Very Pretty but...

I'm sure glad I don't live there - looks hot!



APOD has this photo of the Phoenix and the Martian soil that will be dug, scooped, baked, sniffed, zapped, dissolved, and magnified in the next 3 months so that neighboring Earthlings can learn and grow...

later man, jan

World Environment Day was June 5...

I must have been doing something else...

I just came across this blog - boston.com - News Stories in Photographs

This is the first photo in a series of absolutely ! stunning ! thought provoking ! photography - please - check it out.

An algae bloom on a fresh water lake in China...


later man, jan
ps - you guys keep that detergent out of our lake this summer - we don't want it to look like this one!

Procrasinators Unite - Part ???

How's your geography? Play this timed game and see how well you do.
later man, jan

The Ecovillage Concept...

Many people around the globe are planning and working hard to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals for 2015.

Senegal Ecovillage Microfinance Fund... SEM has an excellent video - 9 minutes -showing how these communities are receiving microcredit loans - giving them the seed money to help these people on the road to sustainability and helping them live in an ecological manner.



We can help in our own small way by making microloans at Kiva.

later man, jan

Pro Mujer - Giving Women Credit

Pro Mujer is without doubt one of the finest MFIs out there - check out their videos on YouTube - a very informative and inspiring 8 minute video should start playing automatically if you follow that link.

Place a box of tissues by your hand and be prepared to be sad for and proud of these women in El Alto, Bolivia. We made a Kiva loan to this group of women and the ripple effect will benefit each one in their community.


later man, jan

This Sky is Protected...

"...the 50 year anniversary of the first lighting ordinance ever enacted, which restricted searchlight advertisements from sweeping the night skies above Flagstaff, Arizona, USA..."

enjoy the larger photo and read the whole explanation here at Astonomy Picture of the Day

"...Visible in the above spectacular panorama are the San Francisco Peaks caped by a lenticular cloud. Far in the distance, the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy arcs diagonally from the lower left to the upper right, highlighted by the constellations of Cassiopeia, Cepheus, and Cygnus. On the far right, the North America Nebula is visible just under the very bright star Deneb."

later man, jan

Hmm... You're Shopping at Amazon ?

Now I know there's a whole bunch of you out there who search and shop regularly at Amazon - so...

Today I am asking you to use the link here on my blog - to Amazon.ca and it will generate donations to be applied to loans for Kiva...


and if down the road, you lose the link (because you forgot to bookmark it) - why its posted permanently over there on the left, see?

later man, jan

Guatemala and Friendship Bridge...

This video takes 9 minutes - and it's a terrific testimonial to the wonderful work being done by Kiva's microfinance Partner company Friendship Bridge in Guatemala...



a big thank you to Collette - my KivaFriend - for finding this...
later man, jan

Homeless in Japan...

Here is a story of a 58 year old woman found living in a closet in a man's house in Japan. She went undetected for 1 year. He became suspicious when noticing food going missing and installed security cameras.

I just can't imagine how it would feel to live with desperation like that... I have such abundance in my life...

later man, jan

Phoenix Lander Arrives at Mars ...

"Phoenix has landed on Mars. After traveling for 10 months on a 422-million-mile route, the spacecraft landed right on time in the northern arctic plains of Mars, at 68 degrees north, near the polar cap, just before 5 pm Pacific Daylight Time (PDT). And the first images are already in."
...quoted from Planetary News

Yay - it made it...check out this artistic animation from NASA.

later man, jan