I need to get them under control (as I have been trying to do for the past month) and then will happily come back to a regular posting.

-Travis Taylor

I admitted have no sympathy for the vast majority of families “suffering” through the growing recession. Here is why:

To every debt ridden family with two kids and a brand new SUV, I say “You are idiots”.

To every quad-credit-card wielding shopaholic carrying a $2000 negative balance I say, “You are an idiot.”

To everyone in college graduating with a degree in something you aren’t passionate I say, “You are an idiot.”

To the 31% of Generation Y workers (born 1978 or later) who are saving for retirement in their 401k, I say “You Are Not Idiots”.

To everyone else in the United States who is spending more than they save I say, “You are idiots!”.

My mother said that we need to change the social structures that currently govern the way we live our lives. We need to protect people from themselves.

I agree to some extent. I believe that we need to teach high school students basic financial foundations. We need mandatory classes.

We need to stop being idiots.

Off the top of my head I believe all high school curricula need to include:

1. Online Banking and how to pay bills automatically
2. Savings accounts and choosing a bank
3. Why you need good credit and how to build it.
4. What a credit card should be used for.
5. How to balance a checkbook
6. How to file your tax returns
7. How to finance your college education.
8. 401 (k) and why you need to start planning for retirement now
9. A short history of the stock market
10. Defining basic terms, (ETF, IRA, Index Fund, Bonds, Mutual Fund, NASDAQ, S&P 500, Dow Jones…)
11. How to easily invest your money using the internet
12. How to avoid getting scammed
13. Mortgages. A brief summary.
14. Living beneath your means
15. Average salaries of different college majors
16. Job interviews and writing a resume
17. Making money online.
18. Entrepreneurship 101
19. Alternatives to College.

Each class would focus on a single issue and passing the class would be required for graduation.

The effective use of this kind of class could potentially require a mass reeducation of our school system. Most teachers are in no position to preach advice that they themselves do not understand. So the government, both Federal and State, need to step up and create a class curriculum.

Yes it is optimistic to imagine the possibility that a single course could be universally applied across the nation. But with the amount of money that our government loses to due to citizen dumbassery, I think the status quo is criminal.

If the school wants to continue to receive Federal funding, make the class obligatory.

The course needs to be idiot proofed. While there are many great teachers out there who would do a terrific job, there are far more teachers who are inadequate in the deepest sense of the word.

So give them a teaching package full of new and interesting content. The government could hire a ridiculously priced design firm and make it look sexy. Spend $5,000,00 a year making the class awesome.

Recruit top professors from around the country as consultants.

Set up focus groups, revise content and release a new package each year.

Create prizes and awards for student entrepreneurs. $100,000, national recognition, internships, free tuition at any school in the country, etc.

Show the students how they directly benefit from learning the information taught in the class and they will respond.

Make it pain free by making the grade based completely on attendance and participation.

Conclusion:

Almost everyone agrees that the American education system needs to change. There have been lots of ideas. Most have been unfeasible and/or stupid.

The government needs to step up and I believe that directly funding the creation of practical classes for teachers to use is a great way to initiate change. This system is nothing even close to a cure-all but it is something new and different that inspires new debate.

Coming next week:

Essential Common Knowledge For The Modern College Student

Best Books To Unstupify Yourself

Assorted Awesomeness

-Travis Taylor

8/12-

Baldi springs, cactus thorns being smeared in the chest and wrist, hanging with 3 adults and a kid and staring at varying degrees of semi-unattractive girls bathing in scalding volcano heated water

Taking the taxi who had no fuel gauge or seatbelts. Sirens in the middle of the night, sounds like a prison movie.

8/13-

Climbed Arenal, desperate fear of dysentery due to stomach pain, but was actually due to starvation and shitty coffee. Vultures are everywhere.

8/18-

Stuck in a traffic jam for 3 hours, due to double murder.

8/24-

On my own finally, in the boat going back from Tortuguero. Glorious feelings of happiness inspired by Britpop while passing down the thin channel, bordered on both sides by green.

8/25- Missed bus to Samara due to bad schedule, intense anger. Expected to show up with no one there waiting for me. Did show up with no one waiting. Found girl who lives ten minutes from Avon. Eventually into my own apartment.

8/26

I want to kill every rooster within a five mile radius. There is a menagerie outside of my window that begins at 3 in the morning, well before light even in the tropics. I am contemplating earplugs or making a lot of soup. Every ten minutes it seems like something is trying to hump or eat another creature, disregarding size, species, shape and color. Iguanas and monkeys, FTW.

No more dates. Thoughts become more scattered. Lo siento. I am far too lazy right now.

People met:

Henry- pharmacist who is creepy, gave Bram massage and free sleeping pills, calls Lawerence all the time, wants to open sex shop, cares about the monkeys and doing fruit surveys, kisses too close to the lips. Edit: Kisses girls too close the lips.

Drunk driver who pissed on his own door and nearly hit me twice

The town drunk who loved Erin. Lives in the bus stop, pocket ‘o guaro.

The quiet Rasta who brought home the Italian girl by looking bashful. Possibly a mute?

Crabs crawling around the shower, dogs in the bathroom.

Trash pile outside of Casa Amarillo. Ticas coming up to yell after I step in ant hill. Great pain.

Leo who supposedly killed a man and has 3 kids and sent love notes to Mary, stole Anya’s sandals

Alejandro the Colombian who was hit by a grenade. Sells jewelry. Looks like a guido.

