Author Archive for Jonathan Wu
Fairsharemusic Provides Tenderhearted Tunes
Music sharing methods have, as we can all agree, drastically changed. The radio, vinyl, cassette tape and even compact disc have been pushed aside by the emergence of the MP3 — provided by Internet music stores such as iTunes. Though the response from the industry and the artists themselves has been mixed, this remarkable shift shows no sign of slowing down.
Acknowledging such changes in the landscape of the music business, fairsharemusic.com is taking advantage of online music purchases. With the tag line “you download we donate,” this London-based charity has altruistic aims.
Fairsharemusic.com donates a portion of profits from download sales to the charities chosen by the individual making the purchase. According to the website, half of what fairsharemusic.com would gain from the purchase is donated to charity — they guarantee that the amount they donate will never be less than 50% of profit.
Even though fairsharemusic.com commits to give so much of their profits to charity, individual tracks on the site are just around $1 (changing according to the shifts in currency exchange). Essentially, it’s about as much as buying a song on iTunes.
But don’t look down on the music the site offers just because it is connected to charities. The site’s library is already reported to contain some 8.5 million tracks. It offers all the newest music from artists such as Oasis, MGMT, The XX, Drake, Kings of Leon, and more! The various charities that benefit from the purchases made on fairsharemusic.com include World Wildlife Fund, Amnesty International, and Oxfam International.
Björk and Dirty Projectors Save Our Seas
The June 30 release of Mount Wittenberg Orca — an album recorded by Björk and the experimental indie band Dirty Projectors — could procure a better future for our oceans.
The artists came together in April 2009 for a performance at the Housing Works Bookstore & Café in New York City. In preparation for this performance, Dave Longstreth of Dirty Projectors wrote seven songs about the experience of Amber Coffman — a fellow band member who saw a family of whales along the coast of Northern California. Longstreth imagined in his songs a dialogue between Coffman, the mother whale and the baby whales. Each singer (Longstreth, Bjork, and DP’s backup singers) represents a part of this dialogue.
Recently, Dirty Projectors and Björk recorded the sevens songs, resulting in Mount Wittenberg Orca. The album will cost $7 and is only available online.
All profits from this project will go toward creating international marine protected areas (currently, only 1% of the oceans are protected in any way). The band is working with the National Geographic Society.
Check out this performance of a song from their upcoming album:
TOMORROW: Joining Hands in Protest Against Offshore Drilling
When confronted with catastrophic disasters such as the BP oil spill, people often feel powerless as an individual voice. That’s why surfer and restaurateur, Dave Rauschkolb founded Hands Across the Sand to organize and encourage individuals to come together on June 26 to peacefully voice out their protest against offshore drilling.
So far, over 200 event have been planned in America – mostly in coastal cities. However, the organization is encouraging Americans every state to host a solidarity event regardless of the accessibility of a beach or not. What the organization is asking is quite simple:
By organizing this simple yet power image on beaches and communities around the world, Hand Across the Sand seeks to change energy policy “away from its dependence on fossil fuels and in the light of clean energy” and to “convince… leaders to abandon expanded offshore oil drilling and adopt policies that encourage clean and renewable energy sources.”
Hands Across The Sand is endorsed by national and international environmental organizations such as Sierra Club, Audubon, Surfrider, Oceana, Greenpeace, Defenders of Wildlife, Alaska Wilderness League, Ocean Conservancy, Friends of the Earth, Environment America, 350, MoveOn.org, Center for Biological Diversity and CleanEnergy.org.
Check out Hands Across the Sand’s website.
Also, join or create your own event here.
The Fully Sick Rapper: Making the Most of Quarantine
Australian Christiaan Van Vuuren was quarantined for six months after he contracted multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB). But rather than staying idle, he chose to use the extra time on his hands to jump start his music career; becoming the new Internet sensation, “The Fully Sick Rapper.”
Young and lively, Mr. Vuuren spent a large part of his twenties globe-trotting. In 2005, after returning to home from Africa, Mr. Vuuren brought back with him great memories but also a strain of tuberculosis that lay dormant in his lungs until late 2009, while he was on holiday in Argentina.
“I was drinking and partying hard on holiday and it caught up with me when I got sick for the last part of my time there… When I returned to Sydney, I developed night sweats and it all came to head when I coughed up blood in a client meeting.”
