You are currently browsing the monthly archive for March, 2007.
“According to Professor Slovic, human psychology is such that it may be more useful to show the world a picture of a single Darfuri refugee than dwell on the big numbers. It’s not that we don’t care about Darfur’s hundreds of thousands of displaced and killed - we’re just unable to comprehend the scale of the suffering, he says. The numbers are tragic beyond the scope of imaginable tragedy, and therefore we feel powerless to help.”
What do you think, would it be better to not flood people with how much suffering is really going on, or show only one or two hurting people?
While clicking links on different sites I came across 70*7 and have fell in love with what this company is doing. Here’s a little bit about them and a plug to check out their site.
“It is our mission at 70 Star 7 to see the world positively impacted by giving to charities and our individual communities using creativity as the platform.”
Our Mission
“In the case of a limited edition shirt, each artist donates a shirt design to be used in a limited edition printing of 70 shirts. Once a individual shirt design has sold out, the profits get distributed like this:
$1050.00 goes to…
a charity of the artists choice.
$70.00 goes to…
someone in need, that the artist knows within their own community.”
Name: Tyler Odom
Band: Cassino
What’s your story for being in a band? How did you come to have a career in music?
I’ve always had a strong interest in music for as long as I can remember. I got my first guitar at about the age of 11 and that’s really when I started playing music. Nick and I met when I was 13 and we started playing in bands together around that time. Eventually it led to the both of us being in Northstar and now Cassino. Though, I’m still not exactly sure if I would call it a career.
So we mentioned the Playstation 3 was donating some of it’s processor cycles to cure causes such as cancer while not being used to play games. Apparently the PS3 is as powerful of 10 computers doing the same job. The PS3 has just recently jumped into the humanitarian game and is already leading the way. Want more info, check it out here
Check out this cool website www.alertnet.org
They have the tag line “Alerting Humanitarians to Emergence”
It’s a nice resource, but what are some other ones? What are the ways you find out about things that are going on in this world?
I often find out about charities and organizations and get caught up in it real fast thinking, “Ya this is what we really need to get involved in and change in the world”. I can’t decide which is the most important cause we should be fighting, aren’t all important?
It seems like everyone is fighting for your dollars so they can do something to change the world. I for one never know which one to choose or which one will do the most good. We have a bunch on our “Make a difference” page, so what I would recommend is finding one that tugs at your heart and then focus on that one. Other people will choose other ones and get involved where they feel the need so commit and trust that all these causes will find the support they need from people care about the cause.
Name: Tim McDonald
Band: Broken Poets
What’s your story for being in a band? How did you come to have a career in music?
I think when I started writing songs it was a way for me to vent whatever teenage confusion I had going on at the time. From there it’s morphed into so many different stages of expression, I’ve lost count. Some good, some bad, some very bad, but it’s always been a part of my life for sure. Career? Oh yeah, I’m still working towards that.
Name: Robb Vallier
Band: Grandville
What’s your story for being in a band?
Well, I’ve been playing with other musicians since I was 11, and when you make a lot of music with someone there becomes this bond, which is tighter than any girlfriend or normal buddy you hang out with. I think after you experience that kind of bond you can feel quite empty without it. I’ll be in a band till I die! We are all very close and it’s nice to have a common goal and be excited about the same things with a group!
“DARE NOT WALK ALONE UNCOVERS THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE “WAR OF IDEAS” IN ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA THAT LED TO THE PASSAGE OF THE FIRST CIVIL RIGHTS BILL ON JULY 2ND 1964…AND THE CONTINUED WAR 40 YEARS LATER WHERE “WE ARE STILL LOSING LIVES EVERYDAY”
Has anyone seen this film? I ran across this and was curious to hear feedback on it. Sounds interesting, I’ll have to check it out.
You can watch the trailer and find out more Here
“El Hierro, one of the smallest of Spain’s Canary Islands, is to receive 100 percent of its electricity supply from renewable energy sources, the Madrid government said Tuesday.
As part of a plan through to 2009, El Hierro will soon be able to rely on a combination of hydroelectricity and wind power to generate its electricity, the industry ministry said.”
This stuff about alternative fuel and power sources is not something we post about regularly but I think it is important. I for one often forget or sometimes just don’t care about pollution because frankly when it’s bad enough to be a real problem I’ll be long gone. I know that sucks to say but I’m sure alot of people think the same way, even though it’s not right.
Skate 4 Cancer and Music Saves Lives are both nominated for Myspace’s Impact Award. You can vote for them at www.myspace.com/impactawards
“Sony announced on Thursday that its PlayStation 3 video game consoles will be enhanced to join a supercomputing network researching causes of cancer, Alzheimer’s and other incurable diseases.”
Intruiged? I bet you are. We posted before about cycling through problems, where unused computer processor cycles were put to use for researching different problems and diseases. The PS3 is just the next computer to offer it’s cycles to a cause.
what do you think, real good intentions or publicity stunt? Read the story here
“Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards has made poverty eradication in the U.S. his central focus since 2004, when he first sought the Democratic presidential nomination and then ran as vice presidential running mate on the ticket headed by Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. The issue has remained his main rallying point as he seeks the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.”
“…Edwards took his anti-poverty campaign international, calling for a systematic effort to tackle global poverty. Edwards called this effort the newest element of the “fundamental transformational changes” he said are needed to provide a better future for the U.S. and the world. The plan is “focused on tackling global poverty and improving, in the process, the security of America and the rest of the world,” he told reporters in a conference call ahead of the speech.”