What teacher is coming tomorrow = wet t shirt contest tomorrow

Andre the norwegian guy who yelled at the dance teacher about people being stiff and cold in norway, unable to dance

Bram and Holand has the best dikes. Double entendre!

Surfing in the pouring rain. Ocean connecting with the clouds.

The whistling language used by the ticos to talk about waves and girls.

The british language gap. Confusion.

The friends who trained for oktoberfest

Lance the killer dog and bram crashing into the tree

Cutting grass with Excalibur

Ernesto aka gigio, the crack dealer who dates mary and is living with me

The dogs that didn’t let me go home at 2 in the morning

Armadillo walking underneath my hammock.

Leena the german girl with the nose ring and the lies we told

Karma of broken glass pickup leading to new surfboard from German guy with faux-hawk

Not missing home and feeling bad for that reason

T.I. And Jet drinking songs

Renee the dutch vegeterian who didn’t believe in sunscreen and went to Colombia and became overwhelmed by the girls there.

Pablo seeing me naked

Barret watching porn in my house and Mary calling me out about it

Stepping on the poisonous animal and having my foot swell ridiculously. Surfing through the pain.

The striptease in Gondola with the drunk Julio for his bachelor party using my belt.

Trying to say cheers in swiss german but really saying titties

The Spanish guy who sang Ska-P

Meeting Tyler Donahue’s cousin Ali from Mass

Surfing at midnight

Katie, the married cornell grad who wants to open a laundry/coffee shop

Peter the dancing elementary school teacher who moved from California to surf, do coke and smoke pot

Feeling the earthquake tremors

Dropping the cookies in the mud, losing my sandal

Inner circle, the porn in the bar and surf videos

Kelly as superwoman and Erin as tinman, mary as dorothy, me as lion

Running into the new zealand and swiss girl on the streets of san jose

Meeting the norwegian girl Liv on the bus to the tranquilo hostel. Starting in Cali, bus to Costa Rica, fly to Ecuador, fly to Aregentina, to Easter Island, to New Zealand, to Australia to Norway.

Running into stephanie and leena again

Traveling with carlos and the girl goes to buenas aires with her sister, carrying carlos’ machete

The American girl who was “bilingual in three languages”

Getting a job on a yacht traveling around the Caribbean

Three thoughts from home:

How fucking indie I am alternating sips of black coffee and red wine, decked out in plaid and flannel

The crooning pleasure of icelandic rockers, ie Sigur ros

Mediocre jobs and pretending to care

Return

• The horse tripping over the dog and the very attractive girl falling onto the ground in front of me. All three being ok.
  

• Not able to get into the club because of the shoes/Roberto. Fucking asshole bouncer.
  

• The busride with Madleen, kindergarten teacher from Germany, the taxi ride going up hills at 100 km/hour, getting dinner, getting rejected by the fact that I don’t speak German
  
• The Swiss invasion
  
• “Viewer Discretion Advised” from an episode of House after taking my pants.
  

• Mary leaving
  
• Spencer’s fight WWE style
  
• Erin breaking my fin?
  
• Tanja, my new roommate from germany
  

• Marley the puppy, who pisses everywhere and can’t walk
  

• Kai, lawrence’s dog. Is he deaf?
  
• Walking to Barrigona 10km with one sandel / all the way back. Pain
  

• Carlolina, the hippygirl from finland who loves to dance and makes you feel alive
  
• Jimmy the pimp
  
• Random people coming up to the house to sell things
  

• Finding out that Donald’s friend was trying to pick me up when he bought me the beer in the bar
  

• The guy who tried to pick a fight with me four times. Fucker, I don’t even know your name.
  
• The Lebanon brothers, including the human rights lawyer. Owning at table soccer.
  

• Marley dying
  
• Not hooking up with the Uvol girl that wanted. Awkwardness.
  

• The deliciousness of frito, pig head dish
  

• Brittney’s fake boobs, openness
  
• Emily and Lucas and the screwed up relationship that they share
  

• Coast guard guy who is wined and dined by port authority. My tax dollars?
  

• Fisherman in language school who drove his motorcycle down from Alaska / likes whores
  

• Bismark, the dreaded bee killer with the can of smoke and off bugspray
  

• Sea turtle in izquierda that scared the shit out of me
  

• The guy from the bank who was shot through the stomach, had the cousin kill himself afterwards
  

• Kelie’s mom being drunk and winning money on the giants in the superbowl
  

• The canadian guys who stayed in their bosses house, said eh and acted cannock
  

• Lauren’s love of terrible salsa dancing
  
• Kai getting run over, only having one mildly fractured leg
  

• The guy in the bar who grabbed my throat and wanted to fight
  

• Lucas, getting played by Emily
  
• Chris the swedish guy getting played by Molly
  

• Smashing the grahm crackers with a beer bottle, making cheese cake with Tanja, listening to hanson and being happy to be in Costa Rica
  

• Maria the hot girl that I talked to while sober from the massage school. We did not communicate well
  
• Going to the waterfall, having my ass hurt in the car, jumping/sliding off the top
  

• Maddie- blonde massage girl from sun valley.
  
