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He sent the pitch anyway: "I kind of dared myself to send an email pitching an idea 10 times bigger than I've ever pitched before." |
Larsen and Ripple responded with a $29 million donation to DonorsChoose.org, the crowdfunding platform Best founded in 2000 that lets teachers post classroom project requests and donors choose which projects they want to support. |
On Tuesday night, Ripple pledged to fully fund the site's more than 35,000 classroom requests. |
"The teachers behind these projects work with more than a million students who are now going to get materials and experiences that they need to learn," Best said in an announcement on YouTube with Monica Long, senior vice president of marketing at Ripple. "I do not believe there has ever been a day when this many class... |
Best is encouraging teachers to use #BestSchoolDay on social media to share what the donation will do for their classroom. |
The donation may not have happened if Best hadn't "dared" himself to pitch his big idea to Larsen and Ripple. |
"In 18 years of doing DonorsChoose.org, we have, honestly, honestly, never been this excited," he told the San Francisco Chronicle. "I would say it's the dream coming true, except we never had this dream because it would have been too crazy to even say." |
TechStars, the seed-stage investment and mentoring program for technology startups, said today it is opening a new session in New York City, starting in January 2011. Applications from entrepreneurs are due by November 21, 2010. TechStars was founded in 2006 in Boulder, CO, and has since expanded to Boston and Seattle.... |
Astronomers have observed and analysed the effect of dark energy, the exotic form of energy thought to dominate the Universe, on galaxy clusters. |
Using Nasa's Chandra x-ray space telescope, researchers watched the growth of dozens of clusters. |
They say dark energy appears to be retarding the clusters' development. |
Dark energy is not well understood, but scientists believe it is a repulsive force close to the "cosmological constant" proposed by Albert Einstein. |
Another way of looking at it is that nothing - the vacuum of space - contains repulsive energy. |
Observations over the last decade or so suggest this is accelerating expansion of the Universe. |
"Putting all of this data together gives us the strongest evidence yet that dark energy is the cosmological constant, or in other words, that 'nothing weighs something'," said Alexey Vikhlinin, who led the research from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, US. |
"A lot more testing is needed, but so far Einstein's theory is looking as good as ever." |
It appears that dark energy makes up about 70% of the energy in the Universe, with dark matter accounting for a further 25% and "normal" matter just 5%. |
The fact that observations appear to tally with the notion of a cosmological constant is further confirmation that Einstein's general theory of relativity applies at large scales, the astronomers say. |
"For years, scientists have wanted to start testing how gravity works on large scales," said William Forman, also from the Smithsonian observatory. |
"And now, we finally have. This is a test that general relativity could have failed." |
The Chandra telescope is one of four original space-based observatories envisaged by Nasa that would, together, cover the electromagnetic spectrum from the infra-red through visible light into x-rays and gamma-rays. |
Launched in 1999, it is named after the Indian physicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar who gained a Nobel prize for his work on the evolution of stars. |
The current research project, conducted over many years, involved observing hot gas inside galaxy clusters. Some of those observed are relatively close in space, others are halfway across the Universe. |
The clusters grew more slowly than would have been indicated by the visible galaxies. The explanation is that dark energy is stretching space. |
"This result could be described as 'arrested development of the Universe'," said Dr Vikhlinin. |
"Whatever is forcing the expansion of the Universe to speed up is also forcing its development to slow down." |
The new findings can now be combined with other evidence on dark energy coming from study of supernovae, the cosmic microwave background and the way galaxies are distributed across the cosmos. |
Author talks about his 2001 book as a 10th-anniversay edition is released and with a TV show on the way. |
Neil Gaiman's award-winning novel "American Gods" first hit shelves back in 2001, sweeping up readers in a cross-country adventure that explored a world in which the gods of old struggled to remain relevant in modern American culture. Ten years later, "American Gods" is returning to shelves in a new form, celebrating i... |
"The truth is, as an author, all you are is grateful if you turn around 10 years after you wrote something and it's still in print," Gaiman told MTV News of all the fanfare surrounding the novel's 10th anniversary. "It makes me ridiculously happy as an author, but mostly it makes me ridiculously happy that my book is b... |
