“Change” seems to be an early contender for word-of-the-year.
With that in mind, I’d like to share the work of alldaybuffet, a non-profit organization that one of my best buddies from college started up in NYC. Alldaybuffet introduces itself like so:
“Pleased to meet you, we’re alldaybuffet. A social awareness brand for the cool kids. Our purpose is to connect the things we like with the things that matter most. Our concept is open participation. Our network is a family of likeminded people around the world working towards the same ideals.”
Already, alldaybuffet has put together some amazing events and raised money and awareness to help revitalize New Orleans, prevent human trafficking, and much more.
I recently posted on their group blog, and look forward to sharing interesting tidbits over there in the near future. My first post was a quick summary of all the cool graphs and pie-charts people are making these days about things we’re not used to seeing compressed into statistical analysis and how this can help us bring about “change.” Check it out, and sign up for their newsletter while you’re on the site.
I posted two more pieces to the Huffington Post.The first one is all about presidential campaign music, and what songs today’s youth think the candidates should be playing at their events.Leave a comment over at the Huff Po with what song you’d play if you were running for president.I also posted a review of CAUCUS!: THE MUSICAL, a local theater production in Des Moines that lampoons the ridiculousness of the political process. It was a pretty good show, and a welcome respite from the non-stop campaign events.
I wrote something for the Huffington Post about political telemarketing. Check it out if you’ve got a second, and feel free to leave a comment over there.
I wrote a paper about telemarketing this semester, so I guess I covered something that was still marinating in my mind.
Oh, and check out my travel colleague’s pieces too!
I’m headed to Iowa to cover the caucuses next week for the Huffington Post.
If you’ve got any friends (or, friends of friends) in Iowa pretty please hook me up with their contact information. I am especially interested in getting in touch with them if they are younger folks involved in the political process in any capacity (e.g. volunteers, campaign staff, or just caucusing it up).
And, if you’ve got any advice about Iowa, hook me up. Thus far, the only words of wisdom I’ve received– bring a warm jacket.
I’m up in the city for a New York minute. Give me a holla if you’re in town and reading this.
Headed downtown in a second to finish up my last paper of the semester. If you’re in the area, or have any insight about WHOIS privacy, the First Amendment, and anonymous speech rights, feel free to get in touch.
I enjoyed some delicious tostones at Café Habana in Soho yesterday, and had an interesting vegetarian meal at Candle Café. Late night I met up with my friends for a party. My buddy mentioned that he gave me a shout-out on NPR’s Bryant Park Project’s blog this week for my obsession with The Hood Internet music site. Check it out:
The remix comes courtesy of The Hood Internet, a site that’s been the source of much amusement to me since my friend Mark obsessively played their first mixtape while driving around DC this summer.
Took a quick study break to enjoy the most exciting annual event in Colonial Williamsburg –fife and drum roll, please– the Grand Illumination! For those of you who don’t have the privilege of living quite so close to the bustling metropolis of reenacted 18th century Virginia, I figured I would post some pictures and a video to truly capture the essence of this explosive evening.
home-cooked meals, a comfortable bed, non-fiction, basketball, the return of the sitcom, dancing, photographs, highlighters, non-dairy cookies, non-governmental organizations, college radio, family, ping-pong, brunch, the wire, indoor plumbing, pumpkin spice coffee, nikola tesla, the beach, suede, stephen colbert, the first amendment, yankees, lil wayne, drive-in movies, shabbos, sunsets, and you…
Lately, I’ve been doing a lot research for term papers. In the off-chance that anybody perusing this blog has any interest in them, or could offer some recommended reading, I thought it might be helpful to post the topics.
As a member of the Environmental Law & Policy Review, I am writing a note about homeowners associations and energy efficient home improvements. Specifically, I am interested in institutionalized impediments for green architecture. The paper is looking like a synthesis of Tim “Toolman” Taylor, Al Gore, and John Locke.
I had the opportunity to scope out the Department of Energy’s Solar Decathalon for my note during a recent trip to Washington, DC and had the same thrill that I imagine a lot of baby boomers had when attending Futurama II at the 1964 World’s Fair. Sure, it’s not the Jetsons, but the future is going to be okay after all.
And, while we’re on the topic, I thoroughly enjoyed reading through the book Privatopia, and was pretty stoked to see that the author maintains a blog on the same subject. If you’re interested in the rise of private government, sprawl, etc. it’s a great book and a really good blog to throw in the good ole RSS reader for news updates on the subject.
I’m also writing a paper about the WHOIS database, domain registration, and freedom of speech on the Internet. Basically, anybody that registers a domain name to have a Web site has to submit their name, personal address, email account, and other personally identifying information. This can be a problem for those who want to make political statements on the net without fear of persecution. ICANN, the group that regulates the WHOIS database policies recently announced that they would not be changing their protocol for at least another year while they review their current privacy standards. Hopefully, my amateur legal analysis of contemporary first amendment case law and the Internet can make a tiny impact on policy formulation.
Finally, for a class on Consumer Law, I think I will be writing a comparison of the FTC’s “Do Not Call List” and the proposed “Do Not Track” system for online advertisers that do behavioral targeting. Though, I’m not quite sure yet. If anybody has an interesting research topic in the field of consumerism, pretty please hit me up. Maybe I should look into typos on the Internet again? The Ritz for $.01, who can argue with that.
I have begun posting quick links to the random stuff I find in the Internet ethers over on a Tumblr blog. Basically, it’s a digital scrapbook of interesting links I’ve stumbled across while digging around the Internerd.
Check it out here, or whenever you read my blog, you’ll find the latest links to Tumblr posts over there in the sidebar –>
Tumblr recently received a boatload of venture capital (though, at $750,000 it’s not exactly a yachtload of funding) and it’ll be fascinating to see how they develop themselves into a profitable company. Whereas WordPress (which this blog uses) provides powerful blogging software that can be confusing at times, Tumblr gives you bare bones basics. It’s like the minimalism aesthetics of a glossy Ikea catalog mixed with del.icio.us.
With that in mind, I’d like to share the work of alldaybuffet, a non-profit organization that one of my best buddies from college started up in NYC. Alldaybuffet introduces itself like so:
