Bleach your tie-dye garments, sheets and pillows... on August 16th, 1 PM, in Central Park's Sheep Meadow (New York,) activists and loving couples will adorn themselves in white to prepare for the 40 year anniversary celebration of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's very first bed-in.
At this event, peace-lovers will physically create a giant peace sign to promote nonviolence and to pay homage to the revolutionary 60s movement supported by Lennon and Ono. However, the Vietnam war is long gone; in this day and age, we have different issues in the world to be aware of, such as nuclear disarmament. One similarity that still stands true is that the world is at war. Hopefully, this bed-in movement will kick up dust and open eyes to change. Check out some old-time footage from the first bed-in:
By the way, Yoko would like to pass this on to you:
"It’s Time For Action. The Action is PEACE. Spread the word. Spread PEACE. I love you!"
America's former "almost" president, U.S. Senator John Kerry, has a soft spot for the cuddly and sharp-toothed killing machines of the marine world. This past Monday, Kerry announced his new partnership with the Discovery Channel (ranked #1 in non-fiction media companies across the world) to put an end to the illegal practice of shark finning, as well as to advocate the general protection of the shark population. Yes, I am talking mainly of the chef's delicacy, shark fin soup... which, in all honesty, isn't that tasty to begin with.
Shark fin soup affects the delicate balance of the oceanic ecosystem? Yes, it most certainly does. The decapitation of the shark's dorsal fin is hugely detrimental: this inhumane act has led to a whopping 75% decrease in the world's shark population over the last fifteen years alone. This year, Kerry introduced the Shark Preservation Act of 2009, which nips shark fin transportation in the bud and ensures that sharks that are being transported are whole... teeth, gills, fin and all.
“Huge demands on the foreign fin trade have fueled massive population declines and a serious disruption of our waters,” said Kerry. “We need much stronger solutions to finally end this illicit trade, and current protections haven’t gotten the job done. We need to get serious, and I’m thrilled to see Discovery Channel’s willingness to roll up its sleeves and help get the job done.”
The famous and frightening "Shark Week" on the Discovery Channel begins its 22nd consecutive year on the air this Sunday, August 2nd. Throughout the special, the network will run public service announcements and advocate the need to reach out to the country's senators, via an online campaign. Way to get the job done, TDC!
The sharks keep their fins, poachers get shut down, we get to watch "Shark Week", and everybody wins. Except for, perhaps, all the surfers here at SocialVibe. Happy surfing, guys.
During the election, Sarah Palin was riddled with the bullets of criticism, from her misunderstood debate retorts to the painfully awkward, widely televised interviews with Katie Couric. Saturday Night Live regular Tina Fay even dedicated a personal pseudonym on the Alaskan governor's behalf, often argued as being an even better Sarah Palin than Sarah Palin herself. However, she proved in our hearts that the light spirit of comedy doesn't have to be within the context of an elaborately written, shot and produced sitcom, nor onstage at a comedy club on Sunset Boulevard. Palin showed the world that real life can be funnier than anything an SNL writer can come up with.
In recent Palin news, the Alaskan resignation speech and really tore at SocialVibe's heartstrings. The emotion of the occasion was only overcome by her delicate and ornate choice of words... it was like a beautiful poem. The playful mumbling and stumbling of vowels, the overly-strange images she painted in our minds, and the forehead lined in sweat really made an impact on us. Apparently, it also caught the artistic eye of the master monologue-deliverer, William Shatner. Accompanied by an upright bass and bongo set, Shatner paints the picture as it was originally intended:
I'd say that was the goodbye to end all goodbyes. At the same time, I wasn't really sure what she was trying to tell us for over half the speech.
One of the umbrageous controversies casting a shadow over the world right now is the planet's over-excessive use of energy and natural resources. Some even believe that the next 1,000 years are set in stone; some will claim that there is no feasible way to reverse our man-made damage. However, according to a new study, our environmentally egregious ways have lightened up from 2007 into 2008:
"The United States used 99.2 quadrillion BTUs, or “quads” of energy in 2008, down from 101.5 quads in 2007, according to the report. Use of energy in the transport and industrial sectors of the economy fell slightly, while residential and business usage climbed slightly."
