The Uncultured Project

[Update: Since writing this post, the contest has closed. I ranked second with over 900 votes. Feel free to check out my videos on YouTube. Thanks for those who voted. First place went to LuddenMedia. They're great guys - check em out.]

The contest closes in a few hours, and I’m currently in second place. You can still vote at this link – the poll is on the left side. For some unknown reason, no matter how many friends I get to vote (or how many friends of friends vote), I’m always trailing from the first place by almost exactly 90 votes. It’s almost like magic!

Who is in first place? It’s a YouTube series about a bunch of college kids – some of whom have come from hell (and are demons) and others have come from heaven (and are angels). They are plotting to either save or damn the regular mortals in the dorm. Ummm…. No comment.

I have this friend who went to MIT. Taking a very sterile and logical approach, he said to me quite bluntly “I don’t see how getting ‘Phil’d’ in helps the poor”. It doesn’t? In fact, this whole filming thing doesn’t technically help the poor now does it? If I put the camera down and focused 100% on helping the poor (as people like Mikey Leung do or charities like Save the Children which came to the disaster area without any cameras or camcorders), I’d get more done. It takes time to film, transfer, charge batteries, buy new tape, edit, and upload video you know.

But, then no one would know about many of the things I’ve seen (be it my work or the amazing work done by others). And that would mean that people would have to continue to rely on information mediums which – for people in my generation – may not give much importance to. How many people in my generation watch CNN regularly? Now compare that to how many of us are religiously reading our newsfeeds on Facebook. This doesn’t mean my generation has the wrong priorities. It just means that we absorb information through different ways.

Which is why I’d like to win this contest. Sxephil is just a regular YouTube member like me – but with a large audience (with over 49,000 subscribers). If, through his YouTube channel, people can be exposed to important issues, views, and topics they might not have been exposed to in their normal routine than maybe – just maybe – they might be interested in learning more or maybe even be inspired to do something about it. But people have to know that such work exists in order to have that choice.

So, with all due respect to my MIT (instead of Irish) educated friend – getting “Phil’D in” does help the poor.

In my last post about Notre Dame football, I had said

After the first couple of loses, I casually joked to a friend and current Notre Dame student, that Notre Dame hasn’t won a single football game since I left. Did I take the Luck of the Irish with me? I was joking – okay? You guys can start winning now, please.

Thanks for listening guys. I’ll never joke about you guys again in a negative way.

I don’t know what to be happier about. The fact that Notre Dame had just been able to score its first offensive touchdown for the season, or the fact that the water supply where I’m staying has stabilized enough that I’ve been able to get tap water for the past three hours.

Notre Dame avoids having the dubious record of 4 games without an offensive touchdown and I now longer have to go across town to take a shower? Maybe the luck of the Irish is coming back.

If you’re wondering how I’m keeping track of the Notre Dame football game live – I’m using a combination of score updates from ESPN and also listening to an audio stream from my family’s Slingbox back home.

[Update: Well, we lost 31-14 to Michigan State. That makes an unprecedented four-in-a-row loss. Oh, and the water over here went out again too. Some luck just doesn't last long enough.]

While I’m over here trying to make one difference at a time in the battle against malaria, it’s good to know that the Fighting Irish are doing their best to make sure the war against malaria is one we can win for good.

Recently, the Gates Foundation gave the University of Notre Dame $20 million dollars to continue research in the fight against malaria. This funding also helps to create test areas and partnerships in Indonesia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia. They will not only be collecting data but also making sure that we can stay one step ahead in fighting mosquitoes that carry the malaria virus. For example, one of the biggest concerns is that insecticides that work now (like those embedded in the PermaNets I have distributed) might not work in the future as mosquitoes develop a resistance.

This funding will stretch over five-years and will involve the Notre Dame Center for Global Health and Infectious Diseases as well as the Notre Dame College of Engineering. I couldn’t be happier. Some of my best friends from Notre Dame are engineering students. In fact, my roommate before leaving Notre Dame was an engineering grad student. It’s a comforting thought that, while I’m out here doing my part, back on campus some of my friends and people I know are in the same fight.

While, I know we’ve been having a hard time winning lately on the football field, the fight against malaria is one battle the Fighting Irish can’t afford to lose.

You can read the official Notre Dame press release about this here.