This week, Mark C. Lewis of Neighborhood Ventures fills us in on a new initiative to instill healthy habits in urban youth. Partnering with universities and local hospitals, they're working with local grocers in stocking and marketing healthy snacks alongside pop and chips.
Music this week is from local band The Fainting Generals, with the title track from their newest disc, Employee of the Month For Life.
ANALYSIS
Federal Communications Commission tries to get Verizon's case thrown out on a technicality
Last week, we shared that Verizon was suing the FCC, claiming that the FCC was overstepping its bounds in terms of licensing. The dispute was over the open internet document published in December, and the FCC is asking the DC circuit court to throw out the case from a purely technical stance. According to the FCC, Verizon filed suit prematurely in December, when the decision had not yet been published. [More: Ars Technica]
Al Jazeera encourages distribution of its news coverage, Egypt bureau shut down
Since last week, there have been protests in Egypt to remove the current president in power, who has been at the head of the government for the last 30 years and recently appointed a vice president. As the trusted news source in the area, Al Jazeera announced that it would make its content freely available under a Creative Commons license for other news outlets to republish. Within days, Al Jazeera's Egypt bureau was shut down by authorities.
[More: Wired 1, Wired 2]
Obama conducts post-State of the Union interview on YouTube for second time
Earlier last week before the State of the Union address, NYTimes' Bits blog pointed out the newest tradition to the White House: live streaming the president's post-address interview on YouTube. 140,000 questions were submitted by YouTube users, and the YouTube staff whittled them down to just a few serious questions. Leading up to the event, Vice President Joe Biden took questions on Yahoo and various elected officials answered questions on WhiteHouse.gov.
[More: NYTimes Bits blog]
Photographers guaranteed the right to capture images of federal buildings
The New York Civil Liberties Union recently received a redacted version of an agreement negotiated with the Department of Homeland Security in October 2010. Since 9/11, photographers have been hassled, equipment has been confiscated when it comes to photographing federal buildings. In the redacted version, the document guarantees the public's right to photograph and video tape buildings from any publicly accessible area.
[More: NYTimes Lens blog]
Novels powered by social media, written 140 characters at a time
In Japan, public transit riders have been taking advantage of the travel time to collaborate on novels via Twitter. Since written Japanese is a character-based language, a lot can be crammed into 140 characters, and participants will often start storylines that evolve with collaboration. This is not only limited to novels but also extends to different types of poetry. As of November, over 30,000 Twitter novels had been written.
[More: Japan Trends]
100 most viewed YouTube videos get attention from graphic designers
A few weeks ago, a couple of Toronto-based designers shared a poster collaboration of the 100 most viewed YouTube videos in the five years since the service first began.
[More: Ibraheem Youssef's blog]
CALENDAR
Ethnic Heritage Festival
All day Saturday, Feb. 5 at Grand Rapids Public Museum
An ethnic Heritage Festival is happening at the Public Museum tomorrow to recognize various cultural groups in West Michigan. The free event is running all day long, and various music, dance, crafts and food will be featured.
[More]
Potluck and recipe swap
7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 8 at The Division Avenue Arts Collective (115 S. Division)
The DAAC has deemed February to be "Food February." One of their first events at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 8 is a recipe swap and potluck at their 115 S. Division location. Attendees are invited to bring a dish to pass and a paper version of their favorite recipe. All recipes will be scanned and compiled into a digital book that will be freely distributed. You can find more information at g-rad.org/daac
[More]
WinterWest continues on the west side
Till Feb. 13 at Richmond Park
To celebrate winter, a couple of neighborhood groups and nonprofits set up an ice rink at Richmond Park on the west side. The rink is up for two weeks, and week one is already down, but there's still time to join in on the festivities, which include broomball and hockey tournaments, hot chocolate and hot toddies weekends and a cardboard contraption competition.
[More]
Toastmasters weekly roundtable
7:30 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 10 at GVSU's downtown campus
The Toastmasters group is meeting next Thursday at 7:30a at the downtown GVSU campus. Toastmasters hosts weekly roundtables with the goal of bolstering members' public speaking skills.
[More]
Rapidian reporters' orientation
5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 17 at CMC - Wealthy (1110 Wealthy SE)
The Rapidian will be holding its first orientation of the year. If you've wondered what The Rapidian is or thought about contributing, attend this meeting to learn more. We'll have a couple of contributors sharing their tips and experiences as well as have a manual available for anyone who is considering becoming more active with The Rapidian.
[More]
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