Of cold quiches, bad jobs and the feeling to be in the wrong movie every day. This post contains strong language, swearing and stuff like it, if you do not agree on reading such things abandon all hope or leave this post now. I am not responsible for any damages caused to your brain cells if you read on…

We all know the saying: ‘When life gives you lemons make lemonade.’ Well in my case I can open a fucking lemonade shop.

I’m just lucky that I can resort to general sarcasm and bitchiness, otherwise I would have thrown in the towel long ago.

It never is one big thing that goes wrong, it is a thousand small things and sometimes you get the feeling you will not see the end of the tunnel. Of course there are 100 wisdom quotes that teach you to be humble, thankful and positive… Well to tell you the truth I feel like showing my teeth and growl.

So here it goes.

We all have jobs, (or not of course and the ones who do not will now say shut up and be thankful, well as I said earlier I do not feel like it…) but I must have picked the wrong door, gotten up with the wrong foot and made the god of all jobs real angry, because my job is…. let’s call it…. special.

Not what I do, more everything that comes with it. first I have to explain that I always loved working and still do, just… not there. From the mental issues of some people to the nonexistent ability to see beyond their own horizon, it was a very tiring year for me and some of my coworkers… and as a thanks we got cold quiches, chips and a beer. We worked our asses off and that is all we get? We are overworked and underpaid and still we all try to give our best.

After biting into the second cold quiche that said night and realizing that I will need a great dinner with a good friend after this ‘event’ or my evening and weekend will be ruined for time immemorial, I decided that it is just not worth it. So in my head I hummed the song: tiiiime toooo sayyyyy gooodbye. Enough is enough.

But of course life would not be life if that is all… right?

About 2 months back I realized that my son suddenly got problems with his teeth and as a good mom I scheduled an appointment with a dentist. So far so good…

It turned from an appointment to a dentist odysseys since then… the first dentist refuses to treat children because he has no laughing gas and does not want to traumatize children for the rest of their lives… Woooah! What? So I guess the stories of strapped down screaming kids are really true… What did I learn? dentists evolved from bugbears to responsible doctors. fine.

I get sent to a dentist that treats only children. Great. I get there and ask for an appointment. After some back and forth and the lady behind the desk being very difficult I get an appointment for the next day. the next day comes and I realize that the dentists do not scare children anymore but certainly do not stop to scare moms. After they made 4 X-rays of my sons teeth they told me they will check if he is ok with the laughing gas.

Whilst the dentists (Oh yes… dentists… one dentist, one dentist in training and one who was there to see how they work in Switzerland, although I’m not sure she got what she wanted… or maybe she got what she deserved… who knows… ) gave my son laughing gas for 25 minutes (!!) for no other reason than to test if he was OK with the gas. I tried to pick their brains to find out what happened to my sons teeth in the last 4 to 6 months. I already knew… the first dentist told me, he has weak enamel and that there was not much I could do. Bad luck she said and looked at me with pity…

Now the other 3 dentists had to say tons… firstly the dentist who first checked my son must have been blind, because these guys here said he must have had these holes since he is 2 years old.. (I was stupid enough to tell them that at that age it was difficult to brush his teeth sometimes) How the other dentist did not see them twice, once when my son was 3 and once when my son was 4 totally escapes me but never mind. And of course what did it totally is that I did only put that yuck Elmex gel once every month and not every week! They looked at me as if I have committed a crime. My objection that I grew up without said gel and did not have a single cavity got pushed aside as : impossible.

So not only I am a really bad mom I am also a liar. My teeth must be full of cavities.

The more I asked and proved that the theories they are telling me could not be true, the more aggressive they got. When they told me that they will put stainless steel crowns on my sons teeth I kinda lost it. I looked at these things and was like: ‘No, I don’t think so!’ the dentist told me that they always do it like this as the tooth could break later. Now, I do understand that, but we are talking about his milk teeth. He will lose them within 3 to 4 years. So my absolute and definite answer was NO!  The dentist monsters looked at me and said well we do as we see fit in the end it is our decision. That must have been the moment when I decided that it is time to get my son off the gas and out of the dentist limbo. They sent me a cost estimation that was the equivalent of a family trip to the United States for 8 weeks. Needless to say that I had a small heart attack.

Life would not be life if my odysseys would end here right?

