January 2011
56 posts
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Went ice skating for the first time last night, wiped out about 7 times, and had a hell of a time with my CIPA friends.
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Three Men, Three Stories
I met three different men in January: two taxi drivers and one army veteran. I was surprised by the stories they told, and if I hadn’t been open to a conversation I would have been caught up in my assumptions of what their lives were like.
I met the first man on the way back from Dulles Airport. He asked me where I was headed, surprised that I had no baggage. I had just said goodbye to my...
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Obama’s 80 percent clean energy goal: Who’s he... →
President Obama set out worthy goals last night to light at least a spark of national motivation to fix America. But moving forward on any idea of real significance is so difficult he declined to lay out even the most modest specific steps. You wonder whether a quarter century from now a U.S. president will still be able to say, “And yet, as contentious and frustrating and messy as our...
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“Not even a sparrow, worth only half a penny, can fall to the ground without your...”
– Matthew 10: 29-31, New Living Translation
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Excited about adding Adele’s “19” and Mark Ronson & The Business Intl’s “Record Collection” to my music library.
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Why We Should Question Walmart's Latest PR Blitz →
“Making a big PR splash about improving the health qualities of its food is a smart tactic to deflect attention from the real impact of Walmart on the quality of life for Americans”
-Anne Lappe
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The soul of a city is in its people →
“As we rethink our way of life, as cities become more desirable and “urban” is no longer considered a dirty word, we must not overlook the reasons we love them….”
“But I also know we must figure out how to make our cities more livable and sustainable without triggering the seemingly invitable march of gentrification.”
Carla Saulter, Grist
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“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas...”
– F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Crack-Up” (1936)
via Prof. Uphoff, GOVT 6927
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“My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline, and don’t be upset when He...”
– Proverbs 3:11-12, New Living Translation
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“Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you...”
– Proverbs 3:9-10, New Living Translation
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We Are All Valedictorians →
You should read this.
Via @charityfocus
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Doodle 4 Google →
Welcome to Doodle 4 Google, a competition where we invite K-12 students to use their artistic talents to think big and redesign Google’s homepage logo for millions to see. At Google, we believe that dreaming about future possibilities leads to tomorrow’s leaders and inventors, so this year we’re inviting U.S. kids to exercise their creative imaginations around the theme, “What I’d...
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“Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away...”
– Proverbs 3: 7 - 8, New Living Translation
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New Agtivists: Nikhil Arora and Alex Velez turn... →
by Bonnie Azab Powell:
When two good-looking 23-year-olds give up careers in investment banking to grow mushrooms, oysters and shiitakes aren’t the first fungi one imagines.
But Nikhil Arora and Alex Velez are on a different trip. Their business, Back to the Roots, turns coffee grounds into food, first as mushrooms they sold wholesale and now as grow-your-own gourmet mushroom kits.
...
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Food industry FAIL: Foods promoted as healthy for... →
by Tom Laskawy:
Anyone who followed the fracas over the food industry’s now abandoned “Smart Choices” label — the “healthy food” label that somehow allowed products like Froot Loops to qualify — should have realized that Big Food can’t resist the temptation to stretch the truth when it comes to front-of-package labeling. But a new study released...
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"Nigeria’s Promise, Africa’s Hope" by Chinua... →
In this New York Times opinion piece, Professor Achebe discusses some of the root causes of political instability and poor governance in Africa, especially in Nigeria, and makes some suggestions on how we can move forward.
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Muhammad Yunus Responds to Microcredit Loan Shark... →
In the New York Times Muhammad Yunus responds to what he sees as the root cause of the crisis of trust facing his industry: for-profit microlending.
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He says government regulation could help, and a cap on interest rates at cost—plus 15 percent—is reasonable. This op-ed is just one of many public cries from the father of microfinance defending his village banking model in contrast to...
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Event: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Celebration... →
The annual community luncheon and celebration commemorating the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Monday, January 17, 2011 at the BJM Elementary School gym, 302 W. Buffalo St., Ithaca, NY, free to the public.
Featuring guest speakers Reverend Nathaniel Wright and Reverend Margie Mayson, of Calvary Baptist and St. Paul’s Churches, local choirs and music from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m....
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Wale Tinubu on CNN African Voices →
As the chief executive of oil and gas giant Oando, Wale Tinubu is one of Nigeria’s most powerful business leaders.
Born in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1967, Tinubu started out working for his family’s law firm. But his career changed direction once he set his sights on the oil industry.
An entrepreneur who started out with just a single second-hand oil tanker, Tinubu now heads a...
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"Internet Stupidity" by Mills Baker →
This article may be long by current web standards but it is worth your time. Mills describes some of the ways that the internet has negatively impacted the way that we think and relate with other people.
I’m usually not fond of articles asserting that new technology makes us stupid, but Mills is right. How can I say that I’m a well-functioning human being when I need to have three...
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BBC: Progress on tablet computer for developing... →
“A lot of tablets are designed for entertainment and consumption, but that is not what we do,” [OLPC chief technology officer Ed McNierney] said.
“We really think the tablet needs to be a fully-functioning educational experience that is designed for creating, sharing, editing, enjoying and collaborating with other children and teachers.”
The XO-3 tablet will have a...
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“My very top priority is for people to understand that they have the power to...”
– Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese political activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate to Hannah Beech, TIME.