Ganymeder

NANOWRIMO November 2007!!!

For anyone who ever had ambitions of writing the Great American Novel, this is for you. NaNoWriMo is the acronym for National Novel Writing Month which takes place each year from November 1st through the 30th. Participants agree to write a 50,000 page novel in those 30 days. The exorbitant prizes winners can expect to enjoy include an official “Winner” web icon and certificate, as well as bragging rights and the ability to say “I told you so!” while looking smug to all the poor lost souls who doubted your abilities.

The premise behind NaNo is simple. Aspiring writers who are given an enormous task with a short deadline will produce something. It might be great. It might not. In fact, it probably won’t be great. But that’s not the point. The point is to give you the kick in the butt needed to get you started. By getting your creative juices flowing, you might discover your inner Douglas Adams. Or at the very least, you’ll develop a deeper appreciation for the written word. Either way its worth a try in order to get bragging rights and an excuse to slack in your other nonvital chores for a month.

For anyone interested, the official site is www.nanowrimo.org. The website contains lots of useful information and resources to bring out your inner novelist such as forums with groups you can join, fun stuff, and even games to distract you when writing the nano starts to drive you bonkers. The nanowrimo podcast for this year should be rolling towards the end of this month, but last year’s nanowrimo podcast is available at www.podcastalley.com. I’d also suggest reading “No Plot? No Problem!” if you have time before November. Lots of useful tips lurk within its pages such how to pick out appropriate snack foods, which writing attire your muse might prefer, and how to avoid the flying guilt monkeys. By the way, I’m not kidding. There are actually references to flying guilt monkeys.

If pigs actually have learned to fly and people are reading my webpage, for the month of November I will be enjoying a leasurely hiatus from blogging. Hopefully others will join me on the frenzied novelling journey. Fare thee well until December, and remember at all costs to avoid the flying guilt monkeys.

Free to Read

As a follow up to Banned Book week, I thought I would continue the celebration of our freedom to read and share ideas by highlighting some of my favorite websites and other free resources. These sites are perfect for free resources such as books, reference materials, etc.

Enjoy!

http://manybooks.net/

This is my favorite site for getting free ebooks. I prefer ereader format, but they offer many other formats including PDF, Mobipocket, Doc, Plucker, iPod Notes, Sony Irf., iPhone PDF, etc. They carry a large selection from Project Gutenberg, many classics, and also some new releases. New ebooks are frequently added to the site. All the books they offer are free, although they do accept donations.

http://podiobooks.com/

This is a great site for free audiobooks (MPEG Layer 3 Audio) to download. They feature several genres including everything from non fiction to science fiction. They are donated by authors who receive 75% of any donations made to the site as well as exposure for their work. Of the books I have listened to, the authors generally do the voices and act out the parts that they are reading. My favorite podiobook so far is “How to Succeed in Evil” which is a comedic look at supervillains.

http://www.wikipedia.org/

This is a web-based encyclopedia whose articles are contributed by anyone who has information on the existing knowledge of a subject and can site references. They do have to follow Wikipedia’s editing policies,and the articles can then be edited by others for accuracy. For this reason, Wikipedia articles differ from conventional encyclopedias in that the older articles tend to be more accurate than newer ones. The overall accuracy in differing subjects is comparable and sometimes greater than Encyclopedia Britannica.

http://m-w.com/

The Merriam-Webster online search includes an online dictionary, thesaurus, Spanish-English and Medical dictionaries. I frequently use this site to look up terms I’m unfamiliar with.

http://www.goodsearch.com/

http://www.google.com/

These two search engines are incredible. However, the advantage of using Good Search first is that they will contribute to charity whenever you use them. Just go to their homepage and designate your favorite charity out of the thousands offered. GoodSearch donates half of its revenue to the charities and schools designated by its users. Yahoo powers GoodSearch, and money from advertisers make donations. Neither you nor the charity spend anything!