For Gaiman, "American Gods" offered a way to put words to his own experience in moving to America from England and the difference between how people view America from the outside and the eccentricities you discover from the inside of American culture. |
"All of the things that I loved about America that just seemed weird went into 'American Gods,' " he laughed. "I was fascinated by the way people coming to America tried to become 'American.' The idea of using old gods as a way of talking about what people bring with them when they come to America was a really fun one.... |
Gaiman recalled one particular discovery he made upon moving to the Midwest that was a prime example of the sort of local norms that informed "American Gods." |
"[When] I moved to America, I thought that I knew what America was," he said. "I'd been writing stories set in America for seven to eight years, I'd been coming to America for visits, and more importantly, I grew up watching American television and reading American books. And then I moved to America and found it was re... |
Along with giving readers a chance to revisit — or encounter for the first time — all of that aforementioned weirdness, the 10th-anniversary edition of "American Gods" will also feature more than 10,000 words omitted from his initial draft of the novel. The extra material will consist of expanded chapters, essays and e... |
The audio counterpart to the new edition will also receive a full cast recording as opposed to a solo narrator — something he decided to do after participating in a podcast with filmmaker Kevin Smith. |
"About six months ago, my wife Amanda Palmer and I were being interviewed by Kevin Smith for his Smodcast, and Amanda did some songs, and I thought I should do something that's fun too," he said. "So I printed out a scene from 'American Gods,' and I narrated it and made Kevin and Amanda act. At the end of it, I walked ... |
And just in case the best-selling original version of the book, the new 10th-anniversary edition or both audio versions don't put "American Gods" back on the mainstream radar, there's also the upcoming HBO television series based on the novel. Gaiman is attached to write and executive-produce the series with Tom Hanks'... |
"The overall plan right now is that the first season would essentially be the first book, with a few interesting divergences," Gaiman said of the television series. "You don't want people who've read the book to be able to go, 'I know everything that's going to be happening here.' [They will] know a lot more than anybo... |
With Gaiman indicating that the first season of the television series will encompass "the first book," it was only natural to ask about his plans for an "American Gods" sequel. |
"I've been [planning] to do a second 'American Gods' book since the first 'American Gods' book," he laughed. "What I basically have right now is a boxful of stuff. Things go into it. I always knew there was going to be more story. |
"The first book was very much about the grifters and the lowlifes, and you don't really get to see much of the new gods and you don't really get a sense of those gods who are doing incredibly well in America," he said. "In the second book, I definitely want to go into both of those things." |
Bush and key Democrats show they can bend on a hot issue. A deal on trade may signal more deals to come. |
It was a rather telling moment in Washington: President Bush and Democrats have yet to come to terms on Iraq, education, or immigration, but last week they struck a deal on at least one hot-button topic – trade. So what's up with that? |
Perhaps such refreshing political camaraderie arises because the goal of open trade has long enjoyed strong bipartisan backing in the nation's capital. |
Americans were reminded this week of trade's historic role in the nation's amazing economic growth with the 400th commemoration of the founding of Jamestown, the first permanent English trading colony. When the United States signs a free-trade agreement with countries, US exports rise substantially to those countries, ... |
The compromise on trade policy was chiseled out between the White House and key Democratic leaders despite the election last November of many anti-free-trade Democrats. But the mere fact that Democrats are now in charge forced Mr. Bush to make his side of the compromise. Now he's partially completing one of his remaini... |
The deal signals a softer White House willing to concede on hard issues. But it's also a recognition that Democrats, too, must give a bit. The art of compromise may not yet be lost in Washington's man-the-barricades polarization. |
In the deal, Democrats, led by Charles B. Rangel, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, promised to give a green light to passing two pending free-trade agreements with Peru and Panama – although actually delivering the Democratic caucus remains. |
Bush, in turn, agreed to add provisions in pending and future trade agreements that would attempt to force US trading partners to follow international standards on labor rights and environmental protection. |
