Philanthropy
Philanthropy
 Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 06/19/2008 - 13:11 (Check me out!)
My good friend Stephen Wilmarth is organizing a bunch of students to go to China as part of Ningxia Dragon Student Ambassadors. He has sent out an email describing this:
On June 30th, students from communities across Connecticut will leave for China and participate in what will likely be a life-changing experience. We will arrive in Shanghai and travel to the city of Xi'an, a former capital of the very first Chinese emperor. Students will visit the incredible mausoleum of the Terracotta Army.
We will embark on a 10 day tour through the provinces of Ningxia and Inner Mongolia, visiting Buddhist, Taoist, and Islamic shrines, climbing 500 foot high dunes in the Gobi desert, hiking through a landscape of mountains and high plains rarely visited by westerners, and meeting peoples of many religious and ethnic minorities who call this land along the ancient Silk Road home.
Our students will engage Chinese students in high schools and universities across the region, spreading a message of shared values and goodwill, and will come to understand the cultural and educational communities that will make China a force to be reckoned with in the 21st century. Our students will stay in the homes of Chinese students, share meals, and learn what being Chinese is like in 2008.
And then, we will travel to the province of Sichuan and "adopt" a school that has suffered the trauma of the terrible earthquake of last month. Upon returning to the US, our students - representing the very students upon which our hopes and dreams for a better future depend - have devised plans to provide the emotional and moral support for their adopted school community.
Three of our 2008 Summer Camp students come from families that can ill-afford the cost of such an important experience. But that won't stop them. This message is intended to ask you to help. We know that these times have put pressure on all of us economically. It is difficult to ask you to provide these students with the support they will need to make this journey.
If you are interested in helping, please click on the Chip In Widget that I’ve added to the right hand column of this site.
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 06/17/2008 - 09:51 (Check me out!)
I continue to fight a cold and have not been able to get enough sleep recently, so I’m pretty grumpy. On top of this, there is a long list of tasks that keep getting put off, causing the list to get longer, including several blog posts I need to write. So, I will combine a few of them into this post, and then, when and if time permits, expand upon them.
Firefox 3
Today is Firefox 3 day. Starting at 1 PM EDT, people will be able to download the official version of Firefox 3. I downloaded the final release candidate and have run it a little bit. So far, there isn’t much that I’ve seen as improvements. The one feature that I like best is a ‘most viewed’ tab. Things I don’t like: You need to be running at least Windows 2000. It won’t run on my main machine which is still Windows NT. Yeah, I know, I should upgrade, but Windows NT has been good enough for me for years.
Things I’m trying to get used to: With Firefox 2, you have these little arrows next to your back and forward buttons so you can skip back, or forward, several pages. In Firefox 3, they’ve combined this into one button. There is a little circle next to the page showing where you are. A little more compressed; mixed feelings about it. Likewise, the dropdown list of recently visited sites is now split onto two lines; the title on the top and the link below it. I’m still used to the old way of displaying the list with the URL on the left and the title on the right. I prefer the older format. Perhaps there is a way of tweaking Firefox 3 to look more like Firefox 2.
Associated Press
Recently, the Associated Press sent takedown orders to a blog for quoting brief passages of AP articles. They requested the removal of six blog posts and one comment for quoting passages from AP stories ranging from 33 to 79 words. At the core of this is a battle over what constitutes Fair Use. The AP positions borders on asserting that no use of AP content is fair. First off, this is really stupid on the APs part. They should be encouraging people to link to their content. Instead, they have discouraged people from linking to their content. The UnAssociated Press is calling for a boycott of all AP stories. People are urging others to stop Digging article from the Associated Press and any other activities that might drive traffic to AP stories. Major hat tip to Liza Sabater for her coverage of this at Culture Kitchen. For more information on this, start off with Netroots' bloggers boycott of Associated Press is working.
