has gone nuts, too.' I was always very abstractly political. I listened to punk rock records and thought I could punch my time card. And then all this s*** in the world made me have to sit up and pay attention, and thats a good thing. It's a scary time, so why ignore it?"

...At the show I saw, he introduced it as being about "Tsunamis and hurricanes" -- specifically the aftermath of Katrina. Here's some of the lyrics (I had to transcribe it from the soundfile because I couldn't find them on the internet):

40 million refugees
with no place on this earth to call their home
one for every aimless graduate
with nothing else to show for it but loans

And those of us who make a mark
use someone else's blood
Our western stain won't wash away
won't vanish in the flood

It goes deeper through each hurricane
and tidal wave and war
We want everything we see
and once it's gone we just want more

Atlas had those shoulders
We've got Ambien and Jamesons and blow
to bind us in a bubble
keep the newsprint nightmare distant and remote

If we're now so disconnected
it's our reflections we ignore
And if our constant choices
skim and pass the writing on the wall
Man, I'm sad to say we're lost
and I'm embarrassed for us all


Anyway, do go check it out on iTunes.

Video: Geeks agog at Googler in chief

Powered by    * Please note, the sender's email address has not been verified.       Dumbest. President. Ever.             Click the following to access the sent link:       Video: Geeks agog at Googler in chief*                 Get your EMAIL THIS Browser Button and use it to email information from any Web site.   *This article can also be accessed if you copy and paste the entire address below into your web browser. http://www.cnn.com/video/partners/clickability/index.html?url=/video/moos/2006/10/26/moos.the.googler.affl

There is a house in New Orleans pt. 1

The Saints Are Coming

Add to My Profile | More Videos

(RED) Branding

I came across a fantastic article on how well the (RED) branding is working -- this guy says it all:

http://www.brandsimple.com/blog/?p=14

He also uses a new term which I have never heard before: "cause marketing." I.e. Lance Armstrong's Livestrong/Yellow campaign...Only (Product)RED, he says, takes it a step further.

Healthcare in America: My $.02

In response to this video by Warren25:

Fr. Jenkins' Letter to the University regarding the Notre Dame Millenium Development Initiative

I never shared this here -- I'd like everyone, not just Domers, to read it. I'll be posting another entry about it soon.

Dear Members of the Notre Dame Community,

On Thursday, September 14, I announced the creation of the Notre Dame Millennium Development Initiative during my closing remarks at the Notre Dame Forum. I want to elaborate on this important endeavor that will begin taking shape during this academic year.

Through the Millennium Development Initiative, Notre Dame will participate in the Millennium Village Project, a collaborative effort dedicated to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Adopted by world leaders in September 2000 during the United Nations Millennium Summit, these timebound and measurable goals have been placed at the heart of the global agenda of the United Nations. The goals focus on combating poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women. The realization of these goals will reduce the gap between wealthy and poor parts of our world and enhance the long-term prospects for peace.

The Millennium Village Project is based on the idea that impoverished villages can transform themselves and meet the Millennium Development Goals if they are empowered with proven and practical technologies. This project seeks to end extreme poverty by working with the poor, village by village, in sub-Saharan Africa, providing affordable and science-based solutions to help people to lift themselves out of poverty. These community-led interventions focus on increasing agricultural productivity, improving infrastructure, and expanding access to healthcare and education. Our participation in the Millennium Village Project will focus on Uganda, where Notre Dame, through the Congregation of Holy Cross, has strong ties.

The opportunities this partnership affords the Notre Dame community are many, the central goal is two-fold: to assist villagers in implementing the interventions central to the Millennium Village Project and to provide faculty and students, both graduate and undergraduate, with research opportunities that contribute to human development.

I have asked Rev. Robert Dowd, C.S.C. (Department of Political Science) to serve as Director of the Millennium Development Initiative. He is assembling a task force consisting of faculty, staff and alumni to further develop the vision and goals of the initiative and help guide its actions during this first year. During the second semester, Fr. Dowd will organize information sessions and form working groups of students and other members of the Notre Dame community who wish to lend their talents, energy and experience to this project. He and others involved in the initiative will be traveling back and forth between Africa and Notre Dame in the coming year and I hope to visit Uganda during the coming months.

