Selling Memberships to the Municipality of Anchorage

 The Mayor says we're in a bind financially and he has to make difficult choices.  Maybe he just needs to be more creative in finding ways to fund the government services we take for granted. 

Both public and private organizations offer memberships.  You can be a member of the Anchorage Museum - at several levels.  At each level of payment, you get an increasing number of benefits.  For example:

Individual $50

(One individual and children or grandchildren 17 and younger)

• Unlimited general admission for one year
• 10% Discount at the Anchorage Museum Shop and Café and the Science Store at the Imaginarium
• Discounts on classes, films, lectures, and admission tickets to special exhibits as well as birthday parties and camp programs at the Imaginarium
• Free admission to more than 400 science and technology museums around the world
• Invitation to Members-only exhibition previews and special events
• Annual subscription to Museum Today, award-winning newsletter
• One year admission to family programs and activities, gallery talks and tours
• 100% of membership is tax-deductible

If you spend $125 you can be a sustaining member and add more benefits.

The Alaska Club has Basic, Silver, Gold, and Platinum memberships.

Why not revise our Municipal Property tax into a multi-level Property Tax/Municipal Membership?  It might look something like this:

Basic level:
Members at the basic level have free access to the following services:
Travel on the streets, sidewalks, trail systems  (does not include busiest intersections during peak traffic hours)
Children may attend school free, but must pay for books
Free entry into libraries (but may not check out items or use the internet)
Two free police or fire calls per year



Silver level has all the benefits of Basic level plus:
Free access to choice of five busiest intersections during rush hours
10% discount on first traffic ticket and parking ticket
Three family passes to visit a park in Anchorage
Library card
Free books for children at school, free after school activity (ie sports, etc.) for one child per semester
Five free police or fire calls per year.
20% discount on Municipal Utilities bills



Gold level has all the benefits of Silver level plus:
Total free access on all streets at all times
25 hours of free parking in downtown parking lots
50% discount on first traffic or parking ticket
Free access to all parks, including special park availability for Gold level and above members
Unlimited police or fire calls
Unlimited after school activities for kids in school
50% discount  on Municipal Utilities
Free basic Museum membership

Platinum level has all the benefits of Gold level plus:
Priority snow plowing for neighborhoods that are >80% Platinum level members
Free parking downtown
70% discount on all Municipal fees or charges
10% discounts at events in MOA facilities



This is just a first quick draft, but I think it could work.  You'd have to set the normal property tax at a reasonable level, and then let people pay for premium levels.  Like paying for ski trail grooming, and museum membership; it would be about pride in your city with some extra privileges over people who pay the minimum.  It would also help to highlight what people all get from Municipal government and take for granted.

The only real problem is that much of government is a public good.  It's something where everyone benefits and excluding non-payers is hard - like city streets, using parks, clean air, etc.

That's why you'd still have to have a minimum charge everyone pays.  Cars could have stickers that show what level they pay.  And with new technology used in other cities, you could track who use the busy intersections at what times of the day.

You'd have to go through all the city services and see which ones could have premium levels or discounts.  You'd also have to calculate what to charge for each level so that enough revenue would come in.  And work out something  for renters.  Since they already pay property tax through their rent, perhaps they could just pay extra for the premium levels.  And what about people who don't live in Anchorage but work in town?  They could buy guest memberships.  Lots of possibilities here. 

Maybe there'd have to be a cafeteria plan, where you could pick a few from a list of possible benefits.  The higher your level, the more you could pick.  It would also allow people who don't think they use city services to just pay the minimum (but would they quit complaining about the things they don't pay for?)

Of course, there's no telling how many people would choose which level, but with the right mix of incentives, it could work.  

First Snow

I just noticed that it was snowing outside.  November 8 is a bit late for the first snow.  And it's beautiful. 

Anchorage Diwali Celebration 2009

Members of Anchorage's Indian community and guests celebrated Diwali Saturday night at Northwood Elementary School.

The word दीपावली(Dipavali) literally translates as a row of lamps in Sanskrit^[1]. It is traditional for adherents of Diwali-celebrating faiths to light small clay lamps (or Deep in Sanskrit: दीप) filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil within an individual. During Diwali, many wear new clothes and share sweets/snacks with each other. Some Indian business communities start their financial year by opening new account books on the first day of Diwali for good luck the following year.
In Hinduism, Diwali marks the return of Lord Raama to his kingdom Ayodhya after defeating Ravana (the Demon Kin, and also the demons KING) - the ruler of Lanka in the epic story of Ramayana. It also celebrates the slaying of the demon king Narakasura by Lord Krishna. Both signifying the victory of good over evil. In Jainism, Diwali marks the attainment of moksa by Mahavira in 527 BC.^[2][3] . In Sikhism, Diwali commemorates the return of Guru Har Gobind Ji to Amritsar after freeing 52 other Hindu kings imprisoned in Fort Gwalior by Emperor Jahangir. He was welcomed by the people who lit candles and divas to celebrate his return. Which is why Sikhs also refer to Diwali also as Bandi Chhorh Divas meaning "the day of release of detainees".
Diwali is considered to be a national festival in India and Nepal. The aesthetic aspect of the festival is enjoyed around the world regardless of faith.  (From Wikipedia, where you can get a lot more about Diwali.)

The video gives a little sense of the liveliness of the evening.

Unemployment Coverage Proves Conservative Bias of the Media

An AP story that runs in today's Anchorage Daily News says, in part:

The jobless rate rocketed to 10.2 percent in October, the highest since early 1983, dealing a psychological blow to Americans as they prepare holiday shopping lists.

This story and others on this topic that I've read all point to a media conspiracy clearly orchestrated by Conservatives.  None of the stories I've seen have mentioned that in 1983 Ronald Reagan was into his third year as president.  None of these stories has highlighted the fact that the US reached double digit unemployment in only 10 months after Obama was sworn into office while it took Conservative hero Reagan two full years to reach that level.

None of the Conservatives want to acknowledge that Obama has bested their hero by over a year, despite the fact that he had to turn around the legacy of eight prior years of Republicans.  Before Reagan, the Democrats only had four years to mess with the economy leaving Reagan with far less to undo.   In fact Conservatives are even criticizing Obama for repeating Reagan's achievement.  

Clearly, the mention of 1983 without mentioning the fact that Reagan was president at the time, shows how much influence the Conservatives have over the news.  They did not want  to draw attention to Obama's ability to reach double digit unemployment over a year faster than Reagan.  They did not want their hero to be shown to be so soundly beaten by Obama on achieving this milestone.  Strangely, it was the purportedly liberal New York Times that pointed out the 1983 level (though they didn't mention Reagan) was actually 10.8%, significantly higher than Obama's 10.2%.  But OBama has time to get the unemployment higher than Reagan got it.

This is another example of shameless Conservative manipulation of the news to forward their ideological, and not objective, news standards. 


[Original title was "Unemployment - Facts - Context - Ideology."  I guess irony should have been in there too.]

Would You Give $50 to Restore Someone's Eyesight?

The Seva Foundation catalogue arrived the other day.  For a donation of $50 you  pay for

"one cataract surgery with a vision-correcting lens implant, post-operative care and medications."

You can buy another sweater or a ticket to the opera or a dinner out or you can buy someone their eyesight.  People claim they would help the poor around the world, but they just don't know how.  But there are many charities that will help you do those good deeds.

How do you know that $50 will really go to that operation?  Well, you can't be certain.  It would be hard to trace your check to a clinic in Nepal and I'd bet it all gets mixed up with everyone else's checks.  Probably $50 is what it costs them to do that sort of operation and this is just clever marketing.  But you can check how a charitable organization is rated.