• Lisa, the massage girl from windsor who works at pine grove school
  

• The colombians and ticos huge fight in front of tutti/gondola
  

• Being wasted, falling off my bike, lying on the road, puking, falling asleep outside
  

• Mel Gibson’s beach. (My favorite one, Barrigona)
  
• Killing the bees (100), the swarm that stopped lawrence from leaving (5000)
  

• The party at Tim’s house, the scandanavian invasion, lawrence and his swedish girl
  

• Gerald wanting to fight me, his cousin holding him back
  

• Molly and ricardo, emily and lucas, Brittney and jay. Love is in the air.
  

• Running into Ricky, my driver from monteverde on the beach
  

• Playing terrible pool with Chris
  

• Volleyball with Larry, Tanja, and Erin. Thursday night volley in general.
  

• Tico time and how nothing gets done in Costa Rica
  
• Tanja’s pet squirrel. Named Travis.
  
• Business. Working 13 hours/day, 5 days a week. Ridiculous.
  

You may know Avon from the Super Sweet Sixteen Party of Bjorn, the unambiguously gay African American.

But today I write not on the clichéd subject of wealthy African-American opulence and confused sexuality, but a matter far more pressing.

I write about a battle of good versus evil that is as old as the universe itself.

I write about a day in June when all hell broke loose in my High School.

You can see the chaos unleashed upon the unsuspecting denizens below.

Explanation at bottom.

The Sith Gather (I am the one with the blue sword…)

The Jedi Charge

Now that you have no doubt shat yourself from the awesomeness that you just witnessed, feel free to reenact similar epic battles around the nation and wider world.

This battle arose from the three year gaping void that was a suitable Senior prank. The year before an idiot (Andy St. Onge if anyone was still wondering) and his friends cut down the large tree that was in the center of green where everyone sat during lunch.

Credit for the epic battle goes to Mike Wilson. The whole thing was organized on facebook. At 11 AM we all sort of worked our way into the lobby, with the Sith Gathering on one side and the Jedi on the other.

Not a single plastic light saber could be found within a 30 mile radius.

The lobby gathering took about 15 minutes and drew the attention of the passing teachers and administrators who watched nervously from the edges.

Then came the Star Wars theme song blasting in shitty monotone. And we charged.

The pictures are almost all from the central lobby of my school, but the battle quickly progressed throughout the hallways. The stampede of multi-colored swinging death sticks worked is way through the upper and lower hallways.

At no point did teachers try to stop us and even more amazingly no one lost an eye/hand.

Around 15 minutes later, we returned for one final stand in the lobby before returning to our classes and boring lives.

Thus is suburbia.

However, for the overwhelming majority of students, college will not provide financial freedom.

Everyone from janitors to doctors become trapped in a cycle of mortgages, credit card debt and general consumer suckage.

Imagine if the parents and their child decided to do something different.

Instead of putting their money towards college tuition, they decide to invest it in the stock market. Below I will run through two possible scenarios.

Let me assume a few things.

• The parents do not qualify for financial aid.
  
• Their children are mediocre and do not receive scholarships.
  
• They choose a private university costing approximately $50,000 / year.
  
• The money is invested into a stable growth index fund that returns an average of 7%
  
• All earning figures below are pre-tax
  

Now for the interesting part:

Growth of the Parental “College Account”

Freshman Year = $50,000 * 1.07=$53,500.00

Sophomore Year = 50,000+53,500.00=103,500

103,500*1.07=110,745

Junior Year = 50,000+110,745=160,745

160,745*1.07=171,997.15

Senior Year = 50,000 +171,997.15=221,997.15

221,997.15*1.07=237,536.9505

At this point assume they would have graduated. They have a net worth of at least $237,536.95.

Imagine the kid works a crap job for $8/hour * 40 hours/week * 50 weeks= $16,000 / year…

Pittances. However, that kid is living at home, all expenses paid. They can save, burn or do whatever the hell the want with their money and suffer no consequence.

I would prescribe six months work, six months travel as a way to grow personality and maturity. It is possible to live at a very nice standard of living for $8,000 in many parts of the world (Thailand, Costa Rica, Peru, Mexico all jump out to me as possibilities).

Year 1 = 237,536.9505 *1.07=254,164.537

Year 2 = 2 254,164.537*1.07=271,956.0546

Year 3 =271,956.0546 * 1.07=290,992.9784

Year 4 =290,992.9784 * 1.07=311,362.4869

Year 5 =311,362.4869 * 1.07=333,157.861

At age 27 the child is earning $22,000 on the interest from the parent’s “college” investment and they have $333,157.861 in the bank. They are entirely debt free and probably are now making $16 an hour thanks to promotions and at least minimal effort, bringing home $32,000 yearly. They would have moved out, have some roommates and be enjoying existence and irresponsible adulthood.

At age 32 they decide they want to get married. Their spouse is college educated and $50,000 / year. They continue their middle class lives happily. They have kids, move to the suburbs and three years later enjoy one another’s presence around 50% of the time. A pre-nup would be wise.

When the non-student turns 45, they will be sitting on $1,000,000 and earning more from interest than the combined salaries.

At this point the happy couple can with the same standard of living without working another day in their lives.

Let’s assume that they don’t withdraw money or invest any more money, but continue to work and live off their household salaries. When they die at age 88, they will be worth $19,218,593.50.

Now let’s assume that same mediocre kid wasn’t mediocre, but hardworking and innovative

Assume this child is not mediocre. Assume they hold above average intelligence and more importantly, a drive to succeed in life.

