One Spark, Endless Opportunities….
Jacksonville could become synonymous with this festival and it could beckon innovators, philanthropists, community organizers, and more for years to come. If this event is as successful as I anticipate it will be, our One Spark could rival several other festivals simply because of the uniqe crowd-funding opportunity that exists. Everyone will be vying for a piece of the $250,000 pie, but if that weren't enough, investors like our own Shad Khan have pledged massive amounts of money to innovators and fledgling companies. One Spark has electrified social media and the entire city has been buzzing about it for months. It's truly a testament to the power of networking. I foresee the next festival really upping the ante and bringing even more money to the table and even more international talent to the shores of the First Coast. I'll see you there, April 17-21 in downtown Jacksonville! Be One Spark.
Never Thought I’d Be Jealous Of Kansas City
This service, which goes for $130/month for TV and internet, was originally only available in Kansas City, MO/KS (of all places) and has received such wild fanfare that Austin will be next. It's assumed that the roll-out will be implemented in Texas even faster than it was in Kansas City due to the city's higher population density in Austin. However, this makes me believe that Jacksonville, the country's largest city in terms of square-mileage, won't exactly be on the short list to receive the service. This seems to be fitting skepticism considering we can't even get decent broadband coverage at our location in the heart of downtown Jacksonville. SO, this is the point in my blog, where I will crank my megaphone to 1,000 and urge my fellow residents of Jacksonville to write the mayor's office, write your senator, and pester Google incessantly to have the “Bold New City of the South” live up to its namesake by incorporating Google Fiber throughout our fine city. The potential applications for this service are endless and could change the way we do business, watch television, disseminate information, educate our children, and so on….Let's start a grass-roots movement to be the first city on the eastern seaboard to employ this paradigm-shifting technology! OH, and before I forget…..that Google stock that is north of $800/share that people think will be tapering off or even becoming cheaper….THINK AGAIN.
IL PAPA
Everything about Francis I, is different. He has foresaken the Papal residence in the Vatican for a humble apartment that resembles a barracks. He held a televised Easter service that showcased the Shroud of Turin for the first time in a very, very long time. He also opts to wear simple white garb in lieu of the traditionally ostentacious Papal vestments. I, myself am not Catholic, but there's something endearing about this man. He's very humble…a man of the people who champions the poor. His hands-on approach makes me believe that perhaps he's better suited to address global poverty than Jim Yong Kim of the World Bank. Keep in mind, that everything the new Pope has done has been in the first two months of his Papacy. The cultured, western Europeans, and even some Brazilians and Argentinians, are quick to label Americans as naive when it comes to global affairs, and even devoid of a sense of empathy as it pertains to wage/class disparities, but it's been my experience that Americans are very in-tune with the global market as well as culturally significant subject matter. The troubling statistic is that for every worldly, intelligent American, there are ten “Larry the Cable Guys” and “Kim Kardashians”. It's that kind of misrepresentation that has pigeonholed our country as a mere reflection of Miami, New York, or L.A. We are greater than the sum of our parts. How does the latter half of this tie in to the new pope? Well, during the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment, Catholicism experienced a very corrupt and troubling period that sought to expunge scientific ideas from being disseminated. Those people like Newton, Galileo, and other brilliant minds, were branded heretics and in opposition to the church. If you fast-forward to Francis I, you can see a shining example of how the office of the Pope too, is more than the mere sum of its parts. I may not see eye-to-eye with the new ultra-conservative Pope on every moral issue, but I do believe him to be a truly decent man whose presence in the Vatican is a breath of fresh air for Catholics and humanists alike.
Update Your iPhone Settings!
Then it occurred to me that virtually nobody changes their default iPhone settings for their ring tone or their text alerts…myself included. That all came to a grinding halt on Saturday, and I chose the new setting “Sherwood Forest” for my text alerts. It's a beautiful tone that features a medieval trumpet, the kind that would signal to people that royalty was approaching. That's what I love about my ringtone, it's almost celebratory. The important thing is that it's unique and that I know that my phone is the one getting the alert.
The Human Billboard
Is it only a matter of time before all professional athletic jerseys implement some form of advertising? It hasn't bothered Europeans and basketball has become a global phenomenon, with similar jersey styles as a soccer jersey. Could you see Lebron James wearing a Heat jersey that had a McDonald's logo on it (and McDonald's already hosts an All-American game that sports their logo on the jersey)? I could, and I think that the advertising could be done subtly enough that it wouldn't invoke the hatred of fans. Think of the possibilities… consumers who want authentic apparel would also have the advertiser's logo on their jersey otherwise it wouldn't be identical to what the player wore. These fans would wear their jerseys, becoming human billboards for that product. Don't forget about exclusive jersey advertising rights (after all, companies pay a fortune for naming rights to the venues and not too many people stare at the exterior; they watch the star players). Not only do I think this is inevitable, but I think the U.S. should spearhead this movement. Someday, you may just see the Mad Men Marketing logo on the back of a ballcap being worn by a Jaguars or Jacksonville Suns player.