Charity Navigator is one of the online ways to check out a charity before you give.  I checked out SEVA and they only got 3 stars out of four.  Their administrative costs are a little higher than other agencies is part of the reason.  Their administrator gets paid $160,000 a year.  That seems a bit steep for a charity that raises only $4 million a year.

But as you can see, Charity Navigator compares SEVA to other charities with similar missions.  There are three that have four stars and higher efficiency ratings.  I liked Physicians for Peace.

In any case, as you start thinking about holiday gifts, especially for people who have everything, think about giving a gift of service such as a cataract operation in someone's name.    It seems to me that for Christians, this would fit right into the message that Christ spread.  It's easy, it's affordable, it doesn't clutter up the giftee's house, and it can change a person's life.

Think if you were living on a meager income who needed a prosthetic or polio inoculations for your children and you knew there were rich people in another country who spent more money to watch a movie and go to dinner than you needed to save the life of your child?

Most of the people who read this probably can do the dinner and movie AND make a donation without noticing it.  And you can use Charity Navigator to find an organization which uses the donations efficiently and effectively.

"I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States' presence in Afghanistan" - Asking the Basic Policy Questions

Policies, say like what the US should do in Afghanistan, can be looked at from many different perspectives. But it seems to me there are two basic questions we need to answer.

1. What purposes can we serve by being there?
   There seem to be quite a few we could list
1. Stop Al Qaeda
2. Change a government that makes women subservient to men
3. Stop the cultivation of poppies and drugs
   (You can debate the extent that such goals are reasonable or reflect an accurate understanding of Afghanistan.  A key question ultimately is how important are these goals in relation to other goals we want to achieve.  Will resources spent on Afghanistan mean we don't have resources for other goals?   Which, ultimately, are the most important?  If fighting in Afghanistan meant, really, that we prevent Al Qaeda from destroying the US, then we'd certainly decide to stay there. If.)
   
   
2. Can we achieve the purposes?
   
   No matter how noble and worthy our goal, if we have no chance of achieving it, one has to question our pursuing it.  Of course, few things are so absolute.  In any situation it isn't either/or, rather it is a range form 0% chance to 100% chance. 
   
   Decision theory gives us a number of 'rational' models for calculating level of risk and potential outcomes.  In some cases, it is relatively easy to plug data into the boxes and get a clear outcome.   But in complex policy decisions, not only is filling in the boxes difficult, but the emotional power of people's ideological stories of how the world works, causes people to interpret the same data totally differently. 
   

So, we have these two basic questions to ask in any important policy decision (and personal decisions as well.)

If someone is drowning and your purpose is to save him,  should you still jump in when you have a 90% probability of drowning too?   If the person in the water is a mass murderer, most people may feel saving him doesn't serve an important enough purpose unless the rescuer had 100% chance of surviving.  If the person drowning is you ten year old son, you may jump in even if you have only a 1% chance of surviving.  But most likely, you aren't even considering these probabilities, you are acting on instinct and emotion.  But if you die too, leaving two other kids without a mother, how good was that decision?  Even if the intent was noble? 

But when we are making foreign policy, we generally do have time to think these decisions out and calculate our likelihood of success.  Even if we can't do it with certainty, the exercise puts our assumptions out on the table, exposed to analysis and debate.

• I think it would be good for the world if terrorist groups who regularly blow people up are stopped.
  
  
• I think that Afghan women should be free to choose how they want to dress and if they want to go to school, etc.

But if the US can't achieve those goals, is it worth it to make a noble, symbolic effort?  At what cost to other projects such as better education and health care, or infrastructure, or assisting people in other parts of the world where we can succeed? 

This is the dilemma that our President faces.  Plus he has political consequences to weigh as well.  If we pull out of Afghanistan and the Taliban retake the nation and things go back to where they were pre-invasion, there is no question that Obama will be blamed for various kinds of diplomatic cowardice.  Even though it was GW Bush who took us into Afghanistan and then diverted our efforts there by invading Iraq, Obama will get the blame (or credit) for what happens now.

And if we stay and Afghanistan proves to be another quagmire that just sucks in American lives and resources with no visible gain, Obama will get blamed for that as well.

Into this discussion we now get to see the resignation letter of a US State Department employee who has been working in Afghanistan. 

Matthew Hoh first US official to resign over Afghan War    

The letter appears to be genuine.  He seems to be saying the goals might be good, but there's no chance of success.  According the the Washington Post  (Oct. 26, 2009) the US Ambassador in Afghanistan took Hoh's letter seriously: 

U.S. Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry brought him to Kabul and offered him a job on his senior embassy staff. Hoh declined. From there, he was flown home for a face-to-face meeting with Richard C. Holbrooke, the administration's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"We took his letter very seriously, because he was a good officer," Holbrooke said in an interview. "We all thought that given how serious his letter was, how much commitment there was, and his prior track record, we should pay close attention to him."

And as Hoh himself is quoted in the article:

"I'm not some peacenik, pot-smoking hippie who wants everyone to be in love," Hoh said. Although he said his time in Zabul was the "second-best job I've ever had," his dominant experience is from the Marines, where many of his closest friends still serve.
"There are plenty of dudes who need to be killed," he said of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. "I was never more happy than when our Iraq team whacked a bunch of guys."

(Ouch, so if you're for getting out of Afghanistan you must be a peacenick, pot-loving hippie?  Do these negative stereotype labels never die?)

Perhaps this guy is just overly idealistic and when things didn't turn around in the five months he was in Afghanistan, he was ready to throw in the towel.  But the letter reveals a thoughtfulness that belies that sort of conclusion.

Anyway, this is more fodder for this discussion.  During the Vietnam war there were voices like this slowly adding up and they were dismissed by the Pro-War folks as 'peacenik pot-smoking hippies' (so maybe Hoh was trying to pre-empt such a dismissal).  Eventually, a majority of Americans agreed we should be out of Vietnam.  While some still argue "We could have won if we hadn't held back the firepower" the real point is that Vietnam's "fall to Communism" didn't signal that all the dominoes of South East Asia would fall to Communism.  Vietnam was not a threat to the US and much of Southeast Asia prospered.  All those stories of why we needed to be there, proved unfounded.

But that said,  we have to choose carefully which lessons from Vietnam are appropriate to apply in Afghanistan.  Nothing is simple.  But I'm guessing that in the long run, getting out as soon as we can is the best for most everyone.

"...located on a busy street in the heart of downtown."

Which of the following would you call a 'busy street?'

A.   

B.

  





Or  C (from Google Maps Street Level)?

Why do I ask?  Well, there's a lot discussion about the flood of Sarah Palin books.  I followed links today which got me to this quote from Scott Conroy and Shushannah Walshe’s new book, “Sarah from Alaska: The Sudden Rise and Brutal Education of a New Conservative Superstar,” on the HastingReport:

One afternoon, while conducting interviews in Juneau, we decided to take a short walk to catch a glimpse of the governor’s mansion, which is located on a busy street in the heart of downtown. On our way back, we crossed paths with Piper Palin and two of her friends, who were evidently returning from school. We had known Piper as a frequent guest in the back of the plane during campaign flights between the cities. Her energy and humor made her a favorite among the ever-exhausted members of the traveling press corps, and she seemed excited to chat briefly with us about her return to Alaska…[emphasis added]

The hedge in pictures C above belongs to the Governor's Mansion in Juneau.

For people who have never been to Juneau, the picture on the left is the northeast section of downtown Juneau.(The red section on the map below.)





The street in the picture below runs along the Baranof Hotel in the business district of Juneau.

