Greetings from Lusaka, Zambia. After mysteriously disappearing for 24 hours, my luggage has finally arrived, putting me in high spirits. It’s always nice to put on a fresh pair of undies. Sigh.

I’ll be in Lusaka until Friday. I then head to Harare, Zimbabwe for the next leg of my survey. More on that later.

Postcards

When I was younger, my grandfather would send the family postcards from his travels. I’d like to think that these notes-from-afar helped inspire my jet-setting proclivities, so, to honor his memory (and to engage future vagabonds) I’d like to carry on the tradition.

Want a postcard? Comment below with a fun fact about world travel, and I’ll send you an email asking for your address. I’m not sure what kind of response this will generate, but let’s limit this first exercise to 15 responses.

Flightster

I want to introduce you to Flightster, a new travel site that I’m writing for. They plan to launch a flight booking engine this fall, but in the meantime have asked me and three other writers to populate the site with content. So far I’ve enjoyed everyone’s posts and am happy to be part of such a fun and eclectic crowd.

Also, if you’re interested, Flightster is hiring a new writer to join the team. Want to apply? Check out Srinivas Rao’s post, “How to Become the Next Paid Writer For the Flightster Blog” for details.

Spanking New Look

In other news, I’ve been working out the kinks for a new look and approach here. I’ve enjoyed writing haphazardly about travel, business and lifestyle design, but it’s time to refocus my online presence. Here’s a sneak peak:

That’s it for now. Short and sweet, with more to report on Lusaka in the near future. For now, it’s back to war with the common cold. Nose..must..stop..running.

[photo credit to tpmorrow]

The city of Boston is all smiles this week–spring has officially arrived.

In other good news, I wanted to share my May survey assignment with you all. It’s a doozy.

New Zealand

Cue the Lord of the Rings music. New Zealand, here I come! I’ll be working in Auckland, New Plymouth and Wellington–all cities in the North island, for a few weeks. Hopefully I’ll have enough free time to duck down to the South island, rent a car and explore. Maybe head to Christchurch and visit Colin?

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea is one the most diverse–yet least explored–countries on Earth.  I’ll be surveying the capital, Port Moresby, and time allowed plan to do some snorkeling!

Australia

My mission: to find out if toilets actually spin the other way. Absolutely thrilled to be in Australia! Will be surveying Sydney and Perth…if you have any recommendations please throw them my way.

##

In other news, I’m working on a start-up company with my buddy Chris called AbroadCare. Things have been slow so far, but we’re both learning a lot and I look forward to sharing our progress with you more in depth on Tuesday.

In other, other news, have any of you done the P90X workouts? A work colleague gave me the ab workout–11 short exercises, 25 reps each, and I still can’t get through it after a week. Hoping to have a seriously strong core in the next couple of months.

Happy weekend!

[photos by chasquito el roncoso, Alf Gillman, and Kyaw Photography]

There’s only so much you can learn from a guidebook.

In an attempt to pull travelers away from their Lonely Planets, to help focus one’s reading of particular cities and countries, I have created a new page on this blog, “Location Reading.”

My list of fiction and non-fiction books is far from complete. That’s where you come in. Please comment below, or better yet, on the Location Reading page, with your favorite travel books and authors.

Eventually I will create a review/ranking system, and I hope to format the list in a more user-friendly way.

Let me know what you think!

[photo credit to Lochaven]

Consider a business incubator. Or a seed-stage accelerator. Or a startup program. Whatever you want to call it.

Here’s the gist. Each of these 6 programs is specifically designed to help early-stage startups get their idea up and running…the right way. From help with paperwork and business plans to access to VCs (venture capitalists) and entrepreneurial professionals, these programs are an amazing avenue for startups that haven’t gained traction, that are looking for a way to take things to the next level.

I first learned of these programs back in 2005, when I read that an old hiking buddy of mine, Sam Altman–founder of Loopt–had dropped out of Stanford and hooked up with Y-Combinator for additional support. Read about Y-Combinator and 5 other programs below.

