I just discovered 2 awesome sites: http://www.kiva.org Kiva is an online microcredit service. Now anyone with $25 and Paypal can become a microcredit lender. Sign up with this site and lend money to the microentrepreneurs of your choice. http://www.nextbillion.net NextBillion.net brings together the community of business leaders, social entrepreneurs, NGOs, policy makers, and academics who want to explore the connection between development and enterprise. Create an account today and start sharing your thoughts. Read more...

SYNERGY (10 pictures) Added by Tim M. on Jun 22, 2006

Check out http://tim-mcginnis.com/audio.html for all the Synergy clips from last Sunday June 18 There are 12 video clips and 28 audio clips available for you to download and share with your friends. Share 'em with your friends. Check out the upcoming events at the bottom of the post. Too much fun. tim -- Tim McGinnis, MA Life Purpose Catalyst http://tim-mcginnis.com 310-384-2425

Village is moving forward. An artist I met via Craigslist, Blake Douglas , drew up this thumbnail. His work is going to be the cover art and website art for VillagetheGame.com. Btw, I changed the name from SimVillage to Village . I decided I didn't want to get sued by SimCity. Last Friday, I had a viewing of "The New Heroes" documentary. Eight more people now get why I'm building this game to show off what these social entrepreneurs are doing. Last Sunday, we had our first night of "Synergy" at the 1570. Tim organized a night where anyone and everyone could share something. And something we got, everything from songs and poetry, to a guy making gross popping noises with his finger. Several shared something and deep and personal. So yeah, there's a lot going on to praise God for these days. Prayer Requests Pray for this coming Friday night, we're having people over to try listening to God. To some people listening is a foreign concept, usua

Reply to: gigs-172746548@craigslist.org Date: 2006-06-18, 3:33AM PDT VillagetheGame.com is going to be a online game where you practice building villages in third world countries. Using real-world technology and businesses custom designed for developing nations you must set your village onto the path of prosperity. A great example of this technology is Kickstart's Money Maker pump http://www.kickstart.org. I need someone experienced with javascript development, preferably somebody who has built a game in javascript. The full design doc for this prototype can be found at: http://simvillage.blogspot.com/2006/06/webvillage-simvillages-first-prototype.html no -- it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests Compensation: looking for bids.

When: 8pm Fri, Jun 16, 2006 Where:1570 N Holliston Ave, Pasadena CA 91104 http://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/ The New Heroes tells the dramatic stories of 14 daring people from all corners of the globe who, against all odds, are successfully alleviating poverty and illness, combating unemployment and violence, and bringing education, light, opportunity and freedom to poor and marginalized people around the world. Also known as "social entrepreneurs," they develop innovations that bring life-changing tools and resources to people desperate for viable solutions. What is possible? You'd be surprised. Take a journey into a world where people take action to make a big difference. Drinks and snacks will already be there.  Bring extra stuff if you want.  Let me know if you need directions. Reply to: comm-171965169@craigslist.org

I came up with some critical questions for my game plan. If you're an expert in game development and got some answers please send me an email: answers@villagethegame.com. How much does it really cost to build a quality game if you're not building your own gaming engine or graphics engine? What's the best game engine to build on? What should I expect to pay for sound effects, original compositions, and licensed music? What's the cost difference between 2D animation and 3D animation? Considering I'm not pushing the limits of graphics or gaming engines what quality of game could I build for $70,000? How much would it cost to build Warcraft II with 2006 technology?

Game Summary SimVillage immerses the player into the real world of developing nations. As a super entrepreneur start up any business designed for the third world village. Fly over the village, look into what problems it has, assess what resources it has and choose the best businesses to start and how to manage them. Pick the right ones and the village's economy takes off, pick the wrong ones and watch the village waste away. Initial Game Play Imagine you are flying over top a village in Kenya watching people, cattle, pigs, chicken walking about, farmers tending to their crops, people buying and selling goods in the town markets. Imagine you can click on anybody in the village and see what income they have, what access they have to jobs, healthcare, education, etc. Click on the storefronts in the town center to find out what is selling well, and what's missing entirely. After perusing the village and assessing the needs of the villagers and what you think you can sel

The picture above is one of the technologies I am promoting in the first prototype of SimVillage. It's a simple, affordable water pump invented by Kickstart and it's revolutionizing the lives of Kenyan farmers. With this simple pump thousands of farmers have tenfold their income! SimVillage with the occasional acting gig has been consuming my life. Last weekend I ended up at a house-warming party of a friend of a friend of a friends' =) Little did I know that I was going to be surrounded by game developers. I would have worn something nicer than swimming trunks. =)