Ray of Hope for the Disabled

While reading through Reader’s Digest, I came across story of a quadriplegic (a person who has both arms and legs paralysed) Craig Cook. Though I thought it a shame that Craig’s fiance left him after he was paralysed in a car accident where his friend was driving, it was heartening to know that he could find a happy companion in Minnie, a capuchin monkey.

As I read along I realised that there are two-year training programs for these capuchin monkeys so that they can be companions to people like Craig in need. Helping Hands is the organisation that trains these capuchins and provides them as companions to the disabled. Yes, you read it companions and not pet. Here are few excerpts from this article:

When Cook applied to Helping Hands in 2001, it was illegal to have an exotic animal in a home in California. The only helper animals allowed were dogs for the visually impaired. Helping Hands went to work to have the laws changed for Cook, and in 2004, he became the first person in the state to receive a service monkey.

World Environment Day!

June 5 is World Environment Day. This year’s World Environment theme is to have a low carbon economy. The slogan is: Co2: Kick the Habit.

Few days back, I had also found a cute, kids game called Toxic Town. It tells you all the sources of carbon emissions including innocent ones like cow’s fart. Have a look at the game by clicking the image below.

One of the important mantras of a great environment is Recycle. So I decided to recycle my five old posts on Environment. (I know that was a cheesy introduction, that was to make you smile. Now you did! ) Some of these posts (like ragpickers) are really close to my heart.

My first Go Green Post: I included a photo feature from TIME and a google video of Al Gore‘s controversial documentary An Inconvenient Truth. In the comments section, I found Shromon who then promised to write this post about how carbon credit works.

Blog Action Day Post: For Blog Action Day, I wrote a collection of links for green games or other games that taught children about green environment.

Ban that Bulb: This post was written to encourage the use of CFLs instead of incandescent bulbs. Check out the stats for bulbs in Delhi in the post. Avoid zero watt bulbs too. Sometimes, when my folks bring that bulb home, I quietly change it. Don’t keep chargers and TV cables plugged in when not in use, they too use electricity. I included this amazing Common Craft video that tells you why CFLs are beneficiary in long run.

Hail Our Ragpickers: This is my favorite post, one that I wrote for my other team blog Its A Free World. You would be surprised to know how these kids are mistreated when they keep our cities clean. This old post, still generates comments from some citizens who are willing to pitch in. You can find out the links to related NGOs in the comment section of this post.

World Earth Day post: It has four videos about environment from One-minute video Environment contest.

World Earth Day!

Today is World Earth Day. Here are few one-minute videos to inspire you to go green. These videos were part of a green videos competition that was held about a year back.

The man, nature, and God video

Revive Planet

Web 2.0: What’s That?

In my zeal to educate myself, I found out about Web 2.0.

Web 2.0 is neither complicated nor technical. Web 2.0 is about collaboration (read wikis, blog), syndication (read RSS, feeds) and mashups (read flickr and maps). It is inexpensive way of sharing information such as, say google spreadsheets. The advantage is that it enables the user, as they say the information flow is “bottom-up.”

You may read more about it here.

Check out this interesting video to explain the differences between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0.

Web 2.0

P.S: I can’t believe I added a technology tab in my blog!