Condivisione di buoni prodotti della Rete.
Le nuove tribù promuovono nuove infrastrutture di accesso alla Rete. L'innovazione la promuovono i Cittadini; siamo noi quelli che stiamo aspettando.
I’m probably the most unlikely Green Living advocate on the planet.
I’m an advocate of offshore drilling, I voted for Bush in 2004 (bad call I know), and I drive a crossover SUV.
Yet, more and more these days, I find myself being slowly taken in by the tree hugger movement.
Why?
Because every time I do something that resembles a frugal, penny-pinching lifestyle I later find out that I’m playing right into the hands of the Green Living crowd.
Am I upset? Hardly! I’m quite happy to be a convert.
But - big but here - I find this new revelation somewhat shocking that the two seemingly different lifestyles fit together very well.
What I’m really trying to say is that more often than not, whether you are a Green Living advocate or you are just looking to save a few bucks by Going Frugal, you are probably traveling along the same path. You just have different objectives.
10 Examples that Frugal Living and Green Living Go Hand in Hand
- Natural and Cheap Cleaning Products. I despise a product that is marketed like a cleaning product but really more like a poison. Take some time and read warning labels on your cleaning products that you likely rely upon everyday. I’ll take the cheap and easy baking soda and water cleaner over toxic cleaning agents any day of the week.
- Eliminate Disposable Product Usage as Possible. Anyone besides me notice the huge increase in disposable consumer products lately? The best example would like be a product like aluminum foil, which requires some minor terraforming and of course, most people probably don’t recycle it anyway. But the best example of late would be the Swiffer commercials which uses a paper cleaning product instead of an old fashioned mop. Sure, they might prevent you from getting your hands in soapy water, but they also contribute to landfill waste. What most people don’t understand that they boost the balance sheet of Proctor & Gamble as this is another perfect example of the razor & razor-blade business model.
- Start a Garden and Grow Your Own Vegetables. I’m not saying you have to weed rows and rows of vegetables everyday, but growing a few tomatoes or fresh herbs on your deck can mean big savings over the growing season. Fresh herbs at my grocery store go for $3 to $5 per small container, and tomatoes fluctuate from $2 to $4 per pound. That’s probably a few hundred bucks a year for me. If you want to go all out and grow a wide variety of fruits and veggies, checkout JD’s Garden Project at Get Rich Slowly who documented his gardening experiment better than any I’ve seen.
- Flip the Off Switch on Phantom Power Drains. Phantom electricity (also called vampire power) usage is basically wasted electricity from appliances or electrical gadgets that sit idle or in standby mode. Using a surge protector/power strip for your non-essential items (computers, TVs, cell phones, etc.) can save a significant amount of energy and reduce your electric bill at the same time. Sounds trivial, but when you consider 50% of the power in the U.S. comes from coal fired power plants, every little bit helps. Some people have even seen electrical bills drop by 67% using this simple cost saving tip.
- Adjust the Thermostat to Burn Less Fuel/Electricity. We all love the proverbial toasty fireplace image on a chilly winter evening, but your thermostat shouldn’t be set at 75 degrees during the winter. Ramit Seti’s 30 Day Challenge to Save $1000 shows that for every 1 degree your thermostat goes down during the winter, you save approximately 3% on your heating bill. To lower costs even further, try flipping the rotation switch on your ceiling fan to blow the hot air down from the ceilings in the winter, and up in the summer.
- Carpooling and Preplanning Trips Saves Money on Gas. Anyone who knows me knows I hate driving. So any excuse I can use to be driven somewhere or reduce my driving time is a plus for me. For those of us without public transportation availability will know that paying $3.50 to $5 per gallon of gas during the peak of the energy crisis killed anyone on a tight budget. Setup a carpool for your work buddies, and plan all your errands within one trip to eliminate repeat trips. Not to mention, you cut down on cardon dioxide emissions and traffic jams.
