The barber’s friends (5×8 – 8/12/11)

This will be the last Five by Eight for two weeks. We’re driving out to Cape Cod and Vermont for a few weeks of looking at water and thinking about nothing. All you need is a good porch, a chair, and an ocean. Check.

It’s Friday. Friday is for giving deserving people a chance at a little attention.

1) PEOPLE DOING GOOD: THE BARBER’S FRIENDS

I wrote briefly about this 89-year-old barber earlier this week…

Aaron Biber’s shop was vandalized in the riots in the UK. He didn’t have any insurance and couldn’t afford to fix things. NewsCut reader Pat Kaluza of Lakeville writes this morning to report people have pitched in to help him get back in business. The Keep Aaron Cutting website has been raising money to clean up the shop and provides this video…

Keep Aaron Cutting from BBH Barn on Vimeo.

A similar effort has been launched for Siva Kandiah, whose shop was wiped out. The website is Help Siva. And the site set up for Ashraf Haziq has stopped taking donations; they received plenty for the young man who was robbed and beaten at the height of the riots.

2) GAVIN’S WISH

Gavin Maus, 5, of West Fargo, has wanted to ride on a big green tractor and has wanted to eat crab on a beach. Yesterday, a few dozen people marched up his street, behind a big green tractor. This weekend, the people who raised enough money for him will send him and his family to Virginia to go crabbing.

3) THE INVISIBLE ARTIST

Liu Bolin camouflages himself in his art. His latest work is in a grocery store. It’s a protest, apparently, against the use of plastic. His exhibit is opening in New York. Find him — if you can — here.

4) TIME FLIES, TOO

Marine pilot Lloyd Flynn and his gunner mate Dan Williams hadn’t seen each other since 1944, until yesterday in Edina. It was Dan’s son who arranged the surprise, and drove him from Washington state, the Star Tribune’s Tom Meersman says.

5) IF A COMEDIAN DETERMINED THE NEXT PRESIDENT

Stephen Colbert, the comedian, won his fight to create a “super PAC,” partly as a protest against the political fundraising system. Overnight, he released his second ad in advance of the Iowa straw poll.

An Iowa GOP official tells APM’s Marketplace that a vote for Rick Parry will probably be a vote for Rick Perry.

Rick Hasen, who writes the Election Law blog, tells Marketplace that Colbert may be “playing with fire,” influencing the election in ways he didn’t intend.

“I think it’s completely ambiguous, and that is why if this were a real election, I’d find Colbert’s behavior very troubling,” he said.

I’ll bite. How? By making a mockery of a serious, issue-filled, intelligent, well-informed campaign system?

MY ‘TODAY’S QUESTION’

What dreams should we have about tomorrow?

THE OFFICIAL ‘TODAY’S QUESTION’

Republican presidential candidates Michelle Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty traded jabs at a debate in Ames, Iowa last night ahead of Saturday’s Iowa straw poll. Meanwhile, Texas Governor Rick Perry says he’ll enter the race. Today’s Question: Which Republican has the best chance of getting the party’s nomination for president?

WHAT WE’RE DOING

Midmorning (9-11 a.m.) – First hour: Strategies for reducing the amount of household waste.

Second hour: Gardening questions and answers.

Midday (11 a.m. – 1 p.m.) – First hour: the 50th anniversary of the Berlin Wall.

Second hour: Roy Blount Jr.

Talk of the Nation (1-3 p.m.) – First hour: Will climate change cause more people to go hungry?

Second hour: How to get kids interested in science.