I will return next week with an update on my Life’s Lemonade Shop… It does not seem to stop…

We all die, some of natural causes and some of illness. – And then there are the cases for the amusement of the Death Angels. We thought we do not only educate you about the enormously upopular ways of dying but also the similar clever ways to avoid the said death.

1- Get a cellulitis infection after a bikini waxing session and not treat it! In the best case you spend a few days in hospital with a drip, worse case you lose a leg and the worst scenario you die!

How to avoid: Get it done by a real professional, get your hygiene right or go “au natural” You think that is bad? Still better than to die…

2- Cut a plugged in power cord with normal scissors. Wouldn’t happen to you? Wait until you had a drink or two too much and fall over that stupid cord that you wanted to shorten for months but never had the time.

How to avoid: Ban all scissors out of your life before you get drunk or don’t drink.

3- Have sex with various partners without a condom because you think the girl / boy looks way to healthy to be HIV+.

How to avoid: Masturbate, use condoms, invent a fast test for HIV.

4- Check with a lighter if there is gasoline left in your fuel tank.

How to avoid: stop smoking. That way you wont have a lighter in your pocket.

5- Draw a large amount of cash in a dodgy area alone at night.

How to avoid: get your ass out of bed in the morning.

Their must be more than 5 utterly stupid ways to die. Share them with us in the comments section below.

You had a bad day too? Poor you, life sucks right? No problem, the @xcapedcat’s papa and mama are here to help you get through it. It’s not a mental illness nor a sentimental issue, it’s just a bad day that you will recover from, and fall in it again and again as long as you are breathing. There is no way out dude.

1- Hang a picture of your boss/teacher/whatever and shot waterballoons on it…

2- Try yoga for the first time and upset the whole rest of the class by being fidgety.

3- Take the tableware sets you got from your mother in law and toss it on the wall… you never liked the design anyway…

4- Get on twitter and troll @barackobama with some nasty pics.

5- Call all your friends and tell them how shitty your life is and feel much better later because now they feel bad for you.

6- Book your dream holiday – and get a cancelation insurance.

7- Write a blog post about getting rid of your anger and bother all your readers with it.

8- Cancel your subscribtion for the newspaper as there are only bad news in it anyway.

9- Youtube the hell out of yourself and unsubscribe from all the channels.

10- Girls – get your nails done — Boys – watch you a Chinese Kung Fu movie!

11- Buy the biggest bucket of ice cream available and enjoy.

12- Don’t count your calories you gained with number 11.

13- Stop being paranoid about the number 13.

Dear reader please note that we kindly added exactly 13 things you can do against your bad day… If you are superstitious your day turned from bad to worse in the 3 minutes it took you to read this list. Of course we can not be held liable for making your day worse.

Oh and PS: say hi to your boss from us.

Citizens of the world are increasingly demanding more from their leaders, organizations and businesses, and humanitarian organizations are no exception.

We expect them to have a sound moral compass because of the nature of their work. Yet financial abuses, arrogant CEOs and workers embellishing statistics of grant reports are just some of the reasons why these organizations find themselves facing increasing scrutiny and mistrust from the public.

But the misbehaving of a few shouldn’t make us lose our faith in humanity, in humanitarianism. Reform is necessary, but it needn’t be daunting. The solution is both surprisingly simple and intimate in nature: open up & get personal!

Large organizations often feel inaccessible and faceless; it is far too easy to forget that these organizations operate because of individuals with principles and ideals that were first envisioned, and then realized.

Indeed, when you grow to know the people who are involved—when you’ve heard their stories, seen their pictures, debated with them, learned from them—you are more likely as an individual to support their organization.

The media and communications landscape has changed. Internet and social media have made it easier than ever to access organizations and for organizations to access their benefactors but it’s necessary to keep these mediums truly social in their nature. You can “like” an organization’s page and receive updates from them, but you can’t hear the stories of workers, of life on the ground, of why these people are doing what they are doing. It shouldn’t be an organization-to-people conversation but a people-to-people one. That, is social.

Numbers, statistics, reports…what we need is more “face-to-face” interaction; more stories. Stories of hope, stories of despair, of loss, of feeling…

Numbers only go so far: what matters more are words. We know stories can inspire action amongst an overwhelmed and increasingly de-sensitized population, which is why we have created It’sOneHumanity (IOH).

IOH is a virtual space where humanitarians come to educate each other, share the work they do, connect, and act for humanity as a whole; it’s a social network seeking to democratize humanitarianism.

