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It's the little things. Simple, inexpensive things you can do to help the planet Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:09:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Bid farewell to Fido Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:06:13 +0000 Andrew Sad (environmentally unfriendly) puppyAt It’s the little things, we love pets as much as the next person, but some new research has concluded that owning a dog is the equivalent of driving a SUV.

The primary source of carbon emissions isn’t your pet’s poos, but the production of meat to feed him. One of the best things you, as a person, can do for the environment is to eat less meat. The same goes for pets. If you can afford it, you could give vegetarian pet food a try.

Another alternative to giving up the companionship of the-only-one-in-the-world-other-than-your-mother-who-truly-loves-you-unconditionally is to buy carbon credits to offset the impact of your pet.

It almost goes without saying that you should always get your pets spayed and neutered to prevent more little carbon factories from coming into the world.

Sad as it is to say, it may be time to say so long to Spot.

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Say boo to moo Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:53:18 +0000 Andrew Soy latte18% of the world’s carbon dioxide is produced by cows. That’s more than cars, planes, and all other forms of transportation combined.

We’ve suggested before to eat less meat. Cutting out milk and cheese is a great next step towards reducing your carbon footprint.

The folks at AlterNet have compiled a great list of reasons (environmental and otherwise) to say boo to moo.

I can hear our French readers now, “La monde sans fromage? Quelle horreur!” And, certainly, our American readers are wondering how they’re going to manage without that bowl of Cheerios in the morning. It takes some getting used to, but soy and rice milk both make nice alternatives to cow juice for cereal. Soy cheese, yogurt, sour cream, and ice cream are pretty good as well. Especially the ice cream. Mmm, ice cream.

It’s important to note that soy is not a panacea. Do your homework to know which brands are environmentally responsible in the way they source their beans.

Like most things, cutting back is better than doing nothing. If nothing else, next time you’re at Starbucks, make it a soy latte.

Photo from Veggie Terrain
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Stand up Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:00:54 +0000 Andrew

Greta Browne, activist“Sometimes, you have to stand up.”
-Greta Browne, quoted in the New York Times

Greta Browne is a 65 year old, Unitarian minister from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She just finished walking more than 1,100 miles (1,770 km) from New Orleans to New York in an effort to raise awareness of global warming. During her time on the road, she survived on her Social Security checks and small donations made by people she met along the way.

Preaching to the choir

It’s easy to forget that many people do not share the same level of commitment to helping the planet. Ms. Browne encountered reactions such as “Oh, you are preaching to the choir. We already recycle.” While important, recycling by itself is not enough to make the kind of change that’s needed.

Standing up doesn’t mean you have to abandon everything and hit the open road armed with nothing but your convictions. It can take the form of talking to people around you about the problem and why it’s important to do something.

If you convince just 1 other person to reduce their impact, you’ve just doubled yours.

Photo credit: Nancie Battaglia for The New York Times
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Light your space naturally Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:00:55 +0000 Andrew Natural lightOver-illumination in the workplace not only wastes energy, it can lead to headaches, fatigue, and stress. Using natural daylight whenever possible is good for the environment and may just make you more productive to boot!

So, pull back those curtains, raise those shades, and let the sun light your room!

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Bottle your own water Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:00:19 +0000 Andrew Chris Jordan's image of water bottlesWhy not? It’s usually just tap water, anyway.

Bottled water sucks. It’s expensive, the bottles contribute to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and, seriously, it’s usually just filtered tap water.

Wrap your head around these statistics:

  • manufacturing and transporting that 1-kg bottle uses 6.74 kg of water
  • bottled water costs roughly 2,000 times more than tap water
  • 26,000,000,000 bottles of water are sold in the North America each year
  • 26,000,000,000 plastic bottles mean that it took 17,000,000 barrels of oil to produce, enough to power 100,000 automobiles for a year
  • 26,000,000,000 also means that at least 2,550,000 tons of carbon dioxide were emitted

By her own estimates, 1,456 of those bottles are consumed by Jennifer Aniston alone.

By the way, reusing the bottles probably ain’t the greatest idea, either.

So, get a (safely) reusable bottle and bottle that water yourself!

Photo credit: Chris Jordan
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Write a letter Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:00:56 +0000 Andrew Eating less meat, riding your bike to work, bringing your own shopping bags to the grocery, using a clothesline. These are all excellent steps we can each take to reduce our impact on the planet. The truth is, though, that the impact any one of us can have on the environment is relatively tiny compared to changes we can make collectively.

Some argue that sites like this one are actually harmful because they let people off the hook, making them feel good about making a difference while turning a blind eye to the larger, systemic problems that are the real source of the climate crisis. While a valid point, we believe that small actions by many people can add up to significant change.

Tree huggerFor better or worse, most of us are not cut out to be full-time eco-warriors. That doesn’t mean we can’t influence the systems that have the capacity to make the big changes.

In this hyper-connected age, it’s easier than ever to be an armchair activist. All it takes is a few minutes to record your thoughts and a click of the “send” button to make your views known to politicians, newspaper editors, and corporations.

Note: Though the title of this post is “Write a letter”, we advocate contacting decision makers via the internet. The carbon cost of a physical letter is higher than submitting an online form!

Activist Organizations

The following organizations are either focused exclusively on fighting climate change or run global warming campaigns as part of their mission.

Publishing a letter to the editor is still a good way to make your voice heard.

It’s government officials who will make the big decisions, so why not contact them directly?

Do you know of other good sites where you can make your voice heard? Tell us about them in the comments!

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Consider a clothesline Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:00:25 +0000 Andrew ClotheslineAh, the dog days of summer (well, in the Northern Hemisphere, anyway!). What better time to reduce your use of the electric clothes dryer and go au naturel? We don’t mean you should run around nude (though that would certainly reduce the need for doing laundry!). We mean you should consider using sunlight and wind to dry your freshly washed clothes.

Good Magazine (where ITLT’s designer, Su Yin, works) estimates that a year’s worth of hot water laundry plus tumble drying produces 213.3 kg of CO2 per year. The same number of loads washed in cold water and line dried produces only 16 kg!

In the United States, nearly 6% of residential electricity is consumed by clothes dryers. The good news is that in the last 3 years, the number of Americans who consider a clothes dryer a “necessity” dropped by 17%.

Willing to give it a shot? TipThePlanet lists more different types of clotheslines and drying racks than you ever thought possible.

If you can’t avoid using a dryer, consider purchasing one with an automatic shut-off feature. Also, the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy recommends drying similar fabrics together, drying multiple loads in quick succession (to take advantage of residual heat), and making sure to clean the dryer filter after each use.

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Know your footprint Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:00:46 +0000 Andrew Ask anyone, they’ll tell you, the first step to making change is to admit you have a problem.

If you’re reading this, chances are your activities produce more carbon and other greenhouse gases than the average human being. If you don’t know how much more, now’s the time to find out.

The truth shall set you free

Footprints in the sandThe simplest way to calculate your carbon footprint is to use an online calculator. Here are a few of our favorites.

If you live in the United States, one of the best is the Cool Climate Carbon Footprint Calculator by The Berkeley Institute of the Environment. Another excellent calculator for Americans is provided by The Nature Conservancy It takes into account home energy, transportation, diet, and recycling habits. Also USA-centric, Yahoo! offer an easy to use calculator, though it’s perhaps a bit too simplistic.

Our UK readers may want to try the Ecological Footprint Calculator by Best Foot Forward, winners of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development in 2005.

For the rest of us, the calculator at Carbon Footprint lets you choose the country in which you live. It requires entry of specific amounts of different types of energy used to calculate household use, which can be tedious, but should give accurate results.

Resurgence Magazine offer both quick and detailed carbon calculators, developed by Mukti Mitchell, designer of zero-emission yachts. The quick version lets you calculate the carbon produced by your energy use by asking you how much you spent on different types of energy over the past year while the detailed version asks for kilowatt hours used.

We’ve talked before about the importance of eating less meat to the environment. The Low Carbon Diet Calculator helps make our point by showing the relative impact of different kinds of food. (Of note is the fact that tofu is not much better than beef or lamb in terms of carbon produced!)

A quick and easy way to compare the carbon impact of different modes of travel is to use the CO2 emissions calculator from Transport Direct.

Lastly, if you’re an iPhone user, there are several applications (several of which are free) that can help you calculate and track your carbon emissions, such as Carbon Tracker. Go into iTunes and search for “carbon calculator” for more.

Knowing how much carbon dioxide is produced by what you do every day is the first step towards reducing your impact. Best of all, it’s free to find out.

Do you have a favorite carbon calculator that we missed? Link to it in the comments!

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Bring your shopping bags Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:00:46 +0000 Andrew Paper or plastic? Reasonable people disagree about which of these is better for the environment. Is it worse to consume trees or to contribute to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?

Why not avoid the debate altogether and bring your own bags with you when you shop? Keep a couple of cloth sacks in your car (or better yet in your bike’s panniers!) so you won’t ever again have to answer the dreaded question.

Many grocery stores sell bags you can reuse. For purpose-designed sacks, you can buy online at Reusable Bags. (Note, we have no affiliation with Reusable Bags. We just think it’s a good idea!)

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Eat less meat Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:00:14 +0000 Andrew Cute cow faceEating less meat is a simple, effective way to reduce your carbon footprint.

Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the world’s leading authority on global warming, recommends cutting back on meat consumption as a “sacrifice that would help tackle climate change.”

Meat production accounts for nearly one-fifth of global greenhouse gas production. In some parts of the world, industrial ranching (particularly beef) compounds the problem by driving deforestation. It takes 3kg of plant protein to produce 1kg of animal protein.

You could try 1 meatless day per week or eating simply until 6 o’clock. Either way, isn’t a little less meat in your diet worth it to help the planet?

Not sure where to start?

If you’ve always made meat the focus of your meals, you might be wondering exactly how to do this. Eating meals without meat doesn’t mean you’re stuck with salad! Popular foodie site Epicurious is one of many with great meat-free recipes.

If you want to go hardcore, you could try eating raw/vegan a few times a week using recipes from Gone Raw or Fatfree Vegan. With gems like pistachio-cilantro pesto, you won’t be suffering. (Thanks to Karen Brown and Stephanie Hedges for the links!)

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We at jailroster.org have assembled information for you to find Hawthorne jail roster information. The Hawthorne Jail is located in Hawthorne, California, and is a maximum security jail. The Hawthorne jail is a city/county jail, which usually means that inmates in this jail range from people who committed low level crimes to those being held in jail for more violent offenses such as rape, robbery, or even murder. The security level is just as high for people who are at the jail as is it would be at a maximum security California facility.

It’s really easy to find someone that’s on a Hawthorne jail roster! It’s really easy to use our search, which allows you access to finding a mailing address, policies, and access to the commissary and commissary funds in Hawthorne Jail facility. The correctional officers are trained to use physical force to protect their colleagues and themselves, as well as protecting other people in jail from violence while incarcerated.

Jail Roster in Hawthorne, CA

We’ve put together some links to information that family or friends of inmates on the Hawthorne jail roster will need to keep in contact:

Jail Name: Hawthorne Jail
Jail Address: 12501 Hawthorne Blvd
Hawthorne, California 90250
Number of Beds: N/A
Phone: 310 970-7258 323-267-4800
Fax Number: 213-974-1484

To find an inmate that’s currently on a Hawthorne jail roster, please click the URL below:

Online Jail Roster Search Process

You have full rights as a US Citizen to perform an online search. A Hawthorne jail roster search can be useful to find family members either before or after court proceedings to find lots of information about where they are and what crime they committed.

All police officers are required to “book” an inmate in Hawthorne, California, which for the most part is an electronic process. We have a free search that allows you to find inmates at various jails across the United States, including Hawthorne Jail.

Jail Inmate Roster Information for Hawthorne

If you’re on this page, odds are you’re looking to search for someone in a jail in Hawthorne, California. The jail is located at 12501 Hawthorne Blvd, Hawthorne, CA. If you can’t find the answer to your question on this page, we recommend that you call the facility at 310 970-7258 323-267-4800.

Our Hawthorne sheriff roster for Hawthorne Jail can be found by clicking the link below:

The inmates on in jail that are currently being held at the Hawthorne Jail facility are most likely awaiting trial or have been sentenced already and were given a sentence of one year or less. You can easily locate an inmate by searching the databases found at the URL above. As stated above, the city jail is usually for short-term custody for inmates awaiting trial, and the search will reveal their location.

How to Perform a Jail Roster Search

Make sure you know the person’s name and the last location for the inmate so that you can find out what jail roster in Hawthorne they might be on. Then, find the city or county jail that you think might be the last location of that person. For example, you would start with the state and then select the county or city to search for that particular jail. You’ll love using search to help find someone that you know!

Disclaimer: Jail Roster doesn’t guarantee the information that is found on this website or through any of the links to outside websites. All of the inmates on the Hawthorne jail rosters are innocent until proven guilty. We will not tolerate anytime where an inmate that is located on a roster due to a search on our website be treated unfairly or unlawfully. All of the information on jailroster.org is provided on an as-is basis, and you are responsible for using this site legally according to your national, state, and local laws.

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Tuesday, 24 January 2017

"My Trip to Rolls-Royce Toronto Canada" Released

Tonight on Jake's Showcase https://youtube.com/JakesShowcase I have just released "My Trip to Rolls-Royce Toronto Canada" https://youtu.be/weouTbvRnw0 currently at 24 views 2 Likes 0 Dislikes. I do not know the number of frames however either none or only one was cut out and it was all natural lighting.
Just to step back for a moment, my curiosity about last weeks video "Love At Work - What You Really Want To Say" https://youtu.be/CqBsSyai1Kk currently at 5468 Views 341 Likes 37 Dislikes and my ability to obtain over 10,000 views on a 2.5 minute not search friendly dramatic inspired monologue was answered and no I could not only getting 5400 views.
Here is the exact opposite with a 24 minute video, sort of evening out the time. I don't do it for time. I know that YouTube wants us to concentrate on time watched, engagement, and a whole variety of ever changing statistics and metrics. But really what I think they want is production. They want the creator to be happy and produce.
So instead of trying to figure it all out what I do is go with the flow, my flow and what I think would make a good video or something that I want to share or talk about. Staying inspired is key. Inspired artists and creators is what YouTube wants because we draw the fans, the entertainers.
Just today my total views were dropped by almost 100,000. I did notice about 2 weeks ago my views jump but without corresponding back end or adsense numbers, I didn't know why. Now YouTube has taken them off and I don't know why.
Ultimately and eventually YouTube gets it right. My job is to try to make good videos. Their job is to count. So the numbers will be what the numbers will be. Even though it seems like a big drop I'm now a veteran of this type of stuff and I know I soon get it back and catch back up.
Real life has been wild as usual. I sit between dreams and reality. I never have enough to actually do anything, but I always have enough to get by.
Looking for work and the prospects are bright at the moment. Looking for love and the prospects are not so bright at the moment.
At some point though, they'll be significant changes in both departments. A significant income increase eventually will occur. And my vast ability to having ladies frown at me will eventually be turned upside down into smiles....it's just taking like a long, long time.
Be nice, dream hard, hope for the best, give what you can to people, don't pay attention to the negative and protect yourself from it the best you can, spend time looking for the positive and being with those who feed you that energy. These are my life secrets. This is how I live.
Love me,
Have a Wonderful Day or Night Fans,
Jake Johnston jakesshowcase@gmail.com

  1. I like this video Jake. One day not only will you have a real girlfriend but you'll also have a Rolls Royce. Oh goody! Don't worry about finding a job I'm sure you'll pay stuff for your girlfriend and car with the thousands of dollars you make doing Youtube videos, movies, and through your singing career!

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.


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10 Years of Volunteering

I started writing this post as a short guide to start a dialogue on volunteering culture and encourage people to explore and volunteer more. Eventually, it grew to become a long article depicting my life in the past ten years. It’s a bit too personal for me and what I intended my blog to be about, but I do trust you 🙂

I have been involved in volunteering activities since 2007 and I feel now is the time to share some experiences on why I did it and why it was so important to me that I’m still doing it till now.

The beginning

Originally, volunteering was never my first choice. I can now say that It started by mistake. As a university student, I had a lot of free time (and I mean A LOT). But I didn’t find joy in fun/social activities, partly because I was a shy kid and –more importantly– because I couldn’t sleep at night thinking that our way of education is irrelevant to the market. I couldn’t imagine not finding a job after graduation, I refused to be one of these unemployed people. This refusal was my motive to do something with all the time I have.

My first intuition was to seek a job, as a student in Irbid with no technical nor personal skills, making any significant money doing anything was almost impossible. Next best thing? Get experience without pay, I looked for internship opportunities, but again, I’m studying computer engineering in Irbid, no company in Irbid nor Amman accepted to have me (even without payment). So I was left again to my sleepless nights and fears of all this time passing me by, wasted.

I stumbled upon a booth for a voluntary activity and I thought “Well, anything is better than nothing, I’ll try this out, fill my time, and who knows I maybe able to make some friends, too” (which was also a struggle for a shy kid). So I did it, I joined AIESEC (a student-run organization that facilitates an international exchange program focusing on entrepreneurship). I remember ticking the box (entrepreneurship), without even knowing what it was, I couldn’t even spell the damn thing, but again, anything was better than nothing for me. And then it all began…

The first realizations

I was turning all my anxiety and worry into energy and putting it all into my voluntary work. The more time and effort I put into it, I learn more and become more comfortable and confident, volunteering started to feel like a second home. With time, I started breaking the shyness, learning organizational skills, speaking publicly, setting my personal goals and even supporting others set their own goals and seek out to fulfill them. Hell, I’ve even became familiar with fancy business jargon.

