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Archive for September, 2009

Project 10 to the 100 (10^100): What the Hell is This?

September 29th, 2009

Google is asking you to vote for the winning idea in Project 10 to the 100 (10^100), but what exactly is it? Is it a charity, a business incubator, or what? Going to the projec10tothe100.com website won’t help much. It’s just a placeholder domain that redirects you to Google’s own website. You can vote for the idea you like best, but Google gives you no idea what it plans to do with the money when the votes are counted.

The Google geeks are known for being smugly self-referential, planting obscure Easter eggs on their website that leave the great unwashed masses scratching their heads, but 10^100 takes the cake when it comes to obscurity. A little searching (via Google, of course) reveals that company plans to give $10 million to fund the winning idea. A decent chunk of change, but a drop in the bucket compared to the company’s nearly $5 billion annual profits. But is the $10 million a charitable donation or a socially conscious investment?

Information about the project is so scant that it’s impossible to tell. Google has a FAQ about Project Ten to the One Hundred in which it makes plain that the money is intended for the betterment of humanity, but then some people are quite happy to do well by doing good. I very much doubt that Project 10 to the 100 is seen as a profit center, but the Google-heads are known for being control freaks – no strings attached giving just isn’t their style.

Some of the ideas, like land mine removal, seem like the province of traditional non-profit organizations, but others look more like business plans. Building better banking tools or creating a real-time news reporting system seem like the kind of things that venture capitalists would be involved in.

Over 150,000 people and organizations took the trouble to apply for the project, and 3,000 Google employees had a hand in narrowing the field down to 16 basic ideas, which are now up for vote by the public. A panel of experts will decide how to distribute the $10 million so as to best fund the winners idea or ideas.

Given all the time and brain power that seems to have gone into Project 10^100, there doesn’t really seem to be anything new or remarkable about the finalists. All the ideas seem like more or less worthy ones, but I would have expected something more interesting or creative to emerge from the process. Perhaps the trouble with trying to democratize the selection process is that it creates a least common denominator outcome that discourages outside-the-box ideas.

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Disney to Give Free Admission For Volunteer Work

September 29th, 2009

Walt Disney Co. has announced that it will give free admission to its Disneyland and Disney World theme parks to one million people who perform a day’s volunteer work next year. In partnership with the Hands on Network, which is affiliated with thousands of charitable organizations, including Habitat for Humanity, citizens of the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico who volunteer with a participating charity will receive a free day pass to the theme park of their choice.

The program begins on January 1, 2010. If you don’t want to use the ticket, you can donate it to a participating charity. Details on Disney’s website are still a little half-baked, so you can’t sign up for anything just yet, but more details about the program will be released through the company’s Twitter account and on the Disneyparks blog.

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Census Worker Hanging: Bill Sparkman Found Naked, Gagged, and Bound

September 26th, 2009

More details are now emerging in the grizzly death of part-time Census worker Bill Sparkman. Sparkman was found hanging from a tree in Daniel Boone National Forrest on September 12. The word “fed” had been scrawled across his chest with a felt marking pen. Sparkman was performing work for the Census Bureau at the time of his death.

Authorities have now released information indicating that Sparkman died of asphyxiation. The FBI has been called into the case because it is a federal crime to harm a federal worker while he is on the job. A local family that had been visiting a local cemetery when they discovered Sparkman’s body. Police have not said whether they consider the death to be homicide, suicide or accidental, but Jerry Weaver, one of those who discovered the body believes it was a clear case of murder. “He was murdered,” Weaver said. “There’s no doubt.”

Weaver told the Associated Press that Sparkman had been stripped naked except for a pair of white socks, gagged, blindfolded with duct tape, and his hands and feet bound with duct tape. Weaver also says that an ID tag had been tied to the side of Sparkman’s neck, possibly his Census ID card. ”I thought he could have been killed somewhere else and brought there and hanged up for display, or they actually could have killed him right there. It was a bad, bad scene,” said Weaver.

Many have speculated that Bill Sparkman is a victim of anti-government violence spurred by the economic recession and the ascension of the Democratic Party to power. Authorities have also pointed to the possibility of drug-related violence, since there are known to be meth labs and marijuana fields throughout the area. Clay County is an economicly depressed rural county with a long history of criminal activity and anti-government sentiment reaching back to the old “moonshine” days.

One former Census worker said many of those he canvased wondered why the federal government had an interest in them. ”You meet some strange people,” said George Robinson. “Nothing is a surprise in Clay County.”

Bill Sparkman is remembered by those who knew him as a quiet, kind man with a fondness for children. He had a long association with the Eagle Scouts, including full time work with the national organization, before moving to Kentucky and gaining work as an educational assistant. Finding he liked teaching, Sparkman returned to school and gained a degree in mathematical education, all while working full time at a school and part-time for the U.S. Census Bureau.

Despite a recent bout with non-lymphoma Hodgkin’s Disease, Sparkman continued to work as a substitute teacher as well as a part-time Census Bureau worker.

Who is Ban Ki-moon? Inside the Mind of the Korean U.N. Secretary General

September 26th, 2009

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

Ban Ki-moon is a career diplomat from the Republic of Korea, who in October 2006 was elected Secretary General of the United Nations. He had previously served in a variety of diplomatic positions with the South Korean foreign ministry, culminating in a two year stint as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade. His is the second man from Asia to hold the top job at the U.N, U Thant of Burma (now Myanmar) having been the first.

