This just blew my mind away – An interactive film by Chris Milk
Featuring “We Used To Wait”. Built in HTML5 with Google maps and works best on Google Chrome.
This Friday, 3rd of September (the first Friday in September) is RAK day.
RAK stands for “Random Act of Kindness”, doing something for someone you don’t know, out of a warm heart, randomly (eg like paying the toll fee for the car behind you, carrying someones groceries etc).
Some of the Australian media is getting behind this and encouraging people to join in, creating and sharing their RAK stories, the idea being to unite people in goodwill (website here). In NZ RAK day has been celebrated since 2005.
In the USA, three similar days are:
Pay It Forward Day
2010: April 29
www.payitforwardday.com
World Kindness Day
2010: November 13
Random Acts of Kindness Week
2011: February 14-20
On the one hand it feels abit of a shame that we need to create a day, to remind ourselves to act the way we all should, daily. On the other hand, every little bit helps and the good feelings received hopefully carry over throughout the year reminding us and others of our humanity.
Tomorrow is September 1st. May all readers, and non-readers, have a good month and good last third of the year.
I stumbled across Kiva.org a couple of years ago, but failed to sign-up due to problems with my Paypal account, now fortunately rectified.
What a great use of technology to aid the world’s less well off would-be entrepreneurs (and actual ones.) Kiva.org (www.kiva.org) is an online system based in San Fransisco that unites anyone willing to make small interest free loans to entrepreneurs in some of the worlds poorer countries.
Am struggling to embed a sweet little film, that traces a $25 loan made in London to the recipient in Cambodia, but you can access it here.
Unlike a charitable gift, the loan is repaid (typically between 6-18 months) putting the money back into the lenders paypal account, which can then be withdrawn or hopefully re-lent to another worthy borrower.
So far around 400,000 people have received loans helping them set up or expand their small business. $150 million lent and people in 200 countries benefited.
Take a look, the interface is very easy to use and apart from being tempted to help you might get a rush of gratefulness for how lucky we are.
You know those pesky (unwritten) rules that stick to product categories like flies on … ?
Take charities. The rules are: 1) Instill a sense of guilt, 2 and 3) repeat rule 1. If you want to compete with the thousands of ads for charities out there, these rules may work just fine for you. But what if you want to play a different ball game alltogether? What if you want to compete with everything else, all the really awesome stuff we’d much rather spend our time with than just another ad?
You take the rules, you study them carefully and then you go away and do the exact opposite!
I give you SOS Mata Atlântica Foundation’s “Pee in the Shower”
Total estimated media return: US$20.642.189,36.
Here’s to breaking rules and changing the world…one ad at a time,
Despite the enormous amount of plastic waste, their is not enough recycled to meet our ongoing needs.
Electrolux, the Swedish electrical manufacturer is doing something about it with their “Vac From The Sea” program – producing a range of Vacuum cleaners using plastic waste collected from the world’s seas.
A really funny video clip of a piano improv on Chat Roulette. I expected participants on chat roulette to be slightly older though – an interesting insight.
If you do, you can make friends with Iceland. Facebook, Blog, Flickr, Twitter, Vimeo films, its got the lot, in the simplest and most honest format.
A few words from the site below, from the Icelandic Tourist Board.
Sounds cool, and extremely cold too!
I like it!
What’s all this then?
Iceland Wants to Be Your Friend is an initiative of the Icelandic Tourist Board, which means that it’s a very, very, very serious thing indeed. It is loved and cared for by many good people at Takk Takk, using brains and fancy machines.
When Jamie’s brother Stephen was diagnosed with ALS, a fatal, progressive degenerative paralysing disease, they jointly founded a Social Medical site www.patientslikeme.com
Through sharing the symptoms of major life-changing illnesses, treatments, personal stories, the brothers have founded a genuinely helpful knowledge network.
What a good use of techmology and what a good use of an illness, to help others.
Above, you can see a summary film (though its 16 mins long) that Jamie gave to Ted Talks.
This film was posted less than a week ago. As of that time, 45,000 patients, people, treatments, records had signed up. Great stuff.
Thanks to Abdulmohsen at JWT Saudi Arabia for sharing this.
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