JabberWocky!

I have heard about this Website for a long time from many of my friends that use it and have been going to blog about it many times but it seems that each time I was going to blog about it something else came up and they had to take a back seat!

I am speaking about the Freecycle Network. They started out in 2003 as a nonprofit organization that provided recycling services to downtown businesses and also provided transitional employment to the good people of Tucson, Arizona.

Soon after starting out they began to see perfectly good re-usable items being thrown away and found themselves calling and driving around to local nonprofit organizations to see if they could use any of the items.

After seeing how much time and fuel was being used doing this, the founder, Deron Beal, came up with an idea of an easier way of doing this and set up a Freecycle e-mail group that enabled Everyone in Tucson to give And receive and at that point ‘freecycle’ took off!

Now 6 years down the road, ‘freecycle’ has spread out over the entire World touching 85 countries and growing every day. There are thousands of local groups and millions of people helping people by…

“changing the world one gift at a time”

At this time they are also keeping approximately 500 tons a day out of landfills which amounts to 5 times the height of Mt. Everest in just one year alone.

Freecycle is a FREE, no strings attached network for giving and receiving, it also instills a sense of generosity, strengthens community ties and it promotes environmental sustainability and reuse.

People from all walks of life are joining together to turn their trash into treasure and if you have a bit of “treasure” that you would like to give Or if you are looking for a bit of “treasure” then I would suggest checking out the Freecycle Network and seeing if there just might be something you can give Or use to help sustain our environment!

freecycle

That’s all for me today, I hope to see you back here again soon for some more…

A few days ago a red panda cub was shown off to the World for the first time at the Calgary Zoo. She was born on June 4 of this year and is said to be doing very well. She is obviously eating well as she supposedly already has a nice, big tummy!! The public will not be able to view her until the end of the summer.

Zoo keepers are keeping watch over her and her 5 year old mother, Malikha who gave birth to this little ones sister two years ago. Malikha is reportedly a good mother and while she only tolerates her new cub being taken away from her for brief periods of time for the necessary health checks she takes care all of the the rest of her cubs needs such as grooming and making sure that she is returned to her nest box!

When a new red panda is born and raised by it’s mother it is very special because unfortunately the mortality rate for these red panda cubs are as high as 74%! Red pandas reach maturity at about 18 months old.

There are less than 10,000 mature red pandas in the World today and they are classified as “vulnerable” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red list.

The cub hasn’t a name yet but when she does I am sure that it will be something very fitting for this:

Red Panda Cub!

That’s all for me today but hope to see you back again soon for some more good old fashioned…

Jay Leno, also known as The Holy Grail of Comediennes, was ushered onto the stage last night with a version of “The Star-Spangled Banner”, by bandleader Kevin Eubanks.

As soon as the applause died down he began his monologue saying:

“Welcome to the exciting season finale of The Tonight Show, I want to thank all the people who made it possible: Michael Jackson, Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton.”

Jay Leno also got in a last quip at O.J. Simpson. Leno remarked about cleaning out his office, “I found O.J.’s knife. I had it the whole time.”

His swan song last night had a very limited guest list, he did welcome Conan O’Brien though as his final guest, thus giving him a pre-debut boost since Conan O’Brien will be sitting in Leno’s chair starting Monday, Billy Crystal, who was Jay Leno’s first guest on his first show was there and James Taylor, who was his final musical guest, was present also and performed “Sweet Baby James”. The remainder of the show consisted mainly of the best highlights of the last 17 years.

And so ends yet another era of The Tonight Show, this one with Jay Leno finishing his 17-year tenure as the show’s second-longest running host.

Jay Leno Final Tonight Show

Last night, Friday May 29, 2009, was all for Jay Leno and The Tonight Show just like that’s all for me today! Hope to see you back again soon for some more…

I was reading this morning how 4 states, Arkansas, Indiana, Nevada and Virginia have all adopted the Neutral Facial Expression law when it comes to getting your Driver’s License these days.

Now isn’t this going to be something? EVERYONE is always saying just how horrible their Drivers License photo’s look to begin with, in fact most say it looks like a mug shot, and NOW, they aren’t even going to be allowed to Smile in their Driver’s License Mug Shot!!

Well, I suppose most people Don’t Smile anyway when they are getting a Mug Shot taken, but there will probably be a lot more terrified Police Officers out there in these states when they ask people for their ID’s from now on!!!

Needless to say I am sure that a lot more states in America are going to follow suit and adopt this law also, so I suppose we should all get ready for some Worse Driver’s License photos in the future! And remember:

Don’t Say CHEESE!!

