October 2011
14 posts
My favorite: There are more barrels of bourbon in the state of Kentucky, than there are people in the state of Kentucky.
Walk around while seeing the world upside down and backward. Hurtle two stories toward the earth in a metal and plastic tube as others watch and, almost certainly, laugh. Ingest an unidentified white pill, or a fistful if you choose. Inhale an amphetaminelike substance said to induce amorous feelings. Feel your nose grow. Feel the walls shift around you. Feel yourself slam face first into a tree at high speed. Or, if you really want to prove your dedication to art, take off all your clothes and lie with friends or strangers in a modified sensory deprivation tank in heavily salinized water, heated to the temperature of human skin.
This sounds absolutely awesome. Art as experience.
Fun times, thou beslubbering onion-eyed pignut!
We need more people like Howard Schultz around. The CEO of Starbucks just launched an unprecedented program called “Create Jobs for America” with the goal of funding loans to American Small Businesses and hence, igniting job creation. Through the program, Starbucks will solicit small donations from its customers. These donations will then be turned into equity that can be leveraged 7 to 1 to create much larger loans.
Pretty incredible. I hope that this ignites a wave of big businesses using their networks, influence and power to accomplish huge amounts of social good. I can’t wait to see the results.
According to The New York Times, “The Starbucks Foundation is starting things off with a $5 million donation. Schultz is hoping to convince other national retail chains to participate as well — so that Starbucks isn’t the only place people can join in the effort. And, of course, he is hoping that Starbucks customers will flock to it in droves.
It makes me so disappointed when people blindly believe the rumor, hearsay and misinformation that now spreads like a superbug across the web and that burrows deep into the media.
It doesn’t seem like many people stop to research the content they read to see if it’s true, or god forbid, make a well-considered decision for themselves. Which is funny to me, since we have more information at our fingertips than ever.
I guess it’s easier to believe the ridiculous and the extreme, point fingers, villify and jump on the bandwagon. Easier to reblog or link instead of think. I wish more people would put in the effort and reach their own conclusions, instead of latching on to whatever opinion’s en vogue.
Myself included sometimes. Here’s to committing to not taking the easy way out.
In what may be the Gettysburg Address of graduation speechism, Jobs spoke at Stanford, in 2005. Ever the corporate rebel, he did not dress for the occasion, but wore jeans and dark sneakers under his black robe. He did not shave. He told three personal stories, and the third was about death, which “is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.”
Steve Jobs will not be replaced by the new.
Read more http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/10/steve-jobs-dies-1955-2011.html#ixzz1ZxqL08K7
One of the nonprofits I support shared my name and address with some company that subsequently sent it out to hundreds upon hundreds of other nonprofits. Every day, I get at least two pieces of mail from charities - some that I’ve heard of, some that I haven’t - asking me for my money. Some days it’s more like five pieces. I wouldn’t be so upset about this if these nonprofits didn’t include actual pennies and nickels pasted inside their envelopes. Ridiculous. Today, I received an envelope that had two notepads, a dreamcatcher, stickers, and mailing labels from a nonprofit I’ve never heard of and is Christian-affiliated (I’m Jewish). What a waste of money. These are the most backwards fundraising efforts I’ve ever witnessed.
Join the internet age, stop sending junk mail, and figure out your target demographic. Social media and online giving campaigns are a whole lot more effective then guilting potential supporters through loose change.