Rather than working for full time for McDonald’s, they work part time and spend 25 hours a week learning css, html and more importantly Ruby/ RoR and php/etc. He networks online and snags a job with an internet startup. He works the next two years at $10/hour and emerges with a skill that pays an average of $30/hour doing freelance work.

He then travels for a year around Latin America, doing freelance work from internet cafes to pay for the $10 hotels and $3 meals. They learn Spanish and build a resume.

Upon returning to the states they get a job with a larger company. They earn $55,000 a year and live well below their means.

They are 21 years old and if the start putting $5,000 a year into their account they will be worth $1,771,753.20 at age 45.

Or imagine they save $10,000 a year and reinvest into something that holds higher risk for larger gain.

Let’s say that while traveling he picked up on the incredible growth in the Latin American real estate market and bought land in Costa Rica.

Two examples of Costa Rican real estate from my real life:

Buy for $30,000. Sell five years later for $280,000. Location: La fortuna

Buy: $8,000. Sell three years later for $75,000. Location: Tamarindo

These rates are not extraordinary. Although it would be ridiculous to buy into these areas now, there are other areas that will be experiencing the same growth a few years down the road.

The Osa Peninsula was just approved for an international airport and I hear that a marina is in the talks.

Beachfront property is absurdly cheap. There is seriously no way that someone can lose money buying land down there as long as they are willing to wait six months.

If anyone is interested in setting buying land with me, send me an email. Seriously.

Let’s say he invested $50,000 in five places over ten years. I would expect him to make at least a 500% profit on each one of his purchases. If not, he just sits on his holdings for a few more years, then sells.

Startup:

Instead of real estate market imagine they split their investment across a number of internet startups.

Remember this kid worked for three years in this sector. He has a decent understanding of what makes and breaks a company.

Start-up Math:

Let’s say that they invest $2,000 in five startups each year.

Two go bankrupt, two get bought-out three years later and one becomes decently big and remains independent after five years.

Let’s say they make approximately 300% profit on the two that were bought out and 1500% on the one that got big after five years.

He made $12,000 on the two that were bought and he chooses to hold the stock on the one that is growing still.

^Above figures probably are grossly optimistic. Indulge me.

He does this for 15 years. He is intelligent and invests more money in the companies that are growing while constantly seeding money into those that are still growing. He makes a shit ton of money.

Between the internet startups and real estate, he will have a diversified portfolio worth many, many times his initial investments.

And we can’t forget college fund, which also will be worth the same $1,000,000 at age 45, assuming he put all his money into startups and real estate.

Could It Work?

As long as the kid didn’t withdraw the $200,000 when they turn 22 and blow it on idiotic liabilities, I don’t see why it couldn’t.

Since this would no doubt happen 95% of the time, legal formalities would be required. Let’s say that at age 32 the child has complete access to the account.

Concluding Thoughts:

To those parents sending their kids off to school, think a little bit more about what you are getting for your money. If your child is an idiot, they will remain an idiot in school and will no doubt waste your money.

Make them pay for school or get some work experience before attending. They will grow up and possibly discover something to be passionate about.

Or not and they will live a life of mediocrity. Blame your bad parenting and genetics if that happens.

Remember that college is not for everyone. If your daughter simply wants to get married and become a mother at age 28, do not waste your money on an education that will serve no greater purpose than cocktail hour.

To those with intelligent kids, the same rules apply. Do not let the system squander talent on worthless classes and professors who waddle around pontificating with a giant white tower shoved up their collective asses.

Let your kid explore. If they don’t come back, it would have been a waste of money anyways.

-Travis Taylor

I am not overly optimistic about my chances of receiving money. I did not provide enough supporting documents and currently am the only one working on the project.

The name Eoperio comes from two Latin words: Eo- To Go and Aperio- To Reveal

Describe your project:

Eoperio will be an online community where college students from Mexico, Costa Rica and the United States can publish articles about the effects of CAFTA and NAFTA on their communities. There are many sites devoted towards news release through user submission and many more related to raising awareness about every imaginable issue, but there is a notable absence of youth journalism communities. Eoperio’s emphasis will be on interviews with farmers, community leaders, employees, employers in the industries that are being affected by the free trade agreements. This site will build the voice and strength of youth leaders in each country and will connect youth and the wider world with knowledge about the current trade policies and how they directly impact individual and community life. In addition to this, the site will be feature a user created and maintained database of major news and research articles related to the free trade agreements. Edits and comments will be tracked and optional views will show an interactive history changes through font colors, mashups and a timeline.

The environment of the site will be focused on understanding both the gains and losses that NAFTA has created in the lives of Mexicans and to understand how CAFTA is affecting Costa Rica through each step of its ratification and implementation. However it will not only be a place for Mexicans and Costa Ricans to have their problems heard by students from the United States, It will be a place to find out what is and is not working on a local level and give youth a pedestal to voice their own ideas about how to facilitate mutual economic growth and connect them with public and political avenues to change policy. This will be accomplished locally through an active online community and globally through an automated system that publishes each article to social news networks, a database of advocacy websites and emails politicians. Together these things will help to educate the larger population and incite them to participate in an effort for intelligent change.

Rather than just isolated personal accounts and studies, all of the content will be connected through an interactive tagging system where issues are grouped together based on categories. The tagging will provide a basis of organization for visitors to navigate through the database of past articles and also bring a customized news page to registered users with identified interests through AJAX.

