Category: Good Works

As you know, I am making my annual offerings to the furry lipped gods in the fight against prostate cancer. That’s right … it is the month of Movember. And this year I have recruited a number of men who are proud to wear the mark of the unshaven.

But we need your help. You see, any good team needs a sponsor, and so we are turning to you, kind folks, to support us in our most earnest of endeavours.

To sponsor me:

1. Visit the Movember website
2. Choose to donate or to sponsor
3. Enter my registration number : 158914
4. Begin to FEEL GOOD about doing good

To JOIN the team:

1. Visit the Movember website
2. Choose the Join a Team option
3. Use the Captain’s registration number 158914
4. And my email address: servant [at] servantofchaos [dot] com
5. Begin to FEEL GOOD about participating

I have written about the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative before … and you may remember that for a SHORT TIME ONLY, the cool OLPC is available for purchase in North America.

That’s right, as of yesterday, the XO Giving site allows you to purchase two of these cool laptops for $400 … one being donated to a child in a developing nation, the second being sent to YOUR child at home. The offer is open for 15 days!

But, listen, if you are a school buyer and you want to purchase new PCs for your kids next year, consider the OLPC and have double the impact on the lives of children — locally and globally. Now, that’s really a great idea!

You might remember that I participated in Movember last year — the annual event to raise awareness around prostate cancer and to raise money for research into the “most common non-skin cancer”.

This year, I want to go a step further. I have setup a team … and I would like you to either sponsor me or JOIN. To make this easier for those based in the USA, I have setup a team with the US organisation which means that any donations made are tax deductible in the US.

I am particularly keen to see the following folks with a MO … David Armano, Mack Collier, David Reich, Peter Kim, Cam Beck, Drew McLellan, Clay Parker Jones, Greg Verdino, Kevin Dugan, Lewis Green, Mark Goren, Matt Dickman, Mike Sansone (ok you have a headstart), Sean Howard and Paul McEnany. Anyone else you want to see with a mo? Let me know and I will add them to the list.

To sponsor me:

1. Visit the Movember website
2. Choose to donate or to sponsor
3. Enter my registration number : 158914
4. Begin to FEEL GOOD about doing good

To JOIN the team:

1. Visit the Movember website
2. Choose the Join a Team option
3. Use the Captain’s registration number 158914
4. And my email address: servant [at] servantofchaos [dot] com
5. Begin to FEEL GOOD about participating

Regular visitors to this blog will have noticed this little box up the top (the same one shown here feedreaders). It is a neat little good works widget that translates your clicks into REAL, TANGIBLE things that people need … like drinking water, education, food and interest on loans for new business establishment. In a way it is a form of pay-per-view … in return for your attention, the advertisers are donating money in support of basic human needs.

You can find out HOW it works here … and you can get the code for your own widgets here.

Go on … what is the cost of a click? Or, more importantly, how valuable is your click in someone else’s life? You’d be surprised!

Back in the lead-up to the Year 2000 I was working at IBM. There were massive … really, massive projects underway to eliminate the "Year 2000 bug" from worldwide computer systems. These involved combing through millions of lines of computer code to remove any instances of six number dates (MMDDYY — those dates that reset the year counter to 00 rather than 2000).

To achieve this, there were whole, global divisions established, new competencies developed and careers were established for life … on both the technical and client side. The investment in people, technology and processes was amazing. The cost was hugely expensive. And the outcome? Well … the new year clicked over and not one plane fell out of the air. No catastrophe hit the financial markets. Hospitals continued to function. And I had a great night out.

But I was just watching this great video (courtesy of David Koopmans) on the relative risks of global climate change and our INACTION on this crisis (and yes, let’s admit it is a crisis). One thing that the Year 2000 folks understood was risk management. They understood that there was going to be a cost no matter what decision was taken … but the upside of action was the "management" of the cost and the outcome. The downside of INACTION was catastrophe on a scale never before imagined. This is the same situation today — just the debate is now about global climate change, not computer code failure.

I encourage you, watch this video. Invest the 10 minutes. And then push it. Spend five minutes more telling others about it. Don’t let this be the MOST TERRIFYING video you will ever see. Make it the most important.

There is a lot of information available about breast cancer, but do you REALLY know what the important risk factors are?

Now, in an Australian first, it is possible to calculate your risk of breast cancer using the National Breast Cancer Council’s interactive calculator.

Check it out. It’s free. And it could save your life.

With Blog Action Day almost upon us, I took a look at the large number of online resources available to those who are keen to support this global initiative. And it just so happened that I found this site — AdoptTheSky.org who are petitioning the US Environmental Protection Agency over air quality. And as a former asthma sufferer, I fully support any initiative that is going to help thousands of people breathe easier.

One of the cool things about this site is that it automatically registers your name against a mile of US air space. I ended up somewhere over Illinois … and found that there are almost a million adults and kids who suffer from asthma in that state. That is almost a million people who daily battle to get enough oxygen into their lungs … who worry about being caught without their inhaler … or who live the constant threat of hospitalisation. As part of Blog Action Day, make sure you drop by and sign up. It will make us all breathe a little easier.

They say that actions speak louder than words, but tomorrow October 4, 2007 we are combining action with words … writing a single blog post with the title "Free Burma". (For those who have not seen the coverage, take a look at the latest update from Amnesty International.

Of course, this applies to those who write or contribute to blogs. But there is more, so much more that can be done (and needs, and SHOULD be done — with thanks to Dina Mehta):

• Write to your elected official – they will respond if enough people contact them.
• Email the companies that still operate in Burma, their email addresses are listed here:
  http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=24957770200&topic=3071
• Sign up for the petition!
  • http://www.uscampaignforburma.org/action/action.html
  • http://www.petitiononline.com/BUR_2007/petition.html
  • http://www.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_burma/h.php/?cl=20589575

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative is a great example of design-led product development. It has a funky shape, neat features and a bucketload of technology jammed into a small space. There is just one problem … no one has signed on as yet.

This seems to have prompted a revision to the plan to restrict access to the machine (it was claimed previously that the machine would ONLY be available to children in developing countries — not in North America or Canada).

From November 12, the XO Giving site will allow you to purchase two of these cool laptops for $400 … one being donated to a child in a developing nation, the second being sent to YOUR child at home.

While Bruce Nussbaum suggests that it is time to call this project a failure … the optimist in me hopes this is not the case. No matter the reasons for a lack of adoption by the governments of developing nations, the potential for significant social and economic transformation through the OLPC program remains. I, for one, am hoping that this new initiative helps kick-start a change that will roll across the world. If you want to participate … make sure you sign up here. 

Today at lunchtime I went to the local shopping centre. Emerging from the mall out into the daylight I could smell the freshness of the air (yes it has turned cold again) and feel the moisture in the air from the morning’s rain. As I approached the traffic lights I noticed a man handing out CDs. At first I thought he was selling The Big Issue … he was certainly having a hard time convincing the passersby.

When I stopped he explained that the CD was a recorded story. A collaboration. I could have a copy for the exchange of a coin. I reached into my pocket but found nothing. Empty. But I would be back … in just a few moments.

After attending to a couple of errands I headed back. I wanted to find out more. What was the idea, the story behind the CD …
The project, as it turns out, has been put together by a small group of friends. Rather than go to the expense of publishing a book, this science fiction novel was recorded as an audio book/MP3 and comes bundled with original music. I bought four copies.

If you are interested in one, leave your name in the comments or email me your address and I will send you one.

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