…And another thing

On Saturday, March 29, Independents Hall held its first blood drive. Indyhall co-founder Alex Hillman totally supported the idea the minute I asked. He blogged about the drive and talked it up, and organized the transformation of the co-working space into a co-donating space the night before. Indyhall members moved the furniture so that the donor beds could be set up, and at 7 am on Saturday, the Red Cross arrived. At 9am, Alex was in the first slot, with Jason Hill of National Mechanics (our favorite place) right next to him! It was a terrific feeling to be a part of this lifesaving effort! Twenty-two people rolled up their sleeves and donated, and afterwards Ruth Kalinka led a large crowd to Franklin Fountain for ice cream.

Here are some interviews with the great folks who made this happen!

Went to the Past of Web Apps (POWA) conference. The best session covered the first tablet - used to launch the Ten Commandments. It became very popular in spite of being TOTALLY proprietary. Compared with earlier Templetops, it was mobile but still very heavy, and relied on inflexible hard-coding. Now, it did format side-by-side columns with a clean, table-free design, but they only displayed correctly in one browser - Mosezilla. The code itself was easy to learn, though, and represented the first universal set of standards.

Many of us would like to make the world better, but there are so many complex problems that the task seems overwhelming. Here’s something you can do about a real problem: donate blood. Blood is needed every single day, not just in emergencies. Donating blood takes about an hour or so. It’s safe, easy, and free! And you really do help save lives.

Sign up for the Independents Hall Blood Drive on Saturday, March 29, from 9am to 3pm. Independents Hall is located at 32 South Strawberry Street in Old City, between 2nd and 3rd and Market and Chestnut Streets. You can sign up online here: Registration page