Yesterday we did a historic thing. We generated 87,834 phone calls to U.S. Representatives in a concerted effort to protect the Internet. Extraordinary. There’s no doubt that we’ve been heard.
So just to keep you updated: The well-intentioned, but immensely flawed “Stop Online Piracy Act” is still in the House Judiciary Committee. The hearing was yesterday and now members will debate and bring amendments to the bill. The Committee will reconvene in a few weeks — the date has yet to be scheduled. Nothing has been brought to a final vote. Everything is still very much in play. We’ll keep you posted on what’s going on and what you can do to help. But for now, we want to thank you.
One encouraging thing we heard yesterday:
I don’t believe this bill has any chance on the House floor. I think it’s way too extreme, it infringes on too many areas that our leadership will know is simply too dangerous to do in its current form.
— Representative Darrell Issa
We also want to express our tremendous gratitude to our friends at Mobile Commons who, on 30 minutes notice, hooked us up with their amazing platform (and provided their expertise) to automatically connect callers with their Representatives.
In 1996, Göran Kropp rode a bicycle from his home in Sweden to Mount Everest, scaled it alone without oxygen tanks, and cycled back home.
“It is not the mountain we conquer,” wrote Edmund Hillary, “but ourselves.”
Wow
Unreal!
New Hero.
My friend Matt posted some old photos of his family, the Garcia family, (also Don’s family, coincidentally) in Texas back from the 50s on Google+. I liked this one.
A new (to me) iPhone toy. Decided to capture the sunset at the lake. I think this thing (it’s called diptic in the app store) could see some good use. I’ll try not to over use it though
Realized I hadn’t put up a picture of my finished bike. Here it is!
I got to shoot one of these a few weekends ago. I can still see the pictures that I took with it in my head but I am yet to see any of the pictures with my eyes. Looking forward to shooting something like this again in the future. For those unfamiliar with Medium Format
I’m more of a photographer than a writer.
That being said, there exists a place in the heart of the San Juan Mountains just outside of Durango Colorado that has captured a part of my heart. K-CO or Camp Kivu now has been a part of my summers for the better part of the last decade and I am finally going to try and put it to words as to why it captured my heart for so long.
For those who do not know, Camp Kivu is an outdoor sports/adventure camp that focuses on the adventurous activities like rock climbing, backpacking, and mountain biking. But the greatest purpose of Kivu is that the camp exists to create change in the lives of the high-school aged campers.
Change that is meant to reach deep into the hearts of the campers. Change that is meant to reach deep into culture. Change that affects the Kingdom of God. It is at Kivu that students can learn more about the Christian worldview and how to apply it to their daily lives.
But none of that is why this place has captured my heart. Sure it helps, but consider it icing on the cake. The main reason Kivu has stolen my heart is the people who work there.
Very few places get living in community right and Kivu is one of those places. What I mean by living in community is this: openly sharing and participating the lives of brothers and sister in Christ in a way that breaks all barriers and ultimately points towards the glory of God. Soli Deo Gloria. Thats the community at Kivu.
Never has this been more apparent than the summer of 2010. Going through change is hard, and its never been more true for Kivu. I know from my perspective that it was one of the toughest summers both mentally and spiritually. Unmet expectations are very difficult to remedy and this summer was almost all unmet or unfulfilled expectations. Nothing went the way I wanted it to go.
However, despite all the pain, this was the best summer I have ever experienced at Kivu. The reason is the community. People like Chase Moore, Nate Friend, Luke Parrott, and Andy Braner and many more are all shade in the desert of life, and they are also cool refreshing water in times of spiritual dryness.
The best part about this community is that it is not for the staff only. I can’t tell you how many campers develop this same type of community in the short time that they are at the camp. Its one of the greatest treasures of working at Kivu. Again, the main purpose is to see the lives deeply changed both in terms of how the students think, and how the students walk around their home town.
If you know of any high-school aged students that are wanting an adventure this summer, point them towards Camp Kivu and sign them up for a portion of the summer. The time spent at Kivu has had more impact in my life and others than I can even begin to fathom.
If you want to read more stories like mine, go visit Andy Braner’s blog and you can also click on the Camp Kivu tag in my post. I suggest it so that you can get a better understanding of what camp means to so many people.
I think I like Crested Butte. iPhone 3G + Pano + Tiltshiftgen.
I not only played the snot out of Star Fox and Star Fox 64, but also have watched The Fantastic Mr. Fox about a million times. Besides my great joy (Nintendo 64 kid kind of joy), my disappointment that this is not real is even greater…. oh well. One can dream. Thanks to Ryan Stout for sending this my way!
Beyond pumped to see a company like Teva putting out such positive and motivating material. The message definitely transcends action sports and begs for self reflection and acceptance…a very biblical principle.
Nice Teva!
Awesome.
