CThings Blog

Quote of the week

2009-05-03T19:58:00.000-07:00

"Ask yourself this question: 'Will this matter a year from now?'"

- Richard Carlson, writing in Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

Spring Forward!

2009-03-08T01:57:00.000-08:00

Daylight Saving Time just pushed most of the U.S. from 2 - 3am Sunday morning. But before you set your clock like a Lemming, check out this cool Daylight Savings Website to understand the rationale for implementing DST and Summer Time.

A few positives:

fewer traffic accidents and violent crimes
energy conservation
increased voter turnout
safer trick-or-treaters

Along with the ongoing complaints:

lost productivity
sleep disturbances
disrupted mornings and religious practices
inconvenience
assault on logic

There's also an historical timeline and breakdown showing specifically how your region is affected. If you've never delved into the logic of this tradition before, it's worth a look.

Extraordinary speaker addresses high school students

2008-11-22T12:11:00.000-08:00

Happy Blog Action Day!

2008-10-14T23:20:00.000-07:00

Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

Today is Blog Action Day 2008, and this year's theme is POVERTY. CThings is joining thousands of other sites to help raise awareness and inspire a global conversation on poverty. Join the movement by educating yourself, talking with the people around you, and writing about poverty or Blog Action Day on your own blog. What if everyone did that one thing today? What would be possible?

Accept the Challenge!

2008-10-06T23:15:00.000-07:00

Oct. 6-12 you can join your peers from around the country for a concentrated week of special events and community outreach activities designed to raise awareness and build support for service learning in the National Learn and Serve Challenge. The org's ambitious and admirable goals for 2010 include engaging 5 million college students in service and ensuring that 50 percent of America's K-12 schools incorporate service-learning into their curricula. Check out the site's Activity Ideas page for a long list of activities that educators, students, families, and community groups can do to get involved. You can also make a short video about what you're doing to share with the world on YouTube, and watch other videos for inspiration.

Quote of the Week

2008-10-03T23:17:00.000-07:00

"If you are coming to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you are coming because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together."

- Indigenous Saying

CThings is now on Twitter

2008-09-26T09:57:00.000-07:00

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing? Click here to follow CThings.

National Parking Week

2008-09-24T21:11:00.001-07:00

This week is National Parking Week, which launched on Friday with the annual PARK(ing) Day -- a one-day global event centered in San Francisco where artists, activists, and citizens collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spots into temporary public parks or "PARK(ing)" spaces. Check out the video above or the website at PARK(ing) Day 2008.

Rock the Vote!

2008-09-22T11:11:00.000-07:00

Take 2 minutes to register for this important election by clicking on the Rock The Vote box above. Easy, right? Now what happens if Election Day arrives and you're on vacation, sick in bed, can't get away from work, or have to deal with an emergency? To ensure your voice is heard, plan ahead by registering to vote absentee below.

Amazing Tour of Our Dancing World

2008-09-20T09:02:00.000-07:00

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Give a gift - change the world

2008-09-14T23:41:00.000-07:00

Check out our favorite new site for gift-giving ideas. Changing The Present is devoted to showcasing the kinds of thoughtful gifts that make the world a better place. You can give fund an entire year of school for a Ugandan child for $97, feed a Bangladesh family for a month for $30, adopt a polar bear for $125, help build a safe soccer field in a mine-affected country for $5... the list goes on. There's a wedding registry, as well as gift ideas for fathers, mothers, kids, valentines and party favors. It's also a great site to use for your own charitable giving, and if you have kids, invite them to look over the ideas with you and decide together how you'd like to participate. If you ever think one person can't make a difference, spend some time looking over these causes and see how little it takes to make a big impact on the world.

Right Livelihood Award

2008-09-12T12:48:00.001-07:00

The Right Livelihood Award is an award that is presented annually to honor those "working on practical and exemplary solutions to the most urgent challenges facing the world today." An international jury selects the winners in such fields as environmental protection, human rights, sustainable development, health, education and peace. The $310,000 prize money is shared among the (usually four) winners, and any individual or organization is eligible. If you know someone who deserves consideration, you can propose a candidate yourself, and give them the recognition they deserve.

CThings Readers Rock!

2008-08-20T08:37:00.001-07:00

We told you last week about the Amex Challenge and one of our readers took it on! Chris Markl created his own project to get youth involved in politics, and it's now in the running to get Amex funding. You can read about and nominate his project with a single click by checking out his First Time Voters Project on the Amex site. Congratulations Chris - and good luck!

