Lofty Matters

If this is your first visit, please consider subscribing to my RSS feed. That way you'll be sure not to miss a thing!

Wishing you all a great weekend! Enjoy these uplifting and good news current events!

Venezuelan Businessman Turns Thieves Into Employees

Alberto Vollmer is a handsome heir of one of Venezuela’s richest families. This US-educated businessman has created two very successful programs that provide the poor with land and job opportunities, and he has also figured out how to earn the respect of the government at the same time.

In 2000, he was faced with what other land owners have also been confronted with – poor squatters. When 500 poor families invaded a stretch of Vollmer’s 18,300-acre hacienda, he didn’t fight them – he welcomed them. Vollmer entered into negotiations with their leader. The result was that Vollmer would provide land and design houses for 100 of the families. The rest would receive homes somewhere else with the state’s help. Officials would provide mortgages. The families would also participate in job-training programs sponsored by Vollmer’s distillery.

Today, this neighborhood, with its colorful homes and groups of happy of children, is a success.

“We had to be much more ambitious and think, ‘How are you going to change the reality of these people, so they’re productive for themselves?’ ” Vollmer said. “It’s not a handout. It’s to give something sustainable.”

Chain of Giving

When Bill Coram needed a kidney, his friend Tim Shain offered to give him one. Unfortunately, Shain’s kidney was not a match for Coram. Not long ago that would have been that.

Now, however, there is a program called paired donation making it possible for a living donor to give a kidney to a stranger. Then in return, another stranger donates a kidney to the person the donor wanted to help in the first place. The actual chain of donations turns out to be a little more complicated but basically this is what Shain did.

The Alliance for Paired Donation enables member medical centers to search for potential donors throughout the alliance.

In this case, arrangements were made through medical centers associated with the University of Toledo and with Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. This enabled Shain to become part of a chain of donated kidneys. Because of Shain’s donation of a kidney to a stranger, Coram received a kidney from another stranger.

It’s a pay-it-forward or never-ending chain. The process has also been called domino transplants.

Olympians Donate Sportswear to Inspire Refugees

A new UN campaign is giving all Olympians a chance to be winners in the eyes of refugees.

The “Giving is Winning” program is trying to encourage athletes to donate their surplus sportswear to refugees in Asia.

Sportswear being gifted from Olympic athletes around the globe helps to inspire refugees and connects them to the world of sports.

In the time to the Olympic Games beginning last night, approximately 50,000 articles of clothing were collected and distributed to refugees in Rwanda, Tanzania, Chad, Moldova, Georgia and Panama.

If you have a business that need advertising, then no doubt you have pondered and been faced with what exactly to look for in a Full Service Advertising Agency.

There are several keys to keep in mind as you contemplate who to trust and choose to handle your advertising needs:

1. Creativity: Creativity is of paramount important in creating an effective campaign. You need a team of writers, art directors, and desigers that have the experience and talent to create something that will evoke reaction and response from people.

2. Media Planning: An effective planning process begins with a detailed understanding of what your unique marketing objectives and target markets are. Be certain that your advertising agency understands your plan and can create an advertising campaign that will implement it.

3. Account Management: Be certain that your account management style matches the philosophy of your advertiser. It’s also important to note what kind of access clients will have to all of their creative, planning, and buying schedules.

4. Referrals and Testimonials: There’s nothing like hearing the details from someone who has already been there. Find colleagues who are happy with their advertising agencies and ask them for referrals. If you are considering a specific agency, read through testimonials to get a good idea of how the agency serves their customers.

Emergency room physicians in the United States are warning of a relatively new phenomenon: people getting hurt because they’re text-messaging instead of paying attention to what they’re doing.

Injuries and deaths related to sending text messages at inappropriate times is on the rise. Activities like walking, driving, biking or travelling on in-line skates are all being done now while texting.

Many young adults and teens are arriving in emergency departments with serious and sometimes fatal injuries because they were not paying attention while texting.

People are texting and they trip and fall on their faces.  Many face, chin, mouth (and) eye injuries from falls are becoming commonplace. Worse injuries result when people are texting and are then involved in collisions with bikers and people on rollerblades.

Two deaths tied to texting accidents

Most injuries involve minor scrapes, cuts and sprains from texters who walked into lampposts or walls or tripped over curbs.

Even so, ER doctors who responded to a recent informal questionnaire reported two deaths - both in California. A San Francisco woman was killed by a pickup truck when she stepped off a curb while texting, and a Bakersfield man was killed last year by a car while crossing the street and texting.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission does not have a national estimate for how common texting-related injuries are. Since 2005, however, the agency has received at least seven reports of serious texting mishaps.  This includes a 15-year-old girl who fell off her horse while texting and a 13-year-old girl who suffered injuries after texting her boyfriend while cooking noodles.

Other reports include a 39-year-old man who suffered a head injury after crashing into a tree on his bicycle while texting and a 16-year-old boy who suffered a concussion because he was texting while walking and walked into a telephone pole.

Apparently a street in London is experimenting with applying protective padding to lampposts, to protect pedestrians who have a habit of walking into them while focusing on their mobile phones. The protective padding will start at London’s East-End in the iconic Brick Lane.  This is where the highest incidents of ‘walking and texting’ injuries in the country have been reported.

Advice for Texters:

–Don’t text or use a cellphone while performing any physical activities that require attention.

–Never text or use a hand-held cellphone while driving or motorcycling.

–Avoid becoming distracted by rummaging through purses, backpacks or clothing.  Keep cellphones and BlackBerrys in easily accessible locations.

–Ignore the call or message if it might interfere with concentration during activities that require attention.