Urban Onramps

content and networking for urban-minded Christians around the world





if you believe that the Global Warming debate is over and all that’s left is to decide what to do to stop man-made Global Warming…

Then don’t read these:

Watch the Web for Climate-change Truths in the UK Telegraph

Climate Audit by Steve McIntyre

Watts Up With That? by Anthony Watts









On the day I was born, “Light My Fire” by The Doors was the #1 song in America

#1 Song on this day in history









DRM Free

I’ve given iTunes a bunch of my money. I get my music from there, I love the 99 cent per track structure, love it all. Last night, however, I downloaded some music from the Amazon MP3 store. The reason? I need DRM free tracks for some of the, uh, “things” that I am “doing.” Amazon has them, iTunes doesn’t. Interesting.









Want to help New Orleans? Support the Colombian Free Trade Agreement

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin made the pitch last week (according to Investor’s Business Daily):

The mayor of the hurricane-hit city made an impassioned plea to Congress to pass the Colombia free trade agreement for New Orleans’ sake. He knows how badly his city needs every break it can get, three years after the biggest disaster to ever hit a U.S. metropolitan area.

“New Orleans is becoming an even greater international city in the wake of Hurricane Katrina,” Nagin wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last November, “and we are making every effort to capitalize on trade liberalization that will flow from these FTAs (free trade agreements). Our port system is ideally situated to take advantage of the Latin American FTAs.”

The article gives more details. It also contains a nice shot of President Bush, Mayor Nagin, and newly elected Indian-American governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal.









round-up 4/28

Stuff I’ve seen around the web lately:

Freshman 15 theory takes a pounding
When Tech Innovation has a Social Mission: The article is about TechSoup. Harambee is a TechSoup member.
UrbanFaith.com is coming soon
Behold Wordpress, Destroyer of CPUs: geeky. informative comment thread. I’m off to install the wp-cache plugin. not that i get that much traffic.
Many LA Students Frightened and Depressed, Study Finds: This one is a subject of conversation around LA
Scientists located Super-Mum: biochemical evidence of the awesomeness of mothers: “SCIENCE has finally caught up with what mothers have been saying for years: they are super-women with super-powers thanks to an influx of hormones during pregnancy and labour to enable them to cope with the demands of child rearing.”
A Columnist’s Parting Advice: “Lesson No. 1: The numbers don’t lie. They can be stir-fried, oven-fried or convection-baked, but in the end they always hold the keys to the kingdom. Lesson No. 5: Risk isn’t a four-letter word. A good rule of thumb is that before you buy, instead of asking how much you can make, first ask how much you can lose. That is what the smart guys do.”









Pell Grants for Kids

Word is that this initiative is about to take off (link is to the President’s 2008 State of the Union speech, search the page for “pell grants for kids”):

We must also do more to help children when their schools do not measure up. Thanks to the D.C. Opportunity Scholarships you approved, more than 2,600 of the poorest children in our Nation’s Capital have found new hope at a faith-based or other non-public school. Sadly, these schools are disappearing at an alarming rate in many of America’s inner cities. So I will convene a White House summit aimed at strengthening these lifelines of learning. And to open the doors of these schools to more children, I ask you to support a new $300 million program called Pell Grants for Kids. We have seen how Pell Grants help low-income college students realize their full potential. Together, we’ve expanded the size and reach of these grants. Now let us apply that same spirit to help liberate poor children trapped in failing public schools. (Applause.)

UPDATE: This is great: White House Summit on Inner-City Children and Faith-based Schools. I think they are talking about us.









urban ministry fundraising rainmakers

Meet Ryan. In small and large ways, brother is bringing it in to Ayuda Community Center. But you can’t hire him away - he’s committed to Hunting Park.









One day

Sam next to the Harambee F150, this afternoon. Sam will be 8 next month. This day was not promised: August 20, 2004

I thank God for Sam.









Here’s a little bit of right-wingery to brighten up your day

Some mischief from the National Review blog:

Democrats on the Economy in 1996:

“Our economy is the healthiest it has been in three decades.” (President Bill Clinton, State of the Union Address, January 23, 1996)

Democrats on the Economy in 2008:

“The bottom line is that this administration is the owner of the worst jobs record since Herbert Hoover.” (Senator Charles Schumer, Press Release, March 7, 2008)









full day

I was on a one-hour conference call this morning with the CCDA Youth Steering Committee, planning the national conference in October (in Miami! dig it). After that I transitioned immediately into a site visit with the Pasadena Community Foundation. We at Harambee have partnered up with Leadership Pasadena on a solar panels project, namely, installing solar panels on one of our Harambee properties. I did a bunch of stuff before these two meetings, plus we are trying to get a donated vehicle - a Ford Expedition, 8 passengers, yes - in full operation. If I catch these wannabe skaters without high school diplomas walking up the street, I’m going to tackle them and haul them in to the local employment office. Just keepin buys over here.









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