Climate change is about people
Published on Thursday, October 15, 2009 – 11:40 pm | 11 brilliant comments »
As part of this year’s Blog Action Day focusing on climate change, I have Simon Owens from CARE come to talk to you about the effects of climate change and what you can do to help. I’ll pass you onto Simon now…
Climate change is not only about melting ice caps and polar bears. Climate change is about people.
Swinging weather patterns are creating disasters on a scale that human civilization has never before witnessed. For the world’s poorest people – the ones least equipped to deal with its effects – climate change is devastating their crops, livelihoods and communities.
“Climate change is worsening the plight of those hundreds of millions of men, women and children who already live in extreme poverty – and it threatens to push hundreds of millions more people into similar destitution,”
says CARE International’s Secretary General Robert Glasser.
“A concerted international response to this unprecedented challenge is required if we are to avoid catastrophic human suffering.”
CARE is working toward a world where poor people can create opportunity out of crises like climate change. But the current reality is that climate change makes poor people even more vulnerable.
For instance, agricultural production will likely decline in the poorest countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Less reliable rainfall will likely affect planting seasons, crop growth and livestock health – and lead to increased malnutrition. In other parts of the developing world, flooding will likely further diminish the quality of already-marginal soil and could cause outbreaks of water-borne diseases such as cholera and dysentery.
Climate change also is hurling many poor families into “Catch-22” situations. For example, they may select crops that are less sensitive to rainfall variation, but also less profitable. As incomes decline and people are not able to eke out a living, children are forced to leave school, assets are sold off to afford essentials, malnutrition rates increase and large-scale migration ensues. The end result? Deepening poverty for tens of millions of people around the world.
What Must Be Done?
At the international level, negotiations to develop a new treaty to guide global efforts to address climate change will take place in Copenhagen, Denmark in just a couple weeks. The United States must help lead those efforts, and forge a strong agreement that caps emissions, stops global warming and responds to the effects already in motion. We must do this for the sake of all of humanity.
What can you do to help?
First, you can make a tax-deductible donation to CARE to help poor families access the tools and education they need to adapt to the effects of climate change, make efficient use of their existing resources and overcome poverty for good.
Second, if you live in the Unites States, you can write your senators and urge them to pass the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, a critical step toward U.S. leadership in tackling climate change. U.S. leadership is critical to making the Copenhagen negotiations a success.
Third, you can join the CARE mailing list to be kept up to date on CARE’s activities and other ways you can take action in the days counting down to Copenhagen.
To donate, take action and join our e-mail list, please visit http://www.care.org/climate.
Thank you once again Simon. Image courtesy of Shutterstock.
11 comments thus far »
Blog Action Day 2009: Climate Change
Published on Thursday, September 24, 2009 – 10:54 pm | 8 brilliant comments »
It’s that time of year again - October 15th is Blog Action Day.
Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day on their own blogs with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. Blog Action Day 2009 will be the largest-ever social change event on the web. One day. One issue. Thousands of voices.
This year the topic is Climate Change (of which I voted for back in August) and am glad it was picked as this years topic of choice as Climate Change is effecting us all (and our children) whether we like it or not.
I don’t want to bat on like some Greenpeace activist but Blog Action Day is for a good cause and you should consider getting involved - at least check out the video below.
Only last year did this blog raise USD$1620 in funds for the Blog Action Day Poverty Fund so it shows that you can help.
What can you do now?
Blog and Twitter about it, let others know about Blog Action Day and line up a story to be posted on October 15th too. Register your blog and get more information by going to the official Blog Action Day website.
You could also add a banner to the side of your blog such as the one you see on the right side bar of Just Creative Design.
8 comments thus far »
Funny & Odd Emails Received
Published on Monday, September 21, 2009 – 10:00 am | 39 brilliant comments »
Image courtesy of Shutterstock
Over the past few months I’ve been storing the emails that have made me raise my eyebrow. Some rude, some funny, some odd and some you just can’t help but cringe at.
I’ve left all formatting as it was received and it goes with out saying, I’ve made each email anonymous. I’ve also provided some general commentary just in case any of the authors are reading.
