Stuart Robinson from Busselton, Western Australia, has launched blotanical.com, a directory of gardening blogs which offer gardening tips, gardening info and heaps of ideas to help gardeners of all experience get more out of their hobby and out of their gardens. Stuart describes himself as a non-academic but passionate gardener with a real love of gardening, and observes that like most people who potter around, he gardens because it gives pleasure, a sense of satisfaction and a retreat from an insanely busy world.
Blotanical.com has some particularly interesting mashups showing the location of gardening blogs around the world. All gardeners have to retreat from their garden at some time and they will find this a most browsable resource. Well done Stuart, I am sure it will grow :-)
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is again sailing to the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary to save Humpback, Fin and Minke whales from Japanese whalers.
It appears that some of the recent media coverage has been misleading. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society reports that it does not use violence and never has used violence and is not threatening violence. Apparently, in a ramming incident last year, it was a Japanese whaling ship that rammed the Sea Shepherd ship.
The Japanese will only be stopped by economic and social pressure. Copy this post and send it to a few friends, telling them what you think of the Japanese whalers. Let's use the power of bloggers to let the Japanese know what the world thinks about a country that allows its countrymen to engage in whaling.
Worldiki is reckoned to be the first travelog in the world to chronicle the round-the-world adventures of two geeks who intend to keep up their careers while going anywhere they want. Showing how it is to be working on their businesses from anywhere in the world.
Pedro Pla and Grace Cheng aim to screen a short video clip as frequently as possible, featuring the different places, experiences, and people that they meet along the way. Making life a holiday and documenting it.
Ride! on BlogTalkRadio.com is a new online radio talk show, offering lively half-hour interviews every two weeks from Toronto, Canada. The realtime talks, hosted by freelance motojournalist Adrian Blake, cover all aspects of motorcycling, including international industry movers and shakers, professional racers, adventurers, custom builders, and a host of other passionate advocates for two-wheel motorised transport.
Adrian will even be conducting an interview for Ride! from the 2007 Milan International Motorcycle Show (EICMA) in Italy, which runs November 6 through 11. The fair is the largest bike show in the world.
And on November 21 at 3 p.m. EST, his guest will be Austin Vince. Austin was one of six British adventurers called Mondo Enduro, who completed a 400,000 miles around the world ride, in 400 days on 350-cc Suzuki dual sport bikes.
Their adventures were documented on video in the popular series, Mondo Enduro, shown on the Discovery adventure travel channel and the companion book to the series has just been published.
This, my blogging buddies, is the 500th post in Tales from here and there about this and that; the blog is a few years old now because back in the early days, we didn't post every day. Given the themes reflected in this blog, such as adventure, travel and art, it is fitting that we should draw your attention in our 500th post to the 500th anniversary of the publication of the first map known to show the whole earth.
The remarkable map is the work of German cartographer, Martin Waldseemüller, in 1507 and was designed to be cut out and pasted onto a sphere. Much is made of the map because it is believed to be the first document that names America, be it South America, and both North and South America are depicted as land masses separate from Asia. Consider also, that the map was drawn using data obtained from sailors and explorers, and in those days travel really was an adventure activity. More.
You can see the Waldseemüller Globe Gores Map at the University of Minnesota, T.R. Anderson Gallery, in the James Ford Bell Library, where it is the central feature in an anniversary exhibition celebrating 'The Map that Named America, 1507-2007', which runs through to December 31, 2007.
Today, October 15, 2007 is Blog Action Day. In its inaugural year, bloggers around the web are uniting to write posts about environmental issues and we are proud to be joining in with the thousands of blogs across the blogsphere. It is estimated that the combined blog posts will be read by over 13 million people, which makes blogging a pretty powerful medium for change.
Man has been impacting the environment since first walking the earth but it seems to me that the most harmful actions occur when we try to gain personal advantage at the expense of someone else, or even at the expense of other creatures. Look at illegal logging, the environmental damage caused by massive dam projects or the current arguments about who controls the Arctic. Consider the arguments surrounding the Hawaiian Superferry project or global warming, whale hunting and over-fishing; you get the idea; the list of examples is endless, from cheap air travel to political zealots driven by greed.
The inference of the preceding observation is that we can perhaps do most good for the environment by avoiding the acquisition of personal advantage at the expense of someone else, or other creatures. Interestingly this is essentially the Buddhist creed, expressed by AmidaBuddha.org in their thought for the day, Lead a righteous life; lead not a base life. The righteous live happily both in this world and the next. - Buddha.
Easily said, hard to argue against, but even harder to live by.
Keeping with the sculpture theme, Ice Carving Secrets is a blog about making ice sculptures, in which the owner, Dawson List, shares his extensive knowledge and ice carving designs.
There is also a forum, videos. photos and information, from other experienced carvers, together with several photo galleries showcasing world class ice sculptures. Dawson has provided a great resource and insight into a special world.
This, my Blogosphere chums is the 400th posting of "Tales from here and there about this and that". I wrote the first post back in April 2004 but in those days only posted once a week; now, posts are made every day so we will probably be celebrating our 500th in the fall.
Of course the other blogs combine to keep me pretty busy and spending as much time at the desk as I do, my interest was immediately captured recently by an article in Canada.com, from Chris Zdeb of The Edmonton Journal, describing how "In less time than it takes to break for coffee, desk jockeys can relax and relieve stress". He carefully notes that "seeing you prone on your desktop could cause a bit of a flap at the office", advising would be participants to pre-warn the boss of their intentions and goes on to discuss a series of instructional Yoga videos produced by the Alberta Centre for Active Living.
The Yoga instructor on the videos is Marcia Langenberg and you can download the videos for free. Excuse me now, while I go and get creative.
If you want to learn a bit more about Yoga, browse our listings for Yoga Holidays.
Here is an idea, roaming through 25 countries in 212 days, with six backpackers, a camera, a blog, and a mission to see it all. What makes it an interesting idea is that the entire operation will be web based, with the journey documented using the web and broadcast on GlobeRoamerTV.
What makes the idea particularly interesting is founder, Eric Odom's view that "There are millions of travelers who leave their homes every year seeking adventure, off the beaten path journeys, and life changing experiences" who the mainstream travel media is letting down by giving "a false sense of reality on what it's all about." Eric and his team intend "taking old traditional entertainment out of the hands of corporations, and putting it into the hands of the travelers themselves."
They intend beginning with a journey through Europe on September 1st, 2008, and have obviously given a lot of thought to planning the schedule, arriving in Munich on the opening day of Oktoberfest!
