Wherever You Are, Earth Hour Begins at 8:30 PM

EARTH HOUR:

Uniting people to protect the planet

Sometimes Saintly Nick

suggests

EARTH HOUR Begins NOW

EARTH HOUR Tonight!

Tonight at 8:30 PM EDT Alex and I are joining more than 1 billion people (and a bunch of kitty kats) in turning off our lights in celebration of...

Please join us. OK?

Lest We Forget: International Holocaust Memorial Day

Holocaust Memorial, Miami, Florida 

 Today (January 27th) marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. In 2005, the United Nations General Assembly designated this day as International Holocaust Remembrance Day (IHRD), an annual day of commemoration to honor the victims of the Nazi era. Every member nation of the U.N. has an obligation to honor the memory of Holocaust victims and develop educational programs as part of an international resolve to help prevent future acts of genocide. The U.N. resolution that created IHRD rejects denial of the Holocaust, and condemns discrimination and violence based on religion or ethnicity.

• Education in the key to preventing the cycle of violence and hatred that marred the 20th century from repeating itself in the 21st century. ~ Elie Wiesel
• If we forget the story of the Holocaust,, it will happen again. ~ Elie Wiesel
  

And, it has: 

Pol Pot in Cambodia: 1975-1979 (2,000,000 Deaths)

Kurdistan (Iraq): 1988 (182,000 Deaths)

Bosnia-Herzegovina: 1992-1995 (200,000 Deaths)

Rwanda: 1994 (800,000 Deaths)

Darfur: 2003-present (600,000 Deaths and counting)

 

Please click HERE to Light Holocaust Memorial Day Virtual Candle of Hope    

A few previous posts regarding the Holocaust you will find on Nick's Bytes:

• Auschwitz (May 11, 2005)
• Auschwitz Continued (May 12, 2005)
• In Memory of Simon Wiesenthal (September 20, 2005)
• Elie Wiesel: If We Forget the Story, It Will Happen Again (May 15, 2008)
• Them October 18, 2008

Playing for Change: Episode 24

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve from all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is LOVE. ~ The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Are you familiar with Playing for Change, who I first wrote about back in October of 2008? If so, then you'll enjoy Episode 24. If not, please watch and listen to Episode 24 and then click HERE to learn more about Playing for Change.

Invisible Chains: Sex, Work and Slavery ~ The Haitian Blogger

Child Slavery In The Wake Of The Earthquake In Haiti ~ Stop Child Slavery.com

 

Young Abe plus My Last Doctor Visit

Emulating young Abe Lincoln

The story is that Abe Lincoln was a self-educated man. Having been born into relative poverty, he had little time to study during daylight hours when he was spending his time earning enough to survive. Nighttime was another story. Young Abe would spend his evenings reading—reading by fire light!

This evening I shall be following Abe’s evening pursuit. For an hour beginning at 8:30 p.m., Alex and I shall turn off all of our artificial sources of light and light a candle or two. I plan to remain in my lift chair, reading as did young Abe Lincoln, by candlelight. I already have the chair and the candle prepared for this evening’s event:

As I celebrate Earth Hour, I shall be very careful to keep my nose-hose and the oxygen that it contains away from the flame of the candle!

More about Earth Hour

Thursday’s trip to the doctor…

…went extremely well. Thanks to a comment made to my Thursday post, I called the doctor’s office, confirmed its location, and the location of the building’s parking lot. I ended up parking in a parking spot that was almost directly in front of the building’s main entrance.

I learned during this trip that it is most probably the overly large size of my wheelchair that keeps it from going through doorways. Tasha was able to maneuver me and the chair through the entranceway of the building, but I had to get out of the chair and walk through every other entrance way while Tasha folded the chair in half to get it through. Since this appointment was at Louisville’s Jewish Hospital Complex, I am fairly certain it is my chair that is the problem and not the size of the doorways. The facilities of the Jewish Hospital complex are the best in the city and I’m sure they do not install small doorways.

The results of the visit to the doctor were wonderful! I am no longer concerned about a potentially serious physical condition that has been of concern to me for almost a year! This doc’s (a second opinion) judgment confirmed the other’s doc’s opinion and I am OK and in need of no treatment!

Vote YES for Our Earth

Saturday brings us to another Earth Hour: an opportunity to vote yes for the earth and no for global warming.

Alex and I are turning off our lights. How about you?

What a Wonderful World ~ Louis Armstrong

REMEMBER EARTH HOUR: Lights Out for One Hour Tonight (8:00 – 9:00 PM)

See this AP report about Earth Hour that has already taken place today in Asia.

Alex's Newest Demand

I am unsure whether the furball is wacky, strange, or simply spoiled! Alex’s latest demand is that I stand beside him and brush his coat while he dines. This new command began just a few days ago and it has me stumped. Could it be because its time for him to shed his winter coat? Or is it just another way of controlling me, his servant?

Remember Earth Hour on Saturday:

Earth Hour is going global Saturday, when we're all supposed to turn off the lights (and, come on people, the TVs, stereos and computers, too) for a mere hour from 8 to 9 p.m. to raise awareness of climate change and promote energy conservation.

Update on the Petition to Chinese President Hu Jintao on Tibet

We reached our target! In just 7 days over 1 million of us have signed the petition calling for human rights and dialogue in Tibet—the fastest growing internet petition in history. As the crisis continues, it's time to deliver our petition and make sure Chinese President Hu Jintao hears our voices.

An International Day of Action has been declared for Monday, March 31st. On Monday, thousands of people in cities across the world will march to Chinese embassies and consulates, and stack hundreds of boxes containing our petition outside them. 1 million signatures make a mountain of boxes—it will send a powerful global message. ~ AVAAZ.org