- Switch Your Entire Home to CFL Bulbs. Sure, you would need a small upfront purchase, but that purchase will pay for itself over time. I switched to CFL bulbs last month for only $42, and Energy Star claims that each bulb will save $30 over the bulbs lifetime, so I’m hoping to see a small financial bonus for being more energy efficient.
- Use Your Window Curtains to Your Advantage. Here’s a shocker - the sun is hot and provides warmth. If it’s cold outside, open the curtains and let the light (i.e. heat) indoors during the day, and close them at night. Curtains are nothing but an easy way to add another layer of insulation to your windows, which are one of the major sources of heat loss for the average home. Plus, you get the benefit of less usage for heating or air conditioning systems, which means lower electrical and heating bills.
- Upgrade Older Appliances to Energy Star Rated Appliances. The upfront cost on most major home appliances is substantial, but as with any good investment, the dividends will be realized over the long term. Having recently purchased a new home, I went all out and bought a front loading washer and dryer set. They use less energy to operate, as well as the washer supposedly cuts water usage by 7000 gallons per year. The savings can be substantial in water usage, the electricity to operate both washer and dryer, as well as in natural gas or heating oil if you have a non-electrical powered water heater.
- Use Only What You Need. Useonlywhatyouneed.org is a brilliant marketing campaign from Denver Water to relay this simplistic message in an attempt to use less water, but I think it’s part of a larger theme to be used for every aspect of our lives. Everything that we humans don’t use, gets discarded, and that means it’s usually going to the local landfill. I tend to think of landfills as a place we throw away billions of dollars each year, whether it’s a plastic case that held your new Best Buy gadget, or the old gadget that just got replaced by your new one, you’re essentially throwing money down a hole never to be seen again.
Got any other ideas how Green Living and Frugal Living parallel one another? These are only a few examples, but like always, I’m sure there are exceptions to any observation.
Please share your thoughts if you have further ideas.
For those who aren’t sold on Facebook’s money making potential, or that of social media in general, here are a few business related facts you might find interesting.
- Facebook has approximately 250 Million users.
- It’s currently the most popular social network on the web.
- Facebook is currently growing earnings by 70 percent per year.
- Board members expect the company to be cash flow positive by 2010.
- Facebook is expected to make $500 Million in 2009.
- The largest (fastest) growing demographic is age 35 and older.
- Targeted advertising purchases have tripled in the last year boosting company revenues.
- More than two thirds of Facebook users are not active college students.
- More than 120 Million users log in to their Facebook profile daily.
- Roughly 70% of Facebook users are outside of the United States.
- Facebook has more than 350,000 apps and growing.
- Over 15,000 websites have implemented Facebook Connect (the Facebook icons at the bottom of nearly every article on the web) since December 2008.
Impressive to say the least.
It’s quite astounding when you consider a college student (Mark Zuckerburg) created the social networking giant in his dorm room to stay in touch with college friends as little as five years ago, and has grown the social networking site to 250 million users and counting.
Even more impressive are the growing numbers of teenage entrepreneurs using social networking, whether it be Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter (more than likely a combination of all three) to make themselves into teenage millionaires.
For anyone interested in following me on Facebook, click here.
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Review Of Yesterday’s events in Iran by NightOwl
Posted: July 29th, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: Politics, World News | Tags: Politics, World News | No Comments »Protests / Unrests
1. The Ministry of Interior refused to issue a permit for gatherings on Thursday for mourning the 40th day of Neda’s death. However, Mousavi and other reformists have indicated that they would proceed with plans for gatherings, even if a permit is not issued. Mousavi and other reformist leaders will also visit the graves of protesters who have been killed during the unrests. Mousavi has reportedly suggested that his supporters make use of religious holy days for gatherings and rallies – full confirmation of this could not be obtained.
2. Two minutes of silence will be publicly observed in many parts of the world on Thursday. For more details on this and how to participate, please follow this link: The Silent Wave. The Silent Wave – Be still for Iran on Thursday July 30, 2009.
