The Social Age

There are days that I am hopeful and positive and inspired by the human race. And then there are other days.

In the midst of widespread fear of an impending Swine Flu pandemic, the scum of the earth have yet again found a way to scam people, take their money and, in this case, endanger their health.

As reported last night on NBC Nightly News, there has been a outbreak of people pawning fake Tamiflu on the Internet. Upon analysis, most of these fake pills only contain acetaminophen (Tylenol) and fillers. The sites are targeting lower income individuals with fear tactics and low-cost promises. I don’t get it. What has happened in our evolutionary biology that has allowed our society to be so filled with sociopaths?

This site, in the past, has been pretty good at taking down scammers. You can read my piece on apartment scams and how the readers of this blog tried to help each other by identifying scammers. You can also read how these scammers then targeted me with hate mail because of the effectiveness of the efforts of Social Age readers.

So perhaps we can start something again. If you know of any Tamiflu Scammers, please add the URL and company name to the comments section below. If we can help one person avoid this scam and recover from the flu with the help of legitimate Tamiflu, we’ve done our job.Православни икониikoniИкониПравославни икониПодаръциИдея за подаръкикониикониикони на светцииконописikoniсвети георгиikoniхудожник на икониИкони на светциХудожникОткъде да купя иконаидея за подарък

Feb 12 is quite an auspicious day.

200 years ago today, Charles Darwin was born, setting in motion the acceptance of natural selection and evolution as basic tenets of our shared ancestry. That some survive based on innate characteristics (i.e. genetics) forever changed scientific thinking and spawned great debate about the validity of the Judeo-Christian Creation Story.

200 years ago today, Abraham Lincoln was born, setting in motion a course of freedom for those whose “genetics” were used against them to hold them prisoner in what Lincoln believed should be a free world.

100 years ago today, the NAACP was formed (purposefully on Lincoln’s centennial) to bring awareness of the inequalities of race (i.e. genetics) to the fore of our thinking, and create opportunity for advancement for all.

Can you imagine our country — our world — without these three tremendous forces?

Dear Friends, Readers, Social Agers and Stoppers-by

It is with great humility that I write to you today. You may (or may not) have noticed that I have not written on my blog in 10 months. Kind of crazy, right? Especially in these fracturing, social-emotional times. So why haven’t I been writing, and why am I starting again?

In August of 2007 I posted a story called The $700 Apartment Scam & Thank God for Google. The story caught fire as apartment scams were rampant. In fact, if you Google “Apartment Scam” today, you will see that this site is the top result. Response to my post was equally frenetic. As the “Apartment Scammer(s)” shape-shifted across the Internet, changing cities, names and stories, my readers used this forum as a way of protecting others against getting scammed. It was a GREAT example of The Social Age in action. They ID’s the name of scammers, tracked their movement from city to city and gave each other hints on things to avoid. This is exactly what I had hoped for. People connecting with People in ways to make the world better, more social — more Social Age.

And then the fun stopped.

Around February 2008. one or many of the “scammers” got ticked off being exposed. Clearly the scam-alerts were working — against them. And it probably cost them quite a few easy bucks. So what did they decide to do? They tried to get even. How?

1. They sent me threatening “f you” emails, quoting lines from my personal and professional sites
2. They signed me up (fake email addresses forward to me) for over 2000 newsletter lists trying to blow up my email boxes
3. They hacked into this site and started putting garbage code everywhere
4. They deluged this site with nasty, awful comments (thank goodness for approvalqueues)
5. They did everything they could to shut me down

For a while I resisted and kept writing, though I have to admit that I was more tentative. Finally the deluge of emails, comments, code breeches and newsletters got to me. Managing the “bad” was taking WAY too much of my time. So I stopped. Until now.

The fabulous Kirstin Myers of Globond has been pestering me to write again. After some resistence, I realize that she is right. I should write. With the massive changes taking place in our society, there is no better time than now to dedicate to The Social Age. So here I am.

For those of you who are new to this blog, I encourage you to visit the Post Index and see if what I am writing resonates with you. I’d love to rebuild this community. Here’s the start.

I’m constantly amazed at the human desire for stasis. The slow-burn growth of the world’s acceptance of the “social entrepreneurship” movement (in the media, academia and business-world) is in direct opposition to the actual growth in the amount of work and money being dedicated to the work of these incredible agents of change.

Perhaps today is a break-through day.

New York Times Op-Ed Columnist David Brooks today wrote a piece on social entrepreneurs. This is a great sign for the field and will hopefully help encourage continued dialog about this important kind of work. You can read the article, “Thoroughly Modern Do-Gooders” here.

I went to an event recently where there was a lovely spread of cheeses, breads, dips and other yummy hors d’oeuvres. At the end of the reception, the staff started cleaning up and I asked what they did with all of the left over food. The answer, as most of you already know, is horrifying… it is thrown away.

I’ve been trying to figure the logic of this one out. You see, according to America’s Second Harvest, if we could recover just 5% of the food wasted each year, we could help feed 14 million people. But it turns out that food that has been left out at a reception must be chucked because of… liability reasons. So if I’m to understand this correctly, companies are worried about donating perfectly good food to shelters and the homeless because they are worried about being sued.

Doesn’t it seem like there is something terrible wrong here? I mean people, can’t we use some common sense? Leftover bread, crackers, hard cheeses, chips, veggies and other perfectly good food certainly have a shelf-life outside of the refrigerator long enough that it can be recovered. Unless it has been baking in the sun all day, it just seems that we should be able to do something about it.

An organization called “Rock and Wrap it Up” is taking on this issue directly. With over 150 bands participating “Rock and Wrap it Up” collects performers’ backstage edible leftover food in every arena or stadium where they perform and bring it to local kitchens and shelters. Current and recent tours contracting food recovery with Rock and Wrap it Up! in their rider include Tom Petty, Phil and Friends, Allman Brothers Band, The Dave Matthews Band, Nickelback, Kenny Chesney, Christina Aquilera ,Martina McBride and The Indigo Girls. The clincher is that all donors are protected from liability by The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act of 1996.

So I’m going to go back to the place where I went to this lovely event and talk to them about signing up for a food recovery program to help those in need and steer clear from fear of litigation. You can learn more about donating surplus food and find resources from the EPA by clicking here.