Addendums to earlier posts

This is possibly, fantastic news! I just read that the San Francisco Zoo, under pressure since the tiger attack in December, might become a rescue zoo. Apparently it means that the animals would likely get more space and bigger habitats more closely resembling their natural ones. I won't take credit for this development, ha ha ha, BUT I will say that I think blogging is a powerful tool. Public opinion matters and the easiest and most visible way to track public opinion these days is on the Internet. If hundreds of people blog that they're upset and hundreds of people (or dozens in my case) read that blog, it adds up. This is still one of my favorite videos (Nick Park is a genius).

I met a guy who works at Yelp this weekend. Actually, another 24-year old who wanted to "date" me. It's bizarre how young this town is. I guess it's the dot com thing, and actually, this is a cool place to be. Young people graduating from college want to live in San Francisco or New York. He said that the CEO and founder of Yelp is 28 and came to a meeting the other day in a "hoodie and sneaks." This guy, at 24, was flabbergasted that his millionaire boss is basically a slightly older version of himself. Imagine how I feel! Anyway, he told me that doctor recommendations are HUGE on Yelp and that some doctors have had to stop taking patients for six months or more because of the demand. It's very interesting, when recommendation works, it really works!

As it turns out, I wasn't the first person to think of a virtual concert (I know, amazing!) A friend of mine went to the 3D U2 show and said it was really cool. He heard a guy comment on the way out that it was better than a live concert for all the reasons that I specified. It was in a movie theater which is not conducive to the concert vibe though as people were self-conscious about singing along, shouting, etc. I maintain that this kind of thing should be shown at a dark, loud club just like a real concert, except better. Miley Cyrus' concert movie has already made ten times what it cost to make and parents don't have to let their teenagers drive into the city to see her in real life. A friend wrote me that now you can now see your opera in HD at the local movie theater. I love this idea that culture comes to you.

I got such a delightful number of comments on my post about starting a village. I seem to have struck a nerve! I had a little bit of anxiety after that because I thought "what if someone actually expects me to do this?" My biggest concern was how I was going to find a boyfriend. All of my friends who are up for it are already married or coupled, so it's great for them I guess, but what about me? I can't date three guys in our community of 150 at the same time (awkward!) And then it wouldn't work out with any of them and they'd all have to leave. You know? But that book about my North Node said that I have an enormous amount of love to give and that the receptacle, if it's a person, isn't big enough. I'm supposed to pour that love into a philanthropic venture, something that will make life better for other people. Once I focus on that, love will come to me and it will be easier for the other person to deal with me if I'm already in love with my "work." There's a lot of buzz right now about eco-villages: building with green materials, using renewable energy and aiming to be carbon neutral. I totally support that but my village would be communal in that "it takes a village to raise a child" way; everyone could have a role but wouldn't spend their whole life working a job they hate, and we'd all have land to grow our own food! I'm starting to wonder, however, if maybe we can make that change right where we are? There's a growing movement to plant food instead of grass in lawns (here's a fun article in the NYT Magazine about it). One step at a time, we can transform our world.

I thought this op-ed in the NYTimes today was interesting. The author criticizes the abduction of Generation 9/11 by Obama's campaign, calling them "Generation Obama." He goes on to say:
The more you learn about him, the more Obama seems to be a conventionally opportunistic politician, impressively smart and disciplined, who has put together a good political career and a terrific presidential campaign. But there’s not much audacity of hope there. There’s the calculation of ambition, and the construction of artifice, mixed in with a dash of deceit — all covered over with the great conceit that this campaign, and this candidate, are different.

After watching his speech today, addressing the comments of his pastor, I have to say that he is an amazingly composed and grounded orator. He speaks plainly so the masses can understand, everything he says makes sense and as I've said before, if all he does is inspire us it's more than most have done. The accusation of a politician being a politician is pretty weak. The Republicans haven't had someone this inspirational in office in years, if ever.



It's wise to be wary, perhaps especially of politicians, but instead of throwing the baby out with the bathwater we should instead remind ourselves that we have to bring our revolution to Washington as much as we expect our leaders to bring it to us. Right on, right on!

Would you like to play a game?

Several months ago, I read an article in Wired about a virtual reality game for kids. Apparently kids are addicted to dressing their penguin and decorating their igloos. This little girl stole game money from her brother to buy her penguin a giant screen TV (I think she was eight) and it upset the parents. I thought to myself “if we’re going to go virtual, why not practice doing something valuable?” With millions of people online, we have a real life Petri dish to practice global policy, fighting terrorism, or reducing global warming. Remember War Games?


In fact, it wouldn’t have to be just a game. It could create real awareness, drive real policy and make real change. SimCity lets players design their own city. This would be a MMPOG (massive multi-player online game) in which the players have to cooperate to make the world a better place. What happens to the world if you buy a hybrid and trade in your gas-guzzler? What if you replace your light bulbs with fluorescent? What if you install energy-saving appliances? What if everyone does? Imagine seeing the ACTUAL impact on the earth at the exact moment that it happens. Imagine how many people you could inspire to make change if they could actually see the difference.

Then I got another idea. Instead of getting email from Amnesty International to send a letter to a political prisoner, a request to sign a petition from the Humane Society to save the baby seals, or a plea to send a letter to your congressperson regarding a labor issue from MoveOn, what if it happened in the game? On a world map are issues, hotspots and things going on in the world. When you roll over or click, you get an alert. A monk has just been taken prisoner in China. He spoke out again the government and now he’s in jail. Send a letter! Maybe you pay a dollar and one is sent for you, or you could donate $10. Organize a rally to get other players interested in your cause.

In real-time you monitor the progress. Photos, articles and updates are posted, as they are available. The amount of money being donated and letters sent are displayed, again, in real-time. All over the world, things are happening that you can be a part of. How often have you written a check to an organization, sent it off and then what? Do you know where that money went? What cause it went towards? Do you know the outcome of that cause? This way, we all get to share in the struggle; we get to see our efforts count.

And then this weekend I saw a headline in the paper: “Earth program helps non-profits raise money.” Google Earth Outreach is the formal launch of a program that allows non-profits to utilize Google Earth to raise awareness by letting users visualize issues on a world map. One example mentioned is a Brazilian Indian tribe that wants to stop loggers and miners from deforesting the jungle to dig for gold.

I downloaded Google Earth and so far, it’s not that exciting. It has a long way to go. It’s mostly just a portal to, what else, Google. Another way to find links and images. I've received two form letters that I wasn’t qualified to work there (someone told me they get 2,500 resumes a week as it is, after all, the best company in America to work for) but I have my finger on the pulse and my vision is still way better than what they’ve got going on!