The key provision is the one on worker rights. It calls for abolition of child labor and forced labor, a right to collective bargaining, and freedom of association for workers. If enforced – and that remains in doubt – they would have the effect of raising foreign wages and then perhaps reducing the flow of US jobs ove... |
The deal also comes up short in promising Democratic support for two other pending trade agreements with Colombia and South Korea. Each of those has its peculiar snags for some critics in Congress. |
Most of all, this political bargain does not give renewed approval for the president's authority to negotiate trade agreements that would allow only a yes-or-no vote on them in Congress. That "fast-track" authority, which expires in June, is essential for this and the next president if the US is to complete talks on a ... |
But the compromise, endorsed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, gives hope of future deals on trade policy. These will be more of a test for Democrats than Republicans on whether closing the door on open trade is really an option to resolve the problems of a globalized economy. |
So far, an open door generally remains a shut case. |
How can you make one-hour grocery delivery profitable? This company believes in thinking small. |
To date, e-commerce has been about scale. But when it comes to same-day or even same-hour delivery, the economics become tricky, regardless of how many units a company sells. Loss leaders like Amazon reign supreme as they stamp out competition, but profitability has been an elusive benchmark in the ultra-fast delivery ... |
That's doubly true for grocery delivery, which is a logistical nightmare of temperature zones and handling constraints. |
Automation will certainly play a key role in making lightning fast grocery delivery profitable, but one company, CommonSense Robotics, believes another part of the equation is to think small. Today the company announced the first of its Micro-Fulfillment Centers (MFC)s is live and delivering orders in Tel Aviv, Israel. |
To understand why MFCs provide a tantalizing solution to rapid fulfillment, it's necessary to look at how automated fulfillment works today. Typically, robotic fulfillment centers are warehouse-scale. The facilities house acres of logistics robots, which work alongside humans picking and placing items from a huge inven... |
The problem, and one of the things that makes rapid delivery so challenging, is that urban centers are where most people live. The distance increases delivery times. While automation cuts down on fulfillment costs, once a package leaves the center it usually has a long, expensive trip in store. Amazon spent $21.7 billi... |
CommonSense's solution is to move grocery fulfillment centers into cities. To do that, it has to make some tradeoffs in terms of space. The new MFC in Tel Aviv is about 6,000 square feet, significantly smaller than an average logistics fulfillment center, which could easily span 120,000 square feet. |
The facilities house proprietary robotic systems that maximize space and keep human workers stationary instead of running around to different stations. Though the centers can't match the diversity of offerings that an Amazon fulfillment center provides, they're big enough for most grocery staples. |
Given that online share of total grocery spending increased by 22 percent last year and online grocery sales are expected to reach $100 billion by 2025, same-hour delivery could put CommonSense in a strong position to begin taking market share from home grocery delivery leader Amazon. |
That's music to the ears of smaller grocery chains, which are scared to death of Amazon and Walmart. CommonSense acts as a third-party fulfiller and contracts with local grocers to delivery goods to customers. |
The first MFC will serve customers of Superpharm, an Israeli health & beauty retailer. US-based MFCs are set to launch on the East Coast in 2019. The grocery partners for those launches haven't been named, but there are several large chains that don't have in-house delivery capabilities. |
With the grocery landscape rapidly shifting online, its a safe bet some familiar names will be clamoring for a third-party fulfillment solution. |
A Winter Storm WATCH has been issued for the News 8 viewing area beginning Friday afternoon and lasting until 3 p.m. on Saturday. |
James Zahara says widespread amounts of 4-6 inches looks likely, with some areas north of the Quad Cities along Highway 20 expected to close to 8 inches. |
Andalusia has declared a snow emergency starting Friday evening and lasting through Sunday morning. |
Blue Grass has declared a winter weather emergency from 6 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 18 until 12 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 20. Residents are not allows to park on city streets or dispose of snow onto city streets. |
Coal Valley has issued a snow emergency from 6 pm Friday, January 18th 2019 through noon on Sunday, January 20th 2019. No cars are allowed on any Village Street, the city will be towing cars that block the roadways. |
