The Jist Of The Plan:
After school is out, and kids graduate, many don’t continue music. Most just throw the instrument in the attic and there it sits. Gathering dust. What we want to do is get those instruments out of the closet and into the hands of kids whom can’t afford to buy or rent an instrument but would like to play.

This recycling program will have terms that the student would have to agree to. Things like: if they quit, they would have to return the instrument so a child who would like to play can use it. I have more details hashed out but you get the idea?

I really should have done something years back when I first came up with it but hey, life happens right? Help me out.

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Full video premieres Thursday at 4 p.m. on MTV.

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The real inconvenient truth

The whole world needs to adopt China’s one-child policy

Diane Francis, Financial Post Published: Tuesday, December 08, 2009

The “inconvenient truth” overhanging the UN’s Copenhagen conference is not that the climate is warming or cooling, but that humans are overpopulating the world.

A planetary law, such as China’s one-child policy, is the only way to reverse the disastrous global birthrate currently, which is one million births every four days.

The world’s other species, vegetation, resources, oceans, arable land, water supplies and atmosphere are being destroyed and pushed out of existence as a result of humanity’s soaring reproduction rate.

Ironically, China, despite its dirty coal plants, is the world’s leader in terms of fashioning policy to combat environmental degradation, thanks to its one-child-only edict.

The intelligence behind this is the following:

-If only one child per female was born as of now, the world’s population would drop from its current 6.5 billion to 5.5 billion by 2050, according to a study done for scientific academy Vienna Institute of Demography.

-By 2075, there would be 3.43 billion humans on the planet. This would have immediate positive effects on the world’s forests, other species, the oceans, atmospheric quality and living standards.

-Doing nothing, by contrast, will result in an unsustainable population of nine billion by 2050.

Humans are the only rational animals but have yet to prove it. Medical and other scientific advances have benefited by delivering lower infant mortality rates as well as longevity. Both are welcome, but humankind has not yet recalibrated its behavior to account for the fact that the world can only accommodate so many people, especially if billions get indoor plumbing and cars.

The fix is simple. It’s dramatic. And yet the world’s leaders don’t even have this on their agenda in Copenhagen. Instead there will be photo ops, posturing, optics, blah-blah-blah about climate science and climate fraud, announcements of giant wind farms, then cap-and-trade subsidies.

None will work unless a China one-child policy is imposed. Unfortunately, there are powerful opponents. Leaders of the world’s big fundamentalist religions preach in favor of procreation and fiercely oppose birth control. And most political leaders in emerging economies perpetuate a disastrous Catch-22: Many children (i. e. sons) stave off hardship in the absence of a social safety net or economic development, which, in turn, prevents protections or development.

China has proven that birth restriction is smart policy. Its middle class grows, all its citizens have housing, health care, education and food, and the one out of five human beings who live there are not overpopulating the planet.

For those who balk at the notion that governments should control family sizes, just wait until the growing human population turns twice as much pastureland into desert as is now the case, or when the Amazon is gone, the elephants disappear for good and wars erupt over water, scarce resources and spatial needs.

The point is that Copenhagen’s talking points are beside the point.

The only fix is if all countries drastically reduce their populations, clean up their messes and impose mandatory conservation measures.

dfrancis@nationalpost.com

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But it will turn out into a fabulous show again. We have alot of wonderful people helping with this and the point is to get the shots for post production.

Show starts at 7 PM from the D & R Theater downtown Aberdeen. It will be on channels 68 & 26 in about a week. I shouldn’t take me but a couple days to edit it. I edit video? Yes, I do. And I’m pretty frickin good too.

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On Fire

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He would always have a special gift for me behind the scenes. When the “main” Christmas rituals were over, we would find ourselves outside by ourselves and out of the blue, he would pull something out of his truck. Nothing like the things I would hound my parents for, like Castle Grayskull or He-Man action figures. Not the monetarily valued gifts that people seem to be hell bent on nowadays, but a gift that meant something. A gift from the heart that always said what he really couldn’t most of the time. That he cared.