Around a year into volunteering, I started forming my recipe for success. It included three simple areas:

  • Master your domain: by being technically capable in whatever your speciality is.
  • Develop soft skills: An isolated genius is useful to no one. Be able to communicate your ideas with clarity and confidence.
  • Build a network: When you’re involved in any real-life situation, you realize the importance of a good network. This applies everywhere (not only in a wasta-plagued society like ours).

I decided that –since I can’t grow proper mastery in my domain– I’ll dedicate my free time to develop soft skills and getting to know interesting people. I did both through volunteering. I took each and every opportunity to learn more, work more and engage more with others. I even took on leadership positions in the organization. The effect of the soft skills was clear. The network part, however, wasn’t really that big or useful in university (just yet). At that point, whenever a family member asks me “Why are you wasting your time” or “Are you insane to do this for free?” I had enough courage to answer: “I’m taking great experience, for free, before even graduating! When I graduate I’ll have business skill of someone with two-to-three years experience, and I’ll be employed in no time.”

And guess what, I was right!

Reaping the benefits

As a student, besides the social skills, volunteering forced me to get out of my comfort zone, it challenged my world view and allowed me to explore more ideas and cultures. The experience was too intense that it shaped me to have purpose and be able to plan it out in actual goals. On top of that all, it gave me lifetime friendships that stood the test of time. (And I’m not talking argeeleh friendships, I’m talking real people challenging your ideas and pushing you to become a better person in everything you do in life).

The network part finally paid off as my first boss was a co-volunteer whom I met in a gathering for our group. He lived in Amman and agreed to give me some work that I can do over weekends. This later turned into a university internship, then a part-time job, and later on a full-time job. It didn’t last long, but I learned a lot of technical skills there. And I owe it to one dinner for the volunteers.

All of this happened before graduation. By the time I graduated, I had more than one year of technical experience, a good set of leadership and soft skills and a not-so-bad professional network.

Soon after as a proper employee, the effect of my voluntary experience was even more visible. I was more confident. I was more empathetic with my co-workers and my managers, so I could see a conflict from different angles and resolve it. I was able to build a great relation with my colleagues and to manage my managers by understanding their leadership styles and adapting to them. Technically-speaking, I was a good employee too, because I already decided that I wanted to master my domain, and I was hungry to learn and gain more experience. Again, all of these skills I got from spending a couple of years volunteering.

Later on as a manager, I had a rather unusual management style. I was implementing leadership ideas from voluntary work to the business world, things like Servant Leadership which prevents you from using your own authority and gives the power to your subordinated to make the actual decisions. It was indeed unusual and was a challenge in itself. Another challenge was that when running a volunteer-driven organization, you keep asking yourself: “These people aren’t being paid, so I have the responsibility to keep their experience engaging, challenging and fun“. So I took this to my data science team and kept asking myself everyday: “What would keep them motivated an engaged?”, listening to them, and finding creative was to answer this question everyday was an amazing experience and a blessing!

Doing it again

Since my two-year voluntary term in 2007-2009, I did a lot of small volunteering activities on and off. Now I’m re-committing as a Vice President for Jordan Open Source Association. Why am I doing it again, you ask? What’s in it for me now? Absolutely nothing. I never intended to take anything from it the first time, and I don’t expect to gain anything this time. Reasons I’m volunteering now are:

  • I am frustrated by the state of our technology industry. And I do believe I can do something about it.
  • I’m sick of everyone looking for good engineers without investing in creating them. So I want to fix that. I want to create a long-term investment in people here, it worked for me, and I know it will work again.
  • Volunteering has given me a lot and I feel obligated to show my gratitude by sharing my knowledge and experience with others.

Final Remarks

On Networking

I want to get back to the networking part to clarify one thing. When I mention network, I don’t mean it in the voice of a greedy sales person, I actually rarely say the word in real life. Instead I refer to it as “the community”, because that’s what it is: A community of really amazing people that I invest time in knowing on a personal level. Not motivated by any personal gains, but because I deeply respect and admire them, and I genuinely look up to them and want to learn from them. As a side effect, some of them do send me job offers and point me to great opportunities. Most of the time, I have to pass on their offers with an aching heart, hoping that I can help them grow their businesses one way or another. Why do I care? because they are amazing, hard-working people and they deserve great teams to live up to their ambitions, but also because I want to see more good people taking good opportunities and making Jordan the Tech Hub it should’ve been.

On Insignificance

We live in a cynic society that –for a myriad of reasons– has lost faith in its own ability to fix itself, change and evolve. We wait for change to happen, but we don’t believe we can drive it anymore. If one of us is afraid of public speaking, they want to be the best speakers instantly instead of investing long days and months (and maybe even years) to become good enough speakers. After ten years of public speaking, my hands still sweat and my head still turns slightly red, but guess what? people don’t notice it anymore, and more importantly, I don’t notice it anymore. How long did it take? ten whole years. One embarrassing experience after the other. One slideshow after the other. One event after the other.

Cynics also say that whatever we do is insignificant “What can one person do!”, “You can never fix things here”. Well, AIESEC’s exchange program gives great experiences to tens of students every year, the whole program is run by a handful of students. In 2016, JOSA organized a six-week JOSA Data Science Bootcamp by twelve speakers, attended by 25 students. How many people organized the whole thing? only two. JOSA TechTalks is an event praised by many geeks in Amman for being their only real techie event, the idea for this event was created by one geek, carried over by another, and now a third one is planning more than fifteen TechTalks in the next twelve months. One person at a time, one event at a time.

Looking Backwards

My volunteering journey started by a shy boy being bored and wanting to utilize his time. However it impacted my life in countless ways and I can say that it was a reason for almost every good thing that happened in my life. An important thing to know here is that I haven’t planned for this. I didn’t come with an agenda. I didn’t know any of this would happen. I only expected to try something new and kill some time, maybe learn a skill or two. But… as Steve Jobs once said:

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

And I couldn’t agree more!

The Point

My point is: you don’t need a million people to change the world, you need only one, one a time, on a part-time basis: Someone who cares enough about a cause, someone who’s bothered by a problem and wants to fix it. someone who spares a couple of hours a week to think about himself/herself, thinks about others, thinks about the future of the country, and decides to do something about it. One giver, one geek, one hacker, one volunteer!

4 thoughts on “10 Years of Volunteering

  1. Nadine says:

    Great post Mahmoud! Volunteering has been a very rewarding experience for me too. I hope your post encourages more people to try it!

    I remember it was very hard for me to find a place to volunteer when I was in university, do you know if there are any websites in Jordan that list volunteering opportunities now?

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Katrina assistance – a Call to Arms

Jason Kottke is blogging that Amazon has decided not to add a donation mechanism to their site for hurricane Katrina.

Pardon me, but that is fucked up! Come on people, WTF? Seriously this can and will impact our entire nation. I mean really… they put up a link for the tsunami disaster relief, but not for this?

Overall it seems that the web has been a little slow up the uptake with this one. When the tsunami hit it was hours into it when links started showing up for donations to the Red Cross. Lets get things moving!

Click here to find an excellent, comprehensive list of Hurricane Katrina charities here.
Please donate to some charity somewhere.

Update: Amazon has a donation link that points here, thanks Jason for getting the attention to this.

Note: Apple also has a link from the iTunes music store for Huricane Katrina relief donations.

New Orleans shelters to be evacuated – Aug 31, 2005

From CNN: CNN.com – New Orleans shelters to be evacuated – Aug 31, 2005

Note: This is a little disturbing.

Distraught resident Harvey Jackson told a local television station about losing his wife in the floodwater as they stood on their roof. (Watch the video report of a husband whose wife slipped from his grip — 1:07 )”I held her hand as tight as I could and she told me, ‘You can’t hold me.’ She said ‘Take care of the kids and the grandkids,’ ” he sobbed. (Victims left with nothing)

Good Luck NOLA, You'll Need It

I’m sitting here right now while I should be getting ready to go out to dinner thinking about what has happened to the city that I grew up in, New Orleans, Louisiana. I am, to say the last, quite disturbed. I have been looking at the pictures all over the web of the damage and destruction that Katrina caused. It is being referred to as the worst national disaster… ever. Insurance claims are expected to top $26billion. To put it in comparison Andrew only hit $21billion in claims.

I just got word from my mom that the entire city of New Orleans and it’s surrounding areas is, not only under martial law, but is being shut down. All residents will be allowed to return in 1 week ONLY to get personal effects. After that they will not be allowed to return for at least one month.