Who would want to use it, and why?

The site will exist for youth who have an interest in any of the huge range of issues that CAFTA and NAFTA effect including: Economics, Environmental Studies, Journalism, Political Science, Law and Spanish. These treaties have incredible influence upon the economic futures of Latin-American youth. When this is combined with lack of information about CAFTA in the United States and the lingering confusion about what NAFTA actually accomplished, many people will join to share their own and their community’s feelings and experiences. Contributing articles and comments will be a streamlined process and the effect of each piece will be tracked. An open system with both a real-world and computerized “SDK” and API will allow journalists to understand both Eoperio’s goals and how to achieve them, in addition to creating a structure that will easily allow the evolution of site function.

The site will move youth participants past the simple wall posts and photo-tags of Facebook and instead focus on intellectual discussion, contact building, and future employment. Each person will have a profile page with a recorded history of their article submissions, comments and posts. Rather than having people dread the thought of a possible employer finding their page, it should read like a resume and chronicle of both intellectual curiosity and journalistic ability. This will build an interactive and growing community, interlinking all participants in an intellectual and social networking process.

Outside of intellectual curiosity, an additional incentive to invest the time to create and post articles will be cash bounties. For example, $100 will be awarded to someone from Costa Rica who does an interview with a telecommunications associate and the effect that they think CAFTA will have on their business. However if the article is poorly written or fails to achieve an appropriate user response, the bounty will not be given until the writer takes time to communicate with other writers and edit their work into something improved. While ideas may gain popularity on their merit alone, money is an almost guaranteed catalyst for motivation and participation.

Why are you the best person or organization to develop this project?

While the site will attract student journalists, they must first be aware of its existence. I already am working in Costa Rica and have contacts the University of San Jose through friends in the city.

My current work in Costa Rica is with an international volunteer placement called Volunteer Visions doing online marketing. Half of my job is to monitor the different trends of Web 2.0 and the elements that will differentiate a successful website from a failure. The other half of every day is spent on social network sites around the world talking to college-age students from around the world about why they should volunteer. There is an inspiring level of interest in directly making the world a better place, but what is often lost in the project is mutual growth. Instead of a single person paying to teach for two weeks in the beautiful beach town of Samara where I work, I want to promote international dialogue that emphasizes policy change over short-term solutions. Globalization is a product of multiple forces over decades of commerce exchange. The internet is the greatest tool for equalizing knowledge disparities and increasing opportunities for equalizing access to markets. I am firmly committed to the idea of a public that is educated about the true effects of policy. There are both injustices that are going unnoticed and misunderstanding about what true free trade actually means I believe that a cohesive network of first-hand accounts and economic studies will be the best way to directly inform the citizens of each country and eventually led to intelligent policy change. Building a world-wide network of involved, energized and interconnected youth exemplifies our growing global interdependence.

5. What potentially bigger thing might happen if everything went perfectly and the stars all aligned? * (2075 characters maximum, approximately 325 words)

The project will begin in The University of Costa Rica, The University of Hidalgo in Mexico and the tri-college consortium of Swarthmore-Haverford-Bryn Mawr. These campuses can be thought of the alpha-test of Eoperio. Expansion will begin by incorporating other Universities in the initial three countries depending on the amount of interest generated and success of the starting community. The project will then be opened to students in the other countries affected by CAFTA: El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. In the first levels of growth journalism will be limited to NAFTA and CAFTA, but will later embrace other unrepresented issues that matter in local life. Expansion will not be a free-for-all of individual interest, but a communal decision of where to focus next.

The growth and evolution of site contributors will remain limited to college students. Although the majority of the world does not fit into this demographic, I do not want to lose the youth appeal that comes with having a place of their own. However, mentoring will be encouraged from the beginning of the site for journalists who want to give advice to the aspiring, but as time goes on, the advice will be consolidated into an open-source handbook (”SDK”) that anyone can add to (a smaller version of the handbook will be available from the very beginning).

While the focus of the site is developing news that holds journalistic credibility, that news holds information about the effects of international policy that might not be generally known. I hope that the articles spur further research into what is and is not working from independent and governmental researchers. Ultimately, the journalists will move past writing for money, resumes and themselves. Instead they will work because they are invested in the ideal of what they are doing and the foreign friendships that they develop.

6. How will you be able to measure whether or not your project has really made a difference? * (2075 characters maximum, approximately 325 words)

The purpose of the site is to educate with the intent to reform policy. Success depends upon a multitude of factors, including:

1. The number of registered journalists
   
2. The number of articles submitted
   
3. The number of mentors who step up to help develop journalistic ability
   
4. The number of visitors each week
   
5. The number of comments and amount of reader participation
   
6. The number of inlinks to the site
   
7. The number partnerships with other citizen news sites
   
8. The amount of outside press that Eoperio receives
   

The size of the contributing community is important, but so is the visitor who only reads a single article. Tracking progress in the digital world can be difficult. Articles on most social news sites (like Digg and Reddit) receive hundreds of thousands of hits from users who do not have a registered profile. Tracking these users and making them interactive in discussion will be a defining aspect of Eoperio.