A quadrillion units of energy is translated to one thousand million million units (or 1015.) Needless to say, there is at least a noticeable decrease in quads from year to year, even if it isn't going to reverse the energy crisis immediately. This prospect is a good thing, though... this study theorizes the possibility of back-peddling the destructive tendencies of humankind!
The two, main reasons for our cutback, mainly industrial and transportation energy use, may have much to do with the economic recession. But hey, something's gotta give. The important energy source for the future lies within "renewables" (such as solar and hydroelectric energy,) so hopefully, there will be an increase in renewables within the years to come and a decline of other sources, such as coal. All we can do at this point is muster up hope that the world can improve environmentally, and enact that improvement, one step at a time.
We take our jobs extremely serious here at SocialVibe, which is why Josh and Sam have made sure to buckle up for safety in their meeting with Billy.
Don't ask us why there is a van bench in our office, it's a long story, but the extra seating has been very helpful - especially when delivering bad news.
When most of us think of mosquitoes, we think of two things: annoying itchy bites, and malaria-spreading. Neither of which are very pleasant. Scientists in Europe may have have found a way to take advantage of these little blood suckers' ability to 'get around' - they've conducting an experiment in which they used mosquitoes to deliver a malaria vaccine. And it seemed to work!
All volunteers who were given the vaccine acquired immunity to malaria; everyone in the non-vaccinated comparison group developed malaria when later exposed to infected mosquitoes.
How it all went down:
"Scientists tried to take advantage of these two factors, by using chloroquine to protect people while gradually exposing them to malaria parasites and letting immunity develop.
They assigned 10 volunteers to a "vaccine" group and five others to a comparison group. All were given chloroquine for three months, and exposed once a month to about a dozen mosquitoes - malaria-infected ones in the vaccine group and non-infected mosquitoes in the comparison group.
That was to allow the "vaccine" effect to develop. Next came a test to see if it was working.
All 15 stopped taking chloroquine. Two months later, all were bitten by malaria-infected mosquitoes. None of the 10 in the vaccine group developed parasites in their bloodstreams; all five in the comparison group did."
Although this kind of an experiment just wouldn't fly on a larger scale, it is still quite beneficial in helping scientists understand which vaccines may be the most effective in trying to stop one of the most deadly diseases of our time.
"This is not a vaccine" as in a commercial product, but a way to show how whole parasites can be used like a vaccine to protect against disease, said one of the Dutch researchers, Dr. Robert Sauerwein.
Malaria kills a child every 30 seconds. Each year, nearly a million people die from malaria, most of them under 5 years old, primarily but not exclusively in Africa. Infected mosquitoes inject immature malaria parasites into the skin when they bite; these travel to the liver where they mature and multiply. From there, they enter the bloodstream and attack red blood cells - the phase that makes people sick.
Until a working vaccine is available to the public, you can do your part to prevent the spread of malaria by choosing Children for Children as your Cause on SocialVibe. The money raised will be used to buy insecticide-treated bed nets for children in Africa. To date, SocialVibe members have raised over $3,700, and no one had to pay a dime. Click here to get started.
This one is for the fans of the Queen of Pop - Madonna, of course! The first single from her upcoming new album Celebration has just hit the interwebz, a few days ahead of its scheduled release date of August 3. This is just a little taste of what is to come on her party-party record, a 'greatest hits' album with a few bonus tracks, due out September 29.
If you really put your mind to it, most of us can learn how to do almost anything. Some of us, however, are born with talent. Case in point, these adorable mini-musicians who are becoming overnight YouTube sensations.
First up, 5 year-old Wesley, who has made a name for himself thanks to his rendition of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues." There's something oddly cute about hearing a boy his size sing "I shot a man in Reno..."
Then of course we've got Alex, the 8 year-old who recreated guitar legend Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze." I know professional guitarists who couldn't do it as well as he did!
If they can do that before they're even through with elementary school, think about where they'll be by age 15. The music world better be on the watch - it's slowly but surely being taken over by youngins. At least they have good taste in music, am I right?