Please note that my comments are all just for a bit of fun are not meant to offend. Read more »
39 comments thus far »
How To Get Clients Using LinkedIn
Published on Tuesday, September 15, 2009 – 12:46 pm | 12 brilliant comments »
Chris Green from Freelance For Money has put together a short video clip showing how you can get clients from LinkedIn. I’ve humbly been “picked on” for the ego boost.
If you do not see the video below, click through to view it on YouTube.
Please do connect with me on LinkedIn, or if you do not have a profile, I recommend you to sign up now - not only is it a great way to network, show your experience and recommendations, it also helps you get your name at the top of search engine rankings - plus a lot more.
As for my advice, I say fill out your profile, build your network up and get recommendations - it’s really as simple as that.
Also, please feel free to join the Just Creative Design LinkedIn Group - a group for design discussion, advice & promotion.
Recommended LinkedIn Resources
- Ten Ways To Use LinkedIn To Find A Job
- LinkedIn Profile Extreme Makeover
- 100+ Smart Ways To Use LinkedIn
- LinkedIn Resources on AllTop
How has LinkedIn worked for you? Have you any more LinkedIn advice to share?
12 comments thus far »
Your Favourite Favourited Tweets
Published on Tuesday, August 18, 2009 – 12:00 am | 9 brilliant comments »
Twitter (follow me) has a function that allows you to save your favourite tweets (much alike a bookmark) so I thought it would be a great idea to see what other Twitter users favourites were. Enjoy!
Pretty much the only reason I keep my cat is to enjoy the look of utter disgust on her face when she sees me naked. (@Munki)
Via @coffee_bee
“We invent the light to deny the darkness.” [Translated from Portugese] (”Nós inventamos a luz, para negar a escuridão”)
Via @zeva24
I owned that burger like what country music did to jessica simpson. Yum. (@jzy)
Via @davidairey
Find something that will whisper the full value of life. (@david_lynch)
Via @catticho
Note to self: When cab drivers have phone sex with their wife whilst you’re not paying for such extra services… make them hang up.
Via @Taezar
My favorite saved tweet for inspiration: Brazilian artist Will Murai http://tinyurl.com/d4hbur
Via @Jerlyn
Love Actually is awful, like being stabbed in the eye with a marshmallow for two hours. (@Olly_Richards)
Via Holly Stevens (Facebook)
No one really wants colorful websites anymore. They want answers to their products.
Via @color2life
The Evolution of a Website Design - http://ow.ly/6Jch
Via @beet09
If my cat could speak, I think she’d say f*ck a lot. (@ilovetypography)
Via Holly Stevens (Facebook)
101 Design resource sites http://tr.im/hYLm (@cristianvasile)
Via Anterpreet Singh (Facebook)
I think we should all just assume that Twitter is going to have it’s TIME OF THE MONTH, once a month. (@thattalldude)
Via @Dayngr
Laziness - when you make pasta just so you don’t have to go out to buy bread (translated from Serbian) (@Beogradoholik)
Via @marin_ostojic
Hey boys before you come home with that girl tonight remember this picture http://is.gd/mmjP
Via @myhelvetica
Great Simpsons quote tonight: Marge: “Hmm, and all this time I thought ‘googling yourself’ was that other thing.” (@Eklund)
Via @ajinnashville
The French say you get hungry when you’re eating, and I get inspired when I’m working. It’s my engine. (@Karl_Lagerfeld)
Via @nalindesign
“I think the little girl my little girl is playing with is from Slytherin House.” (@zeldman)
Via @itstartswithus
This post on Data Visualisation http://is.gd/jGY (@georgethomasuk)
Via @MarcusjRoberts
“One mans suck, is another mans awsome. lol #Terminator”
Via @mayhemstudios
avflox- ME: you wanna do it yourself? I’m like, “here’s the idea, make it happen!” [throws money] HE: are you talking about strippers or developers?
Via Damien Basile (Facebook)
“Just now I almost kept a thought to myself.” (John Dickerson)
Via @marieboyer
My own favourite saved Tweets:
SO lame. Been sleeping the majority of the past 3 days. Only reason I motivated to get up was ’cause I thought my KFC coupon expired today!
Via @faryl
My mother just rang me - she’s worried she may be getting Alzheimers. I told her to forget about it.
Via @FunnyJoker
Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes.