Its goal is to create and unite humanitarians around the world, engage them in discussion and facilitate the mutual education process to ultimately create powerful social movements that will help change the world for the better.

It’s easy to get lost behind words, but the meaning of “humanitarian” is nothing flashier than “anyone concerned with or seeking to promote human welfare.” Isn’t that you too?

Start exchanging with humanitarians like you on it’sonehumanity today!

Follow @ItsOneHumanity and founder @ElliottV on Twitter.

“Update: Inspired in great part by the article that we had running in AlertNews, Thomson Reuters’ Humanitarian News Service but updated, rearranged and edited for the @Xcapedcat blog.”

Guest Blogger: Sarah Lenssen from #Ask5for5

Family photos by Mike Fiechtner Photography

Thank you(insert blog name) and nearly 150 other bloggers from around the world for allowing me to share a story with you today, during Social Media Week.

A hungry child in East Africa can’t wait. Her hunger consumes her while we decide if we’ll respond and save her life. In Somalia, children are stumbling along for days, even weeks, on dangerous roads and with empty stomachs in search of food and water. Their crops failed for the third year in a row. All their animals died. They lost everything. Thousands are dying along the road before they find help in refugee camps.

At my house, when my three children are hungry, they wait minutes for food, maybe an hour if dinner is approaching. Children affected by the food crisis in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia aren’t so lucky. Did you know that the worst drought in 60 years is ravaging whole countries right now, as you read this? Famine, a term not used lightly, has been declared in Somalia. This is the world’s first famine in 20 years.12.4 million people are in need of emergency assistance and over 29,000 children have died in the last three months alone. A child is dying every 5 minutes. It it estimated that 750,000 people could die before this famine is over. Take a moment and let that settle in.

The media plays a major role in disasters. They have the power to draw the attention of society to respond–or not. Unfortunately, this horrific disaster has become merely a footnote in most national media outlets. News of the U.S. national debt squabble and the latest celebrity’s baby bump dominate headlines. That is why I am thrilled that nearly 150 bloggers from all over the world are joining together today to use the power of social media to make their own headlines; to share the urgent need of the almost forgotten with their blog readers. Humans have the capacity to care deeply for those who are suffering, but in a situation like this when the numbers are too huge to grasp and the people so far away, we often feel like the little we can do will be a drop in the ocean, and don’t do anything at all.

When news of the famine first hit the news in late July, I selfishly avoided it. I didn’t want to read about it or hear about it because I knew I would feel overwhelmed and uncomfortable. I wanted to protect myself. I knew I would need to do something if I knew what was really happening. You see, this food crisis is personal. I have a 4-year-old son and a 1 yr-old daughter who were adopted from Ethiopia and born in regions now affected by the drought. If my children still lived in their home villages, they would be two of the 12.4 million. My children: extremely hungry and malnourished? Gulp. I think any one of us would do anything we could for our hungry child. But would you do something for another mother’s hungry child?

My friend and World Vision staffer, Jon Warren, was recently in Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya–the largest refugee camp in the world with over 400,000 people. He told me the story of Isnino Siyat, 22, a mother who walked for 10 days and nights with her husband, 1 yr-old-baby, Suleiman, and 4 yr.-old son Adan Hussein, fleeing the drought in Somalia. When she arrived at Dadaab, she built the family a shelter with borrowed materials while carrying her baby on her back. Even her dress is borrowed. As she sat in the shelter on her second night in camp she told Jon, “I left because of hunger. It is a very horrible drought which finished both our livestock and our farm.” The family lost their 5 cows and 10 goats one by one over 3 months, as grazing lands dried up. “We don’t have enough food now…our food is finished. I am really worried about the future of my children and myself if the situation continues.”

Will you help a child like Baby Suleiman? Ask5for5 is a dream built upon the belief that you will.

That something I knew I would need to do became a campaign called #Ask5for5 to raise awareness and funds for famine and drought victims. The concept is simple, give $5 and ask five of your friends to give $5, and then they each ask five of their friends to give $5 and so on–in nine generations of 5x5x5…we could raise $2.4 Million! In one month, over 750 people have donated over $25,000! I set up a fundraiser at See Your Impact and 100% of the funds will go to World Vision, an organization that has been fighting hunger in the Horn of Africa for decades and will continue long after this famine has ended. Donations can multiply up to 5 times in impact by government grants to
help provide emergency food, clean water, agricultural support,
healthcare, and other vital assistance to children and families suffering in the Horn.