If you are skeptical of the idea that small donations add up, here is an example. I picked “Farm Sanctuary (Watkins Glen, NY)” as my designated charity. Since January of this year, there have been 84,665 searches made (with them as the designated beneficiary). Those searches raised $846.65 to be donated towards helping Farm Animals.

Don’t forget to use YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY! Chances are your library has its own website where you can conduct searches, access online reference materials such as encyclopedias and other reference material that would require a fee otherwise, request holds, and find out the status of items you have requested. Even if you cannot find something through the website, you can call the reference librarian and in many cases they can obtain material outside their system. Most libraries offer computer access and even WiFi. Also available are movies, VHS and DVD older and recent releases, CDs, and occassionally even items such as overhead projectors and VCRs. All of these are usually available for free (or a small fee in some cases). Check with your local library for details…

http://www.fatfree.com/

If you are looking in your fridge with no idea of what to make for dinner, this is the site for you. FatFree: The Low Fat Vegetarian Recipe Archive has a searchable recipe archive that really comes to the rescue in a pinch. If you can’t find what you need there, other convenient sites for ingredient and recipe searches include

http://www.epicurious.com/

http://www.foodnetwork.com/

though of course you would want to choose vegan recipes both for ethical and economic considerations!

http://www.freecycle.org/

The premise of freecycle is to give items that would otherwise go into a landfill to people who actually want them. Members join at no cost and post items that they would like to get rid of. Other members see the post and respond and with approval by the original poster receive a freebie they really wanted. It’s a beautifully brilliant and simple concept. Cleaning out the garage or attic and don’t know what to do with those old clothes, books, excess wood, or baby carriage? Simply post it and see if someone wants it. If you need or want something you can post that too. There are no guarrantees that simply because you post someone will respond, but many times they do and both parties are happy. What could be simpler?

And of course, anyone who is visiting my site here at Care2 is already familiar with the donation link at the top right corner of the page. An additional free charity site for anyone interested is

http://www.ecologyfund.com/ecology/_ecology.html where you can click on multiple links to save the Earth.

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed my blog celebrating freedom and freebies. Have fun! And may the force be with you.

ALA Banned Books Week

September 29 – October 6, 2007

The American Libray Association Banned Book Week this year is from September 29^th through October 6^th. It draws attention to the importance of the freedom to read and disseminate ideas, even unpopular ones, in a democratic society. And it reminds us not to take this precious freedom for granted.

A Challenge is when someone seeks to remove or restrict access to materials. It is not simply lodging a complaint about the content. It is an attempt to limit the access of others to the material. A Banning is the removal of those materials. Every year books are challenged by well meaning individuals or groups seeking to protect us from what they deem as dangerous or offensive. The top three reasons books are challenged are that the material is considered sexually explicit, offensive (language) and “unsuited to age group.”

The reason we have access to materials that are continually challenged is that hard working individuals such as librarians, teachers, and the average American speak up and fight for our right to read. The importance of Intellectual Freedom cannot be overstated.

“Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.”—Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas,” The One Un-American Act.” Nieman Reports, vol. 7, no. 1 (Jan. 1953): p. 20.

Please support our right to read.

To find out more of what you can do, please visit the following websites.

ALA Banned Books Week.

http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bannedbooksweek.htm

What you can do to celebrate Banned Book Week.

http://blogs.ala.org/oif.php?title=celebrate2007bbw&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

What else can I do?

http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/fightcensorship.htm

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup vegetable shortening — Beat 30 seconds.

1 cup sugar —Add to shortening.

2 teas. vanilla (optional) —Add to mix.

2 cups white flour

½ teas. baking powder

¼ teas. salt —Add to the mix.

¼ cup water — Add.

1 ½ cup chocolate chips (vegan and slave free, of course!) — Add last. ***

350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

***If you aren’t aware of the link between Modern Human Slavery and Chocolate, please read my blog entry on Conflict Free Chocolate. Don’t support the slave trade with your sweet tooth!