Though the Millennium Development Initiative is rooted in the generosity of Ray Chambers, a renowned philanthropist and a member of our Board of Trustees, its success is equally dependent on the participation of many members of the Notre Dame community. I envisage this initiative as a responsibility, an opportunity and a blessing. We at Notre Dame have many gifts to share; our partners in Uganda have many lessons to teach. I believe this initiative is an important way to fulfill our mission, “to cultivate in [our] students not only an appreciation for the great achievements of human beings but sensibility to the poverty, injustice and oppression that burden the lives of so many…to create a sense of human solidarity and concern for the common good that will bear fruit as learning becomes service to justice.”

In Notre Dame,

Rev. John I Jenkins, C.S.C.
President

Here Come the Irish

At the Notre Dame Forum last month, Fr. Jenkins (president of the university) in his remarks made brief mention of a Millenium Development Initiative at Notre Dame. As he continued on with his speech, I was thinking "What? Wait! Go back and talk about it some more!" I was glad to have recieved a copy of his letter about it a week or so later.

I've been in correspondence with two of the guys working on it, Fr. Dowd and Tim Lyden. Their last email came from Uganda. I hope they don't mind that I share some of their comments:

"I wanted to pass along Fr. Bob's and my warmest greetings and again thank you for showing interest in the NDMDI. ...We just recently arrived in Africa and will spend the next 5 weeks traveling and meeting with our future partners in this project to further develop how Notre Dame may best contribute to alleviating poverty in Uganda.

...I will be sending out periodic emails to members of the greater Notre Dame community who have shown interest in the NDMDI regarding developments here in Uganda and would love to include you in these updates."


I'm thrilled that ND is involved. This is a university that, famously, has lots of wealth and power. In many ways it is a Rome of the western hemisphere. Where ND goes, Catholics (and all Christians, I hope) all over the US will follow.

This is HUGE. And it makes me proud.

It's an exciting week. As it happens, I told him, some of my friends and former colleagues from the African Well Fund just returned from Uganda where, for the first time, they visited some of the actual water wells that we helped to build. I am usually the last person lost for words, but I honestly can't describe how amazing it is to get such observable, tangible, measurable results and how must feel for them to be able to connect with the fruit of their labor -- the very people, the lives they've touched.

And tonight, as we speak, some of them are in D.C. at Africare's annual benefit dinner where Bill Clinton is the Humanitarian Service Award recipient and of course, the main speaker. I was lucky enough to have attended a few years back, when I was still serving on the board of directors. Bill and Melinda Gates were the recipients of the Bishop Walker Humanitarian Service Award, and Gates' father spoke on their behalf. Youssou N'Dour sang a moving song about Africa. There were African kings and princes and heads of state, all decked out in their traditional fabrics with colorful African patterns. It was beautiful. It was surreal.

I hope the AWF is having a lovely time tonight and I do hope they take photos!

Ahem.

So, with all of that and the (RED) cherry on top...It's been quite a week!

You know, I think Bono was right when he said, in the speech he gave at the President's Prayer Breakfast last year....

"God is on the move."


. . . . .


Here Come The Irish

Well I remember the leaves a fallin'
And far off music like pipes a callin'
And I remember the golden morning
I saw the long ranks as they were forming

And there's a magic in the sound of their name
Here come the Irish of Notre Dame

The pilgrims follow by the sacred waters
And arm in arm go the sons and daughters
The drums are rolling and forward bound
They're calling spirits up from the ground

And there's a magic in the sound of their name
Here come the Irish of Notre Dame

test

This is a test of Blogger Beta's post-by-email feature.

Time

According to research results released last month from the Oxford English Corpus, the most commonly used noun in the English Language is "time."

Discuss.

The History of Hacking

Hacking - The History Of Hacking

A quality documentary about hacking from the 1960s to date. Takes a historical approach, looking at the role of the hacker during this time.

Starring: Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Bill Gates.

'Tis the Beauty of (RED)

I decided to post a thread in a forum I frequent, for the purpose of discussing/spreading the word about (RED), and it resulted in the following exchange between me and another poster:

I posted:

Well keep in mind that these brands are just the starting lineup. The idea is that, given the choice between a (RED) brand and a non-(RED) brand when they go out to buy, say, a pair of jeans they will make a conscious choice to shop (RED) because they want to do something good. The trend will become so prevalant with the (RED) brands that other brands will choose to become (RED) as well because it simply makes good business sense.