EntreCard
In a similarly stupid move, EntreCard is asking bloggers to write for them, offering between 700 and 2000 EntreCard credits for reviews of other blogs. Depending on how much they actually pay, and the exchange rate of EntreCard credits, that works out to be between around $2.50 to $15 per blog post. For bloggers that do most of their writing for free, that is a major improvement, and is near the low end of the range that people get paid for writing articles about Second Life. Yet EntreCard, unlike other sites, will not permit republishing of the article on the writers own blog. They express concern about Google not liking duplicate content.
My understanding is that Google doesn’t like the same content with hundreds of links repeated over hundreds of websites in an effort to boost page rank, and that an article reposted on another site or two isn’t what Google is penalizing. If people can come up with details about Google penalizing a site for regular cross posting, please let me know.
Second Life
As a segue from grumpy to hopeful, let me comment on the Second Life birthday celebration. It starts June 23rd. There was a lot of stuff floating around about how the birthday celebration would not allow adults whose avatars are in the shape of children from participating. Linden Lab changed its position and Dusan Writer wrote a post entitled Linden Regroups and the Kids Are In. I had really wanted to write a detailed post about this, but time has slipped away. Perhaps I can write a post about the celebration.
More Second Life
The Network Culture Project at USC’s Annenberg School for Communications has a different approach to promoting community involvement in Second Life. They are having a Community Challenge contest. They have announced five finalists, with voting through the 30th. My first choice is clearly The Ability Commons. I am good friends with the folks behind The Ability Commons and hold their work in the highest regard. I haven’t voted yet, because I need to look more closely at the other finalists to determine my second and third choices. If you are in Second Life, please check out this project and the five finalists and then enter your vote.
Serena
As a final more hopeful post, I want to highligh Help Save Serena. I mentioned the effort in passing in my wandering around EntreCard sites on Bloomsday, but I didn’t have the link to the Help Save Serena blog.
There are plenty of other things that I need to write about, but I have too many other non-writing tasks to accomplish, so this will have to suffice for right now.
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 05/27/2008 - 08:06 (Check me out!)
For the past few days, I’ve been offline, camping with my family. Before that, I was at the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference for several days, and before that I had various software programs to write, websites to build, and a trip to Virginia to bring my daughters home from college. So, last night, I sat down to an email box with over 2500 unread emails and 3500 spam emails.
I deleted the spam with only a minimal glance to make sure nothing fell into the spam box by mistake. I scanned the unread emails and found around 500 that I moved off into folders which I might read someday if I ever have time. For all practical purposes, I’ve deleted them. Then I glanced through the remaining emails to see if there were any of particular importance. If I’ve missed yours, I apologize, please be patient.
The one email that particularly caught me attention was simply titled, “The Sojourner”. Soj, as she was called, has been a key part of the fabric of Second Life for nearly four years. She was part of Brigadoon, an early support community in Second Life. The first time that I recall meeting her was last February as she worked on bringing together support groups in a health care coalition.
In subsequent meetings, she spoke about her own struggles recovering from three different strokes. She spoke about how important Second Life was as a community for stroke victims. As I opened the email, I wondered what great new adventure Soj was setting off on now.
The answer struck me with grief. From the The Tribute to The Sojourner, A True Second Life Heroine, 8/18/2004-5/25/2008, I learned of her passing.
I immediately logged into Second Life and went to the memorial that has been built for her there. Along the pathway, there are all kinds of monuments to her work. At the center is a large area covered with candles. There are so many, so close together that the effect is overwhelming. It takes a special effort to read the candles.
I wandered around reading the inscriptions floating above one candle after another. People talked, should we move the candles and spread them out? Yet it was felt that it was more appropriate that the effect be overwhelming. The contributions that Soj has made to Second Life and to so many people here was overwhelming, as is the grief of so many people that loved her deeply.
I took a picture of the candles in a special way that captured to chaos of the text. I wandered from candle to candle copying down the texts. I saved much of it on the Wiki and others have checked candles and added additional texts.
I only knew Soj for a very short time and the words that I can share pale in comparison. There are many great tributes to Soj and a couple jump out at me.