While the Governor's Mansion (yellow circle) is technically in downtown Juneau. There are business sections and residential sections and the mansion is on a tiny residential street.  (Actually, there are several tiny streets that surround it.)  Is it just me, biased because I live in the metropolis of Anchorage, who doesn't think of any streets in downtown Juneau as particularly busy?   You can walk from the lower right of the map to the high school in 15 or 20 minutes.  And sure, thirty cars all leaving the Capitol at once could cause a bit of a jam, but this is much more accurately described as a tiny, quaint,  and picturesque town.

The picture below is of a house across the street from the Governor's mansion.  My subjects are standing in the "busy street" described in the book.

I raise this issue because it makes me wonder if they were even at the Governor's mansion if they describe the street it's on as "busy." The only way it might have been busy is if there was a tour bus or two on the street at the time they saw it. Or maybe there were a hundred out-of-state journalists driving around the house at the time.

But for most Americans who have never been to Juneau, hearing 'busy street' certainly has to conjure up an image closer to pictures A and B than C above.

So, what's my point?  This may be a poor description, but it hardly is important in terms of what they are writing.  Well, if they call this street busy, what else in the book is misleading, distorted, or just plain wrong? I don't know.  Maybe nothing.  I'll just put this out here for the record. Maybe this is the only error.  It certainly struck me when I read the passage.  Perhaps other readers will find other errors. Certainly the rush to publish around the same date that Palin's book is coming out may have caused there to be a number of such problems. Maybe not.

&;nbsp and how to display HTML code: Notes from an HTML 'need-to-know-only' non-geek

In a previous post I copied a lot of text from a US government RFA (Request for Applications).  While trying to get it to look right, I noticed in the Edit HTML mode that it had paragraphs made up of  only "&;nbsp".

I would call myself a 'need-to-know' html non-geek.  I'd love to understand all the html, but I'd also like to speak fluent Mandarin and a lot of other things.  So, as a blogger I've gotten to know some html by necessity.  Sort of like learning 'hello,' 'thank you,' 'how much?,' 'where's the bathroom?' and a few other phrases you'll need while traveling in a country for just a week or two.

When I started blogging three years ago plus, in the Safari version of Blogger, I had to add links by using the html code; it wasn't a click on the toolbar.  Blogger has made all these things simpler, but there are still times when I want to tweek something and Compose just won't do.  Generally I've been able to google what I wanted to know, say, "Email link html" and get the answer.

I even wrote a blog post on basic html for non-coding bloggers.  But I never posted it because I couldn't figure out how to post the code without blogger reading it as code.

[As it turns out, I had the same problem with this post.  All the "&;nbsp" disappeared when I looked at the post in Preview.  So I googled "How to show HTML on a page."  - Why didn't I do that last time?  I must have but didn't get good answers. -  But this time I got a great site which allows you to put your code into one box and in a second box it gives you the code converted so you can display the code without the browser reading it as code.  Go to Felgall.com.  This is far more significant than the original point of this post, which was really blogger trivia.]

In any case, out of curiosity, I googled "&;nbsp  html" and got this very informative site which said this is a way to make spaces and indents.  Early on I had looked for ways to make spaces in html but I never found this solution.  This is a real pain in the neck on blogger.   Basically I was told by every site to make a table.  So this is interesting.  Especially the part that says that some browsers won't read this as an indent or space. 

From sightspecific.com

What is &;nbsp? Is it needed?

Short Answer

 &;nbsp is the entity used to represent a non-breaking space. It is essentially a standard space, the primary difference being that a browser should not break (or wrap) a line of text at the point that this   occupies.

Long Answer

&;nbsp is the entity used to represent a non-breaking space. It is essentially a standard space, the primary difference being that a browser should not break (or wrap) a line of text at the point that this   occupies.

Many WYSIWYG HTML editors insert these   entities in an effort to control the layout of the HTML document. For example, such an editor may use a series of non-breaking spaces to indent a paragraph like this:

&;nbsp &;nbsp &;nbsp This first line of text is supposed to be indented. However, many browsers will not render it as intended.

