Tag Archives: news

International Women’s Day

photo iwd_square_zpsb21c4351.gifEmbrace what we have accomplished, strive to accomplish more.
 

International Women’s Day, March 8th, 2013 – The Gender Agenda: Gaining Momentum
“The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights”
Gloria Steinem

Each year, the UN declares an International Women’s Day theme.  This year, their theme hit close to home… “A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women”.

Originally from Delhi, and living in the US, it is hard for me to comprehend what women in India still have to endure today. Unfortunately, it is not only India that still struggles with women’s rights. Throughout the world, including the US, women still fight for equality in some way or another.  Although women in the United States have been able to conquer many obstacles about equality, we still have a long way to go.  It’s common that we are not always considered, or feel equal to men, whether in the workplace, or even home.  

No history book can describe the strength women needed to overcome their hurdles.  It’s hard to believe that “in 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.”  1909 marked the first International Women’s Day in history.  Since then, it has grown.  Now, International Women’s Day is celebrated throughout the world.  In many countries, it is even considered a National Holiday.  As a woman, I am so proud of the improvements we have been fortunate to benefit from.  Beginning with Suffrage, the simple right to vote, leading to where we are today, with women in the Government and more, it’s important we understand what it took to get here.  We still must continue our efforts.    

“The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women’s education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men.”

Although we have come far, our work as women isn’t over yet.  It won’t be until there is equality worldwide.  Celebrate International Women’s Day today, and every day going forward.  Remember, Quiet Voices Are Rarely Heard… we must continue to make our mark.  

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The Weather Report

Never did I think anyone would get excited to watch the weather on a news station, never mind jump up and down on the couch as soon as it came on. Tonight, my daughters proved me wrong. Their reaction was about the same as mine as a kiddo at my first NKOTB concert.  For those of you who do not know what NKOTB stands for, first off, shame on you!  NKOTB equates to the New Kids On The Block, and if you didn’t get that the first time around, you clearly did NOT have good taste in men since Donny Whalberg was beyond perfect back in the day.

Back on track now (sorry, I got a little too excited there)… Now for the MOST exciting part of this post… THE WEATHER!

Talia had a homework assignment today that involved watching the weather report.  Fortunately, we were able to catch the 6:00pm news (which was when the giddy and earthshaking behavior began).  Unfortunately, somewhere in my travels, I misplaced the piece of paper her homework assignment was on.  Even more unfortunate, the only part of her assignment I remembered reading was “blah blah… watch the weather… blah blah… _______.  The ( insert above the blank line ) was what needed to be filled in.  Just like the blank line shown, my mind = blank.

Like any great mother, when my ever so responsible daughter asked where her homework was, so she could finish it, I responded… “Oh, don’t worry about it.  You can just do it in the morning.”  I was hoping that the piece of paper would miraculously appear and she could complete it in the morning.  You see, although I am not sure what needs to be written above the pretty black line, I took notes.  Yes, lot’s and lot’s of notes.  A half page filled with notes about… drum roll please… THE WEATHER OF COURSE!  Maybe I should have been the one jumping up and down on my couch since I haven’t taken notes like that since my college years. I have yet to find her assignment & I have yet to tell my husband (he’ll never let me forget this one since this is typically the type of thing I yell at him for).  This post is the result of me… taking a break…from looking for the piece of paper I have searched for all night.

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Celebrity Gossip -WONDERWALL

Fitbit Ultra

Celebrity Gossip – WONDERWALL – Mindless Entertainment Consumption In 5 Minutes Or Less

Did I really just spend 5 minutes going through a Q&A about celebrities regarding whether each couple would last or not? YES. Am I embarrassed to admit it? YES. Why am I writing about it? I DON’T KNOW!

WONDERWALL is one of the best celebrity websites. Why, you ask? You get all the celebrity gossip and news you need in short, quick spurts. It is quite literally a wall of wonder! Although I consistently make claims that I am not a fan of celebrity gossip, I admit, when I turn my computer on, and the first thing that pops up on the internet regarding “anything celebrity” is screaming my name, I have a tendency to click on it. If it takes me to WONDERWALL, I usually spend at least a few minutes staring at my computer screen while multiple images pop up, move around, appear and disappear in front of me with each click. Every image displays another celebrity or juicy story just waiting to be consumed by readers just like me.

Mindless entertainment is not a bad thing every so often. Reading celebrity gossip is NOT my idea of a great internet session but… it sure takes the edge off of most front page stories considered newsworthy… You know what I mean… A typical newsworthy story may cause feelings of sadness, anger, frustration and even bad dreams. These are the moments when websites like WONDERWALL are worth the read.