3. Saifullah Daad’s funeral will be held on Monday (Iran Time) and many reformists and Green Movement supporters are expected to attend. Partially confirmed reports suggest that Mir Hossein Mousavi will also be present.
4. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi and the Secretary General of Amnesty International Irene Khan have published a joint statement, declaring that the situation in Iran was getting worse. They expressed concern that violent repression was possible in retaliation to protests that might be held on the day of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s inauguration.
5. Mehr News has reported today that a bomb had been defused near Saderat Bank in Karaj. This remains unconfirmed for now.
6. Mousavi stencils in green are appearing all over Tehran. Picture: http://tinyurl.com/mnowfy
Opposition
7. Full Text of Mousavi’s Speech on Monday (English): Mir Hossein Mousavi میر حسین موسوی: Mousavi: “Religious celebrations are opportunities for the display of the “Green” movement’s creativity.” | Facebook (I went through as much of it as I could and the translation seems to be impeccable. Hopefully, those who were looking for it will find it useful).
8. Ninety two professors and faculty members of universities in Tabriz have sent a letter of support to Mousavi. The letter also asks the government to release political prisoners, ensure freedom of speech and stop violently oppressing peaceful protests.
9. Ayatollah Sayed Jalalludin Taheri Isfahani has written a letter supporting Rafsanjani’s stance in regard to the elections. He asked the political elite to join hands in finding a solution for the current turmoil. He stated that the regime and spirituality were in danger because of the present situation.
10. Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani also wrote a letter today to the reformist leadership. The letter states that the blood spilled, during the post election violence, was on the hands of those who have always thought little of people and have ignored their votes. He urged the reformists to continue to stand against the oppression that was taking place and said those who ignore such atrocities also share the blame.
11. In an interview, published in Etemaade Melli newspaper, Fakhrusadaat Mohtashamipour blamed the Guardian Council of overly supporting Ahmadinejad and hurting the oppositions’ campaigns using censor tactics and media as a tool.
12. Reformist leaders continue to meet with the families of protesters who’ve been killed or detained. On Monday, Mohammad Khatami met with the family of detained reporter Mohammad Ghochani and Mahdi Karroubi met with the family of Neda Aga-Soltan. Karroubi told the family of Neda that she had merged into the people’s movement and had become a symbol for freedom.
Government / International
13. Reports suggest that Ahmadinejad has assumed the responsibilities of the Minister of Intelligence after he sacked Ejaie from the post. This can only be partially confirmed at this point. There are other reports suggesting that he has appointed another high-ranking official at the Ministry as the “caretaker”.
14. Congressman Ted Poe, R-Texas, on Monday praised the women of Iran for their bravery in pursuit of their rights and freedoms. He mentioned Shadi Sadr and the fact she had been arrested. Video: YouTube – Congressman Poe Impressed By The Women Of Iran
15. Iranian MP Ali Motaheri today criticized the government’s decision to close just one detention center. He said the closing of only one detention center didn’t mean that there were not other places where people were deprived of their liberty and tortured.
16. Reports suggest that Ahmadinejad is losing support in parliament. At least two parliament members have reportedly suggested in recent days that Ahmadinejad’s government could face a vote of no confidence. However, this remains only partially confirmed. Ahmadinejad is also still under pressure by some conservatives for keeping Esfandiar Mashaie as his Chief of Staff.
17. MP Hamid Reza Katouzian of Tehran today criticized Ahmadinejad harshly over his continued support for Mashaie. He also accused Ahmadinejad of not being loyal to the Supreme Leader. Also on Tuesday, conservative MP Gholamreza Mesbahi-Moghaddam expressed support for Rafsanjani and said that most of the detainees should be released since they were simply young and excited youngsters.
Arrested / Released / Killed
18. After the order by Shahrodi which stipulated a speedy release for detained protesters with minor offences, Ali Larijani – the head of the Iranian parliament – announced today that a special committee would be reviewing the situation from the beginning of the tension. The three member committee will meet with prisoners and write a detailed report about their status, rights and the interrogations they’ve gone through. The committee would also gather complaints from people who’ve been beaten or have suffered financial loss during the unrest.