I need you to help me save lives. It’s so so simple; here’s what you need to do:

1. Donate $5 or more on this page (http://seeyourimpact.org/members/ask5for5)
2. Send an email to your friends and ask them to join us.
3. Share #Ask5for5 on Facebook and Twitter!

I’m looking for another 100 bloggers to share this post on their blogs throughout Social Media Week. Email me at ask5for5@gmail.com if you’re interested in participating this week.

A hungry child doesn’t wait. She doesn’t wait for us to finish the other things on our to-do list, or get to it next month when we might have a little more money to give. She doesn’t wait for us to decide if she’s important enough to deserve a response. She will only wait as long as her weakened little body will hold on…please respond now and help save her life. Ask 5 for 5.

Thank you on behalf of all of those who will be helped–you are saving lives and changing history.
p.s. Please don’t move on to the next website before you donate and email your friends right now. It only takes 5 minutes and just $5, and if you’re life is busy like mine, you probably won’t get back to it later. Let’s not be a generation that ignores hundreds of thousands of starving people, instead let’s leave a legacy of compassion. You have the opportunity to save a life today!

The biggest 21st century achievement is the establishment of free media that has been a strong and robust recourse against abuses of power within the democratic structures of modern societies. It is not unusual for the three traditional areas of power – legislative, executive and judicial – to make mistakes and operate less perfectly than they might. This is more likely to happen under authoritarian and dictatorial regimes, where the political realm is mainly responsible for violations of human rights and attacks on liberties.

In a democratic framework the media have often seen it as a duty to denounce such violations of human rights. Journalists have paid the price: they have been physically attacked, murdered or have disappeared.

This is why; media is often seen as the “fourth estate”. Thanks to the civic responsibility of the media and the courage of individual journalists, this fourth estate has provided a fundamental and democratic means for people to criticize, reject and reverse decisions (unfair, unjust, illegal and sometimes even criminal) against innocent people. Free media is the voice of those who have no voice.

Unfortunately, over the past 20 years, with the acceleration of globalization and the digital revolution that shattered the divisions that previously separated the three traditional forms of communication (sound, text and images) and allowed the creation and growth of the internet, this fourth estate has been stripped of its potential to change societies in a more democratic way, and has gradually ceased to function as a counter power.

Within this geo-economic framework there has been a decisive transformation in the mass media, striking at the heart of their structure as industries. The mass communications media (radio, newspapers, television, and internet) are being realigned to create media groups with a world vocation. Giant media enterprises have realized that the revolution in new technology has greatly increased their possibilities for expansion, but not necessarily in the interest of promoting freedom of speech and democratic societies.

Subsequently the media companies began a further stage of group restructuring, by bringing into a single frame, not only the classic media (press, radio and television) but also all activities in mass culture, communication and information. These three spheres previously separated; have gradually become integrated into a single sphere in which it is increasingly difficult to distinguish between the elements of mass culture, communication and news.

These modern hyper-enterprises have been concentrated, and have bought their way into a wide variety of media sectors in many different countries on every continent. They have acquired such economic weight and ideological importance that they are now major players in globalization itself. And they are only preoccupied with growth, which means that they have to develop relations with the other estates in society, so they no longer claim to act as a fourth estate with a civic objective and a commitment to denouncing human rights abuses.

They are not interested in correcting the malfunctions of democracy and creating a better political system. They have no interest in being a fourth estate and even less in acting as a countervailing power. And even when they do constitute a fourth estate, that estate is just an adjunct to the existing political and economic estates and operates as a supplementary media power to crush people.

As young people, how do we react to all of this? How can we resist the offensive nature of this new power that has betrayed the ideal of building a democratic society? The answer is simple.

First, we have to engage and lobby with the Media companies and lobby them to use their important influence and power to help protect truth and personal freedom.

Secondly, we have to use our creativity and the opportunities made available by Social Media platforms to create more space and tools that will increase the freedom of speech any place and anywhere.

Thirdly, we have to continue to lobby our own governments and international institutions, to impose the needed analysis and the necessary reform to be adopted for an ethical approach from major media; to require, from them, a commitment to truth and a respect for codes of conduct, so that journalists can operate in line with their consciences rather than the interests of the groups, companies and editors that employ them.

