WHAT’S THIS BLOG ABOUT?
I use this space often–every day except Sunday–for two purposes:
1) I provide thoughts, quotes, ideas, and observations about the world around us, calling attention to little and big injustices and what we can do about them. Some of my posts will be very serious, some will be a sideways glance at something that hit me as interesting. Some will be on topics that you have suggested (keep those suggestions coming!). Maybe a random thought will glide through the space between my ears and I’ll pass that on here.
2) Occasionally I’ll tell you when and where I’ll be giving a talk or book-signing, or I’ll pass on comments people have made to me about their experiences with putting the book’s ideas into practice.
Two features will be recurring every week. One is Thursday Thought, when I’ll pass on a shot quote, cartoon, or video I found interesting, curious, or thought-provoking. Sometimes I’ll add very sort comment; other times I’ll let the quote speak for itself. The other is an Earth Tip, posting an idea for a simple yet effective way we can help protect the Earth and all life on it, including humans. Each suggestion will be a small action for an individual or family to take, and many will also save you money.
I hope to establish some dialog with you. Maybe you disagree with one of my blogs or with something you read on the “Critical Reviews” or “Readers’ Comments” page. Or your group tried my Study Guide for Small Things Count! and you want to tell me how it went. Let me know. Or tell me about something funny, disastrous, inspiring, or frustrating that happened when you tried one of my suggestions. Make a “small things” suggestion of your own.
In other words, let’s meet here and talk.
Happy Easter, everyone. It’s a glorious season of new beginnings, fresh starts, wallowing in Spring sunshine, enjoying life itself.
Hi, Ben. I see you signed up as a visitor. Welcome! Please leave a comment so we can start a dialog.
Just got notice from KIVA that one of my loans to a group of people in Tanzania has made yet another payment and that their produce business is doing well,hiring people and earning enough to pay children’s school fees. People I’ve loaned to over the years have always paid me back and succeeded in making better lives for themselves and their families. I take the paid-back money and loan it to someone else and watch the same thing happen again! It’s great! If you’re not familiar with this great group, visit http://www.KIVA.com.
Next month (Sat., May 19 at 10:30 AM) I’ll be giving a talk and book-signing at Handicapables in Milpitas. This is a great group of active people with disabilities who enjoy a variety of activities together 1-2 times a month. I belonged many years ago (I still have a bowling trophy to prove it!) and look forward to being with them that day. If you’re interested in attending, go to my Home page and look at the bottom for “Updates.” There you’ll find all the details.
I’m finishing up preparations for this weekend’s annual Women’s Retreat (I’m on the Planning Team). It’s always a relaxing weekend, and not only do I learn something but also I get to know some women better. We always leave having expanded our families–added “sisters.”
Here’s a cost-free way to help all sorts of causes. Go to http://www.thebreastcancersite.com. Click on “Click here to give–it’s free.” Repeat for any/all of the other categories listed across the menu bar–Hunger, Animals, Veterans, Autism, Child Health, Literacy, and Rainforest. Each click means a donation from the site’s sponsors to the cause you click on. You can do this once a day!
I just read an article about pot farms. I hadn’t realized the environmental harm they cause. Go to http://spartandaily.com/76204/76204 to read about it.
There’s still time to register to vote in the June 5 primaries (and on several potential laws). If you haven’t registered, go to the Registrar of Voters website, print off a registration form, and mail it in by May 21. If you miss that date, you have until Oct. 22 to register for the Nov. 22 elections. Each vote adds to all the others to help elect people and enact laws for the common good. DO IT!
I was invited to give a talk to the Handicapables yesterday and had a great time! The people were welcoming, energetic, enthusiastic, and fun. If you’re not familiar with them, it’s a group of people with disabilities who get together 1-2 times a month for various activities–from playing games to taking trips (next one is in June to S.F.’s Academy of Science) to being a fantastic audience for authors and others. (Thanks to my peeps for having me!)
Something to get kick our brains into gear on a Monday: “We must become the change we want to see in the world.” (Mahatmas Gandhi)
Do you have a spam issue on this internet site; I also am a blogger, and I was wondering.
Yes, I get some spam, as you know. Spam is intrusive, wasteful, inconsiderate, and nothing positive. I refuse to buy anything from anyone who advertises via spam, and I tell companies NOT to put me on their email list or, if it’s too late, to REMOVE ME! I watch out for and delete anything from an unknown address. Putting spammers on the “Junk Mail” list doesn’t do any good, as they just keep changing their address. We must fight back by being observant and quick with the Delete key. Spam exists only because we allow it, and it’s time that spammers get a real life.
