Now I Know Who Else Besides Me Reads the Penn 'Gazette'

I'm sad to see that Penn has bought into the idea of man-made "global warming," otherwise known as "climate change." This is the biggest hoax in human history, and is associated with extreme liberal viewpoints. I expected more from an institution of higher learning.

- Lawrence A. Post, RES '53, Clayton, Calif.

will.i.am's bold new plan

next up: providing places for kids to distance run in Ethiopia (cc)

Today at Oprah's 24th Season Kick-Off Party Extravaganza, for which she shut down a half-mile of Michigan Avenue, the Black-Eyed Peas played their summer smash hit 'I've Got a Feeling' (which apparently is different than 'Hooked on a Feeling,' unfortunately). Afterward, Oprah sat down with the band to find out not just what kind of outfits Fergie's dogs wore to her wedding (a gown and a tux, of course!), but also what frontman will.i.am's latest project will be. let me tell you, it's a winner.

will.i.am, best known in social-awareness circles for the inspiring if over-deifying 'Yes We Can' video he put together during the 2008 presidential campaign (i'll link it, not embed it, so you can choose whether or not to revisit february of 2008.), is starting a new media/awareness campaign, Africa Ten, to coincide with the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. They're releasing a documentary film on ten pro soccer players from ten different African nations coming home to compete for the World Cup and putting on a concert in Jo'burg during the World Cup festivities. The beneficiary of the proceeds from this project, you may ask? Well, according to will.i.am, the money will go to help build places for kids in Africa to play soccer.

Stop the train. Isn't the beauty of soccer the fact that all you need is a ball, feet, and an empty field? Isn't there no shortage of empty fields in Africa? Don't lots of, if not all, kids in South Africa play soccer? Isn't the national obsession with soccer in South Africa and other African nations the reason that the World Cup is coming? '

Okay, to be fair to will.i.am and his shorthand, the official bio of the company says this:

we will create global exposure benefiting our sponsors, partners, and charitable causes, as well as generate a steady stream of income that, after a return on the initial investment, will flow directly into our African based charitable foundation. The foundation will focus grants initially on existing sports-based charities that have a proven track-record delivering on systemic improvements in health and education across Africa.

So it's a media company with a social-awareness angle, not a straight-up charity, and to be fair, he didn't portray it as one. Plus, 'existing sports-based charities that have a proven track-record delivering on systemic improvements in health and education across Africa' sounds a lot better than 'providing sod and white spray paint to newly-created intramural soccer programs across Africa.' Either way, it's always discouraging to see the Oprah platform used to suck all the nuance out of important issues in the name of increased exposure.

At any rate, here's the Black-Eyed Peas' hit for your viewing pleasure:

This Can't Be Right: Starbucks Edition

This morning, I walked past three Starbucks to get to the ing Direct Cafe in Chicago (which is in an un-street-viewed part of town, inexplicably). Having just moved here from New York, seeing a crapload of Starbuckses is not really anything new; I had to walk by two every day just to get two blocks to the subway. Still, having just been directed by Richard Florida to this piece in the Seattle times, which wonders "if Starbucks is an artifact of an economy that's not coming back?" I found myself hoping these ones would disappear soon.

It's not that I hate Starbucks; well, I think their coffee is scorched crap, but the atmosphere is actually pretty authentic for a coffee shop. The bigger problem, and the one that I hope isn't sustainable, is the attitude of the high-priced coffee drinker. Here I was, walking five blocks to a coffee shop with free wifi and coffee for a buck (plus a refill, and free on fridays!), and I walked by places where the coffee costs more than twice as much and wifi's $7.95 for two hours. And for what, marginally better coffee (i hope not)? Name recognition? I know the crisis has hit Starbucks hard, especially damping its insane growth, but seriously, this company should be dead and buried. At least, I'd like to see the data; at what level of economic distress do people stop caring about adjectives in front of their beverage names and start making modest, sensible choices?

God bless Starbucks for becoming a brand some people can't seem to live without, but if any real, sustainable belt tightening is ever going to take place in this country, undergrads, freelancers, and low-paid elites of all stripes will need to seriously rethink their daily coffee choices. Because the ing Cafe is delicious and pretty empty, now that school's out.