Help Us Inform Voters!

The Media Center is committed to a role in every local election - to increase voter awareness and resources. Absentee voters have begun sending in their ballots this week and we made sure to have candidate statements and ballot measure arguments recorded early for those conscientious voters. So far, the videos with the most views are San Mateo County Measure H - a bond measure for the community colleges - with 190 views, followed closely by Palo Alto Measure E that would rezone a portion of Byxbee Park into a compost and renewable energy facility (188 views).

Please help us inform voters about the video debates and candidate statements that can help them make informed choices over the coming days. All the internet links and cable TV playback info is listed on our Election Page at: http://www.midpenmedia.org/elections_Nov_11flag.html. There are candidate statements for the East Palo Alto Sanitary District, the Sequoia Union High School District, the Menlo Park Fire Protection District, and the San Mateo Community College District. Also two debates for each of the two controversial Palo Alto Measures.

You'll hear some champagne corks popping if we find out that over 400 voters utilized these video resources. Thanks for distributing the Election Page link.

Meanwhile, don't forget that the Media Center provides on-demand videos of every government meeting in Palo Alto (indexed by agenda item), as well live coverage of city council meetings in East Palo Alto and Menlo Park. If you're a Palo Alto parent you can be a watchdog of the PAUSD Board meetings that air on Channel 28. We also cover town meetings, the most recent one being held by State Senator Joe Simitian on October 15. You can watch it on the Internet at: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheMediaCenter5?blend=3&ob=5#p/u/11/VpVl8ACiyEo.

"Change Makers" - Making A Difference in Your World

"Change Makers" is a monthly interview style program featuring dynamic and motivational individuals that are doing great work and bringing positive and real change to the world.  This month’s program features Soren Gordhamer, whose work these days explores the application of Wisdom in modern life - how to live a modern, engaged, and connected life with awareness, balance, and effectiveness.

Soren Gordhamer works with individuals and groups on living with greater mindfulness and purpose in our technology-rich age. He is founder and host of the Wisdom 2.0 Conference, and the author of Wisdom 2.0: Ancient Secrets for the Creative and Constantly Connected (HarperOne, 2009), one of the first books to explore living with mindfulness and wisdom within the context of our modern technology age.

Soren writes and speaks on the merging of wisdom in modern life. The question before us is not if the external technologies of our age, from cell phones to computers, will continue to advance ... the more pertinent question is "Will the inner technologies of mindfulness and wisdom advance along with them?

While our technology age offers many benefits, for many people life has become increasingly chaotic, hurried, and stressful ... overwhelmed with a continual stream of emails, text messages, and cell phone calls, awareness of the body goes "off-line" and the present moment is lost. We live "disconnectedly connected," where we are connected to technology, but largely disconnected from that place of balance and well-being that resides in each one of us.

The thread between all the inspirational individuals interviewed on this show is their dedication to following their dreams and the willingness to share their stories of failure and triumph with you.  We hope you are inspired to follow your dreams and in doing so make a positive change in your life and community.

"Change Makers" host Gopi Kallayli, works for Google  and is a twice semi-finalist at the Toastmasters International World Championship of Public Speaking.   "Change Makers" is co-produced by Kallayli and Erinne Lambden.  

Submitted by Erinne Lambden.

PICTURE BLOG FROM WAVE AWARDS - 6 WAVE WINNERS

On Saturday night 10/8/2011, Wave awards were bestowed on six Media Center producers at the ceremony held in San Jose.  Congratulations to our "sons and daughters" here!  The Media Center is very proud of you.  And best wishes to the other 15 (that's FIFTEEN) producers that were finalists!

Doug Kreitz for Beauty on the Bay

Betty Gee & Friend for Channing House Harmonica Players

Steve Hall with Sheryl Shaffer's Award for Veterans Helping Veterans

Annie Folger with Nancy Brown's Award for Veterans Helping Veterans Open

Sally Rayn for Forest Wanderings

Wes Rapaport for Paly High Football - Teenage Dream

SRI Looks at our Energy Future

One of the biggest problems facing the world today is how to find enough energy to power our ever expanding industrial economy in a way that's affordable, sustainable and environmentally clean. One of the leaders in clean energy research is SRI International, former known as the Stanford Research Institute, and today one of the top independent research organizations in the world.

This month's Future Talk features two guests from SRI, Barbara Heydorn and Ripudaman Malhotra. Barbara Heydorn is Director of the Center of Excellence in Energy at SRI, where she develops the strategy that links SRI’s research and development capabilities to the needs of the marketplace. She helps put together multidisciplinary teams with people both inside and outside of SRI to tackle complex energy issues.

Ripudaman Malhotra is a research fellow at SRI, which is one of the highest designations given there, and he’s also Associate Director of SRI’s Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory. He studies ways to make more efficient use of conventional fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas, and is the co-author of the recent book, "A Cubic Mile of Oil".

The show also features a video of a new material created at SRI which is able to convert the motion of ocean waves into electricity, and the guests give a good overview of today's energy problems and some of the possible solutions.

To see earlier episodes of Future Talk go here. To see the upcoming TV schedule, go here.

Voter Resources for Upcoming Election

There are 5 weeks until Election Day, November 8. Signs have popped up all over our Palo Alto neighborhood - especially about Measure E. Overall, it's a relatively quiet election with no other Santa Clara county measures and no elected offices for Palo Alto voters.

In San Mateo County, there are a bunch of low profile races that don't get a lot of media coverage. The campaigns for Menlo Park Fire Protection Board, Sequoia Union High School Board, East Palo Alto Sanitary District Board, San Mateo County Community College Board, and the Measure H bond for community colleges are not likely to feature candidate debates or even many fliers. And yet, it's the local leaders who often have the deepest impact on our lives including rates and fees we pay, student experiences, and even our collective carbon footprint.

The Media Center considers every election important for voters and we create video resources to give voters an up-close look at the candidates. We also invite measure proponents and opponents to record a message. These five minute candidate statements provide the only opportunity that many voters will have to compare the "presence" and priorities of each contender, side-by-side.

Check out our Election Page for the video-on-demand links and the TV channel playback times for each race. Make an informed vote on Election Day or on your absentee ballot that will arrive the week of October 10.
The videos are also linked on the League of Women's excellent voter resource web site, SmartVoter.org.