19. Saeed Hajjarian is reportedly being released today. He is in failing health and human rights organizations have repeatedly warned that if not released, he could die in detention.
20. More deaths during the protests have been confirmed.
- Hossein Akhtar-Zand, 32, was killed by Basijis in Isfahan on June 15th.
It has been alleged that he was thrown from a building. I have seen pictures of his body. I am not going to post the link as they are too graphic.- Saeed Abbasi was killed on June 20 after being shot in the head on Rodaki Ave.-
- Sajjad Qayed Rahmati, was killed on June 21 by IRG members near Navab Metro Station.
- Davood Sadri, 25, was killed on June 15 after being shot by Basijis from the rooftop of their headquarters at Moghdad near Jinnah Avenue in Tehran.
- Amir Javadi Langroodi has also died after suffering days of torture at Evin.
- A 16 year old detainee was brutally beaten in front of more than 200 other detainees at Kahrizak and died on the spot.
- Hossein Akbari was killed by security forces in the first week of unrests. He had gone missing, but his family didn’t know of his death for almost a month. His body was given to his family on July 22 and he was buried four days later.
- Mansour Ghoujazadeh, a resident of Khoy, was beaten so badly during a protest that he couldn’t survive his injuries. He was quietly buried after his family was threatened by security forces.
(But they aren’t just names, they have faces too: Faces of the Iranians killed and Arrested)21. Reports today confirmed the detention center, ordered to be shut down by Khamenei, is Kahrizak Detention Center located south of Tehran. Horrendous reports of torture and abuse are surfacing about the facility.
- One detainee reportedly suffered so much trauma to the head at Kahrizak that he went blind and died in detention.
- Detainees are forced to strip, then, electric cables are used to lash them for hours ripping into their bodies and inflicting terrible damage.
- Other detainees are crammed into small cells where many have contracted infectious diseases.
- Tehran’s Police Chief, Ibrahim Reza Radan has personally beaten and tortured detainees on his visits to the facility. His weapon of choice was reportedly a plastic hose.
22. Reports from other detention facilities describe incidents like these:
- A female detainee was supposedly forced to sign a confession to admit she had not been mistreated while in detention. She was repeatedly beaten, harassed by male interrogators, her hair was pulled and male interrogators repeatedly touched her body inappropriately to force her to confess.
- One detainee was forced to lick the commode of the detention facility’s toilet and guards forced his head down to the ground with their boots. He was also repeatedly beaten with batons.
- Guards who would refuse to subjugate prisoners to such torture were reprimanded. One guard was detained and tortured after he refused to torture a detainee.
- One Iranian expatriate, who had been detained after returning from London, was beaten so badly and harassed that he has become mentally unstable. After his release, his family has been forced to restrain him so he does not attempt to commit suicide.
(The committee formed by the parliament to investigate the cases of detainees most probably will not be visiting Kahrizak as it has already been closed. For accounts of what happened at Kahrizak, visit this link: كودن با استعداد: The Holocaust denier is casting his own version)
23. The number of protesters who have been killed in detention or on the streets has climbed to 78. According to multiple sources this number is much higher. Here is an updated list of the dead and detained Leaving Facebook… | Facebook.
24. The government is continuing to charge people money for returning the bodies of their loved ones. They are also being forced to sign papers that absolve the government of the blame for the victim’s death. Unless these two conditions are met, bodies are not returned.
25. Reports suggest that in the past two days, at least 140 prisoners were freed from Evin and other prisons. They include Mohammad Tavsoli who had been in detention for the past 43 days. Aida Mesbahi was also released today. The government has announced that the remaining detainees – which according to it number in less than 200 – have committed major crimes such as damaging property or providing weapons to other protesters that were used in violence.