As the example mentions, some browsers will not, in fact, indent the text because of how that particular browser handles the &n*bsp; entity. . .  [go to the link for the whole explanation]

So now I know.  I'm not sure I want to use &;nbsp to make spaces because it sounds like it will look funny on some browsers.  But I can go back and resurrect the old post I started on simple html for non-geek bloggers.

[Update:  When I looked at this in Preview, the symbol worked in the Title, but not in the post itself.  So I didn't fix the title.  But I see that in the title it got read as code and just indented the title a space.  So I've (I hope) fixed it now.]

Implementation of Policy - The Office of the Middle East Partnership Initiative

American foreign policy may be debated in Congress - often in ideological colors - but what really matters is what actually happens.  I came across these two requests for applications (RFA) that give a glimpse of the implementation phase of policy.  I have no idea of the context of these two - what else the State Department and others are doing, who will actually get funds from this and what they'll do with them - or what sort of impact these programs will have.  But they do give a little sense of two programs that the US government is trying to implement to improve conditions in the Middle East with some detail.  And they do indicate a long term strategy, because these programs won't pay dividends (except for the people who get the grants) for a while. 

Program Number:   04070
Title:            Tomorrow's Leaders II Scholarship Program and Recruitment                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Sponsor:          Department of State

SYNOPSIS:
 The Office of the Middle East Partnership Initiative (NEA/PI) announces an open competition for proposals to enhance and expand educational opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa. Education is a priority for the Administration, and President Obama has called for an increased emphasis on building partnerships through expanding exchanges and increasing scholarship opportunities for students from this region. With this program announcement the sponsor seeks to promote mutual understanding and respect through innovative projects that provide university-level scholarship and internship opportunities at select institutions of learning in the Middle East and North Africa.

Deadline(s):      01/05/2010
Established Date: 11/03/2009
Follow-Up Date:   11/01/2010
Review Date:      11/03/2009

Contact:          Ms. Jessica Baker                                                                                  

Address:          2201 C Street NW
                  Washington, DC 20520     
                  U.S.A.                                
E-mail:           nea-grants@state.gov

Program URL: http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=CVGCKwKFLCFhgWMB8Pvl6Z5SQCcBycPyRTQ4Pb6P8DncGtQyV40h!-1163459943?oppId=50028&mode=VIEW
Tel:              202-776-8500                 
Fax:              202-776-8445       
Deadline Ind:     Receipt                                               
Deadline Open:    No
                   


Award Type(s):    General Project
                  Projects Outside the U.S.


Citizenship/Country of Applying Institution:
                  Any/No Restrictions

Locations Tenable:    African/South African/Sub-Saharan African Institution
                  Middle/Near Eastern Institution


Appl Type(s):     Colleges/Universities
                  Non-Profit


Target Group(s):  NONE
Funding Limit:    $0   SEE BELOW
Duration:         0
Indirect Costs:   Unspecified
Cost Sharing:     No
Sponsor Type:     Federal


Geo. Restricted:  NO RESTRICTIONS                                        

CFDA#:            19.500    

OBJECTIVES:
 A) Tomorrow?s Leaders Scholarships II:  This priority area implements the second phase of a scholarship program for Arab students from underserved backgrounds. Successful applicants will provide an American-accredited education which will create a strong foundation for a cadre of civic-minded, intellectually able, and professionally skilled university students, well-prepared to become future community and business leaders. The Tomorrow?s Leaders Scholarships II (TLII) program will partner with host universities to provide four- to- five year academic matriculation and community service opportunities for secondary school graduates from the Middle East and North Africa who are from diverse and socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds and whose academic merit and other credentials would qualify them for admission to a university program of study but whose limited financial resources preclude attendance. The TLII project emphasizes the
identification of highly motivated male and female students with demonstrated English language ability and leadership potential. Proposals under this priority area support full four- to- five year scholarships for at least 12 students per class cohort. Strategies to leverage program resources through more students and cost-sharing are strongly encouraged. 

