Donation Idea Had Very Little Spice For Taco Bell

Jacob Ellsbury's stolen base in Game 2 of this past World Series will go down as a minor footnote in the annals of baseball history. For Boston Red Sox fans, the stolen base ended up meaning little in the context of a four-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies.

For America it meant a free taco at Taco Bell as part of a "Steal a Base, Steal a Taco" promotion. Three guys in New England, however, tried to give that meaningless stolen base a little more meaning.

Mike Esordi, Ed Northby and Jeremy Milner work together at Care New England, a Providence, R.I.-based health system. They were at lunch having burritos - at Taco Bell no less - when the discussion turned to the previous night's Sox game. One conversation led to another and www.donateyourtaco.com was born.

The online petition asked people to forgo their free taco, which retails for less than $1, and instead ask Taco Bell to donate the equivalent to the American Red Cross for relief efforts for the San Diego wildfires.

The petition doubled from 2,000 yo 4,000, on the morning of Oct. 3o, said Escordi, and reached more than 9,200 before the 5 p.m. deadline while the web page had 15,000 unique visitors that day, representing all 50 states. Escordi, who used to live in Southern California, said Taco Bell basically turned them down, but they're working on Plan B. He's open to suggestions.

Ellsbury walked and stole second base in the bottom of the fourth inning. Julio Lugo grounded out to end the inning, stranding Ellsbury at second base and leaving the score tied 1-1.

-Mark Hrywna

Just a Dancin' Fool...

According to talk-show powerhouse Oprah Winfrey, all it took was a guy, a stage, a spotlight...and some killer dance moves.

The result: "Evolution of Dance," the little video that could... garner 60 million views on YouTube, that is, and notoriety as the most viewed video of all time on the user-generated site.

Just as Judson Laipply did with his shimmies and shakes through decades of popular dance moves --- including such flat-footed staples as the "running man" and the "roger rabbit" --- so can you. Here are some simple tips compliled by Collactive, which assists nonprofits, like Campaign for America's Future, with Web 2.0 technologies:

• Create a relevant, informative video
• Keep video short - preferably less than two minutes
• Select a catchy title and thumbnail shot, which is uaually the exact middle, or "center frame," of your video
• Choose a relevant niche category to got on "Most Viewed Today" list
• Target the "Most Viewed Today" lists, rather than "Top Rated," "Most Discussed," or "Top Favorites"
• Ask constituents to view and promote your video

-Marla E. Nobles