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Congratulations to my great uncle Ivan Lincon who is retiring from 39 years of journalism, specifically theater criticism for the local Deseret News. Today's paper features a two-page spread with highlights from his career including this picture of him and Carol Channing whom he took me and a friend backstage to meet once. She gave us fake diamond rings to always remember that diamonds are a girls best friend. (Photos: Laura Seitz and Deseret Morning News)
Don't miss my friend Nick James's fun Night at the Disco tonight at Mynt Lounge. Sign up for the list at NightAtTheDisco.com to get your NATD passport.
You've probably heard of "micro loans" by now but Kiva.org is the first website/organization of it's kind by helping everyday people provide a "micro loan" to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can "sponsor a business" and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you receive email journal updates from the business you've sponsored and the repayment rate is currently 100%.
Kiva's new service is currently experiencing record traffic from the incredible press attention it's received (Oprah, The Today Show, and President Clinton's book "Giving" and Frontline World). On average, loans fundraising on the Kiva website receive full funding within a day. To give everyone a chance to lend, they have temporarily limited loan contributions to $25 per business. Kiva hopes to remove the limit soon, as they work with Field Partners to post more loans on the site.
(Shown above is Allen Byaruhanga's group, one of the four people NCM is supporting using Kiva. She is in clothing sales and requesting a loan to buy a baby lock sewing/embroidery machine in order to improve the services that she proves to customers.)
Three feet smaller than a Mini Cooper, the Mercedes-Benz engineered Smart car "fortwo" arrives stateside in 2008 starting at $11,600. [Via Men.Style.com]
As promised, for the die-hards, here's the live recording of my December NiteLite mix. Download the full raw set here (right click and 'save as'). The file is encoded at 160 kbps .m4a variable bit rate for good sound quality at a reasonable size. It's pure tech house and techno ending with some deeper elements towards the end. Enjoy.
A friend turned me on to some cool mixes for download at the Avalanches website. All you have to do is sign up for an account and viola! ...check out "THE AVALANCHES YOGA MIND MELD ZOMBIE RELAXATION TAPE," "SOME PEOPLE" & "GIMIX" for some super fun afternoon listening.
Local artist David Ruhlman has recently updated his site with new work including the "Anagram" series (left) and "Caught Between Hungry Loaves of Bread [Part 2]" (right). Also, here's a recent interview.