What's Woody Doing Now

Bloom Box's Skeptics Are Looking At The Trees Instead Of The Forests

First, the skeptics need to think past our tiny and shiny seas or our borders.  Globally, the real market is not the US and other developed countries.  The market (profitable) is going to be the developing world.  The world who does not have a power-grid nor can they afford a power-grid.  (I do not think their is enough copper in the world for a world-wide power-grid.)

Second, the Bloom Box technology needs to be viewed as the next mobile/cell phone-like technology.  The number of mobile phone connections worldwide will increase from 4 billion to 6 billion by 2013.  The growth or continuing market is not the US but developing markets outside the developed world. 

The Mobile Marketer pinpoints the growth:  The growth in the number of connections is attributed to a couple of reasons. First, the integration of mobile into previously unconnected devices and then, subscriber enrollments in emerging and developing markets.

So, market for Bloom Box will be equally outside the US.  In developing nations for mobile phones, there is no choice between land line versus mobile phone.  The same will exist for the Bloom Box, there is no competition with any established power companies.  It just a matter of pricing and or cost.  

Watch CBS News Videos Online

 

VIDEO: The Bloom Box -- Electricity For SubSaharan Africa

HOLY BLOOM BOX!  The cell or mobile phone has changed the landscape of the world.  BUT, it is impacting Africa even more.

In 1998, communication in central Congo was none existent.  In August 1998, a civil war actually started while I was visiting the interior.  We never got the word until a week later.  Now, mobile phone with the internet keep informed within seconds.  For example, I knew about the Haiti Earthquake immediately.

The Bloom Box will bring electricity to the bush, too.  It will be a boom in Africa because it requires no power grid.

 

Watch CBS News Videos Online

 

READING: One of the Many Maternal Death Stories

Sadly, one out about 11 Congolese women die during children birth.  Thousands of women die each year due to lack of access to prenatal care.

Here's a story from two American missionaries in Congo of a recent death.

SUBJECT:  Pastoral school in mourning  -Feb.21

Dear Friends and Family,

IPK ( Pastoral Institute of Kikongo) is officially in mourning until Thursday. One of our second year pastoral school wives died during a C-section at the hospital yesterday. Her baby, her first, survived. IPK is in shock. Our student wife stayed at her home in our camp using several different kinds of traditional roots and herbs to assist in her labor until the baby's head had already crowned, which, according to the hospital, complicated an already complicated situation. The young mother was 21. Students, staff and Kikongo friends gathered around the body at our IPK chapel for an all night wake last night. Glen and I took shifts. I don't know how our students kept up such a high level of energy drumming, shaking rattles and singing so far into the night.  (Did you know that old dental work can ache when exposed to too much drumming?) Mats were spread out all over the floor with sleeping children. This morning, instead of a traditional church service, we had the funeral and burial. It went well, except that part of the hole had to be dug all over again, because the diggers ran into an old coffin going in one direction. Graves are only marked temporarily here, so it is easy to forget where previous bodies have been placed. Yesterday afternoon, when the students received word of the death, tensions were running very high. We were sure immersed in the culture as we tried to figure out what the issues were, and how to best deal with them.

In the end, our students really showed maturity, especially our graduating class. It isn't just the young father who lost his 21 year old bride that has been put through the fire, but all of us, staff and students have been tested. The young lady was just learning how to read, and was baptized in October. This afternoon we are all resting. The father of the new baby was just by. His village is a considerable distance away to the south, ( six days walk) so help from his family is out of the question. Another IPK family with a new infant has agreed to take care of this special new baby until they graduate in June. A real sacrifice. Staff is trying to think of some practical ways that we can assist the new mother as she nurses an extra baby now. Milk? Ground corn? Black eyed peas?

Please pray for IPK as we unite around this unique challenge, and especially for our young student who has lost his wife.

Glen and Rita

Entertainer at IUPUI Hunger Banquet

Tune-In Thursday To HBO's New Documentary, "Reporter"

Check out the "Reporter" on Thursday February 18 at 9:30pm on HBO.

Nick Kristof has traveled to and written (for the New York Times) about Congo from a wild, wild east perspective many times.  Also, he is a respected columnist, blogger, and best-selling author.

Tune in to HBO tomorrow.

This Thursday, February 18 at 9:30pm, HBO will premiere Eric Daniel Metzger’s new documentary “Reporter,” which follows Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times columnist Nick Kristof on his travels through Congo. Through his talent for recounting individual stories, Kristof strives to bring the crisis in Congo to the forefront of his readers’ minds and hearts. Two young Americans, a high school teacher and a medical student, trek alongside Kristof as he journeys through villages, Tutsi rebel jungle hideouts, and refugee camps.

With the help of producers Mikaela Beardsley and Steven Canto, Metzger, in the role of both narrator and director, has produced a passionate and telling account of the situation in Congo and the reality of public reactions to the horror. Join him and Nick Kristof Thursday at 9:30 for the premiere of “Reporter” on HBO.

 

Watching The Official Video: We Are The World 25 for Haiti

A real nice update for a really good cause.

READING Seth's Blog: Phoning it in

It's showtime!  Go for it!  Everyday is your Olympics' final.

Here's a gentle reminder for me.  I need to work more from the heart and NOT from the head!

Seth's Blog: Phoning it in.

This was sort of shocking, at least to me:

I was talking to a religious leader, someone who runs a congregation. She made it clear to me that on many days, it's just a job. A job like any other, you show up, you go through the motions, you get paid. I guess we find this disturbing because spiritual work should be real, not faked.

But isn't your work spiritual?

I know doctors, lawyers, waiters and insurance brokers who are honestly and truly passionate about what they do. They view it as an art form, a calling, and an important (no, an essential) thing worth doing.

Too Much Snow

It was not a normal winter storm. I didn't believe it. Otherwise why would I do what I normally do?

Normally I shovel snow from the driveway into back of the pickup. This time it's too much snow.

READING Seth's Blog: The least I could do

We like more.  Because more is better. 

Seth's Blog: The least I could do.

One way to think about running a successful business is to figure out what the least you can do is, and do that. That's actually what they spent most of my time at business school teaching me.

No sense putting more on that pizza, sending more staff to that event, answering the phone in fewer rings... what's the point? No sense being kind, looking people in the eye, being open or welcoming or grateful. Doing the least acceptable amount is the way to maximize short term profit.

Of course, there's a different strategy, a crazy alternative that seems to work: do the most you can do instead of the least.

Radically overdeliver.

Turns out that this is a cheap and effective marketing technique.