The key is -- it's a big commitment for the brands -- I believe the Gap signed a 3 year contract. (RED) intends to be a *continuing* source of funding for the Global Fund.

A response:
Good to know, AIDS in Africa is one of the few world issues I actually care about and it is nice to know that I can actually do something to help without, you know, actually doing anything.


That, dear readers, is the beauty of (RED).

Conversation Agent: RED is In

Conversation Agent: RED is In

"The Embrace." And: the Bono Speaketh

OK so hopefully after yesterday y'all know what this "(Product)RED" thing is about...but what's the deal with the parentheses?

Up 'till now, I thought it was just vanity, but I was nosing around the website and found this:

"What's the meaning of the parentheses or brackets? Well, we call them "the embrace." Each company that becomes (RED) places its logo in this embrace and is then elevated to the power of red. Thus the name -- (PRODUCT)RED.

You, the consumer, can take your purchase to the power of (RED) simply by upgrading your choice. Thus the proposition: (YOU)RED. Be embraced, take your own fine self to the power of (RED). What better way to become a good-looking samaritan?!"


I also noticed a note from Bono. It's long (as he is notoriously loquacious), so here are the highlights:

Sometimes when I'm walking down the street a passer by will say "love your work on Africa, Bono, great cause." [But] this is not a "cause," this pandemic that we and so many others are working on. 5,500 Africans dying a day of AIDS, a preventable, treatable disease is not a cause. 5,500 Africans dying each day is an emergency.

Where ONE takes on the bigger, longer-term beast of changing policy and influencing government, (RED) is, I guess, about a more instant kind of gratification. If you buy a (RED) product from GAP, Motorola, Armani, Converse or Apple, they will give up to 50% of their profit to buy AIDS drugs for mothers and children in Africa. (RED) is the consumer battalion gathering in the shopping malls. You buy the jeans, phones, iPods, shoes, sunglasses, and someone - somebody's mother, father, daughter or son - will live instead of dying...

You might think it's too difficult get these drugs to the people who most need them. A couple of years ago when DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) lobbied President Bush, Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac to do more on AIDS, we went to experts about this. From Bill and Melinda Gates, to Dr. Paul Farmer working in the poorest places on the earth, to Dr. Coutinho in his AIDS clinic in Uganda. Is it easy? No. Is it impossible? No. Can we do it? Absolutely. In 2001, there were 50,000 Africans taking ARVs. Now there are over one million people getting these lifesaving drugs thanks to President Bush's AIDS initiative, and thanks to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

There are though still 4.3 million Africans without drugs, which is why 100% of (RED) money is going directly to the Global Fund to support the work they are doing. (RED) uses the power in your pocket to keep people alive. ONE uses the power of your voice to create a more just world where people can earn their own way out of poverty.

All of this is ganging up on the same problem – the greatest health crisis in human history and the extreme poverty in which it thrives. The Number 1 question we get asked is, "What can I do to help?" From today, you can do one more thing than you could do yesterday. Shop (RED). And if you haven't already, join the One campaign at One.org.

A video about my video

So I kept getting people who couldn't understand why I was making that little video if a. I'm not making any money from it and b. it's not a contest or anything. So, naturally, I made a video about it:



Now stop asking questions and go shop (RED)!!

P.S. For those of you reading this off my Facebook page, here's a direct link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPi6TjIiIak

...but in the future (and for past entries) you'll have to click "View original post" to see links and photos that you might be missing.

cbs2chicago.com - Visit From Oprah And Bono Stops Downtown Traffic

cbs2chicago.com - Visit From Oprah And Bono Stops Downtown Traffic

My (RED) Video is Finished!!

I've been working on this for a while. Hope you enjoy. Please visit the site.

What a Pandemic Really is

My last post (regarding TB) reminded me of this sobering bit from Sach's talk last month. Sorry about the text on the screen:




I know I don't have that many readers, but I know there are a few here and there who don't already know me and just in case you aren't aware -- Please support the Global Fund Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. Become (RED).

Independent Online - New drug-resistant TB strain

From news.independent.co.uk:

EU alert over new drug-resistant TB
By Stephen Castle, Europe Correspondent
Published: 11 October 2006

Health officials raised the alert yesterday over a new drug-resistant and more deadly form of tuberculosis, saying the disease now poses a more serious threat to Europe than at any time since the Second World War.