Amex is Making a Difference

2008-08-13T00:42:00.000-07:00

Now in its second year, Members Project is your chance to join a community that's passionate about making a positive change in the world. You can submit your own ideas for projects that make the world a better place, then vote on which winning projects get $2.5 million in American Express funding. We love to see large corporations leveraging their size and reach with innovative initiatives that get people thinking, talking, and most importantly, DREAMING about what's possible. There are 6 days left to submit your project and vote on this year's entries, and if you need a little inspiration, check out the winner and finalists from last year.

Gas Prices Getting You Down?

2008-07-16T07:15:00.000-07:00

Here's an innovative way to deal with the towering price of gas. A new online service is selling ad space on YOUR CAR. If you drive at least 1,000 miles a month, FreeGasHelp.com will give you a monthly gas card reward of $30 just for slapping an ad on your hub cap or a magnet on your car door. Or go for the full car wrap and earn $200 a month! You can earn additional incentives if your car is bright yellow, newer than the year 2000, is a hybrid or a pizza delivery vehicle, or if you're active military. The program won't help the planet or lower the price of gas, but it may ease your pocketbook until you're able to afford that new hybrid or start riding your bike to work.

Urban Adventure

2008-06-06T13:52:00.000-07:00

Fans of the Amazing Race and Fear Factor will love this new urban adventure charity event, CityChase 2008. CityChase requires participants to exhibit teamwork, resourcefulness, determination and the ability to make decisions on the fly as they search for challenges scattered in unknown locations throughout different competing cities: Philadelphia, Atlanta, San Diego, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, Chicago, and New York City. Like TV's Amazing Race, the challenges are designed to test mind, body and spirit. To conquer this urban event, two-person teams will run, walk and use public transit to navigate their way throughout the city, while calling family and friends for help, accessing the Internet and even employing assistance of total strangers. CityChase is now in 15 countries across the globe, and winners from around the world will ultimately compete in the World Championship in Morocco.

World Changing Event

2008-05-18T14:20:00.000-07:00

On May 10, People from all over the world tuned in to watch a live broadcast from Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro. It was called Pangea Day, a 4-hour program of short films, live music, and visionary speakers, broadcast in 7 languages to millions of people via the internet, television, and mobile phones. The event taps the power of film to strengthen tolerance and compassion while uniting million of people to build a better future. In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it's easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that -- to help people see themselves in others -- through the power of film. Movies alone can't change the world, but the people who watch them can. So Pangea Day organizers are now facilitating community-building activities around the world by connecting inspired viewers with numerous organizations that are already doing groundbreaking work. Don't miss the incredible 1-hour highlights film on the Pangea website, and get ready to experience the entire range of human emotion. You can also watch the entire 4-hour event online. We are excited to bring this visionary global event to CThings readers and invite you to help spread the word.

The Future of Radio

2008-05-10T08:44:00.000-07:00

To get a look at the the future of web radio, check out the innovative new Musicovery. Just tell your Musicovery page what "mood" of music you'd like to listen to, click on as many genres as you want, and your personal radio begins. You can see the songs that are playing, add them to your favorites, buy them online, and visually explore similar music, all commercial-free.

National Volunteer Week

2008-04-25T09:42:00.000-07:00

April 27 - May 3 is National Volunteer Week 2008, and there's no better place to start than VolunteerMatch. Nonprofits can post volunteer opportunities there, and volunteers simply enter their ZIP code to receive up-to-date listings of local volunteer activities in their neighborhood. You can filter opportunities based on your areas of interest (arts, culture, the environment, sports, etc.), and there are even opportunities to volunteer "virtually" by working from home. Here are some examples:

Be a mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters in Albuquerque, NM.
Pick up some groceries for a senior or disabled neighbor in St. Paul, Minn.
Bike through the rolling hills of Kentucky for MS in Louisville, KY
Restore indigenous oyster habitats in Charleston, SC
Help with marketing initiatives for the visually impaired in New York City, NY
Deepen your appreciation for life as an ecospiritual intern in Madison, Wis.
Experience the process of mural/public art development in San Antonio, Texas.
Become a Camp Yosemite Ranger in Indianapolis, Ind.

Special thanks to our friends at VolunteerMatch for giving us the heads up on this important week.

Happy Earth Day!

