Sunday, December 23, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Cereal Dust
Early one morning a few days ago I chose Cheerios for my healthy and nutritious breakfast. I grabbed the first box I saw in the cabinet . Shook it. About 75 Os in the box. You know. 75 Os in the bottom of box covered in that highly toxic and undesirable cereal dust. The challenge was on. I am DAD and I am SO above worrying about cereal dust in my bowl. I carefully and artfully poured those lonely, left for the trash O's into my bowl with only a small trace of dust.
Lucky for me we were well stocked. A full, fresh box was waiting for me in the cabinet. Grab and shake....another 75 O's smothered in their own crumb dust. Ugh! Emptied that box in my bowl with the same artful pouring skill. Best to be careful. That dust can really kill you if you eat it, right?
A slight bit of panic as I returned to the cabinet desperate to fill my bowl. I found a THIRD box already open and waiting for me. Grab and shake...half full. Good deal. A full bowl of Cheerios. No cereal dust to turn a tasty bowl of cereal to ruin. Someone tried to poison me with the dust but I escaped the horror of that nasty stuff in MY bowl of Cheerios!
Three boxes = One bowl
Success!
Monday, December 10, 2007
It's Personal. part 1
A four minute, unique story told from the perspective of Chris Ames, a guy who became an atheist after believing God didn’t exist.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Africa Pays Homage To U2
2007-12-05 10:42:24.310,
Story by: Jennifer Miller
Under the auspices of producers Shawn Amos and Paul Heck, Grammy Award-winning and up-and-coming African artists have come together for a tribute album to U2. In The Name Of Love: Africa Celebrates U2 (Shout! Factory) will be out April 1 and feature 12 covers of the Irish quartet's favorites and rarities from the likes of Angelique Kidjo, Les Nubians and Soweto Gospel Choir.
The project was inspired by Amos' work in South Africa with the Quincy Jones Listen Up Foundation, in addition to being an avid fan of both U2's music and Bono's philanthropic efforts with the ONE campaign and(RED), which have addressed the financial crises across the continent.
Tracklist For In The Name Of Love: Africa Celebrates U2:
01. Angelique Kidjo - Mysterious Ways
02. Vieux Farka Touré - Bullet The Blue Sky
03. Ba Cissoko - Sunday Bloody Sunday
04. Vusi Mahlasela - Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
05. Tony Allen - Where The Streets Have No Name
06. Cheikh Lô - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
07. Keziah Jones - One
08. Les Nubians - With Or Without You
09. Soweto Gospel Choir - Pride (In The Name Of Love)
10. Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars - Seconds
11. African Underground All-Stars - Desire
12. Waldemar Bastos - Love Is Blindness
Monday, December 3, 2007
World Aids Day: the battle has only just begun - U2
Published: 01 December 2007
In a world of calibrated cynicism here's something unabashedly positive to celebrate today to mark what is the 20th occasion that people across the globe have commemorated – if that's the right word – World Aids Day. The words come from the man who is now as honoured as a campaigner against extreme poverty as he is as front man for the world's biggest-selling rock band.
"Three years ago," says Bono, the lead singer of U2, "there was virtually no one in Africa on antiretroviral drugs. Now you'll have two million by the end of this year."
Two million is, of course, only a fraction of those affected by the disease which has to date killed more than 25 million people – making it one of the most destructive epidemics in human history. Another estimated 40 million people are now living with HIV. But the international community is, for the first time, showing real signs of progress in combating the disease on a significant scale.
That fact is, in no small measure, down to the campaigning of the impassioned Irish vocalist, who has lobbied governments for action and corralled some of the world's biggest businesses into playing their part – which is why this newspaper, for the fourth time, turns itself (Red) today.
Since it was founded 20 months ago, (Red) has donated an extraordinary $50,005,410 (£24,324,379) to the Global Fund to fights Aids, TB and Malaria. "Do the maths," says Bono. "It costs about $5 a week to pay for the two pills a day it takes to keep someone with HIV alive."
Aids is no longer a death sentence. Antiretroviral medication will bring someone who is at death's door back to virtually full health. Doctors call itthe Lazarus effect.
More than 20 per cent of all funding to fight Aids now comes from the Global Fund. An extra $50m in its coffers means that a million people who would previously have died have are being kept alive, day in day out, seven days a week, 52 weeks of the year. That is in addition to the extra anti-Aids drugs being provided by governments under the Gleneagles promises. It is nearly double the numbers treated by the Global Fund the year before. "That's what readers of The Independent helped kick off and there's a lot more where that came from."
Finish the article in The Independent
