Fantasy Olympics: Go For the Gold in Beijing

Just a quick post to share a time-sensitive find. My girls and I are planning to chart the Olympic medals by event, so I went looking for Olympic data online. Given my fantasy baseball involvement, I looked to see if there was a fantasy league for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. There is -- if interested, check out TheFantasyOlympics.net.

Alzheimer's Memory Walk: Coming to a Town Near You

For those of you in Gainesville and Ocala, FL, what are you and your family doing Saturday morning, October 4 (note: Gators are in Arkansas)? What about my readers in Jacksonville (9/20) and Orlando (10/11)? How about a short walk, just 1-3 miles, for a good cause: The Alzheimer's Memory Walk.

Before I share more, go ahead and stick a placeholder on your calendar for those dates/locations, or check the walk dates near your ZIP below. I'll wait...

By ZIP: Within 10 MilesWithin 20 MilesWithin 30 MilesWithin 40 MilesWithin 50 MilesWithin 75 MilesWithin 100 Miles Search by state or by chapter

OK, now that you've saved the date I can share some more. The Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk is the largest event in the nation dedicated to raising funds and awareness for Alzheimer's -- expecting over 200,000 participants this year alone.

One of the ways they get so much participation is because of their "team" concept; whereby a team captain invites a few friends, who invite a few friends. They are looking for all participants, but especially team captains. I'm focused on getting family involved. You can learn about all the options to help by clicking "Learn how" below -- they even have "virtual" teams, for anyone who can't find a Walk nearby.

Over 5 million people have Alzheimer's and most of us already know someone who has it. If you don't, I've done some research of my own (via About) -- you might know some of these:

Joe Adcock, baseball player
Mabel Albertson, actor
Dana Andrews, actor
Rudolph Bing, opera impresario
James Brooks, artist
Charles Bronson actor, film director
Abe Burrows,author
Carroll Campbell, Former Rebublican Senator
Joyce Chen, chef
Perry Como, Singer entertainer
Aaron Copland, composer
Willem DeKooning, artist
James Doohan, actor
Thomas Dorsey, singer
Tom Fears, professional football player and coach
Louis Feraud, fashion designer
Arlene Francis, actor
Mike Frankovich, film producer
John Douglas French, physician
Barry Goldwater, Senator of Arizona
Rita Hayworth, actress
Raul Silva Henriquez, Roman Catholic cardinal, human rights advocate
Charlton Heston actor and political activist
Mervyn Leroy, director
Jack Lord, actor
Ross MacDonald, author
Burgess Meredith, actor
Iris Murdoch, author
Edmond O’Brien, actor
Arthur O’Connell, actor
Marv Owen, baseball player
Molly Picon, actor
Otto Preminger, director
Bill Quackenbush, professional hockey player
Ronald Reagan, 40th President of USA
Harry Ritz, performer
Sugar Ray Robinson, boxer
Norman Rockwell, artist
Simon Scott, actor
Irving Shulman, screenwriter
Betty Schwartz, Olympic gold medal winner in track events
Kay Swift,composer
Alfred Van Vogt, science fiction writer
E.B. White, author
Harold Wilson, British Prime Minister

This video includes others touched by Alzheimer's:

Please help if you can.

Related images: alzheimers, memory walk

VCDB: Venture Funds by Keyword, Geography, Assets and Blogs?

Matt Winn has executed on a mashup idea I've had for some time: a VC database, searchable by keyword, partner, location and assets under management. He even has the option of searching for VCs who blog. I'm not sure how he's accessing the data (scraping NVCA, BOSS, ?) and some of it needs some scrubbing, but the resulting mashup is another great step behind the curtain of raising venture capital.

If you search for Florida venture capital firms you'll find something like:
(you can see VCDB is missing a Managing Partner and a Venture Partner for our fund)

I really like what Matt's created and want to encourage/support the "entrepreneur friendly" ecosystem he's trying to create. Give Matt's VCDB a spin and help make it better...great job Matt!

(via @magical_trevor)

Sunscreen, for Fruit?

Given Florida's roots in agriculture, PurFresh caught my attention recently. Their product, PurShade, is an SPF 45 spray to protect fruit from solar radiation -- yes, sunscreen for fruit. Evidently, the sun can destroy 20-40% of some crops. In the words of a Florida distributor:

"Growers in South Florida can experience severe sunburn or sun-scald on watermelons, peppers and tomatoes," said Frisbie, who works for Howard Fertilizer and Chemical. "The higher SPF factor found in Purshade offers better sun protection on exposed fruit."

The Fremont, CA-company even closed $25M from Foundation Capital earlier this year. What'll they think of next...