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…

I hope that everyone had a great New Year!

I came across this video that I thought you may be interested in. It is becoming far more profitable for Internet providers to limit and prioritize your Internet access. From their point of view, the ideal business model would be a television-like system that requires you to pay extra subscription fees to access sites that aren’t included in your standard package of ‘channels’.

Net Neutrality

That’s it for me today but see you again soon for more information about…

In the future it will probably read something like:

Democrat Barack Obama won the 2008 U.S. presidential election to become the 44th President of the United States and the first African-American to hold the highest office in the nation.

Making his running mate, Joe Biden, the 44th Vice President of the United States of course.

This piece of history was over 200 years in the making and they said it could never be done but president-elect Obama and millions upon millions of voters disagreeded and said “Yes We Can”…and of course they did.

Senator McCain conceded defeat after receiving only 156 electoral votes to president-elect Obama’s 338, (270 being the magic number to win).

I just finished listening to his first address to the nation as president-elect where he congratulated Senator McCain for a very well run race and in which he told Americans, (in short), that “change has come to America” and that the road will be long and steep but if we put aside our differences and all pull together that there is nothing we can not do and we can overcome any hardship…”Yes We Can”.

‘All things are possible’ address to the nation

In closing I would just like to say congratulations to president-elect Obama, his new Vice President Joe Biden and wish you Godspeed.

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

In 1842: Abraham Lincoln married Lexington-born Mary Todd.

In 1918: Austria surrendered to the Allies.

In 1922: British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in Luxor, Egypt.

In 1952: Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected president of the United States.

In 1979: Student followers of Ruhollah Khomeini stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking hostages.

In 1995: Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin wass assassinated and…

William III, (King of England 1650), Will Rogers, (1879), Walter Cronkite, (1916) and Robert Mapplethorpe, (1946) were born.

And then comes today.

November 4, 2008, Election Day…as of tomorrow, will be yet another one for the history books. And what a day it will be.

Personally I think in years and even centuries to come today will be remembered by many as the day that a very special history was made.

It doesn’t matter who you vote for, nor who wins, (of course we all want our favorite candidate to win), the White House will see something that it has never seen before and I dare say, in the past, it was thought could never happen!

Yes, the White House will either see a Black American President or a White American Woman Vice President walking down it’s hallowed halls regularly…who would have thought???!!! Certainly no one or not many a short century ago!

This is going to be a very special election in America’s history and I hope that each and every one of you make a special effort to be a Part of this day and not just a bystander!

I was sitting in my home a couple of days ago listening to the news and heard that over 20 million American’s had voted already. That alone tells you that people are very interested in this election, (as should be every election).

So go on, grab your coat and walk, run, bicycle, unicycle, bus, train, tram, sidecar, metro, kayak, drive or any other transportation you can think of and get to those polls before they close tonight!

I’m sure you’ll be glad you did because no matter what they say…YOUR VOTE DOES COUNT!!

I would like to thank MSN encarta for all of the helpful historical facts used in this post.

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

In just 4 short days, on March 29th between 8:00-9:00 p.m., Earth Hour, the global movement to shut off the lights for one hour in order to make a statement about climate change, will be here.

The momentum is really beginning to build as more and more individuals, businesses, and even cities are planning to participate.

Together, people around the globe are going to deliver a powerful message to the citizens and leaders of the world about the need for action on climate change, Now, as it is the greatest threat our planet has ever faced.

Earth Hour is going to give everyone the opportunity to take action and influence others to begin a change that will alter te course of climate change forever.

By turning off the lights during Earth Hour each and every one of us will signify the beginning of what just one person can do to help make a big impact on climate change.

To find out more about Earth Hour, sign up free for Earth Hour and be counted by committing to turn off your lights, create your own Earth Hour event, reduce your impact, know your footprint and more go to:

Earth Hour

I urge all of you to get involved for all of our sakes…after all, an hour in the dark on a Saturday night can’t be all that hard to fill!

That’s all for me today, see you back again tomorrow for more…

That is how the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society likes to see itself. Sea Shepherd was incorporated in the Untied States in 1981 and before that the idea of Sea Shepherd was formed in 1977 in Vancouver BC, Canada. The original mandate was marine mammal protection and conservation with an immediate goal of shutting down illegal whaling and sealing operations, but Sea Shepherd later expanded its mission to include all marine wildlife.

This conversation society is dedicated to investigating violations, enforcing laws and protecting marine wildlife worldwide.

At the moment some of their campaigns include Defending Whales, Galapagos Islands, Longlining and Shark Finning, Seal Hunts and Taiji Dolphins.

They also have an Eco-Crime Watch reward program offering $25,000 for any person or group that can provide the coordinates of the Japanese Whaling Fleet that successfully leads Sea Shepherd to the fleet and there are of course more rewards being offered also.

In this video it shows Sea Shepherd chasing the Japanese Whaling Fleet along the coast of Antarctica for 50 days and 4,000 miles. I must warn you though that the video is quite graphic and may not be suitable for everyone.

Pirates of Compassion

According to the presenter of this video, the one thing worth fighting for on this planet earth is life.