I recently met an interesting lady. She’d been divorced for about a year. Then she lost her job to a Valley company’s “reduction in force.” She could no longer keep up her house payments, and the bank refused to work with her. She spends her days looking for work–any work–and stopping by Sacred Heart Community Services a couple times a week for a bag lunch so she has SOMETHING to eat. She keeps herself clean and as neat as possible. She’s healthy, educated (BA from UC Berkeley),talented (plays piano and violin), caring (expressed concern for people she sees every day), and homeless.
I just updated my http://JackieODonnell.net with new original poetry, thoughts, ideas, and items for people with disabilities on the Adept-Able Living page. Come take a look.
Many many quatliy points there.
Thanks. Did you like the Adept-Able Living page or the ROAD page?
When are you going to post again? You really inform me!
In a few minutes. I’m new to this blogging stuff but have many ideas I want to share. I’ll try to post something new at least every 2-3 days to begin with. Please comment on anything that touches your heart and mind. Also, please try out my other site at http://www.JackieODonnell.net. (See above–my comment to “Click Here”–for an explanation of the difference between the two sites.)
Thanks for the suggestions. Actually, I designed this site to be fairly static. Its purpose is to get people to look at what my book SMALL THINGS COUNT is about and then buy it. In addition, I wanted people to think about what small things they can do to make this a more just world–the blog is my forum there. For additional ideas and pictures, you can go to my non-book, personal site–www.JackieODonnell.net. I’ll be adding a blog there, too, but it contains my original poetry, some thoughts and ideas, and a page of helpful info. and suggestions for people with disabilities. Please visit there.
I was so pleased to see Pres. Obama honoring our Viet Nam vets. I remember protesting the war, carrying a sign and chanting on 7th St. at San Jose State, then FINALLY having our battered friends returning from that awful war. I remember our hugging them and expressing our happiness at their safe return. I also remember that others did the opposite—blaming these warriors for fighting that unpopular fight, as though they had a choice. (Remember how much of our army was made up of draftees.) I look forward to a future Memorial Day that remembers past wars during a lasting time of peace throughout the world.
Something to think about: “I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights,are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” (Martin Luther King, from speech “When Silence Is Betrayal,” given at Riverside Church, New York, April 4, 1967.)
Interested in promoting peace? Here are some regularly scheduled peace vigils you can attend:
Mondays, 5-6 p.m. in San Jose: Corner of Market & San Carlos Streets, south end of Cesar Chavez Park (near Convention Center Light Rail Station). Justice for Palestinians weekly protest against Apartheid Israeli occupation, aggression & terror.
Wednesdays, 4:45-6 p.m. in Palo Alto: Peace vigil at the corner of Embarcadero and El Camino Real.
Thursday, 4- 5 p.m. in Hayward: Sidewalk at the park being renovated at Foothill Blvd & E St. You are invited to attend a weekly Palestine Vigil. South Alameda County Peace and Justice Coalition’s signs call to Americans: “End the Occupation of Palestine & Iraq”, “No Apartheid Wall in Palestine”, “Stop Aid to Israel”
Fourth Fridays 12:10- 12:50 pm in Sunnyvale: At the corner of Mathilda Avenue and 3rd Avenue in front of the Lockheed Martin main gate. Please join the Pacific Life Community for a monthly vigil against nuclear weapons.
Fridays, 5-6 p.m. in San Jose: In front of the Martin Luther King Library, 150 E. San Fernando Street. Please join us at the Friday Peace Vigil.
Saturdays, 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. in San Jose: Winchester and Stevens Creek, near Valley Fair and Santana Row.
Are you planning out your garden? Be sure to include some butterfly-attracting plants and bushes that offer safe habitat for small critters. Put up a birdbath or bird feeder. If you make your yard Earth-friendly, Mother Nature will reward you with beauty and little dramas and comedies you can’t find on TV!
Not doing anything on a lazy Sunday? Dig out that sample ballot and discuss the candidates and issues with your spouse, friend, or whomever. Then fill it in and be sure to go vote on Tuesday. If you don’t vote, you lose the right to complain about whoever or whatever wins.
OK, so I pay too much attention to words people use. I admit it. And I’ve noticed that each Presidential campaign pushes a common word into overuse. Since the last campaign, thanks to then-candidate/now PODUS Obama, politicians and news commentators answer questions or introduce statements with “Look….” This time around, all of a sudden the candidates have “surrogates.” What will be next? What words have YOU noticed?
I figure you’re posting is just spam (I’ve been getting a lot of it), but I was feeling a little “down” because of some news I’d just received and decided to accept your timing as a needed “upper” sent from a kind universe.
