Help! Save the date!

This is the more adorable Save The Date. So creative & cutely done :)
No, I do not know these people. A co-worker sent this to me. I feel a bit like a creeper...but who cares.

International Women's Day 2011

[img via The Adventure Project]

From Jumo:
• Women perform 66% of the world’s work and produce 50% of the world’s food, yet they earn only 10% of the world’s income and own only 1% of the world’s property.
• According to the United Nations, girls make up the majority of the estimated 72 million children who are not in school.
• Close to 70% of the world’s 759 million adults who cannot read or write are women.

Today is International Women's Day! Unfortunately, this week is an insanely busy week for me so as much as I want to write a proper post dedicated to women, it will have to be slightly delayed.

However, I have been tweeting (or rather, RTing) for a good portion of today with posts revolving around #IWD11 :) When I get the time later this week to sit down and compile my thoughts, I will do so.

Before I go (and study my brains out about macroeconomics for international affairs), I just want to say that women should most certainly be celebrated, not oppressed! Honor the women in your life by pledging to make a difference in the lives of women across the globe :)

For a start, you can visit Google's IWD page (accessible by clicking on Google's doodle today) and seeing the various organizations dedicated to positively impacting our world through putting women's issues on the agenda.

And now I'm off. Have a fabulous rest of the week, folks! And remember that all of March is Women's Month!

Arianna Huffington & Sheryl Sandberg: On women & success

I watched two TED Talks so far this week. I highly recommend both, but if you don't have much time, at least check out the first one by Arianna Huffington (Huffington Post). It's only 4 minutes long.

Arianna Huffington: How to succeed? Get more sleep.
"We are literally going to sleep our way to the top."





Sheryl Sandberg: Why there are so few women leaders.
"I learned something today. I learned that I need to keep my hand up."

Undercover at Blacktone's 25th Anniversary + Holiday Party

This article in NY Mag pretty much sums up my Thursday night as a spy amongst bankers. Except I wasn't regretting my career decision at the end of the night still.



When I grabbed drinks last night with a friend from Barclays, he told me that most places were axing their holiday parties -- JP, Morgan, etc. -- and that Barclays definitely did not have them. Sad day for them.

Private equity parties...only they would book the ENTIRE Met for a night. Amazing.

More water talk. #BlogActionDay2010

Just earlier, Mark and I were talking, and the fact came up that a lack of clean water kills more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. He mentioned that this was the fact that struck him the most about the water issue. It's pretty horrific and really puts into perspective how deadly water can be for many in this world (one in eight billion, actually). Not to sound callous, but it sounds about right. If over 38,000 children are dying every week because of water-related illnesses, then yeah, I can believe that the issue kills more people than all the wars and acts of violence occurring in our world.

Mark went on to comment that the Nobel Peace Price should go to the person who most alleviates the water problem.

Honestly though, there are so many who are working on this issue from so many levels. The solutions are already there. But it takes more than just organizations like Charity:water or Lifewater International to change the numbers. It takes people and mobilization. Unfortunately, for every great idea or solution we have out there, there is even more apathy and inaction.

I read this quote from Christian just yesterday as he was presenting MakeSense at the i7 Summit in Paris yesterday:

"Reward success. Celebrate failure. Punish inaction."

I know it was more in relation to the work that MakeSense is doing, but it made me think yesterday. Yeah, "punish" is a strong word but it's true that the biggest hindrance to development and progress in our society today is inaction, often driven by apathy. It is one of the things that keeps me up at night -- how can we motivate people to bring social change or to do social good?

It's been one of the things that has been on my mind a lot. It's one of the main reasons why The 3:18 Movement was birthed. And it so happens we're currently focused on the clean water issue.


Moving onward, I do have to say that I am incredibly glad for today. It has been such an inspiring day -- what with Blog Action Day (#BlogActionDay2010 #bad2010), The Feast conference (#feastongood), the RSA animation on Sir Ken Robinson's talk of social change, and a work meeting with some amazing & dedicated NYC women in fighting sex trafficking.