Early on, we didn’t have alot but he busted his ass to make sure we had what we needed. Even during our financially challenging years, he would save up enough money on the side to help someone else. Many say that’s where I get my drive to help others. Maybe it’s a curse. Every holiday he would find a family less fortunate than ours and he and I would go pick out things that a family might enjoy or need since they were too poor to have a Christmas. The family could have been one he knew in passing. Or a friend of a friend. I remember he would have me pick out the things for the kids since they were my age. And at the time, I would get a little jealous because I wanted those things I picked out. At night, we would sneak this big box of presents on the porch of whomever he chose that year and we would ring the doorbell and run.

He would never go back to seek acknowledgment. We would never tell anyone of our deed.
Why am I telling you now? That’s a good question. Oh yeah, now I remember. It sucks to have to go through special times without the people you used to spend those special times with. I guess I would rather have it this way then not to have those times at all. I guess I could “Start those same traditions with your own kids.” cliche. And I guess I could. It wouldn’t be the same, but then would I want it to be? My father sought to be charitable anonymously. Funny, nowadays I see so many people shoving each other out of the spotlight as to make sure everybody sees that THEY are helping the less fortunate. Like “Hey! Look at me! I’m helping those less fortunate!” then, when people aren’t looking, they stop. Do you know what I mean? Not dad. He was a class act. He wouldn’t want to risk embarrassing someone. He didn’t need the kudos. If you looked in the dictionary for the word, ‘honorable’, you would find his name.

So if you have a heavy heart, much like I, especially around these times. It doesn’t go away, but time helps take the sting out. It may take a little bit. All you can do is plug away and reflect on the fond times of old. Sure, create new traditions and/or re-create old ones. Like my dads dad (my grandpa) would tell me; “Hey Monkey, no matter how bad you think you have it, there’s always someone else out there who has it worse than you.” We seem so caught up in life, that we forget those people who got us here. Our parents, grandparents, great grand parents, great great, etc etc.

Your mission is to find out your great great great great great great grand parents names. Where they lived. What occupations they had. How many children they had. Will you? Probably not. Not when we could be doing something funner like watching Greys Anatomy.

“Remember who you are Simba”
Mufasa

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I don’t mean to sound harsh, because I’m laughing more than scolding, but THINK people. NOTHING IS FREE! And don’t be lazy thinking someone is “helping you out”. Out of all the emails I got on this, not one person bothered to check snopes since the email said “I checked snopes” (not that Snopes is the end-all-be-all of factual information) HAHAHAHA

Read on….

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/nothing/ericsson.asp

Example:   [Collected via e-mail, February 2007]

FREE LAPTOPS

Hi everyone,

The Ericsson Company is distributing free computer Lap-tops in an attempt to match Nokia that has already done so. Ericsson hopes to increase its popularity this way. For this reason, they are giving away the new WAP laptops. All you need to do to qualify is to send this mail to 8 people you know. Within 2 weeks, you will receive EricssonT18. But if you can send it to 20 people or more, you will receive Ericsson R320. Make sure to send a copy to : anna.swelung@ericsson.com

Variations:   A version that began circulating in May 2009 states: “According to Snopes this appears to be a legit offer.” Which is false — this is not a legitimate offer. Likewise, the October 2009 versions that assert: “I have checked this on Snopes and it is true” and “I DID check Snopes – it IS legit … They’re trying to match a recent deal by Nokia!” are also lies.

Origins:   The above-quoted jape is yet another version of a long-running Internet hoax that has been circulating in one form or another since 1997. The names of the companies involved and the supposed rewards to be had periodically change, but the basic come-on remains the same: fool gullible netizens into endlessly forwarding junk messages to their friends and acquaintances with phony promises of cash and free merchandise.

Way back in April 2000, after an iteration of this hoax stated that Nokia was giving away free cell phones, a new version was set loose claiming that Ericsson was trying to one-up its competitor with a similar offer:
Dear customer
Our main competitor, Nokia, is giving free mobile phones away on the Internet. Here at Ericsson we want to counter their offer. So we are giving our newest WAP-phones away as well. They are especially developed for Internet happy customers who value cutting edge technology. By giving free phones away, we get valuable customer feedback and a great Word-of-Mouth effect.