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Wrath Of Grapes

9/12/2012… The Daily… Wrath Of Grapes (Yes, WRATH of Grapes)… Read on…
The Quote – The Product – The Book – The App – The Music

+ The Product…Shop Our Charm Of The Month – September
Spreading Positive Energy Worldwide – AlexandAni.com

If you haven’t heard about Eco-Friendly Fashion from Alex and Ani it’s time you visit their website for some Positive Energy!!!

 + The Book… The Grapes of Wrath
Of Course I could not suggest any other book when discussing grapes!  After almost 40 years, John Steinbeck is still considered one of the greatest writers worldwide!

+ The App… Wine101 
Who doesn’t need the greatest beginner’s guide to wine!  Wine 101 not only helps you familiarize yourself with various wines, it helps you pair them with food and more!

+ The Music… Listen My Friends: The Best of Moby Grape

And of course… The Playlist…

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The Colorado Shootings

Beezid
The Colorado Shootings… It is difficult to put the emotions I have felt while hearing of the recent Colorado shootings.  Due to the amount of negative rather than positive things mentioned, I have never been a big fan of watching the news.  The past few days have been quite different.  My eyes and ears have been glued to the coverage revolving around the recent Colorado shootings.

My intense desire to know all that I can about the movie theatre massacre is due to a few factors.  First, it was just a movie… So many of us have been to just a movie.  Second, a six year old girl was killed.  Similar to my daughter’s ages.  I think knowing she was six, and had been killed, was when the reality of what occurred really hit me.  Six years old, her life stripped.  Third, the pictures posted of the gunman’s face… I cannot seem to get them out of my mind.  Although I am not sure what I expected him to look like, his pictures are not it.

The past few nights, I’ve had a few nightmares revolving around my daughters.  Each one was similar in the sense that I did not have control over their safety.  The feeling is awful.  Most upsetting about the shootings in Colorado, are how critical everyone has been about the parent’s of the six year old girl who was killed.  Although I do not agree with allowing a six year old to go to a midnight showing of any movie, I also don’t agree with others speaking ill of the parents.  They lost a child.  Regardless of whether it was the right, or wrong thing to do, they lost a child.  They will never get their daughter back.  Their loss is beyond words.  They will never get over the grief they have been forced to endure due to the shooter.  My nightmares will be forgotten someday, some already have.  Unfortunately, the nightmare witnessed by the men, women and children in the Colorado theatre during the shooting, will never be forgotten.

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RSS Feed, RSS Feeder, RSS Feed Reader…

Subscribe in a reader
RSS… Three simple letters, easy enough to remember, yet, still not being utilized by many people.  What is an RSS?  The definition of an RSS is in the letters…  Really Simple Syndication…  Now, in laymans terms, it is a way for you to get all of your favorite content from various websites and publications sent directly to you rather than you having to go to each site to find the most recent articles or posts.

Navigating through the web is a process in itself.  Finding great websites you are interested in is even harder.  On many occasions, I found myself browsing from website to website, hoping to remember which ones I wanted to go back to in the future.  Writing them down doesn’t help much because I generally lose the piece of paper they are written on.  Trying to remember the address is useless for me as well.  The only thing left to do is press on the sites little feed button and voila…  I never have to remember it again.  After clicking on the button, I have the option to receive updates via email or various feed readers I use.  Emails through Yahoo, Gmail, MSN and more offer their very own feed readers registered users.  They are free too!

Utilizing a feed reader for content has many benefits.  Recently, I encountered a few websites with some interesting posts.  I signed up to receive updates through one of my feed readers.  About a week later, I picked up my iPad and began going through my feeds.  There were definitely some headlines I was interested in from the latest websites I added but, the majority of content delivered from them did not peak my interest one bit!  Rather than discontinue receiving updates from the websites completely, having a reader makes it easy to determine what you do and do not want to read, erase the “do not” want to read items, and open the ones that interest you.  Through various readers, you can save articles of interest, email them and more.  Again, these feeds can be read through all sorts of devices from the iPad, to e-readers, emails and even cell phones.  By having a feed reader, you are sure to never be bored, or miss great articles.  You always have the latest news at your fingertips!

Feeds are not only one of the latest technological trends, they are free, interesting, a time buster, and honestly very easy to use.  If you haven’t jumped on the “feed wagon” yet, take a second and start with mine…  Click on the link below and you are well on your way to the latest way to browse the world-wide web… on your time!

Subscribe in a reader

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Who Are These People???