2008-04-21T16:30:00.000-07:00

Each year, the April 22 Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. Here are some things you can do today to make a difference:

Keep America Beautiful finds solutions in communities across the country for preventing litter, reducing waste, and beautifying communities.
Green Dimes has a new FREE service to help eliminate up to 90% of postal junk mail and catalogs.
Join the Arbor Day Foundation for $10 and you'll get 10 free trees sent to you (or a friend) that are ready for planting. They're also guaranteed to grow or be replaced free of charge.
Whole Foods Market has a cool Whole Earth Generation site on YouTube. It's a user-generated collection of videos by kids under 18 talking about what they're doing for the environment.
A 2006 report by the University of Chicago found that adopting a vegan diet does more to reduce global warming than switching to a hybrid car. If you're not ready to go 100% vegan, how about giving up meat one day a week?
Here's a quick tip with a huge impact: start using your own re-usable bottle of water when you're working out - plastic bottles take 1,000 years to decompose! (Update: Sanjiv from GreenDimes says check out Sigg eco-friendly water bottles)
Pay your bills online. It saves paper, helps prevent deforestation, lowers administrative costs for businesses you work with, and there will be one less car driving to the post office.
Talk to your kids about Earth Day, and do something together to help them contribute.

Best School Ever

2008-04-19T14:20:00.000-07:00

What started as a "pirate supply store" by best-selling author Dave Eggers, has become an extraordinary new vision for creativity in education. Check out Eggers' inspirational TED Prize wish video for an overview of how it happened and how to get involved. His new website, Once Upon a School is a step by step guide designed to help YOU lend your innovation and creativity to schools in your neighborhood. You can browse the ideas on the website and find one to take on, or create your own project and get the help you need to make it come to life.

Pet Lovers Unite

2008-04-13T15:05:00.000-07:00

You may have seen Oprah's recent show on puppy mills, the unhealthy and cruel environments where 99% of dogs and cats purchased at pet stores start out their lives. Many of us were inspired to donate to the Lange Foundation featured on Oprah. The Lange Foundation has a wonderful gift program -- your $75 donation will save a cat or dog from the LA City Animal Shelters, and the recipient receives a photo of the pet you rescued along with their personal story. We think it's just about the best gift you can give any animal lover. There are many other no-kill animal shelters across the nation that also deserve our support. Check out Hearts United for Animals, a national no-kill shelter, sanctuary and animal welfare organization dedicated to the relief of suffering. There are so many thousands of great cats and dogs out there that want and deserve a good home. Remember, if you believe in treating animals humanely and with compassion, rescue your next animal from a shelter or buy from a reputable breeder, but do not buy from pet stores. You can join the campaign to shut down the puppy mills by visiting Prisoners of Greed.

What's New on the Space Station?

2008-04-06T14:37:00.000-07:00

It's easy to forget that we have a global community of astronauts living, working, and making news in space right now. Just last week, Europe's robot freighter the Jules Verne hooked up with mankind's orbiting International Space Station completely via auto-pilot. Auto-docking technology is considered a key to assembling spaceships in orbit for long-term missions, such as to Mars. Space station news may feel "out of sight, out of mind," but if you want to really experience the ISS up close, check out the Discovery Channel's HD Theatre. In what we think is the most amazing use of high definition television, Discovery is re-airing "Space Station Live" in HD program. This is your chance to see an extraordinary live walk-through in HD from the space station. If we can have live video conversations in HD with astronauts on the space station, it's only a matter of time before we can talk to astronauts on the moon and beyond. You can also check out NASA's HD video gallery to see HD footage of the moon, the Endeavour and Atlantis launches, and life in Zero-G.

We Can Solve the Climate Crisis

2008-04-03T10:39:00.000-07:00

If you believe that global warming is an urgent, but solvable problem, join the We Campaign, a powerful nonpartisan movement of concerned citizens founded by Nobel Prize Laureate and former Vice President Al Gore. This practical site offers information on clean energy economy, adoption of renewables, enhancing energy efficiency, and making personal choices to stop global warming. Join the We Campaign, spread the word, sign the petition for a global treaty on climate change, and be an advocate for change. Site includes great list of success stories -- real people making a difference.

Every Monday Matters

2008-03-20T17:23:00.000-07:00

Every Monday Matters is a cool new book that gives you 52 creative but doable activities that make a difference and change the world. The premise is that the world would be a better place if everyone did one thing for others and for the world, every Monday. Activities include turning off the TV, eating healthy, helping the hungry, changing to energy saving lightbulbs, getting rid of junk mail, donating books, etc. The book is also part of a movement and website at EveryMondayMatters.com, where you can submit user videos, tell the world which actions you've done, and support the Every Monday Matters Foundation.