This That and Whatever Comes to Mind

Ecology on Facebook

Discovered Facebook recently...I know, a little late...a great new way to communicate with family and friends, to say the least.

And a great way to find out about lots of socially motivated campaigns and share...today I found a Dell campaign to plant 150,000 trees. Access their FB page and send a tree to a friend...in the few hours since I sent my first tree, over 2000 trees have been donated.

Mind blowing numbers!

I'm a fan of Stumble!...some of the websites it chooses for me are amazing and this is a good example:

World Clock by Poodwaddle

World population and just about every conceivable statistic that goes along with that. Of course, they are all approximations and some are USA related...still very interesting to watch as the numbers increase before your very eyes...literally!

Be sure to click on the various buttons for month and day and NOW...scary, to say the least.

Pictures of Mother Nature's rage

Fabulous pictures of the volcano in Iceland....tell me what you think of #33.

A new year

Here in Japan, the fiscal year ends on March 31st, so this is a busy time for many people... graduation ceremonies, college freshmen moving into new living quarters, employees being transferred to different departments and branches...moving vans are a common sight these days. Many of my students sound exhausted...even if they are staying in their present position, they will be saying goodbye to some team members and welcoming new members...the pressure of change can be serious.

On a lighter note, it's also the time for the television season to end, creating new programs  and the change of personalities, especially news anchors....my favorite evening anchor is moving to a morning program...I have no idea who her replacement is and can't make a judgment, but she will be missed. I guess I could watch her new spot, but unfortunately I'll be teaching at that time.

Even the weather is following the flow...it's supposed to stay cold until March 31st!

(I am very proud of myself...this week, I've posted twice here, once so far on my Japanese blog, tweeted a little and sent out a newsletter to my Abundance Sharing mailing list...and all the while, I've spent time reading...both social issue related and fun books...watched all my favorite TV programs and even played with family and friends on Facebook! Oh, and I almost forgot..I posted daily on my Kiva team page...^-^)

A storm of books

Been reading up a storm lately...between urban fantasy (my sister hooked me on Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series) and satorical fantasy (25 years of Discworld), a lot of what I've been reading is about various social and political issues:

• Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, both Pulitzer Prize recipients (an excellent book covering the many issues concerning women)
• In the Valley of Mist: Kashmir: One Family in a Changing World by Justine Hardy (anyone interested in the situation in Kashmir should give this one a try)
• The Power of Half: One Family's Decision to Stop Taking and Start Giving by Kevin and Hannah Salwen (a father and daughter collaboration about their family's decision to sell their house, move into a smaller place and use half the proceeds to help those in need...communication is also a big theme of this book)
• Outcasts United: An American Town, A Refugee Team and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference by Warren St. John (the problems refugees face when they come to the States and how one woman is trying to help through soccer)
• Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell (a must for educators...and if you want to try to better understand why different people think in different ways)

For Christmas last year, I bought myself a Kindle...love it, but it's a dangerous weapon...so easy to just search and click! One problem I have discovered, though...you can't lend the downloaded books to friends!

Six books on the shelf (and in Kindle):

• One Day, All Children...: The Unlikely Triumph of Teach For America and What I Learned Along the Way by Wendy Kopp
• The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: A Memoir by William Kamkwamba
• 2 Dark Hunters
• 2 Discworlds

Should keep me busy for awhile....I swear I'm not going to buy another book until I finish these six!!!!

Clean water for Ethiopia

I am an avid fan of Chris Guillebeau's blog The Art of Non-Conformity

The above link is to a new project Chris has invited his readers to join...helping build wells in Ethiopia so that people living there have clean water. 

Read more and donate to charity: water It's a great cause and one where 100% of your donation goes towards providing people with clean water...something we take for granted every day.

Chris's latest pet phrase is World Domination...I'm looking forward to seeing what he is going to treat us with next.

Support education: Loans for students

A new microfinance website: Vittana

Student loans in developing countries...there are so many people who want to continue their education but can't due to lack of funds and lack of support from banking institutes. The student asking for funding gets 100% of your loan which can be $25 on up. All paid back funds are placed in your PayPal account.

My first loan is to Marta Shubert in Paraguay, a 52 year old teacher who wants to go back to school for further training. Her loan is for $415 for 12 months.

Education is so important for the world to escape the poverty cycle. I mean, you look at the loans on this site and the biggest one I can find is for $800, and a couple are only a little over $200!

With just a little output on our parts, we can make a difference.

And please don't forget Kiva.org, ok?

Never seen a book?

Can you believe there are still children in the world who have never seen a children's book?

That's changing through an organization called Books for Asia...and we can help by voting for our favorite book. Just one click...a copy of the book getting the most votes will be given to each child at a school in Northern Thailand.

Spread the word....!

Support not just people

Through Kiva.org, we can support people in developing countries.

Through this site, you can befriend and support a gorilla for just $1.

I befriended 3 gorillas today.

Kiva - 50 Best Websites 2009 - TIME

Out of the millions and billions of websites on the Internet,
Kiva made Time Magazine's Top 50 of the year.

via www.time.com

GO, KIVA!!!