One of humanity’s most precious rights is the right to freely communicate our thoughts and opinions. No law should be allowed arbitrarily to restrict press freedom and the freedom of speech. But these freedoms can only be exercised by media enterprises if they do not infringe other rights that are equally sacred, such as the right of each citizen to have access to uncontaminated news. Under the pretext of freedom of expression media enterprises should not be allowed to disseminate false news, or conduct campaigns of ideological propaganda.

In the new war of ideology that globalization has forced on us; Medias are used as a weapon. Since we now face a multiplication and over-abundance of information, our news is being contaminated – poisoned by lies, polluted by rumors, misrepresentations, distortions and manipulation.

But at the same time, people, and specifically youth, in many parts of the world are now beginning to realize, that today’s news are poisons to our minds, pollutes our brains, manipulates us, intoxicates us, and tries to instill into our subconscious ideas that are not our own.

That is why we suggest that youth from every part of the world should be supported to setting up their own Social Media. It will, at last, give youth and people a peaceful civic weapon against the emerging superpower of the big mass media that push their interests to the detriment of the general interest, and confuse their freedom with the freedom of enterprise, held to be the first of liberties.

We all are the witnesses of the amazing achievement Tunisians, Egyptians and Libyans did to throw away dictators and dead bits out of their governments by only using social media. The organic news made the silent dream of freedom declared as loudly as possible!
The trust between friends, and the news that our friends share are more valuable than what a journalist would “analyze!” By using these tools Revolutions took places and literally changed the map of the world. It is true that we’ve engaged a change, but I invite you all to think about how Social media can cure the social mess these revolutions have made.

Building and helping the youth from every place to set-up their own social media will allow youth to provide their own news, telling their own stories, in a more diverse and colorful way than the formatted news distilled by the mass media. It will be our response: setting up the foundation that will allow youth from everywhere to grow and share their own organic news.

Press freedom is nothing more than the extension of collective freedom of expression, which is the foundation of democracy. We cannot allow it to be hijacked by the rich and powerful. It implies a social responsibility and its exercise must remain, in the final instance, under the control of society. A society that we, the youth, will be inheriting from you.

We the youth believe that the absolute media freedom that the owners of the major communications groups pursue so insistently will necessarily be detrimental to the people of the world, and by extension to us, the youth, leaders of tomorrow.

We, the youth, are saying that this century will be one where communication and information at last belong to the youth and the people of the world and that we will continue to fight against the expropriation of our right of expression. NOW THIS IS A WAKE UP CALL

]]> http://www.xcapedcat.com/mass-media-vs-social-media/feed/ 4 http://www.xcapedcat.com/the-reality-of-utopia-by-raniaessawi/ http://www.xcapedcat.com/the-reality-of-utopia-by-raniaessawi/#comments Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:47:10 +0000 The XcapedCat http://www.xcapedcat.com/?p=2316

As the countdown to 2012 in Pittsburgh, has begun, and during some short and some long plane and train rides home, I am sure there has been lots of reflection happening in the minds in each and every delegate, as well as everyone that has been involved in One Young World’s 2011 Summit.

These are some of my personal reflections on what I really got out of these past few days. I am not sure where to begin exactly, so l’ll just begin….

It is possible it was optimism when I entered the meeting hall during the opening session the night of the 1st September and was overwhelmed by the sea of people in this hall genuinely exchanging smiles, greetings, or nods as stranger’s eyes and bright faces met. This happening while everyone kept their attention with the extraordinary counselors that were introduced one by one as they took to the stage. The aura was absolutely incredible!

It is possible that it was admiration when the Crown Prince of Norway addressed us and spoke with resilience and courage on how he daringly dealt with the tragic events that happened in Norway last month by promoting unity through love and respect. Showing the world that the strongest and most effective retaliation to violence is overwhelming peace.

It is possible that it was the challenge posed by Bob Geldof as he blatantly laid down the realities of the millions suffering out there and placed the responsibility in our hands to fix it, saying “you have to get us out of this mess, cause we have failed.”

It is possible it that it was inspiration when Desmond Tutu enthused us with his wisdom and faith as he kindled hope and confidence in us to possibly be able to see the day when we can eliminate poverty, hunger, suffering in all forms, if we would just come together and care for one another.

It is possible it was the opportunity that we would have the chance to speak with more than 1200 delegates from 170 countries, and reaching out to several thousands of followers on twitter–and learn and share about the truly remarkable experiences of each other. When again will a possibility such as this happen?

