Quote of the Day

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. -Winston Churchill

Shhhhh

StoryCorps’ National Day of Listening. This holiday season, ask the people around you about their lives — it could be your grandmother, a teacher, or someone from the neighborhood. By listening to their stories, you will be telling them that they matter and they won’t ever be forgotten. It may be the most meaningful time you spend this year.
Learn. Participate. Listen. Share.

Quote of the Day

It may be that the satisfaction I need depends on my going away, so that when I’ve gone and come back, I’ll find it at home. -Rumi

Junk Raft

15,000 plastic bottles/50 miles per day from California to Hawaii/1 purpose:

Sail on.

(re: Plastics Are Forever)

Quote of the Day

Justice is what love looks like in public. -Dr. Cornel West

Call + Response

Modern day slavery affects the entire world. There are more slaves today than at any other point in human history. Hear the call. Respond.

Quote of the Day

Action, looks, words, steps, form the alphabet by which you may spell character. –Johann Kaspar Lavater

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

the fun starts at 1:21

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Quote of the Day

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me), It’s always our self we find in the sea. -e.e. cummings

Insight / Dopamine

do•pa•mine (dō’pə-mēn’) n. a compound which exists in the body as a euphoric neurotransmitter, naturally produced in the brain to create happiness, heightened energy, pleasure, and pain; reaction one gets from thrill seeking, sex, music, humanitarianism, surfing and skating to name a few.

Dustin Humphrey is brilliant.

Unplugged

Vodpod videos no longer available.

◊ say no to vampire power
Intriguing as it sounds, “vampire power” sucks. A computer that’s been turned off still drains the lifeblood from outlets, accounting for up to 10 percent of home-electricity use. Smart Home’s new-generation #SCG3 Smart Power Strip actually stops the current, saving money and energy. Or just unplug it.

◊ buy in bulk
Packaging can be seductive, but it’s clogging landfills. Cut down on the excess by buying either jumbo containers that hold more or from bins of loose flour, rice, etc. Bonus: fewer gas-guzzling trips to the market.

◊ turn down the thermostat
Doing so not only conserves fuel and money (for every degree you lower it between 70° and 60°, you’ll save about 5 percent on heating costs), but studies show it may also help you fall asleep more quickly and have a more restful night once you do.

◊ ditch paper napkins
An elegant way to conserve, cloth napkins save both kinds of green (that’s money and trees). Wash in cold water and line-dry for bonus points.

◊ shut your tap
While brushing your teeth, remember to turn off the faucet. If you’re scrubbing for the dentist-advised two minutes and your spigot puts out the average three gallons per minute, you’ll save six gallons.

Quote of the Day

There never was a good war or a bad peace. -Benjamin Franklin

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind my nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

-Maya Angelou

Quote of the Day

The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace, and brotherhood. -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Yes We Can

There has never been anything false about hope.
We will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea..