Mercy Corps: Healthy Food Carts For Kids

“Food carts seem to line nearly every street in Jakarta. Indonesia’s capital is home to 13 million people, many of whom rely on these ready-to-eat foods sold in neighborhood streets and alleys. The low cost and convenience make them an attractive option for families who are often too busy to prepare food or lack facilities, fuel or transportation to purchase and prepare raw foods…many [children] get a food allowance from their parents, which they usually spend on the vending carts lining the school property, hoping to get a cut.

The options are pretty unhealthy….

…Mercy Corps is working with five entrepreneurs to build food carts that serve nutritious snacks using recipes designed by our health team. The carts are being designed…according to criteria that should make them attractive to small children. For instance, the carts will be colorful, clean and showcase their offerings at a child’s eye level.”

Mercy Corps exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities.

Complimenting Strangers

A shiny happy video showing how strangers react to random compliments:
“Just having fun being friendly to strangers, hoping to brighten their day! ”

Watch the video here.

The Venn Diagram of Social Media

The Venn Diagram of Social Media

Open Call – New Life Happening

Propose a happening or event for 10.000 participants in Copenhagen during the UN Climate Conference. Your concept should involve collective action and will be implemented alongside New Life Happenings by artist groups Superflex (DK) and Signa (DK/A) among others. The Submission deadline is October 1st 2009. The official Opening of New Happenings is December 7th 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark. To submit, please visit: www.wooloo.org.

Software Freedom Day 2009

A world wide celebration of Free and Open Source Software and the community behind it.

Talks:
* Beginning programming with Python, Minh Nguyen
* GIMP, Andrew Thornton
*  How to move to open source, Daniel Jitnah
* OpenOffice, Jessica Smith
*  Introduction to distributed version control with Mercurial,
Duana Stanley
*  Demo/workshop: Installing Linux on your netbook, Wen Lin (BYO
netbook!)
*  How to back up using Clonezilla, Wen Lin
*  Build your own website with Drupal, Simon Hobbs

Workshops:
* Introduction to WordPress, Kathy Reid
* Advanced WordPress, Kathy Reid
* Hands-on hardware hacking (Arduinos), Andy Gelme (limited
places, may be a small cost for hardware)
* Inkscape, Donna Benjamin

–
Software Freedom Day 2009        http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/melb

11am – 4pm, Saturday 19 September
Melbourne PC Club Rooms, 2nd Floor, Chadstone Place, Chadstone
Shopping Centre. (See Map at http://luv.asn.au/sfd)

ANAT has announced launch of Filter online

The Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT) is now publishing its magazine ‘Filter’ online!

Designed to encourage engagement and dialogue, the site is stocked with the latest Filter content plus favourite past issues – so get reading and posting today!

First published as the ANAT Bulletin in July 1988, Filter has been informing and inspiring a global network of creative innovators for over two decades.

Each issue is guest edited and thematically investigates an area of emerging practice or an art form of the future, exploring the new creativities which are occurring across community, culture and industry. Filter also keeps you up to date with the latest news from each of ANAT’s Core program areas.

The print version of Filter uses 100% soy based inks, with the goal to lessen its carbon footprint.

Filter Online

perverscite festival in montreal. demonstrating queer activism and gay pride

This year’s Pervers/Cité – Montreal’s 3rd Annual “Underside of Pride” – will be taking place from August 6 to 16, 2009 throughout the city of Montreal.

As Divers/cite becomes more and more corporate and less and less accountable to the history it represents, there is a growing need for a community response to the depoliticization of Pride.

Once again, a coalition of radical queer individuals and groups wants to organize a series of events, workshops, panel discussions, and actions to coincide with Divers/cite. The aim of this year`s series is to address issues normally pushed to the margins by the mainstream gay agenda.

http://www.perverscite.org/

savejapandolphins.org

Please support this urgent campaign with a donation.

Your support will:

• Help us reach people around the world with our campaign to end the slaughter of dolphins and whales in Japan.
• Support the work of Richard O’Barry and the Save Japan Dolphins Coalition in Japan, to educate and inform the Japanese public about the dangers of eating dolphin meat and the need to stop the slaughter.
• Help us reach the Japanese public through targeted media campaigns and screenings of “The Cove” movie.
• Stop the captures of wild dolphins around the world and trafficking in live dolphins.

http://www.savejapandolphins.org/donate.php

Increase the penalty for animal cruelty sign the ongoing petition

This petition has been created to show that Australians support harsher penalties towards scum that hurt and/or torture defenseless and innocent animals, like Buckley (picture above) (VIC) and Peanut (QLD).

The current maximum penalty for animal cruelty in Australia is a pathetic 12 months jail, or a fine. The maximum penalty that has been handed out is 4 months. This matter needs to be taken more seriously, and the penalties need to be increased.

Harming a defenceless animal is like hurting a child, neither can defend themselves.

Please do your part – sign this petition and invite others to do the same.

Sign the Petition

The Happiness Realization Party of Japan Introduces Its New President

Ryuho Okawa, Leader of the Religious Organization Happy Science, Becomes President of the Party

TOKYO–(Marketwire – July 30, 2009) – The Happiness Realization Party of Japan, formed May 27th this year, announced that it held an executive committee meeting on July 22nd and appointed Ryuho Okawa, the founder of both Happy Science and the Happiness Realization Party (HRP), as their new president. Okawa will run in the next general election as the party’s first ranking candidate of the Tokyo Proportional Representation bloc.

In May this year, Okawa decided to launch the HRP in his aim to bring forth substantial change in Japan’s political scene. At his public seminar held in Tokyo on July 22nd, Okawa himself announced that he has decided to run in the election as the president of the HRP in order to strengthen the party’s unification and the ability to hold the reins of government. He stated, “The HRP is building its policies based on where we would like the country to stand 20 to 30 years from now. The people of the nation may not understand us immediately but I plan to say what needs to be said.”

Since the late 1980s, Okawa had voiced countless suggestions directly and indirectly to politicians in Japan from his intention to nurture Japan to become an independent and more reliable country. His decision to establish HRP and run as president was made to enable this effort to yield a more direct and concrete result through the party’s involvement in politics.

The HRP has 345 candidates in all constituencies and Proportional Representation Blocs in Japan and is currently the largest political party within the country. The party says it aims to be the primary party of Japan through the next general election.

While Ryuho Okawa will be responsible for the policy makings of the party, Kyoko Okawa, his wife and former party leader has taken the position of Chief Advertising Officer of the party and will run as the first ranking candidate of the Tohoku (North-Eastern) Proportional Representation bloc.

For more information see www.hr-party.info

Editor’s note: Ok this definitely caught my eye. Snappy title, don’t you think? GG