One of the things that is really hitting me hard is that all of the images are places that I have been, or seen, or frequented. And none of them will ever be even remotely the same. I have to say that like I mentioned the other day, my thoughts are going out to people that I haven’t spoken to in 10 years or more. I hope everyone is safe, I hope everyone got out in time.

While on the phone earlier I asked the question, Ã’I wonder if they will even bother rebuilding the city?Ã“ I hope they do, it would be a shame to loose all of the culture that is New Orleans. I just have to look at it from a cost perspective. With tens-of-thousands (for the next month millions) permanently homeless and the entire city with water damage, I have to say, it doesn’t look good. NOLA is one of the most amazing places, it has so many things that no-where else has and a unique attitude and lifestyle. I can’t bear the thought that this hurricane may have killed that amazing city.

If anyone that I grew up with in New Orleans reads this feel free to drop me a line, I would like to know how you are doing after Katrina.

Good luck to everyone who’s life this disaster has touched, you all will need it.

Top Gun Triathlon Results 2005

A few weeks ago I did the Top Gun Triathlon @ Ft. Desoto. It was my first big race this year & my times were about what I expected them to be, considering that I didn’t really train for the past month (check back here for details on that). Here are the Results for the Alta Vista Sports – Top Gun Triathlon 2005.

There was some good stuff, bad stuff and then there’s the beach run!

I have always been a very strong swimmer, and a excellent cyclist, but running just doesn’t do it for me. Or actually, I just don’t do the run. I have just never been a very good runner. At my prime I have done a 6:30 mile, and in training with my brother I can do consecutive 8:30’s. But that is not after biking for 10-20 miles. Oh, well. No excuses.. More training before the next race! No more Mr. fuck off guy, I’m getting down to business and do some training.

I have updated my training schedule, for anyone interested here it is (if your using IE don’t bother). I have added several things to it. Notably my training is broken up into several major blocks that identify the races and dates that I am preparing for. It is then broken down into 2 week incriments because that is how my day-job’s schedule rotates. It actually made it easy to break the training up when looking at it in 2 week chunks.

As for the race, it was as very well organized even that was a lot of fun. I do feel that they could have been a little more up-front about the fact that the second half of the run was in sugar sand. I am not sure what I would do differently, other than wearing socks during the run. The vaseline that I put on my race shoes did a wonderful job of attracting sand and holding it in place so that it could grind into my feet. Damn, I’m glad the run was only 5K, any more than that and I would have hamburger for feet! Other than that it was really really hot. But a very fast course. A fairly smooth swim and a pancake flat bike course. On disapointment, however, was with the

A great race, see you there next year.

Note: I would like to give a big thank you to the best looking race photographer ever, thanks Jenny!

Hurricane Katrina from a NOLA Kid's Perspective

The announcement
was released about an hour ago that a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans has been issued. I can’t believe that the worst case scenario for New Orleans has finally happened (or is about to). As I sit here writing this hurricane Katrina is heading for the mouth of the Mississippi River and will be unleashing untold havoc and damage on my hometown of NOLA.

I am sitting here remembering all of the storms that we faced here in the Tampa Bay area last year and all of the damage that was released on the Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda areas. Some of the pictures that I got from that area were just terrible, it looked like a war zone down there. So many people without housing, without food for several days, without power for weeks on end, without clean water, without showers, without phones, and some without hope. These areas are still not recovered from the destructive power of the 2004 storms (Charley, Frances & Jeanne).

I can only imagine what the fate of New Orleans will be after this storm. The last time the are was hit by a storm of this magnitude was Camille; back in the 1960’s and that wasn’t even directly to the NOLA area. I remember as a child growing up in the city it would flood at the drop of a hat. Hell, just a couple of inches of rain and you would have 2-3′ (yes feet!) of water in your front yard. When I was a kid I would go play in the flood water with everyone else in the neighborhood (gross!). Anyway, it floods very badly there and most of the levees around the city are not tall enough to protect against a storm surge of 15-25′ that is currently being predicted. Heavy rains, storm surge and levees that are not able to adequately protect the city all add up to a grim prognosis.

I haven’t kept in touch with anyone from my life in New Orleans but my thoughts go out to all of you today and through the upcoming weeks. You will have a long hard road ahead of you after the storm passes. I wish there was something that I could offer other than my hopes that everyone there makes it through with their lives intact. Godspeed and good luck to everyone there.

Footnote: In another article CNN states:

The last hurricane to score a direct hit on New Orleans was Hurricane Betsy, a Category 2 with 105 mph winds when it came ashore in 1965. Betsy killed more than 70 people, its storm surge overflowing the levees and reaching the eaves of many buildings.

“After Betsy these levies were designed for a Category 3,” said Sheriff Jeff Hingle of Placquemines Parish, just southeast of New Orleans. “You’re now looking at a Category 5. You’re looking at a storm that is as strong as Camille was, but bigger than Betsy was size-wise. These levies will not hold the water back. So we’re urging people to leave. You’re looking at these levies having 10 feet of water over the top of them easily.”

A lot of good that is going to do.

Update: Hurricane katrina has just been upgraded to a Cat 5 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

This is what it looks like right now.

Update: Things are looking worse now that the levees are giving way in NOLA.

Update: Sticks of Fire
is blogging about hurricane Katrina also

Your Top Spots

I took the Find Your Spot survey and interestingly enough, my hometown of New Orleans came up #2 on my recomended places to live. One really odd thing was that the sleepy town of Baton Rouge came up #1 for me. Not a good match. I have spent some time in Baton Rouge, it is good for hunting and avoiding people, not good for partying and socializing. At least not when I was there, and I knew some hip locals there. Anyway here’s my list:

  1. Baton Rouge, LA
  2. New Orleans, LA — hell yeah!
  3. Little Rock, AK
  4. Charleston, SC
  5. Miami, FL
  6. Tampa, FL — living here now!

Check out the survey for yourself.

Bloggers off the Port Bow !

This morning Rachel made mention about how cool it is to see bloggers in real life. The other night J & I went out to eat and ran into her and Mark @ BellaBrava. It really is neat to put faces to names, especially after my comment several months ago about how the Tampa Bay area blog scene seemed dead. While it’s not quite Los Angeles, New York City or Seattle, it is better than I thought. Look for my blogroll to show up shortly!

Anyway, Happy Birthday, Rachel


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October 20th, 2014 | Posted in Forex auto trading system 2013


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January Jobs: Another upside surprise shows the benefits of closing in on full employment.

February 1st, 2019 at 9:46 am

The US labor market just keeps on rolling along, turning in one good jobs report after another. Payroll gains continue to outpace expectations, wages are handily beating inflation while not pushing it up much, participation continues to suggest more room-to-run than most economists expected, and even the slight uptick in the unemployment rate last month, to 4 percent, was likely a temporary blip caused by the government shutdown (more detail on that below). The underemployment rate, which also spiked last month, was another temporary victim of the shutdown, causing a sharp, temporary increase in involuntary part-timers (those working part-time who want to work full-time). These measures of increased slack should fully reverse in coming months, assuming the government remains open, of course.

Payrolls were up 304,000 in the first month of 2019, well ahead of economists’ expectations for a gain of about 170,000, and the jobless rate ticked up a tenth to 4 percent. As noted, the uptick in the jobless rate is likely due to the shutdown and should fully reverse next month. The big jobs number for December was revised down significantly, from 312K to 222K, and other revisions to today’s report (e.g., a small annual benchmark revision) suggest that we should smooth out the monthly data to better discern the underlying signal.

In other words, cue the JB/KB (Kathleen Bryant, who does all the work on this report) monthly smoother! It shows average monthly payroll gains over the past 3 months to be a very robust for this stage of the expansion: 241,000. The other bars, which take monthly averages over longer periods, are around the same height, implying an underlying monthly trend slightly north of 200,000. This is well above what most economists believed sustainable, given estimates of “supply-side constraints,” i.e., the size of the available labor pool. Importantly, it appears this constraint is less binding than many thought, meaning there’s more room-to-run in the job market, and that we’re closing in on, but not yet at, full employment.

Participation measures are a bit hard to compare this month because of changes to the population weights in the survey (the weights are used to make the survey sample representative of the national population), but data provided in the report suggest participation ticked up in January to 63.2 percent, the highest rate since September 2013. The closely watched prime-age employment rate ticked up significantly for men, from 86.1 to 86.5 percent, and was up one-tenth of a point for women as well, from 73.4 to 73.5 percent (again, this monthly number should be handled with care due to the weighting change, but the underlying, positive trend is real and important).