From your first day in SL when we met
You had a Dream
I am glad i could help you get it started
so long ago in a place called Brigadoon
You will be missed here.
-- Coos Yellowknife
One Short Sleepe past, we wake eternally,
and death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.
-- John Donne.
Soj, you got your second set of wings! Godspeed.
Rest In Peace, The Sojourner
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 05/04/2008 - 04:42 (Check me out!)
Connecticut State Senate Candidate, Mike Renzullo will be walking in the Multiple Sclerosis walk at 9 AM starting in Litchfield. He is encouraging people to join him for the walk. If you can’t make it to Litchfield, there are several other walks going on through out Connecticut today. Mike is running a great campaign, including service politics into his activities and sending out a great newsletter.
In his latest newsletter, he has a great section about picking up trash on Earth Day.
Last Saturday was Earth Day, and folks gathered at Coe Park in Torrington for a city-wide clean up. I was assigned to pick up trash at a park on Oak Street. This is where older kids hold Little League games and play basketball, and there is a playground for the younger kids. My cousin Kevin used to live in that neighborhood, and we used to go to this park as kids. This is a perfect example of how we can all have a direct effect in making our communities a little nicer. In about an hour and a half, I picked up an entire trash bag full of cigarette butts, broken glass, cans, bottles, food wrappers, and other various types of refuse. While I was working, a couple of the parents who were there watching their kids joined in, and started collecting trash, too!
For a more traditional campaign event, please consider stopping by at the fundraiser for Martin Goldberg who is also running for State Senate in Connecticut. The event starts at 2 PM at the home of Geena Clonan and Peter Schrobenhauser, 1119 Sasco Hill Road, Fairfield, CT 06824. Details can be found on MyLeftNutmeg.
In the evening, Fiona and I will make a second attempt at a show on BlogTalkRadio. I was fairly disappointed that there were technical problems last week. Support from BlogTalkRadio seemed fairly responsive during the attempt, but the problem was not resolved during the show slot, and the folks at BlogTalkRadio failed to follow up on what happened or how it has been addressed, so I am a little bit dubious about whether the show will end up happening this week, or the quality of BlogTalkRadio’s service.
Anything else exciting going on?
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 04/25/2008 - 05:13 (Check me out!)
Today, George Bush visits Connecticut to raise funds for David Cappiello’s bid to unseat Congressman Chris Murphy in Connecticut’s Fifth Congressional District. However, his visit is also bound to help raise money for Chris Murphy as well as for Jim Himes, who is challenging Chris Shays in Connecticut’s Fourth Congressional District.
Chris Murphy sent out an email asking for people to donate here. Charles Monaco sent out an email pointing out the CT Progressive Bloggers Act Blue page raising money for both Chris Murphy and Jim Himes.
Connecticut Opposes the War has been organizing protests for both Hartford, where Bush will “read a statement on Malaria Awareness” and in Kent. Visit their website for details.
Other upcoming political events in Connecticut include two events for Democratic State Senate candidates. Martin Goldberg, who is running for State Senate in the 28th District, Easton, Fairfield, Newtown, and Weston, will be having a fundraiser on May 4th from 2 until 4 PM at the house of Geena Clonan and Peter Schrobenhauser in Fairfield. Susan Bysiewicz, Jim Himes, John Hartwell, Dan Malloy, Kim Fawcett, Tom Christiano, and Tom Drew are all expected to be in attendance.
Also on May 4th, is the Multiple Sclerois walk. It will be taking place in several towns across Connecticut. Mike Renzullo, who is running for State Senate in the 30th State Senate district, recently sent out an email encouraging people to participate. He went to high school with Geizha Ahles, who is fighting MS and they will be participating in the Walk in Litchfield.
I like it that Mike is using his campaign to encourage people to get involved in more than just the political process. It reminds me of the Service Politics Institute up in Burlington, VT, which does a great job of tying politics and service together.
Will Service Politics be part of the discussion in the Panel discussion about 21st Century Activism and the Future of the Democratic Party taking place at Fairfield High School on May 13th? I sure hope it is. This panel will include Jim Dean, Jim Himes, Kim Fawcett and Ken Flatto and be followed by a concert by BUILT IN MOTION
In this same vein, Mitch Fuchs, chair of the Fairfield DTC has sent out an email highlighting a concert to benefit the Connecticut Burns Care Foundation. It will take place May 29th, and details can be found on the Connecticut Burns Care Foundation website.
So, whether you want to protest with folks in Hartford or Kent, attend some fundraisers in Fairfield, or go for a walk to raise money for the MS Society, there are plenty of upcoming opportunities to be involved here in Connecticut.
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 05:59 (Check me out!)
Yesterday, I was found out that change.org has named me their ‘Changemaker of the Week’. I was pretty excited about that.
Change.org is a social activism portal aimed at connecting people with similar interests so that they can work together for more effective actions. When I stumble across a cause that I’m interested in, Change.org is one of the first places I go to look for more information about the cause and who else is interested. In addition, when someone contacts me about an issue I try to help them connect with others on change.org
I guess it is this approach that has helped me become the Changemaker of the Week, because I don’t do anything out of the ordinary in my activism. Yet perhaps, that is an important part of the message. Meaningful activism can be very simple changes; letting other people know about good causes and good organizations trying help these causes, and then making small changes that combined with the actions of others can have a big effect.
One example is Project Laundry List.
Project Laundry List uses words, images, and advocacy to educate people about how simple lifestyle modifications, including air-drying one's clothes, reduce our dependence on environmentally and culturally costly energy sources.
Other actions have been as simple as letting people know about interesting organizations, like Council for a Livable World or Great Strides Therapeutic Riding.
Whatever change you would like to see in the world, Change.org is a great place to start.
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 04/05/2008 - 19:36 (Check me out!)
Lissencephaly? Until today, I had never heard of it, and if it wasn’t for something horrible going on in Florida, I probably never would have heard of it. Yet from horrible situations, it is possible to bring about some good, raising awareness about health issues and how the government doesn’t always respond wisely.
Lissencephaly, which means ‘smooth brain’, is a genetic defect caused by mutations of genes on chromosome 17 and X. For the biology geeks, ‘Classical lissencephaly may be caused by mutations of genes in chromosome bands 17p13.3 and Xq22.3-q23’, according to the lissencephaly research project. The Wikipedia article about lissencephaly states that “The prognosis for children with lissencephaly varies depending on the degree of brain malformation. Many individuals show no significant development beyond a 3- to 5-month-old level. … Many will die before the age of 2”
So, what do you do for a 19 year old woman, who has managed to keep her child alive to age four, even though he has only managed to grow to ten pounds? Perhaps you find special ways of helping her with this difficult situation, provide her with extra support, or something like that.
Well, that isn’t how they handle things in Florida. Instead, she was charged with second-degree felony child neglect. She was arrested and spent more than four days locked up, held on $100,000 bail before a judge ordered her release.
Today, I received emails from a few different sources. Each of them were forwards of messages sent by Dr. David Ledbetter of the Department of Human Genetics, Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. Dr. Ledbetter is noted for his work on Lissencephaly and was sending on a request from Dianna Fitzgerald. Ms. Fitzgerald is president of the Lissencephaly Network.
She has started a petition to Exonerate Erin and Give her child back. The petition asks Florida Governor Crist to “Drop the charges against Erin and send her son home.” Personally, I think the petition asks for way too little. There needs to be a serious investigation into how the Santa Rosa County’s Child Protection Team could have handled this so badly.
So, please, sign the petition, and use this to help raise awareness of lissencephaly and other childhood illnesses that parents struggle valiantly to cope with.
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 02/06/2008 - 17:49 (Check me out!)
(Originally posted at SLNN.COM)
Non-profit community organizers will gather to discuss the paper Best Practices for Non-profits in Second Life on Friday at Plush Nonprofit Commons.
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 01/20/2008 - 09:43 (Check me out!)
“I need some distraction, oh beautiful release… In the arms of an Angel, fly away from here”
- Sarah McLachlan, Arms Of An Angel
I spend a lot of my time in Second Life camping to make a Linden dollars here and there and exploring the Second Life capital markets. Linden Lab’s recent ban on banking has cut into the amount of Linden dollars that I have as spending money, but it doesn’t particularly bother me. I haven’t spent any US dollars to buy Linden dollars, so everything I’ve gotten and lost has been produced in Second Life.
Sure, I still have the hair and skin of a Noob and simply rent a small shop in Second life, but that meets my needs. I want to have experiences to shape my views of the evolution of internet technology, business and marketing online and have a little fun. I don’t need the fanciest objects to do that.
Yesterday, I went to the fundraiser for Africa in Second Life. I didn’t have a lot to give, but gave all that I could. Then, I did what I am good at, spreading the word. I wrote about it here. I talked about it on various groups I was on and got others to spread the word. Then I sat down and listened to some of the music.
A few new friends showed up, people that I’ve been meeting through my business reporting, and we settled down to listen to the music. One performer sang Sarah McLachlan’s “Arms of An Angel”. One of my new friends turned to me and commented about painful memories that she has carried from Africa for thirty years. The setting, a fundraiser for Africa, in a beautiful sim, with a live performer singing a song about beautiful distractions dredged up these memories. We talked a little bit. Did my words help? I don’t know, but I hope so.
Later, I was invited to a pajama party in Second Life. Every month Bevan Whitfield organizes some sort of gathering for business associates and friends and last night she organized a pajama party. Since I don’t have a lot of Linden dollars, I still have default skin and hair, and a paucity of clothes. I had no pajamas or anything else appropriate to wear for a pajama party, so I stood around awkwardly chit chatting for a while.
Then, I remembered a different avatar I had. A month ago, I was given one of Nimbus Rau’s cat avatars at An Art Show. Perhaps being a cat at a pajama party would be fun.
I quickly got into my role, worrying about being stepped on and tripping up people left and right. Some of the folks at the party were old friends. Others were people I hadn’t met before. I played the role and tripped up everyone equally. It was a fun evening as I escaped people trying to catch the cat and throw it in the pool, or do other unspeakable horrors to it. I did worry about if the cat was being too obnoxious, but everyone seemed to have fun. The protestations about the cat where in the general chat and not in backchannel IMs to me.
As the party wound down, and I wandered off, I did get one IM that caught me by surprise. One of the people I did not know there thanked me for tripping her up so much. She had had a day that sounded a lot tougher than really bad days that many people I know have from time to time. The playful distraction after the bad day was exactly what she had needed.
I spend my time thinking about the relationship between what is real and what is virtual in Second Life. Mostly, it is in terms of money and businesses. Yet the evening was a reminder of something else. The real lives of the people behind the avatars. There are good people in Second Life, struggling with their own memories, with efforts to help people in Africa or in other struggles. We can make real connections with these other people, and hopefully help them as they help us or help others.
Sarah McLachlan’s words came back to me. “I need some distraction, oh beautiful release.” Second Life can be a distraction, a beautiful release, and sometimes when the angels seem a little too far away, we can fly away in the arms of an avatar.
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 01/19/2008 - 21:08 (Check me out!)
Fighting Poverty and AIDS in Africa
January 10 and 20, 2008
9 am SLT to 10 pm SLT
When I stopped in Eliz Watanabe was singing her mix of love songs and country music. Already, over L$ 62,000 has been raised. Later, I stopped by and naphtali Hawks was doing a great reggae set and the donations were approaching L$ 100,000
Hopefully, the word will spread any many people will be able to attend.
One problem, the place is packed and people have been crashing trying to get into the Sim. They are looking at options to get more people in one way or another.
Stop by, Africa (52,220,23).
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