Imagine, if you would, what our world would be like without the presence of philanthropy.

Imagine, if you would, what our world would be like without the presence of philanthropy. Certainly, we would continue to produce and consume. We would continue to save or invest any surplus generated out of basic economic activity. Likely, investments would continue to grow and be reinvested. The “economy” could continue to grow. At the same time, organizations that depend upon gift support and volunteer time would suffer unless they became somehow profitable. Any activity or service—such as education, research, and the arts—whose purpose or end is other than producing a profit would basically be headed for extinction. The conventional economist might acknowledge the social consequences of this, but register no economic ones. This is why it should come as no surprise that philanthropy, the art and science of giving, is not to be found in classic economics text books.

As one of the primary means of support for education or any field connected with renewing the human spirit, philanthropists know that philanthropically-funded activities actually have a very important place in the economic cycle, from a social as well as economic standpoint. Philanthropic gifts are generative in nature. That is, without charitable gifts there would be no economic activity at all. Proof: In the history of mankind, gifting processes notably preceded all other forms of economic trade transactions and monetary systems. Cultures have found ways to meet all the basic human needs without any monetary systems at all. In addition to physical needs such as food and shelter, these economies valued the non-commodity aspects that conventional economics cannot fathom, like caring and learning, imagining, inspiring. Yet these are the very things that really matter most to us day-to-day. Such intangibles fall outside the quantifiable world of modern social science. They are nice but not economic. Rather, it has been left to philanthropy, which is primarily motivated by these intangibles, to make whole the fragmented and generally inhuman picture of economics. Given this encompassing perspective, I would posit that gifting is the most important and productive component of the economic system.

In the world of risk and return, a gift is 100% risk while the returns on the gift are immeasurable, so rich are they in the experiential and qualitative aspects of life, so laden with potential for the future. The fascinating thing is that charitable activities are actually structured to consume, even burn up, excess capital. Through this transformative process, they produce new human capacity (education), new insights and breakthroughs (research), and cultural innovation (the arts), all of which often lead to economic renewal. It should come as no surprise that these three areas (and there are others of course) are primarily supported by gifts and taxation, a form of mandatory gifts.

Philanthropists know that accumulated capital is the most vital source of gifting. Money “ages,” becomes more disconnected from human initiative as it accumulates. As soon as that money is given away it leaves the sphere of investment and is given new economic life by being used for purchase to accomplish a charitable mission by the recipient. Thus the linkage is established between the generation of surplus capital and the renewal of that capital through philanthropy. The logic here is one of functional integration rather than cause and effect. Historically, philanthropy is something you are privileged to do because of your financial success. This may be considered something of the Nineteenth Century industrial model. But that too is shifting. More corporations and individuals are structuring their philanthropy as part of their present financial activity rather than putting it off pending the results of a career. For example, the dramatic increase in young people’s interest in philanthropic activity is a result of activism and engagement; they want to make a difference with their lives now rather than viewing the accumulation of resources as a measure of accomplishment. This sense of social responsibility and integration is but one reflection of a much larger, though just now barely visible, sea change in the emerging field of social finance.

Social finance holds that the purpose of money and finance is to support human initiative and to foster the evolution of new community. Social finance recognizes that in the context of a global economy, we are fully interdependent. It is no longer possible to stand outside this reality, regardless of political boundaries, accumulated wealth, or dire poverty. Social finance recognizes the human and environmental consequences of economic activities. In this paradigm, for example, socially responsible businesses are capable of bringing about needed changes in our culture through fair labor practices and the charitable distribution of a portion of profits. This is just one emergent approach in which gifting is integral to the whole economic cycle. It presents a picture of a healthier sustainable future—and one which leaves behind the industrialist model of philanthropy that lives so strongly in the mythology of American history.

Source: Economics and the Presence of Philanthropy by John Bloom

After the layover, I’ll be flying to San Antonio where I’ll have a rental car waiting. I’m staying with a friend and her family, whom I haven’t seen since I was 12 years old. My good buddy from college, Shwaa, who recently joined the Army, is in training and I’ll be signing him out every evening, so I’m looking forward to seeing him. For the weekend, the three of us will be going to Austin, and if I have time, I plan on making the drive to Houston before I leave, as I have another long time friend living there. So, I have a lot planned for this one week of vacation and adventure.

I think this is the first time I’ve taken an airplane and I’ve elected to not take every lens with my camera. No, I’m taking only two lenses, my 50mm 1.4 prime and my 70-200mm 2.8 telephoto lens, and that’s it. I hope, and plan, on taking as many pictures as possible. My BlackBerry’s camera will continue to serve my Flickr photo feed and my Nikon will be providing any pictures for the Facebook masses.

I’m leaving behind a motorcycle that I haven’t touched in a while. More parts have shown up for it, that are still sitting in boxes waiting to be put on. At some point, when I get back, I need to drop the oil out of the engine, replace the engine case covers with the new anodized billet aluminum Woodcraft engine covers, plus I’ll be making the final oil change switching to a full Red Line synthetic oil on an extended oil filter coupled with a unique oil magnet. The license plate, registration, and title showed up, so I’ll be installing the fender eliminator as well.

At some point, when I come back from my trip, I need to determine the last two areas of the motorcycle. One is the dreaded suspension, which means looking at rebuilding the front forks, possible Ohlins rear shock replacement, and determining if a shim will be needed since I’m probably going to make a change in the rear tire size. It comes stock with a 190/55 and I’ll most likely switch to some Avon Storm tires running a 190/55 which means the rear suspension height will warrant a minor shim adjustment. The other area I need to look into is the best technology to take care of mounting and wiring the radar detection hardware, and coming up with a solution for the laser and photo jamming. I love technology, especially in a real world use.

