Daily Archives: 05/08/2010

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2010 Highlighted Programs from Matter of Trust


GULF OIL SPILL – HOW EVERYONE CAN HELP

Anyone and Everyone: salons, groomers, individuals can sign up to donate hair and fur clippings and nylons for our Oil Spill Booms. Our Excess Access program sign up is FREE, fast and helps us to coordinate the masses of donations.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TO DONATE HAIR / FUR / NYLONS and get a delivery address emailed. Warehouses are small, so we’re not posting on the web, we’re orchestrating how much goes where all along the Coast. We all get it. We shampoo because hair collects oil!

Thousands of pounds of hair and nylons are coming in by UPS and FED EX from every State in the US and from Canada, Brazil, France, UK… Booms are being made all along the Gulf Coast near beaches and marshes. What a community feeling! More Info

Natural Surplus Programs
Our Natural Surplus programs concentrate on materials that are found abundantly in nature.

OIL SPILL HAIRBOOMS AND HAIRMATS
Here we look at fibers (hair, wool, fur, feathers…). Thousands of salons and groomers mail us hair clippings, swept up off their floors. The fibers are stuffed into nylons to make booms or woven into hair mats. We all know about shampooing our oily hair, but it took Phill McCrory, a stylist from Alabama, to realize that hair was an efficient and abundant material for collecting and containing petroleum spills. More

cynthia…. bins
Byron Cleary holds up oil soaked hairmat at San Francisco, Cosco Busan Oil Spill.
Help us close the loop by creating green collar jobs and composting / remediating oily hairmats and booms after spills.


Manmade Surplus Programs

You can visit our many Manmade Surplus programs that focus on reuse of manufactured surplus items and materials. Our largest program is ROSA (Reuse Of Society’s Abundance) and its online database Excess Access for matching nonprofit wish lists with business and household donations of second hand furniture, clothes, toys…

Eco-Educational Programs
Kindly browse our many Eco-Educational programs that focus on spreading awareness about sustainable and environmental solutions such as

efaEARTH FROM ABOVE-USA
Matter of Trust is the fiscal sponsor for Earth From Above-USA. This breathtaking collection of large-scale aerial  photography by world-renowned French environmentalist, Yann Arthus-Bertrand. A visual record for future generations, this outdoor public art exhibition presents awe-inspiring portraits of our planet, and a new perspective on the need for sustainable living. Free-to-the-public, day and night, experiential, and green by design, the 8-week exhibition features 150 images from around the globe captioned by sustainable development experts.

GREEN ENERGY MILLIONS (GEMs) CAMPAIGN
You can join in our Green Energy Millions (GEMs) campaign to create the tipping point. Our goal is 100,000,000 commitments to incorporate easy, green lifestyle benefits. Yep, 100 Million, and it’s OK if we get more! It’s FREE, it’s FAST and it’s FUN!

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Q&A: Facebook exec defends site’s privacy policies By Sharon Gaudin


Computerworld – Social networking giant Facebook has been taking it hard on the chin lately as critics contend that recent upgrades to the site and a bug that lets users view their friends’ chat sessions raise a bevy of privacy issues.

However, in an interview with Computerworld yesterday, one Facebook executive insisted that users are happy with recent changes to the site despite the hornet’s nest of controversy stirred up by online pundits and commentators. Ethan Beard, director of Facebook’s developer network, noted that the millions of users that have joined Facebook’s social network did so specifically to share information.

Beard also talked about the social network’s controversial privacy settings, why users’ information isn’t private by default, and reports that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that people shouldn’t expect online privacy.

What was the glitch this week that exposed private chats? I don’t know the specifics of it. We take privacy very, very seriously here. We try to give out users control over the privacy of their data. At times you’re going to have technical issues that we will work to address very, very quickly.

Were you surprised by the level of criticism of Facebook’s plan to allow user information to be shared with third-party Web sites? In some ways, yes. We think a lot about our users and privacy when we’re building products. Our goal is to make sure we’re delighting users. I think the response from users that we’ve seen from the products we launched at [Facebook’s F8 developer conference late last month] has been quite positive. People are actively opting-in to engage with the social Web. The response from users speaks very, very loudly that they love what we’re doing. I think there’s a lot of other talk that’s not coming from users necessarily. There’s been a lot of interest from the media, from organizations and officials. But to be honest, the user response has been overwhelmingly positive.

Are you saying the outrage has centered in the press? I can’t say where it’s coming from, but our users are very happy with it.

How do you respond to those who say Facebook’s privacy settings are complicated and confusing to navigate through? I think that privacy is a complicated matter and each individual’s view on privacy and how one thinks about it is quite nuanced. How I think about privacy and how I want to share my information is probably quite different from you. It requires us to create very sophisticated tools to deal with all these nuances and give people the control they want. It’s quite complicated, so you end up with sophisticated controls, which end up being fairly complicated to use. We try to walk a balance between the two.

Are you working on ways to make the privacy settings easier to use? We’re always looking to make our controls better and simpler to use. We don’t have any specific changes to talk about right now.

Wouldn’t switching from having users opt-out of strong privacy setting solve some of the issues? The reason that people use Facebook is to share information with their friends and to connect with things that are important to them. Sharing is not inherently a private activity. Frequently, we’ve found is that people want to share more and more broadly. You can’t start completely private. That doesn’t serve the purpose of helping people share information.

Do the concerns of U.S. Senators raise the stakes of the Facebook privacy debate? It’s a testament to the impact that we’re having on the world.

