This morning, as part of my morning stroll on the way to the office, I ran into an unusual sign: one that asked me expressly to commit to spend at least $50 each month in independently owned stores to help save my local economy. It turns out this poster was not a stand-alone thing: it was part of a bigger movement, the 3/50 Project!
To support your local economy, visit the350project.net and learn more.
The City of Berkeley is considering terminating our curbside recycling program based on a a consultant report (read the full report here) which is seriously flawed (read a summary of the problems with the report here)
The Ecology Center urgently needs our help to save this community-based program:
1) Call or email your City Council representative today. Council members’ phone numbers and email addresses may be found here. To find your district, refer to the district map on the City’s website.
2) Do your best to attend the Berkeley City Council Meeting Tuesday, March 8th at 5:30pm in the City Council Chambers, 2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way.
3) Sign this petition (below) letting the Berkeley City Council know why you disagree with this decision.
4) Use your Facebook status update to spread the word. Here’s some text you can copy and paste: “The Ecology Center is at risk. Please voice your support! Like their Facebook page (http://facebook.com/ecologycenter.org) for more details.”
5) Above all, spread the word to friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers.
The future of our the Ecology Center, the Berkeley curbside recycling program is at stake!
This morning, I was curious enough to click on an ad on a web site (I click on very few ads) and I was led to a web site that talked about “African Mango”. Here’s a screenshot of the page I was taken to: you can click on it for a longer version, including all the content, down to the first “comments”:
As a patient advocate and a web user, I am always curious when I learn about these kinds of things… like the “reporter” from the “news web site”, I was curious to learn more about this new diet… Notice my use of quotes.
Why do I imply with my quotes that this is not a reporter writing about a new diet, or that this is not a news web site:
It’s not a real news site and they are not really doing what they say:
As part of a new series: “Diet Trends: A look at America’s Top Diets” we examine consumer tips for dieting during a recession
These guys are “content phishing”. I am not sure if it’s even a term that exists, but it’s the name I give to these kinds of practices, similar to the ones by people trying to make you believe you are visiting your bank web site, to steal your banking data (and money) from you. These kinds of practices are unethical and should not be allowed!
When you read about something that seems too good to be true, maybe it is! Please take a few moments to navigate around the site you get to. You may discover a lot, simply by clicking around as I did…
What’s sad is that, when I see practices like this one, I don’t even care any more if what they somehow got on Reuters Health about African Mango two years ago is true or not. Anyone willing to go to this extreme to promote their product is not going to get my money… and I hope they don’t get yours and they get sanctioned for deceiving people this way!
Last week, Andreina sold her biggest and most valuable piece ever (the big tree in the photo below) as part of her show at City Art Gallery. I saw the piece evolve over time and saw it emerge out of the canvas as she gradually built it into the gorgeous painting that it became.
This piece serves as an example of the evolution I have seen in Andreina and how she’s taken her artwork to a whole new level. I used to really like her work back when she started painting, while we lived in Orlando. But today, I LOVE her paintings. I know I sound biased and maybe I am, but I just want to say it: I am proud of you, Andre! You are really an incredible artist and your art will continue to touch the lives of many more people. TE AMO (I LOVE YOU!)
If you haven’t visited the show at the gallery, come by (828 Valencia St. in San Francisco). The show is still open and she (along with many other incredible artists) has many more amazing pieces. I invite you too, to become a fan of her at Evolve Art Studio on Facebook
A few weeks ago, Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, wrote in The New Yorker about Twitter, Facebook and social media. In his article, near the end he argued:
[Social media] makes it easier for activists to express themselves, and harder for that expression to have any impact.
I have enjoyed many of Gladwell’s books and highly respect him. But I think he got this one wrong. The best example of this is this year’s Big Blue Test video:
We asked the community (the diabetic blogosphere, nonprofit geeks, friends, family… you name it) to watch this video and share it, because (literally), each view equals a donation that will help a child with diabetes in need.
How is this possible? Roche Diabetes Care will make a donation of 75 cents for every view the video receives between Nov. 1 and Nov. 14 (World Diabetes Day) up to 100,000 views, for a maximum donation of $75,000. These funds will be donated to the Diabetes Hands Foundation and they will use the donation to help the Life for a Child program, run by the International Diabetes Federation, and Insulin For Life, two global, humanitarian organizations that provide diabetes medication and supplies to children in the world’s poorest countries.
What kind of impact can $75,000 make for these programs? Ron Raab, President of Insulin For Life told us:
“Every time someone watches this video, it will make a real contribution to someone actually staying alive. These donations go a long, long way. In places we assist, like Ecuador, less than 50 dollars keeps a person needing insulin alive for an entire year as it covers the transport cost for us to send the donated insulin.”
What has the response to the campaign been so far?
Amazing! We’re about to hit 70,000 views, 700 likes and 300 comments and have five more days ahead of us to reach the 100,000 views goal. On Twitter, there have been more than 2,200 tweets including #bigbluetest in the past 7 seven days.
By the time, the donation is made, the lives of thousands of children with diabetes in need will have been saved. If THAT is not making an impact, then I don’t know what to say to Gladwell… So, if you have not watched the video yet, please check out the Big Blue Test video. If you have watched it, take a couple of minutes and watch it again. Regardless, watch it and share it.
And if you are Malcolm Gladwell and you are reading this… please watch it and share it too! 
Update:
As of Nov. 19, 2010, the video had been watched nearly 120,000 times. We reached the goal of 100,000 the evening of Saturday, Nov. 13 and Roche will be making the donation of $75,000 they pledged to help children with diabetes in need.
A pesar de que estoy lejos, el amor por mi pais no disminuye. Y hoy siento un gran orgullo!
Venezuela decidio ayer. Y como resultado la nueva Asamblea Nacional es una mas digna representacion de la diversidad que tenemos en nuestro pais y no un monolitico amontonamiento de votos a favor del presidente, que solo contribuia a amasar mas y mas poder en manos de menos y menos personas.
Vean la nueva composicion de la Asamblea Nacional.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| The Parent Company Trap | ||||
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Agreed!!!
“We must together as a nation STOP WATCHING FOX NEWS!”
Today, I participated in a breakfast hosted by Coro, a nonprofit that has been around for several decades with the goal of training tomorrow’s leaders. For example, one prominent Coro alumni was California Senator Diane Feinstein.
Had it not been for my friend Kath from Madera Group, I would have never learned of them or about the possibility of hosting one of their youth fellows. It turns out, starting July 7, at the Diabetes Hands Foundation we will have a Berkeley High School student working with us full-time, three days a week, on a very tangible project (our No-Sugar Added Poetry book), as part of his summer internship.
Why am I so excited? Watch this video so you can better understand how this program helps share the future!