Via @jrbradley
The coolest mustache in the history of mustaches = http://tinyurl.com/8uc69v
Via @travishines
Just overheard someone complaining about “all the foreigners”. I am at Heathrow airport, what an idiot.
Via @Joe_90
Wife: “Twitter is stupid. Y would 2K people follow U? U can’t remember 2 put garbage out.” Me: “See, that’s a tweet!”
Via @Vonster
What is your most favourite saved Tweet?
9 comments thus far »
Your Favourite Inspirational Quotes
Published on Tuesday, July 21, 2009 – 12:00 am | 32 brilliant comments »
I sent out a Twitter (follow me) message to my followers asking what their favourite inspirational quote was. Below you will find the first 40+ responses. Hope this inspires your day!
It was also interesting to note, that not one person had the same favourite quote.
“An artist cannot fail. It is a success to be one.”
Via @riddlebrothers
“Unless you move, the place where you are is the place where you will always be.” ~Ashleigh Brilliant
Via @vintom
“The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.”
Via @nguyenbk
“Do what you love to do, but don’t do it to the point where you don’t love it anymore.”
Via @DEFgraphics
“Tough times never last, but tough people do!”
Via @LBOI
“I don’t want to be one of those who say ‘I wish I had’. I want to be one of those who say ‘I’m glad I did’.”
Via @Maine_iac
“With time, and saliva, the ant will devour the elephant.”
Via @colinismyname
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
Via @mehmetcihangir
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. ~ John Quincy Adams
Via @brandonacox
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” ~ Thomas Edison
Via @dambold
“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
Via @paperdoll
“To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” ~ Joseph Chilton Pearce
Via @designbutt
“Art disturbs, science reassures.” ~ Georges Braque
Via @cory1975
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” ~Chinese Proverb
Via @suzillazilla
“Be a fountain, not a drain.” ~Rex Hudler
Via @Krus_Design
“Graphic design is the spit and polish but not the shoe.” ~Ellen Lupton
Via @Pxls2prnt
“Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” ~Thomas Edison
Via @LearningNerd
“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” ~Mark Twain
Via @andy17null
“I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” ~Thomas Edison
Via @designshard
“Any designer can do SOMETHING. A great designer does the RIGHT thing.”
Via @theconstruct
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo Da Vinci
Via @bwoodsdesign
“Imagination is more important that knowledge.” ~Albert Einstein
Via @multimichel
“Don’t get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water.” ~Li Zhènfan
Via @artesupreme
“…use what talent you possess…the woods would be very silent if no birds sang, but those that sang best…” ~Henry Van Dyke
Via @GBglass
“Don’t take life too seriously, you’ll never get out alive.” ~Elbert Hubbard
Via @cshold
“…a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention…” ~Herbert A. Simon
Via @hupernikomen
“Success is falling down 7 times but getting up 8.”
Via @mike_baxter
“The holy grail is to spend less time making the picture than it takes people to look at it.” ~ Banksy
Via @thatdesigner
“Imagination without knowledge may create beautiful things, knowledge without imagination can create only perfect ones.” ~Albert Einstein
Via @igorstawiarski
“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination.” ~Jim Jarmush
Via @AshleySimko
“Simplicity is not the goal. It is the by-product of a good idea and modest expectations.” ~Paul Rand
Via @nikibrown
“Keep her lit” ~Anyone from Northern Ireland
Via @leemunroe
“Art is creativity, creativity is passion, passion is love.” ~Andrew Brynjulson.
Via @brennifresh
“When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.” ~Confucius
Via @petranoid
“Design that doesn’t take a chance doesn’t stand a chance”
Via Stephanie Floyd (Facebook)
“The perception of beauty is a moral test.” ~Thoreau
Via Johnny Lewis (Facebook)
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ~Mark Twain
Via Jenny Leonard (Facebook)
“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” ~Mark Twain
Via Christina Adkin (Facebook)
“In order to know what is right, you’ve got to know what is wrong.”
Via Lemuel Asibal (Facebook)
“Don’t pay any attention to what they write about you. Just measure it in inches.” ~Andy Warhol
Via Amanda Dandy (Facebook)
“Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find who we already are and become it.” The War of Art - Steven Pressfield
Via Elaine Wong (Facebook)
“You can do anything, but you can’t do everything.”