26. Ali Maghami – a member of Karoubi’s campaign HQ – was arrested yesterday.
27. Unconfirmed reports indicate that two political prisoners were hung in Zahedan, Sistan o Baluchestan province. The prisoners were primarily persecuted because they belong to the Sunni branch of Islam which is a minority in Shia-majority Iran. There is still no news on the fate of seven detained members of the Baha’i faith.
Media
28. Javan Daily has accused the Association of Anonymous Addicts of also having a hand in the current turmoil. (Next, it will be the Pope!)
29. Khanaye Moseeqi (House of Music), an organization of Iranian musicians, has released a letter defending Saeed Shajarian. He has been repeatedly insulted by the government owned media after he asked them to stop broadcasting his patriotic songs.
From The GreenOwl (Human Activist in Iran)
Fall of Ahmadinejad is coming
Posted: July 29th, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: World News | Tags: Politics, World News | No Comments »Making forecasts about Iran is a foolish occupation. Few predicted the surge of support for Mir Hossein Mousavi before the June election, or the regime’s egregious rigging of the result, or the vast protests that followed.
Even fewer would have predicted that six weeks later it would be the opposition rebounding and the regime in disarray.
A Government that claims to be the champion of Islamic values has been hit by its own version of America’s Abu Ghraib scandal. It has been caught perpetrating some of the very horrors for which the Shah was overthrown.
President Ahmadinejad also enraged his fellow conservatives by defying Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, his patron and Supreme Leader, when he selected a relative as his deputy.
Related Links* Memory of murdered girl sparks Tehran revolt
* Protesters’ deaths reveal brutal regime
Foreign journalists are now banned from Iran, and it takes the skills of a Kremlinologist to decipher what is really happening in Qom and Tehran, but it no longer seems absurd to ask whether Mr Ahmadinejad will survive.
The security forces have failed to crush the opposition. Mr Mousavi is about to launch a broad political front to demand justice and democracy.
Mr Ahmadinejad has forfeited whatever support he had in parliament, has powerful enemies within the political establishment, and faces a severe economic downturn that could be compounded by yet harsher international sanctions next year if the deadlock over Iran’s nuclear programme persists.
He knows, however, that his fate and the Supreme Leader’s are now inextricably entwined. Mr Khamenei has supported Mr Ahmadinejad so robustly, and sacrificed so much authority to ensure and defend his re-election, that to jettison his wayward protégé now would almost certainly destroy both of them
Congrats to Prezi. Back in May, I called them one of today's most radical innovators. TED, Sunstone Capital, and Twitter's Jack Dorsey all agree — the former two have recently funded Prezi, and Jack is now on Prezi's advisory board.
I love using Prezi — for big presentations to hundreds of people, or small ones to dozens, nothing comes close for interactivity, nonlinearity, and generally total awesomeness. The Prezi crew are awesome. And the economics of Prezi threaten to be mega-disruptive.
Good luck, guys!
Conosciamo tutti le solite presentazioni fatti con programmi standard come Microsoft Power Point della collezione Office. Prezi è un’occasione fantastica a dare spazio alla tua creatività. Prezi ti dà la possibilità di essere diverso nella grande giungla delle presentazioni. Si tratta di un’applicazione online, programmata in Flash. Il Mondo di Prezi e facilmente accessibile dopo una corta registrazione. Esistono tre tipi di registrazione, di cui due a pagamento e una gratis, perfetta per iniziare, provare e completare piccole presentazioni. Le modalità di iscrizione si trovano sotto questo link.
La specialità di Prezi (spiegata in modo semplice) consiste in far vedere “la cosa che vuoi presentare” su una grande piattaforma panoramica, andando sempre più in dettaglio della faccenda zoomando dentro. Sempre lavorando sulla piattaforma esiste la possibilità di collegare diversi sub-temi tra essi e chiaramente far vedere i loro rapporti. Vi consiglierei a dare un’occhiata vuoi stessi, perché spiegare Prezi è molto complicato. Una descrizione di Prezi (in lingua Inglese) usando il programma stesso si trova quì.