Initial success depends upon developing a well designed website and created a small dedicated community. While a certain level of web-buzz will exist before the site is up and running, true success begins when the many ideas are turned from theory to reality and content actually being produced. This means that success depends upon creating a community. Community building begins with a few dedicated members, the so called “thunderlizards” who will spread Eoperio’s name, sing its praises and get their friends involved. The more thunderlizards, the greater the site success.

Amidst all the marketing and evangelizing, we must remember that the goal of the site is not to just draw readers, but to create a constantly expanding interpretation of CAFTA and NAFTA. Success depends upon that collaboration coming to fruition.

7. What unmet need does your proposal answer? * (2075 characters maximum, approximately 325 words)

Many citizen journalism sites already exist, but their focus is either too broad or narrow for what Eoperio aims to do. The model for Eoperio will follow Assignment Zero, where the journalism was woven into a cohesive tapestry, rather than Now Public’s example where the posts are based upon whatever news the contributor may have stumbled across. It is the difference between organized communities based upon common inspiration versus an individual’s momentary reaction. While both immediate reaction and planned analysis are important aspects of news, they occupy separate spheres of reporting.

Eoperio is unique in the way that it will isolate a single issue for college students to report. It is part of a niche market that moves past the sensationalism and attention deficit tendencies of existing social news sites. The equivalent is channel-surfing is running rampant across the web, where a single opinionated article becomes the basis of authority on a double-sided issue. Eoperio will add another level of credibility and organization to the internet.

The rising generation of college students are paving new ground in how to protest political and social issues. Gone are the days of the thousand-strong marches across campus that verge on open rebellion and chaos. We are the internet generation, click-activists who attempt to change the world from computer groups and Facebook groups. However, few youth leaders have emerged on a national level to direct the anger and passion of a generation. The world needs new leaders and even if Eoperio doesn’t directly create change, it will create a network of individuals experienced in modern art of communication and collaboration. We need distinct voices and genuine personalities, the kind that reach the front page of Digg and leave traditional media outlets in the dust. The world needs new globally-linked communities that are able to maintain interest and attention on singular important issues.

8. What specific, unique opportunity do you see that will make this project more successful than others trying to fill that general need? * (2075 characters maximum, approximately 325 words)

My project is unique. Few are trying to chronicle the effects of the recently passed CAFTA as the policy changes go into practice over the next few years. There are few youth communities focused on journalism. Eoperio will emerge as a bridge between these two realities. Eoperio will incorporate both the emerging kinds of technology-driven journalism and face to face communication.

Eoperio is designed to fit college student’s busy and social lives. By expanding the project campus by campus, participants will be able to work on stories with people they already know, in addition to strangers from thousands of miles away. While there are an increasing number of public commentaries about the amount of computer time college students spend online, most of their extra-curricular activities occur in the physical world. Following the model of Amnesty-International, Eoperio clubs and groups could have meetings to debate, discuss and collaborate on how to bring change where it is needed. Video-conferencing between the three campuses is a single example of what modern technology could make possible.

Creating a strong presence on-campus presence for Eoperio will be both a student and Professor driven endeavor. Professors in fields related to Spanish, Journalism and Economics can foster development by easily combining required students assignments into the Eoperio framework. Simplifying the already busy lives of students will increase the number of participants and carry discussion from internet chat to lecture-hall.

The youth of today are witnesses to a revolution of politics, news, discussion and activism. We are the internet generation and like all youth, are optimistic, idealistic and searching to make our mark upon the world. Unlike past generations, we do not have a revolution, a war, a wider sense of focused purpose. The world today needs more places that merge real-life tangible results and productivity with online community where opinions and ideas can be shared. Eoperio could be one such place.

9. How will people learn about what you are doing? * (2075 characters maximum, approximately 325 words)

The internet will be the main medium of advertisement, but will be coupled to in-person meetings and talks to traditional media venues. Online publicity will be focused on developing an interacting reader base and laying the groundwork for future expansion, but the college student participants will be recruited in person. This is necessary due to the limited scope of the initial project and the fact that it is easier to get excited about something when you can see the face of the person telling you about it. Direct recruitment will be fostered through professors, volunteers and myself.

I will send out personalized emails to attendees of the Networked News Summit telling them about Eoperio, asking them for their advice and to blog about the project. By talking with the developers already working at the edge of networked journalism, I will integrate myself into a community that has a deep inside perspective of contemporary journalism and links to report upcoming sites to the world.

The wider blogosphere is continuously expanding and I will focus on developing relationships with the blogs that are connected with international relations, social networking, journalism, and economics. A small group of dedicated participants raising awareness and voting up articles through social networking sites can reach an audience of millions within a few hours and it is not overly ambitious to imagine a few hundred thousand people coming to find out more information about the project. Paid advertising will also be explored through Google and Yahoo Adwords, but unless the viewers have a high conversion rate to publishing contributors, this service will be dropped.

I will create a blog, evangelize and chronicle each step of the web design and project process, allowing others to make suggestions and recommendations about what should be included in the site and how to best go about creating it. The key to success and expansion will be maintaining these connections and keeping discussion alive even after Eoperio launches.

10. Do you have any other funding or investment? We’re interested in knowing who else is interested in your project. * (2075 characters maximum, approximately 325 words)

I have not looked for other funding for the project at this time. If I receive funding for Eoperio from News Challenge, I will begin to explore the possibility of other funders. Ideally future funders will be connected to youth markets or governmental organizations and aid in the expansion and influence of Eoperio, but I would like to secure funding from at least one source approaching others. If Eoperio shows developmental potential, I will approach a wide range of companies, from Google.org to MTV looking for funding to expand.

