Pathways Of Altruism

How laughter is contagious…

Lori — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:47:54 +0000

Need a good cry? No – I mean a GOOD cry!

Lori — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:23:19 +0000

This video brought me to tears! A gorgeous compilation of unknown street musicians in a ‘virtual studio’… Enjoy!

Playing For Change | Song Around The World “Stand By Me” from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

Recycled Glass Tile – an earth friendly decision

Lori — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 03:55:43 +0000

Are you looking for a unique and eco friendly tile? Recycled glass can be an absolutely stunning choice in materials.

The tiles are made from post-consumer and/or post-industrial sources. Glass tiles are a durable, versatile and gorgeous alternative to other tile options.

Just look at this fabulous shower stall as featured on Eco-Friendly Flooring’s website. It doesn’t matter if you have conservative taste or if you lean toward a more eclectic style – glass tile can accomodate your taste in decor.

Here are some companies that sell recycled glass tile for those of you in the market. It’s worth a look at some of the breathtaking possiblities even for those of you who aren’t simply for knowledge’s sake, you never know when an acquaintance of your might be considering a remodel project and you can let them know about this fabulous alternative!

Eco Friendly Flooring

Stardust Glass

Sandhill Industries

Modwalls

If you have done a project in recycled glass – I’d love to feature it! Just let me know

Dancing in the street!

Lori — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:22:27 +0000

I’ve never seen anything like it…

what a celebration and global collective sigh of relief! People chanting OBAMA — people dancing — impromptu singing of the Star Spangled Banner — Celebrations around the world — A National Holiday?! — A government that wants to hear your voice?
Congratulations America! Can you say DEMOCRACY?!

Elephant paints a self-portrait

Lori — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:11:11 +0000

Seriously! This is one of my all time favorite videos. Such a testiment to the sentient nature of all creatures. This elephant was rescued from abuse in Burma and has been taught to paint in order to earn her keep. She’s quite good actually, and I’m in as much awe watching it now as I was the first time I saw it. Enjoy!

The REAL Virginia

Lori — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:04:12 +0000

There has been so much divisive speech in politics in the past couple of weeks where attacks have gone beyond the presidential candidates themselves and have been targeted at Americans, U.S. Congress Members, and even areas of the country itself. Even the Republican Vice Presidential Nominee herself has encouraged the division through recent comments she has made about pro-America parts of the country.

When I saw this clip of Senator Barack Obama addressing this mentality being expressed, I have to say I was moved to tears. What a welcome contrast and an attitude I’m sure the entire world would embrace with us.

Could our plastic trash be recycled into oil?

Lori — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:11:12 +0000

According to Global Research Corporation, it sure can. Through microwave technology they have created a machine (The Hawk 10) that takes plastics and converts part of the hydrocarbons that they consist of, breaking them down into deisel oil and gas! Wow, after my very sad Plastic Soup morning (read mourning) the other day, this comes as very inspiring news. Thanks to ‘Uncle B’ who commented and shared this information!

According to Popular Science, the first commercially available Hawk 10 will be introduced in February.

Every hour, the first commercial version will turn 10 tons of auto waste—tires, plastic, vinyl—into enough natural gas to produce 17 million BTUs of energy (it will use 956,000 of those BTUs to keep itself running).

The inventor, Frank Pringle is a genius and modern day hero who came up with the idea one day when he drove by a large tire fire and pondered the amount of energy being released.

According to Global Research Corp website, this energy recovery technology operates in a vaccume, thus nothing is released into the enviornment during the process.

Some Videos

In Conclusion

Wow – who says there isn’t any good news out there? We’ll definitely keep an eye on this technology! I’m really interested to hear readers comments on this. Is anyone else familiar with new advances in science like this one?

See what your tax cut will be – Obama vs. McCain

Lori — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:21:01 +0000

If you’re actually deciding who to vote for based on taxes — you’ll be interested to try out this tax calculator the Obama campaign just put out:

Pretty cool huh? Leave a comment and let me know how you fared!

As for me… Looks like we’d get $1000 from Obama and $967 from McCain. But my vote truthfully isn’t hinged on that anyway. I’d vote for Obama over McCain even if my taxes doubled.

Edited: Actually will save $1800 based on the calculator on their website which includes the amount you owe on your mortgage… click the red button that says ‘CLICK HERE to view full calculator’ to hop over to their site and get a more accurate estimate…

Here’s the good news

Lori — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 16:55:56 +0000

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

I love this video so much – it’s really a testament to perseverance and positive energy and the inherent desire of all humans to be happy!

Plastic Soup

Lori — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:00:25 +0000

I did, I really did plan to start this blog off in a positive way. But by fluke this morning I stumbled on an article about the mythical floating island of garbage… I was compelled to blog on it.

I can barely stand to tell you this but you’ve got to know. There is an enormous expanse of garbage floating around in the ocean. By enormous I mean that some say its the size of Texas – others say its equal to the distance of Hawaii to Japan. HUH?

That would be twice the size of the United States. Whatever the size, it’s enormous and its growing.

When you stop to think that only 3-5% of the plastics we use every day are recycled, and then you think about just your own shopping cart each week. It gets even scarier.

Some Resources For You:

This is the post that I originally stumbled upon: OskarLewis.com
Some video documentary: VBS.TV
Article by The Independent

Videos about the Garbage Island:

Do Something!

Check these guys out! They’ve constructed a vessel built with junk and are sailing through the debris with the intention of bringing this problem to the mainstream media.
The Algalita Marine Research Foundation is conducting a study of the problem.

In Conclusion:

Wow – how sad and how scary. I’m curious to know what you all do to cut back on plastics… we can’t recycle many types here. After learning about this major issue, I’m planning to kick my own butt and pay much closer attention to the products we’re consuming in our home and how they are packaged. What else can we do?