Mr. Vuuren was immediately taken to the hospital and put under quarantine and an extensive treatment process that involves taking six different antibiotics every day for six months in the hospital and 18 months in total. It was during this time, while in his hospital bed with nothing better to do, that his “quarantine rap” began.
“I started playing with the video capabilities on my MacBook and started posting funny videos on YouTube to let my friends and family know that I was doing okay. Next thing I knew, it all went viral.”
Though “The Fully Sick Rapper” is relatively new to the quarantine rap game, he has already created 14 songs all with videos including hospital gowns, machines, and whatever else Mr. Vuuren can find in his room. Mr. Vuuren has also shown his versatility as a rapper, rapping about the struggles of his life in quarantine, looking for love while in quarantine, his quarantine room, and various other issues in his quarantine universe.
Mr. Vuuren’s prolificacy has caught the eyes of the Internet community, and such can be seen in the numbers: 20,000 facebooks fans, 11, 308 subscribers to his YouTube channel, and over 1.3 million views of his videos.
Even though Mr. Vuuren has found celebrity status in such a short time, he hasn’t let it get to his head. Rather than basking in the spotlight, he has used his Internet sensation status to draw awareness to the one third of the world’s population infected with TB bacilli, the microbes that cause TB.
Mr. V and TB Bacilli
“I felt that it would be only right to try and help those with fully sick infectious diseases who don’t have access to the quality of awesome treatment that I am receiving.”
Mr. Vuuren is trying to raise $15,000 AUD ($21,000 USD) for Medecins San Frontiers (also known as Doctors Without Borders). As of late, Mr. Vuuren has almost reached $4,500 AUD (about $4,000 USD) and hopes to raise more in the next two months while he is still hospitalized. As he nears his release date, he plans to turn up his efforts in raising the money.
“I will campaign to raise larger amounts of money once I get closer to getting out… by doing things in return for donations — sending people things, making content and anything else I can do to make a difference.”
Being asked what advice he had for others who find themselves in the same situation, Mr. Vuuren shared his own experiences.
“Whenever you feel like you have a problem, or something is wrong, or you’re getting angry… just remember that there are people all over the world who have things much worse than you do.”
Vuuren also shared his experiences of being in the quarantine rap game: “If you are knocked down and you get to that bridge, you can climb a mountain by walking through the door and killing two birds, because there’s plenty of metaphors in the sea.”
Think about it while you watch Fully Sick at work:
Like what you see? You can donate to Mr. Vuuren’s cause here.
Living a Life Without Limbs
Nick Vujicic is not your typical 27-year-old Australian.
Like many of his age, Nick went to college, earning a double degree in Accounting and Financial Planning, and earns a living by trading stock options and brokering real estate. On a day-to-day basis, he brushes his teeth, shaves, and changes his clothes and enjoys swimming, soccer, and fishing.
But unlike his peers, Nick does all these things without arms and legs. Nowadays, he travels around the world sharing his story and struggles in hopes to encourage his audience to live a joy-filled life in a world that obsesses over physical perfection.
When Nick was born in Melbourne to Serbian parents, he came out of the womb without any limbs — a phenomena his doctors were unable to explain. The closest bodily appendage he had was a small foot with two toes. Growing up, Nick was initially prohibited by the local law from attending public school due to his physical impairment, even though he was mentally capable. But this law was eventually revoked and Nick became one of the first disabled students to integrate into the national school system. Without arms and hands, using a special device that slid onto his big toe, Nick learned to grip writing utensils and write with the two toes on his foot; acquiring a “heel and toe” method in order to type on a computer.
Having to confront his disability and the depression and bullying that came along with it early in life, Nick was not always as positive and enthusiastic as he appears in his speeches. At the age of 8, he had already contemplated and attempted a suicide. However, Nick’s life was changed when a speaker at his school shared his personal trials with loneliness as an orphaned child. It occurred to Nick that a person who had gone through a struggle and was able to come out of it had the ability to give others hope and empowerment. Thus, at the age 17, Nick began speaking at school and church events.
In his speaking events, Nick’s message often resonates with teenagers who struggle with the notion of not being “good enough.”
“It’s the fact that they understand how it feels to be alone, how it feels to be rejected, how it feels to be confused and broken. That’s the level that I come in on, and they can see that straight away. When I get up onstage, they know that I’ve been broken.”
Nick’s passion to give hope to people by sharing his story eventually lead him to establish his non-profit ministry, Life without Limbs. The organization seeks to engage people of various ages, class, and locations and inspire them to live passionately and with the knowledge of true self value regardless of the opinions of the world.
Unable to shake hands with the people he encounters in his travels, Nick insists on being hugged wherever he goes to speak may it be a school, corporate event, or a church – a wonderful portrayal of his mission in breaking down social walls and norms so that the light of human compassion within each individual may shine out into the world.
Here’s Nick inspiring some young students with his wit and wisdom:
Stephen Colbert Raising Money to Help the Oil Spill
In a recent episode of the “The Colbert Report,” Stephen Colbert raised $100,000 for the Gulf oil spill cleanup with the help of Microsoft through doing what he does best, talking. More specifically by mentioning the word, Bing.
The political satirist, Colbert, explained, “When I see these images of the coastal environment and wildlife being devastated, I just wish there was some way I could donate — someone else’s money.”
That’s exactly what he did. Microsoft agreed to give $2,500 to The Colbert Nation Gulf of America Fund, set up through the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, for every time Colbert mentioned Bing. In a short minute and a half segment, the comedian brought up Bing 40 times in obnoxious ways such as: “Bing has offered to donate 2,500 dollars to a charity of my choice every time I say the word Bing… whenever you hear this Bing, when I say Bing and the Bing logo Bings, that means Bing heard my Bing and Binged the Bing to acknowledge my Bing.”
You can also go to The Colbert Nation Gulf of America Fund and donate yourself. The money goes towards grants and scholarships given to areas and individuals who are greatly affected by the oil spill.
If you don’t have your own late night show to raise money, many organizations are still looking for volunteers to help out fight the oil spill. Check out a list organizations gathering volunteers here.
You can see how it all went down at the Report here.
Source: here.
Get Free Lady Gaga Tickets by Doing a Good Deed
For all those Lady Gaga fans out there who aren’t willing to shed the 100 big ones for a ticket for her upcoming tour, The Monster Ball, Virgin Mobile is giving you the opportunity to catch a show for free! In return for a free ticket, Virgin Mobile is asking for all participants to log in a few hours of doing a good deed – clean a homeless shelter, landscape the lawn at a safe house for runaways, deliver pens, rulers and binders to school kids who can’t afford them.
This deal, coined FREE.I.P, is part of a RE*Generation, a Virgin Mobile initiative started in 2006 with the aim to get homeless kids off the streets. In order to get started, head over to the program’s website here, select a project to volunteer at and register for it!
Youth homelessness is a prominent issue in the US as nearly 2 million people between 12-24 are affected every year. According to RE*Generation, over 100,000 will sleep on the streets for 6 months or more and those who grow up homeless often end up in the same situation as adults. These youths often struggle with problems such as drug addiction, mental illness and illiteracy that will keep them from being homeless unless they receive outside help.
This isn’t the first time Lady Gaga has been involved in helping homeless youth. During her 2009 Monster Ball tour, a PSA that addressed her “little monsters” played at the beginning of each show stating that Gaga was “very angry” about the homophobia experienced by every one-in-five homeless youth who identify as LGBT. As a response, she chose to match donations texted by her fans during the tour and donated $25,000 of her own to the cause.
For more information check out the FREE.I.P. website.
source: here.
Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics
Every year, Greenpeace, an international environmental group, releases their annual Guide to Greener Electronics. In it, the top 18 international manufacturers of electronics (e.g. cell phones, computers, video game consoles and televisions) are rated based on their environmental policies related to: their use of hazardous chemicals, level of commitment to recycling, and attention given to climate change and reducing carbon footprint.
The report was recently released in May with Nokia taking the top spot as the greenest electronics company and Apple, Sony, Panasonic, and HP close behind in a four way tie for fifth place. On the other end of the list, Nintendo and Lenovo was rated last place with Microsoft not too far from that position also.
You can download the complete Green Electronic Guide to find out about the business practices of the companies what make your electronics. Also its a useful resource in making environmentally informed purchases.
In addition to checking out the Guide to Greener Electronics, you can be proactive by sending a Greenpeace letter to Dell asking them to remove harmful materials such as PVC plastic and brominated flame retardants, from their products
Aside from how environmentally conscious electronic companies are, another important issue is the ongoing use of conflict minerals. You can learn about hows such minerals are used in electronics to fund bloody wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo and other countries here.
source: here.
Be a Volunteer in Fighting the Oil Spill
Over a month since the explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig, an estimated 12,000 and 25,000 barrels of crude oil continue to gush into the Gulf of Mexico covering about 65 miles of Louisiana shoreline. With no end yet in sight, the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi and Florida also look to becoming victims of the spill. The continuing dissemination of the oil slick present a complete disaster for the shoreline habitat: volunteers are desperately needed. Here are some ways you can help:
General:
- Those who want to help clean up the coast can sign up at the Louisiana Gulf Response website. This organization is a liaison between various nonprofits and governmental conservation and environmental organizations: The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, the National Wildlife Federation, the National Audubon Society, and the Barataria-Terrobonne National Estuary Program. Volunteers of this program will be assisting in oiled wildlife recovery to monitoring and photographing oil movement.
- The Sierra Club Foundation, a charity that seeks to support various environmental projects is gathering volunteers, and will connect you with opportunities to help. To sign up, click here.
Clean Up Efforts:
- Matter of Trust is seeking human hair from beauty salons, animal fur from groomers and pantyhose to make homemade booms to sop up the oil. The fur is stuffed into pantyhose, which give shape to the booms. Volunteers are needed at warehouses in different sites across the country to gather for “Boom-B-Qs” to learn how to make the booms.
- Keys Spill are mobilizing volunteers to prevent oil from the shores of Florida Keys. About 800 boat captains have already offered the use of their vessels, and many people have signed up for classes in how to clean up oil that could begin showing up on the coast later this week.
- Global Green USA, a nonprofit focused on the creation of green buildings and cities, is signing up volunteers to help clean up the spill. Click here to sign up.
- The city of Biloxi, Mississippi is signing up volunteers at www.biloxi.ms.us/Volunteer.asp for preparation of when the oil reaches its shores.
- The Gulf Restoration Network, a New Orleans-based nonprofit committed to keeping the Gulf of Mexico clean, is gathering volunteers to help with clean-up efforts. Please click here to sign up.
- The Alabama Coastal Foundation, which works to improve and protect the quality of Alabama’s coastal resources, is collecting contact information from volunteers for cleanup efforts along the Alabama coast if the spill reaches its shores. To register, and for the latest information on the spill, go to http://www.joinacf.org/oil_info.html or call the Mobile-based nonprofit at 251-990-6002.
- The Mobile Bay National Estuary Program is looking for volunteers to help reduce the potential impact of the oil spill in Mobile Bay. To register, go to their website or call 251-431-6409.
- The Mobile Baykeeper is another Alabama group seeking volunteers in case the oil pushes into the state’s shores. If you are interested in volunteering to reduce the impacts of the oil spill to the Bay, please call their office at 251-433-4229 or e-mail info@mobilebaykeeper.org with your name, address, phone number, e-mail and available resources.
Helping animals effected by the spill:
- Louisiana’s St. Tammany Humane Society seeks trained and untrained volunteers to help clean and rehab oiled pelicans. Call Catherine Wilbert at 985-674-6898 or click here.
- The National Audubon Society is gathering volunteers who want to help clean up birds. To register click here. The Audobon Society also seeks eBirders, people needed to survey local beaches and marshes for birds; your observations will help conservationists and researchers prioritize their efforts and asses the impacts of the spill. For more information click here.
- Pascagoula River Audubon Center, part of Audobon Mississippi, is organizing training on cleaning wildlife affected by the oil spill. Volunteers may register here.
- Tristate Bird Rescue & Research is coordinating on-the-ground volunteer efforts.
- Save Our Seabirds is a Sarasota, Florida-based bird rescue group that is looking for volunteers and support as its response team prepares to help oiled wildlife. Click here to fill out their online form or call 941-388-3010.
For the most recent updates of the oil spill and volunteer opportunities, search #oilspill on Twitter and check on the Louisiana Shore Cleanup Facebook Group. Furthermore, the government has a volunteer hotline at 1-866-448-5816.