11. Are you working with anyone else to complete this project? If so, please give names and what they would do? * (2075 characters maximum, approximately 325 words)

The project will primarily be a product of the Eoperio community, but a few of my personal contacts will aid in the development. Perhaps the most influential person will be Greg Norris, a Harvard professor and energy life-cycle assessment consultant whose work has connected him with influential people around the world who are looking to create positive change. Greg was the one who suggested that I submit a proposal through News Challenge and has connected me with people in Veracruz, Mexico and the University of Hidalgo. He is also trying to secure funding to expand his New Earth initiative. Regardless of whether both, either, or neither of us are successful, we will continue to collaborate.

I also have an internship with Volunteer Visions, an international volunteer placement agency with projects in nine different countries. Their headquarters (and my office) are in Cost Rica and I have talked to the director about the possibility of opening a volunteer program for students from the United States. The programs would be offered in both Mexico and Costa Rica and Volunteer Visions would arrange from homestays and food for the participants who want to work within the local communities doing interviews and research into issues. Volunteering abroad with journalism would be both a strong addition to a resume and a chance to meet friends made through Eoperio in person.

12. Who else is working in this area? How does your work fit into the larger context of work in this area? * (2075 characters maximum, approximately 325 words)

The guest list of the recently held CUNY Conference on Networked Journalism makes it clear that there are a growing number of citizen journalism sites, bearing names like The Northwest Voice, NewAssignment.Net, Assignment Zero: Myheimat.de, and Orato. The focus ranges from hyperlocal news in Texas to videoblogs on Presidential campaigns. Some are open-source, others are networked, some support stand-alone journalism of single contributors and others that are comment based collaborations.

I do not see these as competition. For example, I don’t believe that Brian Conley’s Small World News has a market advantage over what I want to do. His focus in Baghdad and Mexico is with video blogging, sharing content taken by those who live in each place. In his own words he is looking to use local content to have a global impact. I will work with the Conley’s of the world. They will not be partnerships for publicities sake, just to say you have other connections in the field. They will be mutually beneficial relationships that have defined objectives and a plan to achieve them. Today the world market of technology driven journalism is new and open and I am not alone when I say electronic synergy between projects is an admirable aspiration.

13. What do you guarantee will happen if you complete the activities in this proposal? * (2075 characters maximum, approximately 325 words)

I can guarantee that at least a microcosm of the modern world will be more informed about both sides of free trade agreements and the governmental politics that regulate them. I will have provided an easy platform for those who want their voices heard, a platform that is founded in a clearly defined model, where each person understands their place in the process and what their contribution brings to the larger picture.

Eoperio has a simple mission. It will create a credible story from both the emotional and concrete reports of Latin American development. It will be adaptive to the constructive criticism of the participants. The produced content will be collaborative, open-source and founded in a clearly defined model, where each person understands their place in the process and what their contribution brings to the larger picture. The community will be built on a platform of open-information, collective intelligence, emerging technological trends and global communication.

Lawmakers are finally beginning to understand the power that the internet could have in their campaigns and future. Pay-per-click campaigns, YouTube Debates, social networking profiles, blogs, and online donations are now seen as valuable marketing tools to be capitalized on. However, they need to learn that the internet is more than just another market. Politicians have to learn that when 100,000 young adults join a group on Facebook protesting an issue, it means something. Regardless of how successful Eoperio becomes, it will create a model that bridges the gap between real life action and online activism that can be referenced by others hoping to inform the world.

-Travis Taylor

For those who haven’t created a campaign here are the steps required:

1. Choose whether the ad will send users to
2. Select demographic. Select by Country, Age, Gender, Relationship Status, Interests, Workplace, University
3. Create ad
4. Select daily budget and enter payment information
5. Receive Clicks

Very straightforward, right?

Yes, but at the same time…

My Problems with Facebook Ads:

1. You can’t see the demographics of who clicked on your ad
2. Only one person can manage a campaign at a time
3. You can’t edit the ad once it is created
4. Navigation that makes you want to kick Zuckerburg in the face
5. You can’t delete your credit card number without adding another
6. All the text runs together in the ad/ you can’t cap all letters in the sentence
7. You can’t narrow down to a smaller audience by adding more targeting terms.

1. You Can’t See the Demographics of Who Clicked On Your Ad
   

Mark Zuckerberg has crippled the strongest feature that Facebook has to offer, the demographics of its users.

The intent of the ads is to keep Facebook users inside Facebook. The demographics are available, but only for Facebook Pages that you could presumably advertising for…

How it could be improved:

Being able to refine a search based upon what part of the target audience is clicking through like a perfectly logical feature. It doesn’t reveal any private information but would turn Facebook from a PPC-for-idiots to one of the most direct and powerful advertising tools available.

2. Only One Person Can Manage The Ad at a TimeThis cripples the entire possibility of people marketing themselves as “Facebook Ad Experts” by not allowing more than one person to access the credit card to run the campaign. Yes it is incredible easy to set up an ad, but what if you want to run 10 ads simultaneously and do a series of A-B splits?Suddenly Facebook requires a bit more work.

3. You Can’t Delete Your Credit Card Information

Unless you want to wipe all your information from the Facebook servers, it looks like Facebook will control your credit card information till you grow old and incontinent.

