the economy

The video – I don’t think the youtube embeds work anymore.

My transcription:

Sarah McLachlan’s video for ‘World on Fire’ begins with her playing the guitar in a plain room.

Then the words: THIS VIDEO COST $150,000 flash on the screen…

This question follows: WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS VIDEO?

The answer: WELL, IT ONLY COST $15

The video then launches into these statements (please excuse the syntax, the delivery is different in the video)

$150,000 COULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO OVER 1,000,000 PEOPLE

• on a set in LA, $200 = a production assistant for 1 day OR in Ethiopia, 100 children’s school fees for 1 term
• office phones = $480 OR equips 10 classrooms in Afghanistan
• $5,000 = cost of make-up and hair for one day OR one year’s schooling for 145 girls in Afghanistan
• on set, $500 = sound playback OR in Bangladesh, all the nuts and bolts to hold together 50 houses
• on set, $1,150 = filming equipment OR in Nepal, 5 bicycle ambulances
• $9,500 pays for meetings, tax and union fees OR in West Africa, film screenings in refugee camps, meaning education and escapism for 180,000 refugees
• $10,200 = 2 hours of film stock OR 6 wells built in 6 different countries
• $3,500 = a production supervisor OR schooling and support for 70 children of war in Sierra Leone
• in LA, catering for a one day shoot = $3,000 OR buys 10,950 meals for street children in Calcutta
• studio costs = $5,400 OR independence for 100 widows in Afghanistan
• $15,000 = camera and art department cost OR a machine to generate power for an entire rural community, meaning energy, irrigation, and business
• cost of electricians on set for one day = $2,625 OR livestock as a source of food and income for villages across the world
• $15,000 = styling costs OR in India, 1 mobile medical unit, in its lifetime, it will treat 150,000 people
• $2,500 = 1 editor OR schooling for 100 street children in Tanzania for a year
• $11,000 = all editing and post OR will run a street children’s hospital for a whole year
• $16,500 = director’s fee (+1st and 2nd AD) OR total running cost of a South African orphanage for one year
• a producer earns $7,500 OR buys 6 months of medicine for 5,000 patients in Kiberia, Kenya, East Africa’s largest slum (800,000 people living in the space of Central Park – 1 sq mile)
• the production company = $22,500 OR Kiberia gets a 12 room clinic

The video ends with the line: SO THAT IS WHERE ALL THE MONEY WENT

One more thing, at one point the video shows a woman who is a single mother in Ghana. She works 2 jobs, 16 hours a day, 7 days a week.To earn the $200 a year it costs to send her son to school, one of her jobs is to sell oranges. The oranges sell for 2 cents each. She might sell 50 oranges per day…

one of my favorite posts that I put up on one of my old blogs… and also put up on this one not too long ago… I suppose I’ll just keep posting it over and over.

Def Poet, NYC Schoolteacher, Taylor Mali

He says, “the problem with teachers is what’s a kid gonna learn from someone who decided that his best option in life is to become a teacher.”

He reminds the other dinner guests that, you know, it’s true what they say about teachers, “those who can do, and those who can’t, teach.”

I decide to bite my tongue instead of his and resist the urge to remind the other dinner guests that it’s also true what they say about lawyers because we’re eating after all and this is supposed to be polite conversation.

“I mean, you’re a teacher, Taylor, come on, be honest, what do you make?” And I wish he hadn’t done that, asked me to be honest, because you see, I have this little policy about honesty and ass-kicking. Which is, if you ask for it, then I have to let you have it.

You wanna know what I make? I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could, I can make a C plus feel like a congressional medal of honor and I can make an A minus feel like a slap in the face, how dare you waste my time with anything less than your very best.

You wanna know what I make? I make kids sit through forty minutes of study hall in absolute silence. No you may not work in groups, no you cannot ask me a question, so put your hand down, why won’t I let you go to the bathroom, because you’re bored, and you don’t really have to go, do you?

I make parents tremble in fear when I call home at around dinnertime. “Hi this is Mr. Mali, I hope I haven’t called at a bad time. I just wanted to talk to you about something that your son said today. He said, “leave the kid alone, I still cry sometimes, don’t you?” And it was the noblest act of courage that I have ever seen. I make parents see their children for who they are and who they can be.

You wanna know what I make? I make kids wonder, I make ‘em question, I make ‘em criticize, I make ‘em apologize and mean it, I make ‘em write, write, write, and then I make ‘em read.

I make ‘em spell: definitely beautiful definitely beautiful definitely beautiful, over and over and over again until they will never misspell either one of those words again.

I make ‘em show all their work in math class and then hide it on their final draft in English.

I make ‘em realize that if you’ve got this (points to head), then you follow this (points to chest), and if somebody ever tries to judge you based on what you make, you give them this (makes a fist).

Here, let me break it down for you so you know what I say is true.
Let me break it down for you so you know what I say is true.
Teachers make a goddamn difference, now what about you?

20/40 at The Borgata with Paris Hilton

A bunch of us were in Atlantic City this weekend to celebrate a good friend’s upcoming wedding. After an amazing dinner in the private dining room at The Old Homestead steakhouse, we went off to play at the tables in the Borgata.

I made my way to the high-limit area of the poker room to play 20/40 hold ‘em. I had the biggest take of my life that night (five racks of red and a stack and a half of greens)… but this post isn’t about that.

After playing for a few hours, the dealers started talking about Paris Hilton coming by… Right when our dealer was saying that she thought it was just a rumor, Paris Hilton and Benji Madden from Good Charlotte appeared. They were seated at the “must move” 20/40 table – the table where people play while waiting to get into the main game I was in. As soon as they were seated, the whole room swarmed the table. Security and management tightened their circle around Paris and Benji, cordoning off the table, threatening to confiscate the cell phones of people trying to get a pic of them…

We had a direct view of the must move table since it’s right in front of the main entrance to the high-limit room. I got up from the game and called my buddies to come to the poker room. We just stood there, a few feet away from Paris, looking at the chaos that she had created.

