Kids In Action Beach Clean Up Day

Just saw this at inhabitat:

"Talk about eco inspiration! More than 3,700 elementary school students hit the beaches on June 6th, 2008 to celebrate Kids Ocean Day in Los Angeles. The giant aerial art display send us the message of “Kids in Action” when it comes to preserving our ocean and its habitats."

"The event, hosted by the Malibu Foundation and sponsored by the City of Los Angeles Stormwater Program and California Coastal Commission, also included a massive beach cleanup on Dockweiler Beach. The event was the climactic celebration of 20 elementary schools that participated in ocean presentations held throughout the academic year in and around the City of Los Angeles.

For more images and information visit www.malibufoundation.org and www.LAstormwater.org."

That's great news! Teaching children to respect and care for the world around them is an investment in the future that will pay dividends forever.

Thanks to inhabitat, the Malibu Foundation, The City of Los Angeles Stormwater Program and the California Coastal Commision.

Jon Penn: Network Admin

“This is kind of a small school, and I’m known as the computer whiz,”

This is Jon Penn.
Jon attends Victory Baptist School, a small private school in Millbrook, Ala.

Like most schools, Victory Baptist has a computer lab, and like most schools, the computer lab is under-funded and under-staffed. In fact, the school had just lost its IT systems overseer, and Jon's mother Paula, the school librarian, had been asked to take over the computer lab, adding to her already busy schedule.

That's where Jon stepped in.

At the ripe old age of eleven, Jon rolled up his shirtsleeves and got down to business. In Victory Baptist's old computer lab Jon cleared out mountains of spyware and viruses, installed filtering software, cleaned up hard drives, pulled unnecessary sound and video cards, worked a deal with Microsoft to update the computers, and found time to teach computer classes, in addition to the normal day to day of being eleven.

Read the fuller story here: Jon Penn @ networkworld.com

Jon, you're an inspiration.

Keep up the good work.

In Praise Of: Curiosity

(via swissmiss)

"Curiosity killed the cat."

"The squeaky wheel gets the grease."

"The nail that stands up gets hammered down."

What is so threatening about curiosity?

To be curious is to question. Questions frighten the status quo because they dare to posit that the established order is not as good as it's ever going to be.

I also grew up in a household where questions and curiosity were rewarded and encouraged, and I thank my lucky stars I was.

Curiosity must be nourished and encouraged, as it is always the curious ones who help our species advance.

Love to all,

-J