Daniel Lubetzky

There are some people in the world that you are just grateful for them being around.  Jeff Skoll is one of them.  He is the most unassuming, down-to-earth, self-effacing guy, and at the same time among the most accomplished, brilliant, strategic, successful and deeply committed to make this a better world.

I have been following him for a few years and wish we could clone him, or at least learn what in his upbringing made him into a person that is so truly committed to human betterment.  Is it Canadian education and society? Jewish family values? Parental role models? Genes? Childhood influences – positive or negative? Socio-cultural exposure?

In his TED talk, he mentions how his Father’s health challenges were a wake up call to him.  But there has to be more.

Anyway, Jeff has now created his next venture: the Urgent Threats Fund, designed to tackle the 5 greatest challenges facing humanity: Global Pandemics, Nuclear Proliferation, Mideast Conflict, Water Scarcity, and Climate Change.

The New York Times reports about it here.

Sally Osberg, President of the Skoll Foundation, shared a note with Skoll Social Entrepreneurs explaining:

I also write to let you know that we will announce today the launch of the Skoll Urgent Threats Fund, which will be led by our dear friend and an extraordinary human being, Larry Brilliant. Larry’s new role will be Senior Adviser to Jeff Skoll and President of the new organization, which Jeff will chair and on whose board both Larry and I will sit. This newest venture joins the portfolio of creations—including the Foundation, Capricorn, and Participant Media—that Jeff has founded to advance his vision of a more peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. Together with the Foundation’s board and staff, I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunities ahead for us all!

You can learn more at the Skoll Foundation site.

In another sign that our society is going to have a reckoning if we don’t alter our diet and start eating healthier more wholesome foods, an alarming study shows that 20% of toddlers are obese.

[Read more →]

Stuart Elliot covered a very creative campaign by, gulp, ConAgra Foods, with their Healthy Choice line.  Never mind that it may be an oxymoron to brand a frozen meal line, "Healthy Choice", but they found a way to use humor to attract consumers.  Julia Louis-Dreyfus appears in ads that are like skits of her actually evaluating appearing on these ads – questioning the product, and then in the process learning about it. EXTREMELY CREATIVE. Bold.  Probably will pay off nicely.

[Read more →]

Seeing the sugar lobby take up the Corn Refiners Association is amusing. Each peddles empty calories in the form of sugar or high fructose corn syrup. HFCS should be appropriately avoided as it’s artificial construct and introduction in the early 80s correlates too closely to the rise of obesity and the diabetis epidemic. It is downright dishonest to call HFCS natural, as the refiners aim to do.

But it is also true that ‘an empty calorie is an empty calorie’ and while some sweet in moderation can add to our taste, people aiming for a healthy diet should focus on wholesome ingredients that have nutritional depth. Hence KIND.

[Read more →]

Here is an article about a neat re-discovery of a "Miracle Fruit" that makes sour things sweet, and alters the taste buds to make things seem far sweeter.  It could have applications for cancer patients to regain appetite, for dieting, or just for fun.

[Read more →]

Bill Mahr’s documentary about the excesses and idiocies of organized religion was not exhaustive.

The Vatican recently excommunicated the Mother and Doctors of a 9 year old who had been raped and received an abortion. The doctors "fear[ed] that the 80-pound girl would not survive a full-term pregnancy".

But that was apparently not enough suffering to this family. The regional archbishop deemed it prudent to also humiliate and intimidate this deeply Catholic family with excommunication.

[Read more →]

His face is so calm
Full of love and tranquility
How blessed we are
to have warm shelter and peace for him.

How hard and how painful
for the millions upon millions
who lack peace, or water or heat,
who may not have bread or milk to give their children.

How hard and how painful
for the parents who’d lose a baby to a missile
or the babies who’d lose a parent to a bomb
and the nations who’d lose their innocence along the way.

That juxtaposition gives me anxiety:
the peaceful nap of our little baby
against the horrors and hatred brewing around our world,
whether a few blocks up, or 7,000 miles away.

For my baby’s peace cannot be guaranteed
his Spring cannot be counted upon
so long as babies anywhere else in our globe
are suffering, being targeted or killed.

It is for our baby here
that peace must be waged there.

KIND Nut Delight got a nice endorsement from NY Giants’ nutritionist Heidi Skolnik on the Today Show earlier this month.  She recommended it as an energy boosting snack whose natural ingredients you can see and pronounce.(tm)

KIND was the only nutritional bar to make it into Good Housekeeping’s listing of the 100 best convenience foods.

This follows on KIND Mango Macadamia being chosen as the Best Product of the Year out of all thousands of natural food products introduced at the Natural Products Expo earlier this fall (Oct 2008).

Have you ever wondered why some kids can be so mean, bullying others with cruel insensitive actions? A brain scan study hints that "bullies" actually derive pleasure from seeing someone else get hurt.

[Read more →]