1. You Can’t Edit the Ad Once It is Created
   Only a “similar ad”…I am not going to dignify this design flaw with a response.
2. Non-intuitive Design Suckage
   You have to click multiple times before you are unable to edit your ad and see more detailed results. Why can’t we just have buttons leading directly to each page? There is enough room on the bottom of the menu…
3. Limitations on Ad Design
   Yes, I can understand why Facebook wants to avoid linking to sites that open with popups or ads that have provocative images.But seriously, what is the difference between “I Love Hayden Panettiere” and “I love Hayden Panettiere”?This message:
4. Narrowing Down The Audience Suppose I want to target:                                                         However when I add another search definition I get this:

   I want to target only those girls interested in both acting and dolphins! That demographic is much more likely to respond to my advertising, why do you insist on broadening my niche targeting abilities Facebook?

   In conclusion:
   

   Hayden, I think we would be good for each other. I save baby sea turtles, surf and can cook Indian food.

   If you find this article, please contact me.

   

There are currently 24,006,400 people currently on Facebook in the United States. This is 8 times the entire population of Ireland or 1/43^rd the population of China.

This was my first search. 260 girls between the ages of 13 and 16 like to play beer pong.

Frankly, I find this disturbing.

As a public service I believe that the government should use Facebook to advertise:

Not that unexpected. People are open and I am cool with that. Maybe by clicking sex on their interests they will find someone else they can casually exchange fluids with.

I know for a fact that is number is a blatant lie. More accurate representation:

At this point I started to get carried away:

Coincidence that 840 men like dressing up and 840 married people like porn? I think not.

Clearly they are very confident in their conservatism.

I then performed a doomsday search:

OMFG. If only there was a way to remove a person’s ability to have children via the internet…

More specific search results:

Nothing surprising there, except for the idiocy of the liberals.

Interesting:

Create your own Facebook ads: http://www.facebook.com/ads/

-Travis  Taylor

Money not bring happiness? This news should not be shocking. Studies on happiness have shown this for decades and journalism pieces like this recent one from Newsweek have spread the data tables and relatively unbiased observations into exciting news articles and social critiques. The reader is often walked through a commentary that raises questions about how reality and public perception could be so estranged and concludes with a scientifically verified and feel-good report that relationships are far more important than bank accounts.

What these articles do not address is the reason that people place such importance on money. The answer, like the answer to so many other questions of human nature lies in our genes, in biological needs and evolutionary past. In current society, money is equated with status and the pursuit of status is a commonality across all human cultures and mammalian world. This inherent need to maintain a competitive edge has lead to an economic arms race that is focused solely on increasing social status.

The drive for status in both animals and humans lies in the pursuit of attracting mates and reproduction. In nature, the core requirements for survival are food and water. The animal with the highest status was the one who could successfully provide for themselves, their family or their mates. Today someone of middle-class can support a family, the equivalent of a savannah Zebra with water access and plenty of water. The difference between a satisfied zebra and human lies in brain complexity that allows people to focus on what their neighbor has and they don’t for extended periods of time. Added money brings people status, but no equivalent boost in reproductive success.

The importance of money and its correlation to status is not a recent Western invention. All the cultures of the world have some way of representing status, whether that means having the most Cowry shells, the biggest house, or the greatest number of wives. In recent years the cultural values of the world have shifted from what had evolved locally to a global standard modeled after the United States where wealth reins kings.

Given the current rates of growth in the Chinese economy, the 1.3 billion residents will be as rich as the United States by 2031. They are headed the way of Japan where between 1973 and 2001 there was a fourfold increase in real income, but absolutely no change in personal satisfaction. The United States is a part of the developed or industrialized world, which consists of about 57 countries with a combined population of about 1 billion, less than one sixth of the world’s population. In contrast, approximately 5.1 billion people live in the developing world, which includes 125 low and middle-income countries where the vast majority of people have less access to not only consumer goods, but basic necessities and services that people in high-income countries enjoy. This is rapidly changing and now economic growth has become a goal upon itself in many areas where only 20 years ago subsistence level farming was the main economy.

Scientific explanations for the origins of human relationships say nothing about whether they are the “only” possibility. Even though humans are programmed towards a certain behavioral traits they also have free will and self-awareness, the same awareness that draws attention to the neighbors new Mercedes. While it is not possible to change biological nature, it is possible to create a cultural shift around what defines status. The world cannot support a 21^st century where billions transition from abject poverty into personal cars and public malls. Luckily the move for social evolution is already here.

In Europe, economic growth is much focused on increasing wages and the quality of social system over pure profits. The concept of volunteering with third-world communities to develop local sustainability and long-term planning is growing. The world’s richest two men have turned their fortunes over to a fund, setting an example that is waiting for the third, fourth and fifth to join. We must talk about these emerging leaders as trend-setters rather than exceptions to be applauded.

Perhaps our situation is best described through another product of natural selection, the male peacock, which attracts mates with its luxuriant and colorful tail. The positive correlation between tail size and mating success has resulted in males with disturbingly large tails being favored and reproducing at faster rates than males with smaller tails. Over time this weeds the smaller tailed males from the gene pool, leaving only the well-endowed. However, the males with the biggest tails are now so encumbered by their “asset” that they can no longer escape predators, even though they get the most attention.

Let’s not be peacocks.

-Travis Taylor