How can Facebook and social networks in general maintain today’s phenomenal growth and avoid becoming simply a fad like the pet rock? The social aspect of what’s going on in the Web is not new. Before the Internet, the first apps built … were to communicate. E-mail was one of the first. [Finding ways] to connect with people and share with people has been going on for thousands and thousands of years. The information we really care about is the information we share with each other. I don’t think that’s a fad. I think it’s part of a longer-term historical trend.

What new features are you working on now? We worked pretty hard to get everything ready for F8 two weeks ago. To be honest, we’re catching a bit of a breather.

Has the recent reports that Facebook CEO Zuckerberg said he doesn’t care about privacy caused much trouble for the company? I don’t think Mark Zuckerberg really said that. The amount of time, energy, effort and resources to make sure that our users have control is a testament to how importnt it is that our users have privacy. Anything to the contrary is not true.

Sharon Gaudin covers the Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies, and desktop and laptop chips for Computerworld. Follow Sharon on Twitter at Twitter@sgaudin, or subscribe to Sharon’s RSS feed Gaudin RSS. Her e-mail address is sgaudin@computerworld.com.

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Weekend News and Reviews …


Sunday …and it’s Mother Day …

it’s clear BP is having trouble getting the make shift dome into place … which should have been made before drilling … is that a novel idea or maybe just one of many things BP was obviously willing to risk…  maybe a list of things to do or have available if something happens? like an emergency plan? it’s a nice day in the 206… again…drinking coffee watching the screen for our President to announce his Supreme Court Nominee and yes most of us stayed up to watch Betty White; she was great and can’t wait to see her on the new show.

It’s Saturday, the weather here in the 206 is great this morning for shopping antique, thrift and or garage that is …outdoors all the way.  It’s beautiful and hopefully will stay this way.

Apparently, a Ferry in the NYC rammed the Dock … more news to come but looks like engine issues or a stuck throttle  … The BP oil spill has occupied all our minds and has put every thing on hold… the Gulf Coast economy will need major help;  SO… if you live across the country like me and want to help … go to http://www.matteroftrust.org and see if you can do your part… sometimes you just have to.

The move to stop oil drilling; maybe evaluate or even push the need for Wind, Solar and Bio-fuel up to a higher priority and onto a faster track of development in the USA is now; now is the time to stop talking about the plans and start investing in wind,solar and bio-fuel production HERE in the USA .

How tough would it be to see oil cover a beach or lap to shore and have people say that it’s a natural thing ? … it’s not serious and will dissipate …WHAT? clearly the crazies are out in force and hopefully the sane out number them; though is anyone else find it disturbing that those who are pretending to know what is going on or spinning the disaster created on the Gulf Coast as a natural disaster.  These are the same people stating the attempted bombings in NYC are the fault of our current President? uh check your history and admit this started long before the 2008 Presidential campaign and an issue that did not get solved … it’s very disturbing and those who are doing so should stop talking … period.

And just so the Pat Buchanan’s of the world know … The right person is in the office of President … i shudder to think where we would be with a McCain/Palin ticket … think of the flip flop the ex-Maverick has taken think of things he is now walked away from … is it that Purity Pledge that Republicans take ? which includes practicing exclusion? those that sided with the tea party  group who did back McCain are now running from the tea party movement …the tea is not that strong …we have Republicans wanting to strip citizenship away from people, legalize racial profiling give Big Banks more or equal power as an individual and the list can go on.

The Senate vote of  some 27 Democrats against Wall Street Reform is very disturbing; the  financial reform debates are not over and Bernanke stated he is not waiting for Congress; though i am not sure what that means because most talkingheads feel Bernanke was apart of the problem.. is he planning on implementing the reform needed ?  We all know Congress gets paid to work for We the People…& they let us down … ok maybe just me.  While Wall Street Reform is not over yet it is clear that lobbyists and big Corporations have a hold on some on both sides of the aisle and though it does make sense it is disturbing and disappointing … the change that 53% voted for didn’t include those 27 Democrats i guess.

Other News … on Sunday

**Airports in Iceland and nearby are closed due to ash clouds

**

C-SPAN …

Sunday …

Sen. Durbin on Legislative Work of 111th Congress

Joining C SPAN’s Newsmakers, Majority Whip. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) discusses the current debate in the Senate on financial reform legislation. He also looks at the status of other major legislative priorities heading into the 2010 midterm elections.

watch Newsmakers: 10am & 6pm ET    watch Entire Interview
visit Previous Newsmakers

Senate Continues Debate

On Monday, the Senate will begin its second week of work on financial reform legislation. (S. 3217), They are slated to take up Sen. Sanders’ (I-VT) amendment that would allow the Government Accountability Office to conduct limited audits of the Federal Reserve. Last week, Sen. Maj. Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) urged lawmakers to keep debate to a minimum, saying, “I can’t spend 24 hours on one amendment and accommodate people here.” His remarks came after members spent hours debating Sen. Shelby’s (R-AL) amendment on a new consumer protection agency, which was defeated 38 to 61.

Saturday …

watch Pres. Obama’s Weekly Address

watch Entire Interview Sen Durbin and Financial Reform

watch News Conference Rep. Markey trip to Gulf Coast

watch State Department Press Briefing Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Philip Crowley

watch Pres. Obama Remarks on Jobs Report

Sec. Clinton: U.S. Committed to Vision of Nuclear Free World

As part of the “irreversible, transparent and verifiable steps” to reduce its nuclear arms, Sec. of State Clinton announced that the U.S. will publicize the number of weapons in its nuclear arsenal. This was one of several actions by the Obama Administration to encourage world leaders to follow its nonproliferation agenda. Sec. Clinton also responded to Iranian Pres. Ahmadinejad’s remarks, saying that Iran has failed to meet its responsibility and is in noncompliance with U.N. safeguard obligations.