All´inizio avevo difficoltà a usare Prezi, pero dopo averci giocato un pò, essi svaniscono e lavorare con Prezi diventa molto divertente.
Vai al sito: Prezi.com
Al più presto,
Il vostro Diwono (coauthor)
Prezi: addio alle vecchie slide!
Pubblicato da Alessio Pellegrini alle 10:00 in Tool, e-learning, web 2.0
Per tutti coloro che vogliono dare una forte impronta personale alle proprie presentazioni, con elevata interattività e rompendo le strutture gerarchiche e sequenziali delle vecchie slide, c'è adesso Prezi.
Con Prezi le slide non si sfogliano, si potrebbe dire che "ruotano". E' in effetti un servizio online che ci consente, in maniera semplice e divertente, di realizzare presentazioni creative e a forte impatto. Date un'occhiata al video:
Una volta visto il video, guardate una presentazione con Prezi. Ad esempio questa.
Non sono affascinanti?
Tutto questo è possibile grazie all'interfaccia realizzata in flash. Una volta terminata la nostra presentazione, possiamo condividerla, ma anche salvarla nel nostro computer e reinserirla in altre creazioni.Qui sono disponibili guide e tutorial per iniziare subito con Prize. E per creare oggetti avvincenti anche per l'e-learning.LINK: Prezi
"Social network: attenzione agli effetti collaterali"
Facebook & Co.
Come tutelare la propria privacy ai tempi di Facebook, MySpace & Co.? Come difendere la propria reputazione, l'ambiente di lavoro, gli amici, la famiglia, da spiacevoli inconvenienti che potrebbero essere causati da un utilizzo incauto o improprio degli strumenti offerti dalle reti sociali?Sono queste alcune delle domande a cui risponde la guida messa a punto dal Garante per la privacy "Social Network: Attenzione agli effetti collaterali". Non un manuale esaustivo, ma un agile vademecum sia per persone alle prime armi, sia per utenti più esperti, pensato per aiutare chi intende entrare in un social network o chi ne fa già parte a usare in modo consapevole uno strumento così nuovo.
La guida del Garante privacy
La guida è organizzata in quattro capitoli pensati in forma modulare, così da offrire a tutti i lettori elementi di riflessioni e consigli, adatti alla propria formazione e ai differenti interessi.1. Avviso ai naviganti
Spunti di riflessione sul funzionamento dei social network e su alcuni dei principali rischi che si possono incontrare nell'uso dei social network.2. Ti sei mai chiesto?
La semplice check list che ogni utente dovrebbe controllare prima di pubblicare su Internet i propri dati personali, le informazioni sulla propria vita e o su quella delle persone a lui vicine.
Per facilitare la lettura, le domande sono raggruppate in cinque sezioni, in base al tipo di lettori cui ci si rivolge: ragazzi, genitori, persone in cerca di lavoro, "esperti" e professionisti. In realtà, anche gli utenti esperti possono trovare domande interessanti nella sezione dedicata ai ragazzi, e viceversa.3. Consigli per un uso consapevole dei social network
Il "decalogo" stilato dal Garante, con consigli utili per tenere sotto controllo i pericoli che si possono incontrare nell'uso dei social network.4. Il gergo della rete
La spiegazione, rigorosamente non tecnica, dei termini informatici o delle espressioni gergali che si incontrano con maggiore frequenza nelle "reti sociali".L'opuscolo in formato cartaceo può essere richiesto all'Ufficio relazioni con il pubblico, Piazza di Monte Citorio n. 123, lunedì-venerdì ore 10,00-13,00 e-mail: urp@garanteprivacy.it
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- Artificial Knees Made to Order
- By Courtney Humphries - Monday, July 13, 2009
- This video shows how ConforMIS uses a patient's CT and MRI imaging data to create a customized knee implant, as well as a customized instrument that helps guide the surgeon in placing the implant correctly.
- Video by ConforMIS - Read the Article