On the gear side of life, I’ve upgraded my gloves to some new Held Titan motorcycle gloves made of kangaroo leather. These gloves are rock solid, tight, and give almost too much protection – is that possible? My Vanson Leathers have heavy armor in the forearm section, and the Held gloves have some intense wrist armor action so the double coupling of armor in that area is very extreme.

During my riding in Western Oregon, I experienced some numbing vibrations in my feet, and I’ve diagnosed the problem as my boot soles. Thanks to a good referral, I took my Sidi Vertigo motorcycle boots into Totem Lake to have them professionally resoled. I opted for a slightly harder compound to help with the wet footpeg scenarios, but I’ve yet to try them so a review will be coming up. I’ll be sure to mention the business’ name as well, in that review.

Not sure how often I will get to this blog while I’m on vacation, but as always, follow me on Twitter for real time updates.

I’m riding an incomplete motorcycle. I’m waiting for so many things to arrive – license plate, title, Speed Tactics license plate bracket, Clear Alternatives tail light integrator, Pit Bull swingarm spools, Woodcraft engine case covers, and some Held Titan gloves.

While riding, I noticed my braking power was not where it should be. The brake lines and fluid had been replaced out the prior weekend, but I would enter into familiar intersections and it would take me an additional ten feet to slow down that I was not use to. So doing a rebleed of the brake fluid system revealed one really huge pocket of air in the lines, and now the brake bite is superb, stopping on a dime, and what I expect.

I also changed out the lubrication system on the motorcycle from dinosaur oil to a Spectral blend. Once all the rings seat, I’ll be switching to a full synthetic. I had heard some reports that the Mobil1 oil filter replacement wasn’t working as it should, but after careful inspection of the oil filter and the oil pump, everything told me it should work and I had no problems so I’m running a higher capacity oil filter.

I need to add more miles to the bike to get the break-in service done and out of the way, not to mention getting the rings to seat so I can get some full synthetic in her. The tires are crap – it came stock with Bridgestones but I call them tombstones and others call them slipstones. It comes with a 190/55 on the rear, which limits my options somewhat. I’ll either replace the tire tread out with Michelin Pilot Powers, Avon Storm ST, or the Pirelli Corsa. The Pirelli comes in a 55 rear, but the Michelin and Avon come in a 50 which means I’ll have to add a shim to the rear shock to accommodate the suspension to the different height.

And I’m very close to purchasing an Ohlins rear shock for the suspension. The support is equivalent to Penske, but it costs much more than Penske. The resale value is higher too, but for $75 you can have them rebuilt for any application so it seems like a good purchase that I can switch over to all future motorcycles too. I still have some more research to do. In the meantime, I’m waiting to get more miles so the bike’s suspension will settle down some, then I can dial in, and set the sag, with what I have going on now. No hurry on the Ohlins.

This should be a good week if all the parts continue to come in as scheduled. Next on the ordering list is all the radar, laser, and photo jammer technology and gadgets to help the bike defend itself from our friendly law enforcement officers.

– Daniel Suelo

There are some choices out there – Competition Werkes, Rumble Concepts, Hot Bodies Racing – but all of them are very expensive and since I am using a Clear Alternatives integrated tail light, I dont want there to be additional metal on the rear fender eliminator for the turn signals. I just want a clean license plate bracket, and that’s it. I want it in black, not silver. I want it to mount in the factory holes, not drilled into the rear of the subframe.

I love New Enough, and was shopping for some new Held Gloves, and saw they sold bike accessories as well and came across SpeedTactics as a fender eliminator option for my bike and there it was – finally what I was looking for! The SpeedTactics is black, clean, without blinker mounts, and integrates into the factory holes. And it provides the backing for the license plate, instead of letting the plate just hang on it’s own.

Looking forward to it showing up early next week now!

The 3.2mp camera works great when zoomed out, and makes great live videos.

I dont like the accompanying case though, the 8830’s case was more fitting and compact. I feel like the cases should be swapped. The 9630 is sleeker, sexier, thinner and has the bulky case, whereas the bulky 8830 has the sleeker, thinner case. Meh.

The 8830 was the pinnacle of keyboard perfection, and RIM has touched up the keys on the 9630. The key depth is slightly less, the tactical feel seems softer, yet more firm than the Pre’s keyboard, and overall I do like it. Better? Not sure yet, but it’s quieter, which is nice for those checking your phone sessions during meetings.

The phone comes with 256MB of onboard storage. Using my configuration of software, which was a stripped down BlackBerry OS, Google Maps, Twitter client, and Facebook – the 8830 had around 16MB free on OS 4.5 and 9MB free on OS 4.7. This new BlackBerry has over 120MB free, which lets me load on other cool stuff like Pandora!

A 1GB memory card was already slotted in the phone, you can max it out to 8GB if you want.

Cool phone – havent had it for more than a few hours, it’s definitely the best BlackBerry out on the market, especially in CDMA flavor.

First impressions: The SMS text feature is awesome. It appears the only charges are incurred through international calling, which is reasonable, so I hope there are no other costs. I dont see any options to get or purchase additional Google Voice phone numbers – I’d be willing to pay a nominal fee to add a couple extra phone numbers, otherwise I’ll have to use another Google account.

I wonder if Google Analytic support will ever incorporate Voice metrics.