Moving forward: World Water Day 2013

In honor of World Water Day, it’s my pleasure to share this video from charity: water documenting the organization’s latest efforts to get people around the world clean and safe drinking water.

More than 780 million people on our planet don’t have access to clean drinking water. For $20 a person, non-profit charity: water funds clean water solutions like shallow wells, deep wells, rainwater harvesting systems, and spring protections to provide people in need with clean and safe drinking water. Find out how you can help give one person clean drinking water at www.charitywater.org/donate

The following infographic Read more

Sharing secrets: SXSW Walter Alert

Very soon, we will all begin reading about all the fun that lucky traveler/revelers in Austin, Texas, are having at the fabulous annual SXSW interactive and film (starting March 8) and music (starting March 12) festivals. I hope you’ll be there this year, and if so, please be safe and have a great time. In case you have a new tech business in the works, many prominent media outlets are abuzz about an innovative pop-up advertising agency that will be meeting with startup tech ventures at the festival between March 8 and 12 to discuss marketing program development. Reporting for Advertising Age, David Teicher writes:

There are only 25 interview slots available, so visit www.Calluswalter.com soon to request a meeting, and break a leg. Here comes SXSW 2013!

Coming soon to PBS: “Mission of Hope”

Premiering Jan. 31, 2013, on PBS, “Mission of Hope” is the untold inspirational story of Colonel Ilan Ramon, a fighter pilot and son of Holocaust survivors who became the first and only astronaut from Israel, embarking on a mission with the most diverse Shuttle crew ever to explore space. Ramon realized the significance of “being the first” and his journey of self-discovery turned into a mission to tell the world a powerful story about the resilience of the human spirit. Although the seven astronauts of the Columbia perished on February 1, 2003, a remarkable story of hope, friendship across cultures and an enduring faith reemerged.

Playtone presents a West Street Productions and Herzog & Company film. Read more

MLK Day of Service 2013

The MLK Day of Service is an opportunity for Americans to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Junior’s legacy through service and volunteerism.

Each year, Americans across the country answer that question by coming together on the King Holiday to serve their neighbors and communities. To learn more, please visit www.mlkday.gov.

It’s also my pleasure to provide the following graphic illuminating the life and lasting legacy of Dr. King, courtesy of www.OnlineCollegeCourses.com. “People honor and celebrate the life of Dr. King for many reasons, but most importantly, for his role in working to achieve race equality in America. Dr. King had arguably the greatest impact of any single person during the fight for racial equality, and the fact that his life was cut short causes people to wonder what he may have gone on to achieve in his lifetime. Read more

Award-winning Innovation Lifecycle

On Thursday, Dec. 6, The Global Awards for the “World’s Best Healthcare Advertising” announced its 2012 award winners at ceremonies in New York City and Sydney, Australia. At the New York festivities, executives from the Intellectual Property (IP) & Science business of Thomson Reuters and the full-service Hollywood production studio Pictures In A Row (PICROW) were present to receive their Global Award for “The Innovation Lifecycle” (www.youtu.be/ibfrzjb_fB0). Created by PICROW in direct collaboration with Thomson Reuters executives and recently also awarded a CLIO Healthcare Award, this unique brand film presents a story of a series of professionals guiding viewers through the complicated process of transforming a scientific discovery into a life-saving drug using Thomson Reuters products and services. To shine more light on the project’s development, PICROW executives have produced this behind-the-scenes presentation illuminating their work on this award-winning production. Read more

Forces for good: Kobe Bryant

In this first episode of Mission: Kobe Bryant, the renowned NBA star visits Skid Row to learn about the issues facing homeless people in LA, and speaks to four extraordinary men seeking to improve their lives. You can learn more about the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation’s fight to end homelessness in LA by visiting www.kvbff.org. You can also follow the link to the YouTube posting to find a Homeless Service Organization near you through the National Coalition for the Homeless.

More on Mission: www.bit.ly/VOEpdN

In Mission, Kobe Bryant documents an honest account of challenges facing residents of Skid Row, the downtown Los Angeles area with the largest concentration of homeless people in the United States. Through his personal and candid conversations with residents of The Los Angeles Mission Read more

Adventures in publishing: Maria Popova

Brain Pickings is the brain child of Maria Popova, an interestingness hunter-gatherer and curious mind at large, who also writes for Wired UK and The Atlantic, among others, and is an MIT Futures of Entertainment Fellow.

Brain Pickings is a human-powered discovery engine for interestingness, culling and curating cross-disciplinary curiosity-quenchers, and separating the signal from the noise to bring you things you didn’t know you were interested in until you are.

In 2012, publishing the “ad-free” Brain Pickings took more than 5,000 hours. Please consider becoming a member and supporting with a recurring monthly donation of your choosing, or with a single donation of any amount.

Giving season: Heroes

Together with my family, I am sending my warmest thoughts to many friends and colleagues worldwide, and feeling a lot of gratitude. I truly appreciate your help in sending daily clicks to www.hungersite.com, where our simple mouseclicks can benefit a number of vital causes each and every day.

Giving season: Love

In the video above, in his own words, Narayanan Krishnan says, “I thought, what is the purpose of my life? What am I going to do? …And I quit my job and I started feeding all these people from 2002.” And later: “There are thousand and thousands and lots and lots of people suffering. What is the ultimate purpose of life? It’s to give. Start giving. See the joy of giving.“

I have done some research on homelessness over the years, and we all know that there are displaced people living on the city streets everywhere in America. The organizations and initiatives highlighted below represent just some of the many phenomenal community efforts supporting homeless people in the U.S. and elsewhere. I found many of them through JustGive.org, and I’m also proud to point you to this list JustGive publishes, entitled 35 Ways You Can Help the Homeless. They list as item 7, “give money,” and to that, I’ll add my plea to give whatever you have to spare (from loose change to your time), to those people you see in need.

Thank you! Read more

Gift Togetherness

I am very proud to share Thornberg & Forester’s “The Gift of Togetherness,” part of a powerful campaign from DDB Chicago promoting Ronald McDonald House Charities. The campaign’s goal is to raise $1 million by December 31; for every dollar raised, 90 cents support programs globally!