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Earth Day, 2008

James — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:25:24 +0000

It’s Earth Day, which means that it’s the perfect day to save the environment for free, plant trees, and donate to a few charities like The Nature Conservancy and The Conservation Fun.

Want to do more to help the environment? This list of fifty ways to help the planet should offer plenty of inspiration.

Happy New Year

James — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 08:37:35 +0000

Today, the cumulative annual status is 2008.

Happy New Year!

Donate to Support Wikimedia for 2008

James — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 23:39:40 +0000

The Wikimedia Foundation needs your help to cover their expected costs for 2008. Please keep in mind that the Wikimedia Foundation is a non-profit organization which operates several multilingual and free-content projects. Please donate to the Wikimedia Foundation to keep Wikipedia and the rest of their free services alive and online for us, our children, and our children’s children.

Save the Environment for Free

James — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 07:07:25 +0000

You’ve probably heard it all before, “For just pennies a day . . . For a one-time donation of . . . With your annual membership . . .” Well, I’m going to say something a little bit different today.

For just minutes a day, you can improve the quality of the environment for yourself and everyone around you who is, or whoever will be, living on our green Earth. That’s right, I said “For just minutes a day . . .” In fact, I sponsor the protection of 82.8 square feet of rain forest and wilderness land, and the removal of 5 pounds of CO2 from our atmosphere, every day for only two minutes of my time. Would you like to know how?

Every night, I visit EcologyFund.com and click every red button to save a total 64 square feet of rain forest and wilderness land and remove 4 pounds of CO2 from the atmosphere. I then visit The Rainforest Site and click the large green button to save 11.4 square feet of rain forest land. Following that, I visit Race for the Rainforest to save 7.4 square feet of either rainforest land, marine wetland, or American prairie, and Race to Stop Global Warming to remove 1 more pound of CO2 from the atmosphere.

That’s right, by following this routine, you too can sponsor the protection of 82.8 square feet of rain forest and wilderness land, and the removal of 5 pounds of CO2 from our atmosphere, every day for only two minutes of your time. That’s a total of 30,222 square feet (almost 3/4 of an acre) and 1,825 pounds (almost a ton) every year!

That’s a lot of green, but why not throw some blue in for good measure? For just a few additional seconds, you can also sponsor the protection of the world’s oceans by visiting Race for the Oceans.

Want to do more to save the environment? Then please consider making donations to The Nature Conservancy, The Conservation Fund, World Wildlife Fund, National Wildlife Federation, The Sierra Club Foundation, and Oceana.

A Massive Pet Food Recall

James — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 02:31:04 +0000

Did you know that a massive pet food recall has been in place since March 16th? I sure didn’t, but I’m glad to know that, out of all of our pet food, only one bag of cat treats may have been contaminated, and all of our cats are fine. In response to reported pet deaths, the FDA has been testing pet food for a variety of contaminants, so the whole issue is rather confusing. I’ll try to summarize it as best I can.

On March 16th, Menu Foods recalled most of its wet cat and dog food products after reports of kidney failure and some deaths in an unknown number of cats and dogs. On March 23rd, Menu Foods expanded its recall to include products from 95 brands of its wet cat and dog food products after the discovery of aminopterin, a cancer drug used to induce abortions and also used as rat poison, in some of the recalled products. On March 30th, the recall was expanded to include some dry cat food products from Hill’s Pet Nutrition after the FDA discovered melamine, a chemical used to make plastics, in the wheat gluten of Menu Foods’ recalled products. On April 5th, Sunshine Mills recalled various dog biscuit products that had been produced with melamine-contaminated wheat gluten, and Menu Foods expanded its recall to include over 100 brands of pet food and treats. Both Menu Foods and Sunshine Mills produce a wide variety of branded and private-lable pet food products for major retailers.

For more information on the pet food recall and lists of recalled products, see the FDA’s Pet Food Recall page. If you have any of the recalled products, dispose of them immediately, and give careful consideration to any pet food product containing wheat gluten, even if it is not part of the recall.

The Extended Daylight Savings Time of 2007

James — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 03:48:00 +0000

It’s March 10th of 2007, which means that it’s almost time to try out the newly extended Daylight Savings Time. For most of the United States and Canada, Daylight Savings Time (DST) will be extended by four weeks this year, beginning three weeks earlier at 2AM tomorrow (March 11th) and ending one week later at 2AM on November 4th. Make sure that your computers and PDAs are up to date before midnight to avoid any Y2K7 issues, and turn your clocks ahead one hour before turning in for the night to comfortably remind yourself about the hour of sleep that you’re about to lose.

Donate to Support Wikimedia for 2007

James — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 17:57:00 +0000

The Wikimedia Foundation needs your help to cover their expected costs for 2007. Please keep in mind that the Wikimedia Foundation is a non-profit organization which operates several multilingual and free-content projects. Please donate to the Wikimedia Foundation to keep Wikipedia and the rest of their free services alive and online for us, our children, and our children’s children.

Apple Releases the iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED

James — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 05:41:39 +0000

Apple has released the new iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED, a special edition iPod nano that helps in the fight against AIDS. According to MacMerc:

Apple today announced the iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition. (RED) was created by Bono and Bobby Shriver to engage business in the fight against AIDS in Africa by getting the world’s most iconic companies to make uniquely branded products. A portion of the profits from these products goes directly to the Global Fund to fund programs for women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Apple will donate $10 from every iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED sale to the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa. “Which means your iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED sounds good and does good at the same time.”

While I Was Away

James — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 00:03:30 +0000

During my last vacation, Pluto lost its status as a planet. Now that I have returned from my relaxing vacation in Hawai’i, I would like to share some of the important events which happened while I was away.

Apple upgraded its popular iMac line with Intel Core 2 Duo processors on September 6th, 2006. The resulting speed increase is up to 50% faster than previous modes. Apple also introduced a 24″ model with the upgraded line.
The space shuttle Atlantis and its six astronauts left Earth’s atmosphere early this morning. After two weeks of delays, the Atlantis and her crew are on their way to resume construction of the International Space Station for the first time since the loss of the Columbia and her crew over three years ago.
Steve Irwin, the famed “Crocodile Hunter”, died at the age of 44 on September 4th, 2006. While filming a new documentary at Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Irwin’s heart was punctured by the poisonous spine of a stingray. Steve Irwin was a passionate wildlife protector, owner of the Australia Zoo, and star of The Crocodile Hunter, a popular wildlife documentary series. He is survived by his wife Terri, son Robert, and daughter Bindi. The world has lost a great conservationist.

Pluto is No Longer a Planet

James — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 07:56:23 +0000

When I left for vacation four days ago, our solar system was composed of nine planets. When I returned, it only possessed eight. The International Astronomical Union approved a final redefinition of the word “planet” on August 24th, 2006; consequently, Pluto has lost its status as a planet. Neither the former ninth planet nor Pluto could be reached for commentary, but it can be assumed that both are deeply disheartened and may consider leaving the solar system in protest.