Via Melissa Rogers Ek (Facebook)
“It’s not how good you are, its how good you want to be.” ~Paul Arden
Via Joy Lym (Facebook)
And my personal favourite is:
“You only get out, what you put in.”
And if I were to be quoted I would say:
“There are no bad ideas, just bad decisions.”
And for those feeling a little too inspired, check out these demotivators (bit of a laugh) or check out these inspirational quotes from actual designers or these inspiring quotes about design.
What is your favourite inspirational quote? Please share with us in the comments below.
32 comments thus far »
Beware of the Net Trademark Registration Scam
Published on Monday, May 25, 2009 – 2:44 pm | 42 brilliant comments »
I have recently been contacted by a domain registration company (HK N R S) from Hong Kong who said that I would lose my domain name if I didn’t register it with their “net trademark” system.
At first I took this quite seriously however after a bit of googling I found that I am not the only one who has received an email like this. Anyway, I went along with their ploy to see how it would fold out and below you can see some of our email communication… thought I would share this with you guys so something like this does not happen to you.
You may also want to read about my experience of being banned from my own website or David Airey’s experience of being hacked via the Google Email Phishing Filter Scam.
Dear Just Creative Design,
HK N R S Ltd creates high-impact and professional services for intellectual property right of users. Our center protects company profile and their internet products information by protecting net trademark and domain name.
An organization submitted a formal application to our auditing department to apply for this word “justcreativedesign” as their net trademark on 14 May,2009.
According to the above facts, I send you this Attorney Letter to confirm the ownership rights for this net trademark. We checked that you are real trademark owner. This is why we inform you. You have a priority to register the net trademark. If you give it up, the applicant will get the registration and own it legally for ever. I request that you must make a confirmation in fifteen business days. Fifteen days are our auditing period from the day you receive this letter.
If you wish to gain further information about HK N R S Ltd, its activities and net trademark information, you may view web site at www.hkh.hk.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation about this matter.
Sincerely,
Schacter.ji
Schacter.ji@hkh.hk
www.hkh.hk
HK N R S Ltd
I then replied:
Hello Schacter.ji,
I confirm that justcreativedesign and the trademark is owned by me and I have the ownership rights to it.
Please do not sell or give ownership of this to anyone else. Can you please clarify what you mean by this phrase: “You have a priority to register the net trademark.”? Do I have to register it?
Thanks.
Regards,
Jacob Cass
Then they replied:
Dear Jacob,
Thanks for your reply.
We know you are the trademark owner, so you can register earlier than the applicant. Registering is good for you. Net trademark and trademark are different. Trademark is registered under the government’s check and ratify. If any organizations and individuals didn’t register, you can register. Net trademark can be registered and used openly in the world. First register first get.
In this situation, I offer two ways to deal with this matter:
1.use law to protect your own intellectual property rights. Start a lawsuit against applicant and pass the court’s rule. But it needs lots of time and money.
2.ask us to register for you to protect. You are the trademark owner, so you have the priority to register the net trademark.
Usually we suggest clients choose the second way. Thinking of time and money, the second way is the best.
In accordance with the regulation of our country, we are working for the protection of intellectual property with our clients. Net trademark is part of intellectual property rights, so I strongly suggest that you register to protect this net trademark. If you confirm to register, I will send an application form to you. If you have any questions or requirement, please contact me.
Best regards,
Schacter.ji
I then replied:
Hello,
Can you please send through this form and what country is this for?
And what actually are we registering, just the name “Just Creative Design?”
Regards,
Jacob Cass
They then replied:
Dear Jacob,
Now I send you the registration procedure and service fee.
The price is 1118USD/one/5years, 2000USD/one/10years, 3680USD/one/20years.The registration process of net trademark as follows,
1, You confirm to register this net trademark. Then we will send an application form includes a remit account number to you.
2, Fill out application form and send it back to us by E-mail.
3, Once getting your payment, we would immediately repeal the third-party’s application and start your registration. The registration will be finished within 15 business days. After that, we send you net trademark registration certificate.
Please contact us if you have any questions.PS:Sorry. I can’t offer the applicant’s information because you are not our customer now.
schacter.ji
I have not since replied. I will update this page if anything else comes from it.
Have you ever experienced something like this? Please do share.
42 comments thus far »
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