June 11, 2005

G8 Agrees to Debt Relief for Poor Nations

I’m going to take a step away from our business for a couple of minutes to call your attention to something historic that happened today. Today finance ministers from the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations agreed to a deal to cancel at least $40 billion worth of debt owed by the World’s poorest nations. For more on this momumental agreement, read the full story here. This debt relief will allow poor countries to improve health and education services and expand infrastructure. This has been the goal of organizations such as One.org, DATA and the Jubilee USA Network.

Why is this important? Well, let me quote from Bono’s acceptance speech at the 2005 TED Awards:

Six and a half thousand Africans dying every single day from AIDS, a preventable, treatable disease, for lack of drugs we can get in any pharmacy. That’s not a cause. That’s an emergency. Eleven million AIDS orphans in Africa, 20 million by the end of the decade. That’s not a cause. That’s an emergency. Today, every day, 9,000 more Africans will catch HIV because of stigmatization and lack of education. That’s not a cause. That’s an emergency. So what we’re talking about here is human rights – the right to live like a human. The right to live period. What we’re facing in Africa is an unprecedented threat to human dignity and equality.

Thousands, if not millions, of lives will be saved because of the decision. But there is much more work to be done in developing countries. With the upcoming G8 summit in Edinburgh there has never been a better time to make your voice heard. To lend your hand, visit the following websites:

http://www.one.org
http://www.makepovertyhistory.org
http://www.data.org
http://www.jubileeusa.org

We’re getting there. One step at a time…

May 9, 2005

Funny…

Just saw this in the latest online edition of The Onion. All kidding aside, this is the sort of thing we want everyone to start realizing. Commutes need to be livened up all over this fair nation. Too many people are bored every day on our highways.

October 3, 2004

First Presidential Debate on Audio: Kerry vs. Bush

If you missed the first U.S. Presidential Debate, you can now download it at Audible.com. The audio certainly doesn’t capture everything (I thought some of the “non-verbal” stuff that was going on the during the debate was pretty interesting) but it does allow you to focus on what the candidates are actually saying. I hope Audible does this for all of the debates. Here’s the link to the download (FYI, it says Audible members only but I’m not sure if they are referring only to their paying members or to non-paying members as well):

First Presidential Debate at Audible.com

September 29, 2004

New book from my old boss

Scott Schwefel, my former boss, just published a new book entitled I Think I’ll Stand Up: Finding Your Personal Path To Success And Self-confidence and I thought I would give him a quick plug. Scott’s a great guy who has been tremendously successful, recently selling his computer training business. I haven’t read the book yet (just ordered it) but I figured I would mention it as I’m sure it’ll be great.

September 17, 2004

Egoscue Clinic Visit

Yesterday I had the privilege of visiting an Egoscue clinic in Irvine, California. For those of you not familiar with it, the Egoscue Method is a rehabilitation/injury prevention program based on the theory that most physical injury is caused by lack of flexibility, strength and range of motion. Pete Egoscue has written a number of books on the subject including the classic Pain Free.