In case you aren’t what you appear to be–spam (I like to give people the benefit of the doubt): I AM trying to make this blog both entertaining and educational, including variety in subject matter, and hope people agree with you. I wish I knew what posting/topic you’re responding to so I could write more on it.
I see that only about 40% of the registered voters actually voted yesterday (in primaries, it’s usually 40-50%). Let’s see, it takes 51% of those voting to put a candidate into office or an idea into law. That means that decisions that affect all of us for years to come are decided by maybe 20% of those few people who voted—-BY THOSE VOTING, NOT BY THOSE REGISTERED OR BY A MAJORITY OF U.S. CITIZENS. Scary. Come on, 99%-ers. Don’t just complain about problems, VOTE TO SOLVE THEM. (You have another chance in November.)
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “What action is most excellent? To gladden the heart of a human being, to feed the hungry, to help the afflicted, to lighten the sorrow of the sorrowful, and to remove the wrongs of the injured.” (The Prophet Mohammed)
People living across the globe just made more re-payments on the KIVA loan I was part of, so it was time to reinvest. I found a woman in Mombasa, Kenyna, who wants to expand her fruit/veggie selling business–more support for her family and she’ll probably put others to work. I loaned her my $25, knowing that I’ll get it back and can re-loan it. Meanwhile, I can follow her progress on http://www.KIVA.com. I love these micro-loans!
In response to “Click Here” a few days ago, I’m trying to set up a Twitter link. I’ve noticed that any help site I go to assumes I know what all the terms mean. SIGH. Wish me luck.
I like the helpful information you provide in your articles. I’ll bookmark your weblog and check again here regularly. I am quite sure I’ll learn a lot of new stuff right here! Good luck for the next!
Hi, Grady. I’ll look forward to seeing your comments.
Thanks, Margarete. I assume that you’re referring to my ideas on how we can make a more peaceful, just world that I present in the book described in this website–SMALL THINGS COUNT. If you decide to order a copy, let me know and I’ll give you a code for one of my e-book free at http://www.Smashwords.com.
Hi–Yes, I DID write the book (described in this website)–SMALL THINGS COUNT. If you decide to order a copy, let me know and I’ll give you a code for one of my e-books free at http://www.Smashwords.com. I’ll think about your suggestion to add some pictures, and I’ll watch for your return.
Thanks, Jude. I really do hope SMALL THINGS COUNT helps people so, together, we can build a more loving world. If you decide to order a copy, let me know and I’ll give you a code for one of my e-books free at http://www.Smashwords.com.
You’re welcome. It’s my mission to get people thinking and doing.
I’m a professional writer/editor, but I don’t think you’d want me. I see you’re from an atheist group, and as my website shows I’m from the opposite camp. After all, the book described on this site is SMALL THINGS COUNT–SIMPLE WAYS TO LIVE CHRIST’S LOVE EACH DAY (although my suggestions are aimed at all persuasions, even atheists and agnostics who also want to make the world a more peaceful, just place). Hey, bloggers–if you’re a professional writer and interested, do a reply to this post, and, Aracelis, keep an eye out here for responding writers.
We need an answer to this: It’s estimated that at least 20% of the homeless in our country are veterans!
Unbelievable! They did so much for us we should help them.
The V.A. has programs for homeless vets. Spread the word, because I don’t think they all know about the support the V.A. gives. Another small thing we can do is to talk to that homeless guy wearing an army cap and find out if he’s a vet. Whether he is ore not, a little conversation won’t hurt you but will let him know that you view him as a PERSON, not as a USELESS OBJECT.
Another idea: When I’ve heard of people being paid “under the table” or not reporting income from garage and other sales I thought, What’s the harm? Now I’ve learned that $10 BILLION a year is not going into CA coffers due to these underground-economy transactions. That could help pay for schools, police/fire protection, and money-flow so small businesses could afford to hire more people.
An easy Earth-friendly idea for the day: Reduce your use of nonessential appliances (like electric can openers and pencil sharpeners). This saves energy now and, eventually, space they would have taken up in the land-fill.
I have an idea: Take all the energy that spammers put into trying to ruin people’s blogs and clutter email “In” boxes and set it to work fighting poverty and discrimination. Things would improve over night!
YES!!!!!!! I get so _____ sick and tired of all that garbage in my In box!!!! What’s wrong with those people???!!!
Yahoo! Japan, a Yahoo! subsidiary, is promoting Japan’s illegal-but-profitable destruction of whales. How? Its websites sell hundreds of whale products. Contact Yahoo! and urge the people in power there put pressure on their Japanese subsidiary to stop such ads.