Y-Combinator

Location: Mountain Park (Silicon Valley), California
Website: http://www.ycombinator.com

Certainly the most well known seed-stage accelerator company, Y-Combinator–founded in 2005–offers two 3-month programs each year to its applicants. In exchange for acception into the program, Y-Combinator takes on average about 6% of the company’s equity; $17,000 for startups with 2 founders and $20,000 for those with 3 or more.

As of early 2010, Y-Combinator has funded 172 startups, including Loopt, reddit and Justin.tv. Check out this interview (courtesy of mixergy.com) with front man Paul Graham to learn more.

Business Tips via Mixergy, home of the ambitious upstart!

Seedcamp

Location: London, England
Website: http://seedcamp.com

Seedcamp was created to “jumpstart the entrepreneurial community in Europe by connecting next generation developers and entrepreneurs with over 400 mentors from a top-tier network of company builders; including seed investors, serial entrepreneurs, product experts, HR and PR specialists, marketers, lawyers, recruiters, journalists and venture capitalists.”

Their flagship event, Seedcamp Week, takes place each September. At the end of the event, 5 teams are selected to receive an investment, typically €30-50k. These winning companies are invited to stay in London for a further 3-month period to develop their idea with Seedcamp’s support.

TechStars

Location: Boulder, Colorado; Boston, Massachusetts & Seattle, Washington
Website: http://www.techstars.org

Founded in 2006, TechStars provides seed funding for teams forming web/software companies.  Similar to Y-Combinator, companies receive up to $18,000 and a flat 6% equity stake. Here are a few companies that went through the TechStars program: Travelfli, oneforty, DailyBurn.

NextStart

Location: Greenville, South Carolina
Website: http://www.nextstart.org

From the NextStart website:

Do you have a creative and unique idea for a new product, new venture, new business model? Do you dream about getting to know people who want to help you, provide a little bit of money, and teach you what to do next? If so, we invite you to apply to the NextStart program. If you are one of the start-up teams selected, we will provide you with a small $5,000 initial investment per entrepreneur (maximum $10,000 per start-up), office space for the summer, access to workshops and programs, and a network of experienced mentors who will help you refine your ideas and launch your business. At the end of the summer, you will have an opportunity to present your business plan to potential investors.

I haven’t heard much about this particular program, but if you’re in or around South Carolina, it appears worth checking out!

Bootup Labs

Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Website: http://bootuplabs.com

Taking founders from “concept to company,” Bootup Labs offers an 8-month program with intakes of 6 startups in January and May. Based in Vancouver, Bootup Labs targets  consumer internet, mobile, gaming and enterprise internet businesses. Like other incubators, Bootup Labs offers a $100,000 convertible line of credit for 5-15% in equity.

The Difference Engine

Location: Middlesbrough & Sunderland, England
Website: http://www.thedifferenceengine.eu

What looks to be a spanking new digital acceleration program (and claims to be the first major one in Europe), The Difference Engine is a 16-week program that “combines investment capital of £20,000 (for 8% of the business) with mentoring, support and office accommodation with various other services provided by our partners.”

Their very first program starts this month (February 2010)! I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out.

Imagine this: it’s three in the morning and you’re plodding through knee-high puddles. You’re hungry. The last time you slept was twenty six hours ago, and that was only for twenty minutes.

The pre-dawn air is heavy. Lengths ahead, past a patch of Alaskan fireweed, you hear distant ruffling, darting your eyes just quick enough to see bodies scrambling up the ravine. The first six checkpoints were tough, but this last one has taken nearly a day to reach. With seventy hours of racing left, it promises to be an exciting finish.

Welcome to the world of endurance racing, where elite athletes navigate and compete in courses hundreds of miles long. Equipped with ultralight, weather-resistant gear and using tools most laypeople have never even heard of, like UTM Grid Readers, prusik loops and gaiters, these athletes battle their mental and physiological limits for a first place finish. Training is intense. Strategy is meticulously rehearsed. As competitors plot through the course, bodies become nature-beaten and sleep-deprived.