Carbon Cliff has issued a Snow Emergency starting at 3 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 18 and extending for 72 hours. Residents may not park on any village street. Violators could be ticketed or towed. |
Clinton has declared a Snow Emergency from 6 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 18 until 6 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 21. Vehicles that have not moved from snow routes by 6 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 19 could be ticketed or towed. |
Davenport The Snow Emergency will go into effect beginning at 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18 through 6 p.m. Saturday, January 19. Vehicles parked on Posted Snow Routes will be ticketed and may be towed. |
As an alternative to on-street parking in the Downtown, residents, and visitors to the area may park for free in any one of the City’s three parking ramps beginning at 5 p.m., Friday, January 18 through 7 a.m., Sunday, January 20th. |
Durant has declared a Snow Emergency from 2 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 19. Residents must remove all vehicles from city streets. |
Eldridge announced a snow emergency from 6 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 18 until 6 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 19. Parking is prohibited on all city streets. Residents must also clear snow from their sidewalks and store it on their property. |
For a list of available snow emergency parking lots, visit the city’s website. |
Galesburg has issued a snow emergency that begins at 11:59 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18. Parking is prohibited on Galesburg city streets during a snow emergency. Vehicles parked in violation could be ticketed or towed. The parking ban remains in effect until the snow is cleared. Click here for more information. |
Moline has declared a snow emergency. Parking is prohibited on snow routes until snow has been cleared. Vehicles in violation are could be ticketed or towed. |
Morrison has issued a snow emergency starting at 3 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18 through Monday, Jan. 21 at 8 a.m., or until all snow is removed from the full width of the streets. Violators can be fined between $25 and $75 and towing may be utilized. |
Drivers are prohibited from parking on posted snow routes, which are marked with blue and white square signs. This includes Lincolnway (Route 30), Jackson Street, Heaton Street, Winfield Street, Genesee Street; Avenue; Court, Illinois Route 78 (which includes portions of Wall Street, Clinton Street and Portland Avenue)... |
There will be no parking allowed in the Central Business District. |
Odd and even parking is enacted, which means on even days of the month, park on the side of the street with even addresses. On odd, park on the side with odd addresses. |
Port Byron has issued a snow emergency, expected to last from 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18 through 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 19. |
Rock Falls has a snow emergency in effect from Friday, Jan. 18 at 5 p.m. through Sunday, Jan. 20 at 5 p.m. |
Odd-even parking restrictions will be in effect, meaning on even days of the month, park on the side of the street with even addresses. On odd, park on the side with odd addresses. |
Parking will not be allowed on designated snow routes throughout the city. Click here to see which roads parking is prohibited on. |
Rock Island declared a snow emergency effective at 6 PM, Friday, Jan. 18. Once snow has reached 2 inches, people should not park on snow routes. |
Cars violating these rules could receive a $35 ticket. Vehicles that remain could be towed. |
Sterling has issued a Snow Emergency starting at Friday, Jan. 18 at 3 p.m. No cars are allowed to park on snow routes until the roads are cleared or in the central business district from 1:30-5:30 a.m. |
Residents must follow even-odd parking on all other streets. On even days of the month, park on the side of the street with even numbers. On odd, park on the side with odd numbers. Cars must be moved by 8 a.m. |
Cars could be ticketed and towed at the owners expense for not following these rules. |
Walcott has declared a Snow Emergency from 9 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 18 through 12 a.m. on Jan. 21. |
Residents must follow even-odd parking on all other streets. On even days of the month, park on the side of the street with even numbers. On odd, park on the side with odd numbers. |
BOSTON -- We can only be happy for Reggie Lewis. And we can only hope that this latest news is accurate and final. |
"I'm just glad it's finally come to an end," Lewis said yesterday after he was discharged from Brigham and Women's Hospital. |
End? Will this ever be over? Will Lewis ever be the same? Will the Celtics be the same? Will team sports' medical practices be the same? Will newspaper, television and radio coverage be the same? Will it ever be over for those of you who absorb and trust the news you hear and read? |
Who can be certain this latest diagnosis is correct? |
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