G’Day World #339 – Donnie Maclurcan and Project Australia
Posted on 10. Aug, 2008 by Cameron in activism, entrepreneurialism, Podcast, social activism
Today my guests is Donnie Maclurcan, Executive Director of Project Australia, a national organisation helping people launch ideas that seek to create positive social change within communities.
Donnie tells me how the idea came together, how it all works, and what they are trying to do. He’s a terrific example of someone who has taken the bit between his teeth and is putting action behind the dream of a better country.
If you’re wondering about the new intro music, it’s Dies Irae from Mozart’s REQUIEM, a favourite of mine. The lyrics actually come from an old Catholic hymn which starts off:
Dies iræ! dies illa
Solvet sæclum in favilla
Teste David cum Sibylla!
Day of wrath! O day of mourning!
See fulfilled the prophets’ warning,
Heaven and earth in ashes burning!
I love the piece of music (one of my dreams has always been to put together an annual live performance of it) and the lyrics are kind of fitting, don’t you think?
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G’Day World #318 – Bill Liao
Posted on 11. Mar, 2008 by Cameron in Australian media, entrepreneurialism, motivation, Podcast, social activism, social responsibility, success
Bill Liao is one of those guys I just love to talk to. He’s smart, successful, humble, visionary – and nice to boot. Just who the hell does he think he is?
Apart from being a successful serial entrepreneur and a co-founder of Xing.com (a massive social networking site based in Europe), Bill is also driving an amazing project called Declare! where he’s encouraging everyone to make a “Declaration of Global Citizenship”. I spoke to Bill earlier today about his background, his motivation, his vision for the human race and what we’d all do if we’re ever taken over by lizard aliens from another planet. Strap yourselves in kids – this show is pretty awesome.
The music track today is:
310
“Fortuitous Bounce” (mp3)
from “Sixes and Sevens”
(Conduit Records)
Buy at Amazon
More On This Album
Geeks Who Care
Posted on 30. Dec, 2007 by Cameron Reilly in geeks who care, social activism
Over the last few months I’ve been wrestling with the notion that there should be some kind of framework for geeks to do something positive in their local community. Something that isn’t tied to any particular religious, political or social agenda. Something that plays on the strengths of geeks and doesn’t require a full-time commitment but also involves more than just writing a cheque or a blog.
After a chat with Father Bob Maguire (from TPN’s Father Bob Show and the guy who has been the inspiration for much of my thinking in this area), his co-host Michaela and Michael Leone from Gnoos a month or so ago, I realized that perhaps we should pull together a group of people together and workshop ideas on what we could do, together, to make a difference in our local communities. I don’t have the answers. Hell, I don’t even know most of the right questions to ask. But I do feel that I could be, should be, doing more. I just need to work out what kinds of things I, we, can do. And I think it might be easier if we were to try to accomplish it in a group.
So, with that in mind, I’m kicking off “Geeks Who Care” with a meeting at Bob’s place (Cnr Dorcas and Montague Sts, South Melbourne) on January 27th. I’m hoping we’ll get a small group of like-minded individuals to come together to workshop ideas. From there we can put together a framework, steps forward (kind of like how we started MODM early last year). I’m sure most of you will have more of an idea about what we should be doing that I do. I’m an idiot. I’ve already had a few great ideas given to me and I’m sure between now and Jan 27 I’ll get a lot more. There is a Facebook event set up for the meetup. Get to it here (link) and the main domain, GeeksWhoCare.com, currently re-directs to a Facebook group for general discussion. For those of you itching to tell me how much you hate Facebook – save it, I’m not interested.
Perhaps, if this one works out, we can set up similar groups around the country, around the world even… hell, let’s put one on Mars. Those poor little green guys needs our help too. Martians are humans too you know.
G’DAY WORLD #304 – Social Activism update
Posted on 29. Nov, 2007 by Cameron Reilly in Podcast, social activism
As you know, I’m trying to figure out how I can make the world a better place. Today I had a chat with Richard Giles about some of the recent attempts I’ve made to volunteer for organisations like LifeLine and Big Brother Big Sister, my vision of a 21st century geek version of Rotary, and the following sites:
Mobile Phones and Social Activism
The track for today is:
Maritime “For Science Fiction” (mp3)
from “Heresy and the Hotel Choir”
(Flameshovel Records) More On This Album
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