A gospel tune for those that aren't sure.

I don' think I've shared Chris Smither with you guys yet, but every time I listen to him I remember that I should. The CD that these two songs came off is called Train Home, and it is a favourite of mine and Janine's. Great, tasteful guitar playing and a perfect mix of thoughtful yet light-hearted lyrics. I couldn't decide which of these two songs from the concert was better to link up, so I had to add both. There are even more from this youtube poster of the concert, and they're all worth watching if you like these two. Judging by his thoughtfulness in lyrics and his sense of humour, I think Chris Smither would JAMM with us.

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Thus Spake... Morihei Ueshiba

"Iron is full of impurities that weaken it; through forging, it becomes steel and is transformed into a razor-sharp sword. Human beings develop in the same fashion."

- Morihei Ueshiba (Founder of Aikido)

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The drummer is wearing nomads!

How is this bit o' Chisel for a blast from the past? 

I had nomads for school and I know I was cool..

The photo of my sweet self below the video just proves it!

And y'all thought Stevie Wonder was a golden god...

The 80's... oh the blessed 80's (tinted prescription aviator style master)... 

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Mad Hops

Magic Johnson: "Wow, now they're getting so creative in terms of their thinking and what they can do." Charles Barkley: "Yeah, well when you jump that damn high, you gotta lotta time to think."

Watching basketball as a kid, my friends and I used to speculate that in the future, there would be some guy who was 7 foot tall and could do all the stuff that Michael Jordan can do. I thought it wouldn't happen until there were flying cars and hover skateboards, but it only took 20 years. And his name is Dwight Howard. He set a new bar yesterday...

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Participate in Microfinance!

Microfinance got a real boost in the last few years thanks to Muhammad Yunus' Nobel Peace Prize win in 2006. It was a well deserved award for a man whose efforts have literally aided millions of people in their climb out of poverty.

Yunus, via Grameen Bank, was one of the pioneers of microcredits. Microcredits are very small loans made to poor entrepreneurs, who would otherwise be considered not loan-worthy by traditional banks. This money is usually used as capital by these entrepreneurs to start or expand their businesses, which in turn makes it possible for them to break out of poverty.

One of the coolest things about microcredits as a poverty alleviation tool is that it...
preserves the dignity of the borrowers. They are expected to pay back the money and its related charges just like anyone else. So the success of the entrepreneurs is attributed directly to their own efforts, and not to charity.

The virtues of microfinance and its success has left many people wondering how they can personally participate in the system and contribute to the entrepreneurs. To fill this gap, Matt and Jessica Flannery came up with Kiva.

Kiva is a microfinance platform which has partnered with existing microfinance institutions worldwide. The Kiva website lists entrepreneurs from around the world, and lets the lender (ie. you and me) choose the specific person they would like their funds to be channeled to. The money is sent to Kiva (via Paypal), and is then transferred to the microfinance institution which will disburse the the funds to the particular entrepreneur.

The entrepreneur then uses the newly injected capital for its stated purpose and (hopefully!) starts generating more revenue. They slowly repay the loan and interest over time. (Yes, they do pay interest to the microfinance institution. Otherwise the system would be unsustainable. Kiva, on the other hand, is a non-profit. So it does not receive any interest and lives on donations. The lenders do not receive any interest payments either.) When the capital is repaid by the entrepreneur, the lender can choose to loan it to another person or withdraw the amount. Kiva also sends the lenders periodic reports on how the chosen entrepreneur is doing.

Kiva has received endorsements from many high profile people, including Bill Clinton (video here) and Oprah Winfrey. It is currently enjoying a huge public response.

For those of us who have been waiting for an avenue to aid the global poverty eradication effort, here it is! What might be a small loan for us may help someone free themselves from poverty.

(For those of us in the US, Microplace exists as an alternative to Kiva. It uses a different model from Kiva, where you actually get to make returns on your investments, but you cant choose a specific entrepreneur to assist)

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J.K. would JAMM

'Whether 10,000 miles away, 2,000 miles away, or here, we are all psychologically bound together.'

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Stevie Wonder on the Drums

For a long time, I thought that Stevie Wonder was a pretty good musician........

.......silly silly me...... the Man is a Golden God!

First time i saw this video, I was completely stunned. I didnt even know he could play the drums. He does some things in this vid that I think would make many a musician cry, and he doesnt even look like he's breaking a sweat!




This video actually made me go out and get a hold of his music and have a proper listen. I am now convinced that Stevie Wonder is one of those rare musicians whose genius is unclassifiable, trancending instruments and genres. Maybe I'll check out his latest album sometime soon....

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Welcome to the JAMM Community House!

Welcome to the new JAMM house!

At any one moment, there's about a billion kool thoughts bouncing around in our minds, so here's a new place we can get together and share it. Then maybe we'll be lucky enough to watch it grow into something of gargantuan proportions, sweeping us up along the way and devastating the universe with its positivity.....

JAMM = Just About Making Music
&

Music = anything worth sharing

So, grab a cup of coffee and get comfy....

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