 B) Recruitment for Tomorrow?s Leaders Scholarships II: Under Priority Area B, NEA/PI is soliciting applications from organizations to conduct the recruitment portion of TLII. Currently, 'Tomorrow's Leaders' students are recruited and screened by a single recruitment implementing partner, with the final selection of scholarship
recipients resting with each of the host universities. Applicants under this priority area should be prepared to recruit students for all awards made under priority area A. Proposals under this priority area should include a plan to advertise and recruit qualified scholarship recipients consistent with the profile articulated in priority area A. Submissions should describe how the applicant will
assess the suitability of potential scholarship recipients for the rigors of TLII, including the potential recipients' future leadership plans, as well as the recipients' commitment to the program.

ELIGIBILITY
 Eligible applicants for priority area A include any US-registered, US-accredited universities or colleges; applicant institutions must have the ability to provide a minimum of three years of the program in the Middle East or North Africa. Applicants for priority area B include any registered U.S. or foreign non-profit organization.

FUNDING
 The sponsor anticipates making six awards: five for the Tomorrow's Leaders Scholarship II Project, and one for the recruitment. Applicants to priority area A Tomorrow Leaders II Program may propose initial performance periods for up to six years.  Applicants to priority area B Recruitment for Tomorrow?s Leaders II Program may propose initial performance periods of up to two years.  NEA/PI
encourages applicants to provide maximum levels of cost-sharing from additional sources in support of this project.  The sponsor anticipates $7,250,000 in available funidng. Source: Grants.gov (10/28/09). (cmb)

KEYWORDS:         Africa
                  Middle/Near East
                  Higher Education
                  Grants.gov
                  Grants.gov/S2S


*********************************************************************************
Program Number:   04345
Title:            Youth Entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa Program Announcement                                                                                                                                                                              

Sponsor:          Department of State

SYNOPSIS:
 The Office of the Middle East Partnership Initiative (NEA/PI) announces an open competition for projects that support youth entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa.

Deadline(s):      11/30/2009
Established Date: 11/03/2009
Follow-Up Date:   11/01/2010
Review Date:      11/03/2009

Contact:          Ms. Jessica Baker                                                                                  

Address:          2201 C Street NW
                  Washington, DC 20520                        U.S.A.                                
E-mail:           nea-grants@state.gov

Program URL: http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=203ZKwZF9PvzJ1FjSJtB1GVz6fl1M2zrTYy08jcJqvf3Xt5fXpqx!-1163459943?oppId=50035&mode=VIEW
Tel:              202-776-8500                 
Fax:              202-776-8445       
Deadline Ind:     Receipt                                               
Deadline Open:    No
                   


Award Type(s):    General Project
                  Projects Outside the U.S.


Citizenship/Country of Applying Institution:
                  Any/No Restrictions

Locations Tenable:    African/South African/Sub-Saharan African Institution
                  Middle/Near Eastern Institution


Appl Type(s):     Private Institution/Organization
                  For-Profit


Target Group(s):  NONE
Funding Limit:    $0   SEEBELOW
Duration:         0
Indirect Costs:   Unspecified
Cost Sharing:     No
Sponsor Type:     Federal


Geo. Restricted:  NO RESTRICTIONS                                        

CFDA#:            19.500    

OBJECTIVES:
 Sustainable progress requires opening spaces for innovation and creativity. Expanding opportunities for entrepreneurs is critical to helping address unemployment, supporting economic development, and furthering civic engagement in the Middle East and North Africa. We are asking applicants to develop projects to foster a culture of entrepreneurship in youth. Illustrative, but not necessarily
comprehensive, aspects might include entrepreneurial skill-building, idea generation, business incubation, competition, access to capital, access to employment, and development of entrepreneurship networks (including possibly virtual networks) to connect entrepreneurs with each other as well as with a broader range of stake-holders. NEA/PI's desired outcomes are, inter alia, improved opportunities for business development, accelerated sustainable job creation, expanded economic
opportunities, and entrepreneurship stakeholders connected in partnerships and networks across the region. Projects should encourage innovation and creativity ? in both new and traditional sectors. Projects may also support the development of social entrepreneurship, applying business-like efficiency, innovation, and sustainability to tackling pressing social problems.