In college, I raced a few Bonk Hard events in Missouri’s Ozark wilderness, and boy was it fun. Planning food, clothing and gear for a nearly 18-hour day–not to mention the training beforehand–was a downright awesome challenge. Never have I understood the term “fatigued” more than I did at the end of one race, the Bonk Hard Chill. My 4-person team, MAKE WAY, was the last able-bodied team to cross the finish line at 17h 40m. I remember eating cold spaghetti and having a hard time walking. And this was me in excellent shape.

Receiving course instructions the night before the race.

Endurance racing, or adventure racing, is a quirky subculture of ultra athletes that has, over the last thirty or so years, developed into a highly competitive sport. There are small adventure races like the Bonk Hard Chill, and there are ones much larger and more elite. Seemingly impossible events like the Vendée Globe, a non-stop round-the-world yacht race that can take upwards of three months to finish.

Thought by many to be the world’s toughest ocean race, the Vendée Globe takes place every four years. Leaving port off the coast of western France, crews head straight to Antarctica, where they circumnavigate the continent, always clockwise, and race back to France. Over the years, yachts have capsized. Competitors have been lost at sea. In the most recent 2008/2009 race, eleven teams finished. Nineteen did not.

Last-minute gear checking the morning of the race.

Land races are just as ruthless. The Badwater Ultramarathon is a 135-mile course that climbs from Death Valley to Mount Whitney; from 282 feet below sea level, the lowest point in contiguous America, to 8360 feet above sea level, the trailhead to the highest. Due to the intensity of the foot race (again, deemed one of the world’s toughest), entry is by invitation only, and if you can believe it, demand to participate each year typically exceeds the number of available spots.

While the race organizers do not award prize money, any runner who completes the course in sixty hours or less receives a commemorative medal, and anyone strong (and crazy) enough to finish within forty-eight hours gets a belt-buckle. Yes, a measly belt-buckle. Year after year, even some of the most elite ultramarathoners are not able to finish.

In 2009, nearly forty teams of four competed in Primal Quest, one of the most prestigious expedition-length races in the world. Racers gathered in the Badlands of South Dakota to mountain bike, paddle, swim, climb, cave and foot-race their way across 557 miles of remote and unforgiving terrain.

What drives these athletes to endure such harsh conditions? How do they stay alert and focused? What does it feel like to complete an endurance race, to cross the finish line with your limbs still intact? I imagine only a few people in the world are qualified enough to answer these questions.

Let the training begin.

Maroon Bells Wilderness, Colorado (summer 2006)

I could care less where you stand when it comes to climate change. You might think that certain scientific opinions are rubbish. You might find it skeptical when a country claims that by 2020, it will reduce its carbon footprint by a particular percentage. With such a controversial issue, there are a million different opinions and interpretations of causes, effects, solutions, etc.

What I can say with 100% certainty, though, is that our world is changing. The polar bears, the ice caps, the water levels, it doesn’t matter how it’s happening. It’s happening.

I was trying to think of a good way to contribute to Blog Action Day this year. Rather than talk about problems and solutions, I thought I’d keep it simple and write out some observations. Lucky for me, while scouring the Interwebs, I chanced upon a BBC report called “Climate Change Around the World.” It broadly describes the current and potential changes due to climate change in various regions of the world. As both an avid traveler and outdoorsman, it’s sad to think about the negative externalities we are now seeing with a warming world. As a general rule in life, I tend to air on the side of optimism, yet it’s difficult to think how slow progress has been and how long we have to go.

The text below comes from the aforementioned article and has been copied and reformatted:

North America

Warming in western mountains is very likely to reduce snowpack, bringing more floods in winter and reduced water supplies in summer.

Increases in problems with pests, diseases and forest fires are likely.

Cities with a history of heat waves are likely to experience many more, with potential health impacts, especially for the elderly.

Rising sea levels, severe weather and storm surges, combined with population growth in coastal areas, are very likely to increase economic losses.

Latin America

Increasing temperatures and decreases in soil water in the eastern Amazon region would lead to replacement of tropical forest by savannah. Species extinctions are likely.