It is possible it was energy of the David and Kate duo, and their dedication that was portrayed in the way they paid attention to every minor detail on and off the stage. They were the true dynamite for the next couple of days that even made the time to reassure, thank, and interact with delegates when they had a spare few seconds, and still had time to do their own tweeting throughout the sessions!

I was lucky enough to have the chance to speak with so many of the extraordinary support team that truly did their best to ensure that our needs were attended to!!! It was so interesting to hear their viewpoints about what was happening inside our meeting hall that was relayed with the utmost enthusiasm and respect.

This is just the beginning. Whether it is us going out there and setting an example of tolerance and interfaith dialogue in our communities and being the living examples and ambassadors of our faiths showing where peace, love and understanding can get us, promoting and being those social entrepreneurs that apply better business practices rather than “just” corporate social responsibility, reaching out to women and men and boldly addressing our cultural and social taboos that hold us back from being able to support each other and develop the healthy partnerships and interactions that would facilitate our societies progress by making sure all girls AND boys have equal opportunities for education, healthy lives, support structures, protection from any harmful or tragic situations at home or in their societies making sure we are those journalists that get the “truth” out to the world through not just more responsible reporting but as well as utilizing, expanding and inventing alternative forms of media that we can use to spread knowledge and information and especially making sure that we are sharing our knowledge and experiences to those that didn’t have the chance to be here…

It is US not falling short of OUR own expectations.

So for those of us that were looking for the “results” coming out of the summit, I think it is clear now. The results are in our hands. The results were not meant to happen in these few days. Let’s be realistic. We were more than 1200 delegates, and the fact of the matter is, that it is now that the world is experiencing by sheer numbers the most youthful population worldwide in history.

WE are the lucky ones. We are the ones who have the chance to make a difference every single day, and also have our special support network at One Young World. And at the same time we have to remember that we only represent a smaller fraction of more amazing young people that do remarkable work every single day, and that we should be finding and working with so that we truly can have our exponential effect…

This is it One Young Worlders, it IS YOUR wake-up call… because a year on, and hopefully 10 years on, WE will be the ones that will HAVE or HAVE NOT spearheaded it all! Because when the buck will stop in front of you, whether you are a politician, businessperson, volunteer, father, mother, teacher, engineer, journalist, doctor, whatever and wherever if you have not moved forward the agenda of ‘our utopia’ then it is us that will be held accountable.

So what are you going to do about it?

Guest Post by Rania Elessawi. She is an international development professional, with a ‘child-rights’ approach. Strong technical expertise in program and project development including conceptualization, designing, planning, implementation, management, monitoring and evaluation, guided by a strong understanding and ability to develop cross-sectoral interventions that integrate child and youth participation. Also has experience in contributing to social policy dialogues; establishing partnerships; institutional strengthening; development of capacity building programs for government and non-governmental partners; participatory planning; behaviour change and communication interventions.

One Young World is a global youth leadership summit, bringing together 1,200 delegates primarily under 25 from over 170 countries worldwide. Unlike any other event in the world, One Young World gives delegates the kind of media platform and forum afforded ordinarily only to those who lead countries and corporations.

Supported by counselors including Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, Sir Bob Geldof Muhammad Yunus and the Norwegian Crown Prince Couple, delegates told the world what the leaders of tomorrow think and feel – and what they demand of the leaders of today.

Founded by David Jones, Global CEO of Havas, and Kate Robertson, UK Group Chairman, Euro RSCG, One Young World is a unique event that offers international decision makers powerful insight into where our world may be heading.

The Congresshouse in Zurich has been filled from the 1st until the 4th of September. Deligates have shared powerful ideas and moving stories have also been told.

One of the powerful idea was the creation of a global movement worldwide called the Wake up Call. This is how it all started and how you should join the movement:

Sir Bob Geldof delivered a somber and funny and heartening speech to 1,300 One Young World participants. “I’m here to see what you guys do,” he said, urging delegates and ambassadors to cooperate and collaborate. “You’ve got to get us out of this mess because we have failed.” Reminding everyone that One Young World is more about the impact you make than about how you talk about it, he added, “If you are going to say something than you better do something.”

South African ambassador Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh emerged from the speech looking grave and determined.  He was unshaven and visibly jet lagged, but emanated a kind of centeredness that has already won him fans and followers throughout South Africa. “‘Wake Up Call’,” Sizwe said.  “Imagine a campaign that bends to what people want rather than the other way around.  A million people go out on the same day and say, ‘This is a wake-up call. This is your wake-up call.’  It means different things for different people—it goes as deep as an individual message to yourself.”