The tight job market continues to generate near-cyclical highs in terms of year-over-year wage gains. Overall private hourly wage growth fell back slightly to 3.2 percent, from 3.3 percent in both November and December. For middle-wage workers–the 80 percent of the workforce in blue-collar or non-managerial jobs–wage growth was 3.4 percent. My estimate for January inflation (the official change does not get released until later this month) is 1.6 percent, driven down by low energy prices. That implies mid-level, real wage gains of 1.8 percent, a solid increase in buying power for these workers, many of whom have long been left behind (of course, we’re talking averages here, and we know that even now, significant pockets of labor slack still persist in some places around the country).

This positive trend in wage growth is captured in the figures below, which use 6-month moving averages to smooth out the jumpy, underlying series. The acceleration is notable. The third figure, which includes my inflation forecast, zeros in on the growing gap between rising nominal wage gains for mid-wage workers and falling price movements. The gap between the two lines represents the real gains touted above.

This gap will like close somewhat as energy prices rise, but I expect some level of real wage gains to persist. Another important point about these real gains: given that productivity growth is running at around 1 percent, when real wages grow faster than output per hour, the share of national income shifts from profits to compensation. As much research has revealed, this share has long shifted in the other direction–the wage share has been historically low, meaning the profit share has been high. In other words, the current tight labor market appears to be delivering a long awaited re-balancing of these shares.

As noted, the government shutdown is likely playing a small, temporary role in today’s report, though mostly in the unemployment rate. In terms of direct impact, the BLS reports that both furloughed and unpaid federal government workers should be counted in the payroll data, though furloughed workers should be counted as temporarily unemployed in the household data, the survey which yields the unemployment rate. Indirect, or spillover effects, such as a private-sector restaurant worker on temporary layoff because she works near a national park that was closed during the shutdown, could also be in play in today’s data. That said, the strong topline jobs number underscores the BLS commissioner’s statement today: “Our evaluation of the establishment survey data indicates that there were no discernible impacts of the partial federal government shutdown on the January estimates of employment, hours, or earnings.”

I’ll have more to say later about some of the guts of the report, but especially once we remove temporary shutdown effects from some of the household survey indicators, we’re left with unequivocal evidence of a few very important facts. First, in an economy with too little worker bargaining power and too much inequality, the benefits of closing in on full employment are powerful and equalizing. And second, Chair Powell and the FOMC were smart to put interest-rate hikes on hold. There’s non-inflationary room-to-run in this job market!

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6 comments in reply to "January Jobs: Another upside surprise shows the benefits of closing in on full employment."

  1. Gerald Scorse says:

    Of course we know who’s responsible for all this winning, don’t we? No need to mention his name, it’s already plastered all over the universe.

  2. Bob Anderson says:

    I don’t agree at all. That report suggests the US economy is nearing recession…………..starting in the service sector. Which would be the first since 1973. Basically corporate consumption has plunged, looking starting in December which has resulted in a actual decrease in full time jobs and goosed up part time/LFPR due to the breakdown in demand. This also decreased wage growth in that month which will be a feature as full time jobs contract.

    This bias with overhead NFP is going to get investors killed. I remember US industrial growth surging in 1974 and throughout 1957. Sadly, they ended up lagging the cycle and creating one huge inventory dump by the end of those recessions.

  3. Kevin says:

    I agree that the increase in payroll employment numbers are encouraging, but I can’t agree that we are nearing anything close to full employment. Male labor-force participation rates have been trending down for decades. The official U3 and U6 numbers are pathetic underestimations. The only reason to deny it is because Donald Trump thinks the real numbers are higher.

    I’m sure that you know that some serious scholars have been estimating ranges for the total amount of un- and underemployment that may be closer to Trumps view. In “Men Without Work,” by the AEI’s Nicholas Eberstat, has a figure of 10.5 million more men without jobs than would be the case if age specific work rates had held steady since 1964. Andrew Yarrow of the Progressive Policy Institute’s book “Man Out” (which I am still slogging through) puts the top end of the range close to 20 million non-working men. In both cases, particularly Yarrow’s, a large number of men have left the labor force for reasons other than lack of labor demand. But those numbers do not include women, in part because it’s harder to estimate their desired labor-force participation rates. Of course, we have the recent work by ProPublica and the Urban Institute shows more than half of older U.S. workers are pushed out of longtime jobs before they choose to retire. I won’t try to estimate a realistic range for the real numbers of un- and underemployed, but it’s far higher the U3 or U6. And like dark matter, this unobserved unemployment exerts a downward gravitation force on wages.

    A coalition of business groups and progressives want to maintain the myth of impending labor shortages (or that labor shortages are even a problem). Business wants to keep wages low. Progressives need to justify open borders.

    Your contention that “we’re closing in on, but not yet at, full employment” is off the mark.

    • Fred Donaldson says:

      Women are more likely – on average – to keep low-paying jobs because many are single mothers, whereas men are not. You don’t quit your low-paying job if it;’s the only way to feed your family. Instead, you get an additional PT job, raising the employment rate, but misleading the statisticians once again.

  4. urban legend says:

    All this optimism just brushes aside troubling contrary evidence, in particular the still-anemic employment rate. That’s frquently tossed off as a product of more people retiring or just fewer people wanting to work, but that is a “supply side” explanation that doesn’t make sense: the size of the workforce is not a product of how many people want, but how much demand for labor the economy is generating. The current rate is still about four percentage points behind the high point in 2000, amounting to about 10 million potential workers not working. (And there’s no reason to think that was some unrepeatable high point.) The argument that it is more people not wanting to work is also belied by what has happened in other wealthy Northern European countries (and Canada), where employment rates rebounded smartly from the (shallower) Great Recession and in many cases are at all time highs. The cultures of these societies — the only conceivable well of anti-work sentiment among working age adults — are not that different. This data — and some others, like high long-term unemployment and involuntary part-time — strongly suggest we are not even close to full employment

  5. Fred Donaldson says:

    We have median wages, average wages, household income, but no percentage of the workforce that is at a living wage for a couple (let alone with children). Goal in many countries is to provide a single wage earner with enough resources to get married and have children without going bankrupt because of healthcare or senior care. I don’t know how this would be calculated, but its change over time would be a real indicator of progress for the average American family.

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REVIEW: Oblivion [2013]

Score: 6/10 | ★ ★ ½

Rating: PG-13 | Runtime: 124 minutes | Release Date: April 19th, 2013 (USA)
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director(s): Joseph Kosinski
Writer(s): Karl Gajdusek & Michael Arndt / Joseph Kosinski (graphic novel)

“We’ll come back when it’s over”

Originally planned as a graphic novel, Joseph Kosinski‘s Oblivion wouldn’t have stayed solely on the page for long. It’s science fiction romance decades after the Earth is ravaged by nuclear war and alien invasion would have whet any studio’s appetite with or without the director’s work on TRON: Legacy—itself a mixed bag many consider a failure. Disney tooted his horn for awhile leading up to that highly-anticipated sequel, even going as far as outbidding multiple suitors for the rights to his and Arvid Nelson‘s comic book treatment. Once it was decided a PG film couldn’t do the material justice, however, the property changed hands to Universal while also going through separate rewrites by Karl Gajdusek and Michael Arndt resulting in not quite the “mind-blowing epic” of it’s billing. It seems there were too many cooks in the kitchen.

But that’s an easy thing to say when you haven’t read any of the versions coming before what has been put onscreen. Chock full of science fiction tropes we’ve seen plenty of in the genre over the past few years, nothing new is brought to the table in their orchestration. While one could guess the original treatment was simpler, more ambiguous, and willing to let its audience intelligently wade through mysteries with obvious conclusions and not need fully realized exposition, perhaps the second and third sets of eyes were necessary to make it more coherent and palatable. Maybe it was too obtuse as a graphic novel and Universal rightfully looked for ways to make it mainstream friendly. I understand that ill-conceived desire because novices going for futuristic action will be pleased to a point.

However, having your finished product be unsure of its appeal will only spell disaster. The sparse atmospheric suspense cultivated from the start will bore those wanting explosions and Tom Cruise running just as the obtrusive sound cues and over-bearing need to explain sci-fi concepts we’ve guess an hour previous will turn off fans hoping Kosinski’s dream to harken back to 70s-era sci-fi came true. The fact of the matter is that Oblivion brings nothing original to the table for those who have seen the new version of “Battlestar Galactica”, Moon, and The Matrix. This reality isn’t a death sentence, though. It simply comes with the responsibility of rolling out genre cues in a captivating and entertaining way. You can’t try to trick us with tired twists our current culture of nerd-dom has seen so many times before.

If you’re looking for examples of what those twists might be, I’m not your guy. Just mentioning the three works above could be considered spoilers so that’s as far as I’ll go. There was definitely potential for Oblivion to be more than your run-of-the-mill futuristic blockbuster. Kosinski is a visionary who has crafted a gorgeous world upon his giant IMAX canvas as well as an intriguing war with teeth at its center to build upon. Unfortunately there isn’t enough plot to carry its length or self-important desire to be more than a love conquers all/humanity bands together to save its species story. It’s slow unfolding patronizes the viewers who easily guess its over-arching narrative and its need to show rather than let our imaginations fill in the blanks becomes tedious.