Drier areas are likely to see salinisation and desertification of agricultural land, with falling crop yields and livestock productivity reducing food security. However, soybean yields are likely to increase in temperate zones.

Sea level rise is very likely to bring flooding to low-lying regions such as the coast of El Salvador, Guyana and the Rio de la Plata estuary. Increasing sea temperatures are likely to impact coral reefs and south-east Pacific fish stocks.

Changes in rainfall patterns and the disappearance of glaciers are projected to significantly affect water availability for human consumption, agriculture and energy generation.

Europe

Nearly all European regions are expected to be negatively affected by some future impacts of climate change.

Central and Eastern European countries could face less summer rainfall, causing higher water stress. Health risks due to heat waves are expected to increase. Forest productivity is expected to fall and the frequency of peatland fires to increase.

Southern European countries are very likely to see reduced water supplies, lower crop production, more wildfires and health impacts from increased heatwaves.

Northern countries are likely to benefit from increased crop yields, forest productivity, and food supplies from the North Atlantic. By 2020, most areas of Europe are likely to see an increased flood risk.

Africa

Some regions are likely to experience water shortages. Coupled with increasing demand, this is likely to result in large increases in the number of people at risk of water scarcity. It is likely to affect livelihoods, the report by the International Panel on Climate Change says.

Projected reductions in the area suitable for growing crops, and in the length of the growing season, are likely to produce an increased risk of hunger. In some countries, yields from rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by up to 50% by 2020.

Rising sea levels threaten large cities. Degradation of coral reefs and mangroves is likely, with impacts on local fisheries and tourism.

Rising temperatures, coupled with over-fishing, will decrease the supply of fish from large lakes, with important impacts on food supplies.

Asia

Glacier melting in the Himalayas is virtually certain to disrupt water supplies within the next 20 to 30 years. Floods and rock avalanches are virtually certain to increase. Heavily-populated coastal regions, including the deltas of rivers such as the Ganges and Mekong, are likely to be at risk of increased flooding.

Economic development is likely to be impacted by the combination of climatic change, urbanisation, and rapid economic and population growth.

Forecast changes in temperature and rainfall are likely to reduce crop yields overall, increasing the risk of hunger.

The presence of lethal diarrhoeal diseases associated with floods and droughts is expected to rise in East, South and Southeast Asia and rises in coastal water temperature could exacerbate cholera in South Asia.

Australia and New Zealand

Ongoing water shortages, notably in southern and eastern Australia, are likely to get worse by 2030.

Ecologically important regions such as the Great Barrier Reef and Kakadu National Park are likely to lose a significant part of their wildlife before then, by 2020.

Some coastal communities are very likely to see an increased risk of coastal storms and flooding.

Temperature rises of 1C-2C are likely to bring benefits to cooler areas, such as New Zealand, in the form of longer growing seasons and reduced energy demand. Greater warming is likely to bring a net negative impact – such as increased risk of drought and fire.

##

Get out there. Start small. Start fighting.

I’m going back to the US for Christmas tomorrow! Yay!

My travel agent has, thoughtfully, seen fit to provide me with a pamphlet of helpful tips to make my overseas travel less of an anxiety-filled social minefield riddled with white people and guns. I got such a kick out of these that I wanted to share. (I picked most of the fun ones. There are a lot of boring tips too.)

* The yen is very strong against the dollar right now. This will make goods in America seem very cheap — an excellent opportunity for shopping! However, remember to be polite in your use of money — America is in the middle of economic malaise right now, and Japanese people with wads of money in their hand might be looked on with envy. Besides, if you are obviously wealthy in an American city, you may be robbed.

* For our valued customers who work in the automotive industry [#1 employer where I live], we advise discretion. If you must say where you work, the preferred phrasing is [English] “I work at the car company”.

* Most Americans are very polite, particularly outside of the big cities. However, outside of the big cities, everyone owns guns. Inside the big cities, almost everyone owns guns. Let’s be polite together!

* If you go shopping at an American department store, they will ask you if you want to open a credit card account. They are *not* asking whether you want to use a credit card. This may seem strange but it is an American custom to offer customers a credit card, in order to make them spend more money. We suggest politely declining offers of credit cards. You may have to politely decline several times. Don’t think of this as rude, the Americans have to do it too.

* Most Americans think we look like Chinese or Koreans. Try not to be too offended.

* Most Americans will think that a Japanese person standing on the street is an American, unless they are holding a camera. If you are not comfortable speaking English, you might try bringing along a camera to say “I am a tourist, please don’t expect me to speak English.” Except, don’t try this in the big cities — tourists get mugged in big cities.

* Americans have a social institution called a “gratuity”. Basically, the price on the menu at any place which serves food is not the real price. The real price is 20% higher. You have to calculate 20%, write it under the subtotal, and sum to arrive at the real price. Taxis work the same way. It is considered very rude not to pay the “gratuity”.

* In general, Americans consider it impolite to discuss politics. However, this January Obama will become the new president, and many people are excited! If they ask you what you think of him, a safe answer is [English] “Obama is really cool.” or [English] “Obama speaks so well. Not like me. Hehe.” Be very careful when pronouncing his name. O BA MA, just like Obama City. [Ask me later. Hilarity abounds.]

* Most big cities have Japanese food available. You may have to look hard, though — ask your hotel for some place to eat tempura. Restaurants which say they serve sushi probably only serve makizushi, like California rolls. (Americans think California rolls are [English] “sushi”.) If a restaurant says [English] “Asian” they really mean Chinese. They are probably not really Chinese, either.

* Ladies: if you shop for clothes, ask for where to find [English] “petite”. It means normal sized. Ladies who are petite may have difficulty finding clothes which fit in America, except at specialty shops.

* McDonalds: Has no teriyaki burger in America. Portions are bigger and food is cheaper. Sometimes the person taking the order does not speak English. Please relax! They probably understand the set menu, although it is called [English] “combo”, and you can hold up the number with your hands as shown. [Snip of chart for how Americans count on their fingers, which is actually different than how Japanese people count on their fingers, hence the need for a chart.]

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to finish work and start packing. Toothbrush, shirts, camera, bullet-proof vest, wad of monopoly money, you know, the bare necessities.

Social media is about connecting people and providing the tools necessary to have a conversation. That global conversation is an extremely powerful platform for spreading information and awareness about social causes and issues. That’s one of the reasons charities can benefit so greatly from being active on social media channels. But you can also do a lot to help your favorite charity or causes you are passionate about through social media.

Below is a list of 10 ways you can use social media to show your support for issues that are important to you. If you can think of any other ways to help charities via social web tools, please add them in the comments. If you’d like to retweet this post or take the conversation to Twitter or FriendFeed, please use the hashtag #10Ways.

1. Write a Blog Post

Blogging is one of the easiest ways you can help a charity or cause you feel passionate about. Almost everyone has an outlet for blogging these days — whether that means a site running WordPress, an account at LiveJournal, or a blog on MySpace or Facebook. By writing about issues you’re passionate about, you’re helping to spread awareness among your social circle. Because your friends or readers already trust you, what you say is influential.

Recently, a group of green bloggers banded together to raise individual $1 donations from their readers. The beneficiaries included Sustainable Harvest, Kiva, Healthy Child, Healthy World, Environmental Working Group, and Water for People. The blog-driven campaign included voting to determine how the funds would be distributed between the charities. You can read about the results here.

You should also consider taking part in Blog Action Day, a once a year event in which thousands of blogs pledge to write at least one post about a specific social cause (last year it was fighting poverty). Blog Action Day will be on October 15 this year.

2. Share Stories with Friends

Another way to spread awareness among your social graph is to share links to blog posts and news articles via sites like Twitter, Facebook, Delicious, Digg, and even through email. Your network of friends is likely interested in what you have to say, so you have influence wherever you’ve gathered a social network.

You’ll be doing charities you support a great service when you share links to their campaigns, or to articles about causes you care about.

