Lots of talk, will there actually be action?

There's been a lot of chatter lately about encouraging more people into volunteer work and/or entering the nonprofit and public sectors:

The Rockefeller Foundation conducted a survey last December on national service and civic engagement. Some of the findings:
• Nearly two thirds of Americans want a national call to service
• Over one third would consider entering a national service program (like the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps) if the next president called on Americans to participate
• Half think the federal government should require young people to spend three months in full time public service
Read the full results here.

Barack Obama has obliged with a plan for universal voluntary public service.

The Aspen Institute released a report last week detailing policy recommendations that would strengthen the nonprofit sector. Two of them are service-related:
• Expand recruitment and retention of a new generation of leaders for the nonprofit sector
• Make a Summer of Service a rite of passage for every middle-schooler

And then there's this article from the Wall Street Journal about how the weak job market is encouraging more college graduates to enter into a year (or more) of service.

Great Product Name

http://www.idea-sandbox.com/blog/2007/12/eat_me_crunchy.html

Making progress

100_3681, originally uploaded by I heart documentation.

I think I've gotten at least five years older in the past week, trying to get up holiday lights. This is one shot of progress.

Mahna Mahna!

I've been watching the Muppet Show and am totally amazed and how awesome the show was - I definitely didn't appreciate it enough when I was three years old! It also reminded me of that seminar I missed where for some reason you talked about Mahna Mahna.



Some random facts about the skit:

• It was the first skit of the first taped episode of The Muppet Show in 1976. It also appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and Sesame Street (where we all probably saw it).
• The song was originally released in 1968 by Perio Umiliani and debuted on the soundtrack of a Swedish porn movie.
• "Mahna Mahna" was voiced and performed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz
• On “Muppets Tonight” the Snowths appeared with Sandra Bullock and uttered their famous retort after she said the word “phenomenon”

Man, Bolzies making press everywhere, huh?

Marty found this surfing the internet tonight. Maybe I'm just late to the game, but I was impressed by our big time collective member! I'ma hafta post it for my students at Point.

Neal's new project

He done gone and turned his car into a vehicle for public art.

The geochalker.

That was fast

The tenure of the new director at the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra lasted three months.

"He thought that things could move forward in one way, and the culture is very tough to change and turn around sometimes. So a decent person making suggestions that probably are good suggestions in some ways didn't seem to fit with the culture we've got in the Edmonton Symphony," said the board chair.

Organizational culture and how to change it ... that would be a good thesis topic.

Why weren't they hiring for this six months ago?

The Sphinx Organization seeks qualified candidates for its Director of Education & Youth Development. School outreach and arts education programs are core responsibilities to this position. Successful candidate will be comfortable managing details while operating at a rapid pace. The position demands expertise with both computers and people while offering the satisfaction of helping youths and promoting diversity in classical music.

The Sphinx Organization is based in Detroit, serving a local population while maintaining a national reputation. Their ED just won a MacArthur "Genius" prize. Sigh...

Don't you all like Hello Kitty?

Not so nice Hello Kitty.

I just got back from an Edward Tufte class

And found a link to this while browsing ET's website

The two maps I really like are 185 (the patients per doctor map of the world) and 183 (Map of the USA, Made in Japan). Michigan is on the East Coast!

The Tufte class satisfied my nerdly science cravings for a while. There are constant references to Richard Feynman in his books, which makes me feel like I have to go buy some more physics books, although I can just put them on my shelf and put off reading them for a while!