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

That’s all for me today, see you back again tomorrow for more…

To make the sign simply place your hand on your heart as though you’re saying the Pledge of Allegiance, then pull your hand down and out, bending at the elbow, (not the wrist), stopping for a moment at about the belly button with your hand flat, palm up, angled toward the person you’re thanking.

This sign originated in France in the late 1700’s and was brought to the United States in 1816. That sign is now the standard sign for “thank you” in American Sign Language and for the past several years it has also been used as a global sign to show gratitude to soldiers and other people serving their communities that you want to say “thank you” to for their service.

The “Gratitude Campaign” was first started when the founder had been traveling around the country and approaching soldiers in airports and saying “thank you” for their service to us. Even though at times it was awkward to both of them, the soldiers were always appreciative of the thanks and the founder always felt better after doing it.

He came up with an idea about how to get around this awkwardness for both civilians and soldiers and after a bit of research came up with the sign that is being used to this day, it is now the quick and easy way of saying “thank you” without having to approach.

The Gratitude Campaign

That’s all for me today, hope you had a great week-end and see you back again tomorrow for more…

The Svalbard Global Seed vault, more commonly known as the “Doomsday Vault”, a vast underground vault storing millions of seeds from around the world, is scheduled to have it’s opening ceremony today in a mountain on a remote island near the Arctic Ocean between Norway and the North Pole.

The”Doomsday” Vault is considered the ultimate safety net for the world’s 4.5 million seed samples that it will eventually hold of almost every variety of the worlds most important food crops, protecting them from a wide range of threats including war, natural disasters, lack of funding or poor agricultural management.

The seed vault is the perfect place for keeping seeds safe for up to 10,000 years as Doomsday’s location is at the end of a tunnel that was blasted deep inside a mountain in the frozen north which ensures the seeds can be stored safely in at least -4 C temperatures no matter what happens outside.

In 2004 a trust was founded by the U.N. to support long term conservation of crop diversity, in which countries and foundations provide the funding.

Doomsday was built by the Norwegian government at the cost of 50 million Norwegian Kroner or $9.4 to give us every option in the future of using the whole array of plant diversity that is available.

More information about the Svalbard Global Seed Vault can be found at:

The “Doomsday” Vault

I know I feel better going to sleep at night…how about you?

That’s it for me today but see you back again tomorrow for more…

In my quest for a certain software program I happened upon the Free Software Foundation.

They are a non-profit organization that relies on support from individuals to carry out their worldwide mission to preserve, protect and promote the freedom to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer software, and to defend the rights of all free software users particularly with the GNU operating system. Their motto is: “Free software is a matter of liberty not price”.

GNU is a computer operating system that is composed entirely of free software.

So if you’re looking for free software, they have over 4,000 entries in their directory, or if you’re just interested in seeing some of the projects that they have going on right now I would suggest you take a gander at the Free Software Foundation sometime soon.

That’s it for me today! See you back tomorrow for more information about…

I wonder if Super Tuesday will hold any Super Surprises this time?

In the United States, Super Tuesday commonly refers to the Tuesday in early February or March of a presidential election year when the greatest number of states hold primary elections to select delegates to national conventions at which each party’s presidential candidates are officially nominated. More delegates can be won on Super Tuesday than on any other single day of the primary calendar, and accordingly, candidates seeking the presidency traditionally must do well on this day to secure their party’s nomination.
WikipediA

And guess what today is? You guessed it…Super Tuesday!

I often wonder how many people will show up to the polls when their voting day comes along. Unfortunately, in this day and time a great many do not.

Many people feel that their vote won’t count anyway so why bother getting out of bed, running by before work, taking off work or going after work to vote?

There are millions of reasons for not voting and on the flip side of the coin there are many more millions of reason for voting.

One thought for voting is that people living in the United States have the opportunity to vote after they turn 18, it is a constitutional right for all Americans and/or Naturalized citizens to get out and let their voice be heard, (with a very few exceptions…but then again there are exceptions to every rule).

Think of all of the people living in certain other countries that have never had that privilege and never will have.

Can you imagine living under a regime or dictatorship and not being able to have a say? What a terrible waste that would be!

I’ve always voted, since I’ve turned 18 and most people that I know vote also. Sometimes we joke that we will only cancel out each others vote because we know the other person is going to vote differently than us but truth be known, we would be voting anyway…so that our voices can be heard.

I would hate to think that my candidate lost just because I didn’t vote and that I would have to live under the Presidency of someone that I didn’t believe in just because I didn’t make the effort to get up and get out to the polls when it came my turn to vote.

I don’t live in the United States any more, haven’t for many years and don’t plan on moving back to live again, but I still make it a point to go half way across the country to cast my ballot. And why? Because I’m an American by birth and it’s my birth right and I want to think that I am trying to make the best decision that I can for all of my millions of brothers and sisters that do live in America.

So in closing today, it doesn’t matter what the reason is that you get out and vote when it comes your turn, what matters is, that you do!!

That’s it for me today! Get out there and vote if it’s your turn and if it’s not, then vote when it is and if your turn has already passed, then I hope you voted when it was your turn! It will make you feel better I promise you both as an American and as a human being!

See you back tomorrow for more…