All you have to do, is to forward this message to 8 friends. After two weeks delivery time, you will receive a Ericsson T18. If you forward it to 20 friends, you will receive the brand new Ericsson R320 WAP-phone. Just remember to send a copy to Anna.Swelund@ericsson.com that is the only way we can see, that you forwarded the message.

Best of luck

Anna Swelund
Executive Promotion Manager for Ericsson Marketing

Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved. Reproduction, transfer, distribution or storage of part or all of the contents in any form without the prior written permission of Ericsson is prohibited except in accordance with the following terms. Ericsson consents to you browsing Ericsson World Wide Web pages on you computer or WAP-phone and printing copies of these pages for private use only.
But of course, Ericsson made no such offer, the e-mail address provided was bogus, and the company employed no one by the name of “Anna Swelund.” Ericsson
was hit so hard by inquiries about this hoax that they set up an auto-response for mail to the Anna.Swelund@ericsson.com e-mail address (the auto-reply message stated that there was no such account, there was no “free phone” offer, and there was no Anna Swelund working for the company) and inserted a denial of the rumor into their web site FAQ.

Five years later, in May 2005, the Ericsson version was dusted off, updated to include an offer for free laptops (even though the referenced Ericsson T18 is a cell phone, not a laptop), and sent winging around the Internet to fool a whole new crop of gullible recipients. In February 2007, it once again was set loose on inboxes everywhere:
The Ericsson Company is distributing free computer Lap-tops in an attempt to match Nokia that has already done so. Ericsson hopes to increase its popularity this way. For this reason, they are giving away the new WAP laptops. All you need to do to qualify is to send this mail to 8 people you know. Within 2 weeks, you will receive EricssonT18. But if you can send it to 20 people or more, you will receive Ericsson R320. Make sure to send a copy to: anna.swelung@ericsson.com
In May 2007 the hoax was reworked slightly to reposition it as a giveaway to benefit children:
Free LAPTOP FOR KID’S

Thought you might be interested in a free computer for your child!!! The Ericsson Company is distributing free computer lap-tops in an attempt to match Nokia that has already done so. Ericsson hopes to increase its popularity this way. For this reason, they are giving away the new WAPLaptops.

All you need to qualify is to send this mail to 8 people you know. Within 2 weeks, you will receive Ericsson T18. But if you can send it to 20 people or more, you will receive Ericsson R320. There are people within our building who have received their laptops so I thought I would share this info with you in hopes that you get one before they give them all out!

Make sure to send a copy (cc) to: anna.swelung@ericsson.com
In May 2009, this hoax was put into graphic form:

The resurgence of this hoax in May 2009 prompted Sony Ericcson to issue yet another disclaimer:
Sony Ericsson has been made aware of an online email campaign claiming that Ericsson will give away a free laptop computer to users who forward the promotional information. The same campaign includes a photograph of the Sony Ericsson logo and mentions an Ericsson contact name and email number.

Sony Ericsson confirms that this email campaign is a hoax. In addition, Sony Ericsson confirms that the Ericsson contact name does not exist.

All competitions and promotions involving Sony Ericsson are run through official channels such as Sony Ericsson’s website or Sony Ericsson’s partners’ websites. Please be wary of any competition or promotion that appears to come from outside of Sony Ericsson or Sony Ericsson’s partners official channels. Examples of these include via spam emails or SMS.

Please do not reply to or forward the email if you receive it.
A similar graphic version from June 2009 claimed free Dell Inspiron Mini 9 or Dell Precision M6400 notebook computers could be obtained free by forwarding e-mail messages to friends:

The bottom line is that no matter which incarnation of this silliness one receives, the principle is the same: There’s still no free lunch, and big companies aren’t going to hand out fabulous vacations, $1,000 bills, free trendy clothes, new computers, cases of candies, wads of cash, or new cars just because someone with a functioning Internet connection does them the favor of forwarding an e-mail. Though at first blush, participating in such pie-in-the-sky wishfulness appears perfectly harmless, such participation only serves to clog up already overtaxed resources. Oh yes, it does one other thing: it gives the pranksters who cooked up these frauds a great big laugh at others’ expense.

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