Daniel Lubetzky

Watch this to the end.

Listen to the music here.  And also check out the Pope’s expressions…he seems to be wondering what he got into…

Matthew Crawford wrote a really interesting article, The Case For Working with Your Hands, in The New York Times Magazine, about the overlooked intellectual rigor required when making physical things.

It could not come at a better time, as we are becoming more virtual, digital, commodified, and dissociated from nature – and from the simplicity of tangible output. Whether it is the Internet, financial derivatives, chicken mcnuggets or "nutrition" bars made with stuff you can’t decipher or pronounce, society is on a trajectory to twist and pretend away from simple realness.

KIND, by the way, is a counter-cultural effort to reconnect with the goodness of real, authentic, transparent wholesome natural unadulterated ingredients you can see and pronounce.  The philosophy underlying everything we do is to stick to authenticity: a) avoid pretentious wannabe names that betray the reality of the products we make with allegorical cute titles; b) avoid fillers; c) avoid artificial ingredients and artificial sweeteners; d) avoid overprocessing and emulsification; and just in general stick to wholesome ingredients you can see and pronounce.™

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From a wall in the John F. Kennedy Museum:

Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

Senator Robert F. Kennedy, June 6 1966 (South Africa address)

An older man walked in to a subway car, offering to sing some songs…

When he realized a young guy was already performing in that car…

But rather than compete, they extemporaneously started jamming together… …quite nicely, far nicer than what we had been hearing before…

And the whole subway car started paying attention and enjoying it – I even skipped my stop and kept riding for a few more, as there was real magic in the air…and far more contributions from the riders, who knew they were witnessing something special.

I remember this brand from when I lived a summer in Japan.  They have a drink named "Pocari Sweat" and it is a best seller.  Sweat?!  Apparently in Japan, perspiration is associated with rejuvenating freshness.  Now here is a line extension for Pocari Sweat in powder form.  Mmmm.

When my team members first connected with Paul McCartney, none of them imagined he would become such an engaged and passionate leader for the cause of peace among Israelis and Palestinians.  Not only did he passionately embrace the work of OneVoice Israeli and Palestinian youth leaders and rally behind the courageous partnership of the Noa and Mira singing duo, but he now also wrote to President Obama to let him know about OneVoice, and encourage him to support their work!

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Cathy Arnst wrote a compelling article in BusinessWeek here, about the Food Industry’s complicity in fostering obesity in society.  While individuals ultimately have to be responsible for their actions, misleading advertising and claims definitely contribute to this epidemic, as I have written in the past (ie, Corn Refiners Assoc lying re HFCS, COKE lying about soft drinks – and claiming it is all natural, dilution of "natural" claims because of so much deception by big food cos, etc.).

Now Arnst brought forward many studies and sources – from Dr. David Kessler to a study in the health journal The Milbank Quarterly – that compare Big Tobacco’s dirty tricks to how large food companies are behaving….

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Over the last few weeks I have been receiving emails from all sorts of organizations trying to inspire fear about the Obama Administration’s policies towards Israel.  From Obama’s efforts to drive towards a two-state solution, to Jordanian King Abdullah’s effort to expand the Arab Peace Initiative to encompass all 57 Muslim nations, it is disturbing to see those threatened by these overtures try to manipulate them to look bad for Israel. How can peace with its neighbors and acceptance and normalization of relations with the Arab and Muslim world be against Israel’s interests? Nobody is trying to sell out Israel’s interests.  And the best way to confirm this is to read Obama’s words, rather than the interpretations and manipulations by others.  So here below is the transcript of the press conference with President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Transcript of press conference with President Obama and PM Netanyahu

May. 18, 2009
SPEAKERS: PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

PRIME MINISTER BINYAMIN NETANYAHU

[*] OBAMA: All right, everybody. Just tell me when everybody’s set up.
Great. Well, listen, I — I, first of all, want to thank Prime Minister Netanyahu for making this visit. I think we had a (sic) extraordinarily productive series of conversations, not only between the two of us, but also at the staff and agency levels.

Obviously, this reflects the extraordinary relationship, the special relationship between the United States and Israel. It is a stalwart ally of the United States. We have historical ties, emotional ties. As the only true democracy in the Middle East, it is a source of admiration and inspiration for the American people.

I have said from the outset that when it comes to my policies towards Israel and the Middle East, that Israel’s security is paramount, and I repeated that to Prime Minister Netanyahu.

It is in US national security interests to assure that Israel’s security as a (sic) independent Jewish state is maintained.

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….as part of a tour I organized for Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum to Jerusalem, here Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia founder) wears a cardboard kippa in front of Western Wall.