That’s all for me today I hope to see you back again soon and I am going to try to return from Hiatus more often also, I’m sorry for the long disappearance’s, but they can not be helped!

In 2011 it is expected that the New 7 Wonders of Nature will be announced. There is a 3 year contest in progress in which more than 250 sites are in the running for the 7 “prizes” and I must say it is certainly going to be a hard contest to judge as each and every one of the contenders are magnificent in their own right.

Personally I think it was a hard contest to get the list down to just 250 sites considering what Mother Nature has blessed us with in terms of her beauty but it has been done even though I don’t know how!

Below is a link to a slide show of 21 of the 250 contenders that have proven to be among the favorites.

Starting with the Great Barrier Reef along the coast of Queensland, Australia and ending with The Grand Canyon, a mile-deep canyon that has been carved by the Colorado River this slide show is definitely worth the time it takes to view it! Why don’t you check it out and see if you don’t agree with me!

The New Natural Wonders of the World

That’s all for me today, hope to see all of you back here again soon for some more…

It seems as though there are a couple of eRumors going around recently about boycotting McDonald’s and Burger King because they are buying beef from foreign sources.

One of the eRumors states that these companies are buying beef from South America but McDonald’s and Burger King are vehemently denying this stating that they are Not purchasing beef from South America but rather they are conducting a small experiment using less than 1% of their beef and purchasing Lean beef from Australia and New Zealand and furthermore this is nothing new as it has been going on for years and they are not suppose to be the only ones buying foreign beef as most major fast food restaurants such as Taco Bell, Wendy’s and Carl’s Jr. are also using up to 50% imported beef in their restaurants.

One of the eRumors states that McDonald’s has claimed that there is a shortage of beef in the United States and that is why they are purchasing beef from other countries but McDonald’s denies saying this, McDonald’s states that what it said was: that there is a shortage of LEAN beef in the United States.

McDonald’s is the largest buyer of beef in the United States per year with Burger King coming in second and of course any beef purchased and/or served is 100% USDA-approved and inspected.

That’s about it for me today, hope you have a good one and see you back soon for some more good old fashioned…

Translated the title of this post is:

Happy Birthday Queen Beatrix!

For those of you that don’t know, I live in The Netherlands and Queen Beatrix is the reining Queen of our country. Today is her 71st birthday and there have been many rumors going around that Queen Beatrix is going to step down today and hand the reins over to her son and heir Prince Willem-Alexander.

If this should happen to be true then Prince Willem-Alexander would be the first King that The Netherlands has had since King William III stepped down in 1890, 119 years ago.

Since that time The Netherlands has been ruled by Queens and when Prince Willem-Alexander becomes King, whenever that might be, and steps down the rule of The Netherlands will again revert back to a Queen as all three of his children are daughters.

But enough about speculation of what this day will bring and the history of The Netherlands as this post is to congratulate Queen Beatrix on her 71st birthday and wishing her many happy returns!

So to honor you and your birthday Queen Beatrix here’s a little Happy Birthday song for you…Dutch style of course!!

Lang Zal Ze Leven

That’s all for me today and hope to see you back again soon for more…

In case you can’t read Chinese the title says Happy New Year in just one of the many dialects of China.

If you haven’t already heard, today is Chinese New Year which is celebrated every year on the First Day of the First Moon of the Lunar Calendar and this is happens to be the year of the Ox.

If you would like to know more about Chinese New Year and it’s traditions there are some very interesting facts located here:

Chinese New Year and it’s traditions

And if you happen to have been born in the year of the Ox, past or present you can find the attributes of people born during this year here:

Attributes of people born in the year of the Ox

If you don’t know which zodiac sign you were born under but would like to read your horoscope for this year you can do that here:

Chinese Horoscope Year of the Ox Predictions

I hope each and every one of you have a wonderful Chinese New Year and wishing you much luck in the coming year!

That’s all for me today but hope to see you back again soon for some more good old fashioned…

From Tim Russert to “Sunny” von Bulow, a look at the stories, newsmakers and top sports figures who died in 2008:

Farewell 2008

That’s all for me today and this year in fact so I hope that each and every one of you and your families have a wonderful, healthy and prosperous 2009 & I’ll see all of you back next year for some more good old fashioned…

Do you know where Santa is at this very moment?

Well if not you can track him here:

Where’s Santa Now?

That’s all for me today, I’m off to do a bit more tracking!

Happy Holidays from Uni and Sage & see you back again soon for some more…