We (the players in the main game) couldn’t believe that they were holding Paris and Benji at the must move table – I’ve got to give credit to The Borgata for not giving them special treatment… A bunch of us were hoping that a few guys would bust out quickly from our table so we could get a crack at the bankrolls of an heiress and a rocker… As it turned out, Paris and Benji busted out before getting a chance to play in the main game.

Not long after they left, we did get a player from the must move table who was seated immediately next to Paris. He said that they both weren’t the strongest players, but they were good sports about knowingly giving their money away. He also said that she was pleasant and friendly, but Madden didn’t say a word.

This whole episode made me think about how stirred up most of us get over celebrities. I don’t think a single one of us in the game was a Paris Hilton fan (and I was the only one who knew who Benji was), but regardless of the prospect of taking all their chips, everyone was genuinely excited about seeing them.

For what it’s worth, I’m just glad that it added another little memory for all of us to share from my buddy’s bachelor trip.

Love Hate Relationship…

It all started a little after my 30th birthday. I met her in Fairfax. She was big, black, a little bit older than the others she was with, but beautiful nonetheless. We went for a little drive and then I took her home.

Ever since, my X5 has been a joy to drive. My daily commute into DC, long trips, in all kinds of weather, packing all kinds of stuff into it – without a doubt, it’s one of my all time favorites. In fact, even after driving around the rocket that is the 335 (xi, sedan) for a few days, I was still glad when I got my X5 back.

…I was driving the 335 because my X5 was in the shop three separate times in the past month.

The first instance was when my moonroof exploded. Yes, exploded. For a moment, I literally thought I had been shot at while driving. I immediately brought my car into the dealership and the service manager took photos with his mouth agape. Six or seven mechanics came over to my car to take a look and ask me questions… The good news was that BMW North America was a little freaked out about this happening and took on the cost of fixing it – fully replacing the “cassette” of the moonroof, its tracks, seals, and motors.

After I picked up my car, I noticed some minor electronic issues – some pixels were out in the stereo display, the low-side horn was muffled, and a couple of other tiny concerns had me bringing my car back in after the weekend. Those items were fixed – new stereo! – in less than a day and I picked up my car once again.

While driving away, I noticed that my whole console, all of the warning indicators, would flash when I had the headlights and the radio on at the same time… I drove the car around a little bit, thinking that the battery may need some charging. Once I was at a safe place, I decided to power down and see if it would start up again. It didn’t. I figured that while they were working on my electronics, they had killed the battery…

I was irate. I called the dealership and demanded that they take responsibilty for all costs in getting my car running again. I won’t go into the details of the conversation, but it was pretty intense.

The next morning, a roadside assistance guy came out to my car and tested its charge – it basically had and held the voltage of one of those power wheels for kids. The car was towed to the dealership and they replaced the alternator, battery, an intake valve, and a DISA valve – I insisted that they look for any other issues that might have me coming back in sooner than either of us wanted.

…So this weekend, I get a new warning, “Check Brake Linings.” Yeah, so it’s going back into the shop tomorrow. Who knows if it’s a routine brake pad job or something haywire with the braking system. Four times in less than a month – they should just give me a new car.

I still love my X5. I just wish that I could go more than three days without something going wrong…

unspeakable

I still don’t have the words. But I want to hold on to “Rise.”

I have seen the future…

…and I have pictures to prove it.

That’s my man, SouthEast Jerome, taking it to the g-men.

Wings, pizza, beer, the boys, and the NFL season opener in HD = Perfectionosityness!

T-minus 18 hours…

I miss…

Paris?

New York?

Venice?

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No. I miss Vegas…

The first time I’ve ever written about the LPGA…

UPDATE! - Commentary by a Golf Magazine Sr. Editor and more comments than you can shake a stick at: http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1836266,00.html

At an odd crossroads of the two topics I write about the most, sports and English, Ms. Carolyn Bivens (not pictured above) has provided me with a fantastic post: The LPGA is requiring that all of the players on its tour must pass an English proficiency test.

You can read the article here: http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/63530#tr_63530-comments_pages

The comments are even more entertaining… I have to admit that I am the submitter of some of the comments.

As I said, you can read the article and comments via the link above, but I’d like to make some observations about those who posted comments in this space:

1. It’s ironic that the people who disagree with the LPGA’s policy are the ones who most successfully used the English language.

2. I said it there, I’ll say it here, “there,” “their,” and “they’re” are different words.

3. I never knew that the different languages at ATMs bothered people so much.

4. The internet comment box is the new restroom wall.

5. Credit to JB for this one – it seems that patriotism, or at least some people’s idea of what that is, is the trump card for all arguments…

Person A: “Britain doesn’t use the euro.”

Person B: “Yes, it does, all of Europe uses it.”

Person A: “No, they still use the pound.”

Person B: “You don’t love America! Get out!”

I guess this is where Person A is supposed to admit that he’s wrong and feel bad that he’s not American enough in Person B’s eyes.

6. Seriously, checkout the comments section. It’s unreal how people invent new spellings of words…

7. As you can see, I’m just continuing with numbering all of my thoughts, even if they don’t address the original statement.

8. I’m a Yankees fan. I don’t care about the English proficiency of Mariano Rivera or Hideki Matsui.

9. I actually do think that there’s a very strong case for learning English for those who live in The United States. Just as there’s a strong case for learning Swedish when living in Sweden.

10. I genuinely respect the athletes of the LPGA. Many of these women are phenomenal at the sport of golf.

11. Maybe the ATMs are irritating because it takes so long to figure out which button to press..?