Deadly tornadoes have been ripping through parts of the US and they disaster relief. No one charity for this month but here’s a list of organizations that are aiding those in disaster stricken areas:
Click through any of the links to find out how you can help those in need.
04/30/2011 
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Earth Week started this week and I want to share this creative Earth Day designed newsletter from stock image site Dreamstime. I love the creativity in this email showing the drop down menu with the save option with our lovely Mother Earth in the background. Make sure you click “Save”, Earth Day is April 22nd.
Also check out Detailed Image’s Earth Week Sale featuring Eco-Friendly detailing products and here is our very own Earth Week design.
In the spirit of Earth Week, also see my previous green posts. Happy Earth Week!
04/19/2011 Comments (0)
Another devastating natural disaster has rocked our world. The 8.9 magnitude earthquake that hit Japan created a massive tsunami destroying parts of Japan. They even say the Japanese coast has moved 8 feet due to the quake and tsunami. There’s even a nuclear crisis to deal with making this a more worldwide matter with radiation spreading. Thousands of deaths and thousands are still missing, the people of Japan need our help. My Monthly Charity this month will feature multiple organizations that are responding to the disaster including some that I’ve featured in my past Monthly Charities.
Previously Featured Charities
Full List of Organizations Responding via NetworkForGood.org
- Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA)
- American Jewish Jint Distribution Committee
- Americares
- AMURT
- Catholic Relief Services
- Convoy of Hope
- Direct Relief International
- EFCA
- GlobalGiving
- International Medical Corps
- Islamic Relief USA
- Lions Club International
- Mercy Corps
- Operation Blessing International
- Operation USA
- Relief International
- Salvation Army
- Shelterbox
- World Vision
Find out how you can help through the Network for Good and make a donation today.
03/31/2011 Comments (0)
Twitter Error Page Design
Twitter is currently experiencing some technical difficulties right now, at least for me (by the time I finished this post Twitter was back up). The graphic in the bottom right corner is a little bit interesting. It’s some sort of robot animal with one of it’s clamps or claws cut off. It almost looks like the animal cyborg is bleeding too. I guess that image is suppose to indicate that something is wrong. The some what creepy animal cyborg with it’s missing limb is what grabbed my attention and it’s just an interesting design that I wanted to post about. Beware, Twitter is run by animal cyborgs!
03/30/2011 Comments (0)
Gmail Settings
I recently made the switch to completely using Gmail as my business email medium and stepped away from Mozilla Thunderbird. Thunderbird works great but I’m huge believer that everything will be available through a browser and I will be able to do almost everything right in my browser one day.
I use Yahoo for my personal email, so I didn’t have too much experience with Gmail but I finally got it to my liking. Here’s a list of things to make Gmail better:
- Enable Keyboard Shortcuts – Keyboard shortcuts will help you get your email done even faster.
Settings > General - Set Up Your Signature – One less thing you have to worry about once you have your signature automatically added to all your emails. Customize your signature to the way you like it.
Settings > General - Turn Conversation View Off – I personally never liked this feature where it groups all similar emails together so I turned it off.
Settings > General - Create Labels (similar to a folder) – Keep your email organized with labels to easily find what you need.
Settings > Labels - Set Up Filters – Run a tight ship with your email and filter your emails to your liking.
Settings > Filters - Google Lab Features to Enable
Settings > Labs- Message Sneak Peak – View a message without even opening it so you can stay in your inbox.
- Nested Labels – In depth organization can be achieved with a hierarchy of labels
- Signature Tweaks – Places your signature before the quoted text and removes the “–” instead of your signature all the way at the bottom of your replies.
- Undo Send – For those times when you prematurely hit that send button, you can now reverse it.
All changes take some time to get use to and nothing is ever perfect. How you do things always comes down to personal preference too, so you may not like all these settings. This is the way my Gmail is set up to keep me organized. There’s tons settings and lab features available in Gmail so try them out and see what settings you like.
03/12/2011 Comments (0)
The organization that I’ve selected for this month is Action for Healthy Kids. We have problem in America and it involves obesity and under nourishment of children. It’s a health epidemic that needs to be dealt with and Action for Healthy Kids is addressing the problem for a healthier future.
Action for Healthy Kids addresses childhood undernourishment, obesity and prevention by working with schools to help kids learn to eat right and be active every day. This focus is because of the unique position and influence that schools have on children and their families, in addition to their responsibility to provide nutrition and physical education and their many opportunities to promote healthy eating and active living. – Our Approach – http://www.actionforhealthykids.org/addressing-the-issue/our-approach/
It’s a startling statistic to think that almost 1 in 3 American children is overweight or obese. That is a not good statistic and sad to think of the future health complications these kids may face. Maybe this is why health care costs continue to rise at tremendous rate, think about it. Health insurance costs have to rise because the trend shows an unhealthy nation and we can nip this in the butt if we teach kids a healthy lifestyle to help prevent future health complications. It is a little disappointing to those individuals that work towards a healthy lifestyle while others may neglect it which increases everyone’s insurance premiums. Start with the kids and the future will be brighter.
Check out these other facts:
- More than 30 percent of American children are obese or overweight. This is triple the number than in 1980.
- Overweight kids are likely to become overweight adults.
- Poor nutrition is everywhere; only 2 percent of school-age children consistently eat well.
- Kids are less active overall due to today’s fast-paced but sedentary lifestyles. Only 8 percent of elementary school students and 6 percent of middle school and high school students have daily PE at school.
- 35% of school-age children watch an average of 5 or more hours of TV on a school day.
- Overweight kids miss school 4 times as much as normal weight kids. If kids aren’t in school, they can’t learn.
- Low-income and minority children are most seriously at risk.
- All of these children face serious, yet preventable, obesity-related health risks such as diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer.
- As a nation, we spend $119 billion annually on obesity-related health care costs. The U.S. economy simply cannot bear continued increases in these costs.
Those facts are a sobering look at a bleak future if America continues this trend.
On a more positive note Regis and Kelly’s Run Across America with Dean Karnazes kicked off today as Dean started his run from California to New York with proceeds benefiting Action for Healthy Kids. Running up to 50 miles a day for 75 days, his goal is to inspire a Nation to a healthier future. Track his progress and find out how you can help here.
This is a great cause, check it out for yourself at http://www.actionforhealthykids.org/ and learn how you can help.
02/25/2011 Comments (0)
