I remember in 1981 I was in sixth grade, and all the sixth graders gathered together in the school library to watch the launch of Columbia. The names John Young and Robert Crippen were seared into our brains.

I was too young to have seen the Apollo missions to the moon, and of course things like the Mercury and Gemini missions, as well as the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik, are history to me. So in a way, the shuttle was “my generation’s” space travel.

Today, sitting at my office desk I just watched the last shuttle launch on NASA-TV in beautiful high definition. It was a beautiful launch–watching the burn of the rockets, the impressive trail of smoke as the shuttle disappeared into the clouds, the shuttle getting through that horrible “go with throttle up” moment, the shuttle breaking the speed of sound, and the view of the rocket boosters separating onto the sphere of earth.

It’s hard to believe we won’t be seeing this again for a while, perhaps not in many of our lifetimes. And it’s hard to believe that for the first time in 50 years, the new generation of kids growing up will not be able to have a manned space program to inspire them. While the government a few years ago had laid out a hopeful plan for us to re-visit the moon and perhaps even prepare for a mission to Mars, those plans have since been cancelled.

Since JFK first gave his challenge to land a man on the moon until today, space exploration has been something which unites us a country, which helps young children dream, and which boosts the collective imagination and hope of us all. Sadly, the politicians of today seem to forget all the intangibles that the space program offers. Bold and daring leadership have given pay to petty and short-sighted political jockeying. Worse, certain countries such as China and India, who know the long-term value of space exploration to a country’s innovation, economies, and pride, continue to invest in their space programs.

There is one non-profit organization which continues to advocate for space exploration, The Planetary Society. They have a petition you can sign today to ask our government not to abandon the space program. In addition, if you join as a member, not only will you support their ongoing work, you’ll also receive a beautiful set of posters.

If you’re a cook in need of good quality basic kitchen supplies, check out the HIC Brands that Cook Essentials line of cookware and kitchen accessories.

These are highly rated kitchen supplies that meet the specifications of professionals. They’re safer than the cheap supplies you buy in discount stores (for example, their silicone bakeware is 100% silicone and meets European and FDA standards for safety), and yet are much more affordable than high-end bakeware.

A portion of the proceeds for every Essentials item sold goes to C-CAP, Careers through Culinary Arts Program (http://www.ccapinc.org/). This is a great national nonprofit which is the largest independent high school culinary scholarship program in the United States. It manages prepares underserved high school students for college and for careers in both the restaurant and hospitality industries.

Here’s a nice little thing that Cosi is doing for teacher’s today on Teacher’s Appreciation Day. They’re giving away free Apple Crunch Salads. If there’s a teacher in your life, tell them to mosey on down to their local Cosi. But hurry–the salads are only being given away May 3, 2011 after 5:00 PM!

This vintage cherry Epiphone EJ-160E Acoustic-Electric Guitar is a faithful reproduction of John’s famous J160E guitar, originally produced by Gibson.

Its Advanced Jumbo acoustic design has a great balanced tone and which will improve with age and play. As with the original, you can play it acoustically or as an electric guitar with a unique EJ-160E Mini-Humbucker.

A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the BMI Foundation for the John Lennon Music Scholarship fund, which supports music education.

Unless you’ve been under a rock, you’ve probably heard about a new site called Groupon. This is a site where every day in big cities around the country they post a new deal for 50% off a restaurant, attraction, or service. A certain number of people need to accept the deal to “tip” it, and after a limited amount of coupons are gone, they’re gone forever.

I’ve personally used it several times and have eaten in some of the best restaurants in New York City as a result for fast-food prices. It’s an ingenious business model–what the small business gives up in profit for that period of time, they more than make up for with exposure and breakage. Groupon, of course, takes their cut of the profit and also benefits from a ton of traffic to their site. And they’ve benefited–in a very short time the company was valued at over $1 billion.