Rarely do I watch the news.  It is just too depressing.  Logging on to the internet and reading news by choice has always been less emotionally trying on me.  Unfortunately, even that is difficult these days.  I realize I have said this before, but honestly, why do writers and newscasters believe that the front page should consist of terrible things?  They are not necessarily newsworthy!  Unless off course, you are a sociopath or get a kick out of pure and simple misery…

Never mind the newspapers being filled with negative stories…  have you taken a look at most front pages of websites lately?  Take Yahoo for example.  I don’t have anything against yahoo, genuinely.  The site is informative and their search engine is great.  It used to be my home page.  Recently, I converted to Google so that I would not immediately be inundated with things I do not care about or do not want to know about.  When you log into yahoo, the top stories consist of information regarding terrible things happening in our world, or, even worse, celebrity gossip.  The only positive they tend to post is whether someone wore a dress well or not.  Seriously?  Google, fortunately, does not spew out bad reading material the moment you enter. 

Today, I somehow ended up on msn now.  The first story that popped into my view was “Tech-savvy citizen rescues 500 dogs from becoming dinner“…  A lovely story about a truck load of dogs, some with collars, some with clothes on, who were on their way to a food processing plant.  Fortunately, the citizen helped stop the awfulness by utilizing a social network.  Ok, so that is not so terrible.  The citizen is clearly a hero, but… what the flip is wrong with the people who stole these poor little beings and who are the even more crazy ones who would consider eating them?  Yes, I know people from different cultures may be inclined to eat animals I would not consider eating but that does not make me ok with it.  Moving on, I got to take my pick of a great list of articles.  The first one, “Family rocks out to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ on drive to school“ and next to that article, “Cruel man pays $2,400 for setting fire to neighbor’s cat “… hmm… This got me thinking.  Are they putting stories in this order to punish me?  A family rocking out in the car to a song is kind of funny.  A great little read to rise and shine with a cup of coffee to.  Unfortunately, I don’t really think I would want to drink a cup of coffee first thing in the morning, read an article about someone setting fire to a cat, and looking at my pretend cat Penelope purring at my feet.  Just another reminder of what may be trending in your world, but not in mine.

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Care2

Being involved in humanitarian efforts is a passion I share with many people around the world.  Finding my voice was not difficult.  There are so many things I am passionate about.  I could write for hours about different causes I believe in.  If I had the ability, I would travel the world trying to help as many people as I could.  Although I may not have the time to do all of that, I do have the time each day, to go through the Care2 website and participate as well as educate myself about the many things happening in this world and the amazing people involved in making a positive change.

A few months ago, I was asked if I saw something in the news.  My response was simple.  I said no.  “Really” my friend asked.  Again, my response was one word, “no”.  I don’t watch the news.  It depresses me too much.  Try this tonight.  Watch a full hour of the news.  In front of you, have a piece of paper with two columns.  The first, positive stories.  The second, negative stories.  Mark up that piece of paper with the amount of positive vs. negative stories you hear.  Then, take a moment to reflect on how you felt while watching it.  I will guarantee you feel a little stressed or possibly depressed the moment it is over…  unless you are a sadist of some sort that is.  I guess when people speak of “what is newsworthy,” the answer is apparent after one sitting of watching the news…  It is rarely rainbows and butterflies… 

Here is another thought…  a lot of good is done in our world.  Many people do amazing things every day!  So, why on earth are they not making it to the news?  Think of a rumor…  negative rumors spread a lot faster than positive ones.  For some reason, everyone wants to talk about the bad, assuming that would be newsworthy… either that, or again, they are sadists…  that word seems to be on the tip of my tongue today…  So, the same goes for the news.  Bad news spreads faster than good news.  Rather than talking about the bad, why not spread the word about the good?  Email the news stations when your neighbor does something positive.  Call them!  Spread the word to the masses.  Nothing is newsworthy if nobody knows about it. 

This brings me back to Care2 and how I found it.  It’s true, I do not like to watch the news.  Fortunately, I like to read.  Having the ability to pick and choose what I read is great.  My web surfing and love of reading led me to Care2′s website.  Care2 is all about different humanitarian efforts going on in the world.  They cover non-profits and individuals looking to make a difference.  The site doesn’t ever ask you for money.  Rather, it educates the reader and allows you to participate with very little effort.  Efforts can be as simple as signing a petition like the one I have on the side bar of my home page.  It really is that simple.  Take a moment and sign.  Better yet, check out their website.  You will be amazed at the amount of remarkable individuals making a difference right now.  You can also check out the article they recently posted about me by clicking this link!

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“L” Is For Locavore – Free App

Apps For Free From A To Z, April Challenge

April 13th, 2012

“L” Is For Locavore

What is a Locavore? Well, simply put, a Locavore is someone who eats food produced locally or within a certain mile radius. There has been so much media attention regarding what we should eat, what is in season, etc… Locavore takes all the guess-work away for you! It tells you what is in season around you as well as what will be in season and when. You can also check where your favorite items are flourishing at the moment and where those apples you love are most likely coming from! There is no question Locavore is a must have app! The developers even took the app to the next level by providing details about local farmers markets! What’s better than that!

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