We’re dealing with a mop-up crew of two souls—Jack (Cruise) and Victoria (Andrea Riseborough)—who’ve had their minds erased and filled with their current mission. It’s a classic trope leaving a lot to be explained as every “fact” filters through a manufactured prism of memory. What do we truly know about mankind’s space station hovering in the distance to take its refugees to Titan? What besides stories of death and destruction have been witnessed of the war on behalf of our main characters? We know nothing but radioactive wasteland, artillery drones protecting massive fusion stations in ocean, and the dream of a future away from past horror and present isolation. Only when those who aren’t supposed to ask questions become curious does the truth begins to surface.

Jack begins to dream of a time before he was born when New York City still shone beneath the Empire State Building. A woman, Julia (Olga Kurylenko), is there and life appears happy. But it’s happy now too—living and working besides his girlfriend Victoria, following the orders of Sally (Melissa Leo) at mission control, and meticulously setting up a lakeside refuge in a hidden valley of growth amidst arid sand and barren mountaintops. He wants to remain on Earth, she to leave for Titan, and in two weeks their choice must be made. Visions of Julia don’t help clarity, the threat of the enemy Scavs seems on high alert, and life starts to prove more utopic than humanly possible. As Jack lets curiosity take control of his actions, he’ll find even more to fear.

Shot mostly in the otherworldly landscapes of Iceland, Oblivion lives up to its billing aesthetically—at rest and in kinetic action scenes full of laser-evaporating deaths and an ever-present clash between man and machine. Cruise, Riseborough, and Kurylenko excel at creating characters wrestling with orders and gut feelings to live and/or die by the lengths they’ll go for truth above promise. Add nice turns from Morgan Freeman and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as rebel fighters barely onscreen for a quarter of the film and there’s plenty to like. Sadly the result of fact and fiction inevitably colliding gives too many answers and too long a resolution. Where the soul’s emotive power prevailing above duty should be uplifting in its showcase of sacrifice and honor, the want to explain every minute detail renders it clinically cold instead of powerfully honest.

[1] Jack (TOM CRUISE) cautiously approaches a drone in “Oblivion”, an original and groundbreaking cinematic event from the visionary director of “TRON: Legacy”and producers of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”. Photo Credit: David James Copyright: © 2013 Universal Studios. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
[2] ANDREA RISEBOROUGH stars as Victoria in “Oblivion”, an original and groundbreaking cinematic event from the visionary director of “TRON: Legacy”and producers of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”. Photo Credit: Universal Pictures Copyright: © 2013 Universal Studios. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
[3] OLGA KURYLENKO stars as Julia in “Oblivion”, an original and groundbreaking cinematic event from the visionary director of “TRON: Legacy”and producers of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”. Photo Credit: Universal Pictures Copyright: © 2013 Universal Studios. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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I used a version of my own teaching method in Introduction to Philosophy (Phil 101) at UNF as well as ENC 101-4, Western Civ, Creative Writing at Sunrise Academy.

I think my students would be better able to assess that method, write it up and, perhaps, even say whether it was a good practice. Anyone and everyone interested in these things can take a look here at a CFP.

-Jennifer Lawson

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29 November 2017

A Quick Guide To Recycling

If you are interested in recycling, then you want to make sure you are recycling all the things you can so you can clear out the junk around your property and make as much money as possible. Here are some of the many things that you can recycle: Containers and things made of the same materials Everyone knows that you can recycle containers such as plastic bottles, aluminum cans, and glass jars.

19 September 2017

Have A Business Fire And Worried About Removal And Restoration Costs? How To Take Action On Your Own

If you had a commercial fire and you are worried about what the cost will be to replace everything, there are some things that you have to think about to save money. You want to make sure that the insurance company pays to replace everything, and that it doesn't cost you a fortune to get rid of everything and clean up the damages. Here are some of the things you want to do when the dust has settled and you are ready to go back into the building.

27 July 2017


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A portfolio of embroidery and film photography. Check back regularly and follow me on Instagram and Facebook for updates on my work!

My embroideries are inspired by the natural world around us. I love using upcycled and vintage fabrics for my embroidery and much of my thread is collected from charity shops. I take photos with my Diana F+, a toy camera that uses 120/medium format film.

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Jewels By Durrani is the official Jewelry line of Durrani Popal. Durrani joined forces with her now ‘JBD team’ to create this high-quality jewelry line, focusing on designing/generating the current trends at an affordable price. The Jewels By Durrani vision is to bring together all the exclusive fashion elements as seen on various celebrities, influencers and fashionistas at an attainable rate while keeping the quality high. We aim to offer our customers “The Look For Less” without losing value.

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Do you really want to sit here and be "Unregistered" all your life?  No, of course you don't!  So, click this here link and you'll take that all important first step into enlightenment! (or something, whatever...)

Become a Founding Member!

Discussion in 'Star Wars: TOR' started by JFF Management, Feb 7, 2012.

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Mechanical Keyboards… a fantastic way to annoy your girlfriend even more than usual.

Ice Cube , noted avoider of mechanical keyboards.

I picked up a mechanical keyboard a couple of months ago and I thought it might write a little about it.

I first started looking around for one when I saw that a programmer friend of mine has recently purchased one and he was really enjoying it, I found the Gigabyte Mechanical Cherry Blue Keyboard (link at the bottom) on amazon for around $60 so this wouldn’t be an experiment that would completely break the bank.

The idea of a mechanical keyboard is that it has actual physical switches underneath the keys so when you push down you get a satisfying ‘click’ feeling and noise and as far as I’m aware, that’s it… so it’s purely a preference of how you type.

Previously I used an old hp wired usb keyboard that honestly did the job really well and I didn’t ever feel the need to upgrade it, however when the idea of something shiny and new caught my attention it was game over for the old girl.

First thoughts when it arrived was that it didn’t look cheap at all, most brand name mechanical keyboards seem to cost $150 and up and this was nearly a third of the price so that was a good start, there isn’t much setup needed it was just plug and play, and that what I did.

Funnily enough the feel of a click along with the sound is actually pretty enjoyable, you do feel as though you are punching away at the keyboard and making progress as you grind away on some coding project designed to make your hair fall out. It is very loud though so I wouldn’t recommend it inside an office unless your colleagues have an affinity for woodpeckers, they keyboard is very loud and it could set others off.

Comparing the non-mechanical or ‘membrane’ keyboard, the keys are actually a lot taller, it will take some adjustment for your wrists and fingers and when I started off bashing away I did manage to make a few mistakes, but its real;ly just a feeling out phase and a couple of days later I had adjusted nicely.

The only thing I do seem to miss is that my old keyboard had separate volume keys on it and with this keyboard i now have to utilise the function button a lot more when adjusting the volume or pulling up a calculator quickly, its a minor gripe but something I definitely noticed.

All in all, a mechanical keyboard is purely an emotional choice, it wont turn you into crash override or zero cool but if you like the idea of click clacking away and feeling like you’re still in the 80s and have a spare $60 then dive right in.

I did it.

too tired to come up with a joke right now.

I completed my first exercise in fcc on 15 December 2015 with the intention of completing the front end development certificate, and ticked it off on 25 June 2018. Probably took a little longer than expected but slow and steady wins the race right?

Honestly I’m not exactly sure what to feel right now, if i had to take a stab at it, my feelings could be described as 50% elation, 50% pride and 50% exhaustion (hey Ive been studying coding for the last 3 years not maths). This has been a journey that has really tried and tested me, there have been multiple times that Ive wanted to walk away, multiple times that Ive yelled hard at my laptop and multiple times that Ive just felt empty.

Its hard doing this course or any course when you work full time, you have commitments that you need to keep on top of, along with coding, I have to find time to practice drums, study Japanese, keep on top of my eBay side business and give my girlfriend enough attention so she doesn’t dump my ungrateful butt. Ive probably stretched myself a little thin from all this but I think im happiest when Im busy and not just sitting around watching some crappy show on netflix.

I found the best way to get through to the end was to set a routine up for myself, each morning I get up at 5.30, stretch, have a cold shower, walk my dog with my partner and then sit down for 40 mins and plug away at whatever problem I am working on at the time. Once you find that routine then it becomes hard to find excuses for yourself to not keep going, it may even feel wrong if you decide to skip a day!

Im not sure whats next, my original hope was for employment but Im not really sure how realistic that is. I might move on to the next certificate and keep pushing for the last 3 certificates, this wasnt my initial intention, but Im halfway up the mountain so Im might as well keep going. I might also try to come up with my own react projects or convert my older projects from the original course into the react format, this seems to be the big thing at the moment so it couldn’t hurt to get even better at it, but for the life of me i cant think of an something to create right now.