Happy Father’s Day to all those men who are our biological or adopted fathers or men who have just been part of our lives in a lovingly mentoring way. We don’t say it often enough, but we love and appreciate you. (Miss you, Dad.)
I just want to mention I am just very new to blogging and certainly loved you’re web blog. Probably I’m going to bookmark your blog . You absolutely come with awesome well written articles. Bless you for sharing your blog site.
Welcome aboard. Blogging is a crazy world, including (I know you won’t believe this) a whole lot of spammers. Even so, I’m committed to sharing ideas that I feel are worth putting out there even if it makes only a single person stop for a moment and think or feel.
Some truly nice stuff on this website , I enjoy it.
Thanks, Tammi. Come back and visit often.
Up since 2am and was intrigued by your suggestions. Will check them out in the daylight hours…what do you do in your spare time?
Naw, they probably seem more intelligent when you’re bleary-eyed. Spare time? Spare time? I recall hearing about that someplace….
I recently purchased “Small Things Count” and I must say it was a wonderful collection of ideas, some that have always been known to me and some new. Either way it was an awakening to little ways to make a difference in others’ lives.
Being physically challenged myself, little thoughful things people have made in my life have left a lifetime of remembering that there are wonderful people out there who really do care, in a world that can often make you feel left out and so alone..trust me , “Small Things DO Count”! Great reading!!
Susan
Thanks, Susan. I appreciate your comments.
For anyone who is wondering what Susan is talking about, go to http://www.smthingscount.com and learn about my book. Find out what it’s about, read a sample of it, read reviews from book critics and readers just like you.
Thanks a bunch for sharing your blog site.
You’re welcome.
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Thanks for passing it on. I hope your pals enjoy it, too.
Thanks. Will read on.
I hope you do.
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I’m glad you enjoy it. Thanks for reading.
I love it when individuals get together and share opinions.
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Me too.
I’ll be sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your
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Thank you.
Every weekend i…pay a visit this web site,
as i want enjoyment….
You’re welcome to read during the week, too. There’s a new blog entry every day except Sunday.
Do you mind if I quote a couple of your posts as long
as I provide credit and sources back to your blog?
My website is in the very same niche as yours and my users would
certainly benefit from some of the information you present here.
Please let me know if this okay with you. Thanks!
Be my guest, Natalie. Please do give me credit by including a link to my blog’s main page–https://smthingscount.com/home/blog/
I do a blog to educate (and sometimes entertain) readers on issues that affect us personally, and the more people who learn, the better!
I do agree with all of the ideas you’ve presented in your posts….Still, the posts are too short for starters. Could you please extend them a bit from next time? Thanks for the post.
I keep them short because so that more people can read them when they have a minute. That attracts more readers.
Good articles, thanks
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You’re welcome. Thanks for being a faithful reader.
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LOL. Happens to the best of us! Glad you enjoy my blog.
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I have bookmarked it for later!
I hope you come back often. I try to provide variety in my postings–some very serious, some educational, some frivolous, some with a touch of humor (like today’s).
Very neat blog. Really Great.
Thanks.
Like the variety in your postings. I just subscribed.
Welcome!
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Thanks. Glad you enjoy.
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Glad you enjoy, Garry.
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Thank you, Grady.
This website was relevant!! … Thanks!
Thanks, Lynell. I hope you keep reading.
Excellent posts! We are linking to this on our site.
Thanks
Saved as a favorite, I love your site!
Thanks, Diego!
Greetings! Very helpful advice in these posts! It’s the little changes that will make the most significant changes. Many thanks for sharing!
I agree. As my book title indicates, SMALL THINGS COUNT!
Great info. Lucky me I discovered your site by chance (stumbleupon). I have saved as a favorite for later!
Welcome!
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I’m glad, Sam.
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Welcome!
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Thanks, Kourtney (unusual and interesting spelling of your name–I like it). I’m always open to suggestions for topics, if you ever have one.
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Welcome, Augustus.
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Thanks, Lee.
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Thank you. I’m always open to ways to improve it. Let me know.
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I’m happy to hear that.
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From one Jackie to another, I’m glad!
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Thanks, Salvador.
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Happy to be an inspiration, David!
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Welcome, Marcel.
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Thanks, Jimmie. I’m glad you enjoy my blog posts.
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I’m glad! Much more to come, almost every day…..
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I try to make it useful, thought-provoking, and entertaining–depends on the day. So, keep coming back.
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You’re welcome any time, Joseph.
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You’re welcome any time, Dottie!
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I’m glad, and you’re welcome!
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Welcome!