 NEA/PI seeks applications that would address the varying status of entrepreneurship in the economies of the region: those that have significant economic resources or are well developed in some respects but are still building a local culture of entrepreneurship, those without significant economic resources that must use entrepreneurship to tap into comparative advantages and create niche markets, and those that fall somewhere in between these two poles. Most responsive
projects will address the needs of economies and populations that lack strong traditions of entrepreneurship and will specify how and where they will have the greatest impact, particularly with respect to youth (defined for purposes of this RFA as males and females from 16 to 35 years of age).

Applicants must demonstrate: familiarity with the economic and demographic challenges facing the region (including the increasing number of youth who will seek employment); capacity and expertise in fostering entrepreneurial development; and the ability to help translate innovation into economic activity. Applicants must also
describe how they will measure positive outcomes in the areas of job creation, business startup, and income generation. Applicants should propose measurable results in the short, medium, and long-term, with the understanding that these efforts should continue beyond any funding under the program announcement.

ELIGIBILITY
 Eligible applicants include any registered U.S. or foreign non-governmental organization, and U.S. or foreign private institutions or commercial entities.

FUNDING
 The sponsor anticipates making two awards ranging from $500,000 to $1,500,000.  Source: Grants.gov (10/29/09). (cmb)

KEYWORDS:         Africa
                  Middle/Near East
                  Entrepreneurship
                  Entrepreneurship Education
                  Grants.gov
                  Grants.gov/S2S
                  Children/Youth




Sometimes I think it is useful to just put stuff up, even if I don't understand the context or meaning and just don't have enough information to speculate.  It adds, in this case, factual information about what one agency in the US State Department is trying to do.  It gives me something to think about and maybe it will become more relevant when I get some other information later on.  Or maybe a reader can add some context to this. 

Musical Instruments of Peking Opera - Short Video Tour

I have way too much video from last night's Peking Opera presentation by National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts and sponsored by the University of Alaska Anchorage's Confucius Institute. So I'm going to offer more than one post of the evening. The performance was more of a music education evening with an explanation of movements, stories, music, etc. and then vignettes from famous operas performed. The presenter brimmed with charm and knowledge and skill that came through even though he spoke in Chinese. The translator, unfortunately, captured only the words, not the charisma of the speaker who occasionally demonstrated movements in a way that suggested to me that he'd spent a fair amount of time on stage as an actor.

The actual vignettes were accompanied by recorded music, but at the beginning of the evening we were given a demonstration of percussion, stringed, and wind instruments. You can see the demonstration in the video. Which ends with part of the first opera vignette where you can see and hear the use of the percussion instruments.



For more, Philmulti gives a nice overview of Chinese traditional stringed instruments with pictures and a video.

From a post on a Chinese music forum:

Music accompanies singing. reciting. actions and acrobatics in Chinese operas. It also helps develop the story. personalize the characters. expose their thoughts and feelings. and create a special atmosphere.

http://china-corner.com/images/pics/2006426123021.jpg
The orchestra of a typical opera is composed of two parts -- the Wenchang. or Civil Section. of string and wind instruments; and the Wuchang. or Military Section. composed of percussion instruments. The former section accompanies singing. and the music is Qu (tunes). The latter accompanies the performers` body movements. reciting. singing. dancing and acrobatics.

The beats clearly mark the beginnings and the endings. Led by the main drummer. the music adjusts and controls the rhythm of the opera. The instrumental music is produced by various kinds of stringed. wind and percussion instruments. and each has its own functions and timbres.