As part of the explosion of Recovery Act projects this summer and as a move towards a clean energy future, the President announces nearly $2 billion in conditional commitments to key solar companies. Learn more from the White House fact sheet.
1MillionShirts is a charitable campaign created by Jason Sadler, creator of IWearYourShirt.com, with a goal of gathering one million shirts from people all over the world to give to people in Africa. Some of countries where the t-shirts will go are Kenya, Uganda, DRC, Ghana, Liberia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, Swaziland and South Africa.
1MillionShirts has received a lot of criticism, but in a recent blog post the creator, he stated their motives are on the up and up. You are always going to receive criticism when you do something like this on such a large scale, so it’ll be interesting to see how the project turns out. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but if this really is a scam, the Internet will make it known. I’ll definitely be watching and might even send a couple of shirts myself. If you have a t-shirt you would like to donate, click here to learn how you can participate. While t-shirts are the focus of the campaign, monetary donations can also be sent when you ship your shirt to help defray any cost they may incur when shipping the shirts to Africa.
I like this idea because it is one person’s way of helping people in need. 1MillionShirts was not created to solve all the economic problems in Africa, but it is a start. They are currently undergoing the process to be recognized by the IRS as a 501c3 organization. Once tax-exempt status is reached, all donations will be 100% tax-deductible.
If you search the internet, you’ll find all types of varying opinions on what people feel about Oprah. But one thing I think everyone can agree on is that she is definitely the queen of the television airwaves. Just last week to increase the amount of face time she has with her viewers, Oprah.com went mobile and released an app for Android, Blackberry, iPhone and Palm devices.
The Oprah Mobile app features allow you to:
The apps do cost $1.99-$2.99, but according to the review at appolicious.com, there’s a lot of potential for future releases that could increase the social aspect of it.
But there’s more! Yesterday Engadget blogged about her showing off the Sprint EVO on her show while discussing her “No Phone Zone” campaign. Now please note, there is no official release date for this phone (Sprint said Summer 2010)! But if anyone could get a hold of it early, Oprah would be that person.
I can’t wait for this phone to come out and have been anxiously waiting for its release. We all know that when Oprah says go buy something, people do. So I’m curious to see if this affects sales of the EVO when Sprint finally decides to release it.
If anyone reading this is a friend of Oprah, tell her I’ll take the phone if she gets tired of it. Check out the video.
This site has been out for a couple of weeks, but when I heard about it, I knew I needed to share it on the blog. According to the website, Unvarnished is:
an online resource for building, managing, and researching professional reputation, using community-contributed, professional reviews.Unvarnished reviews help you get the inside scoop on other business professionals, providing candid assessments of coworkers, potential hires, business partners, and more.
By contributing Unvarnished reviews, you can share your knowledge of other professionals, giving credit where credit is due, and valuable feedback where needed.
Lastly, your own Unvarnished profile, which you may create yourself or claim one that has been created for you, helps you take control of and build your own professional reputation. Get recognition for your accomplishments and actively manage your career growth.
So basically you can leave comments about someone (good or bad) in a public forum. It’s like having your resume online for all to see and ridicule. The site is currently in beta, so you have to sign up using Facebook Connect and they will put you on a waiting list of people who’ve already signed up. I put my name in for an invitation because I want to know what you all think about me. This is social networking at its best and it will be interesting to see how they plan on managing the site once everything opens up.
PS > If you are reading this and are currently a member of the site, please send me an invite so I can bypass the waiting process. Thanks!
Okay, once again, I’ve dropped the ball on my monthly posts of the bills passed by the White House. The purpose for this post is to inform you of the new laws and acts enacted by Congress and President Obama. With the advent of the Internet it’s gotten easier to watch every step our government takes. And President Obama is making some nice moves to make what they do more transparent to the American people. We elect them, so we need to make sure they are doing their job. The laws I list are posted at govtrack.us, which is a nice site for checking laws in any stage their in. As always feel free to leave any additional comments.
On Jan 22, 2010, the President signed the following bill(s) into law:
H.R. 4462: Small Business Act Temporary Extension. To accelerate the income tax benefits for charitable cash contributions for the relief of victims of the earthquake in Haiti.
On Jan 27, 2010, the President signed the following bill(s) into law:
S. 2949: Emergency Aid to American Survivors of the Haiti Earthquake Act. A bill to amend section 1113 of the Social Security Act to provide authority for increased fiscal year 2010 payments for temporary assistance to United States citizens returned from foreign countries, to provide necessary funding to avoid shortfalls in the Medicare cost-sharing program for low-income qualifying individuals, and for other purposes.
It’s amazing how a disaster can bring people together and due to major advancements in technology, it’s easier than every to lend a hand. I’ve received information via email, text and Facebook about Wyclef Jean’s efforts to help those in Haiti. It’s pretty easy to donate and you know the funds are going to be used wisely. To donate via your cell phone text “Yele” to 501501 and $5.00 will be charged to your cell phone bill. To donate online, click here.
The Red Cross also has a text message option and so far has raised over $4 million in mobile donations. To donate to the Red Cross via your mobile phone, text the word “Haiti” to the number 90999. A donation of $10.oo will be charged to your mobile phone bill.
Local Dallas radio host Tom Joyner said in this morning’s show that he and his team have plans to fly to Port-au-Prince to set up an internet cafe for Haitian citizens to contact family in America. In a post at blackamericaweb.com, they list some other things we can do to help out.
I shouldn’t be surprised at the global response to help a country in need, but I would like to end this post with a message from the Villager titled “Haiti Earthquake: Will America Care Next Week?”. Haiti has always been a country in need and I hope America will not forget them or others who need a helping hand.
World AIDS Day, observed December 1 each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection.
HIV/AIDS has been a global epidemic for more than 27 years. Most of today’s youth have never known a world without it. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently published national HIV incidence (new infections) that showed much higher numbers that previous estimates. The time is now. Together, we can prevent the spread of this pandemic – through awareness, care, prevention, education and research.
The Red Ribbon is the international symbol of support for people living with HIV. Wearing a red ribbon is a great way to raise awareness about HIV as well as to break down stigma and prejudice, so make sure you get yours in time for World AIDS Day!
Last year I had the opportunity to post about Worlds AIDS Day and found a lot of interesting information about how it affects us on a local and international scale. I was amazed to find out how many black people were infected with the disease. It’s not something that’s always discussed in our community and this is why I appreciate the effort of those willing to blog about this important day.
HIV/AIDS can be prevented and there’s a lot of good information out there on how you can get tested. I won’t re-type it because you can find the information in the post I did two years ago.
Be safe and get tested. It’s the responsible thing to do.
Don’t forget to turn those clocks back one hour tonight before you go to bed. There’s a lot of debate around daylight savings, so I want to know what you think. Is daylight savings necessary? Do you like getting and losing that extra hour of sleep each year?
Before you vote, here’s some more information regarding daylight savings.
You can vote yea or nay vote at the almanac.com website.
Recorded literally on his way back from the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh, the President uses his Weekly Address to recap the progress made during the intensive discussions with world leaders. From an historic agreement to reform the global financial system, to groundbreaking commitments on reducing subsidies to fossil fuels worldwide, to unity in standing against threats to world peace – engagement produced tangible results in several areas.
Here’s a film recommended to me by @Jchasemusic on Twitter. It shows a tour of Nassau and the island of New Providence in the Bahamas in the 1950s. Not having been alive during that time, I though the commentator was very interesting in his description of the island. I’m not sure if it would have made me want to pack my backs and go on a vacation, but I’m not sure I would have been too welcome anyways. The footage was found on the Travel Film Archive’s Youtube channel.