3. Follow Charities on Social Networks

In addition to sharing links to articles about issues you come across, you should also follow charities you support on the social networks where they are active. By increasing the size of their social graph, you’re increasing the size of their reach. When your charities tweet or post information about a campaign or a cause, statistics or a link to a good article, consider retweeting that post on Twitter, liking it on Facebook, or blogging about it.

Following charities on social media sites is a great way to keep in the loop and get updates, and it’s a great way to help the charity increase its reach by spreading information to your friends and followers.

You can follow the Summer of Social Good Charities:

Oxfam America (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, YouTube)

The Humane Society (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Flickr)

LIVESTRONG (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr)

WWF (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr)

4. Support Causes on Awareness Hubs

Another way you can show your support for the charities you care about is to rally around them on awareness hubs like Change.org, Care2, or the Facebook Causes application. These are social networks or applications specifically built with non-profits in mind. They offer special tools and opportunities for charities to spread awareness of issues, take action, and raise money.

It’s important to follow and support organizations on these sites because they’re another point of access for you to gather information about a charity or cause, and because by supporting your charity you’ll be increasing their overall reach. The more people they have following them and receiving their updates, the greater the chance that information they put out will spread virally.

5. Find Volunteer Opportunities

Using social media online can help connect you with volunteer opportunities offline, and according to web analytics firm Compete, traffic to volunteering sites is actually up sharply in 2009. Two of the biggest sites for locating volunteer opportunities are VolunteerMatch, which has almost 60,000 opportunities listed, and Idealist.org, which also lists paying jobs in the non-profit sector, in addition to maintaining databases of both volunteer jobs and willing volunteers.

For those who are interested in helping out when volunteers are urgently needed in crisis situations, check out HelpInDisaster.org, a site which helps register and educate those who want to help during disasters so that local resources are not tied up directing the calls of eager volunteers. Teenagers, meanwhile, should check out DoSomething.org, a site targeted at young adults seeking volunteer opportunities in their communities.

6. Embed a Widget on Your Site

Many charities offer embeddable widgets or badges that you can use on your social networking profiles or blogs to show your support. These badges generally serve one of two purposes (or both). They raise awareness of an issue and offer up a link or links to additional information. And very often they are used to raise money.

Mashable’s Summer of Social Good campaign, for example, has a widget that does both. The embeddable widget, which was custom built using Sprout (the creators of ChipIn), can both collect funds and offer information about the four charities the campaign supports.

7. Organize a Tweetup

You can use online social media tools to organize offline events, which are a great way to gather together like-minded people to raise awareness, raise money, or just discuss an issue that’s important to you. Getting people together offline to learn about an important issue can really kick start the conversation and make supporting the cause seem more real.

Be sure to check out Mashable’s guide to organizing a tweetup to make sure yours goes off without a hitch, or check to see if there are any tweetups in your area to attend that are already organized.

8. Express Yourself Using Video

As mentioned, blog posts are great, but a picture really says a thousand words. The web has become a lot more visual in recent years and there are now a large number of social tools to help you express yourself using video. When you record a video plea or call to action about your issue or charity, you can make your message sound more authentic and real. You can use sites like 12seconds.tv, Vimeo, and YouTube to easily record and spread your video message.

Last week, the Summer of Social Good campaign encouraged people to use video to show support for charity. The #12forGood campaign challenged people to submit a 12 second video of themselves doing something for the Summer of Social Good. That could be anything, from singing a song to reciting a poem to just dancing around like a maniac — the idea was to use the power of video to spread awareness about the campaign and the charities it supports.

If you’re more into watching videos than recording them, Givzy.com enables you to raise funds for charities like Unicef and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital by sharing viral videos by e-mail.

9. Sign or Start a Petition

There aren’t many more powerful ways to support a cause than to sign your name to a petition. Petitions spread awareness and, when successfully carried out, can demonstrate massive support for an issue. By making petitions viral, the social web has arguably made them even more powerful tools for social change. There are a large number of petition creation and hosting web sites out there. One of the biggest is The Petition Site, which is operated by the social awareness network Care2, or PetitionOnline.com, which has collected more than 79 million signatures over the years.

Petitions are extremely powerful, because they can strike a chord, spread virally, and serve as a visual demonstration of the support that an issue has gathered. Social media fans will want to check out a fairly new option for creating and spreading petitions: Twitition, an application that allows people to create, spread, and sign petitions via Twitter.

10. Organize an Online Event

Social media is a great way to organize offline, but you can also use online tools to organize effective online events. That can mean free form fund raising drives, like the Twitter-and-blog-powered campaign to raise money for a crisis center in Illinois last month that took in over $130,000 in just two weeks. Or it could mean an organized “tweet-a-thon” like the ones run by the 12for12k group, which aims to raise $12,000 each month for a different charity.

In March, 12for12k ran a 12-hour tweet-a-thon, in which any donation of at least $12 over a 12 hour period gained the person donating an entry into a drawing for prizes like an iPod Touch or a Nintendo Wii Fit. Last month, 12for12k took a different approach to an online event by holding a more ambitious 24-hour live video-a-thon, which included video interviews, music and sketch comedy performances, call-ins, and drawings for a large number of prizes given out to anyone who donated $12 or more.

Bonus: Think Outside the Box

Social media provides almost limitless opportunity for being creative. You can think outside the box to come up with all sorts of innovative ways to raise money or awareness for a charity or cause. When Drew Olanoff was diagnosed with cancer, for example, he created Blame Drew’s Cancer, a campaign that encourages people to blow off steam by blaming his cancer for bad things in their lives using the Twitter hashtag #BlameDrewsCancer. Over 16,000 things have been blamed on Drew’s cancer, and he intends to find sponsors to turn those tweets into donations to LIVESTRONG once he beats the disease.

Or check out Nathan Winters, who is biking across the United States and documenting the entire trip using social media tools, in order to raise money and awareness for The Nature Conservancy.

The number of innovative things you can do using social media to support a charity or spread information about an issue is nearly endless. Can you think of any others? Please share them in the comments.

Special thanks to VPS.net

A special thanks to VPS.net, who are donating $100 to the Summer of Social Good for every signup they receive this week.

Sign up at VPS.net and use the coupon code “SOSG”to receive 3 Months of FREE hosting on top of your purchased term. VPS.net honors a 30 day no questions asked money back guarantee so there’s no risk.

About the “10 Ways” Series

The “10 Ways” Series was originated by Max Gladwell. This is the second simultaneous blog post in the series. The first ran on more than 80 blogs, including Mashable. Among other things, it is a social media experiment and the exploration of a new content distribution model. You can follow Max Gladwell on Twitter.

This content was originally written by Mashable’s Josh Catone.

Well, there’s a new contest sweeping the Interwebs, geared towards travel bloggers. Quark Expeditions is searching for an official blogger to take part in a $20,000 Antarctic expedition…for free.

Enter Gary Arndt, who’s traveled to and blogged from 60+ countries since his multi-year, round-the-world trip started in March 2007. This guy is a web 2.0 machine, having taken 50,000+ photos and written over 1,000 blog posts on his blog, Everything Everywhere. Apparently he’s also got one of the larger National Geographic memorabilia collections in the world. Now that’s a world-class traveler.

Gary wants to go to Antarctica, and I want to help him. The Quark Expedition contest officially ends on September 30, 2009, and at that point, the profile with the most number of votes wins. At the time of this post, Gary has 227 votes, and the leader has 910. With a few more months of exposure (and considering Gary’s stellar reputation), I think he’s got a shot.

Click here to read Gary’s profile on Quark Expeditions.

Have a good weekend!

photo credit to Flickr user chris.bryant

After 50 years of authoritarian control by the Castros, reform is finally coming to Cuba. The changes, though, are not coming from the Cuban government–they are coming from a government that has already changed tremendously in the three months its been in office. Ours. This may be bad news for Cuban cigar vendors hidden throughout the U.S., but many–myself included–are excited at the prospect of visiting the traditionally forbidden isle.

As a Cuban-American/American-Cuban, being able to freely travel to Cuba was a major issue in the 2008 election. It is why I voted for Obama in the Democratic primary, and it is why I have been paying such close attention to the news since they announced the reformed travel rules for Cuban-Americans back in early March.

Now, with the introduction a bill to lift the travel-ban entirely and a delegation of Senators meeting with Raúl and Fidel, the prospect of free travel–if not trade–is brighter than ever. While this means another hot vacation spot for American tourists, the majority of this legislation’s impact is going to fall squarely on the Cuban people. A significant increase in tourism–some suggest up to 3 or 4 times the amount of visitors–is likely to have a major impact. American tourism could be the best thing for the island since the poetry of José Martí…or the worst since Generál Baptista.

Tourism/Dual Currency

The tourism industry is already one of the top producers for the Cuban economy, attracting over 2 million people a year. If the travel-ban is lifted, the GDP will certainly increase. Tourism has already had a tremendous impact on Cuban society, creating a huge earnings gap between those employed by the state and those with access to foreign currencies, be that through remittance payments from the US, running a taxi, or working in tourist hotels. The effects are already apparent–dollar malls, dollar Internet cafés, and dollar lines at Copelia’s, Havana’s premier ice cream parlor. As far as dual currency goes, “separate but equal” is the rule, but hard currency gained from American tourism could potentially disrupt class economics on a more intense level.

Culture

Part of what makes Cuba such an appealing destination is its culture. More than just a chintzy souvenir shop in a dime-a-dozen port of call for Caribbean cruise-liners, Cuba has a rich history of music, dance, food and art. If this tradition is lost in order to attract more and more tourists, it would be a sad day for both Americans and Cubans. Cuba is more than just rum, cigars, and pictures of Che. Preservation of culture is definitely an issue.

The Economy

The immediate economic impact is obvious. Americans are the definition of consumers, and a sudden and massive influx of strong currency can only help the economy. Fortunately for Cuba, the economic benefits will not end with tourism. In the first wave of Americans to the island, there will be people much more important than tourists–investors. Cuba has a vast (if underfunded) infrastructure of medical and hard science research. There is a large (if under-employed) workforce of highly educated and technologically savvy individuals. Investment opportunity is ripe in Cuba for the company willing to take the risk of working under the Cuban government. If you do not see immediate, tangible investments, you will undoubtedly see relationships forming like worker exchange programs or other research co-ventures.

Politics

Cuban politics are as complicated now as they have been since the signing of the Platt Amendment. Power has successfully transitioned from Fidel to Raúl without a single uprising or coup attempt. Any change in policy in the short term is going to come from the top. It is not likely that we will see elections anytime soon, or even the spontaneous release of political prisoners. What we can count on, though, is the government’s cooperation with any interested investors willing to prop up their foundering economy.

Prostitution

Sex tourism has been a huge problem in Cuba since even before the revolution. I don’t mean only prostitution, but young girls willing to marry foreigners just for an exit visa. Take poverty, throw in a population of women whose exoticism borders on eroticism, add tourists–not the best combination. With a spike in American tourism, human trafficking will only increase. The Cuban government, perhaps even the U.S. government, need to take steps to prevent the growth of this industry in a post-embargo era.

Generación Y

If there is one group that is positioned to benefit from increased interactions with the U.S., it’s Cuba’s young and tech savvy Generation Y. They are as politically active as one can be in an autocratic regime. If we see any changes in Cuba, it will be with the strong support of Generation Y’s like Yaoni Sánchez. If you are interested in upcoming events from a Cuban perspective, I highly recommend her blog. For all you hyper-polygots out there, it is available in 16 languages! Check it out here: http://desdecuba.com/generationy.

Change was the platform that President Obama ran on in 2008, and if he supports the legislation proposed in the Senate, change is exactly what we are going to see. What do you think?

Additional reading:
US eases Cuban travel, money restraints
Obama Makes Good on Campaign Promises, Allows Travel & Money to Cuba