We had to empty Jacob’s room for wall texturing tomorrow, so I’m playing host to Canberra the Bearded Dragon.
MayOne.us Stage 2: Pledge to Reclaim Democracy
I recently joined Lawrence Lessig’s citizen-funded MAYDAY.US campaign – an ambitious experiment to win a Congress committed to ending corruption in 2016 – and we did something amazing: We raised $1 million in 12 days in May. Matching funds brought that up to $2 million and that’s a ton of money, but it’s not enough.
So, what’s the plan?
We have launched an experiment to see whether we can kick-start a campaign for fundamental reform.
That campaign will occur across at least two election cycles.
If we raise our funding targets, in 2014, we will launch a small campaign in at least 5 congressional districts. Based on what we learn in those 5 districts, we will launch a much larger campaign to get us to 218 votes in the House, and 60 votes in the United States Senate.
We will set a series of targets two in 2014, more for the 2016 cycle in which we announce a fundraising goal, and ask people to commit to that goal.
People “commit” by pledging a contribution anywhere between $5 and $10,000 to the Mayday PAC. Those funds are kept only if we reach the target by the target date. If we don’t meet the goal, no pledges are kept by Mayday PAC.
Our next goal is to raise $5 million more by July 4, and I’m writing this post to my friends and family to ask if you can help us get the rest of the way there. If all of us who have supported the campaign so far each recruit just five matching pledges, we’d easily hit that goal. But I’d like to see if I can recruit ten of my friends to donate. So my question is: will you be one of those ten?
http://vimeo.com/97246128
Everything you need to know about Net Neutrality
As is so often the case, the comedy shows tell the story clearly, with great examples and a clear call to action. Watch this clip from Last Week Tonight With John Oliver and you’ll laugh while wanting to cry.
Google for Business Class in Sonora
I will be teaching a free Google for Business Class in Sonora on June 11, 2014 from 3-6 pm. The goal of this class is to familiarize business owners with the capabilities of the Google platform, in order to make informed choices about using Google services in their own business. While the class is designed to include people who have not used Google services before, prerequisites include: basic computer use, familiarity with a modern web browser and basic knowledge of the Internet. Some topics covered include:
- New Google search technologies
- Google Maps and local search
- AdWords and AdWords Express
- Principles of search engine optimization
- Google Plus, including Hangouts and Communities
- Google Apps, including Gmail, Calendar and Drive.
This class is sponsored by the Alliance Small Business Development Center. Space is limited, so please register to reserve a seat.
RIP Springpad
Well, this stinks. Springpad, the multi-platform app for collecting and organizing snippets of all kinds of content, is shutting down on June 25th. I’ve been using it for a number of years to store everything from meeting notes to recipes. Springpad has always been free to use and even though I and many other in the community would be more than willing to pay for their service, there is apparently no path to long term viability (or they’re being acquired, although this has been denied). So, they are turning out the lights.
I looks like I’ll have to find two replacements for Springpad, one for recipes and another for everything else. And both of them will probably be paid apps. For future start ups, please include long-term plans for funding your product into your roadmap, so that you can continue to support the community of users who come to rely on you.