So we have launched a new campaign: #wakeupcall. Inspired by Bob Geldof’s speech during the Opening Ceremony of One Young World, my good friend Sizwe (Africa) had an idea — and together with Parker (Europe), Michael (Asia), Chris (Australasia), Daniel (Colombia), Ayah (Middle East), and the support of Cat (Africa), Kwadwo (Africa), Erik (Africa), Ajarat (Africa), and many other OYW Ambassadors and Delegates, we have now created a campaign!

We officially launched #wakeupcall with a short presentation during the OYW Closing Ceremony and it is already taking the world by storm. The hashtag #wakeupcall trended globally on twitter within minutes of my announcement for people to type in “#wakeupcall.” SO EXCITING FOR US!

This is a movement for change, for people to step up and demand action… beginning now and culminating on 21212 (February 21, 2012) with a mass global call for realization of, and action upon, the desperate need for collaborative global efforts to affect good. Watch these videos and read the articles describing the project’s idea generation, development, launch, and bright future.”

By Erin Schrode

Now Join the Fan Page, Follow us on Twitter and tell us, from which part of the world you are and what is the wake up call in your country!

You can’t write a blog post with Kids around. Period!

The Xcapedcat is delighted to host Leo Widrich today. He showed up one day in everyones twitterstream and has become a fellow twitter addict on the fastlane. He blogs regularly about twitter tools and tips on the buffer blog. Check it out.

Twitter is evolving constantly. The service one would use to speak mindless thoughts to everyone and nobody is long gone. Twitter turned into a more powerful tool than ever. With a user base of 280 mio. Users growing at 460 000 a day I felt that it is now the time to take full advantage of Twitter.

In order to make the most of it I want to introduce to you 2 new tools. Using them has given me a big boost in my Twitter usage and made life a great deal easier.

Buffer – Stop Annoying your Followers

The first service is called Buffer and it’s a nifty new Twitter App, that helps you to create a consistent Twitter stream without overwhelming your followers with too much information.

How does Buffer work?

All you do is you simply put a few tweets in your Buffer and the App in return schedules these tweets for your throughout the day, that’s it.

How does this help you?

Every morning I would get up and read lots of great blogposts. Instead of posting them all to Twitter in a rush, flooding my followers with information that would be way too much for them the now all go in my Buffer.

It means that I can still add all those great findings, yet without the information overload. Buffer will take your tweets and post them well spaced out over the day.

What makes it special?

What makes this a very enjoyable experience is that you can add tweets to your Buffer from any page you are reading with one of the browser extensions (Chrome, Safari, Firefox).

It even works from inside Google Reader which is a big winner for me as I use it very heavily.

In addition you will get detailed analytics showing you Clicks, Retweets and Reach of your Buffered tweets so you know more about the impact you are making.

Tweriod – When are you having the most impact?

The second service I started using is Tweriod. Tweriod is another very useful App that allows you to analyse your past tweets sent and showing you at which time during the day your followers are most active.

How does this help me?

Getting to know the information as of when your followers are most active is crucial if you seek to have the most possible impact on Twitter. It allows you to adjust your daily tweeting times in Buffer to match you results from Tweriod. It takes about one hour until you receive a DM with a link to your stats.

This means you can create a fully powered up Twitter pattern, that matches the needs of your followers perfectly. Connecting the two has increased not only the click through rate on my links but also most importantly the interaction with my tweets.

What makes it special?

The idea to analyse your Tweeting times is definitely not a new one. There exist dozens of different tools which allow you to do this in a similar thing. However none does it in such an understandable and well presented way like Tweriod.

The algorithm behind the result not only pulls in your own tweets but also the information from your followers which is crucial to give you a true picture of when you will have the most impact on Twitter. Tweriod’s algorithm simply stands out from many others.

The combination of Tweriod and Buffer has certainly paid off for me ever since I started to make use of this Power-Kombo. How about you? Have you tried them yet? Do you think these 2 tools can be useful for you too?

Let me know below.

Try Buffer and Tweriod here

“Leo Widrich is a Social Media enthusiast with an extra large sized addiction to Twitter. He’s always on the lookout for the best Twitter tips and tools to share. Hit him up on Twitter @Leowid if you need anything, he will be quick in responding and helping you out.”