While granting his competence and administrative skills, some consider him to be dull and colorless. His nickname is “Ban-chusa”, which refers to a bureaucrat or administrative clerk. He has also been nicknamed “slippery eel” by the South Korean press for his “diplomatic” refusal to be pinned down on issues. A leak from the Norwegian government during his campaign for the Secretary Generalship called him “spineless and colorless”, but few would agree with that characterization.

Ban Ki-moon is direct in his response to criticism that he lacks the stature oy charisma of his predecessor Kofi Annan. “Some Westerners may say I look soft and not pushy. But I remind them that an unreasonably strong character doesn’t win respect.”

“Modesty is about demeanor,” he said, “not about vision and goals. It does not mean the lack of commitment or leadership.”

While some question his leadership, no one doubts his dedication or work ethic. He once wrote a letter of apology to more than 100 of is fellow Foreign Ministry colleagues for being promoted over them.

Early in his tenure at the U.N., he brought criticism for an autocratic style and for what some member states thought was a failure to consult adequately with representatives from smaller nations, but he has since mended fences and become more democratic in his leadership style.

His tenure at the United Nations has been most notable for its emphasis on Darfur and global warming, and indeed he tied the two crises together in a Washington Post op-ed, linking civil war in Darfur to draught brought on by climate change.

Ban Ki-moon has shown little reluctance to stand up to the United States for its recalcitrance in confronting carbon emmisions leading to global warming, comparing the issue to the nuclear confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union.

“For my generation, coming of age at the height of the Cold War, fear of nuclear winter seemed the leading existential threat on the horizon. But the danger posed by war to all humanity—and to our planet—is at least matched by climate change.”

Ban Ki-Moon Biography

Ban Ki-moon was born on June 13, 1944. One New York Times report lists his hometown as Sadong Village #1, a tiny hamlet of only 100 inhabitants, while another says he was born in Eumseong. At any rate, he spent most of his youth in nearby Cheongju. His mother, Shin Hyun-sun attributes his success to good karma created by hard work and generosity.

Ban Ki-moon and his classmates learned English the hard way, writing the same sentences 10 times to aid memorization. He improved his English by conversing with American advisers at a nearby fertilizer factory, which he walked three and a half miles each day to reach. This dilligence paid off when he won an English language contest in 1962, the prize for which was a trip to the United States to meet President John Kennedy.

Ban Ki-moon earned a bachelors degree in international relations from Seoul National University and later gained a master’s in public administration from Harvard University.

Early in his career he turned down a prestigious assignment in the United States in favor of a posting in India that allowed him to save more of his salary to send back to his parents.

He was twice posted to the South Korean diplomatic mission in Washington, and was director general of American affairs for his country’s Foreign Ministry.

He was once fired from a position at the Foreign Affairs Ministry for carelessly leaving a sentence of support for the anti-ballistic missile treaty in a communique after President Bush had announce the U.S. opposition to the treaty. The mistake turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Expecting to be shunted off to some third world backwater, he instead was given a position at the United Nations, where he built the contacts and support base that later enabled his election as Secretary General.

In South Korea Ban Ki-moon has a reputation as a skillful diplomat who refuses to become embroiled in petty political squabbles. ”Everybody was caught up in controversy with what they said to the media, but I avoided the tricky, sometimes nasty, questions,” he said. “The press people called me the ’slippery eel’ because they could never grab me.”

Ban ki-Moon is married the former Yoo Soon Taek, whom he met in high school. The couple have two children.

Bill Sparkman: Census Worker Hanged in Daniel Boone Forest

September 24th, 2009

There’s dirty work afoot in Kentucky. In what sounds like a scene from some gruesome horror story, substitute teacher and part-time Census Bureau worker Bill Sparkman was found hanged in Daniel Boone National Forest. The word “fed” had been written across Sparkman’s chest. Is this a case of anti-government violence, or is Sparkman’s killer trying to throw the cops off the scent with clever misdirection?

Sparkman was a single parent who had become interested in teaching while working as an instructional assistant with children who have learning disabilities. Lacking a the necessary degree to become a teacher, he enrolled in an online university in order to gain his teaching credential. To help finance his education, Sparkman took a job as a permanent part-time worker with the U.S. Census Bureau, working for them about 35 hours a month.

While pursuing a degree in mathematical education, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He underwent successful treatment for the disease and began working as a substitute teacher in the southern Kentucky area.

Bill Sparkman began his working life as a one man sports department of the Mulberry Press in his hometown of Mulberry, Florida. He served as sports editor, reporter, and photographer for the small paper.

After his newspaper work, he worked for 12 years with the Eagle Scouts organization, including a three-year stint as associate national director of the Order of the Arrow.

Few details have been released by authorities about the Bill Sparkman hanging. The FBI has been called in on the case because it’s a federal crime to attack a federal worker in the course of his duties.

Sparkman’s mother Henrie Sparkman, a former high school principal, professed to be mystified by her son’s untimely death. ”I have my own ideas, but I can’t say them out loud. Not at this point. Right now, what I’m doing, I’m just waiting on the FBI to come to some conclusion.”

Bill Sparkman’s life was an inspiring story of perseverance in the face of adversity. Raising a son, Josh, as a single parent while working two jobs and going back to school in his 50’s, only to be diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. It seems tragically unfair that such a man should meet with a violent and grizzly death.

Upon graduating from online college Western Governors University, Sparkman spoke movingly of his life’s struggles in an address to fellow graduates. The speech is now on Youtube, and you can watch it in full below. Bill Sparkman seems like a very nice man. I can only hope that the authorities bring his killer to justice as swiftly as possible.