The world's deadliest curable illness, which is spread by coughing and sneezing, has taken a strong hold in and around the EU's borders, particularly in former Soviet countries where Aids has also flourished.

Markuu Niskala, secretary-general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said: "The drug resistance that we are seeing now is without doubt the most alarming TB situation on the continent since the Second World War, and our message to EU leaders is, 'Wake up. Do not delay. Do not let this problem get further out of hand'."

The comments came as health officials launched a campaign to fight the epidemic, which has been prompted by rapid spread of the disease in Baltic countries, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

About 450,000 people fall sick with TB and nearly 70,000 die from it in the European region each year.

Lasha Goguadze, senior health officer for the IFRC, said: "TB is one of the poverty-related diseases and these countries are not able to cope with the problem."

With a highly-mobile population in Europe, TB is spreading to more affluent areas. In London it has been on the rise for about a decade and rates in some areas such as Newham are as high as 100 per 100,000.

Baguettes Géantes?

Baguettes Géantes?, originally uploaded by tinkertart.

So the french call drum sticks "baguettes"? Seriously, see for yourself at www.baguetterie.fr.

GoogleTube

Eweek.xom - Google Purchases YouTube for $1.6B

Highlights --
YouTube and Google Video will continue to operate independently of each other.

YouTube...serves over 100 million videos per day... The site has captured 47.07 percent of the online video market, compared to Google's 11.09 percent. Google, meanwhile, holds about 50 percent of search market share, outstripping its closest rival, Yahoo, by about 25 percent.

The acquisition of YouTube gives Google a greater ability to capture more of the online video and social networking advertising market. Buying YouTube may also give Google a competitive edge against News Corp., which owns social networking site MySpace. MySpace currently owns about 20 percent of the video-sharing market, according to Hitwise.

Schmidt and Google co-founder Sergey Brin said that beyond culture, Google was enticed by the "20-30 different ways" that Google and YouTube could work together.

When asked why they felt it was necessary to buy YouTube, given that Google has its own video product and video advertising outlets, Schmidt said that YouTube was the "clear winner on the social networking side of video."

YouTube will continue to maintain its own brand identity and offices in San Bruno, Calif.

Woot! My first advert.

Tryin' to add to your numbers.

All 2.5 of ya.

Tell your friends.

August and Everything After

In honor of mah brovah's b-day, here is a favorite recording of his and mine -- As I understand it, the only performance ever of Counting Crow's "August and Everything After," the lyrics of which appear on the album cover of their album of the same name.

Counting Crows - August and Everything After - 12-12-03 -- Via YSI

Add Me to Your Reader!

Kind of related to the last post...

This site does have an RSS feed:

http://lilbmcg.blogspot.com/atom.xml

If you use Google Reader, Google Homepage, or anything like that, you can add my blog to your list and you'l NEVER forget to check my blog again! ;)

Happy reading!

New Google Features

What is it with those people over at Google? They must have ideas flying out their arses. I've got this vision of thousands of fantastic ideas flying out of arses like fireworks, lighting up Google Headquarters like the aurora borealis. I bet you can see it from SF across the Bay.

I mean serious? How do they keep coming up with stuff like this? Do they ever sleep?

Some of the latest developments have to do with the homepage. Well I've been using that one since they popped it out, and now they've gone and read my mind and made the appropriate tweaks.

The big one, is tabs. I had filled up my main page with lots of little features and feeds, from the science and tech industries, world news from the NYTimes and BBC, and other stuff. And the page started to get crowded and more often than not I was too lazy to scroll down and read the headlines that were out of frame.

Now, they did come up with an obvious (and fantastic) solution, which was the Google Reader, but I haven't gone through all of my sites and put the newsfeeds in yet. And ya know, I sorta like having it all there on one page, so I can scan headlines like I would the front page of a newspaper. Well, as it happens, having tabs on your Google Homepage kinda makes it feel like your own personalized newspaper. It's great! What a revolution in my reading habits. :)

They've also added some features, including a handy-dandy to-do list, and a mini Google calendar.

Here are some screen shots of how I've got mine set up. I feel so organized!


Entire Page

From New Google Fe...

Detail of personalized tabs, To-Do list, and Calendar

From New Google Fe...