I’m happy to see that Groupon is sharing the wealth, so to speak. Today, they launched a deal where you can double your donation to the group DonorsChoose.org.

http://www.groupon.com/deals/donorschoose-org-online-national

This is a great organization where public school teachers post their projects, and the public can donate to make these projects possible. Given that so many of our public schools are struggling due to layers of government bureaucracy and mismanagement, it’s a great way for the public to reach out directly to the individual teachers who work directly with the kids.

It’s a great organization to  donate to ordinarily, but now, your $10 donation can be double to $20, your $25 donation can become $50, your $50 can become $100, your $100 can become $200, and your $250 can become $500. And the money you pay, of course, is tax deductible.

For today only, the site Midnightbox.com is selling a box of used golf balls. The cost is $24.95 for a box of golf balls, all assorted well-known brand names.

And as with all used golf balls, because they’re usually lost by bad golfers like me, chances are they’ve only been hit once or twice before ending up in the weeds for collection.

Hurry and pounce on this one, because the sell-out meter is quickly creeping up!

Proceeds will go to Our Lady of Black Rock School in Buffalo.

UPDATE FOR 2011:

The 2011 In the Classroom Tee is out and can be purchased directly from the Jones New York Web site. It looks even more stunning than previous years’ versions, with a stunning red design by Sarah Singh. As always, 100% of proceeds will go to help New York city classrooms.

This WILL sell out, so get it while you can!

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Original Post from 2010:

The Jones New York Signature Tee, In the Classroom is a cotton crewneck T-Shirt illustrated by artist Sujean Rim. The illustration is a stylish and colorful screen print design of a teacher holding apple shopping bags.

100% of the profits are donated to Jones New York In The Classroom, a non-profit organization supporting teachers and education.

We highlight a lot of worthy causes on this blog, but here’s one that you’ll definitely be able to get behind if you have a family, because the beneficiary is–you!

If you haven’t heard of it. Upromise is a completely FREE program where through every day spending, both online purchases and offline purchases such as filling up your gas tank, going to McDonalds, or going to the supermarket, you can save money, a few cents at a time, for your children’s college fund.

Here’s how it works. You start off by registering your credit cards (it’s 100% safe) and your supermarket and drugstore cards. Then, you can earn points in different ways:

1. If you shop online at stores such as eBay or the Gap or Target.com, you’ll be credited with anywhere from 1% to 15% on any purchase. The percentage varies by store, most are in the 1% to 5% range, and they’re on TOP of whatever coupons or discounts you enjoy at their site already.
2. If you go to the supermarket or a drugstore and purchase anything from a list of hundreds of products they have, ranging from Florida’s Natural orange juice to Charmin toilet tissue to Hefty storage bags to Beech-Nut baby food, you’ll be credited with anywhere from 1% to 5% of the price. To be honest, most of the time I don’t even think about it–I check my statement and see a few dollars from purchases I would have made anyway.
3. One cool new feature is called “eCoupons”. They’re coupons which you don’t have to clip or print–you just click a button on their Web site, buy that item in the supermarket, and you get money credited to your account.
4. If you fill up your gas at Exxon or Mobil, you get a percentage of your purchase price back.
5. You can earn points by dining out at over 8000 restaurants.
6. There are also special offers of cashback for banking, insurance, mortgages, travel and more services which can net you thousands of dollars.

Sure, given the price of college you wouldn’t think a dollar here or there is going to help. But because you can put all the money you collect into a 529 plan which is completely free of federal or state tax forever, provided you use it for college expenses (Upromise even provides recommendations on all the major 529 plans). As I write this, the stock market is at a low point, which means there’s no better time to start putting money in to a 529. And with the magic of compounded interest, even a few dollars today can turn into thousands of dollars by the time your children go to college.

The sooner you Join Upromise, the sooner you can turn your everyday spending into college savings. And while this isn’t a typical charitable cause, bottom line is, getting your kids a decent education so they can be successful, make great contributions to this country and get this country moving again, that’s a great cause.