I did it, im proud of myself and now its time to enjoy that.

this doesn’t look right

“who needs google maps? paper maps are making a comeback!” words that would quickly come back to haunt the hipster.

Okayyyyyy, so after taking a couple of months off from free code camp I came back to finish up my course and finally claim my certification after 3 years of toiling away.

But something was amiss, where had all these new lessons and projects come from? Why does free code camp now have 6 certificates instead of 3 and now I have to learn about React, Redux and Sass? huh?

It turns that during my small sabbatical, free code camp had decided pull a blindside on me and release its new curriculum to the public, unfair!

With only one project left to complete I had returned to a new curriculum and even worse, some of the projects that I had spent weeks grinding on had now been moved to interview questions and didnt count to new certificates, madness!

So after crying in the shower for a few hours and having an all around general meltdown I had a bit of a dig around and found that they still awarded a legacy certificate if you managed to finish the fcc old course. So I hunkered down and ground out solutions to the tic tac toe and simon projects.

Both projects were definitely worth my time as it really managed to reinforce previous  lessons learned during my time, the feeling of finally grinding out a solution to tic tac toe after all the worry and stress it put me through was better than sex! (but not really). Plus its two more projects that are quite complex, as far as the curriculum in fcc goes, that I can now add to my portfolio. Plus plus I now have five projects that have been ticked off on the new ffc curriculum section “Take Home Projects”!

Once that was done I also decided that it was definitely in my best interests to plow ahead and go for the new course certificates, I alreadty had 85% of the 3 new courses Responsive Web Design Certification, Javascript Algorithms And Data Structures Certification and Front End Libraries Certification ticked off. The new projects also gave me a chance to try and work on all the skills I had learned from Andrew Mead’s Udemy courses.

It definitely wasnt fun to come back and see a whole bunch of new stuff staring me in the face, especially being that close to completing something that I have worked towards for the last 2-3 years, but it turns out that there was a silver lining in it all along… in the form of more work… wait… oh man!

“When life gives you lemons, just say fuck lemons, and bail.”

Fi Fi Foe Fum, Tic Tac Toe Makes You Feel Mighty Dumb

See the Pen Tic Tac Toe by Luke (@escrew7) on CodePen.0

Well I finally did it, this project was probably the hardest that I have faced so far, getting your head around the challenge and the idea of AI was super stressful and actually made me walk away from freeCodeCamp for quite a while, if anything I would suggest that people tackle Simon before taking this bad boy on (although now with the new update to FCC that isn’t even necessary).

I will say that this is a very basic AI version of the project using a random number generator to calculate the computers next move, I couldn’t seem to get my head around the MinMax algorithm that everyone is talking about on the forum and I really just wanted to get some runs on the board, so if you are up for a challenge, my game isnt it. Hopefully somewhere down the line I can come back to it and make it a little tougher than playing against your 3 year old sister.

I have returned to using jQuery as I find it a little easier than having to write plain javascript which can sometimes get a bit messy and easy to get lost when looking through code previously written.

As for advice regards the project I would say just start from the ground up, make a simple two player version first so you can get your head around the project and from there you can start working on creating an AI to play against. This is a real challenge and its easy to get stressed out but if you work slow and look for advice around the place you can build yourself a decent little program.

All the best.

Where Am I?

Mental note: never piss off Tiger’s ex

Ok its been a while… a long while in fact, but blogging is hard!

I also ran into a brick wall with free code camp right at one of the final hurdles with tic tac toe, the idea of programming an AI algorithm really spooked me and caused my anxiety to shoot for the moon.

So I took a little time off the site to take a couple of Udemy courses, Andrew Mead’s Complete React Web Developer Course, Complete NodeJS Developer Course and Stephen Grider’s Javascript ES6: The Compete Developers Guide.

All three were fantastic albeit very extensive (both of Andrew Mead’s courses were around 36 hours of video a piece) and really cheap at AU$13 each, so for a small investment I got to really dig into Node and React whilst getting a quick update on the Javascript update ES6.

ES6 is really interesting and I would either recommend this or Andrew Mead’s new course on JS. You will find some new things on there that can be pretty helpful and some stuff I have aalready started implementing! It can also be really helpful when looking at Codewars as solutions people give on there are generally chokkers with ES6 and might cause confusion if you dont have a decent base of knowledge.

As for when I will actually start using react and node, Im not sure… its definitely something that I need to follow up as it is fast becoming an important tool with developers and as the saying goes “use it or lose it”, I know that if i havent done anything with react in 3 months time, all the work I did will become gobbledegook.

So after about 4 months of slogging through these I came out a little refreshed and ready to take another look at the tic tac toe excersise, which I have finally managed to complete and will blog about soon hopefully.

Thats it for now!

ConfUser Experience

The user manual didn’t inspire confidence

So after spending the larger part of the last 3 weeks putting together the code for my latest fCC project I finally have it performing to a standard that could be classified as “functioning”. But there still remains a problem, it looks like a dog’s breakfast. Picasso would have had more luck understanding the functionality of my project than any normal end user would.

When I first started free Code Camp I would generally by this point be so over the project that I would just tick it off and move on to the next. These days I have come to realise that having a Ferrari engine can be sexy as hell, but if its under the hood of a Toyota Yaris, people probably aren’t going to take much notice.

I want my work to look as good as I feel about it, I know just how much effort went into it and I want people who see that. Simply spending a little bit of time thinking about the design of your project and coming up with some concepts of how you would like it to look can go a long way.

Usually I use Adobe Illustrator to create these concepts (as can be seen below), but there are a heap of decent free programs out there that can be used just as easily, baring that, a pencil and a piece of paper is your best friend. I usually try and create different ideas for desktop, tablet and mobile and then try and implement them using basic media queries.

When you spend so much time and effort on building and creating a project on free Code Camp, its worth spending just a little bit more on making it look as good as it performs.

Code Wars!!

I will fight anyone who calls this movie stupid.

I recently came across this site whilst looking for more opportunities to practise javascript problems. Ive found that this site is great for pushing you to the peak of your abilities and really helps you improve your coding as it shows you the top solutions after you have solved the problem.

I warn you though, it can get pretty tough and sometimes they arent looking for just a javascript solution.

Get ready to dust off your old math books.

Blogging Purgatory

this episode got a bit too real when Charlie Brown had to drink his own piss to survive.

So yeah it turns out that in the process of juggling a full time job, studying web development and giving my gf enough attention so she doesn’t leave my ungrateful ass, finding that spare 5 minutes to blog about my progress can be surprisingly hard!

Im thinking about maybe changing the format of this blog to give more micro updates, not in the twitter size, but maybe more talk about experiences and such rather than talking about actual javascript or web design elements. Ive just finished building the fcc pomodoro project so ill chuck that up soon with a few comments about what i was trying to do.

“Even if you fall on your face, you’re still moving forward”. – Victor Kiam

So guess Im killing it?

Object.defineProperty() – There’s More Than One Way to Skin a Cat

private property sign

definition: sketchy

I thought Id try and do something different for this blog and post some code that runs through how a specific piece of JavaScript Works

The Object.defineProperty() is a method that can create or modify a property of an object with a couple of special caveats added. Using this method you have the ability to make the property and the method read-only (writable and configurable) or invisible (enumearble).  For a more in depth explanation the Mozilla page can be found here and another very helpful blog on the method can be found here.

But this page is the copy of a JSFiddle post that I have been playing around with in an attempt to strengthen my understanding of it, you should give it a shot too. The link to the actually JSFiddle page can be found here.


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Picture Book Perfect Friday – One Pelican at a Time

One Pelican at a Time – A Story of the Gulf Oil Spill

Written by Nancy Stewart, art by Samantha Bell

Published by Guardian Angel Publishing, 2011

Ages: 5-11

Themes: Gulf Oil spill, pelican, ecology, environmental stewardship

Opening/Synopsis: Bella saw the first curious brownish streaks wash ashore. “Oh, no, Britt!” she exclaimed to her best friend. “It’s here.” And it was. Oil. With each wave blobs of smeary oil stained their beautiful beach and settled into once white sand.

The book teaches children about the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010 and explains how it affected the environment and wildlife.

Best friends, Bella and Britt, are disturbed by the oil they discover on their favorite beach and rush to tell the ranger, who assures them trained teams will start with the clean-up. They know it is a job for adults until one day they  discover that their friend, the old pelican, takes a dive in the blackened seas and remerges covered in oil. They ask a nearby adult for help, who brings the pelican’s plight to the attention of the workers in the area who are cleaning up the oil spill. After the bird is rescued and taken to the bird sanctuary, Bella and Britt help to gently clean the oil off of it.

