My son is fascinated by the moon. He can spot all kinds of pictures as the moon. I thought I would Google it for him and found this awesome site from Google that is basically a Google Map of the moon and planet earths missions to the moon. Very interesting. Interesting also that we have not been back to the moon since 1972 which was before I was born.
“To the Editor:
Straight people are allowed to marry and divorce multiple times. They can get drunk and get married in the middle of the night in Las Vegas by going to a drive-through chapel. They can get on a show like “The Bachelor” and sell themselves on national television to find a spouse.
But somehow my 25-year relationship with my partner is a threat to the “sanctity” of the institution of marriage.
The vote in California on Proposition 8 was more than just wrong. It was immoral and pathetic.”
— Mitch Kohn, in a letter to the New York Times
Thanks to Pownce for bringing this to my attention.
It’s happening again that event where we use the awesome power of the internet to start a conversation. I love starting conversations expeccially when it leads to greater understanding of a topic or better still a solution if the topic happens to be a problem like poverty. And this year for Blog Action Day the topic of conversation is Poverty. You may not be a blogger but luckly for you blogging is abut starting conversations, that is what the comment feature is for.
This is what I blogged about last year for BAD07.
Lets talk about the Environment
Ok, for a couple of weeks now we have been warming up the Table Top Arcade machine that we have on trial for a month or so at Urban Grind, but now it is time to have some fun and start seriously playing/practising because at the end of August we are having a Galaga Tournament.
The idea is simple, have some fun, win some prizes, hopefully get crowned the Urban Grind Galaga Champion. Only 20 places available for entry. Highest scores in each round will see you progress. All games will be 2 player shoot outs. Each entrant gets a free coffee - everyone needs a twitchy trigger finger!
Register in store, but be fast! And don’t forget to practice.
Date: Sunday 31th August
Time: 1pm
Place: Urban Grind 530 Brunswick St, New Farm
Cost: $10 entry fee but it gets you 10 free credits
and the chance to win an iPod Nano.
Terms: Max 20 entrants.
Highest scores advance rounds.
3 Heats, 1 Final - 1 Winner
Possible Bonus Prizes
We have been renting for years now, which does come with it’s usual complaints, but my complaints are never being able to establish a vege garden and not being able to explore things like Solar Power and Grey Water systems. One thing we have been able to do though is change to energy saving light bulbs.
And a few years back we made it a rule that when we move into a place we change all of the light bulbs to energy savers and leave them behind when we leave. Then we move into a place with no less than 40 incandescent light bulbs. Nearly 3 bulbs to each room. Crazy. We can cut the bill to one third just by taking two bulbs out of each room. But we are slowly putting one energy saver into each room and getting rid of all of the old school bulbs.
A few things. What does one do with the still working incandescent light bulbs? We are just going to store them as back ups. Do Not by the cheap bulbs. We bought some the first time around because we had so many rooms to change but they would flicker every 5 mins or so in the off position. And they glowed a bit. Maybe they were not saving energy.
To the landlords. Please install energy savers for your tenants. It will save them money. Things like this can be features of your properties. Oh and it is good for the environment. To the tenants. What you save on your energy bill will probably be spent on the initial changing of the bulbs, but maybe one day you will move into a new rental to find that the last tenants left energy savers for you.
I think I read something once about making every place that you have been a little better for you having been there.
Click on the image to find out more.
I am always on the look out these days for the more environmentally friendly product. Be it made with more sustainable products or recycled products. Even better if it is then locally made. Today I found a very cool pair of shoes that not only look great, but fit the following criteria:
You can get SImple Shoes at Kathmandu. They have a huge sale on, and I was trying to pick up a pair of sale shoes, but these were worth the full ticket price.
If you are still dropping into Urban Grind these days you will know that I am still harping on about TED.com. Some watch the T.V. news while eating dinner, but in our house we watch TED.com. Even Oscar our 2 year old son yells out TED as we sit down to dinner. Sure after 2 minutes he wants to watch Elmo, but so far he knows nothing of the violence and death that is portrayed by our media. He will grow up with a different idea on his fellow man and woman. He will know that there is a strength in mankind to do positive things on a scale that few have witnessed, let alone can imagine as being capable of by this so called flawed species, the Human. He will know that in the face of all of that negativity he can still choose to change the world. He will know that if he chooses to try than he will. He will have a wealth of inspiration and wisdom to draw from. He will not be afraid.
Tonight I set out to put together my top ten list of TED vids for a couple of my friends, but I had trouble stopping at a top 20 list.
So here is my Top 21 TED Vids List:
Eva Vertes: My dream about the future of medicine (This is number one, the rest were too hard to rank.)
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/eva_vertes_looks_to_the_future_of_medicine.html
Joshua Klein: The amazing intelligence of crows
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/joshua_klein_on_the_intelligence_of_crows.html
Dean Kamen: New prosthetic arm for veterans
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/dean_kamen_previews_a_new_prosthetic_arm.html
Johnny Lee: Creating tech marvels out of a $40 Wii Remote
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/johnny_lee_demos_wii_remote_hacks.html
Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
Eve Ensler: Finding happiness in body and soul
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/eve_ensler_on_happiness_in_body_and_soul.html
William McDonough: The wisdom of designing Cradle to Cradle
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/william_mcdonough_on_cradle_to_cradle_design.html
Dave Eggers: 2008 TED Prize wish: Once Upon a School
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/dave_eggers_makes_his_ted_prize_wish_once_upon_a_school.html
Jonathan Harris: The Web’s secret stories
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jonathan_harris_tells_the_web_s_secret_stories.html
Majora Carter: Greening the ghetto
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/majora_carter_s_tale_of_urban_renewal.html
E.O. Wilson: TED Prize wish: Help build the Encyclopedia of Life
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/e_o_wilson_on_saving_life_on_earth.html
Jaime Lerner: Sing a song of sustainable cities
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jaime_lerner_sings_of_the_city.html
Emily Oster: What do we really know about the spread of AIDS?
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/emily_oster_flips_our_thinking_on_aids_in_africa.html
Cameron Sinclair: TED Prize wish: Open-source architecture to house the world
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/cameron_sinclair_on_open_source_architecture.html
Jeff Skoll: Making movies that make change
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jeff_skoll_makes_movies_that_make_change.html
Jimmy Wales: How a ragtag band created Wikipedia
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jimmy_wales_on_the_birth_of_wikipedia.html
Deborah Scranton: Scenes from “The War Tapes”
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/deborah_scranton_on_her_war_tapes.html
Al Gore: New thinking on the climate crisis
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/al_gore_s_new_thinking_on_the_climate_crisis.html
Larry Lessig: How creativity is being strangled by the law
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strangling_creativity.html
Jacqueline Novogratz: Investing in Africa’s own solutions
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jacqueline_novogratz_invests_in_ending_poverty.html
Burt Rutan: Entrepreneurs are the future of space flight
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/burt_rutan_sees_the_future_of_space.html
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