Random Stuff
Well, it has been a busy week and there are a lot of things that I would have liked to write about that I just didn’t get a chance. I may write about some of them in more details soon.
change.org is now open. They describe themselves as a “social network for hundreds of social causes and over 1 million nonprofit organizations.” Yup, yet another online social network (YAOSN). It does have a clearer goal than many of the online social networks which seem to exist solely for the purpose of being YAOSN. I’m an early adopter there, and I hope you stop by.
Toyota Debuts New Cars Simultaneously in Chicago, Second Life. Today, I went on to Second Life with my daughter and we bought a new Toyota. It is bright pink, to match my daughter’s preferences. I’m still not good at driving it, but I’m getting there. I also haven’t gotten a John Edwards bumper sticker for it yet.
Speaking of John Edwards and Second Life, I got an email that the campaign has set up an official group in Second Life. I’ve joined what I’m told is the official group, but I don’t have any more information on it yet.
Yesterday, I wrote about the elusive micropayment. Today, I paid for my new Toyota in Linden dollars. Yesterday, I got a MasterCard Debit card from Obopay, so now people can send money with their cellphone to me that I can access immediately with a Debit Card. They seem to be targeting teenagers, talking about allowances and the ability to get parents to send cash quickly in a crunch. I haven’t sent money with my cellphone yet, and I worry that I’ll never remember the proper command to send money.
I received a galley of Jeffery Feldman’s upcoming book, Framing the Debate: Famous Presidential Speeches and How Progressives Can Use Them to Change the Conversation (And Win Elections). On first glance, this looks like a must have book, although I sure hope I don’t get the title in a game of charades. I will write more about this soon.
My mind has been spinning about this book together with Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces. At some point, I expect to have a long rambling post about the return of the hero and how it applies to personal and political life, at least when my mind stops spinning long enough.
It has been such a busy week, that there are probably a bunch of other things I wanted to blog about and have, at least for now, completely forgotten about.
Firstgiving
Submitted by brittanyb on Mon, 02/12/2007 - 12:21. span>Another website that helps you mobilize your online network for social change is www.Firstgiving.com. Firstgiving is a website that helps you create a free personalized fundraising page for any non-profit that is registered with GuideStar. After you create you page, you can market it on your blog or various social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace, etc) with a widget or a badge. A widget gives a real-time representation of your fundraising page and shows your supporters how close you are to your goal as you move along your campaign. It's a great way to mobilize your online network (on websites that they are already on) for a cause that you are passionate about and personally committed to help.