Why I like this book: Stewart manages to tell a kids’ story of environmental rescue, while at the same time making readers aware that this job is really one for professionals and adults. This is a tension I have struggled with in my own writing. She balances this by giving suggestions to her young readers at the end of the book that they can incorporate into their daily lives to help them become involved in looking after the environment: turning off lights when they are not being used, not running the water when brushing teeth, unplugging appliances when they are not in use….

The illustrations by Bell are colourful, lovely, and appealing to the reader. I love that the best friends, Bella and Britt, are depicted as racially different. It’s seems obvious that our picture books should reflect the diversity of our society, but this isn’t always the case.

There are currently two other books in this series: Bella Saves the Beach and Sea Turtle Summer.

Resources: The resources listed here include content and classroom activities for educators who wish to address oil spills and the effects of oil spills with students.

At the back of the book, Stewart also includes child-friendly website links for readers to visit to learn more about oil spills. And She has done a great blog post on the story behind the book!

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15 Responses to Picture Book Perfect Friday – One Pelican at a Time

  1. When I first saw the cover, it has a bit of a nostalgic look then I realized it was a modern era tale. I hope my library has this one. Thank you for highlighting this book.

  2. What an outstanding example of narrative nonfiction. I will have to check it out.

  3. With unfortunately one oil spill after another, kids will for a long time relate to this.

  4. I remember as a young girl, going through my neighborhood asking people to donate towels to send to Alaska after the Exxon Valdez spill. I think I’ll have to get this book and use it as a jumping-off point for telling my kids that story…

  5. I actually OWN this book! It has a great message.

  6. Oh, I like this one a lot! Had not heard of it. It is so important for children to understand enviornmental issues, and the things they can and can not do to help. Sounds like the author did a wonderful balance. Really great selection for our PPB.

  7. Heather says:

    That was a dreadful incident, I’m glad there is a book about it for kids. You are right about diversity in children’s books, it’s strange that children’s literature can be so removed from reality. Thanks, Joanna.

  8. How awful was this event! I really think my daughter would like this book. We have talked about the oil spill in the gulf a few times and I don’t know if I was explaining things the best. Sometimes a book is better at addressing situations like this. Thanks for the suggestion. This is the first book that I have heard about that talks about the event for children.

  9. I had no idea there was a book that would tell about oil spills in a kid friendly way. You’re right…this would be excellent for making kids aware of what they can do to in their daily lives to help protect our environment.

  10. Erik This Kid Reivews Books says:

    This is an important subject to learn about! I reviewed a book called “Patti Pelican and the Gulf Oil Spill” which is meant for real young kids. This book looks like it is for young and older kids. I like learning about how they held the birds after a disaster. I’m going to check it out!

    • Thanks, Erik. I appreciate the comments about Pattie Pelican and the Gulf Oil Spill. I am still going into schools presenting this true story about how wonderful people came to the Gulf coast to help save our wildlife. You did a great review for me.

  11. This is a very interesting book and review. As you will know we have our own bad one… called the “Rena Oil Spill”… see here….http://renaoilspill.co.nz/ and how the wild life are affected. I went down and saw the ship a dot on the horizon now. This book is a great way to introduce kids to saving the environment and what they can and can’t do. After our spill I thought of a story which I still intend to do for a 12x12x12 draft.

  12. Joanna, this is the first children’s book I have heard of about the 2010 gulf oil spill. Having grown up on the Texas gulf coast, this environmental disaster literally hit very close to home. Thank you so much for this recommendation.

    • Kelly, check out my book Patti Pelican and the Gulf Oil Spill. It is the second in the Salty Seas Series about a shrimp boat from Grand Isle, LA who was involved in the oil spill along with his feathered friends. You’ll like it too.

  13. Sounds like an interesting read, Joanna. While I haven’t read a lot of picture books that talk about the environment, I did enjoy reading about Carl Hiaasen’s Hoot and Flush. Watercolor illustrations never get old. 🙂

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Around the World in 50 Weeks – A,B,C Endangered Species Haiku

Click on image for more lion facts

African lion,

noble and vulnerable.

So proud of his pride.

Fewer than 21,000 remain in all of Africa.

Support this species through Wildlife Direct or Born Free.

Click on image for more Bactrian camel facts

Bactrian camel,

survives sun, sand, winter storm,

but not miners’ guns.

The only truly wild camels that still exist are Bactrian camels. These herds survive in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia and China but number less than 1,000 and this species is critically endangered.

Support this species through The Wild Camel Protection Foundation (whose patron is Jane Goodall)

Click on image for more cheetah facts

Cheetah, champion –

faster than some super-cars.

can’t outrun  man’s greed.

Today there are just 12,400 cheetahs remaining in the wild, and the biggest African population is currently located in Namibia with about 2,500 individuals.

Support this species through the Cheetah Conservation Fund.

For all you animal lovers, I hope you contain yourselves at the news that I will be posting an interview with Born Free’s star and animal advocate, Virginia McKenna, on June 20th!

© Copyright – Joanna Marple, 2012

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This entry was posted in Africa, Animals Endangered, Around the World in 50 Weeks, poetry and tagged , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

16 Responses to Around the World in 50 Weeks – A,B,C Endangered Species Haiku

  1. Krista says:

    Love this post! Thank you, Joanna.

  2. Beautiful post Joanna. Love the free verse you wrote with each animal! Such an important post. All the organizatins are wonderful. Really Love Born Free,, enjoyed seeing what Jane Goodall is doing with the Bactrian Camel. My grandson is the cheetah advocate in the family. Such an important post.

    Wow, an interview with Virginia McKenna! Loved “Born Free.” Can’t wait unti next week./

  3. HUGE gasp of excitement at your news of an interview with Virginia McKenna! I wonder how many times I read her book Born Free in my younger days? I saw the movie, too, of course, but it’s the book that really made an impression on me.

    This is a wonderful post, Joanna. I hope you will be taking us through the entire alphabet as the weeks go on (I don’t ask much, do I?) Great photos, evocative poetry, and excellent links.

    (I know what song will be in my head for the balance of the morning! Lovely!)

  4. Joanna says:

    I am so excited that she agreed to be interviewed, what an amazing lady!!

    Thank you, Beth, yes I do plan to do the entire A-Z!

  5. The Haiku’s are wonderful! Will the rest of the alphabet follow?
    I CAN”T WAIT for the interview! One of my absolute film fav’s is Ring of Bright Water! Also have to share this: 5 years ago, on a regular library run, the librarian’s at the children’s desk asked my daughter what personal choice she had made for summer reading. Olivia answered, “Born Free”, and all 3 librarians broke into song!

  6. Joanna says:

    Thank you Julie. Yes I would like to do the full A-z :-).

    I saw Ring of Bright Water before Borne Free and so love it and the setting up in Scotland!! I have both films on DVD!

    LOVE Olivia’s answer and the librarian chorus!!!

  7. Lovely words, but sad information. I saw a mom cheetah with her cubs while on safari. Our guide wouldn’t leave them until we called in some rangers (?) to shoo away another vehicle, because the guide thought they might be trying to steal the cubs.

  8. Cathy Mealey says:

    Virginia McKenna! Ooohh, exciting!

  9. Joanna says:

    I am so happy this wonderful lady was willing to be interviewed!

  10. Lovely post! Wonderful haikus (or is the plural also haiku?) – either way, terrific 🙂 I’ll look forward to your June 20th post!

  11. Joanna says:

    I need to check about the plural of haiku, as I am not sure. 🙂

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refreshment, light and peace

Found in a used book purchased at Another Story (now closed) in Worcester, Mass. On the other side a picture of the Sacred Heart. It would seem to be a Mass card for Harry Demarest who was born on May 28, 1908 and died in December 9, 1969, in Athol, Mass., "Tool Town."


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Monday, February 22, 2010

Free Colonial Concert - Passing by the George Washington statue on Wall Street... it was the day after his birthday, not sure how old he would be now.

These three colonial clad musicians were playing away, fife and drum songs.  People continued walking by oblivious to the effort these gentlemen put into this guest appearance.  I didn't have my regular camera, but I did have my iPhone, which was perfect for this shot.  It has an extreme wide angle camera on it.  It let me get the street, musicians and all of the statues in the one shot.  All it does make the players look rather tiny, as if they weren't even real.  But they were real.

This picture was the best, because of the complementary red shirts of the garbage men.  I also like the businessman on the cell phone.

Monday, February 1, 2010

iPhone Photography - I had been hearing more about the art of taking pictures with an Apple iPhone.  As a matter of fact, this was one of the reasons that I decided to get an iPhone.  It's extremely convenient to flip it out, rather than lug around a large camera with a bag.

At first, I had problems locating the shutter button, which is just a spot on the glass.  But, after a few weeks, I started to get the hang of it.  Some of the shots have turned out quite remarkable.  Here are some: