The Top Ten Hybrid Myths

Did a little online shopping tonight for my next vehicle.  Either the Prius or Civic Hybrid methinks...

Received this in my Inbox today.  Emphasis is mine.

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Dear Jon :

Today, Bono addressed the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C., reaching across divides to ask policy makers and faith leaders to do more to beat global AIDS and extreme poverty and calling on the U.S. to give an additional 1% of the budget to this fight.

Should the U.S. take Bono’s advice and devote an additional 1% to beating AIDS and poverty? Vote in an online poll now!

Read more about the event on the ONE.ORG blog.

In a statement today, Bono said: "It must be an emergency when an Irish rock star is being invited to speak at the National Prayer Breakfast and the House Democrat annual retreat all on the same day. And it is. Because in this long day 6,500 Africans will die of AIDS and 110 million kids won't get to go to school. The good news is that politicians on both sides, and more importantly the people who elect them, are all joining as ONE against AIDS and the extreme poverty in which it thrives. The great news will be when the effective programs to beat AIDS and extreme poverty are finally fully funded."

Thanks,

The ONE Team

A great quotation from an interview with Eugene Peterson (author of The Message):

When we're living with any kind of authenticity, we don't know what we are doing until, suddenly, moments come of clarification -- catalytic moments -- and we see suddenly this is what I am, this is what I'm doing.

I like that one.

"Ghandi on percussion, Martin Luther King on Bass, Guitar would be Isaac Newton, Keyboards Beethoven, Vocals Jesus Christ."

-- Edge (U2's guitarist), 2001, describing his dream band

:)

Maybe that's the opening act in the afterlife?

I love ideas like this...

Walking While Working... Join the Movement...

I missed this on television last week (probably in part because I don't have television...) but Michael over at American Rhetoric brought it to my attention:

Bono: Keynote Address at the 54th National Prayer Breakfast

By the way, if you haven't checked out American Rhetoric yet you're missing out on a really cool site.  In addition to a ton of historical speeches there's also some more recent "must see" and "must hear" material.  For instance, you can listen to the eulogies for Coretta Scott King that were given by Maya Angelou and Attallah Shabazz.  Michael has done a tremendous job on the site and I tip my hat to him for making this resource available for free to people around the world.

One of the illusions of life is that the present hour is not the critical, decisive hour. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year.

American transcendentalist philosopher, essayist & lecturer

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/view/29533

Hello –

 The ONE Campaign is on the move in Los Angeles and there are many opportunities for you to stay involved. 

 

Upcoming Events

 

Advocacy 101

South Pasadena, CA - Saturday February 18, 2006 – 9:30am-11am

St. Joseph Center

1524 Fremont Ave., South Pasadena

(Across the street from Holy Family Church)

 

Our nation’s leaders make significant decisions that impact the lives of people living in extreme poverty.  As citizens of the United States, we have the opportunity to be advocates and influence our nation’s choices.  Tomorrow, join Art Simon and Bread for the World staff for an opportunity to exchange ideas and formulate strategies for effective advocacy.  Free breakfast.

 

Fair Trade LA

Los Angeles, CA - Sunday March 5, 2006 2pm-5pm

Join the Fair Trade Movement in Los Angeles!

United University Church

Jefferson/Hoover – USC

For more info, visit FairTradeLA.wordpress.com or email FairTradeLA@gmail.com  

 

Mark Your Calendars!

Los Angeles, CA - Saturday March 25, 2006- 10am-3:30pm

Keeping the Promise Conference

University of Southern California

 

This conference will highlight promises by our nation's leaders to the world's poor. It will include workshops focused on AIDS, orphans, the Millennium Development Goals, trade, the WTO and advocacy. It is a great opportunity to learn more about global poverty and how we can take action. Supported by: Amnesty International, Bread for the World, Oxfam America, the ONE Campaign and Catholic Relief Services.  More details to come!

The Dalai Lama at Stanford

Hey all.  We've just installed a new recommendations engine on LearnOutLoud and we'll be making it publicly available sometime later next week.  In the meantime I'm looking for a few people interested in helping us out with some testing.  Basically we need a few people to rank a few dozen titles (podcasts, audiobooks, free audio and video titles) on the site and then report back to us on how good your recommendations were.  I'll zip you a $20 gift certificate in exchange for helping us out.

If you're interested drop me a line here or via e-mail at jon@learnoutloud.com. 

Thanks!

So I turn the big 3-0 today.  It's a fun opportunity to reflect upon three decades and the highs (there have been a lot) and the lows (a few painful ones no doubt) that I've been through.  The feeling that most describes the day for me today is gratitude for all that I've been blessed with.  An amazing set of parents.  A terrific brother who I've gotten a lot closer with in the last year.  An awesome set of friends both here and in Minneapolis (as well as other places around the country and even the world now).  Some pretty cool skills and talents which I'm just figuring out how to best use in this crazy world.  A level of material comfort that many people (especially those in Africa and other impoverished parts of the world) would love.  And most of all, a sense that my life is on course and that even though I don't know exactly how it's going to unfold I'm heading in the right direction and most importantly, doing the right things for the right reasons. 

I took a hike this morning (glorious day here in SoCal) and had Jimmy Buffett songs running through my head for some reason.  He does have one song called "A Pirate Looks at Forty" which I like (hence the title of this blog post) but the one that was sticking with me today was one called "He Went To Paris."  Here are the lyrics:

He went to paris lookin’ for answers
To questions that bothered him so
He was impressive, young and aggressive
Savin’ the world on his own

But the warm summer breezes
The french wines and cheeses
Put his ambition at bay
The summers and winters
Scattered like splinters
And four or five years slipped away

Then he went to england, played the piano
And married an actress named kim
They had a fine life, she was a good wife
And bore him a young son named jim

And all of the answers and all of the questions
Locked in his attic one day
’cause he liked the quiet clean country livin’
And twenty more years slipped away

Well the war took his baby, the bombs killed his lady
And left him with only one eye
His body was battered, his whole world was shattered
And all he could do was just cry

While the tears were a-fallin’ he was recallin’
Answers he never found
So he hopped on a freighter, skidded the ocean
And left england without a sound

Now he lives in the islands, fishes the pilin’s
And drinks his green label each day
Writing his memoirs, losin’ his hearin’
But he don’t care what most people say

Through eighty-six years of perpetual motion
If he likes you he’ll smile and he’ll say
Jimmy, some of it’s magic, some of it’s tragic
But I had a good life all the way

And he went to paris lookin’ for answers
To questions that bothered him so

It's really an amazing song as far as I'm concerned.  It reminds me that we're each going to have a story to tell one day.  Some of it will be magic.  Some it will be tragic.  And when I'm 86 (or 96 or 106!) I want to be able to look back and say that I had a good life all the way.  In the words of another 70s crooner (Joe Walsh) life's been good to me so far.  And I feel, more than I have in a long time, like life's just getting started for me.  So much lies ahead and since I've got another 94 years or so on this planet I know that a lot more adventure is in store. 

Thank you. Muchas gracias. Namaste. 

The best is yet to come.

We just launched our recommendations engine over at LearnOutLoud.  It allows you to rate audio books, podcasts, videos and free audio and video titles and get back personalized recommendations.  I've been playing with it for the last few days and it's really cool.  Take it for a spin when you have a chance and let me know what you think. 

I wonder what you'll get if you go in and give five-star rankings to all the stuff by Ken Wilber, Brian Johnson and the Dalai Lama...

Probably some pretty good stuff! :)

John Mackey (the Whole Foods Founder and CEO) has a new blog post up.  He only posts once a quarter or so so I thought I'd link to it.  Haven't read it yet but it's Mackey so you know it's good. :)

With a few minor edits, this is the speech I gave as the keynote speaker at FreedomFest in May of 2004. In it, I critique the freedom movement and highlight mistakes that have greatly lessened its impact and influence in the world, and I spell out specific actions the movement should take to evolve its purpose and values.

 

What I hope to accomplish tonight is to challenge your thinking about the modern freedom movement. I believe the freedom movement has been its own worst enemy by foolishly limiting its appeal and impact with an overly narrow interpretation about the meaning and purpose of freedom. From a business perspective, the freedom movement faces major marketing challenges, the result of its poor job of branding itself to the world.

Winning the Battle for Freedom and Prosperity