Is this a story of hope? It seems to be. I mean political figures running for office might be inclined to say almost anything so what’s the point of getting hopes up? The thing that intrigues me though is that fighting poverty has been a constant goal of the senators. What does everyone else think of the optimism shown by someone running for president?
Full article here
Name: Dan Koch
Band: Sherwood
What’s your story for being in a band? How did you come to have a career in music?
We all met in college and started taking the band pretty seriously. Eventually, when Nate and Joe graduated, the rest of us had to drop out to start touring. We’ve been touring since then (Spring 2004).
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All too often I just get bummed out when reading the news. The stories of hope and over coming the injustice in this world seem like they rarely get told. The stories of who killed whom, and lies being exposed are apparently more interesting. This is nothing new I mean people say the news is depressing everyday, but is that excuse, and if it is, is it even a good one?
Are there any stories of hope that anyone has to tell or post links to? Please do in the comments
“The international community should take a “far tougher line” against Sudan over atrocities in Darfur to prevent extremism spreading across Africa, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday.”
“Asked if that meant sending in British troops, he said: “I don’t think we are able to send troops in but I certainly think the international community should be. “They should be saying to the Bashir government in Sudan: if you’re not prepared to comply with what the United Nations are saying, we’re going to get progressively harder with you…”
“The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Tykerb (lapatinib), a new targeted anti-cancer treatment, to be used in combination with capectabine (Xeloda), another cancer drug, for patients with advanced, metastatic breast cancer that is HER2 positive (tumors that exhibit HER2 protein).”
Read the rest of the article talking about the new drug right here. Does this give you hope that an overall cure is coming for cancer, or do you think it’s still a ways off?
Name: Yuri Ruley
Band: MxPx
What’s your story for being in a band? How did you come to have a career in music?
I had some friends in junior high that played in bands. Through their encouragement and my parent’s willingness to open up their checkbook, I started playing the drums. I credit having a career as a musician to the dedication and hard work of the three band members and a few lucky breaks along the way.
The web is a great tool for sharing ideas and freedom of expression. However, efforts to try and control the Internet are growing. Internet repression is reported in countries like China, Vietnam, Tunisia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria. People are persecuted and imprisoned simply for criticizing their government, calling for democracy and greater press freedom, or exposing human rights abuses, online.
“There are around 639 million small arms and light weapons in the world today. Eight million more are produced every year.
Without strict control, such weapons will continue to fuel violent conflict, state repression, crime, and domestic abuse. Unless governments act to stop the spread of arms, more lives will be lost, more human rights violations will take place, and more people will be denied the chance to escape poverty.”
What do you think about this? Want to find a solution or more information? Please check out Controlarms.org
Name: Matthew Mayfield
Band: Moses Mayfield
What’s your story for being in a band? How did you come to have a career in music?
For me, it was never of question of whether or not I’d be in a band…it was just a question of whether or not i would be able to make a career out of it. This is something I’ve wanted to do since I started playing guitar around 9 and writing songs around 12. I think the key moment for me was in the ‘November Rain’ video…watching slash get up on the piano at the end…I remember being like ‘I have GOT TO be in a rock band!’
“World Community Grid’s mission is to create the world’s largest public computing grid to tackle projects that benefit humanity.”
But what exactly does that mean?
“How Grid Technology Works
Making a difference has never been easier! Grid technology is simple and safe to use. To start, you register, then download and install a small program or “agent” onto your computer.
When idle, your computer will request data on a specific project from World Community Grid’s server. It will then perform computations on this data, send the results back to the server, and ask the server for a new piece of work. Each computation that your computer performs provides scientists with critical information that accelerates the pace of research!”
I know there are people out there… so let us know “What’s the most important thing to YOU?” Leave a comment letting us know
“Rosa Loves is less about charity and more about awareness, awareness that we are all apart of something greater and are therefore joined by common threads.”
I love what Rosa Loves is all about. Not because it’s a new idea, but because it’s one that not many people or companies can seem to stay true to. Our eyes are often bigger than (in this case) our hearts and pretty soon what started off as trying to do something for people, turns into a waste.
“*AN INTRODUCTION TO MODERN-DAY SLAVERY – These stories are designed to better frame our understanding of modern-day slavery. Without a conceptual framework to begin with the stories within the Map Slavery section may come across as hollow or simply misunderstood.”
The Not For Sale Campaign website has a bunch of real stories of child sex trafficking.These can be hard to read, but often we choose to forget that they things are still happening today and if we don’t know what’s going how are we able to help fix the problem. I urge you to read the stories and get involved at Notforsalecampaign.org
If you are heading out to the Relient K tour with Mae and Sherwood, bring a few extra bucks to help Sherwood raise money for Blood:water mission, an organization who is digging, for clean water, wells in Africa.
Name: Jonathan Jones
Band: Waking Ashland
What’s your story for being in a band? How did you come to have a
career in music?
I probably knew I wanted to be in a band the first time I ever played music with other people besides myself (playing classical piano can get tedious). It was the first time I played with a drummer and guitarist. I think I was around 15 years old. I just got this silly grin on my face and this pure feeling of joy. That experience is still like nothing else I have ever experienced. When you go through something like that you just know.
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I’ve seen the “more important than music” banner on a bunch of different people’s myspace pages, thanks so much for the support.
we want feedback too, is there anything you’d like to hear about, or ways we can improve the site people leave some comments.