Today was the reminder I needed of why I do what I do and how much I love doing it.

Lastly, consider doing some of the following:

• Blog/tweet/FB/whatever about the water issue.
• Join The 3:18 Movement's campaign by either walking for a cause or joining the 3:18 team
• If you can't do the walk on October 23rd, consider sponsoring one of a walker. The money raised will bring clean water, health education, and community development to hundreds in Northern Uganda.
• Sign the petition below:

Petitions by Change.org|Start a Petition »

Let's change the world :)

Blog Action Day 2010: Water.

[One day. One issue. Thousands of voices.]

So this year's theme for Blog Action Day 2010 (today!) is water.
How amazing is it that there are over 5,000 blogs at this moment -- nearly 40,000,000 readers -- in nearly 140 countries all blogging today about the same thing: Water.

It makes me even happier to be doing the walk next Saturday (October 23) advocating for clean water systems, health education, & community development in war-affected Northern Uganda.

Of course, the issue of clean water is beyond just the region of Northern Uganda. It is a global issue, affecting even those of us in the great land of the United States with our lovely (though not vegan or kosher, but still completely harmless & fairly pure) New York City water that we can drink from tap.

Today, WATER is a human rights issue, a health issue, a sustainability issue, an environmental issue, and a global issue. When one out of eight of us don't have access to clean water, when more people die every year because of this than all forms of violence (including war), when 38,000 children die each week from water-related illnesses, this becomes our issue.

Below are some facts that I pulled from the official Blog Action Day 2010: Why Water? website. Click on the link for more tidbits.

• Cell Phones vs. Toilets: Today, 2.5 billion people lack access to toilets, but many more have access to a cell phone.
• Food Footprint: It takes 24 liters of water to produce one hamburger. That means it would take over 19.9 billion liters of water to make just one hamburger for every person in Europe.
• Technology Footprint:The shiny new iPhone in your pocket requires half a liter of water to charge. That may not seem like much, but with over 80 million active iPhones in the world, that’s 40 million liters to charge those alone.
• Waste Overflow: Every day, 2 million tons of human waste are disposed of in water sources. This not only negatively impacts the environment but also harms the health of surrounding communities.
• Technology for Good: Do you want to measure how much water it took to make your favorite foods? There’s an app for that.

And of course, there's so much more that you can learn about on the website as well as at UNICEF, WHO, charity:water, etc.

Sneakerness Vienna 2010.

Yum.

This coming Lazy Sundaze at Vault.

Green Street x Designed 2 Perfection x Team Vault release party. Free giveaways, mimosas, music, etc.

Happy 25th birthday, Super Mario Bros!

To celebrate the anniversary, Nintendo released the above video, a timeline of the major Mario releases (sans Super Mario Kart & other spin-offs that feature Mario & co.)

If you don't want to watch the video of Super Mario Bros' history, Mashable created a graphic timeline:

"Super Mario Bros. was released in Japan 25 years ago today on the Famicom, the Japanese version of what Americans call the Nintendo Entertainment System. Since then, Mario has become one of the most iconic characters and entertainment brands in the world.

...Super Mario Bros. has sold more than 40 million copies over the past 25 years. In fact, it was the best-selling video game of all time until just recently. That title now belongs to Wii Sports, the game bundled with the Nintendo Wii."

- Mashable

Andddd 25 Fun Facts About Mario!

The 3:18 Movement + Green Street @ Identity Bar, 08.14.10.

Saturday night's event by The 3:18 Movement and Green Street.


Notice Santiago & Lisa cheesing it in the background.






Brooklyn Good Guys :)






Guys from Designed 2 Perfection -- entrepreneurs & contributors to the cause.




Videos to come?

VulpesVulpes rooftop party last night.

Amazing show.






Live painting during the set. Absolutely loved this.


End product.

Dumpster pools on Park Ave.!

[img via NYT]

For the next 3 Saturdays, the dumpsters-turned-pools from Brooklyn last summer are going to grace Manhattan. Specifically, Park Ave. between 40th & 41st St. I'm super excited & will definitely be checking it out.